Showing posts with label U.S.A.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S.A.. Show all posts

Saturday, July 15, 2023

Notes: Wednesday, October 5, 2022-Saturday, July 15, 2023 (part 1 of 2)

1: "That the principles of America opened the Bastile is not to be doubted"

That quotation comes from the digitised letter "To George Washington from Thomas Paine, 1 May 1790" at the U.S. National Archives Founders Online website:


(It came to my attention via the article "Strict rules on gifts date back to the birth of US" by Troy Lennon on p. 80 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, June 13, 2014, available through the N.S.W. State Library eresources Gale OneFile: News (itself available in Gale Research Complete), ProQuest Central, and NewsBank.) Paine seems to have sent that letter to Washington with a key—supposedly the main key to the Bastille—which he had received from Lafayette; see footnote 18 of chapter VIII ("The French Revolution in America") of The Age of Federalism, by Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, published by Oxford University Press, March 2, 1995:


See also, at the George Washington's Mount Vernon website, the pages "Bastille Key" (in The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington) and "Key to the Bastille":



Labels: Americanism, Democratism, France, liberalism, U.S.A.

2: According to The Pope, the death penalty "is always inadmissible since it attacks the inviolability and the dignity of the person", and it "cannot be employed for a purported State justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims, but only fuels the thirst for vengeance"

Those quotations come from The Holy See Press Office's bulletin item "Udienza al Corpo Diplomatico accreditato presso la Santa Sede per la presentazione degli auguri per il nuovo anno, 09.01.2023"; they translate parts of this paragraph in the original Italian of the Address in question:
Il diritto alla vita è minacciato anche laddove si continua a praticare la pena di morte, come sta accadendo in questi giorni in Iran, in seguito alle recenti manifestazioni, che chiedono maggiore rispetto per la dignità delle donne. La pena di morte non può essere utilizzata per una presunta giustizia di Stato, poiché essa non costituisce un deterrente, né offre giustizia alle vittime, ma alimenta solamente la sete di vendetta. Faccio, perciò, appello perché la pena di morte, che è sempre inammissibile poiché attenta all’inviolabilità e alla dignità della persona, sia abolita nelle legislazioni di tutti i Paesi del mondo. Non possiamo dimenticare che fino all’ultimo momento, una persona può convertirsi e può cambiare.
[https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/01/09/0020/00038.html]
A stand-alone English translation of that bulletin item is also available, titled "Audience with the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See for the presentation of wishes for the New Year, 09.01.2023", and so are the English translation and original Italian of that Address:




Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

3: The Pope on the difference between cause and condition in the formation of a society: "“What God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mt 19:6). “God himself is the author of matrimony”, as Vatican Council II affirms (cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 48), and this can be understood as referring to every single conjugal union. Indeed, spouses give life to their union, with free consent, but only the Holy Spirit has the power to make a man and woman a sole existence."

That quotation comes from the Papal "Audience with the Tribunal of the Roman Rota on the occasion of the Inauguration of the Judicial Year, 27.01.2023", which is a translation of the original Italian given in The Holy See Press Office's bulletin item "Udienza al Tribunale della Rota Romana in occasione dell’inaugurazione dell’Anno Giudiziario, 27.01.2023" (also available in the Vatican's "Speeches 2023 January"/"Discorsi 2023 Gennaio" webpages):





Labels: marriage, morals, politics, society

4: "the only two special religious instruction providers still operating in [Victorian ]state schools say there are now about 750 students" enrolled (actively?) with those providers; that is down from "nearly 93,000 Victorian students" enrolled with those or other providers in 2013

Those two quotations, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, come from the news report "Religion class enrolments slump in state schools in decade since program changes", by Madeleine Heffernan, dateline: "February 26, 2023 — 3.47pm", downloaded from The Age's website:


(It was also interesting to read, in the final paragraph, that Special Religious Instruction "program materials" "must comply with minimum standards regarding human rights and anti-discrimination laws." For more on those standards, click the "Policy" tab on the "School operations": "Special Religious Instruction" page in the schools "Policy and Advisory Library" at Victoria's Department of Education and Training beta website:


Above all, s.v. "Program and materials", "Freedom of religion", and "General religious education".) For background to that article, see item 3.1 of the Tuesday, August 11-Tuesday, September 29, 2015 issue of my "Notes":


Labels: education, Victoria

5: Mr. Wesselinoff on the demography of (at least) nominally Catholic Australians in 2021

See the news report "New stats show Catholics have smaller families, more education, are older and more diverse", by Adam Wesselinoff, April 20, 2023, at the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website:


Mr. Wesselinoff based his report on the 2021 "Social Profile of the Catholic Community in Australia", from the National Centre for Pastoral Research:



Labels: demography

6: "Just 11 minutes [after David Ben-Gurion supposedly asserted Israeli independence], President Truman announced that the United States would be the first nation to recognize the government of Israel."

That quotation, excluding my parenthesis replacing the word "later", comes from the April 25, 2023 "Statement from President Joe Biden on the Occasion of Israel’s 75th Independence Day":


Labels: State of Israel, U.S.A.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Henry, Emperor and Confessor, A.D. 2023

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Notes: Saturday, March 26-Tuesday, October 4, 2022 (part 2 of 2)

3: The JUDGMENT and DECREE OF THE University of Oxford Past in their Convocation July 21. 1683, Oxford, 1683

is available through the Oxford Text Archive (O.T.A.), Google Books, The London Gazette (Issue No. 1845, July 23-26, 1683), and the respective websites of The British Library, The University of Michigan Library, and The National Archives:







JUDICIUM & DECRETUM Universitatis Oxoniensis Latum in Convocatione habita Jul. 21. An. 1683 (Oxford, 1683) seems to be the original Latin of that Judgment, and is available through the O.T.A. and the aforementioned library websites:




Early English Books Online has the Latin book as well as two editions of the English translation; one of those two editions was published in Dublin and does not seem to be available elsewhere online, and the other edition is the one linked hereinbefore.

