NEWS ABOUT THE CHURCH & THE VATICAN

Here, in translation, is Sandro Magister's blog on 3/21/06 commenting on Ruini's ringing re-statement of the need for the Church's voice to be held clearly in the public sphere in defense of life and the family:
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Benedict XVI and Ruini in unison:
This the policy of the Church

In his opening address to the permanent council of the Italian bishops conference on March 20, Cardinal Camillo Ruini re-stated “to the voters and to future elected officials the irrenounceable contents” which, using words Benedict XVI had used recently, are not “norms peculiar to Catholic morals alone” but rather are “elementary truths about our common humanity.” Among these “elementary truths” he ranked life and family at the very top.

Two days earlier, on March 18, Benedict XVI had indicated the very same priorities in a meeting with the heads of the Vatican Secretariat of State offices and representatives of the Holy See to various international organizations, urging them to “raise their voices” in defense of life and the family:

“The relations between states and within the states are just in the degree in which they respect truth. Nonetheless, when truth is disregarded, peace is threatened, law is endangered and then, as a logical consequence, injustices are unleashed. These are the boundaries that divide countries in a much more profound way than the limits drawn up on the geographical maps and frequently are not only external boundaries but also internal to the states.

”These injustices also take on new faces. For example, the face of disinterest and confusion that comes to damage the structure of the family, the fundamental cell of society. Or the face of authoritarianism or arrogance which can even become authorized, silencing those who have no voice or strength to be heard, as happens in the case of the injustice which, perhaps today is the gravest of all injustices, that which does away with incipient human life.

"’God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong’ (1 Corinthians 1:27). May this criterion of divine action, still in vigor today, encourage you not to be surprised, and less still to become discouraged, in the face of difficulties and misunderstandings.

"In fact, you know that through them you authoritatively participate in the prophetic responsibility of the Church, which strives to continue speaking up in defense of man, even when state politics or the majority of public opinion moves in the opposite direction. The strength of truth, in fact, is found in truth itself, not in the number of approvals it receives."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2006 1.14]

From the Associated Press this morning, 3/26/06, some encouraging news.

It may all be a legal fiction to enable the Afghan government to get out of its obvious conflict between its constitutional commitment to the universal declaration of human rights, which includes religious freedom, and the same Constitution's affirmation that no law can contradict traditional Muslim law or sharia, under which conversion to another religion carries the penalty of death.

What is disquieting is that it appears to be a temporary dismissal, pending further investigation so that the prsecution may strengthen its case! However, it is hoped that meanwhile, it will be possible to take the convert out of Afghanistan and give him asylum elsewhere.
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KABUL, Afghanistan, March 26 (AP) - An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said.

The announcement came as U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai faced mounting foreign pressure to free Abdul Rahman, a move that risked angering Muslim clerics here who have called for him to be killed.

An official closely involved with the case told The Associated Press that it had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but that in the meantime, Rahman would be released.

"The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," the official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

"The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," the official added. "They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney general is looking into the case."

Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed that the case had been dismissed because of "problems with the prosecutors' evidence."

He said several of Rahman's family members have testified that the 41-year-old has mental problems. "It is the job of the attorney general's office to decide if he is mentally fit to stand trial," he told AP.

A Western diplomat, also declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case, said questions were being raised as to whether Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or go into exile in a foreign country.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she could not confirm that an Afghan court had dismissed the case and stressed the U.S. needs to respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan, which she called a "young democracy."

"We have our history of conflicts that had to be worked out after a new constitution. And so the Afghans are working on it. But America has stood solidly for religious freedom as a bedrock, the bedrock, of democracy, and we'll see," Rice said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Asked if American Christian missionaries should be encouraged to go to Afghanistan, Rice said: "I think that Afghans are pleased to get the help that they can get" but added "we need to be respectful of Afghan sovereignty."

Rahman has been prosecuted under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He was arrested last month and charged with apostasy.

Muslim clerics had threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if the government freed him. They said he clearly violated Islamic Shariah law by rejecting Islam.

The case against Rahman put Karzai in an awkward position. While the U.S., Britain and other countries that prop-up his government have demanded the trial be dropped, Karzai has had to be careful not to offend Islamic sensibilities at home and alienate religious conservatives who wield considerable power.

[It was disclosed yesterday that Pope Benedict XVI had written Karzai asking that Rahman's life be spared.]

Rahman had been held at a detention facility in central Kabul since his arrest, but he was moved to the notorious Policharki Prison just outside Kabul on Friday after threats were made against him by other inmates, prison warden Gen. Shahmir Amirpur told AP.

Policharki, a high-security prison housing some 2,000 inmates, including about 350 Taliban and al-Qaida militants who were blamed for inciting a riot there late last month that killed six people.

"We are watching him constantly. This is a very sensitive case so he needs high security," he said in an interview in his office in a crumbling building inside the jail.

Rahman is being held in a cell by himself next to the office of a senior prison guard, the warden said. He showed the AP the outside of Rahman's cell door, but refused to allow reporters to speak to him or see him.

He said Rahman had been asking guards for a Bible but that they did not have any to give him.

Rahman, meanwhile, said he was fully aware of his choice and was ready to die for it, according to an interview published Sunday in an Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

"I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must die, I will die," Abdul Rahman told the Rome daily, responding to questions sent to him via a human rights worker who visited him in prison.

"Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us," he added in a clear reference to Jesus.

Rahman also told the Italian newspaper that his family — including his ex-wife and teenage daughters — reported him to the authorities three weeks ago.

He said he made his choice to become a Christian "in small steps," after he left Afghanistan 16 years ago. He moved to Pakistan, then Germany. He tried to get a visa in Belgium.

"In Peshawar I worked for a humanitarian organization. They were Catholics," Rahman said. "I started talking to them about religion, I read the Bible, it opened my heart and my mind."

Vatican City, Mar. 26, 2006 (AsiaNews) – In a message to Chinese Catholics, the new Cardinal Joseph Zen exhorted them to be “patient”, although the country does not enjoy full freedom of worship yet.

He said the red colour of his vestments recalled “the tears and blood of numerous, nameless, heroes of the Church” in China. These words were part of a homily given by the Cardinal yesterday in a Mass celebrated in Chinese and broadcast by Vatican Radio.

He said: "My becoming a cardinal shows how much the Pope values people in China. The red colour I am wearing is meant to signify a cardinal's willingness to shed blood. Yet it is not my blood that has been shed: it is the blood and the tears from the numerous, nameless, heroes in both the official and underground churches who have suffered for being faithful to the church.”

He added that although there is not yet full religious freedom in the country, Chinese Catholics should be patient, helping to build a harmonious society and working for the “maturity” of the nation.

The concept of a “harmonious society” is one of the leitmotivs of President Hu Jintao, who aims to calm China’s current conflicts, reconciling social tensions and the gap between the rich and the poor, cities and rural areas.

Cardinal Zen’s reference to this theme of a “harmonious society”, intended to convey to China that the call for full religious freedom of the Church in China, and his own appointment as Cardinal, do not constitute “a hostile act” against the country.

Rather they represent one of the necessary steps for Beijing to reach reconciliation at home, given the widespread faith renewal under way in Chinese society.

Cardinal Zen even expressed hope in his homily directed towards Catholics of China: “Winter has passed, and spring has come. The seeds you have sown with tears will bear fruit very soon.”

