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Scritto da: TERESA BENEDETTA 03/02/2007 14.21
'SEPP' is a diminutive for Joseph, propnounced ZEP, as it is usually spelled.

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And it is most commonly used in the German region of Bavaria, in Austria and in the northern part of Italy, called Southern Tyrol which is in some regions German-speaking

Andrea

A full translation of the Pope's message at the Angelus today has been posted in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS TEXTS.

Meanwhile, since the Pope happened to use the 'button'-word euthanasia in his message, it has been promptly picked up by the wider media, as this Reuters story shows:


Pope says compassion
no excuse for euthanasia




VATICAN CITY, Feb. 4 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday renewed his appeal to Catholics to reject abortion and euthanasia, saying life was God-given and could not be cut short under "the guise of human compassion."

His appeal came days after an Italian doctor who switched off the life support of a paralyzed man at the center of a euthanasia battle was cleared of wrongdoing by a medical panel.

"Life, which is the work of God, cannot be negated by anyone, neither at the very young and indefensible unborn stage, nor when grave disabilities are present," he said in his weekly address to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square.

Speaking on the Italian Catholic Church's "Day for Life," he said humanity could not legitimize euthanasia or be "fooled" into justifying it "under the guise of human compassion."

Euthanasia is a deeply divisive issue in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy, where it is illegal and carries a jail term of up to 15 years.

The issue was back in the spotlight last month when Italian doctor Mario Riccio disconnected the life support of Piergiorgio Welby, who was paralyzed for many years by muscular dystrophy and had asked to die.

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

Here was the earlier AsiaNews story:

VATICAN
Pope: Church and politics
should concretely support family and life


Vatican City, Feb. 4 (AsiaNews) – At a time when the institution of the family is in “profound crisis”, religious and political institutions should extend a helping hand, not least because it represents the natural environment for the birth and growth of children and for safeguarding life, which is to be respected even when it is at its weakest and most vulnerable, as in the case of a newborn or dying person, Pope Benedict XVI said before the noon Angelus prayer today.


The sign reads 'The greatest of all human rights is the right to live'


The celebration in Italy of the Day for Life, based on the theme “Love and desire life” was visibly marked in St Peter’s Square by hundreds of green balls scattered among the 30,000 people who turned up for the recital of the Angelus. It was the commemoration of this day that prompted Benedict XVI to make yet another appeal in defence of life.

On a bright day reminiscent of springtime – which the pope drew attention to – Benedict XVI turned to “all men and women of goodwill” and asked that they should “welcome the great and mysterious gift of life. Life, which is the work of God, should not be denied to anyone, not even to the smallest defenceless newborn, especially if the baby has serious disabilities. At the same time, echoing the Pastors of the Church in Italy, I urge all not fall prey to the deception of thinking that they can dispose of life to the extent of ‘legitimizing its disruption with euthanasia, perhaps masking it with a veil of human pity’.”

Benedict XVI then referred to the “Week of life and the family” that starts today in the diocese of Rome. He made a forceful call for the safeguarding of the family, “which is the ‘cradle’ of life and of all vocations.

While this commitment is first and foremost up to spouses, he said, "the Church and all public institutions also have as a priority the duty to support the family through pastoral and political initiatives that take into account the real needs of spouses, the elderly and new generations."

After the Angelus, the pope turned his thoughts to Sri Lanka, greeting in English a group of government officials involved in reconstruction works in tsunami-afflicted areas.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/02/2007 18.42]

Here is both serendipity and synchronicity. Having read earlier today that according to Robert Moynihan, his Vatican sources say the Holy Father's motu proprio on the Tridentine Mass will finally come out on February 22, Feast of the Chair of Peter, I decided to check out his magazine's site, which I should do every month but didn't in January.

And amazingly, Dr. Moynihan's cover story is about Benedict - a different, thoughtful and compelling take on the Holy Father's decision to publish his book on Jesus as a private person, not as the Pope, i.e., extra-Magisterial.

Dr. Moynihan ends this article with the words, "He (Benedict) has become a fisher of men." Of course, he did, from the moment he became a priest, but with univesal responsibility the moment he became Pope.

The bit of synchronicity is that today's Gospel is about the fishing episode when Jesus tells Simon and the other disciples that "you will now be fishers of men.'

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

The Christ of Benedict XVI
by Dr. Robert Moynihan

The Pope is about to publish a book about Jesus. In so doing, he will share his deepest convictions about Jesus Christ

The greatest drama of this pontificate - greater than the drama of relations with secular humanism or Islam, greater even than the drama of the scandals in the Church - is the drama occurring within Pope Benedict himself.

It is the drama of a man whose entire formation as a thinker and theologian led him to regard free theological inquiry as the highest intellectual activity of the believing Christian, but whose destiny was to become the Successor of Peter, and as such, the possessor of the Church's binding teaching authority, the Magisterium (the authority to "bind and to loose," to approve and to condemn doctrine and heresies, to teach, ex cathedra, infallibly).

And that is why Benedict's decision to publish a book about Jesus later this spring, but not to give the teaching in the book any magisterial authority whatsoever, is so dramatic.

It is dramatic because it is the decision to withhold magisterial authority from the book that is itself magisterial.

And this decision has profound consequences, both for the exercise of the papal office within the Roman Catholic Church, and for relations with non-Catholics, particularly the Orthodox. For this reason, it is one of the most important decisions of the pontificate thus far, and perhaps a defining one.

The Vatican announced November 21 that the Pope's new book, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, would appear in March. The book's preface and part of its introduction were also handed out.

In the preface (signed "Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI"), the Pope writes that for decades he has observed an increasing scholarly distinction between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith" (the idea that Jesus 2,000 years ago in Palestine was not at all the Jesus Christ, Son of God, that faith teaches he was).

In essence, Benedict wants to argue that the Jesus depicted in the Gospels, the Jesus who performed miracles and rose from the dead, is the true Jesus - that the historical Jesus is the same as the Jesus of faith, that the Gospels are not fables.

"I trust the Gospels," the Pope writes. "I wanted to attempt to present the Jesus of the Gospels as the true Jesus, as the ‘historic Jesus,' in the true sense of the expression."

The Pope thinks this is a reasonable position, that it is in keeping with evidence which all of us can examine and judge. He writes: "Only if something extraordinary happened, if the figure and words of Jesus radically exceeded all the hopes and expectations of his age, can his crucifixion and his effectiveness be explained."

The Pope began the book during his 2003 summer vacation, giving the final form to the first four chapters in the summer of 2004.

"After my election to the episcopal see of Rome, I used all of my free moments to work on it," he wrote. "Because I do not know how much time and how much strength I will still be given, I have decided to publish the first 10 chapters."

So what we know from the Pope's own words is that he has used "all of my free moments" to write this book, and that he is so anxious to publish it - even saying quite openly that he fears he may not live much longer - that he chose to publish part of it now, even though it isn't yet finished.

This means, clearly, that the Pope regards this book as extremely important, even urgent. He has little time left. [Rather than viewing this as a 'pessimistic' and disheartening statement, I think it simply shows that the Holy Father himself is probably more realistic than anybody else about the priorities he must do in the unknown time that God allows him.]

And yet, he is not publishing it as a papal encyclical. This is the striking point. He is not making the book that he is working on with all his strength, as the final great work of his life, a part of the papal magisterium.

"This work is not an absolute act of magisterial teaching, but merely an expression of my personal research into the face of the Lord," Benedict writes in the preface. "Therefore, everyone is free to contradict me."

What does this mean?

In a November 21 statement, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said, "The Pope says clearly, with his usual simplicity and humility, that this is not a ‘magisterial act,' but a fruit of his personal research and, as such, can be freely discussed and critiqued. It is not a long encyclical on Jesus, but a personal presentation of the figure of Jesus by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger."

And he added: "At the same time, it is very significant that he, who was elected bishop of Rome and has the task of supporting the faith of his brothers and sisters, felt so strongly called to give us a new presentation of the figure of Jesus."

How are we to understand all this? Why is the Pope writing an extremely important book, but choosing quite consciously to not formulate his teaching magisterially?

The answer is not entirely clear, and all we can do is offer a few possible avenues of interpretation.

Clearly, Benedict does not wish to use his Petrine authority - at least in this particular case - in a "maximalist" way. He does not want to issue an encyclical and say, "I as Pope understand Jesus in this way, and I declare that this understanding is part of the Church's magisterial teaching."

Rather, he seems to wish to publish a book about Jesus and offer it to the world as a proposal, as a text for readers to wrestle with and even to criticize.

And, though he states that he does not wish to define anything about Jesus, by choosing this path he implicitly teaches (with papal authority) that the first thing of all, the starting point for all matters of faith, the prerequisite for everything concerning Christian life, is the free conscience of a man wrestling with ultimate questions, wrestling to find God, to find the truth.

And so the great drama of the present pontificate is right in front of us. It is Benedict presenting himself to us, not as an authoritarian Pope - certainly not as the "Panzer Kardinal" the press for so many years depicted him as being - and not as the issuer of infallible papal formulations of doctrine, but as a fellow pilgrim. The "first pilgrim," we might almost say, or "first among pilgrims."

In short, the Pope's decision to publish an entire book about Jesus, and to withdraw from that book all magisterial authority, is a magisterial act of the first importance. He is saying - without using the words - that "being Peter (for me) means this," that "being the Bishop of Rome means this."

And this has important consequences for the profound crisis the Church is passing through today, which is in part related to the whole question of the role of "Rome" in Roman Catholicism, and to the question of how the Church's unity, doctrinally and administratively, can be preserved in an age where centrifugal forces threaten to tear her apart.

After Pope John Paul II was elected Pope in 1978, he told Ratzinger that he would invite him to Rome, to serve in the Roman Curia.

