NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

There's a page change in the middle of the news day, and here is what went before:

Pope names 23 new cardinals - At General Audience today, the Holy Father announced his second consistory
will take place November 24; 18 of the 23 cardinal-designates will be cardinal-electors.

Catechesis and message at GA - The Pope spoke of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, a 4th-century bishop, and renewed
an appeal against extreme poverty even in the most advanced nations... Pope mourns death of Venezuelan
Cardinal Lara, 85, who was an arch-critic of President Hugo Chavez.

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


ANALYSIS:
What's the significance of Benedict's picks?
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
Oc. 17, 2007



Whenever a pope names new members to the church’s most exclusive club, he inevitably makes a statement – about his own priorities, about where the church is going, and ultimately about the sort of men in line to take over when he’s gone.

So, what statements did Pope Benedict XVI make this morning by naming 23 new cardinals, including 18 under the age of 80 and hence eligible to vote for the next pope?

At least seven come to mind:

• He recognized the shifting center of the Catholic population in the United States from the East Coast to the Southwest;
• He signaled the importance of the American church by giving the country two new cardinals, although the U.S. is already over-represented in the College of Cardinals relative to its Catholic population;
• He did not redistribute cardinals to the global South, where two-thirds of Catholics now live, but instead slightly bolstered the over-representation of Europeans;
• He kept the percentage of Vatican officials among electors roughly the same at 25 percent;
• He indicated his sympathy for Iraq by naming the Chaldean patriarch a cardinal;
• He confirmed his concern for the intellectual life of the church by giving honorary red hats to two former rectors of flagship pontifical universities in Rome;
• He introduced at least two new candidates to become the first pope from the global South: Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, and John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya.

Benedict XVI named Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston to the College of Cardinals rather than the man widely presumed to be next in line among the Americans, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

That choice undoubtedly reflects the shifting demographics of American Catholicism, away from its traditional centers on the East Coast and towards the Southwest. According to estimates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, almost 40 percent of Catholics in the United States today are Hispanic, overwhelmingly concentrated in the “Sun Belt” states of the South and Southwest.


Cardinal-designate DiNardo

That, however, is not the only level of significance to the selection. DiNardo worked in the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops from 1984 to 1990, where he served under Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, at the time the congregation’s secretary. Rigali is widely seen as the preeminent “kingmaker” among American prelates; when he was recently appointed as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, one of his brother American cardinals said on background that the move “rendered official what has been unofficial,” meaning that Rigali is the American heavyweight best positioned to influence bishops’ appointments in the United States. The choice of DiNardo will likely bolster that impression.

Benedict’s decision to name two new American cardinals can also be read as a further sign of the importance he attaches to the church here, given that the United States will now have 17 cardinals, including 13 electors, the second-largest number in both categories after the Italians.

The United States has more cardinals than Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines combined, the other three largest Catholic countries on earth, despite the fact that those three nations contain 315 million Catholics to the roughly 70 million in the United States.

Benedict XVI also made a statement, though perhaps not an intentional one, by including 11 Europeans among the 18 new cardinal-electors. Prior to the nominations, 52 of the 104 cardinal-electors had been Europeans, exactly 50 percent. Now, 63 of 122 cardinal-electors are Europeans, raising their share of the voting total to 52 percent.

Benedict named two new African cardinals, one Indian, and two Latin Americans. Overall, after Nov. 24, 62 of the 103 cardinal-electors will be European, 15 North Americans (including 13 from the United States), 20 will be Latin Americans, 9 Africans, 13 Asians, and 2 from Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).

The Latin American number is perhaps most striking; despite the fact that roughly half the Catholic population of the world lives in Latin America, just 16 percent of the church’s cardinal-electors will come from the continent.

Of the 11 new European cardinals, five are Italian, four of whom work in the Vatican. All told, 6 of the 18 new cardinals are Vatican officials, increasing by one percentage point the overall share of the College of Cardinals composed of Vatican personnel, from 25 to 26.2 percent.

However, that bump is temporary, because the day before the Nov. 24 consistory Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Secretary of State, will turn 80 and thus no longer be eligible to vote for the next pope.

One key question church-watchers always ask when a consistory is announced is whether any of the new porporati, as the Italians say, also stand out as papabili, or candidates to be the next pope.

While none stands out as an obvious front-runner, at least two new cardinals from the global South could draw attention when the time comes: Gracias, 62, of Mumbai, India; and Njue, 63, of Nairobi.

Gracias has won high marks in India for astutely navigating between avant garde elements in the local church pressing for greater inculturation and a more positive theological approach to non-Christian religions, and traditionalists in Rome made uncomfortable by both propositions. Gracias was the elected president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India prior to his appointment to Mumbai, reflecting the confidence of his brother bishops.

Njue, meanwhile, has a reputation as a voice of conscience. He denounced the Kenyan government’s handling of the investigation that followed the death of American missionary Fr. John Kaiser in 2000, which was officially ruled a suicide, but which Njue and other Catholic leaders have suggested may have been an assassination in which elements of the government may have been involved. In 2002, Njue received death threats for leading a campaign against political corruption.

Njue was elected by his fellow bishops in Kenya to three terms as chair of the national bishops’ conference. Like Gracias, Njue knows his way around Rome, having studied at the Lateran University.

Finally, Benedict XVI also showed his appreciation for loyalty today by at long last naming Archbishop John Foley to the College of Cardinals. Foley served as the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications since 1984 until he resigned in June, and during those 23 years, Foley watched eight consistories in which 214 other men became cardinals. Each time he endured speculation about why he had not been inducted into the college with good humor and without complaint.

One of the most universally popular figures in the Vatican, it's not difficult to anticipate that his line of well-wishers during the receptions following the Nov. 24 consistory should be especially long.


Allen filed this story earlier:


Foley, DiNardo among 23 new cardinals
named today by Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of 23 new cardinals today, including 2 Americans. The crop of new Princes of the Church includes 18 electors, meaning cardinals under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote for the next pope.

One of those Americans, longtime Vatican veteran John Foley, was widely tipped for the honor, but the other, Archbishop Daniel Nicholas DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, was a surprise. Most experts believed the honor would go instead to Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

DiNardo, born in Steubenville, Ohio, and a priest of the Pittsburgh diocese, is also a veteran of the Roman scene, having served in the Congregation for Bishops from 1984 until 1990. He worked there for a year under the future Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who at the time was the Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops.

Aside from DiNardo’s personal biography, the red hat is also considered a signal of the shifting Catholic population in the United States, away from its traditional center on the East Coast toward the Southwest.

The other major surprise is that the new red hat in Ireland went to Archbishop Seán B. Brady of Armagh, instead of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

A consistory, meaning the ceremony in which these nominees will formally become members of the College of Cardinals, is scheduled to take place in Rome on Nov. 24.

The appointments bring the total number of American cardinals to 17, and the number of cardinal-electors to 13, both representing the second highest totals in the church after Italy.

Despite the rapid shift of Catholic population to Africa, Asia and Latin America, where two-thirds of all Catholics today live, only five of the new cardinal-electors come from the global South: a Brazilian, a Mexican, an Indian, a Kenyan, and the archbishop of Dakar in Senegal.

Today’s appointments actually strengthened the European dominance in the College of Cardinals. Prior to the announcement, 51 of the 104 cardinal-electors were Europeans, or 51 percent; 11 of the 18 cardinal-electors named today are Europeans, representing 61 percent.

Foley, 72, is the only man ordained both the priesthood and to the episcopacy by the late Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia. He has waited unusually long for the honor. Appointed to head the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 1984, Foley was mentioned as a possible cardinal in seven straight consistories under Pope John Paul II as well as the first under Benedict XVI in March 2006.

Foley has been a fixture of church communications for the last four decades. His voice is familiar to English-speaking Catholics around the world as the televisions commentator of the pope’s public liturgies, including his Masses for Christmas and Easter.

Foley stepped down last June, when the pope appointed him to the largely honorary post of Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Benedict XVI also announced today that he had intended to name the oldest Polish bishop, Ignacy Ludwik Jez, as an “honorary” cardinal over the age of 80. Jez, who was 93, had spent three years in the Dachau concentration camp. Yesterday, however, Jez collapsed in Rome during a pilgrimage and died in an ambulance en route to the Gemelli Hospital.


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

I think Allen is making too much of geographical representation, as though the Pope is expressing geographical favoritism (read pro-Europe) by his choices. There are obviously other considerations besides geography.

And in that respect, although the global 'south' undoubtedly has the majority of Cahtolics in the world today, it does not automatically mean that they have enough prelates immediately worthy to be named cardinal. Since most of Asia and Africa have much 'newer' churches and/or their history of Catholicism has started much later than in traditional Catholic lands, their local churches have obviously not had enough time to build up a 'bench' of prelates qualified to be named cardinal.

Latin America is a different case. Although it has been Catholic since the 16th century, perhaps the record of its bishops has not been so sterling as to merit more nominations to the College of Cardinals.

After all, every cardinal named is theoretically a potential Pope.

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

In its own first comments on the Pope's choices, the Italian news agency APCOM noted the following:

---

Among the surprises of the Consistory is the exclusion of Mons. Paolo Romeo, archbishop of Palermo and ex-Apostolic Nuncio to Italy. The reason? Officially, it has to do with the fact that Palermo already has a cardinal elector in the person of the former Archbishop of Palermo, Salvatore di Giorgio.

Actually, there are two burning issues that would have led the Pope not to name Romeo - first, the informal survey that the archbishop, when he was Nuncio in Italy, carried out among Italian bishops to determine their preference to succeed Cardinal Camillo Ruini as president of the Italian bishops conference; and second, the strong objections to the Pope's Motu Proprio expressed by Romeo at the recent meeting of the Italin bishops' Permanent Council.

---

Then it comments on the ages of the nominees:

---

The youngest is the Archbishop of Sao Paolo, Odilo Pedro Scherer, 58, who was born on Sept. 21, 1949. Born in the same year were the Archbishop of Monterrey, Robles Ortega (March 2) and the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Di Mardo (May 23).

The oldest is the Archbishop of Valencia, Garcia-Gasco, who is 76.

---

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


Time's Jeff Israely finds little to be snarky about, for a change. Indeed, he must be commended for not over-analyzing what is, in effect, a fairly straightforward mix of Curial officials and metropolitan archbishops whose time has come to be named cardinals. The fact that there tended to be more Europeans is explained by the fact that 5 of the 6 Curial officials named happen to be European.


Parsing the Pope's New Cardinals
By Jeff Israely/Rome
TIME Magazine
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007


The significance of any new batch of Roman Catholic Cardinals lies above all in geography.

With the internationalization of the College of Cardinals in the past two decades, it was a given that the latest names presented by Pope Benedict XVI would "well reflect the universality of the Church," as the pontiff himself declared Wednesday in St. Peter's Square as he announced the 23 soon-to-be-elevated prelates.

And indeed, certain key postings, including recently named heads of major archdioceses from Paris to Mumbai to Sao Paulo, were virtual shoo-ins to get their scarlet hats — and an eventual ticket into the conclave that will elect Benedict's successor.

In a sign that the center of gravity of U.S. Catholicism is shifting southward — and speaking Spanish — the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston was named Cardinal, the first time that diocese will be headed by a so-called "prince of the Church."

Also, in a nod to the grave challenges facing Iraqi Catholics, Benedict said one of the new Cardinals to be honored in the elaborate Nov. 24 consistory ceremony at the Vatican will be Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad.

Still, a broader geographical breakdown of the new cardinal-electors (five of the 23 are over 80, and thus ineligible to vote in a conclave that picks a new Pope) shows Benedict continues to have European leanings. Ten of the 18 electors are from the old continent, including four from Italy alone.

Among the key priorities of Benedict's papacy has been to respond to encroaching secularism on the continent where the Church is headquartered; and with Wednesday's announcement, the number of European electors now bumps back over 50% (69 of 121).

The notable Italian presence — 22 voting-age Cardinals — is seen by some Vatican insiders as a sign of the power being consolidated by Benedict's top deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a native of the Piedmont region of Italy, who serves as Secretary of State.

Still, not too much intrigue should be read into the lineup presented Wednesday. It includes both heads of key Vatican offices and newly assigned archbishops in key locations around the world who were granted the Cardinal title based largely on the importance of their assignments.

Among those at Rome headquarters to get the honor were the chiefs of the Vatican's charitable works office, the Pontifical Council for Laity, and the governor of Vatican City. Archbishop John Foley, the Rome-based American who long headed the Vatican's Social Communications office, will also get his red hat. Other new voting-age cardinals include the primate of Ireland, as well as archbishops of Nairobi, Kenya, Barcelona, Spain, and Monterrey, Mexico.

The relative surprise was the designation of Galveston-Houston Archbishop Daniel DiNardo as cardinal. Though DiNardo is of Italian heritage, the nod is taken to be an acknowledgment of the growing influence of Latinos in the U.S. Church, and could eventually be a bridge between North and South American Cardinals to some day help elect the first-ever Latin American pope.

But, as with the last conclave that elected a long-serving head of a key Vatican office named Joseph Ratzinger, the weight of headquarters will no doubt be felt in the choice of Benedict's successor. Indeed DiNardo himself served for six years at the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops. Catholic Church geography lessons will always begin with Rome in the center.


And finally, from John Thavis, who sensibly takes the appointments in stride:


Ignoring quotas,
pope confirms his priorities
with new cardinals
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY, (CNS) - With his latest batch of cardinal appointments, Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed some important directions and priorities of his pontificate.

First, the pope's picks have once again boosted the European and U.S. presence among voting-age members of the College of Cardinals.

The list of 23 new cardinals, announced Oct. 17, included 18 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave. Two are Americans, which will leave the United States with 13 under-80 cardinals, matching a historically high number.

The pope's choice of Cardinal-designate Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was particularly significant because it went outside the group of U.S. dioceses traditionally headed by cardinals, instead looking to the South, where the Catholic Church has grown most rapidly in recent years. Over the last 20 years, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has increased by nearly 80 percent.

Cardinal-designate DiNardo, 58, will be the first head of a Texas archdiocese to wear the red hat, and he comes with a bonus feature that could enhance his influence -- several years of experience as an official of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops.

Ten of the 18 voting-age cardinal appointees are from Europe, which means that Europeans will constitute approximately 50 percent of the potential conclave voters. Of the 30 cardinals Pope Benedict has named to the under-80 group since his election, 16 have been European.

The pope's choices this time included only two residential bishops from Latin America - one from Brazil and one from Mexico. Brazil, which has the largest Catholic population in the world, will now have four under-80 cardinals; Mexico, which has the second-largest Catholic population, will also have four.

All of which goes to show that Pope Benedict does not follow geographical quotas when he makes his cardinal selections.

After the Nov. 24 consistory, the global breakdown of voting-age cardinals will be 60 from Europe, 21 from Latin America, 16 from the United States and Canada, 13 from Asia, nine from Africa and two from Oceania.

Seven of the new picks are active officials of the Roman Curia or Vatican-related organizations, including U.S. Cardinal-designate John P. Foley, pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. While there has been much talk about reducing the number of curial cardinals, it appears that Pope Benedict is not going down that road.

Three of the pope's cardinal appointees are in their 50s, including Cardinal-designate DiNardo. Overall, the residential bishops among the new cardinals have an average age of 64 -- which may not sound like the fountain of youth, but is 13 years younger than the average age of current cardinals.

At the same time, Pope Benedict named a record number of five over-80 cardinals, rewarding a Roman Curia veteran, an Argentine pastor and two Roman academics.

Iraqi Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly, 80, was perhaps the most significant of these appointments. In naming him a cardinal, the pope was showing symbolically his concern for the suffering Catholic population in Iraq, where violence and intimidation have forced tens of thousands of Christians to leave.

A New Musical Season at the Vatican –
And Here's the Program

Papa Ratzinger seems to be stepping up the tempo.
The curia will have a new office with authority in the field of sacred music.
And the choir of the Sistine Chapel is getting a new director

by Sandro Magister


ROMA, October 18, 2007 – In the span of just a few days, a series of events have unfolded at the Vatican which, taken all together, foretell new provisions – at the pope's behest – to foster the rebirth of great sacred music.

