NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

PapaBear. I agree with you.

But I still wouldn't mind being responsible the tackling. I'd be careful. No harm would be done. For sure.

PapaB83, 14.01.2010 00:13:

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Sorry, ladies, I just can't agree with you all.  The Gospel is demanding, isn't it?  Papa is only following Gospel truth. 

Think of the parable of the vineyard workers who were hired in shifts, some providing a whole days work and the rest only a portion of the day.  Yet all received a full days wages.  The ones who gave an entire day were jealous that the rest received the same as they.  Remember the response?  Are you jealous of my generosity.

Think of the parable of the lost sheep.  Surely we can say that Susan M is a lost sheep.  The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep who are in the fold to go out and search after the one who has strayed to bring her/him home.  Surely we can say that by showing his compassion and forgiveness Papa hopes to light a candle of hope in her mind and also to ease whatever discomfort and embarassment her family might feel at their daughter's act.  This forgiveness surely doesn't mean that she will not continue to receive treatment and have to change her actions in order to "come home."  Let's hope she can.

We all know Papa .... he's not afraid to go against the grain where he knows truth and charity are at stake.  Did JPII's forgiveness and meeting with Ali Agca generate thousands more assassination attempts? No.

Papa's courage and love are born of faith.  We should all be so loving towards "those who trespass against us"  ....  and we all know where that comes from.

Just one more thing ... I think I understand where we all meet ... concern for Papa's safety.  The way I see it, that's the job of his security detail which obviously was not quick enough the first time around.  Maybe they'll tighten up for the future.  Forgiveness and mercy are Papa's job.

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PapaBear, may I point out that I think you got something wrong here. Of course it is Papa's job to forgive Ms Maiolo and show his compassion and concern for her, but that is not the point here. We all agree on that.
It's the manner in which is was done that we're critical of. Did it have to be a personal meeting? You would think that the visit by Msgr Gänswein would have sufficed to convey Papa's forgiveness to her. No need to reward her with a private audience - and a reward it was. The comparison with Ali Agca is not convincing, that was a totally different situation. After all Agca wanted to kill the pope, so meeting him in person will hardly have been a reward for Agca. And the fact remains that this meeting sends out the wrong signals to nutty people everywhere.

So, no 'holier than thou' attitude, please.

Sorry, have to go, have to join Simone in the gym

I didn't switch my computer on at all yesterday, but this morning received the VIS bulletin in my e-mail. I was shocked that the Holy Father had received Susanna Maiolo - I'm afraid I agree with Benevolens here. There is no comparison with Ali Agca What's it - sorry, can't get my head round his name. That man was serving a very long prison sentence for having tried to kill JPII. That Pope did not see him immediately, but some years after the event and it was for the Pope to forgive him, reconcile with him. Again, I repeat - no comparison.

When we go to Rome we do the right thing. Naturally we'd all like to speak to the Holy Father, but we are sensible women with lives - we do not need to be told to "get a life", for we already have real lives. And we are not mentally unstable. This meeting was a reward for bad behaviour. I've been a teacher for many years; bad behaviour was never rewarded, it was punished in a suitable way.

I think it was suffficient that Georg Gaenswein went to see this woman. That should have been the end of it. It's making too much of the incident for the Holy Father to receive the woman as he did. On this forum we had more or less moved on into the new year and put the nasty thing behind us. Now this!!!!!

I think we can agree to differ, those friends who are not of the same opinion on this, and remain friends. I'll continue as vice-administrator here, but I'm distancing myself from everything papal from now on. I shall concentrate on my life as a Catholic.

Sorry, dear ones, but that's how I feel.
Love as always, Mary xxx
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[Modificato da maryjos 15/01/2010 15:48]

Musings on Musings

Mary, I'm glad to see you back on the forum. When you didn't post anything yesterday after the news got out about Papa's meeting with Susan, I thought you must have been so gobsmacked (is that the right word?) that you couldn't speak.

I have been thinking about this situation a lot since it happened. Okay, I know there are a lot of worse things going on in the world that I probably should be thinking about but I am very curious about Papa's thought process. I can understand why he would send George G. to convey his forgiveness to Susan. As PapaB and others have pointed out, it is the Christian thing to do. And I am sure that Papa wanted to help the girl get better. Absolving guilt certainly helps in that process. And perhaps he felt this would keep her from showing up yet again at the next Christmas Eve Mass. But in addition to all that, as someone with more than a genius intellect, Papa must be curious. I suspect he wanted George G. to find out as much as he could about Susan's background, mental problems, and reason for showing up repeatedly at Christmas Mass. And being an authority on the Bible and Church history, Papa would also know about all the stories of God sending his message to key people, including popes, through designated individuals, often saints but not always. I wonder if he wasn't just a bit curious as to what Susan thought her message was.

Of course, all this could have been discovered by George G. during his visit, unless Susan insisted that she had to deliver her "message" personally to the pope. So why did Papa then go one step further and meet with her personally? That's what I would really like to know. I am sure he knew that such a meeting would help her emotional condition and her poor long-suffering parents. Perhaps her doctors even suggested something to that effect. But that meeting is a hard pill to swallow and I am sure that it is harder for all of you girls who have made one or many trips to Rome hoping to get close to Papa.

