Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society · Rome

The author on parishioners' inaction during the desecration of a Christian altar in a church

What happened today in St Peter's Basilica in Rome: I think everyone has already heard of the desecration of the altar, and I shall not repeat in what base manner it was done. A terrible abscess of a neglected disease of modern society. If one tries not to

Observations · Heritage · Mores · Rome

Police seal the Antico Caffe Greco in Rome, a café founded in 1760

The oldest café in Rome has closed. The owners of the building have evicted the cosy Antico Caffè Greco, near the Spanish Steps, where Stendhal, Casanova, Andersen and Schopenhauer once sat, and where, among our own compatriots, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, for one, left his mark. The long stand-off between

Faith · Cinema · Pop Culture · Rome

Mel Gibson to Change the Cast of the “The Passion of the Christ” Sequel Due in 2027

It is reported that Mel Gibson will change the cast for the sequel to The Passion of the Christ. Meetings with actors are currently under way in Rome. The project has been in pre-production for several months. The film will be devoted to the events of the three days

NB! · Faith · Society · Rome · Humour

The Vatican has issued a very strange coin to promote vaccination

Archaeology · Rome

Archaeologists find traces of two waves of resettlement in southern Pompeii after Vesuvius

Archaeologists exploring the southern part of Pompeii have found traces of two waves of resettlement, in the late 1st to early 3rd century and in the 4th and 5th centuries. Among the finds are food remains, coins, the skeleton of a horse and the remains of a newborn child, buried

Faith · Society · Pop Culture · Rome

Deepfakes of Pope Leo XIV gather hundreds of thousands of views online

Vatican communications team says it has blocked hundreds of accounts posting AI-generated deepfakes since the start of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate. Some of the videos gather hundreds of thousands of views. Recently, for example, a fake 25-minute video of Pope Leo XIV commenting on the murder

Books · Monarchies · Rome · Humour

Livia Drusilla's speech to rebels at the imperial palace in Robert Graves's version

What do you want? A republic? The republic was a fraud. Do you want civil wars again? Do you want famine in the streets once more? Do you want the barbarians to come knocking at your doors? You bawl yourselves hoarse in vain. Go home! Rabble! And you call yourselves

Faith · Science · Society · People · Rome

The head of the Roman Catholic Church must not have a virtual double, Pope Leo XIV declared, commenting on the abandonment of the idea of creating an AI pope-consultant

In May, Leo XIV named artificial intelligence as one of the most important problems facing humanity. He observed that AI may create obstacles to “human dignity, justice and labour”

NB! · Faith · People · Rome · Humour

Nothing out of the ordinary, just the Pope celebrating his birthday in the courtyard of the Lateran Basilica

NB! · Archaeology · Heritage · Rome

An Ancient Roman Road in an IKEA Car Park in Rome

Faith · Science · Nature · Rome

The legend of the sacred geese of the Capitol and the Gallic sack of Rome in 390 BC

The Sacred Geese before the Temple of Juno Moneta on the Capitoline Hill. The historical chronicles, including the works of Titus Livius, offer no reliable confirmation that it was the geese who played the decisive part in saving the Capitol. The legend seems rather to have arisen as a symbolic

Books · Rome

Yes, some day the young shall hear of a sword stained with a brother's blood, appointed to shine in victory over the foe, and of a generation already dwindled in number by its fathers' depravity

“To Caesar Augustus. Ode 2”, Horace, translated by Afanasy Fet