Priest's Punishment: Prayer

In Chile, a cleric's illegal park-job will be remedied by an unusual fine: seven psalms a day, for three months.

No, the decision didn't come from an ecclesiastical tribunal.

Judge Manuel Perez said he issued the unusual sentence after the Rev. Jose Cornejo said he could not afford the $100 fine that would have been the regular sanction for illegal parking in the city of Puerto Montt.

"He will have to recite seven psalms," Judge Perez told the Santiago daily La Tercera.

"This is not a sentence that just occurred to me," he added. "I did it as a tribute to Galileo Galilei, one of the greatest scientists of all time, who received a similar sentence from the Catholic Church during three years for saying the Earth rotates around the sun."

The judge ordered a court official who lives near the priest to check daily that the sentence was being fulfilled.

Speaking of clerical parking, John Cardinal Foley's getting to see that a vote in the conclave is just one perk of membership in the Pope's senate.

Appearing before Philadelphia City Council earlier today to accept a citation declaring this Cardinal Foley Day in his hometown, the neo-Porporato thanked the body for allowing him to park his car on the sidewalk outside Philly's notoriously space-sparse City Hall.

The Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating the native son's November elevation by Pope Benedict begins at 6pm EST (2300 GMT) in the Cathedral-Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul.

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