Perhaps in a nod to its Spanish speaking majority, the Catholic Church today announced that Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is its new pope.
He will apparently go by the name of Pope Francis I.
So is this guy the church's first Latino pope?
Tough question:
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A day after retired Cardinal and L.A. Archbishop Emeritus Roger Mahony was stripped of his official church duties by his successor, José Gomez, Mahony fired off a letter to the current archbishop defending his actions in the L.A. Archdiocese sex-abuse scandal.
Mahony
Documents released by the church as part of a 2007 global settlement over abuse allegations indicate that Mahony went along with a plan to transfer accused priests out of state to keep them away from authorities:
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We're not sure what a stunning rebuke is, but we're going to guess that this is one.
Mahoney
Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez stated tonight that retired Cardinal and Archbishop Emeritus Roger Mahony would "no longer have any administrative or public duties" for the 4-million-parishioner L.A. Archdiocese.
The announcement came as Gomez unveiled its files related to clergy sexual abuse:
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On the front page of this morning's Los Angeles Times, the paper notes that several legal experts suspect Cardinal Roger Mahony will not face criminal charges for covering up clergy sex abuse due to the statute of limitations. One advocacy group says those experts have it wrong.
Cardinal Roger Mahony
"We aren't police, prosecutors or even lawyers," says David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), in a press statement today. "But for 25 years, we've seen, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., 'the long arc of history bend toward justice.' We've seen secular authorities become increasingly assertive and creative and successful in pursuing sophisticated criminals."
Founded in 1988, SNAP is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims and has more than 12,000 members.
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The anti-Islam video that set off a fire storm in the Middle East appears to have been made by a few fanatical Coptic Christians right here in Southern California.
Innocence of Muslims / YouTube
But the Coptic Orthodox Church of Los Angeles will join hands with the Muslim Public Affairs Council today to denounce the almost-silly Innocence of Muslims, which depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a child molester and woman beater.
Here's the deal:
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The latest sex scandal and PR nightmare for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles comes by way of northern Long Beach, near Compton:
LBPD Father Cuevas.
Father Jose Luis Cuevas, 67, the longtime head priest at St. Athanasius Church, is being charged with "nine counts of sexual assault" for years of allegedly molesting female congregants, including a 17-year-old girl, say Long Beach police.
His arrest and removal from the ministry have been quite dramatic:
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A midnight fire on the grounds of the Los Angeles California Temple -- the gargantuan Mormon structure that can be seen from all over the city -- has given the Los Angeles Fire Department's arson investigators their highest-profile job since the Hollywood car-fire debacle.
Is someone trying to burn L.A.'s majestic mormon temple?
Awesomely, the department has a "house of worship task force," and they're on the scene this morning to investigate the origins of the blaze, an LAFD spokesman tells Patch. (As is "the standard response for any fire at a religious site.") It began at about 1 a.m. and was extinguished a half-hour later.
The Westwood temple is the second largest...
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Updated at the bottom: The attempt's a FAIL. First posted at 12:57 p.m. on Dec. 2.
Beastie Boys
Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! Jews, JEWS, JEWS!!!
If you're not burned out after raging on Saturday night, the Sinai Temple in Holmby Hills is where the after-party is. The world-record-breaking after-party, that is.
You read right: The folks at Sinai are set to attempt an official, Guinness-sanctioned record-breaking attempt at ...
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What could be more fun-lovin' and lighthearted than a local celebration of national Go Topless Day, in which a bunch of free-titted gals (save for pasties, some engineered to look "EXACTLY like nipples") march down the Venice Beach Boardwalk, chanting for their right to be busty or saggy or however they may be, all out in the open and stuff? Activism!
PHOTO BY ERIN BROADLEY The Venice Beach Boardwalk is about to get a little weirder.
But the August 21 protest, in its fourth year now, has some strange-ish philosophies behind it, if you for some reason happen to care why you're parading around in nipple-looking pasties.
Turns out the group behind Go Topless Day is the one-and-only Raëlian cult:
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Was it something about the visit of modern-minded Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, currently in Vatican City for to receive a special wool pallium, that inspired Pope Benedict XVI to warble out his first Tweet, via Twitter for iPad, this afternoon? Whatever the inspiration, let us just say: What a marvelous Tweet it was. Benedict hasn't quite tested out his holy hashtag yet, but he's got self-promotional linking (to the Vatican's brand-new website) down to an art.
news.va Don't strain a knuckle there, champ.
