Thursday Scoop: A Changing Church

Welcome to the Morning Scoop for August 2, 2018. The Trump stories were lacking today, so here we went with something on Pope Francis, which is a change of pace for us to finally write about someone so pious. Let’s see what his change of pace is. 

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Pope Francis Declares Death Penalty Inhumane

In a speech at the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Francis shifted Catholic teachings by announcing that the death penalty is completely inadmissible as “an attack on the dignity of the person.”

His fight against capital punishment has been added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which beholds all Roman Catholic teachings. According to The New York Times, Pope Francis has committed the Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers to abolishing the death penalty worldwide.

The declaration is an evident step away from previous teachings of the Church, which allowed capital punishment in certain circumstances.

Faculty Asks USC President to Resign After He Agreed to Months Ago

In May, University of Southern California President C.L. Max Nikias agreed to step down from his position as he was faced with scandals uncovered to the public. Months later, on Wednesday, USC faculty are now going to ask their board of trustees to make sure his resignation actually follows through, The Washington Post reported.

Over the last year, USC gained widespread attention when their former gynecologist, had molested and sexually assaulted students for years, highlighted in a report by the Los Angeles Times. Despite recent, numerous complaints, the school still allowed him to work there – which was when the university’s board of trustees said that Nikias agreed to resign.

Brandon Walker tells us the whole story here. 

On Their First Tour in 5 Years, My Bloody Valentine Shake up Philly

My Bloody Valentine’s famously deafening live shows stand in deep contrast with their mum stage presence; each shouted plaudit ignored with the exception of an occasional smirk from reserved frontman Kevin Shields or a gentle thumbs up from guitarist Belinda Butcher. The sprawling sea of twinkly-eyed fans stirred with excitement as the band swiftly geared up for the next song.

Shortly after announcing the arrival of two new EPs with NPR back in March, MBV embarked on their first tour since 2013. The news quickly spread that they were debuting a couple of the unreleased tracks at these shows, so naturally, shoegaze fiends of every age and creed collectively lost their minds. After all, any new material from the band that took 22 years to release a follow up to the untouchable “Loveless” is set to be cherished by their 30-year-strong fanbase and new music nerds alike.

Find out how they did in Philadelphia in Anna Rahkonen’s review here. 

Today in a Tweet

First photos of the newest baby Giant Panda have surfaced, and our hearts are in giant puddles on the floor. 

Last But Not Least: Ohio State Head Football Coach on Leave During Investigation

Ohio State University head football coach Urban Meyer was put on paid administrative leave Wednesday as the university investigates whether he knew of any domestic violence allegations against fired assistant coach Zach Smith.

CNN reports, “’The university is conducting an investigation into these allegations,’ Ohio State said. Ryan Day, who has been the team’s offensive coordinator, will be acting head football coach while Meyer is on leave.”

Smith was fired on July 23 after he was served a civil protection order by his ex-wife Courtney Smith. The issue at hand is whether Meyer knew about the allegations beyond a 2009 incident that he said he and his wife tried to help the Smiths with.

Thursday’s Morning Scoop was made possible by Anna Rahkonen, Brandon Walker, Natalia Kolenko and the CMN Staff. It took us a full hour to find the Tweet of the Day. Says a lot about how terrible we are at Twitter. But please follow us: @coll_media_net @themrpatty @channa_carla. We promise our Twitter personas are funnier than the ones we use in the Scoop.