BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Versione Completa   Stampa   Cerca   Utenti   Iscriviti     Condividi : FacebookTwitter
Benedetto XVI Forum » Benedetto XVI Forum » English Section » Mainly about BENEDICT XVI, plus relevant items on the Church & the Vatican
Pagine: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ..., 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, [93], 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, ..., 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394
TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 12:15












Sept. 19. 25th Week in Ordinary Time



TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 12:41



Departure from London Nunciature






The Holy Father flew by helicopter to Birmingham for the Beatification of Cardinal Nwman and the concluding Mass of the visit.



Pope Benedict XVI's visit
shows us not a cold didactic man but
a kindly champion of Christian unity
Only a handful of journalists flew with the Pope to Britain
and travelled around the country with his touring party.
Our religious affairs correspondent was one of them.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones

19 Sep 2010


There was a great sense of anticipation on board Shepherd One, the Pope's private plane, as the grey curtain dividing us from the papal entourage was pulled back.

His aides moved to the side to reveal the 83-year-old pontiff shuffling up the aisle, using the seats for balance, to meet the small group of Press given permission to join him on the flight from Rome to the UK.

Standing only a few feet from me, the spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics cut a fragile and weary figure.

Dressed all in white, except for his red shoes that peeped from under his cassock, his eyes blinked often as he waited for our questions.

It is the only point of the papal visit where the Pope addresses journalists directly, but introducing the session, Fr Frederico Lombardi, the Holy See's spokesman, told the Pontiff that the questions and answers would all be in Italian "so as not to tire you".

Pope Benedict's voice sounded hoarse and cracking as he replied to my question on his concerns for the trip.

"Above all I wish you a good-day and a pleasant flight to all of us," he said.

"I must admit that I am not worried, because when I went to France, it was said that it was the most anticlerical country, with strong anticlerical opinions and very few believers; when I went to the Czech Republic it was said that it was the most irreligious country in Europe and the most anticlerical also."

It would have been understandable if he was anxious at the reception that awaited him, given that in the run-up to his state visit to Britain – the first in papal history – opposition had been shrill, with atheists threatening to have him arrested and apathy seeming to be the prevailing mood.

But instead he said he was arriving in "good spirits and with joy".

"Naturally Great Britain has had is own history of anti-Catholicism. This is obvious; but it is also a country with a great history of tolerance."

His reply appeared to be going down well with his posse of aides who stood behind him as he spoke, smiling and nodding at almost every other word.

Most prominent were Georg Ganswein, his private secretary who has become known as Gorgeous George for his Hollywood-good looks, and Cardinal Bertone, the Holy See's secretary of state, who comes across as more mafia don than Don Juan with his bovine face and menacing dark eyes.

Pope Benedict then surprised us by choosing to address the clerical abuse scandal, expressing his shock and sadness at the revelations and criticising the Church for failing to act swiftly enough, before adding: "Now we are in a moment of repentance and humility."

After speaking for 15 minutes, the Pope raised his arms to give his papal wave, before returning to his seat with his entourage filing behind him like bridesmaids dutifully following a bride, Fr Ganswein gently brushing down his cassock as he walked.

With the curtain pulled back again, conversation among the Press pack immediately turned to the Pope's comments on sex abuse.

Hopes were expressed that his decision to address this issue right at the outset of the visit signalled a new appreciation that the Catholic Church has suffered from its attempts to handle the issue behind the closed doors of the Vatican and needed to be more proactive.

It meant that the Pope started his historic visit by setting the news agenda on his terms, changing the narrative from one of opposition to his arrival to a picture of a humble pontiff prepared to acknowledge his Church's mistakes.

As we were rushed from Edinburgh airport with a police escort to the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Thursday, his comments on the plane were already leading the news.

Yet, only an hour later, Pope Benedict launched his first attack on "aggressive secularism", suggesting atheism was behind the rise of Nazism.

One of the greatest successes of his visit has been his ability to continually surprise, whether with his actions or with his words. [Now you're learning!]

Britain has seldom seen so many historic precedents set in such a short space of time: his meeting with the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Thursday; his speech the following day in Westminster Hall to politicians, including Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher; his meeting with Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace, the home of former Catholic archbishops.

With clouds of incense rising in the background, the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury knelt side by side in Westminister Abbey on Friday with their heads bowed in prayer.

With the tomb of Elizabeth I only yards away, such an image of unity represented the potential for a new chapter in a relationship between their Churches which has been scarred by conflict and distrust.

This picture would have been unthinkable at the start of the 20th century, when the monarch was required to read a Coronation Oath denouncing Rome and all its "idolatry and superstition", and even seemed unlikely as recently as last year after the Pope upset the Archbishop of Canterbury with his offer to entice disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism.

It was only a few years ago that Pope Benedict, Cardinal Ratzinger at the time, described the Church of England as a "defective" faith. [The reporter is being irresponsible. He should have said that the cardinal issued a doctrinal document, approved by John Paul II, reiterating the Catholic Church belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the one Church established by Christ, and that all other Christian denominations established after breaking away from the Roman Church are therefore 'deficient'. DOMINUS IESUS was one of those necessary, IF NOT MANDATORY, 'correctives' to liberal misinterpretations of Vatican II.]

But these are different times and now he is looking to the Anglicans to join him in his fight against secularism and to re-evangelise the West, even going so far as to call for unity between the two Churches. [What religious affairs correspondent does not know that a call for unity between the Christian churches has been the goal of the ecumenical movement (born in Edinburgh) which marked its 100th anniversary this year?]

"I come here today as a pilgrim from Rome, to pray before the tomb of Saint Edward the Confessor and to join you in imploring the gift of Christian unity," he said.

Where there had been tension and resentment a few months ago, relations now appeared genuinely warm as they embraced each other in the Abbey. [Please, they already met earlier this year at the Vatican and must have had a good talk about Anglicanorum coetibus!!]

They walked together side by side down the aisle of Westminster Hall, reflecting an attempt by the pontiff to treat the archbishop as his equal, whatever his previous utterances.

"In a world marked by growing interdependence and solidarity, we are challenged to proclaim with renewed conviction the reality of our reconciliation and liberation in Christ," Pope Benedict said.

It remains to be seen what impact his speech today will have on the new level of dialogue and partnership between the two leaders, but it is unlikely the Pope sees any conflict between urging Anglicans to join the Catholic Church and attempts to build closer ties with the Anglican Communion.

Indeed, today's beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, Catholicism's most famous Anglican convert, encapsulates for the German pontiff the essence of the completion of a journey from one tradition to another.

In Cardinal Newman's teaching he sees the importance of faith and reason being maintained together and this has been at the heart of his messages for the country to protect and value its Christian roots and reject the tide of "aggressive secularism", which he warns threatens not just religious freedom, but democracy itself.

This has been his leitmotif for the trip: a rallying call for the place of religion in the public square, not to be marginalised and privatised but cherished and respected.

While the last census showed that 70 per cent of the population describe themselves as Christian, the numbers going to church each Sunday have fallen dramatically over the last 50 years.

Over the past decade, Catholic leaders have regularly clashed with the government over the introduction of liberal laws, whether on gay adoption or the creation of hybrid embryos.

Fundamentalist Christians have fallen foul of legislation and have tested its implications with a series of employment tribunals that have raised concerns that they are facing discrimination in the workplace: from a British Airways employee being prevented from wearing a cross, to council workers being told not to share traditional biblical views on issues such as sexuality.

Ahead of the Pope's arrival in Britain, his critics had characterised him as the German "rottweiler" who exemplified the worst of religious fundamentalism with his condemnation of homosexuality and his opposition to abortion and contraception.

There had been fears among some of the organisers of the trip over how Britain would look to the rest of the world if these voices of opposition overshadowed the trip.

However, by Friday afternoon, Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, was standing alone on Westminster bridge, looking tired, dejected and dispirited. [He must have revived Saturday when organizers came up with some 10,000 protestors to join him and carry all the anti-Pope posters they had prefabircated!]

Members of the Pope's entourage, however, could be overheard talking about how the visit was exceeding their expectations. Even the sun had been shining, they pointed out.

Some might suggest that expectations were so low following all the unfavourable comparisons with Pope John Paul II that Pope Benedict almost could not fail.

Regarded as a timid professor, more comfortable with studying the teaching of Cardinal Newman than mixing with crowds, he has come across as much more human than he had been portrayed.

The kiss delivered to baby Maria Tyszczak at the Mass in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park will be one of the most memorable pictures of the visit, but the Pope has been just as natural when blessing young children at the more low-key events of his tour.

The affection is very much reciprocated by the children. Of the 70,000 people at the Mass in Glasgow, a significant proportion were teenagers.

They waved flags, and sporadic screams were heard every time the Popemobile went through a different section of the park. The Pope left Westminster Abbey to the sound of young people singing.

The Pope will return to Rome today having enhanced his popularity significantly. The visit has helped to dispel the caricature of a cold, didactic pontiff; in its place has emerged a picture of a kindly, fragile champion of Christian unity.

I hope the favorable impressions last. In the media world, these have been transitory - acknowledgement and even acclamation after triumphs like Turkey, the United States, France, Australia, and then back to the same stereotypes from the days when he was Cardinal Ratzinger and the more than slightful comparisons with John Paul II.


A sidebar, sort of, to the 'Christian unity' theme:

A 'protest' sign
the Pope would have liked
by Greg Burke

September 19, 2010



Left, Greg Burke with the 'protestor'.

It’s not every day you see Latin on a placard protesting the Pope. When the anti-papal crowd of several thousand atheists, radical feminists and gay activists gathered in London this weekend, most of the banners were pretty simple: stuff like “Nope to the Pope” and “Papa Don’t Preach.”

But later in the afternoon, on the edges of the papal motorcade, and amidst a number of cheering fans of Benedict, there was a poster raised demanding, “DROP THE FILIOQUE.”

What? You have to know a little bit of Latin, and a lot of theology and history to get that one.

It wasn’t really a poster; it more like Magic Marker theology on a pizza box. And a young man named Toby Guise was happy to explain where, in his opinion, the Catholic Church had gone wrong.

“Filioque” means “And the Son,” and refers to a centuries-old debate between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, about whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, as the Orthodox believe, or from the Father and the Son, which is the Catholic teaching.

That’s tough stuff, material for smart folks debating in a graduate school seminar. Perhaps it’s too bad the Pope didn’t see the pizza box; he would have been amused.

And in his former career as a professor and not a pontiff, he probably would have liked to talk to the young man holding it up.


Benedict gratifies
the window watchers
at Wimbledon
by Salvatore Izzo





LONDON, Sept. 18 (Translated from AGI) - Coming back from the prayer vigil at Hyde Park tonight, Benedict XVI decided he would show himself at one of the Nunciature windows looking out on the street in order to acknowledge a crowd that had waited to catch a glimpse of him.

The presence of wellwishers for the third night in a row in suburban Wimbledon at that time of night was yet another proof of the great affection that London Catholics have shown the Pope in the past two days.

A large crowd awaited him when he came in from Glasgow on Thursday night, and he showed up at the window the first time. The same thing Friday night after he came back from the ecumenical Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey.

It says much about how Benedict XVI, at 83, does not spare himself.


Memo to all Nunciatures: When the Pope is scheduled to visit, plan to improvise a Pope window or Pope balcony if you don't already have one! The Benedictines of Sao Paolo did that in 2007 - but you don't have to enclose it in bulletproof glass as they did theirs (which was probably prudent in Sao Paolo!]

TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 13:11


From the Beatification Mass today:
Brief biography of Cardinal Newman
read before the proclamation



JOHN HENRY NEWMAN(1801-1890)
John Henry Newman was born in London in 1801.
He was for over twenty years an Anglican clergyman
and Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. As a preacher,
theologian and leader of the Oxford Movement, he
was a prominent fi gure in the Church of England.
His studies of the early Church drew him progressively
towards full communion with the Catholic Church.
With his companions he withdrew to a life of study
and prayer at Littlemore outside Oxfordwhere in 1845,
Blessed Dominic Barberi, a Passionist priest, received
him into the Catholic Church. In 1847 he was himself
ordained priest in Rome and, encouraged by Blessed
Pope Pius IX, went on to found the Oratory of Saint
Philip Neri in England. He was a prolific and
influential writer on a variety of subjects, including
the development of Christian doctrine, faith and reason,
the true nature of conscience, and university education.
In 1879 he was created Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII.
Praised for his humility, his life of prayer, his
unstinting care of souls and contributions to the
intellectual life of the Church, he died on 11 August
1890 in the Birmingham Oratory which he had founded.



Declared 'Blessed' today,
Cardinal Newman is nonetheless a saint
by Don Wooten
Sept. 19, 2010

Today is a big day for English hagiographers.

If all has gone according to plan, John Henry Cardinal Newman has now been certified as the Blessed Cardinal Newman, one step away from sainthood. Writing well ahead of the event means I'm trusting that the Pope's four-day trip to the United Kingdom went off without a hitch.

Benedict XVI decided on the trip, not just to hobnob with royalty, confer with church leaders, and encounter selected segments of the Scotch and English population, but for the specific purpose of advancing Newman from Venerable status to Blessed.

As has been noted in the publicity surrounding the event, he is breaking his own rule by doing so. He decreed that the Pope should not be involved in such installations, but preside only at canonizations.

There has been some speculation that Newman would also be declared a Doctor of the Church, but that honor has not been included in a very detailed itinerary and the vatican almost never does anything without lengthy advance planning.

Still, that title is not unmerited. Newman was perhaps the most important and influential religious figure during the 19th Century and the quality of his thought and devotion shine through his most famIliar works, Apologia pro vita sua and The Idea of a University.

When the news of his beatification first broke, I went back to both works, unread since seminary days. Even some 150 years after their publication, they make compelling reading. He was said to be shy and, in his own words, had not "a grain of conviviality" in him, yet he had a charismatic appeal which went well beyond sectarian bounds.

Much of this is due to the force and clarity of his writing. He was not a compelling speaker, yet his sermons were enormously popular, especially in print. When his Apologia was first released, London's Saturday Review called it "one of the most interesting books of the present literary age."

That book was occasioned by a stinging charge from the Rev. Charles Kingsley, that Newman and the catholic Church did not value truth. This echoed the old charge of "equivocation" made against Father Henry Garnet, a figure in the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot.

Newman responded in a series of essays, beginning with a humorous countercharge, followed by a moving account of his life and developing religious opinion, and ending with a slashing attack which demolished his accuser.

The series was then re-edited into a book with some of the concluding fire tamped down. Wilfrid Ward combined both versions of Newman's "Apologia" in his edition of the work, giving us the author, first as a theological combatant, and then as a judicious prose stylist.

I remember reading Idea of a University and being impressed by the range of his erudition. I also heartily approved of his notion that just reading the material doesn't quite do the job. You need the personal give and take of the classroom. I wonder what he would make of "online universities."

Pope Benedict's beatification of Cardinal Newman is not without controversy. John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, calls it a pontifical hijacking, accusing the Pope of trying to turn a liberal religious thinker into an "exemplar of unquestioning papal allegiance."

This has prompted furious reactions from Catholics who accuse Cornwell of playing fast and loose with the facts. Admittedly, Newman called Pius IX's reign "a climax of tyranny." Yet Newman defended papal infallibility, albeit in a somewhat restricted manner. Some Vatican insiders considered him "the most dangerous man in England."

Much of Newman's life was spent in conflict with authority, yet he was not personally confrontational. He was willing to follow wherever the truth led him. He began as a Calvinist thinker, became a major force in the Oxford Movement -- High Anglican clerics tending toward Catholicism -- then a Catholic priest who wanted the church to be more open.

He wrote the hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light," "The Dream of Gerontius," (set to music by Edward Elgar), religious tracts, and numerous works in every literary form. It is said he prayed with a pen in his hand.

Pope John Paul II canonized more saints than all his predecessors combined. Benedict is proceeding at a more judicious pace. But he ought to waste no time in declaring the obvious: Cardinal Newman is a saint.

Don Wooten of Rock Island is a former state senator and veteran broadcaster.


Newman’s unequivocal submission to the Pope
Letter to the Editor

From Mr Michael Schutzer-Weissmann.
Sept. 18, 2010

Sir, In his article, “The Hand of Benedict” (September 11), John Cornwell describes John Henry Newman as “a source of inspiration to Catholic Liberals”, a man “who has iconic stature for liberal Catholic intellectuals throughout the English-speaking world”.

When on May 12 1879, at the age of 78, Newman was given the cardinal’s hat, he began his acceptance speech in Italian, but changed into English as if addressing his real audience:

“For 30, 40, 50 years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of liberalism in religion. Never did holy church need champions against it more sorely than now, when, alas! it is an error overspreading, as a snare, the whole earth ... ”

Mr Cornwell goes on to say that Newman has been “pontifically hijacked” by the Vatican in presenting him as “an exemplar of ... papal allegiance.”

Here, too, Newman must be seen as a very willing hostage. The following lines from his declaration on papal authority, Cathedra Sempiterna, express unequivocal submission to the successors of St Peter:

“There are kings of the earth who have despotic authority, which their subjects obey indeed but disown in their hearts; but we must never murmur at that absolute rule which the sovereign Pontiff has over us, because it is given to him by Christ, and, in obeying him, we are obeying his Lord.”

Even in the letter to the Duke of Norfolk which ends with his famous toast to conscience ["To conscience first, and then to the Pope"], Newman speaks clearly of the obligation Catholics have to obey papal injunctions:

“Prima facie it is his bounden duty, even from a sentiment of loyalty, to believe the Pope right and to act accordingly.”

Cornwell, as in his books retailing his systematic slander of Pius XII and his sinister insinuations about the death of John Paul I, always chooses to cite only those statements that will support whatever his hypothesis is. Fr. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, who was one of two Newman expert commentators whoo aided Raymond Arroyo in the coverage of the UK visit, even disputes Cornwell's credentials as a scholar, precisely because of his intellectual dishonesty.



TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 13:50









RITE OF BEATIFICATION
After the Kyrie:
The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard
Longley, petitions the Holy Father that the Venerable John Henry
Cardinal Newman be beatified:
Most Holy Father,
the Archbishop of Birminghm
humbly requests
that the Venerable Servant of God
John Henry Newman
be proclaimed Blessed.
The Vice-Postulator of the Cause for the Canonization of Cardinal
Newman reads a biography of the Venerable John Henry
Cardinal Newman.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (1801-1890)
John Henry Newman was born in London in 1801.
He was for over twenty years an Anglican clergyman
and Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. As a preacher,
theologian and leader of the Oxford Movement, he
was a prominent figure in the Church of England.
His studies of the early Church drew him progressively
towards full communion with the Catholic Church.
With his companions he withdrew to a life of study
and prayer at Littlemore outside Oxford where in 1845,
Blessed Dominic Barberi, a Passionist priest, received
him into the Catholic Church. In 1847 he was himself
ordained priest in Rome and, encouraged by Blessed
Pope Pius IX, went on to found the Oratory of Saint
Philip Neri in England. He was a prolific and influential
writer on a variety of subjects, including the development
of Christian doctrine, faith and reason, the true nature
of conscience, and university education. In 1879 he was
created Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. Praised for his
humility, his life of prayer, his unstinting care of
souls and contributions to the intellectual life of the
Church, he died in the Birmingham Oratory which he had
founded on 11 August 1890.

FORMULA OF BEATIFICATION

The Holy Father:
Acceding to the request of our Brother
Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham,
of many other of our Brothers in the episcopate,
and many of the faithful,
after consultation
with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,
by our apostolic authority
we declare
that the Venerable Servant of God
Cardinal John Henry Newman,
Priest of the Congregation of the Oratory,
shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed
and that his feast shall be celebrated
every year on the ninth of October,
in the places and according to the norms
established by Church law.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
C. Amen.

The portrait of the new Blessed is then unveiled and his relics are
placed beside the altar.
Meanwhile the assembly raises a song of praise to the Lord:

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise,
in all his words most wonderful,
most sure in all his ways.

The Archbishop of Birmingham thanks the Holy Father:

Most Holy Father,
I, the Ordinary of Birmingham
give heartfelt thanks to your Holiness
for having today proclaimed Blessed
the Venerable Servant of God
John Henry Newman.

The Archbishop, the Postulator and the Vice-Postulator receive
the kiss of peace from the Holy Father.

The Gloria follows.



Pope Benedict beatifies
Cardinal John Henry Newman

Sept. 19, 2010



Thousands of people have witnessed Pope Benedict XVI's beatification of 19th Century theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman, as his UK state visit draws to a close.

The Pontiff told more than 50,000 people at a Mass in Birmingham's Cofton Park that they were celebrating the cardinal's "outstanding holiness".

He paid tribute to his insights into the vital place of "religion in civilised society".

The beatification brings the cardinal one step closer to becoming a saint.

A loud cheer followed the beatification, which was the first performed by Pope Benedict XVI himself.

After the Mass in Cofton Park, the Pope will meet men studying for the priesthood.

In his homily, the pontiff marked the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain by paying tribute to the those who sacrificed their lives resisting the "evil ideology" of the Nazi regime.

The German-born Pope, who was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a 14-year-old schoolboy, told listeners:

"For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology."

And, paying tribute to Cardinal Newman, the Pontiff said the beatification was an "auspicious" day.

"His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilised society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance to Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world," he said.

The Pope said it was fitting that thousands had gathered to celebrate the "outstanding holiness or this much loved father of souls".

To be beatified - or made blessed, the penultimate step on the path to full sainthood - an individual's worthiness must be proven by the attribution of a miracle following a petition by someone in need.

Following the beatification Cardinal Newman will henceforth be known as the Blessed John Henry Newman.

BBC correspondent James Robbins said it sets the theologian firmly on the road to sainthood.

Rain fell steadily on the thousands of pilgrims at Cofton Park who gathered for the open Mass.

Many armed with folding chairs and dressed in waterproofs trudged past souvenir scarf and flag sellers to get into the park in advance of the Mass.

Anglican convert Nina Watson, 52, from Streatham, south London said she had left home in the early hours to embark on a coach trip to Birmingham.

She said the Pope had been "wonderful and inspiring" during his UK visit.

"He is so clear, and he talks about love and finding God. He has been absolutely wonderful," she said.

Frances McHugh, 67, a retired secretary from Shirley, Birmingham, and a parishioner at Our Lady of the Wayside Church described the pontiff as "a very holy man", adding that "it is lovely to see him in this country".

"We have not had to go to see him in Rome, he has come to see us," she said.

During the trip, Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out about what he called the "marginalisation" of Christianity and the march of "aggressive secularism".

Speaking in Birmingham later on Sunday, Mr Cameron will tell the Pope: "Faith is part of the fabric of our country.

"It always has been and it always will be."

Mr Cameron will say that people did not have to share a faith to see the value of the "searching questions" that the Pope had posed about "society and how we treat ourselves and each other".

"You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing," he will say.

"Because I believe we can all share in your message of working for the common good... and that we all have a social obligation to each other, to our families and our communities."

The Pope will also visit the Catholic Seminary of Oscott, which struggles to find sufficient recruits to train as future priests.

And he will end his state visit with an address to the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales, when he is expected to refer again to the abuse of children - an issue which has run through his trip to Britain.

Speaking on Saturday during a Mass at Westminster Cathedral, Pope Benedict expressed his "deep sorrow" for the "unspeakable crimes" of child abuse within the Catholic Church.

The Pontiff also held a private 30-minute meeting at the Vatican ambassador's home in Wimbledon with five abuse survivors, three of whom were from Yorkshire, one from London and another from Scotland.

Meanwhile, six men who were being held in connection with an alleged threat to the Pope's visit were released without charge.


HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Cofton Park of Rednal - Birmingham
Sunday, 19 September 2010



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This day that has brought us together here in Birmingham is a most auspicious one.

In the first place, it is the Lord’s day, Sunday, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and changed the course of human history for ever, offering new life and hope to all who live in darkness and in the shadow of death.

That is why Christians all over the world come together on this day to give praise and thanks to God for the great marvels he has worked for us.

This particular Sunday also marks a significant moment in the life of the British nation, as it is the day chosen to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.

My thoughts go in particular to nearby Coventry, which suffered such heavy bombardment and massive loss of life in November 1940. Seventy years later, we recall with shame and horror the dreadful toll of death and destruction that war brings in its wake, and we renew our resolve to work for peace and reconciliation wherever the threat of conflict looms.

Yet there is another, more joyful reason why this is an auspicious day for Great Britain, for the Midlands, for Birmingham. It is the day that sees Cardinal John Henry Newman formally raised to the altars and declared Blessed.

I thank Archbishop Bernard Longley for his gracious welcome at the start of Mass this morning. I pay tribute to all who have worked so hard over many years to promote the cause of Cardinal Newman, including the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory and the members of the Spiritual Family Das Werk.

And I greet everyone here from Great Britain, Ireland, and further afield; I thank you for your presence at this celebration, in which we give glory and praise to God for the heroic virtue of a saintly Englishman.

England has a long tradition of martyr saints, whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries.

Yet it is right and fitting that we should recognize today the holiness of a confessor, a son of this nation who, while not called to shed his blood for the Lord, nevertheless bore eloquent witness to him in the course of a long life devoted to the priestly ministry, and especially to preaching, teaching, and writing.

He is worthy to take his place in a long line of saints and scholars from these islands, Saint Bede, Saint Hilda, Saint Aelred, Blessed Duns Scotus, to name but a few.

In Blessed John Henry, that tradition of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord has borne rich fruit, as a sign of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit deep within the heart of God’s people, bringing forth abundant gifts of holiness.

Cardinal Newman’s motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or “Heart speaks unto heart”, gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God.

He reminds us that faithfulness to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of his many fine sermons, “a habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency – prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually … he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231).

Today’s Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. Lk 16:13), and Blessed John Henry’s teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim to our unconditional devotion (cf. Mt 23:10).

Newman helps us to understand what this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a “definite service”, committed uniquely to every single person:

“I have my mission”, he wrote, “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place … if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling” (Meditations and Devotions, 301-2).

The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing “subjects of the day”.

His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world.

I would like to pay particular tribute to his vision for education, which has done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today.

Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together.

The project to found a Catholic University in Ireland provided him with an opportunity to develop his ideas on the subject, and the collection of discourses that he published as The Idea of a University holds up an ideal from which all those engaged in academic formation can continue to learn.

And indeed, what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it” (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390).

On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.

While it is John Henry Newman’s intellectual legacy that has understandably received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor of souls.

The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3).

He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison.

No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here.

One hundred and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church’s solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls.

What better way to express the joy of this moment than by turning to our heavenly Father in heartfelt thanksgiving, praying in the words that Blessed John Henry Newman placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven:

'Praise to the Holiest in the height
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways!'
(The Dream of Gerontius).

Before the Mass ended, the Holy Father also led the recital of the Angelus, and delivered this message before the prayers:

Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

I am pleased to send my greetings to the people of Seville where, just yesterday, Madre María de la Purísima de la Cruz was beatified. May Blessed María be an inspiration to young women to follow her example of single-minded love of God and neighbour.

