Medalla de Estado y Carta de Lech Walesa a Oswaldo Payá [Marzo 13/2012]

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Cardinal Scolds Dissidents, Pope Blesses Dissidents

capitolhillcubans

Yesterday, Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega (once again) scolded dissidents who support sanctions.
Meanwhile, today in Vatican City, Pope Francis met the leader of Cuba's Ladies in White, Berta Soler, and bestowed his blessing upon her.
Soler supports sanctions against the Castro regime.
Oh, the irony.
In October 2011, upon turning 75-years old, Cardinal Ortega presented his resignation as Archbishop of Havana to then-Pope Benedict XVI.
We pray Pope Francis finally accepts his resignation -- for the Cuban people deserve better.

Video-El Papa Francisco a las Damas de Blanco: "sigan adelante"

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Diaz-Canel ... Papeando...

El Papa, el pasado y el cambio

Cuba Encuentro

Con padres y hermanos. Al fondo 2do de izq-der

/ NBC

Alejandro Armengol

Es posible que con la elección del cardenal argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio se inicie un pontificado con importantes cambios en la Iglesia católica. Pero muchos de estos cambios no serán los que la mayoría de la población —creyente y no creyente— espera, ni los que la prensa ha comenzado a destacar desde la elección del nuevo obispo de Roma.

No se trata solo de falta de información y tampoco se limita a la adopción de una determinada postura ideológica. Es que cuando se topa con la Iglesia, los problemas terminan siempre resumiéndose en una interrogante bastante simple: ¿cómo reformar una institución que cuenta con más de dos siglos para demostrar su capacidad de sobrevivir? Mejor eficiencia, a la hora de conservar el poder, no la ha establecido ningún otro sistema, gobierno e ideología, y la Iglesia es todo ello y mucho más.

Así que al final es mejor simplificar un poco la cosa. Dejar a un lado la palabrería barata de considerarlo un “defensor de los pobres”, aunque sea dicha por el presidente Obama; no darle mayor importancia a la elección del nombre, que la que tiene un golpe publicitario —decidido seguramente desde hace varios años— y considerar que la opción en favor de un latinoamericano no es más que una necesidad impuesta por las leyes del mercado en época de crisis: si el mayor número de clientes proviene de esa región, lo mejor es buscarse a alguien de allí. Además, ya Bergoglio había sido “finalista” con anterioridad. Como en los concursos, en el Cónclave lo que cuenta es que se presente la oportunidad.

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Los cambios

El primer cambio importante que el papa Francisco tiene que acometer ya fue iniciado por su predecesor. Antes de su partida, Benedicto XVI nombró presidente del banco del Vaticano al barón Ernst Von Freyberg, caballero de la poderosa Orden de Malta y constructor de buques de guerra. Un nombramiento para que no quedaran dudas: todo el poder de la Edad Media y el capitalismo simbolizado en un aristócrata alemán nacido en Ginebra.

Con eso de los nombres nunca hay que fiarse en el Vaticano. Bajo la piadosa inscripción de Instituto para las Obras de Religión se encuentra una ponderosa institución financiera, que en más de una ocasión ha sido cuestionada por supuestos vínculos con la mafia, crímenes y lavado de dinero.

También se ha dicho que, a través de dicho banco, el Vaticano tiene o ha tenido importantes paquetes de acciones en compañías como General Motors, Shell, Gulf Oil, General Electric, Betlehem Steel, TWA, RCA, así como estrechas relaciones con importantes bancos internacionales: Rothschild en Francia e Inglaterra, Hambro's Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank de Nueva York, el Morgan Bank y la Bakers Trust Company. No poco a la hora de contradecir esa afirmación de la curia, cuando afirma que sus miembros forman parte de una “Iglesia pobre”.

Si embargo, el aspecto fundamental en este sentido es que, al tiempo que ha tratado de reducir su pasado de iglesia imperial, a la existencia de un legado fabuloso de obras de artes en sus museos y catedrales, el trono de San Pedro no se limita a un poder espiritual. El Papa es también un jefe de Estado, desde la concesión otorgada por Mussolini a Pío XI, a cambio de su apoyo al fascismo.

No fue solo la creación de un Estado, ese país minúsculo pero poderoso encerrado en una ciudad que es el Vaticano. Cuando Mussolini dio como indemnización a Pío XII casi 2.000 millones de liras, el Papa nombró como administrador del dinero al banquero Bernardino Nogara, quien al parecer fue un genio que supo multiplicar prodigiosamente esos fondos. Desde entonces, surgió ese fervor casi religioso por una banca propia, más allá de países y banqueros.

