Terrific photos of the Velletri Mass! I recorded it from EWTN and noticed the picture was very "light". I thought this was simply because of the brighter Mediterranean light, compared with that of Austria, where the film colour was excellent - perhaps that was because it was darker there and raining!
I've got my video stills capture software working again - after some months of problems - so I hope to post some captures when I have time.


The news item on Cardinal Pell is inspiring as always. Good on you, George!!!! Thank God Papa has got cardinals of George Pell's ilk to support him. I'm a big Pell fan!

Benedict XVI's approval rating
in America is 73 percent, poll finds
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
Posted on Sep 25, 2007



Nearly three-quarters of Americans, 73 percent, who say they’re familiar enough with Pope Benedict XVI to offer an opinion have a favorable view of the pontiff, according to a new poll. Benedict scored well not just among Catholics, but also white Evangelicals, black Protestants, and mainline Protestants.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and released today, offers the Pope good news ahead of a projected 2008 visit to the United States.

To a considerable extent, the Pope’s popularity crosses the normal American partisan divide. While 84 percent of Americans who describe themselves as conservative Republicans have a favorable view of the pope, 59 percent of self-described liberal Democrats also give Benedict XVI high marks.

Benedict scored well among virtually every ideological subgroup, from a 68 percent approval rating among independents to 79 percent approval among conservative and moderate Democrats.

There are several fine points, however, that complicate the picture.

First, Benedict’s approval rating is substantially lower than comparable figures for his predecessor, John Paul II, who was viewed favorably by 86 percent of Americans in a 1996 poll. Benedict XVI also trails John Paul’s 1996 numbers in terms of the percentage of Americans who say they have a “very favorable” impression, at 21 percent for Benedict and 32 percent for John Paul II.

[Teresa's Note: Just for perspective - In 1996, John Paul II had been Pope for 18 years, and it was seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, by which time much of the West accepted what came to be the conventional view - that the Pope, the President (Reagan), and Britain's Iron Lady (Thatcher) had together won the Cold War. And without taking anything away from the great JP-II, his extrovert personality and theatrical instinct played very well to mainstream America's own primary traits. On the other hand, Benedict hasn't been 2-1/2 years as Pope yet, and his focus has been and is strengthen the basics of the Catholic faith among the faithful themselves - which is bound to further alienate those secularized liberal American Catholics,whose idea of faith is to pick-and-choose what they want to accept of the Church's teaching.]

The gap is especially evident among Catholics; while 50 percent of American Catholics had a very favorable view of John Paul in 1996, just 36 percent express that impression of Benedict XVI today.

Second, growing familiarity with Benedict has not translated into higher approval ratings. In 2005, just 55 percent of the American public told Pew Forum pollsters that they knew enough about the pope to offer an opinion, while this time 68 percent volunteered an impression.

Yet over that time, Benedict’s approval rating actually dropped from 81 percent to 73 percent, suggesting that some Americans who have come to know the pope over the last two years don’t necessarily like what they see. [There you go!]

Third, a plurality of Americans, 46 percent, say that Benedict XVI is doing only a “fair or poor job” in promoting relationships with other religions, while just 38 percent say he’s doing an “excellent or good” job.

[Let us not forget that these Americans for the most part derive their perceptions about Benedict from what the MSM reports - which, as we al know, tends to be predictably prejudiced, distorted, uninformed or misinformed, trivializing, incomplete, and generally out of context. Few of the people polled are likely to be those who follow the Catholic blogs and other sources of solid, reliable information, much less any direct telecasts of the Pope doing what he does best!]

Though the Pew Forum report does not draw the conclusion, that result likely reflects continuing fallout from Benedict XVI’s September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria, which sparked protest across the Islamic world when Benedict quoted a 14th century Byzantine Emperor to the effect that Muhammad had “brought things only evil and inhuman.”

[Again, how many of those polled - if Regensburg affected their judgment at all -actually know what Benedict said in Regensburg outside the Manuel II Palelogue citation? The Anglophone MSM never really did present the Regensburg lecture for what it really was - as perhaps the most seminal cultural text so far of the early 21st century.]

It may also reflect negative reaction in the Protestant world to a recent Vatican declaration that the Catholic church remains the lone “true church” founded by Jesus Christ.

A solid majority of Americans, 56 percent, describe Benedict XVI as “conservative" and just 5 percent see him as "liberal." Among college graduates, fully 71 percent say the pope is “conservative.” Likewise, 68 percent of American Catholics describe the pope as "conservative."

[Frankly, the wonder is that the results are actually positive, considering the hatchet job most Anglophone Vatican/religion writers usually delight in doing on this Pope.]


The AP focused on another part of the abovementioned poll:



Americans more negative on Islam



DENVER, Sept. 25 (AP) - Negative opinions about Islam are on the rise, Mormons are viewed as Christian but different and Pope Benedict XVI trails his predecessor in popularity, a poll of Americans released Tuesday said.

The survey of 3,000 adults from Aug. 1-18 was conducted for the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The number of Americans who say Islam has little or nothing in common with their own religion has spiked to 70 percent in the past two years from 59 percent, the poll found.

Another significant shift has taken place: In 2005, 36 percent of the public said Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence among its believers. That number has risen to 45 percent.

Fifty-three percent of Americans viewed Mormonism positively, while 27 percent viewed Mormons unfavorably.

A slim majority — 52 percent — said Mormonism is a Christian religion. Yet among non-Mormon believers, more than six in ten said Mormonism and their own religion are very different.

The poll also found that Pope Benedict XVI has high approval ratings with the public two years into his papacy: 73 percent with an opinion view him favorably. Those numbers lag behind those of his more traveled predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who garnered 86 percent favorable ratings in 1996.

Benedict does not have the public's confidence in promoting good relations with other religions, the poll found. Nearly half who know something about the pope say he is only doing a fair or good job on that subject.

The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

CEI secretary-general denies
split among Italian bishops
on application of Mass MP

A week since the Italian papers reported sharp dissent with the Pope Motu Proprio on the traditional Mass from at least 4 of Italy's most prominent bishops, not a single denial came from those concerned, not even from Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, who has apparently turned 180 degrees from his support of both the Mass MP and the CDF statement about the nature of the Church expressed in the days immediately following publication of those two documents.

Nor was the dissent reported at all in Avvenire, revealing this newspaper's journalistic Achilles heel: As the newspaper of the CEI, it appears that its policy is not to report dissent within the CEI at all. Which gives context to this rather disingenuous denial by Mons. Betori - one week after the MSM reports remained unchallenged, either by the CEI itself or by the bishops concerned - that anything could be possibly amiss within the CEI.

Here's a translation of ZENIT's report on Mons. Betori's news conference earlier today (9/25):



ROME, Sept. 25 (ZENIT.org) - The Secretary-General of the Italian bishops conference (CEI), Mons. Giuseppe Betori, has categorically denied that there are any divisions among Italian bishops on the application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and denounced what he called a 'campaign of calumny' against some Italian bishops.

Betori made these statements at a news conference today to present the conclusions of the CEI Permanent Council session held last week.

About the reports of the confrontation between two groups of bishops at the Permanent Council with opposing views on the Mass MP, Betori said the CEI intended to carry out "faithful and total application of the Motu Proprio in the spirit with which the Holy Father wrote the accompanying letter.."

"Some journalistic reconstructions of the internal discusssions do not correspond to the truth. There was never a proposal for an interpretive note. No one asked for it, and there was never any such proposal," Betori added.

"No bishop is against the Motu Proprio, and any bishop who refuses to apply the Motu Proprio would be out of line with the CEI and the Holy Father's appeal."

"In the case of Milan, it does not involve rejecting the Motu Proprio because the parishes that use the Roman rite are following it. The Motu Proprio does not apply to the Ambrosian rite. It's a question of autonomy."

"We have confidence in our bishops, and are convinced that they will be able to demonstrate that the accusations made are baseless."

[It's hard to see how Mons. Betori could say that with a straight face, considering the public defiance that some Italian bishops have gone out of their way to make repeatedly about the MP since July!]

On the scheduled meeting of CEI president Mons. Angelo Bagnasco with the movement called "We are Church", Betori said too much was being made of it in the press - "as if meeting them amounts to the impossible recognition of their requests."

He said it was nothing more than a gesture of courtesy from Bagnasco, who accommodates requests made by various groups to see him.

Finally, Betori said that the bishops have not discussed the Partito Democratico (PD) being formed by some Italian Catholic politicians.

"The Church makes its judgments on national issues based on facts, on legislative choices, on cultural orientations - and the Church will judge an eventual PD just like any other party."

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

Another P.S. to Alberto Melloni's absurd little poison pill about the Motu Proprio not being published in Acta Apostolica Sedis, the official Vatican gazette:

Vatican sources said the last issue of AAS was dated April 6, containing papal documents and nominations released as of April 5. The Motu Proprio on the Mass was published July 7, and will appear in the appropriate issue of the gazette [which apparently does not come out on time, if the last published issue is dated April!]


That, in addition to the clear provision of Canon Law [posted with the original post about Melloni] about when papal decrees take force, clearly go to show Melloni's bad faith and the alacrity with which he seizes every possible 'opportunity' to hit out at the Pope and the Vatican - no matter how unfounded. He should be ashamed of himself, and Corriere della Sera should publish some acknowledgment of Melloni's error. (The editors should have checked out his facts first, to begin with. His reputation as a 'scholar and historian' should not exempt him from respecting and reporting the truth.)

One might note, too, that no one in the Italian media has looked at the Canon Law provision that applies. Which shows a terrible journalistic laxity all around about checking out facts.

A translation of the Holy Father's catechesis has been posted in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS TEXTS.






Here is a report based on the AsiaNews account:


The Christian man as model
for a cohesive society


The Christian idea of the primacy of the person, which makes all men equal and which results in social solidarity, is the foundation of society, rather than the primacy of the “polis”, in which the individual is subordinate to society.

Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed today one of the basic principles of the Church in resuming his catechesis on St. John Chrysostom, theologian and one of the most eminent of Church fathers, at his Wednesday general audience.

The Pope began his catechesis on the Chrysostom last Wednesday, speaking of his life in Antioch before he became bishop of Constantinople in the 4th century.

Today, he spoke about the years in Constantinople, during which he was twice exiled by the Byzantine emperor. He died in 407 during a forced march in his second exile.

In 1204, The Chrysostom's remains were transferred from Constantinople to Rome, where they repose in the canonical chapel of St Peter’s, but in 2004, as Pope Benedict reminded his audience today, John Paul II turned over “a large part" of the relics to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Continuing his brief summary of St. John's major writings, the Pope spoke today on his Meditations on the Creation, as well as his ideas of how a Christian should live his life as a person and as a citizen.

In the Chrysostom's works, he said, the early Church becomes a model for society - a “utopia of the ideal city, giving it a Christian face and soul”. The Chrysostom, “truly one of the great fathers of the Church”, affirmed that it is not sufficient to give alms, or occasionally come to the aid of the needy, but that society required a new structure inspired by the Christian idea.


Thanks to Caterina for the ff enlargements from today's GA:






The VIS report on the audience:

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM:
A GREAT FATHER OF SOCIAL DOCTRINE


VATICAN CITY, SEP 26, 2007 (VIS) - In his general audience, which was held this morning in St. Peter's Square in the presence of more than 20,000 people, the Pope resumed the catechesis he had begun last week on St. John Chrysostom.

This Father of the Church was appointed as bishop of Constantinople, capital of the eastern Roman empire, in the year 397 and immediately began planning the reform of the Church. said the Pope. "The austerity of the episcopal palace," he added, "had to be an example to everyone." In fact, thanks to his "concern for the poor," the saint "was also known as the 'Alms-giver' ... and he created a number of highly-regarded charitable institutions."

"As a true pastor, he treated everyone cordially. ... In particular, he always showed tender concern for women and particular interest in marriage and the family. He invited the faithful to participate in liturgical life, which his creative genius would make particularly splendid and attractive." However "despite his kind heart, ... because of his continuous dealings with the civil authorities and institutions, he often found himself involved in political questions and intrigues, ... and was condemned to exile" where he died in the year 407.

"Of St. John Chrysostom it was said," the Pope continued, "that God caused people to see in him another Paul, a Doctor of the Universe. ... Chrysostom's ideal vision is clearly expressed in his commentary to the first pages of the book of Genesis," in which he meditates upon "the eight works accomplished by God in the sequence of six days." The saint wishes "to lead the faithful back from the creation to the Creator, ... the God of condescension ... Who sends fallen man a letter: Holy Scripture."

The bishop of Constantinople also refers to God as "tender Father, Doctor of souls, Mother and affectionate Friend." In the end "it is God Who descends towards us, He takes bodily from, ... dies on the cross, ... and truly becomes God-with-us, our brother."

"In addition to these three stages - God Who is visible in His creation, God Who writes us a letter, and God Who descends towards us - there is a fourth stage in the life and activity of Christians: the vital and dynamic principle of the Holy Spirit Who transforms the reality of the world. God comes into our lives ... and transforms us from within."

