Is there a reason why these Jesuits are acting this way? That guy is a snake. He needs to be tossed out. He's a coward and a traitor.

Vatican envoys urged
to work for freedom

VATICAN CITY, Sept. 29, 2006 (AP) - The Vatican's new secretary of state urged diplomats Friday to work for religious freedom everywhere, touching on a sensitive issue between the Holy See and some countries, including Muslim ones, where people are not allowed to worship freely.

Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, who took over as the Vatican's No. 2 official earlier this month, was meeting Friday with diplomats.

"We need to have a universal commitment in favor of the most disenfranchised on the planet, the poorest people, those who often look in vain for a way to make a living for themselves and their families," Bertone said, speaking in French.

"Dignity, freedom and the unconditional respect of the fundamental rights of all human beings — especially their freedom of conscience and religion — must be among our primary preoccupation."

In a meeting Monday with Muslim diplomats, Benedict XVI cited a 1985 statement by Pope John Paul II during a visit to Morocco that "respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres," particularly religious freedom.

This is a major issue for the Vatican in Saudi Arabia and several other countries where non-Muslims cannot worship openly. It also has been an issue with some countries that are not Muslim, including China.

Benedict received Muslim ambassadors to the Holy See at the summer palace as part of his efforts to try to put to rest the protests over his remarks about Islam.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/09/2006 16.42]

Josie in the main forum shares this item from Il Giornale today, in which Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli reports from Istanbul. Here is a translation.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Patriarch Bartholomew I:
'Let us dialog with Islam
but they must respect us'
By Andrea Tornielli

ISTANBUL - "The Pope's trip to Turkey is even more important after what followed his lecture in Regensburg," said Bartholomew I, ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who received a group of Italian journalists in Phanar, his seat, two months before a planned visit by Benedict XVI.

He spoke about preparations for the papal visit, of the current controversy with Islam, of the rights of religious minorities, and of Turkey's application to join the European Union.

Bartholomew I received his guests at this modest seat of Oriental Catholicism, where the muezzin's prayer call is amplified at full volume from a nearby mosque.

The 76-year-old Patriarch enjoys the primacy of honor among all the Orthodox Churches, but in his country, he is only a private citizen.

Bartholomew I affirmed that the arrival of Papa Ratzinger - notwithstanding the negative voices heard in Turkey the past few days - "will be an occasion to cultivate dialog" with Muslims.

He said he was sure that the government of Turkey would know how to guarantee the safety of its guest.

Here are his answers to some questions:

Holiness, what do you think of the events that followed the Pope's lecture in Regensburg?
"What he said was well-known to everybody. We do not wish at all for tensions with believers of other religions, and I am sure Benedict XVI had absolutely no intention of offending Islam and our Muslim brothers and sisters. Everything else he said himself when he addressed the ambassadors of Muslim states
a few days ago.

"The Pope has sought to heal the breach. Of course, even here in Turkey. some negative signs continue to emerge. But the Turkish people are hospitable - they await the Pope's visit with joy. It is not the first time they would be welcoming a Pope. Paul VI and John Paul II were both here.

"If there are tensions now after the Regensburg lecture, it is even more reason to justify the trip. It will be an occasion to show friendship, clear away misunderstandings, and underscore the need for a dialog among the three monotheistic religions."

Would you continue to favor Turkey's entry into the European Union?
"We have always been in favor of it. Of course, there are problems, and some problems concern us."

[Among the conditions that the EU has made for Turkey to join the Union is the juridical recognition of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.]

Bartholomew continued:
"We hope that these problems will be resolved during this process of application. Unfortunately, it is true that religious freedoms are restricted here. Since 1971, they have closed our theological school on Chalki island, which had been functioning since 1844. Its closure by the government is a violation of the treaty of Lausanne, a violation of religious freedom and human rights.

"The ecumenical Patriarchate is the primate Orthodox seat in the world but it is also the only one that has its own theological school for the formation of its clergy. We have also lost many buildings which belong to us, and we are not allowed to elect a Patriarch who is not a Turkish citizen."

Do you think the Pope's visit will help you?
"The Pope has spoken several times about the need to respect the rights of religious minorities. If he says it here, it will not be the first time. These are principles that are valid for all peoples. Minorities do not constitute any threat to the countries where they live - they are a cultural wealth.

"Together, Christians of all confessions and Jews make up only 0.01% of the Turkish population. We do not want anything more than just our human rights. When the Turkish Republic was proclaimed back in the 1920s, Orthodox Christians in the country numbered 180,000. Today we have less than 5,000. Ask yourselves why."

Fears have been expressed about the Pope's safety during the trip.
"I am convinced that the Turkish state will take all the necessary measures to protect such a high-ranking guest."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/09/2006 16.33]

Father Michel's piece is one reason I have so little patience these days with the dissenters in the Church. He, along with Cardinal Martini, should be embarrassed for their multiculturalist outlook, which is basically unChristian. If they cannot unequivocally affirm the truth of Catholicism above all other religions, they should have the backbone to leave the Catholic Church.

That many of them are Jesuits does not surprise me, at all. For the last forty years the Jesuits have gone out of their way to hobble and distort the mission of the Catholic Church.

There does seem to be a special animus toward Pope Benedict, however. Cardinal Martini has had it in for him even before Pope Benedict was elected. Recently, Martini spoke out against the Catholic Church's belief in the absolute sanctity of the beginning of life, trying to parse it with statistics and scientific minutiae. This use of statistics goes back to another Jesuit, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, one of the founders of transcendetal Thomism, which has sought to relativize the notion of objective reality and the core tenets of Catholicism. Martini is just one of Lonergan's fellow travellers.

As to the Jesuit order itself, remember that Pope Clement XIV suppressed them in 1770 (lasted until 1773). I wouldn't shed any tears if Pope Benedict did the same thing.

Teresa,

I put my post on John Allen in the wrong place (obviously). It should have gone under "News about Benedict." I am sorry. Can you move it there?

