title: Holly Valance

text: Valance's second album, "State of Mind", appeared in November 2003 and its title track, was the lead single. It peaked at No. 8 in the UK and at No. 14 in Australia, but the album did not reach the top 50 in either market. Following legal problems and poor sales from "State of Mind", Valance was reportedly dropped from her recording company. She denied this, "I asked to be released, but Warner refused, so I hung out for a year until the contract expired. We parted on good terms." Valance later confirmed she is no longer interested in recording music, telling "Men's Style" magazine: "I do something until it's not fun any more and then move on. Music wasn't fun any more."


title: Holly Valance

text: In 2004, Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series "" and "Entourage". In 2005, she appeared in an episode of "". In 2005 Valance returned to music, albeit briefly, when she appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album "The Handler" singing on the tracks, "DUI", "Back the Camel Up" and "Body Request". She appeared in "Prison Break" in 2006 as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season. Also in 2006, Valance appeared in the National Lampoon comedy "Pledge This!", alongside American socialite Paris Hilton. The same year, she starred in "", an adaptation of the popular video game "Dead or Alive", in which she played Christie. In 2007, she appeared in the TV series "Shark" and "Moonlight". In 2008 she had a role in the film "Taken" alongside Liam Neeson, and appeared in an episode of The CW series "Valentine".


title: Holly Valance

text: In 2009, she appeared in Frankmusik's video for his single "Confusion Girl". She also leaked a track called "Superstar" in 2009. In 2009 Valance played Brenda Snow for the video game "". She also appeared in Scott Caan's film "Mercy". Valance took part in the 2011 series of "Strictly Come Dancing", where she was paired with the professional winner of series 8, Artem Chigvintsev. Valance and Chigvintsev were eliminated in the semi-final of the competition on 11 December 2011, giving them a fourth-place finish. She also starred in the "Miss Marple" television episode called "The Pale Horse".


title: Holly Valance

text: In 2013, Valance was mentor and judge of fashion competition "Shopaholic Showdown". In 2015, she starred in the action film "Red Herring" as Angela. In 2022, she reprised her role of Flick Scully with a special appearance in the final episode of "Neighbours".


title: Holly Valance

text: After living in Los Angeles for seven years, Valance returned to Britain in 2009. That summer she had a brief relationship with English musician Vince Frank (FrankMusik) after appearing in the video for his "Confusion Girl" single. She had previously dated Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin from 2005 to 2009. On 29 September 2012, Valance married billionaire British property developer Nick Candy in Beverly Hills, California. In November 2013, Valance gave birth in London to their first child, a daughter. In September 2017, they had a second daughter.


title: Holly Valance

text: In 2003, Valance fired her then-manager Scott Michaelson by telephone, 15 months before his contract was due to expire. Biscayne Partners sued Valance Corp., won the case and was awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. During the trial, Valance's mother claimed Michaelson had been negligent as a manager, which forced her to take over from him. The former "Neighbours" co-star Kym Valentine also gave evidence that Valance "said she was feeling bad, a bit stressed out, because she was leaving Scott" and that "she said the solicitors for her record company would get her out of the contract and would be faxing him the paper work (from the UK) to do so." In court, Valance denied that she had said this to Valentine, even though she had signed an affidavit stating she had no recollection of the conversation.


title: Holly Valance

text: Justice Clifford Einstein said, "I have given close consideration to the question of whether or not the circumstances presently before the Court which do, it seems to me, show a calculated disregard of the rights of Biscayne as well as a cynical pursuit of benefit". The court subsequently ordered Valance Corp. pay $350,000 to Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. Of this amount, $47,264.56 was "from shares Ms Valance and Mr Michaelson had bought together on the London Stock Exchange", though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album, "State of Mind".


title: Holly Valance

text: In addition to film and television roles, Valance has also appeared in adverts for Schwarzkopf hair care products and 1800 Reverse. In 2011, Valance appeared in an advert for Foster's Gold bottled beer.


title: Holly Valance

text: In 2015, Valance became an Ambassador for The Children's Trust, the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury and neurodisability.


title: Sand

text: Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e., a soil containing more than 85 percent sand-sized particles by mass.


title: Sand

text: The composition of sand varies, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO), usually in the form of quartz.


title: Sand

text: Calcium carbonate is the second most common type of sand, for example, aragonite, which has mostly been created, over the past 500million years, by various forms of life, like coral and shellfish. For example, it is the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean. Somewhat more rarely, sand may be composed of calcium sulfate, such as gypsum and selenite, as is found in places like White Sands National Park and Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in the U.S.


title: Sand

text: Sand is a non-renewable resource over human timescales, and sand suitable for making concrete is in high demand. Desert sand, although plentiful, is not suitable for concrete. 50 billion tons of beach sand and fossil sand is used each year for construction.


title: Sand

text: The exact definition of sand varies. The scientific Unified Soil Classification System used in engineering and geology corresponds to US Standard Sieves, and defines sand as particles with a diameter of between 0.074 and 4.75 millimeters. By another definition, in terms of particle size as used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 mm (or  mm) a volume of approximately 0.00012 cubic millimetres, to 2 mm, a volume of approximately 4.2 cubic millimetres, the difference in volumes being 34,688 measures difference. Any particle falling within this range of sizes is termed a "sand grain". Sand grains are between gravel (with particles ranging from 2 mm up to 64 mm by the latter system, and from 4.75 mm up to 75 mm in the former) and silt (particles smaller than 0.0625 mm down to 0.004 mm). The size specification between sand and gravel has remained constant for more than a century, but particle diameters as small as 0.02 mm were considered sand under the Albert Atterberg standard in use during the early 20th century. The grains of sand in Archimedes' "The Sand Reckoner" written around 240 BCE, were 0.02 mm in diameter. A 1938 specification of the United States Department of Agriculture was 0.05 mm. A 1953 engineering standard published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials set the minimum sand size at 0.074 mm. Sand feels gritty when rubbed between the fingers. Silt, by comparison, feels like flour.


title: Sand

text: ISO 14688 grades sands as fine, medium, and coarse with ranges 0.063 mm to 0.2 mm to 0.63 mm to 2.0 mm. In the United States, sand is commonly divided into five sub-categories based on size: very fine sand ( –  mm diameter), fine sand ( mm –  mm), medium sand ( mm –  mm), coarse sand ( mm – 1 mm), and very coarse sand (1 mm – 2 mm). These sizes are based on the Krumbein phi scale, where size in Φ = -logD; D being the particle size in mm. On this scale, for sand the value of Φ varies from −1 to +4, with the divisions between sub-categories at whole numbers.


title: Sand

text: The most common constituent of sand, in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings, is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO), usually in the form of quartz, which, because of its chemical inertness and considerable hardness, is the most common mineral resistant to weathering.


title: Sand

text: The composition of mineral sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions. The bright white sands found in tropical and subtropical coastal settings are eroded limestone and may contain coral and shell fragments in addition to other organic or organically derived fragmental material, suggesting that sand formation depends on living organisms, too. The gypsum sand dunes of the White Sands National Park in New Mexico are famous for their bright, white color. Arkose is a sand or sandstone with considerable feldspar content, derived from weathering and erosion of a (usually nearby) granitic rock outcrop. Some sands contain magnetite, chlorite, glauconite, or gypsum. Sands rich in magnetite are dark to black in color, as are sands derived from volcanic basalts and obsidian. Chlorite-glauconite bearing sands are typically green in color, as are sands derived from basaltic lava with a high olivine content. Many sands, especially those found extensively in Southern Europe, have iron impurities within the quartz crystals of the sand, giving a deep yellow color. Sand deposits in some areas contain garnets and other resistant minerals, including some small gemstones.


title: Sand

text: Rocks erode or weather over a long period of time, mainly by water and wind, and their sediments are transported downstream. These sediments continue to break apart into smaller pieces until they become fine grains of sand. The type of rock the sediment originated from and the intensity of the environment give different compositions of sand. The most common rock to form sand is granite, where the feldspar minerals dissolve faster than the quartz, causing the rock to break apart into small pieces. In high energy environments rocks break apart much faster than in more calm settings. In granite rocks this results in more feldspar minerals in the sand because they don't have as much time to dissolve away. The term for sand formed by weathering is "epiclastic."


title: Sand

text: Sand from rivers are collected either from the river itself or its flood plain and accounts for the majority of the sand used in the construction industry. Because of this, many small rivers have been depleted, causing environmental concern and economic losses to adjacent land. The rate of sand mining in such areas greatly outweighs the rate the sand can replenish, making it a non-renewable resource.


title: Sand

text: Sand dunes are a consequence of dry conditions or wind deposition. The Sahara Desert is very dry because of its geographic location and proximity to the equator. It is known for its vast sand dunes, which exist mainly due to a lack of vegetation and water. Over time, wind blows away fine particles, such as clay and dead organic matter, leaving only sand and larger rocks. Only 15% of the Sahara is sand dunes, while 70% is bare rock. The wind is responsible for creating these different environments and shaping the sand to be round and smooth. These properties make desert sand unusable for construction.


title: Sand

text: Beach sand is also formed by erosion. Over thousands of years, rocks are eroded near the shoreline from the constant motion of waves and the sediments build up. Weathering and river deposition also accelerate the process of creating a beach, along with marine animals interacting with rocks, such as eating the algae off of them. Once there is a sufficient amount of sand, the beach acts as a barrier to keep the land from eroding any further. This sand is ideal for construction as it is angular and of various sizes.