No todos los “banqueros de Dios” han sido igualmente geniales. Al igual que ocurre con cualquier institución financiera, se han sucedido épocas de grandes ganancias con épocas de grandes pérdidas, sin olvidar los grandes escándalos. Sin embargo hay una contradicción en proclamarse una iglesia de los pobres y vivir con un boato que no es una herencia —como las obras de arte de los Museos del Vaticano, adquiridas de acuerdo a los métodos de la época— sino un derroche cotidiano de pompa y esplendor.

De esta manera siempre ha existido una tensión potencial —en muchos casos real, como ocurrió durante el último papado— entre el guiar a las almas y el administrar el dinero.

Con su último acto importante de poder —el nombramiento del barón Ernst Von Freyberg—, Benedicto XVI le cerró la llave del dinero a su enemigo, el secretario de Estado monseñor Tarcisio Bertone, pero también impuso una decisión a su sucesor, destinada a prevenir la repetición de viejos errores.

Falta por ver quién será el secretario de Estado del nuevo Papa. Lo que no hay duda es que, en la administración de los bienes de la Iglesia sí se producirá un cambio fundamental.

Desde hace años los jesuitas vienen reclamando una mejor administración y mayor transparencia. Lo hicieron incluso públicamente, en la revista Civilta Cattolica de los jesuitas italianos, durante los años 70 del pasado siglo. Ahora les ha llegado su turno.

No es que se vaya a cumplir el reclamo —hecho en diversos momentos por millones de católicos— de que el Vaticano haga públicos sus balances económicos, que diga a los fieles cuánto dinero posee y cuáles son sus verdaderas riquezas, pero al menos se ganará en control administrativo.

Un papa jesuita

La elección de un papa jesuita, por primera vez en la historia, pude considerarse una victoria frente al sector más reaccionario dentro del catolicismo. En las últimas décadas, entre otros grupos, este sector ha estado representado por el todavía poderoso Opus Dei y el ya menguado Legionarios de Cristo, organizaciones que sirvieron de apoyo al reaccionario Juan Pablo II en su lucha contra la Teología de la Liberación.

Con su política de una de cal y otra de arena —mediante la cual disminuyó el poder de este sector ultraconservador, pero al mismo tiempo lo utilizó— Ratzinger le ha hecho un gran favor a Bergoglio. A partir de ahora el nuevo Sumo Pontífice podrá practicar un conservadurismo moderado, que enfatice la necesidad de una mayor justicia social y dedique declaraciones en contra del hambre y en defensa de los pobres.

El retroceso de este sector reaccionario, en la promoción y decisiones de poder que lleva a cabo el Vaticano, no viene acompañado de un avance progresista, tanto ideológico como en normas religiosas e incluso políticas.

Dentro de la Iglesia, los sacerdotes jesuitas fueron los que más se identificaron con la Teología de la Liberación y una acción más directa de lucha contra la pobreza. Incluso desde posiciones agresivas, más que dinámicas.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, por entonces la figura máxima de su orden en Argentina, no estuvo entre los jesuitas que se destacaran por apoyar esos esfuerzos sino por lo contrario: hizo lo posible por reprimirlos.

Junto a la noticia de la elección del papa Francisco, apareció su historial durante la época de la dictadura argentina, cuando era provincial de los jesuitas.

Es una historia conocida y ha sido investigada a profundidad y publicada por el periodista argentino Horacio Verbitsky. Aparece también en Foreign Policy y en el diario español El País.

Dos curas jesuitas, Orlando Yorio, ya fallecido, y Francisco Jalics, que vive en un monasterio de Alemania y ha hecho voto de silencio, habían decidido vivir en un barrio marginal, para mantener un mayor contacto y compromiso con los pobres, una actitud que no era del agrado de las autoridades de la Iglesia.

“Mucha gente que sostenía convicciones políticas de extrema derecha veía con malos ojos nuestra presencia en las villas miseria”, cuenta Jalics en su libro Ejercicios de meditación, de 1995. “Interpretaban el hecho de que viviéramos allí como un apoyo a la guerrilla y se propusieron denunciarnos como terroristas. Nosotros sabíamos de dónde soplaba el viento y quién era responsable por estas calumnias. De modo que fui a hablar con la persona en cuestión y le expliqué que estaba jugando con nuestras vidas. El hombre me prometió que haría saber a los militares que no éramos terroristas. Por declaraciones posteriores de un oficial y 30 documentos a los que pude acceder más tarde pudimos comprobar sin lugar a dudas que este hombre no había cumplido su promesa sino que, por el contrario, había presentado una falsa denuncia ante los militares”, escribió Jalics, según el diario El País.

