9 August, 2006
VATICAN - MIDDLE EAST
Pope: “God is love”
A new appeal for an end to conflict in the Mid-East

At the end of a meeting dedicated to catechesis, Benedict affirmed that a ceasefire “is possible” if “reason, goodwill, faith in the other, implementation of commitments assumed and cooperation between responsible partners” prevail. His teaching was focused on the apostle John and the love of God, a unique element of Christianity.


Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Citing Paul VI and John Paul II, Benedict XVI today renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East at the end of his weekly catechesis held in Paul VI Hall.

“Dear brothers and sisters,” said the pope, “my mind, full of concern, is turned once again to the beloved region of the Middle East. With reference to the tragic ongoing conflict, I put forward again the words of Pope Paul VI to the UN in October 1965: ‘No longer one against the other, no longer, ever! ... If you want to be brothers, let the arms fall from your hands.’

"In the face of efforts under way to finally reach a ceasefire and a just and lasting solution to the conflict, I repeat, together with my immediate predecessor John Paul II, that it is possible to change the course of events when reason, goodwill and faith in the other prevail, as well as the implementation of commitments assumed, and cooperation between responsible partners (cfr Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 13 January 2003). To all, I renew my exhortation to intensify prayer to obtain the desired gift of peace.”

Benedict XVI arrived from his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo by helicopter. In Paul VI Hall, packed with pilgrims from all over the world, the pontiff continued his analysis of the figures of the apostles, dedicating today’s teaching to the contents of John’s writings, the gospel and the letter, of which “the characteristic topic... is love”.

He said: “It is not by chance that I wanted to start my first encyclical letter with the words of this Apostle: ‘God is love’ (Deus caritas est); those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’ (1 Jn 4:16). It is very difficult to find such writings in other religions. And so such expressions bring us face to face with a fact that is truly unique to Christianity.”

Starting out not from “an abstract treatment, but from a real experience of love, with direct and concrete reference, that may even be verified, to real people”, John highlights the components of Christian love that the pope summed up in three points.

The pontiff said: “The first regards the very Source of love that the Apostle places in God, reaching the point where he affirms that ‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8,16). John is the only writer of the New Testament who gives us definitions of God. He says, for example, that ‘God is Spirit’ (Jn 4:24) or that ‘God is light’ (1 Jn 1:5). Here he proclaims with striking intuition that ‘God is love’.

"Take note: this is not a simple affirmation that ‘God loves’, still less is it that ‘love is God’! In other words: John does not limit himself to describing divine conduct, he goes right to its roots. Further, he does not intend to attribute a divine quality to a generic, perhaps impersonal love; he does not rise from love to God, but he turns directly to God to define his nature with the infinite dimension of love.

"By this, John wants to say that the essential constituent of God is love and hence all the activities of God are born from love and are stamped with love: everything God does, he does for love and with love.”

The second point, continued the pope, is that God, in his love, “did not limit himself to verbal statements, but he truly committed himself and he ‘paid’ himself. As John in fact writes, ‘God so loved the world (that is, all of us) that he gave his only Son’ (Jn 3:16). Now, the love of God for mankind is concretized and manifested in the love of Jesus himself. Once again, it is John who writes: Jesus, ‘having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end’ (Jn 13:1).

"In virtue of this sacrificial and total love, we are all radically saved from sin, as the Apostle writes once again: ‘My little children... if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world’ (1 Jn 2:1-2; cfr 1 Jn 1:7). This is how far the love of Jesus went for us: until the shedding of his own blood for our salvation! The Christian, pausing in contemplation before this “excess” of love, cannot but ask himself what a dutiful response would be.”

The third moment of the “dynamic of love” is that in which “as receptive recipients of a love that precedes and overpowers us, we are called to a commitment of active response, which to be adequate can only be an answer of love. John talks about a ‘commandment’. He refers in fact to these words of Jesus: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’ (Jn 13:34).

"Where is the novelty that Jesus is referring to? It lies in the fact that he was not content to repeat what had already been asked in the Old Testament and which we read in the other Gospels too: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18; cfr Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:29-31; Lk 10:27).

"In the old precept, the normative criterion was inferred by man (‘as yourself’), while in the precept mentioned by John, Jesus presents himself as the motive and norm of our love. And this is how love becomes truly Christian: in the sense that it must be addressed towards everyone without distinction and especially in as much as it reaches the extent of extreme consequence, not having any other measure than being without measure.

"These words of Jesus, ‘as I have loved you’, invite us and unnerve us at the same time; they are a Christological goal that may appear unreachable, but at the same time they are a stimulus that does not allow us to stop and rest on what we have been able to achieve.”

[A full translation of the Pope's words at the audience today has been posted on AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS.]

Papal visit to Israel in jeopardy,

by Totalcatholic correspondent in Rome
The Universe Newsroom
Posted on August 10, 2006

The Israeli Government last year invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Israel in early 2007, and the pontiff had signalled his desire to do so, writes Totalcatholic's Rome correspondent.
But since then so many negative things have happened that sources in Rome now believe the visit is unlikely to go ahead.

Firstly the ongoing armed conflict in Lebanon and Gaza has made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for the pontiff to agree to such a visit in the immediate future.

The Pope has called several times for an immediate halt to the hostilities, but his words have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Furthermore, when the Pope last week denounced the killing of many children in Qana, in southern Lebanon, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert clearly did not like it, as he made clear in an interview with Italy’s leading daily, Corriere della Sera some days later.

While expressing his sorrow at the killing of the children, which he described as “a failure” for Israel, Mr Olmert said there had been no such reaction when many civilians were killed in Kosovo by NATO bombings.

“I suggest, therefore, not to preach to the State of Israel how to defend itself,” he said.

Even with a peace accord in place, sources say the wounds in the region would still be too open for a papal visit to go ahead in early 2007.

They think that in the present climate it would send the wrong signals to the people of Lebanon, to the Palestinians and other peoples in the Middle East if the pontiff only went to Israel.
If he wished to avoid his visit to Israel being badly misunderstood, he would also at the same time have to visit the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, where there is a large Christian population.

Such an extended visit would create many complications.
There is also the additional factor that the Holy See, and the late Pope John Paul II, have taken a strong stance against the building of the more than 600km-long wall throughout the Holy Land, effectively separating Palestinians and Israelis. Sources say it would not be possible for Pope Benedict to go to Israel and ignore the ongoing construction of this “security fence’ as the Israelis call it.

He would have to speak out against this and that would certainly more than irritate his hosts and complicate further his visit.

The Vatican Press office issued this communique today, presented here in translation:


The Holy Father Benedict XVI, who has not ceased to follow the tragic events in the Middle East, has requested the Most Excellent Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, emeritus president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to go to Lebanon as his special ambassador to bring to that tortured nation and to all who suffer in the region an expression of his spiritual nearness and of his concrete solidarity, and to pray for the great goal of peace.

The visit is essentially religious in nature and will include, if possible, a celebration of the Holy Mass by the Cardinal at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa on August 15, solemnity of Mary's Assumption, with the participation of His Beatitude, Cardinal Pierre Nasrallah Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites.

Prayers will be offered for the same intentions on that day at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, during a Mass concelebrated by the pontifical representative in Israel and Palestine, H.E. Monsignor Antonio Franco, and by His Beatiutde, Mons. Michael Sabbah, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins and of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land.

--------------------------------------------------------------

And news of a second Papal intervention today:

With the news of the imminent execution of Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva e Marinus Riwu, condemned to death on charges of having been responsible for violence that occurred in Poso, Indonesia, in 2000, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, in the name of the Holy Father Benedict XVI, has requested the Indonesian President, H.E. Susilo Yudhoyono, a gesture of clemency, sennding him the following telegram [original in English]:


His Excellency
Susilo Yudhoyono
President of the Republic of Indonesia
Jakarta

I am writing to you in regard to the imminent executions of Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu. In the name of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI I turn to you again, Your Excellency, to seek your intervention on humanitarian grounds, and in light of the particularity of the case, in order that an act of clemency might be granted to these three Catholic citizens of your nation. In adding my voice to others I would also note the position of the Catholic Church which on numerous occasions has spoken out against the death penalty. Trusting that this appeal made on behalf of His Holiness will meet with a positive outcome, I extend to you my sentiments of esteem.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano
Secretary of State

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/08/2006 14.08]

Benedict and the martyrs

8/11/2006
National Catholic Register

There’s no greater horror, no greater sin, no bigger scandal.

But we usually don’t think of Christian disunity as a problem at all.

It may have been a problem in the year 1000 in the Great Schism – but we’ve learned to live with it since then. The Protestant denominations take things too far, multiplying since the Reformation until they have become so numerous today that they are nearly impossible to count.

But for many of us, it can seem almost a positive thing: Why not divide Christians into separate places where each feels comfortable?

What’s so horrific about Christian disunity? The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the “sin” of disunity and its consequence: “ruptures that wound the unity of Christ’s Body” (No. 817). This is not mere symbolism. The church is the body of Christ, and it is meant to manifest Christ’s presence in the world. When it cannot do so with credibility, Christ’s mission is seriously impaired.

The consequences of this great sin are with us every day.

Relativism, the conviction that there is no absolute truth, is at the root of many of the rationalizations that form the basis of modern sins. Why shouldn’t I do what I like with whomever I like? What does dishonesty matter if it doesn’t harm anyone and I get what I want? Who’s to say abortion is wrong? When it’s so expensive to keep the elderly alive, why should we?

Only an appeal to an absolute moral order can answer these questions, but modern ears are deaf to those appeals.

There are many reasons for this disconnect in logic. But one of the most important surely must be the relativism that is written into the very heart of our attitude toward God, the creator of truth. We have convinced ourselves that many denominations can equally claim to tell the truth about Christianity, each coming to a different conclusion on this or that aspect of doctrine, and that it’s rude or worse to claim that one is truer than another.

If we can accept directly contradictory statements about the basis of all reality – the reality of God – as equally true, then what, exactly, is the status of truth?

Thus, even in Christian countries, the witness of Christ’s followers is tainted. The problem simply takes on a more toxic form when Christians of different stripes bicker and fight. We are meant to be the light of the world, but instead, we too often give the world an easy excuse for agnosticism about Christ – and comfort for its moral darkness.

Pope Benedict XVI announced from the beginning of his pontificate that he would “work without sparing energies for the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ.”

He “truly feels the pain of a weakened witness by Christians before a world urgently in need of divine truth and love,” said Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

His work of unity began before he became pope, for instance in the year 2000 document Dominus Iesus (The Lord Jesus). It clearly defined what unites Christians, what separates them from non-Christians – and what separates them from each other.

But the astounding signs of success we’ve been reporting on in our series on Benedict’s strides toward unity may be attributable to something else.

Pope John Paul II pointed it out in his 1995 encyclical on Christian unity, Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One).

At the end of the 20th century, a powerful reality has unified Christians, he writes: the unprecedented number of martyrs. Fascist regimes throughout the 20th century, from Mexico to Eastern Europe to China, were not very particular about doctrinal differences in their zeal to stamp out the Christian faith. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and even some Protestant believers were seen as obstacles to the state’s progress, and were targeted for elimination.

“These brothers and sisters of ours, united in the selfless offering of their lives for the kingdom of God, are the most powerful proof that every factor of division can be transcended and overcome in the total gift of self for the sake of the gospel,” writes the pope.

After a century of anti-Christian violence, “believers in Christ, united in following in the footsteps of the martyrs, cannot remain divided,” he said.

As the old saying has it, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity. Pope Benedict’s clarity and zeal for unity will be indispensable tools for unity. But it’s Christ’s prayer “That they may be one,” and the prayers of so many who joined their sacrifices to his, that will make the church united once again.

From Christendom College's newlsetter
Front Royal, Virginia


Cardinal Arinze and Benedict Groeschel Discuss Benedict XVI at Christendom's Summer Institute

Christendom College's 17th annual Summer Institute was held this past Friday and Saturday at its Front Royal, Virginia, campus. The conference, entitled "Pope Benedict XVI: A New Pontificate," featured guest speakers Francis Cardinal Arinze, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, and others. Over four hundred people came to hear inspiring talks on various themes relating to the thoughts and writings of the newly elected pontiff.

Cardinal Arinze delivered the keynote address on the topic of "Benedict XVI and the Spirit of the Liturgy," which focused on the works of Joseph Ratzinger prior to his election to the papacy.

"It is well known that the sacred liturgy figures much in the theological writings and addresses of Pope Benedict XVI as a theologian, Bishop, and Cardinal. He sees the liturgy as at the heart of the life of the Church. He even says that the Church subsists as liturgy and in the liturgy," began His Eminence, who is a personal friend of Pope Benedict XVI and the Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

He then delved into the thought of the Pope by explicating what His Holiness has taught about the essence of Christian Worship, the Holy Eucharist, the various liturgical rites and their modification, the function of music in the liturgy, and the relationship between dogmatic and liturgical theology.

"Christian liturgy is a liturgy of promise fulfilled, of a quest, the religious quest of human history, reaching its goal. And the high point is the Holy Eucharist," he explained. "And the Pope places a great value on traditional Eucharistic piety by extolling the tabernacle, adoration shown in genuflection and kneeling, proper vestments, and the like."

Cardinal Arinze explained that the Pope has much to say about the question of the formation of liturgical rites and of their change or reform.