title: Sand

text: Marine sand (or ocean sand) comes from sediments transported into the ocean and the erosion of ocean rocks. The thickness of the sand layer varies, however it is common to have more sand closer to land; this type of sand is ideal for construction and is a very valuable commodity. Europe is the main miners of marine sand, which greatly hurts ecosystems and local fisheries.


title: Sand

text: The study of individual grains can reveal much historical information as to the origin and kind of transport of the grain. Quartz sand that is recently weathered from granite or gneiss quartz crystals will be angular. It is called grus in geology or sharp sand in the building trade where it is preferred for concrete, and in gardening where it is used as a soil amendment to loosen clay soils. Sand that is transported long distances by water or wind will be rounded, with characteristic abrasion patterns on the grain surface. Desert sand is typically rounded.


title: Sand

text: People who collect sand as a hobby are known as arenophiles. Organisms that thrive in sandy environments are psammophiles.


title: Sand

text: Only some sands are suitable for the construction industry, for example for making concrete. Grains of desert sand are rounded by being blown in the wind, and for this reason do not produce solid concrete, unlike the rough sand from the sea. Because of the growth of population and of cities and the consequent construction activity there is a huge demand for these special kinds of sand, and natural sources are running low. In 2012 French director Denis Delestrac made a documentary called "Sand Wars" about the impact of the lack of construction sand. It shows the ecological and economic effects of both legal and illegal trade in construction sand.


title: Sand

text: To retrieve the sand, the method of hydraulic dredging is used. This works by pumping the top few meters of sand out of the water and filling it into a boat, which is then transported back to land for processing. Unfortunately, all marine life mixed in with the extracted sand is killed and the ecosystem can continue to suffer for years after the mining is complete. Not only does this affect marine life, but also the local fishing industries because of the loss of life, and communities living close to the water's edge. When sand is taken out of the water it increases the risk of landslides, which can lead to loss of agricultural land and/or damage to dwellings.


title: Sand

text: Sand's many uses require a significant dredging industry, raising environmental concerns over fish depletion, landslides, and flooding. Countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia ban sand exports, citing these issues as a major factor. It is estimated that the annual consumption of sand and gravel is 40 billion tons and sand is a US$70 billion global industry. With increasing use, more is expected to come from recycling and alternatives to sand.


title: Sand

text: The global demand for sand in 2017 was 9.55 billion tons as part of a $99.5 billion industry. In April 2022, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report stating that 50 billion tons of sand and gravel were being used every year. The report made 10 recommendations, including a ban on beach extraction, to avert a crisis, and move toward a circular economy for the two resources.


title: Sand

text: While sand is generally non-toxic, sand-using activities such as sandblasting require precautions. Bags of silica sand used for sandblasting now carry labels warning the user to wear respiratory protection to avoid breathing the resulting fine silica dust. Safety data sheets for silica sand state that "excessive inhalation of crystalline silica is a serious health concern".


title: Sand

text: In areas of high pore water pressure, sand and salt water can form quicksand, which is a colloid hydrogel that behaves like a liquid. Quicksand produces a considerable barrier to escape for creatures caught within, who often die from exposure (not from submersion) as a result.


title: Sand

text: People sometimes dig holes in the sand at beaches for recreational purposes, but if too deep they can result in serious injury or death in the event of a collapse.


title: Sand

text: Manufactured sand (M sand) is sand made from rock by artificial processes, usually for construction purposes in cement or concrete. It differs from river sand by being more angular, and has somewhat different properties.


