POPE-POURRI: 'Light' news items, anecdotes about Pope Benedict now

Yes, Benefan, Nan, Jil and other dear friends - I had no sooner switched off my computer last night than I thought it was selfish of me to think that only I could look after Papa. We should be transmogrified into those sisters who are closest to him - I agree.
http://abruzzo2000.com/abruzzo/laquila/roccadimezzo.htm
Here's the first site I've just found about this new place where Papa is supposed to be spending his holiday. Looks quite a high altitude [snow in winter, I see], so it may be cool enough for him. As it's Sunday, benefan, I haven't been able to get to the travel agent.....I'm still working out the Bavarian possibilities for September, so this news about Papa's July holiday destination has discombobulated me completely
I really must find out how to disguise myself as Alessandra Borghese - is she the latest obstacle to our progress?
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Teresa - I'd missed all that other news you mentioned. I haven't been able to catch up with anything except a mad dash to grab all the photos before they change into frogs again!
Hey - call me thick - but how did Alessandra manage to be in the entourage when our Cardinal went to Subiaco? What has she got that we haven't got; I bet we are all tons more beautiful
Buona Domenica!!!!!!
Un abbraccio di - Mary x

http://www.viaggiaedormi.it/ricerca/luoghi/mezzo.htm
I think this hotel should suit our purposes, girls!
Now, I really must stop messing about and read the encyclical again.
Oh - benefan - Benedictus cuddly est - I love that! I'll second it!
Love to all - Mary x

It does look tranquil there.....aaahhhhh......Papa may be all right.
Love and Peace - Mary x
Does it have our approval, girls?

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Here is a translation of the news item in the Italian press that first stirred up the speculation about Rocca di Mezzo:

It appears the Vatican has presented the town council of Rocca di Mezzo in the Abruzzo region with a plan to renovate a small two-story villa surrounded by a park, which was donated by Bishop Vittorio di Paola who comes from the place. The villa has been used in the past by Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The plan reportedly calls for doubling the space from 400 square meters to 800, in order to accommodate Papal quarters to consist of a study, bed and bath, and a private chapel. The Pope’s household staff will also be accommodated.

Rocca di Mezzo is a ski resort in the winter. It also has important medieval ruins dating to the 14th century.
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Our Simone offered a possible explanation today - in the German section of the RFC - of why the Pope may choose not to go to the Alps this summer: His brother Georg was unable to join him in Les Combes last year because it was felt the altitude would not be good for him. Presumably, Rocca di Mezzo is not so high, and he can then join the Pope earlier instead of waiting till the Pope is in Castel Gandolfo?

P.S. Nice hypothesis, but I checked altitudes, and if the online sources are right, Introd (Les Combes) is at 880 m. above sea level, while Rocca di Mezzo is at 1320!

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This news item picked up today from Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops conference:

The pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI are in “absolute continuity” in terms of communication. This was one of the themes discussed by Vatican Press Office director Joaquin Navarro-Valls on receiving yesterday in Turin the National Prize handed yearly to the outstanding journalist representing a press office.

He said: “ The basic themes remain the same ones. The Church does not change its teachings every minute, though it can change emphasis and priorities.”

He added that people now recognize that Benedict XVI has the ability to speak of difficult themes and make himself understood to all through what Navarro-Valls calls “a ministry* of intelligence.”
[*in the sense of pastorship]

Speaking about the responsibility of media, he said: “We must transmit facts, the truth – only that way can we make credible the institution that we represent.”

Navarro-Valls also said, “Behind this prize stands the memory, the presence, of that great human personality who was John Paul II.”

Thanks to Beatrice in the French section for citing this editorial on Papa's recent encyclical in chretiente.com, an excellent Catholic site in French. It was signed by D. Florent, president of the Reseau Chretiente (Christanity Network) which runs the site. Here is a translation -
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At a time when we see the near-fascistic rise of homosexual totalitarianism, amidst the explosions caused by terrorist bombs, amidst the generalised cowardice of the elites, Pope Benedict XVI has sent us the most beautiful of love letters, a letter that tells us of the love that God is…

I invite you to click here to discover the magnificent encyclical of Pope Benedict. [The link is to the Vatican website]

Entitled DEUS CARITAS EST, it plunges us into the heart of Christian love, into the very sense itself of the word Christian.

Having become used to the pleasant writings of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, how gratifying to find that he has employed such writing for the first time in an encyclical. Benedict XVI has behind him years of reflection, of theorizing, and most of all, of teaching.

This encyclical, originally written in German, is a treasure which deserves several readings.

Printed versions will bring profits for many publishing houses which are not even quite Catholic, but read it on line on the Vatican site.

Shall we thank the Lord one day for the graces we have received since the election of this Pope?

From Curt Jester at www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/ -

From Yesterday at Mass after my pastor gave a homily on the readings he then went on to read from parts of the Pope's encyclical Deus Caritas Est and also preached on the subject. He mentioned the fact that a Pope's first encyclical is often seen and used as a roadmap for a pontificate.