Labels: Democratism, morals, politics, regalism, St. Robert Bellarmine

4: Some recent objectionable pronouncements from The Pope

4.1: God "does not want to make decisions for us, or oppress us with a sacral power, exercised in a world governed by religious laws."

That quotation comes from the translated text of "the homily delivered by the Pope during the celebration of Vespers", contained in The Holy See Press Office's Daily Bulletin item "Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Francis in Canada – Vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec, 28.07.2022":


The quotation is part of this excerpt:
God does not want us to be slaves, but sons and daughters; he does not want to make decisions for us, or oppress us with a sacral power, exercised in a world governed by religious laws. No! He created us to be free, and he asks us to be mature and responsible persons in life and in society.
Judging by the source for that Daily Bulletin item, I think that that passage is a translation of this section of the original Spanish of the homily in question:
Dios, en efecto, no nos quiere esclavos sino hijos, no quiere decidir en nuestro lugar ni oprimirnos con un poder sagrado en un mundo gobernado por leyes religiosas. No, Él nos ha creado libres y nos pide que seamos personas adultas, personas responsables en la vida y en la sociedad.
["Viaggio Apostolico di Sua Santità Francesco in Canada – Vespri con i Vescovi, i Sacerdoti, i Diaconi, i Consacrati, i Seminaristi e gli Operatori Pastorali presso la Cattedrale di Notre-Dame de Québec, 28.07.2022",
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2022/07/28/0563/01130.html]
The only media organ to highlight the anti-Integralist aspect of that homily seems to be Religion News Service, in the "News" report "God does not want ‘a world governed by religious laws,’ pope tells Canadian clergy", by Claire Giangravé, dated July 28, 2022:


Ms Giangravé was also the journalist who, during that Apostolic Journey's return-flight press conference, asked His Holiness about changing Church teaching on contraceptives:



Returning to that homily, I note that one of the problems with The Pope's anti-Integralism is that, pace His Holiness, a loving and conscientious Catholic father will, as far as reasonably possible within the scope of his authority, impose religious rules on his sons and daughters, and a loving and conscientious Catholic civil sovereign will, likewise, impose religious laws on his subjects; that is the paternal, not despotic, thing to do.

Labels: Confessional State, Francis Bergoglio, law, morals, politics, secularism

4.2: "the death penalty is morally inadmissible," and "in the light of the Gospel, the death penalty is unacceptable"

Those quotations come from the translation, in The Holy See Press Office's Daily Bulletin item "Video of the Holy Father with the prayer intention for the month of September, disseminated via the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, 31.08.2022", of the transcript of H.H. The Pope's message in that video:


The quotations seems to translate "moralmente, la pena di morte è inadeguata" and "alla luce del Vangelo, la pena di morte è inammissibile", respectively, judging by that Daily Bulletin item's original Italian ("Video del Santo Padre con l’intenzione di preghiera per il mese di settembre diffusa attraverso la Rete Mondiale di Preghiera del Papa, 31.08.2022", in which the transcript's original language is given as Italian, too):


The official website of The Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network has these pages, available through its "Resources" page: "September prayer intention 2022", "2022–9–TPV–Script–For the abolition of the death penalty", "2022–09–TPV–Press Release-For the abolition of the death penalty", "TPV- For the abolition of the death penalty – Infographic", and "TPV – For the abolition of the death penalty – Poster", with the content of those pages also available, in one form or another, on the page "SEPTEMBER | For the abolition of the death penalty" (dated, like the preceding resources, August 31, 2022) at the official website of an operation—namely, The Pope Video—of that Network:







Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

5: "it was this act[, namely, the Quebec Act,] that moved the Americans to form and attend the First Continental Congress in the first place!"

That quotation (excluding my square-bracketed interpolation) comes from this passage (excluding my ellipses (a square-bracketed one indicates the omission of a whole paragraph) and square-bracketed interpolation) in "Catholicism and the American Founding", by Prof. Bradley J. Birzer, July 3, 2021, at The Catholic World Report's website:
… With the passage of the Quebec Act, they[, namely, "French Roman Catholics living in Quebec",] could practice their Catholicism without political hinderance. Parliament saw this act, rightfully, as a liberal act, having next to nothing to do with the affairs of the Protestants to the south. Americans in the thirteen colonies not only saw it as a direct attack on their faith, but it was this act that moved the Americans to form and attend the First Continental Congress in the first place!

[…]

Not surprisingly, given the terrible (if ridiculous) reputation that Catholics had among Protestants as being the evil purveyors of darkness, oppression, and superstition, the very first act of the Continental Congress was to pass a condemnation of liberalization of restrictions on Roman Catholics. With the almost unanimous backing of the New England colonies, the condemnation found widespread support, especially from John Jay and Alexander Hamilton of New York, and Richard Lee of Virginia.

[…]

It must be noted that the First Continental Congress was not some fly-by-night revolutionary committee of radicals. It was, instead, the very first meeting of the U.S. Congress, still, institutionally, of course, in existence through this day.
See also item 2 of my "Notes: Thursday, January 1-Monday, February 2, 2015": 


(The Spectator link there is now dead, but this one works:


and that book review is also available, in one form or another, through Trove, Gale Research Complete, NewsBank, and ProQuest. As for item 2's hyperlinked comment by me at a now-removed blog, that comment contained a quotation from The Catholic Church in the Modern World: A Survey from the French Revolution to the present, by Mr. E. E. Y. Hales, published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in association with Burns & Oates, London, 1958.)

Labels: Canada, Church and State, history, U.S.A.

6: "Not until the mid-1960s did people begin to realise that, in addition to the concentration camps, there were also death camps whose only purpose was extermination. Even the term "the Holocaust" was not used widely until the late 70s."