In his commentary to the Acts of the Apostles, St. John Chrysostom proposes "the model of the early Church as a model for society, creating a social 'utopia' ... and seeking to give a Christian soul and a Christian aspect to the city. In other words, Chrysostom understood that it was not enough to give alms, to help the poor one case at a time, rather that it was necessary to create a new structure, a new model for society ... based on the new Testament. For this reason, we may consider him as one of the great Fathers of the Church's social doctrine."

With St. Paul, St. John Chrysostom "supported the primacy of human beings, including slaves and the poor." This contrasted with the structure of the Greek 'polis' where "vast sectors of the population were excluded form the right to citizenship;" in the Christian city, on the other hand, "all are brothers and sisters with the same rights."

At the end of his life St. John Chrysostom returned to the theme of "God's plan for humanity," reaffirming that "God loves each of us with an infinite love, and therefore He wants everyone to be saved."

Concert for the Pope tonight
in a homage to Pope Paul VI
on his 110th birth anniversary


Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Montini in Concesio, Brescia province, on September 26, 1897.

In his honor, a musical homage was offered tonight, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI, at the Hall of the Swiss in the Apostolic palace at Castel Gandolfo by the Orchestra of the International Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, under Maestro Agostino Orizio.

Also performing were violinist Marco Rizzo and pianist Alexander Romanovsky. Music by Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi was performed.

Orizio, 85, was a pupil of the legendary pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, in whose honor the international music festival is named. He comes from Brescia, like Papa Montini, and knew him personally.


Vatican Radio's Italian service, from which this item is translated, also has an interview with Orizio in which he talks about Paul VI's musical tastes and about Cardinal Ratzinger as a music lover and as a pianist. Here is a translation.

Maestro Orizio: I have always known Paul VI, in a way - since I was a boy and used to visit the Montinis at home. With all my heart, I followed his career since when he became a priest to when he came to the Vatican for higher positions, and I remained friends with him even after he became Pope.

I remember our encounters in his house in Brescia or vacations in Pnto di Legno, where we enjoyed beautiful days made even more beautiful by music. Eventually, I played for him as a concert pianist and I had several occasions to offer him musical homage at his apartments in the Vatican, when he was the deputy Secretary of State. He had me as a guest so many times, and for the musical evenings, he would ask his friends and colleagues over.


What was Papa Montini's favorite music?

Bach and any other music inspired by the sacred. He loved organ music. I was able to play the organ for him in the little church of Ponte di Legno near home and even to perform when he celebrated Mass. He always liked music that would help in meditation.

Of course, he would not have approved of any virtuoso exhibitionism in Church. He always said that music in Church should be an aid to prayer.

When he was archbishop of Milan, he asked me a couple of times to give a concert for seminarians. He always liked to attend concerts, accompanied by his secretary Mons. Macchi. They were occasions for him to relax, and for this, I was very happy.


And tonight in Castel Gandolfo, you will be playing Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, for Pope Benedict...

I am sure the Pope will love the music we chose. I first met Papa Ratzinger when he came to one of the concerts I gave in honor of Paul VI, with the choir of Prague and my own orchestra. He was seated in the front row and I could see he enjoyed it a great deal.


Pope Benedict is also a pianist. Do you have similar musical affinities?

It's very rare for me to meet a high-ranking prelate who is as dedicated to music as he is, and not only as a listener, but as someone who plays an instrument himself. I have heard him play, and I must say that he plays very well and with great taste.


What would you ask the musician Pope for the future of classical music in Italy?

I wish something will be done, because music is at the service of all, especially if it is worthy of the purpose for which it was written and performed, whether it is sacred music or secular music
that is 'classical'. And the Pope is in a position to do something very worthwhile both for culture and for prayer - because when music is valid, then it helps us pray.



Update from PETRUS tonight:


Benedict XVI praises Paul VI
for his 'courage and prudence'


VATICAN CITY - 'Prudent and courageous' were the adjectives Benedict XVI used to describe his predecessor Paul VI, a Pope, he said, who shared to the very end "the hopes and unease of mankind in his day, and sought to bring out positive experiences to illuminate with the light of truth and Christ's love."

The Pope spoke after a concert at the Apostolic Palace presented by the orchestra of the Benedetti Michelangeli International Music Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, under the baton of Maestor Agostino Orizio, and two soloists (violin and piano).

He objected to the notion that Paul VI was a 'sad and perssimistic' Pope. "In guiding the Church with realism as well as evangelical optimism, nourished by his indomitable faith, he rendered the world a great service, all the more valuable in times which were not easy and in social conditions characterized by profound cultural and religious changes."

The Pope referred to the counter-cultural revolution of 1968 and its influence on the post-Vatican-II period. He underscored Papa Montini's 'evangelical wisdom' in guiding the Church during and after Vatican-II.

"The love he had for mankind" - with "its progress, its marvelous discoveries, the achievements and conveniences made possible by science and technology," nevertheless did not keep him from calling attention to "the contradictions, errors and risks of a scientific-technological progress uncoupled from a firm foundation of ethical and spiritual values," the Pope pointed out.

He recalled Paul VI's call for 'a civilization of love' which would bring authentic universal brotherhood and a just society. Benedict says this teaching "remains very relevant today and constitutes a spring from which we can draw upon", and that is why his successors have carried on the spiritual legacy of the Servant of God Paul VI and following in his footsteps.

Among the guests at the concert were Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Justice Minister Clemente Mastella.


Pope returns to the Vatican
next Wednesday, Oct. 3

Rome, Sep. 26, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI will end his summer stay at Castel Gandolfo and return to the Vatican on October 3, Vatican Radio reports.

The Holy Father left the Vatican on July 9 for his annual summer vacation, which he spent in the Dolomite mountains of northern Italy, in the little village of Lorenzago di Cadore. He stayed there until July 28, then moved on to the papal summer residence, where he has spent August and September.

The Pope has returned to the Vatican regularly on Wednesdays for his weekly public audiences, making the trip from Castel Gandolfo by helicopter. He is expected to make the same trip one way on October 3 (a Wednesday), then settle back in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican till next summer.

This is a few days old, but I thought I should post it here for the record anyway. The Daily Mail (UK) reaction is typical of the craven attitude that the liberal secular West has towards Islam - when statements of general fact by the Pope appear to provoke shudders (feigned or not) that Islam might be provoked into a new peak of anti-West aggression! Who thought his homily at Velletri would get selectively reduced to accusing the Pope, in effect, of Islam-baiting?

Pope in 'freedom' blast at Islam
By SIMON CALDWELL
Daily Mail
Sept. 21, 2007


The Pope has again risked provoking the wrath of the Islamic world, by criticising its treatment of Christians.

Benedict XVI attacked Muslim nations where Christians are either persecuted or given the status of second-class citizens under the Shariah Islamic law.

He also defended the rights of Muslims to convert to Christianity, an act which warrants the death penalty in many Islamic countries.

His comments came almost exactly a year after he provoked a wave of anger among Muslims by quoting a Byzantine emperor who linked Islam to violence.

Yesterday, near Rome, the 80-year-old pontiff made a speech in "defence of religious liberty", which, he said "is a fundamental, irrepressible, inalienable and inviolable right".

In a clear reference to Islam, he said: "The exercise of this freedom also includes the right to change religion, which should be guaranteed not only legally, but also in daily practice."

Addressing the problem of Islamic extremism, he added: "Terrorism is a serious problem whose perpetrators often claim to act in God's name and harbour an inexcusable contempt for human life."

Last September, radical British Muslims said Pope Benedict should be executed for "insulting" the Prophet Mohammed.

Throughout the Middle East and Africa, Christians were subjected to violence in retribution for his remarks.

His latest comments, however, come just days after one of the Church of England's-senior bishops warned that Muslim leaders here must speak out in defence of the right to change faith.

The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, told Channel 4's Dispatches programme of his fears for the safety of the estimated 3,000 Muslims who have converted to other faiths in this country.

A poll earlier this year of more than 1,000 young adult British Muslims found that 36 per cent believe those who convert to another faith should be punished by death.

Pope Benedict is particularly concerned about the persecution of Christians in Iraq since the invasion of 2003.

Before then, there were about 1.2 million Christians in the country. But the number has dropped to below 600,000.


And the Daily Telegraph (UK) gave the ff healine to Damian Thompson's blog on the same subject:

Pope's veiled attack
on Muslim countries
Posted by Damian Thompson
on 22 Sep 2007

This was Thompson's own title, apparently:
The Pope has spoken out
against Christian persecution

In a speech yesterday, the Pope defended “religious liberty”, which he said “includes the right to change religion, which should be guaranteed not only legally but in practice”.

He also said that “all authentically religious traditions must be allowed to manifest their identity publicly, free from any pressure to hide or disguise it”.

Make no mistake about it: this Pope is deeply worried about the Islamisation of Europe, and the West’s supine attitude towards the persecution of Christianity by its Muslim allies.

In July, his closest aide, Mgr Georg Gaenswein, said that “attempts to Islamise the West cannot be denied” and, indeed, were being helped by naive “respectfulness.”

What a contrast with the attitude of the Catholic Church in this country, which rarely misses an opportunity to suck up to Islam, and indeed treats its own traditionalists rather as certain Islamic countries treat Christians.

[Thompson is editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic newspaper Catholic Herald.]

UKRAINE: UNITY OF CATHOLICS
IN THE DIVERSITY OF RITES



VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 2007 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father met with Latin-rite prelates of the Ukrainian Episcopal Conference who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.

In his talk to the bishops, the Pope expressed his appreciation for "the catechetical, liturgical, apostolic and charitable activities" in their dioceses. "Your pastoral work," he said, "is undertaken in a territory in which faithful of Latin rite and those of Greek-Catholic rite coexist."

After highlighting how collaboration, even among Catholics, is not always easy due to "the diversity of their respective traditions," Benedict XVI affirmed that "the unity of Catholics within the diversity of rites, and the efforts to express this in all fields, reveal the true face of the Catholic Church and represent a highly eloquent sign for other Christians and for society as a whole."

Referring to the problems the bishops identified in their reports, the Holy Father indicated how the solution "necessarily requires a synergy of efforts for a renewed announcement of the Gospel. The long years of atheist and communist domination have left evident traces in the current generations. These are challenges which call out to you to be met."

"If communion is consolidated within Catholic communities, it will be easier to conduct a fruitful dialogue between the Catholic Church and the other Churches and ecclesial communities," said the Holy Father. In this context, he noted the importance of ecumenism and mentioned the "daily dialogue" Catholics seek to maintain with Orthodox, encouraging the prelates to ensure "that obstacles and even failures do not dampen your enthusiasm."

Benedict XVI also turned to consider "the fundamental importance of adequately forming priests so that they can accomplish their mission as well as possible, and of concern for vocations which," he said, "is a pastoral priority to secure workers for the Lord's harvest.

"The majority of priests," the Pope added, "show true abnegation, joyful generosity and humble adaptation to the precarious situation in which they find themselves, sometimes even forced to face economic difficulties. May God ever conserve and protect them! Love them because they are your indispensable collaborators, support and encourage them, pray for them and with them ... Ensure that in seminaries aspiring priests are given a full and balanced formation," without neglecting "the permanent formation of priests."

The Pope concluded his address by underscoring how "the formation of lay men and women capable of bearing witness to their faith is becoming ever more necessary in our times, and is one of the pastoral objectives that must be pursued with determination."


POPE PRAISES THE EVANGELICAL WISDOM OF PAUL VI



VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 2007 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Swiss Hall of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, Benedict XVI attended a concert by the "Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli" International Festival Orchestra of Brescia and Bergamo, Italy. The event was organized to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Pope Paul VI who was a native of the town of Concesio near Brescia.

"Listening to these famous passages of music," said the Pope in a brief address he gave at the end of the concert, "has given us the opportunity to recall an illustrious Pope, Paul VI, who rendered a vital service to the Church and to the world in uneasy times, and in social conditions marked by profound cultural and religious changes."

The Holy Father praised the "evangelical wisdom" with which Paul VI "guided the Church during and after Vatican Council II. With prophetic intuition, he understood the hopes and fears of the men and women of that time, seeking to highlight the positive aspects and illuminate them with the light of truth and of the love of Christ."

"The love he nourished for humanity and its progress," Pope Benedict went on, "did not, however, prevent him from highlighting the contradictions ... and the risks of scientific and technological advancement disassociated from solid ... ethical and spiritual values."

"Paul VI," the Holy Father concluded, "guided the Church prudently and courageously, with a realism and evangelical optimism nourished by indomitable faith. He hoped for the advent of a 'civilization of love,' convinced that evangelical charity is indispensable in creating authentic universal fraternity. ... His successors have taken up the spiritual heritage of Servant of God Paul VI and followed in his wake."


TOURISM OPENS DOORS FOR WOMEN

VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 2007 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. to Francesco Frangialli, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), for the occasion of World Tourism Day which is being celebrated today and has as its theme: "Tourism opens doors for women."

