NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Special Council for Africa prepares suggestions for Pope Benedict

Vatican City, Jan 25, 2010 / 11:22 am (CNA).- The Vatican Press Office has released the details of the latest meeting of African bishops since the closing of their Special Assembly in October. A meeting of the Special Council for Africa was held on Jan. 19 - 20 at the Vatican to discuss continuing issues in the African Church.

The secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, hosted the council's second meeting in which all members, representing 12 African nations, were present.

As he introduced the agenda items for the meeting, Archbishop Eterovic reflected on the major themes addressed in October's assembly, which focused on achieving justice, peace and reconciliation in Africa. Finding reconciliation, the archbishop stated, must happen through the Sacrament of Penance and the ability to forgive. He also touched on the importance of avoiding the transformation of theology into politics and the protection of creation.

Each of the members reported on the positive effects of the Special Assembly and the current social and ecclesial climates in their countries and dioceses.

According to the press office statement, discussion was primarily dedicated to the fact that Churches in Africa often find themselves playing a role in defending the people from injustices. "The lack of peace leads the Church to a strong commitment to mediation and reception of those who suffer the consequences of internal wars," the bishops said.

The communique from the council also observed that "reconciliation continues to be a challenge for the Church in Africa, which must be reconciled in herself to become credible in her preaching and her social action."

The members of the special council also spoke of their wish to "establish relations of mutual understanding and collaboration" with other religions on the continent. They underscored that, above all, they must seek dialogue with the Islamic community, of whom they expressed their thought that "fundamentalist groups are always more repudiated and marginalized by official representatives of Islam."

The group wrapped up its meeting by organizing the proposals from October's Synod into a workable outline for the creation of a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation. Pope Benedict will craft the Apostolic Exhortation.

The council members hope the document will take “into account not only the real and concrete difficulties, but also many positive and promising situations of the African continent.” “In any case," they said, "the final text should maintain a fair equilibrium between a theological-spiritual perspective and an adaptation to the pastoral and social reality."

The special council will meet again from April 27 - 28.

FRENCH PHILOSOPHER DEFENDS BENEDICT XVI

Bernard-Henri Lévy Decries Spread of Disinformation

NEW YORK, JAN. 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A leading French philosopher and journalist published a defense of Benedict XVI in the Huffington Post, affirming that much of the media has been spreading disinformation about the Pope.

"It is time to put an end to the disingenuousness -- the bias, in a word -- and the disinformation concerning Benedict XVI," said Frenchman Bernard-Henri Lévy in his article, published Sunday. The post comes one week after the Pope visited Synagogue of Rome.

The writer, of Jewish origin, stated that "texts have been quite simply distorted, regarding his trip to Auschwitz in 2006, for example, where it was asserted […] that he paid homage to the 6 million Polish dead, victims of a mere 'band of criminals' without mentioning that half of them were Jews."

"The falsehood is downright staggering," Lévy asserted, "considering that, on that day, Benedict XVI plainly spoke of the attempt of the 'powerful of the
Third Reich' to 'eliminate the Jewish people' from the 'ranks of the nations of the earth.'"

The writer addressed the topic of the Pontiff's recent visit to the Synagogue of Rome, and the "chorus of disinformers" who reported negatively on this event.

He acknowledged the Holy Father's gestures and words as he paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and underlined the Church's commitment to build relations with the Jews.

Lévy also defended the role of Pope Pius XII in standing up for Jews against the Nazis. He stated, "We owe it to historical accuracy to point out that, before engaging in clandestine action, opening -- without saying so -- his convents to Roman Jews hunted by the fascist bullies, the 'silent' Pius XII made a number of speeches broadcast by radio."

"It's especially surprising," the writer noted, "that we place the entire weight of responsibility for the deafening silence concerning the Shoah that echoed throughout the world, or nearly all, upon the shoulders of a Sovereign of the time who had neither cannons nor aircraft at his disposal" who "went to great lengths, most historians tell us, to share with others who were informed the knowledge available to him" and "who in fact saved a great many of those he was morally responsible for, in Rome, but elsewhere as well."

The Frenchman concluded that "one can be both Pope and scapegoat."


Lévy, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, is known as one of the leading "New Philosophers." The term refers to those thinkers in France who criticized Marxism in the 1970s, as well as the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger.

POPE SAYS NOW IS TIME FOR UNITED TESTIMONY

Week of Prayer Concludes at Pauline Basilica

ROME, JAN. 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is appealing to all Christians to give a common witness starting immediately, even though full unity has not yet been achieved.

The Pope made this exhortation today during his homily at vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Today's feast of the Conversion of St. Paul brings an end to the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The Holy Father appealed to each Christian confession to "make its contribution to take the steps that lead to full communion."

Though acknowledging questions that "separate us from one another -- and that we hope can be overcome through prayer and dialogue," the Pontiff affirmed that there is the "central content of Christ's message that we can all proclaim together."

This message is "the fatherhood of God, the victory of Christ over sin and death with his cross and resurrection, and confidence in the Spirit's transforming action," he stated.

Meanwhile

Benedict XVI reflected that while Christians are "on the way to full communion," they already share the call to "give a common witness in face of the ever more complex challenges of our time."

On that list, the Pope said, are challenges such as "secularization and indifference, relativism and hedonism, the difficult ethical topics in regard to the beginning and end of life, the limits of science and of technology, and dialogue with other religious traditions."

Moreover, he proposed, there are new fields "in which from now on we must give a common witness."

Among them, the Pope highlighted "the safeguarding of creation, promotion of the common good and of peace, the defense of the centrality of the human person, the commitment to overcome the miseries of our time, such as hunger, indigence, illiteracy, and the unequal distribution of goods."

Edinburgh

Benedict XVI called to mind this year's 100th anniversary of a preliminary ecumenical gathering held in Scotland.

