Today’s Catholic must-reads: 23/11/11

A daily guide to what’s happening in the Catholic Church

By Luke Coppen on Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Benedict XVI pictured at today's general audience (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Benedict XVI recalled his visit to Benin at his general audience this morning (video).

Pope Benedict will visit Rebibbia Prison in Rome on December 18, the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Vatican announced today.

The German Church is to sell its stake in a company that publishes pornographic books after Cardinal Joachim Meisner said: “We cannot earn money during the week with what we preach against on Sundays.”

Three Italian Capuchin missionaries have died in a car accident in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Pope has accepted the resignation of Bishop Séamus Hegarty of Derry, meaning that seven Irish sees are currently vacant.

Geoffrey Robertson has released a 19-page epilogue to his controversial book The Case of the Pope (PDF of full text).

UCA News profiles a Hong Kong priest who has created a popular Chinese breviary app for smartphones.

Sherry Anne Weddell fact-checks a Vatican Insider story claiming that 34,000 new people join the Catholic Church each day.

And Paolo Rodari reveals which member of the College of Cardinals has the most Twitter followers.

Anonymous

Robertson thinks the pope is “too academic?” What is that supposed to mean?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6B7TVQBY5SM3GRLFFJ3EJT5YFY Mary C

Geoffrey Robertson’s missive on The Case of the Pope appears to be quite well researched but I’m left scratching my head about why he is a judge. His narrow viewpoint about what a church is – I’m sure he thinks this of all religions, would make him completely prejudiced against a case before he’d even hear it. Because he doesn’t see any legitimacy to sacraments and canon law, they are evidence. One wonders if he feels that way about his own country’s laws or even International Law. For example, is every judge who lets someone off or a prosecuter who doesn’t bring a case forward because of lack of clear evidence or procedural violations, including those that go against the rights of the accused also guilty of crimes against humanity? If we looked at his record, would we find the evidence we need to convict him of the same because we thought he should have made another decision based on our reading of the evidence.
Anonymous

Robertson should be sued for libel.
Anon

OMC. Does our Morningside Cardinal have a Twitter account?

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