"The Pope told me he intended to summon me to Rome," Ratzinger once told me. "I spelled out the reasons against it and he said: ‘Let's think about it a bit longer.' Then, after the assassination attempt (May 13, 1981), we spoke about it again and he repeated that he felt he had to stick to his original decision. I objected that I felt so bound to theology that I desired to have the right to continue to publish works of a private nature and didn't know whether that would be compatible with this new task."

So a tension between being a "private" and a "magisterial" theologian has always been present in Ratzinger's thought. And it was such an important question to him that he debated it with Pope John Paul II, and for a time declined his invitation to join him in Rome.

Evidently, Ratzinger came to believe that, as other Roman prefects had written as private theologians in the past, so his desire to continue writing as a private theologian was no impediment. And so Ratzinger came to Rome and ceased to be a private theologian.

But Ratzinger brought a new style to the office of prefect of the Congregation of the Faith. His book-length interviews, first with Vittorio Messori (Report on the Faith, 1984), and then with Peter Seewald, offered an analysis of the faith and of the modern crisis of the Church which was all the more powerful and persuasive because it was private and personal, not public and impersonal. Ratzinger's words, not "officious" but blunt and candid, seemed alive and... prophetic.

In other words, Ratzinger's engagement with the issues of our time during his years as prefect came to define the "spirit" needed in this ecclesial generation. (He once used the word "restoration" to describe the needed spirit as opposed to the euphoric - and amorphous - "spirit of Vatican II," which had promised so much, but had gone so profoundly off track.)

But - and this is key - this spirit of "restoration" was never intended to be a "restoration" of a mold of ecclesial life that had been definitively shattered - with all the confusion and suffering that entailed - by the Second Vatican Council and its chaotic, unanticipated aftermath. Ratzinger did not intend to go back to the Counter-Reformation and hurl anathemas. He intended to go forward... but toward what?

That is the question, of course, and it is the question he is answering, in part, by the publication of this new book on Jesus, and by its publication in this way, as a non-magisterial pronouncement.

Clearly, Benedict wants to be read. And he wants those who read him to become engaged in a dialogue, with him and with themselves, but above all with Jesus Christ. And he does not want anything to stand in the way of this possible dialogue, not his triple tiara (which he has quietly removed from his papal coat of arms), not his Petrine prerogative, not even his professorial distinction as one of the leading German theologians of our time.

No, he wants to transcend these possible "barriers" to a true engagement with readers, and that is why he has chosen to publish the new book in this unprecedented, dramatic way.

So this new book is not "dry-as-dust theology" but a heartfelt plea to people around the world, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, Christian and non-Christian, to consider the central question of all, which Jesus asked of his disciples: "Who do men say that I am?" This will be Benedict's answer to that question, and not Benedict as Pope, but Benedict as a man.

When St. Francis of Assisi finally found his vocation, on that day when, not long after the year 1200 in the main square of Assisi, Italy, in front of the entire town, he took off his father's cloak and clothes and stood naked, he became himself: the "little poor man" who took as his bride "Lady Poverty."

It was a defining moment for medieval Christendom, which was so tempted to forget the "naked Christ" in the midst of the new commercial wealth and architectural splendor of the High Middle Ages.

This spring, when he publishes his book on Jesus, Benedict will turn 80 years old. He, like Francis, will despoil himself of his "clothes," which in this case are those doctrines and traditions which have elevated yet marginalized the modern Popes as they have attempted to carry out their role as witnesses to Christ in a world that has largely forgotten faith.

He will stand before the world as a simple pilgrim, bearing witness to his own understanding of Jesus Christ, to his own relationship with Jesus Christ, without reliance on the garments of authority in which Vatican I - in keeping with the perennial understanding of the essential infallibility of the papal magisterium - clothed him.

Removing himself from the eminence and authority of the Chair of Peter, he will practice what he has preached and what Jesus preached: he will present himself as one exegete among many exegetes.

He will sit in the marketplace with contemporaries, many of whom have contradicted, scorned, worked against his view of Jesus Christ. He will invite criticism.

Inevitably this preface, and the book itself, will be compared with the talk Ratzinger gave to many of the leading practitioners of the historical-critical method of scriptural analysis, including Raymond Brown, in January 1988 in New York. (The occasion was the annual Erasmus Lecture sponsored by the ecumenical Rockford Institute's Center on Religion and Society.)

In his new preface, Ratzinger makes every effort to identify with scriptural interpreters and praise whatever scholarly enlightenment has resulted from the historical-critical method.

In 1988, the first thing the cardinal did was to remind the assembled scholars that one of the great creative visionaries of the previous century, the Russian theologian Vladimir Soloviev (in his haunting History of the Antichrist) had described the Antichrist, "the eschatological enemy of the redeemer," as "a famous exegete."

Ratzinger elaborated: "He had earned his doctorate in theology at Tubingen and had written an exegetical work which was recognized as pioneering in the field."

There is no such sharp and ironic tone in the new preface. This is the change which has taken place between Ratzinger the cardinal and Ratzinger the Pope.

Now he invites his hearers to follow the case he will make and pastorally pleads with them to carefully consider what he will say about Jesus. He has become a fisher of men.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/02/2007 19.41]

Robert Moynihan showed some real insight in this article. I wanted to post it, but you got here first, Teresa, so thank you.

There is much that can still be fleshed out in this article, but it would have made it too lengthy. Moynihan (inter alia) pointed out that Joseph Ratzinger with his new book on Jesus will join those in the "market place". And, as anyone knows with an interest in Jesus studies, it is a market place that has been flooded with publications on the "historical Jesus" in the past twenty to thirty years, and especially the past 15 years when the "quest" for the historical Jesus gained an incredible new momentum.

To hear from so many scholars, both inside and outside Christianity, that the Christ of faith, "created" by the church, differs from the (historical) Jesus who walked this earth, comes as a great shock to anyone who, in all innocence, starts reading these scholarly works. This happened also to me. I have read quite a few of the best known authors' works in this field. Whereas they certainly enlarge one's views and knowledge of (as one example) the time period in which Jesus lived, the Jewish context of his life and much of his thoughts etc., aspects like the virgin birth, many of his miracles, and the resurrection itself have been researched and explained with - in NT Wright's words - "the hermeneutica of suspicion". To explain away these fundamentals of the Christian faith, various hypotheses are advanced by the various scholars. Some of these hypotheses have already become leitmotives and new "dogma" in the consciousness of scholars, lecturers and thousands of believers, or rather non-believers (?,) who still call themselves Christians and cling to their church denominations without believing in the basic tenets of the Christian faith anymore.

The Pope's new book will almost certainly be scoffed at, or criticised, by certain scholars and their followers. In the field of historical Jesus studies the majority of publishing scholars came to different conclusions than those with which we have been raised. That is the kind of arena Ratzinger now enters with his new book, although it does not appear to be a historical Jesus study where the author-researcher is supposed to keep his personal faith out of the picture (as though this is ever possible!) to ensure the maximum of objectivity. Even so, Ratzinger has invited dialogue/critique and I think he is truly brave in this, because he will surely get what he asked for. And he knows it. I am also convinced that this book will strengthen the faith or heal the faltering faith of many thousands (millions?) of people who have been bashed around and confused by THEOLOGIANS, BIBLE SCHOLARS and exegetes for a long time already.

Oh yes, I can imagine so many anti-Christian 'scholars' - those who deny the divinity of Christ - who must have been salivating from the moment the Pope announced he was coming out with this book and cannot wait to wield their hatchets on him ASAP!

And all the media know-alls who dismissed Joseph Ratzinger as an un-mediatic Pope in comparsion to his predecessor simply allowed their prejudices and/or hostility to prevail over common sense in failing to see that someone so firm and brave and outspoken as the former Prefect of the CDF was not suddenly going to turn all gooey just because he became Pope! And isn't that what the media live on - controversy as the essence of news, because straightforward good news is no news at all, but bad news and controversial news is, as far as MSM is concerned. Well, Regensburg showed them - and its Turkey aftermath - how Benedict can make big news headlines simply being himself.

I would love to think that the Holy Father may yet pull a Deus caritas est on them, something so totally unex[ected and so superior and unexceptionable as to earn instant universal, virtually unanimous acclaim. But there are too many opinion-makers and scholars out there in the secular world who will reject the very premise oturight, that Jesus is God made man.

So we are in for an exciting spring - and all this will be erupting around the time of Papi's 80th birthday and his second anniversary as Pope and on the eve of his visit to Brazil!

I'm trying to think offhand which writer, artist, musician or scientist has come out with a major work like this will be (or like DCE, for that matter) at the age of 80, but I can't...Help me out, anyone!

I still cannot fathom how the MSM cannot consider Benedict XVI a phenomenon for for being all he is and doing all he does at his age! When was the last time, if ever, that an 80-year-old has been so visible in everything he does, day after day, with the excellence, active intelligence and fresh initiatives of somone half his age?

I imagine that if John-Paul II had not been afflicted in the last 10 years of his life, he would have been at 80 what Benedict is now.

Something there is about the Church that makes its hierarchs live to a ripe old age, and in most cases, still productive one way or the other, not to mention being physically well-preserved! Just think - there are 74 cardinals right now who are older than 80, and 7 more joining them this year, as well as the Pope!

Teresa said: "I'm trying to think offhand which writer, artist, musician or scientist has come out with a major work like this will be (or like DCE, for that matter) at the age of 80, but I can't...Help me out, anyone."

Hmmmm... can't think offhand and in haste, but Verdi's last opera, "Falstaff", is a famous example.

Teresa said: "I'm trying to think offhand which writer, artist, musician or scientist has come out with a major work like this will be (or like DCE, for that matter) at the age of 80, but I can't...Help me out, anyone."

Hmmmm... can't think offhand and in haste, but Verdi's last opera, "Falstaff", is a famous example.

