FAITH

Religion Bulletin: Pope Innocent II endorses the Knights Templar

Staff Writer
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Pope Innocent II endorsed the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) with the papal bull "Omne datum optimum" in 1139. [Photo by DonaNobisPacem (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]

RELIGIOUS EVENTS IN HISTORY

On March 29, 1139, Pope Innocent II endorses the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) with the papal bull "Omne datum optimum." Latin for "Every perfect gift," the bull made the Knights Templar an independent unit within the Catholic church. The Order was created to protect pilgrims from bandits in the Holy Land. The bull also promised all spoils from Muslim conquest to the Order and made the Order exempt from tithes and taxes. The Order was later permitted to build its own churches, bury their dead on those church grounds and collect taxes on Templar properties once a year. The Templars went on to gain influence and wealth, which eventually earned the jealousy of other Christians.

RELIGION CALENDAR

April 6: Mahavir Jayanti (Jain)

April 8: Buddha's birth (Buddhist)

April 12: Easter (Christian)

April 13: Vaisakhi (Hindu)

April 19: Feast of Divine Mercy (Roman Catholic)

April 19: Ascension Day (Coptic Orthodox Christian)

April 24: Ramadan (Islamic)

April 30: Beltaine begins (Pagan/Wiccan)

May 7: Vesak (Buddhist)

GOOD BOOK?

"Two Gods in Heaven: Jewish Concepts of God in Antiquity" by Peter Schafer

Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. "Two Gods in Heaven" reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by rabbis and Jewish mystics in the early centuries of the common era and casting Judaism's relationship with Christianity in an entirely different light.

— Princeton University Press

THE WORD

Jehovah: A somewhat archaic English rendering of the four Hebrew letters, usually transliterated as YHWH, that form the name of God.

— ReligionStylebook.com

RELIGION AROUND THE WORLD

According to the CIA World Factbook, the religious makeup of Romania is:

— Eastern Orthodox: 81.9%

— Protestant: 6.4%

— Roman Catholic: 4.3%

— Other: 0.9%

— None or atheist: 0.2%

— Unspecified: 6.3%