secular Institute for the laity under religious vows

from the National Catholic Reporter

Soldier carries consecrated hosts into battle

By Catholic News Service
While 32-year-old U.S. Army Capt. Joseph Burkhardt conducted sensitive operations in war zones throughout Iraq, the mission closest to his heart was carrying the Eucharist to his fellow soldiers.

Taken from the National Catholic Reporter

The Word From Rome

January 13, 2006 Vol. 5, No. 19


Vatican
Correspondent
jallen

The Word From Rome
John L. Allen Jr.

In his 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI offered the formula "development is the new name for peace."

An assertion with no specifically religious content, it became one of the slogans of the style of social engagement that dominated the post-Vatican II church. Catholic social activists, in an attempt to build broad coalitions and to work should-to-shoulder with people of all faiths, and of none, focused largely on "development," avoiding specifically religious "evangelization" and sometimes playing down contentious elements of Catholic doctrine that might alienate potential allies. (Catholics involved in HIV/AIDS relief in Africa, for example, often say very little about official teaching on contraception).

It's an approach that has put the church on the front lines of struggles for social progress in the secular world, and has allowed Catholic charities to penetrate parts of the globe that would have been inaccessible if the perception had been that their presence was a "front" for proselytism.

It will not, however, be the style of social engagement of Benedict XVI.

For the pope who declared a "dictatorship of relativism" to be the most urgent challenge facing humanity, the path to peace runs not primarily through development, but through truth. Only by embracing objective truths about the meaning and purpose of human life, he believes, can a stable social order be built.

This was the core of Benedict XVI's message for his first World Day of Peace, an annual observance instituted by Paul VI. In a telling shift of emphasis, Benedict chose as his theme: "In truth, peace."

That slogan was also the heart of the pope's address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on Monday, widely seen as his most important political and diplomatic speech of the year. Well before his election as pope, Joseph Ratzinger was concerned about the collapse of confidence in objective truth in post-modern culture, leading to a philosophical and moral relativism with geopolitical consequences, such as the claim that "human rights" are a Western construct lacking universal validity. Nonsense, Benedict insists; the vocabulary of human rights may be Western, but the content expresses universal truths about human dignity.

This concern is one of the reasons that the International Theological Commission, the chief advisory body to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is currently working on a document on natural law and its relationship to moral law.

"Commitment to truth is the soul of justice," Benedict said in his speech to the diplomats on Monday.

"Man's unique grandeur is ultimately based on his capacity to know the truth. And human beings desire to know the truth. Yet truth can only be attained in freedom … truths of the spirit, the truths about good and evil, about the great goals and horizons of life, about our relationship with God. These truths cannot be attained without profound consequences for the way we live our lives."

Given that premise, Benedict drew some specific conclusions, such as a strong condemnation of terrorism.

"Terrorism does not hesitate to strike defenseless people, without discrimination, or to impose inhuman blackmail, causing panic among entire populations, in order to force political leaders to support the designs of the terrorists," he said.

_________________________________________________________________

The pope also issued a strong call to address under-development in the global south.

"On the basis of available statistical data, it can be said that less than half of the immense sums spent worldwide on armaments would be more than sufficient to liberate the immense masses of the poor from destitution. This challenges humanity's conscience," he said.

In the end, however, the pope's thought transcended specific issues to focus on what he sees as the core matter.

"By seeking the truth one can identify the most subtle nuances of diversity, and the demands to which they give rise, and therefore also the limits to be respected and not overstepped," he said. "Then problems can be resolved and disagreements settled according to justice, and profound and lasting understandings are possible."

This is social action, Benedict-style -- not in the first place "no peace without justice," but "no peace without truth."

From the The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis

The Imitation of Christ
Book two - Thoughts helpful in the life of the Soul
2.01 Of God speaking within you
THE kingdom of God is within you," says the Lord.[8]

Turn, then, to God with all your heart. Forsake this wretched world and your soul shall find rest. Learn to despise external things, to devote yourself to those that are within, and you will see the kingdom of God come unto you, that kingdom which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, gifts not given to the impious.

Christ will come to you offering His consolation, if you prepare a fit dwelling for Him in your heart, whose beauty and glory, wherein He takes delight, are all from within. His visits with the inward man are frequent, His communion sweet and full of consolation, His peace great, and His intimacy wonderful indeed.

