archives
Follieri charged with fraud; claimed special Vatican connection
Posted on Jun 26, 2008 03:39am CST.By Tom Roberts, NCR News Director
An Italian real estate speculator, claiming connections to the highest levels of the Vatican and attempting to purchase empty and abandoned Catholic church properties in the United States, was charged June 24 in Federal District Court in Manhattan with fraud and money laundering.
Raffaello Follieri, 29, the chairman and chief executive of the Follieri Group, was charged in the 18-page complaint with persuading investors he had a special relationship with the Vatican and was consequently able to purchase church properties at below-market rates. For two years beginning in June 2005, the complaint alleges, Follieri “operated a fraudulent real estate investment scheme” by which he gained access to investors’ money by falsely representing his connections with the Vatican.
Receiving Eucharist kneeling will be norm at papal liturgies
Posted on Jun 26, 2008 04:08am CST.By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling before the pope will become the norm at papal liturgies, said the Vatican's liturgist.
While current norms allow the faithful to receive the Eucharist in the hand while standing, Pope Benedict XVI has indicated a preference for the more traditional practice, said Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies.
The Gospel according to the Boss
Posted on Jun 26, 2008 05:35am CST.| NCR Book Club |
By RON CSILLAG, Religion News Service
| The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption, from Asbury Park to Magic by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz Westminster John Knox Press, 224 pages, $20.95 |
To millions of fans, he's "the Boss," the blue-jeaned troubadour of the American heartland who finds nobility in the grind of daily life.
Across 35 years in dozens of rock anthems, from "Born to Run" to "Glory Days" to "Born in the U.S.A.," Bruce Springsteen has chronicled lost souls, haunted war veterans, gritty factory workers, and highways jammed with broken heroes -- but also advanced themes of redemption, hope and keeping the faith.
It's been a rich vein of spiritual motifs, and the politically progressive 58-year-old singer/songwriter has given voice to society's dispossessed. His work of late has been bleak, brooding and introspective, even grieving.
But the Boss as spiritual guidepost?
