Pope and former students ponder evolution, not "ID"


Sun Sep 3, 2006 12:46pm ET
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and his former doctoral students spent a weekend pondering evolution without discussing controversies over intelligent design and creationism raging in the United States, a participant said on Sunday.

The three-day closed-door meeting at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome ended as planned without drawing any conclusions but the group plans to publish its discussion papers, said Father Joseph Fessio S.J.

Media speculation had said the debate might shift Vatican policy to embrace "intelligent design," which claims to prove scientifically that life could not have simply evolved, or even the "creationist" view that God created the world in six days.

"It wasn't that at all," Fessio, who is provost of Ave Maria University in Florida, told Reuters by telephone from Rome. The Pope's session with 39 former students was "a meeting of friends with some scholars to discuss an interesting theme".

"We did not really speak much about intelligent design," said Fessio, whose Ignatius Press publishes the Pope's books in English. "In fact, that particular controversy did not arise."

Creationism -- the view that God created the world in six days as described in the Bible -- was "almost off the radar screen of the people in this group," he added. The Catholic Church does not read the Genesis account of creation literally.

Fessio said Benedict took part in the discussions but said nothing different from previous public statements, in which he has recognized evolution as a scientific fact but argued that God ultimately created the world and all life in it.

As the Pope put it at his inaugural Mass after being elected in April 2005, "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God."

ANNUAL GET-TOGETHERS

Benedict, who taught theology at four German universities before becoming archbishop of Munich and then the Vatican's top doctrinal official, has held these annual get-togethers since the late 1970s. The international group debates in German.

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution has long been rejected in the United States by conservative Christians who want to have a Bible-based view of creation taught in public schools, where the church-state separation bars the teaching of religion.

More recently, Darwin's critics have campaigned to have "intelligent design" taught as a scientific alternative to evolution. President George W. Bush and other conservative politicians support this drive to "teach the controversy".

The "ID movement" does not name the designer as God, but its opponents say that is the logical conclusion and call this an unacceptable bid to sneak religion into the teaching of science.

Schools in some parts of the United States teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution but a Pennsylvania court banned it there last year, saying it was religion in disguise.

Catholic teaching accepts evolution as a scientific theory but disagrees with what it calls "evolutionism," the view that the story of life has no role for God as its prime author.

Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a close associate of the Pope, was one of four speakers who addressed the meeting. He raised eyebrows last year with a New York Times article that suggested the Catholic Church supported the "ID movement".

Schoenborn and Benedict have said several times over the past year that intelligence in the form of God's will played a part in creation and that neo-Darwinists who deny God any role are drawing an ideological conclusion not proven by the theory.

They say they use philosophical reasoning to conclude that God created the world, not arguments which intelligent design supporters claim can be proven scientifically.

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Rome)

[Modificato da benefan 03/09/2006 21.00]

4 September, 2006
VATICAN
Pope: religion can only bring peace

In a message marking 20 years since the Assisi meeting, Benedict XVI stressed that no one can use faith to justify violence. The inter-faith meeting did not have, nor should it have now, any streaks of syncretism. There was a reference to St Francis: his activities were the fruit of his conversion.


Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Religion “cannot be but a herald of peace” and no one may use it as a reason for violence towards other human beings.

The statements of John Paul II, which made famous an inter-faith prayer meeting for peace in Assisi in 1986, were echoed today by Benedict XVI in a message to mark 20 years since that event.

[N.B. The message was addressed to The Bishop of Assisi, Mons. Domenico Sorrentino. This year's inter-religious meeting takes place in Assisi September 4-5.]

Throughout these years, said the pope, the “dream of peace” hoped for at the end of the Cold War did not come about.

“If anything, the third millennium started with scenarios of terrorism and violence that do not seem about to go away. Further, the reality that armed conflicts are today unfolding especially against a background of ongoing geo-political tensions in many regions, can give the impression that not only cultural differences but also religious differences may constitute a motive for instability or threats to peace prospects.”

In this context, said Benedict XVI, “the initiative promoted 20 years ago to date by John Paul II takes on the mark of a timely prophecy”.

“Despite the differences characterizing the various religious journeys, the recognition of the existence of God, that mankind can grasp first of all from experiencing creation (cfr Rm 1:20), can only prompt believers to view other human beings as brothers.

"Hence, it is not legitimate for anyone to use the motive of religious differences as a presupposition or pretext for a warlike attitude towards other human beings.” The very wars of religion “cannot be attributed to religion as much, but to cultural limits with which it was lived and developed over time.”

The meeting in Assisi was marked by the value of prayer in peace-building, he noted.

“Peace is a value in which many parts merge. To build it, cultural, political and economical channels are certainly important. In the first place, however, peace must be built in people’s hearts. Here in fact, feelings develop that could fuel peace or, on the contrary, threaten, weaken or suffocate it.”

The “value of prayer in peace-building was highlighted by representatives of different religious traditions,” recalled the pope. “This did not happen across long distances but in the context of a meeting.”

Already in 1986, continued Benedict XVI, attention was drawn to the fact that “the inter-faith prayer meeting should not lend itself to syncretistic interpretations, founded on a relativistic concept.”

Pope Ratzinger did not mention them but at the time, and even later, there were controversies about this. It was probably these controversies that prompted the pope to emphasize, when greeting people attending events in Assisi organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio, “the duty” even now to “avoid inopportune confusions.

"This is why even when people come together to pray for peace, prayer should unfold according to the distinct journeys that belong to each religion. This was the choice of 1986 and it was a decision that cannot but remain valid still today. The convergence of what is different should not give the impression of ceding to that relativism that denies the very meaning of truth and the possibility of drawing from it.”

Benedict XVI drew attention to St Francis, for the third time within a few days.

“The witness he gave in his time,” he wrote, “makes him a natural point of reference for all those who today also cultivate the ideal of peace, of respect for nature, of dialogue between people, between religions and cultures.

"All the same, it is important to recall, if one does not want to betray his message, that it was the radical choice for Christ that gave him the keys to understand the brotherhood to which all men are called, and to which even inanimate creatures – from ‘brother sun’ to ‘sister moon’ – participate in some way.”

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

The Vatican released the full text of the Pope's message today. I have posted a translation in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES. Needless to say, it is no run-of-the-mill Papal message.

It is unusually long for a 'commemorative' message and he does not limit himself to talking about peace and prayer - which he always does in a fresh way - but also emphasizes that inter-religious dialog should not make us forget the elements that distinguish Christianity from other world religions.

It is a significant document that as usual, the mainstream media, even in Italy, have so far mostly glossed over.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/09/2006 16.12]

John Allen has a post-script about the Ratznger Schuelerkreise seminar in Castel Gandolfo in his 9/1/06 ALL THINGS CATHOLIC on
www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/
though not yet about what actually happened there. The seminar took place September 2-3.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Citing my interview last week with Dominique Tassot, head of a group of European Catholic scientists and intellectuals critical of the theory of evolution, the London Guardian carried a piece this Monday asserting that Pope Benedict XVI is preparing "a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution."

Even setting aside the question of whether Tassot knows the mind of the pope, the claim still seemed over-hyped, since when I asked Tassot if he expects a statement from Benedict his answer was, "I think it's too early."

In fact, there's no sign that Benedict intends to make a formal statement on evolution anytime soon, at least anything that would go beyond his numerous reminders to the effect that, "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary." (That comment came from his April 2005 installation Mass).

In the classic argot of the Vatican, conventional wisdom is that such a statement is not yet "opportune." The fact that this year's meeting of his Schülerkreis, the circle of his former doctoral students, is devoted to the theme of "Creation and Evolution" suggests that Benedict wants to hear from theology, philosophy, and the natural sciences before reaching conclusions - if, indeed, he feels the need to reach conclusions at all.

Yet it's equally clear that the Schülerkreis session this weekend is not just a busman's holiday. Benedict sees the philosophical currents unleashed by Darwin as a matter of no little import, and one can expect the issue of creation and evolution to be an important theme in this pontificate.

In that light, it's a useful exercise to summarize here what we know about Benedict's thinking.

Since we live in a sound-bite culture, let's get straight to the bottom line: Benedict XVI is not a "creationist." He does not believe in a strictly literal reading of the Book of Genesis, nor has he ever made any reference to teaching "creation science" in schools.

A [lifetime] member of the prestigious secular French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (inducted in 1993 along with then-Czech President Vaclav Havel as one of only twelve foreign nationals), Pope Benedict has no desire to launch a crusade against modern science. [Teresa's note: Let it not be forgotten he was elected to the Academie in 1992 to replace nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov after his death!]

Nor is Benedict XVI really an advocate of "intelligent design" in the American sense, since intelligent design theorists typically assert that data from biology and other empirical sciences, by itself, requires the hypothesis of a designer.

Benedict may have some sympathy for this view; he has questioned the evidence for "macro-evolution," meaning the transition from one species to another on the basis of random mutation and natural selection. Ultimately, however, he sees this as a debate for scientists to resolve.

His concern cuts deeper, to the modern tendency to convert evolution into "a universal theory concerning all reality" that excludes God, and therefore rationality, as the basis of existence.

In contrast, Benedict insists upon the fundamental conviction of Christian faith: "In principio erat Verbum - at the beginning of all things stands the creative power of reason."

Benedict is clear this is a question which "can no longer be decided by arguments from natural science."

With respect to Pope John Paul II's famous 1996 formula that evolution is "more than a hypothesis," therefore, it's meaningless to ask whether Benedict XVI agrees or disagrees. Ever the professor, he would insist upon clarifying what precisely is meant by "evolution," whether it's being evaluated on a scientific or philosophical basis, and so on.

What does seem clear, however, is that Benedict worries that with its seeming nihil obtstat for the theory of evolution, the church may inadvertently have accelerated the diffusion of a worldview which holds that it's pointless to ask questions which can't be settled by laboratory experiments, and that chance and meaninglessness are the ultimate laws of the universe.

In that sense, one suspects Benedict would affirm that evolution is indeed "more than a hypothesis" -- for better, and for worse.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Allen then goes on to quote from some of Joseph Ratzinger's writings about evolution before he became Pope. I have posted these excerpts in FAITH AND SCIENCE.

P.S. to the Reuters story posted by Benefan earlier on this thread - In a previous column about the Schuelerkreise seminar, John Allen mentioned two other Americans besides Father Fessio who are members of the Ratzinger Schuelerkreise.

Why is it that no American journalist has been enterprising enough to talk to these two other priests as well, besides just Fr. Fessio?

I hope Allen himself seeks them out and talks to them!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/09/2006 16.34]

Allen also comments on the Holy Father's's latest 'fearless excursion' into extended extemporaneous homiletics:

Because so much in the Catholic system depends on the man in charge, popes are generally careful about what they say in public. Off-hand comments uttered within earshot of someone who's not della famiglia, inside the ecclesiastical family, can inadvertently trigger earthquakes.

Benedict XVI, however, has so far shown little fear about such impromptu moments. In a number of settings, with journalists and with rank-and-file Catholics alike, he's been willing to take questions and give answers, and these sessions are often revealing about the pope's mind.

The latest example came on Thursday, when the pope met with a group of pastors from the Albano region around his summer residence at Castelgandolfo.

Two priests asked the pope for some thoughts on the subject of marriage. In response, Benedict said that given the volume of requests for annulments that reach church courts every year, it's clear how difficult it is to help engaged couples and spouses understand "the sacramentality of marriage."

"Many of them don't understand what the 'yes' before the Lord means," he said. "It means to form an alliance with him, to enter into the faith of Christ."

Benedict urged pastors to take marriage preparation seriously. He also said it's important to help divorced and remarried couples understand the sacramental character of marriage.

Among other things, the comment may suggest that Benedict is not presently contemplating a change in church discipline that excludes divorced and civilly remarried Catholics from the Eucharist.

Benedict also offered a hopeful reading of history, noting that periodic crises and assaults on the church over 2,000 years have not succeeded in destroying it.

Many times, he said, the church "seemed to be finished." On each occasion, however, saints arose to revitalize the church, including figures such as St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Teresea d'Avila.

Despite Rousseau and Voltaire's conviction that institutional Christianity was finished, "the 19th century was the century of saints and of religious congregations. The faith is stronger," Benedict said, "than all the currents which come and go."

In the past century, Benedict said, Hitler "was convinced that only a Catholic could destroy Catholicism," and he believed he had "all the means for doing it." Yet he did not prevail, Benedict said, and neither did Marxism.

The church rests upon "hope that never ends," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------

For those who have not yet read it, a translation of the full Q&A between the Pope and the priests of Albano can be found in the thread HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES.

Here is a translation of an Italian news agency article posted by Ratzi-lella in the main forum:

Roma, 4 Sept. (Apcom) - The Pope and his former students who participated on Sept. 1-2 in a closed-door seminar on creation and evolution, were "thankful and interested" at being updated on the latest developments in biological research provided by invited scientists.

This was made known by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who said that in turn, the Pope kept them up to date on his activities, especially of his concerns regarding peace in the Middle East.

For many years now, in the summer, Professor Ratzinger has gathered around him his former doctoral students of theology. They exchange ideas, they inform each other of their recent activities and studies, and participate in a seminar on a topic chosen beforehand.