He reflected on the "fundamental intuition" of that 1910 gathering: that Christians cannot proclaim the Gospel credibly if they are divided.

The conference was "a determinant event for the birth of the modern ecumenical movement," the Pope said.

It is precisely "the desire to proclaim Christ to others and to take his message of reconciliation to the world that makes one feel the contradiction of the division of Christians," he added. "How, in fact, will unbelievers be able to accept the proclamation of the Gospel if Christians, despite all of them referring to the same Christ, are in disagreement among themselves?

"A century since the Edinburgh event, the intuition of those courageous precursors is still very present."

New and intense

The Bishop of Rome affirmed that in this world "marked by religious indifference, and even by a growing aversion to the Christian faith," there is a need for "a new, intense activity of evangelization," not only for those who have never heard the Gospel, but "also among those in which Christianity was disseminated and is part of their history."

Recalling the recently ended Year of St. Paul, the Holy Father stressed that common witness of the faith, "then as today, is born from the encounter with the Risen One, is nourished from a constant relationship with him, is animated by profound love for him."

"The force that promotes unity and the mission," the Pontiff concluded, "arises from the fecund and thrilling encounter with the Risen One, as happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus."

St. Francis is model of dialogue, respect for creation, pope says

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Jan. 27, 2010

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Calling St. Francis of Assisi "an authentic giant of holiness," Pope Benedict XVI said the 13th-century saint continues to be a model for living simply, respecting God's creation and entering into dialogue with people of other religions.

Continuing a series of talks about theologians and saints of the Middle Ages at his weekly general audience Jan. 27, the pope said St. Francis offers a clear demonstration that "the saints are the best interpreters of the Gospel" for people of every age.

Early in his process of conversion, the pope said, Francis was praying in the crumbling church of St. Damian in Assisi and heard Jesus speaking from the cross, telling him to repair the church. He carried out the work with his own hands.

"But the ruinous state of that church was a symbol of the dramatic, disturbing situation of the entire church of that age with its superficial faith that did not form and transform people's lives and with a clergy that was not zealous," the pope said.

The church "was decomposing from within," he said.

St. Francis dedicated himself to living the Gospel in a radical way, preaching its message far and wide and renewing the whole church, the pope said.

However, as a true saint and member of the church, Francis did not attempt to do anything "without or against the pope, but only with the pope," he said. Francis "knew that every charism given by the Holy Spirit must be placed at the service of the body of Christ, which is the church, therefore he acted in full communion with the ecclesiastical authorities."

In 1219, St. Francis went to Egypt and met with the Muslim leader, Sultan Malik al-Kamil.

"I want to underline this episode in the life of St. Francis because of its great relevance. At a time when there was a conflict between Christianity and Islam, Francis -- armed only with his faith and his personal meekness -- successfully followed the path of dialogue," the pope said.

St. Francis' desire to speak to the sultan and the sultan's cordial welcome is "a model that must inspire relations between Christians and Muslims today as well, promoting a dialogue in truth, mutual respect and understanding," he said.

Among the participants at the audience was a delegation of 79 Jewish, Muslim and Christian students and teachers from the cross-border towns of Eliat, Israel, and Aqabat, Jordan, who were in Rome for a performance of dance and theater about dialogue.

Another lesson St. Francis can teach Christians today, the pope said, is a proper attitude toward money and material comforts.

Although born into a wealthy family, Francis' conversion led him to understand how living the Gospel meant having "a sober lifestyle and a detachment from material goods," the pope said.

St. Francis' continuing popularity also is due to his sensitivity to the work of God through creation, he said.

"Love for other people and for all God's creatures is born from love of Christ," the pope said.

St. Francis' message is "very relevant today," the pope said, because human interventions are sustainable "only if they respect creation and do not damage the environment."

"Francis reminds us that God's wisdom and benevolence is displayed in creation; nature is a language which speaks to us of God and through which God speaks to us," Pope Benedict said.


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Remembering Holocaust, pope prays for respect for all people

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Jan. 27, 2010

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that honoring the memory of the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi death camps would lead everyone to greater respect for each human being.

"Deeply moved, we remember the innumerable victims of the blind racial and religious hatred, who suffered deportation, prison and death in those repugnant and inhuman places," he said Jan. 27 at the end of his weekly general audience.

Reading his prepared remarks in both German and Italian, the pope told the estimated 5,000 people at the general audience that Jan. 27 marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp at Oswiecim, Poland, and the rescue of "the few survivors."

"That event and the testimony of the survivors revealed to the world the heinous crimes of an unheard-of cruelty that were committed in the extermination camps created by Nazi Germany," he said.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, he said, is a time to "remember all the victims of those crimes, especially the planned annihilation of the Jews, and to honor those who, risking their own lives, protected the persecuted, opposing the homicidal madness."

Pope Benedict prayed that by remembering the Nazis' victims, all people would come to a greater respect for each human being and for the fact that there is only one human family.

"May almighty God enlighten hearts and minds so that such tragedies are never repeated," he said.

BRITISH POLITICIAN THANKS POPE FOR GLOBAL AID

Attests to Church's Role in Alleviating Poverty

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The British Secretary of State for International Development met with Benedict XVI to thank him for the Church's role in international aid, especially for the earthquake victims in Haiti.

Douglas Alexander traveled to Rome for this Tuesday meeting with the Pope, in which he spoke about issues of global poverty.

On his Web site, the politician stated before the meeting, "I am immensely honored to have been invited to meet with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and intend to thank him personally for his urgent appeal on Haiti."

Alexander expressed the hope to discuss with the Pontiff "the continued importance of tackling global poverty, and the role faith groups can play, not only in delivering health and education but also in their ability to create consensus and mobilize opinion in the developed world."

"I also plan on thanking the Holy Father for his regular speaking out on moral importance of countries living up to their overseas aid promises," he added.

