Photo: Old Navy's new Graphic Tee might look familiar to you

Someone call Old Navy, Jesus wants His Sacred Heart back:

I'm not kidding.

Opportunity: Bring the Fatima Movie to your city!

Ignatius Press is behind this production so I'm intrigued - Stephen Greydanus calls it "the best movie ever made about Fatima":

"Based on the memoirs of Sister Maria Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, and thousands of independent eyewitness accounts, The 13th Day is a dramatic retelling of the experiences of three shepherd children between May and October 1917. (Read more...)"

They have a great website where you can do all the multimedia stuff like watch the trailer and clips, download desktop wallpapers, pre-order the DVD, become a Facebook fan, and most importantly, "Be the first to show The 13th Day at your church, school, or local theater."

If you decide to host a screening, I'd be happy to help spread the word here on AmP.

Ph/t: AmP reader Jen.

update - already our first showing, this one from AmP reader Deacon Chris Hanson:

We are screening The 13th Day in Council Bluffs, IA (just across the river from Omaha, NE) on Sunday, November 15th. The movie is being shown at St. Albert's Catholic School, in the auditorium at both 4pm and 6pm. A free will offering is being taken, and proceeds will be given to Gabriel's Corner, our pregnancy counseling center of Council Bluffs. Gabriel's Corner is located right across the street from Planned Parenthood.

The address of St. Albert's School is 400 Gleason Avenue, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
Please contact Jenny Van Soelen to reserve seats 712-328-2316

update - a second showing:

Our Lady of the Mountains Church in Jasper Georgia will be showing this film (with a light dinner) on Friday Nov. 13th starting around 6:30 p.m. (watch for info in the bulletin at www.olmjasper.com).

Background: Abp. Di Noia asked dominicans for Anglican reunification prayers

This little note from Augustine Di Noia, OP (that's him in white - he was one of the most important prelates involved in the recent Anglican reunification news behind Cardinal Levada and the Pope himself) to his brother dominican friars back in the United States reveals the beautiful mutual-uplifting of prayers that permeated the Vatican's proceedings:

"Today there was announced -- at press conferences in Rome and London -- the forthcoming publication of an apostolic constitution in which the Holy Father allows for the creation of personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans in different parts of the world who are seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. The canonical structure of the personal ordinariate will permit this corporate reunion while at the same time providing for retention of elements of Anglican liturgy and spirituality.

When I asked the Friars (and other OPs - Ed.) to pray the Dominican litany from 22 February to 25 March earlier this year, the intention was that this proposal would receive the approval of the cardinal members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which was necessary if the proposal of some structure allowing for corporate reunion was to go forward. Our prayers at that time were answered, and now that the proposal has become a reality we can tell everyone what we were praying for then.

Context provided at the Dominican Friars' St. Joseph (East Coast) Province Blog.

I was honored to attend Di Noia's Mass of episcopal ordination back in July.

Get involved! Support a Catholic Speaker Month

Matt Warner at Fallible Blogma has a great concept and he needs our help to execute it.

It's called "Support a Catholic Speaker Month" where Catholic Bloggers pick a Catholic speaker to profile.

I've already grabbed up Dr. Janet Smith, but there are still plenty of orphan Catholic speakers waiting for a short blog post (at least a few paragraphs) from you to "flood the web raising awareness and promoting hundreds of Catholic speakers and blogs."

I'd love to see the AmP community get involved.

Also, as I've mentioned - I'm a Catholic speaker as well. I've recently given talks in the Archdiocese of Denver on "Catholic Principles of Health Care Reform."

If you are interested in having me speak to your Catholic audience, drop me an email at "thomas at ameircanpapist dot com." Thanks!

Matt is supposed to add me to this list of Catholic speakers so if you act fast you might be able to snag me! ;)

"Pope holds meteorite during visit to Vatican astronomers' headquarters"

Pope Benedict Phone Home:

When Pope Benedict XVI officially inaugurated the Vatican Observatory's new headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, a Jesuit astronomer let the pope hold a meteorite from Mars.

"The pope very much wanted to be involved with our new headquarters," U.S. Jesuit Father George Coyne told Catholic News Service Sept. 17.

Pope Benedict spent the evening of Sept. 16 in the company of papal astronomers who conduct study and research in Castel Gandolfo, outside of Rome, and at another research center in Tucson, Ariz.

His hourlong visit began with "a very beautiful prayer and blessing" for the staff and official inauguration of their new headquarters, said Father Coyne, the former director of the Vatican Observatory. (CNS)

Sounds like a stellar time.

Tip: Save babies every time you use a Credit Card!

This is really cool. Crossroads Pro-Life now has a credit card you can use which will donate 1% of every one of your purchases to their cause. The first time you swipe it, Crossroads Pro-Life gets $25!

It's the only pro-life credit card out there.

