Pope: "I'd Rather Resign"

 (Rome) Pope Francis is on the mend. After being in a wheelchair for some time, he appeared in public this week with a cane. On Monday he expressed himself categorically.

Pope (with walker) with the head of Caritas Ukraine

At the general audience on Wednesday, the head of the Church was seen in public for the first time with a walking stick. The wheelchair that had accompanied him for the past few weeks is no longer needed.

A photo had previously been circulated from a private audience showing Francis with Father Vyacheslav Grynevych, Secretary General of Caritas Ukraine, and Tetiana Stavnych, Chair of Caritas Ukraine. In this photo, he was already seen with a walking stick.

Sandro Magister, on the other hand, reported a special event. On Monday, Pope Francis addressed his knee condition during an audience with the Italian bishops in Aula Paolo VI, which took place behind closed doors and without any media coverage. He said as Magister writes:

"(...) that he has no intention of undergoing any kind of surgery with an anesthetic that is getting him into trouble with his head like after the colon surgery a few months ago, so now he's saying, 'I'd rather resign than  have surgery'.”

 

The anesthetic during the intestinal operation made things difficult for the head of the Church. The matter was only rumored to the public. At the time, a complication related to the operation was suspected. 

Pope Francis with a cane at the general audience on Wednesday

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Vatican.va/Twitter (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Francis Confirms His Burial Place -- the Grave of John XXIII

Pope Francis has chosen his resting place

(Rome) Pope Francis is preparing his grave, as the press agency I.Media reported. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ confirms the report. This is neither "mysterious" nor something "special", says Lombardi.

The selection and preparation of a tomb is part of the earthly life cycle of a human being, said the Vatican spokesman.To that effect,  the selection of  the tomb chosen by Pope Francis is in the Vatican Grottoes.

Vatican spokesman: "Little more availability"

The crypt  below the St. Peter's Basilica and the further underlying necropolis is known as the Vatican Grottoes. Numerous popes were buried in the crypt, some of whom were laid there in the Vatican Basilica in the course of the Causes of Saints.

I.Media published the picture of a tomb. It's then not certain this really is the final resting place Pope Francis desires himself, as Tiscali reported yesterday and published its own photo.

The currently empty grave

Vatican spokesman Lombardi reported on Saturday  that it is the only unoccupied chapel at the moment in the Vatican Grottoes, which is why, in principle, the question arises, where the ceremony will be held  in the future.

"Pope of gestures" will be buried in the grave of the "Pope of the Council"

As "Pope of gestures" Francis wants to use the former grave of John XXIII. in which the "Pope of the Council" has lain for 38 years, from 1963 to 2001.  Soon after the beatification in September 2000 he was translated into St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Francis chose, bypassing the rules for the canonization for his miracle-less  elevation to the altars in 2014  together with John Paul II. The Polish pope was canonized through the recognition of a second miracle within a regular canonization.

From 2005-2011 John Paul II had initially been buried in this grave until he was transferred to St. Peter's Basilica.

John XXIII. let himself be buried in a simple sarcophagus of travertine in contrast to his predecessors. The grave inscription reads only Joannes PP. XXIII . Since then, all the popes have been buried in simple manner.

John Paul II., following the example of Paul VI. who found his final resting place in a grave sunken into the ground. On the marble slab in gold letters, which was even more spare, is Joannes Paulus II  with the birth and death date.

Cardinal Comastri: "Holy Father, it is yet to be seen who comes first"

The grave niche in the Vatican Grottoes has been unoccupied since 2011.  Recently it has been cleaned and "is ready to receive the mortal remains of Pope Francis," said Tiscali. The Argentine Pope let the Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, know that he wishes that grave for himself. The ideological commonality stressed with a hidden agenda  between John XXIII. and Pope Francis found is to continue in the grave.

Cardinal Comastri confirmed that Pope Francis expressed his wish two times.  The cardinal had replied: "Holy Father, it is yet to be seen who comes first." The reference was to the Emeritus Benedict XVI. whose ideas for grave locations are yet unknown.

Near the niche selected for Pope Francis, a white marble sarcophagus was recently placed.  Whether it has been  prepared for the German Pope remains speculation for now.

[Show as slideshow]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Wikicommons / Tiscali / MiL (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Pope: Some Want to Turn Clock Back to 1968?

