✣ Highlights from the week online
St Pio returns to Rome ‘‘Hail tradition!” said Rorate Caeli in response to the arrival of St Padre Pio’s relics in Rome for veneration last week. The site noted how the crowds flooded out to greet the saint, calling it a “masterstroke” by the Pope. But Robert Mickens of the National Catholic Reporter was unimpressed: “Do the men in the Vatican – including our dear Pope Francis – really think that dressing up dead bodies, even of the holiest of saints, is really going to help people ‘understand the ways in which God’s great love manifests itself in their daily lives?’ Most reasonable Catholics – Italians included – disagree with the need for such props and gimmicks the jubilee committee is using to promote the Holy Year.” But on his blog Fr Z retorted bluntly: “No wonder the Left hates this idea and calls it kooky and weird. Pio reminds people of their sins and the need for Confession. The bodies of saints remind us that we are going to die and, if we don’t repent and amend our lives, we won’t be admitted to heaven.” King with a sore head He is commonly branded a psychopath but it might be that Henry VIII’s notoriously malevolent behaviour was caused by a head injury. Over at mentalfloss.com the author reported on a paper published by the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience which claimed that traumatic brain injury may have caused many of the king’s problems. They wrote: “Historians generally agree that Henry sustained at least three serious blows to the head. Henry started suffering bouts of bizarre amnesia, which led to dangerous contradictions in his commands. As the city of Boulogne was under siege, Henry reportedly demanded on paper that the city be protected, while saying aloud he wanted it to be demolished ... The king was also subject to migraine headaches and deep depressions, as well as a number of seeming endocrinological problems.” They concluded: “It is intriguing to think that modern European history may have changed forever because of a blow to the head.” Can drinking be holy? If you have opted for sobriety this Lent you may want to think again following the publication of Drinking with the Saints by Michael P Foley. Reviewing the book, Christopher White of the National Catholic Register points out: “Drinking, as Foley reminds us in this book, is not about drinking. It’s actually about conviviality – friends, family members and strangers who may become friends or family sharing in the good things in life that ultimately point us to a greater good. “Let’s not forget that Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana – not for the sake of drinking, but for the purpose of celebration,” he wrote.