(And if you want to change the image on the front of the card to something you want instead - you can!)

So spread the word, and if you want a pro-life cause supported by your purchases - get this one.

Picture: Introducing the "Ampigram"

An ambigram, as creator Carina explains it, is "a word that can be read from a different viewpoint. The one that I made is a symmetrical ambigram, which shows the same word (in this case, the initials) upside down. So if you rotate the photo by 180 degrees, it still read AMP."

I call it the "AmPigram":

AmP is now readable by sky-divers and flying-trapeze artists! ;-)

Cool: Pope Benedict gets a record deal

I guess it wasn't enough to be a best-selling author:

An album of music and prayers by Pope Benedict will join new releases from the likes of Jay-Z and reality TV contestant Susan Boyle in stores at the end of the year.

Geffen Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group, announced the project on Friday, saying the as-yet-untitled album will be released Nov. 30.

The album features the pontiff singing one prayer and reciting seven others, in different languages. The vocals originate from broadcasts on Vatican Radio, which owns the rights to them. (CBCNews.ca)

Now that's a papist stocking-stuffer.

Canon Law and Lunar Landings

To clever to pass up on passing on:

"There's a story here in Baltimore about our beloved Archbishop-emeritus-emeritus, William D. Borders. He was ordained bishop in 1968 and made the first Bishop of Orlando, Florida. The new diocese encompassed central Florida and included Cape Canaveral, from where, the following year, Apollo 11 launched, bound for the moon. 

After that historic launch and lunar landing, with all the images of our astronauts walking, golfing, and planting the flag, Borders made an ad limina visit to Rome to meet with Paul VI. During their meeting, Borders rather nonchalantly observed, "You know, Holy Father, I am the bishop of the Moon." Pope Paul looked at him rather perplexed - probably wondering where along the line this American prelate lost his mind. Borders then continued by explaining that by the existing (1917) Code of Canon Law, he was the de facto ordinary of this "newly discovered" territory." 

- Jesus Goes to Disney World: Finding Christ in Popular Culture

Cool: Year for Priest T-Shirts!

AmP reader Phil:

Hello, I thought I would send you an e-mail about some Year for Priests T-Shirts that I have been designing. These t-shirts are apart of my online apostolate Digital Catholic, where I design Catholic Wallpapers and Catholic T-Shirts. I am just trying to spread the news about the Year for Priests in hopes of getting more people involved in praying and supporting our priests!

I can support that:

Year For Priests T-Shirt by digitalcatholic
See other Tridentine T-Shirts

Video: Catholic Vote's 3rd pro-life video

They've done it again:

I've blogged about their work before here. Please spread the word! (And visit CatholicVote.org)

Cool: Blessed G. K. Chesterton?

Zenit found someone who is hopeful:

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) is well known for his clever and humorous writing, and his thought-provoking paradoxes. But he might also become known as a saint, if a proposal to launch his cause of beatification goes forward. [Read on...]

Now I have two reasons to find a signed-copy of Orthodoxy ... it could, after all, become a third class relic and buying it at this point wouldn't amount to simony!

related: look over to Catholic Femina for a little GKC theologizing.

Better Idea: Downloadable "Ask a Catholic a Question" Free Handbook

Back in March I blogged about this great idea:

Ask a Catholic a Question began in the spring of 2007 to spread awareness of Catholic beliefs to students, from students. They answer questions from a steady stream of people most days when they appear in Academic Plaza. On days when a preacher is on campus stirring up polarizing views, the dichotomy between the two becomes immediately apparent.

Now it's an even better idea:

Because of the number of requests for information about our program, Ask A Catholic A Question, we received from other campus ministries, parishes, organizations, and individuals; we have written a manual - Ask A Catholic A Question Handbook: Evangelization On-Campus. It comes in both a downloadable format as well as a website.

You can check it out here.

Practical evangelizing is the best.

What I'll be doing today (attending an episcopal ordination!)

I was surprised to find local living-in-DC blog DCist post such a good summary of what's happening. The writer must be a closet papist. So yes, anyway, that's where I'll be at 2PM EDT! I may even fit in some twittering.

Available: Kindle formatted version of Caritas in Veritate

This is cool, from reader Paul:

Attached is a cleaned up Kindle version of the new encyclical. I went through and standardized the encoding so words like Agape would show up right. The hyperlinks in the footnotes should work too. It's PRC format, so it will work on the Kindle and other readers as well:

caritas_in_veritate.prc

This seems as good a point as any to mention that AmP is available on the Kindle as well:

O;-)

Enchanting Pixar Video: Partly Cloudy

I found this absolutely mesmorizing. A real mid-week treat!

update: since I don't like the video automatically loading when you visit the site, please click here for it now.

I found the short on the Anchoress blog, who connects it to Caritas in Veritate! Very cool. 

