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Rome -- "Where people are, the Word of God must be," a priest from Washington state, in the holy city for a conference on the Church in America, told an Italian media outlet. The simple explanation did make clear why one of the most learned, reserved, holy men on the planet was dipping his toes into Twitter. When the pope sent his first post on the popular social media platform, two grandmotherly women from the Philippines were sitting near me. "Pope -- Twitter!" they said to me with radiant smiles. "Thanks be to God!" they continued. There was a language...

Vatican City -- "Ever ancient, ever new": It's hard not to think of St. Augustine's paean to the lord when you're walking past a synod of bishops, on the way up to meet the pope in Rome, as I was one recent morning. I was in Rome to receive, as a representative of the United States and "women of the world," a message first delivered by Pope Paul VI at the closing of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. "Women, you do know how to make truth sweet, tender and accessible; make it your task to bring the spirit of...

Italian president joins Rome’s Jews in marking ’82 attack October 10, 2012 (JTA) -- Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano participated in a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of a terror attack on Rome’s main synagogue that killed a toddler. Speaking Wednesday at the commemoration in Rome, the city's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, said the Oct. 9, 1982 attack had not been an “isolated event.” Di Segni said it had taken place amid a virulent “campaign to demonize Jews” in the wake of the Israeli war with Lebanon in the summer of 1982 and the massacre of civilians at the Sabra...

October 9, 1982 Arab Muslim "Palestinian" terrorists of Abu Nidal organization (ANO) bomb the main synagogue in Rome, Italy, murdering a child and injuring 37 adults.Chronologies of Modern Terrorism - Page 197 - Barry M. Rubin, Judith Colp Rubin - M.E. Sharpe, 2008 - 405 pages September 27, 1982 Three bombs explode in Frankfurt offices dealing with Israel, killing one and wounding two. No one claims responsibility. October 9, 1982 Abu Nidal terrorists attack the main Rome synagogue, killing one child and injuring 37 adults.http://books.google.com/books?id=RIwBFpBi5noC&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197 Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge - Page 70 - Alan...

A giant poolside mosaic featuring intricate geometric patterns has been unearthed in southern Turkey, revealing the far-reaching influence of the Roman Empire at its peak. The mosaic, which once decorated the floor of a bath complex, abuts a 25-foot (7-meter)-long pool, which would have been open to the air, said Michael Hoff, a University of Nebraska, Lincoln art historian and director of the mosaic excavation. The find likely dates to the third or fourth century, Hoff said. The mosaic itself is an astonishing 1,600 square feet (149 square meters) — the size of a modest family home. [....] So far,...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv6YwLpy6G4

In the 1938 Mohammed et Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne, a Belgian historian, was published posthumousy. In it he developed the thesis that a people, the Arabs, credited with saving Western civilization had in fact destroyed it. This book that I wish to review, Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisted: the History Of a Controversy by Emmet Scott (2012) is not, as it says itself, history in the normal sense, but rather the history of a controversy, one that has raged for many years: What ended Roman civilization and brought about the Dark Ages? To start off, I wish to say upfront that...

Police in Rome have sniffed out a cannabis factory in an abandoned metro tunnel built during the rule of Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, in the 1930s. Officers reportedly stumbled across the factory after smelling the pungent crop near an entrance, not far from the Italian central bank. The tunnel, just over half a mile (1km) long, was also being used to cultivate mushrooms. But behind a makeshift wall, police discovered rows of marijuana plants. Video released by Italy's financial police showed an underground greenhouse with thriving marijuana plants lit by halogen lights, and irrigated via a system of underground cisterns....

Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian St. Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, where the Rev. Angel Armando Perez is the parish priest. It was close to midnight Sunday when Woodburn resident James Curths saw the 12-year-old boy running down the street toward him. Curths said the child, panting and out of breath, begged for help, telling him a man was chasing him. Moments later, a man rounded the corner wearing only underwear. He stood a short distance away, trying to wave the boy over as Curths and his sister-in-law prepared to drive the boy to relatives. "He was staring at us," said Heather...

ROME (Reuters) - The ancient Colosseum of Rome, where gladiators fought for their lives, is slanting about 40 cm (16 inches) lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating whether it needs urgent repairs. Experts first noticed the incline about a year ago and have been monitoring it for the past few months, ... Tests have also started to observe the effects that traffic on nearby busy roads may have on the monument. Professor Giorgio Monti, from La Sapienza's construction technology department, warned there may be a crack in the base below the amphitheatre. "The...