When Blessed John Henry Newman came to live in Birmingham, he gave the name “Maryvale” to his first home here. The Oratory that he founded is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. And the Catholic University of Ireland he placed under the patronage of Mary, Sedes Sapientiae.

In so many ways, he lived his priestly ministry in a spirit of filial devotion to the Mother of God. Meditating upon her role in the unfolding of God’s plan for our salvation, he was moved to exclaim:

“Who can estimate the holiness and perfection of her, who was chosen to be the Mother of Christ? What must have been her gifts, who was chosen to be the only near earthly relative of the Son of God, the only one whom He was bound by nature to revere and look up to; the one appointed to train and educate Him, to instruct Him day by day, as He grew in wisdom and in stature?” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, ii, 131-2).

It is on account of those abundant gifts of grace that we honour her, and it is on account of that intimacy with her divine Son that we naturally seek her intercession for our own needs and the needs of the whole world.

In the words of the Angelus, we turn now to our Blessed Mother and commend to her the intentions that we hold in our hearts.



Thanks to Father Z for the videocaps as I have not had time to go through the news agency photos yet.

And I am still rather rapt from the Mass in Cofton Park, as I was from the Mass in Westminster Cathedral yesterday (top scores for its music). On top of all the historical significances of the occasion, for Blessed John Henry as for Benedict XVI, it's the first time I have followed the beatification process and rite for someone I have personally admired and, in a sense, 'followed' over the years for the beauty and power of his writings...

Plus it was singularly beautiful for all the resonances. The Pope's homily was a wonderful distillation of the essence of Newman. James MacMillan's commissioned Mass was timelessly beautiful, and the liturgy was a seamless blend of ritual, words and music. The physical setting for the Mass was appealingly rustic and truly appropriate for Blessed Newman.

I would have wished for a much larger crowd in view of the occasion, but one cannot fault the fervor and demeanor of the Catholics who turned up for the Pope and for his Masses throughout this trip....The altar-stage, whose design had been much maligned, proved to be, in execution, one of the best designs yet for a papal Mass in Benedict's Pontificate. The altar table, Pope's chair and ambo certainly did not look Ikea at all - the motifs on the altar and on the back of the chair were well thought out and well-designed. And the backdrop was simple but striking, effective and efficient.


Here's an account of the visit by a significant news outlet that is not usually a source for papal news:

Pope ends UK visit by
beatifying Cardinal Newman

Sept. 19, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI spent the last day of his four-day visit to Britain celebrating a Mass before some 50,000 people in Birmingham's Cofton Park at a ceremony where the pontiff also beatified a 19th-century Anglican convert.

It was the first beatification for Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal John Henry Newman is considered one of the Catholic Church's leading thinkers. In the 1830s, after an unsuccessful attempt to reform the Anglican Church, Newman turned to Catholicism.

He converted to Catholicism in 1845, believing that was the true faith and then ascended through the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to become a cardinal. [No, he did not exactly ascend the hierarchy. H remained a parish priest to the end of his life, and Leo XIII made him a cardinal even if he had never been a bishop.]

Newman met the final criterion for beatification after a man in the United States who suffered from a debilitating spinal disorder said he had been cured in 2001 after praying to Newman. Last year, Pope Benedict declared this a miracle.

Vatican officials are checking claims of a second miracle connected to Cardinal Newman in Mexico. If confirmed by Vatican officials, the second miracle would make Cardinal Newman eligible to be declared a saint.

The beatification of Cardinal Newman was the highlight of the day for many.

"The reason I am here today is because I have always had a very strong admiration for Cardinal Newman," said Michael Collinane, originally from Ireland but now a resident of Birmingham. "And anything I have learned about him I have always been impressed by."

For some, like Birmingham resident Marcia McCabe, it was simply enough that the Pontiff was in Birmingham.

"It means a lot," she said. "It means I can go home and tell my children how special our faith is. How happy and caring everybody is being. It is just really nice to come and share this with everybody."

That was true also for 92-year-old Birmingham resident Margaret Andrews, who attended today's Mass.

"I think he is simply marvelous. He is my leader. He is the representative of God almighty," Andrews said. "I am a Catholic and I do go to Mass frequently. And when I knew that he was going to be as near to home as this, nothing would keep me away."

Catholics make up only about 10 percent of Britain's population, and not all of them were satisfied with the Pope's visit. [The demonstrations and protests cited after this statement were not by Catholics at all!]

Demonstrations against sexual abuse by some priests of the church were held during the pontiff's trip, which started in Scotland and also took in London. Some people in those areas also rallied against Pope Benedict's stance on homosexuality and abortion.

The start of the Pope's trip to Britain was marred after British police announced they had detained six men suspected of plotting a terrorist attack during Benedict's visit. Police later freed all six men without charges. [The arrests did nothing to affect the visit, much less mar it. Authorities promptly determined that the perceived threat was not significant enough to make any changes to the Pope's program.]

TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 17:52


Here's the first evaluation of the visit from the BBC, which has a vested interest in sticking to its seriously mis-aimed guns, epitomized in that mendacious and slanderous documentary in 2006 about the sex abuse issue. Hence, their correspondent looks at the Pope's visit mainly from the BBC's distorted prism... The piece could be re-titled "How to eat crow and try to save face"...


What has the Pope's visit achieved?
By Robert Pigott
Religious affairs correspondent

Sept. 19. 2010


Popes do not just arrive in a country without knowing what they are about to encounter of course.

Catholic leaders in Scotland and in England and Wales have been briefing the Vatican for some time, and, no doubt, contributing to the Pope's speeches.

That is why Pope Benedict began to talk about sex abuse on the plane carrying him to Britain, an early acknowledgement of the Church's own failing in acting quickly enough to prevent it.

But the Pope did not make any reference to the biggest obstacle to healing the victims of abuse in his airborne press conference - the systematic covering up of abuse by the Church. [First of all, there was nothing systematic about it at all, if only because the dioceses that have been significantly afflicted constitute a small minority of the world's 2,500-plus dioceses; 2) any cover-up was always completely the decision of the local bishop, and not all of the bishops concerned engaged in cover-up; and 3) contrary to what the BBC and shyster lawyers claim - based on their wilful mistranslation and misrepresentation of instructions regarding maintenance of privacy for accused and accusers in canonical processes, which is SOP in the civilian justice system - there was certainly never any instruction from the Vatican telling bishops to cover up. Surely, no one in the Vatican, in modern times, would have been foolish enough to order bishops to do anything improper, unethical, immoral and/or simply wrong!]

When he has referred to the way the Church's reputation was protected at the expense of children's welfare - in a letter to the Irish Church last March, the Pope seemed to be blaming local bishops. [Seemed to? He said so. Because the local bishops concerned individually and personally made the decisions on how to deal with offending priests, as they do about all administrative decisions in their diocese. Even after the CDF was given the competence over sex abuse offenses, it still depends on the local bishop to report the cases to them. If they don't but a complaint goes directly to the CDF, the latter must still work with the local bishop in some way when investigating the case.]

So, when in Westminster Cathedral he used the phrase "all of us" in acknowledging the shame and humiliation brought by abuse, it seemed to be an admission of some corporate responsibility of the world-wide Church, and a step closer to what survivors' groups have demanded. [When every Catholic acknowledges the shame and humiliation brought on by the crimes of a few, that is not acknowledging collective or corporate responsibility for the offense: the responsibility for the crime itself always and ever rests with the individual priest, who does not commit a sex crime 'in the name of the Church' - as jihadists claim to commit terrorism in the name of Islam - but only to indulge his personal lusts!

He also referred once again to sex abuse as a crime, an admission that the Church can no longer go on calling it a "sin", and by implication something it can deal with by internal discipline. [Now, how stupid is that statement? A sin is always a sin, and many sins are also crimes, but being a crime does not stop it from being a sin.

The Church, in fact, recognizes two kinds of crimes - canonical and civilian crimes. Canonical crimes are almost never civilian crimes, because most are these are sins/crimes against the faith and/or the sacraments and/or morals. Only sins that are also canonical crimes are dealt with by 'internal discipline', through processes defined by canon law. But like all personal sins, the Catholic must still deal with them personally and individually through confession, genuine repentance and atonement.]

Then a few hours later Pope Benedict met five people who had been abused by priests, in what his spokesman Federico Lombardi described as an emotional meeting.

Organisations representing abuse survivors say actions will speak louder than words. Such papal meetings have worked well in taking the heat out of this festering issue in the past, especially in Malta earlier this year.

Someone who knew the five, said they were "not angry... but they have anger in them".

Organisations representing abuse survivors say actions will speak louder than words: they want files on abusing priests handed to the police. [Sure, any time the individual victim authorizes it. It cannot just turn over filed en masse indiscriminately!]

The Pope is understood to have told the five people - three from Yorkshire, and one each from Scotland and London - that the Church was, among other things, ready to co-operate with the civil authorities in bringing abusive priests to justice.

But when new guidelines were published this summer, they fell some way short of the automatic reporting to civil authorities that happens under the system used by the Church in England and Wales. [Read the news, Mr. Piggott. It has been explained over and over that 1) the internal instructions are precisely that - instructions for dealing with the cases within the Church. Reporting to civilian authorities is not part of the internal process; 2) Bishops will do what the law in their respective countries requires them to do (there is no uniform rule followed in all countries), otherwise they become legally liable; and 3) most importantly from the commonsense point of view, nothing stops the victim or his advocates from reporting directly to the police - even if the bishop fails to report something he receives information about!]

A lot will depend on what the five people who talked and prayed with the Pope say. Survivors' groups ask - reasonably enough - how they were selected by the Catholic dioceses who put them forward. [First, they had to be willing, obviously. The rest of the criteria, presumably, had to be on a case-by-case basis, as no two cases are identical. But the 'more aggrieved' would probably have an advantage, Anyway, did any of the victims represented by these advocacy groups ever volunteer or present a request to their local bishop???? If they did and were ignored, they have cause to complain. Otherwise, why not be happy for the five who were able to represent their individual anger and hurt - and thereby, the collective anger and hurt of all victims - before the Pope?]

But the Pope is appealing not only to them, but to the general public, and so far the strategy seems to be succeeding.

Extensive television coverage has affirmed the Pope as a person of international stature - what other figure would get so much national attention? [Thanks

It has also given him the opportunity to appear as the pastoral Pope, not just as the dry, authoritarian, teacher. [When has he ever presented himself as anything less than pastoral, much less as 'dry and authoritarian' (especially when his favorite verb is to 'invite' his listeners to do something!).

The visit to St Peter's, the old people's home in Vauxhall, is a good example too of how he is managing to get his message across to a secular society.

In his speech there he said each person was valuable, and had their own worth and dignity even if they were very old and disabled.

The message was that this more or less universal view is central to Catholic teaching. [How is it 'more or less universal' when unwanted and/or defective babies are routinely aborted, and euthanasia is increasingly popular?]

In other words you do not need to go to church or sign up to Catholic dogma, to see the worth of a voice in society defending basic values.

In the same way as he asked children in Twickenham, "what sort of person do you want to be?" He is asking Britons more widely, "what sort of society do you want to have?"

The answer he is providing is that even a secular society needs to stay in touch with the basic, unchanging, moral code offered by religion.

Pope Benedict maintains that it is informed by natural law, or the fundamental nature of people, making it universal and timeless.

But the other thing the visit to Vauxhall allowed the Pope to do was possibly more important still.

The 83-year-old Pope joked about knowing the sorrows of old age, and outside, he greeted onlookers face-to-face. [He was not joking - he made a simple statement of fact!]

The images may turn out to be worth more than any of his speeches, in wooing a sceptical public to Benedict's cause, and to him personally. [Well, he's not interested in wooing anyone to himself, only to his message, which is Christ, no more, no less... And unfortunately, his visit to Vauxhall went almost unnoticed and unreported.]


Fr. Lombardi says UK visit
was 'a spiritual success'


Birmingham, England, Sep 19, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- Behind the crowds who came to see the Pope are "hearts and minds that understand" the Pope's message, said Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi at his daily briefing today.

Noting Britain's "wonderful reception" of Benedict XVI, he gauged the U.K.'s response to the four-day visit as "very, very positive."

At one point in the press briefing, held outdoors at Birmingham's Cofton Park on Sunday, the Vatican spokesman showed his personal devotion to the Eucharist, interrupting a comment at mid-sentence immediately upon hearing the bells that signaled the consecration of the bread and wine at the nearby altar. He was silent in front of the cameras and recording devices for more than two minutes.

Speaking of the Holy Father's impression on the U.K., he said that the fact that thousands of people have met him and that many more have seen and heard him are a testament to just "how good the trip has been."

The Pope's message about the positive contribution of Catholics and the Christian faith to society have been "received very well," added the spokesman, saying that this was "one of the most important points of his message for society in general here."

He also said that it is "wonderful that all the Catholics feel encouraged ... encouraged also to give a positive witness to their faith in society here."

Fr. Lombardi referred journalists to the Pope's words on the plane over to the U.K. to better describe it. In the air on the way to Edinburgh, he said he was not going to the U.K. for the "success" of the Church, but came instead to "be transparent for Jesus Christ" and promote the service of the Christian faith in the society and the world.

"In a sense," he explained, "I think that if the Pope is happy, he's not happy because there are big crowds or other things ... but because we have the clear demonstration that many, many people were listening with profound interest to what the Pope had to say and demonstrated joy in listening to him and to his message.

"I think this is the way in which we can speak of success, it's 'spiritual' success ... not only in crowds (or) impressive moments here, (but) it's what is behind this, that is, 'heart to heart.' There are hearts and minds that understand what the message is."

He also said that it has been a "positive trip" for ecumenism. This, he noted, can be seen in "the clear declaration of the will to go on in the field of theological dialogue and also of practical engagements in society and in the world for peace and so on." The declaration was made by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury in a joint communique after their Friday afternoon meeting.

Asked to compare it to Pope John Paul II's visit in 1982, he said that Benedict XVI's trip has taken place in a different time and context than his predecessor's. But, he added, a positive comparison is seen in the "wonderful reception that the (two) Popes have been received."

Fr. Lombardi said he has often heard of the great enthusiasm for John Paul II's trip and noted talk that this time "it was going to be different. But," he laughed, "I think that this time it was practically the same thing!" [Very well put, and something that needed to be said.]

Regardless of the person, said the spokesman, "if a Pope comes, we see that the people of the United Kingdom are interested, not indifferent ... Catholics in particular, but all people.

"And, then, it is very, very positive, this possibility for the Popes to speak and to bring their message, and also I will repeat what I already said yesterday, if there are critics, if there are demonstrations against (the Pope), this is, for us and for the Pope, normal, and this is also a positive sign of the freedom of expression in this society.

"We have seen that there were critics, but we have seen more times that there were people who were happy and, in this sense, we find that it was very, very positive, the way in which the Pope and his collaborators have been received here."

TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 21:51





DAY 4 OF THE VISIT:
At Birmingham Oratory

9/27/10
A small step back in time: It's taken more than a week to find any pictures online of the Holy Father's private visit to the Birmingham Oratory and Blessed John Newman's new shrine and the rooms he lived in for about five decades until his death in 1890. Thanks to

who posted pictures from the OR catalog for the actual visit inside the oratory and to BBC for pictures of the Holy Father's arrival and departure at the Oratory. I posted this catch-up post on Page 142 of the thread to make sure it is not missed, but I am glad I can now fill up this slot left blank since Sept. 19.


The Holy Father rode the Popemobile to the Oratory in the Edgbaston neighborhood of Birmingham from Cofton Park after the beatification Mass.




At the new Newman Shrine in what was the St. Phillip Neri chapel of the Oratory:


The Pope then visited the new Blessed's private rooms - a library, really, with his desk, and with his private chapel in one corner; as well as a collection of religious items and chasubles used by Cardinal Newman.







And a little 'domestic' moment with a black cat, before ending the visit:



Outside the Oratory, the Holy Father did one of his little impromptu walkabouts to greet the crowd before getting into the car to leave for Oscott College and his last appointment on Sunday, Sept. 19 - a meeting with the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland.




TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 21:52





MEETING WITH UK BISHOPS
AT OSCOTT SEMINARY


THE HOLY FATHER'S ADDRESS
Chapel of the Francis Martin House
Oscott College - Birmingham
Sunday, 19 September 2010

My dear Brother Bishops,

This has been a day of great joy for the Catholic community in these islands. Blessed John Henry Newman, as we may now call him, has been raised to the altars as an example of heroic faithfulness to the Gospel and an intercessor for the Church in this land that he loved and served so well.

Here in this very chapel in 1852, he gave voice to the new confidence and vitality of the Catholic community in England and Wales after the restoration of the hierarchy, and his words could be applied equally to Scotland a quarter of a century later.

His beatification today is a reminder of the Holy Spirit’s continuing action in calling forth gifts of holiness from among the people of Great Britain, so that from east to west and from north to south, a perfect offering of praise and thanksgiving may be made to the glory of God’s name.

I thank Cardinal O’Brien and Archbishop Nichols for their words, and in so doing, I am reminded how recently I was able to welcome all of you to Rome for the Ad Limina visits of your respective Episcopal Conferences.

We spoke then about some of the challenges you face as you lead your people in faith, particularly regarding the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly secularized environment.

In the course of my visit it has become clear to me how deep a thirst there is among the British people for the Good News of Jesus Christ. You have been chosen by God to offer them the living water of the Gospel, encouraging them to place their hopes, not in the vain enticements of this world, but in the firm assurances of the next.

As you proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, with its promise of hope for the poor and the needy, the sick and the elderly, the unborn and the neglected, be sure to present in its fulness the life-giving message of the Gospel, including those elements which call into question the widespread assumptions of today’s culture.

As you know, a Pontifical Council has recently been established for the New Evangelization of countries of long-standing Christian tradition, and I would encourage you to avail yourselves of its services in addressing the task before you.

Moreover, many of the new ecclesial movements have a particular charism for evangelization, and I know that you will continue to explore appropriate and effective ways of involving them in the mission of the Church.

Since your visit to Rome, political changes in the United Kingdom have focused attention on the consequences of the financial crisis, which has caused so much hardship to countless individuals and families. The spectre of unemployment is casting its shadow over many people’s lives, and the long-term cost of the ill-advised investment practices of recent times is becoming all too evident.

In these circumstances, there will be additional calls on the characteristic generosity of British Catholics, and I know that you will take a lead in calling for solidarity with those in need.

The prophetic voice of Christians has an important role in highlighting the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, who can so easily be overlooked in the allocation of limited resources.

In their teaching document Choosing the Common Good, the Bishops of England and Wales underlined the importance of the practice of virtue in public life.

Today’s circumstances provide a good opportunity to reinforce that message, and indeed to encourage people to aspire to higher moral values in every area of their lives, against a background of growing cynicism regarding even the possibility of virtuous living.

Another matter which has received much attention in recent months, and which seriously undermines the moral credibility of Church leaders, is the shameful abuse of children and young people by priests and religious.

I have spoken on many occasions of the deep wounds that such behaviour causes, in the victims first and foremost, but also in the relationships of trust that should exist between priests and people, between priests and their bishops, and between the Church authorities and the public.

I know that you have taken serious steps to remedy this situation, to ensure that children are effectively protected from harm and to deal properly and transparently with allegations as they arise. You have publicly acknowledged your deep regret over what has happened, and the often inadequate ways it was addressed in the past.

Your growing awareness of the extent of child abuse in society, its devastating effects, and the need to provide proper victim support should serve as an incentive to share the lessons you have learned with the wider community.

Indeed, what better way could there be of making reparation for these sins than by reaching out, in a humble spirit of compassion, towards children who continue to suffer abuse elsewhere? Our duty of care towards the young demands nothing less.

As we reflect on the human frailty that these tragic events so starkly reveal, we are reminded that, if we are to be effective Christian leaders, we must live lives of the utmost integrity, humility and holiness.

As Blessed John Henry Newman once wrote, “O that God would grant the clergy to feel their weakness as sinful men, and the people to sympathize with them and love them and pray for their increase in all good gifts of grace” (Sermon, 22 March 1829).

I pray that among the graces of this visit will be a renewed dedication on the part of Christian leaders to the prophetic vocation they have received, and a new appreciation on the part of the people for the great gift of the ordained ministry.

Prayer for vocations will then arise spontaneously, and we may be confident that the Lord will respond by sending labourers to bring in the plentiful harvest that he has prepared throughout the United Kingdom (cf. Mt 9:37-38).

In this regard, I am glad that I will shortly have the opportunity to meet the seminarians of England, Scotland and Wales, and to assure them of my prayers as they prepare to play their part in bringing in that harvest.

Finally, I should like to speak to you about two specific matters that affect your episcopal ministry at this time.

One is the imminent publication of the new translation of the Roman Missal. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the contribution you have made, with such painstaking care, to the collegial exercise of reviewing and approving the texts.

This has provided an immense service to Catholics throughout the English-speaking world. I encourage you now to seize the opportunity that the new translation offers for in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration.

“The more lively the eucharistic faith of the people of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 6).

The other matter I touched upon in February with the Bishops of England and Wales, when I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics.

It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.

Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished.

With these sentiments, I thank you warmly for your hospitality over the past four days. Commending all of you and the people you serve to the intercession of Saint Andrew, Saint David and Saint George, I am pleased to impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and to all the clergy, religious and lay faithful of England, Scotland and Wales.




TERESA BENEDETTA
00domenica 19 settembre 2010 22:13




DEPARTURE FOR ROME
Pope Benedict XVI
concludes visit to UK


Pope Benedict XVI has concluded his official visit to the UK after travelling to Birmingham for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.



The Prime Minister bid farewell to the delegation at Birmingham Airport and paid tribute to the Pope for challenging Britain to “sit up and think”.

The PM said that he has shown that faith was still “a vital part of our national conversation". Mr. Cameron's full remarks:
Your Holiness Pope Benedict,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

This ceremony brings to a close an incredibly moving four days for our country.

Your Holiness, on this truly historic first State Visit to Britain you have spoken to a nation of 6 million Catholics but you have been heard by a nation of more than 60 million citizens and by many millions more all around the world.

For you have offered a message not just to the Catholic Church but to each and every one of us of every faith and none.

A challenge to us all to follow our conscience to ask not what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities? to ask not what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others?

Cardinal Newman, who was beatified here in Birmingham this morning, once said that one little deed whether by someone who helps “to relieve the sick and needy” or someone who “forgives an enemy” evinces more true faith than could be shown by “the most fluent religious conversation” or the most intimate knowledge of Scripture.”

In his immense contribution to the philosophy of higher education Cardinal Newman reminded the world of the need for education for life not just for the workplace.

That broader education for life mattered because of the responsibilities of each person in society obligations and opportunities that came from what Cardinal Newman described as the “common bond of unity” that we all share.

Your Holiness, this common bond has been an incredibly important part of your message to us.

And it’s at the heart of the new culture of social responsibility we want to build in Britain.

People of faith – including our 30,000 faith-based charities – are great architects of that new culture.

For many, faith is a spur to action. It shapes their beliefs and behaviour; and it gives them a sense of purpose. Crucially, it is their faith that inspires them to help others. And we should celebrate that.

Faith is part of the fabric of our country. It always has been and it always will be.

As you, your Holiness, have said faith is not a problem for legislators to solve but rather a vital part of our national conversation. And we are proud of that.

But people do not have to share a religious faith or agree with religion on everything to see the benefit of asking the searching questions that you, your Holiness, have posed to us about our society and how we treat ourselves and each other.

You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing.

Because I believe we can all share in your message of working for the common good and that we all have a social obligation each other, to our families and our communities.

And, of course, our obligations to each other – and our care for each other – must extend beyond these shores too.

Your Holiness, in our meeting yesterday and in the discussions with the Papal delegation on Friday evening we agreed to develop the co-operation between this country and the Holy See on the key international issues where we share a common goal.
- On winning the argument to get to grips with climate change.
- On promoting a multi-faith dialogue and working for peace in our world
- On fighting poverty and disease.

I passionately believe that we must continue to help the poorest, even in difficult economic times. A yawning gap between the rich and the poor will be more dangerous and less secure for all of us. So this country will keep its promises on aid. We will work to hold other countries to their keep promises too. And to make sure that money we spend on aid goes to those who need it most.

And I am delighted that the Holy See will be working so actively with us to do all we can to achieve this.

Your Holiness, your presence here has been a great honour for our country. Now you are leaving us – and I hope with strong memories.

When you think of our country, think of it as one that not only cherishes faith, but one that is deeply, but quietly, compassionate.

I see it in the incredible response to the floods in Pakistan.

I see it in the spirit of community that drives countless good deeds done for friends and neighbours every day.

And in my own life, I have seen it in the many, many kind messages that I have had as I have cradled a new daughter and said goodbye to a wonderful father.

As we stand here in Birmingham, to bid you farewell let me return to the words of Cardinal Newman.

The Cardinal is greatly remembered here in Birmingham for his care for its people. During a cholera outbreak in the city, he worked tirelessly among the poor and sick. And when he himself died, the poor of the city turned out in their thousands to line the streets.

Inscribed on the pall of his coffin, was his motto “Heart speaks unto heart”. That has been the theme of this most special visit.

I hope it is a reflection of the welcome that you have received. It is most definitely a fitting tribute to the words you have spoken and the sentiments that you leave behind.

I wish you and your delegation a safe return to Rome.

And I look forward to ever closer co-operation between the UK and the Holy See as we redouble our resolve to work for the common good, both here in Britain and with our partners abroad.




The Pope's farewell remarks:
Mr. Prime Minister,

Thank you for your kind words of farewell on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government and the people of the United Kingdom.

I am very grateful for all the hard work of preparation, on the part of both the present and the previous Government, the civil service, local authorities and police, and the many volunteers who patiently helped to prepare for the events of these four days.

Thank you for the warmth of your welcome and for the hospitality that I have enjoyed.

During my time with you, I have been able to meet representatives of the many communities, cultures, languages and religions that make up British society.

The very diversity of modern Britain is a challenge to its Government and people, but it also represents a great opportunity to further intercultural and inter-religious dialogue for the enrichment of the entire community.

In these days, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet Her Majesty The Queen, as well as yourself and other political leaders, and to be able to discuss matters of common interest, both at home and abroad. I was particularly honoured to be invited to address both Houses of Parliament in the historic precincts of Westminster Hall.

I sincerely hope that these occasions will contribute to confirming and strengthening the excellent relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom, especially in cooperation for international development, in care for the natural environment, and in the building of a civil society with a renewed sense of shared values and common purpose.

It was also my pleasure to visit His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of the Church of England, and later to pray with them and our fellow Christians in the evocative surroundings of Westminster Abbey, a place which speaks so eloquently of our shared traditions and culture.

As Britain is home to so many religious traditions, I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet their representatives and to share some thoughts with them about the contribution that the religions can offer to the development of a healthy pluralistic society.

Naturally, my visit was directed in a special way to the Catholics of the United Kingdom. I treasure the time spent with the bishops, clergy, religious and laity, and with teachers, pupils and older people.

