Word: popes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Wise Men & Gifts. Long before the date of Christmas was fixed in the calendar (by Pope Julius I in the middle of the 4th century), the cave or stable in Bethlehem had been an object of veneration. St. Justin Martyr mentioned the present Grotto of the Nativity as early as 155; a century later, Origen discussed the authenticity of the site (even Christianity's enemies, he said, admitted it). The manger scene-with the Wise Men from Matthew and the shepherds from Luke-is one of the oldest Christian traditions. It is also the easiest to dramatize. Canticles...
Self-control was not the Pope's solution. "There are necessary limitations to the freedom of the press," he said. "And these limitations should be strictly determined on the basis of law." Beyond that, the Pope proposed an embargo by offended Catholic readers: "Do not buy, do not believe, do not favor, and do not even mention this perverted press...
Although he did not say so, the Pope's immediate target was clearly Italy's gamy popular press, which licks its chops over each new scandal, e.g., last week's story of the couple in Rome, run over and killed while making love on the railroad tracks. Rome's press, while giving the Pope's admonitions good play, implied that he was merely suggesting self-control. "Self-regulation," said Rome's Il Tempo, "is without doubt the best medicine," went on to absolve itself from the Pope's accusations. Most other leading papers...
This was too much for some guardians of press liberty. Said the nondenominational U.S. weekly, Christian Century: "His statement profoundly disappoints the Christian Century and all who hoped as we did that the personal kindness of the present Pope reflected an attitude of understanding benevolence toward democratic liberties, of which one of the foremost is freedom of the press...
...ANGER OF ACHILLES; HOMER'S ILIAD, translated by Robert Graves. The most charming English version since Alexander Pope's, treating the original as entertainment rather than as epic tragedy...