"Real liturgy implies that God responds and reveals to us how we are to worship him. Liturgy cannot spring from our imagination, from our own creativity, for then it would remain just a cry in the dark or mere self-affirmation," he said. "The pope's authority regarding the liturgy is bound to the Tradition of Faith."

Regarding music in the liturgy, Cardinal Arinze said that Pope Benedict believes that the Church "must maintain high standards in liturgical music: universality, catholicity, beauty, attention to the Logos, music as prayer and as a gesture that glorifies God."

He concluded by explaining the relationship between sacramental and liturgical theology, and that these two theologies cannot be separated.

"Liturgy is not a science of norms and rubrics. It is not a type of juridical positivism. Liturgy is the adequate expression of the Sacraments in liturgical celebration, where development can take place according to the nature of the Sacraments, but not according to arbitrary rubrics," he concluded.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel, the internationally loved speaker and writer, presented a lecture on "Benedict XVI and Biblical Exegesis." Fr. Groeschel decried modern biblical exegesis that does not deal with Scripture on a theological plane. He cited the source of improper biblical exegesis as rationalism, which uses mathematical methods in philosophy, holding that only that which can be observed by the human senses and deduced by human reason is true.

"This way of thinking entered the schools of biblical scholars, resulting in a widespread skepticism, creating a desire to get rid of the mythological. But Catholics did not fall prey to this very easily. The dogmas of the Catholic faith from tradition held that the Word of God, the Scriptures, are unerring substantially and they are given to us, no matter their origins, to guide us on our way to salvation. Many Protestant churches did not have that anchor, so skepticism came in," he said.

"Scripture study grew further and further away from hermeneutics, which is the study of Scripture to make it an effective preaching and teaching tool," Groeschel continued. "Contemporary Scripture studies are about as scientific as examining the entrails of a dead chicken by the full moon in order to predict the weather the next day. It's not scientific!

"This way of thinking is dead!" Fr. Groeschel exclaimed. "Theories of a historical Jesus and a Christ of faith are not being taught in schools anymore. It is mentioned only in the pulpit these days, because people are not 'keeping up on things.' If you hear it from the pulpit you should approach the preacher and ask him if he believes in alchemy as well," Groeschel said.

Participants also heard from Adoremus Bulletin editor Helen Hull Hitchcock , Diotima Project president Dr. Pia de Solenni, Straight Answers author Fr. William Saunders, and Christendom College president Dr. Timothy O'Donnell.

Helen Hull Hitchcock delivered an address entitled "Pope Benedict XVI and the Reform of the Reform" in which she stated that Pope Benedict is emphatic that the Council did not represent a rupture, but expressed continuity with the Church's history. There is no pre- or post- Conciliar Church, he writes, there is but one, unique Church that walks the path toward the Lord.

She continued by explaining that the Pope points out that "liturgy can only be liturgy to the extent that it is beyond the manipulation of those who celebrate it," and that the new books "occasionally show far too many signs of being drawn up by academics and reinforce the notion that a liturgical book can be made like any other book."

Although the Holy Father admits that creativity with the new Ordo Missae has often gone too far, there is often a greater difference between liturgies celebrated in different places according to the new books than there is between an old liturgy and a new liturgy when both are celebrated as they ought to be, in accordance with the prescribed liturgical texts, she explained.

Dr. Pia de Solenni, who holds a doctorate in Sacred Theology from Holy Cross University in Rome, discussed "Benedict XVI and the Role of Women in the Church."

"The Church's view on women transcends categories of liberal and conservative, left and right. Rather, it represents a dynamic reality to which John Paul II dedicated a good portion of his pontificate and which Benedict XVI shows every intention of continuing; particularly since he published a document as president of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the collaboration of women in which he asserted that 'women have a role in every aspect of society,'" she began.

Touching on the disputed topic of priestly ordination of women she said that persons who believe the Church should adapt to cultural changes and allow women to enter the priesthood just as they have entered other professional fields are gravely mistaken.

"The problem with this argument is the premise that Christ maintained the cultural norms of his time. In fact, the Gospels indicate that he repeatedly broke with tradition particularly in his regard for and his rapport with women," Solenni said.

Fr. William Saunders, speaking on "Benedict XVI and the Compendium of the Catechism," informed the audience that the current pope was very much responsible for the success of both the Catechism and the newly released Compendium of the Catechism.

"The Compendium is a beautiful summary, if you will, of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The truths of the Faith are laid out in the traditional question and answer format and each chapter begins with a beautiful painting which itself teaches an important facet of the Faith," he explained. "Pope Benedict knew that the Church needed a simple format for helping spread the Faith and to help catechize the ignorant. Everyone should read this little book and better understand, in a succinct and clear manner, the Roman Catholic Faith."

In his talk, Dr. Timothy O'Donnell analyzed the Pope's encyclical, Deus Caritas Est."

"The pope points out that the love of Christ is not only demonstrated in Scripture but also later in Church History where Our Lord is encountered in His Word, in the Sacraments, and especially 'in the Eucharist, where in the Church's liturgy and her prayer, the followers experience the love of God and His presence and recognize that He has loved us first.' This enables us to respond to the love of God. What is of particular importance for the believer is that he recognizes that God has already shown and proven His love. Loving our neighbor is certainly a path by which we come to encounter God and if we close our eyes to our neighbor, the Pope tells us that we will also be blinded towards God's presence," O'Donnell observed.

[This article goes into more detail about Papa's upcoming meeting with his ex-students.]


Pope to Dissect Evolution With Former Students

By Stacy Meichtry
Religion News Service


VATICAN CITY, August 10 -- Pope Benedict XVI will conduct a weekend seminar in early September examining Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its impact on Roman Catholicism's teaching of Creation.

The seminar, titled "Creation and Evolution," is sure to attract the attention of supporters of "intelligent design" -- the idea that the world is too complex to have been created by natural events alone -- and Vatican scientists who do not consider it valid science.

The seminar is the latest edition of the annual "Shulerkreis," or "student circle," a meeting Benedict has held with his former Ph.D. students since his days as a theology professor at the University of Regensburg in Germany in the 1970s. The seminar is to take place Sept. 2-3 at Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer residence south of Rome.

According to the Rev. Stephan Horn, 71, a former student and theologian who coordinates the meetings, the topic of the seminar was selected when the circle last met in 2005 to discuss relations between Christianity and Islam.

Horn said the students usually choose the topic of discussion, and the pope approves it.

"The consensus was that this topic would be very useful and the Holy Father gave his consent," said Horn, a retired German university professor.

One of the circle's most influential members is Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, a former student and close adviser of Benedict whose support of intelligent design has been instrumental in introducing the theory into Catholic discourse.

Asked if Schonborn had played any role in proposing the theme, Horn said he could not recall. "I don't know who proposed the theme," Horn said in an interview. "Certainly, Cardinal Schonborn was present, and this is a theme that is dear to him."

Schonborn and Peter Schuster, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, will deliver the seminar's opening addresses. Other speakers at the event will include the Rev. Paul Erbrich, a German scholar, and the conservative German philosopher Robert Spaemann.

Proponents of intelligent design helped Schonborn place a high-profile Op-Ed piece in The New York Times last summer that rebuffed as "rather vague and unimportant" remarks by the late Pope John Paul II in 1996 that called evolution "more than a hypothesis."

Schonborn has made several attempts to clarify his own position amid a torrent of criticism that he -- or the Vatican -- was trying to roll the clock back on evolution and scientific thought. Schonborn has said he does not disagree with Darwin's theory per se, but with its use to mount ideologically driven attacks to disprove the existence of a creator-God.

Horn expressed concern that Darwin's theory had become a "worldview" that extends beyond the reach of science.

"The issue is not only scientific. There is also a philosophical and theological side" to evolution, Horn said. "We want to discuss where the limits (to evolution) lie and where there's a potential for overlap" with the fields of philosophy and theology.

Benedict has at times appeared to favor intelligent design, describing the natural world as an "intelligent project" one day after the Kansas Board of Education voted last November to adopt new standards that cast doubt on evolution. But in January, an editorial published in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, questioned the validity of intelligent design, reaffirming Roman Catholicism's support for evolution.

The Rev. George Coyne, an astronomer who heads the Vatican Observatory, has also emerged as a vocal opponent of intelligent design, describing support for the theory as a "religious movement" rather than science.

This year's seminar will mark the second time Benedict has led the meeting as pope. Horn described discussion in the meetings as a free-flowing debate, adding that he expected Benedict to preside over the group as "the mentor of a group of students" rather than as pope.

"He doesn't impose his ideas. He speaks not as pope but as a theologian," Horn said. "If someone has an opposing idea, he tries to develop it or offer criticism. He doesn't try to have the last word."

for the very interesting posts of the past two days or so, Benefan and Teresa. They are appreciated. I always learn much from your selection of articles.

How I wish I could be a fly against the wall when these meeting(s) take place! We've had a new spate of vicious attacks regarding Intelligent Design in local newspapers by scientists and people whose gods are Darwin and Dawkin. They paint believers in God as near-moronic, stubborn, arrogant etc. According to them we all believe in a man-made illusion - you all know the scientific world's bitterness about the "evil" of religi0n(s). Some of the letters from readers of the newspaper state clearly that clerics and theologians who speak of Intelligent Design should rather keep their mouths shut because they just make fools of themselves.

I'm just wondering how young people(school kids and university students)handle all this. Most young people do not want to appear stupid and uninformed about new developments in science and technology. My admiration for those youngsters who do not let go of their Christian faith in these times is growing by the day.

I hope we get to hear/read reports of this year's Schülerkreis meetings with Papa. But I suppose it is to be rather private?

[And even more on that subject.]

The pope's Schülerkreis takes on 'Creation and Evolution'

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
National Catholic Reporter

Leaders generally can't afford the luxury of "thinking out loud," since anything they say is subject to scrutiny and, often enough, misunderstanding. For creative minds accustomed to examining issues from a variety of perspectives before reaching conclusions, it's therefore crucial to carve out a few safety zones where ideas can be tossed around freely.

In that spirit, Pope Benedict XVI has his own "kitchen cabinets," and perhaps his favorite is a group of former doctoral students with whom he meets each year, known in German as his Schülerkreis.

In German academic life, the bonds between a Doktorvater and his disciples have always been strong, but even by that standard Joseph Ratzinger seems to inspire a special loyalty among those who studied under him. After Pope Paul VI called him out of the academy in 1977 by naming him Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Ratzinger and his students adopted the custom of meeting over a weekend once a year, in a cross between a retreat and an academic seminar.

You can take the professor out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the professor.

When Ratzinger was elected as Benedict XVI, his students feared the new pope's calendar would render these gatherings impossible. In fact, however, Benedict appears to savor them now more than ever. Two days after the pope's April 24 installation Mass, he met with 72-year-old German Salvatorian Fr. Stephan Horn, the informal chair of the Schülerkreis, to tell him he wanted the meetings to go forward. In late August 2005, the group assembled at Castegandolfo, where the pope has his summer residence, for a two-day meeting.

They will do so again Sept. 1-3 of this year.

If these sessions were merely a case of Benedict catching up with old friends, it would perhaps be noteworthy only as a color story about how the pope spends his "down time." In fact, however, the Schülerkreis has become an opportunity for Benedict to gather thoughts on some of the most important issues on his docket.

Last year, the group discussed God in Islam. Though these are closed-door events, leaks indicated that Benedict XVI expressed reservations about the capacity of Islam to adapt to pluralistic Western cultures, given that the Koran is regarded by Muslims as the literal word of Allah and hence less amenable to interpretation than the Christian Bible.

This year, the theme for the Schülerkreis's Sept. 1-3 meeting is an equally explosive subject -- "Creation and Evolution."

Understanding who takes part in these gatherings, and what kind of thinking they represent, is fast becoming an important "hermeneutical key" in interpreting where the pontificate of Benedict XVI may go.

Even after John Paul II's famous 1996 statement that evolution is "more than a hypothesis," Catholic scientists and philosophers have debated the extent to which Darwinian theory is compatible with orthodox Catholicism.

Most recently, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, set off a firestorm with a July 7, 2005, op/ed piece in The New York Times asserting that the Catholic church cannot accept "evolution" in the sense of a philosophy that excludes intelligent design in nature. The article triggered a fierce reaction from many Catholic scientists and theologians, who felt the cardinal was blurring scientific and theological arguments, and inadvertently aligning himself with anti-evolution activists in the States. It didn't help matters that Schönborn's piece in The Times was placed with the help of a PR firm retained by the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based institute which supports "intelligent design."

Four speakers have been invited to lead the discussion of evolution during this year's gathering of the Schülerkreis.

One will be Schönborn himself, a longtime member of the group. (In fact, Schönborn was not really a graduate student of Ratzinger, spending just a year in Regensburg with him in the late 1970s doing post-doctoral work. Yet Schönborn has always been considered part of the Schülerkreis). The other three are: Jesuit Fr. Paul Erbrich, emeritus professor of natural philosophy from the University of Munich; Professor Robert Spaemann, a political philosopher; and Professor Peter Schuster, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Given the background of these speakers, it's reasonable to expect two things from the discussion:

Debate over how convincing the scientific evidence for the theory of evolution really is;
Consensus that whatever its scientific merits, "evolution" as a philosophical stance which excludes divine causality in nature (sometimes dubbed "evolutionism") is incompatible with Christianity.

Evolution as Science
Doubts about the scientific case for evolution may come from Erbrich, whose work is frequently cited by "intelligent design" advocates.

