RNS’s Vatican correspondent Stacy Meichtry is monitoring the first synod of bishops of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate. The meeting began Oct. 2 and will continue through Oct. 23. According to Meichtry: A synod of bishops advising Pope Benedict XVI is not expected to recommend any concrete changes to church policy, according to a draft version of the bishops’ final report. The bishops have spent weeks deliberating on topics ranging from priestly celibacy, to the status of remarried Catholics, to how the church should respond to Catholic politicians who defy church teaching. Initial indications are that nothing is expected to change.
Today we are also offering a feature on author Anne Rice’s departure from the vampire and witch novels for which she’s known. Bene Cipolla writes: The queen of darkness has seen the light. In her latest book, “Christ the Lord,” Anne Rice turns away from the doomed souls of her best-selling vampire and witch tales in favor of a first-person account of the 7-year-old Jesus. “I was sitting in church talking to (God) about it and I finally realized there was no holding back anymore,” said Rice, who returned to the Catholic Church in 1998 after a 30-year absence. “I just said, `From now on it’s all going to be for you.’ And the book I felt I had to write was the life of Christ.” With a distinct emphasis on the devout Jewishness of Jesus and his extended family, the novel, out in November with an announced first-print run of 500,000 copies, depicts their first year in Nazareth after leaving Egypt following the death of King Herod.
