NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

2009-09-12

Fortunately, I came across a snip of the homily on Whispers in the Loggia and decided to share it via a PowerPoint presentation that I'm giving Sunday for our RCIA group on the history of the Church. 

I found the three characteristics of the Servant - fidelity, prudence and goodness - so profoundly moving and definitely coming from his long intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  I'm hoping that his words will inspire our catechumens to love the Church by knowing that our bishops and priests are hearing these kinds of words ... that Papa is counting on them to do likewise - be faithful, prudent and good ...  a Servant.

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I wonder if Nan, our "resident nurse" can give us some idea of what the therapy actually involves. If it's moving the hand up and down constantly for several minutes I'm afraid it may cause further aches and pains for a while. Nan?

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Papa's rehabilitation probabaly involves "up and down" (flexion and extention), side to side, as well as clockwise and counterclockwise movement of the wrist and forearm muscles. He is probably working also on endurance... encouraged to lift things more and more with his right hand. He may have some discomfort but no real pain.

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I found the three characteristics of the Servant - fidelity, prudence and goodness - so profoundly moving and definitely coming from his long intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

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I totally agree Papabear!

2009-09-13
12:28:03


Oh no, Mary ...  you must bring the Union Jack!  Have you ever seen the Hawaii State flag?  It incorporates the American flag and Union Jack colors and design with the Union Jack in the upper left quadrant and the American white/red/blue stripes and shows our ties to the British although we did provide a rather unwelcome ceremony for Capt Cook!  Not gaudy ...  it'll stand out like the red and white Polish flag.

I hope some of our Hawaii pilgrims will be taking Hawaiian flags for the canonization and I know you'll see an abundance of flower lei.  I hope the groups will have time to be presented to Papa.  I cherish the photo I have of him from 2005 at the beatification of Mother Marianne ...  he had several flower leis on him ...  he looked great!

For those who can't make the trip to the Czech Republic, here's another chance to see Papa. I wonder if his Maltese second secretary had something to do with encouraging this trip.


Pope to visit Malta in spring of 2010

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Sept. 14, 2009

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit Malta next April to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck on the Mediterranean island.

The bishops of Malta announced the papal visit Sept. 12, and Vatican Radio confirmed it the following day. A Vatican trip planner was to travel to Malta in October to lay the groundwork for the visit.

The trip will give the pope a chance to highlight once again the figure of St. Paul, who according to tradition shipwrecked on Malta in the year A.D.60 while on his way to Rome to stand trial. Scriptures recount that the inhabitants showed "extraordinary hospitality" to St. Paul, who healed sick people on the island.

Pope Benedict presided over a special jubilee year for St. Paul in 2008-2009, to underline the saint as a model of missionary energy in the church.

The visit also will spotlight a chronic problem in modern Malta, the arrival of thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa, who often wash up Malta on their way to other European countries. What to do with the arrivals has become a hot political issue on the island.

Archbishop Paul Cremona of Malta recently told the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, that today's immigrants and refugees should be welcomed just as St. Paul was in the first century.

By welcoming St. Paul, the archbishop said, the Maltese demonstrated a "strong sense of openness toward someone who is 'different,' the foreigner."

"This is a sentiment that should be preserved and practiced in the present historical moment, which is marked by great migration of the masses," he said. He added that it was necessary to eliminate prejudices and treat immigrants first and foremost as people.

Pope Benedict is scheduled to travel to the Czech Republic in late September of this year. The visit to Malta is the first papal trip announced for 2010.

Second volume of 'Jesus of Nazareth' expected next spring

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Sept. 14, 2009

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's second volume on the life of Jesus is likely to be completed sometime next spring, a Vatican spokesman said.

The book is expected to cover Christ's childhood, passion, death and resurrection. The first volume, the best-selling "Jesus of Nazareth," was published in 2007.

The spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told Catholic News Service Sept. 13 that next spring was a "realistic" target date for completion. He added that readying the manuscript for publication and translating it into other languages could add to the timeline, however.

The pope has been working on the volume over the last two years, especially during his summer vacations. When he broke his right wrist at the start of his vacation in July, he was said to have been particularly disappointed because it meant he couldn't write for several weeks.

The 448-page first volume, "Jesus of Nazareth," covered the life of Christ from the time of his baptism in the Jordan River to the transfiguration before his disciples. In it, Pope Benedict said Christ must be understood as the Son of God on a divine mission, not as a mere moralist or social reformer.