It was especially moving to celebrate with them, here in Birmingham, the beatification of a great son of England, Cardinal John Henry Newman. With his vast legacy of scholarly and spiritual writings, I am certain that he still has much to teach us about Christian living and witness amid the challenges of today’s world, challenges which he foresaw with such remarkable clarity.

As I take my leave of you, let me assure you once again of my good wishes and prayers for the peace and prosperity of Great Britain. Thank you very much and God bless you all!




Benedict XVI says goodbye to Britain

19 Sep 2010

The Pontiff took off from Birmingham Airport on a windy Sunday evening after thanking the nation for its hospitality.

In speeches to a small crowd of dignitaries on the airport's apron, both he and Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to strengthen relationships between Britain and the Vatican.

The hustle and bustle of the airport continued throughout the day, with holidaymakers oblivious to frantic behind-the-scenes preparations for the Pope's departure.

Hours before his arrival, police and officials swarmed round the Alitalia plane, checking every detail, while officials practised "walk-throughs" on a specially-laid cross-shaped red carpet.

The faithful hoping to catch one last view of the Pope had been warned to stay away, but holidaymakers may have managed to grab a glance from their planes as commercial airlines continued to take off and land.

A year's planning by the Foreign Office came to its climax as the Pope swept onto the airport apron in a BMW to be greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands and the Lord Chamberlain.

Rain held off during an earlier beatification ceremony at Cofton Park and stayed away as the Pontiff was greeted by cardinals and other senior UK and Vatican Catholic figures.

But his traditional white skullcap was held by personal secretary Georg Ganswein as gusts of wind threatened to blow it off.

Speaking from a specially-prepared dais as a helicopter hovered overhead, Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the Pope for challenging Britain to "sit up and think".

He said he had shown faith was still "a vital part of our national conversation".

"Faith is part of the fabric of our country. It always has been and it always will be," Mr Cameron said.

"As you, your Holiness, have said faith is not a problem for legislators to solve but rather a vital part of our national conversation. And we are proud of that.

"You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing.

"Because I believe we can all share in your message of working for the common good and that we all have a social obligation to each other, to our families and our communities."

He said he and the Pontiff had agreed to develop co-operation on "key international issues" including climate change, peace, and fighting poverty and disease.

Mr Cameron told the Pope his presence had been an honour for Britain, adding: "When you think of our country, think of it as one that not only cherishes faith, but one that is deeply, but quietly, compassionate."

In his response Benedict XVI thanked the nation for its hospitality.

Addressing dignitaries including Francis Campbell, UK ambassador to the Holy See, and Lord Patten, who organised the historic visit, the Pontiff said: "During my time with you, I have been able to meet representatives of the many communities, cultures, languages and religions that make up British society.

"The very diversity of modern Britain is a challenge to its Government and people, but it also represents a great opportunity to further intercultural and inter-religious dialogue for the enrichment of the entire community".

He said he had enjoyed sharing thoughts with church leaders on "the contribution that the religions can offer to the development of a healthy pluralistic society".

The two distinctive Popemobiles are set to be driven back to the Vatican in transporters over the next few days, but for the Pontiff himself his speech was to mark the end of the four-day visit before a two and three-quarter hour flight to Ciampino.

He made his final words: "As I take my leave of you, let me assure you once again of my good wishes and prayers for the peace and prosperity of Great Britain.

"Thank you very much and God bless you all", before being led down the red carpet to his plane by Mr Cameron and Lord Chamberlain the Earl Peel.

The Pontiff paused at the top of the stairs to wave with both hands and bow, bidding farewell to the nation.

He was given a round of applause as the plane, sporting a Union Jack and the flag of the Holy See departed, taking the Papal party back to Rome.

Speaking after the momentous occasion Lord Patten said:

"I think it's been a huge success, four days which have gone better and better.

"It began with a marvellous welcome in Edinburgh and we have been on a roll ever since. It's been historic ever since.

"I think it's demonstrated yet again that when people meet the Pope they realise what a warm and lovable person he is and I think perhaps most important of all it's demonstrated how much faith matters to so many people in this country, not just to Catholics but to people of all religions."





THE HOLY FATHER IS BACK IN ROME.
DEO GRATIAS - THAT HE IS HOME SAFE AND WELL,
AND THAT AS USUAL, HE PROVED ALL THE DOOMSAYERS VERY WRONG!



B16 to God: 'Mission accomplished! Thank you!'


'RITORNA VINCITOR!'!

Pictures at Ciampino airport, when the papal party got back from Britain around 10:30 last night:



Benedict, 'conqueror of Britain', welcomed by Gianni Letta, undersecretary of the Italian Prime Minister's Cabinet.



TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 01:50


I'm glad Damian Thompson wrote this about the Westminster Cathedral Mass - probably the most satisfying indoor Novus Ordo Mass I have yet seen. But he also has other informative comments...


A model of liturgy at
Westminster Cathedral

Sept. 18, 2010

Today’s Papal Mass in Westminster Cathedral was a model of liturgy in every respect*. I was lucky enough to be present and, like many people I’ve spoken to, I was moved to the verge of tears by its beauty and the poignancy of the Pope’s message.

I don’t, alas, remember anything about the Mass celebrated in the cathedral by Pope John Paul II in 1982 – but I’ve been looking at photographs of it and I’m struck by the radically different configurations of the sanctuary in 1982 and 2010:




The high altar at which Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass yesterday was actually hidden behind a curtain for the 1982 Mass, which was celebrated by Pope John Paul II at a free-standing altar (now thankfully discarded) much nearer the congregation.

In those days Bentley’s high altar was thought to be a beautiful anachronism, redolent of the supposedly defunct Tridentine Mass. (Little did they know…)

And note that, in 1982, there was no question of decorating the altar with the enormous candlesticks used today, let alone a large crucifix confronting the Holy Father as he consecrated the Host.

I think these would have been regarded as “obstructions” 28 years ago, when there was a much greater focus on the physical presence of the Pope: hence the mocked-up throne facing the people.

Benedict XVI, in contrast, views tall candles as symbols drawing attention away from the personality of the celebrant, and the crucifix as an object that orientates (alas, not usually literally) the priest towards Calvary rather than the congregation.

It will be very interesting to see whether Westminster Cathedral makes the crucifix a permanent feature of Mass on its altars, in accordance with the Pope’s wishes. I hope so, because today it gave many Catholics their first taste of truly Benedictine worship.

*Well, almost every respect. Those Gothicky chasubles are fine for welcoming visitors to your planet in a low-budget sci-fi series, but not for Mass. One thing they did get right in 1982 was the vestments – see above.) [Which leaves me perplexed. Why, in 1982, did they favor the Roman chasubles associated with the Tridentine Mass? And unless the cathedral canons eventually indulged their anti-tradition bias by getting rid of all those Roman chasubles used in 1982, they could have used them this year, too. I've never been a fan of the Novus Ordo caftans (more like ponchos, actually!]





9/20/10
As it happens, the first item I came across this morning in reviewing what's gone online since I logged off last night is Thompson's first overview of what looks like more than just one of such that he will be writing about the papal visit...


Benedict in Britain:
Personal triumph for the Pope,
humiliation for secular fanatics

September 19th, 2010


There are so many things to say about this remarkably successful papal visit that I can’t fit them into one blog post.

But if I had to produce an immediate response it would be delight that Pope Benedict is no longer a stranger to the British people. They know him now; their curiosity has been aroused by his powerful message and their hearts warmed by his perfect manners and grandfatherly little grin.

David Cameron has just made this clear in his speech at the airport: we have heard you, he told the Pontiff, adding that “you have challenged the whole country to sit up and think”.

Consider the failure of the “Protest the Pope” stunt yesterday. On a sunny afternoon, in a city of 10 million people, a crowd of fewer than 10,000 protestors followed the anti-Catholic bandwagon.

Richard Dawkins, Johann Hari, Stephen Fry et al may regard that as a good result [along with all the MSM reporters who have been making much of the fact that it has been 'the biggest anti-Pope demo ever', not considering that Rome has seen a couple of them][ but if (at most) one Londoner in a thousand takes to the streets to register disapproval at the use of their taxes to host the Pope, then I’d say the secularists have misjudged the public mood, wouldn’t you?

And look at what a thin demographic sliver of the population they represented: mostly white, middle-class, metropolitan. (Needless to say, none of them could be bothered to make the trek up to Birmingham: the Pope may be the atheists’ Antichrist, but you mustn’t let your principles get in the way of a lazy Sunday morning cappuccino.)

Compare the protestors to the Catholics in Hyde Park: old Polish ladies, tweedy gents from the shires, African hospital cleaners, self-consciously cool teenagers, Filipino checkout assistants and, as one of my friends put it, “some rather tarty-looking traveller women who’d obviously had a glass or two”. They don’t call it the Catholic Church for nothing: if not a universal cross-section of humanity, it was a damn sight closer to it than the humanist smugfest.

I’ve just watched Pope Benedict leaving Oscott College and being photographed with the police officers who guarded him. None of them made an attempt to arrest him. What incredible prats Dawkins, Hitchens and Roberston made of themselves with that plan, which was based on false reporting and wilful misunderstanding of the Pope’s involvement in child abuse cases.

The British people certainly aren’t in a mood to let the Church off the hook on that subject, and nor should they; but they do now understand that Benedict XVI feels deep shame at those dreadful crimes, and from now on they will be less receptive to the lie that he covered them up.

As for the ridiculous Nazi slur, today they heard a German Pope congratulate us for fighting the evil ideology of Hitler. What more does he have to say? Nothing, I suspect: the papal visit has killed the myth of the “Nazi Pope” outside a tiny circle of professional Pope-baiters who from now on may find themselves marginalised even in secular liberal circles.

Remarkably, the success of Benedict’s visit has had an effect even among the ranks of his ideological opponents. Lots of liberals are quietly distancing themselves from the Romophobes (and I wouldn’t be surprised if Stephen Fry slightly regrets wading in).

The truth is that after months of increasingly shrill rhetoric from Dawkins, Hitchens and Hari, the anti-Pope movement delivered nothing except a medium-sized bog standard demo.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 16:08


Monday, Sept. 20, 25th Week in Ordinary Time

From left: Andrew, sculpture and icon; Korean martyrs; Paul, mosaic and statue.
SAINTS ANDREW KIM TAE-GON, PAUL CHONG HA-SANG and COMPANION MARTYRS (d Korea 1839-1867)
Andrew, a Jesuit priest, and Paul, a seminarian, are emblematic of the 100 Korean martyrs and three French missionaries canonized by John Paul II when he visited Korea in 1984. Andrew's father, Ignatius Kim, was himself martyred in 1839, when a wave of anti-Christian persecution began, seven years ahead of his son; he was beatified in 1925, and canonized along with him. At age 15, Andrew had been sent to seminary in Macao and was later ordained in Shanghai, the first native Korean priest. Back home in Korea, he was arrested in 1846 while arranging for more missionaries to enter secretly, tortured and beheaded near Seoul. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea, then under China. Around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to begin a home Church,. even without priests. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883. Among the 100 Korean martyrs of the era, 47 were women and 45 were laymen. Today, there are almost 4.7 million Catholics in Korea.


No OR today.


HAVE A WELL-DESERVED REST, YOUR HOLINESS.
Looking forward to the General Audience on Wednesday.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 17:20



First, we thank the Lord that everything went so well, thanks for the most part, of course, to Benedict XVI himself - repeatedly under-estimated despite abundant, copious evidence to the contrary - whose very person and life have always been shining exemplary witness to Christ.

And we count all the other blessings, primarily:
1) It turns out that the MSM and the Pope's other detractors did not, despite unsubtle hints before the visit, have any new ammunition to fire off during the visit, either against the Pope himself or against any diocese anywhere else in the world, in their anti-Catholic sex-abuse campaign. And if they didn't have it last week, they don't have it now.

2) Despite all the problems of organization - evident in the less than capacity attendance at the two public Masses - Catholics had no problem turning out for the Pope in Edinburgh and London, along the Popemobile routes, at the Archbishop's Palace in Scotland and at the Nunciature in London.

At times, the crowds along the Mall reminded me of those who thronged for Diana's funeral, except this time, there was room for many of them to leave their posts and run along the sidewalk to keep abreast of the Popemobile after it passed them! This motorcade was, for me, the most under-covered and under-reported event of the visit, along with the Pope's meeting with 'child safe-guarders' that preceded the motorcade - surprising since both events, in their own way, were truly momentous!

3) The 24/7 streaming video of the visit on the official Papal Visit website. It would be nice to have it as a feature of every papal visit henceforth.

There are already assorted analyses out there about the visit, so I will just try to post them as I find them...

Pope succeeds in
UK charm offensive



London, Sept. 20 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI succeeded in his charm offensive on his historic visit to Britain although the enduring legacy of the trip is harder to judge, commentators said on Monday.
['Charm offensive' is, of course, the last term anyone would use about Benedict XVI, or about any Pope, for that matter. Since Benedict XVI's has always made clear that his role is not to project himself but his message which is Christ, all he brings to any event is who he is, as is, ever mindful that as Successor of Peter, he is above all, 'Servant of the Servants of God".]

The man reputed to be "God's Rottweiler" before he touched down in Edinburgh for the four-day trip had shown another side, The Times said, with "thoughtful remarks on God and modern society in his softly spoken, German-accentuated English".

"Not bad for a man maligned as a Teutonic hardliner," the daily said. "We all want to cuddle up to him and get him to bless our babies." [Now isn't that just sweet! Really now! Richard Owen has covered him at the Vatican for the past 5-plus years, and did not need the Pope to come to UK to discover that. How come he has never said that about him before?]

Catherine Pepinster, editor of The Tablet newspaper, a British Catholic weekly, also said the Pontiff had managed to shed his hardline image in the eyes of many Britons.

"What the visit accomplished above all was to unify Catholics and humanise a Pope who has so often been perceived as cold, aloof and authoritarian," she wrote. [Number-2 in the hypocrite line! And who has done more in the UK, to begin with, than the Tablet itself to promote that 'hardline' and 'authoritarian' image, consistently and constantly attacking him for all his traditional positions????]

The first ever state visit to Britain by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the first papal trip to predominantly Anglican Britain since Pope John Paul II came in 1982 took place under intense scrutiny.

Peter Stanford, a former editor of the Catholic Herald newspaper, said the build-up to the trip had been preceded by "an outbreak of virulent anti-Catholicism", mainly over the scandal of paedophile priests.

"Benedict, to our relief, didn't dodge this scandal," Stanford wrote in The Daily Telegraph, pointing out the Pope repeatedly expressed his shame and sorrow for the "unspeakable crimes" of priests who sexually abused children.

The Pope's visit - which took in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Birmingham - defied fears that it would be overshadowed by enormous protests, the conservative Daily Mail newspaper said.

More than 100,000 people saw the Pope-mobile carry Benedict through Edinburgh and an estimated 200,000 lined the streets of London on Saturday. [Finally, an estimate for that crowd. My untrained eye, as I watched the motorcade, told me it had to be at least as many as the 125,000 in Edinburgh, but probably more because the route was so much longer!]

Crowds for the two masses and the open-air prayer vigil ranged from 50,000 to 80,000.

"This was a much more successful visit than the Roman Catholic hierarchy had dared to hope," the Daily Mail commented.

"The crowds were larger than had been forecast, if not as big as they were when the charismatic pope John Paul II came to this country 28 years ago."

Other analysts said the Pontiff had made an increasingly secular country take a fresh look at faith, as Prime Minister David Cameron said in his farewell address to the pope on Sunday.

His moves to ease the strains between the Vatican and the Anglican Communion were also welcomed.

But of the lasting impact of the visit, Stanford said the Pope's repeated condemnation of "aggressive secularism" in Britain may mean that people who reject religion "may no longer find they enjoy such an exaggerated platform".

The visit had helped to establish Roman Catholicism "very much as a valuable and valued presence at the very heart of this multicultural, multi-faith nation", he added.

The left-leaning Guardian was far more sceptical [i.e., sour grapes, for having their direst expectations proven very very wrong, indeed!] saying:

"Rolling 24-hour news beamed all the ceremonies into the living rooms of middle Britain, but only as an anachronistic curiosity. [Shouldn't the Guardian now launch a campaign to investigate and penalize the BBC for spending all that public money for blanket coverage of an 'anachronistic curiosity'???]

"To connect his spiritual kingdom with the United Kingdom, the Pope would have had to engage with modern realities, and the country would have had to listen." [So, addressing 'aggressive secularism' was not engaging with modern realities? Grow up, Guardian! None are so blind as those who do not wish to see! As for the country having to listen, it's a start that the Prime Minister did.]

In Italy, the only newspaper to give over its front page to the visit was La Stampa, with the headline "Pope conquers London".

"The Pope found the right tone to make himself heard in a country where secularism is well-developed and demanding," it said in an editorial.





Britain makes room for Benedict
by Father Raymond J. de Souza

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, England - On a drizzly, dreary English morning, Pope Benedict XVI did what he came to do -- declare the brightest light of English Catholicism "blessed."

The beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman -- long desired throughout the English-speaking Catholic world -- is the Church's formal declaration that he is in heaven, and a suitable intercessor for public worship.

The elevation of Newman to the honour of the altars capped a successful visit to Britain -- a surprise to those anxious after months of hostile criticism.

Benedict's gentle shyness and exquisite good manners endeared him to the British people, even as he presented them with a clear challenge about the danger of driving faith out of their public life.

Those manners were on display yesterday, as the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain was observed nationwide.

"For me, as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology," said the German Pontiff, in another astonishing historical moment on this first state visit for a Pope.

Benedict did not come here to address the challenge of secular fundamentalism in Britain; the primary purpose of the trip was to beatify Cardinal Newman. Once that decision was made, the rest of the visit was built around it, and the secularist challenge followed.

It is hard to overestimate the importance of Newman to Benedict himself, and to English-speaking Catholics the world over. After his election in 2005, Benedict decided not to preside over beatification ceremonies himself, leaving it to local bishops instead.

That he made an exception for the great 19th-century theologian and priest indicates his esteem for Newman - one of his intellectual "heroes" since his days as a student.

John Henry Newman was arguably the greatest English thinker of the 19th century -- and certainly the greatest master of English prose style in the long history of his country.

A celebrated Anglican cleric and scholar at Oxford as young man, Newman was the living example of what Benedict said to the Queen, namely that "the Christian message has been an integral part of the language, thought and culture of the peoples of these islands for more than a thousand years."

So when he decided to forfeit his position and prestige in 1845 to become a Catholic, it was a decisive moment for English-speaking Catholics. Always a minority outside of Ireland -- in England, America, Canada, India, Africa -- English-speaking Catholics often knew martyrdom and persecution.

They also knew the disdain that their Anglican betters held for what they considered the less educated, less cultured, backward foreign faith from across the Irish Sea.

Newman was indisputably the flower of English culture, so for him to choose the Catholic faith on the sole grounds that it was the true Church founded by Jesus Christ -- that was a cultural moment of highest import for the determination of Catholics to take their place in the public square.

Not for nothing are Catholic chaplaincies -- including my own at Queen's University -- all over the English-speaking world named after Cardinal Newman.

Coming to celebrate Newman, Benedict put the following question to British society: In the search for truth, do great English cultural figures like Newman have a place anymore, or is the whole history of English Christianity now to be buried underneath a new, secular, multicultural society?

The visit made the question personal, too. Was there any room in Britain today for Benedict himself?

"In Blessed John Henry, that tradition of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord has borne rich fruit," Benedict said yesterday.

Listening to the Holy Father -- a gentle scholar of deep human wisdom himself--I wondered if the "rich fruit" of this visit would only be seen long after, even as Newman himself got a rough reception from his own contemporaries in the cultural establishment.

Yet as the visit unfolded it was clear that Benedict had succeeded in getting people to consider the central question he thinks Newman would ask today's Britain: What is the foundation of our common life if not our Christian heritage? And if that is to be cast aside, is there an adequate replacement?

"You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing," said Prime Minister David Cameron to Benedict at the farewell ceremony last night.

The generous words of the Prime Minister indicated that a visit once thought to be fraught with peril was now successfully concluded. For novices of Benedict's travels, it was a surprise, but what took place here was not unlike Turkey, France, Australia or Spain -- the Pope always exceeds the low expectations set for him.

Benedict is the great Catholic thinker of his generation, a writer of limpid style and the simplicity only achieved by those who have reached the far side of scholarly wisdom. Newman was that for the 19th century.

That the two would be united yesterday was an occasion when across the decades -- as Cardinal Newman's own motto put it -- "heart speaks unto heart."




Trust TIME to throw a spanner in the works. Though, almost mercifully, this first 'review' of the Pope's visit is not by Jeff Israely, which explains perhaps that it isn't muederous slander, though unabashedly cynical.


The Pope vs. Britain's secularists:
Who won?
By Nick Assinder

Monday, Sep. 20, 2010


LONDON - As protest chants go, "What do we want? A secular Europe! When do we want it? Now!" isn't exactly catchy.

But it was a message Pope Benedict XVI heard loud and clear from protesters during his historic four-day state visit to Britain, the first ever by a Pope. [Historical revisionism from the get-go! The secularist cause in general was hardly the overriding concern of those protesters! Their protest was primarily to demonise Benedict - and if so, then all the sympathy got was visible only in the 10,000 or so who joined their organized march on Saturday!]

And it was one he had determined to meet head-on even before he touched down in Glasgow at the start of the trip, by getting his retaliation in first.

With child sex-abuse scandal and the Vatican's stance on contraception, abortion, gay and women's rights fueling much of the protests — which culminated in a 10,000-strong "Protest the Pope" march in London on Saturday — Benedict chose his visit to the U.K. as the moment to express "deep sorrow and shame" over the scandal, confessing it "undermined the moral credibility" of the church and insisting cases should be dealt with as crimes rather than, as has previously been suggested, a matter for the Church to handle. [Insisting yet again on the earlier revisionist claim that this was the first time the Pope ever said these things!]

As has become his habit, he also held a private face-to-face meeting with five victims aged between 40 and 50, where he pledged to ensure abusers were "brought to justice," said a spokesman.

But Benedict also arrived in the U.K. armed with a wider message, making repeated warnings against what he claimed was a growth in "aggressive forms of secularism" in British society. It was that same social phenomenon, he suggested, that had led to the birth of the Nazis in his native Germany.

The theme had been set out, albeit in a less nuanced fashion, three days before the Pope even arrived in Britain, when an article in the German magazine Focus quoted Benedict's close aide Cardinal Walter Kasper likening Britain to a third-world country and declaring: "Above all, an aggressive New Atheism is widespread in England. If you, for example, wear a cross at British Airways, you'll be disadvantaged."

Kasper's remarks sparked an outcry in the U.K. and it was later announced he would not be traveling with the Pope, as planned. His last-minute cancellation was blamed on a nasty case of gout.

[Kasper was stating fact, bluntly, but his untimely statements were clearly exploited to generate a new 'controversy' on the very eve of the Pope's visit. Turned out to be a minor flap, after all. And what's with describing him now as a 'close aide' when, 1) he recently retired from the Curia; and 2) before then, the standard MSM qualifier for him was 'an outspoken German theologian whose disputes with Cardinal Ratzinger in the past are well-known'????]

But the Pope returned to the theme on a number of occasions during his visit. First, speaking alongside the Queen in Holyrood House, her residence in Edinburgh, at his official welcome on Thursday, he spoke of the "atheist extremism" of the 20th century, adding: "Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society."

It's a view that did little to placate the demonstrators as they gathered at London's Hyde Park two days later — where they were outnumbered roughly ten-to-one by those faithful "pilgrims" who had come to join a prayer vigil with the Pope. [And what's with the disdainful use of the term 'pilgrims' in quotation marks?]

"That's rich, coming from the leader of a faith that has supported repressive regimes, condemned millions to suffering through its attitude to contraception and equality, and covered up child abuse by its own ministers," said one marcher. [Narrow-minded, spiteful ignoramus!

The Pope's comments also prompted a response from Prime Minister David Cameron. "Faith is part of the fabric of our country," he said in a speech in the northern city of Birmingham on Sunday, Benedict's last day in Britain. "It always has been and it always will be." [Cameron said it, not as a protest response, but to express his agreement with the Pope about the role of faith in society. How deplorable to try to spin Cameron's words negatively - he gave a surprising and fairly long discourse of substance that was not at all usual in a ceremonial send-off address for a visiting VIP!]

Over the four days, it became clear that warnings of the perils of secularism lay at the heart of the Pope's visit and, at the end of the tour, the Vatican branded it a success. [Come on! One did not have to be an analyst or prognosticator to know, before the Pope ever set foot on Britain, that his primary message to the country at large would be against secularism! The UK is Exhibit #1 after Spain in Joseph Ratzinger's decades-long almost one-man crusade to re-evangelize Europe!]

There were many, from politicians like Cameron, to leading churchmen including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to hundreds of thousands of Britons, who offered a warm response to the Pope's message of hope and reconciliation and believed he had moved a long way toward addressing the abuse scandal frankly and openly. [Didn't the MSM say the same thing right after the Letter to the Irish Catholics - only they reverted to type very quickly, once the New York Times and the AP detonated their posison bombs against the Pope one week later! In the next week, TIME will probably be in the vanguard of those who will have forgotten yet again this nth 'first time' (for them) that the Pope has said what he has to say about the issue!]

"This visit was a wonderful, uplifting occasion", declared one Catholic supporter at the Hyde Park vigil on Saturday. "No one can repair the unforgivable damage done to those abused children. But the Pope's message of reconciliation and healing is sincere. We need to accept it in the spirit of forgiveness and unity," she added.

To that extent, Benedict might believe his message had been embraced and, combined with the historic nature of the visit, he had started to heal the deep wounds caused by the abuse scandal. But that belief might be premature. [For heaven's sake, when will his detractors ever learn to stop patronizing the Pope as naive! He has more common sense, sheer knowledge, insight and wisdom in the tassel of his skullcap than all you benighted, generally uninformed, often downright dishonest, self-proclaimed 'intellectuals'. No one more than he is aware that he cannot rest on translient laurels and that he - and the Church - must work unceasingly at conveying their message!]

Chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, Peter Saunders, who was also a victim himself, spoke for many of the protesters when he told reporters that the Pope needed to go further by opening Vatican files on all reported abuse cases.

[This reporter does not seem to know that the senseless demand was formulated by the Pope's 'humanist' detractors in the UK after they admitted they could not - legally or physically - arrest the Pope! This demand is their next big grandstand play. But it is all for show, because 1) local courts can easily subpoena diocesan files if they exist on specific victims and if those victims authorize it; and 2) any files at the Vatican would presumably be available with the proper authorization if the cases ave alreay been adjudicated against the offenders, not while still under investigation; and probably not if the CDF investigation shows the accusation was unfounded. In that case, let the accuser challenge the accused in the civilian justice system.]

And the fear in the Vatican must be that the clamor surrounding the campaign for more action on the abuse affair will not only continue to undermine the Church's authority and credibility, but also overshadow the battle against atheism that the Pope has just spent four days trying to fight. [That's not 'the fear in the Vatican' - that's the wishful thinking of the reporter and his ilk!]

