NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

It seems rather complicated but I guess not complicated as the steering us (sometimes disobiedent sheeps )...

I am not continuing the barber saga but look on Papa's hair, aren't they too short?

OH, NO, NOT AGAIN!!

Maklara: "I am not continuing the barber saga but look on Papa's hair, aren't they too short?"


Please don't tell me the barber has reappeared. It is way too soon since the last close cut. Didn't anybody at the Vatican pay attention when Ratzigirl emailed them to get rid of that barber? Do you think Papa would listen if we could get all of his fan clubs to send him a motu proprio to keep his hair long? Well, probably not, but we need to do something. Does anybody know anyone with influence in the Vatican so we can discreetly get word to Georg to restrain (or, better yet, fire) that barber? You would think that in Italy, a country full of men with nice thick hair, the Vatican could find a good barber for the pope.

oh no there goes thE barber yet again

Sandro Magister calls attention to a recent article in Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian bishops conference,
in which Walter Brandmueller, the German president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences seeks to clarify the significance of Vatican-II. He sees it as a prelude to the Pope's expected
assessment of Vatican-II at his homily today.

The link to the English version of Magister's article, which is followed by tne translation of Brandmueller's Avvenire article is:
www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=43223&eng=y

I've just watched the most glorious Mass from Saint Peter's!
No photos yet, but never mind! The occasion was the fortieth anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady.
Papa was the main celebrant, the beauty of his Eucharistic Prayer was stunning as always. His homily on Mary in our lives was so erudite yet accessible.
I noticed Ingrid Stampa seated in the front row, i.e. in front of the covered barriers. She was wearing her long, brown coat, which is shaped like a cape.

Papa looked magnificent.....and he smiled so lovingly after the Mass! Makes me so happy!
Love, Peace - Mary x

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Papa looked magnificent.....and he smiled so lovingly after the Mass! Makes me so happy!

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Oh, I can't wait to see the pictures.

I'm sure Ratzigirl won't let us down. :

In case you missed it on the Papal Travel thread, both the Archbishops of Munich-Freising and Regensburg announced today that the Pope will be visitng his native Bavaria Sept. 10-15 next year, and will definitely be going to Munich, Regensburg, Altoetting, with most probably, a quick side trip to his birthplace, Marktl-am-Inn. Other details will be announced by the Vatican later.

Hmmm, hmmm, looking at those dates it seems he will JUST miss the Munich Beer Festival (Oktoberfest) which starts on 16th September.

Avoiding all those tourists including one British family which plans to be in the area at that time.....

PAPA'S SERMON AT CELEBRATION OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Here is the full text of Papa's sermon this morning from a news account.

www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4830

I am re-posting here some comments I had posted earlier this morning about the Mass and Angelus on the "Papal Events on TV" thread at 15:30 European/Papa Ratzinger forum time (9:30 am EDT):


I loved the "Latinity" of today's Mass, and it is always SOOOOOO thrilling to follow every step and every word of a Mass celebrated by our Beloved Pope, who really makes the liturgy a true celebration of God. How I wished I had been one of those communicants who received the Host from him! (So many of them were women!) I was hoping Ingrid would come up to receive Communion from him but she did not. [She was shown in one audience shot seated in one of the front sections.] I am still disconcerted by the few who received the Host in their hands - I have never been in favor of the practice.

Sandro Magister had predicted the Pope would give a reassessment of Vatican II in his homily, but I am glad he concentrated on the Marian theme...Would he have been the first Pope to cite Goethe in a homily? [That Mephistopheles, in Faust, says he is the force that "always wishes for evil but somehow always works for good"]. Then the Pope voices the profound thought that God gave us free will so we can decide for ourselves to say No to evil, that such free will must be put to a test so that man can become fully what he is!....And the final exhortation was a variant on "Have no fear" -"Have the courage to dare with God...Have the courage to take a risk with your Faith, with goodness, with a pure heart. Be committed to God and you will see that your life will become open and illuminated, never boring but full of infinite surprises, because God's infinite goodness is inexhaustible!"
(I took quick notes during the Mass from the Italian, but the Vatican Press Office released the full text later, so I was able to check my notes for accuracy).

He always takes my breath away with his homilies!

