Word: vaticans
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...obvious reasons, though, the press office run by longtime Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls will continue to operate through the transition period. Despite continuing complaints that he is not as forthcoming as some would like, Navarro-Valls has gotten good grades for his handling of the pontiff's last months. After he had rushed to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 1, there was an initial attempt to sweeten the picture of John Paul's health: the Vatican feared a groundswell from the faithful questioning the authority of an enfeebled (and potentially incapacitated) pontiff. But the pontiff's final 72 hours were...
...years, news organizations had speculated over how the news of the Pope's death would get out to the world. Would it be leaked ahead of time? Would there be a false scoop that would set off flurries of speculation? Would the Vatican keep the news secret for hours or days until it could straighten out the situation inside the Curia? The Rome bureau chiefs of news wire agencies and television stations lost sleep for fear of missing the historic news flash. Instead, Navarro's simultaneous email to the major news agencies at the same time that Archbishop Leonardo Sandri...
...story today continues to be the crowds pouring slowly through St. Peter's Square to catch a glimpse of the Pope lying in state. The Vatican estimates there are 600,000 people a day filing past the body - seven people every second. And Italian media estimates are closer to 1 million. Even then, some are left disappointed: Carmella Paolillo had taken an overnight train from her small town near the southern city of Salerno to pay her respects. But by day's end, after waiting nearly 10 hours, she had to give up, with the Basilica finally in sight...
...traditional pageantry, mystery and power of Vatican rituals has awed the faithful for centuries. But the convergence of John Paul II's massive popularity with around-the-clock news coverage has created a spectacle that will go down with the ages. Today alone some 600,000 people have filed slowly, step by step, waiting as long as 14 hours, for just a brief glance at the body of the pontiff lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica. Meanwhile, new details are emerging about the elaborate plans for the Pope's funeral and burial on Friday, and even a word...
...Today, Tuesday, we were summoned to a press conference at 12:30 p.m. with Archbishop Piero Marini, the papal master of ceremonies, and Joaquin Navarro-Valls, Pope John Paul II's longtime spokesman. Getting there, through the throngs of people on the streets of Vatican City was a major challenge. Watching on TV, you will have seen the hundreds of thousands jamming onto the Via Della Conciliazione, the wide boulevard leading up to St. Peter's Basilica. But what you don't see on TV is that the parallel side streets are also packed, wall to wall. The crowd here...