Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Fr. Corapi on EWTN Live Now


http://www.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp

Holy Father’s Letter to Bishops About the SSPX Excommunications

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Pope Benedict XVI kneels to pray at Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome May 3, 2008

From Anna Arco via Father Z, with Father's emphases and comments:

"I am particularly moved by this:
Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group to which it needs to show no tolerance, which one is allowed to attack with hatred, unquestioned. And whoever dares to touch them—in this case the Pope— has also himself lost the right to tolerance and was allowed to be thought of with hatred, without shyness or restraint.
My emphases and comments.
Wednesday March 11
The Holy Father’s letter, sections of which have already appeared, in full, translated from the version which appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Dear brothers in episcopal service!

The lifting of the excommunications for the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in the year 1988 without the mandate of the Holy See caused an uproar led with a ferocity which we haven’t seen for a long time, both within and outside of the Catholic Church for a multiplicity of reasons. Many bishops felt helpless faced with an event that came unexpectedly and that could barely fit positively into the questions and duties of the Church of today. Even though many shepherds and faithful were willing to gauge the Pope’s desire for reconciliation as fundamentally positive, the question of the appropriateness of such a gesture in the face of the real priorities of faithful life in our time stood against it.

A variety of groups on the other hand openly accused the Pope of wanting to reverse the Council; an avalanche of protests set itself into motion, the bitterness of which has made wounds visible which reached far further than the instance. So I feel pushed, dear confreres, to direct a clarifying word towards you, that should help to understand the intentions which led me and the respective organs of the Holy See in this step. In this way I hope to help to bring peace to the Church. [His Holiness is a great optimist.]

One of the for me not foreseeable glitch/breakdown existed therein that the lifting of the excommunication was overshadowed by the Williamson Case. The quiet gesture of mercy [this is a key point] towards four validly but not licitly ordained bishops appeared suddenly to be something completely different: as a rejection of the Christian-Jewish reconciliation, as a retraction of that on which matter the Council declared it to be the direction/path of the Church.

From an invitation to reconciliation for an ecclesiastical group that was separating itself from the Church, it became in this way the opposite, a seeming backtracking behind all the steps to the reconciliation between Christians and Jews which have been made since the Council—with which I have made it the goal of my theological work from the beginning to walk along with and move ahead.

I can only deeply lament the fact that this superimposition of two conflicting processes entered and for a moment disrupted the peace between Christians and Jews as well as the peace of the Church. [This is interesting: a direct mention of the use of the internet by a Roman Pontiff] I understand/hear, that careful following of the news available/accessible from the internet might have allowed one to become aware of the problem in time. I have learned from it that we at the Holy See shall have to be more watch this source of news more attentively in the future. [I am available. o{]:¬) ] I was saddened that also Catholics, who really should have known better, felt the need to lash out at me with jump-ready enmity. [Of course they did know better, but their enmity was greater than their respect or their sense of justice.] All the more do I thank the Jewish friends who helped to quickly rid the world of the misunderstanding and to re-establish the atmosphere of friendship and trust which—as in days of Pope John Paul II—also continued to exist through the whole period of my Pontificate and God be praised, will continue to exist.

A further mishap that I honestly regret exists therein that the border and the extent of the measure of January 21, 2009 which were not clearly enough explained with the publication of the process. The excommunications concern the persons, not the institutions. [good clarification] The consecration of bishops without a Papal mandate signals the danger of a schism [NB: "danger" of schism… not the present fact of schism.] because it calls into question the unity of the College of bishops with the Pope. Therefore the Church has to react with the severest punishment, excommunication, in order to to call back those that were thus punished to penitence and so to unity. Twenty years after the consecrations this goal has sadly still not been achieved. The lifting of the excommunications serves the same goal as the punishment itself; to once again invite the four bishops to return. [That is why he lifted the excommunications.] This gesture was possible after the involved parties expressed their fundamental acknowledgement of the Pope and his power as shepherd, even though with the exception of that which deals with obedience to his teaching authority and against that of the Council. [NB: "obedience to his teaching authority"] With that I return to distinction between person and institution. The dissolution of the excommunication was a measure in the area of Church Discipline: The persons were freed from the weight on their conscience of the heaviest Church punishment. This disciplinary field should be distinguished from the doctrinal area. [The doctrinal problems are still not resolved.] That the Society of St Pius X has no canonical status in the Church does not actually rest on a disciplinary but on a doctrinal foundation. [This is a very interesting statement. The point seems to me to be that the doctrinal differences are the real problem and not, in the mind of the Roman Pontiff, the matter of obedience to the Bishop of Rome in matters of discipline. There is a difference between respecting the Pope’s authority to govern the Church and the Pope’s authority to teach and the Church’s authority to have a Council and promulgate documents of any nature, dogmatic or pastoral.] As long as the Society has no canonical status in the church, their holders of office do not hold legal offices in the Church.

