God and His Messiah Jesus Christ our Lord - our right and duty to witness to Him: Timeline Vatican City
Timeline Vatican City
30-64 Peter served as the first pope. By 2003 he was still noted as the longest-serving, for a total of 34 or 37 years, until 64 or 67 A.D.
(AP, 10/16/03)
31CE Mar 25, The 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus.
(MC, 3/25/02)
136-140CE Hyginus was pope. He was later proclaimed a saint.
(WUD, 1994, p.697)
141-155 St. Pius I, pope, martyr.
(PGA, 12/9/98)
155CE Feb 23, Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John, was arrested and burned at stake.
(MC, 2/23/02)
[Ed. note - 180 A.D. St. Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp and Bishop of Lugdunum, Gaul (modern day - Lyons, France) writes "Against Heresies" to warn his fellow Bishop, Eleutherius of Rome who had fallen into the Montanist Heresy not to have anything to do with any of the Gnostic Heresies, including Montanism - which 'Pope' Eleutherius heeded and then rejected Montanism. It was in "Against Heresies" that St. Irenaeus details all of the Gnostic Heresies of his time and warns the Church for all time that Gnosticism is the complete forerunner of the final Antichrist and to always be warned against it and to have nothing to do with it. Gnosticism always sought to bring into the Church the "wolves" of all of the ancient pagan religions that Our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from and warned us to never have anything to do with on penalty of damnation. Today Gnosticism finds its final fulfillment in the Vatican II ecumenical movement lead by apostate 'Popes' and Cardinals. They are the false prophets leading to the final False Prophet who will cause men to take the mark of the beast unto complete damnation.
c182-c251 Origen of Caesarea, a church father, urged Christians not to celebrate birthdays because they were a pagan custom.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
199-217 Pope Zephyrinus led the Church.
(ITV, 1/96, p.59)
~200CE Pope Zephyrinus assigned his deacon, Calixtus (a former slave), to administer the large underground complex beneath the Appian Way. The subterranean graveyard had existed from about 150CE. This first official Christian cemetery probably originated as the private open-air burial ground of the noble Cecili family of Rome. From this time on it became known as the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. It extended over an area of 20 km., one 3-5 levels, and includes some 500,000 tombs.
(ITV, 1/96, p.59)
200-400 Christianity spread rapidly in Numidia and the diocese of Lamiggiga was established. It was later abandoned and just the name was used as an honorary jurisdiction for Auxiliary bishops.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
215 Clement of Alexandria, a Church father, died. He cited early efforts to fix the Nativity on Apr 19, 20th or May 20.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
235CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to the pope St. Pontian, who died in the Sardinian mines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
235CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to pope St. Anterus, who reigned for only 43 days and died in prison.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
250CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to pope St. Fabian, who re-organized the Church in a period of peace and was then martyred during the Decian persecutions.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
254CE Pope St. Lucius I, who spent part of his pontificate in exile, was buried in the Calixtian Complex of Rome and has an inscription in Greek.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
254CE May 12, St. Stephen I began his reign as the 23rd Catholic Pope. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he instituted the rule that clerics should wear special clothes at their ministrations.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)(HN, 5/12/98)
257 Aug 2, Pope Stefanus I (St. Stephen), bishop of Rome (254-57), heretic fighter, died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
258 Aug 6, Pope Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), was beheaded upon orders of Emperor Valerian.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)(MC, 8/6/02)
258 A red agate cup with gold handles, the Santo Caliz, was sent to Spain by Pope Sixtus II and St. Laurence as Rome went under siege by the Persians. In 1437 the church moved it to the Cathedral of Valencia.
(SSFC, 5/27/06, p.G3)
267 Dec 26, Dionysius, bishop of Rome and saint, died.
(MC, 12/26/01)
270CE The Catholic Bishop Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded by Emperor Claudius for refusing to acknowledge the monarch’s outlawing of marriage. The Catholics then made Valentine a symbol to oppose the Roman mid-February custom in honor of the God Lupercus, where Roman teenage girls’ names were put in a box and selected by young Roman men for "sex toy" use until the next lottery.
(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)
283CE Pope St. Eutychian escaped persecution but struggled with early heresies. He was buried in the Calixtian Complex of Rome and has an inscription in Greek.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
296CE Apr 22, St. Gaius ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/22/98)
299-311 The period of Christian persecutions begun by Diocletian.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.W11)
c300-400 It was during the Fourth century that the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25 was gradually adopted by most Eastern Churches.
(HNQ, 12/25/99)
309-310 Apr 18, St. Eusebius began his reign as Catholic Pope. He ruled for just 4 months in either 309 or 310.
(PTA, 1980, p.62)(WUD, 1994 p.492)(HN, 4/18/98)
311 Jul 2, St. Miltiades began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 7/2/02)
311 At the consecration of bishop Caecilian of Carthage, one of the three bishops, Felix, bishop of Aptunga, who consecrated Caecilian, had given copies of the Bible to the Roman persecutors. A group of about 70 bishops formed a synod and declared the consecration of the bishop to be invalid. Great debate arose concerning the validity of the sacraments (baptism, the Lord's Supper, etc.) by one who had sinned so greatly against other Christians.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
311 The Donatists were a Christian sect that developed in northern Africa [Numidia] and maintained that it alone constituted the whole and only true church and that baptisms and ordinations of the orthodox clergy were invalid. The Donatists insisted that sinners must be re-baptized.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.87)
316CE Diocletian, former emperor of Rome, died. By this time there were about 30,000 converts to Christianity and some 33 popes had followed in the footsteps of St. Peter.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
325 May 20, An ecumenical council was inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea, Asia Minor. The Church Council of Nicaea (aka Iznik) in Asia Minor condemned the teaching of Arius, a Christian priest at Alexandria (d.336), who held that Christ was not divine in the same sense as God the Father. The council fixed Orthodox Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox unless the date falls on the 1st day of Passover, in which case it moves to the next Sunday.
(WUD, 1994, p.80,81)(Sky, 4/97, p.56)(SFC, 4/25/97, p.A21)(HN, 5/20/98)
325 Aug 25, Council of Nicaea ended with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The Council also decreed that priests cannot marry after their ordination.
(MC, 8/25/02)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326CE The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was begun by the Roman emperor Constantine.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B2)
336 Dec 25, The first recorded celebration of Christmas on this day took place in Rome. By this year Dec 25 was established in the Liturgy of the Roman Church as the birthday of Jesus. [see 354] The Basilica of St. Anastasia was built as soon as a year after the Nicaean Council. It probably was where Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25, part of broader efforts to link pagan practices to Christian celebrations in the early days of the new religion. In 2007 Italian archaeologists unveiled an underground grotto, near St. Anastasia, that they believe ancient Romans revered as the place where a wolf nursed Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)(AP, 12/25/99)(AP, 12/22/07)
352 May 17, Liberius began his reign as Catholic Pope replacing Julius I.
(MC, 5/17/02)
353-431 St. Paulinus, poet and Bishop of Mola: "For it is after the Solstice, when Christ born in the flesh with the new sun transformed the season of cold winter, and giving to mortal men a healing dawn, commanded the nights to decrease at his coming with advancing day."
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
354 Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus, d.430) was born in Tagaste, North Africa (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria). Augustine of Hippo, Church Father and philosopher, held that as long as the fetus was "shapeless" homicide laws did not apply because it had no senses and no soul. "Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." He fused the New Testament with Greek philosophy. "Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman."
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.13)(HN, 11/13/98) (SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
354 Pope Liberius decided to add the Nativity to the Church calendar and selected December 25 to celebrate it. [see 336]
(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A19)
355 Donatus, bishop of Casae Nigrae in North Africa, died. He taught that the effectiveness of the sacraments depends on the moral character of the minister. In other words, if a minister who was involved in a serious enough sin were to baptize a person, that baptism would be considered invalid.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)
366-384 Pope St. Damasus located martyr’s graves and composed verse inscriptions for their tombs. He transformed the catacombs into popular and venerated shrines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
376 Dec 25, In Milan, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, forced the emperor Theodosius to perform public penance for his massacre.
(HN, 12/25/98)
385 Pope Siricius left his wife to become pope and told priests to stop sleeping with their wives.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
385CE Priscillian, bishop of Avila in Spain, was convicted of sorcery and executed by the Roman emperor Maximus.
(NH, 9/96, p.20)
392 Nov 8, Theodosius of Rome passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire and declared Christianity the state religion.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
401 Dec, St. Innocent, born in Albano, Italy, became pope. He was the pope nine years later when the Visigoths captured and sacked Rome.
(AP, 3/21/09)
410 Aug 18, King Alaric I's Visigoths occupied and plundered Rome. [see Aug 24]
(PC, 1992, p.50)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. German barbarians sacked Rome [see Aug 18].
(V.D.-H.K.p.87)(AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)
418 Dec 27, Zosimus, Greek Pope (417-8), died.
(MC, 12/27/01)
430 Aug 28, Augustine (b.354) died in Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) with a Vandal army outside the gates of the city. His writings included "The Confessions." In 1999 Garry Wills authored the biography "St. Augustine." Augustine had developed the theory of a "just war" and said a nation’s leaders must consider among other things, anticipated loss of civilian life and whether all peaceful options have been exhausted before war starts. In 2003 Garry Wills authored "Saint Augustine's Sin." In 2005 James J. O’Donnell authored “Augustine: A New Biography.”
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.M6)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.86)(www.connect.net/ron/august.html)
431 The Council of Ephesus was held to deal with the heretics and heresies of the day such as Arianism and Apollinarianism. The council condemned Nestorianism, which taught that there were 2 person in Christ and that Mary was the mother of the human Christ but not of God. In 2009 Miri Rubin authored “Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary.”
(Usenet, 3/4/97)(PTA, 1980, p.86)(Econ, 2/21/09, p.84)
431 The Assyrians and Chaldeans broke from what was to become the Roman Catholic Church over a theological dispute.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
440 Aug 19, Pope Sixtus III (432-440) died.
(PTA, 1980, p.88)
451 Oct 8, Council of Chalcedon (4th ecumenical council) opened. The Council declared that the two natures of Christ, divine and human, were united without change, division or confusion in Christ. This led to the formation of the Coptic Monophysite Church which continued to hold that Jesus had but one divine nature. Copt comes from the Arabic word for Egyptian.
(CU, 6/87)(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A9)(MC, 10/8/01)
452 Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun on the banks of the Mincio and Attila agreed to make peace and spare Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.90)
461 Nov 10, Leo I the Great, Pope (440-61), died.
(MC, 11/10/01)
468 Mar 3, St. Simplicius was elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius.
(SC, 3/3/02)
483CE Mar 13, St. Felix began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/13/98)
492 Mar 1, St. Felix III ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
492 Mar 1, St Gelasius I began his reign as Catholic Pope (492-496).
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SC, 3/1/02)
495 May 3, Pope Gelasius asserted that his authority was superior to Emperor Anastasius.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(HN, 5/3/98)
496CE Nov 21, Pope Galasius, an African by birth or descent, died. He changed the mid-February lottery rules for young Roman men so that they drew names of Catholic Saints to emulate instead of young girls for play. The Lupercalia pagan rite had been revived to bring good luck to the city following a plague.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)
498 Nov 19, Anastasius II, Pope (496-98), (Dante Inferno XI, 8-9), died.
(MC, 11/19/01)
526 May 18, St. John I, Catholic Pope (523-526), died.
(HN, 5/18/98)(SC, 5/18/02)
530 Oct 14, Dioscurus, anti-Pope (530), died.
(MC, 10/14/01)
532 Oct 17, Boniface II, 1st "German" Pope, died.
(MC, 10/17/01)
535CE May 13, St Agapitus I began his reign as Catholic Pope
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
536CE Apr 22, St. Agapitus I ended his reign as Catholic Pope (535-36).
(HN, 4/22/98)(MC, 4/22/02)
549 Jerusalem held to a Jan 6 date for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus until this year. In the end the West added the Epiphany and the East added the Dec 25 nativity to their liturgical calendars.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
555 Jun 7, Vigilius ended his reign as Catholic Pope (537-555).
(PTA, 1980, p.118)(SC, 6/7/02)
556 Feb 21, Maximianus van Ravenna, bishop (Basilica S Stefano), died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
556CE Apr 16, Pelagius I began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/16/98)
561 Mar 4, Pelagius I, Italian Catholic Pope (556-61), died.
(PTA, 1980, p.120)
561 Jul, John III was consecrated Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
574 Jul 13, Pope John III died.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
575 Jun 2, Benedict I (d.579) began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
579 Jul 30, Pope Benedict I died.
(PTA, 1980, p.124)
580 Pope Pelagius left married priests alone if they kept their wives and children from inheriting church property.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
590 Feb 7, Pelagius II, Gothic Pope (579-90), died from plague.
(MC, 2/7/02)
590 Pope Gregory said he spotted an angel atop Hadrian’s Mausoleum. The site was then reconfigured as a fortress called Castel Sant’Angelo. In 1925 it became a national museum.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
590 Pope Gregory I revised an earlier list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins, by folding sorrow/despair into acedia, vainglory into pride, and adding extravagance and envy, while removing fornication from the list (Anger, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth). In the order used by both Pope Gregory and by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: 1. luxuria (extravagance/lust) 2. gula (gluttony) 3. avaritia (avarice/greed) 4. acedia (acedia/discouragement/sloth) 5. ira (anger/wrath) 6. invidia (envy) 7. superbia (pride).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins)
590-604CE Pope Gregory the Great led the Church. He established the popes as the de facto rulers of central Italy, and strengthened the papal primacy over the Churches of the West.
(CU, 6/87)
600 Feb 16, Pope Gregory the Great decreed "God bless You" as the religiously correct response to a sneeze.
(MC, 2/16/02)
604 Mar 12, Gregory I the Great (64), Pope (590-604), died. In 1997 R.A. Markus authored “Gregory the Great and His World.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
609 May 13, Pope Boniface I turned Roman Pantheon into Catholic church.
(MC, 5/13/02)
615 May 8, St. Boniface IV ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
615 May 25, Boniface IV, Pope (608-15), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
642 Pope Theodore I began using the title “Patriarch of the West.” In 2006 the Vatican took the unusual step of explaining its decision to renounce the title, saying the omission of "patriarch of the West," from the new edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican's 2,373-page directory of prelates, should benefit relations with the Orthodox Church, not hinder them.
(AP, 3/23/06)
649 May 14, Theodore, Greek Pope (642-49), excommunicated by Paul II, died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
649 Jul 5, St. Martin I began his reign as Pope.
(MC, 7/5/02)
657 Jun 2, St. Eugene I ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
678 Jun 27, St. Agatho began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/27/02)
682 Aug 17, Leo II, later St. Leo, began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 8/17/02)
684 Jun 26, Benedict II (d.685) was consecrated as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.162)
685 May 8, St. Benedict II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
686 Aug 2, John V, 1st Greek-Syrian Pope (685-86), died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
c700CE Nov 1, The Celts of Ireland, Great Britain and northern France celebrated Oct. 31 as their New Years' Eve from around 1000-500BC. The pagan harvest event incorporated masks to ward off evil ones, as dead relatives were believed to visit families on this night. The Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day, set for Nov. 1, was instituted around 700 CE to supplant this All Hallows' Eve. Halloween was transplanted to the US in the 1840s.
(WSJ, 10/28/99, p.A24)
700-800 The Catholic Church changed its rules on fasting and allowed fish to be eaten on Fridays and during Lent.
(NH, 5/96, p.58)
c700-800 Dionysus Exiguus (Dennis the Short), a Catholic monk, created a chronology for Pope St. John I with a calendar that began in the year CE 1.
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.5)
701 Sep 8, Sergius I, Syrian and Italian Pope (687-701), died.
(MC, 9/8/01)
705 Mar 1, John VII began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
708 Mar 25, Constantine began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/24/98)
715 Apr 9, Constantine I, Greek-Syrian Catholic Pope (708-15), died.
(HN, 4/9/98)(MC, 4/9/02)
715 May 19, St. Gregory II began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 5/19/98)
731 Feb 11, Gregory II, Greek-Syrian Pope, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
731-741 Gregory III served as Pope.
(WUD, 1994, p.621)
732CE Pope Gregory III, banned horseflesh from Christian tables after he learned that pagans of northern Europe ate it in their religious rites.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.E4)
752CE Mar 23, Pope Stephen II was elected to succeed Pope Zacharias; however, Stephen died 4 days later.
(AP, 3/23/97)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
752 Mar 26, Pope Stephen II died 4 days after his election.
(SS, 3/26/02)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
754CE The Iconoclasts (image smashers) prevailed and religious art was banned in churches by an edict that remained in effect for a century.
(WSJ, 3/10/97, p.A16)(AP, 7/16/97)
757 Apr 26, Stephen II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/26/98)
757 May 29, St. Paul I (d.767) began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.188)(SC, 5/29/02)
768 Aug 7, Stephen IV was consecrated as Pope. He served to 772.
(PTA, 1980, p.190)
787 Sep 24, The 2nd Council of Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opened in Asia Minor.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
799 Nov 29, Pope Leo III, aided by Charlemagne, returned to Rome.
(MC, 11/29/01)
800 Dec 25, Pope Leo III crowned Frankish warrior-king Charlemagne as heir of the Roman emperors at the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.105)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.56)
834 Oct 31, This evening became All Hallow’s Eve with the establishment of Nov 1 as Feast of All Saints by Pope Gregory IV.
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
834 Nov 1, This day was declared to be All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church. [see 835CE]
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
835 Nov 1, After the spread of Christianity through the west, the Roman Catholic Church in 835 A.D. made November 1 a church holiday to honor all the saints. This celebration was called All Saint's Day or All Hallows and the day before it--October 31--was called All Hallow's Eve (later Halloween). Pope Gregory extended the Feast of All Saints on Nov 1 to France and Germany. [see 834CE]
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(HNPD, 10/31/99)
842 Feb 19, The Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.
(MC, 2/19/02)
855 Benedict III (d.858) was elected Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.210)
858 Apr 17, Benedict III, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.210)
858 Apr 24, Nicholas I succeeded Benedict III as the Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/24/98)(MC, 4/24/02)
867 Nov 13, Pope Nicholas I (the Great) died at age 67. He served from 858-867.
(MC, 11/13/01)
872 Dec 14, Adrian II (~80), Italian Pope (867-72), the last married pope, died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
872-882 Pope John VIII. A novel by Donna Cross in 1996 is based on historical documents that indicate that he was actually female.
(WUD, 1994, p.769)(SFEC, 11/17/96, BR p.8)
884 May 17, St. Adrian III began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/17/02)
891-896 Formosus served as Pope following Stephen VI.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
896 Feb 22, Pope Formosa was crowned king Arnulf of Carinthia, French emperor.
(MC, 2/22/02)
896 Apr 4, Pope Formosus died. His body was exhumed by his successor in the Cadaver Synod. He was then put on trial for perjury, found guilty and dumped in the Tiber River.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
900 Benedict IV succeeded John IX as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
903 Benedict IV, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
955 May 16, Alberich II, (bastard?) son of Octavianus, was elected pope.
(MC, 5/16/02)
965 Mar 1, Leo VIII, Italian (anti-)Pope (963-65), died.
(SC, 3/1/02)
964 Benedict V (d.965), succeeded John XII as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
965 Jul 4, Benedict V, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
973 Jan 19, Benedict VI was consecrated as Catholic Pope. He succeeded John XIII.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
974 Pope Benedict VI was strangled to death by a priest named Stephen under directions of anti-Pope Boniface Franco, who called himself Boniface VII.
(PTA, 1980, p.270)
974 Oct, Benedict, the bishop of Sutri, was elected pope and became Pope Benedict VII.
(PTA, 1980, p.272)
983 Jul 10, Pope Benedict VII died.
(PTA, 1980, p.272)
996 May 21, Otto III (16) was crowned the Roman Emperor by his cousin Pope Gregory V.
(HN, 5/21/98)(MC, 5/21/02)
999 Feb 18, Gregory V, [Bruno] 1st German Pope, died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1001 Otto III was ousted. He had moved his thrown from Germany to Rome and fancied himself Holy Roman Emperor.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R54)
1002 Jun 21, Pope Leo IX was born. He brought the conflict between Rome and the eastern Church to a head in 1054, ending with the Patriarch of Constantinople being excommunicated and the creation of the Schism.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1012 Tehophylactus, son of Count Gregory of Tusculum, became Pope Benedict VIII.
(PTA, 1980, p.288)
1014 Feb 14, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry II, German King (1002), as Roman German emperor (1014-1024).
(HN, 5/6/98)(MC, 5/6/02)(MC, 2/14/02)
1024 Apr 7, Pope Benedict VIII died.
(PTA, 1980, p.288)
1027 Mar 26, John XIX crowned Conrad II the Salier Roman German emperor.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1032 Theophylactus, the nephew of Pope John XIX, became Pope Benedict IX.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1036 The Romans drove Pope Benedict IX out of Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1044 The Romans drove Pope Benedict IX out of Rome for a 2nd time. John, bishop of Sabina, was set up as Pope Sylvester III, but Benedict’s family base from Tusculum fought their way back into Rome and restored Benedict.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1045 Pope Benedict IX abdicated and, for a large sum of money, turned the papacy over to his godfather, archpriest John Gratian, who became Pope Gregory VI.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1046 Dec, Pope Gregory VI abdicated. As Benedict IX, Sylvester III, and Gregory VI claimed the papal throne, all were deposed by Henry III in the Synod of Sutri. Henry selected Clement II. Clement then crowned Henry and his wife as emperor and empress.
(PTA, 1980, p.294)(V.D.-H.K.p.111)
1046 Dec 25, Suidger, bishop of Bamberg, was enthroned as Pope Clement II.
(PTA, 1980, p.296)
1047 Oct 9, Pope Clement II died.
(PTA, 1980, p.296)
1047 Former Pope Gregory VI died.
(PTA, 1980, p.294)
1053 In Italy Richard of Aversa helped win the Battle of Civitate, inflicting a decisive defeat over the papal army.
(www.fanaticus.org/DBA/campaigns/campaignitaly1043ad.html)
1054 Mar 12, Pope Leo IX escaped captivity and returned to Rome.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1054CE Jul, The Council of Florence in 1445 established this date for the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western (Orthodox and Catholic). An official date was needed so that talks could begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1054CE The Roman and Orthodox Churches split decisively. [see 330CE] The Orthodox Church did not accept the papal authority from Rome. Christians in southern Albania were left under the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople and those in the north under the pope in Rome. The Orthodox Church maintained the tradition of married priests.
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)(WP, 6/29/96, p.B7)(www, Albania, 1998)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1058 Despite protests from the cardinals Count Gregory of Tusculum led the selection of John, bishop of Velletri, as Pope Benedict X.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1059 A council gathered at Lateran and declared that the election of Benedict X was invalid. The council enthroned Gerard of Burgundy as Pope Nicholas II. A synod at Rome followed and set decrees for papal elections that rested election powers with the cardinal-bishops.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1059 Richard of Aversa and his brother-in-law, Robert Guiscard, met with Pope Nicholas II. The Norman chiefs swore allegiance to the Pope in return for papal recognition for their conquests, whereupon Richard was invested as prince of Capua.
(HNQ, 7/17/00)
1061 Jul, Pope Nicholas II died in Florence.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1073 Apr 21, Alexander II, [Anselmo da Baggio], Pope (1061-73), died.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1073-1085 Gregory VII, St. Hildebrand, served as Pope. He was driven from Rome and died in exile.
(WUD, 1994, p.621)(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A22)
1076 Feb 14, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1077 Jan 28, Pope Gregory VII pardoned German emperor Henry IV at Canossa in northern Italy. Henry had insisted that he reserved the right to "invest" bishops and other clergymen, despite the papal decree, but became penitent when faced with permanent excommunication.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_to_Canossa)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.88)
1083 Jun 3, Henry IV of Germany stormed Rome capturing St. Peter's Basilica.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1084 Mar 31, Anti-pope Clemens crowned German emperor Hendrik IV.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1085 May 25, Gregory VII [Ildebrando], Pope (1073-85), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1095 Nov 26, Pope Urban urged the faithful to wrest the Holy Land from the Muslims, heralding start of Crusades.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1095 Nov 27, In Clermont, France, Pope Urbana II made an appeal for warriors to relieve Jerusalem. He was responding to false rumors of atrocities in the Holy Land. Pope Urban II called for a Christian army to defeat the Turks and recapture the Holy Sepulchre from the Muslims. The first Crusade sparked a renewal of trade between Europe and Asia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(HN, 11/27/99)
1118 Apr 7, Pope Gelasius II excommunicated Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1119 The Knights Templar were founded to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land during the second Crusade.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)
1130 Feb 14, Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone was elected as anti-pope Anacletus II.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1133 Jun 4, In Rome Pope Innocentius II crowned German King Lothair II as emperor at the Church of the Lateran.
(MC, 6/4/02)(PCh, 1992, p.92)
1138 May 29, Anti-Pope Victor IV (Gregorio) overthrew self for Innocentius II.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1139 Apr 20, The Second Lateran Council opened in Rome. The crossbow was outlawed in the 12th century, at least against Christians, by the second Lateran council (the 10th ecumenical council), called by Pope Innocent II. Capable of piercing chain mail from a range of up to 1,000 feet, this formidable missile weapon remained a fixture of technically-advanced European armies throughout the Middle Ages. Although it was used after the introduction of firearms, it was eventually succeeded by the harquebus—a primitive gun—in the late 15th century. The council attempted universal enforcement of priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church.
(HN, 4/20/98)(HN, 4/20/98)(HNQ, 12/5/00)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1141 Jan 31, Pope Innocent II authorized Bishop Henry of Moravia to preach Catholicism in Prussia.
(LHC, 1/31/03)
1144 Mar 8, Celestine II [Guido], Italian Pope (1143-44), died in battle.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1148 The Second Crusade.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)
1153 Mar 23, Treaty of Konstanz between Frederik I "Barbarossa" and Pope Eugene III.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1159 Sep 1, Adrian IV, [Nicole Breakspear], only English pope (1154-59), died.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1160-1216 Giovanni Lotario de' Conti, served as Pope Innocent III from 1198-1216.
(WUD, 1994, p.733)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1164 Apr 20, Victor IV, [Ottaviano Montecello], Italian antipope (1159-64), died.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1164 Apr 22, Raynald of Dassel named Guido di Crema as anti-pope Paschalis III.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1165 Nov 23, Pope Alexander III returned from exile to Rome
(MC, 11/23/01)
1168 Sep 20, Paschal III, [Guido di Crema], Italian anti-Pope, died.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1170 Henry II sent his Anglo-Norman barons to invade Ireland after he gained support from the English pope.
(SFEM, 2/22/98, p.37)
1173 Feb 21, Pope Alexander III canonized Thomas Becket (1117-1170) of Canterbury.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1178 Aug 29, Anti-Pope Callistus III gave pope title to Alexander III.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1179 Pope Alexander III established The Apostolic Penitentiary, or Tribunal of Conscience, for sins considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.
(www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/)(AP, 1/14/09)
1191 Apr 14, Giacinto Bobo (85) became Pope Coelestinus III.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1198 Jan 8, Lotario de Conti di Sengi became Pope Innocent III (d.1216). He raised the papacy to an acme of papal prestige and power, and Christian Europe came close to being a unified theocracy with no internal contradictions. He oversaw 2 crusades and established fees for indulgences to fatten the Church's treasury. He hired Italian merchant bankers to manage papal funds and sanctioned the new Franciscan and Dominican orders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1205 Jun 19, Pope Innocent III fired Adolf I as archbishop of Cologne.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1205 Jul 15, Pope Innocent III decreed that the Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1208 Mar 24, King John of England opposed Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 3/24/99)
1209 The Franciscan brotherhood received papal approval.
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.C8)
1210 Oct 18, Pope Innocent III excommunicated German emperor Otto IV.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1210 Francis founded the Franciscans, and demanded that his followers subsist entirely on what they can beg while preaching.
(V.D.-H.K.p.108)
1212 Aug 25, Children's crusaders under Nicolas (10) reached Genoa.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1213 May 15, King John submitted to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifted the interdict of 1208. He named Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 5/15/99)(MC, 5/15/02)
1215 Aug 24, Pope Innocent III, following a request from King John, declared the Magna Carta invalid. The barons of England soon retaliated by inviting King Philip of France to come to England. Philip accepted the offer.
(MC, 8/24/02)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215 The 4th Lateran Council announced that "Christ descended into Hell, rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. But he descended in soul, rose again in the flesh, and ascended equally in both."
(WSJ, 4/18/03, p.W13)
1216 Jun 16, Pope Innocent III died. In 2003 John C. Moore authored “Pope Innocent III.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1220 Nov 22, After promising to go to the aid of the Fifth Crusade within nine months, German King Frederick II was crowned emperor by Pope Honorius III.
(HN, 11/22/98)(PCh, 1992, p.106)
c1224/25-1274 Thomas Aquinas born in Aquino between Rome and Naples. He was a pupil of the Benedictines in the monastery of Monte Cassino. After nine years Emperor Frederic II temporarily disbanded the monks at Cassino and Thomas went to Naples to study and joined the Dominicans. He tried to reconcile theology with the emerging economic conditions of his time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(NH, 10/98, p.4)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1227 Roman Emperor Frederick II was first excommunicated by the Catholic Pope because his growing empire threatened the independence of the papal states. [see 1239]
(AP, 5/5/06)
1228 St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, was canonized.
(AP, 10/3/97)
1233 The Inquisition began and lasted into the 19th century.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A16)
1239 Roman Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated a 2nd time because his growing empire threatened the independence of the papal states.
(AP, 5/5/06)
1243-1254 Pope Innocent IV. He established canon law that recognized communities such as cathedral chapters and monasteries as legal individuals.
(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)
1244 Oct 17, The Sixth Crusade ended when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilated the Frankish army at Gaza.
(HN, 10/17/98)
c1244 Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade, a forerunner of the Inquisition, that systematically besieged and exterminated the Cathars.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)
1245 Thomas Aquinas was sent to Paris where he enrolled as a student of Albertus Magnus to study theology, philosophy, and history. In 1974 Michael R. Best and Frank H. Brightman edited "The Book of secrets of Albertus Magnus," which contained a recipe for Greek Fire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(AM, May/Jun 97 p.10)
1246 Khan Guyuk sent a letter to the Vatican from Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol empire. The letter was retained in the Vatican archive and made available to the public in 2010.
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.87)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakorum)
1250 Apr 15, Pope Innocent III refused Jews of Cordova, Spain, permission to build a synagogue.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1251 Mindaugas of Lithuania accepted Christianity with his wife, 2 sons, about 600 of his nobility and many of his people. An envoy was then sent to Rome to request the Pope’s formal approval for coronation which was granted. The German Order then worked closely with Mindaugas in establishing the first Bishopric in Lithuania and were in turn granted lands in western Lithuania (Zemaiciuose). Pope Innocent IV authorized Mindaugas to be crowned King.
(H of L, 1931, p.30,32)(XXIA, 7/21/99)
1253 Jul 23, Jews were expelled from Vienne, France, by order of Pope Innocent III.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1255 Mar 6, Pope Alexander IV permitted Mindaugas to crown his son as king of Lithuania.
(LHC, 3/6/03)
1256 Thomas Aquinas received his license to teach. He became involved in the current questions of doctrine on two basic issues. He sided with the Nominalists as opposed to the Realists on the question of "universals". The second issue was based on Aristotle's notion of nature. Aquinas saw a distinction between spirit and nature but also a unity.
(V.D.-H.K.p.121)
1260-1390 Carbon-14 dating techniques in 1988 determined that the cloth of the Shroud of Turin dated to this period. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77) of Oxford Univ. led the testing, which was later held in question. In 1978 Walter C. McCrone (d.2002), chemical analyst, determined that the image was painted on the cloth some 1300 years after the crucifixion of Christ.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A24)(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)(SFC, 7/29/02, p.B5)
1261 May 25, Alexander IV [Rinaldo dei conti di Segni], Pope (1254-61), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1266 St. Thomas Aquinas penned his "Summa Theologica," in which he attempted to reconcile theology with economic conditions. He argued that reason could operate within faith.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A22)
1267 Jul 26, The Inquisition formed in Rome under Pope Clement IV.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1268 Jan 21, Pope Clement IV gave permission to Poland’s King Premislus II to take over Lithuania and establish Catholicism.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1270 Aug 25, King Louis IX (56), King of France (1226-70), died on The Eighth Crusade, which was decimated by the Plague.
(PCh, 1992, p.114)(V.D.-H.K.p.110)(MC, 8/25/02)
1270 Oct 30, The seventh crusade was ended by the treaty of Barbary.
(HN, 10/30/98)
1274 Mar 7, Thomas Aquinas (48), Italian theologian, saint, died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1274 Thomas Aquinas was summoned before a council at Lyons to answer for his opinions. He was publicly chastised but not condemned.
(V.D.-H.K.p.122)
1294 Jul 5, Pietro di Murrone, a pious hermit, was elected as Pope Celestine V. He was so besieged by the political, social and religious challenges of the position that just five months later, on December 13, he became the first pope to resign, for which he was imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII. He died in the castle of Fumone, May 19, 1296.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1296 May 19, Pietro di Murrone, former Pope Celestine V, died in the castle of Fumone, where he was imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1300 Jan 1, A Jubilee Year, the symbolic moment for Dante's Divine Comedy. It marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. Pope Boniface VIII had issued a Papal Bull that declared a Rome Holy Year, "Giubileo." The event was such a success that papal gendarmes had to execute several dozen people to bring the crowds under control. Pope Bonifacius VIII introduced Jubilee indulgences.
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)(WSJ, 4/2/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/13/00, p.A1)
1303 Sep 8, Anagni: French king Philip IV captured Pope Boniface VIII.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1307 Oct 13, French king Philip IV convicted the Knights Templar of heresy. Members of the Knights of Templar were arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of the King Philip the Fair. Papal hearings convened after King Philip IV of France arrested and tortured Templar leaders under charges of heresy and immorality.
(HN, 10/13/98)(AP, 10/12/07)
1308 The "Parchment of Chinon" contained the decision by Pope Clement V to save the Templars and their order. The document was misplaced for centuries in the archives and found again by researchers in 2001. In 2007 it was published as part of the Vatican’s secret archive documents about the trial of the Knights Templar.
(AP, 10/12/07)
1312 The Knights Templar were suppressed by Pope Clement at the Council of Vienna. Pressured by King Philip of France, Pope Clement reversed his 1308 decision and suppressed the order.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)(AP, 10/12/07)
1314 Apr 20, Clement V, [Bertrand Got], pope (1305-14) who moved papacy to Avignon, died.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1317 Feb 3, Pope John XXII, under guidance from Gnesen Archbishop Borislav, offered Catholicism to Lithuania.
(LHC, 2/3/03)
1324 Feb 10, The pope officially chastised the Knights of the Cross for ill treatment of Catholics and for pushing pagans away from Christianity.
(LHC, 2/10/03)
1328 May 26, William of Ockham was forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.
(HN, 5/26/98)
1347 Dec 3, Pope Clemens VI declared Roman tribune, Cola di Rienzi, a heretic.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1352 Dec 18, Etienne Aubert was elected as Pope Innocentius VI.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1378 Mar 27, Gregory XI, [Pierre R the Beaufort], last French Pope (1370-78), died.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1378 Aug 9, Cardinals declared pope Urbanus VI lawless (anti-Christian, devil).
(MC, 8/9/02)
1378 Sep 20, The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals created a great schism in the Catholic church.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1378 Dec 31, Callistus III, [Alfonso the Borgia], Pope (1455-58), was born.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1378-1417 The Great Western Schism split the Roman Catholic Church and involved 2 anti-popes at its height.
(CU, 6/87)
1388 Mar 12, Pope Urban VI authorized Poznan’s Bishop Dobrogost to establish a Vilnius archdiocese.
(LHC, 3/12/03)
1389 A French bishop advised the Pope that the Shroud of Turin, that had materialized in the village of Lirey a generation earlier, was a fraud.
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.W6)
1414 Nov 16, A council of bishops opened in Constance Germany under Emp. Sigismund. When the council of Constance opened, Christians owed obedience to three different popes: Gregory XII of the Roman party, Benedict XIII of the Avignon party, and John XXIII, who had been elected after the death of Alexander V. John XXIII and Benedict XIII were deposed by the council, and Gregory XII voluntarily resigned. Then Martin V was elected pope on 11 November 1417 and he was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)(WUD, 1994 p.313)
1414 Franceso Della Rovere, later Pope Sixtus IV, was born at Celle.
(PTA, 1980, p.420)
1415 Jul 4, Angelo Correr became Pope Gregory XII.
(Maggio)
1417 Feb 23, Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II (1464-1471), was born in Venice.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1417 Nov 11, Martin V was elected pope and was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)
1420 Mar 1, Pope Martinus I (1417-1431) called for a crusade against the Hussieten (Bohemia).
(SC, 3/1/02)(PTA, 1980, p.408)
1423 May 23, Benedict XIII, [Pedro the Luna], Spanish Pope (1394-1423), died. He had been elected by the Avignon cardinals during the Great Western Schism.
(MC, 5/23/02)(PTA, 1980, p.402)
1431 Jan 1, Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (d.1503), member of the Borgia family, was born in Xativa, Spain. His mother was the sister of Pope Calixtus III. He was elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492 and amassed a fortune by pocketing church funds. His reign helped inspire the Protestant reformation. He fathered numerous children including Lucrezia Borgia. Machiavelli based "The Prince" on him.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(PTA, 1980, 424)
1431 Mar 3, Bishop Gabriele Condulmer (1383-1447) was elected as Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447).
(WUD, 1994 p.491)(PTA, 1980, p.410)(SC, 3/3/02)
1439-1448 Felix V served as the last antipope. He was born as Amadeus VIII, duke of Savoye in 1383.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1443 Dec 5, Giuliano della Rovere, later Pope Julius II (1443-1513), was born in Liguria.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1445 The Council of Florence ended. It established the date for the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western (Orthodox and Catholic) churches as July, 1054. An official date was needed so that talks could begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1451 The Vatican Library was founded.
(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.W10)
1455 Apr 8, Alfonso de Borgia was elected as Pope Callistus III.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1456 Pope Calixtus III appointed his nephew Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI, a cardinal.