The first of these events took place on Monday, October 8. On that morning, Benedict XVI held an audience with the "chapter" of Saint Peter's basilica – meaning the bishops and priests who, together with the archpriest of the basilica, Angelo Comastri, celebrate Mass and solemn Vespers each Sunday in the most famous church in the Christian world.

The pope reminded them that "it is necessary that, beside the tomb of Peter, there be a stable community of prayer to guarantee continuity with tradition."

This tradition goes back "to the time of Saint Gregory the Great," the pope whose name was given to the liturgical chant characteristic of the Latin Church, Gregorian chant.

One example the pope gave to the chapter of St. Peter's was the celebration of the liturgy at the abbey of Heiligenkreutz, the flourishing monastery he had visited just a few weeks earlier in Austria.

In effect, since just over a year ago, Gregorian chant has been restored as the primary form of singing for Mass and solemn Vespers in Saint Peter's basilica.

The rebirth of Gregorian chant at St. Peter's coincided with the appointment of a new choir director, who was chosen by the basilica chapter in February of 2006.

The new director, Pierre Paul, a Canadian and an Oblate of the Virgin Mary, has made a clean break with the practice established during the pontificate of John Paul II – and reaffirmed by the previous director, Pablo Colino – of bringing to sing at the Masses in St. Peter's the most disparate choirs, drawn from all over the world, very uneven in quality and often inadequate.

Fr. Paul put the gradual and the antiphonal back into the hands of his singers, and taught them to sing Mass and Vespers in pure Gregorian chant.

The faithful are also provided with booklets with the Gregorian notation for Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the translation of the texts in Italian, English, and Spanish. The results are liturgically exemplary celebrations, with increasing participation from a growing number of faithful from many nations.

There's still much to do to bring back to life in St. Peter's what was, in ancient times, the Cappella Giulia – the choir specifically founded for the basilica – and to revive the splendors of the Roman musical style, a style in which the sacred polyphony pioneered by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Gregorian chant, also sung in the Roman manner (virile and strong, not like the monastic models inspired by Solesmes), alternate and enrich each other.

But there has been a new beginning. And Benedict XVI wanted to tell the chapter that this is the right path.

* * *

The second event took place on Wednesday, October 10, again in Saint Peter's Basilica. The orchestra and choir of Humboldt Universität in Berlin, conducted by Constantin Alex, performed the Mass "Tu es Petrus," composed in honor of Joseph Ratzinger's eightieth birthday by the German musician Wolfgang Seifein, who was present at the organ.

Make no mistake: this was not a concert, but a real Mass. Exactly like on November 19 of last year, when in St. Peter's, the Wiener Philarmoniker provided the musical accompaniment for the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated by cardinal Christoph Schönborn, with the Krönungsmesse K 317 (Coronation Mass) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In both cases, the two Masses ennobled by such music were celebrated in the context of the International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, which each autumn makes resound within the crowded papal basilicas in Rome – and thus in their natural environment, instead of in the concert halls – the masterpieces of Christian sacred music, with orchestras, conductors, and singers of worldwide fame.

This year, there were two key performances: the Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi, with the Wiener Philarmoniker conducted by Daniele Gatti; and the Mass in B minor BWV 232 by Johann Sebastian Bach, with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir conducted by Ton Koopman.

But from the liturgical point of view, the high point of the festival was the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's on October 10.

It is no mystery that the reciprocal enrichment between the Catholic liturgy and great sacred music is especially close to Benedict XVI's heart.

The Pope made this clear with particular force during his recent trip to Austria, with the Mass he celebrated on Sunday, September 9, in the cathedral of Vienna, accompanied by the stupendous Mariazeller Messe by Franz Joseph Haydn, and by a communion antiphon and Psalm in pure Gregorian chant.

* * *

The third event is Benedict XVI's visit to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, on the morning of Saturday, October 13.

To the professors and students of this institute – which is the liturgical-musical "conservatory" of the Holy See, the one that trains Church musicians from all over the world – the pope cited Vatican Council II, where it says that "as sacred song united to the words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy" (Sancrosanctum Concilium, 112).

He also confirmed that "three characteristics distinguish sacred liturgical music: sanctity, true art, and universality, meaning its ability to be used regardless of the nature or nationality of the assembly."

And he continued:

"Precisely in view of this, ecclesiastical authorities must devote themselves to guiding wisely the development of such a demanding genre of music, not by sealing off its repository, but by seeking to insert into the heritage of the past the legitimate additions of the present, in order to arrive at a synthesis worthy of the high mission reserved to it in the divine service.

"I am certain that the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, in harmonious agreement with the congregation for divine worship, will not fail to offer its contribution for an 'updating', adapted to our time, of the abundant and valuable traditions found in sacred music."

This expectation could soon be followed by the institution, in the Roman curia, of an office endowed with authority in the area of sacred music. It is already known that, as a cardinal, Ratzinger maintained that the institution of such an office was necessary.

But Benedict XVI has also made clear his preferences in regard to the type of sacred music that should be promoted.

In his speech to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, the pope mentioned the name of only one living "maestro" of great sacred music: Domenico Bartolucci, 91, who was seated in the front row and whom the pope later greeted with great warmth.

Bartolucci was removed from his position as director of the papal choir of the Sistine Chapel in 1997. And his expulsion – supported by the pontifical master of ceremonies at the time, Piero Marini – marked the general abandonment in the papal liturgies of the Roman style, characterized by great polyphonic music and Gregorian chant, of which Bartolucci is an outstanding interpreter.

The only group that remained to keep this style alive in the papal basilicas of Rome was the Cappella Liberiana of the basilica of Saint Mary Major, directed since 1970 by Valentino Miserachs Grau, who succeeded Bartolucci in this role.

Miserachs is also the head of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, to which the pope has entrusted the task of "guiding wisely the development of such a demanding genre of music."

Bartolucci and Miserachs: Benedict XVI's dual point of reference, in Rome, in the field of liturgical music.

* * *

The fourth event, which came shortly before the first three, was the replacement, on October 1, of the director of pontifical liturgical celebrations.

To replace Piero Marini – who will go to preside over the pontifical committee for international Eucharistic congresses – the call went out to Genoa, to Guido Marini, who's close to his predecessor in name, but to pope Ratzinger in substance.

The removal of Piero Marini leaves unprotected the man he had brought in, in 1997, to direct the Cappella Sistina after Bartolucci's dismissal: Giuseppe Liberto.

As director of the choir that accompanies the papal liturgies, Liberto is not the right man for the current pope. It's enough to read what was written about him in the authoritative "International Church Music Review" by an expert in this field, Dobszay László of Hungary, in commenting on the inaugural Mass of Benedict XVI's pontificate:

"The election of pope Benedict XVI gave hope and joy for all who love true liturgy and liturgical music. Following the inaugural Mass on the tv-screen we were deeply moved by Holy Father's celebration and sermon.

"As the Mass went ahead, however, we became more and more unhappy with its musical feature. Most of what was sung is a very poor music; Gregorian chant was no more than a pretext for a home-composer to display himself. The choir cannot be proud of anything except the old nimbus. The singers wanted to overshout each other, they were frequently out of tune, the sound uneven, the conducting without any artistic power, the organ and organplaying like in a second-rank country parish-church.

"The poor quality of music was the consequence of another fault: the awkward and arbitrary fabrication (by Marini?) of the liturgical texts (proprium), that practically excluded the 'precious treasury of Church music' (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium). A formula missae selected from the proper of the Roman Liturgy could have good influence on the music, too. Somebody, however, got again onto the path of vane glory and conceded to the temptation of voluntarism. Our happiness has been spoilt."

The director of the "International Church Music Review," a publication in four languages, is Giacomo Baroffio, a towering scholar of Gregorian chant and the head of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music before Miserachs.

* * *

One final event must be added to the events already mentioned, one that provides background for all the others. It is the promulgation of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," by which Benedict XVI liberalized the ancient rite of the Mass.

It is increasingly evident that with this decision, pope Ratzinger wanted to make it possible for the modern liturgies to regain the richness of the ancient rite that they are in danger of losing: a richness of theology, textual form, and music.

It is no accident that Maestro Bartolucci's first words to the pope, during their brief conversation on Saturday, October 13, were a "thank you!" for the promulgation of the motu proprio.

The institution in the Vatican of an office endowed with authority in the field of sacred music, and the appointment of a director of the Cappella Sistina in keeping with its great tradition, are perfectly consistent with this fundamental priority of the pontificate of Benedict XVI.

---

The Holy Father met today with
- H.E. Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of Chile and her delegation
- Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, Emeritus President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum
- Cardinal-designate Mons. Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches
- Officers of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops led by its president, Mons. William Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane;
Mons. David Malloy, secretary-general, and Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, vice president.
- Mons. Guido Marini, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations (photo below)


Significant Papal nominations today:
- Mons. Anthony Mancini, former auxiliary bishop of Montreal, to be Metropolitan Archbishop of Halifax and Apostolic Administrator of Yarmouth
- Mons. Martin Currie, formerly Bishop of Grand Falls (Canada), to be Metropolitan Archbishop of St. John's Newfoundland.
- Mons. Giovanni Tonucci, formerly Apostolic Nuncio to the Scandinavian countries, to be Prelate of Loreto and Apostolic Delegate
to the Sanctuary of the Holy House. He replaces the late Mons. Danzi.
- Mons. Simone Giusti, formerly parish priest in Pisa and director of its diocesan center for evangelization and catechesis,
as Bishop of Livorno.

---

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE HOLY SEE:
MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF CHILE

This morning, the Holy Father Benedict XVI met with Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile, who subsequently met with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, and Mons. Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Foreign Relations.

The cordial conversations allowed an exchange of information and thoughts on the socio-political situation in Chile and its role in Latin America. issues of common interest were discussed such as human life and the family, education, human rights, justice and peace, and other questions relevant to the international agenda.

Also discussed were the positive contributions made by the Catholic Church to Chilean society, specially in Other social and educational fields.


PETRUS has a sidebar to the story:

Pope and President converse in German



VATICAN CITY - The conversation between Pope Benedict XVI and President Michelle Bachelet of Chile lasted almost 45 minutes.

Following protocol, the Pope was waiting at the door to the library where he meets with visiting dignitaries, and responded in German to President Bacehlet when she addressed him in his native language to say, "It is a great pleasure for me to be here in represenation of the Chilean people."

President Bachelet was accompanied by her daughter Sofia and 15 other members of her delegation, including the Chilean Senate President, its foreign minister, and the Chilean ambassador to the Holy See, as well as a Mapuche Indian lady and a young football player who had trained with the team of Parma.

After her talk with the Pope, President Bachelet gave the Pope a colorful and typical wooden cart used in the Chilean feast of Cuasimodo, as well as three books.



One of the books showed images of Chilean churches. The President told the Pope, "They consitute a true cultural patrimony for us, but unfortunately many have been damaged with time and by earthquakes, but my government intends to restore them."

The Pope presented the members of the delegation with medallions of his Pontificate and rosaries.



President Bachelet, 56, is Chile's first woman president, and is a socialist elected in January 2006. A pediatrician, she was arrested, jailed and tortured along with her parents, who died in prison, under the Pinochet regime. She went into exile afterwards, but returned to Chile once a democracy was re-established. She was minister for health and then for defense before she ran for the presidency.


Pope meets Mapuche Indian in the Chilean delegation.

Top U.S. church officials meet pope, discuss planned visit

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Oct. 18, 2007

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Top officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met privately with Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 18 for a wide-ranging discussion about the church in the United States, including the pope's planned visit to the U.S. in the spring.

Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., conference president, said the discussion about the trip was "just in general." Beyond the announced papal stop in New York, Bishop Skylstad said he could not provide specifics about the trip because "the details have not been nailed down yet."

He did say, however, that he expected the trip to be brief, in keeping with Pope Benedict's practice.

Bishop Skylstad told Catholic News Service he was joined at the meeting by Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, conference vice president, and Msgr. David J. Malloy, general secretary of the conference. The conference officers usually meet twice a year with the heads of Vatican offices to discuss issues of common concern, and they meet the pope during their October trip.

The Spokane bishop said the officers thanked Pope Benedict for including two U.S. archbishops among the 23 churchmen he named cardinals Oct. 17. The two are Cardinals-designate John P. Foley, pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, and Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

Bishop Skylstad said the naming of the first cardinal from Texas is an important recognition of "the significant Catholic presence" in the state and of the fact that Houston is now "the fourth-largest city in the United States."

The three U.S. bishops' conference officers had about 20 minutes alone with Pope Benedict, who is "always very affable and very gentle," the bishop said.

The officers told the pope a little about the restructuring and downsizing of the U.S. bishops' conference, said Bishop Skylstad, and "about the political responsibility statement we are working on," a statement into which he said the bishops put a lot of time and energy in preparation for U.S. elections.

When asked if the officers discussed with the pope the debate over giving Communion to Catholic politicians who disagree with some church teachings, Bishop Skylstad said, "We did not discuss that issue specifically."

The meeting also gave Bishop Skylstad an opportunity to tell the pope that a new conference president would be elected in November and allowed him to pass on to the pope an expression of "love and fidelity" from a special group of nuns in his diocese.

He said the pope was particularly pleased to hear that the 15 nuns formerly belonging to the Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, part of a group of schismatic traditionalists based at Mount St. Michael in Spokane, had been received into full communion with the Catholic Church in late June.

Teresa,sorry if I've put this in the wrong place but I couldn't decide if it belonged in Music Notes or here, since it's about the Holy Father's plans for the restoration of sacred music. Please move it if it should be elsewhere.

I found the article most intersting since it's a sort of overview of events that have been taking place and seemingly could have stood on their own, but apparently are part of the Holy Father's overall desire to bring back quality sacred music to the liturgy and starting with the Vatican itself. We've all known about his love of great music and I think that when we reflect on his "moves" since his election, it's wonderful thing to see that he has taken his time, judged when to make the "moves" but always moved forward. I recall John Allen's description of Pope Benedict vis a vis the measured way he has of doing things "Earthquake is not Benedict's style."

Here's the link to Magister's column, well worth reading.
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/171962?eng=y

Aloha from Hawaii ....



====================================================================
Dear Papabear - You did put it in the right place. Even if it is about music, it is still primarily about B16. In fact, the whole article was already posted here 3 posts above... TERESA

Nothing like the 'locals' to see the immediate significance of why a bishop gets chosen to be a cardinal - or not. The Archbishop of Dublin sees the choice of the Archbishop of Armagh as a sign of the Pope's interest in visiting Northern Ireland, while an Armagh observer sees it as a recognition of the seat which is that of the Primate of Ireland. And who but a local, or someone following Irish affairs close enough, would have known that the diocese of Armagh straddles two countries?

The first item is from the online service of RTE, Ireland's public service broadcaster.


Pope may visit Northern Ireland
Friday, 19 October 2007


Pope Benedict may be interested in visiting Northern Ireland, according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.

Dr Martin told an audience in New York last night that he interpreted the Pontiff's choice of Archbishop Seán Brady as cardinal as an indication that he wants to visit Northern Ireland.

He said that, combined with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Dublin, such a Papal journey would mark a symbolic opening of a new era north and south.

Delivering the inaugural Irish Institute of New York Lecture, Archbishop Martin praised Archbishop Brady for quietly and daily sustaining the peace process.

During his Irish pilgrimage in 1979, Pope John Paul II was unable to travel to Northern Ireland for security reasons.

Last year, Irish bishops invited Pope Benedict to visit Ireland.



Why the Pope restored
the primacy of Armagh
by Jim Cantwell
Irish Independent
October 18, 2007




The return of the cardinal's hat to Armagh from Dublin with the nomination of Archbishop Sean Brady is an endorsement by the Pope of the symbolic importance of the historic see of St. Patrick as the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

That the decision was made by Benedict XVI gives it added significance, because, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he strongly supported the elevation in 2001 of Desmond Connell, the first Archbishop of Dublin to become a cardinal in over a century.

By returning the cardinal's hat to Armagh the Pope is in a sense acknowledging the personal nature of the honour bestowed on Connell.

The loss of the cardinalate to Dublin last time went down badly, and not only in the North, as Church historian, Oliver Rafferty, SJ, explained at the time: "The hat came to symbolise the unity of the Church in the face of political disunity.