This custom was not broken by their professor's accession to the Papacy. Last year, the Schuelerkreise first met with the Pope in Castel Gandolfo to discuss Islam and Christianity from a theological point of view.

This year, again in Castel Gandolfo, Ratzinger's former students tackled the evolutionary theories that, from Charles Darwin onwards, have caused friction between men of faith and of science.

Lately, Schoenborn himself wrote an article, published last year in the New York Times, which drew criticism from scientists as well as some representatives of the Church. Last month, the cardinal took up the theme again at the annual meeting of Communion and Liberation in Rimini.

The atmosphere of the seminar discussions in Castel Gandolfo was "very good and open", Schoenborn told the German news agency Katholischen Nachrichterdienst (Catholic news service).

Besides the members of the Ratzinger Schuelerkreise, the guests were Prof. Peter Schuster, expert in evolutionary molecular biology, director of the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Vienna, and starting this month, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences; Jesuit Fr. Paul Ehrbrich, emeritus professor of the philosophy of nature at the faculty of philosophical studies of Munich, and the philosopher Roberty Spaemann.

Fr. Stephan Horn, ex-university assistant of Ratzinger and coordinator of the Schuelerkreise, told Vatican Radio that a fruitful and respectful dialog emerged in the discussions.

"One could perhaps say," Horn said, "that it was clear that the theology of creation and the theory of evolution are not contradictory."

In any case, this year's seminar will be distinguished by a novelty: the lecture texts will be published for the first time, breaking the privacy of the Ratzingfer Schuelerkreis seminars. Publication is due in November. In German, obviously.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/09/2006 4.32]

Sandro Magister comments and reports on the Holy Father's recent colloquy with the priests of the Diocese of Albano.


The Pope Rewrites
the Handbook of the Good Pastor
A spontaneous question-and-answer session with Benedict XVI and the priests of the diocese of Albano.
On how to celebrate Mass well, and many other matters.
“People know whether we’re putting on a show or are in conversation with God”
by Sandro Magister


ROMA, September 5, 2006 – Last summer, during his vacation in the Alps, Benedict XVI met with the priests of the diocese of Aosta.

But this time, he met with the priests of Albano: the diocese, with half a million faithful, within which stands the pontifical residence of Castel Gandolfo where the pope spends much of the summer.

Benedict XVI received them at this residence on Thursday, August 31, in the Sala degli Svizzeri. He was greeted by the bishop of Albano, Marcello Semeraro, after which – as he did on July 25, 2005 in Aosta and last March 2 with the priests of Rome – he replied to the questions posed to him by those present.

Fielding questions in public and responding spontaneously is one of the hallmarks of pope Joseph Ratzinger’s communication style. [What an understatement, considering that no Pope in the modern era has done it before him!]

He used this method on October 15, 2005, with the children who had received their first communion that year crowded into Saint Peter’s Square. And he did so on April 6 of this year, again in Saint Peter’s Square, with the young people preparing for World Youth Day.

Each time, the pope seeks to adapt his responses to the audience in front of him.

To the priests of the diocese of Albano, in fact, he delivered what almost amounted to a handbook on good pastoral ministry: how to celebrate Mass, how to recite the breviary, how to administer the sacraments, how to draw near those “far away,” how to be faithful to the duty of chastity, how to show to married couples the beauty of matrimony, and to young people the conversion of a Saint Francis...

Benedict XVI usually responds at length to each question. The complete transcript of his conversation with the priests of Albano, a good 6,000 words in length, was released by the Vatican press office the following day, and appeared in the September 2 edition of L’Osservatore Romano in Italian only.

At the beginning of the meeting, the pope made this introductory remark:

“I don’t pretend to be some sort of ‘oracle’, capable of responding adequately to all questions.”

And applying to himself a quotation from saint Gregory the Great cited moments before by bishop Semeraro of Albano, he continued:

“Even the pope, day after day, must perceive and acknowledge ‘infirmitatem suam’, his limitations. He must recognize that it is only [...] as ‘cooperatores veritatis’ – of the truth that is a person, Jesus – that we can carry out our service together, each one in his own role.

"In this sense, my answers will not be exhaustive, but fragmentary. Nevertheless, we accept precisely this fact: that it is only together that we can assemble the mosaic of a pastoral work that corresponds to the greatness of the challenges we face.”


[Magister proceeds to quote some of the passages from the Pope's responses (he figures he excerpted about one-third of the colloquy). You may find his excerpts on
www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=81622&eng=y
I posted a translation of the entire transcript in HOMILIES DISCOURSES & MESSAGES on 9/2-9/3.]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/09/2006 20.12]

Sandro Magister's blog SETTIMO CIELO (which is published on line in Italian only) for 9/4/06 reported on the Ratzinger Schuelerkreise seminar. Here is a translation:

Professor Ratzinger to share
the 'secrets' of his students
with the public

The seminar this year by the Ratzinger Schuelerkreise - the circle of the Pope's ex-students who meet with their ex-professor every year to discuss a pre-selected theme - had a pattern and a finale different from the more than 20 seminar-reunions that preceded it.

The introductory leactures for this year's theme, "Creation and Evolution", had more breadth and depth than usual.

The seminar began Friday afternoon, September 1, with lectures by Peter Schuster, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who is not a Catholic; by Robert Spaemann, social and political philosopher, who is considered one of the leading German scholars on the modern era; and by the Jesuit Paul Erbrich, professor of natural philosophy in Munich. Each lecture was followed by a brief discussion.

The session was held at the Mariapolis center next to the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo. Pope Benedict XVI, who had gone to Manoppello that morning, was not present.

The seminar participants moved to the Apostolic Palace for the session on Saturday, where the three lecturers synthesized their lectures for the benefit of the Pope.

After that, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn took the lectern for his presentation. The discussions went on till the evening, interrupted by lunch with the Pope in the gardens of the Papal residence.

On Sunday morning, Sept. 3, Benedict XVI went to the Mariapolis center to celebrate Mass with his ex-students. They in turn went to the Apostolic Palace at mid-day to join in the recitation of the Angelus.

The members of the Schuelerkreise have proposed to the Pope a few possible themes for their next reunion from which the Pope may choose.

As for the just-concluded one, the Pope wants that all four lectures, which were most appreciated by him, be published. This is unprecedented in the Schuelerkreise's history.

It is likely that the book containing the seminar lectures will also include a synthesis of the discussions and appendices. In particular, a supplementary text prepared by Fr. Ehrbrich on the probability factor in the hypothesis of evolution.

A portion of Prof. Spaemann's lecture already appeared in the September 3 issue of Avvenire.

[Magister then refers the reader to two preparatory articles he wrote for www.chiesa on the 2006 seminar, published online 8/2 and 8/11, and reproduced here on this thread or in FAITH AND SCIENCE.

He also refers the reader to John Allen's 9/3/06 column in which he writes on "The pope's Schuelerkreis takes on Creation and evolution" (reproduced on this thread), and "Benedict's thinking on creation and evolution" (reproduced in FAITH AND SCIENCE.]

Magister's blog for 9/5/06 comments on the Pope's message for the Assisi inter-religious prayer event this year.

Benedict XVI purifies
the 'spirit of Assisi'

On Monday, Sept. 9, the Vatican made public the message sent by Benedict XVI to the Bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the inter-religious prayer meeting called by Pope John Paul II in October 1986 in the city of St. Francis.

The Pope points out that the anniversary is being marked by various initiatives promoted by different entities: the community of Sant'Egidio, the diocese of Assisi, the Theological Institute of Assisi and the Pontifical Council for Itner-Religious Dialog. He is participating in all these initiatives through this message.

The 'demotion' of the ceremony organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio for September 4-5 is quite obvious. Since 1986, the movement has sought to reproduce the 1986 Assisi event in different cities of the world, with growing solemnity, pageantry and ecumenical participation, in addition to Papa Wojtyla's enthusiastic support.

But it's been a differnt tune since Benedict XVI became Pope, and the Sant'Egidio movement has had to adapt itself.

Benedict XVI dedicates the final part of his message precisely to correct the 'equivocations' and the 'confusions' which, in his opinion, endanger the 'spirit of Assisi:

"In order not to mistake the sense of what John Paul II wished to achieve in 1986, and which with his own expression he referred to as 'the spirit of Assisi', it is important not to forget the attention taken at the time so that the inter-religious meeting would not lend itself to syncretistic interpretations founded on relativist assumptions....

"It is our duty to avoid inopportune confusion. Even as we find ourselves together to pray for peace, we offer our prayers according to the distinct pathways of our respective religions." *

Benedict also warned against 'betrayals' which would distort the image of the true St. Francis:

"The testimony that Francis gave in his time makes him a natural point of reference for those who even today cultivate the ideal of peace, of respect for nature, of dialog among perosns, religions and cultures.

"It is important to remember, if we are not to betray his message, that it was his radical choice for Christ which gave him the key to understand that brotherhood to which all men are called, and in which even inanimate creatures - from "Brother Sun" to "Sister Moon" - participate in some way."

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

*I think that the following part of Benedict's message is even more direct in saying what the 'spirit of Assisi' is not, using words John Paul II himself said at the October 1986 meeting:

"The fact that we have all come here does not imply any intention to seek a religious consensus among us nor to negotiate our respective beliefs of faith. Nor does our meeting signify that religions can reconcile themselves on the basis of a common commitment to an earthly project that would go beyond everything else. Nor is it a concession to relativism in religious beliefs...."(Teachings of John Paul II, cit., p1252). [Surely, one detects the hand of John Paul's Prefect of the CDF in this particular citation!]

Benedict adds:
"I wish to reaffirm this principle which is the assumption for that dialog among religions that was intended 40 years ago by the Second Vatican Council in the Declaration on the relations of the Church with non-Christian religions" (cfr Nostra aetatem 2).

As usual, however, lacking a prompt English translation from the Vatican of the Pope's message, the English media still has to comment appropriately and adequately on Benedict's message for Assissi 2006!

A translation of the entire message is found in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/09/2006 22.07]

Rome, Sept. 5, 2006 (Apcom)- The Pope? "A sharp mind. He grasps the central questions right away."

It's a scientist speaking - Prof. Peter Schuster, an authority in evolutionary molecular biology, director of the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry at teh University of Vienna, and incoming president of the Austrian Academy Sciences, about his two-day experience at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

"What a beautiful place! Outside, there are a lot of tourists and religious, but inisde, the gardens are very peaceful and relaxing," he says of the place to which he was invited along with ex-doctoral students of Professor Ratzinger to discuss "Creation and Evolution."

Schuster reveals: "I got the impression that when the seminar lectures are published in November, the Pope will write an introduction. He did not say so explicitly, but I think he will."
...
"It was a very good and very friendly discussion," said Schuster, speaking by telephone from Vienna. "The Pope showed himself very interested and asked excellent questions. In the end, he summarized the discussions in a very precise manner. I was very impressed."

After a first day of the Schuelerkreise seminar without the Pope (the day of his pilgrimate to Manoppello), the participants were joined by the Pope all day Saturday.

To begin, with, Schuster said, the Pope told them about the issues that were at the core of his 'job.' "He spoke about the political situation in the world," Schuster said. "For instance, how he thinks the Vatican could act in Lebanon, as well as some problems the Church must confront like ecumenism."

Then, the discussion proceeded to biology, creation, evolution - issues which, since Charles Darwin, have caused much friction between men of faith and men of science. Such differences were not lacking during the Castel Gandolfo sessions.

"It wouldn't have been a genuine encounter if tehre had been no opposition," Schuster said.

Even from Cardinal Schoenborn, his fellow Austrian?

"We had a very friendly discussion," Shuster replies. "We went back to Vienna on the same plane, and we spent those two hours continuing the discussion."

Although Schuster did not say whether he thought that Schoenborn's opinions expressed in a New York times op-ed piece last year were wrong, or if the Archbishop of Vienna has changed his position, Schuster did note that Schoenborn made some 'clarifications' and said "there definitely has been progress."

As for Schoenborn's contention that Darwinians are turning the theory of evolution ino ideology, Schuster said: "Even I think that if you bring over scientific arguments to social questions - as the Nazis and the communists did with social Darwinism - then it becomes ideological. This no longer science!"

In any case, the professor also noted some convergences of thought with most of the seminar participants.

"We agreed, for instance, that evolutionary biology is a developing science, and like other theories, still has unexplained aspects which will require more research and more answers."

"I even think," he continued, "that there was general agreement
that it would be a grave mistake to consider those aspects of nature still unexplored by science to be 'God's space'."

On the merits of the theory of evolution itself, Schuster said that the theologians and philosophers present were generally in line with his thinking as a scientist.

"We agreed that there would be no contradiction to theology if science does not see any trace of 'intelligent design' in biology. I think most of them believe that the design of the Creator can be seen in the entire process as a whole, from the Big Bang to man. I can agree to that right away. Personally, I am agnostic, but I have no problem with a Creator of a universe which then proceeds to evolve without his interference."

Did they agree to this? "I don't know, but I epxressed myself in those terms, and certainly there were no objections," Schuster replied.

And the Pope? "He said he appreciated my viewpoint."

Did faith and science come any closer together at Castel Gandolfo? "The encounter was positive and pleasurable - it was a beautiful discussion. If science and the Chruch are any closer, one will find out from the outcome. It's not that I am skeptical, but one must see the outcome in written form. In any case, I enjoyed the experience a lot."

