Splog! News! Huzzah!

Word up, guns down.

Space Pope returns to her blog today with a post that's educational, informational and, if you pay attention, just might teach you something.

Also, history in the making with a new Vaticanews, below.

Vaticanews 05/06/09

BULLETINS:
He Thinks the Pope is a "Bigger Annoyance"
Australia has produced plenty of obnoxious people: Mel Gibson, Rupert Murdoch, and anyone with the word "crocodile" in their moniker. But last July, Ian Bryce added himself to the list in a more down-to-earth way—he built a fake pope mobile and drove it up and down the streets of Sydney in protest of the Pope's visit, getting himself arrested for "distracting motorists." This wimpy charge was ultimately dropped last week, and Bryce now claims his action counts as a win for free speech. A spokesperson for free speech, however, said that they had plenty of notches in their belt bigger and deeper than Bryce's traffic stunt.
(source=ABC NEWS)

Cardinal John Henry Newman, Dead for More than a Century, Cures MA Man's Back
A panel of theologians who investigate the legitimacy of miracles recently voted that John Sullivan of Quincy, MA did, in fact, have his crippling spine pain cured through prayer. Cardinal John Henry Newman, to whom Sullivan prayed in 2001, is being given credit for the miracle, which puts him one step closer to sainthood. So everybody wins, except the doctors, who have yet to figure out a medical explanation for Sullivan's cure and may be forced to reassess some of their fundamental spinal assumptions.
(source=The Patriot Ledger)

HEADLINES:
Canada Copies America, Pope Apologizes
When somebody says "Native Canadian" what do you think? Red suit, broad hat, horse? Plaid shirt, axe, ham? Moose, grizzly bears, fish? Eh?
Well, it turns out that "Native Canadian" means exactly the same thing as "Native American," complete with the stripping of culture and special religious schools which abused their students both emotionally and sexually. And just like in the States, Native Canadians demand and deserve apologies. Now, because some three-quarters of these special schools were, way back when, run by Catholic missionary congregations, the church has already paid around $79 million in compensation. But money can't buy me (or anyone else) love, and so last Wednesday, as the first official example of "institutional regret" over the issue, Pope Benedict offered an apology to a group of former Native Canadian students. Benedict expressed his personal anguish, and the Vatican released a statement calling for "renewed hope" for the victims of these atrocities. The Pope also blessed the various pipes, blankets, moccasins, etc. which were presented to him as gifts. Some of these stayed in the Vatican, and some returned, freshly blessed, to Canada, where they will either help the healing process or, at the very least, earn their owners bragging rights.
National chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine said the group left, "happy and comforted." Not to mention that they certainly must appreciate the media letting the world know that there is such a thing as a Native Canadian, and making us sympathetic to their cause. It's easy. Just take the white guilt you already feel about Native Americans and spread it to the north.
(source=Yahoo!News)

Those be the updates for today, but Benedict begins his week-long trip to the Holy Land on Friday, so swing by soon for some hard-hitting Vaticanews coverage of that. And our main strip should be updating again within the week, so eyes peeled and fingers crossed, everyone!

Love to all,
-Y&W P