"Given the political complexity and the suffering of the last 30 years it is extraordinary that the hat has gone to Dublin. We now have ecclesiastical partition."

The Irish Bishops' Conference is unusual in that it straddles two political jurisdictions [the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom]], whereas in Britain, Scotland's conference is separate from that in England and Wales.

The Armagh diocese straddles the border [of Eire and Northern Ireland], stretching from northwest of Lough Neagh to within 25 miles of Dublin.

Armagh's leadership role within the Irish Church is recognised by his fellow bishops by consistently electing the incumbent archbishop President of the Episcopal Conference.

However, it was widely assumed that since the cardinal's hat had been given to Dublin six years ago it would remain there this time, given the fact that the transformed political environment in the North appeared to lessen Armagh's strategic significance.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's strong Roman connections were also thought to be another significant factor.

Such speculation overlooked the fact that there had been a close affinity between Cardinal Connell and Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

He had been principally responsible for Connell's appointment as Archbishop of Dublin in 1986. During his final illness, Connell's predecessor in Dublin, Kevin McNamara, made his views on the succession known to Ratzinger through an emissary.

Head of the powerful doctrinal congregation, Ratzinger was also the most influential member of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops.

After McNamara's death, another member, Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich, went to a meeting of the congregation when the question of the Dublin appointment was on the agenda.

It became clear to him from the tenor of the discussion that the matter had already been decided.

Connell later became a member of the doctrinal congregation. It is thought that Ratzinger's influence was decisive in Pope John Paul's decision to create Connell a cardinal.

There are few surprises in Pope Benedict's choice of new cardinals. Of the 18 who qualify by age to vote in a papal election, half are from Europe.

This raises the continent's proportion among the 120 electors to almost 50 per cent. However, Europe has only 26 per cent of the world's Catholics, and the Vatican's statistical office euphemistically describes the situation of the Catholic population there as one of "practical stability".

In stark contrast, Africa is poorly represented. The Archbishop of Nairobi is the continent's only nomination among the new cardinals. Africa has been consistently the Catholic Church's major growth area.

In 2005, for example, there was a 3.1% increase in baptised Catholics there over 2004, exceeding the overall growth in the African population of 2.5% in the same year.

The continent now has over 13 per cent of the world's Catholics. Yet, it now has fewer cardinal-electors (eight) than at the time of Pope Benedict's election two years ago (11).

One of the new nominations gives me particular satisfaction. Archbishop John Foley, an Irish-American from Philadelphia, laboured for 23 years as head of the Vatican's Council for Social Communications without adequate support or recognition within the curia.

He saw his department's authority being progressively undermined as the powerful Secretariat of State garnered unto itself its most important function of dealing directly with the media.

As a former consultant of his Council, I was able to observe at close hand the myriad frustrations he had to endure in dealing with the bureaucracy and marvelled at his patience.

He left the Council post last June. It perhaps an ironic commentary in itself that he becomes a cardinal, not because of his unstinting work in the communications' department, but because he has since become Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, established in the 13th century with the ostensible object of preserving the faith in Palestine.


Jim Cantwell was press secretary of the Irish Episcopal Conference from 1975-2000.

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

John Allen belabors the argument about the bee in his bonnet and that of other Vatican observers regarding geographical representation in the College of Cardinals. There is no rule about proportional representation by population in the College of Cardinals - it is not a democratic Parliament.

The question of geographic representation was not even an issue until the rise of new Catholics in Africa in the past few decades, even if for much longer, Latin America - which has two of the most populous traditionally Catholic countries on earth in Mexico and Brazil - had more Catholics in the mid-20th century before the second World War than Europe, North America and Asia combined.

Allen and the other veteran Vaticanistas know full well there are multiple factors that go into choosing cardinals, and geographic origin is only one of them, and not necessarily the most important.

Probably the most important criterion for the Pope is still the individual merit of the bishop being considered. But because of the numerical limit to the number of cardinal electors, even outstanding bishops sometimes have to wait in line, in deference to priorities which the Pope sets. Naming cardinals is a Papal prerogative and not an automatic right that comes to every bishop. Bishops are men of God enough to know that there are lessons of humility, patience and perseverance that come with the cardinal-making process.

Belaboring the point at this time appears to focus 'blame' on Pope Benedict - as though this is only happening in his Papacy - and fosters in the local churches an unwarranted resentment. I find this nitpicking lamentable and petty.

Perhaps eventually, Benedict himself may think about setting new criteria that may result in a more 'equitable' geographic representation among cardinals-elect, but until then, these number games are just annoying and wholly unhelpful to anyone.


Global South under-represented
in college of cardinals
All Things Catholic
by John L. Allen, Jr.
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007

In naming 23 new cardinals on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI chose to acknowledge one bit of demographic reality, but largely ignored a much bigger one.

Americans have noted, and rightly so, that the nomination of Archbishop Daniel DiNardo in Houston accurately reflects a shift in Catholic population in the United States away from the East Coast, towards the South and Southwest. From a global point of view, however, the new crop of cardinals is remarkably unrepresentative of where Catholics are today.

To understand that, it's essential to recall that Catholicism experienced a demographic revolution in the 20th century. In 1900, there were 266 million Catholics in the world, 200 million of whom lived in Europe and North America. Just a century later, there were 1.1 billion Catholics, only 380 million of whom were in Europe and North America, with 720 million in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The global South accounted for 25 percent of the Catholic population a century ago; today it's 67 percent and climbing.

You wouldn't know that, however, from looking at Benedict's appointments. Focusing just on the 18 new cardinal-electors, meaning those under 80 with the right to vote for the next pope, ten are Europeans and two are from the United States. (Three of the five over-80 cardinals named by Benedict XVI are likewise Europeans. Had Bishop Ignacy Ludwik Jez of Poland lived to receive the honor, it would have been four of six.)

After these new cardinals join the church's most exclusive club in a Nov. 24 consistory, 60 of 121 electors will be European. Adding the cardinals from the United States and Canada, the total for the global North rises to 76 electors out of 121, meaning 63 percent.

To put this into a sound bite, two-thirds of the cardinals come from the global North, while two-thirds of the Catholic people live in the South.

Such disparities do not go unnoticed. The pope's announcement was made at roughly 11:30 a.m. Rome time, and within a half-hour I had an e-mail from La Tercera, a newspaper in Santiago, Chile, asking for a reaction to the following question: "Two-thirds of the nominees are from Western Europe or the U.S. Why?"

Why indeed? At least three reasons suggest themselves.

First, for all the efforts of the Vatican to deny that Benedict XVI is "Eurocentric," it's clear that the pope's core personal concern is with the fate of Christianity in the ultra-secularized milieu of Western Europe, which he has termed a "dictatorship of relativism." If one believes, as Benedict obviously does, that when Europe sneezes the rest of the world catches cold, then it makes sense to allocate limited appointments here.

Second, historically speaking, there's never been any pretense that the College of Cardinals should reflect the broader church. Originally, cardinals were the most important local clergy in Rome, responsible for running large Roman parishes, administering charitable programs, and advising the pope. It was only in the 12th century that popes even began to appoint cardinals who lived outside Rome. The first cardinals born in either Latin America or Africa to actually serve there were not named until the 20th century, and serious efforts to internationalize the College of Cardinals did not begin until the era of Pope Paul VI in the 1960s.

Third, Benedict XVI is a man of tradition, which means he feels bound to honor the custom that a whole litany of positions in the Vatican must be held by cardinals. Of the 18 new cardinal-electors Benedict named on Wednesday, the first seven were Vatican officials. Given that Europeans, especially Italians, are always over-represented in such positions, they're also over-represented among the cardinals.

These factors may make the preponderance of Europeans and North Americans more comprehensible, but ultimately they don't address the question of whether it's healthy for the church that its senior leaders are so unrepresentative of its actual membership.

That question has both an internal and an external dimension. Internally, it's fair to ask whether the college can develop a realistic grasp of the global Catholic situation when it's top-heavy with cardinals from a single part of the world, and one that accounts for a diminishing share of the population. For example, when the college met in April 2006, it spent a good bit of time debating the old Latin Mass. One wonders if that would have been the priority chosen by cardinals outside Europe and the States, in places where the post-Vatican II split between liberals and conservatives, of which debates over the old Mass are often a symbol, never really happened.

Externally, the current profile of the College of Cardinals cannot help but create an impression of a glass ceiling for Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. No matter how opaque Catholicism can seem to outsiders, few people fail to grasp the difference between a cardinal and everybody else. Given that the future of Catholicism in many ways lies in the global South, and that the church across much of the South faces stiff challenges from religious competitors, sheer self-interest, if nothing else, is likely to create momentum to make the college better resemble the Catholic map.

Drawing on the most recent edition of the Annuario, the Vatican's official yearbook, the global Catholic population breaks down as follows: Latin America, 43 percent; Europe, 22 percent; Africa, 14 percent; Asia, 11 percent; North America, 8 percent; and Oceania, 2 percent. If the College of Cardinals had 120 electors, and if it were an exact replica of the overall population, it would thus look like this: 52 Latin Americans, 26 Europeans, 17 Africans, 13 Asians, 10 North Americans, and 2 from Oceania.

While few would propose such rigid quotas, these numbers at least suggest that making the College of Cardinals look more like the church would require serious realignments.

Consider the math. Benedict XVI is determined to stay close to the limit on cardinal-electors of 120 imposed by Paul VI, and while to some extent that's an arbitrary number, going much higher would probably make the group unwieldy. Assuming a consistory every couple of years, a pope is generally looking at perhaps 20 open slots each time. If somewhere between five to ten are pre-assigned for Vatican personnel, the opportunities to create new cardinals elsewhere are seriously limited.

Changing the profile of the college, therefore, may require reducing the number of Vatican cardinals. For example, almost anyone who knows the church will rejoice in the selection of Archbishop John Foley, a gracious figure who has watched eight consistories come and go since 1984 without ever making the cut. But as a matter of policy, is it truly essential that the Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem be a cardinal? Or for that matter, the Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, or the Governor of the Vatican City-State?

Some reform-minded theologians argue that Vatican officials shouldn't even be bishops, let alone cardinals, in order to emphasize that Vatican agencies are supposed to serve local churches rather than micromanaging them. It doesn't require wading into that controversy, however, to venture the guess that the pope's "supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power," to use the language of canon law, would not be seriously compromised if the Archpriest of St. Mary Major, or the head of the Vatican archives, was a mere archbishop.

In addition, there are places where the limited number of spots for new cardinals might be better utilized. Here's a projection of what the top ten Catholic countries on earth will be in 2050, as measured by population:

Brazil: 215 million
Mexico: 132 million
Philippines: 105 million
United States: 99 million
Democratic Republic of Congo: 97 million
Uganda: 56 million
France: 49 million
Italy: 49 million
Nigeria: 47 million
Argentina: 46.1 million
As of Nov. 24, those 10 nations will have a total of 55 cardinal electors, but 41 come from Italy, France and the United States. The other nations have a combined total of just 14, four of whom are Vatican officials. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest Catholic nation on the continent with the fastest rate of Catholic growth, has no cardinal at all, and Uganda's lone cardinal is over 80. The Philippines has just three cardinals, with two electors.

By way of comparison, here are the Catholic nations with the largest number of cardinal electors:

Italy: 22
United States: 13
France: 6
Spain: 6
Germany: 6
Brazil: 4
Mexico: 4
Canada: 3
Poland: 3
India: 3
Colombia: 3
It doesn't require a virtuoso ecclesiologist to ask, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Breaking this pattern will probably require fewer cardinals in the Vatican. If not Benedict XVI, then some future pope may well see that as a trade-off worth making.

* * *

As the breakdown above makes clear, the United States is also strongly over-represented in the College of Cardinals, at least based on population numbers.

After Nov. 24, there will be 17 American cardinals and 13 electors, the second-largest totals after the Italians. For a term of comparison, consider that Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines, the other three Catholic nations among the four largest on earth, have 16 cardinals and just 8 electors, despite a combined Catholic population of 315 million to the roughly 70 million in the United States.

In the conclave of April 2005 that elected Benedict XVI, America had 11 voting cardinals, the same as all of Africa, even though Africa has twice the Catholic population. Brazil only had three votes, which, in crude mathematical fashion, works out to one cardinal-elector for every six million American Catholics and one for every 43 million Catholics in Brazil. Of course the church is not a representative democracy, but such wide gaps are nevertheless noteworthy.

[Nor are they 'gaps' that can be remedied with a 'quick fix' - the situation has to change over time because of the inherent limitations in the nomination process. ]

* * *

Speaking of cardinals, two weeks ago I interviewed Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who will likely soon take over as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Our conversation was wide-ranging, and at one point I asked the cardinal for a reaction to Jewish criticism of the pre-Vatican Latin liturgy, and specifically its prayer for the conversion of Jews on Good Friday.

I asked if the prayer could be changed, and this was George's response:

---

"Of course it can be done, and I suspect it probably will be, because the intention is to be sure that our prayers are not offensive to the Jewish people who are our ancestors in the faith. We can't possibly insult them in our liturgy … Not that any group has a veto on anybody's prayers, because you can go through Jewish texts and find material that is offensive to us. But if we're interested in keeping the dialogue strong, and we have to be, we should be very cautious about any prayer that they find insulting. 'They,' however, is a big tent. What my Jewish rabbi friend down the block finds insulting is different from what Abraham Foxman [national director of the Anti-Defamation League] finds insulting. Also, it does work both ways. Maybe this is an opening to say, 'Would you care to look at some of the Talmudic literature's description of Jesus as a bastard, and so on, and maybe make a few changes in some of that?'"

---

That comment apparently drew protest from some Jewish leaders who felt George was mixing apples and oranges, comparing the normative liturgical prayer of the Catholic church to dusty rabbinical commentaries from centuries ago.

In response, George offered the following clarification, which I am happy to present in full:

---

"Regarding the possible change or omission of some texts in Talmudic literature that are offensive to Christian believers, the point is not to compare relatively obscure scholarly texts with liturgical prayers that have a much wider audience and influence, but to suggest that the controversy surrounding the texts in the 1962 Roman Missal might be an occasion for opening a wider dialogue. An endless cycle of recrimination neither reflects nor advances the strong and friendly relations that are now taken for granted by many in both the Jewish and the Catholic communities. Trusting in these relationships, why can't we discuss texts that are hurtful to either Jews or Christians and, if appropriate, suggest changes?"

---

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


Positive but wary Catholic reaction
to letter from 138 Muslims positive
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
Oct. 18, 2007

One week after 138 Muslim leaders issued an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian figures urging the two faiths “to come to a common word between us,” reactions from the Catholic side seem largely positive, if still uncertain about the long-term significance of the initiative.

Released Oct. 11 in various parts of the world, the letter argued that world peace depends upon co-existence among Christians and Muslims, who together represent 55 percent of humanity. It argued that a basis for that co-existence can be found in the common commitment in both Christianity and Islam to love of God and love of neighbor.

To date Benedict XVI has not commented on the letter, though he may do so on Sunday when he travels to Naples to attend an annual international inter-religious meeting organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio.

The pope is scheduled to say Mass in Naples’ main piazza, then have lunch with some 200 religious leaders, including the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, the chief rabbi of Israel and the Muslim rector of Al-Azhar University in Egypt.

While Benedict will not take part in inter-religious prayer, the Naples trip presents an obvious opportunity to build upon the initiative of the 138 Muslim leaders.

In the meantime, the Vatican’s lone official comment has come from French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Speaking on Vatican Radio, Tauran called the letter “very interesting,” because it “comes from both Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims.”

“I would say that this represents a very encouraging sign because it shows that good will and dialogue are capable of overcoming prejudices,” Tauran said.

Perhaps the most extensive reflection to date comes from Jesuit Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian and one of Catholicism’s most influential experts on Islam. Samir is frequently critical of Islamic extremism, and a fierce advocate for Christians in majority Muslim states. Writing for the AsiaNews service yesterday, Samir was fundamentally positive about the letter.