Therefore, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this Bridegroom that He may come and dwell within you; He Himself says: "If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him."[9]

Give place, then, to Christ, but deny entrance to all others, for when you have Christ you are rich and He is sufficient for you. He will provide for you. He will supply your every want, so that you need not trust in frail, changeable men. Christ remains forever, standing firmly with us to the end.

Do not place much confidence in weak and mortal man, helpful and friendly though he be; and do not grieve too much if he sometimes opposes and contradicts you. Those who are with us today may be against us tomorrow, and vice versa, for men change with the wind. Place all your trust in God; let Him be your fear and your love. He will answer for you; He will do what is best for you.

You have here no lasting home. You are a stranger and a pilgrim wherever you may be, and you shall have no rest until you are wholly united with Christ.

Why do you look about here when this is not the place of your repose? Dwell rather upon heaven and give but a passing glance to all earthly things. They all pass away, and you together with them. Take care, then, that you do not cling to them lest you be entrapped and perish. Fix your mind on the Most High, and pray unceasingly to Christ.

If you do not know how to meditate on heavenly things, direct your thoughts to Christ's passion and willingly behold His sacred wounds. If you turn devoutly to the wounds and precious stigmata of Christ, you will find great comfort in suffering, you will mind but little the scorn of men, and you will easily bear their slanderous talk.

When Christ was in the world, He was despised by men; in the hour of need He was forsaken by acquaintances and left by friends to the depths of scorn. He was willing to suffer and to be despised; do you dare to complain of anything? He had enemies and defamers; do you want everyone to be your friend, your benefactor? How can your patience be rewarded if no adversity test it? How can you be a friend of Christ if you are not willing to suffer any hardship? Suffer with Christ and for Christ if you wish to reign with Him.

Had you but once entered into perfect communion with Jesus or tasted a little of His ardent love, you would care nothing at all for your own comfort or discomfort but would rejoice in the reproach you suffer; for love of Him makes a man despise himself.

A man who is a lover of Jesus and of truth, a truly interior man who is free from uncontrolled affections, can turn to God at will and rise above himself to enjoy spiritual peace.

He who tastes life as it really is, not as men say or think it is, is indeed wise with the wisdom of God rather than of men.

He who learns to live the interior life and to take little account of outward things, does not seek special places or times to perform devout exercises. A spiritual man quickly recollects himself because he has never wasted his attention upon externals. No outside work, no business that cannot wait stands in his way. He adjusts himself to things as they happen. He whose disposition is well ordered cares nothing about the strange, perverse behavior of others, for a man is upset and distracted only in proportion as he engrosses himself in externals.

If all were well with you, therefore, and if you were purified from all sin, everything would tend to your good and be to your profit. But because you are as yet neither entirely dead to self nor free from all earthly affection, there is much that often displeases and disturbs you. Nothing so mars and defiles the heart of man as impure attachment to created things. But if you refuse external consolation, you will be able to contemplate heavenly things and often to experience interior joy. ----- [8] Luke 17:21. [9] John 14:23.

I was just teasing you Timber :wink: One teases those they like!

Nancyann

Rediscover Baptism's beauty,
promote personal renewal and Christian unity


On Sunday, 8 January, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Holy Father introduced the Angelus for the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square with comments on this Feast and on the significance of the Sacrament of Baptism. The following is a translation of the Pope's Reflection, given in Italian.


Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this Sunday after the Solemnity of the Epiphany, we are celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which ends the liturgical season of Christmas. Today, we fix our gaze on Jesus, who was baptized at the age of about 30 by John in the Jordan River.
It was a baptism of penance that used the symbol of water to express the purification of the heart and of life. John, known as the "Baptist", that is, the "Baptizer", preached this baptism to Israel in preparation for the imminent coming of the Messiah; and John the Baptist told everyone that someone else would come after him, greater than he, who would not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit (cf. Mk 1: 7-8).
And so it was when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down and settled upon him like a dove, and John the Baptist recognized that he was Christ, the "Lamb of God" who had come to take away the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1: 29).
Therefore, the Baptism in the Jordan is also an "epiphany", a manifestation of the Lord's Messianic identity and of his redeeming work, which will culminate in another "baptism", that of his death and Resurrection, for which the whole world will be purified in the fire of divine mercy (cf. Lk 12: 49-50).