Perhaps the most famous Achilles' heel in Darwin's theory was the lack of fossil records to demonstrate a smooth progression of intermediate forms between one species and the next. Darwin himself said future discoveries should plug the gap, but that has not happened. Experts, however, sometimes suggest that where the fossil record has failed, molecular biology has triumphed. At the molecular level, they argue, one finds precisely the relatively smooth transitions that evolution predicts.

In an influential 1985 essay, however, Erbrich poked holes in that claim. Proteins with essentially the same structure and function, he said, are found even in very distantly related species. To explain this, evolutionary theorists would have to posit that essentially the same proteins developed two or more times, independently of one another, and both by chance.

"The probability ... of the convergent evolution of two proteins with approximately the same structure and function is too low to be plausible, even when all possible circumstances are present which seem to heighten the likelihood of such a convergence," Erbrich wrote.

From there, Erbrich drew a broader conclusion.

"Why does the scientific theory of evolution hold on to the concept of chance to the degree it does?" he asked. "I suspect it is the fact that there is no alternative whatsoever which could explain the fact of universal evolution, at least in principle, and be formulated within the framework of natural science. If no alternative should be forthcoming, if chance remains overtaxed, then the conclusion seems inevitable that evolution and therefore living beings cannot be grasped by natural science to the same extent as non-living things -- not because organisms are so complex, but because the explaining mechanism is fundamentally inadequate."

On the other hand, the Schülerkreis will likely hear a more positive treatment of evolutionary theory from Schuster, a distinguished expert on molecular biology.

Schuster, who turned 65 this year, is not much for sound-bite science. Heres a typically sexy essay title: "Bistability of Harmonically Forced Relaxation Oscillations." Broadly speaking, however, Schuster accepts evolution as a valid scientific hypothesis, and has little patience for ideological opposition to it.

He had this to say, for example, about the creationist movement in a 2004 essay titled From Belief to Facts in Evolutionary Theory:

The United States [has seen] an unfruitful and special development that is not shared by Western Europe , Schuster wrote. Almost militant opponents of the idea of evolution in the American society make the request that a Science of Creation in the spirit of the nineteenth century is taught simultaneously with evolutionary biology at school. Schuster cited a critical appraisal of creationism published by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States in 1999.

Following Schönborns New York Times piece, Schuster wrote a critical response, to appear in the journal Complexities. His blunt conclusion:

"Darwinian evolution … is an empirical scientific fact, a fact in the same class with the Copernican solar system, Newtonian mechanics, Einstein's universe or the world of quantum mechanics, and is neither one hypothesis among others, nor an ideology. The interpretation of observations in biology, as we understand it today, does not need a plan, nor does it provide obvious hints for an active designer."

In an Aug. 11 interview with NCR, Schuster said it was Schönborn who asked him to take part in the Castelgandolfo seminar.

"I asked Schönborn, 'Why me?' " Schuster said by phone from Vienna. "The cardinal said he had discussed it with the pope, and the pope wanted a scientist who in no way can be suspected of being a creationist."

At the same time, Schuster is not a Darwinian dogmatist, saying that the mechanism of natural selection is only one of several principles that determine the course of biological evolution, and macroscopic evolution is seen now as an exceedingly complex overlay of many influences.

Evolution as Philosophy
While a discussion of intermediate forms and evolutionary leaps is interesting, most observers regard it as a debate for scientists, not theologians or church authorities. It's the philosophical misuse of evolution with which the church is most concerned.

What this amounts to is a distinction, which unfortunately comes more naturally in German than in English, between evolution and "evolutionism" -- between a scientific hypothesis, and a philosophical system.

That seemed to be the drift of an exchange I had with Schönborn last August, in the wake of The New York Times piece.

"For Catholic thinking," Schönborn told me, "it was clear from Pius XII's encyclical, Humani generis, that evolutionary theory can be valid to understand certain mechanisms, but it can never be seen or accepted as a holistic model to explain the existence of life."

That seems close to Robert Spaemann's approach as well.

In 1988, Spaemann published a book called Evolutionismus und Christentum, in which he laid out what he sees as the contradictions between Christianity and "evolutionism" considered as a philosophical theory.

Christianity, Spaemann argues, rests on the philosophical assumption of stably existing entities with fixed natures -- most importantly, human nature created in the image of God. "Evolutionism," he says, instead posits that everything is in flux, so the only permanent reality is change, thereby undercutting the basis for belief in a universal human nature.

Over the years, Spaemann (who, at 79, is the same age as the pope) has put his money where his mouth is.

In 1991, he was active in organizing opposition to a series of lectures in Germany by the Australian ethicist and animal rights activist Peter Singer, whom some critics have accused of blurring the metaphysical distinction between human beings and the rest of the natural world. Spaemann, who is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, circulated a "Kinsauer Manifesto," which endorsed efforts to disrupt Singer's appearances, and expressed opposition to both abortion and euthanasia.

Horn has told the German press that Benedict is keen on the need for science and faith to be in dialogue, and that he ultimately takes a positive view of evolution.

"By no means is the Pope tending towards Creationism," Horn said. "Rather he is convinced that creation and evolution can go together."

Horn said that Benedict certainly believes that human beings owe their existence "to God's creative 'Yes,'" but, Horn said, the pope also regards what this means in detail as something to be worked out in dialogue with natural scientists.

Among the members of the Schülerkreis are three Americans: Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, Provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida; Social Service Sr. Maria Lugosi of Buffalo, New York; and Fr. Antoine Saroyan of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, an Armenian Catholic parish, in Glendale, California.

The informal secretary of the group is lay German theologian Siegfried Wiedenhofer, a former Ratzinger student who today serves as professor of systematic theology at the Johan Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt.

On Aug. 10, I had a brief interview with Horn about the Schülerkreis. It's worth noting that we used Italian, so the quotes below represent my translation of his remarks.

What significance do these events have for you?
In my opinion, there are three principal dimensions.

In the first place, we try to come together with the same spirit we had when we first met during the time of our studies. We have theological discussions, of course, but these are always linked with a spiritual element -- the Holy Mass, or the Prayer of the Hours, or Vespers.

As the years have gone on, we've deepened our relationships among ourselves, who were students with J. Ratzinger at different times -- in Bonn, or Münster, or Tübingen, or Regensburg. We've shared experiences, academic studies, and also our thoughts.

We've also sought out dialogue with other professors and their thinking. Sometimes, therefore, the meetings have had an ecumenical character.

In so far as you can say, what's the significance for the pope?
I think our maestro is always happy to meet his students from the past, in the sense I've just described. Certainly, the chance to meet other theologians and philosophers is always interesting for him. I remember, for example, a very moving ecumenical exchange with Metropolitan Damaskinos (Papandreou), the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch in Switzerland.

How are the themes chosen, such as "Islam" last year and "Creation and Evolution" this year?
In these two years, the themes were chosen as they always have been. The group gets together towards the end of each meeting to discuss possible themes for next year. We try to come to consensus on a few preferred themes, as well as names of possible speakers for each theme. In the end, we present our preferences to our maestro, and naturally we leave the final decision to him.

How are the speakers chosen?
In the case of the theme "Creation and Evolution," we selected two principal speakers: Professor Peter Schuster and Cardinal Schönborn. But given the vastness and the complexity of the theme, it seemed useful to have two other experts with us as participants (Gesprächspartner), a philosopher (Professor Spaemann) and a scientist (Fr. Erbrich).

Have texts from the presentations ever been published?
No.

In a recent interview with a German newspaper, you said that Pope Benedict believes creation and evolution can be reconciled. Can you say more?
Already in 1968, then-Professor Ratzinger wrote on the subject "Schöpfungslaube und Evolutionstheorie" ("Belief in Creation and the Theory of Evolution"), which was republished in 1973 in the book Dogma und Verkündigung. He discussed the consequences for the faith of an evolutionary view of the world. He offered the response that the theory of evolution neither destroys the faith nor confirms it, but rather presents it with a challenge. Later on, he underlined that the theory of evolution sometimes has a tendency to insist on being a full explanation of the totality of existence, which makes both metaphysics and God superfluous. Hence for him what's needed is a calm approach on both sides. You can also consult the book Glaube-Wahrheit-Toleranz, published by Herder in 2003, p. 143.

[Modificato da benefan 11/08/2006 23.36]

The Pope's interview for German teleivision will be aired tomorrow night at 19:15 German time on ARD and at 22:00 on ZDF.

Korazym.org has an article summarizing the little that has been reported in the media so far about the interview, including items we have previously posted on this page.

An additional story comes from the 8/7/06 issue of Hamburger Abendblatt, which is translated here :
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Benedict XVI: A TV interview without Taboos
By Karin Franzke


The Catholic Church opens up. For the first time, a Pope sat down with four German journalists for an interview. And Benedict XVI, the man from Marktl am Inn, wants his answers on topical issues made known worldwide before his visit to his homeland in September.




But since the words of the head of the Catholic Church have the force of law for most of the faithful, the interview was pre-taped last weekend at Castel Gandolfo, and a transcript must be taken before it can be broadcast. This is to avoid any misunderstanding due to bad intepretation or translation.

The experience was "extraordinarily cordial, very impressive," according to Thomas Bellut, program director of ZDF, the second German television network (and reputedly Europe's largest TV operation), in a telephone interview with Abendblatt.

Bellut was one of the four journalists who interviewed the Pope, along with Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian broadcasting)director for TV Gerhard Fuchs, Director Christoph Lanz of Deutsche Welle (German state broadcasting agency) and Jesuit Fr. Eberhard von Gemmingen, director of the German service of Vatican Radio.

The Papal summer residence on a hilltop in the outskirts of Rome overlooks Lake Alban to the left, and a view of the Eternal City on the right.

For the interview, the four journalists were immediately led, after going through the Swiss Guards, to the Swiss Hall, the largest room in the residence. They were not allowed to see the private areas.

Promptly at 11 a.m., as the church bells rang the hour, the Pope walked in and took his place.

"It was agreed earlier that there would be no handshakes to begin with," Bellut said. "He smiled at us, exchanged the usual brief friendly pleasantries preceding an interview, and then he was ready to begin."




Bellut said the Pope answered openly, precisely and quickly to questions on his German trip, Church initiatives, ecumenism, the Middle East, Africa, AIDS, homosexuality, women in the Church and the Papal image.

"There were no taboo questions," Bellut added. Compared to politicians with whom he usually deals with, Bellut said "the Pope gave the impression of being wonderfully relaxed. He had absolutely no fear of perhaps saying something wrong."

However, Bellut thinks the physical distance between the Pope and his interlocutors was not optimal. "Technically, we could get good acoustics even in such a big room. But we had to speak loudly so we could be heard."

After the interview, there were the Papal gifts. "The Pope had a rosary for everyone, including the 80 members of the broadcasting team." White for the ladies, black for the men.

"With everyone, the Pope exchanged a few words and a handshake, and posed for a photograph. It was an unprecedented experience for me," Bellut said.

The 51-year-old executive joined ZDF in 1984 and became program director in 2002. His journalistic strong point has been politics, and although Catholic, this was his first involvement in a Church-related news event.

"I welcomed the opportunity. And I am very glad that I had the chance to be part of it."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/08/2006 15.13]

A late bulletin last night from the Italian news agency ANSA said this:

VATICAN CITY, August 11 - The execution by firing squad of 3 Indonesian Catholics scheduled to take place tonight has been postponed for at least a week.

Pope Benedict XVI earlier today requested Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono for an "act of clemency" towards the three men convicted for allegedly having caused interreligious violence in Poso.

Here is the AsiaNews story from Jakarta on the postponement:

11 August, 2006
INDONESIA
Stay of execution for 3 Indonesians
sentenced to death


Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The execution by firing squad of three Indonesian Catholics scheduled for August 12 at 00:15 (local time) has been stayed for at least a week.

The announcement was made by Sulawesi Police Chief Brig Gen Oegroseno, who said that the order came from National Police Chief General Sutanto. Catholics and Muslims have never the less not interrupted their prayer vigils for the release of the three prisoners.

In the announcement that came after President Susilo met his top security ministers, including Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh, Senior Minister for Political, Security and Law Affairs retired Admiral Widodo Adi Sutjipto, and the Indonesian Military Chief Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto, General Susanto said: “I can confirm that the execution has been cancelled.”

In point of fact, the cancellation is only temporary, ostensibly because “all of Indonesia is now preparing to celebrate the 61st anniversary of independence next August 17,” the general said as he was leaving the State Palace.

The sentence has been rescheduled for three days after Independence Day celebrations, in all likelihood on August 20.

Despite the official explanation, it is widely believed that the postponement was due to strong pressures on the government from various groups, including NGOs, human rights activists, church leaders, the international community as well as the Holy See.

In a statement, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said his government is prepared to explain the reasons for the sentence.

In the meantime, millions of Catholics across the country have prayed and demonstrated all through the evening and into the night on behalf of the three men.

In Jakarta a vigil is still underway in front of the Proclamation Monument. In Ende (Flores Islands), where the three men come from, thousands of residents took part in a candlelight march along the town’s streets. In Manada (Sulawesi), Bishop Peter Canisius Mandagi celebrated mass at midnight.