Yesterday, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mgr Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican Secretary for Relations with other States, reaffirmed that the appointment of Zen – seen by some of the leadership and the Patriotic Association as a “troublemaker” – as cardinal honors "the great Chinese tradition, and the role of modern China in today’s society”.

Mgr Lajolo also affirmed that the “time was ripe” to overcome differences and to open dialogue aimed at establishing full diplomatic relations.

In another interview with I-cable Television of Hong Kong, he said he trusted in “an opening of the spirit of the supreme authorities of the People's Republic of China, who cannot ignore the expectations of their people, as well as the signs of the times.”

Mgr Lajolo added that Benedict XVI wanted to visit China soon, perhaps before the 2008 Olympics.

Vatican stresses culture for dialogue with Islam
Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:35 AM GMT

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In its search for better relations with the Islamic world, the Roman Catholic Church is turning a spotlight on the role that culture can play in fostering understanding between peoples of different faiths.

Pope Benedict, launching a streamlining of the Vatican bureaucracy earlier this month, has given his culture minister, Cardinal Paul Poupard, the additional responsibility of heading the department for dialogue with non-Christian religions.

The move is more than a simple reshuffling of portfolios. A leading theologian before becoming Pope last April, Benedict has long thought contact with non-Christians should not focus only on religion, where agreement can be difficult if not impossible.

Culture -- not just art but the sum of a society's values, thoughts and behaviours -- provides a rich field for people of different backgrounds to learn to understand each other.

"Culture plays a fundamental role for relations between Christians and Muslims," said Poupard, 75, who now heads the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in addition to the Pontifical Council for Culture, which he has led since 1988.

"When he put me in charge of both departments, Benedict XVI clearly told me we had to develop the dialogue of men of culture with representatives of non-Christian religions," the French cardinal said in written response to questions from Reuters.

He recalled that the Pope told Muslim leaders in Germany last August that Christian-Muslim dialogue was "a vital necessity on which in large measure our future depends".

CONCERN ABOUT ISLAM

Senior Catholic officials have spoken in recent years with growing frankness of their concern about Islam, which immigrants have made the second-largest faith in many European states and radicals invoke to justify suicide bombings and other violence.

Cardinals at the Vatican for last Friday's consistory to elevate 15 more men to their exclusive group discussed the issue at a closed-door session on Thursday.

Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard of France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority, said they talked about values they shared with Muslims but also "human rights, the situation for Christians in those countries and the worrying sides of Islam".

Dialogue with Muslims can be complicated because Islam has no central authority and feels it has superseded Christianity.

Also, Muslims sometimes equate "Western" and "Christian," for example seeing the United States-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as attacks by Christian countries on Muslim states.

"This is a very damaging confusion," Poupard said.

"Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor John Paul II, never ceases to say this and show it by his acts, such as opposition to armed intervention in Iraq and the nomination of three Asian cardinals at the consistory, a Chinese, a Korean and a Filipino.

"The Church is not Western. It is catholic," he said, using the term derived from the Greek word for "universal".

ON THE FRONT LINE

The Vatican streamlining triggered much speculation in Rome because it began in mid-February with a terse statement that the former head of interreligious dialogue was being sent as Vatican ambassador to Cairo. This was seen in Rome as a demotion.

Unusually, no successor was named for Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, one of the Church's most experienced hands at dialogue with Muslims.

When the announcement that interreligious dialogue would be put under Poupard's responsibility finally came on March 11, it did not make clear whether the two councils would be merged.

Poupard said the two pontifical councils would continue as separate entities but cooperate more closely, and that Fitzgerald's dialogue skills would be put to good use.

"Archbishop Fitzgerald will be on the front line in this regard in Cairo as nuncio to Egypt and to the Arab League," he said. The 22-member Arab League is based in Cairo.

Fr. Joseph Carola, SJ, who teaches at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, said the following in a recent sermon to the College's Deacon Class of 2005:

"In his famous thirteen rules for thinking with the Church (sentire cum ecclesia), our Father Ignatius [Loyola] counsels:

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'If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines. For I must be convinced that in Christ our Lord, the bridegroom, and in His spouse the Church, only one Spirit holds sway, which governs and rules for the salvation of souls. For it is by the same Spirit and Lord who gave the Ten Commandments that our holy Mother Church is ruled and governed.'

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"Note carefully. Ignatius does not pretend that white is black nor vice versa. He is not legislating that we violate the law of non-contradiction. Rather he calls us in obedience to a higher truth which faith alone perceives."

Do the words above mean anything at all to the high-profile Jesuits who do not like certain key points in the Church Magisterium and are therefore unwilling to and incapable of "thinking with the Church"? Obviously not. Self-centered arrogance, the belief that one can think better than the Church with its bimillenial history, makes obedience impossible.

So they are neither proper Jesuits nor proper Catholics. Then why don't they go join the Anglicans instead? That Church has adopted most of the liberal policies they advocate - priests can marry, women can be priests and bishops, same-sex marriage is not taboo, contraception and all the new biotechnologies are just fine, there is no Pope or Curia to bother about, they can break bread and have "communion" with anyone without need of confession, and the Anglican Church, after all, broke off from the Roman Church which was the honest thing to do, and which the Tom Reeses and Charles Currans are not man enough to do!

INTERVIEW - Pope to use Turkey trip to help West-Islam dialogue

Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:33 PM IST
By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict will use his trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey later this year to promote greater dialogue between Islam and the West, a senior Vatican cardinal said on Monday.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, a German like the Pope, also said in an interview with Reuters that he believed that a controversy over remarks made by Benedict before his election about Turkey's credentials to join the European Union had now been overcome.

The Pope is scheduled to visit Turkey Nov. 28-30 for what will predominantly be a trip aimed at improving ties with Orthodox Christians, whose symbolic head, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, is based in Istanbul.

"This is one of the main problems today, to come to a relationship with Islam which will not be a clash of civilisations but a dialogue between civilisations," Kasper, head of the Council for Christian Unity, said in a wide-ranging interview on the Catholic Church's ecumenical activities.

"Of course, nobody wants a clash of cultures. It would be disastrous for the whole world," Kasper said adding that he expected the Pope to speak on relations with Islam at meetings with Turkey's government in Ankara before going to Istanbul.

"There, I think, the problem is unavoidable," Kasper said.

Since his election in April, the Pope has condemned cartoons lampooning the prophet Mohammad but has also called for charges to be dropped against an Afghan man who faces possible capital punishment because he converted from Islam to Christianity.

His aides have been stressing the Vatican's view that the rights of minority Christians in Islamic countries had to be respected as part of reciprocity for the religious freedoms available to Muslims in Christian countries.

Relations with Islam were also a top item on the agenda of closed-door discussions last week among over 150 cardinals meeting at the Vatican to admit 15 new members into what Benedict calls his "senate."

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

"There are many difficult and deep questions we have to solve with Islam but we also must remember times of good relations. There have been many positive influences of Islam, also on Christianity," Kasper said.

"We must try to deepen our dialogue with Islam, especially with moderate forces in Islam and to try to come to a positive and friendly relationship," he said.

When he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope gave a controversial interview arguing that Europe's roots are Christian and that a Muslim country would not fit in.

Some 99 percent of Turks are Muslims, the majority of them in the mainstream Sunni tradition. Most of Turkey's ancient Christian population -- chiefly Greeks and Armenians -- fled, perished or were exchanged with Greek Muslims in the 1920s.