In his Letter, the cardinal highlights the fact that, according to the most recent WTO statistics, around 46 percent of the people employed in the international tourist industry are women.

However, he notes, "despite this large and effective female presence, in many cases women are prevented from reaching positions of administrative responsibility and management in tourism. The reasons for this negative phenomenon are to be found in deep-rooted prejudices which lead to the persistence of stereotyping and of the traditional attribution of secondary roles on the basis of gender." This is particularly evident, the cardinal continues, "in those parts of the world where the moral, cultural and civil status of women puts them in a position of weakness and injustice."

Cardinal Bertone then goes on to point out that all tourists, whatever their religion, social class or nationality, must commit themselves "to the protection and promotion of women." In this context he underlines the need "to work for an effective equality of rights for women, guaranteeing them equal treatment in the workplace, religious freedom, respect for the needs associated with motherhood, and the payment of a fair and remunerative salary."

The Secretary of State adds: "Concrete support must be given to the right of girls and women to study and achieve professional qualifications, using appropriate positive laws to combat all forms of unjust exploitation of the female sex and the shameful commercialization of the female body. It is incumbent upon us to decry the intolerable scandal of a certain kind of sexual tourism which humiliates women, reducing them to a situation of practical slavery."

The cardinal quotes the Message for World Peace Day 2007 in which Benedict XVI "denounced the 'inadequate consideration' shown for the condition of women and 'the mindset persisting in some cultures, where women are still firmly subordinated to the arbitrary decisions of men, with grave consequences for their personal dignity and for the exercise of their fundamental freedoms.' Only by overcoming these forms of discrimination," Cardinal Bertone concludes, "will it be possible for tourism to combine a concern for the tourists' experience with a guarantee for the quality of life of residents."

Pope says his farewells
to Castel Gandolfo community



VATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo, Benedict XVI made his farewells to Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano (the diocese in which Castelgandolfo is located), local religious communities, the civil authorities and the personnel in charge of security during his stay in the summer residence. The Pope is due to return to the Vatican in a few days time [Oct. 3].

"I would like to be able to pause and speak to each of you," said the Pope, "to thank you personally for the willingness and generosity with which you have contributed to the smooth functioning of the Pope's activities here in Castelgandolfo.

"It is often the case," he added, "that such contributions remain unseen and compel you to work tiring hours, remaining away from your homes for long periods. Thus, your families are also involved in the sacrifices you have to face. For this reason, I would like to assure you once again of my most heartfelt appreciation, which I also extend to your relatives."

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

The Holy Father met earlier today with
- a delegation from the "Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik und Musikpädagogik" of Regensburg;
- Mons. Francesco Coccopalmerio, titular Archbishop of Celiana, President of the Pontifical Council for
Legislative Texts
- H.E. Giuseppe Balboni Acqua, Ambassador of Italy to the Holy See, on his farewell call.

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THE HOLY FATHER'S SORROW ON
THE DEATH OF JESUIT CARDINAL IN LUSAKA

The Holy Father also learned of the death today of Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki, S.J., missionary in Africa and first Archbishop of Lusaka (in Zambia) and sent the following telegram of condolence to
Mons. Telesphore George Mpundu, current Archbishop of Lusaka:


TO MY BROTHER
THE MOST REVEREND TELESPHORE GEORGE MPUNDU
ARCHBISHOP OF LUSAKA

HAVING LEARNED WITH SORROW OF THE DEATH OF CARDINAL ADAM KOZLOWIECKI, SJ, I OFFER HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO YOU AND ALL THE CLERGY, RELIGIOUS AND LAITY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LUSAKA, TOGETHER WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.

RECALLING WITH GRATITUDE THE FIRST ARCHBISHOP OF LUSAKA’S SELFLESS YEARS OF ZEALOUS EPISCOPAL AND MISSIONARY SERVICE, UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL AND SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH, I JOIN YOU IN PRAYING THAT GOD OUR MERCIFUL FATHER WILL GRANT HIM THE REWARD OF HIS LABOURS AND WELCOME HIS NOBLE SOUL INTO THE JOY AND PEACE OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM.

TO ALL ASSEMBLED FOR THE SOLEMN MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL, I CORDIALLY IMPART MY APOSTOLIC BLESSING AS A PLEDGE OF CONSOLATION AND STRENGTH IN THE LORD.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

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Here is a brief backgrounder from ZENIT:

Adam Kozlowiecki was born in Poland in 1911. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1929, and during the Second World War was arrested with 24 of his Jesuit brothers and sent to Auschwitz and Dachau.

When he was liberated at the end of the war, he was sent to the missions, and was made the first archbishop of Lusaka in 1959.

After Zambia received independence, Archbishop Kozlowiecki appealed various times to the Holy See to name a prelate of African origin. Pope Paul VI granted his wish in 1969 and allowed the archbishop to retire. He stayed in Zambia working as a simple missionary.

In 1998, Pope John Paul II elevated him to cardinal, in recognition of his life spent at the service of the Church.

Here is an adapted translation [I decided to present the names as a simple list, without transitional phrases] from the current issue of Panorama magazine:


Looking towards the November consistory
by Ignazio Ingrao
Panorama
28 September 2007


The first name on the list would be that of Mons. Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, followed by 15 or 16 prospective cardinal electors and perhaps a couple of over-80 prelates who would have no voting rights in a Conclave.

The list is ready and the Pope is expected to announce shortly the next consistory at which the new cardinals will be named - the second of his Pontificate, the first having been on March 24, 2006, with 15 new cardinals named.

This time, the consistory would be on November 24 or 25, preceded by two days of meetings of the College of Cardinals (current membership, 181) with the Pope to discuss the current situation of the Church in the world.

These meetings are very important to Benedict XVI. Among the topics sure to be discussed will most likely be the initial application of the Papal decree on restoring the traditional Mass to full validity.

The list of prospective cardinals is expected to include:
- Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica
- Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Governatorate of the State of Vatican City
- Raffaele Farina, Librarian of the Holy Roman Church
- Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops conference
- Paolo Romeo, Archbishop of Palermo
- Luigi di Magistris, as a non-elector cardinal.
- André Armand Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris
- Kazimierz Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw
- Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, newly named Archbishop of Minsk
- Luís Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona
- Donald William Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, DC
- John Patrick Foley of Philadelphia, Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre
- Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of Sao Paolo
- Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, Archbishop of Kampala (Uganda), or
Raphael S. Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki, Archbishop of Nairobi
- Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai (India)

The new nominees would bring back to 120 the number of cardinal electors. The new consistory would be under the liturgical supervision of the incoming Papal liturgical master of ceremonies, Mons. Guido Marini from the Cathedral of Genoa, who will replace Mons. Piero Marini, expected to be named president of the Pontifical committee for international eucharistic congresses.

The Holy Father today ordained 6 bishops (1 Polish and five Italian) at St. Peter's Basilica, including
Mons. Miecyslaw Mokrycski as Archbishop of Lviv in the Ukraine, and Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, now Titular
Archbishop of Villamagna, and incoming President of the Pontifical Council on Culture. Homily for translation.
Still awaiting photos.


The Vatican announced today the Pope's designation of
- Cardinal Godfreed Daneels, Archbishop of Brussels, to represent the Pope at the first millenary celebration
on October 7 of the Cathedral of Rheims in France
- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to represent the Pope at the closing ceremonies of the 90th centenary year
of the Fatima apparitions.


PONTIFICAL ENVOYS
TO FATIMA AND RHEIMS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 29, 2007 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Pope to Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., naming him as pontifical legate to the solemn closing celebrations marking the 90th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, due to be held on October 12 and 13.

Cardinal Bertone will be accompanied on his mission by Fr. Jorge Manuel Faria Garda, vicar general of the diocese of Lerida-Fatima; Fr. Luciano Coelho Cristino, dean of the Chapter of Canons; Msgr. Luigi Roberto Cona, secretary of the apostolic nunciature to Portugal, and by Fr. Lech Piechota, official of the Secretariat of State.

Also made public today was a Letter from the Pope to Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium, appointing him as special papal envoy to celebrations marking the millennium of the construction of the basilica of Saint-Remi, due to be held in Reims, France, on October 7.

Cardinal Danneels will be accompanied on his mission by Msgr. Jules Massin, titular canon, archpriest emeritus of the basilica of Saint-Remi and former chancellor of the archbishopric, and by Fr. Andre Rousselle, archpriest emeritus of the basilica of Saint-Remi.


Nominations today:
- Giovanni Maria Vian as editor in chief of L'Osservatore Romano.
- Carlo Di Cicco as deputy editor.
- Fr. Marcel Chappin, SJ, as vice prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives.

This comes from THE PILOT, official newspaper of the Achdiocese of Boston:




Weigel speaks of Pope Benedict XVI
at monthly Legatus meeting
By Christine Williams
Posted: 9/28/2007


WESTON, Massahusetts - Pope Benedict XVI has been placed in the role of a star basketball player seeking to shoot the game-winning basket with seconds on the clock, said George Weigel at the monthly Legatus meeting on Sept. 20.

Rather than playing for an NBA title, the Bavarian-born expositor of the Catholic faith is attempting to contend to save Europe, currently committing demographic suicide. The only thing that can save Europe is for its people to reencounter their Christian roots, Weigel said.

Speaking on the theme “Pope Benedict XVI; After Two Years,” Weigel addressed the Boston chapter of Legatus at the Weston Golf Club. Legatus is a membership organization for Catholic business leaders and their spouses. The Boston chapter typically meets on the third Thursday of each month. The evening includes a discussion on Christ in the workplace, Mass, dinner and a speaker.

Weigel, an author and syndicated columnist, has spoken to the Boston chapter three times in the last six years. He is a native of Baltimore and graduate of St. Mary Seminary College and the University of St. Michael College in Toronto. His best-selling book is Witness to Hope, a biography of Pope John Paul II.

Working on John Paul’s biography brought Weigel close to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom he met in 1988. Weigel said that when he discovered that his friend had been elected by the College of Cardinals, one of his first reactions was “desperate sadness.”

“One doesn’t like to see people one admires, considers friends, have virtually impossible jobs thrust upon them, particularly when they’re 78 years old and looking forward to retirement,” he said.

However, Weigel was also glad to see the cardinal “free to be himself.” In his service to Pope John Paul, Cardinal Ratzinger had subordinated his personality and his will, even having his three requests for retirement denied.

Weigel said he thought, “Finally the world is going to see the Joseph Ratzinger I know. Finally the world is going to meet this shy, charming, lucidly intelligent, brilliant expositor of the Catholic faith on his own terms.”

In the past two years, Pope Benedict has brought several themes to the forefront of his pontificate. He has communicated to the Catholic faithful that the Christian God is not remote. Rather he is the God with a human face. He has said that the Church is most itself when celebrating the Eucharist - through the liturgy or adoration.

But perhaps his most important statement was given at Regensburg University in Germany when he spoke about the central problem of world civilization at the beginning of the 21st century. The problem has two sides - the first is irrational faith and the second is loss of faith in reason, Weigel said.

Irrational faith can allow people to believe that God wills them to “fly a 767 into the World Trade Center,” while lack of faith in reason leaves society more vulnerable to those kinds of attacks, he said.

Western civilization is like a three-legged stool, supported by Biblical faith, confidence in reason and Roman law. Those three themes can be summed up in three cities - Jerusalem, Athens and Rome, respectively. Currently, the Jerusalem leg has been kicked out and the other two legs are wobbly, Weigel expounded.

Europeans are used to the state solving problems, but the fact is that the governments of Europe will not be able to pay for healthcare and pensions in the future because their people are not creating a future generation, he said.

“The only answer to this is in fact conversion - the re-evangelization of Europe,” he said.

In order to create a future generation, people need to understand that the command “be fruitful and multiply” applies to them, he said.

Weigel added that there are many signs of hope in the current pontificate. While Pope Benedict has been largely ignored by the American media since their caricatures of him as a “German rottweiler” were found to be untrue, he has drawn large crowds to his Wednesday audiences. The crowds number 40,000-50,000, larger than the crowds that came to Pope John Paul’s Wednesday audiences.

Some of the growth can be explained by the daily visit of 20,000 pilgrims to Pope John Paul’s tomb. But people are also coming “to get fed” as they did when they visited Pope John Paul’s audiences, he said.

In addition, Weigel said that Pope Benedict’s upcoming visit to the United Nations in New York will remind people in the United States, particularly the media, that he is “worth paying attention to.”

Scot Landry, president of the Boston chapter of Legatus, said of Weigel’s comments, “George did a tremendous job of outlining the roots that underlie the leadership that Pope Benedict XVI is providing to the Church.”

Weigel is a popular speaker who last spoke to the chapter four years ago, he added.

Landry is also Secretary for Advancement and Chief Development Officer of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Andreas Widmer, the Boston Legatus program chair and former Swiss Guard, called Weigel one of the “foremost commentators of all things Catholic in America.”