title: Sand

text: In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the use of sand has been very demanding in the construction of infrastructure and creating new islands. They used up their own reserves and also imported sand from Australia. There have been three projects to create artificial islands needing more than 835 million tonnes of sand, which cost more than US$26 billion.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII (; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-oldest-serving pope, and the third-longest-lived pope in history, before Pope Benedict XVI as Pope emeritus, and had the fourth-longest reign of any, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: He is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical "Rerum novarum", Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights of property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. With that encyclical, he became popularly titled as the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers", also having created the foundations for modern thinking in the church's social doctrine, influencing the thoughts of his successors. He influenced Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Upon his election, he immediately sought to revive Thomism, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, desiring to refer to it as the official theological and philosophical foundation for the Catholic Church. As a result, he sponsored the Editio Leonina in 1879.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII is particularly remembered for his belief that pastoral activity in the socio-political field was also a vital mission of the church as a vehicle of social justice and maintaining the rights and dignities of the human person.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII issued a record of eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary, earning him the title of the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the first pope never to have held any control over the Papal States, which had been dissolved by 1870. Similarly, many of his policies were oriented towards mitigating the loss of the Papal States in an attempt to overcome the loss of temporal power, but nonetheless continuing the Roman Question.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: After his death in 1903, he was buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his remains were later transferred in 1924 to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Born in Carpineto Romano, near Rome, he was the sixth of the seven sons of Count Ludovico Pecci and his wife, Anna Prosperi Buzzi. His brothers included Giuseppe and Giovanni Battista Pecci. Until 1818, he lived at home with his family "in which religion counted as the highest grace on earth, as through her, salvation can be earned for all eternity." Together with Giuseppe, he studied in the Jesuit College in Viterbo until 1824. He enjoyed Latin and was known to have written his own Latin poems at the age of eleven.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1824, he and Giuseppe were called to Rome, where their mother was dying. Count Pecci wanted his children near him after the loss of his wife and so they stayed with him in Rome and attended the Jesuit Collegium Romanum.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1828, the 18-year-old Vincenzo decided in favour of secular clergy, and Giuseppe entered the Jesuit order. Vincenzo studied at the Academia dei Nobili, mainly diplomacy and law. In 1834, he gave a student presentation, attended by several cardinals, on papal judgments. For his presentation, he received awards for academic excellence and gained the attention of Vatican officials. Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Lambruschini introduced him to Vatican congregations. During a cholera epidemic in Rome, he assisted Cardinal Sala in his duties as overseer of all the city hospitals. In 1836, he received his doctorate in theology and doctorates of civil and Canon Law in Rome.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 14 February 1837, Pope Gregory XVI appointed the 27-year-old Pecci as personal prelate even before he was ordained a priest on 31 December 1837 by the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi. He celebrated his first Mass with his priest brother Giuseppe. Shortly thereafter, Gregory XVI appointed Pecci as legate (provincial administrator) to Benevento, the smallest papal province, with a population of about 20,000.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: The main problems facing Pecci were a decaying local economy, insecurity from widespread bandits, and pervasive Mafia or Camorra structures, which were often allied with aristocratic families. Pecci arrested the most powerful aristocrat in Benevento and his troops captured others, who were either killed or imprisoned by him. With public order restored, he turned to the economy and a reform of the tax system to stimulate trade with the neighboring provinces.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pecci was first destined for Spoleto, a province of 100,000. On 17 July 1841, he was sent to Perugia with 200,000 inhabitants. His immediate concern was to prepare the province for a papal visitation in the same year. Pope Gregory XVI visited hospitals and educational institutions for several days, asking for advice and listing questions. The fight against corruption continued in Perugia, where Pecci investigated several incidents. When it was claimed that a bakery was selling bread below the prescribed pound weight, he personally went there, had all bread weighed and confiscated it if below legal weight. The confiscated bread was distributed to the poor.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1843, Pecci, at only 33, was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium, a position that guaranteed the cardinal's hat after completion of the tour.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 27 April 1843, Pope Gregory XVI appointed Pecci Archbishop and asked his Cardinal Secretary of State Lambruschini to consecrate him. Pecci developed excellent relations with the royal family and used the location to visit neighboring Germany, where he was particularly interested in the architectural completion of the Cologne Cathedral.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1844, upon his initiative, a Belgian College in Rome was opened; 102 years later, in 1946, the future Pope John Paul II would begin his Roman studies there. Pecci spent several weeks in England with Bishop Nicholas Wiseman, carefully reviewing the condition of the Catholic Church in that country.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In Belgium, the school question was sharply debated between the Catholic majority and the liberal minority. Pecci encouraged the struggle for Catholic schools, but he was able to win the good will of the Court not only of the pious Queen Louise but also of King Leopold I, who was strongly liberal in his views. The new nuncio succeeded in uniting Catholics. At the end of his mission, the King granted him the Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1843, Pecci had been named papal assistant. From 1846 to 1877, he was considered a popular and successful Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia. In 1847, after Pope Pius IX granted unlimited freedom for the press in the Papal States, Pecci, who had been highly popular in the first years of his episcopate, became the object of attacks in the media and at his residence. In 1848, revolutionary movements developed throughout Western Europe, including France, Germany and Italy. Austrian, French and Spanish troops reversed the revolutionary gains but at a price for Pecci and the Catholic Church, who could not regain their former popularity.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pecci called a provincial council in 1849 to reform the religious life in his dioceses in Spoleto and it was in this council that the need for a Syllabus of Errors was discussed. He invested in enlarging the seminary for future priests and in hiring new and prominent professors, preferably Thomists. He called on his brother Giuseppe Pecci, a noted Thomist scholar, to resign his professorship in Rome and to teach in Perugia instead. His own residence was next to the seminary, which facilitated his daily contacts with the students.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pecci developed several activities in support of Catholic charities. He founded homeless shelters for boys, girls and elderly women. Throughout his dioceses, he opened branches of a "Bank, Monte di Pietà", which focused on low-income people and provided low-interest loans. He created soup kitchens, which were run by the Capuchins. Upon his elevation to the cardinalate in late 1853, and in light of continuing earthquakes and floods, he donated all resources for the festivities of his elevation to the victims. Much of the public attention turned on the conflict between the Papal States and Italian nationalism, which aimed at the Papal States' annihilation to achieve the Unification of Italy.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In the consistory of 19 December 1853, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals, as Cardinal-Priest of S. Crisogono. Pope Gregory XVI originally intended to name him as a cardinal however, his death in 1846 put pause to that idea while the events that characterized the beginning of the papacy of Pius IX further postponed the idea of Pecci's elevation. By the time that Gregory XVI died, Leopold II repeatedly asked that Pecci be named as a cardinal. While Pius IX strongly desired having Pecci as close to Rome as possible, and repeatedly offered him a suburbicarian see, Pecci continually refused due to his preference for Perugia, which is alleged to not be in accord with the wishes of Cardinal Antonelli, a noted opponent of Pecci. Further untrue are the allegations that Pius IX deliberately sent him to Perugia as a way of exiling him from Rome simply because Pecci's views were perceived to be liberalistic and conciliatory, as opposed to the conservatism of the papal court.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Allegedly, Pecci had been a cardinal reserved ""in pectore"" by Gregory XVI in the consistory of 19 January 1846, with the pope's death just over four months later invalidating the appointment since his name was never actually revealed publicly.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pecci defended the papacy and its claims. When Italian authorities expropriated convents and monasteries of Catholic orders, turning them into administration or military buildings, Pecci protested but acted moderately. When the Italian state took over Catholic schools, Pecci, fearing for his theological seminary, simply added all secular topics from other schools and opened the seminary to non-theologians. The new government also levied taxes on the Catholic Church and issued legislation according to which all episcopal or papal utterances were to be approved by the government before their publication.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 8 December 1869, an ecumenical council, which became known as the First Vatican Council, was to take place in the Vatican per Pope Pius IX. Pecci was likely well informed since the Pope named his brother Giuseppe to help prepare the event.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: During the 1870s, in his last years in Perugia, Pecci addressed the role of the church in modern society several times, defining the church as "the mother of material civilization" because it upheld human dignity of working people, opposed the excesses of industrialization and developed large-scale charities for the needy.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In August 1877, on the death of Cardinal Filippo de Angelis, Pope Pius IX appointed him Camerlengo, which required him to reside in Rome. Reportedly, Pius IX is alleged to have said to Pecci: "Monsignor, I have decided to summon you to the Senate of the Church. I feel sure this will be the first act of my pontificate that you will not feel called upon to criticize". These comments were reported to have been said due to the stories that Pecci and Pius IX had a mutual animosity for each other and disagreed with each other in terms of policy, however, this purported animosity has never been proven. It was further alleged that by this stage Pecci desired a change of scenery from Perugia and hoped for either the bishopric of Albano or the position of datary of the Apostolic Dataria. It has also been said that Pecci was reportedly in line to succeed Cardinal Alessandro Barnabò as the prefect for Propaganda Fide, however, it was stymied by his opponent, Cardinal Antonelli.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Pius IX died on 7 February 1878, and during his closing years the liberal press had often insinuated that the Kingdom of Italy should take a hand in the conclave and occupy the Vatican. However the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and the sudden death of King Victor Emmanuel II (9 January 1878) distracted the government's attention.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In the conclave, the cardinals faced varied questions and discussed issues like church–state relations in Europe, specifically Italy; divisions in the church and the status of the First Vatican Council. It was also debated that the conclave be moved elsewhere, but Pecci decided otherwise in his capacity as the camerlengo. On 18 February 1878, the conclave assembled in Rome. Cardinal Pecci was elected on the third ballot and chose the name Leo XIII. He was crowned on 3 March 1878.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: During the conclave, he secured his election on the third scrutiny with 44 out of 61 votes, more than the requisite two-thirds majority. While the 1878 conclave was characterized by fewer political influences than in previous conclaves due to a variety of European political crises, it was generally believed that the long papacy of the conservative Pius IX led many of the cardinals to vote for Pecci due to his relatively young age, added to the fact that his health created expectations that his papacy would be somewhat brief. Following the conclave, John Henry Newman is reported to have said, "In the successor of Pius I recognize a depth of thought, a tenderness of heart, a winning simplicity, and a power answering to the name of Leo, which prevent me from lamenting that Pius is no longer here". In the conclave, Pecci was perceived as the main ""papabile"" candidate however, Cardinals Flavio Chigi and Tommaso Maria Martinelli were also considered as potential candidates. But some cardinals who opposed Pecci, and were alarmed at the rising votes he was securing, banded together to cast their ballots for Cardinal Alessandro Franchi, however, Franchi secured no votes in the final ballot that saw Pecci duly elected. Allegedly, those who were dedicated to thwarting his election were Cardinals Oreglia, Giannelli, Chigi, Lorenzo Ilarione Randi, Sacconi, Monaco, Amat, and Franzelin. It was also suggested that, before his death, Pius IX heavily favored Cardinal Bilio to succeed him, however, while many of the cardinals created by the late pope intended to vote for him to honor the man that elevated them in the first place, they feared that voting for an ultra-conservative could potentially evoke a veto from one of the European powers and stall the election more than was necessary. To that end, there had been early talks about Austria possibly vetoing Bilio however, this never occurred. Before the conclave, Cardinals Domenico Bartolini, Monaco, Bilio, Manning, Nina, and Franchi (proposed by Pecci's opponents) all agreed on supporting Pecci's candidacy, also determining that the next pope needed to be an Italian. Both Manning and Edward Henry Howard agreed to persuade the foreign cardinals to back Pecci's candidacy.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Upon his election, he announced that he would assume the name "Leo" in memory of Pope Leo XII due to his admiration for the late pope's interest in education and his conciliatory attitude toward foreign governments. When asked what name he would take, the new pope responded: "As Leo XIII, in remembrance of Leo XII, whom I have always venerated". His election was formally announced to the people of Rome and the world at 1:15pm.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: As soon as he was elected to the papacy, Leo XIII worked to encourage understanding between the church and the modern world. When he firmly reasserted the scholastic doctrine that science and religion coexist, he required the study of Thomas Aquinas and opened the Vatican Secret Archives to qualified researchers, among whom was the noted historian of the Papacy Ludwig von Pastor. He also refounded the Vatican Observatory


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: "so that everyone might see clearly that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible devotion."


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII was the first Pope of whose voice a sound recording was made. The recording can be found on a compact disc of Alessandro Moreschi's singing; a recording of his praying of the Ave Maria is available on the Web. He was also the first Pope to be filmed by a motion picture camera. He was filmed by its inventor, W. K. Dickson, and blessed the camera while being filmed. Born in 1810, he is also the earliest born person to appear in a film.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII brought normality back to the Catholic Church after the tumultuous years of Pius IX. Leo's intellectual and diplomatic skills helped regain much of the prestige lost with the fall of the Papal States. He tried to reconcile the church with the working class, particularly by dealing with the social changes that were sweeping Europe. The new economic order had resulted in the growth of an impoverished working class who had increasing anticlerical and socialist sympathies. Leo helped reverse that trend.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Although Leo XIII was no radical in either theology or politics, his papacy moved the Catholic Church back to the mainstream of European life. Considered a great diplomat, he managed to improve relations with Russia, Prussia, Germany, France, Britain and other countries.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII was able to reach several agreements in 1896 that resulted in better conditions for the faithful and additional appointments of bishops. During the fifth cholera pandemic in 1891, he ordered the construction of a hospice inside the Vatican. That building would be torn down in 1996 to make way for construction of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo was a drinker of the cocaine-infused wine tonic Vin Mariani. He awarded a Vatican gold medal to the wine's creator, Angelo Mariani, and also appeared on a poster endorsing it. Leo XIII was a semi-vegetarian. In 1903, he attributed his longevity to the sparing use of meat and the consumption of eggs, milk and vegetables.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII began his pontificate with a friendly letter to Tsar Alexander II in which he reminded the Russian monarch of the millions of Catholics living in his empire who would like to be good Russian subjects if their dignity were respected.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: After the assassination of Alexander II, the Pope sent a high ranking representative to the coronation of his successor, Alexander III, who was grateful and asked for all religious forces to unify. He asked the Pope to ensure that his bishops abstain from political agitation. Relations improved further when Pope Leo XIII, because of Italian considerations, distanced the Vatican from the Rome-Vienna-Berlin alliance, and helped to facilitate a rapprochement between Paris and St. Petersburg.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Under Otto von Bismarck, the anti-Catholic "Kulturkampf" in Prussia led to significant restrictions on the Catholic Church in Imperial Germany, including the Jesuits Law of 1872. During Leo's papacy, compromises were informally reached and the anti-Catholic attacks subsided.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: The Centre Party in Germany represented Catholic interests and was a force for social change. It was encouraged by Leo's support for social welfare legislation and the rights of working people. Leo's forward-looking approach encouraged Catholic Action in other European countries, where the social teachings of the church were incorporated into the agenda of Catholic parties, particularly the Christian democratic parties, which became an acceptable alternative to socialist parties. Leo's social teachings were reiterated throughout the 20th century by his successors.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In his "Memoirs", Kaiser Wilhelm II discussed the "friendly, trustful relationship that existed between me and Pope Leo XIII." During Wilhelm's third visit to Leo: "It was of interest to me that the Pope said on this occasion that Germany must be the sword of the Catholic Church. I remarked that the old Roman Empire of the German nation no longer existed, and that conditions had changed. But he adhered to his words."