Chickadee

Chickadee... I will move your post here, and also a new member's post about an upcoming BBC hatchet - and apprently misinformed - job on the Church to either News about the Church, or a sub-thread we opened months ago to present facts to counter loose accusations made against Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in conection with priests committing sexual offenses.

EVERYONE...Please remember, the English section is only a thread itself in the whole forum, so we cannot afford to have too many sub-threads, otherwise they won't appear on Page 1 of the board and new members will not know what there is already. When posting, press the button RISPONDI to post, not NUOVA, which would open a new thread. Thank you.

P.S. I just found out that as moderator of this section, I am enabled to eliminate inadvertent threads, so the two sub-threads mentioned above have been taken out, and the appropriate transfers made.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/09/2006 21.38]

Here is Chickadee's Post #34, posted at 18:09, 9/29/06, (remember this forum runs on Italian time!) which inadvertently started a new sub-thread which will be eliminated.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the part of his column that deals with this issue. My comments are below.

Pope Benedict's damage control; Milingo thanks Benedict for his 'caring concern about us'; Notes on: Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, Reader response, Ministry to lesbians and gays

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.


Benedict XVI's carefully choreographed Sept. 25 meeting with ambassadors from 22 Muslim nations accredited to the Holy See (only Sudan was absent), along with representatives from Italy's tiny but growing Muslim community, was designed to turn a corner on the controversies following his Sept. 12 comments on Islam in Regensburg, Germany.

The encounter was carried live both on CNN and its counterpart in the Arab world, Al-Jazeerah.

It seems to have been partially successful. The ambassadors applauded as the pope entered the room, and beamed as he moved down the reception line afterwards. Later, several Muslim participants told the media that they believe the dialogue is "back on track."

"Today begins a new phase," said Abdellah Redouane, secretary general of the Islamic Cultural Center of Rome.

"We overcame the tensions of recent days, and now we must intensify initiatives, on the part of both Christians and Muslims, that favor dialogue among the two great religions, which is important for the serenity of the entire world," Redouane said.

Not everyone, of course, was ready to forgive and forget.

Just 24 hours later, the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, meeting in New York on the margins of a session of the United Nations, adopted a resolution calling upon Benedict "to retract or to correct" his Sept. 12 comments.

In Egypt, officials of the Al-Azhar mosque and university threw cold water upon the idea of inviting Benedict XVI to deliver a lecture, and a spokesperson told Italian media that the pope's comments to date "are not the clear apology that Al-Azhar has requested, but merely a way of placating [Muslim] anger."

Nevertheless, the wide popular outrage across the Muslim world seems to be ebbing, and many commentators have said it's time to move on. The question now is, move on to what?

Those looking for clues would do well to read Benedict's Sept. 25 address carefully. The pope referred to Vatican II twice and John Paul II twice, an obvious way of signaling that he has no intention of "turning back the clock" on five decades of progress in Christian-Muslim relations.

Yet it's also instructive that his lone citation of John Paul II invoked the question of reciprocity, which is Vatican argot for the demand that Christians and other minorities in Muslim nations should enjoy the same religious freedom that Muslims have in the West.

Benedict pointedly quoted John Paul II's 1985 address to Muslim youth in Casablanca: "Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres, especially in that which concerns basic freedoms, more particularly religious freedom."

I've written an extensive story on the reciprocity question, based on interviews with scores of Muslim and Christian experts, which will appear in Oct. 13 edition of the National Catholic Reporter. Suffice it to say that most observers on both sides seemed to agree that if Benedict wants to push this issue constructively, six points are important:

-Humbly acknowledge that Christians have had, and in some places continue to have, their own struggles with religious freedom;
-Don't make reciprocity seem like special pleading for Christians, but rather a principled stand in favor of freedom for all religions;
-Be clear that this is not a crusade against Islam, since there are other nations, such as Hindu-dominated India and Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka, where religious freedom is also a serious issue;
-Recall areas where Catholics and Muslims are natural allies, such as resistance to secularization;
-Speak directly to the Muslim governments which are responsible for repressive policies, not just to clerics and theologians in abstract theological language;
-Present religious freedom as part of a broader message about civil and political liberties across the board.

Readers interested in the details will want to see the NCR story.

***************************************************************

Now here is my "take" on what John Allen reported.

I have never been of the opinion that John Allen was dispassionate or disinterested in his reporting. Indeed, he admits as much. Before the conclave, Allen published a biography of Cardinal Ratzinger that, if the Cardinal had not been a public figure, he could have sued Allen for libel.

Since then, Allen claims to have had a "conversion" toward a more fair presentation of Benedict XVI's views and actions. However, I will bet you that the people Allen interviewed for this piece on reciprocity were the usual suspects: liberal multiculturalists who were "soft" on Islam and the activities of the jihadists.

The points Allen suggests Benedict XVI consider are, for the most part, not within the Pope's purview. He cannot advocate for any religion other than his own, although he can advocate for a general sort of religious tolerance across the board.

The notion that Christians still have their own struggles with religious freedom (point 1) is a recommendation I would like to see elaborated. Which Christians and in which venues? We cannot continually go down memory lane and apologize over and over again for actions of the past.

That the Pope should "humbly acknowledge" them (Allen's words) is another indication that the people he interviewed are not of Pope Benedict's circle, but are those, like Father Michel or Madigan, who think we should put ourselves in a posture of pleading before Islam. Allen promises a full report on October 13 and I, for one, will follow it up.

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

Teresa's comment:
Well, let us wait and see what Allen's opinion round-up will look like. To give him his due, he has been more than fair - in fact, he has been mostly favorable and even laudatory - to Benedict XVI since he became Pope.

As for the six points he mentioned, I too would like clarification on Point #1. What struggles? Where?

If the critics of the Church mean the Crusades again, then they would do well to review history [see ODDS AND ENDS for a good brief review of the Crusades].

