 24/03/2009 13:00 |
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OREMUS PRO PONTEFICE NOSTRO
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
A decisive match for the Church
on the issue of Vatican II
by Stefano Alberto
Professor of 'Introduction to thelogy'
Catholic University of Milan
Translated from
March 23, 2009
Why this continuous and even growing media obbstinacy to hound the person of the Pope, this systemawtic reduction of his teaching, which becomes misleading and intended to arouse resentment and controversy around the world?
In many media stories on the extraordinary letter which Benedict XVI wrote to Catholic bishops on March 10, the keys played over and over were his presumed solitude, the supposed growing incomprehensibility of his message - which they think too doctrinal and hardly pastoral [Are they reading his messages at all????? Of course, every message has a doctrinal basis, but that is in no way incompatible or mutually exclusive with a pastoral presetation, which it always is!], of his supposed isolation from the Curia, from the faithful, and from world public opinion.
And someone is always bound to enumerate punctiliously the Pope's supposed 'gaffes' in communication, starting with the Regensburg elcture.
About "the mtyh of my solitude", Benedict XVI himself dismissed it with a smile when he spoke to journalists on the flight to Cameroon last Tuesday.
With the same serenity that he spoke the words - which we cna now call prophetic - in the homily at his inaugural Mass as Pope on April 24, 2005, when he referred 'being alone' twice: first, in recalling John Paul II ('He who believes is never alone, not in life, and not even in death'); the second, referring to himself as part of the 'communion of saints' mentioned by the Creed, and his link to all the prayers and the faith, hope and charity of all the faithful: "I am not alone. I should not carry alone that which in fact I could never carry alone."
On that occasion, Benedict XVI affirmed that "My true program of government is not to do my will, not to prosecute my ideas, but to place myself at attention, along with all the Church, to the words and the will of the Lord, and to let myself be led by him, so that it is he himself who leads the Church at this moment in our history."
These are words that jelp to understand the profound sense and the imprtance for the whole Church of the Pope's recent letter which, without glossing over difficulties and errors, divisions, and even hatred, expresses all of Benedict XVI's passion for Christ and man, his vivid awareness of the Petrine service, which is unique, to the Church and to the world, and the intensity of his Magisterium.
This goes far bdyond his point-by-point explanation of the act of mercy that he intended in recalling the excommunications, which came automatically upon the unauthorized ordination of the four bishops by Mons. Lefebvre in 1988, with all the painful controversies and confusions that resulted from it.
Many have already pointed out that the letter represents an unicum, not only in the recent history of the Church, for its style (akin to the Pauline letters and those of the early Church Fathers, it has been observed) and for its decisive Magisterial content.
The Pope wanted to clarify, above all to the episcopal college, of which he is the chief, that the problems involved have an 'essentially doctrinal character', particularly with regard to the acceptance of Vatican-II and of the post-Conciliar Magisterium of the Popes.
In the center is the delicate process of the 'reception' of Vatican-II which is still going 0n (even if there is always someone who already insists there is need for a 'Vatican III'), and the relationship between the Council and the Tradition of the Church.
These are questions not resereved for bishops alone or to the limited circle of specialists and experts concerrned, because what is at stake is the nature of the Church itself and its mission to c0ntemporary man.
The Pontiff recalls all this in concerned tones: "In our days, when in vast areas of the world, the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women teh way to God."
The Pope grasps with dramatic lucidity the signs of a time in which "God is disappearing from the human horizon" and "humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly destructive effects".
The members of the Fraternity of St. Pius X are reminded that "the Church's teaching authority cannot be frozen" at the time before Vatican II. But the Pope also reminds those whom, not without subtle irony, he calls "the great defensders of the Council', that "Vatican II embraces the entire doctrinal history of the Church", and that obedience to the Council also means accepting 'the faith professed over the centuries', with out cutting off 'the roots from which the tree draws life".
There are those who see in these moderate but effectivee expressions a kind of change, if not a 'turning point', with respect to what the Pope indicated in his important address to the Roman Curia in December 2005.
On that occasion he spoke of the need for a hermeneutic of continuity and reform in interpreting Vatican II, instead of the hermeneutic that continues to be dominant in vast sectors of the Church that interprets Vatican II's aggiornamento (updating), its 'opening to the world', as a discontinuity with everything that went before, almost a new start for the Church in modern times.
Such a reading risks an immediate dilution of the power of the Papal letter, without ggrasping what is really at stake, which is overcoming the latent division in the Church between the content adn the method of the Christian message.
If the content of Christianity is rationally reduced only to doctrine or moral precepts, continually interpretable according to subjective criteria which are inevitanly partial (traditionalism, proressivism, spiritualism), the method of proclaiming it ends up being dictt - not by the fact of Christ having come to earth and always present in the life of the Church - but from its various consequences according to priorities dictated by historical contingency, and ultimately by whoever is in power.
How can God be made present today, how can he speak to man, how can he shows them his 'love to the very end' of which we all have such need?
It is this priority that Benedict XVI is focused on, involving himself in first person, and reproposing with firm serenity the perennial newness of the Christian message and the conditions of its permanence, at a time when faith and the sense of belonging to the Church are weakening.
In his demanding commitment to the faith, hope and charity of the whole Church, Benedict XVI is very well aware of thee mission entrusted by the Lord to Peter and his successors: "Conform your brothers" (Lk 22,32).
There is a passage that enlightens this awareness in his address to the Congregation for the Clergy on March 16: "In the mystery of the incarnation of the Word, in the fact that God became man like us, is contained both the content and the method of the Christian message".
We can also recall the start of his first Encyclical, which he cites in his letter to the bishops: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction" (Deus caritas est, No. 1).
With his testimony of faith and of merciful love, with his distressed call for unity among believers - principal sign of the credibility of the Christian mesage (from which derive both the priority of ecumenism and the need for inter-religious dialog) - the Pope. faithful to the charism of Peter, represents in his person the method itself of the message: "It is Christ who leads his Church".
Benedict XVI's great freedom in accepting with love the weight and the difficult commitment of his unique mission, but not by himself, heedless of a hostility that is ever ready to attack, is the true guarantee of freedom and hope for every believer following Christ and of every man who sincerely strives in the daily effort of his journey to his destiny.
He presents the true alternative to 'a poorly udnerstood freedom', always ready to 'bite and devour', within and outside the Church.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 18:21] |
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| 24/03/2009 13:58 |
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RESERVED FOR SOME ITEMS FROM OR TODAY.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 13:59] |
| 24/03/2009 13:58 |
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March 24
St. Catherine of Genoa (1448-1510)
Widow and Mystic
OR today.
Benedict XVI's trip ends with a new appeal for reconciliation and solidarity:
'Arise, Africa, and be on your way!'
There is a wrap-up story on the African visit and an editorial, "Choice for the future", about it. The issue includes the full texts of
the Pope's address to the youth of Angola, his homily at the Sunday Mass, his address to the women's advocacy groups, and his farewell
remarks in Luanda. Other Page 1 stories: A world forum on water resources ends in Istanbul, saying water is a necessity but not
a right; and the Unites States Treasury secretary presents government plan to deal with failed banks' so-called toxic assets.
No scheduled events for the Holy Father today (Tuesday).
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 18:25] |
| 24/03/2009 14:48 |
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COMMUNIQUE FROM MONS. FELLAY,
FSSPX SUPERIOR-GENERAL
Translated from
Information agency of the FSSPX
Following is the translation of a communique issued today by Mons. Fellay on the matter of further preistly ordinations by the FSSPX:
At the request of the Holy See, we have decided to transfer the ordination of subdeacons which had been scheduled to take place in Zaitkofen, Germany, on Saturday, March 28. It will be held instead at the seminary of Econe in Switzerland on the same day.
This decision is intended as a gesture of peace after the unjust condemantions made against the bishops of the FSSPX and the violent reactions which followed.
In fact, we regret that some bishops have used the occasion to conduct a public rebellion against the Sovereign Pontiff.
We are particularly sickened by the attitude of the German bishops who have ceaselessly shown us their hostility devoid of charity, and their continuous prejudicial judgment of us, treating us 'hatefully, without misging or restraint', as the Holy Father rightly put it in his letter of March 10, 2009.
We know that our situation, in canon law, is defective. This is nothing new and is intimately linked to the crisis in the Church and the resulting state of urgency. Thus, it serves no purpose to cite the law to try and stifle the life of our priestly society.
Other ordinations will take place as scheduled - there was never a question of suppressing them. Indeed, the welcome gesture from the Holy See cannot be interpreted as a desire to asphyxiate the FSSPX.
We hold to the calendar indicated by the decree of January 21, 2009, which calls for 'necessary discussions' on the subject of Vatican II and its novelties.
