"The man has enormous front and enormous cheek," Cardinal Pell said this morning remembering how Mugabe also insisted on attending the funeral of Blessed John Paul II. "His (Mugabe's) record at home is quite appalling and I think it quite incongruous that he will be present today."
Note that anyone is allowed to show up at a Catholic Mass. Personally, I think we want him to be there, in case the Pope says something to touch his heart.
Oh the Church needs his candour so much.
XT3's Conclave Blog had livestreamed the Papal Inaugural Mass. The Mass is long over, but the live stream is still running, and it's a live cam of St. Peter's Square. (You may need an XT3 account to access it.)
Zenit published an interview in French with Sister Ana, the Pope's second cousin. She reports that the Pope invited the head of the "Cartoneros", the people who gather paper and carton in the streets and sell them to be recycled. In related news, Jimmy Akin quotes Fr. Lombardi who says that the heads of state in attendance at the Mass came on their own initiative. So head of Cartoneros invited, heads of state, not.
Expect the press to interview the Pope's kindergarten teacher. Okay, I exaggerate, but not by much. So far, his sister, his second cousin and his ex-girlfriend (at age 12) have all been interviewed.
Zenit published an English version of the interview, without mention of the head of the Cartoneros.
Ignatius Press has published the Pope's official biography.
This article from Fr. Schall touches on some points I raised in a recent blogpost of mine:
We should not approach the problem of poverty without some idea of why the poor are poor, or how they might cease to be poor.The Pope Francis Facebook Page (unofficial).
The trouble with such considerations is that the fact and feeling of poverty can diverge. If I live in a home that is worth a million dollars, it is possible that I feel deprived if the folks all around me are in houses worth three million. But no one would say that I am poor. The same holds true in the barrios. There are richer and poorer “poor” people. And there are poor people who try not to be poor and others who are content permanently to receive aid without their doing anything to earn it. It has long been pointed out that usually a relation exists between envy discussions and poverty discussions. One man’s poverty is another man’s riches.
The Pope's first Popemobile ride. He must make his security escorts sweat.
I was quite amused when I read this blog post from CNA. It's like they had read my blog. I must have more readers than I think:
I remember reading somewhere some commentary on Palm Sunday. One week Jesus was loved and acclaimed. The next he was crucified. I'm wondering when the shoe will drop for Pope Francis. And why. And who will be crucifying him. :) And yes I still want to know his agenda. All this lovey dovey stuff about the poor is of course nice and necessary, and of course he's adorable, but his persona and pastoral teaching doesn't really address the issues the Church is facing. I'm waiting to see what his direction is.
He hasn’t yet been officially inaugurated as Pope, but already some are clamoring to know what his agenda is, how he is going to handle this or that (...)
The impatient are demanding his “state of the Church” address laying out his agenda.
I am afraid that nothing of the sort is coming anytime soon. I may be mistaken, but the Pope’s agenda seems to be, at least for now, that there is no agenda.
Fr. Raymond de Souza: Pope Francis challenges D&P’s ‘standard operating procedure’. I'm anxious to see how D & P will react to his approach.
In other news:
This abstract of an Irish study deals with grief and early miscarriage. It concludes that
In this study there was no significant difference in severity of grief, between women that had a miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy (p = 0.14) or, between women that had a miscarriage and a molar pregnancy (p = 0.85).
Regarding B.C.'s new law that considers common-law couples married after 2 years of cohabitation: maybe it's not such a hot idea. Shouldn't people consent to be married? Consent is the pillar of marriage. If two don't agree to be married, are they really married? Should they be considered married? Hm, maybe this needs to be re-thought. I think people should ASK to be married if they want the privilege of being considered as such.
It's Henry Morgentaler's 90th Birthday. Please stop and say a prayer for his conversion. St. Joseph pray for him and for us.
Barbara Kay, commenting on the case of Kermit Gosnell says:
Is the cultural air in Canada so much purer in this regard? Are doctors not human beings like the rest of us? After all, Dr. Gosnell at least realized he was breaking a law, which forbade late-term abortion in his jurisdiction. Canada does not even have such a law. Absent the filth and the uncredentialed staff in Dr. Gosnell’s clinic, a Canadian doctor imbued with the same notion of a woman’s right to choose that caused the Pennsylvania Department of Health to turn a blind eye to that house of horrors, might take the same jaundiced view: that even live babies, under certain conditions, are non-persons.
Filipino Supreme Court Halts RH Law on The Feast of St. Joseph Praise the Lord.
Sugary Drinks Said to Kill 184 000 People a Year. Well no. Diabetes kills 70% of them, but of course sugary drinks are not the only contributors. Same thing with Heart disease and cancer. Pretty misleading headline if you ask me.
Do infertile couples clinch the case for same-sex marriage? No:
Homosexual relations are essentially sterile, while heterosexual relations are only accidentally sterile. In fact, they are not even both infertilities properly speaking. This is a smokescreen used to deflect attention from the real underlying issue. Infertility is an issue only in respect to those whose exercise of their procreative powers in heterosexual intercourse has failed for some reason that may be due to congenital or temporary health problems.
This is the only proper use of this word. One would not, for instance, refer to baseball playing or to a rock as an infertile act or thing because it would be gratuitous. Baseball does not have the potential to be fertile, nor do rocks. Things or acts which do not possess procreative powers are not called infertile, because they could not possibly be fertile. Therefore, it makes no sense to say that a rock is infertile. Likewise, homosexual liaisons do not possess procreative potentiality. They are, therefore, not properly called infertile but, more accurately, impotent. To be accurate, Judge Walker should have contrasted heterosexual infertility with homosexual impotence.