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII possessed a great affection for France, and feared that the Third Republic would take advantage of the fact that most French Catholics were Royalists to abolish the Concordant of 1801. At the advisement of Cardinal Rampolla, he urged French Catholics to "rally" to the republic. Leo's decision upset many French monarchists, who felt they were being forced to betray their king for their faith. Ultimately, this move split the French Church politically and decreased its influence in France. Leo's move also failed to prevent the Concordant's eventual repealment, as it was later abrogated by the law of 1905 on the separation of Church and state.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In the light of a climate hostile to the Catholic Church, Leo continued the policies of Pius IX towards Italy without major modifications. In his relations with the Italian state, Leo continued the Papacy's self-imposed incarceration in the Vatican stance and continued to insist that Italian Catholics should not vote in Italian elections or hold any elected office. In his first consistory in 1879, he elevated his older brother, Giuseppe, to the cardinalate. He had to defend the freedom of the church against what Catholics considered Italian persecutions and attacks in the area of education, expropriation and violation of Catholic Churches, legal measures against the church and brutal attacks, culminating in anticlerical groups attempting to throw the body of the deceased Pope Pius IX into the Tiber on 13 July 1881. The Pope even considered moving his residence to Trieste or Salzburg, two cities in Austria, an idea that Emperor Franz Joseph I gently rejected.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Among the activities of Leo XIII that were important for the English-speaking world, he restored the Scottish hierarchy in 1878. The following year, on 12 May 1879, he raised to the rank of cardinal the convert clergyman John Henry Newman, who would eventually be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019. In British India, too, Leo established a Catholic hierarchy in 1886 and regulated some longstanding conflicts with the Portuguese authorities. A Papal Rescript (20 April 1888) condemned the Irish Plan of Campaign and all clerical involvement in it as well as boycotting, followed in June by the papal encyclical "Saepe Nos" that was addressed to all the Irish bishops. Of outstanding significance, not least for the English-speaking world, was Leo's encyclical "Apostolicae curae" on the invalidity of the Anglican orders, published in 1896. In 1899, he declared Bede the Venerable a Doctor of the Church.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1880, the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey in Catalonia celebrated 1000 years of existence. On 11 September 1881, to coincide with the Catalan national day, Leo XIII proclaimed the Virgin of Montserrat to be Patron of Catalonia. This had implications beyond the purely religious sphere, influencing the development of Catalan nationalism.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII welcomed the elevation of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg (the later Ferdinand I of Bulgaria) to the Bulgarian Principality in 1886. A fellow Catholic, whose wife was a member of the Italian House of Bourbon-Parma, the two had a lot in common. However, relations between the two greatly soured when Ferdinand expressed his intention to convert his eldest son Crown Prince Boris (later Tsar Boris III) to Orthodoxy, the majority religion of Bulgaria. Leo strongly condemned the action, and when Ferdinand went through with the conversion anyway, Leo excommunicated him.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: The United States frequently attracted his attention and admiration. He confirmed the decrees of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884) and raised James Gibbons, the archbishop of that city, to the cardinalate in 1886.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 10 April 1887, a pontifical charter from Pope Leo XIII founded the Catholic University of America, establishing the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: American newspapers criticized Pope Leo because they claimed that he was attempting to gain control of American public schools. One cartoonist drew Leo as a fox unable to reach grapes that were labeled for American schools; the caption read "Sour grapes!"


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII is also remembered for the "First Plenary Council of Latin America" held at Rome in 1899, and for his encyclical of 1888 to the bishops of Brazil, "In plurimis", on the abolition of slavery. In 1897 he published the Apostolic Letter "Trans Oceanum", which dealt with the privileges and ecclesiastical structure of the Catholic Church in Latin America.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: His role in South America will also be remembered, especially the pontifical benediction extended over Chilean troops on the eve of the Battle of Chorrillos during the War of the Pacific in January 1881. The Chilean soldiers thus blessed then looted the cities of Chorrillos and Barranco, including the churches, and their Chaplains headed the robbery at the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, where the soldiers ransacked various items along with much capital, and Chilean Priests coveted rare and ancient editions of the Bible that were stored there. Despite this, one year later Chilean President Domingo Santa Marìa issued the "Laic Laws", which separated the Church from the State, considered a slap in the face for the papacy.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII urged "Filii tui India, administri tibi salutis" (Your own sons, O India, will be the heralds of your salvation) and founded the national seminary, called Papal Seminary. He entrusted this task to the then Apostolic Delegate to India Ladislaus Michael Zaleski, who founded the Seminary in 1893.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII sanctioned the missions to Eastern Africa beginning in 1884. In 1879 Catholic missionaries associated with the White Father Congregation (Society of the Missionaries of Africa) came to Uganda and others went to Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania) and Rwanda.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1887, he approved the foundation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, which were organized by the Bishop of Piacenza, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini. The missionaries were sent to North and South America to do pastoral care for Italian immigrants.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: The pontificate of Leo XIII was theologically influenced by the First Vatican Council (1869–1870), which had ended only eight years earlier. Leo XIII issued some 46 apostolic letters and encyclicals dealing with central issues in the areas of marriage and family and state and society. He also wrote two prayers for the intercession of Michael the Archangel after he allegedly had a vision of Michael and the end times, but the story of the alleged vision may be merely apocryphal, as historians note that the story does not appear in any of his writings.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII also approved a number of Scapulars. In 1885, he approved the Scapular of the Holy Face, (also known as "The Veronica") and elevated the "Priests of the Holy Face" to an archconfraternity. He also approved the Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel and the Scapular of St. Joseph, both in 1893, and the Scapular of the Sacred Heart in 1900.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: As Pope, he used all his authority for a revival of Thomism, the theology of Thomas Aquinas. On 4 August 1879, Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical "Aeterni Patris" ("Eternal Father"), which, more than any other single document, provided a charter for the revival of Thomism, the medieval theological system based on the thought of Aquinas – as the official philosophical and theological system of the Catholic Church. It was to be normative not only in the training of priests at church seminaries but also in the education of the laity at universities.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII then created the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas on 15 October 1879 and ordered the publication of the critical edition, the so-called Leonine Edition, of the complete works of the "doctor angelicus". The superintendence of the leonine edition was entrusted to Tommaso Maria Zigliara, professor and rector of the "Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe", the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, "Angelicum". Leo XIII also founded the "Angelicum's" Faculty of Philosophy in 1882 and its Faculty of Canon Law in 1896.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII performed a number of consecrations, at times entering new theological territory. After he had received many letters from Sister Mary of the Divine Heart, the countess of Droste zu Vischering and Mother Superior in the Convent of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Porto, Portugal, asking him to consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he commissioned a group of theologians to examine the petition on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. The outcome of this investigation was positive and so in the encyclical letter "Annum sacrum" (on 25 May 1899), he decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on 11 June 1899.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: The encyclical letter also encouraged the entire Catholic episcopate to promote the First Friday Devotions, established June as the Month of the Sacred Heart, and included the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart. His consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus presented theological challenges in consecrating non-Christians. Since about 1850, various congregations and countries had consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart, and, in 1875, the consecration was made throughout the Catholic world.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In his 1893 encyclical "Providentissimus Deus," he described the importance of scriptures for theological study. It was an important encyclical for Catholic theology and its relation to the Bible, as Pope Pius XII pointed out 50 years later in his encyclical "Divino Afflante Spiritu".


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Pope Leo XIII fostered relations of goodwill, particularly towards the churches of the East not in communion with the Apostolic See. He also opposed efforts to Latinize the Eastern Rite Churches and stated that they constitute a most valuable ancient tradition and symbol of the divine unity of the Catholic Church. He expressed that in his encyclical "Orientalium Dignitas" of 1894 and wrote, "The Churches of the East are worthy of the glory and reverence that they hold throughout the whole of Christendom in virtue of those extremely ancient, singular memorials that they have bequeathed to us."


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII is credited with great efforts in the areas of scientific and historical analysis. He opened the Vatican Archives and personally fostered a 20-volume comprehensive scientific study of the Papacy by Ludwig von Pastor, an Austrian historian.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: His predecessor, Pope Pius IX, became known as the Pope of the Immaculate Conception because of his dogmatization in 1854. Leo XIII, in light of his unprecedented promulgation of the rosary in 11 encyclicals, was called the Rosary Pope because he promulgated Marian devotion. In his encyclical on the 50th anniversary of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, he stresses Mary's role in the redemption of humanity and calls her Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix. While allowing the title "Mediatrix", recent popes, following on the Second Vatican Council, have warned away from the term "co-redemptrix" as derogating from the one mediator, Jesus Christ.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII worked to encourage understanding between the Catholic Church and the modern world, but he preferred a cautious view on freedom of thought, stating that it "is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man." Leo's social teachings are based on the Catholic premise that God is the Creator of the world and its Ruler. Eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; men's destiny is far above human things and beyond the earth.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: His encyclicals changed the church's relations with temporal authorities; the 1891 encyclical "Rerum novarum", for the first time, addressed social inequality and social justice issues with papal authority by focusing on the rights and duties of capital and labour. He was greatly influenced by Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, a German bishop who openly propagated siding with the suffering working classes in his book "Die Arbeiterfrage und das Christentum". Since Leo XIII, papal teachings have expanded on the rights and obligations of workers and the limitations of private property: Pope Pius XI's "Quadragesimo anno", the social teachings of Pope Pius XII on a huge range of social issues, John XXIII's "Mater et magistra" in 1961, Pope Paul VI's "Populorum progressio" on world development issues, Pope John Paul II's "Centesimus annus", commemorating the 100th anniversary of "Rerum novarum", and Pope Francis' "Laudato si'" on the use of the goods of creation.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo had argued that both capitalism and communism are flawed. "Rerum novarum" introduced the idea of subsidiarity, the principle that political and social decisions should be taken at a local level, if possible, rather than by a central authority, into Catholic social thought. (See list of Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.)


