FYI:
Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said in a statement this morning that, “a further confirmation of positivity to Covid-19 among the employees of the Holy See arrived today. He is a person who has had symptoms since the first half of March and was therefore in solitary confinement at home. Before returning to work as a precaution, the employee was tested and tested positive for the disease. He is now again in quarantine at his home.”
Click here to access this week’s English language edition of L’Osservatore Romano: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/osservatoreromano/pdfreader.html/ing/2020/05/ING_2020_018_0105.pdf.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NewsletterOR-EN
VATICAN CLOSES EMANUELA ORLANDI CASE: BONES IN TEUTONIC CEMETERY NOT HERS
A statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Thursday said, in part, “The proceeding relative to the alleged entombment of Emanuela Orlandi’s remains in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery has been closed by the Single Judge of Vatican City State who had received the request from the Office of the Promoter of Justice.”
The statement also included information regarding the human remains found in the ossuaries adjacent to the two tombs that were opened in July 2019 that revealed they dated further back in time before Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance. Emanuela was the daughter of a Holy See employee whose family lived in Vatican City. She never returned home from a music lesson on June 22, 1983, and no indication of her whereabouts, alive or dead, has ever been found.
The statement concluded: “The order filed allows the Orlandi family to proceed privately with any further investigations on the same fragments already found, which are kept sealed in containers in the offices of the Vatican Gendarmerie.”
WHY DO POPES WEAR WHITE?
I was once asked in the Q&A portion of my EWTN weekend radio show, Vatican Insider, “Why do Popes wear white?”
I knew that for the first centuries, there was no set “institutional” wear for Popes but did not know when or why wearing white became the tradition so I did some research and the answer is related to today’s saint, St. Pius V!
You see, Pius V was the first Dominican ever to be elected to the papacy and he said that, since the day he first wore the white Dominican habit, he had never worn anything else and, as Pope, would continue to wear it. At first there was consternation but then people realized the Pope would be a standout among prelates and easier for the faithful to see in crowds!
Born Antonio Ghislieri in January 1504, he took the name Michele Ghislieri when he became a Dominican. He was elected to the papacy on January 8, 1566 and took the name Pius V. As Pope he was also ruler of the Papal States until his death on May 1, 1572. Buried in St. Mary Major, he was beatified by Clement X in 1672, and canonized by Clement XI in 1712.
Here’s a great rosary story linked to Pius V courtesy of CNA:
“(Pius) worked hard to unite the Christian armies against the Turks, and perhaps the most famous success of his papacy was the miraculous victory of the Christian fleet in the battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The island of Malta was attacked by the Turkish fleet and nearly every man defending the fortress was killed in battle. The Pope sent out a fleet to meet the enemy, requesting that each man on board pray the Rosary and receive communion. Meanwhile, he called on all of Europe to recite the Rosary and ordered a 40-hour devotion in Rome during which time the battle took place. The Christian fleet, vastly outnumbered by the Turks, inflicted an impossible defeat on the Turkish navy, demolishing the entire fleet.
“In memory of the triumph, he declared the day the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary because of her intercession in answering the mass recitation of the Rosary and obtaining the victory. He has also been called ‘the Pope of the Rosary’ for this reason.”
I subscribe to Franciscan Media for their Saint of the Day emails that arrive with both a print and audio story. Click here for a brief story of Pius VI: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODApr30.mp3
For CNA story: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-pius-v-pope-452
(And just a reminder, speaking of the rosary: Tomorrow, May 1, Pope Francis has asked us, if we do not do so already, to pray the rosary daily, be it alone or with family members. In addition, tomorrow May 1, the U.S. bishops will join the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to renew the consecration of the two nations to the care of our Blessed Mother. The re-consecration will take place at 12 noon, California time (3 p.m. ET) ive from Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles with Archbishop Jose Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, celebrating.
Joan's Rome 