Being born to new life

On this Feast, John Paul II used to administer the Sacrament of Baptism to various children. This morning, for the first time, I too have had the joy of baptizing 10 newborn babies. I renew with affection my greeting to these little ones and their families, as well as to their Godparents.
The baptism of children expresses and accomplishes the mystery of new birth to divine life in Christ: parents who are believers bring their children to the baptismal font that represents the "womb" of the Church, from whose blessed waters God's children are brought forth.
The gift received by newborn infants needs to be accepted by them freely and responsibly once they have reached adulthood: the process of growing up will then bring them to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, which precisely strengthens the baptized and confers upon each one the "seal" of the Holy Spirit.


Rediscovering Baptism's beauty

Dear brothers and sisters, may today's solemnity be a favourable opportunity for all Christians to rediscover with joy the beauty of their own Baptism, which is an ever-timely reality if it is lived with faith: it ceaselessly renews within us the image of the new person, in holiness of thought and action.
Baptism, moreover, unites Christians of every denomination. As baptized persons, we are all children of God in Christ Jesus, our Teacher and our Lord.
May the Virgin Mary obtain for us an ever-deeper understanding of the value of our Baptism and of witness to it by leading a dignified life.

After the Angelus the Pope said:
I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at this Angelus. Today's celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord is a joyful reminder of the gift of our own Baptism! Grateful for the new life given to us in this Sacrament, may Christians always bear witness in the world to the values and truths of God's Kingdom!
I wish you all a good Sunday!

(©L'Osservatore Romano - 11 January 2006)

Monday:

Vatican rejects appeal of shuttered Boston-area parishes


From: Vaticannews.com

Vatican rejects appeal of shuttered Boston-area parishes







BOSTON There's a setback for some Boston-area Catholics who've been fighting to keep their parishes going.

The Vatican has rejected the appeals of ten Boston Archdiocese parishes that were shuttered in a church re-organization plan.

Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced two years ago that more than 80 parishes would be closed for a variety of reasons, including a lack of priests and the financial woes growing out of the clergy sex-abuse scandal. Since then, some parishioners have held round-the-clock vigils at the churches.

A coalition that includes eight of the parishes that lost their Vatican appeals is considering its next move, which could be a civil lawsuit.
BOSTON There's a setback for some Boston-area Catholics who've been fighting to keep their parishes going.

The Vatican has rejected the appeals of ten Boston Archdiocese parishes that were shuttered in a church re-organization plan.

Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced two years ago that more than 80 parishes would be closed for a variety of reasons, including a lack of priests and the financial woes growing out of the clergy sex-abuse scandal. Since then, some parishioners have held round-the-clock vigils at the churches.

A coalition that includes eight of the parishes that lost their Vatican appeals is considering its next move, which could be a civil lawsuit.

January 16th Saint of the day
from American catholic.org

January 16, 2006


St. Berard and Companions


(d. 1220)



Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one's homeland and adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult enough; but martyrdom sometimes caps all the other sacrifices.

In 1219 with the blessing of St. Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to preach in Morocco. En route in Spain Vitalis became sick and commanded the other friars to continue their mission without him.

They tried preaching in Seville, then in Muslim hands, but made no converts. They went on to Morocco where they preached in the marketplace. The friars were immediately apprehended and ordered to leave the country; they refused. When they began preaching again, an exasperated sultan ordered them executed. After enduring severe beatings and declining various bribes to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, the friars were beheaded by the sultan himself on January 16, 1220.

These were the first Franciscan martyrs. When Francis heard of their deaths, he exclaimed, "Now I can truly say that I have five Friars Minor!" Their relics were brought to Portugal where they prompted a young Augustinian canon to join the Franciscans and set off for Morocco the next year. That young man was Anthony of Padua. These five martyrs were canonized in 1481.

Comment:

The deaths of Berard and his companions sparked a missionary vocation in Anthony of Padua and others. There have been many, many Franciscans who have responded to Francis' challenge. Proclaiming the gospel can be fatal, but that has not stopped the Franciscan men and women who even today risk their lives in many countries throughout the world.