Cool Graphic: Word Cloud of Caritas in Veritate

Like Jim at the CNS Blog, I'm not a big fan of word clouds, but sometimes they are very revealing:
Gee, um ... I wonder what this encyclical is about?

"Pope Benedict XVI Recognizes Miracle: Cardinal Newman to be Beatified"

AmP has been tracking Newman beatification rumors since at least October of 2007, but as of this weekend, it appears certain:

Pope Benedict XVI today recognised the healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan in 2001 as a miracle resulting from the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God John Henry Newman.

The miraculous healing from serious debility of the spine occurred in Boston in the United States of America following prayers for Cardinal Newman’s intercession.

Newman, a major theologian and convert to Catholicism, died in 1890. The Pope’s decision means that his Beatification is now certain. (Catholic Online)

The Cardinal Newman Society is very happy. I wonder if they'll change their name to "Saint Cardinal Newman Society", when the time arrives?

Also, cheers to the English press across the herring pond.

Video/Story: U2's Bono admits new song inspired by Virgin Mary

Tim Drake reports at NCRegister.com:

In a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview with Brian Hiatt, U2’s Bono says that the song “Magnificent” is inspired by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“All music for me is worship of one kind or another,” says Bono.

The song appears on the band’s new album, “No Line on the Horizon.”

“Magnificent was inspired by the Magnificat, a passage from the Gospel of Luke in the voice of the Virgin Mary that was previously set to music by Bach,” says Bono. “There’s this theme running through the album of surrender and devotion and all the things I find really difficult.”

Here is the music video:

Here is where you can buy the Magnificent track ($1.00) or full CD ($9) on Amazon.

Found: The Bones of St. Paul!

Again, a story that slipped through my fingers. 

Happily, St. Paul did not manage to permanently slip through the fingers of the Church (it seems):

Pope Benedict XVI said last night that bone fragments found inside the tomb of St Paul in Rome had been carbon dated for the first time, "confirming the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul".

He said that archaeologists had inserted a probe into the white marble sarcophagus under the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls which has been revered for centuries as the tomb of St Paul.

The pontiff said: "Small fragments of bone were carbon dated by experts who knew nothing about their provenance and results showed they were from someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century. This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that these are the mortal remains of Paul the Apostle."

The Pope, who said the discovery "fills our souls with great emotion", made the unexpected announcement during Vespers at St Paul's Basilica last night, marking the end of the Pauline year held in honour of the apostle. He said that as well as bone fragments, archaeologists had found grains of red incense, a piece of purple linen with gold sequins and a blue fabric with linen filaments in the tomb. (UK Times)

St. Paul: always full of surprises!

Can we say "pilgrimage site"?

Related: New Discoveries. Why St. Paul Was Given a Philosopher's Face by Sandro Magister:

"The oldest depiction of the apostle has been found just a short distance from his tomb, which is also the object of new investigations. The Church wanted to represent him as the Christian Plato. A daring decision. And still extremely relevant, even today"

Photo: "Rome catacomb reveals 'oldest' image of St Paul"

And just in time for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul:

Vatican archaeologists using laser technology have discovered what they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul the Apostle, dating from the late 4th century, on the walls of catacomb beneath Rome.

Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, revealing the find on Sunday, published a picture of a frescoed image of the face of a man with a pointed black beard on a red background, inside a bright yellow halo. The high forehead is furrowed.

Experts of the Ponitifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology made the discovery on June 19 in the Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome and describe it as the "oldest icon in history dedicated to the cult of the Apostle," according to the Vatican newspaper. (Reuters)

And the UK Times gives us the actual image:

The Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome is actually near the Basilica Church of "Paul Outside the Walls."

Cool: Detroit's Archbishop blogs from Rome

From the Archdiocese of Detroit website:

"Archbishop Allen Vigneron next week will embark on a pilgrimage to receive a pallium -- a thin, woolen scarf, that symbolizes an archbishop's mission to shepherd God's people. Archbishop Vigneron will carry prayers for the people of the Archdiocese in his heart as he journeys to receive his pallium from Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on June 29."

More than that, he will be blogging from Rome at http://aodonline.wordpress.com/!

Other contributers will include a Vicar General of the Detroit archdiocese, the archbishop's 10-year old nephew, a local lay woman who is a long time friend of the archbishop, and a couple of folks in the archdiocesan communications division.

I love to see Archbishops carrying their flock with them, not just in their hearts, but through their words.

AmP now available on Amazon Kindle!!

This is just so cool!! The blog content of American Papist is now available on the Amazon Kindle. That news deserves two exclamation points.

Some details of the service:

--> Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current.
--> It's risk free: all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price.
--> Don't have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Hmm, my birthday is in a few weeks... ;-)

{My thanks to John Norton of OSV for helping me get AmP enrolled in the program.}

Video: High Mass in the Pantheon of Rome

This is pretty cool. There was a Solemn High Mass celebrated in the Pantheon of Rome recently to celebrate the 1400th anniversary of its consecration as a Catholic Church. I wonder what the tourists thought?