One must also differentiate between the persons as persons disciplinary level and the doctrinal level, [again the distinction…] with which both office and institution are in question. To repeat: so long as the doctrinal questions are not clarified, the society has no canonical status in the Church and therefore for that time its office holders, even if they are freed from the punishment of the Church, hold/practice no legal offices in the Church. [Good: The real problem is doctrine. I have been saying this all along. The liturgical or disciplinary problems can be solved with the stroke of a pen. The doctrinal issues must be hammered out.]

[This is important….] In the face of the situation, I intend to combine the Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei which has, since 1988, been responsible for those communities and persons, who have come from the Society of St Pius X or similar groups and would like to return to full communion with the Pope, with the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. This should make clear that the problems that are now to be dealt with are of a doctrinal nature, especially that which deals with acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-Concilliar teaching of the Pope. [This is very imporant. More on this below.] The collegial organs, with which the Congregation deals with the incidental questions (especially the regular meeting of the Cardinals on Wednesdays and the one to two yearly full meeting) guaranty that the prefects of the different Roman Congregations and the world wide episcopate will be brought into any decisions that will be made. [read: there will be wider consultation once the PCED is involved more closely with the CDF] One cannot freeze the teaching authority of the Church in the year 1962—the society has to be clear about that. [That was a direct instruction to the SSPX.] But some of those who play the great defenders of the Council, [I like that "play the defenders"... which isn’t really their role in the Church.] need to be reminded that the Second Vatican Council carries with it the whole teaching history of the Church. Whoever wants to be obedient to it, must accept the faith of centuries and may not cut the roots from which the tree lives. [Thus, a hermeneutic of continuity.]

I hope, dear brothers, that the positive meaning as well as the the boundaries of the measures of January 21, 2009 have been clarified. But now the question remains: Was it necessary? Was it really a priority? Are there not more important things? Naturally there are more important and urgent things. [The idea here is this: Why risk damaging relations with the Jews by doing this? Why give the impression that you are rolling back the Council? Etc. Pick your issue.] I think that I have made the priorities of this pontificate clear in my speeches at its beginning. What I said then remains my unchanged guidelines.

[Watch] The Lord unmistakably fixed the first priority for the successor of Peter at the Last Supper. “You however strengthen your brothers” (Lk 222, 32) Peter himself formulated this priority in his first letter anew: “Be constantly ready, to give everyone a speech and answer, who asks for the Hope that is in you.” 1 Peter 3,15) In our days, in which our faith threatens in broad stretches of the world to be extinguished like a flame which no longer finds food, it is the highest priority to make God present in this world and to open the access to God. Not just to any God, but to the God who spoke on the Sinai, to the God whose face in the love to the end (John 13,1) is recognized in the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ. [This next part is marvelous. It is a gem of the letter…. ] The actual problem of our point in history is that God is disappearing out of humankind’s horizon and with the extinguishing of the from God-coming-light the lack/inability to of direction breaks into humanity, the destructive effects of which we are seeing ever more of.

