Free Republic

ROME — Just when you think you have Pope Francis figured out, he surprises you. In that spirit, Monday’s appointment of Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea as the new head of the Vatican’s department for liturgical policy will certainly surprise some. Sarah becomes the second African to have the Vatican’s top liturgical post, after Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze from 2002 to 2008. When he recently removed US Cardinal Raymond Burke from a senior Vatican job, many observers concluded that Francis simply didn’t want such a strong conservative on his team. Yet he’s now handed over the Congregation for Divine...

Pope sending donation to Katrina victims Vatican, Sep. 05 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) is sending a personal donation to relief efforts for the victims of hurricane Katrina. The Holy Father has dispatched Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, the head of the pontifical charity Cor Unum, to deliver the aid and to express the Pope's sympathy to the hurricane victims. As his Angelus audience on Sunday, September 4, Pope Benedict drew attention to the devastating storm that had ravaged the southern United States. He gave his "assurance of my prayers for the deceased and for their relatives, for...