It brings better perspective to see what Jeff Israely actually wrote before the trip - where he piles on all the negatives relnetlessly, then hedges his bets in the last paragraph! I'm posting it all in purple...

Pope Benedict XVI goes
to Britain: No cheers?
By Jeff Israely

Wednesday, Sep. 15, 2010

The Pope will not be arrested. That non-news flash offers a taste of what Benedict XVI is up against in his historic four-day visit to Britain, which he will set off for on Thursday. It promises to be the chilliest — and potentially rudest — welcome of his 17 trips abroad.

The mere announcement of the visit last spring sparked name-calling and a campaign by well-known anti-religion activists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens to have the Pontiff arrested for "crimes against humanity," for his alleged role in covering up priest sex abuse of minors.

Peter Tatchell, a human-rights activist who has previously tried to perform citizen's arrests on Robert Mugabe and Henry Kissinger, conceded that the plans to push for Benedict's arrest were off.

"The Pope has sovereign immunity from prosecution under British law. It wouldn't work," Tatchell told reporters this week after a meeting at Scotland Yard with Catholic Church and government officials. "It's not for want of wishing or trying."

Such extreme efforts by the few embody a more diffused antagonism that remains toward the 83-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church in what is both a historically Anglican and increasingly secular British society.

Benedict's traditionalist views on doctrinal matters like abortion and gay marriage — as well as the fallout from the abuse crisis — have set off a summer-long row about why taxpayers are picking up the $18 million tab for most of the security and organizational costs of Benedict's stay.

Add to that the Pope's German roots — the trip coincidentally comes amid a round of remembrances for the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Nazi bombings during the Battle of Britain — and the trip becomes a tough sell for church handlers. [Again, may I ask why Benedict's nationality is always being brought up but not the German roots of the Queen herself? (The British royal line from Queen Victoria's marriage onward to a German prince was the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha before it was renamed to the House of Tudor - and of the Duke of Edinburgh (Philip Moutnbatten, Anglicized from Battenberg).]

"The British are generally suspicious of the Pope," says Robert Mickens, Vatican correspondent for the Tablet, a London-based Catholic weekly. "You add to that the origins and personality of this man, Joseph Ratzinger, and you have an even less sympathetic figure for many in Britain."

Still, the more pointed question for the Pope is the reaction of U.K. Catholics, a religious minority — sometimes oppressed — ever since King Henry VIII broke with Rome and established an independent Church of England in the 16th century.

But even Britain's best-known recent Catholic convert, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a liberal on social issues, typifies a brand of the faith that is out of step with the Pope's.

Polls show that less than half of British Catholics agree with the Pope's stance on abortion rights, gay marriage and other hot-button issues, while thousands of tickets (ranging from £5 to £25 each) to the public papal events reportedly remain unsold on a trip that will take Benedict from Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland, to London and Birmingham, where he will preside over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a convert from Anglicanism and one of the leading Catholic thinkers and theologians of the 19th century.

Indeed, Benedict sees himself at the center of the battle of ideas, and has used earlier trips to the heart of secularized Western Europe — Spain, France and even his native Germany — to challenge what he considers the slippery relativism of contemporary society.

"Britain is the perfect place to address the Church's place in meeting with modern world," says a senior Vatican official. The official says Catholic clerics in the U.K. have been more tepid than their counterparts elsewhere — notably, in the U.S. — in criticizing government policies that do not jibe with Church doctrine.

"They've been pretty slow and not very effective in facing down these new laws. The Pope can bring some real gravitas to these issues."

The Tablet's Mickens agrees that there is an opportunity for the erudite Pope to use his jaunt into the land of Oxford and Cambridge to flex his intellectual muscle. But he may also be constrained by the toxic mix of an unreceptive public and the no-holds-barred British media.

"The Pope likes to go into major centers of secularism and make the Christian case for creating space for faith in God in modern society," says Mickens. "But he's in a bind, because if he's seen as being too harsh or fundamentalist, he could open up anti-Catholic sentiments, which are still very much present [in Britain]."

The lingering anger over the sex-abuse crisis makes the trip ever more tricky, especially in light of the revelations earlier this year that Benedict's own fingerprints may be on several poorly managed cases of abusive priests.

The final minefield Benedict must manage is fallout from last year's Vatican announcement of a new policy for accepting disillusioned conservative Anglicans into the Catholic fold, a move that some Anglican leaders saw as encroaching on their flock and a backward step for ecumenical relations between the sister churches.

Still, despite the tricky itinerary and threats of protests, the Pope's presence often has a kind of calming effect on even the rudest publics.

If that's the case, the next four days may end up being dominated by majestic images of what is the first ever papal state visit to the U.K. (John Paul II's 1982 trip was technically just a pastoral visit.)

In that case, look for photo ops of Benedict with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, newly minted Prime Minister David Cameron and the Queen herself. And more non-news: the manners of all present will be impeccable.[Not those of the protestors, whose rudest placards were vulgar personal epithets against the Pope!]




Papal trip tops expectations -
but not to CNN and the New York Times
by William Donohue, President

Sept. 20, 2010


Almost everyone was surprised by both the size of the crowds that came out to greet Pope Benedict XVI and the enthusiasm he generated.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was particularly kind, praising the Pope for the "searching questions" he posed. Perhaps most gratifying was the way the BBC, no friend to Catholics, treated the Holy Father.

"A pope who had previously been regarded as someone rather cold, professional, aloof and authoritarian," wrote David Willey, "had suddenly been perceived as a rather kindly and gentle grandfather figure." Not only that, but the Pope's speech at Westminster was dubbed a "triumph," moving one British notable to say his performance was "sheer magic."

In the U.S., the coverage began and ended on a mixed note. Far and away the most unfair coverage came from CNN and the New York Times. CNN proved relentless with its criticism of a male-only clergy, even going so far as to highlight some excommunicated women who think they are priests.

The Times was just as fixated on one topic: the sexual abuse scandal. Take today's newspaper, for example. On page 4, there is a 1224-word story on a non-story: readers are treated to a rehash of old cases of abuse that took place in Belgium. To find out about the Pope's trip, which garnered only 704 words, the reader must turn to page 11.

It does not speak well for CNN and the New York Times that Catholic critics on the other side of the Atlantic look eminently fair by comparison. Can't wait to see what CNN has in store for us this Saturday night when it airs a "documentary" on the pope. From the looks of things, it appears it will pick up where the Times left off last spring when it sought to blame the Pope for the scandal. We'll see.

But Mr Donohue, hardly anyone watches CNN anymore! Across the board, 24/7, Fox News is clobbering CNN and the other cable news channel, MSNBC, both of them overtly leftist, pro-Obama and totally closed to any viewpoint that is considered 'conservative' - and that includes Christianity. By contrast, Fox had three people reporting regularly from the UK during the papal visit - Greg Burke, who covers the Vatican and Italy regularly; roving foreign correspondent Greg Palkot; and Fox's religious commentator, Fr. Jonathan Morris. There was a video clip on the Holy Father's visit at virtually each of the news round-ups every half hour.

As for the New York Times, its stories never turned up in the first few pages of a general search for stories on the papal visit (probably because they wee never on Page 1) but a review of its coverage on the NYT site itself shows they had a report on each day of the visit, as well as a scurrilous op-ed article on Sept. 17 by a British Jew who drips contempt for the Pope as he rehashes all the most vulgar media black myths about Benedict XVI and the sexual abuse issue. In the final story, the Times insisted that the Pope's beatification of Newman was "sure to raise hackles with some Anglicans who are already smarting from" Anglicanorum coetibus. What about some basic research here? The Anglican Church has long venerated Newman in its own calendar of holy men, celebrating his feast day on August 11 (day of his death), and in the Episcopal Church (the US offshoot of the Anglican Church), his feast day is marked on February 21. So what hackles are there to raise if the Catholic Church has now beatified him?

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 19:49




Ross Douthat makes a good argument for the case he presents, but as usual, he spoils it by his cavalier acceptance of flawed if not downright wrong hypotheses flouted by the MSM... Almost as if by doing so, he is seeking to insure against losing his gig as the New York Times's token Catholic columnist.


Why the British crowds
cheered the Pope
by Ross Douthat

September 20, 2010

All in all, the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain over the weekend must have been a disappointment to his legions of detractors.

Their bold promises notwithstanding, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens didn’t manage to clap the Pope in irons and haul him off to jail.

The protests against Benedict’s presence proved a sideshow to the visit, rather than the main event.

And the threat (happily empty, it turned out) of an assassination plot provided a reminder of what real religious extremism looks like — as opposed to the gentle scholar, swathed in white, urging secular Britons to look with fresh eyes at their island’s ancient faith.

And the crowds came out, as they always do for papal visits — 85,000 for a prayer vigil in London, 125,000 lining Edinburgh’s streets, 50,000 in Birmingham to see Benedict beatify John Henry Newman, the famous Victorian convert from Anglicanism.

Even at a time of Catholic scandal, even amid a Pontificate that’s stumbled from one public-relations debacle to another, Benedict still managed to draw a warm and enthusiastic audience.

No doubt most of Britain’s 5 million Catholics do not believe exactly what Benedict believes and teaches.

No doubt most of them are appalled at the Catholic hierarchy’s record on priestly child abuse and disappointed that many of the scandal’s enablers still hold high office in the Church. [Who, exactly???? Other than Cardinal Law and at a stretch, Cardinal Brady, I can think of no one else falsely or rightly accused in this respect who is still 'holding high office'! Groer and Maciel are dead; Sodano, Castrillon and Daneels are retired; who else is there - the two Irish bishops who were exonerated in the government report? It's distressing when Catholic writers themselves indulge in blanket statements like this, in an apparent effort to be 'objective'. Objective is fine, just check the facts first! To make the statement Douthat does is to accuse the Pope of selectively tolerating cover-ups just because the persons involved 'hold high office'. It's completely counter-productive. ]

But in turning out for their beleaguered Pope, Britain’s Catholics acknowledged something essential about their faith that many of the Vatican’s critics, secular and religious alike, persistently fail to understand.

They weren’t there to voice agreement with Benedict, necessarily. They were there to show their respect — for the Pontiff, for his office, and for the role it has played in sustaining Catholicism for 2,000 years.

Conventional wisdom holds that such respect is increasingly misplaced and that the papacy is increasingly a millstone around Roman Catholicism’s neck. [Prevailing dominant opinion is hardly 'conventional wisdom', or any kind of wisdom at all!]

If it weren’t for the reactionaries in the Vatican, the argument runs, priests might have been permitted to marry, forestalling the sex abuse crisis.

Birth control, gay relationships, divorce and remarriage might have been blessed, bringing lapsed Catholics back into the fold.

Theological dissent would have been allowed to flourish, creating a more welcoming environment for religious seekers.

And yet none of these assumptions have any real evidence to back them up. Yes, sex abuse has been devastating to the Church. ['Devastating' according to the 'presumed wisdom' of dominant opinion. Why assume that the dominant opinion relentlessly pushed by the Western elite necessarily prevails among the world's 1.2 billion Catholics? Where is the 'real evidence to back up' that assumption?]

But as Newsweek noted earlier this year, there’s no data suggesting that celibate priests commit abuse at higher rates than the population as a whole, or that married men are less prone to pedophilia. (The real problem was the hierarchy’s fear of scandal, which led to endless cover-ups and enabled serial predation.)

And yes, the Church’s exclusive theological claims and stringent moral message don’t go over well in a multicultural, sexually liberated society.

But the example of Catholicism’s rivals suggests that the Church might well be much worse off if it had simply refashioned itself to fit the prevailing values of the age.

That’s what the denominations of mainline Protestantism have done, across the past four decades — and instead of gaining members, they’ve dwindled into irrelevance .

The Vatican of Benedict and John Paul II, by contrast, has striven to maintain continuity with Christian tradition, even at the risk of seeming reactionary and out of touch.

This has cost the Church its once-privileged place in the Western establishment and earned it the scorn of fashionable opinion.

But continuity, not swift and perhaps foolhardy adaptation, has always been the papacy’s purpose, and the secret of its lasting strength.

Catholics do not — should not, must not — look to the Vatican to supply the Church with all its saints and visionaries and prophets.

(Indeed, many of Catholicism’s greatest figures have had fraught relationships with the Holy See — including John Henry Newman, the man beatified on Sunday.) [Now that, I would like Douthat to prove! It seems he is, once again, rather than sticking to verifiable fact, going by prevailing liberal opinion, which can easily cherrypick from Newman's great forest of ideas and statements something that could be construed, out of context, as anti-Pope! Especially since Newman's rhetorical style was to scrupulously lay out the case for the opposite side of the argument, and then proceed to demolish it. Two texts alone are necessary to refute the false anti-Vatican/anti-Pope attitude attributed to Newman - the letter to the Duke of Norfolk which ends with his much-misused toast to conscience; and Newman's address upon be named cardinal by Leo XIII.]

They look to Rome to safeguard what those visionaries achieved, to guard Catholicism’s inheritance, and provide a symbol of unity for a far-flung, billion-member Church.

They look to it for the long view: for the wisdom that not all change is for the better, and that some revolutions are better outlasted than accepted.

On Saturday, Benedict addressed Britain’s politicians in the very hall where Sir Thomas More, the great Catholic martyr, was condemned to death for opposing the reformation of Henry VIII.

It was an extraordinary moment, and a reminder of the resilience of Catholicism, across a gulf of years that’s consumed thrones, nations, entire civilizations.

This, above all, is why the crowds cheered for the Pope, in Edinburgh and London and Birmingham — because almost five centuries after the Catholic faith was apparently strangled in Britain, their Church is still alive.

[Plus, they obviously warmed to him! It's an opinion by and in itself not to acknowledge the personal component that Benedict XVI brings to explain the affectionate fervor that the crowds show him!]



EWTN's Raymond Arroyo - a valuable Catholic resource person to whom more American MSM should turn instead of their usual stable of go-to, supposedly objective commentators on Catholic affairs (Thomas Reese, John Allen, David Gibson: the list is quite short) - has a far less superficial view of the Pope's visit than the mainline chatterati.


Pope Benedict’s UK visit:
What most observers missed
By Raymond Arroyo

September 20, 2010


The Pope saved the most important news of his visit to the United Kingdom for the end. Most people didn’t even hear or see it. But I imagine Thomas More and John Henry Newman were smiling . . .

In November of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued an extraordinary invitation to Anglicans disaffected by the changes taking place in their communion.

The failure to affirm traditional Christian orthodoxy, the ordination of gays, and the recent push to create female Anglican bishops have splintered the communion and caused heartbreak among both clergy and laity.

Anglicans all over the world, parishes, and some dioceses had petitioned Rome to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

As a “pastoral response” the Pope released the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. It allows individual Anglicans, clergy, even whole dioceses to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining their traditions, devotions, and liturgical practices.

The Archbishop of Canterbury (according to a few Anglican officials I recently spoke with) felt “ambushed by the constitution” and was frustrated that there wasn’t more “consultation” before its release.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Archbishop of Canterbury at an ecumenical prayer service at Westminster Abbey last week, the Pope made the case for “Christian unity” while recalling the real world challenges that block the way.

The Pope said “fidelity” which demands obedience to God’s “true word” was needed: “an obedience which must be free of intellectual conformism or facile accommodation to the spirit of the age.”

The Pope was clearly referencing the recent actions by the Anglican church which had “accommodated the spirit of the age” and created lasting barriers to the goal of full unity. But the Pope was so genial, and his delivery so mild, that the tough talk received little coverage and was largely ignored.

Then came the last speech of the Pope’s visit, a meeting with his bishops of England, Scotland, and Wales. Near the end of the address, Pope Benedict made his intentions plain, and cast new light on all that he had said and done since his arrival in Britain. He told his bishops:
I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics.

It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.

Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished.

In other words, the Pope sees his Anglican “fast pass” into the Catholic Church as the fruit of ecumenism — a chance for Anglicans to return to the faith of their fathers before the Reformation. and to protect themselves from an insidious secularism that is plaguing society at large and their communion in particular.

With this understanding, the symbolic and stated message of Pope Benedict during his British sojourn comes into stark relief. His meeting with the Catholic and Anglican bishops at Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury for 800 years (the first 70 Archbishops of Canterbury were Catholics); his visit to Westminster Abbey (built by the Catholic king, Henry III and home to Benedictine monks until the Reformation); his moving speech at Westminster Hall (where Catholic martyrs Thomas More, Edmund Campion, Bishop John Fisher, and others were condemned to death for their refusal to disavow their faith); and finally his beatification of the 19th century Anglican convert to Catholicism, Blessed John Henry Newman - suddenly all seems one piece.

Benedict’s visit was a stand against relativism in the heart of Europe and a plea for Britain to return to herself — to return to her Catholic roots.

In a visit worthy of his predecessor, Pope Benedict, with precise language and symbols, communicated a message that will long be felt in England. It was a message controversial and reasonable, bold, and utterly faithful — a simple call, really: England, come home to what you were, and truly are.

I will quibble with the expression 'worthy of his predecessor': No Pope should be called on to measure up, as it were, to his predecessor's standards. The trip was worthy of Benedict, first of all, but it was also, at the very least, as memorable and as historic as John Paul II's visit 28 years ago.



I don't have the time to deal with the following article just now, but here's a link.
www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/09/pope-benedic...
A liberal accuses the Pope and the Church of 'refusing to take responsibility' for the role of Christianity in the origin and rise of Nazism! It's not the first time I've come across this wild-eyed attempt to blame Christians for Nazism, but this one takes off from the Pope's remarks in the UK that atheism and secularism gave rise to Nazism.



Via 'The Australian' which obviously subscribes to the Times of London news service, here is what Richard Owen wrote about the trip, doing his best to be disparaging and mocking Vatican aides for celebrating the success of the trip:

Pope Benedict's UK trip
ends on a high
by Richard Owen

September 20, 2010


AS the Alitalia Airbus taking the Pope and his entourage back to Rome lifted off from Birmingham airport, the atmosphere on board was near euphoric.

Apart from the expected protests, the trip had been
successful "beyond all expectations", one aide said.

The 80,000 that came to see the white-robed Pope Benedict XVI pass by, dwarfing the thousands who protested, had marked a "John Paul II moment", said another. [Strike one - and a grievous strike - against the aide who does not even credit Benedict for his own moments!]

The Pope sought to defuse the crisis over clerical sex abuse by meeting victims, describing pedophilia as an unspeakable crime that had brought shame and humiliation on the Catholic Church. [No, Mr Owen. The Pope did not do and say those things because he 'sought to defuse' a crisis, only because they were the right things to say and do']

Part of the reason for what he called a "spiritual success" was that instead of the remote Teutonic hardliner - "God's rottweiler" - people saw a kindly, white-haired elderly man offering thoughtful remarks on God and modern society, or reflecting wrily on the trials of old age.

It was partly, too, the magic of the papacy - the Popemobile, the vestments, the security. [Ah so! Owen suddenly discovers there is 'magic in the Papacy'!]

Then there were his astute tributes to the Battle of Britain and his personal account of living through "the dark days of Nazism". [DIM=pt][Again, the implication that the Pope said those things out of calculation, rather than that the occasion was right and propitious to address them.]

Whatever the reason, the Vatican would be hoping that the Pope's message got through - the need to "re-evangelise" a "cynical" society that had lost its way amid "the vain enticements of this world".

This was a state visit, including set pieces, such as a meeting the Queen in Edinburgh, and addressing Westminster.

But Pope Benedict, a shy, almost hermit-like theologian, also met British schoolchildren from various backgrounds and the leaders of other faiths.

Multiculturalism, he admitted, need not be a threat to Christian values, but an opportunity to restore faith.

There remained the suspicion, not least among liberal Catholics, that the Pope was still inflexible, maintaining that, of all the faiths, only Christianity held the key to salvation, and that if Anglicans wanted Christian unity, it must be on Rome's terms. [As a Catholic, and especially as Pope, Benedict XVI has the duty - one that he does joyfully - to proclaim that Christianity is the only way to salvation, because that is what Christ came to earth for, that is the principal tenet of Christianity. And Owen makes a false and totally misleading synthesis of the Pope's position on Christian unity: No Pope or ranking Catholic prelate has ever said that Christian unity can only be accomplished by following what Rome says!]

But yesterday he put the emphasis on the "shared traditions and culture" of Anglicans and Catholics and on Britain's path toward a "healthy pluralistic society" with its "many religious traditions". This is not the language of the man who was elected Pope five years ago. [But how dishonest, Mr Owen! When he explicitly singled out the cause of Christian unity as his priority in the first address he ever gave as Pope!]

As an exercise in trying to save face, or putting a good face after having been proven wrong in one's wishful thinking about this visit, Owen only underscores how soundly the naysayers have been beaten in this round!

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 21:34



I'm only now getting round to what the Catholic commentariat is saying in the Catholic media (Douthat's article came out in the 'American Standard Edition of the Bible of secularism')... Here's Austin Ivereigh on his blog for the dissident Jesuit magazine AMERICA. Ivereigh, who was press officer for the retired ultra-liberal Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, was also one of the professionals enlisted in CATHOLIC VOICES, the bureau set up last spring by the visit organizers to present the voice of the Church in the UK media before the Pope's visit.

In this piece, Ivereigh also summed up the final events of the visit after the beatification Mass, which included the Pope's address to the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland and the airport farewell. Generally, these final events tend to be under-reported and even ignored, but the address to the bishops was a major discourse, as Benedict's exhortations to his fellow priests and bishops always are.


Pope leaves UK charmed and challenged
by Austen Ivereigh

Sunday, September 19, 2010


A short while ago, at 6.45 pm UK time, Pope Benedict XVI's Alitalia plane, "Shepherd One", threaded its way into the lead skies above Birmingham Airport back to Rome, after a brief departure ceremony in which the prime minister, David Cameron, told him that he had "challenged the whole country to sit up and think".

On this "truly historic first State Visit to Britain," the prime minister said, "you have spoken to a nation of 6 million Catholics but you have been heard by a nation of more than 60 million citizens and by many millions more all around the world." Faith, he said, was "part of the fabric of our country ... a vital part of our national conversation. And we are proud of that."

A country of faith? Challenged to think by the Pope? Something seems to have happened here.

And it has. The spontaneous crowds, the wall-to-wall media coverage, the seeming fascination with the dialogue Pope Benedict sought to have with Britain, are all indications that this unusually state guest was received not with apathy or hostility -- as the media before last Thursday were warning he would be -- but with curiosity and receptivity.

This has clearly been a shock for a largely liberal, metropolitan media. The Catholic commentator Clifford Longley, with whom I shared a radio studio this morning, drew a comparison with the US media discovering after George W Bush's election that they had ignored the influence of the flyover states.

There is something of a similar self-questioning evident now: why, when they could only pull together 6,000 demonstrators -- not an insignificant number, but paltry compared to the 200,000 who lined the streets yesterday, and the 80,000 in Hyde Park -- did the media give the anti-Pope protesters so much air time? Or, expressed another way: where the heck did all these people come from?

The answer is, of course, that many came precisely because of the airtime given over to the the gay rights activists, secularists and professional atheists.

Catholics are loyal to popes, and to the papacy. They may not know how to answer the protesters' shrill objections, but they know when the leader of their Church is being unfairly trashed. A large number of the "vox pops" interviewed on Sky and the BBC mentioned this as the reason why they decided to line the streets of Whitehall six people deep.

"Everyone is agreed about the great success, not so much from the point of view of the numbers, but ... by the fact that the message of the Pope was received with respect and joy by the faithful," the Pope's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told reporters earlier today. The Vatican has already declared the visit a triumph, and no one seems to disagree.

After the Mass of Beatification of Cardinal Newman, the Pope paid a private visit to the Oratory before going onto to Oscott College, the seminary for the diocese of Birmingham, where he met with the bishops of England, Scotland and Wales.

In his address to them, referring to "the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly secularized environment", he seemed to suggest an answer to the mystery now being pondered by the media: why, if Britain is so secular, was he received so enthusiastically?

"In the course of my visit," he said, "it has become clear to me how deep a thirst there is among the British people for the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Is that right? Is Britain -- post-Christian, secular, "believing but not belonging" Britain -- really so hungry for what the Pope has to offer? He certainly seemed, in these four days, to think so, praising great British virtues which he saw as rooted in the nation's Christian legacy. [As Raymond Arroyo put it briefly, the Pope's message was:' Britons come home! Get back to your roots!']

He told the bishops: "As you proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, with its promise of hope for the poor and the needy, the sick and the elderly, the unborn and the neglected, be sure to present in its fulness the life-giving message of the Gospel, including those elements which call into question the widespread assumptions of today's culture."

He also returned, again, to the clerical sex abuse crisis, a theme which in the last two days of his visit has emerged as almost as important as the argument for the inclusion of faith in public life.

He praised the bishops for having taken "serious steps to remedy this situation, to ensure that children are effectively protected from harm and to deal properly and transparently with allegations as they arise", and called on them "to share the lessons you have learned with the wider community. Indeed, what better way could there be of making reparation for these sins than by reaching out, in a humble spirit of compassion, towards children who continue to suffer abuse elswhere?"

A short time ago I was watching the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, sum this up on the BBC. "What better way for the Church to do penance for its failures than by helping wider society deal better with the abuse in its midst?" he asked.

Pope Benedict also asked the bishops to be "generous" in their response to applications to the ordinariate, which "should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics" by promoting unity while accepting differences.

He also asked them to see the new English translation of the Mass, "as an opportunity ... for in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration."

In his closing remarks at Birmingham airport, Pope Benedict thanked the British people for the warmth of their welcome, and spoke again of the challenge of building a pluralistic society, as well as the opportunity for doing so through intercultural dialogue.

Although he had come with a fierce message about the vital importance of the place of faith in public life and education, it had been framed, throughout, in terms and language and symbols which pointed to the value of dialogue and respect.

It is this, perhaps above all, which floored his critics. The Pope's was a message which all could instantly recognise as the true humanism.

He leaves a Church invigorated and unified by his visit; a Church more proud and confident than it was last Wednesday; a Church which will be pondering some magnificent texts for many years to come - -and images of a Pope whose smiling, gentle countenance speaks of the kind of humanism Britain will need to prosper.


Then, there's the rightly and abundantly euphoric blog from a former editor of the Catholic Herald:

The Pope has routed his enemies
and brought joy to the faithful
The last four days began in anxiety, but ended in euphoria
By William Oddie

Monday, 20 September 2010


How does one sum up the papal visit in a few words?

A survey of the four days, event by event – four days which began (so far as I am concerned) in anxiety which quickly turned to relief and ended finally in euphoria – simply can’t be done in less than the length of a short book, and I have only 400 or 500 words for this post, though in the print edition of the paper which appears later this week I shall be given more than double the space for an extended version of it, in which I shall look also at the very interesting coverage of the visit by the secular media.

That aspect of the visit will have to be briefly summarised here by the words of Dr George Carey [former Archbishop of Canterbury] in the News of the World: “he came, he saw, he conquered”. [OK, Lord Carey - you who have sometimes been very harsh on Benedict XVI - a Saturday wrap-up of the visit in The Scotsman cited Caesar's line first to describe this triumph. But thank you for acknowledging Benedict XVI's triumph.]

