The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, a group of "continuing Episcopalians" within the Diocese of South Carolina, has embraced a rite that would bless same-sex relationships. Its leaders are involved in a legal battle over property against a diocese that broke away from the denomination.

"Our covenantal life with God is expressed in relationships of commitment and faithfulness, including those of same-sex couples," a document from the group about the rrelatively new rite states. "It is the Church's joy to celebrate these relationships as signs of God's love, to pray for God's grace to support couples in their life together, and to join with these couples in our shared witness to the gospel in the world."

The Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg, bishop of The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, sent out a letter Tuesday allowing for priests to perform the rite known as "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant." more >>

Film actor Pierce Brosnan revealed that his Catholic faith helped him deal with a number of life's tragedies, including losing both his first wife and his adopted daughter to ovarian cancer.

"I would say faith, being Irish, being Catholic, it's ingrained in my DNA," Brosnan responded to a question about what helped him through his dark days, according to NY Daily News on Monday.

Brosnan, most famous for starring in the "James Bond" series, made the comments at the New York premiere of his new film, "A Long Way Down," where he plays a depressed television personality contemplating suicide. more >>

A confidential complaint has been filed against 36 United Methodist Church clergy who blessed a gay wedding in defiance of the official rules of the Protestant denomination.

The complaint was recently filed against clergy belonging to the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference for a same-sex marriage they officiated last November.

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, head of the Conference, said in a statement given to The Christian Post by her office that the complaint will be processed according to the Book of Discipline. more >>

Pope Francis expressed his "deep pain and suffering" with priest sex abuse victims in his first meeting of the kind on Monday, asking them for forgiveness and condemning what he called a "sacrilegious cult" of abusers.

"This is what causes me distress and pain at the fact that some priests and bishops, by sexually abusing minors, violated their innocence and their own priestly vocation. It is something more than despicable actions. It is like a sacrilegious cult, because these boys and girls had been entrusted to the priestly charism in order to be brought to God," the Roman Catholic Church leader declared.

"And those people sacrificed them to the idol of their own concupiscence. They profane the very image of God in whose likeness we were created. Childhood, as we all know, young hearts, so open and trusting, have their own way of understanding the mysteries of God's love and are eager to grow in the faith. Today the heart of the Church looks into the eyes of Jesus in these boys and girls and wants to weep; she asks the grace to weep before the execrable acts of abuse which have left lifelong scars." more >>

A trial centered around the name, seal, and property of a diocese that broke away from The Episcopal Church over theological differences will begin Tuesday.

After months of legal back and forth between TEC and the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, the trial will decide who rightfully owns the assets and property of the diocese.

Supporters of the denomination who remain within the Diocese are known as The Episcopal Church in South Carolina. more >>

The Peruvian Episcopal Conference has rejected the implementation of a national plan for gender equality that for the first time ever opens the doors to therapeutic abortions, calling it both "immoral" and "unconstitutional."

Fides News Agency stated on Wednesday that the bishops are "turning to the Catholic faithful, citizenship and especially to the authority of the Executive, to express as follows: our firm rejection concerning this legislation that opens the door for the first time in the history of Peru, to abortion, that is to say, to the murder of an innocent human life. This ministerial regulation as well as being immoral is also unconstitutional and illegal."

The new decree allows abortions in certain cases, such as when a mother's health or life is in danger, and up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The implementation of the National Technical Guide for therapeutic abortion, as it is called, is part of the National Plan for Gender Equality 2012-2017, which has set reduction of maternal mortality among its objectives. more >>