On the other hand, this article from Canada's National Post clearly is skeptical about the Pope's objectives, although it does try to balance anti-Benedict voices like Fr. Reese with pro-Benedict voices like Fr. Neuhaus.


The Pope picks his battles:
Benedict's stand against
'dictatorship of relativism' has doubters
Charles Lewis
Published: Friday, September 28, 2007


When Pope Benedict XVI used a Sunday sermon last week to warn Roman Catholic theologians against becoming arrogant - just as it was revealed that one had been put under investigation for conceding non-Christian religions have a role in salvation - he was continuing a pattern that started earlier in the summer. The Pope's homily followed two similarly hard-line pronouncements that gave a clear indication of what this papacy would stand for.

First there was an announcement to allow a broader use of the old Latin Mass, a step back from the liturgical reforms of Vatican II; and then a pronouncement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church's ideological overseer, that Protestant churches were defective and not really full churches like the Catholic Church.

"He wants to draw a line, make distinctions, increase clarity - even if it upsets people," said Thomas Reese, a priest who stepped down as editor of the Jesuit magazine America under pressure from the Vatican just after Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict.

"The problem with Benedict is that in his heart he's a German professor without a politically sensitive bone in his body. He doesn't know how to read an audience. A teacher doesn't have to worry about reading his classroom. They have to memorize what he says and give it back on the exam or they flunk. It just doesn't work that way when you're Pope."

While Pope John Paul II identified the enemy as communism, and then helped to dismantle the Soviet empire, Pope Benedict sees the enemy as relativism, an offshoot of secularism in which it does not matter what you believe and there is no absolute truth.

It is not an exaggeration to say the Pope is waging a war against relativism. He can see the fallout in the desperately low Mass attendance in Europe, the regulation of same-sex unions and the erosion of many religious orders. The Vatican even failed to get a mention of God in the new European constitution. Add to this that Europe now has millions of faithful followers of Islam, and it is no wonder the Pope occasionally worries about the future of the faith.

Just before succeeding John Paul II in April, 2005, he gave this homily that has become the touchstone of his reign. "To have a clear faith ... is often styled a fundamentalism. Meanwhile relativism, meaning allowing oneself to be carried away 'here and there by any wind of doctrine,' appears as the only attitude to modern times. What's being constructed is a dictatorship of relativism, which recognizes nothing as definite and that regards one's self and one's own desires as the final measure."

To Richard Gaillardetz, a professor of Catholic studies at the University of Toledo in Ohio, the three statements this summer are linked to that homily and were "warning shots across the bow" against those who would make the Church look divided or say Vatican II was a repudiation of the past.

"The only way to confront the dictatorship of relativism is with a more robust assertion of the uniqueness of the revelation of God in Christ, which continues to be preserved in the Catholic Church," he said.

"I understand that framework, I understand his fears, but I'm not sure his solution is going to work.... I think there is a danger you succumb to kind of a historical romanticism."

As for the Pope's warning to theologians, Prof. Gaillardetz said: "The moment you talk about a dictatorship you invite this battle cry language, this us-against-them fight for the integrity of the Christian faith ... there's not a lot of room for debate."

Fr. Reese said when the Pope was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under John Paul II, he went after theologians who questioned the church's teachings on sex, especially birth control, and theologians who were interpreting the Gospel as a means to overthrow oppressive regimes in Latin America. And now the doctrinal enforcer is going after Peter Phan, the Georgetown University theologian, for his inter-religious views.

"He feels he has clear and distinct ideas and responses to these issues, and he wants theologians to echo his position and not confuse people with their creative ideas," said Fr. Reese, who now teaches at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.

"But frankly, how many people read Peter Phan until the Vatican went after him? Most of these people that the Vatican have gone after are in no way endangering the faith of the people in the pews, because the people in the pews don't even know they exist. Seems to me it's a much better process to let the theologians fight it out among themselves."

Fr. Richard Neuhaus, the Canadian-born editor of First Things, an influential New York-based magazine about religion and public life, believes theologians have to "think with the Church" and not undermine its teachings. And when someone steps too far away, they should no longer be called Catholic theologians. (The Catholic Church actually licenses its theologians and being stripped of that licence can prevent someone from teaching at a Catholic university.)

Fr. Neuhaus, who also works closely with Evangelical Protestants in the United States on issues of common concern such as gay marriage and abortion, but also on broader areas of faith, said the Evangelicals he works with were not at all insulted by the Vatican's remarks on Protestant churches.

He said secularism is often "anti-religious and anti-Christian," and it is right for Pope Benedict to fight a system of thinking that wants to exclude religion from the public debate.

"The fact is the institutional separation of church and state is something that is to be cherished. But you cannot separate religion and public life. If you have an overwhelming majority [as in the United States] who claim to be religious and Christian, and if they believe as we know they do that morality is connected to religion, to exclude religion from public life is to exclude morality from public life. And that simply undermines the whole foundation of democracy."

Brian Stiller, the president of Tyndale University College and Seminary, a Christian school in Toronto, admires the Pope for bringing "certitude." Evangelicals and Catholics in Canada have worked closely on such issues as abortion and euthanasia and will continue to do so, he added.

"In a radically secular age, conservative Protestants have so much in common with Catholics that we find ourselves to be easy working partners," he said. "I give the Pope space because there is a public in the world that he thinks he needs to speak to and get something across. I wouldn't be surprised if it was intended for Latin America where there has been a great wave of conversions [to Protestantism]."

Not everyone, though, is so understanding. Rev. Canon John Simons, the principal of the (Anglican) Montreal Diocesan Theological College, and who has worked on Anglican-Roman Catholic conciliation for years, likened the comment about Protestants to one person telling another they are not fully human.

"I think that the unfortunate lasting impact that it will have among Anglicans is to set back the ecumenical progress that has been made over the last 35 years," he said. "When Anglicans hear these things being said, they say, 'What's the use of talking to Roman Catholics, they really don't take us seriously.' For those of us committed to the ecumenical movement, this is really disappointing, really disheartening."

A translation of the Holy Father's homily at the Ordination Mass today has been posted in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES.








Right, the Pope ordains new Archbishop 'Mietek' Mockrycki.



Pope tells new bishops to be
'angels' of the Churches entrusted to them


Vatican City, Sept. 29 (AsiaNews) – There is an intrinsic bond between a bishop’s ministry and the mission of angels, Benedict XVI said in his homily at this morning’s Eucharistic celebration during which he ordained 6 new bishops - 5 Italians and 1 Pole - the first time he has done so as Pope.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State and Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop of Lviv of the Latins, participated in the ceremony. Other cardinals present were Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's Vicar-General in Rome, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, and Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz of Cracow.

One of the new archbishops, Mons. Mieczysław Mokrzycki, was former second private secretary to John Paul II, assisting now-Cardinal Dsiwisz at the time, as well as Benedict XVI himself, was ordained Archbishop Coadjutor of Lviv, with the right to succeed as Archbishop after the current archbishop retires.

Along with Msgr. Mokrzycki, the pope ordained bishops Msgr. Francesco Brugnaro, Msgr. Gianfranco Ravasi, Msgr. Tommaso Caputo, Msgr. Sergio Pagano, Msgr. Vincenzo Di Mauro.

Todeay being the feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the Pope recalled that in the early Church – and in Revelations – bishops are referred to as “angels”.

Like angels, the Pope said, bishops must lead humanity to God; they must knock on the door to their hearts to announce Christ; they must heal the wounds of relations between man and woman and save them from sin with reconciliation and forgiveness.

Throughout his entire discourse, the pontiff referred to this similitude, starting with the names of the three Archangels, all with the suffix “El”, the name of God in Hebrew.

“God is written in their names, in their very nature," the Pope said. "They are his messengers. They bring God to mankind, they reveal the heavens and thus, they reveal earth….. The Angels speak to man about what constitutes his true being, what is often covered or buried in his life. They recall man back to himself, touching him on God’s behalf”.

“In this way even we humans must become angels for one another – angels who lead us from the wrong path and guide us once again towards God…..A bishop must be a man of prayer, who intercedes on behalf of mankind with God”.




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From the Vatican photo gallery, this is the best I could get:
Left, Mons. Ravasi being consecrated by the Pope; right, Mons. 'Mietek'



The photos for the four other bishops had the band running right across their faces,
worse than with Mietek's, so I'm not reproducing them.


More from Catholic Press PHOTO:







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Not having been able to watch the Ordination Mass till the encore presentation which I am watching tonight on EWTN, I find it a crime that the news reports never convey the utter extraordinariness of an episcopal ordination presided by the Pope at St. Peter's Basilica.

Besides the solemn pageantry and beauty of a Missa Cantata and Holy Orders celebrated in LATIN, with all that rich polyphony of vocal music - none of this can ever be taken for granted, and are always truly soul-stirring - I did not realize that after the Pope, all the cardinals and bishops present were also going to each 'lay their hands' on the new bishops. There were so many of them this part alone took up more than 20 minutes of the rite. Imagine what it must be like for a new bishop to have the Pope and all these princes of the Church passing on the apostolic succession, so to speak.

I found the whole rite, with the Pope's presentation of the Gospel, the bishop's ring, the miter and pastoral staff to each of the new bishops, more beautiful than the relatively much simpler rites at a consistory for new cardinals....Each of the bishops had a different miter and staff, designed according to their personal preferences, I suppose (the miter 'tails' must carry their personal coats of arms). From something Mons. Ravasi wrote in his farewell column for Avvenire today, the miters and staffs can be gifts from the new bishop's family and friends. The staff of Avvenire offered his miter, for instance.)

It is particularly so right that the new bishops were concelebrants of the Mass itself!

Liturgical Dispute:
Bishops skirmish over Motu Proprio
By Elizabeth Lev


Ms. Lev's viewpoint on this issue is welcome as she lives in Rome. She recaps items we have previously posted on this thread in translation.



ROME, SEPT. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- After the sunny skies of August, storm clouds appeared this week in Rome as Benedict XVI's apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum came into effect Sept. 14.

For those who have been sleeping under a liturgical rock this summer, the July 7 papal document, issued "motu proprio" (on his own initiative), gave all Catholic priests much broader permission to celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal, and the faithful the right to request this form of the liturgy.

This might have passed unnoticed except for a few keen Vatican watchers, but a commotion among the Italian bishops regarding the document had every journalist in Italy focused on Rome.

The Italian episcopal conference met Sept. 16-19 and immediately brought up the question of implementing the apostolic letter. Of the 30 Italian bishops in the assembly, a small number took the opportunity to criticize the document, claiming that the ecclesiology in the old missal was "incompatible" with the new rite.

The Holy Father accompanied the papal document with a letter to the bishops on how to implement the document in which he states: "There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture.

"What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful."

Perhaps these few dissenters had not opened their mail recently.

The same bishops then requested that the conference as a body prepare an "interpretive document" regarding the implementation of the letter in an "Italian" sense. "Italian" in this context would mean a restricted application.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the heroic former head of the Italian bishops' conference, who rallied the bishops to oppose the gay marriage bill in Italy and the referendum on embryo testing, rose to the occasion.

Together with the present leader of the conference, Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, and several other bishops, he insisted that the papal document is not to be interpreted but applied.

While objections were being raised in the CEI, an open rebellion erupted in the shadow of Vesuvius. Bishop Raffaele Nogara of Caserta, known in Italy as the "ecumenical bishop" for his openness toward the Islamic communities in his diocese, abruptly canceled a Tridentine Mass days before it was scheduled to be celebrated in the Parish of Sant'Anna.

Bishop Nogara was quoted in Italian newspapers as saying that he canceled the Mass so as "not to set a precedent," and that he wanted to encourage his diocese to pray correctly, as "babbling in Latin serves no purpose."

One wonders what the fuss is about. The "Novus Ordo," the Latin name for the rite established by Paul VI in 1969, is not being supplanted, nor is this a return to a liturgical "stone age." Michelangelo, Bernini and Mozart made art, churches and music for this rite - can it really be all that bad?

Far from a rollback to pre-Vatican II times, Benedict XVI has sought to fully implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. It was, after all, the Vatican II document regarding the sacred liturgy that states: "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites. But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass … or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 36).

On the bright side, many people, from cardinals down to faithful on the street, are excited about the openness to the old missal. Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia, was recently quoted in ZENIT as being in full agreement with the Holy Father.

On the other side of the globe, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote a beautiful letter to his diocese, noting, "Both the 'Forma ordinaria' and the 'Forma extraordinaria' of the Mass have been the source of holiness for countless saints throughout history."

Summorum Pontificum is a popular subject in Rome. Reflections in the cafes or piazzas have been overwhelmingly positive with the faithful eager and alive to the possibility of rediscovering the mystery and majesty of the Eucharist through the Tridentine rite.

In this as in many other areas, Benedict XVI has proved to be more "liberal" than people would have thought, expanding the Church's offerings so that the faithful can worship God in manifold ways.

