In a quirk of timing, the play's multiple references to a new Pope have been given extra resonance by recent events in the Vatican after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.
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About half the 105 suites in the residence are occupied by Vatican staff, who had to move out of their rooms to accommodate visiting cardinals during the holding of the recent conclave at which Pope Francis was elected.
Despite its young age, its reserve blend of shiraz and cabernet, served to the pope on his recent visit, was voted Brazil's number one wine last year.
Asked about the remarks, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that ties between the two churches had been strengthened in recent years, especially during Pope Benedict's visit to Britain, and that they looked likely only to get stronger still.
Although its hog farms have generated losses in recent years, Mr. Pope argued that controlling pork production from the farm to the packing plant helped it win customers, including restaurants and grocery chains that increasingly are demanding new products such as antibiotic-free pork.
Most of what the pope has said in recent weeks has grated on American ears.
Relations between the Vatican and the Muslim world became strained in recent years after comments by the Pope.
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Cardinal Theodore McCarrick read a recent letter from Kennedy to the pope at the private burial ceremony in Arlington, Virginia.
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Bishop Lehman might also be regretting his recent remarks about the possibility of the Pope retiring soon.
Federico Lombardi, suggested the pope's decision didn't come entirely as a surprise to those close to him, since they had noticed the pope getting more frail in recent months.
Peter's Square was higher Wednesday than in many of the pope's public audiences in recent years.
Pope Benedict's resignation and the recent damage to the Church's reputation make the choice of the cardinal-electors especially hard to predict, the BBC's James Robbins in Rome says.
BBC: Rome conclave: Cardinals fail to elect pope in first vote
My recent post on the election of the first Jesuit pope was warmly received, but there was some criticism of my suggestion that the Church needs to change otherwise it will lose many faithful adherents.
The pope made repeated references to the sorrow of recent violence in Mexico.
The new pope may not halt the region's recent shift toward more liberal social issues, illustrated by the recent legalization of abortions in Mexico City and the strong gay rights movement in countries such as Argentina, said Julia Young, a professor of Latin American history at the Catholic University in Washington, D.
The pope's decision was not linked to a recent medical intervention to replace the battery in his pacemaker, Lombardi said, adding that it had been a routine procedure.
The Pope has also publicly praised an Italian prelate, a recent newcomer to the College of Cardinals, 70-year-old Milanese Biblical scholar Gianfranco Ravasi - thus, according to Vatican insiders, endorsing him as a possible successor.
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So you would think it would appreciate significant gift offers, such as the recent offer by a former state Supreme Court justice and the John William Pope Foundation to establish a Center for the North Carolina Constitution at the NCCU Law School.
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Relations between Israel and the Vatican have become tense in recent months, after news leaked out that the Vatican was considering making the wartime Pope Pius XII a saint, reports the BBC's David Willey in Rome.
The resignation comes as the pope juggles a host of critical issues that have buffeted the Catholic Church in recent years, including the rise of Islam and the continued emptying of pews in Europe.
Some would disagree. ( Count the pope among them.) Even with an effort to increase Wall Street regulation in recent years, critics say it has not been enough.
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As pope, Francis takes the helm of a Catholic Church that has been rocked in recent years by sex abuse by priests, and claims of corruption and infighting among the church hierarchy.
As pope, Bergoglio takes the helm of a Catholic Church that has been rocked in recent years by sex abuse by priests and claims of corruption and infighting among the church hierarchy.
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All of it likely took its toll on the pope who walks with a cane, has a pacemaker and has looked frailer and frailer in recent months.
The 76-year-old Argentine is the first pope from Latin America, a region that has seen a dramatic shift in religious observance in recent years, with the Roman Catholic Church losing followers attracted to Pentecostal churches.
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