Take that, Jupiter.

First: A twittering bishop

This successor to the apostles knows where the agora of the 21st century is:

http://twitter.com/bishopmcgrath (Most Rev. P. J. McGrath of San Jose)

He only has 20 followers. Lets form a crowd around him so others will want to see what all the commotion is about!

update: from 20 --> 169 followers in  day! Well done, papists! Maybe the bishop will update more now. :)

Ph/t: AmP reader Melissa.

Must-See Video: "Life - Imagine the Potential"

The first video by the folks at Catholic Vote.org has almost 2 million views on YouTube alone.

I think you'll agree that their second video is even better. I cant wait to see what they do next.



Spread this video far and wide, please. And hop over to Catholic Vote.org to learn more.

This video was shown publicly for the first time at today's National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

It was also announced that talks are underway to air it during the American Idol finals (!).

Picture: Abp. Carlson's Coat-of-Arms

Here it is:

More information here. When I was in St. Louis last summer, I took pictures of several of the various coats of arms used by previous arch/bishops which are featured in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

Oh, and the Fans of Carlson Facebook Group has over 800 members now - great job, everyone!

Two Cool Too Cool Carlson-related follow-ups

The Facebook group started yesterday, "Fans of Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis" has well over 250 members now. I've told them that if they pass 1,000 members, I'll see to it that Abp. Carlson is notified!

Also, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has provided an MP3 audio download of Abp. Carlson's press conference.

Only 2 days left to win your free trip to Europe!

As the website says, "Unless you just do not like to travel, there’s no excuse not to enter!" I mean seriously - who doesn't want to see the Pope?

Holy Thursday is the final day to enter the free contest. Once you have entered (up to 2 ways), they will randomly select one entry and that person will get to travel for free on any one of their 2009 or 2010 trips.

If you can’t travel you are even allowed to give the trip away to a friend.

It only takes a few moments to register. So go enter now and maybe win an awesome Easter present!

I'm not sure how many have entered so far but I have to think the odds are very good - far better than most trip giveaway deals.

Info: So how does a bishop get chosen in the United States?

The USCCB has released a fascinating PDF document as a media backgrounder, explaining the step-by-step process that goes on behind the scenes before a new bishop is appointed to a US diocese:

The ultimate decision in appointing bishops rests with the Pope, and he is free to select anyone he chooses. But how does he know whom to select?

The process for selecting candidates for the episcopacy normally begins at the diocesan level andworks its way through a series of consultations until it reaches Rome. It is a process bound by strict confidentiality and involves a number of important players – the most influential being the apostolic nuncio, the Congregation for Bishops, and the pope. It can be a time consuming process, often taking eight months or more to complete. While there are distinctions between the first appointment of a priest as a bishop and a bishop's later transfer to another diocese or his promotion to archbishop, the basic outlines of the process remain the same.

Stage 1: Bishops' Recommendations
Stage 2: The Apostolic Nuncio
Stage 3: Congregation for Bishops
Stage 4: The Pope Decides

Each of the stages is explained with a short paragraph in the PDF document.

There you go, papists - your lunchtime reading! Don't say I never divulge trade secrets. ;-)

"British Museum finds relics of 39 saints after 100 years"

Toooooo Coooool:

The new medieval gallery at the British Museum is full of beautiful images of saints in ivory, stone, gold and wood - but invisible to visitors, it also holds the bones of 39 real saints, whose discovery came as a shock to their curator.

The relics, packed in tiny bundles of cloth including one scrap of fabric over 1,000 years old, were found when a 12th-century German portable altar was opened for the first time since it came into the British Museum collection in 1902.

... at some point one [of the relics] was lost as there are 40 engraved names but only 39 saintly bundles.

[Full text & video at the UK Guardian.]

Oh no! There's a rogue relic floating around out there!

Too cool: Arch. of STL will TXT U w/ New Abp. Deets

Or, in plain English, the Archdiocese of St. Louis is offering a service on its website which will send your phone a text message when their next archbishop is officially announced! (which, as I've been hinting, will probably be very soon). The archdiocese also tweets.

Too cool!

Ph/t: AmP reader Angie.

Picture: International Papist

During the early morning hours, while the over-all visitor and comment count may drop, the world board lights up with international AmP visitors, as this snapshot taken at 2AM EST reveals:

And yes, that's every inhabited continent represented. Call it a "Catholic" hat-trick. Avete, Papists!

Picture: Oh my gosh - I WANT it.

I, of course, will never have it, because I'm not the Bishop of Knoxville....

"Stika described his choice of motto -- "Jesus, I Trust in You" -- as his "daily prayer mantra." The arms adorn a freshly-struck ring, a gift from his new staff."