The book said that while Christ did not bring a blueprint for social progress, he did bring a new vision based on love that challenges the evils of today's world -- from the brutality of totalitarian regimes to the "cruelty of capitalism."

From the Czech Republic

Maklara, our young Czech friend, has posted quite a few news items on Teresa's thread on the Benedetto XVI forum about Papa's upcoming trip to the Czech Republic. In addition to the news items, she has posted a clever game patterned after the game Memory or Concentration. The game, which is based on the papal trip to the Czech Republic, is available to purchase or for free online. However, to succeed at the game, you will need a memory which is at least partially functional. (Darn.) Here's the link:

Benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd...

Enchoy.

Vatican hopes Pope's visit may help ratify treaty with Czech Rep

CTK
published: 16.09.2009

The Vatican hopes that the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Czech Republic may create an atmosphere that will later help solve the problem of the yet unratified Czech-Vatican treaty, Vatican's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, has told CTK.

Lombardi said Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who will meet Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer at the beginning of the Pope's three-day visit would mention the treaty but not discuss it in detail.

The meeting is to be formal, not political.

Lombardi said at such meetings it is common to confirm what issues are still on the table and need to be dealt with in near future.

He recalled that the visit, lasting from September 26 to September 28, is pastoral and does not focus on the discussion of particular issues.

The Pope will celebrate mass at Brno airport for more than 100,000 people and take part in the celebrations of the Day of Saint Wenceslas, the patron saint of Czechs.

The Vatican indicated that negotiations on the treaty had been completed and that it saw no reason to make changes in its text.

Though the treaty on the position of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic was signed in 2002, its ratification process has not yet been completed as the lower house of Czech parliament rejected it in 2003, arguing that the treaty was disadvantageous for the state and violated the equal position of churches.

Apart from the treaty, the Czech Republic has not yet agreed on the property settlement between the churches and the state.

Earlier this year, the Czech parliament rejected a bill under which about one-third of the church property that had been nationalised after the 1948 communist coup was to be returned and Czech churches were to receive compensation for the remaining property.

Fischer said in May that his caretaker cabinet had a limited mandate and would not deal with the property settlement. He said said he considered it unfortunate that the prepared bill was not pushed through parliament.

Fischer's government has ruled since May. It was to lead the country to early elections, originally scheduled for October. Due to latest political turbulences, however, it may rule till the regular elections planned for May.

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Brno to pay CZK 160,000 for liturgical vessels for Pope

ČTK | 15 SEPTEMBER 2009

Brno, south Moravia, Sept 14 (CTK) - The authority of the Czech city of Brno will pay 160,000 crowns for the liturgical vessels, a chalice and a paten, for Pope Benedict XVI who will visit the Czech Republic on September 26-28, Brno Mayor Roman Onderka told journalists Monday.

The gilt bronze liturgical vesseles were produced by local goldsmith Jaromir Gargulark. The Brno emblem is engraved on the paten.

"When we considered what to present to the Pope as remembrance of his visit to Brno we realised that it should be items with spiritual dimension connected with the city attributes," Onderka said.

That is why the city chose the liturgical items made by a Brno craftsman, he said.

The Pope's Office will receive the 35-cm chalice and 26-cm paten in red wooden boxes lined with white satin.

Brno will earmark ten million crowns to finance the Pope's visit, including 2.2 million crowns that changes in public traffic will require.

Some 2.5 million crowns will go for promotion and marketing and 275,000 crowns will go to make new bells for Church of the Assumption of St. Mary that Pope Benedict XVI will bless.

On September 27, the Pope will serve a mass at the Brno-Turany airport which will be attended by up to 120,000 people, according to the Brno Bishopric.

On the last day of his visit, September 28, which is Saint Wenceslas Day, Benedict XVI will celebrate a mass in the town of Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia.

St Wenceslas, the patron saint of Czechs, died a martyr's death in Stara Boleslav in 935.

Some 30,000 people who are expected to take part in the Saint Wenceslas National Pilgrimage will attend the mass.


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PAPAL VISIT TO A LAND OF NONBELIEVERS

Czech Prior Reflects on Benedict XVI's Next Trip

KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, SEPT. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Though Benedict XVI's next apostolic visit will bring him to one of the most atheistic nations in Europe, many Czechs who describe themselves as nonbelievers still love the Infant Jesus of Prague, whom the Pope will visit on his first day in the Republic.

Prior Petr Sleich of the Carmelite monastery of the Holy Infant of Prague noted his countrymen's affection for the Infant Jesus when he spoke last week with Aid to the Church in Need about the Holy Father's trip to the Czech Republic this month.