(PTA, 1980, p.424)
1459 Mar 2, Adrian VI [Adriaan F Boeyens], Pope (1522-23), was born in the Netherlands.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1461 The Pope's godson discovered a source of alum, used in dyes. This led to a booming business for the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1464-1471 Pope Paul II, Pietro Barbo, succeeded Pius II. He was responsible for a Papal Bull that established a 25-year interval between Holy Years.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1468 Feb 29, Pope Paul III was born.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1)
1471 Jul 26, Pope Paul II died.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1471 Aug 7, Francesco Della Rovere succeeded Paul II as Pope Sixtus IV.
(PTA, 1980, p.410)
1474 Guillame Dufay (b.1399), composer, died. His work included "Ecclesiae militantis," a 5-part motet on Pope Eugenius IV’s short-lived supremacy over the Eastern Orthodox Church.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)
1475 Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), was born. He was made a church cardinal before his 20th birthday.
(PTA, 1980, p.424)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1475 Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the Holy Year by building the Sistine Chapel and the Sixtus Bridge over the Tiber River.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1482 Feb 11, Pope Sixtus VI appointed Reverend Dr. Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) as the assistant inquisitor. In 1483 Torquemada became the Grand Inquisitor of Castile.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/14783a.htm)
1483 Aug 9, Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel, which was named in his honor.
(HN, 8/9/98)
1483 Felice della Rovere (d.1536), illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II (r.1503-1513), was born about this time. Her mother was a member of the Normanni, an illustrious Roman family long in decline. In 2005 Caroline P. Murphy authored “The Pope’s Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere.”
(www.jsonline.com/enter/books/reviews/jul05/339335.asp)
1484 Aug 12, Pope Sixtus IV died. His rule was marked by nepotism and he was involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici in Florence.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)
1484 Aug 29, Cardinal Cibo was crowned as Pope Innocent VIII.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1484 Dec 5, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull deploring the spread of witchcraft and heresy in Germany. He ordered that all cats belonging to witches scheduled to be burned, be also burned. Kraemer and Sprenger, two Dominican friars, had induced Pope Innocent VIII to issue a bull authorizing them to extirpate witchcraft in Germany.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, zone 1 p.2)(HN, 12/5/98)(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1486 Heinrich Kraemer and Johann Sprenger, Dominican friars, published Malleus melefircarum (The Witches‘ Hammer), which became the authoritative encyclopedia of demonology throughout Christendom. The authority of their work, which was a synthesis of folk beliefs that had until then been manifested in local outbursts of witch finding, lasted through the European witch craze of the next three centuries.
(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1487 Sep 10, Julius III, Italian counter-Reformation Pope (1550-1555), was born. He was also a poet and promoted the Jesuits.
(WUD, 1994, p.773)(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1487 Lorenzo the Magnificent ordered a giraffe from Africa and a cardinal’s hat for his 13-year-old son from Pope Innocent VIII. In return for the hat Lorenzo promised the hand of his eldest daughter for the Pope’s illegitimate son along with a nice loan. The giraffe was procured from Sultan Qaitbay, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt. Pope Innocent promised to get Queen Anne of France to hand over Djem, the exiled brother of Qaitbay, for use as a pawn. Lorenzo promised to give the giraffe to Anne. In 2006 the story was covered by Marina Belozerskaya in her book “The Medici Giraffe.”
(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.P9)
1492 Jul 25, Pope Innocent VIII died.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1492 Aug 11, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (61), father of Cesare and Lucretia, became Pope Alexander VI (d.1503). He siphoned off untold riches from Church funds. Borgia arrived in Rome from Spain in 1449 and Italianized his name from Borja to Borgia. His rise in the church was helped a great deal when his uncle became Pope Calixtus III.
(HN, 8/10/98)(PTA, p.424)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)(MC, 8/11/02)
1493 May 3-1493 May 4, Pope Alexander VI issued 3 papal bulls that divided the discoveries of Columbus between Spain and Portugal. By the Bulls of May 3 and 4 he drew an imaginary line one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The May 4 Bull, “Inter Caetera,” was amended in Sep. granting Spain the right to hold lands to the “western regions and to India.”
(DAH, 1946, p.2)(www.kwabs.com/bull_of_1493.html)
1495 Jan 28, Pope Alexander VI gave his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1497 May 13, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Girolamo Savonarola for heresy. In Florence the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) had led the burning of musical instruments, books and priceless works of art. He preached against corruption in the Church and civil government.
(Hem., 4/97, p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(MC, 5/13/02)
1498 Aug 17, French King Louis XII made Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) the Duke of Valentinois. Borgia resigned his position as cardinal, which had been bestowed on him at age 18 by his father, Pope Alexander VI.
(Econ, 8/16/08, p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia)
1499 Mar 31, Pius IV, [Gianangelo de' Medici], Italian lawyer, pope (1559-65), was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1499 Michelangelo completed his "Pieta" for the Vatican.
(OG)
1500 The Vatican established a permanent nunciature (diplomatic service) in Venice.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)
1501 Michelangelo was commissioned by Florence to carve a colossal David.
(OG)
1502 Dec 31, Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) occupied Urbino.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1503 Aug 18, Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), born in Spain as Rodrigo di Borgia (1431), died. He had recently authorized the building of a prison in the cellars of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.
(PTA, p.424)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI)(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)
1503 Nov 28, Giuliano della Rovere (1443-1513) was crowned as Pope Julius II.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1504 Jan 17, Pius V, Pope from 1566-1572, was born.
(HN, 1/17/99)
1505 Pope Julius summoned Michelangelo to Rome to design the pope’s tomb. The contract was revised 5 times and only 3 of 40 large figures were executed.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(OG)
1506 Jan 22, The Swiss Guard mercenaries, summoned by Pope Julius II to protect the pope and the Vatican, arrived in Rome. In 2006 Robert Royal authored “The Pope’s Army.”
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(AP, 1/22/06)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1506 Pope Julius II placed the 1st stone for the new St. Peter’s Basilica. Bramante began to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, which had been neglected since the 14th century when the popes resided at Avignon. Pope Urban VIII consecrated it in 1626.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1507 Pope Julius II announced an indulgence for the re-building of St. Peter’s.
(TL-MB, p.9)
1508 Pope Julius II transferred Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(OG)
1508 Raphael at age 26 entered the service of Pope Julius II and was entrusted with the decoration of the new papal apartments.
(TL-MB, p.9)
1509 Apr 27, Pope Julius II excommunicated the republic of Venice. The pope lifted the ban in February 1510.
(AP, 4/27/07)
1511 Sep 1, Council of Pisa opened. Louis XII of France called the council to oppose the Holy League of Pope Julius II.
(PTA, 1980, p.432)(MC, 9/1/02)
1511 Raphael completed the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican for Pope Julius II.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1511 Pope Julius joined the Holy League with Aragon and Venice against the French. Papal forces captured Modena and Mirandola from the French.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1512 Nov 1, Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were completed and first exhibited to the public.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.10)(AP, 11/1/97)(HN, 11/1/98)
1513 Feb 20-1513 Feb 21, Pope Julius II (1503-1513), born as Giuliano della Rovere (1443), died. He was laid in rest in a huge tomb sculptured by Michelangelo. He had been a patron of Michelangelo, Bramante, and Raphael.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1513 Mar 11, Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X. The Medici Pope Leo X led the Catholic Church until 1521.
(OG)(MC, 3/12/02)
1514 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1518 Raphael painted a portrait of Leo X which showed spectacles with concave lenses for short-sightedness.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1518 Cardinal Wolsey arranged the Peace of London between England, France, the Pope, Maximilian I and Spain.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1519 Jun 24, Lucrezia Borgia (39), daughter of Pope Alexander, died.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1520 Jun 15, Pope Leo the Tenth threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther if he did not recant his religious beliefs. Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther by the bull Exsurge.
(AP, 6/15/00)(HT, 6/15/00)
1520 The funereal monuments of the Medici Chapel were commissioned by Pope Clement VII. They were done primarily by Michelangelo (1475-1564) from 1520 to 1534, being completed by his students after his departure. The four figures—dawn, day, dusk and night—are considered among the sculptor‘s most accomplished work. He left Florence in 1534, hoping to return, but spent his last years in Rome.
(HNQ, 11/15/00)
1521 Jan 3, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church.
(NH, 9/96, p.18)(AP, 1/3/98)
1521 Apr 7, Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens banned Lutheran books.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1521 Apr 17, Under the protection of Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, Martin Luther first appeared before Charles V and the Imperial Diet to face charges stemming from his religious writings. The Roman Catholic Church had already excommunicated him on Jan 3, 1521.
(NH, 9/96, p.18)(HN, 4/17/98)(AP, 4/17/05)
1521 Oct 11, Pope Leo X titled King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith" in recognition of his writings in support of the Catholic Church. Henry had penned a defense of the seven Catholic Sacraments in response to Martin Luther‘s Protestant reform movement. By 1534, Henry had broken completely with the Catholic Church, and the Pope‘s authority in England was abolished.
(TL-MB, p.12)(HNQ, 8/12/00)(MC, 10/11/01)
1522 Adrian VI was elected Pope. He was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1523 Adrian VI died and was succeeded by Pope Clement VII, nephew of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Adrian VI was the last non-Italian Pope until 1978 when Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Cracow, became Pope Paul II. Clement was pope until 1534.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691) (TL-MB, p.12)(WUD, 1994, p.276)
1524 Apr 19, Pope Clemens VII fired the Netherlands inquisitor-general French Van de Holly.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1527 May 6, German and Spanish troops under Charles V began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance. Libraries were destroyed, Pope Clement VII was captured and thousands were killed. 147 of 189 of the Pope’s Swiss guard were killed.
(HN, 5/6/02)(PCh, 1992, p.174)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1527 Dec 6, Pope Clemens VII fled to Orvieto.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1527 Henry VIII appealed to the Pope for permission to divorce Catherine of Aragon.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527 Florence expelled the Medici nephews of the Pope and reverted to a republic.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527 Spanish mercenaries paid by Charles V sacked Rome and left 4,000 dead. Some see this event as marking the close of the Renaissance.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527-1528 Henry VIII imprisoned Pope Clement VII for disobedience. It was to Clement that Henry appealed for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which had been granted under special dispensation in the first place.
(V.D.-H.K.p.163)
1530 Feb 23, Spain's Carlos I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by Pope Clement VII in the last coronation of a German king by a Pope. Charles restored the Medici to power after capturing Florence and ceded Malta to the landless religious order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.
(TL-MB, p.14)(MC, 2/24/02)(PC, 1992, p.176)
1530 Mar 7, King Henry VIII's divorce request was denied by the Pope. Henry then declared that he, not the Pope, is supreme head of England's church.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1531 Jan 5, Pope Clemens VII forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1531 Dec 12, Legend held that a dark-skinned Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant outside Mexico City and left an imprint on his cactus-fiber poncho. The poncho became an icon for the Virgin of Guadalupe. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Indian peasant, had visions of the Virgin Mary. In 2002 Pope John Paul II planned to canonize him. The Vatican’s main source was a religious work that dated to 1666.
(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A9)(WSJ, 2/27/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/17/02, p.A1)(AP, 7/30/02)
1532 Mar 18, English parliament banned payments by English church to Rome.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1532 Nov 15, Pope Clemens VII told Henry VIII to end his relationship with Anne Boleyn.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1533 Jul 11, Henry VIII, who divorced his wife and became head of the church of England, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.
(AP, 7/11/97)(HN, 7/11/98)
1534 Feb 26, Pope Paul III affirmed George van Egmond as bishop of Utrecht.
(PTA, 1980, p.440)(SC, 2/26/02)
1534 Pope Paul III (1534-1549), Alessandro Farnese, confirmed "The Last Judgement" commission to Michelangelo, who settled in Rome and began to work on the immense painting on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.14)(OG)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.82)
1534 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in Paris with the aim of defending Catholicism against heresy and undertaking missionary work. Ignatius converted to Christianity while convalescing after a battle and wrote his Spiritual Exercises meant as a guide for conversion. In Paris, Ignatius and a small group of men took vows of poverty, chastity and papal obedience. Ignatius formally organized the order in 1539 that was approved by the pope in 1540. The society‘s rapid growth and emphasis on scholarship aided in the resurgence of Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation. The Jesuits were also active in missionary work in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.14)(HNQ, 1/13/01)
1535 Aug 31, Pope Paul III deposed & excommunicated King Henry VIII.
(YN, 8/31/99)
1536 May 23, Pope Paul III installed the Portuguese Inquisition.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1536 Jun 6, Mexico began it's inquisition.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1536 Jul 18, The authority of the pope was declared void in England.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1537 Jun 2, Pope Paul III banned the enslavement of Indians in the New World.
(HN, 6/2/99)
1538 Dec 17, Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII. [see Aug 31, 1535]
(MC, 12/17/01)
1538 Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine artist, was imprisoned for about a year in the dungeon beneath the papal fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo for killing his brother’s murderer.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)
1540 Sep 27, The Society of Jesus, a religious order under Ignatius Loyola, was approved by the Pope. The Jesuits were recognized by Pope Paul III. They were to become the chief agents of the Church of Rome in spreading the Counter-Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HN, 9/27/98)
1541 Oct 31, "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel at Rome was officially unveiled. It is one of the largest paintings in the world.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(OG)
1542 Jul 21, Pope Paul III launched the Inquisition against Protestants (Sanctum Officium). Alleged heretics were tried and tortured in an effort to stem the spread of the Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(MC, 7/21/02)
1545 Feb 19, Pierre Brully, [Peter Brulius], Calvinist minister, was burned to death.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1545 Dec 13, The Church Council of Trent began with the meeting of 30 bishops. It lasted 3 years but took 18 years to complete its work. The Council sparked the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. [see 1562]
(CU, 6/87)(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Pope Paul III put Michelangelo (71) in charge of the restoration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He designed the dome of St. Peter’s.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1549 Sep 13, Pope Paul III closed the first session of the Council of Bologna.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1549 Pope Paul III died and was succeeded by Julius III.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1550 Apr 28, Powers of Dutch inquisition were extended.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1550 Michelangelo completed the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, "the Conversion of Paul" and "The Crucifixion of St. Peter."
(OG)
1550-1555 Julius III, Giommaria Ciocci del Monte or Giovanni Maria del Monte, served as Pope 1550-1555.
(WUD, 1994, p.773)
1551 Pope Eugenius IV brought some of the Middle-Eastern Christians back into the Western Christian fold when he established the Chaldean rite of the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1551 The Jesuits founded the Papal Univ. in Rome.
(TL-MB, p.18)
1552 The shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar was begun. In 2000 Duncan Steel authored "Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar."
(SFEC, 2/20/00, Par p.7)
1553 Aug 12, Pope Julius III ordered the confiscation and burning of the Talmud.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1554 Jan 9, Gregory XV, Roman Catholic Pope was born.
(HN, 1/9/98)
1554 Nov 30, England reconciled with Pope Julius III.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.18)(MC, 11/30/01)
1555 Mar 23, Julius III (67), born as Giovanni M. del Monte, Pope (1550-55), died. He was succeeded by Marcellus II and then by Paul IV.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(SS, 3/23/02)
1555 Pope Paul IV decreed that all Jews in the Papal States be segregated into enclosed quarters.
(SFC, 12/2/08, p.E1)
1556 Apr 13, Portuguese Marranos who reverted back to Judaism were burned alive by order of Pope.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1556 Sep 9, Pope Paul IV refused to crown Ferdinand of Austria emperor.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1559 Feb 16, Pope Paul IV called for the overthrow of sovereigns supporting heresy.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1559 Pope Paul IV issued the Catholic Church's 1st Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The Index of Forbidden Books was maintained until 1966.
(SFC, 1/21/04, p.D2)
1559 Pope Paul IV died and was succeeded by Pius IV.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)
1562 Sep 17, The Council of Trent took ecclesiastical canon. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) demanded that clarity replace embellishment and display in church music.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.20)(MC, 9/17/01)
1563 The Council of Trent ordered a repainting of the "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo to cloth many of the frescos' previously nude figures.
(SFC, 1/21/04, p.D2)
1564 Aug 18, Spanish king Philip II joined the Council of Trent.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1565 Dec 9, Pius IV (66), [Gianangelo de' Medici], Italian Pope (1559-65), died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1566-1572 Pius V (b. 1504) led the Catholic Church.
(HN, 1/17/99)
1567 The Catholic Church outlawed the outright sale of indulgences.
(WSJ, 1/13/00, p.A1)
1568 Feb 16, A sentence of the Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal doom only a few persons, especially named, were acquitted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_War)
1568 In Rome Aonio Paleario, poet and protestant-style reformer, was burned at the stake by Pius V for posting a poem on a statue, a practice that was called the "talking statue" (Pasquino): "You’d think it was winter – the way Pius is burning Christians, - like so many logs on the fire. – He must be getting himself ready – to enjoy the flames of Hell.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A16)
1569 Feb 7, King Philip II ordered the inquisition in South America.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1569 Aug 27, Pope Pius named Cosimo I de' Medici, grand duke of Toscane.
(MC, 8/27/01)
1570 Feb 25, Pope Pius V issued the bull Regnans in Excelsis which excommunicated Queen Elizabeth the First of England. This absolved her subjects from allegiance. Elizabeth responded by hanging and burning Jesuits.
(TL-MB, p.22)(AP, 2/25/98)(HN, 2/25/99)(MC, 2/25/02)
1570 Apr 27, Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I [see Feb 25].
(AP, 4/27/07)
1571 May 20, Venice, Spain & Pope Pius formed an anti-Turkish Saint League.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1572 May 1, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), grand inquisitor, Pope (1566-72), died. He was succeeded by Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(MC, 5/1/02)
1574 Feb 28, On the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, two Englishmen and an Irishman were burnt for heresy.
(HN, 2/28/99)
1581 Pope Gregory XIII attempted in vain to reconcile the Roman and Orthodox churches.
(TL-MB, p.23)
1582 Feb 24, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. The old Julian Calendar had an error rate of one day in every 128 years. This was corrected in the Gregorian Calendar of Pope Gregory XIII, but Protestant countries did not accept the change till 1700 and later. [see 1552 and Oct 4, 1582]
(HFA, '96, p.22)(TL-MB, 1988, p.23)(HN, 6/7/98)(SFEC, 2/20/00, Par p.7)(AP, 2/24/02)
1582 Oct 4, The Church Council at Trent, Italy, discussed the error of 10 days in the calendar as referenced to the spring equinox which was used to establish the date for Easter. Pope Gregory XIII announced a correction, "The Gregorian Adjustment," and had Oct. 4 followed by Oct. 15. The calendar is accurate to a day in 3,323 years.
(K.I.-365D, p.97)(NG, March 1990, J. Boslough)
1585 Sep 9, Pope Sixtus V deprived Henry of Navarre of his rights to the French crown.
(HN, 9/9/98)
1585 An obelisk that had been brought from Egypt to Rome by the emperor Caligula was erected at the Vatican.
(RFH-MDHP, p.213, illustration)
1586 The Lateran Church of St. John, Rome, was rebuilt on the orders of Pope Sixtus V, who succeeded the late Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1587 Pope Sixtus V proclaimed a Catholic crusade for the invasion of England. Philip II prepared an invasion fleet but was interrupted by Francis Drake, who "singed the king’s beard" by burning 10,000 tons of shipping in Cadiz harbor.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1588 Domenico Fontana, Italian architect and engineer, completed the Vatican library in Rome. He also completed the cupola and lantern of St. Peter’s in Rome.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1591 Mar 1, Pope Gregory XIV threatened to excommunicate French king Henri IV.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1592-1605 Pope St. Clement VIII led the Church.
(ITV, 1/96, p.61)
1593 Jan 27, Vatican opened a 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1593 Michel Mercatus, physician to Pope Clement VIII, died. He left manuscripts on his study of Ceraunia, or ancient stone tools which had been thought to be rocks hurled down from the sky by lightning bolts, or rocks struck by lightning.
(RFH-MDHP, p.70)
1599 Feb 13, Alexander VII, Roman Catholic Pope, was born.
(HN, 2/13/98)
1600 Feb 8, Vatican sentenced scholar Giordano Bruno to death.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1600 Feb 17, Giordano Bruno, advocate of Copernican theory, was burned at stake by Catholic Church.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1600 Cardinal Filippo Spinelli, Pope Clement VIII’s ambassador in Prague, wrote to the Pope that Emperor Rudolf II was bewitched by the devil.
(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P9)
1605 Pope Paul V (d.1621) was elected following Clement VIII. After 2 months he elevated his young law-student nephew, Scipione Borghese, to the office of cardinal.
(WSJ, 9/15/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A20)
1606 Venice expelled the Jesuits as part of a larger jurisdictional dispute with the Vatican.
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.P10)
1610 Apr 22, Alexander VIII, [Pietro Ottoboni], Italian lawyer, Pope (1689-91), was born.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1615 Mar 13, Innocent XII, Roman Catholic Pope, was born.
(HN, 3/13/98)
1616 Mar 5, Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus" was placed on Catholic Forbidden index.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1617 Aug 30, Rosa de Lima of Peru became the first American saint to be canonized.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1621-1623 Gregory XV served as pope.
(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A20)
1622 Mar 12, Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) was declared a saint.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1626 Nov 18, Pope Urban VIII consecrated St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
(HN, 11/18/98)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1633 Feb 13, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition.
(AP, 2/13/98)
1640 Pope Urban VIII ordered Spanish priests to stop smoking cigars.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.E3)
1644 Pope Innocent X was elected Pope. He was from the noble Roman Pamphili family.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A20)
1648 Nov 26, Pope Innocent X condemned the Peace of Westphalia, which ended 30 Years War one month earlier.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1657 Venice re-admitted the Jesuits ushering in a period of cultural conservatism that marked the end of the “Renaissance project.”
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.P10)
1665 May 15, Pope Alexander VII condemned Jansenism.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1676 Sep 21, Benedetto Odescalchi was elected as Pope Innocent XI.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1678 Nov 30, Roman Catholics were banned from English parliament.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1683 Sep 12, A combined Austrian and Polish army defeated the Ottoman Turks at Kahlenberg and lifted the siege on Vienna, Austria. Prince Eugene of Savoy helped repel an invasion of Vienna, Austria, by Turkish forces. Marco d'Aviano, sent by Pope Innocent XI to unite the outnumbered Christian troops, spurred them to victory. The Turks left behind sacks of coffee which the Christians found too bitter, so they sweetened it with honey and milk and named the drink cappuccino after the Capuchin order of monks to which d'Aviano belonged. An Austrian baker created a crescent-shaped roll, the Kipfel, to celebrate the victory. Empress Maria Theresa later took it to France where it became the croissant. In 2006 John Stoye authored “The Siege of Vienna.”
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(HN, 9/12/98)(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A1)(Reuters, 4/28/03)(WSJ, 6/3/03, p.D5) (WSJ, 12/6/06, p.D12)
1731 May 28, All Hebrew books in Papal State were confiscated.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1732 Sep 2, Pope Clement XII renewed anti-Jewish laws of Rome.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1738 Pope Clement XII issued a bull against the Freemasons forbidding Catholics to join under threat of excommunication.
(WSJ, 2/6/02, p.A16)
1740 Feb 8, Clement XII (87), [Lorenzo Corsini], blind Pope (1730-40), died.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1742 Jul 11, A papal decree was issued condemning the disciplining actions of the Jesuits in China.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1752 Mar 23, Pope Stephen II was elected to succeed Zacharias. He died 2 days later.
(MC, 3/23/02)
1758 Pope Benedict XIV removed the blanket proscription against the works of Copernicus from the Index of Forbidden Books. He left Galileo on the Index because a Pope had participated in the condemnation of Galileo.
(WSJ, 10/22/99, p.W15)
1759 Feb 28, Pope Clement XIII allowed the Bible to be translated into various languages.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1759 Sep 3, Pope Clement XIII officially placed the French Encyclopedie on the Vatican’s Index of Prohibited Books.
(ON, 4/05, p.9)
1766 Nov 25, Pope Clement XIII warned of dangers of anti-Christian writings
(MC, 11/25/01)
1773 Jul 21, Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order. He disbanded, defrocked, and stripped them of their sustenance. They were ignored by other orders and denounced as schemers and plotters. The Jesuits finally regained respectability in 1814after flourishing underground.
(HN, 7/21/98)(MC, 7/21/02)
1791 Mar 10, Pope condemned France's Civil Constitution of the clergy.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1792 May 13, Giovanni-Maria Mastaia-Ferretti, later Pope Pius IX, "Pio Nono" (1846-78), was born at Sinigaglia.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 5/13/02)
1797 Feb 19, Pope Pius VI ceded papal territory to France in the Treaty of Tolentino.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.353)
1797 Gammarelli was founded under Pope Pius VI as tailors to the clergy.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.I4)
1798 Feb 20, Pope Pius VI fled Rome to Siena following an invasion of French forces. He was later arrested and deported 1st to Florence and then to France.
(www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/papalstate17891799.html)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1799 Aug 29, Pope Pius VI (b.1717) died in Valence, France.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/12131a.htm)
1801 Jul 16, Pope Pius VII and 1st consul Napoleon signed a concord.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1804 Dec 2, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France with Josephine as Empress as Pope Pius VII looked on. In 1807 Jacques-Louis David completed his painting of the event.
(AP, 12/2/97)(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.D10)
1805 Prussia sent Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt as envoy to the Vatican, the first Protestant state to do so.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)
1809 May 17, The Papal States were annexed by France. Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon.
(MC, 5/17/02)(PTA, 1980, p.502)
1809 Jul 5, Pope Pius VII was taken prisoner to France and held there until 1814.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)
1809 Jul 5-1809 Jul 6, Napoleon beat Austria’s archduke Charles at the Battle of Wagram. He annexed the Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro), and abolished the Papal States.
(http://tinyurl.com/vx8dk)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram)
1810 Mar 2, Leo XIII (Vincenzo G Pecci), 256th Catholic Pope (1878-1903), was born.
(HN, 3/2/99)(SC, 3/2/02)
1814 Aug 7, Pope Pius VII reinstated the Jesuits.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1823 St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was destroyed by fire. It was reconstructed for the 1825 Holy Year.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1835 Jun 2, St. Pius X, 257th Roman Catholic pope (1903-14), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1846-1878 Pope Pius IX, Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti, allowed archeological excavations of the catacombs by G.B. de Rossi. Under Pius IX the child Edgardo Mortara was taken from the Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, in Bologna and raised as a foster son of the pope. The 6-year-old boy had been baptized by a Catholic servant and canonical law did not allow that he be raised by his Jewish parents. The story is told by David I. Kertzer in his 1997 book: "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)(SFEC, 8/31/97, BR p.9)(PTA, 1980, p.510)
1848 Count Pellegrino, the prime minister for Pope Pius IX, was stabbed and killed during the unrest leading to the unification of Italy.
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)
1850 Jun 11, Cardinal Franzoni told Rev. Joseph Sadoc Alemany, a Dominican missionary who had worked in the Midwest frontier, that he was appointed the new bishop of Monterey, Ca.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1850 Jun 16, Pope Pius IX persuaded Rev. Joseph Sadoc Alemany to return to the US and to go to California.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1850 French priest Jean-Baptiste Lamy was dispatched by Rome to bring order and discipline to the New Mexican territory.
(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1853 Mar 4, Pope Pius IX recovered Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1853 Jul 29, Pope Pius IX established the archdiocese of San Francisco, Ca.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1854 Dec 8, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In an encyclical he stated that: "The Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God… Preserved immune from all stain of original sin. Ineffabilis Deus."
(AP, 12/8/97)(PTA, 1980, p.510)(WSJ, 6/3/99, p.A27)
1854 Archeologist G.B. de Rossi, while excavating the Christian catacombs discovered a marble-pillored chamber filled with rubble and fragments of inscriptions suggesting the burial of several early Popes.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
1858 Papal police took Edgardo Mortara (6), a Jewish boy, from the arms of his father after a Catholic housemaid claimed to have baptized the boy during an illness. Edgardo grew up a church ward and later became a priest.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1861 The L’Osservatore Romano newspaper was founded as the mouthpiece for the Vatican.
(WSJ, 10/13/08, p.A16)
1864 Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical "Quanta cura," which included a syllabus of 70 errors in contemporary beliefs. The Syllabus of Errors included 80 negative points condemning modern ideas such as freedom of speech and religion and separation of church and state.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1867 The Vatican distrusted the Oxford Movement atmosphere sufficiently to issue a decree forbidding Catholics to attend Oxford University. This was not relaxed until 1895.
(http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/Exhibitions/exhib09.asp)
1870 Jul 18, Pontifical infallibility was proclaimed at the Vatican Council. It proclaimed as dogma that the Pope when speaking ex cathedra can make no mistake in solemn declarations of what must be believed in matters of faith and morals. The 20th ecumenical council, soon adjourned due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 7/18/02)
1870 Sep 20, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.A6)(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)(AP, 9/20/97)
1870 Oct 2, The papal states voted in favor of union with Italy. The capital was moved from Florence to Rome.
(HN, 10/2/98)
1870 The abolition of the Papal States freed the Jews from restrictions in Rome’s ghetto.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1874 May 13, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical "On the Greek-Ruthenian rite."
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1876 Mar 2, Pius XII [Eugenio MGG Pacelli], 260th Pope (1939-58), was born to an aristocratic Roman family accustomed to serving the Catholic Church.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, BR p.3)(SC, 3/2/02)
1878 Feb 7, Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), Giovanni Ferretti (85), died. Revenge-seeking Italian liberals tried to dump his body into the Tiber River. He served 31 years, seven months and 22 days. In 1954 E.E.Y. Hayes authored “Pio Nono.”
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)(AP, 10/15/03)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1878 Pope Leo XIII prohibited the hiring of new castrati by the church: only in the Sistine Chapel and in other papal basilicas in Rome did a few castrati linger.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato)
1881 Nov 25, Pope John the 23rd (1958-1963) was born Angelo Roncalli near Bergamo, Italy.
(AP, 11/25/97)(MC, 11/25/01)
1881 The area around Bosnia was annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Pope Leo XIII reasserted the Catholic Church with dioceses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1886 The Catholic Church promulgated a ban on creation on the suspicion that the movement was top heavy with atheists and other infidels.
(WSJ, 4/27/01, p.W17)
1887 Cardinal Gibbons and the American hierarchy convinced Rome to back off of a papal condemnation of the Knights of Labor.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.W17)
1891 Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical "Rerum Novarum." It endorsed trade unionism and the safeguarding of property rights.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.W17)
1896 Sep 15, Pope Leo XIII issued a papal bull titled Apostolicae Curae, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York of the Church of England responded to the papal charges with the encyclical Saepius Officio in 1897.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolicae_Curae)
1896 A Catholic Chaplaincy was established at Britain’s Oxford University.
(Econ, 9/4/10, p.57)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Newman_Society)
1897 Sep 26, Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini), the 262nd pope of the Roman Catholic Church, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1903 Feb 20, Pope Leo XIII celebrated 25 years as the Pope.
(HN, 2/20/98)
1903 Jul 20, Pope Leo XIII died. He served 25 years, four months and 17 days.
(AP, 10/15/03)
1903 Aug 4, Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto of Venice was elected Pope Pius X.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1904 Jan 8, Pope Pius X banned low cut dresses in the presence of churchmen.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1904 Aug 10, Angelo G. Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, became a priest.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1906 Feb 2, A Papal encyclical denounced the separation of church & state.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1907 Jul 3, A Papal decree forbade the modernization of theology.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1907 Sep 8, Pius X published his anti-modernism encyclical Pasceni dominici gregis.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1909 Mar 8, Pope Pius X lifted the church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1909 Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1910 May 29, Pope's encyclical on Editae Saepe was against church reformers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1912 Jun 7, Pope Pius X issued the encyclical: "On the Indians of South America."
(SC, 6/7/02)
1917 May 13, Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and Lucia de Santos reported appearances later reported 5 more occasions. In 2000 the Vatican disclosed that the so-called third Secret of Fatima was a vision of an attempt to kill a pope. It was associated to the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt. The 1st secret foretold the end of World War I. The 2nd predicted the spread and collapse of Communism and the conversion of Russia.
(AP, 5/13/97)(SFC, 5/14/00, p.A2)
1917 Jul 13, Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. In 2000 the Vatican unveiled the 62-line handwritten account of Lucia de Jesus dos Santos from the Fatima, Portugal. [see May 13]
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A12)
1917 The silent opera film "Thais" by Mary Garden was the first movie shown at the Vatican.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.A16)
1917 The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law of this year stated that “An ecumenical council enjoys supreme power over the universal church.
(WSJ, 12/26/08, p.A11)
1920 May 16, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.
(AP, 5/16/97)(HN, 5/16/98)
1920 May 18, Pope John Paul II (d.2005) was born as Karol Jozef Wojtyla, in Wadowice, Poland. In 1978 he became the 264th Roman Catholic pope. He was the first non-Italian Roman Catholic pope since the Renaissance and wrote the international bestseller "Crossing the Threshold."
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A13)(HN, 5/18/99)(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A12)
1921 Apr 30, Pope Benedict XV issued his encyclical "On Dante."
(MC, 4/30/02)
1921 Sep 21, Pope Benedictus XV donated 1 million lire to feed Russians.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1922 Jan 22, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.
(AP, 1/22/98)
1923 Jun 24, Pope Pius XI spoke against allies occupying Ruhrgebied.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1925 Feb 10, Poland made an accord with the Vatican and the archdiocese of Vilnius was revived as one of 5 Polish dioceses.
(LHC, 2/10/03)
1925 Mar 19, Angelo G. Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) became a bishop.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1926 Apr 4, The Papal Bull "Lituanorum Gente" established Lithuanian as a province of the Catholic Church.
(LC, 1998, p.14)
1927 The Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith founded Fides to report and distribute information on Catholic missionary work.
(WSJ, 3/30/01, p.W15)
1928 Oct 2, Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) founded Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization, in Madrid. In 2002 Pope John Paul II raised him to sainthood.
(WSJ, 5/19/06, p.A1)(www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=40&id_scat=34)
1929 Feb 11, The Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City. The Italian government paid the Vatican $91.7 million for the papal lands it seized in 1870. The Italian state agreed to supply water but the disposal of waste was not specified. This became a big issue in 1999.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)(AP, 2/11/97)(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A1)
1929 Jun 7, The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.
(AP, 6/7/97)
1930 Dec 4, Vatican approved the rhythm method for birth control.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1930 Dec 31, Pontifical encyclical Casti connubial was against mixed marriages.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1933 Jun 3, Pope Pius XI encyclical "On oppression of the Church in Spain."
(MC, 6/3/02)
1933 Jul 20, Vatican state secretary Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) signed an accord with Hitler.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1933 Dec 23, The Pope condemned the Nazi sterilization program.
(HN, 12/23/98)
1935 Thomas More (1478-1535) was canonized as a saint.
(WSJ, 10/22/98, p.A20)
1937 Mar, The encyclical "With Burning Sorrow" (Mit brennender Sorge) was "smuggled" into Germany. Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius XII) helped Pius XI draft the work which denounced Nazi paganism and racism. The Encyclical was "published" in Germany and read from the pulpits of every Catholic church on Palm Sunday.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1938 May 3, Vatican recognized Franco's Catholic and fascist Spain.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1938 Jun, Pius XI commissioned American Jesuit John Lafarge to write a new encyclical expressly condemning Nazi anti-Semitism. Lafarge and others wrote "The Unity of the Human Race." Pius XI died soon thereafter and it was never published. In 1997 George Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky published: "The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI."
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)(SFEC, 9/7/97, BR p.4)
1939 Feb 10, Pope Pius XI died in Rome. He was born in Desio, Italy, as Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti.
(www.nndb.com/people/327/000088063/)
1939 Mar 2, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (d.1958) was elected Pope; he took the name Pius XII.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)(AP, 3/2/98)
1939 Mar 12, Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.
(HN, 3/12/98)(AP, 3/12/98)
1941 In Mexico Rev. Marcial Maciel founded the Legion of Christ, a conservative Roman Catholic order to minister to the wealthy and multiply its beneficial impact on society. In 1946 Pope Pius XII ordered Father Maciel to recruit Latin American leaders. In 1997 8 men went public with allegations of sexual abuse by Father Maciel dating to the 1940s and 1950s.
(WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A13)
1942 Mar, Japan established relations with the Vatican, the 1st non-Christian state to do so. The first ambassador's name was Ken Harada.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)(www.reformation.org/vatican-and-japan.html)
1942 Sep 12, Free-Poland & Belgium asked Pope to condemn Nazi-war crimes. He did not.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1942 Dec 25, Pius XII issued an encyclical with a strong attack on Nazism but no explicit mention of Jews.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 Apr 30, Pius XII wrote a letter to Bishop von Preysing of Berlin and referred to the extermination of the Jews. His concluding thoughts stated: "Unhappily in the present state of affairs, we can bring no help other than our prayers."
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 May 18, In Croatia Archbishop Stepinac urged Pius XII to take a firm position to hold on "to its 240,000 converts." Eastern Orthodox practitioners had converted to Catholicism to escape death camps.
(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A21)
1943 Jul 12, Pope Pius XII received Baron von Weizsacker, the German ambassador.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1943 Sep 10, German troops occupied Rome and took over the protection of Vatican City.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1943 Sep 26, The Germans placed an extortion on the Jews of Rome with an order to produce 50 kg of gold within 2 days or face massive deportations. Pius XII offered to loan the Jewish community 15 kg of gold with interest with repayment within 4 years after the war. Rome’s Jews and citizens came up with sufficient gold to make the Pope’s offer needless.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 Oct 16, In Italy the Nazi SS police and Waffen SS began rounding up the Jews of Rome. There was an anti Jewish riot in Rome as the Jewish quarter was surrounded by Nazis, and Jews were evacuated to Auschwitz. Pope Pius XII made no public protest, though he did send some messages of disapproval through intermediaries.
(WSJ, 10/18/99, p.A46)(MC, 10/16/01)
1945 A secret internal US Treasury Dept. document, hidden for 50 years, revealed in 1997 that the Vatican held some 200 million Swiss francs plundered from Serbs and Jews by the Nazi puppet government of Croatia after WW II.
(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A8)
1946 Oct 23, A Vatican document advised French church authorities on how to handle information requests from Jewish officials, asking them not to put anything in writing: “Children who have been baptized must not be entrusted to institutions that cannot ensure their Christian education.” The document surfaced in 2004.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A12)
1948 Jun, In Rome Father Karol Jozef Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, completed his thesis “The Problems of Faith in the Works of St. John of the Cross” and earned a doctorate in philosophy. In July he returned to Poland as an assistant pastor at Niegowicd.
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A12)
1949 Jun 20, The Vatican, as a counter measure, excommunicated all active supporters of Communism in Czechoslovakia.
(EWH, 1968, p.1187)
1949 Jul 13, The militantly anti-communist Pope Pius XII excommunicated communist Catholics voters in Italy, an action aimed at the Italian Communist Party.