Edit: he's definitely referring to those who wish to turn back the clock to 1968. Obviously, if Vatican II has taught us anything of history it's that the Church is ancient, but ever young and always reforming. The following is from Radio Vatican:

Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit pushes people and the Church forward but we resist this and do not want to change. His remarks came during his homily at the Mass on Tuesday morning celebrated at the Santa Marta residence which was dedicated to Benedict XVI in honour of his 86th birthday. Susy Hodges reports:

Text follows:
Pope Francis dedicated Tuesday's mass to Benedict XVI 16th who turned 86 on this date. “May the Love be with him, comfort him and gave him much consolation,” he said.

Pope Francis’ homily at the mass was centred on the theme of the Holy Spirit and our resistance to it. It took its inspiration from the first reading of the day which was the story of the martyrdom of St. Stephen who described his accusers as stubborn people who were always resisting the Holy Spirit.

Put frankly, the Pope continued, “the Holy Spirit upsets us because it moves us, it makes us walk, it pushes the Church forward.” He said that we wish “to calm down the Holy Spirit, we want to tame it and this is wrong.” Pope Francis said “that’s because the Holy Spirit is the strength of God, it’s what gives us the strength to go forward” but many find this upsetting and prefer the comfort of the familiar.

Nowadays, he went on, “everybody seems happy about the presence of the Holy Spirit but it’s not really the case and there is still that temptation to resist it.” The Pope said one example of this resistance was the Second Vatican council which he called “a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit.” But 50 years later, “have we done everything the Holy Spirit was asking us to do during the Council,” he asked. The answer is “No,” said Pope Francis. “We celebrate this anniversary, we put up a monument but we don’t want it to upset us. We don’t want to change and what’s more there are those who wish to turn the clock back.” This, he went on, “is called stubbornness and wanting to tame the Holy Spirit.”
The Pope said the same thing happens in our personal life. “The Spirit pushes us to take a more evangelical path but we resist this.” He concluded his homily by urging those present not to resist the pull of the Holy Spirit. “Submit to the Holy Spirit,” he said, “which comes from within us and makes go forward along the path of holiness.”

http://en.radiovaticana.va/m_articolo.asp?c=683419

Link to photo site...

Cardinal Herranz, The Pope’s Investigator -- From Medjugorje to the “Bubble” of Vatileaks

(Vatican) Much has been written in recent days about the Vatican Secret Dossier, and even more speculation. It's about the final report of the Commission of Inquiry consisting of three cardinals Pope Benedict XVI. had used to investigate the issue which became known as the "Vatileaks” document theft scandal that led to the arrest of the papal chamberlain Paolo Gabriele.

When the Holy See announced that the cardinals will be granted access to the report before the conclave, but this will not continue to be published, the journalists have had an editorial high season. And the more unreliable, the more speculation shot up like a tangle of weeds that Benedict XVI. had resigned because of this report. In a document that is not to be made available in the foreseeable future, anyone can interpret into it what he wants. Even some Catholic journalists could not keep themselves in check, and thought to have to ride the wave that showered the church with garbage.

The head of the pontifical commission, Cardinal Julián Herranz, a member of Opus Dei, canon law expert, physician and psychiatrist had only once previously only taken a position on the matter. He did this in an interview with the Spanish daily El Pais on 19 Published in February. A look at this week utilized to see things beyond contrived media excitement, the right scale.

Julián Herranz was born in 1930 in Andalusia. Ordained a priest in 1955, he has worked since 1960 at the Roman Curia. In 1990 Pope John Paul II appointed him an Archbishop in the  Curia and created him a cardinal in 2003. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia. Cardinal Herranz was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. in the Commission to examine the phenomenon of Medjugorje. Although the final report for church recognition of the Herzegovina as "place of pilgrimage” seems as of yet not ready for the Pope. The Spaniard celebrated the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite after the adoption of the motu proprio Summorum Pontifical, and was a member of the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei commission.

[...]

You have led the commission regarding Vatileaks, on the 17th December, the Pope received its final report. There has been much speculation about the contents of this report, which one imagines is extremely serious, to the extent that many are of the opinion that it had been crucial for the resignation of the Pope.

