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.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:
[https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/01/09/0020/00038.html]
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):
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2023/january/documents/20230127-rotaromana.html
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2023/january/documents/20230127-rotaromana.html
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
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