The first Sunday of Advent - the start of the liturgical year - why not? Strangely, no one in the media speculated before this on the first occasion when Pope Benedict XVI himself would celebrate the 'extraordinary' form in public....Just to show how the media continues to misrepresent the traditional Mass, Corriere della Sera's headline for this article was "The Pope prepares to say the Latin Mass', doubly absurd because yesterday's Ordination Mass in the ordinary form was celebrated entirely in Latin (except for the Reading, in Ukrainian, to honor the presence of Ukrainian prelates).


A Pope has not used the old Missal in 40 years:
it may happen again on December 3
By Luigi Accattoli


VATICAN CITY - A new era in culture and rites at the Vatican. Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI named Giovanni Maria Vian as editor of Osservatore Romano and ordained Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi an archbishop who will take over as the Vatican's 'minister of culture'. And the nomination of a new liturgical master of papal ceremonies to replace Archbishop Piero Marini is expected soon.

With a new 'cerimoniere', it is very likely that the Pope will celebrate Mass with the traditional rite for the first time at St. Peter's Basilica, obviously in Latin. And this could take place on December 2, first Sunday of Advent.

If that happens, then the passage from one ceremonial master to another will have a generational and symbolic relevance, because it has been more than 40 years since a Pope celebrated Mass with the old Missal - before Pope Paul VI's 1970 liturgical reform.

The new 'cerimoniere' will be another Marini, first name Guido, aged 41, a Genoese priest whom no one in Rome knows. He was reportedly presented to the Pope by Cardinal Bertone who had this Bishop Marini as his 'cerimoniere' when he was Archbishop of Genoa; the younger Marini has continued in this capacity with Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco.

It is not known what the younger Marini's orientation is about the traditional Mass, but it is supposed he is more in favor than the older Marini, who is a passionate advocate of the new liturgy.

However, there is nothing definite yete about Benedict's intention to give other bishops an 'example' of the spontaneous celebration of the traditional Mass on December 2. And there is the usual division among those who hope such a gesture would conclusively 'validate' its restoration to equal right and recognition, and those who fear it would be 'another step away from Vatican-II' ['Another step'? These voices are really getting too tiresome besides being absurd.]

It will be remembered that Cardinal Ratzinger celebrated the traditional Mass in public on more than one occasion in the past 20 years, notably at Wigratzbad in Bavaria and at Fontgombault in France, at traditionalist centers.

Yesterday Ordination Mass in St. Peter's [Journalistic accuracy would have required Accattoli at this point to note it was a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in Latin] may well have been the last one at the Basilica to be directed by Piero Marini who has done so for more than 20 years.

The younger Marini and Vian at Osservatore Romano will take on their new functions after the Pope's October 21 visit to Naples, which will be the last public occasion for the older Marini as Papal 'cerimoniere' and Mario Agnes as editor of Osservatore Romano, who is stepping down after 23 years.

Giovanni Maria Vian, 55, historian and prolific newspaper contributor, passionate admirer of Paul VI, was chosen to relaunch Osservatore Romano and find it a new place in the era of global communications as a 'cultural laboratory of world Catholicism', in the words of Cardinal Bertone.

He will have Carlo Di Cicco, 63, one of the most respected Vatican correspondents, in his long career with the ASCA news agency.


Corriere della sera, 30 settembre 2007

A full translation of the Holy Father's words at Angelus in Castel Gandolfo today has been posted in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS TEXTS.

The Pope's brief homily was about the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus from today's Gospel.

In messages after the Angelus, he spoke about the serious events happening in Burma today, expressing hope for a peaceful solution soon, and about hopeful developments in the dialog between the two Koreas.







Pope appeals for peace in Myanmar and Korea


Castel Gandolfo, Sept. 30 (AsiaNews) – Benedict XVI made an appeal today at the end of the Angelus prayer for a “peaceful solution” to the “dramatic events” in Myanmar and for a fruitful dialogue between the two Koreas.

“I follow with great trepidation the dramatic events of the last few days in Myanmar and wish to stress my spiritual closeness to that dear people at a time when it is going through such a painful trial,” the Pontiff said. “As I reassure you of my intense and concerned prayer I urge the whole Church to do the same, truly hopeful that a peaceful solution [to the crisis] can be found for the good of the country.”

Frustrated by economic crisis, corruption and the lack of freedom, and inspired by the example of Buddhist monks, the people of Myanmar have challenged the military junta in demonstrations and protests for over a month. In the last few days the government has banned every demonstration and dispersed every gathering; it has not hesitated from firing on crowds and raiding monasteries, killing at least 13 people.

Yesterday United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in the country in an attempt to stop the repression and persuade the junta to start a dialogue with the population and pro-democracy groups.

The Burmese Church (600,000 members out of a population of almost 50 million) launched a prayer campaign for the good of the people and for national reconciliation. Burmese bishops have received the backing of many Bishops’ Conferences of Asia. And young Catholics, both laity and priests, have taken part in the demonstrations, showing their solidarity to Buddhist monks.

The Pope called on people to also pray for “the situation in the Korean Peninsula where some important developments in the dialogue between the two Koreas is giving us hope that the efforts of reconciliation underway may grow stronger in favour and to the benefit of stability and peace of the entire region.”

Benedict XVI’s appeal comes at a time when the six-nation talks in Beijing are starting up again involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. They had been halted by Pyongyang’s refusal to freeze its nuclear programme. For the United States the Beijing meetings are a “last chance” for the process to succeed.

In order to get the North Koreans to reject nuclear escalation, the Americans and the South Koreans have pledged to provide food aid and energy for the people of North Korea, which has been suffering hunger as a result of natural disasters and regime neglect.

Benedict XVI also mentioned the situation in sub-Saharan Africa, “affected these days by serious flooding,” adding that “we cannot forget many other humanitarian emergencies in different regions of the world where conflict over political and economic power is exacerbating already seriously degraded environments.”

With this in mind the Pope gave today’s Gospel reading about the (nameless) rich man and poor Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31) a “social reading.”

“The rich man,” the Pope said, “represents the unfair use of wealth for unbridled and selfish luxury by people who only think about their own satisfaction unconcerned by the beggar standing at their door. By contrast, the poor represents those whom only God cares about.

Benedict XVI quoted from Populorum Progressio, Paul VI’s encyclical which looked forward to “building a human community where men can live truly human lives . . . where the needy Lazarus can sit down with the rich man at the same banquet table" (n. 47).



The crowd watching the telecast from Castel Gandolfo at St. Peter's Square was probably much larger
than the Angelus audience in Castel Gandolfo itself.

Has German pope re-Italianized the Roman Curia?

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Is Pope Benedict XVI re-Italianizing the Roman Curia?

The question has percolated around Rome in recent months as a string of Vatican appointments left Italian prelates in high places.

The pontifical councils that deal with social communications, canon law and cultural issues -- until recently headed by an American, a Spaniard and a Frenchman -- are now in the hands of Italian bishops.

So are the Vatican Library and Secret Archives. The Vatican City governor's office, which had been headed by U.S. Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, reverted to an Italian for the first time in 26 years.

An Italian Jesuit now directs the Vatican Press Office, taking over from a Spaniard.

A number of important middle-management posts at the Vatican, particularly in diplomatic and financial areas, also have gone to Italians.

Some suspect the Italian resurgence may reflect the influence of Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's energetic secretary of state, who took office a year ago.

In a recent interview with the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Bertone was asked bluntly: "Is the era of the internationalization of the Roman Curia really over?"

The cardinal responded by pointing out that Italians were still outnumbered by non-Italians as heads of curial offices. He said internationalization was still the way to go, but that geographic identity should never be the determining factor in such appointments.

To illustrate that non-Italians were also being chosen, he cited the recent appointments of a Nigerian protocol chief and a Spanish head of the Vatican's almsgiving office -- not exactly top-level positions.

When the Polish Pope John Paul II was elected in 1978, he was the first non-Italian to sit on the throne of St. Peter in more than 450 years. Many Italians considered this an aberration and fully expected one of their own to succeed him.

When Pope Benedict, a German, was elected instead -- in a conclave that by all accounts did not field a strong Italian candidate -- it ended any lingering illusion that the papacy belonged to Italy.

But perhaps because he had worked at the Vatican for 24 years, Pope Benedict was familiar with the Italian members of the Roman Curia, appreciated their management skills and began turning to them when it came time to put his own team into place.

So far, he has put nine Italians in charge of key Vatican offices, compared to five people from the rest of the world. When one includes the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in curial offices, the appointments total 18 Italians and seven from other countries.

The Italian presence is most visible in the Secretariat of State, where the top seven officials are now Italian, and in two important offices that control the Vatican's budget and investment affairs, where all the top people are Italian.

Yet those numbers do not tell the whole story. Of the Vatican's nine congregations, traditionally the most important of Vatican offices, eight are headed by non-Italians. The lone Italian is Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

Early in his pontificate, the pope named U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It's an appointment that never went down well in some Italian quarters, and the Rome rumor mill regularly churns out speculation -- apparently unfounded -- that Cardinal Levada may soon be replaced by an Italian.

The pope has since brought in three other "foreigners": Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias at the evangelization congregation, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes at the clergy congregation, and Argentine Archbishop Leonardo Sandri at the Eastern churches congregation.

That makes for an unprecedented international mix at the helm of the nine congregations: prelates from nine different countries and five different continents.

In the recent newspaper interview, Cardinal Bertone touched on a related hot topic when he said a reorganization of the Roman Curia was still under study as a hypothesis.

The first few months of Pope Benedict's pontificate brought reports of an imminent reduction of curial offices, tantalizing those who think the Vatican bureaucracy has grown too large and that the German pope would not hesitate to cut it back.

But as a veteran of the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict no doubt remembers that Pope John Paul had a similar plan at the start of his pontificate. When it was finally implemented after 16 years, it turned out to be a minireform instead of a major overhaul and created as many curial agencies as it eliminated.

Pope Paul VI, who also wrestled with the Vatican bureaucratic structure, once remarked that making major changes to the Roman Curia was like trying to "change tires on a moving car -- almost impossible."

The Holy Father today granted separate audiences to the five new Italian bishops consecrated last Saturday,
with their respective families.

***

The Vatican announced today the nominations of

- Mons. Guido Marino*, 42, as the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, replacing
- Mons. Piero Marini, who was named President of the Pontifical committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

*A translation of his CV has been posted in PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE.

***

The Vatican also released the text of two Papal messages:
- On Sept. 27, to His Beatitude Daniel, new Archbishop of Bucharest, who was enthroned yesterday as Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In French.
- On Sept. 12, to Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, to mark Mission Year, in honor of St. Therese of Liseux, patroness of missions.

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

From Lella's blog:

'JESUS OF NAZARETH ' GETS
ITALIAN BOOK PRIZE

Pope Benedict XVI's GESU DI NAZARET has been awarded the Gran Premio Capri San Michele for 2007, it was announced yesterday in Anacapri by Raffaele Vacca, president of the Associazione di Varia Umanità which has promoted the prestigious event for the past 24 years.

"It is a book that illuminates the previous works of Joseph Ratzinger, with a simplicity of language, and in presenting without magisterial claims the historical Jesus, gives new sense to the widespread need of God by showing how the faith is founded on a true story," Vacca said.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger won the Premio San Michele Capri twice before for religious books.

But the Gran Premio (Grand Prize) has only been conferred once before - to John Paul II for his book Strade d'amore(Ways of love) in 2002.



RANJITH TO REPLACE ARINZE
AFTER THE LATTER RETIRES?

Lella's blog also carries a speculative story by Andrea Bevilacqua from Italia Oggi yesterday. This is the gist:

On November 1, Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, turns 75. If he retires because of reaching the canonical retirement age, it is thought Pope Benedict XVI will name Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, currently secretary of the Congregation, to take his place.

Ranjith, who is from Sri Lanka, was recalled by the Pope in 2005 from his assignment in Indonesia to take his current position at the Congregation for Divine Worship.

A surprising article in the Italian Panorama magazine from a writer who has been habitually negative about Pope Benedict, even if the article tacitly assumes that accusations imply guilt and betrays the author's usual bias in his opening paragraph. Here is a translation:



The Church and scandals:
The Pope is for openness
and zero tolerance of 'filth'
By Ignazio Ingrao


The moral question is the new emergency in the Italian church. Three months since the success of Family Day, Italian parish priests, religious and even two bishops stand accused of many things. [How can the accusations about the personal conduct of a few priests detract in any way from the success of Family Day - an overwhelming demonstration of support for the traditional idea of family? What a non sequitur!]

Mons. Giuseppe Betori, secretary-general of the Italian bishops conference, has answered back that the Church "does not fear the truth" and "the bishops have all the elements to show that the accusations (against them) are unfounded."

However, Papa Ratzinger has asked for maximum strictness and will not make exceptions. The first decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on May 27, 2005 (5 weeks after the election of Benedict XVI), was a condemnation of Fr. Gino Burresi, founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for sexual abuses as well as abuses in the confessional and in his functions as spiritual director. His case was under investigation for years by the CDF.

The Pope clearly wanted to send a message to the Italian church hierarchy: zero tolerance, no more covering up or 'reticences' about offenses by priests.

