Benedict Invited to Address EU Parliament

According to a report from the website TheParliament.com, Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European Parliament, invited Pope Benedict to address a plenary session.

The idea would be for the Pope to address a plenary session, possibly in Strasbourg, France, on dialogue between religions and cultures, including the role religions can play in dialogue based on truth and tolerance.

During their discussion in late March, Poettering and Pope Benedict, a fellow German, are believed to have spoken about the question of citing the Judeo-Christian roots of Europe in the constitutional treaty and about the problems of interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

John Paul II Sainthood Process Moves to Next Phase

The cause for Pope John Paul II’s sainthood continued its remarkably fast pace with the presentation to the Vatican of many boxes of documents attesting to the late Pope’s holiness, the Associated Press reported.

Included in those documents was the purported miraculous cure of a nun who prayed to John Paul.

On April 2, the second anniversary of John Paul II’s death, officials from the Rome Diocese presided over the official closure of the investigation, tying shut with ribbons and sealing with wax big black boxes of documentation that will be forwarded to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints for consideration.

Holy Father’s Birthplace Now a Museum

Pope Benedict’s home town of Marktl am Inn is preparing for his 80th birthday by opening a museum in the house where he was born, Spiegel Online reported.

The museum’s opening will coincide with the Pope’s 80th birthday April 16, when another surge of visitors is expected to flood Marktl for local celebrations.

Ever since Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope in April 2005, the tiny Bavarian village with its 2,700 inhabitants has been inundated with visitors. The number has grown from 2,000 a year pre-Benedict to about 200,000 now.