BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for items posted earlier today, 6/8/10.




June 8, Tuesday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

ST WILLIAM OF YORK (England, born late 11th-cent, d 1174), Monk and Bishop
William Fitzherbert was born into a powerful family - an uncle was second in line for the English throne - and was first named Archbishop
of York in 1140, a nomination contested by some of the local clergy who accused him of simony, sins against chastity, and being an
instrument of the royal court. Pope Innocent II had these investigated and eventually confirmed him. William immediately undertook
reforms in the clergy, but when he went to Rome to get his pallium as Archbishop, new opposition arose, particularly from the Cistercians
in England, who had the support of their superior general at the time, Bernard of Clairvaux. A new Pope, Eugenius III, a Cistercian
Himself and great friend of Bernard, upheld his fellow Cistercians and William retired to a monastery in Winchester where he lived a
life of piety and penance. The next Pope, Anastasius IV. restituted William as Archbishop of York. His return to York was triumphal.
During the procession, the bridge across the Ouse River collapsed but miraculously no one died. Unfortunately, two months after his
return, William died. It was thought poison had been placed in the wine he used at Mass. After his death, many miracles were attributed
to him, and a sweet smell emanated from his tomb. Pope Honorius II had the miracles investigated and canonized him in 1226.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/060810.shtml


OR for 6/7-6/8:


The Pope ends Cyprus visit by consigning the working agenda for the coming Synodal assembly on the Middle East,
urging international efforts to resolve tensions in the Middle East:
'Hope for a world in search of peace'
This double issue devotes six other pages to reportage of the second half of the Cyprus visit. The Page 1 article is accompanied by an editorial on the Pope's homily centered on the significance of the Cross for Christians. Other Page 1 stories: North Korea's Kim Jong-Il replaces his top ministers; and Asian markets plunge with news of Hungary's financial crisis. In the inside pages, a story about the funeral service for the slain Mons. Luigi Padovese held yesterday in Turkey by the Apostolic Nuncio.


No events scheduled for the Holy Father today.

FINAL WEEK OF
THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS


This is a signal week for all Catholic priests, as the Year for Priests comes to a close - a special year decreed by Pope Benedict XVI in his desire to renew the priesthood worldwide. It came after 45 years of a qualitative change in the training and orthodoxy of priests that followed Vatican II and its widespread misinterpretation that was promptly assimilated throughout the Church.

[Personally, I think this promptness was because the liberal interpretation is so obviously the easier way to follow, since it indulges personal wishes over the Way of the Cross that sanctified Tradition teaches is man's path on earth.

If Christ could make the ultimate sacrifice, why can't priests, who after all chose to follow Christ into priesthood, not make the far smaller sacrifices of day-to-day life as a priest, not just arising from chastity and poverty but from obedience - subjecting one's will to the Church and ultimately to God?]

The Holy Father, who has always been recognized as a model priest and genuninely holy man even during his quarter-century as a university professor, has given some of his most personal discourses and homilies as Pope on the subject of the priesthood in an obvious desire to remind all priests what it truly means to be a priest.

The Year for Priests was an inspired initiative, and it will always be the greatest irony that Chapter 2 of the Worldwide Media Scandal over Abusive Priests (Chapter 1 came eight years before, with the US scandals) came midway through the year.

That Benedict XVI decreed a Year for Priests before the recent media fanfaronnade shows how deeply concerned he is about the spiritual state of priests in the Universal Church. He did not need pressure from anyone, least of all the media, to act in a visible worldwide manner on that concern.

And he made the Catholic world aware as never before of St. Jean-Marie Vianney, whom he proposed as inspiration and human model for all priests.

Here is the program this week:




Even as the Year for Priests formally comes to an end, may it be a year for priests every year in terms of prayers and support from the faithful, and in terms of genuine commitment and recommitment to Christ on the part of priests and bishops.



Very apropos is this editorial from the June-July issue of Homiletic and Pastoral Review.


The holiness of priests
Editorial
by KENNETH BAKER, S.J.
Emeritus Editor

June/July 2010


Recently I was re-reading Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book Those Mysterious Priests(1974), published five years before his death on December 9, 1979. In Chapter 7 he talks about how the priest continues the Incarnation of God by sharing in the three offices of Christ—to teach, to sanctify and to lead.

He makes the same point that Pope Benedict XVI made last March when he announced the current “Year for Priests.” He says, and offers reasons to prove, that the effectiveness of the Catholic priest is directly related to and depends on his personal holiness.

The Pope said that the first reason for the special year for priests is to encourage them to strive for holiness and spiritual perfection because the effectiveness of their ministry depends on that.

It should be quite obvious that the holier the priest is, the more he will be able to help others to grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. This follows logically from the simple and profound fundamental principle that “No one can give what he does not have” (Latin: Nemo dat quod non habet).

We learned that in first-year philosophy. It was true then and it is true now and always will be true. If a priest is not burning with love for Christ, he may be a good administrator or teacher but he will not inspire others to strive for holiness. [All dissident and liberal priests who are always patting themselves on the back for 'standing up to Rome' should ask themselves whether they have striven for holiness or for selfish vainglory!]

Sheen says that the priest as an ambassador for Christ, as an instrument of Christ, is sent into the world to convert it to faith in him and the living God. But the priest cannot preach Christ and give him to others if he is not dwelling already in the heart of the priest.

Saints and martyrs in the history of the Church are good examples of this. A few who come to mind are St. Pius X, Pope Pius XII, Blessed Pope John XXIII, John Paul II, Fr. Patrick Peyton (the “Rosary priest”) and Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, to mention just a few.

They were effective because they were burning with love of Jesus Christ and, like St. Paul, they preached Christ crucified. They also preached that we worship Jesus in the liturgy and in our prayers because he is God incarnate.

[But unlike St. Paul, dissident priests when they do remember to preach about Christ and not about political action, do not preach 'Christ crucified' at all - they preach the 'Christ-political activist' they have created in their minds to justify their political activism. In this sense, they are misusing religion and Christ just as badly as Islamist fundamentalists do.]

Pope Benedict, when he declared the “Year for Priests” last March, said that God is the treasure people seek from the priest. He must bring God to them and through the Gospel show them that Jesus is God and the answer to their deepest desires.

The vast majority of the faithful do not seek direction from priests in matters of politics, economics and the environment. Priests are not expected to be experts in secular affairs. Catholics expect their priests to radiate Christ — to teach them how to know and love God and to give them some guidance in living according to God’s holy will. [Orthodox Catholics do, but liberal Catholics appear to consider priests above all, or even exclusively, as fellow political activists who can help them push their ultimately anti-Church agenda.]

Sheen says something similar in the book mentioned above. On page 87 he writes: “He (i.e., the priest) will inspire others only inasmuch as he is consecrated or made holy in the truth. Ardeat orator qui vult accendere plebem”. Thus, if the priest is not burning with love for God, he will not move others to love God.

Jesus tells us in the great Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The advice is directed to all Christians, but especially to priests.

In order to properly strive for perfection the priest must be a man of prayer; he must love Jesus and spend time with him before the Blessed Sacrament. It is for this reason that Archbishop Sheen constantly urged priests to spend a Holy Hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament. Sheen did that for over fifty years. That is probably the reason for his great effectiveness as preacher.

A good model for all priests is St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, who spent most of his time every day in church either praying or administering the sacraments.

Like St. John, the priest must dedicate himself to the service of others by preaching, offering Mass, hearing confessions, counseling and helping those in need.

Priests who do that gradually increase in holiness and become very effective ambassadors for Christ, like St. Paul, the Curé of Ars, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

There's a ton of commentary in the Italian media about the Pope's visit to Cyprus, which attracted little attention in the Anglophone media. For instance, the New York Times sent its Rome correspondent along on the papal flight but she only filed one story from Cyprus; the London Times did not carry any story on it; the UK Daily Telegraph, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times all made do with the AP stories filed after the Mass at which the Synodal agenda was presented - but only because it had to do with the Middle East. And the blogosphere has generally ignored the event, as well.

Say what you will about the Italian newspapers and their general anti-Church position, they consider the Pope's apostolic visits in Italy and abroad as major events. Until I can translate a couple of the best commentaries, here is one in English from the host country itself:


Papal visit a huge success, but
it won’t help the Cyprus problem
Editorial

Published on June 8, 2010

State authorities must be congratulated for the impeccable organisation for the Pope’s visit. Everything went according to schedule and there were no embarrassing glitches – if there were, these were very promptly dealt with – while the tiny number of people protesting about the visit was not allowed to cause any disruption.

A huge security operation, involving more than a thousand policemen assisted by UNFICYP, was under way from Friday, when Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Paphos, until his departure on Sunday. Police ensured all public gatherings were orderly and the crowd control measures proved very effective.

Media predictions that large groups of anti-Catholic protestors would disrupt proceedings proved wildly exaggerated. Half a dozen had gathered outside a Paphos church the Pope’s convoy passed on Friday and about 20 protestors holding placards, labelling the Pope a heretic, stood across the road from Eleftheria Stadium where he held a Sunday morning mass.

This was the sum total of the people who bothered to protest about the visit. Archbishop Chrysostomos also ensured that certain senior clerics, who had objected to the visit, were on their best behaviour.

Despite media-generated fears, the Pope was given a warm and friendly welcome, and there were plenty of people of the Orthodox faith who turned up at the public gatherings to see him.

Inevitably, there were attempts to score points on the Cyprus problem, with the government spokesman saying yesterday the Pontiff had shown great interest in the destruction of churches in the north. Would the Vatican help to protect these churches, asked a journalist at yesterday’s briefing, but the spokesman avoided giving a straight answer.

As was expected, the Pope spoke about the need for reconciliation and the re-unification of the country as this the only way “to build a better and more secure future for your children”. Reconciliation, through Muslims and Christians working together would set a fine example to other parts of the world, he pointed out.

He also expressed his gratitude to the President, the government and the state authorities “for everything they had done to make the visit unforgettable and very successful”.

The government should be pleased for these kind words of thanks and put the Cyprus problem aside. Nothing changed because the visit brought attention to the island’s division as the spokesman claimed.

The real benefit of the visit for Cyprus was that it showed that the authorities were capable of handling a high-profile visit, with major security demands efficiently and professionally.

It also gave Cyprus exposure all over the world. This may help the tourism industry, but it will not make the slightest bit of difference on the Cyprus problem as some have naively claimed. [Nor was it expected to, least of all by the Pope, who is surely practical enough to have no illusions about the immediate effect of anything he has to say about world problems, but perseveres nonetheless in saying what needs to be said, as often as he can, because if he does not, then who will?]


Let me translate the OR editorial and commentary first, if only for the record, since as usual, the Pope is better served with his own words in full text and context, and not merely paraphrased or choppily cited:




The Cross and the Church
Editorial
by Giovanni Maria Vian
Translated from
the 6/7-6/8 issue of



Benedict XVI's visit to Cyprus was a memorable success, as the Pope himself said in bidding farewell to the host nation. As always, the words were carefully chosen and do not refer only to its external success of teh visit, which is undeniable, but above all, to its more profound significance.

The sixteenth international trip of this Pontificate - which had been presented explicitly as a continuation of his visit to the Holy Land last year - was important, above all, for the Mediterranean's third largest island itself, which is observing the Golden Jubilee of its independence but continues to suffer from an unnatural division.

A division underscored by the very location of the Apostolic Nunciature in Nicosia, where the Pope stayed, and which is located in the buffer zone under UN peacekeeping forces in the heart of a divided capital.

But the importance of the visit, to an Orthodox country, was historical for furthering the rapprochement with an authoritative and venerable sister Church which, under the leadership of Archbishop Chrysostomos II, has taken the ecumenical path decisively.

This is an internal development among the Christian confessions which is also an indication for the future of the region - the troubled and often bloodied Near and Middle East, where the only realistic prospect for a real and lasting peace is a constructive trialog among Christians, Muslims and Jews.

It is a positive sign in the face of the continual eruption of violence arising from seemingly insurmountable conflicts - and even in the shadow of a horrible event like the assassination in Turkey of Mons. Luigi Padovese, courageous witness to Christ's truth and peace.

It is the mystery of the Cross that Benedict XVI spoke about in his homily at the Holy Cross Church in Nicosia, reminding the faithful that first of all, man cannot save himself from the consequences of his own sins. And that the Cross is not so much a sign of suffering and failure, as it was originally intended [by those whod devised the punishment] but the most eloquent symbol which the world needs today.

And that, precisely because it expresses Christ's victory over every evil, including the 'last enemy', death - and that therefore, he is the true hope who will never disappoint.

The Pope, in his gently forceful way, said that in the Middle East today, this hope is radiated by every Christian who embraces the Cross and trusts in its mysterious power, by not abandoning, despite difficulties and growing persecution, the places where the Church was born and flourished in its early centuries.

According to a tradition that goes back to the Apostles, Catholics and Christians - and whoever has at heart the rights of man, starting with his freedom of conscience, religion and worship - should never forget their brothers who live in that part of the world.

It is to them and their beleaguered local Churches that the coming special Assembly of the Bishops' Synod is dedicated, whose working agenda was handed by the Pope to the leaders of these Churches gathered around him inCyprus.

The text confirms the realism of the Church and its readiness to build societies where peaceful coexistence is truly possible again. Thanks to the mystery of the Cross, sign of the hope Christ bears and to which the Church bears witness to the world.


Left, the Holy Father in the garden of the Franciscan convent housing the Apostolic Nunciature in Cyprus; right, with the olive tree that the government of Cyprus will plant to commemorate his visit.


The lead story on Page 1 of the OR today:

'Hope for a world in search of peace'
The Pope ends his visit to Cyprus, consigning
the working agenda for the coming Synodal assembly on the Middle East,
and urges international efforts to resolve tensions in the region
By Mario Ponzi
Translated from
the 6/7-6/8 issue of





The 'sad division' of Cyprus is a symbol of the tensions and conflicts which continue to tragically tear apart the Middle East. It was visible to the Pope during his three days on the island.

He experienced it himself during his stay at the Apostolic Nunciature located in the buffer zone of Nicosia under the control of United Nations peacekeeping forces. And he heard it first hand from refugees who had fled the Turkish-occupied northern region of the island.

Thus, when he bid Cyprus farewell, on Sunday afternoon, June 6, he evoked this 'sad division' expressly, voicing his fervent hope for 'a better and more secure future' for Cyprus, one founded on truth, reconciliation and mutual respect among all Cypriots, whether of Greek or Turkish descent.

A statement that re-echoed what he said earlier in the day at the Mass in Eleftheria stadium, when he denounced the suffering of Christians in the Middle East and called again for 'urgent and concerted international effort (to find) just and lasting solutions" to the conflicts that continually inflame the Middle East - "before such conflicts lead to further bloodshed".

Clear and explicit words that accompanied the Pope's consignment of the Instrumentum laboris for the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Bishops' Synod this October at the Vatican, to prelates of the Churches of the region and other organizations involved in preparing for the assembly.

A text prepared by, among others, Mons. Luigi Padovese, the Apostolic Vicar in Anatolia, who was assassinated Thursday morning on the eve of the Pope's departure for Cyprus. The Pope remembered him with moving words to the Eleftheria congregation, asking them to see his death as "a clear reminder that all Christians are called on to be, in every circumstance, courageous witnesses to all that is good, noble and just".

The value of Christian witness in situations of difficulty and suffering was also underscored by the Pope in his homily to the priests, religious and laymen who attended the Mass on Saturday afternoon at the Church of the Holy Cross, sharing with them an inspired and profound meditation on the meaning of the Cross.

It is not, he said, "an instrument of torture, suffering and defeat", nor "a private symbol of devotion" or 'a badge of membership of a certain group within society".

Its meaning "has nothing to do with the forced imposition of a creed or philosophy". Rather, "it is the most eloquent symbol of hope that the world has ever seen".

In the Cross, he said, the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the marginalized, find the certainty that God "raises up the humble, gives strength to the weak, causes divisions to be overcome and defeats hate with love" - and that is why "the world needs the Cross".

Without it, "the world would be without hope, torture and brutality would remain unchecked, the weak would continue to be exploited, and greed would have the last word".

Only the Cross can put an end "to the vicious cycle of violence" and transform "the reality of sin and death into their opposites".


The following is a very well-meaning article but it makes quite a few statements that I find questionable.

Media reacts positively
to Pope's Cyprus trip
By Jesús Colina


VATICAN CITY, JUNE 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's recent trip to Cyprus, which ended Sunday, was covered positively by media reports that picked up on his teachings and spread it worldwide.

While on this 16th international apostolic pilgrimage of his pontificate, the Pope made clear his position and commitment in favor of Christian unity, dialogue with Islam, and peace and reconciliation on the international scene.

The Mass over which he presided on Sunday in Nicosia was one of the most popular meetings in that country's history, and a significant event for the Church in Cyprus, as more than 10,000 Catholics participated.

The interest of the media was also evident, and news of the presentation of the Instrumentum laboris (working document) for the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East appeared on the front Web page of most European newspapers on Sunday. The majority of these articles had a positive tone. [This is rather disingenuous, as it was the only story about the trip that most of them carried - using news service reports - and again, only because of the political tie-up to the Middle East. Which the news agencies twisted to make it appear that the apparent blame laid on Israel for the problems of the Palestinians - articulated in the document which is based on suggestions from the Middle Eastern prelates, among whom, for instance, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, a Palestinian, has never made any secret of his partisanship - was Pope Benedict's or the Holy See's official position!

The agenda set forth in the Instrumentum laboris is just that - an agenda, and if some of the Middle Eastern prelates want to air their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then the Vatican can hardly forbid them to do so. What matters eventualyl is what the Pope himself will say in his Post-Synodal Exhortation summarizing the substantive conclusions of the Synodal Assembly. ]

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, explained how Benedict XVI, in his last three trips to Malta, Portugal and Cyprus, has decisively changed the negative perception in the media regarding the sexual abuse crisis. [In the media? This time, the statement is naive. I don't recall reading such a statement from Fr. Lombardi, though!]

"What is striking," Lombardi said, "is that in just over a month and a half we have had three trips of the Pope abroad, all crowned with great success, in regard to the objectives that could be expected." [Now that is more correct!]

In Cyprus this success was seen first of all, as Father Lombardi acknowledged, in the ecumenical field, strenghtening relations with the Orthodox Church, which represents the majority religion on Cyprus.

"The embrace of peace during the Mass on Sunday between the Pope and [Orthodox Archbishop] Chrysostom II is the symbol of this meeting, which marks one more step in the long path of ecumenism, with a Church, Cyprus, which despite being numerically small, is very significant in the ecumenical movement, especially in the Orthodox realm, and very rich in initiatives," Fr. :ombardi said in a statement to newsmen before the Pope left Cyprus for Rome.

The success was even more marked because, before the visit, local media gave ample play to Orthodox voices critical of dialogue with the Catholic Church.

Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of L'Osservatore Romano, observed in an editorial: "The scope of the trip, in an Orthodox country, is historic because of the further rapprochement with an authoritative and venerable sister Church, which under the leadership of Archbishop Chrysostom II has committed itself decisively to the ecumenical path."

Progress in the dialogue with Islam is another of the decisive achievements of Benedict XVI's trip to Cyprus. [I think that is an over-statement. It was not so much progress - since he had no formal meetings with an Muslim leaders in Cyprus - as a reiteration of Benedict XVI's clear and unequivocal attitude of respect toward Islam, even before Regensburg. His brief meeting with the 89-year-old Cypriot Sufi leader was a beautifully illustrative vignette of this - as well as the sincere good will on the part of many Muslims, as represented by Sheik Nazim.]

His visit refutes those who attempt to present the Pope as an "enemy" of Islam, based on the controversy sparked by a phrase taken out of context during the Pontiff's address in Regensburg in September 2006.

The Holy Father held a press conference aboard the Papal plane as he traveled from Rome to Paphos, in which he expressed his willingness to "dialogue with Muslim brothers, who are brothers, despite the differences." His words made the front page in Mideast newspapers, as well as in the rest of the world.

Again, upon leaving the island, in his farewell in the Larnaca International Airport, Benedict XVI expressed his "hope and prayer that, together, Christians and Muslims will become a leaven for peace and reconciliation among Cypriots and serve as an example to other countries."

In a moving gesture, the Pontiff met with and embraced an elderly Sufi leader, Shaykh Nazim al-Qubrusi al-Haqqani, near the apostolic nunciature, which again received good press coverage. [In the Muslim media, perhaps, but it hardly got any notice in the Anglophone media - as unexpected and humanly compelling as it was!]

Because of the current conflict between Turkey and Cyprus since the island's division in 1974, the Pope was unable to meet with some of the top authorities of northern Cyprus. [No! It had nothing to do with Turkey. It was simply that the Pope was visiting Cyprus on the invitation of the official and legitimate Republic of Cyprus - which was geographically reduced by the 1974 Turksih invasion of northern Turkey to the largely Greek Cypriot part of the island. It would have been terribly improper - and a blatant breach of protocol - to arrange to meet your host's 'enemy' under the circumstances! The Pope has visited Turkey itself, and Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots know the Church supports reconciliation without favoring one side over the other.]

In general, international leaders have avoided Cyprus due to a fear of upsetting relations with Turkey and Greece, given the division the island has endured since 1974.

Benedict XVI, who visited Turkey in 2006, did not hesitate to visit Cyprus, despite difficult circumstances following the death of Turkish citizens who were part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which sought to break through the Israeli blockade on May 31. [The incident did not directly impact the Holy See at all nor its relations to Turkey in any way - so why would it have had any bearing on the Pope's trip?]

As well, on the eve of the Papal trip, Bishop Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish bishops' conference, who was to meet with the Pope in Cyprus, was murdered by his driver. Yet, after hearing this news, Father Lombardi affirmed that the Holy Father would stick to his plan without altering his itinerary. [To begin with, it was unreasonable for anyone to think that the murder of Mons. Padovese, as tragic as it was, would have changed plans that all sides had been working on for almost a year. The late bishop himself would have been appalled that anyone could possibly think that at all!]

The Vatican spokesman recalled: "The authorities, both political as well as religious, energetically presented their expectations, their problems linked to the situation of the divided island, and the risk of losing the Christian cultural patrimony. They did so with much clarity, taking advantage of the opportunity of having such an important guest."

He noted that "the Pope responded with great balance and clarity, supporting the fundamental principles of coexistence: respect for the rights of the human person and the right to return to places of origin, to communicate with those they have had to leave behind, the right to religious liberty, to the liberty of conscience, to the liberty of worship."

Vian commented on an address the Pontiff gave to civil authorities and the diplomatic corps in Cyprus, noting that he "launched to the international community a new and intense appeal to reason, with an objective that can be understood and accepted by all, beyond any division: to serve the common good."

The media's reaction to Benedict XVI's Cyprus trip was generally positive, as it was after his visits to Portugal and Malta.

Now, the next stage of this itinerary will take place in September, when the Pope visits Great Britain.

Another response to the latest anti-Church, anti-Benedict screed in TIME... But Greg Erlandson, president and publisher of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, is well-armed and ready as he has just co-authored the newly released "Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal" (2010, Our Sunday Visitor).


Why Time magazine misses the point:
Benedict XVI's pontificate is marked
by reform and renewal
By Gregory Erlandson


HUNGTINGTON, Indiana, JUNE 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- It would probably be too much to ask that Time magazine run a cover story on the bold statements and concrete actions that Benedict XVI has taken to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

No self-respecting journalistic enterprise wants to be separated from the pack when it comes to covering a controversial news story, which means it must always follow the herd, even when the evidence points elsewhere.

But the Time magazine June 7 cover story is a particularly frustrating example of a media enterprise playing to prejudices with half-truths even to the point of severely misrepresenting the story. {But it's not the first such offense by TIME! Israely, after an initial first year of covering Benedict XVI positively, suddenly and unaccountably turned on him with a vengeance and has honed his remorselessly blatant blend of distortion, misrepresentation and half truths to malicious perfection in his idea of 'killing' - character assasination - by a thousand cuts.]

"Why Being Pope Means Never having To Say You’re Sorry: The Sex Abuse Scandal and the Limits of Atonement" is the provocative headline splashed across the most recent Time cover, which also features an image of the back of Benedict XVI's mitered head.

Lest we have any doubts where this is heading, the lead sentence of the story manages to drag in the Inquisition: "How do you atone for something terrible, like the Inquisition?"

The gist of the story is that as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he wasn't so up to apologizing for the Inquisition, and he isn’t really doing enough to apologize for the clergy sexual abuse crisis, either.

Time magazine wants the Pope to offer a personal mea culpa, particularly for his handling of a case in Germany when he was archbishop of Munich, and more generally for the fact that he "was very much part of a system that had badly under-estimated and in some cases enabled the rot of clergy abuse that spread through the Church in the past half-century."

The story, written by Jeff Israely (reporting from Rome) and Howard Chua-Eoan, while appearing to be about the sexual abuse crisis, is really a subtly [[Oh please! Nothing could have been less subtle and more obvious! Hatchet jobs - actual or figurative - are never subtle.] written assault on the papacy itself, making the following case:

1. For the past two centuries, the Vatican has centralized power and authority over the Church, including the declaration of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council.

2. This centralization is how it has managed to control its docile flock even as it has lost temporal power.

3. At stake in the sexual abuse crisis is the prestige and power of the papacy and the Church’s own authority.

4. There needs to be some sort of acceptance of personal guilt on the part of Pope Benedict for his actions, despite all he has done to address the crisis.

5. Such an admission of guilt and apology would call into question, however, the "theological impregnability of the papacy" and hasten other changes in the Church that will diminish its size and authority.

The provocative headline of the article -- "Why Being Pope Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry" -- makes more sense in this narrative because it yokes the claim of infallibility to the current crisis, making the papacy the center of the abuse story.

The fact that the Pope has apologized repeatedly thus becomes irrelevant for Time magazine -- despite the obvious contradiction of the headline -- because [it considers] the apologies are just a public relations strategy to head off a greater challenge.

In laying out this political analysis of the last 200 years of Church history, the article also serves to bolster the case [No, it does not - there is nothing objective about it, simply a fabric woven of the most negative conjectures possible] of those lawyers seeking damages from the Vatican for sexual abuse cases that occurred in the United States. Since the Vatican was so centralized and domineering, the question of its liability for the handling of individual local cases becomes more plausible.

