Month: February 2018
Vatican Increases Exorcism Training
In response to an unsettling increase in demand for exorcisms in Italy, the Vatican has announced plans for a new course to better train priests to perform the practice.
The week-long event to be held in April was detailed by Italian priest and exorcist Benigno Palilla in an interview with Vatican Radio.
According to Palilla, requests for exorcisms from the Church have skyrocketed in Italy over the last few years with experts estimating an astounding 500,000 such cases being reported.
Although the priest acknowledged that not all of these events are genuinely connected to an actual possession, he cautioned that the jaw-dropping number of exorcisms indicated that there is some sort of sinister surge happening.
As to what may be behind this spike, Palilla pointed to the popularity of fortune tellers, tarot card readers and other soothsaying mystics in Italy.
He warned that partaking in such ‘sorcery’ unwittingly “opens the door to the devil and possession.”
Additionally, Palilla expressed concern that the whopping number of exorcism cases in the country has led to inexperienced priests being enlisted to perform the ritual.
Calling for a proverbial apprenticeship for exorcists, he lamented that the phenomenon of possession is often verboten during the process of preparing for the priesthood, leaving newcomers overwhelmed when they are called to confront the issue.
By holding this new course on the subject later this year, Palilla hopes to strip away some of the sensationalism surrounding exorcisms and better prepare priests for the various cases they may encounter.
What is behind all this is the Vatican trying to scare people back to the pews. The church is losing believers en masse. Another attempt to get more money in the collection baskets.
Memorable Images from The Pyeonchang Games
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which ended on Sunday, yielded 102 gold medals in 16 days.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESThe closing ceremony was a colourful event, complete with drones depicting the official mascot, a white tiger named Soohorang, with white lights (below).
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERSWe take a look at some of the best pictures taken by sports photographers during the Games.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESThe Elevator Women
The elevator in the building at work has a recorded voice of a women telling the riders which floor they have landed on. The voice also advises that the car is going up, or going down. Very helpful stuff.
The voice is soothing and reaffirms that you are in a civilized setting. I began wondering if that women, whose voice is used, receives royalties every time she talks in the elevator? If she does she must be rich!
One of the First Viral Internet Hoax Photos
This composite photo first appeared in 2001 and is considered one of the first viral internet hoax photos.
I even used it in a photoshop showing the Red River in Winnipeg.
Germany issues ‘travel advisory’ after beating Canada in 2018 Winter Olympics hockey
Mason Raymond of Canada, skates off as Germany players celebrate after the semifinal round of the men’s hockey game against Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Feb. 23, 2018.
Germany is warning its citizens in Canada to exercise “a high degree of empathy,” after the men’s hockey team beat Canada to advance to the gold-medal final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Team Canada lost to Germany in a hard-fought semifinal match going down 4-3.
“A tough loss for us and we let our country down today. It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Canadian defenceman Mat Robinson, who scored one of Canada’s goals.
Shortly after Canada’s loss, the German Foreign Office, based in Berlin, tweeted a “travel warning” for Germans in Canada, urging them to “hug” a Canadian.
Canada returned a diplomatic tweet, to point out the fact that the Germans are playing for their first-ever Olympic hockey gold.
“Thanks @GermanyDiplo. Congrats on your first shot at gold! We remember our first gold medal match in #IceHockey like it was yesterday… 1920 to be exact,” reads the tweet from Foreign Policy CAN.
Making The Best of a Long Winnipeg Winter
Living in Winnipeg has its highs and lows. Really good warm sunny summers, and when the planet is tilted away from the sun, extremely cold winters. Winnipeg is one of the coldest cities with a population over half a million people in the world, if not the coldest. There may be a couple colder cities in Siberia.
This winter has been way above normal cold. Long john underwear everyday. A person can’t really get used to it. Every time you walk outside the day greets you with a burst of frigid wind that could stop a healthy mule in its tracks. I have to give credit to the thousands of migrants who come to Winnipeg from tropical countries.
Imagine never experiencing anything colder than +20 Celsius or 67 Fahrenheit, then have to deal with frigid temps these migrants could never have imagined, temps that can freeze a persons nose in two minutes.
Today there was a slight break in the weather. It got up to -10 Celsius, that is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sun was out. So off to the river skating trail we went. This kind of day can make a Winnipeg winter fun.
These warming stations let off amazing reflections of the sun.
There is different art work all along the skating trail.
A person gets a different perspective of the cityscape from the river.
Something Topsy-Turvy Here
Out of Joint
This is more like it
The MarkoZen Blog 