Nice staff.

The Catholic Traveler is giving away a trip to Europe!

Can't wait for spring to arrive?

Haven't seen the pope in a few months? (yeah - I wish!)

The Catholic Traveler is giving away a free trip to Europe, allowing you to choose any one of their 2009/2010 pilgrimages.

Even better: you can enter up to three times!

Hey, that's cool. papist cool.

Go check it out!

One seriously gorgeous diocesan website ... yes, it's possible

Golly, I think I have website envy:

This is the Diocese of Pembroke diocesan website created by the wizards at Saint Max Media.

Now, who can help AmP look that beautiful? You could rest happy knowing your work of art would be viewed over 400,000 times a month. If you think you're up for it - send me an email please. Let's work something out.

Picture: the Vatican website, "Obama-fied"

Someone sent me this funny picture of a mock-up of the Vatican website, as if it was designed along Obama's whitehouse.gov scheme (click image for full-size version):

Actually - that's not so bad. I mean, will they ever ditch the parchment background? I think that's been up since ... oh, at least 1998.

Guess how many countries read AmP?

The surprising answer is that people from 150 countries have visited AmP since the beginning of this month!

The top 10 countries of origin:

• United States
• Canada
• Italy
• United Kingdom
• Mexico
• Australia
• Germany
• Ireland
• Brazil
• Spain

Cardinal DiNardo promotes Bible-listening Lenten devotion

Sounds good to me:

"Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, recently urged Catholic leaders to get involved in a city-wide Bible listening campaign called You've Got The Time Houston.

So far more than 50 different parishes have signed up to listen through the entire New Testament, which represents more than 160,000 Catholics."

Faith Comes Through Hearing is offering a free audio download of the (NAB) New Testament:

Faith Comes By Hearing.com

Cardinal DiNardo is trying to get Catholics to listen to the Bible for 30 minutes a day for Lent.

And then, on Facebook...

You can already become a facebook fan of Archbishop Dolan, or join the group Supporters of Archbishop Timothy J. Dolan, Archbishop of New York. I suggest this as a fan photo someone should include:


Note the Archbishop's right hand....

Tip: Catholic Desktops: "keeping your computer life prayerful"

Check them out, they have lots of neat stuff!

Photo: Ancient Syriac Bible found in Cyprus police raid?

Photo caption (Kibris/Handout/Reuters): "An undated handout photo released to Reuters February 6, 2009 shows an ancient manuscript which authorities in northern Cyprus believe is an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus. The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old. Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake."

A challenge for tech-savvy AmP readers

A fellow papist enquires:

I am looking for a ring tone for my cell phone of a Papal Blessing from the Holy Father in Latin. How fun that would be to hear "In nomine Patris, et Filii... " every time someone calls me!

This stymies me, but I figured one of you papists might have a handy solution. I think it would be cool.

Raw video: Pope Benedict Presented With a Lion Cub

Since Wednesday's Papist Picture of the Day from this meeting of Pope and Lion proved so popular, I figured you would like to see the raw video which captures the entire encounter:

Papa Benny obviously knows his way around cats (just look at the way he pets the lion cub) ... but at the same time, I can understand his wariness! Still, what a brave Papa.

"What the FOCA?"

Gets your attention, doesn't it?

It got my attention when I saw various people wearing these t-shirts at the March for Life this year. It became a bit of a "thing" for people to mutter the phrase throughout the day, as a way to voice disapproval.

Edgy, effective - excellent: http://www.whatthefoca.com/.

Picture: AmP Banner Cardinal with Ratzinger

One of the most common questions I get asked is: "Who's that cardinal on the AmP banner?"

The answer, as I say on the sidebar, is Franciszek Cardinal Macharski, Archbishop Emeritus of Krakow, on the day of Pope Benedict's election. A loyal AmP reader discovered a photo of Cardinal Macharski concelebrating Mass with Cardinal Ratzinger several years back:

Photo caption: "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI since 2005) on May 10, 2003, during the celebration of the 750th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Stanislaus in Szczepanów, Poland. Picture taken by Marian Lambert and released under CC-BY license by Szamil (www.szczepanow.pl) - Wikipedia

Ph/t: AmP Reader Erik.

Vatican 2.0: Pope Benedict gets his own YouTube channel!

As reported earlier:

Puffs of smoke, speeches in Latin and multipage encyclicals have all been used by the Vatican to communicate with the faithful. Now the pope is trying to broaden his audience by joining the wannabe musicians, college pranksters and water-skiing squirrels on YouTube.

In his inaugural YouTube foray Friday, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed viewers to this "great family that knows no borders" and said he hoped they would "feel involved in this great dialogue of truth."

