Vatican

"We need to understand what circumstances led to this incident," said an archdiocese spokesman ("Archdiocese investigating priest: He's suspended indefinitely after arrest on charges of indecent exposure," Jan. 24). Celibacy, that unnatural restriction, is forced on clergymen by the male-dominated Vatican. That's what led to these circumstances. Until the Catholic Church understands that it must change, these circumstances will lead other clergy to expose the church to embarrassment as a result of their natural desires.

A 28-year-old guy living in his parents' basement in South Philadelphia just might be one of the foremost experts on the Archdiocese of Baltimore, if not the whole American Catholic Church. Rocco Palmo facetiously calls himself "The Church Whisperer," and over the past six years, his blog has become a must-read for ecclesiastical insiders. After starting with just three readers a few days before Christmas in 2004, Palmo has built up a audience of roughly 500,000 unique visitors each month.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, died Wednesday of complications from surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, church officials said. The 73-year-old Italian prelate had undergone lung surgery nearly three weeks ago and had been on assisted ventilation for much of his postoperative care. Archbishop Sambi, whose title was apostolic nuncio, was one of Pope Benedict XVI's first major appointees and had served in the U.S. post since 2006. He fell ill when he was preparing to return to Rome, where it was widely expected he would be named a cardinal.

Defying canon law and a Vatican decree that promised excommunication, four Roman Catholic women took vows as priests Saturday during an elaborate ordination ceremony full of song and messages of inclusiveness at a Protestant church in Catonsville. Andrea Johnson, presiding as bishop, ordained two women from Maryland, Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers, one from Pennsylvania and one from New York in the sanctuary of St. John's United Church of Christ. The church was filled with family members — including husbands of three of the ordinands — and friends, including some who are employed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore but who support the ordination of women.

In light of the new document from the Vatican that classifies the attempted ordination of a woman as a canonical crime equal in gravity to molesting minors ("Vatican issues new rules on sexual abuse cases," July 16), how many strikes is the Vatican allowed before the Church of God declares, "You're out!" Joe and Lorraine Gordon, Timonium

With the financial backing of the Vatican, University of Maryland researchers will lead an international group of scientists to study adult stem cells from the intestines with the hope of discovering treatments for diseases while bypassing the ethical debates that have embroiled such research for a decade. The partnership, known as the International Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium, brings together researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland; the University of Salerno, Bambino Gesu — an Italian children's hospital; and the Istituto Superiore di Sanita — the Italian equivalent of the National Institutes of Health.

There may well be a silver lining threaded within the dark, menacing cloud that now blankets the Vatican — a cloud that grows heavier with each new disclosure of clerical sex abuse. The long-suppressed promise of the Second Vatican Council may, at long last, gather the necessary energy and velocity, as does a hurricane swirling over open water. Should this happen, the overdue reforms formulated by Vatican II may flood into the church. As proclaimed by the pope who convened it, John XXIII, the intent of Vatican II (1962-65)

WILLIAM A. WILSON, 95 First U.S. ambassador to the Vatican William A. Wilson, the first American to serve as ambassador to the Vatican and a member of President Ronald Reagan's "kitchen cabinet" of advisers, has died. He was 95. Wilson was among a group of about a dozen conservative, wealthy Los Angeles businessmen who became confidants and advisers to Reagan, first as he sought to become governor of California, and later, president. They also helped bankroll his campaigns for office.

You know him, you love him - Tom Hanks!" said David Letterman on Monday night as he called the Everyman superstar to the stage. But how well do we know him? What makes Tom Hanks run? That question races through your mind during the technologically phenomenal yet otherwise middling antics of Angels & Demons, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Although it's come out second, it's based on the first Dan Brown thriller to center on Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, an academic with a habit of butting heads with zealots.

Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the Holy Land veered into controversy over his past on Tuesday when the Vatican denied and then acknowledged his membership in the Hitler Youth during World War II. The conflicting accounts came in response to criticism by Israeli leaders that the German pontiff's address at the Holocaust Memorial on Monday had failed to acknowledge his witness of Nazi terror as a conscript in the youth movement and the German army....