c. 2005 Religion News Service
Pope Continues to Recover, May Lead Sunday Prayer From Hospital
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Tests confirm that Pope John Paul II is continuing to recover from a severe breathing crisis, and he may try to lead Catholics throughout the world in a Sunday prayer from the hospital, the Vatican said Friday (Feb. 4).
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that in light of the pope’s improving condition, there would be no new medical bulletin until noon Monday.
“The Holy Father’s state of health is improved,” Navarro-Valls said. “John Paul II is eating regularly. Instrument and laboratory examinations confirm the stabilization of the clinical picture.”
With the pope expected to remain hospitalized at least until early next week, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state and No. 2 in the Vatican hierarchy, was in nominal charge but is unable to make decisions on key pastoral questions.
“I think that if there are issues that require the Holy Father’s decision, Cardinal Sodano will submit them to him when he visits him in the hospital,” the spokesman said.
The 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, who came down with influenza Sunday, was rushed to Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic hospital by ambulance Tuesday night when he developed severe problems swallowing and breathing.
John Paul was diagnosed as having an inflammation of the windpipe, which caused spasms of the larynx. Because he suffers from advanced Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological complaint, doctors feared additional complications.
Navarro-Valls, who has degrees in medicine and psychiatry, has issued daily medical bulletins since Wednesday.
The spokesman said that on Saturday, the pope would watch a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for students and faculty of Rome’s Major Seminary, over which he had been scheduled to preside. It will be shown by Vatican television.
He said that John Paul may try to lead the Angelus prayer at noon Sunday over Vatican Radio and/or television.
The Angelus, which the pope normally recites from his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, “is an appointment that John Paul II cares much about and which he does not want to miss,” Navarro-Valls said.
Normally, John Paul also speaks briefly about religious and world events before and after the prayer, which is carried by loudspeaker to the thousands of pilgrims who gather in the square and broadcast worldwide by Vatican Radio.
It was business almost-as-usual Friday in the Vatican.
Josep Borrell Fontelles, president of the European Parliament, who was scheduled to have a papal audience, met instead with Sodano. Navarro-Valls said they talked about the enlarged European Union and the “moral force” it can exert.
A telegram was sent to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, to express the pope’s sorrow at the death Thursday of Cardinal Corrado Bafile, who at 101 was the oldest of the cardinals. There are now 183 cardinals, including 120 who are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope.
_ Peggy Polk
FBI Charges N.Y. Man with Arson Threats Against Presbyterians
(RNS) A New York City man has been arrested and charged with threatening to burn Presbyterian churches over the denomination’s Middle East policies, church officials said Friday (Feb. 4).
Jeffrey A. Winters, 25, of Queens could be fined up to $250,000 and spend five years in jail if convicted of mailing at least one letter that threatened to burn “Presbyterian churches with people inside.”
The letter, one of several that were sent to the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Louisville, Ky., arrived Nov. 9. Church leaders issued an alert to parishes around the country urging them to take security precautions.
Winters was arrested “without incident” at his apartment in Queens following an FBI investigation, according to Presbyterian News Service. He is charged with interstate communication of a threat to injure another person.
“We are grateful that this threat against our churches has been eased and appreciate the work of the FBI in this matter,” said Presbyterian Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.
“At the same time, we need to be in prayer for Mr. Winters and for the peace and well-being of Israelis, Palestinians and all people of the Middle East.”
The church’s vote last summer to pursue financial divestment from companies doing business in Israel was widely criticized by Jewish groups, but the arson threats were the most severe reaction to the church’s policies.
The letter bore a Queens postmark. It contained a swastika, said churches “will go up in flames” and set a Nov. 15, 2004, deadline for the denomination to “reverse” its decision, according to Presbyterian News Service.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
International Development Veteran to Head Mennonite Central Committee
(RNS) An 18-year veteran of international development work has been selected as the next executive director of Mennonite Central Committee. Robert Davis will start June 1 and have a month of overlap with Ronald J.R. Mathies, who is retiring after nine years at the helm of MCC.
Davis has been with Freedom From Hunger, based in Davis, Calif., since 1999 and is currently senior vice president of program services, overseeing the organization’s work in health and microfinance. He started his career in 1987 with World Vision in Mauritania and has worked as a consultant for Catholic Relief Services, the World Bank, the Peace Corps and other agencies. He has also taught peace courses at Eastern Mennonite University.
A native of Lancaster, Pa., Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from Lancaster Bible College, a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in population dynamics, both from Johns Hopkins University.
“MCC is not only respected for the quality of its work but is also unique in dealing with violence as a key structural constraint to poverty eradication,” said Davis, who helped found a Mennonite house church in Davis. “I believe that MCC provides a living example of how community development can be done in a truly participatory way … the idea that we have much to learn and gain from those we serve just as we have something to offer them.”
MCC, headquartered in Akron, Pa., is the relief, development and peace agency of North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. With a budget of about $65 million, it works in 56 countries, including the United States and Canada.
_ Rich Preheim
English Church Learns Sarah the Curate Used to Be Colin
LONDON (RNS) Parishioners in Ross-on-Wye learned Monday that their newly ordained woman curate started life as a man.
Church of England Bishop Anthony Priddis of Hereford, who ordained 43-year-old Sarah Jones to the diaconate last July and will ordain her to the priesthood next September, told a meeting in Ross church hall that more than 10 years ago Sarah Jones had gone through the painful process of becoming the woman she now is.
“Sarah was open with us from the word go and has not sought to hide her medical history,” he said. “Everyone who we felt needed to know knew about her, and we are quite sure that no one has done anything wrong. Sarah has become a much loved curate in the short time she has been part of the Ross team (ministry).”
Sarah’s history became public when the Daily Mail found out about her and interviewed both her and Bishop Priddis.
Not only did Jones start life as Colin Jones, but she was baptized as a Roman Catholic and married when she was about 20, according to a report in The Times. The couple had no children and divorced amicably a few years later.
She told The Times that when she was 31 she changed socially to being a woman and had the sex-change operation two years later.
Jones is not the Church of England’s only sex-change cleric. Four and a half years ago a twice-married and twice-divorced vicar had the backing of his bishop when he underwent a sex-change operation to transform him from the Rev. Peter Stone to the Rev. Carol Stone.
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Would-be Papal Assassin Ali Agca
(RNS) “I embrace you, Karol Wojtyla. I send you my best wishes.”
_ Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, in a handwritten get-well note to the pope using his Polish birth name, Karol Wojtyla. Agca was forgiven by the pope but is serving time in Turkey for other crimes. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
MO/PH RNS END