For Fr Norbert Bethan, the three prisoners’ spiritual advisor, the decision was a miracle. “This is God’s work,” he said. “Just moments ago a prison guard showed us the three coffins that are supposed to contain the remains” of the three men.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/08/2006 5.51]

For those who haven't seen the Holy Father's historic interview on German TV, here is a link to Deutche Welle's English translation of the interview which was held in German:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2129951,00.html?maca=en-bulletin-433-html

Hi crotchet!

I hope this one will show:

www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2129951,00.html

Andrea

[Modificato da @Andrea M.@ 13/08/2006 23.17]

The link that I've given given worked on the RCF, but somehow not here.

In an exclusive interview with German media conducted last week, Pope Benedict XVI addressed issues of marriage and family, world peace and intercultural dialogue as well as the future of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI's interview with broadcasters Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutsche Welle, ZDF and Vatican Radio was held at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo on Aug. 5, 2006. The interview was conducted in German. This English translation has been authorized by the Vatican.
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Gerhard Fuchs (Bayerische Rundfunk): Your next trip will be to Bavaria. During preparations for the trip your personnel said you are nostalgic for your homeland. What are the issues you'll be speaking about during the visit and is the concept of "homeland" one of the values you intend touching on, in particular?

Benedict XVI: Of course. The purpose of the visit is precisely because I want to see again the places where I grew up, the people who touched and shaped my life. I want to thank these people.



Naturally I also want to express a message that goes beyond my country, just as my ministry calls me to do. I simply let the liturgical recurrences suggest the themes to me.

The basic theme is that we have to rediscover God, not just any God, but the God that has a human face, because when we see Jesus Christ we see God.

Starting from this point we must find the way to meet each other in the family, among generations, and then among cultures and peoples as well. We must find the way to reconciliation and to peaceful coexistence in this world, the ways that lead to the future. We won't find these ways leading to the future if we don't receive light from above.

So I didn't choose very specific themes, but rather, it is the liturgy that leads me to express the basic message of faith which naturally finds its place in everyday reality where we want to search, above all, for cooperation among peoples and possible ways that can lead us to reconciliation and peace.


Thomas Bellut (ZDF): As pope you are responsible for the Church throughout the world. But, clearly, your visit focuses attention on the situation of Catholics in Germany as well. All observers say there's a positive atmosphere, partly thanks to your appointment as pope. But, obviously, the old problems are still around. Just to quote a few examples: fewer churchgoers, fewer baptisms, and especially less Church influence on the life of society. How do you see the present situation of the Catholic Church in Germany?

I'd say, first of all, that Germany is part of the West, with its own characteristic coloring obviously, and that in the western world today we are experiencing a wave of new and drastic enlightenment or secularization, whatever you like to call it.

It's become more difficult to believe because the world in which we find ourselves is completely made up of ourselves and God, so to speak, doesn't appear directly anymore. We don't drink from the source anymore, but from the vessel which is offered to us already full, and so on.

Humanity has rebuilt the world by itself and finding God inside this world has become more difficult. This is not specific to Germany: it's something that's valid throughout the world, especially in the West.

Then again, today the West is being strongly influenced by other cultures in which the original religious element is very powerful. These cultures are horrified when they experience the West's coldness towards God. This "presence of the sacred" in other cultures, even if often veiled, touches the western world again; it touches us at the crossroads of so many cultures.

The quest for "something bigger" wells up again from the depths of western people and in Germany. We see how in young people there's the search for something "more," we see how the religious phenomenon is returning, as they say. Even if it's a search that's rather indefinite.



But with all this the Church is present once more and faith is offered as the answer. I think that this visit, like the visit to Cologne, is an opportunity because we can see that believing is beautiful, that the joy of a huge universal community possesses a transcendental strength, that behind this belief lies something important and that together with the new searching movements there are also new outlets for the faith that lead us from one to the other and that are also positive for society as a whole.


Eberhard von Gemmingen (Vatican Radio): You were in Cologne for World Youth Day exactly a year ago. You experienced how amazingly willing youth are to welcome others and you personally were very warmly welcomed. Will you be bringing a special message for young people on this next trip?

First of all, I'd say that I am very happy there are young people who want to be together, who want to be together in faith and who want to do something good.

The tendency to do good is very strong in young people, just think of the many kinds of volunteer work they do. The commitment of offering your own personal contribution to help the needy of this world is a great thing.

One idea might be to encourage them in this sphere: Go ahead! Look for opportunities to do good! The world needs this desire to do good, it needs this commitment!

Then another message might be this: the courage to make definitive decisions! Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid.

The world is moving dramatically: nowadays I can continually do whatever I want with my life with all its unpredictable future events. By making a definitive decision am I myself not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement?

Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction. Risk making this leap, so to speak, towards the definitive and so embrace life fully: this is something I'd be happy to communicate to them.



Christoph Lanz (Deutsche Welle): A question about the situation regarding foreign politics. Hopes for peace in the Middle East have been dwindling over the past weeks: What do you see as the Holy See's role in relationship to the present situation? What positive influences can you have on the situation, on developments in the Middle East?

Of course we have no political influence and we don't want any political power. But we do want to appeal to all Christians and to all those who feel touched by the words of the Holy See, to help mobilize all the forces that recognize how war is the worst solution for all sides. It brings no good to anyone, not even to the apparent victors. We understand this very well in Europe, after the two world wars. Everyone needs peace.

There's a strong Christian community in Lebanon, there are Christians among the Arabs, there are Christians in Israel. Christians throughout the world are committed to helping these countries that are dear to all of us. There are moral forces at work that are ready to help people understand how the only solution is for all of us to live together. These are the forces we want to mobilize: it's up to politicians to find a way to let this happen as soon as possible and, especially, to make it last.


Fuchs: As Bishop of Rome you are the successor of St Peter. How can the ministry of Peter manifest itself fittingly in today's world? And how do you see the tensions and equilibrium between the primacy of the pope, on one hand, and the collegiality of the bishops, on the other?

Of course there is a relationship of tension and equilibrium and, we say, that's the way it has to be. Multiplicity and unity must always find their reciprocal rapport and this relationship must insert itself in ever new ways into the changing situations in the world.

We have a new polyphony of cultures nowadays in which Europe is no longer the determining factor. Christians on the various continents are starting to have their own importance, their own characteristics. We must keep learning about this fusion of the different components.

We've developed various instruments to help us: the so-called "ad limina visits" of the bishops, which have always taken place. Now they are used much more in order to speak sincerely with all the offices of the Holy See and with me. I speak personally to each bishop. I've already spoken to nearly all the bishops of Africa and with many of the bishops from Asia. Now it's the turn of central Europe, Germany, Switzerland.



In these encounters in which the center and the periphery come together in an open exchange of views, I think that the correct reciprocal exchange in this balanced tension grows.

We also have other instruments like the synod, the consistory, which I shall be holding regularly and which I would like to develop. Without having a long agenda we can discuss current problems together and look for solutions.

Everyone knows that the pope is not an absolute monarch but that he has to personify, you might say, the totality that comes together to listen to Christ. There's a strong awareness that we need a unifying figure that can guarantee independence from political powers and that Christians don't identify too much with nationalism. There's an awareness of the need for a higher and broader figure that can create unity in the dynamic integration of all parties and that can embrace and promote multiplicity.

So I believe there's a close bond between the Petrine ministry which is expressed in the desire to develop it further so that it responds both to the Lord's will and to the needs of the times.

Bellut: As the land of the Reformation, Germany is especially marked by the relationships between the different religious confessions. Ecumenical relations is a sensitive area that constantly encounters new problems. What chances do you see of improving relations with the Evangelical Church or what difficulties do you foresee in this relationship?

Maybe it's important to say, first of all, that there are marked differences within the Evangelical Church. If I'm not mistaken, in Germany we have three important communities: Lutherans, Reformed, and Prussian Union. There are also several free Churches (Freikirchen) and within the traditional Churches there are movements like the "confessional Church", and so on.

It's a collection of many voices, therefore, with which we have to enter in dialogue searching for unity while respecting the multiplicity of the voices with which we want to collaborate.

I believe that the first thing we need to do is to concern ourselves with clarifying, establishing and putting into practice important ethical directives in society, thus guaranteeing a social ethical consistency without which society cannot fulfill its political ends, namely, justice for all, living together in a positive way, and peace.

In this sense, I think a lot is already achieved, that we already agree on the common Christian basics before the great moral challenges.

Of course, then, we have to bear witness to God in a world that has problems finding Him, as we said, and to make God visible in the human face of Jesus Christ, to offer people access to the source without which our morale becomes sterile and loses its point of reference, to give joy as well because we are not alone in this world.

Only in this way joy is born before the greatness of humanity: humanity is not an evolutionary product that turned out badly. We are the image of God.

We have to move on these two levels, so to speak: the level of important ethical points of reference and the level that manifests the presence of God, a concrete God, starting from within and working towards them. If we do this and, especially, if in all our single communities we try not to live the faith in a specific fashion but always start from its deepest basics, then maybe we still won't reach external manifestations of unity quickly, but we will mature towards an interior unity that, God willing, one day will bring with it an exterior form of unity too.


Gemmingen: The issue of the family. A month ago you were in Valencia for the World Meeting of Families. Anyone who was listening carefully, as we tried to do at Radio Vatican, noticed how you never mentioned the words "homosexual marriage," you never spoke about abortion, or about contraception. Careful observers thought that was very interesting. Clearly your idea is to go around the world preaching the faith rather than as an "apostle of morality." What are your comments?

Obviously, yes. Actually I should say I had only two opportunities to speak for 20 minutes. And when you have so little time you can't say everything you want to say about "no."

Firstly, you have to know what we really want, right? Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: it's a positive option. It's very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today.

We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: we have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other, that the scale of sexuality, eros, agape, indicates the level of love and it's in this way that marriage develops, first of all, as a joyful and blessing-filled encounter between a man and a woman, and then the family, that guarantees continuity among generations and through which generations are reconciled to each other and even cultures can meet. So, firstly it's important to stress what we want.

Secondly, we can also see why we don't want something. I believe we need to see and reflect on the fact that it's not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: all cultures know this.

As far as abortion is concerned, it's part of the fifth, not the sixth, commandment: "Thou shalt not kill!" We have to presume this is obvious and always stress that the human person begins in the mother's womb and remains a human person until his or her last breath. The human person must always be respected as a human person. But all this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way.



Lanz: My question is linked to that of Father von Gemmingen. Throughout the world believers are waiting for the Catholic Church to answer the most urgent global problems, like AIDS and overpopulation. Why does the Catholic Church pay so much attention to moral issues rather than suggesting concrete solutions to these problems that are so crucial to humanity, in Africa, for example?

So that's the problem: do we really pay so much attention to moral issues? I think -- I am more and more convinced after my conversations with the African bishops -- that the basic question, if we want to move ahead in this field, is about education, formation.

Progress becomes true progress only if it serves the human person and if the human person grows: not only in terms of his or her technical power, but also in his or her moral awareness.

I believe that the real problem of our historical moment lies in the imbalance between the incredibly fast growth of our technical power and that of our moral capacity, which has not grown in proportion.

That's why the formation of the human person is the true recipe, the key to it all, I would say, and this is what the Church proposes.

Briefly speaking, this formation has a dual dimension: of course we have to learn, acquire knowledge, ability, know-how, as they say. In this sense Europe, and in the last decades America, have done a lot, and that's important.

But if we only teach know-how, if we only teach how to build and to use machines, and how to use contraceptives, then we shouldn't be surprised when we find ourselves facing wars and AIDS epidemics.

Because we need two dimensions: simultaneously we need the formation of the heart, if I can express myself in this way, with which the human person acquires points of reference and learns how to use the techniques correctly. And that's what we try to do.

Throughout Africa and in many countries in Asia, we have a vast network of every level of school where people can learn, form a true conscience and acquire professional ability which gives them autonomy and freedom. But in these schools we try to communicate more than know-how, rather to form human beings capable of reconciliation, who know that we must build and not destroy and who have the necessary references to be able to live together.

In much of Africa, relations between Christians and Muslims are exemplary. The bishops have formed common commissions together with the Muslims to try and create peace in situations of conflict. This schools network, dedicated to human learning and formation, is very important. It's completed by a network of hospitals and assistance centers that reach even the most remote villages.

In many areas, following the destruction of war, the Church is the only structure that remains intact. This is a fact! We offer treatment, treatment to AIDS victims too, and we offer education, helping to establish good relationships with others.

So I think we should correct that image that sees the Church as spreading severe "no's." We work a lot in Africa so that the various dimensions of formation can be integrated and so that it becomes possible to overcome violence and epidemics, that includes malaria and tuberculosis as well.

Fuchs: Christianity has spread around the world starting from Europe. Now many people think that the future of the Church is to be found in other continents. Is that true? Or, in other words, what is the future of Christianity in Europe, where it looks like it's being reduced to the private affair of a minority?

I'd like to introduce a few subtleties. It's true, as we know, that Christianity began in the Near East. And for a long time its main development continued there. Then it spread in Asia, much more than what we think today after the changes brought about by Islam. Precisely for this reason its axis moved noticeably towards the West and Europe. Europe -- we're proud and pleased to say so --further developed Christianity in its broader intellectual and cultural dimensions.

But I think it's important to remind ourselves about the eastern Christians because there's the present danger of them emigrating, these Christians who have always been an important minority living in a fruitful relationship with the surrounding reality. There's a great danger that these places where Christianity had its origins will be left without Christians. I think we need to help them a lot so that they can stay.

