Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Digest

Pope will again allow Mass to be said in Latin

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 29, 2007

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI is going ahead with a plan to allow more churches to use the old Latin Mass, a concession to traditionalists that has caused concern among those fearing a rollback of one of the Vatican's key liberalizing reforms.

The decision follows months of debate. Some cardinals, bishops and Jews have opposed any change, voicing complaints about everything from the text of the old Mass to concerns that the move will lead to further changes to the reforms approved by 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

The reforms called for Mass to be said in local languages, for the priest to face the congregation and not the altar with his back to worshipers.

Lockerbie bombing appeal possible

LONDON - A Scottish judicial review body ruled Thursday that a former Libyan intelligence official imprisoned for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing might have been wrongfully convicted and was entitled to an appeal. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission delivered an 800-page report - much of it still secret -that cast doubt on the testimony of a witness who changed his story several times and had been shown a photograph of the Libyan official days before picking him out of a lineup. It also challenged evidence presented at the trial that the official had purchased the clothes found in the suitcase that held the bomb. The explosion on board Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, killed 270 people, including 179 Americans.

President avoids charges of rape

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - Rape charges against outgoing Israeli President Moshe Katsav will be dropped by the country's authorities following a plea bargain to save him from imprisonment, the country's Haaretz newspaper said Thursday. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz reached an agreement with Katsav's lawyers that the two counts of rape would be dropped and he would plead to lesser charges. The president, whose role is largely ceremonial, has been on leave of absence since the charges were brought in January by a former Tourism Ministry employee and other women. The women expressed outrage at the deal.

Russia boasts of new missile launch

MOSCOW - Russia said a new sea-based ballistic missile made its first successful test flight Thursday after several failures, in what was the country's second major test of new rocket technology in a month. President Vladimir Putin has hailed Bulava as a key component of Russia's nuclear forces for years to come, saying it has the ability to penetrate any prospective missile defenses. Washington's plan to deploy a ballistic missile defense system in eastern Europe has sparked increasingly belligerent comments from Putin and other officials.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 00:35:44]