NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

OREMUS PRO PONTEFICE NOSTRO

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The Holy Father requests the prayers of all the faithful so that the Lord may illumine the road for the Church. May the commitment of Pastors and the faithful grow, in support of the delicate and weighty mission of the Successor of the Apostle Peter as 'the guardian of unity' in the Church.
- Vatican Note, Feb. 4, 2009

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See preceding page for earlier stories posted today including the Pope's Mass and other events today and yesterday.









Here's a very opportune reminder from

by Father Laurent Demets, FSSP
March 19, 2009

The martyrological nature
of the primacy of Peter

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In October 1998, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger issued a document on the Primacy of the Successor of Peter. This document is available here: www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfprima.htm

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote:

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The Roman Pontiff - like all the faithful - is subject to the Word of God, to the Catholic faith, and is the guarantor of the Church's obedience; in this sense he is servus servorum Dei (servant of the servants of God).

He does not make arbitrary decisions, but is spokesman for the will of the Lord, who speaks to man in the Scriptures lived and interpreted by Tradition; in other words, the episkope of the primacy has limits set by divine law and by the Church's divine, inviolable constitution found in Revelation.

The Successor of Peter is the rock which guarantees a rigorous fidelity to the Word of God against arbitrariness and conformism: hence the martyrological nature of his primacy.

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It is given today to Pope Benedict XVI to live in his flesh this reality of his ministry.

Let us pray to Saint Joseph, Protector of the Holy Church and Patron Saint of the Holy Father to assist, guide and strengthen Pope Benedict XVI in his difficult task.

God bless the Holy Father!

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It has to be a consolation to all of us who love, admire and support the Holy Father that among all the cardinals who took part in the Conclave of 2005, no one had studied, thought and written as much about the nature of the Papacy and its challenges as had Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

And that therefore, once he was elected Pope, he knew that all of it was now on his shoulders, that any Pope is necessarily a martyr for the faith, even if the martyrdom is not 'actual' but the symbolic 'death by a thousand cuts' that detractors of the Papacy choose to impose.

It is obvious he did not come into all this unprepared, even if the preparation was not one of intent or ambition to become Pope, but from his own theological and historical study of the subject.

Far more than Bishop Williamson [see his latest blog), Benedict XVI can well say, "Don't cry for me...", but he does ask us all, as he did from Day 1, to "Pray for me that I may not flee from thr wolves".

On a personal level, imagine how comforting it is for him - even in the midst of the most vicious attacks on him - to look out at his Wednesday audiences and at his Sunday Angelus crowds and actually see, hear and feel the esteem and affection that the faithful have for him.

I think the Africa triumph is God's way of rewarding the 'servant of the servants of God'. To how many individuals is it given to receive such an outpouring of enthusiasm and affection in such a visible way by millions? I am thinking, of course, like an average human being.

But as the humble worker that he is in the vineyard of the Lord, who better than he would know that rewards such as this come with even greater challenges? His African trip is like the interval when Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus with the Cross.

And then he has to take it up again, and carry on the permanent martyrology that the primacy of Peter means, especially in the world today.

DEUS SEMPER TECUM, BENEDICTE XVI!

Here is a human interest story on the big Mass this morning.


Heat and happiness at Angola Mass

By Louise Redvers
BBC News, Luanda
March 22, 2009

Angolans began to gather at the cement factory yard while it was still dark, eager to get a good position to watch Pope Benedict XVI perform Mass.

Some walked in the sticky heat to beat the long queues of traffic, others arrived on the back of pick-up trucks, singing and clapping as they bumped along the dusty pot-holed road past Luanda's infamous Roque Santeiro market.

By 10am, when Pope Benedict arrived, nearly one million people had congregated in the wide-open square, the majority wearing white souvenir Pope t-shirts and caps.

There were babies carried on their mothers' backs, old women dressed proudly in brightly-coloured sarongs and groups of teenagers, many of whom had come to Luanda from outlying provinces especially to see the Pope, clutching flags and banners.

A giant steel stage stood at the front, decorated in pink cloth and flowers, and a red carpet ran down from the altar.

Next to the stage, but separated from the main crowd, bishops, priest, monks and nuns sat together in a seated enclosure surrounded by boy and girl scouts holding hands in a human chain.

The Pope arrived at Cimangola at the main gate and the crowds parted to allow the white "popemobile" to pass through, cheering and chanting: "Papa, Papa."

Call for peace

He began Mass by offering his condolences to the families of two girls who had died in a stampede at a city football stadium the day before.

He said: "I offer my sympathies to their families and friends, and my deep sorrow, because they were coming to meet me."

Then, after readings from church leaders from different southern African countries, Pope Benedict spoke again to acknowledge Angola's long legacy of war and to call for an end to "the clouds of evil … which have overshadowed Africa."

Later in his prayers he called for peace across the continent, especially in the Great Lakes region.

Different music played throughout, ranging from traditional hymns with choirs to more traditional African melodies. The Mass, the largest on this, the Pope's first tour of Africa, ended with a large cheer and more singing.

The strong morning sun beat down on the spectators, who had no shade apart from the odd umbrella. A number of people - mostly women - had to be taken away on stretchers for medical attention.

'Great blessing'

But despite the heat, the dust and the delays to get home, Angolans left the Mass smiling and full of spirit.

One worshipper, Maria De Conceicao de Silva Lemos, said the Mass was "beautiful" and an "inspiration".

The 73-year-old from Luanda said it had taken her two hours to reach the service and it was likely to take even longer to get home, but she said: "Of course it was worth it to see the Pope."

Maria Pelinganga, 46, from Rangel, also in the capital, said Angola was proud and honoured that the Pope had paid them a visit.

"It's a great blessing for us to have the Pope coming to our country, actually, today has been indescribable."

Asked about the Pope's message, and his previous comments about corruption and poverty in Africa, 63-year-old Father Augusto Ferreira, a Portuguese missionary who has worked in Sumbe, Angola for 37 years, said: "We will have to see if what Pope Benedict said makes a difference to the government and if things do change.

"But this visit has definitely given the Church a new lease of life to work together with the government, to stimulate good governance and make things change."

Within two hours of the Mass ending the factory yard had emptied.

The music and cheers were replaced by the clunking of workmen dismantling the stage and by growling litter trucks, scooping up discarded water bottles.

The memory of the spectacle though is likely to live on in the minds of Angolans for years to come.

Here is the lead story on this page of the Sunday (3/22/09) issue of Avvenire pictured below,
whose general commentary on the trip I translated in the previous page.



This item reveals 'little' stories that have somehow not been reported at all, and I think it is 'criminal' that no one covered the torchlight procession he describes in the story, of which I saw exactly one picture from the news agencies, with a caption that indicated nothing of the magnitude and significance of the event at which it was shot. (I certainly hope CTV has some documentation of it.]

Neither did the photos with the human 'flower' on the pavement, which only now make full sense to me.


PETER AND THE WORLD:
An African feast for Benedict
by MIMMO MUOLO
Translated from

March 22, 2009



When he returns to Rome tomorrow, after almost a week spent in Africa, Benedict XVI will simply have an embarrassment of riches to choose from for a hypothetical album of memories from just teh most beautiful snapshots of his first trip to the Dark Continent.

Photographs and videotapes in fact capture a welcome and a reception that beggars the imagination to simply call it 'warm'.

Wherever it has passed since Tuesday, the Popemobile has had to inch forward between throngs on both sides of people so enthusiastic and so full of undisguised and intense affection that even the trip organizers have said the reception has been "far more than our most optimistic expectations".

The scene which greeted the Pope yesterday when he emerged from the Nunciature to go to the Church of St. Paul to say Mass with the clergy and religious of Luanda.

On the street outside the gates of the Nunciature was a human carpet of boys and girls draped in green and pink, who had lain down on the pavement to form a giant flower design to greet the Pope.



They had been there for more than an hour, heedless of the burning sun, to give the Holy Father this unusual tribute. Such as the most avid sports fans sometimes do for effect at special games in the large stadiums.

In the hearts of the Africans - at least in Cameroon and Angola - this Pope who, in his own words to the youth from yesterday afternoon, "looks somewhat different from my venerated predecessor whom you loved but loves you in the same way" - has entered in a big way, indeed. Just like his predecessor.




It was evident in hugs that those children gave the Pontiff after he asked them to get up, and spent some time to thank them individually and to give them a blessing.

On a miniature scale, the scene reproduces the great embrace for Benedict from Yaounde and Luanda, from Cameroonians and Angolans, who represent all of Africa.

Hour after hour, as the trip proceeded through its programmed schedule, there were always new episodes that manifested the idea of the 'feeling' that bloomed, precisely like a rose, in all the streets that were along the papal route.

For instance, who can forget the indelible images of the 30 milometers that separate the airport of Yaounde from the city center, which was lined on both sides by a human hedge, an uninterrupted chain of men, women and children, who had been there for hours awaiting his arrival.

Nor the happiness and emotion of the patients (including victims of AIDS) at the Cardinal Paul Leger Center upon receiving a touch or a caress from the Pope.

Nor the impressions from the two stadiums in Yaounde and Luanda jampacked with the faithful more than for any football game - tens of thousands capable of expressing their faith and joy with typically African dancing and signing, as well as with rapt attentive silence at Consecration and for the Pope's homilies.

Even the unprogrammed events were unique.

Like the meeting with the Baka pygmies who gave him a turtle, their symbol for wisdom.

