Word: benedicts
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...doubt that Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage Saturday to the birthplace of a saint. The only real question is when that sainthood will be made official. The date of birth, of course, we already know to be May 18, 1920, when Karol Wojtyla was born in a humble two-story home in the town of Wadowice, in the rolling countryside of southern Poland. He died 85 years later in Rome as the most widely beloved - and arguably most influential - pope of the past millennium. But exactly when the Catholic Church will officially recognize Pope John Paul...
...first foreign trip last August, a similarly busy four-day visit to Cologne for World Youth Day, Benedict was still getting used to his papal robes. Some of the faithful, with the memory of John Paul's passing fresh in their minds, were likewise still taking measure of their new leader's subtler persona. Now, more than a year into his papacy, there is a sense that this longtime behind-the-scenes Vatican figure has found his comfort zone under the public spotlight. This time he wasn't even scared off, as he was last August, when photographers and cameramen...
...taking command of the new job behind the cameras as well. Benedict made a key personnel shift last week in Rome, scaling back the role of a John Paul favorite, powerful Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who was moved from the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to the Archdiocese of Naples. Cardinal Ivan Dias, the longtime archbishop of Bombay known to be respected by the new Pope, was brought in to take Sepe...
...Also last week, Benedict approved a careful censure of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, accused of sexually abusing minors: the 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado will have to give up his public ministry, but no more action will be taken against him because of his age and poor health...
...There is a sense among Vatican insiders that these two recent decisions - along with a looming decision to replace Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano - is a sign that Benedict is getting a sure handle on the running of the massive church hiearchy. Still, the Pope knows he can't simply sit behind his desk in Rome. This trip to Poland, which will be followed this year by stops in Spain, Germany and Turkey, will at once pay proper homage to John Paul and show that there is a new man very much in charge...