An article on Alexander's Web site noted his intention to highlight the "Catholic Church's unique role on the world stage -- particularly at the grassroots level delivering health and education services, and their significant influence on important issues such as climate change and conflict resolution -- as well as the work by Catholics across Scotland and the [United Kingdom] in support of tackling global poverty."

Today's edition of L'Osservatore Romano featured an article by Alexander, in which he noted that a quarter of all health care in sub-Saharan Africa is provided by the Catholic Church, and that Catholic schools serve nearly 12 million students, "offering opportunities to many people there."

"The Holy See is in a unique position" in the fight against poverty, the politician reiterated.

He noted on his Web site that prior to his Rome trip he spoke to Cardinal Keith O'Brien, archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, who "was delighted that I will have the opportunity to discuss these important issues in Rome."

Alexander added, "I have also been in touch with the local Catholic churches to offer the opportunity for them for me to convey any messages to His Holiness."

Bishops talking to abuse survivors ahead of papal meeting, says cardinal

ALISON HEALY and JAMIE SMYTH
Irish Times
Fri, Jan 29, 2010

BISHOPS ARE consulting locally with abuse survivors, priests and other lay people to prepare for their meeting with Pope Benedict in Rome next month, Cardinal Seán Brady said yesterday.

Bishops from the 26 dioceses will meet the pope and senior Curia cardinals in mid-February to discuss the implications of the clerical child abuse crisis.

Cardinal Brady said this would be his third time to discuss “a very painful situation in the Irish church” with Pope Benedict.

“I know from past experience I would expect to be heard very respectfully by the Holy Father, who has said that he wants to listen to us in order to help.”

He said it was an important moment but he did not want expectations to be heightened by the meeting with Pope Benedict. “It’s just one step in a big, long process of renewal of faith in our country.”

He said bishops were engaging “in as much consultation as we possibly can in this short time with lay people, with religious and with our priests”.

Asked if the bishops should be accompanied by a lay person, such as former Northern Ireland ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, Cardinal Brady said he greatly respected Mrs O’Loan but the invitation came from Pope Benedict, “so we’re not in control of the invitation list”.

Asked about his view on the conflict between Bishop Dermot O’Mahony and Archbishop Martin, Cardinal Brady said he had read about the matter in the newspapers.

“I think it’s natural that after the [Murphy] report there would be different perspectives on the whole report, but I think in all of this we must remember our first concern has to be the healing of survivors and a proper appreciation of what they have suffered, endured.”

In a series of letters sent to Bishop Martin and the Council of Priests, Bishop O’Mahony claims the archbishop has failed to support priests in the Dublin diocese following publication of the Murphy report. He also calls on priests to challenge the acceptance by media and diocese policy that the church engaged in a “cover up”.

One in Four, which represents sex abuse victims, said it was shocked by Bishop O’Mahony’s response to the Murphy report.

“It may be that Bishop O’Mahony is articulating the views held privately by other priests, bishops and members of the laity.

“It is this culture of denial which facilitated the sexual abuse of children in the first place,” said Maeve Lewis, executive director of One in Four

“If this response to the Murphy report is widespread, then the Catholic Church will never be a safe place for children,” she said.

Andrew Madden, a victim of clerical child sex abuse, said he was disappointed by Bishop O’Mahony’s decision to challenge the Murphy report.

“Bishop O’Mahony would do well to spend some time reflecting on the damage done to so many children by what he did, and what he failed to do, instead of criticising Archbishop Diarmuid Martin for correctly accepting the findings of the Murphy report in full,” said Mr Madden.

Bishop O’Mahony was criticised personally by the Murphy report for his “particularly bad” handling of complaints and suspicions of sexual abuse.

Pope encourages pontifical academies to address cultural problems

Vatican City, Jan 28, 2010 / 11:34 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI met with members of the Pontifical Academies in the Clementine Hall on Thursday morning, following their 14th annual public session a day earlier. Reminding them of the importance of keeping up to date with the contemporary culture and maintaining a degree of "originality" in their research, he called for them to look to the figure of St. Thomas Aquinas for inspiration.

Addressing the 300 members present from seven academies, the Holy Father congratulated them on their "glorious past" and then pointed out that at the present time "contemporary culture, and even more so believers themselves, continually petition the Church to concentrate her reflections and actions in those fields in which new problems emerge.”

Members of the academies, the Pope reminded, "are called to offer a qualified, competent and passionate contribution, so that all the Church... can offer occasions, language and of adequate means to dialogue with contemporary culture and respond effectively to the question and to the challenges that face her in the different areas of knowledge and human experience."

Pontifical academies approach questions concerning everything from philosophical and theological research to reflection on the figure of Mary, the heritage of the Christian witness and artistic creativity.

"As I have said before," continued Pope Benedict, "today's culture is strongly influenced by a vision dominated by relativism and subjectivism and by methods and attitudes that are sometimes superficial and even banal." These, he said, "damage the seriousness of study and reflection and, consequently, also dialogue, exchange and interpersonal communications."

Reflecting on the current situation, the Pope insisted, it is "urgent and necessary to recreate the essential conditions of a real capacity for deeper study and research, so as to dialogue reasonably and effectively confront various problems, with the view of a common growth and a formation the promotes man in his entirety and completeness."

Benedict XVI added that "social harmony and, above all, the formation of young generations" suffer from the lack of points of reference for ideals and morals, and that they should be introduced to "an ideal and practical offer of values and truth, of strong reasons for life and hope."

The need to form young people is "particularly urgent" in forming seminarians, he underscored.

The Holy Father pointed out a model for their work in Saint Thomas Aquinas, whom he said is an "always current model" that can "inspire action and dialogue of the Pontifical Academies with diverse cultures."

Citing the saint's ability to produce "an extraordinary theological synthesis" from Arabic, Jewish and Greek traditions, the Pope called for members of the academies to take a lesson from his "extraordinary and pervasive pedagogic originality."