Quote:
Before St. Francis, the Rules of religious orders made no mention of preaching to the Muslims. In the Rule of 1223, Francis wrote: "Those brothers who, by divine inspiration, desire to go among the Saracens and other nonbelievers should ask permission from their ministers provincial. But the ministers should not grant permission except to those whom they consider fit to be sent" (Chapter 12).

This is a very beautiful piece of writing on which to meditate:

POPE-AUDIENCE Jan-11-2006 Most important thing to know is God and his saving grace, pope says

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News VATICAN CITY (CN) -- In a world marked by enormous discoveries and intellectual achievements, people must not overlook that the most important thing to know is God and his saving grace, said Pope Benedict XVI.

There are so many things to know and learn in today's information age, but all that knowledge can become "problematic, indeed dangerous, if the fundamental knowledge that gives us meaning and direction" -- an awareness of God -- is missing, the pope said in his Jan. 11 general audience.

What makes humans different from beasts and other animals is that they are able to recognize the truth and know that awareness of God will become "a relationship and friendship," said the pope in remarks apart from his text.

"It is important in this age that we do not forget God" among all the many things there are to know and discover, he said.

Pope Benedict delivered his Jan. 11 catechesis inside the Vatican's Paul VI hall as morning temperatures outside hovered above freezing.

Attending the weekly audience were some 8,000 pilgrims, including a group of children who survived the September 2004 hostage takeover of their school in Beslan, Russia.

The pope met with the 30 children after the audience, greeting each one individually in a private gathering held in a smaller room adjoining the main hall.

For three days, armed terrorists held hundreds of children and adults captive in the school. The standoff ended when shooting broke out between the terrorists and Russian security forces, leaving at least 340 civilians -- 186 of them children -- dead and hundreds more wounded.

In his catechesis, the pope commented on Psalm 144 in which the psalmist makes note of the fragility of the body.

The psalmist asks God what makes him notice and "take thought of" mortal people who are just "like a breath, like a fleeting shadow, feeble and inconsistent, lost in the flow of time that passes by," said the pope.

While life may be brief and fleeting, humanity can also experience "the great joy ... of knowing his own Creator," the pope said quoting Origen, the third-century Christian theologian.

This is what separates people from animals, that "we know we have a Creator" and that this Creator "bent the heavens" to come down to be with his children, the pope said.

God descended from heaven with the incarnation of Jesus, he said, and just like the shepherd who carried his lost sheep on his shoulders, Jesus carried on his shoulders the human condition, "our flesh, ourselves."

By becoming man, God became a reality that people could understand and establish "friendship, communion" with, said the pope.

While the psalm is about humanity's weaknesses and distance from "divine splendor," in the end it celebrates a surprising discovery that "next to us is God-Emmanuel, who for the Christian has the loving face of Jesus Christ," the pope said.

END

Have a great day living with Jesus!

No problem - don't give it a second thought. I don't as a rule get all that much upset by much if anything that appears on a 'puter monitor - its just pixels on a screen. And trust me, lotsa folks with lotsa skill and experience have tried to get me upset on boards, groups, blogs, and forums. Drives 'em nuts when it doesn't work out quite the way they'd intended

Phew!

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's first encyclical, touching on charity and the relationship between spiritual love and erotic love, is due to be issued soon after weeks of delays because of revisions and changes.

A Vatican source said on Tuesday that the major writing, called "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Love), whose release was originally announced for early December, was likely to come out in the next few days.


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Nuclear Tension

The source said that in recent weeks words had been changed, paragraphs deleted or added, and parts of the conclusion changed several times from what had been considered a final draft.

The source said the changes were due to observations made by Vatican departments as well as by a handful of cardinals and Church experts who have read the encyclical, which is just over 50 pages long in its English version.

The main theme of the encyclical, the highest form of papal writing, is love and charity.

In one section Benedict discusses the relationship between "eros," or erotic love, and "agape," (pronounced ah-gah-pay) the Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love as taught by Jesus.

"It's not totally negative on 'eros'," one Vatican source who has seen the encyclical told Reuters on Tuesday. "It says that 'eros' under the right circumstances is okay."

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times two weeks ago as saying that the Pope was trying to show that human love and human desires were not wrong under the right circumstances.

EROTIC AND SPIRITUAL LOVE

According to Italian media reports, the Pope warns in the encyclical that eros risked being "degraded to mere sex" if it did not have a balancing component of spiritual or divine love founded on the Christian faith.