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Throughout his pontificate, Leo XIII elevated 147 cardinals in 27 consistories. While the limit of the College of Cardinals had been set at 70 since the papacy of Pope Sixtus V, Leo XIII never exceeded nor reached the limit, only ever coming close at 67 in 1901. Amongst the noteworthy cardinals whom he elevated, he named John Henry Newman as a cardinal while also elevating his own brother Giuseppe Pecci, though not a nepotistic act (it was based purely on recommendation and merit), in the same consistory. In 1893, he elevated Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto to the cardinalate, who would go on to be his immediate successor, Pope Pius X in 1903. The Pope also nominated the brothers, Serafino and Vincenzo Vannutelli and the cousins Luigi and Angelo Jacobini to the Sacred College. Other noteworthy inclusions were Andrea Carlo Ferrari (later beatified in 1987) and Girolamo Maria Gotti (whom he favoured as his successor).


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Of the 147 cardinals he elevated, 85 were Italian since Leo XIII nominated cardinals from beyond Europe, including the first cardinals from Australia, Canada, Slovenia, and Armenia, the latter of which would be the first Oriental selection since 1439.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1880, the Pope named three cardinals ""in pectore"", announcing them in 1882 and 1884. In 1882, he named another cardinal "in pectore", announcing the name later that same year. On 30 December 1889, Leo XIII named only one cardinal whom he reserved "in pectore", only announcing the name roughly six months later. In early 1893, he named another two cardinals "in pectore", announcing their names in 1894 and 1895, while in April 1901 announcing the names of another two cardinals whom he had reserved "in pectore" in June 1899. In June 1896, Leo XIII named two other cardinals in pectore, announcing in March 1898 that both had died, hence, vacating the red hats he would have bestowed upon them.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: With the elevation of Newman in 1879, it was widely praised throughout the English-speaking world, not simply on the account of Newman's virtues and reputation, but on the basis that Leo XIII had a broader episcopal vision in mind than Pius IX ever did. His similar appointments of two prominent participants of the First Vatican Council, Lajos Haynald and Friedrich Egon von Fürstenberg both in 1879 was also noteworthy due to their roles in the short-lived Council. It was even alleged that Félix Antoine Philibert Dupanloup, a vocal opponent of papal infallibility like Newman, would have been elevated to the cardinalate in 1879 had he not died in October 1878. Additionally, in 1884, the Polish priest and former Curial official Stefan Zachariasz Pawlicki was offered but refused an offer of elevation. Leo XIII later intended to name the Archbishop of Santiago Mariano Santiago Casanova Casanova as a cardinal in 1895, however, the Pope abandoned the idea after the Peruvian Church objected that the Archbishop of Lima was the Primate of South America and hence the one that needed to be made a cardinal. In order to avoid a conflict between Chile and Peru, the Pope abandoned the idea reluctantly.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1897, the Pope intended to name the Archbishop of Turin Davide Riccardi as a cardinal however, the cardinal died before the promotion could take place. In 1891 and again in 1897, the Pope offered the cardinalate to Johannes Montel Edler von Treuenfels, the dean of the Sacred Rota, though he refused the honor (he refused again in 1908 when invited by Pope Pius X). In 1899, Leo XIII hoped to nominate the Dominican procurator general Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier (later beatified) to the cardinalate however, he was unable to do so because the French government did not favor a cardinal from a religious order to seek its best interests as a Curial member. In 1901, he planned to name Agapito Panici as a cardinal at the next consistory, but Panici died before the nomination could take place in 1903. Allegedly, before deciding to name him, Leo XIII asked his brother Diomede to renounce his claim to the red hat, but when Agapito died in 1902, the Pope informed Diomede that he would ignore his previous missive asking him to renounce his claim to the red hat, a position that Diomede was never then given. According to witnesses, Leo XIII failed three times to invite Vincenzo Tarozzi (whose cause for beatification has since been launched) to receive the red hat. According to a conversation in 1904 between Pope Pius X and Antonio Mele-Virdis, the former is alleged to have said, "he should have been in my place".


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII beatified several of his predecessors: Urban II (14 July 1881), Victor III (23 July 1887) and Innocent V (9 March 1898). He canonized Adrian III on 2 June 1891.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: One of the first audiences that Leo XIII granted was to the professors and students of the Collegio Capranica, where in the first row knelt in front of him the young seminarian Giacomo Della Chiesa, the future Pope Benedict XV, who would reign from 1914 to 1922.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On a pilgrimage with her father and sister in 1887, Thérèse of Lisieux attended a general audience with Pope Leo XIII and asked him to allow her to enter the Carmelite order. Even though she was strictly forbidden to speak to him because she was told that it would prolong the audience too much, she wrote in her autobiography, "Story of a Soul", that after she kissed his slipper and he presented his hand, instead of kissing it, she took it in her own hand and said through tears, "Most Holy Father, I have a great favor to ask you. In honor of your Jubilee, permit me to enter Carmel at the age of 15!" Leo XIII answered, "Well, my child, do what the superiors decide." Thérèse replied, "Oh! Holy Father, if you say yes, everybody will agree!" Finally, the Pope said, "Go... go... "You will enter if God wills it"" [italics hers]. Two guards lifted her (still on her knees in front of the Pope) by her arms and carried her to the door, where a third gave her a medal of the Pope. Shortly thereafter, the Bishop of Bayeux authorized the prioress to receive Thérèse, and in April 1888, she entered Carmel at the age of 15.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: There are several versions of a story of how Leo came to compose the Prayer to Saint Michael. Various dates are given. A common account says that on the morning of 13 October 1884, Leo XIII celebrated Mass but as he finished, he turned to step down the stairs and allegedly collapsed, falling into what was originally thought to be a coma, but was rather a mystical ecstasy. As the priests and cardinals rushed to his side, Leo XIII rose and visibly shaken, brushed off his aides and rushed back towards his apartment where he immediately wrote the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. Leo XIII reportedly saw a vision of demons being released from Hell, however, just as the vision ended, he saw Saint Michael charge in and drive them all back into Hell. Leo XIII mandated that the prayer be said after every Mass from that point forth.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In 1934, a German writer, Fr. Bers, tried to trace the origin of the story and declared that, though the story was widespread, nowhere could he find a trace of proof. Sources close to the institution of the prayer in 1886, including an account of a conversation with Leo XIII about his decision, say nothing of the alleged vision. Bers concluded that the story was a later invention that spread like a virus.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: At the time of his election in 1878, the Pope had started to experience a slight tremor in his hand due to a poorly undertaken bloodletting procedure for a previous malady.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: In March 1899, it had been believed that the Pope was gravely ill and that he was nearing death. Originally, it was presumed that the Pope was suffering from a violent case of pneumonia and that the alarm was raised regarding his health. However, it was soon discovered that the reason for the Pope's illness was the sudden inflammation of a cyst which had been troubling him for almost thirty years and which had never been previously removed. The only reason it had never been of any particular concern was due to incisions designed for pain relief. While Leo XIII strongly rejected the notion of surgery at first, he was persuaded by Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro that it was necessary to ensure his good health. Before the pope was taken for surgery, he asked that his chaplain celebrate Mass in his private chapel while the operation was taking place. Reportedly, the cyst removed was the size of an ordinary-sized orange.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Towards the end of his life, Leo XIII resorted to using a gold-headed cane when going on walks, as he often found it difficult to do so. While Leo XIII was certainly able to walk without it, he only did so if he felt truly comfortable in doing so. When there were ever rumors about his health, Leo XIII was known to mischievously walk about briskly to dispel the rumors.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 30 June 1903, Leo XIII reported slight feelings of dyspepsia and said that he would take a dose of castor oil to help himself recuperate, shrugging off concerns about his health. While it seemed to work, and the Pope resumed his duties with a renewed vigor, it was not to last.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII originally contracted a cold while taking an outing on the Vatican grounds on 3 July 1903; however, his condition rapidly deteriorated to the point that he had contracted pneumonia. That night, he immediately went to bed and lost consciousness. Originally, the pope refused his doctor's desire to secure a second opinion from a colleague, insisting on a doctor who had previously tended to him in 1899 when he suffered a previous serious illness. When the doctor was immediately summoned to the Pope's bedside, he determined that the castor oil had disturbed his stomach and exacerbated his condition. The pope's nephews were immediately notified of their uncle's illness, as were Cardinals Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro and Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano in their capacities as the Secretary of State and Camerlengo respectively. On 4 July, he made his last confession to Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli before the Pope was barely able to recite the profession of faith. That very same day, he experienced a loss of appetite and suffered from shortness of breath. On 5 July, the doctor said reported that the hepatisation affected the upper and middle lobes of the right lung, while Leo XIII suffered from considerable cardiac weakness and difficulties in breathing, while reporting the absence of any fever or coughing fits. That same day, after having received the sacraments, the pope said, "I am now near my end. I do not know if all I have done has been good, but I certainly obeyed my conscience and our faith".


