Sickly pope cancels Vatican meetings

[emad]

By Philip Pullella

Vatican City - Pope John Paul is suffering from influenza and has cancelled his audiences for Monday, but the Vatican said there was no cause for alarm.

"Because of the symptoms of influenza, which began yesterday, the Holy Father has been advised to suspend his private audiences for today," chief Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement.

The 84-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and no longer walks in public, was nonetheless well enough to be given the first copy of the 2005 edition of the Vatican yearbook in his private apartments, the spokesperson said.

'He has joined the other millions of Italians who have the flu'
The Italian capital has had unusually cold weather in recent weeks and the city has had an outbreak of influenza.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw110717676334B211

[demnan]

1. They couldn't give the pope a flu shot?

n/t

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. Rest up Papa

:thumbsup:

[emad]

3. Priests lash out at cult of the Pope

The Australian
Peter Shadbolt, Religious affairs writer
February 01, 2005

CATHOLIC bishops have been accused of creating a damaging personality cult around Pope John Paul II and being out of touch with the lay people and priests they serve.

In a strong attack on the Catholic hierarchy, Father Eric Hodgens, from North Balwyn in Melbourne, said the Vatican's obsession with sexuality was alienating churchgoers and clergy.

"Most (of the clergy) are no longer committed to the old taboos on sexuality," Father Hodgens said in a Catholic e-magazine, Online Catholics. "Most do not believe that couples living together are doing something very wrong. Most are happy to have homosexual couples living lives of commitment."

He said Catholic bishops had a sycophantic style of quoting the Pope incessantly and that the Vatican had "stacked the branch" with cardinals who held the same moral outlook as the Pope.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12111707%255E2702,00.html

[Name removed]

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[emad]

5. Defend unborn's rights, Pope tells Catholic lawyers

By Linda Morris
February 1, 2005

In a rare personal message, the Pope has appealed to Australia's Catholic lawyers to defend the rights of the unborn and aged.

Conferring his blessing on the St Thomas More Society, the Catholic lawyers' association, the Pope John Paul II urged its members to defend the "inviolable dignity and rights of every human being - from conception until natural death".

The message came as the society marked its 60th anniversary at St Mary's Cathedral with a "Red Mass" to mark the start of the legal year. The mass was celebrated in the presence of three cardinals and before some of the state's most senior judges, barristers and solicitors.

The society, named for the lawyer and politician beheaded by Henry VIII in 1535 for refusing to accept the king's claim to be supreme head of the English church, has quietly lobbied for changes to the abortion laws.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Defend-unborns-rights-Pope-tells-Catholic-lawyers/2005/01/31/1107020329722.html?oneclick=true

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[happynewyear]

7. wtf does this have to do with the pope having the flu?

I see you just keep kicking your own post(s) back up and adding more garbage. What exactly is your point in doing this?

GET WELL SOON POPE JOHN PAUL II.

[emad]

8. Garbage? Rounding up all the Popenews today.

And collating all the newsitems under one story.

That way peope can pick their own way through any garbage.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Bridget Burke]

9. Just keeping us posted on the Whore of Babylon....

We are being urged to repent & cast off all Popery!

[arwalden]

13. Funny!

:hi: Not to be confused with potpourri.

[Raster]

14. Perhaps it could be called "Popepourri"

<chuckle>

[skippythwndrdog]

15. I agree with the Pope here.

My views have slowly changed.