Video Released of Pope Speaking

From My Way News:

"The Vatican released a video Friday with Pope John Paul II speaking, the first time he has been heard publicly since his Feb. 24 throat operation to help him breathe.

The video was made of a meeting Friday with Tanzanian bishops in the pope's hospital room. He says a few words in a husky voice, including 'va bene,' Italian meaning 'OK.'

John Paul is shown seated during a Mass with the prelates. His voice reciting a prayer is barely audible.

He is then shown with the two speaking to him in English, telling John Paul that Tanzanians are praying for him and love him. He responded with the two Italian words."

Second Face Discovered on Shroud of Turin

Interesting in how the face of Jesus changes with some of this new research...



From Shroud of Turin Story - A Guide to the Facts 2005:



"Skeptics and people who believe the Shroud of Turin is the genuine burial shroud of Jesus have always shared one common perception: they thought they knew what the man on the shroud looked like. Now, new computerized image analysis suggests they may be wrong.



Results of this analysis suggest that many characteristics of the images on the shroud are optical illusions caused by random plaid patterns in the cloth. For instance, because of these patterns, the face of the man on the shroud appears gaunt and the nose abnormally long and narrow. By using image enhancement technology to reduce the effect of the variegated patterns, the shape of the face changes significantly. The face takes on a broader look and the nose becomes realistic looking.



Shroud researchers have discovered that these patterns are caused by alternating bands of darker and lighter threads in the cloth. Ancient linen was often manufactured by bleaching the thread in batches before weaving, thus producing nonuniform whiteness in the cloth. "

Schindler Family Calls for Judge's 'Immediate Impeachment'

His actions have been reprehensible...



From Schindler Family Calls for Judge's 'Immediate Impeachment' -- 03/10/2005:



" spokesman for the family of Terri Schindler Schiavo said Thursday the Florida judge presiding over her case 'ignores the state's laws and orders the premeditated killing of a disabled Florida woman by her husband.'



Pamela Hennessy, media director for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, in a press release Thursday called on disability and eldercare advocates to press for Circuit Judge George Greer's 'immediate impeachment.'



'If there is a single person following this who doesn't believe Judge Greer has legislated from the bench, trampled Florida's laws and deprived Terri Schiavo of her retained rights, they are simply not paying attention,' Hennessy said in a statement."

Pope Doing Better

From Zenit News Agency - The World Seen From Rome:



"John Paul II appears physically weak but manages to speak with a normal voice, says the Polish publisher of his latest book.



Henryk Wozniakoswski, president of Znak, a Krakow publishing house that is issuing 'Memory and Identity,' was in Rome to request the Pope to sign one of the 500,000 copies of his book that will soon go on sale.



Wozniakoswski told Polish radio station RMF-FM that he attended the Mass the Holy Father concelebrated on Wednesday morning, on the 10th floor of the Gemelli Polyclinic, where he has been hospitalized since his tracheotomy Feb. 24.



Concelebrating with the Pope, who remained seated, was his secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. Also in the little chapel were nuns who are looking after the Holy Father, hospital staff, and security agents, said the Polish publisher. "

Bishop Lynch Again, This Time its the Liturgy

From News & Views - March 2005 Adoremus Bulletin:



"'I wonder when and where the current movement backward in liturgy will end and lead', said Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg in his speech to the national meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC) held in Orlando, Florida, in October.



Bishop Lynch, who worked at the US bishops' conference from the early 1970s, and was associate and general secretary of conference from 1984 until 1995 when he became bishop of St. Petersburg, recalled the 'courage and resolve' of liturgical reformers working in the conference, who 'courageously fought for proper liturgical implementation of the controlling documents, often refusing to take no as the first response from the Roman congregations and ultimately winning the day with a variety of prefects and congregational staff'.



Continuing his reminiscence, Bishop Lynch said that the conference's liturgical staff 'were supported by an episcopacy with both backbone and resolve. Your speaker yesterday, Abbot Cuthbert [Johnson], was a staff member of the Congregation [for Divine Worship] at the time with whom we occasionally did 'holy' battle. They were good days'.



Speaking of the bishop's authority to govern the liturgy in his diocese, Bishop Lynch said, 'I would understand that it is my duty to find the middle between the law and proper liberation from the law which might allow for cultural or local adaptations which are not in strident disagreement with the law'. The bishop deplores 'pontificalism', the 'sin of symbolic and ceremonial excess', but says he does not hear of much pontificalism in his diocese. And he adds his voice to those who object to 'Vatican interference':

Pope Makes Surprise Window Appearance

From MSNBC - Pope makes surprise window appearance:



"Following the latest medical bulletin Monday, the Vatican said the pope will probably be discharged from the hospital by March 20, Palm Sunday, but that it was still unknown whether the pontiff can regain enough of his voice to address his faithful or take part in Holy Week ceremonies.



The latest schedule has Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, presiding at Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Congregation of Bishops, at Holy Thursday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica; and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican?s doctrinal chief, at the Easter Vigil.



No one is listed for the Way of the Cross Procession, planned for Good Friday evening at the Colosseum, leaving the possibility that the pope may want to be present."

DaVinci Code Shows No Signs of Cracking

From Entertainment - canada.com network:



"Brown's book has been answered by a wave of anti-Da Vinci books, including The Da Vinci Hoax, De-Coding Da Vinci and Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code. Art experts and conservative clerics have been holding an unusual 'trial' in Leonardo da Vinci's hometown, in Vinci, just outside of Florence, Italy. Alessandro Vezzosi, director of a Leonardo museum, has claimed he will produce photographs and documents as evidence of the mistakes and historical inaccuracies contained in Brown's bestseller. "