Word: papally
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...more than four centuries since King Henry VIII pronounced the Church of England independent from papal authority, certain Anglican conservatives have always drifted back to Rome, "swimming the Tiber," as reverting to Catholicism was called. But in the past two decades, more and more seem to be doing so. Benedict's latest ruling confirms and expands earlier ad-hoc decisions by Pope John Paul II to allow several married Anglican priests to convert and remain in the clergy. (Read about the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams...
McCarrick himself noted at the brief final rite of committal and prayer that the reading was an idea he and Kennedy's widow Victoria had agreed to, apparently using a copy of Kennedy's letter that the senator had kept. The subsequent response from a papal aide offering Benedict's prayers for his health, according to a veteran ambassador to the Holy See, was likely of a pro forma nature. Such letters are typically handled either by the office of the sostituto, the No. 2 official in the Secretary of State's office or by the Pope's private secretary...
...this case, thanks to Victoria Kennedy and Cardinal McCarrick, millions of Americans heard directly from such a papal correspondence less than two months after the fact, providing a powerful close to the day of prayer and 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...
...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...
During Benedict's 2008 trip to the U.S., there was some heated debate - with conflicting photographs and eyewitness accounts - about whether Kennedy took Holy Communion at the papal Mass at Nationals Stadium in Washington, with conservatives insisting that the Pope says the rite should be denied to prochoice politicians. With this in mind, Church observers are keen to see if Boston's Archbishop Cardinal Sean O'Malley will preside over Kennedy's funeral. Some conservatives already see the fact that the rites are not being held in a cathedral (but rather at the Senator's favorite church) as significant. (UPDATE...