We reiterate to the Holy Father the assurance of our prayers so that the full light of the whole Truth may emerge from these doctrinal discussions.
Menzingen, March 24 2009
+ Bernard Fellay
I don't believe I have read an explicit statement from the Vatican about the status of the FSSPX priests, but I infer from the Holy Fahter's explicit references to the FSSPX community in his letter of March 10 (enumerating the figures, as well as imputing to them a presumption of good faith in becoming priests), that he does consider their priests full-fledged.
Some explicit canon law clarification is perhaps necessary because most of the FSSPX priests have all been ordained by one or more of the four bishops who were themselves 'illegally' but validly consecrated by Mons. Lefebvre. In much the same way that the Church has not declared invalid the ordination of priests by the illegally named bishops of China.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 21:12] |
| 24/03/2009 18:18 |
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Was the Pope heard
outside Africa at all?
by Luigi Accattoli
Translated from
March 24, 2009
The appeals were there - and I will recall them - as was Africa with its crowds who came in the hundreds of thousands to the Mass in Luanda.
But the executives and editors of the major mass media chose to play down the figures - and their coverage - of Pope Benedict XVI's African trip, in accordance with two lazy and partisan convictions: that Africa is always bad news, and that the Pope is of interest to them only when he opposes the sexual irresponsibility of the West but not when he condemns the 'greed' which is causing hunger to the poor of this world.
Benedict XVI went to Cameroon and Angola, among other things - as he said in his Angelus messages on Sunday - so that "men and women in every part of the world may turn their eyes to Africa" that is so "thirsty for justice and peace."
But how could this objective be met if the global mass media chose to ignore his trip as they did, apart from the controversy they themselves have drummed up?
It can be said that every day on the trip, the Pope spoke of the Christians of Africa who have chosen to be allies of the continent's most derelict individuals.
He recalled the 'option for the poor' committed to by the first African Bishops' Synod assembly of 1994; and in Luanda, to the country's civilian authorities and the diplomatic corps, he solemnly declared that "you will always find the Church alongside the poorest in this continent".
To the international community, he called urgent attention to "coordinating efforts to face the problems due to climate change, full and just fulfillment of the commitment to development made in the Doha round - a commitment by the developed nations to contribute 0.7% of their annual GNP for development aid".
Besides these urgent words from the Pope, the media also had at their disposition the preparatory document for the coming second special Synod assembly on Africa (committing the African bishops to aim tehir pastoral programs at 'reconciliation, justice and peace'), which the Pope consigned Thursday to the bishops of the continent.
That dcoument contains, for instance, this denunciation of multinational coporations: "They continue to invade the continent gradually in order to appropriate its natural resources. They crush local companies, and acquire millions of hectares from which they then expropriate the local populations with the complicity of their own leaders. They damage the environment and upset the balance of nature which should insure our peace and wellbeing, and with which local peopls have always lived in harmony."
Equally relevant was the support publicly given by the Pope to the African bishops in their denunciation of corruption among Africa's government leaders: "In the face of suffering and violence, of poverty and humger, of corruption and abuse of power, the Christian can never remain in silence", he said on the day he arrived in Yaounde.
On that occasion, he said words which should disturb us all if we have the heart to hear them: that today "Africa suffers disproportionately: a growing number of its inhabitants end up being prey to hunger, poverty and disease", and this has been worsening because of the 'financial chaos' that originated in the richest nations.
But the Pope also had strong admonitions for the Africans themselves, particularly in his homily on Sunday when he evoked the 'dark clouds of evil' which have managed to obscure Africa.
"We can think of the scourge of war, of the ferocious fruits of tribalism and ethnic rivalries, of the greed which corrupts the heart of man, reduces poor people to slavery and deprives future generations of the resources they need to create a more fraternal and more just future".
Having been to Africa 16 times covering the trips of John Paul II, I can say that Benedict XVI could not have said anything more. Nor could he find less people to heed him in the wide world beyond Africa.
**********************************************************************
On another issue:
For a change, most of the Italian newspapers today have given full play to Cardinal Bagnasco's statements yesterday in support of the Pope on behalf of the Italian bishops' conference, as well as the bulk of his opening speech to the CEI Permanent Council, which was a denunciation of how the Eluana Englaro case was handled, saying it represented a definite move towards legalizing euthanasia in Italy.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/03/2009 19:23] |
| 24/03/2009 21:35 |
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I was unable to get to the forum these last days. It kept saying me "this page is encountering problems and so on"
I saw your article on the protest in Paris. You are right : the kids were not far right kids just the same who greeted the pope in september. Many true catholics are disgusted because we have been under fire for almost two months now. Cardinal Vingt-Trois said on a TV talk that we have a mediatic lynching of the pope almost every day . And the journalist said : why ? And the cardinal said : You will have to ask your fellow journalists why but I think they just could not stand the triumph the pope made here in september.
Here is a picture of the protest I found on paparatzifan forum
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Here's what I can add to it. By tracing the 'Touche pas a mon pape' slogan, I got to the Facebook site for a group called ACT'HOPE, which from the brief description that appears on the site, appears to be an ad-hoc group that formed spontaneously on Sunday in response to teh anti-Pope protesters (left photo below) who had staged a lie-in [as in 'telling a lie', I believe!] with posters reading BENEDICT XVI, ASSASSIN! [Makes for a convenient chant that 'scans' right in French, "BE-NOIT-SEIZE (XVI), AS-SAS-SIN!']
Which the Pope fans quickly answered with a poster that reads, 'LISTEN TO THIS MAN - HE IS RIGHT!' They must simply have plastered over the protesters' posters, as it looks like it's the same picture, and the same layout.
Anyway, here's what they say on Facebook (a translation):
'Support our Pope
always and everywhere'
The group Act Hope was formed to act in defense of the Catholic Church and our Sovereign Pontiff, Benedict XVI.
Following the shameful provocation by the Communist Party of France and the Greens, with a massive distribution of condoms outside the Cathedral of Notre Dame as people were leaving Sunday Mass on March 22, and the immediate reaction of young Catholics defending the Pope, the group now intends to continue defending our Pope, our values and our beliefs when necessary.
The name of our group is a play on the name of the lobbyist group Act Up, which on that day also distributed pamphlets entitled "Benoit XVI, Assassin", with their militants lying down for one hour in front of the Cathedral doors, to cause distraction from the Mass.
We strongly denounce the methods of these organizations and political parties that are disrespectful of good manners and of believers.
You may contact our group at this address:
acthopeparis@gmail.com
An interesting blog today points out that the major news agencies did not even bother to find out who the Pope supporters were, simply labelling them 'far-right militants' or something similar:
AP, AFP, Reuters:
French Supporters of Pope
are 'Far-Right'
he three largest mainstream media wire services all agreed that supporters of Pope Benedict XVI who dared to stand up to anti-Catholic leftists in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Sunday were extremists of the right of some sort.
The Associated Press used the "right-wing" label to describe the faithful Catholics. Both Reuters and the French Agence France-Presse both used the term "far-right youths," with the AFP going so far as describing the pro-Benedict protesters as "far-right militants" in another report.
ACT-UP Paris, joined by communists and "green" activists, protested in front of the famed Gothic cathedral to voice opposition to the Pontiff's recent remarks against condom use during his visit to Africa.
In addition to holding signs which labeled Benedict XVI an "assassin," they threw condoms on the ground while giving others to passers-by as people were leaving Mass. The radical left-wing activists skirmished with the supporters of the Pope, leading to the arrest of eleven people by police.
The rest of the blog is on
www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2009/cyb20090324.asp#2
TERESA
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2009 02:11] |
| 25/03/2009 04:50 |
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All those critics on condoms
are silent on Africa's other problems
Meanwhile, the Gospel moves on with the Pope
along the roads of Africa
Editorial
by CARLO CARDIA
Translated from
To peoples who lack practically everything, Benedict XVI spoke with the same words Jesus used when he started his earthly mission, taking on the evils of the world and giving every person a hope for the future.
They are tender words that reassure, but also severe when they denounce the failings of men. They are wise words when they point to the road to take in order to overcome difficulties, and forceful when they propose a faith and a happiness that cannot fade.
The Pope showed empathy with everyone who has ever suffered, saying "When we suffer atrociously, we feel so helpless we cannot even find the words for it".
He spoke to the African people about things that most people would prefer to keep silent about. He pointed out that if there was a time when they knew marginalization and the silence of history, today they live all the evils of modernity - wars and disease and abandonment.
So many babies are born in Africa, but how many of them end up killed or mutilated, others die very early of disease or hunger, and how many more never see the light of day - victims of those who preach abortion as an economic measure, thus deciding atrociously the destinies of an untold number of unborn children.