And then he starts off his Angelus message by quoting from the opening lines of the last canto of Dante's Paradiso - a significantly dense tercet which opens with "Virgin mother, daughter of your Son", but the Pope cites the second and third lines of the tercet, and as I only have my annotated Italian text and no English translation here, I will not try to translate those lines - "umile ed alta piu che creatura/termine fisso d'eterno consiglio.*"

I liked what he said about Mary having guided the boat of Peter in the wake of "authentic post-conciliar renewal, (in which his predecessors) worked incessantly towards the faithful interpretation and realization of Vatican-II."

Papa Benedetto, sei veramente un grandissimo uomo di Dio!

P.S. (Added upon reading Zenit's English translation of the Angelus message) Look what happens when someone tries to translate Dante casually:
"umile ed alta piu che creatura/termine fisso d'eterno consiglio" was translated as "in lowliness/ Surpassing, as in height, above them all,/ Term by the eternal counsel pre-ordained"!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/12/2005 0.59]

Virtuous Life Is Not 'Boring' By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer
Thu Dec 8, 9:19 AM ET



VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI decried what he called the mistaken idea that leading a virtuous life was "boring" as he marked Thursday's 40th anniversary of the end of Vatican Council II, which sparked modernizing reforms in the 2,000-year-old Roman Catholic Church.

Among those who were eager participants at the 1962-1965 council but who later questioned whether its legacy was too loosely interpreted by liberal clergy was a young German theologian, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

He praised his predecessors in the papacy for guiding the Church "on the route of authentic council (inspired) renewal, working ceaselessly for the faithful interpretation and implementation" of the council.

During a solemn anniversary ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict used his homily to talk about use of freedom and its relationship with evil.

"Man nurtures the suspicion that God, at the end of the day, takes something away from his life, that God is a competitor who limits our freedom and that we will be fully human only when we will have set him aside," Benedict said.

"There emerges in us the suspicion that the person who doesn't sin at all is basically a boring person, that something is lacking in his life, the dramatic dimension of being autonomous, that the freedom to say 'no' belongs to real human beings," the pontiff said.

In remarks after Mass, Benedict urged people to "overcome the temptation of a mediocre life, made of compromises with evil."

Vatican Council II, with its call for modernization, was a turning point for the church. The council's reforms allowed Mass to be celebrated in languages other than Latin, folk songs and guitar-playing were permitted, and priests at the altar faced congregations instead of having their back to them.

The council called for efforts to bridge differences between Catholics and other Christians. It also produced a document in which the Catholic Church deplored anti-Semitism and repudiated the "deicide" charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ's death.

Among those in the packed basilica was a Methodist delegation.

Some churchmen felt the council's reforms went too far, especially when embraced by theologians espousing Liberation Theology, which blended the Gospel with Marxist-influenced politics, particularly in Latin America.

Under John Paul II, Ratzinger became the Vatican's guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy and cracked down on Liberation Theology as well as on theologians and clergy deemed to have been too liberal in interpreting the Council's legacy.

The abrupt changes, with emphasis on modernization and a sense of freedom, delighted some clergy and disoriented others. Many priests and nuns abandoned religious life in the United States and other affluent countries.

John XXIII, who convened Vatican Council II, died in 1963. The meeting was brought to its conclusion by his successor, Paul VI.

When Benedict appeared at his window overlooking St. Peter's Square, he blessed the Olympic torch, which was making its way to Turin, the site of the Winter Games in February, and said the Olympics were based on peace and brotherhood.

In case you missed it on the "Papal Travels" thread yesterday-

The Spanish service of ZENIT reports that the Archbishop of Valencia confirmed today, Thursday, that the Pope will travel to Valencia in July 2006 to preside at the closing ceremonies of the Fifth International Encounter of Families.

Arbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco said the Pope will be in Spain at least two days, July 8-9 (Saturday-Sunday).

He said that although it was going to take a little more time before an official announcement was made from the Vatican, he wished to confirm to his parishioners this "news of great joy."

He made the announcement after celebrating Mass on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. He saw the Pope in audience at the Vatican last Saturday and updated him on the progress of prearations for the July event, more commonly referred to as World Family Day.

thanks Teresa! great news for Spain

Stupor-mundi from the main forum (who, as we recount in another thread on this section, had the good fortune of attending a theology lecture by Cardinal Ratzinger at the Catholic University of Milan in 1992) posted this comment today on the Pope's homily at Mass yesterday. I have taken the liberty to translate it-
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We must admit that more often than ever, when we listen to the words of Papa Ratzinger, we are gripped, almost assaulted, by a multitude of emotions and sentiments. Most of all, we can only react with astonishment at the profundity of this man’s thinking! (I think) his homily at the mass celebrating the Immaculate Conception was one of the homiletic high points in recent years.