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: On 6 July 1903, he was administered an injection to ease the pain that he was experiencing, while it was reported that the pneumonia he had contracted was starting to spread to the left lung. The Pope, who had an imperceptible pulse, had a restless night and was given oxygen by his doctors. When given the oxygen, Leo XIII replied, "That is much better. Before I felt as though I had lost my liberty". That morning, he intimated to those with him that he would prefer it if Cardinal Girolamo Maria Gotti succeeded him in the next conclave. When doctors ordered him to rest, so as not to further aggravate his declining health, Leo XIII said: "If it were only of any use, but I do not believe it would be. The brief remainder of my life must be given to God's Church, not to my own poor comfort". The pope lost consciousness but was awake to receive the sacraments at 9:00pm before experiencing yet another restless night, marveling, "God's will be done. Who would have believed it when only ten days ago I was presiding over a public consistory?" Leo XIII only slept three hours but severe pain saw him immediately awaken, complaining of pain on both sides of the thorax that forced doctors to move his frail form for better comfort. His situation had previously been critical that afternoon when he was given the Last Rites, while his doctors apprised him of his sudden deterioration. On 7 July, the feeble Pope asked that the shutters of his window be opened, saying "I wish to see once more, perhaps for the last time, the rays of the sun". In the nights following, the Pope suffered from several coughing fits, perspiring heavily due to his rising fever. The Pope felt slightly better enough on 10 July to receive a group of Hungarian pilgrims, however, the Pope was exhausted and collapsed after the meeting.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII deteriorated further until he died at 3:55 pm on 20 July 1903, whispering a final blessing before he died. However, Vatican officials gave the time of the Pope's death as 4:04 pm when officials officially confirmed that the Pope had indeed died. Officially, Leo XIII had died of pneumonia, followed by hemorrhagic pleurisy.


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: Leo XIII was the first Pope to be born in the 19th century and was also the first to die in the 20th century, living to the age of 93. He is the oldest Pope to have served in the office, and the second-oldest person to have been Pope, surpassed only by Pope Benedict XVI as "Pope emeritus" (). At the time of his death, Leo XIII was the second-longest-reigning Pope (25 years), exceeded only by his immediate predecessor, Pius IX (31 years).


title: Pope Leo XIII

text: He was entombed in Saint Peter's Basilica only briefly after his funeral; he was later moved to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, his cathedral church as the Bishop of Rome, and a church in which he took a particular interest. He was moved there in late 1924. To date, he is the last Pope not to be buried in St. Peter's Basilica.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: Richard Kruspe (born Sven Kruspe; 24 June 1967) is a German musician. He is the lead guitarist of the Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein, as well as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the US-based industrial metal band Emigrate.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: Sven Kruspe was born in Wittenberge (then part of East Germany). He later changed his first name to Richard, saying that anyone should be able to change their own name. He has two older sisters and an older brother. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother remarried; Kruspe did not get along with his stepfather. The family moved to the village of Weisen when Kruspe was young. Because of his poor relationship with his stepfather, Kruspe often ran away from home in his early teens, sleeping on park benches.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: In a 2014 interview with "Metal Hammer", he commented on life in East Germany, stating: "The thing about East Germany is that it was great to grow up there, until you were 12. You were presented with the illusion of a very healthy society, which worked unless you asked questions – and you don't ask questions until you're 12."


title: Richard Kruspe

text: At the age of 16, Kruspe and some friends visited Czechoslovakia, where he bought a guitar, originally planning to sell it at a profit, but then started playing it.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: In 1985, bored with the apathetic music scene in his hometown, Kruspe moved to East Berlin and lived on Lychener Straße, where he "made music all day". For two years, he lived in an apartment with a drum kit and a guitar and made music by himself as he did not know anybody there. "It was a lonely time", according to Kruspe, but he used it to explore music.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: On 10 October 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Kruspe was riding on the subway. After coming back above ground, he found himself in the middle of a political demonstration. He was hit on the head and arrested just for being there and thrown in jail for six days. Once out of jail, he decided to leave East Germany. Because of the Eastern Bloc, he entered West Germany by traveling through Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria. When the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back east of Berlin.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: Kruspe's first band, Das Elegante Chaos, was formed in the late 1980s. The band played live with other bands such as First Arsch (in which Till Lindemann was a drummer). In 1989, when Kruspe was 22, some songs were recorded by the band; these songs were later released in 2011 on the album "Lyrik" by Dachboden-Records. Seeking a more independent experience, Kruspe formed Orgasm Death Gimmick, which operated between 1991 and 1993; Orgasm Death Gimmick released three demo tapes, and a promotional tape through their label, Wydoks, before disbanding.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: During his early career, Kruspe also played with other bands, such as First Arsch. Finally, Rammstein was formed in 1994, when Kruspe, who lived with Oliver Riedel and Christoph Schneider at the time, was looking for a new band in which to create a new style of music.


title: Richard Kruspe

text: Kruspe married South African actress Caron Bernstein on 29 October 1999. The ceremony was Jewish, and Kruspe composed the music for it. He took the name Richard Kruspe-Bernstein during their marriage. He moved from Berlin to New York in 2001 to live closer to Bernstein, but they separated in 2004, and he changed his last name back to its original form. He moved back to Berlin in 2011.


title: Canara Bank

text: Canara Bank is an Indian public sector bank under the control and ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Established in 1906 at Mangalore by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, the bank also has offices in London, Dubai and New York.


title: Canara Bank

text: Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, established the "Canara Hindu Permanent Fund" in Mangalore, India, on 1 July 1906.


title: Canara Bank

text: Canara Bank's first acquisition took place in 1961 when it acquired Bank of Kerala. This had been founded in September 1944 and at the time of its acquisition on 20 May 1961 had three branches. The second bank that Canara Bank acquired was Seasia Midland Bank (Alleppey), which had been established on 26 July 1930 and had seven branches at the time of its takeover.


title: Canara Bank

text: In 1958, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered Canara Bank to acquire G. Raghumathmul Bank, in Hyderabad. This bank had been established in 1870, and had converted to a limited company in 1925. At the time of the acquisition G. Raghumathmul Bank had five branches. The merger took effect in 1961. Later in 1961, Canara Bank acquired Trivandrum Permanent Bank. This had been founded on 7 February 1899 and had 14 branches at the time of the merger.


title: Canara Bank

text: Canara Bank acquired four banks in 1963: the Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank, Thrippunithura, Arnad Bank, Tiruchirapalli, Cochin Commercial Bank, Cochin, and Pandyan Bank, Madurai. Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank had been established on 21 February 1923 and at the time of its acquisition it had 14 branches. Arnad Bank had been established on 23 December 1942 and at the time of its acquisition had only one branch. Cochin Commercial Bank had been established on 3 January 1936, and at the time of its acquisition had 13 branches.


title: Canara Bank

text: The government of India nationalised Canara Bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, on 19 July 1969. In 1976, Canara Bank inaugurated its 1000th branch. In 1985, Canara Bank acquired Lakshmi Commercial Bank in a rescue.


title: Canara Bank

text: In 1996, Canara Bank became the first Indian Bank to get ISO certification for "Total Branch Banking" for its Seshadripuram branch in Bangalore. Canara Bank has now stopped opting for ISO certification of branches.


title: Canara Bank

text: On 30 August 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Syndicate Bank would be merged with Canara Bank. The proposed merger would create the fourth largest public sector bank in the country with total business of and 10,324 branches. The Board of Directors of Canara Bank approved the merger on 13 September. The Union Cabinet approved the merger on 4 March 2020. The merger was completed on 1 April 2020 with Syndicate Bank shareholders receiving 158 equity shares in the former for every 1,000 shares they hold.


title: Canara Bank

text: Canara Bank established its international division in 1976. In 1983, Canara Bank opened its first overseas office, a branch in London. Two years later, Canara Bank established a subsidiary in Hong Kong, Indo Hong Kong International Finance. In 2008–9, Canara Bank opened its third foreign operation, this one a branch in Shanghai. Later Canara Bank established a branch each in Leicester and Bahrain, and converted its Hong Kong subsidiary into a branch.


title: Canara Bank

text: Since 1983, Canara Bank has been responsible for the management of Eastern Exchange Co. WLL, Doha, Qatar, which Abdul Rahman M.M. Al Muftah established in 1979.


title: Canara Bank

text: Canara Bank offers Unified Payment Interface (UPI) app named “empower”. This app empowers Canara Bank and other Bank customers to perform pay and collect transactions using a single mobile app. On 19 November 2017, it launched Canarites (Candi) app, a digital library, a field recovery mobile app, a retail loan (vehicle) – tracking system, and a regulatory guidance tracking system.


title: Canara Bank

text: On 7 May 2020, Bhanu Srivastav from Canara Bank, partnered with NGOs to donate all his royalty proceeds for the betterment of needy children. He is working at Canara Bank Head Office, in Human Resource Department and a bestselling author of novel 'Hacker 404 Happiness not found'.


title: Canara Bank

text: On 23 May 2020, Canara Bank announced credit support for borrowers affected by COVID-19 to enable them to avail the sanctioned facilities to the full extent and improve their business.


title: Canara Bank

text: On 19 July 2020, Canara Bank announced to raise up to Rs 8,000 crore equity capital in Financial Year 2021 to strengthen capital base and to boost capital adequacy ratio in view of expansion plans. The Bank will seek nod from shareholders for the same in its AGM in August 2020.