The trip was delayed by a year because of Turkey's lingering suspicions about the comments but Kasper said he believed the problem was now in the past and that the Pope would not bring it up during the visit.

"That was a private opinion by Cardinal Ratzinger ... I don't think the Pope, when he goes as Pope to Turkey, will speak of this," Kasper said.

Turkey began European Union membership talks last October, but is not expected to join the bloc before 2015 at the earliest.

Many in the EU are wary about admitting Turkey, a large, mainly Muslim and relatively poor country of 72 million people.

The Pope's visit to Istanbul will be seen as a major step forward in relations between the Western Church and world Orthodoxy, which split from each other in the schism of 1054.

As Constantinople, the city later served as the centre of eastern Christianity for centuries until it fell to the Turks in 1453, becoming in turn the capital of the Muslim Ottoman empire.

INTERVIEW - Pope visit to Moscow looks increasingly possible

Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:48 PM IST
By Tom Heneghan and Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Long-strained relations between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches are improving quickly and a papal trip to Moscow in coming years looks increasingly possible, a Vatican official said on Monday.

Some differences remain to be ironed out before Pope Benedict could make the trip, but a new spirit in bilateral talks has already brought progress, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's Council for Christian Unity, told Reuters.

A papal visit to the home of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest in worldwide Orthodoxy, was the great unfulfilled dream of the late Pope John Paul II. But a thaw in chilly relations with Moscow has come under his successor Benedict.

"We had a difficult period behind us but now things are moving," he said in an interview. "There is a new spirit today."

One of the main hurdles to a papal visit was Russian Orthodox suspicion that the Vatican tried to win over Orthodox believers to Catholicism after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 opened Russia to religion again.

Kasper said the two churches had set up a commission to review the charge of Catholic proselytism, or wooing away of Orthodox faithful, and that it was working very well.

"We are convinced the proselytism problem can be solved easily," he said. "If there are concrete cases, we are ready to investigate and if there are misuses, we will change things."

The next step was to work out an agreement on this between Benedict and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II, he said.

"If we can find such common formulas, I think a meeting can be possible," he added.

Kasper ruled out any Moscow visit this year, saying the Pope first had to travel to Turkey in November to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based symbolic spiritual head of worldwide Orthodoxy.

"After that visit, we can think about a (Moscow) meeting," said Kasper, a German like Benedict.

A RAPID RESOLUTION?

Alexiy signalled his interest in better relations this month in a letter to Benedict saying he hoped for a "rapid resolution" to their problems.

The Russian church has also come to see Catholicism as "an ally in the struggle for discovering the Christian roots of Europe and the struggle against terrorism", Kasper said.

Benedict made ecumenical progress a priority of his papacy when he was elected last April and has shown a preference for working with the Orthodox, who are closer to the Catholics in many teachings than the Protestant churches are.

The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest and most influential of the Orthodox churches that split from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054. There are now some 220 million Orthodox believers worldwide compared with 1.1 billion Catholics.

It had repeatedly vetoed any visit to Moscow by Pope John Paul, who had a standing invitation to visit from Moscow's political leaders since 1989.

After a break of more than four years, theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches resumed in December with a meeting of an international Catholic-Orthodox theological commission. Their first plenary session is due in September.

Talks broke down in July 2000 over Eastern rite Catholics, who left Orthodoxy and returned to unity with Rome in 1596.

The Pope this month dropped one of his nine official titles, "Patriarch of the West", in a discreet step aimed at promoting closer ties with other Christian churches.

From BBC News today, 3/27/06 -


British cleric's mission to Islam:
Archbishop Fitzgerald's new role
has prompted speculation
By Peter Gould
BBC News


As Pope Benedict honoured his new cardinals, one familiar Vatican face
was not in the line to receive the coveted red hat.

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, for years the most senior British cleric in Rome,
has been moved to a new job.


As head of the Vatican department promoting dialogue with other religions, it was widely
expected he would join the College of Cardinals.

But the Pope has re-assigned the Walsall-born cleric, naming him as papal nuncio to Egypt and
delegate to the Arab League. The decision by the German-born pontiff has caused a stir.

Vatican-watchers are trying to work out whether the move is a demotion, or recognition of the
special talents of the archbishop.

"It is certainly not a question of personality - nobody dislikes Fitzgerald," says John Allen,
Vatican correspondent of the US-based National Catholic Reporter.

"He is universally admired for his graciousness, his work ethic and his expertise. He is probably
the best mind working on Christian-Islamic relations among the senior leadership of the Church."

After years of dialogue with Islamic leaders - and as a fluent Arabic speaker - Fitzgerald is
certainly well qualified for his new role in Cairo.

"The Church is fortunate indeed in having someone of his expertise and prestige in this
sensitive post," says the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

The Vatican's desire to maintain good relations with the Muslim world was given new impetus
in the days after the 9/11 attacks on America.

And recent days have seen renewed tension, following the publication by Western newspapers
of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.

Pope Benedict has said that religious leaders have a responsibility to "work for
reconciliation through genuine dialogue".

The Englishman now has a key role in that process in Cairo, where the 22 members of
the Arab League meet.

Archbishop Fitzgerald has not commented on the speculation surrounding his move, simply
telling reporters: "My background in Arabic and Islamic studies is probably considered useful
at this moment for the development of relations with Egypt and the rest of the Islamic world."

Following the appointment, the Pope placed the running of the archbishop's department under
the control of a French cardinal who heads the Vatican's council for culture.

This may be more than just a streamlining of Vatican bureaucracy. Some observers
believe the new Pope wants to take a tougher line on the issue of "reciprocity".

It means that if Muslims benefit from religious freedom in the West, then Christians should
have an equal right to follow their faith in Islamic states.

But while there is speculation that Pope Benedict may be looking for changes in the
Church's approach to Islam, it should not be assumed that the English archbishop has been
sidelined.

"Fitzgerald is not being sent out to pasture," insists the National Catholic Reporter's
John Allen.

"Cairo is home to the Al-Azhar University and Mosque, arguably the closest thing in the Muslim
world to a Vatican, and hence Fitzgerald will remain a privileged interlocutor with Islam.

"In fact, one could make the argument that his skills will be better utilized in Egypt than
they were at the Vatican, where much of his work was ceremonial and administrative."

And the cleric from Walsall could find himself in the reckoning for another top job in the
not too distant future - one that would bring with it the red hat of a cardinal.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, is now 73. In line with Church practice,
he will be expected to submit his resignation to the Pope when he reaches the age of 75.

Could the 68-year-old Archbishop Fitzgerald step into his shoes? Vatican-watcher John Allen
thinks it is a possibility.

"Given that Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is closing in on retirement age, some observers
believe that Fitzgerald could eventually end up in Westminster as his successor," he says.

"Fitzgerald's familiarity with religiously pluralistic environments would be well suited
to the United Kingdom, and his cautious moderation would, at least in the eyes of some,
be a good fit with the English episcopacy.

"In that sense, Cairo may prove to be a detour, rather than a dead-end."

Recent polls show Catholic Church is strong in France and Germany

Paris, Mar. 29, 2006 (CNA)

Recent polls in two European countries now show that the Church is growing as a powerful social institution. In France, numbers of practicing Catholics remain strong while the German Church is benefiting from the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope last year.

In France the poll showed that the Catholic Church remains by far the most important institution. Figures coming from the French Bishops Conference, a recent poll from the CSA institute and the daily LeMonde newspaper, show that 62 % of the population considers itself Catholic, 12 % say they are somewhat practicing and 35% are non-practicing.

