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JUST IN: Cardinal Zen Attends Extraordinary Consistory, Received in Private Audience by Pope Leo XIV.
via The College of Cardinals Report: https://t.co/LvDSeSiTHr pic.twitter.com/np5ujoIYLW
— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) January 7, 2026
And…
Maintenance workers seen preparing the papal apartments of the apostolic palace today ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s imminent transferral there from his current living quarters in the Holy Office.
The papal apartments have been vacant since Benedict XVI abdicated in 2013. pic.twitter.com/ieF1MSYIFT
— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) January 7, 2026
White to move and mate in 4. I found this hard.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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Nice to see the Pope actually living where he is supposed to.
Here in Taxachusetts our former Cardinal refused to live at the Cardinal’s residence. In his “humility, He took an attic room in the Franciscan residence.
When you have the Title , you take what goes with it.
I want to see the next Pope wearing the Papal crown and carried by the Swiss Guard.
If they can carry Pope John XXIII, they can carry anyone.
White to move and mate in 4.
I’m not sure how to explain this problem.
Guess I’ll just say that after:
1) Qe5
the black King is not in check and so black has many responses, all of which lead to mate in 4 or less total moves.
Some examples looking at black moves right to left:
1) Qe5 h6 2) Qxf6+ Kg8 3)Qg7#
1) Qe5 gxf5 2) Qxf6+ Kg8 3) Rxd8#
1) Qe5 Qxe5 2) Rxd8+ Qe8 3) Rxe8#
1) Qe5 Rxd1+ 2) Rxd1 Qxe5 3) Rd8+ Qe8 4) Rxe8#
1) Qe5 Rxd1+ 2) Rxd1 g6xf5 3) Qxf6+ Kg8 4) Rd8#
1) Qe5 Nd7 2) Rxd7 Rxd7 3) Qe8#
there are more variations and I won’t try to list them exhaustively but will just say that every variation led to mate in 4 or less moves. That said, with so many variations (including variations within variations!) I could not say with complete certainty that I didn’t miss something along the line.
It’s an interesting position with an interesting result that makes for a very messy problem.
Or… maybe there’s a simpler solution with a forced 1st move for black that avoids most of the complexity. However seems the only possibility for this would be
1) Rxd8+ Qxd8 (forced)
2) Qe5 (looks promising but black has) f7f6
and this blows up white’s attack since white loses the queen if it takes the f6 pawn.
Anyway, I’m interested to see what others have to say here. And, sorry for being so long-winded.
re: Papal Apartments
That’s not the same window-washing company as the guys at the Louvre, is it?
Not, if you’re going to recycle old Boston screeds, please get the context and the facts right.
Yes, humility played a small part, I’m sure – but also they soon sold Cardinal O’Connell’s mansion and other portions of chancery & seminary land & buildings (to BC) to raise money needed for some of the costs of the sex abuse crisis.
As for Cardinal O’Malley and the “Franciscan attic”? So far as I know (and he wrote at times about it in his blog), he tried to frequently visit his brother Franciscans at a parish they staff in the city to maintain his vocational identity. However, he resided at the Cathedral rectory.