Announcement due tomorrow. There is no return to Rome. The superior of the Lefebvrists of Spain and Portugal, Juan Maria Montagut, will communicate to the faithful, after the mass of 11, that the hierarchy of the FSSPX, gathered in Ecône, have decided to say "no" to the Vatican. The followers of Lefebvre will not return to the Roman fold. Primarily, because they are not willing to accept the Second Vatican Council in all its extremes.

Relaxed and at ease, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller returns a week after his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the Diocese of Regensburg. A series of interviews for journalists are on the agenda for Friday: liberation theology, the SSPX and the situation of divorced and remarried. Minefields for an ecclesiastic, who has moved to third place in the Vatican's ecclesiastical pecking order. Archbishop Mueller, first of all, congratulations on the new job. Since when did you know about your appointment? I definitely knew it on 16 May, when the Holy Father has summoned...

He insulted the mother of God, the Eucharist and the Church. It is a foretaste of what is to come from the post-conciliar church headed by Benedict XVI (Cathcon- small modification of the text here as kreuz.net expressed themselves in rather more vivid terms than I would be prepared- but the catastrophe of this appointment cannot be hidden, along with the appointment of Annibale Bugnini's reincarnation, Bishop Roche to be Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship- although Bugnini for all his grave errors had studied the liturgy very thoroughly) Today at noon is the Vatican announced the appointment of...

Rome Icon Actually Younger Than the City The icon of Rome's foundation, a life-size bronze statue of a she-wolf with two human infants suckling her, is about 1,700 years younger than its city, Rome's officials admitted on Saturday. The official announcement, made at the Capitoline Museums, where the 30 inch-high bronze is the centerpiece of a dedicated room, quashes the belief that the sculpture was adopted by the earliest Romans as a symbol for their city. "The new dating ranges between 1021 e il 1153," said Lucio Calcagnile, who carried radiocarbon tests at the University of Salento's Center for Dating...

Nearly a dozen senior leadership positions are filled with dignitaries beyond the retirement age of 75. Will the Curia become more international? In the Vatican, a number of high ranking staff changes are awaited. Among them, it is not for certain that the Cardinal Secretary of State will remain in office, who is currently the focus of the "Vatileaks" attack. But there are currently almost a dozen senior positions with occupied by dignitaries above the pensionable age of 75. And even if no relationship between leaks scandal and retirement exists, the appointment will this time attract special attention. In addition,...

UPDATE from 19.00 clock: a new statement from the SSPX: "The desire for further clarifications could usher in a new series of meeting" - The Vatican plans to offer a personal prelature The Vatican on Wednesday evening consulted with the leadership of the SSPX on the progress of the ecclesiastical unity efforts. The prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, gave the Superior of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, Bernard Fellay, in a detailed interview at the headquarters of his curial body, the official response of the Pope. Benedict XVI had informed Levada and the...

Concerning the open wounds of the Church by Gianluigi Nuzzi "Traitor," some call him. Because he has made public in his book "Sua Santità" operations that the Holy See would have rather have kept in the dark- failures in dealing with cases of sexual abuse, for example. The journalist and author Gianluigi Nuzzi tells the SZ why the publication of the Vatileaks will make the Church better. Pope Benedict XVI is to meet Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano - and Monsignor Mamberti, the "foreign minister" of the Vatican Secretariat of State is preparing a note to Ratzinger. He cites a number...

Fr. Miche Koller of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has proclaimed that an agreement between Rome and the SSPX will be announced this week. He then went on to rally against union with Rome. It is impossible to know whether or not Bisop Williamson's followers will prevent the SSPX from joining with the Catholic Church. But if the above prediction turns out to be true, see the entire video below for some of what will be coming to a parish near you. The cultic video is ironically entitled, "Bishop Williamson: The Unchanging Catholic Unifier"

MILAN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict got no rest on Sunday from a leaks scandal when an Italian newspaper published documents showing that his butler was not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence indicating a Vatican in disarray. Benedict, 85, ended a weekend trip to Italy's industrial and financial capital Milan with a closing mass for an international gathering in which he praised traditional Catholic family values and re-stated his opposition to gay marriage.But in its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica published documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the pope's butler on...

The Gemelli Hospital in Rome, owned by the Church, has a hole in theie accounts of one billion. This has been revealed in a letter to Cardinal Bertone: "There is danger of bankruptcy" A few days ago the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone received a report with devastating content regarding the healthcare operations of the Catholic University of Sacred Heart which controls the Gemelli Hospital, showing a total debt of nearly one billion (750 to banks and 170 million to suppliers), and the risk of a crash is very close. "L'Espresso" has read the confidential memo dated May 17, 2012...