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     For events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on TIME CAPSULES: MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for September 16:

655 A.D.


Death of Pope Saint Martin I, 74th successor of Peter who ruled for six years. During his pontificate he condemned the Eastern bishops who enjoyed the protection of the Byzantine Emperor. Imprisoned and exiled, he died of suffering and hardship on the island of Cherson. It was during his papacy that the Church began celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Virgin.

827 A.D.


Death of Pope Valentine, 100th successor of Peter who ruled for just over two weeks. He was beloved by the people, the nobles, and the clergy for his goodness and charity and exhibited great piety.

1087 A.D.


Death of Pope Blessed Victor III, 158th successor of Peter who had fled to Montecassino four days after his election on May 24, 1086. But the people clamored for him to be Pope and he was forcefully brought back to Rome and consecrated. He excommunicated the antipope Clement III and took up residence on the fortified Tiber island.

1394 A.D.


Death of the antipope Clement VII who had turned against Pope Gregory XI and undermined Pope Urban VI. As the first antipope of the Great Schism of the West, Clement initiated the great split that would last from 1378 to 1417.

1464 A.D.


Venutian-born Cardinal Pietro Barbo is elected by the College of Cardinals as the 211th successor of Peter, taking the name Pope Paul II. He would go on to be the Pope who decided that only Cardinals would wear the red beretta. He also reduced the benefit of a special pardon to 25 years so that each generation could benefit.

Two decades of dedication, four decades of being an apostolic successor - Vatican makes grand plans for celebrating Pope's milestones

     This past weekend the Vatican released a preliminary itinerary to celebrate in grand style the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's pontificate on October 18th - choosing that date as the midpoint between his election on October 16th and his installation six days later. There will be a solemn Mass in St. Peter's Square where the crowd could reach a million to honor both two decades of dedication and his 40th anniversary as a bishop which he will officially celebrate on September 28th. For more, click on Celebration of the Pope's milestones

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Plans have been set in place to mark the 20th anniversary of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II with a solemn Eucharistic liturgy in St. Peter's Square on October 18.

      Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was actually elected Pope on October 16, 1978; and his pontificate formally began with his installation on October 22.

      Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for the Rome diocese and the president of the Italian bishops' conference, has sent a message to all the bishops of Italy, inviting them-- and through them, the faithful of their dioceses-- to participate in the celebration.

      The celebration will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Pope's consecration of a bishop, which took place on September 28, 1958. He was nominated to the episcopacy on July 4 of that year by Pope Pius XII. He was named Archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI in 1964, and elevated to the College of Cardinals by the same pontiff in 1967.

Clinton's only chance of survival is to withdraw veto of partial-birth abortion ban according to Vatican critics

     Anticipating another vote soon in the House and Senate on the partial birth abortion ban, the Vatican is not going to sit tight and wait. Going on the offensive, a Vatican theologian in the Holy See's publication L'Osservatore Romano" tries to show that withdrawing the veto might be beneficial for Bill Clinton in his own fight for survival. At least Clinton has a chance to survive. That's more than all those poor unborn babies had who never had a chance because of his veto. For more, click on Vatican protest

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Writing in today's issue of L'Osservatore Romano, the Franciscan moral theologian Gino Concetti sharply criticized US President Bill Clinton for his veto of a bill that would have banned partial-birth abortions.

      The US Senate will soon vote on whether or not to override that presidential veto; the US House of Representatives has already approved an override.

      Father Concetti advanced the possibility-- not being actively considered in Washington-- that President Clinton could avoid the Senate showdown by withdrawing his veto.

      The article in L'Osservatore Romano speaks of partial-birth abortion in indignant tones. "This technique is homicide," Father Concetti writes. "And it is without precedent in the history of human cruelty." The theologian speaks of the "barbarity" and "abomination" involved in the technique. Conceding that relatively few abortions are performed by this technique, he added: "the gravity is not measured by the quantity."

      In 1996, the American bishops protested the President's veto of a similar bill, and their protest was published in the press bulletin of the Holy See-- an unusual step, indicating the Vatican's keen interest in the issue.

      The Vatican has not made any official comment on the current White House scandals. But the article in L'Osservatore Romano indicates that Rome will not allow the partial-birth abortion debate to pass unnoticed amid the turmoil now surrounding the American President.

Another priest gunned down in Africa as killings continue globally

     Just days after a priest was shot in Colombia and an Italian priest was kidnapped by Muslim rebels in the mountains of the Philippines, another priest was gunned down by armed robbers. The motive has not been determined and, considering the political upheaval in Kenya and the rest of that region of Africa, it is no surprise the government is not expediting an investigation. For more, click on Italy.

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Father Luigi Andeni, an Italian missionary priest stationed in Kenya, died today from gunshot wounds he suffered yesterday, according to the Italian missionary agency MISNA.

      The agency reported that Father Andeni was shot several times by armed bandits at Archer's Post. The agency charged that the government has been slow with efforts to identify the perpetrators of the killing.

U.S. reports of Cuban government harassment unfounded according to reliable Cuban Catholic sources

     Rebuking a U.S. government report that the Castro regime interfered and tried to harass U.S. citizens and worshippers during Cuba's biggest Marian feast last week - the Virgin of Cobre , a Cuban priest assured all that there were no incidents and that the Cardinal and the Church in Cuba had received prior approval for the procession providing they kept it strictly religious with no politics involved. With a keen eye to doing just that, all participants complied fully and reports of any kind of disturbance are highly exaggerated. For more, click on Cuba calm.

      HAVANA (CWNews.com) - The Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Havana, Father Ramon Suarez Polcari, on Tuesday denied the US State Department's allegations of harassment during last week procession of Our Lady of Charity in Havana and said that Communist Cuban authorities "did not play any harassing role."

      The US State Department issued an official statement saying that four officials of the American Interests Office in Cuba attending the procession as observers were harassed by Cuban agents. But, Father Suarez said, "almost five thousand people took part in the procession of the Virgin of El Cobre -- the most important Catholic devotion in the country -- and we did not register any harassment." He added, "We were quite alert and did not see any provocations, nor did we receive reports of problems."

      Father Suarez explained that the only incident during the procession occurred when "a civilian in the middle of the crowd raised a banner with a clearly political message," but said that "the crowd itself called the man to respect the agreement with the authorities." In order to obtain official authorization for the procession, the archdiocese agreed to keep the parade "purely religious," by asking people not to carry any other symbol or banner than the white and yellow balloons that were distributed by Church representatives.

      The crowd, led by the Apostolic Nuncio in Cuba, Archbishop Beniamino Stella, and Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana, "walked twelve blocks around the Our Lady of the Charity parish without any incident and in a fervent spirit," Father Suarez concluded.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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September 16, 1998 volume 9, no. 181   DAILY CATHOLIC