Without the component of spiritual love in a relationship between a married couple, a husband or wife risks being reduced to "mere merchandise," he says, according to the reports.

From "Catholic World News"

Christians, Jews share duty to uphold moral law, Pope says

Vatican, Jan. 16 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) strongly condemned anti-Semitism, and called for cooperation between Jews and Christians in defending fundamental moral principles, as he met on January 16 with the chief rabbi of Rome.

During the audience Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni invited the Pope to visit Rome's synagogue, repeating the historic visit by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in April 1986.

In his address Pope Benedict remarked that the Jewish people have endured many hardships, always persevering because "the favor of the God of the Covenant has always accompanied them, giving them the strength to overcome trails." In Rome today, he added, the Jewish community "can also bear witness to this divine loving attention."

As joint heirs of God's law, the Pope continued, Christians "share in the responsibility of cooperating for the good of all people, in justice and peace, in truth and freedom, in holiness and love." Christians and Jews should unite, he said, "to transmit the torch of the Ten Commandments and of hope to the younger generations."

In light of this shared mission, he said, "we cannot fail to denounce and fight firmly the hatred and misunderstanding, the injustice and violence that continue to worry the soul of men and women of good will." Lest anyone fail to grasp his point, he specifically added that all Christians must be "pained and concerned over the renewal of manifestations of anti-Semitism."

Rabbi Di Segni, in a short address during the papal audience, remarked that the Roman synagogue will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the visit by Pope John Paul on April 13. While the historic impact of that gesture can never be duplicated, the rabbi said, "there is no reason why it could not be repeated by a new Pope, who is always welcome." Speaking to reporters after he left the Vatican, Rabbi Di Segni said that Pope Benedict had responded positively to the invitation, although no commitment had been made.

Rabbi Di Segni and Pope Benedict had exchanged messages in April, immediately after the new Pontiff's election. Pope Benedict wrote, in a telegram sent to the Jewish community of Rome, that he hoped to "continue the dialogue and reinforce the collaboration" with the Jewish community that his predecessor had begun. The rabbi quickly responded by thanking the Pope for "this message which is so opportune, important, and significant."

Hello Everyone:

Thank you for your posts and especially for your reading. I appreciate it very much! Yesterday on vaticannews.com I thought of you when I e-mailed the Holy Father and sent him my loving support and prayers! On their site is his e-mail for all:

Here it is for you:(PUBLIC!)

[email protected]

I thought you would like it! Maybe you have it already! Maybe not!

n

Do you really think ecumenicalism is the answer, nancyann?

Hi Neo:

I believe in my heart that religious tolerance is the answer for us all but not the detrement of giving up what we as Catholic-Christians believe. I also believe dialogue takes much longer for us all in religious tolerance and anything eccumenical. It takes lots of understand of the other's belief system. And each major religion feels that they are THE religion!

Yes it takes lots of patience and lots of tolerance and IS IT The Answer? I think so! Patience and love of one another for me is always the answer! I remember when I was with the Paulist Center in the 60's and 70's when religious tolerance was in its birth stages and it was in the running at the Paulist Center! People protested and used to really feel very deeply for what they believed when others hurt in different religions, different sexual persuations and different political beliefs! People really seemed to feel and wish to change society to be on one mind and heart, the eccumenical way. It has been a long way in coming and has a long way to go!

I believe that is what wars are all about: religious intolerance and extremism!

n

From the front page of today's New York Times:

Why can't we allow God to Let us die when He wishes us to die?


n



Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 17, 2006
Filed at 10:44 a.m. ET


Justices Explore U.S. Authority Over States on Assisted Suicide (Oct. 5, 2005)
Text: Oregon's Death With Dignity Act

Interactive Feature: At Life's End WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting, upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.

Justices, on a 6-3 vote, said the 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people trumped federal authority to regulate doctors.

That means the administration improperly tried to use a federal drug law to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribe overdoses. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft vowed to do that in 2001, saying that doctor-assisted suicide is not a ''legitimate medical purpose.''

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said the federal government does, indeed, have the authority to go after drug dealers and pass rules for health and safety.

But Oregon's law covers only extremely sick people -- those with incurable diseases, whom at least two doctors agree have six months or less to live and are of sound mind.

Tuesday's decision is a reprimand of sorts for Ashcroft. Kennedy said the ''authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design.''