Half of French children are currently baptized, and about 18,826 adults and children over 7 years old were baptized in 2001.

France has just over 100 bishops and 24 000 priests currently exercise their pastoral activity there.

In 2002, there were 132 newly ordained priests, while about 9,542 men and 46,007 women belong to religious congregations. More than 6,000 French are in mission out of France (Africa, Latin America, Asia) and about 1000 of them are priests.

The strength of the Catholic Church largely lies in the 8,719 schools belonging to the organizations of catholic education in the country. More than 35,000 students are currently enrolled in the system. There are also many important catholic associations, such as Catholic Charities which are linked with the Church.

Likewise, the Catholic Church in Germany is benefiting from a “Benedict XVI effect.” Indeed many Germans are witnessing a mix of sympathy and curiosity for this theologian-Pope.

Experts say that the election of the Bavarian Pope, the shy and discret Joseph Ratzinger came at the perfect time for the German Church.

Accordingto a recent poll from the Forsa Institute for the Neue Bild Post newspaper, 59% of Catholics and 54% of people with no religious confessions say the election of Joseph Ratzinger benefited the German Church.

37% view him as a prudent moderated reformer while the fact that he is a theologian, mastering the subtleties of modern German thought is certainly thought to be an advantage in a country very suspicious of Popes in general. It is often known as the land of Luther and the reformation.

Pope Benedict has shown his ability for dialogue and openness by receiving the contested theologian Hans Kung as well as the representatives of the most traditional movements of the Church.

New Cardinal Hopes to Bring Mass Youth Event to Korea
From chosun.com

Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, the archbishop of Seoul, says he will throw his weight behind Korea's bid to host World Youth Day, one of the biggest events organized by the Roman Catholic Church. The newly appointed cardinal made the pledge in an exclusive interview with the Chosun Ilbo in Rome on Wednesday before returning home after an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. World Youth Day is held every three years on a different continent. In 2005, some 1 million people including the pontiff gathered in Cologne, Germany.

"If South Korea is able to host World Youth Day, we would naturally invite the pope to come, and it would also serve as a fresh impetus for the youth ministry," Cardinal Cheong said.

Cheong, who is also archbishop of Pyongyang, said any missionary work in North Korea "is such a difficult job because both sides have to agree on the issue, and I need to know what the North's position on my becoming a cardinal is." But he promised to make efforts at home and abroad to ensure that there can be resident priests in the Stalinist country.

The cardinal is famous for his frugality, to the point where he has been called the lord of used paper," He explained, "When I started my life as a catholic priest, I thought I will live with what I have for my own use without being greedy, and I would permit only the smallest consideration to be given to me." He said he "tried to avoid being materialistic or wanting things that are beyond my reach."

CHANGE IMMINENT:
Monsignor Ambrose Madtha confirmS
the Catholic Church seeking to switch ties
from Taipei to Beijing
By Chang Yun-ping

Thursday, Mar 30, 2006
The Vatican IS ready to move its embassy from Taipei to Beijing at any time provided the Chinese authorities could guarantee religious freedom, the Holy See's top envoy to Taiwan said yesterday.

The Vatican's charge d'affaires, Monsignor Ambrose Madtha, told the Taipei Times yesterday in a telephone interview that it was "a step forward" for the Vatican to reach out to China as the Holy See is now ready to enter into "official dialogue" with Beijing over the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Madtha was responding to questions regarding statements made by Vatican Foreign Minister Giovanni Lajolo, who said in an interview with a Hong Kong cable TV station last Saturday that the "time is ripe" for the Vatican to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.

"As is known, there have already been various contacts, with ups and downs," Lajolo said in an interview with Hong Kong station I-Cable TV. "It seems to me that the Holy See has clearly explained what it is asking for, what it is ready to concede and what it can never give up if it is to remain faithful to itself. In our opinion, the time is ripe."

"[Lajolo's comments] meant that the time is ripe for official dialogue [between the Vatican and Beijing] to begin. But [the progress of such dialogue] depends on how China responds to the calls of the Holy See," Madtha said yesterday, adding that previous contacts had been "unofficial" and that the Holy See was now ready to enter into "serious" talks with Beijing.

However, Madtha said that progress would only be possible if Beijing was willing to respect religious freedom and to make compromises with the Vatican.

"If religious freedom in China is guaranteed, it is okay to move the embassy from Taipei to Beijing," Madtha said.

Nevertheless, Madtha said that "so far, relations between the Vatican and Taiwan remained stable."

Madtha refuted a local media report that said yesterday that he had personally refused to meet with Taiwanese officials.

The envoy also emphasized that in the event that the Vatican moved its embassy from Taipei to Beijing, it would not abandon the 300,000 Catholics in Taiwan, but would work out a way for them to be represented.

Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang said yesterday that the Holy See would not make its decision for political reasons and had promised not to abandon Taiwanese Catholics.

"The Holy See values the rights of Taiwanese Catholics and their religious freedom. It will not abandon the 300,000 Catholics in Taiwan for the 8 million Catholics in China," Huang said. "The Holy See has told us very clearly that its considerations lie with the rights of all Catholics."

This morning, I posted here the transcript of a ZENIT interview with theologian Lawrence Cunningham of Notre Dame about St. Francis and his dealings with Islam. I have transferred it to the new thread REFLECTIONS ON ISLAM.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/03/2006 0.42]

From the Associated Press, 3/30/06:

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's new cardinal said Thursday the Vatican and Beijing are discussing forging fresh ties, which could allow Pope Benedict XVI to make a historic visit to China.

Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious freedom in China, was uncertain when an agreement would be reached. China cut ties with the Vatican in 1951.

No pope has ever visited mainland China.

The Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, said Saturday the "time is ripe" for the Holy See and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations, and confirmed it is ready to move its embassy from Taiwan.

When a country shifts its formal recognition to China, Beijing usually demands that the nation's leaders and high-ranking officials avoid visiting Taiwan. Beijing insists Taiwan is part of Chinese territory and should not have diplomatic relations with other countries. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.

But Zen said the Beijing government may allow Benedict to visit both mainland China and Taiwan because he is a religious leader, not a politician.

If the Vatican cut ties with Taiwan, it would be a huge blow to the island since the Holy See is its only diplomatic ally in Europe. The island's other partners are mostly impoverished African, Latin American and Caribbean nations.

Zen, appointed cardinal last week, said Thursday the Taiwanese would understand if the Vatican switched its diplomatic relations.

"If there is a guarantee after the normalization of relations and the Catholic church is given freedom (in China), the government and people of Taiwan would accept the decision of the Holy Father," Zen said.

He added: "The Holy Father would go to visit mainland China. Of course, I think he can also go visit Taiwan."

One of the Vatican's goals is to restart official relations with China, which forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Holy See after the officially atheist Communists took power. People can worship only in government-controlled churches.

But millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome. They say they are frequently harassed, fined and sometimes sent to labor camps by authorities.

Pope John Paul II, the most-traveled pontiff in history, was unable to visit China during his 26-year papacy. Pope Paul VI made a three-hour stopover in Hong Kong in 1970 when it was a British colony.

Universal approval of Latin Missal could be on the way

Vatican City, Mar. 31, 2006 (CNA) - The St. Pius V Missal, which the Catholic Church used until 1962 before it was replaced by the new ordinary following the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, could be approved for universal use, according to sources close to the Vatican.

