An April 7, 2010, analysis defending the pope, “The Passion of Pope Benedict. Six Accusations, One Question,” from the Italian Vaticanista, Sandro Magister.

A May 19, 2010, article from USA Today with Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson, co-authors of a May 2010 book, “Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal.”

Read a Nov. 2, 2012 PBS article about one church leaders’ fight against the IRS’ prohibition of religious endorsement of political candidates.

Read a Sept 24, 2008 LifeWay research report on how the U.S. public feels about political endorsements by religious leaders. When U.S. citizens were posed the statement “I believe it is appropriate for churches to publicly endorse candidates for public office,” 59 percent of participants strongly disagreed.

Raymond Flynn is chairman of the Catholic Alliance, a former mayor of Boston and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. His group supported the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005.”

Chester L. Gillis is dean of Georgetown College, a professor in the department of theology and director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is an expert in Catholocism and the editor of The Political Papacy: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Their Influence.

Nicholas P. Cafardi is a leading experts on the Catholic Church’s response to abusive clergy and an expert on canon law. He is an attorney with Cafardi Ferguson Wyrick Weis and Stotler in Sewickley, Pa.

The Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, which has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., includes 1.4 million Catholic military personnel and families. Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio heads the archdiocese.

Sister Helen Prejean is a Roman Catholic nun and author of Dead Man Walking, an account of her ministry with death row inmates in Louisiana’s Angola State Prison that was turned into an Oscar-winning film in 1996. Her most recent book is The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. Prejean, whose office is in New Orleans, […]