Vatican City

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II told the archbishop of Canterbury yesterday that the acceptance of openly gay clergy members by many Anglicans presented "new and serious difficulties" in relations between the two churches. His remark came during the first meeting here between the pope and the current archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of more than 75 million Anglicans worldwide. Williams assumed that post this year and soon confronted a furious debate over homosexuality that threatens to rend the Anglican Communion.

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II did not show up here yesterday for one of his regularly scheduled public appearances, an unusual absence that comes at a time of increased concern over his health. The pope's spokesman, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said in a written statement that the reason was an unspecified intestinal problem that had struck Pope John Paul, 83, Tuesday afternoon. Navarro-Valls said that physicians had advised the pope to cancel the weekly appearance, held on Wednesdays, when the pope welcomes and delivers remarks to Roman Catholic pilgrims in a Vatican hall.

Wildfires continue sweep throughout western Canada KAMLOOPS, British Columbia - Hundreds of forest fires burned yesterday throughout western Canada, where authorities fear the worst wildfires in 50 years could worsen because of strong winds in the forecast. A new fire at Maligne Lake, a popular tourist destination in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, prompted authorities to evacuate 500 visitors and staff. In British Columbia, 2,800 people evacuated from the southern towns of Rayleigh and Heffley Creek began returning home after the fire threat passed.

Today in history: June 7 In 1769, frontiersman Daniel Boone first began to explore the present-day Bluegrass State. In 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution for a Declaration of Independence. In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for another term as president at his party's convention in Baltimore. In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome. In 1998, in a crime that shocked the nation, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II today will beatify two of his papal predecessors, John XXIII and Pius IX. It's a pairing that James Walston, a professor of political science at the American University in Rome, calls "appallingly dishonest." John XXIII, who died in 1963, was a genuinely beloved figure. The Second Vatican Council, which he convened in 1962, opened the Catholic Church to the modern world. Its 1965 Nostra Aetate decree enabled Catholic-Jewish dialogue. But 19th century Pope Pius IX has a record that British church historian Owen Chadwick says "verges on the criminal."

TERRORISTS have won. They captured our attention and will not let go.Does a tree falling in a forest that no one hears make a sound? A bomb exploding that no one knows about creates no terror.An act of terror is a public relations stunt, resorted to by the side that could not win a fight, debate or election. Occasionally, it provokes events that overturn an outcome. Usually, it fails.U.S. authorities have steered a center course on the evidence of plots to commit carnage where people will congregate in front of cameras at the turn of the millennium.

Cardinal William H. Keeler joined Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders yesterday to light the first permanent menorah in Vatican City during the commemoration of Yom Hashoah, the annual Holocaust Memorial Day.The six-branch menorah was placed on the grounds of the Pontifical North American College, a seminary for American students studying for the priesthood in Rome. Keeler was chairman of the board of the college until recently and was instrumental in having the Menorah placed there."It is a reminder that people not forget the Shoah, the Holocaust," Keeler said in a telephone interview from Rome.

Indonesia to give East Timor residents a vote on their futureDILI, East Timor -- After 23 years of brutal rule, Jakarta has agreed to give the people of East Timor what many had long fought for -- a vote on their future.In United Nations-sponsored talks with Portugal, Jakarta agreed to let the East Timorese vote on whether to accept an offer of enhanced autonomy within Indonesia. Rejection could open the way for independence -- an outcome closely eyed by other separatist groups in the archipelago.

VATICAN CITY -- For some Italians, dropping an important letter in the mailbox is cause for a quick prayer. Mail sent through Italy's famously unreliable postal service can take weeks or months to get where it's going.But in the heart of Rome is a post office that handles mail efficiently, with no need for divine intervention.Vatican City, the 108-acre island of Roman Catholic Church rule inside the city limits of Rome, is a virtually self-sufficient nation-state with a police force and a pharmacy, a diplomatic staff, a supermarket and a range of other services available to anyone who lives or works within its confines.

VATICAN CITY -- What's wrong with the pope?The health of Pope John Paul II has become a consuming behind-the-scenes question here. Despite official denials that the pope is ill, an end-of-papacy gloom hangs over the Vatican. Rumors abound.Looking frail, ever more stooped and limping heavily at 74, Pope John Paul is a far cry from the vigorous pontiff who visited Denver and hiked in the Rockies a year ago. Vatican officials and U.S. planners are discussing ways to curtail his public appearances on a planned trip next month to the United Nations and to nearby Northeastern cities, church sources say.Senior church officials, diplomats and Vatican insiders paint a portrait of a pope troubled by a slow-healing right leg and by difficulty in adjusting mentally to his diminished physical capacity.