Outside the Beltway

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Washington, D.C this week, but his letter reveals that he still has a blind spot when it comes to the Catholic abuse scandal.

Several states are opening new investigations of the Catholic Church abuse scandal. It’s about time.

Washington said farewell to John McCain today in a service that both remembered his spirit and his heroism, and stands as a sharp rebuke to what politics has been reduced to in America today.

A top Vatican official is alleging that Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI were both aware of previously unknown allegations of sexual abuse and chose to allow them to be covered up rather than bringing them to light.

Pope Francis took the rare step of sending a letter addressed to all of the world’s Catholics on the sexual abuse scandal. Words are fine, but they need action to back them up.

A Pennsylvania Grand Jury report reveals decades of abuse by some 300 Catholic Priests impacting more than 1,000 children and 26 of the state’s Roman Catholic Diocese.

In what amounts to a significant, albeit not surprising, change in Catholic doctrine, Pope Francis has declared that the death penalty is unacceptable in all circumstances.

One of the most prominent members of the American Catholic hierarchy has been removed from office in the face of mounting allegations of sexual abuse that stretch back decades.

The overwhelming success of the abortion referendum in Ireland is leading to calls for similar action in Northern Ireland, but it won’t be easy.

Just as they did three years ago when they legalized same-sex marriage, Irish voters turned out in record numbers to repeal the nation’s ban on abortion.

Tomorrow, Irish voters will head to the polls to decide whether or not to scrap a Constitutional Amendment that bans abortion in essentially all circumstances.

The number of Americans professing no religious affiliation is on the rise. This will have some interesting cultural and political implications.

After hastily removing the House Chaplain under unclear circumstances, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has reversed himself.

The Vatican has stopped short of calling the reports “Fake news.”

Anderson Cooper has interviewed adult film star Stormy Daniels for 60 Minutes, but lawyers for President Trump are apparently considering legal action to stop the report from airing.

After skipping such events in his first thirteen months in office, the President tried his hand at stand-up last night to mixed reviews.

A series of scandals at Oxfam and other charitable organizations raise troubling questions.

Poland’s President has signed a controversial bill that purports to criminalize any effort to tie Poland to the Holocaust.

In May, Irish voters will vote on a referendum to remove the near-universal ban on abortion in the nation’s Constitution. And it looks as though it will pass.

The Polish Government appears ready to approve a law that seeks to whitewash the truth about the role that many Poles played in the Holocaust.

Americans as a whole are becoming less religious and some people are panicking about it.

Donald Trump’s core supporters in the Republican Party remain intensely loyal, and that seems unlikely to change.

The Supreme Court ruled today that states may not exclude church-run schools from an aid program with a wholly secular purpose.

Two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, nearly two-thirds of Americans support the idea of legal marriage rights for gay and lesbian Americans.

Donald Trump has been President for nearly four months, but has yet to name Ambassadorial picks for many slots including several important posts.

What was supposed to be a night away from the campaign trail quickly turned partisan.

Wherein an initial attempt to understand something seen on Facebook leads to ruminations on religious liberty.

For largely irrational reasons, French police are arresting women on the beach for wearing swimsuits that are compatible with their faith.

The business of the media is business. Business is not good.

Justice Sotomayor argued last week that we ought to look somewhere other than just the Courts of Appeal, the Ivy League, and the Northeast for Supreme Court Justices. She’s right.

With just over a week to go, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have solid leads in New York.

Donald Trump takes opposition to abortion to a new, extreme, level.

A new poll appears to show that a majority of Republicans support Donald Trump’s plan to bar Muslims from immigrating to the United States.

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide, making California the fifth state to legalize the practice and possibly giving real political momentum to the Right To Die movement.

When did “politics” become a dirty word?

California’s legislature has approved a bill that would legalize physician assisted suicide in the nation’s largest state.

Donald Trump’s campaign seems to be making a play for whatever portion of the GOP it may be that still likes Sarah Palin.

A long standing policy against gay Scout Leaders has been repealed.

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

Thanks largely to a series of court decisions, same-sex marriage is effectively legal in all of Mexico.

A new Michigan law allows religious-affiliated adoption agencies to turn away parents for religious reasons, and it seems fairly obvious what the target is in this case.

The head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resigned in the wake of criminal charges for covering up sexual abuse of children.

Americans are growing more tolerant of gays and gay marriage, with irrelevant exceptions.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been charged criminally for its role in covering up sexual abuse of children by Priests.

Marco Rubio seems to be in lockstep with the extreme social conservatives when it comes to same-sex marriage.