Inquisition

Guardian:

Pope Benedict XVI last night called off a visit to Rome's main university in the face of hostility from some of its academics and students, who accused him of despising science and defending the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo.

The controversy was unparalleled in a country where criticism of the Roman Catholic church is normally muted. The Pope had been due to speak tomorrow during ceremonies marking the start of the academic year at Rome's largest and oldest university, La Sapienza. But the Vatican said last night it had been "considered opportune to postpone" his visit.

The announcement followed a break-in and sit-in at the rector's office yesterday by about 50 students and a furious row over a letter signed by more than 60 of La Sapienza's teachers, asking that the invitation to the Pope be rescinded.

The signatories of the letter said Benedict's presence would be "incongruous". They cited a speech he made at La Sapienza in 1990, while he was still a cardinal, in which he quoted the judgment of an Austrian philosopher of science who wrote that the church's trial of Galileo was "reasonable and fair".

Irrelevant and Unwanted

Corriere della Sera:

Rice Denied Audience with Pope

Disagreements over foreign policy behind refusal. 

US Secretary of State requested meeting in August. Told that Benedict XVI was “on holiday”.

The latest request was made during the summer. The US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice indicated to the Vatican that she urgently needed to meet Benedict XVI. She was on her way back into the viper’s nest of the Middle East and it would have been no bad thing to meet her counterparts with the credentials of a papal audience. Ms Rice had hoped that the audience could be fixed for early August at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence, when Benedict XVI returned from Lorenzago in the Dolomites, but she was told the Pope was on holiday. She insisted but to no avail. Vatican diplomats were adamant and “Benedict XVI is on holiday” continued to be the official reply.

The World Needed This

Corriere Della Sera:

Pope Denies Protestants Are Church
Full identity in Christ only in Catholicism. Storm over document approved by Benedict XVI

VATICAN CITY – Christ “established here on earth” only one Church that has its full identity only in the Catholic Church, since every other Church or ecclesiastical community lacks something with respect to that identity. This is the import of a document released yesterday by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, provoking alarm and protests from Orthodox and Protestant Christians.
The document itself, signed by the prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal William Levada, and approved by Benedict XVI, comprises only six pages and is entitled Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church.