Waiting for a Word

Having had my five cups of black coffee, I can now wish everyone a Happy Friday Morning. As noted yesterday, the standard practice is in place, with a minor tweak.

I'm sitting here in my kitchen -- having hijacked a laptop and router again (which I won't be able to give up so easily) -- pressing F5 every 10 seconds in anticipation of this week's Roman goodie from JLA....

In other Vatican news, just posted is this week's lead editorial from The Tablet on the downgrading of the British government's diplomatic posting to the Holy See, mused on in these pages last weekend.

In line with anti-discrimination legislation, there is no longer to be an informal bar on Catholics being appointed to represent the British Government at the headquarters of the Catholic Church. Customarily the appointment went to a member of the Church of England, possibly to placate Anglican anxieties when the post was first instituted at the time of the First World War, with an understanding that there would be a Catholic deputy. There are already plenty of Catholics among the Vatican diplomatic corps, and the argument that they cannot adequately represent their Governments for that reason is plainly untenable. Nevertheless the weight of the protest from the three former diplomats is increased by the knowledge that none of them is Catholic, and none therefore has a personal axe to grind.

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