83-Year Old, German, Fr. Karl Josef Becker, S.J. Will Not Be Created At The February 18, 2018 Consistory

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 5:54 pm
Feb 032012
 

Anura Guruge, laughing, picture November 16, 2011.

  by Anura Guruge

The Vatican announced, earlier this morning, that due to ill health, 83-year old, German, cardinal-designate, Fr. Karl Josef Becker, S.J. will not be created a cardinal during the public, February 18, 2012, cardinal creating consistory. Instead, he will be created, in private, at a later time.

Fr. Karl Josef Becker S.J.

This is a rather curious move!

There has never been a requirement that one has to be present at the consistory to be created. In the past, when travel was not as easy as it is today, many a cardinal got created before they even knew about it. Hence the rule, even today, post 1904, that a cardinal, once created at a consistory, i.e., proclaimed at the consistory, can take part in a conclave even if he hasn’t received all his insignia — such as his ring.

Having the designates all present to be created is a modern affectation. To ME, the Vatican announcement is ambiguous. A cardinal has to be created in a consistory — which means that the pope needs to have at least a couple of existing cardinals around him when he makes the proclamation. So to say ‘private’ is confusing. Maybe it means away from the public eye. Also not clear to me, whether Becker’s name will not be proclaimed at the February 18, 2012 consistory. If it is, he is created. If his name is not proclaimed then only 21 cardinals will be created at the consistory.

We wish the cardinal a speedy recovery.

To delay his creation, especially if he is ill, does seem, to me, curious. If his name is proclaimed at the consistory, whatever happens later, he will be a cardinal from that point and receives all the benefits that go with it. [Without getting morbid, a pope, in general, will not create a person that is no longer alive (though as I always like to point out, a pope can do anything he likes in such matters.]

Refer to the ‘Consistory‘ TAB right at the top, above the banner ((↑↑)), for all the requisite links, including those for the February 18, 2012 consistory.

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The Golden Rose — More Information Directly From The Vatican

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 3:12 pm
Feb 032012
 

Anura Guruge, laughing, picture November 16, 2011.

   by Anura Guruge

Detailed Itinerary Of Benedict XVI’s (#266) March 23 to 28, 2012 Trip To Mexico & Cuba — January 7, 2012.

Original ‘Benedict XVI In Cuba: Golden Rose‘ post — January 26, 2012.

In my January 26 post I confessed that I wasn’t clear as to exactly where, in the Vatican, the Golden Rose was blessed ‘these days’. But, I was determined to find out. I am blessed to have a very good contact, a Senior Official, at the Holy See Press Office. I asked him whether he could please help me. He exceed all expectations. This morning he sent me all of this, including the pictures and articles, via an e-mail. Most of it, as he warned me, was in Italian, but that wasn’t a problem thanks to Google. So what I reproduce here is all straight from the Vatican thanks to this very kind, ever helpful Official.
Thank you.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Golden Rose

Pope Benedict XVI will give a golden rose to the statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the Patroness of Cuba, during his visit to the island 26 to 28 March 2012. The Holy Father will bless and will give him the golden rose on the occasion of his visit to the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in Santiago de Cuba, on the morning of Tuesday, March 27, 2012, before taking the plane to Havana.

[At the start of the e-mail it was stressed again: 'Concerning your question, I can confirm that the Pope will donate a Golden Rose to the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in Santiago de Cuba on the morning of 27 March, before flying to La Habana. He will bless the Golden Rose at the moment he will donate.' The official who sent this to me would know. He accompanies the pope on all his overseas trips and will be in Mexico and Cuba.]

