Year-end Review 2005
JANUARY 2005
Following an apostolic visitation to the diocese of Eshowe, the Vatican rules that controversial Sr Priscilla Dlamini remain as head of Holy Cross hospice.
Iraqi terrorists kidnap Catholic Archbishop Basile Casmoussa of Mosul, releasing him unharmed 24 hours later.
It is revealed that Adolf Hitler had ordered the abduction of Pope Pius XII, who escaped after receiving a warning from a German officer.
Superstar singer Elton John visits Nkandla hospital, founded by Catholic nuns, in KwaZulu-Natal.
A high-powered SACBC delegation meets with the director-general of the department of communications to lobby for Radio Veritas being awarded a permanent broadcast licence.
New British education minister Ruth Kelly, reportedly an Opus Dei member, says her Catholic faith will not influence her political decisions.
FEBRUARY
Some 10,000 people gather at Sowetos Regina Mundi church to launch the Churchs 22 antiretroviral sites and to celebrate the Year of the Bible in Africa and the Year of the Eucharist.
The bishops of Southern Africa discuss matters such as poverty, the police and the local response to the tsunami during their first plenary session of the year.
The Vatican issues a new handbook, Dignitas Connubii, outlining the procedures governing the annulment of marriages.
Bishop Paul Themba Mngoma of Mariannhill retires for health reasons.
Australias National Council of Priests calls for a review of the mandatory celibacy for priests in the Latin-rite Church.
The Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith forbids US Jesuit Father Roger Haight to teach as a Catholic theologian.
Pope John Paul II is hospitalised in Rome.
The archdiocese of Durban marks the first anniversary of the death of Archbishop Denis Hurley.
American human rights activist Sr Dorothy Stang is assassinated in Brazil. Three suspects are arrested soon after.
Sr Lucia dos Santos, the last survivor of the three Portuguese children who reported Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, dies on February 23 at 97.
Jewish-born Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, 78, retires after 24 years as archbishop of Paris.
Ngome, the pilgrimage site in KwaZulu-Natal, turns 50.
Mgr Luigi Giussani, founder of the Communion and Liberation movement, dies on February 22 at 82.
Pope John Pauls book Memory and Identity is published.
St Josephs Theological Institute in Cedara finally receives official state accreditation as an independent tertiary institution.
MARCH
The Vatican announces the appointment of Cardinal Jorge Medina as senior cardinal deacon, the man who announces to the world the name of the new pope.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Southern Cross, Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo says the March 31 elections in Zimbabwe will not be free and fair, adding that Robert Mugabe is the stumbling block to peace in the country.
Tens of thousands of get-well e-mails from around the world are sent to Pope John Pauls e-mail address.
A Vatican archaelogist says he has found what he believes to be the tomb of St Paul.
The Sunday Times publishes an exclusive on the racism report compiled by the SACBCs Justice and Peace department after The Southern Cross reported on it in December and again in February.
Sr Anne Cunningham is elected prioress of the Newcastle Dominican Sisters, the first South African to hold this position since the congregations founder, Mother Rose Niland.
Israel announces plans to build a wall that will divide Bethlehem and cut the birthplace of Christ off from East Jerusalem.
Pope John Paul makes his final public appearance on March 30, greeting the faithful in St Peters Square from his apartment window.
Terri Schiavo, a US Catholic who had been in coma for 15 years, dies on March 31 after her feeding tube is removed by court order.
APRIL
Pope John Paul II dies on April 2 at 21:37 in his bedroom in the Vatican, as thousands hold a vigil in St Peters Square.
The Southern Cross publishes an extra edition dedicated entirely to Pope John Paul II. Demand requires a second print run.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa denies Radio Veritas a licence to cover the papal interregnum on FM in Johannesburg.
Pope John Pauls funeral on April 8 draws a crowd of half a million in St Peters Square, with another 600,000 watching the Mass on giant TV screens in Rome.
The worlds cardinals enter conclave on April 18. Two days later the new pope emerges: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who takes the name Benedict XVI. He is inaugurated at a Mass on April 24, marking the official start of his pontificate.
It is reported that at least four bishops and priests and several lay Catholics were detained in China in late March and early April.
A consecrated host from a papal Mass is sold on Internet auction site eBay. The sale is later cancelled after protests.
African bishops meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, say that international trade bodies increase poverty, not wealth, on the continent.
The SACBCs Justice and Peace department criticises a proposal to institute a health tax to subsidise health insurance.
South African-born deaf and blind priest Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR launches his autobiography.
MAY
The Southern Cross stages its fifth pilgrimage, this time to the Holy Land and Egypt. More than 40 readers take part.
Pope Benedict meets with President Thabo Mbeki in Rome.
