Reports have circulated for the past couple of weeks that the Vatican has rejected three would-be ambassadors to the Holy See put forth by the Obama Administration. It apparently started with an April 2 NewsMax report that cited Massimo Franco, author of “Parallel Empires,” a recently published book on U.S.-Vatican relations, as the source of the…

Today is Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, as it is popularly know, though that descriptor seems as odd as “Good Friday.” Maundy actually comes from the Latin word mandatum, which refers to Jesus’ words to the Apostles as he washes their feet: “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give…

Cherie Blair, Catholic wife of the former British PM and recent convert Tony, in December spoke at the Angelicum in Rome despite some protests over her pro-life bona fides. Now she tells The Times of Malta she is “saddened” by the pope’s recent comments in Africa that condoms worsen the spread of AIDS: “I think we do…

Three days after Palm Sunday and I still can’t figure out how to make a decent cross from the fronds. I suspect this is evidence of an incomplete conversion. Last year a nice lady stood in the vestibule after mass and helped some of us make one. Well, she actually did the work. I do…

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