Ese hombre era Bergoglio, ahora el papa Francisco, según contó Yorio en una carta de 1977 al asistente general de la Compañía de Jesús, que obtuvo Verbitsky. Años después, tras el fin de la dictadura, Yorio también comentó a otros sacerdotes que Bergoglio no los había “entregado”, pero sí delatado.

Los hechos son los siguientes: el 23 de mayo de 1976, Yorio y Jalics fueron secuestrados por miembros de la dictadura argentina. Durante cinco meses estuvieron encerrados en la Escuela Mecánica de la Armada, uno de los principales centros clandestinos de detención y tortura del régimen. Un interrogador le dijo a Yorio que sabían que no era guerrillero, pero que con su trabajo en la villa unía a los pobres y eso era subversivo, según reconstruyó Verbistky. La Iglesia argentina, cuya jerarquía colaboró con la dictadura, mientras un reducido grupo de sacerdotes se opuso, intercedió para que los liberasen y así fue. Ambos fueron arrojados drogados en un terreno húmedo y cenagoso de una ciudad cercana a Buenos Aires, Cañuelas, un 24 de octubre.

En el libro El jesuita, de 2010, Bergoglio contestó a las acusaciones: “Nunca creí que estuvieran involucrados en actividades subversivas como sostenían sus perseguidores, y realmente no lo estaban. Pero, por su relación con algunos curas de las villas de emergencia, quedaban demasiado expuestos a la paranoia de caza de brujas. Como permanecieron en el barrio, Yorio y Jalics fueron secuestrados durante un rastrillaje. La misma noche en que me enteré de su secuestro, comencé a moverme. Cuando dije que estuve dos veces con [el dictador Jorge] Videla y dos con [el jefe de la Armada, Emilio] Massera fue por el secuestro de ellos”.

Bergoglio también ha dicho que durante aquellos años protegió, escondió y ayudó a exiliarse a perseguidos por el régimen.

Una tradición lamentable

La actuación de Francisco no es un excepción dentro del papado. Más bien la norma. El caso más notable fue el de Pío XII. En la relación de este Papa con el nazismo y sus derivados hay muchos puntos oscuros. Los investigadores han llegado a mencionar 45. Entre ellos están su silencio ante la atrocidad conocida como la “Noche de los cristales rotos”, el 9 de noviembre de 1938, que marcó decisivamente la persecución contra los judíos en Alemania. Se señala igualmente que no condenó las leyes racistas del gobierno colaboracionista francés de Pétain, así como su recibimiento, en 1943, al caudillo fascista croata Ante Pavelic, responsable de campos de exterminio donde murieron cientos de miles de serbios, judíos y gitanos.

Pío XII también permitió que miembros de la Iglesia, e incluso prelados del Vaticano, dieran refugio a judíos y perseguidos por los nazis.

Al igual que durante el pontificado de Pío XII, se ha señalado que una actitud más firme de la Iglesia durante la dictadura argentina hubiera frenado los crímenes. Es difícil que en ambos casos ello hubiera ocurrido. Queda entonces el juicio moral. En este sentido, la Iglesia católica sistemáticamente se ha colocado del lado de la reacción. En ambos casos, se puede decir que si bien la Iglesia no apoyaba los métodos, compartía algunos de los objetivos.

El Papa y la presidenta

ferriz.com.mx

Con el gobierno de la presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner el nuevo papa ha mantenido dos disputas, una social y otra política. La social tiene que ver con la fuerte condena de Bergoglio al homosexualismo y a los matrimonios entre parejas del mismo sexo, oficializados en Argentina.

La política se refiere a su rechazo al populismo, que cada vez más intensifica la mandataria, que por cierto es heredera de ese peronismo que también ayudó a los nazis, se aprovechó de ese régimen (la famosa leyenda o realidad del tesoro nazi trasladado al país sudamericano) y brindó refugio y apoyo a 90.000 nazis y miles de genocidas croatas, entre ellos Pavelic.