Or on his way back to the Nunciature on Saturday morning in Luanda, asking to stop in front of a parish church to greet a group of faithful who had gathered to watch him pass by.

Or coming out to the balcony of the Nunciature Friday night to say a few words to the youth of Luanda who had staged a torchlight procession through the streets of the city as part of their preparation for the meeting with him at dos Coqueiros Stadium the following day.

Perhaps this was the image that was most surprising. Luanda was transformed that night into a great Lourdes, its streets traversed by a veritable river of candle-bearing young people in prayer. At least a hundred thousand of them, probably more.

Of which the following is the only picture we have so far:

And it appears more than just the 'youth' took part in the procession.

In the heart of a metropolis that has ballooned in a few years from 500,000 to three million inhabitants. Through the alleys of that old city by the bay, surrounded by colonial-style palaces and now encroached upon by the oil tankers of Angola's new wealth.

Streets which witnessed in past centuries the despair of slaves as they were shipped off to unknown lands. In the center of a nation that had gone through 27 years of civil war, and now attempting the difficult transition towards development and true democracy, with the risk of falling prey to new colonizers (econ0mic) of what is now Africa's largest oil-producing nation, bypassing Nigeria.

In many ways, the renewal of Africa could begin from here, and tens of thousands of candles in the night seemed to stand for life, faith and hope.

As well as trust in the new friend to whom they opened their hearts.




I must confess I was in tears by the time I came to the end of the article when I read it the first time, but even more surprised that I went through the same emotions while translating it, and a similar storm of tears.

Human beings, individually and in the mass, are most endearing and awesome when they do simple wonderful things - or when someone simply is, as Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is.

Altogether it's been a hugely successful and happy apostolic voyage, apart from the heat [Luanda is only 3 degrees south of the Equator and Yaounde 8 degrees north of it!]. I did worry about the number of times Papa had to mop his face, but Guido was at hand with an extra [large!] white cloth. Papa looked happy, though.

Thanks for the detailed coverage on this thread!!!!! Always appreciated, though I can't manage to read it all on the lilac background.

Luff, Mary xxx

On his blog today, Sandro Magister anticipates an article he has written for the weekly newsmagazine L'espresso in the issue which comes out this week. He is, of course, the magazine's Vatican correspondent, and his articles for it constitute the bulk of his www.chiesa service which has grown to a quadrilingual site.



Holy Roman disorder:
A snapshot of the Vatican Curia
Translated from



What Curia will Benedict XVI have to deal with when he returns from his trip to Cameroon and Angola?
It is discussed in the article below which will appear in this week's issue of

under the title "Holy intolerance".

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At the Sunday noontime Angelus on March 15, two days before he left on his first trip to Africa as Pope, Joseph Ratzinger made clear he was not going there to offer any economic, political or social solutions.

That his mission is something else: "I have nothing to propose and to offer except Christ and his cross, mystery of supreme love, which makes possible even forgiveness and love for one's enemies."

Benedict XVI was equally radical in the letter that he had written several days earlier to the bishops of the world: "To bring men towards God: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter."

Take it or leave it. Benedict XVI does not negotiate his decisions. He goes straight along the path indicated to him by God, even at the price of 'isolation'.

But the 'isolation' of Papa Ratzinger is more in-house than from the outside world where the simple folk are with him.

Sunday noons at St. Peter's Square have never been so crowded, not even in the years of John Paul II.

The popular reception he has encountered on his trips abroad has been far better than anyone expected, even in 'difficult' places like the United States, Australia and France.

Whatever he personally writes or says earns the respect and admiration of whoever reads or listens. The first volume of his JESUS OF NAZARETH has been a worldwide success.

But if one asks whether the prelates of the Curia have read it, almost everyone says No. [Really? That's mean! Even if they did not, should they be so ready to declare it openly?]

It is in the Vatican offices, in the machinery that is in charge of the world'sbishops and clergy, that Benedict XVI encounters the most hostility.

Thus when it came to trying to assuage the open wounds left by the negationist statements of the Lefebvrian bishop Richard Williamson, Benedict XVI was understood and supported more by some 'Jewish friends' than by so many men of the Church - as he wrote in the letter to the bishops with which he hopes to close the case.

But before the controversy over Williamson, what really triggered the eruption of hostilities against the Pope was his decision itself to revoke the excommunication of the four FSSPX bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 - Williamson ebing one of them.

For many bishops, priests and Catholic intellectuals, the Lefebvrians are pariahs. "They are a group to whom no tolerance may be shown, which which one can easily attack and hate," Benedict XVI wrote in his letter.

The paradox is that this revulsion against the Lefebvrians is most marked among those prelates who are most vocal about dialog and ecumenison. Who immediately saw in Benedict XVI's clemency to the Lefebvrians an opportunity to accuse Benedict XVI of being like the Lefebvrians, whom they consider reactionary, anti-modern, anti-Conciliar, and even anti-Semitic.

But this is precisely the logic of intolerance shown to untouchables, adn the Pope refers to it in his letter thus: "And should someone dare to approach them - in this case the Pope - he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint."

In order that the sense of his gesture of recalling the excommunications could be clearly understood, Benedict XVI had to take pen to paper and write out a letter which is unprecedented in the modern papacy for its directness.

In fact, in the weeks preceding the letter [following the excom recall], the Curia did not help him a whit - all they did was to cause him more harm.

The decree recalling the excommunication was drafted by two cardinals, the Colombian Dario Castrillon Hoyos and the Italian Giovanni Battista Re, who between them, are divided on everything: the first has been working for this rapprochement with the Lefebvrians since 1988, and the other did not even want to hear about it, only signing the decree because it was his duty as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

And thus, the decree as released was unclear, not easily understandable, and without a single word that explained the reasons for the Pope's decision - worse, aparently ignoring the fact that Bishop Williamson's negationist statements were already circulating everywhere.

[In fairness to the two cardinals, Magister glosses over the timeline on when Williamson's Swedish TV statements were known in general - but the timeline is most relevant to the two dates known about the decree: it was dates January 21, but a copy of it was personally handed to Mons Fellay in Rome by Cardinal Castrillon on January 17, having summoned him expressly for that reason.

The first media mention of the Swedish TV interview appears to have been a Der Spiegel article for its January 19 issue, which did not get any media traction at all except in Sweden, where the Diocese of Stockholm dissociated itself from Williamson in a January 20 statement, and in Germany, because of the Spiegel article. Swedish TV itself publicized their program using statements mde to them by Williamson in November 2008, in an online press release on the morning of January 21, for an evening broadcast on the same day.

In this respect, mention should have been made of the Vatican reconstruction of this series of events, in a 'dossier' put together after the fact and reported by Andrea Tornielli and Paolo Rodari, the two journalists who also anticipated the January 24 publication of the decree, in articles that may have primed the prompt and seemingly orchestrated reaction to the decree.

One good thing about the Internet is that you can't fudge or fake dates - so the whole media trail is easily traceable.]

The news that came out of it was as follows: Benedict XVI welcomed back the Lefebvrians into the Church, and the anti-Semitic Williamson was a good example of who they are.

Nothing could be more wrong. But the disaster was done - both in how the Vatican managed the announcement of the excommunication recall, and in the way it was miscommunicated.

And the Curia which should have acted as one in support of the Pope actually acted against him.

The last Pope who affected the Vatican apparatus was Paul VI, who maximized the role of the Secretariat of State. But after him, Papa Wojtyla left the Curia by itself - he was totally uninterested.

And the Curia became feudalized. Ratzinger, as a cardinal, witnessed this transformation and drew the following lesson from it: One of the things I learned in Rome is one must know how to put things off," he said in a 1985 book interview. "To be able to put things off can be positive - it can allow a situation to settle down, to mature, and therefore to clarify itself."

As a Pope, it seems that he has followed that precept with the Curia so far. Few nominations spread over time, and few of them lucky ones.

With a secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whom the great feudal lords before him, from Achille Silvestrini to Angelo Sodano - under whose wing many careers in the Curia were built - cannot pardon for not being one of them.

Bertone not only does not govern the Curia at all - he cannot even control the Secretariat of State, which is teeming with functionaries who are rowing against him, starting with his number 2 man, the deputy or Sostituto, Mons. Fernando FilonI.

[But there must have been a compelling reason for Benedict XVI to recall Filoni from the Philippines - his Nuncio assignment following Iraq which he left when the war started - to be #2 to Bertone. Surely, the Pope was aware Filoni was a typical Vatican career diplomat, formed in the school of Sodano. But was he unaware a Bartone-Filoni tandem would never work? Did Bertone assure him perhaps he would have no problems working with Filoni?]

In the Vatican, the circle of those faithful to Benedict XVI is rather thin. Besides Bertone and the Pope's private secretary Georg Gaenswein, one can only name the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Antonio Canizares Llovera, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood Angelo Amato, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture Gianfranco Ravasi, and the editor of L'Osservatore Romano, Giovanni Maria Vian. And very few others.

[How is it possible that Cardinal William Levada is not in the list? Or Cardinal Antonelli of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Or Cardinal Ivan Dias of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples - who was the Pope's second most important nomination in the early months, after Levada.

Or three Congregations secretaries - Luis Ladaria of CDF, Malcolm Ranjith of CDW, and of course, Josef Clemens, of the Congregation for the Laity?

Not to mention Cardinal Castrillon himself, who, considering everything, has behaved quite decently in the aftermath of the excom recall, and before that, appeared to have Benedict XVI's full trust to carry on the dialog he had begun with Mons. Fellay in August of 2005.