It seems that except for some initial masssacres of non-Christians (not countrywide but confined to the city where the particular Crusade was fought) that were an excess of zeal on the part of the early Crusaders - after they had won back Jerusalem the first time, for example - what the Crusaders cared about mostly was keeping and defending any territory they had won back at such great cost (and would subsequently lose again) - not missionary work.

And remember, there were not all that many Crusaders present in the Holy Land at any given time. The armies raised by the Crusades were never large ones, not organized, nor well-equipped. They were more often than not, ragtag.

More importantly, the Crusades were not intended to impose Christianity anywhere but to reclaim Christian lands - and especially Christian shrines in the Holy Land - that had been taken over by Muslims in their successful evangelization of the Near East, and thus allow Christians in those lands or from elsewhere, free access to these shrines and presumably, freedom of worship.

The only other historical incidence of Christianity being spread 'by force' whould have been during Spain's conquest of Latin America and the Philippines. Even that was hardly wholesale war, but was usually confined to the first place the Spaniards came to where they met resistance from the locals.

These initial Spanish expeditions were necessarily small forces - smaller even than the Crusader forces, for realistically, how many men could you send in wind-driven ships halfway across the world? - whose only advantage was in possessing guns and cannon, which understandably instilled quick fear among natives who had never seen nor conceived of such weapons before. This was nothing like the armies of Mohammed himself, the succeeding Caliphs or the Ottoman Turks who openly intended to spread Islam by force over contiguous stretches of Eurasia - and managed to get to Iberia from North Africa.

I am not excusing the use of violence in any of these acts by Christians in the name of Christianity, but placing the events in context. The Spanish conquistadores were not out there primarily to spread Christianity, even if they were almost always accompanied by a small group of priests to evangelize.

They were there primarily to conquer lands for the Spanish Crown, which happened to be - at the start of the Age of Colonization - their Catholic Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella, who had just succeeded in driving the last of the Moors from Iberia! The conquistadores were naive enough to believe they could conquer the New World with a few hundred men in an expedition - and as it turned out, they did succeed to subdue a whole continent with a few hundred men at a time.

There were never really 'Christian armies marching off to war'. Even Lepanto was a battle of defense against the Muslim invader.


Now, as for the other five points mentioned by Allen, there isn't one that is not already being done by the Church and by this Pope, including Point 5 - 'speak directly to Muslim governments...' - an initiative not done before and which this Pope took last Monday, Sept. 25, by convoking the ambassadors of the Muslim states. It must be remembered that these ambassadors are 'envoys plenipotentiary' to the Holy See of the governments they represent.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/09/2006 0.40]

Emma in the main forum shares this story - surprising, to say the least, but also most welcome - from today's issue of Corriere della Sera, translated here:

Italy's Interior Minister says
threats against the Pope
are 'unacceptable"

"We should not apologize out of sheer fear of terrorism," Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told Muslim representatives directly today at a meeting on "Islam in Italy and the USA" held at the Center for American Studies in Rome.

"We must tell Muslims clearly and bluntly: it is not acceptable that there should be threats of physical violence against Christians if the Pope says something you do not agree with. Notwithstanding (Europe's) sins of colonialism, such an attitude (to opinions you do not share) only shows that you are in the obscurantist phase in which Catholics found themselves four centuries ago."

Amato's audience was composed of many important personalities considered moderate, that sector of Islam on whom the West counts for "dialog, yes, but only with those who wish to dialog," among them Mario Scialoja, an ex-ambassador who is the representative of the World Muslim League in Italy.

Speaking ahead of Amato was Bou Kanate, a Muslim from Senegal who has become an Italian entrepreneur in Monfalcone, a town in northeast Italy where Muslim immigrants have had some difficulties.

Several Muslims who have successfully integrated themselves into life and society in the United States were also among the speakers.

Because of this, Amato chose to speak openly, without hypocrisy. He took off from the reaction to the Pope's lecture in Regensburg: "We do not have to apologize to Islam just because we fear terrorist reprisal. The governments of Muslim states who are demanding an apology are those who fear they will lose elections if they don't (show themselves belligerent). They don't want an apology, they want surrender."

He goes back to the incident of the Mohammed cartoons: "For that, yes, I feel that apologies were due, but Muslims should also apologize if, in the name of Allah, someone tries to commit violence against me, because that is an offense to religion."

And further back in history, to say that if a part of the Muslim world is today in an 'obscurantist phase,' things weren't always so and he hopes things won't remain this way.

"Historically," he said, "Islam in effect brought the Enlightenment to Europe. Christianity developed it, and then the Counter-Reformation gave rise to our own 'jihad' which were the Crusades. We Christians emerged from obscurantism, but Islam fell into it, and a part of it is still there."

Seated next to Amato was his predecessor in the job, Giuseppe Pisanu, who in his own speech, focused on the dangers of ghettos within cities. He spoke of the 'open hand' towards immigrants who wished to be integrated into Italian society and of an 'strong hand' against those who violate the law.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/09/2006 1.14]

There was another Benedict item in John Allen's ALL THINGS CATHOLIC for 9/29/06, from which Chickadee drew the excerpt posted above. Allen publishes a letter refuting some statements he made in an earlier column, but the writer also offers some insights into Benedict's actions as CDF and perhaps more relevant today, into why Archbishop Fitzgerald was sent to Cairo.
----------------------------------------------------------------

In my Sept. 8 column, I discussed Pope Benedict's message for a gathering in Assisi marking the 20th anniversary of John Paul II's 1986 summit of religious leaders.

I mentioned some reflections on inter-religious prayer then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger published in his book Truth and Tolerance in 2003, including a critique he offered of an inter-denominational study on the subject in the 1990s with which the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was involved. The column can be found here: ncrcafe.org/node/439

It brought the following response from John Borelli, Special Assistant to the President for Interreligious Initiatives at Georgetown University:

---

John Allen refers to a report of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), resulting from a joint meeting in Bangalore, India, in 1996.

Errors and lack of clarity about this text leave wrong impressions leading to a suggestion that cannot be isolated from other critically important information.

