Weigel ponders Cardinal Ratzinger's
view of crisis, focuses on book
that looks at West's malaise

NEW YORK, NOV. 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Before he became Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was pondering the relationship between faith and reason and the cultural consequences of its collapse.

Some of these reflections are collected in a new book, "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures" (Ignatius).

George Weigel, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, discussed the major themes in the book at a conference Monday on "Relativism and the Crisis of Cultures in the Writings of Pope Benedict XVI." The conference was held on the premises of the United Nations.

According to Weigel, "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures" laid out many propositions on why an unreasonable faith and a loss of confidence in reason are real and present dangers to the world. Weigel focused on four of these propositions in his address.

The first of Cardinal Ratzinger's propositions is that we live in a moment of dangerous imbalance in the relationship between the West's technological capabilities and its moral understanding.

Second, Weigel highlighted Cardinal Ratzinger's assertion that the moral and political lethargy that is sensed in much of Europe today is a byproduct of the continent's disdain for the Christian roots of its civilization. This disdain has contributed in various ways to the decline of what was once the center of world culture.

Cardinal Ratzinger's third proposition of note, Weigel said, was that the abandonment of Europe's Christian roots implies the abandonment of the idea of "Europe" as a civilizational enterprise constructed from the fruitful interaction of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome.

Weigel noted that according to Cardinal Ratzinger, "this infidelity to the past has led, in turn, to a truncated idea of reason, and of the human capacity to know, however imperfectly, the truth of things -- including the moral truth of things."

The American scholar went on to say, "There is a positivism shaping -- and misshaping -- much of Western thought today -- a positivism that excludes all transcendent moral reference points from public life. Ratzinger asks whether such a positivism in an exercise of what the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor describes as 'exclusive humanism.'"

Cardinal Ratzinger had concluded that such an exclusivist humanism is not, in itself, rational.

Fourth, Weigel focused on the cardinal's assertion that the recovery of reason in the West would be facilitated by a reflection on the fact that the Christian concept of God as "Logos" helped shape the distinct civilization of the West as a synthesis of Athens, Jerusalem and Rome.

Weigel observed: "If men and women have forgotten that they can, in fact, think their way through to the truth of things, that may have something to do with the European forgetfulness of God which Alexander Solzhenitsyn identified as the source of Europe's 20th century civilizational distress."

Finally, Weigel conveyed Cardinal Ratzinger's challenge in light of these propositions.

Quoting from the book, Weigel said, "'We must ... reverse the axiom of the Enlightenment and say: Even the one who does not succeed in finding the path to accepting the existence of God ought nevertheless to try to live and to direct his life 'veluti si Deus daretur,' as if God did indeed exist.'"
================================================================

If Zenit does not do a story on it, I marked an Italian news agency report yesterday about Marcello Pera speaking at the same event. As usual, the former president of the Italian Senate had very sensible things to say.

Pope questions his infallibility

By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 9:20am GMT 23/11/2006
www.telegraph.co.uk/

The Pope has shocked theologians and opened a chink in the theory of papal infallibility by saying that people should feel free to disagree with what he has written in his latest book, a meditation on Jesus Christ.

Entitled Jesus of Nazareth, the first book that Pope Benedict XVI has written since his election as Pope in 2003 will be published next spring.

The first part describes Jesus's life from his baptism in the river Jordan until his transfiguration, when he reveals his divinity to his disciples. Referencing hundreds of works of history, the Pope writes that he believes Christ is a "historically convincing figure".

In the foreword, he states that the book is "absolutely not" a work of Catholic doctrine, but rather the "expression of my personal research". He adds: "Consequently, everyone is free to contradict me. I only ask the readers that they read with sympathy, without which there will be no comprehension."

No Pope has ever opened up his work and opinions to criticism before. Nor has any Pope tried to separate his personal and public personas, according to Professor Giuseppe Alberigo, a professor of the history of the Catholic Church at Bologna University.

"I really believe this is the first time this has ever happened," he said. "It is an extraordinarily important gesture. What it means is that the Pope is not totally infallible. As well as being the Pope, he is a common man, hugely studious in this case, but like all men he is subject to debates, arguments and discussions." He added that Pope John Paul II "could never have made a distinction between 'official' Pope and 'ordinary' Pope".

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, said the Pope had acted with his "usual simplicity and humility" in seeking to "freely allow discussion and criticism". "What he writes does not constrain the research of theologians. This is not a long encyclical on Jesus, but a personal presentation of the figure of Jesus by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger, who has been elected Bishop of Rome."

However, Fr Lombardi then warned that the message in the book should be heeded. "The fact is he has been elected Bishop of Rome and has the duty of sustaining the faith of his brothers, and so it is very significant that he has felt such a strong urge to give a renewed presentation of the figure of Christ."

Some critics warned that the Pope could not be both a free-thinking theologian and the leader of the Catholic church. Luigi Lombardi Vallauri, a professor of philosophy at Florence University, said: "It seems a coquettish thing to pretend there is a freedom of theology while knowing well that this theology rests on the shoulders of a Pope. My impression is that this is the attitude of someone who wants to have his cake and eat it, to be both Pontiff and an independent theologian."

The Pope said he had spent "every spare moment" since his election on writing the book. He said he had rushed because he did not know "how much time and how much strength" he would have to finish the work.

Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger produced dozens of books on theology. He was also the Vatican's enforcer of religious doctrine, and known as "God's rottweiler" for his firm rebuttals of controversial theology.

[Modificato da Maklara 23/11/2006 11.03]

The headline given by the Daily Telegraph to the above news item, and even worse, the lead paragraph itself, are pathetic signs of a complete and deliberate misunderstanding of the concept of 'papal infallibility.'

Obviously, neither the writer Malcolm Moore nor his editors are Catholic nor do they know to check it out first before making the stupid statements they have made! The only ones who are 'shocked' are people like them.

But then, the same stupidity is shown by the two professors who are quoted in the story who should know better but don't.

'Papal infallibility' refers to statements of Catholic doctrine as articles of the faith and therefore, part of the Magisterium, or official Church teaching. Very simply, 'JESUS OF NAZARETH' by Joseph Ratzinger is not official Church teaching. So the issue does not even arise.

We are clearly given to understand, in the book's preface and part of the introduction, that the book 'Jesus of Nazareth' is a scholarly biography written by a scholar - who also happens to be Pope, not writing it as Pope but in his personal capacity as Joseph Ratzinger, theologian.

The author tells us that he is interpreting what the Gospel says about Jesus and what the body of scholarship so far has found about the 'historical Jesus'- through his historico-critical and theological analysis of the combined 'data'- to show that the Jesus of the Gospels is the historical Jesus and cannot be other than God made man, as Christians believe.

The book is meant to prove his point, which is the basic tenet of Christianity, and therefore Church doctrine and part of the Magisterium. He does not have to be Pope nor a theologian to state that belief. He states it as a Christian. And he writes the book as a Christian.

But the way in which he arrives at his proof is entirely his personal interpretation and therefore open to question by anyone. As a scholarly work, to begin with, it is open to question by anyone.

Of course, non-believers will question the basic tenet itself - that Jesus is God incarnate - as they have questioned it through the ages. That does not change Church doctrine, nor will any objections to Joseph Ratzinger's arguments in favor of that doctrine.

John Paul II may never have articulated that his interview book 'Crossing the Threshold of Hope' or his memoir 'Andiamo Avanti' were not to be considered infallible, but he did not have to, because they were clearly 'personal' writings. No one even raised the question because it was unnecessary. (In the interview book, for instance, Buddhists were famously 'offended' by some opinions John Paul expressed about Buddhism. There was no question of papal infallibility involved here. He was talking about Buddhism, and he was giving his personal opinion.)

But a book about Jesus, a biography of Jesus, by a theologian who also happens to be Pope, is something else. Because its only subject is Jesus, the public disclaimer is necessary.

Joseph Ratzinger's disclaimer is exactly the opposite of 'wanting to have his cake and it eat it too' that the second professor glibly accuses him of. He is saying the contrary. "I am the Pope now. However, I did not write this book as a Pope, but in my personal capacity as a theologian, so don't take what I say in it as a Papal statement that is binding on anyone." [Except obviously, the basic belief that Jesus is God made man, which is binding on every Christian and which no believer will dispute anyway.]

Nor is the disclaimer tantamount to differentiating between an 'official Pope' and an 'ordinary Pope', as Prof. Alberigo puts it, using terms which don't mean anything. It was a stupid remark, any way you look at it.

The distinction made by Joseph Ratzinger is between Benedict XVI and Joseph Ratzinger- between his persona as the Pope and his private self. Why is that so difficult to see? No one ceases to have a private self no matter what offices or titles one is invested with!

But, anything for a headline!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/11/2006 13.27]

The big news at the Vatican today was, of course, the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

What wasn't news was that Catholics and Anglicans are farther now from eventual 'communion' because in the past year alone, the Anglicans (and particularly their American cousins, the Episcopalians) have moved aggressively to elevate gay priests and women priests to their episcopate, when the Catholic Church would much rather not have gay priests at all and will not even consider having women priests. Not to mention that some Anglican churches recognize same-sex marriage!

So there was little either the Pope or the Archbishop could say to gloss over this major difference. Here is the Associated Press report...

VATICAN CITY, Nov. 23 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams acknowledged Thursday that there were "serious obstacles" on the path to closer ties between Catholics and Anglicans, reflecting tensions over Anglicans' blessings of same-sex unions and steps to ordain female bishops.



The leaders of the two churches, in a joint statement issued after 25 minutes of private talks, said they said they were committing themselves to continuing dialogue.

Williams told the pope in a speech that "disputes about how we apply the Gospel to the challenges thrown up by modern society can often obscure or even threaten the achievements of dialogue" but that he came, "ready to hear and to understand the concerns which you will wish to share with me."

Benedict, while not spelling out the disputes in his speech, appeared to refer to them when he spoke of "the strains and difficulties besetting the Anglican Communion and consequently about the uncertainty of the communion itself."

"Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only internal relations with the Anglican Communion but also relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church," Benedict told Williams.

Their meeting today marked the 40th anniversary of landmark efforts to improve relations between the two churches, which went their separate ways in the 16th century, when England's King Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church.

The world's 77 million Anglicans — including those known as Episcopalians in the United States — have themselves been threatened with internal division after the elevation in 2003 in the United States of the first openly gay Anglican bishop.

Blessings of unions between men or between women in the United States and Canada have also jolted Anglican-Catholic relations. Also testing relationships, among Anglicans themselves and with Catholics, have been moves by the Episcopal church to select a woman as its leader.

Benedict appeared to be referring to the disputes when he told Williams in his speech: "We believe that these matters, which are presently under discussion within the Anglican Communion, are of vital importance to the preaching of the Gospel in its integrity, and that your current discussions will shape the future of our relations."

"We fervently hope that the Anglican Communion will remain grounded in the Gospels and the Apostolic tradition," the pope said. [A very effective and precise way of placing the disputed Anglican practices in perspective!]

The Catholic Church teaches that, while homosexuals should be treated with dignity, homosexual acts are sinful, and it is campaigning against same-sex unions. It also opposes ordination of women.