I think even Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran at CIRD has shown himself to be very much in line with the Pope since he was named. Then there's the latest appointee, Mons, Rino Fisichella at the Pontifical Academy for Life (though perhaps that does not qualigy as a Curial department). Cardinal Hummes, though a Benedict appointee, is a question mark because of his known liberal views.

Lastly, what about the Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, a Benedict appointee? How can thE Vatican spokesman not be loyal to the Pope?

All the rest in the Curia are John Paul II appointees and therefore kept on by Benedict XVI until it is time for them to retire - most of them soon.]

But even these few faithful are far from working as a team. Nor is there teamwork with important prelates who work outside the Vatican.

The Italian bishops conference has unquestioned Ratzingerians like Cardinals Angelo Bagnasco, Agostino Vallini, Angelo Scola, Carlo Caffarra, Camillo Ruini and Archbishops Giuseppe Bertone of Florence and his replacement as CEI secretarY, Archbishop Mariano Crociata.

But there is friction between Bertone and the CEI, because the former expressed his intention of 'leading' the CEI, which is not at all willing to allow this.

An egregious example of the split between Bertone and the CEI was over the Eluana Englaro case, made very evident by their respective newspapers: the CEI's Avvenire was as impassioned and committed in her defense as L'Osservatore Romano, under Bertone's control, was taciturn and detached.

In his letter to the bishops, Benedict XVI cited St. Paul: "If you bite and devour one antoher, take heed that you are not consumed by one another." He admonised the Curia to work in concordance with the representatives of the world episcopate.

But not long after the Williamson case, the Curia once again dealt him a low blow.

Cardinal Re, who makes the final recommendation on episcopal appointments, induced the Pope to name Gerhard Wagner as Auxiliary Bishop of Linz in Upper Austria, without taking account of the fact that because of his solid conservative credentials, Wagner's nomination woult arouse strong opposition from the generally liberal Austrian clergy and bishops.

A hostility which promptly exploded as soon as the nomination was announced, with a crescendo that forced Wagner to ask the Pope to withdraw his nomination, and two weeks later, for the Pope to agree.

Final blow: one of the chiefs of the anti-Pope revolt in Austria, Josef Friedl, a leading priest in the Diocese of Linz, announced that he has been cohabiting with a woman and that he does not consider himself obliged to celibacy - all this with the approbation of his parishioners and many other Austrian priests who, it turns out, share his anti-celibacy views (if not his practices).

Given all this, one of Benedict XVI's last actions before leaving for Africa was to declare for all priests around the world a year of reflection, under the patronage of the Holy Curate of Ars [on the 150th anniversary of his death]. The theme: "Faithfulness to Christ, faithfulness of the priest".

Pope Tries to Send Ripples of Hope Through an Ocean of Angolans

By BARRY BEARAK
The New York Times
March 23, 2009

LUANDA, Angola — Manuel Domingos Bento, a 62-year-old farmer with a paralyzed right leg, had journeyed 50 miles to the outskirts of Angola’s capital and slept here under the stars beneath a thin blanket. A faithful Catholic, he did not want to be late for Mass on Sunday. Pope Benedict XVI was going to lead the service on the last full day of his first trip to Africa.

Even with the help of a crutch, Mr. Bento was too unsteady to venture into the mammoth crowd that had gathered along the expansive dirt of a vacant lot near a cement factory. When the pope finally arrived, the farmer was 200 yards away, able to see only the top part of the “popemobile,” a sparkle of glass under the harsh glint of a powerful sun.

Still, his eyes welled up with emotion. “This is the greatest moment of my life,” he said, awed by the pope’s presence, no matter how distant.

On Sunday, Benedict drew the biggest audience of his two-nation African visit, a multitude that a Vatican spokesman, citing local officials, put at one million. That estimate may have been hyperbolic by at last half, but there was no doubting that the crowd, like those this past week, was ebullient in its faith and passionate about expressing it, the fervor hard to hold back.

Indeed, on Saturday, two young women were trampled to death and 40 other people were injured in a stampede at the gates of a sports stadium hours before the pope was to preside at a youth rally. Benedict mourned the deceased on Sunday: “We entrust them to Jesus so that he may receive them in his kingdom.”

Ten miles to the south, the two bodies lay on hospital gurneys beneath white sheets, one topped with a ring of violets, the other a garland of roses.

No one had yet come to claim one of the victims. The other was identified by government officials as Celina Kiala, 22. Some of her family gathered in an anteroom of a colonial-era hospital as church officials paid their respects in a private meeting. Afterward, as the grieving relatives were spirited away, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters that the woman had tutored catechism students at São Pedro’s Church.

Perhaps that was so, but in the evening no one there recognized Ms. Kiala’s name, including the coordinator of the catechism classes. São Pedro’s is a typical parish church in a poor neighborhood. It looks more like a warehouse than a cathedral, with narrow openings for windows and corrugated metal on the roof. Benches provide the seating.

Repeatedly while in Africa, first in Cameroon and then here in Angola, Benedict, 81, has lamented the afflictions that keep the continent impoverished.

In Sunday’s homily, he spoke of “the evils of war, the murderous fruits of tribalism and ethnic rivalry, the greed which corrupts men’s hearts, enslaves the poor and robs future generations” of resources needed for an “equitable and just society.”

Africa has the world’s fastest-growing Catholic population, and oil-rich Angola was a logical choice for a papal visit, not only because a majority of the population belongs to the church, but also because it has suffered some of the worst of the sins that bedevil the continent.

Portuguese colonizers brought Catholicism to Angola in the 15th century, and missionaries who continued to arrive on merchant vessels did little to interfere with the slave trade to the Americas. Once independence was won in 1975, civil war broke out and lasted 27 years. Peace has brought prosperity only to the elite. The economy’s double-digit growth — due to profits from diamonds and oil — has trickled down to the masses too slowly or not at all. The latest corruption perception index from Transparency International ranks Angola among the worst, 158th out of 180 nations.

“How much darkness there is in so many parts of the world!” proclaimed Benedict, protected from the sun by a pink tent, on Sunday as the immense crowd strained to see him.

Video screens had been set up to assist those toward the rear, but the technology failed to furnish the pontiff’s image, instead showing only the top edge of a computer screen with the words “File,” “Edit” and “View.”

The crowd was a disparate group. Many wore T-shirts that either showed the face of Benedict or Jesus. Joaquim Andre, a 22-year-old Seventh-Day Adventist, favored attire that celebrated Bob Marley. “But disregard the shirt,” he insisted. “I love the pope. He is the God of the earth.”

Realizing this theological view might be subject to misinterpretation, Mr. Andre then said, “I mean the pope seems like a father for everyone, and I am proud just to be close to him.”

The Mass lasted nearly two hours, and with the heat, there were some who left early. “I am tired, thirsty and hungry, and I have been blessed enough already,” said João Augusto Carvalho, a teenager.

But most worshipers stayed until the last. “I came here with a heavy heart, with many financial worries,” said Mokusu Zola, 52, a driver who was smiling rapturously. “My worries are lifted.”

Angola’s roads cannot support so big an event. A sea of walking bodies finally inched homeward, the great flock parting only when police motorcycles led the popemobile up the center.

“Papa! Papa! Pope! Pope!” children shouted as they broke into a run, chasing this visitor to Africa as if they might catch him and hold on.

The English texts of the Homily and Angelus message from the Mass yesterday, as well as the Holy Father's address to the women's groups in the afternoon, have now been posted in the appropriate places on the preceding page.

The homily is very powerful, and the address to the women's groups is a beautiful reflection on the role of women, including a theological interpretation of why God created woman.

Benedict XVI is so readable - for both style and content, but unbeatably so in content - that I could spend the rest of my days just re-reading, systematically as well as at random, everything he has ever written.

Again, as I had occasion to exclaim yesterday:
What a man! What a Pope! What a saint!


BENEDICTUS QUI VENIT IN NOMINE DOMINI.

March 23
St. Toribio of Mongrovejo(Peru) (1538-1606)
Missionary Archbishop, confessor of
Saints Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres
Patron Saint of Latin American bishops



No OR today.



THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father left Luanda at 10:30 a.m. today and is expected to arrive in Rome's Ciampino airport at 6 p.m.
(Rome and Luanda are in the same time zone).

The only images we have so far
(7:11 a.m., New York time, 2-/12 hours since the Pope left Luanda):

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FAREWELL CEREMONY
4 de Fevereiro International Airport of Luanda
Monday, 23 March 2009






This morning after, celebrating Holy Mass in private, the Holy Father left the Apostolic Nunciature and travelled by car to the '4 de Fevereiro' International Airport, where a departure ceremony was held in the presence of Angolan political and civil authorities, the Bishops of Angola and a group of youth representatives.

After remarks by Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Pope Benedict XVI delviered the following address in Portuguese. This is the Vatican's official translation:

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THE HOLY FATHER'S DEPARTURE ADDRESS


Mr President,
Distinguished Civil, Military and Ecclesiastical Authorities,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Dear Angolan Friends,

Keenly aware of your presence as I depart, Mr President, I would like to express to you my appreciation and my thanks for the courteous treatment you have given me and for the efforts made to ensure the smooth progress of all the meetings I have had the joy of experiencing.

To the civil and military authorities and to the Pastors and leaders of the ecclesial communities and institutions involved in those meetings, I express my warmest thanks for all the courtesy with which they honoured me during these days that I was able to spend among you.