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

Since Benedict XVI's unscripted remarks are always fascinating, I truly hope that his questions and the synthesis he presented of the discussions will find their way into the proposed seminar publication. Because we have seen how he adapts himself to his audience - First Communicants, or teenagers and college students, or diocesan priests. It would be an entirely different Benedict talking to his scholarly peers!

I wish there would be an occasion for the Holy Father to address an audience of feminists (open-minded ones, not hostile or embittered - or maybe even with some of these!) and see how he would disarm them and then pull the ideological rug from under their feet!

Benedict, The Peace Pope

Sept. 3-9, 2006
by ANGELO MATERA
National Catholic Register

First in a series

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI when he was elected Pope in April 2005, influential Catholics in the United States cheered his choice of names.

The name, obviously, honored St. Benedict, the man who founded European monasticism and sparked Europe’s recovery from barbarism after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It also signaled that a new, tough Pope would be sharply critical of Europe for forgetting its Christian heritage and embracing moral relativism, in contrast to the religious and moral vigor of the United States.

But from the beginning, it was impossible to ignore another, unspoken theme: war.

Catholic “hawks” in the United States had been unhappy with Pope John Paul II’s stance against almost all wars, a position they viewed as unrealistic and a departure from their interpretation of the classic “just war” tradition that began with St. Augustine. For them, the figure of St. Benedict became a symbol, and the Pope’s name a secret code, for those who believed they saw most clearly the threat of Islamic fascism and the need to use violence in the clash of civilizations between the West and Islam.

They clearly hoped that Benedict XVI would look more favorably on the United States’ use of armed force in the fight against Islamic terrorists and rogue states.

But with the Vatican’s reaction to the recent Israeli incursion into Lebanon, the hawks discovered they were only half right about the new Pope.

While Benedict has indeed been firm in calling Europe back to its Christian roots and warning against the “dictatorship of relativism,” any speculation that he would diverge from John Paul II’s “Gospel of Peace” ended when the Holy Father came out strongly against Israel’s pre-emptive attack on Lebanon.

Why did the pro-war Catholics misread the Pope so badly on this issue? One reason is that they had overlooked, or chosen to ignore, the Holy Father’s clear and repeated references to another inspiring Benedict — Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922).

In his first general audience April 27, 2005, in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI began his explanation of why he chose the name Benedict: “Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples.”

And in his message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace Jan. 1, 2006, the Holy Father cited Benedict XV “who condemned the First World War as a ‘useless slaughter’ and worked for a universal acknowledgment of the lofty demands of peace.”

Why did pro-war Catholics downplay these strong references to Benedict XV and that Pope’s anti-war position? Was it a deliberate attempt to “spin” the issue in the media? Or was it a case of subconscious filtering of disagreeable information based on hopes for a more pro-war Pope?

Whatever the case, the significance of Pope Benedict XV for the new Pope is now unmistakably clear.

Who was Pope Benedict XV?

Known as the “peace Pope,” he was elected soon after the outbreak of World War I and spent the war years desperately trying to broker a peace settlement. On Aug. 1, 1917, he delivered his “plea for peace,” proposing that the warring nations cease hostilities, reduce their arms, guarantee freedom of the seas and submit to international arbitration.

Although his efforts had gained some popular support, he was viewed with suspicion by the governments of both sides, and his proposals were rejected. Historians consider him a tragic figure, especially since most view World War I as a senseless slaughter that did much to discredit Western civilization for subsequent generations of Europeans, and paved the way for even greater horrors in World War II.

A similar sense of tragedy, albeit on a smaller scale, seemed to surround Pope Benedict XVI during the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The Holy Father’s increasingly urgent pleas for an immediate cease-fire, and his pronouncements about the plight of innocent civilians in Lebanon and Israel, were almost completely ignored by Israel, the United States and other Western nations, and were mostly dismissed, even ridiculed, by influential Catholics in the press and on the Internet.

On July 16, a few days after the conflict began, in his first public statement, the Pope called on both Israel and Hezbollah to end hostilities, stating that “neither the terrorist acts nor the reprisals — above all when there are tragic consequences for the civilian population — can be justified.”

On July 20, with 300 already killed and a half million displaced in Lebanon by Israel’s invasion, and 29 killed in Israel and many thousands displaced by Hezbollah rockets, the Pope and his representatives again denounced the conflict, and called for an “immediate cease-fire.”

On July 30, after an Israeli air strike on an apartment block in the biblical town of Qana killed 54, including 37 children, the Holy Father pleaded, “In the name of God, I call to all those responsible for the cycle of violence to lay down their arms — both sides — and bring a halt to the violence. … You cannot re-establish justice, establish a new order and build authentic peace when you resort to instruments of violence.”

Then, during a television interview with German media taped Aug. 5, the Pope made an unusual appeal: “Naturally, the Holy See has no desire for political power,” the Pope said. “But we wish to call Christians — and all those who feel challenged by the voice of the Holy See in one way or another — to mobilize all the powers that recognize how war is the worst solution for everyone.”

By Aug. 6, the Holy Father showed signs of frustration, when, during a public audience, he expressed his “bitter consternation that thus far, the pleas for an immediate cease-fire in this martyred region have been ignored.”

In every public appearance thereafter, Pope Benedict continued to condemn the killing of innocent civilians in both Israel and Lebanon, called urgently for the fighting to stop and instructed Catholics to pray for a lasting peace, until finally a cease-fire was negotiated that began Aug. 14.

Caught off-guard throughout the conflict by this Pope’s echoing of John Paul II’s anti-war stand, some Catholic writers and bloggers expressed varying degrees of shock and disappointment with the Pope and his Vatican representatives, especially for, in their view, treating Israel and Hezbollah as “morally equivalent,” and not giving sufficient weight to the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Next week: Hawks Circle Benedict.

Ratzigirl shares with us this beautiful reflection from an online opinion journal called 'Ragion Politica' (Political Reason), translated here:
----------------------------------------------------------------

By Gianteo Bordero
5 September 2006

Shortly after the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the Papacy on April 19, 2005, many - both critics and supporters alike of the German cardinal - looked forward to the start of a 'restoration' papacy.

The image that most of them had in mind was that of the 'rigid' guardian of the doctrine of the faith who, through documents issued during the long reign of John Paul II, had virtually dismantled one by one all the pretended novelties of progressivist theologians.

The commonplace was that Ratzinger would simply tranport over all his activities at the ex-Holy Office into the post-Wojtyla Papacy.

Instead after a year and half, it seems obvious that the Papacy of Benedict XVI is something unlike the prefecture of Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Besides, when the change invested his life at the moment when he thought he could finally return to his theological studies in his beloved Bavaria, the German cardinal made clear from the start that the dominant aspect of his work would be pastoral, and that he would emphasize the universal dimension of his new responsibility.

This does not mean that Ratzinger underwent some genetic mutation. It only means, quite simply, that the personality and tasks which a Pope is called on to take go far beyind what a prefect of the faith must face, therefore, Ratzinger has done nothing but to respond to the new and different responsibilities inherent in the job to which he was elected.

This transition has emerged distinctly on different occasions. The most recent was the colloquy he had last Thursday with the priests of the Diocese of Albano, who asked the Pope questions about the life of the Church and the pastoral problems which every parish priest must face today in carrying out his work.

Ratzinger's extemporaneous responses were all marked by a spiritual sharing of the priest's difficulties, in the awareness that "even the Pope must learn and relearn day after day, 'infirmitatem suam', his limits", aknowledging that "only with the collaboration of everyone, in dialog, in cooperation in the faith, as 'co-workers in the truth' - of the Truth that is One Person, Jesus - can we together perform our service, each one doing his own part."

Also, that "each of us has moments in which one can be discouraged at the magnitude of what needs to be done compared to the limits of what one can actually do. Once again, this concerns even the Pope. What can I do, at this time, with so many problems, so many challenges, but also so many joys, facing the universal Church? So many things happen day after day and I am not up to responding to everything. But I do my part, I do what I can do."

Evidently, we are far from that image of a Pontificate a la Holy Inquisition that many - some for better, some for worse - expected after Ratzinger's election to the chair of Peter.

But fortunately we are well within the tradition of rhe Church and the Papacy in which, beyond every preconceived scheme, the temperament of the single person who occupies the position is wedded to the perenniality and immutability of the office.

And one can now say retrospectively, that even the image of the rigid custodian of the doctrine of the faith was a media cliche rather than a photograph of the true person.

Benedict XVI himself in the interview given to German TV preparatory to his trip to Bavaria, responded to a question which noted the difference between Prefect Ratzinger and Pope Ratzinger, this way: "I have been dissected several times: as professor of the early years and in the intermediate years, the early cardinal and succeeding stages. This is yet another one. Of course, circumstances, the situation, even people around you, have an influence because they impose different responsibilities. But my fundamental personality and even my fundamental vision may have grown, but they have remained the same in everyting that is essential."

Therefore, it is truly his election as Pope that has allowed Ratzinger's 'spiritual' side, his interior 'esprit de finesse' - which had been buried by the cliche of the Inquisitor that was pinned on him - to emerge in all its profundity, though all of this was already apparent in his books, his essays, his lectures as cardinal and as professor of theology.

From his first discourses as Pope to the encyclical Deus caritas est, passing through his Wednesday catecheses, this past year and a half has lifted the veil from Ratzinger's great spiritual charisma, to the profundity of his vision, to the simplicity with which he listens to everybody, from Oriani Fallaci to the Lefebvrians to the 'rebel' theologian Hans Kueng.

It is a way of 'being Pope' that, as we see, conquers and fascinates, because he is capable of keeping together the rigor of doctrine with the kindness represented by Christianity which, before being a set of rules to observe, is primarily the joyous 'positiveness' of an experience that saves and liberates.

Are the advocates and dreamers of a 'restoration' Papacy truly convinced that it would be better for the Church to have an 'inquisitorial' and moralizing Pope rather than a kind and gentle pastor able to bring back his flock to the essentials of Christianity?

Whoever really understood Ratzinger as the guardian of the faith cannot but support and follow even more the Ratzinger who is the pastor of the faith.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/09/2006 15.09]

Remember all the stories making Cardinal Ratzinger the villain in the Curia who disapproved of the first Inter-Religious Prayer Encounter in Assisi? [Although he did publicly disapprove of certain things that took place that day, like pagan rituals on a consecrated altar.]

In an interview with Corriere della Sera (written about in yesterday's issue, 9/5/06), Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio - primary sponsor of what has become a yearly event - sets the facts straight about how the first Assisi event came to be, and what Pope John Paul II himself said about the occasion.

Thanks to Ratzi-Lella in the main forum for sharing this article. Here is a translation:

"Wojtyla wanted to carry on
the Prayer Encounters in Assisi"

It has been 20 years since the first Inter-Religious Prayer Encounter for Peace, organized by the Community of Saint Egidio at the instigation of John Paul II.

How did it all begin? It is explained by the community founder Prof. Andrea Riccardi.

"We spoke about it during lunch in Castel Gandolfo - the Pope, Mons. Vicenzo Paglia and myself. The Pope had two concerns. The first one is conjunctural. There was at the time a great wave of pacifist propaganda coming from the Communist world, there was a debate over the installation of missiles in Europe, etc. The Pope said - "Peace is our cause. We Christians should reaffirm this, we who are men of religion.'

And the second concern? "In 1986, according to the prevailing sociological thought, religions seemed destined to marginalization by secularism. Today however, religion is playing a public role even in determining wars and feeding terrorism. John Paul II sensed this ahead of his time. He sensed that religions were acquiring a public role for better or for worse."

And when terrorism inspired by Muslim fundamentalism became widespread, what was his reaction? "Already in the early 90s, he understood that Islam would be a problem. I remember him saying, "The problem is Islam - we should confront the problem."

And after September 11, 2001? "In February 2002, he received us (Sant'Egidio representatives) in the Vatican and gave a powerful address. He cried out, "Peace, peace, peace!' and called for another encounter of world religious leaders in Assisi."

Benedict XVI did not come to Assisi. Is Papa Ratzinger more 'cool' towards these encounters? {G/]"No, I don't think so at all. I saw him last week and we spoke at length of this year's meeting. All you have to do is read the message which he sent, which is not at all a routine one. On the contrary. Benedict XVI referred to John Paul II's initiative as 'daring and prophetic.'

"Look, in 1987, Papa Wojtyla said to me: "Let us go ahead (with the Assisi meetings), let us continue - even if some would excommunicate me for this,' referring to those in the Curia who were unhappy about the Assisi encounter of 1986. I can assure you, he was not referring to Ratzinger."

This is the item that went with the above:

The Pope:
"An education for peace
against suicide terrorists"

ASSISI - Religion should unite not divide. And Papa Ratzinger's proposal to stop the suicide terrorists is "an effective education for peace."

This was contained in the Pope's message to the Bishop of Assisi to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Inter-
Religious Prayer Encounter for Peace called by Pope John Oaul II in October 1986.

The Pope referred to jihadists as "young people educated in feelings of hate and vengeance within an ideological context that cultivates the seeds of old rancors."

