Thursday's News & Ideas - 5/15/2025
- New pope’s record on abuse
- Protests on Gaza at high school
- SBC’s Ethics commission
- Why Pope Leo chose name
- Leaving church to be a witch
- Coco Chanel’s restored home
A new pope confronts his church’s abuse scandal amid praise and scrutiny*
The Washington Post: Survivors say Pope Leo must commit to transparency in investigations of priests accused of sexual abuse. His record on doing so in past years has some worried.
What Oct. 7 and its fallout cost a high school in Philadelphia
Religion News Service: Protests over the removal of a Black Muslim teacher from her classroom pitted pro-Israel parents, students and teachers against their pro-Palestinian counterparts.
Can the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission survive Trump 2.0?
Religion News Service: Years of controversy during the Trump era have some Southern Baptists arguing that the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is more trouble than it is worth.
Pope Leo says he chose name due to revolution of artificial intelligence
Crux: Speaking to cardinals May 10, the pope said there were various reasons for why he chose his papal name, “but mainly because Pope Leo XIII … addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”
The Americans who quit the church to become witches — among other things*
The New Republic: While many are leaving the organized Christian faith, they’re not abandoning spirituality. Instead, they’re seeking practices outside old institutions.
The Spark
Coco Chanel’s French Riviera home comes back to life
The newly restored house* still conjures the designer’s unfussy elegance, The New York Times says.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