The decision on the use of the Missal, which was the subject of consultations between Pope Benedict XVI, the cardinals of the Church and the heads of the different Vatican diacasteries, could be announced after another meeting the Pope has scheduled for April 7 with Curia leaders.

The Pius V Missal contains the Mass celebrated in Latin according to the “Tridentine” rite and is currently allowed only with the permission of the local bishop. Universal approval would mean the traditional rite could be celebrated freely throughout the world by priests who wish to do so.

The move is not directly related to the Lefebvrist schism, since as a theologian the Pontiff had always expressed in interest in bringing back the rite. Nevertheless, Vatican sources note that this would be an important step in resolving the schism, as the possibility of freely celebrating the Mass of St Pius V is one of the points of contention with the Lefebvrists.

In July, the Society of St. Pius X—known as the Lefebvrists—will elect a new superior. The group will chose between openness to reconciliation embodied in the current superior Bernard Fellay or the decidedly anti-Vatican stance of Richard Williamson, another of the four bishops illicitly consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Cardinal sees signs of vitality in church

Pittsburgh Catholic
by: John Franko

Cardinal Avery Dulles believes that while people in Europe seem to have lost interest in religion, American Catholics by and large are content in their church, and parish life appears to be vital and vibrant.

“There are good signs,” he said.

Cardinal Dulles will focus on the future of the church when he addresses Pittsburgh-area Jesuit alumni on “The DeChristianization of Europe: Is America Next?” Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. at the Duquesne Club in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Cardinal Dulles, the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, is one of three Jesuit cardinals and the only American Jesuit cardinal. When he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, he became the first American-born theologian who was not a bishop to receive the honor.

Cardinal Dulles noted that Mass attendance is low and vital statistics regarding the church are negative throughout Western Europe, with Poland being an exception.

He pointed to the battle over the European constitution in which there is no mention of Christianity in the new document. He said it has gone from a classical civilization of Greek or Roman, to one of the enlightenment of the French Revolution.

The cardinal noted that people in Europe treat cathedrals as museums rather than spiritual houses of worship.

Cardinal Dulles has noted, however, that while many segments of the church are experiencing difficulties, there are many people of other faiths who are seeing good things in the Catholic Church.

A convert himself, the cardinal said people seem to be looking to the church because they find a greater stability than they had in other faiths. He noted that while they may have been committed all along to authentic Christianity, among other things the Bible pointed them to Catholicism.

“They find a great deal about the church in the New Testament,” he said. “They find that Catholicism realizes that more than their own church had.”

Cardinal Dulles noted that this is especially true when reading about the Fathers of the Church. He said early Christian writers often reflected on Catholic Christianity. The cardinal said there are mixed signals about the future of the church, but there is a good deal of religious vitality in both Catholic and Protestant circles.

He said Catholicism at the grassroots level seems to be doing fairly well, but it faces a constant threat from the dominant media culture, which doesn’t seem to take religion seriously.

Cardinal Dulles pointed to the tension between those who want the culture of the United States to be dominated by religious values and those who want to push religion into the realm of privacy.

“I don’t know how the battle will turn out, but it is an important struggle going on,” he said.

Cardinal Dulles said the strength of Catholicism is that it’s international and historical and faithful to its traditions.

He also sees a renewed interest in the Eucharist and the papal witness of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

The cardinal noted that Americans have responded well to Pope Benedict XVI. He said that though he was originally perceived as a doctrinal policeman, he has shown another aspect of himself and caught people by surprise.

“He is very pastoral and very gentle, and very much able to reach out to different audiences,” he said. “He’s made a very good impression.”

Cardinal Dulles, the son of the late Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, has authored more than 750 articles on theological topics and published some two dozen books.

His Pittsburgh presentation will be preceded by an April 19 address at Wheeling Jesuit University.

Nessuna provides us with this interesting item from Bloomberg News Service yesterday.
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Vatican Gives Berlusconi Economics Lesson
in Tacit Nod to Prodi

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last week got an unexpected economics lesson from an unexpected source: the Vatican.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Pope Benedict XVI's political spokesman, called domestic economic conditions ''unfortunately difficult.'' At a meeting of the Italian Bishops' Conference, which he heads, the 75-year-old Ruini said that ''what is needed is a strong and shared commitment, or else it will be an arduous task to ease the imbalances that have afflicted our country for too long.''

Buried in a speech on family values, the comments made front-page headlines in Italy's major newspapers, including La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera. They were interpreted by some political analysts as implicit support for opposition leader Romano Prodi, 66, who may win the April 9 and 10 elections.

''Ruini's message was a tacit approval of Prodi, with an admonition about gay marriages,'' said Antonio Noto, director of IPR Marketing, which conducted weekly election surveys. ''As much as 8 percent of Italians identify themselves as Catholics conditioned by the church, and they will listen to his words.''

Under Benedict, the Vatican has been more vocal about local issues in Italy than under Pope John Paul II. The new pope helped scuttle a referendum put forward by Prodi's coalition to loosen rules on surrogate motherhood and stem-cell research. He's spoken out on subjects such as abortion, euthanasia and same-sex civil unions, and has awarded Berlusconi allies honors that are usually reserved for heads of state.

Hedging Bets

Ruini's mention of the economy may have been a way for the Vatican to hedge its bets on the outcome of the election, said James Walston, professor of politics and international relations at the American University in Rome.

''Ruini has made a calculated decision,'' Walston said. ''By saying the economy is in terrible shape, he has made a safe approach. In view of a likely Prodi win, he doesn't want to start off on the wrong foot.''

The mention of the economy hit a sore spot in Berlusconi's re-election campaign by highlighting the lack of growth and rising debt in Italy. Two days before Ruini's remarks, at a meeting of Italy's industrial lobby, Fiat SpA Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo criticized the government for failing to boost competitiveness and cut red tape. Berlusconi, 69, retorted that a businessman voting for Prodi ''must be out of his mind.''

Failed to Grow

Italy's next leader will be saddled with one of the highest debts in Europe and an economy that failed to grow in 2005. Prodi's Union coalition was ahead of Berlusconi's House of Freedoms bloc by about 5 percentage points, according to the average of 10 polls carried out this month.

About 10 percent of voters were still undecided in a poll published by Rome-based IPR on March 24, the last one before a pre-vote blackout.

Even though the Vatican's political influence waned with the collapse of the Christian Democrats amid corruption scandals in the early 1990s, it still has a potent voice in Italy.

Ninety-seven percent of Italians are Catholic and 30 percent are still regular churchgoers. And while Italian mores have strayed from church doctrine, as illustrated by the legalization of divorce and abortion in the 1970s and 1980s, people still pay attention when the pontiff speaks.

''I'm not a practicing Catholic, but the church has shaped and defined this country,'' said Piero Bonicelli della Vite, an engineer from Bologna in northern Italy. ''It's been around for thousands of years. It's part of the social fabric.''

Married with three children, Bonicelli, 63, said he plans to vote for Berlusconi again.

Pius and Mussolini

The separation of church and state in Italy was officially sealed with the signing by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI of the Lateran Treaty, which recognized the sovereign independence of the Holy See, in 1929.

Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, has tried to play up his platform's similarity with the Vatican's guidelines, saying on March 21 he was ''absolutely in agreement'' with Ruini's appeal to values such as ''life, the family and marriage.'' His four-way coalition includes Pier Ferdinando Casini, who leads the successor party to the Christian Democrats.