title: Canara Bank

text: On 6 June 2018, the UK division of Canara Bank was fined £890,000 ($1.2 million) by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and was blocked from accepting new deposits for around five months for systematic anti-money laundering (AML) failures.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first climber to ascend all fourteen peaks over above sea level without oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds. He also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered one of the greatest mountaineers of all time.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: From 1999 to 2004, Messner served as a member of the European Parliament for north-east Italy, as a member of the Federation of the Greens.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner has published more than 80 books about his experiences as a climber and explorer. In 2018, he received jointly with Krzysztof Wielicki the Princess of Asturias Award in the category of Sports.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner was born within a German-speaking family settled in St. Peter, Villnöß, near Brixen in South Tyrol, which is part of Northern Italy. According to his sister his delivery was difficult as he was a large baby and birth took place during an air raid. His mother Maria (1913–1995) was the daughter of a shop owner and 4 years older than her husband. His father Josef (1917–1985) was drafted to serve the German army and participated in World War II on the Russian front. After the war he was an auxiliary teacher until 1957, when he became the director of the local school.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner was the second of nine children – Helmut (born 1943), Günther (1946–1970), Erich (born 1948), Waltraud (born 1949), Siegfried (1950–1985), Hubert (born 1953), Hansjörg (born 1955) and Werner (born 1957) and grew up in modest means.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: His father was strict and sometimes severe with him. He led Reinhold to his first summit at the age of five.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: When Messner was 13, he began climbing with his brother Günther, age 11. By the time Reinhold and Günther were in their early twenties, they were among Europe's best climbers.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Since the 1960s, Messner, inspired by Hermann Buhl, was one of the first and most enthusiastic supporters of alpine style mountaineering in the Himalayas, which consisted of climbing with very light equipment and a minimum of external help. Messner considered the usual expedition style ("siege tactics") disrespectful toward nature and mountains.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Before his first major Himalayan climb in 1970, Messner had made a name for himself mainly through his achievements in the Alps. Between 1960 and 1964, he led over 500 ascents, most of them in the Dolomites. In 1965, he climbed a new direttissima route on the north face of the Ortler. A year later, he climbed the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses and ascended the Rocchetta Alta di Bosconero. In 1967, he made the first ascent of the northeast face of the Agnér and the first winter ascents of the Agnér north face and Furchetta north face.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1968, he achieved further firsts: the Heiligkreuzkofel middle pillar and the direct south face of the Marmolada. In 1969, Messner joined an Andes expedition, during which he succeeded, together with Peter Habeler, in making the first ascent of the Yerupaja east face up to the summit ridge and, a few days later, the first ascent of the Yerupaja Chico. He also made the first solo ascent of the Droites north face, the Philipp-Flamm intersection on the Civetta and the south face of Marmolada di Rocca. As a result, Messner won the reputation of being one of the best climbers in Europe.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1970, Messner was invited to join a major Himalayan expedition that was going to attempt the unclimbed Rupal face of Nanga Parbat. The expedition, which was the major turning point in his life, turned out to be a tragic success. Both he and his brother Günther reached the summit but Günther died two days later on the descent of the Diamir face. Reinhold lost seven toes, which had become badly frostbitten during the climb and required amputation. Reinhold was severely criticized for persisting on this climb with the less experienced Günther. The 2010 movie "Nanga Parbat" by Joseph Vilsmaier is based on his account of the events.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: While Messner and Peter Habeler were noted for fast ascents in the Alps of the Eiger North Wall, standard route (10 hours) and Les Droites (8 hours), his 1975 Gasherbrum I first ascent of a new route took three days. This was unheard of at the time.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In the 1970s, Messner championed the cause for ascending Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, saying that he would do it "by fair means" or not at all. In 1978, he reached the summit of Everest with Habeler. This was the first time anyone had been that high without supplemental oxygen and Messner and Habeler achieved what certain doctors, specialists, and mountaineers thought impossible. He repeated the feat, without Habeler, from the Tibetan side in 1980, during the monsoon season. This was Everest's first solo summit.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1978, he made a solo ascent of the Diamir face of Nanga Parbat. In 1986, Messner became the first to complete all fourteen eight-thousanders (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level).


title: Reinhold Messner

text: He has written over 80 books about his experiences, a quarter of which have been translated. He was featured in the 1984 film "The Dark Glow of the Mountains" by Werner Herzog.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: From 1999 to 2004, he held political office as a Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green Party (Federazione dei Verdi). He was also among the founders of Mountain Wilderness, an international NGO dedicated to the protection of mountains worldwide.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner was the first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders in the world and without supplemental oxygen. His climbs were also all amongst the first 20 ascents for each mountain individually. Specifically, these are:


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Reinhold Messner took a total of five expeditions to Nanga Parbat. In 1970 and 1978 he reached the summit (in 1978 solo); in 1971, 1973 and 1977, he did not. In 1971 he was primarily looking for his brother's remains.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In May and June 1970, Messner took part in the Nanga Parbat South Face expedition led by Karl Herrligkoffer, the objective of which was to climb the as yet unclimbed Rupal Face, the highest rock and ice face in the world. Messner's brother, Günther, was also a member of the team. On the morning of 27 June, Messner was of the view that the weather would deteriorate rapidly, and set off alone from the last high-altitude camp. Surprisingly his brother climbed after him and caught up to him before the summit. By late afternoon, both had reached the summit of the mountain and had to pitch an emergency bivouac shelter without tent, sleeping bags and stoves because darkness was closing in.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: The events that followed have been the subject of years of legal actions and disputes between former expedition members, and have still not been finally resolved. What is known now is that Reinhold and Günther Messner descended the Diamir Face, thereby achieving the first traverse of Nanga Parbat and second traverse of an eight-thousander after Mount Everest in 1963. Reinhold arrived in the valley six days later with severe frostbite, but survived. His brother, Günther, however died on the Diamir Face—according to Reinhold Messner on the same descent, during which they became further and further separated from each other. As a result, the time, place and exact cause of death is unknown. Messner said his brother had been swept away by an avalanche.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In June 2005, after an unusual heat wave on the mountain, the body of his brother was recovered on the Diamir Face, which seems to support Messner's account of how Günther died.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: The drama was turned into a film "Nanga Parbat" (2010) by Joseph Vilsmaier, based on the memories of Reinhold Messner and without participation from the other former members of the expedition. Released in January 2010 in cinemas, the film was criticised by the other members of the team for telling only one side of the story.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Because of severe frostbite, especially on his feet—seven toes were amputated—Messner was not able to climb quite as well on rock after the 1970 expedition. He therefore turned his attention to higher mountains, where there was much more ice.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: On 9 August 1978, after three unsuccessful expeditions, Messner reached the summit of Nanga Parbat again via the Diamir Face.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1972, Messner succeeded in climbing Manaslu on what was then the unknown south face of the mountain, of which there were not even any pictures. From the last high-altitude camp he climbed with Frank Jäger, who turned back before reaching the summit. Shortly after Messner reached the summit, the weather changed and heavy fog and snow descended. Initially Messner became lost on the way down, but later, heading into the storm, found his way back to the camp, where Horst Fankhauser and Andi Schlick were waiting for him and Jäger. Jäger did not return, although his cries were heard from the camp. Orientation had become too difficult. Fankhauser and Schlick began to search for him that evening, but lost their way and sought shelter at first in a snow cave. Messner himself was no longer in a position to help the search. The following day, only Horst Fankhauser returned. Andi Schlick had left the snow cave during the night and disappeared. Thus, the expedition had to mourn the loss of two climbers. Messner was later criticised for having allowed Jäger go back down the mountain alone.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Together with Peter Habeler, Messner made a second ascent of Gasherbrum I on 10 August 1975, becoming the first man ever to climb more than two eight-thousanders. It was the first time a mountaineering expedition succeeded in scaling an eight-thousander using alpine style climbing. Until that point, all fourteen 8000-meter peaks had been summitted using the expedition style, though Hermann Buhl had earlier advocated "West Alpine Style" (similar to "capsule" style, with a smaller group relying on minimal fixed ropes).


