Last Friday an Italian daily published stunning claims of a plot within the upper reaches of the Catholic Church hierarchy to kill Pope Benedict XVI, former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Italy is in an uproar over the story and the news has gone viral across Europe. No wonder–it reads like the prologue to a cheap paperback thriller, hinting at webs of palace intrigue: Read More
Lest history forget the days leading up to the Moment Everything Changed–Forever…a k a iPad Saturday…a k a The Day We Decided to Unplug Completely for 24 Whole Hours Straight, here are a few of our key findings from the week that was.
Back in June 2007, Rudy Giuliani addressed the question of whether he, as a pro-choice Catholic politician, was fit to receive communion by saying, “Issues like that for me are between me and my confessor. I’m a Catholic and that’s the way I resolve those issues, personally and privately.”
Today, Cardinal Edward Egan Read More
It’s too early to tell how many out-of-towners will come to the city for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, but everyone from pedicab drivers to butchers are clamoring for a piece of the pope-tourism pie.
Though only 57,000 tickets are available for the pontiff’s mass at Yankee Stadium, the city’s official tourism company NYC & Read More
Hillary Clinton’s statement welcoming Benedict XVI to the United States says, "His apostolic journey is built on the theme of Christian hope, and as he has said, the Gospel message is ‘deeply rooted’ in our country."
These are meaningful words – ones that seem to resonate with one of the most vigorously debated themes of Read More
If not for the presence of a dozen NYPD squad cars and at least as many uniformed cops on East 72nd between Fifth and Madison Monday morning, one would never suspect that Pope Benedict XVI would be staying on the well-heeled, quiet residential block during his three-day trip to the city beginning Friday.
The Read More
By this Monday, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, Archbishop of New York and the 12th man to occupy the cathedra of St. Patrick’s in the 200-year history of the diocese, will send the Pope an official request to be relieved of his duties.
The resignation is, as Cardinal Egan Read More
As tourists packed the pews, Cardinal Edward Michael Egan stood under the vaulted ceiling of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday morning, celebrating Mass in his thick Illinois accent.
The cardinal’s Sunday mass used to be a press event when Cardinal John O’Connor was Archbishop of New York. New Yorkers never knew what the press-friendly O’Connor Read More
Events outpace the written word, showing no mercy for the self-assured. Writing on the Web site Counterpunch.com, Greg C. Estabrook recently suggested that the new Pope might emulate his immediate namesake, Benedict XV, who was “known for three things-putting an end to an intellectual witch-hunt run by his predecessor, Pope Pius X; reversing Pius’ anti-liberal Read More
En garde!
A piece of treacherous language has made its way into our public discourse. Where once words such as “religion,” “Christianity” and “Judaism” were heard, public figures now speak of “persons of faith” or “people of faith,” “the faith community” and “faith-based.” Moreover, anything “faith-based” is axiomatically good, and anyone who questions the presumption Read More
