A book about John Paul II

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The book was written by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the postulator, or main promoter, for John Paul's canonization cause and was released Tuesday. It was based on the testimony of the 114 witnesses and boxes of documentation Oder gathered on John Paul's life to support the case.

At a news conference Tuesday, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification, which some faithful use to remind them of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.

"It's an instrument of Christian perfection," Oder said, responding to questions about how such a practice could be condoned considering Catholic teaching holds that the human body is a gift from God.

In the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food — especially during the holy season of Lent — and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't draw attention to his act of penitence.

"But it wasn't limited to this. As some members of his close entourage in Poland and in the Vatican were able to hear with their own ears, John Paul flagellated himself. In his armoire, amid all the vestments and hanging on a hanger, was a belt which he used as a whip and which he always brought to Castel Gandolfo," the papal retreat where John Paul vacationed each summer.

While there had long been rumors that John Paul practiced self-mortification, the book provides the first confirmation and concludes John Paul did so as an example of his faith.

Fast-track
Pope Benedict XVI put John Paul on the fast-track for possible sainthood weeks after his April 2, 2005 death by waiving the customary five-year waiting period before the process can begin. Last month, Benedict moved John Paul a step closer to possible beatification — the first major milestone in the process — by approving a decree on his "heroic virtues."

The Vatican must now confirm that a miracle attributed to John Paul's intercession occurred in order for him to be beatified — a step which many Vatican watchers have suggested may come as early as October.

Oder declined to speculate on any possible date, saying the miracle must still be confirmed.

The book publishes for the first time a never-delivered speech John Paul prepared for his weekly general audience Oct. 21, 1981, five months after the Turkish gunman, Ali Agca, shot him in St. Peter's Square.

Agca served a 19-year sentence in an Italian prison for shooting the pope, and earlier this month was released from a Turkish jail where he served a 10-year sentence for killing a Turkish journalist in 1979.

John Paul had publicly forgiven Agca on May 17, 1981 — four days after the assassination attempt. And he visited Agca in prison in 1983.

But five months after the attack, John Paul prepared a lengthy treatise on the power of forgiveness and the need for it in society, using his own experience as an example.

"The act of forgiveness is the first and fundamental condition so that we aren't divided and placed one against another like enemies," he wrote in what Oder called "an open letter" to Agca.

In the speech, he revealed that he while he had publicly forgiven Agca on May 17, "the possibility of pronouncing it before — in the ambulance that brought me from the Vatican to the Gemelli hospital where the first and decisive surgery was performed — I consider the fruit of a particular grace given to me by Jesus."

Oder speculates that John Paul decided against delivering the speech "out of prudence" for the ongoing criminal investigation into the shooting.

The book also reports for the first time that John Paul initially thought that the shooter had been a member of the Red Brigades, the radical leftist group that terrorized Italy in the 1970s and 80s. Some time before the shooting, the Italian secret service had reported to the Vatican a plot by the Red Brigades to kidnap the pope, the book said.

John Paul was apparently thinking of this when he told his secretary in the ambulance going to the hospital: "Just like Bachelet," an apparent reference to the assassination by the Red Brigades of the Catholic judge Vittorio Bachelet one year earlier, the book said.

Criteria for retirement
The book also reports that John Paul first considered the possibility of resigning when he turned 75, the normal retirement age for bishops, going so far as to convene a group of close collaborators for an informal discussion on the topic.

He tasked then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's orthodoxy office and future Pope Benedict XVI, to study the theological and historic issues implied in having an "emeritus pope."

In the end, John Paul left the question up to "providence" — he never resigned.

But he did outline on two separate occasions the criteria for which he would do so.

In 1994, he wrote what appeared to be a speech to be delivered to cardinals in which said he intended to resign "in the case of an illness determined to be incurable and which impedes the (sufficient) exercise of the function of the petrine ministry."

