The Splog-Vaticanews Connection

Ever vigilant, Space Pope has updated her blog again. And as per tradition, here's a Vaticanews to accompany it:

Vaticanews 05/28/09

BULLETINS:
The Feud Thickens
Inexplicably, L'Osservatore Romano took time off from its religious reportage today to include an article praising Barcelona's soccer team. Entitled Football, Finally the piece referred to the team's performance against Manchester United as a "lesson in style." A prime example of fair, evenhanded journalistic favoritism. Like a soccer player who uses his hands, L'Osservatore Romano broke a basic newspaper rule with their bias. And like so many aggravated soccer referees, we at Vaticanews must once again call foul on the Vatican's semi-official paper. It is quickly becoming the Regis Philbin to our Dave Letterman, the Milli Vanilli to our Arsenio Hall.
(source= USA Today)

The Economy Loves all its Children Equally
If we are to believe the hype, most priests are already dangerously old. But the hype also tells us that the world's economy is less than ideal right now, and this affects even the Vatican, which reported a $14-million deficit in 2007. So, to keep from paying benefits just a smidge longer, the church is raising the retirement age by two years for officials below the rank of bishop. Maybe what they should do is add some danger to the job: fresh crusades, deep=space mission trips, taller bell towers. Then fewer priests would survive until retirement. Works for the C.I.A.
(source=beliefnet)

HEADLINES:
The Counting of Monte Cassinos (There have been five)
Some places are just cursed: first it's a nail salon, then it's a dry cleaner, then a Thai restaurant, then a fortuneteller/whorehouse. No business lasts more than a few weeks, but the ominous building remains, silently waiting to devour its next victim. The Abbey of Monte Cassino has the opposite problem. It's been a Catholic monastery for nearly 1500 years, but the structure itself has been completely demolished four times.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the abbey on Sunday for the 65th anniversary of its most recent rebuilding, after the U.S. military bombed it in 1944 based on some faulty intelligence. It is significant place for Benedict, because it was founded by his namesake, Saint Benedict of Nursia, famous for writing the Rule of Saint Benedict and forming the Benedictine Order. Clearly, a man who didn't mind things being named after him.
And in keeping with this things-named-after-men tradition, the Mayor of Cassino announced that, in honor the visit, the town's Miranda Square would be renamed Pope Benedict XVI Square. Kind of like when Aunt Miranda had those surgeries with Dr. Cassino and became Uncle Ben.
(source=Communio)