In the first place, the Bangalore text is not a document, as Allen calls it four times. It was an interim report, "Findings of an Exploratory Consultation on Interreligious Prayer." Roman offices use document for an officially approved text, and church officials consult "documents" for official positions and policies.

When Benedict XVI criticized this report, before his election as pope, in a newly composed chapter for Truth and Tolerance (2003), he called it a "text" or "statement," never a "document." Given curial procedures, Benedict would have had to approve it for it to become one.

Benedict praised a later theological assessment of the findings as "a sound piece of work," though he called it a "document" three times, an unusual mistake, perhaps because he favored it. No process was undertaken to make either a document.

Allen underscores how Benedict distinguishes between inter-religious and multi-religious prayer although the Bangalore report made the same distinction.

Phase two of a multi-phase project, the text reported findings of the World Council of Churches and the PCID. It also asserts that interreligious prayer should not be a substitute for the regular pattern of prayer, an important point Benedict later makes, as Allen reports. These are not points of dispute, if that impression is given.

The joint consultation with the WCC in Bangalore did not aim at doctrinal agreement for churches not in full communion but for developing pastoral advice to inquiring Christians. That advice, as the text says, needs ongoing consultation.

Benedict criticized one passage on hospitality as Allen covered. What was not clear in Allen's coverage is that Benedict disagreed with something more basic in that the report insinuated a failure to demarcate between personal and impersonal understandings of God, though Benedict agreed that the report did no more than raise questions.

This distinction was part of a broader issue on the meaning of religious pluralism, related to the document Dominus Iesus, which Benedict signed in 2000 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the case against Fr. Jacques Dupuis, which his office was conducting at the same time.

The then-bishop Michael Fitzgerald, Secretary of the PCID, did not write the Bangalore report and was not "the Vatican official responsible for" it, as Allen wrote. Both are false impressions. It was co-published in the WCC Interfaith Relations journal Current Dialogue and the PCID's Pro Dialogo (1998).

Cardinal Francis Arinze was PCID President at the time, and the buck stopped at his desk on the Catholic side. Fitzgerald succeeded Arinze in 2002.

Allen then recalls that "Fitzgerald was removed from that job and sent to Cairo," leaving the impression that it was in some way partially a punishment for this report. That is a misleading, if not a false, impression.

Fitzgerald's specific views on multireligious or interreligious prayer are not evident in this report and not proved to be relevant to the change.

There are other factors for his re-assignment, not the least of which is more evident after Regensburg, that for Benedict's dialogue of civilization to work, he needs a skilled Arabist, like Fitzgerald, as Papal Nuncio to Egypt and Delegate to the Arab League, hearing what is said on the Arab street and in proximity to his friends at al-Azhar university.

---

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/09/2006 8.12]

From Avvenire of 9/29/06, an item translated here.

Moscow Orthodox leader
calls for Muslim moderation

"Inappropriate and politicized" is how the Russian Orthodox Church characterizes the Muslim reaction to a citation in Benedict XVI's Regensburg lecture, and invites Muslims to "more balanced reactions to statements made about Islam."

This position was expressed by Ecumene Filaret Bulekov, observer of the Patriarchate of Moscow at the European Council in Strasbourg, in a signed article for the newspaper Vedemosti.

Bulekov called inappropriate "the strong reactions by many Muslims to a lecture which the Pope gave to an audience of scholars in the context of contemporary theological debate."

For Bulekov, tghe Muslim reaction was not so much "the disagreement of the representatives of a religion to a theologian expressing an opinion about another faith, as it is a politicized interpretation of a religious statement."

He adds: "The non-religious character of these protests, hostile to dialog, is revealed in the severity and aggressiveness with which they have been conducted, even if the demonstrators who mobbed the squares in front of TV cameras did not know anything about the Pope's full lecture but were acting only on the basis of incomplete and distorted information."

"Up to now," he continued, "Christians had not seen protests against their religion as violent as that shown by the Muslims to a fragment taken from a lecture by the Pope, a fragment moreover that was taken out of its context.

He ends by issuing an appeal to the Muslim world: "If you want Europe and Christianity to listen to you and understand you, then we should meet halfway along the road to a sincere dialog."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/09/2006 18.33]

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Sept. 30, 2006 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI met Saturday with the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, the Vatican said.

The meeting with Patriarch Emmanuel Delly took place at the pope's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the hills south of Rome, and the Vatican did not release any details.

Delly has been seeking the release of a priest who was kidnapped in Baghdad, and the pope also has appealed publicly for his release.

The Rev. Hanna Saad Sirop, who is director of the Theology Department at Babel College, was abducted Aug. 15 as he left Mass celebrating the Assumption holiday in the Iraqi capital.

Christians make up just 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. The major Christian groups include Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/10/2006 0.15]

The Italian and German services of Radio Vatican carry the following news item, but the English service as of this time is still stuck on September 29 reports! It is not right that the various language services - at least in the Vatican's five official languages - are not synchronized, and it is really very upsetting that the English service is generally almost always the last to be updated among the official languages of the Vatican.

Here is a translation of the German dispatch.
---------------------------------------------------------------

(30 Sept.2006 - RV) German bishops are calling on the representatives of Islam to renounce violence legitimized by being committed in the name of religion.

The human right to religious freedom must also be respected unconditionally even in Muslim countries, they said, in a joint statement made at the closing of a full assembly of the German Bishops Conference.

Its president, cardinal Karl Lehmann, recalled the polemics that followed the Pope’s lecture in Regensburg: “Many have misunderstood the Holy Father, others have wanted to misunderstand him. We are thankful to Pope Benedict that he did not hesitate one moment to clarify the sense of his lecture and to clear away all misunderstanding. The Pope emphasized the vital meaning of friendly coexistence between religions and re-emphasized again the need for genuine dialog between Christianity and Islam.”

After the Pope’s clarification and his meeting with Muslim ambassadors and representatives in Italy, Lehmann added, (the insistence on) “ever-new accusations, demands or threats” must come to an end.