In a memo signed and dated five years earlier, on Feb. 15, 1989, he similarly wrote that if he was unable to sufficiently do his job because of an incurable illness, he would "renounce my sacred and canonical office" and leave it up to the top cardinals to carry out his wishes.

John Paul suffered from Parkinson's disease for many years before he eventually died of septic shock and cardiocirculatory collapse, preceded by heart and kidney failure brought on by a urinary tract infection.

Prior to his death, John Paul had been in and out of the hospital for two months and, by the end, had lost the ability to speak.

The book goes on sale in Italy on Wednesday. The publisher Rizzoli said there were no immediate plans for translations.

Solitudinea si activitatea creierului

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Solitudinea si activitatea creierului

de Gabriela » Joi Ian 14, 2010 6:29 pm

O cercetare prezentata in 2009 in cadrul simpozionului “Emotia sociala si creierul”, organizat in America, a aratat legatura dintre activitatea creierului si izolarea sociala. Folosind imagistica cu rezonanta magnetica functionala (fMRI), cercetatorii au demonstrat ca o zona a creierului - striatumul ventral (in mezencefal), care raspunde la stimuli de recompensa, este mult mai activa la persoanele cu comportament pro-social decat la persoanele solitare. Aceasta zona, cu un rol foarte important in invatare, se activeaza la recompense primare (mancarea), secundare (bani) dar si la recompense sociale de genul iubire, incredere, atasament etc.

In cadrul studiului 23 de femei au fost testate pentru a li se masura gradul de solitudine, acestora li s-au aratat atat imagini placute cu oameni fericiti, cat si imagini in care acestia se aflau in mijlocul unor conflicte. Persoanele solitare au raspuns printr-o foarte slaba activitate in striatumul ventral cand le-au fost aratate imaginile placute.
Tinand cont de dorinta de solitudine, se pare ca aceste persoane gasesc confort in lipsa recompenselor sociale.
Studiul sugereza ca solitudinea este influentata de modul in care opereaza creierul. Astfel, slaba activitatea a creierului la prezenta recompensei sociale atrage o slaba implicare in relatiile sociale. Totusi, daca persoanele solitare manifesta dorinta de schimbare a comportamentului social, acest lucru este realizabil deoarece zona responsabila de raspunsul pro-social isi poate schimba forma si structura prin crearea de noi circuite neuronale. Singuratatea compromite sanatatea si poate fi la fel de periculoasa precum fumatul.
Studii anterioare au aratat ca izolarea sociala, sau slaba interactiune interindividuala, este asociata si cu un risc marit de a dezvolta dementa de tip Alzheimer la batranete dar si alte tulburari cognitive.
Intr-un studiu realizat asupra a 823 de persoane cu varste peste 65 de ani, in care s-a analizat relatia dintre singuratate si Alzheimer, participantii au fost supusi unor evaluari care includeau chestionare pentru estimarea singuratatii, clasificarea gradului de dementa sau Alzheimer, si testarea abilitatilor de memorare, invatare si procesare logica. Studiul s-a desfasurat pe parcursul unei perioade de 4 ani.
S-a observat ca riscul de a dezvolta Alzheimer creste proportional cu gradul de solitudine experientiat de fiecare participant in parte.
Cand ai peste 65 de ani, nu este de ajuns sa participi uneori la unele activitati sociale, ci este indicat sa fii implicat si sa aloci zilnic cateva ore de interactiune sociala pentru a evita instalarea tulburarii Alzheimer. Prevalenta dementei de tip Alzheimer creste o data cu inaintarea in varsta si in majoritatea cazurilor este prezenta atrofia cerebrala.
Omul este o creatura sociala care are nevoie de interactiune pentru a-si pastra sanatatea fizica si mintala. Rezultatele studiului sugereaza ca persoanele singure sunt mult mai vulnerabile la efectele vatamatoare ale batranetii.
Persoanele in varsta care reusesc sa se adapteze realitatii prezente, o realitate in care prietenii devin mai putini cu fiecare an ce trece, prezinta o stare de sanatate mai buna decat cei care nu integreaza realitatea obiectiva.
Inca nu se cunoaste care este factorul ce creeaza o legatura intre singuratatea si dementa. (Sursa: Science Daily)