Bringing mankind to God, the God who speaks in the Bible, is the highest and most fundamental priority of the Church and the successor of Peter in these times. That we should be occupied with the unity of the Faithful will arise from that on its own. For her quarrel, her inner contradiction/disaccord — calls the speech of God into question. For that reason the struggle for a common witness of faith of Christians — for Ecumenism — is included in the highest priority. To that also comes the necessity that all those who believe in God search for peace together, attempt to come closer to one another in order to, through the variety of the their image of God, approach the source fo the Light together — the interreligious dialogue. Whoever proclaims God as love until the end must give the witness of love: turned towards the suffering in love, stave off hatred and enmity, the social dimension of the Christian Faith, of which I spoke in the encyclical Deus Caritas Est.

If the struggle for faith, hope and love in the world represents the true priority for the Church in this our (and always in different forms), then the smaller and the larger reconciliations also make up a part of it. [I like that: even small acts of reconciliation play a part in the larger reconciliation we must pursue.] We need to recognize that the quiet gesture of an outstretched hand became such a great noise [excellent] and so exactly the opposite of reconciliation. But now I still ask: Was and is it really wrong to come towards the brother “who bears a grudge against you” and attempt reconciliation (Cf. Mt 5, 23f)?

Should civilized society not also attempt to anticipate radicalization, to tie back her potential agents, if it is possible, with the great creative force of social life in order to prevent seclusion and all its consequences? Can it be completely wrong to strive for solutions to cramps and narrowing and to give room for the positive and which can be tied into the whole? [This is classic Ratzinger. It shows you something of his heart.] I myself experienced in the years after 1988 how much the internal climate of communities which were breaking away from Rome changed through their homecoming; how the homecoming into a great broad and common church overcame one-sidedness and unraveled knots, so that positive strength for the whole came out of them.

[This is good. It shows that those who resist Pope Benedict in this matter are really pretty small minded.] Can we be apathetic about a community in which there are 491 priests, 215 seminarians, six seminaries, 88 schools, two university institutes, 117 brothers and 164 sisters? Should we really allow them to drift away from the church with quiet minds. [That is what is happening and we must ACT.] I think for example of the 491 priests. [NB: I noted on many occasions that Summorum Pontificum was especially a gift to priests. Benedict is especially concerned for the priests of the SSPX.] We cannot know the weave of their motivations. But I think that they would not have chosen the priesthood if the love to Christ and the will to proclaim him and with him the living God. Should we simply exclude them from the search for reconciliation and unity as the representatives of a radical fringe group? What would happen then? [Excellent. I hope SSPX priests are paying attention.]

To be sure, we have for a long time and again on this given occasion heard many discordant notes from representatives of this community — arrogance and condescension, obsessing into the one-sided-nesses and so on. [SSPXers take note: This is PETER saying this to you.] To this I need to add for the sake of the Truth that I have also received a series of moving proofs of gratitude in which an opening of hearts was noticeable. [Again, this is PETER speaking.]

But should the larger Church not also be able to be generous in the knowledge of the long breath that it has, in the knowledge of the promise that was given to it? [People of good will should be able to disagree and work things out.] Should we not, like righteous educators, be able to overhear many an offense and strain ourselves to quietly lead out of the impasse? And must we not admit that discord has also come from Church circles? [This next part is fantastic!] Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group to which it needs to show no tolerance, which one is allowed to attack with hatred, unquestioned. And whoever dares to touch them—in this case the Pope— has also himself lost the right to tolerance and was allowed to be thought of with hatred, without shyness or restraint. [Amazing.]

Dear brothers, in the days in which I bethought myself to write this letter, it so happened that I had to explain and comment on a section from Gal 5,13-15 in the seminary in Rome. I was surprised who directly the sections spoke of the present of that hour : “Do not take freedom as an excuse for the flesh, but serve one another in love. The whole law is summarized in the one world: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And when you bite and rip each other apart, then take care that you do not kill each other.” I was always inclined to see this sentence as one of those rhetorical hyperbole that occasionally appear in St Paul. In some ways it may well be. But unfortunately that “biting and ripping” is also present in the Church today as an expression of a badly understood notion of freedom. [The Holy Father’s personal experience has shed light for him on that verse of Scripture.]