The Pope properly avoided a didactic lesson to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the closing of the Vatican II [the other event commemorated yesterday], although he mentioned the council more than once. Instead, he gave us a marvelous exegesis in theological terms of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

After a careful examination of the passage in Genesis [which referred to “the woman” and “her seed” ], the Pope
tied it up to one of the themes dear to him, namely - that those who insist on living as if God did not exist are wrong to think that such behavior constitutes true liberty, when on the contrary, it is a slavery to materialism amounting to a loss of human dignity.

The theologian Pope then goes further to cite Goethe’s Faust (and at the Angelus later, he will cite Dante) to say that evil can never liberate man, that only God has the power to bring man, through Christ, to the true fulfillment of the destiny intended for every human being as a creature of God.

I mentioned at the start the sense of wonder that one feels before the words of the Holy Father. What, I ask myself, did this generation ever do to merit such a gift from God? We can only thank the Lord and hope – but of this we are sure – that some of this seed will fall on fertile ground and bear much fruit…..

PAPA'S WORDS

That is what really first struck me about Papa back in April, his use of words. As an English major in college, I guess I notice that about a person more than most people would. The first thing I read of Papa's was his meditations on the way of the cross from last spring. His words on that occasion had a profound effect on many people. Unfortunately, I was not there to see him deliver his comments but I read them on the Vatican website and it was as if a laser beam of light shot out from the words. I was absolutely stunned at how beatifully, clearly, and uniquely he expressed himself and the great wisdom and profundity of his thoughts. I have read a lot of the world's great writers but Papa is unique. He expresses himself with such unusual combinations of words and such powerful symbols. There is just nobody to compare him to. He is on another plane entirely from the rest of us but he makes his meaning clear enough for anyone to understand. He is an incredibly gifted man.

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Scritto da: TERESA BENEDETTA 09/12/2005 20.16
Stupor-mundi from the main forum (who, as we recount in another thread on this section, had the good fortune of attending a theology lecture by Cardinal Ratzinger at the Catholic University of Milan in 1992) posted this comment today on the Pope's homily at Mass yesterday. I have taken the liberty to translate it-
--------------------------------------------------------------

We must admit that more often than ever, when we listen to the words of Papa Ratzinger, we are gripped, almost assaulted, by a multitude of emotions and sentiments. Most of all, we can only react with astonishment at the profundity of this man’s thinking! (I think) his homily at the mass celebrating the Immaculate Conception was one of the homiletic high points in recent years.

The Pope properly avoided a didactic lesson to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the closing of the Vatican II [the other event commemorated yesterday], although he mentioned the council more than once. Instead, he gave us a marvelous exegesis in theological terms of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

After a careful examination of the passage in Genesis [which referred to “the woman” and “her seed” ], the Pope
tied it up to one of the themes dear to him, namely - that those who insist on living as if God did not exist are wrong to think that such behavior constitutes true liberty, when on the contrary, it is a slavery to materialism amounting to a loss of human dignity.

The theologian Pope then goes further to cite Goethe’s Faust (and at the Angelus later, he will cite Dante) to say that evil can never liberate man, that only God has the power to bring man, through Christ, to the true fulfillment of the destiny intended for every human being as a creature of God.

I mentioned at the start the sense of wonder that one feels before the words of the Holy Father. What, I ask myself, did this generation ever do to merit such a gift from God? We can only thank the Lord and hope – but of this we are sure – that some of this seed will fall on fertile ground and bear much fruit…..

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Dear Teresa Benedetta,
thank you very much for sharing my thoghts about Holy Father's homily with our English speaking friends.
And thank you very much for the tremendous work your are doing to spread our admiration for Pope Benedict!
You are a very talented woman, and you also speak very well several languages, a gift you share with our beloved Papa Benedetto!!
VIVA IL PAPA!!

Benefan - So that's one more thing we have in common! When I first saw the Vatican's online publication of the Csrdinal's Meditations and Prayers for the Good Friday Via Crucis, I was struck by the urgency, the directness, and the concreteness of the meditations, especially that for the Ninth Station when he talks about how it is "we ourselves" (meaning the priests) who have brought "filth" to the Church. After all the hemming and hawing in high Church circles over the sex-abuse scandals in the United States, it was like seeing a door thrown open to let out all the filth and bring in fresh air...That prepped me for the Conclave, really...

And stupor-mundi, thank you for the kind words. It's at least one tiny service I can do ad majorem Dei gloriam.