But the leaders of various religions, said rhe Pope, should show to everyone that "the language of prayer" can become "a determinative element for an effective pedagogy of peace."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 3.28]

And remember how many RadTrads reproached Cardinal Ratzinger because he gave Communion to Brother Roger of Taize at the funeral Mass for John Paul II? Why would the 'custodian of the doctrine of the faith' done so? Now we know. Brother Roger had been a Catholic since 1972.

And thanks to Amy Welborn at OPEN BOOK for the lead to this story from Le Monde of 9/5/06. Here is a translation from the French:


By Xavier Ternisien

On April 8, 2005, during the funeral Mass for Pope John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger, who would become Benedict XVI, gave Communion to some personalities present. Among them, Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical community of Taize, and officially a minister in the Reformed Church.

Was Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctirne of the Faith, who had always refused to allow Protestant participation in a Catholic communion, making an exception? The riddle is solved.

Historian Yves Chiron, in the August issue of the monthly news bulletin Aletheia which he publishes, reveals that Brother Roger, assassinated on August 16, 2005, had converted to Catholicism in 1972.

This was confirmed to him by Mons. Raymond Seguy, former bishop of Autun (in the Saone-et-Loire region of France), the diocese in which Taize is found.

Said Seguy: "My predecessor, Mons. Armand Le Bourgeois, told me that he received Brother Roger's confession of faith [Christian churches recognize each other's Baptism rites as valid; a profession of faith is all that is necessary for converts from other Christian confessions] in 1972, in the Bishop's chapel in Autun, and that he gave him communion afterwards.

"Brother Roger himself confirmed to me that he was a Catholic and that when he went to Rome, he had often heard Mass in Pope John Paul II's private chapel and received Communion. He had a Catholic funeral, which was presided by Cardinal Walter Kasper. All this, however, was never brought out to the public."

Mons. Seguy believes that Brother Roger did not want to 'shatter the atmosphere of ecumenical communion' in Taize.

Chiron also cites a letter sent to him by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. "His (Brother Roger's) 'communion of faith' with th Catholic Church [had] an objective and public character," according to the letter, a copy of which Le Monde obtained.

The historian recalls that the other founder of Taize, Minister Max Thurian, who died in 1996, also converted to Catholicism, but this was not made known till 1988.

Chiron's hypothesis is that an agreement signed in 1971 between the Taize community and the Vatican, installing "a representative of the Prior of Taize to the Holy See" was in fact a preparation for conversion to Catholicism by its two founders.

However, despite all this, Brother Alois, the present prior of Taize, who is Catholic, says it is 'inexact' to say that Brother Roger converted: "With the Bishop of Autun in 1972, he simply took part for the first time in the Catholic Eucharist, but he was not asked to 'convert.' He sought a way for 'communion' with the Catholic Church, but not of 'conversion' because conversion implies a break with his origins."

He refers to a declaration made by Brother Roger in Rome in 1980: "I found...my own identity as a Christian in reconciling within me the faith of my origins with the mystery of the Catholic faith, without breaking communion with anyone."

Mons. Seguy thinks it would be 'healthy' to clear up 'this ambiguity.'

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

Isn't Brother Alois splitting hairs unnecessarily? And why would he do this? To 'preserve' Taize's ecumenism? As if Catholicism would taint or dilute ecumenism. And to think he himself is Catholic!

More important, why would conversion of a Christian to Catholicism imply 'a break with his origins'? - In this case, the common origin is Christianity! Where is the break?

P.S. There is an extended French news item about what Brother Alois said regarding Brother Roger's conversion. I will insert it here when I find time to translate it. I still think it's more of 'he doth protest too much.'

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 0.46]

John Allen in his ALL THINGS CATHOLIC for 9/8/06 wraps up what took place in Assisi, and places it in a historical context as well as in the context of Benedict XV's thinking (as gleaned from his writings and statements) on the Assisi events.


All manner of seekers, Christian and not, have felt the tug of a pilgrimage to the birthplace of St. Francis in Assisi. Even by that eclectic standard, however, the group that assembled on October 27, 1986, at the invitation of Pope John Paul II, was unique.

It included rabbis in yamulkes and Sikhs in turbans, Muslims praying on thick carpets and a Zoroastrian kindling a sacred fire. Robert Runcie, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, exchanged pleasantries with the Dalai Lama, while Orthodox bishops with flowing beards chatted with Alan Boesak, the South African anti-apartheid activist and president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

The more than 200 religious leaders had not come to "pray together" -- that would be theologically problematic, since, according to Vatican officials, joint prayer presupposes agreement on the nature of the God being addressed -- but "to be together and pray."

In the context of the Cold War, the summit was a dramatic bit of symbolism in favor of peace. It was not, however, universally popular.

Traditionalist followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre distributed flyers denouncing John Paul as an apostate for allegedly putting Catholicism on the same level as other religions. Two years later, when Lefebvre went into schism, he said he was acting to protect Catholicism from the "spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi."

Fundamentalist U.S. Protestant Carl McIntire amplified Lefebvre by calling the Assisi gathering the "greatest single abomination in church history."

John Paul later called two other inter-religious summits in Assisi, in 1993 and 2002.

Concerns were even voiced from within the pope's own fold. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the time the Vatican's doctrinal czar, was quoted in the Austrian press as stating, "This cannot be the model." In a 2003 book, Ratzinger wrote that it is "indisputable that the Assisi meetings, especially in 1986, were misinterpreted by many people." [Teresa's note: The same people who have been misinterpreting Vatican-II!]

Flash forward to last Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 4-5, once again in Assisi, for the latest inter-religious assembly organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, this one marking the 20th anniversary of John Paul's initiative.

It brought together more than 150 religious leaders from around the world. Since 1986, Sant'Egidio has held an annual inter-faith event, always appealing to "the spirit of Assisi."

During this year's edition, dozens of Muslims, Shintoists, Buddhists, and others spread out across Assisi to pray in various locations, and later came together for an evening procession for peace. The Shintoists, for example, used the garden of a Franciscan convent for their rituals.

If the "spirit of Assisi" lives, so do the new pope's concerns surrounding such inter-faith events.

Benedict XVI's message began with a ringing endorsement of John Paul's 1986 summit.

"His invitation for a choral witness to peace served to clarify, without any possibility of misunderstanding, that religion can only be a source of peace," Benedict said. "We need this 'education in peace' more than ever, especially looking at the new generations."

At the same time, Benedict reiterated the need for clear borders.

"It's important not to forget the attention that was given [in 1986] to ensuring that an inter-religious meeting not lend itself to syncretistic interpretations, founded on a relativistic conception," the pope said.

"It's obligatory to avoid inopportune confusions. When we come together for prayer for peace, the prayer must unfold according to the distinct paths that pertain to the various religions," Benedict said. "The convergence of diverse representatives should not give the impression of a concession to that relativism which negates the very meaning of truth, and the possibility of taking it in."

Benedict noted that 2006 is also the 800th anniversary of the conversion of St. Francis, and said that despite the universal appeal of Francis, he was grounded in an unswerving Christian faith.

"It's important to remember, in order not to betray his message, that it was his radical choice for Christ that gave him the key to understand the fraternity to which all persons are called, and in which even inanimate creatures -- from 'brother son' to 'sister moon' -- in some sense also participate," the pope said.

Andrea Riccardi, the founder of Sant'Egidio, was asked at a Sept. 5 press conference if Benedict was "suffocating the spirit of Assisi while preserving its letter."

In reply, Riccardi said he's been around the block on the issue of inter-religious dialogue for more than twenty years. "I think I understand the logic of messages and texts from the church on the subject," Riccardi said. "When I defend what the pope said, it's not merely because I'm obliged to defend it. Relativism was a concern not just of Benedict but also of John Paul II."

Riccardi pointed out that Ratzinger had attended the 2002 event. On that day, participants were transported from Rome to Assisi on the rarely-used papal train (dubbed by the Italian press the "peace train.") Riccardi said he spoke with Ratzinger on the train back to Rome, and that Ratzinger said the summit "had gone very well, he was very happy with it."

"I would rather say that Ratzinger the theologian is reformulating the spirit of Assisi," Riccardi said of Benedict's message for the Sant'Egidio event, and his general approach to exchanges with other religions.

Benedict still wants conversation with other religions, but also greater safeguards against the dangers of religious relativism, Ricardi suggested.

"The pope knows we have to dialogue," Riccardi said, pointing especially to Benedict's desire for exchanges with Muslims.

Prior to his election as pope, Joseph Ratzinger treated the issue of prayer with other religions in the 2003 book Truth and Tolerance. Ratzinger said it would be wrong to reject such prayer "completely and unconditionally".

He distinguished between "multi-religious" prayer, when followers of different religions pray in the same context but separately, and "inter-religious" prayer, when they pray together.

For the former, he said, two conditions have to be met:

"Such multi-religious prayer cannot be the normal form of religious life, but can only exist as a sign in unusual situations in which, as it were, a common cry for help rises up, stirring the hearts of men, to stir also the heart of God.

"A careful explanation of what happens here and what does not happen is most important … [it] must make clear that there is no such thing as a common concept of God or belief in God … What is happening must be so clear in itself, and to the world, that it does not become a demonstration of that relativism through which it would nullify its own significance."

As for inter-religious prayer, Ratzinger expressed strong doubt that it's theologically possible.

In the first place, he said, we would have to have the same concept of God -- "any confusion of a personal and an impersonal understanding, of God and the gods, must be excluded." Second, there would have to be agreement on the content of prayer, and here Ratzinger suggested the Lord's Prayer as a model. Finally, the whole thing would have to be arranged so as to make a "relativistic misinterpretation" impossible.

It's worth noting that in the same essay, Ratzinger strongly criticized a 1998 document on inter-religious prayer from the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, which was based on a July 1996 consultation in Bangalore, India, between the Vatican and the World Council of Churches.

That document, Ratzinger wrote, argued for inter-religious prayer under the heading of hospitality. Since Jesus urged Christians to receive hospitality from others, the document stated, we should also receive what is most precious to our neighbor, i.e., prayer and worship.

Anyone familiar with the New Testament, Ratzinger wrote, "can only rub his eyes in amazement at such an exegesis."

He quotes Luke 10:1-12, when Jesus sent out the 70 disciples, telling them to shake the dust of a town from their feet if it does not receive them. Refusal to receive the message, in other words, marks a clear break with the obligations of hospitality.

To treat this passage as an invitation to shared prayer, Ratzinger said, "has nothing further in common with the Biblical text," and he adds that "we should be able to expect a little more by way of serious argument.

Overall, Ratzinger said the Bangalore document left him with "an unfortunate impression of superficiality and dilettantism."

Generally speaking, the head of one Vatican office does not criticize the work of another in public in quite so pointed a fashion. This is worth recalling, given that the Vatican official responsible for the Bangalore document was then-Monsignor Michael Fitzgerald, later promoted to archbishop when he took over from Cardinal Francis Arinze as president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in 2002.

In February, Fitzgerald was removed from that job and sent to Cairo as the papal nuncio. Perhaps this is part of what Riccardi had in mind when he said Benedict is "reformulating" the "spirit of Assisi."

At the end of the Sept. 4-5 event, participants issued a joint appeal for peace.

"No conflict is a matter of fate, and no war is ever natural," it said. "Religions never justify hatred and violence. Those using the name of God to destroy others move away from true religion."

Many Germans still skeptical about native son Pope Benedict XVI


The Associated Press
Published: September 8, 2006

BERLIN German-born Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday begins an emotional, six-day homecoming to his birthplace and the city where he served as a priest and bishop.
But the ceremony and pride of the visit, to include Mass for an expected 250,000 people in Munich on Sunday, will not erase the fact that many people have distinctly mixed feelings about Benedict in his native country — the land of the Protestant Reformation now turned largely secular, and home to a shrinking and noticeably liberal Catholic Church.

"I think he's a man of the past, and he's trying to cement these conservative tendencies in place," said Rupert Kreuzpaintner, a churchgoing Catholic from Landshut in Benedict's home region of Bavaria who sees the pope as too authoritarian within the church.

Although he is critical of Benedict, "my faith is not affected by that," said Kreuzpaintner, 45. "But for me it is a revolting thing, that a Godlike cult is made around such a person who stands for exactly the opposite of what the message should be."

Many people — especially in Bavaria, the southern region that remains a Catholic stronghold — are genuinely proud of the German pope, and the house where he was born in the small town of Marktl am Inn has been hastily fixed up before the visit.

The pope himself sent a letter to Munich, made public Thursday by visit organizers, saying he was looking forward to seeing the places "of my childhood and youth, of my studies and work as a teacher of theology and as archbishop of Munich."

"The fellowship with people in my homeland and the prayers that so many are faithfully saying for me is an important support to me in my responsibilities for the great Catholic world church," he said.

Benedict was ordained a priest in Freising outside Munich, and taught theology at the University of Regensburg and elsewhere before becoming the archbishop of Munich in 1977. He left Bavaria after being named to a post at the Vatican by John Paul II in 1981.

Souvenir makers are selling yellow and white Vatican flags, and the Weideneder brewery in Tann near Marktl has a very Bavarian tribute: Papst-Bier, or Pope Beer, for a pontiff known to enjoy a glass of the national beverage with dinner on occasion.

"I think it's a prestige visit for Germany," said Brunhilde Urte, a 66-year-old retired bookkeeper. It's great that there's a German pope who is returning. I think he's great."

