Our Takes Daily

Pope Benedict’s youth appeal

MercatorNet

This week, half a million young people are descending on Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day and its headliner, Pope Benedict XVI. In an interview with MercatorNet, Tracey Rowland, whom Cardinal George Pell predicted will some day become Australia’s leading theologian, explains the pope’s mysterious yet genuine appeal for young adults. One reason, she says, is that the pope, drawing on his years as a professor, tries to meet the faithful at a particular level of understanding and then draws them into a deeper understanding of the topic. More info here>>

British Anglicans OK female bishops

The New York Times

The governing body of the Anglican Church in Britain voted on Monday to approve the appointment of women as bishops, a step that appeared to risk a schism in the church in its historic homeland as the Anglican Communion worldwide faces one of the most serious threats to its unity in its history, over the ordination of homosexual clergy members. The move to approve women as bishops in Britain followed the lead taken by Anglican churches elsewhere; in the United States, Australia and Canada, women have been appointed as bishops for some years. Opponents of female bishops argue that Jesus, in choosing men for his 12 disciples, intended that men alone should have the responsibility of ministering to his followers. More info here>>

Some concerned about Gardisil

U.S. News & World Report

About a month after being vaccinated against the cervical cancer-causing HPV virus, 13-year-old Jenny Tetlock missed the lowest hurdle in gym class, the first hint of the degenerative muscle disease that, 15 months later, has left the previously healthy teenager nearly completely paralyzed. Did the vaccine, Gardasil, cause her condition? Her father, Philip Tetlock has embarked on an odyssey to find out whether the vaccine or random coincidence is to blame. He's not the only one to raise an alarm. The conservative public watchdog group Judicial Watch has been periodically obtaining adverse event reports on Gardasil from the Food and Drug Administration. More info here>>