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The Pope and Rome – Synonymous, Right? Hmm … Let’s “See” By: Msgr. Charles PopeMost Catholics understandably link the Church, the Papacy, and Rome. We are “Roman” Catholics. The Pope lives in Rome. He is the Bishop of Rome and of the universal Church. Rome, the Papacy, and the Church are solidly linked terms and almost interchangeable. To say, “Rome has spoken … ” is to say the Pope has spoken, the Church has ruled.But this connection has not always held and the popes, for various reasons, have chosen or been “forced” to live outside of Rome.Among the lesser...

Gerbils are cute and furry creatures. They may also, according to scientists, have been responsible for killing millions of people across Europe by spreading the plague. Researchers now believe that gerbils from Asia, rather than native black rats, were behind the repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe.

The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic looks very normal on the outside... (see pics at the link)

It seems Larry, Curly, and Moe are handling the Ebola threat with understandable results: Death is the result of ineptitude, incoherence, and incertitude The population of Europe had outrun the food supply in the early 1300s, and in a few years, the poor were eating cats, dogs, and other animals. Some say they even ate their own children! People were dying, but rather slowly. Bubonic plague (Black Death) would prove to be more efficient and quicker than famine, much quicker. The bubonic plague cut its way through the Far East to Italy, then to the rest of Europe. It is...

Press Briefing by Press Clerk Earnest Jeste, 10/16/1348 Blondel the Minstrel Press Briefing Room 1:08 P.M. GMT JESTE: Good afternoon, everybody. Nice to see you all. Apologize for the delayed start today. Bramwell, do you want to get us started with questions? Q: Sure. Thank you. The King’s subjects are increasingly concerned about the spread of a malady that most call the Plague, which has killed multitudes in the Kingdom of Naples, the Holy Roman Empire and France. There are now cases popping up in our realm. Is the White Castle preparing a strategy to deal with the situation? JESTE:...

Most people assume that the fourteenth-century Black Death that quickly ravaged the western world was a bacterial bubonic plague epidemic caused by flea bites and spread by rats. But the Black Death killed a high proportion of Scandinavians where it was too cold for fleas to survive. Biology of Plagues. Evidence from Historical Populations published by Cambridge University Press, analyzed 2,500 years of plagues and concluded that the Black Death was caused by a viral hemorrhagic fever pandemic similar to Ebola. If this is correct, the future medical and economic impacts from Ebola have been vastly underestimated.  Authors Dr. Susan Scott, a demographer,...

How The Bubonic Plague Actually Saved Europe In The 14th Century Sam Ro May 15, 2013, 1:31 PM Studying the history of financial crises can be quite enlightening. Deutsche Bank's Peter Hooper just published an interesting report considering crises going back to the Middle Ages. Referring to the work of Juesus Huerta de Soto, Geld, Bankkredit und Konjunkturzyklen, and Stuttgart, Hooper summarizes what happened during the European credit crisis of the 14th century. What's interesting is how the country got out of the crisis. From Hooper's note (emphasis added): In the early 14th century banks in Florence engaged in a...

...The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, has been linked with at least two of the most devastating pandemics in recorded history. One, the Great Plague, which lasted from the 14th to 17th centuries, included the infamous epidemic known as the Black Death, which may have killed nearly two-thirds of Europe in the mid-1300s. Another, the Modern Plague, struck around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, beginning in China in the mid-1800s and spreading to Africa, the Americas, Australia, Europe and other parts of Asia. Although past studies confirmed this germ was linked with both of these catastrophes,...

The genetic code of the germ that caused the Black Death has been reconstructed by scientists for the first time. The researchers extracted DNA fragments of the ancient bacterium from the teeth of medieval corpses found in London. They say the pathogen is the ancestor of all modern plagues. The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests the 14th Century outbreak was also the first plague pandemic in history.

Most assume that Black Death quickly ravaged the fourteenth century western world was a bacterial bubonic plague epidemic caused by flea bites and spread by rats. But the Black Death killed a high proportion of Scandinavians -- and where they lived was too cold for fleas to survive. A modern work gives us a clue into this mystery. The “Biology of Plagues” published by Cambridge University Press analyzed 2,500 years of plagues and concluded that the Black Death was caused by a viral hemorrhagic fever pandemic similar to Ebola. If this view is correct, the future medical and economic impacts...