Is it an wonder that we are not better than the Galatians? That we are at least threatened by the same temptations? That we need to learn the right uses of freedom anew? And that we always have to newly learn that highest priority: Love?

On that day, on which I had to speak about it at the seminary, Rome celebrated the feast of the Madonna della Fiducia, Our Lady of Trust. Indeed Mary teaches us trust. She leads us to the Son, whom we may all trust. He will lead us—even in turbulent times. So as I conclude I would like tho thank the many bishops who gave me moving tokens of trust and sympathy, but above all gave your prayers. This thanks also goes to all the faithful who gave me witness of their unchanging loyalty to th successor of St Peter. The Lord protect us all and leads in the path of freedom. [And interesting word, here.] That is a wish that has risen spontaneously, especially now at the beginning of Lent, a liturgical time when the inner cleansing is particularly beneficial and which invites us all to look with new hope at the glowing destination of the Easter feast.

With a special apostolic blessing I remain
Yours in the Lord

From the Vatican March 10, 2009
A couple things.

First, I was strongly moved by his description of a group to whom no tolerance may be shown and if anyone defends them, they too are harassed.

It is said that the last acceptable prejudice is anti-Catholic bigotry. But within the Church the same dynamic applies. I often refer to Summorum Pontificum as a kind of "emancipation proclamation". I describe not seldom, traditionalists as being treated in by progressivists in power as black were before the civil rights movment took hold in the USA: they can go to the back door of the restaurant for their food, but can’t sit in the nice chairs in the main room with decent folks.

Second, some would have thought that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei would be incorporated, perhaps, with the Cong. for Divine Worship. The Pope is saying rather that it should be with the CDF.

This to my mind signals a couple things. On the one hand, the liturgical issue is concluded in large part. The Holy Father established that there is one Roman Rite in two uses. Juridically the matter is concluded. Details can be worked out, but this is a done deal.

On the other hand, the more difficult problem remains, and it is not so must a matter of liturgical use but is rather doctrinal. Putting the PCED with e CDF opens the way to creating a framework for doctrinal talks with the SSPX. Issues of canonical status of the SSPX priests, the whole of the SSPX, etc…. that is a matter of paperwork, difficult paperwork, but paperwork nonetheless. The real sticking points are now doctrinal, as the Holy Father describes in the letter above."

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Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin (The Life of the Virgin)
Albrecht Dürer

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (The Life of the Virgin)
Albrecht Dürer

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Pope Benedict to the world’s bishops about SSPX Bp. Williamson

From Andrea Tornielli via Father Z:

"At noon on Thursday there will be made public a seven-page letter which Benedict XVI is sending to all the bishops of the Catholic Church to contend with the case of the revocation of the excommunication of the Lefebvrite bishops and the polemics resulting from the Bishop Williamson’s interview denying the gas chambers."

Pontiff Says Contemplatives Give Breath to World

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his speech during his visit at Rome's ...

Calls Communities a "Spiritual Lung"

ROME, MARCH 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Contemplative communities are called to be a type of "spiritual lung" for the world, so that spiritual "respiration" is not strangled by the bustle of cities, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today when he visited the Oblate Sisters of Santa Francesca Romana. He stopped at the convent after having visited the headquarters of Rome's civil authorities, where he addressed the mayor and other civil leaders.

Today is the feast day of St. Francesca (1384-1440), whom the Holy Father referred to as "the most Roman of saints."

After spending some time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and in veneration of the saint's body, the Pope addressed the sisters and students that reside at the center.

Referring to his spiritual exercises last week with the members of the Curia, the Holy Father said "he had felt once again how indispensable silence and prayer are..."

More

If I Had $1,000,000

Breakfast song


h/t to Cathy of Alex

Sunday, March 8, 2009

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A dear friend is under Satanic attack. Please pray that this person is protected and delivered from this, and provided with the strength and courage to resist the temptations of the devil and to instead do the Lord's will when making some important and difficult decisions. Thank you!