"Many people are uncertain when it comes to God, but I wouldn't say they have no faith," he said, explaining that the aim of the papal visit is to focus people's hearts and minds on Christ. "I am certain that many [Czechs] will yet become [the Infant Jesus'] friends!"

According to Prior Sleich, the fact that the first stop on the Pontiff's program is the shrine of Our Lady of Victories, where the image of the Holy Infant Jesus has been venerated since the 17th century, is "the most powerful expression of this intention."

Benedict XVI will be in the Czech Republic from Sept. 26 to 28.

During his visit, the Pope will solemnly crown the image of the Infant Jesus, which, affirmed the 41-year-old Carmelite prior, is the highest honor Western Christianity can accord such an image.

A needy Child

Prior Sleich said the Infant Jesus is a symbol that everyone can understand, and one that often leads to a real encounter with Christ.

"When people come here to our church and see God as a Child, they have no fear of him," the Carmelite observed. "On the contrary, he is a child who needs our love, our hearts, our hands, our help."

Nevertheless, Prior Sleich continued, the Prague image also portrays Christ as a king. The orb held in his left hand symbolizes the entire universe, which stands beneath the symbol of the cross and rests in the hand of the Child Jesus.

"I sometimes say, half jokingly, that the left hand of the Child Jesus is enough to sustain the entire universe," Prior Sleich recounted. "But of course it is no joke, but the truth. Meanwhile, with his right hand, the Divine Child blesses mankind." This is a symbol, he added, that is easily intelligible to people without a great deal of reflection, and "the most effective symbols are precisely those that do not require us to think long and hard about them."

Expecting change

Though the prior admitted that the papal visit comes at a time when spirituality is weak in the Czech Republic -- only about 30% of Czechs claim any religious belief -- he is hopeful about the future.

He himself was only baptized at age 20 after having found his way to faith through friends, while a student of mathematics. Today almost his entire family is Catholic.

"Things can change very quickly," the priest affirmed, "as we all saw 20 years ago with our own eyes, when the Iron Curtain fell."

Priests cannot be replaced by the laity, Pope Benedict explains

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sep 17, 2009 / 10:27 am (CNA).- In an audience this morning with bishops visiting from Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI advised them on how to respond to the lack of priests, emphasizing that the shortage cannot be solved by having lay people substitute for the clergy.

The Holy Father began his address to the Brazilian prelates by pointing out the difference between the identity of priests and the laity. While the lay faithful share in the "common priesthood," they are not ordained ministers of Christ and His Church. "Hence," the Pope cautioned, "it is important to avoid the secularization of clergy and the 'clericalization' of the laity."

Fulfilling the lay vocation, he explained, involves working to "give expression in real life - also through political commitment - to the Christian view of anthropology and the social doctrine of the Church."

On the other hand, "priests must distance themselves from politics in order to favor the unity and communion of all the faithful, thus becoming a point of reference for everyone," Benedict said.

When dioceses are faced with a lack of priests, the Pope emphasized that they should not resort to "a more active and abundant participation of the laity" since it could take away from their own calling.

"The truth is that the greater the faithful's awareness of their own responsibilities within the Church, the clearer becomes the specific identity and inimitable role of the priest as pastor of the entire community, witness to the authenticity of the faith, and dispenser of the mysteries of salvation in the name of Christ the Head," Benedict XVI stated.

"The function of the clergy is essential and irreplaceable in announcing the Word and celebrating the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist," he insisted, saying that for this reason it is "vital to ask the Lord to send workers for His harvest; and it is necessary that priests express joy in their faithfulness to their identity."

Looking to the future, the Pope made it clear that "the shortage of priests must not come to be considered as a normal or typical state of affairs."

He exhorted the bishops resolve the crisis by combining efforts to "encourage new priestly vocations and find the pastors your dioceses need, helping one another so that all of you have better-trained and more numerous priests to support the life of faith and the apostolic mission."

As the Church celebrates the Year for Priests and the 150th anniversary of the death of the "Cure of Ars," Pope Benedict pointed to the French priest as a model for priests, "especially in living a life of celibacy as a requirement for the total giving of self." This total gift of self is "expressed through that pastoral charity which Vatican Council II presents as the unifying center of a priest's being and actions," he reminded.

The Holy Father ended his address on a positive note, assuring the prelates that "many signs of hope" exist for the future of particular Churches. This future, he said is one that "God is preparing through the dedication and the faithfulness with which you exercise your episcopal ministry."