Berlusconi has also sparked controversy with offhand comments that took the analogy a step further. In January, he told a priest attending a rally in Sardinia that he would give up sex during the campaign. He has also called himself the ''Jesus Christ of politics,'' saying he suffered the hardship of running the country for the good of Italy.

Scrapping a Meeting

He and two Catholic politicians scrapped long-held plans to meet with Benedict after criticism they were trying to exploit the visit to their electoral advantage. The meeting, organized by representatives of the European People's Party in the Strasbourg- based European Parliament, was held yesterday without them; Benedict said church intervention in public debate '' does not constitute a form of intolerance or interference.''

The nine-party coalition headed by Prodi, who beat Berlusconi to become prime minister in 1996, covers a range of political convictions. Vladimir Luxuria, Italy's first transvestite to run for parliament, has made same-sex civil unions a top priority, while the Radical Party is pushing for the RU-486 abortion pill to win approval for nationwide distribution.

Reacting to Ruini's speech, Prodi, former president of the European Commission, said, ''His words give a lucid list of political and moral priorities I agree with.'' Ruini celebrated Prodi's marriage in 1969 when the Union leader was an economics professor at the University of Bologna.

While eschewing any overt indications on who to vote for, the Vatican has flexed its political muscle and shown that when it wants to be, it can be effective in mobilizing Catholics.

Abstaining From a Vote

A month after being elected to succeed John Paul on April 19, German-born Benedict XVI backed a call from Ruini's congregation of Italian bishops for voters to abstain from a referendum on easing Italian fertility laws, among Europe's most restrictive. The motion failed because voter turnout was too low for the vote to count, a blow to Prodi and his allies.

''The church, having lost its political arm, is having to speak up more,'' said Maurizio Pessato, head of Trieste, Italy- based SWG Srl, a polling company. ''But it's picking its battles very carefully.''

In the flurry of direct news reports recently posted here on an imminent "step forward" in relations between the Vatican and the People's Republic of China, I apologize that I failed to post right away the following March 28 article by Sandro Magister, who pulls the reports together on
www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=47284&eng=y
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The Vatican’s New Policy on China
Has a Color: Cardinal Red
Its emblem is the new cardinal Zen, bishop of Hong Kong.
“The color of my garments is the blood
of the unknown heroes who have suffered
for their fidelity to the Church,” he says.

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, March 28, 2006 – Benedict XVI’s first consistory with the cardinals, both old and new, will be remembered for its vivid red coloring. The pope strongly emphasized the significance of the cardinal’s vestments. He assimilated this to the red of Jesus’ blood poured out on the cross:

“It will mean for you a more intense participation in the mystery of the Cross as you share in the sufferings of Christ. All of us are truly witnesses of his sufferings today, in the world and also in the Church.”

Two days later, at the Angelus on Sunday, March 26, the pope restated the significance of this scarlet color in even clearer words, speaking to all of the faithful:

“The sacrifice of one's life is the distinctive character of cardinals, as attested by their oath and as symbolized by scarlet, the color of blood.”

And not only that. Benedict XVI associated the sacrifice of one’s life symbolized by the red coloring with the martyrs of the Church commemorated that day and with the persecuted Christian communities in various countries throughout the world:

“By a providential coincidence, the consistory was held on March 24, the day in which missionaries were commemorated who fell last year on the frontiers of evangelization and of service to man in different parts of the earth. Thus, the consistory was an occasion to feel closer than ever to all those Christians who suffer persecutions because of the faith. [...] My thoughts go especially to those communities that live in countries where religious freedom is lacking [...] and are going through conditions of particular difficulty and suffering.”

One of these places of suffering for Christians is China, the homeland of the most watched among the fifteen cardinals created by Benedict XVI in his first consistory: the bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.

During the afternoon of Sunday, March 26, while celebrating the Mass with the Chinese Catholics present in Rome, Zen said in the homily, in what was also a message to the Catholics of his country:

“The red colour I am wearing is meant to signify a cardinal's willingness to shed blood. Yet it is not my blood that has been shed until now: it is the blood and the tears from the numerous, nameless, heroes in both the official and underground Churches who [in China] have suffered for being faithful to the Church.”

The new Chinese cardinal’s homily and message were broadcast by Vatican Radio, which on the previous day, March 25, gave great prominence to two interviews that the Holy See’s foreign minister, Giovanni Lajolo, gave to I-Cable TV in Hong Kong and the most important newspaper of the same city, the South China Morning Post.

“In making the bishop of Hong Kong a cardinal" – Lajolo said to I-Cable TV – "the pope trusts that this gesture will be understood correctly and, in a certain way, reciprocated.”

On the relations between Beijing and the Holy See, Lajolo first stipulated that “Chinese Catholics do not feel any less Chinese because they are Catholic,” even though, obviously, “one cannot be Catholic without being in communion with the pope.”

He then asserted that whenever “open and stable relations between the Chinese government and the Holy See might be established, any tensions could be overcome afterwards without any ambiguity.”

The Holy See – Lajolo also said – “has always expressed clearly what it asks and what it is ready to concede,” and also “what it cannot renounce while remaining faithful to itself.” He added: “In our opinion, the time is ripe”; the Chinese authorities “cannot ignore the expectations of their own people, nor the signs of the times.”

To the South China Morning Post, Lajolo confirmed that there are “unofficial contacts” with the Beijing government: these contacts have their “high and low points,” but “do not appear to be fruitless,” and show “an open rather than closed-off attitude” on the part of the Chinese.

On a trip to China by Benedict XVI before the Olympic Games in 2008, Lajolo declared that the pope “would certainly be very happy to make a visit” in order “to demonstrate his paternal love toward the bishops, priests, and faithful who have born witness, and continue to bear witness, to a deep and often suffering fidelity to the successor of Peter.”

Nevertheless, “first there must be the necessary objective conditions and an invitation on the part of the Chinese government.”

On the bishop of Hong Kong’s elevation as a cardinal, Lajolo repeated that “the intellectual liveliness” of the new cardinal “ought to constitute an example for knocking down the walls of prejudice and fear in regard to the Catholic Church, which is totally unjustified, but is still present in some sectors.”

As for religious liberty and diplomatic relations, Lajolo said that “contradictory signs are coming from China. We have the impression that the highest religious authorities have the intention of regularizing relations, but some at the intermediate level are resisting.”

Religious freedom – he repeated – “is a fundamental human right,” and for this reason “it cannot be placed under any limitations” by the political authorities.

The most rigid Chinese leaders and the heads of the Patriotic Association that controls the official Church see bishop Zen as a “troublemaker.” But in his message to the Chinese Catholics, he asked that they be patient and helpful in constructing a “harmonious society,” working toward the nation‘s “maturity.”

The concept of a “harmonious society” is one of the leitmotifs of President Hu Jintao. The agency Asia News of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, which specializes in China, commented in a dispatch on March 26:

“Bishop Zen’s reference to a ‘harmonious society,’ intends to convey to China that the call for full religious freedom of the Church does not constitute ‘a hostile act’ against the country. Rather it represents one of the necessary steps for Beijing to reach reconciliation also at home, given the widespread faith renewal under way in Chinese society.”

In any case, in his interview with Vatican Radio, Zen said that he “has a great desire to talk with the Beijing authorities, because, since I know the Church well from within, I can better explain how it works to our leaders. In fact, I am afraid that they have many mistaken or outdated conceptions.”

