On Dec. 5, Ohio State President Gordon Gee jokingly referred to “those damn Catholics” at a university Athletic Council meeting in the context of frustration he expressed about trying to negotiate with Notre Dame in years past over joining the Big Ten. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Records show that hundreds of angry emails and letters flooded Ohio State University earlier this year after reports of remarks by former president Gordon Gee (gee) jabbing Roman Catholics and Southeastern Conference schools. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By Associated Press Ohio State University has announced a $5.8 million retirement package for former president Gordon Gee (ghee) following his departure from the university after comments jabbing Roman Catholics and Southeastern Conference schools. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at ESPN Headlines
Pope Francis set an action-packed Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, where he will bless the Olympic flag, visit a slum and address upward of 1 million young Roman Catholics on Copacabana beach. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Pope Francis wants to ignite the passion of Roman Catholics for their faith while on his first international trip, and the boisterous, sometimes frenzied welcome he got on his first day in Rio seemed to fill those hopes. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The French Senate voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer.
The vote in the upper house of Parliament — led by President Francois Hollande’s Socialists — comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents, mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics, have sought to defend traditional marriage.
France‘s justice minister, one of the bill’s loudest supporters, said the reform recognizes that many children are already living with same-sex parents and deserve the same protections afforded children of opposite-sex parents.
“These are children that scrape their knees, eat too much candy, don’t like broccoli, drive you crazy… we protect them,” Christine Taubira told senators following the vote.
The justice minister said the reform will “move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect.”
Both houses of Parliament will now take up a second reading to consider minor Senate changes to the bill passed in February by the National Assembly, also controlled by a Socialist-led majority.
Some conservative senators vowed to continue their opposition to the bill.
“The parliamentary process continues so we will keep talking with the French people who seem to change their position,” said UMP party senator Jean-Pierre Raffarin. “So nothing is definitive and the debate continues.”
Polls have shown a narrow majority of French support legalizing gay marriage, though that support falls when questions about adoption and conception of children come into play.
The bill would allow gay marriage and let same-sex couples adopt children. On the campaign trail last year, Hollande pledged to push through such legislation if elected.
About a dozen mostly European nations already allow gay marriage.
Opponents and supporters of the bill have staged loud demonstrations throughout the bill’s passage through Parliament. In mid-January, at least 340,000 people swarmed on the Eiffel Tower to protest the plan to legalize gay marriage, according to police estimates. Two weeks later, about 125,000 proponents of the bill marched in the capital.
French civil unions, allowed since 1999, are at least as popular among heterosexuals as among gay and lesbian couples. But that law has no provisions for adoption or assisted reproduction.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/pt81heQE7zg/
Catholics in the Holy Land are celebrating Easter with prayers and services.
Worshippers prayed Sunday in the ancient church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, built on the site where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and then resurrected.
Christians believe Jesus was resurrected on Easter. Roman Catholics and Protestants, who follow the new, Gregorian calendar, celebrate Easter on Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark it in May.
Protestants held Easter ceremonies outside Jerusalem’s walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, which some identify as the site of Jesus’ burial. Another service was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus’ traditional birthplace.
Hundreds of Christians are marking the crucifixion of Jesus in the Holy Land.
Worshippers have packed Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected, for a morning mass that started Good Friday events.
Roman Catholics and Protestants will walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day. And a mass at a church in Bethlehem, built atop the site where Jesus is believed to have been born, takes place in the evening.
Pilgrims and tourists from around the world descend on holy sites in Jerusalem for Easter week.
Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the older, Julian calendar, will this year mark Good Friday in May.
By hnn
What’s in a pope’s name?
By choosing the name Francis, the Argentine Jesuit who will lead the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has signaled a devotion to simple living and social justice, analysts say.
No pope has ever chosen to be called Francis before, and it was not among the names favored by oddsmakers betting on which the new pontiff would choose. The name harks back to St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan order.
Picking a name is the first decision made by the new pontiff and a closely watched sign of how he will lead the church….
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University
By The Huffington Post News Editors
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — For more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide, he’s Pope Francis. For Argentina’s poorest citizens, crowded in “misery villages” throughout the capital, he’s proudly known as one of their own, a true “slum pope.”
Villa 21-24 is a slum so dangerous that most outsiders don’t dare enter, but residents say Jorge Mario Bergoglio often showed up unannounced to share laughs and sips of mate, the traditional Argentine herbal tea shared by groups using a common straw.
