Word: pontiff
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, the comatose Florida woman who ended up at the center of a very public tussle between Christians and right-to-die activists. Those who wanted Schiavo to stay on life support would later point to the fact that the pontiff and Schiavo died within two days of each other in the spring of 2005 as a sign from above that treatment and sustenance should never be interrupted. No doubt activists on both sides of the issue will find moving symbolism in Monday evening's death, earlier than doctors had predicted, of the latest...
...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...
...Many expected this pope to focus on the universal Church and lofty theological treatise. But Benedict has not hesitated to step into the Italian political debate, most notably helping to bury a 2005 referendum on assisted fertility rights. The pontiff is keen to find seeds of Christian vitality in an increasingly secular Europe. And while most Italians are all but secular in their day-to-day lives, the Catholic Church and the pope's pulpit remain powerful forces in Italy's domestic politics. Upon word of Englaro's death, the Vatican's chief of health-related issues, Cardinal Javier Lozano...
...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, disgraced Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was named...
...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 in a call from the German Chancellor for the German Pope to react more sternly to Williamson's views on the Holocaust. It is unclear...