Thus, after recounting the many positive steps the Pope has taken, Time still concludes that he is hedging: "He assigned wrongdoing not to the Church but to its servants."

This, the magazine suggests, is to protect the Church from legal liability. "The consequences of sin are subject to divine salvation, but the consequences of crime lie within the purview of human judges and entail courts of law, prison, public humiliation and the loss of property."

Time quotes an Irish theologian: "This very centralized Church [tightly managed out of Rome] has only really been the case since the end of the 19th century." Here it ties everything back to the First Vatican Council and its statement on papal infallibility.

In keeping with the heavy editorializing of the entire story, it sums up Vatican I as a "stage-managed" council that used a "suspect majority of bishops" to approve infallibility, thus allowing the Roman Curia to become "ever more centralized and domineering."

While the article dismisses "a purportedly impromptu crowd of 150,000 people" who showed up to cheer the Pope one Sunday (although no one claims it was impromptu), it lauds plans for a "Reformation Day" in October being organized by victims of clergy sexual abuse to "pressure the Vatican to act" and to "take back" the Church.

The story gets so many details wrong, that defenders of Benedict XVI in some ways don't know where to start.

Infallibility has nothing to do with the story of sexual abuse. [In fact, it is not clear why Israely even brought up the issue at all, since he clearly says it applies to the Pope's dogmatic teaching. And nowhere in the Church's 2000-year history has any Pope ever taught that priests can indulge in sexual abuse of children and that bishops are dutybound to cover up for priests who offend in this way! Nor have they ordered it at all! So why is papal infallibility even invoked here?]]

The centralization of authority is more stereotype than truth, as witnessed by the diversity of Catholic voices, the independent actions of many bishops, the rise of the national bishops' conferences and on and on.

If anything, what is frustrating to many Catholics and puzzling to non-Catholics who hold a simplistic view of papal authority is that the Pope cannot just rule by arbitrary decree. (It is ironic that this same misunderstanding permeates the controversy surrounding Pope Pius XII and the struggle with Nazism.)

The real story is this: Benedict XVI is aware of the scale and the scope of the crisis worldwide.
- He has taken decisive actions (such as the removal of the founder of the Legion of Christ).
- He has intervened strongly in Ireland, with a remarkably honest and plain-spoken letter to the Irish Catholics, a visitation of top prelates to study the root causes of the crisis and how it was handled, the acceptance of several resignations by bishops, and a high-level meeting with Irish prelates at the Vatican.
- He has quite clearly led the way in encouraging local bishops’ conferences to address their scandals head on, and
- He has laid out the language for understanding the crisis: Endorsing the search for truth, calling for penance, not blaming the media or enemies outside the Church, but pointing to the enemies within.

Mistakes have been made. Grievous mistakes. Mistakes were made by bishops, by priests, by psychiatrists and police and judges and yes, even by well-intentioned and grief-stricken relatives. The cost of these mistakes is very high, and the Church will have to pay these costs.

But efforts to make Benedict XVI part of the problem rather than part of the solution would be an even bigger mistake, for it is he who is providing real leadership on this issue.

It is Benedict XVI who is refusing to circle the wagons and whounderstands the spiritual as well as the canonical and civil issues at stake. It is Benedict XVI who is championing the necessary reform and renewal that the scandals demand.

Four laymen among
9 upcoming beatifications



VATICAN CITY, JUNE 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI approved nine beatifications to be held in the coming weeks, including those of two young laypeople: a 19-year-old Slovenian martyr, and an Italian girl who died at age 18.

The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announced the rites of beatification approved by the Holy Father to be held over coming months.

This Saturday will be the first: that of Manuel Lozano Garrido, known as Lolo. This Spanish layman was a journalist and writer and he will be beatified in Linares, Spain.

Another layman will be raised to the altars the following day: Lojze Grozde of Slovenia. Born in 1923 but rejected by his mother because he was conceived out of wedlock, Grozde endured a difficult childhood before finding God through Catholic Action. He came to live an intense life of prayer, but in 1943 on a trip to visit relatives, he was detained and accused of spreading anti-Communist propaganda. He was tortured to death the night of his arrest. He will be beatified in Celje, Slovenia.

Also in June, Stephen Nehme (born Joseph), a Lebanese professed religious of the Order of Maronites, will be beatified. His ceremony will take place June 27 in Kfifan, Lebanon.

September will bring three beatifications:

-- Leopoldo Sánchez Márquez de Alpandeire (born Francisco), a Spanish professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor (Capuchins), on Sept. 12 in Granada, Spain.

-- María de la Inmaculada Concepción (born María Isabel Salvat y Romero), Spanish superior-general of Sisters of the Company of the Cross, on Sept. 18 in Seville, Spain.

-- Chiara Badano, an Italian lay woman, on Sept. 25 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love, Rome. Badano died of cancer at age 18; she will be the first member of the Focolare Movement to be beatified.

Three more beatifications approved by the Pope are:

-- Anna Maria Adorni, Italian founder of the Handmaidens of Blessed Mary Immaculate and of the Institute of the Good Shepherd of Parma, on Oct. 3 in Parma, Italy.

-- Szilard Bogdanffy, Romanian bishop and martyr, on Oct. 30 in Oradea Mare, Romania.

-- Maria Barbara of the Blessed Trinity (born Barbara Maix), Austrian founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on Nov. 9 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Last Sunday, Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, of Poland's Solidarity movement, who was killed by Communist secret police, was beatified in Warsaw.

[The new Blesseds were in the list of miscellaneous decrees regarding causes of sainthood that were signed by Benedict XVI and announced by the Vatican last December 21. The list had included the recognition of the 'heroic virtues' of Pope Pius XII and of John Paul II, now called 'Venerable.

Earlier approved was the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, whom the Pope himself will beatify when he visits the United Kingdom in September.]

Thanks to Lella's blog,

an 'unscheduled' commentary from Bruno Mastroianni.


Body blows from the media have failed
to knock down a resolute Benedict XVI
by Bruno Mastroianni
Translated from

June 2010


What appears to many as a crisis is proving to be an opportunity for Benedict XVI. The climate created by the scandal over sexual abuse of minors by priests is, in fact, facilitating the task of the Pope in bringing to light some results in terms of Church response.

First of all, in his relationship with bishops. For too long, some members of the episcopate, especially in Europe, have appeared unconcerned about each bishop's duty to act "in communion with the Roman Pontiff".

Now, after the failings of some of them have come under public scrutiny, they seem to be interested in a show of unity, entrusting themselves to the sure leadership of the one person who, now more than ever, seems capable of keeping the Church's course intact. [For the first time, I find a critical flaw in Mastroianni's arguments. How can he say this after the self-serving, self-aggrandizing shenanigans of someone like Schoenborn????]

The crisis also has its effects on the relationship between the Catholic hierarchy and the world.

In Corriere della Sera, in late April, Ernesto Galli Della Loggia correctly wrote about a 'lay-oriented turn' taken by Benedict XVI. However, I would say that rather than a turning point, it is a process that has been taking place for some time.

A process that began in Papa Wojtyla's Pontificate, in which the Church is becoming less clerical [I suppose he means clergy-centered] and more intent on its mission to bring God to the world.

The new norms for the disposition of sex abuse cases against priests - approved by John Paul II, with implementing instructions by then Cardinal Ratzinger - were within this purview: To remedy messes which, often, were due to errors of judgment by the local bishop (a relative handful of them, but enough to cause scandal) who confused the bishop's duty to be the spiritual head of his diocese, with being the 'head' in every respect.

As different commentators have noted, including non-Catholic ones, the crisis is allowing the Church to show what it's made of! What other institution these days - when there seems to be no other commandment but to perpetrate oneself and own interests - could have the courage to do what is right without compromises, facing the problem head on, even while risking its own good name?

Which leads us to ask why the festering boil of pedophilia ruptured today in a way that it never really did years ago, when the US scandals emerged. At the time, despite the widespread reportage, newsmen were far gentler and accommodating. [[Perhaps in Europe, but certainly not in the USA, where the outrage was immense against the Church, although media hostility against the Pope was certainly muted!]

And yet, between then and today, things were no worse, in terms of the abuses committed and the cover-up by some bishops.

There is one great difference. The Church under Benedict XVI is taking decisive steps along that path which can make her more authentic and resolute in responding to the challenges of the world today.

But do check out if anyone is taking note of this at all!


"Yes, there are," wisecracks one of Lella's followers. "Remember those 'four cats' that a RAI commentator said were all who are out there listening to Benedict XVI? They're still there! Along with millions of the faithful..."

June 9, Wednesday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. EPHREM OF SYRIA [306-373), Deacon, Preacher, Theologian, Writer, Poet, Composer of Hymns, Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on Nov. 29, 7007
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071128...
to this extraordinary man who was born to a Christian family in what is now Syria, but was not baptized till he was 18. He became a famous teacher in his native city, which he fled when it was taken over by the Persians. He settled in Edessa (in present-day Iraq) where he was ordained a deacon and established a theological school. His prolific writings were based on his knowledge of Scriptures and deep insight into the Christian mysteries and humanity. Besides his prose writings, he was a great religious poet and composed hymns as a means of catechesis as well as against the heresies of the day. One of the first to introduce song into Church worship, he became known as 'the harp of the Holy Spirit' for his exquisite hymns. Although he never became a priest, he lived poor and chaste all his life. He is said to have visited St. Basil the Great (330-379), with whose theology he had much in common. He died of the plague which he caught while caring for victims in Edessa. Benedict XV declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1920.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/saints/todaysaint.shtml


OR today.


No papal stories in this issue. Page 1 news:
Germany to cut public spending by 80 billion
euros over the next four years; even NATO
mustcut its budget; environmentalists predict
it will take at least half a century to clear
the effects of the massive oil leak in the Gulf
of Mexico; and 600 civilians killed in May by
continuing warfare in Darfur. In a front-page
commentary, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi explains
how good priests can help to resolve the
financial crisis by inculcating in the faithful
a sense of responsibility for the consequences
of every human action.


THE POPE'S DAY

General Audience today - The Holy Father reported on his recent apostolic visit to Cyprus.

Later, he gave a private audience to

- Mons. Gerhard Mueller, Bishop of Regensburg

Sandro Magister anticipates the Pope's report on the Cyprus trip with his own commentary today.


In a Church of martyrs,
the patience of Benedict
In Cyprus, the Pope saw up close the drama of the Christians of the East.
Ecumenism is flourishing, but where Islam reigns, there is no freedom of conscience or religion.
The latest victim is Bishop Luigi Padovese, decapitated like Saint John.




ROME, June 9, 2010 – On the first visit ever made by a Pope to the island of Cyprus – evangelized in apostolic times, and afterward a terrain of demarcation and conflict between Christianity and Islam – the media emphasized its geopolitical aspects, which were modest [and really, quite secondary on this trip!].

In particular, some parts of the working agenda for discussions discussed next October at the Special Synodal Assembly for the Middle East which was made public Sunday in Nicosia. [NB: The Pope had nothing to do with the agenda, which was based on suggestions made by bishops, especially the leaders of the Middle Eastern Churches.]

But the most direct way to understand the meaning of this trip in the mind of its author is to listen to the voice of Benedict XVI himself.

Papa Ratzinger generally reveals his thinking about each of his trips on two pre-arranged occasions. With his replies to journalists on the papal flight toward his destination, as he did on Friday, June 4, enroute to Paphos, and a report of the trip at the General Audience that follows it (today, for Cyprus).

And then, of course, in the discourses that the Pope gives during the visit. Especially the passages where his own personal imprint is most evident.

From all of this, it can be gathered that for Benedict XVI, the focal points of the trip to Cyprus were ecumenism and Islam.


ECUMENISM

The population of Cyprus is overwhelmingly Orthodox. And its Church is one of the most ancient and noble in Orthodox Christendom.

Benedict XVI and Archbishop Chrysostomos II have a relationship of personal friendship and respect that found its highest symbolic expression in the embrace between the two during the Mass celebrated by the Pope in Nicosia on Sunday, June 6, with almost the entire small Catholic community of the island present.

In his farewell message to the people of Cyprus, the Holy Father associated this embrace with the "prophetic" one in 1964 between Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople. Indeed, since then, the ecumenical journey with the Orthodox has seen unprecedented progress with the current Pope.

On the flight to Cyprus, Benedict XVI explained that there are three elements that are bringing the Church of Rome and the Eastern Churches "closer and closer together."

The first is Sacred Scripture, read not as a text that everyone interprets as he sees fit, but as a book that "emerged among the people of God, that lives in this common subject and remains present and real only here."

The second is the tradition of which the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches are the bearers, a tradition that not only interprets the Scripture but has its sacramentally instituted guides and witnesses in the bishops.

And the third element is the "rule of faith" (regula fidei) - the cumulative doctrine established by the ancient councils, which "is the summation of what is contained in the Scripture and opens the door to its interpretation."

It is evident, however, that if these three elements bring the Catholic Church closer to the Orthodox Churches, they distance both from Protestantism.

The proximity between Catholicism and Orthodoxy has become so strong that the two sides have arrived at discussing the main question that divides them, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.

It was in Paphos last October, that the Mixed International Commission for Theological Dialog between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches was hosted by Chrysostomos II for its biennial session. And for the first time since they started meeting in 1980, they agreed to examine the role of the Papacy (and therefore, the priamcy of the Bishop of Rome) in the undivided Church, before the Great Schism of 1054.

The commission will meet again next Sept. 20-27 in Vienna to resume this discussion.

In the orthodox world, the archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, is one of the main players in the current 'springtime of ecumenism', along with The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I of Constantinople; the Metropolitan of Pergamon (Greece), Ioannis Zizioulas; and for the Russian Church, the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill I, and his number-2 man, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

The visit to Rome in June 2007 by Chrysostomos II been one of the most ecumenically fruitful of recent years.

The objection to the Pope's visit expressed before the trip by some of the Orthodox bishops of Cyprus, supported by some u;tra-traditionalists of the Greek Church [like the monks of Mt. Athos], gained no real traction.


ISLAM

As for the second focal point of Benedict XVI's visit to Cyprus, the encounter of Pope Benedict XVI with a Muslim Sufi leader from Turkish-occupied Cyprus is emblematic.



It took place on Saturday, June 5, while Benedict was on his way to say Mass at the Catholic Church of the Holy Cross – located right on the dividing line between the Greek and Turkish parts of Nicosia. [By prior arrangement with the Pope's staff and security] Benedict XVI was approached by the 89-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Nazim Abil Al-Haqqani. They greeted one another, and promised to pray for each other. They exchanged little gifts: Muslim prayer beads, a plaque with words of peace in Arabic, a pontifical medallion.

There had been speculation about a possible meeting with the Mufti of Cyprus, the highest Muslim authority on the island. Instead, there was this actual encounter with a Sufi master, an exponent of Islamic mysticism, "a form of Islam that 'presumably through Christian influence stresses the love of God for man and of man for God', instead of an inaccessible God 'among whose 99 names that of Father is missing'."

The words just quoted are from Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar for Anatolia and president of the Catholic episcopal conference of Turkey, who was killed in Iskenderun on June 3, the eve of the Pope's trip to Cyprus, where Padovese would have taken part as one of the bishops of the Middle East.

Benedict XVI carefully kept his trip from being constrained by this tragic event. Vatican diplomacy, extremely attentive to preventing any friction with Turkey and with Islam in general, did its part to convince the Pope to immediately and preemptively rule out the idea that this was a "political or religious" murder.

But this submissive and counterproductive version – contradicted more and more each day by the facts, as reported from the start by Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops, and by AsiaNews - did not keep the Pope from speaking truthfully to Islam in generla.

He spoke of the 'sad reality' in Cyprus - which to Cypriots means Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, with the expulsion of Christians inhabitants and systematic destruction of the churches.

Welcoming the Pope as a guest, Archbishop Chrysostomos II decried all this in strong words [as he always does]. At the end of his visit, Benedict XVI said:

---

Having stayed these past nights in the Apostolic Nunciature, which happens to be in the United Nations buffer zone, I have seen for myself something of the sad division of the island, as well as learning of the loss of a significant part of a cultural heritage which belongs to all humanity.

I have also listened to Cypriots from the north who wish to return in peace to their homes and places of worship, and I have been deeply moved by their pleas.

---

The Pope responded to this acknowledged state of affairs not by offering political or strategic advice, but above all by urging "active" patience, as in everything that has to do with the incessant explosions of violence in the Middle East. During the flight to Cyprus, he said:

---

We almost have to imitate God, his patience. After all the cases of violence, not to lose patience, not to lose courage, not to lose the forbearance of starting over; to create the dispositions of the heart in order to begin ever anew, in the certainty that we can move forward, that we can arrive at peace, that the solution is not violence, but the patience of the good.

---

In Nicosia, speaking to the diplomatic coprs and through them to the governments of the region, the Pope proposed the political wisdom of Plato, of Aristotle, of the Stoics, because "for them, and for the great Islamic and Christian philosophers who followed in their footsteps, the practice of virtue consisted in acting in accordance with right reason, in the pursuit of all that is true, good and beautiful," starting with that "natural law proper to our common humanity."

Benedict XVI knows very well that the "great Islamic philosophers" open to Greek culture are from centuries long past, and that after Averroes, that openness ended. But by recalling this historical precedent, the Pope once again indicated that Islam also needs an
'enlightened' revolution such as Christian thought experienced following the era of secular Enlightenment.

In Regensburg, he had explained how this enterprise is extremely arduous, but he has continued to urge the Muslim world to fuse faith with "logos," and therefore with freedom of conscience and religion, still non-existent in Islamic countries - as Bishop Padovese also knew well and expressedin terms very similar to the Pope's,

Against this backdrop, the Pope's meeting with the Sufi master – a figure at the margin of the dominant Islamic movements – symbolized the encounter with an "other" Islam, with Muslims who are not enemies but "brothers in spite of the differences."


THE CROSS

But it wasn't only ecumenism and Islam on the agenda of the Pope's trip. [Of course! The main purpose of the apostolic visit after all is to 'confirm his brothers in the faith'.]

Surprisingly, Benedict XVI dedicated his most intense meditation to the Cross of Jesus, preaching in a church dedicated to the Holy Cross. [Why 'surprisingly'? Since it was an afternoon Mass that did not have to follow the prescribed liturgy of the day, what better topic for his homily than the great mystery for which the Franciscan church is named? Especially in Cyprus, which was always a way station to and from the Crusades, named precisely so because they were wars fought to re-establish the religion of the Cross in the Holy Land after centuries of Islamic conquest.]

To all who suffer, he said, the cross "offers them hope that God can transform their suffering into joy, their death into life." The cross does what no earthly power can do. "And if, in accordance with what we have deserved, we should have some share in Christ’s sufferings, let us rejoice because we will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed."

It takes courage to say these things to people enduring the unjust occupation of their homes and land, the destruction of the signs of their faith, in a Middle East where the only state which allows religious freedom to Christians is Israel [a couple of the tiny Arab emirates, too!]

But the cross is the 'happy scandal' of the Christian faith. It is the triumphant banner that Pope Benedict raises and offers to the world.

Damian Thompson has been blogging almost daily about the apparent inadequacies of preparations for the Pope's visit on the part of all concerned, but after his extensive backgrounder in the Spectator, it's best to hear next what the concerned parties themselves have to say. Here's one from the Church side, and it's rather depressing!


Church organizer admits
there's still 'lots to do':
Even the program has not been finalized!
ny Martin Beckford
Religious Affairs Correspondent

June 9, 2010

The organiser of the Pope’s historic visit to Britain has admitted “lots of things” still need to be done.

With three months to go, Mgr Andrew Summersgill disclosed that the exact itinerary is yet to be agreed between the Vatican and the Government, and that an “awful lot of work” remains to be completed on arranging security and traffic management.

He also suggested that many Roman Catholics who had hoped to attend one of Benedict XVI’s public appearances – and contributed towards the costs through church collections – may have to settle for a glimpse of his entourage from the roadside.

It comes following reports that the Church’s costs of hosting the first-ever papal state visit to England and Scotland have doubled to £14 million while key events could be scaled down.

The Government is to appoint Lord Patten, a Catholic and experienced diplomat, to act as a “bridge” between civil servants and Church officials organising the three-day tour in September following a series of setbacks.

In the latest of a series of progress updates, published 99 days before the Pope’s arrival in Scotland, Mgr Summersgill said: “The Papal Visit planning is carrying on, it is quite a complex organisation to put together. It involves different partners. So it involves the Holy See, it involves the Bishops’ Conference, it involves the local authorities where the Pope will be going, and it involves above all the Government, because the Pope’s coming at the invitation of the Government and specifically at the invitation of The Queen. And that, quite naturally I think, means that we are not in a position to be able to be much more clear than I know people would like us to be."

But he admitted: “Lots of things need to be done. First of all we need to have an agreed itinerary between the Government and the Holy See. And there are plans being made for three quite detailed planning visits that need to take place over the next few weeks, with people coming from the Holy See to look at what is being proposed and to finalise and agree those arrangements.

“There’s an awful lot of work to be done in terms of the security arrangements, particularly in terms of the traffic management planning that needs to take place around some of the larger gatherings, and also some of the smaller parts of the Visit that involve the Pope.

“And also there are agreements to be entered into with broadcasters, so that as much of the Visit as is possible, all of it really, will be available to be broadcast both here and around the world.”

Amid concern among some Catholics at the scarcity of tickets to planned open-air Masses in Glasgow, London and the Midlands, he said that tickets will be allocated to dioceses and then distributed among parishes.

The Papal Visit Co-Ordinator went on: “There are some parts of the programme which are clearly times and places where Pope Benedict will be visible where he will be on his way somewhere, and it’s expected that people would hopefully like to come along and see him. I’m sure they would, even if it doesn’t mean attending something.”


It would have been nice to hear a word from Archbishop Vincent Nichols, not just from Summergill, about whose credentials to be the organizer for the Church Thompson has expressed great misgivings!

But while the Church of England and Wales is apparently floundering in its preparations, the other papal host, the Church of Scotland, does have good news:


Scottish bishops confirm
Papal outdoor Mass in Glasgow
by Allan Mackie

June 9, 2010


The Pope will celebrate Mass before a crowd of worshippers at Glasgow's Bellahouston Park in September, it has been confirmed.
It will be Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to Scotland, and the first papal visit since predecessor John Paul II's pastoral trip in 1982.

He attracted massive crowds to Bellahouston Park and Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh during the stay.

The venue for the Catholic ceremony was confirmed following a meeting between Glasgow City Council and the Bishops' Conference of Scotland.

The Bishops' Conference of Scotland said:

"The Catholic Church welcomes the confirmation given by Glasgow City Council that Bellahouston Park will be available and suitable for the visit of Pope Benedict.

"The park provides a wonderful venue for what will be a tremendous event, it is a place that has a great resonance for Scottish Catholics, many of whom remember fondly the wonderful day in 1982 when Pope John Paul II said mass there."

The bishops expect that more than half of the 185,000 Catholics who attend Sunday services across Scotland will be able to attend the mass on September 16. [That's setting the bar rather low! Initial estimates were for at least 200,000, which allows the high probability that even rare Massgoers will atend a Mass said by the Pope, and that the faithful will not just come from Scotland but from other parts of the British islesand even Ireland!]

Parishes - there are 450 in Scotland - will receive a pro-rata allocation of places based on their mass attendance figures.

Thousands more are expected to line the route of the Pope's motorcade through Edinburgh earlier in the day.

The bishops also said they welcomed the appointment of Lord Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, to oversee the visit of Pope Benedict.

Meanwhile, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland said they found it "offensive" that the UK Government was hosting the Pope as a head of state. [But he is a head of state - and he was invited by the UK Government to visit as a head of state.]


NB: The story was carried by many Scottish newspapers affiliated with The Scotsman, among which was

but the Scotsman itself gives the story a byline.

GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY

The Holy Father availed of today's General Audience, the first since he returned from Cyprus, to make his customary report on his most recent apostolic visit abroad, the 16th of his Pontificate.

Here is how he synthesized his report in English:

---

In my Apostolic Journey to Cyprus this past week, I walked in the footsteps of Saints Paul and Barnabas, who first brought the Gospel to that island, and visited the small but lively Catholic communities of the island.

I thank the Authorities for their warm hospitality, and I particularly thank the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos the Second for their fraternal welcome.

In my celebrations with the Maronite and Latin Catholic communities I witnessed their strong faith and traditions, and the vitality of their educational and charitable institutions.

In Cyprus and throughout the Middle East, Christians are called to overcome divisions and to persevere in their witness to the Gospel in those lands.

At Sunday Mass in Nicosia I consigned the working document for the forthcoming Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops.

Let us pray that the Synod will strengthen those ancient Christian communities in communion and hope, and help them to build a future of peace throughout the Middle East.

---

The Pope apparently rode into St. Peter's Square bareheaded, but donned the wide-brimmed saturno for his circuit through the crowd after the audience.



Pope on Cyprus:
'A very successful visit'


09 Jun 10 (RV) - Wearing a bright red wide brimmed hat, familiarly known in Rome as a ‘Capello Romano’ Pope Benedict XVI was shaded from the sizzling morning sun as he weaved his way around the throngs of pilgrims and visitors to St Peter’s Square, cheerfully waving to them from the back of his Pope-mobile after today's General Audience.

Many of those present in the sweltering heat this Wednesday for the Pope’s Audience were wearing clerical collars, just some of the 9,700 accredited priests who have answered the Holy Father’s call to come celebrate the close of the Year for Priests with him on Friday.

But on Wednesday the Pope’s thoughts still drew him towards the East and the Christian communities of the Holy Land as he retraced the steps of his recent voyage to Cyprus:

“In my Apostolic Journey to Cyprus this past week, I walked in the footsteps of Saints Paul and Barnabas, who first brought the Gospel to that island, and visited the small but lively Catholic communities of the island”.

In comments in Italian the Pope revealed that his visit was successful because it had achieved its three main goals, “strengthen the faith of Catholic communities”, “encourage them to pursue the path towards full unity among Christians, especially with our Orthodox brethren”, and “embrace all peoples in the Middle East and bless them in the name of the Lord, asking God for the gift of peace”.