That quotation comes from the book review "Germany's African colony was a laboratory for genocide", by Jim Davidson, on p. 24 of the "Review" supplement of The Weekend Australian, January 15-16, 2011, available through ProQuest and NewsBank, and formerly available at The Australian's website via this U.R.L.:


Prof. Davidson is or at least has been a professional historian, according to the profiles on him from AustLit, Trove, Melbourne University, and what seems to have been at the time of that book review his most recent book (namely, A Three-Cornered Life, available through ProQuest's Ebook Central): 





Labels: history, Jews, Nazism

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Confessor, A.D. 2022

Friday, March 25, 2022

Notes: Tuesday, March 2, 2021-Friday, March 25, 2022

 1. Suarez on political authority before and after the Fall

See the "Scholia" item "What Kind of Corporeal or Political Life Men Would Have Professed in the State of Innocence" (the translated title of Ch. 7 of Book 5 of On the Work of the Six Days), by Francisco Suarez, translated and introduced by Assistant Prof. Matthew T. Gaetano, Journal of Markets & Morality, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 2012), pp. 527–563:


Labels: Adam (Patriarch), morals, politics

2. Prof. Sommerville's comparison of Catholic and Anglican political theory in the Jacobean age

See the article "FROM SUAREZ TO FILMER: A REAPPRAISAL", by J. P. Sommerville, The Historical Journal, Vol. 25, No. 3 (September 1982), pp. 525-540:



Labels: morals, politics, regalism, St. Robert Bellarmine

3. "The Declaration of Independence: Annotated"

That quotation is the title of an article of December 9, 2021 by Liz Tracey in the JSTOR Daily "Annotations" series:


Labels: Americanism, Democratism, history, liberalism, morals, politics, U.S.A.

4. Recent additions to, and losses from, The Order of the Garter

My last blog post about The Most Noble Order of the Garter was "Notes: Tuesday, February 5-Monday, July 22, 2019 (part 1 of 3)" (item 3):


Since then, that Order has lost no Ladies, no Stranger Knights, one British Royal Knight (namely, The (1.) Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9, 2021 and whose Funeral occurred on the 17. following), and five other Knights:

1. Lord Bramall, who died on November 12, 2019

2. Lord Ashburton, who died on October 6, 2020, the Memorial Service for whom occurred on October 15, 2021, and whose Garter Insignia were delivered up on December 1, 2021

3. Sir Antony Acland, who died on September 8, 2021, according to "Sir Antony Acland Obituary", dated September 16, 2021, available at Eton College's website:


and the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of whom occurred on February 4, 2022

4. Sir Timothy Colman, who died the day after Sir Antony, according to "Sir Timothy Colman, record-breaking sailor, naturalist, long-serving lord lieutenant and well-liked figure in Norfolk life – obituary", dated September 15, 2021, available at the London Daily Telegraph's website:


and the Service of Thanksgiving to Celebrate the Life of whom occurred on January 20, 2022

5. Lord Sainsbury, who died on January 14, 2022, according to "Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover obituary", by Stephen Bates, dated Monday, January 17, 2022, available at The Guardian's website:


Over the same period, no new British Royal Knights, no new Stranger Knights nor Ladies, one de-facto British Royal Lady (namely, the de-facto Duchess of Cornwall), one other Lady (Lady Amos), and one other Knight (Sir Tony Blair) have joined the Order, with those three new appointments effective January 1, 2022. See

1. The Press Release "New appointments to the Order of the Garter announced", dated December 31, 2021, available at the official website of the British Royal Family:


It lists the three new appointees in the sequence in which I happen to have listed them, and says that Lady Amos
(born 13th March 1954) has previously been Chief Executive, Equal Opportunities Commission (1989-1994), Secretary of State for International Development, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords (2003-2007), Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, UN (2010-2015) and is currently Master, University College Oxford.
while Sir Tony
was Prime Minister from 1997-2007. He is now Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a not-for-profit organisation which works around the world.
2. Notice No. 3963431, January 7, 2022 (but to be dated the previous 1.), Notice Type "State", Sub-Type "Honours and Awards" (Notice Code: 1105), The London Gazette, Issue No. 63581, (printed on January 10, 2022, containing all notices published online between January 7 and 9, 2022), p. 214:


(delete "/page/214" for the full issue, with p. 214 being p. 2 in my document reader)

3. The B.B.C. News report "Blair becomes 'Sir Tony' and joins top royal order", by Sean Coughlan, dated January 1, 2022:


according to which Sir Tony "says he will be "Sir Tony" rather than Sir Anthony"

Consequently, the current Knights Companions and Ladies Companions of The Order of the Garter are:

British Royal Knights and Ladies, at least in fact*:
1. H.M. The Queen (who joined the Order on November 11, 1947 and became Sovereign thereof upon becoming Queen, February 6, 1952)
2. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (1958) K.G. (July 26, 1958**) K.T. G.C.B. O.M. A.K. Q.S.O. C.C. P.C. A.D.C.
3. H.R.H. The (2.) Duke of Kent (1934, 1942) K.G. (October 9, 1985) G.C.M.G. G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
4. H.R.H. The Princess Royal (1987) K.G. (1994***) K.T. G.C.V.O. Q.S.O. C.D. A.D.C.
5. H.R.H. The (2.) Duke of Gloucester (1928, 1974) K.G. (1997) G.C.V.O.
6. H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy K.G. (2003) G.C.V.O. C.D.
7. H.R.H. The (1.) Duke of York (1986) K.G. (2006) G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
8. H.R.H. The (1.) Earl of Wessex (1999) and Forfar (2019) K.G. (2006) G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
9. H.R.H. The (1.) Duke of Cambridge (2011) K.G. (2008) K.T. P.C. A.D.C.
10. The de-facto Duchess of Cornwall K.G. (January 1, 2022) G.C.V.O. P.C.
*unless otherwise indicated, the year given after a title is the year of the creation of that title, and where another year is given after that one, that title is hereditary (and so is a title preceded by an ordinal number), and the latter year is that of the succession to that title; the date after the post-nominal letters K.G. is—again, unless otherwise indicated—the date of the appointment to the Order, and where only a year, not a full date, is given, the appointment is to be dated April 23 of that year
**my presumption, in item 7.2.1 of this issue of "Notes", was correct, judging by the page "Titles and Heraldry" (scroll down and click the tile "Titles"at the left-hand side) at His Royal Highness's website, according to which "The Prince of Wales automatically became a KG when he became Prince of Wales in 1958" (although His Royal Highness "was not installed until 17th June 1968, at Windsor Castle"):


