Book Review: The Seville Communion

I was reading a follow-on book which had a plot concerning the Vatican's special services arm. It wouldn't be the first I've read about such a thing, in fact it was one of the cloak and dagger topics which made me a fan of David Morrell's book series as well. Anyway, the story centers around an old dilapidated church in Seville; an old parish priest; a tanned heiress; and a hack attack on the Pope's computer.

Some interesting items about the church was that the old parish priest was using the Latin for celebrating mass -- something that was changed in Vatican II during Pope John Paull II's tenure.

Recently though, the new pope caused a stir in the news:

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI, in a decree issued on Saturday, authorized wider use of the old Latin mass and told the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics that his nod to Church traditionalists was nothing to be afraid of.

The decree met with mixed reaction from Catholics, ranging from concern among liberal lay groups to a wary welcome from schismatic traditionalists. Two cardinals who had warned about restoring the old rite supported the way the Pope had done it.

One prominent Jewish leader criticized the revival of a prayer for the conversion of Jews, saying the old text was “insensitive ... insulting” and said it could set back the historic reconciliation between Catholics and Jews.

Personally, being an ex-Catholic myself I do appreciate the solemness of Latin. That is, if you have the appreciation for old languages and the images of Indiana Jones in the back of your thoughts (yes, there's a new flick with ol' Harry Ford coming out this year!).

To make matters worse, Papa Ratzi (thanks for the joke Carmen!) goes on and rocks the boat more a week later by probably damaging the relations of the Catholic faith with other Christian denominations:

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.

Benedict approved a document from his old offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that restates church teaching on relations with other Christians. It was the second time in a week the pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church.

One step forward for traditional catholics, two steps back from world peace. Is this to be Chatholic Jihaad?

Good job man. Duh.


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I'm also testing my new Clipmarks plugin for Firefox on this post. Its got a few bugs, but workable. Now anyway ...