Josef Wenzel Radetzky von Radetz, 1766-1858, Austrian field marshal. In the war of 1848-49 against Sardinia he won the brilliant victories of Custozza (1848) and Novara (1849)at the age of 83. He died at 91. Army under his command was never defeated and he was known for his compassion with civilians.

Johann Strauss (the elder) composed the famous Radetzky March in his honor in 1848.

[Modificato da Maklara 05/02/2007 16.58]

Dear Maklara,

to me your post above seems a little off-topic ... could you explain to me why you made it ??

Is there some anniversary that I am not aware of ??

@Teresa: I see, I just thought that something had escaped me ... but yes, it would seem that both were helping you out with "elder statesmen" and other persons still going strong!!!

Andrea

[Modificato da @Andrea M.@ 05/02/2007 17.32]

I think Maklara was responding to my question by citing someone famous who lived to be over 80 still doing unusual things like in this case, leading an army to victory at age 83. And Crotchet, I thought fleetingly of Verdi, too, and I have just checked it - he was 80 when he wrote Falstaff, 74 when he wrote Otello! That's a great example of genius that didn't flame out!

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Scritto da: @Andrea M.@ 05/02/2007 17.01
Dear Maklara,

to me your post above seems a little off-topic ... could you explain to me why you made it ??

Is there some anniversary that I am not aware of ??

Andrea

[Modificato da @Andrea M.@ 05/02/2007 17.32]

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Sorry for confusing, it was response on Theresa's post ...but yes, this marshal had anniversary last year.

Sandro Magister today picks up on something reported last week by John Allen. Fellow Catholics, prepare for another storm like the one that greeted 'Dominus Iesus' in 2000. Weren't we just talking about our intrepid Pope? He's walking into the gale yet again with this one!


Two New Documents in the Works:
On Bioethics, and on Natural Law
They are being prepared by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.
It is the continuation of the "Ratzinger style,"
explains the secretary of the Vatican dicastery, archbishop Angelo Amato
by Sandro Magister



ROMA, February 5, 2007 – Unborn life and the natural law: these are the themes of two new documents being prepared by the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith. They were announced in the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, Avvenire, in an interview with the secretary of the congregation, archbishop Angelo Amato.

The first of the two new documents, the one on unborn life, will follow in the footsteps of the instruction “Donum Vitae,” published in 1987 by the then-prefect of the congregation, cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Amato says in this regard:
“This Donum Vitae II is not intended to abolish the previous one, but to confront the various questions of bioethics and biotechnology that are posed today, and that were still unthinkable back then. Donum Vitae still retains all of its value, and in certain regards it is prophetic.

"The problem is that, in spite of the fact that it has been around for twenty years, it is still scarcely known. Thus the question is not, for example, that of a revision of moral doctrine on the use of condoms - which doesn’t seem to me to be on the order of the day – as much as that of the new challenges that in some ways are much more serious and more threatening to the integrity of human identity, such as the attitude that considers the embryo as a biological product, and not as a human being.

"As Donum Vitae asserts, ‘The human being must be respected – as a person – from the very first instant of his existence’ ('Viventi humano – uti persona – observantia debetur inde a primo eius vitae momento'). And this consideration due to the human embryo is ‘a non-negotiable anthropological principle‘."

Amato further clarifies:
"The study of such delicate topics is the competency of our congregation, which then submits its work to the pope. And therefore the opinions on these topics that come from other ecclesiastical institutions or personalities – as respectable as these may be – cannot have the authoritativeness that the mass media sometimes seem to want to attribute to them."

The opinions of ecclesiastical persons to which Amato refers include, in particular, those expressed by cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in the “Dialogue on life” he published in the weekly L’espresso in April of 2006, a discussion that dealt with the very same topics found in Donum Vitae.

They also include the opinions formulated by the same cardinal on the matter of euthanasia last January 21, in the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, one week before this interview with Amato in Avvenire. Both of cardinal Martini’s contributions diverge on a number of points from the Church’s official teaching.

But the second new document, the one on natural law, will be the very first of its kind. On a number of occasions Benedict XVI has indicated as the foundation of shared existence among all men the moral principles inscribed upon the heart of every man, and “spoken in an unmistakable way by the quiet but clear voice of conscience.”

But even as prefect of the congregation of the doctrine of the faith, he never dedicated a specific document to this.

Amato explains:
“A Catholic, for example, cannot consent to legislation that introduces marriage between two persons of the same sex; this is contrary to biblical revelation and to the natural law itself. [...] The pope often cites natural law in his catecheses.

"Our congregation is preparing something on this topic, and to that end has already consulted all of the Catholic universities. Everyone’s responses are very encouraging, even those from the professors considered the most ‘difficult’. Natural law is very important, in part because it alone provides the foundation for productive interreligious dialogue.”

Amato granted this interview on the occasion of the publication of a large volume that collects the 105 documents issued by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith in the period from 1965 until the present.

The request to publish all of these texts in a single volume – Amato explains in the interview and in the introduction to the volume – came from “many bishops, cardinals, and theologians” all over the world.

Almost all of the texts are in the original Latin version, or in Italian. But to read the most important of them in the various languages, one may simply consult the section for the congregation for the doctrine of the faith on the Vatican’s website.

The first 200 pages of the volume collect the documents released by the congregation when its prefects were the cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Franjo Seper. The next 400 pages collect the much more extensive and numerous texts from when Ratzinger was prefect.

In Amato’s view, it is possible to speak of a “Ratzinger style” in the congregation. “With him, there was an effort to extend and articulate the arguments in defense of contested truths of the faith, and also a desire to present reliable guidelines on the many challenges of contemporary culture.”

Only a minor portion of the documents from the congregation concern the theologians who have clashed with the magisterium of the Church. In forty years, some of the works of the following eleven theologians have been the object of sanctions: Hans Küng, Jacques Pohier, Edward Schillebeeckx, Leonardo Boff, Charles Curran, Tissa Balasuriya, Anthony de Mello, Reinhard Messner, Jacques Dupuis, Marciano Vidal, and Roger Haight.

But the documents that are much more representative of the congregation’s work during the Ratzinger era are the two instructions on liberation theology from 1984 and 1986; the instruction Donum Vitae from 1987, on unborn life and procreation; the instruction Donum Veritatis from 1990, on the relationship between theologians and the magisterium; the letter Communionis Notio from 1992, on the relationship between the universal Church and local Churches; the declaration Dominus Iesus from 2000, on Christianity with respect to the other religions; the doctrinal note on Catholics in political life from 2002; the 2003 note on the legalization of same-sex unions; and the 2004 letter on woman.

Some of these documents – for example, those on liberation theology and Dominus Iesus – were, at the time of their publication, the object of harsh criticism even from members of the hierarchy. Others – like the 2002 note on Catholics in political life – were ignored or undervalued.

But this last document is shown to be of stark relevance today. The “fundamental and indispensable” principles evoked there – and continually revisited by Benedict XVI in his preaching – are increasingly at the center of the ethical-political controversies that divide the various countries over abortion, euthanasia, embryos, the family, education... In Italy, for example, precisely in these days there are under development a law on the “biological testament” and another concerning de facto couples, with the Church energetically committed against euthanasia and in defense of the family as founded upon monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.

Amato observes in the interview with Avvenire:
"Many Catholic politicians ask for clarifications on this type of argument. What they then want to do or are able to do in consequence is another matter. Catholic politicians should nevertheless always recall that they should never give their consent to the introduction of laws that clash with moral principles, while in the case of laws of this type that may already be in effect, they can limit themselves to seeking to attenuate their effects.”

The future document on the natural law is intended to explain that in defending these fundamental principles, the Church is not solely obeying divine revelation, but is defending every man as such.
__________

The book:

Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, "Documenta inde a Concilio Vaticano Secundo Expleto Edita (1966-2005), Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006, pp. 665, euro 40,00.

The complete interview with archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, in “Avvenire,” January 28, 2007:

> Una "Donum Vitae" due: allo studio un documento sulla bioetica
www.db.avvenire.it/avvenire/edizione_2007_01_28/articolo_721...
__________

The documents from the congregation for the doctrine of the faith in various languages, on the Vatican website:

> Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/index.htm

I must apologize for a major oversight yesterday. When I posted in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES MESSAGES the Message of the Holy Father for the XXII World Youth Day to be commemorated on Palm Sunday, April 1 (released by the Vatican yesterday in all its official languages), I was, of course, very moved by its simplicity, its directness and its beauty, as I hope everyone is who has read it. So moved that I forgot to check if any news stories had been written about it to post on this thread.

I found this AsiaNews article in English to be the only one so far (although John Allen and the Catholic news agencies may have gotten around to it by now):


VATICAN
Young people should believe
in true love, says Pope


Vatican City, Feb. 5 (AsiaNews) – Love is possible and young people must believe in it.

True love is one that is “faithful and strong”, one that “generates peace and joy” expressed within the Church and in which we bring life through our growth or that of our engagement as a couple and not through personal satisfaction, one in which we are “witnesses of charity” like Mother Teresa rather than one based on our “competitive” and “productive” capacities.

These are but a few elements in Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated in the dioceses on Palm Sunday.

The theme is the Biblical passage “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn: 13, 34).

“Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved,” the Pope writes. “Yet, how difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt that love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible dream, should we then become resigned? No! Love is possible”.

In order to “reawaken” trust in “true” love, Benedict XVI points to a three-stage journey to discover love and three contexts in which it manifests itself.

“The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he declares that “God is love” (1 Jn 4: 8, 16). He was not simply saying that God loves us, but that the very being of God is love.”

In the second stage of this journey, God-love’s highest incarnation is the Cross. In it, “[r]edeemed by his blood, no human life is useless or of little value, because each of us is loved personally by Him with a passionate and faithful love, a love without limits.”

“Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the Resurrection would carry forever the marks of his passion, exposes the ‘distortions’ and lies about God that underlie violence, vengeance and exclusion. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world and eradicates hatred from the heart of humankind. This is the true ‘revolution’ that He brings about: love.”

In the third stage we realise “the need and urgency to love him as He has loved us” and from this realisation stems the call to express God-Love in three areas of daily life.

The first one is the Church. “[Y]ou should stimulate, with your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes, the communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to which you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of others, faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate to joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully accept the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for Jesus by proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of your age.”

The second area, “where you are called to express your love and grow in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you are engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. [. . .] Learning to love each other as a couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a demanding “apprenticeship”. The period of engagement, very necessary in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. [. . .] Likewise [. . .], be ready to say ‘yes’ if God should call you to follow the path of ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life.”

“The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help others to ‘grow’. Develop your capacities, not only in order to become more ‘competitive’ and ‘productive’, but to be ‘witnesses of charity’”.

Hence the invitation to “dare to love” and “not desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death forever through love”.

As an example of this the Holy Father presents Mother Teresa whose “only desire” in life “was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words, but with concrete action by recognising his disfigured countenance thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. [. . .] The message of this humble witness of divine love has spread around the whole world.”

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

I was particularly struck by his words about chastity before marriage, because I realized with a jolt that I have hardly thought about this problem, because pre-marital sex, after all, has come to be taken for granted everywhere!

And I am so thankful that the Pope has taken up the subject in the most positive and beautiful way imaginable. I hope it awakens the same positive response in young people that his simple appeal for Eucharistic Adoration did in Marienfeld, and in a lasting manner.

Indeed, the Pope's entire message is so fatherly and loving and wise in language and in tone that one almost feels being literally in his paternal embrace. I hope young people everywhere will say Yes to his invitation. It is Deus caritas est brought to a direct level for them.


P.S. There is a story today about the Pope's message in
www.catholic.org/hf/teens/story.php?id=22941
and here is the story as reported by CNS:

Pope urges young people
to express love in unselfish ways
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 5 (CNS)- Pope Benedict XVI urged young people to express love in unselfish ways, looking past social goals of competition and productivity in order to become "witnesses of charity" in the world.

He held out Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta as an example of a Christian who translated love into concrete action to help the poorest of the poor.

The pope made the comments in a message marking World Youth Day, which was being celebrated in most dioceses April 1, Palm Sunday. The text was released at the Vatican Feb. 5.

The theme of the papal message was love, and he began by telling young people that despite emotional disappointments and lack of affection in their own lives, they should know that "love is possible."

"The purpose of my message is to help reawaken in each one of you - you who are the future and hope of humanity - trust in a love that is true, faithful and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a love that binds people together and allows them to feel free in respect for one another," he said.

He emphasized that God is the source of true love and that Christ's suffering and death on the cross form the perfect expression of this divine love.

The pope focused on three areas where young people are called to demonstrate love of God: in the church, in marriage and in society.

In the church, which he described as a "spiritual family," the pope said youths should be willing to help stimulate parish and other activities, even if it means giving up some of their entertainments. They should "cheerfully accept the necessary sacrifices" and testify to their love for Jesus among people their own age, he said.

The pope said marriage is a "project of love" between a man and a woman that fits into a divine design.

"Learning to love each other as a couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a demanding 'apprenticeship,'" he said. When couples get engaged, he said, it's a period of preparation that needs to be lived "in purity of gesture and words."

Engagement allows couples to practice self-control and develop respect for each other, he said. This is true love, which does not place an emphasis on seeking one's own satisfaction, he said.

When it comes to the daily routine of family, studies, work and free time, the pope asked young people to look beyond the cultivation of talents needed to obtain a social position.

"Develop your capacities, not only in order to become more competitive and productive, but to be witnesses of charity," he said.

He encouraged young people to study the social doctrine of the church and use it to guide their actions in the world. Love is a powerful social force, the only force capable of changing human hearts, he said.

The pope said Blessed Mother Teresa responded to the search for love by society's weakest members by taking in and caring for the people who were dying on the streets of Calcutta.

The lives of the saints are full of such lessons, and young people should try to know them better, he said.

The pope also encouraged youths to attend Mass regularly, telling them that the Eucharist is "the great school of love." He said the sharing of the eucharistic bread kindles a desire to give generous service to others.

He said he hoped young people would join in youth day celebrations at the diocesan level this year in preparation for the 2008 World Youth Day international gathering in Sydney, Australia.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/02/2007 20.34]

Here's another story I found on CNS that is most interesting because it recounts two recent incidents about Benedict XVI that I have not read elsewhere - anecdotes that say so much about him and what he does as Pope :


Vatican ecumenist says
ecumenical advances must enter church life
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- One of the chief ecumenical concerns of the Vatican today is to see that the advances achieved at the national and international levels enter fully into the life of the entire church, a top Vatican official told U.S. Catholic ecumenists Jan. 30.

Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, addressed more than 150 Catholic ecumenists attending the National Christian Unity Workshop in Arlington Jan. 29-Feb. 1.

He spoke at the luncheon of the Catholic Association of Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers, which is held every year during the workshop.

He said one of the top priorities being discussed by the council these days is the issue of what theologians call "reception" - how Catholic teachings, policies and understandings developed as a result of more than 40 years of ecumenical dialogue get down into the local dioceses, parishes and pews, and how they are received as an integral part of the lived faith of pastors, teachers and people.

Bishop Farrell said he believes that Catholic ecumenism will continue to advance under Pope Benedict XVI and that the pope will make his own contributions to it.

Giving an example, he said his job at the council often involves him in arranging for visiting delegations from other churches to meet with the pope. He recalled an audience the pope had with such a group from the Lutheran World Federation.

He said one member of the delegation was a German theologian who had been deeply involved in the drafting of the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification."

The declaration said the two churches have reached fundamental consensus on the doctrine of justification, a central Reformation issue, but it also cited some secondary issues that still need further dialogue and development.

Bishop Farrell said that at the audience, after the exchange of remarks by the pope and the leader of the delegation, in the moment of "awkward silence" that usually ensues as the visitors are looking for cues about what comes next, the theologian spoke up and asked the pope a question about those issues not resolved in the joint declaration.

"The pope answered, and they went on for about 10 minutes," he said.

He said that after the pope was gone "I couldn't get (the delegation) out of there, I couldn't get them into the little minibus, because the conversation had sparked so many ideas in 10 minutes that they spent the rest of the afternoon working out (plans and a procedure) to follow up on these ideas."

He also told the story of an Orthodox archbishop visiting Rome.

After meeting with Pope Benedict, the archbishop "said to me, 'You know, we Orthodox will always be grateful to John Paul II. He opened up every door. But he was a philosopher; we never understood him. But this man is a theologian, and when he speaks we understand.'"

"Pope Benedict ... has understood the whole (ecumenical) process, he's been a part of it from the beginning, really, after the (Second Vatican) Council," Bishop Farrell said. "He's able to contribute, and contribute at a level that will bring results."

He said that when Pope Benedict visited Turkey last fall he had dinner with members of the country's small Catholic community at the Vatican nunciature.

During the dinner someone suggested that the transition to pope must have been relatively easy for him after 24 years as head of the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, Bishop Farrell said, and the pope responded,"It was easy to know the doctrine. It's much harder to help a billion people live it."

Bishop Farrell suggested that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has had a similar concern regarding the wealth of ecumenical advances achieved through dialogues, agreements and new ecumenical understandings at the official level. The concern for the reception of those advances throughout the church is becoming a growing priority in the council, he said.

"With time it became clear that these dialogues were not getting down into the life of the church. This has been a problem that's been around for so long," he said.

"So, notwithstanding the undeniable fruits of the dialogues, ... ecumenical dialogue remained prevalently an exchange of ideas and most of it was somewhat removed from the life of the communities," he added.

He spoke of the need for spiritual ecumenism throughout the church and the need to understand dialogue not just as an exchange of ideas but as a "mutual, unreserved giving of self."

He said those engaged in the dialogues may be willing to make that effort, but "the problem is: are we as a church community ready to make the effort? This is the real question. It's clear that Pope Benedict believes in that."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/02/2007 0.12]

Pope to Visit Juvenile Detention Center


VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI plans to visit the Casal del Marmo detention center for minors in Rome.

News of the upcoming March 18 visit was announced today by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office.

It will be Benedict XVI's first visit to a prison since his papal election. Thus he will follow in the steps of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.

John Paul II visited the same correctional institution in 1980.

Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, John Paul II's then secretary of state, carried out his pastoral ministry in the 1980s among youngsters at Casal del Marmo.

Except for being able to post the Mass readings for today early this morning, I have been unable to attend to Forum work all morning. I am just finishing up a translation of the Pope's catechesis, but meanwhile, here is AsiaNews with their report on the highlights of today's talks by the Holy Father - for there were two...


Pope: Family is fundamental
in and for the Church


Vatican City, Feb. 7 (AsiaNews) – In today’s general audience Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the family in and for the Church as a witness of Christian love made up of “altruism and mutual care” as well as an element for the growth of the entire community.

The pope dedicated his address to the spouses Priscilla and Aquila who were part of “the orbit of Paul’s many collaborators”.

The general audience today was split into two. Around 1000 believers from the Italian region of Lombardy met in the Basilica of St Peter’s with their bishops who are undertaking their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

The pope urged them to defend and promote “the culture of human life and legality” and to “announce and bear witness to the Gospel in every environment especially where negative traits of a consumerist and hedonistic culture emerge, of secularism and individualism, where old and new forms of poverty appear with worrying signs of unease among youth and the phenomena of violence and crime.”

Then, addressing around 8,000 people in Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI talked about Priscilla and Aquila.

