Fr. Z's Blog

When did the Sun rise at Rome? 6:15

When will it set? 20:03.

What cycle is the Ave Maria Bell in for the Curia? 20:15

It is the feast, among others, of Sts. Maria of Clopas and Salome, disciples of the Lord.

There are reasons to pay attention to them because they help also to untangle the issue of the “brothers” of the Lord.

It’s Thursday in the Easter Octave and the Roman Station, because it is a Thursday, is the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles.  That’s where the tomb of Clement XIV is.  Also, the Apostles Philip and James.

A CONCLAVE THOUGHT:

Am I missing something or is this a little strange.

These surely worthy fellows can vote in the conclave

Apostolic Nuncio to Syria
Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Bishop of Tonga
Bishop of Ajaccio
Bishop of Como

… but not the (under 80) Archbishops of

Los Angeles
Milan
Paris
Madrid

Welcome Registrants:

Breakspear
p27jmcguire

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

JASMINE REPORT (And I don’t mean the Jesuit)

It’s starting to bloom where the sun is strong. Soon there will be walls of it!

A reader issued a strong approbation of the peonies yesterday.   Another view.  They are spectacular.

Heading to the Campo down the Via dei Cappellari.

Well, this is directly left beside the confessional of our own ?? Hungarian Dominican Father Lajos Melo who hears confession in ALL the languages of the old monarchy ? https://t.co/kckwn3j9iZ

— Eduard Habsburg (@EduardHabsburg) April 23, 2025

Here is a noteworthy tweet…

Thank you Father V, I don’t believe what you say is hyperbolic, I believe it is the simple truth. We must pray and fast, the Cardinal’s have the future of humanity in their hands. May they remember that their red robes signify that they are willing to shed their blood as Christ… https://t.co/JkSzshUPQb

— Bishop J. Strickland (@BishStrickland) April 23, 2025

And… his English is good.

Jerusalem Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is considered papabile, is on his way to attend the conclave to elect the next Pope at the Vatican.

Video: Latin Patriarchate pic.twitter.com/MhnjzeI29K

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) April 23, 2025

Lunatic stuff from one of the guys who rigged the family synod with a queer agenda… called out by Card. Erdo.

“Communion on the Tongue is an act of pride and disobedience.”

As @DecreviD2BC notes, this astounding rewriting of Church history and law by Archbp Bruno Forte is making the rounds in Italian social media. (Video in ?)

Has His Excellency even met the Catholics he is insulting? pic.twitter.com/5vfXL2r3tv

— JuventutemDC (@juventutemDC) April 23, 2025

In chessy news…

White to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

As I write, I have returned home from supper with a priest who just arrived in Rome for the canonization of Carlo Acutis… which has been cancelled. Other things are going on.

Returning home I find no internet. I’m using cellular data but I could not, for some reason, tether my laptop, which I tested and tried before I left for Rome.

I happened to buy a thin portable Bluetooth keyboard which I am using now to type into my iPhone WP app for the blog. That helps.

I’m not sure what the sitrep is with internet. Checking online (with the phone) shows no outages for Vodafone Italia. Maybe they show it outside of Italy, I don’t know. Maybe this is another example of the gummint screwing with internet in advance of all sorts of big shots descending on Rome in the next few days.

All I know is that, if this doesn’t clear up, I may be working from the sacristy or a bar if it doesn’t clear up by morning.

So, I am not quite cut off, but I am a bit crippled until I can find out what the deal is with internet here. I did pay my bill, of course.

In the meantime, for you dear readers who like food photos. I’ll try to upload a couple from supper now and then hit the hay.

Roman style artichoke. Perfect. Fork sank through it.

Pizza Bianca … hmmm Pizzaballa… Fumo Bianco…

Seconds after (it was cold) I cut it, it was oozing milk. Mozzarella as God intended.

Alla norcina. Could have been in a better bowl. The fancier the bowl the harder to eat in an integrated way. Goodies go to the bottom so you must incessantly lift and sift. Keep it simple.

Salitimbocca which I had not had since I’ve arrived. It was just right tonight.

I spoke at length with the waiter, long-serving, old-school, seen it all. He said the Jubilee is a flop. They had a huge lunch crowd but almost all the tables tonight were empty! And this is a well-known place in the heart of things, in a Jubilee when clerics are flooding in. Cardinals eat here (not ones I like) so it is known and established. We had a leisurely meal over a couple of hours. In their main room with over a dozen tables, there were two other tables with people and one turned over. The Jubilee… meh.

However, now I am hearing that rooms are booking FAST and some clerics were possibly going to be booted from their reservations (for Carlos Acutis) to make room for the guys with colorful sashes and bigger accounts.

What did Jesus say about the “aquilae”?

UPDATE: 5 minutes after I posted this, the internet came back up.

Of course it did. Anything to keep me from sleep.