Pope will visit Rome synagogue

September 17, 2009

ROME (JTA) -- Pope Benedict XVI said he would visit the main synagogue in Rome after the High Holidays.

In Rosh Hashanah greetings to Rome's Jewish community released Thursday by the office of Rome's chief rabbi, the pope said he looked forward "with joy" to the visit which, he said, was motivated by "my personal nearness and that of the whole Catholic church" to the Jewish community.

In his message the pope invoked "abundant blessings" and "constant encouragement in the deep commitment to promote justice, harmony and peace."

Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni called the message "significant and important."

The announcement that the pope was planning to visit the Great Synagogue of Rome was not a surprise. In March, the president of the Rome Jewish community had said the pope would visit the synagogue this fall.

Benedict has visited synagogues in Germany and the United States as pope, but his visit to the Rome synagogue would be the first papal visit there since the historic visit by Pope John Paul II in 1986. That visit marked the first time a reigning pontiff had entered a synagogue.

Pope holds meteorite during visit to Vatican astronomers' headquarters



Pope Benedict XVI examines a meteorite from Mars while visiting the new headquarters of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 16. (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Sept. 17, 2009

ROME (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI officially inaugurated the Vatican Observatory's new headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, a Jesuit astronomer let the pope hold a meteorite from Mars.

"The pope very much wanted to be involved with our new headquarters," U.S. Jesuit Father George Coyne told Catholic News Service Sept. 17.

Pope Benedict spent the evening of Sept. 16 in the company of papal astronomers who conduct study and research in Castel Gandolfo, outside of Rome, and at another research center in Tucson, Ariz.

His hourlong visit began with "a very beautiful prayer and blessing" for the staff and official inauguration of their new headquarters, said Father Coyne, the former director of the Vatican Observatory.

The pope also blessed a dedication plaque in the main-floor entrance area and took a leisurely tour inside, visiting the new library, conference room, staff offices and laboratory. The new facility is located in a renovated monastery about one-and-a-half miles from its previous location inside the papal palace.

Father Coyne said the pope "looked very carefully at the exhibits we have" and readily accepted the invitation of U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno to hold a meteorite.

In order to prevent contamination, the pope used a white handkerchief to hold the specimen, which, according to Father Coyne, was the Nakhla meteorite -- a fragment of a larger meteorite from Mars that fell in the Nakhla region near Alexandria, Egypt, in 1911.

The small chunk of carbon-rich stone weighs just five-and-a-half ounces -- just a bit heavier than a baseball.

The pope was led to the new headquarters' second floor to say a prayer in the chapel and pose for a group picture on the terrace.

Afterward, the astronomers treated the pope to a small reception of cookies and orange soda. The whole event was "very informal and cordial," said Father Coyne.

He said the visit "was magnificent because it shows the pope's personal interest in our work. After all, it's his observatory.

"He was curious about all we do in Arizona, so we had some very nice photographs of our mountain observatory in Arizona" to show the pope and explain the reason most of the research is done there, said the Jesuit priest.

The Vatican Observatory set up a second research center in Tucson in 1981 after the skies above its telescopes in Italy got too bright for nighttime observation.

The Vatican Observatory's headquarters had been located inside the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo since 1935, when it was moved from Rome to escape the nighttime light pollution coming from city streets.

But the papal astronomers expanded their activities so much in recent years with their popular summer school for budding scientists and research-related events that "we were overusing our facilities in the papal palace," said Father Coyne.

The decision to move to separate and larger facilities was made many years ago, he said. Astronomers started to move into their new, more modern headquarters this spring.

Father Coyne said the pope was scheduled to give an address to astronomers from all over the world, including members of the International Astronomical Union and the head of the American Astronomical Society.

The event, marked for Oct. 30 at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, is one of the Vatican's many initiatives to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

Before Benoit'trip to Prague, an interesting interview of the bishop of Prague

http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20320:h2onews&catid=54:interviews&Itemid=14

Pope ready to announce synod on Middle East for 2010

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Sept. 18, 2009

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Vatican sources said Pope Benedict XVI was preparing to convene a Synod of Bishops for the Middle East to be held in October of 2010, to address the trials and tribulations of the Christian population in the region.

Patriarchs and other representatives from Eastern churches arrived in Rome Sept. 18, and the pope was to meet with them the next day to discuss the initiative, the sources said. An announcement of the synod was expected in coming days.