I have to admit that I am somewhat jealous of Susan's access to Papa even though I haven't been to Rome and am not likely to go there. There is a quote in the Bible that was used as the title of a story by a famous American writer: "the violent bear it away". I interpret that to mean that those who brutally take action, often breaking the rules, get the prize. In this case, the prize was meeting Papa. Our forum members play by the rules but usually can't get close enough for even a fleeting touch of his hand. It doesn't seem fair. It's not that they resent Susan being given an equal share; it's that she has gotten the whole enchilada while they have worked the whole day and gotten crumbs.

Sorry, girls, for the long rant but I am still trying to figure it all out.

Mary, we know you are going to melt. You've been over the moon about Papa for too long to give up on him. The best thing to do is what simone, benevolens, and cowgirl are doing--hit the gym.

P.S. That photo you posted isn't Susan Maiolo.

Goodness!!!!

R*E*L*A*X !!!

What the heck... she met him. It's over with. Whatever the reason was, why he agreed or wanted to meet her. It's fine, It's over.

Please, let's not turn this into some 'ranting fiest' for days.
There are certainly many more far more important things happening on this planet!!!!

Okay, onward and upward....


BENEDICT XVI TO VISIT MUSEUM AS WELL AS SYNAGOGUE

Special Exhibit Opens for Sunday Tour

By Carmen Elena Villa

ROME, JAN. 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI on Sunday will visit not only Rome's synagogue, but also the Jewish Museum of the Eternal City.

For the occasion, the museum has organized an exhibit called "Et Ecce Gaudium": The Jews of Rome and the Investiture Ceremony of the Popes." The exhibit will present to the public panels dating from the 1700s that had been thought lost.

The exhibit was presented today at a press conference held in the museum.

The display will show paintings and documents that explain the role of Rome's Jewish community for the investiture ceremonies of the popes of the 1700s.

During the ceremonies, the new pope would ride on horseback in procession from the Vatican to St. John Lateran. The Jewish community decorated a stretch of the route from the Coliseum to the Arch of Titus, with large panels carrying symbolic figures and quotes.

These panels -- intended to be disposable -- were thought to have been lost, but 14 of them resurfaced in the Historical Archives of the Jewish Community of Rome. The museum exhibit will include panels from the pontificates of Clement XII (1730), Clement XIII (1758), Clement XIV (1769) and Pius VI (1775).

The panels are considered to reflect an important chapter in the relationship between the Church and the Jewish community.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Jan. 18 to March 11.

A first

Italy officially declared the archive of Rome's Jewish community to be of "notable historical interest" in 1981. It houses documents from the beginning of the 16th century to the years following World War II.

There will be an opening ceremony for Benedict XVI's visit, which will be attended by Riccardo Di Segni, rabbi of Rome.

"Pope Benedict XVI is the first Pontiff to visit a Jewish museum, just as the Jewish Museum of Rome is the first Jewish museum to be visited by a Pope," Daniela Di Castro, director of the museum, noted during the press conference. "Hence, it is an immense honor for our museum, and with it opens for us the celebrations of the 50th anniversary."


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Pope’s synagogue visit divides Italian Jews

January 14, 2010

ROME (JTA) -- The upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the main synagogue in Rome has exposed splits in the Italian Jewish community.

Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, the former chief rabbi of Milan and current head of the Italian Rabbinical Assembly, was quoted Thursday as saying he will boycott Sunday's visit in part over the pope's recent decision to move World War II-era Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood.

"In my opinion, the meeting will have little short-term positive impact on Jewish-Catholic dialogue," Laras said in an interview published in the online edition of Germany's Jewish newspaper, Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung. "Only the Church will benefit from it, above all looking to its conservative elements."

Laras sharply criticized the pope's move last month to recognize the "heroic virtues" of Pius and said the Vatican's clarification after Jewish protests over the move had "not clarified anything." Because of this, he said, "I have decided not to attend the pope's visit."

Laras' decision put him in opposition to Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, who told reporters Wednesday that the papal visit would be a major step in an evolving relationship that was complex and also sometimes strained.

"This visit has a deep and profound significance, necessary in a time of world tension," he told la Repubblica. It would be a serious error, he said "to reduce it to speaking only about the things that divide us or about the beatification of Pius XII."

Di Segni said he planned to raise the issue of Pius, whom critics accuse of turning a blind eye to the suffering of Jewish persecution during the Holocaust, when he welcomed the pope on Sunday. He added that this also would demonstrate that "it is still possible to carry on a dialogue even when we have different convictions."


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Rome rabbi says pope's visit shows commitment to dialogue

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Jan. 13, 2010

ROME (CNS) -- Rome's chief rabbi said the planned visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the city's main synagogue and community center is a sign that Catholics and Jews are committed to respectful dialogue, even when their relationship hits stumbling blocks.

Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi, told Catholic News Service there is "a solid basis" for positive relations, but "with a storm every now and then."

The rabbi spoke in his office Jan. 12, just five days before Pope Benedict's first visit to the synagogue.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, had just sent Rabbi Di Segni a telegram expressing Pope Benedict's hope that his visit would "demonstrate and increase fraternity between Jews and Catholics and would mark another step in the irrevocable path of agreement and friendship."

