Word: pontiff
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...There's nothing new in all of this, of course - the Vatican has always claimed such primacy on the basis of its origins with the Disciple Peter, the first pontiff. But the restatement of that principle at a time when John Paul II has been doing his utmost to build bridges both to other Christian denominations and to non-Christian faiths has raised eyebrows. The bad news for non-Catholics came in "Dominus Iesus," a 36-page declaration by Pope John Paul II's doctrine chief, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that will be sent to every Catholic bishop warning against...
...almost perfectly conserved." Pius, known universally in Rome as Pio Nono, died in 1878. Yet here he was "in the beauty of his humanity, just as he is seen in the photographic documentation" of his deathbed, back when the entire city came "and admired the beautiful face of the Pontiff smiling in the sleep of death." Although Pius' face is now masked, Liberati's observations suggest that the old Pope is smiling still...
Papal politics, unlike presidential politics, is never a winner-takes-all scenario. And that makes the Vatican unlikely to abandon its effort to beatify Pope Pius IX, despite protests by liberal and Jewish groups. The latter are incensed that the current pontiff, so deeply committed to healing the church's relationship with the Jews, would propose sainthood for a man who in the mid-19th century forced Rome's Jews back into the ghetto and stripped them of their civil rights after having initially allowed them greater freedom. Further fueling the protests is the case of Edgardo Mortara...
...While John Paul II may struggle to defend Pius IX on his treatment of the Jews, the 19th-century pontiff's beatification is being championed by the conservative bishops John Paul appointed to the Curia. Beatification, an advanced step along the way to canonization (sainthood), is one of a number of battlegrounds in the church's centuries-old conflict between theological liberals and conservatives, in which neither side can afford to drive their opponents entirely from the fold - a church that suffered life-threatening breakaways first by the Eastern Orthodox and then by the Protestants can afford no further splits...
That much is reflected in the fact that Pius IX's beatification process, first mooted in 1907, is now proceeding in parallel time with the beatification of Pope John XXIII, one of the most liberal pontiffs in the church's history, who presided over the Second Vatican Council beginning in 1962 and inaugurated a modern, more liberal church. John XXIII, needless to say, is not a favorite of theological conservatives, who've spent much of John Paul II's papacy trying to undo his legacy. The liberal pope was to have been beatified in parallel with Pius XII, but with...