What Caught My Eye Today - Pope, China, Iceland, Olympics

Pope - Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Roman Catholic Church when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on. In an announcement read to cardinals in Latin, the universal language of the Church, the 85-year-old said: "Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter ..." Renounce seems like such a harsh word.  Couldn't he have gone with retire, like everyone else?  Benedict is expected to go into isolation for at least a while after his resignation and does not intend to influence the decision of the cardinals in a secret conclave to elect a successor. I'm thinking a nice long beach holiday. Maybe St Tropez? Several popes in the past, including Benedict's predecessor John Paul II, have refrained from stepping down over their health, because of the division that could be caused by having an "ex-pope" and a reigning pope alive at the same time. I don't know how big of a deal that really is. The U.S. has 4 ex-Presidents, and none of them seem to be getting in the way of the current President. The resignation means that cardinals from around the world will begin arriving in Rome in March and after preliminary meetings, lock themselves in a secret conclave and elect the new pope from among themselves in votes in the Sistine Chapel. There has been growing pressure on the Church for it to choose a pope from the developing world to better reflect where most Catholics live and where the Church is growing. You know, for as conservative as Benedict XVI is, I find it fascinating that his legacy will likely be framed by a rather progressive, and most certainly provocative,  action on his part.

China - Chinese courts have convicted eight Tibetans for encouraging self-immolation protests against Beijing's rule over Tibet, One of the eight, a monk, was given a suspended death sentence, while the others got long prison terms. I find it a bit ironic that the Chinese courts, in their infinite wisdom are handing down death sentences to dissidents who have tried to kill themselves. Sort of sends a mixed message, don't you think? Nearly 100 Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest the lack of religious freedom. Tibetans who have self-immolated are mostly younger than 25 and have grown up under Chinese rule. The burnings have galvanized many Tibetans, who see them as selfless acts of sacrifice, making it hard for authorities to denounce the self-immolators. I'm thinking government executions are probably going to have the same impact on Tibetans, if not more.

Iceland - A 15 year-old Icelandic girl who has been called, for official purposes, "Girl," won a court battle to keep her given name, Blaer. The Iceland government had refused to recognized the name because it wasn't on the country's list of 1,853 approved girls' names. On the off chance that you were curious, boys have it even worse, with only 1,810 names to choose from. Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. Good grief, this practice isn't just limited to Iceland? Names are supposed to fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules; choices like Carolina and Christa are not allowed because the letter "c" is not part of Iceland's alphabet. I have to believe that these laws, however stupid they might be, have something to do with the preservation of the language. What with there being just 320,000 native speakers of the Icelandic language, I suppose one can see some logic here. Still, I find it hard to believe that a name could pose that much of an existential threat to an entire language.

Olympics - International Olympic Committee (OIC) officials dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games. The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports." Pop quiz. Who can name all 5 disciplines in the modern pentathlon? The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year. Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. I'm torn on this one. On one hand, it's a bit sad the the IOC is breaking with tradition by eliminating one of the original sports of the modern Olympics that also figured prominently in the ancient games. At the same time, it is hard to criticize the IOC's desire to keep up with the times. Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. Wushu? What's that? They will be vying for a single opening in 2020. Okay then. The modern pentathlon consists of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting. As for wushu, it is a full-contact sport developed in China in 1949, in an effort to standardize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Call me crazy, but I would have stuck with wrestling.