En lo que respecta a Cuba —y aquí se incluye el dato casi como una nota de humor— lo más significativo aparecido en las redes, tras conocer la elección de Bergoglio, ha sido el sacar a relucir que fue el coordinador del libro Diálogos entre Juan Pablo II y Fidel Castro, publicado en 1998. Para los católicos, solo queda rezar, para que los furibundos del exilio de Miami no se enteren del dato.

Francisco tiene por delante una larga tarea, no solo como figura máxima de una ideología desde hace años en decadencia, sino también como jefe de un Estado en problemas. Nada nuevo para una Iglesia que surgió de la cruz y ha predicado con la espada, cuando lo ha creído necesario y posible.

“HABEMUS PAPAM”: Francisco el Pontífice o Pancho el Montonero

CNN iReport

Por Andrés Pascual
Qué el Señor me coja confesado por lo que diré: Si “los eruditos” no hubieran explicado la relación entre los bombardeos de Guernica y lo que refleja el cuadro de Picasso, ¿Algún mortal común y corriente, por cuenta propia, hubiera podido? No, no es juego, quiero que reflexionen sobre lo que dije, como aquellas patas flacas de Lam que denominó La Jungla. Ah, asistí a la Escuela de Letras y Arte de la Universidad de La Habana, Literatura, época de Mirtha, Adelaida… y de alguna que otra conferencia por Carpentier o Portuondo, fueron los años en que Cela dijo en ¿la Casa de Las Américas? Que: “Cuba es para nosotros como esa hija que se nos fue de puta, pero puta y todo…” puedo recordar algo todavía…
Bien, la FUMATA BLANCA confundió a la gente porque no fue blanca, tuvo que salir el encargado y decir las palabras esperadas: “habemus papam”, ¿Presagio de algo con respecto al Aparato? Si así fuera, ¿Malo o bueno?
La elección de un Pontífice argentino es signo “del cambio” y esa palabrita como que asfixia, nada que se relacione con ella resulta positivo no para la Humanidad, sino para el destino de instituciones que han hecho la diferencia entre hombres y animales, como los derechos del individuo.
Verdad que el ex Cardenal Jorge Bergoglio ha sido oponente de los Kirchner porque Cristina le declaró la guerra a la Iglesia, pero no por circunstancias dignas de considerarse a la manera tradicional tal “comunismo” u otro tipo de peligrosas nimiedades de los últimos tiempos.
Según una fuente de Newsmax, figura política norteamericana al que le han mantenido el anonimato, que conoció a Bergoglio durante años y se comunicaba frecuentemente con él, el individuo tomaba el metro hasta sus oficinas y vivía sin lujos en Buenos Aires.
También que, quizás por ser un descendiente de italianos, lo seleccionaron como figura de compromiso entre dos ítalo-argentinos disponibles; el otro, Leonardo Sandri.
Pero hay una conceptualización del hombre que, como el humo que no fue blanco, debe ser explicada y de eso se encargará el tiempo: se le considera más a la izquierda que a cualquier otro, lo que se justifica, en parte, por su simpatía velada por la Teoría de la Liberación.
Un hombre que hablaba mucho de los pobres de la tierra sin llegar, pudiera ser algo muy bueno o lo peor de todo, porque ya se sabe de lo que son capaces quienes mencionan tanto “hombre, pobreza y su entorno” cuando “agarran”.
Sin embargo, hasta tanto no sucedan cosas, como siempre, habrá que ofrecerle el beneficio de la duda, a fin de cuentas, se lo dieron a Obama, a Castro, a Chávez a… verdad que acabaron “con la 5ta y con los mangos”, pero debe dársele, para que ningún apapio salga y se lo quiera comer a uno con el sonsonete “¿Dónde están las pruebas?” o “usted esto o lo otro”, como con todo, hay que esperar para decantar la homilía de los “claros divinos”: SE LOS DIJE, A LLORAR AL PARQUE”
El tiempo dirá si este es Francisco el Pontífice o Pancho el Montonero con la encomienda de liquidar hasta la esperanza y la FE, mientras, HABEMUS PAPAM…
El hombre pidió que rezáramos por él, yo solicito una oración por nosotros mismos, porque no hayan invadido la Viña del Señor los lobos de la oscuridad con corderos envenenados.

The pope’s to-do list: 7 challenges facing Francis as he starts his new job

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By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Pope Francis has a to-do list as long as his cassock.

The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio will lead 1.2 billion Catholics and a church at a crossroads — wrestling with scandal after scandal, changing demographics and calls for liberalization.