The "thought and witness of St. Thomas Aquinas prompt us to study emerging problems with great attention, in order to offer adequate and creative responses," he added.

Acting as the saint, with trust in 'human reason' and its possibilities, concluded the Pope, "we must ... always draw from the richness of the Tradition in the constant search for the 'truth of things.'"

Okay, this is probably just PR or gossip but I like Susan Boyle so I am posting this.


Exclusive: Susan Boyle wants to sing for Pope Benedict XVI when he's in Scotland

By Heather Greenaway
Scottish News
Jan. 29, 2010

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle wants to perform for the Pope when he visits Scotland.

The Britain's Got Talent winner, a devout Catholic, hopes organisers can make her dream come true when Benedict XVI arrives in September.

Simon Cowel l's brother and confidante Tony revealed her dream last night.

Tony, 59, who has worked closely with SuBo on the Everybody Hurts charity single for Haiti, said: "As Scotland's first lady, she is the obvious first choice.

"It would be a dream come true for her and I know she would drop everything if she was asked to perform for the Pope."

Susan, 48, has worshipped at Our Lady of Lourdes in Blackburn, West Lothian, since she was a child.

She still attends Mass at the church when her busy schedule allows. Parish priest Father Ryszard Holuka said it would be a great honour for the chart topper.

He said: "She is so busy but I'm sure she would love to sing for the Pope."

The Record yesterday broke the news of the first papal visit to Scotland since Pope John Paul II's historic Mass at Glasgow's Bellahouston Park in 1982.

Benedict XVI is expected to address thousands of worshippers at an open-air event at Glasgow Green, during his trip on September 16 and 17.

The Vatican have not yet confirmed the visit, though an announcement is due at the end of next month or early March.

It is hoped the prospect of singing for the pontiff will take SuBo's mind off a burglary bid on her Blackburn home.

SuBo is said to have been "terrified and hysterical" after a prowler broke in on Tuesday night just weeks after a similar disturbance.

Tony said the star was being well looked after by Simon's team to help her feel more secure.

He added: "She is being cossetted at the moment and we are all delighted to be able to help her out."


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More of what could just be conjecture.


'Unhappy' Queen sends Lord Chamberlain to ask Archbishop Nichols about Pope's Anglican plan

By Damian Thompson
The Telegraph
January 29th, 2010

In a surprising departure from protocol, the Queen has sent the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official of the Royal Household, to see Archbishop Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, to discuss Pope Benedict XVI’s offer to Anglicans wanting to convert to Rome en masse.

My source says Her Majesty – who is expected to meet the Pope when he visits Britain this autumn – was “unhappy” about aspects of the scheme as she understood it. So, late last year, she dispatched Lord Peel with a list of questions for the Archbishop. The nature of the questions has not been revealed, but Archbishop’s House confirms that the meeting took place and was “mutually beneficial”.

The Queen – a somewhat “Low Church” Anglican who feels it is her solemn duty to preserve the Protestant identity of the Church of England – appears to have been alarmed by press reports of Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus. This allows groups of ex-Anglicans anywhere to convert to Rome together, retaining aspects of Anglican worship. Some members of the Church of England have expressed interest in doing so, but are very keen to carry on worshipping in their former Anglican parish churches. Possibly the Queen felt that this process might conflict with her Coronation Oath to maintain all the “rights and privileges” of the bishops, clergy and churches of England.

My source was surprised that the Queen should ask one of her courtiers, the Ampleforth-educated but Anglican 3rd Earl Peel, to quiz Archbishop Nichols on the subject. The source felt that the meeting – thought to have been held in November at Archbishop’s House, Westminster – could be seen as a breach of protocol: one would expect the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to represent the Church’s Supreme Governor in such a discussion.

There have been rumours that the Queen is dismayed by the Anglican drift towards homosexual blessings and women bishops. Perhaps she felt that she needed an adviser answerable only to her to convey information impartially – particularly given that she will probably meet Pope Benedict in Scotland, either at Balmoral or Holyrood, when he visits Britain in September. (The discussion between Lord Peel and the Archbishop is unlikely to have been about this meeting, however, since the Scottish Catholic Church is independent of England and Wales.)

At any rate, the spokesman for Archbishop Nichols insisted tonight that the meeting was a success. “It gave the Archbishop the opportunity to correct some of the misunderstandings about the Apostolic Constitution created by misreporting in the media,” he told me. “It was a very successful meeting and mutually beneficial.”

What the spokesman couldn’t tell me – and indeed, didn’t seem to know – was why the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales should have been asked to see the Lord Chamberlain, of all people, to discuss what is essentially a theological and constitutional question.

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have been asked by Rome to discuss a provisional structure for the ex-Anglican “Ordinariate” (a quasi-diocese). Archbishop Nichols is a key figure in this process, and I don’t envy him. On the one hand, some of his bishops hate the Pope’s proposal and will work to make its provisions as ungenerous as possible; on the other, he has to report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is ultimately in charge of the Ordinariate scheme on behalf of the Pope, and which does favour generosity.

Now, it would seem, the Archbishop has also to bear in mind the Queen’s early misgivings about a scheme which could see a few parish communities moving from the Church that she governs – and that she promised to protect at her Coronation – to the jurisdiction of the Holy See.

Desire for sacraments not sufficient reason for annulment, pope says

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Jan. 29, 2010

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True pastoral charity and concern can never lead the church to grant an annulment to a Catholic whose marriage is valid according to church law, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"One must shun pseudo-pastoral claims" that look only at the desire of divorced Catholics to return to the sacraments, the pope said Jan. 29 in his annual speech to officials of the Roman Rota, a tribunal that mainly deals with appeals filed in marriage annulment cases.

The pope said helping Catholics be able to go to confession and receive the Eucharist is important, but it cannot be done without taking into account the truth about their church marriage.

The church cannot act charitably toward its faithful without upholding justice and truth, he said.