The story of the couple, of Jewish origin, who “played a very active role at the beginning”, gave Benedict XVI the opportunity to affirm that the “Church is the family of God” and that the “family on the example of Priscilla and Aquila is a model of the Church, a family of God for all times”.

The couple went to Corinth from Rome, probably following the decision of the Emperor Claudius to expel the Jews because of the upheaval in the community caused by the followers of Christ.

They met Paul in the early fifties. From there they went to Ephesus ,and when the apostle Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus, he cited them expressly, confirming their “very important role in the primitive Church”. In their home, recalled the pope, the Gospel was heard and the Eucharist celebrated. Up to the third century, Christians did not have special places of worship. They worshiped in synagogues until the rupture with the Jews, after which they were forced to meet in their homes. It was only in the third century, said the Pope. that places of Christian worship were born.

Paul “explicitly recognized them (Priscilla and Aquila) to be two true and important collaborators of his apostolate” and “he wrote that they risked their neck to save his life”. Through their activities, which they continued even after their return to Rome, “they showed how important the work of Christian spouses is. When spouses are sustained by prayer and a strong spirituality, their courageous commitment to the Church and for the Church becomes natural... every home could be transformed into a small church”.

The pope continued: “It was not by coincidence that in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul compared the matrimonial relationship to the spousal communion between Christ and the Church. In fact we could maintain that the apostle modeled the life of the whole Church on that of the family”.

He said the two spouses from those early days remain “models of a conjugal life that is responsibly committed to the service of all the Christian community, a model of the Church family of God.”

The pope issued a special invitation to youth at the end of the audience: “Be witnesses everywhere to non violence and peace, this is particularly important today. With your generous commitment, you will contribute to building a better future for all.”

John Allen gives perspective to the Pope's nominations last week of several Third World cardinals to the Vatican's in-house financial think tank and funds disburser.

'Two-thirds world' more involved
in overseeing Vatican purse-strings
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Santa Barbara, California
Posted on Feb 7, 2007


As anyone familiar with church history knows, the Catholic Church is, in many ways, one of the most change-resistant institutions on earth. Because the church regards itself as the carrier of eternal verities, and because it believes its fundamental structures were given by Christ, it is designed not to be swept away by the passions of a given era. Practically, this means the church is always a bit “behind the times,” especially at its most senior levels.

This doesn’t imply the church never changes, of course, merely that it takes longer to move.

One important current in Catholicism at the moment is the dramatic demographic transition from North to South which gathered steam throughout the 20th century, and continues in the 21st.

In 1900, a mere 14.6 percent of Catholics in the world lived in the global South, meaning Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Today 65.5 percent of Catholics, almost two-thirds of all Catholics alive, are found in the South. By 2025, only one Catholic in five in the world will be a non-Hispanic Caucasian. Demographically and sociologically, Catholicism is becoming a religion of the “two-thirds” world.

When I discuss this transition in front of audiences, usually the first question is when the senior leadership of the church will reflect its demographic realities. After all, the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI meant a choice for a white European.

At the moment, half of the electors in the College of Cardinals, meaning those under 80 with the right to vote for the next pope, are Europeans, despite the fact that only 26 percent of the Catholics in the world today are in Europe. Brazil, the largest Catholic country on earth, has only three cardinal-electors, while Italy, the fifth largest Catholic country, has 19.

This discrepancy, I usually say, shouldn’t surprise anyone, since change in the church almost always arrives at the top last. Moreover, there’s mounting evidence that the new face of Roman Catholicism is, slowly but surely, revealing itself in Rome.

The last two major appointments to the Roman Curia from Benedict XVI went to cardinals from the South: Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombay, named in May to head the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Cardinal Claudio Hummes of São Paulo, Brazil, appointed in October as prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

This week came news that Benedict XVI has named several cardinals from the developing world to the powerful Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Questions of the Apostolic See. They include Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Peru, Anthony Olubunmi Okogie of Nigeria, Eusébio Oscar Scheid of Brazil, Gaudencio B. Rosales of the Philippines, and Nicholas Cheong Jinsuk of South Korea. Also appointed were George Pell of Australia and Marc Ouellet of Canada.

The council, which meets twice a year to over the financial affairs of the Vatican, has traditionally been top-heavy with cardinals from affluent Northern dioceses, such as Cardinal Joachim Meisner from Cologne, Germany, and American Cardinals Edward Egan from New York and Roger Mahony from Los Angeles.

Informally, the understanding has been that since these are the local churches that kick in the lion’s share of the financing for the Holy See, it’s only fair for them to have some role in overseeing how the money is handled.

The addition of several cardinals from the South means that prelates from the developing world will be much more involved when important dollars-and-cents decisions are made, and as any student of organizational management will tell you, you can determine who counts in an institution by observing who’s at the table when money is on the line.

Students of church politics will note that in these appointments, Benedict XVI turned to several men known for “Ratzingerian” outlooks on theological questions – Pell, Cipriani, Scheid and Oullet would all generally be considered part of the “conservative” wing of the churches they represent.

In the long run, however, the appointments of Feb. 3 may be remembered less for what they reveal about the theological orientation of Catholicism under Benedict, and more as another signpost along the path to leadership that better reflects the church’s sociological composition.

Rosales, by the way, has a reputation as the Muhammad Yunus of the Catholic Church, pioneering an experiment in “micro-charity.” Rosales launched the Pondo ng Pinoy Program in 2004, which encourages Filipinos to donate .25 pesos, or roughly .005 U.S. cents, each day to relief for the poor. In the Philippines, the appointment of Rosales to the Vatican council that handles economic questions has been seen as an endorsement for the Pondo ng Pinoy Program.

Pope says lay movements can help bishops care for their own souls

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A bishop can turn to Catholic lay movements not only when he needs an organized group to implement his pastoral plans, but also when he needs to care for his own soul, Pope Benedict XVI said.

When a movement gathers its "bishop-friends" together, it helps them experience "a more intense communion of hearts, a stronger mutual support and a greater shared commitment to showing that the church is a place of prayer and charity, a house of mercy and peace," the pope said.

Pope Benedict spoke Feb. 8 at a joint audience for 80 bishops participating in a conference sponsored by the Focolare movement and 110 bishops attending a meeting organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio.

The pope said that from his days as a professor in Germany he has been convinced that "really, the movements are a gift of the Holy Spirit to the church." The fact that the movements have reached out to bishops who draw strength from their spirituality and activities proves that "the diversity and unity of gifts and ministries are inseparable in the life of the church," he said.

Pope Benedict said the variety of lay movements responds to the variety of needs and blessings found among the world's peoples.

"In the rich Western world where, even though a culture of relativism exists, at the same time there is a widespread desire for spirituality, and your movements witness to the joy of the faith and the beauty of being Christian," he said.

In the world's poorest countries, he said, "they communicate the message of solidarity and make themselves the neighbors of the poor and the weak" with love that is both human and divine.

The pope said "communion between bishops and the movements" could be the spark needed for "a renewed commitment by the church to proclaiming and witnessing the Gospel of hope and love in every corner of the world."

He prayed that in forming solid friendships, the bishops and the movements would help each other in the work of evangelization, service to the poor and peacemaking.

Italian TV personality retracts criticism of Pope

Feb. 8, 2007 (CWNews.com) - An Italian television personality has apologized for criticizing Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church in the wake of rioting that resulted in the death of a police officer in Catania last week.

Pippo Baudo had complained bitterly on the air that the Catholic Church should speak out forcefully against soccer violence; he had been particularly critical of Pope Benedict for failing to make a statement on the rioting. (In fact the Pope did issue a statement, mourning the death of Filippo Raciti and strongly condemning hooliganism.)

Baudo’s sharp criticism of the Catholic Church won him plaudits from the Italian left. The role of the Catholic Church in Italian public life is under intense scrutiny as the country’s political leaders debate a measure that would grant civil-union status to same-sex couples-- a measure that Church leaders have strongly opposed.

But the television figure did not want to be recognized as a leader of the Catholic left. “I do not want to be this icon,” he said. “I am Catholic.”

---

Benefan posted this in the previous page:

Italian TV personality retracts criticism of Pope

Feb. 8, 2007 (CWNews.com) - An Italian television personality has apologized for criticizing Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church in the wake of rioting that resulted in the death of a police officer in Catania last week.

Pippo Baudo had complained bitterly on the air that the Catholic Church should speak out forcefully against soccer violence; he had been particularly critical of Pope Benedict for failing to make a statement on the rioting. (In fact the Pope did issue a statement, mourning the death of Filippo Raciti and strongly condemning hooliganism.)

Baudo’s sharp criticism of the Catholic Church won him plaudits from the Italian left. The role of the Catholic Church in Italian public life is under intense scrutiny as the country’s political leaders debate a measure that would grant civil-union status to same-sex couples - a measure that Church leaders have strongly opposed.

But the television figure did not want to be recognized as a leader of the Catholic left. “I do not want to be this icon,” he said. “I am Catholic.”

---

I can only be thankful Baudo has apologized.

Except for a comment I made in PICTURES AND VIDEOS about what I felt was unwarranted over-reaction by Osservatore Romano to Baudo's comments, I refrained from posting anything else in the English section about this topic which occupied Italian media for a few days this week - until the Prodi government yesterday finally completed a watered-down draft law on legal recognition of unmarried couples.

I felt when Baudo made his ridiculous comments at a weekend football coverage that he was doing what other Italian showbiz personalities have found out to be the surest way to earn instant headlines and wall-to-wall coverage in the Italian media: criticize the Pope, even if unfounded.

Baudo, who was Italy's top TV host in the 1980s, has long been 'over the hill' and has been distinguished lately only as the TV host for the annual San Remo pop music festival.

