Carol Glatz at CNS has unearthed some fascinating tidbits about the new pontiff, culled from a book of interviews published in Argentina three years ago. (It’s not yet available in English.) To wit: — Favorite dance style: tango, which he said he loves “very much. It’s something that comes from within.” He said he danced the tango when he was young “even though I preferred the milonga,” which is an older form of tango with a faster rhythm. — Favorite... Read more
Text from the Vatican: Another element. In the professions of faith of the New Testament, only men are remembered as witnesses of the Resurrection, the Apostles, but not the women. This is because, according to the Jewish Law of the time, women and children were not considered reliable, credible witnesses. In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. Here we can see an argument in favor of the historicity of the Resurrection: if it were a invented, in... Read more
Details: Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings. The bill, filed Monday by two GOP lawmakers from Rowan County and backed by nine other Republicans, says each state “is sovereign” and courts cannot block a state “from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.” The legislation was filed in response to a lawsuit to stop county commissioners in Rowan County from opening meetings with a... Read more
Further proof that God never ceases to surprise us. Tonight, I found myself continually surprised—and moved, uplifted and inspired at an interfaith prayer service for Syria and the Middle East at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn. There, clergy and laity representing Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim traditions, prayed a variation of Evening Prayer of the Maronite Catholic Church. Archbishop Francis Chullikatt (shown above), the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, was one... Read more
Now for something completely different, from CNEWA’s blog One-to-One: The Russian military unveiled an unlikely new weapon in its arsenal this month — an army of parachuting priests. The unit of chaplains, who have joined the Russian Airborne Force to train in parachute jumping and vehicle assembly, will operate out of flatpack churches that can be airlifted in to wherever soldiers may be stationed. The church could be mistaken for a standard-issue army cabin, taking the form of a khaki-colored... Read more
From CNS: Previously, [Vatican spokesman] Father [Federico] Lombardi dispelled rumors that the 76-year-old pope’s singing capacity or current state of health was impaired by an operation he had when he was 21 in which the upper half of his right lung was removed after cysts caused a severe lung infection. More recently, Father Lombardi said he believes the pope’s lack of singing is due to “a certain hoarseness” or huskiness in his voice. He reads aloud very well and effectively,... Read more
I was otherwise engaged on Sunday, and didn’t check out the NY Times. But other sharp-eyed readers caught this doozy: Elisabetta Povoledo is a Rome-based reporter for the paper’s international edition, but either she or her copy editor made a mortifying mischaracterization of the meaning of Easter in an online story on Pope Francis posted Monday: “Pope Calls for ‘Peace in All the World’ in First Easter Message.” Here’s the original final paragraph, vanished from nytimes.com but available on Nexis,... Read more
Details: Pope Francis became the first pope to tour the excavated necropolis where St. Peter is buried, said Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. With explanations from the two directors of the necropolis, the pope walked down the central path between the mostly second-century burial chambers April 1, then went up a slight incline toward the tomb of Peter, which is directly under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. In the Clementine Chapel, “the place closest to the tomb... Read more
From EWTN: “The Council wishes to share with people who suffer because of autism, the hope and certainty that adherence to Love enables us to recognize the Risen Christ every time that he makes himself our neighbor on the journey of life,” said the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski. “Setting oneself to listen must necessarily be accompanied by an authentic fraternal solidarity,” the archbishop said in his April 2 message. Today is the... Read more
So says Britain’s Damien Thompson, who blogs: There’s plenty of scepticism about the Ordinariate – especially since the careful circulation of a quote attributed to former Cardinal Bergoglio saying he didn’t see the need for it. Well, we shall see. Pope Francis – who would never have encountered Anglicans in the Catholic tradition in Latin America – now finds himself head of the Ordinariate in three continents; his spokesman has said that this will be a permanent structure of the Catholic Church.... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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