A word of gratitude is owed to the media personnel, to the security forces and to all the volunteers who generously, efficiently and discreetly contributed to the successful outcome of my visit.

I thank God that I have found the Church here to be so alive and full of enthusiasm, despite the difficulties, able to take up its own cross and that of others, bearing witness before everyone to the saving power of the Gospel message.

She continues to proclaim that the time of hope has come, and she is committed to bringing peace and promoting the exercise of fraternal charity in a way that is acceptable to all, respecting the ideas and sensitivities of each person.

It is time to say goodbye and to set off once more for Rome, sad at having to leave you, but glad to have known a courageous people determined to begin again. Despite the problems and obstacles, the people of Angola intend to build their future by travelling along paths of forgiveness, justice and solidarity.

If I may be permitted to make one last appeal, I would ask that the just realization of the fundamental aspirations of the most needy peoples should be the principal concern of those in public office, since their intention – I am sure – is to carry out the mission they have received not for themselves but for the sake of the common good.

Our hearts cannot find peace while there are still brothers and sisters who suffer for lack of food, work, shelter or other fundamental goods.

If we are to offer a definite response to these fellow human beings, the first challenge to be overcome is that of building solidarity: solidarity between generations, solidarity between nations and between continents, which should lead to an ever more equitable sharing of the earth’s resources among all people.

From Luanda I broaden my gaze to include the whole of Africa, confirming our appointment for the coming month of October in Vatican City, when we shall gather for the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops dedicated to this continent, where the incarnate Word in person found refuge.

I ask God to grant his protection and assistance to the countless refugees who have fled their country, and are now at large, waiting to be able to return home.

The God of Heaven says to them once again: “Even if a woman should forget the child at her breast, yet I will not forget you” (Is 49:15). God loves you like sons and daughters; he watches over your days and your nights, your labours and your aspirations.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, friends from Africa, dear Angolans, take heart! Never tire of promoting peace, making gestures of forgiveness and working for national reconciliation, so that violence may never prevail over dialogue, nor fear and discouragement over trust, nor rancour over fraternal love.

This is all possible if you recognize one another as children of the same Father, the one Father in Heaven.

May God bless Angola! May he bless each of her sons and daughters! May he bless the present and the future of this beloved nation. May God be with you!

---

Angolan President says
Pope's visit surpassed expectations



Luanda, March 24 – Angolan Presdient José Eduardo dos Santos said Monday in Luanda that the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Angola surpassed expectations, adding the country vibrated with the presence of the leader of the Catholic church.

The President was speaking at Luanda’s “4 de Fevereiro” International Airport, during the ceremony of farewell to the Pope, at the end of his three-day visit to Angola.

Meanwhile, Jthe President also expressed regret for the death of two young women at the entrance of Luanda’s Coqueiros Stadium, while trying to enter the venue for the meeting the Pope would hold with the youth on Saturday afternoon.

He stated that the Pope’s words are an encouragement and hope to the Angolan nation, that would stimulate the efforts to consolidate peace, national reconciliation, and to construct of a society, based on respect for human rights, democracy and social justice.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 18:32]

Pope Benedict ends Africa trip
following rousing Angola welcome






Luanda, March 23 (dpa) - Pope Benedict XVI left Africa on Monday after a week-long visit, which was marred at the outset by his controversial remarks over condoms but ended on a more positive note in Angola, where he was acclaimed by hundreds of thousands of Catholics.

Benedict lifted off from the main airport in Angola's capital Luanda shortly before 11 a.m. local time (10 GMT) after a three-day visit, during which he urged the oil-rich southern African nation to tackle high levels of corruption and inequality.

On Saturday, tragedy struck during his outdoor stadium rally for Angolan youth, when two teenage girls were trampled to death by a surging crowd. [Important to note it happened four hours before the event, when the stadium gates were opened.]

But the sombre mood was dispelled Sunday by a rapturous reception from up to 1 million worshippers at an outdoor mMss at the gates of the city.

Benedict was celebrating the 500 years of Angola's evangelization by Catholic missionaries. Over half of the population, which is estimated at 12.5 million people, is Catholic.

Before that he visited the west African state of Cameroon, where he met with bishops from across the continent about preparations for the second synod of African bishops in the autumn and held talks with local Muslim leaders.

His visit was overshadowed at the outset by his remarks about the role of condoms in preventing HIV infections.

On the plane to Cameroon the pope said condom use was not the answer to curbing the spread of the pandemic in Africa - remarks blasted by the health fraternity as a major setback to their prevention efforts.
[Of course, as usual, the reporteer does not add a single sentence to cite the science adn the facts that justify the Pope's statement, as Journalism 101 requires but no one follows anymore.]

Benedict was on his first trip as Pntiff to Africa, the continent where the Catholic Church is growing the fastest.

During his trip he called for the Church's evangelization efforts to be stepped up.



Pope ends weeklong visit to Africa,
urges Angola's leaders
to work harder to help the poor
By MICHELLE FAUL


LUANDA, Angola, March 23 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI made one final appeal Monday at the close of his African pilgrimage, urging more solidarity among nations and continents so that the Earth's resources are more equally shared with the world's poor.

In his airport departure speech, the Pontiff also urged Angola's leaders to make "the fundamental aspirations of the most needy people" their main concern.

"Our hearts cannot be at peace as long as there are brothers that suffer the lack of food, work, a house, and other fundamental goods," the 81-year-old Pontiff said, standing in sweltering heat under a canopy near the chartered Alitalia plane that later flew him back to Rome.

Benedict also delivered a blessing for Angola's people as he wrapped up a seven-day African pilgrimage, his first to the continent as Pontiff. He visited Cameroon and Angola, each with large Catholic populations.

The Pope spoke out strongly against corruption during the visit, urging that African's poor not be forgotten.

Both Angola and Cameroon are rich in resources, including oil, but the countries' bishops accuse their presidents' authoritarian regimes of using those resources to enrich a small elite while the vast majority remain mired in poverty. Both nations have Catholic presidents.

If Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos sensed any criticism in the Pope's remarks, he did not show it Monday. At the airport, dos Santos said the people of Angola were thankful for "the love we always get from the Vatican, which provides us strength and helps us promote democracy and justice."

"We are very happy we had this opportunity to welcome you to our country and we are very grateful for all the advice that you have given to our people," he said.

All during his journey, Benedict held out Christianity's message as a way to inspire hope in the region's desperately poor people. But his rejection of the use of condoms to help Africa fight the AIDS epidemic provoked a firestorm of criticism.

Still, his flock in Africa — the continent suffering most from the disease — greeted the Pope with joy and love, turning out in the hundreds of thousands. Even clerics and ordinary people who believe that condoms must be used to save lives turned out to see him.

"He has come to our land, in a good moment of peace and brought joy to his people — increasing our pride and our hope in a future with more justice and reconciliation," said Angolan Matilde Ngola, a 41-year-old member of the Congregation of Sisters of Charity.

As the Pope climbed the steps of the Boeing-777 for the 3,500-mile (5,600-kilometer) flight back to Italy, a military band at the airport switched from hymns to a rousing version of "Auld Lang Syne" in farewell to the Catholic leader. The Pope waved a final goodbye.

Along the airport route, thousands of Angolans — taking advantage of the national holiday that was declared for the duration of the papal visit — waved colored handkerchiefs at Benedict as he slowly passed by in his popemobile.

During his public appearances, which included an outdoor Mass attended by 1 million Angolans, Benedict suggested that Christianity could help Africans break through the "clouds of evil" over countries riven by war, tribalism and ethnic rivalry.

"(The Church can help Africans) transform this continent, freeing the people from the whip of greed, violence and disorder" to help bring modern democracy, he said.

Angolan diplomat Armindo de Espirito Santo, on the tarmac to bid Benedict farewell, said the Pope's visit would have long-lasting implications.

"(It) helps our country in our continued reconstruction and reconciliation," he said, referring to Angola's nearly 30 years of civil war that only ended seven years ago.


A story I didn't see till now, but its point applies to the whole
African trip.


Media missing ‘true story’
of Pope Benedict XVI
advancing hope in Africa,
says African pro-life leader



Yaounde, Cameroon, Mar 21, 2009 (CNA) - An African pro-life leader has noted the stark contrast between hostile media reports on Pope Benedict XVI’s Africa visit and the thousands of Africans who joyously greeted the Pontiff as he arrived in Cameroon.

He said the “true story” of the Pope’s visit is his inspiration of African Catholics and all people to have “hope” and to address the “root causes” of the continent’s problems.

“I saw over 2,000 people that stayed in heavy rain singing and praying as the Holy Father presided over vespers in the Basilica of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles. This is not a sign of dismay or disillusionment with the Church, but of devotion and joy,” said George Wirnkar, Director of Outreach for Human Life International’s (HLI) Francophone Africa Region.

“Perhaps the historic first visit of the Holy Father to Africa and his providential first stop in Yaoundé, Cameroon, should herald an era where the authentic voice of Africans is heard rather than the imposed views of Western press who do not speak for the people of Africa — the continent of hope,” he continued, echoing Pope Benedict’s own description of Africa.

“The true story of the papal visit is that the Holy Father is inspiring African Catholics and all persons of good will to have hope, to deal directly with the root causes of the problems affecting our people, and resist the slogans of the West which offer false solutions to these problems.”

