Word: churchful
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Many American Catholics followed the daylong funeral and burial rites for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy looking for signs of the ongoing struggle between the traditionalist and liberal wings of their Church. The passing of the most notable U.S. Catholic politician of his generation seemed to be a perfect catalyst for such ecclesiastical drama...
...delivered in July by President Obama - and portions of the Vatican response to Kennedy two weeks later. After making no public comment nor authorizing an official communique after Kennedy's death, was the Pope publicly reaching out to this controversial Catholic politician? According to both Vatican and U.S.-based Church officials, the answer...
...remembrance. Kennedy wrote to the Pope about his own failing health, as well as his legislative battles on behalf of the less fortunate. And though conceding that he was "imperfect," at least in the portion read aloud, there was no mention of the issues that divided him from Church teaching, like abortion. "I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our church...
...Church official said that while McCarrick cleared the reading with the Washington-based papal nuncio (the pope's personal and official representative in the U.s., the equivalent of the Vatican ambassador), "there wasn't any word from Rome. And I don't expect there will be." (Read "After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope...
...event, Cardinal McCarrick's reading of the private letters served a larger Church agenda. "At the funeral in Boston, you had the eulogy of the sitting President, which is impressive, but not really religious," said the Church official. "This way the Cardinal wanted to be sure the day ended as it should, in prayer." And so, the last word as Ted Kennedy was consigned to the earth would be from the Roman Catholic Church...