As a veteran TV host, he should have known to check the news first before speaking out - which he did not. Otherwise he would have known that Cardinal Bertone had gone on radio to express the Church and the Pope's sorrow over the stadium killing and had sent a telegram of condolence to the Bishop of Catania to be extended to the dead police officer's family. (And if he were so grieving about the dead man, what was he doing at a football game in the Italian Riviera instead of going to his hometown Catania to mourn the dead officer? In addition to criticizing the Pope out of turn, he also made similarly ridiculous remarks protesting that Catania's annual procession in honor of St. Agatha went on despite the cop's death! Give me a break - the man is delusional!)

Italian media, ever ready to jump at anything that would make the Pope look bad, naturally made as much hue and cry over Baudo as they did over that Italian comedian who parodied the Pope last fall.

What I fail to understand was that Osservatore Romano joined in the polemic by publishing a front-page editorial commentary, no less, denouncing Baudo in no uncertain terms even without mentioning his name. This, on an unusual day, when the only items on the front page of OR were Church-related news, and not even a line about the Middle East for a change!

I thought that the OR played right into the hands of Baudo who can now include in his CV that he merited a front-page editorial in OR, never mind if negative, because as I commented in the Italian forum, in showbiz any publicity is good publicity, and as the Mastercard ad goes, "Front-page publicity in Osservatore Romano? Priceless!"

I thought it was bad judgment, especially for a newspaper that had earlier buried its protest against the violation of the confessional by scoop-seeking reporters in an inside page! The OR should leave petty polemics to the secular media, especially since in this case, there was nothing to defend. Baudo shot his mouth off before checking the news, that's all.

By the way, thuis man who would be more Popish than the Pope now says "I am a Catholic" but omits to say he has vaunted in the past that he is non-observant, or even that he is a non-believer! His ex-wife, the soprano Katia Ricciarelli, told the press after their divorce that he had prevailed on her to abort a child she conceived at age 40 before they got married because, he said, "it would look bad to have a child before then."

***

As for the Prodi government's crusade to recognize de facto unions, hetero- or homo-,
Prodi's cabinet yesterday trumpeted a draft law which nominally backs away from the much-ballyhooed PACS (pact of civil solidarity) in favor of something called DICO (from the Italian phrase for 'rights for co-habitating couples').

The draft has been sent to the Italian Parliament, where it is expected to lie dormant for months, because there is significant opposition to anything that would amount to or open the way for what the Italian media now refer to as 'Class-B marriage', even from some members of Prodi's coalition government.

These opponents argue, as does the Catholic Church, that the rights being proposed by DICO (or PACS before it) already exist in the Civil Code which could simply be updated to apply to individuals in de facto unions, rather than originating a new law that, in effect, grants legal recognition to de facto couples, including homosexual ones.

Italian media is speculating that the Prodi government is hoping the Pope will soon name a far less committed and articulate person to replace Cardinal Camillo Ruini as head of the Italian bishops conference, after having reported - WRONGLY - that Cardinal Bertone had met with Prodi erlier this week and had agreed with Prodi that someone like the Capuchin bishop of Taranto, Benigno Papa, would be an appropriate replacement for Ruini.

The Vatican had to issue a statement calling those reports a lie. It was an obvious attempt by media to manipulate thew news about the successor to Ruini. Since when does the Vatican 'consult' the Italian Prime Minister (or take his advice) about who to name as head of the Italian bishops conference?

Does anyone really believe Benedict XVI will back down on the principles he has called 'non-negotiable'? One Italian newspaper actually went so far as to call Bishop Papa 'a weak choice', while openly advocating against anyone who would be as fearless and consistent as Ruini in defending the Church stand on life, family and marriage! Endorsing Bishop Papa, in effect, if they truly believe he is 'a weak choice.'

I do not know where Bishop Papa stands on these non-negotiable issues, but imagine the resulting confusion if he were not in full agreement with the Pope on these, and Italian media headline something like 'PAPA favors leniency for homosexual couples' - they could mean the bishop but the headline would give the impression it was the Pope simply because PAPA=POPE in Italian!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/02/2007 20.49]

The Italian media is sure to interpret something the Holy Father said today in his address welcoming the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See as his direct reaction to the DICO draft law proposed by the Prodi government. Even if it is a statement the Pope would have made, regardless. I bolded it in the VIS story below. I have posted a translation of the full text in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES....

VATICAN CITY, FEB 9, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of Juan Gomez Martinez, the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See.

The Holy Father observed in his talk that the diplomat represents a nation "which throughout its history has been distinguished by its Catholic identity," a characteristic also apparent "in the appreciation shown by the faithful to bishops and their collaborators as they seek to uphold the traditions and virtues inherited from their forebears."

Benedict XVI commended Colombia's efforts "in search of peace and reconciliation, and its commitment to encourage progress and more solid democratic institutions." He also had words of praise for objectives attained in the field of "greater security and social stability, and in the fight against poverty," and highlighted the advances made in education, which have favored "access by all citizens to school and university programs, because education is the cement of a more human and cohesive society."

However, alongside such achievements, Benedict XVI also recalled the persistence in the country of problems threatening "the dignity of people and the unity of families, evenly balanced economic development and an appropriate quality of life." And he encouraged "all Colombians to continue in their efforts to achieve agreement and the harmonious growth of the nation."

The Holy Father expressed his appreciation for the emphasis given in the ambassador's talk to "the important work of the Catholic Church towards national reconciliation." He also mentioned "the direct participation in activities aimed at rebuilding the country of certain bishops, priests and religious" who remind people of "the indispensable foundations of true human progress and peaceful coexistence."

Pope Benedict then went on to express his concern "over laws involving such delicate questions as the transmission and defense of life, illness, the identity of the family and respect for marriage. On these themes, ... the Catholic Church will ceaselessly continue to proclaim the inalienable greatness of human dignity. It is also necessary to appeal to the sense of responsibility of lay people in legislative bodies ... to ensure that laws always reflect principles and values in keeping with natural law, and that they promote the genuine common good."

"It is my ardent wish that in your country the cruel scourge of kidnapping, which so seriously affects the dignity and rights of individuals, may come to an end. I accompany in prayer all those who are unjustly denied their freedom and express my closeness to the families, trusting in their imminent release.

"On this subject," he added, "the numerous charitable institutions, following the pastoral plans of the episcopal conference and of the dioceses, are called to offer humanitarian assistance to the most needy - and especially to internally displaced peoples who are so numerous in Colombia - and to victims of violence. In this way, they also bear witness to the efforts of the Church which, ever within the limits of her own mission and of the circumstances being experienced by the nation, is architect of communion and hope."

Incurable, terminally ill have right to care, human dignity, Benedict says

2/9/2007
Catholic Online

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – The incurably and terminally ill have the right of medical assistance and spiritual care to bear sickness and death in a dignified manner, said Pope Benedict XVI.

In a message for the observance of the 15th World Day of the Sick Feb. 11, Pope Benedict issued challenges to the medical community, to the church and to national governments to ensure that care for those dying with terminal diseases is improved.

“The church turns her eyes to those who suffer and call attention to the incurably ill, many of whom are dying from terminal diseases,” he said. “They are found on every continent, particularly in places where poverty and hardship cause immense misery and grief.”

The official international celebration of the World Day of the Sick is being held in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, with a conference sponsored by the Vatican and a Mass. The pope said, in the message dated Dec. 8 and released Dec. 13, that he will “be spiritually present” there, “united with those meeting to discuss the plight of the incurably ill in our world and encouraging the efforts of Christian communities in their witness to the Lord’s tenderness and mercy.”

Observances are also scheduled in dioceses or parishes throughout the world during the weekend of Feb. 10-11.

Pope Benedict XVI authorized special indulgences in order "to enrich" the World Day of the Sick and to highlight Christian teaching on "the value and function of suffering," according to a Feb. 5 Vatican statement.

The pope called for the implementation of “just social policies” to help in the elimination of “the causes of many diseases” and the improvement of care for the dying and the terminally ill.

“There is a need to promote policies which create conditions where human beings can bear even incurable illnesses and death in a dignified manner,” he said, pointing to the need for more palliative care centers.

“This is a right belonging to every human being, one which we must all be committed to defend,” the pontiff said.

Acknowledging that human life “has intrinsic limitations and sooner or later it ends in death,” Pope Benedict said that health professionals and national officials must continue to promote advancements that will limit the suffering now faced by too many.

“Many millions of people in our world still experience insanitary living conditions and lack access to much-needed medical resources, often of the most basic kind, with the result that the number of human beings considered ‘incurable’ is greatly increased,” he said.

“Sickness inevitably brings with it a moment of crisis and sober confrontation with one’s own personal situation,” the pope said. “Despite the advances of science, a cure cannot be found for every illness, and thus, in hospitals, hospices and homes throughout the world we encounter the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are incurably and often terminally ill.”

While the Catholic Church has always sought to follow the “example of the Good Samaritan” in showing “particular concern for the infirm,” the pope urged that Catholic health-care professionals, pastoral ministers, volunteers and family members to continue to “stand alongside the suffering and to attend to the dying striving to preserve their dignity at these significant moments of human existence.”

The holy father also spoke directly to “my dear brothers and sisters suffering from incurable and terminal diseases.”

He urged them to reflect upon “the sufferings of Christ crucified” and place their trust in God’s hands, knowing that “your sufferings, united to those of Christ, will prove fruitful for the needs of the church and the world.”

“It is my hope that, wherever you are, you will always find the spiritual encouragement and strength needed to nourish your faith and bring you closer to the father of life,” the pope said.

Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict reached out to those suffering from ravages of leprosy, following up on a Vatican message last week not to allow it to become “a forgotten disease.”

In remarks delivered after praying the Angelus on the occasion of the 54th World Day of Leprosy, Jan. 28, in St. Peter’s Square here, Pope Benedict offered the hope that all afflicted with Hansen’s disease receive “proper treatment in conditions of dignity.”

