Washington Post misleading

In connection with a story about the celebration of yesterday's Novendiali Mass by Cardinal Law, the Washington Post this morning reported the following:

“Vatican officials have said Law was chosen automatically for the Mass because he is head priest of a major church in Rome, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

“But documents obtained Monday by The Washington Post from the church's archives show that Law's predecessor as archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore was not given the same role after the death of the previous pope, John Paul I, in 1978.”

It’s true. The archpriest of St. Maria Maggiore at the time of John Paul I’s did not have the same Novendali Mass as Cardinal Law did (for the Chapters of the Patriarchal Basilicas).

He had the Pope's Funeral!

Carlo Cardinal Confalonieri, arch-priest of Santa Maria Maggiore at the time, also happened to be the Dean of the College of Cardinals and presided at the funerals for both Paul VI and John Paul I - in each case, the first of the Novendiali Masses.

(A few references: to Cardinal Confalonieri as Arciprete della Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore [a.k.a. Liberiana] by Paul VI and by John Paul II as well as to his role at the funerals for Paul VI and John Paul I.)

We should continue to accompany Pope John Paul II with our prayers and also pray for a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the College of Cardinals as they prepare to elect a successor.