Word: thursdaying
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...effectively suspend the internal Vatican process that leads to sainthood for Pius, citing a need for a "period of reflection." Now, however, Benedict appears to have finished his own reflecting on the historical virtues of the Italian Pope who reigned from 1939 to 1958. At a special Mass on Thursday marking 50 years since Pius' death, Benedict praised his wartime predecessor's actions to save Jews and called on Catholics to "pray that the cause of his beatification goes forward smoothly." Beatification is the final step before canonization, when a Church figure becomes a saint. Thursday coincidentally was also...
...Thursday's Mass in Rome, Benedict lavished praise on Pius, who was the Pope when the then young German first became a priest. Like those who have actively campaigned for his beatification, the Pope said that Pius used a few pointed public - but mostly private - acts of diplomacy to try to prevent what turned into the slaughter of 6 million European Jews. He cited Pius' 1942 Christmas radio message. "With a voice broken with emotion, he deplored the situation of 'hundreds of thousands of persons who, for no fault of their own, only for reason of nationality or ethnic roots...
Though Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Benedict's homily Thursday does not necessarily mean that Pius will be beatified, it does seem as though the road to sainthood has now been reopened by the unequivocal words of the Pope...
Jewish leaders, who were observing Yom Kippur on Thursday, are expected to be deeply disappointed by Benedict's latest word on the matter. Earlier this week, Shear-Yashuv Cohen, chief rabbi of the Israeli port city of Haifa, who had been invited by the Pope to speak about the Bible at the current synod of bishops in Rome, told Benedict that Jews "cannot forgive and forget" the silence during the Holocaust from world religious leaders. Later, Cohen told reporters that Pius "should not be seen as a model, and he should not be beatified...
...Kenyan government contested that interpretation, saying GOSS stood for General Ordinance and Security Supplies - a division of the Kenyan Defense Ministry. But a South Sudanese government adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity on Thursday, rejected that notion. The adviser, a former fighter with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), told TIME that Kenya had agreed long ago to facilitate such arms deals for South Sudan. "I know they belong to us, to South Sudan," the adviser said in a telephone interview. "There was a deal between the SPLA and the Kenyan government that they facilitate everything. The destination...