Pope Benedict has spoken frequently about the pressures faced by Christian and Catholic minorities in the Middle East, particularly in the Holy Land and in Iraq. The synod would provide an opportunity for a much-needed strategizing session at the level of the universal church, one source said.

The Vatican press office would not confirm reports of a Middle East synod, but it released the names of 11patriarchs and other representatives meeting the pope Sept. 19 at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

They included the Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad, Iraq; Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem; the Lebanon-based Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir; and representatives of the Ukrainian, Syro-Malabar, Coptic, Melkite, Syrian, Armenian, Romanian and Syro-Malankar rites.

Last January, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq, and other Iraqi bishops in Rome for their "ad limina" visits asked the pope to convene a special synod for the churches of the Middle East.

Archbishop Sako said the priority topics for such a synod would include the problem of Christians fleeing the Middle East, paying Christian witness in a predominantly Muslim world, relations with Muslims, the role of Christians in civil and political life, lack of full religious freedom and Christians' prospects for the future.

Bishop Maroun Lahham of Tunis, Tunisia, a Jordanian native of Palestinian parentage, told Catholic News Service earlier this year that when the church discusses Asia -- as it did in a 1998 synod for that region -- "it's the Philippines, India, Japan, not the Middle East."

Bishops Lahham, who worked as a priest in the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem as well as in the United Arab Emirates, said while the Middle East is technically part of the Asian land mass, "the issues ... were very unlike those" in typically Asian countries.

"We didn't feel (the Asian synod) was meant for us," said the bishop, who was head of the seminary in Beit Jalla, West Bank, at the time.

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Pope to hold special synod on Mideast churches

(AFP) - Sept. 19, 2009

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI said on Saturday he planned to summon a special synod of bishops to discuss the Middle East in October next year, the Vatican said in a statement.

He was speaking to Roman Catholic Church leaders from the region at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence outside Rome, the Vatican said.

"I will not forget the call for peace you have put in my hands ... and my thoughts go firstly to the regions of the Middle East," the statement quoted the pope as saying.

"I am using this occasion therefore to announce the summoning of a synod of bishops for the Middle East which will take place from October 10 to 24."

The theme of the conference will be "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and witness," he added.

The majority of people living in Middle Eastern countries are Muslim, and Christians can face difficult conditions in the region.

In January, Louis Sako, the archbishop of Kirkuk in Iraq, visited Benedict and asked for a meeting on the situation of minority Christians in countries such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

A spate of attacks on churches in Iraq left four dead and 32 injured in July.

During a visit to the Holy Land in May, the pope urged Christians not to flee the region and called for freedom to allow them to practise their religion.

A number of Middle Eastern churches come under the Catholic umbrella, including Maronites, Chaldeans, Armenians and Copts.

WILL THE "THIRD ROME" REUNITE WITH THE "FIRST ROME"?

Recent Meeting Could Mark Turning Point

By Robert Moynihan

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org)- Sometimes there are no fireworks. Turning points can pass in silence, almost unobserved.

It may be that way with the "Great Schism," the most serious division in the history of the Church. The end of the schism may come more quickly and more unexpectedly than most imagine.

On Sept. 18, inside Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer palace about 30 miles outside Rome, a Russian Orthodox Archbishop named Hilarion Alfeyev, 43 (a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy, composer and lover of music), met with Benedict XVI, 82 (also a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy and lover of music), for almost two hours, according to informed sources. (There are as yet no "official" sources about this meeting -- the Holy See has still not released an official communiqué about the meeting.)

The silence suggests that what transpired was important -- perhaps so important that the Holy See thinks it isn't yet prudent to reveal publicly what was discussed.

But there are numerous "signs" that the meeting was remarkably harmonious.

If so, this Sept. 18 meeting may have marked a turning point in relations between the "Third Rome" (Moscow) and the "First Rome" (Rome) -- divided since 1054.

Archbishop Hilarion was in Rome for five days last week as the representative of the new Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

One key person Archbishop Hilarion met with was Cardinal Walter Kasper. On Sept. 17, the cardinal told Vatican Radio that he and Archbishop Hilarion had a "very calm conversation."

Cardinal Kasper also revealed something astonishing: that he had suggested to the archbishop that the Orthodox Churches form some kind of "bishops' conference at the European level" that would constitute a "direct partner of cooperation" in future meetings.

This would be a revolutionary step in the organization of the Orthodox Churches.
Papal-Patriarch encounter?
Cardinal Kasper said a Pope-Patriarch meeting was not on the immediate agenda, and would probably not take place in Moscow or Rome, but in some "neutral" place (Hungary, Austria and Belarus are possibilities).