Other Golden Roses donated by Pope Benedict XVI to the Virgin Mary:

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in Mariazell (Austria), September 8, 2007

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy in Savona (Italy), May 17, 2008

Sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia in Genoa, May 18, 2008

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonaria in Cagliari, September 7, 2008

Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, October 19, 2008

Our Lady of Roio Aquila (after earthquake), April 28, 2009

The image of Marian shrine Ta’Pinu of Gozo (Malta), April 18, 2010

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, May 12, 2010

Also, Pope Benedict XVI sent a Golden Rose also Sanctuary of the Madonna de la Cabeza (Spain), November 22, 2009

Three articles, in Italian, two about the ‘Golden Rose’ & one about the ‘Hall of Vestments’ where the Golden Rose is sometimes blessed that were sent. Here are the English translations via Google. The copyright of these articles belong to the original authors and it is stated as such in the translations. All I am doing here is providing the English translations in Adobe PDF form:

1/ ‘The Golden Rose’ by Stefano Sanchiri (English translation) — click here for the PDF.
2/ ‘The Golden Rose’ by Niccolò del Re (English translation) — click here for the PDF.
3/ Hall of Vestments by G. Belardinelli (English translation) — click here for the PDF.

Photographs 1 & 2 below

The Golden Rose donated by Pope Benedict XVI at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, May 12, 2010.

The gift is represented by a rose performed by brothers Tavani. It is completely silver and has a total height cm 55 (30 cm to 25 cm Rose of support for the vessel. The object consists of two roses, a larger and a smaller one, and two buds with various branches and leaves. Squad, completely golden, the center has added a heart and a rosary entwined in gold and pearl, both typical symbols of Our Lady of Fatima. The finely engraved silver vase of the center is the coat of arms of the Holy Father and the date of the gift. At the base of a stone vase is least support. The whole is contained in a special wooden box lined internally and externally in skin velvet, both white, and where it is applied on top of a further coat of arms Pope made of gilded silver.

 

Photo 2: Click to Enlarge.

Photo 3
The Golden Rose donated by Pope Benedict XVI at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, October 19, 2008.

Photo 3.

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Vatican Observatory To Hold 3 Month Exhibition On The ‘Origins And Structure Of The Universe’

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 6:51 pm
Feb 022012
 

Anura Guruge, laughing, picture November 16, 2011.

   by Anura Guruge

Click to access the 'Palazzo Blu' ...

This morning, Fr. Jose Gabriel Funes, S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory, at a press conference held at the Holy See Press Office, proclaimed that the Vatican Observatory will present an exhibition from March 10 to July 1, 2012, in Pisa (Italy), which: ‘recounts the history of the universe, from the particles which make up the atoms in our bodies to distant galaxies‘.

Wow!

The theme of the exhibition is to be: ‘Stories from another world. The universe inside and outside us‘. It will will be held at Palazzo Blu an Arts & Culture venue in Pisa. Funes noted that holding the exhibition in Pisa was significant because it was the birthplace of Genius Galileo Galilei! It would appear that he is not that conversant with shame, irony and pathos.

 I am intrigued to learn more about this exhibition. Yes, of course, I know, even if my #6 papabile, Lord Schönborn doesn’t, that the Vatican now advocates ‘evolution under God’. Just not sure how this exhibition gels with Creation. Atoms. Not sure whether they were ever mentioned in Genesis. Galaxies. Big stuff, distant stuff here. I just the pope will step in and reconcile all of this to us before he sets off to Mexico and Cuba.

Galileo facing the Vatican Inquisition by Cristiano Banti

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Australians Think That Pope Can Break Canon Law!

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 3:02 pm
Feb 022012
 

They, by that I mean the Australians, probably might not even realize that the Pope is Catholic and might not know what bears do in the woods. [[Muralitharan 800!]]

Sydney Morning Herald

Click to access this amusing article in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Good one. So WHO do they think can arbitrate that? Let me think? Of course, John Malcolm Fraser wearing a cassock, assisted by Warne. Laugh! Made my day.

 2 Responses »

Pope Benedict XVI (#266) Performed Public Exorcism At The Vatican In 2009? (Am I Impressed)

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 2:35 pm
Feb 022012
 

Wow. Definitely worth reading. At the end even says that Bl. John Paul II (#265) performed SEVERAL exorcisms between 1982 to 2000. If this story is NOT true, I am sure that the Vatican will make sure that the Philippines will get no more cardinals till hell freezes over. I now know what I am going to do. I am going to write a book: ‘The Vatican Exorcisms‘. Any bidders for the movie rights?