At that moment, a page was turned, as the dramatic news reports of the following months would show: from Fr. Bisceglie of Consenza to Dr. Cantini in Florence.

Sexual abuses and financial malversations have been the major accusations against offending priests, who really make up a very tiny percentage of Italy's more than 50,000 priests. But they involve cases which have occupied the crime pages with unusual frequency.

On march 7, 2007, Mons. Angelo Bagnasco took over as president of the Italian bishops conference, after Cardinal Camillo Ruini. A few weeks later, the media gave ample play to cases involving two of Cardinal Ruini's most faithful followers: the Archbishop of Siena, Antonio Buoncristiani, and the auxiliary bishop of Florence, Claudio Maniago.

Buoncristiani had been asked by Ruini in his time to liaison with the magazine Famiglia cristiana, which was not always on the same page as the CEI. And Maniago had been the right arm of the former secretary-general of the CEI, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli.

Considered an enfant prodige in the Church, Maniago was ordained a bishop at age 44 under Ruini's patronage. Now he is being investigated for malversation of diocesan funds and questionable partying.

His supporters claim he is innocent and claim he is the victim of a conspiracy. Their opponents claim that the Italian Church should show 'clean hands'.

Police investigations are still under way and these accusations still have to be proven.

[The problem is that the accusations are ventilated in the media before judicial investigations have been completed, leading to a trial by publicity, which generally presumes guilt rather than innocence till proven guilty.]

The Italian Church is divided: there are those who brandish the spectre of pedophilia as it has been done in the United States, and those who accuse the media of a derogatory campaign against the Church.

Massimo Camisasca, founder of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo, one of the most active religious congregations that has emerged in the past 30 years and among the most successful in inspiring new vocations, calls on everyone to consider both aspects.

"First, we should recognize the urgent necessity for a reform within the Church. Next, there is undoubtedly a determined attack against the Church by those who wish to reduce it only to the spiritual sphere, deprived of any role in history."

He recalls the denunciation made by Cardinal Ratzinger a few weeks before he was elected Pope.

"In the meditations he wrote for the Via Crucis of Good Friday in 2005, the future Benedict XVI lamented the filth within the Church. The garments and the face of the Church thus besmirched fill us with dismay, he wrote. These were very strong words which showed how clear it was in the mind of the future Pope that a reform within the Church was urgent.

"He has since given a another very strong signal in approving the beatification soon of Antonio Rosmini who had denounced the five scourges of the Church, for which his writings were placed in the Index of forbidden books."

Camisasca thinks the reform within the Church should start at the top. "It is urgent to start at the level of the procedures for naming bishops. The Church has urgent need of pastors, but they must be capable of taking care of their own priests, to help them discern their tr5ue vocation and to carefully follow the training in the seminaries where future priests are formed."

In short, Camisasca calls for a new moral impulse "which involves the entire Christian community without hiding or minimizing the failings and problems which the Church faces today. A Church which is not open about its own sins just offers more ammunition to its accusers."

At the same time, he says, the Church must not under-estimate the "evidently determined media assault against the Church in general and against the Italian church in particular."

He believes that the principal motivation for these attacks are the positions openly advocated by Benedict XVI. He makes a parallel to what happened in the United States. He thinks that the media campaign on pedophilia among priests was calculated to keep the US Church from focusing on its opposition to the Bush administrations war in Iraq. [This last statement is illogical, however, since the very elements in the US media who are most vocal about denouncing sexual-offender priests are also the most vocal against the US involvement in Iraq and the Bush administration in general.]

"Today, the words of Ratzinger, who offers the power of Christian faith against the dictatorship of relativism, is annoying to many secularists. Just as his continuing appeals in favor of non-negotiable values regarding life, family, religious freedom and freedom to choose an education for one's children.

"John Paul II proposed the same things but media and public opinion were more focused on his mediatic charisma than on his demanding words. But with Ratzinger, the reaction of secular culture and the mass media has been immediate and sustained."

Similar thoughts were expressed by the historian Giovanni Miccoli, author of a recent book which compares the Pontificates of the last two Popes, In difesa della fede: La Chiesa di Giovanni Paolo II e Benedetto XVI (In defense of the faith: The Church of John Paul II and BENEDICT XVI, published by Rizzoli).

"Benedict XVI's message is characterized by a decisive opposition to some essential aspects of today's culture. First of all, against the tradition of the Enlightenment. He recognizes some of its important gains such as respect for human rights, but he thinks the Enlightenment's great error is in rejecting Christian roots, excluding God from the public conscience and imposing ethical relativism."

Miccoli says Ratzinger sees "contemporary man threatened by a culture that makes freedom the ultimate measure for everything, opening the way to devastating conflicts such as those over abortion and euthanasia."

At the same time, he points out, the Pope also emphasizes "the role of the Magisterium which requires obedience from the faithful without the possibility of placing issues under discussion," such as homosexuality and married priests. [That is a misrepresentation! Discussion of issues has never been a problem - that is evident in the media, in books and in public and private discourses by dissidents. But discussion of the issues does not mean the Church is prepared to change or modify its non-negotiable values, nor its teaching about priestly celibacy, homosexuality and its opposition to women priests, which have been part of the fabric of the faith since the beginning. Dissidents against Church teaching may discuss all they want, but in the end, they must take personal responsibility for their decisions and consequent actions. If they are priests, they must think about the vow of obedience they made upon receiving Holy Orders.]

In short, the Church of Ratzinger does not accept any compromises with the contemporary world. Nor will it make exceptions for those who do not follow the rules.

Russian Orthodox patriarch talks of a meeting with pope

By Stephen Castle and Ian Fisher
International Herald Tribune
Monday, October 1, 2007

PARIS: The slow rapprochement between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican - separated for almost a thousand years - gathered momentum Monday as Russia's spiritual leader called for an alliance to promote Christian social values.

At the start of a visit to France, Patriarch Alexy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, also predicted that a meeting with the pope might take place within two years. The two churches must cooperate to combat the rise of same sex marriages and "propaganda in favor of euthanasia and abortion," the patriarch said in an interview with the daily Le Figaro, adding that he had "the same approach" to Europe's lack of spiritual values as Pope Benedict XVI.

The comments underline a thaw in relations between two churches and a growing willingness to promote common causes, even though the Russian Orthodox Church objects to the activities of Roman Catholic missionaries in Russia and former Soviet Republics.

Relations have improved notably since the death of Pope John Paul II who was regarded with suspicion by the Russian Orthodox hierarchy.

However, the patriarch's brand of moral conservatism could provoke criticism Tuesday in Strasbourg when he addresses the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a body dedicated to upholding civil and human rights, including nondiscrimination.

His brief address to the assembly will focus on human rights and ethical values. Critics have accused him of being too close to the Russian government.

Stanislav Belkovsky, head of the National Strategy Institute, a Russian research organization, said the patriarch traveled as "a direct representative of the Kremlin," and the Russian daily Kommersant suggested Tuesday that the visit aimed to counter European criticism of Russian human rights practices.

The patriarch will also meet with the Catholic Bishops' Conference and President Nicolas Sarkozy. In his interview in Le Figaro, Alexy said that, in terms of a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, he excluded "nothing." It could happen, "perhaps not in a month but in a year or two."

Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament and a practicing Roman Catholic, described the visit to France and meeting with Sarkozy as "highly significant at the current time," adding, "We need this dialogue if we are to avoid a "clash of civilizations."

Despite the positive message from the patriarch, obstacles could still prevent a meeting with the pope. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, underlined the problems of "missionary activities among some people belonging to the Catholic Church in Russia and some Greek Catholics in some parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan."

"Some activities of certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church hurt deeply," he said in an interview by telephone, "and there are those who say the Vatican puts forward one hand for shaking hands and the other to hit us. To avoid this impression it is important to solve the problems in sincere and concrete dialogue."

Nevertheless analysts point to a steady improvement in relations.

"The Vatican's relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church was not going to be easily improved under John Paul II," said Father Leonid Kishkovsky, director of external affairs for the Orthodox Church in America.

Under Benedict, the Russian Orthodox Church has been more willing to stress areas of convergence with the Roman Catholic Church because "they see it as giving them a more resonant voice in a Europe that is highly secular," Kishkovsky said.

Benedict visited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world's 220 million Orthodox, in Istanbul last year.

Anatoly Krasikov, head of the Center for Socio-Religious Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Benedict and Alexy.

"I think that sooner or later this meeting must occur," he said. "There is more understanding between both churches." Still, he added, "there is much that still divides Catholics and the Orthodox."

The Reverend Ronald Roberson, an expert on the Orthodox with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the patriarch's comments were significant as it apparently was the first time he had mentioned any concrete time for a meeting with the pope.

"That's an important step forward," Roberson said. "They have never been saying that. They have been saying we can't meet until we have progress on those certain issues. So if he's talking about a meeting in a certain period of time, that is something that is quite new."

Like his predecessor, Benedict has made a closer union with the world's Orthodox, themselves divided into 14 self-ruling churches, a central goal of his papacy. His first trip outside of Rome was to Bari, in southern Italy, a city important to Orthodox and Catholic alike and so considered a bridge between them, and talks between theological experts on both sides restarted last year after six years of dormancy.


Ian Fisher reported from Rome and Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting from Moscow.

I think its good that Patriarch Alexy has said that a meeting is possible in a year or two. The rest of his statements are positive signs. In previous interviews, he'd repeatedly bring up the problem of the activities of Roman Catholic missionaries as a block to a possible meeting. Not that they still don't view this as a problem, but he was not positive at all about a future meeting. I really can't see what the problem is, as I have read they are not trying to convert people who are Orthodox, but those who have no faith at all. I think some are just mad that Catholics would dare work on 'their turf' with 'their people'.

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

Forgive me for being cynical, but I don't see Alexei's last statement as any more 'promising' than previous ones. In the same story, there is this usual caveat from his retinue:

---

Despite the positive message from the patriarch, obstacles could still prevent a meeting with the pope. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, underlined the problems of "missionary activities among some people belonging to the Catholic Church in Russia and some Greek Catholics in some parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan."

"Some activities of certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church hurt deeply," he said in an interview by telephone, "and there are those who say the Vatican puts forward one hand for shaking hands and the other to hit us. To avoid this impression it is important to solve the problems in sincere and concrete dialogue."

---

Same-old-same-old. ALexei's simply doing PR.

Teresa

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

We'll see. One can hope. Before he wouldn't even talk about a meeting date w/ out mentioning missionaries & as far as I know wouldn't say a time. Now what? He realizes he looks like an uncooperative, bitter man and only says this to look good? Yes, I read the statement of the deputy chairman and its quite ridiculous and probably the most dissapointing part of the article. I see your point, the Orthodox through this statement feel the same way. But, time will tell if Alexei is willing to meet as he says instead of just talking.

-Lori

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

I have now seen the complete interview in Figaro, and here is a translation of what Alexei II himself said on the subject. Note that he is the one who brings up the question of a meeting with the Pope.

---

Benedict XVI has also expressed his unease about the spiritual emptiness in Europe. Can this common unease that you share be the basis for a rapprochement?

We have the same approach. One must defend Christian values against the notion of freedom understood as the possibility to do anything and everything. We should cooperate to prevent a redefinition of European moral values, egalisation of homosexual marriages, propaganda in favor of abortion and euthanasia. I am convinced that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church should act together to defend Christian values against aggressive materialism. The personal vision of the Pope contributes to this rapprochement.

About a possible meeting with Benedict XVI, I do not rule it out at all. Perhaps not within a month, but within a year or two. Nevertheless, it must be prepared for carefully and we must lift off all the difficulties.

Are you thinking of the activities of the Cahtolic Church in Russia?

In the context of religious freedom in our country, some in the Roman Catholic hierarchy have said that Russia is a religious desert that must be cultivated. I disagree. Russia is the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. The activity of some Catholic missionary orders is seen by our people as proselytism.

The other pending question is the activity of the Greek-Catholic Church [Roman church using the Byzantine rite, referred to as Uniate] in western Ukraine and its desire to extend itself to regions where it has never been implanted, as in eastern Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

I am categorically opposed to making my meeting with the Pope, which will have a historical nature, simply a media event. First, the disagreements must be truly overcome.

---

His statements speak volumes. I am disappointed that the interviewer did not at least follow up on his accusation of proselytism.

Originally, this accusation had been directed against the supposed activities of Polish missionaries in the time of John Paul II, but I had the impression this had already been dealt with - that any such missionary activity was stopped and the Polish priests recalled.

His statement of the 'Ukraine problem' glosses over the underlying dispute which is that the Russian Orthodox is laying claim to the properties of the Uniates on the ground that these rightfully belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

BTW, the Italian papers in reporting this interview today led off with the common defense of Christian values, rather than the line about a meeting with the Pope, which has become for them, a broken record stuck in an intransigent groove.

New cardinals to be named this week?

Vatican, Oct. 1, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Rumors are swirling around Rome that Pope Benedict XVI will soon announce a consistory for the creation of new cardinals, to be held late in November 2007.

