Vatican Corner 07-28-2019

On July 20, 2019 America and the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. It was the NASA space mission which for the first time attempted, and was successful in landing two men on the surface of the moon and returned them safely to Earth. Like millions of people around the world, Pope St. Paul VI, the pope at the time, watched the moon landing...
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Vatican Corner 07-21-2019

After returning from his discovery of the New World, Christopher Columbus in February 1493 wrote a letter to Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the patrons of his exploration, telling them what he saw during his travels. The letter was written in Spanish and then translated into Latin and copies were manually printed. Those copies became the main...
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Vatican Corner 07-14-2019

… continued One of the strangest spectacles that was ever seen at the Vatican took place in 1890 when William Cody - (Buffalo Bill) was invited there. Two years earlier, he and his Wild West Show had traveled for the first time to Europe, having great success, and captivating audiences. He and his troop of performer along with the livestock traveled from...
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Vatican Corner 06-30-2019

One of the strangest spectacles that was ever seen at the Vatican took place on March 3, 1890. It was the 12th annual thanksgiving of the coronation of Pope Leo XIII and it was also when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came to the Vatican. American William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, was a legendary figure of the American West. He was a...
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Vatican Corner 06-22-2019

Among the best known Christian prayers is the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father, and it is found in the Bible in Matthew 6:9- 13. It has been translated from the Latin vulgate, which was translated from ancient Greek, which was translated from Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. For some 16 years, experts have been studying the biblical text of the Lord’s...
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Vatican Corner 03-05-17

VATICAN CORNER Continued…Pope Francis saw first-hand the mafia side of the Order of the Knights of Malta when in 2008 senior Knights made a failed attempt to remove him as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and replace him with a bishop who was the Knight’s chaplain in...

Vatican Corner 02-26-17

VATICAN CORNER continued… Today the Order of the Knights of Malta have only “obedience” as a vow. As of the 1990s officers are no longer drawn solely from Europe’s nobility. Their motto has always been “Defense of the (Catholic) faith and assistance to the poor.”...

Vatican Corner 02-19-17

VATICAN CORNER Residents of Rome awoke Saturday February 4, 2017 to find dozens of posters on the walls of their city showing a scowling Pope Francis. The posters read “Ah Francis, you’ve taken over congregations, removed priests, decapitated the Order of Malta and...

Vatican Corner 02-12-17

VATICAN CORNER A van departs every morning from Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican’s lakeside palace and farm, 12 miles south of Rome. At the Castel there are terraced vegetable gardens producing everything from artichokes and bell peppers to carrots and zucchini. A herd of...

Vatican Corner 02-05-17

VATICAN CORNER On January 4, 2017, McDonalds’s restaurants opened a franchise just steps away from the gleaming white marble dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, angering Catholic Cardinals and local business owners. The new restaurant is in a popular tourist area just...

Vatican Corner 01-22-17

VATICAN CORNER On March 13, 2017 Pope Francis will be beginning his fifth year as Pope and entering it with good health. The Jubilee of Mercy was a very active year for him and 2017 is promising to be active as well. So far as Pope he has made 17 foreign trips and...

Vatican Corner 01-15-17

VATICAN CORNER The newborn  children of Vatican employees were  baptized by Pope Francis on Sunday  January 8, 2017 in the Sistine Chapel  during the annual Mass celebrating the  Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  During the Christmas season, this Mass is  one of...

Vatican Corner 01-08-17

VATICAN CORNER In 1508 Pope Julius II invited the Italian painter Raphael, a student of Leonardo da Vinci, to Rome and commissioned him to paint religious frescos in the Vatican Palace. He found several artists already at work on different rooms, many painting over...

Vatican Corner 01-01-17

VATICAN CORNER A calendar is like a chain that emerges out of the waters of oblivion and holds the ship of history to its moorings. Beneath the surface of the waters, there must have been sunk some kind of an anchor. -- P.W. Wilson. There are six principal calendars...

Vatican Corner 12-25-16

VATICAN CORNER The Christmas tree and Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square this year, while very beautiful, also highlight social issues such as care for the environment, inspiration for the sick, and the plight of migrants. The 82 ft. high spruce tree came from the...

Vatican Corner 12-18-16

VATICAN CORNER Since July, 2016, a white and blue-striped RV style van marked with a Vatican City license plate and coat of arms has been running around Rome bringing free medical care to the poor. The RV was converted into a mobile medical unit and donated by the...

Vatican Corner 12-11-16

VATICAN CORNER On September 19, 2016, four prominent cardinals wrote a letter to Pope Francis and to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, citing conflicting interpretations of the Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the...