(MC, 7/13/02)(AP, 5/5/06)
1950 Apr 18, Polish Catholic church and government signed an accord over relations.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1950 Pope Pius XII declared that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was the "infallible" dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1951 Jul 18, Pope Pius XII established the Archdiocese of Seattle and named Rev. Thomas A. Connolly as its 1st archbishop.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1951 China and the Vatican broke formal relations after missionaries were kicked out and Catholics were forced to sever ties with Rome.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.A14)
1952 Dec 17, Yugoslavia broke relations with the Vatican.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1953 Feb 13, Pope Pius XII asked the U.S. to grant clemency to convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
(HN, 2/13/98)
1953 Jul 27, Vatican disallowed priests holiday work in factories.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1954 May 29, Pope Pius XII, born as Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Pacelli (1876-1958), canonized Pope Pius X, born as Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (1835-1914). It was the first canonization of a Pope since 1712.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_canonized_by_Pope_Pius_XII)
1955 Jun 16, Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron. The ban was lifted eight years later.
(AP, 6/16/98)
1956 May 25, Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Haurietis aquas.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1957 May 16, Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Invicti Athletae.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1957 Sep 8, Pope Pius XII posted his encyclical On motion pictures, radio, TV.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1957 Argentina signed a treaty with the Vatican that created the post of military bishop.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.34)
1958 Oct 9, Pope Pius XII died, 19 years after he was elevated to the papacy. In 1999 John Cornwell published "Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII."
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(AP, 10/9/97)(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A4)
From here on forward ALL were Satanic Antipopes and that will not change - ROME is permanently APOSTATE from here on.
1958 Oct 28, The Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope, taking the name John XXIII.
(AP, 10/28/97)
1958 Nov 4, Angelo G. Roncalli was crowned as Pope John XXIII.
(MC, 11/4/01)
1959 Jan 25, Pope John XXIII proclaimed the 2nd Vatican council.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1959 Apr 13, A Vatican edict forbade Italian Roman Catholics from for voting for communists.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1960 It was reported that a rule that required women to wear head coverings in churches was repealed. No official statement to that effect was actually made.
(WSJ, 10/8/97, p.A1)(www.catholicintl.com/qa/qa.htm)
1961 Jul 14, Pope John XXIII published his encyclical Mater et magistrate.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1962 Jan 3, Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.
(MC, 1/3/02)
1962 Oct 11, Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's 21st Ecumenical Council, also known as Vatican II, with a call for Christian unity. This was the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history. Among delegate-observers were representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change. He declared its purpose to be "aggiornamento," an "updating" that would be a pastoral response to the needs of the modern world. It allowed for vernacular languages in the Liturgy and continued to 1965, when it published Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.
(CU, 6/87)(AP, 10/11/97)(HN, 10/11/98)
1962-1965 Rev. Francis X. Murphy (d.2002) covered the Vatican Council. In 1963 he published "Letters from Vatican City: Vatican Council II." In 1968 he published "Vatican Council II," a history of the council.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A18)
1963 Feb 20, Rolf Hochhuth's "Der Stellvertreter" (The Representative) premiered in Berlin. The work indicted Pope Pius XII for Nazi complicity during WW II. The Catholic Church was outraged at the portrayal of Pius XII as a war criminal. An English translation by Richard and Clara Winston was published as “The Deputy: A Play,” by Grove Press in 1964. In 2002 The Deputy was made into the film “Amen.” by Costa Gavras.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deputy)(Econ, 10/25/08, p.73)
1963 Apr 11, John XXIII put forth his encyclical "On peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty."
(MC, 4/11/02)
1963 June 3, Pope John XXIII died at the age of 81, ending a papacy marked by innovative reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.
(AP, 6/3/97)
1963 Jun 21, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church. The new pope took the name Paul VI.
(AP, 6/21/97)
1963 Jun 30, Cardinal Montini was crowned as Pope Paul VI, the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 6/30/97)(MC, 6/30/02)
1963 Jul 2, President John F. Kennedy met Pope Paul the Sixth at the Vatican, the first meeting between a Roman Catholic US chief executive and the head of the Catholic Church.
(AP, 7/2/00)
1963 Sep 29, The second session of Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.
(AP, 9/29/97)
1963 Nov 21, Roman Catholic Vatican Council authorized the use of vernacular instead of Latin in the Sacraments.
(AP, 11/21/02)
1964 Sep 14, Pope Paul VI opened the third session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, also known as Vatican Two.'' The session closed two months later.
(AP, 9/14/06)
1964 Nov 13, Pope Paul VI gave a tiara to the poor.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1964 Nov 23, Vatican abolished Latin as the official language of Roman Catholic liturgy. [see Nov 29]
(MC, 11/23/01)
1964 Nov 29, Catholic Church in US replaced Latin with English. [see Nov 23]
(MC, 11/29/01)
1964 Saul Friedlander published "Pius XII and the Third Reich."
(SFEC, 9/26/99, BR p.3)
1965 Sep 14, The 4th meeting of 2nd Vatican council opened.
(http://www.vatican.va)
1965 Oct 4, Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1965 Oct 28, Pope Paul VI issued a decree, Nostra Aetate, absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
(AP, 10/28/99)(SFC, 3/11/06, p.B10)
1965 The 21st Vatican Council, begun in 1962 and later known as the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), ended. In 2008 John W. O’Malley authored “What Happened at Vatican II.”
(WSJ, 12/26/08, p.A11)
1966 Mar 23, The 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic and Anglican Church.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1966 Nov 18, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.
(AP, 11/18/97)
1966 Pope Paul VI allowed celibacy dispensations for men wanting to leave the Catholic priesthood. Over the next 2 decades thousands of Catholic priests left active ministry to marry.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1967 Jan 1, Pope Paul VI announced his Apostolic Constitution (Indulgentiarum Doctrina). He also established this day as World Peace Day.
(http://tinyurl.com/ah8ck9)(SFC, 1/2/99, p.C12)
1967 Mar 26, Pope Paul VI published encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples).
(www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P6DEVELO.HTM)
1967 May 29, Pope Paul VI named 27 new cardinals, including Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, who later became Pope John Paul II.
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A13)
1967 Jun 24, Pope Paul VI published his encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (priestly celibacy).
(http://tinyurl.com/n5pq3)
1967 Dec 23, President Johnson, on his way home from a visit to Southeast Asia, held an unprecedented meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.
(AP, 12/23/07)
1967 Robert Katz (d.2010 at 77), American writer and historian, authored "Death in Rome." It was a meticulous reconstruction of an infamous 1944 Nazi massacre. A subsequent movie based on it, called "Massacre in Rome," stirred controversy because it suggested Pope Pius XII did not intervene to stop the massacre even though he knew about the Nazis' plans.
(AP, 10/21/10)
1968 Jul 29, Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Church’s opposition to abortion and to all contraception except the rhythm method.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(AP, 7/29/98)(SSFC, 7/8/01, p.A4)
1968 Aug 22, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to Latin America.
(AP, 8/22/98)
1968 The Sant’Egidio community was started in Rome by a high school student with ideals of prayer, mission and solidarity wit the poor. By 2008 it had 60,000 members in 70 countries and had become active in faith-based peacemaking.
(Econ, 7/5/08, p.72)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Sant'Egidio)
1970 Nov 27, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by Benjamin Mendoza, a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.
(AP, 11/27/02)
1971 May 14, Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), the 262nd pontiff, delivered his Octagesima Adveniens apostolic letter on the 80th anniversary of the Rerum Novarum encyclical by Leo XIII. Paul VI was born in Lombardy, Italy, as Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C1)(http://tinyurl.com/65jr23)
1971 Sep 28, Cardinal Josef Mindszenty (1892-1975) of Hungary, who had spent 15 years in refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest, ended his exile and flew to Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Mindszenty)
1973 Jan 15, Pope Paul VI had an audience with Golda Meir at Vatican.
(http://tinyurl.com/65npaj)
1975 Sep 14, Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first native-born American saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 9/14/97)(HN, 9/14/98)
1975 Oct 12, Archbishop Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681) became the 1st Irish-born saint in 700 years. He was beheaded by Cromwell's troops.
(www.archatl.com/parishes/saintoliverplunkett_snellville.html)
1977 Jan 27, The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1977 Jun 19, Pope Paul VI proclaimed a 19th-century Philadelphia bishop, John Neumann, the first male US saint.
(AP, 6/19/07)
1978 Aug 6, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.
(AP, 8/6/97)
1978 Aug 11, Chiefs of state and foreign dignitaries arrived in Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Paul VI.
(AP, 8/11/98)
1978 Aug 12, Pope Paul VI, who had died six days earlier at age 80, was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.
(AP, 8/12/97)
1978 Aug 26, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Paul VI. The new pontiff took the name John Paul I.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1978 Sep 3, Pope John Paul I, Cardinal Albino Luchiani of Venice, was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 9/3/97)(SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA11)
1978 Sep 28, Pope John Paul I [Albino Luciano] died after 33 days as pope. He was found dead the next day in his Vatican apartment.
(www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/10583/)(AP, 9/29/97)
1978 Oct 4, Funeral services were held at the Vatican for Pope John Paul I.
(AP, 10/4/98)
1978 Oct 16, The College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Wojtyla (58), Archbishop of Cracow, to become Pope. He took the name John Paul II. The first non-Italian since Adrian VI of Utrecht died in 1523.
(AP, 10/16/97)(HN, 10/16/98)
1979 Jun 2, Pope John Paul II, formerly Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Warsaw, arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C1)(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D1)(AP, 6/2/97)
1979 Sep 29, John Paul II became the first pope to visit Ireland as he arrived for a three-day tour.
(AP, 9/29/99)
1979 Oct 1, Pope John Paul II arrived in Boston for the start of a U.S. tour.
(AP, 10/1/99)
1979 Oct 6, Pope John Paul II, on a week-long U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Carter.
(AP, 10/6/97)
1979 Oct 7, Pope John Paul II concluded a week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Mall in Washington.
(AP, 10/7/99)
1979 Nov 30, John Paul II, while on a pilgrimage to Turkey, became the first pope in 1,000 years to attend an Orthodox mass.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index1979/trav_turkey.htm)
1980 May 2, Pope John Paul II arrived Kinshasa for the centennial of Catholicism in Zaire and the beginning of his African tour.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1980 May 4, Nine people were killed at Kinshasa, Zaire (later the Democratic Republic of Congo) during a stampede to attend mass given by Pope John Paul II.
(http://africanhistory.about.com/od/may/a/td0504.htm)
1980 May 30, Pope John Paul II, formerly Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Warsaw, arrived in France on the first visit by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.
(AP, 5/30/97)
1980 Jul 9, In Brazil at least 3 and as many as 7 died in a stampede to see the Pope at a stadium in Fortaleza.
(http://tinyurl.com/36kdnt)
1980 Pope John Paul II allowed married Episcopal clergy to join the Catholic Church and serve as priests.
(AP, 8/22/05)
1981 May 13, John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca. The shots hit the pope’s hand and penetrated his abdomen. John Paul forgave Agca 4 days later. In 2006 an Italian report said the Soviet Union was behind the attempted assassination.
(TMC, 1994, p.1981)(AP, 5/13/97)(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A12)(AP, 3/2/06)
1981 Jun 3, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital and returned to the Vatican three weeks after the attempt on his life.
(AP, 6/3/97)
1981 Aug 14, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital, three months after being wounded in an attempt on his life.
(AP, 8/14/01)
1982 May 12, In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish ex-priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II. John Paul was visiting to give thanks for surviving an assassination attempt on May 13, 1981. Ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the ground by police and arrested. The pope was wounded, but this was not disclosed until 2008.
(AP, 10/12/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)(Reuters, 10/15/08)
1982 May 28, Pope John Paul II became the 1st Pontiff to visit Britain.
(www.popejohnpaulii.org.uk/)
1982 Jun 7, Pres. Reagan met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and later with Queen Elizabeth in England.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/pres/12800.htm)
1982 Sep 15, Pope John Paul II received PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://religion-cults.com/pope/religions.htm)
1982 Oct 10, Pope John Paul II canonized Rev. M. Kolbe (1894-1941), a Polish Franciscan friar. The controversial racist priest had volunteered to die in place of another inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe)
1982 Oct 31, Pope John Paul II became the 1st pontiff to visit Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastoral_visits_of_Pope_John_Paul_II_outside_Italy)
1982 Nov 16, A replica of the original 1854 "Pope’s Stone," donated by the Vatican, was dedicated at the Washington Monument. The original from Pope Pius IX, arrived in October 1853. It was taken by force in 1854 by unknown men. The common idea is that the men were part of a group called the Know-Nothings.
(www.nps.gov/archive/wamo/memstone_564.htm)
1982 Pope John Paul II declared Rev. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz, a saint.
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.C12)
1983 Jan 1, Pope John Paul II declared this year to be an extraordinary Holy Year to mark the 1,950th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in year 33.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1983 Jan 19, The New Catholic code expanded women's rights in the Church.
(HN, 1/19/99)
1983 Feb 3, Cardinal Antonio Samore (b.1905), Vatican representative and archivist, died. In 1978 he mediated the Beagle conflict, a border dispute between Argentina and Chile.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Samor%C3%A9)
1983 Jun 16, Pope John Paul II visited Poland.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index1983/trav_polonia_en.htm)
1983 Jun 22, Emanuela Orlandi (b.1968), the daughter of a Vatican messenger, disappeared after a music lesson in Rome. She was 15 at the time. Her self-proclaimed kidnappers demanded the release of Ali Agca, who wounded the Pope in 1981, for her freedom. They never offered any proof they had the girl or that she was alive.
(AP, 1/10/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuela_Orlandi)
1983 Dec 11, Pope John Paul II visited a Lutheran church in Rome, the first visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Protestant church in his own diocese.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1983/december/index.htm)
1983 Dec 27, Pope John Paul II pardoned Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot him. The Pope visited Mehmet Ali Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and personally pardoned him for the 1981 assassination attempt.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A14)(http://preview.tinyurl.com/pddl)
1983 The code to annul marriages was revised under Canon 1095. It permitted annulment if it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time of their marriage one or both spouses suffered from a "grave lack of discretionary judgement" concerning their marriage obligations.
(WSJ, 9/11/98, p.W9)
1983 In Guatemala on the eve of Pope John Paul’s visit Gen’l. Montt had 6 rebel suspects executed.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D3)
1984 Jan 10, The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years.
(AP, 1/10/98)(HN, 1/10/99)
1984 In a bank scandal the Vatican paid $244 million for its part in the collapse of another Italian bank.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1984 A commission of the Roman Catholic Church, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1980, concluded that the Inquisition was in error in its 1632 condemnation of Galileo‘s support of the Copernican Theory of the solar system. By 1611 Galileo had made a series of discoveries and observations with his telescope that clearly confirmed the theory of Polish astronomer Copernicus that the earth and planets revolved around the sun. Controversy erupted when Galileo announced his support of Copernicus, a theory in opposition to the accepted Church belief that the sun and planets revolved around a stationary earth. Galileo‘s 1632 publication of Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World led to condemnation by the Inquisition, which forced him to renounce his views and live under house arrest until his death in 1642 [see 1992].
(HNQ, 2/11/00)
1985 Jan 27, Pope John Paul said mass to one million in Venezuela.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1986 Feb 3, Dalai Lama met Pope John Paul II in India.
(http://tinyurl.com/nek6w)
1986 Mar 29, A court in Rome acquitted six men in a plot to kill the Pope.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1986 Apr 13, Pope John Paul II visited a Rome synagogue and met with Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff in the first recorded papal visit of its kind.
(AP, 4/13/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_II)
1986 The Vatican issued a statement that described homosexuality as a disorder.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.A4)
1986 J.N.D. Kelly authored “The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.”
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1987 Mar 10, The Vatican condemned surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1987 Apr 30, Pope John Paul II began a five-day visit to West Germany.
(AP, 4/30/97)
1987 May 1, During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1987 May 4, Pope John Paul II ended his five-day visit to West Germany with a call for religious freedom in the Soviet bloc and praise for those who had opposed the "mass hysteria and propaganda" of the Nazi era.
(AP, 5/4/97)
1987 Jun 25, Pope John Paul II received Austrian President Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican, a meeting fraught with controversy because of allegations that Waldheim had hidden a Nazi past.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1987 Sep 1, After Jewish leaders met with the Pope at Castel Gandolfo it was announced that a document would be produced on the Holocaust. The document was made public Mar 16, 1998.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.A24)
1987 Sep 20, Pope John Paul II concluded an 11-day visit to North America as he celebrated Mass for thousands of Indians at Fort Simpson in Canada's Northwest Territories.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1988 Jan 29, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega received a coolly polite reception from Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
(AP, 1/29/98)
1988 Apr 2, Secretary of State George P. Shultz briefed Pope John Paul II on his Middle East peace proposals during a private audience at the Vatican.
(AP, 4/2/98)
1988 Jun 23, Pope John Paul II began his second papal visit to Austria, where he met with President Kurt Waldheim, despite controversy over Waldheim's alleged involvement in Nazi war crimes.
(AP, 6/23/98)
1988 Jun 30, Renegade Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in defiance of papal authority; the Vatican announced the excommunication of all five.
(AP, 6/30/98)
1988 Oct 8, Pope John Paul II journeyed to eastern France, where he addressed the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
(AP, 10/8/98)
1988 Dec 23, Pope John Paul II met with Yasser Arafat at the Vatican. The pontiff told the PLO leader he believed Palestinians and Jews had "an identical fundamental right" to their own countries.
(AP, 12/23/98)
1988 The Shroud of Turin Research Project (Sturp) performed radiocarbon dating on fibers of the shroud and found that the linen dated to between 1260 and 1390 CE. Ian Wilson wrote the 1978 book "The Shroud of Turin" and in 1998 "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence That the Most Sacred Relic Is Real."
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.W6)
1989 Dec 1, In an extraordinary encounter, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
(AP, 12/1/99)
1990 Apr 21, Pope John Paul II was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people as he visited Czechoslovakia to help celebrate the nation's peaceful overthrow of communist rule.
(AP, 4/21/00)
1990 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Redemptoris Missio," on Christian evangelization and world religions.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1990 Pope John Paul II put forth his "Excorde Ecclesiae," a set of instructions to bishops to safeguard the identity of Catholic institutions.
(USAT, 11/18/99, p.1A)
1990 A new church law required Catholic dioceses around the world to support the Holy See.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1991 May 2, In his ninth encyclical, Pope John Paul the Second acknowledged the success of capitalism, but denounced the system for sometimes achieving results at the expense of the poor and of morality. Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Centesimus Annus," on the dignity of the human person and the free economy in the free society. He pointed out that the main cause of the wealth of nations is knowledge, science, know-how, and discovery.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 Jun 2, Pope John Paul the Second, on a pilgrimage to his native Poland, visited the town of Przemysl, less than ten miles from the Soviet border; an estimated 10,000 Ukrainians crossed into Poland to see the pontiff.
(AP, 6/2/01)
1991 Jun 3, Pope John Paul the Second, visiting the Polish city of Kielce, indirectly criticized abortion, appealing to his listeners to "prevent further destruction of the Polish family."
(AP, 6/3/01)
1992 Oct 31, Roman Catholic church rehabilitated Galileo Galilei after 359 years. Galileo was tortured and imprisoned by the Holy Office during the Inquisition, and was forced to recant his heretical views that the earth and planets revolve around the Sun. Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the church had erred in condemning Galileo. [see 1984]
(/www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Galileo.html)
1992 Jason Berry authored "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," a work on clerical sex abuse.
(SFC, 3/18/02, p.F10)
1993 Mar 20, Pope John Paul II declared Duns Scotus (1266-1308) a saint.
(www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj55.htm)
1993 Aug 11, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico.
(http://tinyurl.com/ckmy6)
1993 Aug 14, Pope John Paul II denounced abortion and euthanasia as well as sexual abuse by American priests in a speech at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.
(AP, 8/14/98)
1993 Aug 15, Pope John Paul II ended his four-day U.S. visit with a farewell address at Denver's Stapleton International Airport in which he denounced the "culture of death" of abortion and euthanasia.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1993 Dec 30, Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another. Pope John Paul II normalized relations between the Vatican and Israel.
(SFC,12/25/97, p.A14)(AP, 12/30/97)
1993 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor," on the nature of moral truth in a relativistic world.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1994 Feb 20, Pope John Paul II demanded juristic discrimination of homosexuals.
(www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/lgbcathbib11.html)
1994 Apr 3, In his Easter Sunday address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of Christianity would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1994 Apr 7, Pope John Paul II made remarks at the conclusion of a concert in commemoration of the Shoah (holocaust), in which he acknowledged the Nazi Holocaust killing of Jews for the 1st time.
(http://tinyurl.com/c9vt8)
1994 Jun 2, President Clinton met at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1994 Jun 15, Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.
(AP, 6/15/97)
1994 Nov 26, Thirty clergymen were elevated to the rank of cardinal in a Vatican ceremony presided over by Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 11/26/99)(www.usccb.org/pope/dates.htm)
1994 Dec 25, Pope John Paul II, in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message, bemoaned "selfishness and violence" around the world.
(AP, 12/25/99)
1995 Jan 14, Pope John Paul II addressed a huge rally in Manila, urging young people to reject cynicism.
(AP, 1/14/00)
1995 Oct 4, Pope John Paul the Second arrived in the United States for a five-day visit.
(AP, 10/4/00)
1995 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," on the culture of life and threats to human dignity. Also "Ut Unum Sint," on the unity of the Church and the unity of the world.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1995 The Vatican established a simple World Wide Web site.
(Sky, 9/97, p.22)
1996 Oct 8, Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation to remove his inflamed appendix.
(AP, 10/8/97)
1997 Jan, Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit journalist, published “Inside the Vatican”, a look at the institution’s internal politics and organization.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1997 Mar 10, The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Libya.
(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A11)
1997 May 4, Pope John Paul beatified the first Gypsy Jimenez Malla, killed by Republican forces in the 1936 Spanish Civil War. Also beatified were Florentino Asensio Barroso, bishop of Barbastro, Spain, where Malla died; Enrico Rebuschini, a northern Italian priest who died in 1938; and Maria Encarnacion Rosal, a 19th century Guatemalan nun.
(SFC, 5/5/97, p.A8)(AP, 5/4/98)
1997 Jun 10, Pope John Paul II bade farewell to his native Poland as he ended an 11-day pilgrimage.
(AP, 6/10/98)
1997 Aug 21, Pope John Paul II began a visit to Paris with an outdoor encounter with 500,000 young people from around the world.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 24, In France Pope John Paul II offered tough challenges and affectionate encouragement to more than 1 million faithful attending Mass during closing World Youth Day ceremonies in Paris.
(AP, 8/24/98)
1997 Oct 2, In Brazil thousands turned out to greet Pope John Paul II for the start of his 4-day visit.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.B2)
1997 Dec 23, For the 1st time a Chanukah candle was officially lit in Vatican City.
(www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/hanukkah/hanukkah.vatican/index.html)
1997 The Vatican’s top diplomat in Ireland told bishops that their policy of mandatory reporting suspected of sex abuse cases to police "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature." In 2011 the Vatican insisted the letter had been "deeply misunderstood."
(AP, 1/19/11)
1998 Jan 23, Pope John Paul II condemned the US embargo against Catholic Cuba.
(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june98/pope_1-23.html)
1998 Rev. Lawrence Murphy (d.1998), who had worked at the former St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wisconsin (1950-1975), died. In July 1996, Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland sent a letter to the Vatican seeking advice on how to proceed with charges of sexual molestation by Murphy on as many as 200 deaf students. Cardinal Ratzinger, who led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 until 2005, when he was elected pope, did not respond. The case was made public in 2010.
(AP, 3/25/10)
1998 Jan 24, Pope John Paul II, delivering blunt political messages during his visit to Cuba, called for the release of "prisoners of conscience" and respect for freedom of expression, initiative and association.
(AP, 1/24/99)
1998 May 4, In Vatican City Alois Estermann (43), the pope’s top bodyguard, was shot and killed along with his wife, Gladys Meza Romero (49) in their apartment by Cedrich Tornay (23), who then shot himself. Estermann had just been appointed the head of the Swiss Guards and was killed by Tornay due to damaged professional pride. An investigation was concluded in 1999 and suggested that marijuana and a brain cyst impaired Tornay.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A10)(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 Jun 19, Pope John Paul II visited Austria for 3 days.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Jun 25, The Vatican agreed to sign a joint declaration with the Lutheran Church on how humans receive God’s forgiveness and salvation.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Sep 18, In SF Rev. John Charles Wester was named as Catholic Bishop of SF and titular prelate of Lamiggiga.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
1998 Oct 3, In Croatia Pope John Paul II beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the World War II archbishop of Zagreb and a controversial figure because many Serbs and Jews accused him of sympathizing with the Nazis.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A22)(AP, 10/3/99)
1998 Oct 11, Pope John Paul II bestowed sainthood on Edith Stein, a Jewish-born woman who became a Catholic nun and was executed by Nazis in 1942.
(SFC, 10/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 15, Pope John Paul marked his 20th anniversary with a new encyclical "Fides et Ratio," or Faith and Reason with the basic message of: Be not afraid of human reason. The 40,000 word treatisse emphasizes spiritual truth over technology.
(SFC, 10/16/98, p.A17)(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1998 Oct 18, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at the Vatican marking the 20th anniversary of his election to the papacy.
(AP, 10/18/99)
1998 Nov 27, From the Vatican Pope John Paul issued a papal bull, "Incarnationis Mysterium" (The Mystery of the Incarnation) that proclaimed 2000 a special Holy Year. Special indulgences were offered for making pilgrimages, doing good deeds or fasting.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.A10)
1999 Dec 24, The Catholic Holy Year was to begin Christmas eve and last to Jan 6, 2001. The Church was expected to ask for forgiveness for past errors.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A18)
1998 Robert J. Hutchinson published "When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City."
(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.T8)
1999 Jan 8, Pope John Paul II met with the new Prime Minister and former communist leader, Massimo D'Alema.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A9)
1999 Jan 22, Pope John Paul II began a 5-day pilgrimage to Mexico and St. Louis. He was greeted by Pres. Zedillo some 2 dozen official sponsors who would help defray the $2 million costs of the 4-day visit.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/23/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 11, Pope John Paul II met with Mohammad Khatami of Iran.
(SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 17, The Vatican and Sony announced the release of the first music video, "Abba Pater," by Pope John Paul II.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.C3)
1999 May 7, In Romania the Pope began a 3-day visit. This was his first visit to a country with an Orthodox Christian majority. The Pope was greeted by Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist (84).
(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 2, President Clinton met at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 6/2/04)
1999 Jun 3, It was reported that Catholics and Lutherans had agreed to sign an accord over the theological issue of "justification." They agreed that divine forgiveness and salvation come "solely by God's grace" and that good works flow from that.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 4, Pope John Paul II traveled to Poland, the first stop on a 13-day visit to 20 cities. This was his 8th visit to Poland.
(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 31, In Augsburg, Germany, leaders of the Roman Catholic and modern Lutheran Churches signed the Augsburg Accord, a "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," in a step toward reconciliation. The accord gave weight to the Lutheran position on salvation through faith and embraced the Catholic ethic of earthly service.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A11,12)
1999 Dec 3, Acea SpA was at issue with the Vatican over a $23.2 million sewage disposal bill.
(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 24, The Catholic Jubilee Holy Year began Christmas eve and lasted to Jan 6, 2001. The Church was expected to ask for forgiveness for past errors. The bronze door to St. Peter's was opened and symbolized the passage from sin to grace.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A18)(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A12)
1999 John L. Heilbron, a historian of science, authored "The Sun in the Church."
(SFC, 10/25/99, p.A4)
1999 Monsignor Luigi Marinelli (d.2000 at 73) authored "Via col Vento in Vaticano" (Gone With the Wind in the Vatican). It alleged intrigue and corruption in the Vatican, became a best seller and prompted a defamation suit by the Vatican along with a decree ordering its removal from bookstores.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.A26)
1999 Thomas Plante edited "Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned: Perspectives on Sexual Abuse Committed By Roman Catholic Priests."
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A8)
1999 George Weigel authored "Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II."
(WSJ, 10/5/99, p.A24)
2000 Jan 6, In China the state-controlled Catholic Church ordained 5 new bishops while the Pope elevated 12 prelates in St. Peter's Basilica.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 26, Pope John Paul II visited the 6th century St. Catherine's monastery in Egypt, built on the reputed site where Moses encountered the burning bush. He met with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damianos and held a short prayer service in an olive garden outside the monastery.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.A20)
2000 Mar 12, In Rome Pope John Paul II begged for God's forgiveness for sins committed or condoned by Roman Catholics over the last 2,000 years.
(SFC, 3/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 20, Pope John Paul II arrived in Jordan for the beginning of his Holy land tour. He prayed at Mt. Nebo where the bible says Moses first viewed the Promised Land.
(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 21, Pope John Paul II landed in Tel Aviv and began his official visit to Israel with a welcome from Pres. Ezer Weizman.
(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 23, Pope John Paul the Second paid his respects at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.
(AP, 3/23/01)
2000 Mar 24, In Israel Pope John Paul II delivered a sermon from the Mount of Beatitudes before some 100,000 people.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 26, The Vatican unveiled the 62-line handwritten account of Lucia de Jesus dos Santos from the Fatima, Portugal, vision of Jul 13, 1917.
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 20, At the Vatican some 2 million young people closed the 6-day World Youth festival dubbed the Catholic Woodstock.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A9)
2000 Aug 29, Pope John Paul II laid down moral guidelines for medical research in the 21st century, endorsing organ donation and adult stem cell study, but condemning human cloning and embryo experiments.
(AP, 8/29/01)
2000 Sep 3, At the Vatican Pope John Paul II beatified Pope Pius IX and Pope John XXIII.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 5, The Vatican issued a statement that declared efforts to depict all religions as equal are wrong and reasserted that the Catholic Church is the one true church.
(WSJ, 9/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 1, Pope John Paul II canonized as martyrs 87 Chinese believers and 33 European missionaries killed between 1648 and 1930. He also canonized Mother Katherine Drexel (d.1955), a Philadelphia heiress, who became a nun.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 10, In Portland the Roman Catholic Church apologized for the sexual abuse committed by Rev. Maurice Grammond (80) between 1950-1974. The church agreed to pay and undisclosed sum to 22 men.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A3)
2000 Dec 16, Joerg Haidar, a far-right Austrian leader, visited Pope John Paul II along with a 250 person delegation to present a Christmas tree from Carinthia. This provoked heavy clashes between protesters and police.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D1)
2000 Gary Wills authored "Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit," an indictment of how the Vatican has rewritten history and twisted the truth in an effort to preserve outdated teachings on human sexuality and gender equality.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.C1)
2001 Jan 28, Pope John Paul II named 5 new cardinals and revealed the identities of 2 others from the former Soviet Union.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb 21, Pope John Paul II installed 44 new cardinals. It was the largest number ever installed at one time.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A13)
2001 May 4, Pope John Paul II visited Athens and apologized for Roman Catholic sins of "action or omission" against Orthodox Christians. A day earlier some 1,000 Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2001 May 5, In Syria Pres. Bashar Assad greeted Pope John Paul II with a speech against Israel.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.A14)
2001 May 6, In Syria Pope John Paul II prayed in the Great Umayyad Mosque, the 1st time a pontiff ever visited and prayed in a Muslim house of worship.
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.A1)
2001 May 8, In Malta Pope John Paul II was welcomed on the final stop of his 6-day pilgrimage to retrace the steps of the Apostle Paul.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Rome 155 cardinals concluded a private 3-day meeting.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Jun 23, Pope John Paul II began his 5-day visit to Ukraine, where the Greek Catholic Church had 5 million followers who observed Byzantine rites but were loyal to Rome. He hoped to mend a rift with the Eastern Orthodoxy.
(SFC, 6/22/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 25, In Ukraine Pope John Paul II planned to visit Babi Yar where some 200,000 Jews and other Nazi victims are buried. Pope John Paul II visited Babi Yar, the site of a Nazi massacre of at least 100,000 Jews. [see 1941]
(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A8)(WS, 6/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 19, The Roman Catholic Church declared that Mormon converts must be rebaptized.
(SFC, 7/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Sep 22, Pope John Paul II arrived in Kazakstan with good wishes for Islamic leaders and for "all people of good will" who seek peace.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A27)
2001 Nov 22, Pope John Paul II issued a papal message via the Internet to Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands that included an apology for sexual abuse by priests.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A1)
2002 Feb 15, The bishop of the Diocese of Dorchester, NH, named 14 priests implicated in the sexual abuse of children from 1963-1987.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb, The Archdiocese of Boston identified 80 priests as having abused children over the last 40 years.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 8, Anthony J. O’Connell, Palm Beach Catholic bishop, resigned after admitting to the sexual abuse of a teen-age seminary student 27 years earlier.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 28, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Julius Paetz, archbishop of Poznan, Poland, due to a sex scandal and accusations of molesting young seminarians.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 31, Pope John Paul II used his Easter message to call for an end to violence in the Holy Land.
(AP, 3/31/03)
2002 Apr 15, Pope John Paul II summoned all US cardinals to the Vatican to discuss clerical sex abuse scandals in the US.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 23, Pope John Paul II opened a Vatican meeting with American cardinals to discuss sexual abuse by clergy.
(SFC, 4/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 24, US cardinals at the Vatican issued a communique for expedited procedures to defrock priests guilty of sexual abuse of minors.
(SFC, 4/25/02, p.A1)
2002 May 22, Pope John Paul (82) arrived in Azerbaijan for a 2-day visit before continuing on to Bulgaria. He hope to improve relations with the Muslim and Christian Orthodox believers.
(WSJ, 5/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A1)
2002 May 24, Pope John Paul accepted the resignation of Rembert Weakland (75), archbishop of Milwaukee. Weakland admitted to a $450,000 settlement in 1998 to Paul Marcoux (53) for an alleged sexual assault in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A3)
2002 May 28, Pres. Bush met with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City and expressed his worries on the sex scandals in the US involving Catholic clergy.
(SFC, 5/29/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 14, US bishops voted to remove any priest from his ministry who abuses a minor but stopped short of zero tolerance, as pushed by some victims.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 16, Pope John Paul II declared Padre Pio (d.1968), a mystic Capuchin monk, a saint.
(AP, 6/16/02)
2002 Jul 23, A frail Pope John Paul II walked down the steps of his plane instead of using a lift after arriving in Canada to join thousands of young Catholic pilgrims for World Youth Day. Tens of thousands of exuberant young Catholics massed in Toronto to greet the Pope.
(AP, 7/23/02)(Reuters, 7/23/02)
2002 Jul 28, In Canada Pope John Paul ended the celebrations of World Youth Day for 800,000 people in Toronto's massive Downsview Park. Speaking publicly on the church abuse scandal for the first time, Pope John Paul II told young Catholics that sexual abuse of children by priests "fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame."
(Reuters, 7/29/02)(AP, 7/28/03)
2002 Jul 30, In Guatemala City Pope John Paul II canonized his 463rd saint, Pedro de San Jose Betancur, a 17th century Spanish missionary and Central America's first saint.
(SFC, 7/31/02, p.A2)(AP, 7/30/07)
2002 Jul 30, Pope John Paul II began a three-day visit to Mexico to canonize Juan Diego, the first Indian saint. He arrived from Guatemala to a greeting by President Vicente Fox and tens of thousands of people lining Mexico City's streets.
(AP, 7/30/02)
2002 Jul 31, Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego, an Indian peasant to whom church tradition says the Virgin Mary appeared 500 years ago, in a ceremony in Mexico that drew more than 1 million believers into the streets.
(AP, 8/1/02)
2002 Aug 2, Pope John Paul II returned to Rome after ending an 11-day pilgrimage to Canada, Guatemala and Mexico.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2002 Aug 5, The Vatican excommunicated 7 women who claimed to have been recently ordained as priests, because they had attacked the fundamental structure of the Catholic Church. The 7 women, from Germany, Austria and the United States, had defied an earlier Vatican warning to repent over their participation in a June 29 ceremony which they claimed made them priests.
(AP, 8/6/02)(WSJ, 8/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 16, Pope John Paul II returned to Poland for a 3-day visit.
(SFC, 8/17/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 18, In a tearful, farewell Mass in his beloved Krakow, Pope John Paul II told more than 2 million Poles that he would like to return one day — but that "this is entirely in God's hands."
(AP, 8/18/03)
2002 Aug 19, An ailing and aging John Paul II bid a tearful farewell to his homeland as he concluded a four-day visit to the Krakow region of Poland.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2002 Oct 6, Pope John Paul II raised to sainthood Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer the Spanish priest who founded the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei (1928), only 27 years after his death.
(AP, 10/6/02)
2002 Dec 13, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation, due to sex abuse, of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law (71).
(SFC, 12/14/02, p.A1)(AP, 12/13/07)
2002 Dec 20, Pope John Paul II brought Mother Teresa (d.1997) closer to sainthood when he approved a miracle attributed to the nun.
(AP, 12/20/02)
2003 May 3, Pope John Paul II began a whirlwind visit to Madrid, Spain. He urged hundreds of thousands of young people outside Madrid to be "artisans of peace."
(AP, 5/3/04)
2003 May 4, In Spain Pope John Paul II proclaimed five new saints and urged Spaniards to emulate them. They included: Pedro Poveda, a priest killed in 1936; Angela de la Cruz, who founded the Sisters of the Company of the Cross; Genoveva Torres, who founded the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and of the Holy Angels; Maravillas de Jesus, who founded convents for the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, and Jose Maria Rubio, a Jesuit priest.
(AP, 5/4/03)
2003 May 17, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re acknowledged that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease.
(AP, 5/17/04)
2003 May 18, Pope John Paul II celebrated his 83rd birthday.
(AP, 5/19/03)
2003 Jun 5, Pope John Paul II began his landmark 100th foreign pilgrimage with a five-day, five-city tour of Croatia.
(AP, 6/5/03)
2003 Jul 31, The Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was "gravely immoral" and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
(SFC, 8/1/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/31/04)
2003 Sep 11, Weary and trembling, Pope John Paul II struggled to greet Slovaks as he began a four-day visit.
(AP, 9/11/03)
2003 Sep 14, Pope John Paul II wrapped up a pilgrimage to Slovakia by beatifying two clerics, Greek Catholic Bishop Vasil Hopko and Roman Catholic Sister Zdenka Schelingova, who were jailed and tortured under the former communist regime.
