Coming soon to hashtags everywhere: Pope Benedict XVI has taken a new role within the Catholic Church. The pontiff’s jurisdiction now evidently extends to micro-blogging. In his very first tweet, he proclaimed the launch of the Vatican’s new website — and praised Jesus in the bargain. It is unclear as to whether or not his…
A new blog post by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, routinely described as the most authoritative English-language journalist covering the Vatican, reports on a seldom-discussed irritant in Catholic-Jewish relations: Haredi youth spitting on robed Catholic clerics on the streets of Jerusalem. Here’s an excerpt: Jews move to halt spitting at Christians in Jerusalem…
A very intriguing piece by Politico’s David Gibson in the Washington Post Sunday Outlook section claims, much as I argued in a column back in August (but in greater depth), that Pope Benedict XVI is engaged in a sweeping campaign to remake the church. In large part what he’s trying to do is to roll…
Sarah Silverman has really done it now. She’s moved from the gentle humor of “I’m f***|ing Matt Damon” and the cerebral politics of the “Great Shlep” to shameless self-promotion of her site, Sell The Vatican. On that site you can see her flaunt her ideas, call herself a “genius” and show a soft-focus picture of…
The next few days feature a surprising string of important anniversaries in contemporary history. Here are a few of the key dates: September 15, 1959. Next Tuesday, for all you 20th-century history buffs (and you “Car 54, Where Are You?” fans) is the 50th anniversary of the day Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev landed at Idlewild,…
A booklet that alleges that the Vatican is in cahoots with Hezbollah was published by a branch of the Orthodox Union and was, until recently, being distributed to Israeli solders. Haaretz is reporting that the booklet — purported to be narrated by a Hezbollah leader who converted to Judaism, changed his name to Avi, and…
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