''The authority desired by the government is inconsistent with the design of the statute in other fundamental respects. The attorney general does not have the sole delegated authority under the (law),'' Kennedy wrote for himself, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.

Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented.

Scalia, writing the dissent, said that federal officials have the power to regulate the doling out of medicine.

''If the term `legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death,'' he wrote.

The ruling backed a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said Ashcroft's ''unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide.''

Ashcroft had brought the case to the Supreme Court on the day his resignation was announced by the White House in 2004. The Justice Department has continued the case, under the leadership of his successor, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Scalia said the court's ruling ''is perhaps driven by a feeling that the subject of assisted suicide is none of the federal government's business. It is easy to sympathize with that position.''

Thomas wrote his own dissent as well, to complain that the court's reasoning was puzzling. Roberts did not write separately.

Justices have dealt with end-of-life cases before. In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that terminally ill people may refuse treatment that would otherwise keep them alive. Then, justices in 1997 unanimously ruled that people have no constitutional right to die, upholding state bans on physician-assisted suicide. That opinion, by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, said individual states could decide to allow the practice.

Roberts strongly hinted in October when the case was argued that he would back the administration. O'Connor had seemed ready to support Oregon's law, but her vote would not have counted if the ruling was handed down after she left the court.

The case is Gonzales v. Oregon, 04-623.

------

On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

I hope that I go when God takes me and not a day sooner! Thet were talking about this when I was in the 8th grade in CCD class, many moons ago and it still is going on!

n

Taken from www.cruxnews.com
Belgian 'euthanasia' surgeon accused of killing in France

9 January 2006

BRUSSELS - A Belgian surgeon who has admitted to several previous "mercy killings" has been charged with killing a patient in France.

The news agency AFP reported on Monday that a female doctor had been held in custody since Saturday for giving a 74-year-old patient an insulin overdose.

Cedric Cabut, a public prosecutor in the eastern French town of Belley, said the patient had been hospitalised after getting an infection in a toe which had been removed and because she was suffering from ill health.

The surgeon treating her at Belley Hospital had admitted injecting 200 units of insulin into the woman's drip.

Cabut said it was not certain that the

insulin had killed the patient, since she died two days after the overdose, on 23 December.

However, Cabut said the intention to kill her had been established.

He added that, during interviews with the police, the doctor had admitted being imprisoned for four months in Belgium for fraudulently using a patient's blue health card.

She also claimed responsibility for several acts of euthanasia, including that of her own grandmother, before the Belgian law legalising some forms of "mercy killing" was introduced in 2002. She moved to France to work in 2001.

Cabut said the doctor suffered from depression and alcoholism.

The French authorities intend to ask for Belgium's legal records about the doctor.

Channel 7 television: Boston

Dealing with demons
Air Date: 01/16/2006

Reported by: Phil Lipof
Producer: Justin Solomon
This is an exorcism. A man trying to free his body and mind of what he calls evil spirits.

Spiritual Healer
"You are isolated and alone, no one is going to come and help you"

It's the catholic rite of forcing demons out of your body

Father Egan, Boston College
"If you look at the New Testament, Jesus himself was an exorcist."

Exorcisms have been around for centuries, but the growing interest in them and in the devil has caught the attention of the Vatican - - so much so that a new course on demons and exorcisms in now being taught in Rome.

Father Egan, Boston College
"You have to know your enemy of course, if these things are going on you have to know something about them..."

To those who think they may be possessed, it can seem real and feel real. But physiologists say it could be some form of mental or physical illness

Dr. Dost Ongur, McLean Hospital
"The classic example of people being convinced that somebody was possessed by the devil was a case of epilepsy which of course is a neurological disorder."

Officially the church won't say how many, if any have taken place. But Father Egan of Boston College says here in the U.S. an official exorcism hasn't happened in over fifty years.

Father Egan, Boston College
"In the United States to the best of my knowledge, exorcisms in the formal state have died out."

But that doesn't mean the informal ones have. In fact spiritual healers offer up their services all over the Internet - - and that has doctors concerned that medical conditions may be overlooked....

Dr. Dost Ongur, McLean Hospital
"The person may be going about their business and then all of a sudden they have an attack, pass out, say strange things. It would be a quite a seriously matter for someone who has other wise been well.