Charity without justice is "only a forgery because charity requires that objectivity that is typical of justice and which must not be confused with inhumane coldness," the pope said.

For the Catholic Church, he said, a marriage celebrated with the full consent of the couple and following the correct form is always presumed to be valid, and a valid marriage is indissoluble.

Pastors and those who work in church tribunals must beware of "the widespread and deeply rooted tendency" to see justice and charity as totally competing values, the pope said.

Within the church, he said, the idea leads some to think that "pastoral charity could justify any step" taken to grant an annulment for a couple who wants to return to the sacraments.

Defending the permanent bond of a valid marriage is a matter of both justice and love, he said, because it is designed to protect the human and spiritual good of the couple and "the public good of the church," which teaches that marriage is forever and does not use annulments as a sort of church-sanctioned divorce.

"It would be a fictitious good, and a serious lack of justice, to nevertheless smooth the way toward their reception of the sacraments," the pope said

Pope Benedict told members of the Roman Rota that those who work on church marriage tribunals must cultivate the virtues of prudence and justice, but especially the virtue of fortitude, especially "when the unjust way appears easier to follow because it means condescending to the desires and hopes of the couple."

"Both justice and charity require love for the truth and essentially lead to a search for the truth," he said.

Love is the ‘greatest gift,’ Pope Benedict declares at Angelus

Vatican City, Jan 31, 2010 / 11:03 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI in his address before the Angelus discussed St. Paul's "hymn of love" and the importance of love as the "badge of the Christian" and the “greatest” gift.

In First Corinthians, the Holy Father said, St. Paul shows us the “way of perfection" in the verses of his "hymn to love." Benedict XVI called the verses of Sunday’s reading "one of the most beautiful pages in the New Testament."

According to Paul, he continued, the way "does not consist of possessing exceptional qualities: speaking other languages, knowing all of the mysteries, having a prodigious faith or doing heroic acts. It consists, rather, of love - agape ... true love, that which God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

"Love is the 'greatest' gift, that gives value to all the others," taught the Holy Father.

After quoting excerpts regarding the nature of this love and its manifestation from St. Paul's letter, Pope Benedict added:

"In the end, when we find ourselves face-to-face with God, all of the other gifts will disappear; the only one that will remain eternally will be love, because God is love and we will be like Him, in perfect communion with Him."

"For now, while we are in this world, love is the badge of the Christian ... it is what he believes and that which he does."

Citing his first encyclical "Deus Caritas Est," the Holy Father recalled that love has two aspects: "its meaning and ... its practical realization."

"In Jesus Christ, these two aspects form a perfect unity," he explained. "He is the incarnate Love. This Love is fully revealed to us in Christ crucified."

Benedict XVI concluded by reflecting on the Saints, among whom are a “variety” of spiritual gifts and human characters, but each one’s life is “a 'hymn to love,' a living canticle to the love of God!"

He ended his address by remembering St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Family and patron saint of young people, whose feast is celebrated on Sunday. The Holy Father asked for his intercession "so that priests are always educators and fathers of young people, and that, experiencing this pastoral love, many young people welcome the call to give their lives for Christ and the Gospel."


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Pope calls on business, government to save jobs

Deepa Babington
VATICAN CITY
Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:46am EST

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict Sunday called on businesses and officials to stem job losses and made an explicit reference to two Italian plants to be shut soon, in a surprise boost to union efforts to keep the factories open.

"The economic crisis is causing the loss of many jobs and this calls for a huge sense of responsibility by everyone: entrepreneurs, workers, governing officials," the pope said after his weekly Angelus blessing.

"I think of some difficult situations in Italy, like, for example, Termini Imerese and Portovesme ... Do everything possible to protect and spur job growth, assuring dignified and adequate work to sustain families."

U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. has said it will shut down its Portovesme and another Italian plant next month and carmaker Fiat has announced plans to shutter its Termini Imerese plant in Sicily.

Some Alcoa workers from the Portovesme plant who risk losing their jobs held up a banner in St. Peter's square during the pope's address to the faithful.

In strongly Catholic Italy, labor unions and the government -- which has asked Alcoa to reconsider its plans to shut the plants -- seized on the pope's words and urged companies to ensure his appeal did not fall on deaf ears.

"The pope's appeal must not fall by the wayside," said Luigi Angeletti, secretary-general of the UIL union.

Workers and union leaders at Termini Imerese told the Ansa news agency they were moved and overjoyed when they heard the pope's address on Italian television.

Opposition politicians also used the pope's words to step up pressure on the government for its response to the crisis, saying the pontiff's words showed the need for new measures.

But Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi in a statement said it was up to businesses to respond to the crisis with a sense of "social responsibility" and heed the pope's words.

The pope in the past has said the financial crisis needs more than a quick fix and has called for solidarity to fight poverty that has been exacerbated by economic woes.

Pope Benedict XVI confirms first state visit to UK

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
Times Online
February 1, 2010

The Pope has today confirmed that he will be visiting Britain later this year, the first state visit to this country by the worldwide head of the Roman Catholic Church.

At the same time, Pope Benedict XVI has for the first time attacked Britain's move towards equal rights in its secular democracy, claiming that equality legislation threatens religious freedom.

In a letter today to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, the Pope says: "Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

His criticisms will generate controversy and could lead to protests by secularists and gay rights campaigners during his visit.

The Queen has, in the last few days, issued the formal invitation to the Pope to visit for four days in mid-September. The visit will start in Scotland and take in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, where the Pope will deliver an historic address in Westminster Hall, Parliament. It will be the first state visit by a Pope to Britain, as that of his predecessor Pope John Paul II in 1982 was a pastoral visit only.

The only departure from normal protocol around formal visits by heads of state will be that the Pope, 83, will stay with the Papal Nuncio in Wimbledon rather than with the Queen in Buckingham Palace.