Controversial new research suggests that contrary to the history books, the "Black Death" that devastated medieval Europe was not the bubonic plague, but rather an Ebola-like virus. History books have long taught the Black Death, which wiped out a quarter of Europe's population in the Middle Ages, was caused by bubonic plague, spread by infected fleas that lived on black rats. But new research in England suggests the killer was actually an Ebola-like virus transmitted directly from person to person. The Black Death killed some 25 million Europeans in a devastating outbreak between 1347 and 1352, and then reappeared periodically...

This map shows how Europe would look if every separatist movement was granted its dream of independence. With the Scottish referendum just days away, the issue of regions breaking away from their traditional rulers is looming large over the continent. The map features well-known separatist movements, such as the powerful and vocal Basque Nationalist movement in northern Spain and southwestern France, as well as the more obscure, such as the Savoyan League, which supports the independence of the Savoy region of France, which has a population of around 405,500.

A Chinese city has been sealed off and 151 people have been placed in quarantine since last week after a man died of bubonic Plague, state media said. The 30,000 residents of Yumen, in the north-western province of Gansu, are not being allowed to leave, and police at roadblocks on the perimeter of the city are telling motorists to find alternative routes, China Central Television (CCTV) said.

The chances of surviving the Black Death Why did some people survive the Black Death, and others succumb? At the time of the plague – which ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351, carrying off 50 million people, perhaps half the population – various prophylactics were tried, from the killing of birds, cats and rats to the wearing of leather breeches (protecting the legs from flea bites) and the burning of aromatic spices and herbs. Now it seems that the best way of avoiding death from the disease was to be fit and healthy. Sharon DeWitte and James Wood of the...

Black Death targeted the weak By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 10:01pm GMT 28/01/2008 The Black Death, which killed one person in every three in Europe, was not as indiscriminate as thought, according to studies of remains in mass grave in East Smithfield. Skeletons of plague victims in a mass grave at East Smithfield, London The toll was so high during its height in the 1300s that many have concluded that anyone and everyone who came into contact with the agent, thought to be a bacterium, was doomed. But research published today shows that people who were physically frail...

A new study suggests that people who survived the medieval mass-killing plague known as the Black Death lived significantly longer and were healthier than people who lived before the epidemic struck in 1347. Caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the Black Death wiped out 30 percent of Europeans and nearly half of Londoners during its initial four-year wave from 1347 – 1351... The findings have important implications for understanding emerging diseases and how they impact the health of individuals and populations of people... She says the Black Death was a single iteration of a disease that has affected humans since...

Records say thousands of Londoners perished and their corpses were dumped in a mass grave outside the City, but its exact location was a mystery. Archaeologists now believe it is under Charterhouse Square near the Barbican. They plan to expand their search for victims across the square - guided by underground radar scans, which have picked up signs of many more graves. Crossrail's lead archaeologist Jay Carver says the find "solves a 660-year-old mystery". "This discovery is a hugely important step forward in documenting and understanding Europe's most devastating pandemic," he said

hat caused the fall of the Roman Empire? A devastating plague that struck during the reign of Emperor Justinian in 541 AD, killing a quarter of the population, seems to have landed the final blow, but the identity of the infection was a mystery. Now sequencing of DNA taken from two skeletons buried in Bavaria, Germany, in the 6th century has uncovered the complete genome of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria also blamed for the Black Death that struck Europe in 1348. The find suggests that Y. pestis may have emerged to ravage humanity several times. Hendrik Poinar at McMaster University...

An international team of scientists has discovered that two of the most devastating pandemics in human history -- responsible for killing as much as half the population in Europe at the time -- were caused by strains of the same bacterium. The researchers announced Monday that the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen, and warned that similar pandemics can strike again. The Plague of Justinian struck in the 6th century and is estimated to have killed between 30 and 50 million people -- virtually half the world’s population as it...

A plague-infected squirrel has closed a California campground for at least a week, according to Los Angeles County health officials. The squirrel, trapped July 16 in the Table Mountain Campgrounds of Angeles National Forest, tested positive for the infection Tuesday, prompting a health advisory and the closing of the campground while investigators tested other squirrels and dusted the area for plague-infected fleas. "Plague is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas, which is why we close affected campgrounds and recreational areas as a precaution while preventive measures are taken to control the...