The richness, volume and sheer variety of the teaching the Pope gave us, and its perfect suitability for each of its many very different audiences, ranging from his intellectually hugely impressive address to the leaders of civil society in Westminster Hall to his call to that enthusiastic audience of schoolchildren to aim at becoming saints, was astonishing.

And perhaps the first thing that needs to be said is that this was above all a personal triumph for the Holy Father himself. What came over consistently was the huge warmth, the seemingly inexhaustible loving kindness of the Pope’s gentle but nevertheless powerful personality. After all the caricatures, the man emerged. [What's worrisome is that Benedict the man is always very evident even in his most routine actions. Why does it have to take a papal visit to remind even Catholic intellectuals that the man has always been there, reserved perhaps, but unmistakable in his personal witness to everything he preaches!]

Despite his intellectual impressiveness, which was evident throughout, everyone now knows that this is no withdrawn, scholarly rigorist, incapable of relating to people or understanding their lives: this alleged coldness, it was widely claimed, was what explained the supposed lack of enthusiasm about the visit, even among Catholics.

Well, we will hear no more now about his purported lack of charisma, an assessment invariably followed with a comparison, to Pope Benedict’s disadvantage, with John Paul II.

Pope Benedict is, we have now all seen, hugely charismatic: but his charisma is of a different kind, less dramatic, less forcefully energetic than that of Pope John Paul.

Of course; they were always very different men: but Pope Benedict has all the charisma he needs, and in both the senses given by the Oxford Dictionary: 1) “a compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others” and 2) “a divinely conferred power or talent”. [Thanks, Mr. Oddie, for reminding your readers of that. Too bad the Oxford Dictionary appears to have regressed but the original first meaning of the term was that of a 'gift from the Holy Spirit'. OED appears to have made the popular definition as the primary meaning.]

For, in the end, let us never forget that what we have witnessed has come from God, whose presence has been very close throughout not only to the Pope himself but also to all who were praying for his success – protecting, inspiring, allaying our fears and in the end fulfilling all our hopes.


This short piece brought me to tears...

A Pope for all seasons
by Kathryn Jean Lopez
Monday, September 20, 2010



[I saw the Pope in Fatima this past spring. I wound up with a decent spot for Mass there, and couldn’t help but watch the Holy Father’s face throughout the Mass and subsequent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The man was being renewed there. He was taking energy from the crowd and the universality of the Church, as so many there gathered were.

[She is so right here. A longtime Spanish observer of Joseph Ratzinger recounts that he told him once he drew physical force and renewal from being among people, especially from young ones. Just as for him, praying is a reciprocal activity that we do for each other (he prays for us, he asks us to pray for him) - physical presence and contact is also a two-way giving. His presence and his touch bless the faithful, just as he is blessed by their presence and physical contact. When he kisses the babies,the kiss is for all of us, too.

And as for watching him up close when he is in prayer, I refer you back to Jean Guenois's memoir of his experience watching the Pope praying before the image of Our Lady in Fatima last May.]

And it was hard not to notice the motherly encouragement that was present. She said the Soviets wouldn’t win. She reminded us sin and death are conquered by Christ. She, and the whole event, reminded him, I suspect, that he wasn’t alone.

Not that he didn’t know it already, but at a time when all hell seemed to be breaking lose — even as evil had already long-established its presence in some of the greatest institutions of the West — most notably the Church, it couldn’t hurt, in this very special place where she had appeared to three young children. Three young children who still have a great deal to teach us about faith and prayer.

As a Catholic friend of mine in Lisbon beautifully and faithfully assessed both trips last night:

“The Holy Father’s visit was a huge success and I am not surprised. Not only because he has such a gentle, clear, brilliant way of exposing the Gospel message as something fascinating and totally simple and natural (as in: we were created by a loving God so the natural thing is to be attracted to Him and the truth the Son came to reveal . . .) but also because Our Lady was quite clear here in Portugal that She was with him! We are living fascinating times and I am totally confident that after a needed purification we will witness a marvelous rebirth of a united Christianity.”

As I pointed to earlier, he did not pass up the opportunity to talk about another priest’s love of Mary yesterday. [When he evoked Blessed John Henry Neman's devotion to Mary in the Angelus message before teh Mass ended.]

There’s a hermeneutics of continuity to Pope Benedict.

And there are other similarities between the two trips, too. Fatima didn’t get the pre-trip gloom-and-doom and threats coverage the British trip did, but both Portugal and the United Kingdom both wound up warmly welcoming the Holy Father, despite all kinds of crazy secular things going on there.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00lunedì 20 settembre 2010 23:17



I break off from the Catholic commentariat to post from the tabloid NEWS OF THE WORLD. First, because I had to seek out George Carey's article cited above by William Oddie - even though, but as I suspected, the acknowledgment that the Pope's visit had 'routed his extreme critics' came with caveats that are less than gracious...

Pope's trip won affection
By George Carey

19/09/2010

HE came, he saw, he conquered.

While this could be said of that other famous resident of Rome, Julius Caesar, the Pope can at least return to the Vatican content in the knowledge that he routed his most extreme critics and captured the hearts of many Britons.

Very few politicians, if any, could draw such rapturous audiences. Why is this so? Because faith is about the idea that this universe is the work not of chance but that of a caring, heavenly father.
[Not to be ungracious, but did Archbishop Carey draw such rapturous audiences when he was Archbishop of Canterbury? Does Rowan Williams now? There is something else to the Papacy. Faith is a component, but even Billy Graham or the Dalai Lama would not attract tens of thousands to the street just to see them pass by!]

It was this idea that drove Pope Benedict XVI to criticise the UK for marginalising faith.

Roman Catholicism faces a problem in regaining society's trust.

In expressions of regret that the Catholic church acted too slowly and without sufficient rigour in dealing with clerical abuse, the Pope has begun to heal the wedge which has been driven between the Church and the wider community.

[And here we come to Carey's liberal laundry list. Considering that the same demands he makes have split the Anglican Communion and driven the traditional wing to want to convert, why is he so anxious to wish the same on the Roman Catholic Church?]

Even more openness is needed in the corridors of the Vatican though.

If the Pope were only prepared to open a few doors to reform, the Catholic church would move from a position of defensive retreat to positive engagement with issues such as celibacy. Most lay Catholics would welcome a married priesthood.

And by not ordaining women, the Catholic Church has excluded from its ministry the talents of the majority of its membership. On the issue of unity, Pope Benedict is deeply conservative - but all mainstream churches share a central faith.

As the Pope leaves today I hope he will be satisfied that we have listened with courtesy.

Nevertheless, nothing will change unless he has listened to us.


NEWS OF THE WORLD earlier came up with the sweetest headline for the visit that I have seen so far! And also, with an account of the motorcade that captures what was so impressive about it (even if their crowd estimate falls 50% short of what appears to be the agreed figure now).... going so far as to call him 'People's Pope' (a la 'People's Princess', I suppose). But he really is, and we should celebrate that a tabloid has the grace and courage to say so!


Bennie's from heaven:
People's Pope leaves Britain
with a smile on its face
By Matthew Drake and Dan Sanderson

19/09/2010

THE Pope was given a rock star reception last night as more than 100,000 ecstatic worshippers cheered him through the streets of London.

Benedict XVI sparked the carnival celebrations as his famous Popemobile made its way through packed streets to an open air prayer vigil in Hyde Park.

The amazing scenes came just hours after the Pope publicly apologised for the "unspeakable" crimes committed by members of the Catholic church.

In a lengthy morning service at Westminster Cathedral, he said: "I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims. I also acknowledge, with you, the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of these sins."

The Pontiff also met five victims of sexual abuse by priests.

The extraordinary scenes which greeted him later turned his state visit to Britain - which had been clouded by the abuse issue - into a rousing success.

A sea of followers waving flags and clutching rosary beads craned for a glimpse of the Holy Father inside his iconic white Mercedes.

Some climbed lamp-posts and pushed steel barriers forward as the procession made its way through streets lined with worshippers from across the globe.

Excited youngsters were hoisted on to parents' shoulders, clutching camera phones to try to snap an image of Papa Ratzi, the most powerful figure in the Christian world and head of 1.1billion Catholics.

Perched on a specially designed throne the beaming Pontiff - in white cassock, white sash with gold fringe and white zucchetto cap - waved to his fans, flashing the historic gold Ring Of The Fisherman on his right hand.

As he made his way up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, sections of the crowd broke into a jubilant chorus of "We love you Benedict, we do".

The first of around 85,000 fans were already flooding into Hyde Park in scenes reminiscent of the Live 8 concert five years ago.

Sound crews and singers warmed up in the dazzling sunshine ahead of the once-in-a-lifetime chance to entertain His Holiness.

The Pope's warm-up act Liam McNally, 14-year-old star of Britain's Got Talent, said: "I've never entertained a crowd as big as this before.

"There are thousands here and they keep coming. They were all behind me and it was it was like one big picnic."

As the clock ticked down to the Pope's arrival Hyde Park was awash with flags from all corners of the globe, including his native Germany.

Those not lucky enough to get tickets waited patiently outside the metal perimeter fence in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Pontiff on his way in.

Rachel Moran, who had "I Love The Pope" painted on her face, travelled to London with pal Niamh Maloney. Rachel, 21, a support worker from Lincoln, said: "This has been the best day of my life.

"English Catholicism needs a bit of oomph and this is our chance to give it some welly. I have got a feeling that I've not had for a long time. He should come more often."

Niamh, who held a banner reading "We Love U Papa More Than Beans On Toast", added: "We just love the Pope.

"It has been just such an incredible time to be a Catholic. It isn't every day you get such a buzz out of being a Catholic."

Laura Jones, from Brentwood, said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To have seen the Pope is a truly special moment for me. I'm only 24 and I feel honoured to meet so many other young Catholics my age who hold the same beliefs and feelings as me.

"I feel that religion in this country has been marginalised. It is not cool to believe in God these days and this visit is about making a comeback for Catholicism."

Earlier the Pontiff met political figures at Westminster including Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and acting opposition leader Harriet Harman.

It was in the cathedral at Westminster that the Pope give the emotional 13-minute address which was his strongest public condemnation of the priests who destroyed thousands of lives and of the Catholic church's failure to deal with their abuse.

He told the hushed congregation: "I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the church and by her ministers.

"Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ's grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives.

"I also acknowledge, with you, the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of these sins."

Afterwards the 83-year-old Pope held a private lunch to thank his hosts. Sources said he then returned to his temporary residence in Wimbledon and took an afternoon siesta to gather his strength ahead of the Hyde Park vigil.

The Pope famously enjoys afternoon naps at the Vatican. [It's good for him and for everyone!]

He was certainly rejuvenated later and, after a visit to Vauxhall to give a speech to the Little Sisters Of The Poor, the Pontiff took to his Popemobile to start his journey to last night's memorable service.


The above news report was more heartwarming for this Benaddict than the mixed commentary below by Cristina Odone, another former editor of the Catholic Herald. But this is not the first time I have taken issue with - or at least been perplexed by - some of her statements...


Pope made Britain
sit up and listen
by Cristina Odone

19/09/2010


Even his fans were afraid that Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain would run into trouble.

The organisation had been shambolic and ticket sales disappointing. Protesters threatened to hijack every ceremony.

The scandal over child-abusing priests risked drowning out the cheers of his followers and the voice of this frail 83-year-old.

But the spiritual leader of the world's one billion Catholics has pulled off a miracle. He has made Britain sit up and listen.

Benedict XVI has attacked our Godless culture and the know-alls who try to undermine faith.

In Westminster Abbey, where no Pope has ever set foot, he told the Great and Good that religion has a key role to play in public life.

A society led by reason alone, he told his audience, can produce horrors such as slavery and the Holocaust.

The Pope followed his address in the Abbey with another historic first as he joined Archbishop Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace.

[Corrections: He visited Lambeth Palace first, then went to Westminster Hall, not Wetminster Abbey, for his address to civilian society; and only afterwards, to the Abbey.]

The division between the Roman and Anglican churches was played down as Benedict shook hands with the Rev Jane Hedges, an Anglican woman priest. [Which, despite all the hoo-hah about it before the visit, was not even photographed by the newsphoto agencies, not those that contribute to Yahoo or Daylife, at any rate! Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has no quarrel with other non-Catholic Christian denominations who ordain women, he does not meddle in their affairs! He just is firm against it taking place in the Church that he heads.]

The Catholic Church's ban on women priests is one of the issues, along with acceptance of homosexuality and birth control, that more liberal Catholics would like Pope Benedict to review.

But Benedict XVI is a traditionalist who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, earned the nickname of "God's Rottweiler" for his determination to stamp out all dissent. As Pope he has quashed all hope of a U-turn on these issues. [As he rightly should! But should it not be mentioned that even his predecessor - and other modern Popes before them - have all, in their own ways, "quashed any hope of a U-turn on these issues"? i.e., The Chuch - and her Popes - have been consistent on this. It's not just Benedict imposing his preferences!]

Benedict XVI lacks the celebrity appeal of his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II. There is no denying that when the Polish Pope came to Britain in 1982 on a pastoral trip, the national mood was more jubilant than during Benedict's state visit. [I disagree, obviously. Every Pope has 'celebrity appeal' in that most people, given a chance, would want to see a Pope. There have only been 265 of them in history, and only one living Pope at a time (except for some unfortunate periods in the Middle Ages). The other is that 1982 was a different time altogether: No Pope had ever visited the UK before, and a historical first is always intrinsically more exciting. Also, secularism was not so rampant and dominant in UK society then, and the sex-abuse monster had not yet reared its ugly head although it had been wreaking its havoc under cover for at least two decades by then.]

But Benedict has scored his own triumphs. [Sounds condescending, but perhaps I'm being hyper-sensitive!] His public apology to the victims of priestly abuse for the "unspeakable crimes" his Churchmen had committed turned yesterday's Mass at Westminster Cathedral into a watershed moment for the Church in crisis.

This, and the private meeting with victims of abuse, have gone a long way to restore the Church's reputation. [So, did all of his previous statements about the issue and meetings with victims not account for anything? He had to come to the UK, say the same things, and meet a new set of victims for his words and gestures to 'come a long way to restore the Church's reputation'????]

But Pope Benedict has not allowed the most shameful chapter of the Church's history to erase its power to inspire good.

He has reminded Britons that science does not have a monopoly on wisdom and that ranting atheists should not monopolise our media.

In so doing he has taken on the know-alls and exposed them as know-nothings."


It certainly is strange to read about the Pope in NEWS OF THE WORLD whose selling point is unabashed salaciousness, but if they have a former Archbishop of Canterbury as a regular columnist, it must be that they have been trying to balance their content with something for everyone. But thanks a lot, indeed, for the coverage that they did provide the Pope.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 01:12



The following column is the first I have seen that clearly articulates the contrast between Benedict XVI's consistent firmness and courage in standing up to secularism - and the leaders of the Church of England who have chosen simply to capitulate... And why it is Benedict who gets all the concentrated, obsessive, manic force of the secularists' ire: he - and his Church - constitute the enemy they cannot beat into submission or retreat.


If only the Archbishop of Canterbury
dared to speak with a fraction
of Benedict's authority
By Stephen Glover

20th September 2010


Only a few days ago we were being assured by many voices on the BBC that Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain might well turn out to be a damp squib.

It was widely predicted that few would turn out to see him.

Some even suggested that protests against the heinous crimes of child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church might so dominate and disfigure his visit that there would be no room for the Pope to talk about anything else, or for us to listen.

In the event, the crowds were larger than had been forecast, if not as big as they were when the charismatic Pope John Paul II came to this country 28 years ago.

Particularly noticeable were the many enthusiastic young people among an estimated 80,000 congregation at a prayer vigil in Hyde Park in London on Saturday evening. [Too bad Glover apparently took no notice of the motorcade that preceded the Hyde Park rally. Forgive me for pointing this out every chance I get, but huge happenings like that do not usually go unnoticed and reported by most of the media! They would never have done in 1982 when the Pope was John Paul II?]

As for the protests about child abuse, they did not overwhelm the visit. Pope Benedict effectively admitted the guilt of the Roman Catholic Church.

At a mass in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday afternoon, he moved some members of the congregation to tears when he appeared to liken the victims’ suffering to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

He spoke of the ‘shame and humiliation’ brought to the Church by the scandal.

This was a much more successful visit than the Roman Catholic hierarchy had dared to hope.

But I have a feeling it was more than that. In a manner wholly unlike our home-grown clerics, the Pope spoke to the soul of our country, affirming eternal moral verities which our own political and religious leaders normally prefer to avoid.

In essence, he has been asking us to examine what kind of country we want this to be.

He warned Britain not to lose sight of its Christian heritage in its ‘multi-cultural’ and ‘aggressively secular’ modern society.

Politicians should not try to ‘silence’ religion by discouraging public celebration of its most important festivals, notably Christmas.

Nor should they enact legislation which forces Christians to act against their consciences.

He reminded us that ‘Britain stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God’, and reflected how it was ‘deeply moving to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives’.

The excesses of secularism and the perils of ‘atheist extremism’ were themes to which he returned again and again.

They will resonate with Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, and with many non-Christians of other faiths, and perhaps those with none.

Perhaps rather amusingly, yesterday evening at Birmingham Airport, David Cameron ‘spun’ the Pope’s anti-secularist message to something closer to his ‘Big Society’.

It is far, far more than that. Pope Benedict’s declarations over the past few days have been remarkable and, in modern Britain, virtually unprecedented.

They were delivered in the calmest, meekest, least ranting way possible, and yet they carried a great authority that largely comes, I think, from the Pope’s sense of holiness and evident goodness, as well as from the dignity of his office.

Even hard-hearted cynics and sceptics could not fail but listen.

Most extraordinary of all, here was a religious leader prepared to confront the modern secular world – and modern secular Britain – with the timeless values of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.

These values, said Pope Benedict in his final address yesterday, had been traduced by abusive priests who had seriously undermined the moral credibility of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is almost a shock to hear a religious leader speak in so blunt a way, so inured are we to our own religious leaders, particularly Church of England bishops, accommodating themselves to secular values.

I realise that any Pope has an in-built dominance which partly rests upon the bizarre doctrine of Papal infallibility. [No, Mr. Glover. You have it completely wrong. The concept of papal infallibility - only on the doctrine of the Church, not for anything else - was not introduced until the mid-19th century. For some 1950 years before that, all Catholics were bred in the idea that the Successor of Peter is Christ's Vicar on earth. The Pope's ultimate authority is Christ.]

An Archbishop of Canterbury is merely first among equals, and cannot summon up the authority of a Pope.

Yet wouldn’t it be wonderful if Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, dared to speak with a fraction of the authority of the Pope?

The tragedy is that Dr Williams and Anglican bishops probably agree with almost everything Pope Benedict said about the dangers of secularism – and yet they do not have the courage, or whatever it takes, to say it.

And whereas the Pope speaks clearly in English, which is his third or fourth language, Dr Williams often speaks opaquely or in riddles in the language that is his own.

In his concluding address, Pope Benedict said that he had discovered ‘how deep a thirst there is among the British people for the good news of Jesus Christ’.

He is right. And yet how often our national Church – the Church of England – fails to proclaim this good news.

In large parts of the Anglican Church there is a sense of defeatism in the face of the incoming tide of secularism, as congregations dwindle and parish churches close.

But look at the young people in Hyde Park or those lining Princes Street in Edinburgh or those standing outside Westminster Cathedral.

They yearn for the good news, and they invite moral certainty. Would it be too much to hope that Anglican bishops might learn something from the fearless commitment of the Pope?

I realise, of course, that there are some individual parishes, mostly Evangelical ones, in the Church of England which display much of the same fidelity to traditional Christian teaching.

And these, of course, are the very churches to which the young are flocking in droves.

By contrast, the ‘atheist extremists’ such as the biologist Richard Dawkins, the actor Stephen Fry, the lawyer Geoffrey Robinson and the writer Philip Pullman are nihilists who have nothing to offer by way of hope to the young or anyone else.

Atheism is a perfectly respectable intellectual position, but these men (they are usually men) show nothing but mean-spiritedness sometimes bordering on lunacy when they called for the Pope to be banned from coming to this country or even, in Mr Dawkins’s case, arrested for ‘crimes against humanity’.

In truth they are driven by hatred of the Church. Mr Pullman actually says that he hopes ‘the wretched organisation will vanish entirely’. It won’t.

Their foaming and often unbalanced denunciations of the Pope reveal their fear. They fear him because he adheres so strongly to traditional Christian teaching and champions principles they abhor.

They fear him because the values he reiterates commend themselves to millions of people and, above all, to millions of young people.

They do not trouble to vent their spite and vitriol on the Archbishop of Canterbury because Dr Williams has been so cowed by the forces of secularism that he no longer poses any threat to their bleak vision.

How petty and irrelevant these extremist atheists appear in the context of the hopes inspired by the Pope.

In invoking the heritage of our Christian past, and suggesting we might still have a principled Christian future, Benedict XVI has achieved more than the Church of England over many years.

The lesson of the past few days is that Britain is not quite the deeply un-Christian country that the BBC and other parts of the media would have us believe.


We pray, of course, that the bishops of the UK (and elsewhere) will have learned from Benedict XVI to stand up unequivocally for the faith - the orthodox one, undiluted by illusions of 'appeasing' the liberals. They are not to be appeased - they are to be shown by strong committed witness that they are wrong. The Pope cannot physically and visibly prop his bishops everywhere 24/7. Rather, he counts on them to prop up and strengthen their respective local Churches and flocks as Catholic pastors should.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 02:51



Surely no recent new saint or blessed in the history of the Church has inspired such a flood of writing upon his beatification as does Blessed John Henry Newman, for the simple reason that besides who he is and the personal holiness he represents, he has also been perhaps the most prolific in terms of his lifetime output of ideas! If Beneedict XVI weren't who he is, he might have been overshadowed by the understandable revival of interest in Newman.

I know I haven't given enough attention to Blessed John Henry on this Forum as I would have liked to, because I would have had to open a NEWMAN thread to start doing him justice - and I am unable to commit the time and effort that such an undertaking requires. I'm already overtaxed as it is to keep up the BENEDICT thread the way I think it ought to be - a convenient one-stop shop for all those who are interested in him and his Pontificate, which minimizes sending the reader scampering all over the web (or this Forum) following links...

Fortunately, insofar as Blessed John Henry is concerned, there are numerous Newman forums and websites all over the Internet which we can all run to when and as we wish... But here's a fine essay that ties in Newman and Benedict, a spiritual-intellectual union blessed by heaven, if ever there was one. (P.S. Do you think God gave a clue in that they have the same hair almost???]....


The real John Henry Newman
by William Doino

Monday, September 20, 2010

Those fortunate enough to have taken in Pope Benedict’s celebration of Cardinal Newman — at both Saturday’s prayer vigil, and the Mass and beatification early Sunday — were not disappointed. The solemnity of the occasion, the readings and beautiful hymns sung, the sacred processions and tributes, all hit a note of perfect synchronicity. It is difficult to see how the two-day event could have been any better.

Many things were accomplished during these ceremonies, but perhaps the most important was this: Benedict has reclaimed and reaffirmed the real John Henry Newman.

And not a moment too soon.

For decades, “progressives” in the Church have tried to claim Newman as one of their own, depicting him as some kind of anti-papal rebel, who supposedly would have been at home with every type of modern dissent. One would think, listening to the Catholic dissidents, that were Newman living today, he would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Charles Curran and Hans Kung.

The strategy to remake Newman a modern liberal is familiar: take a few isolated citations from Newman’s voluminous writings (particularly on the role of conscience and the laity), rip them from their proper context, distort their meaning, then re-deploy them to justify dissent from authoritative Catholic teachings.

In his book, Newman’s Challenge, the late Fr. Stanley Jaki, winner of the Templeton Prize for Religion, demonstrates just how dishonest these efforts really are, analyzing Newman’s actual words, where liberals misuse them, with devastating effect. [The very same adjective I chose - because it is the most appropriate one - to describe the blatant and facile misrepresentation of Newman even by supposed Catholic 'intellectuals' like Ross Douthat, who may not have bothered to check out what Newman actually wrote (not simply as isolated sentences), and in what context!]

More recently, Ian Ker, Newman’s great biographer, has done the same against those who would pit Newman against Benedict. But some people just won’t listen, and among them is the famously unreliable John Cornwell, who has made a last-ditch effort to salvage Newman for the anti-papal crusaders, but without success.

During their excellent coverage of the papal trip to Britain, EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo, Fr. Robert Sirico and Joseph Pearce did a masterful job refuting Cornwell, point-by-point; and, with the message getting out, spirited letters have appeared in the press, contradicting Cornwell’s claims, and documenting Newman’s “unequivocal submission to the Pope.”

Cornwell’s attempt to debunk the miraculous healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan, credited by the Church to Newman’s intercession, was also swiftly answered; and it was fitting that Deacon Jack himself got the final word, when he spoke at the beatification, mentioning the “other-worldly” powers that he believes led to his healing.

The elevation of Newman also marks a personal triumph for Pope Benedict, who has long championed the great Cardinal in his writings and lectures.

Contrary to Professor Eamon Duffy, who offensively claimed that Newman’s vision of the Church, is “the antithesis” of the current pontiff’s, Benedict is very much in the Newman mold.

The similarities are striking: a personal piety and humility; belief in the harmony of faith and reason; a love for learning and scholarship; a defense of the objective moral order revealed by God; a determination to oppose every form of relativism; a belief in the continuity of essential Catholic teachings; aproper understanding of conscience, led and fortified by the Magisterium; and above all, a defense of the supernatural [i.e., transcendent] against the onslaught of secularism.

Newman’s traditional credentials are so secure that an entire book of his sermons was published some years back with the appropriate title, Newman against the Liberals.

Any one of the texts therein would shock the sensibilities of a religious progressive; even the ones delivered as an Anglican are fierce: “Does not our kindness too often degenerate into weakness, and thus become not Christian charity, but lack of charity, as regards the objects of it?” he asked in Tolerance of Religious Error. He continued:
Are we sufficiently careful to do what is right and just rather than what is pleasant? do we clearly understand our professed principles, and do we keep to them under temptation?

. . . I fear we lack . . . firmness, manliness, godly severity. I fear it must be confessed, that our kindness, instead of being directed and braced by principle, too often becomes languid and unmeaning; that it is exerted on improper objects, and out of season, and thereby is uncharitable in two ways, indulging those who should be chastised, and preferring their comfort to those who are really deserving.

We are over-tender in dealing with sin and sinners. We are deficient in jealous custody of revealed Truths which Christ has left us. We allow men to speak against the Church, its ordinances, or its teaching, without remonstrating with them.

We do not separate from heretics, nay, we object to the word as if uncharitable; and when such texts are brought against us as St. John’s command, not to show hospitality toward them, we are not slow to answer that they do not apply to us.”

