Word: vaticans
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Conservative Christians don't much like the idea that the Bible is corrupted or that its truths could be updated. The conflicts run deep enough that in 2001 the Vatican ruled Mormon baptisms invalid, and even the more liberal Presbyterians and United Methodists require that Mormons looking to convert be rebaptized. Southern Baptists have called Utah "a stronghold of Satan," and there are many bookshelves' worth of anti-Mormon literature in circulation. The church's aggressive missionary work is a particular challenge to other professing churches, which believe that converts to Mormonism are not truly saved...
...Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi was quick to clarify that the Pope wasn't excommunicating anyone, and that he did not mean to contradict a recent Vatican document that left it to the conscience of individual politicians to leave the Church on their own if they vote against its teachings. Canon law states that people who participate in abortions - would-be mothers, doctors, nurses - are automatically excommunicated. There has been an ongoing debate about whether this also applies to politicians who vote for abortion legislation. But the Pope's remarks seemed to be a moment of personal candor, leaving...
...issue of politicians and abortion had also come to the attention of the current Pope in 2004 when John Kerry, a practicing Catholic and supporter of abortion rights, was the Democratic candidate for President, and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was head of the Vatican's doctrinal office. At the time, in the heat of the campaign for the White House, several U.S. bishops had declared that pro-choice politicians like Kerry should be denied the rite of Holy Communion at Catholic Mass. When he was formally asked for doctrinal counsel on the matter, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a carefully worded letter...
...past, the Vatican frowned upon such figures and anything resembling a commercial show of faith, but the success of these methods in fighting the Protestant encroachment has prompted Rome to adopt a more convenient silence on the issue, both in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America. The question now is whether that high-energy devotion to Jesus, Mary and Benedict can prevent further erosion of Roman Catholicism in a region that boasts almost half the world's devotees...
...knows whether the plateau means the Vatican's prayers have been answered or whether the numbers will continue to fall again later. But the Pope can be expected to welcome signs of a Catholic resurgence with open arms. Father Rossi might not be able to get Benedict dancing at the altar, but the numbers he has helped produce just might...