If anybody has MORE information about these exorcisms, in particular a link to the Panorama magazine cited — please share.

"Nightmare" featuring demons by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (1800)

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Pope Coins By Mark T., Clement X (#240) to Innocent XIII (#245)

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 2:12 pm
Feb 022012
 

¤ Pope Coins By Mark T., Clement XII (#247) to Pius VI (#251) — January 26, 2012.
¤ Pope Coins By Mark T., Pius VII (#252) to Paul VI (#263) — January 25, 2012.

¤ Sede Vacante Coins By Mark T., 1939 to 1978 — January 27, 2012.
¤ Sede Vacante Coins By Mark T., 1740 to 1831 — January 28, 2012.

Click to ENLARGE.

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Baseballs Signed By Three Papabili

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 2:39 pm
Feb 012012
 

Anura Guruge, laughing, picture November 16, 2011.

  by Anura Guruge

It started with this e-mail from Randy Kaplan, of New York State, a professional involved in real estate, last November:

Click to ENLARGE.

Randy went onto explain: A portion of my collection will be on display at the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in 2012 and it was on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2008 and will possibly be exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California in the Fall of 2013.

Randy, as he states in the second line, wanted a baseball signed by the Next Pope (though as we know the signature does change, markedly, upon election).

We exchanged e-mails back and forth for the next few days. I gave him some addresses in Rome. The rest he did, to my amazement, all by himself. That he already got back 4 baseballs is incredible. I would have to think that novelty value helped.

So he now has baseballs signed by: 1. Ennio Cardinal Antonelli, 2. Francis Cardinal Arinze, 3. Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi & 4. Christoph Cardinal Schönborn. Well at least three of them are possibles. He is expecting more. The Lord Christoph only arrived a couple of days ago.

The 2nd ball from the left is Ravasi’s. The leftmost is Lord Schönborn’s. I think the first on the left is that of the only non-papabile.

Randy has promised to send me more pictures when he gets more balls. So I will keep you all posted. I wonder what other novelty items might tickle the fancy of the papabili.

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Darien N. Clark: Auxiliary Bishops of the Diocese of Rome

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 12:33 am
Feb 012012
 

by Darien N Clark
Past Grand Knight, Knights of Columbus, Mother Marianne Cope Council 14260 at Syracuse University

catholic-hierarchy.org is a wonderfully helpful site. When I checked the recent events page this morning I saw that Moraglia had been named the Patriarch of Venice, I also saw three new Auxiliary Bishops had been appointed to the Diocese of Rome. I started wondering how well Auxiliary Bishops of Rome fare when it comes to moving up the hierarchy. Anura invited me to look up the statistics and these are my findings.

There are 20 living, current or former Auxiliary Bishops of the Diocese of Rome. 10% maxed out at the rank of Cardinal, 30% maxed out at the rank of Archbishop, 20% maxed out as Diocesan Bishop, 10% became Curialists, 30% never left the rank of Auxiliary Bishop.

A couple of explanations. When I say maxed out, I mean that was the highest level they reached. So I do not count Cardinals (who were once Archbishops) in the Archbishop tally since they reached a higher tier. Similarly I do not count Archbishops in the Bishops tally. 2 were Diocesan Bishops who were appointed Auxiliary Bishop (given the personal title of Archbishop while functioning as an Auxiliary). Canestri was later made Archbishop of Genoa and eventually a Cardinal. Iannone was just appointed today and so it remains to be seen whether he will once again have his own See. Each man counts in achieving a higher level because they held a higher office before their move to Rome and in Canestri’s case he continued to climb the ladder after leaving Rome.

