Word: vaticans
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This month the Nicaraguan church suddenly declared that any priests who do not forsake "public positions" immediately "will be considered in open rebellion and disobedience of the ultimate ecclesiastical authority." Vatican Spokesman Romeo Panciroli claimed that Rome played no part in the crackdown. In fact, John Paul has taken a firm line against priestly partisanship in the Nicaraguan test case...
...eight Vatican-appointed bishops in mainland China, five are under house arrest and the fate of two others is unknown. That leaves Jesuit Dominic Tang, who in 1950 was appointed apostolic administrator, or temporary head, of the Canton diocese by Pope Pius XII and subsequently spent 22 years in a Communist prison. With church conditions improving dramatically in China, Tang was freed last year. Surprisingly, he also won the approval of the province's government to resume duties as administrator of his diocese...
...organization. After World War II, Masons were again allowed to assemble, although anti-secrecy provisions of the new Italian constitution required that membership lists be made available to authorities upon request. Today even the church's position toward Masonic organizations appears to have mellowed. In March the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, declared that excommunication should apply only to those Catholics who belong to associations that are "truly plotting" against the church...
Though the Pope was impaired, business at the rigidly hierarchical Vatican moved on, intruding on the patient as discreetly as possible. John Paul met six times with Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State, and was told of the defeat of a referendum proposal backed by the Pope that would have restricted abortions. He also received a surprise visit from Franciszek Cardinal Macharski, the Archbishop of Cracow and an old personal friend, who brought "the greetings of the people of Poland...
...Agca continued to puzzle the Italian police, the Pope was announcing his forgiveness for the "brother" who had shot him. The Pontiff was absent from the Vatican window where he normally delivers a Sunday blessing to pilgrims, but his tape-recorded voice was there instead ringing clear over the huge square...