Among the points Samir makes:

• The letter is representative of a broad cross-section of influential Muslim leaders, including not just Sunis and Shi’ites, but also smaller groups such as Sufis, Ismailites, Jafaarites, and Ribadites;
• The letter is addressed to all the proper Christian authorities, laid out in a sequence that parallels the historical development of Christianity, suggesting that “behind this letter is someone who knows and understands Christianity and the history of the church”;
• The letter was sponsored by the Aal al-Bayt Foundation in Jordan led by Prince Hassan, whom Samir said “represents the best of Islam today, from the point of view of reflection, openness and devotion.” Among other things, Samir, observes, Prince Hassan married a Hindu and did not force her to convert, which is unusual in modern Islam despite the fact that such a requirement is not part of the Qur’an;
• The letter does not depend upon any particular view of the status of Muhammad, but instead focuses on God and neighbor;
• The text uses a Christian vocabulary, signaling a clear desire for dialogue. For example, Samir writes, the term “neighbor” is not used in the Qur’an in anything other than a geographic sense. Likewise, the Qur’an does not refer to the “love” of God so much as “obedience” or “adoration”;
• Samir underscores the importance of the letter’s fundamental argument, that love of God and neighbor represents the common core of the two faiths: “This is the real novelty, which has never before been said by the Islamic world,” he writes;
• The letter takes for granted that the Christian Bible is the Word of God, something theoretically affirmed by the Qur’an but in practice often contested by Muslims. In particular, the authors cite St. Paul, even though many Muslims view Paul as a traitor who corrupted the original “Islamic” message of Jesus. (Samir notes that one popular anti-Christian work in the Muslim world is titled precisely, “Unmasking Paul!”);
• The letter cites a Qur’anic verse to the effect that God could have commanded everyone to belong to one religion, but instead he has permitted diversity, so that followers of different creeds may “vie with one another in good works.” Samir notes that this is the penultimate verse in the Qur’an in chronological order, so that it cannot be understood as abrogated. He calls it “a beautiful choice for ending the letter”;
• The normal pattern in Christian/Muslim dialogue, Samir says, has been for Christians to take the first step. It’s a welcome development to see Muslims doing it, he says: “We can hope there will be a reply to this letter, which is the result of an immense effort by the Muslim part.”

At the same time, Samir is not entirely uncritical. He argues, for example, that the decision of the authors to base their argument entirely on the Bible and the Qur’an may help Christians and Muslims come to terms, but it leaves most everyone else out of view. Eventually, he says, Christians and Muslims will have to seek a more “universal” basis for dialogue, along the lines of Pope Benedict XVI’s invitation to reconsider natural law.

Second, he challenges an aside in the letter to the effect that Muslims do not see Christians as enemies, “so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes.”

If that’s a reference to the American-led war in Iraq, Samir says, it amounts to a dangerous confusion between politics and religion, since the Americans are not present in the Middle East, he argues, as a Christian army.

“Muslims tend to see the West as a Christian power, without ever realizing the point to which the West has been secularized and [is] far from Christian ethics,” he writes.

Finally, Samir said, it remains an open question “what weight the letter will bring to bear in the Muslim world, considering that priests continue to be kidnapped, apostates persecuted, and Christians oppressed.”

Another fundamentally positive reaction has come from Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, an influential figure internationally who has taken up the challenge of dialogue with Islam through a journal and foundation he’s created called “Oasis.”

Speaking to the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Scola said that the letter is “certainly an encouraging sign.” No document produced by Islamic militants, he said, has ever enjoyed the broad consensus of Muslim leaders who stand behind this text.

“Rooting [the letter] in Islamic tradition is very important, and it makes the text more credible than others that have been proclaimed using a more Western language,” Scola said.

While the letter is no more than a “prelude to theological dialogue,” Scola said, it nevertheless reflects the climate of respect necessary for any dialogue to take place.

“When I was in Cairo and the United States,” Scola said, “I met three signatories to the document: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, and Muzammil H. Siddiqui. I could see for myself that this respect is real.”

Scola said the letter underscores that “taking up the problem of co-existence of the different faiths cannot be delayed.”

One other development in recent days also may point to new horizons for Christian/Muslim relations. Meeting in Sierra Leone on Oct. 16, the Catholic bishops of West Africa declared their commitment to seek improved ties to Muslims. Specifically, the bishops called for collaboration on a host of social and political challenges: “the fight against corruption, unemployment, crime, protection of the environment and the provision of social services, especially for the poor.”

The Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa includes Nigeria, which has the largest population of Christians and Muslims living side-by-side anywhere in the world. The relationship between the two communities has often been tense. Controversies over shariah in several northern Nigerian states, for example, triggered violence that left an estimated 10,000 people dead in 2000-2001.

In that light, the bishops’ declaration may represent a new chapter in relations in Africa, the continent where both Christianity and Islam are posting their most rapid gains.

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

I can't believe I missed seeing Fr. Samir's article in AsiaNews on Oct. 17! I'm posting it now in REFLECTIONS ON ISLAM.


Also, Il Foglio yesterday had an article about Cardinal Scola's reaction to the Muslims' letter,a s well as the traditional Mass. Will translate as soon as I can.


Meanwhile, Reuters has a new story about Cardinal Tauran's reaction to the letter:


In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Cardinal signals firm Vatican stance with Muslims
By Tom Heneghan
Religion Editor



PARIS, Oct. 19 (Reuters) - The top Vatican official for Islam has praised a novel Muslim call for dialogue but said real theological debate with them was difficult as they saw the Koran as the literal word of God and would not discuss it in depth.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, in an interview on Friday with the French Catholic daily La Croix, also said Christians would have to discuss curbs on building churches in the Islamic world in the dialogue advocated by 138 Muslim scholars in the appeal.

His interview, coming after mostly positive comments by other Catholic Islam experts, signaled the world's largest Christian church wanted a serious dialogue with Muslims that did not avoid some fundamental issues dividing the religions.

"Muslims do not accept that one can discuss the Koran in depth, because they say it was written by dictation from God," Tauran said. "With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith."

The fact that Muslims can build mosques in Europe while many Islamic states limit or ban church building cannot be ignored, he said. "In a dialogue among believers, it is fundamental to say what is good for one is good for the other," he said.

The appeal last week by 138 scholars representing a large majority of Islamic views invited Christian leaders to a dialogue based on their common belief that love of God and neighbor is the cornerstone of their religions.

It was unprecedented because Islam has no central authority to speak for all believers, especially not the silent minority that does not agree with radicals whose preaching of jihad and rejection of other faiths often dominates the headlines.

The appeal was addressed to all leading Christian churches. Anglican, Lutheran and evangelical leaders and the World Council of Churches have all welcomed it.

But the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church, which makes up more than half of the world's two billion Christians, is key to any coordinated Christian response to the Muslim appeal.

Tauran praised the appeal as "an eloquent example of a dialogue of spiritualities" that showed good will by quoting not the Koran only - as Muslims usually do - but also the Bible.

The appeal avoided major differences such as the roles of Jesus and Mohammad, but Tauran brought up one about the Koran.

Muslims revere the Koran as the literal word of God while most Christian theologians - and some Muslim intellectuals - say sacred scriptures are the work of divinely inspired humans and can be challenged and reinterpreted.

Pope Benedict is a key figure because his Regensburg speech last year implying Islam was violent and irrational sparked bloody protests in the Muslim world and prompted the Muslim scholars to unite to seek better inter-faith understanding.

Tauran hinted Benedict might use a major inter-faith meeting in Naples on Sunday to respond to the appeal. "The pope will be there at the start and will certainly say something," he told La Croix without elaborating.

Father Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian Jesuit and leading Catholic expert on Islam, welcomed the appeal as reflecting a broad consensus among Sunnis and Shi'ites and showing a real understanding of Christianity by its signatories.

"With time, this document could create an opening and a greater convergence," he wrote on the AsiaNews website.

PASTORAL VISIT TO NAPLES, October 21, 2007



In the PASTORAL VISITS thread the other day, I mentioned that the website of the city of Naples did not contain a word about the Pope's visit except for something that appears on a PDF of a program for the World Inter-Religious Encounter.

Well, they finally came out with something, though their 'banner' does not get bigger than this on the site:



It came with this notice, translated here:


CITY'S ARRANGEMENTS FOR POPE'S VISIT

On Sunday, October 21, Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the city of Naples. The event falls on the first of three days, from Oct. 21-23, when Naples is hosting the Inter-Religious Forum for Peace, organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Neapolitan Curia.

For the occasion, there will be an exceptional deployment of men and measures. Local police, forces of order, and volunteers for civil protection will assure peace and order for the occasion.

TV maxiscreens will be installed in Piazza Municipio, Piazza Dante e Piazza Matteotti. The Pope will celebrate Mass in Piazza del Plebiscito at 10 a.m.. For the occasion, a stage and thousands of seats have been installed.

A Situation Room has been established at the sala Pigniatello of Palazzo San Giacomo to monitor the course of events and coordinate management of any possible emergencies (tel 0817954256 - 4257. It will be in constant communications with the Operations Center of the
Police Prefecture of Naples.

The Situation Room is also linked to all the TV monitoring cameras mounted by the city at various parts of the Papal route and event.

The city administration will effect a specific traffic plan which protects the central area of the city from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on October 21. The plan includes closure of certain streets, prohibited parking or stopping, and parking limited only to authorities and pre-registered buses.

It gives full details of the above arrangements, including a PowerPoint presentation with maps of the protected routes.



From Il Mattino today, translated here:

A CLIMATE OF CELEBRATION
ANTICIPATES PAPAL VISIT
By LUIGI ROANO



Great anticipation and a climate of celebration for the Pope's visit and the start of the inter-religious meeting for peace, the two events on Sunday, Oct. 21, which is reportedly costing the region and the city 750,000 euros in organizational costs. [Quite a modest sum actually compared to the economic benefits from the tens of thousands of visitors to the city.]

The countdown has started. Yesterday, the city formally presented its traffic and security arrangements for Sunday. Present were Mayor
Rosa Russo Iervolino and city authorities responsible for law and order.

The mayor said, "We will show the Pope a city with all its problems but also its enormous potential, and the Pope will give us the courage to go ahead."

More than half the city will be under strict traffic and pedestrian control from 1 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. At the same time the zone of the great hotels along the coastal boulevard will be closed off at that time.

Starting Saturday, parking will be prohibited along the routes to be taken by the Pope. They have called this the 'yellow zone' after the primary Vatican color, but it is what is normally called a 'red zone' denoting maximum security.



18 streets are closed off with armoured cars, with 2000 policemen, 12oo firemen, and 600 volunteers for civil protection assigned. Not counting sharpshooters and plainclothesmen, and a whole array of TV monitoring devices.

A total of 14 kilometers of streets will be protected by police barriers along both sides, and an area within a 4.5-km perimeter will be accessible only to authorized persons and employees.

Neapolitans are advised to use public transport on Sunday. The metro, buses and funiculars (cable cars) will operate on holiday schedule.

The Pope is expected to arrive by helicopter from the Vatican at 9 a.m. at the Maritime Station in the Port of Naples. This will be followed by Mass and Angelus at Piazza del Plebiscito, then luncheon at the Archdiocesan Seminary in Colli Aminei, and his final event, a visit to the Chapel of San Gennaro at the Cathedral of Naples, before returning to the Vatican.

More than 100,000 requests were received for tickets to the Mass, but no more than 20,000 were given out for security reasons.

On the stage, there will be 1500 seats for prelates and authorities, as well as for 400 choir members. The piazza is divided into 16 sectors with 7,800 seats, and 10 sectors for 13,000 standing.

For everyone else, RAI is broadcasting live and this may be seen on 8 maxiscreens - four in Piazza del Plebiscito itself, one in Piazza Municipio and three more in other major squares.

The City of Naples will present the Pope with a Crucifix executed by sculptor Riccardo Dalisi, at the Theological Institute on Colle Aminei, where all of the gift presentations to the Pope will be done.

The sculpture will have the signatures of Naples Mayor Rosa Iervolino and the presidents of Campania region and province, respectively, Antonio Bassolino and Dino Di Palma.

It will be a very important week for Naples during which it will be in the world spotlight.

The XXI World Inter-Religious Encounter will be opened Sunday evening at Teatro San Carlo by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano [as his last name indicates, he is a Neapolitan], arrives Tuesday for the final day of the event and will be in the city for a two-day visit.

Il Mattino, 19 ottobre 2007

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

PASTORAL VISIT TO NAPLES, October 21, 2007


Since he was named President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi has given at least three major interviews to Italian newspapers, in which he discusses his view of his role and that of culture in the mission of the Church. Unfortunately, I have not found time to translate these. The following interview from Il Mattino today specifically refers to the Naples visit, but somehow neither the questions nor the answers are properly focused to come up with something beyond the usual platitudes. Here is a translation.


Why inter-religious dialog
continues to be a great challenge
By Alceste Santini



We spoke to Mons.Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture about the visit of Benedict XVI to Naples and his symbolic presence at the opening of the World Inter-Religious Encounter promoted by the Sant'Egidio community.


First, we asked him what new step the inter-cultural and inter-religious dialog should take today.

We should widen our horizons with a more incisive dialog within Christianity itself among the various confessions, on the ecumenical level, and with the various non-Christian religions like Islam. Also, Islam itself does not have a single face. Along with fundamentalist Islam, there are a variety of other 'Islams' with their specific differences and nuances.


Are these the new aspects that concern Benedict XVI after the breakthrough initiatives by John Paul II?

John Paul II did a lot for dialog. But now, according to Benedict XVI, we should also look to non-believers - the agnostics and atheists. It is an area that is fraught with tensions and potential conflicts.

But one aspect of my dicastery encompasses dialog with non-believers, which Pope Paul VI anticipated, after Vatican-II, by setting up within this council a secretariat dedicated to non-believers.


So your efforts are tailored to current developments?

Not long ago, in Milan, in a subway coach, I found myself the only white person among passengers of different nationalities. To reflect such a social, economic and cultural reality, we need to have true dialog. We look at the experience of certain American cities like New York and Chicago, where there is great ethnic diversity, in which the communities keep their respective identities, but are often isolated - so we must try to overcome resistances to integration and assimilation [within the host country].


But how can this be done? We already see how this isolationism has so many negative effects in our own society.

Let me reply with a Tibetan parable. A person in the desert sees a figure advancing from afar. He fears it may be a beast. Coming closer, he realizes it is a man, but he could be a bandit. He was terrorized, but then, as they came face to face, the parable says, "he raised his eyes and saw it was his own brother."


How does one apply this in a city like Naples?

I think it has a special significance because of the city's history, resulting in diverse marks of identity among the population. This is a city that was built over the centuries under a variety of foreign rulers and experiences: think of the many civilizations that have passed through, its opening to the Mediterranean and to the south, a relationship that is very important today, and which is not always well understood.


Does this mean correcting misunderstandings such as those provoked by Pope Benedict's lecture at Regensburg?

These are really typically Ratzingerian themes, especially if we reflect on how Benedict XVI sees problems relating to the relationship between faith and reason, between faith and science, between Christian ethics and lay ethics.

These are all high-confrontation issues, especially considering that we live in times in which not only faith but reason, too, is in crisis. This crisis impacts on politics and on daily life, where there are no longer any fixed reference points.


What is the most complex aspect of this effort?

First of all there is an oscillating frontier among believers, agnostics and non-believers. There are persons who believe they believe (in God), and some who believe they don't believe. There are atheists who find themselves at the limits of faith, and vice-versa. I am thinking of someone like (Massimo) Cacciari [the philosopher mayor of Venice] who represents the non-believer who is strongly interested in faith. But there are also so many believers who have a formal but fragile faith, one might say only a facade of faith.


How do we get out of this political and cultural crisis?

Returning to method. In the past, the clash between faith and non-faith, between Catholics and secularists, has sometimes reached vehement levels. Sometimes it has been productive if its is between authentic atheists and believers. For instance, between the Christian and Marxist visions, or between secular idealism and Christian mysticism.

Nietzsche himself - we know how anti-Christian he was - did not conceal his respect for Christ, calling him the Only Christian in history, who unfortunately ends up on the Cross.


But today the general level of philosophical, cultural and political debate has been greatly debased.