AFter their formal meeting, the two men prayed together in a chapel in the Apostolic palace, and then had lunch together.


And here is the Reuters story by Philip Pullella:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury committed their Churches to the quest for unity on Thursday but acknowledged that issues such as women priests and gay bishops in the Anglican Church were obstacles.

Rowan Williams, making his first official visit to Benedict since the Pope's election in April 2005, and the Pope issued a common declaration after private talks and a prayer service.

"Our long journey makes it necessary to acknowledge publicly the challenge represented by new developments which, besides being divisive for Anglicans, present serious obstacles to our ecumenical progress," the declaration said.

In the past 10 years, relations between the two Churches have been strained over the issue of women priests and homosexual bishops.

The blessing of same-sex unions in Canada's Anglican Church and moves to ordain women bishops in the Church of England are two issues that are driving Anglicans and Catholics further apart after decades of optimistic dialogue.

In his address to Williams, the Pope spoke of the "strains and difficulties" besetting the Anglican Communion worldwide.



"Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only international relations within the Anglican Communion but also relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church," the Pope told Williams.

The timing of the visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was accompanied by his wife Jane and their son Philip, is significant because this year marks the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul
VI.

That 1966 meeting was the first formal encounter between the heads of the two Churches since England's King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th Century.

The 77-million-strong Anglican communion is feeling the tremors set off when the Episcopal Church in the United States appointed an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.

Anglican bishops from Africa, Asia and Latin America have strongly criticized homosexual clergy and have suggested that dissenting U.S. Episcopalians should set up their own Church.

The Catholic and Anglican Churches had already been divided over the ordination of women priests, which the Church of England, mother Church of world Anglicanism, approved in 1992 and first carried out two years later.

In their common declaration, Williams and the Pope reaffirmed their commitment "to pursue the path towards full visible communion."

They said dialogue had to continue to "address the important issues involved in the emerging ecclesiological and ethical factors making that journey more difficult and arduous."

Last July, the governing body of the Church of England voted to allow women to be bishops.

The Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women priests and bishops in 1976. It plans to install its first woman primate, or head of the Church, on Saturday when Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is made presiding bishop.

The Catholic Church, which accounts for just over half the world's 2 billion Christians, has been working since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) to try to overcome the splits in Christianity with Anglicans, Protestants and Orthodox Christians.

================================================================
Here is the Time of London story....

Church leaders vow to combat terrorism
By Ruth Gledhill in Rome

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope pledged to work together to combat terrorism and the “negative effects of materialism” in a ground-breaking document issued after they met and prayed privately together at the Vatican yesterday.
But the new spirit of co- operation was not enough to overcome the “serious obstacles” in the way of unity between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglicans.



In a joint declaration, the two leaders said: “Our long journey together makes it necessary to acknowledge publicly the challenge represented by new developments which, besides being divisive for Anglicans, present serious obstacles to our ecumenical progress.”

Dr Rowan Williams, in his first formal audience with Pope Benedict XVI, said that he was ready “to hear and to understand” the concerns of the Pope about the direction of the Anglican Communion.

The era of ecumenism began 40 years ago when the late Archbishop Michael Ramsey visited Pope Paul VI. But this has been jeopardised by the ordination of women priests and bishops in some of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion and the consecration of a gay bishop in the US. Catholic insiders are also concerned about the swing of some Anglican provinces towards a conservative evangelicalism which they fear has more in common with fundamentalist Protestantism than traditional catholic Anglicanism.

Dr Williams’s son Pip, 10, and his wife Jane, a theologian, were introduced to the Pope in the Papal Library, along with the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. Afterwards they shared in midday prayer with psalms sung in Plainsong in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican and had lunch.

[A source said that the two men, both highly intellectual academic theologians, had forged a strong bond.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/11/2006 22.36]

No self-respecting press office of any consequence - in today's global village of instant communications - should have the dismal record of the Vatican Press Office, which is unpardonable and indefensible. It is a continuing anguish I have undergone for the 19 months that I have come to use its output daily (15 months of those being in the 21st-22nd year of Joaquni Navarro-Valls at its helm) - and a great example to use in journalism classes on 'how not to run a press office'.

Sandro Magister has railed about it once in a while, but this time, he devotes a whole article to it - without however tackling all the absurdities connected to it, including the so-called Vatican Information Services which is a total joke (ask any journalist!).


Don't let the Pope down! He has enough problems without his own people undermining him,
whether out of sheer incompetence or out of malice.

All of us who care for the Pope certainly hope it will do the trick - prod those in charge to give the public an answer and light a fire under them to do something tout de suite about it. They have been doing a terrible disservice to the Pope that is completely counter-productive to their mission of communications.

================================================================

This Is the Vatican:
Communications Have Been Interrupted
Benedict XVI speaks to the world.
But his words reach the general public with great difficulty – and sometimes not at all.
Here’s what isn’t working in the communication system that should assist the pope.
By Sandro Magister



ROMA, November 23, 2006 – Struggling newspaper that it is, with a market of a few hundred copies and a loss of 4.6 million euros in 2005, it passed almost unnoticed that “L’Osservatore Romano” didn’t show up on the newsstands in Rome on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 7.

The copies were printed. But at the last minute, the order came from the Vatican secretariat of state to toss them back into the pulper. Because they were wrong, straight from the title placed on the front page. It was dedicated to an address by the pope to the Swiss bishops, which in reality was never delivered.


The issue that was withdrawn.

But a great many people realized what happened that day by consulting the Vatican’s online bulletin, which is visited by millions throughout the world.

At midday, there appeared on the Holy See’s website a speech presented as having been delivered, in French, by Benedict XVI. By mid-afternoon, the speech wasn’t there anymore. And that evening, a communiqué appeared stating that the text had not been read out loud, but was a draft going back to the beginning of 2005 and to the previous pope, and that Benedict XVI had made other remarks to the Swiss bishops, improvising in German. The transcript of the actual address would be released the following day.

This time the fault was not that of L’Osservatore Romano, nor of its director, Mario Agnes, nor of the Vatican press office, the last links in the chain. The disaster took place at higher levels, at the junction between the curia and the pope.

Benedict XVI has always provided plenty of grist for the mill of the team at the secretariat of state that deals with papal addresses. This is directed by a diplomat who fulfilled the same task for John Paul II, archbishop Paolo Sardi, 72, from Acqui in the region of Piedmont.

Pope Joseph Ratzinger doesn’t use a computer – he writes in his miniscule handwriting the addresses and homilies most important to him, or dictates them, or improvises without providing anything written ahead of time.

To transcribe, translate, and bring his words to an audience as vast as the world is not easy, but it is what Benedict XVI expects from the Vatican communication apparatus. It is an essential objective for a pope who is a “doctor of the Church.”

But with John Paul II, the office for papal addresses mostly worked the other way around, especially during his last years. They provided the pope with massive doses of ready-made addresses, which Karol Wojtyla sent back with just a few handwritten adjustments.

The address was ready for the Swiss bishops, received on their “ad limina” visit in February of 2005, when the pope was already in very poor health. But it remained in the drawer on account of the circumstances.

So, when Benedict XVI was preparing to meet these same bishops again in Rome, between November 7 and 9 of this year, to cap off the visit that had been delayed until then, the team responsible for papal addresses fished the old text out of the drawer and sent it back up to the pope’s residence.

This was done on Sunday, November 5. But Benedict XVI wasn’t happy with the document. “It was too much of an imposition, too much of an ultimatum, and it presupposed a discussion that hadn’t yet taken place,” bishop Pier Giacomo Grampa of the Swiss diocese of Lugano explained later. The pope sent the address back without corrections: it was to be scrapped.

But the team that received it understood the contrary, that it had been approved. [Tereaa's note: How absurd to assume that. When something comes back to you with not a single change, from a Pope like Benedict who has his own mind, would you assume it is because he approved of it completely? When in doubt, ask! Didn't anyone think of lifting the telephone to make sure? ] And they sent it along to the press office and to L’Osservatore Romano.

It was the Swiss bishops, on the afternoon of November 7, who were startled when they compared the words they heard in person from the pope with the ones that had been disseminated by the Vatican offices. They asked for, and obtained, the immediate withdrawal of the bogus text.

Benedict XVI met with them again two days later, on the 9th, again speaking spontaneously in German, and confessed to them that he had “not found the time to write.” He added: “I present myself to you in this poverty”.

The paradox of Ratzinger is that the richness and profundity of his addresses are striking even in comparison with the high standards of the popes of the past century, but at the same time he is left “poor”– and alone – precisely by those who should be gathering and amplifying his message.

Not even the basic work of translation is functioning, even in a state as multilingual as the Vatican is.

For example, the French and Portuguese translations of the papal lecture in Regensburg on September 12 – the most famous and extensively discussed document of this pontificate – appeared on the Vatican’s website 35 days later. The Spanish translation came after 43 days. The Arabic version, prepared by the secretariat of state in mid-September and immediately distributed in the chancelleries of Muslim countries, is still not available to the general public. There are still a few steps left before it can be brought to the online desk.

Until a few months ago, with Joaquín Navarro-Valls at the head of the press office and cardinal Angelo Sodano at the secretariat of state, the confusion was even greater. [So, Senor Joaquin, no more pursed-lip criticisms, please!]

In the summer of 2005, Sodano and Navarro-Valls quarreled publicly, accusing each other of having brought harm to Benedict XVI, who in recalling at an Angelus the recent terrorist massacres relied on the summary that had been provided for him, and left out Israel.

But even now, with cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as the new secretary of state and Fr. Federico Lombardi as the new director of the press office, things aren’t going much better in the area of communication.

Lombardi continues to direct Vatican Radio as well, which is an even deeper hole than L’Osservatore Romano. In 2005, it registered a loss of 23.5 million euros, and its listenership is paltry in comparison with that of other Catholic broadcasters like Radio Maria, which are incomparably more effective in bringing the pope’s words to a vast public. [And why is that?]

Lombardi is a Jesuit. [But what does that have to do with the apparent inefficiency of the media operations he runs? Except that Jesuits are supposed to be activists, and the only apparent initiative the public has seen so far from Fr. Lombardi is to show the Latin text of tne Angelus on the maxi-screens in St. Peter's Square during the prayer !] And like all the followers of saint Ignatius, he has made a vow of “total availability to the Roman Pontiff in anything he may see fit to command for the good of souls and the propagation of the faith,” as Benedict XVI wanted to remind them in a speech he gave on November 3 at the Pontifical Gregorian University. [That's not to imply he is falling down on his job because he is obeying the Pope, is it? The Pope appointed him to the job because he trusts him - let him live up to that trust!]

But another Jesuit is Fr. Thomas Michel, the scholar of Islamic studies who prepared the addresses on this topic for John Paul II. Last September 25, at the very same time when Benedict XVI was engaged in clarifying the “real meaning” of his lecture in Regensburg for dozens of ambassadors from Muslim counties gathered at Castel Gandolfo, Fr. Michel was explaining to the many listeners of a program broadcast through the website of Yusuf Qaradawi, the most prominent sheikh in the Muslim world, that the pope had gotten everything wrong.