Many children, in their pre-teens and early teens, are forced to trade in their rags for absurd military uniforms because they are conscripted into military service to be killed or mutilated in any of Africa's endless wars.
The scandal of these child-soldiers is just one of many that African has been experiencing in a general silence, in the apathy of governments and of economic and military potentates.
In The past week, while so many critics of the Pope were silent about anything that did not have to do with condoms and AIDS, the Gospel was proclaimed very publicly in a continent mostly ignored today by the world powers.
The Pope spelled out the Christian message in the simplest words that people can understand - suffering and love, fear and hope, selfishness and charity, condemning chronic evils in terms that have not been heard on this continent in a long time: One cannot yield to suffering; it must be fought with a dedication that seeks no reward. Selfishness must be opposed with a logic of justice and equitable distribution of resources, war must be opposed with a rejection of violence and disarming the merchants of death.
These words are consistent with a rational analysis of the conditions in Africa and of the human rights that have been so much declaimed about but mostly not respected. Yet no one looks at the statistics. and none of the governments of the world pays attention.
But Christianity has the words, words of Christian hope, which the Pope brought to millions of African men, women and children, so that in hope, it may be possible for them to make sense of life.
But while Benedict XVI was passing on anew the message of Christ, one thing became apparent. Those who had criticized him the loudest for having advocated the humanization of sexuality. and education in responsible sex as a better solution for AIDS than merely condoms, said not a word to all that he Pope repeatedly said about the problems of Africa and the suffering this has meant for most of its people.
What could they say? The Bishop of Rome was not standing alone in Africa, he was always surrounded by throngs, and he could speak to them and be understood by simple folk and anyone who has a conscience.
Anyone with an open mind knows now that the Pope is not isolated in the Vatican, from which he sends out the message of Christ daily, just as he was not alone in Africa, where people ran to see him, hear him, be within range - people who are among the poorest in the world, who see in him the symbol and the guarantee of a different way where love is chosen over hate, towards a life worth living in place of being exploited by others, for a faith that is firm, in place of illusions and shadow play.
The Pope even spoke against superstition which preys on abandoned children and sees them as malignant omens to be rid of. The Gospel offers a luminous faith that dispels the darkness of superstition and opens the mind to reason and to the God of trust.
Critics of the Pope have nothing to say about this because their reason does not comprehend faith and is helpless in the face of superstition.
But whoever followed the coverage of Benedict XVI's trip could only have been impressed by the crowds he attracted, people literally running to keep up with his Popemobile, and by how many Christians - priests, nuns, lay people - are working in the Church to help those who are most in need, helping transform a time which seems outside history into a history that is positive and Christian.
One must hope that his critics have seen that this Pope knows how to communicate with anyone who is interested in truth rather than deception, in the real, concrete events of daily life, instead of abstractions and material motivation.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2009 11:49] |
| 25/03/2009 12:27 |
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A 'mea culpa' is due from those
who said Benedict XVI is not
a friend of the Jewish people
by Giorgio Israel
Translated from
March 24, 2009
A truly extraordinary document destined to pass into history is the letter of Benedict XVI wrote to the bishops of the Catholic Church about his lifting the excommunication of four bishops consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Extraordinary first of all for the absolute clarity with which he examines the case in all its aspects, confronting its associated controversies and pronouncing blunt judgments.
Not a detail is neglected (not even acknowledging the need to use the Internet more), not a single aspect is left obscure, particularly that which has to do with the scandalous implications of the Williamson case, arising from the bishop's condemnable negationist statements about the Nazi gas chambers.
But above all, the letter is extraordinary for the impassioned way in which the Pope laid bare his own state of mind and the motives which led him to openly face this episode.
This proved right those who have, through the tempests of recent months, always maintained that Jewish-Christian relations had not been in any way compromised by the decisions made by Benedict XVI.
Indeed, Rabbi Jacob Neusner, with whose texts the Pope had fashioned a theological dialog for his book JESUS OF NAZARETH, has always said that it is thanks to men like Joseph Ratzinger that the Jewish-Christian dialog is alive and prospering.
He has always acknowledged the good intentions of the Pope, noting that the new course set by Vatican-II on Catholic relations with the Jews, was reaffirmed by how, "with a pure heart, the Pope cited my imaginary conversations with Jesus in his book".
The course of Jewish-Christian relations, said Neusner, may have its occasional stumbling blocks, but it is irreversible.
And the overwhelming majority of the world Jewry thinks the same way, even as it proceeds to resume in full along the path of dialog.
It also supports what this writer has written about, along with other Italian Jews like Guido Guastalla, which resulted in not a few stones cast at us by other Italian Jews.
I would have prefered not to write about personal experience in an article, but there are occasions when one has the right to rid one's shoes of those little bits of stone that have settled in.
When we claimed, for instance, that the revised Good Friday prayer for the Jews should not be understood as an expression of Catholic intention to proselytize Jews, we were stigmatized as the Pope's 'court Jews'.
When it was proposed to suspend Jewish-Christian relations, we expressed our dissent quite peaceably. But God forbid! Some representatives of the Italian Jewry, presuming to have dogmatic authority, attacked us violently along the lines "Shut up now - only we can speak to this regard".
Then came the Williamson case, and we were among the very first to request maximum clarity, certain that such would come from the Pope himself, because we are convinced that his intentions are transparent.
This time the fallout came from some Catholics who believe that to show they are Catholics, they have to exceed in zeal to the point of being fanatical. They called us - who had defended the Pope from unfounded accusations - presumptuous and arrogant Jews who dared to meddle in Church affairs!
Now that the Pope himself has given the most authoritative confirmation that we were right in what we stand for, and that the facts have shown how unjust and detestable was all the stone-throwing from both sides of the issue, it would be natural to expect some sincere apologies.
Only one has come from our side so far, and from a person who only had a secondary role in the attacks. Otherwise, nothing but silence.
On the other hand, some of the protagonists of the uncivil aggression shown towards us for being on the side of the Pope are now grooming themselves to be the leading players in the resumption of the Jewish-Christian dialog. 'No comment'.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2009 21:28] |
| 25/03/2009 12:28 |
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March 25
The Annunciation
OR today.
The only papal story today is the transcript of the Holy Father's inflight statement Monday to newsmen on the way back to Rome
from Luanda with his first impressions of the African visit. There is a frontpage commentary on the Annunciation as celebrated and
preached in early Christian tradition, including the Byzantine. Other Page 1 items: Obama calls on the G20 to a common plan of action
to deal with the global crisis; the government of Democratic Congo signs an agreement with the principal rebels in North Kivu;
and a new suicide bomb attack during a funeral in Iraq kills 25 and wounds another 50.
Th Holy Father has no scheduled events today.
His next General Audience will be on April 1.
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| 25/03/2009 14:51 |
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African students in Rome
to show thanks to the Pope
at the Angelus on Sunday
VATICAN CITY , March 25 (Translated from ANSA) - Representatives of African students in Rome have announced they will demonstrate before the noontime Angelus on Sunday, March 28, at St. Peter's Square to show gratitude and solidarity with Pope Benedict XVI both for his message to Africa as well as his statements on the battle against AIDS.
According to flyers that they left at the Vatican press office, their purpose is to "shout out our NO to speculation in Africa, NO to the instrumentalization of the Pope's statements on Africa, NO to those who wish to Make Africa a principal market for condoms, YES to effective treatments for AIDS in Africa, YES to education".
Their manifesto is also directed at the international community whom they ask to show 'absolute priority' in helping the continent meet its needs for "food, water,energy, medical care, stable family incomes, a commercial system that facilitates exportation of African products and not merely of raw materials, the development of African resources for teh benefit of Africans themselves rather than simply a 'looting' of their primary resources."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2009 14:51] |
| 25/03/2009 16:26 |
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The writer below is not Catholic but he does a great job of defending the pope and the church. We ought to make him an honorary member of our forum.
Pope's leadership in condom stance
Mark Davis
Dallas Morning News
Opinion Page
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Let's get this straight: Roman Catholic priests in Africa – some married with children, in blunt violation of church teaching – can further offend the doctrine of their faith by recommending condom use, and the story barely reaches our shores.
But let the pope rely on actual Catholic doctrine in a statement about condom use in Africa, and you'd think an atom bomb had detonated over Cameroon.
That's where the papal plane was headed last week when Pope Benedict XVI reminded reporters, and thus the world, of what his church actually teaches. The cries of the offended and inconvenienced echoed still.
I am not Catholic and do not share the church's belief that contraception is wrong in all cases, even for married couples who wish no further children. The pope's comments were against the use of condoms to stem the spread of AIDS, a tough message to bring to a continent that had three-quarters of the world's AIDS deaths in 2007 and where some 22 million people are infected with HIV.