Now I have heard this before and I think it is true as far as it goes, but these first encyclicals also go much further than this. Deus Caritas Est is not just a roadmap for Pope Benedict's XVI's pontificate, but it is in fact a roadmap for all of us.

As St. Therese said "0 Jesus, my Love, my vocation, at last I have found it ... my vocation is Love!" This encyclical is a call to remind us of the dual and synchronous vocation of love of God and neighbor for all of us.

From amazon.com -


The following information comes with the entry:

Pope Benedict XVI joins the President of the Italian Senate to offer a provocative critique of the spiritual, cultural, and political crisis afflicting the West.

On May 12, 2004, Pope Benedict XVI--then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger--addressed the Italian Senate on the state of the West; the very same day, Joseph Pera, President of the Italian Senate, spoke before the Lateran College of the Papal University. Together they called upon the West to confront the spiritual, cultural, and political malaise that have afflicted it in the earliest years of the 21st century.

In the months that ensued, before Cardinal Ratzinger's election to the papacy, they developed their ideas into the eloquent dialogue that is "Without Roots" -- a book that quickly became an Italian bestseller and is even more timely today than ever.

With Europe shaken by the war in Iraq, terrorism, security, Israel, relations with the U.S., immigration, and the rejection of the EU constitution in both France and the Netherlands, the issue of European identity has profound implications for the rest of the world.

Bringing together their unique vantage points as leaders of Church and State, Pope Benedict XVI and Pera challenge us to imagine what can be the future of a civilization that has abandoned its history for a relativist secularism. They call on the West to embrace a spiritual rather than political renewal-and to accept the moral beliefs that alone can help us to make sense of changes in technology, economics, and society.

About the Authors:
Pope Benedict XVI was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the late Pope John Paul II, and has long been regarded as one of the most profound Catholic theological and spiritual writers of our times. His numerous books include God and the World, Introduction to Christianity, Salt of the Earth, and The Spirit of Liturgy.

Marcello Pera was formerly a professor of the philosophy of science at the University of Pisa and has become President of the Italian Senate. He lives in Italy.

Michael F. Moore is the official translator of the Italian Mission to the United Nations and is also the new chairman of the Translation Committee of the PEN America Center.

Alejandro Bermudez at www.catholicnewsagency.com/blog/
reports today that around the time Ratzi was given the St. Benedict Prize in Subiaco, he was working on a book about St. Benedict and the way he evangelized Europe by means of evangelizing its culture.:

He continues:

"That is precisely the book Joaquin Navarro Valls spoke about when he said that Pope Benedict was “working on a book, not on his first encyclical,” during the Pontiff’s vacations at Val D’Aosta, in Northern Italy.

Well, the book, which analyzes the rule of St. Benedict, the relationship between work, freedom and obedience, is ready to come out soon…"

Even if you do not read Spanish, check out the 16-page supplement on Papa's first encyclical which the Spanish paper LA RAZON put out on January 26. It is beautifully prepared, and there are a number of articles at the end which are worth translating. I have just been listing the translations I need to do from the wealth of material that Nessuna has been able to post in the Spanish section....But first, look through all 16 pages of the LA RAZON supplement...

www.larazon.es/enciclica.pdf

Both Sylvie and Ratzigirl posted more photos today of the Bush women (shown above with US Ambassador Francis Rooney) meeting with the Pope - everyone was wreathed in smiles all the time, and Sylvie called her new photo round-up "a bouquet of smiles ."

Thanks to Nessuna for this item from the Spanish news agencies - here in translation:

After having been received in a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, Laura Bush was interviewed b tye Catholic television channel Telepace, to whom she said:
"We would very much like to welcome him (the Pope) to the United States. I truly hope he will come to America soon. To see the Pope yesterday was very much like visiting one's parish priest. He shows the same solicitude that a parish priest would and he shows the same personal and affectionate concern that John Paul II had."

During their talk, they spoke about "the importance of having certain values as the basis for political action: mutual respect, human dignity, honor and integrity - values which we all share globally, independent of religion."

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Hmmm...A case of telepathy on the parish priest simile, though in a different context (See "Love letter to my parish priest" from last Sunday in MESSAGES FOR PAPA).

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Deus caritas est, or DCE, as it is now being referred to, has already sold more than one million copies since it came out on January 25. The sales are through both lay and religious bookstores, and are in addition to the one million plus copies distributed with Famiglia Cristiana and Osservatore Romano in its various editions.

The Vatican publishing house says the Italian edition is in its 4th printing and 70,000 are being distributed to supermarkets, autostops, train stations and airports.

In an interview with Radio Vatican earlier, Claudio Rossini, director of the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, said that the record sales are simply "a translation on the national scale of what we see every Sunday at St. Peter's Square, where we see tens of thousands of faithful who come to listen to five minutes of profound words - it tells us both about the thirst of believers as well as for this Pope's ability to help the faithful meditate on the faith."

