Back in June 2007, Rudy Giuliani addressed the question of whether he, as a pro-choice Catholic politician, was fit to receive communion by saying, "Issues like that for me are between me and my confessor. I'm a Catholic and that's the way I resolve those issues, personally and privately."

Today, Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, Giuliani's own bishop, essentially said that the former mayor, with his "well-known support" for abortion rights, forfeited his right to call the matter private by publicly accepting Holy Communion during a papal Mass this month.

Cardinal Egan’s scolding, in which he said he "deeply regrets" Giuliani's decision, is a result of what the prelate suggested was a violation of "an understanding" with the former candidate for the Republican nomination and the church, which Egan said teaches "that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God."  read more »

It’s too early to tell how many out-of-towners will come to the city for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, but everyone from pedicab drivers to butchers are clamoring for a piece of the pope-tourism pie.

Though only 57,000 tickets are available for the pontiff’s mass at Yankee Stadium, the city’s official tourism company NYC & Co. is expecting “people from around the country, and international visitors, to come and experience the papal visit as well,” said agency spokesperson Tiffany Townsend.

In anticipation of the hordes, all kinds of businesses are whipping out pope-related products or deals to appeal to the devoutly Catholic. Or devoutly kitsch.  read more »

Hillary Clinton's statement welcoming Benedict XVI to the United States says, "His apostolic journey is built on the theme of Christian hope, and as he has said, the Gospel message is 'deeply rooted' in our country."

These are meaningful words – ones that seem to resonate with one of the most vigorously debated themes of the Benedict papacy: only by recognizing and embracing Europe's Christian roots can the continent's culture survive and develop.

In April 2005, soon after his election as pope, Benedict explained that the selection of his name was in honor of Italy's St. Benedict of Norcia, author of the monastic "Rule" that led to the Benedictine order which helped spread Christianity throughout Europe. "He represents a fundamental point of reference for the unity of Europe and a strong reminder of the unrenounceable Christian roots of its culture and civilization," the pope said during an address at St. Peter's.  read more »

If not for the presence of a dozen NYPD squad cars and at least as many uniformed cops on East 72nd between Fifth and Madison Monday morning, one would never suspect that Pope Benedict XVI would be staying on the well-heeled, quiet residential block during his three-day trip to the city beginning Friday.

The pope will be bunking with the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who lives in a townhouse at 20 East 72nd Street—just a stone’s throw from the Ralph Lauren store and an Egyptian Shawarma vendor camped on Madison Avenue on most weekdays.

Compared to the Vatican’s headquarters in Rome, the five-story, 10,960-square-foot, neo-Rennaissance residence of Vatican City's permanent UN observer is pretty inconspicuous. The iron grille doors are marked by two Coats of Arms of the Holy See—the papal insignia of two interlaced keys topped by a crown—carved in gold. The ground floors are made of rusticated limestone and the top two levels of rock-faced stone.  read more »