Pope Francis: "Carnival time is over"

No more ermine shoulder capes or gilt thrones.

The first 48 hours of the pontificate of Pope Francis have given the world a foretaste of what it is going to be like to have a Jesuit priest for the first time in history as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholic believers.

Minutes after the election result was declared in the Sistine Chapel, a Vatican official called the Master of Ceremonies offered to the new Pope the traditional papal red cape trimmed with ermine that his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI gladly wore on ceremonial occasions.

"No thank you, Monsignore," Pope Francis is reported to have replied. "You put it on instead. Carnival time is over!"

It was just one small sign out of many this week that as Massimo Franco, one of Italy's shrewdest political editorial writers, commented in the Corriere Della Sera, "the era of the Pope-King and of the Vatican court is over".

Read the rest here.

It is fast becoming clear that the new Pope is not merely "low church," but is also at least moderately hostile to anything hinting at the high church ceremonial that his predecessor was seeking to bring back.

From the Rumor Mill: Has spring cleaning started in Rome?

There are conflicting reports as to what exactly happened or is in the process of happening. That said it appears that during his visit on day 1 of his reign to the Basilica of St. Mary in Rome, Pope Francis bumped into Cardinal Bernard Law formerly of Boston. It goes without saying that His Eminence departed his post under a cloud and is likely the only man in Boston more unpopular than Bill Buckner. In any event he went into what I think could be fairly described as voluntary exile and was given a cushy post as dean of the aforementioned basilica.

With the arrival of the new Pope yesterday (who came to venerate and pray before a famed icon of the Theotokos) Law made what some are calling a discreet appearance to greet the new pontiff. This is where the reports start to diverge. According to the Holy See there was a brief exchange of words and nothing more.

However other sources, including in the Italian press for what that's worth, are reporting that Francis told Card. Law that he was not to enter the basilica again and that arrangements would quickly be made for new accommodations, in a cloistered monastery.

Hmmm

HT: Deacon Paul

Paying the bill

U.S. plans to let spy agencies scour Americans' finances

(Reuters) - The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.

The proposed plan represents a major step by U.S. intelligence agencies to spot and track down terrorist networks and crime syndicates by bringing together financial databanks, criminal records and military intelligence. The plan, which legal experts say is permissible under U.S. law, is nonetheless likely to trigger intense criticism from privacy advocates.

Read the rest here.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina Is Pope Francis

The College of Cardinals has elected the first non-European Pope in at least a thousand years and the first Jesuit. Time will tell but what little I know of the new Pontiff suggests that he is a highly charismatic reformer and at least moderately liberal. He has a reputation for great personal humility, some of which I think was on display on the loggia tonight as well as in his choice of names, and a passionate concern for the poor.

For now I would not suggest waiting for the return of the papal coronation or the sedia gestatoria.

White Smoke

The world waits...

Waiting for the smoke to clear

After two rounds of unsuccessful papal balloting one thing does seem to be working. The Vatican appears to have greatly improved its famous system of smoke signals, black for inconclusive ballots and white for a new pope. In past years the smoke was more often a shade of gray and the crowds were left to guess if it was supposed to be white or black. The cardinals however began adding chemicals that left no doubt as to what color the smoke was following the last two rounds of voting. It was black.

Sunday of Judgment (Meatfare)

There will be limited blogging over the next couple days as I am wrapping up my trip home and traveling.

Scenes from the Patriarchal Service Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the Russian Imperial Dynasty

March 6th (NS) in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin. Also in attendance was H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria, Rightful Empress of All Russia.

William McKeachie Reflets on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

...Although I am no fan of the Curial system, of Tridentine ecclesiology, or of Rome’s soteriological compromises in dogma, it seems to this Anglican that Joseph Ratzinger was the providentially right man in the right job(s) for the last several decades.

He has helped steer the Roman Catholic Church closer to mutuality with Bible believing Protestants to a greater degree than any other pope since the Reformation; he has been a true mentor for orthodox Christians of many denominational stripes and an incomparably better biblical theologian than many who call themselves Protestant; and there has been no more stalwart spiritual warrior against the ideological assault on Christian civilization from without, and its betrayal from within, among his generation.

In the face of the twin twenty - first century threats to the Gospel from Mohammedanism and Secularism, all adherents of Nicene Christianity are better quipped spiritually and intellectually to “fight the good fight” than they were before Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

As we await the emergence of his successor, thanksgiving for the servant leadership of Joseph Ratzinger during the last half century should be both oecumenical and fervent.

