Jezebel: The Vatican

Madonna's 1991 Letter To Steven Meisel, Unearthed

Jenna Sauers — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:38:00 EDT

Madonna thought the legendary photographer was angry at her, maybe "because I'm still nice to Herb Ritts??" She was making A League Of Their Own at the time, and wrote about how much she hated actresses — particularly Geena Davis:

"I Have Pretty Catholic Tastes In Shoes, Too"

Anna Holmes — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:10:00 EDT

[Vatican City, July 10. Image via Getty]

Drunk Fan Rushes Britney On Stage; Pattinson Has Penis Implant?

Dodai Stewart — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:00:00 EDT

A fan of Britney Spears rushed up on stage and tried to dance with Brit Brit on Saturday night in Connecticut. He was quickly surrounded by backup dancers and "escorted" away. There's video. [Perez]

Vatican Defends Brazilian Catholic Church After Excommunication Of Mother Of 9 Year Old Rape Victim

Hortense Smith — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:45:00 EDT

A senior Vatican official has come out in defense of the Brazilian Archbishop who excommunicated the mother and doctors who helped a 9 year old rape victim, pregnant with her stepfather's twins, receive an abortion. More »

Hardline Anti-Choicers Will Not Compromise With Obama Administration

Jessica G. — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST

It's been less than a month since the staunchly pro-choice Barack Obama has been elected President, and already anti-abortion advocates are reassessing their goals. Some anti-choicers are taking a practical route, according to the Washington Post, supporting legislation that may cut down on the need for abortion, like providing poor women with health care, child care, and money for education. However, the hard core anti-choicers see support for such social programs as "selling out." "We don't think it's really genuine," Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League, tells the Post. "You don't have to have a lot of social programs to cut down on abortions." In fact, uncompromising abortion foes are actively against these bills, for reasons that don't entirely make sense. More »

Dear Anne Hathaway: If You Don't Read Your Ex-Boyfriend's Indictment You Are Going To Hell

Moe — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Your "friends" are probably telling you not to read the indictment. (You know what indictment! The one charging your Ponzi sheming ex, Raffaello Follieri. Look, only 18 pages. It's not a script) And let me tell you something, Anne, and this is beside the point, but those same fucking friends avoiding the topic, telling you reading all the press will only be "painful" are also secretly ordering your light Frappuccinos REGULAR, and marking the side of the plastic cup with their own sharpies so that you THINK they're light even though they taste "deceptively" high fructose. Okay, maybe they're not, but the point is, I bet you are perceptive enough to distinguish a real Frappuccino from a Splenda-sweetened one but the man you loved held himself out to be the CFO of the Fucking Vatican and the whole time he was nothing but a uniquely shameless Italian con artist living in a $90,000 a month apartment with a $60,000 housecleaning service you NEVER KNEW THE DIFFERENCE. You, Anne, are kind of stupid; this is your intervention; most pretty girls in this country never get one so consider yourself blessed. Not that I know you, I am just speculating, not on the basis of the fact that you just likened making out with Steve Carell to a "yummy lollipop" but on the basis that you once called "charity work" such an "aphrodisiac," which would be an idiotic thing to say if your boyfriend was the Pope himself, but ha ha, no, you probably just thought he was friends with the Pope. Which brings me to my very fave part of this indictment: More »

Some troubling news on the pro-choice front:...

Jessica G. — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:40:00 EDT

Some troubling news on the pro-choice front: according to the AFP, almost 70% of Italian gynecologists refuse to perform abortions, up from under 60% in 2003. "Italy legalized abortion in 1978 but pressure from the Vatican enabled doctors to claim a 'conscientious objection' and refuse to carry out the procedure," the NY Times reports. A large percentage of Italian anesthetists are also refusing to participate in abortions — nearly 50% these days. In Sicily, a whopping 84% of gynos will not perform the procedures. [Agence France-Presse via New York Times] More »

Are You There, God? It's Your Favorite Client, Messiah Barry Hussein Obama

Moe — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Barack Obama thinks the new Pope is hustling the opiate of the masses. But it's the opiate that kept him off his cokehead ways so it's okay! Hillary thinks the potential for life begins at conception, and that Obama is an elitist. Is it possible that the second coming of the Messiah is also the reincarnation of Karl Marx? Is it possible that some countries can only subsist on dirt and opiates for so long? Are we talking about Marx when we should be talking about Malthus and stockpiling guns? Barack Obama seems to think so, and guess what? We agree. In Jezebel's deepest spiritual discussion since I wrote about how being a Libra made me believe in God, the inimitable Megan and I discuss the papacy, fave hymns, and how cool it would be if Jesus came back as a Palestinian stand-up comedian. More »