This matter has been enormously inflated. I assure you that in my capacity as Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry that a bubble was constructed from it, the air will soon be out on its own. In the Vatican, it is relatively common, to form committees of this kind. You have the task of examining how things are in a certain area. It goes and talks to people, looks at the things that sees things that go and those who do not, the lights and the shadows, it made notes, and finally the results are reported to the competent authority. It then comes to the competent authority to make the decisions it deems appropriate.

The matter has conveyed a bad impression of the church.

But it's just a soap bubble, an anecdote. The willingness to want to see nests of vipers, mafia groups fighting each other, internal jealousies and hatred, all this is absolutely wrong. I have been working for more than half a century in the Vatican, and I can say that I admire many of my colleagues, for their capacity for devotion and sacrifice. There will be black sheep, as in all families, which I will not argue, but we speak of the least corrupt and most transparent government, there is. More than any international organization and any secular government. I have been following the media attention, I am a hermit, and I read what happens in the world and see that we speak of the least corrupt government that has been exemplary in many respects.

[...] In fact, they created a bubble of mysterious things. It comes with a lot of imagination. It is clear that there is no government, family or organized group that has not even an intimate area that is removed from the public. In any government, there are far more dark areas of intelligence and decisions that a president makes, without making them public, far more than in the Vatican secret areas.

The case of Vatileaks has not really scarred the Pope?

No. I assure you that this is just an anecdote compared to the decisions of the Holy Father and the problems of the Church. The fundamental problem of the church is the need for a new evangelization. The church suffered a terrible persecution. 80 percent of people worldwide who have been persecuted in the past year because of their beliefs were Christians, and other institutions say this, not the Church itself.  So it happens in India, Pakistan, Africa. In other places, they are discriminated against, as if they had wrong, reprehensible opinions. And then there are more toxic forms of persecution.

In the developed countries?

Yes, for example

In Europe, the Church has certainly lost a lot of power.

Anyone looking at the Church as a power monger, is wrong from the outset. The message of the Church is persecuted there, where there is an absolutist stance. Where religious freedom is not granted. It is estimated that last year were around 100,000 Christians persecuted, imprisoned or murdered. For three years, a family of mother, Asia Bibi in Pakistan is in prison and there are only a few secular bodies who raise their voices. Again, these things cause one anguish. And the Pope is aware that the waves of the ocean is in a state of flux and that the ship needs a solid hand control.

What qualities should the man who presents himself as the new Pope to the control?

Two things. In the first place it is necessary that there is a man who loves Christ. That he knows and loves Christ as the founder of the Church.

But this property is met by all the cardinals?

Of course, but not in the same way. All Cardinals can talk, but it is to see who speaks best. There are different degrees of holiness in the people. It is not irrelevant to whether someone has the monastic vocation, as Celestine V, or if another is a friend of Christ in the same way, but aware, is what happens in the world, what ideological and cultural trends in the world waves hit.

And the second property?

That he is prepared to explain his love for God others.

So a good communicator.

Exactly. The carry forward the new evangelization, white publicize Christ in the world.

Is age important?

Yes, these are indeed secondary issues, but of great importance. Age, health, language skills, ability to travel and perhaps nationality.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: AciPrensa

Link to original katholisches….

Benedict XVI for Pope Again!

Pope on his last motorcade.
 [Bild: Maurizio Lupi]

Edit: here’s some coverage of the last speech by kreuz.net.  It really captures the people’s love for the Holy Father in Rome and in his Fatherland.

The Holy Father bid farewell to hundreds of thousands of the Faithful on St. Peter’s Square in his last General Audience as Pope.

The visibly moved, but also exhausted Holy Father was pleased about the throng of believers present:  “I see, that the Church lives!  The Church is not my property, it’s not your property, it is the Church of the Lord, who will never let it fall!”

„Bendetto XVI di nuovo Papa!“ - “Benedict XVI Pope Again!”,
an understandable desire. [Photo: Thomas Drahorad]

“Un Papa non è solo nella guida della barca di Pietro”

Pope Benedict thanked God firstly, but he also thanked those, “who had helped him and remained true to him”:  among the estimable Cardinals, with colleagues, the Secretary of State, with the Curia.  He emphasized  “la mia Diocesi”,  as he mentioned his own Diocese in Rome:  every individual is included in the Holy Father’s prayer.