***though the exact date thereof seems disputed—either April 23 or June 13. And it was interesting to read, in the "Feature" article "The Princess Royal – 70 facts at 70", that "The Princess Royal requested to be installed as Royal Knight of the Order, and not a Lady":


Stranger Knights and Ladies*:
1. H.M. The Queen of Denmark (May 16, 1979)
2. H.M. The King of Sweden (May 25, 1983)
3. H.M. King John Charles I. (the abdicated Spanish king) (October 17, 1988)
4. H.R.H. Princess Beatrice (the abdicated Dutch queen) (June 28, 1989)
5. H.M. The (Japanese) Emperor Emeritus (May 26, 1998)
6. H.M. The King of Norway (May 30, 2001)
7. H.M. The King of Spain (July 12, 2017)
8. H.M. The King of The Netherlands (October 23, 2018)
*see the appendix to this blog post for the evidence for these dates

Other Knights and Ladies*:
1. His Grace The Most Hon. The (5.) Duke of Abercorn (1868, 1979) Bt. K.G. (1999)
2. The Rt. Hon. Field Marshal The Baron Inge (1997) K.G. (2001) G.C.B. P.C. D.L.
3. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Butler of Brockwell (1998) K.G. (2003) G.C.B. C.V.O. P.C.
4. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Morris of Aberavon (2001) K.G. (2003) P.C. Q.C.
5. The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major K.G. (2005) C.H. P.C.
6. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Luce (2000) K.G. (2008) G.C.V.O. P.C. D.L.
7. Sir Thomas Dunne K.G. (2008) K.C.V.O. J.P.
8. The Rt. Hon. Admiral of the Fleet The Baron Boyce (2003) K.G. (2011) G.C.B. O.B.E. D.L.
9. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers (1999) K.G. (2011) P.C.
10. The Rt. Hon. Marshal of The Royal Air Force The Baron Stirrup (2011) K.G. (2013) G.C.B. A.F.C. A.D.C.
11. The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Manningham-Buller (2008) L.G. (2014) D.C.B.
12. The Rt. Hon. Prof. The Baron King of Lothbury (2013) K.G. (2014) G.B.E. D.L.
13. The Rt. Hon. The (5.) Baron Shuttleworth (1902, 1975) Bt. K.G. (2016) K.C.V.O. J.P.
14. Sir David Brewer K.G. (2016) C.M.G. C.V.O. J.P.
15. Lady Mary Fagan L.G. (2018) D.C.V.O. J.P.
16. The Rt. Hon. The (3.) Viscount Brookeborough (1952, 1987) Bt. K.G. (2018)
17. Lady Mary Peters L.G. (February 27, 2019) C.H. D.B.E.
18. The Most Hon. The (7.) Marquess of Salisbury (1789, 2003) K.G. (February 27, 2019) K.C.V.O. P.C. D.L.
19. The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Amos (1997) L.G. (January 1, 2022) C.H. P.C.
20. The Rt. Hon. Sir Tony Blair K.G. (January 1, 2022) P.C.
*I have applied to this list the rules stated in the first note to my list of British Royal Knights and Ladies, and the sequence in which I have listed these other Garter Knights and Ladies is that of the relevant Press Releases or Gazette notices. The sequence in each of the pairs for 2011, ’18, and ’19 is, however, reversed in the previously-cited Garter banner list; the Court Circular, too, reverses the sequence of the 2011 pair when mentioned in that year through 2019 (except 2017, when Garter Day activities were cancelled, and 2012), and does likewise for the 2018 pair when mentioned in 2019.

Sources: In addition to the resources available through the links in this blog's sidebar (above all, the Court Circular (plus the rest of its host website), Who's Who, and Wikipedia) and in this and other "Notes" items, I have also used

1. The page "ADDRESSING THE ROYAL FAMILY" at the Debrett's website:


2. The page "Privy Council members" at the British Privy Council's website:


3. The page "THE ROYAL FAMILY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND", sub-heading "HOUSE OF WINDSOR", by Mr. William Bortrick, at Burke's Peerage's website:


4. p. 112 (132 in the document reader) in "Appendix Six" ("Royal and Vice-Regal Recipients of the Canadian Forces’ Decoration") of The Canadian Forces’ Decoration, by Mr. Christopher McCreery M.V.O., available at the "Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)" page at H.M. Canadian Government's website:


or go straight hither:


or hither:


P.S. The usually-annual Garter service did not occur in 2020 nor ’21, according to, respectively, the Press Releases "An announcement regarding Royal events in June" and "Trooping the Colour will not go ahead in its traditional form in 2021", dated April 22, 2020 and March 19, 2021, respectively, and both available at the official website of the British Royal Family:



Labels: Camilla Parker Bowles, Order of the Garter, Tony Blair, Valerie Amos

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Lady Day, A.D. 2022

Appendix: Garter appointment dates for the current Stranger Knights and Ladies

The names of at least some of the current Stranger Knights Companions and Stranger Ladies Companions of The Order of the Garter are in the Wikipedia pages "List of current Knights and Ladies of the Garter" (see my "Miscellaneous links") and "Talk:Order of the Garter" (s.v. "Holy Roman garter?"), the London Times article "Order of the Garter" "full list" (Monday, June 16, 2008), and the page "Garter Banner List" at the website of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle:




(or go straight hither:


"Holy Roman garter?" gives this U.R.L. as the source for its list, but, as you'll see, the link is dead:


I think that I remember that webpage, and I'm inclined to think that the list has been copied and pasted without more than negligible change. Whatever the case, it can serve as a starting point for further investigation.