(AP, 9/14/03)
2003 Sep 19, The government of Georgia scrapped an accord guaranteeing religious freedom for Catholics. The next day the Vatican issued an unusually strong rebuke to the former Soviet republic and its dominant Orthodox Church.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 28, Pope John Paul II named 31 new cardinals.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Oct 5, Pope John Paul II declared three missionaries to be saints: Daniele Comboni, an Italian; Arnold Janssen, a German; and Josef Freinademetz, an Austrian.
(AP, 10/5/03)
2003 Oct 16, Pope John Paul II celebrated his 25th anniversary, reaching a milestone matched by only three of his predecessors.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 19, Pope John Paul beatified Mother Teresa before a crowd of 300,000.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct 21, Pope John Paul II added 30 names to the list of his possible successors, installing a diverse collection of cardinals.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Nov 9, Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square beatified two Spaniards, an Italian, a Belgian and a Frenchwoman.
(AP, 11/9/03)
2003 Nov 27, At the Vatican the Dalai Lama visited Pope John Paul II.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A3)
2004 Apr 25, Pope John Paul II added six more people to the ranks of Catholics on the path to possible sainthood. Honored were: August Czartoryski (1858-1893) of Poland, a prince who became a Salesian priest; Laura Montoya (1874-1949) of Colombia, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Mary; Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963) of Mexico, co-founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Saint Margaret Mary and the Poor; Nemesia Valle (1847-1916) of Italy, a nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Giovanna Antida Thouret; Eusebia Palomino Yenes (1899-1935) of Spain; a nun of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians; and da Costa (1904-1955), who became a lay Salesian cooperator.
(AP, 4/25/04)
2004 May 16, Pope John Paul II named six new saints, including Gianna Beretta Molla, revered by abortion foes because she'd refused to end her pregnancy despite warnings it could kill her. Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician, died in 1962 at age 39, a week after giving birth to her fourth child.
(AP, 5/16/05)
2004 Jun 4, Pope John Paul II met with President Bush and reminded him of the Vatican's opposition to the war in Iraq.
(AP, 6/4/04)
2004 Jul 31, The Vatican issued a document denouncing feminism for trying to blur differences between men and women and threatening the institution of families based on a mother and a father.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2004 Aug 14, A visibly weak Pope John Paul II joined thousands of other ailing pilgrims at a cliffside shrine in Lourdes, France, telling them he shares in their physical suffering and assuring them the burden is part of God's "wondrous plan."
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Feb 1, Pope John Paul II was hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2005 Feb 27, Pope John Paul II made a surprise first public appearance after surgery, appearing at his Rome hospital window.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2005 Mar 13, Pope John Paul II was released from the hospital and returned to his Vatican apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2005 Apr 2, Pope John Paul II, born in Poland in 1920 as Karol Wojtyla, died in Rome at age 84. He was elevated to Pope in 1978 and was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In November Viking published “John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father” by Peggy Noonan.
(AP, 4/2/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.D8)
2005 Apr 7, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe defied a European Union travel ban and arrived in Rome to join world leaders attending Pope John Paul II's funeral. Italy has a pact with the Vatican in which it does not interfere with people transiting the country to see the pope.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 8, World leaders joined pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2005 Apr 19, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (78) of Germany became Pope Benedict XVI. As the 265th pope he promised to enforce strictly conservative policies for the world's Roman Catholics. In Germany Ratzinger's latest book, "Werte in Zeiten des Umbruchs" (Values in Times of Upheaval), was already sold out after its release a week ago. Ratzinger viewed secularism and moral relativism as the chief adversaries of God and the church. After Ratzinger was elected pope, the Holy See's No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, signed a decree assigning "in perpetuity and worldwide" the copyrights of all Benedict's works, including the hundreds he wrote before becoming pope, to the Vatican's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV).
(AP, 4/19/05)(WSJ, 4/20/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/19/06)
2005 Apr 20, In his first Mass as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work for unity among Christians and to seek an open and sincere dialogue'' with other faiths.
(AP, 4/20/06)
2005 Apr 24, Pope Benedict XVI formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church; the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in his installation homily that as pontiff he would listen to the will of God in governing the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(AP, 4/24/06)
2005 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI appointed SF Archbishop William Levada (68) as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s top arbiter of questions of faith and morals.
(SFC, 5/14/05, p.A1)
2005 May 23, The Vatican said there was no investigation under way of allegations that Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado, the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order, sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 Jul 25, Israel expressed outrage that Pope Benedict XVI failed to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis. Pope Benedict urged dialogue with the best elements of Islam.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 18, Pope Benedict XVI began his first foreign trip as pontiff, leaving Rome to take part in the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 19, Pope Benedict XVI warned of rising anti-Semitism and hostility to foreigners, winning a standing ovation from members of Germany's oldest Jewish community during a visit to a rebuilt synagogue that had been destroyed by the Nazis.
(AP, 8/19/05)
2005 Aug 21, Pope Benedict XVI triumphantly ended his four-day trip to his native Germany, celebrating an open-air Mass for a million people in Cologne.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2005 Oct 16, Polish television broadcast a recorded interview with Pope Benedict XVI, who said that he planned to visit Poland, the homeland of his predecessor, John Paul II (it's believed to be the first TV interview by a pope).
(AP, 10/16/06)
2005 Oct 22, Bishops from around the world approved a set of 50 recommendations for Pope Benedict XVI on running the Roman Catholic Church that reaffirm church teaching on such issues as celibacy for priests.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints at the close of a 3-week Synod of Bishops. They included: Rev. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit who was known for his work with the poor as well as the young; from Ukraine Josef Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv, who was greatly admired by Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews alike during World War and the Rev. Zygmunt Gorazdowski, who founded the Congregation for the Sisters of St. Joseph to care for the sick and poor; and Italians Felice da Nicosia, a lay Capuchin who lived in the 1700s, and the Rev. Gaetano Cantanoso, who founded the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Nov 10, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI amid tight security that closed down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 17, Israeli President Moshe Katsav met with Pope Benedict XVI and other top Roman Catholic officials to discuss a long-standing tax dispute that has irritated relations between Israel and the Holy See.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi discussed relations between the Catholic Church and Italy, amid accusations that the church interferes in the country's domestic affairs.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI curbed the independence of Franciscan friars running the famed St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, decreeing they must now get permission for their activities from the local bishop.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, The Vatican beatified 13 Mexicans who died during a Roman Catholic uprising in the late 1920s that was crushed by the Mexican government.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 22, Pope Benedict XVI created the diocese of Ba Ria, in the Vietnam province of the same name, by dividing up the existing diocese of Xuan Loc. He named Monsignor Thomas Nguen Van Tram bishop of Ba Ria. Vietnam had an estimated 6 million Catholics.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 29, The Vatican published its long-awaited document on gays in the clergy, saying men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be ordained but those with a "transitory problem" could be if they had overcome them for three years.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Dec 25, Pope Benedict the 16th marked his first Christmas as pope, calling for concrete actions to back up “signs of hope” in the Middle East and urging peace in Darfur, Sudan and the Korean peninsula.
(AP, 12/25/06)
2006 Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical, "God is Love," that the Roman Catholic Church has no desire to govern states or set public policy, but can't remain silent when its charity is needed to ease suffering around the world.
(AP, 1/25/06)
2006 Feb 2, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, a liberal voice in the US church who recently revealed that a priest abused him 60 years ago.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 22, Pope Benedict XVI named 15 new cardinals, including John Paul II's longtime private secretary and prelates from Boston and Hong Kong, adding his first installment to the elite group of churchmen who will elect his successor.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 26, In Canada, 19 Catholic priests singed an open letter in Montreal’s La Presse newspaper denouncing Vatican opposition to gay marriage and having homosexuals into the priesthood.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 13, Pope Benedict XVI and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks at the Vatican about Iran, Iraq and the prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 23, Pope Benedict XVI convened the College of Cardinals for the first time since his election last year, inviting its members to share their concerns about the challenges facing the Catholic Church before adding 15 new members to their ranks.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2006 Mar 24, Pope Benedict XVI installed his first group of cardinals, promoting 15 prelates, including two Americans, to the elite club that chooses his successor.
(AP, 3/24/06)
2006 Mar 25, The Vatican's foreign minister said that the "time is ripe" for the Holy See and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations, and confirmed it is ready to move its embassy from Taiwan.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Apr 16, In his first Easter message as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI urged nations to use diplomacy to defuse nuclear crises and prayed that Palestinians would one day have their own state alongside Israel.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2006 May 3, China's state-approved Catholic church installed a bishop without Vatican approval, the second this week.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 4, The Vatican excommunicated two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without the pope's consent, escalating tensions as the two sides explored preliminary moves toward improving ties.
(AP, 5/4/06)
2006 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI named a new bishop for Vietnam, a country that lacks ties with the Vatican but has the second highest number of Catholics in Southeast Asia.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 19, The Vatican said it had asked Rev. Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ (1941), to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of "prayer and repentance" following its investigation into allegations he sexually abused seminarians.
(AP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 25, Poland welcomed Pope Benedict XVI with cheers and fluttering yellow and white Vatican flags as the German-born pontiff started a four-day visit aimed at honoring predecessor John Paul II and healing wounds from World War II.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 28, Pope Benedict XVI urged some 900,000 Poles at a giant mass to fight growing secularism by spreading their Christian faith across Europe and the world. He visited Auschwitz.
(AFP, 5/28/06)(WSJ, 5/30/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 3, British PM Tony Blair had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI, at which the two men focused on the importance of inter-faith dialogue, in particular with "moderate Islam", in achieving peace.
(AP, 6/3/06)
2006 Jun 6, The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 30, The Vatican said it will release from its secret archives years of files on Pope Pius XI, whose pontificate spanned most of the period between the world wars.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jul 8, Pope Benedict XVI stressed family values during a visit to Spain, where church influence has waned and the government has angered the Vatican with its liberal take on issues including gay marriage.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Sep 9, Pope Benedict XVI began a six-day homecoming to his native Bavaria.
(AP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 12, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at Regensburg Univ. that included brusque words about Islam. He quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” The speech quickly provoked criticism from the world’s Muslim communities. The pontiff later said he regretted that Muslims were offended.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.A17)(AP, 9/12/07)
2006 Sep 14, Turkey's top Islamic cleric asked Pope Benedict XVI to take back recent remarks he made about Islam on Sep 12. He unleashed a string of counteraccusations against Christianity, raising tensions before the pontiff's November visit.
(AP, 9/14/06)(SFC, 9/15/06, p.A17)
2006 Sep 16, Leaders across the Muslim world demanded Pope Benedict XVI apologize for his remarks on Islam and jihad. The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely" regretted offending Muslims with his reference to an obscure medieval text characterizing some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," but the statement stopped short of the apology demanded by Islamic leaders. Two West Bank Christian churches were hit by firebombs, and a group claiming responsibility said it was protesting Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Islam.
(AP, 9/16/06)(AP, 9/16/07)
2006 Sep 17, Pope Benedict XVI said that he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his recent remarks about Islam, which he said came from a text that didn't reflect his personal opinion.
(AP, 9/17/06)
2006 Sep 18, The Vatican opened part of its secret archives to let historians review millions of diplomatic letters, private correspondence and other church documents to gain insight into how the Holy See dealt with the growing persecution of Jews before World War II.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 25, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats that Christians and Muslims must work together to guard against intolerance and violence as he sought to soothe anger over his recent remarks about Islam.
(AP, 9/25/06)
2006 Sep 26, The Vatican said it has excommunicated Zambia’s Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, for defying the Holy See by installing four married men as bishops. The prelate had already angered the Vatican by getting married in 2001.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Oct 13, Pope Benedict XVI met privately with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, but the Vatican released no details of the low-key visit that was not even listed on the pontiff's official calendar.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 15, Pope Benedict XVI gave Catholics four news saints, bestowing the honor on a 19th-century nun who struggled on the American frontier, a bishop who tended to the wounded during the Mexican Revolution and two Italian clergy.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 18, Pope Benedict XVI received an open letter signed by 38 Muslim personalities from various countries and of different outlooks, which discussed point by point the views on Islam expressed by the pope in his Sep 12 Regensburg lecture.
(http://popebenedict16.blogspot.com/)
2006 Nov 16, The Vatican reaffirmed the value of celibacy for priests after a summit led by Pope Benedict XVI that was spurred by a married African archbishop who has been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 26, More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul held the biggest protest so far against Pope Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 28, Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to a Muslim country with a message of dialogue and brotherhood between Christians and Muslims in an attempt to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam. In Turkey Benedict urged all religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to support any violence in the name of faith.
(AP, 11/28/06)(AP, 11/28/07)
2006 Dec 22, The Roman Catholic Church denied a religious funeral for Piergiogio Welby, the paralyzed Italian author who died after a doctor disconnected his respirator, saying it would treat his public wish to "end his life" as a willful suicide.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 25, Pope Benedict XVI used his Christmas Day address to call for a peaceful resolution of conflicts worldwide and appealed for greater caring of the poor, the exploited and all who suffer.
(AP, 12/25/07)
2006 Dec 26, The Vatican called on retired Bishop Fernando Lugo to give up his plans to run for Paraguay's presidency or face canonical sanctions. Lugo said he had already resigned from the priesthood to lead a planned opposition alliance and challenge conservative President Nicanor Duarte of the Colorado Party in elections scheduled for May 2008.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2007 Jan 11, A US federal judge ruled that the Vatican can be sued for damages by US victims of clerical sex abuse.
(WSJ, 1/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI met with Vietnam's PM Nguyen Tan Dung. Their talks marked an important step toward establishing diplomatic relations following decades of tension.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Mar 3, Pope Benedict named Kazimierz Nycz, a bishop with a spotless record, as archbishop of Warsaw to replace a prelate who resigned in disgrace after admitting he spied for the communist police.
(Reuters, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI met for the highest-level Kremlin-Vatican talks in more than three years, focusing on easing tension between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians and finding common ground in denouncing intolerance and extremism.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 28, In France an official at a Paris maternity hospital said Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre is the French nun whose testimony of a mystery cure from Parkinson's disease will likely be accepted as the miracle the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2007 Apr 13, Benedict XVI published “Jesus of Nazareth,” his first book as pope. It criticizes the "cruelty" of capitalism and colonialism and the power of the wealthy over the poor.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 20, A Vatican committee issued a report concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven and not be stuck in Limbo, which “reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation.”
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A7)
2007 May 4, Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met with Pope Benedict XVI for talks the Vatican hoped would help heal tensions left from the pontiff's remarks on Islam and violence, but the Iranian said the wounds were still very deep.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 6, Italian news said a Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for cocaine use.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in 2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was "Yes."
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Brazil Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion in his first speech but avoided further suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be considered excommunicated.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 11, In Sao Paulo Pope Benedict XVI canonized Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao (d.1822), an 18th-century Franciscan monk, as Brazil's first native-born saint. Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI held an inaugural mass for the 5th conference of bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean. This brought together 166 bishops to discuss the church's situation in the region, home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.47)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome after telling Brazilians a growing rich-poor gap is to be lamented, but that the solution isn’t Marxism.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev. George Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1932 as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted Poles afflicted by the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin), who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in 1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 5, A Vatican engineer said some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI discussed the pontiff's deep worries that Christians in Iraq would not be embraced by the Muslim majority. Bush, denounced by anti-American protesters on the streets of Rome, defended his humanitarian record as he met with the Pope. Bush met with PM Prodi for the first time several hours after seeing the pope.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 19, The Vatican issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 23, Britain’s PM Tony Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI, with the Vatican stop on his farewell tour fueling rumors that he plans to convert to Catholicism.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that relaxes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries until the modernizing reforms of the 1960s.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 7, Pope Benedict XVI removed restrictions on celebrating the old form of the Latin Mass in a concession to traditional Catholics, but he stressed that he was in no way rolling back the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jul 10, Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Aug 27, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, a Vatican-backed charter airline service, made its inaugural flight, aiming to carry pilgrims to such Catholic shrines as Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostela and the Holy Land.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Sep 6, Pope Benedict XVI met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, as the elder statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate continued his visit to Italy amid an international push for peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 7, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to Holocaust victims, extending his "sadness, repentance and friendship" to the Jewish people as he began a 3-day pilgrimage to Austria.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 8, In Austria Pope Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having enough children, in a sermon at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of Mariazell.
(AP, 9/8/07)
2007 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to South Koreans' "inherent moral sensibility" to reject embryonic stem cell research and human cloning after the country decided to let embryonic stem cell research resume.
(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 17, Pope Benedict XVI named 23 new cardinals, tapping two Americans, the patriarch of Baghdad, and archbishops from five continents to join the elite ranks of the "princes" of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Oct 28, The Vatican staged its largest mass beatification ceremony ever, putting 498 victims (1934-1937) of religious persecution before and during Spain's civil war on the path to possible sainthood.
(AP, 10/28/07)
2007 Nov 6, In the Vatican Benedict XVI raised concerns about restrictions on Christian worship in Saudi Arabia in the first meeting ever between a pope and a reigning Saudi king.
(AP, 11/6/07)
2007 Nov 24, Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 churchmen from around the world to the top ranks of the Catholic Church hierarchy, telling them they must be willing to shed their blood to spread the Christian faith.
(AP, 11/24/07)
2008 Mar 10, A top Vatican official listed drugs, pollution, genetic manipulation and social and economic injustice as new sins.
(AP, 3/11/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 22, Magdi Allam (55), Italy's most prominent Muslim, converted to Catholicism in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service. The iconoclastic writer has condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel.
(AP, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 30, The Vatican said Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism in number of adherents. It recently put the Roman Catholic number at 1.13 billion. Others estimated Muslims to number around 1.3 billion.
(WSJ, 3/31/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 15, Pope Benedict arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and was met by President Bush and Catholic dignitaries. Benedict turned 81 the next day.
(AP, 4/16/08)(SFC, 4/16/08, p.A2)
2008 Apr 19, In NYC Pope Benedict XVI preached in St. Patrick's cathedral, assuring priests and nuns that he was close to them as they battled the damage left by the clergy sex scandal.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 19, Alfonso Lopez Trujillo (b.1935), Vatican enforcer and former archbishop of Medellin, died. In 1995, as head of the Pontifical council for the Family, he published a “Lexicon of Ambiguous and Debatable Terms.”
(Econ, 5/3/08, p.93)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_L%C3%B3pez_Trujillo)
2008 Apr 20, Pope Benedict XVI held a Mass at Yankee Stadium on his last day in the US.
(WSJ, 4/21/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 27, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, a church law expert known for his tough stance that politicians who support abortion rights be denied Holy Communion, was named to head the Vatican's supreme court.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2008 Jul 12, Pope Benedict XVI left Rome on a flight to Australia for a 10-day pilgrimage. The Pope said he will use his visit to Australia to apologize for sexual abuse by priests and to examine how the Church can "prevent, heal and reconcile".
(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 13, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Sydney, after a stop in Darwin, for one of the largest Christian gatherings on Earth, starting a visit set to be marked by his apology for sexual abuse by priests in Australia.
(AFP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 17, In Sidney, Australia, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a stinging attack on pop culture, consumerism and "false idols" to 150,000 mainly teenaged Catholic pilgrims gathered for World Youth Day.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Australia Pope Benedict XVI warned Christian leaders that the push to unite Christian churches was at a "critical juncture" and called on people of all religions to join together against violence.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 19, In Sidney, Australia, Pope Benedict apologized directly for the first time for sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, but victims groups said they wanted action and not words.
(Reuters, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 20, In Australia Pope Benedict XVI said a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and he challenged young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 21, In Sidney Pope Benedict XVI met privately with Australians who were sexually abused as children by priests, ending a pilgrimage to the country with a gesture of contrition and concern over a scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Jul 30, The papal nuncio said Paraguay's president-elect Fernando Lugo (57) has received unprecedented permission from the pope to resign as bishop, ending a dispute over his priestly status.
(AP, 7/31/08)
2008 Sep 12, Pope Benedict XVI urged France to take Christianity into account despite its secular tradition, saying on his first visit there as pontiff that church and state should be open to each other.
(AP, 9/12/08)
2008 Oct 12, Pope Benedict XVI gave the Roman Catholic church four new saints, including an Indian woman whose canonization is seen as a morale boost to Christians in India who have suffered Hindu violence. They included Sister Alphonsa (1910-1946) of the Immaculate Conception, a nun from southern India and India’s first woman saint; Gaetano Errico (1791-1860), a Neapolitan priest who founded a missionary order in the 19th century; Sister Maria Bernarda, born as Verena Buetler (1848-1924) in Switzerland, who worked as a nun in Ecuador and Colombia; and Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran (1832-1869), a 19th century laywoman from Ecuador who helped the sick and the poor.
(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Nov 4, In a bid to improve strained Catholic-Muslim relations, the Vatican hosted scholars, imans and clerics from both religions as it opened a three-day religious conference.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Dec 12, The Vatican raised its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, the morning-after pill, in vitro fertilization and human cloning to a new level in a major new document on bioethics.
(AP, 12/12/08)
2008 Dec 31, The Vatican announced that it will no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own, citing the vast number of laws Italy churns out, many of which are in odds with Catholic doctrine.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2009 Jan 5, The Vatican said that Bishop Allen H. Vigneron will replace Cardinal Adam Joseph Maida at the head of the Detroit archdiocese. The pope also named the auxiliary bishop of Halifax, Claude Champagne, as the new bishop of Edmundston in Canada. Benedict appointed the Rev. Cirilo Flores as new auxiliary bishop of Orange, California.
(AP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 24, Pope Benedict rehabilitated four traditionalist bishops who lead the far-right Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which has about 600,000 members and rejects modernizations of Roman Catholic worship and doctrine. One of the four, British-born Richard Williamson, has made statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.
(Reuters, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 28, Israel’s chief rabbinate cut ties with the Vatican to protest the reinstatement of English-born Bishop Richard Williamson (b.1940), who has continued to deny the Holocaust. Williamson was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 because of his unauthorized consecration by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, deemed by the Holy See to be "unlawful" and "a schismatic act."
(WSJ, 1/29/09, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Williamson_(bishop))
2009 Jan 31, The Vatican announced that the Pope has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner (54) to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria province. Wagner caused a stir in 2005 when he was quoted as saying that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina earlier that year was "divine retribution" for tolerance of homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes in New Orleans.
(AP, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 4, The Vatican demanded that Bishop Richard Williamson recant his positions on the Holocaust before being admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 16, The Vatican said it will launch a Chinese version of its website on March 19 in an effort to bring more of Pope Benedict's message to China, whose communist government does not allow Catholics to recognize his authority.
(Reuters, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 17, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cameroon to start his first visit to Africa as pontiff. Benedict, arriving in Africa, said that condoms "increase the problem" of AIDS. The comment, made to reporters aboard his plane, caused a worldwide firestorm of criticism.
(Reuters, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 20, Tens of thousands of Angolans welcomed Pope Benedict XVI. He urged Angolans to continue on the path of reconciliation after nearly three decades of civil war, saying dialogue could overcome all conflict and tension.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 21, In Angola Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the Catholics of Angola to reach out to and convert believers in witchcraft who feel threatened by "spirits" and "evil powers" of sorcery. Two people were killed in a deadly stampede that broke out at Luanda stadium a few hours before Pope Benedict XVI addressed young people.
(AP, 3/21/09)
2009 Mar 23, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has named Monsignor Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, a San Diego clergyman, to be bishop of Oakland, California.
(AP, 3/23/09)
2009 Apr 17, The Vatican said it will spend $660 million to build the biggest solar plant in Europe on 740 acres of pasture land it owns north of Rome.
(SFC, 4/18/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 26, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints, including Portugal's 14th century independence leader and an Italian priest who ministered to factory workers at the dawn of the industrial era.
(AP, 4/26/09)
2009 Apr 27, Belarus' authoritarian Pres. Lukashenko met with Pope Benedict XVI on his first trip to Western Europe since the European Union lifted a travel ban imposed in 1999 over his dismal human rights record. The EU lifted the ban to allow Lukashenko to attend an East-West summit in Prague, Czech Republic, in May.
(www.contracostatimes.com/nationandworld/ci_12237339)
2009 May 8, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Jordan and expressed deep respect for Islam. He said he hopes the Catholic Church can play a role in Mideast peace as he began his first trip to the region, where he hopes to improve frayed ties with Muslims.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 10, In Jordan Pope Benedict XVI urged Middle East Christians to persevere in their faith despite hardships threatening their ancient communities, addressing a crowd of 20,000 who filled a sports stadium where he celebrated the first open-air Mass of his pilgrimage.
(AP, 5/10/09)
2009 May 11, Pope Benedict XVI confronted the dark history of his native Germany on the first day of his visit to Israel, shaking the hands of six Holocaust survivors and saying victims of the genocide "lost their lives but they will never lose their names." He also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland, a stance that could put him at odds with his hosts on a trip aimed at improving ties between the Vatican and Jews.
(AP, 5/11/09)
2009 May 13, Standing in Bethlehem, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians he understands their suffering and offered the Vatican's strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian homeland.
(AP, 5/13/09)
2009 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI greeted tens of thousands of adoring followers in Nazareth with a message of reconciliation, urging Christians and Muslims to overcome recent strife and "reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice."
(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 15, In Israel Pope Benedict XVI ended his pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his strongest call yet for the creation of a Palestinian state and telling the faithful at the site of Jesus' crucifixion that peace is possible.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 Jun 29, Pope Benedict XVI signed his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," a text on ways to make globalization more attentive to meeting the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 6, Vatican Radio began airing advertisements for the first time in its 80-year history. Vatican debt last year was pegged at $22 Million.
(SFC, 7/27/09, p.D3)
2009 Jul 7, Pope Benedict XVI called for a radical rethinking of global economy in “Caritas et Verite” (Charity in Truth) his 3rd encyclical.
(SFC, 7/8/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 10, At the Vatican Pope Benedict XVI stressed the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell research in his first meeting with President Barack Obama.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 30, Italy approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, drawing fierce protests by the Vatican. The Italian Drug Agency ruled that the drug cannot be sold in drug stores but can only be administered by doctors in a hospital.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Sep 26, Pope Benedict XVI criticized the communist era's fierce religious persecution as he began a three-day pilgrimage to the Czech Republic, and urged the heavily secular nation to rediscover its Christian roots.
(AP, 9/26/09)
2009 Oct 4, Pope Benedict opened a special meeting of bishops on Africa by praising the continent as the world's spiritual center but lamenting that it risks being afflicted by materialism and religious fundamentalism.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints, including Father Damien, a 19th-century priest who worked with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island; Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Polish bishop who defended the Catholic faith during the years of the Russian annexation; Spaniards Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order of Dominicans in the 19th century, and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who renounced an affluent lifestyle at age 22 to live a humble life in a strict monastery and dedicate himself to prayer; and Jeanne Jugan (d.1879), a French nun, who helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending a Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt Catholic political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Peter Turkson (61) of Ghana to head the Vatican's justice and peace office, a high-profile post that cements his reputation as a possible future papal candidate. Turkson's appointment to his new post was announced at the end of a three-week Vatican meeting on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 25, Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa with a call for peace and reconciliation among all people on the continent, regardless of ethnic and religious differences.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 31, The Vatican said it will admit married Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood case by case. In no case could a married man become a bishop, and the new rules would exclude any married Anglican bishop from retaining that post.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 3, Europe's court of human rights ruled the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms under the continent's rights convention. The court ordered Italy to pay a $7,390 fine to a mother who has fought for 8 years to have crucifixes removed from public school classrooms. The Vatican denounced the ruling.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 10, The Vatican presented results of a 5-day conference that gathered experts to discuss astrobiology, the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 3, Pope Benedict XVI and visiting Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade Vatican-Kremlin relations to full diplomatic ties.
(SFC, 12/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 11, At the Vatican Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet met with Pope Benedict XVI for 40 minutes, twice as long as was scheduled and the first time that the head of state of Vietnam has met with the pope since the communists took power in 1954. Vietnam's 6 million Roman Catholics is one of the largest Catholic communities in Asia.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 17, The Vatican said Bishop Donal Murray (69), a Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland, has resigned after a probe of child sex abuse by clergymen accused him of ignoring reports of crimes by priests in his diocese from 1982-1996.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 17, The Vatican said it has stripped charismatic Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of his priestly duties because he defiantly continues to ordain bishops despite already being excommunicated. Milingo angered the Vatican when he got married in 2001 to a South Korean woman by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. He was excommunicated in 2006 after installing four married men as bishops.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 24, At the Vatican a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI (82) for the second time in two years, managing to knock him down before being pulled away by security. The Vatican identified the woman involved as Susanna Maiolo (25), a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems, who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment. The pope was unhurt but retired Vatican diplomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray (87), fractured his hip in the commotion.
(AP, 12/25/09)
2009 Dec 31, The Ugandan government said it was investigating the breakaway Catholic Apostolic National Church in Uganda and would ban it if found to be illegal. 20 renegade Catholic priests, who are either married or want to marry, have broken from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church and formed a new church where celibacy is not required. Vatican officials said the priests were now considered "outside" the Catholic Church and would likely be excommunicated.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2010 Feb 19, Pope Benedict XVI approved sainthood for Mother Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), making the woman known for her work among the needy Australia's first saint. Sainthood was also approved for Stanislaw Soltys, a 15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Varano; Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola and a Canadian brother, Andre Bessette (d.1937). The formal canonization will take place Oct. 17 in Rome.
(AP, 2/19/10)
2010 Mar 24, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, a former papal aide who stands accused of endangering children by failing to follow the Irish church's own rules on reporting suspected pedophile priests to police.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 Apr 12, The Vatican responded to allegations it long concealed clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and clerics worldwide should report such crimes to police if they are required to by law.
(AP, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 18, Pope Benedict XVI met in Malta with a group of clerical sex-abuse victims and promised them with tears in his eyes that the Catholic Church would seek justice for pedophile priests and implement "effective measures" to protect young people from abuse. 10 Maltese men came forward earlier this month saying they wanted to meet with the pope to tell him their stories and to request an apology. They said they were abused by 4 priests at a Catholic orphanage.
(AP, 4/18/10)
2010 Apr 22, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Irish Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare, who acknowledged failing to report abuse to police, while a German bishop also offered to step down.
(AP, 4/22/10)
2010 May 1, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would name a papal delegate to govern the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ and that a special commission would study its founding constitutions to reform it. The decisions were made after five Vatican investigators reported to the pope about their eight-month global inquiry into the order after its late founder was so thoroughly discredited by revelations of his double life.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 8, Bishop Walter Mixa, a leading German bishop who has acknowledged slapping children and is being investigated for sexual abuse of minors and financial misconduct, lost his job as Pope Benedict XVI continued cleaning house.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 Jun 4, Pope Benedict XVI began a pilgrimage to Cyprus bringing a message of peace to the region as Greek Cypriot leaders made a blistering attack on Turkey for its occupation of northern Cyprus.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 8, At the Vatican groups that have long demanded that women be ordained Roman Catholic priests took advantage of the Vatican's crisis over clerical sex abuse to press their cause, demanding the Vatican open discussions on letting women join the priesthood.
(AP, 6/8/10)
2010 Jun 20, The Vatican pledged that Naples’ Cardinal Crescensio Sepe would cooperated in an alleged corruption probe over his real transactions and other dealings.
(SFC, 6/21/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 27, Pope Benedict denounced as "surprising and deplorable" raids by Belgian police on Church offices and the home of a cardinal this week during an investigation into pedophilia by Roman Catholic priests.
(Reuters, 6/27/10)
2010 Jun 28, Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of a new Vatican office to fight secularization and "re-evangelize" the West, a tacit acknowledgment that his attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe haven't succeeded and need a new boost.
(AP, 6/29/10)
2010 Jul 10, The Vatican said it had posted its 3rd straight annual financial loss, registering a 4.1 million euro ($5.2 million) deficit for 2009.
(SSFC, 7/11/10, p.A3)
2010 Jul 15, The Vatican issued a new set of norms to respond to the worldwide clerical abuse scandal. The norms extend from 10 to 20 years the statute of limitations on priestly abuse and also codify for the first time that possessing or distributing child pornography is a canonical crime.
(AP, 7/15/10)
2010 Sep 16, Pope Benedict XVI, beginning a controversial visit to Britain, acknowledged that the Catholic Church had failed to act decisively or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children. He said the church's top priority now was to help the victims heal.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 18, In Britain Pope Benedict XVI said he was ashamed of the "unspeakable" sexual abuse of children by priests, issuing an apology to the British faithful even as thousands of people opposed to his visit marched in central London in the biggest protest of his five-year papacy.
(AP, 9/18/10)
2010 Sep 19, In Britain Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman at an open-air Mass and marked the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a personal reflection on the evil of the Nazi regime, praising those who "courageously" resisted it.
(AP, 9/19/10)
2010 Sep 21, Italian prosecutors launched an investigation into the Vatican bank's top executives for allegedly violating money laundering legislation, triggering a sharp rebuttal by the Vatican. The bank's top two officials were under investigation for suspected money laundering and police have frozen 23 million euros ($30.21 million) of its funds.
(AFP, 9/21/10)(Reuters, 9/21/10)
2010 Oct 8, French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the pope and top Vatican officials in a fence-mending visit following France's controversial crackdown on Gypsies, while a top Vatican cardinal urged France to welcome immigrants and those who have been persecuted.
(AP, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 12, Pope Benedict XVI formally created a new Vatican office to revive Christianity in Europe, his latest attempt to counter secular trends in traditionally Christian countries.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 17, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Australia's first saint, canonizing Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), a 19th-century nun. The Vatican also declared five other saints in an open-air Mass attended by tens of thousands. Brother Andre (1845-1937), a Canadian, Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Camilla da Varano, and Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola were also canonized.
(AP, 10/17/10)
2010 Oct 17, The official Vatican newspaper said that beer-swilling, doughnut-loving Homer Simpson and son Bart are Catholics, and what's more, it says that parents should not be afraid to let their children watch "the adventures of the little guys in yellow." Executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly the next day he was in "shock and awe" at the latest assertion, adding that the Simpsons attend the "Presbylutheran" First Church of Springfield. "The Simpsons" is the longest-running prime-time TV series in the United States and is now in its 22nd season.
(Reuters, 10/18/10)
2010 Oct 20, Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals, putting his mark on the body that will elect his successor and giving a boost to Italian hopes to regain the papacy.
(AP, 10/20/10)
2010 Nov 6, In Spain Pope Benedict XVI blasted the "aggressive" anti-church sentiment he said was flourishing in Spain as he sought to rekindle the faith in a once-staunchly Roman Catholic nation that is now among Europe's most liberal.
(AP, 11/6/10)
2010 Nov 7, In Spain Pope Benedict XVI consecrated a world monument to family, the Sagrada Familia church, but faced a gay kiss-in protest before he attacked abortion and defended male-female marriage.
(AFP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 8, Five Church of England bishops announced they are converting to Catholicism following an invitation to disaffected Anglicans from Pope Benedict XVI, the highest-profile defectors among conservatives opposed to gay bishops and female clergy.
(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 Nov 19, The world's cardinals met at the Vatican to discuss religious freedom, sex abuse by clergy and other issues amid a new dispute with China over an illicit ordination that threatens delicate relations between the two.
(AP, 11/19/10)
2010 Nov 20, Pope Benedict XVI formally created 24 new cardinals amid cheers in St. Peter's Basilica, bringing a mostly Italian group into the elite club that will eventually elect his successor. Benedict XVI reiterated that condoms are not a moral solution for stopping AIDS. But he added that in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, their use could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.
(AP, 11/20/10)(AP, 11/21/10)
2010 Nov 20, China's government-backed Catholic church ordained a bishop who did not have the pope's approval, despite objections from the Vatican.
(AP, 11/20/10)
2010 Nov 24, The Vatican denounced China for ordaining a bishop without papal consent, accusing the government-backed church of gravely damaging the faith and warning that the bishop risked excommunication. The Vatican also accused Chinese authorities of committing "grave violations of freedom of religion and conscience" by forcing Vatican-approved bishops to attend the ordination ceremony of Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai.
(AP, 11/24/10)
2010 Nov 26, In Chile the lawyer for a group of men who accused Fernando Karadima, a prominent Chilean priest, of sexually abusing them as teenagers said his clients will not appeal a ruling in favor of the clergyman. Five men, now adults, had alleged that Karadima began abusing them about 20 years ago, when they were between 14 and 17 years old. In 2011 the Vatican said Karadima was guilty of abusing minors and must retire.
(AP, 11/26/10)(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A2)
2010 Dec 2, Retired Naples Cardinal Michele Giordano (80), the highest ranking church official to ever stand trial in Italy, died. The cardinal was acquitted in 2000 of charges that he supplied about $800,000 (€600,000) to finance a loan-shark ring run linked to his family. He was also accused of misappropriating another $500,000 in church funds. He had always proclaimed his innocence.
(AP, 12/3/10)
2010 Dec 6, In Ireland Tony Walsh (56) was convicted of raping 3 boys over a 5-year period three decades earlier. Investigators had concluded that Walsh actually raped and molested hundreds of boys and girls while serving as a Dublin priest from 1978 to 1996. Investigators also reported that the Vatican had tried to stop the Dublin church from defrocking Walsh.
(SFC, 12/18/10, p.A4)
2010 Dec 30, Pope Benedict XVI issued new norms governing the Vatican’s banking system.
(SFC, 12/31/10, p.A2)
2011 Jan 12, Pope Benedict XVI named a new archbishop for the Catholic church in Haiti on the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed the bishop's predecessor along with dozens of other priests, seminarians and nuns. The Vatican said that Monsignor Guire Poulard, bishop of Les Cayes, is the new archbishop of Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 1/12/11)
2011 Jan 15, Three former Church of England bishops who are opposed to the consecration of women bishops were ordained as Roman Catholic priests, the first traditionalist Anglicans to take up an offer by Pope Benedict.
(Reuters, 1/15/11)
2011 Jan 20, Egypt's highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar, said it was freezing all dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church over what it called Pope Benedict's repeated insults toward Islam.
(Reuters, 1/20/11)
2011 Feb 3, British lawmakers demanded an explanation into why 1.85 million pounds ($2.99 million) of foreign aid money helped pay for the pope's visit to the U.K. last year.
(AP, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 17, Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met at the Vatican, stressing the need for better ties and the promotion of shared Christian values.
(AP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 18, The Vatican said Fernando Karadima, a prominent Chilean priest, has been found guilty of abusing minors and must retire to a life of prayer and penitence.
(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A2)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Vatican
End of file.
30-64 Peter served as the first pope. By 2003 he was still noted as the longest-serving, for a total of 34 or 37 years, until 64 or 67 A.D.