Rabbi Di Segni said Pope Benedict's visit is important first of all as "a symbolic continuation of the gesture made by (Pope) John Paul II, who was the first pope to set foot in a synagogue in 19 centuries. There is precedence, though," because St. Peter obviously had been in synagogues, he added.

Visiting the synagogue 23 years after Pope John Paul did "is important because it is saying that the journey undertaken has not been interrupted, but will move forward," he said.

"Times have changed," the rabbi said. "Many things have been achieved; other things still need to be done. The path, the Jewish-Catholic encounter, is terribly complicated. It is not a smooth road leading onward, but it is one continually filled with stumbling blocks. The visit of a pope to the synagogue should demonstrate that beyond the stumbling blocks there is a substantial desire to communicate with each other and resolve problems."

While the Jewish community has expressed concern over several of Pope Benedict's decisions, including his decision a year ago to lift the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop who denied the extent of the Holocaust, the rabbi said the key problem is what Jews see as mixed signals from the pope about the Catholic Church's position on the religious significance of Judaism itself.

"From a strictly religious point of view, the question is the significance of Judaism. Has its role ended? Must we all convert?" he said.

While affirming that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, some Catholic theologians and some of the writings of Pope Benedict have recognized the ongoing value of the Jewish people's covenant with God.

In a book-length interview in 2000, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said the Jews have a mission to fulfill in the world until the Messiah comes again.

But, Rabbi Di Segni said, the pope is also the person who, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 2000 published the document "Dominus Iesus," which insisted faith in Christ was necessary for salvation.

Another point of tension, the rabbi said, is Pope Benedict's decision in December to move forward the sainthood cause of Pope Pius XII, whom many Jews believe did not do enough to denounce the Holocaust.

"It is a historical question, a problem that is still very much open," the rabbi said.

For the Jewish community, especially in Rome, the question of Pope Pius is "a dramatic one, it's a raw nerve that involves the behavior not only of that one personality, but also regards the anti-Judaism of the church and the interpretation of the Shoah," the Holocaust, he said.

The rabbi said that such a sensitive issue should be handled "much more slowly and with much deeper study."

Still, Rabbi Di Segni said, Pope Benedict's visit and other "grand gestures" made by the popes and leaders of the Jewish community have a great impact on helping faithful Catholics and Jews see one another as neighbors to be respected.

"We experience this each day, even though there may be scattered pockets of resistance or fundamentalist attitudes or even hostility" toward one another, he said.

While Rome's Jewish community has only about 10,000 registered members, he said, "our community has a huge symbolic importance because we are the community next door to the Vatican. It is here that the first Christian Jews came -- there were already Jews here for two centuries and they never left, so there was always a relationship with the Vatican."

As is often the case, he said, "it's hardest to establish good relations with the person closest to you."

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews, told reporters Jan. 13 that Catholic-Jewish relations increasingly have been marked by "real friendship," which allows leaders on both sides to share their concerns and hopes and work together for the good of the world.

He also agreed with Rabbi Di Segni that Pope Benedict's visit "expresses a will to continue" the dialogue.

While the public may have the impression that Pope Benedict is not as committed to Catholic-Jewish dialogue as Pope John Paul was, that is absolutely not true, Cardinal Kasper said.

"I've known (Pope Benedict) for 45 years now," he said. "He was always very much in favor of dialogue; it is very close to his heart," the cardinal said.

As for concerns about Catholic attempts to convert Jews, Cardinal Kasper said he and the pope have "spoken about this problem very often and we are in full agreement" that Christianity has a special relationship to Judaism because of the Jewish roots of Christianity.

"The church has a universal mission, it is clear," he said, but its "mission is articulated in different ways."

"A Christian has to give a witness of his faith, just as we expect the Jews to witness their faith to us," the cardinal said.

But he said an organized mission to convert Jews "is excluded; it is not possible."

"We cannot give up our belief that Jesus is the universal savior -- we cannot give up this belief, and Jewish people know this. It is our belief. But we must respect each other in our otherness," the cardinal said.

Cardinal Kasper said the first decade of formal Catholic-Jewish dialogue was focused on the past and on healing, while today it is focused on what Catholics and Jews hold in common, how they can learn from each other and how their common beliefs and values can help the world.

The cardinal said Pope Benedict hopes his visit to the synagogue will continue to highlight "what we have in common: belief in one God, which is very important in a secularized world," the ongoing validity of the Ten Commandments, the obligation to safeguard human life and the family, and ways to promote justice and peace.

Pope prays for victims of Haiti quake; archbishop's body found

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Jan. 13, 2010

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI prayed for victims of a massive earthquake in Haiti and urged the international community to provide generous assistance to the stricken population of the Caribbean nation.

The victims included Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince.

"The lifeless body of Archbishop Joseph Miot of Port-au-Prince was found this morning under the rubble of the archbishops' residence," L'Osservatore Romano said in a Page 1 story Jan. 13.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Haiti, told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides: "Port-au-Prince is completely devastated. The cathedral and the archbishop's residence, all the big churches, all the seminaries are reduced to rubble."

Pope Benedict made his appeal at the end of his general audience Jan. 13, some 12 hours after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti, toppling buildings and causing widespread destruction. The number of casualties was not immediately known, but local officials called it a major catastrophe.

Pope Benedict said he wanted to highlight the dramatic situation in Haiti following the "devastating earthquake, which resulted in serious loss of human life, a great number of homeless and missing, and enormous material damage."

