Word: roman
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...vatican hazardous to your health? That's what Italy's Environment Minister Willer Bordon is alleging, and the Roman Catholic Church is not pleased. The dispute, which broke out in early March, centers on allegedly excessive levels of electromagnetic radiation produced by Vatican Radio's powerful transmitters. The Vatican claims that as a sovereign state under a 1929 treaty it is not subject to Italian prosecutors. Bordon says that unless emissions are reduced by the end of this week, he will order electricity suppliers to cut off the station's power...
...Oscar had a few surprises in store, and some rare suspense. In the moments before Michael Douglas announced the winner for Best Picture, some people who thought "Gladiator" a lock had second and third thoughts. The Roman rasslin' epic had already copped four Oscars (for Actor, Costume, Sound and Visual Effects), but so had "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (for Foreign Film, Art Direction, Cinematography and Score) and "Traffic" (for Director, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Editing). When Douglas finally said, "And the Oscar goes to... 'Gladiator,'" even those of us rooting for "Crouching Tiger" were grateful that our dark horse...
...question were only that simple. Positioning oneself for Popehood is a catch-22 on a cosmic scale. To be a front runner in the race is, according to church tradition, a formula for losing it. "He who goes into the conclave as Pope comes out a Cardinal," goes the Roman maxim. Take the case of the Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, 71, one of several so-called papabili (Italian for "Popables"). Castrillon Hoyos speaks several languages and possesses an attractive combination of real-world pastoral experience and inside-the-Vatican bureaucratic savvy. In 1999, his compatriot Gabriel Garcia Marquez sang...
...will be a sad occasion, but it will come. Dressed in their ceremonial red robes, as many as 135 Roman Catholic Cardinals from around the globe, representing 1 billion followers, will gather deep within the Vatican to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II, one of the longest-serving Pontiffs in history but a mortal being nonetheless. The vote will take place in secret and will be guided, according to church doctrine, by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Which man the College of Cardinals will smile on no one knows, but there is reason to believe this much...
Besides suppressing one's will to power, there are other dos and don'ts for would-be Pontiffs. The addition of 11 Cardinals from Latin America, where half the world's Roman Catholics now reside, suggests that it's important to speak Spanish. The sheer number of Cardinals--most of whom see one another only rarely--would seem to favor talented networkers. Being in shape is a plus. The 33-day reign of John Paul I underlined the need for papal stamina, which may be one reason that Castrillion Hoyos rides an Exercycle. A moderate public image can't hurt...