”The Catholic Church and many in our country and around the world – who respect and uphold the right to free expression – will not allow themselves to be intimidated. We expect Muslim authorities around the world to refrain from anything that would lead to a fresh exacerbation of the situation. Any equivocation can only be counterproductive to peace and must be avoided.”

The statement criticized the violence against Christians in Muslim countries during the past two weeks, saying also that the bishops are aware that many Muslims disapprove such acts of violence as a diefilement of their religion.

“We must expect the representatives of Islam to act unmistakably against every religious pretext given for violence and every exploitation of religion for political ends. The Christian churches know from their own history the temptation to use force, which even they have not always resisted.

"All the more reason that we hope for an honest dialog between Christianity and Islam which will serve on both sides for the ‘purification of memory’ [cfr Nostra Aetate, Art. 3) and will enable our religions to bear common witness for peace and against violence.”

Referring to the fact that Muslims in Germany enjoy religious freedom under the law, the statement said: “We expect that the inalienable human right to freedom of religion will also be respected without exception even in Muslim countries. We ask the Muslim organizations in Germany to speak up forcefully for the right to freedom of religion in their lands or origin.”

Without referring directly to the Mohammed cartoons, the cancelled opera in Berlin, or even the controversy over Madonna’s crucifixion stage act in her current tour, the statement said in conclusion:

“The abuse or denigration of religion is a misuse of freedom. There is a fragile balance between artistic license and free expression, on the one hand, and the right of religions to be respected on the other hand.

"We view with concern that, the fear of religious-motivated violence growing, not only in Germany, and can lead to direct or indirect restriction or inhibition of free expression. We are most decisively against such tendencies.

"Like wise we reject as non-culture any lack of consideration for other religions and beliefs, which opens up chasms in society and sows discord.”

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

Very commendable, but why did the German bishops wait 18 days to make this statement? Sure, they issued it at the end of a meeting, but it is a statement they could have drafted and passed by consensus immediately following the outbreak of hostile reactions to the Pope's Regensburg citation, without having to meet on it!

In fairness to them, apart from the Italian bishops conference, I have not read of any other national bishops conference that has formally come to the Pope's support.

Come to think of it, very few individual cardinals, archbishops and bishops have done so. And among Catholic organizations, only Communione e Liberazione did, as far as I know.

In this respect, the Catholic world itself has been just as remiss as Western political leaders - more remiss perhaps, because the Catholic hierarchy and all these much-publicized Catholic movements should have been the first to rally around the Pope.

[The Italian service of ZENIT came out today with a summary of what Church leaders have said in support of the Pope, and it is interesting to see how few names they could cite. They start with Fr. Lombardi, who issued the first clarification for the Vatican, Cardinal Bertone who issued the second (and subsequently about it in an interview with Corriere della Sera), Cardinals Poupard, Ruini, Rouco Varela (of Madrid), Pell of Sydney, and Kasper of Germany. That's it. Oh yes. Bishop William Skylstad of the USCCB is mentioned but for 'favoring dialog with Islam' (who does not - a long as one is speaking to the right party?) rather than for outright support of the Pope.]

It says something of our generally passivity - and seeming resignation - in the face of Muslim provocation, and it's a small step from passivity and resignation to meek submission!

This is not to overlook the support shown by the faithful who show it by praying for the Pope and in their letters to editors and sign-up-for-the Pope movements, but to decry seeming inaction at the top.

Of those who have spoken up quite late in the day, one almost suspects they first wanted to find out how things would sort out becore they would commit themselves to taking sides! It may be political prudence but it is also moral cowardice and equivocation.

P.S. RadioVatican now has the full text of the message in German. Here is a translation:

Statement of the German Bishops Conference
on Current Events and Discussions


As is known, a passage from the Pope’s Regensburg lecture on Setp. 12, 2006, has caused a lot of sensation worldwide. Thus, after various opinions and statements by the Chairman and by individual bishops, the plenary assembly of the German bishops conference in Fulda has issued the following unanimous statement:

1. A brief citation in the lecture that Pope Benedict XVI gave on Sept. 12, 2006 at the University of Regensburg has been interpreted by many Muslims as an unjust judgment on their religion. Many misunderstood the Holy Father, others wanted to misunderstand him.

We are thankful to Pope Benedict that he did not hesitate one moment to clarify the sense of his lecture and to clear away all misunderstandings. Emphatically the Pope underscored the vital significance of friendly coexistence and of a genunine dialog between Christianity and Islam.

It was with the same sense that the chairman of the German bishops Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, speaking in Berlin on Sept. 19, clearly expressed the position of the Catholic Chruch with respect to Islam. Many Muslims have been thankful for these explanations.

However, we issue a clear rejection to all who – even after the meeting of the Holy Father with the ambassadors of Muslim states to the Holy See – wish to further exacerbate the situation by ever-new accusations, demands or threats.

The Catholic Church and many people in our country and around the world – all who respect the right to freedom of expression and are committed to uphold it - will not let themselves be intimidated.

We expect Muslim authorities around the world to refrain from anything that could lead to a new exacerbation of the situation. Any equivocation only serves discord and must be avoided.

2. With great concern we see that the Christian minorities living in many Muslim countries have been threatened or attacked in recent days. Churches go up in flames. In Somalia a Catholic nun was murdered. Many Muslims profoundly denounce such acts of violence as we do. They consider every link between violence and religion as a misuse and defilement of their belief.

From Islam’s representatives, we must expect that they will unmistakably act against any legitimization of violence and any exploitation of religion for political ends.

The Christian Churches know from their own history the temptation to use force, which they have not always resisted. All the more, we hope for a forthright dialog between Christianity and Islam which will serves both sides for the ‘purification of memory’ (cfr Nostra aetate, 3), to enable both religions to bear common witness for peace and against violence.

3. Muslims in Germany enjoy freedom of religion here by law. We expect that the inalienable humanright to freedom of religion will also be respected without exception in Muslim countries.

