The following are some recent news highlights...
* A Reuters photo appears to show Pope Benedict falling asleep during Mass in Malta. The Holy Father has since returned to the Vatican and was reportedly "resting" in Rome after his "brief, but intense" trip to the island country. Various reports indicate that Holy Father appeared "tired" during his trip.
* A forthcoming report in a German news magazine is expected to allege that a former aide was put under "heavy" pressure to take the blame for an abuse scandal in Pope Benedict's former archdiocese. Supposedly, the prelate was "begged" to take the blame in a series of phone calls he received from (apparently unnamed) "church officials" in order to clear Pope Benedict of responsibility.
* Recent media reports are claiming that Pope John Paul II approved of Cardinal Hoyos' shocking 2001 letter which praised a French bishop's cover-up of an abuse case. Reportedly, Cardinal Hoyos himself alleges that Pope John Paul authorized him to "send the letter to all the bishops in the world and publish it on the internet." The Cardinal further claimed that the bishop in the case did not "denounce" the priest because the priest had told of his sins in the confessional.
* A survey of new seminarians to be ordained in 2010 has revealed that 31% are foreign-born and 10% are converts. The survey also indicated that 37% have a relative who is a priest or religious and that 50% were "discouraged by parents or other family members from considering the seminary." Nearly 80% were encouraged to consider the priesthood by a priest and at least half had participated in some form of "parish ministry."
* Parishioners from "ethnic" parishes have appealed to Cardinal Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, to "help them save their churches" which they claim have been "unfairly targeted for closure". They claim that "certain American bishops...are engaged in a massive program of unjust suppression against parishes with strong ethnic traditions" and have referred to the closures as a "deliberate campaign of parish ethnic cleansing spreading across America." One representative claims the "ethnic bias in parish closings in America is clearly in evidence."
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