Templars Crusade for Apology

LONDON TIMES, Nov. 29 — The Vatican has apologized for the excesses of the Crusades, but now the Knights Templar, one of the foremost Crusader orders, wants an apology for its suppression 700 years ago.

The Vatican is reported to be giving “serious consideration” to the request, which comes from English Templars claiming descent from the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, as they were properly known.

Founded as a monastic order in 1118, shortly after the Christian capture of Jerusalem, the Templars protected Holy Land pilgrims and fought in the reconquests of Spain and Portugal. Their great wealth, based on property and banking, excited great jealousy. France's Philip IV moved against the order in 1307 (spawning the legend of “Friday the 13th”), executing its members and expropriating its holdings, and Pope Clement V dissolved it in 1312.

Three years ago, a previously secret Vatican document revealed that Clement V had in fact absolved the Templars of heresy. Since the Middle Ages, the Templar myth has inspired Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Richard Wagner's Parsifal and innumerable fanciful treatises and occult sects.

AIDS Best Fought by Abstinence, Vatican Says

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Nov. 30 — In a statement released for World AIDS Day, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, president of the Pontifical Council for Health, has recapitulated Pope John Paul II's view that AIDS is as much a disease of the mind as of the body.

Cardinal Barragán explained, “To fight (AIDS) in a responsible way, you have to increase prevention, through education on the respect of the sacred values of life, as well as the correct practice of sexuality.” He called also for cheaper AIDS treatments and the elimination of discrimination against those with the disease.

Pope Marks Start of Advent

CATHNEWS, Nov. 30 — Speaking from St. Peter's Square Nov. 28, Pope John Paul II welcomed the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year.

The Holy Father promoted the theme of next year's Italian Eucharistic Conference, “Without Sunday, We Cannot Live,” and urged his 30,000 listeners and Christians everywhere to “rediscover with new intensity the meaning of Sunday: its mystery, its celebration, its significance for Christian and human life.”