(AP, 10/16/03)
31CE Mar 25, The 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus.
(MC, 3/25/02)
136-140CE Hyginus was pope. He was later proclaimed a saint.
(WUD, 1994, p.697)
141-155 St. Pius I, pope, martyr.
(PGA, 12/9/98)
155CE Feb 23, Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John, was arrested and burned at stake.
(MC, 2/23/02)
[Ed. note - 180 A.D. St. Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp and Bishop of Lugdunum, Gaul (modern day - Lyons, France) writes "Against Heresies" to warn his fellow Bishop, Eleutherius of Rome who had fallen into the Montanist Heresy not to have anything to do with any of the Gnostic Heresies, including Montanism - which 'Pope' Eleutherius heeded and then rejected Montanism. It was in "Against Heresies" that St. Irenaeus details all of the Gnostic Heresies of his time and warns the Church for all time that Gnosticism is the complete forerunner of the final Antichrist and to always be warned against it and to have nothing to do with it. Gnosticism always sought to bring into the Church the "wolves" of all of the ancient pagan religions that Our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from and warned us to never have anything to do with on penalty of damnation. Today Gnosticism finds its final fulfillment in the Vatican II ecumenical movement lead by apostate 'Popes' and Cardinals. They are the false prophets leading to the final False Prophet who will cause men to take the mark of the beast unto complete damnation.
c182-c251 Origen of Caesarea, a church father, urged Christians not to celebrate birthdays because they were a pagan custom.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
199-217 Pope Zephyrinus led the Church.
(ITV, 1/96, p.59)
~200CE Pope Zephyrinus assigned his deacon, Calixtus (a former slave), to administer the large underground complex beneath the Appian Way. The subterranean graveyard had existed from about 150CE. This first official Christian cemetery probably originated as the private open-air burial ground of the noble Cecili family of Rome. From this time on it became known as the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. It extended over an area of 20 km., one 3-5 levels, and includes some 500,000 tombs.
(ITV, 1/96, p.59)
200-400 Christianity spread rapidly in Numidia and the diocese of Lamiggiga was established. It was later abandoned and just the name was used as an honorary jurisdiction for Auxiliary bishops.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
215 Clement of Alexandria, a Church father, died. He cited early efforts to fix the Nativity on Apr 19, 20th or May 20.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
235CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to the pope St. Pontian, who died in the Sardinian mines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
235CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to pope St. Anterus, who reigned for only 43 days and died in prison.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
250CE An inscription in Greek in the Calixtian Complex of Rome was dedicated to pope St. Fabian, who re-organized the Church in a period of peace and was then martyred during the Decian persecutions.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
254CE Pope St. Lucius I, who spent part of his pontificate in exile, was buried in the Calixtian Complex of Rome and has an inscription in Greek.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
254CE May 12, St. Stephen I began his reign as the 23rd Catholic Pope. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he instituted the rule that clerics should wear special clothes at their ministrations.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)(HN, 5/12/98)
257 Aug 2, Pope Stefanus I (St. Stephen), bishop of Rome (254-57), heretic fighter, died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
258 Aug 6, Pope Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), was beheaded upon orders of Emperor Valerian.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)(MC, 8/6/02)
258 A red agate cup with gold handles, the Santo Caliz, was sent to Spain by Pope Sixtus II and St. Laurence as Rome went under siege by the Persians. In 1437 the church moved it to the Cathedral of Valencia.
(SSFC, 5/27/06, p.G3)
267 Dec 26, Dionysius, bishop of Rome and saint, died.
(MC, 12/26/01)
270CE The Catholic Bishop Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded by Emperor Claudius for refusing to acknowledge the monarch’s outlawing of marriage. The Catholics then made Valentine a symbol to oppose the Roman mid-February custom in honor of the God Lupercus, where Roman teenage girls’ names were put in a box and selected by young Roman men for "sex toy" use until the next lottery.
(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)
283CE Pope St. Eutychian escaped persecution but struggled with early heresies. He was buried in the Calixtian Complex of Rome and has an inscription in Greek.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
296CE Apr 22, St. Gaius ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/22/98)
299-311 The period of Christian persecutions begun by Diocletian.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.W11)
c300-400 It was during the Fourth century that the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25 was gradually adopted by most Eastern Churches.
(HNQ, 12/25/99)
309-310 Apr 18, St. Eusebius began his reign as Catholic Pope. He ruled for just 4 months in either 309 or 310.
(PTA, 1980, p.62)(WUD, 1994 p.492)(HN, 4/18/98)
311 Jul 2, St. Miltiades began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 7/2/02)
311 At the consecration of bishop Caecilian of Carthage, one of the three bishops, Felix, bishop of Aptunga, who consecrated Caecilian, had given copies of the Bible to the Roman persecutors. A group of about 70 bishops formed a synod and declared the consecration of the bishop to be invalid. Great debate arose concerning the validity of the sacraments (baptism, the Lord's Supper, etc.) by one who had sinned so greatly against other Christians.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
311 The Donatists were a Christian sect that developed in northern Africa [Numidia] and maintained that it alone constituted the whole and only true church and that baptisms and ordinations of the orthodox clergy were invalid. The Donatists insisted that sinners must be re-baptized.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.87)
316CE Diocletian, former emperor of Rome, died. By this time there were about 30,000 converts to Christianity and some 33 popes had followed in the footsteps of St. Peter.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
325 May 20, An ecumenical council was inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea, Asia Minor. The Church Council of Nicaea (aka Iznik) in Asia Minor condemned the teaching of Arius, a Christian priest at Alexandria (d.336), who held that Christ was not divine in the same sense as God the Father. The council fixed Orthodox Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox unless the date falls on the 1st day of Passover, in which case it moves to the next Sunday.
(WUD, 1994, p.80,81)(Sky, 4/97, p.56)(SFC, 4/25/97, p.A21)(HN, 5/20/98)
325 Aug 25, Council of Nicaea ended with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The Council also decreed that priests cannot marry after their ordination.
(MC, 8/25/02)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326CE The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was begun by the Roman emperor Constantine.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B2)
336 Dec 25, The first recorded celebration of Christmas on this day took place in Rome. By this year Dec 25 was established in the Liturgy of the Roman Church as the birthday of Jesus. [see 354] The Basilica of St. Anastasia was built as soon as a year after the Nicaean Council. It probably was where Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25, part of broader efforts to link pagan practices to Christian celebrations in the early days of the new religion. In 2007 Italian archaeologists unveiled an underground grotto, near St. Anastasia, that they believe ancient Romans revered as the place where a wolf nursed Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)(AP, 12/25/99)(AP, 12/22/07)
352 May 17, Liberius began his reign as Catholic Pope replacing Julius I.
(MC, 5/17/02)
353-431 St. Paulinus, poet and Bishop of Mola: "For it is after the Solstice, when Christ born in the flesh with the new sun transformed the season of cold winter, and giving to mortal men a healing dawn, commanded the nights to decrease at his coming with advancing day."
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
354 Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus, d.430) was born in Tagaste, North Africa (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria). Augustine of Hippo, Church Father and philosopher, held that as long as the fetus was "shapeless" homicide laws did not apply because it had no senses and no soul. "Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." He fused the New Testament with Greek philosophy. "Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman."
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.13)(HN, 11/13/98) (SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
354 Pope Liberius decided to add the Nativity to the Church calendar and selected December 25 to celebrate it. [see 336]
(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A19)
355 Donatus, bishop of Casae Nigrae in North Africa, died. He taught that the effectiveness of the sacraments depends on the moral character of the minister. In other words, if a minister who was involved in a serious enough sin were to baptize a person, that baptism would be considered invalid.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)
366-384 Pope St. Damasus located martyr’s graves and composed verse inscriptions for their tombs. He transformed the catacombs into popular and venerated shrines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
376 Dec 25, In Milan, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, forced the emperor Theodosius to perform public penance for his massacre.
(HN, 12/25/98)
385 Pope Siricius left his wife to become pope and told priests to stop sleeping with their wives.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
385CE Priscillian, bishop of Avila in Spain, was convicted of sorcery and executed by the Roman emperor Maximus.
(NH, 9/96, p.20)
392 Nov 8, Theodosius of Rome passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire and declared Christianity the state religion.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
401 Dec, St. Innocent, born in Albano, Italy, became pope. He was the pope nine years later when the Visigoths captured and sacked Rome.
(AP, 3/21/09)
410 Aug 18, King Alaric I's Visigoths occupied and plundered Rome. [see Aug 24]
(PC, 1992, p.50)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. German barbarians sacked Rome [see Aug 18].
(V.D.-H.K.p.87)(AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)
418 Dec 27, Zosimus, Greek Pope (417-8), died.
(MC, 12/27/01)
430 Aug 28, Augustine (b.354) died in Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) with a Vandal army outside the gates of the city. His writings included "The Confessions." In 1999 Garry Wills authored the biography "St. Augustine." Augustine had developed the theory of a "just war" and said a nation’s leaders must consider among other things, anticipated loss of civilian life and whether all peaceful options have been exhausted before war starts. In 2003 Garry Wills authored "Saint Augustine's Sin." In 2005 James J. O’Donnell authored “Augustine: A New Biography.”
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.M6)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.86)(www.connect.net/ron/august.html)
431 The Council of Ephesus was held to deal with the heretics and heresies of the day such as Arianism and Apollinarianism. The council condemned Nestorianism, which taught that there were 2 person in Christ and that Mary was the mother of the human Christ but not of God. In 2009 Miri Rubin authored “Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary.”
(Usenet, 3/4/97)(PTA, 1980, p.86)(Econ, 2/21/09, p.84)
431 The Assyrians and Chaldeans broke from what was to become the Roman Catholic Church over a theological dispute.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
440 Aug 19, Pope Sixtus III (432-440) died.
(PTA, 1980, p.88)
451 Oct 8, Council of Chalcedon (4th ecumenical council) opened. The Council declared that the two natures of Christ, divine and human, were united without change, division or confusion in Christ. This led to the formation of the Coptic Monophysite Church which continued to hold that Jesus had but one divine nature. Copt comes from the Arabic word for Egyptian.
(CU, 6/87)(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A9)(MC, 10/8/01)
452 Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun on the banks of the Mincio and Attila agreed to make peace and spare Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.90)
461 Nov 10, Leo I the Great, Pope (440-61), died.
(MC, 11/10/01)
468 Mar 3, St. Simplicius was elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius.
(SC, 3/3/02)
483CE Mar 13, St. Felix began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/13/98)
492 Mar 1, St. Felix III ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
492 Mar 1, St Gelasius I began his reign as Catholic Pope (492-496).
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SC, 3/1/02)
495 May 3, Pope Gelasius asserted that his authority was superior to Emperor Anastasius.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(HN, 5/3/98)
496CE Nov 21, Pope Galasius, an African by birth or descent, died. He changed the mid-February lottery rules for young Roman men so that they drew names of Catholic Saints to emulate instead of young girls for play. The Lupercalia pagan rite had been revived to bring good luck to the city following a plague.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)
498 Nov 19, Anastasius II, Pope (496-98), (Dante Inferno XI, 8-9), died.
(MC, 11/19/01)
526 May 18, St. John I, Catholic Pope (523-526), died.
(HN, 5/18/98)(SC, 5/18/02)
530 Oct 14, Dioscurus, anti-Pope (530), died.
(MC, 10/14/01)
532 Oct 17, Boniface II, 1st "German" Pope, died.
(MC, 10/17/01)
535CE May 13, St Agapitus I began his reign as Catholic Pope
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
536CE Apr 22, St. Agapitus I ended his reign as Catholic Pope (535-36).
(HN, 4/22/98)(MC, 4/22/02)
549 Jerusalem held to a Jan 6 date for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus until this year. In the end the West added the Epiphany and the East added the Dec 25 nativity to their liturgical calendars.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
555 Jun 7, Vigilius ended his reign as Catholic Pope (537-555).
(PTA, 1980, p.118)(SC, 6/7/02)
556 Feb 21, Maximianus van Ravenna, bishop (Basilica S Stefano), died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
556CE Apr 16, Pelagius I began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/16/98)
561 Mar 4, Pelagius I, Italian Catholic Pope (556-61), died.
(PTA, 1980, p.120)
561 Jul, John III was consecrated Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
574 Jul 13, Pope John III died.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
575 Jun 2, Benedict I (d.579) began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
579 Jul 30, Pope Benedict I died.
(PTA, 1980, p.124)
580 Pope Pelagius left married priests alone if they kept their wives and children from inheriting church property.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
590 Feb 7, Pelagius II, Gothic Pope (579-90), died from plague.
(MC, 2/7/02)
590 Pope Gregory said he spotted an angel atop Hadrian’s Mausoleum. The site was then reconfigured as a fortress called Castel Sant’Angelo. In 1925 it became a national museum.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
590 Pope Gregory I revised an earlier list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins, by folding sorrow/despair into acedia, vainglory into pride, and adding extravagance and envy, while removing fornication from the list (Anger, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth). In the order used by both Pope Gregory and by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: 1. luxuria (extravagance/lust) 2. gula (gluttony) 3. avaritia (avarice/greed) 4. acedia (acedia/discouragement/sloth) 5. ira (anger/wrath) 6. invidia (envy) 7. superbia (pride).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins)
590-604CE Pope Gregory the Great led the Church. He established the popes as the de facto rulers of central Italy, and strengthened the papal primacy over the Churches of the West.
(CU, 6/87)
600 Feb 16, Pope Gregory the Great decreed "God bless You" as the religiously correct response to a sneeze.
(MC, 2/16/02)
604 Mar 12, Gregory I the Great (64), Pope (590-604), died. In 1997 R.A. Markus authored “Gregory the Great and His World.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
609 May 13, Pope Boniface I turned Roman Pantheon into Catholic church.
(MC, 5/13/02)
615 May 8, St. Boniface IV ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
615 May 25, Boniface IV, Pope (608-15), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
642 Pope Theodore I began using the title “Patriarch of the West.” In 2006 the Vatican took the unusual step of explaining its decision to renounce the title, saying the omission of "patriarch of the West," from the new edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican's 2,373-page directory of prelates, should benefit relations with the Orthodox Church, not hinder them.
(AP, 3/23/06)
649 May 14, Theodore, Greek Pope (642-49), excommunicated by Paul II, died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
649 Jul 5, St. Martin I began his reign as Pope.
(MC, 7/5/02)
657 Jun 2, St. Eugene I ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
678 Jun 27, St. Agatho began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/27/02)
682 Aug 17, Leo II, later St. Leo, began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 8/17/02)
684 Jun 26, Benedict II (d.685) was consecrated as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.162)
685 May 8, St. Benedict II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
686 Aug 2, John V, 1st Greek-Syrian Pope (685-86), died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
c700CE Nov 1, The Celts of Ireland, Great Britain and northern France celebrated Oct. 31 as their New Years' Eve from around 1000-500BC. The pagan harvest event incorporated masks to ward off evil ones, as dead relatives were believed to visit families on this night. The Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day, set for Nov. 1, was instituted around 700 CE to supplant this All Hallows' Eve. Halloween was transplanted to the US in the 1840s.
(WSJ, 10/28/99, p.A24)
700-800 The Catholic Church changed its rules on fasting and allowed fish to be eaten on Fridays and during Lent.
(NH, 5/96, p.58)
c700-800 Dionysus Exiguus (Dennis the Short), a Catholic monk, created a chronology for Pope St. John I with a calendar that began in the year CE 1.
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.5)
701 Sep 8, Sergius I, Syrian and Italian Pope (687-701), died.
(MC, 9/8/01)
705 Mar 1, John VII began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
708 Mar 25, Constantine began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/24/98)
715 Apr 9, Constantine I, Greek-Syrian Catholic Pope (708-15), died.
(HN, 4/9/98)(MC, 4/9/02)
715 May 19, St. Gregory II began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 5/19/98)
731 Feb 11, Gregory II, Greek-Syrian Pope, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
731-741 Gregory III served as Pope.
(WUD, 1994, p.621)
732CE Pope Gregory III, banned horseflesh from Christian tables after he learned that pagans of northern Europe ate it in their religious rites.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.E4)
752CE Mar 23, Pope Stephen II was elected to succeed Pope Zacharias; however, Stephen died 4 days later.
(AP, 3/23/97)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
752 Mar 26, Pope Stephen II died 4 days after his election.
(SS, 3/26/02)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
754CE The Iconoclasts (image smashers) prevailed and religious art was banned in churches by an edict that remained in effect for a century.
(WSJ, 3/10/97, p.A16)(AP, 7/16/97)
757 Apr 26, Stephen II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/26/98)
757 May 29, St. Paul I (d.767) began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.188)(SC, 5/29/02)
768 Aug 7, Stephen IV was consecrated as Pope. He served to 772.
(PTA, 1980, p.190)
787 Sep 24, The 2nd Council of Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opened in Asia Minor.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
799 Nov 29, Pope Leo III, aided by Charlemagne, returned to Rome.
(MC, 11/29/01)
800 Dec 25, Pope Leo III crowned Frankish warrior-king Charlemagne as heir of the Roman emperors at the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.105)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.56)
834 Oct 31, This evening became All Hallow’s Eve with the establishment of Nov 1 as Feast of All Saints by Pope Gregory IV.
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
834 Nov 1, This day was declared to be All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church. [see 835CE]
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
835 Nov 1, After the spread of Christianity through the west, the Roman Catholic Church in 835 A.D. made November 1 a church holiday to honor all the saints. This celebration was called All Saint's Day or All Hallows and the day before it--October 31--was called All Hallow's Eve (later Halloween). Pope Gregory extended the Feast of All Saints on Nov 1 to France and Germany. [see 834CE]
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(HNPD, 10/31/99)
842 Feb 19, The Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.
(MC, 2/19/02)
855 Benedict III (d.858) was elected Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.210)
858 Apr 17, Benedict III, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.210)
858 Apr 24, Nicholas I succeeded Benedict III as the Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/24/98)(MC, 4/24/02)
867 Nov 13, Pope Nicholas I (the Great) died at age 67. He served from 858-867.
(MC, 11/13/01)
872 Dec 14, Adrian II (~80), Italian Pope (867-72), the last married pope, died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
872-882 Pope John VIII. A novel by Donna Cross in 1996 is based on historical documents that indicate that he was actually female.
(WUD, 1994, p.769)(SFEC, 11/17/96, BR p.8)
884 May 17, St. Adrian III began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/17/02)
891-896 Formosus served as Pope following Stephen VI.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
896 Feb 22, Pope Formosa was crowned king Arnulf of Carinthia, French emperor.
(MC, 2/22/02)
896 Apr 4, Pope Formosus died. His body was exhumed by his successor in the Cadaver Synod. He was then put on trial for perjury, found guilty and dumped in the Tiber River.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
900 Benedict IV succeeded John IX as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
903 Benedict IV, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
955 May 16, Alberich II, (bastard?) son of Octavianus, was elected pope.
(MC, 5/16/02)
965 Mar 1, Leo VIII, Italian (anti-)Pope (963-65), died.
(SC, 3/1/02)
964 Benedict V (d.965), succeeded John XII as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
965 Jul 4, Benedict V, Catholic Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
973 Jan 19, Benedict VI was consecrated as Catholic Pope. He succeeded John XIII.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
974 Pope Benedict VI was strangled to death by a priest named Stephen under directions of anti-Pope Boniface Franco, who called himself Boniface VII.
(PTA, 1980, p.270)
974 Oct, Benedict, the bishop of Sutri, was elected pope and became Pope Benedict VII.
(PTA, 1980, p.272)
983 Jul 10, Pope Benedict VII died.
(PTA, 1980, p.272)
996 May 21, Otto III (16) was crowned the Roman Emperor by his cousin Pope Gregory V.
(HN, 5/21/98)(MC, 5/21/02)
999 Feb 18, Gregory V, [Bruno] 1st German Pope, died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1001 Otto III was ousted. He had moved his thrown from Germany to Rome and fancied himself Holy Roman Emperor.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R54)
1002 Jun 21, Pope Leo IX was born. He brought the conflict between Rome and the eastern Church to a head in 1054, ending with the Patriarch of Constantinople being excommunicated and the creation of the Schism.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1012 Tehophylactus, son of Count Gregory of Tusculum, became Pope Benedict VIII.
(PTA, 1980, p.288)
1014 Feb 14, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry II, German King (1002), as Roman German emperor (1014-1024).
(HN, 5/6/98)(MC, 5/6/02)(MC, 2/14/02)
1024 Apr 7, Pope Benedict VIII died.
(PTA, 1980, p.288)
1027 Mar 26, John XIX crowned Conrad II the Salier Roman German emperor.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1032 Theophylactus, the nephew of Pope John XIX, became Pope Benedict IX.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1036 The Romans drove Pope Benedict IX out of Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1044 The Romans drove Pope Benedict IX out of Rome for a 2nd time. John, bishop of Sabina, was set up as Pope Sylvester III, but Benedict’s family base from Tusculum fought their way back into Rome and restored Benedict.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1045 Pope Benedict IX abdicated and, for a large sum of money, turned the papacy over to his godfather, archpriest John Gratian, who became Pope Gregory VI.
(PTA, 1980, p.292)
1046 Dec, Pope Gregory VI abdicated. As Benedict IX, Sylvester III, and Gregory VI claimed the papal throne, all were deposed by Henry III in the Synod of Sutri. Henry selected Clement II. Clement then crowned Henry and his wife as emperor and empress.
(PTA, 1980, p.294)(V.D.-H.K.p.111)
1046 Dec 25, Suidger, bishop of Bamberg, was enthroned as Pope Clement II.
(PTA, 1980, p.296)
1047 Oct 9, Pope Clement II died.
(PTA, 1980, p.296)
1047 Former Pope Gregory VI died.
(PTA, 1980, p.294)
1053 In Italy Richard of Aversa helped win the Battle of Civitate, inflicting a decisive defeat over the papal army.
(www.fanaticus.org/DBA/campaigns/campaignitaly1043ad.html)
1054 Mar 12, Pope Leo IX escaped captivity and returned to Rome.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1054CE Jul, The Council of Florence in 1445 established this date for the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western (Orthodox and Catholic). An official date was needed so that talks could begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1054CE The Roman and Orthodox Churches split decisively. [see 330CE] The Orthodox Church did not accept the papal authority from Rome. Christians in southern Albania were left under the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople and those in the north under the pope in Rome. The Orthodox Church maintained the tradition of married priests.
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)(WP, 6/29/96, p.B7)(www, Albania, 1998)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1058 Despite protests from the cardinals Count Gregory of Tusculum led the selection of John, bishop of Velletri, as Pope Benedict X.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1059 A council gathered at Lateran and declared that the election of Benedict X was invalid. The council enthroned Gerard of Burgundy as Pope Nicholas II. A synod at Rome followed and set decrees for papal elections that rested election powers with the cardinal-bishops.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1059 Richard of Aversa and his brother-in-law, Robert Guiscard, met with Pope Nicholas II. The Norman chiefs swore allegiance to the Pope in return for papal recognition for their conquests, whereupon Richard was invested as prince of Capua.
(HNQ, 7/17/00)
1061 Jul, Pope Nicholas II died in Florence.
(PTA, 1980, p.306)
1073 Apr 21, Alexander II, [Anselmo da Baggio], Pope (1061-73), died.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1073-1085 Gregory VII, St. Hildebrand, served as Pope. He was driven from Rome and died in exile.
(WUD, 1994, p.621)(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A22)
1076 Feb 14, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1077 Jan 28, Pope Gregory VII pardoned German emperor Henry IV at Canossa in northern Italy. Henry had insisted that he reserved the right to "invest" bishops and other clergymen, despite the papal decree, but became penitent when faced with permanent excommunication.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_to_Canossa)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.88)
1083 Jun 3, Henry IV of Germany stormed Rome capturing St. Peter's Basilica.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1084 Mar 31, Anti-pope Clemens crowned German emperor Hendrik IV.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1085 May 25, Gregory VII [Ildebrando], Pope (1073-85), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1095 Nov 26, Pope Urban urged the faithful to wrest the Holy Land from the Muslims, heralding start of Crusades.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1095 Nov 27, In Clermont, France, Pope Urbana II made an appeal for warriors to relieve Jerusalem. He was responding to false rumors of atrocities in the Holy Land. Pope Urban II called for a Christian army to defeat the Turks and recapture the Holy Sepulchre from the Muslims. The first Crusade sparked a renewal of trade between Europe and Asia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(HN, 11/27/99)
1118 Apr 7, Pope Gelasius II excommunicated Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1119 The Knights Templar were founded to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land during the second Crusade.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)
1130 Feb 14, Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone was elected as anti-pope Anacletus II.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1133 Jun 4, In Rome Pope Innocentius II crowned German King Lothair II as emperor at the Church of the Lateran.
(MC, 6/4/02)(PCh, 1992, p.92)
1138 May 29, Anti-Pope Victor IV (Gregorio) overthrew self for Innocentius II.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1139 Apr 20, The Second Lateran Council opened in Rome. The crossbow was outlawed in the 12th century, at least against Christians, by the second Lateran council (the 10th ecumenical council), called by Pope Innocent II. Capable of piercing chain mail from a range of up to 1,000 feet, this formidable missile weapon remained a fixture of technically-advanced European armies throughout the Middle Ages. Although it was used after the introduction of firearms, it was eventually succeeded by the harquebus—a primitive gun—in the late 15th century. The council attempted universal enforcement of priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church.
(HN, 4/20/98)(HN, 4/20/98)(HNQ, 12/5/00)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1141 Jan 31, Pope Innocent II authorized Bishop Henry of Moravia to preach Catholicism in Prussia.
(LHC, 1/31/03)
1144 Mar 8, Celestine II [Guido], Italian Pope (1143-44), died in battle.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1148 The Second Crusade.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)
1153 Mar 23, Treaty of Konstanz between Frederik I "Barbarossa" and Pope Eugene III.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1159 Sep 1, Adrian IV, [Nicole Breakspear], only English pope (1154-59), died.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1160-1216 Giovanni Lotario de' Conti, served as Pope Innocent III from 1198-1216.
(WUD, 1994, p.733)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1164 Apr 20, Victor IV, [Ottaviano Montecello], Italian antipope (1159-64), died.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1164 Apr 22, Raynald of Dassel named Guido di Crema as anti-pope Paschalis III.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1165 Nov 23, Pope Alexander III returned from exile to Rome
(MC, 11/23/01)
1168 Sep 20, Paschal III, [Guido di Crema], Italian anti-Pope, died.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1170 Henry II sent his Anglo-Norman barons to invade Ireland after he gained support from the English pope.
(SFEM, 2/22/98, p.37)
1173 Feb 21, Pope Alexander III canonized Thomas Becket (1117-1170) of Canterbury.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1178 Aug 29, Anti-Pope Callistus III gave pope title to Alexander III.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1179 Pope Alexander III established The Apostolic Penitentiary, or Tribunal of Conscience, for sins considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.
(www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/)(AP, 1/14/09)
1191 Apr 14, Giacinto Bobo (85) became Pope Coelestinus III.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1198 Jan 8, Lotario de Conti di Sengi became Pope Innocent III (d.1216). He raised the papacy to an acme of papal prestige and power, and Christian Europe came close to being a unified theocracy with no internal contradictions. He oversaw 2 crusades and established fees for indulgences to fatten the Church's treasury. He hired Italian merchant bankers to manage papal funds and sanctioned the new Franciscan and Dominican orders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1205 Jun 19, Pope Innocent III fired Adolf I as archbishop of Cologne.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1205 Jul 15, Pope Innocent III decreed that the Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1208 Mar 24, King John of England opposed Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 3/24/99)
1209 The Franciscan brotherhood received papal approval.
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.C8)
1210 Oct 18, Pope Innocent III excommunicated German emperor Otto IV.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1210 Francis founded the Franciscans, and demanded that his followers subsist entirely on what they can beg while preaching.
(V.D.-H.K.p.108)
1212 Aug 25, Children's crusaders under Nicolas (10) reached Genoa.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1213 May 15, King John submitted to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifted the interdict of 1208. He named Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 5/15/99)(MC, 5/15/02)
1215 Aug 24, Pope Innocent III, following a request from King John, declared the Magna Carta invalid. The barons of England soon retaliated by inviting King Philip of France to come to England. Philip accepted the offer.
(MC, 8/24/02)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215 The 4th Lateran Council announced that "Christ descended into Hell, rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. But he descended in soul, rose again in the flesh, and ascended equally in both."
(WSJ, 4/18/03, p.W13)
1216 Jun 16, Pope Innocent III died. In 2003 John C. Moore authored “Pope Innocent III.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1220 Nov 22, After promising to go to the aid of the Fifth Crusade within nine months, German King Frederick II was crowned emperor by Pope Honorius III.
(HN, 11/22/98)(PCh, 1992, p.106)
c1224/25-1274 Thomas Aquinas born in Aquino between Rome and Naples. He was a pupil of the Benedictines in the monastery of Monte Cassino. After nine years Emperor Frederic II temporarily disbanded the monks at Cassino and Thomas went to Naples to study and joined the Dominicans. He tried to reconcile theology with the emerging economic conditions of his time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(NH, 10/98, p.4)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1227 Roman Emperor Frederick II was first excommunicated by the Catholic Pope because his growing empire threatened the independence of the papal states. [see 1239]
(AP, 5/5/06)
1228 St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, was canonized.
(AP, 10/3/97)
1233 The Inquisition began and lasted into the 19th century.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A16)
1239 Roman Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated a 2nd time because his growing empire threatened the independence of the papal states.
(AP, 5/5/06)
1243-1254 Pope Innocent IV. He established canon law that recognized communities such as cathedral chapters and monasteries as legal individuals.
(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)
1244 Oct 17, The Sixth Crusade ended when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilated the Frankish army at Gaza.
(HN, 10/17/98)
c1244 Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade, a forerunner of the Inquisition, that systematically besieged and exterminated the Cathars.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)
1245 Thomas Aquinas was sent to Paris where he enrolled as a student of Albertus Magnus to study theology, philosophy, and history. In 1974 Michael R. Best and Frank H. Brightman edited "The Book of secrets of Albertus Magnus," which contained a recipe for Greek Fire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(AM, May/Jun 97 p.10)
1246 Khan Guyuk sent a letter to the Vatican from Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol empire. The letter was retained in the Vatican archive and made available to the public in 2010.
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.87)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakorum)
1250 Apr 15, Pope Innocent III refused Jews of Cordova, Spain, permission to build a synagogue.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1251 Mindaugas of Lithuania accepted Christianity with his wife, 2 sons, about 600 of his nobility and many of his people. An envoy was then sent to Rome to request the Pope’s formal approval for coronation which was granted. The German Order then worked closely with Mindaugas in establishing the first Bishopric in Lithuania and were in turn granted lands in western Lithuania (Zemaiciuose). Pope Innocent IV authorized Mindaugas to be crowned King.
(H of L, 1931, p.30,32)(XXIA, 7/21/99)
1253 Jul 23, Jews were expelled from Vienne, France, by order of Pope Innocent III.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1255 Mar 6, Pope Alexander IV permitted Mindaugas to crown his son as king of Lithuania.
(LHC, 3/6/03)
1256 Thomas Aquinas received his license to teach. He became involved in the current questions of doctrine on two basic issues. He sided with the Nominalists as opposed to the Realists on the question of "universals". The second issue was based on Aristotle's notion of nature. Aquinas saw a distinction between spirit and nature but also a unity.
(V.D.-H.K.p.121)
1260-1390 Carbon-14 dating techniques in 1988 determined that the cloth of the Shroud of Turin dated to this period. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77) of Oxford Univ. led the testing, which was later held in question. In 1978 Walter C. McCrone (d.2002), chemical analyst, determined that the image was painted on the cloth some 1300 years after the crucifixion of Christ.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A24)(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)(SFC, 7/29/02, p.B5)
1261 May 25, Alexander IV [Rinaldo dei conti di Segni], Pope (1254-61), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1266 St. Thomas Aquinas penned his "Summa Theologica," in which he attempted to reconcile theology with economic conditions. He argued that reason could operate within faith.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A22)
1267 Jul 26, The Inquisition formed in Rome under Pope Clement IV.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1268 Jan 21, Pope Clement IV gave permission to Poland’s King Premislus II to take over Lithuania and establish Catholicism.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1270 Aug 25, King Louis IX (56), King of France (1226-70), died on The Eighth Crusade, which was decimated by the Plague.
(PCh, 1992, p.114)(V.D.-H.K.p.110)(MC, 8/25/02)
1270 Oct 30, The seventh crusade was ended by the treaty of Barbary.
(HN, 10/30/98)
1274 Mar 7, Thomas Aquinas (48), Italian theologian, saint, died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1274 Thomas Aquinas was summoned before a council at Lyons to answer for his opinions. He was publicly chastised but not condemned.
(V.D.-H.K.p.122)
1294 Jul 5, Pietro di Murrone, a pious hermit, was elected as Pope Celestine V. He was so besieged by the political, social and religious challenges of the position that just five months later, on December 13, he became the first pope to resign, for which he was imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII. He died in the castle of Fumone, May 19, 1296.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1296 May 19, Pietro di Murrone, former Pope Celestine V, died in the castle of Fumone, where he was imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1300 Jan 1, A Jubilee Year, the symbolic moment for Dante's Divine Comedy. It marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. Pope Boniface VIII had issued a Papal Bull that declared a Rome Holy Year, "Giubileo." The event was such a success that papal gendarmes had to execute several dozen people to bring the crowds under control. Pope Bonifacius VIII introduced Jubilee indulgences.
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)(WSJ, 4/2/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/13/00, p.A1)
1303 Sep 8, Anagni: French king Philip IV captured Pope Boniface VIII.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1307 Oct 13, French king Philip IV convicted the Knights Templar of heresy. Members of the Knights of Templar were arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of the King Philip the Fair. Papal hearings convened after King Philip IV of France arrested and tortured Templar leaders under charges of heresy and immorality.
(HN, 10/13/98)(AP, 10/12/07)
1308 The "Parchment of Chinon" contained the decision by Pope Clement V to save the Templars and their order. The document was misplaced for centuries in the archives and found again by researchers in 2001. In 2007 it was published as part of the Vatican’s secret archive documents about the trial of the Knights Templar.
(AP, 10/12/07)
1312 The Knights Templar were suppressed by Pope Clement at the Council of Vienna. Pressured by King Philip of France, Pope Clement reversed his 1308 decision and suppressed the order.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)(AP, 10/12/07)
1314 Apr 20, Clement V, [Bertrand Got], pope (1305-14) who moved papacy to Avignon, died.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1317 Feb 3, Pope John XXII, under guidance from Gnesen Archbishop Borislav, offered Catholicism to Lithuania.
(LHC, 2/3/03)
1324 Feb 10, The pope officially chastised the Knights of the Cross for ill treatment of Catholics and for pushing pagans away from Christianity.
(LHC, 2/10/03)
1328 May 26, William of Ockham was forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.
(HN, 5/26/98)
1347 Dec 3, Pope Clemens VI declared Roman tribune, Cola di Rienzi, a heretic.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1352 Dec 18, Etienne Aubert was elected as Pope Innocentius VI.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1378 Mar 27, Gregory XI, [Pierre R the Beaufort], last French Pope (1370-78), died.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1378 Aug 9, Cardinals declared pope Urbanus VI lawless (anti-Christian, devil).
(MC, 8/9/02)
1378 Sep 20, The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals created a great schism in the Catholic church.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1378 Dec 31, Callistus III, [Alfonso the Borgia], Pope (1455-58), was born.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1378-1417 The Great Western Schism split the Roman Catholic Church and involved 2 anti-popes at its height.
(CU, 6/87)
1388 Mar 12, Pope Urban VI authorized Poznan’s Bishop Dobrogost to establish a Vilnius archdiocese.
(LHC, 3/12/03)
1389 A French bishop advised the Pope that the Shroud of Turin, that had materialized in the village of Lirey a generation earlier, was a fraud.
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.W6)
1414 Nov 16, A council of bishops opened in Constance Germany under Emp. Sigismund. When the council of Constance opened, Christians owed obedience to three different popes: Gregory XII of the Roman party, Benedict XIII of the Avignon party, and John XXIII, who had been elected after the death of Alexander V. John XXIII and Benedict XIII were deposed by the council, and Gregory XII voluntarily resigned. Then Martin V was elected pope on 11 November 1417 and he was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)(WUD, 1994 p.313)
1414 Franceso Della Rovere, later Pope Sixtus IV, was born at Celle.
(PTA, 1980, p.420)
1415 Jul 4, Angelo Correr became Pope Gregory XII.
(Maggio)
1417 Feb 23, Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II (1464-1471), was born in Venice.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1417 Nov 11, Martin V was elected pope and was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)
1420 Mar 1, Pope Martinus I (1417-1431) called for a crusade against the Hussieten (Bohemia).
(SC, 3/1/02)(PTA, 1980, p.408)
1423 May 23, Benedict XIII, [Pedro the Luna], Spanish Pope (1394-1423), died. He had been elected by the Avignon cardinals during the Great Western Schism.
(MC, 5/23/02)(PTA, 1980, p.402)
1431 Jan 1, Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (d.1503), member of the Borgia family, was born in Xativa, Spain. His mother was the sister of Pope Calixtus III. He was elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492 and amassed a fortune by pocketing church funds. His reign helped inspire the Protestant reformation. He fathered numerous children including Lucrezia Borgia. Machiavelli based "The Prince" on him.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(PTA, 1980, 424)
1431 Mar 3, Bishop Gabriele Condulmer (1383-1447) was elected as Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447).
(WUD, 1994 p.491)(PTA, 1980, p.410)(SC, 3/3/02)
1439-1448 Felix V served as the last antipope. He was born as Amadeus VIII, duke of Savoye in 1383.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1443 Dec 5, Giuliano della Rovere, later Pope Julius II (1443-1513), was born in Liguria.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1445 The Council of Florence ended. It established the date for the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western (Orthodox and Catholic) churches as July, 1054. An official date was needed so that talks could begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1451 The Vatican Library was founded.
(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.W10)
1455 Apr 8, Alfonso de Borgia was elected as Pope Callistus III.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1456 Pope Calixtus III appointed his nephew Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI, a cardinal.
(PTA, 1980, p.424)
1459 Mar 2, Adrian VI [Adriaan F Boeyens], Pope (1522-23), was born in the Netherlands.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1461 The Pope's godson discovered a source of alum, used in dyes. This led to a booming business for the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1464-1471 Pope Paul II, Pietro Barbo, succeeded Pius II. He was responsible for a Papal Bull that established a 25-year interval between Holy Years.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1468 Feb 29, Pope Paul III was born.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1)
1471 Jul 26, Pope Paul II died.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1471 Aug 7, Francesco Della Rovere succeeded Paul II as Pope Sixtus IV.