Yes. Maybe because we now have a society of image and screaming matches, the atheist and the indifferent have taken the easy way of
mockery in place of reason, and so, what prevails is insult, not dialog or analysis.

I am convinced that serious atheists and secularists don't wish to be represented by superficial books, just as believers don't want to be considered cretins because they believe. All this has made dialog difficult towards finding some point of encounter on which everyone may build together something useful to society.

And it is time to get out of this pointless game of conflict and start building the society of the future.

Il Mattino, 19 ottobre 2007

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


More focused is the PETRUS interview by Bruno Volpe with the 88-year-old Cardinal Thomas Spidlik of Czechoslovakia.



As PETRUS does not explain why they singled out the Jesuit cardinal, I looked up an online biography which shows that he began his priesthood in 1949 by working at Vatican Radio to produce programs broadcast behind the Iron Curtain. While in Rome, he was also spiritual director of the Pontifical Nepomuceno Seminary for 38 years, and established a reputation over the years as one of the greatest experts on eastern theology and spirituality. He preached the Spiritual Exercises for the Pope and the Roman Curia in March 1995, encouraging the Holy Father to write Ut Unum Sint, his encyclical on ecumenism. In 1998, Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech Republic, awarded him the medal of the Order of Masaryk, one of the Republic's highest honours. The Holy Father elevated him to the College of Cardinals on 21 October 2003.



VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Thomas Spidlik says the Pope will be visiting a city suspended between heaven and earth, between Paradise and hell, when he goes to Naples on Sunday.


Eminence, you make out Naples to be a city on parallel tracks of good and evil.

Yes, let me explain. Naples is a city of contrasts, a place in which day after day, often tragically, good and evil try to get the better of each other. And the evil is evident to all: the violence, drugs, the Camorra. And the media in all the nation report on all this.

Unfortunately, all these negative stories suffocate the majority of citizens who are honest, serious and industrious - those who stand for good in Naples. That is why I speak about the battle between Good and Evil, with capital letters, playing out in that city.


In the light of all this, what could possibly result from the visit of Pope Benedict?

The results will definitely be positive. The Holy Father himself is an excellent reason for reflection - his catechesis helps to rouse the conscience of many. He will invite Neapolitans to genuine conversion - and this does not mean following the Missal with varying degrees of distraction but putting the word of God into practice. So, I expect that all people of good will in Naples will take upon themselves the message from the Successor of Peter.


Eminence, you place man at the center of everything...

In fact, it is necessary to recover a new humanism that puts man, even with all his limitations, firmly in the center once again. There is no distinction among Neapolitans, Romans, Florentines, Catholics, Orthodox, etc. - everyone is a human being, and we have to speak to each one without making distinctions.

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

It has to be very daunting for Pope Benedict XVI to visit a city like Naples which has a long history of criminal gangs, violence, and corruption - knowing that an unprecedented three-day pastoral visit by John Paul II to Naples in 1990 apparently did little to change the criminal culture that appears to be ingrained there.

But the Holy Father will do what he does best - preach the word of God to the hearts and minds of those who hear him. And the rest is as God wills.

PASTORAL VISIT TO NAPLES, October 21, 2007



Here's an update translated from Il Mattino today:


Wind, rain and cold
forecast for Sunday
By LUIGI ROANO

A warning from the meteorologists has cast a literal pall over the Papal visit: They forecast rain, wind and unseasonable chill (mid-40s) from Saturday night and all through Sunday, and the city's law and order authorities are scurrying to review alternative plans.

Plan B concerns first of all the Pope's method of travel to and from the Vatican, planned to be by helicopter. But in bad weather, helicopter travel is not safe. The alternative is for the Pope to travel by train from Rome.

Prime Minister Romani Prodi, probably with Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, were to welcome the Pope at the Maritime Station in the Port of Naples, where the papal helicopter would land.

Because of the rain and cold forecast for Sunday morning, the authorities advise the public, "Please come for the Mass well covered, especially since entry to the Piazza will get started early in the morning when temperatures will be even chillier."

At the same time, it was also announced that the city will have at least 20,000 disposable raincoats to give away to persons attending the Mass (tickets given out were limited to 20,000).

Additional arrangements to those earlier announced include:
- A human chain of volunteers will provide protection along both sides of the road on the last stretch of the Pope's route to the Archdiocesan Seminary.
- There will be ambulances as well as tent hospitals available at Piazza Plebiscito and three other locations nearby.
- The Red Cross is fielding 150 men, ambulances and a hospital unit
and will coordinate closely with police officials.

Meanwhile, governor Antonio Bassolino of the province of Campania said: "Sunday will be a special day for Naples, We will receive from teh Holy Father the gift of a great message for peace and for commitment to the battle against social and economic disparity and every form of abuse. I am convinced that we will each draw new impetus from the Pope's words to do good, day after day, for our communities."

Il Mattino, 19 ottobre 2007

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

TIME'S MISREPRESENTATION
OF THE POPE AND THE NAPLES
WORLD ENCOUNTER FOR PEACE:
WHO 'SHOWED UP' AT WHOSE PARTY?

About the Pope's presence in Naples on opening day of the XXI World Inter-Religious Encounter for Peace, here is Jeff Israely of TIME with his now-customary snarky attitude towards the Pope, made worse by his explicit and deliberately misleading statements that this event was organized for Benedict, with an implication that he sought it!

When the Pope Comes to the Party
By JEFF ISRAELY/ROME
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007



It's hard not to notice when the Pope shows up. [Hey, he's not 'showing up for the party'! It's the other way around. He happens to be making a pastoral visit to Naples on the day the annual religious Kumbaya for peace opens, so the organizers - who have been preparing their Naples event for the past 12 months - simply worked that into their program, or rather their pre-program - because the Encounter is not scheudled to open until early Sunday evening, after the Pope has ended his pastoral visit to Naples.]

And you can sometimes say the same when he doesn't. Last fall, Pope Benedict XVI was a notable no-show at a September ceremony to mark 20 years since John Paul II had hosted a groundbreaking gathering of world religious leaders in Assisi, Italy. [How can he be a 'no-show' for an observance that is at best 'ritual' in the figurative sense - to mark the day, to remind people it happened! The Diocese of Assisi asked him for a message, and he sent them a beautiful message, underscoring what the true spirit of Assisi is and should be. I bet he wasn't even invited - even JP-II never came to the annual anniversaries. He only returned the year after 9/11 becaue of the tremendous significance of 9/11.]

Some viewed the Pope's absence as a slap to those working for inter-faith dialogue, both inside and outside the Catholic Church.

On Sunday, however, Benedict will be center stage at the most lavish, and well-attended, inter-religious ceremony of his papacy, organized by the same Sant'Egidio community that helped launch Assisi. [They most certainly did not organize it for him - they organized it as they have done every annual encounter since 1987.]

What has changed? Why is Benedict marking 21 years since "the spirit of Assisi" was uncorked, after skipping out on the 20th anniversary?

First, let's turn back to that October 27, 1986 "prayer for peace" in the birthplace of St. Francis. The gathering in Assisi of monks and imams, rabbis and priests and prelates of all stripe has long been considered the catalyst that turned inter-religious dialogue into something of a worldwide, faith-based movement in its own right. But not all were impressed.

Before becoming the current Pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was considered one of the Vatican officials most skeptical about the efforts spawned by Assisi, which risked clashing with the traditionalist theologian's conviction that differences among religions should not be glossed over for the sake of feel-good encounters.

Still, when it came time for the 20th anniversary last year, Benedict was not going to shun Assisi altogether. [But what makes you assume he would? Has he ever 'shunned Assisi altogether'? What is he - a petty and petulant man who will let his personal opinion about some aspects of the 1987 event influence his actions as Pope and as a man of God? How many times, on his own, during this Pontificate, has he referred to St. Francis and the true meaning of that saint's life and mission, at the most unexpected occasions?]

While preparing for a trip a few days later to his native Bavaria, the German Pope sent a letter to the commemorative gathering that called his predecessor's focus on inter-faith dialogue at Assisi "prophetic" in light of the rising violence perpetrated in the name of religion.

Indeed, Benedict was about to live another chapter of that very prophecy. Just days later, during his homecoming trip to Germany, the new Pope delivered his provocative lecture on faith, reason and violence that set off widespread criticism in the Muslim world, punctuated by acts of violence, including the burning of churches and the killing of a nun in Somalia.

Benedict was quick to turn to the "spirit of Assisi" [Excuse me???? You would think the Pope was nothing better than a run-of-the-mill opportunist! I dare Mr. Israely to cite one instance when the Pope ever used the phrase 'spirit of Assisi' in everything he said related to the Regensburg lecture - which, precisely, went beyond the Kumbaya quixotism of Assisi 1987, to something more concrete and genuine because it proposed a reason-based dialog without 'making nice' for the sake of making nice!] in trying to calm the waters after his Regensberg speech, inviting Rome-based Muslim diplomats for a meeting in the Vatican and visiting the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, where he prayed shoulder-to-shoulder with the Turkish imam.

Though tensions remain, a letter earlier this month addressed to the Pope and other Christian leaders, signed by 138 prominent Muslim clerics and scholars, is seen as a potential breakthrough in relations between Islam and Christianity.

Of course, inter-faith dialogue for Catholics is hardly limited to Muslims. Perhaps highest of the priorities is finding unity with other Christian denominations. Benedict has also made clear his desire to reinforce John Paul's good relations with Jews. But in recent months both those dialogues have suffered some nasty hiccups.

First, in July, the Pope allowed for expanded use of the old-rite Latin Mass, which contains a Good Friday prayer that offends some Jews. A few days later, the Vatican's doctrinal office reiterated Benedict's stance — first stated when he was cardinal — that non-Catholic denominations of Christianity, excepting the Orthodox, are not true Churches because they cannot trace their hierachies back to the apostles. (The Orthodox, however, are a reduced Church because they do not recognize the primacy of the Apostle Peter's successor, the Pope.) It is as clear as ever that Benedict will not mince words in laying out his vision of what it means to be Catholic, even if it risks offending both those inside and outside his own Church.

Still, to mark 21 years since the Assisi gathering — to be held in the southern city of Naples — Benedict made sure to offer not only his written words, but his physical presence. Indeed, the Pope's positive RSVP means that some of the most influential leaders of other faiths will arrive as well, including Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, 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.

"It is very encouraging that the Pope has decided to come," says Mario Marazziti, a spokesman for the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, the Rome-based group behind both the Assisi and Naples events. [Marazziti is equally being misleading. When the Pope announced he was going to Naples on a pastoral visit, he said he was doing so in response to a long-standing invitation of Cardinal Sepe. He never once mentioned the World Encounter in the entire run-up to the pastoral visit. If he was a true participant, he would have been in the opening session of the Encounter, at least.]

"At the same time we know this is a different Pope than John Paul, who touched so many with the charisma of his person. This is a theologian-Pope, who governs with his word."

But more and more, Benedict also seems to understand that gestures — and even just showing up — are sometimes the best way to be heard.

===================================================================
GEE, THANKS! HOW CONDESCENDING! AND ONCE AGAIN:

THE POPE DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR SANT'EGIDIO'S PARTY. ON THE CONTRARY, HE INVITED THEM TO HIS PARTY!

---

The Holy Father met with
- H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the Republic of Tanzania, with his wife and delegation.
Communique issued.
- Cardinal Ricardo María Carles Gordó, Emeritus Archbishop of Barcelona
- Delegation from the Mennonite World Conference. Address in English.
- Bishops of the Republic of Congo on ad-limina visit. Address in French.
- Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(weekly meeting).

---

POPE RECEIVES PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA



VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2007 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy See Press Office released the following communique:

"This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, president of the United Republic of Tanzania.

"Immediately afterwards, the illustrious guest met with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B.; also present at the meeting were Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, Bernard Kamillius Membe, Tanzanian minister for foreign affairs, and Ali Siwa, ad interim charge d'affaires at the Tanzanian embassy to the Holy See.



"In the course of the discussions, having recalled the role that for many years Tanzania has played in the pacification of the Great Lakes region of Africa, attention turned to relations between State and Church, ever marked by mutual respect and esteem, and to the contribution Catholics make to the progress of the Tanzanian people, especially in the fields of education, healthcare and other forms of social work.

"Other areas of common interest were examined, such as the importance of peaceful coexistence and collaboration between believers in all religions, in particular between Christians and Muslims, For its part, the Holy See reiterated the commitment of the Catholic Church and her institutions to work for an integral and harmonious development of all the Tanzanian people."


TO BISHOPS OF THE CONGO:
PROMOTE THE DIGNITY OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE




VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2007 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy Father received eight prelates from the Episcopal Conference of the Congo who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.

In his address to them the Holy Father highlighted "the specific and concrete contribution of bishops in establishing peace and reconciliation in the country," and made a call "to Christians and to the population entire to open the way to reconciliation so that ethnic and social differences, experienced with mutual respect and love, become a shared wealth and not a cause for division."

Referring then to the bishops' reports in which they identify "the urgent need to create real dynamism in the local Churches," Benedict XVI pointed out how evangelizing activity depends upon "living ecclesial communities. Places in which the Gospel is lived and charity (especially with the poor) is practiced, demonstrate a form of pastoral care based on the idea of proximity, and also constitute a strong bulwark against the sects," he said.

The Pope invited the prelates to concern themselves "with the initial and permanent Christian formation of the faithful, ensuring they understand the Christian mystery, and base themselves on the reading of Scripture and sacramental life." In this context, he thanked the people involved in the formation of the laity, in particular catechists and their families.

The Holy Father asked the bishops to support and help priests to lead "an ever more dignified and holy existence, rooted in a profound spiritual life and an emotional maturity lived in celibacy."

"By remaining close to priests," he continued, "you will be for them models of priestly life and help them to a greater awareness of the sacramental fraternity that comes into being with ordination. I call upon the many Congolese priests who live outside their country to give serious consideration to the pastoral needs of their dioceses, and to take the necessary decisions in response to the urgent appeals of their diocesan Churches."

Benedict XVI warned that "the noticeable reduction in the number of canonical marriages is a real challenge facing the family. ... Civil legislation, the weakening of the family structure, and the weight of certain traditional practices, especially the exorbitant cost of dowries, are a real brake on young people's commitment to marriage."

"What is needed," the Holy Father concluded, "is a profound pastoral reflection in order to promote the dignity of Christian marriage, the reflection and realization of Christ's love for His Church. It is important to help couples to achieve the human and spiritual maturity necessary to undertake ... their mission as Christian spouses and parents, reminding them that their love is unique, indissoluble, and that marriage contributes to the full realization of their human and Christian vocation."



MENNONITES MAKE HISTORIC
FIRST VISIT TO THE VATICAN




Vatican City, Oct 19, 2007 (CNA).- The Vatican witnessed an unprecedented event today as the Pope received the first delegation to ever come from the Mennonite World Conference.

Benedict XVI welcomed the group which split from the Catholic Church in the 16th century and noted that they are to be commended for their longstanding witness to peace.

"The Mennonites are part of the Anabaptist tradition of the Reformation," explains a communique issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. "To use a modern term, the Mennonites could be described today as pacifists.”

“For their views on Baptism which, they feel, should be administered only to people capable of making autonomous decisions, they were subject ... to persecution in both Protestant and Catholic countries." In 1986 and 2002, the leaders of the Mennonite World Conference accepted John Paul II's invitation to participate in the meetings for peace in Assisi.

"In the ecumenical spirit of recent times, we have begun to have contacts with each other after centuries of isolation," the Pope told the Mennonite leaders in his English-language talk. "Since it is Christ Himself who calls us to seek Christian unity, it is entirely right and fitting that Mennonites and Catholics have entered into dialogue in order to understand the reasons for the conflict that arose between us in the sixteenth century. To understand is to take the first step towards healing."

"Mennonites are well known for their strong Christian witness to peace in the name of the Gospel, and here, despite centuries of division, the dialogue report 'Called Together to be Peacemakers' has shown that we hold many convictions in common. We both emphasize that our work for peace is rooted in Jesus Christ," said the Pope.

Catholics and Mennonites "both understand that 'reconciliation, non violence, and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel.' Our continuing search for the unity of the Lord's disciples is of the utmost importance. Our witness will remain impaired as long as the world sees our divisions,” Benedict remarked.