Some Western media outlets had seized upon Pope Benedict’s in-flight comments about condom usage in AIDS prevention programs. He had said:

"It is my belief that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is precisely the Catholic Church and her institutions. I think of the Community of Sant’ Egidio, which does so much, visibly and invisibly to fight AIDS, of the Camillians, of all the nuns that are at the service of the sick.

“I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome with money. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanization of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with those who are suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to be present with those who suffer. And these are the factors that help and bring visible progress.”

Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination for HLI, commented on the Pope’s remarks, saying:

“Pope Benedict gave a thoughtful, spiritual response indicating a solution that is increasingly confirmed by empirical science… The hopeful message articulated by the Holy Father is exactly what HLI is trying to bring to fruition in cooperation with African leaders like George Wirnkar. This is about affirming what is most life-giving in African culture.”

HLI reported that it recently concluded its first Africa conference of Medical Midwifery and Nursing Students for Life. Held March 13-14, the meeting’s more than 125 student participants listened to speakers and discussed pro-life issues.

Conference participants held 10 banners along Pope Benedict’s welcome route expressing support for him.

“Papal visits are usually a time of great spiritual renewal and a time when many people are listening to the Church,” said Wirnkar. “Speaking to physician trainees, practitioners, nurses and other medical professionals about issues which Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II have taught so clearly is crucial, so the Holy Father’s visit seemed the perfect time to kick off this program.”

“It is vital that pro-life young people are not converted to the pro-abortion or population control mentality while in medical school,” Meaney added, saying the graduates of the program are the pro-life professionals of the future.

“HLI is proud to reach an ever larger audience in Africa with the pro-life message thanks to George Wirnkar and our other leaders,” he said.

The reliable and ever professional Andrea Tornielli is the only journalist I have seen so far who has devoted a separate story -and rightly so - and some journalistic effort to getting more information about this matter:


Post-script to
the stadium deaths in Luanda
By Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

March 23, 2009


It was Benedict XVI himself who broke the news to Angolans.

Before the start of the Mass at Cimangola field yesterday morning, the Pope spoke of the two young women who died the day before in the rush to enter Dos Coqueiros Stadium after its gates opened around noon for the youth rally with the Pope later in the day.

Until the Pope spoke of it, local newspapers and TV in Angola had not mentioned the fact, first reported around 9 p.m. the night before by a Portuguese news agency.

"Dear friends," the Pope said, "I wish to include in this Eucharistic celebration today a special remembrance for the two young people who lost their lives yesterday at the Dos Coqueiros Stadium. Let us entrust them to Jesus, that he may receive them into his Kingdom."

He added: "To their families and friends, I express my solidarity and my most profound condolences, especially since they went there to meet me. At the same time, I pray for those who were injured and wish them a speedy recovery."

He concluded: "Let us entrust ourselves to God's unfathomable plans."

The accident, which also caused 89 injuries, took place around noon, when Gate 4 of the football stadium was opened. In the uncontrollable rush of people, two young women were trampled to death.

One of them, Celine, 22 years old, was identified by the ID papers she carried with her, But the other one carried no identification - she appeared to be in early 20s as well, and an unconfirmed rumor says she was pregnant. At the time this story was written, no one had yet come forward to look for her.

A delegation from the Pope's entourage, led by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, came to the Maria hospital where the two bodies were laid out, covered in white sheets, to pray over them.

Celine was a catechist in St. Peter's parish in Luanda. Bertone expressed the Pope's condolences to her widowed mother, older sister and three younger brothers, a grandfather and some uncles who were at the hospital.

They said that yesterday morning, she had gone to the parish church as usual for her Saturday catechism session before proceeding to the stadium.

The Vatican delegation was accompanied to the hospital by the Foreign Minister of Angola and the lady governor of Luanda.

Bertone requested authorities to clarify what happened and to inform the Pope about any new information. He also asked about the other victims and was assured no one was in serious condition.

The Angolan authorities assured Bertone that they would help the families of the two young women, and that they will keep the Holy See informed of th eresults of their investigation into the incident.

Something similar - but with more dead victims - also happened on John Paul II's first trip to Africa. In Kinshasa, capital of what was then called Zaire (now the Democratic republic of Congo), nine persons were crushed to death during a stampede preceding the Papal Mass, with 78 others injured.


These incidents are very tragic and could be avoided by simple precautions. Was there no security check before the crowd was allowed in? One unintended virtue of security checks is that they prevent mass stampeding into any venue.

Also, the security guards posted at these entrances should have a bullhorn or megaphone to remind the persons before letting them in that for their own safety, they must enter in an orderly fashion, and seek to impose some order on this entry.

I hope her family has come forward by now to claim the other young woman, whose death is doubly tragic if she was indeed pregnant. Let us pray for them.

An in-flight statement:
THE HOLY FATHER'S
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HIS TRIP
Translated from
the Italian service of






The Italian service of Vatican Radio has broadcast the words addressed by the Holy Father to the newsmen travelling with him on the flight back to Rome, and has also released the transcript. (Is the Press Office starting to learn its lessons finally?????]

Here is a translation:

---

Dear friends,

I see that you are still working. My work [on this trip] is almost done but yours begins anew, and I thank you for your efforts...

Two impressions remain above all in my memory. On the one hand, the impression of a cordiality that is almost exuberant, of the joy of Africans in celebration, and I think that they saw in the Pope, shall we say, the personification of the fact that we are the children and family of God.

This family exists and we, with all our limitations, are in this family, and God is with us. And thus, the presence of the Pope helped them to feel this....

On the other hand, I was also greatly impressed by the spirit of meditation during the liturgies, the strong sense of the sacred. In the liturgies, there was no 'self-presentation' by any group, no 'self-animation', only the presence of the sacred, of God himself.

Even the movements were always movements of respect and of an awareness of the divine presence. This made a great impression on me.

Then I must say that I have been profoundly assailed by the fact that on Saturday, in the chaos following the entrance into the stadium, two young women died. I have prayed and continue to pray for them. Unfortunately, one of them still remains unidentified.

Cardinal Bertone and Mons. Filoni were able to visit with the mother of the other girl - a courageous widow with five children. The girl who died was her oldest child and was a catechist.

All of us pray and hope that in the future, things may be organized so that something like this never happens again.

Two other memories I will always have: a special remembrance, of course - and needless to say - of the Cardinal Leger Center. My heart was moved by seeing here the world of suffering in multiple forms - all the suffering, the sorrow, the misery of human existence. But I also saw how the state and Church work together to help the suffering.

On the one hand, the state is managing this center in exemplary manner; and on the other, Church movements and organizations are working together to provide direct real help to the suffering.

And one can see, I think, that a man who helps someone who is suffering becomes more of a man, the world becomes more human - this will remain inscribed in my memory.

Then, we distributed the Instrumentum laboris for the Synod. On the evening of St. Joseph's Day, I met with the members of the Council for the Synod - 21 bishops - and each one spoke about the situation in his local Church, of their proposals, of their expectations - and this gave me a very rich idea of the realities of the Church in Africa - how it moves, how it suffers, what it does, what are its hopes and problems.

I could say a lot, for instance, about the Church in South Africa, which has had a difficult experience of reconciliation but which has substantially succeeded and can now help, with its experience, the attempts at reconciliation in Burundi, and is seeking to do something similar, although with very great difficulties, in Zimbabwe.

Finally, I wish once more to thank everyone who contributed to the beautiful success of this trip. We have seen what preparations must have gone into it, how everyone cooperated, and I wish to thank the state and civilian authorities, as well as those of the Church, and all the individuals who have worked for this.

I think that truly the words 'Thank you' should end this adventure, and I say Thank you again, to you journalists as well, for the work you have done and will be doing.

I wish everyone a good trip. Thank you.

---

Not to dump gloom on the terrifically successful papal trip to Africa but I stumbled across this article which may explain a bit what the pope has to put up with in Austria.


Pope Benedict losing popularity in Austria

Croatian Times
March 23, 2009

Austrians have less regard for Pope Bendict XVI than they did two years ago in the wake of several affairs that have tarnished his reputation.

Twenty-six per cent of Austrians have a negative opinion about the Pope, versus 26 per cent who have a positive opinion and 48 per cent who have no opinion about him, according to the results of a recent poll.

A similar poll in 2007 showed 40 per cent of Austrians had a good opinion about him and only 16 per cent had a bad one.

The Pope’s standing is even worse among Austrian Catholics. Only 32 per cent of them have a positive opinion of him, compared to 50 per cent two years ago, and 23 per cent have a negative opinion of him, roughly twice as many as two years ago.

Only 17 per cent of Austrians regard the Pope’s statements about current problems as "very important or important," down from 29 per cent two years ago.

Church-going among Austrians remains stable at a low level. As was the case two years ago, 33 per cent attend services regularly or occasionally, 33 per cent do so once in a while, and 29 per cent never do.

One reason for the Pope’s diminished popularity in Austria is the so-called Friedl affair.

Linz Bishop Ludwig Schwarz recently relieved Upper Austrian pastor Josef Friedl of his duties as a dean or the bishop’s personal representative for violation of his vow of celibacy.

Friedl, 65, a pastor in Ungenach who had recently publicly acknowledged that he had been having a relationship with a woman, met with Schwarz at the diocesan office in Linz on Monday this week.

Friedl said after the meeting he was no longer the bishop’s personal representative but didn’t want to say more.

Schwarz said after the meeting that Friedl had violated his vow of chastity as a priest, which was still in force. Schwarz noted that Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, who was also chairman of the Austrian Bishops Conference, had recently reiterated the importance of celibacy for priests.