Retracing the steps of the journey, the Pope recalled the city of Paphos and the church of Agia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa, where"with the Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II and representatives of the Armenian, Lutheran and Anglican Communities”, “we renewed our mutual fraternal and irreversible commitment to ecumenism".

Pope Benedict XVI thanked the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos II, saying they proved that "rootedness in tradition does not prevent the Orthodox community from being firmly committed to ecumenical dialogue together with the Catholic community”.

The Pope recalled “In my celebrations with the Maronite and Latin Catholic communities I witnessed their strong faith and traditions, and the vitality of their educational and charitable institutions”. He said “In Cyprus and throughout the Middle East, Christians are called to overcome divisions and to persevere in their witness to the Gospel in those lands!”.

But the clear highlight of the trip confided the Pope, was " the delivery of the Synod’s Instrumentum laboris at Mass in Nicosia. Where, he recalled, "we prayed for the soul of the late Bishop. Luigi Padovese", whose"sudden and tragic death has left us saddened and dismayed".

Pope Benedict XVI concluded his audience reflections by looking forward to the October Synod for the Middle East, which he said, “will be accompanied by the prayerful affection of the entire Church, in whose heart the Middle East occupies a special place”. The Pope augured that the gathering will also draw the attention of other global protagonists, “especially among those in public life” that they may ceaselessly “work so the region can overcome situations of conflict and suffering that still afflict it and finally find peace in justice”.



Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's words:

---

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today, I wish to dwell on my apostolic trip to Cyprus, which in many aspects, was in continuity with previous trips to the Holy Land and Malta.

Thanks to God, this pastoral visit went very well, happily achieving its objectives. It was in itself a historical event, since never before had a Bishop of Rome visited that blessed land, which had seen the apostolic work of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, and which is traditionally considered part of the Holy Land.

In the footsteps of the Apostle of the Gentiles, I went as a pilgrim of the Gospel, above all to confirm the faith of the Catholic communities, a small but lively minority on the island, encouraging them to follow the path of full unity among Christians, especially with our Orthodox brothers.

At the same time, I wished to embrace ideally all the peoples of the Middle East and bless them in the name of the Lord, invoking God for the gift of peace.

I experienced a heartfelt welcome everywhere, and I gladly take this occasion to express again my sincere thanks, first of all, to the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus, Mons Yousuf Soueif, and His Beatitude Fouad Twal [Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Church of Cyprus], along with their co-workers, renewing to each of them my appreciation for their apostolic activity.

My sincere gratitude also goes to the Holy synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, especially to His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of New Justinian and all Cyprus, whom I had the joy of embracing fraternally; as well as to the President of the Republic, and all the civilian authorities and those who in various ways, so praiseworthily did all they could for the success of my pastoral visit.

It began on June 4 in the ancient city of Paphos, where I felt myself enveloped in a near-perceptible synthesis of 2000 years of Christianity. The archeological remains present there are the sign of an ancient and glorious spiritual heritage which even today still has a strong impact on the life of the nation.

A moving ecumenical service was held near the church of St Ciriaca Chrysopolitissa, an Orthodox place of worship that is also open to Catholics and Anglicans, located within the archaeological site,

With the Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II and representatives of the Armenian, Lutheran and Anglican communities, we renewed fraternally our reciprocal and irreversible commitment to ecumenism.

I manifested these same sentiments subsequently to His Beatitude Chrysostomos II in our cordial meeting at his residence, during which I also appreciated how much the Orthodox Church of Cyprus is linked to the destinies of her people. Cypriots keep a devoted and grateful memory of Archbishop Makarios III, considered the father and benefactor of the nation, to whom I rendered homage with a brief visit to his monument.

Its rootedness in tradition has not kept the Orthodox community from being decisively involved in the ecumenical dialog together with the Catholic community - both inspired by the sincere desire to restore full and visible communion among the Churches of the East and the West.

On June 5, in Nicosia, capital of the island, I began the second day of the visit with a call on the President of the Republic who welcomed me with great courtesy.

In my meeting with the civilian authorities of Cyprus and with the diplomatic corps, I reiterated the importance of basing legislation on the ethical principles of natural law, in order to promote moral truth in public life. It was an appeal to reason, based on ethical principles that have demanding implications for today's society, which often no longer acknowledges the cultural tradition on which it is based.

The Liturgy of the Word, celebrated at the St. Maron elementary school, represented one of the most evocative moments of the meeting with the Catholic community of Cyprus, in both its Latin and Maronite components. It allowed me to know first-hand the apostolic fervor of the Cypriot Catholics.

That fervor is expressed through educational and assistential activities with dozens of organisms placed at the service of the collective society and appreciated by the governing authorities as well as by the entire population. It was a joyous and festive occasion, animated by the enthusiasm of so many babies, children, and youth.

The aspect of commemoration was not missing, in which the soul of the Maronite Church was touchingly perceptible as it observes this year the 1600th death anniversary of her founder, St. Maron.

Particularly significant in this respect was the presence of Maronite Catholics who were originally residents of four villages on the island where Christians suffer and hope. To them, I expressed my paternal understanding of their aspirations and difficulties.

At the same celebration, I likewise admired the apostolic commitment of the Latin community, under the solicitous leadership of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the pastoral zeal of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Land, who have placed themselves at the service of their communities with perseverance and generosity. Latin-rite Catholics, who are very active in charitable work, have given special attention to workers and the most needy.

I assured all of them - Latin-rite and Maronite Catholics - that I remember them in my prayers, encouraging them to bear witness to the Gospel through patient work and reciprocal trust among Christians and non-Christians, in order to construct a lasting peace and harmony among peoples.

I reiterated this call for trust and hope during the Holy Mass celebrated at the parish church of the Holy Cross, in the presence of priests, consecrated persons, deacons, catechists and representatives of lay movements on the island.

After a reflection on the mystery of the Cross, I addressed a heartfelt appeal to all the Catholics in the Middle East that, despite all the great trials and the difficulties that everyone is aware of, they must not yield to the temptation to emigrate, because their presence in the region is an irreplaceable sign of hope.

I assured them - especially the priests and religious - of the affectionate and intense dolidarity of the entire Church, as well as our incessant prayers that the Lord may help them and always be for them a living and calming presence.

Certainly, the culminating point of the apostolic visit was the consignment of the Instrumentum Laboris for the Special Assembly on the Middle East of the Bishops' Synod.

This took place on Sunday, June 6, at Nicosia's Sports Palace at the end of the solemn Eucharistic Celebration, concelebrated by the Patriarchs and Bishops of the various ecclesial communities of the Middle East.

The People of God participated in unison "amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival", as the Psalm says (42,5). We experienced this concretely - thanks equally to the presence of so many immigrants who make up a significant part of the Catholic population in Cyprus, where they have integrated without difficulty.

Together, we prayed for the soul of the lamented Bishop Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish bishops' conference, whose sudden and tragic death has left us in sorrow and dismay.

The theme of the Synodal assembly on the Middle East, which will take place in Rome next October, speaks of communion and being open to hope: "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Witness and communion".

Indeed, this important event is a convocation of the Catholic Christians from the region, in all their diverse rites, but at the same time, as a renewed search for dialog and courage for the future.

Thus, it will have the prayerful affection of all the Church, in whose heart the Middle East has a special place because it was there where God made himself known to the fathers of our faith.

But it will not lack for attention from other subjects of world society, particularly the protagonists in public life, who are called on to work with constant commitment so that the region may overcome the situations of suffering and conflicts which continue to afflict it, in order to finally find peace with justice.

Before leaving Cyprus, I visited the Maronite Cathedral of Nicosia, in the presence of Cardinal Pierre Nasrallah Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites.

I reiterated my closeness and fervent understanding to every community of the ancient Maronite Church dispersed over the island, to which Maronites have arrived in various eras, often sorely tried in their efforts to remain faithful to their particular Christian heritage, whose historical and artistic traditions constitute a cultural patrimony for all mankind.

Dear brothers and sisters, I came back to the Vatican with my heart full of gratitude to God and with feelings of sincere affection and esteem for the people of Cyprus, by whom I truly felt welcome and understood.

In the noble land of Cyprus, I saw the apostolic work of the diverse traditions of the one Church of Christ, and I could almost feel all those hearts beating as one - "One heart, one spirit", as the motto of the visit says.

The Catholic community of Cyprus, in its Maronite, Armenian and Latin articulations, has tried incessantly to be one heart and one spirit, both among themselves, and in their cordial and constructive relations with their brothers from the orthodox and other Christian confessions.

May the Cypriot people and other nations of the Middle East, with their governing officials and the representatives of different religions, build together a future of peace, friendship and fraternal collaboration.

And let us pray so that, with the intercession of the Most Blessed Mary, the Holy Spirit may make this apostolic visit fruitful, and inspire throughout the world the mission of the Church, instituted by Christ to announce to all peoples the Gospel of truth, of love, and of peace.


In his plurilingual greetings afterwards, he reminded the faithful that the year for Priests is coming to a close, and asked them to

Pray for your priests so that they may faithfully announce the Gospel in their ministry and celebrate the divine mysteries worthily.


To the Poles, he said:

Thank you for all the prayers for my visit to Cyprus. The new Polish Blessed, Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, preached love and solidarity for those who are in need of material and spiritual support. I entrust to his protection all those who are suffering because of the recent floods and to those who have brought them help.


To the Italian faithful, he said:
A special greeting to the participants of the current Chapter General meeting of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), whom I assure of remembrance in my prayers so that they may ever be obedient to the action of the Holy Spirit in continuing to work, in patience and hope, for the Kingdom of God, in Africa and in the world.

I greet the children of the First Communion from the Diocese of Castellaneta, accompanied by their Bishop, Mons. Pietro Fragnelli, and I hope that each of them will grow in friendship with Jesus in order to bear witness of him to other children their age.

The Feast of the Saced Heart of Jesus, which we will celebrate on Friday, will mark the end of the Year for Priests. Thousands of priests from all parts of the world have gathered in Rome to praise the Lord and to renew their commitment to him. I call on everyone to take part in this event with their prayers....

---

The newsphoto agencies went on a 'shooting' binge that is always brought on when the Pope wears the saturno - and these are just three samples of a virtual mini-gallery of these images:



BTW, there's a picture of John XXIII wearing a white saturno - it would be nice to see B16 wear one, too, occasionally.

What Benedict XVI would like
his ministers to be
by Bruno Mastroianni
Translated from

June 9, 2010

On Friday, June 11, the year for Priests comes to a close. It was a year decreed by Benedict XVI "in order to promote the aspirations of priests towards spiritual perfection on which the effectiveness of their ministry depends, above all", as he said in his letter decree.

What does Benedict XVI expect of priests? In recent catecheses, the holy Father spelled out a model of what a minister of the Church should be, based on the triple priestly mission to teach, to sanctify, and to lead.

To teach - not like a theology professor who dispenses lessons, but as one who shows the light that illuminates the sense of life and who can respond to fundamental questions.

To sanctify - not with any magical means for some specific purpose, but through the sacraments in which God gives us himself, forgives us, and makes us participate in his love.

To lead - not like someone who wants others to do things his way, but as one who sees in the authority of the Church a service for souls in order to lead them on the path of salvation.

While others are distracted by their preoccupation with a celibacy they find outmoded, with the crisis in vocations, and with priests who abuse minors, Benedict XVI has been far ahead of them in seeking to elevate the profile of the clergy in accordance with the one true mission that priests have - which is, to bring Christ to all men. [By their individual and personal examples of holiness, above all.]

For Papa Ratzinger - beyond simply arguing ecclesial sociology about whether the Church should change and 'update' some of its rules for priests - there is one fundamental and essential subject, one Person on whom we must be focused, because that is what it takes to fill up the seminaries and churches again.



Meanwhile, the news agencies - and their MSM subscriber/captive-clients around the world - choose to 'ignore' or downplay the 10,000 priests gathering in Rome to close the Year for Priests with the Successor of Peter, but on a handful of dissident Catholics advocating women priests (the only news agency photos I have seen so far show 3 people at most), with headlines in the past days like "Women's ordination advocates march on the Vatican" which changed today to something like AP's spin below - apparently, there are not enough protestors to make the word 'march' credible!


Sex abuse crisis gives
new momentum to dissidents



ROME, June 9 (AP) - The clerical sex-abuse crisis is energizing Roman Catholic dissidents who want to open up the priesthood to women and ditch celibacy requirements.

They marched on Rome on Tuesday even as Pope Benedict XVI called on priests to converge on the Vatican to cap a yearlong celebration of the priesthood. And in a sign of the deepening crisis, the faithful in traditionally Catholic Austria are at the forefront of demands for change. [Yeah, yeah, yeah! How many are there exactly who came to the Vatican???? And show us the photos!

AP would normally trumpet it from the rooftops if there were, say, 'thousands' who 'marched on Rome', but in this entire story - and in stories that publicized this 'march' in recent days - there is not one figure cited about any of the 'groups' cited.

But then, if they leave out numbers, and just use generalizations, the ordinary reader is misled to think the numbers must be significant enough to get written about! A simple trick to spin perceptions as the writer wants without actually telling a lie!

In Rome, church reformers demanded changes in the male-dominated church structure they say is responsible for covering up priestly sex abuse for decades, pressing their case on the eve of a three-day rally of the world's priests summoned by Benedict.

What was meant to be a year of celebration has turned into one marred by revelations of hundreds of new cases of clerical abuse and Vatican inaction to root out pedophile priests. [It has been, nonetheless, a year of celebration - for and by the Church, and all the 400,000 priests whose lives of daily unsung heroism are completely ignored in all the sanctimonious outrage over their erring brothers!]

Representatives from a half-dozen pro-women's ordination groups denounced Benedict's rally. [Fine! Half a dozen groups - but how many representatives came to Rome? And incidentally, what is their total membership? Dozens? Hundreds? Tens of thousands?

This is the same MSM that chose for days to play up some letter to the Pope written by 40 Italian women claiming to be priest's concubines, arguing that 'even priests need love'! DUH! If the love of Christ, whom they effectively 'marry' at ordination, does not answer their need for love, then they should not be priests at all to begin with. Or join a church that allows married priests. BTW, Italy has 40,000 Catholic priests at the moment, How's that for scale and perspective?]

"The worldwide shocking disclosures of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and its concealment for decades clearly shows the scandalous aberration that can be caused by a supervalued male priesthood with forced celibacy," said Angelica Fromm, a representative of We are Church, a reform group born after an infamous clerical abuse scandal in Austria.

We are Church is one of many reform groups calling for women's ordination and a relaxation of the church's celibacy requirement for priests.


[Obviously, I choose not to post some stories I consider to be of less than marginal interest - they usually concern groups and causes that are literally beyond the fringe of rational consideration - since there will always be an occasion eventually to make a passing reference to them without playing them up in any way, as with the concubines' letter.

Another similar fringe event that is already being heralded by the MSM is the supposed 'march' on the Vatican by victims of priest abuses. I thought that was supposed to be held this week as well.

As I commented shortly after the Papa-Day rally by Italy's lay movements, is someone like George Soros coughing up all the money it will take to bring even just a few hundred victims to Rome and house and feed them for 1-2 days? The initiators are a victim advocacy group in the USA - SNAP. When the Pope was in the USA, they talked a blue streak but never tried to mount a demonstration when they could easily have done on home ground. Why are they doing so now at the Vatican?

This is no longer about seeking justice - because the meritorious complaints have been and are getting justice in the courts and from the Church, whether voluntarily or by court order. No, the actions by these militant victims' groups and their advocates have become showcases for 'victimism', which deliberately exploits and inflames the victim's natural negative reactions to all he has experienced, while closing him off to the peace of mind that Christian forgiveness can bestow.

One looks in vain for any similar movement for and among, say, all the young children, boys and girls, who are the daily victims of sex and violence in the civilian world, and their families. And yet they have been violated just as terribly, and perhaps even worse. The difference, of course, is that these victims and ther families focus their rage on the individual offenders who have no institutional affiliation at all.

But Catholic priests belong to 'THE CHURCH' - and what secular or liberal exponent can resist taking on this prime target, knowing full well such a cause is sure to catch media attention and play out on the world scene?


P.S. I did find one report that mentions a number for the 'marchers' - 'half a dozen' - makes it more impressicve probably than just to say 'six'!


Vatican police ask women priest
campaigners to leave



Vatican City, June 8 (CNN) -- Activists campaigning for the Catholic Church to ordain women as priests were asked to leave the Vatican on Tuesday.

They argue that women in the priesthood could have helped lessen the impact of the child abuse scandal sweeping the church.

"We believe that if women had a say in the church, if there was more accountability and more transparency, that the men would have been held more accountable," said Erin Saiz Hanna, executive director of the U.S.-based Women's Ordination Conference.

The half-dozen campaigners had unfurled a banner and were handing out leaflets when Vatican police asked them to go.

They left peacefully, returning to Italian soil from the small patch in Rome controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican police regularly ask protesters to leave.

The activists were trying to draw attention to the church's refusal to allow women to be priests, bishops or deacons, they said.

One woman who was ordained in 2002 -- and was excommunicated as a result -- said the child abuse scandal was partly a result of the church's disrespect for women.

"If women and children were respected -- and that includes if they respected us enough to ordain us -- then that would set a different tone," said Mary Ann M. Schoettly.... [Yada, yada, yada... Did Priscilla and all the women disciples of Paul need to be ordained to carry out their apostolate???? Priesthood is not the only way to serve God. Go home, Ms. Schoettly, just live a productive life,, loving God and your neighbor as every Christian should - and lose your ego, as a first step!]


So there, I have duly noted the various sufferers from Church-derangement-syndrome, and leave them with the appropriate prayers that they may find spiritual healing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.


NB: News reports and features on the closing days of the Year for Priests that are not directly related to the Holy Father are posted in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread, as are the updates on the late Mons. Padovese.

Ho-hum! How many times have we been through this before? The pendulum was on the upswing several weeks ago when Kirill I offered a concert in honor of Benedict XVI at the Vatican - and in the wamr-up to the event, his right-hand man, Metropolitan Hilarion, waxed optimistic about a Patriarch-Pope meeting 'in my lifetime' BUT! He did not forget, of course, to add the now obligatory Ukraine proviso. And today, Hilarion is bluntly downbeat....


Russian church says
'No Patriarch-Pope talks
without Ukraine deal'



MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA-Novosti) - The heads of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches will meet only after there is agreement on the inter-confessional situation in western Ukraine, a senior Russian Orthodox cleric said on Wednesday.

"It is too early to speak about such a meeting. There are certain problems, stemming from the recent past. First of all, the inter-religious situation in western Ukraine," Metropolitan Hilarion said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry officials.

Ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican have long been strained over accusations the Catholic Church has sought to spread its influence and convert believers in traditionally Orthodox former Soviet states. Tensions between Catholic and Russian Orthodox believers in western Ukraine are also quite acute.

Hopes for a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia have recently grown, but the Russian Orthodox Church's head of external church relations said although a meeting may be possible in the future, it was still difficult to discuss details.

"We are interested in a result. When the parties are ready to come to a conclusion that would mean a significant breakthrough in our relations, then as soon as such an understanding is reached, such a meeting will be held," Hilarion said.

As a result of the Great Schism of 1054, Christianity split into the eastern and western branches. They have a number of theological and political differences and the heads of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church have never met.


Perhaps I should start putting together a retrospective calendar to plot the ups and downs of statements from the Moscow Patriarchate's high command as it blows hot and cold in public over a possible meeting between Benedict XVI and Kirill I. I just wish they would stop the game!

The Pope will continue to be nice and noncommittal in public - he has never once said he looks forward to a meeting with Kirill (he's much too realistic not to fall into that naivete, not even for the sake of diplomacy) - but his attitude is probably just as it is with the entire question of Christian reunification itself: We do what we can humanly, but it's up to God to decide when it will take place!

June 10, Thursday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

ST. JOACHIMA (JOAQUINA) VEDRUNA DE MAS (1783-1854), Lay Franciscan, Mother, Widow
Founder, Carmelite Sisters of Charity
Born to an aristocratic family in Barcelona, she wanted to join the Carmelites when she was 12 but was turned down
because she was too young. At 16, her hand was sought in marriage by a wealthy landowner who was also a devout
Catholic. On her confessor's advice, she accepted. The couple became lay Franciscans and had nine children in 17
years of marriage. Her husband fought for Spain during the Napoleonic Wars but died shortly after he returned,
leaving her a widow at 33. She retired to her family's country estate to raise her children while maintaining her
personal discipline of prayer and penance. Three of her children died early, four would choose the consecrated life
themselves, and two would be married happily. At age 43, expressing a desire once again to join the Carmelites, her
spiritual confessor advised her to set up a Carmelite congregation of sisters who would help the sick and educate
poor children. Thus she founded the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, whose first convent was her country house in Vich,
outside Barcelona. Soon, the order had convents all over the Catalonia region, and eventually throughout Spain
and in Latin America. In 1849, she suffered the first of many strokes that left her paralyzed. She died during
a cholera epidemic. She was beatified in 1940 and canonized by John XXIII in 1959.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061010.shtml


OR today.

At the General Audience, the Pope reports on his visit to Cyprus
and renews his appeal for
'A future of friendship and collaboration for the peoples of the Middle East'


THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- H.E. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain, and his delegation

- H.E. João Alberto Bacelar da Rocha Páris, Ambassador from Portugal, with his wife, on their farewell visit

- Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), with
Walter Friedemann Eder, Delegate for CERN Relations with Host Countries

- Three bishops of Brazil on ad-limina visit (Group 1. of 18 bishops making up East Sector 2)


PRAYER VIGIL WITH PRIESTS TONIGHT
Translated from

June 10, 2010

The prayer vigil on the occasion of the three-day International Meeting of Priests in Rome starts tonight at 8:30 in St. Peter's Square.

The first part of the vigil, sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy, will feature testimonies by priests - live, through video clips, and by satellite link to some cities.

At 9:30 pm., the Holy Father will join the vigil, coming into St. Peter's Square on the Popemobile to allow him to greet the priests more closely as it goes through the various sectors.

After a greeting from Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and the reading of the Gospel, the Pope will answer selected questions sent to him by priests from all the continents.

This will be followed by the Lord's Prayer, then the solemn procession of the Eucharist which will be brought in from the Bronze Door of the Apostolic Palace.

After a moment of silence and private prayer, the Pope will read the Prayer for Priests and impart the Eucharistic Benediction.

[Some 14,000 priests, including 3500 from Italy alone, are in Rome to take in the closing ceremonies of the Year for Priests. This is the largest single gathering of priests ever, almost three times the number of priests who assembled in Rome for the Jubilee in 2000.]

Frankly, I am surprised not more Anglophone writers have reacted in the strognest terms possible to TIME's calculatedly-skirting-the-border-of-slander cover story... After all, even if it was for their June 7 issue, it was online as early as May 27!


Orthodox blogger defends Pope,
questions Time magazine's 'critique'



Washington D.C., Jun 10, 2010 (CNA) - A recent spread in Time Magazine is continuing to draw criticism for its treatment of the Catholic Church, both from members of the Church and from those outside of it.



Time's 10-page cover story last week critiqued the way in which the Church, and particularity Pope Benedict XVI, have handled the sex-abuse scandal among the clergy.

In a National Review Online article on Friday, Catholic scholar and commentator George Weigel responded to the Time cover story by pointing out the errors he believed to be in it. [Weigel's article posted in full on the preceding page of this thread.]

These errors included misrepresentations of the Church's hierarchical structure and ignoring Benedict's efforts to root out abusive priests.

On June 9, blogger and writer Terry Mattingly defended Weigel's article and offered further support for his claim that the Time story provides incomplete and inaccurate information.

Mattingly, who attends an Orthodox Church in Linthicum, Maryland, writes the nationally syndicated “On Religion” column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., which is sent to about 350 newspapers in North America. He has also worked as a reporter and religion columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, Charlotte Observer and Charlotte News.

In a blog post on GetReligion.org, Mattingly referenced Weigel's critique of Time's heavy use of anonymous sourcing. He agreed with Weigel's analysis, which he warned critics not to merely dismiss “as the whining of a pro-Vatican conservative.” He pointed out that “as even the Time cover notes, conservative Catholics have been some of the fiercest critics” of the bishops who have failed to respond adequately to the sex-abuse crisis.

In addition, Mattingly challenged Time's treatment of the Pope, saying that he was depicted in an inaccurate and unfair light.

“The Time article also gives a small amount of space to the voices that argue that Pope Benedict XVI has been a trailblazer in reform on this issue,” he observed.

He went on to question the title of the Time article, “Why Being Pope Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry,” and pointed out all the ways that the Pope has responded with sorrow to the crisis.

“Obviously, the Pope has said that the sexual abuse crisis — including the episcopal cover ups — has been rooted in sin and immorality and that many leaders in the church have been guilty. He has expressed regrets. He has urged reforms. He has talked about the 'filth' that haunts the life of the Church. He has sought forgiveness from victims and has urged bishops to do the same,” Mattingly underscored.

Referring again to the title of the Times story as well as the general media coverage of the topic, Mattingly concluded by asking whether the real goal should be “actual reform in parishes and dioceses around the world” or “some form of media-friendly act of personal penance”.

[By the Pope, which is what the media demand, as though he had any personal responsibility for the scandal! Perhaps non-Catholics - and even many Catholics - do not realize that the life of a Pope, once he becomes Pope, is also and already a continuing penance for the sins of the world, insofar as he is Vicar of Christ on earth, and that he - as all Christians should be - is a 'prolongation in the world' of Christ's sacrifice of redemption.

By virtue of his office, and because of his own personal faith, the Holy Father must continually do penance in many ways, private and public - crucifixion by the media being the worst at this time. Which, for him, cannot be as extreme as the killing and persecution that Christians endure today in many places of the world.

But seculars in MSM and elsewhere demand that he beat his breast in public to assert his penitence, much like the sanctimonious Pharisee in Jesus's tale, because ostentatious sanctimony, as they themselves practice and manifest daily, is their shallow standard for penitence.

If Benedict XVI were not Catholic, probably nothing less than his ritual suicide - like a Shinto committing seppuku, or a samurai falling on his sword as the only way to 'save face' and 'redeem lost honor' - would satisfy their blood lust for 'penance'.