Here are seven pressing challenges for the new pope:

1. Cleaning house at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI ordered that a report on church bureaucracy be shown to only two men — himself and his successor. After he gives it a read, Francis will have to address backbiting, corruption and cronyism inside the Vatican and increasing pressure to make its finances more open. Church analysts were watching closely to see whether cardinals would elect a Vatican insider protective of church secrecy. Instead they picked a man from halfway around the world.

2. Leading the church out of the sex abuse scandal. The crisis consumed Benedict’s papacy and threatened to overshadow the conclave, with abuse victims even calling for some cardinals to recuse themselves from the selection process. Victims’ groups still want the Vatican to disclose more about its role in failing to protect children. One such organization, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it was grateful that Francis was not on its list of the worst choices for pope — but warned that very little about the crisis has been exposed in South America.

3. Getting along with other faiths. Benedict caused a furor when, in 2006, he quoted an emperor who had characterized some teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman.” Benedict is credited with repairing rifts with Jews, however, and the new pope has also been praised for cultivating a strong relationship with Judaism. After Francis' election, the head of the World Jewish Congress praised him as someone “known for his open-mindedness.”

4. Winning the West. Benedict couldn’t stop the decline of the church in its traditional stronghold of Europe. Meanwhile in the United States, a Pew study released Wednesday found that only 27 percent of the church’s members defined themselves as “strong” Catholics — a four-decade low. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who was considered a papal contender, expressed hope that Francis would fight rising secularism: “We pledge our faithful support for the Holy Father as he leads the Church in proclaiming the New Evangelization, inviting all people to a develop a closer relationship with Christ and to share that gift with others.”

5. Should women be priests? And should priests marry? Francis will have to address growing debate within the church about the celibacy requirement for priests. A priest in Australia admitted last year that he had been married for a year and said “there are more like me.” Benedict also delivered a veiled rebuke to an Austrian priests’ group that wants the church to allow women to be ordained and to get rid of the celibacy requirement.

6. Modernization. Majorities of Catholics in the United States have said in surveys that they want the pope to lead the church in a more liberal direction. A New York Times/CBS News poll of Catholics last week found that six in 10 support gay marriage, and seven in 10 want the church to allow birth control. Three-quarters supported abortion in at least some circumstances. In Argentina, then-Cardinal Bergoglio clashed with the president over a 2010 law allowing gay marriage. “It is a move by the father of lies to confuse and deceive the children of God,” he said.

7. Persecution. Open Doors, a group that documents Christian persecution, reported earlier this year that 100 million Christians are oppressed around the worldwide, with countries in Asia and the Middle East by far the worst offenders. Benedict claimed that Christians are the most oppressed religious group in the world, facing discrimination and often violence. As pope, Francis must also be the church’s most prominent diplomat. “This situation is intolerable,” Benedict said in 2010, “since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity.”

Slideshow: Pope Francis: His life before the papacy >>

Pope Francis I: Humble leader who takes the bus to work

 

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Pope Francis I: Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is new Catholic leader

World News

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires was named leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday after being elected pope. He will be known as Pope Francis I.

The 76-year-old, who has been a cardinal since 2001, was introduced to the world – in Latin - from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in front of tens of thousands gathered in the square below.

Minutes earlier, white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel and bells rang out across Rome, prompting cheers and wild applause.

The archbishop of Buenos Aires is the Argentine-born son of an Italian railway worker. Seen as a compassionate conservative, he reportedly came in second during the 2005 balloting that ultimately elected Benedict XVI.

The Jesuit prizes simplicity and humility and would encourage priests to do shoe-leather evangelization, according to his biographer.

Smoke billowed from the chimney at 7:07 p.m. (2:07 p.m. ET) on the second day of behind-closed-doors voting and marked the beginning to a new era for a church combating scandal and internal strife.

LIVE VIDEO — NBC News Special Report: Live coverage from Vatican City as white smoke pours from the Sistine Chapel, signaling a pope has been chosen.

The cardinals are thought to have taken five ballots to reach the two-third majority necessary for a decision.

Natacha Pisarenko / AP

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as pope Wednesday.

Before being introduced from the balcony, the Argentine cardinal was taken from the Sistine Chapel into a side room called the “Room of Tears” to be dressed in the papal clothes.

His appearance was heralded by a Latin announcement beginning with the phrase "Habemus Papam!" meaning, "We have a pope!"

Speaking before the announcement, Edward Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York, said he was confident that the new pope would “give us the kind of guidance and support that we are looking for.”