2nd Sunday of Lent - a sermon

From WDTPRS:

"Here is a sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Lent (2002 Missale Romanum)"

icon for podpress 09-03-08 2nd Sunday of Lent - sermon: Download

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Divine Mercy

Please pray for Swissmiss and her son:
"Now my son has walking pneumonia. I have no idea how he got it because with me being sick lately, he hasn't really gone anywhere.

Please keep us all in your prayers...a Chaplet of Divine Mercy would be wonderful!!"
St. Monica's Kneeler

Former Episcopal bishop discusses his new life as Catholic priest

"For Father Steenson, the role of the pope as the successor of St. Peter, the servant of church unity and the guarantor of the church's fidelity to tradition was key to his decision.

"It is not negative things that turned me to the Catholic Church," he said. "I just felt God saying, 'It's time.'"

The time came, he said, in 2007 when he felt the bishops of the Episcopal Church had decided to give priority to their autonomy rather than to unity with the larger Anglican Communion.

Father Steenson said that for him gay people were not the issue. "It was the way the decisions were made and the way they were defended," placing the local church and modern cultural sensitivities ahead of the universal church and fidelity to tradition, he said.

The priest said that while the Episcopal Church spoke of the importance of Christian unity, it continued to approve practices -- ordaining women priests and bishops, ordaining homosexuals and blessing same-sex unions -- that everyone knew would be an obstacle to Christian unity.

"The frustration with being a Protestant is that every morning you get up and have to reinvent the church all over again," Father Steenson said..."

Sola Scriptura

From Fr. Longenecker:
"A reader has asked me to elaborate further on the problems with the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura:

1. Protestants like to blame Catholics for promoting non-Biblical, human created, late invented doctrines, but sola Scriptura--on which the entire edifice of Protestantism is based--is a doctrine unheard of until the sixteenth century. It is a doctrine invented by the Reformers and it is a doctrine with no Biblical basis. Ask a Protestant to defend sola Scriptura from Scripture and he can't. There are a few proof texts that uphold Scripture as 'profitable for doctrine, reproof etc' but none teach the doctrine of Scripture alone.

2. Even if you could prove sola Scriptura from Scripture it would be a circular argument. "The Bible is the inspired Word of God and our only authority." "Where does it say that?" "In the Bible." "How do you know the Bible is true?" "Because the Bible says it is and we know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is true." "How do you know that?" "Because its in the Bible." And so on....and on..."

Friday, March 6, 2009

"What is wrong with this picture?"

From ORBIS CATHOLICVS:

"What used to be excised even a few years ago is now accepted.
This photo was taken in the most popular childrens' book shop in Rome. When I complained to the employee she looked at me like a donkey.
Looking for a kids book for some relatives, I entered and found mostly rows of childrens' books on sorcery, wizard craft, vampire and cannibal interests, Soviet bonk and even this "sex" book on the lower right.
Support all families who homeschool their kids and expunge anything like this that might have found its way into your sacred home."

Brad Pitt, Pelosi discuss "Make it Right" in Washington

Via Crucis on Mount Carmel

From BloggingLourdes:

carmelstations01

[click to enlarge]

"I recommend enlarging this picture and taking a good look at the faces. You might not see many of them after the first few stations. It’s all a bit dramatic, more so than the Via Crucis to be found in Jerusalem, though the one in Jerusalem is where it all happened, which is awesome, yes… but here, there is something else at work… Follow along over the next couple of weeks with the prayers of, for instance, Cardinal Ratzinger just before he became Pope. Those can be found here and then HERE."

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Vatican picks Nazareth as venue for papal mass


By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

The large mass that Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate during his May visit to Israel will be held in Nazareth, and not in Haifa, as had been proposed.

Haaretz has learned that the Vatican made the decision last weekend following a visit by a Vatican delegation that met here with representatives of the two cities. The Christian historical associations with Nazareth tipped the scales in its favor despite some Vatican preference for Haifa.

Israel was notified Sunday about the plans for the mass, which is expected to attract tens of thousands of worshipers, although a formal announcement of the pope's visit and his schedule are only expected next week.