In a message released Jan. 25 by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry on the occasion of the World Day of Leprosy, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, council president, urged that leprosy remain a grave concern to the world community, saying that the Catholic Church has always recognized its mission in following the example of Jesus in ministering to those afflicted by leprosy.

“The church, faithful to her mission, has always repeated the merciful action of the divine teacher who, during the act of healing lepers, indicated that redemption was underway,” the cardinal said, extending the Vatican council’s fraternal wishes for those “afflicted by leprosy and to those people, even though they have been healed, who bear on their bodies disabilities caused by this malady.”

He called upon the international community to help nations where leprosy exists, especially those in the developing world, provide “environmental conditions” where access to health care, prevention services and hygiene is significantly improved and thereby work toward the “total elimination” of Hansen’s bacillus, the bacterium that causes the infectious disease.

The head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry urged Catholics to “share in the great service of the recovery of sick bodies, thereby making themselves authentic witnesses to the message that ‘Christ the physician’ is with them, and for them, to achieve the ‘overall salvation’ of every person.”

Pope Benedict warns volunteers not to let their work become mere activism


Vatican City, Feb 10, 2007 / 04:34 pm (CNA).- This morning Pope Benedict XVI received, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, members of the National Italian Confederation of the "Misericordias." The Holy Father thanked those gathered for their concrete expressions of love but warned them not to let their volunteer activities become mere activism.

“With your presence and your action, you contribute to the spreading of God’s Gospel of love for all mankind,” the Pontiff said at the beginning of his discourse.

“The Misericordias,” he continued, “are the oldest type of volunteer organization to have arisen in the world.” The group, according to its founder was formed, “to give honor to God with works of mercy towards neighbors, with the utmost anonymity and totally without cost,” the Holy Father pointed out.

The Pope reminded the group how, in man’s final encounter with the Lord, “He will ask us if, in the length of our earthy existence, we provided food for the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty; if we welcomed the stranger and opened the doors of our hearts to the needy. In a word, at the final judgment God will ask us if we loved, not in an abstract way, but concretely, with our works.”

Citing St. John of the Cross, he recalled that, “at the end of our lives we will be judged by love,” and continued by affirming that, “love is a language which goes directly to the heart and opens it to faith.”

“I exhort you,” the Holy Father said, “to always be ready to respond when you are asked for the reason for the hope which is with in you.”

The Pope also reflected on the important work the group does in preserving the “Christian roots” of Italy and Europe. The Holy Father affirmed that, “the Misericordias are not an ecclesial aggregation, but that its historical roots are unmistakably Christian.”

To maintain its roots, the Pope emphasized the need for carrying out “periodical moments of qualification and training, to study evermore the human and Christian motives of our activities.”

“The risk,” he added, “is that volunteering can be reduced to a simple activism. If instead the spiritual weight remains vital, you can share with others much more than just the material goods they need, you can offer to your neighbor facing difficulties, the gaze of love which he needs.”

He also referred to the “educational function,” by which the Misericoridas, give life to the noble virtues of fraternity and, “the disinterested assistance of those in the midst of difficulties.”

“In particular,” the Holy Father concluded, “young people can draw the benefit of the volunteer experience, because if correctly approached, it becomes for them a ‘school of life,’ which helps them to give to their own existence a sense and a purpose which is higher and more profound.”

AMMAN (AFP) - King Abdullah II has invited
Pope Benedict XVI to visit Jordan, the official Petra news agency reported.

The invitation was delivered by Queen Rania, who met with the pontiff at the end of a visit to Italy.

No specific date was proposed.

The queen expressed to the pope her husband's "gratitude ... for the efforts he had made toward reinforcing cooperation and comprehension among different confessions and of spreading the value of love and peace," Petra said.

She also said "Jordan hoped to strengthen cooperation with the pope and with the
Vatican toward advancing the Middle East peace process."

Queen Rania was in Rome to sponsor the launching of a programme for developing vaccines against diseases endemic in poor countries.

Jordan is a moderate Muslim nation but around six percent of the population is Christian, mostly Greek Orthodox.

Last week, the pope called on Christians, Jews and Muslims to pursue and intensify dialogue among their religions while respecting differences, as he met with an inter-faith delegation.

He sparked outrage in the Muslim world in September with remarks that were seen as linking Islam with violence.

Benedict has made repeated gestures of good will towards Muslims since then.

The most stunning gesture came in late November, when he assumed an attitude of Muslim prayer at Istanbul's Blue Mosque, accompanied by a Muslim dignitary, during a visit to Turkey

The Pope led the observance today of World day for the Sick. I have posted a translation of his Angelus text in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS TEXTS. Here is the AsiaNews report -

Pope: From Lourdes to Seoul,
I entrust the world’s sick
and suffering to Mary




Vatican City, Feb. 11 (AsiaNews) – On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, now also the World Day of the Sick, the pope did not stop at talking about miracles and healing.

Thanking health workers and relatives of sick people, he called for the “development of palliative care that offers holistic support”, giving “terminally ill people the human support and spiritual accompaniment that they badly need.”

Benedict XVI recalled the “prodigious event” of “the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Bernadette, which took place on 11 February 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes”.

This event, continued the pope, made “the location, situated in the French slopes of the Pyrenees, a global center for pilgrimages and intense Marian spirituality. In this place, for nearly 150 years now, the call of Our Lady to prayer and repentance still reverberates powerfully, a quasi permanent echo of the invitation with which Jesus inaugurated his preaching in Galilee: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ (Mk 1:15).”

Although miracles and healings confirmed by a team of doctors often take place at Lourdes, the pope saw fit to draw attention to a more profound miracle:
“Moreover, the shrine has become a destination of many sick pilgrims who, putting themselves in a position to listen to the Most Holy Mary, are encouraged to accept their sufferings and to offer them for the salvation of the world, uniting them with those of the crucified Christ.”

Benedict XVI explained the connection between the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick:
“It was precisely because of this link between Lourdes and human suffering that, 15 years ago, the beloved John Paul II wanted the World Day of the Sick to be celebrated on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

"This year, the focus of this feast is in the city of Seoul, capital of South Korea, where I sent Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Health Care to represent me. I send an affectionate greeting to him and to all those gathered there.”

The pope continued: “I would like to extend my thoughts to health workers across the world, well aware of the importance of their service to sick people in our society. In particular,

"I want to express my spiritual closeness and my affection for our sick brothers and sisters, especially those who are afflicted by more serious and painful illnesses. On this Day, our attention is turned towards them in a special way.

"It is necessary to support the development of palliative care that offers holistic support and gives terminally ill people the human support and spiritual accompaniment that they badly need.”

Before the Angelus prayer, the pope reminded his audience about a Eucharistic Celebration that will be held this afternoon in St Peter’s Basilica, with many sick people and pilgrims. Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar of the diocese of Rome.

Benedict XVI said: “At the end of Holy Mass, I will have the joy, like last year, of spending some time with them, reliving the spiritual climate experienced at the grotto of Massabielle. With this Angelus prayer, I would like to entrust to the maternal protection of the Immaculate Virgin all those in the world who are sick and suffering in body and spirit.

While awaiting that the Vatican comes online with the Pope's words after the Mass this afternoon, here are some photos taken at St. Peter's Basilica:

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/02/2007 16.18]

Reacting with their usual Pavlov's-dogs reflex, the Italian media have been predictably up in arms over the Church's very public statements against the Prodi government's draft law granting quasi-matrimonial rights to various categories of cohabiting couples, heterosexual or otherwise.

A great occasion, in short, for the liberal media to beat up on the Church topically, with their usual howls of Church 'interference' in public life. The liberals always seem to forget that freedom of expression applies to everyone, including the Church, and that standing up for principles in the public discourse, is far from interference. If so, everyone who speaks out about their convictions on any public issue would be interfering.

Since the draft was sent to the Italian parliament last Friday (where it is expected to languish for months because the coalition government does not have the votes to push it through), it has been the Italian bishops and the Catholic newspapers that have been making direct statements about it, whereas every statement made by the Pope about matrimony and the family since then has been interpreted as his comment, even if he has been saying the same thing for almost two years now.

Today, he did comment directly on the issue but without descending to specifics - which are, in any case, academic, when speaking of a draft that was issued in haste, and is so open that it could be interpreted to include cases of incest even, in its definition of co-habiting couples.

The stand of the Catholic Church has been that couples in common-law marriages and homosexuals who consider themselves in a marriage-like union may avail of existing laws for the same purpose, therefore the state does not need to institutionalize a sort of second-class marriage for them.

The Vatican still does not have the Pope's statement online, but Francesca in the main forum ahs been posting stories from various news agencies about it. Here is a translation of the first one from korazym.org:

The Pope:
'No law can subvert
the plan of God'

By Mattia Bianchi
korazym.org2/12/2007


Benedict XVI spoke today about the close relationship between legislative action and natural law, in receiving participants to a conference on "The natural law of morality: problems and perspectives" promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University.

"No law made by man can subvert the plan of the Creator," he said, "without tragically harming society in its natural basis."

The Pope's words take on a particular significance because of the approval of a draft legislation referred to as DICO (for 'Diritti di Conviventi", or rights of cohabiting persons), but simply restate what the Pope has been saying quite often, namely, that it is not possible to 'transform into rights' conditions which are "private interests or obligations which conflict with natural law."

"A very concrete application of this principle," the Pope explained, "is found with respect to the family, which is that intimate communion of life established by the Creator and governed by its own laws. The family has its stability by Divine Order. What is good for married couples as well as for society does not depend on arbitrariness."

In general, he continued, "cogent norms do not depend on the will of the legislator nor on personal consensus - they are norms which precede any human law and will not allow interventions by anyone to exempt anyone."

The Pope defined natural law as "the spring from which flow the ethical imperatives that man is obliged to follow."