For more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide, he’s Pope Francis. For Argentina’s poorest citizens, crowded in “misery villages” throughout the capital, he’s proudly known as one of their own, a true “slum pope.”
Villa 21-24 is a slum so dangerous that most outsiders don’t dare enter, but residents say Jorge Mario Bergoglio often showed up unannounced to share laughs and sips of mate, the traditional Argentine herbal tea shared by groups using a common straw.
People here recall how the Buenos Aires archbishop would arrive on a bus and walk through the mud to reach their little chapel; how he sponsored marathons and carpentry classes, consoled single mothers and washed the feet of recovering drug addicts; how he became one of them.
“Four years ago, I was at my worst and I needed help. When the Mass started he knelt down and washed my feet. It hit me hard. It was such a beautiful experience,” said Cristian Marcelo Reynoso, 27, a garbage collector trying to kick a cocaine addiction through the church’s rehab program.
“When I saw the news on the TV, I began screaming with joy, and look, I’m still trembling,” Reynoso said. “El Chaval (The Dude) is so humble. He’s a fan of San Lorenzo (the soccer club), like me. You talk to him like a friend.”
Long after he became a cardinal in 2001, this “prince of the church” wore a simple black T-shirt with a white collar. For many at the slum’s Caacupe Virgin of the Miracles Church, it’s nothing short of a miracle that their friend is the pope.
“He was always part of our slum,” housewife Lidia Valdivieso, 41, said after praying while resting her palm on a statue of St. Expeditus, patron saint of urgent and impossible causes. Her 23-year-old son has cerebral palsy and is learning carpentry at the church’s technical school.
“When I heard the news I couldn’t believe it. Having a ‘papa villero’ (slum pope) is the most beautiful thing that can happen to us. I still remember him going on long walks through our muddy streets or talking to our children,” Valdivieso said.
Inside the concrete block chapel, there’s a painted message commemorating Bergoglio’s inauguration, and another big painting of Pope John Paul II, but no sign of Benedict XVI whatsoever. Near the altar, there’s a large black-and-white poster of Carlos Mugica, an iconic …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By the time you read this, the world’s billion-plus Roman Catholics may have a new pope. And when the black smoke of Tuesday’s indecisive first vote has turned to the white smoke of final decision, don’t be surprised if the cardinals have chosen… a Catholic pope.
After the election of Benedict XVI in 2005, I wrote that the cardinals had correctly ignored the desires of some people to install a wimpish equivocator willing to bend with the winds of compromise. I believe the cardinals will show the same wisdom in 2013.
In other words, the cardinals will choose someone who can remain faithful to his creed and his office, a true Catholic in all respects.
Some dissidents think the Church needs to become relevant by embracing all modern codes of conduct, but the Church will remain relevant where it really counts only if it retains its core principles. When the world is adrift in turmoil, the answer is not more turmoil.
For example, abortion is no less evil today than it was in 2005; the need to protect life is no less compelling. The world will always need a place for rock-solid affirmation that life matters.
For those Catholics who don’t like the idea of a Catholic pope, there is an answer. It’s called the Episcopal Church, and every Catholic Church in the United States should have a map showing the location of the nearest one.
There, dissident Catholics will find homosexual bishops, lesbian priests, sanction for abortion, the unfettered right to divorce, and all those other practices the Catholic Church forbids under pain of mortal sin. It is the church that can’t say no. Dissidents will be very comfortable there.
Does the Catholic Church have problems to solve? Yes, it does.
The child-abuse scandal must be dealt with unequivocally. The next pope will also have to quell dysfunction within the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, the Curia. Some cardinals are thought to be frontrunners for the papacy based on their management skills, though I believe the Church needs more than a manager — it needs a leader.
There is also the matter of re-energizing the faithful. I won’t deny that a higher level of energy would be a good thing; after all, Pope Benedict did retire because he realized he could no longer serve due to “lack of strength of mind and body.”
I believe the Church will find a pope who can manage its bureaucracy and provide the energy to excel as a transformational world leader, as did John Paul II.
The new pope need not be transformational in the sense that doctrine should change, but transformational in finding new ways to make the wisdom and relevance of Church doctrine understood by all and attractive to those who have not yet found a home for their innate faith.
Update: Let’s pray that Pope Francis is that leader.