And other Jesuits are the authors for La Civiltà Cattolica, the storied Roman journal that, by statute, is entirely at the pope’s service. Every other Monday its director, Fr. Gianpaolo Salvini, goes to the secretariat of state with the drafts of the articles in preparation, which are read and modified, and sometimes cancelled, before receiving authorization to be printed.

So then, in the latest October edition of La Civiltà Cattolica, an editorial appeared – authorized by who knows who – that in nine pages described with scientific precision the vision of the world of violent Islam, its desire to subject the planet, to destroy Israel, to blow up its “martyrs” for the “religious” and “altruistic” purpose of “defending the honor of Allah and the trampled-down rights” of the Muslim people.

But there was not even a line, not even a word in nine pages opposing this plexus of faith and violence, given as irresistible and inevitable, with a critique “according to reason.” And that is the heart of Benedict XVI’s lecture in Regensburg.

This lecture was not even cited. Even more, it was as if it had never been delivered for that editorial in “the pope’s” journal.
===============================================================

Somehow, the article ends on a dangling note, unfortunately. Nevertheless, the basic problem has been set out - if it was not already painfully and infuriatingly obvious to anyone who has had to use the Vatican's media output, either to be informed or to help disseminate more information about the Pope and the Church!

Will Magister's voice be heard in the Sala Stampa? Better yet, why hasn't Magister - or any other Vaticanista, for that matter - asked to interview Lombardi and let him tell us what the problem is, tell us his side of the story, but hold his hands to the fire, as it were! It seems the most obvious thing to do.
================================================================

A SUBTLE 'REFORM OF THE REFORM'

P.S. In his blog today, Magister reports how in the Mass celebrated Sunday at St. Peter's CAthedral by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, at which Mozart's Coronation Mass was used for the liturgy (with the Vienna Philharmonic performing), for the first time since the Novus Ordo was introduced, the Sanctus was sung before the Consecration and the Benedictus after!

Magister notes that was the way it was for centuries, but in the reformed Mass, Sanctus and Benedictus have come to be sung together before the Consecration!

He thinks the occurence on Sunday was not just because Mozart - and all other composers who composed Mass settings - composed it that way according to Church practice, but because Pope Benedict XVI thinks it ought to be done that way, if only because the Santus and the Benedictus have distinct intentions.

He proceeds to quote from what Cardinal Ratzinger has written about this liturgical change - and I hope to post a translation of the blog in REFLECTIONS ON OUR FAITH AND ITS PRACTICES as soon as I can.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 8.44]

Normally, I would have posted this in POPE-POURRI, but the Regensburg lecture has given
a media buzz to the Pope's trip to Turkey next week, far beyond the fact that it is his first
visit to a Muslim country - but with the emphasis on Islam overshadowing the primary purpose
of the visit, which is further ecumenical rapprochement with the Greek Orthodox Church.

And so, after TIME magazine gave the Holy Father its third cover story on him in 19 months,
Corriere della Sera magazine also devotes its cover story this week to the Pope's Turkey trip.




Lella, who provided the Corriere cover, also posted the story, which I have yet to translate. [P.S. A story, not the cover story on the Pope, but some sort of a status report on Turkey's bid to enter the EU, so I'm not rushing to translate that now.]

Today is also the day THE CALENDAR comes out, courtesy of Famiglia Cristiana.


I wish someone out there gives the Pope a cover story because he has written a book on Jesus!

But now, an aside:
One would have thought that with Regensburg, Benedict XVI would automatically be in contention
for any 'Person of the Year' citation. But guess again!

Here are the names that TIME magazine is asking the readers to vote for as PERSON OF THE YEAR
2006 (not that the readers' votes will affect whom Time's own judges will choose): George W. Bush,
Condoleezza Rice, Kim Jong Il, Al Gore, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Nancy Pelosi,
The YouTube Guys ...

Keeping in mind that TIME defines its choice as "the person or persons who most affected the news
and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year" -
how can Benedict XVI not be on that list, especially with highly questionable 'candidates'
like Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Hugo Chavez, or the YouTube guys!

I guess they think confronting Islam is far less important than trying to re-peddle a scientifically
flawed global-warming doomsday scenario as Al Gore does...well, let me not go through the list
which has a built-in absurdity too much for words.

They will probably have Benedict on the list of 'Person of the Year' in religion but I bet they will
give the 'honor' instead to Milingo or that woman bishop heading the U.S. Episcopal Church now!

Of course, it's 'only an award' - like the Oscars - but still!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/11/2006 23.14]

Once again, Avvenire provides us some details glossed over in the general excitement yesterday over the announcement of a publication date for Part I of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI's book, Jesus of Nazareth.

Such as the simple matter of confirming what language it was written in. German, obviously, but that was not obvious from the fact that the excerpts from the Preface and from the Introduction made available in Rome werre in Italian.

[I am not doing a full translation of the article since it repeats much of what we learned yesterday.]

The newspaper got a few more details from don Claudio Rizzoli, director of the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV)which holds all rights to Ratzinger-Benedict's works - past, present, and future.

LEV has ceded the worldwide rights of translation, distribution and marketing worldwide to the Italian publishing house Rizzoli as a 'tangible sign of recognition for what Rizzoli did over the years to publicize and disseminate the works of the beloved servant of God John Paul II."

Rizzoli has in turn given the German rights to Herder, Benedict XVI's 'historical' publisher, "knowing well the bonds of esteem and friendship formed over 50 years between the Herder family and Professor Joseph Ratzinger, later Cardinal and now Pope." [As reported earlier in this Forum, the Pope met with some Herder executives earlier this month to mark the 50th anniversary of the first publishing contract he signed with them as a then-lecturer in the Freising Seminary.]

Rossini said the book will be in bookstores in April 2007, "probably by Easter, or the second anniversary of
Benedict's Papacy [not to mention his 80th birthday!]

"Obviously it wil be available in German, because it was written in German, and in the Italian translation but we are trying to see if one or two more language editions will also be ready. Other language versions will certainly follow, Rossini added."

For the record, the two last autobiographical books of John Paul - 'Memory and Identity,' and 'Arise, let us move on' - were published in 27 and 34 language editions, respectively.

Translation, however, is not a simple matter. Rossini said: "The text - 276 typewritten pages - got to us the end of October. To translate a Pope's work is never easy, but in this case, one has to take into account that Benedict XVI writes in a very cultured German which is however also very fluid and clear - some say it is a linguistic model to be studied in schools. Therefore, the translation has to reflect and respect that style."

He adds, "There is also the fact that this book is not meant just for experts but is also and primarily intended for the general public that does not have any specific theological preparation."
===============================================================

I was hoping to get other details from the story in Die Tagespost (German Catholic newspaper), but it simply reiterates what most of the reports said yesterday, and confirms that Herder will also have the German original out in April 2007.

Even a very well-written story by Paul Badde in DIE WELT does not offer anything new, except that he is the first and only one to link it to the Pope's visit to the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello last September. [Badde, of course, is one of the prominent advocates of the Manoppello icon as a genuine though completely inexplicable relic of Christ, and has a written a book about it.]

English readers will want to know what are the chances of an English edition being one of the priorities. But no English-speaking journalist apparently thought to ask that of Rossini or Rizzoli representatives yesterday. Maybe someone should call Ignatius Press and ask if they have hooked up with Rizzoli for any discussion on English rights.


Meanwhile, here is a translation of Avvenire's editorial about the book, in today's issue:

The Pope writes
'Jesus of Nazareth' -
a most fascinating enterprise
By Gianfranco Ravasi


"Christ has confronted us with His mystery, He has put us in the situation of His disciples when He asked them, "And you, who do you say that I am?'"

The writer Marco Pomilio finished his 1975 book, The Fifth Gospel, with the question Jesus asked Peter that day in Caesarea Philippi, the same question that He has posed to believers and agnostics alike through the centuries. The answers have been so many and so diverse, starting with his own disciples at the time.

Slowly, a divergence opened up between a diaphanous divine Christ and a carnal Christ with historical lineaments that are fairly decipherable. The technical language of exegetes has coined often dissonant categories and classifications intended to isolate such historical traits, but with such conflicting results that the figure of Jesus appears at times like a distant icon, sometimes with the physiognomy of a Jewish peasant of his time, or rarely, as someone extraordinary and unrepeatable.

In this context, now comes Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI who offers his answer to that continuing question about the 'real Jesus.' His premise is surprising, between a serene humility that acknowledges on the one hand, his natural and temporal limits ("I do not know how much more time and strength I will be granted" to even complete the second volume), and on the other, by the nature of the book as his 'personal research' which has nothing to do with magisterial authority, and is therefore open to criticism and even contradiction.

But it is the course he chose that is striking and makes us all, not just the scholars, look forward to reading it soon. Because the theologian who is now Pope wants to show a new conjunction between the two poles or opposite viewpoints of Jesus, "an attempt to show the Jesus of the Gospels is the true Jesus, the historical Jesus" in the authentic sense.

It is a route which some scholars have reluctantly tried (like Klaus Berger with his Jesus, recently translated to Italian by Queriniana publishers). In this method, the authentic figure of Christ is not arrived at by chopping up verifiable historiographic data then leaving it to the theologian to make Christologic sense of them, but rather looking at the data as a compact whole that would show a person who is "historically sensible and convincing,' even while embodying a transcendent dimension.

This interweaving of the human and the divine, which is the heart of Christian theology, pulses even in the known historical life of Jesus. Thus, says Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, the solemn Christology of the Pauline hymn in Philippians 2,6-8, already resonated in the Jesus of Nazareth whom His contemporaries knew and as we discover Him in the Gospels.

It is a clearcut project, which requires sensitive analysis, as the author himself is aware of and says so in the Preface, a paradoxical undertaking with ancient origins that requires a new declination. And so we all look forward to walking this route together, remembering a similar adventure that many of us lived in the past with the theologian Ratzinger - our unforgettable first reading of his "Introduction to Christianity."

This will be a journey not only along the historical slope in the shadow of the Mount of Transfiguration and its opposite slope which ends in the splendor of the Resurrection, but along a ridge where both these slopes necessarily intersect and coexist.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/11/2006 1.47]

[This article about Papa's meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury focuses on the archbishop but also has some interesting comments about Papa. It is actually quite flattering, except for the part saying he has reinvented himself.]


The archbishop's days are numbered

By Damian Thompson
Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 24/11/2006

Dr Rowan Williams's first official encounter with a Pope was a sad affair: he had to lean close to John Paul II in order to decipher his whispers. On being asked how the meeting had gone, he replied: "Well, I won't see him again."

Yesterday's discussions between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Benedict XVI were more lively. The Pope has been transformed. Not only is the role of the pontiff being played, Doctor Who-style, by another man; but that man, Joseph Ratzinger, has also managed to shrug off his own saturnine image and emerge as a beaming pastor with possibly the finest theological mind in the Church.

Moreover – although he offended Muslims by declining to describe Islam as a religion of undiluted love – he has been careful not to rant about bioethics or sex. His view is that Catholics cannot explain what they are against until they do a better job of explaining what they are for.

As for the archbishop, more and more commentators are arguing that he is not the same man who met John Paul II three years ago. In the words of one Church source: "He is so weakened. In 2003 there was only one Archbishop of Canterbury. Now there are effectively three."

