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     For events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on TIME CAPSULES: ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 27:

387 A.D.


Death of Saint Monica, Mother of Saint Augustine. For more on her, see TODAY'S LITURGY

543 A.D.


Death of Saint Caesarius of Arles, Bishop and Apostolic delegate to Gaul, he dedicated his life to fighting Arianism and Pelagianism as well as other heresies.

827 A.D.


Death of Pope Eugene II, 99th successor of Peter, who is attributed with the institution of seminaries. He also formed a supreme council for putting into effect the canons and ecclesiastical law. This is thought to be the origin of the present Roman Curia.

1590 A.D.


Death of Pope Sixtus V, 227th successor of Peter, who took in hand the reform of the Church with great severity. He completed the work on the Dome of St. Peter's and raised the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. He also built the present building where the Holy Stairs is properly housed.

Surgeon who saved Pope's life succumbs to Protate Cancer

     The physician who was personally responsible for surgically saving the life of Pope John Paul II gave up his life to protate cancer at the age of 67. It was a personal blow to His Holiness who had placed his life in the hands of his personal surgeon Professor Francesco Crucitti numerous times, most notably after he had been shot in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. The Pope paid a personal, private visit to the family and ordered Cardinal Sodano to say Mass for his friend. For more, click on Pope's personal surgeon.

      VATICAN CITY (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II mourned the death of his personal surgeon on Wednesday, who he credited with saving his life.

      Professor Francesco Crucitti, 67, died from advanced prostate cancer and was considered a leading expert in oncological and digestive surgery. He performed three major surgical operations on the Holy Father, including an operation after he was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981.

      Following his weekly audience at the Vatican, the Holy Father traveled to Crucitti's home in Rome to personally deliver his condolences to his family. "I came here expressly to show you in some way my appreciation of this man who saved my life," he told the widow. He also prayed before Crucitti's coffin. The Holy Father, who later returned to his summer residence outside Rome, asked Secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano to celebrate the funeral Mass at the Catholic University of Rome on Thursday.

Now its a question of obedience as Bishops call for permanent removal of all temporary crosses at Auschwitz

     After weeks of back and forth quibbling over the removal of temporary crosses placed on the same plot of land the Pope officially prayed at when he visited Auschwitz, the Polish Bishops have decided it is time to soothe everyone's feelings and tensions by requesting zealous Catholics to remove the more than 150 crosses planted there to honor their fallen comrades at the hands of the Nazi aberrations. Due to the sensitivity of the situation with governments and Jewish authorities, the bishops recommended the diocese remove all the crosses except the one erected fosr the Pope's visit since that is permanent. Some of the stubborn Catholic planters are resisting, but should realize that obedience to the Magisterium is the only course of action and will bear the greatest fruit. For more, click on Auschwitz.

      CZESTOCHOWA, Poland (CWNews.com) - Poland's bishops, meeting in Czestochowa on Tuesday, formally asked grassroots Catholics groups to stop planting crosses in a field near the former Auschwitz Nazi death camp, although they did say they support keeping the papal cross planted at the spot where Pope John Paul II prayed in 1979.

      "The bishops's stance is that the Pope's cross must remain while other crosses will be moved to another location," Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy, in whose diocese includes Auschwitz, told reporters. Catholic worker groups have placed dozens of crosses in the field in memory of Poles killed by the Nazis, but Jewish groups have complained that the religious symbols are an affront to the memory of the more than 1 million Jews killed at the site.

      Bishop Rakoczy said the diocese would arrange for the removal of the sea of crosses. "When the situation becomes clear, we will take actions so as not to hurt feelings of the faithful," he said. Although the Polish government supported the removal of the crosses, they were hesitant to provoke the ire of the country's Catholic majority, leaving the issue up to the bishops.

      The groups planting the crosses said they will resist any attempt to remove them. "I will set myself ablaze if they try to remove the crosses by force," Kazimierz Switon, the leader of the cross-planters, said recently.

Vatican kept in dark surrounding Naples Cardinal's investigation, brings to light violations against State in dealings with the Church.

     The Vatican lambasted Italian law authorities for their intimidation and treatment of the Cardinal of Venice Cardinal Michele Giordono who was arrested for suspicion of racketeering because his brother is involved. The Holy See pointed out the problems of their being kept in the dark and phone tapping as a violation of security and a problem in the separation of Church and State for the latter does not respect the status and sensitivity of ecclesial matters by their apparent disregard for the Cardinal's privacy, singling him out for investigation and harassment. For more, click on Cardinal of Naples .

      ROME (CWNews.com) - Italian newspapers reported on Wednesday that the Vatican has protested to Italian police for failing to inform them of a criminal probe into the cardinal of Naples.

      Police and magistrates raided the offices of Cardinal Michele Giordano last Saturday, seeking evidence of a link with the cardinal's brother, Mario, who allegedly is involved in organized crime in the city. At the crux of the Vatican protest is whether the probe violates a 1984 concordat defining the relationship between Italy and the Catholic Church. "The way in which a well-deserving bishop and cardinal has been treated points up the problems between the church and state," said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

      Cardinal Giordano opened the question of the treaty violation on Sunday when he said the police had tapped his phone lines. "What if I were speaking with the Pope?" he said. The concordat specifically states that the Vatican or Italian bishops' conference should be notified before searches are carried out on church property except in urgent cases. Although phone tapping is not mentioned, Italy's own laws state that it can only be done when there is a serious suspicion of criminal activity.

Poll reveals majority of Americans favor prayer in schools and school vouchers

     More and more Americans favor returning prayer to the public school system as well as Congress passing a school voucher bill allowing tax assistance for sending their children to private schools, the majority of which are Catholic institutions both primary and secondary. The results were revealed in a recent poll that showed a strong trend toward some kind of financial aid to parents who are dissatisfied with the public school system that has deteriorated badly over the last few decades. Many point to the problems stemming from when prayer was banned in schools and the Roe vs. Wade decision. For more, click on Poll.

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - A new poll of Americans released on Tuesday found that a majority support use of some level of tax payments for private school tuition for the first time, continuing a five year trend in that direction.

      The Gallup poll found that 86 percent of adults support President Bill Clinton's plan to use federal funds to build schools, 80 percent support his plan to hire more teachers, and 71 percent approve of his plan for voluntary national testing of reading and math competency in fourth and eighth grades. But 73 percent also favor Republican plans for tax-free education savings accounts for use at private schools and 68 percent support direct grant of federal funds to states for education purposes.

      In addition, 67 percent of those polled also support a constitutional amendment to allow prayer in public schools.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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PROVERB OF THE DAY

"When one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination."

Proverbs 28: 9

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August 27, 1998 volume 9, no. 168   DAILY CATHOLIC