Thousands of priests rally
around the Pope in Rome
By NICOLE WINFIELD



ROME, June 10 (AP) - Thousands of priests from around the world have massed in Rome in one of the largest such gatherings ever in a major show of support for Pope Benedict XVI amid the clerical abuse scandal.

Benedict is expected to address them Thursday evening in an eagerly anticipated vigil service in St. Peter's Square. It's not known whether Benedict will refer to the crisis, but his No. 2 told the prelates Wednesday that the scandal had pained and damaged the Church and shown the need for a spiritual rebirth.

An estimated 9,000 priests are in Rome to celebrate the end of the church's year of the priest -- a year that has been marred by revelations of hundreds of new cases of clerical abuse and Vatican inaction to stop it. [AP's obligatory editorial slug, apparently, for this occasion!]

In addressing priests Wednesday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the revelations had harmed the credibility of the Church. But he said they had also provided a "providential realization" of the need for a "new season of spiritual renewal and rebirth." [I must look up the full text of Bertone's homily - because the way he is paraphrased here makes it appear he is saying the Church needed the scandal in order to realize the need for spiritual renewal!]

There is some speculation that Benedict may again refer to the scandal, following his recent comments en route to Portugal during which he acknowledged that it was born of the "sin within the church" and not from outside elements.

Previously Vatican officials, Vatican publications and cardinals had blamed the scandal on the media, the Masons and anti-Catholic lobbies, among others. [THE MEDIA'S OFT-REPEATED SELF-SERVING LIE! The scandal of abusive priests was never blamed on anyone but the offending priests themselves, and their superiors who mistakenly covered up for them while mostly ignorning the plight of their victims. Sensible Catholics do chastise the media and their fellow Catholic bashers for inflating the scandal beyond proportion, and resorting to distortion and misrepresentation of facts, as well as outright character assasination of the Pope, in order to advance their anti-Church liberal agendas.]

On Wednesday, during his weekly general audience, Benedict urged prayers for the priests gathered for the event, which has taken on something of the feel of a rally in support of the Pontiff amid the scandal.

Priests gathering in St. Peter's Square spoke openly about the scandal, saying it was painful to them.

"Well, I think it was really first a matter of pain, of sadness, then a bit of shame because in Belgium we had bishops, not priests who had to resign," said Belgian priest the Rev. Jean Pierre Herman.

"The Church isn't perfect. Priests are men. Among priests there are those who will become saints, there are good priests and there are criminals as well. So it happens," he said.

Said the Rev. Fernando Cerero from the diocese of Coatzacoalcos in Mexico, "We felt much shame and sadness, but this is an opportunity (for priests) to reflect on our ministry."

"It is an opportunity for holiness," he said.


God bless all the priests of the world, including those who strayed that they may do genuine penance for their sins.


I am almost shocked that AP did not find any dissident priests to quote - but then dissident priests would not have bothered to come to Rome for this event, nor for this Pope, would they?

AP, like other news agencies, dutifully filed reports yesterday on the news conferences called by the women-priest advocates and the US victims' group SNAP - but I suppose when the media saw that they, the press corps, far outnumbered the anti-Pope protestors who turned up at both events, they realized how foolish they would be to keep giving equal weight to them as to a gathering of more than 10,000 priests.


As for what the Holy Father will tell the assembled priests, he has always found the right words to say at the right place and at the right time - always somehow managing to spring a surprise - and I think it serves no purpose to speculate on it as Austin Ivereigh does... What new global policy does he need to announce anyway that has not already been spelled out in the Letter to the Irish Catholics and in many other papal statements before and since then????...

More and more, I find Mr. Ivereigh's cant insidiously malicious - and more typically 'feline' behavior (as in female cat', in his case) than anything written by Damian Thompson whom he called one recently. I'm posting his most recent blog entry to show in part why I think the membership of someone like him in the Catholic lay group supposed to promote the Church and the Pope before the papal visit to the UK is ultimately counter-productive.


Will the Pope use largest-ever meeting
of priests to announce A new global abuse policy?
by Austen Ivereigh

June 09, 2010

More than 10,000 priests from 91 countries will gather in Rome today through Friday in what is thought to be the largest ever meeting of Catholic clergy.

The three-day program of events -- mostly eucharistic, as you'd expect -- marks the close of the Year of Priests declared by Pope Benedict XVI with the object of fostering internal renewal.

It's not clear what the gathering is for, exactly,beyond the usual "deepening communion with the Holy See". [And what is wrong with that, any way? But as for why the priests are in Rome, perhaps Ivereigh would like to read the program for the International Convention of Priests, or everything that has been written about it in the past year on the site of the Congregation for the Clergy???]]

Nor is it as international as it may look: at least a third of the priests will be Italians (3,500 have confirmed their attendance). [Excuse me! How many priests can afford to come to Rome, after all? Of course, there will be more Italians since they are on home ground! And how international does it have to be? 91 countries are not enough? Should every member country of the United Nations be represented by at least one delegation?]

But given the way the image of the Catholic priest (at least in the eyes of the non-Catholic world) has plummeted this past year, it could turn out to be an immense opportunity for the successor of Peter to send out some new signals. [DUH!]

I recently gave an interview to the flagship BBC documentary program Panorama about Pope Benedict XVI's role in the clerical sex abuse crisis. They were rushing to get it finished in time to go out this week, because of the expectation that on Thursday Pope Benedict would be making a major announcement on the issue. (As it happens, the schedulers changed their mind, and the program, presented by Fergal Keane, will be broadcast later in the year).

If the Pope is going to be a major statement, it has hardly been trailed from the rooftops. But then, the Vatican communications office doesn't often go in for "curtain-raising". So watch this space.

[Everything that follows is exactly the sort of speculation that is gratuitous, pointless and condescending! But it's a way of 1) laying the writer's own expectations and mindset at the doorstep of the Pope - so that if none of what he speculates turns out to be, then he can always say HOW COULD HE HAVE FAILED TO SAY THIS??? ONLY A MORON COULD DO SO!; and 2) in the process, the writer is telling the world "Look! What a clever man I am!"]

It's impossible to imagine that the Pope will simply ignore the issue when the priests gather in St Peter's Square Thursday evening for what is described in the program as "testimonies and music, dialogue with Benedict XVI and Eucharistic adoration and benediction".

How can he address history's largest gathering of priests after a year in which the clerical sex abuse crisis has raged, and stay silent? It would be deeply disappointing - not least to priests on the frontline of public suspicion and hostility.

But if he does address it, will it be a groundbreaking statement that goes beyond his powerful Lenten letter to the Irish Church, or stay within its confines?

Will it be a largely spiritual speech, developing some of the thoughts that he has recently let slip -- that the sin is within the Church, that the "hostility" of the media is an opportunity for self-purification, and so on?

Or will he, dramatically, announce a new global policy on the Church's handling of clerical sex abuse, one which in effect extends the Anglo-Saxon model -- statutory handing-over of accusations to police and social services -- to the whole Church? I have heard that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been working on such a new policy.

Universal guidelines are not easy to impose, because of the immense variety of juridical and political contexts in which the Church operates worldwide -- including totalitarian or failed states.

There was a case not long ago of a Kenyan woman complaining that the Church in her country had passed her allegations to the police, who had failed to act (or needed bribing to do so); the scandal, for her, was not that the bishop had covered up by failing to alert the police, but that he had shirked his responsibility precisely by handing the matter over to the police. What is seen as responsible action in one part of the world is seen as irresponsible buck-passing in another.

But Pope Benedict may have decided that the advantages of a universal "Anglo-Saxon" model for the handling of clerical sex abuse outweigh the disadvantages -- and that, in effect, he has no alternative.

He may also have decided that such a policy is the only way of putting an end to the clericalist culture of omertà exemplified recently by the views of the pre-2004 head of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos. (The Congregation's new head, the Brazilian Franciscan cardinal Claúdio Hummes, has signalled a very different approach).

The Pope must know that the "keep-it-in-the-family" response to clerical sex abuse is not an outmoded attitude in some parts of the Church -- not least Poland, which is the next place where the crisis is likely to erupt on a scale similar to Ireland; and that only by imposing statutory reporting to civil authorities can it be avoided.

Or perhaps the forces against a radical new policy are too strong and the canonical obstacles too great. Perhaps Pope Benedict will tell the priests some compelling and beautiful things about internal renewal and anchoring their lives in fidelity to Christ, while steering clear of new policies and guidelines.

Vediamo, as they say in Rome.

Pope and Spanish Premier discuss
tensions and papal trips to Spain
By Cindy Wooden





VATICAN CITY, June 10 (CNS) -- Despite his government's serious differences with the Catholic Church over abortion and other issues, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pledged his government's full support for Pope Benedict XVI's visits to Spain in November and again in 2011.

The Pope and Zapatero met privately for 30 minutes June 10 at the Vatican.

A Vatican statement issued after the meeting said they discussed "the current economic-financial crisis and the role of ethics," as well the situations in Central America and the Middle East.

On bilateral relations, it said, questions of concern for the Church in Spain include "the eventual presentation of a new law on religious freedom, the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception and the importance of education."

Zapatero's government has drafted a religious freedom law that would strengthen the secular character of the state, including by removing religious symbols from government-run buildings. Apparently, however, no action on the law is expected until after Pope Benedict visits the country in November.

The Pope is scheduled to visit Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona Nov. 6-7 and return to Spain in August 2011 for the celebration of World Youth Day.

The Vatican statement said that during the meeting with Zapatero, "the broadest willingness of the Spanish government to collaborate in their preparation and in the visits themselves was recognized."



Benedict XVI speaks Spanish, but one imagines he asked for an interpreter to be present to make sure
that he got his message across clearly and without equivocation to PM Zapatero!





It was the second meeting between the Pope and Zapatero, who came to Valencia in July 2006 to meet with the Pope when Benedict XVI first came to Spain as Pope for the concluding ceremonies of the V World Encounter of Families.

After the 2011 WYD, Spain will be the country most visited by Benedict XVI as Pope. As cardinal, he visited Spain at about 6 or 7 times..


Pope discusses economic crisis
and protecting the unborn
with Spanish Prime Minister



Vatican City, Jun 10, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- This morning Pope Benedict received the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Zapatero, at the Vatican. The two leaders discussed the role of ethics in addressing the current economic crisis in Europe as well as the need to protect the unborn after the government recently passed a law weakening restrictions on abortion.

According to the official Vatican communique on the meeting, their conversation ranged from their “opinions on Europe” to the “current economic-financial crisis and the role of ethics”. Reference was also made to countries of Central America and the Caribbean as well as to other situations, in particular the Middle East.

At the level of bilateral relations between the Holy See and Spain, they touched on “matters of current interest for the Church in Spain”, including “the possible presentation of a law on freedom of religion, the sacredness of life from conception, and the importance of education.”

In March of this year, the Socialist government under Zapatero passed a law weakening the restrictions on abortion in Spain. The new law allows women over the age of 16 to obtain the procedure up until the 14th week of pregnancy, and in some cases up until the 22nd week. The law is set to take effect on July 5.

Lastly, the upcoming papal visit to Santiago and Barcelona and next year's World Youth Day celebration, set to take place in Madrid, were mentioned.

The Vatican reported that the Pope “recognized that the Spanish government has shown great readiness to collaborate in the preparation and realization of these events.”

The Pope and his priests:
Prayer vigil and Eucharistic adoration
St. Peter's Square



To set the scene, here's an adapted version in the past tense of the pre-event story this morning:

The prayer vigil on the occasion of the three-day International Meeting of Priests in Rome started at 8:30 tonight in St. Peter's Square.

The first part of the vigil, sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy, featured testimonies by priests - live, through video clips, and by satellite link to some cities.

At 9:30 pm., the Holy Father joined the vigil, coming into St. Peter's Square on the Popemobile to allow him to greet the priests more closely as it goes through the various sectors.

After a greeting from Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and the reading of the Gospel, the Pope answered selected questions which came from priests representing each of the world's main geographical regions - Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia-Oceania.

This was followed by the Lord's Prayer, then the solemn procession of the Eucharist which was brought in from the Bronze Door of the Apostolic Palace.

After an extended time of Adoration while a choir sang hymns, the Pope will read a Prayer for Priests and imparted the Eucharistic Benediction.

Some 14,000 priests, including 3500 from Italy alone, came to Rome to take part in the closing ceremonies of the Year for Priests. This is the largest single gathering of priests ever, almost three times the number of priests who assembled in Rome for the Jubilee in 2000.

P.S. The Congregation for the Clergy said later that at least 15,000 priests from 97 nations were present for the prayer vigil.












Pope defends celibacy rule
By MITCHELL LANDSBERG

June 10, 2010


VATICAN CITY - Standing before more than 10,000 Roman Catholic priests, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday strongly reaffirmed the Vatican's commitment to priestly vows of celibacy, cutting off speculation that he might reconsider the issue in light of the church's sexual abuse scandal.

At an outdoor vigil in St. Peter's Square that veered between moments of deep reverence and outbursts of enthusiasm more characteristic of a soccer game, the pope told the gathering of priests, believed to be the largest in history, that celibacy "is made possible by the grace of God ... who asks us to transcend ourselves."

Celibacy would be a "scandal," he said, only in "a world in which God is not there."

Some critics have suggested the vow of celibacy may at least be partly responsible for the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, either because it is so difficult to uphold, or because it may discourage men with normal sex drives from becoming priests.

In recent months, as the abuse scandal has widened in Europe, an Austrian bishop urged the Vatican to drop celibacy, which he said should be voluntary.

Benedict's remarks came in response to a question posed by a Slovakian priest, and he made it clear he supported continuing the practice of celibacy under his pontificate. He compared it to heterosexual marriage, which he called "the foundation of Christian culture."

The Pope did not directly address the subject of sexual abuse by priests during the ceremony, although it was raised obliquely by others, both times to loud reactions from the assembled priests.

In a salute to Benedict, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, drew loud applause when he said, "For those of us who are lost, we know Your Holiness has always forgiven and always forgives the pain that some have caused you."

Sister Maria Gloria Riva, a nun who addressed the gathering, prompted a similar response when she said, "We are the mothers of the priests, who sustain the priests at a time when they have been hit by scandal."

The vigil came during ceremonies marking the end of the Year of the Priest, which Benedict declared last year. He was scheduled to formally conclude the year with a Mass on Friday morning.

The crowd at St. Peter's consisted of 10,000 to 15,000 priests, along with several thousand others, including nuns and laypersons. Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said he was fairly certain there had never been so many Catholic priests in one place at one time.

Benedict arrived in the late evening, making circles through the crowd in his popemobile as the priests cheered, chanted "Viva il papa!" and "Benedicto!" and waved an array of national flags reflecting their countries of origin, including Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Germany and El Salvador.

"We're preparing for the World Cup," joked Father Maurice Torres of Santiago, Chile, as he held a Chilean flag aloft.

The main event of the vigil involved Benedict answering questions from five priests, representing each of the five populated continents.

They covered issues such as the small numbers of young people joining the priesthood, the difficulty in balancing the duties of a parish priest, the potential clash of theology and doctrine, and the question of celibacy.

Several priests interviewed afterward said they were pleased with what they heard from Benedict, and that the vigil gave them a sense of renewal during a difficult period.

"The Pope was very wise in his comments, very generous to us priests," said Father David Kennedy, whose church is just outside the gates of Ft. Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne. He said the comments on celibacy were similar to what he was taught in a Benedictine monastery. "I agree with everything," he said.

His friend and traveling companion, Father Ken Mikolcik of Mayfield, Ky., agreed, adding, "We've been reminded constantly here that the Church is in need of reform and renewal."

Earlier in the evening, the crowd watched taped telecasts of priests in Buenos Aires and at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Hollywood. Msgr. Antonio Cacciapuoti of Christ the King described the size and diversity of the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles, and spoke about John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests to whom Benedict dedicated the Year of the Priest.

In Los Angeles, an audience primarily of school students gathered at the church to watch a live feed of Cacciapuoti, who spoke on the taped message about his 100,000-strong parish, the Masses that are celebrated in 72 languages, and his efforts to bring new congregants to Christ "one person at a time."

















I have not seen a single photo showing the Adoration yet! The newsphoto agencies, as usual, skip important parts of liturgical rites. Not one photo of that procession of the Sacrament, and not one photo of the Adoration. Not to metnion hardly any photos of the assembly nor the setting. I had to capture some screen shots from ROME REPORTS video to get the establishing and crowd shots!

I hope many of you got to watch this event today.

For most of the priests present, it must have been their first exposure to Benedict XVI speaking extemporaneously - fluidly, without any pause or hesitation, clearly, succinctly, precisely (and with great awareness of his time limit), in a way I have never heard any leader or public figure today or in recent memory speak out without a prepared text! [Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez with their hours-long harangues are, like Hitler before them, indulging in mere rant and sheer demagoguery, babbling set pieces they can rattle off even while asleep!]

In a way we Benaddicts are now familiar with, the Holy Father freely and appositely cites St. Bonaventure, St. Augustine and St. Paul's hymn to love, as he did tonight, in these off-the-cuff responses. Tonight, I was struck by his allusion to Bonaventure's distinction between theologians of arrogance and theologians of humility, and his advice to the priests: "If you want to know what the right theology is, John Paul II gave us the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Read it, and let it be your guide for what is the right theology!"

It was nice to see that most of the priests had portable audio devices linked to a translation center so that the Pope's words in Italian could be understood by all.

The Eucharistic adoration was particularly beautiful tonight - beginning with a stately procession of the Eucharist under a baldachin carried by Swiss Guard in plain clothes - from the Bronze Door of the Apostolic Palace to the altar on the steps of St. Peter's Square. Nothing is more moving than a Eucharistic procession - no image or statue more powerful than the Eucharist - and this one moved me to tears.

The Holy Father knelt throughout the Adoration, through all the hymns sung by the choir, and in one of his most endearing habits, singing along with the hymns (you can see his lips saying the words)....

P.S. I bet the MSM will fault the Q&A for not touching on the sex-abuse issue at all... I personally think it would have been out of place for these 'normal' priests to discuss the criminal aberrations of a few, and that the repeated exhortations from the Pope that priests themselves must set the example of closeness to God, must strive constantly for holiness, fully encompass the issue of chastity. In fact, the Holy Father had a beautiful discourse on the true significance of priestly celibacy in response to one of the questions.

6/11/10
P.S. It's very frustrating not to find a single photo online - not even in the Brazilian newspapers today - of Cardinal Claudio Hummes when he delivered a greeting to the Holy Father at the prayer vigil. One Italian news agency at least reported some of what he said:

GREETING FROM CARDINAL HUMMES


VATICAN CITY, June 10 (Translated from SIR) - "We thank you from the heart, Holiness, for all that you have done, are doing, and will be doing for all priests, even those who have gone astray," Cardinal Claudio Hummmes said tonight at a prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square presided over by the Pope on the eve of the closing day of the Year for Priests.

The Prefect of the Congregation for Priests, which coordinated the worldwide events of the special jubilee year decreed by Benedict XVI in March last year, opened his greeting with these words:

"Welcome to our midst, Holy Father. All the priests present here, along with our brothers all over the world, wish to express to you their most filial devotion, their profound esteem, their sincere support and affection."

He said further:

"We wish, of course, that the Year for Priests would never end: namely, that the aspiration in every priest towards personal holiness will never end, and that in this path, which should begin in the seminary to last all our earthly life in one formative iter, we priests may always be comforted and sustained, as we were this year, by the uninterrupted prayers of the Church, by the warmth and spiritual support of all the faithful, who precisely because of their faith in the efficacy of the priestly ministry, are very often a source of profound comfort for each of us".


John Allen has a good summary of the Q&A...


As priests rally around him,
Benedict XVI defends celibacy

June 10, 2010


Though it wasn’t exactly drawn up this way, the closing ceremonies in Rome this week for the Vatican’s Year for Priests has the feel of a massive rally in support of Pope Benedict XVI, who has faced significant [and fully undeserved] criticism in recent months for his handling of the Catholic sexual abuse crisis.

A vigil service this evening in St. Peter’s Square drew an estimated 15,000 priests from 91 countries – which, assuming the count is accurate, would represent just under four percent of the total number of Catholic priests in the world.

According to Vatican Radio, this was the first time a Pope has invited priests from around the world to come to Rome for a celebration of the priesthood.

When Benedict XVI entered the square at roughly 9:30 pm Rome time, the crowd erupted into loud and sustained applause. Earlier, applause also greeted Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, when he said that the priests wanted to express their “support and sincere affection” for the Pope.

The Pope returned the favor, telling the crowd that he wanted to offer “a great thank you” to the priests of the world.

“I know that so many priests give everything they have to evangelize the world and to make Christ present through the Eucharist and the other sacraments," he said.

Benedict XVI never directly addressed the sexual abuse crisis tonight – offering only one passing reference to the “insufficiencies and sins” of priests as a source of scandal. The Pontiff may speak on the crisis in a homily tomorrow morning as part of the closing Mass for the “Year of Priests.”

The centerpiece event tonight was a 45-minute question and answer session with Benedict XVI, as the Pope took five questions from priests from different parts of the world. None raised the sexual abuse crisis. Instead, topics included:

• Increasing demands on priests, especially in parts of the world where the number of priests is in decline
• A perceived split between academic theology and spirituality
• The logic for priestly celibacy in the face of mounting criticism
• The dangers of clericalism
• How to promote vocations to the priesthood

Benedict’s most interesting reflections may have come in defense of celibacy, where he didn’t invoke the customary Biblical argument (that Christ wasn’t married) or more practical considerations (that priests without families can be more available to their parishes) or even the usual spiritual explanation (that priests have a spousal relationship with the Church.)

Instead, Benedict offered an “eschatological” argument: That a priest is drawn into the life of Christ, including Christ’s condition after the resurrection, so celibacy is an “anticipation of this new world ... in which we are beyond matrimony.”

Through the priestly life of celibacy, Benedict argued, “the future breaks into today.”

Celibacy seems difficult to understand, Benedict argued, in “an agnostic world in which God doesn’t enter the picture... (when) we no longer think of a future with God, because the present of this world seems sufficient.”

Yet celibacy, the Pope said, keeps the door open to this “great truth of the faith,” by “living the future as if it already is the present.”

In a rare flash of sarcasm that drew smiles and laughter in St. Peter's Square, Benedict said that in some ways he finds post-modern criticism of celibacy surprising, since today “it’s becoming ever more fashionable not to marry.”

The Pope went on to argue, however, that the tendency to avoid marriage is at bottom a “no” to commitment, while priestly celibacy is the direct opposite – a definitive “yes” to “giving one’s life completely to God.”

On a more practical front, Benedict encouraged priests to realistically accept that none of them can do everything one might expect a priest to accomplish these days.

He advised priests to set clear priorities, including celebration of the sacraments, proclamation of the Word of God, and charity. He also counseled them not to “neglect your own soul,” saying that priests can’t encourage others to prayer and holiness if they don’t pursue those qualities themselves.

In a line that drew laughter and applause, Benedict also advised priests to have the “humility and courage” to take time for rest.

In response to the question about theology and spirituality, Benedict distinguished between two kinds of theology: A theology based on “the arrogance of reason,” which tries to “make God an object of study rather than a subject who speaks to us”; and a theology “stimulated by love, and a desire to know the beloved better.”

The latter, Benedict suggested, is the kind of theology the Church needs.

Striving to strike a positive note, the Pontiff said that while there are occasional abuses, he wanted to thank “so many theologians who help make the faith present to us today.”

A former theology professor himself, Benedict said he’s old enough to have seen three generations in the field. The “new theology” of several decades ago, he said, which saw the discipline in strictly scientific terms, today “is itself old... and frankly seems almost ridiculous.”

Warning theologians against being seduced by the fashions of their time or passing majorities of opinion, the Pope said: “The true majority in the Church are the saints, and they are the ones who should orient us.”

Benedict also recommended study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and loyalty to the magisterium, meaning the teaching authority of the bishops in communion with the Pope. He counseled priests to be “critical” in their approach to various theological currents.

On the subject of promoting vocations, Benedict said the seeming urgency of addressing priest shortages can encourage a desire to “take the problem in hand ourselves,” with the risk of transforming the priesthood into “just another job, a profession.”

Instead, Benedict urged “insistent and determined” prayer for vocations, without compromising the “novelty and distinctiveness” of the identity of a Catholic priest.

On a more practical note, Benedict advised priests to offer “convincing” examples of priestly life, to speak openly with young people about vocations, and to create environments in parishes and elsewhere in which young people can be “surrounded by faith and the love of God.”

Prior to Benedict’s arrival in St. Peter’s Square, the crowd watched priests from different parts of the world tell their stories via satellite TV connections. One was from the United States: Monsignor Antonio Cacciapuoti, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Hollywood, California.

In keeping with the pep rally feel of the evening [Those priests didn't need pepping up for the Pope himself! And pep rally is hardly the term one can apply to a Eucharistic Adoration and Benedictiobn that followed!], Caccipuoti, speaking in English, set off cheers when he said: “We want to assure the Holy Father that we love him very much, we pray for him always, and we are very loyal to him.”

Benedict XVI chose the past twelve months as a Year for Priests in part because 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney. Known as the Curé d’Ars, Vianney was a 19th century French pastor and confessor who is today the patron saint of parish priests.

June 11, Friday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time
SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Fourth from left: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's vision of Jesus urging devotion to his Sacred Heart, 1650.