An alternative starting point is to remember that, at least recently, Stranger appointments occur during State Visits. The official website of the British Royal Family has a "Feature" article titled "State Visits"; click "List of State Visits" on the left-hand side of the page in order to download a list of "Inward State Visits since 1952" and a list of "Outbound State Visits since 1952":




1. H.M. The Queen appointed Her Majesty's Danish counterpart to the Order in 1979, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the outbound one of Wednesday, May 16-Saturday 19 (p. 2), which The Danish Royal House's official website corroborates on the "State Visits" page (s.v. "List of State Visits") there:


According to the news report "THE QUEEN TAKES A TRIP IN THE TUNNEL OF LOVE", by Ann Morrow (in Copenhagen), on p. 19 of The Daily Telegraph (London) of Friday, May 18, 1979 (Issue No. 38552), "Queen Margarethe[ recte Margrethe] was given the Order of the Garter and an English gilt carriage clock by the Queen and Prince Philip" (my interpolation), presumably respectively, at the State banquet aboard H.M. Yacht Britannia the previous night. I presume that "given the Order of the Garter" means 'presented with the Garter Insignia', so The Queen of Denmark must have joined the Order on or before Thursday, May 17, 1979; I think that it's safe to say that May 16, 1979 was the exact date of the appointment.

2. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Sweden to the Order in 1983, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the outbound one of May 25-28 (p. 2), and The Swedish Royal Court's official website corroborates that on the page "State visits 1980-1989" there:


According to the news report "The Queen goes ashore in gondola", by Jenny Shields (in Stockholm), The Daily Telegraph (London), Thursday, May 26, 1983, Issue No. 39793, p. 19, "at a ceremony in the Palace, the Queen presented 37-year-old King Carl Gustav with the Order of the Garter" on Wednesday, May 25, 1983. More accurately, 'presented The King with the Garter Insignia', I presume, so His Majesty must have joined the Order on or before that date, presumably the former.

3. The Queen appointed H.M. King John Charles I. (at the time of the appointment, the reigning King of Spain) a Stranger Knight of the Garter on October 17, 1988, according to Notice No. 21 SI, Notice Type "State Intelligence", Sub-Type "HONOURS AND AWARDS", The London Gazette, Issue No. 51806, Tuesday, July 11, 1989, p. 8095:

(delete "/page/8095" from this and the next U.R.L. for the full issue)


See also the news reports
  • "Sun, smiles and a Latin greeting for the Queen", by Richard Kay in Madrid, Tuesday, October 18, 1988, in The Daily Mail, London, Issue No. 28715, p. 5, which says that, on the 17., "The Queen conferred the Order of the Garter on Juan Carlos"
  • "Affectionate welcome for royal cousins", by Alan Hamilton, reporting from Madrid, Tuesday, October 18, 1988, in The Times, London, Issue No. 63215, p. 7, which says that, on the 17., "The Queen created King Juan Carlos an Extra Knight of the Garter"
October 17, 1988 was first day of the only relevant State Visit by The Queen that year (p. 2); the visit ended on the 21.

4. Her Majesty appointed H.R.H. Princess Beatrice (at the time of the appointment, the reigning Queen of The Netherlands) a Stranger Lady of the Garter on June 28, 1989, according to the same Gazette notice as that for King John Charles I.'s appointment. And on the same day, "The Queen invested The Queen of the Netherlands with the Insignia of an Extra Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter", according to the issue of the Court Circular printed on p. 18 of The Times (London), Thursday, June 29, 1989, Issue No. 63433. (Neither the official website of The Royal House of The Netherlands nor that of the British Royal Family give the dates for the State Visit of Her Royal Highness to Her Majesty, though that issue of the Court Circular says that "The Queen of the Netherlands and Prince Claus of the Netherlands arrived at Buckingham Palace this afternoon", and the previous day's issue seems not to mention that royal couple, so June 28 must have been the first day, and according to the news report "Queen's honour for Beatrix", p. 20, South China Morning Post, Friday, June 30, 1989, Vol. XLV, No. 179, Princess Beatrice was "on a three-day visit to Brit-ain" (the last word spanned two lines).)

5. The Queen appointed H.M. The (Japanese) Emperor Emeritus (at the time of the appointment, the reigning Emperor of Japan) to the Order in 1998, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the incoming one of May 26-29 (p. 2), on the first day whereof Her Majesty presented His Majesty with the Garter Insignia. Of the numerous Gale Primary Sources and ProQuest (via the N.S.W. State Library's website (see sidebar)) articles about the State Visit, the most informative for present purposes were the news reports "Thunder of guns met by imperial blaze of modesty THE EMPEROR'S VISIT: [D Edition 1]" (sic), by Valentine Low, Evening Standard, West End final ed., London, May 26, 1998, according to which, on May 26, 1998,
after a lunch in the Bow Room of Buckingham Palace, the emperor was presented with the Order of the Garter. There was no formal conferring upon the emperor of the Order which was simply laid out on a table with the other gifts from the Queen. However, no snub was intended - this, said the Palace, was the norm in such circumstances.
and "A day of protest and reconciliation", by Alan Hamilton, p. 1, The Times (London), Wednesday, May 27, 1998, Issue No. 66212, which put it this way:
On arriving at the Palace, the visitors were entertained to lunch of asparagus mousse, roast chicken and rhubarb parfait. The Queen then took the Emperor into the adjoin-ing Carnarvon Room and, without ceremony, presented him with the Order of the Garter, its star insignia lying in an open box among other gifts.
(The word 'adjoining' spanned two lines.)
Therefore, His Majesty must have joined the Order on or before May 26, 1998, presumably the former.

6. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Norway to the Order in 2001, and the only relevant State Visit that year was that of The Queen to His Majesty from May 30-June 1 (see p. 3), and The Royal House of Norway's website corroborates that on its "State visits during the reign of King Harald" page (s.v. "State visits to Norway"):


According to the Court Circular, "The Queen presented The King of Norway with the Insignia of an Extra Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter" on May 30 at The Royal Palace, Oslo, so His Majesty must have joined the order on or before that date, presumably the former.