On the streets in Buenos Aires, the stories about the cardinal who has become the first pope from the Americas often include a very ordinary backdrop: The city bus during rush hour.
Tales are traded about chatting with Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio as he squeezed in with others for the commute to work. They sometimes talked about church affairs. Other times it could be about what he planned to cook for dinner in the simple downtown apartment he chose over an opulent church estate.
Or perhaps it was a mention of his affection for the tango, which he said he loved as a youth despite having one lung removed following an infection.
On the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica just after a rain shower Wednesday, wearing unadorned white robes, the new Pope Francis appeared to strike the same tone of simplicity and pastoral humility for a church desperate to move past the tarnished era of abuse scandals and internal Vatican upheavals.
While the new pontiff is not without some political baggage, including questions over his role during a military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, the selection of the 76-year-old Bergoglio reflected a series of history-making decisions by fellow cardinals who seemed determined to offer a suggestion of renewal to a church under pressures on many fronts.
“He is a real voice for the voiceless and vulnerable,” said Kim Daniels, director of Catholic Voices USA, a pro-church group. “That is the message.”
A cousin back in Argentina said the new pope “has a good spirit” that will benefit Roman Catholicism.
“He is naturally humble and a pastor,” said cardiologist Hugo Bergoglio, adding: “Jorge never thought he would be pope, or even a cardinal. That’s why he ended up becoming pope.”
Francis, the first pope from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order, bowed to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and asked for their blessing in a hint of the humble style he cultivated while trying to modernize Argentina‘s conservative church and move past a messy legacy of alleged complicity during the rule of the military junta of 1976-83.
“Brothers and sisters, good evening,” he said before making a reference to his roots in Latin America, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s Roman Catholics.
Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected by his peers Wednesday as the new pope, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas.
He chose the name Francis, drawing connections to the humble 13th-century saint who saw his calling as trying to rebuild the church in a time of turmoil.
As the long-time archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. In choosing a 76-year-old pope, the cardinals clearly decided that they didn’t need a vigorous, young pope who would reign for decades but rather a seasoned, popular and humble pastor who would draw followers to the faith and help rebuild a church stained by scandal.
Groups of supporters waved Argentine flags in St. Peter’s Square as Francis, wearing simple white robes, made his first public appearance as pope.
Chants of “Long live the pope!” arose from the throngs of faithful, many with tears in their eyes. Crowds went wild as the Vatican and Italian military bands marched through the square and up the steps of the basilica, followed by Swiss Guards in silver helmets and full regalia.
Francis appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica just after a church official announced “Habemus Papum” — “We have a pope” — and gave Bergoglio’s name in Latin.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening,” he said to wild cheers before making a reference to his roots in Latin America, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s Roman Catholics.
Francis asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose surprising resignation paved the way for the conclave that brought the first Jesuit to the papacy.
“You know that the work of the conclave is to give a bishop to Rome,” Francis said. “It seems as if my brother cardinals went to find him from the end of the earth. Thank you for the welcome.”
In one of his first acts as pope, Francis on Thursday morning planned to visit Benedict at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.
American Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Wednesday night at the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, that Francis told fellow cardinals following the conclave that made him pope: “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to visit Benedict.”
The visit is significant because Benedict’s resignation has raised concerns about potential power conflicts emerging from the peculiar situation of having a reigning pope and a retired one.
Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly, according to his official biographer, Sergio Rubin. He showed that humility on Wednesday, saying that before he blessed the crowd he wanted their prayers for him and bowed his head.
“Good night, and have a good rest,” he said before going back into the palace.
In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Francis has been known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.
Like other Jesuit …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Demonstrations took place across the United States and internationally to protest the male-only conclave to elect the next pope, MyFoxTampaBay.com reported.
Some members of St. Andrews UCC Church in Sarasota sent up a pink smoke signal Tuesday during a vigil. White smoke from the Sistine Chapel in Rome signals a new pope had been selected during the conclave.
The vigil was one of many held around the globe. There was a report of a fight outside the Vatican Tuesday when two female activists went topless and were dragged away from St. Peter’s Square.
The Sarasota group, for their part, gathered in a circle to pray, and they say their hope is for a more progressive pope.
“There’s one point plus billion Roman Catholics. 500 million women. All cultures, all languages, throughout the world living today, are not represented in the conclave. Not one woman,” said Katy Zatsick, with the Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community.
