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...conservative enough for Fernández, who broke with the Ecône faction to join a French group called the Sedevacantistes. The group's name derives from its basic tenet: that the See of Peter has been vacant since the 1958 death of Pope Pius XII, whom they consider the last orthodox Pope. Fernández may face a high penalty for acting on his beliefs: he was formally arraigned in Lisbon on a charge of attempted murder. A conviction could bring him 15 to 20 years in prison...
...conclave. There are some ancient precedents for a papal abdication. Benedict IX (1032-45) sold his office outright to the reforming Pope Gregory VI; Celestine V (Aug. 29-Dec. 13, 1294) resigned to become a hermit after realizing he was not suited for the job; Gregory XII (1406-15) abdicated as part of a deal to end a schism and reunite the church. But Vatican insiders insisted that John Paul believes God has chosen him for the office, and will not voluntarily give it up. Besides, asked a Vatican official, "what do you do with an ex-Pope, especially...
...eight Vatican-appointed bishops in mainland China, five are under house arrest and the fate of two others is unknown. That leaves Jesuit Dominic Tang, who in 1950 was appointed apostolic administrator, or temporary head, of the Canton diocese by Pope Pius XII and subsequently spent 22 years in a Communist prison. With church conditions improving dramatically in China, Tang was freed last year. Surprisingly, he also won the approval of the province's government to resume duties as administrator of his diocese...
Freemasonry, an Anglo-Saxon creation first transplanted to Florence in 1733, was soon under attack by the Catholic Church. The Masonic principles of nonsectarianism and ab stract belief in a "Great Architect of the Universe" were viewed as an intolerable threat by Pope Clement XII, who issued the first papal edict that ordered excommunication of any Catholics who became Masons. Masons were often regarded as subversive political freethinkers by the Italian principalities. By the mid-19th century, in fact, many of the most prominent nationalist leaders of the Italian risorgimento were Masons. Among them: Giuseppe Mazzini and the notoriously antipapal...
...wrote extensively on labor and rural problems and earned the affectionate nickname of the "worker priest." Active in the anti-Nazi resistance as an underground army chaplain in World War II, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Lublin in 1946. Two and a half years later, Pope Pius XII named him Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw, an appointment that also made Wyszynski, at 47, the Primate of Poland-leader of the nation's church hierarchy...