The bishop added that he would have more discussions with Friedl in the near future.

Friedl has also been in the news because of the Arigona Zogaj asylum case. He has been caring for Arigona, 17, and her ill mother Nurie for months.

Arigona became a cause celebre in Austria after going underground and threatening to commit suicide after her father and four siblings were deported back to Kosovo in 2007.

The case caused massive controversy after former People’s Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Günther Platter ruled Arigona’s mother and she would be deported at the end of the 2007/2008 school year.

Platter’s ÖVP successor Maria Fekter decided Arigona and her mother could stay in Austria. Fekter’s decision came as a big surprise as she is generally known for her hard-line position on law and order.

Austrian authorities have just accepted new asylum applications by Arigona and her mother, so they temporarily have a legal right to remain in Austria.

Three of Arigona Zogaj’s siblings illegally travelled from a refugee camp in Hungary to Vöcklabruck district in Upper Austria in January to be reunited with their mother.

Friedl confirmed the illegal arrival of Albona, 9, Albin, 8, and Alfred, 18, in Austria. Arigona’s older brother Alban, 20, later joined them.

Alfred and he subsequently decided to return voluntarily to Kosovo in the expectation that their applications for asylum in Austria would be rejected and in the knowledge their goal of reuniting their siblings with their mother in Austria had been accomplished.

The Zogaj family came to Austria illegally from Kosovo and settled in Frankenburg in September 2002. The government ordered the family’s deportation after their asylum applications were rejected.

The family was considered to be well-integrated in the Upper Austrian town where they settled after fleeing civil war in Kosovo. Several campaigns on their behalf were launched by residents and civil rights activists, but Platter, now governor of Tyrol, did not budge.

A poll conducted by Gallup for the Vienna daily "Österreich" shows 87 per cent of Austrians support Catholic priests’ right to marry and only eight per cent do not, with five cent having no opinion.

The newspaper added there were around 700 priests in Austria without a formal position in the Church as a result of violations of their vows of celibacy.

The newspaper quoted theologian Paul Zulehner as claiming 22 per cent of Austrian priests had a relationship with women and said other sources put the percentage of high as 50 per cent.

Austria’s senior Catholic priest has been dealing with an emerging crisis in the Austrian Catholic Church by appealing for understanding.

Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn appealed for understanding in a pastoral letter to Austrian Catholics at the end of the meeting of the country’s bishops last week.

Schönborn, who chairs the Austrian Bishops Conference that had just concluded its annual late-winter meeting in Innsbruck, appealed for understanding in the wake of a turbulent period for the Austrian Church.

The cardinal said: "Many people find it impossible to understand recent decisions by the Vatican, which have made some of them angry. I understand their reaction."

Schönborn added the Church needed to admit mistakes that had been made. "I appeal to you to remain on our common path," he said. Trust meant sticking together in bad as well as in good times, the cardinal claimed.

The cardinal also appealed to Catholics to contribute more money to the Church, noting that parishes, convents, schools and social institutions all needed support during the recession.

The Austrian Bishops Conference reportedly addressed the Church crisis at its Innsbruck meeting.

The bishops, auxiliary bishops and the abbot of territorial abbey Wettingen-Mehrerau were to have discussed the fall-out from the case of Gerhard Maria Wagner, the controversial priest who recently asked Pope Benedict XVI to withdraw his nomination as auxiliary bishop of Linz after a public storm of protest. The Pope formally accept Wagner’s request several weeks ago.

The conference was also to have addressed the problem of the increasing exodus of Catholics from the Church, "the current situation in the Church and society" and the government’s planned tax-reform, according to Kathpress. The government has reportedly agreed to increase the amount of mandatory Church contributions that can be deducted from Austrians’ taxes.

Participants were also to have discussed their June meeting with the Slovene Bishops Conference in Mariazell, Styria. The Austrian Bishops Conference has been intensifying relations with bishops in neighbouring countries since "Middle European Catholic Day" in 2004.

The bishops at least didn’t have to deal with a possible Vatican investigation of the situation in the Linz diocese.

The Vatican announced several weeks ago that it would not be sending an apostolic delegation to Linz to investigate the controversy surrounding former auxiliary bishop-designate Wagner.

Linz Bishop Ludwig Schwarz’s surprise visit to the Vatican had prompted speculation he had been summoned as part of preparations for an apostolic visitation or formal Vatican investigation of the situation in the diocese.

But diocese communications office head Ferdinand Kaineder denied Schwarz had been summoned to Rome, saying such reports had been "pure speculation." Rather, Kaineder said, Schwarz had gone to the Vatican to discuss ways of calming things down in the diocese with Church officials.

The situation in the Linz diocese heated up after the Pope nominated Windischgarsten pastor Wagner as auxiliary bishop of the diocese.

Wagner’s controversial public comments led to an exodus of Catholics from the Church in the diocese after the Pope’s nomination.

The ultra-conservative priest had hit the headlines with statements labelling the Harry Potter book series "a work of Satanism," homosexuality as "curable" and natural disasters like the 2004 tsunami in Southeastern Asia and 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans as God’s punishment of human sin.

But Wagner is also infamous for hitting out on many other subjects, as Austrian magazine "profil" recently revealed.

Speaking about Baptism and the decrease of the Catholic Church’s influence in Austria, Wagner told believers at the Catholic church in Windischgarsten: "If the Church isn’t that important anymore, why is a child brought into the Church to be baptised? Why don’t people take their children somewhere else?"

In another sermon, Wagner warned: "I would like to make you aware today that many more people than you might think have made a pact with the devil, with Satan."

Speaking about the increasing number of people leaving the Church, Wagner said: "I ask myself: What’s the matter with those who talk badly about the Church, those who have left it? Those who moan when speaking about Catholic Austria?

"They make use of Catholic holidays, and that’s something I am protesting against. If someone doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Church, he should go to work on such holidays."

Private Upper Austrian radio station "Life Radio" recently reported the Windischgarsten council would formally make Wagner an honorary citizen of the town.

People’s Party (ÖVP) Mayor Norbert Vögerl has confirmed the report, saying he approves of the initiative.


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


At this point, nothing can surprise me anymore about the terrible state of the clergy - and therefore of the Church - in Austria.

Clearly, someone like Cardinal Schoenborn who, as president of the Austrian bishops' conference, appears to be more interested in currying favor with 'We are Church' types and with otherwise liberal Austrian Catholics instead of standing up for orthodox Catholicism, has to be at fault.

For instance, he cannot be unaware of the widespread defiance of the vow of celibacy among Austrian priests, and yet he was on their side, in general, against a right-living and right-preaching priest like Mons Wagner.

I used to think he photographed more than just namby-pamby but rather unctuous in a not-pleasant way, and he has proven to be so - only, unctuous to the wrong people and the wrong causes -such as obscene art in a Church museum - instead of unctuous to the Church.

He wasted all the effort that the Austrian Church and the Pope put into the papal visit two years ago. Instead of building on any momentum it might have gained for the Church, he went on to offer clown Masses and speak up in favor of that ill-advised art exhibit, to speak just of the things we in the outside world know.

And oh yes, to stab the Pope in the back, by signing on to that disgraceful letter by the Austrian bishops denouncing the Pope's actions on the FSSPX bishops and on Mons. Wagner.

God knows what else he has been allowing. His silence and inaction on his unchaste priests is just as outrageous as the silence and inaction (and cover-up) of his predecessor about the sexual goings-on by the rector of that seminary near Vienna years ago, and as Cardinal Law's similar tolerance of the misbehaving priests in Boston.

And all this - from someone widely considered to be the Pope's protege, even a papabile, and quite unfortunately in view of all this, chairman of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation.

I cannot iamgine what he can possibly say in defense of all the spineless and shaemful things he has been doing. And I certainly hope the Pope sess all this without blinders.

God help the Church in Austria. I hope the Benedictine monasteries in that country - and more priests like Mons. Wagner - are doing what they can to preserve and defend the faith as it ought to be preserved and defended.

The Pope's message is not the problem

The image of an ultra-conservative pontiff is false. The Vatican must overhaul its PR machine

William Rees-Mogg
The Times Online
March 23, 2009

There is no better month than March to visit Rome. It is warm enough to eat outdoors, always one of Rome's great delights. The middle of March comes just before the tourist season - Rome is neither too empty nor overcrowded.

This mid-March, my wife and I spent a long weekend in Rome. We called at the English College, the oldest English institution overseas, founded in the reign of Edward III, which educated most of the martyrs of the recusant days. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is the fourth rector of the English College to become Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.

We did not receive any secret tips on the likely choice of his successor; the attention of the Vatican was more focused on the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Africa, where there are somewhere between 150 million and 200 million Roman Catholics. The US has elected its first black President; before this century is out, the cardinals may well elect a black Pope. Indeed one cannot be sure there has been no black Pope already. St Augustine the Great was an African bishop, although, of course, he never became Pope.

On his visit, the Pope created an avoidable news story by defending the Church's ban on condoms, even as part of the campaign against Aids. The Pope argues that Aids is spread by promiscuity, and that it is essential to attack the root evil of promiscuity, in line with two millennia of Christian teaching, rather than to encourage condoms as a protection against its consequences.

This has been widely criticised as an ultra-conservative doctrine but it can be supported by the difference in rates of Aids infection in different cultures. Some cultures, and some religions, allow much greater sexual liberty, with its risks. If the Pope were to change the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, that might weaken the cultural taboo against promiscuity. It is not a decision he could take lightly - nor is it obvious that it would lower the number of victims of Aids.