(PTA, 1980, p.410)
1474 Guillame Dufay (b.1399), composer, died. His work included "Ecclesiae militantis," a 5-part motet on Pope Eugenius IV’s short-lived supremacy over the Eastern Orthodox Church.
(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)
1475 Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), was born. He was made a church cardinal before his 20th birthday.
(PTA, 1980, p.424)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1475 Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the Holy Year by building the Sistine Chapel and the Sixtus Bridge over the Tiber River.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1482 Feb 11, Pope Sixtus VI appointed Reverend Dr. Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) as the assistant inquisitor. In 1483 Torquemada became the Grand Inquisitor of Castile.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/14783a.htm)
1483 Aug 9, Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel, which was named in his honor.
(HN, 8/9/98)
1483 Felice della Rovere (d.1536), illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II (r.1503-1513), was born about this time. Her mother was a member of the Normanni, an illustrious Roman family long in decline. In 2005 Caroline P. Murphy authored “The Pope’s Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere.”
(www.jsonline.com/enter/books/reviews/jul05/339335.asp)
1484 Aug 12, Pope Sixtus IV died. His rule was marked by nepotism and he was involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici in Florence.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)
1484 Aug 29, Cardinal Cibo was crowned as Pope Innocent VIII.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1484 Dec 5, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull deploring the spread of witchcraft and heresy in Germany. He ordered that all cats belonging to witches scheduled to be burned, be also burned. Kraemer and Sprenger, two Dominican friars, had induced Pope Innocent VIII to issue a bull authorizing them to extirpate witchcraft in Germany.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, zone 1 p.2)(HN, 12/5/98)(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1486 Heinrich Kraemer and Johann Sprenger, Dominican friars, published Malleus melefircarum (The Witches‘ Hammer), which became the authoritative encyclopedia of demonology throughout Christendom. The authority of their work, which was a synthesis of folk beliefs that had until then been manifested in local outbursts of witch finding, lasted through the European witch craze of the next three centuries.
(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1487 Sep 10, Julius III, Italian counter-Reformation Pope (1550-1555), was born. He was also a poet and promoted the Jesuits.
(WUD, 1994, p.773)(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1487 Lorenzo the Magnificent ordered a giraffe from Africa and a cardinal’s hat for his 13-year-old son from Pope Innocent VIII. In return for the hat Lorenzo promised the hand of his eldest daughter for the Pope’s illegitimate son along with a nice loan. The giraffe was procured from Sultan Qaitbay, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt. Pope Innocent promised to get Queen Anne of France to hand over Djem, the exiled brother of Qaitbay, for use as a pawn. Lorenzo promised to give the giraffe to Anne. In 2006 the story was covered by Marina Belozerskaya in her book “The Medici Giraffe.”
(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.P9)
1492 Jul 25, Pope Innocent VIII died.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1492 Aug 11, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (61), father of Cesare and Lucretia, became Pope Alexander VI (d.1503). He siphoned off untold riches from Church funds. Borgia arrived in Rome from Spain in 1449 and Italianized his name from Borja to Borgia. His rise in the church was helped a great deal when his uncle became Pope Calixtus III.
(HN, 8/10/98)(PTA, p.424)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)(MC, 8/11/02)
1493 May 3-1493 May 4, Pope Alexander VI issued 3 papal bulls that divided the discoveries of Columbus between Spain and Portugal. By the Bulls of May 3 and 4 he drew an imaginary line one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The May 4 Bull, “Inter Caetera,” was amended in Sep. granting Spain the right to hold lands to the “western regions and to India.”
(DAH, 1946, p.2)(www.kwabs.com/bull_of_1493.html)
1495 Jan 28, Pope Alexander VI gave his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1497 May 13, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Girolamo Savonarola for heresy. In Florence the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) had led the burning of musical instruments, books and priceless works of art. He preached against corruption in the Church and civil government.
(Hem., 4/97, p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(MC, 5/13/02)
1498 Aug 17, French King Louis XII made Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) the Duke of Valentinois. Borgia resigned his position as cardinal, which had been bestowed on him at age 18 by his father, Pope Alexander VI.
(Econ, 8/16/08, p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia)
1499 Mar 31, Pius IV, [Gianangelo de' Medici], Italian lawyer, pope (1559-65), was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1499 Michelangelo completed his "Pieta" for the Vatican.
(OG)
1500 The Vatican established a permanent nunciature (diplomatic service) in Venice.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)
1501 Michelangelo was commissioned by Florence to carve a colossal David.
(OG)
1502 Dec 31, Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) occupied Urbino.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1503 Aug 18, Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), born in Spain as Rodrigo di Borgia (1431), died. He had recently authorized the building of a prison in the cellars of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.
(PTA, p.424)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI)(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)
1503 Nov 28, Giuliano della Rovere (1443-1513) was crowned as Pope Julius II.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1504 Jan 17, Pius V, Pope from 1566-1572, was born.
(HN, 1/17/99)
1505 Pope Julius summoned Michelangelo to Rome to design the pope’s tomb. The contract was revised 5 times and only 3 of 40 large figures were executed.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(OG)
1506 Jan 22, The Swiss Guard mercenaries, summoned by Pope Julius II to protect the pope and the Vatican, arrived in Rome. In 2006 Robert Royal authored “The Pope’s Army.”
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(AP, 1/22/06)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1506 Pope Julius II placed the 1st stone for the new St. Peter’s Basilica. Bramante began to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, which had been neglected since the 14th century when the popes resided at Avignon. Pope Urban VIII consecrated it in 1626.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1507 Pope Julius II announced an indulgence for the re-building of St. Peter’s.
(TL-MB, p.9)
1508 Pope Julius II transferred Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9)(OG)
1508 Raphael at age 26 entered the service of Pope Julius II and was entrusted with the decoration of the new papal apartments.
(TL-MB, p.9)
1509 Apr 27, Pope Julius II excommunicated the republic of Venice. The pope lifted the ban in February 1510.
(AP, 4/27/07)
1511 Sep 1, Council of Pisa opened. Louis XII of France called the council to oppose the Holy League of Pope Julius II.
(PTA, 1980, p.432)(MC, 9/1/02)
1511 Raphael completed the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican for Pope Julius II.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1511 Pope Julius joined the Holy League with Aragon and Venice against the French. Papal forces captured Modena and Mirandola from the French.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1512 Nov 1, Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were completed and first exhibited to the public.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.10)(AP, 11/1/97)(HN, 11/1/98)
1513 Feb 20-1513 Feb 21, Pope Julius II (1503-1513), born as Giuliano della Rovere (1443), died. He was laid in rest in a huge tomb sculptured by Michelangelo. He had been a patron of Michelangelo, Bramante, and Raphael.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1513 Mar 11, Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X. The Medici Pope Leo X led the Catholic Church until 1521.
(OG)(MC, 3/12/02)
1514 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1518 Raphael painted a portrait of Leo X which showed spectacles with concave lenses for short-sightedness.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1518 Cardinal Wolsey arranged the Peace of London between England, France, the Pope, Maximilian I and Spain.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1519 Jun 24, Lucrezia Borgia (39), daughter of Pope Alexander, died.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1520 Jun 15, Pope Leo the Tenth threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther if he did not recant his religious beliefs. Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther by the bull Exsurge.
(AP, 6/15/00)(HT, 6/15/00)
1520 The funereal monuments of the Medici Chapel were commissioned by Pope Clement VII. They were done primarily by Michelangelo (1475-1564) from 1520 to 1534, being completed by his students after his departure. The four figures—dawn, day, dusk and night—are considered among the sculptor‘s most accomplished work. He left Florence in 1534, hoping to return, but spent his last years in Rome.
(HNQ, 11/15/00)
1521 Jan 3, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church.
(NH, 9/96, p.18)(AP, 1/3/98)
1521 Apr 7, Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens banned Lutheran books.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1521 Apr 17, Under the protection of Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, Martin Luther first appeared before Charles V and the Imperial Diet to face charges stemming from his religious writings. The Roman Catholic Church had already excommunicated him on Jan 3, 1521.
(NH, 9/96, p.18)(HN, 4/17/98)(AP, 4/17/05)
1521 Oct 11, Pope Leo X titled King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith" in recognition of his writings in support of the Catholic Church. Henry had penned a defense of the seven Catholic Sacraments in response to Martin Luther‘s Protestant reform movement. By 1534, Henry had broken completely with the Catholic Church, and the Pope‘s authority in England was abolished.
(TL-MB, p.12)(HNQ, 8/12/00)(MC, 10/11/01)
1522 Adrian VI was elected Pope. He was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1523 Adrian VI died and was succeeded by Pope Clement VII, nephew of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Adrian VI was the last non-Italian Pope until 1978 when Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Cracow, became Pope Paul II. Clement was pope until 1534.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691) (TL-MB, p.12)(WUD, 1994, p.276)
1524 Apr 19, Pope Clemens VII fired the Netherlands inquisitor-general French Van de Holly.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1527 May 6, German and Spanish troops under Charles V began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance. Libraries were destroyed, Pope Clement VII was captured and thousands were killed. 147 of 189 of the Pope’s Swiss guard were killed.
(HN, 5/6/02)(PCh, 1992, p.174)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1527 Dec 6, Pope Clemens VII fled to Orvieto.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1527 Henry VIII appealed to the Pope for permission to divorce Catherine of Aragon.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527 Florence expelled the Medici nephews of the Pope and reverted to a republic.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527 Spanish mercenaries paid by Charles V sacked Rome and left 4,000 dead. Some see this event as marking the close of the Renaissance.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1527-1528 Henry VIII imprisoned Pope Clement VII for disobedience. It was to Clement that Henry appealed for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which had been granted under special dispensation in the first place.
(V.D.-H.K.p.163)
1530 Feb 23, Spain's Carlos I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by Pope Clement VII in the last coronation of a German king by a Pope. Charles restored the Medici to power after capturing Florence and ceded Malta to the landless religious order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.
(TL-MB, p.14)(MC, 2/24/02)(PC, 1992, p.176)
1530 Mar 7, King Henry VIII's divorce request was denied by the Pope. Henry then declared that he, not the Pope, is supreme head of England's church.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1531 Jan 5, Pope Clemens VII forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1531 Dec 12, Legend held that a dark-skinned Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant outside Mexico City and left an imprint on his cactus-fiber poncho. The poncho became an icon for the Virgin of Guadalupe. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Indian peasant, had visions of the Virgin Mary. In 2002 Pope John Paul II planned to canonize him. The Vatican’s main source was a religious work that dated to 1666.
(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A9)(WSJ, 2/27/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/17/02, p.A1)(AP, 7/30/02)
1532 Mar 18, English parliament banned payments by English church to Rome.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1532 Nov 15, Pope Clemens VII told Henry VIII to end his relationship with Anne Boleyn.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1533 Jul 11, Henry VIII, who divorced his wife and became head of the church of England, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.
(AP, 7/11/97)(HN, 7/11/98)
1534 Feb 26, Pope Paul III affirmed George van Egmond as bishop of Utrecht.
(PTA, 1980, p.440)(SC, 2/26/02)
1534 Pope Paul III (1534-1549), Alessandro Farnese, confirmed "The Last Judgement" commission to Michelangelo, who settled in Rome and began to work on the immense painting on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.14)(OG)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.82)
1534 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in Paris with the aim of defending Catholicism against heresy and undertaking missionary work. Ignatius converted to Christianity while convalescing after a battle and wrote his Spiritual Exercises meant as a guide for conversion. In Paris, Ignatius and a small group of men took vows of poverty, chastity and papal obedience. Ignatius formally organized the order in 1539 that was approved by the pope in 1540. The society‘s rapid growth and emphasis on scholarship aided in the resurgence of Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation. The Jesuits were also active in missionary work in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.14)(HNQ, 1/13/01)
1535 Aug 31, Pope Paul III deposed & excommunicated King Henry VIII.
(YN, 8/31/99)
1536 May 23, Pope Paul III installed the Portuguese Inquisition.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1536 Jun 6, Mexico began it's inquisition.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1536 Jul 18, The authority of the pope was declared void in England.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1537 Jun 2, Pope Paul III banned the enslavement of Indians in the New World.
(HN, 6/2/99)
1538 Dec 17, Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII. [see Aug 31, 1535]
(MC, 12/17/01)
1538 Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine artist, was imprisoned for about a year in the dungeon beneath the papal fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo for killing his brother’s murderer.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)
1540 Sep 27, The Society of Jesus, a religious order under Ignatius Loyola, was approved by the Pope. The Jesuits were recognized by Pope Paul III. They were to become the chief agents of the Church of Rome in spreading the Counter-Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HN, 9/27/98)
1541 Oct 31, "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel at Rome was officially unveiled. It is one of the largest paintings in the world.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(OG)
1542 Jul 21, Pope Paul III launched the Inquisition against Protestants (Sanctum Officium). Alleged heretics were tried and tortured in an effort to stem the spread of the Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(MC, 7/21/02)
1545 Feb 19, Pierre Brully, [Peter Brulius], Calvinist minister, was burned to death.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1545 Dec 13, The Church Council of Trent began with the meeting of 30 bishops. It lasted 3 years but took 18 years to complete its work. The Council sparked the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. [see 1562]
(CU, 6/87)(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Pope Paul III put Michelangelo (71) in charge of the restoration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He designed the dome of St. Peter’s.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1549 Sep 13, Pope Paul III closed the first session of the Council of Bologna.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1549 Pope Paul III died and was succeeded by Julius III.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1550 Apr 28, Powers of Dutch inquisition were extended.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1550 Michelangelo completed the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, "the Conversion of Paul" and "The Crucifixion of St. Peter."
(OG)
1550-1555 Julius III, Giommaria Ciocci del Monte or Giovanni Maria del Monte, served as Pope 1550-1555.
(WUD, 1994, p.773)
1551 Pope Eugenius IV brought some of the Middle-Eastern Christians back into the Western Christian fold when he established the Chaldean rite of the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1551 The Jesuits founded the Papal Univ. in Rome.
(TL-MB, p.18)
1552 The shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar was begun. In 2000 Duncan Steel authored "Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar."
(SFEC, 2/20/00, Par p.7)
1553 Aug 12, Pope Julius III ordered the confiscation and burning of the Talmud.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1554 Jan 9, Gregory XV, Roman Catholic Pope was born.
(HN, 1/9/98)
1554 Nov 30, England reconciled with Pope Julius III.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.18)(MC, 11/30/01)
1555 Mar 23, Julius III (67), born as Giovanni M. del Monte, Pope (1550-55), died. He was succeeded by Marcellus II and then by Paul IV.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(SS, 3/23/02)
1555 Pope Paul IV decreed that all Jews in the Papal States be segregated into enclosed quarters.
(SFC, 12/2/08, p.E1)
1556 Apr 13, Portuguese Marranos who reverted back to Judaism were burned alive by order of Pope.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1556 Sep 9, Pope Paul IV refused to crown Ferdinand of Austria emperor.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1559 Feb 16, Pope Paul IV called for the overthrow of sovereigns supporting heresy.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1559 Pope Paul IV issued the Catholic Church's 1st Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The Index of Forbidden Books was maintained until 1966.
(SFC, 1/21/04, p.D2)
1559 Pope Paul IV died and was succeeded by Pius IV.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)
1562 Sep 17, The Council of Trent took ecclesiastical canon. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) demanded that clarity replace embellishment and display in church music.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.20)(MC, 9/17/01)
1563 The Council of Trent ordered a repainting of the "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo to cloth many of the frescos' previously nude figures.
(SFC, 1/21/04, p.D2)
1564 Aug 18, Spanish king Philip II joined the Council of Trent.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1565 Dec 9, Pius IV (66), [Gianangelo de' Medici], Italian Pope (1559-65), died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1566-1572 Pius V (b. 1504) led the Catholic Church.
(HN, 1/17/99)
1567 The Catholic Church outlawed the outright sale of indulgences.
(WSJ, 1/13/00, p.A1)
1568 Feb 16, A sentence of the Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal doom only a few persons, especially named, were acquitted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_War)
1568 In Rome Aonio Paleario, poet and protestant-style reformer, was burned at the stake by Pius V for posting a poem on a statue, a practice that was called the "talking statue" (Pasquino): "You’d think it was winter – the way Pius is burning Christians, - like so many logs on the fire. – He must be getting himself ready – to enjoy the flames of Hell.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A16)
1569 Feb 7, King Philip II ordered the inquisition in South America.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1569 Aug 27, Pope Pius named Cosimo I de' Medici, grand duke of Toscane.
(MC, 8/27/01)
1570 Feb 25, Pope Pius V issued the bull Regnans in Excelsis which excommunicated Queen Elizabeth the First of England. This absolved her subjects from allegiance. Elizabeth responded by hanging and burning Jesuits.
(TL-MB, p.22)(AP, 2/25/98)(HN, 2/25/99)(MC, 2/25/02)
1570 Apr 27, Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I [see Feb 25].
(AP, 4/27/07)
1571 May 20, Venice, Spain & Pope Pius formed an anti-Turkish Saint League.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1572 May 1, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), grand inquisitor, Pope (1566-72), died. He was succeeded by Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(MC, 5/1/02)
1574 Feb 28, On the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, two Englishmen and an Irishman were burnt for heresy.
(HN, 2/28/99)
1581 Pope Gregory XIII attempted in vain to reconcile the Roman and Orthodox churches.
(TL-MB, p.23)
1582 Feb 24, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. The old Julian Calendar had an error rate of one day in every 128 years. This was corrected in the Gregorian Calendar of Pope Gregory XIII, but Protestant countries did not accept the change till 1700 and later. [see 1552 and Oct 4, 1582]
(HFA, '96, p.22)(TL-MB, 1988, p.23)(HN, 6/7/98)(SFEC, 2/20/00, Par p.7)(AP, 2/24/02)
1582 Oct 4, The Church Council at Trent, Italy, discussed the error of 10 days in the calendar as referenced to the spring equinox which was used to establish the date for Easter. Pope Gregory XIII announced a correction, "The Gregorian Adjustment," and had Oct. 4 followed by Oct. 15. The calendar is accurate to a day in 3,323 years.
(K.I.-365D, p.97)(NG, March 1990, J. Boslough)
1585 Sep 9, Pope Sixtus V deprived Henry of Navarre of his rights to the French crown.
(HN, 9/9/98)
1585 An obelisk that had been brought from Egypt to Rome by the emperor Caligula was erected at the Vatican.
(RFH-MDHP, p.213, illustration)
1586 The Lateran Church of St. John, Rome, was rebuilt on the orders of Pope Sixtus V, who succeeded the late Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1587 Pope Sixtus V proclaimed a Catholic crusade for the invasion of England. Philip II prepared an invasion fleet but was interrupted by Francis Drake, who "singed the king’s beard" by burning 10,000 tons of shipping in Cadiz harbor.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1588 Domenico Fontana, Italian architect and engineer, completed the Vatican library in Rome. He also completed the cupola and lantern of St. Peter’s in Rome.
(TL-MB, p.24)
1591 Mar 1, Pope Gregory XIV threatened to excommunicate French king Henri IV.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1592-1605 Pope St. Clement VIII led the Church.
(ITV, 1/96, p.61)
1593 Jan 27, Vatican opened a 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1593 Michel Mercatus, physician to Pope Clement VIII, died. He left manuscripts on his study of Ceraunia, or ancient stone tools which had been thought to be rocks hurled down from the sky by lightning bolts, or rocks struck by lightning.
(RFH-MDHP, p.70)
1599 Feb 13, Alexander VII, Roman Catholic Pope, was born.
(HN, 2/13/98)
1600 Feb 8, Vatican sentenced scholar Giordano Bruno to death.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1600 Feb 17, Giordano Bruno, advocate of Copernican theory, was burned at stake by Catholic Church.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1600 Cardinal Filippo Spinelli, Pope Clement VIII’s ambassador in Prague, wrote to the Pope that Emperor Rudolf II was bewitched by the devil.
(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P9)
1605 Pope Paul V (d.1621) was elected following Clement VIII. After 2 months he elevated his young law-student nephew, Scipione Borghese, to the office of cardinal.
(WSJ, 9/15/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A20)
1606 Venice expelled the Jesuits as part of a larger jurisdictional dispute with the Vatican.
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.P10)
1610 Apr 22, Alexander VIII, [Pietro Ottoboni], Italian lawyer, Pope (1689-91), was born.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1615 Mar 13, Innocent XII, Roman Catholic Pope, was born.
(HN, 3/13/98)
1616 Mar 5, Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus" was placed on Catholic Forbidden index.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1617 Aug 30, Rosa de Lima of Peru became the first American saint to be canonized.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1621-1623 Gregory XV served as pope.
(WSJ, 2/8/00, p.A20)
1622 Mar 12, Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) was declared a saint.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1626 Nov 18, Pope Urban VIII consecrated St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
(HN, 11/18/98)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1633 Feb 13, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition.
(AP, 2/13/98)
1640 Pope Urban VIII ordered Spanish priests to stop smoking cigars.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.E3)
1644 Pope Innocent X was elected Pope. He was from the noble Roman Pamphili family.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A20)
1648 Nov 26, Pope Innocent X condemned the Peace of Westphalia, which ended 30 Years War one month earlier.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1657 Venice re-admitted the Jesuits ushering in a period of cultural conservatism that marked the end of the “Renaissance project.”
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.P10)
1665 May 15, Pope Alexander VII condemned Jansenism.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1676 Sep 21, Benedetto Odescalchi was elected as Pope Innocent XI.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1678 Nov 30, Roman Catholics were banned from English parliament.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1683 Sep 12, A combined Austrian and Polish army defeated the Ottoman Turks at Kahlenberg and lifted the siege on Vienna, Austria. Prince Eugene of Savoy helped repel an invasion of Vienna, Austria, by Turkish forces. Marco d'Aviano, sent by Pope Innocent XI to unite the outnumbered Christian troops, spurred them to victory. The Turks left behind sacks of coffee which the Christians found too bitter, so they sweetened it with honey and milk and named the drink cappuccino after the Capuchin order of monks to which d'Aviano belonged. An Austrian baker created a crescent-shaped roll, the Kipfel, to celebrate the victory. Empress Maria Theresa later took it to France where it became the croissant. In 2006 John Stoye authored “The Siege of Vienna.”
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.69)(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(HN, 9/12/98)(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A1)(Reuters, 4/28/03)(WSJ, 6/3/03, p.D5) (WSJ, 12/6/06, p.D12)
1731 May 28, All Hebrew books in Papal State were confiscated.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1732 Sep 2, Pope Clement XII renewed anti-Jewish laws of Rome.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1738 Pope Clement XII issued a bull against the Freemasons forbidding Catholics to join under threat of excommunication.
(WSJ, 2/6/02, p.A16)
1740 Feb 8, Clement XII (87), [Lorenzo Corsini], blind Pope (1730-40), died.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1742 Jul 11, A papal decree was issued condemning the disciplining actions of the Jesuits in China.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1752 Mar 23, Pope Stephen II was elected to succeed Zacharias. He died 2 days later.
(MC, 3/23/02)
1758 Pope Benedict XIV removed the blanket proscription against the works of Copernicus from the Index of Forbidden Books. He left Galileo on the Index because a Pope had participated in the condemnation of Galileo.
(WSJ, 10/22/99, p.W15)
1759 Feb 28, Pope Clement XIII allowed the Bible to be translated into various languages.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1759 Sep 3, Pope Clement XIII officially placed the French Encyclopedie on the Vatican’s Index of Prohibited Books.
(ON, 4/05, p.9)
1766 Nov 25, Pope Clement XIII warned of dangers of anti-Christian writings
(MC, 11/25/01)
1773 Jul 21, Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order. He disbanded, defrocked, and stripped them of their sustenance. They were ignored by other orders and denounced as schemers and plotters. The Jesuits finally regained respectability in 1814after flourishing underground.
(HN, 7/21/98)(MC, 7/21/02)
1791 Mar 10, Pope condemned France's Civil Constitution of the clergy.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1792 May 13, Giovanni-Maria Mastaia-Ferretti, later Pope Pius IX, "Pio Nono" (1846-78), was born at Sinigaglia.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 5/13/02)
1797 Feb 19, Pope Pius VI ceded papal territory to France in the Treaty of Tolentino.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.353)
1797 Gammarelli was founded under Pope Pius VI as tailors to the clergy.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.I4)
1798 Feb 20, Pope Pius VI fled Rome to Siena following an invasion of French forces. He was later arrested and deported 1st to Florence and then to France.
(www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/papalstate17891799.html)(WSJ, 4/14/06, p.W5)
1799 Aug 29, Pope Pius VI (b.1717) died in Valence, France.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/12131a.htm)
1801 Jul 16, Pope Pius VII and 1st consul Napoleon signed a concord.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1804 Dec 2, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France with Josephine as Empress as Pope Pius VII looked on. In 1807 Jacques-Louis David completed his painting of the event.
(AP, 12/2/97)(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.D10)
1805 Prussia sent Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt as envoy to the Vatican, the first Protestant state to do so.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)
1809 May 17, The Papal States were annexed by France. Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon.
(MC, 5/17/02)(PTA, 1980, p.502)
1809 Jul 5, Pope Pius VII was taken prisoner to France and held there until 1814.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)
1809 Jul 5-1809 Jul 6, Napoleon beat Austria’s archduke Charles at the Battle of Wagram. He annexed the Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro), and abolished the Papal States.
(http://tinyurl.com/vx8dk)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram)
1810 Mar 2, Leo XIII (Vincenzo G Pecci), 256th Catholic Pope (1878-1903), was born.
(HN, 3/2/99)(SC, 3/2/02)
1814 Aug 7, Pope Pius VII reinstated the Jesuits.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1823 St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was destroyed by fire. It was reconstructed for the 1825 Holy Year.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1835 Jun 2, St. Pius X, 257th Roman Catholic pope (1903-14), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1846-1878 Pope Pius IX, Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti, allowed archeological excavations of the catacombs by G.B. de Rossi. Under Pius IX the child Edgardo Mortara was taken from the Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, in Bologna and raised as a foster son of the pope. The 6-year-old boy had been baptized by a Catholic servant and canonical law did not allow that he be raised by his Jewish parents. The story is told by David I. Kertzer in his 1997 book: "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)(SFEC, 8/31/97, BR p.9)(PTA, 1980, p.510)
1848 Count Pellegrino, the prime minister for Pope Pius IX, was stabbed and killed during the unrest leading to the unification of Italy.
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)
1850 Jun 11, Cardinal Franzoni told Rev. Joseph Sadoc Alemany, a Dominican missionary who had worked in the Midwest frontier, that he was appointed the new bishop of Monterey, Ca.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1850 Jun 16, Pope Pius IX persuaded Rev. Joseph Sadoc Alemany to return to the US and to go to California.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1850 French priest Jean-Baptiste Lamy was dispatched by Rome to bring order and discipline to the New Mexican territory.
(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1853 Mar 4, Pope Pius IX recovered Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1853 Jul 29, Pope Pius IX established the archdiocese of San Francisco, Ca.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1854 Dec 8, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In an encyclical he stated that: "The Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God… Preserved immune from all stain of original sin. Ineffabilis Deus."
(AP, 12/8/97)(PTA, 1980, p.510)(WSJ, 6/3/99, p.A27)
1854 Archeologist G.B. de Rossi, while excavating the Christian catacombs discovered a marble-pillored chamber filled with rubble and fragments of inscriptions suggesting the burial of several early Popes.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)
1858 Papal police took Edgardo Mortara (6), a Jewish boy, from the arms of his father after a Catholic housemaid claimed to have baptized the boy during an illness. Edgardo grew up a church ward and later became a priest.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1861 The L’Osservatore Romano newspaper was founded as the mouthpiece for the Vatican.
(WSJ, 10/13/08, p.A16)
1864 Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical "Quanta cura," which included a syllabus of 70 errors in contemporary beliefs. The Syllabus of Errors included 80 negative points condemning modern ideas such as freedom of speech and religion and separation of church and state.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1867 The Vatican distrusted the Oxford Movement atmosphere sufficiently to issue a decree forbidding Catholics to attend Oxford University. This was not relaxed until 1895.
(http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/Exhibitions/exhib09.asp)
1870 Jul 18, Pontifical infallibility was proclaimed at the Vatican Council. It proclaimed as dogma that the Pope when speaking ex cathedra can make no mistake in solemn declarations of what must be believed in matters of faith and morals. The 20th ecumenical council, soon adjourned due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 7/18/02)
1870 Sep 20, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.A6)(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)(AP, 9/20/97)
1870 Oct 2, The papal states voted in favor of union with Italy. The capital was moved from Florence to Rome.
(HN, 10/2/98)
1870 The abolition of the Papal States freed the Jews from restrictions in Rome’s ghetto.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)
1874 May 13, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical "On the Greek-Ruthenian rite."
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1876 Mar 2, Pius XII [Eugenio MGG Pacelli], 260th Pope (1939-58), was born to an aristocratic Roman family accustomed to serving the Catholic Church.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, BR p.3)(SC, 3/2/02)
1878 Feb 7, Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), Giovanni Ferretti (85), died. Revenge-seeking Italian liberals tried to dump his body into the Tiber River. He served 31 years, seven months and 22 days. In 1954 E.E.Y. Hayes authored “Pio Nono.”
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)(AP, 10/15/03)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1878 Pope Leo XIII prohibited the hiring of new castrati by the church: only in the Sistine Chapel and in other papal basilicas in Rome did a few castrati linger.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato)
1881 Nov 25, Pope John the 23rd (1958-1963) was born Angelo Roncalli near Bergamo, Italy.
(AP, 11/25/97)(MC, 11/25/01)
1881 The area around Bosnia was annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Pope Leo XIII reasserted the Catholic Church with dioceses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1886 The Catholic Church promulgated a ban on creation on the suspicion that the movement was top heavy with atheists and other infidels.
(WSJ, 4/27/01, p.W17)
1887 Cardinal Gibbons and the American hierarchy convinced Rome to back off of a papal condemnation of the Knights of Labor.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.W17)
1891 Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical "Rerum Novarum." It endorsed trade unionism and the safeguarding of property rights.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.W17)
1896 Sep 15, Pope Leo XIII issued a papal bull titled Apostolicae Curae, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York of the Church of England responded to the papal charges with the encyclical Saepius Officio in 1897.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolicae_Curae)
1896 A Catholic Chaplaincy was established at Britain’s Oxford University.
(Econ, 9/4/10, p.57)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Newman_Society)
1897 Sep 26, Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini), the 262nd pope of the Roman Catholic Church, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1903 Feb 20, Pope Leo XIII celebrated 25 years as the Pope.
(HN, 2/20/98)
1903 Jul 20, Pope Leo XIII died. He served 25 years, four months and 17 days.
(AP, 10/15/03)
1903 Aug 4, Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto of Venice was elected Pope Pius X.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1904 Jan 8, Pope Pius X banned low cut dresses in the presence of churchmen.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1904 Aug 10, Angelo G. Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, became a priest.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1906 Feb 2, A Papal encyclical denounced the separation of church & state.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1907 Jul 3, A Papal decree forbade the modernization of theology.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1907 Sep 8, Pius X published his anti-modernism encyclical Pasceni dominici gregis.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1909 Mar 8, Pope Pius X lifted the church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1909 Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1910 May 29, Pope's encyclical on Editae Saepe was against church reformers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1912 Jun 7, Pope Pius X issued the encyclical: "On the Indians of South America."
(SC, 6/7/02)
1917 May 13, Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and Lucia de Santos reported appearances later reported 5 more occasions. In 2000 the Vatican disclosed that the so-called third Secret of Fatima was a vision of an attempt to kill a pope. It was associated to the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt. The 1st secret foretold the end of World War I. The 2nd predicted the spread and collapse of Communism and the conversion of Russia.
(AP, 5/13/97)(SFC, 5/14/00, p.A2)
1917 Jul 13, Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. In 2000 the Vatican unveiled the 62-line handwritten account of Lucia de Jesus dos Santos from the Fatima, Portugal. [see May 13]
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A12)
1917 The silent opera film "Thais" by Mary Garden was the first movie shown at the Vatican.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.A16)
1917 The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law of this year stated that “An ecumenical council enjoys supreme power over the universal church.
(WSJ, 12/26/08, p.A11)
1920 May 16, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.
(AP, 5/16/97)(HN, 5/16/98)
1920 May 18, Pope John Paul II (d.2005) was born as Karol Jozef Wojtyla, in Wadowice, Poland. In 1978 he became the 264th Roman Catholic pope. He was the first non-Italian Roman Catholic pope since the Renaissance and wrote the international bestseller "Crossing the Threshold."
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A13)(HN, 5/18/99)(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A12)
1921 Apr 30, Pope Benedict XV issued his encyclical "On Dante."
(MC, 4/30/02)
1921 Sep 21, Pope Benedictus XV donated 1 million lire to feed Russians.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1922 Jan 22, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.
(AP, 1/22/98)
1923 Jun 24, Pope Pius XI spoke against allies occupying Ruhrgebied.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1925 Feb 10, Poland made an accord with the Vatican and the archdiocese of Vilnius was revived as one of 5 Polish dioceses.
(LHC, 2/10/03)
1925 Mar 19, Angelo G. Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) became a bishop.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1926 Apr 4, The Papal Bull "Lituanorum Gente" established Lithuanian as a province of the Catholic Church.
(LC, 1998, p.14)
1927 The Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith founded Fides to report and distribute information on Catholic missionary work.
(WSJ, 3/30/01, p.W15)
1928 Oct 2, Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) founded Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization, in Madrid. In 2002 Pope John Paul II raised him to sainthood.
(WSJ, 5/19/06, p.A1)(www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=40&id_scat=34)
1929 Feb 11, The Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City. The Italian government paid the Vatican $91.7 million for the papal lands it seized in 1870. The Italian state agreed to supply water but the disposal of waste was not specified. This became a big issue in 1999.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)(AP, 2/11/97)(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A1)
1929 Jun 7, The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.
(AP, 6/7/97)
1930 Dec 4, Vatican approved the rhythm method for birth control.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1930 Dec 31, Pontifical encyclical Casti connubial was against mixed marriages.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1933 Jun 3, Pope Pius XI encyclical "On oppression of the Church in Spain."
(MC, 6/3/02)
1933 Jul 20, Vatican state secretary Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) signed an accord with Hitler.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1933 Dec 23, The Pope condemned the Nazi sterilization program.
(HN, 12/23/98)
1935 Thomas More (1478-1535) was canonized as a saint.
(WSJ, 10/22/98, p.A20)
1937 Mar, The encyclical "With Burning Sorrow" (Mit brennender Sorge) was "smuggled" into Germany. Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius XII) helped Pius XI draft the work which denounced Nazi paganism and racism. The Encyclical was "published" in Germany and read from the pulpits of every Catholic church on Palm Sunday.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1938 May 3, Vatican recognized Franco's Catholic and fascist Spain.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1938 Jun, Pius XI commissioned American Jesuit John Lafarge to write a new encyclical expressly condemning Nazi anti-Semitism. Lafarge and others wrote "The Unity of the Human Race." Pius XI died soon thereafter and it was never published. In 1997 George Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky published: "The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI."
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)(SFEC, 9/7/97, BR p.4)
1939 Feb 10, Pope Pius XI died in Rome. He was born in Desio, Italy, as Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti.
(www.nndb.com/people/327/000088063/)
1939 Mar 2, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (d.1958) was elected Pope; he took the name Pius XII.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)(AP, 3/2/98)
1939 Mar 12, Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.
(HN, 3/12/98)(AP, 3/12/98)
1941 In Mexico Rev. Marcial Maciel founded the Legion of Christ, a conservative Roman Catholic order to minister to the wealthy and multiply its beneficial impact on society. In 1946 Pope Pius XII ordered Father Maciel to recruit Latin American leaders. In 1997 8 men went public with allegations of sexual abuse by Father Maciel dating to the 1940s and 1950s.
(WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A13)
1942 Mar, Japan established relations with the Vatican, the 1st non-Christian state to do so. The first ambassador's name was Ken Harada.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.59)(www.reformation.org/vatican-and-japan.html)
1942 Sep 12, Free-Poland & Belgium asked Pope to condemn Nazi-war crimes. He did not.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1942 Dec 25, Pius XII issued an encyclical with a strong attack on Nazism but no explicit mention of Jews.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 Apr 30, Pius XII wrote a letter to Bishop von Preysing of Berlin and referred to the extermination of the Jews. His concluding thoughts stated: "Unhappily in the present state of affairs, we can bring no help other than our prayers."
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 May 18, In Croatia Archbishop Stepinac urged Pius XII to take a firm position to hold on "to its 240,000 converts." Eastern Orthodox practitioners had converted to Catholicism to escape death camps.
(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A21)
1943 Jul 12, Pope Pius XII received Baron von Weizsacker, the German ambassador.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1943 Sep 10, German troops occupied Rome and took over the protection of Vatican City.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1943 Sep 26, The Germans placed an extortion on the Jews of Rome with an order to produce 50 kg of gold within 2 days or face massive deportations. Pius XII offered to loan the Jewish community 15 kg of gold with interest with repayment within 4 years after the war. Rome’s Jews and citizens came up with sufficient gold to make the Pope’s offer needless.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1943 Oct 16, In Italy the Nazi SS police and Waffen SS began rounding up the Jews of Rome. There was an anti Jewish riot in Rome as the Jewish quarter was surrounded by Nazis, and Jews were evacuated to Auschwitz. Pope Pius XII made no public protest, though he did send some messages of disapproval through intermediaries.
(WSJ, 10/18/99, p.A46)(MC, 10/16/01)
1945 A secret internal US Treasury Dept. document, hidden for 50 years, revealed in 1997 that the Vatican held some 200 million Swiss francs plundered from Serbs and Jews by the Nazi puppet government of Croatia after WW II.
(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A8)
1946 Oct 23, A Vatican document advised French church authorities on how to handle information requests from Jewish officials, asking them not to put anything in writing: “Children who have been baptized must not be entrusted to institutions that cannot ensure their Christian education.” The document surfaced in 2004.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A12)
1948 Jun, In Rome Father Karol Jozef Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, completed his thesis “The Problems of Faith in the Works of St. John of the Cross” and earned a doctorate in philosophy. In July he returned to Poland as an assistant pastor at Niegowicd.
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A12)
1949 Jun 20, The Vatican, as a counter measure, excommunicated all active supporters of Communism in Czechoslovakia.
(EWH, 1968, p.1187)
1949 Jul 13, The militantly anti-communist Pope Pius XII excommunicated communist Catholics voters in Italy, an action aimed at the Italian Communist Party.
