In Brief
Brazil: non-alcoholic mass wine
In Brazil, according to the Dutch journal Katholiek Nieuwsblad, non-alcoholic mass wine is sold to reduce the risk of alcoholism for priests who say four and five masses each Sunday. They can thus celebrate several masses in a row without getting drunk. With this grape juice, it is certain that these priests will be as valid as their mass is invalid for lack of proper matter.
The Church, in her wisdom, anticipates the possibility for a priest to celebrate two or even three masses on a Sunday, with a cruet of wine which is by no means a jug.
Scotland: a penny is a penny
The new cardinal archbishop of Edinburgh, Keith OBrien, although not stingy with heterodox statements, seems more sparing with is own pocket money. According to the Scottish press, he refused to have a red cassock made for him, but instead had one cleaned which he had found in the closet of his predecessor, Cardinal Thomas Winning. He even got a 10% discount at the tailors shop for the suit he purchased for the trip to Rome on October 21. The gossip being that with his elevation to the cardinalate, miserliness became a cardinal virtue.
In case anyone was wondering, a cardinals outfit including cassock, zucchetto, biretta, red socks, pectoral cross, etc. can cost between 2,900 and 5,000 dollars. Usually the diocese or the religious congregation of the future cardinal takes care of these items.
