The close friend who had forwarded two Tribune pieces had mentioned that Archbishop Burke of St. Louis seemed to be a protege of Boston’s erstwhile Cardinal Law. When my pal Mary read the comment, she labeled the article BURKE’S LAW an early 1960s’ vehicle for Gene Barry. Mary also mentioned something that I had missed. Pope Benedict XVI quietly dropped one of his titles…
I had realized that age had made it more difficult to lose pounds to defend his Welterweight title after a defense of the Middlweight belt. Alas, that was not the case.
Mary referred to the “…pope, formerly lnown as Prince of the Church…” So, Benedict dropped Prince of the Church? I designed a new papal flag for nought.
Obviously, Mary was going for the quick joke and I was suckered. Finally I found that the gist of her story was correct, but the title was not part of the musical punch line.
POPE-PATRIARCH Mar-2-2006
*
*
Vatican removes title ‘patriarch of the West’ after pope’s nameBy Cindy Wooden–Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the 2006 edition of the Vatican’s official yearbook, the pope is no longer referred to with the title “patriarch of the West,” a change with potential ecumenical implications. The Vatican press office confirmed the deletion of the title March 1, but offered no explanation for the change. “…bishop of Rome, vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the prince of the apostles, supreme pontiff of the universal church, primate of Italy, archbishop and metropolitan of the province of Rome, sovereign of Vatican City State and servant of the servants of God.”
*
Read the entire article here.
While I respect the work of the Catholic News Service because of their forebearance in having to read the Vatican as Christian Herder had to read Pravda in the late 1950s, I do think the story is incomplete.
Where is ‘Pizzaiola of Rock & Rota’ and ‘Law West of the Tiber’? I see no mention of the title John XXIII took from Henry Cooper in 1961–’Pan European Heavyweight Champion.’ During the contruction of the Basilica in Washington, D.C., Pope Paul VI took the name, ‘God’s General Contractor’ and later in the decade, ‘Actuary to the Stars.’ Many honorary titles have accrued since the end of World War II and none were considered to be automatically dropped: Halo Light of the Occident Auxilliary Sheriff of the Two Sicilies The Fifth Horseman of Cine Citta
Protector of Asia Minor
God’s Executive Producer
Sword of Morocco
Roadmaster of Dynaflow