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Pope Sisinnius was the bishop of Rome from 15 January 708 to his death on 4 February, succeeding Pope John VII. He was Syrian and his father was named John, but little else is known of his early life. At the time of his election to the papal throne, Sisinnius suffered from severe gout, leaving him weak. During the course of his twenty-day papacy, he consecrated a bishop for Corsica and ordered the reinforcement of the walls surrounding Rome, the papal capital. The popes of the time were not able to appoint all bishops, nor were they able to effectively govern the Catholic Church: they did not publish encyclicals or catechisms, and were not able to canonize saints or convene ecumenical councils. Like many of his immediate predecessors, Sisinnius was likely not a member of the upper class, but he was respected for his upright, moral disposition and concern for the people of Rome. On his death in Rome, Sisinnius was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica. He was succeeded by Pope Constantine. (Full article...)
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Annunciation and Nativity on the pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery
Annunciation and Nativity on the pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery

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Pope Francis
Pope Francis

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December 25: Christmas (Western Christianity; Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day in Pakistan

Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet
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James McGuigan
James McGuigan

The archbishop of Toronto is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province encompassing Southern Ontario and part of Northwestern Ontario, the archbishop of Toronto also administers the bishops who head the suffragan dioceses of Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines, and Thunder Bay. The archdiocese began as the Diocese of Toronto, which was created on December 17, 1841. Michael Power was appointed its first bishop, and under his reign, the construction of St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica in Toronto commenced, with Power laying the cornerstone of the new church. Ten men have been Archbishop of Toronto; another two were bishop of its predecessor diocese. Four archbishops – James McGuigan (pictured), Gerald Emmett Carter, Aloysius Ambrozic, and Thomas Christopher Collins – were elevated to the College of Cardinals. (Full list...)

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Adoration of the Shepherds

The Adoration of the Shepherds is an episode in the story of the Nativity of Jesus in which shepherds are near witnesses to Jesus's birth in Bethlehem. It is based on the account in the Gospel of Luke and follows the Annunciation to the Shepherds, in which the shepherds are summoned by an angel to the scene of the birth. Like the episode preceding it, the Adoration of the Shepherds is a common subject in art, where it is often combined with the Adoration of the Magi. Depictions of the shepherds' adoration of the Christ Child as a subject distinct from that of the biblical Magi began to appear around the 15th century in artworks and altarpieces in the western Christian world. The shepherds are sometimes shown presenting simpler gifts than those of the Magi, such as lambs. This Adoration of the Shepherds is an oil-on-canvas painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, a Spanish Baroque artist. Painted around 1650, the work is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Painting credit: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

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