Thanks to the Faithful and Address to his Countrymen

The Faithful thanked Pope Benedict XVI. for his Pontificate, “Benedetto” cries honor the Holy Father, the Chapel Horn Ensemble of Traunstein, where the Pope went himself to School, played the Bayernhymne (Bavarian Athemn).

I’m addressing my countrymen “I thank you [finally] all, that you have greeted my decision, which I have made before the Lord for the good of the Church, with respect and understanding.  For my part I will accompany the Church on my way with prayer. …

A warm “Vergelt’s Gott” [Bavarian Expression for, God Bless], I say to all brothers and sisters of the German tongue -- you, dear friends, who have come to the last General Audience of my Pontificate, and those at home.

The Lord always carries the Church, he leads it also in difficult times.  This view may never be forgotten.  We must be ever certain, the Lord is near us and surrounds us with His love.

In prayer we remain, dear friends, close to one another, and in prayer the Lord is near to us.  So I greet you all with my whole heart! The Lord blew you and the Church in our Lands!”

"You are our beloved Pope -- and will always be so!”

Some Italians in the square held up a sign which read:

„Carissimo Papa Benedetto.
Tu es Petrus
Tu sei la nostra roccia,
Tu sei la roccia della chiesa
Tu sei il nostro amato Papa
e lo serai per sempre!“

Here is the website of the Vatican with the Holy Father’s speech: L'UDIENZA GENERALE, 27.02.2013

Seewald: Vatileaks Isn’t the Reason for the Pope’s Resignation

Munich (kath.net/KNA)  The so-called “Vatileaks” affair was clearly not the reason for the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.  This is according to the news magazine “Focus” on Saturday in reference to the German journalist Peter Seewald.  The betrayal neither threw the Pope off the rails, nor made him weary of his office.  This is what the Pontifex explained to Seewald during a one and a half hour interview in the summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in August.

The “Vatileaks” affair concerned the theft of confidential documents from the apartment of the Pope.  At the beginning of October found the butler of the Pope since 2006, a Paolo Gabriel guilty and condemned him to 18 months imprisonment.  Shortly before Christmas, Benedict XVI forgave his former assistant.

Seewald reported in Focus over several talks with the Pope.  He said on his glimpse on the betrayal of his Ex-butler:  It wasn’t so, “that I had fallen in any way under despair or world weariness.  It was simply incomprehensible.  Also when I view the person, I can not understand what he can have promised.  I can’t penetrate this psychology,” said the Pope according to Seewald.

As the author of the Pope’s Interview Book “Light of the World” wrote in Focus, it was important to the Pope, that in the deliberation of the case “in the Vatican, the independence of justice was maintained, that the monarch doesn’t say, now take him away.”

Seewald reports he had never seen Benedict before so exhausted and dejected.  With his last strength the German Pope brought the third volume of his Jesus work to and end. “My last book”, the Pope said of it.

The last meeting in the Vatican, says Seewald, was a good ten weeks before.  As to Seewald’s question “What more do you expect from your pontificate?”,  the Pontifex answered:  “From me?  Nothing much more.  I am really an old man, the power is gone.  I think that what I’ve done is sufficient.”  Seewald has written a biography about the Pope and met him for this in the last months several times.

Link to kath.net...

Nuncio Complains that German Church Does Not Listen to the Pope

Bonn (kath.,net/KNA)  The ambassador of the Pope in Germany is concerned about the future of the Catholic Church in the Bundesrepublik.  "The Pope suffers from an persistently closed attitude toward him in Germany," said the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Jean-Claude Perisset, in an interview published in the "Zeit" on Wednesday.  It is a "great loss", that the Church in Germany hears the Pope so little.

The Nuncio expressed himself critically about the dialog process in the Catholic Church. "Conflict in the Church is the wrong way.  But dialog is not a conflict, but the opposite".  Whoever only values his own position,  doesn't engage in dialog.  It would be a courageous step of the Bishops, to seek a discussion with the people of the Church.  "Only those who want to turn the Church on its head, are those who do not want dialog."

With a view to the debate surrounding the Kirchensteuer [Church tax], the Nuncio said, the Church in the Bundesrepublik is "sometimes is too concerned with managing resources and forgets the announcing of the good news.".  As to the question for the reason for empty churches and few priestly vocations Perisset recalled that this is not a malfunction of the institution of the Church;  the reasons lay in the mentality of people and in erroneous beliefs.  "We need a new culture of community, of believing together.  For that reason we need also great celebrations like World Youth Day or Papal Masses in the Olympiastadion.  They show: you are not alone."