The invitation was issued amid growing speculation in Rome that the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, regarded as the spiritual leader of five million Roman Catholics in England and Wales, is to be made a cardinal this year.

This would be unprecedented because normal practice is to have just one cardinal with voting rights in the College of Cardinals from England and Wales. The former Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor will retain his voting rights of the college, the body that will elect the next Pope, until his 80th birthday in 2012.

However, there is no formal rule stipulating that there can only be one Cardinal in England and Wales. There are also moves to raise the new Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, whose predecessor Cardinal Edward Egan is the same age as Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, to be made a Cardinal along with Archbishop Nichols.

Although no final decision has yet been made, such a step would see the two most important Catholics archiepiscopal sees being recognised in a way that would enhance the significance of the mission of the two Archbishops on the national and the world stage. Archbishop Nichols is at present on a five-yearly "ad limina" visit to Rome with the other Catholic bishops of England and Wales to make pilgrimage to the historic Catholic sites, meet the Pope and the head of the congregations to discuss local and international issues.

In his pastoral letter issued to mark the ad limina visit today, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales. I am thinking, for example, of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse, the interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman’s beatification, and the eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days. On the occasion of my forthcoming Apostolic Visit to Great Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as Successor of Peter, to strengthen and confirm it. During the months of preparation that lie ahead, be sure to encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion, and assure them that the Pope constantly remembers them in his prayers and holds them in his heart."

After criticising equal rights legislation he continued: "I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth. Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society. In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them: when so many of the population claim to be Christian, how could anyone dispute the Gospel’s right to be heard?

"If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice. This requires not only you, the Bishops, but also priests, teachers, catechists, writers – in short all who are engaged in the task of communicating the Gospel – to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit, who guides the whole Church into the truth, gathers her into unity and inspires her with missionary zeal."

Archbishop Nichols, who as Archbishop of Birmingham successfully opposed moves to impose non-faith quotas on faith schools but was unsuccessful in his campaign to allow Catholic adoption societies to continue to discriminate against gay couples, is understood to have made a hugely favourable impression in Rome, increasing the likelihood of his becoming a Cardinal sooner rather than later.

His interventions in England and Wales on moral and political issues such as education and gay adoptions, where he has shown courage in espousing a conservative doctrine against the norms of liberal secularism, have also made him noticed in Rome. The impression of an imaginative, spiritual and visionary leader will be confirmed in the next few days when he leads the Catholic bishops in his home country in issuing a pre-election document.

The document will not come down on the side of any political party but is expected to make a passionate case for the "social thought" of the Church to be uppermost in the minds of Catholics when casting their votes in May, while continuing the conservative doctrinal line espoused by Archbishop Nichols throughout his time in his previous post, Birmingham.

Eight out of the ten predecessors of Archbishop Nichols at Wesminster were made Cardinals at the first consistory after their appointments.

The College of Cardinals can have a maximum of 120 members and depending when a consistory takes place, there could be as many as seven vacancies if done this spring or summer.

Archbishop Nichols has also found favour with his diplomacy with the Church of England and the Queen, its Supreme Governor, in the face of the Pope's offer of an Anglican Ordinariate within the Catholic Church for disaffected High Church and former Anglicans.

At a meeting with Earl Peel, the Lord Chamberlain, Archbishop Nichols was able to reassure him that the decree was not an attempt to poach Anglicans but a response to a particular pastoral situation. So far, the members of the Traditional Anglican Communion, former Anglicans based mainly in Australia, seem likely to be the first to take up the offer. Anglo-Catholic bishops and clergy in the Church of England, who are concerned about moves to ordain women bishops, are still considering their position.

In today's pastoral letter, the Pope said he believed the Anglicans who converted would be a "blessing for the entire church."


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Pope will visit UK later in year

BBC
Feb. 1, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed his plan to visit Britain later this year.

The pontiff spoke of the plan for his first apostolic visit in an address to Catholic bishops of England and Wales at the end of their pilgrimage to Rome.

The Pope said he "constantly remembers" Catholics of England and Wales "in his prayers" and "holds them in his heart".

He is expected to visit Birmingham as part of the planned beatification of Cardinal John Newman. Pope John Paul II made the last UK papal visit in 1982.

No dates have yet been set for the visit but officials at the Vatican and in the UK told the BBC it was likely to take place in September.

Further details are expected early in March, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Network said.

In the speech, published on the Vatican Radio website, Pope Benedict offered his "warmest good wishes and prayers" for the bishops and all the faithful entrusted to their care.

He urged them to warmly welcome disaffected Anglicans who wanted to join the Catholic Church.

Anglican Archbishop of York John Sentamu said the Pope would be "very welcome".

He told BBC News: "I've met him in Rome. We had wonderful conversations and whatever people may think about the ordinariate, they shouldn't use that as a reason for not accepting one of our great Christian leaders."

The Catholic Church has offered disaffected Anglicans the prospect of their own hierarchies - ordinariates - within the Catholic system, leading to predictions that whole congregations opposed to plans for women bishops might transfer from the Church of England.

Protest petition

During his speech, in an apparent reference to the Church's stance on issues such as gay adoption, the Pope urged the bishops to ensure that its moral teaching was always presented in its "entirety" and "convincingly defended".

He said: "Your country is well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society.

"Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.

"In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

He also urged the bishops to continue to insist upon their right to participate in national debate through "respectful dialogue with other elements in society".

By doing so, the Pope said, they would be "maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion" as well as "giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them".

The National Secular Society (NSS) said it would mount a protest campaign made up of gay groups, victims of clerical abuse, feminists, family planning organisations and pro-abortion groups among others.

President Terry Sanderson said: "The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20m for the visit of the Pope.

"A visit in which he has already indicated, he will attack equal rights and promote discrimination.

"We have a petition online where people can make clear their opposition to the state funding of this visit. If the Catholic Church wishes its leader to come here, it should pay for the visit itself."

Aha, out on the town! Escape from the Vatican.