UPDATE: It will be interesting to watch things like bandwidth and GPS over the next few days as preparations are made here for the arrival of many heads of state.  In years past when some big shot came in, you could look at your phone for a map and watch it drift around trying to find where you were.  Big shots leave, everything back to normal.  Maybe they’ve gotten better at things.  We shall see.

Over Rome at 06:15 the sun emerged and it will remerge (?) submerge at 20:02.

The Ave Maria Bell ought to ring for the Curia at 2-:15 (but it won’t).

It’s the feast of St. George and St. Adalbert.

It would have been Francis’ birthday.

The Roman Station is St. Lawrence outside-the-walls. I have a nice memory of being deacon when my bishop celebrated the Station Mass there and climbing the great ambo to sing the Gospel.

Welcome registrants:

ShemNehm
Sir Kronos MC
Breakspear
Tedeum

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Just a nice view from my evening stroll.

Remember the teaming hordes of pilgrims there were supposed to be during the Jubilee?

This morning walking up to the Campo de’ Fiori after Mass and a chat and a coffee…

Pretty much everyone here is saying that the Jubilee has been a flop.  Not many came for Easter…. in a Jubilee.

I bought some flowers today from Pippo.  We talked about Francis.  (He wasn’t particularly a fan… as most Romans I’ve spoken who had any thought about him at all.)

Heading home with some slices from Ruggieri (finocchiona) and taleggio (a favorite) and bread from the Forno at the Campo and flowers from Pippo and some passata di pomodoro (tomato … purée, I think is best).

Meanwhile…

OBAMA AND MERKEL SPIED ON POPE BENEDICT XVI AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ORDER TO INSTIGATE A ‘CATHOLIC SPRING’?

In 2013, the National Security Agency (NSA) were alleged to have spied on the Vatican, with the German Foreign Security Agency (BND) also having been accused of the… pic.twitter.com/ihCJ83dxfm

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) April 22, 2025

Yeah… we knew that.

Cardinal Robert Sarah in his own words. He’s fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin, and his English is excellent.
Watch > https://t.co/2nk6Ohg9KU pic.twitter.com/ACmgLCq5ZH

— Patrick Madrid ?? (@patrickmadrid) April 23, 2025

Cardinal Sarah is truly amazing. I think that even the progressivists know that he is a man of deep prayer and faith.

And this… yeah… we knew that too.

Grand Lodge of Italy: “In this time of mourning, our Communion wishes to pay homage to the vision of Pope Francis, whose work bears a profound resonance with the principles of Freemasonry.”https://t.co/8dltfCHbF2

— Alistair McFadden ? (@JustACatholic1) April 22, 2025

Between us, I’ve slowly been picking up Hungarian… which looks a bit like this. It’s hard.

Hungary has been a beacon of light during the darkness that Europe is currently experiencing.

Perhaps Hungary’s Cardinal Péter Erd? can be the same for the Church as the next pope? pic.twitter.com/hrEE8Tht4g

— Eric Sammons (@EricRSammons) April 22, 2025

Nice people! Great service!

In chessy news…

Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 Grenke Chess Freestyle Open (Fischer Random) with a perfect 9/9 score. A force of nature. It was quite the event, with some 3000 participants. Big! Freestyle is a thing. Look at this venue…

My guy Wesley So finished 6.5, with a comeback after losing in round three his only loss of the tournament.

I’m tellin’ya friends… get with it! Chess.

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

Meanwhile, why is this knight sac amazing?   Quick!  60 seconds…. GO!

[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]

The Sede Vacante period isn’t just a time of dour mourning and anxious worry about what sort of Pope we are going to get next.  There is a lighter aspect.

What regnal name with the next Pope take?

When a man has been elected, at the moment he accepts, he gains universal jurisdiction over the Church.   Then he is asked “Quo nomine vis vocari?… By which name do you want to be called?”  I’m pretty sure that every Cardinal has given that some thought whether they are realistically in the running or not.   I think just about every cleric on earth has too.  It’s just a little fun.

It’s entirely possible that a man might stick to his baptismal name, if it is also a name with a papal pedigree.   I suspect that Card. Peter Erdö might freak out a lot of people if he did that.

There is an outside chance that some brand new name will be introduced to the long list.  Hey, that happened last time, right?  Results have varied.

Still, odds are that a more usual papal regnal name will be chosen.

I would be tempted to take the name Clement XIV the Second, just to make a point.

Let’s have a poll.

In what follows I left out Sixtus because “Sixtus VI” (in Italian even worse, “Sisto Sesto”.  I also left out Hormisdas … (watch.. now it’ll be Hormisdas), Callixtus, Boniface, Alexander and a few more that have been repeats.  I can’t list them all.   I’ve left an option for some of the less well-known names and you can comment on that in the combox.

Anyone can vote.  You can comment if you are registered and approved.