It all looks simple: condoms good, Pope reactionary. It is not simple at all. All societies impose some code of sexual conduct, usually formed around religious beliefs. Cultures that lack concepts of sexual discipline are not usually good societies in which to live. Certainly they are not societies with good control over sexually transmitted diseases. The case for liberalism needs to be scrutinised as thoughtfully as the conservative case.

However, apart from the merits of the argument over sexual discipline, there is a problem of the public perception of the Pope's image. He is not an ultra-conservative spoiling for a fight. He is not a Pius IX, becoming increasingly defensive in his old age, still less a Pius X, who persecuted some of the finest theological intellects of the early 20th century for so-called modernism, which would now be regarded as unobjectionable and orthodox.

Catholics have all become relatively modernist since Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council. Of course, the Catholic Church has to interact with the modern world. The Pope is himself an intellectual, curious about science and ideas. He is open to argument and debate. My own impression is that he sees the inevitability of the Church adjusting to modern ideas, but wants to make minor revisions to the post-Vatican II settlement, intended to give somewhat greater freedom to what one might call Tridentine Catholics. His move towards greater freedom to use the Tridentine Mass is an example. The post-Vatican II settlement made it very difficult to get permission to use the form of the Mass adopted by the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Conservative Catholics have a strong attachment to the Latin liturgy and some strongly prefer the Tridentine form of that liturgy.

Pope Benedict sympathises with this view. He is surely right, from a liberal, as well as a conservative, standpoint. For 400 years, the Tridentine rite was the universal rite of the Church. It was excessively authoritarian of small committees in the Vatican to try to abolish it. The Pope wants to restore the Church's connection to its own historic past; that does not mean that he wants to set the clock back.

Yet something has gone wrong. In recent weeks, stories from Rome have painted a picture not of the moderately conservative Pope that is the reality, but of a papal reactionary who does not exist. Several minor stories, such as the withdrawal of the excommunication of a cranky pseudo-bishop who happens to have denied the Holocaust, have been overinterpreted in the press.

I sympathise with the moderate extension of freedom that the Pope wishes to give the conservatives. Excommunication has more often done harm than good. Elizabeth I was excommunicated, and that divided Christianity in Britain for 400 years. I cannot imagine many circumstances in which one should criticise a Pope for restoring the communion. Of course Holocaust denial - of which the Pope seems to have been unaware - is stupid and odious, but I would hesitate to criticise him for allowing freedom of speech even to the deluded.

Some of these arguments concern genuine issues of doctrine or conscience, but much of the trouble arises from failure to modernise the media responses of the Vatican. The media have moved into a 24-hour, seven-day global news system. The Vatican has not.

It is no longer possible to run a national government as a small-scale news operation. The Roman Catholic Church is a worldwide structure with more than a billion members. This Pope succeeded John Paul II who was a genius at communication. He does not have the same charisma. He should professionalise the Vatican's news operation to match Sky, CNN, the BBC or al-Jazeera.

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


Enough already about thinking that better Vatican PR would be the answer to the Church's unpopularity in the media.

As venerable as Mr.Rees-Mogg is [he was once editor in chief of the Times of London], I beg to say that the Vatican may yet end up having the most efficient, super-duper PR office in the world, but that will not stop Catholic- and Benedict-bashing by the media - nor by arrogant sanctimonious bishops and priests.

It will only cut down on ready-made pretexts to pounce on the Pope, but the detractors and critics will always find a pretext somewhere and somehow. For starters, by simply using the Pope's own words against him, as we have just seen.

Right now, it is ideal for the critics that people inside the Vatican itself are also committing mistakes right and left that provide the enemy with the ammo to use against the Church.

And if only because of that - but more, because it is the right thing to do one's work professionally and correctly, as well as to think only of the good of the Church, if you are working for the Church and in the Church - all the miscreants in the Vatican should start shaping up, do the right things, and do things right, for a change.

Meanwhile, his critics know they can always count on Benedict XVI to speak his mind about what is right, regardless of political/cultural 'correctness', so theoretically, they will always have him to 'kick around'.

TERESA

For those who were wondering about the fate of the turtle, here's the story. I hope the pygmies don't feel bad about this.



Turtle given by Pygmies to pope will stay in Africa

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
March 23, 2009

LUANDA, Angola (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican aides decided that the live turtle given to the pope by a group of Pygmies from Cameroon should stay in Africa.

Although Vatican officials initially spoke about finding a home for the turtle in the Vatican Gardens, in the end they asked staff members of the Vatican Embassy in Luanda to find it a proper home, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

A group of 15 Pygmies from the Baka ethnic group came to the pope's residence at the apostolic nunciature in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 20 as the pontiff was preparing to leave for Angola. They built a ceremonial hut out of leaves in the garden of the residence, and the pope came out to greet them.

The Pygmies, including grandparents, parents and children, sang songs and danced to the beat of drums, then gave the pope three gifts: a basket, a cloth mat and the turtle, which is a symbol of wisdom in Cameroon.

The Baka Pygmies inhabit rain forests in southern Cameroon. A hunting and gathering people, they number fewer than 30,000.

The fate of the turtle was a little unclear at first. Vatican officials aboard the papal plane to Angola told reporters it had been left behind in Cameroon.

But a few minutes later, Father Lombardi walked into the journalist section of the plane carrying the turtle in a woven cage. Reporters snapped photos as the brown turtle, about eight inches long, poked its head out from under its shell.

At that point, the spokesman said he was not sure if the turtle would make the return trip to Rome and take up residence in the Vatican, but he suggested it might find a home in the Vatican Gardens.

However, leaving Angola March 23 for the flight back to Rome, Father Lombardi told reporters the turtle was "in good hands" with the staff of the nunciature in Angola because it was decided the African turtle should live in an African habitat.

Benedict XVI's commitment:
To defend the faith above all -
'Christianity, first and second!'
by VITTORIO MESSORI
Translated from

March 23, 2009



Messori and the Pope a few weeks ago, after the publication of Messori's book entitled Why I Believe -
about 24 years since their Bressanone conversatiions which became The Ratzinger Report.


Whoever respected Joseph Ratzinger before had to be reconfirmed in his admiration with the Pope's letter to the bishops about his revocation of the FSSPX bishops' excommunication.

It was a powerful text which was at the same time subdued. with a humility and sincerity that are limpidly evangelical.

The letter, contrary to what some people say, reinforces the prestige of Benedict XVI, who thinks of himself not as a powerful man among other powerful people, but as the custodian of a truth that is not 'his' but which has been entrusted to him, and which he should defend at any cost.

Precisely because of this, it is surprising that few have emphasized the dramatic statement that is the center not only of the letter but of his entire Pontificate, and which also explains this unusual intervention.

The man whom the faithful look to as the Vicar of Christ, writes: "In our days, in vast areas of the world, the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel". And then, "The real problem at this moment in our history is that God is disappearing from the human horizon".

Benedict XVI reaffirms here his awareness that "the first priority for the Successor of Peter was laid down by the Lord in the Cenacle in the clearest of terms: 'Strengthen your brothers in the faith'..."

This man - who, not by chance was Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith for 23 years - has always clearly seen the indispensable order of priorities: first, the faith, precisely, and then - but only then - the ecclesial institution.

Which is indispensable, in the plan of a creator God who wants the collaboration of his creatures.

But the Church, uin the sense of the visible structure which must journey through history, is nothing but a wrapping, a skin, a shell, to contain what really counts and which only faith can see: the invisible pearl - namely, the mystery of Christ and his sacraments, starting with the Eucharist.

The 'world' is concerned - and it cannot do otherwise - with the Vatican, the Holy See, the Holy Palaces, the hierarchical Nomenclatura.

But all that is nothing but a means - always reformable and often opaque - towards the only true objective: announcing the Gospel, which is not an illusion but a truth upon which it is reasonable to base one's life and death.

That should be taken for granted - at least by believers. But in these past few decades, it has not been so within the Church itself.

When, in August 1984, the then Cardinal Ratzinger and this writer sat down together for a few days in Bressanone - we were conscious of breaking, for the first time in 442 years, the silence and the 'impenetrable' secrets of the Holy Office [as the CDF was once called].

As a working title for the book that would come out of those conversations, we agreed to use the term 'report', but it was the Cardinal himself who suggested that it should be a report ['S]on the faith'i, not on the Church.

In fact he recalled the obvious but often forgotten truth: The prius - what goes before everything else - is the faith, while the ecclesial institution, moral teaching, social commitment are only derivatives, effects, consequences, which live on air unless they are based on the truth of the Gospel.

And it is this faith, wagering all on the Gospel, that is "in danger of dying out lie a flame which no longer has fuel".

These are dramatic words, we must say again. So it is a wonder that they have not resonated at all.

Within the Church, the post-Conciliar division between progressivists and conservatives has blazed around the reorganization of the institution, of 'the Vatican', or on the ethical and social consequences that follow from the Gospel.

Violent confrontations over issues like the role of the papacy; the role of the clergy and of the laity; celibacy; the powers of the bishops' conferences; ecumenism; or the political commitment of the Christian on issues like divorce, abortion, genetic engineering, homosexuality.

Important problems but still, derivatives, of a secondary nature to Christianity itself.

Few of those in the thick of these disputes ever asked themselves about the primary issue: whether post-modern man can still believe in the truth of teh Gospel, because unless he does, then everything else is meaningless.