Pope sneaks out of Vatican to visit exhibit

by Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Feb. 1, 2010

VATICAN CITY — Twenty-five years ago, it wasn’t unusual for Pope John Paul II to sneak out of the Vatican in the winter to go skiing.

Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican unannounced last evening to visit an art exhibit, according to reports today from Vatican Radio and L’Osservatore Romano.

Yesterday marked the end of the four-month run of the exhibit, “The Power and the Grace: The Patron Saints of Europe,” at Rome’s Palazzo Venezia Museum, and Pope Benedict was among the last of the more than 100,000 people to visit the show.

The Vatican newspaper said the pope arrived at the museum about 6:30 p.m. with his two private secretaries and the four laywomen who care for the private papal household. The women are members of Communion and Liberation’s Memores Domini association.

While the public was held at bay for 35 minutes, the pope and his entourage were shown the more than 100 works on display by the curator of the exhibit, the Italian ambassador to the Vatican and an undersecretary of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

For the last month of the exhibit, the Louvre in Paris loaned the museum Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of St. John the Baptist. Other works on display included Jan van Eyck’s painting of St. Francis of Assisi with the stigmata, Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist, and El Greco’s painting of St. Louis IX of France.

Russian Church, Pope agree on many contemporary issues - Patriarch Kirill

Moscow, February 2, Interfax - When it comes to fighting today's challenges, the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church stand side-by-side on a number of issues, said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

"We [together with the Roman Catholic Church] have similar positions on many problems facing Christians in the modern world. They include aggressive secularization, globalization, and the erosion of the traditional moral principles. It should be noted that on these issues Pope Benedict XVI has taken a stance close to the Orthodox one," the Patriarch said at the Bishops' Meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.

There are growing differences with Protestant denominations, he said. Over the recent years, "the Russian Church has seen less protestant communities cooperating in the cause of preserving the Christian legacy" due to "the relentless liberalization of the Protestant world," the Patriarch said.

"Alas, not only have they failed to conduct a real propagation of the Christian values among the secular society, many Protestant communities prefer to adjust to its standards," said Patriarch Kirill, recalling, in particular, the recent election of female bishop Margot Kassmann as head of the Evangelical Church in Germany.

In a dialog with Protestants, the Orthodox Church should search for the very possibility of overcoming fundamental differences, and if that proves impossible, "there remains many other important issues, not directly related with achieving unity in faith and the ecumenical structure, but important in terms of cooperating for the sake of peace, justice, preserving the Divine Creation and in solving other problems that require joint efforts from the people who believe in the Holy Trinity," the Patriarch said.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain will be a mix of pomp and protest

Ruth Gledhill, Charlene Sweeney
From Times Online
February 2, 2010

When Pope John Paul II arrived in Britain in 1982, he famously kissed the ground and declared: “Today, for the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil. This fair land, once a distant outpost of the pagan world, has become, through the preaching of the Gospel, a beloved and gifted portion of Christ’s vineyard.”

He went on to preach in Canterbury Cathedral and during the visit became friends with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. It seemed to set the seal on an end to centuries of anti-Catholicism in Britain, and open the door to a new era in ecumenical endeavour where anything, even reunion, seemed possible.

But that was in a different century, and that Pope and that Archbishop are dead.

This Pope will walk into a storm of protest. Secularists are already planning a series of marches against him wherever he goes. The National Secular Society will launch its Protest the Pope Coalition later this week.

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, is among those planning online petitions against the visit.

There will be no visit to Canterbury Cathedral this time, after the Pope announced plans for the Anglican Ordinariate to welcome into the church of Rome disaffected members of the Church of England and other present and former Anglicans.

Even the Queen sent an emissary, Earl Peel, her Lord Chamberlain, to talk to the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and find out what was intended by the new conversion plans.

The Pope is certain to use his civic address at Westminster Hall, a place revered by Catholics as the place where martyrs for the faith such as St Thomas More and the Jesuit St Edmund Campion were tried and condemned, to issue challenges to the Government on social and moral issues.

The Pope, 83, has a commendable lack of regard for protocol. Maybe he feels time is running out and he cannot hang around on niceties.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had merely a few days notice of the Anglican Ordinariate and was visibly discomfited.

But even the Pope’s own Archbishop of Westminster, highly rated in Rome, had almost no notice of the "conversion" plan. Archbishop Nichols was also taken by surprise by the Pope’s confirmation of his visit to Britain in September.

The Queen issued the formal invitation to the Pope only last month after months of negotiations between government departments and the Holy See as to what status the visit should have.

Although the itinerary is still in draft form, the Pope’s visit is scheduled to begin in Scotland.

Pope Benedict XVI will fly straight from Rome to Edinburgh on September 16, where, as a head of state, he will be received by the Queen at Holyrood Palace in the afternoon. He is due to see the monarch there rather than Buckingham Palace because the visit coincides with her annual holiday to Balmoral.

He will also visit Glasgow, before making his way south in what is only the second papal visit to Britain since the Reformation and the first state visit.

The high point will be the beatification of Cardinal Newman, the 19th-century Anglican convert to Catholicism, in Birmingham on September 19.

The Pope has since his youth as a seminarian been an avid student of the writings of Cardinal Newman and in his address to the bishops yesterday he described him as an “outstanding example of faithfulness to revealed truth".

As well as his address in Westminster Hall there is likely to be an academic address at Oxford University.

Having spoken at the Catholic Chaplaincy at Fisher Hall at Cambridge University in 1988, Pope Benedict XVI has for years nurtured a dream of speaking at Oxford. He raised the possibility of such an occasion with the last Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, in Rome shortly after becoming Pope. Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of Oxford and a leading lay Catholic, has formally invited the Pope to speak there.

The only departure from normal protocol around formal visits by heads of state will be that the Pope, 83, will stay with the Papal Nuncio in Wimbledon rather than in Buckingham Palace.