Patrick Pehl, a 16-year-old high school student leaving evening services at Berlin's St. Hedwig's Cathedral, called Benedict "a good man. He completely represents my views. For instance, on marriage, abortion, and so on — I agree with him."

However, a survey of 1,000 Germans by the polling agency forsa for broadcaster Deutsche Welle TV showed that while 55 percent consider him a role model and admirable person, even more — 61 percent — feel that way about the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.

The survey, carried out Aug. 30-31, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
About 35 percent of Germans are Protestants, followers of the tradition of reformer Martin Luther, who broke with Rome in the 16th century. There are roughly an equal number of Catholics, but even they often bridle at Benedict's conservative stances on issue such as the ordination of women, gay marriage and married priests.

More than 100,000 people officially leave the church every year, at least some of them to get out of paying an additional church tax levied by the government and used to fund the churches. The number of church leavers was down to 101,000 in 2005 from 129,000 the year before; but on any given Sunday, only about 14 percent of German Catholics attend Mass.

Winfried Gebhardt, a sociologist of religion at the University of Koblenz-Landau, said German Catholics pick and choose which church teachings are going to apply to their lives and establish their own "sovereign" attitude toward the official church.
"I would say that Catholicism as such no longer exists in Germany," he said. "There are different Catholicisms. ... They decide for themselves what to accept."

Benedict's supporters talk of a "Benedict effect," saying the German pope has put new energy into the local church, especially where young people are concerned.

They point to the huge crowds for Benedict at World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005.
Munich police expect at least 500,000 visitors in the Bavarian capital this weekend.
Curiosity about Benedict and his views has fueled sales of his books from his time as a cardinal, several of which have been republished in special editions and made the German nonfiction best-seller list.

Rainer Kampling, a professor of Catholic theology at Berlin's Free University, said Benedict stands out and gets people's attention because he is one of the few public figures arguing for traditional values in Germany.

"We have no conservative intellectuals in Germany; that is, none that play a public role," said Kampling. "He is the only intellectual with conservative values who addresses the public, and that makes a strong impression."

Sociologist Gebhardt, however, said studies of the young people at World Youth Day did not suggest that Benedict was giving lasting new momentum to the church. The Cologne gathering — impressive as it was — remained a one-off that did not propel people to become more deeply involved in parish life afterward.

"I would be very cautious with any theory of revitalization," he said.

Hello, I am a new member! I read this account on the blog "Shouts in the Piazza" and would like some commentary from those who know more than I about the matter(s) discussed in it. Here is the account (entitled "Gruss Gott"):

"The Holy Father has begun his fourth Apostolic journey since his election (to another country outside Italy, that is) and is, of course, back home in Bavaria. This is something of a sentimental journey for Benedict. Could it be a "farewell tour"? You know, a chance to see the old stomping ground, visit his house, see his brother at home, pray at his parents' graves, etc. because he won't get the chance to come back again? Word in the piazza is that there are whispers in Rome that he'll be dead by this time next year and that, in fact, this visit to Germany, the second in as many years, is so that he could have a chance to see his homeland again in case he gets no more chances.

While the Pope is certainly more spritely than Pope John Paul II (the one Benedict calls his great predecessor) was at the same age he is still in his 79th year and has not had perfect health in recent years. Don't forget that prior to his papal election the then Cardinal Ratzinger tried twice to retire! The point is that he rests a lot in order to wisely pace himself. What many don't know, however, is that when making a major public appearance the Holy Father gets "help" in looking so good. Help as in some of the tricks that are used for television to make people look good with a healthy color. The Vatican paint and body shop doesn't only work on cars, as it were.

If I am wrong about the possibility of an impending end to the Holy Father's pontificate no one will be happier than I.Unlike some bloggers I never pretend that my sources are infallible. But what I am hearing is that this trip was so he could see "home" possibly for the last time, there will be more new cardinals named in February and the reason folks like Bertone are talking about their dreams is that the campaign for the next possible pope has already, albeit quietly, begun.

I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

I don't believe the Holy Father wears make-up (to dispose of the least important of the items), but what about the Pope's health in general? Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks in advance,

Lee Ballinger
Washington, D.C.

Papa Ratzinger will live for ever!
As for "help" in looking good....I've seen him up very close indeed. His face looked perfectly natural to me and healthy!

He probably won't go to Bavaria again, because his work keeps him mostly at "home" in the Vatican City. He has a few more journeys planned, but they are "work".

From one who cares! Mary

Hi Lee (Chickadee),
welcome here and enjoy to be member of this marvellous forum.


My comments:

Holy Father called this tour 'to the roots' and he is very gratefull to Lord for opportunity to visit Bavaria. His brother Georg remarked in one interview, that pope can't go to Germany so often , because he is busy with travels to other countries and every voyage is very difficult and expensive matter.(security, plane, helicopters, building places for open-air masses and so on).

Benedict is almost 80, it's normal he becomes tired more quickly, but on the other hand he seemed to be in relative good health state. He rather knows he could die 'tommorow', so he wants to make all task perfect. But I found disgusting to speculate he is preparing for close death(as I felt in Shouts in Piazza article).

And speculations about some staff who prepare his apperance to to look healthy, that's ridiculous. (Even when he had TV interview he had no make-up, although all reporters had - due to eliminate glosses on face.)

Sorry for my english, I'm czech.

Maklara and everyone...We all share the outrage at the tasteless, pointless, inopportune and rather unexpected (the blogger is a priest who has seemed to be sympathetic to the Pope, whom I believe he met several times when he was Cardinal). For further discussion on this issue, please go to the CHATTER thread.

Meanwhile, Jeff Israely of TIME magazine has come out with his periodic update of this Benedictine Papacy so far onhttp://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,8816,1533711,00.html

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Monday, Sep. 11, 2006
Behind Benedict's Vatican Overhaul
Though eyes are on his trip home,
the Pope is (gradually) launching
big changes back in the Roman Curia
By JEFF ISRAELY

ALTOTTING, GERMANY- As Pope Benedict XVI spoke with reporters on his Alitalia jet just before take-off for his current trip to Germany, an imposing — and familiar — figure in black-and-red appeared just over the smaller shoulders of the German pontiff.

He is Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and for the past 15 years, the husky Italian has served as Secretary of State, effectively the No. 2 post in the Vatican hierarchy. But for the 78-year-old prelate, who'd accompanied John Paul abroad dozens of times, this week's trip with Benedict to Bavaria will be his final assignment in the powerful post.

On Friday, the day after the papal entourage returns to Rome, Sodano's replacement — current Genoa Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone — will take over the running of day-to-day business of the mammoth Church bureaucracy.

So while the Pope enjoys his homecoming this week (Monday he traveled to the small Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn where he was born), Vatican insiders say the beginning of the Benedict era back at the Roman Curia begins in earnest this fall.

Some, in fact, predict that Bertone — a longtime trusted confidante of the former Cardinal Ratzinger — was handpicked to be Secretary of State in order to usher in a virtual revolution in the way Catholic Church headquarters operates. Part downsizing, part priority overhaul, the theologian pontiff is said to want Church headquarters to be both a more holy and a more efficient entity.

Though the changing of the guards has been more deliberate than some had wanted — especially those critical of the power that Sodano had amassed in the last years of John Paul's papacy — the new Pope has nonetheless already made some notable personnel moves, with others sure to come.

Here are five key changes that have taken place since Benedict took over in April 2005, and five more shifts that may be on the horizon.

WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR

1. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The first post the Pope had to fill was his own old job, to head of the Vatican office that oversees doctrinal orthodoxy. His choice of the then Archbishop of San Francisco, William J. Levada, was the first sign that Benedict would take his own counsel on key personnel changes.

Defying conventional wisdom that the doctrinal capo had to be a European intellectual heavy-hitter, the Pope chose the shy California native who he'd known well when they worked together in Rome in the early 1980s.

By choosing Levada it was also evident that the Vatican's theologian-in-chief would remain the former Cardinal Ratzinger.

2. Downsizing.

March brought the first major slimming to the structure of the Roman Curia, as Benedict merged four existing pontifical councils into two.

The Pontifical Council for Migrants and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace were consolidated into one office headed by Justice and Peace chief Italian Cardinal Renato Martino.

Likewise, French Cardinal Paul Poupard, who headed the Pontifical Council for Culture, will now also oversee the operations of what had been the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue.

In the short term, two top prelates — Cardinal Japanese Stephen Fumio Hamao and British Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, respectively — lost their Curial positions in the double mergers. It also signals a long-term commitment to trim bureaucratic fat. [NB: Fumao was due for retirement because of age; Fitgerlad was sent on to be Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt and the Holy See's representative to the Arab League.]

3. Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples.

This key Curia post had been held by another Italian power player, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe. Replacing Sepe with Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Bombay, was proof that the Pope isn't afraid to take on the Vatican status quo.

It also was an acknowledgment that the man responsible for overseeing more than a thousand dioceses in the developing world might best be chosen from the developing world.

4. Press Office

More a shift in style than structure, the Vatican press office was passed in July from longtime papal spokesman JoaquNavarro-Valls, a debonaire lay member of Opus Dei, who often was a newsmaker himself, to the more low-key Jesuit priest,Father Federico Lombardi, already the director general of Vatican radio and television.

The choice shows the desire to better coordinate the Holy See's communication agencies, long seen as too disjointed.

5. Trusted Number Two

Bertone was Ratzinger's deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1995 to 2003. So Benedict chose the affable Cardinal in part because he knows they can work well together.

But Bertone stands out because he is not a career diplomat, like Sodano and most secretaries of state in recent centuries. His theological and doctrinal background will serve Benedict's goals of turning the Curia into an administrative body aimed at facilitating the spreading of the gospel rather than consolidating its own power.

WHAT'S TO COME

1. Foreign Policy

Timed together with Sodano's retirement comes the end of the Curia career for the governor of Vatican City, U.S. Cardinal Edmund Szoka, who will be replaced on Friday by archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, currently the Holy See foreign minister. This will leave the job of top foreign affairs official vacant.

Among the names circulating are two linked to France: Italian-born Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, who is currently nuncio (ambassador) in France, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, 60, currently the nuncio in Uganda. Some observers say that Benedict still needs to find his voice on world affairs, and a forceful player in this position could help.

2. Italian Chief

One Vatican veteran Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who has held the double-potent post of Vicar of Rome and head of the Italian Bishops Conference since 1991, has stayed put so far. But maneuvering for his succession is well underway.

Among those mentioned to replace Ruini are two Cardinals - Angelo Scola of Venice and Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan — who were considered papal candidates in the same conclave that elected Benedict. A lesser known name than either the conservative Venetian or more progressive Milanese may well emerge as a compromise candidate.

3. Bank Business

A power struggle is said to be on over control of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the Vatican bank. The longstanding IOR chief Angelo Caloia is credited with cleaning up the bank's business after it was rocked by scandals in the 1980s. But some think Caloia has himself consolidated too much power.

Italian magazine Panorama last week reported that Benedict would like to put former German Central Bank chief Hans Tietmeyer to run the Church's operation. That would shake things up almost as much as a German pope.

4. More Downsizing

Additional Vatican offices are bound to close or get consolidated. With the more powerful and longer standing "Congregations" less likely to get chopped, eyes are focused on the "Pontifical Councils" that are a relatively recent addition to the Curia hierarchy.

Those offices with dossiers for laity, family and Christian Unity could well get folded into others.

5. Brother's Quarters

A guest of honor on Benedict's travels in Bavaria on Monday was his brother Father Georg Ratzinger, 82, who has long lived in the town of Regensburg, where he directed the church choir.

Georg has been spending more and more time with his younger brother (who still has a full-time job), passing much of the summer at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. So this fall, many expect that a small living area where Georg has stayed in the Apostolic Palace will become the papal brother's permanent address. That's one Curia assignment that had only one viable candidate.

[Brother Georg may have the quarters but he has said in more than one interview that he considers Regensburg home.]

Sandro Magister pulls together recent reports about Pope Benedict XVI and what he says about St. Francis of Assisi, and links it to one of the Pope's earliest decisions in which he directed the Franciscans in charge of the Franciscan shrines in Assisi to report to the local bishop, and appointed a new bishop for the diocese.
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Benedict XVI Has Become a Franciscan
A true Franciscan.
Against all the environmentalist,
pacifist, and syncretistic distortions.
Rebuilding the Church was the task
Jesus assigned to the saint of Assisi.
The pope has made him his own, and is
re-proposing him as a model for today

by Sandro Magister


The Cross of San Damiano
from which Jesus spoke
to St. Francis

ROMA, September 11, 2006 – In the span of just a few days, Benedict XVI has turned twice to the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi.

He did so on August 31, speaking to the priests of the diocese of Albano, whom he received at the pontifical residence of Castel Gandolfo.

He did so on September 4, sending a message to the bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the saint’s conversion.

The pope said about Saint Francis to the priests of Albano:

“He was not merely an environmentalist or a pacifist. He was, above all, a converted man. I have read with great pleasure that the bishop of Assisi, Sorrentino, precisely in order to remedy this ‘abuse’ of the figure of Saint Francis, wants to proclaim the eighth centenary of his conversion as a ‘Year of conversion,’ in order to [...] demonstrate what conversion is by connecting us with the figure of Saint Francis, in order to widen the horizon of life.