The Pope concluded his address by expressing the hope that the visit "will be another step towards mutual understanding and reconciliation."

CATHOLICS AND MENNONITES:
CALLED TO BE PEACEMAKERS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, the Pope received a delegation from the Mennonite World Conference, a group which has recently expressed the desire to meet the Pope and to visit some of the dicasteries of the Holy See. This is the Mennonite Conference's first visit to Rome.

"The Mennonites are part of the Anabaptist tradition of the Reformation," explains a communique issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. "To use a modern term, the Mennonites could be described today as pacifists. For their views on Baptism which, they feel, should be administered only to people capable of making autonomous decisions, they were subject ... to persecution in both Protestant and Catholic countries." In 1986 and 2002, the leaders of the Mennonite World Conference accepted John Paul II's invitation to participate in the meetings for peace in Assisi.

"In the ecumenical spirit of recent times, we have begun to have contacts with each other after centuries of isolation," the Pope told the Mennonite leaders in his English-language talk. "Since it is Christ Himself who calls us to seek Christian unity, it is entirely right and fitting that Mennonites and Catholics have entered into dialogue in order to understand the reasons for the conflict that arose between us in the sixteenth century. To understand is to take the first step towards healing."

"Mennonites are well known for their strong Christian witness to peace in the name of the Gospel, and here, despite centuries of division, the dialogue report 'Called Together to be Peacemakers' has shown that we hold many convictions in common. We both emphasize that our work for peace is rooted in Jesus Christ."

Catholics and Mennonites "both understand that 'reconciliation, non violence, and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel.' Our continuing search for the unity of the Lord's disciples is of the utmost importance. Our witness will remain impaired as long as the world sees our divisions."

The Pope concluded his address by expressing the hope that the visit "will be another step towards mutual understanding and reconciliation."

AND THE POPE'S 'ENCYCLICAL FOR ITALY'

PAPAL VISIT TO VERONA, OCTOBER 19, 2006



MONS. FISICHELLA LOOKS BACK:
BENEDICT CALLED ON US
TO WIDEN THE HORIZONS OF REASON
AND MAKE FAITH VISIBLE IN PRACTICE


At the first anniversary today of the fourth National Convention of the Italian Church in Verona, Mons. Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, spoke to Vatican Radio about its significance.

He said Pope Benedict XVI challenged the Church in Italy to "give concrete and practicable substance to Christian testimony", examining how "it can act and develop within each of the broad fields in which the human experience is played out."

Alessandro Gisotti asked Mons. Fisichella to draw up a balance sheet of what has happened since then.

Mons, Fisichella: I think it was an event that is still bringing vitality to our local Churches. I think that Verona - as the Pope wished - has allowed us to widen our field of reason and therefore realize how many arguments the Church can bring to the public debate in this country, against those who wish to confront us or at least want to know what we think.

Today, at a distance of one year, we can express a further sign of this, namely the social commitment of a Church which is once more and always aimed at the good of all and the dignity of every individual.


In Verona, the Pope called on the Church in Italy to make visible the great YES that God said to man and his life through Jesus Christ. How does one convince those who continue to think that the Church means a series of NO's instead of this great YES?

I think that most of them just don't want to recognize what the Church is proposing. But the moment faith and reason coincide, then the message can only be highly positive. And the moment we are in the public debate with our true identity - without watering it down, without wishing to hide it - it will be evident that we bring a message of love. But when will this message be understood? Only when it is so strong that it will be very evident it is a big YES. Love, we all know, means great dedication to the loved one. In order to say YES, one has to believe that it is practicable, that it can be done. So when one says YES to love, anyone who lives in that reality not only understands what love is, but also recognizes that it calls for some renunciation if necessary.


In Italy, as it seems to be in much of the West, there is a tendency to try to limit religion to the private sphere. Does the Church risk being marginalized in the public debate?

I think there is such a danger on two counts. First, by creating conditions in which its words are presented as not in conformity with progress in science, with the progress of culture and of humanity. Nothing can be more false. If there is one condition of Christian thought, it is to encounter all cultures and allow culture, progress and science to develop those principles, the signs of truth that they carry inherently.

The second danger is from ourselves - if we don't have the strong conviction of truth that we profess. Any doubt on our part will evidently water down our own practical commitment.




To review the Pope's landmark speech in Verona, which someone called an 'encyclical for Italy', go to
freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=6675691&p=1
Post 8832 at the bottom of the page.

The Italian papers today all reported a message by Pope Benedict which was read by CEI president Mons. Angelo Bagnasco at the opening yesterday of the Italian bishops' Social Week in Pistoia (a city near Florence), in which the Pope said 'precarious' work [referring to uncertain hand-to-mouth employment] seriously compromises society because it does not allow young people to plan and build families.

Immediately, all leftist elements in Italian politics, including Communist Party leaders, took his words out of context to say it meant the Pope was supporting a planned anti-government demonstration this weekend regarding welfare policies.

[A full translation of the Pope's message has been posted in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES.]

Most reports and commentaries pointed out that the left has never had one thing good to say about the Pope, but were now quick to exploit him to promote their cause by using his words out of context to suit their ends.

This prompted Joaquin Navarro-Valls to write one of his rare editorials for La Repubblica in which he points out that the Pope said nothing he has not already said before about labor and Catholic social doctrine.

Very apropos, Social Consciousness Week opened on the first anniversary of the Verona convention at whichthe Pope spelled out how he expected Italy to take the lead in active lay Catholic inovlement in the public debate and activites regarding social issues.

This editorial in Il Timone, translated here, summarizes best the outcry against leftist opportunism with the Pope:



OK, so when the Pope speaks about the right to work, or the environment, then everyone not only lines up with him, but calls on others to listen to him, follow his words, and woe to him who ignores him. Yesterday, they all but asked him to keynote the next Congress of the Communist Rifondazione!

But when he speaks of human life, family, and the right to religious education, then he is guilty of unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of the State, of stepping brazenly into politics, etc.

This oscillation by secular politicians has now reached embarrassing levels. But beyond the exploitation, one thing must be noted: Even when the Pope seems to agree with some secular positions, we find that the secularists take his words out of context, bend them to suit their ends, and in the end, attribute things to him that he never said.

A flagrant example is the Pope's statement yesterday on the right to stable employment on the part of the youth. As reported by newspapers and TV, the radical left has made it appear that the Pope is supporting them in their fight against proposed labor laws by the Prodi government, subject of a planned demonstration this weekend.

But the Pope's message was addressed to participants in the Italian Church's annual Social Consciousness Week, and was not referring at all to the labor legislation being debated in Parliament.

He was speaking of anthropological considerations by the Church at the center of which is "respect for human life and attention to the demands of a family founded on matrimony between a man and a woman."

The Pope said, as he has often done before, that these are not only Catholic but universal human values. In this context, and speaking of attention to family needs, he observed: "When the precariousness of employment does not allow young people to start families, then the authentic and full development of society is seriously compromised."

Strong words, but clearly said in support of reinforcing the family as an institution. That is a totally different concept from what is being attributed to him by the very persons who are working for PACS, DICO, CUS or other means of undermining the very concept of family.

Il Timone, 19 ottobre 2007

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

CNS had this report on the Pope's message for Pistoia:

Pope says political field
is for laypeople,
but church must guide
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY. Oct. 19 (CNS) - Involvement in politics is a role reserved to laypeople, but Catholic Church leaders must explain and promote the moral principles that will contribute to the common good, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"The church, while recognizing that it is not a political agent, cannot abstain from taking an interest in the good of the whole civil community in which it lives and works," the pope said in a message published Oct. 18.

The papal message marked the 100th annual celebration of a week dedicated to studying Catholic social teaching sponsored by the Italian bishops' conference.

Working for a just social order is a task that belongs to laypeople, the pope said.

"As citizens of the state it is up to them to participate personally in public life," and to dedicate themselves "with generosity and courage, enlightened by faith and the teaching of the church, and animated by the love of Christ," he said.

The role of church leaders is to provide guidance, he said, particularly when modern society is facing "multiple ethical and social emergencies that threaten its stability and seriously compromise its future."

Pope Benedict said the most pressing issues include "respect for human life and the attention that must be paid to the needs of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman."

"As has been said many times, these are not only Catholic values and principles, but common values to be defended and protected, like those of justice, peace and the safeguarding of creation," the pope said.

The particular contribution of the church, he said, lies in educating the faithful, political and business leaders in "a genuine spirit of truth and honesty aimed at the search for the common good and not personal profit."

---

The Holy Father met today with
- General François Bozizé, President of the Central African Republic, with his wife and delegation
- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)
- Mons. Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, Archbishop of Managua (Nicaragua)

---

MEETING WITH CENTRAL AFRICAN PRESIDENT

PASTORAL VISIT TO NAPLES, October 21, 2007



Cardinal Sepe says
'It will be a meeting
of faith and hope'
by BRUNO VOLPE


NAPLES - "The Pope's visit is not an event of folklore, it will not be a spectacle, but it will be a meeting of faith and hope."

Cardinal Cresencio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, opened a news conference yesterday with those words.

"We will follow the example of the Jubilee celebrations of 2000," Sepe said, "which were days to be lived in a Christian manner and in prayerful spirit."

The cardinal also brought up a historical connection: "The first bishop of Naples, Aspreus, was ordained by St. Peter himself, so there is a profound link between Naples and Rome."

Speaking about the preparations made by the diocese, he said: "The Church of Naples has been preparing scrupulously. Since the summer, the parishes have been on alert, and every Thursday since then, the parish youth have been holding a prayer meeting for the Holy Father and his intentions. the whole region of Campania has pitched in, and the visit of the Holy Father should be a cause for rebirth and hope."

The Cardinal believes that Pope Benedict XVI will pay special attention to 'the poor, the marginalized and the children' of Naples.
He showed off an album of letters written by Naples schoolchildren to the Pope, which he himself will present to Benedict tomorrow.

He said that when the Pope visits the Cathedral of Naples in the last event on his program tomorrow, he will venerate an open urn containing the remains of San Gennaro, the patron saint of the city.

"The Pope told me that he looks forward to rendering a tribute of love and devotion," Sepe added.

The cardinal confirmed that Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Justice Minister Clemente Mastella will welcome the Pope in the name of the Italian government when he arrives at the Stazione Maritima in the Port of Naples. [In case the weather will not allow a helicopter flight for the Pope, he will be travelling to Naples by train instead.]


Il Mattino event map shows the Pope's day tomorrow.

The Mass at Piazza del Plebiscito will have 15 cardinals, 60 bishops, 700 priests, 200 deacons, 200 seminarians, and a 400-voice choir. Some 600 journalists have been accredited to cover the visit, 70 of them from outside Italy.

Sepe noted that it will be the last Papal liturgy with Archbishop Piero Marini as ceremonial master. After Naples, Mons. Guido Marini will completely assume the post.

The cardinal said the Archdiocese will present the Pope with a Crucifix made of rose coral and commemorative medals of the visit.

He even revealed the luncheon menu for the Pope and leaders of the delegations to the XXXI World Inter-Religious Encounter for Peace: eggplant rolls, vegetable kebab with Vesuvius tomatoes, veal medallions au gratin, and a Bavarian dessert made with ricotta and pears.

On other mattes, the cardinal said that the Archdiocese has placed the Church of Santa Maria del Belmorire at the disposition of the Russian Orthodox church for a service with Metropolitan Kirill of Moscow, representing Patriarch Alexei II at the world meeting.

The Archdiocese is also joining in the conferment of an honorary doctorate by the historic University of Naples on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The three-day inter-religious encounter sponsored by the Sant'Egidio Community starts Sunday evening, but Pope Benedict will meet with the delegations after the Mass and Angelus at Piazza del Plebiscito, and with the heads of delegations at the Archdiocesan Seminary where they will also be his luncheon guests.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, heads the Catholic delegation to the encounter, which has the theme "For a world without violence."

Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, sad at the news conference that "The spirit of Assisi carries on in Naples. I think it will be a great success. We have 17,000 already registered for the closing ceremonies alone."

He added: "Today, international politics is not able to guarantee peace. The chiefs of the various religions should concern themselves with it."


17,000 orchids will decorate
papal routes in Naples


Electronic eyes to monitor the Papal motorcade through the city and 17,000 orchids to decorate the streets the Pope will pass through.

The city's workers will stay up all night tonight if need be, to make sure that Naples is at its most beautiful and safest for Pope Benedict's day tomorrow.

The city said yesterday it had invested 450,000 euro for the videomonitoring security system, which consist of 38 cameras with adjustable action and 16 fixed cameras.

Other preparatory details disclosed:

The regional agricultural council took charge of providing the orchids and other flowers that will be used to decorate the altar for the Mass in Piazza del Plebiscito.

Work crews in shifts have been making sure that the roads taken but he papal motorcade are all smoothly paved by tomorrow.

A detailed 'meter-by-meter' security check of the four kilometers comprising the papal routes will be carried out.

At Piazza del Plebiscito, 8,000 seats haev been installed, barriers to designate the various ticket sectors set up, and 20,000 free disposable raincoats are ready to be given away in view of the weather forecast for rain, wind and cold.

After the Pope leaves in the afternoon, then the World Inter-Religious Meeting will formally open at Teatro San Carlo.

In the evening, the city will honor the delegations with a dinner held in the historic Castel dell'Ovo built over the site of the 7th-century Greek city that eventually led to the city of Naples as it is today.

Il Mattino, 20 ottobre 2007

Benedict XVI:
"After the Council, I was 'too timid'
in challenging liberals
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
Oct 20, 2007

I was going to translate Andrea Tornielli's story in Il Giornale today about this, but Allen has already translated the Corriere della Sera story, so here it is.


In a new interview, Pope Benedict XVI says that he was “too timid” in the period immediately after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) in challenging avant-garde theological positions, in a time that he described as “extremely confused and restless.”

The comments came in an interview conducted last November, and published in a new book dedicated to the works of the late Cardinal Leo Scheffczyk, a personal friend of the pope’s who died in December 2005.

Among other things, Benedict’s admission may shed light on what has long been a much-debated biographical point about the pope: Did Joseph Ratzinger, the man who would become Benedict XVI, abandon what was seen as a relatively liberal position at Vatican II for a more conservative stance later in his career?

Ratzinger has always denied there was any such reversal, telling Time magazine in 1993, “I see no change in my theological positions over the years.” The new interview, however, suggests that if there was no change in the substance of Ratzinger’s theological positions, there was at least a shift in the candor and force with which he was willing to articulate them.

An extract from that interview was published today in Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading daily newspaper.

As a young German priest and theologian, Joseph Ratzinger served as a theological expert at Vatican II, where he was seen as part of the broad conciliar majority in favor of a reform position. In the post-conciliar period, however, Ratzinger became increasingly alarmed at what he saw as steadily more progressive theological positions that, in his view, could not be reconciled with the church’s traditional faith.

In the interview about Scheffczyk, the pope described the two men’s budding friendship when both served as advisors to the doctrinal commission of the German bishops’ conference right after the council.

“At that time, the situation was extremely confused and restless, and the doctrinal position of the church was not always clear,” the pope said. “In fact, claims were circulated that seemed to have become suddenly possible, even though in reality they were not consistent with dogma. In that context, the discussions within the doctrinal commission were full of strong positions, and extremely difficult.”

“I myself, in that context, was almost too timid with respect to what I should have dared to do in order to get directly to the point,” the pope said.

Benedict said that Scheffczyk was the figure inside the commission who served as the real “ice breaker” in these discussions.

Scheffczyk, born in Poland but a fixture in German-language theology, was long seen as a staunch defender of traditional Catholic positions. In June 1995, for example, Scheffczyk published an article in which he expressed regret that Pope John Paul II had failed to pronounce the ban on women’s ordination as an infallible dogma in formal, ex cathedra fashion.

The friendship between Ratzinger and Scheffczyk flowered over the years. Both men served as friends and patrons of the Gustav Siewerth Haus, a Catholic school in Germany’s Black Forest devoted to traditional Catholic thought.