Today, the Church also remembers
ST. BARNABAS (d 61 AD), Companion of St. Paul, Missionary and Martyr, Patron of Cyprus

Third and fourth from left, from the Monastery of St. Barnabas, Famagusta: Image of the saint, and painting of the finding of his remains.
Born a Levite Jew in Cyprus, Joseph, his real name, settled in Jerusalem and and became one of the very first Christians. Barnabas, which means 'son of encouragement', was a name conferred on him by the Apostles. He sold his lands to raise money for the early Church. He vouched for Paul to Peter and the other Apostles, and later joined Paul who had retreated to Tarsus following his conversion on the road to Damascus, to convince him that his hour had come to preach Christ. In the catechesis of Benedict XVI on St. Barnabas on Jan. 31, 2007
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070131...
he points out that what we call Paul's first missionary journey - which included the evangelization of Cyprus - was really Barnabas's missionary journey because it had been assigned to him by the Church of Antioch, and he took Paul as his assistant. Both attended the Council of Jerusalem in 50 AD, in which they advocated admission of Gentiles to Christianity without requiring circumcision. After their second missionary journey together. Barnabas returned to Cyprus, where he carried on evangelizing the island. According to tradition, he was preaching in Salamis when exasperated Jews dragged him from the temple and stoned him to death. He was buried in secret by his cousin and missionary companion, John Mark. The official Cyprus Church history says that in 478, he appeared in a dream to a Bishop of Salamis to reveal the spot where he was buried. It was in the nearby city of Famagusta, where the remains were found. His tomb is still venerated in the Monastery of St. Barnabas built over the burial site. Some scholars attribute to St. Barnabas the authorship of the Letter to the Hebrews.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061110.shtml

In his catechesis on St. Barnabas, Benedict XVI made the following comment on the falling out between Paul and Barnabas after their second journey together and their subsequent reconciliation, which is very apropos today:

---

Holiness does not consist in never having erred or sinned. Holiness increases the capacity for conversion, for repentance, for willingness to start again and, especially, for reconciliation and forgiveness.

---

OR today.

The only papal story in the issue is the Holy Father's meeting with the Prime Minister of Spain. There is a Page 1 editorial on priests as the seed for renewal of the Church, and in the inside pages, texts of discourses by Cardinal Bertone and Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada at the second day of the International Convention for Priests yesterday. Page 1 international news: A World Bank report that Africa needs international financial aid to guarantee its stability; and a wishful report that negotiations over its nuclear program are still possible with Iran despite new UN sanctions.


THE POPE'S DAY

Closing Mass of the Year for Priests at St. Peter's Basilica

CONCLUDING MASS
2009-2010 YEAR FOR PRIESTS
Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus




Libretto illustrations from VITA CHRISTI, Ludolphe Le Chartreux, 1506. Bibliotheque Communale, Lyons.







The Holy Father's homily today was a model in every way of what a homily should be: Reflections from the readings of the day's liturgy, reflections that seamlessly flowed into prayer at times. It was a most fitting illustration to the 15,000 priests from around the world who were his primarcy audience at the Mass.

And yet the instant media reports about it that have raced around the globe are centered on the few lines he said about the sex-abuse scandal, accompanied by the criticism that he himself has not made a personal apology for his own sins, etc. Fortunately, the Vatican released the text of the homily in all the official Vatican languages, so it's best to read it first, and rejoice in the beauty and wisdom of the Holy Father's reflections:

---

THE HOLY FATHER'S HOMILY

Dear Brothers in the Priestly Ministry,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Year for Priests which we have celebrated on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of the holy Curè of Ars, the model of priestly ministry in our world, is now coming to an end. We have let the Curé of Ars guide us to a renewed appreciation of the grandeur and beauty of the priestly ministry.

The priest is not a mere office-holder, like those which every society needs in order to carry out certain functions. Instead, he does something which no human being can do of his own power: in Christ’s name he speaks the words which absolve us of our sins and in this way he changes, starting with God, our entire life.

Over the offerings of bread and wine he speaks Christ’s words of thanksgiving, which are words of transubstantiation – words which make Christ himself present, the Risen One, his Body and Blood – words which thus transform the elements of the world, which open the world to God and unite it to him.

The priesthood, then, is not simply "office" but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf. This audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in his stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word "priesthood".

That God thinks that we are capable of this; that in this way he calls men to his service and thus from within binds himself to them: this is what we wanted to reflect upon and appreciate anew over the course of the past year.

We wanted to reawaken our joy at how close God is to us, and our gratitude for the fact that he entrusts himself to our infirmities; that he guides and sustains us daily.

In this way we also wanted to demonstrate once again to young people that this vocation, this fellowship of service for God and with God, does exist – and that God is indeed waiting for us to say "yes".

Together with the whole Church we wanted to make clear once again that we have to ask God for this vocation. We have to beg for workers for God’s harvest, and this petition to God is, at the same time, his own way of knocking on the hearts of young people who consider themselves able to do what God considers them able to do.

It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the "enemy"; he would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven out of the world.

And so it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God’s concern for our good, turns into its very opposite.

We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers.

Had the Year for Priests been a glorification of our individual human performance, it would have been ruined by these events. But for us what happened was precisely the opposite: we grew in gratitude for God’s gift, a gift concealed in "earthen vessels" which ever anew, even amid human weakness, makes his love concretely present in this world.

So let us look upon all that happened as a summons to purification, as a task which we bring to the future and which makes us acknowledge and love all the more the great gift we have received from God. In this way, his gift becomes a commitment to respond to God’s courage and humility by our own courage and our own humility.

The word of God, which we have sung in the Entrance Antiphon of today’s liturgy, can speak to us, at this hour, of what it means to become and to be a priest: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart" (Mt 11:29).

We are celebrating the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in the liturgy we peer, as it were, into the heart of Jesus, opened in death by the spear of the Roman soldier. Jesus’s heart was indeed opened for us and before us – and thus God’s own heart was opened.

The liturgy interprets for us the language of Jesus’s heart, which tells us above all that God is the shepherd of mankind, and so it reveals to us Jesus’s priesthood, which is rooted deep within his heart; so too it shows us the perennial foundation and the effective criterion of all priestly ministry, which must always be anchored in the heart of Jesus and lived out from that starting-point.

Today I would like to meditate especially on those texts with which the Church in prayer responds to the word of God presented in the readings. In those chants, word (Wort) and response (Antwort) interpenetrate.

On the one hand, the chants are themselves drawn from the word of God, yet on the other, they are already our human response to that word, a response in which the word itself is communicated and enters into our lives.

The most important of those texts in today’s liturgy is Psalm 23(22) – "The Lord is my shepherd" – in which Israel at prayer received God’s self-revelation as shepherd, and made this the guide of its own life.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want": this first verse expresses joy and gratitude for the fact that God is present to and concerned for humanity. The reading from the Book of Ezechiel begins with the same theme: "I myself will look after and tend my sheep" (Ez 34:11).

God personally looks after me, after us, after all mankind. I am not abandoned, adrift in the universe and in a society which leaves me ever more lost and bewildered. God looks after me. He is not a distant God, for whom my life is worthless.

The world’s religions, as far as we can see, have always known that in the end there is only one God. But this God was distant. Evidently he had abandoned the world to other powers and forces, to other divinities. It was with these that one had to deal.

The one God was good, yet aloof. He was not dangerous, nor was he very helpful. Consequently one didn’t need to worry about him. He did not lord it over us. Oddly, this kind of thinking re-emerged during the Enlightenment.

There was still a recognition that the world presupposes a Creator. Yet this God, after making the world, had evidently withdrawn from it. The world itself had a certain set of laws by which it ran, and God did not, could not, intervene in them. God was only a remote cause.

Many perhaps did not even want God to look after them. They did not want God to get in the way. But wherever God’s loving concern is perceived as getting in the way, human beings go awry. It is fine and consoling to know that there is someone who loves me and looks after me. But it is far more important that there is a God who knows me, loves me and is concerned about me.

"I know my own and my own know me" (Jn 10:14), the Church says before the Gospel with the Lord’s words. God knows me, he is concerned about me. This thought should make us truly joyful. Let us allow it to penetrate the depths of our being.

Then let us also realize what it means: God wants us, as priests, in one tiny moment of history, to share his concern about people. As priests, we want to be persons who share his concern for men and women, who take care of them and provide them with a concrete experience of God’s concern.

Whatever the field of activity entrusted to him, the priest, with the Lord, ought to be able to say: "I know my sheep and mine know me". "

To know", in the idiom of sacred Scripture, never refers to merely exterior knowledge, like the knowledge of someone’s telephone number. "Knowing" means being inwardly close to another person. It means loving him or her.

We should strive to "know" men and women as God does and for God’s sake; we should strive to walk with them along the path of friendship with God.

Let us return to our Psalm. There we read: "He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me" (23[22]:3ff.).

The shepherd points out the right path to those entrusted to him. He goes before them and leads them. Let us put it differently: the Lord shows us the right way to be human. He teaches us the art of being a person.

What must I do in order not to fall, not to squander my life in meaninglessness? This is precisely the question which every man and woman must ask and one which remains valid at every moment of one’s life.

How much darkness surrounds this question in our own day! We are constantly reminded of the words of Jesus, who felt compassion for the crowds because they were like a flock without a shepherd.

Lord, have mercy on us too! Show us the way! From the Gospel we know this much: he is himself the way. Living with Christ, following him – this means finding the right way, so that our lives can be meaningful and so that one day we might say: "Yes, it was good to have lived".

The people of Israel continue to be grateful to God because in the Commandments he pointed out the way of life. The great Psalm 119(118) is a unique expression of joy for this fact: we are not fumbling in the dark. God has shown us the way and how to walk aright.

The message of the Commandments was synthesized in the life of Jesus and became a living model. Thus we understand that these rules from God are not chains, but the way which he is pointing out to us. We can be glad for them and rejoice that in Christ they stand before us as a lived reality. He himself has made us glad.

By walking with Christ, we experience the joy of Revelation, and as priests we need to communicate to others our own joy at the fact that we have been shown the right way.

Then there is the phrase about the "darkest valley" through which the Lord leads us. Our path as individuals will one day lead us into the valley of the shadow of death, where no one can accompany us. Yet he will be there.

Christ himself descended into the dark night of death. Even there he will not abandon us. Even there he will lead us. "If I sink to the nether world, you are present there", says Psalm 139(138). Truly you are there, even in the throes of death, and hence our Responsorial Psalm can say: even there, in the darkest valley, I fear no evil.

When speaking of the darkest valley, we can also think of the dark valleys of temptation, discouragement and trial through which everyone has to pass. Even in these dark valleys of life he is there.

Lord, in the darkness of temptation, at the hour of dusk when all light seems to have died away, show me that you are there. Help us priests, so that we can remain beside the persons entrusted to us in these dark nights. So that we can show them your own light.

"Your rod and your staff – they comfort me": the shepherd needs the rod as protection against savage beasts ready to pounce on the flock; against robbers looking for prey. Along with the rod there is the staff which gives support and helps to make difficult crossings. Both of these are likewise part of the Church’s ministry, of the priest’s ministry.

The Church too must use the shepherd’s rod, the rod with which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents which lead the flock astray. The use of the rod can actually be a service of love.

Today we can see that it has nothing to do with love when conduct unworthy of the priestly life is tolerated. Nor does it have to do with love if heresy is allowed to spread and the faith twisted and chipped away, as if it were something that we ourselves had invented. As if it were no longer God’s gift, the precious pearl which we cannot let be taken from us.

Even so, the rod must always become once again the shepherd’s staff – a staff which helps men and women to tread difficult paths and to follow the Lord.

At the end of the Psalm we read of the table which is set, the oil which anoints the head, the cup which overflows, and dwelling in the house of the Lord. In the Psalm this is an expression first and foremost of the prospect of the festal joy of being in God’s presence in the temple, of being his guest, whom he himself serves, of dwelling with him.

For us, who pray this Psalm with Christ and his Body which is the Church, this prospect of hope takes on even greater breadth and depth. We see in these words a kind of prophetic foreshadowing of the mystery of the Eucharist, in which God himself makes us his guests and offers himself to us as food – as that bread and fine wine which alone can definitively sate man’s hunger and thirst.

How can we not rejoice that one day we will be guests at the very table of God and live in his dwelling-place?

How can we not rejoice at the fact that he has commanded us: "Do this in memory of me"?

How can we not rejoice that he has enabled us to set God’s table for men and women, to give them his Body and his Blood, to offer them the precious gift of his very presence.

Truly we can pray together, with all our heart, the words of the Psalm: "Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Ps 23[22]:6).

Finally, let us take a brief look at the two communion antiphons which the Church offers us in her liturgy today.

First there are the words with which Saint John concludes the account of Jesus’ crucifixion: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out" (Jn 19:34).

The heart of Jesus is pierced by the spear. Once opened, it becomes a fountain: the water and the blood which stream forth recall the two fundamental sacraments by which the Church lives: Baptism and the Eucharist.

From the Lord’s pierced side, from his open heart, there springs the living fountain which continues to well up over the centuries and which makes the Church.

The open heart is the source of a new stream of life; here John was certainly also thinking of the prophecy of Ezechiel who saw flowing forth from the new temple a torrent bestowing fruitfulness and life (Ez 47): Jesus himself is the new temple, and his open heart is the source of a stream of new life which is communicated to us in Baptism and the Eucharist.

The liturgy of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus also permits another phrase, similar to this, to be used as the communion antiphon. It is taken from the Gospel of John: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me. And let the one who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said: "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water" (cf. Jn 7:37ff.)

In faith we drink, so to speak, of the living water of God’s Word. In this way the believer himself becomes a wellspring which gives living water to the parched earth of history.

We see this in the saints. We see this in Mary, that great woman of faith and love who has become in every generation a wellspring of faith, love and life.

Every Christian and every priest should become, starting from Christ, a wellspring which gives life to others. We ought to be offering life-giving water to a parched and thirst world.

Lord, we thank you because for our sake you opened your heart; because in your death and in your resurrection you became the source of life.

Give us life, make us live from you as our source, and grant that we too may be sources, wellsprings capable of bestowing the water of life in our time.

We thank you for the grace of the priestly ministry. Lord bless us, and bless all those who in our time are thirsty and continue to seek. Amen.

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Incredibly, of all the stories I've read about the Pope's homily today - and the unanimous tone of near-gloating combined by remonstrations that he still has not gone 'far enough' - it's the New York Times story which is the 'least malicious', if you will - but still resolutely tendentious - so it's the one I am posting.

An index of the malice the other MSM stories is - not so incredibly - the outrageous claim that it is the first time the Pope has asked forgiveness from the victims!

Pope pleads for forgiveness
over abuse scandal
By RACHEL DONADIO

June 11, 2010

VATICAN CITY — Addressing the sex abuse crisis for the first time from the seat of the Roman Catholic Church
[Funny, the Pope wrote the Letter to the Irish Catholics from the Vatican! - Isn't that the seat of the Catholic Church?] , Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness on Friday, saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from abusing children.

“We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict told thousands of priests and faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for celebrations marking the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest.

The Pope’s remarks did not substantively go beyond what he had already said in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with victims of sex abuse on Malta in April, but it was the first time Benedict had mentioned the crisis from Saint Peter’s Basilica, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests. [I have to check back on that statement. The Holy Father has spoken about this problem so many times and on so many occasions, but the MSM somehow always report each statement as if it was the first time he was saying it, give or take some piddling qualification like Donadio makes!]

“In this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope said.

He added, “In admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers.”

The Pope did not mention any specific actions the Church was planning to take to combat abuse, as some had hoped, and victims’ groups said Benedict’s remarks did not go far enough. [Grow up already, everyone! He was preaching a homily, not issuing a papal instruction or a policy paper! Donadio should know that well enough, but she chooses to echo the Pavlov-dog reaction of the victims' advocate (not a victim) who must be basking in the glow of having every statement she makes given the same weight by the media as a statement by the Pope!]

“The root cause of this horrific and ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis remains the nearly limitless power of bishops,” said Barbara Blaine, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement.

“There must be a worldwide Catholic policy against clergy sex crimes and cover-ups that is widely enforced. And we still don’t have it,” she added.

[The following two paragraphs constitute MSM's current herd line, implying that the Pope has said what he has sadi and that the Vatican has 'changed its tone' because of relentless media pressure. BAH, HUMBUG! Or, as they call it today, SHEER SPIN, in an attempt to justify themselves even as they have boxed themselves into a corner over the Pope's personal 'guilt'!]

Yet the Pope’s remarks on Friday seemed to signal a growing awareness of the extent of the crisis. They came weeks after the pope had said in Portugal that the greatest threat to the church came from “the sin inside the church” rather than outside and added that “forgiveness is not a substitute for justice.”

The Vatican hierarchy has also begun to shift its tone. Earlier this spring, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, dismissed news reports questioning the pope’s role handling abuse as archbishop of Munich in 1980 and as prefect for the Vatican’s doctrinal office as a calumnious “attack.” [But they were calumnious attacks! If they weren't, would the New York Times have dropped the issue like a hot potato, after they had tried to mine it for maximum harm against the Pope for at least two weeks? It was, in retrospect, a virtual nine-day wonder that had no legs, although it did manage to sow speculation as slander all around!]

On Thursday, it said in a front-page editorial that “the infidelity, even profound, of some priests in some parts of the world has in fact cast a shadow over the credibility of the church in the eyes of many people.”

“The wound will take time to heal and nothing will be as if nothing had happened,” it added.

“Some have called it an ‘annus horribilis,’ but in reality it has been a year of grace,” the paper wrote, because “the seed of the priests’ inner renewal that has been planted and their more incisive witness of the Gospel will bear fruit.”

In Saint Peter’s Square on Friday, the Rev. Innocent Jooji, a priest from Abuja, Nigeria, said he welcomed the Pope’s remarks on the sex abuse crisis, and wished he would say more. “This is not only the problem of the west, it is a global problem,” Father Jooji said.

“He should go around to a few continents to talk about sex abuse, and the impact would be more,” he added of Benedict. “It’s a problem to face. We need more conversation.”

[Typical MSM trick. Out of 15,000 priests present, the writer chooses to quote someone who is critical, and cannot find anyone who is less equivocal!]






Newsphoto agencies never fail to include a couple of shots showing the Pope being helped up and down steps (an attention one normally gives older people, after all) - which, I suppose, is their way of saying 'He's old so he needs help'. Belied, of course, by photographs like the one on the left, where he strides vigorously as he normally does!

No other photos of the Mass itself other than the two above.
Before the Mass ended, the Pope read a prayer consecrating the priests of the world to Mary, as he had done in Fatima earlier. For the occasion, the venerated image of Mary 'Salus Populi Romani' (Salvation of the Roman People) was brought to St. Peter's from its shrine in Santa Maria Maggiore.

---

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Immaculate Mother,
in this place of grace,
called together by the love of your Son Jesus
the Eternal High Priest, we,
sons in the Son and his priests,
consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart,
in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.

We are mindful that, without Jesus,
we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15:5)
and that only through him, with him and in him,
will we be instruments of salvation
for the world.

Bride of the Holy Spirit,
obtain for us the inestimable gift
of transformation in Christ.

Through the same power of the Spirit that
overshadowed you,
making you the Mother of the Saviour,
help us to bring Christ your Son
to birth in ourselves too.

May the Church
be thus renewed by priests who are holy,
priests transfigured by the grace of him
who makes all things new.

Mother of Mercy,
it was your Son Jesus who called us
to become like him:
light of the world and salt of the earth
(cf. Mt 5:13-14).

Help us,
through your powerful intercession,
never to fall short of this sublime vocation,
nor to give way to our selfishness,
to the allurements of the world
and to the wiles of the Evil One.

Preserve us with your purity,
guard us with your humility
and enfold us with your maternal love
that is reflected in so many souls
consecrated to you,
who have become for us
true spiritual mothers.

Mother of the Church,
we priests want to be pastors
who do not feed themselves
but rather give themselves to God for their brethren,
finding their happiness in this.

Not only with words, but with our lives,
we want to repeat humbly,
day after day,
Our “here I am”.
Guided by you,
we want to be Apostles
of Divine Mercy,
glad to celebrate every day
the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar
and to offer to those who request it
the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Advocate and Mediatrix of grace,
you who are fully immersed
in the one universal mediation of Christ,
invoke upon us, from God,
a heart completely renewed
that loves God with all its strength
and serves mankind as you did.

Repeat to the Lord
your efficacious word:
“They have no wine” (Jn 2:3),
so that the Father and the Son will send upon us
a new outpouring of
the Holy Spirit.

Full of wonder and gratitude
at your continuing presence in our midst,
in the name of all priests
I too want to cry out:
“Why is this granted me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).

Our Mother for all time,
do not tire of “visiting us”,
consoling us, sustaining us.
Come to our aid
and deliver us from every danger
that threatens us.

With this act of entrustment and consecration,
we wish to welcome you
more deeply, more radically,
for ever and totally
into our human and priestly lives.

Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth
in the desert of our loneliness,
let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness,
let it restore calm after the tempest,
so that all mankind shall see the salvation
of the Lord,
who has the name and the face of Jesus,
who is reflected in our hearts,
for ever united to yours!
Amen!

---

Before the Holy Father left St. Peter's Square, he toured the audience sectors once more in the Popemobile.




HISTORICAL NOTE: With 15,000 priests concelebrating, this was not just the largest assembly of priests ever, but also the largest concelebrated Mass since concelebrations came to be practised by the Church.

I don't know just how to classify this news report, othert than as a 'Roman curio'! It's unimportant in substance, but the idea that the Pope's telephone calls can be tapped is disconcerting, to say the least.


Italian police tape phone calls from
the Pope and Hillary Clinton while
tapping a corruption suspect's lines
Calls were made during the earthquake relief
efforts in L'Aquila last year
By Nick Pisa

June 11, 2010


Pope Benedict XVI has become the first Pope to be recorded during a corruption investigation by Italian police, it emerged yesterday.

The leader of the world's two billion Roman Catholics was unwittingly recorded by officers who were listening in on a suspect's mobile phone conversations.

The Pontiff made four telephone calls to Italy's civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso following last year's devastating earthquake in the centre of the country which left 300 people dead.

Bertolaso is at the centre of a corruption probe involving sexual favours and back handers for reconstruction projects in the L'Aquila region which was hit by the earthquake 14 months ago.

Pope Benedict is not suspected of any wrongdoing [It goes withgout saying!] - although Vatican officials are said to be furious that he was secretly taped - while it has also emerged that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also recorded speaking to Bertolaso.

Both had called Bertolaso to offer support and thanks for the efforts of his civil protection team who were providing rapid reaction relief in the devastated area.

Officers monitoring Bertolaso's mobile telephone were stunned when they heard the Pope's private secretary Georg Ganswein call and say: 'Hello. I have His Holiness the Pope on the line for you.'

The details of Pope Benedict's intercepted calls emerged in several Italian newspapers but the content was not reported although it is believed to have been fairly mundane and complimentary.

However a Vatican insider said: 'To think that someone recorded Pope Benedict without him knowing is outrageous even if it is part of a police investigation.'

A police source said: 'The tapes containing the recordings of Pope Benedict and Mrs Clinton have been destroyed as they had no significance in the investigation of Bertolaso.'

Italians have gotten used to reading wiretaps during police investigations, which have cauught out several big names including controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

It is estimated that during the last ten years 30 million telephone calls have been secretly recorded by police and intelligence agencies across the country as part of various investigations.

Three years ago Berlusconi was famously recorded calling a TV chief and asking him to give parts to his favourite actresses who he described as 'my little butterflies'.

Yesterday the Italian Senate (Upper House) passed a confidence vote on the telephone interception bill by 164 to 25 and it will now go to the Lower House for final approval.

Berlusconi's centre right majority won handsomely after the centre left opposition walked out in protest as they were called to vote describing the the bill as a 'gagging law'.

The bill would drastically reduce the justification for wire taps and also make publishing their contents in newspapers a crime.

Opposition MPs and newspapers have criticised the bill which they say is merely an attempt by Berlusconi to protect himself from future investigations - he is currently facing two corruption probes.

If passed the law will mean that special permission is needed to tap a member of the clergy or MP.

Today/yesterday, oe one from the American Embassy in Rome was immediately available to comment on Mrs Clinton's intercepted telephone call while a Vatican spokesman declined to comment officially.

Please see preceding page for items posted earlier today, 6/11/10.








June 11, 2010

What a great service from Ignatius Insight that a theologian has taken the time to present an overview of what he rightly calls Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's 'theology of priesthood' - an aspect of the Holy Father's teaching that has always held me almost spellbound, because they are his most personal and intimate reflections, born out of his direct and firsthand experience of friendship with Christ...


As this Year for Priests draws to a close it seems appropriate to look again at the theology of the priesthood in the work of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict. In this essay I intend to examine what Pope Benedict has said and written about the identity and mission of the Catholic priest. My source material covers both papal documents and his personal, non-Magisterial remarks, as well as some of his personal theological work prior to his election as pope.

In particular, I focus on his essays on the priesthood in the works Called to Communion (CC) and Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith (PFF), as well as some relevant comments from the first volume of Jesus of Nazareth (JN).

In terms of his official, pontifical remarks on the issue, I've naturally looked to the homilies, addresses and letters pertaining to this Year for Priests as well as his homilies from the Chrism Masses during his pontificate.

The title of this essay comes from the Holy Father's letter last June proclaiming this Year for Priests, as well as from his homily on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart which inaugurated this Year. He concluded the letter this way:

---

Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In the footsteps of the Cure of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him. In this way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation and peace!

---

In this short passage, it seems to me that we find many of the central themes of Pope Benedict's theology of the priesthood, and it it to that theology that we will now turn.

The outline for this presentation is as follows: I'll begin with Benedict's analysis of the historical context: the post-conciliar crisis in the priesthood. Following that, we'll focus in on a central theme in his vision of priestly identity and mission: the Christological roots and foundation of both. I'll conclude by examining what Benedict calls the "spiritual applications" of these theological considerations.

Historical Context

Benedict was and is a man of the Council. He was a peritus at the Council for Cardinal Frings of Cologne, and he played an important role in the unfolding of the Council's work in general and in the development of several of the conciliar texts, particularly Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium.

But like so many others, Benedict was surprised at the events which unfolded both in the Church and in the world after the Council. Focusing in particular on the priesthood, decades later he spoke of the "profound crisis" which the Catholic priesthood entered after Vatican II. His analysis of the roots of this crisis is interesting both on its own account and also insofar as it points to his understanding of the way out of the crisis.

In short, Benedict argues that the basic framework for Vatican II's theology of the priesthood is essentially that of the Council of Trent. While the texts of Vatican II most certainly incorporated biblical motifs in a greater way than did Trent, Benedict nonetheless believes that the framework remained essentially Tridentine in nature.

