*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DOLAN-KOUFAX, originally transmitted on March 10, 2016.
(RNS) For the first time in 40 years – since President Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 – a Catholic bishop will take part in a presidential inauguration.
“I am honored to have been asked to offer a reading from Scripture at the upcoming presidential inauguration and look forward to asking Almighty God to inspire and guide our new President and to continue to bless our great Nation,” Dolan said in a statement.
A parish priest in the south of Italy enraged parishioners by dressing the Virgin Mary in a Muslim burqa for his church’s Christmas Nativity scene, adding a boatful of refugees and a rainbow flag in place of the star of Bethlehem.
“Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for Studies on New Religions (Cesnur), 
“The children said they wailed as the two Roman Catholic priests repeatedly raped them inside the small school chapel in remote northwestern Argentina. Only their tormenters would have heard their cries since the other children at the school were deaf. …the Vatican knew about him since at least 2009, when the Italy victims went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named names. In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis again naming the Rev. Nicola Corradi as a pedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Yet apparently, nothing was done.” –
Jesus was born rejected by some and regarded by many others with indifference,” he added in his Christmas Eve message. “Today also the same indifference can exist, when Christmas becomes a feast where the protagonists are ourselves, rather than Jesus. When the lights of commerce cast the light of God into the shadows; when we are concerned for gifts, but cold toward those who are marginalized. …The pope addressed children who are living in poverty and war, and also appeared to reference the Syrian refugee crisis that has created political upheaval in Europe.” –
“On Wednesday before the general audience Pope Francis received in audience the participants in the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions, the international ecumenical association that meets annually in October, each year in a different country, to improve mutual awareness. The conference is made up of the Anglican Communion, the World Baptist Alliance, the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council, the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Eastern Orthodox), 
“Despite appearances to the contrary, the murder of the Russian ambassador in Ankara and the Berlin massacre in a Christmas market have nothing to do with religion but are economically motivated, according to the secretary general of the Italian bishops’ conference.
“A recent 
“A convicted pedophile has died after being badly beaten during a concert he was performing in a cathedral near Buenos Aires, attacked by parents from a preschool where he had allegedly molested children, a priest said. 
“A Christian computer scientist predicted that, based on her calculations and analysis of the 70 “sevens” prophecy mentioned in the book of Daniel, the return of Jesus to earth is imminent—and it won’t even reach 2017. Nora Roth, a self-proclaimed Bible student, said the second coming of Christ will happen in three weeks, specifically on New Year’s Eve. Her findings, written on her blog “The Mark of the Beast,” are based on the biblical pattern of following the sabbath. Roth cited that God mandated the seventh day of the week to be the sabbath day. He also instructed the Israelites to observe the sabbath year or sabbatical year, which is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle.” –