Continuing with the 21st century theme, video of the Historic First Tweet's issuance was quickly posted to YouTube, for all the Internets to worship. Also kind of revealing that the Pope didn't actually type the Tweet, more just pressed the "Send" button, but it warms our cold digital hearts all the same:
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Like the rest of Jesus' children, we were pretty mystified last winter when his likeness showed up in the buttspace of an old rocking chair in Costa Mesa, etched from chipping paint.
Dude better come with a diamond grill
Orange County chair-owner Lou Balducci, after being informed by his housekeeper that the funny-lookin' wood knot was a blessing on his home, acted admirably humble about the whole thing, telling NBC LA, "I am not sure what I want to do with it. Right now, I am enjoying having it in my home and showing it to friends and family."
In the time between then and now, however, Chair Jesus (AS SEEN ON TV!) seems to have reached celebrity status:
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Happy hump day, everybody! Here's what's in store for your commute home: An extremist group of religious right-wingers from Mexico City has erected a pro-life billboard at the corner of Figueroa Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in South Los Angeles [OC Weekly].
Unidosporlavida.org.mx
It's the evil, badly designed cousin of that infamous billboard in Manhattan's Soho district which read, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb." (During Black History Month, no less.) This time, though, psychotic pro-lifers are targeting L.A.'s fastest-growing population:
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Updated after the jump: Another transient is wanted for setting the Hollywood synagogue on fire.
Temple Israel of Hollywood
Suspected synagogue bomber Ron Hirsch may be behind bars after allegedly planting a homemade explosive device in the Chabad House of Santa Monica, but the scares continue to roll in for the vast Los Angeles Jewish community this month:
The Temple Israel of Hollywood, located at 7300 Hollywood Boulevard, was targeted by a thief this morning, according to City News Service.
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Update: Santa Monica police say they nabbed the suspect last night in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where he was lurking near another synagogue. More after the jump.
Santa Monica Police Department Ron Hirsch is suspected of trying to blow a hole in the Chabad House
The homeless man suspected of planting an explosive in the Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica synagogue on Thursday, April 7 is now believed to have skipped town the same day.
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Update, April 11: "Ron Hirsch, Synagogue Explosion Suspect, on a Greyhound to New York."
Santa Monica Patch
Urgent update: The explosion WAS CAUSED BY GUN POWDER, police say. Details after the jump.
Update, April 7, 11 a.m.: Santa Monica police and the FBI confirm that this was not a bomb, but some sort of mechanical issue within the building. The evacuation will soon be lifted.
Updated after the jump with various guesses as to whether this was a hate crime or just a gas leak.
The Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica, a Jewish place of worship located at 1428 17th Street, was just evacuated after an explosion -- possibly a pipe bomb, according to authorities at the scene.
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We take personal freedoms very seriously in California -- as do we our right to sue the shit out of anyone who treads on our land of the free.
democraticunderground.com Do prisoners have a right to beard?
To demonstrate, SoCal ACLU lawyers pounced on the religious-freedom case of Sukhjinder Basra -- who's incarcerated at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo for a drug offense -- last month, knowing they had this one in the bag.
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It's good to see a religious group besides Muslims profiled for suspicious behavior by a paranoid American airline -- but still, this is a little silly.
newvoices.org Mini Torrah pouches: terrorist threat?
The LA Daily News reported yesterday that a traditional prayer conducted by three orthodox Jews on a red-eye from Mexico City was enough for flight attendants and pilots to declare a "security threat," lock down the cockpit and call in FBI agents to meet the plane as it taxied into Gate 210 at LAX.
Things started to get really crazy when, mid-flight, the three suspects broke out their tefillin...
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Following the most devastating natural disaster of the new century, we could all use a little Dalai Lama in our lives. Lucky for Los Angeles, His Holiness has chosen our smog basin as one of the longest legs of his 2011 world tour -- and lucky for the college kids at UCLA and USC, their campuses will host about half his trip.
Enough love to squash the Bruin-Trojan rivalry?
Then again, USC just got sprinkled with the holy teachings of President Obama in October. Hard to beat that.
Here's where you can catch the one and only Lama on his way through in May:
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We've heard of middle-aged moms who scratch babies. Also, middle-aged moms who whip men dressed as babies. Also, ones who send young boys dirty pics of their middle-aged mom bods via cell phone.
Kids: Hide your bling
But Belinda Berumen, the 42-year-old mom from Montebello who police say has been stealing religious jewelry from her child's first- and second-grade classmates at Washington Elementary School, creeps us out on another level. A spiritual level, even [Pasadena Star-News].
Something about those golden, glittering little treasures made Berumen into a crazed mama bird at nesting time:
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