7. and 8. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Spain and H.M. The King of The Netherlands to the Order on July 12, 2017 and October 23, 2018, respectively. See item 7.2.1 of "Notes: Tuesday, April 24, 2018-Monday, February 4, 2019 (part 2 of 2)" and item 3 of "Notes: Tuesday, February 5-Monday, July 22, 2019 (part 1 of 3)", to which, for convenience, I link here, along with links to their respective sources:








And for the sake of completeness, see the news item "King and Queen to visit Windsor", dated "07-06-2019", at the official website of The Royal House of The Netherlands, according to which H.M. The (Dutch) "King was appointed a Supernumerary Knight of the Garter during the State Visit to the United Kingdom on 23 and 24 October 2018", and "His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain" was "appointed as such during a state visit in 2017":

Monday, May 25, 2015

Notes: Tuesday, February 3-Monday, May 25, 2015 (part 2 of 2)

6.2 Prof. Ahdar and Prof. Leigh on the question of whether religious establishment is compatible with religious freedom

See the article "Is Establishment Consistent with Religious Freedom?", by Prof. Rex Ahdar and Prof. Ian Leigh, on pp. 635-681 of the McGill Law Journal, Vol. 49, A.D. 2004, downloaded from that journal's website here:

http://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/en/issue/2347

or go straight hither:

http://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/userfiles/other/4692476-Ahdar_and_Leigh.pdf

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, law, morals, religious liberty

6.3 Some information on religious establishment in the pre-U.S. colonies is available in The Catholic Encyclopedia's "Penal Laws" article:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11611c.htm

Labels: Confessional State, law, U.S.A.

7. A couple of recent pronouncements by H.H. The Pope

7.1 More from H.H. The Pope on the death penalty

See the March 20, 2015 Letter of His Holiness to the President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2015/index.html

(That Letter came to my attention via the item "Pope Francis: the death penalty is inadmissible" in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin of March 20, 2015, Year XXII, No. 56; that item is available here:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-the-death-penalty-is-inadmissible)

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

7.2 H.H. The Pope on, among other things, 'the emancipation of women' and 'equal pay for equal work'

See the text of His Holiness's General Audience of April 29, 2015:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2015/index.html

or see the ample extracts from that speech in the item "General audience: the dignity of marriage" in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin of April 29, 2015, Year XXII, No. 80; that item is also available here:

http://www.news.va/en/news/general-audience-the-dignity-of-marriage

Labels: economics, feminism, Francis Bergoglio, morals, work

8. The New Mass's Offertory prayers "are based on Jewish blessings taken not from the Old Testament, but rather from the 5th century Babylonian version of Talmud (T.B.), a central Jewish text which codified oral law and teaching."

The quotation, including the italics, in that headline come from the blog post "ASK FATHER: Using the traditional offertory prayers in the Novus Ordo. Wherein Fr. Z rants." by The Rev. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, dated April 20, 2015, downloaded from Fr. Z's Blog:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/04/ask-father-using-the-traditional-offertory-prayers-in-the-novus-ordo-wherein-fr-z-rants/

Labels: N.O.M.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Whitmonday, A.D. 2015

Monday, February 2, 2015

Notes: Thursday, January 1-Monday, February 2, 2015

1. Some changes to this blog's links

Just now, I've added a link to the website of The Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia (that website came to my attention via this CathNews item) to my "Bishops and (Local) Churches of Australia and the world" links (and changed that links section's heading from "Bishops and Sees of Australia and the world"), and removed the respective links to the Bundarrah Days and Cooees from the Cloister blogs from my "Daily-visit blog links" (because those two blogs have gone private), and I've also removed the respective links to the Imperium Christi and Opuscula blogs from my "Weekly-visit blog links" (because those two blogs have not been updated in a long time).

Labels: blogs

2. "The American Revolution had more to do with the Quebec Act, which recognised the traditional rights of the Catholic church in Canada, than with the Stamp Act."

The quotation in that headline comes from the book review "All you’ll ever need to know about the history of England in one volume", by Mr. Daniel Hannan M.E.P., dated December 13, 2014, downloaded from The Spectator's website:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9395372/all-youll-ever-need-to-know-about-the-history-of-england-in-one-volume/

(That book review came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Fair England's triumphs and travails", with the same byline, on pp. 16 f. (the quotation was on p. 16) in the "BOOKS" pages of the "review" supplement of The Weekend Australian, January 17-18, 2015, Second Edition, No. 15629, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.) See also the comments at that webpage (especially the ones in the first thread) and the comment by me in the combox at this blog post by Dr. Sudlow.

Labels: Canada, colonialism, U.S.A.

3. "An extremism checklist has been distributed to line managers in the [Defence ]department, with tips for spotting warning signs that their public servants might be flirting with the hard right."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the article "Defence Department cracks down on office extremists", by Mr. Noel Towell, dated January 20, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/defence-department-cracks-down-on-office-extremists-20150120-12tu9s.html

(But I don't log that article just for that quotation; the whole article is worth reading.)

Labels: Defence Department

4. "I[, Miranda Devine,] have nothing but admiration for the gay couples I know who have done a great job bringing up children."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the opinion piece "The horror of the boutique baby scandal", by Ms Miranda Devine, dated January 21, 2015, downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-horror-of-the-boutique-baby-scandal/story-fni0cwl5-1227191252693

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Boutique baby scandal", with the same author, on p. 13 of The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, January 21, 2015, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd. and is also available at Ms Devine's blog.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., Miranda Devine

5. Prof. Bury on the second-century Apologies for Christianity:
The Apologies for Christianity which appeared at this period (second century) might have helped, if the Emperors (to whom some of them were addressed) had read them, to confirm the view that it was a political danger. It would have been easy to read between the lines that, if the Christians ever got the upper hand, they would not spare the cults of the State. The contemporary work of Tatian (A Discourse to the Greeks) reveals what the Apologists more or less sought to disguise, invincible hatred towards the civilization in which they lived. Any reader of the Christian literature of the time could not fail to see that in a State where Christians had the power there would be no tolerance of other religious pracices.¹[ "¹ For the evidence of the Apologists see A. Bouché-Leclercq, Religious Intolerance and Politics (French, 1911)—a valuable review of the whole subject."] If the Emperors made an exception to their tolerant policy in the case of Christianity, their purpose was to safeguard tolerance.
[italics and round-bracketed parentheses in the original, my square-bracketed interpolation (quoting from the relevant footnote),
pp. 44 f., A History of Freedom of Thought, eighth impression, by Prof. J. B. Bury, published by Thornton Butterworth, London, January 1932]
See also item 1.2 of this Notes post.