But getting back to your question: Europe definitely became the center of Christianity and its missionary movement. Today, other continents and other cultures play with equal importance in the concert of world history. In this way the number of voices in the Church grows, and this is a good thing. It's good that different temperaments can express themselves, the special gifts of Africa, Asia and America, Latin America in particular.

Of course, they are all touched not only by the word of Christianity, but by the secular message of this world that carries to other continents the disruptive forces we have already experienced. All the bishops from different parts of the world say: we still need Europe, even if Europe is only a part of a greater whole. We still carry the responsibility that come from our experiences, from the science and technology that was developed here, from our liturgical experience, to our traditions, the ecumenical experiences we have accumulated: all this is very important for the other continents too.



So it's important that today we don't give up, feeling sorry for ourselves and saying: "Look at us, we just a minority, let's at least try and preserve our small number!" We have to keep our dynamism alive, open relationships of exchange, so that new strength for us comes from there.

Today there are Indian and African priests in Europe, even in Canada, where many African priests work in a very interesting way. There's this reciprocal give and take. But if we receive more in the future we also need to continue giving with courage and with growing dynamism.


Bellut: This is a subject that's already been touched partially. When it comes to important political or scientific decisions, modern society doesn't base itself on Christian values and the Church, according to research, is considered as simply a warning voice or a controlling voice. Shouldn't the Church come out of this defensive position and assume a more positive attitude with regard to the building of the future?

I'd say that, in any case, we have to stress better what we want that is positive. And we need to do this, above all, in dialogue with cultures and religions because, as I think I've already said, the African continent, the African spirit and the Asian spirit too, are horrified by the coldness of our rationality. It's important for them to see that's not all we are.

On the other hand, it's important that our secular world comes to understand that the Christian faith is not an impediment but a bridge for dialogue with other worlds. It's not right to think that a purely rational culture has an easier approach to other religions just because it's tolerant.

To a large extent what's missing is a "religious center-piece" which can act as point of departure and arrival for those who want to enter into a relationship. That's why we must, and we can, show that, precisely because of the new intercultural environment in which we live, pure rationality separated from God is insufficient.

We need a wider rationality that sees God in harmony with reason and is aware that the Christian faith that developed in Europe is also a means to bring together reason and culture and to integrate them with action in a single and comprehensive vision.

In this sense I believe we have an important task, namely to show that this Word which we possess, isn't part of the trash of history, so to speak, but it's necessary today.


Gemmingen: Let's talk about your travels. You live in the Vatican and maybe it hurts you to be far from people and separated from the world, even in the beautiful surroundings of Castelgandolfo. You'll be turning 80 soon. Do you think that, with God's grace, you'll be able to make many more trips? Do you have any idea of where you'd like to go? To the Holy Land, or Brazil? Do you know already?

To tell the truth I'm not that lonely. Of course there are, you may say, the walls that make it more difficult to get in, but there's also a "pontifical family," lots of visitors every day, especially when I'm in Rome. The bishops come and other people, there are state visits. There are also personalities who want to talk to me personally, and not just about political issues.

In this sense there are all kinds of encounters that, thank God, I have continually. And it's also important that the seat of the successor of Peter be a place of encounter, don't you think?

From the time of John XXIII onwards, the pendulum began to swing in the other direction too: the popes started going out to visit others. I have to say that I've never felt strong enough to plan many long trips.

But where such a trip allows me to communicate a message or where, shall I say, it's in response to a sincere request, I'd like to go -- in the "measure" that's possible for me. Some are already planned: next year there's the meeting of CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal Council, in Brazil, and I think that being there is an important step in the context of what Latin America is living so intensely, to strengthen the hope that's so alive in that part of the world.

Then I'd like to visit the Holy Land, and I hope to visit it in a time of peace. For the rest, we'll see what Providence has in store for me.

Gemmingen: Austrians also speak German and they are waiting for you at Mariazell.

Yes, it's been agreed. Quite simply I promised them, a little imprudently. I really liked that place and I said: Yes, I'll come back to the Magna Mater Austriae. Of course, this became a promise that I will keep, that I will keep happily.


Gemmingen: I admire you every Wednesday when you hold your General Audience. 50,000 people come. It must be very tiring. How do you manage to hold out?

Yes, the Good Lord gives me the necessary strength. When you see the warm welcome, you're obviously encouraged.


Lanz: You've just said you made a rather imprudent promise. Does that mean that, despite your ministry, despite the many protocols and limitations, you haven't lost your spontaneity?

I try, in any case. As much as things are fixed, I'd like to keep doing some things that are purely personal.


Fuchs: Women are very active in many different areas of the Catholic Church. Shouldn't their contribution become more clearly visible, even in positions of higher responsibility in the Church?

We reflect a lot about this subject, of course. As you know, we believe that our faith and the constitution of the college of the Apostles, obliges us and doesn't allow us to confer priestly ordination on women.

But we shouldn't think either that the only role one can have in the Church is that of being a priest. There are lots of tasks and functions in the history of the Church -- starting with the sisters of the Fathers of the Church, up to the middle ages when great women played fundamental roles, up until modern times.

Think about Hildegard of Bingen who protested strongly before the bishops and the pope, of Catherine of Siena and Brigit of Sweden. In our own time too women, and we with them, must look for their right place, so to speak.

Today they are very present in the departments of the Holy See. But there's a juridical problem: according to Canon Law the power to take legally binding decisions is limited to Sacred Orders. So there are limitations from this point of view but I believe that women themselves, with their energy and strength, with their superiority, with what I'd call their "spiritual power," will know how to make their own space. And we will have to try and listen to God so as not to stand in their way but, on the contrary, to rejoice when the female element achieves the fully effective place in the Church best suited to her, starting with the Mother of God and with Mary Magdalene.


Fuchs: Recently there's been talk of a new fascination with Catholicism. What is the attraction and the future of this ancient institution?

I'd say that the entire pontificate of John Paul II drew people's attention and brought them together. What happened at the time of his death remains something historically very special: how hundreds of thousands of people flowed towards St Peter's Square in an orderly fashion, stood for hours, and while they should have collapsed, they resisted as if moved by an inner strength. Then we relived the experience on the occasion of the inauguration of my pontificate and again in Cologne.

It's very beautiful when the experience of community becomes an experience of faith at the same time. When the experience of community doesn't happen just anywhere but that this experience becomes more alive and gives to Catholicism its luminous intensity right there in the places of the faith.

Of course, this has to continue in everyday life. The two must go together. On one hand, the great moments during which one feels how good it is to be there, that the Lord is present and that we form a great community reconciled beyond all boundaries.

From here we get the impetus to resist during the tiring pilgrimage of everyday existence, to live starting from these bright points and turning towards them, knowing how to invite others to join our pilgrim community.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say: I blush when I think of all the preparations that are made for my visit, for everything that people do. My house was freshly painted, a professional school redid the fence. The evangelical professor helped to do the fence. And these are just small details but they're a sign of the many things that are done.

I find all of this extraordinary, and I don't think it's for me, but rather a sign of wanting to be part of this faith community and to serve one another. Demonstrating this solidarity means letting ourselves be inspired by the Lord. It's something that touches me and I'd like to express my gratitude with all my heart.


Lanz: You spoke about the experience of community. You'll be coming to Germany for the second time following your election. After World Youth Day and, for different reasons, after the world soccer championships, the atmosphere seems to have changed. The impression is that Germans have become more open to the world, more tolerant and more joyful. What would you still like from us Germans?

I'd say that from the end of the Second World War German society began an inner transformation. The German way of thinking too, which was further reinforced after reunification. We have become more deeply part of world society and, naturally, we have been changed by its mentality. Aspects of the German character which others weren't aware of before, have come to light.

Perhaps we were always depicted too much as always very disciplined and reserved, which has some basis in truth. But if we now see better that which everyone is seeing, I think it's lovely: Germans aren't just reserved, punctual and disciplined, they are also spontaneous, happy and hospitable. This is very lovely. This is my hope: that these virtues may continue to grow and that they may last and may receive added impetus from the Christian faith.


Gemmingen: Your predecessor beatified and canonized a huge number of Christians. Some people say even too many. This is my question: beatifications and canonizations only bring something new to the Church when these people are seen as true models. Germany produces relatively few saints and blessed in comparison with other countries. Can anything be done to develop this pastoral sphere so that beatifications and canonizations can give real pastoral fruit?

In the beginning I also thought that the large number of beatifications was almost overwhelming and that perhaps we needed to be more selective; choosing figures that entered our consciousness more clearly.

Meanwhile, I decentralized the beatifications in order to make these figures more visible in the specific places they came from. Perhaps a saint from Guatemala doesn't interest us in Germany and vice versa, someone from Altötting is of no interest in Los Angeles, and so on, right?

I also think that this decentralization is more in keeping with the collegiality of the episcopate, with its collegial structures, and that it's suitable for stressing how different countries have their own personalities and these are especially effective in these countries.

I've also seen how these beatifications in different places touch vast numbers of people and that people say: "At last, this one is one of us!" They pray to him and are inspired. The blessed soul belongs to them and we're happy there are lots of them.

And if, gradually, with the development of a global society, we too get to know them, that's wonderful. But it's especially important that multiplicity exists in this field also because it's important that we too in Germany get to know our own figures and are happy for them.

Besides this issue there's that of the canonization of greater figures who are examples for the whole Church. I'd say that the individual Episcopal Conferences ought to choose, ought to decide what's best for them, what this person is saying to us, and they should give visibility to people who leave a profound impression, but not too many of them. They can do it through catechesis, preaching, or through the presentation of a film, perhaps. I can imagine some wonderful films.

Of course, I only know well the Church Fathers: a film about Augustine, or one on Gregory Nazianzen who was very special, how he continually fled the ever greater responsibilities he was given, and so on. We need to study: there are not only the awful situations we depict in many of our films, there are also wonderful historical figures who are not at all boring and who are very contemporary. We must try not to overload people too much but to give visibility to many figures who are topical and inspirational.


Fuchs: Stories with humor in them too? In 1989 in Munich you were given the Karl Valentin Award. What role does humor play in the life of a pope?

I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry.

A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn't think we were so important.


Lanz: When you have an important job like yours, Holy Father, you are much observed. Other people talk about you. I was reading and I was struck by what many observers say: that Pope Benedict is different from Cardinal Ratzinger. How do you see yourself, if I may be so bold as to ask?

I've been taken apart various times: in my first phase as professor and in the intermediate phase, during my first phase as cardinal and in the successive phase. Now comes a new division. Of course circumstances and situations and even people influence you because you take on different responsibilities. Let's say that my basic personality and even my basic vision have grown, but in everything that is essential I have remained identical. I'm happy that certain aspects that weren't noticed at first are now coming into the open.


Bellut: Would you say that you like what you do, that it isn't a burden for you?

That would be saying a bit too much, because it really is tiring. But in any case, I try to find joy here too.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/08/2006 23.06]

Papal appearances this week

Aug. 14 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass for the feast of the Assumption at the parish church in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday, August 15.

The same day, at noon, the Pontiff will hold an Angelus audience at the apostolic palace of the summer residence.

On Wednesday, August 16, the Holy Father will hold his regular weekly public audience. That audience, too, will be held at Castel Gandolfo.

Earlier plans had called for the Pope to travel by helicopter to Rome on Wednesday, to hold his weekly audience at the Vatican. However, in light of the reduced number of people expected to attend-- because of the summer heat in Rome, and the vacation season-- the audience was switched to Castel Gandolfo.

For the record, I will collate here whatever press reports there are on the interview. The first one is from the Associated Press:


Pope Benedict says he hopes
to travel to a peaceful Holy Land
By Alessandra Rizzo



VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict says he does not feel strong enough to take many long trips, but that he would like to travel to a peaceful Holy Land.

In a wide-ranging interview with German television broadcast Sunday, the pontiff spoke of Europe's role in Christianity, secularization in the Western world as well as the growing importance of churches in Africa and Latin America.

The pontiff also offered some insight into his own personality and ministry, saying being pope is "really tiring" and that it is important to "see the funny side of life."

"I have to say that I've never felt strong enough to plan many long trips," the pontiff said in the 35-minute long interview. "But where such a trip allows me to communicate a message or where, shall I say, it's in response to a sincere request, I'd like to go."

Benedict has no apparent history of chronic health problems.

The 79-year-old Pope has made three foreign trips since assuming the papacy in April 2005. So far all have been within Europe, with a pilgrimage to his native Bavaria, Germany, scheduled in September.

But the Pope said he is planning to travel to Brazil to take part in the closing sessions of the Fifth Latin American Bishops' Conference, which takes place May 13-31, 2007.

"Then I'd like to visit the Holy Land, and I hope to visit it in a time of peace," said the pontiff, who has issued repeated appeals to stop violence between Israel and Hezbollah militias in southern Lebanon.

The Pope said he has also promised to travel to Austria [next year for an important multicentenary jubilee of that country's most important Marian shrine, Mariazell] , and he has scheduled a trip in November to Turkey.

In the interview, the Pope reiterated what has so far been a theme of his pontificate, the fight against growing secularism in Western society, especially in Europe.

"In the Western world today we are experiencing a wave of new and drastic enlightenment or secularization," Benedict said. "Humanity has rebuilt the world by itself and finding God inside this world has become more difficult."

However, the Pope said the West is also influenced by other cultures in which the religious element is very strong.