Vatican Radio is found guilty of polluting the environment with electromagnetic waves.
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier says legalised gay unions affect the dignity of marriage as one of the main building blocks of society.
A Catholic bishop and an Anglican bishop commemorate the death of the first English martyr of the Protestant Reformation, St John Houghton.
Saudi Arabian police arrest 40 Pakistani Christians for praying.
Neville Gabriel departs as head of the SACBCs Justice and Peace department to work for British charity Oxfam.
Zimbabwes government begins Operation Murimbatsvina, which leaves hundreds of thousands urban Zimbabweans homeless.
JUNE
The bishops of Southern Africa meet with Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials during their ad limina visit to Rome. The bishops call for substantive dialogue between the Vatican and the bishops, and on diocesan level between bishops and clergy and laity.
Pope Benedict makes his first papal visit, to the Italian city of Bari, to close the Italian national Eucharistic Congress.
Trappist Abbot Basil Pennington, a leading author on Centering Prayer, dies on June 3 at 73 following a car accident in April.
Two men are sentenced to life for the murder of Fr Manus Campbell in Amanzimoti in 2003.
A referendum on the repeal of certain restrictions on cloning is defeated in Italy after much lobbying by the Church.
Zimbabwes bishops condemn Operation Murambatsvina, saying it is a gross injustice that cries out for vengeance to God.
The diocese of Rome formally launches the sainthood cause for Pope John Paul II.
Pope Benedict appoints Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco his successor as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Pope John Pauls long-time personal aide Stanislaw Dziwisz archbishop of Krakow.
Cardinal Jaime Sin, who spearheaded the peaceful ousting of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, dies after a long illness on June 21 at 76.
The Vatican issues the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or mini-catechism.
JULY
Meeting the bishops of Zimbabwe on their ad limina visit, Pope Benedict says that he hopes the elections in March have laid the basis for national reconciliation and the moral rebuilding of society.
The Anglican church in Southern Africa changes its name, from Church of the Province of Southern Africa to Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Bishop Mansuet Biyase of Eshowe dies on July 1 at 71 after suffering a stroke days earlier.
The SACBC hails the move by the G8 countries meeting in Edinburgh to cancel the debt of 18 heavily indebted poor countries.
After the 7/7 terror attacks in London, The Southern Cross argues that the war on terror launched by US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair is failing.
Pope Benedict is said to have responded keenly to Israels invitation for a papal visit to the Holy Land.
Sr Alison Munro, head of the SACBCs Aids Office, says controversial Dr Matthias Rath is misleading uninformed people with his vitamin therapy regimen against Aids.
After running a deficit for three consecutive years, the Vatican recorded a budget surplus in 2004.
Bishop Luigi Locati of Isiolo, Kenya, 76, is assassinated on July 14.
SACBC president Cardinal Wilfrid Napier says quiet diplomacy has failed in Zimbabwe.
Brazilian Catholic Jean-Charles Menezes, 27, is shot dead by English police who mistake him for a terrorist, on July 22.
Meeting priests in northern Italy, Pope Benedict says that divorced and remarried Catholics cannot receive Communion, but calls for more study on the issue.
A war of words breaks out between Israel and the Vatican after an Israeli government official criticises Pope Benedict for not condemning a terror attack in Netanya.
AUGUST
During their second plenary session this year, the bishops of Southern Africa call for an end to racism in whatever shape or form, call on Catholics to support relief operations for the people of Zimbabwe, and reveal that Southern African Catholics gave R2,6 million to the Churchs tsunami relief efforts. They also receive Deputy-President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a Catholic.
Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney praises Pope Benedict for his stance on animal rights.
Br Benedict Mkhize, 57, vicar-provincial of Third Order Regulars of St Francis, is murdered at Phemba mission, Mariannhill.
Br Roger Schutz, the Protestant founder of the ecumenical Taize community, is killed by a deranged woman on August 16. He was 90.
World Youth Day kicks off in Cologne, Germany, starting with youths living in parishes and culminating with a night vigil and papal Mass presided over by Pope Benedict and attended by about a million people.
During his first foreign papal trip, Pope Benedict meets with Jewish and Muslim leaders in Germany, and visits a synagogue.
Pope Benedict meets with the leaders of the Lefebvrist Society of St Pius X.
SEPTEMBER
Southern Cross columnist Fr James Fitzsimons SJ launches a book of poetry, Moments of the Mass on the 70th anniversary of his joining the Jesuits.
The SACBCs Justice and Peace department says South Africa is failing refugees from Zimbabwe.
Radio Veritas begins streaming its broadcasts through the Internet (www.radioveritas.co.za).