Perhaps, all things considered, that is for the best.

British government retreats after Pope's critique of Equality Bill

London, England, Feb 3, 2010 / 06:16 pm (CNA).- After criticism from national religious leaders and Pope Benedict XVI, The British Government has retreated from plans to implement an Equality Bill many saw as oppressive of religious freedom.

The rules of the failed anti-discrimination proposal could have barred groups from requiring Christian sexual ethics from youth leaders. Some warned it could have also made the male-only priesthood of the Catholic Church illegal.

On Monday Pope Benedict said the proposed laws imposed “unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”

A source at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s residence, told The Telegraph, “We are clear that these parts of the Equality Bill should not go forward. The Pope's intervention has been noted.”

Many Catholic Labour Ministers of Parliament are reportedly upset that the new bill has provoked such strong reaction from Rome.

Naomi Phillips, head of Public Affairs at the British Humanist Association, characterized the pope’s remarks as an attack on “modern, liberal values” and said they further motivated her group’s opposition to the Pope’s state visit to the United Kingdom.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told BBC Radio 4 that the Pope was “certainly not” getting involved in party politics but was trying to give his “reasoned voice” a hearing in the public debate.

The archbishop thought Pope Benedict’s words will find an echo among many in Britain who are “uneasy” that an unintended consequence of recent legislation would “drive religious belief and practice into the sphere of the private only.”


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UK CATHOLICS LEARN MEDIA SKILLS AHEAD OF PAPAL VISIT

Project Seeks to Generate Positive Coverage of Pope

LONDON, FEB. 3, 2010 (Zenit.org).- If you've read the news this week, you've probably seen that Benedict XVI is against equality in England -- or that's what it sounds like.
The Pope's address Monday to bishops of England and Wales in Rome for their five-yearly visit generated news that the Holy Father was "swiping" and "attacking" a U.K. equality law.

In truth, he spoke about natural law and the freedom of religious groups to act according to their beliefs. Homosexual rights activists expressed chagrin, and the headlines reflected their opinions.

This kind of press response is precisely what the initiative "Catholic Voices" of the Catholic Union of Great Britain will try to head off when the Holy Father visits the United Kingdom in September.

It will be "an 'authoritative but unofficial' bureau of media-trained and well-briefed Catholic speakers," prepared to speak to the press about what the Pope is really saying and other related themes.

Ready for the spotlight

Around 25 people will be trained with twice-monthly briefing sessions imparted by "experts on contentious issues likely to come under the spotlight during the papal visit," a statement from the group announced. "They will also receive three day-long media skills training sessions during those months, and conclude their formation with a residential retreat at Worth Abbey in the summer."

Catholic Voices is independent of the bishops' conference, but approved by it.

The president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, Lord Daniel Brennan, and the abbot of Worth, Christopher Jamison, are the project's patrons.

The project communiqué noted that the Holy Father had another message Monday that didn't make the news.

He called on bishops to "insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society" and "to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission."

According to Abbot Jamison, "Pope Benedict’s address to our bishops in Rome show how important and necessary this project is."

Via media

Catholic Voices will not be setting out onto uncharted waters.

Jack Valero and Austen Ivereigh will coordinate the project, together with Kathleen Griffin, a former BBC producer and experienced media trainer.

Valero and Ivereigh already coordinated a similar project: the Da Vinci Code Response Group.

"The Da Vinci Code Response Group generated positive coverage of the Church from the unpromising start of a grossly misleading novel. This shows what is possible provided that you avoid defensive aggression on the one hand and naive enthusiasm on the other," Abbot Christopher said.

According to Lord Brennan, the Catholic Voices team will be a "good mixture": "Some might have a particular knowledge or expertise, but we are looking mostly for fresh faces, people who are willing to be trained in how to put across their views in the quick-fire settings of media interviews and debates."

And the project has taken on a mission statement from someone who promises to be a star of the papal visit: Cardinal John Henry Newman, expected to be beatified by the Pope while he is England.

Catholic Voices has espoused Cardinal Newman's desire for "a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men [and women] who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity -- I wish [...] to enlarge [their] knowledge, to cultivate [their] reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism."

Mass for Sick to be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2010 / 03:51 pm (CNA).- In commemoration of the World Day for the Sick, the basilica of St. Peter's will host pilgrims with illnesses from all parts of the globe. The celebration of the Mass will also mark the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry.

The Eucharistic celebration will be presided over by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's on the morning of Feb. 11.

As is customary on the occasion of the World Day for the Sick, the Holy See extends a particular invitation for the celebration to the members of UNITALSI, an Italian association that organizes pilgrimages for thousands of sick people to a number of holy sites every year. They also arrange for a pilgrimage to Rome every year on this date to venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes and celebrate the Day for the Sick.

Hours after the celebration of the Mass, the sick and the volunteers associated with UNITALSI, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski and the mayor of Rome will take part in a Eucharistic procession carrying with them the relics of St. Bernadette and a Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. The route will run the half-mile from Castel Sant'Angelo to St. Peter's Square, where the Pope will impart upon them the Apostolic blessing from the window of the Papal apartment.

The event will wrap up a series of activities scheduled to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry.

Pope Benedict XVI prepares
back on holiday in South Tyrol


The advance of the Shrine of Pietralba and monastery of Burgusio have already been contacted by the Vatican to host the 'Angelus'. Head of the stay will be even Bressanone
Ezio Danieli

BOLZANO. Pope Benedict XVI would go on vacation this summer in Bressanone. Even at the major seminary. This time for about twenty days. The three that should read are expected Angelus in Piazza Duomo, the Marian shrine of Pietralba and the monastery of Santa Maria in Venosta.

The conditional is still a must: the official announcement of the Vatican is expected by the end of March, but some rumors are already running.
And the Vatican on these repeated entries on the return of the Pope in Alto Adige, do not get neither confirm nor deny.