One might fairly ask, "So what?" After all, the decrees of Trent on these lines are dogmatic, they belong to the deposit of faith. Benedict certainly agrees with this; he has never called the dogmatic points into question.

Rather, his concern mirrors the reasons for which Pope John called the Council to begin with: to initiate a renewal within the Church which would enable her to respond more adequately to the problems and questions of the age.

As with the Council in general, Benedict does not call the doctrines of the priesthood into question, but instead proposes that a new framework for those doctrines is required to more ably respond to the challenges raised with regard to our theology of the priesthood.

Specifically, he argues that after the Council, Catholic theology was incapable of adequately responding to a combination of Reformation-era arguments together with findings of modern biblical exegesis. In Benedict's words, the conclusions of these challenges was as follows:

It appeared indisputably clear that the teaching of Trent concerning the priesthood had been formulated on false assumptions and that even Vatican II had not yet found the courage to lead the exodus from this misguided history.

On the other hand, the inner tendency of the Council seemingly required that we now finally do what it had not dared to do itself: to abandon the ancient conceptions of cult and priesthood and to seek a Church at once biblical and modern that would resolutely take up the challenge of the profane world and would be organized solely according to functional considerations" (CC, p. 109)

"Functional" is a key term here: as Benedict sees it, these challenges to our theology of the priesthood hold that in the apostolic and post-apostolic era, ministerial offices had a purely functional character, concerned entirely with practical utility.

It seems to me that such a perspective remains both dominant and ubiquitous. I'm reminded of some of the comments made by Catholics faced with the prospect of having to go to another parish for liturgies: we can run the parish, we just need Father to come on Saturday night or Sunday morning to say Mass.

Both the priesthood (the office) and the priest (the man) are reduced to what they can do, to the role, the function they play. In essence, both priesthood and priest are regarded as little more than vending machines, candy dispensers for the soul.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that Catholics have been reading Martin Luther and Karl Barth. But I do think that the theology which is the subject of Benedict's analysis here is "in the air", and given that the Christian roots of our culture are basically Protestant, it's not surprising that a function vision of Christian ministry has found its way into the minds even of Catholics.

What, then, does Benedict propose by way of a solution to this post-conciliar crisis in the priesthood? His answer to this question is the same as his answer to every other question which in some way pertains to the human heart: Jesus of Nazareth.

Christological Foundations

If we look at the pontificate of Benedict XVI from a superficial public-relations perspective, it's apparent that within the first year of his election, Benedict's public image was rehabilitated, to put it mildly.

Gone were monikers like "Dr. No" and "der Panzerkardinal". Instead, we saw a man who -- despite his lack of "stage presence" -- saw more people attending his Wednesday audiences than did his predecessor, John Paul the Great! We saw a man who entitled his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (DCE) and who said that we must emphasize the "Yes!" of Christianity.

Now, as those who were familiar with his personal writings knew, this rehabilitation was largely in the eye of the beholder, so to speak. The themes of Benedict's pontificate are essentially in keeping with his previous personal theological work.

What is surprising, at least to me, is the emphasis of that "Yes!" which he has been making. To put it another way: because of his office, we are now seeing the evangelical dimension of Benedict's work in a clearer way, even more then in his prior work.

To borrow a title of one of Fr. Robert Barron's works, in Benedict's pontificate -- as in John Paul the Great's, albeit in his own way -- we are seeing "The Priority of Christ".

Again, his work was always Christocentric, but this dimension has been amplified since his election asPope. Consider, for instance, the conclusion to the Foreword to volume one of Jesus of Nazareth: explaining why he began his study with Jesus's public ministry and not with the infancy narratives, he writes,

---

In Part Two I hope also to be able to include the chapter on the infancy narratives, which I have postponed for now, because it struck me as the most urgent priority to present the figure and the message of Jesus in his public ministry, and so to help foster the growth of a living relationship with him (JN, p. xxiv).

---

These are not the words of sawdust theology, dry and coarse! Rather, they reveal what is at the heart of Benedict and his work: Jesus Christ.

With this preface, we now look at the Christological foundations of Benedict's theology of the priesthood.

The priesthood as participation
in the mission of Christ

In Benedict's vision, the foundation of the ministerial office in the New Testament is this: apostleship as participation in the mission of Jesus Christ. As Benedict notes, both the novelty and the center of the New Testament is Jesus. He says, "what is new about [the New Testament] is not, strictly speaking, ideas -- the novelty is a person: God who becomes man and draws man to himself" (CTC, p. 111).

This is a point which Benedict has been making more repeatedly and more insistently in the last couple of decades. Consider these words from the first article of DCE: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."

Or consider these words from his lectio divina with the seminarians of Rome last month: "It is not we who must produce the abundant fruit; Christianity is not moralism, it is not we who must do all that God expects of the world but we must first of all enter this ontological mystery: God gives himself."

Even in the context of this Year for Priests, Benedict returns to this theme, which might rightly be considered the major key of his pontificate: we cannot reduce Christianity to ideas -- ideology -- or to moralism; while ideas (truths) and morality are certainly important to our faith, they are not the center, they are not the novum: that place is held by Christ alone.

Remember, this is a theologian writing these things! We make our living by reducing our living, vibrant relationship with Jesus to cures for insomniacs! But not Benedict.

So even in the case of the priesthood, he tells us that the point of departure must lie in Christology, in our understanding of who Jesus is. In this context, Benedict's emphasis is on Jesus's mission, on the fact that He is sent by the Father, that He represents God's authority concretely in His person.

Benedict hones in on the following formula from John's Gospel, and on the interpretation of this formula given by Benedict's personal favorite theologian, St. Augustine: "My doctrine is not my own but his who sent me" (7:16).

Benedict makes this point: Jesus both has and is nothing of his own aside from the Father... nothing. As Benedict sees it, in this Johannine formula Jesus "is saying that precisely what is most intimately his own -- his self -- is that which is altogether not his own. What is his is what is not his" (CTC, p. 113).

And it is by this very expropriation of himself that Jesus is totally one with the Father.

What does this have to do with the priesthood? This: Jesus prolongs His own mission, His own sending from the Father by the creation of the office of "those who have been sent": the office of the apostles.

According to Benedict, "Jesus confers His power upon the apostles and thereby makes their office strictly parallel to his own mission" (ibid.). As Jesus tells the Twelve on numerous occasions, "he who receives you receives me" (Matthew 10:40). Or even more clearly: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 13:20).

Recalling that Jesus's entire being is mission and relationship, Benedict sees this statement of Jesus as having enormous weight for the proper understanding of the priesthood of the New Covenant, particularly when we look to the following parallelism:

The Son can do nothing of himself (John 5:19, 30)
Without me you can do nothing (John 15:5)

Benedict argues that the power and the impotency (the potency and impotency) of the apostolic office -- and hence the priesthood in general -- derives precisely from this "nothing" that the disciples share with Jesus. It's worth quoting Benedict at length here:

---

Nothing that makes up the activity of the apostles is the product of their own capabilities. But it is precisely in having 'nothing' to call their own that their communion with Jesus consists, since Jesus is also entirely from the Father, has being only through him and in him and would not exist at all if he were not a continual coming forth from and self-return to the Father. Having 'nothing' of their own draws the apostles into communion of mission with Christ.

---

So somewhat counter-intuitively, what brings the apostles into union with Christ's mission, what makes their own mission the extension of his, is the nothingness of their own activity.

From this point, Benedict elaborates at length on the nature of the sacrament of ordination. It is because the apostle's (and by extension, the priest's) communion with Christ derives from having nothing of his own that ordination is not about the development of one's own abilities and talents.

Jesus receives everything from the Father -- He has nothing which is His own -- and He brings salvation to the world. The priest receives everything from Jesus -- he has nothing which is his own -- and he brings salvation to the world.

Just as self-expropriation, self-dispossession and selflessness were necessary for the High Priest to be one with the Father and to accomplish that for which He was sent, so too are these things necessary for those who act in his person.

In this we see the beginnings of a "Benedictine" response to a denuded, functional conception of ministerial office: the priesthood is not about developing one's personal powers and gifts, but rather it is about sharing our very nothingness with Christ, and in so doing being united with Him to the Father in the Spirit, and thereby bringing the life of the Father -- His grace -- to the Church and to the world.


An Ontological Union

A second aspect of the Christological foundations of Benedict's theology of the priesthood flows from the first: the priest's union with Christ is an ontological one.

This is by no means a new insight; the Church has always been very clear that the union which the sacrament of Holy Orders effects is ontological in nature; it is not a superficial union, but one which goes to the depths of human nature, to the depths of our being.

Nor is this union unique to orders: it occurs for all of us in baptism, [the Holy Father often reminds us of the 'common priesthood' of all Christians by virtue of Baptism, and the 'ministerial priesthood' of those who undergo Holy Orders] and is deepened in the other sacraments as well. We are joined to Christ, conformed to Him, and this is true as well of ordination.

At the same time, Benedict indicates that this truth -- an ontological union -- has been somewhat obscured in our time, to the detriment of a proper understanding -- and therefore a proper exercise -- of the New Testament priesthood.

Benedict addresses this topic in a number of places. I've already referred to his lectio divina with the Roman seminarians from earlier this year. In that lectio, Benedict is commenting on John 15:1-17. As you know, in this passage Jesus speaks of Himself as the true vine and of the twelve (and ultimately, all his disciples) as the branches of the vine.

In his lectio, Benedict keys in on Jesus's imperative, "Abide in me," affirming that the idea of abiding in the Lord is fundamental as the first topic of this passage.

In order to be laborers in the vineyard, in order to be priests of Christ's mystery, Benedict emphasizes that the union between Jesus and the priest is an ontological one, for it is only by being deeply rooted in Christ, it is only by being joined to Christ at the deepest level of his being that the priest is capable of exercising his ministry. As Jesus says in this passage, "as the branches cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." For the priest -- as for every Christian -- this abiding in Jesus, this ontological intimacy is foundational and primary.

This is also seen, according to Benedict, in that the second imperative of the passage -- "observe my commandments" -- only comes after the imperative to abide in the Lord and in his love.

Benedict observes, "'Abide' comes first, at the ontological level, namely that we are united with him, he has given himself to us beforehand and has already given us his love, the fruit."

Benedict affirms that Christ's being, Christ's loving comes first, and that it is only because we abide in His being and love that we are able to act: we are only able to act in Christ because we have first been rooted in Christ. The priest, then, is only able to act in the person of Christ precisely because he is first in persona Christi. [Should be in persona Christi as the Son of God with a message of eternal salvation, but many post-Vatican-II priests appear to have forgotten that Christ, or perhaps more properly, the 'persona Christi' they see appears to be nothing but a political activist-social worker focused on man's material well-being in the here and now, with hardly any thought for man's spiritual health and salvation, much less for the hereafter.]

Benedict also notes that it is in this context of abiding in Christ and His love that Jesus speaks of the twelve as His friends: "I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

Again the previous theme: Christ has nothing of his own, but rather, everything He has has been given to Him by His Father, and He in turn shares everything He has received from the Father -- His teachings, but also His life, His love, His very being -- with these men.

Friends are those who share with one another, and here Jesus affirms that the twelve are not merely servants, but are also His friends, because He has shared everything He has received from His Father with them.

So for Benedict, it is because of this ontological union which begins at baptism and is given a new configuration at ordination that the priest truly becomes a friend of Christ and is able to act in His name.

The same theme is also present in another lectio from this year, this one with the parish priests of Rome. Commenting here on passages from the Letter to the Hebrews, Benedict notes that it was the author of this letter who first introduced a second way of understanding Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament; the first saw Him above all as the fulfillment of the Davidic promises: Jesus as the true King of Israel and in fact of all of creation.

The author of Hebrews, however, finds in Psalm 110:4 ("You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek") an indication that Jesus also fulfills the expectation of the true Priest. It is this author who realized that Jesus fulfilled both the promise of a true King as well as the promise of a true Priest.

Beginning with this introduction, Benedict unfolds the theme of Christ's priesthood as Hebrews presents it, in three levels: the priesthood of Aaron, of Melchizedek, and of Christ Himself.

For the purposes of our present theme I'd like to look briefly at Benedict's remarks regarding the first level: Christ's priesthood -- and thereby the New Testament priesthood -- as a fulfillment of the Aaronic priesthood as presented in Hebrews.

According to Benedict, the author of Hebrews indicates that the Law tells us two things about the priesthood:
- First, that if the priest is to be a mediator between God and man, the priest must be a man; and it was for this reason that Christ became man.
- Second, though, is this: the man who would be a priest is intrinsically unable to make himself a mediator for God; man lacks the power, the ability to become a priestly mediator of his own accord. He needs to receive divine authorization, he needs to be divinely instituted in order to be the bridge that a mediator is called to be.

Benedict is not content, however, to make the simple point that the priest must be "picked for God's team" in order to truly become a priest. He goes farther, or rather, deeper: for a man to truly be on God's team, for a man to truly become a bridge, a mediator, a priest, his being must be introduced into Christ's divine being.

Benedict affirms that the priest can accomplish his mission only by means of the sacrament of ordination which brings him into communion with Christ, which introduces him into participation in Christ's mystery, His being.

Again: the New Testament priesthood requires, demands an ontological bond, a communion with Christ at the deepest level of one's being. Anything else is incapable of enabling a man to be the bridge that brings God and man together which the priesthood requires.

Benedict also gives some practical thoughts on this, but we'll save those for the final portion of this presentation.


Augustinian Synthesis

For the final block in the Christological foundation of Benedict's theology of the priesthood I'd like to focus on one of his discussions of Augustine's treatment of the New Testament priesthood, particularly two series of images which the Doctor of Grace employed in his theological exegesis. As we will see, it is in Benedict's analysis of these images that the points we've been considering here come together.

The first scriptural image is of the priest as servus Dei or servus Christi: the priest as the servant of Christ. The Scriptural background and context for this image is found in the great Christological hymn found in Philippians 2:5-11: "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men..."

Benedict focuses on the fact that the term "servant" implies a relationship: to be a servant means to serve someone, to serve another. So if we understand the priest to be a servant of Christ, we are saying that the life of a priest is oriented towards and determined in a substantial way by Jesus; to be a priest means, fundamentally, to be in relationship with Jesus.

Benedict affirms that the essence of the office of priesthood -- even the essence of the priest himself, of his being -- is to be oriented towards Christ as a servant.

Benedict goes on to note that it is only by and because of his orientation towards Christ that the priest is able to serve the Church; the priest cannot be servus Ecclesiae unless he is first servus Christi.

As Benedict puts it, it is precisely because the priest belongs to Christ that he is able to belong to others, and in a radical manner. For Benedict, the ontological truly enables the functional: understanding that to be a priest is to be in relationship with Jesus Christ, and to share His being is in fact the only solid basis by which the priest is able to fulfill his priestly duties and responsibilities in the radical way necessary.

Benedict sees the concept of servant as deeply connected with the image of the indelible character, the notion of a ineradicable mark on the soul of the man who is ordained. The connection is seen in that in late antiquity, "character" referred to the seal or stamp of possession which was placed on a thing, even on a person, a seal which could no longer be removed or erased.

By virtue of this stamp, the recipient of the stamp was forever and irrevocably marked as belonging to its master. Continuing the line of thought just seen, "character" thus indicates a belonging which becomes a part of the recipient's very existence: character thus implies being in relationship with another. And of course, in the case of ordination, the owner is Christ.

With the imposition of hands, Christ says to the man being ordained: "You belong to me": He has taken possession of him.

And again, as we've seen previously in other contexts, the initiative for this character comes from the master, the proprietor: it comes from Christ. As Benedict puts it, to be ordained thus means that I am only the recipient of the action of Christ: I cannot ordain myself, I cannot declare that I am on God's side in this radical way, but rather He must first act, He must first declare me and make me his own, and only then can I enter into this acceptance and make it my own. I am only able, then, to actively receive, and nothing more.

The second series of images of priestly service which Benedict explores comes from Augustine's contemplation of the figure and role of John the Baptist. In the Gospels, John is presented as the voice which prepares the way for the coming of the Word: vox (voice) and verbum (word): the relationship between the two characterizes the relationship between the priest and Jesus.

The word is prior to the voice: the word is present in my mind, in my heart before it is uttered by my voice. But it is through the mediation of the voice that the word becomes perceptible to the other and is thereby able to become present in the heart of the other, while remaining present in the heart of the one who spoke the word.

So: the voice is the transitory mediator; the word remains present in the heart of the speaker and then of the hearer, but the voice passes away. The application thus becomes clear: the task of the priest, Benedict notes, is simply to be a voice for the word.

Referring to John the Baptist's affirmation of his own transitory role ("He must increase, but I must decrease"), Benedict affirms that the voice has no other purpose than to pass on the word, after which it passes away. The priest is, in the entirety of his existence, vox, and in this light we can see his radical and complete dependence upon and orientation towards the Verbum, Jesus Christ.


Spiritual Applications

What application, then, does Benedict see these theological observations having on the life and ministry of the Catholic priest today? To begin with, it's helpful to consider Benedict's grasp of the difficulties which being a priest in our age entail. In an essay in PFF written just over ten years ago, he wrote the following:

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A parish priest who may today be in charge of three or four parishes is forever traveling from one place to another; this situation, well known to missionaries, is becoming more and more the rule in the heartlands of Christianity.

The priest has to try to guarantee the availability of the sacraments to the communities; he is oppressed by administrative work; problems of all kinds make their demands on him in addition to the personal troubles of so many people, for whom he can often — because of the rest — hardly find any time.

Torn to and fro between such activities, he feels empty, and it becomes more and more difficult for him to find time for recollection, from which he can draw new strength and inspiration. Outwardly torn and inwardly emptied, he loses all joy in his calling, which ends by seeming nothing but a burden and scarcely bearable any longer. Escape increasingly seems the obvious courseÓ (PFF, p. 169).

---

What, then can be done to address and prevent such a situation? Benedict turns to the conciliar decree on the life and ministry of the priest -- Presbyterium Ordinis -- as the starting point from which he elaborates his proposed solutions.

First, Benedict notes that the reality of the ontological unity which the priest has with Christ might be present and alive in the priest's consciousness and therefore in his actions. The priest, in other words, must have a clear and conscious understanding that everything he does, he does with Christ.

It's important to note that the ontological is prior to the epistemological: Benedict and the Council Fathers are not saying that it is by the power and force of my awareness that I am in union with Christ, but rather that the already-real ontological fact must pervade my consciousness.

The intimacy of being which the priest has with Christ must rise to the level of intentionality, of awareness, of consciousness, and it must usher forth in every aspect of his life and ministry. For Benedict, "the priest must be a man who knows Jesus intimately, who has encountered him and has learned to love him" (CC, p. 128).

In order for this to happen, in order for the priest to be vitally aware of his union and fellowship with Christ in all of his activities, Benedict makes his second proposal: ascetic discipline must not be allowed to become an additional burden, an extra program that you must fit into your schedule alongside all of your various pastoral activities/.

Rather, the work itself must be recognized and lived as asceticism, in that it is in one's priestly work that he learns to overcome himself, that he learns to let his life go and give it up to others.

Itis in the disappointments and failures of priestly work, Benedict proposes, that the priest learns renunciation and the acceptance of pain, of letting go of himself; it is in the joy of succeeding that the priest learns gratitude, and so on. For Benedict, the ascetic discipline that enables the priest to be aware of his fellowship with Christ is found in the very life and work of ministry itself.

But Benedict is clear with his third theme: for these things to happen, "I still need moments in which to catch my breath" (PFF, p. 170). Again drawing upon the Council, Benedict affirms that this conscious fellowship with Christ and ministry-as-asceticism can only occur if priests "penetrate ever more profoundly into the mystery of Christ" (ibid.).

Benedict affirms that attention to the interior life is absolutely necessary and essential for the priest, in his life and in his work, noting that without an inner dimension, ministry degenerates into activism.

Therefore, Benedict states that making time for God must be a pastoral priority for priests, even above all other priorities. As he puts it, "this is not an additional burden but space for the soul to draw breath, without which we necessarily become breathless -- we lose that spiritual breath, the breath of the Holy Spirit within us" (ibid.).

He argues that inwardly seeking God's face is the only rest which enables the priest to love his work, the only rest which restores the priest's joy in God.

I conclude this section with a text from Saint Gregory the Great which Pope Benedict cites in this context:

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What else are holy men but rivers that water the parched earth? Yet they would dry up if they did not return to the place where they began their course. That is, if they do not abide in the interiority of the heart and do not bind themselves fast with chains of longing in love for the Creator, their tongue withers up. But out of love they constantly return to this inner sanctuary, and what they pour out in public, they draw from the well of love. By loving they learn what they proclaim in teaching (In Ezechielem 1, hom. 5, 16, cited in CC, p. 131).

---

Conclusion

Drawing these insights from the Holy Father together, we can draw the following conclusions:

- In order to overcome a flattened vision of the priesthood which reduces the priest to little more than a machine and which in fact flattens the man himself, we must recover the vision of the priest as a man united to Christ in the deepest levels of his being, a man who brings nothing of his own, but precisely in that nothingness brings Christ's love and life into a parched world, dying of thirst for Christ.

- The priest exists completely and totally for Christ; he is in a sense determined, ordered by his relationship with Christ, and it is this radical structuring for Christ which enables and empowers him to serve others.

- But for this ontological reality to bear fruit, it must rise to the level of awareness, and the priest must recognize and embrace his work as his own ascetic discipline.

- Finally, the priest must catch his breath, and make every effort to find time for that rest which brings him life: seeking after the face of Christ.

Chris Burgwald holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and has been the Director of Evangelization & Adult Catechesis for the Diocese of Sioux Falls in South Dakota for the past eight years. He and his wife have four children.

Pope's beatification of Cardinal Newman
to take place at an old car factory site?
by Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent

11 Jun 2010

The highlight of the Pope’s visit to Britain could take place at the largely disused Longbridge car plant.

Sources told The Tablet, the Roman Catholic magazine, that the site of the former MG Rover factory is now the “preferred venue” for Benedict XVI’s beatification of Cardinal Newman.

It is claimed that as many as 100,000 pilgrims could attend an open-air Mass at the site in the south of Birmingham, to see the pontiff take England’s most famous convert to Rome one step closer to sainthood.

Much of the vast Longbridge site remains vacant, after MG Rover went bust in 2005, although the new MG6 is being built there by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and a further 468 acres are being redeveloped to include homes, a college and shops.

For many the name is synonymous with the decline of British manufacturing, from the strikes led by Derek “Red Robbo” Robinson in the 1970s when the plant was run by British Leyland to the loss of 6,000 jobs when the Phoenix Consortium took MG Rover into administration.

But Longbridge is just a few minutes’ walk away from the Catholic cemetery on Rednal Hill where Cardinal Newman was buried in 1890, and beatification ceremonies are meant to take places at locations linked to their subject’s life or death.

It is thought that the Church now sees Longbridge as a suitable site for the event because it can hold half as many people as the first choice, Coventry Airport, making it cheaper to host and also making security easier to arrange.

The Church has now confirmed Bellahouston Park in Glasgow as the location of one of the public gathering’s during the Pope’s three-day visit in September, with Susan Boyle likely to sing there, but it is still trying to keep costs down after they were estimated to have doubled to £14million.

Meanwhile Lord Patten, the Catholic Tory grandee appointed by the Government to oversee its organisation of the first ever state papal visit to Britain, suggested that the Pope may address David Cameron’s pet idea of the Big Society.

“Education is going to play a part as will what the Government has said about the Big Society and its connections with Catholic social teaching themes such as solidarity and subsidiarity,” Lord Patten told The Tablet.


Damian Thompson, who has been all fired up about the sorry state of preparations for teh papal visit on the Church side, reacts:


Now they would have the Pope
beatify Newman in an old car plant


"Pope to beatify Cardinal Newman at disused Longbridge car plant.”

Sounds like one of the fantasy suggestions from that infamous Foreign Office memo, doesn’t it? But, as Martin Beckford reports, the former MG Rover factory in the West Midlands is now the “preferred venue” for the ceremony on September 19.

Martin’s source is the house journal of the Magic Circle, The Tablet. No surprises there. ['The Magic Circle' is Thompson's shorthand for a supposed group of high-ranking English prelates who have never made a secret of their liberal agenda, have systematically thwarted Vatican directives (most notably Summorum Pontificum), and apparently includes or was headed by the former Archbishop of Westmnister, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.]

Instead of directly telling Catholics that the Coventry venue has been dropped (despite being already officially announced), probably in favour of a site that can accommodate 100,000 instead of 200,000, the organisers have a quiet word with their ideological allies in the media.

Which is how politicians behave. But what else should we expect? From the very beginning, Mgr Andrew Summersgill and his team have behaved like politicians, constructing a wall of waffle to conceal setbacks, overspending, details of contracts and now drastic changes of plan not just from the media but also from parish priests and the poor bloody infantry in the pews.



The important point is not that the ceremony could be held in an inactive car plant because it can always be fixed up appropiately - and it would not be much different from the originally intended venue, Coventry airport. The sad thing is that the place would only be able to hold half as many Massgoers as Coventry would - and that's a great pity for such a once-in-a-lifetime happening! A disservice to British Catholics, to the Pope and to Cardinal Newman.

It's difficult to imagine how the organizers could have miscalculated so badly. They used Coventry for John Paul II's Mass as they did Bellahouston Park in Glasgow (which can hold as many as 300,000) about which the Scottish bishops say everything's A-OK for this Pope's Mass.

Times are hard, but isn't there a Catholic billionaire anywhere who could pitch in with the 7 million pounds that the organiizers are short of? That's one-tenth of what former E-Bay CEO Meg Whitman recently spent of her personal fortune to win the Republican nomination for governor of California!


On the other hand, how to explain this report quoting the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Birmingham? It's dated June 6, after Thompson's expose of the apparent behind-the-scenes chaos in preparing for teh papal visit.

Pope's Coventry Mass
'goes ahead'

6 June 2010

The Pope's planned papal visit to Coventry is going ahead as planned, the Archdiocese of Birmingham has stressed.

Some reports had suggested that an open-air Mass at the city's airport may be scrapped and a smaller event be held near Birmingham instead. But an archdiocese spokesman said that is not the case.

Pope Benedict XVI will travel to Coventry airport for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a convert to Catholicism.