Speculation about a November consistory began in July. Journalists in Rome now suggest that the Pope could announce his plans this week.

[The rest of the story is backgrounder already sufficiently rehashed in recent Italian media stories about this. The only thing new about the CWN story is that it anticipates an announcement this week, earlier than previous speculation that the Pope will announce it towards the end of October, a month before the consistory said to be planned for November 24 or 25. We'll see.

PASTORAL VISIT, October 21, 2007



The organizers of the peace event appear to have co-opted the Papal Mass in Naples. The Mass is the traditional high point of a pastoral visit and would have taken place even without the encounter.


Benedict XVI to Open Interreligious Meeting

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will open the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions, organized by the Catholic lay Sant'Egidio Community and the Archdiocese of Naples.

The Pope will celebrate an opening Mass on Oct. 21, in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito.

This year's meeting has the theme "Toward a World Without Violence: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue."

The international encounters were inspired by the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by Pope John Paul II in Assisi in October 1986.

Benedict XVI will meet with participants, including Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I; the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; Israel's chief rabbi, Yona Metzger; and the rector of the Al-Azhar University in Egypt, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb.

A statement from the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community said, "In an age so marked by terrorism and war, as well as efforts at dialogue and reconciliation, the world’s religions have assumed a relevant role in the public arena."

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

A later item in PETRUS added the following info:


At a news conference later, Mario Marazziti, a leder of the Sant'Egidio Community, said that after the morning Papal Mass at Piazza del Plebiscito, Pope Benedict XVI will meet with some 200 representatives of various world religions who are taking part in the inter-religious encounter.

Afterwards, the delegation leaders and participating heads of states or national representatives will have luncheon with the Pope at the major seminary of Naples.

Besides dozens of group discussions to be held over the 3-day meeting on the main theme this year, special group discussions are also scheduled for issues like "Cities between profit and coexistence", "the Middle East between conflict and dialog", and the AIDS emergency in Africa.

Marazziti said that religions can play an important role as the counter-culture of peace and coexistence in today's culture of violence - a violence, he said, "that manifests its tragic face both on the macro level, in wars and political theories that depend on force to accomplish their ends, as well as on a limited local level, such as in the city of Naples where widespreasd violence occurs on a daily basis."

This account by the Russian news agency Interfax based on yet another interview given by the Patriarch of Moscow is even more blunt. He's not ready for any meeting with the Pope. Period.


Russian patriarch says
meeting with Benedict not planned


MOSCOW, Oct 1 (Interfax) - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has again denied that plans are afoot to organize a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

"A visit by the pope is not being considered. But we have never rejected the possibility of personal talks with the pope, even in the most dramatic periods in our relations," the patriarch said in an interview with the French magazine La Vie posted on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Russian Orthodox Church has always viewed a possible meeting between "the leaders of the two largest Christian churches as real improvement in Orthodox-Catholic relations, not as a formal event to be covered by the world media."

Asked to assess Orthodox-Catholic relations, the patriarch said that the two churches' current task was "to assert Evangelical and Christian values and way of life" and that their joint testimony is based on the two churches' shared positions regarding many of today's issues.

"It is obvious that such tendencies as aggressive secularism, religious relativism, the confining of religion to the sidelines of public life, the propaganda of consumerism, and the revision of ethical norms require a joint Christian response, which the Orthodox and Catholic churches must provide," Alexy II said.

"Adhering to a traditional vision of Christian values, we must rise to the support of family values and again alert the public to the dangers of the much-popularized and sinful "culture of death," - abortions, euthanasia and same-sex marriages, he said.

The patriarch also said that the Russian Orthodox and Catholic churches have a positive experience of cooperation in defending and preaching Christian values in the world-at the level of European institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg, and at the UN, "where we represent the Christian view on the problems of social organization, human rights and human dignity," he said.

Alexy II began an official visit to France on Monda, Oct. 1.


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

A related story:

Pope Promises Catholic Help
for New Romanian Patriarch


VATICAN CITY, OCT. 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI told the newly enthroned patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church that he can count on collaboration from Catholics.

The Pope sent a delegation to Bucharest on Sunday to participate in the solemn enthronement celebrations of Patriarch Daniel Ciobotea, the new leader of 19 million Romanian Orthodox.

The Vatican delegation was led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and included Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the same dicastery, and Archbishop Jean-Claude Périsset, apostolic nuncio to Romania.

As a "pledge to search for full communion," Cardinal Kasper gave the patriarch a chalice in the Pope’s name. He also delivered a letter from the Holy Father, written in French, which told the patriarch that "Catholics are standing with their Orthodox brethren, with prayer and availability, to offer useful collaboration."

"The one and only Gospel waits to be proclaimed by everyone together, in love and reciprocal esteem," wrote Benedict XVI.

The message recalls the good relations established by Pope John Paul II and the then Patriarch Teoctist.

Patriarch Teoctist died July 30, at age 92. He had served 19 years as patriarch.

That meeting of religious leaders and the words spoken at that time, said Benedict XVI in his message, “continue to be relevant for me and the Catholic Church, highlighting that it is especially necessary to intensify the bonds that unite us for the good of the Church."

The Bishop of Rome said that strengthening the friendship between Catholics and Orthodox will be decisive “to respond to today’s needs in Europe and the world, on both the religious and social levels.”

“A common witness of Christians is ever more necessary to respond to our shared vocation and to urgencies of our time," concluded the message.

Patriarch Daniel, 56, was the metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina. A renowned intellectual, the patriarch boasts three doctorates, two received abroad, 12 years of ecumenical studies and more than 10 years as a monk.

Among the Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Church is second only to the Russian Church in the number of faithful.

For the record, here is the full Pew Forum report on the recent survey it carried out in the USA. From
pewforum.org/surveys/religionviews07/

Opinions about Pope Benedict XVI




Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Americans who are familiar with Pope Benedict XVI have a favorable opinion of him. Catholics, not surprisingly, view the pope most favorably (86%). But large majorities of other religious groups, including more than seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (72%), mainline Protestants (75%) and black Protestants (70%), also are favorably inclined towards Pope Benedict. Among the religiously unaffiliated, however, just 57% have a favorable opinion of the pope.

As expected, Pope Benedict XVI is now better known among the public than he was two years ago. Currently, 68% offer an opinion of the pope, up from 55% in July 2005. Yet greater visibility has not improved the pope's image. In 2005, 81% of those able to rate Pope Benedict expressed a favorable opinion of him, compared with 73% currently.

Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had higher favorability ratings. In 1996, an overwhelming majority (86%) of those who could rate Pope John Paul II expressed a favorable opinion of him. Moreover, about a third of Americans (32%) had a "very favorable" view of Pope John Paul II, compared with just 21% for the current pope, based on those who could rate each.

The gap in very positive views is particularly evident among Catholics. Half of Catholics had a very favorable opinion of Pope John Paul II in 1996; currently, just 32% express strongly positive opinions of Pope Benedict XVI. There is a similar, though less dramatic, difference in opinions of the two popes among white evangelical and white mainline Protestants. More than a quarter of white evangelical Protestants (26%) and white mainline Protestants (28%) had a very favorable opinion of Pope John Paul II, but only 16% and 14%, respectively, view Pope Benedict this way.



Divided Views of Pontiff's Outreach
A plurality of Americans (46%) who have heard at least a little about Pope Benedict say he is doing only a fair or poor job of promoting good relations with other religions; 38% say the pope is doing an excellent or good job. Though Catholics give the pope higher marks for building interfaith relations (54%), even many among this group (40%) say he is doing only a fair job or a poor job in this regard.

There are substantial political differences in views on this issue, as in overall opinions about Pope Benedict. Conservative Republicans are the only political group in which a plurality believes the pope is doing an excellent or good job in promoting positive relations with other religions. Moderate and liberal Republicans are evenly divided over the pope's performance in this area, while roughly half of independents (51%) and conservative and moderate Democrats (47%), and 61% of liberal Democrats, say he is doing only a fair or poor job in dealing with other religions.



There is a similar pattern in general views of Pope Benedict. By greater than five-to-one (84%-16%), conservative Republicans have a favorable opinion of the pope; substantial majorities of moderate and liberal Republicans (79%), independents (68%), and conservative and moderate Democrats (79%) also express highly positive views of Pope Benedict. But liberal Democrats have a less favorable view: 59% have a positive impression of the pope, compared with 41% who express an unfavorable opinion.

When asked whether they believe the pope is conservative, moderate or liberal most Americans who have heard of him say that the pope is conservative (56%). Another 17% say he is moderate and only 5% of Americans say he is liberal.

Views of the pope differ markedly by education level. Fully 71% of college graduates say the pope is very conservative (30%) or conservative (41%). Those with no college experience are less sure of the pope's ideology; fewer than half of Americans (46%) with less than a high school education view the pope as a conservative.

Views of Other Religious Leaders
Evangelist Billy Graham is viewed positively by three-quarters of Americans who say they are familiar with the preacher. Graham is viewed favorably among most religious groups, especially among white evangelicals, 92% of whom have a favorable impression of him. Only among the religiously unaffiliated does a majority (52%) view him unfavorably.

Older Americans have a particularly favorable opinion of Graham. Among those who could rate Graham, 85% of those ages 50 and older – and 89% of those ages 65 and older – have a favorable opinion of him. Among those younger than age 30, 60% have a positive view of Graham. Roughly three-in-ten (29%) Americans under the age of 30 have never heard of Graham.

Although fewer Americans are familiar with Graham today than 20 years ago, views of him have been remarkably stable. In 1987, 72% of the American public who could rate him said they had a favorable view of him.

Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is not nearly as well-known or as highly regarded as Billy Graham. The vast majority of Americans (64%) do not know enough about Dobson to have an opinion. Among those who do express an opinion of Dobson, 59% view him favorably and 41% view him unfavorably.

About the Survey
Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Schulman, Ronca, & Bucuvalas, Inc. among a nationwide sample of 3,002 adults, 18 years of age or older, from August 1-18, 2007. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 2 percentage points. For results based on Form 1 (N=1,541) or Form 2 (N=1,461) only, the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR OCTOBER

VATICAN CITY, OCT 1, 2007 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for October is: "That the Christians who are in minority situations may have the strength and courage to live their faith and persevere in bearing witness to it."

His mission intention is: "That Missionary Day may be a propitious occasion for kindling an ever greater missionary awareness in every baptized person."


VATICAN MESSAGE TO U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
ENSURE THAT THE RIGHT TO LIFE
IS RESPECTED EVERYWHERE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 2, 2007 (VIS) - Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, yesterday participated in the general debate of the 62nd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is currently being held in New York.

At the beginning of his English-language talk, Archbishop Mamberti pointed out that "forgetting, or partially and selectively accepting," the principle of respect for human dignity "is what lies at the origin of conflicts, of environmental degradation and of social and economic injustices."

He went on: "The Holy See welcomes the initiative to hold the High-Level Dialogue on Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace which, ... will take place here shortly. Indeed, dialogue among peoples of different cultures and religions is not an option; it is something indispensable for peace and for the renewal of international life."

Referring to conflict prevention and to efforts aimed at achieving and maintaining peace, the secretary for Relations with States indicated that the Holy See looks forward "to the day that peacekeeping efforts in Darfur will finally be fully operational." Furthermore, "there is need for a renewed commitment, involving all member countries, in the pacification and reconstruction of long-suffering Iraq," and "in the search for a solution, through dialogue, of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians."

"Renewed commitment is needed in assuring that Lebanon will continue to be a free and independent country," the archbishop added, while on the subject of Myanmar, he reiterated Benedict XVI's appeal of last Sunday: "Through dialogue, good will and a spirit of humanity, may a solution to the crisis be found quickly for the good of the country and a better future for all its inhabitants."

Recalling that the year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Archbishop Mamberti said "the most important part of our work in this context is to ensure that the inherent right to life is respected everywhere."

"We must work to stop and reverse the culture of death embraced by some social and legal structures that try to make the suppression of life acceptable by disguising it as a medical or social service. In this sense, the abolition of the death penalty should also be seen as a consequence of full respect for the right to life."

INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION
HOLDING ANNUAL PLENARY SESSION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 2, 2007 (VIS) - The International Theological Commission is holding its annual plenary session in the Vatican's "Domus Sanctae Marthae" from October 1 to 5, under the presidency of Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The meeting, under the chairmanship of Fr. Luis Ladaria S.J., secretary general of the commission, will examine plans for a document on natural moral law which has, according to a communique, "the aim of ... advancing the search for the foundations of a universal system of ethics."

Attention will also be given to a draft document concerning the "nature of theology, its meaning and methods."

The Holy Father will meet the members of the International Theological Commission on October 5, at the conclusion of their plenary session.


POPE EXPRESSES GRATITUDE
TO OUTGOING O.R. EDITOR

VATICAN CITY, OCT 2, 2007 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from Benedict XVI to Mario Agnes, director emeritus of L'Osservatore Romano. Mario Agnes headed the Vatican newspaper from 1984 until his recent retirement. [No! He's supposed to still be in office till after the Naples visit.]