In the new interview, Benedict reveals that while he was still the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, John Paul II asked him to recommend a German theologian over the age of 80 who might be honored as a cardinal. Ratzinger pointed to Scheffczyk.

Pope Benedict says that he honor gave Scheffczyk’s theology more visibility in the church, especially in Germany.

"It was very important that Leo Scheffczyk became a ‘public figure of the church,’ because in that way he was able to take part, with a notable influence, in the great disputes of the present, and could not be ignored or set aside as just another professor," Benedict said.

The interview was Benedict XVI was conducted by Fr. Johannes Nebel, a member of a new religious order called The Spiritual Family ‘The Work,’ to which Scheffczyk was especially close


Allen also posted his translation of the excerpt provided in Corriere della Sera:

Extract from interview with Benedict XVI
on Cardinal Leo Scheffczyk

This extract from an interview with Pope Benedict XVI that took place last November is part of a new book on the work of the late Cardinal Leo Scheffczyk, a Pole who spent his career in Germany, and who was a personal friend of Joseph Ratzinger. Scheffczyk died in December 2005.

The extract was published in the Oct 20 issue of Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading daily newspaper. The translation from Italian is by NCR. The interview with Benedict XVI was conducted by Fr. Johannes Nebel, a member of a new religious order called "The Spiritual Family 'The Work'", to which Scheffczyk was especially close.


Holy Father, do you have any memory of Leo Scheffczyk from the seminary period in the city of Freising?

Certainly. I arrived in the seminary of Freising on January 3, 1946, and Leo Scheffczyk was also there as a war refugee. I can still see him, very clearly, standing before me as a man of silence, and, so to speak, extremely sensitive.

Naturally, there was a great distance between our courses; while we were just beginning, he was finishing his theological studies – in fact, he had already done the major part of his theological studies at Breslau – and therefore the personal contacts between us were not numerous. His reserve notwithstanding – maybe I should say, his timidity – and his great humility, he was known to all of us.

In December 1946 he and his fellow students were consecrated as deacons, and as deacons, they had to preach in the cathedral. In that way, through listening, the whole course to which that year was dedicated entered us, so to speak, in our ears and in our hearts.


You met Scheffczyk repeatedly in your professorial activity, as the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, and as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What do you remember of these meetings?

After his priestly ordination, which happened in 1947, Leo Scheffczyk became chaplain in Grafing and Traunwalchen, in a place very close to where I was born; but at that time, we travelled very little. I only knew that he was occupied in that region, without really meeting him.

Fairly soon he was relieved so he could study, earning his doctorate under the guidance of his teacher from Breslau, Franz Xaver Seppelt, whose courses on church history I also had the opportunity to follow. Afterwards, he went into dogmatic theology; not long afterwards, we learned that he was teaching this discipline at Königstein.

Then we both became professors – I believe it was more or less at the same time – he at Tübingen, and me in Bonn – so that from then on, we began to follow one another’s publications.

At that time he was writing essays on the Middle Ages that I read, especially one of his publications dedicated to John Scotus Erugena. Already in that essay, I noticed his extraordinary level of culture. I also found especially significant another one of his important publications, which was a pamphlet he edited on ‘creation’ as part of a manual on the history of dogma, in which his notable erudition in both the history of dogma as well as theology was evident.

Soon I also began to notice his capacity to take positions on current events: begining from the theme of creation, for example, he found himself in a discussion of the claims of Teilhard de Chardin. His theology was always pervaded by a notable richness of understanding and spirituality.

Concretely, we met again only when, after the Council, the Doctrinal Commission of the German Episcopal Conference was instituted, which we both participated in as theologians.

At that time, the situation was extremely confused and restless, and the doctrinal position of the church was not always clear. In fact, claims were circulated that seemed to have become suddenly possible, even though in reality they were not consistent with dogma. In that context, the discussions within the doctrinal commission were full of strong positions, and extremely difficult. It was here that I was able to notice how Leo Schezzczyk – this man of silence, even timid – was always the first to take a very clear position.

I myself, in that context, was almost too timid with respect to what I should have dared to do in order to get directly to the point. He, on the other hand, always said immediately and with great clarity, and, at the same time, with punctilious theological justification, what made sense and what didn’t.

Leo Scheffczyk was, in this way, the true ‘ice-breaker’ in these discussions. If before this we knew one another only from a distance, from that time forward we became closer. We realized that we were fighting together for the vitality of the faith in our epoch, for its expression and intelligibility for the people of this time, in fidelity, in the end, to its deepest identity.

For these reasons, our common work in the Doctrinal Commission of the German Episcopal Conference is the strongest personal memory I have of Leo Scheffczyk, a memory that, at the same time, is truly full of gratitude for the depth of his thought, for his culture, as well as for his courage and his clarity.

Later, we were both invited in 1975 to be part of a rather large group from the Catholic Academy of Munich to take part in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In this way, we found ourselves together once again. On that occasion, obviously, it wasn’t a matter of taking part in theological discussions; rather, each of us was invited to deliver a homily. While we were on the bus, Leo Scheffczyk and I often sat together, and that gave us the chance, so to speak, to confirm and deepen our theological ‘brotherhood,’ if I can put it that way.

When I was the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Leo Scheffczyk was for me a guarantee that – holding the chair in dogmatics in Munich – the discipline would be taught correctly in my diocese. Every now and then, we would see one another during meetings with the entire theological faculty, in the course of which, however, we didn’t have the chance for talks that were especially deep.

I have to add that Leo Sceffczyk was, in a certain sense, the pillar of the priestly association of Linz; the cornerstone to look to in a particularly confused theological situation. [Note: The “Priests’ Association of Linz,” or Linzer Priesterkreis, is considered a leading forum for traditional Catholic thought. It sponsors an annual Summer Academy in the small Austrian town of Aigen.] He participated every year in the summer theological academy, enriching the meetings with his presentations: in this sense, Leo Scheffczyk did a great deal for Austria.

During my activity as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, we often asked Scheffczyk to elaborate a votum. [Note: the term refers to a formal theological judgment.] We were aware that, from the moment he was asked to do something, he would not only do the work efficiently, but very well. This was the fruit of a common path we had taken over many years, and thus Leo Scheffczyk was a great help to me.

At one point, the Holy Father asked me if there was a theologian in Germany who was over 80 years old, who might be worthy of being made a cardinal. I had already spoken of Leo Scheffczyk to Pope John Paul II several times, and the pope too knew him personally. In fact, it was John Paul who told me that the name ‘Scheffczyk’ is a Polish name that means ‘little shoemaker.’ We all know how good it was that Scheffczyk was created a cardinal. In this period, we got to know one another again.


What was the significance of making Leo Scheffczyk a cardinal?

I think its significance was that of making his theology better known publicly, acnowledging it in this way by the church, the pope and the magisterium as truly Catholic and contemporary.

In fact, the books written by Scheffczyk had already found an audience, but in a relatively restricted circle. Only when he became a cardinal did his theology really become ‘public’ in Germany at the level of the whole church, and it was thus able to play a role in the great debates with the weight that’s due to a member of the Sacred College.

In this sense, Cardinal Scheffczyk always moved with great style in his public role, making the force of his culture and his spiritual depth newly fruitful, as well as the clarity of his judgment which came from faith. It was very important that Leo Scheffczyk became a ‘public figure of the church,’ because in that way he was able to take part, with a notable influence, in the great disputes of the present, and could not be ignored or set aside as just another professor.”

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

Here is a translation of Andrea Tornielli's article:


'I was too timid
with the progressivists'
By Andrea Tornielli



Papa Ratzinger indulged in self-criticism and confessed in a November 2006 interview that he had been 'almost too timid' in the face of certain daring theological theses which were in vogue within the German Church after the Second Vatican Council.

Benedict XVI said these somewhat surprising words in an interview with Fr. Johannes Nebel. The transcript of the interview appears in a book entitled Il mondo della fede cattolica [The world of the Catholic faith], the Italian edition to be issued next week of a work by Cardinal Leo Scheffczyck, the late German theologian who was a friend of Joseph Ratzinger.

Ratzinger recounts his first meeting with Scheffczyk (born 1920, became cardinal in 2001, died in 2005)at the seminary in Freising, describing the older man's great lucidity and clarity of thought.

After having been professors together, their paths crossed next when they were both members of the doctrinal commission of the German bishops conference after the Second Vatican Council.

Of the turbulent post-Council years, the Pope recalls, "At that time, the situation was extremely confusing and disquieting. The doctrinal position of the Church itself was not always clear."

Various theses - 'suddenly becoming possible'- were circulating even though "they did not, in fact, coincide with established doctrine." In such circusmtances, he says, Scheffczyk was always the first to take clear and unequivocal positions.

"I myself, in that context, was perhaps too timid regarding what I could dare to say, so directly and to the point."

The Pope implies that what he said and published at the time was too cautious in confronting and opposing some theological ideas which were too forward, while his older colleague - who would not become a cardinal until he was past 80 - was the real 'icebreaker' for controversial discussion.

Once more, then, the myth of the Panzerkardinal is belied, as he himself admits that he would have wanted to 'dare' more at the time.

It is well known that during Vatican-II, Ratzinger was not part of the conservative minority. But before the Council concluded, the young and brilliant theologian had started to take note of doctrinal tendencies that were too forward and open.

In his autobiography, La mia vita (Milestones, in the English edition), Ratzinger wrote: "Every time I returned to Rome, I found an increasing state of agitation. The impression seemed to grow that there was nothing stable in the Church, that everything could be the object of revision. More and more the Council came to resemble a huge ecclesiastical Parliament which could change everything and revolutionize anything as it saw fit. Most evident was growing resentment against Rome and the Curia, which came to be seen as the true enemy of novelty and progress."

In the immediate post-conciliar years, and 1968, in particular, when a veritable storm broke over the Church, and everything became subject to question, the future Pope - while defending freedom of research, did not follow in any way any of his former 'travelling companions' as progressives in the early stages of Vatican-II.

He experienced the full force of 1968 at Tuebingen, where the theological faculties themselves became the ideological center for Marxist messianism.

In a 1985 interview with the New York Times, Ratzinger said of that experience: "I learned that it is impossible to discuss with terror...I think those years taught me at what point dialog should be interrupted before it can change to lies, and when to start resisting in order to protect freedom."

Ratzinger left turbulent Tuebingen for quieter Regensburg, where he relocated with his sister Maria, and where his older brother already lived for yaars.

It was there, at a time when he thought that teaching and study would constitute the rest of his life, that he was suddenly compelled to change stride in March 1977.

About to turn 50, he was chosen by Paul VI to be the new Archbishop of Munich and Freising and made a cardinal several weeks later. In 1981, John Paul II called him to Rome to head the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith. To promote and defend the Catholic faith.

And as custodian of Catholic orthodoxy, surely no one could say Joseph Ratzinger was 'too timid'. Not then. And not as Benedict XVI.

Il Giornale, 20 ottobre 2007

ALL REPORTS ABOUT THE POPE IN NAPLES TODAY
WERE POSTED DIRECTLY IN THE THREAD 'PASTORAL VISITS IN ITALY'

Here is a translation of the first of two reaction articles in Corriere della Sera today:

VATICAN-II AND 1968:
2 CHALLENGES OVERCOME BY THE CHURCH
By Gian Guido Vecchi

It's somewhat like Aristotle's mesotes [doctrine of the mean): the 'correct middle' which is not simply 'the way' to go, but also connotes the art of the kybernetes, the steersman who 'governs' the ship and succeeds in keeping it straight and firm during a storm.

It can be a bad experience, especially if the ship is the Church tossed here and there 'in the years around 1968' by the revolutionary enthusiasms that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Everyone more or less was caught up in that storm and "I myself was, in that context, almost too timorous with regard to what I should have dared," Benedict XVI said in a November 2006 interview with Fr. Johannes Nebel which opens the book Il mondo della fede cattolica by the late Cardinal Leo Sheffczyck.

"Of course, there was a storm," says Prof. Lorenzo Ornaghi, rector of the Catholic University of Milan, "and perhaps, we are still not rid of the confusion."

He notes that the Pope praised the 'clarity' that Sheffczyck knew how to keep then.

That is the point, Ornaghi says. "The Pope's interview contains an important reaffirmation of the identity of the faith, and above all, its comprehensibility. The element of confusion that perhaps we still under-estimate, arose from what, in 1968, was meant to be a cultural revolution [even within the Church], with a break from all preceding ideas - and that was reflected even in the contamination of language: words became opaque, not helpful to understanding, because they were no longer able to go to the essence of problems. Whereas the vitality of faith depends on being able to speak to men of our time and to be understood by them."

In December 2005, on the 40th anniversary of the closing of Vatican-II, Benedict XVI said that in the years following Vatican II, "two opposing hermeneutics fought each other" and it was one of those, the 1968 hermeneutics which interpreted the Council as 'discontinuity and rupture...created confusion."

The other which 'bore fruit and continues to do so' is the hermeneutic of reform, of 'renewal in continuity.'

It is not true, Benedict says, that there was a break between the pre-conciliar church and the post-Conciliar Church, nor is it true that nothing changed. The 'correct middle', therefore.

"But no, if that were so, then there should be three interpretations," says Paolo Prodi, professor of modern history in Bologna, where Giuseppe Alberigo's Institute of Religious Sciences became the center and reference point of the 'progressivists.'

Prodi is not convinced about opposing hermeneutics. [But what's to deny? And why 3? The 'middle way' in this case is precisely the so-called hermeneutics of continuity that the Pope champions - 'renewal within continuity'. The only third way is a non-acceptance of Vatican-II altogether, as the most extreme Lefebvrians and the sedevacantists do - and that way is no interpretation at all of Vatican-II, since they don't even recognize its legitimacy.]

"That there was a strong enough tension, yes, and I myself broke away from the Institute, but my way of thinking rejects the idea that there were two interpretations. Reality is more complex than a dilemma. Revolutions in history only scratch the surface, I've never believed in them, so even I see continuity. But I think that the announced reforms, the 'updating' intended by John XXIII, has been diluted over the years."

But Prodi says that is not the point now. "Look, I tend to historicize Vatican-II: the Church faced and settled its accounts with the modern age, well and good. The problem is the modern age has been over for some time now."

In short, he thinks it is time that Vatican-II becomes simply an issue for historians.

That seems to be the thinking as well of Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community: "I always keep in mind what was said by Fr. Yves Congar, a great theologian and cardinal: When one speaks of Vatican-II, he said, it must always be in the context of its intersection with 'the spirit of 1968'. Vatican-II was reported in the media - and the public experienced it 'directly' in a way. But public opinion derived an image that was mediated through the simplification of the media. And it has been four decades since 1968. Vatican-II remains an epochal event, but it is time to look at it historically, with serenity."

Historian Lucetta Scaraffia would go beyond that. "Today, there is a tendency to think that Vatican-II meant a succession of dogmas. Whereas, the betrayal of the Council was really in seeing new dogmas where there were none. This has been a subject of discussion within the Church."

"The Pope, being an intellectual," she says, "sees clearly that the Church is itself a laboratory for culture, that interpreting tradition means discussing it, and that, and this continuous discussion gives vitality to the Church - honest confrontation, not conflict motivated by power."

"In an age that tends to reject the Catholic vision, the Pope re-proposes it in a cultural context. He does not enunciate dogma but instead places weight on reason. It is a big challenge - one must be able to sustain a rational argument. Outside the Church, it is not understood much, and for Catholics themselves, it is not easy to live up to. But in a world of conflict, when people don't speak to each other, it is our good fortune to have one of the greatest intellects of our time as Pope."

Corriere della Sera, 21 ottobre 2007

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

I must take issue with Scaraffia's assertion that many Catholics may not be equal to the Pope's appeal to reason as a basis for faith.

I want to believe that the majority of Catholics - those who are Catholic by birth, as well as those who are converts as a result of missionary work - believe mainly on the basis of genuine faith, which is faith by grace, faith that that does not require rational arguments to define, articulate or explain. That Catholicism is also rational is all very well, but for people like us (I count myself among them), we have not felt it necessary to be reasoned out to us.