If any Anglican divine or Catholic priest, let alone a Pope, preached words like that today, would not they be denounced as frightful reactionaries by liberals? Yet this is what Newman believed, drawing his strength from the Gospel, and he never shrank from saying so.

Progressives who claim Newman for themselves have not listened to his own words honestly: “For thirty, forty, fifty years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of liberalism in religion,” he declared upon receiving his Cardinal’s hat. “Never did Holy Church need champions against it more sorely than now, when, alas! it is an error overspreading, as a snare, the whole earth.”

As for his loyalty to the papacy, after becoming a Catholic, there are mountains of quotations one could pile upon the Cornwell’s of this world, none better than this from a sermon Newman preached as Rector of the Catholic University of Dublin:
Deeply do I feel, ever will I protest, for I can appeal to the ample testimony of history to bear me out, that, in questions of right and wrong, there is nothing really strong in the whole world, nothing decisive and operative, but the voice of him, to whom have been committed the keys of the kingdom and the oversight of Christ’s flock.

The voice of Peter is now, as it ever has been, a real authority, infallible when it teaches, prosperous when it commands, ever taking the lead wisely and distinctly in its own province, adding certainty to what is probable, and persuasion to what is certain. Before it speaks, the most saintly may mistake; and after it has spoken, the most gifted must obey.

This is the real John Henry Newman, the faithful priest and theologian, not the liberal imposter too often imagined; this is the man whose intellect and witness remains a lantern to the world, and who we are now privileged to call – thanks to Pope Benedict —“Blessed.”


The following article was written by Joseph Pearce, writer in residence and associate professor of literature at Ave Maria University in Florida. He is author of Literary Converts and biographies of William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and J.R.R. Tolkien. Pearce and another Newman scholar, Fr. Robert Sirico, president of Acton Institute, assisted anchor Raymond Arroyo during EWTN"s coverage of the papal visit to the UK.

Blessed John Henry: 'Father' of the 19th-century
Catholic revival in the Anglo-Saxon world
BY JOSEPH PEARCE

joseph.pearce@avemaria.edu
Sept. 20, 2010

The beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman on Sunday during the Pope's visit to England is a timely reminder of Newman's monumental
importance to the revival of Catholicism in his native England and the United States. His 1845 reception into the Catholic Church heralded a new dawn for Catholicism in the English-speaking world.

Before Newman, England's Catholic presence had withered to such a degree that only remnants of the old recusant families still carried the faith. These adherents to the 'Old Faith' bore Catholicism in their hearts and in their homes, but they were effectively excluded from bringing it into public life.

After Newman's conversion, Catholicism became a major intellectual presence in English cultural life. Thousands of British citizens followed him and converted to Catholicism. This phenomenon crossed the Atlantic, heralding a similar revival in the United States.

If Newman's historical importance is beyond question, so is the great legacy he bequeathed to posterity. In theology, philosophy, education and literature his influence on both sides of the Atlantic is remarkable.

Newman's famous February 1843 sermon on Development in Christian Doctrine has become the benchmark for doctrinal-development study.

His discourses on liberal education, delivered to Catholic audiences in Dublin in 1852 as he prepared to become rector of the new Catholic University of Ireland, were published two years later as The Idea of a University, a book that remains one of the finest and most eloquent works advocating the efficacy of an integrated liberal arts education.

To this day, Newman's influence can be seen in the founding of new Catholic centers of higher education such as Florida's Ave Maria University, Virginia's Christendom College and California's Thomas Aquinas College.

Newman's greatest contribution to philosophy is his seminal work, The Grammar of Assent(1870), the product of 20 years' labor, which highlighted the rational foundations for religious belief and the inadequacy of empiricism.

His Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864) is arguably the greatest autobiographical spiritual aeneid ever written, with the obvious exception of St. Augustine's incomparable Confessions.

Years earlier, in 1848, only three years after his reception into the church, Newman foreshadowed Apologia with his first novel, Loss and Gain, a fictionalized semi-autobiographical account of a young man's quest for faith amid the skepticism and uncertainties of early-Victorian Oxford.

Literary critic George Levine called Newman "perhaps the most artful and brilliant prose writer of the 19th century", a judgment seemingly echoed by James Joyce, via Stephen Dedalus, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Newman was also one of the finest poets of the Victorian age, writing poems such as The Sign of the Cross, The Golden Prison and The Pilgrim Queen. His most ambitious poem is The Dream of Gerontius, later the inspiration for an oratorio by Sir Edward Elgar, which presents the vision of a soul at the moment of death and its conveyance by its guardian angel to the cleansing grace of purgatory.

"It reminds us at times of Milton," suggested critic A.S.P. Woodhouse, "and it strikingly anticipates T.S. Eliot in its presentation of Christ as the surgeon who probes the wound in order to heal".

Newman's beatification signifies the belief of the Catholic Church that he has attained his heavenly reward. Whether one agrees, there is no denying the magnitude of Newman's influence on both the Church and the wider secular culture, especially in the English-speaking world. U.S. Catholics can see their faith and world from a revival that stands on Newman's shoulders.

As such, the debt that American Catholics owe to the beatified Cardinal is considerable.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 03:44


Forgive me for going back to the actual coverage of the Pope's visit. I had intended to follow closely BBC's coverage of the visit, but I was unable to do that systematically - with BBC or any other outlet. Here is one of the report formats they used that I find very unformative and useful. It represents their 'log' - with entry times - of what was happening throughout their coverage of the visit for the day, along with samples from e-mails written to them by the faithful. It's best to read it from the bottom up, because the updates were posted from the top; the times are posted military style...




As it happened:
The Pope in Britain

19 September 2010

•The fourth day of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK saw him lead a beatification service for 19th Century theologian Cardinal Newman at Cofton Park in Birmingham
•He also visited the Catholic Seminary of Oscott, which trains future priests, and held a meeting with the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales
•Prime Minister David Cameron thanked the Pope for making the country "sit up and think", and vowed to increase co-operation between the UK and the Vatican on issues like poverty and climate change
•Live page reporters: Victoria King and Alex Kleiderman

1951 Well, that's a wrap. Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the Pope's visit and for all your contributions. We hope you've enjoyed our efforts and will join us again for some more live commentary soon.

1947 Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent for the Times newspaper, says that where protests occurred they were conducted with "dignity and decorum". [She considers their vulgar signs 'dignity and decorum'????] She says she was told ahead of the visit that police were on "hair trigger" alert because of previous assassination attempts on the Pope's life, and if there had been any attempt to make an citizen's arrest of the pontiff, as some had suggested, officers would have had to decide in a split second whether to use their weapons. [I don't think that was ever a possiblity. None of the protestors would have risked their life - or at the very least, arrest - just to make a grandstand play.]

1942 Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, policing co-ordinator for the papal visit, tells the BBC it's been challenging, but "enjoyable". He says colleagues at the Vatican have been "amazed" at the British ability - "spirit of fair play", he calls it - to allow both well-wishers and protesters to gather in the same area and make their views known without any problems.

1937 Leo Goatley, from Gloucester, writes: "Perhaps surprisingly, the Pope omitted to place family at the centre of his preaching, which should be pivotal to the teaching of the Church. As a lapsed Catholic married to a devout member of the Church, I found the plea for dialogue between faith and reason curious as the idea of a belief in a God is, to me, far less challenging than a faith required to accept the full creed of Christianity or any other religion for that matter." [Leo obviously is unfamiliar with teh content of Benedict XVI's preaching, and is also very confused!]

1932 If you missed the events in Birmingham earlier today, the BBC's Sitala Peek was there and has written about her experiences.

1927 Adrian Winchester writes: "I had my doubts about how successful this visit would be but I'm now sorry to see the Pope go. He has addressed some important issues that go to the heart of the sort of society we want."

1917 Lord Patten, the government's papal visit co-ordinator, says the cost to the taxpayer is "pretty low", about £10m. "I think it's been an investment in a very important relationship," he tells the BBC. "A relationship with an organisation which is the second largest development organisation in the world, and a relationship with a faith which provides 30,000 different examples of social care in this country."

1903 Archbishop Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, tells the BBC the visit has gone better than he could have expected. Contrary to the image often painted of him, he says the Pope came across as he truly is - "as a gentle, sensitive, eloquent and really lovely person". "It's out of that loveliness that he brings the message that he did," the Archbishop adds.

1858 'Spooncams' in Kidderminster writes: "Just another waste of time and money. I work as a driver and the visit caused total mayhem with roads closed and for what? Let's hope another 30 years before the next visit."

1853 John Nixon in York writes: "The Pope has penetrated the superficiality and shallowness of many aspects of life today. He speaks in a calm and eloquent manner without an emphasis on him personally or his performance. This has stood out in contrast to the spin and gloss we see from many of our political and religious leaders."

1849 Spoke too soon. The Pope squeezed in one more wave, from the window of the plane as it taxied away for take-off. It's bound for Rome's Ciampino airport where it's due to land at about 2230 local time.

1841 One last wave from the top of the steps and that's it. The Pope steps inside the plane - known in some quarters as Shepherd One - which is flying both the Union Jack and the papal standard.

1836 After a final shake of the hand and a few private words with the prime minister, Pope Benedict walks the red carpet for the last time and says goodbye to a number of his bishops.

1834 The Pope says he will "treasure the time" spent with members of his Church while in the UK. He once again mentions Cardinal Newman and the lessons he feels we can all learn from him.

1832 The Pope now takes centre-stage and thanks all those who have helped to organise his visit. He says the diversity of modern Britain is a challenge to the government, but also offers an opportunity for greater inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue.

1830 The PM concludes by saying the government and the Vatican have agreed to increase their co-operation "on the key international issues where we share a common goal", including tackling climate change, fighting poverty and disease, and working for peace around the world.

1828 David Cameron says Britain is characterised by a deep, but quiet compassion, and he has felt it personally in recent days "as I have cradled a new daughter and said goodbye to a wonderful father".

1826 "Faith is part of the fabric of our country," the prime minister continues. But he adds: "People do not have to share a religious faith or agree with religion on everything to see the benefit of asking the searching questions that you, your Holiness, have posed to us about our society and how we treat ourselves and each other."

1823 "You have spoken to a nation of six million Catholics, but you have been heard by a nation of more than 60 million citizens," David Cameron says. "For you have offered a message not just to the Catholic Church, but to each and every one of us, of every faith and none. A challenge to us all to follow our conscience, to ask not what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities? To ask not what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others?"

1822 The Pope has now arrived on the airport tarmac. He emerges from his car, surrounding by his ever-present be-suited security guards, and takes David Cameron by the hand. After a few private words they take to the podium.

1815 David Cameron has arrived at Birmingham airport. He's standing on the red carpet in front of the podium, complete with two gold-trimmed chairs, from which he and the Pope will speak.

1812 The BBC's Robert Pigott says that while the visit has been a success and the turnout pretty good, most people have come out to see A Pope, not The Pope, because Benedict does not embody the Catholic Church as his predecessor John Paul did. [Piggott is so obstinate about his anti-Benedict bias he does not realize he is spouting nonsense!]

1809 Sarah in Birmingham writes: "I'm not Catholic, but I have really enjoyed the Pope's visit to the UK this week. He has come across as a lovely man, he has spoken wisely and in a way anyone could listen and understand, and the crowds seemed to have responded to this at the events he has been too. He has looked happy to be here and I hope he enjoyed his visit."

1801 RCYouthWorker tweets about the Pope's speech to the bishops: "Nothing in the speech that is a telling off but plenty that will be spun as such. Just wait and see."

1735 The Pope leaves St Mary's on his way to Birmingham International airport.

1730 More photo opportunities. Inside the chapel, the Pope poses for a picture with the heads of the Church in Scotland and England and Wales and the assembled cardinals and bishops. Outside, in St Mary's College garden, it's the turn of the West Midlands Police officers who have guarded him today. Then it's on to a group photo with the seminarians, who go on to give him a rousing send-off.

1720 BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says the invitation to Anglicans is a "very sensitive subject" and the Pope's first public reference to it on this visit was surprising. [How could the Pope not have mentioned the subject at all? As with Summorum Pontificum and the more general question of the Lefebvrians, he must keep reminding bishops to be generous to their fellow Christians and not be motivated by ideology in carrying out directives from the Pope.]

1715 In his closing address the Pope defends the Vatican's offer to welcome disenchanted Anglicans into the Catholic fold. He says the move, which allows Anglicans to retain elements of their heritage, could help contribute "positively" to relations between the two churches. [ Raymond Arroyo's pick-up on this point was excellent!] Pope Benedict says the abuse scandal "seriously undermines the moral credibility" of the Church but suggested the lessons could be shared for the benefit of wider society.

1700 The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, says the visit will "long remain in our hearts".

1656 "Already in Scotland we are speaking of the Benedict bounce", says Cardinal O'Brien, as he refers to the four "wonderful days" of the visit.

1653 Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, thanks the Pope for graciously wearing a special tartan during his time in Edinburgh on Thursday. He says he's pleased the pontiff was "proud to be an honorary Scotsman for a day". Cardinal O'Brien says the welcome the Pope received in Scotland reminded the world of the country's ancient Christian roots.

1646 The meeting between the Pope and the bishops of England, Scotland and Wales has now wrapped up and we're expecting to hear a few words from some of those who were involved.

1640 LicklePickle, in Birmingham, tweets: "The Pope was running late, so instead of the Popemobile going walking pace, it rushed past about 15mph! Sooo disappointing!"

1634 Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley says he is delighted with how smoothly today's events have gone and how warm the welcome has been. "The city has shown its concern for people of faith," he told the BBC.

1625 Father Christopher Jamison, a Benedictine monk who appeared in the BBC series The Monastery, has given his take on turnout. "I think it is the spontaneity of those 200,000 people in London that will really surprise the Vatican because they'd been led to believe that while the Catholic faithful would welcome the Holy Father, there would be a great upsurge in scepticism and doubt among ordinary British people."

1615 Nick Clegg has been asked about the Pope's visit at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool. "I think the differences that people might have with the doctrine of the Catholic Church speak for themselves," he said. "But, I have to say that I also believe we are, above and beyond everything else, a liberal and tolerant nation, and that whilst debate, criticism, analysis of the teachings of the Catholic Church is, I think, necessary, I think as a community, as a nation and certainly as a government we have an absolute duty to welcome what is the leader of a very, very significant world religion."

1604 Something else a bit special for you from our team in Birmingham - it's a gigapan image of the beatification service. You can use the controls to scroll around and to zoom in to see specific details up close. [The Gigapan - short for 'gigantic panoramic shot' - is on the BBC site, but I can't seem to get the hang of the controls!]

1557 Glen, from London, writes: "Who is David Cameron to thank the Pope for challenging Britain to "sit up and think"? What about the faith is "a vital part of our national conversation?" Why are so many people concerned with this nonsense? Who is he to tell me what I should be conversing in? I'm glad I'm an atheist. I rely on facts, not opinion - and I don't try to force my opinions onto others."

1548 More on the impact of the Pope's visit to St Mary's. Father Paul Fitzpatrick, who was involved in the planning, says: "It's an intensely spiritual moment; a time of thanksgiving, a time of prayer, a time when we acknowledge the direction, leadership and example the Holy Father gives us." On the choice of lunch menu, he adds: "I sat down tried some of the cooking which our great chefs have and decided what he might like."

1535 Following his private meeting at St Mary's College, we're expecting the Pope to give a short speech before heading to Birmingham airport. It's there that he'll say a final few words and be thanked personally by the prime minister.

1525 "The hairs on the back of your neck just stood up. It was unbelievable," said Catherine Henderson, one of those present at this morning's beatification. She attended with her mother, Patricia, and her son, Rory.

1510 Katharine, from Hertford, writes: "I had the privilege of representing my parish as a banner carrier at the Hyde Park vigil. I wish to express strong agreement with the Holy Father that people who express religious beliefs in England are frequently dismissed as ignorant and gullible people."

1501 We've put together a gallery of images from this morning's events in Birmingham. Check it out.

1452 David Cameron will tell Pope Benedict later he agrees with him about the importance of faith in public life. In a speech in Birmingham, the PM will thank the Pope for challenging Britain to "sit up and think", and will insist that faith is "a vital part of our national conversation".

1440 Breaking food news. We understand the Pope is enjoying Welsh lamb and treacle pudding for his lunch with the bishops. The BBC's Sangita Myska, who is at St Mary's College, says a special bed has been brought in for his post-prandial rest after the one originally intended for him was found to be too high.

1430 St Mary's College, Oscott - where the Pope is now - trains new recruits for the priesthood. "Formation", as it is called, takes six years, and there are currently 28 seminarians in formation. Their average age is 29, and 10 come from outside the British Isles. Those overseas recruits come from the US, Ghana, Vietnam, India and Italy.

1421 Some have gone to considerable lengths to see the Pope several times during his visit. Sister Mary Pieta, a Franciscan Sister of the Renewal, based in Hunslet, Leeds, was at the Westminster Cathedral Mass and the Hyde Park vigil yesterday, and also at today's beatification. "We had a couple of hours sleep and then we got in the car this morning and drove here," she said. "I think the Pope has shown a great love for this country and a great love for the people here."

1413 Chris Lamb, from Catholic newspaper The Tablet, says he expects the Pope to use his meeting with bishops later to encourage them to do more to build up the priesthood - both in terms of morale and overall numbers. On the Pope generally, he says he believes the rather negative image of him as "God's Rottweiler" has "disappeared" during the visit.

1406 Sunil Anjum Inayat, UAE, writes: "Pope Benedict has successfully delivered his message to the Christian world, especially to Britain, on her insignificant treatment of Christian values. Further he has shown great responsibility to unite the church around the world and he has shown his sorrow and apologised on the issue of sexual abuse. I consider this visit to be highly significant and I believe results will be seen in the near future."

1357 On the move once again, the Pope is now heading to his final engagement - by limousine not Popemobile - at St Mary's College, Oscott, which is the seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham. There he will have a private lunch followed by a meeting with bishops from England, Wales and Scotland.

1352 The Pope has just emerged from the Birmingham Oratory which was founded by Cardinal Newman in 1852. He was expected to be shown the cardinal's room and his private chapel before becoming the first pilgrim to pray at a new shrine to him. Incidentally, Cardinal Newman was buried in the graveyard of the Oratory's retreat house in Rednal, but his remains were exhumed in 2008 to allow for public veneration.

1345 A bit more on events yesterday when, for the first time, the Pope met a group of people involved in child protection. One of them, Bill Kilgallon, from the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, told reporters today they discussed a new model of care, with checks at every level - parish, diocese and national - and closer co-operation with police and social services. "He is determined the Church should respond better... to the victims of abuse and give them more support," Mr Kilgallon added.

1337 Ese Iljasan, from Manchester, whose 10-month-old daughter Aderonke was plucked from the crowd at Cofton Park and kissed by the Pope, has spoken of her delight. "It is the biggest thing that has ever happened to me, ever," she said. "Aderonke kept clapping at the Pope… She was so excited, I guess the Pope saw the excitement in her."

1325 The Pope arrives at Birmingham Oratory. He steps out of the Popemobile and greets the crowd before walking into the building for the private visit.

1250 The BBC News Channel has shown the Pope's declaration of beatification again. After the build-up, the actual moment was surprisingly low-key and bereft of ceremony. [The beatification rite is really a formality - it formalizes a for which there is a set formula, which was followed in Cofton Park. All of it was previously set forth and spelled out in the Missal for the event - both on the Vatican website - and on the Mass material distributed by the UK dioceses. The words that were said and by whom constituted the rite. It's exactly the same for canonization, except the noun and the verb change from beatification and beatify to canonization and canonize. It's not an 1812 Overture or Handel 'Alleluia' moment, no bells and whistles! The 'glory of the altar' is the highest honor the Church can render to the new blessed or saint. The fact that the beatification rite is followed by the GLORIA of the Mass says it all.]

1246 The Pope himself is now on the way to the oratory founded by Cardinal Newman, about three miles away. The BBC's Kieran Fox says there's a crowd of about 2,000 waiting to greet him.

1245 Now the beatification is over, Cofton Park has turned into a picnic venue with pilgrims eagerly breaking their pre-Mass fast, says the BBC's Sitala Peek.

1230 The Vatican has just published the Pope's homily from Cofton Park in full.

1225 Father Lombardi had this to say on the protests: "If there are critics and protests, this is normal for us and the Pope and it is a positive sign of freedom of expression in this society."

1210 The BBC's John McManus has news of a press briefing by Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. He said the Pope has had a marvellous reception over the four days - it's been an opportunity for him to explain the positive contribution that Catholicism makes. He added the Pope had approached the problem of sexual abuse in a positive way. In ecumenical terms, Benedict's meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the service at Westminster Abbey were an important and successful part of the visit.

1200 A late look at the newspapers. Many believe the Pope's visit has been a success. The Observer says the "softly spoken Benedict has charmed many" but he must listen to opinion. The Daily Telegraph says he has shown "great moral courage" by addressing head-on the issue of abuse. The News of the World sums up the visit under the headline, "People's Pope leaves Britain with a smile on its face" but the Independent on Sunday focuses on a survey which it says suggests that British Catholics have rejected the Vatican's orthodoxy.

1140 Sarah, Midlands tweets: "Cofton Park does look fabulous, well done, Birmingham!"

1125 As the Pope's visit draws to a close, the discussion will turn to its achievements. BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott suggests Benedict has gone some way towards wooing a sceptical public to his cause.

1115 The Pope moves on to pay tribute to the "warmth and humanity" of Cardinal Newman. He has used the Cardinal's example to highlight his message over the four-day visit. The Pope said: "His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilised society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance to Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world."

1110 In his homily, the German-born Pope refers to the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, also being marked today. "This particular Sunday also marks a significant moment in the life of the British nation... For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology."

1035 The crowd cheers as the Pope beatifies Cardinal Newman - now known as the Blessed John Henry Newman. Incidentally, this is the first time Pope Benedict has performed a beatification.

1015 More on the Pope's arrival. A pilgrim next to me is crying tears of joy and has dropped to her knees at seeing the Pope go past, reports the BBC's Sitala Peek. Others run behind the Popemobile as it crosses the park.

1010 The chair the Pope will sit on is 8ft high. It's made from white ash and fitted with stained glass and is the work of Ian Hall, deputy head of Cardinal Newman School in Coventry.

0955 The Popemobile moves through Cofton Park towards the stage where the beatification will take place. It stops several times to bless babies.

0948 The Pope is introduced to Tim Tolkien, the great nephew of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. He's a sculptor who has created a statue of Cardinal Newman. The Pope blesses the statue.

0945 Divine intervention for the Pope's arrival? The sun has come out just as the Pope's motorcade arrives at Cofton Park.

0937 Little sign of a major protest against the Pope's visit today, says the BBC's Daniel Boettcher. After Saturday's march in London, there are only 20 protesters outside Cofton Park.

0931 A steady flow of wet pilgrims have made their way to Cofton Park, says the BBC's Dominic Hurst. Amid a sea of umbrellas in light rain, monks in long habits are alongside families and other worshippers.

0925 The weather for the crowd in Birmingham is not as promising as the last three days. According to the Met Office, it will be cloudy with the chance of some rain falling around midday. A top temperature of 18C.

0924 Cheers go up as the Papal helicopter is spotted in the sky above Cofton Park.

0858 To find out a bit more about Cardinal John Henry Newman ahead of the beatification service, have a look at an article by the BBC's Michael Hirst. Cardinal Newman is, he explains, credited by the Catholic Church with the miraculous healing of a man from a crippling back disease.

0855 This final day of the visit will see what is for many its main event - the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park, near Birmingham.

0848 Maria Alvarez in Birmingham, writes: "I am in Cofton Park waiting for the beatification of Cardinal Newman under the rain. Perhaps a sign of what he suffered in life! But very happy to be here and thank you to the BBC for covering his stay."

0834 The Pope and his entourage are now in the air. Before leaving he also took the opportunity to have his picture taken outside his Wimbledon base with the Metropolitan Police security team who guarded him there. A number of babies were also allowed in to the grounds to be blessed. The BBC's Jon Brain at the scene says in the Vatican's eyes the reaction to his visit has been better than expected.

0830 The Pope is about to leave London by helicopter on his way to Birmingham. He emerged from the Wimbledon residence of the Papal Nuncio, his UK ambassador, where he has been staying during the visit, at 0817. Unlike on Friday and Saturday, the Pope appeared outside the gates of the property and took time to acknowledge the crowd of people gathered behind barriers on the other side of the road before getting into a BMW limousine.

0815 Hello and welcome the final day of our live coverage of the Pope's visit to Britain.

[I will go back to see if I can pick up what they did for the first three days of the visit. I wonder how their 2010 coverage compares with whay they did in 1982!]




Pope's visit is deemed
to challenge stereotypes
By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

Sept, 20, 2010


The Pope praised Britain's 'instinct for moderation' After all the fears expressed before the Pope left Rome of a possible debacle - street protests and a poor turnout - there was a tangible sense of relief, even of euphoria, among Pope Benedict's entourage during the return flight to Rome from Birmingham.

As the Pope and his cardinals dined in their chartered Alitalia Airbus (on pate de foie gras, pasta with eggplant, cold meats, cheese and wild fruit tart) the Vatican entourage were enthusiastic about the results of the four-day trip.

Their excitement was echoed by Prime Minister David Cameron in an unexpected accolade as he bade farewell to the Pope at the airport.

Mr Cameron said the Pope had challenged the whole country "to sit up and think" about the relative roles of religion and politics.

Does Mr Cameron's vision of a British "Big Society" coincide with the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church? Surprisingly, there seem to be many points in common.

The Pope had talked about "the development of a healthy pluralistic society". He expressed his admiration for Britain's "instinct for moderation" which found an echo in the prime minister's vision of a country that is "deeply but quietly compassionate".

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's official spokesman, described the visit as "wonderful".

The big crowds that gathered along The Mall in central London on Saturday afternoon to greet Pope Benedict on his way to the Hyde Park prayer vigil had been impressive, by any royal standards.

But it was not the size of the crowds that impressed the Pope so much as the fact that so many people were listening to his speeches, most of which were broadcast live on TV. They understood with their hearts and minds, Father Lombardi said.

The Pope beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, a prolific theologian, during his UK visit Although the visit overall may have lacked the panache of a British royal event, the Pope's tour developed a momentum of its own from the moment he was welcomed by the Queen in her Edinburgh palace of Holyroodhouse, with all its memories of the unfortunate Catholic monarch Mary Queen of Scots.

In Rome, we are used to seeing the Pope kissing and blessing babies held up to him as he tours around the crowds during general audiences.

But in the eyes of British people he was certainly humanised by the media during his visit, even being photographed patting a police sniffer dog as he lined up for a souvenir photograph with a small group of the 2,000 policemen and women who have been in charge of his security.

A Pope who had previously been regarded as someone rather cold, professorial, aloof and authoritarian; had suddenly been perceived as a rather kindly and gentle grandfather figure.

Throughout the trip, I was a member of the Vatican Accredited Media Personnel (because of the acronym that appeared on our press passes, we quickly became known as the Vamp) which accompanied Pope Benedict.