Speaking to Haaretz, Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jeraisi confirmed the details regarding the Vatican's decision on the venue of the mass, and said the city has begun making arrangements for the visit. The mayor indicated that Precipice Mountain will be the venue for the mass; it was prepared for such an event in 2000, when John Paul II visited Israel.

Jeraisi said he met Monday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other officials, and that Nazareth was promised government help for the papal visit, including an allocation from the state budget.

The Nazareth municipality had been concerned about a possible Vatican preference for holding the mass in Haifa as the government believed Nazareth lacked the appropriate facilities. "We are pleased," Jeraisi said, "that in the end the Vatican took the correct and proper decision from our point of view, because no one can deny the status of Nazareth, and we will do whatever we can to ensure the visit and the mass will take place as they should, with the utmost success."

Vatican adviser Wadia Abu Nasser, who will accompany the pope on his visit, said the pope is scheduled to land at Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 11. The mass in Nazareth will take place on the 14th. The Vatican envoy in Israel will announce further details about the visit in the near future.
  • Link

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Newt Evangelization: Gingrich to become Catholic

From The Deacon's Bench:

"Buried deep inside this long and wonkish profile of Newt Gingrich in Sunday's New York Times, was this little nugget that, I suspect, went largely unnoticed:
At a moment when the role of religious fundamentalism in the party is a central question for reformers, Gingrich, rather than making any kind of case for a new enlightenment, has in fact gone to great lengths to placate Christian conservatives. The family-values crowd has never completely embraced Newt, probably because he has been married three times, most recently to a former Hill staff member, Callista Bisek. In 2006, though, Gingrich wrote a book called “Rediscovering God in America” — part of a new canon of work he has done reaffirming the role of religion in public life. The following year, he went on radio with the evangelical minister James Dobson to apologize for having been unfaithful to his second wife. (A Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich said he will soon convert to Catholicism, his wife’s faith.)"
PHOTO: by Nigel Parry for the New York Times.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Holy Father recalls importance of angels in the life of Christ

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.- Pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to pray the Angelus prayer at noon with Pope Benedict XVI. In his remarks, the Pontiff spoke of the importance of angels and also prayed for those struggling in uncertain financial times.

The topic of discussion was prompted by the Pope's commentary on the Gospel of today, the First Sunday of Lent. The Gospel of Mark notes that angels "ministered to" Jesus in the desert. "The angels are the counterpoint of Satan," the Holy Father explained.

After detailing the presence of angels in the Old and New Testament, Benedict XVI noted, "The angels ministered to Jesus, who is certainly superior to them, and his dignity is here proclaimed in the Gospel in a clear but discreet way." He added: "In fact, even in the situation of extreme poverty and humility, when he is tempted by Satan, Jesus remains the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord."

The Pontiff continued by reaffirming the importance of prayer to angels, "messengers of God," and by asking for prayers to them on behalf of himself and the Roman Curia, who today begin their Lenten spiritual exercises.

The Holy Father then acknowledged the difficult global economic times as he greeted workers from a Fiat automobile factory near Naples, Italy. He noted that they had come "to demonstrate their concern over the future of that factory and of the thousands of people who, directly or indirectly, depend on it for work."

"I join," he said, "the bishops and the respective local Churches in expressing my nearness to the families affected by this problem, and I entrust them in prayer to protection of Mary Most Holy and of St. Joseph, patron of workers." He added: "I wish to express my encouragement to the authorities, both political and civil, and also to business owners, so that this delicate moment can be addressed with the cooperation of all. There is a need, in fact, for a strong common effort, recalling that the priority must be given to workers and their families."

Pope Benedict also greeted English-speaking visitors present at today's Angelus. He told them: "On this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of Saint Mark speaks of Jesus being lead into the desert by the Holy Spirit, tempted by Satan and assisted by the angels. Let us pray that our Lenten journey will strengthen us in the struggle against all forms of temptation. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings, and I wish you a pleasant Sunday and a happy stay in Rome!"

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