"We see how in young people there's the search for something 'more,' we see how the religious phenomenon is returning, as they say. Even if it's a search that's rather indefinite," said Benedict.

"But with all this the Church is present once more and faith is offered as the answer."

Benedict sought to give a positive image of the Roman Catholic Church as he answered questions about family and AIDS.

"Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: It's a positive option," said the Pope, lamenting that "this idea has almost completely disappeared today."

"We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: We have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other," he said in response to a question on families.

The pope has in the past issued a strong defence of the traditional family based on the marriage between men and women, while condemning abortion and homosexual marriage.

Benedict, wearing a white cassock and skullcap and seated on an ornate gilded chair, appeared relaxed and lively as he gave the interview Aug. 5 in his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, a hill town south of Rome. As he answered questions, he occasionally smiled and gesticulated.

On a more personal note, Benedict said that he is "not that lonely" at the Vatican, given the number of visitors and meetings every day, and that he tries to a maintain a degree of spontaneity even as Pope.

Asked if he likes what he does, and if it's not a burden, Benedict answered: "That would be saying a bit too much, because it really is tiring. But in any case, I try to find joy here too."

Perhaps more surprisingly for a man known for being a rigorous theologian and intellectual, Benedict spoke of the importance of being joyful in life.*

"I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically," he said. "I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry."

The Pope was interviewed by German public television channels ARD and ZDF, by Bavarian regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk, German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and Vatican Radio.
---------------------------------------------------------------

*I'd say this line is typical of journalists who apparently do not even bother to research the man they must report on regularly.

Anyone who has followed Joseph Ratzinger's career or has researched it even superficially -or even if only from the time he became Pope - could not possibly miss how often and how consitently he speaks of the joy of being Christian, the true joie de vivre which he himself embodies so beautifully for those who bother to see beyond their prejudiced stereotypical optics!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a translation of the 'review' in http://focus.msn.de/politik/papst/tv-interview_nid_33600.html
It's a weird review, in that it sounds like the reviewer has never listened to Joseph Ratzinger or Benedict XVI - nor has had much to do with Popes - before this, which leads him to some pretty strange comments!

TV-Interview:
A Pope on Cloud-7
By Ingo Thor, München
Focus-Online Editor


On chair with golden lions on the arm rests, at a great distance from the interviewers, Pope Benedict XVI is a Pope who comes off very dignified on television. [Teresa's note: What on earth did he expect of a Pope, any Pope? A lack of dignity?] Much elevated talk and little that was personal maintained an aura of sublimeness throughout.

The supreme Pontiff was obviously careful, in the almost 45-minute-long interview broadcast on ARD and ZDF, not to adopt the too informal tones that the media love to see in interviews.

In the first-ever TV interview of a Pope with German journalists, which was broadcast twice Sunday evening, Beendict XVI really showed himself worthy of his office. [What a strange remark to make! Would he show himself unworthy? The literal translation actually said "took the trouble to live up to the dignity of his office."]

And so the man from Marktl generally had minute-long answers that often ranged into philosophical-theological considerations, to questions posed by Thomas Bellut of ZDF, Gerhard Fuchs of ARD, Fr. Eberhard von Gemmingen of Vatican Radio, and Christoph Lanz of Deutsche-Welle.

Formulations like "light from on high," "to give Catholics illumination," "formation is the key to everything" and "effortful wandering through the day-to-day" were probably the only halfway understandable phrases that sprung 'publication-ready' (Druckreif) from the mouth of the educated Professor who once taught Catholic theology for years.

But the Pope's professorial tone (probably) aroused the following thoughts in the viewer: Benedict XVI knows what he speaks about. He is wise and quickwitted as well. He tries very hard to be considerate about others. He is no phrasemaker.

For millions in the German-speaking world, Christ's representative on earth spoke quite clearly, not like some member of the Bundestag [German Parliament].

His interviewers did not interrupt the Pope. They know quite well: you must let a Pope speak out. This reinforced the elevated atmosphere of the interview.

Seated dutifully and ramrod-straight like lesson-eager schoolboys from their desks, they allowed Benedict to lecture [Teresa's note: What's with this guy?] until he goes off into theological realms.

Only Father Gemmingen, with his decidedly earthbound attitude, managed to get the Holy Father down to fact [I don't get this insistent note that the Pope was too high-flying! - his tone and his words were no different from his homilies and extemporaneous interactions with different groups of people - always epxressed in language accessible to everyone], to elicit a smile from him, and to get him to answer in clear sentences like "I try to get joy out of what I do" or "The Catholic religion is not a collection of prohibitions".

The aura of enrapturement was not broken by the few casual expressions used by the Pontiff in this interview, which was billed as a preparation for his visit to Bavaria next month.

He was not a person - he said, among other things - to whom jokes come easily . And, that as Pope, he does not feel "lonely", considering that he has visitors everyday as well as "several personal encounters."

At the end of the 45-minute interview, it was a moment carved in stone when one of the four lucky journalists handed the Pope a statue of the Virgin Mary. The extraordinary moment was not spoiled by the Pope's remark caught in passing that "Now I must give out rosaries."

The much-awaited interview gave Christian believers - as surely it did other persons who had hitherto been lax about religion - the feeling that an absolute heavyweight rules at the Vatican, not someone who aims to be the media darling with placating formulations or calculated surprises.
---------------------------------------------------------------

At least, Mr. Thor's conclusion makes up for his strange comments elsewhere in the article, and that title! Let us hope this will start him out to learn more about Benedict.

The next article is not a report but a commentary on the interview, written by a veteran Vatican watcher and Catholic writer of reputation. Here is a translation of Davide Rondoni's piece for Avvenire on 8/15/06:

Benedict XVI on German TV:
Like a great fresco
to read God's signs
By Davide Rondoni


To read Benedict XVI's interview with German TV is like looking at a great fresco.

A style that is like Raphael as much as his predecessor's was like Michelangelo. One is caught and remains fascinated, and looks beneath the surface.

As if we were looking at an antique portrait that we thought we knew very well, and then there emerges the freshness of a new, rich and active figuration.

Answering specific questions, Benedict XVI traced with simplicty and depth the image of a church to whom he has offered his life. The questions were respectful but unhampered. Some questions touched on issues which, according to conventional wisdom, would not be comfortable for the Church.

But the Pope allows us to look on a fresco painted by a man who is neither afraid nor uneasy. The quality that comes across is that here is a man who is sure of himself.

The sense of openness and of access that one finds at every step - whether the topic is the role of local churches or that of women - does not come from good-natured condescension, but from the knowledge of being the first worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

A vineyard whose colors pale, nevertheless, in this worker's loyalty to his beloved Master. Whom he describes as "not just some god, but God with a human face, because when we see Jesus Christ, we see God."

The issues brought up were many, including the priority issues of the day.

In the conciseness of his replies, the Pope nevertheless made his thoughts accessible to everyone, as well as his working method.

To a question about the role of the Church in difficult times, the Pope replied that the urgent need today is for proper
education.

"I would say - and I am ever more convinced of this in dialog with African bishops - that the fundamental question, if we want to move forward in this field, is education, formation."

The concern for education so dear to the Pope's heart can be seen even in the judgments he makes.

For example, on secularization in the West: "In the Western world today, we are living through a tide of new and drastic illuminism or laicism. To believe has become more dificult, because the world in which we live seems to be made up of ourselves only, in which God never appears directly. We no longer drink at the spring, but from bottled water that is marketed to us. Man has reconstructed the world by himself, and to find God in such a world has become difficult."

There is an indication here of an educational method. If man does not have a chance to find a sign of God's presence in reality, then faith is hard to come by. In a life that takes place among images created for art, technology, economic functions, etc., it would seem that everything is the work of man. But when birth or death or other great natural events occur, then there is a confused "sense of God."

To educate ourselves to see the world (and even our own abilities) as part of Creation will help faith along more than a thousand homilies.

In a great fresco, some particulars give a sense of the whole. As when the Pope speaks of his own character. Or when he thanks a professor of evangelical religion who lent a hand to repaint the fence of his family home before his visit to Bavaria. Or when he indirectly 'corrects' an interviewer's question referring to Europe as the cradle of Christianity by recalling that it was born and developed in the Middle East.

This is the portrait of a man and a Pope who have said a big Yes to Christ, and therefore to life and to mankind:
"Christianity, Catholicism, is not a collection of prohibitions, but a positive option. And it is very important that one looks at it freshly, because this positive sense has almost completely disappeared today. We have heard too much about what is not allowed. Now one needs to say, 'But we have a positive concept to put forward.'"

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/08/2006 5.30]

You still react intelligently to Thor's weird assessment of the Pope's speech, Teresa. I'm just puzzled and a bit irritated. What is he trying to say?

Dear Crotchet - As I said, Mr. Thor sounds as if he never listened to Benedict XVI, much less to Joseph Ratzinger, before this, or indeed to any Pope! Why else would he make those strange remarks about the Pope living up to the dignity of his office [what Pope in recent memory failed to do so?] or considering the whole interview 'sublime' and, he implies, on a rarefied, not easily comprehensible level?

The Pope does not sound any different here than he does in his homilies and messages and informal Q&A that we have heard and read in the past 16 months - and that most of the faithful appear to "get", which explains the Pope's record audiences.

And yet, Thor calls some rather simple phrases "halfway understandable" and appears to reproach the Pope for a 'professorial tone'. He obviously does not get it! Maybe he is 'intellectually challenged' compared to the average Catholic who listens to the Pope?

I translated the piece anyway just to show yet another variety of media incomprehension, especially because it appears on the MSNBC online journal called Forum, which I imagine has its share of viewers, since a lot of PCs have MSNBC as default server.

From the 8/17 issue of Avvenire, in translation -

"Peace in every place
tormented by violence"
The Pope's prayer in union
with Lebanon and the Holy Land
also remembers forgotten victims

By Salvatore Mazza

The cause of peace entrusted to she who is the Queen of Peace:

Peace in Lebanon, in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, as, for instance, Sri Lanka, where there is war today.

Peace for men "in every place that is tormented by violence."

The peace that everyone hopes for, for which the faithful are invited to pray. Prayer as the strongest of all weapons.

On the day of the Assumption, it was the Pope at Castel Gandolfo who once again embodied and expressed the worries and hopes of mankind.

First, at the small parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova, in front of some 200 persons, which is the most it can hold, for the Mass traditionally presided by the Pope for this important mid-August feast, and then later, facing the crowd gathered for the noontime Angelus in the courtyard of the papal summer residence, the Pope reierated his alleal for peace.

"To the Queen of Peace, whom we contemplate in her celestial glory," the Pontiff said in the meditation preceding the recitation of the Angelus, I wish to entrust once more humanity's concerns for every place in the world that is tormented by violence."

For this, he added, "we join our brothers and sisters who at this time are gathered at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon in harissa for a eucharistic celebration presided by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who went to Lebanon as my special representative, to bring comfort and concrete solidarity to all victims of the conflict and to pray for the great intention of peace. We are also in communion with the priests and the faithful of the Church in the Holy Land, who are gathered at teh Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth with the papal representative in Israel and Palestine, Arhcbishop Antonio Franco, to pray for the same intentions."

Additionally, "My thoughts also go to the dear nation of Cri Lanka, threatened today by a deterioration of ethnic conflict; and to Iraq, where the frightening daily trail of blood makes more remote the prospect of reconciliation and reconstruction.
May Mary obtain for all sentiments of mutual understanding, the will towards such understanding, and the desire for concord. "

In his homily at the 8:00 a.m. Mass in Castel Gandolfo's parish church, the Pope urged prayer "so that Mary Queen of Peace may help peace triumph today," certain that "in the end, love will win, not hate, that in the end, peace will win."

For his extemporaneous homily, the Pope took off from the Reading of the day and the sense of the Feast of the Assumption, underlining that the words "All generations shall call you blessed" mean that "the future, all that is to come, belongs to God, and is in the hands of God, that God will win, not the dragon, who is portrayed as very powerful in the First Reading today, the dragon who represents all the forces of violence in the world."

"These forces may seem invincible, but Mary tells us they are not," said the Pope. "The Woman - as the First Reading and the Gospel tell us - is stronger because God is stronger."

"Certainly, compared to the armed dragon, this Woman who is Mary, who is the Church, appears defenseless, vulnerable. And God, too, is really vulnerable in this world, because he is Love, and love is vulnerable. But the future is in His hands - love wins, not hate, so in the end, peace wins. "

He concluded: "This then is the great consolation found in the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in body and soul to the glory of heaven. Let us thank the Lord for this consolation, but let us also look on this consolation as a commitment for us to be on the side of good, on the side of peace."

Thus did Benedict XVI wish to characterize his two public appointments on Tuesday, which drew more than 2,000 pilgrims to Castel Gandolfo.

He greeted them all at the end of the Angelus and was repeatedly interrupted by applause and chanting (including an unforgettable "Be-ne-det-to, tu sei la vita per me.." [Benedetto, you are life for me..] to the tune of 'Rosamunda')*.

At the end, seeing the sun peek through the clouds, Papa Ratzinger added to his wishes for a great "ferragosto" [Italian term for the mid-August holiday] a spontaneous "The sun has come out, thank God!"

--------------------------------------------------------------
*Is anyone familiar with the song 'Rosamunda'? Is this a trend, or was it already in vogue with JP-II, that people are adapting popular love songs to address to the Pope? Interesting, as I have proposed at least two adaptations from opera arias....

?