This was unnerving to those who believe church doctrine should bend to situational ethics, including many actual Catholics, even clergy.
But it is not the church's job to suspend its fundamental rules to fit current events. Its job is to teach what it believes and expect followers to follow. That's called moral leadership.
Such leadership depends on a strong and sensible foundation. A faith driven by hate or malice loses the basis from which to expect followers. So the pope had better have a good reason for telling an AIDS-racked continent (20 percent Catholic and increasing) not to use something that would definitely reduce the incidence of AIDS.
He does. The Catholic view is that contraception interferes with the God-given procreation process. Period. No health crisis changes that.
But the pope is not blind to the tragedy of AIDS and calls on Africa and the world to combat it with methods that are more effective and do not facilitate sin: fidelity and abstinence.
This struck critics as "impractical." Well, practicality is not the church's job. Its job is to embody an ideal for followers to emulate.
What a paper-thin sham Catholicism would be if the pope were to cave and conclude: "You know those centuries we've spent teaching against anything that obstructs the sacred method by which life is created? Well, we've thought about it, and because millions are engaging in behavior that spreads a fatal disease, we've decided to shelve that basic belief and instruct people to do something we've considered a moral abomination pretty well forever."
Anyone repelled by a pope who refuses to buckle this way should remember that no one is forced to be Catholic. If this bar is too high, there's the door. But if Catholicism has withstood anything, it's expectations that doctrine should bend to public will.
The priesthood is exclusively male because the image of God is fatherly. Those who mistake that for misogyny demand change.
The priesthood is celibate so priests may focus on their flocks, unfettered by daily concerns of a nuclear family. Those who find that odd demand change.
Contraception is forbidden because it impedes a sacred process. Most opposition comes from people who find that just too hard to abide. Too bad.
It wouldn't be a rule in a church I started, but when I start one, I'll make the rules. The Vatican hierarchy makes the rules for Catholics, who may follow them or find a less demanding faith. Even if driven by a noble but ultimately unrelated urge – fighting a dreaded disease – the basics do not change.
In a world where morality shifts with the seasons and almost any absolute is corruptible by public whim, constant aspiration to a worthy standard should be valued, not mocked.
Mark Davis is heard weekdays from 8:30 to 11 a.m. on WBAP-AM, News/Talk 820. His e-mail address is mdavis@wbap.com.
God bless Mark Davis - a man with common sense, who uses reason in place of ideology, who understands clearly what faith is and what it should be, who sees through the vapidity and moral emptiness of all those who oppose the Church and the Pope reflexively, because of an ideology of 'individual freedom at all costs' best expressed by sexual irresponsibility. And most importantly, an opinion-maker who is not afraid to buck the politically correct herd mentality.
Let us hope more straight-thinking persons - and above all, Catholics - will speak up this way.
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Do not mock the pope, Italian cardinal and India's bishops say
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
March 25, 2009
ROME (CNS) -- Mockery is not acceptable in public discussions, especially when the subject is the pope, said the president of the Italian Catholic bishops' conference.
At the same time, India's bishops defended Pope Benedict XVI's leadership of the Catholic Church.
"We will not accept that the pope, in the media or anywhere else, is mocked or offended," said Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, opening the spring meeting of the permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference.
Cardinal Bagnasco told other members of the council March 23 there has been "a heavy activity of criticism -- from Italy and, especially, from abroad -- regarding our beloved pope."
He said the public criticism began in January when the pope lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops belonging to the Society of St. Pius X, including a bishop who denied the extent of the Holocaust, and continued into March when Pope Benedict said the distribution of condoms was not the key to stopping the spread of AIDS.
Some of the sharpest criticism came from France's former prime minister, Alain Juppe, who describes himself as a Catholic. He was quoted by French television as saying the pope was "becoming a real problem" and "lives in a situation of total autism."
Cardinal Bagnasco said Catholics and all people of good will should try to understand what the pope was saying and what he meant, rather that immediately going on the attack.
The cardinal said the Italian bishops would continue asking people "to never abandon the language of respect, which is an indication of civility" even when they disagree with him.
The pope represents "a moral authority" in the world, which his March trip to Africa highlighted once again, he said.
"For Catholics he is Peter who, with the nets of a fisherman and in the name of the lord Jesus, continues to reach the shores of the world," Cardinal Bagnasco said.
The Asian church news agency UCA News reported that India's bishops also denounced media coverage of the pope and comments that he is a "loser" and out of touch with reality.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India said in a March 24 statement that the conference "considers these kinds of statements ... irresponsible and irreverent."
The bishops defended Pope Benedict as "the most loved and respected spiritual leader of Catholics all over the world." They argued that the world had received with respect his views on the recession, terrorism and moral issues such as AIDS and abortion.
The pope has often urged the world to become "more God-fearing while building a society based on humanitarian values and moral principles of life," they said.
"It is the moral duty (of the pope) to direct and guide the consciences of people in general, and of Catholics in particular," the statement added.
P.S. I urge those who may have missed it to read the full text of Cardinal Bagnasco's March 23 statement about the Pope in the preceding page. I posted a translation soon after the CEI made the text available online.
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More attacks on the Pope
who speaks the truth about Africa
Editorial
Translated from
March 25, 2009
Western eyes, Western texts - with all the smug suppositions of those who have always looked at Africa with the eyes of colonial masters. In the 19th century and most of the 20th, the French were in Africa to 'bring civilization' through colonialism, and today, along with other Western nations, to purvey well-calculated and self-serving prescriptions to heal the 'ills' of the Dark Continent.
And so, in Paris, they continue to lecture the Pope - a Pope who in the name of Christ and in the light of reason, has spoken to the people of Cameroon and Angola (and through them, to all Africa) as adults who should learn to raise both their heads and their voices, even against those who govern them, and to recognize in full the role of women in the family and in society.
And who has clearly said things which are unthinkable, much less unsayable, for the slaves to political correctness and economic advantage that most Western leaders and opinion-makers are.
Pope Benedict said poverty cannot be fought by abortion, and that 'maternal health and safety' cannot and should never be used as a pretext for widespread abortion on demand.
He reiterated that the exploitation and consequent impoverishment of peoples, lands and natural resources by those who reign in the 'kingdom of money' is a new intolerable form of colonialism.
And of course, at the start of this trip, ht said that AIDS cannot be controlled by condoms alone, but by sexually responsible lifestyles and with effective medicines that can be distributed freely to AIDS victims.
Yet it is this issue that has raised all the outcry - and attention - particularly in France - where government ministries, intellectuals and assorted academics cannot express their outrage strongly enough.
Yet they assure us they are not being polemical, even as they vent gales of indignation against the Pope for making statements they consider 'cynical' and 'dangerous' and charged with 'tragic consequences'.
Even as they thunder out in the newspapers, to any micriphone, in front of TV cameras, "This Pope should inform himself first before he speaks."
And who should inform him? The experts from the drug companies, or those great benefactors of mankind that the Pope's detractors see in condom manufacturers?
The Pope is concerned for the life and dignity of the suffering people of Africa - those whom priests, religious and lay volunteers for the Church, more than any other institution or organization, help daily on the frontlines of the battle against AIDS, and about whose work the Pope, as head of the Catholic Church, gets daily reports.
And what about his blowhard critics - the government officials, the media and the intellectuals beyond the Alps, across the Channel, across the Atlantic?
It seems the only thing important to them is to reaffirm their amazing conviction that the condom is both a symbol of freedom as well as salvation. [How true! They've made a religion of it! The worship of the almighty condom.]
Almost as an alibi to salve the consciences of a rich and sententious West, more than ever preoccupied with contemplating the navel of its own changeable convictions and with dissimulating its own selfishness.
They certainly cannot claim to be genuinely concerned for the suffering people of Africa. The reality is quite evident: it has not been and will not be the myth of an aseptic piece of rubber that will promote justice and restore health and peace to Africa.
What is cynical, tragic and dangerous is not to understand that.
I improvised the left 'poster' design taking off from (and translating) the ACT'HOPE impromptu poster (center).
One thing I find particularly admirable in Avvenire is that they know the value of prompt and persistent response in the defense of what is worth defending - something one does not see in the occasional and comparatively lukewarm attitude of L'Osservatore Romano.
While not descending to their level of irrational and often insulting argumentation, the Catholic media must fight the opposition on their terms - countering their myths and lies with facts and reason, as often as they make them.
Not to do so promptly and as repetitively and consistently as they attack is allowing them to establish their myths as 'truth' in the general perception.
Journalism is certainly one field where you do not turn the other cheek. You stand up and 'raise your head and your voice' as the Pope urges Africans - in this case, for the truth and for reason, against lies and irrational passion.