"At first, Francis was a sort of playboy. Then he realized that this was not enough. He heard the voice of the Lord: ‘Rebuild my house.’ And little by little, he understood what it meant to ‘rebuild the house of the Lord’.”

And in the message to the bishop of Assisi, he continued his reflection as follows, taking as his point of departure the inter-religious meeting for peace held by Karol Wojtyla twenty years earlier, in 1986, in the city of Saint Francis:

“For his daring and prophetic initiative, John Paul II decided upon the evocative setting of the city of Assisi, known universally for the figure of Saint Francis. In effect, the ‘Poverello' [little poor man] embodied in an exemplary way the blessedness proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9).

"The witness he bore in his time makes a natural point of reference for those who, also today, cultivate the ideals of peace, respect for nature, and dialogue among persons, religions, and cultures.

"It is nevertheless important to recall, if one does not want to betray his message, that it was the radical choice of Christ that provided him with the key to understanding the brotherhood to which all men are called, and in which even the inanimate creatures – from ‘brother sun’ to ‘sister moon’ – participate in some way.

"And so I am pleased to recall that, together with this twentieth anniversary of John Paul II’s initiative of prayer for peace, there also falls the eighth centenary of the conversion of Saint Francis.

"These two commemorations shed light upon each other. In the words addressed to him from the Crucifix [of the church of San Damiano] – ‘Go, Francis, rebuild my house...’ – in his choice of radical poverty, in kissing the leprous man, by which he expressed his new capacity to see and love Christ in his suffering brethren, there began that human and Christian adventure that continues to fascinate so many men of our time, and makes that city the destination of countless pilgrims.”

In both of his statements, Benedict XVI said he wanted to correct the “abuses” and “betrayals” that distort the true character of Saint Francis.

And to recall the false view of Saint Francis, Benedict XVI needed just two words: “environmentalist” and “pacifist.”

In the pope’s judgment, this deformation of the figure of the saint is partly due to the religious orders that sprang from him. This, at least, is what can be gathered from the motu proprio with which, in November of 2005, Benedict XVI brought back into line the two Franciscan convents of Assisi, requiring them to obey the bishop and the cardinal legate, and not to carry out public activities without their approval.

But more than the critical part, what is most striking in Benedict XVI’s reflection on saint Francis is the constructive part.

The truth of Saint Francis – the pope emphasizes – is his “radical choice of Christ,” the conversion awakened in him by the words of the crucified Jesus: ‘Go, rebuild my house.’

Joseph Ratzinger has been thinking about this restoration of the true saint Francis for some time.

When in November of 2005 the pope appointed as bishop of Assisi Domenico Sorrentino – previously the secretary of the Vatican congregation for the liturgy – he, Benedict XVI, was the one who suggested to the new bishop that he dedicate his first pastoral letter to the conversion of saint Francis, which took place in 1206.

In the conversation he had with Sorrentino on the occasion of his appointment, the pope told him that “the entire meaning of the life of Francis is contained in the words with which the Crucifix of San Damiano sent Francis to rebuild the Church.”

The new bishop of Assisi was faithful to his charge. His first pastoral letter, published last Lent, has on the cover the image of the Crucifix of San Damiano (see photo), and for its title the words Jesus spoke to the saint: “Go, Francis, rebuild my house.”

In one passage of the pastoral letter, bishop Sorrentino quotes these words and then comments upon them:

“‘Go, Francis, rebuild my house, which, as you see, is all in ruins.’ These words from the Crucifix immediately prompted Francis to dedicate himself to the physical restoration of the little church of San Damiano and of other churches.

"But could this have been all that voice meant to say? The biographers interpret this as mission of the ‘Poverello’ for the spiritual renewal of Christendom. Without a doubt, this was also true.

"But it nevertheless seems to me that in the spiritual travail that the young Francis was living through, he perceived these words of vocation and mission as being in the first place an invitation to carry out completely the conversion that had already begun, making his own the concern and plans of Christ for his Church.”

The saint Francis that Benedict XVI wants to restore to his true nature is, therefore, a converted man who for the sake of the crucified Jesus made a “radical choice,“ and from there “gradually came to understand what it meant to ‘rebuild the house of the Lord’.”

This model of conversion and holiness is, pope Ratzinger maintains, more valid than ever for today’s Church.

Pietro Messa, a Franciscan and a professor of spiritual theology at the Pontifical Antonianum University in Rome, writes at the end of an unpublished commentary on this “new hermeneutic for saint Francis of Assisi” proposed by Benedict XVI:

“Benedict XVI is proposing as the hermeneutical, or interpretive, key to the life of saint Francis of Assisi the conversation with the Crucifix of San Damiano, which sent him to rebuild the Church. And it is rebuilding the Church that has the first place in the heart of Benedict XVI.”

__________


Restorations also underway
for the interreligious meetings

Apart from Saint Francis, Benedict XVI’s message to the bishop of Assisi – dated September 2 and released on the 4th – also dwells upon the interreligious meeting for peace held by John Paul II in Assisi twenty years ago, on October 27, 1986.

He did this in part to dispel the “misunderstandings,” “confusion,” and “concessions” born from that meeting and its later recurrences.

The latest of these meetings, organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio, was held in Assisi last September 4-5.

The bishop of Assisi had invited Benedict XVI to participate. But the pope had declined: “I intend to visit the city of Saint Francis, but not on this occasion.”

Ratzinger’s reservations over the abuses connected to the interreligious meetings inaugurated by pope Wojtyla had been known for some time, and he made them explicit in this message.

But it is interesting that, in criticizing the abuses, Benedict XVI uses statements made by John Paul II himself, who was already raising his guard against concessions to syncretism and relativism.

Here is the “ad hoc” passage from the message:

“In order not to misunderstand the meaning of what John Paul II wanted to accomplish in 1986, and what, in his own words, is described as the ‘spirit of Assisi’, it is important not to forget the attention that was paid at that time to prevent the interreligious prayer meeting from being subjected to syncretistic interpretations founded upon a relativistic conception.

"Precisely for this reason, from the very outset John Paul II stated: ‘The fact that we have come here does not imply any intention to seek out religious consensus among ourselves, or to negotiate over the convictions of our faith. Nor does it mean that the religions can be reconciled at the level of a shared commitment to an earthly project extending over all of them. Nor is it a concession to relativism in regard to religious beliefs...’ (Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, 1986, vol. II, p.1252).

"I want to restate this principle, which constitutes the prerequisite for the dialogue among religions that Vatican Council II called for in the declaration on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions (cf. “Nostra Aetate,” 2).

"I gladly take this occasion to greet the representatives of the other religions who will take part in one or another of the commemorations in Assisi. As do we Christians, they also know that in prayer it is possible to have a special experience of God, and to take from this effective encouragement in the dedication to the cause of peace.

"It is nonetheless obligatory, even in this, to avoid inopportune confusion. For this reason, even when we gather together to pray for peace, this prayer must be carried out according to the distinct approach that is proper to each of the various religions.

"This was the decision in 1986, and this decision cannot but remain valid today as well. The coming together of those who are different must not give the impression of a concession to that relativism that denies the very meaning of truth and the possibility of attaining it.”

__________


The full translation of Benedict XVI’s message to the bishop of Assisi may be found in HOMILIES, MESSAGES, DISCOURSES.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/09/2006 4.54]

"He Must Finally Take Some Action"

Deutsche Welle
Sept. 14, 2006

Hans Küng, a respected scholar of theology and philosophy, likens Pope Benedict XVI in some ways to US President George Bush. He says both need to come down from the sky and take a look at the reality on the ground.


DW-WORLD.DE: What did you think of Pope Benedict's visit?

Hans Küng: I think many people here in Germany have an ambivalent impression. Benedict has a very nice personality; he's shown himself as a very friendly person. He's also not a media pope like his predecessor. He's not an actor who is looking for applause.

He concentrates on the central truths of Christianity and faith in God. On the other hand, he didn't accomplish any of the reforms to the Catholic Church that some people were looking for.

Which reforms?

There are a great many things. If you take the situation around Munich, a lot of parishes are without priests. And just having a lot of people in the seats doesn't mean that they are all believers.

Of course everybody finds it a very stimulating event to see the pope up close and lots of people are looking for a spiritual father and a more credible representative of moral integrity, justice and peace than many politicians today.

But there were fewer people at the liturgy than had been expected. We should not think that all those who were coming to see a star are now convinced and faithful Catholic believers.


Why don't you think that the great wave of enthusiasm that greeted the pope could have a vitalizing effect on the church?

It would be great if it had consistent consequences. It is not enough to preach and have a big event. The most recent public opinion poll by McKinsey asked whether the Catholic Church should be reformed and 43 percent said yes. This is 40 percent more than before.

In the same poll, 45 percent -- nearly half of all Germans -- said they have no confidence in the Catholic Church as an institution.

The people in Munich were very happy -- they have a German pope, a Bavarian pope. It the event had been held in Magdeburg, in a new German state, where only 8 percent are registered as Christians, we would have had a different image of Germany.


What do you think about the pope's comments on the unity of the church? Do you think he could influence more cooperation between the Catholics and the Protestants?

Of course he could. I was very pleased that the German president, Horst Köhler, who is a member of the Global Ethic Foundation, said when the pope arrived: "in the name of many Christians in this country, more ecumenical progress." And the pope answered in a very convincing way. He said he would do everything to bring Catholic and Protestants together.

Afterwards, when he met with other Christians all the controversial issues between Catholics and Protestants were just ignored. Most people here in Germany would have to have a common Eucharist, the acknowledgement of the ministers of the Protestant churches. They would have a solution for marriages from different churches, and of course the problem of papal jurisdiction and infallibility. All this was practically ignored. Even the representatives of the Protestant churches didn't have the courage to mention it.


Do you feel that the changes you've mentioned, including unity among Christians, will be possible during the tenure of the current pope?

I had a long conversation with him, which I'm very grateful for. I still hope that he will finally see that he cannot only talk -- he must finally take some action. And I still hope that, after a certain time of reflection, he will do something.

Sometimes I have the impression he's like President Bush, who takes his Air Force One jet and flies over New Orleans just to see how the situation is. But finally he had to come down to the ground to see what the reality is.

The diocese in Regensburg, where the pope was, is probably the most divided diocese in Germany. The bishop of Regensburg replaced practically all the elected members of the diocesan council in an authoritarian way with like-minded people. And people could not understand why the pope just made comments about the organ in the Regensburg church in the presence of this bishop.
______________

Hans Küng was professor of ecumenical theology and director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the University of Tübingen from 1960 until his retirement in 1996. He also served as official theological consultant to the Second Vatican Council appointed by Pope John XXIII. Küng has published numerous books on Christianity, the Catholic Church and ethics.

Vatican says pope did not intend to offend sensibilities of Muslims

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican responded to a wave of Muslim indignation over recent remarks by Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pope did not intend to "offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful."

Some of the strongest criticism of the pope came from Islamic leaders in Turkey, where the pontiff is scheduled to travel this fall. Church officials said Sept. 15 that there were no immediate plans to cancel or postpone the papal trip.

Vatican officials invited Muslim leaders to read the full text of the papal address, saying it would make clear that the pope was speaking in favor of all religions and not against Islam.

In his talk at the University of Regensburg, Germany, Sept. 12, the pope's main theme was how reason and faith must be reconciled in the West, but he introduced it by quoting a medieval emperor on the errors of Islam and jihad, or holy war. The pope did not say whether he endorsed the 600-year-old criticisms of Islam that he quoted.

A few hours after the pope returned from Germany Sept. 14, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a written statement in the face of mounting criticism from Islamic representatives. Father Lombardi reviewed the papal speech, saying it was very important to the pope that there be a "clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence."

But he said the pope did not intend to make a critical assessment of Islam, much less offend Muslims. On the contrary, Father Lombardi said, the pope's talk focused primarily on the religious shortcomings of the West and the reluctance of truly religious cultures to accept a Western "exclusion of the divine."

"What is clear, then, is the Holy Father's desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam," the Vatican spokesman said.

Father Lombardi's statement was being translated into Arabic, in the hope that it would allay Muslim resentment, Vatican sources said.

After reading press reports of the papal speech, Ali Bardakoglu, the head of Turkey's directorate of religious affairs, said Sept. 14 that the pope had offended Muslims and should apologize. He questioned whether the pope should visit Turkey as planned in late November; it would be the pontiff's first visit to a Muslim country.

"I do not see any use in somebody visiting the Islamic world who thinks in this way about the holy prophet of Islam. He should first rid himself of feelings of hate," Bardakoglu told Turkish television.

"I hope the pope apologizes and realizes how close he is to spoiling any chance of peace," he said.

Bishop Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar in Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey, said the pope's remarks were being taken out of context by Turkish media, prompting widespread criticism of the pontiff.

"Even if there are pressures for the pope to apologize or cancel his trip, I think the Holy Father will follow the program that has been prepared for the trip," he told AsiaNews, a Rome-based missionary news agency.

At the Vatican, one source said Sept. 15 that the trip plans were going ahead, at least for now. At the moment, he said, the critical reactions to the pope's speech have come through the media and not at the diplomatic level.

