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The papal conclave of 1492 (August 6 – August 11, 1492) convened after the death of Pope Innocent VIII (July 25, 1492), elected Rodrigo Borja as Pope Alexander VI. The first conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel, the election is notorious for allegations of simony.

Of the twenty-three cardinals participating in the conclave, fourteen had been elevated by Pope Sixtus IV. The Cardinals of Sixtus IV, known as the "Sistine Cardinals" and led by Giuliano della Rovere, had controlled the conclave of 1484, electing one of their own, Giambattista Cibo as Pope Innocent VIII.

Since 1431 the composition of the College of Cardinals had been radically transformed, increasing the number of cardinal-nephews (from 3 to 10), crown-cardinals (from 2 to 8), and representatives of powerful Roman noble families (from 2 to 4). With the exception of three curial officials and one pastor, the cardinals were "secularly-minded princes largely unconcerned with the spiritual life of either the Latin church or its members." At the time of Innocent VIII's death, the names of Cardinals Gherardo and Sanseverino had not been published, thus making them ineligible to participate in the conclave; however, both were published as an act of the College in sede vacante, Gherardo having been pushed by Orsini and Sanseverino by Sforza.
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The incipit of the Gospel of Matthew from the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The manuscript was produced in Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and is generally regarded as the finest example of the kingdom's unique style of religious art. It is currently in the collection of the British Library.

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Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Pawe? II) born Karol Józef Wojty?a (help·info) ['kal 'juz?f v?i?'t?wa]; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from 16 October 1978, until his death, almost 27 years later, making his the second-longest pontificate in modern times after Pius IX's 31-year reign. He is the only Polish pope, and was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s. He is one of only four people to have been named to the Time 100 for both the 20th century and for a year in the 21st. Canonized in 2014, he was made the patron of World Youth Day even before canonization, for 2008 in Sydney, Australia. He started those days for youth in 1986.
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• ... that St. Henry's Catholic Church (pictured) in rural St. Henry has been described as the most costly church in northwestern Ohio?
• ... that St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Padua, Ohio, is distinguished by its pilasters?
• ... that the revelations of 14th-century Christian mystic Agnes Blannbekin, which included visions of the foreskin of Jesus, were considered too obscene for print until the 20th century?

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Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 - 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic and visionary during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Hildegard's convent elected her as magistra in 1136; she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, hymns and antiphons for the liturgy and poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. There are more surviving chants by Hildegard than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages, and she is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota. (Full article...)
Attributes: abbess with book and pen at an escritoire, giving a letter to a messenger, three bright towers on the side
Patronage: natural scientists and linguists
See also: Pedro de Arbués, Spain; Stanislaus Papczy?ski, Poland; Zygmunt Szcz?sny Feli?ski, Poland

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4 September 2021 - COVID-19 pandemic

Slovakia reverses its ban on unvaccinated people attending public events and will instead allow a negative test or proof of recovery from COVID-19 during a visit by Pope Francis on September 12 to 15 due to low vaccination numbers. (Barron's)

3 September 2021 - Catholic Church sexual abuse cases

Defrocked Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleads not guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a 16-year-old boy at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. The statute of limitations paused when he left the state shortly after the alleged incident. McCarrick is the first American cardinal to be charged with a sex crime. (DW)

1 September 2021 - China-Holy See relations

Pope Francis defends the dialogue with China via the appointment of new Catholic bishops. Francis says that uneasy dialogue is better than no dialogue at all and compared the talks with China to those with Eastern European countries during the Cold War. The Vatican and China have had strained relations since the communist party took power in 1949. (Reuters)

26 August 2021 -

Pope Francis appoints Italian nun Alessandra Smerilli as Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, becoming the first woman to do so. (Vatican News)