Word: benedict
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...proximity of the Vatican to the Italian case almost ensured that Pope Benedict XVI was part of the debate over the past days and weeks. The pontiff used his annual message for the World Day of the Sick on Sunday to focus on the issue of euthanasia. "Let us pray for all the sick, especially those most seriously ill, who cannot provide for themselves in any way, but are completely dependent on the care of others," the pontiff said. It was the third time in a week that the Pope had made a not-so-subtle reference to the Englaro...
...Benedict is the inspiration behind the move, few inside the Vatican doubt who is its executor. A few days after the surprise signing of the Jan. 21 papal decree that overturned the excommunication, one well-placed Vatican official noted, "It has every appearance of being the work of Castrill...
...first be clear that the Pope himself badly wanted the rapprochement with the Lefebvrites, a throwback movement that uses the Latin-rite Mass and shuns any attempt to have dialogue with other religions. Although he doesn't agree with all their views - and certainly not Williamson's Holocaust-denying - Benedict had hoped that by undoing the excommunication, the Lefebvrites would eventually accept the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and become a new force for contemporary conservative Catholicism in the West. (Read "Germany Confronts Its Dark Past...
...Castrillón is a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist. He was named by Pope John Paul II as the go-between in relations with fringe traditionalist groups like the Lefebvrites, whose official name is the Society of St. Pius X. Castrillón pushed hard for Benedict to expand the use of Latin-rite Mass, which the Pontiff did in 2007. Four years earlier, Castrillón had presided over the first officially sanctioned Latin-rite Mass in Rome since the Second Vatican Council, held at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The following year, it is worth noting...
Castrillón expressed surprise when it was revealed that Williamson was a Holocaust denier. Some Catholic blogs have castigated Castrillón for not doing enough of a background check while vetting the Lefebvrites. One of the Cardinals closest to Benedict, and a former student, Archbishop of Vienna Cristoph Schonborn, took the unusual step of criticizing his fellow Cardinals of the Roman Curia, saying that "some collaborators of the Pope" had let the Pontiff down. The consequences for Benedict have been a 10-day avalanche of criticism - other Lefebvrites have come out of the woodwork with controversial statements - culminating...