CARDINAL RATZINGER IN VELLETRI
Diocesan map of Velletri-Segni.
Right, the Diocese of Velletri-Segni dedicates the September issue of its monthly magazine,
Ecclesia in Cammino, to the Pope's visit, with much historical material about all the Popes
that have been associated with Velletri through the centuries. It also contains the following
article on Cardinal Ratzinger's association with the diocese. Unfortunately, it does not have
photos of many important occasions that are described. Left, the July-August issue. The cover
picture is labelled "Waiting for Peter..."
CARDINAL RATZINGER AND OUR DIOCESE
By Fr. Angelo Mancini
The 50th anniversary of Joseph Ratzinger's ordination as priest in June 2001 was commemorated with his coat-of-arms designed on the floor of the cathedral.
The Beloved Pope John Paul II, 15 days after the death of Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio on March 21, 1993, gave our suburban church the most welcome gift of naming Joseph Ratzinger as our new titular cardinal. It was April 5, 1993.
He was known to all who worked with the Church and very well-known to theologians and scholars for his vast work in theology, and for everyone, he had become a friend whom one held in great respect and esteem when he took possession of the Basilica of St. Clement I, on May 16, 1993.
Here is an excerpt of the homily he delivered that day:
An Italian philosopher has described the thinking of many men and women of our time with these words: "There is no God, and if there is one, he doesn't matter at all."
Should we not acknowledge that even many Christians live their daily lives more or less as if God has nothing to do with anything? But does this attitude not mean that life if senseless or empty? Will not the world then be dark and unreliable to such a point that we can no longer trust anything? Has this not resulted in the fact that many today even doubt whether it is even good to alive, to be human?
Christ came to lead us back to God, something we all need. With his Gospel, indeed with his whole earthly existence, he cries out into our ears and to our hearts: God exists and God matters.
God is important for us, as much as love and happiness are. God is not a remote hypothesis, an unknown force, who infinite millions of years ago may have been the Prime Mover who set the universe on its course. What interest could he possibly have for us, in reality?
God is so great that he sees even the smallest reality and regards it with love. He looks at each of us and knows everything about us, down to our daily concerns, our needs and hopes. He created each of us, so he knows each of us by name.
And he is always within reach. We can 'contact' him at any and every moment. One day he will judge us. And he will have our whole life before him. But he will judge us, as a loving Father. And he will never leave us here on earth alone. But we should allow ourselves to be led back to him.
In 1985, the well-known Catholic writer-journalist Vittorio Messori published a book-length interview with Cardinal Ratzinger that was entitled
Rapporto sulla Fede(Report on the Faith; published in English as
The Ratzinger Report), in which the cardinal answered to all the most current questions in the international theological and ecclesiologic debate, explaining among other things, the reasons for the 'crisis' that had afflicted Catholicism following the Second Vatican Council.
Since theology seems no longer able to transmit a common model of the faith, even catechesis is broken up and exposed to continually changing experiments. Some catechisms and many catechists no longer teach the Catholic faith as a harmonious whole, in which every truth presupposes and explains another. Instead, they try to make some elements of our Christian patrimony more 'interesting' to the men of today, depending on the cultural orientation of the moment. Some Biblical passages are hgihlighted because they are considered 'much closer to contemporary sensibility', while others, for the opposite reason, are filed away.
Therefore, there is no longer a catechesis for global formation in the faith, but reflections that take off from partial and subjective anthropologic experiences...We must remember that from the very beginnings of Christianity, there has been a permanent irrenunciable
nucleus of the catechesis, that is, for the formation of the faith. It was the nucleus that was later used by Luther for his catechism parallel to the Roman catechism decided at the Council of Trent.
Every discourse about the faith is really about four fundamental elements: the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments. That is the basis of Christian living, the synthesis of the teaching of the Church based on Scriptures and on Tradition.
The Christian finds there what to believe 9the Credo), what to hope for (the Lord's prayer), what to do (The Ten Commandments), and the vital space in which all these must take place (the Sacraments).
But this fundamental structure has been abandoned in too many present-day catechisms and we see the results in the sense of faith that the new generations have, who are often incapable of a vision
that goes with their religion.
Since then, His Eminence Cardinal Ratzinger has found room in his crowded schedule to come to Velletri and reinvigorate his relationship with our local Church, which has grown increasingly.
He often participated in important occasions like the Feast of St. Clement. We remember particularly his participation in the procession to welcome back the 'Cross of Velletri' after it had been stolen. It was October 18, 1997, the first year of preparing for the Jubilee, the second millenary of the birth of Christ.
With Bishop Erba, at inauguration
of the diocesan museum, 1/22/2000.
The occasion for the recovery of the precious reliquary, the start of the Jubilee preparations, and the presence of Cardinal Ratzinger meant for many the ideal way to start their own spiritual journey towards the Jubilee in 2000.
At the Cathedral of Segni, 11/7/1993
Sensitive to the expectations of the faithful, he did not miss giving his proper respects at the Co-Cathedral of the Assumption in Segni on November 7, 1993.
On December 3, 1995, he visited Valmontone for a day of leisure with his staff at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, including a visit to Palazzo Doria which was being restored. In Velletri, they visited the Palazzo Communale and its civic museum, as well as the San Raffaele Clinic.
The Cardinal marked his 70th birthday in Velletri, April 1997.
Left, with Bishop Andrea Erba (predecessor of Bishop Apicella) and Cardinal Bertone; right, with the mayor of Velletri.
In St. Clement Cathedral, he celebrated his 70th birthday in 1997, and in 2001, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination. To mark the occasion, he donated the costs of renovating the Church floor, where both his coat-of-arms and a 2000 Jubilee marker were laid in mosaic.
In 2003, he donated some prize money he had received which enabled the Cathedral to buy a new organ, and in addition, he gave us a eucharistic chalice and an artistic Easter candle.
Opening a diocesan convention, Sept. 2004.
Nor can we forget his invaluable and lively participation in the Diocesan pastoral Convention of 2004, in which he gave exhaustive answers to all the questions that were posed to him. None of us imagined it would be his penultimate visit to us as a Cardinal.
He came back on November 23, 2004, for the Pontifical Mass in honor of St. Clement. The priests of the diocese remember with joy not only the Eucharistic concelebration, but the pleasant meal he shared with them afterwards. For them, it was an occasion to know him closer and to get to know his thinking better, appreciating the energy and the irony of a man who within five months was to be the new Vicar of Christ, successor to the great John Paul II who had given him to us.
Mons. Erba renders homage to Benedict XVI, 4/24/05.
On April 19, 2005, he chose the Bishop of Velletri-Segni, Mons. Andrea Maria Erba, to represent the College of Bishops in rendering the traditional homage to the new Pope.
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The Velletri diocesan website's Papal page:
BENEDICTUS XVI
BISHOP OF ROME
VICAR OF CHRIST
SUCCESSOR OF THE PRINCE OF APOSTLES
SUPREME PONTIFF OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
PRIMATE OF ITALY
METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE PROVINCE OF ROME
SOVEREIGN OF THE STATE OF VATICAN CITY
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
JOSEPH RATZINGER
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The July-August issue of Ecclesia in Cammino
carried a report on the Pope's trip to Brazil,
with this rare picture of the Pope strapped up
with his airline safety belt.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/09/2007 16:42]