In attendance at Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly general audience today in St. Peter’s Square was Ronald Garan, the American astronaut who brought a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Garan had the idea to bring the relic into space through his spiritual bond with the Carmelites in New Caney, Texas. Garan also helped found the Manna Association that, with the help of NASA technology and U.N. funding, has developed a system to make available drinking water in the villages of Rwanda and install solar panels in schools and hospitals.

Also present today was Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N.’s special representative for children and armed conflict,...READ MORE

The following article will be published in a future issue of the Register:

Defending the Popes — Pius XII and Benedict XVI
Investigative Judge for Pope’s Cause Sheds Light on Recent Flap With Jewish Leaders

BY EDWARD PENTIN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

VATICAN CITY — The cause for canonization of Pope Pius XII ran into some controversy last week when Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel, the investigative judge for the cause, was reported as saying that Pope Benedict XVI was holding off from issuing a decree on Pius’ beatification because of pressure from some Jewish groups.

Speaking at a book launch in Rome June 19, Father Gumpel, 85, said the Pope did not wish to “compromise”...READ MORE

In his letter to priests yesterday to mark the beginning of the Year for Priests, Pope Benedict XVI drew attention to the sacrament of confession, which has been declining in parts of the Western world, particularly Italy.

“Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or the apparent indifference of the faithful to this sacrament,” he wrote. “In France, at the time of the Curé of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day, since the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the practice of religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and his powers of persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of...READ MORE

There have long been rumors that Adolf Hitler wanted to kidnap or kill Pope Pius XII.  In 1972, former SS General Karl Wolf referred to such a plan in a meeting he said he had with the wartime Pope on May 10, 1944. However, Wolf’s story could never be verified.

But now the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire — and later L’Osservatore Romano — have reported today about “more concrete rumors” of a plan hatched by the Reichssicherheitsamt (the Third Reich’s Security Headquarters) in Berlin after July 25, 1943.

The reports cite a viable source: the son of one of the key people involved, Niki Freytag von Loringhoven.

According to the account of the son, who is now 72, on July...READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI today appointed Dominican Father Joseph Augustine DiNoia to be Secretary to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Archbishop-elect DiNoia, who turns 66 next month, was born in New York of Italian parents and grew up in the Bronx. He was ordained a priest in the Dominican Order in 1970. With his appointment, he is elevated to titular Archbishop of Oregon City.

Since 2002, he has been Under-Secretary at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was also a member of the International Theological Commission from 1997-2002 and for seven years was Secretary for the Doctrinal Commission of the U.S. Bishops Conference.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama affirmed today that the president attaches a high priority to the relationship between the Vatican and the United States.

In an e-mail comment to the Register, Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications said: “The Holy See is very important to our foreign policy priorities.”

McDonough’s comment was made in the context of replying to concerns expressed by some analysts that Obama might not regard the relationship with the Vatican as an important policy priority.

The Vatican and the White House are close to agreeing on a date for President Barack Obama to meet Pope Benedict XVI in early July. The president will be in Rome while he attends the G8 summit in the Italian town of L’Aquila July 8-10.

According to informed sources, there’s “work in progress” on a time and date but no official announcement has yet been made because of difficulty in finding a date that’s mutually convenient. It’s believed there is only a small window of opportunity for the president to meet with the Pope as Obama’s visit to Italy is short, and sandwiched between his trips to Russia and Ghana.

However, despite these difficulties, sources say an agreement is...READ MORE

The last two Daily Blog posts have been about the prospects of two famous British Catholic apologists being proclaimed as saints by the Church.

This one is an update about the cause of a famous American Church leader who was no slouch either when it came to apologetics: the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

The cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is proceeding “very nicely,” the Register has learned. According to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, two probable miracles have been reported during the past year.

In February 2008, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., celebrated a Mass concluding the preliminary diocesan investigation phase of Archbishop Sheen’s cause. At that...READ MORE