Perched uncomfortably on the chair of St Augustine, Dr Williams is constantly aware of two figures on either side of him: his predecessor, Lord Carey of Clifton, and his probable successor, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. We do not know whether Dr Sentamu wants the post, but the chances are that he will be offered it, and sooner rather than later.

Clergymen spend a lot of time on the internet, mostly for innocent purposes, such as following ecclesiastical backstabbing. The "Anglican blogosphere" is a rich source of speculation – very well-informed speculation in the case of the blog written by Andrew Brown, Church Times media correspondent. On November 13 – days before Dr Williams got himself into a pickle by implying that the Church of England might backtrack on women priests – Brown wrote: "It is the sensible bet that Rowan will retire, defeated if not broken, after the formal schism at the Lambeth Conference [in 2008], and Sentamu will be his successor."

The idea that Rowan Williams will step down in two or three years' time – a decade before he is required to – is being discussed in many quarters. It was first floated on Ship of Fools, a theological internet chat site, by someone calling himself "Spawn", who also predicted that the coming Lambeth Conference would be the archbishop's swansong. Does Spawn have inside information? He makes no secret of the fact that he is Andrew Carey, son of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury.

Like the Pope, Lord Carey has surprised everyone by reinventing himself. As Primate of All England, he was dismissed as a self-important booby: Captain Mainwaring in a mitre. Since his retirement in 2002, however, he has become "the king over the water" for conservative evangelical Anglicans, who – thanks to mushrooming churches in Africa – now far outnumber communicants of the Church of England.

Carey has done this partly by offering moral support to anti-homosexual Africans and Americans, even to the extent of travelling to Virginia to confirm opponents of Gene Robinson, the gay Bishop of New Hampshire. According to one Sunday newspaper, "a personal feud between the Archbishop of Canterbury and his predecessor has burst into the open" – a claim to be taken seriously, given that the commentator who made it, Christopher Morgan, was Rowan Williams's best man.

But, to give Lord Carey his due, he has also developed a knack that eluded him in office: of talking common sense. He was the first senior churchman to attack moderate Muslim leaders for not condemning Islamic suicide bombers "clearly and unequivocally"; this week he criticised the wearing of full-face veils by Muslim women.

Such outbursts fly in the face of every convention governing the behaviour of retired primates. Lord Carey's conservative admirers are not concerned; they continue to regard him as the real Archbishop of Canterbury. But that baton is now about to be passed, over Dr Williams's head, to a prelate whom African conservatives can truly consider one of their own: the Ugandan-born Dr Sentamu, who in his previous incarnation as a judge was a ferociously brave critic of Idi Amin.

Actually, it is not just Africans who look to Dr Sentamu as the de facto leader of the Church of England.

As Brown notes, he has been "anointed" by the tabloid press for speaking out on topics that his boss has sidestepped or overlooked. It was York, not Canterbury, that issued a long-overdue condemnation of the BBC's anti-Christian bias; it was York that attacked British Airways' fatuous ban on employees wearing a cross.

In other circumstances, Rowan Williams could have relied on liberal bishops to come to his rescue. But his equivocation over gay clergy and his private criticism of the calibre of women priests have alienated them.

If Rowan is so clever, they ask, why does he tie himself in rhetorical knots every time he opens his mouth?

Certainly, the archbishop will not have got far if he has tried to play intellectual games with the razor-sharp Benedict, who knows that the pursuit of Anglican-Catholic unity is now a waste of time (and BA jet fuel). And he also probably knows – since he has an impressive network of spies in England – that the archiepiscopate of Rowan Williams is itself a lost cause.

This time, it may be the Pope's turn to say: "Well, I won't see him again."

[Modificato da benefan 24/11/2006 15.03]

Archbishop ushers in détente with Vatican


Staff and agencies
Thursday November 23, 2006
Guardian Unlimited



Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, today acknowledged there were "serious obstacles" to closer ties between Catholics and Anglicans, when they met in Rome.

The leaders of the two churches signed a joint statement after 25 minutes of private talks, saying they were committing themselves to continuing dialogue. The two men then prayed together in a chapel in the Apostolic palace and later had lunch.

Their meeting marked the 40th anniversary of landmark efforts to improve relations between the two churches, which went their separate ways during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Article continues
"Our long journey together makes it necessary to acknowledge publicly the challenge represented by new developments which, beside being divisive for Anglicans, present serious obstacles to our ecumenical progress," the two leaders said in their declaration.

Dr Williams told the pope in a speech that "disputes about how we apply the gospel to the challenges thrown up by modern society can often obscure or even threaten the achievements of dialogue" but that he came, "ready to hear and to understand the concerns which you will wish to share with me".

The Pope, while not spelling out the disputes in his speech, appeared to refer to them when he spoke of "the strains and difficulties besetting the Anglican communion and consequently about the uncertainty of the communion itself".

"Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only internal relations with the Anglican communion but also relations between the Anglican communion and the Catholic church," the pontiff told Dr Williams.

Tensions between the two churches are most evident with the Anglicans' blessings of same-sex unions and the ordination of women. The same issues have threatened to split the world's 77 million Anglicans since the elevation in 2003, in the United States, of the first openly gay Anglican bishop.

Pope Benedict appeared to be referring to the disputes when he told Dr Williams in his speech: "We believe that these matters, which are presently under discussion in the Anglican communion, are of vital importance to the preaching of the gospel in its integrity, and that your current discussions will shape the future of our relations."

"We fervently hope that the Anglican communion will remain grounded in the gospels and the Apostolic tradition," the pope said.

The Catholic church teaches that while homosexuals should be treated with dignity, homosexual acts are sinful, and it is campaigning against same-sex unions. It also opposes ordination of women.

While praying with the archbishop, Benedict asked God to grant the "gift of visible unity".

The discussions between the two leaders - who are both former professors of theology - coincide with the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Michael Ramsey, in 1966.

The two men looked relaxed throughout the public part of today's encounter. Dr Williams' 10-year-old son, Philip, gave the pontiff a handmade card signed "with love from the children of Canterbury cathedral".

The archbishop, in his speech, displayed the ring that Pope Paul VI gave Archbishop Ramsey in their 1966 meeting, and a cross from Pope John Paul II that he was wearing. Dr Williams prayed at the tombs of the popes and of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica.

The ring and cross, Dr Williams said, were "symbolic of our shared commitment to work together for the full visible unity of the Christian family".

[Modificato da Maklara 24/11/2006 15.52]

Very interesting, thanks Benefan!...Anglican church politics seems so Byzantine (metaphor intended), but then perhaps, so would the politics of the Roman Curia if we knew enough. Sad that church officials behave among themselves like ordinary polticians and squabbling academics....I hope we get a story that gives us the side of Rowan Williams, whose reported comment about John Paul II was probably innocuous with the sense of "He's very sick and probably has little time left, so I don't think there will be another meeting between us."

Thanks, as usual, to Lella in the main forum for keeping us au courant vis-a-vis the Italian media.

Perhaps more interesting than what its cover story actually says - much of which we know anyway -
is the clever cover by this magazine, LEFT Avvenimenti (Events),'the weekly of the other Italy'
(by which I suppose it means, the anti-Establishment Italy or the countercultural Italy, or simply leftist Italy).

I must tip my hat off to them for finding a picture of the Pope (probably taken when he was a Cardinal)
that's reminiscent of the enigmatic Mona Lisa portrait, and for the super take-off on a DVC cover!



"THE RATZINGER CODE: The Pope flies to Turkey to mend fences with Islam and
reshapes the Vatican Curia. Opus Dei down, Jesuits up..."

They have a chart which is self-explanatory, except that in the case of the names listed among
those 'down,' the reasons for their being 'down' are generally because they have retired.
The article is by Giuseppe di Leo.



Di Leo's opening paragraphs:

Who's up and who's down in the Church hierarchy of Joseph Ratzinger? Who are the men who count
in the new Curia chosen by Benedict XVI? Who are disappointed and unhappy about these nominations?
What are the criteria used by this Pope to choose his co-workers?

These are questions many ask for obvious reasons. The Vatican - along with the United States, the last
superpower left - is the only actor in international politics with the instruments to "think globally."
So it is important to know who's in and who's out.


His comments on the names in the chart:

Starting with the 'ups' (I can't figure out why they are shown in the order they are) -

Cardinal William Levada, 71, USA, CDF Prefect - His appointment was an indication of
the Pope's regard for American Catholicism 'which has become a decisive force in the Catholic world.'

Cardinal Ivan Dias, 70, India, Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation
of the Faith - A man who knows Asia very well and speaks several Asian languages. Ratzinger
'knows the demographic challenge of evangelizing India and China' and with someone like Dias,
the Church will be better prepared.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, 72, Brazil, recently named Prefect of the Congregation for the
Clergy- in 'explicit recognition' of his leading role in the past Conclave and of the need to
'consolidate the Church in Latin America.'

Georg Gaenswein - His presence in the chart is explained by the author's line that Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone as Secretary of State is now the Pope's principal collaborator "together
obviously with his secretary Mons. Georg Gaenswein".

Cardinal Attilio Nicora, 69, administrator of the patrimony of Vatican state -
He is also a jurist well-versed in the problems relative to the execution of the Lateran Treaty
between Italy and the Vatican.

Cardinal Peter Erdo , 54 - Primate of Hungary and recently elected chairman of
the European Bishops Conference. An outstanding canon law expert.

Cardinal Bertone and Fr. Lombardi are the other pictures on the chart.

However, other names are mentioned among those 'up':
Cardinal Raffaele Martino , 74, Italy, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace -
The Pope has left him in place although he often makes statements to the press that many
in the Curia find questionable. Nor does the Pope share his unconditional enthusiasm for the
United Nations as an effective international agent.
[I don't know that he should be considered 'up' then. His statements to the press have often been
embarrasingly rash or ill-informed.)

The current permanent observer-delegate of the Vatican to the UN. Mons. Celestino Migliore, is
considered a sensible realist.

Seven other Curial cardinals have also been left in place, presumably because the Pope finds
their work satisfactory and their views congenial:

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, 74, Portugal, Prefect of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints -
He shares the Pope's belief that there must be a proper balance between historic considerations and
the Church's own criteria in evaluating potential saints, especially in controversial cases (ike Pius XII).

Cardinal Walter Kasper, 73, Germany, Presidnet of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity

Cardinal Paul Poupard, 76, France, President of the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Peace
and for Inter-Religious Dialog

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 72, Italy, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, 71, Colombia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family -
He replied to Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini's much-discussed advocacy of possible uses for frozen embryos.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 73, Presidsent of the Pontifical Council on Health -
A protagonist in the study ordered by the Pope on the use of condoms to reduce AIDS risk.

Other names mentioned as being on the rise:

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, 61, and Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, 65 -
both known Ratzingerians; Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, 68, a moral theologian esteemed
by the Pope; and Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo, 61, who has kept the Pope abreast of the
Christian minority's problems against the Muslim majority in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Two Italian archbishops are known to be highly esteemed by the Pope: the Archbishop of Chieti,
Mons. Bruno Forte, 62, and the Archbishop of Terni, Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, 61.
Both are expected to be named cardinals in the next consistory.

