Religion

Iowa Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges [VIDEO]

Des Moines’ CBS affiliate reports: A former Iowa church pastor is accused of drugging and sexually abusing a child more than a decade ago. Criminal complaints say 68-year-old Mark Benson abused the girl several times at his home in Cambridge from 2009 to 2012. The victim was between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time. She told police …

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CA Pastor Imprisoned For Exploiting The Homeless

The Times Of San Diego reports: The former pastor of an Imperial County-based church and his wife were sentenced in San Diego federal court Friday following their guilty pleas to benefits fraud charges, in a case that originally stemmed from allegations that the church’s leaders forced homeless people to surrender their welfare benefits and panhandle to benefit the organization. Victor …

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Ireland To See Bill On Banning Ex-Gay Torture

The Irish Mirror reports: Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has committed to bringing forward plans this year to ban the use of conversion therapy for gay people. Mr O’Gorman, who is gay, previously branded conversion therapy “a cruel process rooted in the promotion of shame”. He said Ireland should join other European countries in banning the practice. “Obviously, legislation takes time …

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NJ Youth Pastor Gets 27 Years On Child Sex Charges

The New Jersey Advance reports: A youth pastor at a church in Burlington County pleaded guilty this week to blackmailing four underage boys into performing sex acts online, which he recorded for his enjoyment, authorities said Thursday. Sean Higgins, 32, of Palmyra, pleaded guilty Tuesday in New Jersey Superior Court to four counts of endangering the welfare of children in …

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Mourners Demand Sainthood For Late Pope Benedict

Reuters reports: Pope Francis presided at the funeral of former Pope Benedict on Thursday, delivering a homily comparing his predecessor to Jesus before tens of thousands of mourners, including some who shouted that he should be made a saint. Benedict’s death on Saturday brought to an end a decade of the former and present pope living side-by-side in the Vatican …

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Body Of Former Pope Benedict Lies In State At Vatican

The Associated Press reports: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ’s body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday as thousands of people filed by to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago. As daylight broke, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen — lay assistants to …

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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Dies At Age 95 [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: Pope Benedict XVI, the eminent German theologian and conservative enforcer of Roman Catholic Church doctrine who broke with almost 600 years of tradition by resigning and then living for nearly a decade behind Vatican walls as a retired pope still clad in white robes, died on Saturday at age 95, the Vatican said. Just as …

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Michigan Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Detroit’s Fox affiliate reports: David Shagena was a youth leader at The River Church when minors came forward alleging him of inappropriate behavior, the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office said. Shagena was arraigned Dec. 24 on a fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge and three other counts of crimes against minors. He was given a $10,000 bond, which he has since …

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Mormon Leader With Underage Wives Pleads Not Guilty

CBS News reports: A polygamous leader accused of taking more than 20 wives, including underage girls, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to kidnapping and tampering with evidence charges stemming from a federal investigation into his community on the Utah-Arizona border. Sam Bateman’s case is the most recent example of law enforcement taking action against abuse in the sister cities of …

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Pope Francis: Pray For “Very Sick” Ex-Pope Benedict

The Washington Post reports: Pope Francis said his predecessor Benedict XVI was “very sick,” and the Vatican said the 95-year-old’s health had “worsened,” putting the Catholic Church on watch about one of its most towering conservative figures. “I ask to all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” Francis told pilgrims at his general audience Wednesday, asking …

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Late New York City Priest Left Millions To Biological Son

The New York Times reports: Louis R. Gigante was always larger-than-life. A Roman Catholic priest, the son of Italian immigrants and brother of New York mobsters, Father Gigante swaggered through the crime-ridden and crumbling South Bronx with a baseball bat and a development company that built thousands of apartments for the poor. But it turns out even the legend could …

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Netanyahu Allies Propose New Anti-LGBTQ Laws

Politico reports: Designated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare rebuke of his new coalition allies on Sunday for saying they would advance laws allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people, pledging there would be no harm to their rights by his upcoming government. Netanyahu is set to form the most ultranationalist and religious government in Israel’s history between his Likud …

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Pope Laments “Icy Winds Of War” In Xmas Speech

ABC News reports: Pope Francis used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the “icy winds of war” buffeting humanity and to make an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, a 10-month-old conflict he decried as “senseless.” At noon local time, Francis delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “‘to the city and to the …

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Las Vegas Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Las Vegas’s Fox affiliate reports: A Las Vegas pastor allegedly molested a child under the age of 14 years old while several adults knew about the situation and did nothing, according to authorities. Isaac Luna-Valencia, 48, is being held at Clark County Detention Center without bail as of Thursday on lewdness with a child and kidnapping charges. Witnesses said members …

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Pope Francis Warns Holier-Than-Thou Vatican Officials

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to again put the cardinals, bishops and priests who work …

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MT Pastor Arrested On Multiple Child Sex Charges

Billings’ CBS affiliate reports: A Lame Deer pastor was arraigned Tuesday in federal court on sexual abuse charges alleged to have occurred on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said. Dean Alan Smith, 66, pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated sexual abuse, one count of abusive sexual contact and three counts of abusive sexual contact …

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Ohio Pastor Arrested On Two Felony Child Sex Charges

The Monroe News reports: Robert Auxter, 75, of Monroe, who had been a pastor and a deacon at Monroe’s Grace Lutheran Church, is charged with two felony counts of gross sexual imposition by the Ottawa Common Pleas Court of Ottawa County in Port Clinton, Ohio. According to court documents, he is charged with having sexual contact with a person younger …

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MD Pastor Indicted On Multiple Child Porn Charges

Baltimore’s CBS affiliate reports: The Delaware Department of Justice is looking for more victims in the prosecution of a Sussex County pastor charged with soliciting child pornography. The DOJ says 62-year-old Leonard Eley, was indicted on Nov. 28 on one count of Sexual Solicitation of a Minor, two counts of Possession of Child Pornography, and one count of Theft by …

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NYC’s “Bling Bishop” Arrested On Extortion Charges

The New York Times reports: Lamor Whitehead, a flashy Brooklyn pastor who was the victim of a brazen armed robbery last summer, was charged on Monday with fraud, extortion and lying to federal authorities. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Mr. Whitehead solicited money from victims, including a retired parishioner, through threats or false promises of enriching them, then kept the …

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Vatican Defrocks “Blasphemous” MAGA Priest [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: A well-known Catholic priest and incendiary leader of the anti-abortion movement was removed from the priesthood by the Vatican, according to a letter from Pope Francis’s representative to the United States that was obtained by The New York Times. Frank Pavone, who leads the advocacy organization Priests for Life, and was once a religious adviser …

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