The preliminary findings based off of the livings prelates: if you’re an Auxiliary of Rome you have a pretty good chance of moving up the hierarchy. Only eight of the twenty have never been anything but Auxiliary Bishops. Dieci and Giannini retired as Auxiliaries. Schiavon is 72 and it is doubtful he will ever have his own See. Tuzia is 67, Di Tora is 65 so both have some time left to be given their own See. Leuzzi, Marciante and Zupi are 56, 60 and 56 respectively which means they have plenty of time before they hit the mandatory retirement age. Plenty of time to work their way up the ranks if they can make a name for themselves.

Click to ENLARGE.

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2nd Viscount of Norwich, John Julius Norwich, Calls Pius XII (#261) An Anti-Semite

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 12:10 am
Feb 012012
 

I, in mid-December, was looking for a Christmas present for Fr. John, to serve as a small token of my appreciation and gratitude for all his sterling, support and kindness. I had received a couple of e-mails that had asked me whether I had read John Juilus’ ‘Absolute Monarchs‘. I hadn’t. But, I knew it would make a great present for Fr. John who laps up all books papal. So I went about ordering one for him from Amazon. Then as ever Amazon hit me with the ‘FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25′. My wife jokes about this. I am a committed sucker for this. I can’t resist it. Pavlovian. So I ordered a copy for myself.

I did not even get a chance to open it until today. Over Christmas I was reading Barbara Kingslovers information-packed, extremely educational ‘The Lacuna‘. Then my wife got me this as one of the stocking stuffer for the 4′ x 2.5′ stocking I hang up for Christmas. It is a subject that always intrigues me, so I read it next. It was OK. Learned a lot, but he could be more objective and incisive.

This morning we had to go to the big City, 40 minutes away, for some appointments and errands. Invariably the wife drives so that I can read while sipping coffee from a 34oz traveling mug. So I started reading Julius — and was suitably amused to see that his father, like mine, was an Ambassador in Paris.

Then, in the second page of the Introduction, I got to this passage, Julius already having stated that he had personally met two popes, one of them Pius XII, ‘odiously anti-Semitic’:


Totally cracked me up. Coffee gushed out of my nose, but luckily my aging reflexes were still good enough to get the book out of the way of the coffee. Classic. Odious. So British. Loved it.

OK, don’t come after me or complain to me. Not my writing, though as a fellow Brit, I will acknowledge that Pius XII, who never seemed to give the Allies an even break, is not one of my favorite popes. So, I also applauded the rest of the sentence that heaped praise on Bl. John XXIII (#262), a pope that I do admire, greatly.

I know that there are some that read this blog that think that Pius XII is the Cat’s Whiskers. Well, I just wanted to let them know about this. Yes, I skipped towards the end and read what more he had to say about Pius XII. Wasn’t too pretty. I checked the Web. The usual Catholic sources have taken umbrage to Julius as they did to John Cornwell who wrote ‘Hitler’s Pope’. C’est la vie. But, I have to say, that remark made my day. Thank you Julius.

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The Vatican Bios For The New Cardinal Designates

 Posted by Anura Guruge at 6:32 pm
Jan 312012
 

I saw this today in the January 23, 2012 issue of Time.

Since Wikipedia is invariably my first, but rarely only, port of call for most of my ‘recent’ research I don’t have a problem with this.

So I am posting it, in situ, sans any comments.

A quick Google of ‘new cardinal bios from Wikipedia‘ came up with pages upon pages of results.

I am kind of disappointed that none of my supposedly diligent Vatican watchers, with Fr. John in the fore, didn’t bring this to my attention. Hhmmm. I guess they werre worried that I would parody it  without realizing my respect for Wikipedia (which some of them should have known) — given that with my penchant for honesty I list Wikipedia as my first online reference source in all three of my papal books, not worried at all what the supposed ‘scholars’ may think of that.

Well some of the posts are not complimentary and that is too bad.

It is humbling to see that PC Magazine did a post on it — and it is information packed. So, you should definitely read that — and it has a great picture of a cardinal in deep contemplation.

 

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