(MC, 7/13/02)(AP, 5/5/06)
1950 Apr 18, Polish Catholic church and government signed an accord over relations.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1950 Pope Pius XII declared that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was the "infallible" dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1951 Jul 18, Pope Pius XII established the Archdiocese of Seattle and named Rev. Thomas A. Connolly as its 1st archbishop.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1951 China and the Vatican broke formal relations after missionaries were kicked out and Catholics were forced to sever ties with Rome.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.A14)
1952 Dec 17, Yugoslavia broke relations with the Vatican.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1953 Feb 13, Pope Pius XII asked the U.S. to grant clemency to convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
(HN, 2/13/98)
1953 Jul 27, Vatican disallowed priests holiday work in factories.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1954 May 29, Pope Pius XII, born as Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Pacelli (1876-1958), canonized Pope Pius X, born as Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (1835-1914). It was the first canonization of a Pope since 1712.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_canonized_by_Pope_Pius_XII)
1955 Jun 16, Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron. The ban was lifted eight years later.
(AP, 6/16/98)
1956 May 25, Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Haurietis aquas.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1957 May 16, Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Invicti Athletae.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1957 Sep 8, Pope Pius XII posted his encyclical On motion pictures, radio, TV.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1957 Argentina signed a treaty with the Vatican that created the post of military bishop.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.34)
1958 Oct 9, Pope Pius XII died, 19 years after he was elevated to the papacy. In 1999 John Cornwell published "Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII."
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(AP, 10/9/97)(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A4)
From here on forward ALL were Satanic Antipopes and that will not change - ROME is permanently APOSTATE from here on.
1958 Oct 28, The Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope, taking the name John XXIII.
(AP, 10/28/97)
1958 Nov 4, Angelo G. Roncalli was crowned as Pope John XXIII.
(MC, 11/4/01)
1959 Jan 25, Pope John XXIII proclaimed the 2nd Vatican council.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1959 Apr 13, A Vatican edict forbade Italian Roman Catholics from for voting for communists.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1960 It was reported that a rule that required women to wear head coverings in churches was repealed. No official statement to that effect was actually made.
(WSJ, 10/8/97, p.A1)(www.catholicintl.com/qa/qa.htm)
1961 Jul 14, Pope John XXIII published his encyclical Mater et magistrate.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1962 Jan 3, Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.
(MC, 1/3/02)
1962 Oct 11, Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's 21st Ecumenical Council, also known as Vatican II, with a call for Christian unity. This was the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history. Among delegate-observers were representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change. He declared its purpose to be "aggiornamento," an "updating" that would be a pastoral response to the needs of the modern world. It allowed for vernacular languages in the Liturgy and continued to 1965, when it published Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.
(CU, 6/87)(AP, 10/11/97)(HN, 10/11/98)
1962-1965 Rev. Francis X. Murphy (d.2002) covered the Vatican Council. In 1963 he published "Letters from Vatican City: Vatican Council II." In 1968 he published "Vatican Council II," a history of the council.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A18)
1963 Feb 20, Rolf Hochhuth's "Der Stellvertreter" (The Representative) premiered in Berlin. The work indicted Pope Pius XII for Nazi complicity during WW II. The Catholic Church was outraged at the portrayal of Pius XII as a war criminal. An English translation by Richard and Clara Winston was published as “The Deputy: A Play,” by Grove Press in 1964. In 2002 The Deputy was made into the film “Amen.” by Costa Gavras.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deputy)(Econ, 10/25/08, p.73)
1963 Apr 11, John XXIII put forth his encyclical "On peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty."
(MC, 4/11/02)
1963 June 3, Pope John XXIII died at the age of 81, ending a papacy marked by innovative reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.
(AP, 6/3/97)
1963 Jun 21, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church. The new pope took the name Paul VI.
(AP, 6/21/97)
1963 Jun 30, Cardinal Montini was crowned as Pope Paul VI, the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 6/30/97)(MC, 6/30/02)
1963 Jul 2, President John F. Kennedy met Pope Paul the Sixth at the Vatican, the first meeting between a Roman Catholic US chief executive and the head of the Catholic Church.
(AP, 7/2/00)
1963 Sep 29, The second session of Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.
(AP, 9/29/97)
1963 Nov 21, Roman Catholic Vatican Council authorized the use of vernacular instead of Latin in the Sacraments.
(AP, 11/21/02)
1964 Sep 14, Pope Paul VI opened the third session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, also known as Vatican Two.'' The session closed two months later.
(AP, 9/14/06)
1964 Nov 13, Pope Paul VI gave a tiara to the poor.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1964 Nov 23, Vatican abolished Latin as the official language of Roman Catholic liturgy. [see Nov 29]
(MC, 11/23/01)
1964 Nov 29, Catholic Church in US replaced Latin with English. [see Nov 23]
(MC, 11/29/01)
1964 Saul Friedlander published "Pius XII and the Third Reich."
(SFEC, 9/26/99, BR p.3)
1965 Sep 14, The 4th meeting of 2nd Vatican council opened.
(http://www.vatican.va)
1965 Oct 4, Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1965 Oct 28, Pope Paul VI issued a decree, Nostra Aetate, absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
(AP, 10/28/99)(SFC, 3/11/06, p.B10)
1965 The 21st Vatican Council, begun in 1962 and later known as the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), ended. In 2008 John W. O’Malley authored “What Happened at Vatican II.”
(WSJ, 12/26/08, p.A11)
1966 Mar 23, The 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic and Anglican Church.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1966 Nov 18, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.
(AP, 11/18/97)
1966 Pope Paul VI allowed celibacy dispensations for men wanting to leave the Catholic priesthood. Over the next 2 decades thousands of Catholic priests left active ministry to marry.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
1967 Jan 1, Pope Paul VI announced his Apostolic Constitution (Indulgentiarum Doctrina). He also established this day as World Peace Day.
(http://tinyurl.com/ah8ck9)(SFC, 1/2/99, p.C12)
1967 Mar 26, Pope Paul VI published encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples).
(www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P6DEVELO.HTM)
1967 May 29, Pope Paul VI named 27 new cardinals, including Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, who later became Pope John Paul II.
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A13)
1967 Jun 24, Pope Paul VI published his encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (priestly celibacy).
(http://tinyurl.com/n5pq3)
1967 Dec 23, President Johnson, on his way home from a visit to Southeast Asia, held an unprecedented meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.
(AP, 12/23/07)
1967 Robert Katz (d.2010 at 77), American writer and historian, authored "Death in Rome." It was a meticulous reconstruction of an infamous 1944 Nazi massacre. A subsequent movie based on it, called "Massacre in Rome," stirred controversy because it suggested Pope Pius XII did not intervene to stop the massacre even though he knew about the Nazis' plans.
(AP, 10/21/10)
1968 Jul 29, Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Church’s opposition to abortion and to all contraception except the rhythm method.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(AP, 7/29/98)(SSFC, 7/8/01, p.A4)
1968 Aug 22, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to Latin America.
(AP, 8/22/98)
1968 The Sant’Egidio community was started in Rome by a high school student with ideals of prayer, mission and solidarity wit the poor. By 2008 it had 60,000 members in 70 countries and had become active in faith-based peacemaking.
(Econ, 7/5/08, p.72)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Sant'Egidio)
1970 Nov 27, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by Benjamin Mendoza, a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.
(AP, 11/27/02)
1971 May 14, Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), the 262nd pontiff, delivered his Octagesima Adveniens apostolic letter on the 80th anniversary of the Rerum Novarum encyclical by Leo XIII. Paul VI was born in Lombardy, Italy, as Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C1)(http://tinyurl.com/65jr23)
1971 Sep 28, Cardinal Josef Mindszenty (1892-1975) of Hungary, who had spent 15 years in refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest, ended his exile and flew to Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Mindszenty)
1973 Jan 15, Pope Paul VI had an audience with Golda Meir at Vatican.
(http://tinyurl.com/65npaj)
1975 Sep 14, Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first native-born American saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 9/14/97)(HN, 9/14/98)
1975 Oct 12, Archbishop Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681) became the 1st Irish-born saint in 700 years. He was beheaded by Cromwell's troops.
(www.archatl.com/parishes/saintoliverplunkett_snellville.html)
1977 Jan 27, The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1977 Jun 19, Pope Paul VI proclaimed a 19th-century Philadelphia bishop, John Neumann, the first male US saint.
(AP, 6/19/07)
1978 Aug 6, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.
(AP, 8/6/97)
1978 Aug 11, Chiefs of state and foreign dignitaries arrived in Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Paul VI.
(AP, 8/11/98)
1978 Aug 12, Pope Paul VI, who had died six days earlier at age 80, was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.
(AP, 8/12/97)
1978 Aug 26, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Paul VI. The new pontiff took the name John Paul I.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1978 Sep 3, Pope John Paul I, Cardinal Albino Luchiani of Venice, was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 9/3/97)(SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA11)
1978 Sep 28, Pope John Paul I [Albino Luciano] died after 33 days as pope. He was found dead the next day in his Vatican apartment.
(www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/10583/)(AP, 9/29/97)
1978 Oct 4, Funeral services were held at the Vatican for Pope John Paul I.
(AP, 10/4/98)
1978 Oct 16, The College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Wojtyla (58), Archbishop of Cracow, to become Pope. He took the name John Paul II. The first non-Italian since Adrian VI of Utrecht died in 1523.
(AP, 10/16/97)(HN, 10/16/98)
1979 Jun 2, Pope John Paul II, formerly Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Warsaw, arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C1)(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D1)(AP, 6/2/97)
1979 Sep 29, John Paul II became the first pope to visit Ireland as he arrived for a three-day tour.
(AP, 9/29/99)
1979 Oct 1, Pope John Paul II arrived in Boston for the start of a U.S. tour.
(AP, 10/1/99)
1979 Oct 6, Pope John Paul II, on a week-long U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Carter.
(AP, 10/6/97)
1979 Oct 7, Pope John Paul II concluded a week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Mall in Washington.
(AP, 10/7/99)
1979 Nov 30, John Paul II, while on a pilgrimage to Turkey, became the first pope in 1,000 years to attend an Orthodox mass.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index1979/trav_turkey.htm)
1980 May 2, Pope John Paul II arrived Kinshasa for the centennial of Catholicism in Zaire and the beginning of his African tour.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1980 May 4, Nine people were killed at Kinshasa, Zaire (later the Democratic Republic of Congo) during a stampede to attend mass given by Pope John Paul II.
(http://africanhistory.about.com/od/may/a/td0504.htm)
1980 May 30, Pope John Paul II, formerly Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Warsaw, arrived in France on the first visit by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.
(AP, 5/30/97)
1980 Jul 9, In Brazil at least 3 and as many as 7 died in a stampede to see the Pope at a stadium in Fortaleza.
(http://tinyurl.com/36kdnt)
1980 Pope John Paul II allowed married Episcopal clergy to join the Catholic Church and serve as priests.
(AP, 8/22/05)
1981 May 13, John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca. The shots hit the pope’s hand and penetrated his abdomen. John Paul forgave Agca 4 days later. In 2006 an Italian report said the Soviet Union was behind the attempted assassination.
(TMC, 1994, p.1981)(AP, 5/13/97)(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A12)(AP, 3/2/06)
1981 Jun 3, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital and returned to the Vatican three weeks after the attempt on his life.
(AP, 6/3/97)
1981 Aug 14, Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital, three months after being wounded in an attempt on his life.
(AP, 8/14/01)
1982 May 12, In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish ex-priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II. John Paul was visiting to give thanks for surviving an assassination attempt on May 13, 1981. Ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the ground by police and arrested. The pope was wounded, but this was not disclosed until 2008.
(AP, 10/12/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)(Reuters, 10/15/08)
1982 May 28, Pope John Paul II became the 1st Pontiff to visit Britain.
(www.popejohnpaulii.org.uk/)
1982 Jun 7, Pres. Reagan met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and later with Queen Elizabeth in England.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/pres/12800.htm)
1982 Sep 15, Pope John Paul II received PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://religion-cults.com/pope/religions.htm)
1982 Oct 10, Pope John Paul II canonized Rev. M. Kolbe (1894-1941), a Polish Franciscan friar. The controversial racist priest had volunteered to die in place of another inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe)
1982 Oct 31, Pope John Paul II became the 1st pontiff to visit Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastoral_visits_of_Pope_John_Paul_II_outside_Italy)
1982 Nov 16, A replica of the original 1854 "Pope’s Stone," donated by the Vatican, was dedicated at the Washington Monument. The original from Pope Pius IX, arrived in October 1853. It was taken by force in 1854 by unknown men. The common idea is that the men were part of a group called the Know-Nothings.
(www.nps.gov/archive/wamo/memstone_564.htm)
1982 Pope John Paul II declared Rev. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz, a saint.
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.C12)
1983 Jan 1, Pope John Paul II declared this year to be an extraordinary Holy Year to mark the 1,950th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in year 33.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15)
1983 Jan 19, The New Catholic code expanded women's rights in the Church.
(HN, 1/19/99)
1983 Feb 3, Cardinal Antonio Samore (b.1905), Vatican representative and archivist, died. In 1978 he mediated the Beagle conflict, a border dispute between Argentina and Chile.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Samor%C3%A9)
1983 Jun 16, Pope John Paul II visited Poland.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index1983/trav_polonia_en.htm)
1983 Jun 22, Emanuela Orlandi (b.1968), the daughter of a Vatican messenger, disappeared after a music lesson in Rome. She was 15 at the time. Her self-proclaimed kidnappers demanded the release of Ali Agca, who wounded the Pope in 1981, for her freedom. They never offered any proof they had the girl or that she was alive.
(AP, 1/10/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuela_Orlandi)
1983 Dec 11, Pope John Paul II visited a Lutheran church in Rome, the first visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Protestant church in his own diocese.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1983/december/index.htm)
1983 Dec 27, Pope John Paul II pardoned Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot him. The Pope visited Mehmet Ali Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and personally pardoned him for the 1981 assassination attempt.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A14)(http://preview.tinyurl.com/pddl)
1983 The code to annul marriages was revised under Canon 1095. It permitted annulment if it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time of their marriage one or both spouses suffered from a "grave lack of discretionary judgement" concerning their marriage obligations.
(WSJ, 9/11/98, p.W9)
1983 In Guatemala on the eve of Pope John Paul’s visit Gen’l. Montt had 6 rebel suspects executed.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D3)
1984 Jan 10, The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years.
(AP, 1/10/98)(HN, 1/10/99)
1984 In a bank scandal the Vatican paid $244 million for its part in the collapse of another Italian bank.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1984 A commission of the Roman Catholic Church, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1980, concluded that the Inquisition was in error in its 1632 condemnation of Galileo‘s support of the Copernican Theory of the solar system. By 1611 Galileo had made a series of discoveries and observations with his telescope that clearly confirmed the theory of Polish astronomer Copernicus that the earth and planets revolved around the sun. Controversy erupted when Galileo announced his support of Copernicus, a theory in opposition to the accepted Church belief that the sun and planets revolved around a stationary earth. Galileo‘s 1632 publication of Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World led to condemnation by the Inquisition, which forced him to renounce his views and live under house arrest until his death in 1642 [see 1992].
(HNQ, 2/11/00)
1985 Jan 27, Pope John Paul said mass to one million in Venezuela.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1986 Feb 3, Dalai Lama met Pope John Paul II in India.
(http://tinyurl.com/nek6w)
1986 Mar 29, A court in Rome acquitted six men in a plot to kill the Pope.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1986 Apr 13, Pope John Paul II visited a Rome synagogue and met with Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff in the first recorded papal visit of its kind.
(AP, 4/13/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_II)
1986 The Vatican issued a statement that described homosexuality as a disorder.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.A4)
1986 J.N.D. Kelly authored “The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.”
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1987 Mar 10, The Vatican condemned surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1987 Apr 30, Pope John Paul II began a five-day visit to West Germany.
(AP, 4/30/97)
1987 May 1, During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1987 May 4, Pope John Paul II ended his five-day visit to West Germany with a call for religious freedom in the Soviet bloc and praise for those who had opposed the "mass hysteria and propaganda" of the Nazi era.
(AP, 5/4/97)
1987 Jun 25, Pope John Paul II received Austrian President Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican, a meeting fraught with controversy because of allegations that Waldheim had hidden a Nazi past.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1987 Sep 1, After Jewish leaders met with the Pope at Castel Gandolfo it was announced that a document would be produced on the Holocaust. The document was made public Mar 16, 1998.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.A24)
1987 Sep 20, Pope John Paul II concluded an 11-day visit to North America as he celebrated Mass for thousands of Indians at Fort Simpson in Canada's Northwest Territories.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1988 Jan 29, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega received a coolly polite reception from Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
(AP, 1/29/98)
1988 Apr 2, Secretary of State George P. Shultz briefed Pope John Paul II on his Middle East peace proposals during a private audience at the Vatican.
(AP, 4/2/98)
1988 Jun 23, Pope John Paul II began his second papal visit to Austria, where he met with President Kurt Waldheim, despite controversy over Waldheim's alleged involvement in Nazi war crimes.
(AP, 6/23/98)
1988 Jun 30, Renegade Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in defiance of papal authority; the Vatican announced the excommunication of all five.
(AP, 6/30/98)
1988 Oct 8, Pope John Paul II journeyed to eastern France, where he addressed the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
(AP, 10/8/98)
1988 Dec 23, Pope John Paul II met with Yasser Arafat at the Vatican. The pontiff told the PLO leader he believed Palestinians and Jews had "an identical fundamental right" to their own countries.
(AP, 12/23/98)
1988 The Shroud of Turin Research Project (Sturp) performed radiocarbon dating on fibers of the shroud and found that the linen dated to between 1260 and 1390 CE. Ian Wilson wrote the 1978 book "The Shroud of Turin" and in 1998 "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence That the Most Sacred Relic Is Real."
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.W6)
1989 Dec 1, In an extraordinary encounter, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
(AP, 12/1/99)
1990 Apr 21, Pope John Paul II was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people as he visited Czechoslovakia to help celebrate the nation's peaceful overthrow of communist rule.
(AP, 4/21/00)
1990 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Redemptoris Missio," on Christian evangelization and world religions.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1990 Pope John Paul II put forth his "Excorde Ecclesiae," a set of instructions to bishops to safeguard the identity of Catholic institutions.
(USAT, 11/18/99, p.1A)
1990 A new church law required Catholic dioceses around the world to support the Holy See.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1991 May 2, In his ninth encyclical, Pope John Paul the Second acknowledged the success of capitalism, but denounced the system for sometimes achieving results at the expense of the poor and of morality. Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Centesimus Annus," on the dignity of the human person and the free economy in the free society. He pointed out that the main cause of the wealth of nations is knowledge, science, know-how, and discovery.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 Jun 2, Pope John Paul the Second, on a pilgrimage to his native Poland, visited the town of Przemysl, less than ten miles from the Soviet border; an estimated 10,000 Ukrainians crossed into Poland to see the pontiff.
(AP, 6/2/01)
1991 Jun 3, Pope John Paul the Second, visiting the Polish city of Kielce, indirectly criticized abortion, appealing to his listeners to "prevent further destruction of the Polish family."
(AP, 6/3/01)
1992 Oct 31, Roman Catholic church rehabilitated Galileo Galilei after 359 years. Galileo was tortured and imprisoned by the Holy Office during the Inquisition, and was forced to recant his heretical views that the earth and planets revolve around the Sun. Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the church had erred in condemning Galileo. [see 1984]
(/www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Galileo.html)
1992 Jason Berry authored "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," a work on clerical sex abuse.
(SFC, 3/18/02, p.F10)
1993 Mar 20, Pope John Paul II declared Duns Scotus (1266-1308) a saint.
(www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj55.htm)
1993 Aug 11, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico.
(http://tinyurl.com/ckmy6)
1993 Aug 14, Pope John Paul II denounced abortion and euthanasia as well as sexual abuse by American priests in a speech at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.
(AP, 8/14/98)
1993 Aug 15, Pope John Paul II ended his four-day U.S. visit with a farewell address at Denver's Stapleton International Airport in which he denounced the "culture of death" of abortion and euthanasia.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1993 Dec 30, Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another. Pope John Paul II normalized relations between the Vatican and Israel.
(SFC,12/25/97, p.A14)(AP, 12/30/97)
1993 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor," on the nature of moral truth in a relativistic world.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1994 Feb 20, Pope John Paul II demanded juristic discrimination of homosexuals.
(www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/lgbcathbib11.html)
1994 Apr 3, In his Easter Sunday address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of Christianity would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1994 Apr 7, Pope John Paul II made remarks at the conclusion of a concert in commemoration of the Shoah (holocaust), in which he acknowledged the Nazi Holocaust killing of Jews for the 1st time.
(http://tinyurl.com/c9vt8)
1994 Jun 2, President Clinton met at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1994 Jun 15, Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.
(AP, 6/15/97)
1994 Nov 26, Thirty clergymen were elevated to the rank of cardinal in a Vatican ceremony presided over by Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 11/26/99)(www.usccb.org/pope/dates.htm)
1994 Dec 25, Pope John Paul II, in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message, bemoaned "selfishness and violence" around the world.
(AP, 12/25/99)
1995 Jan 14, Pope John Paul II addressed a huge rally in Manila, urging young people to reject cynicism.
(AP, 1/14/00)
1995 Oct 4, Pope John Paul the Second arrived in the United States for a five-day visit.
(AP, 10/4/00)
1995 Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," on the culture of life and threats to human dignity. Also "Ut Unum Sint," on the unity of the Church and the unity of the world.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1995 The Vatican established a simple World Wide Web site.
(Sky, 9/97, p.22)
1996 Oct 8, Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation to remove his inflamed appendix.
(AP, 10/8/97)
1997 Jan, Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit journalist, published “Inside the Vatican”, a look at the institution’s internal politics and organization.
(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)
1997 Mar 10, The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Libya.
(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A11)
1997 May 4, Pope John Paul beatified the first Gypsy Jimenez Malla, killed by Republican forces in the 1936 Spanish Civil War. Also beatified were Florentino Asensio Barroso, bishop of Barbastro, Spain, where Malla died; Enrico Rebuschini, a northern Italian priest who died in 1938; and Maria Encarnacion Rosal, a 19th century Guatemalan nun.
(SFC, 5/5/97, p.A8)(AP, 5/4/98)
1997 Jun 10, Pope John Paul II bade farewell to his native Poland as he ended an 11-day pilgrimage.
(AP, 6/10/98)
1997 Aug 21, Pope John Paul II began a visit to Paris with an outdoor encounter with 500,000 young people from around the world.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 24, In France Pope John Paul II offered tough challenges and affectionate encouragement to more than 1 million faithful attending Mass during closing World Youth Day ceremonies in Paris.
(AP, 8/24/98)
1997 Oct 2, In Brazil thousands turned out to greet Pope John Paul II for the start of his 4-day visit.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.B2)
1997 Dec 23, For the 1st time a Chanukah candle was officially lit in Vatican City.
(www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/hanukkah/hanukkah.vatican/index.html)
1997 The Vatican’s top diplomat in Ireland told bishops that their policy of mandatory reporting suspected of sex abuse cases to police "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature." In 2011 the Vatican insisted the letter had been "deeply misunderstood."
(AP, 1/19/11)
1998 Jan 23, Pope John Paul II condemned the US embargo against Catholic Cuba.
(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june98/pope_1-23.html)
1998 Rev. Lawrence Murphy (d.1998), who had worked at the former St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wisconsin (1950-1975), died. In July 1996, Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland sent a letter to the Vatican seeking advice on how to proceed with charges of sexual molestation by Murphy on as many as 200 deaf students. Cardinal Ratzinger, who led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 until 2005, when he was elected pope, did not respond. The case was made public in 2010.
(AP, 3/25/10)
1998 Jan 24, Pope John Paul II, delivering blunt political messages during his visit to Cuba, called for the release of "prisoners of conscience" and respect for freedom of expression, initiative and association.
(AP, 1/24/99)
1998 May 4, In Vatican City Alois Estermann (43), the pope’s top bodyguard, was shot and killed along with his wife, Gladys Meza Romero (49) in their apartment by Cedrich Tornay (23), who then shot himself. Estermann had just been appointed the head of the Swiss Guards and was killed by Tornay due to damaged professional pride. An investigation was concluded in 1999 and suggested that marijuana and a brain cyst impaired Tornay.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A10)(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 Jun 19, Pope John Paul II visited Austria for 3 days.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Jun 25, The Vatican agreed to sign a joint declaration with the Lutheran Church on how humans receive God’s forgiveness and salvation.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Sep 18, In SF Rev. John Charles Wester was named as Catholic Bishop of SF and titular prelate of Lamiggiga.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
1998 Oct 3, In Croatia Pope John Paul II beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the World War II archbishop of Zagreb and a controversial figure because many Serbs and Jews accused him of sympathizing with the Nazis.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A22)(AP, 10/3/99)
1998 Oct 11, Pope John Paul II bestowed sainthood on Edith Stein, a Jewish-born woman who became a Catholic nun and was executed by Nazis in 1942.
(SFC, 10/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 15, Pope John Paul marked his 20th anniversary with a new encyclical "Fides et Ratio," or Faith and Reason with the basic message of: Be not afraid of human reason. The 40,000 word treatisse emphasizes spiritual truth over technology.
(SFC, 10/16/98, p.A17)(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)
1998 Oct 18, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at the Vatican marking the 20th anniversary of his election to the papacy.
(AP, 10/18/99)
1998 Nov 27, From the Vatican Pope John Paul issued a papal bull, "Incarnationis Mysterium" (The Mystery of the Incarnation) that proclaimed 2000 a special Holy Year. Special indulgences were offered for making pilgrimages, doing good deeds or fasting.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.A10)
1999 Dec 24, The Catholic Holy Year was to begin Christmas eve and last to Jan 6, 2001. The Church was expected to ask for forgiveness for past errors.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A18)
1998 Robert J. Hutchinson published "When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City."
(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.T8)
1999 Jan 8, Pope John Paul II met with the new Prime Minister and former communist leader, Massimo D'Alema.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A9)
1999 Jan 22, Pope John Paul II began a 5-day pilgrimage to Mexico and St. Louis. He was greeted by Pres. Zedillo some 2 dozen official sponsors who would help defray the $2 million costs of the 4-day visit.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/23/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 11, Pope John Paul II met with Mohammad Khatami of Iran.
(SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 17, The Vatican and Sony announced the release of the first music video, "Abba Pater," by Pope John Paul II.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.C3)
1999 May 7, In Romania the Pope began a 3-day visit. This was his first visit to a country with an Orthodox Christian majority. The Pope was greeted by Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist (84).
(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 2, President Clinton met at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 6/2/04)
1999 Jun 3, It was reported that Catholics and Lutherans had agreed to sign an accord over the theological issue of "justification." They agreed that divine forgiveness and salvation come "solely by God's grace" and that good works flow from that.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 4, Pope John Paul II traveled to Poland, the first stop on a 13-day visit to 20 cities. This was his 8th visit to Poland.
(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 31, In Augsburg, Germany, leaders of the Roman Catholic and modern Lutheran Churches signed the Augsburg Accord, a "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," in a step toward reconciliation. The accord gave weight to the Lutheran position on salvation through faith and embraced the Catholic ethic of earthly service.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A11,12)
1999 Dec 3, Acea SpA was at issue with the Vatican over a $23.2 million sewage disposal bill.
(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 24, The Catholic Jubilee Holy Year began Christmas eve and lasted to Jan 6, 2001. The Church was expected to ask for forgiveness for past errors. The bronze door to St. Peter's was opened and symbolized the passage from sin to grace.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A18)(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A12)
1999 John L. Heilbron, a historian of science, authored "The Sun in the Church."
(SFC, 10/25/99, p.A4)
1999 Monsignor Luigi Marinelli (d.2000 at 73) authored "Via col Vento in Vaticano" (Gone With the Wind in the Vatican). It alleged intrigue and corruption in the Vatican, became a best seller and prompted a defamation suit by the Vatican along with a decree ordering its removal from bookstores.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.A26)
1999 Thomas Plante edited "Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned: Perspectives on Sexual Abuse Committed By Roman Catholic Priests."
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A8)
1999 George Weigel authored "Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II."
(WSJ, 10/5/99, p.A24)
2000 Jan 6, In China the state-controlled Catholic Church ordained 5 new bishops while the Pope elevated 12 prelates in St. Peter's Basilica.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 26, Pope John Paul II visited the 6th century St. Catherine's monastery in Egypt, built on the reputed site where Moses encountered the burning bush. He met with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damianos and held a short prayer service in an olive garden outside the monastery.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.A20)
2000 Mar 12, In Rome Pope John Paul II begged for God's forgiveness for sins committed or condoned by Roman Catholics over the last 2,000 years.
(SFC, 3/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 20, Pope John Paul II arrived in Jordan for the beginning of his Holy land tour. He prayed at Mt. Nebo where the bible says Moses first viewed the Promised Land.
(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 21, Pope John Paul II landed in Tel Aviv and began his official visit to Israel with a welcome from Pres. Ezer Weizman.
(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 23, Pope John Paul the Second paid his respects at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.
(AP, 3/23/01)
2000 Mar 24, In Israel Pope John Paul II delivered a sermon from the Mount of Beatitudes before some 100,000 people.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 26, The Vatican unveiled the 62-line handwritten account of Lucia de Jesus dos Santos from the Fatima, Portugal, vision of Jul 13, 1917.
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 20, At the Vatican some 2 million young people closed the 6-day World Youth festival dubbed the Catholic Woodstock.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A9)
2000 Aug 29, Pope John Paul II laid down moral guidelines for medical research in the 21st century, endorsing organ donation and adult stem cell study, but condemning human cloning and embryo experiments.
(AP, 8/29/01)
2000 Sep 3, At the Vatican Pope John Paul II beatified Pope Pius IX and Pope John XXIII.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 5, The Vatican issued a statement that declared efforts to depict all religions as equal are wrong and reasserted that the Catholic Church is the one true church.
(WSJ, 9/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 1, Pope John Paul II canonized as martyrs 87 Chinese believers and 33 European missionaries killed between 1648 and 1930. He also canonized Mother Katherine Drexel (d.1955), a Philadelphia heiress, who became a nun.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 10, In Portland the Roman Catholic Church apologized for the sexual abuse committed by Rev. Maurice Grammond (80) between 1950-1974. The church agreed to pay and undisclosed sum to 22 men.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A3)
2000 Dec 16, Joerg Haidar, a far-right Austrian leader, visited Pope John Paul II along with a 250 person delegation to present a Christmas tree from Carinthia. This provoked heavy clashes between protesters and police.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D1)
2000 Gary Wills authored "Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit," an indictment of how the Vatican has rewritten history and twisted the truth in an effort to preserve outdated teachings on human sexuality and gender equality.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.C1)
2001 Jan 28, Pope John Paul II named 5 new cardinals and revealed the identities of 2 others from the former Soviet Union.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb 21, Pope John Paul II installed 44 new cardinals. It was the largest number ever installed at one time.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A13)
2001 May 4, Pope John Paul II visited Athens and apologized for Roman Catholic sins of "action or omission" against Orthodox Christians. A day earlier some 1,000 Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2001 May 5, In Syria Pres. Bashar Assad greeted Pope John Paul II with a speech against Israel.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.A14)
2001 May 6, In Syria Pope John Paul II prayed in the Great Umayyad Mosque, the 1st time a pontiff ever visited and prayed in a Muslim house of worship.
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.A1)
2001 May 8, In Malta Pope John Paul II was welcomed on the final stop of his 6-day pilgrimage to retrace the steps of the Apostle Paul.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Rome 155 cardinals concluded a private 3-day meeting.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Jun 23, Pope John Paul II began his 5-day visit to Ukraine, where the Greek Catholic Church had 5 million followers who observed Byzantine rites but were loyal to Rome. He hoped to mend a rift with the Eastern Orthodoxy.
(SFC, 6/22/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 25, In Ukraine Pope John Paul II planned to visit Babi Yar where some 200,000 Jews and other Nazi victims are buried. Pope John Paul II visited Babi Yar, the site of a Nazi massacre of at least 100,000 Jews. [see 1941]
(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A8)(WS, 6/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 19, The Roman Catholic Church declared that Mormon converts must be rebaptized.
(SFC, 7/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Sep 22, Pope John Paul II arrived in Kazakstan with good wishes for Islamic leaders and for "all people of good will" who seek peace.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A27)
2001 Nov 22, Pope John Paul II issued a papal message via the Internet to Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands that included an apology for sexual abuse by priests.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A1)
2002 Feb 15, The bishop of the Diocese of Dorchester, NH, named 14 priests implicated in the sexual abuse of children from 1963-1987.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb, The Archdiocese of Boston identified 80 priests as having abused children over the last 40 years.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 8, Anthony J. O’Connell, Palm Beach Catholic bishop, resigned after admitting to the sexual abuse of a teen-age seminary student 27 years earlier.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 28, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Julius Paetz, archbishop of Poznan, Poland, due to a sex scandal and accusations of molesting young seminarians.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 31, Pope John Paul II used his Easter message to call for an end to violence in the Holy Land.
(AP, 3/31/03)
2002 Apr 15, Pope John Paul II summoned all US cardinals to the Vatican to discuss clerical sex abuse scandals in the US.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 23, Pope John Paul II opened a Vatican meeting with American cardinals to discuss sexual abuse by clergy.
(SFC, 4/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 24, US cardinals at the Vatican issued a communique for expedited procedures to defrock priests guilty of sexual abuse of minors.
(SFC, 4/25/02, p.A1)
2002 May 22, Pope John Paul (82) arrived in Azerbaijan for a 2-day visit before continuing on to Bulgaria. He hope to improve relations with the Muslim and Christian Orthodox believers.
(WSJ, 5/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A1)
2002 May 24, Pope John Paul accepted the resignation of Rembert Weakland (75), archbishop of Milwaukee. Weakland admitted to a $450,000 settlement in 1998 to Paul Marcoux (53) for an alleged sexual assault in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A3)
2002 May 28, Pres. Bush met with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City and expressed his worries on the sex scandals in the US involving Catholic clergy.
(SFC, 5/29/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 14, US bishops voted to remove any priest from his ministry who abuses a minor but stopped short of zero tolerance, as pushed by some victims.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 16, Pope John Paul II declared Padre Pio (d.1968), a mystic Capuchin monk, a saint.
(AP, 6/16/02)
2002 Jul 23, A frail Pope John Paul II walked down the steps of his plane instead of using a lift after arriving in Canada to join thousands of young Catholic pilgrims for World Youth Day. Tens of thousands of exuberant young Catholics massed in Toronto to greet the Pope.
(AP, 7/23/02)(Reuters, 7/23/02)
2002 Jul 28, In Canada Pope John Paul ended the celebrations of World Youth Day for 800,000 people in Toronto's massive Downsview Park. Speaking publicly on the church abuse scandal for the first time, Pope John Paul II told young Catholics that sexual abuse of children by priests "fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame."
(Reuters, 7/29/02)(AP, 7/28/03)
2002 Jul 30, In Guatemala City Pope John Paul II canonized his 463rd saint, Pedro de San Jose Betancur, a 17th century Spanish missionary and Central America's first saint.
(SFC, 7/31/02, p.A2)(AP, 7/30/07)
2002 Jul 30, Pope John Paul II began a three-day visit to Mexico to canonize Juan Diego, the first Indian saint. He arrived from Guatemala to a greeting by President Vicente Fox and tens of thousands of people lining Mexico City's streets.
(AP, 7/30/02)
2002 Jul 31, Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego, an Indian peasant to whom church tradition says the Virgin Mary appeared 500 years ago, in a ceremony in Mexico that drew more than 1 million believers into the streets.
(AP, 8/1/02)
2002 Aug 2, Pope John Paul II returned to Rome after ending an 11-day pilgrimage to Canada, Guatemala and Mexico.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2002 Aug 5, The Vatican excommunicated 7 women who claimed to have been recently ordained as priests, because they had attacked the fundamental structure of the Catholic Church. The 7 women, from Germany, Austria and the United States, had defied an earlier Vatican warning to repent over their participation in a June 29 ceremony which they claimed made them priests.
(AP, 8/6/02)(WSJ, 8/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 16, Pope John Paul II returned to Poland for a 3-day visit.
(SFC, 8/17/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 18, In a tearful, farewell Mass in his beloved Krakow, Pope John Paul II told more than 2 million Poles that he would like to return one day — but that "this is entirely in God's hands."
(AP, 8/18/03)
2002 Aug 19, An ailing and aging John Paul II bid a tearful farewell to his homeland as he concluded a four-day visit to the Krakow region of Poland.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2002 Oct 6, Pope John Paul II raised to sainthood Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer the Spanish priest who founded the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei (1928), only 27 years after his death.
(AP, 10/6/02)
2002 Dec 13, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation, due to sex abuse, of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law (71).
(SFC, 12/14/02, p.A1)(AP, 12/13/07)
2002 Dec 20, Pope John Paul II brought Mother Teresa (d.1997) closer to sainthood when he approved a miracle attributed to the nun.
(AP, 12/20/02)
2003 May 3, Pope John Paul II began a whirlwind visit to Madrid, Spain. He urged hundreds of thousands of young people outside Madrid to be "artisans of peace."
(AP, 5/3/04)
2003 May 4, In Spain Pope John Paul II proclaimed five new saints and urged Spaniards to emulate them. They included: Pedro Poveda, a priest killed in 1936; Angela de la Cruz, who founded the Sisters of the Company of the Cross; Genoveva Torres, who founded the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and of the Holy Angels; Maravillas de Jesus, who founded convents for the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, and Jose Maria Rubio, a Jesuit priest.
(AP, 5/4/03)
2003 May 17, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re acknowledged that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease.
(AP, 5/17/04)
2003 May 18, Pope John Paul II celebrated his 83rd birthday.
(AP, 5/19/03)
2003 Jun 5, Pope John Paul II began his landmark 100th foreign pilgrimage with a five-day, five-city tour of Croatia.
(AP, 6/5/03)
2003 Jul 31, The Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was "gravely immoral" and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
(SFC, 8/1/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/31/04)
2003 Sep 11, Weary and trembling, Pope John Paul II struggled to greet Slovaks as he began a four-day visit.
(AP, 9/11/03)
2003 Sep 14, Pope John Paul II wrapped up a pilgrimage to Slovakia by beatifying two clerics, Greek Catholic Bishop Vasil Hopko and Roman Catholic Sister Zdenka Schelingova, who were jailed and tortured under the former communist regime.