Archbishop Hilarion himself revealed much about how his Rome visit was proceeding when he met on the evening of Sept. 17 (before his meeting with the Pope) with the Community of Sant'Egidio, an Italian Catholic group known for its work with the poor in Rome.

"We live in a de-Christianized world, in a time that some define -- mistakenly -- as post-Christian," Archbishop Hilarion said. "Contemporary society, with its practical materialism and moral relativism, is a challenge to us all. The future of humanity depends on our response… More than ever before, we Christians must stand together."

A report from Interfax, the news service of the Moscow Patriarchate, on Sept. 18 revealed that Archbishop Hilarion spoke to the Pope about "cooperation between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in the area of moral values and of culture" -- in particular during the "Days of Russian Spiritual Culture," a type of exhibit with lectures scheduled for spring 2010 in Rome. (One might imagine that the Pope himself could attend such an exhibition).

In memory of the visit, Archbishop Hilarion gave the Pope a pectoral cross, made in workshops of Russian Orthodox Church, the report said, Interfax reported.

Today, an Interfax report supplied details of Hilarion's remarks this morning in the catacombs of St. Callixtus.

"Denied by the world, far from human eyes, deep under ground in caves, the first Roman Christians performed the feat of prayer," Hilarion said. "Their life brought the fruit of holiness and martyr heroism. The Holy Church was built on their blood shed for Christ."

Then the Church came out of the catacombs, but Christian unity was lost, the archbishop said.

Archbishop Hilarion said that human sin is the cause of all divisions, while Christian unity can be restored only in the way of sanctity.

"Each of us, conscientiously fulfilling a task the Church has given him or her, is called to personally contribute to the treasury of Christian sanctity and work to achieve God-commanded Christian unity," the archbishop said.

A second Interfax report today added further information about the meeting with the Pope.

Growing influence

"During a talk with Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk pointed out the status of Orthodox believers in Western Ukraine where three Orthodox dioceses had been almost eliminated as a result of coercive actions of Greek Catholics in late 1980s and early 1990s," Interfax reported.

Archbishop Hilarion "stated the need to take practical steps to improve the situation in Western Ukraine," within the territories of Lvov, Ternopol and Invano-Frankovsk Dioceses, the report said.

Meanwhile, in Russia itself, the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by Patriarch Kirill, seems to be growing, though not without opposition.

The rise in Russia of Kirill and his increasing influence in legislative matters seems to be arousing opposition from the "siloviki," forces connected with the old KGB.

In an article in the current issue of Argumenty Nedeli, Andrey Uglanov says that Kirill's extraordinary activity has attracted attention from some who do not like to have their positions questioned, let alone challenged. And that has become Kirill's "big problem."

These "siloviki," Uglanov says, have been offended by Kirill's "anti-Stalinist and anti-Bolshevik actions," including his appearance at the Solovetsky stone in Moscow's Lubyanka Square on the very Day of the Memory of the Victims of Political Repression.

In this context, Hilarion's visit to Rome takes on even more importance.

The Russian Orthodox Church is a power in Russia, but it faces opposition and needs allies.

What is occurring in Hilarion's visit to Rome, then, may have ramifications not only for the overcoming of the "Great Schism," but also for the cultural, religious and political future of Russia, and of Europe as a whole.

It is especially significant, in this context, that Hilarion, Kirill's "Foreign Minister," has some of the same deep interests as Benedict XVI: the liturgy, and music.

"As a 15-year-old boy I first entered the sanctuary of the Lord, the Holy of Holies of the Orthodox Church,” Hilarion once wrote about the Orthodox liturgy. “But it was only after my entrance into the altar that the 'theourgia,' the mystery, and 'feast of faith' began, which continues to this very day.

"After my ordination, I saw my destiny and main calling in serving the Divine Liturgy. Indeed, everything else, such as sermons, pastoral care and theological scholarship were centered around the main focal point of my life -- the liturgy."
Liturgy

These words seem to echo the feelings and experiences of Benedict XVI, who has written that the liturgies of Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday in Bavaria when he was a child were formative for his entire being, and that his writing on the liturgy (one of his books is entitled "Feast of Faith") is the most important to him of all his scholarly endeavors.

"Orthodox divine services are a priceless treasure that we must carefully guard," Hilarion has written. "I have had the opportunity to be present at both Protestant and Catholic services, which were, with rare exceptions, quite disappointing… Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, services in some Catholic churches have become little different from Protestant ones."