"I appeal to the generosity of everyone, so that our brothers and sisters receive our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community in this moment of need and suffering," he said.

He said the Catholic Church's charity organizations would immediately move into action to assist those most in need.

"I invite everyone to join in my prayer to the Lord for the victims of this catastrophe and for those who are mourning their loss. I assure my spiritual closeness to people who have lost their homes and to all those affected in various ways by this calamity, imploring from God consolation and relief of their suffering," he said.

Archbishop Auza said he had toured the capital on the morning after the earthquake and found the country's ministry buildings, schools and supermarkets destroyed. He said the headquarters of the U.N. stabilization force in Port-au-Prince had completely collapsed, reportedly trapping hundreds in the debris.

"I found priests and nuns on the street, who no longer have homes. The rector of the seminary survived, and so did the dean, but the seminarians are under the rubble. Everywhere there are cries coming from under the rubble," he said.

He said a study institute for men and women religious had collapsed, with many students inside as they attended a conference. The nunciature withstood the quake, and there were no injuries there, he said.

"We cannot enter or stay inside for very long because the earth continues to tremble. So we're camped out in the garden," he said.

Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella organization for Catholic charities, said it was mobilizing to provide immediate assistance to Haiti. On Jan. 13 it had already assembled an emergency relief team to fly to Haiti to assist Caritas members already working in the country. It said there had not yet been contact with the Haitian Caritas office.

Caritas Internationalis humanitarian director Alistair Dutton was leading the emergency relief team, Caritas said in a statement.

"There is a strong Caritas presence in Haiti. We already know that Caritas staff will be providing support to survivors of the earthquake, such as food, shelter and comfort through churches and parish networks," Dutton said.

"A priority for Caritas will be to assess the damage and our local capacity to provide aid to survivors of the quake. Caritas runs more than 200 hospitals and medical centers in Haiti. It is experienced and prepared to respond to humanitarian disasters there as a result of the frequent hurricanes," he said.

"Communication with our staff on the ground is difficult, but we are piecing together a picture of desperate need. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Conflict, recent natural disasters, and poverty have left Haitians with weak infrastructure. Working in that environment will be difficult," he said.

In its statement, Caritas said the cathedral in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was badly damaged.

Caritas also said the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services had been in communication with its staff in Haiti. The local CRS office was still standing and CRS staff present at the time of the quake were safe, it said. CRS staff described the quake as "a major hit ... a direct hit."


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People digging for loved ones under mountains of debris, says nuncio

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Jan. 14, 2010

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- People have been pleading for help in digging loved ones out from under the rubble while others have fled to the hills for fear of tsunamis, said the Vatican's nuncio to Haiti.

In an e-mail to Catholic News Service Jan. 14 from the capital, Port-au-Prince, Archbishop Bernardito Auza said he and others were trying to round up all the priests and religious men and women who had been left with nothing. He visited religious houses and centers to check on conditions and to express Pope Benedict XVI's concerns.

The archbishop said the aftershocks were continuing, but were less violent.

"People are sleeping on the street and wandering around with nowhere to go, but many have fled for the mountains out of fear of tsunamis," he said.

"We're having great logistical difficulties for very evident reasons. We don't have any water reserves, and gas stations are closed," he said.

He confirmed that Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince was killed in the magnitude 7 quake that struck Jan. 12.

As of early Jan. 14, one of the archdiocese's vicars general, Msgr. Charles Benoit, and the chancellor were still under the wreckage of the collapsed archbishop's residence. The nuncio said the chancellor had definitely been killed, but the fate of Msgr. Benoit remained uncertain because the bodies were buried in debris.

"The four floors of the archbishop's house have been reduced to a pile of cement," he said.

Archbishop Auza said he visited the city's major seminary, which was reduced to a heap of dust and debris.

"Thanks be to God, all except one of the instructors were able to get out from under the rubble but three or four seminarians are still missing, and nine have been confirmed dead," he said in the e-mail.

He added that church officials were uncertain as to the total number of religious who were killed in the quake.

The exodus of people from the city was helping "decongest the capital, which has nothing" left, he added.

A group of bishops met Jan. 13 at the nunciature to coordinate efforts and come to some decisions on a plan for action. The bishops were to follow up that meeting with another gathering at the nunciature Jan. 15 with leaders from CRS and Caritas, he said.

CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED BY THE POPE: FEBRUARY-APRIL


VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2010 (VIS) - Below is the calendar of liturgical celebrations due to be presided over by the Holy Father between February and April.


FEBRUARY

- Tuesday 2. Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day of Consecrated Life. At 5.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Vespers with members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life.

- Wednesday 17. Ash Wednesday. At 4.30 p.m. in the basilica of Sant'Anselmo, "statio" and penitential procession. At 5 p.m. in the basilica of Santa Sabina, blessing and imposition of the ashes.

- Friday 19. At 11 a.m. in the Concistory Hall, concistory for certain causes of canonisation.

- Sunday 21. First Sunday of Lent. At 6 p.m. in the Apostolic Palace's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

- Saturday 27. At 9 a.m. in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.


MARCH

- Sunday 7. Third Sunday of Lent. Pastoral visit to the Roman parish of St. John of the Cross. At 9 a.m., celebration of the Eucharist.