Read the rest here.

North & South Korea exchange heated rhetoric as China shows signs of losing patience

SEOUL, South Korea — Angrily responding to the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision to impose tightened sanctions, North Korea said on Friday that it was nullifying all nonaggression agreements with South Korea, with one of its top generals claiming that his country had nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles ready to blast off.

Matching the harsh warning with a toughened stance, South Korea said Friday that if Pyongyang attacked the South with a nuclear weapon, the government of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would be “erased from the earth.”

Such language marked the most hostile exchange between the two Koreas, still technically at war, since they engaged in an artillery skirmish three years ago.

The verbal warfare represented a clash of nerves between the young North Korean leader, who is building his credentials as head of his militaristic country, and Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, who considers former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain her role model and has stressed security as her top priority.

Read the rest here.

Why Paul Krugman (and Dick Cheney) is Wrong

Dick Cheney and Paul Krugman have declared from opposite sides of the ideological divide that deficits don’t matter, but they simply have it wrong. Reasonable liberals and conservatives can disagree on what role the federal government should play yet still believe that government should resume paying its way.

It has become part of Keynesian lore in recent years that public debt is essentially free, that we needn’t worry about its buildup and that we should devote all of our attention to short-term concerns since, as John Maynard Keynes wrote, “in the long run, we are all dead.” But that crude interpretation of Keynesian economics is deeply misguided; Keynes himself disagreed with it.

Read the rest here.

Conclave to BeginTuesday

ROME — The papal conclave to elect the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics will begin on Tuesday afternoon, a Vatican spokesman announced.

Cardinals will enter the closed meeting after holding a special Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the morning, Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement Friday.

Apart from eating and sleeping, they will not be allowed to leave the conclave until they have chosen who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his abdication on Feb. 10 and formally ended his papacy on Feb. 28, citing his increasing physical frailty.

Read the rest here.

Is the Depression Finally Winding Down?

OK, I'm no an economist. I just play one on the blogosphere. But there are some interesting signs out there. The US Government is actually trimming (albeit only slightly) its spending. And far from the sky falling as a consequence of the interminable budget battles and gridlock, unemployment is falling sharply and the stock market has been on a tear the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time.

Of course the Fed is also printing money at the rate of a cool $85 billion per month and pumping it into the real estate and bond markets. So one could argue that we are just creating a new government sponsored asset bubble and maybe laying the ground work for a nasty dose of inflation, Time will tell. But I'm not making any firm wagers on which way this is going to play out.

Rand Paul gets his answer

About that filibuster...

"It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: 'Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil.' The answer to that question is no." 

-Eric Holder Attorney General of the United States
From here.

This is just sick

Crystal Kelley got paid $22,000 to have a baby. But that wasn’t the only offer the 29-year-old Connecticut mother of two received. After an utrasound at 21-weeks revealed significant medical issues, the parents offered her $10,000 more if she agreed to an abortion.

The gross immorality of that second offer tells us that there is a lot wrong with the first arrangement. It is intolerable that our society continues to put up with an unregulated, free market in hiring cash-starved women to make babies.

Read the rest here.

It gets worse, much worse.

400 Years Ago

After more than a decade of near anarchy on 21 February (OS) / March 6 (NS) 1613 an assembly of the Russian nobles offered the crown to sixteen year old Michael Romanov who became Czar Michael I and the first of the House of Romanov to rule Russia. Solemn ceremonies marked the anniversary throughout Russia yesterday including a hierarchical liturgy in the Imperial Crypt in the Fortress of Peter & Paul in St. Petersburg and the ringing of the bells in the Kremlin Cathedrals.

 

Czar Michael I the first Romanov Czar

H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna de jure Czarina and Empress of All Russia

God Save Her Imperial Majesty!

North Korea threatens nuclear attack on US

SEOUL — North Korea on Thursday threatened a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States and other purported aggressors, describing Washington as a “criminal threatening global peace.”

Although Pyongyang routinely vows to demolish the United States in a sacred war, the threat issued Thursday marked a major escalation of rhetoric just hours before the U.N. Security Council is to discuss new sanctions aiming at reining in the North’s weapons program and restricting illicit overseas trade.

Read the rest here.

Rand Paul Ends Lengthy Filibuster

He didn't break any records but he raised an issue that many people wee not even aware of to the forefront of America's political consciousness. My guess is that White House is going to be under a lot of pressure over this issue in the coming days.