Vaticanews is Bigger than Ever (And Space Pope's Back Again)

Greetings,

Space Pope just updated her blog again, which you can read here.

And because today's a big day for PBXVI, here's the third installment of Vaticanews:


Vaticanews 04/19/09

BULLETINS:
— Anniversaries Abound!
April is a big month for Pope Benedict XVI, who celebrated his 82nd birthday on Thursday, and who, today, celebrates the fourth anniversary of his election to the pontificate on April 19, 2005. The birthday party was a quiet, private event, which is atypical of papal events, but it's his party and he can invite just a few friends and his older brother if he wants to. And for his Benedict's birthday last year, President Bush had a choir sing "Happy Birthday" on the White House lawn, so this year provided as a less noisy, less international contrast. Nice for Benedict, but kind of a bummer for American TV news.
(source=http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1471168.php/Pope_Benedict_XVI_spends_82nd_birthday_resting_)

— Paraguayan President and Former Bishop Also Former Sinner
Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay, admitted recently that while still a Roman Catholic bishop he'd had an affair a woman named Viviana Carrillo, and that affair had produced a son. This was, naturally, quite a shocking announcement, but Lugo ruined the scandalous mood by very seriously promising to take full responsibility of the child, and then refusing to comment further so he could focus on his presidency. It was offensively decent and honest, this attitude, and not at all becoming of a man who supposedly slept with a woman and had an illegitimate child while employed by the church. Hopefully, he'll make a fresh mistake soon, and we'll be able to pounce on that.
(source=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjbPzVkmGnEQa5_DKeXXiHroX1pgD97HSASO0)

— As if God Making the Sun Wasn't Enough
It's hard to imagine the Vatican providing the world with anything other than messages of hope, unity, and the Bible, but in five years it may also generate and export electricity for itself and much of the rest of Rome. The Vatican, one of the smallest nations in the world, is readying itself to invest 500 million euros in Europe's largest solar plant. The plant will produce 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 40,000 households. And since the Vatican only houses some 900 people, the everyday Italians who live nearby will be able to enjoy some of this energy. While there have been some negative responses to this kind of spending in this kind of economy, the Vatican's stance is that investing in this project now will pay off big time in the long run. Besides, it has the money and sovereignty to do it, so screw what other people think, anyways.
(source=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aO042nyR0px4&refer=europe)

HEADLINES:
But Did John Paul Read any of Fidel's Poetry?
A claim (somewhat outrageous): It doesn't matter who you are, everyone likes attention and everyone likes to hear about themselves.
Support for the claim (somewhat outrageous): A new book on Pope John Paul II's daily life, He Liked Tuesdays Best, tells a fascinating little anecdote about the 1996 meeting between the former pope and the former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Apparently, not wanting to run out of things to talk about, Castro prepared for the meeting by reading many of the pope's teachings and poetry ahead of time. And it worked. According to Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, a secretary of John Paul's from 1996 until 2005, "The Holy Father... was very impressed."
He Liked Tuesdays Best, which been authorized by the Polish Roman Catholic Church, is based entirely on interviews with Mokrzycki. It sold more than 20,000 copies in its first week, and that's just the Polish version. An Italian version is soon to come, and there are talks going on now to get English, German, French, and, of course, Ukrainian versions published ASAP. Soon readers worldwide can read their languages' translations of "The nuns had to bring a cookie," Mokrzycki said. Intrigued? Then write to your local publisher and tell them to get He Liked Tuesdays Best in every bookstore across the nation post-haste.
(source=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j8hkBhiiL9cD5XYrhCSArb-WP19AD979OIKG0)