Gender equality an issue at Mormon conference
SALT LAKE CITY – An ongoing debate about the limited role of women within the Mormon faith will take its place alongside sermons and announcements during a weekend church conference that brings 100,000 members to Utah.
Women can hold many leadership positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they can’t be bishops of congregations or presidents of stakes, which include a dozen congregations.
The church’s highest leaders, called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, includes only men.
The two-day, general conference of the church brings members together to hear inspirational words from church leaders and to learn about new temples or initiatives.
Nobody outside the church’s inner circle knows what might be announced, but there is a buzz surrounding a demonstration planned today by a feminist Mormon women’s group called Ordain Women.
Pope urges reform, wants church with modern spirit
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis says he doesn’t want a “Vatican-centric” church concerned about itself but a missionary church that reaches out to the poor, the young, the elderly and even to non-believers.
That’s the vision he laid out as he opened a landmark meeting Tuesday on reforming the 2,000-year-old institution.
Francis convened the inaugural meeting of his eight cardinal advisers for three days of brainstorming on revamping the antiquated Vatican bureaucracy and other reforms. The move fulfills a key mandate of the cardinals who elected him: They wanted a pope who would involve local church leaders in helping make decisions about the 1.2-billion strong church.
Israel museum awards Arab who saved Jews
JERUSALEM – Israel’s Holocaust memorial says it is posthumously honoring an Egyptian doctor who risked his life to rescue Jews during World War II, the first Arab to receive the prestigious recognition of “Righteous Among the Nations.”
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev says a German researcher found German archival evidence last year that Mohamed Helmy, an Egyptian physician in Berlin, hid a young Jewish woman and provided medical care to her relatives.
The memorial awards the honor to non-Jews who risked great danger to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Associated Press
