RELIGION

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An influential cardinal opened a Vatican symposium on the priesthood Thursday apologising for "unworthy ministers" and the cover-up of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, before an audience that included Pope Francis.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet acknowledged that "we are all torn and humbled by these crucial questions that every day question us as members of the Church", with Francis at his side in the Vatican's vast Paul VI Hall.

He said: 

"Should we not rather refrain from talking about the priesthood when the sins and crimes of unworthy ministers are on the front pages of the international press for betraying their commitment or for shamefully covering up?"

A string of recent investigations exposing paedophile priests have been front page news in recent months, exposing the scale of the problem and the decades-long Church cover-up.

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Parishioners worshipping at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Harlem are greeted by a framed portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. -- a Baptist minister named after a rebellious 16th century German priest excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The Rev. Bryan Massingale, who sometimes preaches at St. Charles, pursues his ministry in ways that echo both Martin Luthers.

Like King, Massingale decries the scourge of racial inequality in the United States. As a professor at Fordham University, he teaches African American religious approaches to ethics.

Like the German Martin Luther, Massingale is often at odds with official Catholic teaching -- he supports the ordination of women and making celibacy optional for Catholic clergy. And, as a gay man, he vocally disagrees with the church’s doctrine on same-sex relations, instead advocating for full inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics within the church.

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James Huntsman, a member of one of Utah’s most prominent families and brother of a former governor, is persisting in his argument that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used donations the church solicited for charity for commercial purposes.

Huntsman, a member of one of Utah's most prominent families, filed an appeal Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. A federal judge in California dismissed Huntsman's complaint against the church in September, saying no reasonable juror would believe that church leaders made false statements about how funds would be used.

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France's interior minister said on Wednesday he had ordered the closure of a mosque on the French Riviera because of anti-Semitic remarks made there.

Gerald Darmanin said the mosque in the glitzy seaside city of Cannes was also guilty of supporting CCIF and BarakaCity, two associations that the government dissolved at the end of last year for spreading "Islamist" propaganda.

Darmanin told broadcaster CNews that he had consulted with the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, before shutting down the mosque.

The move comes two weeks after authorities closed a mosque in the north of the country because of what they said was the radical nature of its imam's preaching.

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Pope Francis on Monday urged the international community to step up Covid vaccination and said "reality therapy" was needed to battle "baseless information" putting people off getting jabbed.

The Argentine pontiff, who has previously described getting vaccinated as "an act of love", urged governments to ensure everyone around the world had access to vaccines.