While everyone is coming to blows over the consequences of Christian belief, they forget to re-examine whether there is still a valid reason for such disputes.

There has been - and continues to be - a war among priests on the right ways to innovate catechesis, but without concerning themselves about why and how the catechism should be taken seriously, without being mocked as cretins for 'still' being Christians in this day and age.

With present-day intellectuals considering apologetics anachronistic - meaning the effort to reconcile faith and reason, science and miracles, culture and devotion - those who remain of the people of God find themselves weaponless before the fierce aggression today against all three 'circles' of faith: the existence of God; Jesus as the Christ announced by teh prophets of Israel; and the Church as a divine institution.

The Catholic crisis is not in the 'machinery' - if the latter appears to be increasingly losing power almost to the point of shutting down, as many religious congregations have done, it is because it is running out of gas.

The crisis is the loss of faith, the tragic but often hidden question, "But is it true? Is it not just an illusion?", which explains why one-third of the clergy in the past 40 years abandoned their calling, why vocations for the priesthood have been thinning out, why the missionary impulse has been disappearing, why moral defense has lagged among those who should be setting the example.

Believing only in the present, doubting that there is anything beyond death, has focused contemporary attention exclusively to social and political commitment, relegating to silence what Tradition called the 'Novissimi', the last things - death, the Final Judgment, hell or paradise.

Benedict XVI is not even thinking of a Vatican III as some have called for - in order to further reform Church institutions and to adapt the Gospel morality to what is politically correct today. These are clerical (in the secular sense, i.e., petty) concerns.

If Papa Ratzinger would ever think of another Council, it would be to bring back to the center the reasons for believing in Jesus as God and Redeemer. It is not by chance that he is finding time and effort from his many commitments to complete his work on the historicity of the Gospels, which has been placed in doubt even my many in the Church itself.

And it is not a professor's obsession, but rather the concern of a Pastor who wants to make sure that the faith - the basis of the entire ecclesiastical pyramid - is still credible and is not opposed to reason.

HE'S BACK, SAFE AND HAPPY...


The papal flight from Luanda landed at Rome's Ciampino airport at 5 p.m. Rome time.





DEO GRATIAS
FOR ANOTHER MEMORABLE APOSTOLIC TRIP.

REST WELL, PAPINO CARISSIMO!

Pope Benedict XVI returns to Vatican to praise and protests

Richard Owen in Rome
Times Online
March 23, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome from his six day trip to Africa today to be greeted by support from Italian bishops for his controversial stand on condoms and protests from gay rights and left wing campaigners.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference said the attacks on the Pope during his African trip had been "offensive and unacceptable". The papal trip was overshadowed from the start by the Pope's remarks on the plane to Cameroon, the first leg of the trip, in which he said that condoms were not only the wrong answer to the Aids epidemic but made matters worse by encouraging sexual promiscuity.

Cardinal Bagnasco, who is Archbishop of Genoa, said that even before the African trip attacks on the Pope over his reinstatement of Richard Williamson, a Holocaust-denying bishop, had gone "beyond common sense". He said the Pope had made it clear that he condemned the Nazi Holocaust unequivocally and that he had been unaware of Bishop Williamson's extreme views.

He said that while in Cameroon and then Angola the Pope had been insulted and "vulgarly mocked" in the media around the world for "simply pointing out" that condoms had not solved and could not solve the Aids problem. About an hour before the Pope returned to the Vatican gay rights and atheist groups held a brief protest nearby.

They were not allowed to enter St Peter's Square, which is not only Vatican territory but consecrated ground, since it is an extension of St Peter's Basilica. Instead they held up banners on Italian territory on the boulevard leading up to St Peters.

A spokesman for the Mario Mieli gay rights organisation in Rome said: "The Pope's extremely serious and irresponsible words are even further removed from reality when we consider that condoms are unanimously and scientifically recognised as the principal means of Aids prevention."

The protesters held up banners reading: "Condoms aggravate the problem? Only for Pope Benedict". Whereas Cardinal Bagnasco's remarks were prominently reported however the pro-condoms protest was largely ignored by local media.

Cardinal Bagnasco speaks up again
to express Italian bishops'
unconditional support of the Pope
Translated from

March 23, 2009



Photo from Avvenire.


Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops' conference, once again voiced the bishops' support for Pope Benedict Monday morning, in his opening speech to the current session of the CEI Permanent Council.

It is the kind of support for the Holy Father that should be expected of every bishop - and priest - in the Church. Here is a translation of what he said:

---

Venerated and dear brothers,

We find ourselves together again in the Permanent Council of the Italian bishops' conference two months since our previous meeting, but the big questions opened at the time mostly remain still open.

So this opening remarks, in the light of the usual communitarian discernment which we know to be fecund in apostolic work, will appear like a development, or rather, an updating, of the reflections we had two months ago.

1. What has definitely been prolonged beyond any good sense is the criticism of our beloved Pope, first because of his remission of the excommunication of four bishops consecrated by Mons. Lefebvre, and then the Williamson case which was insensibly super-imposed on it.

On the merit of both these issues, the important thing is what we said in our opening remarks two months ago. No one then thought that the controversy would have continued, and the manner that it has been employed as a pretext to create a truly disquieting situation, which the Pope himself wished to bring to an end with his admirable letter of March 10, 2009, addressed to all the bishops of the Catholic Church.

But we do not intend to return to the heavy-handed accusations addressed too carelessly and without basis against the Holy Father.

What does merit focusing on is his letter which, as an authentically new action, also immediately drew a vast consensus. The great impression it made was for the most part due to the interior strength which emerges from the entire text and from each of his words, even those that express the greatest disappointment.

His disappointment, which is perturbing in many ways, about the recent episodes - but analogously, about certain questionable but recurrent ecclesiastical practices - evoked by contrast the candor of someone who has nothing to hide about his own intentions, the concrete motivations for his decisions, the consistency of a life that has been lived only to render the most transparent service to the Church of Christ.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see in the papal initiative the action of the Spirit of God who reveals the designs of the heart and teaches how to draw the maximum good even from the roughest and most difficult situations.

Which does not in any way attenuate the severity of a judgment which is given by the Pope in charity about attitudes and words which have led to a situation which should never have arisen, and which has fed systematically alarmist interpretations and mistrustful behavior towards the Church hierarchy.

With firm and concrete conviction, we take upon ourselves the appeal for a more genuine reconciliation that the papal Letter asks of the entire Church.

This, of course, excludes any further readings which make the Pope say things he never said - which is a very questionable, even insolent, way to establish a position that is different from correct ecclesiastical behavior.

We all do best to identify ourselves with the best traditions of Catholicism: to be with the Pope, always and unconditionally.

Which means to be in tune with the most evident priority of his Petrine ministry: "to lead men towards God, towards the God who speaks in the Bible" and "to have at heart the unity of all believers" priorities that involve all of us, each with his own responsibility.

On the other hand, he also asks us to pray intensely for him and with him, which is to say, for the same intentions that he has. This will help to purify how we look at the Church, the mystery of salvation in this world.

2. At this time, the Holy Father is bringing to an end an important apostolic visit to Cameroon and Angola. In his eyes, the trip's horizon is the entire African continent (cfr Benedict XVI, Greeting on his arrival in Luanda, March 20, 2009).

It has been a very demanding trip that is also rich with hope. What happened there and the Magisterium that the Pope explained on the trip had great resonance among the local population, just as it has inspired in us a profound sense of involvement and sincere emotion.

And so we cannot fail to come back to the significance of this pilgrimage, which from the very beginning, was overshadowed in the eyes of the Western world by a controversy over condoms, which was frankly unwarranted.

That is why in the African media itself, the Pope's words met with no autonomous objections, only the reflection of prejudicial interests by international agencies, and the statements of some European political leaders and supra-national organizations - the very class which by role and responsibility should not be superficial in their analyses nor precipitous in their judgements.

One had the sensation that the intention was to distract from the concrete problems in Africa that such a papal trip was bound to focus on, especially during this time of a most acute economical crisis which demands of the most influential institutions an open mentality and an inclusive vision.

Still, it was evident that the controversy was not limited to free dissent but bordered on ostracism which is a consequence itself of secular canons. Nonetheless, derision and vulgarity should never be part of civil discourse, and can only result in a backlash against those who practise it.

Indeed, the most significant confirmation for the relevance of the Pope's words on the issue of condoms comes from those - professionals, politicians and volunteers - who work in the fields of health care and education.

It is necessary to promote a wide-ranging educational activity which is adapted to the mentality and culture of the Africans themselves. It should be concretized particularly in the effective promotion of women and their role. It must be based on experience in healing, health care and assistance, and raise funding for making necessary medicines available to everyone.

The Church, including our church in Italy, is involved with persons and means for promoting such a development. We also ask the governments of the developed to keep their own commitments, beyond mere demagoguery and the logic of neo-colonialist control.

Even as we invite all interlocutors never to abandon a language of respect which is an index of civility, we also wish to say - forcefully but humbly - that we cannot accept that the Pope be the object of ridicule or offensiveness, in the media or anywhere else.

For everyone, he represents a moral authority which this trip has made more apparent and appreciable. For Catholics, he is Peter, who with the fisherman's net and in the name of the Lord Jesus, continues to reach out to the limits of the earth.

We who accompanied him with prayer and trepidation during this trip now prepare to greet him affectionately on his happy return.

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