Pakistan's Parliament Sept. 15 passed a resolution criticizing the pope for making what it called "derogatory" comments about Islam and asking him to apologize for offending Muslim sentiments.

In Egypt, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood said the pope had expressed "wrong and distorted beliefs" about Islam. A similar statement came from the Indonesian Mujahedin Council.

Several Vatican officials expressed deep dismay that Muslim reactions were based on news media accounts of the papal speech.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Vatican council that dialogues with Muslims, said a careful reading would show that the pope had offered to Islam "an outstretched hand" in the battle against an oversecularized global culture.

"I invite our Muslim friends of goodwill to take the pope's text in hand and read it in its entirety and meditate on it. It will be clear that this can in no way be considered an attack on Islam but is rather an outstretched hand, because it defends the value of humanity's religious cultures, including Islam," the cardinal said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Cardinal Poupard, head of the pontifical councils for Interreligious Dialogue and for Culture, pointed out that in quoting the 14th-century criticism of Islam, the pope had noted the "startling brusqueness" of the language.

"With this, the pope was signaling that he was not endorsing these words," Cardinal Poupard said.

The cardinal said the idea that Islam has produced "only evil and inhuman" things, as expressed by the Byzantine emperor quoted by the pope, "cannot be held by whoever accepts the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on non-Christian religions."

Cardinal Poupard said the main point of the pope's speech was to show that religious cultures view efforts to "exclude the divine" as an attack on their strongest convictions.

"Don't you think a sincere Muslim should be happy at this statement?" the cardinal said.

There had been some fears in Germany that the pope's lecture might be misunderstood by Muslims. Father Hans Kung, a dissident Swiss theologian, said it would not be taken positively by many Muslims. "It urgently needs to be put into context," he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The secretary-general of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, said he did not see the lecture as an attack on Muslims.

Mazyek told the German newspaper: "Against the background of the bloody forced Christianization in South America, the Crusades in the Muslim world, the co-option of the church by the Hitler regime, even the invention of the expression 'holy war,' which originally comes from the mouth of (Pope) Urban II, it would fill me with some concern if the church would come and take a superior attitude to the extremist activities of other religious communities."

He said he was sure the pope had not meant that.

They wait on his word

September 15, 2006, 1:21 am
Posted by J. Peter Nixon
Commonweal

A recent trend I’ve noticed in the Catholic blogosphere is a fascination—sometimes bordering on obsession—with the public pronouncements of Pope Benedict. The global reach of the Internet has allowed every homily, Angelus address, speech, or off-the-cuff remark to be quickly translated and disseminated.

There is no denying that Pope Benedict is a man of unique spiritual and intellectual gifts. As a friend of mine wrote to me recently, “Benedict leads me to prayer. When I read his writings, I find myself praying and being opened up.” My friend recounted a story about then-Professor Ratzinger’s 8am lectures in Munster being filled with townspeople who came to listen on their way to work. When the lectures ended, many would remain in their seats praying.

So it seems almost churlish to question whether this fascination with the Pope’s public statements is a good thing. But question it I shall. Because the problem is not the Pope, but rather the lack of any other Catholic voices of comparable stature.

I was thinking of this the other day when I was preparing my post on St. John Chrysostom. When one looks back at the 4th and 5th centuries, one is struck by the number of bishops who had the kind of public profile—albeit on a smaller scale—that Benedict has today: Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom. To be Bishop of Rome in those days was not to be the sun around which lesser bodies merely revolved. As Eamon Duffy once observed, it is not the normal state of things for the pope to be the Church’s chief theologian, evangelist and legislator all rolled into one.

One of the clear intentions of the Council Fathers at Vatican II was to reaffirm the centrality of the episcopate in Catholic ecclesiology after several decades (one might even say several centuries) of papal maximalism. But 40 years after the Council, the pope remains something of a solitary figure, floating above the episcopal college rather than firmly embedded in it.

The reasons for this are varied and even those who agree on the problem may disagree about the cause. Some point to the poor quality of episcopal appointments made during the last pontificate and the impact of the sexual abuse scandals on public perception of bishops. Others argue that the national episcopal conferences have made it harder for individual bishops to develop distinctive voices. Still others note that the fascination with the pope is a result of forces within the mass media over which the Church has limited control. There are many fine bishops who preach and inspire their flocks, but who do not make the news.

I don’t know what the answer is. Surely it is not that Pope Benedict should hesitate to share the fruits of his prayer and reflection with us. We would be the poorer for that. But as my aforementioned friend put it, “My hope is that Benedict can provide a distinctive voice that allows other distinctive voices to flourish.” That will be my prayer as well.

I'm furious and sad for our beloved Holy Father. The quotation was lifted out of context.
Of course, Muslims never criticise Christians, they never prevent Christians from practising their religion, they never kill Christians!!!! Do they????????
Islam IS a religion of the sword, of the "holy jihad".
Jesus Christ preached PEACE and so does Pope Benedict.
Pax Christi sit Semper Vobiscum!

Islam row raises pope safety fears

POSTED: 9:00 a.m. EDT, September 15, 2006

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- The Muslim world's scathing reaction to Pope Benedict's comments on Islam is the biggest challenge to face the pontiff yet and raises concerns over his security, diplomatic and Church sources said on Friday.

"My personal reaction was: 'This is a striking statement. Was it a rare slip-up?'" one source said about the pope's speech in Germany last Tuesday.

"One has to wonder why the pope, who is normally so careful about what he says or writes, and has a reputation for extreme care, did not realize the reaction that this could cause," the source added.

In his speech at the University of Regensburg, Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammed brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Benedict repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."

"I was quite surprised (by the speech)," one diplomat said. "He has put himself in a tough spot and it will be interesting to see what he does next."

A growing chorus of Muslim leaders have called on the pope to apologize. Muslim scholars say his comments show little understanding of Islam and some say Islamic countries should threaten to break off relations with the Vatican.

One high-ranking Church source also also expressed fears for the pope's safety.

"While I think the controversy will go away, it has done damage and if I were a security expert I'd be worried," he said.

At least one Muslim leader, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the chief cleric of New Delhi's historic Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, extolled Muslims to "respond in a manner which forces the pope to apologize." He did not elaborate.

Professor or pope?
The Church source said the pope, who for years was a professor of theology in his native Germany, had perhaps made a mistake by mixing up his past and present roles.

"The question is should he, as pope, be giving very complex academic lectures and how far is he going to risk getting himself into trouble by doing so?" he said.

"What one can say as an academic is one thing and what a pope can say is another," the source added.

But another diplomatic source praised the pope for "calling a spade a spade."

"I see this as a wake up call for Christians. It will be interesting to see what the next step will be, but I don't think he has to apologize for anything, nor do I think he will," the diplomatic source said.

Some sources said they feared the controversy could affect the pope's plans to visit Turkey in November for a major meeting with Orthodox leaders. There have already been some calls in Turkey for the trip to be cancelled.

A Vatican statement on Tuesday said it was not the pope's intention to offend the sensitivity of the Muslim faithful.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Vatican's department for inter-religious dialogue, invited "Muslim friends of good will" to read the entire text of the pope's lecture.

He told Corriere della Sera newspaper it should be seen as an offer to discuss "humanity's religious cultures and the great role Islam has in them."

Merkel: Critics misunderstand Pope


Friday 15 September 2006, 21:12 Makka Time, 18:12 GMT
Aljazeera.com

The German chancellor said the Pope supports dialogue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended Pope Benedict XVI against allegations that he had attacked Islam, saying critics had misunderstood comments the Pope made this week during a visit to his native Germany.

"Whoever criticises the Pope misunderstood the aim of his speech. It was an invitation to dialogue between religions and the Pope expressedly spoke in favour of this dialogue, which is something I also support and consider urgent and necessary," Merkel was quoted as saying by German newspaper Bild on Friday.

"What Benedict XVI emphasised was a decisive and uncompromising renunciation of all forms of violence in the name of religion," Merkel was quoted as saying in an article to appear on Saturday.

The Pope, born in southern Germany with the name Josef Ratzinger, ended a six-day visit to his native Bavaria on Thursday.

The Pope on Tuesday repeated criticism of Prophet Muhammad by the 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything Muhammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Violence incompatible

The Pope, who used the terms "jihad" and "holy war" in his lecture, added "violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

Dialogue between faiths is "crucial" in the wake of Muslim anger over the pontiff's comments on Islam, the Vatican's newly appointed "foreign minister" told AFP on Friday.

"The pope has repeatedly said the question of dialogue between cultures and religions is one of the crucial questions of our time," said Dominique Mamberti, speaking by telephone from Sudanese capital Khartoum where he is papal ambassador.

On Friday, Mamberti was appointed the Vatican's top official for relations with other states, the equivalent of foreign minister of the world's smallest state.

Demanding stance

The pontiff's remarks - tucked into an address on Tuesday at a German university where he taught theology - have been interpreted by many experts in interfaith relations as a signal that the Vatican is staking a new and more demanding stance for its dealings with the Muslim world.

Experts say Benedict wants more reciprocity in interfaith relations

Benedict, they say, appears to increasingly view the West's confrontation with radical Islam as a fateful moment in history that demands the Vatican's moral authority - just as his predecessor, John Paul II, reshaped the dimensions of the papacy by openly taking sides in the Cold War.

The risk for the Vatican is whether it will be perceived in the Muslim world as part of a broader Western cultural and political campaign against Islam.

In the backlash, however, some of the more subtle - yet potentially far-reaching - references have been overshadowed.

Deep dismay

The speech suggested deep dismay over the current conditions of Christians in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world, said John Voll, director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington.

"This reflects the intention of Pope Benedict to distinguish himself from his predecessor on his approach to interfaith dialogue," said Voll. "And by this, it means more reciprocity."

Voll said the pope may increasingly instruct Vatican envoys to stress issues of forced conversions of Christians and limits on Christian rights and worship.

Now here's a new take on the Regensburg lecture. Just for starters, that, Pope Benedict XVI in his persona as Professor Joseph Ratzinger committed a serious error of scholarship in his citation of the 'peaceful' surah as coming from Mohammed's early period!

And that's just one of the startling allegations made in this rather condescending piece from the Times of London which says, in effect: "Oh, he meant well, of course - he just said it all wrong!" Damning with faint praise, as did Hans Kueng earlier, who is quoted in this piece...
---------------------------------------------------------------

How an emperor’s words
landed the Pope in trouble
By Ruth Gledhill
Religion Correspondent of The Times

Even his critics are agreed that the Pope did not intend to cause offence to the world’s Muslims.

In quoting a work edited by the highly-respected Lebanese-born scholar Theodore Khoury, who works out of Munster university, he was trying more to reassert his academic credentials in the university where he once taught himself.

This speech, as its esoteric tone and content testifies, was an address by Professor Joseph Ratzinger, scholar, rather than by Pope Benedict XVI, world religious leader.

The Pope’s mistake was his failure to distance himself from the Byzantine Emperor’s comments, surely inflammatory enough in their own time, but a thousand times more so when repeated today.

The Pope can hardly complain that he has been taken out of context by thousands of enraged Muslims around the world when he is himself guilty of the same offence in regard to Manuel II Paleologus.

And his address is undermined further by a serious error in regards to the Koran. “In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of jihad (holy war).

"The emperor must have known that surah 2,256 reads:‘There is no compulsion in religion.’ It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat.”

In fact, this surah is held by Muslim scholars to be from the middle period, around the 24th year of Mohammed’s prophethood in 624 or 625, when he was in Medina and in control of a state. Contrary to what the Pope said, this was written when Mohammed was in a position of strength, not weakness.

The Pope’s old sparring partner, Professor Hans Kung, a former colleague of his when at Tubingen university, agrees that the Pope did not intend to provoke Muslims.

“He is very interested in dialogue with all religions. But using this quotation and his whole approach to Islam in the lecture was very unfortunate,” he said.

He found it incredible that the Pope had quoted an emperor, a Christian adversary of Islam, who had set down the comments while in the middle of a battle, the siege of Constantinople in 1394 to 1402.

“If a Jewish person said such a thing about a Christian, we would also be offended,” said Professor Kung. “He can of course quote what he wants, but he did this without saying the emperor was incorrect.

"This just shows the limits of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger. He never studied the religions thoroughly and very obviously has a unilateral view of Islam and the other religions.”

The Pope has a history of criticism of Islam. According to another leading Catholic who took part in a secret meeting with him on the subject last September at the Pope’s summer residence in Italy, Benedict XVI believes that Islam cannot be reformed and is therefore incompatible with democracy.

Earlier this year Father Joseph Fessio, provost of Ave Maria University in Naples and founder of the publishing house Ignatius Press, said the Pope believes that reform of Islam is impossible “because it’s against the very nature of the Koran, as it’s understood by Muslims.”

Professor Kung added: “The Pope just was not aware of the implications of what he was saying.”

It should have been possible to predict that the entire Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, would see such comments in the context, not so much of the Crusades, but of European colonialism, of Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

Another senior Catholic source also described the Pope’s use of the Byzantine emperor’s comments as“extraordinary”. The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “He is fully entitled to raise the issue of Islamist terror of course, but in this address he is not really doing that.

"If we have not learned by now that Muslims react very badly indeed to this sort of thing, I fear we will never learn. He should have said the emperor’s comments were deplorable, and that he also recognised the reality of Christian violence, then there might not be such trouble now.”

