Word: pius
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...however, was not conservative enough for Fernández, who broke with the Ecône faction to join a French group called the Sedevacantistes. The group's name derives from its basic tenet: that the See of Peter has been vacant since the 1958 death of Pope Pius XII, whom they consider the last orthodox Pope. Fernández may face a high penalty for acting on his beliefs: he was formally arraigned in Lisbon on a charge of attempted murder. A conviction could bring him 15 to 20 years in prison...
More recent speculation has focused on what new direction a less strong and energetic John Paul might give his pontificate. Would he, like ailing Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, retire to a life of meditation and reflection behind Vatican walls, rather than touring the globe...
...enterprising 19th century Corsican named Angelo Mariani had the notion of blending the coca leaf with fine wine, which he marketed under the name of Vin Mariani. Mariani collected endorsements from Popes Leo XIII and Pius X, President McKinley and the Kings of Spain, Greece, and Norway and Sweden, as well as such literary luminaries as Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola. French Sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty, swore that if he had only savored Vin Mariani earlier, he would have built the old girl hundreds of meters higher...
...Concerned that the Communists might win the 1948 Italian parliamentary elections, Pius told Italy's Catholics that they had a duty to support candidates who would safeguard "the rights and laws of God and Christian moral doctrine...
...eight Vatican-appointed bishops in mainland China, five are under house arrest and the fate of two others is unknown. That leaves Jesuit Dominic Tang, who in 1950 was appointed apostolic administrator, or temporary head, of the Canton diocese by Pope Pius XII and subsequently spent 22 years in a Communist prison. With church conditions improving dramatically in China, Tang was freed last year. Surprisingly, he also won the approval of the province's government to resume duties as administrator of his diocese...