Belgian Missionary for Africa priest Fr Guy Theunis is arrested in Rwanda and charged with helping to incite the 1994 genocide. Human rights organisations defend the priest. In November he is extradited to Belgium where he may be tried, pending further investigation.
The Church begins relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated large areas of the United States.
Fr Gerard Jean-Juste, who is detained in Haiti, is announced as presidential candidate for the countrys Lavalas Family Party. His bishop suspends him for participating in politics.
South African Knight of da Gama Frank Wrightman is installed as president of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights.
A cardinal breaks his oath of secrecy by revealing the voting patterns of the conclave, saying Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio received the second-highest number of votes.
Pope Benedict meets with the outspoken critic of the Vatican, Fr Hans Kung.
Cape Town priest Fr Patrick Thornton pleads guilty to two counts of sexual abuse and is sentenced in a Cape Town court. He dies on November 2 from injuries sustained in a car crash.
Hopes that Pope Benedict might visit Turkey in November are dashed as the government hints that it might invite the pontiff in 2006.
OCTOBER
The Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist begins in Rome. Among issues discussed are Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, priestly celibacy, shared Communion, perpetual adoration, inculturation, liturgy and more.
The Southern Cross issues its Editorial Charter.
Bishop Michael Paschal Rowland retires as bishop of Dundee.
The Vatican confirms that Pope Benedict will preside over canonisations, but not at beatifications, as his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II did.
Bishop Hubert Bucher of Bethlehem receives the Bundesver-
dienstkreuz am Bande medal from German ambassador Harro Adt.
In a letter read at all churches in his archdiocese, Archbishop Lawrence Henry of Cape Town condemns the abuse of minors by Church personnel.
Durbans Auxiliary Bishop Jabulani Nxumalo is appointed new archbishop of Bloemfontein. Oblate Father Barry Wood is appointed auxiliary bishop of Durban.
Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg is named one of Time magazines 37 heroes of 2005 for his advocacy for those affected by HIV/Aids.
German newspaper Bild reports that East Germanys secret police spied on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Brazilian Bishop Luis Cappio ends a 11-day hunger strike, started in protest against plans to divert water from the Sao Francisco river.
Radio Veritas receives permission to broadcast nationwide for three hours on Sundays on Radio 2000, with further programming in the week, as of December.
Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, former secretary to Pope John Paul II, says he believes the late pontiff will be beatified in June.
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier calls on victims of abuse by Church personnel to come forward and report it to the Church authorities.
NOVEMBER
Pope Benedict condemns as barbaric the beheading by Islamic fundamentalists of three Christian girls from a Catholic school in Indonesia.
In his message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, Pope Benedict condemns the exploitation of women and human trafficking.
Two Vatican cardinals lock horns in public over the question of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics: while Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo Lopez rules it out, Cardinal Walter Kasper says the discussion cannot be closed.
A round-table discussion on child pornography hosted by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office calls for greater emphasis on prevention and intervention.
Prisoners in Meggido, Israel, find what may be the remains of the Holy Lands oldest church yet found.
Northern Irish Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams visits South Africa, meeting several Church officials.
Holy Family Sister Brigid Flanagan, former acting SACBC secretary-general, dies on November 12 at 87.
Slain mystic Charles de Foucauld is beatified in the Vatican.
The Path to Peace Foundation presents its 2005 peace award to Fr Andrew Bertie, head of the Knights of Malta.
The Vatican issues its long-awaited document on the admission of homosexuals to the priesthood.
Fr Vincent Brennan SMA succeeds Fr Richard Menatsi as SACBC secretary-general.
DECEMBER 2005
The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) criticises a Constitutional Court ruling mandating parliament to enact the legalisation of same-sex unions by December 1, 2006.
Welcoming South Africas new ambassador to the Vatican, Dr Konji Sebati, Pope Benedict praises South Africas transition to democracy, but calls for education and employment for the countrys poor.
Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo OMI is installed as archbishop of Bloemfontein.
James Baardman, 34, receives a life sentence for murdering Fr Gerard Fitzsimons in Colesberg in October 2004.
The musical Forever Home by Durban priest Fr Merlin Ince OMI premieres at Sydenham parish as part of Fr Albert Dankers 50th anniversary celebrations.
Pope Benedict appoints Polish Father Wojciech Giertych OP as theologian of the papal household, succeeding Cardinal Georges Cottier OP.
The US bishops criticise an episode of the satirical TV cartoon show South Park which portrays the Blessed Virgin in a tasteless and ugly fashion.
Cape Town Catholic Mary Lack, a director of The Southern Cross, is named a recipient of the MBE insignia on Queen Elizabeths New Years Honours List.
Sr Clementine Brantschen, 74, superior of the Ursuline novitiate in Ngqeleni, near Umtata, is murdered on December 28.
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