"Nativity" Premiere at Vatican, Pope will Not Attend

Neither will pregnant sixteen year old actress who plays Mary in the movie ...

From the Times Online:

The plot of The Nativity Story is familiar enough. But the parallels between the lives of the Virgin Mary and the teenage actress who plays her in the first feature film to be premiered at the Vatican are causing controversy.

The Pope, upon whose doorstep the first showing takes place on Sunday, will not be attending. Nor will Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 16-year-old unmarried actress who plays Mary and who is expecting her first child in the spring.

Castle-Hughes, who said she was “thrilled” to be pregnant”, said she had made the film “in a state of grace”. Playing Mary, a “sweet, strong and courageous” figure, had been “a source of spiritual richness”.

A Vatican spokesman said yesterday that the Pope “never was going to attend. The surprise would have been if he had.” His decision had nothing to do with the film. He is 79 and preparing for a visit to Turkey on Tuesday.

Wisdom on Praying from Evagrius

From Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary : Ancient Wisdom for Today's World (Cistercian Studies, No 148):

• Pray that the Lord may soften the hardness of your soul.
• Pray that the Lord may forgive the sins you confess to him.
• Don't pray that what you want may come to pass. It does not necessarily coincide with the will of God.
• Pray rather as you have been taught, saying "Your will be done in me!"
• Pray that the will of God may be done in everything. He, in fact, wants what is good and useful for your soul, while you are not always seeking that and only that.

Pope May Visit Mosque in Turkey

The "Blue" Mosque is in the same neigborhood as the Hagia Sophia. I've been there a couple of times--you have to leave your shoes in the courtyard, but someone will probably carry the pope's shoes, don't you think? You also make ablutions at the fountain before entering--similar (but not the same) to Catholics blessing themselves with holy water when entering a church-actually the priest washing his hands may be a more apt metaphor to what one does when entering a Mosque.

From Reuters UK:

Pope Benedict, who drew fire from Muslims over his comments on Islam, is likely to make a hastily added stop at Istanbul's Blue Mosque on his trip to Turkey next week, the Vatican said on Saturday.

It would be his first visit to a mosque. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus in 2001.

Benedict Calendar

Not the Italian one....

New Abbot at Mepkin

A new era dawns at Mepkin Abbey

After Tennis: Life as an Anglican Dominican

Tennis Star Andrea Jaeger's New Life as a Nun

Sales of Pope Murder Book Soar in Turkey

But still only 10,000 copies have sold...(media generated story?)

From ADN Kronos International:

Yuvel Kaya's book, which features Benedict XVI in front of a burning cross with a bearded gunman aiming a rocket launcher at him, is on sale at major Turkish bookstores such as D&R, Kabalci, Pandora.

Despite the absence of any promotional campaign - no billboards, posters or pamphlets at bookstores - sales are rapidly picking up, according to Lale Yilmaz from Kabalci, one the country's biggest book stores. However she told Adnkronos International (AKI) exact sales figures could not be released to the public.

"More copies of the book have been bought over the last 10 days than any other time," Zeynep Yaman an employee with Alfa Dagitim, one of the six companies distributing the books, told AKI.