Whereas the Pope's appeal to reason, I believe, is directed mainly at the doubters, the waverers, the nominal Catholics - those who do not have faith by grace alone but need rational arguments to confirm them in their faith, or not....And to the faithful who may be called on to explain their faith to others, as in a St. Peter quotaton that the Pope often cites, we must be ready to explain to others 'the reason for our hope.'

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


At the roots of
the Pope's self-criticism
By Alberto Melloni

I think Mr. Melloni sees the interview as a Gotcha! moment!

The interview with Benedict XVI about the late Cardinal Scheffczyck says something about his theologian colleague, who was elevated to cardinal rank by John Paul II at the suggestion of Joseph Ratzinger (something noteworthy even to understand the functioning of the Wojtylian Curia).

And it says something on how Papa Ratzinger reads the post-conciliar years, of which he was and is a leading player, and his own role in it.

By calling and by choice, Ratzinger has taken a position repeatedly about the years that followed Vatican-II. Even towards the end of his four volumes that chronicled the Council, he already expressed his concerns about the event in which he had played a role, in his work on collegiality, which he and Karl Rahner signed together, and other key points.

Theologians - who since the anti-modernist repression at the start of the 20th century to the persecution of nouvelle theologie in the 1950s - suffered much every time they tried to face new or difficult themes, had three intense years of unprecedented experience working side by side with bishops, with the council committees, with other Church authorities, and in a certain way, even with the Pope.

The objective goal at the time was to place new challenges that would not be reduced to a simple 'application' of Vatican-II but a true 'reception'.

It is well known that Ratzinger lived through those years, initially, sharing the effort of the journal Concilium which meant to furnish, on an international scale, points as well as tools for reflection and analysis.

But his academic experience in Tuebingen - which he speaks about extensively in the autobiography he wrote when he was a cardinal - progressively disillusioned him, pushing him towards an ever darker analysis of what was happening under Pope Paul VI. In a crescendo of severity, the difficulties and turbulences became successively, between 1965 and 1985, problems, confusions, dangers. [But isn't it the historical consensus that Paul VI's Pontificate after 1965 was increasingly darkened by the chaos that followed the Council? From all accounts, he was to be trhoubled by it to the end of his days.

Paul VI must have shared enough of Ratzinger's views for him to name him in 1977 not just Archbishop of Munich but cardinal after a few weeks. And he named him cardinal on the basis of his contributions to theology.

I have not read any accounts anywhere of any particular link or even contacts between Paul VI and Joseph Ratzinger before he named him Archbishop. So if Paul VI thought that Ratzinger's views were in any way counter-productive to the Church and to his Pontificate, he did not have to name him anything and could have left him in comparative oblivion as the college professor that he was. But he didn't.

There had to be a reason, and no one has ever said Paul VI was stupid. Unwise perhaps in giving in to the 'protestantization' of the Mass, but not stupid. So, Mr. Melloni, let us not make a post-facto extrapolation of Ratzinger's views to make them appear anti-Paul VI! ?]

These were theses and issues which Ratzinger did not limit to confidences, but to public discussion and which have remained a leitmotiv of his preaching as Pope.

The interview about Cardinal Scheffczyk reaffirms and adds some details of some importance, starting with his collaboration with Scheffzyck. The Pope today, speaking of the work of the doctrinal commission of the German bishops conference, says not only that the work of some theologians was not only 'confused and volatile' but that "the doctrinal position of the Church itself was no longer always clear."

He does not limit himself to criticizing the Church of Paul VI in the years of the German bishops' Wuerzburg synod, but also reproaches an excessive prudence in grasping the point of conflict between too audacious theses and 'dogma'.

This conservative self-criticism would merit a more timely examination in depth of the archives because many passages are known of those German discussions, including the less elegant after-effects (such as the heavy accusations appearing in the second volume of Hans Kueng's memoirs).

But, in my opinion, the most interesting statement in the interview, even for today, is the interpretation that the Pope gives to his commitment, or rather his 'combat': "for the vitality of the faith in our epoch, for its expression and comprehensibility by men of our time, for being faithful to the profound identity of that faith."

It is a statement that could raise many questions: Vatican-II would appear to be simply a 'pre-event', instead of having been the way through which the Church - not a group of theologians - was able to conjoin vitality, communicability and faithfulness to Catholic identity. But perhaps, it would an interpretative excess to deduce this from an argumentum ex silentio. [But that's turning the Pope's words and position upside down! His point is clearly that the 'revolutionary enthusiasm' of progressivist theologians caused so much confusion in the post-Conciliar years that this militated against the 'vitality, communicability and faithfulness to Catholic identity' that Vatican-II intended! And he has never ever treated Vatican-II was merely a 'pre-event' but for the historic event that it was.]

Just as one could compare the attenuation of a certain polemical verve over the Council and its aftermath compared to other interviews given in the 1980s and 1990s. [Why not? He's the Pope now. A Pope is not supposed to be combative!]

Certainly that triad - vitality, communicability, faithfulness to Catholic identity - offers a key to reading this phase of Ratzinger's Pontificate, its latest oscillations [What oscillations?], its most recent choices.

Corriere della Sera, 21 ottobre 2007

And what has Benedict XVI done all these 30 months, Mr. Melloni, but to reaffirm compliance with the genuine spirit as well as the letter of Vatican-II?]

Perhaps the only new detail revealed in the Italian papers today about the Pope's visit to Naples yesterday besides the fact that the unseasonable cold even brought snowfall to the peak of Mt. Vesuvius was this one. I have chosen Luigi Accattoli's account from Corriere della Sera to translate:


Squabble between Muslim and Jew
over lunch with the Pope
who calms them down
By LUIGI ACCATTOLI


NAPLES - There were nine guests seated with Pope Benedict XVI at lunch yesterday in the Archdiocesan Seminary of Naples in Capodimonte.

They represented the major Christian churches, as well as Muslims and Jews, participating in the current World Inter-Religious Encounter for Peace which opened yesterday in Naples, undewr the auspices of the Sant'Egidio Community.

But there was a sensitive moment promptly resolved by the Pope to calm down a potential dispute among a rabbi, a Lebanese Christian and a Muslim from the United Arab Emirates [who happens to be one of the 138 signatories in the recent open letter sent to the Pope and other Christian leaders].

Once again, the theologian Pope, 80, showed himself not only physically agile and brisk as he moves from one event to another, but also in his mental reflexes.

Protagonists of the squabble were the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger; the Muslim Ezzedin Ibrahim, whose formal title is cultural adviser to the president of the UAR; and the Lebanese Aram I, Catholikos of Cilicia of the Armenians.

In short, representatives of the three monotheisms involved in the masters of war and peace in the Middle East.

The dispute apparently started from a remark Ezzedin, a Sufi Muslim [a mystical sect] and veteran of previous Sant'Egidio meetings, that they were at 'the table of smiles' at which the various faiths could vie to proclaim 'words of peace' from their respective religious patrimonies.

And that peaceful coexistence on the planet - conforming to the visionary genius of John Paul II - was a dream that was daily becoming more concrete and near realization.

Aram I agreed, saying he himself was inspired by the most sublime ideals of peace, but he could not fail to point out the 'grave danger' that his 'brothers in the faith' continue to live daily in Lebanon, especially because of military incursions from Israel.

Which caused Rabbi Metzger to spring up - so to speak, because everyone, of course, remained seated and conversing with each other respectfully in English.

Metzger addressed his 'brother' Aram to say that he too 'could not keep silent' about the daily danger that Israel faced from a bellicose Iran, whose president has repeatedly threatened to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth.

[An ANSA report quotes Metzger as saying: "Even in my land, my peoople are at risk daily. But if fear should make us keep silent in the face of states like Iran who want to destroy other states, then that is not good. We should have the courage to oppose."]

Metzger tempered his remarks by observing that "Yes, fortunately, we are at the table of smiles," as 'our Muslim brother' has said, but beyond this table, there is little to smile about in the world situation, with 'problems heaped on problems', among which was 'the violence of so many Muslims.'

He continued that even in Lebanon, there were "Muslim combatants who will do anything" including suicide bombings to attack Israel.

Both the Muslim and the Lebanese appeared ready to dispute him, but the Pope spoke up before they could to remark, "Well, this is all work for Sant'Egidio."

The rest of the table took the cue and shifted the conversation to praising the Sant'Egidio Community for its peace mission. Ezzedin said yes, indeed, the community was 'a true angel of peace' and the rabbi agreed with him.

The other guests at the table were Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople (attending his first World Encounter for Peace; the secretary-general of the Geneva-based Ecumenical Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia; Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community; and Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples.

Because the luncheon was in honor of the religious leaders, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was seated at another table which was presided vover by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Corriere della sera, 22 ottobre 2007


BUT DISPUTE BECOMES PUBLIC AT OPENING
OF WORLD MEETING FOR PEACE
By Sandro Magister
Settimo Cielo (blog)

In what I would call the hidden perils of a Kumbaya interpretation of the 'spirit of Assisi', Magister's blog today adds a distressing sequel to the lunch incident, which prompts him to make this remark that I found very striking:

---

But what these encounters [Assisi and its successor meetings] have produced in 21 years is nothing compared to what Benedict XVI's Regensburg lecture managed in such a short time so far - the letter of the 38 Muslim scholars in October 2006 and the second one from 138 Muslim leaders earlier this month.

---

...Benedict XVI managed to nip a threatened lunch dispute in the bud. But it came up after the Pope had left Naples, at the opening session, no less, of the World Inter-Religious Encounter for Peace.

When it was Rabbi Metzger's turn to speak, he departed from his prepared text to say that it was futile to speak about peace while keeping silent about the threat of Iran to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth.

Ezzedin answered in his turn, telling Metzger that the peaceful and spiritual nature of the encounter demands that political differences between nations should not be a subject for discussion.

[Which shows the quixoticism - i.e, lack of practical consequences - of such encounters, commendable as they are for calling world attention to the problem at least once a year, and for bringing people together in inter-personal relationship that have a potential for bringing about fruitful results,although on a necessarily limited basis .

But going back to his prepared text, Ezzedin did turn political, assailing the United States for its Middle East policies, and in describing the situation between Israel and Iran, he called Israel 'a puppet state...regurgitating weapons of mass destruction' whereas Iran was 'a peaceful state' whom the West would deny 'legitimate and justified access to nuclear research for peaceful development.'

Yet Ibrahim is a veteran of the Sant'Egidio meetings. But what these encounters [Assisi and its successor meetings] have produced in 21 years is nothing compared to what Benedict XVI's Regensburg lecture managed in such a short time so far - the letter of the 38 Muslim scholars in October 2006 and the second one from 138 Muslim leaders earlier this month.

But at the same time, one should not over-estimate the progress in Muslim-Christian dialog represented by these two letters. Ibrahim, like many of his 137 co-signatories of the second letter, is one of those who has never stated publicly a clear and unequivocal denunciation of Islamist terrorism.

The letter from the 138 was released on October 11 coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Two facts bear point out in this connection.

First, that the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialog in September sent a message of greeting to all Muslims for the end of Ramadan. This has been done every year for some time now.

But this time, great care was given to its contents and its dissemination. It was issued in 22 languages and uses forceful language about the need to assure religious freedom and to condemn terrorism without any reservations. [Yes, but who is it reaching? Do we really expect the imam of every mosque in Islam - or most of them, at any rate - to read the message to their people during their Fraiday service? How are we even sure that every major newspaper in Muslim states has reported it?]

It was the first end-of-Ramadan message signed by the new Inter-Religious Council president, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.

And remarkably, an answer came from Aref Ali Nayed, the Libyan scholar and Cambridge professor who is signatory to both the October 2005 and October 2006 letters.

Prof. Nayed is familiar to readers of www.chiesa, which has posted his writings in the past. His response to the Ramadan message, “A Muslim’s Message of Thanks for the Vatican’s Message“, is published today in www.chiesa.[I have posted it in full in REFLECTIONS ON ISLAM, along with the English text of the Vatican message.]

Nayed writes in an important passage of his reply:

---

Indeed, we are all called upon to retrieve, rehabilitate, and rearticulate the true compassionate teachings of our traditions regarding the divinely ordained value of human personhood and its associated rights, duties, and freedoms. We need to work on these issues with not only religious colleagues, but also with philosophers and jurists who invoke ‘natural’ grounds for personhood and rights. Islam does have notions of a primordial covenant and an original make-up (fitra) that can engage such discourses as those of natural law and liberalism.

---

Apropos a planetary dialog based on natural law, one should refer to Benedict XVI's address on October 5 to the International Theological Commission. [Full translation in English available in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES].

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

Thanks to Lella who has now posted Il Mattino's sidelights reporting of the papal visit - with dozens of interesting details - here is the newspaper's account of the lunch, with a seating diagram, no less, so I will include it in this post:




THE MEAL:
The Pope sips a limoncello
offered by Cardinal Sepe
By Salvo Sapio


Peace, dialog, sharing. The ingredients of the inter-religious encounter were the 'salt and pepper' at the official luncheon in the glassed-in courtyard of the Archdiocesan Seminary of Naples yesterday.

Twenty-five tables for 10 were set up within the outsize 'gazebo' with seating assigned for so many digniataries according to the most rigid rules of protocol.

Seated with Benedict XVI were Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I; the founder fo the Sant'Egidio Community; the founder of the University of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ezzedin; the secretary-gneeral of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia; the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II; the Archbishop of Naples, CArdinal Crescenzio Sepe; the founder of Sant'Egidio Community, Anderea Riccardi; the Catholicos of the Armenians of Lebanon, Aram I; the Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger; and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

In the next table, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinak Tarcisio bertone; the Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi; ex-President of Italy Oscar Luigi Scalfaro; and the President of Campania region, Antonio Bassalino, among others.

At the table presided by Cardinal Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the ranking Italian official was appropriately Justice Minister Clemente Mastella.

The guests had an hour and a quarter to enjoy the meal, which the Pope had occasion to appreciate in his after-luncheon words. He expressed thanks for the 'fine and tasty meal' and his 'acknowledgment of the wonderful welcome with the immutable characteristic warmth of the Neapolitans."

The meal itself was not quite Neapolitan since it did not feature the usual seafood dishes. Antipasto was eggplant rolls with cream cheese and mozzarella balls from Aversa; the first dish was stringoli (thick, short twisted spaghetti) with Vesuvian tomatoes and Parmesan cheese wafers; the entree, medallions of veal au gratin. Dessert was a Bavarian cream concoction with ricotta and pears, served with Neapolitan lemon tarts.

The wines were Neapolitan (Casavecchia and Pallagrello) but the Pope, as usual, had orange juice and non-carbonated water. He did not drink coffee afterwards, but did sip the limoncello urged on him by Cardinal Sepe. [Limoncello is a very sweet lemon-based liqueur for which nearby Sorrento and its hillside lemon groves are famous.]

"The whole meal went very well, in what I would dsscribe as almost a family atmosphere," said Fr. Antonio Serra, rector of the seminary.

The meal was catered by a firm in San Prisco in Caserta province. "We prepared enough for 800 persons with special dishes for Jewish guests," said the owner Giuseppe Esposito.

The Pope, after unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion, thanked the catering staff personally and had pictures taken with 36 waiters, 16 'hostess-usherettes', the sommelier, the 3 maitres de table and the chef.

One of the master waiters, Gaetano Arellano, said, "To serve the Pope is a unique and indescribable experience."

In true Neapolitan style, despite the rain and cold, the catering staff sang 'O sole mio' for the Pope, who responded with amused smiles.

Il Mattino, 22 ottobre 2007

Thanks for posting and translating the story on the squabble at lunch. Interesting to hear that Papa was a mediator, that's very much like him. I'm very curious to hear what else they talked about and how the rest of the lunch was like. I'll check the PASTORAL thread

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

Dear Lori - As you can see, I've added a sidebar from Il Mattino about the lunch. No other table talk has been reported except that between Cardinal Bertone and Prime Minister Prodi, which had to with Prodi's problems in the Italian government...But the other Il Mattino sidebars have lots of interesting details. I just don't know when I can get around to translating everything, especially since I'd like to give priority to the serious commentary - which I don't think we will get in the Anglophone media. Naples interested them only because of the World Inter-Religious Encounter.

And now, I must translate a Messori commentary on the Benedict interview with Fr. Nebel.

TERESA