Egan said the new pope needed five qualities. He should be “a man of prayer, who loves leading public prayer and privately prays with joy and fulfillment;” “a man who repeats the gospel message in an uncomplicated manner;” and “a leader who will lead on the great questions of the day,” which he said were “justice, compassion and peace.”

He should also “know how to govern” and had to be “a person who can handle criticism with calm and with total trust in God,” Egan said.

Andrew Medichini / AP

White billows from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel indicating that a new pope has been elected in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday.

The papal election follows the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 28.

Now known as Pope Emeritus, he was watching Wednesday's events from a temporary lakeside residence at Castel Gandolfo while his permanent living quarters inside Vatican City are refurbished.

The behind-the-scenes ballot process that has taken place in the Sistine Chapel should still remain a secret. Both the cardinals and staff working alongside them swore an oath of secrecy as the conclave got under way, with the threat of ex-communication for anyone breaking the church's ancient code.

Such is the importance of secrecy that Vatican officials have installed jamming devices to prevent the use of cellphones by cardinals or hidden microphones by anyone wanting to hear their deliberations.

NBC News' Peter Jeary contributed to this report.

Are cardinals electing the last pope? If you believe Nostradamus...

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA file

Lighting strikes the basilica of St.Peter's dome in Vatican City during a storm
 on Feb.11, 2013, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.

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Slideshow: Pope Benedict XVI's departure

By Carol Grisanti, Producer, NBC News

ROME— Church bells are sounding the alarm for doomsayers and conspiracy theorists here as cardinals convene to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

According to an ancient prediction, this next pope will be the last.

That theory dates back more than 900 years to when Malachy O’Morgair, the 12th century Archbishop of Ireland, had a vision.

Legend has it that St. Malachy, as he is now known, had a strange dream while on a visit to Rome. He “saw” all the names of the future popes – complete with identifying characteristics – who would rule the church until the end of time. 

Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” as his vision is called, named Benedict XVI as the 111th – and penultimate – pope. The vision ended with the 112th pope.

Clairvoyant or crazy? In his book, “Life of St. Malachy,” St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that Malachy was respected as a clairvoyant who predicted the exact day and hour of his own death.  At least one 20th century pope, Pius X, was convinced Malachy’s vision was divine, according to Rafael Merry del Val, his biographer.

But theologians and clerics argue there was never an authentic written manuscript. Malachy’s list was curiously discovered in 1590 in the Vatican archives, hundreds of years later.

“There is no historical foundation at all to St. Malachy’s list,” said Roberto Rusconi, professor of the History of Christianity at Rome’s University. “Malachy’s gift was to make other people believe in his predictions.”

Others have taken hold of Malachy’s list and compared it with history.

The first pope, according to the list, would be “from a castle on the Tiber” – for believers, that was clearly Pope Celestine II who was born on the shores of the Tiber River.

Pope Benedict was apparently described as “glory of the olives” and doomsayers point to his choice of the name Benedict, since the founder of the Benedictine Order was also known as Olivetans.

And in Malachy’s vision, the last pope – who will soon be elected – is described this way: “in extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…”

While none of the Italian Cardinals are called Peter, one favorite to become Pope is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.

If that was not enough to send shivers down a few spines, Nostradamus, the 16th century French astrologer and seer, predicted much the same as Malachy. 

Nostradamus, a mild-mannered healer, was content to mix potions until the Italian-born French queen, Catherine de Medici, raised his profile from physician to prophet. 

Nostradamus warned that the next-to-last pope would “flee Rome in December when the great comet is seen in the daytime.” 

Taking into account the calendar months were different hundreds of years ago, Nostradamus wasn’t so far off. The Comet ISON, with its 40,000 mile-long tail, has been visible the past couple months as Benedict prepared to abdicate and leave Rome for his temporary home in Castel Gandolfo.

And for those well-versed in the language of brimstone and fire, the signs could not have been more transparent when just hours after Benedict announced he would abdicate, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica, the very heart of Christianity. A few days later a shower of meteorites fell and devastated a village in Russia.

Cynics shrugged all this off as natural phenomena, while the doomsayers suffered from one more dose of existential angst. 

In St. Paul Outside the Walls, another major cathedral in Rome, medallions line the walls with the names of every pope and the dates of his papacy.  Legend says that when all the medallions are full, the world will finally end.  On the walls of St. Paul’s, there are still some empty spaces.

Perhaps the end isn’t so near.