I will take the occasion to post here my translation of a French Vaticanista's take on yesterday's events. Henri Tincq has not been very kind to Benedict in his recent articles, but
with this article from today's Le Monde online [thanks to Sylvie in the French section for the lead], it appears he is at least considering Benedict for who he is, and not for who he wants him to be.
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The Pope, Vatican-II and Evil

In his discreet way, Benedict XVI marked the 40th anniversary of the end of the second Vatican Council (1962-1965) yesterday at St. Peter’s Basilica. He did not make any revelations as to how he, as a progressive young theologian from Germany, had lived through the event which he called “the most important event of the century” [for the Catholic Church]. Neither did he use the occasion to draw up a balance sheet [of the Council] nor to define the lines of his Pontificate. Since he became Pope, he has said that he will follow the footsteps of the two Popes who had opened (John XXIII) and closed (Paul VI)
the Council which proved to be an opening to the world.

This Pope does not like special effects nor advertising. From several sources, it is known that he has written his first encyclical and signed it December 8, feast of the Immaculate Conception. But it will not be published until around Christmas, presumably while official translations are being made, or at the very latest, at the start of January. But no confirmation can be obtained from the official communication services of the Vatican.

It is as if Benedict XVI, precisely in the spirit of Vatican II, wishes to restore the function of the Pope to its right place. This function hypertrophied under John Paul II because of his high-visibility travels and his media savoir-faire. His successor seems to want to limit his role to the essential. During Thursday’s Mass, he only made one brief allusion to the need for a “faithful interpretaiton” of the Council – thus disavowing both the progressives, who always want more reforms, as well as the traditionalists who have stayed away from a Church they consider too modernist.

Beneedict XVI has never been more at ease than in the role of professor. In his homily on Thursday, he chose to give a lesson on the crisis of the faith, pointing out that evil is always at work in this world, and that far from being a threat to man’s autonomy, belief in God is a condition of his freedom. “He who leaves himself in the hands of God does not become a marionette.” On the contrary, “only he who gives himself up totally to God is free.”

And he earned the applause of cardinals, bishops and the faithful present inside a crowded basilica, when he exclaimed: “Evil is always degrading, but God has not failed...If we live contrary to the law of love and against God, then we are mutually destructive and we can destroy the world.”

No doubt that with this, Benedict XVI also hinted at the themes of his first encyclical.

I hope no one minds if I post in the English section my translations of posts in the main forum which I find interesting, instructive and worthy of sharing.

Herewith is an exchange occasioned by stupor-mundi's original post, earlier translated, about the Pope's homily yesterday. Vallifra reacted to that first post, stupor-mundi replied, and at the same time, ratzigirl posted her own reaction.
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Vallifra to stupor-mundi:

I write to compliment you about your post, which could not be more on the mark! Since April 8 this year, I have been a devoted and stunned follower of all Papa Ratzi’s homilies, but I find that with the one he delivered yesterday, he has outdone himself, if that is at all possible. And I ask myself how an accredited journalist like Alberto Melloni could say (as he does in his article today in Corriere della Sera) that “the Pope limited himself to circumstantial expressions,” which indicates he, Melloni, has not understood anything!

The genius of this Pope is such that many so-called intellectuals do not understand him! Unlike, for instance, Sandro Magister, a journalist I respect highly, whose blog today is entitled “The Council finally explained by Benedict XVI”. [NB from Teresa: Translation of Magister's short blog will follow]

This Pope is truly a gift of God who leaves us "wondrous", who inspires us to be good, and in my humble opinion, is a hope for the world, someone who, through his divinely inspired teachings, will wield an influence for good on history and on the world.

Stupor-mundi replies:

Certainly I am not surprised that certain Solons of vaticanism express themselves in the way you quoted...On the other hand, many of them built their “fortunes” during the declining years of the Wojtyla Papacy when they vied with each other to get entrée into the Roman Curia. But now the wind has turned.

Let me not be misunderstood. John Paul II was a great Pope, a saint who will pass into history, but inevitably, his declining physical health resulted in a number of repercussions in the Roman Curia [as we read in the initial chapters of Giancarlo Zizola’s book, “Benedetto XVI, un successore al crocevia” (Benedict XVI, a successor at the crossroads, published 2005), Zizola who is far from a fan of Benedict, nevertheless makes clear – as he could not have done otherwise - that Ratzinger never stooped to making compromises or to power games, but always and only served the truth and the Church.]