Pope Has Been Pressing
for Mideast Peace


CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The tragedy in Lebanon and Israel has been the issue most referred to by Benedict XVI both in his public and private meetings during July and August.

The Pope has repeatedly presented the Holy See's position, expressed in three appeals: an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian aid for tormented populations, and dialogue that takes into account the rights of all states and peoples involved in the conflict.

Both in his spontaneous meetings with journalists during his July 11-28 holiday in the Aosta Valley, as well as his meetings last Sunday and Tuesday with pilgrims to pray the Angelus, peace in the Middle East has been constantly on Benedict XVI's lips.

In an interview with German-speaking television channels and with Vatican Radio, broadcast last Sunday, the Holy Father was asked about the Mideast.

"Of course we have no political influence and we don't want any political power," Benedict XVI said. "But we do want to appeal to all Christians and to all those who feel touched by the words of the Holy See, to help mobilize all the forces that recognize how war is the worst solution for all sides. It brings no good to anyone, not even to the apparent victors. We understand this very well in Europe, after the two World Wars.

"Everyone needs peace. There is a strong Christian community in Lebanon, there are Christians among the Arabs, there are Christians in Israel. Christians throughout the world are committed to helping these countries that are dear to all of us. There are moral forces at work that are ready to help people understand how the only solution is for all of us to live together. These are the forces we want to mobilize: It's up to politicians to find a way to let this happen as soon as possible and, especially, to make it last."

As a concrete contribution to peace, the Pope requested Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, the retired president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to travel as his envoy to Lebanon to take to all those suffering in the region the expression of his spiritual closeness.

The visit had an essentially religious character and culminated with a Mass, over which the cardinal presided, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa on Tuesday, the solemnity of the Assumption, with the participation of Cardinal Pierre Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites.

Also congregated that day at the Pope's request to pray for peace were pastors and faithful of the Church in the Holy Land.

The Eucharist was concelebrated by the papal representative in Israel and Palestine, Monsignor Antonio Franco, by Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem and by Catholic ordinaries of the Holy Land.

Last Friday, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N. office in Geneva, addressed the special session of the recently formed Human Rights Council, dedicated to the situation in Lebanon.

"The Lebanese people have a right to the integrity and sovereignty of their country," the prelate explained. "The Israeli people have a right to live in peace in their own state; and the Palestinian people have a right to have a free and sovereign homeland.

"The violence of these weeks is destroying a promising model of national conviviality, built over centuries, where a plurality of communities, even of very different religious convictions, learned that the only way to live in peace and security and to use their human resources and diversity in a creative way, is dialogue and close cooperation."*

The papal representative continued: "May law never reach the point of sanctioning results obtained by force alone. That would be the ruin of civilization, the defeat of international law, and a fatal example for other areas in the region and, in fact, for the world."

----------------------------------------------------------------

*If Archbishop Tomasi is referring to Lebanon as this 'promising model of national conviviality,' he is glossing over the fact that in the past two decades, the government of Lebanon, through moral, political and and military weakness, has allowed a foreign-financed terrorist organization to take root in its pluralistic community and set up their military nests among the civilian population.

No 'national conviviality' can survive the presence of one group that imposes its will by terrorism and armed might - even if, it is claimed, Hezbollah has also set up a network of social action and charity in the region it occupies. What crimes have been committed and covered around the world by a variety of, unfortunately, Islamic 'charities' created to advance jihadism by any means possible?

And surely, the good archbishop cannot mean that 'dialogue and close cooperation' in the positive sense took place between Hezbollah and the local civilians it terrorized into harboring their militia and arsenals!

Unfortunately, no Vatican statement so far has castigated the Hezbollah in any way! Not even to point out, at the very least, that there would be far less civilian deaths in Lebanon, if any, had not Hezbollah dug itself in among the civilians - shamelessly using them as shields to minimize the extent of Israeli attacks, as cannon fodder in the case of attack, and as propaganda fodder afterwards, further fed by what we now all know to be multiple, deliberate and blatant instances of 'faux-tography' [of which Osservatore Romano happens to be one of the most avid consumers].
.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/08/2006 5.48]

[QUOTE][DIM]7pt[=DIM]Scritto da: TERESA BENEDETTA 18/08/2006 0.14
*[C]Is anyone familiar with the song 'Rosamunda'? Is this a trend, or was it already in vogue with JP-II, that people are adapting popular love songs to address to the Pope? Interesting, as I have proposed at least two adaptations from opera arias....[/c] [/DIM][/QUOTE]

If this is the song I have in mind, I wouldn't think that our Mozart-loving Papa would find it very fitting

"Rosamunde" is what we call a "Schunkel-Schlager" in Germany, a song mainly used during carnival or at folk festivals.

If you follow the link, you can get the text in German and there are three variations of the song to listen to (click on one of the three "Melodie" in the left corner.)

[URL=http://ingeb.org/Lieder/rosamund.html]http://ingeb.org/Lieder/rosamund.html[/URL]

Edit: Here's a slightly better mp3-Version of the song:
[URL=http://www.jbo-eintracht.de/festimages/Rosamunde.mp3]http://www.jbo-eintracht.de/festimages/Rosamunde.mp3[/URL]<p><font class='xsmall'>[<i>Modificato da mona24 18/08/2006&nbsp;7.36</i>]</font></p>

ROSAMUNDA

What the heck was that? I just tried Mona's Rosamunda link. I agree with her. I don't think that is Papa's style of music. Teresa, was that the Rosamunda you had in mind?

On 8/15/06, Avvenire published this interview with German economist Hans Tietmayer who was asked bout the Pope's interview for German TV. Here is a translation -

"With Ratzinger, Germany rediscovers
that to believe is an act of joy"
By Pierangelo Giovanetti

"Thanks to this Pope, Germans are starting to learn anew that to believe is beautiful, that faith fills our life, that the Church means joy and not a series of prohibitions and moral prescriptions placed on the shoulders of the faithful as a burden to carry. This calling attention to the beauty of truth makes the message of Benedict XVI extremely up to date, with great impact even on the youth. That is why, anticipation runs very high for his visit in September, not only in his native Bavaria but throughout Germany."

Banker and economist Hans Tietmayer, one of the fathers of the new Europe, president of the German Bundesbank (federal bank) from 1993 to 1999 (up to when the Euro became currency), listened attentively to the interview given by the Pope to German TV.

"I was very struck by this aspect of the beautiful, this shedding light on what is positive in Christianity." he exclaims. "Unfortunately, in our society today, even among us in Germany, one tends to paint the faith as an impediment, a brake to being able to live life in all its fullness. It is always being said - The Church says no to this, it says no to that...Instead of pointing to the strength that believing in God can give us, the joy and the consolation that faith brings.
Faith fills our life and our actions with meaning. And it helps us to triumph over the problems of our day-to-day and to work in order to build a better world."

Professor Tietmayer, about a year and a half into his Pontificate, Papa Ratzinger is returning to Germany for a second time, having been to Cologne last year. How are the nation and the German Church experiencing these weeks of preparation?
There is great emotion, anticipation and hope. We saw that in the way that German TV presented the interview and the positive reaction from the general public, not only from German Catholics.

One breathes a new atmosphere in Germany. Of course, it does not mean that all problems will be resolved as by a magic wand. It takes time. But it is a different atmosphere, and without a doubt, this is due to Papa Ratzinger, to his election as Pope, to his visits to Germany, to the force of his words.

Already last year in Cologne, we saw how much his arrival amounted to a healthy shaking-up, something that triggered off a new course, that changed the way Germans feel about the Church and about faith.

Now, the march continues, and this Bavarian phase will simply give it new energy. In Munich and Regensburg, hundreds of thousands are expected to attend the Masses to be celebrated by the Pope. This is something unusual in Germany.

Germany appears to have put aside the harsh and severe image of Razinger the Panzerkardinal, as he was called up till 15 months ago.
That image, which was so widespread among the German public, because of the office he held, has been nullified by the Pope's behavior and by the gentleness of his words. His kind, sweet style of being Pope has made the Germans discover the real Ratzinger. And that made an immediate breakthrough.

Even the TV interview showed them, not an inquisitor pronouncing sentences and bans, but a good father who has all mankind in his heart and who addresses all men with words of truth and peace and concord and authentic love.

In the interview, Benedict XVI launched again a strong appeal for peace. And although he pointed out that a Pope does not have a political role, he nevertheless addressed those who hold power in the world to stop wars and all other hostilities.
Even if they may often seem to be the words of one crying in the wilderness, the Pope's appeals - including those for peace - do carry extraordinary weight with politicians and heads of government. I had that perception during my years in public service.

Certainly, the Pope is not a political decision-maker, but his moral authority is always higher and better felt, and one notes that he speaks for all mankind not just for Catholics.

Papa Ratzinger desired this trip to Bavaria very much, according to his close associates, "out of nostalgia for his native land." What effect does the Pope's strong attachment to the region of his birth have on Germans in general?
Certainly, it fills us with joy and pride. But we also must remember that Ratzinger is not the Pope of Germans alone - he is everybody's Pope, as he himself has often said. Even in the TV interview, he addressed appropriate words to Germany as well as to the whole world.

Did you note his reply about the role of women in the Church? What did you think of it?
It is the clearest answer to whoever accuses the Church of being hostile to women. Benedict XVI also made it clear: one does not have to be a priest to play an outstanding role in the Church.

Tasks and functions must be specified, including those of great weight and responsibility, which women can find themselves carrying out and expressing thereby their own spiritual gifts. Take for example Mary Ann Glendon of heh United States, who is the president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. She is not a priest but she plays within the Church and in society, a role that is very much in the forefront.

How much influence does a German Pope have on Church relations with the reformed and Protestant communities?
Benedict knows the Protestant world very well, and this is of undoubted help towards a reciprocal understanding. His having pursued the way of dialog all along will have its effects, I do not doubt that.

But it takes time. The wounds of history cannot be sewn up in a hurry. The important thing is to have started on the right road. Which is that of dialog and cooperation, even in facing the problems of society and giving a common response together.

Professor Tietmayer, the spiritual void into which Europe appears to have fallen gradually can also serve to reawaken consciences. Will the Continent rediscover its Christian roots?
Europeansociety must reflect more forcefully on its own Christian values and on the fundamental contents of our beliefs. The Gospel message must be relived and translated into the culture and society of today, in the light of experience and new knowledge.

There is a sense that the core of the faith is being diluted. Not just Europe but the whole world, needs an infusion of faith. Today, Europe's number one problem is to find its way, the right orientation for our lives and for our actions.

Faith and Christian values in everyday life do not appear to be appreciated and considered enough. A renewal of spirituality could help Europe and the world to better resolve the multiple challenges of the present and the future.

I will reply to the Rosamunde comments in CHATTER.

I posted this item first in REFLECTIONS ABOUT ISLAM, but in the context of current events, and because it does say something about the Pope's visit to the Holy Land, I am also posting it here.

What a refreshing item this is - and it does not gloss over harsh facts!
---------------------------------------------------------------

Israel's ambassador to Vatican says
Lebanese conflict had no victor
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

ROME, Aug. 17, 2006 (CNS) -- Israel's ambassador to the Vatican said the Lebanese conflict had no victor, but it served to focus world attention on the threat of global Islamic terrorism.

At the same time, the aftermath of the fighting offers an opportunity for the West -- and the Catholic Church -- to support moderate Muslims by helping to rebuild Lebanon and resettle refugees, the ambassador, Oded Ben-Hur, said in an interview with Catholic News Service Aug. 16.

The ambassador also encouraged church leaders to promote a new wave of pilgrimages to the Middle East, which he said would send a calming message and help restore normality in the region.

A U.N.-brokered cease-fire was being implemented in mid-August after a monthlong Israeli offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The fighting killed more than 1,200 people, most of them Lebanese civilians, and destroyed homes, roads, bridges and factories throughout the country.

Ben-Hur lamented the loss of life and destruction on both sides and said the war had "no winners or losers."

"We don't need to claim victory because there is no room for victory. Let (Hezbollah) claim victory. We would like to claim peace," he said.

He said Hezbollah fighters had hidden behind civilians during the conflict, using the inevitable victims as instruments of propaganda in the media. As a result, he said, Israel's image was damaged.

But the ambassador said some good had come out of the Lebanese fighting. For one thing, he said, the West can see more clearly that the actual root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict is "extremist Islam and terrorism."

Ben-Hur said Hezbollah was part of a larger terrorist phenomenon that stretches from Hamas in the Palestinian territories to al-Qaida in southern Asia and other groups in Indonesia.

"We have a problem on a world scale, and we have to deal with it. The Western world should react with a relentless, unyielding war against terrorism, uprooting them, stopping all their financial sources and looking for them wherever they are," he said.

The ambassador said the fighting had also opened the West's eyes to Hezbollah's activities as a "state within a state" and the "true warlords" of Lebanon. With a cease-fire in place, the country's legitimate government has a golden opportunity to exert national sovereignty over its own territory, he said.

"Before they were threatened by Hezbollah, but now everybody is watching," he said.

He said the key to defusing Lebanon is to make sure Hezbollah disarms. Unless that happens, he said, the war will have been futile, and Israel will have to "go back and uproot this cancer again, only the next time around we'll have to deal with Hezbollah armed with nuclear weapons, which should terrify the whole world."

Ben-Hur said that in the aftermath of the fighting there could be a major role for the Catholic Church: sending relief, helping people rebuild and resettle, and even promoting religious visitors to the region.