The moment Cardinal Albino Luciani learned his colleagues had elected him pope, he responded: “May God forgive you for what you’ve done.” The remark, by the man who became Pope John Paul I, was seen as an expression of humility — but also a commentary on the mammoth task ahead.
There is no job like that of pope. He is the CEO of a global enterprise, head of state, a moral voice in the world and, in the eyes of Roman Catholics, Christ’s representative on earth.
And the man who emerges as pontiff from the conclave starting Tuesday has a particularly crushing to-do list.
Here are some of the challenges awaiting the next pope:
___
REFORM: The next pope will have to restore discipline to the scandal-plagued central administration of the church. Benedict XVI, the former pope, commissioned a report on the Vatican bureaucracy, or Curia, that will be shown only to his successor. Benedict’s butler had leaked the pope’s private papers revealing feuding, corruption and cronyism at the highest levels of administration. The secretive Vatican bank recently ousted a president for incompetence and is under pressure for greater financial transparency. Bishops in several countries say nonresponsive Vatican officials are hampering local churches. The Curia decides everything from bishop appointments and liturgy, to parish closings and discipline for abusive priests.
___
SEX ABUSE: The Vatican remains under pressure to reveal more about its past role in the church’s failures to protect children worldwide. The issue erupted ahead of the conclave, when victims from the U.S., Chile and Mexico pressured cardinals to recuse themselves because they had shielded priests from prosecution. Benedict instructed bishops around the world to craft policies to keep abusers from the priesthood, but church leaders in some nations haven’t yet complied. “There’s still the victims,” Chicago Cardinal Francis George said in a news conference last week. “The wound is still deep in their hearts, and as long as it’s with them it will be with us. The pope has to keep this in mind.”
___
EMPTY PEWS: Secularism has already taken a toll on churches in Europe and the U.S., where a growing number of people don’t identify with a faith. The move away from organized religion is also hurting parishes in Latin America. Churches in Brazil and other …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Cardinals took a break from maneuvering ahead of this week’s papal conclave to fan out across Rome and celebrate Sunday Mass at local parishes.
The worship services provided a chance to see the cardinals up close and hear them preach two days before they enter the conclave. Roman Catholics and others packed the churches, holding up cell phones to take photos and video.
The cardinals said Mass in their titular churches, the parishes that according to church tradition are assigned to them as clergy of Rome, creating a symbolic bond with the pope. The conclave, with 115 cardinal-electors, is scheduled to start Tuesday.
The cardinals have been holding meetings and informal gatherings ahead of electing a successor to Benedict XVI. Several church leaders acknowledged the historic moment at Mass.
“This Sunday is also special because today we prepare for the conclave,” said Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, in his sermon at Holy Mary of Victory church. “Let us pray that the Holy Spirit illumines the church to choose a new pope who will confirm us in our faith and make more visible the love of the good shepherd.”
The parish priest who introduced the cardinal was more direct, describing O’Malley as “humble, but decisive,” and saying he hoped his next visit to the church would be as pontiff. The leading Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, has cited the Boston archbishop as a favorite, despite past resistance to the idea of a superpower pope.
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan, considered a top papal contender, distributed communion at Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles, and spoke on the mission of the church.
“It is to announce over and over again, even to the modern man who is so sophisticated but sometimes lost in the new millennium, to announce always and repeatedly that the Lord’s mercy is a source of hope even in these difficult times,” he said. Scola waved to well-wishers as he was driven away from the church.
At Church of St. Andrew at the Quirinal, a crowd greeted Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, considered Brazil‘s best hope of filling the papacy. Scherer, who lived in Rome as a young priest, shook hands and hugged the faithful before celebrating Mass. He asked for prayers for the church, calling this period “certainly a difficult time, but also a joyful one and full of hope.”
A pastor in Ontario wondered about behind-the-scenes politicking ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope. He could have read news reports or listened to briefings by the Vatican spokesman. Instead, he asked a cardinal. Less than an hour later, the response arrived.
“What I see is a real desire to know, and so evaluate, the papabili against criteria of qualities demanded by situations,” wrote Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, using the term “papabili” for cardinals seen as papal contenders.
The exchange occurred on Twitter, one of many online interactions that have made this papal succession unlike any other for Roman Catholics and observers of the church. While the election starting Tuesday will remain strictly secret, social media is providing a direct link to the events surrounding the succession, creating a virtual conclave that involves lay people in everything from voting to prayer.