We ask Islamic organizations in Germany to speak up forcefully in their countries of origin for the right to religious freedom.

We renew our desire to have a dialog with representatives of Islam over the correct understanding of freedom. Freedom of religion, which is the centerpiece of all human liberties, must be at the heart of that dialog.

4. The abuse or denigration of religion is a misuse of freedom. There is a fragile balance between artistic license and free expression, on the one hand, and the right of religious convictions to be respected on the other hand.

We view with concern that, not only in Germany, fear of religious-motivated violence is growing, which can lead to direct or indirect restriction or inhibition of free expression.

We are most decidedly against such tendencies. Likewise we reject as uncultured a lack of consideration for other religions and beliefs, which opens up chasms in society and sows discord.

Dutybound to a dialog between religions, we wish to contribute, here in Germany above all, to a good coexistence between Christians and Muslims. In this, we join Pope Benedict XVI who, in his conversation with Muslims in Cologne on August 20, 2005, called for a cooperation between religions in truth and love:

“Together we – Christians and Muslims – must meet the numerous challenges presented by our times. There is no place for apathy and inaction, still less for partisanship and sectarianism... The inter-religious and inter-cultural dialog between Christians and Muslims is a vital necessity on which a great part of our future depends.”

We hereby declare anew our readiness (for this dialog).

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/10/2006 1.39]

The German bishops took 18 days because their ranks are probably filled with those who actually agreed with criticisms of the Pope's address at Regensburg. I mention Cardinal Karl Lehman specifically here.

As for other bishops' conferences, the one in the US issued a very tepid response, never rallying around the Pope, just extending one more olive branch to Islam. I wasn't surprised. The good news is the USCCB is now having to downsize, due to economic considerations. I'm hoping they will be downsized out of existence.

Only to be fair: Cardinal Lehmann issued a very profound statement about the Regensburg speech at the beginning of last week (19. September).

http://www.kath.net/detail.php?id=14703

Sadly, there were only some more German bishops supporting Benedict right away (e.g. Cardinal Meisner [Cologne], Bishop Genn [Essen], Bishop Müller [Regensburg]).

So even if it took the bishops more than 2 weeks, I would call it a (pleasant) surprise that there is such an official statement at all.

Pope prays
for peace in Iraq
Sun Oct 1

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday encouraged Christians and Muslims in Iraq to continue their centuries-old brotherly ties as he prayed for peace and harmony in the violence-wracked country.

The pope told pilgrims at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo that he had "the joy" on Saturday of meeting with the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Emmanuel III Delly.

Benedict said that the patriarch briefed him on "the tragic reality that must be faced daily by the dear population of Iraq, where Christians and Muslims live together for 14 centuries as children of the same land."

"I hope that these ties of brotherhood between them do not slacken, while, with sentiments of my spiritual closeness, I invite all to join me in asking Almighty God for the gift of peace and of harmony for that martyred country," Benedict said during his traditional Sunday appearance to give faithful his blessing.
... [Here the usual mentionof the Pope's Regensburg lecture and the uproar that followed]

Dellay, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, has been seeking the release of a priest who was kidnapped in Baghdad.

The Rev. Hanna Saad Sirop, who is director of the Theology Department at Babel College, was abducted Aug. 15 as he left Mass celebrating the Assumption holiday.

Benedict also has appealed publicly for the priest's release, although the pope made no mention of the case Sunday.

Christians make up just 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. The major Christian groups include Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

The ASIANEWS account of the Angelus today:
1 October, 2006
VATICAN
Pope: Rosary for peace
and missions in the world

Benedict XVI invited families and communities to pray the Rosary throughout October, a month dedicated also to the missions, which have as their patroness St Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The pope mentioned meeting the patriarch of Baghdad and also drew attention to degraded urban suburbs.


Castel Gandolfo (AsiaNews) – The month of October is traditionally dedicated to the Rosary, that ancient Marian prayer, and to the support of Catholic missions around the world. The pope concentrated his reflection before the Angelus – the last this year at Castel Gandolfo – on these two themes.

As from Wednesday 4 October, after more than two months, he will return to the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

Taking his cue from the feast of the Blessed Virgin of the Most Holy Rosary on 7 October, Benedict XVI said “Our Lady” invites us to “rediscover the beauty of this prayer”.

He reacalled that "Even the “beloved John Paul II was a great apostle of the Rosary: we remember him on his knees with the rosary beads in his hands, immersed in contemplation of Christ.”

The pope added: “The rosary is a contemplative and Christ-centred prayer, inseparable from meditation of the Sacred Scripture. It is the prayer of the Christian who advances in the pilgrimage of faith, following Jesus, preceded by Mary.”

This is why Benedict XVI urged one and all to “say the Rosary this month in families, in communities and in parishes for the pope’s intentions, for the mission of the Church and for peace in the world.”

The pontiff then recalled the missionary month and World Missions Day that will be marked on 22 October.

“The Church is missionary by nature,” he said. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21), said the resurrected Jesus to the Apostles in the Cenacle. The mission of the Church is the continuation of that of Christ: taking the love of God to all, announcing it with words and the concrete witness of charity.

"In the Message for the upcoming World Missions Day, I wanted to present charity precisely as the ‘soul of mission’. St Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, writes: “For the love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14).

May each Christian make these words his own, in the joyous experience of being a missionary of Love wherever Providence places him, with humility and courage, serving his neighbour without ulterior motives and drawing from prayer the strength of joyful and industrious charity (cfr Deus caritas est, 32-39)”.

The pope also cited the patroness of missions, the Carmelite St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who John Paul II proclaimed as Doctor of the Church. “She, who indicated confident abandonment to the love of God as a ‘simple’ way to holiness, helps us to be credible witnesses of the Gospel of charity.

The Pope ended with an invocation to the Virgin:Most Holy Mary, Virgin of the Rosary and Queen of missions, lead us all to Christ the Saviour.”

After the Angelus prayer, Benedict XVI added a special request for prayers for Iraq.

