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Vatican ushers, including Massimo Sansolini, center, carry the body of Blessed John Paul II through St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in this 2005 file photo.

Hidden helpers: Vatican ushers bring tots, disabled closer to Pope

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VATICAN CITY - The cameras are trained on the cute baby being foisted up to the pope for a kiss and papal blessing, not on the dapper gentleman trying to handle the precious, often squirming, load with care.

Vatican ushers attend every weekly general audience, helping visitors with special needs and picking out the cutest babies in the crowd for the photo op of a lifetime. And they welcome dignitaries and heads of state visiting the pope with all the pomp and circumstance suited for their stature as "gentlemen in waiting."

These laymen, called "sediari" or chair-bearers, did just that for centuries: carried the pope on an elevated chair high above the crowds so everyone could catch a glimpse of the pontiff.

But Blessed John Paul II discontinued the practice when he was elected in 1978, preferring to walk and be close to the people.

The "sediari" stayed on, but their role no longer included carrying the pope on their shoulders -- until Blessed John Paul's death more than 26 years later.

When he died, Blessed John Paul's body had to be carried by 12 papal gentlemen on a red velvet stretcher in a solemn procession from the Apostolic Palace to St. Peter's Basilica.

Because so many of the papal ushers were young, only a few older veterans knew how to carry a pope either on the portable chair or the stretcher.

All ushers' eyes and ears were on Massimo Sansolini, who served four popes after he became a "sediario" in 1964.

He spelled out the correct procedure for smoothly and decorously lifting and carrying the papal platform so that it would stay as horizontal and secure as possible while the men navigated corridors and numerous marble staircases.

Two of his essential rules: "Carry it with just the shoulder, without help from the hand" and always begin walking with the left foot.

The rules were in his recently published Italian memoir, a follow-up to a volume he published in 1999 in which he told of his life as a papal gentleman, revealing the not-often-seen world of the Apostolic Palace, at the service of the pope.

Sansolini told reporters at the second book's launch April 23 that because there were always 12 "sediari" helping the pope -- the vicar of Christ -- he always felt like one of the apostles -- a servant of the servant of God.

In his book, he described how hard the men tried to remain calm and composed, fighting back the tears, as they transferred the pope's body before the crowds April 4, then carried the cypress casket from St. Peter's Basilica outside to the square during the April 8 funeral.

"No layperson had ever been as close to the sacred person of the pontiff as we had for 26 years straight," he wrote.

While those events briefly put Sansolini and his confreres in the world spotlight, their weekly routine is much less visible.

For the past 16 years, Sansolini has been in charge of helping disabled pilgrims get seating as close to the pope as possible during Wednesday general audiences and other special occasions.

There are special sections in the square or the Paul VI audience hall for church dignitaries, important guests, newlyweds and people with special needs. All the ushers also have their eyes open for parents with tiny infants and help them get as close as they can to the barricade in the general seating section to pass the baby to the pope in the popemobile.

Sansolini said no pope has ever complained about the tradition of individually greeting and blessing the disabled after the general audience, no matter how scarred or infirm they may be: "The pope's love knows no limits."

A typical Wednesday starts very early as Sansolini arranges the seating for the disabled section, leaving room for the wheelchairs between the plastic chairs for the caregivers.

Guests are asked to arrive a couple of hours early before the start of the audience so they can clear security and find their section.

Sansolini said he helps pass the time with all of them, chatting about their lives in whatever language they have in common. Sometimes, he said, just a caress or smile is all that it takes to forge a strong bond.

He said he has been humbled by the heroism of the mothers, fathers and caregivers of the gravely ill and physically or mentally challenged adults and children he sees every week.

"There are women like Mother Teresa all over, on every continent," caring for the unwanted or abandoned.

He said he is always touched by people he meets, from those afflicted with terminal cancer to Iraqi children bearing battle scars, "their tiny bodies, already martyred" in the bloom of their life.

Once he saw a mother come to the audience hall laden with bags and cases, which she scattered on the floor around her.

He was going to gently say something about the disarray, but let it go. He was glad he did, he wrote, because later she pulled out a series of bottles and a syringe and proceeded to feed her child through a stomach tube.

"Every time I am present at an audience I come out with greater faith" from witnessing the unconditional love, joy and hope in people, he said.

"The love of a parent overcomes everything! The human being reaches a fullness of dignity that knows no limits" when it overcomes all challenges and suffering with love and grace, he wrote.

TCDSB trustee Angela Kennedy spearheaded the vote.

Toronto students to begin their day singing ‘O Canada’

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TORONTO - Students in Toronto Catholic schools will now begin their school day by singing our national anthem each morning.

On April 19, the Toronto Catholic District School Board voted 7-3 to have students sing “O Canada” a cappella during opening exercises.

To lead by example, trustee Angela Kennedy, who spearheaded the vote, uploaded a video of herself on YouTube singing “O Canada” without any background music.

As many as 18 per cent of addicts admit to reusing needles that have been used by someone else.

The moral debate around safe injection drug sites

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TORONTO - There are 9,000 injection drug users in Toronto and another 3,000 in Ottawa. They face arrest all the time. Many addicts live in neighbourhoods with a concentration of counselling and detox facilities. The federal government has launched anti-drug subway posters to combat the problem.

Chances are there will still be 12,000 injection drug users in Ontario’s two biggest cities next year and the year after that.

The 22 April manifesto is calling on Canada to regulate more strictly the Alberta oil sands, among other things.