Italian journalists travelling with the Vamp seemed surprised at the orderly way in which the 10,000 street demonstrators against the papal visit had marched in London on Saturday "without a whiff of tear gas being shed".

But Marco Politi, a veteran Vatican reporter, noted that although the Pope commiserated with five carefully selected British victims of clerical sexual abuse in the chapel at the Nunciature in Twickenham, some victims had refused the Vatican offer to meet the Pontiff as they had actually been abused on church premises. [Of course, Politi - even if he is now retired as a Vaticanista - must always place a damper on anything that has to do with Benedict. What a killjoy! Clearly, it would never be easy to screen victims to meet the Pope, but first of all, they have to be willing!]

The Pope's triumph was really his speech to leaders of civil society at Westminster. One political mover and shaker told me afterwards his performance had been "sheer magic".

Within the space of two hours Pope Benedict penetrated the heart of the Anglican Establishment. In Lambeth Palace, Westminster Hall and the Abbey, he delivered a rather flattering tribute to what he found attractive about British culture and traditions.

I watched it all from a sort of BBC transparent bubble - a TV studio which had been hoisted on a crane high onto the roof of the Methodist Central Hall, giving us unprecedented views of the great West Door of the Coronation Abbey and the London landscape.

I reflected that travelling around Britain inside the papal bubble does give one a unique bird's eye view of contemporary British society.

How much the Pope actually observed for himself as he travelled from Edinburgh to Glasgow and on to London and Birmingham I do not know, but this journey did also cause me to "sit up and think" about how stereotyped the view of the Vatican from afar can become.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 13:42



As a post-script to the papal visit, this is not really a full-blown apology, but the word 'apology' in connection with the Pope is something I hardly expected to read from a journalist, much less drom a British one. BTW, The Independent and the Guardian were the two most unwelcoming of the Pope among the major UK newspapers...


An apology to Pope Benedict
by Dominic Lawson

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

One of Private Eye's most enduring satirical devices is the imaginary letter of apology by the press as a whole, when their commonly-held opinion about an individual is confounded by events. This would certainly apply to the state visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

The headline on this newspaper's leading article yesterday – "Benedict spoke to Britain" – was not one that could have been imagined a week earlier.

Or, as Private Eye might put it: "The Pope. An Apology. We wish to apologise for describing His Holiness as the jackboot-wearing tyrannical leader of a corrupt institution committed to the rape of children and the extermination of the entire African continent. We now accept that he is a sweet old man, never happier than when kissing babies, and that this country has much to learn from his humanity and concern for the weakest in society."

Satire apart, I suspect the Pope's gentle manner and even his very evident physical frailty really did play a part in a reversal of rhetoric by what one might describe as the anti-clerical press.

When someone is conjured up as a monster (or "a leering old villain in a frock" as Richard Dawkins put it) and emerges as a modest scholarly figure visibly ill at ease with the political bombast of a state visit, the opinion-formers sense that their readers will want a more gentle tone.

The fact is that the Pope is not, for all that those who demonstrated against him might believe, a political figure. As one might expect from someone deriving his world view from a religious leader [Mr. Dawson, he was Jesus Christ, Son of God, God-made-man!] who declared that the temporal and spiritual worlds should be entirely separate ("Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's"), Benedict has no interest in inserting the Catholic Church into the political process.

This, of course, is not what the Rev Ian Paisley, one of those who damned the Pope's visit, believes; and many of those apparently free-thinking liberals who demonstrated against the very idea of the Pope being invited here seemed to share that Protestant fundamentalist's view that the Vatican represents a lethal threat to the nation and to the British way of life. [And these are the very people who say the Vatican is medieval!] Thus Geoffrey Robertson QC warned his fellow anti-Papal visit demonstrators on Saturday that Benedict XVI did not accept "British values".

This idea that anyone who supports the Pope is conspiring in something inherently un-British is an unpleasant echo of the sort of poisonous sectarianism with which Dr Paisley was so intimately associated.

It is not so long ago that the British establishment would not countenance the idea of a Catholic representing the Queen – and therefore the state – overseas: my father-in-law was vetoed as the Governor-General of New Zealand explicitly because he was a Catholic convert.

To this day there is a law specifically denying the possibility for a Catholic to become the head of state, or even for the head of state to marry a Catholic.

Both those ancient but unrevoked laws and Geoffrey Robertson's more modern-sounding evocations of "British values" seemed based on the notion that the Vatican is fixatedly engaged in plotting the overthrow of the British political settlement, presumably in the hope that we become a theocracy, ruled from a hundred acres of ancient Rome; our Parliament and all the elected representatives therein, on this account, would have been hypnotised into slavish subservience to its Latin encyclicals.

It is true that there is a peculiar religious quota in the Palace of Westminster: the 26 "Lords Spiritual", comprising the leading Bishops of the Church of England. This is the only element that could remotely be described as theocratic within the British political system: campaigners for the legalisation of euthanasia have claimed that this religious block vote has scuppered their chances of getting such legislation on to the statute book, but so far as I can tell, they would not have won those votes even had all the Church of England Bishops abstained – and in any case, the opposition to euthanasia in the democratically elected Commons is even greater than it is in the Upper House.

More tellingly – at least as a refutation of the claim that the Pope envisages some sort of theocracy – when last year Gordon Brown offered a peerage to the retiring Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Vatican was very much opposed to the notion, and O'Connor was prevailed upon to reject the honour of sitting in the legislature.

Rome's view, in essence, was that canon law specifically abjured the idea that clergy should take any office which might involve the exercise of political power.

I suspect it is precisely the unpolitical nature of Pope Benedict that gives him a certain popular appeal, even to those who are not members of the Catholic Church, and who would certainly not feel bound to follow its unyielding doctrinal pronouncements.

They can see that, unlike the world's temporal rulers, ultimately he has only the power of persuasion – and, some would add, of myth. He cannot imprison anyone for breaking his Church's laws; nor does he have an army to impose his will on other states (the truth behind Stalin's dismissive remark to those who said he could not take on religion: "How many divisions has the Pope?"). [Evident truths that hate-driven anti-Church elements completely ignore when they rail against the Church's norms.]

This, of course, is all to the good. The worst excesses of child-abuse within the world-wide Catholic Church, and the most corrupt attempts at covering it up, occurred within regions where the Church had most control over the politicians, such as the Republic of Ireland, and, in the US, the state of Massachusetts.

It was precisely because the priesthood in those states were so sure of special political protection, that the child-abusers in their number felt able to act with such impunity. [That is an absurd claim! Especially in the US. Even in Boston, bishops and priests do not trust that politicians will take their side and shield them from the law! I don't know how true the claim is in Ireland.]

During the Mass at Westminster Cathedral Benedict apologised for "the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children ... within the church and by her ministers." He went on to describe these acts as "unspeakable crimes" – the use of the word "crimes" rather than "sins" an acknowledgement that this must be dealt with by the secular power of the criminal justice system. [The second instance I've seen of over-reading the use of the word 'crimes', and I commented on it earlier. When the Pope is speaking to laymen, it makes more sense to use their language and say 'crimes' instead of 'sins'. But the 'crimes' are still 'sins'.]

Humility is perhaps the most difficult of all the virtues; the smuggest among the Pope's secular critics could learn from his example.





And at last,
England showed him love
Translated from

20/09/2010

Nothing better than the intense, hope-laden silence of more than 100,000 Catholics before the Blessed Sacrament in Hyde Park to explain the heart of the moving visit that Pope Benedict XVI made to the United Kingdom.

The Pope had arrived after passing through crowds on both sides of his Popemobile route. By that time, it was clear that England had embraced him - from its men of culture and its politicians to the always unfriendly media, but above all, by the public.

But he has never aimed for acclaim nor for compromise, simply proceeding with his blend of exigency and meekness, of intelligence and heart.

What he wants to communicate is that Truth is not an abstract concept, not the end result of a complex intellectual process, but the person of Christ himself who can be met and loved in the Church, who allows us to attain "our ultimate freedom and the fulfillment of our most profound human aspirations".

And when this Truth is embraced, when it gives shape to our lives, it can no longer be hidden but it asks to be communicated, even if it is at a high cost. To live this Truth in the open one may even be 'excluded, ridiculed and parodied', but that should not detract the Christian from his mission.

Now, he had come to the center of gravity of this visit, speaking of the prophetic mission given to every Christian in w world full of noise and confusion, of anguish and mirages. As the figure of the great John Henry Newman looms with unexpected realism through our present reality, Benedict XVI describes a time of crisis and unease during which Christians cannot "afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society".

The Pope called on each one, especially the young people who had followed his visit with enthusiasm from the very beginning, to radiate the light of Christ "in order to change the world, adn to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of everey human being".

One was struck by the intensity of listening, the rapt look filled with hope in tens of thousands of men, women and children, holding candles lit on a summer evening during which the Sucessor of Peter renewed his mission: "Confirm your brothers in the faith, feed my flock".

It is true that in that moment we touched the heart of this visit - the relevance of the Christian faith in the 21st century that has already taken its first stride. But less than 24 hours earlier, Benedict XVI had left in Westmnister Hall another address destined for history, along with those he gave in Regensburg, La Sapienza (the one would have given), and the College des Bernardins in Paris.

His voice was an echo of that which sounded in that very hall 500 years earlier from the mouth of St. Thomas More, asking once more to define the place of faith in the political process.

Before the elite of the kingdom, the Pope said that "Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?"

He goes on to identify the crux of the problem: "If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy".

It sent a shiver of thrill to think that the Bishop of Rome was speaking here, remembering the man who called himself "a good servant of the King, but of God first".

Benedict XVi tells his elite audience that the role of religion in political dicourse is not to dictate norms, much less to propose concrete solutions, but rather "to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral".principles

He spoke of a two-way process. Religion requires the purifying, reinforcing role of reason, but "without the corrective action of religion, reason too can fall prey to distortions" as the tototalitarian ideologies of teh 20th century showed.

"This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.".

Starting out from this positive affirmations, the Pope did not hesitate to attack aggressive secularism that seeks to expel religion, especially Christianity, from the polis, or which would impose on Christians in public roles to act against their conscience.

"These are worrying signs." he sasid, "of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square.

"I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life".

A most impressive address which opens paths for the future on one of the most vital questions for democracies in our time.

We end the visit in Birmingham, center of England, where Newman lived as a Catholic priest and where he died. Before 75,000 pilgrims, Benedict XVI once again evoked Newman the modern man who was anchored in Tradition, the man of conscience, of rectiture and meekness. a man who with the living experience of his faith in his reason and heart, never avoided facing 'the questions of the day'.

But he also recalled the pastor of souls who spent time attending to those who sought him out, with the poor, with those who suffered from solitude or physical pain. And he adapted a statement of the new Blessed which is, in itself, a whole program of action:

"I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it”.

Thank you for this trip, Your Holiness.




UK Prime Minister David Cameron was not stating an empty compliment when he said in his unexpectedly warm and well thought out farwell speech to the Holy Father that the Pope had made his country 'sit up and listen'. Going by most of the commentary in the British media, that was certainly the case.


A frail voice, but
a resounding message
Editorial

20th September 2010


They said Benedict XVI would be unwelcome in Britain. They claimed he would find little sympathy in our modern, liberal society for moral teachings that have changed little over 2,000 years.

How wrong they were.

In Scotland, London and Birmingham, the Pope has drawn large and joyful crowds, while most non-believers and followers of other faiths have shown him nothing but tolerance and goodwill.

His message, though delivered in the frail voice of an 83-year-old, has come across loud and clear to a nation unused to hearing uncompromising Christian conviction from its spiritual leaders.

Indeed, in just four days, the Pope has probably done more to stimulate debate on the place of religious values in our society than Archbishops of Canterbury have achieved in as many decades.

This is in spite of the efforts by self-important opponents of the visit, encouraged by the BBC and the Left-wing Press, to drown his message in howls of outrage over the child-abuse scandal and the church’s alleged role in promoting the spread of AIDS in Africa.

Yes, as Benedict humbly admits, the ‘unspeakable crimes’ of Catholic priests have brought ‘shame and humiliation’ on the Church, while his own handling of the scandal has been lamentable. [Lamentable lingering effect of pre-visit black myth! He said on the plane going to Edinburgh that the Church had been remiss in acting on the problem, but anyone who looks at the objective facts, can see he was obviously referring to the years before 2001 when competence over sex abuse cases was vested in the CDF, and certainly not to his 'own handling of the scandal'!]

And yes, millions find it impossible to accept the Vatican’s continuing opposition to the use of condoms in tackling AIDS. [These putative millions have never been told the objective facts - that the ABC approach - in which abstinence and curtailing sexual promiscuity are given preference over simply handing out condoms has worked best as a strategy to contain AIDS in countries like Uganda. But they do not know this - because the media are not honest, choosing instead to be an advocacy tool for the ideology of sexual freedom at any cost and for the capitalists who do massive business providing condoms to the Third World!]

But who can doubt that the Pope’s central theme deserves a hearing in a society increasingly devoted to instant self-gratification?

Britain is a country riven by family breakdown and moving ever closer towards ‘mercy killing’ for the sick and elderly. It’s a nation in which the destruction of unborn human lives is routine — and anti-abortion protesters have been thrown behind bars for holding a banner depicting an aborted foetus.

In the name of ‘multiculturalism’, Christian nurses have been ordered not to pray for their patients, a BA worker has been disciplined for wearing a small crucifix, and public authorities have shied away from celebrating Christmas.

Doesn’t the Pope make a timely point when he warns against the march of ‘aggressive secularism’?

Other Church leaders should draw courage from the success of his visit.

There’s a hunger in this country for a spiritual dimension in public life — and they should stop being afraid to feed it.




A shaming lesson for the cynics
By Peter McKay

20th September 2010


Those who heard Abraham Lincoln speak at Gettysburg at the dedication of a soldiers' national cemetery are said to have 'walked out into a new and different America'.

Lincoln's brief address, one of the most famous pieces of oratory of all time, put the American Civil War on a moral basis, emphasising that it is about ending slavery as much as keeping the United States together.

Did Pope Benedict XVI leave behind him a different, better Britain, when he returned to Rome from his visit here?

Few would go that far, perhaps, but he did give Christianity a shot in the arm, didn't he?

His speech calling for faith and reason to be reconciled, and for the government not to turn its back on the Church, was important. So was his apology at Westminster Cathedral for the Church's terrible child-abuse scandal.

But those who turned out to protest about Benedict's visit, on the grounds that he held incorrect views on homosexuality, women and condoms, seemed shrill and ill-mannered alongside the hundreds of thousands of people who received obvious pleasure from seeing and hearing the Pope in Britain.

The most fierce criticism against him was over the child abuse coverups by the Church authority, but he had done more than other Popes to bring matters to light.

Most fair-minded people recognised, too, that hushing up priestly bad behaviour wasn't confined to the Church. Devout Roman Catholics - even some whose own children had been exposed to improper behaviour - preferred discretion to public scandal.

The virulence of anti-Pope protests also suggested there was nothing good whatsoever about the Roman Catholic Church, ignoring the vast amount of succour and simple kindness it provides. You don't need to be a Roman Catholic to appreciate this.

It's unlikely we'll ever see Pope Benedict XVI here again. So I'm glad his visit wasn't ruined altogether by the protests.

Most people seemed to take a positive interest in what he was doing and saying. Some clever types think religion is all hocus-pocus and that we're fools to believe in it. Others go further, saying it's responsible for evil deeds.

But, as the Pope reminded us, those who conduct the Church's affairs - even at the highest level - are fallible human beings like everyone else.

The contrast which struck me most forcibly was the gentle, almost uncertain expressions of the Pope and the hard, cynical certainty on the faces of those decrying his visit.

I don't expect Benedict to have converted many Protestants on his visit, but perhaps he will have diffused some of the hatred building against his Church.



Best headline I've seen so far about the Pope's UK visit, for its clever historical resonance:
BENEDICT XVI WON THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
from an article in la Stampa today by Vaticanista Marco Tosatti. Will translate later.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 17:50


Tuesday, Sept. 21, 25th Week in Ordinary Time

Center photographs: Paintings by Rembrandt (1669) and Caravaggio (1602).
ST. MATTHEW, Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr
Benedict XVI devoted his catechesis on Aug. 30, 2006 to the author of the first Gospel. www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060830...
Little is known about Matthew but he is identified with the tax collector or publican Levi mentioned also in the Gospels of Mark and Luke. As tax collectors for the Roman occupying forces, publicans were despised by their fellow Jews as traitors, and the Pharisees considered them sinners. Therefore, they were scandalized when Jesus one day told Levi, sitting at his tax-collector's table, to follow him, eventually becoming one of the Apostles. After the Resurrection, Matthew's apostolic activity was limited to Palestine, eventually writing his Gospel in Aramaic to better instruct believers and non-believers alike. He is believed to have left Palestine after the persecutions of Herod Agrippa I began in 42 AD. Various traditions say he spread the Gospel to the Ethiopians, Macedonians, Persians, and Parthians. He is said to have died a natural death either in Ethiopia or in Macedonia, but a Catholic tradition considers him a martyr. He is often depicted with an angel representing the divine inspiration for his Gospel.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/092110.shtml



OR for 9/20-9/21/10:

The Pope ends his visit to the United Kingdom by beatifying John Henry Newman
and reminding the faithful that the life of faith is a call to holiness:
'Every Christian is called on to change the world'
This issue contains a coverage of the state visit from the meeting with the youth outside Westminster Cathedral to the Pope's departure for Rome. Also played up on Page 1 was Cardinal Bertone's participation with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in the 140th anniversary yesterday of the so-called Breach of Porta Pia, when Italian forces entered Rome to complete the war for Italian unification.


No events scheduled for the Holy Father today.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 20:35



We have been in the presence
of a living saint, Pope Benedict
by Deacon Nick Donnelly

September 20th, 2010

I’m just back from Birmingham where I attended the beatification Mass of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Before I continue with my reporting and analysis of the upsurge in anti-Catholicism I want to spend a moment reflecting on the Holy Father’s visit.

I find it difficult to put into words all that has happened over the past four days but over the next couple of weeks I hope to pray and reflect on these momentous times for the Church, and our country, and share them with you.

My wife and I went down to Birmingham on the Friday so we could spend a few days preparing for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.... [He goes on to describe the places they visited that had to do with Blessed John Henry.}

How can I begin to put into words my thoughts and feelings at attending the Mass of beatification celebrated by the Holy Father?

As we waited in the darkness and rain for hours I reflected on the transformation that had obviously occurred the moment Pope Benedict XVI walked down the steps from Shepherd One when he arrived in Scotland.

As all readers of this website know only too well, the hostility and near hysterical anti-Catholicism from groups like Protest the Pope, and sections of the media, had made many concerned, even apprehensive about the Holy Father’s reception in our country.

But the moment Pope Benedict walked among us everything changed. A couple of Catholic commentators, experienced in Papal visits, referred to it as the ‘Benedict effect’, which sees the atmosphere of hostility and aggression evaporate. I prayed that this would happen, but I must admit that before the papal visit I was a man of little faith!

But then I saw it happening before my eyes, as the coverage on TV, the BBC in particular, and some of the newspapers, changed from suspicion and scepticism to delight and wonder at the shy gentleness and honest, courageous words of the Holy Father.

But even more than transformation of tone, the joy and love of the vast crowds of Catholics and non-Catholics was wonderful to see. This was not the reaction of half-hearted, alienated Catholics who the media had predicted would cold-shoulder the Pope, this was an outpouring of rejoicing and goodwill in the presence of a loving, compassionate and holy man.
And I believe that this is the key to understanding what has just happened in our countries of the United Kingdom – we have been in the presence of holiness.

Pope Benedict not only writes and preaches about the virtues, he also heroically embodies the virtues of faith, hope and love. This is why so many people responded with such joy, because they saw with their own eyes what their hearts truly desire, that for which they were made by God.

[Finally, someone has dared to articulate this in public! We all tend to take it for granted that a Pope must be holy, just as priests should be but often are not. Yet one thing that struck me when reading the accounts of some cardinals after the Conclave was that they pointed to the personal holiness of Joseph Ratzinger as his principal qualification to be Pope. And that recollections by some of his students and colleagues dating back to his days as a young professor also singled him out for his holiness and religious devotion, where most professor priests tended to neglect even the daily duty to say Mass. He lives what he preaches and teaches - he truly is a friend to Christ, and he radiates the joy of this experience. That's the charisma that others feel and receive in his presence - even if he is just a small white dot in the distance. And I thank Deacon Nick for pointing this out.]

As I prayed with 55,000 other Catholics and welcome guests of other faiths and none, I realised that I was in the presence of a living saint.

Generations will look back on our time with some envy because we are living in a great age of saints – Padre Pio, Pius XII, John XXIII, Mother Teresa, John Paul the Great, and Benedict XVI, and many more. God has blessed us with these great saints to help guide us through the dark times in which we live, this world of tears.

So much happened during the beatification Mass that I can’t include it in this dispatch, but one of the things that made it even more memorable was I discovered I was seated next to descendants of Cardinal Newman’s sister Harriett, including Professor John Langford, great grandson of Grace Langford, who was the last person to visit Cardinal Newman before his death on 11 August 1890. It was wonderful to meet the Australian relatives of the great man.

On Sunday evening my wife and I were privileged to attend the celebration of solemn vespers at the Birmingham Oratory, established by Blessed John Henry Newman in 1852.

One of the Oratorian Fathers explained that it was a historic event because it marked the first celebration of the liturgy approved for Blessed John Henry Newman, and the first act of the national shrine. The liturgy and music were sublime!

After Benediction we all went up to receive the blessing with a relic of Blessed John Henry. It was the perfect end of a perfect day.

Finally, I apologise for not updating Protect the Pope as I planned but I trust you will all understand that I was quite overtaken by events!


The initial comments to Decon Nick's post are just as exhilarating:
Wonderful comments. As a Christian I feel my faith has been strengthened by the Pope’s visit and I’m not even a Roman Catholic (but am seriously thinking about it now).

The Pope showed the Church of England how it’s done. No need to appease or dilute the message. Stick to the strong beliefs but speak humbly and from the heart is what the Pope did and its a great example to all Christians.

Don’t give into the secular bullies! Stand up for your faith, defend it, proclaim it wisely.
- David Thomas


I cannot be sure whether Benedict is a saint or not, but I was aware of his deeply attractive interiority, one was aware of both being and presence with this man.

I have never in my lifetime encountered such an extraordinary luminosity or presence, I felt that I had, myself, undergone a highly unusual encounter.

Without resorting to unnecessary hyperbole, he brought joy to everybody who saw him. Perhaps we were all changed in those, all too few, days he spent with us.
- Robin Leslie


I was at the Hyde Park event, which was great! However, for me, the most significant moments were the speech at Westminster Hall and the service at Westminster Abbey. Those were powerful, historic events.

And how refreshing to have a man of such virtue come to Britain and speak the truth about human nature. We don’t get much deep thinking in Britain these days, so it was a welcome and much-needed boost!

Benedict XVI is definitely high up on my list of all-time favourite people
- John


What I’ve known found out over these last four days is the following:
Love will ALWAYS conquer hate.
- Ninoinoz


Me and my mother went to the Hyde Park prayer vigil. As soon as came into London you could see people everywhere wearing their pilgrim packs, it was quite incredible. Groups of people everywhere. It was quite incredible walking into Hyde Park with thousands of Catholics around you, signs and paintings of the virgin mary, flags, it was amazing.

We sat down on a bench and watched the people go by, there where so many young people, I never expected to see that, it was incredible. The amount of passion from these people was incredible, every color and creed was there. People that you would never expect to be Catholic where there.

The sun was in front as people walked and it was like they where walking into the promised land. Truly something I’ll never forget.

There was so much negativity before the Pope came, saying people wouldn’t turn out too see him and all of that stuff and it turned out the complete opposite. 100,000 people on the streets of Edinburgh, 65,000 in Bellahoustan Park, 80,000 to 85,000 people in Hyde Park, 200,000 people on the Mall too see the Pope and 50,000 people in Cofton Park. And thousands more turned out on the streets.

What I couldn’t believe was the Pope’s ability to relate to the youth and his realness - he isn’t a distant cold figure but a real living person. I hope Pope Benedict inspired Catholics and people of other faiths to live a holy life true to God.

The News of the World called Pope Benedict the ”People’s Pope” - that’s what he truly is.
- Karla

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 21 settembre 2010 21:14







Please see preceding page for earlier posts today, 9/21/10.






All the headlines might as well scream 'NEW VATICAN SCANDAL' especially since a large amount of money is involved. But the details of the news show that the investigation appears to be for lack of compliance with reporting requirements - and Gotti Tedeschi is too savvy to commit such an oversight. The sooner he can offer a public explanation, the better... The timing of the revelation is rather suspicious, coming right after the UK visit...

Italy seizes $30 mln from Vatican bank
in money-laundering probe; Vatican 'perplexed'
by NICOLE WINFIELD



VATICAN CITY, Sept. 21 (AP) — Italian authorities seized €23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account Tuesday and said they have begun investigating top officials of the Vatican bank in connection with a money-laundering probe.

The Vatican said it was "perplexed and surprised" by the investigation.

Italian financial police seized the money as a precaution and prosecutors placed the Vatican bank's chairman and director general under investigation for alleged mistakes linked to violations of Italy's anti-laundering laws, news reports said.

The investigation is not the first trouble for the bank — formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion. In the 1980s, it was involved in a major scandal that resulted in a banker, dubbed "God's Banker" because of his close ties to the Vatican, being found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London.

The Vatican expressed full trust in the chairman of the bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his director-general, identified by the Vatican directory as Paolo Cipriani. It said the bank had been working for some time to make its finances more transparent to comply with anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering regulations.

"The Holy see is perplexed and surprised by the initiatives of the Rome prosecutors, considering the data necessary is already available at the Bank of Italy," it said in a statement.

Gotti Tedeschi told state-run RAI television that he was "humiliated and mortified" by news of the probe, which he said had arrived just as he was implementing new transparency procedures at the bank.

News reports circulated more than a year ago that Italian investigators were scrutinizing millions of euros worth of Vatican bank transactions to see if they violated money-laundering regulations.

In Tuesday's case, police seized the money from a Vatican bank account at the Rome branch of Credito Artigiano Spa, according to news agencies ANSA and Apcom. The bulk of the money, €20 million ($26 million), was destined for JP Morgan in Frankfurt, with the remainder going to Banca del Fucino.

According to the reports, the Vatican bank had neglected to communicate to financial authorities where the money had come from. The reports stressed that Gotti Tedeschi wasn't being investigated for laundering money himself but for a series of alleged omissions in financial transactions.

Prosecutors declined requests seeking confirmation of the reports.

Gotti Tedeschi was named chairman of the bank a year ago after serving as the head of Italian operations for Spain's Banco Santander. A member of the conservative religious movement Opus Dei, Gotti Tedeschi frequently speaks out on the need for more morality in financing and is a very public cheerleader of Pope Benedict XVI's finance-minded encyclical "Charity in Truth."