Peter Jennings, the archdiocese spokesman, said: "The facts are that the papal visit to Coventry will go ahead on Sunday 19 September as planned."

The Mass is expected to start at 1000 BST and last for two hours.

"During that time Pope Benedict XVI will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman," he added.

The Pope is visiting the country between 16 to 19 September, in what will be the first papal visit to the UK since that of John Paul II in 1982.

[As of today, June 11-12, there are no later stories than this, nor has this story been updated, on the BBC site, Obviously, the BBC is not giving credence to the Tablet report! Or is this just my wishful thinking?.]

June 10, 2010

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"In our time, in which the faith in many places seems like a light in danger of being snuffed out for ever, the highest priority is to make God visible in the world and to open to humanity a way to God. And not to any god, but to the God who had spoken on Sinai, the God whose face we recognize in the love borne in the very end in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen."
- Benedict XVI, Fatima, May 12, 2010. Letter to Catholic Bishops of the World, L'Osservatore Romano, English, May 19, 2010.

"We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly, as Peter recommended in one of his Letters: 'In your hearts, reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you'" (1 Peter 3:15).
- Benedict XVI, Porto, May 14, 2010.

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I.

Benedict XVI visited Portugal from May 11-14, 2010. He was in Lisbon, Fatima, and Oporto. While there, the Pope gave some eleven sermons, lectures, or talks to various kinds to Portuguese civil and religious bodies. The President of Portugal was often present.

A papal visit produces some remarkable words and the present one is no exception. A papal visit is a genuine teaching experience that comes to a nation from outside, in the sense that a Pope comes to its midst, focusing attention on fundamental issues of the human soul —and not merely on politics or economics, though not ignoring these either.

Anyone who goes to Portugal will at some time have Fatima on his mind. "We would be mistaken to think that Fatima's prophetic mission is complete. Here there takes on a new life the plan of God which asks humanity from the beginning: 'Where is your brother, Abel?'"

Mankind did not in fact find a way to solve its own problems by itself. The subsequent history of salvation deals with how this question to Cain is finally answered.

The Fatima apparitions occurred on May 13, 1917. Benedict recalls the geopolitical irony: "At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart. At that time it was only to three children..."

God chooses other ways than ours to make his will known. The irony of the powers of the world at war, unable to resolve their issues, over against the three children to whom Mary appears is striking.

One of the themes of this papal visit was a constant reminder both of the openness of Christianity to truth wherever it is found. and the insistence that but one God and but one proper understanding of salvation exist.

As Benedict said in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima, the true God is the one who announced himself to Moses and who appeared in Jesus Christ. It is this God to which the papacy is to witness down the ages. By implication there are false gods. In general, if we get the God-question wrong, we will get everything else wrong.

Portuguese intellectual history is filled with Enlightenment disputes over the place of the faith in modern culture. Portugal was one of the first "modern" states. Its early empire in Brazil, Africa, and the Orient is still influential in our time. The missionary impulse was part of the culture. The Pope is concerned with the "European-ness" of that particular culture that would send missionaries into the world with the "good news."

Today we see that this very dialectic represents an opportunity and that we need to develop a synthesis and a forward-looking and profound dialogue. In the multicultural situation in which we all find ourselves, we see that if European culture were merely rationalist, it would lack a transcendent religious dimension, and not be able to enter into dialogue with the great cultures of humanity all of which have this transcendent religious dimension —which is the dimension of man himself.

A view of reason that in principle excludes a transcendent dimension is itself lacking all of the being that is given to man. Man cannot be completely be understood without his transcendent dimension.

"Reason as such is open to transcendence and only in the encounter between transcendent reality and faith and reason does man find himself," Benedict explained in an interview on the plane to Lisbon. "So I think that the precise task and mission of Europe in this situation is to create the dialogue, to integrate faith and modern rationality in a single anthropological vision which approaches the human being as a whole and thus also makes human culture communicable."

What Benedict means here, I think, is that, unlike other cultures, Western civilization has within it an ongoing challenge of reason by transcendence and of transcendence by reason. This inclusion of both is why the modern definition of reason as being itself autonomous is implicitly and actually a rejection of Western civilization as such. That is, a rejection of a civilization in which both reason and revelation are possible. No other civilization has an ongoing example of how these sources fit together.

II.

Benedict often speaks of a "public" role of the Church in the world, within all nations and cultures, including the most closed, such as China and the Arab states. In principle, it cannot be excluded. The Church's concern and understanding of truth is not just a private thing.

"Situated within history, the Church is open to cooperating with anyone who does not marginalize or reduce to the private sphere the essential consideration of the human meaning of life."

These were among the first words that Benedict spoke at the Lisbon airport on his arrival. All men have both the duty and desire to know the truth about themselves. The Church has an understanding of that truth which is not merely private or subjective, but possessing information and truth about God and man.

"The point at issue is not an ethical confrontation between a secular and a religious system, as much as a question about the meaning that we give to our freedom."

If "freedom" means that no binding truth can be found such that we are free even of the principle of contradiction, then we really have eliminated the world as having anything to do with us or our lives. We are simply what we do and think. No one can object to anything done by anyone else because no ground exists for such an objection on the premise that freedom is based on nothing but itself.

The Pope praises the understanding of Church and State that exists in Portugal with its mutual recognition of each by the other. The Pope again notes that the best way to see what the faith means is not by reading but by seeing how saints live, a witness that leads "even to the radical choice of martyrdom."

In his talk to priests, Benedict remarks: "many of our brothers and sisters live as if there were nothing beyond this life, and without concern for their eternal salvation. Men and women are called to know and love God. The Church has the mission to assist them in this calling. We know well that God is the master of his gifts, and that conversion is a grace. But we are responsible for proclaiming the faith, the whole faith."

The Pope thinks that the Church has done much thinking about itself and its relation to modern thought and what is valid in it. "The Church herself accepted and refashioned the best of the requirements of modernity by transcending them on the one hand and on the other by avoiding their error and dead ends."

The secular world has largely refused to do its own rethinking of its own limits, largely because that rethinking involves an admission that the Church does stand for an abiding truth of philosophical import about man which modern thought has refused to admit or see.

This sophisticated rethinking of faith and the world under recent Popes has made it clear that Catholicism is actually much stronger intellectually than modern secularism, which has limited its range only to itself. It has cut off revelation not because it is unnecessary or refuted, but because it shows the lack of grounding in being of much modern thought.

This theme of the Pope that the Church has rethought modernity is new to me. There is no doubt that the Church has made every effort to see the good in modernity when it can. When it cannot, the Pope says so.

In a Public Mass at the Palace Square in Lisbon, Benedict, as he often does, made a Platonic point, namely that we must first attend to our own souls before we reform the state.

"Often we are anxiously preoccupied with the social, cultural, and political consequences of the faith, taking for granted that faith is present, which unfortunately is less and less realistic. Perhaps we have placed an excessive trust in ecclesial structures and programmes, in the distribution of powers and functions..."

This point is crucial in our understanding of modernity. It does not judge the Church in those things in which the Church is competent. Rather, modernity is itself judged by the Church when it misunderstands man's nature and destiny.

What is the "public" teaching all men need to know not by "imposition" but by "persuasion?" It is this: "Only Christ can fully satisfy the profound longings of every human heart and give answers to its most pressing questions concerning suffering, injustice and evil, concerning death and the life hereafter."

Likewise, only the Church can teach us of that for which we are to hope — the sacraments, eternal life, the City of God, seeing God face-to-face, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment.

The title of these Portuguese reflections is that we are to seek not just any God, but that God revealed to us within the history of our life on this planet, the one who appeared to Moses, and then in the flesh in Christ.

The public life of nations needs to hear these truths not in any manner but in a calm one. Modern political constitutions should be designed to all for this hearing to happen. However, these same constitutions, including our own, however designed, can be used to interfere with this free listening which, as such, is the beginning of salvation.

As Paul said, "faith comes by hearing," and as Benedict added in Portugal, by seeing the living examples of saints who live their faith and follow their reason, both together. This latter is something that should be, but is not, present in all civilizations. It is the mission of Europe to teach this — Europe, a continent that is near to losing its own faith.

The Archdiocese of Birmingham continues to assert itself on preparations for the Pope's visit. It will host the Holy Father for the Beatification Mass of Cardinal Newman, regardless of where the final venue will be.




Here's the latest from Birmingham, England's second largest city after London (it was the center of the Industrial Revolution).

Pope adds Birmingham
college to UK visit plans
by Jonathan Walker

June 12, 2010


THE Pope will be coming to Birmingham during his historic visit to Britain, officials have confirmed.

There had been disappointment that Pope Benedict XVI would apparently miss out the city during the first Papal state visit to Britain, despite beatifying the Victorian Cardinal John Henry Newman, who is closely associated with Birmingham.

But a spokesman for the Catholic Church said the Pope would visit St Mary’s College in Sutton Coldfield.

He will spend an afternoon at the seminary following a Mass to beatify Cardinal Newman, which will take place at Coventry Airport and will be attended by an expected 170,000 people.

The Pope will then fly from Birmingham International Airport to Rome.

But the Church dismissed reports the venue for the Mass would be shifted from Coventry to the former MG Rover plant in Longbridge.

Some reports suggested the Church was considering Longbridge because it would be a cheaper venue, holding fewer people.

Peter Jennings, spokesman for the Birmingham Archdiocese – which includes Coventry as well as Birmingham – said speculation about a change of venue was “unhelpful”.

He said: “The Mass will be held on Sunday September 19 at Coventry Airport beginning at 10am and lasting two hours.

“After the Mass, the Pope will travel by helicopter to St Mary’s College to spend the afternoon there, have lunch and have a rest and meet Bishops from across the country.

“Then he will travel to Birmingham International Airport to fly back to Rome.”

Cardinal Newman, who founded the first English Oratory on the outskirts of Birmingham in 1848, is England’s most famous convert to Catholicism.

The Oratory later moved to Alcester Street and then to Edgbaston, and Cardinal Newman lived there for almost 40 years.

His beatification by the Pope will be the third of the four steps in the canonisation process.

Bosses at MG earlier said they had received no contact from the Vatican over the Pope’s visit and the Cardinal Newman ceremony.

Doug Wallace, PR Manager for MG Motor UK Ltd, said: “It is very nice to think that Longbridge could be considered for the Pope’s visit but I am sure the Vatican would have been in contact with us by now. To my knowledge, we have not been approached at all.”




Meanwhile, there are new details about the Pope's itinerary on the official site of the visit, but few of the venues are identified. As of today, 6/12/10, this is what's on the site:




Apropos, I'd like to share this poster for an upcoming event for young adults in Olcott, Archdicoese of Birmingham.



I think, ideally, all posters and promotional material for any church activity, at any level, should include an image of Christ and an image of the Pope. In the months when I have been rearching out images of saints and blesseds, I am surprised that most parish websites don't even carry any image of their own patron saint!

June 12, Saturday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time
SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

The feast is currently observed on the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This particular devotion was especially popular in France, especially after the Marian apparitions to St. Catherine Laboure, whose Miraculous Medal features both the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. But it was not recognized by the Vatican's Congregation for Rites as a liturgical feast until 1855. Worldwide devotion was renewed after the apparitions at Fatima. Subsequently, Pius XII, in an Apostolic Letter, consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart as Our Lady had requested. John Paul II repeated the consecration in a ceremony at St. Peter's Square in May 1982, on the anniversary of Ali Agca's assassination attempt against him, and on the Jubilee Year of 2000, he consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. In Fatima last month, Benedict XVI consecrated the priests and religious of the world to the Immaculate Heart, and did so again yesterday in St. Peter's Square, during the closing Mass of the Year for Priests.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061210.shtml



OR today.

In closing the Year for Priests, the Pope says the priest is not an officeholder
but one whose duty is to demonstrate God's attention to men:
'The daring of a God who is near us'
The Pope also says there should never be any more abuses against children
and asks forgiveness from the victims of these abuses
This issue includes an editorial and a coverage of the last two events of the year for Priests - the Prayer Vigil with the Pope on Thursday night, and yesterday's closing Mass. There is also an article about St. John Chrysostom's ideas on the priesthood. Page 1 international news: US Treasury Secretary calls on Beijing to reform its monetary system in line with the rest of the world; and a commentary on the current World Cup soccer championship games in South Africa as an opportunity for the world to look more seriously on the problems and potential of Africa.



THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- Participants in the current session of the European Council's Development Bank. Address in French.

- Bishops of Brazil (Group 2, East Sector-II) on ad-limina visit

And in the afternoon:

- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)



The Vatican announced that the Holy Father has named Mons. Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir,
as Apostolic Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia(Turkey), left vacant by the assassination of
Archbishop Luigi Padovese last June 3.

The truth from Turkey:
Vatican diplomats gave wrong
'advice' to the Holy Father
Translated from

June 12, 2010


"I think that in the Vatican, they have now seen that I am right: the killing of Mons. Luigi Padovese was solely motivated by religion. In fact, the murder demonstrated explicitly Islamist elements [associated with ritual killing]. The Turkish government had nothing to do with it. Nor personal motivations. Only radical Islam.

"I know that on his way to Cyprus, the Pope had said 'It was not a political or religious assassination but a personal one'. I think he was badly informed. There are some things that the Vatican cannot tell us".

This was the start of an interview given by the Bishop of Izmir (Smyrna), Mons. Ruggero Franceschini, to Il Foglio's Paolo Rodari in the newspaper's issue today (June 12).


Funeral Mass for Mons. Padovese in Iskenderun. Inset photo, Mens. Franceschini.

He is a veteran of the Church in Turkey and was president of the Turkish bishops conference before Padovese. He was also his predecessor in Iskenderun, and on the same day as his interview came out, he was named by the Holy Father to be the Apostolic Administrator of the Vicariate of Anatolia left vacant by the assassination of Mons. Padovese.

It's an interview that must be read in full. It is very detailed about the Islamist assault on Christians in Turkey. About Turkish schools that incite religious hatred and humiliate any Christian students. About the dynamics of Padovese's murder. About the killer and his family.

"It is always a risk for us to hire Muslims - and we have learned this at a high price," Franceschini says.

He took part in Mons. Padovese's funeral Mass in Iskenderun last Tuesday, which was presided by the Apostolic Nuncio in Turkey, Mons. Antonio Fucibello, and preached his eulogy. From the beginning, he has called attention to the true motive for the assassination which, he said, cannot be set aside as the isolated act of a madman. [AsiaNews editor Fr. Bernardo Cervellera wrote a strong article on this matter earlier this week, based on an interview with Mons. Franceschini, posted in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread.]

And now it is he who is publicly denouncing the error made by the Vatican authorities in drawing a hasty conclusion about the murder. First through Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi, and then, with the words that the Holy Father himself said enroute to Cyprus.

It seems clear that the Pope was 'badly advised' by the Secretariat of State, judging from the directness of a bishop like Franceschini who has every reason to say, "About certain things, the Vatican cannot know better than we do".

This error is a potentially disastrous prelude to the Synodal Assembly on the Middle East in October. Nothing could better spur on those Muslims who are enemies of Christianity than statements which they consider to be a sign of weakness and pure submission.


I went back to the official Italian transcript to check exactly what the Pope said about this matter. Here is my translation:

---

This shadow [of the killing] has nothing to do with the subject or the realities of this trip [to Cyprus], because we should not attribute it to Turkey or the Turkish people. It is something about which we have little information. What's certain is that it was not a political or religious assassination; it was a personal matter.

We must still await all the explanations, but we do not wish to mix up this tragic situation with the dialog with Islam and the problems of this trip. It is a separate matter which makes us sad, but which should not get in the way of dialog in all senses which is the theme and objective of this visit.

---

While the Holy Father's intention was obviously not to create an extraneous problem that could easily overshadow his carefully calibrated trip to Cyprus, I must admit that I had a sinking deja-vu feeling when I first read the statements I underscored: It reminded me of Obama saying he knew very little about the incident between a white Boston-area policeman and a Harvard professor friend of his, then went right ahead and said in the next sentence that the police officer had acted stupidly.

I am sure the Vatican - and the Holy Father - have since read the reports from AsiaNews in which the madman theory about the bishop's driver-assassin was almost immediately debunked. In fact, the Pope's references to Mons. Padovese in Cyprus and later in the prayer vigil with priests at the Vatican all but declare the bishop's death as a martyrdom - which would not be the case if he continued to believe the murder arose from purely personal reasons.

And that these facts, and Mons. Franceschini's earlier statements about the killing, were factored into his nomination as Apostolic Administrator for Anatolia until a new bishop can be named.

The obvious first source for the Secretariat of State of official information about the killing was the Apostolic Nuncio in Turkey, Mpns. Lucibello, but he lives in Ankara and did not get to Iskenderun until the day of the funeral five days later. Mons. Franceschini in Izmir was the nearest ranking prelate. Did anyone ever think to call him?

In his eulogy for Mons. Padovese, Mons. Franceschini was unequivocal from teh outset: " And once again, this land has become the place of martyrdom for those who loved her so much."

Items about the Padovese murder are posted in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread unless they involve the Holy Father as in this case.

Pope to European bankers:
Save human 'capital'




The Holy Father greets bank members and their families.

VATICAN CITY, June 12 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI told European banking and development officials Saturday to keep families' needs paramount as they devise solutions to the continent's financial crises.

Economy and finance "are no more than tools, means" to safeguard human "capital, the only capital worth saving," Benedict said.

Benedict told representatives of the European Council's Development Bank during a Vatican audience that their task was to make the "human person, and even more particularly, families and those in great need, the center and the aim" of economic policies.

He urged experts to draw on what he called Europe's tradition of "generous fraternity" in coming up with rescue plans.

Benedict named no country, but efforts to help bail out Greece from its financial disaster exposed tensions in Europe over how much countries should help a fellow European Union nation.

Many European nations are grappling with dwindling revenues and budget shortfalls amid the euro's plunge against the dollar and other currencies, a stubborn recession and chronic unemployment. Generous social welfare plans like early pensions and heavily subsidized health care are at risk as their costs are being scrutinized.


Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's address, which was delivered in French:

---

Mr. Governor and Presidents,
Mesdames and Messieurs Ambassadors,
Mesdames and Messieurs Administrators,
Dear friends:

The 45th general meeting of the Council of Europe's Bank for Development has brought you to Rome, and it is my pleasure to receive you at the Apostolic Palace at the end of your meeting.

I thank you, Mr. Governor, for your words which underscore the importance that the Holy See gives to Europe's Development Bank, of which it has been a member since 1973.

In 1956, the Council of Europe established a bank for exclusively social objectives as an appropriate instrument to promote its policy of solidarity with all nations.

At the beginning, this bank occupied itself with problems concerning refugees and has since extended its competence to the entire domain of social cohesion.

The Holy See can only view with interest a structure that supports social projects, which is concerned with development, which responds to emergency situations, and aims to improve living conditions for persons in need.

Political developments in Europe towards the end of the last century allowed her finally to breathe with both lungs, to adapt an expression of my venerated predecessor. We all know that there is still a long way to go to make this an effective reality.

The economic and financial exchanges between Western and Eastern Europe have certainly developed, but has there been real human progress?

Has not the liberation from totalitarian ideologies been utilized unilaterally for economic progress alone to the detriment of a more human development that respects the dignity and nobility of man, and has it not sometimes ignored the spiritual riches that had shaped European identity?

I am sure that the Bank's interventions in favor of the countries of eastern, central and southeastern Europe have allowed a correction of disequilibria, towards a process based on justice and solidarity, which are indispensable for Europe's present and future.

You know as well as I do that the world and Europe are undergoing today a particularly serious time of economic and financial crisis. This period should not lead to limitations that are based only on a strictly financial analysis.

It must, on the contrary, allow the Development Bank to show originality in reinforcing social integration, management of the environment, and development of public infrastructures for social purposes. I strongly encourage the Bank's work in this respect and in terms of solidarity. Because thus, it is being true to its calling.

In the face of present challenges that the world and Europe must manage, I wished to call attention, through my last encyclical, Caritas en veritate, to the social doctrine of the Church and its positive contribution to the formation of the human person and of society.

Following Christ, the Church sees love for God and neighbor as a powerful motor that can generate authentic energy for the entire social, juridical, cultural, political and economic landscape.

I wished to highlight that the relationship between love and truth, when truly lived well, is a dynamic force that regenerates all interpersonal bonds and offers true novelty in reorienting the economic and financial life, which it renews in the service of man and his dignity.

Economy and finance do not exist for their own sake - they are only a tool, a means. Their end is the human being alone, and his full realization in dignity. That is the only capital that must be saved.

And in this capital, in the human being, one finds a spiritual dimension. Christianity has allowed Europe to know what freedom is, the responsibility and the ethic that permeate its laws and its societal structures.

To marginalize Christianity - as by excluding the symbols that represent it - would contribute to cutting off our continent from the fundamental spring that is indispensable for its nourishment and its true identity.

Christianity is the origin of the "spiritual and moral values that are the common patrimony of the European people" - the values to which the member states of the Council of Europe manifested their unshakable attachment in the Preamble of the Council's Constitution.

This attachment, which was reaffirmed in the Warsaw Declaration of 2005, anchors and guarantees the vitality of the principles on which European political and social life are based, and in particular, the activities of the Council of Europe.

In this context, the Bank of Development, as a financial establishment, is also an economic tool. Nonetheless, it was created to respond to exigencies that go beyond the financial and economic: It has a social reason for existence. It is therefore called on to be fully what it was meant to be: a technical instrument that allows solidarity. This must be lived as brotherhood, which is generous, which does not calculate.

Perhaps these criteria can be employed further in the internal choices of the Bank as in its external activity. Fraternity allows the kind of gratuitousness which, while indispensable, is difficult to imagine or to manage when the only ends pursued are efficiency and profit.

Likewise, we all know that this dual objective is not an absolute and insurmountable determinism because it can be overcome. To do this, the novelty would be to introduce a logic that makes the human being, more especially families and those in serious need, the center and the purpose of the economy.

Europe has a rich past which has included experiences of economy based on brotherhood. There are enterprises today with social or mutualist objectives. They have had to bear with the laws of the market, but they wish to recover the strength of generosity that came with their origins.

It seems to me that the European Council's Development Bank, in order to manifest true solidarity, would respond to the ideal of brotherhood that I have evoked and explore the spaces in which brotherhood and the logic of giving freely may be expressed.

These are the ideals with Christian roots which presided, along with the desire for peace, at the birth of the Council of Europe.

The medal which you have just offered me, Mr. Governor, for which I thank you, will remind me of this meeting. I assure you, dear friends, of my prayers, and I encourage you to pursue your work with courage and clarity in order to accomplish the important duty entrusted to you - that of contributing to the good of our beloved Europe.

May God bless you all. Thank you.

---

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's Q&A with priests at the Prayer Vigil on Thursday night in St. Peter's Square.


Benedict XVI's dialog with priests
at the Prayer Vigil before the
conclusion of the Year for Priests
Translated from
the 6/13/10 issue of

---

Most Holy Father, I am Fr. Jose Eduardo Oliveiros y Silva from America, Brazil to be exact. Most of us here are involved in direct pastoral work in the parish, and not only with one community, but sometimes we are parish priest for several parishes, or of communities that are particularly extensive.

With every good will, se seek to attend to the needs of a society that has changed greatly. which is no longer entirely Christian, but we realize that what we can 'do' is not enough. How should we proceed, Holiness? In what direction?

Dear friends, first of all, I wish to express my great joy that priests from all over the world have gathered here, in the joy of our vocation, and in the willingness to serve the Lord in our time with all our powers.

As for the question: I am well aware that today it is very difficult to be a parish priest, even and especially in the countries which have been Christian for a long time. Parishes have become more extensive pastoral units. It becomes impossible to know everyone, it is impossible to do all the work that is expected of a parish priest. That is why we must ask, what do we do, as you ask.

I wish first of all to say: I know that so many parish priests in the world are truly giving everything they have for evangelization, to make the Lord present with his Sacraments. To these faithful parish priests, who are working with all the strength they are capable of, who are passionate about Christ, I wish to say a great 'Thank you" at this time.

I have said that it is not possible to do everything that one wishes, nor everything that needs to be done, because our powers are limited, and situations are difficult in a society that is increasingly diversified, more complicated.

I think that above all, it is important that the faithful see that a priest is not merely doing a 'job' [he uses the English word], who puts in his hours of work and then is free to live for himself alone - but that he is a man who is passionate for Christ, who carries the fire of Christ's love in him.

If the faithful see that he is full of the Lord's joy, they will also understand that he cannot do everything, they will accept his limitations, and help him. This seems to me to be the most important point: that it can be seen and felt that the parish priest truly feels that he is someone called by the Lord, that he is full of love for the Lord and for his flock. If this is so, then he will be understood, and his flock will understand that he cannot do everything.

So, to be filled with the joy of the Gospel in all our being is the first condition.

Then, se must make choices, have priorities, see what is possible and what is impossible. I would say we all know the three fundamental priorities - the three pillars of our priestly being:

First, the Eucharist, the Sacraments: to make the Eucharist present, especially on Sundays, as much as possible, for everyone, and to celebrate it in a way that truly makes visible the Lord's act of love for us.

Then, the announcement of the Word in all its dimensions: from the personal dialog to the homily.

The third priority is 'caritas', the love of Christ: to be present for those who suffer, for the little people, for children, for persons in difficulty, for those who are marginalized - to render the love of the Good Shepherd truly present for them.

And a very important priority is one's own personal relationship with Christ. In the Brevary of November 4, we read a beautiful sermon by St. Charles Borromeo, a great pastor, who truly gave all of himself, and who tells all of us priests: "Do not neglect your own soul. If you neglect your own soul, then you cannot give others what you should give them. Therefore, you must have time for yourself, for your own soul".

In other words, a relationship with Christ, personal conversation with Christ, is a fundamental pastoral priority - it is a condition for our work in behalf of others.

And prayer is not a marginal thing: it is truly the priest's 'profession' to pray, even in representation of people who do not know how to pray or who do not find time to pray. Prtsonal prayers, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, is fundamental nourishment for our soul, for all our activities.