Those designated 'down' or 'out":

Joaquin Navarro-Valls - He retired, of course, as director of the Vatican Press Office.
In his new life, he has decided, among other things, to write for La Repubblica, the mouthpiece of
Italian liberals (with a history of relentless criticism of John Paul II), and also for 'Zapaterian'
newspapers in his native Spain. It may be that his intention is simply to bring a Catholic point of view
to these newspapers.

Cardinal Dionigio Tettamanzi of Milan - The consensus is that his speech at the recent National
Convention of the Italian Church in Verona spoiled whatever chances he had to be named by the Pope
as the next president of the Italian Bishops Conference succeeding Cardinal Camillo Ruini.
He is a known 'progressive' in the mold of his predecessor in Milan, Cardinal Martini.

Cardinal Cresencio Sepe - The Pope transferred him from his position as Prefect of the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith to be Archbishop of Naples. The internal problems of that diocese,
where the Mafia and crime continue to dominate, will test his mettle.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini - Retired archbishop of Milan and standard-bearer of Italian
'progressives', he continues to make his voice heard, through interviews, articles and books, even
while pursuing Biblical studies in Jerusalem.

The three other cardinals shown on the chart as 'down' are really 'out' because of retirement.
==============================================================

By Philip Pullella
Fri Nov 24

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Sufferers of infectious diseases such as AIDS should not be victims of prejudice, rejection and indifference by a society obsessed with personal physical beauty and health, Pope Benedict said on Friday.

The Pope, speaking to participants of a conference on the pastoral care of patients with infectious diseases, said the dignity of all sick people had to respected, regardless of which disease they had or how they may have contracted it.

"Among the prejudices that hinder or limit efficient care for victims of infectious diseases is the attitude of indifference and even exclusion or rejection which sometimes emerges in a rich society," he told the group.

"This attitude is even fostered by the image given in the media of men and women who are mostly concerned about their own physical beauty, health and biological vitality," he said.

Locking oneself in "one's own little world" while others suffered from often repugnant diseases was becoming "a dangerous social trend," he said.

He called for renewed efforts by scientists and doctors to find cures for infectious diseases such as AIDS, leprosy, plague, tuberculosis and ebola, as well as methods of alleviating the suffering of those already victims.

In his address, the Pope did not mention the Church's position on AIDS and condoms, which still has not been definitively formulated.

The Catholic Church opposes the use of condoms and teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best ways to stop the spread of AIDS.

It says promoting condoms fosters immoral and hedonistic behavior that will only contribute to its spread. It teaches that homosexual acts are sinful in the first place.

The Pope has commissioned a study by two Vatican departments for use in a possible future papal document on AIDS and condoms.

In recent years, several top Church officials have called for a change in Vatican policy on condoms to allow their use by married couples where one partner is affected by HIV or AIDS.

But the Vatican has been loath to issue any document that could be interpreted as a green light for the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS, fearing it would endorse promiscuity.

Last Tuesday, the latest United Nations report on AIDS said HIV infections were on the rise in all regions and that nearly 40 million adults and children were infected worldwide.

The Pope Meets His Opposite Number

On the eve of his much-anticipated trip to Turkey, Benedict XVI hosted the Archbishop of Canterbury and got a glimpse of the perils of running a worldwide religion like a democracy

By JEFF ISRAELY/ROME
TIME Magazine
Friday, Nov. 24, 2006

Ah, the blessed perks of absolute monarchy. Pope Benedict XVI is one who knows them well. The 265th successor of St. Peter is the unchallenged head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, with the last word on everything from the naming of bishops to his regular rewritings in stone of the church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and women priests. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, also carries a big spiritual stick as the leader of the world's 70 million strong Anglican Church. But his rule is neither monarchical nor absolute, since he is appointed by the Queen (or King) of England, and considered "first among equals" of Anglican primates. This fundamental difference in authority was on full display this week in Rome, where an embattled Williams came to meet Benedict and mark 40 years of Anglican-Catholic dialogue.

Though Williams has held his job twice as long as Benedict, it is the Anglican leader who has the much weaker grip and apparently more fractured flock than the pontiff. Since his 2003 appointment, the Archbishop has struggled to keep his church from splintering over the ordination of gay and women clergy. He was even grilled by the media on Friday over a controversy related to a British Airways ban on employees wearing crucifixes on planes. Meanwhile Benedict, though certainly facing dissent both inside and outside his own Church, faces no real challenges to his authority. "Whatever you can say about the Catholic Church," notes one Vatican official, "at least you know where to go to when a decision must be made."

It makes one wonder if Winston Churchill's famous quip about democracy —the worst form of government except all the all others — is a bit less applicable to the running of a worldwide religion. Critics say that by trying to placate all constituencies, Williams has actually deepened the fault lines in the feud that erupted after the American branch of the faith — the Episcopalians — approved the ordination of gay bishops and chose a woman as its primate. There have in fact been moments when the tall and bearded Williams has been dwarfed by others in his own church, including Nigerian Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has led the revolt of evangelical Anglicans — many from the third world — against the ordination of gays and women. Some Church of England observers believe the 56-year-old Welsh-born Archbishop will step down in 2008, well ahead of the decade-plus tenures of his recent predecessors.

Benedict's critics may be no fewer, but his lifetime appointment to be supreme pontiff helps shield him from the potential schisms facing Williams. While the 79-year-old pontiff has said he wants to give greater voice to bishops, his Church can count on the stability that comes in having one man with the authority to resolve any internal dispute. Democracy-in-Catholicism advocates, however, argue, that the Pope's absolute authority does not allow for truly honest and open debate of evolving issues facing the Church. Another downside — as was on display in Regensburg, Germany with Benedict's provocative speech about Islam and violence — is that the singular pull and stature of just one man can sometimes weigh too heavily on the entire Church.

Still, the two men spent this week highlighting what they have in common. Both these reknowned theologians are concerned about deepening secularism in the West and encroaching fundamentalist challenge from Islam. Williams delivered a lecture Thursday evening at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences which raised the issue of religious freedom for minorities in Muslim countries. Many wonder if Benedict will confront the same topic in his much anticipated trip to Turkey next week.

Both Anglican and Catholic officials noted a particular warm rapport between Benedict and Williams during a Thursday morning meeting and subsequent lunch at the papal apartment. The two leaders issued a joint statement acknowledging "serious obstacles" to closer communion between the Churches — a clear reference to the Anglican openness to gays and women in the clergy. Williams, who was accompanied by his wife and two children, timed his trip to mark the 40th anniversary of a historic meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI. On that first formal encounter between the heads of the two Churches since England's King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century, the Pope gave Ramsey the ring that symbolizes his papal authority. Williams was wearing that same ring in his meeting with Benedict. And these days, he might wish he had his own symbol of absolute power to wield back at home.

Vatican Museums bear witness to faith

Nov. 24 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican Museums constitute a "sanctuary of art and faith" which should transmit a powerful Christian message to all visitors, Pope Benedict XVI said at November 23 audience with museum workers.

As the Vatican Museums wrap up the celebration of their 500th anniversary, the Holy Father noted that among the 4 million people who have visited this year, many are not Christians, and some even bear a prejudice against the faith. The experience at the Vatican Museum should appeal to their "intelligence and sensitivity," he said, since they would "immerse themselves in an concentrated atmosphere of 'theology of images.'"

The Vatican collection, with its rich concentration of ancient classical art, should drive home the point that the Christian faith is not set up in opposition to the glories of classical civilization, the Pope said; "rather they come together in God's unique plan." The Church, he said, has always recognized "a beauty that shines from within the work of art, and brings the spirit to open itself to the sublime."

The Museums, the Pope continued, "show how Christianity and culture, faith and art, the divine and the human." He underlined the message that now appears on the door of the Museums, saying that the institution is designed to "promote the splendor of Rome and affirm the truth of the Christian religion." The most popular site within the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, "represents the insurmountable pinnacle" of that realization," the Pope added.

Pope Benedict encouraged the museum workers to be mindful of their role in helping visitors to experience the full impact of the works on display. That impact, he said, "requires the beauty of the works to be accompanied by the beauty of the people who work there: a spiritual beauty that renders the atmosphere truly ecclesial, impregnating it with the Christian spirit." ?

The papal audience with the museum employees came as the Vatican Museums near the conclusion of a year marked by celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the institution. This year's 4 million visitors have already outstripped last year's record of 3.8 million, reflecting a sharp upward trend. During the past 8 years, the number of visitors has doubled.

The Vatican Museums have sought to accommodate the increased traffic by lengthening hours and adding a new entry. The flow of visitors remains constrained by the tight space restraints of the building and the relatively small staff. There are about 400 regular employees at the Vatican Museums, as opposed to over 1,500 at comparably busy museums such as the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Ratzinger Corrects the Books About Jesus –
And Writes a New One
It will come out in the spring of 2007,
but its preface has already been released.
Meanwhile, the theologian of the pontifical household
deeply criticizes a book that is the opposite of the one written by the pope

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, November 27, 2006 – With a terse bulletin, the Holy See has released the news that “Benedict XVI has finished writing the first part of a book entitled ‘Gesù di Nazareth. Dal Battesimo nel Giordano alla Trasfigurazione [Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration]’.”

The book will come out in the spring of 2007. But Benedict XVI has already authorized the release of the preface, in which he explains why he decided to write it, long before being elected as pope.

Joseph Ratzinger recalls that, until the middle of the last century, “exhilarating” books about Jesus were available from authors like Karl Adam or Romano Guardini.

But then there was “the rift between the ‘historical Jesus’ and the ‘Christ of faith’.” The man Jesus as described by the scholars seemed more and more different and further away from the man-God of the Gospels and the Church.

And not only that. The new descriptions of the man Jesus were mutually contradictory. There were those who presented him as a revolutionary, and those who presented him as a meek pacifist. The impression gained from reading these reconstructions was that they were “much more a snapshot of the authors and their ideas than the laying bare of an icon that has become confused.”

The result is that the idea that “we know very little for sure” about Jesus “has deeply penetrated the shared consciousness of Christianity.”

And such a situation “is dramatic for the faith because it brings uncertainty to its authentic point of reference. Intimate friendship with Jesus, on which everything depends, risks fumbling around in a void.”

It is precisely in order to bridge this gap that Ratzinger wanted to write a book about “the Jesus of the Gospels as the real Jesus, and the ‘historical Jesus’ in the true sense of the phrase.”

The method that Ratzinger adopts is indeed that of “interpreting the texts using the historical method,” but always “from the standpoint of the faith.”

For him, this is the only way to explain the mystery of a Christology that, in the letter of Paul to the Philippians, just twenty years after the death of Jesus, raises to him a hymn “that says Jesus was equal to God but stripped himself, became man, and humbled himself to the point of dying on the cross, and that to him belongs the homage of creation, the adoration that in the prophet Isaiah (45:23) God proclaims as due to him alone.”

Ratzinger began to write this book about Jesus in the summer of 2003. One year later the first four chapters were ready. He wrote four more after his election as pope, in “all of [his] free moments.” And now he has decided to publish these right away, leaving the rest for a future second volume.