Sistine mysteries revealed: How the next pope will be chosen

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Possible New Pope Shares Platform With Institute for Policy Studies Radical

Cardinal Turkson

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The man many have picked to be the next Pope,  is set to share a platform with  a representative of one of America’s most radical left “think tanks. ”

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, radical actor/activist Martin Sheen, and Emira Woods of – the Washington DC based Institute for Policy Studies, are all invited guest speakers at the leftist Africa Faith And Justice’ s 30th Anniversary, March 1, 2013 through March 3, 2013, University of Notre Dame. South Bend, Indiana.

IPS, active since the 1960s, has infiltrated every Democratic Administration since Jimmy Carter.  President Barack Obama was a trustee of an IPS “partner” organization Demos, as was his communist  “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones. Both outgoing US Secretary of defense Leon Panetta, and incoming Sec. Chuck Hagel also have IPS ties.

IPS was once notorious for its ties to the Soviet KGB, and Castro’s intelligence services. The organization has been a major player in moving America leftward,  for almost 50 years now.

Any Papal candidate who would even consider sharing a platform with an IPS representative, should be viewed with grave suspicion.

From the IPS website

Portrayed as a conservative by some, for his controversial linking of homosexuality and pedophilia, Cardinal Turkson is, on wealth re-distribution issues at least, a man of the Left.

For example, in response to the global economic crisis of  2008, Cardinal Turkson, put forward  a proposal to reform the international financial system by creating a “Global Public Authority” and a Global Bank that “consider the interest of all developing countries”.

In 2008 Americans voted with their hearts, for their first black president,  and got a red one instead.

The Catholic College of Cardinals need to weigh their votes for the next Pope very carefully. If they vote with their hearts, rather than their heads, the next Pope may end up doing to the Catholic Church, what Barack Obama has done to America.

That would be a disaster for all of us. Catholic, and non-Catholic alike.

How the pope's retirement package compares to yours

lifeinc

By A. Pawlowski, TODAY contributor

It’s good to be the pope – even a retired one, it turns out.

As Pope Benedict XVI steps down on Thursday, his retirement package – the first one the Vatican has had to prepare in almost 600 years – would likely be considered a sweet deal by the average American senior, providing a steady income and generous perks.

Let’s start with the basics: The pope emeritus will receive a monthly pension of 2,500 euros, according to Italian newspaper La Stampa.

That translates to almost $3,300, or close to the monthly maximum of $3,350 that Social Security will pay to an American who retires this year.

Few people will actually qualify for that amount. For starters, you would have to wait until 70 to retire. You would also have to spend most of your working life earning Social Security’s taxable maximum pay, which is set at $113,700 this year.

“That’s quite rare,” said Richard Johnson, director of the program on retirement policy at the Urban Institute.

He pointed out that the average Social Security check is about $1,200 a month — not enough to pay for the typical American retiree’s expenses.

“For most people, if you look at the median, Social Security counts for about 40 percent of their income. So it’s important, but people rely a lot on other savings, like pensions or 401(k) savings,” Johnson said.

A big nest egg is not something the pope emeritus has to worry about. The Roman Catholic Church will cover his living expenses, provide him with a spacious home inside the Vatican and pay for everything from cooked meals to housekeepers, according to The Telegraph.

Such services are not available to the typical American senior, unless he or she pays for an assisted living facility or resides in a nursing home, Johnson said.

What about waiting to retire until 85, as Benedict did? The average American retires at about 64, so working that long is unusual, Johnson noted.

“If you have a job you love, it’s great,” he said.

Slideshow: Pope Benedict's XVI's departure

“(But) just like the pope, the biggest determinant of retirement is health status. When your health starts to deteriorate, that’s what often pushes people into retirement, sometimes earlier than expected.”

Health care costs are one of the big risks that older Americans face, and while Medicare pays for the bulk of their expenses, many things are left uncovered, Johnson said. Meanwhile, the pope emeritus will continue to be a member of the Vatican's generous private health care policy, the BBC reported.

Bottom line: rent-free living, few out-of-pocket expenses plus thousands of dollars deposited into your account each month would probably constitute a good deal in most people’s minds.

Of course, the pope is not most people. His financial health is of such interest that it recently got the Saturday Night Live treatment, with a mock ad showing a worried Benedict surrounded by a pile of unpaid bills and seeking the help of a financial planning firm called “Papal Securities.” Motto: “Because heaven can wait.”