Quebec churches on board for Earth Day protests

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What could be the largest protest ever on the streets of Montreal has full Church backing. Earth Day protesters who gather next to the Place des Arts in downtown Montreal will be backed up by Church bells ringing from most of the city’s 230 Catholic churches.

Organizers are predicting the April 22 protests will draw more people than March demonstrations against a 75-per-cent tuition hike. The student protest brought about 100,000 onto Montreal’s streets. Earth Day has a broader appeal in Quebec than the tuition fee issue, said Green Church director Norman Levesque.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's statue of the Roman Emperor Constantine is seen in the portico of St. Peter's Basilica as clergy process during the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Africa at the Vatican in this Oct. 25, 2009, file photo. The statue shows Constantine looking at the appearance of a cross in the sky in Rome in 312, an event that led to his conversion and the legalization of Christianity.

Religious liberty: Why a battle 1,700 years ago is relevant today

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VATICAN CITY - For Vatican historians, the roots of a Christian idea of religious liberty go way back: in fact, back 1,700 years to the Emperor Constantine's victory on Rome's Milvian Bridge and to his conversion.

At a Vatican conference in late April marking the anniversary, the head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences said Constantine's victory in 312 under the sign of the cross was "the foundation of a new world" marked by religious freedom for Christians and separation between church and state.

Using Barrie’s flag as the centrepiece, students from the Ontario city’s St. Joseph’s High School filled each surrounding square with their research on Vimy Ridge and then carried the banner during the silent march to the Vimy Ridge Monument in France on April 9.

Students get up close, personal at Vimy Ridge

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Twenty-five students from Barrie, Ont.’s St. Joseph’s Catholic High School experienced an Easter to remember as they travelled to France on a Remembering Vimy Ridge trip.

Accompanied by history teacher Trevor Carter, the students experienced a seven-day history class.

“The students did realize the sacrifice of the soldiers when they were sacrificing their comfort,” said Carter, describing the Easter Monday weather as typical for Normandy, France — wet, windy and cold. “But it was easy to handle the weather when you took into account what happened there 95 years ago.”

Pope Benedict XVI prays as he leads the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome April 6.

As a man grows older: Papal milestones prompt celebration, speculation

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's 85th birthday, April 16, and the seventh anniversary of his election, April 19, are obviously occasions for wishing the Pope well and reflecting on the events of his reign thus far. Inevitably, however, these milestones also prompt speculation about what Vatican officials and observers refer to diplomatically as "papal transition."

Pope Benedict, after all, is already the sixth-oldest Pope since the 1400s, when records became available. It has been almost two years since he told a German interviewer, "My forces are diminishing" and that, when it comes to public appearances, "I wonder whether I can make it even from a purely physical point of view."

rish Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. A new survery has revealed that five percent of Irish who identify themselves as Catholics never attend Mass.

Irish survey: Gap between church teaching, self-identified Catholics

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DUBLIN - Three out of four Irish who identified themselves as Catholics find the church's teaching on sexuality "irrelevant," according to new research published by the Association of Catholic Priests.

The survey -- conducted by the research association Amarach -- also showed that almost 90 percent of those surveyed believe that divorced or separated Catholics in a stable second relationship ought to be able to receive Communion at Mass. Under church law, divorced and remarried Catholics who have received an annulment may receive Communion.

Documenting observations of "Lola" and the birthing process of the nesting goose that the class are observing.

Mother goose a teaching aid in north Toronto school

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TORONTO - Education is going to the birds at Hawthorn School for Girls, with Grade 3 teacher Magdolna Hamza taking advantage of a nesting goose named Lola directly outside the window of her second floor classroom as a teaching aid.

On April 2 Hamza first noticed her new neighbours nestled in the rooftop gravel of the independent Catholic school for girls in north Toronto.

“I was doing my chores and opened the window and oh, there’s an egg,” said Hamza. “I was surprised there was no nest, just an egg.”

A number of United Nations members are pushing for a sort of Gross National Happiness index. The first World Happiness Report has just been published, and it attempts to measure aspects of social and economic life beyond Gross Domestic Product.

Does money lead to happiness?

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TORONTO - Most Canadians are richer than their parents, far richer than their grandparents, infinitely richer than their great-grandparents. But are we happier for this?

For plenty of indebted, stressed and uncertain Canadians, their country’s rising Gross Domestic Product has not translated into a more meaningful, more satisfying life, either individually or on the level of community. How many can claim to live in a more harmonious, more confident community than the generation that endured the Great Depression and two World Wars?

What we measure matters. If our politics and our headlines are driven by the weekly, monthly and annual pulse of the GDP we end up living narrow, nervous lives on a shrinking and poisoned planet, according to Dennis Patrick O’Hara, a University of St. Michael’s College theology professor.

After capturing top honours at the FIRST Robotics Greater Toronto West Regional, the St. Robert’s RetroRams huddle around their team’s mechanical member.

St. Robert’s takes robotics title

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THORNHILL, ONT. - In their FIRST Robotics Competition debut, the St. Robert’s RetroRams mechanically orchestrated a regional championship while earning the rookie all-star award at the annual competition.  

FIRST Robotics hosts high school regional championships  and invites winners, and select teams, to the world championships, to be held this year in St. Louis.

At the Toronto West Regional competition on the last weekend of March, 52 teams packed the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for a Rebound Rumble showdown where three-team alliances hit the hardwood.

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