"Today is a day that writes a new page in history for the Holy See," Vatican Radio said in describing the launch of the site, http://youtube.com/vatican (AP)

Let's see if we can embed the channel:

If not, enjoy this video (the most popular on the channel right now):

I'm *so* excited about this initiative! But they need to enable embedding at some point....

Report: Vatican to get own YouTube channel

Cool:

The Vatican will soon have its own channel on the video sharing site YouTube where the Catholic faithful or the curious will be able to see Pope Benedict or Church events, a Vatican source said on Saturday.

The details of the accord are due to be presented on Friday at a news conference attended by Vatican officials as well as Henrique de Castro, managing director of media solutions for Google, which owns YouTube.

The initiative will involve Google, the Vatican Television Center and Vatican Radio.

It will mark the Vatican's deepest plunge into new media. The Vatican opened up its website, www.vatican.va, in 1995. (Reuters)

I hope they friend AmericanPapist and AMPNews!

iBreviary for your iPhone!

iCool! A digital vade mecum:

Ph/t: Cellphone9 via IntoMobile.

Jeff Miller has the authorized St. Blogs' review of the program.

While it's been widely claimed the iBreviary is "Vatican approved", there isn't in fact any congregation in charge of approving/endorsing software programs. Jeff claims, however, that the Vatican's Council for Social Communications has mentioned it. I'd imagine that if the program simply faithfully transposes the text of an authorized Breviary, the approval carries over with it.

Gee, all I need now is an iPhone. *sigh*.

update: a clarification directly from the creator of the program, Don Paolo Padrini, who says representatives at the Vatican have mentioned and appreciate the application.

Photo: World's Largest Cappa Magna?

Pictured below has to be the largest "cappa magna" I've ever seen. A cappa magna (great cope) is "a ceremonial cloak having a long train and a silk or fur-lined hood, worn by cardinals, bishops, and certain other dignitaries" (source). How'd you like to be that altar server?

Who's wearing it? Cardinal Hoyos. Who also wears it? The new head of CDWDS (Catholic liturgy).

Dappled Photos has a huge compilation of Cappa Magna photos, NLM spotlights an awesome photo of the future Pius XII in his, while Deacon Greg posts an anonymous reader's defense of the tradition and, from the July archives, Gerald Warner describes "cappaphobia" as a "mental disorder afflicting progressive Catholics."

Plenty to see and read.

DC Priest Chases Thief, Goes on to Lead Mass

Not your average pre-Sunday Mass prep:

Prior to celebrating mass Sunday morning, a Capitol Hill priest went on a couple of runs -- one for some exercise and one to catch a thief.

[let's jump into the story:] Rev. Bill Hegedusich asked the man not to run in the church and then noticed two bags of money were missing from the safe, which was unlocked because church officials were preparing for mass. Hegedusich had to act quickly, as the man was sprinting toward the door.

The priest chased the man through an alley and down the street. Knowing where the alley came out, Hegedusich tried to cut off the man.

Thinking the man could be armed, Hegedusich kept his distance and yelled that he just wanted the money back. The thief ditched one bag on North Carolina Avenue SE and continued running with the other, the Washington Post reported.

Hegedusich picked up the bag and headed back to the church, where he celebrated 11 a.m. Mass a few minutes late. (NBC Washington)

Good for Fr. Bill! The Thief only made off with about $65 because of his brave (and prudent) reaction.

Put AmP Flair on your Facebook!

This is a little inside I realize ....

For those of you who know, and are interested, you can now receive and send "AmP Facebook Flair"! Just add the Flair application (if you don't have it already) and search for "papist". Pretty nifty, huh?

update: I've discovered that I have Mike Thomas of Saginaw/Bay City, MI to thank for this work!

"In early centuries, being a 'gladiator' prohibited a person from becoming Christian"

What a fascinating historical theory:

An expert in the history of the Catholic Church, Domingo Ramos-Lissón, explained in an interview that the preparation of the early Christians for baptism could last up to three years, and that many professions prohibited a person from registering as a catechumen.

"If we follow the path taken by someone who wanted to become a Christian in the fourth century, initially we will see a thorough examination of his life, family conditions and aspiring profession," Ramos-Lissón said in an interview with the website PrimerosCristianos.com (First Christians).

In that regard, he explained, "some family situations, such as polygamy and concubinage, or professions, such as theatrical actor, magician, guardian of idols, gladiator and other offices, prevented that person from being considered a catechumen. However, once they changed their lifestyle, they were given the chance to be baptized. (CNA)

I remember in my undergraduate years attending a fascinating lecture on the early Christian sermons (particularly of Ambrose and Augustine) against the gladiatorial games.

The professor made the argument that these prohibitions against Christian participation in such events actually made it into the (old) rite of baptism with the question "do you reject Satan, and all his pomps, and all his empty promises?"

Well, the "pomps of Satan" included such things as the public, gruesome spectacle presented by the pagan gladiatorial games!