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The plan reportedly calls for doubling the space from 400 square meters to 800, in order to accommodate Papal quarters to consist of a study, bed and bath, and a private chapel.

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Well, I think the reason for doubling the space is another one. They need the space for us, girls, don't they? So there is room for all of us now.

From the Passauer Neue-Presse today -

Photo: Vatican

Author Peter Seewald recently had the occasion to present Pope Benedict with a copy of his book, "Benedict XVI: Ein Portraet aus der Naehe" (Benedict XVI: A Close-Up Portrait), which is now in its 4th printing.

Seewald told PNP that the Pope looked forward to his visit in Bavaria this September as a "return to his roots" and that he intends to "fully recharge himself" with the visit.

Seewald was particularly happy that the Pope said he was ready to consider doing another interview book with him (after "Salt of the Earth" and "God and the World") but that he warned him "It won't be easy".

hooray! hope that they're gonna do it soon

kna, a German Catholic news agency, carries a report today from the newspaper Muenchner Merkur, which claims that the Pope's trip to Bavaria has been moved forward one day, and will take place September 9-14, instead of September 10-15 as originally announced.

The reason appears to be that if he arrives on Sunday, Sept.10, he would have to go direct to a planned noonday Mass.

No other details on the trip have been announced, only that the Pope's schedule calls for no more than two big events for every day of the trip, and that none will be scheduled to take place after 8 p.m.


Any excuse to post a new photo -
this one an enlargement by Nessuna:

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From Alejandro Bermudez's Catholic Outsider blogsite today, 2/12/06 -

According to an official report of Italian booksellers, Pope Benedict’s first encyclical Deus Caritas est has become a major bestseller. In Italy, the book has sold one million 115 thousand copies.

Vatican Publishing House, Cantagalli and San Paolo (co-publishers) have released an extra 70,000 copies to be sold at convenience stores and airports.

According to a statement of the Vatican Publishing House, “The encyclical is indeed topping the list in all book categories for the last two weeks.”
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I don't wish to imply a "competition," but it galls me that according to a figure I just read in a news report, the calumnious fiction "The Da Vinci Code" has already sold 40 million copies worldwide - of course, it has been on sale for over two years now.

But who would have thought an encyclical would sell so well? Benedict continues to set unexpected records!
GRANDISSIMO AMATISSIMO PAPINO NOSTRO! .

Look what a wonderful thing I found in the RFC German section, posted by our own Simone:



She says it comes from the Heart of Jesus Church in Munich-Neuhausen, where Papa himself unveiled it 15 years ago. Unfortunately, the church burned down completely in 1994 but the relief survived intact! They have not placed it back in the reconstructed church, a futuristic glass building, because it would reportedly be out of place. Simone asks her German colleagues if they have any information about this. (I hope the parish priest has at least kept it, Simone!]

And the reason she posted the picture, to begin with, was that Anna Lena recounted on the forum how she went to the Munich Cathedral for the unveiling of a new bronze relief of the Pope after Vespers today. Cardinal Wetter did the honors.

She says it looks like the relief was designed after a picture of Benedict at his installation ceremony, because he is wearing the miter and the pallium and carries the Papal crozier.

But she says that the relief did not awaken any spontaneous enthusiasm in her - the face as depicted had nothing to say to her, nothing like the effect of many pictures of Papa. She hopes it will look better when she can come back another day and look at it up close from a more favorable angle.

And here, from Kirsty in the German section, are pictures of the bronze relief unveiled yesterday at Munich's Frauenkirche.
The life-size relief is the work of sculptor Josef Alexander Henselmann.

Judging by the pictures, I'd have to agree with Anna Lena's lack of enthusiasm! Neither the front view nor the profile view
looks like the Papa we love, and why didn't he show a smiling Pope, for heaven's sake?


Some details from the German kathnet report on the unveiling:

At the unveiling, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter announced that Pope Benedict XVI would celebrate Mass in an open space adjoining the New Munich Fair at noon Sunday, September 10, and will then come to the Munich Cathedral in the afternoon. The fairgrounds can accommodate about 400,000.

Cardinal Wetter recounted the Pope’s long association with the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, from Joseph Ratzinger’s student days. He was Archbishop of Munich-Freising from 1977 to 1982, and kept up close relations with his former archdiocese during his years as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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The general vicar of Regensburg Michael Fuchs said yesterday that Pope Benedict will spend two days in Regensburg, Sept. 12-13, during his official visit to Bavaria.

The official events will all take place on Sept. 12, while September 13 will enable the Pope "to experience Regensburg in private." He would therefore be able to visit his house in Pentling, the family graves in Ziegetsdorf and spend some time at his brother's house in the old city.

(Full translation of article IN PAPAL TRAVELS thread.

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