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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Mar 5, 2013
March 5, 2013
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The 411:
Yesterday, the Vatican kicked out a phony bishop who got past security and nearly entered a meeting of cardinals who will pick the next pope.
Identified as RALPH NAPIERSKI, a German, the man showed up with an entourage of fake assistants and posed for photographs with an actual cardinal. But there were giveaways: His short cassock, black fedora in lieu of skullcap, and an ordinary purple-pink scarf instead of a sash.
Still, Napierski fooled people for about an hour, calling himself Basilius and claiming membership in a Catholic order he invented called Corpus Dei (a riff on the real Opus Dei). His motive is unknown, but Napierski runs a blog about Corpus Dei and another blog called Jesus Yoga, which purports to teach the "hidden techniques of Christian meditation." The Vatican, meanwhile, is holding talks on how to boost security before the next pope is chosen. (Maiman)TOM CRUISE may be a diehard Scientologist, but originally dreamed of becoming a Catholic priest! The NY Daily News did a bit of digging and discovered the action star attended the St. Francis Seminary School in Cincinnati, Ohio, back in 1976. FATHER RIC SCHNEIDER says the teen was "instantly hooked," wanted a "good education" and it was a great place to go during his parents' divorce.
Young THOMAS MAPOTHER IV --his given name-- was a leading member of the drama club that attended Mass, spent time in the chapel and was interested in becoming a man of the cloth until things went south. Apparently Tom had a troublesome streak, used to cut school to drink and smoke and was asked to leave when the higher-ups reportedly caught him under the influence. (Lee)Zero-tolerance Dep't:
An Illinois school district is being sued by one of its own board members.
The NY Post says PRINCESS DEMPSEY claims a teacher duct-taped her son's mouth shut for 45 minutes after accusing the kid of talking too much.
Now, Dempsey wants $100-thousand dollars in damages from the Lindrop School District. The mom says her son was left traumatized by the incident.
It's unclear whether Dempsey is still serving on the school board. (Still)Ratings:
Biblical numbers for the first episode of the miniseries, "The Bible," over the weekend, pulling in 13.1 million viewers. That's good enough to make it the highest cable TV ranking so far this year.
Meanwhile, "The Vikings" debut also had pretty good ratings as well, getting 6.2 million people for the inaugural broadcast.
There are nine more episodes of "The Bible" which will air on Sundays on History right through Easter. The Vikings also have another nine episodes to run as well.The Reel Deal:
Scratch LENNY KRAVITZ from that MARVIN GAYE biopic. TMZ says Lenny is out and former "Law & Order" star JESSE L. MARTIN is in. Turns out that the late Motown legend's son is pals with Lenny and asked him not to be in the film. It's called "Sexual Healing" and director JULIEN TEMPLE is only focusing on a very rough period in Marvin's life when he was on drugs and recording the "Midnight Love" album in Belgium. So, Lenny respected his friend's wishes and pulled out of the project. The film has the rights to use Marvin's music, along with an indie-worthy budget of $8-million dollars. Filming should begin later this month, in Belgium. (Marino)
Animal Stories:
In Poland, a stray dog is a hero after saving the life of a three-year-old girl who got lost in the woods.
The girl, JULIA, wandered out of her grandmother's house with the dog as the sun was going down last Friday. The two got lost in the forest as darkness fell and had the dog not used his body heat to keep Julia warm, it's believed she would've perished. Overnight temps fell into the 20s.
The search party organized that night didn't find Julia until morning, cuddled with the dog. They were four miles from her grandmother's home. She said they stayed together the whole time.
After a brief check at a pediatric ward --she's fine-- Julia is back with her grandmother, along with the dog, who now has a place to call home. (Maiman) -
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