This book – the pope writes in the preface – “is absolutely not a magisterial act, but is simply the expression of my personal quest for the ’face of the Lord’ (Psalm 27:8). So everyone is free to disagree with me. I ask only that my readers begin with that attitude of good will without which there is no understanding.”

Proof of the situation “dramatic for the faith” that moved Benedict XVI to write this book is found in another book recently published in Italy, with great commercial success, entitled “Inchiesta su Gesù. Chi era l’uomo che ha cambiato il mondo [The Jesus Inquest: Revealing the Man Who Changed the World].”

The book’s authors are Corrado Augias, a journalist and writer, an editorialist for the major liberal daily “la Repubblica” and an agnostic; and Mauro Pesce, a professor of Church history at the University of Bologna, a specialist in the apocryphal Gospels and a Catholic, at least by formation.

This book has nothing in common with the notorious “Da Vinci Code.” Its authors are competent, it makes use of authoritative studies, it is grounded upon solid sources, and it rejects the idea that the Christian Churches deliberately distorted the figure of the “real” Jesus.

But it nevertheless reaches that conclusion about Jesus, “dramatic for the faith,” against which Benedict XVI warns.

This is evidenced by a long critical review of the book written by Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, 72, a specialist in the history of early Christianity and, since 1980, the preacher of the pontifical household, the one who preaches to the pope and the Vatican curia during Advent and Christmas.

Fr. Cantalamessa published his review on two full pages of “Avvenire,” the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.

It is, therefore, an important review both for the person who wrote it and for the newspaper in which it appeared.

[Magister then publishes an English translation of the full article, which I have posted in READINGS.]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2006 15.40]

Lella in the main forum says that the Wall Street Journal for today 11/27, has an article in its News inDepth pages about he "style" [not clothes style!] of Benedict XVI by Gabriel Kahn and Stacy Meichtry. I tried to get to it, but it seems that part of the paper is available to subscribers only. If anyone has acess to it, please post! Thank you.

Actually, Lella's source was Sandro Magister, who blogs about it today because he has also written something about the Benedict style for L'Espresso this week, which I wll translate and post ASAP.

In the blog, after informing us about the WSJ article, he notes the curious coincidence that his article is out at the same time, and says that the two articles have "conclusions that are for the most part in agreement."

He adds: "The Wall Street Journal writes, among other things, that within the Vatican, Benedict's intellectual superiority and style are 'intimidating' - and therefore, no one dares to oppose him openly."

His article, on the other hand, "shows that Papa Ratzinger's arguments have practically silenced even the progressive Catholic intelligetnsia" who do not feel up to 'rebutting him with arguments of the same persuasive solidity."


It's another Frog Day today, courtesy of Image Shack...

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2006 14.20]

Here is the translation of Magister's article. We owe him all the hat tips we can give for catching the essence of our beloved Pope - and saying so unequivocally!

Interesting that he apparently wrote this article as a reaction to the nine-day wonder of the papal parodies on Italian TV...

==============================================================


Benedict XVI,
a Pope armoured with 'chastity'
From "L'Espresso" n. 47
24-30 November 2006
By Sandro Magister


The squabble for or against the papal parodies on Italian TV and radio cannot belie a fact supported by the numbers.

Benedict XVI is the most popular Pope in history, if we judge by the people he attracts like a magnet to St. Peter's Square, every Sunday at Angelus and every Wednesday for his general audience.

The attendances have been regularly double those of his predecessor John Paul II, who, in his time, had shattered all records.

But what is amazing is the connection between demand and supply in this case The successful product Benedict XVI offers to the crowds consists in nothing but his bare words.

At the Angelus, two times out of three, Papa Ratzinger explains the Gospel for that Sunday's Mass to an audience among whom not everyone goes to Sunday Mass and not always. He explains the Gospel in simple words but his words demand attention, and he gets it. As he speaks, the silence in St. Peter's is impressive.

And at the end of his brief homily, he immediately proceeds to begin the Angelus prayers, without a second's delay. Which is his way - and it works - of preventing untimely applause. Because this will come, but at the right time, when he gives his greetings in various languages.

The downfall of those who would parody this Pope is that he, the true Pope, does not concede anything to current tastes. He does not fulminate, he does not thunder anathemas. His reasoning is inflexible but even and calm. And he argues out the criticism that he makes of modernity or of the 'pathologies' within the Church itself.

If only for this, he has practically silenced the Catholic progressivists: not because they have become friendly to him, but because they cannot rebut him with arguments that have the same persuasive solidity.

In fact, Benedict XVI has not at all shown himself 'crushed' by comparison to his predecessor. He does not imitate him in anything. John Paul II did not walk, he 'advanced solemnly" [the precise Italian verb is 'incedere']. Papa Ratzinger walks with brisk pace directly to his objective. [Obviously, Magister is using these descriptions literally as well as figuratively.]

John Paul II dominated the scene. Benedict XVI takes care to focus attention on something beyond himself.

The vigil he spent with almost a million youths in Cologne in August 2005 remains unforgettable. It was the first great media test for the new Pope.

For what seemed like interminable minutes, Benedict XVI knelt silently in front of the consecrated Host displayed on the altar. The assembled young people got it. But not the TV directors and journalists who were at a loss over what to do - or say - to fill that 'void'. The Pope had successfully prevented the Eucharistic vigil from turning into a kermesse.

He is the first theologian Pope in the history of the Church. [I thought there were others!] But he can teach theology even to simple folk. And to children.

One of the novelties he has introduced to papal communications is the improvised question-and-answer with various audiences. He did it for tens of thousands of First Communicants - average age 9 - at St. Peter's Square.

A boy asked him: "My catechist tells me Jesus is present in the Eucharist. But how? I don't see Him." He replies: "Yes, we don't see Him, but there are so many things we cannot see but which exist and which are essential. For example, we cannot see reason. But we have reason, we have a mind."

Benedict XVI has taken a daring gamble on reason. The relationship between reason and faith was the axis of the address that has become the most famous and most controversial in the first 18 months of his Pontificate: the lectio magistralis he gave at the University of Regensburg on September 12, 2006.

It is safe to say that Ratzinger is an enlightened Pope because he himself has said he wished to defend enlightened Reason in an epoch when reason has few defenders. Whoever expected to find in the ex-chief of the former Holy Office a faithful paladin of the faith gets what he wants.

For Ratzinger, it was not only Jerusalem but also the Athens of the Greek philosophers that are the roots of the Christian faith.

Benedict XVI is not afraid to place religions under severe scrutiny, starting with Christianity, precisely in the name of reason. He advocates a relationship of reciprocal control and purification between religion and reason.

Two-thirds of his Regensburg lecture was dedicated to criticizing those stages when Christianity dissociates itself from its rationalistic foundations.

And he has proposed that Islam do the same thing: to weave faith with reason, as the only way to separate it from violence.

Thirty-eight Muslim thinkers from many countries and different currrents of Islamic thought answered him with an open letter that is worth more than a thousand ritual dialogs. In part, seeing reason in his reason.

The Regensburg lecture is not the only text that Benedict XVI has written in his own hand without expert advisers who would surely have edited him. The discourse at Auschwitz-Birkenau was all his, too. And that too was pronmptly met by protests and polemics - political as well as theological - from Jews, Christians, laymen.

As Pope, Joseph Ratzinger has often acted with an 'imprudence' that no one had suspected of him. He explained the reason for his speaking - opportunely and importunately - in his October 6, 2006, homily to the members of the International Theological Commission:

---

... I am reminded of a beautiful sentence in the first Letter of St. Peter, chapter 1, verse 22. In Latin, it says - «Castificantes animas nostras in oboedentia veritatis» . Obedience to truth should make our souls chaste - and thus, guide us to right words and right actions.

In other words, to speak in search of applause, to speak according to what we think others want to hear, to speak in obedience to the dictatorship of common opinion, may be considered a prostitution of words and of the spirit.

The "chastity" that the apostle Peter refers to means not submitting ourselves to common standards, not to seek applause, but rather, obedience to the truth.

I think that is the fundamental virtue of theology, this difficult discipline of obedience to the truth - which makes us co-workers in the truth, the voice of truth, because we do not speak in the rivers of words that characterizes the world today, but in words that are purified and made chaste by obedience to the truth. And therefore, we can be truly bearers of the truth.

---

And Benedict XVI does exactly as he says. He feels himself so strongly vested in this armor of 'chastity' that he does not fear contamination.

Some people were scandalized that he gave a private audience at Castel Gandolfo to the belligerent Oriana Fallacci. But one year later, he also met Herny Kissinger, the leading realist among the advocates of Realpolitik. The prince of anti-Roman theology, Hans Kueng, was also one of his surprise visitors.

So this is not a Pope who will be intimidated by cheap parody.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2006 15.53]

VATICAN CITY, Nov, 27 (AsiaNews) - On the eve of his departure for Turkey, Benedict XVI talks again of the importance of inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect.

He did so in a message sent to Card Paul Poupard, chairman of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

The occasion was the Pan-Asian meeting of members and consultors of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the chairmen of National Bishops’ Commissions for Culture which opened yesterday and will close on November 30.

In his letter the Pope underscores the “great need for the whole Church to rediscover the joy of evangelization, to become a community inspired with missionary zeal to make Jesus better known and loved”.

For Benedict XVI Asia is “fertile ground where the Word of God can be sown and bring forth a rich harvest”.

Hence, he urges participants to “discover new ways of proclaiming the fullness of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples of Asia, new ways of evangelizing those cultures”.

But evangelisation, the Pope explains, “has to be accompanied by a commitment to sincere and authentic dialogue between cultures and between religions, marked by respect, reciprocity, openness and charity.”

Finally, in his message, Benedict XVI invites the participants to remember that “evangelization and inculturation constitute an inseparable pair, both elements of which must be present if the Gospel of Christ is truly to become incarnate in the lives of people of every race, nation, tribe and language.”

Pope's December prayer intentions

Vatican, Dec. 1, 2006 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has released Pope Benedict XVI's prayer intentions for the month of December 2006.

The Holy Father's general intention is: "That Christ, meek and humble of heart, may inspire those responsible for nations to use power wisely and responsibly."

The Pope's missionary intention is: "That in every part of the world missionaries may live out their vocation with joy and enthusiasm, faithfully following in Christ's footsteps."

How 'God's rottweiler' became a popular pope

Barney Zwartz
The Age--Australia
Dec. 2, 2006


WHEN Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April last year, liberal Catholics feared that the man they called "God's rottweiler" for his work as the church's theological watchdog would be a ruthless, inflexible and dominating leader.

Other Catholics — noting that at 78 he was the oldest man to be elected pope since 1730 — feared he would simply be a caretaker, a safe pair of hands in a world of turmoil and challenge. They thought Benedict XVI, John Paul II's most effective servant, might simply echo his predecessor's policies.

Eighteen months on, Benedict has radically refuted both views, showing himself a man of surprises: conciliatory, open-minded, pragmatic and flexible. Rather than a dictatorial bureaucrat, he may ultimately be remembered as a deeply human and reforming pope.

Some of the evidence for this direction emerged quickly, such as his visit to dissident theologian Hans Kung. His first encyclical surprised many, a pastoral reflection on God's love where they might have expected a theological treatise on truth.