“Yesterday I had the joy of meeting His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, who told me about the tragic reality faced daily by the dear people of Iraq, where Christians and Muslims have lived together for 14 centuries as children of the same land.

"I hope these bonds of fraternity among them will not be loosened, while, with sentiments of my spiritual closeness, I invite all to unite with me in asking Almighty God for the gift of peace and harmony for that martyred land.”

The pope’s proposal was greeted by long applause from the pilgrims gathered in the palace courtyard of Castel Gandolfo.

Finally, before delivering greetings, Benedict XVI recalled World Habitat Day, called by the UN, dedicated this year to “Cities, magnets of hope”, to urbanization and the situation on suburbs, described by the pope as “one of the most serious problems that mankind of the XXI century is called to face”.

And he added: “I express my encouragement to those at local and international levels who work so that people living in degraded suburbs, may be assured of worthy conditions of life and the fulfillment of their basic needs, as well as the possibility of realizing their aspirations, especially within the family and in pacific social coexistence.”


A full translation of the Pope's Angelus message is in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/10/2006 17.41]

A belated posting but still apropos. The Wallenberg Foundation was established to honor Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish businessman turned diplomat who helped thousands of Jews escape Hitler's "Final Solution' by getting them out of Hungary under Swedish diplomatic protection. One of the main aims of the Foundation is to combat anti-Semitism anywhere in the world.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Wallenberg Foundation Greets Benedict XVI
Meets Religious Leaders in Rome

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A delegation of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, led by founder Baruj Tenembaum, greeted Benedict XVI in Rome.

The foundation, dedicated to remembering those who risked their lives to save those persecuted during the Second World War, met with the Pope after Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square.

The organization presented to the Holy Father a worldwide educational campaign, named after Father Alfonso Duran, a Puerto Rican native, who promoted from Argentina "courageous actions to eradicate anti-Semitism and racial prejudices," reported the foundation.

The Pontiff also received from Tenembaum a parchment with the following inscription: "Testimony of the Raoul Wallenberg International Foundation a tribute to the memory of
o Monsignor Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli(future John XXIII), savior of thousands of Jews during World War II;
o Sister Sara Salkahazi, killed for having protected the lives of her Jewish brothers persecuted by Nazism;
o Sister Leonella Sgorbatti, killed in Somalia;
o Father Alfonso Duran, who, from Argentina, raised his voice against the aberrant crimes of Nazism when the world was silent, and
o all the numerous Catholics who were outstanding in their conduct, following the precept 'Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.'"

The inscription, engraved in letters of the Hebrew alphabet, covers a parchment made from the skin of sheep of the Argentine Patagonia.

The delegation of the Wallenberg Foundation, which included Abel Bomrad, Ricardo Faerman and Enrique Zanin, attended working sessions this week with Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

The foundation's representatives also met with the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, Sami Salem, Imam of Rome's Mosque and Franca Eckert Cohen, director of the interreligious dialogue table of Rome.

On Sept. 28, the foundation awarded the 2006 Raoul Wallenberg prize to Jesús Colina, director of ZENIT, "in recognition of the excellence of informative work placed at the service of inter-confessional dialogue and reconciliation."

The award was conferred at the headquarters of the Argentine Embassy to the Holy See.

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

Maybe it's not too late for the Wallenberg Foundation to recognize the unheralded work of Pope Pius XII during World War II in behalf of Jews.

Evidence from declassified Vatican documents are starting to show the falsity and unfairness of the accusations perpetrated over the past decades against Pius XII - mainly, that by his supposed 'silence' during World War II, he and the Catholic Churc in effect sanctioned Hitler's mass extermination of the Jews.

The facts would seem to show that Pius XII, while he had to be prudent about what he said in public in order not to endanger Catholics living under the Third Reich also carried out in secret a plan to rescue Jews from the edxtermination camps, and that this plan saved thousands of Jews from the horros of teh Nazi lagers.

Anti-Defamation League says conspiracy theory of Jewish-controlled Pope growing in Muslim world

New York, Sep. 29, 2006 (CNA) - A report from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claims that cartoons and editorials published in the Arab/Muslim world are claiming Pope Benedict XVI's comments at the University of Regensburg were part of a Jewish anti-Islamic conspiracy.

ADL National Director, Abraham Foxman, said that conspiracy theorists are claiming that, “Pope Benedict XVI is being manipulated by Jews to attack Islam.”

Foxman's ADL website shows several cartoons from Arabic newspapers which make the conspiracy claims based upon the misunderstood words of Pope Benedict in which he recently quoted a 14 th century Byzantine emperor.

The quotes of the emperor, which the Holy Father has insisted do not speak for the Church's stance on Catholic-Muslim relations, came in the middle of an argument the Pope was making for increased dialogue between the West and Islam. Several Islamic clerics and politicians, however, have only quoted portions which seem to show Pope Benedict attacking the prophet Mohammed.

In addition to the cartoons, the ADL says it has found “a growing trend in editorials and opinion-pieces in the Arab/Muslim media that claim the Pope's statements should not surprise anyone, since they are the long-lasting natural discourse of international Zionism against Islam.”

“Some maintain that after September 11 a new Rome was erected, one that aims at converting Christianity and God to Judaism under the watchful eyes of the evil American-Israeli alliance that was established by the international Zionism, which eventually seeks to enflame a full confrontation between Islam and Christianity,” the ADL press release continued.

The ADL sited Bahraini newspaper, Akhbar Al-Khalij, as the leader in publishing cartoons claiming Jewish control of the Pope and a Jewish-Christian conspiracy against Islam. But it also acknowledged, “such anti-Semitic, anti-Christian conspiracy arguments” as appearing in widespread daily newspapers, including the Egyptian Al-Gomhuriyya, the Jordanian Ar-Rai and Qatari Al-Watan.

Foxman called on Islamic religious and political leaders of good will to publicly denounce and reject these false assertions of Jewish control of the Pope and to reject violence against Christians and Christian institutions as an unacceptable form of protest. "Religious leaders have a special responsibility to show their followers that there are non-violent ways to express their opinions and disagreements," he said.

