Space Pope Blog 2 + Vaticanews

Hail!

Space Pope has updated her blog again, and because the Vatican is the country within a country that never sleeps, here's a fresh installment of Vaticanews:

Vaticanews 04/08/09

BULLETINS:
— Kalamazoo: Real Place, New Archbishop
For starters, Kalamazoo is a real place. It's in Michigan. It's the county seat of Kalamazoo County. Also, Pope Benedict XVI recently named Pennsylvania native Paul J. Bradley as the new Archbishop of the Kalamazoo Diocese. Bradley became the "chief shepherd of more than 100,000 Catholics" on Monday, after his predecessor, Bishop James A. Murray, submitted his mandatory resignation after turning 75.
(source=http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-06-2009/0005001160&EDATE=)

— Does This Mean Tony Blair's Gay After All?
In an interview earlier today, Tony Blair called for a "rethinking" of the Catholic Church's views on homosexuality. Last year, Benedict remarked that saving humanity form homosexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. Blair blames this on a "huge generational difference." However, Blair's only been a Catholic for the last two years, but he's always been a little... limp-wristed.
(source=http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE53759B20090408)

HEADLINES:
Despite Problems with Entire Nation of Belgium, Vatican Finds Strong New Ally in Welsh Lifting Firm
Most of the media attention on the Vatican recently has been focussed on the Belgian Parliament's vote to lodge the first official protest by a country against the Vatican in history. This protest comes as a reaction to the Pope's remarks that condom distribution in Africa would worsen the AID's problem. Bold moves on both sides.
But there's more to the Vatican than petty arguments with other sovereign nations about who said what to whom. The Vatican Museums' display niches, for example, are famously difficult to move statues in and out of. Luckily, the Vatican may soon be relieved of this tremendous stress, because earlier this week they signed as contract with Reid Lifting, a growing Welsh firm, to develop lifting systems which can more effectivly move the statues from niche to niche. Yes, lifting systems. Who knew?
This is not the first victory for Reid Lifting, which began as a "back-bedroom" outfit and now has an impressive 17 employees. Nor is it the first victory for the Vatican, which has a history and culture far too complex and mysterious to delve into now.
(source=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7978649.stm)