Labels: Fathers, religious liberty, Roman Empire

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Candlemas, A.D. 2015

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Notes: Wednesday, December 4-Tuesday, December 31, 2013 (part 1 of 3)

1. "The location of the site of Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus is solidly attested by a critically tested pre-Constantinian tradition. Both are enclosed in the Holy Sepulchre church."

The quotation in that headline was attributed to the late The Rev. Dr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor O.P. in the feature article "Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor: Why scholarship trumps archaeology", by Jill Hamilton, dated Wednesday, November 13, 2013, downloaded from CatholicHerald.co.uk:

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2013/11/13/father-jerome-murphy-oconnor-why-scholarship-trumps-archaeology/

Labels: history

2. "By 1990, support for abortion rights became the one issue on which the leadership of the Democratic Party would tolerate no deviation among members seeking high state or national office."

The quotation in that headline comes from the feature article "Kennedy: the man who led Catholics to a new frontier", by Kenneth L. Woodward, dated November 14, 2013, downloaded from The Tablet's website:

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/827/kennedy-the-man-who-led-catholics-to-a-new-frontier

Labels: Democratic Party (U.S.)

3. A couple of recent items regarding legalisation of Gay Marriage

3.1 "A strong majority in staunchly Catholic Croatia voted on Sunday[ (presumably December 1, 2013)] to outlaw same-sex marriage"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Croatians vote to outlaw gay marriage", by Lajla Veselica, dated December 2, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/croatians-vote-to-outlaw-gay-marriage-20131202-2ym69.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Croatia, G.L.B.T., law, marriage

3.2 "Utah became the 18th US state to legalise gay marriage, just one day after New Mexico became the 17th."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "How Duck Dynasty exposed a new Christmas culture war", by Nick O'Malley, dated December 4, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website (though the original text had the "th"s after "18" and "17" as superscripts):

http://www.smh.com.au/world/how-duck-dynasty-exposed-a-new-christmas-culture-war-20131224-hv6qm.html?skin=text-only

See also the article "Utah to force justices to revisit same-sex marriage", by Adam Litpak, dated December 27, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/utah-to-force-justices-to-revisit-samesex-marriage-20131227-hv6zu.html?skin=text-only

(That article was also printed under the headline "Utah's same-sex ruling highlights speed of change", with the same author, on p. 11 in the "WORLD REPORT" section of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, December 28-29, 2013, No. 54981, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., law, marriage, U.S.A.

4. A couple of recent items regarding legalisation of sodomy

4.1 "Homosexual sex is illegal, and punishable by life in prison, India’s highest court has ruled."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Gay sex ruled illegal by India's highest court", by Ben Doherty, dated December 12, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/gay-sex-ruled-illegal-by-indias-highest-court-20131211-hv5b7.html?skin=text-only

Labels: G.L.B.T., India, law

4.2 "Uganda has passed an anti-gay bill that imposes life sentences for some homosexual acts."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Life sentence for gay Ugandans", no byline (though the source is the London Daily Telegraph), dated December 22, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/life-sentence-for-gay-ugandans-20131221-2zrzt.html?skin=text-only

Labels: G.L.B.T., law, Uganda

5. On Wednesday, December 4, 2013, at Buckingham Palace, H.M. The Queen handed Lord Guthrie His Lordship's Field Marshal's Baton.

See the Court Circular of the day. For a good, clear, but rather small image of the Baton, see Her Majesty's official flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy/11219672955/

Labels: British Army

6. "we are finding more Anglicans than Catholics in high-fee Catholic schools, and as many Catholics as Anglicans in high-fee independent schools"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Demographics change the schools game", by John Black, dated December 7, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/demographics-change-the-schools-game/story-fn59nlz9-1226777459375

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline and with the same byline on p. 29 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, December 7-8, 2013, First Edition, No. 15286, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: Catholic schools

7. Prof. Williams on abortion law in Australia

See the opinion piece "Decriminalise abortion: pro-choice in practice is not the same as legal protection", by Prof. George Williams, dated December 3, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/decriminalise-abortion-prochoice-in-practice-is-not-the-same-as-legal-protection-20131202-2ym16.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion, law

8. "The unspoken truth about marriage and kids"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an opinion piece by Bettina Arndt, dated December 16, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-unspoken-truth-about-marriage-and-kids-20131215-2zf3f.html?skin=text-only

In that opinion piece, Ms Arndt restates, in a shorter form, some of what she wrote in the article about which I blogged in item 3.2 of this Notes post.

Labels: cohabitation, demography, marriage, social trends, vice

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Tuesday in the Octave of Christmas, and the feast of St. Sylvester I., Pope, Confessor, A.D. 2013

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Notes: Tuesday, August 6-Tuesday, September 10, 2013 (part 1 of 2)

1. Some recent items regarding Gay propaganda

1.1 "Foreign Minister Bob Carr today[, "July 19, 2013",] affirmed the Rudd Government’s commitment to make lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) rights a core foreign policy priority."

The quotation in that headline comes from the blog post "Foreign Minister Bob Carr says LGBTI Rights Core Issue for Australian Foreign Policy", by Mr. Doug Pollard, dated July 24, 2013, downloaded from the stirrer website:

http://www.thestirrer.com.au/foreign-minister-bob-carr-says-lgbti-rights-core-issue-for-australian-foreign-policy/

(That post came to my attention while preparing to submit a comment at this blog post by Mr. Gaynor.) See also the article "LGBTI RIGHTS A CORE FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITY FOR RUDD GOVERNEMNT", by Jennifer Josef, dated July 26, 2013, downloaded from the International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association's website:

http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/ocFCvGb1FI

Labels: Bob Carr, G.L.B.T.