BBC criticised on Pope documentary

Press Association
Monday October 2, 2006 1:03 AM
Guardian Unlimited--UK

The Catholic Church has hit back over claims that Pope Benedict XVI played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by its priests.

One Archbishop labelled the BBC's Panorama documentary as unwarranted, misleading and a "deeply prejudiced attack" against the Pope.

The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, said the Panorama programme misrepresented confidential Vatican papers to back up its claims.

Speaking on behalf of the Bishops of England and Wales, he said: "This aspect of the programme is false and entirely misleading. It is false because it misrepresents two Vatican documents and uses them quite misleadingly in order to connect the horrors of child abuse to the person of the Pope."

The documentary examined a secret document that apparently sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It claimed the document - Crimen Sollicitationis - was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope.

The 39-page document, written in 1962, apparently instructed Bishops how to deal with claims of child sex abuse. This includes an oath of secrecy, enforceable by excommunication, which critics claimed could hinder an outside investigation and prosecution.

The programme also claimed to find seven priests facing child abuse allegations living in and around the Vatican City.

Archbishop Nichols, chairman of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA), said the broadcaster should be ashamed by the standard of its journalism. He said: "Viewers will recognise only too well the sensational tactics and misleading editing of the programme, which uses old footage and undated interviews. They will know that aspects of the programme amount to a deeply prejudiced attack on a revered world religious leader. It will further undermine public confidence in Panorama."

However, the Archbishop added that the programme was a reminder of the need to work ceaselessly in the protection of children. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, President of the Bishops' Conference, has written to Mark Thompson, BBC director general, to protest about the programme.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The protection of children is clearly an issue of the strongest public interest. The BBC stands by the Panorama programme and invites viewers to make up their own minds once they've seen it. The BBC has a well-defined complaints system and when we receive the letter we will respond to it."

Anyone know how long this program has been in the works? I guess we're back to the "evil" Cardinal Ratzinger again. Of course, this is the BBC. They were the first off the mark in the Regensburg speech, with their distorted reporting.

2 October, 2006
Muslims in Pakistan:
“We respect the Pope;
his speech was used”

When interviewed, Muslim clerics and scholars accused the media and “forces against peace” of using the pope’s words to sow seeds of hatred among Christians and Muslims. There were calls to dialogue and great appreciation for the explanation of Benedict XVI and his meeting with Muslim ambassadors.

Lahore (AsiaNews) – The pope’s words in Regensburg were “misunderstood by the media and forces that are against peace,” who “interpreted them in a mistaken manner on the basis of their personal desires”.

But Benedict XVI is a personality “respected by all Islam”, as revealed in his “meeting with Muslim ambassadors, which was a step towards dialogue that should be continued and taken ahead without any more useless controversies.”

This was the outcome of a survey conducted by Fr Francis Nadeeem in Pakistan. The Capuchin priest is coordinator of the National Council for Interfaith Dialogue of Pakistan, who interviewed Muslim scholars and clergymen about the controversy surrounding the pope’s speech in Regensburg and the protests that followed.

Maulana Malik Javaid Akbar Saqi, President of Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami [a group of Muslim activists of Kashmir], said: “Pope Benedict XVI clearly stated that in the ‘accused’ part of his address, he quoted the views of a historian and not his own. We might have accepted his explanation.

"Islam and Christianity teach us about of peace and tolerance. Both the religions are in a very close relation with each other and due to this binding relation we can work for the betterment of the world.

"I understand some forces are trying to create a conflict between these two religions and these people are interpreting what happened in quite a contrary way. It doesn’t suit us to express our retaliation in such a destructive manner.

"In his meeting with the ambassadors of the Muslim countries, Benedict XVI presented the teachings of Christianity in its true spirit and imparted the lesson of peace love and peace among the people of the world.”

For Muhammad Nawaz Noorani AL-Qadri, a Muslim cleric, “This matter has been propagated to the extreme. The media have tried to develop chaos in the world, especially between Islam and Christianity. The Pope has taken a glorious step by conducting a meeting with the ambassadors of Muslim countries. This is his greatness. We respect the Pope and will continue to do so.”

Abul Faheem, Pir Muhammad Ibrahim, President of the Ulema-o-Mashaikh [Pakistan Muslim League] emphasized that the quotation by the Pope “was taken from a 13th century text, and pronounced during his speech on faith. A few people tried to hide the fact that there is all there was to it: a quotation that is not in line with his personal vision.”

Sahibzada Allama Muhammad Yar Zahoori, vice-chairman of the World Islamic Council: “Whatever happened, Pope Benedict XVI clarified and immediately conducted a dialogue with Muslim ambassadors. This is highly remarkable. He has played a significant role and the meeting of the Muslim ambassadors shows their satisfaction, confidence and trust towards the role of the Pope.”

Allama Mushtaq Hussain Jafri, chairman of the World Peace and Unity Council, said “it is the need of the hour that religions of the world sit together and work for the promotion of peace and religious harmony. We should respect each other. We respect Jesus Christ and based on this, we should develop positive openings among us.”

Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, President of Markazi Jamaat Ahl-e-Hadis, Pakistan, said: “The Pope holds a highly responsible and important title and he is following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, revealing his greatness. In this way, he could calm ‘offended’ Muslim people. In fact, peace could prevail in the world when Muslims and Christians join hands and work together.”

Ajmal Niazi, a renowned columnist, closed the survey: “The Pope occupies a significant place in the Christian world and we also consider him a spiritual leader and respect him. We always receive messages of reconciliation and affection from Him.

"His words in Regensburg were understood in a negative way and this is not a good thing. People interpreted his speech according to their personal desires, but since the Pope made it clear how things stand, there is no reason to protest.

"I suggest that Muslim religious leaders prepare a way towards dialogue and not create any sort of enmity. The Pope’s meeting with the ambassadors is a sign of friendship with the Muslim world. Therefore we should all work for dialogue.”