I personally think modern entertainment such as "ultimate fighting" or similarly brutal cage matches would fit the same bill. Think about that the next time you are TV surfing.

Slideshow: The Evolution of the PopeMobile

This has to be one of the coolest posts ever. I love the popemobile, and was thrilled to find out someone has scoured the internet for photos and information about them, through the years. A good example:

"The 300D Landaulet was the first new Popemobile in thirty years, with Mercedes spanning the gap during the tumultuous period. The 300D was stretched some 450 mm, with hard top up front and soft top in the rear layout of the Landaulet body style allowing El Papa to take in the sunshine and wave to the crowds. This car retained the single-throne seat setup in the rear, but added amenities like air conditioning and a two-way radio to the driver."

More popemobile goodness here.

Papist Mystery Picture of the Day

This is ....

1. A humane robotic alternative to a dolphin for entertainment purposes.

2. A sea time-capsule with editions of the world's newspapers to be sunk in the Pacific.

3. The unmanned remote-controlled submarine that helped protect Pope Benedict in Sydney.

Answer here.

Photos: Meet the new Commander of the Vatican Swiss Guards

Daniel Anrig, just appointed today:

More from Ansa.it:

The pope's famous protection force, the Swiss Guards, got a new leader on Tuesday - policeman, army captain and former law lecturer Daniel Rudolf Anrig.

Anrig, 36, replaces Elmar Theodor Maeder who has headed the world's smallest army since 2002. Pope Benedict XVI personally appointed Anrig, until now police chief in the Swiss canton of Glarus. He will take up his command on December 1.

Anrig, who is married with four children, served in the Guards from 1992 to 1994 before going home and getting a degree in civil and church law at the University of Freiburg.

Did I read that right - A Canon Lawyer Swiss Guard Commander? Cool!

Photo credit: AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri.

Awesome Video: Spanish 6-Foot High Incense "Boat"

This knocks my papist socks off (jump to about midway through if you are impatient):

It's called the Botafumeiro (literally, "the smoke boat"):

The Botafumeiro is a famous thurible found in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Incense is burned in this swinging metal container, or "incensory".

The Santiago de Compostela Botafumeiro is one of the largest censers in the world, weighing [approx.] 80 kg and measuring 1.60 m in height. It is normally on exhibition in the library of the cathedral, but during certain important religious occasions it is brought to the floor of the cathedral and attached to ropes hung from the pulley mechanism.

Shovels are used to fill the Botafumeiro, or the Alcachofa, with about 40 kg of charcoal and incense. The thurible is tied to the rope with elaborate knots. The censer is pushed initially to start its motion. Eight red-robed tiraboleiros pull the ropes, producing increasingly large oscillations of the censer. The turible's swings almost reach the ceiling of the transept. The incensory can reach speeds of 68 km/h as it dispenses thick clouds of incense.

It costs about 250€ for each thurible "performance" at the cathedral. Although this is expensive, the swinging of the thurible is very popular with pilgrims, tourists and visitors.

The Botafumeiro produces large volumes of smoke. This is in accord with the well-known saying in religious circles, "More incense, less nonsense." [Wikipedia] Here is a video taken from the sacristy with it in motion:

Things have gone wrong, very wrong before:

One of the most renowned accidents took place during a visit of Princess Catherine of Aragon. She was on a journey to marry the heir to the English throne in 1499 and stopped by the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. While it was being swung, the Botafumeiro flew out of the cathedral through the Platerias high window. No one was reported to have been injured on this occasion.

It's still awesome.

Taylor Marshall of Canterbury Tales echoes my sentiment:

As I said last year, one of the best things about being Catholic is being in communion not only with the Holy Father, but also with the Botafumeiro itself. Catholic brothers and sisters, if you ever become discouraged, just know that there is a incense thurible over six feet tall swinging around in a Saint James Compestella in Spain. No other religion would dare to have something so awesome.

Ph/t: Creative Minority Report.

Picture: Liturgical Sandals

The New Liturgical Movement, which always has fascinating liturgically-related posts, talks shoes:

Continuing our series which is looking at some liturgical ephemera found in the Roman traditions of clerical vesture (both liturgical and extra-liturgical), having just covered the topic of buskins, or liturgical stockings, it seems logical to turn to the topic of prelatial liturgical sandals.

(A note must be made. For those not interested in this admittedly specialist sort of historical topic, please recall as a liturgical blog we have the luxury to dive into both the greater and the smaller things surrounding the liturgy.)

Liturgical Sandals for Prelates, etc (including papal shoes)...

"World's oldest Bible goes online"

Very cool:

The oldest known surviving copy of the New Testament gets the modern touch Thursday when parts of it go online for the first time.

