One of the favorite shows of Pius IX for his visitors was done by Edgardo, a Jewish boy kidnapped by papal police, and later grown by the pope "like his obedient son". The pope ordered Edgardo to lick the floor with his tongue drawing a cross in front of his visitors to affirm his faith.

It was on 23 June 1858 that the papal police in Bologna snached the six year old Edgardo from his Jewish parents and took him to Rome to be raised as a Catholic. The justification was that a zealous Catholic servant "to save his soul" baptized the infant Edgardo without the knowledge of his parents when he was gravely ill. When word spread later about the crude baptism, local papal police intervened to enforce a civil law that Jewish children, who had been baptized, even against their will had become Christian and could not be raised in Jewish homes. Even the head of the police squad was in tears witnessing the mother's helpless pleas. Edgardo's parents mobilized international protest. Emperor Franz Josef of Austria and Napoleon III urged Pius to return Edgardo to his family. Pope Pius IX found a special interest in the boy, and defying world opinion, adopted him as his personal ward. David Kertzer, a professor of history in Brown university in Rhode Island in his 1997 book "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" writes elaborately about the moving case of the kidnapped boy. Edgardo Mortara, the boy who was forced by Pius IX to lick the floor to draw a cross, later became a Catholic priest and died in Berlin in 1940 at the age of 88.

Pope Pius IX during his Pontificate of 32 years, the longest ever in the history of the Catholic church, despite losing temporal powers and land day by day, adamantly opposed religious tolerance and published the 1864 syllabus of errors to combat modernism. He called the first Vatican Council to define the doctrine of papal infallibility in matters of faith and morals. "I am the Church, I am the tradition," was one of his favorite phrases.

Alongwith Pius IX, another pope, John XXIII, who ended Latin mass and gave bishops more power, will also be beatified tomorrow. His Pontificate was from 1958 to 1963. The growing laity movement in the Catholic church against the centralization of powers and wealth by bishops considers John XXIII as the initiator of authoritarianism of bishops vis-a-vis local priests and laity groups.

The vice-presidential candidate while recently campaigning in the Midwestern states told an African-American church that religious faith should play a larger role in America's public life. "The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion", he said. "I say there must be and can be a constitutional place for faith in our public life."

Following the strong criticism from the Anti-defamation League and several secular groups, a spokesman of the Gore-Lieberman camp later clarified that Senator Lieberman had made it clear he believes that "welcoming people of faith into public life is not about excluding anyone or imposing religious views on non-believers."

The court observed that apart from a lack of awareness among citizens, the authorities too failed to implement rules prescribing permissible limits of noise pollution. The Court's observation came in response to its own query whether the beating of drums or use of microphones at religious gatherings and prayer meetings should be allowed to disturb peace and tranquility of the neighborhood.

One of the questions raised in the appeal was whether in a country having many religions and numerous communities, a particular community or sect of that community could claim the right to add to noise pollution on the ground of region. Answering this, the Supreme Court said, "it should not be forgotten that young babies in the neighborhood are also entitled to enjoy their natural right of sleeping in a peaceful atmosphere. A student preparing for his examination is entitled to concentrate on his studies." The new ruling is valid for all religions including churches, temples and mosques.

The pope was not there, nor were Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei, the Taliban leaders, the Dalai Lama or the Hindu Shankaracharyas. The delegates of the summit comprised mainly of the small fries of the spiritual world. That explains why the concluding document, solemnly affirmed by more than thousand signatories, did not trigger any controversy. It is a no-holds-bar commitment to global peace, proclaiming equality of all religions, condemning all forms of violence, upholding gender equality and lambasting poverty.

How serious these heartening commitments can be taken is, however, even doubted by a section of the signatories: The few women delegates of the summit decided to form their own "international religious council" to ensure equal representation in follow up meets. Godwomen, female spiritual leaders and their disciples showed displeasure over the fact that they were kept out from delegations and complained that the conference was a monopoly of men.