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Cameroon bishops react to
disinformation about Pope's
statements on AIDS
The bishops of Cameroon have issued a statement protesting the disinformation adn wrong impression given in the media regarding Pope Benedict's statements on condoms and AIDS.
Here is a translation:
STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF CAMEROON
ABOUT THE MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER ON THE BATTLE AGAINST HIV/AIDS
DURING HIS APOSTOLIC VISIT TO CAMEROON
After the visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Cameroon, the media echoed the ill will aroused in some quarters by the statements of the Holy Father regarding the use of condoms and on HIV/AIDS.
Such media coverage has persistently called the Pope's position on the use of condoms as irresponsible and has given the impression that his statements had a negative effect that brought a chill over his visit to Cameroon.
Aware of the stakes in such disinformation, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, through its President, H.E. Mons. Victor Tonye Bakot, wish to make the following points clear:
While the Pope was enroute to Cameroon, he gave an interview to the newsmen on the flight. It was limited to six questions, of which the fifth was a polemical question from Philippe Visseyrias of France-2 [a TV station]:
"Holiness, among the numerous ills that afflict Africa, there is, in particular, the spread of AIDS. The position of the Catholic Church on how to fight the disease is often considered as unrealistic and ineffectual. Will you confront this issue during your trip?"
Here is the Holy Father's response in full:
I would say the opposite. I think that the most efficient, most present, and strongest reality in the battle against AIDS is the Catholic Church, with its structures, its movements and its communities.
I am thinking, for instance, of the Sant'Egidio Community which is doing so much against AIDS, of the Camilliani, of all the nuns who are at the disposition and service of AIDS patients.
The problem of AIDS cannot be overcome by money alone, which is certainly necessary, without the spirit that knows how to extend the necessary assistance.
And this tragedy cannot be overcome by distributing condoms, which on the contrary, simply increases the problem.
The solution can be on two tracks - the humanization of sexuality, and a true friendship towards the afflicted, the willingness despite personal sacrifices to be with the suffering.
And that is our double strength: to renew man interiorly, give him human and spiritual strength to behave correctly with one another, as well as the capacity to suffer with the suffering in situations of trial. I think the Church is making the right response, and an important contribution.
We thank all those who are working on this."
The bishops of Cameroon are surprised that the media did not see fit to use anything else of the Holy Father's comprehensive statement except the objection to condoms, without reporting what he said about the activity of the Church in the battle against AIDS and the care and assistance it gives to AIDS victims.
They are surprised above all that some media coverage also made it appear that there was ill will in the public opinion of Cameroonians during the Holy Father's visit, as a result of his statements on condoms.
The Cameroonian episcopate underscores - and in a forceful way - that the people of Cameroon welcomed the Pope with joy and enthusiasm which confirmed their legendary hospitality.
This does not mean we deny the reality of AIDS and its devastating effect on any families in Cameroon.
The Holy Father places man at the center of his concerns, reminding us of the teachings of Christ and the Church.
The commitment of the Catholic church to all those who live with the AIDS virus and its direct assistance to those who are infected with the disease or affected by it allow each of the victims to appreciate their full worth and dignity as adoptive children of God.
This dignity obliges us to have a new regard for others and for the world. Instead of simply doing what is expedient, the Church proposes perennial values to everyone.
Everywhere, the Catholic Church is involved daily in the battle against AIDS. In this respect, it has established structures appropriate for the housing, care and follow-up of HIV-infected persons. The assistance provided by our workers is moral, psychological, nutritional, medical and spiritual.
And that is the Holy Father's main message about AIDS.
Alongside this constant, multiform activity, the Church, as a moral force, has the imperative duty to remind Christians that all careless sexual activity outside marriage is dangerous and propitious for the spread of AIDS.
That is why it advocates abstinence for single persons, and faithfulness to a single partner for married couples. It is the duty of the Church to do this and it will never desist from it.
And that is the second message the Holy Father wished to convey.
The bishops of Cameroon also regret that the Western media have notably ignored the other aspects of the Pope's message for Africa that are just as essential - on poverty, on reconciliation, on justice and on peace.
This is a serious oversight, if only because everyone knows the number of deaths caused by other diseases in Africa which are not publicized at all; and number of deaths caused by fratricidal wars arising from injustices and poverty.
With the Pope, the Bishops of Cameroon wish to remind all Christians and all the Cameroonians:
1) That sexual relations have their primary end in procreation, as God himself said at the time of Creation. Marriage between a man and a woman is the ideal setting intended by God for such procreation.
2) That the Catholic Church does not ignore the victims of AIDS, and that its teachings and practices do not in any way encourage the spread of the disease, as its critics say. It has been and will always be active in the many-sided battle against this disease.
THE BISHOPS OF CAMEROON
March 24, 2009
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THE POPE AND CONDOMS
by Matthew Hanley
March 23, 2009
On March 17, a reporter asked Pope Benedict XVI, while en route to Cameroon, to defend the Church’s promotion of monogamy and opposition to condoms in the fight against AIDS, especially since such positions are “frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective.”
He responded in part by saying that “the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem.”
This prompted a fresh, if predictable, round of scorn from the western press. France went so far as to say his statements represent a threat to public health. Yet it might surprise the casual observer to learn that empirical record supports the Pope’s assertions.
First, every instance in which HIV rates have fallen in Africa is most attributable to fundamental changes in sexual behavior, most importantly an increase in faithfulness.
In contrast, HIV transmission rates have remained high and even grown in other African countries where widespread behavior change has not occurred, despite considerable increases in condom use.
An influential article in Science last year lamented that international HIV prevention priorities had not yet shifted to reflect this epidemiological profile.
In recent years, researchers have paid greater attention to the specific issue Benedict raised: the possibility that condom promotion even risks “worsening the problem.”
The theory that people may take greater risks in exposing themselves to harm because they feel a new technology [Does anyone really consider condoms a 'new technology'? It's not even a technology - it's the simplest idea of a physical 'barrier' to sexual transmission of disease] grants them a measure of protection in doing so, goes by the names of “risk compensation” or “behavioral disinhibition” in public health circles.
A series of recently published articles (including in the Lancet) have concluded that this phenomenon – that condom promotion can lead to greater risk taking - is quite real indeed.
Finally, the track record for condoms – by far the most emphasized approach over the years – has been rather poor in Africa. An exhaustive review of the impact of condom promotion on actual HIV transmission in the developing world concluded that condoms have not been responsible for turning around any of the severe African epidemics.
This rigorous study was originally commissioned by UNAIDS, and conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco.
Instead of welcoming the findings, and adapting HIV prevention strategies accordingly, UNAIDS first tried to alter the findings, and ultimately refused to publish them. The findings were so threatening to UNAIDS that the researchers were finally forced to publish them on their own in another, peer-reviewed journal.
This episode provides a disturbing glimpse into the priorities of the lead United Nations AIDS agency. Though normally quick to insist on the right to “accurate information” about condoms, in this case they placed their own ideological convictions above the welfare of those they are charged with protecting.
Still, the New York Times claimed, mere hours after the Pope’s remarks, that he “deserves no credence when he distorts scientific findings about the value of condoms in slowing the spread of the AIDS virus.”
The informed observer might well conclude that the outrage aimed at the Pope over the fight against AIDS is poorly directed.
The National Catholic Bioethics Center will publish Matthew Hanley’s book, with Jokin de Irala, M.D., Avoiding AIDS, Affirming Love: What the West Can Learn from Africa, in the summer of 2009.
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The Annunciation, Fra Filippo Lippi, 1435-1440. Smauel Kress Collection.
On the Solemnity of the Annunciation
The mystery of the annunciation to Mary is not just a mystery of silence.It is above and beyond all that a mystery of grace.
We feel compelled to ask ourselves: Why did Christ really want to be born of a virgin? It was certainly possible for him to have been born of a normal marriage. That would not have affected his divine Sonship, which was not dependent on his virgin birth and could equally well have been combined with another kind of birth. There is no question here of a downgrading of marriage or of the marriage relationship; nor is it a question of better safeguarding the divine Sonship. Why then?
We find the answer when we open the Old Testament and see that the mystery of Mary is prepared for at every important stage in salvation history.
It begins with Sarah, the mother of Isaac, who had been barren, but when she was well on in years and had lost the power of giving life, became, by the power of God, the mother of Isaac and so of the chosen people.
The process continues with Anna, the mother of Samuel, who was likewise barren, but eventually gave birth; with the mother of Samson, or again with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer.
The meaning of all these events is the same: that salvation comes, not from human beings and their powers, but solely from Godc— from an act of his grace.