And more evidence has emerged in the past couple of weeks. One Vatican document suggests priests who left to get married may be readmitted if they are now single (and celibate), and another investigates whether married couples can use condoms when one partner has AIDS. Another indicator is Benedict's present visit to Turkey, where he became only the second pope to enter a mosque and reversed his opposition to the Muslim nation's mooted membership of the European Union.

"He's not the man we were expecting. He defines what it is to be a Catholic — not to set boundaries or shut people out, but to say: 'This is what we hold to, we are not ashamed,"' says Michael Brady, a lay planner for the church. "In that way, he's a man for our times, because that's what our times are about: who we are."

Jesuit theologian Bill Uren is another who has been pleasantly surprised. "He seems to be going out of his way to be conciliatory and to find common ground rather than defining the church position too starkly," he says.

Father Uren, rector of Newman College at Melbourne University, says Benedict sees the papal role as reconciling rather than confronting. "After John Paul II, who was an up-front media person, I think he's something of a relief. He's much more self-effacing. It's been surprising and welcome."

Even Cardinal George Pell, who worked closely with the Pope at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, admits Benedict has confounded expectations.

"He has surprised me, and is capable of more surprises," says the Archbishop of Sydney. He cites some of the key papal appointments — "some are very old men, even by my standards".

Then there is Benedict's more nuanced line on Islam, emphasising the need for Muslims to give religious minorities the freedom Muslim minorities enjoy in the West. And there is his unpredictability.

"As to exactly what he's going to do next, I don't know, and most people in the Vatican don't know, because he keeps his cards close to his chest," says Cardinal Pell. "That's an advantage for a pope."

But he is not surprised at the warm reaction Benedict has received. "I think the Pope is the best living Catholic theologian. He's an independent thinker within orthodoxy, a thoroughly rational man open to argumentation, an immensely cultivated man who knows the world of secular intellectual life in Europe very, very well," he says. "He's not frightened of ideas and not frightened of discussion. I've never met anyone better able to synthesise an argument, summarise it and take up a position."

Former priest and author Paul Collins, who more than once locked horns with Cardinal Ratzinger, says compared with John Paul II, Benedict understands the role much better. "He would describe himself as a traditional pope, in a good sense. He doesn't see the papacy as taking over the entire church, a globetrotter telling everyone what to do. His is a much more modest kind of papacy," he says.

He fears for Benedict's health. Rumours in Italy suggest the Pope may need heart bypass surgery, and he has had minor strokes. Collins doesn't want a repeat of John Paul II's final years, in which "he had become incapacitated, possibly mentally and certainly physically". But Benedict, mentally, is "still spot on".

Collins thinks Benedict has acted thoughtfully, saying: "The only people he's rushed to act against are those with provable cases of sexual abuse against them … He's certainly not a conservative pope."

[Modificato da benefan 02/12/2006 3.24]

VATICAN - TURKEY
Benedict and Bartholomew
to meet next year in Ravenna

The possibility that Pope and Patriarch may preside over the opening of the next meeting
of the Joint Theological Commission studying ways to solve Catholic-Orthodox divisions is under examination.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I are examining the possibility of opening together the next round of the Joint Theological Commission to show their shared desire to pursue the path of full communion.

According to sources from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the meeting should take place in Ravenna (Italy) in the early months of next year.

The same sources indicate that the sensational proposal was made by Bartholomew I during the Pope’s visit to Istanbul. CardINAL Walter Kasper, head of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, is said to have liked the idea and Benedict XVI approved it in principle, conditional on his future agenda.

The Joint Commission began to meet again after six years. It was suspended because of the impossibility to find common ground on issues like the place of the Uniate Churches, i.e. Catholic Churches, especially in Ukraine and Romania, which reached full communion with Rome in the 16th century whilst at the same time preserving the Eastern rituals and liturgies.

Suppressed under Stalinist rule, their property and congregations were “passed onto” the Orthodox Church. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Uniate Churches rose again and began demanding restitution, sometime tactlessly, of their churches and other properties.

In turn, this started a row that continues to this day over the alleged aggressiveness of Catholics now accused of proselytising among Orthodox.

With the Joint Commission back on—first meeting in September in Belgrade (Serbia), Catholics and Orthodox have began looking at another key issue in ecumenical relations, namely the powers of the bishop of Rome, i.e. the Pope.

During the three meetings between the Pope and the Patriarch in Istanbul a joint statement was signed that, whilst it added nothing new in terms of Catholic-Orthodox relations, it expressed “joy” over the renewed dialogue and reasserted the two parties shared commitment to the process.

Bartholomew I and Benedict XVI also stressed separately their desire to pursue the ecumenical path. Bartholomew expressed “our common desire to pursue without wavering our path in the spirit of love and fidelity towards the truth of the Gospel in the shared tradition of the Holy Fathers to re-establish the full communion of our Churches.”

Benedict XVI did likewise and confirmed his readiness to finding an acceptable way to exercise the Petrine primacy. (FP)

================================================================

Oooohhhh, Ravenna! Where Dante is buried, and a city that boasts some of the most wonderful treasures of Byzantine church art - inside Roman Catholic churches. (I tell everyone I know who goes to Italy, "Don't miss Ravenna!" It's on the Aegean coast of Italy almost directly east from Florence, and the train ride across that part of Italy is itself a bonus.)


P.S. The Ravenna meeting is obviously the 'concrete proposal' Bartholomew I referred to in the Avvenire interview, a translation of which as posted in the APOSTOLIC VOYAGE TO TURKEY thread yesterday.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/12/2006 0.38]

Pope, Patriarch to join theological talks?

Constantinople, Dec. 4, 2006 (CWNews.com) - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has disclosed that he made an important, concrete proposal for Orthodox-Catholic cooperation during his November 30 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

Speaking to the Italian daily Avvenire after the conclusion of the Pope’s trip to Turkey, the Orthodox leader said that he could not disclose the nature of the suggestion he had made, but reported that the Pope seemed quite interested. He said that he is now “waiting for an official response.”

The AsiaNews service, citing sources in the Constantinople patriarchate, reports that the Patriarch suggested that he and the Pontiff should personally take part in the next meeting of a joint Orthodox-Catholic theological commission, to take place next year in Ravenna, Italy. The AsiaNews report suggested that Pope Benedict is inclined to accept the suggestion.

The joint theological commission was established in November 1979 by Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I. Its work reached an impasse, however, at a July 2000 meeting in Baltimore, when Catholic and Orthodox participants could not agree on the question of "uniatism"-- the Orthodox term for the eastern Catholic churches. The commission suspends its work.

In June 2004, Pope John Paul II issued a call for the resumption of the theological dialogue, and the new Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I agreed. Upon his election in April 2005, Pope Benedict XVI added his strong endorsement. The group met in Belgrade, in September 2006, for talks co-chaired by Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and the Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon.

Pope to meet Brazilian president during May 2007 visit?

Sao Paulo, Dec. 4, 2006 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet with Brazil’s President Inacio “Lula” da Silva during his visit to that country in May 2007, according to an unofficial schedule for the papal visit released by Brazilian Church officials. The Vatican has not confirmed the plan.

According to Brazilian sources, the Holy Father is due to arrive in South America on May 9, 2007. He will reportedly appear at a youth rally near Sao Paulo on May 10, then meet with the Brazilian hierarchy on May 11. The next day he will preside at the opening of the 5th general conference of the Latin American bishops’ conference, CELAM, at the Marian shrine in Aparecida.

This preliminary schedule of the papal trip appears to represent a change in plans, since the Pontiff was originally expected to arrive in Brazil for the close of the CELAM meeting at the end of May. Informed sources suggested that the trip had been moved forward to provide the Pope-- who will be 80 at the time-- with a bit more protection from the heat of a Brazilian summer.

In an August interview broadcast by German television, Pope Benedict confirmed that he planned to travel to Brazil in 2007. The Vatican has not issued any other statement on plans for the trip. Ordinarily the Vatican does not formally confirm plans for papal voyages until a few months before they take place.

I posted the translation of an ANSA item from Sao Paolo on the Brazil visit in PAPAL TRAVELS on 12/2, which led off with the proposed meeting with President Lula in Brazil, but gave no other details except that the Pope would be in Brazil May 9-13 and that the Brazilian bishops conference had forwarded a proposed program to the Vatican for review.

I checked our Iberian section if Nessuna might have the original story from Brazil, but none had been posted at the time. Nor in the Portuguese service of ZENIT.

Now it turns out that yesterday, 12/3, Nessuna posted a Portuguese news service item from Brazil which I am translating below:

01/12/2006

Pope Benedict XVI will say Mass at the Campo de Marte north of Sao Paolo during his first visit to Brazil on May 9-13, 2007, according to Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who was interviewed shortly before leaving for Rome to take up his new position as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

"The Pope wants to have a good program here because he will be in Sao Paolo for three nights."

Hummes said Campo de Marte was where John Paul II also said Mass in 1980. It was able to accommodate a million faithful.

The prefect of Sao Paolo, Gilberto Kassab, said he has named his sub-Prefect who, along with the president of Sao Paolo's toruist association, will be meeting with a Vatican representative on Dec. 12 to discuss the program for the Pope.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/12/2006 3.29]

Greek Orthodox primate plans first-ever visit to Vatican

Vatican, Dec. 4, 2006 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has confirmed plans for a meeting between the Pope and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Christodoulos of Athens on December 14: the first visit ever made by the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church to the Roman Pontiff.

During a December 14 ceremony at the Roman basilica of St. Paul-outside-the Walls, Pope Benedict XVI will give Archbishop Christodoulos a piece of the chain that bound St. Paul as a prisoner in Rome, the Vatican has announced. Later the Orthodox prelate will receive an honorary degree from the Lateran University.

The Greek Orthodox Church had taken a consistently hostile stand toward the Vatican for generations, and Pope John Paul II (bio - news) was forced to overcome tough resistance from Orthodox hardliners before finally winning an invitation to visit the country in 2001. After that visit-- which led to a distinct improvement in ecumenical ties-- the late Pope issued an invitation for Archbishop Christodoulos to return the visit, but the Greek prelate declined, at the insistence of the Orthodox synod.

The Greek primate did travel to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and when Pope Benedict XVI later renewed the invitation to come to Rome, he accepted. Because of established protocol among the Orthodox churches, plans for the meeting were not officially announced until after the Pope’s meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the acknowledged “first among equals” of the Orthodox hierarchy.

[Modificato da benefan 05/12/2006 4.29]

Introduction to Christianity by the Pope of Rome published in Russian

Moscow, November 5, Interfax - Introduction to Christianity, a fundamental book by the Pope of Rome Benedict XVI is published in the Russian language, Blagovest-info religious agency reported Tuesday.

Introduction to Christianity now available to Russian readers presents the fundamentals of faith. Written in the crucial for the Church period with confusion after Vatican II and the student revolution of 1968, the book raises questions of God and Christ and shows the place of faith in the Church,’ the press release reads.

The Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad underscores the topicality of the book in his preface to it.

‘It may sound a paradox, but we, Christians, living in the early 21st century, need to be introduced to Christianity and come back to its sources,’ Metropolitan Kirill writes, advising ‘the Orthodox readers and all those believing in Christ and those seeking the way to the truth’ to read the book.