As far as this strange types, the so-called vaticanisti, I followed a simple exercise: In the days preceding the Conclave, TV broadcasts and talk shows were rife with speculations on “Totopapa” – the papal lotto, so to speak . I recorded all these, and it is remarkable how most of them (with a few exceptions, Magister among them) proclaimed their absolute certainty that Ratzinger’s candidacy was merely nominal, that he was too old, too “compromised,” that the Church needed a pastor-Pope, that he had no gifts for communicating, that he was not at all ‘simpatico’, and so 0n (I could of course name the names of those who blathered on that way).

But having followed the thinking of the Bavarian cardinal for over 10 years and having seen and heard him in person, I believed that none of the cardinals was his peer, not just in culture but also in charisma. I found him a true leader, that is, someone who succeeds in catalyzing others towards sharing his point of view – through sheer force of reasoning and his manner of presenting his case – strong, sure and unshakeable in the Faith.

And so, I never stopped thinking and hoping that it would be him who would come out and face us from the Loggia of Benediction – him whom almost everyone had maligned, but who, already in his Meditations for the Way of the Cross (last Good Friday), already showed he had very clear ideas about the Church (and we all recall the passage that has now become famous about “filth” in the Church).

Well, once again the Spirit breathed where he would, and Joseph Ratzinger became the 265th successor of Peter. To the chagrin of the experts...

I can only wish and pray that this man, who now occupies Peter’s Chair, will continue to do so for many more years and be, as he has been for years to me, a beacon who shows us the way, not his, but that of Christ.

Ratzigirl:

Yesterday I remained transported by the Pope’s splendid homily –in my opinion, one of the most beautiful during the first year of his Papacy. Not only because of the firmness and theological competence that the homily showed, but also because I could appreciate in it some words and concepts I had already grasped from reading a book by Cardinal Ratzinger, “Maria, Chiesa nascente” (Mary, nascent Church).

But what I appreciated most was the Pope’s accurate take on the actual human condition today - the attitude among many that there is no such thing as sin, or on the other hand, seeing sin as the only escape from boredom. (I found it) an analysis that was complete, precise and to the point, as few have been. So I wonder how Melloni could have written what he did – I think he must either have fallen asleep, or he failed to understand a single word of that denunciation of social ills.

It was a marvellously strong declaration, which indicates the presence of a Pope who is also a guide, who from Peter’s Chair can “thunder” about the ills of society. I truly sense about him the force of the Holy Spirit which sustains him, which inspires him to raise his voice as needed, he who is usually understated, but who, from the moment when he assumed the ministry of Peter, has shown himself to be the Rock on which all of Christianity can cling to, a rock which - as we can see and hear - is most decisively solid.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/12/2005 3.17]

Herewith is my translation of Sandro Magister's blog [called Settimo Cielo (Seventh Heaven),it appears in chiesa.it online] the Pope's December 8 homily:
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The much-awaited homily of Benedict XVI on the 40th anniversary of the end of Vatican-II on December 8, feast of the Immaculate – has provided a Mary-centered key to understanding Vatican-II.

The Pope began this way:
“A Marian frame surrounds the Council. Actually, it is more than a frame: it is an orientation of the council’s entire direction…the key to understanding it.”

Then, further on:
“[Mary] illuminates the interior structure of the teachings on the Church as developed in the Council. Vatican-II had to make declarations about the institutional components of the Church: on the bishops, the Pope, the priests, the religious and the laity in their communion and in their relationships; it had to describe the Church in progress, which embraces sinners and saints equally, and is always in need of purification. (Lumen gentium, 8). But this Petrine aspect of the Church is included in its Marian frame. In Mary, the Immaculate, we meet the essence of the Church in a manner that has not been deformed.”

Having said that, Benedict XVI had no further words about the Council and dedicated the greater part of his homily to explaining what he had called the explanatory key: the sign that Mary is for the Church and for the world.

And he did it with a profundity and richness such as one finds in the oldest pages of the Fathers of the Church.

[He then refers the reader to the full text of the homily. Benefan earlier provided a link to an Asia Times English translation of teh homily.]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 11/12/2005 3.01]

THE IMMACULATE HOMILY

I was only able to watch about 10 minutes of Papa's homily in a rebroadcast last night (I've read about it since.) but I found it fascinating that every time the camera panned the audience while Papa was speaking, everybody was looking at him and listening attentively. He seemed to have their rapt attention. His words were--as usual--beautiful, wise, and loving. People may disagree with his viewpoint but they only betray their own limitations and stupidity by trying to diminish what he says.