SUMMER 1998

Murder, mystery and scandal have once again rocked the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, as a result of a triple killing involving members of the Pope's elite, 147 strong Swiss Guard founded in 1506. Colonel Alois Estermann, newly appointed as head of the Swiss Guard, was shot dead along with his Venezuelan wife, Gladys, by a junior officer Cedric Tornay, who subsequently shot himself. Although this was put down to a fit of rage over being denied a medal,Vatican watchers point to more sinister happenings. Tornay left a letter in which he wrote to his mother, "Forgive me, for it was they who forced me to do what 1 have done." Italian newspapers point to the humble origins of Estermann, which had aroused the jealousy of certain factions. It has also been claimed that Estermann was a spy for the former East German Stasi, the Communist secret police, and that, although he had helped protect the Pope during the assassination attempt in 1981, he had used his closeness to the Pontiff to send highly confidential material from the Vatican to the Communists by night train via Austria on to East Germany. Other sources claim that Estermann and his wife were members of Opus Dei, the secret right-wing Catholic sect, and that Mrs. Estermann worked for Venezuelan Intelligence. Vatican authorities did not call in the Italian police, and as the prestigious newspaper La Repubblica stated,

ROME - After meeting for the first time, Pope John Paul II and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel promised in the Vatican to meet again "as soon as possible" in Jerusalem. For the Pope, whose travels have taken him around the world several times, a journey to the Holy Land has been a long-held, still unfulfilled hope, and one that he has voiced more often as Christianity's third millennium approaches. The Pope told Mr. Netanyahu that he visited the Holy Land in 1963 when he was a Bishop in Cracow, Poland.

For Mr. Netanyahu, in ltaly on an official trip, the visit to the Vatican was a chance to renew Israel's open invitation to the Pope, first made by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. "We look forward to receiving you in Jerusalem," Mr. Netanyahu said as he was leaving the Pope's study after a 20 minute audience.

POPE TO CANONIZE STEPINAC

The Pope is expected to visit Croatia between 2nd - 4th October where it seems likely he will beatify the late Cardinal Stepinac who was jailed by the Tito Government as a War Criminal and was, according to many Catholics, subsequently poisoned. ln fact Stepinac, who is about to be put on the path to Sainthood, was a vile Nazi collaborator who welcomed the German invasion of Yugoslavia. He was instrumental in setting up the puppet Catholic State of Croatia, in which Stepinac's friend, the dictator Pavelic, and his murdering Ustashi were responsible for the genocide of 1 million Orthodox Serbs between 1941-45. The full story is documented with pictures in our book:

"SPOTLIGHT ON YUGOSLAVIA"

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See our "TO ORDER" section for details of how to order

ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS FACE DEATH PENALTY FOR GENOCIDE IN RWANDA

KIBUYE, RWANDA (ENI) - Two Roman Catholic priests from Rwanda who are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity could, if found guilty, face the death penalty. The two priests are accused of massacring 60 Tutsis at the Nyundo Minor Seminary in Gisenyi, in the northwest of the country, in 1994.

CLINTON GOES TO THE MASS

SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA - President Clinton took Holy Communion from the Rev. Mohlomi Makobane during Mass at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church March 29. Clinton, ending a four-day visit to South Africa, listened to a sermon on adultery and promised to help South Africans make the most of their freedom.

AUSTRIAN PRELATE TOLD TO STOP FUNCTIONING AS BISHOP

(RNS) - Roman Catholic Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who was forced to retire as head of the Austrian church over allegations of sex abuse, has been instructed by his successor to stop acting as a bishop.

"I have asked Cardinal Groer to refrain from carrying out the activities of bishop, such as confirmations, for the time being," Cardinal Christoph Schoenbom said in a church magazine interview released Friday (March 27).

In 1995, Groer, 78, was forced to retire following allegations he had molested a schoolboy more than 20 years ago. Since then, several monks and priests have also accused Groer of making sexual advances but Groer has never admitted or denied the accusations, Reuters reported.

A Vatican mission is investigating the allegations.

In February, Schoenborn and four other Austrian bishops issued an unprecedented statement saying they believed the accusations against Groer were "essentially accurate", Reuters reported.

Since the sex-abuse allegations against Groer first surfaced, thousands of Austrians have left the church.

CLINTON'S CATHOLIC COMMUNION PROVOKES AN INQUIRY FROM THE VATICAN

EAST LONDON, SOUTH AFRICA (ENI) - The Vatican is asking the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) for an explanation after U.S. President Bill Clinton, who is a Southern Baptist, received communion in a Catholic church at the end of his state visit to South Africa.

The Roman Catholic Church is to set up a body to distribute policy documents on politically-sensitive issues such as marriage, cohabitation and welfare reform.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales discussed initial plans last month to establish a think tank. They are expected to make a public announcement next month.

