Catholic Fire

An Italian priest who says Sophia Loren is his ideal woman is launching a beauty contest for nuns to prove that there are pretty nuns. The Times Online reports Fr Antonio Rungi, from Mondragone in the province of Caserta, near Naples, said he expected at least a thousand nuns to enter the "Sister Italia" contest. It would at first run online, but he hoped it would then become a "real pageant" on the lines of the annual Miss Italy contest, complete with a parade and interviews. Fr Rungi, a moral theologian, said the nuns would not wear swimsuits or revealing outfits. He said what he valued most in a woman was "inner beauty". Asked for his feminine ideal however, he replied "Well, I would say Sophia Loren". MORE Via CathNews. H/T to Esther.

These are some photos of our neighbor's vehicle the day after a thunderstorm split the tree in their front yard, which came toppling down on their SUV. Would you believe their vehicle didn't even have a scratch on it? Now I call that a miracle!

Fox News: Experts are grappling with how a New York City window washer miraculously survived a plunge from a 47-story high-rise that killed his brother, the New York Post reported Sunday. Doctors and physicists said the stunning fall suffered by Alcides Moreno, 37, would have normally meant sure death, but that the 125 mph descent was possibly blunted by random air currents rising between the city's tall buildings and by an aluminum platform he clung to while falling hundreds of feet, the Post reported. Click here to read the full New York Post story. Experts said that the extra bit of resistance, which slowed his descent, saved his life. "This guy absolutely should have died," Dr. Sheldon Teperman, director of trauma and critical-care surgery at Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, told the Post. Moreno and his brother Edgar, 30, fell as they were getting ready to work outside a luxury apartment building on Dec. 7. Moreno remains in critical condition but has moved his ar...

British grandmother Peggy McAlpine celebrated her 100th birthday by becoming the world's oldest paraglider. Not content with her letter from the Queen, Peggy floated into the record books just three years after moving to "start a new life" in Cyprus. She had already bungee-jumped with members of the Royal Parachute Regiment as an 80-year-old "youngster." But cracking open a bottle of champagne after a safe landing, Peggy was already planning her next adventure. MORE

A Siberian woman who gave birth to her 12th child -- doing more than her fair share to stem Russia's population decline -- was stunned to find that little Nadia weighed in at a massive 7.75 kg (17.1 lb). MORE