Inside Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict’s spectacular temporary retirement home

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Pope: Only my successor and I will see results of Vatican probe

 

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Boston’s sandal-wearing Cardinal O’Malley getting papal buzz

usnews

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley is generating buzz in Rome as a possible contender to be the next pope, even though Vatican watchers have long said an American pontiff is a longshot.

John L. Allen, a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, took note this week of the growing number of Italian newspapers and commentators who have mentioned O'Malley as a candidate or written favorably about his cleanup of the archdiocese's sex-abuse scandal.

"Right now, it's tough for an American journalist to walk into the Vatican Press Office without fielding questions from colleagues about him," Allen wrote.

O'Malley -- a distinctive figure in the monkish brown cassock of the Capuchin religious order -- isn't entertaining questions about his chances of succeeding Pope Benedict XVI when the College of Cardinals convenes.

"As the Cardinal said last week at his press conference, he has a round trip ticket to return home and will rely on the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit as the College of Cardinals enter the conclave in March," spokeswoman Kellyanne Dignan said.

O'Malley, 68, was named archbishop of Boston in 2003, after Cardinal Bernard Law stepped down amid allegations he covered up sex abuse by priests. He was elevated to cardinal three years later. 

Thomas Groome, a theology professor at Boston College, said that of all the American bishops who've had to deal with the abuse crisis, O'Malley "has come closest to satisfying the victims." He sold the archdiocese's palatial headquarters and used the money for victim settlements.

A low-key personality who prizes simplicity and "isn't a hardened idealogue," O'Malley would bring a starkly different style to the papacy, Groome said.

"We'd go from Prada booties to sandals and no socks," he said. "He wouldn't be a blustering public personality like John Paul. You'd have to go back to John XXIII to find someone analogous."

Groome said that when O'Malley's name surfaced he initially laughed it off but now thinks he could emerge as the next pope from a brokered conclave where the cardinals from the northern and southern hemispheres square off.

Franco Origlia / Getty Images file

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, attends a concistory held by 
Pope Benedict at Saint Peter's Basilica on November 24, 2012, in Vatican City, Vatican.

"There are 117 cardinals and probably 116 of them would love to be pope," he said. "The one who wouldn't is O'Malley and that could be why he gets it."

Rocco Palmo, who writes the popular Whispers in the Loggia blog, noted that O'Malley heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' high-profile pro-life committee, giving him exposure outside his Boston archdiocese.

But he said it's way too soon to say he's on a short-list.

"It's a wide open field, and anything is possible," Palmo said. "But there are 117 voting cardinals and in the next 25 days, I expect to hear every one of those cardinals' names mentioned."

O'Malley is no Vatican insider and some will question whether he has the managerial mettle to accomplish a much-needed overhaul of its sprawling bureaucracy. And there's never been a pope from the Capuchin order of friars, who are noted for their service to the poor. 

It's been conventional wisdom that American cardinals have little chance of being the pope because of a global phobia of a U.S.-dominated Vatican. Allen says that may have changed because the country's superpower status has dimmed over the decades.

"The Americans have the second-largest voting bloc -- 11 -- after the Italians," Palmo said. "It's only natural an American name is going to appear at some point."

Previously, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was mentioned by many as America's top papal possibility. He says those predictions are off-base.

“Those are only from people smoking marijuana,” Dolan said Sunday at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Can the Cardinal who couldn't save his Quebec church save the Vatican?

INGRID PERITZ/

Vandeville Eric /ABACA/Newscom

Cardinal Marc Ouellet is a man of the cloth and a deep theological thinker, but he is not above using e-mail. And this week, amid feverish betting reminiscent of the lead-up to the Super Bowl, the Cardinal sent a message to his family back in La Motte, Que.

With all the talk that he is a contender to succeed the resigning Pope Benedict XVI, the 68-year-old Cardinal told those closest to him that the best response was no response. “The coming month will be rather tough, given the novelty of the situation, and speculation is rife,” he wrote to his siblings and 90-year-old mother.

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Vatican Raises Possibility of Early Conclave

AssociatedPress

How a New Pope is Elected

TimeMagazine

Pope decided to resign after visiting Cuba and snubbing the Ladies in White

www.cartoonmovement.com

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Pope decided to resign after Cuba trip, Vatican advisor says

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to step down from his office was made soon after his trip to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, according to a senior communications officer at the Vatican. “What’s interesting is how long ago this decision was made, shortly after the Pope’s trip to Cuba, which was in March of last year,” said Vatican advisor Greg Burke.This is what can happen when you visit Hell and meet with the Devil.