- Thursday 25. At 8.30 p.m. in St. Peter's Square. Meeting with young people of Rome and Lazio in preparation for World Youth Day.

- Sunday 28. Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, blessing of palms, procession and Mass.

- Monday 29. At 6 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Mass for the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.


APRIL

- Thursday 1. Holy Thursday. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Chrism Mass. At 5.30 p.m. in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, beginning of the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper.

- Friday 2. Good Friday. At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, celebration of the Lord's Passion. At 9.15 p.m. at the Colosseum, Way of the Cross.

- Saturday 3. Holy Saturday. At 9 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Easter vigil.

- Sunday 4. Easter Sunday. Mass in St. Peter's Square at 10.15 a.m. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.

- Saturday 17-Sunday 18: Apostolic trip to Malta.

maryjos, 14/01/2010 19:09:

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I'm saying nothing. Should have kept my feelings to myself.

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oh yes but I can hear it from here

Don't change anything, I love you that way Mary

By the way, what are you planning for next september when our papa will be in your country ?

Pope Benedict thanks CDF for bioethics contributions

Vatican City, Jan 15, 2010 / 12:13 pm (CNA).- Speaking with the members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on Friday, Pope Benedict expressed gratefulness for their work, particularly focusing on their efforts to apply Christians ethics to in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene therapy.

The Pope first highlighted the 2008 Instruction "Dignitas Personae," which dealt with the morality of in vitro fertilization, new forms of contraception, freezing embryos, cloning, the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos, genetic screening and gene therapy, among other biomedical processes.

“Dignitas Personae” represents "a new milestone in the announcement of the Gospel, in full continuity with the Instruction 'Donum vitae' published by the dicastery in 1987,” the Holy Father said.

“In such delicate and pressing questions ... the Magisterium of the Church seeks to offer its own contribution to the formation of consciences, not only the consciences of believers but of everyone who seeks the truth and is willing to listen to arguments that arise not only from the faith, but also from reason itself," he explained.

Reflecting on how Christianity makes its truthful contribution in the field of ethics and philosophy, Pope Benedict said that it does not offer “prefabricated solutions to real problems such as biomedical research and experimentation, but presents moral standpoints within which human reason can seek and find appropriate solutions.”

"There are, in fact, certain aspects of Christian revelation that throw light on the problems of bioethics. ... These aspects, inscribed in the heart of man, are also understandable in rational terms as elements of natural moral law, and may find acceptance even among people who do not recognize themselves in the Christian faith," he observed to the Congregation.

Noting that natural moral law is accessible to all people, the Holy Father said this applies to both “civil and secular society." "This law, inscribed in the heart of all human beings, touches an essential aspect of legal theory and appeals to legislators' consciences and sense of responsibility," he concluded.


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Pope defends invitation to Anglicans to convert

By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
Friday, January 15, 2010; 10:14 AM

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI defended his decision to invite disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church en masse, saying Friday it was the "ultimate aim" of ecumenism.

Benedict told members of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the invitation wasn't an attack on the church's reunification efforts with other Christians but was rather designed to help them by bringing about "full and visible communion."

The Vatican in October announced it was making it easier for traditional Anglicans upset over women priests and gay bishops to join the Catholic Church while retaining many of their Anglican traditions, including married priests.

The move roiled the 77-million Anglican Communion, already on the verge of schism over woman and gay clergy, particularly since its spiritual leader, Archbishop Rowan Williams, wasn't consulted and was only informed at the last minute.

Anglicans split from Rome in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. For decades, the two churches have held theological discussions on trying to reunite, part of the Vatican's broader, long-term ecumenical effort to unify all Christians who have separated from Rome over the centuries.

The Vatican denied that it was poaching for converts in the Anglican pond and said its unprecedented invitation was merely a response to the many Anglican requests to join the Catholic Church.

The Vatican's invitation "is not in any way contrary to the ecumenical movement but shows, instead, its ultimate aim which consists of reaching full and visible communion of the Lord's disciples," Benedict told the members of the congregation, which he headed for a quarter century before becoming pope.

Benedict has made healing the divisions in the church a priority of his papacy, reaching out not only to Anglicans but also to Orthodox Christians and breakaway Catholics as well in a bid to unify all the Christian faithful.

In that vein, he told congregation members that he hoped they resolve the remaining doctrinal problems with a group of traditionalist conservatives, the Society of St. Pius X, which includes a Holocaust-denying bishop.

The society, founded in 1969 by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, split from Rome over the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly its outreach to Jews. Lefebvre and four bishops were excommunicated in 1988 after Lefebvre consecrated them without papal consent.

Last year, Benedict removed the excommunications, sparking outrage because one of the bishops, British Bishop Richard Williamson, had denied that any Jews were gassed during the Holocaust.

Benedict apologized for mistakes in the Williamson affair but has insisted that his overall aim of bringing the society back under Rome's wing was necessary to prevent greater division in the church and promote unity.

"Achieving the common witness to faith of all Christians is a priority of the Church at all times," Benedict said Friday. "In this spirit, I trust in the commitment of the (congregation) so that the doctrinal problems that remain with the Society of St. Pius X ... can be overcome."