At the same time, Perisset insisted that the Church must adjust itself in its announcing the faith in today's environment.  "We say things that people don't understand any more.  We must return to the basic elements of the Faith and freshly explain these with simple words in colorful language."  The restoration of the faith has to "come again from the family, so that we might remake the Church.  If the grandparents don't take their grandchildren along, if the adults do not discuss the faith, if the faith is not developed in the family, then there is no future."

Link to kathnet....

News: Protestants Shrinking Three Times Faster in Germany

The Crib Has a Cross

Vatican. At yesterday's General Audience, the Pope warned against a secularization of Christmas and urged a move away from externals in favor of a return to religion

Interpret the humiliation of Christ in the manger to his suffering and death on the cross as well.

"Progressive" Protestant Church is Getting Progressively More Insignificant

The results of a survey of the Heidelberg 'Sinus Institute' with 2000 people over 14 show that among the Protestants, 3.2 percent want to discontinue their church membership, while there are only 1.6 percent among Catholics
.
The study does not explain why the "progressive" Protestant church has more reported more departures.[Perhaps it's because of the rampant sex abuse in the Lutheran church?]

Protestants act hypocritically

"Obviously, that the German Evangelical Christianity in many cases was more dogmatic and ethical at first, left shared Roman Catholic Church beliefs behind them, and since then have made adjustments to the spirit of the times, and has not resisted secularization.

Who but simultaneously rejected what was in common and demanded more community, is contradictory, not to say hypocritical. Compared to today, our churches in the sixteenth (and to the nineteenth) century, despite fierce controversy in their dogmatic and ethical foundations, were much closer together ecumenically.

From an article of the evangelical theologian and former lay military Bishop, Hartmut Lion, with the title "A misconception. A review of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. in Erfurt," in the monthly journal 'Political Opinion' in December.

Link to source...

Public to have big say in who will be new bishop

THE PROCESS of selecting the next Bishop ofWinchester is well under way. It’s one of the most important positions in the Church of England dating back more than 1,000 years.

These days the public has a big say in who takes over the top post at the cathedral from the current incumbent, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, who is one of England’s most influential bishops.

The bishop, 67, a father-of-three, has been in the post for more than 15 years. He retires in May. And this month the ecclesiastical machinery to find his successor gets into top gear. Sir Paul Britton, the Prime Minister’s appointments secretary, and Ms Caroline Boddington, the Archbishop’s appointments secretary, will start their rounds of the diocese as they carry out wide-ranging consultations.

Read More: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8850019.Search_for_next_Bishop_of_Winchester/

Should pope be made a saint after sex abuse scandals?

Editor: He seems to have given ammunition to those who've benefited the most from the process both financially and politically.

Who could ignore the irony of “John Paul II to be beatified in May” (AC-T, Jan. 15) followed by “Vatican told church not to report Irish abuse” (AC-T Jan. 19) in this paper, and in reports internationally? I would greet that juxtaposition with wry humor if not for the knowledge that behind the report of the Vatican's (under Pope John Paul II) now-proven order to its bishops not to turn pedophile priests over to law enforcement, are countless injured kids, now teens and adults, living with unspeakable memories and trauma. ...

Read More: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110123/OPINION02/110121035/1007/COLUMNISTS

God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - God's mind was behind complex scientific theories such as the Big Bang, and Christians should reject the idea that the universe came into being by accident, Pope Benedict said on Thursday.

"The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe," Benedict said on the day Christians mark the Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three kings reached the site where Jesus was born by following a star.

"Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God," he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the feast day.

While the pope has spoken before about evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to discuss specific concepts such as the Big Bang ...

Read More...

Pope John Paul II Closer to Sainthood, Though Sex Abuse Critics Disagree

Vatican experts have attributed a miraculous healing to the intercession of the late Pope John Paul II, a ruling that appears to push the beloved Polish pontiff a crucial step closer to sainthood even as criticisms of his lengthy reign have mounted since his death in 2005.