The British Library plans to begin publishing the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century text handwritten in Greek, on its Web site. The Gospel of Mark and the Book of Psalms go online Thursday. The full manuscript is to be online in a year.

Translations of the Codex Sinaiticus have long been widely available, but publishing images of the manuscript online will let anyone see pages that, until now, have been viewed in detail mainly by academia.

As the Web site becomes operational, it will show photographs of each page of the text, with links to translations in English and German. There will also be a search function.

"It contains the earliest complete copy of the New Testament," said Scot McKendrick, the head of Western Manuscripts at the British Library. (CNN London)

The Gospel of Mark's grammar is on the simpler side, so it's more accessible to entry-level Greek scholars.

Text Messages from Pope Benedict to WYD pilgrims

So Cool.

The first one:

"Young friend, God & his people expect much from u, because u have within u the Father's supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI"

The second:

"The Holy Spirit gave the Apostles & gives u the power boldly 2 proclaim that Christ is risen! - BXVI"

And while we're on the topic of "iReporting," a confirmed picture of Pope2008 blogger Tim Drake!

Picture: The pope's latest wheels!

"STPG" (Stuff The Pope Gets):

"Pope Benedict XVI looks at two 'Ape Calessino' three-wheel cars he was presented by Italian scooter maker Piaggio at the end of a general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 25, 2008. The Ape, a reproduction of the special version used to carry tourists in the fashionable island of Capri and other sea resorts along the Amalfi cost in southern Italy, was presented to the pontiff to mark its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Filippo Monteforte, Pool)"

I'm feeling a PPOTD coming on....

Picture: A Text Message from Pope Benedict

This sure beats the "LOL" or "TTYS" texts I'm used to receiving on my phone....

Okay, so actually this is a CNS concept photo, but you get the idea.

Also cool? The surfer cross. Yeah.

Ph/t: Pope2008.

Awesome Procession Pic (+other things liturgical)

Shawn Tribe at New Liturgical Movement gives us something else to rejoice and wonder at:

In second place, this picture from the Chartres pilgrimage (which I narrowly missed attending when I was in Europe the summer of 2003).

Also see the breathtaking photopost on English rood screens.

update: and for good measure, Damian Thompson on the Latin Mass in England:

...Interestingly, [a Cardinal] added that the Pope wants this Mass to become normal in parishes, so that ‘young communities can also become familiar with this rite’.”

[Damian Thompson:] "The idea of young people discovering the ancient Mass, said entirely in Latin with zero opportunity for congregational showing-off, will truly horrify with-it bishops and their Sandalista worship leaders. And what will Bobbie (“Cry me a river”) Mickens have to say?

I do wonder, however, whether the Pope realises that if he wants the classical Mass celebrated widely in this country he will have to make one extra provision. New bishops. Lots of them. And fast."

Get your piece of papal visit history today!

Officially "super cool":

Flemington Department Store co-owner Ted Resnick always thought the ultimate job would be working with the pope. After several meetings with the Archdiocese of New York, he got his wish.

His store provided 20,000 square feet of white and yellow carpet for the pope to walk on at two of his recent appearances in the United States.

And now he's giving it away.

Store workers are giving away 1-foot-by-1-foot sections of the carpet that Pope Benedict XVI walked on during his recent American visit. The white carpet sections are from his April 20 Mass at Yankee Stadium; the yellow pieces are from his April 19 visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.

....

For more information contact the department store at 1-888-877-2192.

(Newhouse News Service)

My personal piece of papal visit paraphernalia?

Certified sawdust shavings from the papal altar used in Washington DC, courtesy of Will Cubbedge.

Ph/t: AmP reader Deirdre.

Photo: Pope uses Cross Staff of Pius XI, XII & John XXIII today

Papist bloggers are buzzing about the Pope's Cross Staff seen today at the Palm Sunday Mass:

Ken88 found this photo, and has several more of similar high-quality. Fr. Z has more from the Mass.

It appears that this is the same papal cross staff used by Popes Pius XI & XII, as this photo suggests. update: and now TNLM notes that Pope John XIII used the "conciliar cross" as well.

Pope Benedict also strongly decried the atrocities in Iraq, saying "enough with massacres, enough violence, enough hatred in Iraq!" This week, Iragi Archbishop Rahho was found dead after being kidnapped.

Discovery: 2,500-yr-old Jewish seal which confirms claim in book of Nehemiah

Darn cool:

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

...

"The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."

Why so astonished? I rather expect this sort of thing.

Archdiocese of Detroit desktop wallpapers

For my local readers, a snazzy official AoD desktop wallpaper:

{update: proper credit: © Archdiocese of Detroit, created by: Jason G. Pelc, Graphic Art Director}

Available in 3 sizes: [1024x768] [1200x800] [1800x1280]

"Support your local diocesan structure!" ;-)

... and feel free to add links to your own cool wallpapers below. Let's all update our desktops today!