“I said about five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys and we hit the water”

The blog of the National Catholic Register has a Catholic angle on yesterday’s “Miracle on the Hudson.”

What does the church teach about torture?

With a new administration about to take over at the White House, all of Washington is wondering how the issue of torture will be shaped by President Obama next week. A good summation of Catholic teaching on torture was posted this week at Headline Bistro, a site run by the Knights of Columbus with a particular focus on “information Catholics need to know.”

Protesters against the Guantanamo Bay prison line up outside the transition office of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in Washington Jan. 13. (CNS/Reuters)

We also had a story this week on a coalition of religious leaders, including the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, urging Obama to sign an executive order banning torture shortly after he takes office.

Torture was also the subject of a study guide issued by the bishops last June.

In transition

Since the presidential election, I’ve been to four events at the National Press Club — press conference, symposium, what have you — and all four have been standing-room only. 

Speakers at all four events — covering issues ranging from poverty to the Federal Communications Commission — had recommendations for the incoming administration. Remarkably, a number of them (and one event had as many as nine speakers) said they had been in contact with members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. Just as remarkably, they all said they had received a fair hearing on their issues.

Perhaps there are some people who think it wouldn’t be worth their while to give their two cents (or $700 billion) to the Obama transition team. Still, it’s impressive.

I was pondering this on my way back from the fourth event Jan. 15 when I ran into someone on her way to the same subway station from which I had just exited. It seems she had left a meeting at the U.S. bishops’ headquarters in Washington to discuss Middle East issues with — you guessed it — the transition team.

Pope thanks police officers and their families

An Italian state police officer and police dog search St. Peter's Square in this 2005 file photo. (CNS photo from Reuters)

VATICAN CITY — When Pope Benedict XVI met yesterday with members of the Italian state police unit responsible for Italy’s border with the Vatican, he thanked them, of course. But he also thanked their spouses and children.

The officers’ families, he said, share the sacrifices the police make when they get the 6 p.m.-midnight or the midnight-6 a.m. shift patrolling the territory around St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican.

Through a special agreement with the Vatican, Italian police control access to the square, patrol it and staff the metal detectors visitors must pass through to get into St. Peter’s Basilica or into the square when the pope is holding an audience or celebrating Mass there.

Recognizing that the officers’ work on his behalf could take them from their families, the pope told them, “I want to include your families in my thanks, with a special thought for those who have recently married or are preparing to take this step.”

As he usually does in his annual meeting with the officers, Pope Benedict also offered a reflection on how their patrols, protection and pilgrim assistance can become occasions for spiritual growth.

“That service carried out with love becomes prayer, a prayer that is even more pleasing to God when your work is not very gratifying, or is monotonous or tiring, especially when you are working at night or on days when the weather is bad,” the pope told them.

The Italian police Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican was established in 1929 when the Vatican and the Italian government signed the Lateran Pacts formally recognizing the Vatican’s independence. In addition to being the first-line of control to access to the Vatican, the 100-member unit is responsible for the safety of the pope and a few of his top aides when they leave the Vatican.