On the other hand, he said, "legislation tends to find a compromise among diverse interests and seeks to transform into rights private interests or obligations that conflict with natural law."

The Pope pointed out that instead, "natural law should be the one valid bulwark against the arbitrariness of power or the deceptions of ideological manipulation."

The Pope concluded by saying that the primary responsibility of everyone -"particularly those who have public responsibilities" - is to help so that the moral consicence of everyone may grow.

The Pope spoke after a greeting by Lateran Rector Mgr. Rino Fisichella, who underscored that clarifying words on the issue were awaited from the Holy Father.

"Some may be uncomfortable with the truth and would prefer to keep silent," he said, "but for us, your words are a support."

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

Francesca also shares related stories from Il Giornale today:


About DICO, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops conference, said today that "a thoroughly considered statement" for all those who believe in the Magisterium of the Church would be issued by the Italian Church soon.

Asked by journalists to comment on the draft law drawn up by the Prodi govenemnt, Ruini said, "On this issue we have already said so many important things - I believe, all that is necessary to say. It is useless for me to add any extemporaneous statement."

However, he said, "a well-considered statement on the issue, that would be binding on those who believe in the Magisterium of the Church, may be important and can be clarificatory for everyone."

Earlier, former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who is also senator for life in the Italian Parliament, wrote an open letter to Ruini in today's issue of the newspaper Il Tempo, in which Cossiga says 'it is time for the Italian bishops to speak up."

The statement said: "(The bishops) should now express themselves clearly and in person - not just through editorials or news reports in authoritative Catholic media" on a subject which no Catholic should give "internal or external consent."

Supplementary information about Cardinal Ruini from Sandro Magister's blog today:

While we wait for that future statement, let us examien other words said earlier today byt eh cardinalhimself, in his speech to open the annual theological-pastoral convention of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (a Rome-based association that promotes religious pilgrimages) taking place Feb. 11-14.

In speaking about the St. James Way (the road to Compostela, Spain), the via Francigena (the route to Rome), and pilgrimages to the Holy Land., Cardinal Ruini found a way to restate his tehses on Christian Europe and the encounter between religions and cultures, citing Dante and Ratzinger, Eichendorff and Edgar Morin, Maritain and Guardini.

[Magister then links to the full text of Ruini's lecture in Italian, “Il significato religioso-culturale delle antiche vie dei pellegrini” (The religious-cultural significance of the ancient pilgrim routes) found in www.chiesa.

It is not the first time Magister posts the full text of a Ruini speech - there are two others in recent months that merit full reading. Unfortunately, he does not provide translations in English, and I regret not finding time to translate, because besides always expressing himself firmly on all of the positions that Pope Benedict XVI takes, his speeches are also very literate.

For instance, Ruini begins this one quoting an entire sonnet of Dante regarding these three major Christian pilgrimage routes.]

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Pope hits out at
new "marriage, Italian style"
By Stephen Brown



ROME, Feb. 12 (Reuters) - The 1964 classic "Marriage, Italian Style," where Marcello Mastroianni is duped into wedlock by his long-suffering mistress, Sophia Loren, suggests matrimony here has long fallen short of the Roman Catholic church's ideal.

But as Pope Benedict on Monday denounced "subversive" plans to recognize unwed and gay couples, which he sees as an attack on the sacrament of marriage, new data showed a steady fall in the number of Italians bothering to plight their troth at all.

Only 250,000 Italian couples married in 2005 compared to a peak of more than 400,000 in the early 1970s. The number of "de facto" couples who would benefit from a new law more than doubled in a decade to half a million.

"The incidence of children born out of wedlock is now about 15 percent, or nearly 80,000 births a year, almost double the rate of a decade ago," the national statistics agency added.

That is likely to further incense the church, which still wields a lot of influence over Italian society and politicians -- though exactly how much will be seen when parliament comes to debate new rules for "de facto" couples proposed by the left.

"No law made by man can subvert the law made by the Creator without society being drastically damaged in its foundations," the German-born Pope told Catholic academics meeting for a seminar on "natural law."

The church believes marriage can only be formed by a man and a woman and that other arrangements would, in the Pope's words, "penalize children, weaken the family and underline society's future with laws that clearly contrast with natural law."

The scene has been set for a major confrontation between the Catholic Church and the centre-left government over a bill approved by the cabinet last week on gay and unmarried couples.

It would recognize relations between gays and unmarried heterosexual couples, granting them rights in areas like welfare and inheritance. But it stops short of allowing "gay marriage," frowned on by many churchgoers, including some in Prime Minister Romano Prodi's nine-party Catholic-to-communist coalition.

The bill's opponents portray it as a "Trojan Horse" to introduce gay marriage into Italy by stealth, and vow to oppose it in the Senate where Prodi has only a single-seat majority.

But one openly gay centre-left member of parliament, Franco Grillini, said Italian society had nothing to fear.

"At least 20 European countries and many others outside Europe have legislation on civil unions, providing factual proof that different forms of family benefit society, individual well-being, social cohesion and birth rates," Grillini said.

He called for a Valentine's Day anti-clerical protest of "kissing in the piazza" to support the new legislation.

Defeat of the bill on the rights of cohabiting people would be damaging for Prodi's fragile coalition. It was one of his most controversial platforms in the national election last year where he beat conservative Silvio Berlusconi by just a few thousand votes.

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Pope: Weak are at mercy of others when laws not based on morality

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When laws are based on compromise or consensus instead of moral values, anyone too weak or without a voice to participate in the debate is left at the mercy of others, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The pope decried the loss of a firm moral foundation in law and scientific research when he met Feb. 12 with participants in a Feb. 12-14 conference on natural law and morality.

Natural law refers to a common human code of right and wrong, a code that people access through use of their consciences and reason.

The most basic expression of natural law, he said, is "to do good and avoid evil" and from that flows a recognition of other values, such as respect for human life and dignity, freedom, justice and solidarity.

Those values, the pope said, are "norms that precede any human law" and not simply rights granted by a legislature or an international agreement.

In fact, he said, "every legal order -- internal or international -- draws its ultimate legitimacy from being rooted in natural law."

Natural law "is the only valid bastion" against the whims of the powerful or the deceit of those who try to manipulate public opinion, the pope said.

When natural law and ethical norms disappear from public debate and discourse, "legislation becomes increasingly just a compromise between different interests" or an attempt "to transform into rights private interests or desires."

Pope Benedict said that one of the most important areas where natural law is being attacked today regards the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman open to having children.

"No human law can subvert the norm written by the Creator without dramatically wounding society in that which constitutes its basic foundation," he said. "To forget this would mean weakening the family, penalizing children and making the future of society precarious."

The pope said biomedical research is another area of great concern because many people seem to think that scientists should be free to pursue any project that is scientifically feasible.

"When it reduces a human being to an object of experimentation, technology abandons the weak to the will of the strong," he said.

"To blindly entrust ourselves to technology" without insisting that scientists observe a moral code, he said, leaves humanity open to all sorts of manipulation and violence "with devastating results for all."

Pope Benedict called for greater efforts to promote a dialogue on ethics and morality among scientists, theologians and lawmakers and urged educators at all levels to help strengthen people's moral consciences.

"Without this, no progress is real progress," he said.


P.S. BY TERESA -
The Vatican site finally posted the text of the Holy Father's speech to the Natural Law Conference participants early today (2/13/07) and I have posted a translation in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES. It is a very powerful presentation and should be read in its entirety.

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Very strange, inexplicable and annoying that the Vatican press office has posted the speeches of the two prelates who presented the Pope's Lenten message at a press conference today but has not posted the message itself!

Meanwhile, here is the AsiaNwews account:


VATICAN
Pope: the love that accepted the Cross
asks to be “welcomed” and “spread” by man



Vatican City, Feb. 13(AsiaNews) – God’s love for mankind, the greatest manifestation of which is found in the Cross, asks that people “welcome” and “spread” it, identifying offences to human dignity and fighting all forms of contempt for life and exploitation of others.

The message of Benedict XVI for Lent, published today, follows in the path of the encyclical Deus caritas est to reflect about the how and why of God’s love for man and about the response of the creature to the Creator.

Focused on the theme “They will look on the one whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37), the document highlights how God’s love is both agape – “the oblative love of he who seeks exclusively the good of the other” – and eros – “the love of he who desires to possess what he lacks, which yearns for union with the loved one”.

The theologian pope explained that the love of God is certainly agape: “Everything that the human creature is and has is divine gift”.

But it is also eros: “The Creator of the universe shows for the people he has chosen a predilection that transcends all human motivation.”

And “the Omnipotent awaits the ‘yes’ of his creatures like a young bridegroom await that of his bride.”

But “unfortunately, humanity, from its origins, seduced by the lies of Evil, closed itself off from the love of God in the illusion of impossible self-sufficiency.”

“However, God did not admit defeat. Rather, the ‘no’ of man was like a decisive push that induced him to manifest his love in all its redemptive strength.” And it is the Cross in which the “fullness of God’s love” is revealed.

Lent, then, is a time of contemplation and reflection about the Cross. “The answer that the Lord wants from us is first of all that we welcome his love and allow ourselves to be drawn by Him. Accepting his love, however, is not enough. We must match it and commit ourselves to communicating it to others: Christ ‘draws me to him’ to unite with me, so that I may learn to love my brothers with his very love.”

The contemplation of the Cross, with its missionary character, also prompts us “to open our hearts to others, recognizing the wounds inflicted on the dignity of the human being; it pushes us especially to fight against all forms of contempt for life and exploitation of people and to ease the tragedy of solitude and neglect of so many people.”

Benedict XVI added: “May Lent be for each Christian a renewed experience of the love of God given to us in Christ, a love that we should seek daily in our turn to ‘give again’ to our neighbour, especially those who are suffering and in need. Only thus can we participate fully in the joy of Easter.”