(AP, 9/14/03)
2003 Sep 19, The government of Georgia scrapped an accord guaranteeing religious freedom for Catholics. The next day the Vatican issued an unusually strong rebuke to the former Soviet republic and its dominant Orthodox Church.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 28, Pope John Paul II named 31 new cardinals.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Oct 5, Pope John Paul II declared three missionaries to be saints: Daniele Comboni, an Italian; Arnold Janssen, a German; and Josef Freinademetz, an Austrian.
(AP, 10/5/03)
2003 Oct 16, Pope John Paul II celebrated his 25th anniversary, reaching a milestone matched by only three of his predecessors.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 19, Pope John Paul beatified Mother Teresa before a crowd of 300,000.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct 21, Pope John Paul II added 30 names to the list of his possible successors, installing a diverse collection of cardinals.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Nov 9, Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square beatified two Spaniards, an Italian, a Belgian and a Frenchwoman.
(AP, 11/9/03)
2003 Nov 27, At the Vatican the Dalai Lama visited Pope John Paul II.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A3)
2004 Apr 25, Pope John Paul II added six more people to the ranks of Catholics on the path to possible sainthood. Honored were: August Czartoryski (1858-1893) of Poland, a prince who became a Salesian priest; Laura Montoya (1874-1949) of Colombia, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Mary; Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963) of Mexico, co-founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Saint Margaret Mary and the Poor; Nemesia Valle (1847-1916) of Italy, a nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Giovanna Antida Thouret; Eusebia Palomino Yenes (1899-1935) of Spain; a nun of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians; and da Costa (1904-1955), who became a lay Salesian cooperator.
(AP, 4/25/04)
2004 May 16, Pope John Paul II named six new saints, including Gianna Beretta Molla, revered by abortion foes because she'd refused to end her pregnancy despite warnings it could kill her. Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician, died in 1962 at age 39, a week after giving birth to her fourth child.
(AP, 5/16/05)
2004 Jun 4, Pope John Paul II met with President Bush and reminded him of the Vatican's opposition to the war in Iraq.
(AP, 6/4/04)
2004 Jul 31, The Vatican issued a document denouncing feminism for trying to blur differences between men and women and threatening the institution of families based on a mother and a father.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2004 Aug 14, A visibly weak Pope John Paul II joined thousands of other ailing pilgrims at a cliffside shrine in Lourdes, France, telling them he shares in their physical suffering and assuring them the burden is part of God's "wondrous plan."
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Feb 1, Pope John Paul II was hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2005 Feb 27, Pope John Paul II made a surprise first public appearance after surgery, appearing at his Rome hospital window.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2005 Mar 13, Pope John Paul II was released from the hospital and returned to his Vatican apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2005 Apr 2, Pope John Paul II, born in Poland in 1920 as Karol Wojtyla, died in Rome at age 84. He was elevated to Pope in 1978 and was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In November Viking published “John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father” by Peggy Noonan.
(AP, 4/2/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.D8)
2005 Apr 7, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe defied a European Union travel ban and arrived in Rome to join world leaders attending Pope John Paul II's funeral. Italy has a pact with the Vatican in which it does not interfere with people transiting the country to see the pope.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 8, World leaders joined pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2005 Apr 19, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (78) of Germany became Pope Benedict XVI. As the 265th pope he promised to enforce strictly conservative policies for the world's Roman Catholics. In Germany Ratzinger's latest book, "Werte in Zeiten des Umbruchs" (Values in Times of Upheaval), was already sold out after its release a week ago. Ratzinger viewed secularism and moral relativism as the chief adversaries of God and the church. After Ratzinger was elected pope, the Holy See's No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, signed a decree assigning "in perpetuity and worldwide" the copyrights of all Benedict's works, including the hundreds he wrote before becoming pope, to the Vatican's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV).
(AP, 4/19/05)(WSJ, 4/20/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/19/06)
2005 Apr 20, In his first Mass as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work for unity among Christians and to seek an open and sincere dialogue'' with other faiths.
(AP, 4/20/06)
2005 Apr 24, Pope Benedict XVI formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church; the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in his installation homily that as pontiff he would listen to the will of God in governing the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(AP, 4/24/06)
2005 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI appointed SF Archbishop William Levada (68) as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s top arbiter of questions of faith and morals.
(SFC, 5/14/05, p.A1)
2005 May 23, The Vatican said there was no investigation under way of allegations that Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado, the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order, sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 Jul 25, Israel expressed outrage that Pope Benedict XVI failed to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis. Pope Benedict urged dialogue with the best elements of Islam.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 18, Pope Benedict XVI began his first foreign trip as pontiff, leaving Rome to take part in the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 19, Pope Benedict XVI warned of rising anti-Semitism and hostility to foreigners, winning a standing ovation from members of Germany's oldest Jewish community during a visit to a rebuilt synagogue that had been destroyed by the Nazis.
(AP, 8/19/05)
2005 Aug 21, Pope Benedict XVI triumphantly ended his four-day trip to his native Germany, celebrating an open-air Mass for a million people in Cologne.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2005 Oct 16, Polish television broadcast a recorded interview with Pope Benedict XVI, who said that he planned to visit Poland, the homeland of his predecessor, John Paul II (it's believed to be the first TV interview by a pope).
(AP, 10/16/06)
2005 Oct 22, Bishops from around the world approved a set of 50 recommendations for Pope Benedict XVI on running the Roman Catholic Church that reaffirm church teaching on such issues as celibacy for priests.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints at the close of a 3-week Synod of Bishops. They included: Rev. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit who was known for his work with the poor as well as the young; from Ukraine Josef Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv, who was greatly admired by Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews alike during World War and the Rev. Zygmunt Gorazdowski, who founded the Congregation for the Sisters of St. Joseph to care for the sick and poor; and Italians Felice da Nicosia, a lay Capuchin who lived in the 1700s, and the Rev. Gaetano Cantanoso, who founded the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Nov 10, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI amid tight security that closed down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 17, Israeli President Moshe Katsav met with Pope Benedict XVI and other top Roman Catholic officials to discuss a long-standing tax dispute that has irritated relations between Israel and the Holy See.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi discussed relations between the Catholic Church and Italy, amid accusations that the church interferes in the country's domestic affairs.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 19, Pope Benedict XVI curbed the independence of Franciscan friars running the famed St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, decreeing they must now get permission for their activities from the local bishop.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, The Vatican beatified 13 Mexicans who died during a Roman Catholic uprising in the late 1920s that was crushed by the Mexican government.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 22, Pope Benedict XVI created the diocese of Ba Ria, in the Vietnam province of the same name, by dividing up the existing diocese of Xuan Loc. He named Monsignor Thomas Nguen Van Tram bishop of Ba Ria. Vietnam had an estimated 6 million Catholics.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 29, The Vatican published its long-awaited document on gays in the clergy, saying men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be ordained but those with a "transitory problem" could be if they had overcome them for three years.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Dec 25, Pope Benedict the 16th marked his first Christmas as pope, calling for concrete actions to back up “signs of hope” in the Middle East and urging peace in Darfur, Sudan and the Korean peninsula.
(AP, 12/25/06)
2006 Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical, "God is Love," that the Roman Catholic Church has no desire to govern states or set public policy, but can't remain silent when its charity is needed to ease suffering around the world.
(AP, 1/25/06)
2006 Feb 2, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, a liberal voice in the US church who recently revealed that a priest abused him 60 years ago.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 22, Pope Benedict XVI named 15 new cardinals, including John Paul II's longtime private secretary and prelates from Boston and Hong Kong, adding his first installment to the elite group of churchmen who will elect his successor.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 26, In Canada, 19 Catholic priests singed an open letter in Montreal’s La Presse newspaper denouncing Vatican opposition to gay marriage and having homosexuals into the priesthood.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 13, Pope Benedict XVI and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks at the Vatican about Iran, Iraq and the prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 23, Pope Benedict XVI convened the College of Cardinals for the first time since his election last year, inviting its members to share their concerns about the challenges facing the Catholic Church before adding 15 new members to their ranks.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2006 Mar 24, Pope Benedict XVI installed his first group of cardinals, promoting 15 prelates, including two Americans, to the elite club that chooses his successor.
(AP, 3/24/06)
2006 Mar 25, The Vatican's foreign minister said that the "time is ripe" for the Holy See and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations, and confirmed it is ready to move its embassy from Taiwan.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Apr 16, In his first Easter message as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI urged nations to use diplomacy to defuse nuclear crises and prayed that Palestinians would one day have their own state alongside Israel.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2006 May 3, China's state-approved Catholic church installed a bishop without Vatican approval, the second this week.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 4, The Vatican excommunicated two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without the pope's consent, escalating tensions as the two sides explored preliminary moves toward improving ties.
(AP, 5/4/06)
2006 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI named a new bishop for Vietnam, a country that lacks ties with the Vatican but has the second highest number of Catholics in Southeast Asia.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 19, The Vatican said it had asked Rev. Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ (1941), to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of "prayer and repentance" following its investigation into allegations he sexually abused seminarians.
(AP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 25, Poland welcomed Pope Benedict XVI with cheers and fluttering yellow and white Vatican flags as the German-born pontiff started a four-day visit aimed at honoring predecessor John Paul II and healing wounds from World War II.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 28, Pope Benedict XVI urged some 900,000 Poles at a giant mass to fight growing secularism by spreading their Christian faith across Europe and the world. He visited Auschwitz.
(AFP, 5/28/06)(WSJ, 5/30/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 3, British PM Tony Blair had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI, at which the two men focused on the importance of inter-faith dialogue, in particular with "moderate Islam", in achieving peace.
(AP, 6/3/06)
2006 Jun 6, The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 30, The Vatican said it will release from its secret archives years of files on Pope Pius XI, whose pontificate spanned most of the period between the world wars.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jul 8, Pope Benedict XVI stressed family values during a visit to Spain, where church influence has waned and the government has angered the Vatican with its liberal take on issues including gay marriage.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Sep 9, Pope Benedict XVI began a six-day homecoming to his native Bavaria.
(AP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 12, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at Regensburg Univ. that included brusque words about Islam. He quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” The speech quickly provoked criticism from the world’s Muslim communities. The pontiff later said he regretted that Muslims were offended.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.A17)(AP, 9/12/07)
2006 Sep 14, Turkey's top Islamic cleric asked Pope Benedict XVI to take back recent remarks he made about Islam on Sep 12. He unleashed a string of counteraccusations against Christianity, raising tensions before the pontiff's November visit.
(AP, 9/14/06)(SFC, 9/15/06, p.A17)
2006 Sep 16, Leaders across the Muslim world demanded Pope Benedict XVI apologize for his remarks on Islam and jihad. The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely" regretted offending Muslims with his reference to an obscure medieval text characterizing some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," but the statement stopped short of the apology demanded by Islamic leaders. Two West Bank Christian churches were hit by firebombs, and a group claiming responsibility said it was protesting Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Islam.
(AP, 9/16/06)(AP, 9/16/07)
2006 Sep 17, Pope Benedict XVI said that he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his recent remarks about Islam, which he said came from a text that didn't reflect his personal opinion.
(AP, 9/17/06)
2006 Sep 18, The Vatican opened part of its secret archives to let historians review millions of diplomatic letters, private correspondence and other church documents to gain insight into how the Holy See dealt with the growing persecution of Jews before World War II.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 25, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats that Christians and Muslims must work together to guard against intolerance and violence as he sought to soothe anger over his recent remarks about Islam.
(AP, 9/25/06)
2006 Sep 26, The Vatican said it has excommunicated Zambia’s Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, for defying the Holy See by installing four married men as bishops. The prelate had already angered the Vatican by getting married in 2001.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Oct 13, Pope Benedict XVI met privately with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, but the Vatican released no details of the low-key visit that was not even listed on the pontiff's official calendar.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 15, Pope Benedict XVI gave Catholics four news saints, bestowing the honor on a 19th-century nun who struggled on the American frontier, a bishop who tended to the wounded during the Mexican Revolution and two Italian clergy.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 18, Pope Benedict XVI received an open letter signed by 38 Muslim personalities from various countries and of different outlooks, which discussed point by point the views on Islam expressed by the pope in his Sep 12 Regensburg lecture.
(http://popebenedict16.blogspot.com/)
2006 Nov 16, The Vatican reaffirmed the value of celibacy for priests after a summit led by Pope Benedict XVI that was spurred by a married African archbishop who has been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 26, More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul held the biggest protest so far against Pope Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 28, Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to a Muslim country with a message of dialogue and brotherhood between Christians and Muslims in an attempt to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam. In Turkey Benedict urged all religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to support any violence in the name of faith.
(AP, 11/28/06)(AP, 11/28/07)
2006 Dec 22, The Roman Catholic Church denied a religious funeral for Piergiogio Welby, the paralyzed Italian author who died after a doctor disconnected his respirator, saying it would treat his public wish to "end his life" as a willful suicide.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 25, Pope Benedict XVI used his Christmas Day address to call for a peaceful resolution of conflicts worldwide and appealed for greater caring of the poor, the exploited and all who suffer.
(AP, 12/25/07)
2006 Dec 26, The Vatican called on retired Bishop Fernando Lugo to give up his plans to run for Paraguay's presidency or face canonical sanctions. Lugo said he had already resigned from the priesthood to lead a planned opposition alliance and challenge conservative President Nicanor Duarte of the Colorado Party in elections scheduled for May 2008.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2007 Jan 11, A US federal judge ruled that the Vatican can be sued for damages by US victims of clerical sex abuse.
(WSJ, 1/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI met with Vietnam's PM Nguyen Tan Dung. Their talks marked an important step toward establishing diplomatic relations following decades of tension.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Mar 3, Pope Benedict named Kazimierz Nycz, a bishop with a spotless record, as archbishop of Warsaw to replace a prelate who resigned in disgrace after admitting he spied for the communist police.
(Reuters, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI met for the highest-level Kremlin-Vatican talks in more than three years, focusing on easing tension between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians and finding common ground in denouncing intolerance and extremism.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 28, In France an official at a Paris maternity hospital said Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre is the French nun whose testimony of a mystery cure from Parkinson's disease will likely be accepted as the miracle the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2007 Apr 13, Benedict XVI published “Jesus of Nazareth,” his first book as pope. It criticizes the "cruelty" of capitalism and colonialism and the power of the wealthy over the poor.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 20, A Vatican committee issued a report concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven and not be stuck in Limbo, which “reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation.”
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A7)
2007 May 4, Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met with Pope Benedict XVI for talks the Vatican hoped would help heal tensions left from the pontiff's remarks on Islam and violence, but the Iranian said the wounds were still very deep.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 6, Italian news said a Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for cocaine use.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in 2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was "Yes."
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Brazil Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion in his first speech but avoided further suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be considered excommunicated.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 11, In Sao Paulo Pope Benedict XVI canonized Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao (d.1822), an 18th-century Franciscan monk, as Brazil's first native-born saint. Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI held an inaugural mass for the 5th conference of bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean. This brought together 166 bishops to discuss the church's situation in the region, home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.47)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome after telling Brazilians a growing rich-poor gap is to be lamented, but that the solution isn’t Marxism.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev. George Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1932 as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted Poles afflicted by the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin), who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in 1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 5, A Vatican engineer said some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI discussed the pontiff's deep worries that Christians in Iraq would not be embraced by the Muslim majority. Bush, denounced by anti-American protesters on the streets of Rome, defended his humanitarian record as he met with the Pope. Bush met with PM Prodi for the first time several hours after seeing the pope.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 19, The Vatican issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 23, Britain’s PM Tony Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI, with the Vatican stop on his farewell tour fueling rumors that he plans to convert to Catholicism.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that relaxes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries until the modernizing reforms of the 1960s.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 7, Pope Benedict XVI removed restrictions on celebrating the old form of the Latin Mass in a concession to traditional Catholics, but he stressed that he was in no way rolling back the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jul 10, Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Aug 27, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, a Vatican-backed charter airline service, made its inaugural flight, aiming to carry pilgrims to such Catholic shrines as Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostela and the Holy Land.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Sep 6, Pope Benedict XVI met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, as the elder statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate continued his visit to Italy amid an international push for peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 7, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to Holocaust victims, extending his "sadness, repentance and friendship" to the Jewish people as he began a 3-day pilgrimage to Austria.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 8, In Austria Pope Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having enough children, in a sermon at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of Mariazell.
(AP, 9/8/07)
2007 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to South Koreans' "inherent moral sensibility" to reject embryonic stem cell research and human cloning after the country decided to let embryonic stem cell research resume.
(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 17, Pope Benedict XVI named 23 new cardinals, tapping two Americans, the patriarch of Baghdad, and archbishops from five continents to join the elite ranks of the "princes" of the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Oct 28, The Vatican staged its largest mass beatification ceremony ever, putting 498 victims (1934-1937) of religious persecution before and during Spain's civil war on the path to possible sainthood.
(AP, 10/28/07)
2007 Nov 6, In the Vatican Benedict XVI raised concerns about restrictions on Christian worship in Saudi Arabia in the first meeting ever between a pope and a reigning Saudi king.
(AP, 11/6/07)
2007 Nov 24, Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 churchmen from around the world to the top ranks of the Catholic Church hierarchy, telling them they must be willing to shed their blood to spread the Christian faith.
(AP, 11/24/07)
2008 Mar 10, A top Vatican official listed drugs, pollution, genetic manipulation and social and economic injustice as new sins.
(AP, 3/11/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 22, Magdi Allam (55), Italy's most prominent Muslim, converted to Catholicism in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service. The iconoclastic writer has condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel.
(AP, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 30, The Vatican said Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism in number of adherents. It recently put the Roman Catholic number at 1.13 billion. Others estimated Muslims to number around 1.3 billion.
(WSJ, 3/31/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 15, Pope Benedict arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and was met by President Bush and Catholic dignitaries. Benedict turned 81 the next day.
(AP, 4/16/08)(SFC, 4/16/08, p.A2)
2008 Apr 19, In NYC Pope Benedict XVI preached in St. Patrick's cathedral, assuring priests and nuns that he was close to them as they battled the damage left by the clergy sex scandal.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 19, Alfonso Lopez Trujillo (b.1935), Vatican enforcer and former archbishop of Medellin, died. In 1995, as head of the Pontifical council for the Family, he published a “Lexicon of Ambiguous and Debatable Terms.”
(Econ, 5/3/08, p.93)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_L%C3%B3pez_Trujillo)
2008 Apr 20, Pope Benedict XVI held a Mass at Yankee Stadium on his last day in the US.
(WSJ, 4/21/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 27, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, a church law expert known for his tough stance that politicians who support abortion rights be denied Holy Communion, was named to head the Vatican's supreme court.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2008 Jul 12, Pope Benedict XVI left Rome on a flight to Australia for a 10-day pilgrimage. The Pope said he will use his visit to Australia to apologize for sexual abuse by priests and to examine how the Church can "prevent, heal and reconcile".
(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 13, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Sydney, after a stop in Darwin, for one of the largest Christian gatherings on Earth, starting a visit set to be marked by his apology for sexual abuse by priests in Australia.
(AFP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 17, In Sidney, Australia, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a stinging attack on pop culture, consumerism and "false idols" to 150,000 mainly teenaged Catholic pilgrims gathered for World Youth Day.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Australia Pope Benedict XVI warned Christian leaders that the push to unite Christian churches was at a "critical juncture" and called on people of all religions to join together against violence.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 19, In Sidney, Australia, Pope Benedict apologized directly for the first time for sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, but victims groups said they wanted action and not words.
(Reuters, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 20, In Australia Pope Benedict XVI said a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and he challenged young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 21, In Sidney Pope Benedict XVI met privately with Australians who were sexually abused as children by priests, ending a pilgrimage to the country with a gesture of contrition and concern over a scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Jul 30, The papal nuncio said Paraguay's president-elect Fernando Lugo (57) has received unprecedented permission from the pope to resign as bishop, ending a dispute over his priestly status.
(AP, 7/31/08)
2008 Sep 12, Pope Benedict XVI urged France to take Christianity into account despite its secular tradition, saying on his first visit there as pontiff that church and state should be open to each other.
(AP, 9/12/08)
2008 Oct 12, Pope Benedict XVI gave the Roman Catholic church four new saints, including an Indian woman whose canonization is seen as a morale boost to Christians in India who have suffered Hindu violence. They included Sister Alphonsa (1910-1946) of the Immaculate Conception, a nun from southern India and India’s first woman saint; Gaetano Errico (1791-1860), a Neapolitan priest who founded a missionary order in the 19th century; Sister Maria Bernarda, born as Verena Buetler (1848-1924) in Switzerland, who worked as a nun in Ecuador and Colombia; and Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran (1832-1869), a 19th century laywoman from Ecuador who helped the sick and the poor.
(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Nov 4, In a bid to improve strained Catholic-Muslim relations, the Vatican hosted scholars, imans and clerics from both religions as it opened a three-day religious conference.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Dec 12, The Vatican raised its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, the morning-after pill, in vitro fertilization and human cloning to a new level in a major new document on bioethics.
(AP, 12/12/08)
2008 Dec 31, The Vatican announced that it will no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own, citing the vast number of laws Italy churns out, many of which are in odds with Catholic doctrine.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2009 Jan 5, The Vatican said that Bishop Allen H. Vigneron will replace Cardinal Adam Joseph Maida at the head of the Detroit archdiocese. The pope also named the auxiliary bishop of Halifax, Claude Champagne, as the new bishop of Edmundston in Canada. Benedict appointed the Rev. Cirilo Flores as new auxiliary bishop of Orange, California.
(AP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 24, Pope Benedict rehabilitated four traditionalist bishops who lead the far-right Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which has about 600,000 members and rejects modernizations of Roman Catholic worship and doctrine. One of the four, British-born Richard Williamson, has made statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.
(Reuters, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 28, Israel’s chief rabbinate cut ties with the Vatican to protest the reinstatement of English-born Bishop Richard Williamson (b.1940), who has continued to deny the Holocaust. Williamson was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 because of his unauthorized consecration by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, deemed by the Holy See to be "unlawful" and "a schismatic act."
(WSJ, 1/29/09, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Williamson_(bishop))
2009 Jan 31, The Vatican announced that the Pope has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner (54) to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria province. Wagner caused a stir in 2005 when he was quoted as saying that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina earlier that year was "divine retribution" for tolerance of homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes in New Orleans.
(AP, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 4, The Vatican demanded that Bishop Richard Williamson recant his positions on the Holocaust before being admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 16, The Vatican said it will launch a Chinese version of its website on March 19 in an effort to bring more of Pope Benedict's message to China, whose communist government does not allow Catholics to recognize his authority.
(Reuters, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 17, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cameroon to start his first visit to Africa as pontiff. Benedict, arriving in Africa, said that condoms "increase the problem" of AIDS. The comment, made to reporters aboard his plane, caused a worldwide firestorm of criticism.
(Reuters, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 20, Tens of thousands of Angolans welcomed Pope Benedict XVI. He urged Angolans to continue on the path of reconciliation after nearly three decades of civil war, saying dialogue could overcome all conflict and tension.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 21, In Angola Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the Catholics of Angola to reach out to and convert believers in witchcraft who feel threatened by "spirits" and "evil powers" of sorcery. Two people were killed in a deadly stampede that broke out at Luanda stadium a few hours before Pope Benedict XVI addressed young people.
(AP, 3/21/09)
2009 Mar 23, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has named Monsignor Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, a San Diego clergyman, to be bishop of Oakland, California.
(AP, 3/23/09)
2009 Apr 17, The Vatican said it will spend $660 million to build the biggest solar plant in Europe on 740 acres of pasture land it owns north of Rome.
(SFC, 4/18/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 26, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints, including Portugal's 14th century independence leader and an Italian priest who ministered to factory workers at the dawn of the industrial era.
(AP, 4/26/09)
2009 Apr 27, Belarus' authoritarian Pres. Lukashenko met with Pope Benedict XVI on his first trip to Western Europe since the European Union lifted a travel ban imposed in 1999 over his dismal human rights record. The EU lifted the ban to allow Lukashenko to attend an East-West summit in Prague, Czech Republic, in May.
(www.contracostatimes.com/nationandworld/ci_12237339)
2009 May 8, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Jordan and expressed deep respect for Islam. He said he hopes the Catholic Church can play a role in Mideast peace as he began his first trip to the region, where he hopes to improve frayed ties with Muslims.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 10, In Jordan Pope Benedict XVI urged Middle East Christians to persevere in their faith despite hardships threatening their ancient communities, addressing a crowd of 20,000 who filled a sports stadium where he celebrated the first open-air Mass of his pilgrimage.
(AP, 5/10/09)
2009 May 11, Pope Benedict XVI confronted the dark history of his native Germany on the first day of his visit to Israel, shaking the hands of six Holocaust survivors and saying victims of the genocide "lost their lives but they will never lose their names." He also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland, a stance that could put him at odds with his hosts on a trip aimed at improving ties between the Vatican and Jews.
(AP, 5/11/09)
2009 May 13, Standing in Bethlehem, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians he understands their suffering and offered the Vatican's strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian homeland.
(AP, 5/13/09)
2009 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI greeted tens of thousands of adoring followers in Nazareth with a message of reconciliation, urging Christians and Muslims to overcome recent strife and "reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice."
(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 15, In Israel Pope Benedict XVI ended his pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his strongest call yet for the creation of a Palestinian state and telling the faithful at the site of Jesus' crucifixion that peace is possible.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 Jun 29, Pope Benedict XVI signed his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," a text on ways to make globalization more attentive to meeting the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 6, Vatican Radio began airing advertisements for the first time in its 80-year history. Vatican debt last year was pegged at $22 Million.
(SFC, 7/27/09, p.D3)
2009 Jul 7, Pope Benedict XVI called for a radical rethinking of global economy in “Caritas et Verite” (Charity in Truth) his 3rd encyclical.
(SFC, 7/8/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 10, At the Vatican Pope Benedict XVI stressed the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell research in his first meeting with President Barack Obama.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 30, Italy approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, drawing fierce protests by the Vatican. The Italian Drug Agency ruled that the drug cannot be sold in drug stores but can only be administered by doctors in a hospital.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Sep 26, Pope Benedict XVI criticized the communist era's fierce religious persecution as he began a three-day pilgrimage to the Czech Republic, and urged the heavily secular nation to rediscover its Christian roots.
(AP, 9/26/09)
2009 Oct 4, Pope Benedict opened a special meeting of bishops on Africa by praising the continent as the world's spiritual center but lamenting that it risks being afflicted by materialism and religious fundamentalism.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints, including Father Damien, a 19th-century priest who worked with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island; Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Polish bishop who defended the Catholic faith during the years of the Russian annexation; Spaniards Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order of Dominicans in the 19th century, and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who renounced an affluent lifestyle at age 22 to live a humble life in a strict monastery and dedicate himself to prayer; and Jeanne Jugan (d.1879), a French nun, who helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending a Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt Catholic political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Peter Turkson (61) of Ghana to head the Vatican's justice and peace office, a high-profile post that cements his reputation as a possible future papal candidate. Turkson's appointment to his new post was announced at the end of a three-week Vatican meeting on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 25, Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa with a call for peace and reconciliation among all people on the continent, regardless of ethnic and religious differences.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 31, The Vatican said it will admit married Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood case by case. In no case could a married man become a bishop, and the new rules would exclude any married Anglican bishop from retaining that post.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 3, Europe's court of human rights ruled the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms under the continent's rights convention. The court ordered Italy to pay a $7,390 fine to a mother who has fought for 8 years to have crucifixes removed from public school classrooms. The Vatican denounced the ruling.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 10, The Vatican presented results of a 5-day conference that gathered experts to discuss astrobiology, the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 3, Pope Benedict XVI and visiting Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade Vatican-Kremlin relations to full diplomatic ties.
(SFC, 12/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 11, At the Vatican Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet met with Pope Benedict XVI for 40 minutes, twice as long as was scheduled and the first time that the head of state of Vietnam has met with the pope since the communists took power in 1954. Vietnam's 6 million Roman Catholics is one of the largest Catholic communities in Asia.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 17, The Vatican said Bishop Donal Murray (69), a Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland, has resigned after a probe of child sex abuse by clergymen accused him of ignoring reports of crimes by priests in his diocese from 1982-1996.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 17, The Vatican said it has stripped charismatic Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of his priestly duties because he defiantly continues to ordain bishops despite already being excommunicated. Milingo angered the Vatican when he got married in 2001 to a South Korean woman by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. He was excommunicated in 2006 after installing four married men as bishops.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 24, At the Vatican a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI (82) for the second time in two years, managing to knock him down before being pulled away by security. The Vatican identified the woman involved as Susanna Maiolo (25), a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems, who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment. The pope was unhurt but retired Vatican diplomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray (87), fractured his hip in the commotion.
(AP, 12/25/09)
2009 Dec 31, The Ugandan government said it was investigating the breakaway Catholic Apostolic National Church in Uganda and would ban it if found to be illegal. 20 renegade Catholic priests, who are either married or want to marry, have broken from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church and formed a new church where celibacy is not required. Vatican officials said the priests were now considered "outside" the Catholic Church and would likely be excommunicated.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2010 Feb 19, Pope Benedict XVI approved sainthood for Mother Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), making the woman known for her work among the needy Australia's first saint. Sainthood was also approved for Stanislaw Soltys, a 15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Varano; Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola and a Canadian brother, Andre Bessette (d.1937). The formal canonization will take place Oct. 17 in Rome.
(AP, 2/19/10)
2010 Mar 24, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, a former papal aide who stands accused of endangering children by failing to follow the Irish church's own rules on reporting suspected pedophile priests to police.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 Apr 12, The Vatican responded to allegations it long concealed clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and clerics worldwide should report such crimes to police if they are required to by law.
(AP, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 18, Pope Benedict XVI met in Malta with a group of clerical sex-abuse victims and promised them with tears in his eyes that the Catholic Church would seek justice for pedophile priests and implement "effective measures" to protect young people from abuse. 10 Maltese men came forward earlier this month saying they wanted to meet with the pope to tell him their stories and to request an apology. They said they were abused by 4 priests at a Catholic orphanage.
(AP, 4/18/10)
2010 Apr 22, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Irish Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare, who acknowledged failing to report abuse to police, while a German bishop also offered to step down.
(AP, 4/22/10)
2010 May 1, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would name a papal delegate to govern the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ and that a special commission would study its founding constitutions to reform it. The decisions were made after five Vatican investigators reported to the pope about their eight-month global inquiry into the order after its late founder was so thoroughly discredited by revelations of his double life.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 8, Bishop Walter Mixa, a leading German bishop who has acknowledged slapping children and is being investigated for sexual abuse of minors and financial misconduct, lost his job as Pope Benedict XVI continued cleaning house.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 Jun 4, Pope Benedict XVI began a pilgrimage to Cyprus bringing a message of peace to the region as Greek Cypriot leaders made a blistering attack on Turkey for its occupation of northern Cyprus.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 8, At the Vatican groups that have long demanded that women be ordained Roman Catholic priests took advantage of the Vatican's crisis over clerical sex abuse to press their cause, demanding the Vatican open discussions on letting women join the priesthood.
(AP, 6/8/10)
2010 Jun 20, The Vatican pledged that Naples’ Cardinal Crescensio Sepe would cooperated in an alleged corruption probe over his real transactions and other dealings.
(SFC, 6/21/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 27, Pope Benedict denounced as "surprising and deplorable" raids by Belgian police on Church offices and the home of a cardinal this week during an investigation into pedophilia by Roman Catholic priests.
(Reuters, 6/27/10)
2010 Jun 28, Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of a new Vatican office to fight secularization and "re-evangelize" the West, a tacit acknowledgment that his attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe haven't succeeded and need a new boost.
(AP, 6/29/10)
2010 Jul 10, The Vatican said it had posted its 3rd straight annual financial loss, registering a 4.1 million euro ($5.2 million) deficit for 2009.
(SSFC, 7/11/10, p.A3)
2010 Jul 15, The Vatican issued a new set of norms to respond to the worldwide clerical abuse scandal. The norms extend from 10 to 20 years the statute of limitations on priestly abuse and also codify for the first time that possessing or distributing child pornography is a canonical crime.
(AP, 7/15/10)
2010 Sep 16, Pope Benedict XVI, beginning a controversial visit to Britain, acknowledged that the Catholic Church had failed to act decisively or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children. He said the church's top priority now was to help the victims heal.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 18, In Britain Pope Benedict XVI said he was ashamed of the "unspeakable" sexual abuse of children by priests, issuing an apology to the British faithful even as thousands of people opposed to his visit marched in central London in the biggest protest of his five-year papacy.
(AP, 9/18/10)
2010 Sep 19, In Britain Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman at an open-air Mass and marked the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a personal reflection on the evil of the Nazi regime, praising those who "courageously" resisted it.
(AP, 9/19/10)
2010 Sep 21, Italian prosecutors launched an investigation into the Vatican bank's top executives for allegedly violating money laundering legislation, triggering a sharp rebuttal by the Vatican. The bank's top two officials were under investigation for suspected money laundering and police have frozen 23 million euros ($30.21 million) of its funds.
(AFP, 9/21/10)(Reuters, 9/21/10)
2010 Oct 8, French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the pope and top Vatican officials in a fence-mending visit following France's controversial crackdown on Gypsies, while a top Vatican cardinal urged France to welcome immigrants and those who have been persecuted.
(AP, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 12, Pope Benedict XVI formally created a new Vatican office to revive Christianity in Europe, his latest attempt to counter secular trends in traditionally Christian countries.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 17, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Australia's first saint, canonizing Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), a 19th-century nun. The Vatican also declared five other saints in an open-air Mass attended by tens of thousands. Brother Andre (1845-1937), a Canadian, Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Camilla da Varano, and Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola were also canonized.
(AP, 10/17/10)
2010 Oct 17, The official Vatican newspaper said that beer-swilling, doughnut-loving Homer Simpson and son Bart are Catholics, and what's more, it says that parents should not be afraid to let their children watch "the adventures of the little guys in yellow." Executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly the next day he was in "shock and awe" at the latest assertion, adding that the Simpsons attend the "Presbylutheran" First Church of Springfield. "The Simpsons" is the longest-running prime-time TV series in the United States and is now in its 22nd season.
(Reuters, 10/18/10)
2010 Oct 20, Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals, putting his mark on the body that will elect his successor and giving a boost to Italian hopes to regain the papacy.
(AP, 10/20/10)
2010 Nov 6, In Spain Pope Benedict XVI blasted the "aggressive" anti-church sentiment he said was flourishing in Spain as he sought to rekindle the faith in a once-staunchly Roman Catholic nation that is now among Europe's most liberal.
(AP, 11/6/10)
2010 Nov 7, In Spain Pope Benedict XVI consecrated a world monument to family, the Sagrada Familia church, but faced a gay kiss-in protest before he attacked abortion and defended male-female marriage.
(AFP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 8, Five Church of England bishops announced they are converting to Catholicism following an invitation to disaffected Anglicans from Pope Benedict XVI, the highest-profile defectors among conservatives opposed to gay bishops and female clergy.
(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 Nov 19, The world's cardinals met at the Vatican to discuss religious freedom, sex abuse by clergy and other issues amid a new dispute with China over an illicit ordination that threatens delicate relations between the two.
(AP, 11/19/10)
2010 Nov 20, Pope Benedict XVI formally created 24 new cardinals amid cheers in St. Peter's Basilica, bringing a mostly Italian group into the elite club that will eventually elect his successor. Benedict XVI reiterated that condoms are not a moral solution for stopping AIDS. But he added that in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, their use could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.
(AP, 11/20/10)(AP, 11/21/10)
2010 Nov 20, China's government-backed Catholic church ordained a bishop who did not have the pope's approval, despite objections from the Vatican.
(AP, 11/20/10)
2010 Nov 24, The Vatican denounced China for ordaining a bishop without papal consent, accusing the government-backed church of gravely damaging the faith and warning that the bishop risked excommunication. The Vatican also accused Chinese authorities of committing "grave violations of freedom of religion and conscience" by forcing Vatican-approved bishops to attend the ordination ceremony of Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai.
(AP, 11/24/10)
2010 Nov 26, In Chile the lawyer for a group of men who accused Fernando Karadima, a prominent Chilean priest, of sexually abusing them as teenagers said his clients will not appeal a ruling in favor of the clergyman. Five men, now adults, had alleged that Karadima began abusing them about 20 years ago, when they were between 14 and 17 years old. In 2011 the Vatican said Karadima was guilty of abusing minors and must retire.
(AP, 11/26/10)(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A2)
2010 Dec 2, Retired Naples Cardinal Michele Giordano (80), the highest ranking church official to ever stand trial in Italy, died. The cardinal was acquitted in 2000 of charges that he supplied about $800,000 (€600,000) to finance a loan-shark ring run linked to his family. He was also accused of misappropriating another $500,000 in church funds. He had always proclaimed his innocence.
(AP, 12/3/10)
2010 Dec 6, In Ireland Tony Walsh (56) was convicted of raping 3 boys over a 5-year period three decades earlier. Investigators had concluded that Walsh actually raped and molested hundreds of boys and girls while serving as a Dublin priest from 1978 to 1996. Investigators also reported that the Vatican had tried to stop the Dublin church from defrocking Walsh.
(SFC, 12/18/10, p.A4)
2010 Dec 30, Pope Benedict XVI issued new norms governing the Vatican’s banking system.
(SFC, 12/31/10, p.A2)
2011 Jan 12, Pope Benedict XVI named a new archbishop for the Catholic church in Haiti on the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed the bishop's predecessor along with dozens of other priests, seminarians and nuns. The Vatican said that Monsignor Guire Poulard, bishop of Les Cayes, is the new archbishop of Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 1/12/11)
2011 Jan 15, Three former Church of England bishops who are opposed to the consecration of women bishops were ordained as Roman Catholic priests, the first traditionalist Anglicans to take up an offer by Pope Benedict.
(Reuters, 1/15/11)
2011 Jan 20, Egypt's highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar, said it was freezing all dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church over what it called Pope Benedict's repeated insults toward Islam.
(Reuters, 1/20/11)
2011 Feb 3, British lawmakers demanded an explanation into why 1.85 million pounds ($2.99 million) of foreign aid money helped pay for the pope's visit to the U.K. last year.
(AP, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 17, Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met at the Vatican, stressing the need for better ties and the promotion of shared Christian values.
(AP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 18, The Vatican said Fernando Karadima, a prominent Chilean priest, has been found guilty of abusing minors and must retire to a life of prayer and penitence.
(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A2)
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