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ACCEPT
ROME (Crux) – Late Tuesday night, Oct. 30, the Vatican announced that fragments of human bones were found during the recent remodeling of a building attached to the Vatican’s embassy to Italy, though there are still no details about the age of the remains or the person to whom they belonged.
Rome’s Chief Prosecutor, Giuseppe Pighatone, has tasked the Scientific Police and a mobile team of Rome’s police headquarters to study the remains in order to determine their age, sex and the date of the person’s death. As soon as the bones were found, a Vatican statement said, the Vatican’s Gendarmerie corps informed Italian authorities as well as those within the Holy See, and an investigation has been launched.
Details are slim on what bones were found, however, according to Italian agency ANSA, the bones consist of a skull and teeth.
In some quarters there is already speculation that the remains could belong to a young Italian woman named Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983 at the age of 15, and whose father at the time worked for the Institute for the Works of Religion, better known as “the Vatican bank.”
Orlandi’s body was never found, and numerous hypotheses and conspiracy theories have circulated since her disappearance concerning the circumstances and motives of what might have happened.
Mirella Gregori is another young Italian woman who also disappeared in 1983, just over a month ahead of when Orlandi went missing. Police are likely to make DNA comparisons to determine whether the bones belong to either of the young women.
Nonna Romano and her granddaughter Rossella Rago of Cooking with Nonna fame visit Monsignor Jamie and share their family Orecchiette recipe along with their Italian dinner traditions.
For Sister Neville Christine Forchap and her religious order, the Daughters of Saint Paul, Catholic literature is an essential part of their mission. Sister Neville is the manager at Manhattan’s Pauline Books and Media store on East 29th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. She said she knows Catholic literature is alive and well because the faithful are always looking for new ways to grow closer to God.
“As long as there’s that deep seeking for Christ, there will always be the thriving of Catholic literature, which is the relaying of faith from generation to generation through the media,” said Sister Neville.
The order’s publishing company, Pauline Books and Media, prints about 40 new titles a year and distributes thousands of copies to nearly a dozen stores across the country. The bookstore receives new shipments every week. Shelves are stocked with books in English and Spanish, ranging from children’s themes to biographies of saints.
Peter Vera enjoys reading Catholic literature and just started working at the store this week. “When you read a lot of Catholic literature, sometimes you stumble upon a sentence that makes you go, ‘wow, that’s powerful. That’s a great message.’ Then you want to give that same message to somebody else,” said Vera.
Samantha Smith is a frequent customer and travels from her home in Queens to the Manhattan bookstore multiple times a week. She said Catholic literature is a key component to every day life. “Because there are so many nooks and crannies to the faith life now, literature is almost all encompassing when you think about how it can develop the faith more deeply,” said Smith.
But Vera admits people like Smith are becoming harder to find. “There are people who are falling off and not wanting to read a lot more and get more knowledge on our faith. It’s pretty sad.”
These sisters are keeping the faith that readers will continue to get closer to their savior one chapter at a time.
On the newscast: A lot more troops could soon be mobilized to confront the caravans heading to the U.S. – Mexico border; Google employees walk out; U.S. – China trade war heats up; Catholic literature has changed the course of history, but is it still relevant?
Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents news airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST on NET-TV (netny.tv)
Can Catholic literature still thrive? Father Robert Lauder is an avid lover of catholic novels and has an international reputation as a book and film critic. He joins Currents News anchor Liz Faublas to talk about how faith filled books stand in today’s society.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening before a rally in Florida, President Trump says in addition to some 5,000 U.S. troops already headed to the southern border to contain migrants heading for the U.S., he’s considering increasing that number to as many as 15,000.
“They have a lot of rough people in those caravans, they are not angels,” Trump said. “As far as the caravan is concerned our military is out. We have about 5-thousand-eight will go up anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personal on top of border patrol, ICE and everyone else. Nobody is coming in.”
When Defense Secretary James Mattis was questioned if troop deployment to the border was a political “stunt” he said “the support that we provide to the Secretary of Homeland Security is practical support based on the request from the Commissioner of Customs and Border Police. So, we don’t do stunts in this department.”
On this episode of City of Churches, Anthony Mangano visits East Williamsburg to explore one of the oldest churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn: Most Holy Trinity. Once known as the “German Cathedral,” this 1882 Gothic style church has an unusual history, including an underground crypt and an unsolved mystery dating back to 1897.
On November 2, the Pope will celebrate Mass at 4 p.m. in Rome’s third largest cemetery, the Laurentino, south of the city.
Pope Francis will stop to pray in a part of the cemetery called the “Garden of Angels.” It is a 600 square meter area where unborn babies are buried.
This will be the fourth cemetery visited by the pope in the Italian capital. Previously, the Pope has visited the Verano and Prima Porta as well as the American cemetery of Nettuno in 2017. At the American cemetery he visited the soldiers and nurses who died during World War II.
On Saturday, in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope will also celebrate Mass for cardinals and bishops who have died in the past year.
Pope Francis held a meeting with the American Bible Society, before the General Audience on Wednesday. The President of the American Bible Society, Roy L. Peterson said that they were “deeply grateful for your leadership and your advocacy for God’s Word.”
Pope Francis encouraged them to continue, and even intensify their commitment to transforming lives ‘through God’s Word.’
“It is my hope that you will always receive the Bible in its precious uniqueness: as a word that, imbued with the Holy Spirit, the Giver of life, communicates to us Jesus, who is life. In this way, our lives are made fruitful,” said Francis.
The American Bible Society is an organization that has been providing the Good Book for 200 years. They were founded in 1816 with the aim to promote and share the Holy Book values such as hope, love and justice. They work not only to provide Bible’s in America but across the globe. One of their goals is in the next 10 years to make the Scriptures available in every language.