Word: pontiff
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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Touring the stricken region by helicopter on Tuesday, Pope John Paul II visited a hospital and stopped in Balvano to comfort the grieving townspeople. "I come as a brother," the Pontiff said in his quiet, Polish-accented Italian, his white garments stained from embracing grimy survivors. "I want to tell you that you are surrounded by compassion on the part of all Christians...
...once held by many Catholic theologians that sexual pleasure even in marriage is deeply suspect. That is far from the case. In sermons and writings John Paul has dealt extensively with marriage, and often places a remarkably unpontifical emphasis on matters of the flesh. The book of Genesis, the Pontiff once declared, shows "the pure value of the body and of sex" in God's eyes...
What a vision awaited visitors to the Royal Palace in Caserta, Italy. Traipsing through the gardens with Actress Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Director Roberto Rossellini, was a familiar white-robed figure with the distinctive bearing of Pope John Paul II. Young girls genuflected as the Pontiff passed. A sightseeing nun fainted dead away. After all, His Holiness was at that moment supposed to be traveling in Africa 3,000 miles away. A papal miracle? No, a cinematic satire, Il Papocchio (rough translation: Papal Mess). The Italian film features Actor Manfred Freiberger, a look-alike for the Polish...
...Catholicism with spirit cults, the most popular being Candomblé, brought from West Africa by slaves. At a Mass in Candomblé country, John Paul repeated a theme of his African tour: Christianity can accept the "cultural expressions of any people," but must not "mutilate" its own teachings. The Pontiff also sought to heal breaches within the church itself, advising the hierarchy to compromise and avoid squabbling...
...nation of 120 million people. Because many of the most outspoken activist priests are foreigners, the regime is proposing a tougher immigration law that could cause serious trouble for the missionaries. Though many Brazilians contend that the celibacy requirement is to blame for the difficulty in recruiting priests, the Pontiff believes that a loss of priestly identity is at the root of the problem. With his visit, the Pope offered a stunning demonstration of how he envisions the priestly role: one in which political involvement is carefully limited and thus is all the more effective. As one government official acknowledged...