The tragedy of the episode is that the Pope was arguing against the idea that violence can be justified, in any religion. He was making the case for the compatibility of reason with religion at a time when fundamentalism has rarely been more pre-eminent across the religious spectrum.

The irony is that the extremity of Islamic response illustrates in terrifying clarity how desperately the world needs to hear his message.

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

The condescension of it all is outrageous. As I commented early on about this firestorm, does anyone really think the Holy Father did not think long and hard and repeatedly about everything he was going to say - and put down in writing - in this particular lecture, of all things?

As for questioning the scholarship of the 'peaceful' surah that he cited, I am no Muslim scholar or historian, but no one else appears to have raised the point before Ms. Gledhill did! Does Fr. Samir think it was an erroneous statement but was too polite to say so in his essay yesterday about the Regensburg lecture?

And of course, her paraphrasing of what Fr. Fessio said about the Pope's observations on Islam at the Schuelerkreise meeting last year (nothing 'secret' about it - it was a 'private' event, and that's the word Gledhill should have used) is obviously tendentious and a misrepresentation of the context and the tone with which Islam was discussed, from what we have read of fuller eyewitness accounts of the event.

And as for Professor Kueng, I'd take his words with a lot of salt - to make the sour grapes go down better!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/09/2006 8.01]

'Jihad' remarks a sign
By BRIAN MURPHY
AP Religion Writer



Sept. 15, 2006 (AP) -Pope Benedict XVI's comments on religious radicalism are another sign of his intention to bring his voice into one of the world's most critical showdowns: Islam's internal struggles between moderates and extremists.

The remarks — tucked into an address at a German university where he formerly taught theology — were interpreted by many experts in interfaith relations as a signal that the Vatican is staking a new and more demanding stance for its dealings with the Muslim world.

Benedict, they say, appears to increasingly view the West's confrontation with radical Islam as a fateful moment in history that demands the Vatican's moral authority — just as his predecessor, John Paul II, reshaped the dimensions of the papacy by openly taking sides in the Cold War.

[Whoa! What a strange statement to make! How could any Catholic, Pope or otherwise, fail to take sides openly against a godless and ultimately inhuman ideology? John Paul II did not simply take sides - he was clearly and openly on the side of God and of right even before he was Pope - but he took action through his own public militancy, his use of Vatican diplomacy in Eastern Europe, and his moral influence on the Polish Solidarnosc of Lech Walesa which was the wedge that led to toppling the Berlin Wall.)

The risk for the Vatican is whether it will be perceived in the Muslim world as part of a broader Western cultural and political campaign against Islam.

"We have seen a hard line from this pope," said Ali El-Samman, president of the interfaith committee for Egypt's High Islamic Council. "It's a disappointment for many Muslims. But just because we are disappointed in a pope doesn't mean we are against all Christians."

The Vatican said Benedict did not intend the remarks to be offensive and sought to draw attention to the incompatibility of faith and violence.

The pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

Benedict, who is supposed to visit Turkey this fall in his first trip to a Muslim nation, did not explicitly agree with the words nor did he repudiate them.

In the backlash, some of the more subtle — yet potentially far-reaching — references have been overshadowed.

The speech suggested deep dismay over the current conditions of Christians in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world, said John Voll, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington.

"This reflects the intention of Pope Benedict to distinguish himself from his predecessor on his approach to interfaith dialogue," said Voll. "And by this, it means more reciprocity."

Voll said the pope may increasingly instruct Vatican envoys to stress issues of forced conversions of Christians and limits on Christian rights and worship.

"It's the next step after John Paul began opening doors" with historic pilgrimages to Muslim nations, including a visit to a Syrian mosque in 2001, Voll said.

As John Paul's chief watchdog on Roman Catholic doctrine, Benedict — then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — had little role in shaping the Vatican's contact with Islam and other faiths.

Some experts say Benedict's theological scholarship gives him an affinity for Orthodox churches and Judaism because of many shared traditions and holy texts, but leaves him less equipped to deal with Islam at a time when suspicions dominate relations between the West and Muslim world.

The speech, some say, shows the pontiff intends to carry on with his strong defense of the values of the Christian West rather than compromise for the sake of building bonds with Islam.

"They went to the speech expecting to meet Pope Benedict, but instead they met Professor Ratzinger," said the Rev. Khalil Samir, a Vatican envoy for interfaith links in Lebanon.

In July 2005, about two months after assuming the papacy, Benedict was asked if he considered Islam a religion of peace. He said: "Certainly there are elements that favor peace. It also has other elements."

The Rev. Robert Taft, a specialist in Islamic affairs at Rome's Pontifical Oriental Institute, said it was unlikely the pope miscalculated how some Muslims would receive his speech.

"The message he is sending is very, very clear," Taft said. "Violence in the name of faith is never acceptable in any religion and that (the pope) considers it his duty to challenge Islam and anyone else on this."
___

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/09/2006 8.29]

Lost in all the media babble about the Pope's words and Muslim reaction to it is that the official program for his visit to Turkey in November 9 if it goes through at all) was made known yesterday, but no one seems to have picked up from the AsiaNews story from Ankara yesterday, which was about much more, too.

I am re-posting it here from the Bavaria thread, because it tells us something else that none of the other news reports have indicated - that until they reacted to Western news reports of what Benedict said at the University of Regensburg, Turkish media had not said or shown a thing at all about the Pope's trip to Germany.

Now why would they do that? Maybe they do not want their people to see mass (in terms of numbers) celebrations of faith by another religion, as would have been evident in any coverage of the Pope's trip to Bavaria. And why not? Don't they have enough faith in the strength of their people's faith to resist other religions?

More probably it is because they think reporting on what other religions do should not be part of the news, and this would be consistent with Islam's rigid exclusivity - "If you're not one of us, you're an infidel and beneath contempt."

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

15 September, 2006
TURKEY -VATICAN
Islamic nationalists in Turkey
protest against visit of Benedict XVI
by Mavi Zambak

The media shrouded the trip to Germany in silence, broken only to refer to a citation against Islam used by Pope Ratzinger, indicated as an example of what can be expected from the visit of an anti-Islamic in Turkey. The details of the papal trip have been laid down.


Ankara (AsiaNews) – The Turkish media has lifted the veil of silence in which it had thus far shrouded the visit of Benedict XVI to Turkey at the end of November.

Today, the pope was given ample coverage, to maintain that the Muslim world wants his apologies for “linking Islam and violence”.

Recently, Mgr Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, had predicted what was to come. “As they did with the death and funeral of John Paul II,” he said, “the mass media will put the heaviest accent on mere details and I fear the deep, significant meaning of his visit down here will not be truly revealed."

"Certainly those who do not seek dialogue but opposition, and the confirmation of their ideas and calumnies, will be able to come up with some action or expression to re-ignite anti-Christian propaganda, which has been finding ever more encouragement in recent months.”

"Thus, newspapers and television did not mention the pope’s visit to Germany but now they have extrapolated the phrase quoted by the Pope: 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'

"They have done so to spark a controversy about Benedict XVI, the anti-Islamic conservative pope... and about what can be expected from his coming to Turkey."

So far, the climax was the publication of a novel last May, which was already in its second edition by the end of August. The book ranks as one of Turkey’s bestsellers on the Internet and it looks like it will soon be sold out again. The title is significant: “Assassinating the Pope: Who will kill Benedict XVI in Istanbul?”

More than 300 pages long, the novel, written by Yucel Kaya, a crime-story writer, is about international intrigues of the Opus Dei, P2 [apparently a powerful Masonic lodge] and Turkish secret services – all against, according to the author, the union of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

The upshot of the intrigues is that Italian journalist, Oriano Ciroella, murders the pope during his first visit to Turkey. This novel is just one more of many spy stories a la The Da Vinci Code, which have become so fashionable in recent years, but as the Apostolic Vicar in Istanbul, Mgr Louis Pelatre, said: “All this is sad and worrying at the same time”.

The storyline of the novel, that includes real and circumstantial references, highlights prevalent contradictions in Turkish society. One sector of society is looking towards democracy and western values with increasing openness and interest, thus seeking cultural dialogue with Europe. But pitted against this sector is an anti-western fringe group, which has recently made anti-Christian propaganda practically an obligation.

There have already been instances where propaganda has driven fragile and fanatical minds to carry out misguided actions, like the murder of Don Andrea Santoro on 5 February and the stabbing of Fr Pierre in July this year.

One hopes this book will not contribute to putting strange ideas in the head of some new Alì Agca and that it will not provoke further escalation of intolerance against the Christian minority.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Antonio Lucibello, is calm: “We must see this account for what it is. It is a literary fiction and we must take it as such. We are confident and prudent, because we are counting on the Turkish government, which is doing its utmost to guarantee the greatest security possible for the pope, organizing his visit down to the minutest details.”

The programme of the apostolic voyage is now official and on Monday 18 September, members of the Bishops’ Conference of Turkey will come together in Istanbul to define the final logistical details.

Two pieces of news have leaked out: the first is about a one-day extension of the pontiff’s visit to the land of the Crescent: he will be in Istanbul on 1 December as well (the previous dates were from 28 to 30 November), a day added only at the last minute.

Mgr Padovese explained why:
“The Pope realized that time was too tight and that particularly, there was no meeting with Catholic believers on the schedule. And they themselves complained because the organizers of the trip did not manage to fix an appointment just for them on the Holy Father’s packed agenda.

"So the morning of Friday 1 December will be dedicated especially to them, they will be able to meet the pontiff and attend Mass presided over by him, which will be held in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, obviously in the presence of all the religious authorities and bishops of Turkey.”

And at the end of his trip, on the same day, Benedict XVI will visit the historical museum of Santa Sofia. The imposing Basilica which until 1453 was the most sublime symbol of Christianity in the East was a church for 916 years, then a mosque and finally, deconsecrated by order of AtaTurk in 1935, it became a museum. It is still an object of controversy for nationalists who claim it as a place of Islamic worship.

The planned visit has baffled Turks who are fearful that the Pontiff may want to stake a Christian claim there, or expect to pray inside. The visit will be a private one, bearing in mind that the place is a museum and should be respected as such, in line with the will of those who made it so, thus guaranteeing access to all believers but without public religious manifestations.

The other novelty is a stop in Ephesus, precisely at the House of Our Lady, on 29 November. It had been speculated that he may spend this day between meetings, with the civil authorities in Ankara and religious ones in Istanbul, in Trabzon.

This is the city on the Black Sea where Don Andrea Santoro was killed last winter, a tragic event that unblocked the invitation to the Pope from the president of the Republic of Turkey.

Another possibility mooted was Antioch – a city in southern Turkey, where for the first time, the disciples of Jesus were called Christians – where he would have been able to give a strong signal of ecumenical dialogue, meeting at the same time the five patriarchs of the East that hold the name of “Antiochians” (Greek Orthodox – Syrian Orthodox – Melchite – Maronite – Syrian Catholic).

However, Meryem Ana was chosen, the small house at the top of a hill on the Aegean Sea, where tradition has it that Mary lived out the last years of her life, and from where she was assumed into heaven. The pontiff will go to pray at this national Marian shrine, continuing in the tradition of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II.

Then there are the other significant stops. The first day (28 November) will be dedicated to political authorities: the welcome ceremony will not be at the airport of Ankara but at the presidential palace, where the pope will meet the Turkish president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. And he will also have a private meeting with the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the diplomatic corps.

On the way, he will also go to the mausoleum of Ataturk, to pay homage to the father of Turkey, founded in 1923 on the ruins of the old and decadent Ottoman Empire.

On the evening of 29 November, the pontiff will have a private audience with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I. After prayers in the patriarchal church of St George on 30 November, the feast of St Andrew, the Holy Father will attend a solemn divine liturgy presided over by the Patriarch, and at the end a joint statement will be signed.

“The contents of this statement are unknown,” said Mgr Padovese. “But surely it will be another step in ecumenical dialogue, in the quest for unity, already started with the resumption of deliberations last autumn of the Commission of Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, desired by John Paul II during his visit to Turkey in 1979.”

This dialogue, which has been extended also to all the sister Churches of the East, will see another significant gesture in the visit of the Pontiff to Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch, pastor of a Christian community that has always been present in Turkey and which despite everything, remains numerous and vibrant.

This apostolic voyage, set to have a strong ecumenical impact, is fervently anticipated by all Christians. The Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia said:

“Surely this visit will be a precious opportunity to animate the Christian community in awareness of their identity and at the same time to demonstrate the nearness and interest of the Holy Father as regards the plight of the Churches of Turkey.

"This is the first visit of the Pontiff to a country with a Muslim majority but inspired by secularism. The pope’s will be a strong voice that will not speak not only to Turkey but to the whole world, about ties between Islam and Christianity and the discomfort that today, perhaps more than ever, afflicts Christians in this land and all the Middle East.”
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[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/10/2006 23.16]

The all-too-present John Allen of NCR spent part of his weekly column calling Pope Benedict and Hans Keung "friends." I think it is obvious from the comments above that, while the Pope may be charitably disposed toward Keung, the reverse is not true. Keung has never liked the Pope since he left Tubingen in 1968, and has often ridiculed the Pope's "devotional" nature. Now, he calling his scholarship into question.