Again, these words of Hilarion seem to echo Benedict XVI's own concerns. The Pope has made it clear that he wishes to reform the Catholic Church's liturgy, and preserve what was contained in the old liturgy and now risks being lost.

Hilarion has cited the Orthodox St. John of Kronstadt approvingly. St. John of Kronstadt wrote: "The Church and its divine services are an embodiment and realization of everything in Christianity... It is the divine wisdom, accessible to simple, loving hearts."

These words echo words written by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, who often said that the liturgy is a "school" for the simple Christian, imparting the deep truths of the faith even to the unlearned through its prayers, gestures and hymns.

Hilarion in recent years has become known for his musical compositions, especially for Christmas and for Good Friday, celebrating the birth and the Passion of Jesus Christ. These works have been performed in Moscow and in the West, in Rome in March 2007 and in Washington DC in December 2007.

Closer relations between Rome and Moscow, then, could have profound implications also for the cultural and liturgical life of the Church in the West. There could be a renewal of Christian art and culture, as well as of faith.

All of this was at stake in the quiet meeting between Archbishop Hilarion and Benedict XVI on Friday afternoon, in the castle overlooking Lake Albano.

The latest speculation from England...


Pope Benedict XVI to make first ever official papal visit to Britain

Francis Elliott and Ruth Gledhill
Times Online
September 23, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI is to visit Britain next year in the first ever official visit by a pontiff.

The Holy See will announce soon the first papal visit to Britain since Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit in 1982.

The historic event will overshadow even the triumphant visit of Pope John Paul II, which almost did not take place at all because of the Falklands War.

During his time in the country, expected to take place in September next year, Pope Benedict will have a meeting with the Queen, Supreme Governor of the Church of England and will be accorded the full panoply of a state visit. It is possible the Pope will also stay with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. [NOT]

Gordon Brown extended a formal invitation during a private audience in February and preparations have been under way for some time.

A draft itinerary is understood to include London, Birmingham, Oxford and Edinburgh.

As part of the visit next year Pope Benedict XVI is not expected to visit Northern Ireland, according to British officials.

It is thought he will visit Ireland on a separate occasion.

One issue likely to be central to the celebrations will be the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a ceremony that could take place with Benedict in Birmingham, where Newman founded his Oratory.

It will be a triumphant beginning for Archbishop Vincent Nichols, near the start of his ministry leading the Westminster diocese. It will also provide a boost for Conservative leader David Cameron, likely to be Prime Minister then. As a practising member of the Church of England attending an Anglo-Catholic parish in Kensington, Cameron is expected to find a soulmate in the conservative-minded and doctrinally sound German Pope.

The visit comes after repeated overtures from Downing Street and Catholic leaders in recent years. Tony Blair, the Church’s most famous living convert, also offered an invitation while he was Prime Minister and, in 2006, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, then Archbishop of Westminster, wrote to the Pope asking him to consider a visit.

When John Paul II visited he met the Queen but did not visit Downing Street or meet the Prime Minister.

The visit is expected to include an invitation to the Pope to address both houses of parliament at Westminster, in the same Westminster Hall where St Thomas More was tried and condemned in 1535 for opposing the Act of Supremacy.

This was the act that made King Henry VIII "supreme head" of the emerging new Protestant body, the Church of England, signalling the formal breach with Rome.

Although there was no official confirmation from Downing Street or the Holy See last night, senior Government figures are confident an announcement from the Vatican is expected soon. Responding to speculation earlier this year a Downing Street spokesman said: "When the Prime Minister visited the Pope at the Vatican recently he extended an invitation for the Pope to visit all parts of the UK and the invitation was warmly received. The response from the Vatican spokesman was very positive."

Pope John Paul II's six-day trip to Britain in 1982 attracted huge crowds and the Church’s leaders will hope from a similar response from the country’s 4 million Catholics.

@Papabear: Come on now, Papabear, wishing you could be the hankie that held the meteorite!!! You're getting as bad as I am! Thank goodness! I was beginning to think I was the only one. Everyone is so DARNED GOOD these days!!!!!!!!!!! [Except for benevolens and benedetto.fan, of course!!!]

@benefan: About that visit to Britain: I'll believe it when I see an actual schedule, then I'll be the first to rush for tickets to Wembley, of course. But somehow I doubt if it will happen.
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@benefan: Just re-read the news item about trip to Britain properly. No, of course Papa won't stay at Buckingham Palace - what a load of b****xs! The Queen is OK as head of state, but she isn't head of any church and she knows it, if she has half a brain in her head and has read any history, which I doubt. The Windsors are inbred and getting worse by the generation. Prince William was heard on television last night talking about "doing stuff" !!!! rather than just going round shaking hands. Stick to shaking hands, William, because for one thing your diction is so poor and your look so hang dog that no one listens or can understand what you are talking about.