Jewish groups have denounced Benedict's rehabilitation of Williamson as well as his moves to put the World War II-era pontiff, Pope Pius XII, on the path to possible sainthood. Some historians and Jewish groups say Pius didn't sufficiently denounce the Holocaust.

The criticism has overshadowed Benedict's planned visit this weekend to Rome's main synagogue, prompting at least one rabbi and one prominent Jewish community member to announce they will not attend.

Cardinal hurt in attack on pope is released

Associated Press
2010-01-15 09:20 PM

A French cardinal who broke his hip when a woman knocked over Pope Benedict XVI during Christmas Eve Mass has been released from the hospital in good condition.

Rome's Sacred Heart Catholic University says 87-year-old Cardinal Roger Etchegaray will continue to receive physical therapy and rehabilitation at his home following hip replacement surgery Dec. 27. It said his condition is good.

Etchegaray was knocked over when a woman with a history of psychiatric problems jumped the security barricade in St. Peter's Basilica and pulled the pope to the ground at the start of Mass Dec. 24.

Benedict was not hurt, but Etchegaray was taken to the hospital with a fractured hip.

Benedict met with the woman, Susanna Maiolo, on Wednesday and forgave her.

Amid Tension, Pope Will Pay Visit to Synagogue

By Jeff Israely
TIME Magazine
Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010

When Pope John Paul II stepped into Rome's central synagogue on April 13, 1986, the man in white was met by a thunderclap of applause. After centuries of Jews suffering through pogroms, ghettos, Nazi death camps and arm's-length-at-best cohabitation with Christians, the first-ever papal visit to a Jewish house of worship — entering the synagogue side by side with Rome's avuncular chief Rabbi Elio Toaff — was much more than a photo op. It was a shared embrace to begin to heal the wounds of history.

Still, the momentous visit 24 years ago, during which John Paul referred to Jews as Christians' "older brothers," could never fully erase that history. And indeed, when John Paul's successor, Benedict XVI, crosses the Tiber River on Sunday to visit that same synagogue, he will be dogged by a new dispute about the past: the controversy over the Vatican's decision last month to push for possible sainthood for World War II-era Pope Pius XII, whom some Jewish groups and scholars blame for not doing enough to try to halt the Holocaust. Because of this and other tensions in the five years of his papacy, Benedict may be met by slightly more tepid applause from his Jewish hosts.

One of Italy's leading rabbis, Giuseppe Laras, said he would boycott the service, citing a number of sore points with the Pope, most notably his decision to reactivate Pius XII's sainthood dossier, which Benedict himself had put on hold three years ago to await more historical study. "The Pope's visit to the Rome synagogue is a negative fact," Laras, head of the Italian Rabbinic Assembly, told the German-Jewish community newspaper Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung. "[The visit] won't bring anything worthwhile, but will only serve the most reactionary sectors of the Catholic Church."

Other Jewish leaders from around the world have also reacted with consternation at the move toward beatifying Pius XII. Although the naming of saints is an internal matter for Catholics, David Harris of the American Jewish Committee said "the church's repeated insistence that it seeks mutually respectful ties with the Jewish community also means taking our sensitivities into account on the Holocaust era."

Church leaders have sought to reassure their Jewish counterparts both inside and outside of Italy, with some even urging the Vatican to postpone the Pope's long-scheduled visit to the early 20th century Great Synagogue of Rome. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said that the "heroic virtue" designation that came with Pius being given the title "venerable" last month — the first step toward his beatification and eventual sainthood — is not a historical verdict but an internal religious evaluation. Lombardi also emphasized how much the church treasures its rapport with the Jews, and said that the study of Pius's war record will continue.

Although he has not personally seen the documents in the Holy See archives, one senior Vatican official tells TIME that he is confident that Pius would not have been elevated to venerable status without solid evidence in the records showing he had tried his best to save Jews during the Holocaust, either by sheltering them or by not issuing a public papal denunciation, which could have just accelerated the killings. "We also need to try to see those events as they were being lived at the time, and be much more understanding about the value in the prudence that was exercised," he said. "History is not that tidy."

Some Jewish leaders, however, are not as upset about Benedict's synagogue visit. Riccardo Di Segni, who took over as Rome's chief rabbi in 2001, has not always seen eye to eye with Benedict. He cancelled a Catholic-Jewish meeting last year after the Pope's decision to allow wider use of the traditional Latin liturgy, which includes a Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of the Jews. But he and other Jews felt it was better to move ahead with the synagogue visit as planned.

Riccardo Pacifici, president of Rome's Jewish Community, says that the potential upside of the visit outweighs any doubts over whether Pius deserves to be a saint. "We hope the images going out to the world of the Pope coming to a Jewish house of worship ... will send out a signal on the individual level that we can all dialogue with the 'other' with the force of our conscience and our heads held high, and without feeling barriers of fear or prejudice," he says.

While Di Segni has indicated he will speak about the Pius case during the service on Sunday, it is unclear whether Benedict will mention it, or details of his own experience as a teenager in Germany during World War II. In contrast to John Paul's willingness to talk about the war years, Benedict has offered scant recollections of his forced conscription into the Hitler Youth group. "I believe every elderly German has something worth telling Jews, and maybe also asking forgiveness," Pacifici says.

