Collectors Fight for Vatican Euros

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, April 14 — The city-state of the Vatican is a sovereign nation, which entitles it to print money and mint coins; since few are minted, they are frequently gobbled up by collectors. But rarely if ever have these people fallen to blows.

But that's what happened April 10 as more than 4,000 people lined up at the Vatican's mint to purchase specially minted euro coin sets. These sets are already worth more than seven times their face value, according to Agence France-Presse.

Profit-seeking and curious collectors lined up in the rain in Rome to buy the 13,000 boxed coin sets, which bear the image of Pope John Paul II and mark the 25th anniversary of his election as pope.

Fights broke out when the line moved too slowly, drawing blood in several cases. All the euro sets were sold — and many were immediately resold on eBay, the news service noted.

Vatican Radio Goes Back to Court

BBC, April 10 — A long-standing legal case filed by residents of a Roman suburb against Vatican Radio will now return to court, reported British Broadcasting Corp.

The suburbanites complained that the radio service, which beams the Church's message and Catholic news around the world, damages their health with its radio transmitter, exceeding Italian limits on electromagnetic emissions.

On April 9, the Supreme Court of Italy ruled that the Vatican transmissions fell under Italian jurisdiction and that three officials of Vatican Radio would have to stand trial.

Father Federico Lombardi, the stations' program director, said in a radio statement, “Vatican Radio hopes that a new trial will finally dispel unjustified and unfounded allegations against it,” denying charges that a higher number of cases of leukemia in the outlying Roman district of Santa Maria di Galeria were connected with the transmissions that originate there.

Scottish Church Tries to Save Roman Seminary

SCOTLAND.COM, April 13 — The Scottish Catholic bishops have embarked on a 1-million-pound ($1.5 million) fund-raising campaign to preserve their Roman seminary, the historic Pontifical Scots College, which has been underpopulated and underfunded for years, reported the news site Scotland.com.

Leaflets will be distributed in every parish in Scotland asking for donations, which will be used to endow the college in perpetuity. It is currently funded by annual gifts from each of the eight dioceses throughout the Celtic region, which are expected to decline in the near future, as the number of churchgoers in Scotland continues to decline.

The seminary was founded in 1600 at the height of the Protestant Reformation as Mary, queen of Scots, battled for her throne against Protestant challengers.

There are currently only 11 undergraduates and five graduate students at the seminary.