{"id":77,"date":"2010-04-16T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/pope-watch-american-catholics-present-pontiff-with-birthday-cake.html"},"modified":"2010-04-16T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T13:00:00","slug":"pope-watch-american-catholics-present-pontiff-with-birthday-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/pope-watch-american-catholics-present-pontiff-with-birthday-cake.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope Watch: U.S. Catholics Present Pontiff With Birthday Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Benedict turned 83 today, and members of the Philadephia-based Papal Foundation <\/a>presented him with a large cake and cheerful rendition of “Happy Birthday.”<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reports<\/a> that the Vatican doesn’t officially celebrate popes’ birthday, though a papal palace luncheon is planned Monday — after Benedict gets back from his trip to Malta <\/a>— to mark the fifth anniversary of his accession to the throne of St. Peter. From the AP:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

His doctors say the pontiff is in generally good health for his age. But as the clerical sex abuse crisis batters the church, Benedict has been looking pale and gaunt.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Catholic News Agency <\/a>and Whispers in the Loggia <\/a><\/a>have more on this story. <\/p>\n

Check back Monday and Tuesday for Pope Watch posts about the Malta visit, anniversary observance and other Vatican news; share your thoughts in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

*Click here to <\/span>subscribe to Belief Beat <\/span><\/strong><\/a>and <\/span>click here to <\/span>follow Belief Beat on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Benedict turned 83 today, and members of the Philadephia-based Papal Foundation presented him with a large cake and cheerful rendition of “Happy Birthday.” The Associated Press reports that the Vatican doesn’t officially celebrate popes’ birthday, though a papal palace luncheon is planned Monday — after Benedict gets back from his trip to Malta — to mark the fifth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Watch: U.S. Catholics Present Pontiff With Birthday Cake - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/pope-watch-american-catholics-present-pontiff-with-birthday-cake.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Watch: U.S. Catholics Present Pontiff With Birthday Cake - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Benedict turned 83 today, and members of the Philadephia-based Papal Foundation presented him with a large cake and cheerful rendition of “Happy Birthday.” The Associated Press reports that the Vatican doesn’t officially celebrate popes’ birthday, though a papal palace luncheon is planned Monday — after Benedict gets back from his trip to Malta — to mark the fifth…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/pope-watch-american-catholics-present-pontiff-with-birthday-cake.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-16T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Neroulias\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Watch: U.S. Catholics Present Pontiff With Birthday Cake - 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