Free Republic

Numbers favour Latin American successor By Richard Lapper, Latin America editor Published: April 3 2005 12:29 | Last updated: April 3 2005 12:29 History and tradition may favour an Italian, but the strength of the Catholic church in Latin America means that the next Pope could come from the region that boasts the largest number of Catholics in the world. Certainly that is what bookmakers believe. Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, Claudio Hummes, of Brazil,. Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina, Jaime Ortega from Cuba and Dario Castrillion Hoyos, from Colombia have frequently featured among the favourites detailed by Paddy Power...

For all his erudition and mysticism, Pope John Paul II was a gloriously human pope, not pale and other-worldly from years in a Vatican bureaucracy, but fully rounded and robust from toiling in the harsh light of the real world. This pope felt the sting of his parents' deaths at an early age, worked with his hands, heard the rock-hard cacophony of a quarry and the boom of Nazi bombs, enjoyed belting out a good song. He lived an outsized, epic life -- so full of novelistic, even cinematic, twists of plot that it might well have been written by...

Israel expressed "deep sorrow" at the passing of Pope John Paul II, who in 1986 referred to the Jewish people as "our elder brothers." Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom issued a statement saying that "Israel, the Jewish people and the entire world, lost today a great champion of reconciliation and brotherhood between the faiths." "On behalf of the government and people of Israel, we extend our condolences to the Catholic Church and the flock of Pope John Paul II," Shalom said. "This is a great loss, first and foremost for the Catholic Church and its hundreds of millions of believers, but...

I WAS SITTING at Cork airport yesterday morning next to some talkative young Corkmen. “The Pope is near dett,” says one, reading a text from his mobile phone. “Ah, sure,” says another, “tis the best for him now. Won’t he be better off? He’ll be safe enough anyway — Jeez, if he doesn’t go straight up, what hope is there for the rest of us?” Laughter. “Oh he’ll go straight up all right,” said a third. “I wonder will the schools have a day off? For mourning, like.” The young Corkonians were articulating, in their cheerful vernacular, something about the...

The Reverend Billy Graham issued the following statement Saturday: "Pope John Paul II was unquestionably the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world during the last 100 years. His extraordinary gifts, his strong Catholic faith, and his experience of human tyranny and suffering in his native Poland all shaped him, and yet he was respected by men and women from every conceivable background across the world. He was truly one of those rare individuals whose legacy will endure long after he has gone. "It was my privilege to meet with him at the Vatican on various occasions,...

The papacy is not, in theory, a man-made office at all. Its holder is chosen for life, by God himself, to hold the keys of Peter and to be the vicar of Christ on earth. This is yet another of the self-imposed tortures that faith inflicts upon itself. It means that you have to believe that the pope before last, who held on to the job for a matter of weeks before dying (or, according to some, before being murdered) was either unchosen by God in some fit of celestial pique, or left unprotected by heaven against his assassins. And...

1. Mane nobiscum, Domine! Stay with us, Lord! (cf. Lk 24:29) With these words, the disciples on the road to Emmaus invited the mysterious Wayfarer to stay with them, as the sun was setting on that first day of the week when the incredible had occurred. According to his promise, Christ had risen; but they did not yet know this. Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer along the road made their hearts burn within them. So they said to him: "Stay with us". Seated around the supper table, they recognized him in the "breaking of bread" - and...

What happens when the pope gets sick? If the pope becomes sick, he can delegate some of his authority to the cardinal secretary of state or to any other person. In the long history of the papacy, popes have formally or informally delegated authority to Vatican officials, cardinal nephews and other members of their families. But today the logical person to run the church while the pope is sick would be Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the secretary of state, who is more like a prime minister than a U.S. secretary of state. Such delegation presumes that the pope is still capable...

How typical of the heroic Pope John Paul II that he would hold on long enough to see us through Holy Week; that he would use such strong words in his defense of a dying Terri Schiavo. How like this "Pope of the People" that even in failing strength he kept coming to the window of his Vatican apartment to bless the pilgrims. The life of Pope John Paul II has been a courageous one that made a difference for so many. Frail as he was back in 2002 when he came to Toronto for Youth Day, the Holy Father...

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II developed a high fever Thursday because of a urinary tract infection and was being treated with antibiotics at the Vatican, his spokesman said. The latest health setback for the 84-year-old pontiff came one day after he began receiving nutrition through a feeding tube. There were reports that the pope received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick — what used to be called the last rites. But the Italian news agency Apcom, without citing any sources, reported that John Paul's condition was "stable" early Friday, several hours after he started receiving antibiotics....