1.2 "Cultural imperialism on the march"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Robert R. Reilly, dated May 13, 2013, downloaded from the MercatorNet website:

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/cultural_imperialism_on_the_march

(That article came to my attention via this AQ comment.)

Labels: Barack Obama, G.L.B.T., U.S.A.

1.3 "Free & Equal is an unprecedented United Nations global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. A project of the United Nations Human Rights Office being implemented in partnership with the Purpose Foundation, Free & Equal will raise awareness of homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination, and promote greater respect for the rights of LGBT people everywhere."

The quotation in that headline comes from the "About Us" page of The United Nations Human Rights Office's "Free & Equal" website:

http://www.unfe.org/

(That campaign came to my attention via the article "I will never worship a homophobic God: Tutu", no byline, on p. 18 in the "WORLD" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Monday, July 29, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2907, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., ISSN 1038-8745.)

See also the press release "UN Human Rights Office Launches Unprecedented Global Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality", no author credited, dated July 26, 2013, downloaded from the official website of the U.N.O.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13583&LangID=E

Labels: G.L.B.T., U.N.O.

1.4 "Federal Labor will spend $8 million tackling homophobia in schools if it is re-elected", which ($8 million) "would go to the Foundation for Young Australians to expand its Safe Schools Coalition program across the country, which provides training and resources to schools to tackle homophobic bullying"

The quotations in that headline come from the article "Labor commits $8 million to tackle homophobia in schools", by Ms Bianca Hall, dated August 30, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/labor-commits-8-million-to-tackle-homophobia-in-schools-20130830-2sud6.html?skin=text-only

Labels: education, G.L.B.T.

1.5 "The Australian Rugby Union, and its chief executive, Bill Pulver, have taken an important step in committing to implement an inclusion policy, to stamp out homophobia in rugby - the first football code to do so"

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "It's time to kick the prejudice into touch", by Mr. Andrew Purchas, dated August 29, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/its-time-to-kick-the-prejudice-into-touch-20130828-2sqmw.html?skin=text-only

See also the article "ARU announces development of new inclusion policy", no author credited, dated August 28, 2013, downloaded from the Australian Rugby Union's (A.R.U.'s) official website:

http://www.rugby.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1699/ArticleID/10113/Default.aspx

Labels: G.L.B.T., sport

2. On Wednesday, July 17, 2013, both Houses of the British Parliament were notified that the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 had received the Royal Assent.

See the A.F.P. article "Queen gives assent to British gay marriage law", by Mr. Danny Kemp, dated July 17, 2013, downloaded from the Google website:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHohdWzGeWF9i1fR31GKH73WYdQw?docId=CNG.a24e84eead7107254e098183dd59bddf.711

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Queen backs gay marriage", by the same author, on p. 36 in the "WORLD" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, July 19, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2903, ISSN presumably 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.) See also Notice No. 1870356, category "Parliament", sub-category "House of Lords" (Notice Code: 1203), The London Gazette, Issue No. 60579, p. 14703, Thursday, July 25, 2013:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/60579/pages/14703

One can also find the text of that notice here:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/60579/notices/1870356/

The full text of the British Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 is available here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/30/contents/enacted

Labels: Elizabeth II. Windsor, G.L.B.T., marriage, U.K.

3. "Peaceful coexistence between different religions is favoured by the laicity of the state, which, without appropriating any one confessional stance, respects and esteems the presence of the religious dimension in society, while fostering its more concrete expressions."

The quotation in that headline comes from (a translation of) the Address, on Saturday, July 27, 2013, by H.H. The Pope at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro with Brazil's leaders of society:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130727_gmg-classe-dirigente-rio_en.html

(That Address came to my attention via the item "FRANCIS TO BRAZIL'S LEADERS: A COUNTRY GROWS WHEN ITS CULTURAL COMPONENTS ARE IN DIALOGUE" in The Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service e-mail bulletin no. 160, July 28, 2013 (Year XXII).) The original Spanish (sic) is presumably the following:
La convivencia pacífica entre las diferentes religiones se ve beneficiada por la laicidad del Estado, que, sin asumir como propia ninguna posición confesional, respeta y valora la presencia de la dimensión religiosa en la sociedad, favoreciendo sus expresiones más concretas.
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130727_gmg-classe-dirigente-rio_sp.html]
AsiaNews.it translates it as follows:
Peaceful coexistence between different religions is favoured by the separation of state and religion, which, without appropriating any one confessional stance, respects and esteems the presence of the religious factor in society, while fostering its concrete expressions.
["WYD: For pope, societies must stand for a culture of encounter or everyone loses", no byline, dated July 27, 2013:
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/WYD:-For-pope,-societies-must-stand-for-a-culture-of-encounter-or-everyone-loses-28590.html]
For media reaction to that Address, see the Latin American Bureau article "Pope Francis: 'I want you to make trouble!'", by Francis McDonagh, dated Monday, July 29, 2013, in which the author remarks, immediately after quoting (the first of those two tranlsations of) that sentence, that
An interesting aspect of his remarks is his approval of a secular state, with no established religion.
[http://lab.org.uk/pope-francis-i-want-you-to-make-trouble!]
and (see) the Catholic News Service article "Pope urges Brazilian leaders to embrace dialogue, 'social humility'", by Francis X. Rocca, dated July 28, 2013, in which the author reports that
the pope endorsed the separation of church and state, historically a volatile topic in Latin America, where the Catholic Church long held a privileged legal position in many countries, but where it has more recently clashed with governments over issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage.

He said such separation favors "peaceful coexistence between different religions," since the state, "without appropriating any one confessional stance, respects and esteems the presence of the religious factor in society, while fostering its concrete expressions."

[http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303253.htm]
Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Francis Bergoglio, morals, politics

4. "Abortion has become legal in Ireland in limited cases where the mother's life is at risk, after President Michael D. Higgins signed a law that has exposed deep divisions in the Catholic-majority nation."

The quotation in theat headline comes from the article "Irish president signs abortions into law", no byline (though AFP is the stated source), dated July 31, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/irish-president-signs-abortions-into-law-20130731-2qxr2.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion, Ireland

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor, A.D. 2013