Bishop Vincent Nicholls is likely to be selected to run the think tank, which has been given a working title of "policy review group".

Plans for it followed the moderately successful experiment with high-profile social teaching last year, when the Church published its document The Common Good, distributed to English Catholics before the May election to encourage them to consider the morality of party policies before voting.

Despite some criticism in the press, which accused it of being pro-Labour and trying to influence voting, The Common Good was well received by Catholics, who praised the Church for its clear and timely advice.

A spokesman at the Catholic Media Office said it was "too early to say" what shape the policy review group would take.

Charles Wookey, the public affairs officer for Cardinal Basil Hurne, Kieran Conry, director of the Catholic Media Office, and Msgr Arthur Roach, secretary to the bishops' conference have all been involved in initial talks about the group. Andrew Purkis, the public affairs officer for the Archbishop of Canterbury, was invited to give his views.

The aim of any official policy review group is to promote Christian, specifically Catholic, teaching on political matters and to ensure that the Church's view is heard and understood.

A Romanist named Brendan Rogers has spent some £30,000 to set up an oratory to Padre Pio, on the Black Mountain overlooking Belfast - capital of what was once Protestant Ulster. The idol and the mass-altar cost some £15,000. Padre Pio was an Italian monk, who supposedly displayed the Stigmata (wounds of Christ) in his hands and feet, could levitate, bilocate (be in two places at once), could heal the sick and read the minds of penitents in the Confessional. He has been beatified by the Pope - the first step to sainthood. Mr. Rogers of the Belfast shrine has as a relic, a blood-stained bandage from Padre Pio which he claims has been used to cure the sick. Sadder still is the claim that a Presbyterian supplied the mechanical digger to clear the site for the shrine and that he uses the relic to cure Protestants. Not so many years ago, such a public display of idolatry and superstition would not have been permitted.

BUTTE, MONTANA - Roman Catholic devotees of The Virgin Mary are claiming that the 90-foot Mary - "Queen of the Rockies" statue (see above and below) and the Queen of the Rockies Foundation are making a marked impact on people from all over the U.S.A.

The height of this "monstrosity" (90 ft.) is particularly interesting in the light of Daniel 3:1 and speaks volumes to those with "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" -

Thus, by the very dimensions of this statue of Mary, the Spirit of the Lord is drawing our attention to the link between Babylon of old with its mystery religion and Roman Catholicism today, which is merely a continuation of the Babylonish system of ritual and superstition - a means of controlling the mass of the people through fear and priestcraft.

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (ENI) - The new statue of Christ that looks down on the capital city of Honduras will have permanent security to protect it from "mentally ill" critics of the statue who have declared that they will blow it up according to the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa. Evangelical opponents of the statue announced in December that they would organize "an army of believers" to tear down the statue of Christ, arguing that Christians should not worship idols.

The Society of Jesuits is to pay the legal costs of a self-confessed paedophile to appeal against a conviction, it was confirmed tonight. But the society said the move did not mean it thought Jesuit priest Father James Chaning-Pearce was innocent.

The 57-year old priest was jailed for five years in September for indecent assault on four of his pupils at Stonyhurst Roman Catholic college in Lancashire.

He admitted assaults on three of them but denied a number of attacks on one boy, now aged 21.

He intends to appeal against that conviction and the Society of Jesus will pay his legal costs, said Fr. lan Tomlinson, Provincial Secretary for Great Britain.

"We are not supporting his appeal because we think he is innocent. He thinks he is innocent and so in some sort of justice he has a right to have that tried, doesn't he? We don't go around selecting people to support. He's a member of the society and so a member of a family. He's a member of the society and that's a full-time experience. We simply do our best to make sure that we help him to be a person that does not offend again. When he leaves prison someone will have to look after him and we will do that."

At his trial at Preston Crown Court, Judge Reginald Lockett told Chaning-Pearce: "You committed these offences over a period of time when you were in a position of special trust with the boys."

He assaulted the four boys, aged between 12 and 16, in his study and in a tree house in the school grounds.

The boy whom the priest denied assaulting told the court he felt "scared and sick" after the attack.

Chaning-Pearce was removed from the school in 1995 when a letter was received complaining about similar behaviour when he was working overseas a decade earlier.

Police were not called in until a year later, after parents of one of the boys contacted the school to report an assault.

The judge told the priest he would remain on the national register of sex offenders for life.

After the trial, Fr. James Crampsey, the Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in Britain, said: "The Society is profoundly sorry for all the pain caused."

*OUR LADY OF THE "ROCKIES" STATISTICS*
HEIGHT:	90 Ft. TALL
HEAD:	16 Ft. HIGH x 10 Ft. WIDE
NOSE:	4 Ft. LONG
EYES:	2 Ft. WIDE
LIPS:	3 Ft. WIDE
HANDS:	8 Ft.
WEIGHT:	80 TONS
BASE WEIGHT:	425 TONS