Tulia Zevi, another top Italian-Jewish leader, says that even John Paul's visit to the synagogue 24 years ago was met with some hesitation at first. "There were very mixed feelings, excitement but also skepticism. But we also understood it was a very big event," Zevi recalled. One of the other Jewish leaders who attended that 1986 service will also likely be revisiting his memories this weekend. Toaff was five years older than John Paul when he greeted him on the steps of the synagogue on that spring day. When John Paul died in 2005, the rabbi was one of just two living people mentioned in his last will and testament. At 94, still with a wry smile, Toaff will be there Sunday to help welcome the new Pope. It's possible that in his own way, John Paul will be there, too.

Pope Quiz: Is Every Pontiff a Saint?

By DAVID GIBSON
The New York Times
January 16, 2010

When Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree last month that nudged nearer to sainthood his controversial wartime predecessor, Pius XII, he sparked another round of the sort of Jewish-Catholic disputations that have marked his papacy, and even cast doubt on whether his trip to Rome’s main synagogue, set for Sunday, would go on.

The Vatican paired the announcement of Pius XII’s “heroic virtue” — the step before beatification, which would be followed by canonization, or sainthood — with a similar declaration about Pope John Paul II, who was considered a great friend to the Jews. No matter. Jewish leaders were furious, though Rome’s Jews decided to go ahead with the papal visit.

Pope Benedict’s decision of course renewed the longstanding debate over Pius’s World War II legacy (was he “silent” or even complicit in the Nazi extermination of the Jews?), but there is another question here that goes beyond Pius:

Should any pope be made a saint?

The church counts less than a third of all 264 dead popes as saints, and most were canonized by popular acclaim in the first centuries of Christianity, often because they were martyrs. Only five were canonized in the entire second millennium, and when Pius X, who died in 1914, was made a saint in 1954 — by Pius XII — he was the first pope so honored in nearly 400 years.

Now nearly every recent pope is on the canonization track. John Paul II beatified Pius IX, the 19th-century pope who is a polarizing figure because of his belief in the power of the papacy and his views on Judaism. But like Benedict, John Paul did a little ticket-balancing. He simultaneously beatified the popular John XXIII, who convened the liberalizing Second Vatican Council in 1962. The canonization process for Paul VI, who followed John XXIII, is underway, and there is a campaign to beatify John Paul I, who reigned a mere 33 days before his death in 1978.

This trend, by some accounts, is creating several problems. One is that it can dilute the meaning of sainthood; all who die and go to heaven are saints, but those officially recognized as such by the church are exalted as worthy of veneration and imitation. Is every pope such an exemplar? Moreover, by canonizing predecessors a reigning pope elevates the throne he himself occupies and practically ensures that his successor one day will declare him a saint as well — as if sanctity were an award for becoming pope.

This overlooks the reality that the cardinals in a conclave are electing a leader to govern the church. As the German theologian Karl Rahner put it, if a pope turns out to be a wonderful Christian, that’s “a happy coincidence,” just as when the president of the chess club is also a great player. It is not necessarily relevant, however, to the health of the chess club — or the church.

In fact, conclaves have often looked for a pope who could govern firmly and defend the church in a dangerous world because that’s what a pope usually had to do. But in modern times, as popes became, first, “prisoners of the Vatican” after the unification of Italy in 1870, and then globetrotting media stars a century later, they also became the universal face of Catholicism. “Before that, most Catholics would be hard pressed to name the pope and almost none would know what he looked like,” said Christopher Bellitto, a church historian at Kean University in Union, N.J. “After 1870, with cheap printing and his prisoner-of-the-Vatican status, the pope’s face became recognizable and a rallying point for those who wanted to see the world as standing against the church.”

This “papalization” of the church means that every pope must now be seen as a holy man, indeed the holiest man in the church, even if there are pressing issues of governance that would require more savvy than piety. Although John Paul II is a lock for sainthood, serious questions about his administration of the church are emerging as the clergy sexual abuse scandals reveal how he neglected the mundane but critical tasks of being pope.

The Rev. Richard McBrien, a theology professor at Notre Dame and author of “Lives of the Popes,” suggested that canonizations may be a defense against criticism of popes, and he said the church would do better to canonize more saintly lay people — parents and grandparents and regular holy folk “with whom the overwhelming majority of Catholics can identify.”

“The only one of the recent batch of papal candidates for canonization who is at all credible is John XXIII,” Father McBrien wrote in an e-mail message. “But I would gladly trade John XXIII’s candidacy for the suspension of procedures on behalf of the other recent popes.”

Yet to avoid canonizing John Paul II or any pope at this point could come off as an insult, or a knock on the papacy. That forces promoters of papal canonizations, and defenders of Pius XII in particular, to create a false division between official actions and personal piety. As a papal spokesman said in defending Benedict’s decision on Pius, “the evaluation essentially concerns the witness of Christian life that the person showed ... and not the historical impact of all his operative decisions.”

But as Mr. Bellitto said, “based on this formula, plenty of nice people who did awful things would qualify for sainthood — and they’d hardly be models for the rest of us.”

Such a restricted view of sainthood also easily dismisses the realities of a pope’s job — and the debatable record of Pius XII. Hans Küng, the dissident Swiss theologian, recalls an episode during his days as a student in Rome in the 1950s when the private secretary of Pius XII, Father Robert Lieber, visited the seminary. Father Küng and the other young men pestered Father Lieber about whether the aristocratic Pius was a saint: “No, no!” the priest insisted. “Pius XII is not a saint. He is a great man of the church.”

