The Christian Century

When the Vatican announced a doctrinal crackdown on the leadership organization representing most of the 57,000 nuns in the U.S., the sisters said they were “stunned” by the move. Many American Catholics, meanwhile, were angry at what they saw as Rome bullying women whose lives of service have endeared them to the public.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) Give Congressman Paul Ryan credit for persistence. The Wisconsin Republican and architect of the GOP's budget plan has spent a month arguing that his party's proposals to cut programs for the needy while sparing the Defense Department and not raising taxes on the wealthy are in line with the social justice teaching of his own Catholic Church.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has been enmeshed in an intense debate over his claims that the Republican budget plan he designed reflects Catholic social justice teaching, an assertion that has been rejected by political liberals and Catholic bishops alike.

c. 2012 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) A week after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan claimed his Catholic faith inspired the Republicans' cost-cutting budget plan, the nation's Catholic bishops reiterated their demand that the federal budget protect the poor, and said the GOP measure "fails to meet these moral criteria."

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) With his path now clear to the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney is on the verge of becoming the first Mormon to head a major party's presidential ticket, a new milestone in America's embrace of religious groups that were once shunned by society.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) The unexpected death of Thomas Kinkade on Friday (April 6) prompted an outpouring of grief for the hugely successful painter of pastoral landscapes, but also raised questions about the troubled final years of an artist whose use of Christian imagery made him a special favorite of his fellow evangelicals.

A top Southern Baptist official has accused President Obama and black civil rights activists of using the Trayvon Martin shooting to foment racial strife and boost the president’s reelection chances.

The Obama administration is offering to expand the number of faith-based groups that can be exempt from the controversial contraception mandate and is proposing that third-party companies administer coverage for self-insured faith-based groups at no cost.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) Making up half of Republican primary voters, evangelicals appear to be turning out to support Rick Santorum's resurgent campaign in record numbers and are increasingly influencing the shape of the party.