Vatican Issues Commemorative Interregnum Stamps

ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 12 — Stamp collectors and pilgrims turned out in large numbers at Vatican post offices April 12 as special stamps went on sale marking the period between Pope John Paul II’s death and the election of his successor, AP reported.

Dozens had gathered outside the two post offices near St. Peter’s Basilica even before their 8:30 a.m. opening, with the group swelling in size as the morning went on.

The Sede Vacante (vacant See) stamps include a traditional image used by the Vatican in official documents in periods between popes: two crossed keys but no papal headgear. The traditional image on Vatican stamps issued while a pope is alive has the keys and the headgear. They will only be valid until the election of a new pope.

The report stated the Vatican printed 700,000 stamps in three values: at 60 euro cents (78 U.S. cents), 62 euro cents (80 U.S. cents), and 80 euro cents ($1.04). They carry the words Citta del Vaticano (Vatican City) and Sede Vacante MMV (Vacant See 2005) in blue, red and green, respectively.

New Bioethics Document Being Readied

SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, April 13 — The Vatican’s undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the Holy See is working on a new document addressing bioethical issues, including embryonic stem-cell research, the California daily reported.

Father J. Augustine Di Noia said the document will be a sequel to a similar position paper written about 20 years ago addressing what were then the latest bioethics issues.

Reaffirming that the Church does not oppose research or therapy using adult stem cells, Di Noia said in the report that the new document is “not intended to stop development but to make sure the development keeps the human person in view.”

Bug Hunt Keeps Conclave Private

LA REPUBBLICA, April 14 — Security officials at the Vatican installed high-tech devices to jam cell phones and discourage prying at the papal conclave, the Italian newspaper reported.

Wary of secret service agents, nosy journalists and even greedy gamblers spying on the conclave’s deliberations, the Vatican hired espionage experts to inspect the Sistine Chapel for hidden microphones and spy cameras.

The report said the late Pope John Paul II, worried that media analysis of papal candidates would threaten cardinals’ “independent judgment” in the lead-up to their vote, imposed the ban by changing the church constitution in 1996. It bars the use of any technology that can be used to record or transmit voices, images or writing.