The Papal conclave has begun in Rome. All of us here at the Holabird Advocate have noticed the media circus that has followed the event. Our Publisher is glad that this sort of thing does not happen very often. The selection of a Pope seems to be a long drawn out affair. It makes the Electoral College look simple by comparison. Hopefully it won't take long! Some wonder if the papacy is necessary to the Church. Yet the Queen still reigns in England, the King in Spain. There is something nice about the old traditions. True the media does seem to be going overboard, but then every minute they give to the pope is one less minute they give to the Kardashians!

     It was 68 years ago today that 15 year old Anneliese Marie "Anne" Frank died in a concentration camp in northwestern Germany. For two years,she kept a diary as she and her family hid from Nazis in an attic known as "The Secret Annex" in Amsterdam, until Aug. 4, 1944, when the family was discovered and sent away. The diary was later discovered and even though publishers thought it too dark and depressing, it has since became a worldwide bestseller.