Word: basilicas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...days before the auction, the remains of a much more famous man of God, St. Francis, were reburied after a special rite at the basilica in Assisi, Italy. The skeleton was first identified by Vatican experts in 1818. When the remains were exhumed so the grave site could be repaired, Pope Paul asked scientists to study them. Their findings: the saint, who died in 1226, was short and frail and Ms bones "very porous, denoting a form of malnutrition...
...violent thunderstorm raged above St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on July 18, 1870, the bishops of the First Vatican Council adopted a decree that would alter Christian history. A Pope, they declared, is infallible when he defines doctrines of faith or morals ex cathedra (from his throne) and such dicta are "irreformable" and require no "consent of the church." The bishops' lopsided 533-to-2 vote that day masked a deep division in the council and throughout the church. The immediate repercussions included the schism of "Old Catholics" and a wave of antichurch laws in Germany. Though...
During the Synod, backroom talk about who should succeed Pope Paul appeared to be virtually nonexistent, perhaps because the Pontiff, who turned 80 in September, looked so vigorous while celebrating a mid-Synod Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Still, the 1977 Synod may play a role in papal politics. Of the 117 voting members of the College of Cardinals?which only meets to elect a new pope?51 were Synod delegates. Thus the Synod provided an opportunity for nearly half of the papal electors to observe one another in action for weeks. Given Paul's age, the 1977 meeting...
Earlier, as the Pontiff entered St. Peter's Basilica, borne on a swaying chair, a choir of 10,000 voices performed. TV arc lights played across the colors of African robes and Asian pantaloons in the packed congregation. Paul sought no assistance as he rose from the papal throne and lifted the host and chalice. But his hands trembled visibly and he walked to the altar with a slow, painful shuffle caused by his arthritis. To symbolize his years, Paul personally gave Communion to 80 people...
...Guadalupe. Her brown face adorned the banners of the troops that overthrew Spain and those of Zapata's land-hungry rebels. Today she appears everywhere in Mexico, from cantinas to taxicab dashboards to countless adobes. But the original remains on Juan Diego's cloak in the basilica. The cloak is made of a crude cactus fiber that usually lasts about 20 years; this one is still in perfect condition...