Joseph Ratzinger, the present Pope of Rome, called in his book to ponder whether God is the reality which is the main precondition of any realism. Nothing is sacred without Him.

'If a human person has no divine mystery in him, but is only a proof of his own inventiveness, what would he be for another human person?' - the author asks.

[Modificato da Maklara 05/12/2006 16.09]

Things are moving on the ecumenical front.

A long article in the Italian Panorama magazine - posted by Lella in the main forum - analyzing the Pope's recent visit to Turkey also reports that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has accomplished one of the priority assignments given to him by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Pope may be meeting with the Patriarch of all Russia, Alexei II, in Hungary next year, at a neutral spot, most likely the Benedictine abbey of Pannahalm in Hungary.

This could reportedly take place at the time of the Pope's planned visit to Austria in September 2007 for the 850th anniversary of the Marian shrine in Mariazell.

A separate AsiaNews report says Patriarch Alexei, through a spokesman, said the Pope's recent Turkey trip was very important " for reciprocal understanding between Christians and Muslims,per una comprensione reciproca tra cristiani e musulmani, the development of Turkey's relations withEurope, and for the dialog between Catholics and Orthodox Christians."

On Who's Up and Who's Down at the Vatican:

Cardinal Levada: he's been a virtual no-show ever since his appointment. He's strictly Pope Benedict's errand boy, since the Pope is clearly still running the CDF. I don't think it shows any particular confidence in American Catholicism. Benedict XVI wanted someone who would take orders and carry them out.

Cardinal Hummes: jury’s still out. Pope Benedict can now appoint a real orthodox bishop for Hummes archdiocese, while keeping an eye on Hummes at the Vatican. Hummes’ statement on priestly celibacy was proof, if any was needed, that he’s not fully on line with the Pope’s programme; I don’t think it was an elevation, but a corralling of an-hitherto unpredictable cardinal.

Gaenswein: I saw something during the Holy Father’s trip to Turkey that clarified the relationship that Mr. Gaenswein now has with the Pope and with Cardinal Bertone. It was after the Pope’s address to the diplomatic corps in Ankara. After he was finished with the address, but before giving out medals to the diplomats, Pope Benedict said something to Cardinal Bertone. Bertone then motioned to someone at the back of the room and pantomimed drinking a glass of water. Gaenswein then ran up with a glass of water and then ran right back to the back of the room. Pope Benedict has a friendly relationship with Cardinal Bertone (unlike the one he had with Cardinal Sodano) and delegated a lot of the logistics to him during this trip, including, it seems, managing Mr. Gaenswein. Gaenswein was much less visible on this trip than on previous journeys or other papal events and I think that’s due to Cardinal Bertone putting things in their proper place. Monsignor Mokrzycki is now newly visible at the papal ceremonies as well (although he was more visible in Bavaria than he had been previously) and has the same ecclesiastical status as Mr. Gaenswein.

Archbishop Bruno Forte is both said to be esteemed by the Pope and to be at odds with the Pope, depending on the source. His theology is not consonant with Pope Benedict’s. I’ll be interested to see if he’s named a cardinal, but I wouldn’t bank on it.

Cardinal Tettamanzi was never “in” with the Pope, so he can hardly be newly “out.”

I do't know if the article mentioned Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, but he had quite a bit of cache with John Paul II. Let's just say he doesn't any more.

They certainly are! Wow! The posibility of meeting Alexei II in Hungary next year and news of the Greek Patriarch coming to Rome. I wonder when we will get confirmation on Hungary?!

Here is a translation of the Panorama article mentioned above:

Next stop for the Pope:
Alexei II
By Ignazio Ingrao

****
In less than a year, there could be a historic encounter with the Patriarch of Msocow in Hungary. In Istanbul meanwhile, the Catholic minority expects the protection of their righs as promised by Erdogan.
****

It is a holiday, but the church of St. Anthony is full nevertheless. It is the only church that fronts directly on Istiklal Caddesi, one of Istanbul's most comemrcial streets. All other Christian places of worship are hidden behind walls and gates.

At the door, Franciscan Father Anton Bulai smilingly welcomes the faithful who enter in groups and take their places on the pews. Most are Catholic, but there are also Orthodox Christians and Meslims.

In front of the altar is a giant screen carrying the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. There is mostly silence and meditation here, although there are some who pray in a low voice.

The maxiscreen here, as in other churches of Istanbul, were rented by the Koc family, a wealthy dynasty of Muslim entrepreneurs whho also manage the Italian hospital in this city, under the care of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception from Ivrea.

Father Anton is not surprised by the presence of Muslims in the church. Every day, many of them choose to stop here for
a moment of prayer or meditation. Its garden will soon be the permanent site for the statue of Blessed John XXIII, 'Pope of the Turks', which was to be blessed by the Pope on that day.

Turkish authorites, as well as Muslim and Catholic religious leaders themselves, pretend they do not know what's happening at St. Anthony and in other churches in Istanbul and Izmir.

"We are a silent presence. Since we cannot perform apostolate work, we can only try to be good Christian witnesses by living a siimple life," says Mon. Ruggero Franceschini, preseident of the Turkish bishops conference.

To survive under the Ottoman Empire and later, Kemal Ataturk's secular nationalism, the small Catholic community in Turkey (32,000 in a population of 73 million)) has developed dissimulation to an art.

One simply does, but there's no need to tell: dialog with Muslims, mixed marriages, conversions, baptisms. Or, one risks paying with one's life, as Don Andrea Santoro did.

Meanwhile, Vatican dipomacy is cashing in on its success: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's commitment to protect the rights of religious minorities, in exchange for supporting Turkey's bid to join the European Union. A handshake with Ali Bardakoglu, president of Religious Affairs, in exchange for tempered-down words on he Regensburg controversy and a visit to the Blue Mosque.

After months of gaffes and imcomprehension [what exactly is he referring to? Bertone hasn't even completed two months in state, and there have not been any major projcts except prearing for Turkey], Vatican diplomacy appears to have gone back to its usual shrewdness.

But the Christian churches in Turkey are asking what's to become of them after the Pope has left and the over 22,000 policemen who were mobilized for duty go back to their homes and barracks?

"Excessive visibility can place our work at risk," says Fr. Guenole Jeusset, a Franciscan minor friar, who is in charge of the Church of St. Mary and a promoter of numerous dialog initiatives with Muslim Sufis (a mystic branch of Islam). H recalls the irruption of a fanatic Muslim into the Church to profane the Cross shortly after the Pope's Regensburg lecture. He is afraid that can happen again.

Someone who disagrees is CEmal Ussak, vice president of the Association of Turkish Journalists and a primemover of the Platform for Intercultural Dialog (a foundation to promote good relations among Christians, Jews and Muslims).

"The Pope's visit," he sas "has written a new page in inter-religious reiations here in Turkey. The next step will be better protection of religious freedom. In this way, too, the doors of Europe will be more open to us."

One thing is sure: the trip to Turkey has inaugurated a new course in the Pontificate of Benedict XVI. After the shock of teh widespread Muslim protests to the Regensburg lecture, the theologian Pope is starting to consider the political and diplomatic consequences of what he says.

The horizons of the Papacy itself are widening. The director of this 'new deal' is the new Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, one of the few in whom the Pope has full confidence and to whom he has given the widest latitude of action, with the assistance of the new 'foreign minister,' Mons. Dominique Mamberti.

It is paradoxical that the diplomatic shift to Benedict's Pontificate is being guided by a cardinal who does not come from the Vatican diplomatic service [everyone makes too much of this!]

Well now, the same ecclesiastics in the Secretariat of State - who less than two months ago - looked on Bertone's arrival with suspicion - are rethinking themselves. The 'mission impossible' that the Pope entrusted to him has been completed with success.

This will lead Benedict XVI to the Benedictine abbey of Pannahalma in Hungary to meet with the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II. It is neutral territory for an encounter which could take place in September 2007, at the time of the Pope's pilgrimage to Mariazell in Austria. At that same time, the European ecumenical assembly will be taking place in Romania.

Organizing this would be the task of the Archbishop of Budapest, Cardinal Peter Erdo, president of the European bishops conference.

The historic appointment with Alexei II would be a continuation of the Pontiff's recent trip to Istanbul. Reunification with the Eastern Church is one of the priorities of this Pontificate.

But Bartholomew I is in difficulties: his Patriarchate has no juridical status, restrictions on its property rights, the prohibition from having schools and seminaries all endanger the future of the Orthodox Church in Turkey.

Just as Paul VI flew to Istanbul in 1967 to bring support to Athenagoras, so did Benedict XVI go to Turkey to help Orthodox Christians stand up for their rights.

==============================================================
I posted this translation before checking out the 'news' on the Pope and the Church, and what is this I see?

Russian Orthodox Patriarch
accuses Vatican of "unfriendly policy"
in ex-Soviet statesDec 05 2006, 13:34

MOSCOW (AP) The head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday accused the Vatican of pursuing an "extremely unfriendly policy" in Russia and other ex-Soviet states, warning that such behavior could further strain ties between the two churches, a Russian news agency reported.

Patriarch Alexy II reiterated claims that Catholic priests were working to convert people baptized as Orthodox believers to Catholicism and discriminating against the Orthodox in western Ukraine.

"I hope the Vatican will undertake concrete steps to change the situation for the better," Alexy was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

He added that if the situation remains the same, meetings of Orthodox and Vatican officials would only be formal and "will not bring relief to people who suffer from the non-brotherly actions" of Catholic priests, according to RIA-Novosti.

Russian Orthodox officials accuse the Vatican of poaching for converts in the traditionally Orthodox lands in Russia and several other ex-Soviet republics. The Vatican has rejected the proselytizing allegations, saying it is only ministering to Russia's tiny Catholic community - about 600,000 people in a country of 144 million.

The conflict has prevented the heads of the two churches from having a meeting.

To which Cardinal Bertone has replied:

Cardinal Bertone: We Don't Proselytize

ROME, DEC. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Church has good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and is not trying to engage in proselytism, says the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The cardinal made this observation today when journalists asked him, at the Pontifical Urbanian University, to comment on Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II's appeal to the Vatican to stop its "unfriendly" actions toward the canonical Church in Russia, Ukraine and other Commonwealth of Independent States.

"I do not know Patriarch Alexy's statement, but I believe that relations between Moscow's patriarchate and the Holy See are sufficiently good and talks are taking place, with frequent visits," said the cardinal.

"Moreover, we do not want to engage in proselytism in Russia," he added.

According to Interfax, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow told his clergy at the Christ the Savior Cathedral today: "The Catholic mission continues among people [who are] baptized Orthodox Christians in Russia and other CIS member-nations. So does the exceedingly unfriendly policy by the administration of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church toward the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

The Orthodox patriarch said he hopes that the Vatican will take concrete steps to improve the situation.

"Without it," Alexy II said, "our meetings with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church will be just formal events, which will not help relieve the pain of people who suffer from non-fraternal actions."
===============================================================

I can't believe this persistent paranoia of the Russian Church -and Alexei II constantly harping on it! All the more reason, Benedict has to meet with him.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/12/2006 13.53]