(From Dogma und Verkundigung, pp. 375ff; quoted in 'Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year' [Ignatius Press, 1992], pp. 99-100.)
The annunciation to Mary happens to a woman, in an insignificant town in half-pagan Galilee, known neither to Josephus nor the Talmud. The entire scene was "unusual for Jewish sensibilities.
God reveals himself, where and to whom he wishes." Thus begins a new way, at whose center stands no longer the temple, but the simplicity of Jesus Christ. He is now the true temple, the tent of meeting.
The salutation to Mary (Lk 1:28-32) is modeled closely on Zephaniah 3: 14-17: Mary is the daughter Zion addressed there, summoned to 'rejoice', informed that the Lord is coming to her. Her fear is removed, since the Lord is in her midst to save her.
Laurentin makes the very beautiful remark on this text: "... As so often, the word of God proves to be a mustard seed.... One understands why Mary was so frightened by this message (Lk 1:29). Her fear comes not from lack of understanding nor from that small-hearted anxiety to which some would like to reduce it. It comes from the trepidation of that encounter with God, that immeasurable joy which can make the most hardened natures quake."
In the address of the angel, the underlying motif the Lucan portrait of Mary surfaces: she is in person the true Zion, toward whom hopes have yearned throughout all the devastations of history.
She is the true Israel in whom Old and New Covenant, Israel and Church, are indivisibly one. She is the "people of God" bearing fruit through God's gracious power. ...
Transcending all problems, Marian devotion is the rapture of joy over the true, indestructible Israel; it is a blissful entering into the joy of the Magnificat and thereby it is the praise of him to whom the daughter Zion owes her whole self and whom she bears, the true, incorruptible, indestructible Ark of the Covenant.
(From Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church's Marian Belief [Ignatius Press, 1983], pp. 42-43, 82.)
However, the Italian service of Vatican Radio calls atention today to the wondrous homily delivered by the Holy Father on his first pastoral visit to a parish in Rome as the Bishop of Rome - on December 18, 2005, at the Church of Santa Maria Consolatrice.
I have gone back to our Forum transcripts, and am re-posting it here - omitting his salutations. The wonder of it all was that this was a completely spontaneous homily.
POPE BENEDICT XVI
HOMILY ON THE ANNUNCIATION
CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA CONSOLATRICE, ROME
December 18, 2005
We will now meditate briefly on the beautiful Gospel of this fourth Sunday in Advent, which I consider one of the most beautiful pages in Sacred Scriptures. I would want – in order not to go on too long - to reflect only on three words in this rich Gospel.
The first word I wish to meditate on with you is the Angel’s greeting to Mary. In the Italian translation, the Angel says: “I greet you, Mary.” But the underlying Greek word for the greeting, “Kaire”, means by itself “rejoice”, “be happy.” And here is the first surprise: the greeting used among Jews was “Shalom,”- “Peace.” whereas the greeting used in the Greek world was “Kaire” – “Rejoice.”
It is surprising that the Angel, entering the house of Mary, should greet her with the Greek form “Kaire” – “Rejoice, be happy.” The Greeks, when they read this Gospel 40 years later, could see an important message here: they understood that with the beginning of the New Testament, to which this page from Luke refers, it was also an opening to the world of all peoples, to the universality of the people of God, (a phrase) which from now on, would embrace not only the Jewish people, but the world in its totality, all the peoples of the world. In this Greek salute by the Angel, we see the new universality of the Kingdom of the real Son of David.
But it must be pointed out right away that the words of the Angel to Mary reprise a prophetic promise found in the book of the prophet Sofonia. We find that promise repeated almost word for word in today’s Gospel. The prophet Sofonia, inspired by God, tells Israel: “Rejoice, daughter of Sion; the Lord is with you and takes his dwelling in you.” We know that Mary knew the Sacred Scriptures well. Her Magnificatn is woven out of threads from the Old Testament. We can be certain, therefore, that the Holy Virgin immediately understood that these were the words of the prophet Sofonia addressed to Israel, to the “daughter of Sion” considered to be the dwelling of God.
And so, the surprising thing to Mary is that these words, addressed to all Israel, are now directed specially to her. So it appears clear to her that she herself is the “daughter of Sion” of whom the old prophet spoke, that therefore the Lord had a special mission for her, that she was called to be the true dwelling of God, a dwelling not made of stone, but of living flesh, a living heart, and that God indeed intended to make her, the Virgin, his true temple. What a sign! We can therefore understand how Mary started to reflect with particular intensity on what the Angel’s greeting meant.
But let us consider above all the first word: “Rejoice, be happy.” This is the first word that is heard in the New Testament as such, because the announcement made by the angel to Zachariah about the birth of John the Baptist are words which were uttered on the threshold between the two Testaments.
Only with this dialog that the angel Gabriel has with Mary does the New Testmanet really begin.
We can therefore say that the first word of the New Testament is an invitation to joy: “Rejoice,” “Be happy.” The New Testament is truly “Gospel,” the “Good News” that brings us joy. God is not far from us, unknown, enigmatic, maybe even dangerous. God is near us, so near that he became a baby, and we can address this God with a familiar “you.”
Thus, the Greek world took notice of this news, took profound notice of the joyous news, because for them, it was not clear whether there was a good God or a bad God or simply no God at all. Their religion in those days gave them so many divinities. They therefore felt surrounded by a variety of these gods, one against the other, such that they were always fearful that if they did something in favor of one divinity, another one could take offense and take his vengeance. So they lived in a world of fear, surrounded by dangerous demons, never knowing how to save themselves from these competing forces.
In this world of fear and of darkness, suddenly they hear: “Rejoice, these demons are nothing, there is a true God, and he is good, he loves us, he knows us, he is with us, he is with us so much that he has been made flesh!” This is the great joy which Christinaity announces. To know this God is truly the “good news”, a promise of redemption.
Maybe we Catholics, who have always known this, are no longer surprised, we no longer experience acutely that liberating joy. But if we look at the world today, where God is absent, we will realize that our world too is now dominated by fear and uncertainty: Is it good to be a man or not? Is it good to live or not? Maybe everything is negative? (Such men) live in a world of darkness, in fact; they need to be anesthetized in order to go on living. And so, the words, “Rejoice, because God is with you and with us” are words that truly open up a new age. Dearest ones, with an act of faith, we should accept
again and understand in the depth of our hearts this liberating word, “Rejoice!”
This joy that one receives cannot be kept to oneself; joy should always be shared. Joy must be communicated. Mary immediately set forth to communicate her joy to her cousin Elizabeth. And since she was assumed into Heaven, she distributes joy throughout the world, she has become the great Comforter – our mother, who communicates joy, trust, goodness, and invites us to share the joy around.
This is the true commitment of Advent – to bring joy to others. Joy is the true gift of Christmas, not the expensive things which cost money and time. And we can communicate this joy in simple ways – with a smile, with a good deed, with a small act of assistance, with a pardon. Let us bring this joy to others, and the joy we give will come back to us. Let us try, most especially, to bring the joy that is most profound, that of knowing God in Christ. Let us pray that in our lives this liberating joy from God shines through.
The second word that I would like to meditate on is still the Angel’s: “Do not be afraid, Mary,” he said. In fact, she had reason to be afraid: to carry the weight of the world, to be the mother of the universal King, the mother of the Son of God –it was a burden beyond the strength of any human being. But the Angel said, “Do not be afraid! Yes, you will carry God, but God carries you. Do not be afraid!”
This admonition surely penetrated to the depths of Mary’s heart. We can imagine the many different situations in which the Virgin had to come back again and again to those words, had to listen to them again. When Simeon told her: “Your son will be a sign of contradiction, and a sword will pierce your heart” – in those moments when she could have yielded to fear, Mary turns back to the Angel’s words and hears it echo within her: “Do not be afraid, God will carry you.” When later, during his public life, Jesus aroused all sorts of contradictions, and many said of him, “He is mad!”, she thought to herself, “Do not be afraid,” and went on ahead. Finally, when she met her son on the way to Calvary, and later, under the Cross, when her whole world seemed to have crumbled, she hears the Angel’s words again in her heart, “Do not be afraid.” And so, courageously, she stays by her dying son, and sustained by faith, she goes on towards the Resurection, towards Pentecost, towards the founding of a new family, the Church.
“Do not be afraid.” Mary also tells us this. I have already said that we live in a world of fear – fear of misery and of poverty, fear of disease and suffering, fear of being alone, fear of death. We have, to be sure, a well-developed system of social security. But we know that at the moment of deepest suffering, at the moment of ultimate aloneness in death, no insurance can protect us. The only valid insurance at that time will be that which comes from the Lord who will tell us then, “Do not be afraid, I am always with you.” We may fall down, but we will fall into the hands of God, and the hands of God are good.