“I think it’s fabulous for the church,” said Brother Martin Browne, a Benedictine monk in County Limerick, Ireland, who is following Vatican analysts and reporters on Twitter instead of watching general news coverage. “I think more people understand what’s going on now because there’s greater access to good information.”
No one will be posting updates from inside the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican will activate electronic jamming devices so no one can listen in or report out. “You obviously can’t have cardinals inside the conclave tweeting ‘Uh-oh, trending right now: new young cardinal from wherever,'” said Greg Burke, a Vatican communications adviser.
But in the run-up to the ceremony, several cardinals have been interacting with the faithful on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere — in some cases even during the interview ban the College of Cardinals imposed last week to prevent leaks about their daily meetings.
Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, tweeted that although God would ultimately choose the next pontiff, he wanted to know what his followers hoped for in a new pope.
“I would very much like your feedback,” he wrote in Spanish. On zulumissions.org, a site for the Archdiocese of Durban, church officials have been providing updates for parishioners leaving messages and prayers for Napier. Along with daily meetings and informal dinners, several of the 115 cardinal-electors, some of whom had never met, say they’re using Google to research each others’ writings and church works.
Yet, the numbers of cardinals who directly participate online is relatively small. About two dozen had Twitter accounts when Benedict XVI stepped down. Many church leaders have accounts in their name, or on behalf of their dioceses, but leave it to their communications staff to actually write Facebook posts and send tweets. Benedict used the Twitter handle (at)pontifex, but he, too, let advisers write the messages. The account has been taken down and the papal tweets saved.
The more intensive activity is springing up among parishioners and the generally curious.
Spotify has a conclave-themed music list. (The hymn “Ubi caritas et amor,” or “Wherever charity and love are,” is included.) A fan of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, posted a YouTube video of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Rumors about the ultra-secret voting for the next pope held at the Sistine Chapel next week have included stories about fierce competition between Italian and non-Italian cardinals, leaks about cardinals who want to dig into classified Vatican dossiers and a rotating list of names of the latest papal candidates du jour.
Is there a consensus among the 115 cardinals who will choose the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics? Perhaps. Will it be an Italian, such as Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola, or a South American, like Brazilian-born Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer? How about an American? Or will the next leader hail from Africa, Asia or Central America?
On Saturday, one of the few sources of official information on the Vatican gave reporters hints about the mood of the cardinals who will start the papal conclave Tuesday afternoon.
A pastor in Ontario wondered about behind-the-scenes politicking ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope. He could have read news reports or listened to briefings by the Vatican spokesman. Instead, he asked a cardinal. Less than an hour later, the response arrived.
“What I see is a real desire to know, and so evaluate, the papabili against criteria of qualities demanded by situations,” wrote Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, using the term “papabili” for cardinals seen as papal contenders.
The exchange occurred on Twitter, one of many online interactions that have made this papal succession unlike any other for Roman Catholics and observers of the church. While the election starting Tuesday will remain strictly secret, social media is providing a direct link to the events surrounding the succession, creating a virtual conclave that involves lay people in everything from voting to prayer.
“I think it’s fabulous for the church,” said Brother Martin Browne, a Benedictine monk in County Limerick, Ireland, who is following Vatican analysts and reporters on Twitter instead of watching general news coverage. “I think more people understand what’s going on now because there’s greater access to good information.”
No one will be posting updates from inside the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican will activate electronic jamming devices so no one can listen in or report out. “You obviously can’t have cardinals inside the conclave tweeting ‘Uh-oh, trending right now: new young cardinal from wherever,'” said Greg Burke, a Vatican communications adviser.
But in the run-up to the ceremony, several cardinals have been interacting with the faithful on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere — in some cases even during the interview ban the College of Cardinals imposed last week to prevent leaks about their daily meetings.
Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, tweeted that although God would ultimately choose the next pontiff, he wanted to know what his followers hoped for in a new pope.
“I would very much like your feedback,” he wrote in Spanish. On zulumissions.org, a site for the Archdiocese of Durban, church officials have been providing updates for parishioners leaving messages and prayers for Napier. Along with daily meetings and informal dinners, several of the 115 cardinal-electors, some of whom had never met, say they’re using Google to research each others’ writings and church works.
Yet, the numbers of cardinals who directly participate online is …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
