Stats for April 2011

The trend begun in March continued in April. With a nice round 5,900  to the blog, April 2011 is the best month since I began blogging (not counting the crazy peak of July 2010 of course). Here are the 10 most popular blog posts, with number 1 largely thanks to it having been picked up by the New Liturgical Movement. The post about the Stations of the Cross is an oldie from Lent 2010, but it’s fun to see it serving such a purpose this year once more. As for the rest, of course Blessed John Paul II played a major role, as did Archbishop Eijk and former bishop Vangheluwe.

1: First EF Mass in Groningen off to a good start 354
2: The Stations of the Cross 159
3: Blessed John Paul II 99
4: 22 October picked as feast day of Blessed John Paul II 76
5: Belgian bishops speak up against Vangheluwe 74
6: A bishop punished too mildly? 70
7: Pope to rein in Abp. Eijk? Not likely when this is the best proof against him 60
8: To be prepared 46
9: A new archbishop for the Celtic fringe 44
10: The list is out 38

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Pictures say more

… than a thousands words, they say. So with that in mind I won’t add many words to the reports of yesterday’s beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II. Instead, here are 20 photos which I liked:

[But if there is need of words, here is my translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s homily.]

Thousands of pilgrims gather on St. Peter's Square and the streets leading to it.

The glass reliquary shaped like intertwining olive branches and containing a vial of blood of the new blessed.

Another view of the crowds on the square

Some of the many priests attending the Mass in choir, with the statue of St. Peter in the foreground

The crowds don't all fit within the borders of the world's smallest state

Pope Benedict XVI greets President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland at the end of the ceremonies.

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of the coffin of Blessed John Paul II

Pope Benedict XVI kisses the reliquary containing a relic of the new blessed

Four photos of the revealing of the photo of Blessed John Paul II, overlooking St. Peter's Square

Young pilgrims from Germany

Sister Tobiana, who took care of Blessed John Paul II in the final days of his life, touches his coffin

Watching from the Circus Maximus, a Polish pilgrim cries during the beatification

With Polish flags and banners behind him, Pope Benedict XVI arrives just before Mass

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, for many years the personal secretary of Blessed John Paul II

Sister Marie Simone-Pierre, whose miraculous cure from Parkinson's paved the way to the beatification

Deo gratias!

In the early hours of the morning, many pilgrims are still dozing

Throughout the night before the beatification, as thousands and pilgrims prayed and kept watch, a candle burned in the window of Pope Benedict XVI's apartments

A religious sister peers from underneath one of the many pictures of Blessed John Paul II present on the square

Pope Benedict XVI faces his predecessor in pictorial form

Photo credits:
[1] Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images
[2] [4] Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
[3] [10] [11] [16] Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
[5] AP Photo/Massimo Sestini, Polizia di Stato
[6] Pool L’Osservatore Romano Vatican-Pool/Getty Images
[7] REUTERS/Ettore Ferrari/Pool
[8] AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano
[9] [12] Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images
[13] REUTERS/Max Rossi
[14] Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images
[15] [20] AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito
[17] [18] AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
[19] AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca

Statement from Vatican press chief Fr. Lombardi on the death of Bin Laden

“Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the end of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.

Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.”