Yet another trip on the horizon. This one should be interesting. Despite his age, Benedict has certainly been knocking himself out to revitalize the faith in Europe. I certainly hope all his efforts bear fruit. Every time I see a travel show on TV displaying the wonders of Europe, there are always beautiful, monumental churches highlighted. It is awe-inspiring to think of the faith that built and filled them and it is heartbreaking to think of them standing nearly empty now. I think we need a new Fatima.


Portugal says Pope Benedict XVI to visit Fatima

By BARRY HATTON (AP)
Sept. 24, 2009

LISBON, Portugal — Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Fatima shrine in Portugal next year, the Portuguese president's office announced Thursday.

The pope will preside at the shrine's annual May 13 ceremonies, a brief statement said.

Three shepherd children claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary during apparitions in Fatima in 1917, the first time on May 13 of that year.

Fatima, a small town 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of the capital Lisbon, attracts an estimated 6 million visitors each year. Pope Benedict's visit will be the fifth by a pontiff. Paul VI was the first, in 1967.

The Roman Catholic church in Portugal, meanwhile, is fighting political challenges to its teachings. The Socialist government passed a law allowing abortion two years ago.

Portugal has parliamentary elections Sunday, and the Socialists say if they are re-elected they will propose a law to permit gay marriage.

The three Fatima children — Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, who were cousins — said the Virgin Mary appeared to them on the 13th day of each month and predicted events, such as world wars, the reemergence of Christianity in Russia and one that Church officials say foretold the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.

The last visit to Fatima by the head of the Roman Catholic Church was by John Paul nine years ago.

John Paul, who died in 2005, believed the Virgin of Fatima saved his life after he was shot by a Turkish gunman in St. Peter's Square in 1981. The attack, on May 13, coincided with the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, and John Paul credited the Virgin's intercession for his survival.

In 2000, John Paul visited Fatima to beatify Jacinta and Francisco. It was his third visit to the shrine in 18 years.

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI put Lucia, who died in 2005 at age 97, on a fast-track to possible sainthood.

The customary waiting period before beginning the process that can lead to sainthood is five years after a person's death. Lucia, who became a nun, was granted the same waiver as was given in the cases of Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.

Other possible trips by Pope Benedict XVI next year include Malta and Britain.

Papa's visit to the Czech Republic will be underway in just a few hours. Let's hope it is wildly successful. The German media mentioned that Papa's friend, Cardinal Meisner, from Cologne, will be traveling with him. And, hopefully, our forum friend, Maklara, will be on hand to greet them and will give us some of the details.


Love for Pope remains intact, says Czech cardinal on eve of Benedict XVI’s visit

Rome, Italy, Sep 25, 2009 / 05:12 pm (CNA).- On the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the Czech Republic this weekend, the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, said Catholics there have been preparing for the important event in faith, hope and love and that day by day the expectations for the visit have been growing.

In an article published by L’Osservatore Romano, the cardinal recalled the visit of John Paul II in 1990 after the fall of Communism, and said that the love for the Pope “has remained intact to this day in many of the faithful.”

He went on to explain that the Czech faithful have been preparing for Benedict XVI’s visit “based on three pillars of our faith: faith itself, hope and charity. Each one of us bishops has written pastoral letters that have been read at Sunday Masses. The main themes have also been the subject of reflection by priests in their daily homilies.”

In all of the dioceses, the cardinal continued, the faithful are joining in prayer that the visit will bring grace and abundant fruit to Czech society. In many places in society, relations with the Church are somewhat distant and negative, he said.

“The Pope’s visit takes on great significance for us. Ours is a small country and from an ecclesial point of view numerically it is not significant. Up to now the Pope has visited countries that in this respect are very significant. This is another reason to make his visit to our nation, to our small Church, a visit of great value. At his side, our small flock will discover itself and we will sense we are an integral part of the universal Church,” he said.

“We want to welcome the Pope as Christ himself, who said to the Apostles: ‘He who hears you hears me,’ and ‘He who welcomes him who sent me, welcomes me.’ The Pope comes with the strength of the word of Christ who said to Peter: ‘And you, confirm your brethren,’” Cardinal Vlk said.