And finally, we must recognize our limitations - we must be open even to this humility. Let us recall a scene from the Gospel of St. Mark, Chapter 6, when the disciples are all 'stressed out' as they want to do everything, and the Lord says: ""Come away... and rest a while" (cfr Mk 6,32). I would say that this too is pastoral work: to find and have the humility and the courage to rest!

Theefore, I think that passion for the Lord, love for the Lord, shows us our priorities and choices, and helps us to find the road to take. The Lord will help us. Thanks again to all of you.


Holiness, I am Mathias Aguero from Africa, the Ivory Coast. You are a theologian Pope, whereas we, if we can, barely read any theology during our training. Nonetheless, it seems to us that there has been a break between theology and doctrine, and even more, between theology and spirituality. We feel the need that study should not be all academic but that it should nourish our spirituality.

We feel this need even in our pastoral ministry. Sometimes, theology does not seem to have God at the center nor Jesus Christ as the first 'theological place', but rather reflects diverse tastes and a wide range of tendencies. Consequently, there is a proliferation of subjective opinions which allows the introduction into the Church itself, of non-Catholic thinking.

How can we avoid being disoriented in our life and ministry when it is the world that judges our faith and not the other way around? it makes us feel 'ex-centric'!

Thank you. You have touched on a problem that is very difficult and painful. There is truly a theology that is above all academic, that wants to appear 'scientific' and forgets the vital reality - which is the presence of God, his presence among us, what he says today, not just in the past.

Already, St Bonaventure distinguished two forms of theology in his time. He said, "There is a theology that comes from the arrogance of reason, that wishes to dominate everything, and makes God the object rather than the subject of our study, when he should always be the subject who speaks to us and guides us."

There really is such an abuse of theology, which is the arrogance of reason and does not nourish the faith, but rather, obscures the presence of God in the world.

But there is a theology that wants to know more out of love for the beloved - it is stimulated by love and guided by love, wanting to know more about the beloved. This is true theology, that comes from love of God, love of Christ, from wishing to enter into profound communion with Christ.

In truth, the temptations are great today with the so-called 'modern view of the world [Bultmann's 'modernes Weltbild'] which has become the criterion for what is possible or not possible. This criterion - according to which everything is as it always was, and that all historical events are the same - excludes the novelty of the Gospel, excludes the irruption of God into history, which is the true novelty that is the joy of our faith.

What should we do? I would say, first of all, to theologians: Have courage. And I wish to say thank you to so many theologians who are doing good work. There are abuses, we know, but in all parts of the world, there are so many theologians who truly live the Word of God, who nourish themselves by meditation, who live the faith of the Church and who truly help so that the faith continues to be present in our day. To these theologians, I say Thank you!

And I would say to theologians in general: Do not be afraid of these phantoms of scientificity! I have been following theology since 1946; I started to study theology in January 1946, and so I have seen three generations of theologians, and can say this: The hypotheses that in that time, and then in the 1960s and the 1980s, were what was considered the latest, the most absolutely scientific, absolutely dogmatic almost, have meanwhile grown old and no longer valid! Many of them even seem almost ridiculous.

Therefore, have the courage to resist apparent 'scientificity', to resist submitting to all the hypotheses of the moment, but to think by starting off from the great faith of the Church which is present at all times and which opens access to the truth.

Above all, do not think that positivist reason, which excludes the transcendent - which cannot be accessible - is true reason! This weak reasoning, whicb only presents experimentable things, is really insufficient reason. We theologians need to use a greater reason, which is open to the grandeur of God. We should have the courage to go beyond positivism to the question of the very roots of being.

I believe this is of great importance - to have the courage for the greater, more ample reason; to have the humility not to submit to all the hypotheses of the moment, to live the great faith of the Church in all times. There is no consensus greater than that of the saints: the true majority are the saints of the Church, and we must be oriented by them!

And so, I say the same thing to seminarians and priests: Sacred Scripture is not an isolated book; it lives in the living community of the Church, which remains the same throughout the centuries and guarantees the presence of the Word of God.

The Lord gave us the Church as a living subject, with the structure of bishops in communion with the Pope, and it is this reality of the bishops of the world in communion with the Pope that guarantees witness to permanent truth. Let us have trust in this permanent Magisterium of the communion of bishops with the Pope who represent for us the presence of the Word.

Let us trust in the life of the Church, and above all, let us be critical. Of course, theological formation - this I say to seminarians - is very important. In our time, we should know Sacred Scripture very well, even to use against the attacks by the sects: we must be true friends of the Word.

We must also know the currents of our time in order to able to respond reasonably, in order to give, as St. Peter said, 'reason for our faith'. Formation is very important. But we should also be critical: the criterion of faith is the same criterion by which we must look at theologians and their theology. Pope John Paul II gave us an absolutely sure criterion in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: here, we see the synthesis of our faith - the Catechism is the true criterion to judge whether a theology is acceptable or not.

Therefore I urge the reading, the study of the Bible, so we can proceed with a theology that is critical in the true sense - namely, critical of fashionable tendencies but open to the true news, the inexhaustible profundity of the Word of God which reveals itself new at all times, even in our ours.


Holy Father, I am Fr. Karol Miklosko, from Europe, Slovakia in particular, and I am a missionary in Russia. When I celebrate Holy Mass, I find myself and I understand that in it I discover my identity and the root and energy of my ministry.

The sacrifice of the Cross shows me the Good Shepherd who gives everything for his flock, for every sheep, and when I say, "This is my Body... This is my Blood" given and spilled in sacrifice for you, then I understand the beauty of celibacy and obedience which I freely promised at the moment of ordination.

Even with its natural difficulties, celibacy seems obvious to me, looking at Christ, but I am bewildered by reading so much worldly criticism for this gift. I ask you humbly, Holy Father, to enlighten us on the profundity and authentic meaning of ecclesiastical celibacy.

Thank you for both parts of your question - the first which shows the permanent and vital foundation of our celibacy; the second, about all the difficulties in which we find ourselves in our time.

The first part is important, namely, that the center of our life should really be the daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist, in which the words of the Consecration are central: "This is my Body... This is my Blood" - when we speak 'in persona Christi'.

Christ allows us to use his "I", we speak of the "I" of Christ, Christ draws us into himself and allows us to unite with him, he unites with us in his 'I". Thus this action, the fact that he 'draws' us into himself so that our "I" is united to his, realizes the permanence and uniqueness of our priesthood - he is truly the only Priest, and yet he is very much present in the world becaus he draws us into himself and thus makes his priestly mission ever present.

This means we are drawn to God in Christ: this union with his "I" is realized in the words of the Consecration. It is also in the words "I absolve you" - because none of us can absolve sins. Only Christ's "I", the "I" of God, can absolve.

This unification of his "I" with us implies that we are also drawn into the reality of the Resurrected One, that we are going forward in the full life of Resurrection about which Jesus speaks to the Sadducees in Matthew, Chapter 22: It is a new life, in which already, we are beyond matrimony (cfr Mt 22,23-32).

It is important that we allow ourselves to be penetrated ever anew by this identification of Christ's "I" with ourselves, of being drawn forth towards the world of the resurrection. In this sense, celibacy is an ancticipation: We transcend our time and go forward, we draw ourselves and our time towards the world of the resurrection, towards the newness of Christ, towards the new and true life.

Celibacy is thus an anticipation made possible by the grace of the Lord who draws us to himself towards the world of the resurrection - he invites us ever anew to transcend ourselves, to transcend the present, towards the 'true present' of the future which becomes present today.

Here we come to a very important point. A great problem of Christianity today is that people no longer think of the future with God - when only the present of this world seems to suffice, when we mean to have only this world, to live only in this world. And so, we close the doors to the true grandeur of existence.

The sense of celibacy as an anticipation of the future serves to open these doors which make the world much greater, which shows the reality of the future which we can live as if it were already present.

To live this way in witness to our faith: truly believing that there is a God, that God has everything to do with my life, that I can base my life on Christ, and therefore on the life of the future.

We know the worldly criticisms you referred to. It is true that for the agnostica, who say God has nothing to do with their world, celibacy is a great scandal - precisely because (it shows that) God is considered and lived as a reality.

In the eschatological [oriented towards the end of time] life of the celibate, the future world of God enters the reality of our time. But this, the critics say, must not be! It must disappear!

In a sense, this continuing criticism of celibacy is surprising in a world where it is becoming more fashionable not to marry! But not marrying is totally and fundamentally different from celibacy, because it is based on the desire to live only for oneself, not to accept any definitive bond, to have a life that is fully autonomous at all times, that can decide freely at every moment what to to do and what to take from life. It is a No to any ties, No to any definitiveness, simply having life for oneself alone.

While celibacy is the exact opposite: It is a definitive Yes, allowing oneself to be taken in hand by God, giving ourselves over to God, to his "I" - therefore, it is an act of faithfulness and trust, an act which is like the faithfulness of matrimony. It is the precise opposite of the No that characterizes the autonomy that refuses to be obliged, which refuses to be bound by any ties.

Celibacy is the definitive Yes that presupposes and confirms the definitive Yes of matrimony - the matrimony that is the Biblical kind, the natural form of matirmony between a man and a woman, the foundation of Christianity's great culture, of the great cultures of the world. If it disappears, then the root of our culture would be destroyed.

Celibacy thus confirms the Yes of matrimony with its Yes to the world of the future. That is why we wish to go forward and keep present this scandal of a faith in which everything rests on the existence of God.

We know that besides this great scandal which the world does not want to see, there are also the secondary scandals of our own insufficiencies, of our sins, which obscure the true and great scandal, and make others think, "But their life is not really based on God!"

But there is much faithfulness to God othewise! Priestly celibacy, as its critics demonstrate, is a great sign of the faith, of the presence of God in the world. Let us pray to the Lord that he may keep us free of the secondary scandals in order to make visible the great scandal of our faith - fidelity, the strength of our life, which is based on God and Jesus Christ.


Holy Father, I am Fr. Atsushi Yamashita, from Asia - Japan in particular. The priestly model that Your Holiness proposed this year, the Curate of Ars, saw the center of his life and ministry as the Eucharist, sacramental and personal penance, and love of worship which is worthily celebrated.

I have before my eyes the austere poverty of St. Jean Marie Vianney, together with his passion for the precious objects of worship. How can we live these fundamental dimensions of our priestly life without falling into clericalism or into an alienation from reality that today's world does not allow?

Thank you. the question is how to live the centrality of the Eucharist without losing oneself in a life that is purely cultic and alien to the daily world of other people.

We know that clericalism has been a temptation to priests through the centuries, even today. It is all the more important to find the true way of living the Ecuharist, which is not a closure to the world, but precisely an opening to the needs of the world.

We must keep in mind that it is in the Eucharist where the great drama is played out of God who comes forth himself, leaving - as the Letter to the Philippians says - his own glory, to come down to be one of us, and descending even further to his death on the Cross (cfr Phi 2).

The adventure of the love of God, who leaves and abandons himself to be with us, becomes present in the Eucharist. The great act, the great adventure of the love of God, is the humility of God who gives himself to us. In this sense, the Eucharist is to be considered as entering the path of God.

St. Augustine says, in De Civitate Dei. Book X: "This is the sacrifice of Christians: many united in the Body of Christ". The sacrifice of Christians is to be united by the love of Christ in the unity of the one Body of Christ.

And the sacrifice consists precisely in emerging from ourselves, being drawn to the communion of the one bread, the one Body, thus entering into the great adventure of God's love. This is how we should celebrate, live and always meditate on the Eucharist - as a school of liberation from my "I" - entering into the one bread, which is everyone's bread, that unites us in the one Body of Christ.

The Eucharist is in itself an act of love - it obliges us to the reality of love of all others, the reality that the sacrifice of Christ is the communion of all in his Body. This is how we must learn the Eucharist which is the very opposite of clericalism, of being closed in on oneself.

Let us think of Mother Teresa, the true great example in the past century, in our time, of a love that abandons the self, which leaves aside every kind of clericalism, alienates itself from the world in order to tend to the most marginalized, the poorest, to people near death, giving oneself totally to love for the poor and the marginalized.

Mother Teresa has given us the example - the community that follows her footsteps always presupposes as the first condition for establishing itself the prewence of a tabernacle. Without the presence of the love of a giving God, it would not be possible to live in this total abandonment of self.

Only by abandoning oneself to God, to the adventure of God, to the humility of God, was and is it possible to fulfill this great act of love, of being open to everyone.

So I would say in this respect: To live the Eucharist in its original meaning, in its true profundity, is a school of life and is the surest protection against every temptation to clericalism.


Most Holy Father, I am Fr. Anthony Denton from Oceania - Australia. Tonight, there are many of us in attendance. But we know that our seminaries are not full, and that in the future, in various parts of the world, we can expect a further drop, even a brusque one. What can be effectively done for vocations? How can we propose our life - and what is great and beautiful in it - to the young people of our time?

Thank you. You have brought up another great and painful problem of our time: the lack of vocations, due to which local Churches are in danger of drying up because they lack the Word of life, they lack the Sacrament of the Eucharist and other Sacraments.

What do we do? The tempation is great: to take things into our hands and transform the priesthood - the Sacrament of Christ, of being elected by him - into a normal profession, a 'job; with hours, in which one belongs to oneself alone, thus making it like any other calling - accessible and easy.

But this is a temptation that does not resolve the problem. It makes me think of the temptation of Saul, King of Israel, who, before the battle against the Philistines, was awaiting Samuel for the necessary sacrifice to God. And when Samuel failed to show up at the appointed time, Saul himself offered the sacrifice, even if he was not a priest (crf 1Sam 13). He thought he could resolve the problem that way, but of course, it did not. Because by doing something he was not supposed to do, he was almost playing God, and therefore, it could not be expected that things would truly proceed according to God.

We, too, if we carry out our priesthood as a profession like any other - renouncing sacredness, the novelty and the distnction of a sacrament that only God can give, that can only come through his calling and not from our 'doing' - then we do not resolve anything.

All the more we should, as the Lord invites us, pray to the Lord, knock at his door, on the heart of God, and ask him to give us vocations - pray with great insistence, with great determination, with great conviction, because God is not deaf to any prayer that is insistent, continual and trustful, even if he makes us wait, as he did with Saul, beyond the time we expect.

So this is the first point: we must encourage the faithful to have this humility, this trust, this courage to pray insistently for vocations, to knock on God's heart to give us more priests.

I would make to like three other points.

The first is this: Each of us must do everything possible to live our priesthood in a convincing way, such that young people can say: "This is a true vocation, this is how one can live, this is how one can do something essential for the world".

I don't think any of us would have become a priest if we had not known convincing priests in whom the flame of Christ's love burned. That is why this is the first point: Let us strive to be convincing priests ourselves.

The second point is that we must invite others, as I have already said, to the initiative of praying, to have this humility, this trust, of speaking to God with decision.

The third point: to have the courage to speak to young people who think that God may have called them, because often, a human word is necessary to open up listening to the divine call. Speak to young people and help them to find a vital space in which to live.

The world today is such that it seems to exclude the possibility of maturing a priestly vocation. Young people need an environment in which faith is lived, where the beauty of faith is evident, where it can be seen as a model of life - the model of life.

So they should be helped to find a setting - a movement, the parish, the parish community or other contexts - in which they are truly surrounded by the faith, by love of God, which therefore helps to make them open to God's call.

Moreover, let us thank God for all the seminarians of our time, for our young priests, and let us pray: May the Lord help us.

Thank you to everyone.

---

June 13, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SANT'ANTONIO DA PADOVA (Anthony of Padua) (b Lisbon 1195, d Padua 1231)
Franciscan, Preacher, Theologian, Doctor of the Church
This great saint was the subject of a catechesis by Benedict XVI last February 10
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100210...
just a few days before the special exposition of his remains at his Basilica in Padua on Feb. 10-15, which drew some 300,000 pilgrims.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061310.shtml


OR today.

Benedict XVI to the European Council's Development Bank:
'Man is the only true capital that must be saved'
The other papal story in this issue is the transcript of the Holy Father's Q&A session with the priests attending the prayer
vigil at St. Peter's Square before the closing of the Year for Priests on Thursday evening (full translation in the post above
this). Page 1 international news: Kyrgyzstan government asks Russian aid to quell bloody fighting between Kyrghizi natives
and Uzbeks that has led to many killings in the capital of the former Soviet republic; six African nations - Cameroon, the
Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and the Sudan - seek to prohibit conscription of minors as soldiers in their
respective countries. Page 1 also features a commentary from the June issue of the Messaggero di Sant'Antonio that vice
has become so widespread in our time because, among other things, schools have stopped teaching virtues - personal and
civic - to children.



THE POPE'S DAY

Angelus today - The Holy Father gave thanks for all the benefits to the Universal Church of the recently
concluded Year for Priests, which closed as it opened on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He said
the priest is a gift from the Heart of Christ, and urged that the faithful continue to pray daily for them,
recalling once again the example of St. Jean Marie Vianney of Ars, as well as that of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko,
the Solidarity priest martyred by the Communists who was beatified in Warsaw last Sunday. Once more he
entrusted the priests of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Whose feast was observed by the
Church yesterday. After the prayer, the Pope called attention to the beatification in Spain yesterday
of Manuel Garrido, the first journalist to be beatified; and the beatification in Solvenia today of
the teenaged Lojze Grozde, a Catholic Action youth who was killed by Communist police. Cardinal Bertone
represented the Pope at the beatification rite held in conjunction with the closing of a National
Eucharistic Congress.

ANGELUS TODAY:
Post-script to
the Year for Priests

The Holy Father gave thanks today for all the benefits to the Universal Church of the recently concluded Year for Priests, which closed, as it had opened, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

He said the priest is a gift from the Heart of Christ, and urged that the faithful continue to pray daily for them, recalling once again the example of St. Jean Marie Vianney of Ars, as well as that of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, the Solidarity priest martyred by the Communists and who was beatified in Warsaw last Sunday.

Once more the Pope entrusted the priests of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Whose feast was observed by the
Church yesterday.

After the prayer, the Pope called attention to the beatification in Spain yesterday of Manuel Garrido, the first journalist to be beatified; and the beatification in Solvenia today of the teenaged Lojze Grozde, a Catholic Action youth who was killed by Communist police. Cardinal Bertone represented the Pope at the beatification rite held in conjunction with the closing of a National Eucharistic Congress.




Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words today:

---

Dear brothers and sisters!

The Year for Priests came to an end in recent days. Here in Rome, we lived some unforgettable days, with the presence of more than 15,000 priests from every part of the world.

Thus, today, I wish to give thanks to God for all the benefits that have come to the Universal Church from this observance. No one will ever be able to measure these effects, but certainly, the fruits can be seen and will continue to be seen.

The Year for Priests ended on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which has traditionally been the "day for priestly sanctification'. This time, it was - in a very special way.

Indeed, dear friends, the priest is a gift from the Heart of Christ: a gift for the Church and for the world. From the heart of the Son of God, overflowing with charity, come all the good things in the Church. In particular, it is the origin of the vocation of all those men who, conquered by the Lord Jesus, leave eveything in order to dedicate themselves entirely to serving the Christian people, following the example of the Good Shepherd.

The priest is shaped by Christ's own charity - that love which made him give his life for his friends and to pardon his enemies. That is why priests are the first workers in the civilization of love.

I think of so many priests, famous and otherwise, some of them raised to the honor of the altars, others whose memory remains indelible among the faithful, perhaps in a small parish community. Just as it did in Ars, the village in France where St. Jean-Marie Vianney carried out his ministry.

We do not need to add more words to what has been said about him in the past months. But his inercession should ever more accompany us from this day on. May his prayer, his 'Act of Love' that we recited so many times during the Year for Priests, continue to nourish our conversation with God.

I wish to remember another figure: Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, priest adn martyr, who was proclaimed Blessed last Sunday in Warsaw. He exercised his generous and courageous ministry alongside those who were working for freedom, for the defense of life and its dignity.

His work in the service of good and truth was a sign of contradiction for the regime that governed Poland at the time. Love for the Heart of Christ led him to give his life, and his testimony has been the seed for a new spring in the Church and in society.

If we look at history, we can see how many pages of authentic spiritual and social renewal were written with the decisive contribution of Catholic priests, inspired solely by their passion for the Gospel and for man, for his true freedom, religious as well as civil. How many initiatives for integral human promotion have come from the intuition of a priest's heart!

Dear brothers and sisters, let is entrust to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, whose liturgical commemoration we observed yesterday, all the priests of the world, in order that, with the power of the Gospel, they may continue to construct in every place the civilization of love.


After the prayers, he said this:

I wish above all to note with joy the proclamation of two new Blesseds, both of whom lived in the last century. Yesterday, in Spain - the beatification of Manuel Lozano Garrido, layman and journalist. Despite illness and physical disability, he worked with Christian spirit fruitfully in the field of social communications.

And this morning, in Slovenia, Cardinal bertone, as my personal legate, presided at the concluding celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress, during which he beatified the young martyr Lojze Grozde.

He was particularly devoted to the Eucharist, which nourished his unshakeable faith, his capacity of sacrifice for the salvation of souls, his apostolate in Catholic Action to lead other young people to Christ.


In English, he said this:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus prayer, especially the group of faithful from Seychelles.

Last Friday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I had the joy of concluding the Year for Priests, marked by moving moments of community prayer and adoration.

Let us continue to remember all priests in our prayers, thanking Christ for this great gift of his love and asking him to keep them in his grace as faithful friends and ministers.

I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome and a blessed Sunday!


He said more about the journalist who is now a step away from sainthood, in his Spanish language greeting:

...I also greet the members of the Confraternity of Jesus the Nazarene and the Most Blessed Mary of Seven Sorrows, from Jaen. Precisely in that Andalucian diocese, specifically in the city of Linares, the beatification took place yesterday of Manuel Lozano Garrido, faithful layman who radiated the love of God through his example and his writings, despite the suffering that kept him in a wheelchair for almost 28 years.

Towards the end of his life, he also lost his eysight, but he continued faining hearts for Christ with his serene joy and ubreakable faith.

Newsmen can find in him an eloquent testimonial of the good that can be done when the pen reflects the grandeur of the human soul and is placed at the service of truth and of noble causes.

---

'Priests are a gift
from the Heart of Christ'


Vatican City, Jun 13, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News) - Thousands of pilgrims and faithful gathered at noon Sunday in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with the Holy Father. Before the prayer, he said that the fruits of the recently ended Year for Priests could never be measured, but are already visible and will continue to be ever more so.

“The priest is a gift from the heart of Christ, a gift for the Church and for the world. From the heart of the Son of God, overflowing with love, all the goods of the Church spring forth,” proclaimed Pope Benedict XVI. “One of those goods is the vocations of those men who, conquered by the Lord Jesus, leave everything behind to dedicate themselves completely to the Christian community, following the example of the Good Shepherd.”

The Holy Father described the priest as having been formed by “the same charity of Christ, that love which compelled him to give his life for his friends and to forgive his enemies.”

“Therefore,” he continued, “priests are the primary builders of the civilization of love.”

Benedict XVI exhorted priests to always seek the intercession of St. John Marie Vianney, whose prayer, the “Act of Love,” was prayed frequently during the Year for Priests, and “continues to fuel our dialogue with God.”

The {ontiff also spoke about the close of the Year for Priests, which took place this past week and culminated with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He emphasized “the unforgettable days in the presence of more than 15,000 priests from around the world.”

The feast of the Sacred Heart is traditionally a “day of priestly holiness,” but this time it was especially so, Benedict XVI remarked.

Pope Benedict concluded his comments by noting that, in contemplating history, “one observes so many pages of authentic social and spiritual renewal which have been written by the decisive contribution of Catholic priests.” These were inspired “only by their passion for the Gospel and for mankind, for his true civil and religious freedom.”

“So many initiatives that promote the entire human being have begun with the intuition of a priestly heart,” he exclaimed.

The Pope then prayed the Angelus, greeted those present in various languages, and imparted his apostolic blessing.





Clearly, the Holy Father wants to call attention and give proper credit to the Church's 400,000 priests around the world whose daily heroic work is overlooked by the world, because media chooses to focus on the few rotten apples in the Church's global orchard (or vineyard).

The Pope and the Church have set the guidelines often enough for dealing with these rotten apples, and for looking after the welfare of their victims. Meanwhile, the Church must get on with its daily labors, and it needs every dedicated worker out there.

Nonetheless, trust AP to stamp its obsessive bias on its report! They certainly are not among those who will look at the example of Blessed Manuel Lozano and "the good that can be done when the pen reflects the grandeur of the human soul and is placed at the service of truth and of noble causes"!


Pope praises priests as a gift
to the Church and the world -
doesn't mention sex abuse scandal



VATICAN CITY, June 13 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI hailed priests on Sunday as gifts to the world for their generous and courageous work, in a speech that didn't mention the clergy sex abuse scandal.

"Dear friends, the priest is a gift from the heart of Christ, a gift for the church and the world," Benedict told faithful in St. Peter's Square.

"If we look at history, we can observe how many pages of authentic spiritual and social renewal have been written with the decisive contribution of Catholic priests, inspired only by passion for the Gospel and for man, for his true religious and civil freedom," he said.

The Pope's comments didn't mention the international scandal involving pedophile Catholic priests or the mishandling of that abuse by bishops and even Vatican officials.

Two days earlier, in a ceremony in the square capping three days of pro-priest rallies and prayers, Benedict acknowledged the scandal by begging forgiveness from victims of sexual abuse by priests and made a symbolic pledge to do everything possible to protect children.

In his remarks Sunday from his studio window overlooking the square, Benedict cited Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko, who was beatified in Warsaw on June 6 as a martyr during the Communist crackdown on the Solidarity freedom movement in Poland the 1980s.

Popieluszko, who was tortured and killed in 1984 by Polish secret police for championing Solidarity, "carried out his generous and courageous ministry next to all those committed to freedom, to the defense of life and its dignity," Benedict said.

Much of the momentum to rid the Church of pedophile priests and bring them and those covering up for them to justice has come from faithful in the U.S. and Irish churches. [In other words, the Vatican - much less Benedict XVI - had very little do with it! What mean and petty minds there are at AP!]

On Sunday, Benedict asked the faithful to "remember all priests in our prayers" and pray that God "keep them in his grace as faithful friends and ministers."

He also urged Catholics to support their pastors with "wise advice."