The Roman Catholic Church

Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Is The New Pope Latino?

Updated at the bottom: A UCLA professor weighs in on the question and says yes. First posted at 12:18 p.m. Perhaps in a nod to its Spanish speaking majority, the Catholic Church today announced that Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is its new pope. He will apparently go by the name of Pope Franc ... More >>

10 Hilarious Tweets From Comedians About the New Pope

*See also: *Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Is the New Pope Latino? *LACMA and MOCA's Possible Merger: The Internet Reacts You know those days when your Twitter feed explodes with the energy of billions of opinionated Internet-surfers? That definitely happened today, as the Vatican officially announced the ... More >>

How Did Caravaggio Influence Movies?

A LACMA film series asks the question

Kiss Has a New Book That's Three Feet Tall and Costs Over $4000

Yesterday afternoon, before a crowd of media types and clean-cut Sunset Strip'd hard rockers at the Viper Room, Kiss debuted their new book, Kiss Monster. It is huge -- 3 feet x 2.5 feet, and nearly 50 pounds. The thing costs $4250. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer fielde ... More >>

Music Picks: Demdike Stare, A Musical Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, Natalie Merchant

Also, Lindsey Buckingham, Los Lobos, Kenny Garrett and others

We Have a Pope Review

Lauryn Hill's Top Five Career-Torpedoing Tendencies

​Lauryn Hill is the world's greatest unhinged rapper-turned-singer. As part of the Fugees she came to worldwide fame, and then released a widely-loved solo album. But that was before she proceeded to bicker with her bandmates, give horrible live performances, and embark on a series of decision ... More >>

Jay Leno's Sikh-Temple-as-Mitt-Romney's-Summer-House Joke Enrages Some in Indian Religious Community

Oh no he didn't. Jay Leno is in hot water this week after a quip about Mitt Romney's summer house was accompanied by a photo of the Sikhs' sacred Golden Temple in India, a grand palace indeed. Romney's real summer home, or at least one of them, is right here in Southern California, and isn't half ... More >>

50 Craziest Occupy Movements of 2011

Twenty Eleven has been a year of occupies. Occupations. Occupitudes. You get the idea. Sure, the Occupy Wall Street movement has only been around since September, but since then we've been occupying all manner of whatnot like there's no tomorrow (thanks to the Mayans, there actually might not be on ... More >>

The Boy Scouts' Police Problem

Dozens of teenage Explorers have been sexually abused by cops. Should Scouts share the blame?

An Ode to Dorie Greenspan's Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good, from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, is like a soft, fluffy cheese strata with bacon baked inside a pumpkin. It's one of those meals where you don't engage in a lot of analytical conversation, like, "Wow, the fresh nutmeg in the cream really complement ... More >>

Why This Song Sucks: Beyonce's "Party (Remix)" Featuring J. Cole

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Beyonce's "Party" featuring J. Cole History: "Party" is the fourth single from Beyonce's fourth studio album, 4. That's three fours in a row, bro. Three ... More >>

Pope Sends 'Historic' First Tweet (VIDEO)

news.vaDon't strain a knuckle there, champ.​Was it something about the visit of modern-minded Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, currently in Vatican City for to receive a special wool pallium, that inspired Pope Benedict XVI to warble out his first Tweet, via Twitter for iPad, this afterno ... More >>

Cheerio, Magna Carta: Nine Important Historical Documents in L.A Right Now

Magna Carta​ A document can make a big difference, as the Birthers are currently proving in all the wrong ways. The Magna Carta -- a document whose Madonna-level status requires you to drop the "the" and refer to it simply as "Magna Carta" -- reframed the relationship between royalty and us re ... More >>

Diary of a Country Priest at LACMA

Music Picks: Duran Duran, Jessie Evans, k.d. lang, The Dodos, Swahili Blonde,

Also, Janet Jackson, Greg Laswell, The Crystelles, Big Audio Dynamite and others

Brick's Picks: Never Mind the Oogie Oogies, Here's Positootly

Vatican Claims Homer Simpson Is A Catholic: We Don't Believe It

Simpsons' Homer and Bart are said to be Catholics.​The be a cartoon character is apparently divine in the Vatican's eyes. The Catholic church's house organ, L'Osservatore Roman, has declared that "Homer J Simpson is a Catholic" in an article titled "Homer and Bart Are Catholics." To drink on ... More >>

UM . . . YOU FORGOT SLEAZERRIFIC

FEET, MEET PAVEMENT

Setting the (Gay) Wedding Table

Wiser, more diffuse, battle-savvy gay-rights groups craft a 2010 ballot measure for California

Doubt Wags the Finger of Moral Relativism

J’accuse!

Queer Town: Catholic Fall Out Over Proposition 8

While Mormons have been getting the headlines, the Roman Catholic Church has quietly been a major force in the "Yes on 8" campaign to ban same sex marriage in California. Whether or not Proposition 8 is defeated, it seems inevitable that church officials will face some kind of blow back from gay and ... More >>

Jeffrey Vallance: The Art of Self-Worship

Hey, somebody’s gotta do it

the Semantics of Suicide Aid in Dying

God, PR and the right to die in California

Theater Reviews

Including Doubt, Beehive and this week's pick, Rocks in my Salsa

Doubt

The Tony-winning production opens in Los Angeles

My Life With the Radical Nuns

Immaculate Heart, home of the brave

Virgin / Whore

The Catholic Church and women — can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em

Rockie Horoscope

Exile in Godville

Profile of a postmodern heretic

Tiny Malice

John Patrick Shanley’s nuns’ story

Gays on the Ropes

Democrats in denial blame gays for Bush’s victory

Veil of Secrecy Torched

Judge’s order could bring prosecutors closer to the man in red

Smoke-filled Churches

Passion Plays

Lots of smoke, lots of fire

The Ace is Wild

The Doug Chrismas story

Santa is a Wildman!

Jeffrey Vallance in The Land of Hoarfrost

The Mission Is on a Mission

And Cardinal Mahony has been its target for years

Hollywood’s Ground Zero

Ultimate Indignity

The killing of Digna Ochoa tests Mexico’s president

Letters

Hollywood, Straight Up

The craps-shooting cop, the hungarian brawl and other stories from Steve Boardner's bar

Nuncomformist

Sister Corita Kent's Pop subversions

Aging to Perfection

A Guide to Our Advertisers Part One

The Pope Trope

Brian Moore, 1921­1999

1983 Timeline

Higher Calling

Women’s-health advocates challenge the rise of Catholic hospitals