A leading Vatican-watcher, Andrea Tornielli of the Italian daily Il Giornale, reported this week that medical and theological experts with the Vatican congregation charged with overseeing the canonization process have affirmed that a French nun was cured of Parkinson's disease -- an affliction similar to the one that claimed John Paul's life -- and there was no medical explanation.

The experts at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints determined that the cure was a miracle and resulted from the nun's prayers for the intercession of John Paul. Cardinals and bishops on the committee are to meet in mid-January to vote on the report from the experts before sending it to Pope Benedict XVI for final approval, and no delay is expected. Church policy decrees that two verified miracles are required before someone's sainthood is formally confirmed.

Read more...

Tornielli Interviews Vatican Bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi

Editor: here's a quick google-translation with some correction. It looks like this is one of those attacks that Tornielli was talking about, being launched against the Pope.

"Since I assumed the presidency of the IOR I am busy with my all, according to information received by the Pope and the Secretary of State to make every transaction more transparent and in line with international anti-money laundering norms ...

I feel really humbled today. There is anger in words but also discouragement by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, 65, Piacenza, a professor of "Ethical finance" at Catholic University, president of Santander Consumer Finance, a full year at the Institute for Works of Religion The Vatican Bank, and now it's under investigation for violation of money laundering. The man to whom Benedict XVI has given the renewal of the finances of the Holy See and admires the spirituality of Opus Dei, who when asked how many hours of his day are devoted to God and how much to money, replied: "One hundred per cent one and hundred percent the next. God is always present in everything I do.

"The newspaper has interviewed you.

What was your reaction to the news investigation on IOR and about her?

"Bitterness and humiliation. I do not know what else to say. Together with the Director of the Institute, Paul Cipriani, I am committed to tackling the problems which are now being investigated. We are working to enter the so-called White List, i.e. the list of countries that comply with international anti-money laundering and we hope to make it for December. I have an excellent relationship with the Bank of Italy and there is a continuous exchange of information ...».

Can you explain what happened with the Credito Artigiano and those 20 million directed to JP Morgan in Frankfurt?

"Meanwhile, we clarify that this is a remittance on IOR IOR: we simply transferred the money to invest in German bonds. Why were we not in compliance with the rules against money laundering?"

"We are implementing the rules, but possibly the survey was an error in the procedures implemented by the Credito Artigiano. But the operation is clear, there is nothing hidden or to hide: only a transfer of funds of the same IOR.

The State Secretariat has renewed total confidence ...

"I met Cardinal Bertone, and I found him very concerned about what happened. I was invited to stay at in my position, because I'm doing exactly what I was asked to do, that is more transparent operation of each IOR. This is the clear desire of my superiors and we consider what is happening ... almost unnatural! A procedural error is used as an excuse to attack the Institute, its president and, more generally, the Vatican. "

Why do you think someone wants to attack you or the Holy See?

"I think that the statement of the Secretary of State bodes well with this sense of astonishment. We had an end in sight just when we were working as hard as possible to enforce rules against money laundering. Cardinal Bertone has appointed Nicholas Attilio president of the supervisory board inside the Vatican that will monitor the implementation of all provisions for the White List. We are available to provide information, it would have been enough to call instead of banging on the front door. "

From the original... here at Il Giornale.

The Pope Took a Spontaneous Tour in the Mini-Popemobile

Italy. [kreuz.net] One Wednesday the Pope Benedict XVI together with his brother, Prelate Gerog Ratzinger, took a spontaneous ride in the Mini-Popemobile for around 150 Meters. Carbineri on the scene were surprised according to reports by the Roman daily 'Il Messaggero'. On the coming Sunday, on the feast of the Assumption, the faithful expect the Pope as usual for Mass in his Parish Church.

link to source, kreuz.net...

Political programs cannot achieve justice and equality, Pope says in Lenten message

In his message for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI cautions against a purely secular approach to achieving justice in society.

While Jesus "surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine," the Holy Father writes, nevertheless "distributive justice does not render to the human being the totality of his due." Man seeks for something much more-- for salvation-- which can only come through Christ and his Church.

The Pope's annual message takes its title from St. Paul's letter to the Romans: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ." Pope Benedict begins with some reflections on the meaning of the word "justice." He notes that the most common definition involves giving every person his due. But a problem arises immediately, he notes: "What man needs most cannot be guaranteed to him by law."

Read further...