But Bishop Zen’s contribution can be valuable for the Vatican, too. There, in fact – as the director of Asia News, Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, a sinologist, has written – “there is no lack of impatient persons who, simply to have diplomatic relations with China, would be ready to make any sort of compromise.”

Cardinal Zen, who is cut from a different cloth altogether, said during the same interview on Vatican Radio: “I think that the Holy Father wants to make use of my experience in China and will want to receive some information, and maybe even some suggestions, from me.”

The Way of Beauty:
Can it lead people to God?
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Poets and philosophers have long pondered the mysterious nature of beauty: Is beauty only what pleases or teases the eye of the beholder? Or does a more universal beauty exist that can attract people of all ages and cultures? And what about the wilting or wrinkling demise of physical beauty? Isn't there perhaps something more enduring that offers a glimpse of the divine?

Just as Socrates and other esteemed Greek intellectuals gathered one day more than 2,000 years ago to discuss beauty and love, another kind of symposium was held in the Vatican March 27-28 when more than 40 cardinals, bishops, religious and lay experts in culture revisited these perennial questions.

Participants in the Pontifical Council for Culture plenary assembly met to discuss the Via Pulchritudinis -- a Latin phrase meaning "the way of beauty" - and how it could become a "pathway for evangelization and dialogue."

Beauty, along with what is true and good, can lead people to God, said the council's president, French Cardinal Paul Poupard.

But, he asked, how can the church help people discern this liberating and redeeming path of beauty from the more deceptive forms glistening and gleaming in magazine ads, on television and in storefront window displays?

Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, Ireland, said in his address that most advertisements aim to persuade people they need certain products or services and that something "passing and trivial is more important and desirable than it really is."

Auxiliary Bishop Mark Coleridge of Melbourne, Australia, said drugs and alcohol are also part of these "false beauties" and "destructive ecstasies" that leave people empty, unconnected and severed from agape and charity.

In a world full of bright, attractive images, Bishop Murray said, "questions about the awful do not exist," and, quoting U.S. psychologist William James, he said "the big outside worldly wilderness with all its sins and sufferings" is avoided.

One topic of the plenary discussion was how people, obsessed with what some called a cosmetic or escapist beauty, would ever see the beauty of Christ disfigured, wounded and suffering on the cross.

Bishop Murray noted that "a great deal of modern art sets out to be crude and shocking, even ugly."

But perhaps in some works -- another bishop mentioned Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" -- there is "a valid protest against a shallow beauty" that avoids any insight into the inner depths of reality, he said.

"What refuses to face the truth cannot be beautiful," said the Irish bishop.

Christ possesses an everlasting, universal and saving beauty, and he is the only one who can quench humanity's longing for the truth, the good, and its "nostalgia for the beautiful," he said.

While the modern world seeks to distract itself from, gloss over or mask the facts of life or disconcerting truths, "the saving beauty of Christ faces the fear that a world is ending; it faces the fear that life might have no meaning," said Bishop Murray. "Evil, helplessness, fear and impermanence are conquered not by ignoring them, but by God's entry into them," by his becoming man.

In the ugliness of Calvary, God shows his redemptive power, his unconditional love for his children and his everlasting splendor, he said.

This saving beauty is visible and felt not only in the image of Jesus on the cross, with Christ's presence in the Eucharist, and in sacred art and music. Beauty is also present in the natural world God created, like in a starry night's sky, a sunrise, a field of flowers or the smile of a child, said U.S. Bishop William B. Friend of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Christian beauty is also manifest in people who live a life of holiness, said other participants.

Slovenian Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik said people infused with love for the other become beautiful. It is not enough to offer kind words and do good deeds; "only spiritual people" bathed in the grace of the Holy Spirit emanate beauty, he said.

Cardinal Ivan Dias of Mumbai, India, said the lives of the saints can be inspirational even for people of other religious faiths or no faith at all.

Most holy people do not often embody modern notions of beauty; many, like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, were poor and others, like Pope John Paul II, were ailing and practically voiceless, and yet they still attracted people of all beliefs to listen to their message, he said.

People living a holy life might also be the object of ridicule, persecution or other hardships, making them unpopular and hardly attractive to most people, he said.

But the beauty of Christian holiness is like looking at a cocoon, he said. "Some despise the worm there as ugly, while others see in it a beautiful butterfly in the making."

A world that has become indifferent and jaded by so much flash, glitz and dazzle needs authentic beauty, participants said, and it's the church's mission to point out that via pulchritudinis.

Father Rupnik said beauty is what links humanity to God and the divine. Take away the saints and angelic cherubim, and people are "left with only the animals," or worse, are alone.

Quoting Pope Paul VI in his Dec. 8, 1965, letter to artists, Cardinal Poupard said the world "needs beauty in order to not sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy" to the human heart, and "resists the wear and tear of time."

www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0601874.htm

From the website of the archdiocese of Boston, on
http://www.rcab.org/Pilot/2006/ps060331/O'MalleyQ&A.html
Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, gives a lengthy interview discussing, among others, his views of the challenges facing the Universal Church today. Here is an excerpt:

[IMG]http://www.rcab.org/Pilot/2006/ps060331/O'MalleyQ&A.jpg[/IMG]

Q: As a cardinal, you now have an important say in global Church affairs. From your perspective, which are the most important challenges facing the Church today?
Certainly, on the world scene, the forces of secularism are something that the Church has got to deal with. To be able to evangelize and teach the faith in a society which is no longer a Christian society, that has the same way of looking at reality — I think that is a big challenge.

The challenge of Islam in the world — which is not only a phenomenon in Africa and the Middle East but now even New York —and how Christianity is going to interact with the Muslim world. And it is curious, because there are historical reasons for tensions and rivalry and yet there are also points of convergence: the way they look at life and issues like abortion, and marriage and things like this. There would be greater understanding among believers and people who practice the Muslim faith.

And certainly, in the First World the vocation issue is very important. I suppose the challenge in the developing countries, in places where the Church is growing very quickly, is to make sure that the leadership receives the kind of formation that they need.

Q: Why do you think the Church is facing a crisis in vocations?
The crisis is present in Europe and the United States. In Africa and Latin America they are beginning to have very large numbers of vocations. So the crisis is not worldwide. The crisis is in the developed countries, in countries where secularism is on the rise, in countries where materialism has become so firmly rooted in culture, in countries where family life is deteriorating, where the appreciation for chastity and for celibacy has been diminished so the priesthood is no longer seen in the same way it was a generation ago.

Beyond that, the whole sense of personal vocation, in many instances, is not there. A lot of Catholics think in terms of a career or a profession and not what is a call to holiness that comes through our baptism and concern to discover what God’s will is in our lives so we can live that. And beyond the personal vocation, the sense of being part of a communal mission that Christ has entrusted to the entire Church.

There has been what I call privatization of religion, that has become very sentimental, very personal. So you have people saying, “I am spiritual but I don’t belong to any church.” Well, as I tell the confirmation kids, Jesus did not come so we can have the “warm fuzzies.” He came to establish a Church, a people, and to give us a mission so to recapture that sense of who we are, that we do have a personal vocation.

In today’s world, without that sense of vocation, it is not only the priesthood and religious life that suffer, but marriage too.

People are postponing marriage or substituting it for cohabitation or they think that marriage is only about adults. So they get married without the idea of having children, or they justify, then, same-sex marriage because it is an arrangement of friendship between adults rather than a family that is to generate life, to bring children into the world, to nurture them to prepare them to be good citizens of this world, and citizens of heaven.

