I have no words to express my gratitude, my heartfelt THANK YOU, GRAZIE, GRACIAS; MERCI for the hundreds of birthday cards that, even today, continue to arrive! Cards with messages, flowers, videos, photos, prayers, and Masses said for me. Cards from my family and an extended worldwide family of friends and fans, people whom I know well in person and people I feel I know well but have never met. Your words made my already very rich life just that much richer and if I could, I’d respond to each one of you! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Many thanks to Jim and Joy of “At Home with Jim and Joy” for a beautiful birthday tribute after my appearance from Rome towards the end of Monday’s live show (about minute 23). Included was a cake made by the show’s producer Mark and decorated by his wife, Maria! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPz3aUtmX7s)
Photos of my birthday celebrations to be posted later today or tomorrow due to the commitments I have this afternoon.
GEORG RATZINGER, BROTHER OF POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT, DIES IN REGENSBURG
The elderly Bavarian priest had been hospitalized in Regensburg, in Bavaria, where he lived and where he received his brother Joseph’s final visit, with whom he had been ordained on the same day.
By Vatican News
Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of the Pope emeritus, died Wednesday morning, aged 96. He had been hospitalized in Regensburg, the city where he lived the greater part of his long life. With his death, Joseph Ratzinger – who had desired to make the journey by plane to see his dying brother one last time – remains the only member of the family still alive. The two brothers – one a musician and kappellmeister of a famous choir, the other first a theologian and then a bishop, cardinal, and finally pope – were ordained together on the same day, and were always closely united.
FOR MORE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-07/georg-ratzinger-death-benedict-xvi-brothers.html
FABRIC OF ST PETER: THE POPE APPOINTS EXTRAORDINARY COMMISSIONER
Pope Francis appoints Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Mario Giordana as extraordinary commissioner whose role will be to bring clarity to the administration of the Fabric and update its Statutes.
By Vatican News
Following the recent promulgation of the Motu Proprio “On transparency, control and competition in the procedures for the award of public contracts of the Holy See and Vatican City State,” the Holy Father, on 29 June, appointed Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Mario Giordana as Extraordinary Commissioner for the Fabric of Saint Peter (Fabbrica di San Pietro).
A statement from the Holy See Press office said the Archbishop will be tasked with “updating the Statutes, clarifying the administration and reorganizing the administrative and technical offices of the Fabric.” In this delicate task, the Commissioner will be assisted by a commission.
The press office stated that this choice “also follows a report from the offices of the Auditor General which this morning led to the acquisition of documents and electronic equipment at the technical and administrative offices of the Fabric of Saint Peter.” The latter operation was “authorised by decree of the Court’s Promoter of Justice, Gian Piero Milano, and the Deputy, Alessandro Diddi, after informing the Secretariat of State.”
The Fabric of Saint Peter (in Latin, Reverenda Fabrica Sancti Petri) is the institution created for the management of all the works necessary for the building and artistic construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. The Fabric is entrusted with the complex management of the largest church in the world and the structures on the adjacent territory.
Joan's Rome 