"While it might sound strange to you, I think at this point it is extremely important to start with a new wave of pilgrimages to the Middle East, to send a pacifying, calming message to the whole world," he said.

"We know that the Christian community in the Middle East has always been a positive, bridging factor between populations, and we would like to see this happening again," he said.

The ambassador acknowledged Vatican concerns that a huge influx of reconstruction aid from countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia could, in fact, help turn Lebanon into a more militant Islamic country. But he said the assistance Christian communities offered to many Muslim refugees during the Lebanese fighting should help Lebanon remain "a model of Christian-Muslim coexistence."

"The greatest Christian response to the Muslim threat will be to show the force of good over evil, to embrace this area," he said.

Ben-Hur, who spoke with Vatican officials during the 32 days of fighting in Lebanon, said he disagreed with an argument often made by church leaders -- that the root cause of the region's problems is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"I do not believe that if we solve the problems with the Palestinians, Hezbollah will lay down their weapons. The Palestinian cause is a pretext for Hezbollah and Iran," he said.

He said he thinks Israeli-Vatican relations have not been damaged by the Lebanese conflict, even if Israel's image was tarnished because of widespread coverage of civilian casualties.

As for Pope Benedict XVI's comments during the fighting, Ben-Hur said he found them very balanced. He said Israel in particular appreciated the pope's endorsement of a declaration by the Group of Eight industrialized nations in July that criticized the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah for fueling an escalation in fighting, urged Israel to exercise restraint and called for demilitarization of all armed groups in Lebanon.

The pope also called repeatedly for an immediate cease-fire, which was refused by Israel. Ben-Hur said that as time went on he thought the Vatican better understood the reasons for the Israeli position -- that "an immediate cease-fire and a withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from our positions in the south would have created a vacuum, which very quickly would have been filled by Hezbollah and their weapons."

He said that on the bilateral level Vatican-Israeli meetings were expected in the near future to try to move ahead the long-stalled negotiations on the legal and financial status of church institutions in the Holy Land.

Israel has invited the pope to visit the Holy Land, and Ben-Hur said his understanding was that the pope had intended to make the trip in 2007.

"We hope that it's still on," he said. He added that the pope's recent comment that he hoped to visit the Holy Land at a time of peace was open to interpretation.

"We hope the church itself will help create the conditions for his coming," he said.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/08/2006 14.14]

Yesterday, Marcello Pera, ex Senate President of Italy and Joseph Ratzinger's intellectual sparring-partner and co-author, wrote the online journal LIBERO his reflections on some points that the Pope made in the interview for German TV.

Pera prefaced his letter with an expression of his perplexity that neither the Italian press nor Italian politicians in general had any reaction at all to the interview!

Pera's reflections concern the Pope's words about the growing secullarization in Europe and its consequences for the Christian West in its confrontation with Islam.

I will post a translation as soon as I can....

Here is a translation of the letter written by Marcello Pera to the editor of LIBERO published yesterday, 8/17/06:

How to win the confrontation with Islam
By Marcello Pera


Dear Editor -

You must have noticed yourself that the recent interview given by Benedict XVI to Vatican Radio and three German television outlets did not elicit any particular reaction here in Italy.

There were very few comments, no reaction from cultural exponents, no word at all from our political leaders.

But what is most amazing is the silence from the center-right, who appear to be more concerned these days with depressing personal brawls or trivial issues, rather than on the fundamental questions upon which depend their true political identity, their unity of action, and even the possibility of their return to power, after having wasted the best opportunity that history has offered them.

Nevertheless, political alignments apart, you would agree with me that a public discussion oF "the framework of principles and values on which to anchor political action" is needed by our countrymen today, who are more lost and confused than ever.

And so I address myself to your kindness, even in the way of providing me with space, to present you and your readers with my reflections on the words of the Pope.

In our epoch which is dramatically marked by issues of war and peace, of terrorism, of immigration and integration, of religious freedom, of bioethics, of the European identity, his words are of particular importance, and in my view, of particular help.

Three points seemed most important to me:

First: "In the Western world today, we are living through a tude of new and drastic illumism or laicism."

Second: "The West today is strongly impacted by other cultures whose religious origins are very strong, and who are horrified by the coldness which they see in the West towards God."

Third: "We should rediscover God, and not just any god, but the God who has a human face, because in looking at Jesus Christ, we see God himself."

I will limit myself to these sentences, among many, in order to deduce two reflections: that the encounter of civilizations now taking place is not so much between Christianity and Islam - which does exist and is bloody - as much as between religion and secularization; and that to win this encounter, it is necessary for the West, especially Europe, to recOver the roots of our Christian civilization.

Let me start with the first. Secularization is, in Italy, both a fact and an ideology. It has led to customs, practices and laws contrary to the values of Christian tradition. The examples are directly seen in our daily life.

The European consensus appears to approve everything: from abortion to experimenting with embryos, from euthanasia to planned eugenics, to gay marriages. Recently, Holland even legitimized a party advocating pedophilia and polygamy.

As an ideology, secularization transforms these facts into virtue, that is, the virtue of modernity which would, above all, distinguish the public sphere from the private, and confine religion to what Cardinal Ratzinger has called "the ghetto of subjectivity."

In short, it would eliminate every moral basis from the liberal and democratic state (the philosopher Juergen Habermas is most worked up about this) and do away with any ethical-religious references in legislation.

Besides being specific to Europe, this also constitutes the principal difference between Europe and the United States concerning the relation between politics and religion.

Yes, the United States rigorously guards (the principle of) separation of Church and State, but allows for a positive role of religion in the public sphere. Whereas in Europe, religion is tolerated only within domestic walls.

In the United States, religious freedom is a public freedom, and the right to profess a religion is a collective right, a right of the community. Here, in Europe, religious freedom is private, and the right to be religious is individual, for individuals.

In other words, in the United States, religion has the right to express itself and to orient politics. Here, in Europe, religion only has the right not to interfere in politics.

The speech by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on February 3, 2004, to the National Assembly in favor of a law that prohibits the Muslim veil to be worn in public, along with all other "conspicuous" religious symbols, is illuminating in this respect.

With brutal frankness, he admitted that French laicism is a national ideology to which everyone should be converted. In particular, he said, "for those who have recently arrived in this country - and I refer to the Muslims - laicism is an opportunity for taking part in the French religion." So, that is the only religion acceptable to the French government, the only religion that has political value.

All other religions, from Christianity to Islam, should be privatized, and their symbols banned from the public sphere, precisely because "they are taking on a political significance and can no longer be considered to be simple personal signs of religious affiliation."

The encounter of civilizations (and even the conflicts in the Paris suburbs recently, which Raffarin did not undertand he was
facilitating) arises from this attitude and involves the Muslims above all, because unfortunately, the Christians of Europe are more and more resigned to the French mode, that is, to live their religion in the catacombs, hidden from public view.

You, Mr. Editor, would have seen how so many Catholics in the Italian Senate were visibly happy at the outcome of recent voting concerning the financing [by the European Union] of experimentation on human embryos.

"We in Italy," they said, "would not allow it at home, but the others can do it, and do it using Italian contributions."

Muslims, as the Pope said, are "horrified" by this religious degradation. Not so much by Christians as such, but by the states or governments which Christians, in the interests of being "modern," have put in place.

In turn, Christians are horrified not so much by Muslims as Muslims, but as people who still believe in God, whereas most of the Christians of Europe no longer believe in God.

Besides being horrified, Christians are also bewlidered and unprepared, because they find themselves in the midst of an encounter among different cultures, whereas the laicism to which they have comfortably adapted themselves had falsely promised that it would be the only possible guarantee to such an encounter.

This reciprocal horror, as we can see, is based on a misunderstanding: one side is against the other not for who they are, but for who they no longer are or no longer want to be.

Christians are no longer believers, and so they are against Muslims, who are believers. Muslims would never want to be members of a laic religion, and so they are against Christians who would make them convert to laicism.

My second reflection on the Pope's words concerns the recovery of our Christian roots in order to overcome this encounter between the religious civilization of the Muslims and the secular civilization of Europe.

I think the battle is lost. And since I believe that even Europe may be lost (not by chance, through the French), I maintain we should all start from scractch.

Cardinal Ratzinger once told me that this recovery should be undertaken by a "creative minority" with particular reference to a lay minority. This time, Benedict XVI is addressing himself to the faithful of the many churches within Christian Europe.

"The first thing to do in our society," he said, "is that we must all concern ourselves together with making clear our main ethical orientations, to find these ourselves and translate them into action, thus guaranteeing ethical cohesion and consistency in our society."

This call by the Pope, which I humbly but insistently invite Catholic priests asnd bishops to meditate upon, is very strong indeed. If I understand right, the Pope thinks that a clash of civilizations can be avoided, or if not avoided, then at least, absorbed, through concrete works of evangelization, and not through a generic promotion of religion and spirituality.

We should rediscover the God of Christians, not "just any God," bbecause not all gods are equal. The God of Christians is love, and therefore is inclusive. And that is why if we embrace this God, then we can co-exist with those who believe in another god - because our God is concerned with everyone and loves them as he does us. The only thing we cannot do is to co-exist with believers if we ourselves no longer believe in anything.

"It is important," the Pope adds, "that our secular world takes note that the Christian faith is not an impediment but rather a bridge for dialog with other worlds."

Naturally, it is equally important that those who profess the Christian faith - the Catholic Church, in the first place - truly act to promote the principles of that faith.

I will stop here, dear Mr. Editor, because I may have already said too much. I leave the rest of what the Pope said - which is a lot - to your attention and to that of your readers.

Would that there are others, among Catholics and among believrs in general, who will pay attention to the Pope's words.....
---------------------------------------------------------------

For those who do not know Marcello Pera:
Philosopher, politician, layman with a passion for theology. The immediate past President of the Italian Senate was born in Lucca in January 1943. His entry into politics within the Forza Italia umbrella [ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition] was recent, having always been a philosopher-professor. He continues to be a professor of the philosophy of science at the University of Pisa.

He is a leading scholar on Karl Popper, the Austrian philosopher theoretician of the 'open society.' He is also a contributor to Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero and La Stampa.

In 2003, he and Cardinal Joseph Ratzigner co-authored the book Senza Radici, which denounces the moral decadence of Europe, impoverished by its negation of its Christian roots and threatened by Islamist terror.

The book originated from complementary talks that they had given which led to a public discussion of these issues. It was this collaboration that established the personal and intellectual link between the future Pope and the liberal scholar. They agree on the future of Europe and have expressed their common concern that Western civilization is being undermined from within by relativism and exteriorly by Islam fundamentalism.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/08/2006 3.35]

The Vatican released the text of a telegram sent to His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babilonia of the Chaldeans, in which Pope Benedict appeals for the release of teh young Chaldean priest abducted in Baghdad August 15 by unknown kidnappers. The telegram was sent in English:

Deeply saddened by news of the abduction of Father Saad Syrop Hanna, the Holy Father wishes me to assure Your Beatitude and all the pastors and faithful of the beloved Chaldean Church of his spiritual closeness and prayerful solidarity.

His Holiness makes a heartfelt appeal to the abductors to release the young priest at once, so that he can return to the service of God, the Christian community and his countrymen.

The Holy Father's thoughts also go to all the victims of abduction in your Country and he prays that this dreadful scourge, as well as the "terrible daily bloodshed which delays the dawn of reconciliation and rebuilding" (Angelus of 15 August 2006) will finally come to an end.

His Holiness encourages the members of the Catholic community to continue to work together with all religious believers and people of good will towards a future of harmonious and respectful coexistence for the beloved Nation of Iraq.

Cardinal ANGELO SODANO
Secretary of State

Here is the AsiaNews report on the abduction:

Baghdad (AsiaNews), Aug. 18, 2006 – An armed group abducted a Catholic Chaldean priest last Tuesday and nothing is currently known of his whereabouts, this according to local Catholics.

They report that right after the mass for the Assumption in St James Church (Doura neighbourhood)), Fr Hanna Saad Sirop was stopped by a group of armed men. A person who was with the priest was let go but he was spirited away. The car used in the kidnapping was found days later but there were no traces of the criminals.

Fr Saad Sirop, 34, runs the Theology Department at Babel College, the only university-level Christian institution in Iraq.

Three days into the clergyman’s disappearance, there were no news about him or his kidnappers, said Jacques Issak, rector of Babel College.

The bishops of all of Baghdad’s Christian Churches sent a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asking they get involved. The Churches also urged various political parties do something.

Another Baghdad priest, Fr Raad Kashan, was abducted on July 17. He managed to get away by promising money to his captors. However, he was ill-treated and fled the country.

Mgr Basil Georges Casmoussa, Syro-Catholic bishop of Mosul, was kidnapped in January 2005. He, too, was released the next day.

Kidnappings are everyday occurrences in Iraq. Most are committed for ransom money, but many victims are killed after a few days.

For some Christians, targeting Christian clergymen is a way to frighten them into leaving the country. “I think that there are two reasons these kidnappings are taking place. [. . .] The first reason is money. But the second reason is that they want to push Christians out of Iraq,” Mgr Louis Sako, Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, told the Compass news agency.

According to some estimates, before the 2003, Iraq had more than a million Christians. Today they are half that many. Some have gone abroad; many others have fled to the north, in the Kurdish region, where they get more respect and there is greater security.