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner reached the summit again in 1984, this time together with Hans Kammerlander. This was achieved as part of a double ascent where, for the first time, two eight-thousander peaks (Gasherbrum I and II) were climbed without returning to base camp. Again, this was done in alpine style, i.e. without the pre-location of stores. Filmmaker Werner Herzog accompanied the climbers along the approach to base camp, interviewing them extensively about why they were making the climb, if they could say; they could not. Messner became emotional on camera when he recalled having to tell his mother about his brother's death.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: It took a week for the two climbers to summit both peaks and return to camp, after which Herzog interviewed them again. His documentary, "The Dark Glow of the Mountains", with some footage the two climbers shot during the expedition on portable cameras, was released the following year.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: On 8 May 1978, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first man known to climb it without the use of supplemental oxygen. Before this ascent, it was disputed whether this was possible at all. Messner and Habeler were members of an expedition led by Wolfgang Nairz along the southeast ridge to the summit. Also on this expedition was Reinhard Karl, the first German to reach the summit, albeit with the aid of supplemental oxygen.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Two years later, on 20 August 1980, Messner again stood atop the highest mountain in the world, without supplementary oxygen. For this solo climb, he chose the northeast ridge to the summit, where he crossed above the North Col in the North Face to the Norton Couloir and became the first man to climb through this steep gorge to the summit. Messner decided spontaneously during the ascent to use this route to bypass the exposed northeast ridge. Before this solo ascent, he had not set up a camp on the mountain. When he returned he was nearly dead and the medical team who met him at the bottom of the mountain asked him, "why would you go up there to die?" and Messner replied, "I went up there to live."


title: Reinhold Messner

text: For 1979, Messner was planning to climb K2 on a new direct route through the South Face, which he called the "Magic Line". Headed by Messner, the small expedition consisted of six climbers: Italians Alessandro Gogna, Friedl Mutschlechner and Renato Casarotto; the Austrian, Robert Schauer; and Germans Michael Dacher, journalist, Jochen Hölzgen, and doctor Ursula Grether, who was injured during the approach and had to be carried to Askole by Messner and Mutschlechner. Because of avalanche danger on the original route and time lost on the approach, they decided to climb via the Abruzzi Spur. The route was equipped with fixed ropes and high-altitude camps, but no hauling equipment ("Hochträger") or bottled oxygen was used. On 12 July, Messner and Dacher reached the summit; then the weather deteriorated and attempts by other members of the party failed.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: During his stay in Tibet as part of his Everest solo attempt, Messner explored Shishapangma. A year later, Messner, with Friedel Mutschlechner, Oswald Oelz, and Gerd Baur, set up a base camp on the north side. On 28 May, Messner and Mutschlechner reached the summit in very bad weather; part of the climb involving ski mountaineering.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1982, Messner wanted to become the first climber ever to scale three eight-thousanders in one year. He was planning to climb Kangchenjunga, then Gasherbrum II and the Broad Peak.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner chose a new variation of the route up the north face. Because there was still a lot of snow, Messner and Mutschlechner made very slow progress. In addition, the difficulty of the climb forced the two mountaineers to use fixed ropes. Finally, on 6 May, Messner and Mutschlechner stood on the summit. There, Mutschlechner suffered frostbite to his hands, and later to his feet as well. While bivouacking during the descent, the tent tore away from Mutschlechner and Messner, and Messner also fell ill. He was suffering from amoebic liver abscess, making him very weak. He made it back to base camp only with Mutschlechner's help.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: After his ascent of Kangchenjunga, Mutschlechner flew back to Europe because his frostbite had to be treated and Messner needed rest. Thus the three mountains could not be climbed as planned. Messner was cured of his amoebic liver abscess and then travelled to Gasherbrum II, but could not use the new routes as planned. In any case, his climbing partners, Sher Khan and Nazir Sabir, would not have been strong enough. Nevertheless, all three reached the summit on 24 July in a storm. During the ascent, Messner discovered the body of a previously missing Austrian mountaineer, whom he buried two years later at the G I – G II traverse.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1982, Messner scaled Broad Peak, his third eight-thousander. At the time, he was the only person with a permit to climb this mountain; he came across Jerzy Kukuczka and Wojciech Kurtyka, who had permits to climb K2, but used its geographic proximity to climb Broad Peak illegally. In early descriptions of the ascent, Messner omitted this encounter, but he referred to it several years later. On 2 August, Messner was reunited with Nazir Sabir and Khan again on the summit. The three mountaineers had decamped and made for Broad Peak immediately after their ascent of Gasherbrum II. The climb was carried out with a variation from the normal route at the start.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In the winter of 1982–83, Messner attempted the first winter ascent of Cho Oyu. He reached an altitude of about , when great masses of snow forced him to turn back. This expedition was his first with Hans Kammerlander. A few months later, on 5 May, he reached the summit via a partially new route together with Kammerlander and Michael Dacher.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1985, Messner topped out on Annapurna. Using a new route on the northwest face, he reached the summit with Kammerlander on 24 April. Also on the expedition were Reinhard Patscheider, Reinhard Schiestl and Swami Prem Darshano, who did not reach the summit. During Messner and Kammerlander's ascent, the weather was bad and they had to be assisted by the other three expedition members during the descent due to heavy snowfall.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner had already attempted Dhaulagiri in 1977 and 1984, unsuccessfully. In 1985 he finally summited. He climbed with Kammerlander up the normal route along the northeast ridge. After only three days of climbing they stood on the summit in a heavy storm on 15 May.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner tried climbing Makalu four times. He failed in 1974 and 1981 on the South Face of the south-east ridge. In winter 1985–1986 he attempted the first winter ascent of Makalu via the normal route. Even this venture did not succeed. Not until February 2009 was Makalu successfully climbed in winter by Denis Urubko and Simone Moro.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1986, Messner returned and succeeded in reaching the summit using the normal route with Kammerlander and Mutschlechner. Although they had turned back twice during this expedition, they made the summit on the third attempt on 26 September. During this expedition, Messner witnessed the death of Marcel Rüedi, for whom the Makalu was his 9th eight-thousander. Rüedi was on the way back from the summit and was seen by Messner and the other climbers on the descent. Although he was making slow progress, he appeared to be safe. The tea for his reception had already been boiled when Rüedi disappeared behind a snow ridge and did not reappear. He was found dead a short time later.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner climbed his last normal route. Messner and Kammerlander had to contend with a strong wind in the summit area. To reach the summit that year and before winter broke, they took a direct helicopter flight from the Makalu base camp to the Lhotse base camp.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1989, Messner led a European expedition to the South Face of the mountain. The aim was to forge a path up the as-yet-unclimbed face. Messner himself did not want to climb any more. The expedition was unsuccessful.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1985 Richard Bass first postulated and achieved the mountaineering challenge Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks of each of the seven continents. Messner suggested another list (the "Messner" or "Carstensz" list) replacing Mount Kosciuszko with Indonesia's Puncak Jaya, or Carstensz Pyramid (). From a mountaineering point of view the "Messner" list is the more challenging one. Climbing Carstensz Pyramid has the character of an expedition, whereas the ascent of Kosciuszko is an easy hike. In May 1986 Pat Morrow became the first person to complete the "Messner" list, followed by Messner himself when he climbed Mount Vinson in December 1986 to become the second.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner is listed nine times in the "Guinness Book of Records". All of his achievements are classed as "World's Firsts" (or "Historical Firsts"). A "World's First" is the highest category of any Guinness World Record, meaning the ownership of the title never expires. As of 2021, Messner is the second highest record holder of "World's Firsts" (after Icelandic explorer Fiann Paul, who has 13). Messner's world firsts are:


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 2003 Messner started work on a project for a mountaineering museum. On 11 June 2006, the Messner Mountain Museum (MMM) opened, a museum that unites within one museum the stories of the growth and decline of mountains, culture in the Himalayan region and the history of South Tyrol.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: In 1999, Messner was elected Member of the European Parliament for the Federation of the Greens (FdV), the Italian green party, receiving more than 20,000 votes in the European election. He fully served his term until 2004, when he retired from politics.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: Messner was officially a member of South Tyrolean Greens, a regionalist and ecologist political party active only in South Tyrol, which "de facto" acts as a regional branch of the FdV.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: From 1972 until 1977, Messner was married to Uschi Demeter. With his partner, Canadian photographer Nena Holguin, he has a daughter, Làyla Messner, born in 1981. On 31 July 2009, he married his long time girlfriend Sabine Stehle, a textile designer from Vienna, with whom he has three children.


title: Reinhold Messner

text: They divorced in 2019. In late May 2021, Messner married Diane Schumacher, a 41-year-old Luxembourgish woman living in Munich, at the town hall in Kastelbell-Tschars near his home in South Tyrol.


title: Roadside Picnic

text: Roadside Picnic (Russian: , "Piknik na obochine", ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by Soviet-Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is the brothers' most popular and most widely translated novel outside the former Soviet Union. As of 2003, Boris Strugatsky counted 55 publications of "Roadside Picnic" in 22 countries.


title: Roadside Picnic

text: The story is published in English in a translation by Antonina W. Bouis. A preface to the first American edition was written by Theodore Sturgeon. Stanisław Lem wrote an afterword to the German edition of 1977.


title: Roadside Picnic

text: The book has been the source of many adaptations and other inspired works in a variety of media, including stage plays, video games, and television series. The 1979 film "Stalker", directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, is loosely based on the novel, with a screenplay written by the Strugatsky brothers.


title: Roadside Picnic

text: The term "stalker" became a part of the Russian language and, according to the authors, became the most popular of their neologisms. In the book, stalkers are people who trespass into the forbidden area known as the Zone and steal its valuable extraterrestrial artifacts, which the stalkers sell. The authors say they took the term from the "Stalky & Co" novel. In Russian, after Tarkovsky's film, the term acquired the meaning of a guide who navigates forbidden and uncharted territories; later on, fans of industrial tourism, especially those visiting abandoned sites and ghost towns, were also called stalkers.


title: Roadside Picnic

text: "Roadside Picnic" is a work of fiction based on the aftermath of an extraterrestrial event called the Visitation that simultaneously took place in half a dozen separate locations around Earth over a two-day period. Neither the Visitors themselves nor their means of arrival or departure were ever seen by the local populations who lived inside the relatively small areas, each a few square kilometers, of the six Visitation Zones. The zones exhibit strange and dangerous phenomena not understood by humans, and contain artifacts with inexplicable, seemingly supernatural properties. The title of the novel derives from an analogy proposed by the character Dr. Valentine Pilman, who compares the Visitation to a picnic:


title: Roadside Picnic

text: In this analogy, the nervous animals are the humans who venture forth after the Visitors have left, discovering items and anomalies that are ordinary to those who have discarded them, but incomprehensible or deadly to those who find them.