Now off the launching pad and in the running to replace Pope Paul John II, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, shoots from the lip. A drawn-looking John Paul II, unable to preside over last Sunday’s Palm Sunday for the first time in his 26-year papacy, and reportedly not responding well to his medication, and was unable to speak during the traditional Easter Sunday blessing. Among the ranks of potential papal replacement cardinals, Maradiaga is restive. The long on charisma Maradiaga, who hails from Honduras, is ready to rock the Vatican boat. The difference between the Polish pontiff and the would-be...

As far as the next pope is concerned, expect the unexpected. That's the message National Catholic Reporter Vatican correspondent John Allen, Jr. stressed in his 2005 Religious Education Congress Feb. 20 workshop, "Four papacies, four futures for the church" highlighting four differing points of view among the 118 Cardinals under age 80 who will elect the future pope. Although Pope John Paul II has appointed all but three of the cardinals who will elect his successor, Allen said it is a misconception that the next pope will be similar to the current one. "It doesn't work like that," declared...

SCRANTON, Pa. — Eric Bergman gave up friendships, his home and his priesthood in the Episcopal Church for his beliefs. The 34-year-old renounced his priesthood Dec. 31 and now wants to win souls as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.Joining him in the move to Catholicism are his wife, Kristina, and his three children, all under the age of 3. Bergman also brings with him some 60 parishioners from his former congregation, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Scranton, Pa., where he served as rector for five years, and 10 Episcopalians from a nearby parish.Bergman is petitioning the...

Pope John Paul II, recently hospitalized with the flu, is being returned to the hospital, wire services report. Details soon.

February 07, 2005 Eye on Eurasia: A Siberian Pope?Eye on Eurasia: A Siberian Pope? By Paul Goble UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Tartu, Estonia, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- At the height of the Cold War, Morris West published a novel titled "The Shoes of the Fisherman," which tells how a Russian Catholic priest long imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag concentration camp system becomes by a strange twist of fate the pope of Rome and helps the world's major powers to overcome their divisions. Five years later, that book became the basis for a popular motion picture of the same name starring Anthony...

The pope's disgraceful tribute to Arafat Posted: November 13, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern From the way world leaders reacted to the death of Yasser Arafat, you could be forgiven if you had mistakenly believed that Mother Theresa had died. Kofi Annan, a man whose diplomatic career has been dedicated to friendship with tyrants and contempt for their victims, declared himself "deeply moved" by Arafat's death and ordered the U.N. flag flown at half-mast. This is not all that surprising given that Annan is the same man who overruled U.N. Gen. Romeo Dallaire in April 1994 and ordered him not to...

Vatican Sets Up Sports Department By FRANCES D'EMILIO Associated Press Writer August 3, 2004, 1:52 PM EDT VATICAN CITY -- He made saves as a soccer goalkeeper in his high school years in Poland, skied and kayaked in Europe and swam laps in the papal pool. Now Pope John Paul II has set up a sports department to give the Vatican a kind of new playing field in its drive to spread Christian values around the world. The Vatican announced the initiative Tuesday, pointing to the millions of people who will follow the Olympics in Athens this month as proof...

"We are bound to be diligently watchful after the manner of a vigilant Shepherd and to ensure most carefully that certain people who consider the study of the truth beneath them should be driven out of the sheepfold of Christ and no longer continue to disseminate error from positions of authority." "6. In addition, [by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity We enact, determine, decree and define:-] that if ever at any time it shall appear that any Bishop, even if he be acting as an Archbishop, Patriarch or Primate; or any Cardinal of the aforesaid...

ROME, March 6 — Although no gilded ceremonies have been planned or grand tributes penned, Pope John Paul II is edging up on yet another milestone. As of Sunday, March 14, he would move a notch higher on the list of the longest-reigning leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, according to the Vatican's official tabulation. John Paul would pass Leo XIII, who served from 1878 to 1903, to become No. 2 or 3, depending on the count. Many Catholic leaders put St. Peter in the top position, attributing 35 years to him, while many scholars say that there is no...

<p>Pope John Paul II does not have long in this world. No medically savvy observer of the man can deny the signs of anemia and hints of organ failure. With fresh press reports about kidney dialysis and spreading cancer, it is hardly shocking to hear cardinals talk openly of his demise and the subsequent conclave to elect a successor. Some outspoken Church liberals suggest the pope should resign, a move that was unthinkable before the liberalizing Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. Today, politicking for the chair of St. Peter is less hidden than ever before.</p>