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1247 A.D.
The Grand Khan of the Mongols is converted by the missionaries sent by Pope Innocent IV and the Khan demands homage to the Supreme Pontiff on this day.
1519 A.D.
Birth of Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti is born in Bologna. He would go on to become cardinal and eventually Pope Innocent IX - the 230th successor of Peter who succeeded in limiting the effects of the terrible Black Death Plague.
While jealously guarding the privacy of the papal retreat, the Vatican spokesman offered reporters a pair of photos of the Pope's recent excursions. In one shot the Pope is wearing a large hat and a vest over his cassock as he walks through the mountains; in the other he is hatless, standing in the shade and looking out over the mountains from a height of nearly 8,000 feet. In each snapshot, the Pope is using two walking-sticks, almost like ski poles-- one in each hand.
Navarro-Valls said that the Pope wanted to convey his gratitude to the people of the region, who had helped prepare his vacation and had guarded his privacy with "delicate efficiency and discretion."
The papal spokesman said that the Holy Father is not working on any special project during the vacation. (His encyclical on faith and reason is already complete, and is now being translated into several different languages, to be ready for publication.) He has brought several dossiers of work, Navarro-Valls said, and consults them from time to time. He added that the Pope is also reading a work of modern philosophy, which he declined to identify.
A Vatican spokesman said Pope John Paul II has been saddened by the news of the firebombing that killed three boys in Northern Ireland this past weekend, and is "concerned about the future of the peace process," according to his press spokesman.
Briefing reporters at Lorenzago di Cadore, where the Pope is spending a two-week vacation, Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Holy Father has been following the latest developments in Northern Ireland with keen interest and concern, and offering his prayers for the cause of peace.
Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, the president of the university, cited Father Harvey's defense of the Church teaching on homosexuality and his loving support for those men and women who want to be chaste. "Father Harvey has been attacked and called names," Scanlan said. "He takes all the heat and yet never turns from giving a compassionate defense of the truth and the Catholic faith. He is an example to us all."
In receiving the award, during a Defending the Faith conference on the Ohio campus, Father Harvey warned that proponents of legalizing same-sex "marriage" are on the offensive, using their power and influence to press for changes in the nation's law. He continued: "They would intimidate us with that power and influence into accepting that gay marriage is on the same level as Catholic marriage. Well, we won't be intimidated. "
Franciscan University established the Courage in Faith Award in 1997 to honor those who demonstrate outstanding leadership in defense of Catholic teaching. Last year the honor went to Msgr. George Kelly, president emeritus of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
A senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad-- the World Council of Hindus, or VHP-- last week unveiled the Hindu revivalist group's ambitious plan of "mass conversion of Christians to Hinduism" in the northeast, where three of the seven tiny Indian states have Christian majorities. The threat comes amid Christian complaints of "forced" reconversion of thousands of tribal Christians by Hindu cadre groups in central India.
Calling for "strict action" against those "provoking communal discord," the Indian lay group reminded Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that such proclamations threaten "the unity and integrity of the country." The statement expressed regrets that senior leaders of the coalition government "have kept quiet, and have chosen not to denounce [the VHP statement] as inflammatory."
"The silence of the government and the BJP leadership in the face of the coercive arrogance" implicit in the threat, AICU statement said, "makes it clear that such provocative programs have the covert or overt support of the party in power." The statement urged the government "to wake up to the dangers" of posed by the Hindu zealots "which threaten the social fabric, the peace and the tranquility" in the northeast of India.
John and James Howard were each awarded $6 million in compensatory damages and $24 in punitive damages. The judgment against the Stockton diocese comes just a week after the Diocese of Dallas agreed to pay $24 million to victims of sexual abuse by a priest there.
Father Oliver O'Grady, the priest who molested the Howard brothers in the 1970s, is now serving a 14- year prison term after being convicted in 1994 on sexual-abuse charges. Their lawyers had argued that the Stockton diocese covered up a history of child-abuse incidents, thus in effect aiding the priest in his misdeeds.
Bishop Donald Montrose of Stockton asked the forgiveness of the Howard family, but said that he was disappointed by the jury verdict.