The third word: At the end of their dialog, Mary answers the Angel: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.” In that way Mary anticipates the third invocation in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done.” She says Yes to the grand will of God, a design too great for any human being. But Mary says Yes to the divine will, she places herself within it; with that Yes, she puts her whole existence under the will of God and thus opens the door of the world to God. Adam and Eve with their “No” to God’s will had closed this door.
“Let God’s will be done!” Mary invites us to learn to say Yes, which at times appears most difficult to do. We are tempted to do as we please, but she tells us: “Take courage, say like I did, ‘Thy will be done’, because God’s will is good.” Initially, it may appear like an almost insupportable weight, like a yoke that one cannot possibly carry, but God’s will is never a weight, God’s will gives us wings to soar, and so, we can dare like Mary did to open the doors of our life to God, the doors of this world, by saying Yes to his will, knowing full well that this will is the true good which will lead us to true happiness.
Let us pray to Mary the Comforter, our Mother, the Mother of the Church, so that she may give us the courage to say Yes, and that she give us also the joy of being with God, that she guide us to her Son who is the true Life. Amen.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2009 23:38] |
| 26/03/2009 04:39 |
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Sant'Egidio leader says advocates
of 'federalism' in the Church
are working against the Pope
Interview by Maria Antonietta Calabro
Translated from
March 25, 2009
Prof. Riccardi, you are the founder of the Sant'Egidio Community which is very much engaged in caring for 50,000 AIDS patients in Africa. Cardinal Bagnasco spoke the other day of a Pope who is 'mocked and insulted'. And points out that the polemics against Papa Ratzinger have been continuous and prolonged. What is happening exactly?
With regard to Benedict XVI, there has been plain and simple conformism among his critics. [I call it the herd mentality!!!!] As soon as he says something, they immediately object, and whatever he says, they always try to find something to criticize as wrong.
Then there is the never-ending comparison with John Paul II - even if Benedict XVI has not said anything different from what Wojtyla did!
Then how do you explain this incessant attack? [Thank you, Ms. Calabro, for identifying it for what it is!]
It is critical conformism. Also, because the better Pope is always the one who is dead. And it seems to be a dogma with the critics now that Papa Ratzinger is a Pope who is always fallible.
They all forget that John Paul II, at the start, underwent the harshest criticisms even within the Church. He was strongly accused, for instance, of wanting to 'Polonize" Catholicism. [More than that, he was criticized by most of the same critics of the present Pope whenever he upheld traditional Catholic teaching on morality!]
About these criticisms which come from within the Church Itself - Cardinal Bagnasco refers to this explicitly in describing the case of the Lefebvrians...
The various local Churches find it hard to be united. In my opinion, it is a phenomenon of what one might call 'ecclesiastical federalism'.
Paradoxically, in the era of globalization, the world has increasingly splintered into various national and religious identities.
Today, it is very difficult to promote a global vision in the Church, even if by its nature, it is global. [The 'universal Church', it is called. And yet the 'federalists' are those like Cardinal Kasper who insist that the local Church takes precedence over the universal Church!!!! It's like American governors jealously and zealously upholding states' rights against the federal government! It certainly was not what Christ meant by 'ut unum sint'!]
Cardinal Bagnasco also speaks of 'candor' and of an unarmed Pope...
It is true that in the Church, there is a desire among the hierarchy for each one to distinguish himself from the rest... But I say, they should give the Pope their trust, they should give him credit, they should give him the time and space to fully explain his ministry, to elaborate a comprehensive overview that should be shared by everyone.
[But he is doing that everytime that he says something - the problem is that they are not listening, Or worse, they refuse to listen.]
The Pope has a unitary vision but he does not pursue it in the usual political way, but rather by appealing to everyone unaggressively, as he did in the letter to the bishops. He deserves more sympathy for exercising his ministry with responsibility.
You teach contemporary history. What is happening with the Pope now - has it happened in the past with other Popes?
In all times of crisis, there have been unpopular Popes. [But Benedict XVI is 'unpopular' only with the media and the liberals! He is not unpopular among regular folks - and they're the ones who count. How can he be called 'unpopular' when he attracts more crowds to St. Peter's than his great predecessor and just as many on his trips abroad? When his books are selling everywhere and do so much business for the Vatican publishing house they added three new outlets to their bookstore because of him?]
Just think of Benedict XVI, during the Great War, which was the first world war. The same thing with Paul VI after Vatican-II.
Going back to the African trip. In the controversy over the condoms, was there also a communications problem?
Of course, things can always be done better. But that inflight statement was a brief response to a question - and yet the media transformed it into the leitmotif of their reporting on the trip.
And no one paid attention to everything else that the Pope said about Africa and about AIDS itself - about the need to make free medicines available, the denunciation of multinationals seeking only to profit from Africa even with these medicines, his references to the global economic crisis and how it affects Africa worst of all...
His addresses in Africa spelled out a robust program that called to account Europe and the West for having turned their backs on Africa.
But the conformism among his critics goes along with their provincialism, which has a very localized view of things.
And yet, there is one thing that is incontestable and none of them have mentioned.
What is that?
I have asked myself: what world leader or head of state has spent almost a week in Africa lately? No one, except perhaps the Chinese President. [That's not fair to George W. Bush who made his last tour as President in Africa, visiting 5 countries, where he was rapturously received because his administration gave more development aid to Africa than all previous US administrations combined, despite a policy that favored the nations which could show no corruption in the administration of these funds.]
Did Merkel? Did Sarkozy? Not one European leader.
Also, I cannot fail to underscore that the media have used a double standard for the Pope as opposed to everyone else.
In what sense?
There was not one European leader who protested when a few years ago, the South African President Thabo Mbeki and his health minister said AIDS was a Western invention and that, in any case, it could be cured with garlic.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2009 05:15] |
| 26/03/2009 13:27 |
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Bishops' conferences have become
'mini-Vaticans' setting themselves
against the Pope
by Paolo Rodari
Translated from
March 25, 2009
The defense of the Pope last Tuesday by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco was very welcome to those who are faithful to Benedict XVI.
And a prelate close to the Pope said Papa Ratzinger has his hand steady on the rudder of the Church. Notwithstanding the criticisms from outside the Church, but worse, from within the Church.
And that he will be showing this between now and July, when he is expected to issue his social encyclical (which will apparently bear the date of March 19, feast of St. Joseph) and making some changes in the Curia.
Due to retire are Cardinals Renato Martino (Justice and Peace, and Pastoral Care of Migrants), Javier Lozano Barragan (Pastoral Care of Health Workers), Walter Kasper (Christian Unity) - all turning 75; as well as James Francis Stafford (Major Penitentiary), 77.
Also reportedly for replacement: Cardinals Franc Rode (Institutes of Consecrated Life), and Claudio Hummes (Clergy), both turning 75.
It appears Giovanni Battista Re, widely thought to retire this month as he turns 75, will stay on for the rest of 2009. [Why him????] But Fr. Federico Lombardi, who holds too many posts, will reportedly be replaced as Vatican press director after the trip to the Holy Land.
The Pope will need to decide on the secretaries and sub-secretaries in the Secretariat of State, thought to have their own mini-Secretariat within the Secretariat, and whose loyalties are to the previous Secretary of State, not to the present one.
But the Pope will be dealing, in his way, with the dissidents within the Vatican and out. Perhaps worse than the external attacks on him over Bishop Williamson, and those from many European governments over his remarks on condoms, there are various internal intemperances among the bishops of some European countries, who were particularly virulent not only against the rapprochement with the FSSPX, but also against some episcopal nominations opposed by some bishops who wield unusual power within their own national bishops' conferences. Many of them accuse the Pope of not explaining himself to them.
They seem to forget who Joseph Ratzinger is: a very cultured man, and a pious one. Few understand the contemporary world better than he. His statements are always rational and logical. He always has rational responses for problems, in direct contrast to the emotional reactions that some of his decisions arouse in others.
The world, which is often permeated with irrationality especially when it considers that it is being 'rationalistic', fails to understand his reason because it cannot go beyond emotion, just as it dwells on the particulars and fails to see the whole picture.
And this goes for his opponents within the Church. The bishops who are faithful to him have to work alongside those who are not, and although the latter are in the minority, they have the insidious power of well-placed bureaucrats who steadily pursue their own designs.
The dissent may nots be on the scale of blood feuds, as much as it is a sickness that, since Vatican II, has become chronic, an infection that did not originate from the Council itself, but from one might call the 'para-Council', a sickness that has persisted.
The Council encouraged an anti-Roman attitude that has become unconfinable. And the target is not really the Pope above all. But Rome and its primacy. The enemy has a concept of the Church which sees in Rome not a safe and sure leader but simply a coordinator in the background to sort of guarantee a generalized unity.
