Pope pius xii

Hello, all. I must thank you all for your patience during the long lag since my last post, but they were months well spent on my move to Chicago, settling into a rich new community, plus a lot of work on my Norse mythology album project which is now, at last, nearly complete. In addition, my essay-writing time usually directed toward ExUrbe went, over the last few months, toward a new essay now live on Tor.com, which is very like my earlier double review of the Borgia TV series, but takes as…

Clear ideas on a confusing subject... Is the Pope an Absolute Monarch? The Authority of the Roman Pontiff in the Catholic Church True Vicar of Christ: His Holiness, Pope Pius XII (r. 1939-58) (image: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo) We live in a post-Traditionis Custodes world. It is not surprising, therefore, that it…

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Today, Pope Francis is known for his relative simplicity. He doesn’t seem to particularly like the more traditional, ornate papal regalia and signs of power. [See also: QUIZ: Can You Identify These Liturgical Objects?] [See also: The Lost 1200-Year-Old Wonder: A Tour of the Old St. Peter’s Basilica] In particular, notice that he doesn’t even wear the traditional red shoes (the color red symbolized the blood of martyrs). To understand how unique this is for the papacy historically,

Pope Pius XII with a bird.

Pope Pius XII, 1949