It’s a verdict that makes Pius XII neither villain nor plaster icon, but neither does it answer the question of what a modern pope should be — a leader of the church or a model of sanctity?

David Gibson, author of a biography of Benedict XVI, writes on religion at PoliticsDaily.com.

Pope: End of Nazism made me happy

By FRANCES D'EMILIO
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 16, 2010; 3:23 PM

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI, on the eve of his controversy-generating visit to a Rome synagogue, said Saturday that the end of Nazi tyranny in his German homeland made him happy and allowed him to resume studies for the priesthood.

His visit to Rome's main synagogue scheduled for Sunday has divided Jewish groups because of Benedict's praise of wartime pontiff Pius XII.

Some Jewish leaders were angered by Benedict's recent move to advance Pius down the path toward possible sainthood. Critics contend that Pius didn't speak out enough to save Jews during the Holocaust, but the Vatican insists that he used quiet diplomacy to save lives.

On Saturday, Benedict reminisced about his youth in Germany with a group of Germans from Freising, the city where he was ordained in 1951 and where he had studied in a seminary a few years earlier after the institution reopened in February 1946, a few months after the war ended.

"We were able to resume (studies) and it was a significant moment in our lives," Benedict said, recalling how he and fellow seminarians felt about returning to the seminary.

In those immediate postwar days, seminary furnishings were "spartan," he recalled in off-the-cuff remarks to a delegation of Freising citizens who conferred honorary citizenship. "But we were happy, not only because we had escaped the war's misery and dangers and Nazi dominion, but because we were free" and preparing once more for the priesthood, Benedict said.

The seminarians knew that Christ was "stronger than tyranny, than the strength of its ideology and of its mechanisms of oppression," the pope said.

As a young man in Germany in the final years of the war, Benedict was forced to serve in the Hitler Youth corps and deserted the Nazi army.

The Vatican has said it hopes the pope's appearance at Rome's main synagogue - 24 years after Pope John Paul II's history-making visit to the synagogue helped improve Vatican-Jewish ties - would foster respect for Jews.

Italy's rabbis are split over whether the synagogue should receive Benedict since he signed a decree last month praising Pius' "heroic virtues," an important step in the Vatican process for beatification and possible sainthood.

Rabbi calls Israel's treatment of Vatican 'outrageous'

By Cnaan Liphshiz
Haaretz
Last update - 03:05 17/01/2010

Israel's behavior toward the Vatican over the past 15 years has been "outrageous," one of the figures behind the 1994 establishment of diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Vatican City told Haaretz last week. "Any [other] country would have threatened to withdraw its ambassador long ago over Israel's failure to honor agreements," Rabbi David Rosen said.

Rosen is to attend the meeting scheduled in Rome today between Pope Benedict XVI and a delegation from Israel's Chief Rabbinate, which is taking place at a time of crisis in the Vatican's relations with Israel and with Jewish leaders.

Rosen, a British-born former chief rabbi of Ireland who is the international director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee, said the Vatican agreed to diplomatic relations with Israel after Jerusalem pledged to recognize the legal status of Catholic institutions in Israel and exempt Vatican property in Israel from taxes. The process was to take two years, he said.

"Fifteen years later, the state has not ratified an agreement recognizing the church's legal status," Rosen said. He said the Vatican wants its internal hierarchy recognized by Israeli law, which at present treats each Catholic church as a separate nonprofit organization.

Israeli bureaucrats wore down the Vatican by negotiating every tax clause separately instead of granting a general concession, as expected by the Vatican, Rosen said. He called claims that the Vatican wants Israel to cede territory to it "falsehoods" propagated by "xenophobes."

Last month Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon discussed the legal issues in Rome with Vatican officials. He later said the talks "broke down" and that there was a "crisis" in relations.

Meanwhile, some Israeli politicians and Jewish leaders were angered by the Pope's proclamation last month that Pope Pius XII is eligible for for beatification, despite evidence that he may have turned a blind eye to the Holocaust.

"Most people don't know that almost every current problem in Vatican-Jewish relations began not with Pope Benedict, but with his predecessor Pope John Paul II, who is now seen as a saint by Jews," Rosen said.

Pope entrusts victims of Hatian tragedy to Virgin Mary

Vatican City, Jan 17, 2010 / 01:31 pm (CNA).- After praying the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI remembered those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. He prayed that patroness of Haiti, the Virgin Mary, protect and assist them so that they might "find aid and comfort."

The Holy Father mentioned that through contact with the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, he is keeping "constantly informed" as to the situation on the ground in the island country. Pope Benedict said that he heard from Archbishop Auza of the death of Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Serge Miot, and so many other priests, religious and seminarians.

Pope Benedict assured the charitable organizations who are "taking charge of the immense need of the country" that they have his support.

"I pray for the injured, for the homeless and for everyone who has tragically lost their life," he said.

Following the Angelus, as Benedict XVI addressed the French-speaking pilgrims, he entrusted the care of the "dear Haitian population" to the protection of the Holy Virgin in their current trials, so that they might "find aid and comfort."

The Pope finished by exclaiming in prayer, "May Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patroness of Haiti, protect her children!"