It is an incorrect interpretation of the Council to think that it intended the various bishops' conferences to grow inordinately, and be autonomous of Rome - these organisms that in 1985, Cardinal Ratzinger said had no theological basis. [And how could they have? They were devised by Vatican-II to provide a framework for the bishops of every nation to coordinate with each other, but they now behave as though they are co-equal with the Church of Rome.]
Office upon office, structure upon structure, mini-Vaticans have been created everywhere that have grown farther away from the hierarchical structure of the Church, and even from that concept of Church government that makes the bishop personally responsible only for his own diocese, but in the context of 'organic communion' with the Church of Rome and the universal Church.
The bishops' conferences have, in general, ended up glorifying themselves, their own internal power, without regard for that 'organic communion' with the Universal Church that is stressed in all the Vatican-II documents.
Very often, these conferences - in the name of an imagined 'democracy' of government - have ended up being in opposition to Rome and glorifying, among themselves, those who have the best PR (or 'charisma') with the media. and therefore, in public opinion.
It is these bishops who have cultivated the media best, who have also chosen to discharge their responsibilities more by frequent travelling abroad to give lectures and speeches, rather than occupiying themselves with the faithful in their own diocese.
They have acquired a stature within their own national bishops' conference, becoming - without saying so explicitly - a kind of counterweight to the Pope and to the central authority of the Church itself.
They have become enormous superstructures that have been able to 'oppress' individual bishops who would otherwise find in the Pope the guarantee of their freedom.
And these bishops' conferences can wield a weight that is difficult to manage from Rome, as the German and Austrian conferences showed recently,
Cardinal Karl Lehmann publicly attacked Benedict XVI for revoking the excommunication of the FSSPX bishops, while the nomination of Mons. Gerhard Wagner to be auxiliary bishop of Linz was rejected summarily by the entire Austrian bishops' conference [all 8 of them!], and now, it has become clear that those who had shuffled the cards to force Wagner out of the picture were priests who have been living in concubinage for years. All this revealed by the Austrian newspapers.
And yet, today, each of the Austrian bishops is saying they were always in perfect communion with the Pope.
The advocates of the Vatican-II hermeneutic of rupture constituted a wave that remains well-organized. Papa Ratzinger knows that well. And so one of the first fundamental speeches of his Pontificate - his address to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005 - was directed to them: the hermeneutic of rupture is wrong, he told them.
But this is an atavistic battle. John XXIII himself, against everything he stood for and said, is described by the advocates of rupture as the Pope who presided over the end of the monarchical Church.
They thought they had an ally in Paul VI, but then they were forced to change their mind with Humanae Vitae, the encyclical whose contents did not in any way meet the criteria of modernity and worldliness. It marked the start of the second phase of Montini's Pontificate - that of suffering the injuries and calumnies that rained down on him.
Even Wojtyla, perhaps more than Ratzinger [No! Could any Pope been attacked more viciously than Benedict XVI has been?], was openly opposed for his positions on sex, abortion and marriage. Starting with Redemptor Hominis, he was seen as a Pope with a vision too Polish for the Church, too little 'Catholic'. Nut he never folded down.
Nor will Ratzinger, who will not let himself be ruled by emotion. And he certainly is not going to retract anything he has said about condoms and AIDS as some French personalities ask in an open letter in Le Monde.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2009 13:27] |
| 26/03/2009 14:06 |
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March 26
Blessed Diego Jose of Cadiz (1743-1801)
Capuchin and Preacher (Spain)
OR today.
No papal stories on Page 1 today. But there are three stories
in the inside pages on the African trip, including a beautiful
assessment by Cardinal Francis Arinze. Page 1 stories: Obama
says patience and time needed to resolve financial crisis;
France decides to re-enter NATO's military command; more
civilian deaths in Afghanistan war; North Korea prepares
another missile test; and the US seeks to be more active in
fighting Mexico's drug traffic.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with
- Bishops of Argentina (Group 4) on ad limina visit.
- Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The Vatican released today the official program for the Holy Father's
pilgrimage to the Holy Land on May 8-15.
Next Thursday, April 2, the Holy Father will preside at a 6PM Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark
the IV anniversary of the death of the Servant of God John Paul II, with the special attendance of
the young people of the Diocese of Rome.
This Sunday, March 29, the Holy Father will visit the parish of the Holy Face of Jesus in Rome's
Magliana visit, starting at 9 a.m. He will be back at the Vatican in time for the noontime Angelus.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2009 14:08] |
| 26/03/2009 14:58 |
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For those with high blood pressure, take an extra pill before reading the article below. It's the usual suspects (Politi, Reese, and Simpson of the AP) trying to keep the battle going.
Condom uproar latest message problem for pope
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
March 26, 2009
VATICAN CITY (AP) — From the Gospel to Google, the church has been seeking ways to announce the word of Christ for 2,000 years.
Pope Benedict XVI has gone on YouTube and his speeches appear in Chinese on the Vatican Web site, but judging from the uproar over a Holocaust-denying bishop and his pronouncement that condoms deepen the AIDS crisis, he's clearly struggling with his message.
During his nearly four-year papacy, criticism has been pouring in from Muslims, Jews and members of his own flock, as the German pontiff seems to step into controversy at every turn. The attacks by European governments this past week over condom use are unprecedented.
The controversy could in the future weigh on cardinals when they choose Benedict's successor, perhaps leading them to look for a younger man more attuned to a wired world.
His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, shared the title of "Great Communicator" with former President Ronald Reagan, and managed to steer clear of controversy even though he held many of Benedict's conservative positions. John Paul mingled with reporters aboard his plane, walking the aisles, shaking hands and answering questions spontaneously.
"He was inquisitive to know what public opinion thought about him," said Marco Politi, a biographer of John Paul. From time to time he would call his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls and ask, "`What do they think about me?'" Politi said.
As he set off on his first African pilgrimage last week, Benedict was just emerging from a crisis brought on when he lifted the excommunication of four ultraconservative bishops — one of them a Holocaust denier — in an effort to end a schism.
An unusual personal account addressed to Catholic bishops around the world in a letter made public by the Vatican helped clear the air. Benedict acknowledged mistakes by the Vatican and said he was particularly saddened that Catholics who should know his record against anti-Semitism "thought they had to attack me with open hostility."
But Benedict found himself under new attack when flying to Africa after he told reporters that condoms would not resolve the AIDS problem but, on the contrary, increase it. The statement was condemned by France, Germany and the U.N. agency charged with fighting AIDS as irresponsible and dangerous.
The pope was not taken by surprise by the question. Ever since he apparently misspoke about the excommunication of Mexican lawmakers on a trip to Brazil in 2007, the Vatican asks reporters to submit questions in advance and then makes a selection, giving Benedict time to prepare a response.
The 81-year-old Benedict doesn't mingle with reporters individually but stands before them in the rear section of the plane flanked by aides, and responds drily to the questions.
Top church officials have rallied to Benedict's side. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, said the criticism "has gone beyond good sense."
While opposition to condoms is a long-standing church position, the Vatican felt constrained to step in and say Benedict wanted to stress that a reliance on condoms distracted from the need for proper education in sexual conduct.
The first controversy of Benedict's papacy came in 2006 when the pope's remarks on Islam and holy war angered much of the Muslim world, leading him to backtrack and declare he was "deeply sorry." He continues to say that true religion must distance itself from violence, but no longer points a finger at any faith.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Vatican expert at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington, says Benedict deserves praise for admitting mistakes, apologizing and explaining.
But he also says that as a church leader and a world leader the pope has to communicate in an understandable and persuasive way. "Benedict does not understand how to communicate in the 21st century," Reese said.
As prominent commentator Ernesto Galli Della Loggia wrote in Italy's leading Corriere della Sera, the pope has only one weapon to overcome opposition and affirm his authority: "charismatic media appeal that grabs the CNN screen and makes the front page of The New York Times."
Benedict did just that when traveling to the United States last year, a trip viewed as a success after he expressed personal shame over a clergy sex abuse scandal rocking the American church.
In meeting with individuals, Benedict is invariably gracious, but he seems uncomfortable before large crowds.
After the 27-year pontificate of the highly popular John Paul, the College of Cardinals turned to a prelate who spent years as a theology professor and Vatican insider but few in a pastoral setting.
"After the death of John Paul II there was such a shock among the cardinals about losing a giant personality that they wanted to make a quick choice in order not to show division inside the church and so they choose the best theologian, the best moral and spiritual and intellectual personality," Politi said.
"But they didn't open a real discussion about the future of the church and they didn't open a discussion also with the public opinion," he added.
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