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We may not agree with the Vatican line on homosexuality. But the State is trampling on our rights as individuals There are times when human rights become human wrongs. This happens when rights become more than a defence of human dignity, which is their proper sphere, and become instead a political ideology, relentlessly trampling down everything in their path. This is happening increasingly in Britain, and it is why the Pope’s protest against the Equality Bill, whether we agree with it or not, should be taken seriously... It was integral to the American Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths...

Man who shot Pope John Paul II to be released, wants to be baptised by Pope Benedict Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II four times in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, is eligible for release next month, January 2010. Agca was originally sentenced to life in prison for the shooting, but was pardoned in June 2000 by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with the Pope's blessings. Pope John Paul II had met with Agca in prison on Dec. 27, 1983 and forgave him. Agca spent 19 years and one month in the Italian prison. At...

Thank God it was not a serious incident... had there been a weapon...one hates to think of such things...See the video here...

The Moment The Pope Was Knocked Down The Pope was knocked down by a woman at the start of the service in St Peter's Basilica. (See Video in URL] The woman, who is reported to be mentally unstable, jumped the security barriers as Benedict XVI entered the basilica, causing the pontiff to fall. The Pope appeared to be unhurt and recovered to lead the Mass.

Pope Benedict was attacked by what is being called a 'mentally unbalanced' woman before Christmas Eve Mass. Raw cell phone video has emerged already. Here's the link to the video of the lady jumping the area between the crowd and the pope and charging Pope Benedict.

AP: A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday, a Vatican spokesman said.

AP: A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday, a Vatican spokesman said.

Woman Knocks Down Pope At Christmas Mass Alex Watts, Sky News Online A woman has been arrested after jumping over barriers and knocking down the Pope at Christmas Eve Mass. Pope Benedict Pope Benedict XVI was attacked as he walked down the main aisle to begin the service at St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini said the 82-year-old quickly got to his feet and was unhurt. Benedict calmly resumed his walk to the Basilica's main altar and then began the Mass.

The year now ending has been a momentous one for Pope Benedict XVI and probably his busiest to date. It began with his highly controversial decision to lift the excommunications on four break-away bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and more or less ended with his historic decision to facilitate the reception of large groups of Anglicans into the Catholic Church. But in between were many other significant events. The Pope made an eagerly anticipated pilgrimage to the Holy Land, published his first social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), held a Synod of Bishops on Africa,...

The newest ambassador to the Holy See, Cuba's Eduardo Delgado Bermudez, renewed nearly 75 years of continuous relations with the Vatican today when he delivered his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience. The Pontiff expressed to the ambassador his hopes for the future of the Cuban people and for seeing continued “concrete signs” of the acceptance of the exercise of religious freedom. In his address, Pope Benedict highlighted the importance for governments around the world not to forget about the basic needs of the people, despite the current economic crisis. "The Catholic Church in Cuba, that in...

Benedict XVI has announced that the World Day of the Sick will be celebrated this liturgical year on February 11, the 25th anniversary of the institution of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers. The Pontiff drew attention to the essential nature of pastoral service for the sick and asked those who are ill "to pray and offer up their sufferings for priests" in this Year of the Priest. For February 11, the Pope said, the Church would like to "raise awareness in the ecclesial community of the importance of pastoral service in the vast world...

What is it like to sit opposite a man like Joseph Ratzinger for many hours, alone in a monastery, and discuss things with him, asking a thousand questions? We were high up in our monastery, often in reality above the clouds, and there was always something that gave you the feeling there was a good spirit there. At any rate, I came to know Joseph Ratzinger as a great man for patience, as a spiritual master who can give answers. Here was someone who simply understood people, who had retained the liveliness of youth. Someone who did not burn...

The Church of England has survived the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War and Elton John performing “Candle in the Wind” at Princess Diana’s Westminster Abbey funeral. So it will probably survive the note the Vatican issued last week, inviting disaffected Anglicans to head Romeward, and offering them an Anglo-Catholic mansion within the walls of the Roman Catholic faith. But the invitation is a bombshell nonetheless. Pope Benedict XVI’s outreach to Anglicans may produce only a few conversions; it may produce a few million. Either way, it represents an unusual effort at targeted proselytism, remarkable both for its concessions to...

...In less than five years Pope Benedict has shown himself to be quietly yet deliberately engaged in reshaping Catholicism. Even more surprising are the remarkably liberal means he has used to achieve his ends -- means that could lead to places the pontiff may not intend to go. A case in point is last week's stunning announcement...that the pope is creating a novel "church within a church" so that Anglicans can join with Catholics without giving up their rites and traditions... In another development last week, one that drew far less notice but could have a profound impact, the Vatican...

Was Pope Benedict XVI inspired by Cardinal John Henry Newman, whom it is hoped he will beatify in England next year, when he suddenly threw open the gates of Rome to disaffected Anglicans on Tuesday morning? The official website for Newman’s Cause hinted as much when it greeted the announcement with a reminder of Newman’s support for a proposal to establish an Anglican Uniate Church for converts, similar to that provided for Byzantine-rite Catholics. The plan was conceived by Ambrose Phillips de Lisle and Newman rightly guessed that it would be unworkable. But if it could be made to work,...

ROME -- Long regarded as a hard-liner on religious doctrine, Pope Benedict XVI also is emerging as the pontiff of interchurch, or ecumenical, relations. The 82-year-old pope's decision Tuesday to amend Vatican laws to make it easier for Anglicans to become Roman Catholic represents his most aggressive attempt to bring more Christians into the Catholic fold.

Rome has parked its tanks on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s lawn after manoeuvres undertaken by up to fifty bishops and begun two years ago by an Australian archbishop, John Hepworth... In the US, where a similar “Anglican usage” model has been in operation for years and will now be incorporated into the new ordinariate structures, there are 77 million Catholics alongside a mere 1.8 million Episcopalians. A few incoming conservative Anglicans have made little difference. In England and Wales, the proportions are reversed, with 25 million baptised Anglicans but four million Catholics.... Set against this, however, is the more confident...

The Vatican has made it easier for Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, responding to the disillusionment of some Anglicans over the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions. Pope Benedict XVI approved a new church provision that will allow Anglicans to convert while maintaining many of their distinctive spiritual and liturgical traditions, Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal official, told a news conference Tuesday. In the past, such exemptions had only been granted in a few cases in certain countries. The new church provision is designed to allow Anglicans around the world to access...

Now what can this be all about? I get an email from my Li’l Bro Thom (who likes show tunes, a lot, and is often peppering his emails with Broadway lyrices) “Could be, who knows? There’s something due any day, I will know, right away…soon as it shows…” He was writing about this bit of a blurb from Deacon Greg, who got it from American Papist, who got it from Damian Thompson: *** We inform accredited journalists that tomorrow, Tuesday 20 October 2009, at 11am, in the John Paul II Hall of the Press Office of the Holy See, a...

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2009 / 01:07 pm (CNA).- During the presentation of the book, “Harvesting the Fruits. Fundamental Aspects of the Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue. Consensus, Convergences and Differences,” the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, announced that Pope Benedict XVI will soon visit the Lutheran Church of Rome. During the ceremony, Cardinal Kasper explained that “the Pope has the intention of visiting the Lutheran Church of Rome,” although a date has not yet been set. Regarding the book, the cardinal said it was the result of “two years of...