In the text of his Letter the Pope praises, as John Paul II had before him, "the coherent Christian commitment, love for the Church and exemplary faithfulness to the Magisterium" that have accompanied Agnes' "testimony as a believer."

The Pope also recalls how the former director "had always showed particular interest for the written communication of the Christian message." As diocesan president of Catholic Action he strove "to give the Catholic lay presence a higher profile in the mass media forum."

As president of the Avvenire publishing group he distinguished himself for his competence "in dealing with the various themes associated with Italian ecclesial, cultural and political life."

The Holy Father concludes his Letter by expressing his "sincere respect and profound gratitude" to Mario Agnes, whom he has chosen to include among the Gentlemen of His Holiness "thus introducing you permanently into the Pontifical Family."

NB: The letter was dated August 20.

A translation of the full catechesis has been posted in AUDIENCE AND ANGELUS TEXTS.




First report from Repubblica online:



40,000 AT AUDIENCE MARKING
POPE'S RETURN TO VATICAN

A huge crowd welcomed Benedict XVI today for the weekly general audience. All sectors were filled.
An estimated 40,000 were present, although only half that figure had requiested tickets.

After coming in by helicopter from Castel Gandolfo, the Pope began by making the customary rounds
through the sectors in the open Popemobile.

Today, the Pope will take up residence back at the Apostolic Palace after the summer spent in Lorenzago
di Cadore and in Castel Gandolfo.







Pope says those who scandalize
'little ones' warrant 'terrible punishment'


Vatican City, Oct. 3 (AsiaNews) – Pastors have “the duty to preserve the faith among the people of God” and must remember that those who scandalize even one of those “little ones” who believe in Christ, will be subjected to a “terrible punishment”.

This criterion, "still true today” is just one of the teachings of St Cyril of Alexandria, a fifth-century “father of the Church” who was the subject of Benedict XVI’s catechesis in today’s general audience.

During the audience, Benedict XVI also invited the faithful to learn from the example of St. Francis, whose feast day falls tomorrow, and his “evangelical radicalism”. The pope underlined how by “imitating Christ, he renounced all worldly goods” and thus “showed us that we must be simple, humble and pure, because leaving this world we will be recompensed for our love”.

Over 20 thousand people [40,000 according to Repubblica - see story above] were in St Peter’s Square, on a decidedly spring-like day to listen to the Pope’s latest instalment in what he himself defined as “a journey, retracing the steps of the fathers of the Church”.

Today’s catechesis, his first upon his fulltime return to the Vatican after spending the summer in Castel Gandolfo, was dedicated to a saint revered both in the Eastern and Western Churches and proclaimed aDoctor of the Church by Leo XIII.

Two aspects of the teachings of this Saint, who was bishop of Alexandria for over 32 years starting in 412, were highlighted: the unity of Christ, God and man; and the figure of Mary as “Mother of God”.

Cyril made a very significant contribution to Christology defending the divinity and humanity of Christ united in the one Lord, Christ and Son. “We will profess one Lord Jesus Christ, not only because we adore both the man and the Logos, but in order not to teach separation, because his being man is not estranged from Logos”, because “beside the Father there are not two Sons”. One Son both before and after incarnation: there was not one Son before and another after.

He was also of utmost influence at the Council of Ephesus, supporting the recognition of the Virgin Mary as the “Mother of God”.

Subsequently he arrived at a formula for conciliation, showing the need for clarity in the Doctrine of our faith, but also in our search for unity.

From the teachings of the bishop of Alexandria, the Pope also highlighted an aspect which he himself has often dwelt upon: “the Christian faith is above an encounter with Christ, a person who gives life new horizons” and who “is with us each day, until the end f all times”: a certainty in which “we must find our life’s path”.

Teresa, thanks for the translation of what Alexei said on a potential meeting from Figaro. It's very informative. He says that he doesn't want a meeting with the Pope to be a media event and says that the disagreements must be truly overcome for a meeting to happen. Isn't that the point of a meeting? To work on these disagreements?

I was unaware that Alexei doesn't only have a problem with the activities of Catholic missionaries in Russia, but also with the Greek Catholic Church (Uniates) in western Ukraine desiring "to extend itself to regions where it has never been implanted, as in eastern Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan."

When you said:

---

His statement of the 'Ukraine problem' glosses over the underlying dispute which is that the Russian Orthodox is laying claim to the properties of the Uniates on the ground that these rightfully belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

---

What did you mean by 'properties'? Obviously he has a problem with them evangelizing.

It's more clear now to me how Alexei II feels since reading the snippet from Figaro and the article from today in which he says no meeting is planned.

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

Properties means real estate and buildings which the Uniates owned before they switched their pastoral allegiance from Moscow to Rome. I think the Russian Orthodox Church claims those properties belong to the Orthodox Church since the Uniates were originally Orthodox.

His claim about Uniate evangelizing is 'new' - at least it has not appeared in articles I have read about the problem in the past two years. The proselytism charge used to be against the Polish missionaries sent to Russia specifically, now he's applying it in general without citing specific cases.

I acknowledge and appreciate Alexei's sincerity about a common Christian stand against secularization and all its anti-Chistian consequences, but about ecumenism in more practical terms, I truly doubt his bona fides, I am sorry to say.


I don't have the time to look for all the references now but
www.exorthodoxforchrist.com/uniates_seeking_truth.htm
will give you some background about the Uniates - and you will see how absurd it is that Alexei could think 500,000-1,500,000 Uniates in the Ukraine and in Russia could effectively 'proselytize' against 250-million Russian Orthodox!

These incidental data in a story about John Paul II's visit to the Ukraine in June 2001 gives actual figures for the Ukraine:

---

There are only six million Catholics in predominantly orthodox Ukraine, with five million of those Ukrainian Catholics who follow eastern rite but accept the supremacy of the Pope.

Ukraine has three Orthodox Churches. Two are independent and have welcomed the Pope's visit. The third is loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church and has opposed the tour, with its leaders refusing to meet the Pope, accusing him of proselytising.

---

Besides if you look at the July 2005 news item, the Vatican already gave a great sign of its good faith by even refusing formal support to Uniates who live in Russia. What has Alexei done in return? His Church won't even allow the Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow to be called Archdiocese of Moscow and has to be called after the name of its cathedral instead!

Also, intuition may be irrational, but what vibes do you get when you see a picture of Alexei? I was unwilling to 'forgive' the hostility against JP-II just because he was Polish, and I feel even more strongly now, because obviously, Moscow was using the historic enmity between the two nations as a convenient pretext for not moving on ecumenically at the time.

And I suspect they will never lack for new pretexts for as long as Moscow is not recognized in the Christian world as the 'second Rome' rather than the third (after Constantinople), or perhaps even better, as co-equal to Rome, and history be damned!

Dispute delays meeting between
Pope and Russian Patriarch


Latest news item from Novosti, another Russian news agency. I have posted comprehensive storeis about Alexei's current cisit to France in NEWS ABOUT THE CHURCH.


PARIS, October 3 (RIA Novosti) - Alexy-II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, said Wednesday the existing disagreements between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches are preventing him from meeting with the Pope.

"Before holding a meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, we will have to overcome all differences, which, unfortunately, still exist," he said at a news conference in Paris.

The Patriarch expressed confidence that cooperation between the two churches will contribute to overcoming the dispute.

He stressed that he sees his visit to France as "another step in improving relations between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and in consolidating traditional Christian values."

"Such cooperation is based on a similar approach by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches towards moral, social and family values. We together oppose abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriages and everything that contradicts the Christian doctrine," Alexy II said.

He said that the two churches have run a number of successful projects as part of their UN activities and collaboration with other international organizations.

After the news conference, the Patriarch will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and conduct a service at the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, earlier accused the Vatican of trying to win new converts in post-Soviet countries regarded by the Russian Church as historically Orthodox.

Talks about Papal Mass site
in Sydney to conclude soon?
By Jill Rowbotham
Religious affairs writer
The Australian
October 03, 2007





NEGOTIATIONS over using Randwick race course for the World Youth Day vigil and papal mass should be "cleaned up" in about week, Cardinal George Pell said yesterday, at the same time issuing a gentle rebuke to the racing community which has opposed hosting the event.

"We have no contingency plans: we will be going to Randwick," Sydney's Catholic archbishop said after signing a memorandum of understanding with the federal government, streamlining visa arrangements for the estimated 140,000 international pilgrims expected in Sydney for the youth festival in July.

"The racing community does not control Randwick. The course is owned by the government and the NSW government has assured us the course will be available to us," Cardinal Pell said.

It was the first time the Cardinal has commented on the controversy over Randwick, where trainers and other racing community members have vehemently argued enormous damage will be done by allowing 300,000 people to keep vigil there on Saturday 19th July.

Numbers are expected to swell as high as 400,000 for Pope Benedict XVI's mass on the following day.

Cardinal Pell agreed the tussles with the trainers and others disrupted by the event and changes to plans for the course had delayed progress.

"We have been dialoguing with them for over a year so it's certainly slowed us down a bit," he said. "I think things will be cleaned up on the next week or so.

"I think everybody now realises we are going to Randwick. We need to get on to the course to do some testing and things like that and to commence work on the construction of the stage - but that will not be put on the course, but off to one side."

"We have changed our plans significantly three times to meet their requirements but these requirements we find to be a little bit fluid: we would meet one set of requirements and there would be another set."

While he understood that difficulties with equine influenza had formed part of the racing community's most recent arguments about using the track, he had "not be able to follow the logic of it".

"We hope and pray the influenza outbreak will be long gone by the time World Youth Day and our plans are designed to minimise any sort of disruption."

Asked if the APEC fence would be used for Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to Australia he said: "I hope not."

Immigration and Citizenship assistant minister, Teresa Gambaro confirmed: "No fence".

Ms Gambaro said her department would not charge registered pilgrims for visas, would offer a three-month visa allowing multiple entries and would not limit the number of visas offered.

Security arrangements to ensure those applying were genuine pilgrims included requiring each applicant to produce a letter from their local priest or bishop vouching for them.

"We have contributed an infinite amount of resources to this," Ms Gambaro said.

"Punishment for those
who scandalize the 'little people'"
by Andrea Tornielli


Among Italy's major newspapers today, only Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale thought the Pope's catechesis yesterday worthy of reporting. He finds a line from the discourse even more meaningful than what it says prima facie.

NB: The Italian word 'scandalizzare' means to scandalize or to shock.



"Whoever scandalizes just one of the little people who believe in Christ will undergo intolerable punishment," Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday, citing words written by St. Cyril of Alexandria to Bishop Nestorius of Constantinople in the fourth century.

The Pope offered a reflection on the great saint - a father of the Church and last outstanding representative of the Alexandrian Christian tradition - during his general audience at St. Peter's Square before a crowd of 40,000.

The 'scandal' Cyril referred to was any doubt about Christianity insinuated by bishops themselves into the faith of the simple people. But the statement could well apply to tragic sexual abuses committed against children.

The Pope explained the contrast between Cyril of Alexandria and the monk Nestorius who became bishop of Constantinople at that time. The latter preferred to define the Virgin Mary as the 'Mother of Christ 'not 'Mother of God', to underline what he taught to be the separation in Jesus between his human nature and the divine.

Cyril was the leading advocate of Alexandrian Christology which 'strongly emphasized the unity of the human and the divine in Christ's person'. He reacted to the Nestorian teaching, among other things, by writing several letters to Nestorius.

In one of these letters, Benedict pointed out, "we read a clear declaration of the duty of pastors to preserve the faith of the People of God. This was his criterion, which is valid even today: the faith of the People of God is the expression of tradition, it is a guarantee of sound doctrine."

These are words that the Pope himself follows and has adapted for quite some time. As Archbishop of Munich, in the late 70s, he stated that the 'democratic task' of the magisterium is 'to safeguard the faith of the simple people'.

Yesterday, Ratzinger cited this line from Cyril: "We must expose the people to the teaching and interpretation of the faith in the most irreproachable manner and remember that whoever scandalizes even just one of the little people who believe in Christ will undergo terrible punishment."

But these words, even if they refer in this case to the possible distorted presentations of doctrine, would apply even more strongly to priests who tarnish themselves with grievous offenses such as abuse of minors. These are devastating crimes which destroy both the lives of the victims and discredit Church actions.

"Christian faith," Benedict concluded, "is above all an encounter with Jesus, a person who gives a new horizon to life. Of Jesus Christ, St. Cyril of Alexandria was a tireless and firm witness, underscoring above all the unity of Christ....God is eternal, he was born on earth to a woman, and remains with us. In this trust, we live, and in this trust, we can find our way in life.

Papa Ratzinger returned to his Vatican residence yesterday, ending his summer stay in Castel Gandolfo. Among upcoming important events are his visit to Naples on October 21 and possibly, a consistory for new cardinals on November 24.

Il Giornale, 4 ottobre 2007