6.1-quake hits Haiti

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New 6.1-quake hits Haiti, people flee into streets

 

Play Video AP  – Raw Video: First pics following Haiti aftershock

• Slideshow:Massive earthquake hits Haiti
• Play Video Video:Bryan Mims: 'The whole ground was shaking' WRAL Raleigh
• Play Video Video:Gates: More U.S. Military help heading to Haiti AP

AP – Earthquake survivor Hotteline Lozama, 26, smiles as she was pulled out from the rubble by French aid …

By PAUL HAVEN and MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writers Paul Haven And Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writers – 27 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The most powerful aftershock yet struck Haiti on Wednesday, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets eight days after the country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake. The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest of more than 40 significant aftershocks that have followed the Jan. 12 quake. The extent of additional damage or injuries was not immediately clear. Wails of terror rose from frightened survivors as the earth shuddered at 6:03 a.m. U.S. soldiers and tent city refugees alike raced for open ground, and clouds of dust rose in the capital. The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday's quake was centered about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince and 6.2 miles (9.9 kilometers) below the surface — a little further from the capital than last week's epicenter was. "It kind of felt like standing on a board on top of a ball," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Payne. The 27-year-old from Jolo, West Virginia was preparing to hand out food to refugees in a tent camp of 25,000 quake victims when the aftershock hit. Last week's magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless, according to the European Union Commission. The strong aftershock prompted Anold Fleurigene, 28, to grab his wife and three children and head to the city bus station. His house was destroyed in the first quake and his sister and brother killed. "I've seen the situation here, and I want to get out," he said. A massive international aid effort has been struggling with logistical problems, and many Haitians are still desperate for food and water. Still, search-and-rescue teams have emerged from the ruins with some improbable success stories — including the rescue of 69-year-old ardent Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the rubble. Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting at the residence of Haiti's Roman Catholic archbishop when the Jan. 12 quake struck, trapping her in debris. On Tuesday, she was rescued by a Mexican disaster team. Zizi said after the quake, she spoke back and forth with a vicar who also was trapped. But he fell silent after a few days, and she spent the rest of the time praying and waiting. "I talked only to my boss, God," she said. "I didn't need any more humans." Doctors who examined Zizi on Tuesday said she was dehydrated and had a dislocated hip and a broken leg. Elsewhere in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university building. And near midnight Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighborhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders. Crews at the cathedral recovered the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the Jan. 12 quake. Authorities said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens of teams hunting through Port-au-Prince's crumbled homes and buildings for signs of life. But the good news was overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can't get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty. "We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don't know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon," said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-old mother of two who has been living under a bedsheet with seven members of her extended family. The World Food Program said more than 250,000 ready-to-eat food rations had been distributed in Haiti by Tuesday, reaching only a fraction of the 3 million people thought to be in desperate need. The WFP said it needs to deliver 100 million ready-to-eat rations in the next 30 days, but it only had 16 million meals in the pipeline. Even as U.S. troops landed in Seahawk helicopters Tuesday on the manicured lawn of the ruined National Palace, the colossal efforts to help Haiti were proving inadequate because of the scale of the disaster. Expectations exceeded what money, will and military might have been able to achieve. So far, international relief efforts have been unorganized, disjointed and insufficient to satisfy the great need. Doctors Without Borders says a plane carrying urgently needed surgical equipment and drugs has been turned away five times, even though the agency received advance authorization to land. A statement from Partners in Health, co-founded by the deputy U.N. envoy to Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer, said the group's medical director estimated 20,000 people are dying each day who could be saved by surgery.

"TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS NEED EMERGENCY SURGICAL
CARE NOW!!!!!" the group said in the statement. It did not describe the
basis for that estimate.