Free Republic

“There are but 155 years left … at which time … the world will come to an end,” wrote Christopher Columbus in his book “Libro de Las Profecias,” composed in 1502 between his third and fourth voyages. Columbus continued: “… The sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.” Though his predictions were off, Columbus’ writings revealed his motivation for setting sail on his first voyage Aug. 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. He sought to find a sea...

PATERSON - For Father Joseph Orlandi, a U.S. Army chaplain recently stationed in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the potent declaration "War is hell" is no hollow cliche.  Over the past year, this tough-as-nails Army colonel, who also is pastor of St. Michael Parish here, lived in real time the horrors and stresses of war that TV cameras can't begin to capture adequately. While tending to the spiritual needs of U.S. troops in the deserts of the Middle East, Father Orlandi witnessed unspeakable images - like the carnage strewn across a Baghdad street after a car-bomb blast.  In both war-torn nations,...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict slipped out of the Vatican unannounced for the first time in his papacy on Saturday, travelling to the same spot his predecessor did exactly 27 years ago to pray after being elected.  The Pontiff visited the shrine to the Virgin Mary at Mentorella, in the mountains about 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Vatican City, where Pope John Paul II went on Oct. 29, 1978.  John Paul had said that travelling to Mentorella, in what was the first the many pilgrimages outside Rome of his pontificate, had helped him to pray.  John Paul's trip,...