Q: Is there a connection between the ability of youths to listen to the call from God and family life?
Of course. I grew up in a family where my parents had such reverence for priests, for the Eucharist. I started serving Mass ... before I made my First Communion. I learned the Latin prayers with my older brother to be a Mass server. In those days, there was never a Mass without altar boys even during the week. My parents would make sure that, even at six o’clock in the morning, we would be there.

Q: Some contend that the crisis of vocations would be solved if married men were allowed to become priests or if women were ordained. Are those real solutions?
Well, the Church has said over and over again that we can only ordain men because, in the incarnation, Christ is male and the priesthood is an extension of Christ.

Married clergy? It’s not an impossibility because we have Eastern rite clergy and we also have married deacons. However, in the mainline churches that have married clergy, they are having the same shortage of clergy in the same secularized countries.

It is really not a solution and, for the Latin rite to change, it would bring a whole set of other problems. Not just theological problems, but also practical problems. We have many parishes that can barely support a celibate clergy, let alone if they had to support a family.

But in the Church, celibacy is not just seen for its practical value — and it does have a practical value, it makes people much more available to go wherever, to be able to serve God’s people — but it’s done more for the spiritual reasons behind it. In imitation of Jesus’s celibate life, an invitation to renunciation, to follow Him. It’s the new martyrdom by which the Church professes our faith in the resurrection. That we are all going to live forever, therefore we don’t have to have children in order to survive in immortality in our children. So some Christians are consecrated to a life of celibacy as a sign of the Church’s faith in the resurrection. So there are many theological reasons, not just practical reasons and it would take very great and urgent circumstances for the Church to ever change our teaching on celibacy.

Q: Another issue you mentioned was the need to evangelize. Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict have stressed the importance of the New Evangelization. How important do you think that is for the future of the Church?
It is very, very important because the new evangelization is directed not just to the mission “ad gentes,” the foreign mission, but to our own supposedly Christian societies where many people have received the sacraments and yet are not truly on fire with their faith. They don’t understand their faith or live their faith so we need to once again reach out to those who at least are nominally Catholics and invite them to be a part of the community and help them to understand the Church’s teachings.

Q: What is your opinion of the new movements and ecclesial communities, mainly new lay renewal groups born around the time of the Second Vatican Council?
The new movements and ecclesial communities have already had a big impact in the life of the Church, because at one level they allow people to experience the Church as a community, not to be so anonymous in the big Mass, of parishioners where they perhaps do not know each other. It helps people to develop a spirituality. The movements impart catechesis, help people to understand the faith, and then motivate them to evangelize. So we find in the movements the spirituality, catechesis and evangelization that we so desperately need in the Church today.

In the United States probably the movement that has had the most impact up to this point has been the Cursillo. I dare say in many parts of the country it was the salvation particularly of Hispanic Catholics, because there were so few priests and it formed so many leaders. Even in the English speaking Catholic community, so many of the leaders, almost all the deacons — their first real involvement in the Church came through the Cursillo.

All the new movements that are beginning now in the United States, all come as a gift of the Holy Spirit for the Church. In the United States we are used to stressing so much the parish as the center of pastoral life, so finding ways of introducing the ecclesial communities into the parish life, to energize that life, is a challenge. In Europe where the parishes have grown very weak the movements have grown very strong.

Two years ago I was at “il meeting” in Rimini [a gathering organized by Communion and Liberation]. It was a one week convention of young people — 700,000—mostly from Italy but also from all over the world who were going to lectures about the faith, liturgies and just a very uplifting experience.

In the States, we see that the movements are beginning to take root. We know they will help us in the task of the new evangelization.

Q: One of the challenges you mentioned was the increase of secularism. Secularism carries with it a very self-centered understanding of reality. There is a loss of the sense of the truth. Many Catholics tend to abide by Church teaching as long as they personally agree with it. Otherwise, on issues such as contraception, abortion and sexuality, they speak about the primacy of their conscience to explain their dissent. Is that a plausible reason for Catholics not to believe what the Church believes?
A lot of people interpret primacy of conscience along those lines but for a conscience to be correct it needs to be based upon the truth. As Catholics, we believe that our reason helps us to discover the truth, but another source of truth is revelation, that God reveals His truth to us. There is no contradiction between the one and the other. In a highly individualized and secular society, some people see truth as an intrusion. Because if I accepted this truth, then somehow I need to alter my behavior. But I don’t want to alter my behavior and so I would see truth as something that is disagreeable and inconvenient.

The danger is that, if we do not have standards on which we base our lives and our ethical practices, then all of human life is put at risk. If we do not have a standard for the truth, we can’t be free. Our faith helps us to discover the truth, as does reason. In the Catholic Church, we do not see reason as being in contradiction with the faith.

One of the reasons that the Church has insisted that philosophy be a part of the formation of the priests is to help them to have a critical mind, but a mind that can ask the ultimate questions and discover the truth; to understand that truth is knowable. Because if you think faith is unknowable then it is reduced to some subjective feeling.

Q: How can the Church evangelize this secularized man who has lost the sense of the sacred. How can the beauty of the message of Christ be announced to this generation?
The best way of evangelization is the witness of holiness in the Church where Catholics live a life of discipleship and take the Gospel in all of its radical nature seriously and do that joyfully and lovingly. Because if we are trying to convince people by arguing sort of the peripheral, ethical issues out there, we’ll never convince them. When people discover Christ and love Him, then they will want to do what He wants. Then what seemed difficult and impossible becomes not only doable but an imperative.

As Jesus says, “My yoke is sweet and my burden is light.” But if you do not know Jesus then the burden is very heavy and the yoke is very bitter. So evangelization must begin by bringing people to know Christ and we do that by the witness of Holiness in the Church.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/04/2006 16.18]

HONG KONG, April 3, 2006 (Reuters) - China and the Vatican could re-establish diplomatic relations by the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Cardinal Joseph Zen, the most senior Roman Catholic clergyman in the country, said today.

Ties were cut in 1951 and the Vatican has formal relations with Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province.

But momentum has been building in recent years for the Vatican to make the switch from Taiwan to China. As a precondition, Beijing insists that the Holy See sever diplomatic links with Taiwan and refrain from meddling in China's internal affairs.

China and the Vatican could have diplomatic relations "as early as the Olympic Games", Zen said told Reuters. "I think it's a very reasonable target. The process may be long and it may be short. It depends on how they (China's leaders) open their way of seeing things."

Zen, who does not play a formal role in the talks with Beijing but has taken an active interest in Sino-Vatican affairs, has said the Vatican was prepared to make such a move.

A sticking point has been that Beijing refuses to allow the Vatican to name Chinese bishops unilaterally, which is the usual procedure. Zen said the Pope could give some ground on the issue.

"The Pope can make concessions without giving the whole authority to them (the Chinese authorities). Surely he can listen to their opinion," he said.

"Maybe ... the Holy Father presents a list of names to them and they may veto some of those names, or give their preference."

Zen, formerly a Hong Kong bishop who criticized the lack of religious freedom in China, said at the time of his elevation to cardinal he hoped it would help ease ties between the Vatican and Beijing. Hong Kong has had wide-ranging autonomy since returning from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

China refuses to allow Catholics to recognize the authority of the Pope, saying this would interfere in its internal affairs.

The Vatican estimates it has about 8 million followers in China who worship at "underground" churches, while the official church has 5 million followers.