FaithWorld

Reverend Sally Hitchiner, the chaplain of Brunel University, leaves after the vote for women bishops failed during the Church of England Synod at Church House in London November 20, 2012. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

The Church of England voted on Tuesday against allowing women bishops after it failed to win the support of enough lay members for the reform, leaving the Church facing more internal strife over an issue that has divided it for years.

After hours of debate, the General Synod, the Church legislature made up of separate houses for bishops, clergy and laity, fell just short of the two-thirds majority required in all three houses to pass the measure.

“It was carried in the houses of bishops and clergy, but lost in the house of laity. The motion having been lost … we do not proceed any further,” said Archbishop of York John Sentamu.

Some women priests in the public gallery wiped tears from their eyes after Sentamu read out the results. The vote among lay members fell short by just four votes.

A visitor uses a touch screen to view a digital detail of a fresco by Giotto in the basilica of St Francis in Assisi October 6, 2012. REUTERS/Handout

St Francis of Assisi, who called the sun “brother” and the moon “sister,” might have referred to it as “uncle technology”.

Visitors to the monumental basilica-convent complex where St Francis is buried in the Umbrian hill town of Assisi will now be able to enjoy a touch-screen and 3-D experience to help them better appreciate the art, history and spirituality inside.

The members of Egypt’s constitution committee meet at the Shura Council in Cairo September 11, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

A number of liberal politicians withdrew on Sunday from the Islamist-dominated assembly drafting Egypt’s new constitution, saying they were not given the opportunity to discuss articles and their suggestions were being ignored.

The departure of at least 12 liberals from the 100 member assembly follows the resignation of five Christian delegates – as well eight out of 10 members of a advisory committee providing technical assistance – over similar complaints.

Bal Thackeray, chief of the right wing Hindu party Shiv Sena, waves to the media as he arrives to cast his vote at a polling centre during the Maharashtra state elections in Mumbai October 13, 2009. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe

Bal Keshav Thackeray, one of India’s most polarizing politicians and leader of an influential right-wing Hindu nationalist party that has dominated politics in the country’s richest city for two decades, has died aged 86.

Thackeray died of cardio-respiratory arrest on Saturday at his home, one of his doctors, Jalil Parker, said. He had been ill for some time and was rumored to have died earlier this week.

Pope Tawadros II, the new pope of the Coptic Orthodox church, attends his enthronement ceremony at St. Mark Cathedral in Abbasiya, Cairo November 18, 2012.  REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The Coptic Orthodox church staged a ceremony rich in ritual on Sunday to install its pope, Tawadros II, who Christians hope will guide them through the new, Islamist-led Egypt.

The 60-year-old pope was picked on November 4 and the ceremony on Sunday filled with incense, elaborate robes and chanting marked his formal ascendance as the 118th leader of the church.

Opponents of the same-sex marriage demonstrate against the government’s draft law to legalise marriage and adoption for same-sex couples in Paris, November 18, 2012. The sign at right  reads “No to Homosexual marriage”, the one behind it says “The family is sacred.” REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

More than 100,000 protesters organised by Catholic groups staged separate demonstrations in French cities over the weekend to protest against government plans to legalise same-sex marriage next year.

Most of them took to the streets on Saturday, backed by the French Catholic Church and joined by several senior clerics, and several thousand more paraded with ultra-traditionalist Catholics in Paris on Sunday.

(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Thomson Reuters)

The death of a 31-year-old Indian woman in Ireland after doctors refused to give her an abortion has sparked protests in her home country of India as well as in Ireland.

Activists in Ireland said that ending Savita Halappanavar's pregnancy could have saved her life. She died of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy. Her family believes that the delay in removing the foetus contributed to the blood poisoning.

(Tresa Sherin Morera and Henry Foy contributed to this report. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Thomson Reuters)

It didn't take long. The news of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death came at 4:30 p.m. India time on a Saturday, a working day for many in Mumbai. Thirty minutes later, my neighbourhood was a ghost town.

Shops were shut, and taxis stayed off the road. On any other day, my street would have been teeming with people, buses and vegetable vendors, but on Saturday, it was strangely deserted.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

By Cathal McNaughton

“Sure, why would they want to pull down these walls?” asks William Boyd mildly as he offers me a cup of tea in his home at Cluan Place, a predominantly Loyalist area of east Belfast.

He pulls back his net curtains to show me the towering 20-foot-high wall topped with a fence that looms over his home blocking out much of the natural light.

GALLERY: NORTHERN IRELAND'S PEACE WALLS

But what becomes apparent to me as William shows me around the pensioner’s bungalow he’s lived in for 12 years is that he’s not expecting an answer to his question. Rather, it’s clear he has become so used to living in conditions that most people would find prison-like that he finds it completely normal.

(A closeup of the illuminated letter P in the 1407AD Latin Bible on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England..)

“Pro Dei amore Latinam linguam discite”.

If you don’t know what that means, Pope Benedict is on your case.

In fact, he’s not only on your case, he’s on your declension, your conjugation, your tense, your person, your voice and your mood.

“Pro Dei amore Latinam linguam discite” means “For the love of God, study Latin!” And that is what the pope wants to see more of.