Outside the Beltway

The Pope is indeed Catholic. The rest is up for debate.

His 95-year-old mom is still Queen but has handed off many of her duties.

A trailblazing diplomat has died at 84.

A lone judge has halted the military’s vaccine mandate.

Some stories worth your time.

Our current forms of collective action on guns have failed us.

It’s not a cult but not exactly mainstream, either.

Ignoring religious diversity makes polarization much worse.

Conspiracy theories are poisoning the United States. That’s no joke.

A seemingly obvious result that isn’t.

The venerable youth organization has fallen on hard times.

Beto O;Rourke finally faces reality.

The effort to bring Catholic Church officials to justice for their decades of criminal conspiracy and child abuse continues to move forward.

Former Vice-President Biden has come under fire for his longtime support for the Hyde Amendment.

Despite opposition from the Catholic Church, or perhaps in rebellion against it, Irish voters overwhelmingly approved a new law liberalizing that nation’s divorce laws.

In the latest development in the child sex abuse investigations in the Catholic Church in the United States, five former Priests in Michigan have been arrested on sex abuse charges.

We’ve soon see whether the current Supreme Court will overturn Roe v Wade.

A major, destructive fire hits one of the most historic churches in the world.

Cardinal George Pell, the top Catholic Cleric in Australia, has been convicted of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s.

A new poll shows that most Americans believe the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision should remain the law on the land. Opinion on other abortion-related issues is more divided.

Pope Francis defrocked former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after decades of allegations of abuse of young boys and seminarians.

Two new reports identify hundreds of Catholic Priests who have been credibly accused of abusing children over the past decades.

Walter Jones, a former supporter of the Iraq War who became one of the most prominent anti-war voices in Congress, has passed away at the age of 76. He will be missed.

Can society forgive the men caught up in the #MeToo movement? Is it even our place to decide?

In a move that is likely to have political and international consequences, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has officially severed ties with Moscow.

A preliminary report from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan found at least 500 Catholic Priests whose abuse of children had been covered up by Church officials.

A particularly appalling case of press censorship from Australia.

In what seems like another effort at a cover-up, the Vatican vetoed a plan by American Bishops to address the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal.

British voters appear to be regretting their decision to leave the European Union, but it may be too late to stop the process.

Kim Davis, who became infamous for defying Court orders to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, was defeated in her re-election bid.

In another sign of the rapid secularization taking place in that country, Irish voters last weekend voted to rescind the nation’s centuries-old, albeit not recently enforced, law against blasphemy.

The vise is tightening on the Catholic Church.

The dispute over Ukraine between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Patriarch is widening and nearing the point of a complete break.

The Catholic Church’s problems may have just gotten a lot more serious.

The Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church is pushing for independence. Church leaders in Moscow are not too happy about this.

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.