"It's not difficult to show that applied ethics produces more wealth," he wrote in a July piece for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. "Ethical behavior means lower costs — just thinking about control measures alone — and allows for more value thanks to transparency and trust, which alone produce more certainty and fewer risks."

News of the investigation came just after Benedict wrapped up a difficult trip to Britain and as the Vatican still reels from the fallout of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

The Vatican bank, located in a tower just inside the gates of Vatican City, isn't a typical bank. Its stated mission is to manage assets placed in its care that are destined for religious works or works of charity. But it also manages ATMs inside Vatican City and the pension system for the Vatican's thousands of employees.

The bank is not open to the public. Depositors are usually limited to Vatican employees, religious orders and people who transfer money for the pope's charities.

Its leadership is composed of five cardinals, one of whom is the Vatican's secretary of state. But the day-to-day operations are headed by Gotti Tedeschi and the bank's oversight council.

The Vatican bank was famously implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases.

Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that still remain mysterious.

London investigators first ruled that Calvi committed suicide, but his family pressed for further investigation. Eventually murder charges were filed against five defendants, including a major Mafia figure, and they were tried in Rome and acquitted in 2007.

Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

The late Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, an American prelate who headed the Vatican bank at the time, was charged as an accessory to fraudulent bankruptcy in the scandal.

He left a villa in Rome two hours before police arrived for the safety of the Vatican, an independent city-state. Italy's Constitutional Court eventually backed the Vatican in ruling that under Vatican-Italian treaties Marcinkus enjoyed immunity from Italian prosecution. Marcinkus long asserted his innocence and died in 2006.

Last year, a U.S. appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against the Vatican bank filed by Holocaust survivors from Croatia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia who alleged it had accepted millions of dollars of their valuables stolen by Nazi sympathizers.

The court said the bank was immune from such a lawsuit under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which generally protects foreign countries from being sued in U.S. courts.

In its statement Tuesday, the Vatican also said it was working to join the so-called "white list" of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which keeps tabs on financial openness on the exchange of tax information.

The OECD divides countries into three categories: those who comply with rules on sharing tax information (white list), those who say they will but have not acted yet (gray list), and nations which have not yet agreed to change banking secrecy practices (blacklist)

Currently the Vatican bank isn't on any OECD list.


STATEMENT FROM
THE SECRETARIAT OF STATE
Translated from


The clear intention repeatedly manifested by the authorities of the Holy See of full transparency regarding the financial operations of the Istituto per Opere Religiose (IOR) is well known.

This requires that all procedures aimed to prevent FINANCIAL terrorism and money laundering be fulfuilled. Thus, for some time, the authorities of IOR have been carrying out all the necessary contacts and meetings with the Banca d'Italia as well as with competent international organizations - the Organization for Economic Coopraiton and Development (OECD) and the International Group of Financial Activity (GAFI) against maney laundering - for the Holy See to be included in the so-called White List.

Therefore, the Holy See is perplexed and surprised at the initiative taken by the Rome prosecutor's office, considering that the required information is already available at the competent office of Banca d'Italia, and that analogous operations are going on with other Italian credit institutions.

As for the deposits cited, they involve treasury credit transfers from non-italian institutions for the account of IOR itself.

The Holy See expresses its full confidence in the president and director-general of IOR.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 00:50



Reminder: Benedict XVI's
pastoral visit to Palermo on Oct. 3


VATICAN CITY, 21 SEP 2010 (VIS) - Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to Palermo, Italy, on Sunday, Oct. 3, on the occasion of a regional ecclesial meeting of families and young people.

At 10.30 a.m. the Pope will preside at a concelebration of the Eucharist in the Foro Italico Umberto I, then lead the praying of the Angelus.

He will meet priests, religious and seminarians at the cathedral of Palermo at 5 p.m.

An hour later he will address a gathering of young people in the city's Piazza Politeama, which takes its name from the Politeama Garibaldi Theatre, built between 1867 and 1874.

At the end of his visit the Holy Father will fly back to Rome from Palermo's Punta Raisi airport.

This is the Holy Father's last scheduled pastoral visit within Italy in 2010.





Thanks to Lella's blog for this item:



Pope reportedly coming
to Venice in May 2011

VENICE - The Pope is expected to come to Venice in the spring. The news has been circulating for days, and was reportedly conifmred by Vatican sources today, with a date, May 8.

Authoritative Vatican sources say the occasion for the visit is the inauguration of yhe new library of the Studium Generale Marcianum of the Patriarchate of Venice, which is being rebuilt after a fire damaged it recently.

The Marcianum is the academic arm of the Patriarchate, established under Cardinal Angelo Scola as patriarch, and consists of faculties of canon law and of theology, along with a graduate school for European studies.

The visit is seen as an expression of the Holy Father's esteem for Cardinal Scola, one of the younger cardinals known to be close to him, having first met when he was a professor in Regensburg.

No other details are known of the proposed visit. A spokesman of the Patriarchate said: "We know the Holy Fahter has been invited but we are still awaiting a response."

On Tursday, Sept. 22, the professors of the St. Pius X faculty of canon law will be meeting, after which some more details about the visit may emerge.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 01:18



We knew it would happen:
Benedict wins Britain
By Hilary White



ROME, September 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While anti-Catholic, secularist and homosexualist activists, with generous help from the media, have spent most of the last year attempting to derail the papal visit, the smart money was always on Benedict XVI taking every fight without breaking a sweat.

And when the bell rang, and the eyes of the world were trained on the little island ring, it became clear from the first moment that Benedict’s opponents were hopelessly outclassed.

From the first moments of the trip, while his plane was in the air, it was clear that Benedict knew exactly what he was doing. He pre-empted much of the criticism over Vatican handling of the sex abuse scandals by issuing, again, a strong statement expressing his personal shame and sorrow, but indicated, at the same time, that he was well-prepared and unafraid.

In the words of the NYT’s Ross Douthat, the Pope held Britain spellbound, with the anti-papal rallies and demonstrations as nothing more than “a sideshow to the visit,” with a brief assassination plot scare to show the British “what real religious extremism looks like.”

Journalists tweeting from the plane on the way back to Rome on Sunday evening reported that there was an “air of celebration among the papal entourage.” They said, “This time they won with the Pope.” [What 'this time'? It always happens! And of course, it is the Pope who wins every battle personally, because every battle is waged directly at him, and through him, the Church.]

After months of hearing the increasingly shrill attacks (as one journalist put it, the devil himself could hardly have had worse press), the British people were ready to hear the other side.

Before the visit was even over, Keith O’Brien, the cardinal archbishop of Edinburgh, had already spoken of the “Benedict bounce,” in which the very harshness of the attacks contributed to the turn-around in public opinion in the pope’s favour.

But it was Benedict’s personal warmth, gentleness, and the sheer rationality and sense of his message, that hit the cynical British media and political establishment right between the eyes.

All the talk in Rome today is of how well the BBC handled the commentary, with positive guests and few fumbles, even on fairly obscure Catholic terminology.

And Britain’s tabloid press, not usually known for backing the side of the angels, are left in awe. The News of the World, England’s largest circulation Sunday paper, and one that often acts as a bellwether for genuine public opinion, ran the headline, “Bene’s from heaven” with the subhead, “People’s Pope leaves Britain with a smile on its face.”

At a conference in Rome this evening, barrister and president of Britain’s Catholic Union, Jamie Bogle, told me, “The secular atheist liberals and their friends in the media are going to take a long time to get over this visit. Because they thought they were on a winner. They thought they were going to, if not arrest the Pope, at least seriously embarrass him.

“And this little guy in white just flattened them. His gentle, calm, soft-spoken approach just won everybody over. And the demonstrations faded away.”

Bogle warned not to give too much credence to media claims of 20,000 at the anti-papal rally, the organisers’ main event in London on Saturday. The unofficial police count, he said, was no more than 2,000, and organized protests were cancelled during the Pope’s time in Scotland due to lack of interest, “while hundreds of thousands lined the route to wave to the Pope. There were people chasing him down the streets to keep up. It was a knock-out.” [Anyone who watched the streaming coverage of the Horse Guards to Hyde Park motorcade would have seen how this happened all along the route! Been there, done that, joyfully, except I only had one long block to run in Washington, DC, before the Popemobile turned a corner and rode off. The Benaddicts on the Mall had a long continuous sidewalk to run along!]

“I don’t know how he does it,” a smiling Bogle said, “but there’s something about that guy. It’s plainly sanctity.” [YES, YES, YES! Say it now, and say it again and again!]

And now that Benedict is home, even the hostile media are having difficulty trying to pursue their campaign because “they’ve discovered that the vast majority of people don’t hate the Pope, actually, they quite like him. And some of them really love him. Because he’s a lovable guy, and it’s very hard to hate somebody’s lovable grandfather.”

“It was really quite astonishing to see the change that took place,” in the media coverage. “They may be up to it again in the future, but I have to say, I think he just knocked them sideways.”

They listened.

And how did the British people, millions of whom followed the papal events on the BBC’s live feed on the internet and on television, react to the Pope?

“They listened,” said Fr. Hugh Allan, the superior of a community of priests, called Norbertine canons, in Chelmsford, Essex, who attended some of the events.

“They really wanted to hear him, and that is going to make the difference. I’ve heard it from so many people.”

On the phone today, Fr. Allan confirmed that the anti-Pope crowd have badly lost the argument, and the sympathy of the British public with their months of shrill, fever-pitch attacks. The British people, he said, wanted to hear what the Pope had to say.

“One of the most beautiful things has been to see an eighty-three year old man completely taking the wind out of the sails of the Peter Tatchells and the rest of the crowd,” Fr. Allan said.

The Pope’s addresses, delivered barely above a whisper, made his detractors look “ridiculous, like children throwing their toys out of the pram because they couldn’t have their own way.”

And today the Pope’s opponents are left with little to say. “They’re nonplussed and confused” Fr. Allan said, “astonished.” “They didn’t expect people to respond as they have done.”

“They don’t understand why the British people listened to him. Why they wanted to see him. Everything the Pope said is outside their mindset.”

The Pope’s messages, that Christianity has a foundational place in the building of a just society, one that cannot be suppressed without destroying the foundations of freedom, were delivered fearlessly but gently, in a tone that one had to strain to hear and with an accent one had to concentrate to understand.

“He was just stating the truth,” Fr. Allan said. “It’s really swept people off their feet.”

The part that was perhaps most surprising, to those who don’t know Benedict, was the spirituality. Here was not just another politician in a cassock. This was a religious leader, interested in the hearts and souls of his listeners.

And the greatest moment was the silence in the park. At least 150,000 were at the Mall on Saturday evening, lining the Pope’s route leading up to Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, in many cases only to have the briefest glimpse.

Well over the officially ticketed numbers of 80,000 were in the park for the evening service of Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

While Dr. Richard Dawkins and the Independent’s Johann Hari harangued the Pope, calling him an enabler of pedophilia and demanding that the police go over and arrest him, the people in Hyde Park, most of whom had waited all day, knelt and prayed in “absolute silence.”

I was watching on two live internet feeds simultaneously, one from the BBC with commentary and the other from the UK bishops’ website without, and as the ornate monstrance was placed on the altar, and for that brief time, even the BBC chatterers fell silent.

A member of Fr. Allan’s community was at the park and said that almost no one was on their feet. He called it “astonishing” that nearly 100,000 people knelt and prayed.

“The response, the silence... To go from ecstatic cheers one moment, welcoming the Pope, to profound silence the next, it was really remarkable.”

[The moment brought back the aweseome eucharistic hush of about a million youth in Marienfeld, at the prayer vigil of WYD 2005 in Cologne.]

Benedict has ended the argument.

If nothing else comes of this visit, one service Pope Benedict did this weekend in Britain was to answer the anti-religious accusations.

For years, the secularist hard core have held the floor without challenge. The bishops have made polite noises, in the tradition of English Catholic recusants keeping their head down after centuries of persecution, leaving the Evangelicals to do the heavy lifting in the rational defense of public Christianity.

In interview after interview the British bishops have equivocated, circumlocuted and generally sidled away from giving straightforward Christian answers, [that could easily have been] backed up by the immemorial teaching of the Church, the witness of the great minds of Christendom. This weekend, Pope Benedict put an end to it.

Even though we had already called it, the completeness of Benedict’s triumph in Britain was astonishing to watch. The spell lasted up to the last possible moment, with Prime Minister David Cameron and a large government and ecclesiastical entourage assembled at Birmingham airport to see Benedict off.

Among the last shots from the BBC’s live broadcast was of the group of dignitaries and bishops waving to the departing plane, as if seeing off an old friend.





CATHOLIC HERALD has posted a very useful 'Definitive Guide to the Papal Visit 2010'
www.catholicherald.co.uk/breaking/2010/09/19/the-definitive-guide-to-the-papal-vis...
But meanwhile, Anna Arco has roused enough from the post-visit euphoria to make a compendium of what the Pope said about the role of the laity - not as parish workers - but as individual Christians living the Gospel.


The ‘People’s Pope’ made one thing clear:
He wants an empowered laity
And, in some ways, Catholics in Britain
have already risen to the challenge
By Anna Arco

Monday, 20 September 2010

On the Mall they were taking down the papal flags this morning. It seems strange that only two days ago the streets were lined with well-wishers, the faithful waving banners, and, yes, protesters.

The broadsheets grudgingly changed their tune, the tabloids loved him – the News of the World called him the “People’s Pope”.

By the time of his departure yesterday, Pope Benedict had spoken about all the biggies: religious liberty, the place religion can have in society, solidarity with the poor, the dangers of extremism, secularisation, clerical child abuse and Christian unity.

So much for all the official bits – this visit was actually about the role of the Catholic laity, both in Britain and in the world – especially the secularised West.

From his homily in Bellahouston Park to his speech in Hyde Park, Pope Benedict kept returning to the role of lay people. It almost seemed as though the Holy Father, in his elegant way, was calling for an empowered laity.

This is a far cry from the 1960s radical call for empowered laity where people wrestled for new positions on parish councils and the faithful became ever more clericalised.

This was not a call for more lay people to take over the role of the priest during Mass or be more active in the life of their parish, because in many ways, that point was passed long ago. He was instead calling the laity to live their Christian faith, to go beyond mere faith and live the Gospel.

The role of the laity as Benedict envisages it, is to engage with Catholic culture and present it as an alternative to the “dictatorship of relativism”.

He put it most bluntly at Bellahouston when he said:
The evangelisation of culture is all the more important in our times, when a ‘dictatorship of relativism’ threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good.

There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatise it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister.

For this reason I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum.

Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility.

Do not be afraid to take up this service to your brothers and sisters, and to the future of your beloved nation.

At Westminster Cathedral, as at Bellahouston, he again urged the “lay faithful to take up their baptismal sharing in Christ’s mission”, stressing how much contemporary society needed the witness of lay people. He said:
May the profound ideas of this great Englishman [Cardinal John Henry Newman] continue to inspire all Christ’s followers in this land to conform their every thought, word and action to Christ, and to work strenuously to defend those unchanging moral truths which, taken up, illuminated and confirmed by the Gospel, stand at the foundation of a truly humane, just and free society.
The Pope prayed for Catholics in Britain to
...become ever more conscious of their dignity as a priestly people, called to consecrate the world to God through lives of faith and holiness.

And may this increase of apostolic zeal be accompanied by an outpouring of prayer for vocations to the ordained priesthood. For the more the lay apostolate grows, the more urgently the need for priests is felt; and the more the laity’s own sense of vocation is deepened, the more what is proper to the priest stands out.

For a Pope who has been dismissed as too concerned with the clergy – after he made last year the Year for Priests – Benedict is keenly aware of the importance of the lay faithful, those who make up the body of the Church alongside the clergy and religious, living the faith as best they can.

Despite the elation and the cheering during the vigil at Hyde Park, the Holy Father’s speech sounded a sombre note. After Westminster, it was probably his most significant address in England and Wales.

Pope Benedict held Blessed John Henry Newman up as a role model for aspects of modern life, citing his vision for the “prophetic role of the laity”.
He saw clearly that we do not so much accept the truth in a purely intellectual act as embrace it in a spiritual dynamic that penetrates to the core of our being,” the Holy Father told pilgrims.

Truth is passed on not merely by formal teaching, important as that is, but also by the witness of lives lived in integrity, fidelity and holiness; those who live in and by the truth instinctively recognise what is false and, precisely as false, inimical to the beauty and goodness which accompany the splendour of truth, veritatis splendor.

Benedict also stressed what it was the laity needed to do in order to live its baptismal calling better - through education and example – and warned against complacency.
No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society.

We know that in times of crisis and upheaval God has raised up great saints and prophets for the renewal of the Church and Christian society; we trust in his providence and we pray for his continued guidance.

But each of us, in accordance with his or her state of life, is called to work for the advancement of God’s Kingdom by imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel.

During the visit, Benedict XVI was asking the lay faithful to be involved in the life of the Church despite the challenges presented by secularised society.

He was asking them to strive not just to be cultural Catholics but also to live the Gospel to the full, not just on Sundays but to make it permeate all aspects of life.

And in some ways, the British laity already has risen to the challenge by coming out to see the Pope in their hundreds of thousands. Over half a million people came out to see the Pope during his trip.

In the weeks up to the visit, the pitch of articles and newscasts was very critical of the Church, the Pope and Catholics in general, and the tone of the protests was shrill and at times frightening.

Walking to Hyde Park or standing outside Twickenham to get a glimpse of the Pope often meant running the gauntlet, “being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied”.

But there are other ways in which the laity has marked this trip. Catholic Voices is an example of a lay initiative which tried to bring the Catholic perspective to the mainstream press.

Lay Catholic bloggers like Claz Gomez and Mac McLernon put themselves behind the visit with all their enthusiasm on Twitter and in the blogosphere. And, last but not least, Lord Patten, the Government’s co-ordinator for the visit, who made sure everything went to plan.



I'm posting the next article because it could well typify the kind of 'conversion' undergone by Britons who thought of Benedict XVI the way the MSM have painted him all these years, but who decided to 'look' at the Pope with open eyes and an open mind during the visit - and saw enough to decide they had been wrong to prejudge him on the basis of what others said and wrote!... Tony Page is the managing editor of the site called 50Connect, which is an online journal and forum for people 50 and above who have disposable income and leisure... You have to be patient at with the start, when he lays out his previous biases...


Pope Benedict XVI:
He came, he conquered and he left

by Tony Page
Sept. 20, 2010

How many of you regarded the State visit of Pope Benedict XVI a non-event? Well I certainly did! Not because I’m anti-Catholic, I’m not anti any faith. I think the reason for my ambivalence was that this Pope hadn’t impressed me as much as Pope John Paul II had.

Remember John Paul? Gentle eyes and a big smile. Down on his knees kissing the tarmac when he landed at Gatwick, capturing everyone’s heart in an instant. A great PR man if ever there was one.

This Pope is a different kettle of fish! He’s described as a ‘hardliner’ and a real Catholic traditionalist: no contraception, no gays and no women priests! ][And if Mr. Gray had reviewed the entire 26-year Papacy of John Paul II, he would have found out that he too advocated exactly the same 'hardline' positions that Benedict does! All Popes do, because those positions are consistent with what the Church has taught and practised for 200 years!]

Add to this the oddly pained expression he has on his face whenever he smiles:[Mr. Gray has not seen the right pictures, obviously!] it was as though he would really prefer to be somewhere else other than in front of the cameras.

Shortly after he was elected, it emerged that he had been in the Hitler Youth during the war before being detained by the Allies as a POW. This news did nothing to endear him to me.

So here he was landing in Scotland to see the Queen (he had to go there as she was on holiday! So much for the importance of this as a State visit) and drive along Princes Street in the ‘Pope mobile’. Friday he was in London and then Sunday off to Birmingham.

On Saturday morning, I took interest in the news coverage and became engrossed in the pomp of the events and the importance given to the visit. Watching him under the scrutiny of the cameras started to change my perception and feeling towards this man of the cloth.

He seemed shy and if anything embarrassed by all the attention: he is after all, only a man, 83 year-old Joseph Ratzinger.

Over the weekend, we heard the unambiguous apologies for the child sex abuse scandals that have beset the Catholic Church in this country and abroad. To his credit, he made this one of the key messages of his visit and he reiterated his personal sorrow repeatedly.

My views were changing. Well, there's nothing like a repentant bigot, eh! My interest was piqued enough to do some reading on the Pontiff and this helped me to get over my antipathy.

Pope Benedict was 14 years old when he was compelled to join the Hitler Youth. I now have a 14 year-old grandson and he can no more reason Nazi ideology than he can fly. It is horrifying that children were indoctrinated in this way. Having seen the naivety of my own children at that age and again in my similarly callow grandchildren, it makes this period of the Pope's life especially sobering.

By the time the war ended, Ratzinger had deserted his post building tank traps in Hungary and fled West: he was still only 17 years old!

The next 60 years he spent in service of the church becoming a highly respected theologian. Towards the end of this career, he asked three times to retire and three times, he was refused. Now this does not sound like a man driven by ego and ambition. Now he’s stuck with the job until he dies.

By end of the weekend I was feeling slightly elated by the ritualistic series of events and much more amenable to Pope Benedict – not that he cares I’m sure.

Will I rush out and convert to Catholicism a la Tony Blair? I don’t think so. Will I be a bit more tolerant than I was at the start of the weekend? Yes! In future, I won’t just take what I read in the media at face value – I’ll check the facts before I cement my opinions. [Better late than never, Mr. Gray. But one does have a duty to learn one's lines and music first before jumping in to join a chorus, no matter how apparently well-pedigreed! You have to know what you are protesting, otherwise you end up training your heavy guns on nothing more than strawmen others have set up for you!]

In all, the visit did a lot for the Catholic Church and more than likely made a lot of us a bit more respectful.

I don't believe this visit will resolve our questioning of the Catholic doctrine. However, maybe that is not such a bad thing:

It’s so easy to change values but so very much harder to build them back again. Maybe our society needs men like Benedict XVI if only to show us just how far we have changed our values!

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 04:47



POPE IN BRITAIN:
He's historic
By Chris Patten

20/09/2010

This trip deserves a rather overused word: historic. When people saw the Pope and Her Majesty the Queen at Holyrood House, if they have any sense of history at all, they would have got that straight away.

First of all, it represents the extent to which Catholics in the UK are not a minority, but part of the mainstream of public life in every sector - whether as cabinet secretary, director general of the BBC, in politics, business or the trade unions.

To me that was exemplified by looking at those in Glasgow taking Communion at Bellahouston Park representing every age, ethnicity and class.

Secondly, his visit not only reflects what has happened to the Catholic church in Britain in the last decade, but also that this IS a country which still has important Christian roots.

There is a secular culture, and consumerism sometimes seems king but, for many people, faith is what helps them through the day.

One sign of the Pope's relevance is the numbers who turned out to greet him, not just at the events, but from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and in London, the roads were lined with people who wanted to cheer him.

The event in Twickenham was a reflection of that. There are 2,300 Catholic schools in England and Wales and we had 4,000 children from the sort of Catholic school that I went to 60 years ago.

The Pope's visit has shown that faith groups in general and the Catholic church in particular are relevant today.

Thirdly, it was a reminder that the Catholic church is the second largest international aid organisation in the world. Given successive governments committed to the UN Millennium Development goals, it's unsurprising we want to underline the importance of our partnership with the Catholic church in Latin America or East Africa.

Fourthly, people now do have a sense we should not simply judge our society, our country by per capita GDP figures. The Pope's speeches challenged us to realise that other things matter.

I hope the visit will make us think deeper about the sort of society we live in and want to live in. I hope it will make us think more about our social responsibilities. I hope it will make us realise we need a serious dialogue between religious and secular groups.

I hope it will give people of all faiths more self confidence to stand up for themselves and to make the point that faith matters to society.

As the Archbishop of Westminster has said, "Faith isn't a problem, faith is a gift."

Lord Patten was David Cameron's representative in organizing the Pope's visit.





You have to be rather twisted to frame a headline like the following, but then this article is from the Washington Post, so it figures...

Anger over papal visit
shows religious freedom
is alive and well in Britain
By Anne Applebaum

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

LONDON - "In all my years as a campaigner I have never felt such animus against any individual as I do against this creature. His views are so disgusting, so repellent and so hugely damaging to the rest of us, that the only thing to do is to get rid of him." [Now that's really vicious and virulent hate speech that one does not expect to hear from any decent, respectable person! And yet consider the woman who said it:]]

Thus did Claire Rayner, a British journalist, novelist, former advice columnist and professional-campaigner-for-worthy-causes, greet news of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in the United Kingdom.

Others were more welcoming. Because this was the first papal state visit to Britain, Benedict had a friendly chat with the Queen, shook hands with the Prime Minister and prayed with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

He said Mass in Hyde Park[It was a prayer vigil, not a Mass! One expects basic accuracy from a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, right?] and beatified Cardinal Newman, a 19th-century convert from Anglicanism. It was the first beatification to take place in England, ever.

Yet Rayner's reaction to him was, at least in some circles, more typical. One prominent left-wing pundit lumped together the Pope with the Florida pastor who wanted to burn the Koran; another accused Benedict of manipulating Newman to "serve his own autocratic, homophobic leadership."

Others called for protests -- against pedophilic priests, against sexual discrimination, against religion itself. The phrase "aging theocrat" was bandied about quite a bit.

So vicious were the attacks in the run-up to the visit, in fact, that there was talk of cancellation. [That's an irresponsible assertion. Applebaum is married to the Foreign Minister of Poland, so she ought to be sophisticated enough to know that a cancellation could never have been considered in Whitehall and at the Vatican, once the invitation had been formally extended and accepted. In fact, arrangements for the visit on the side of the UK government were handed on smoothly from the previous Labour government to the new Conservative government in the months preceding the visit.]

One Vatican official grumbled publicly about the "aggressive new atheism" in Britain, a country where all religions are protected except Christianity. [Really? Which official? Did we read about that? And supposing he did, he would have merely been stating a fact!]

Whatever your view of the Pope, you can see his point: It is certainly hard to imagine liberal British pundits using such words as "disgusting" and "repellent" about a prominent foreign Jewish or Muslim religious leader, particularly one whose visit was intended to honor an Englishman and have tea with Queen Elizabeth II. He wasn't there to instigate violence or terrorism, after all. [And yet, someone like Rayner did - and worse language has been used by the ringleaders of the Protest the Pope movement, including and especially the supposedly eminent Richard Dawkins, whose anti-God monomania has clearly robbed him of all common sense and decency.]

On the other hand, it is even harder to imagine many other foreign religious leaders receiving so much air time or having their views so expertly dissected.

Because the Pope was attacked so furiously, his defenders were given acres of newspaper space [Yeah, right, a minor concession compared to the mega-swaths of prominent space given to his critics] -- if nothing else, the British press knows that a two-way controversy is always more interesting -- and multiple slots on talk shows.

Some environmentalists discovered Benedict's little-known views on global warming (he's worried about it). Some atheists decried the "intolerance" of other atheists. Accounts of Cardinal Newman's life and teachings appeared everywhere.

Competitive politics also played a role: Since the nastiest attacks on the Pope came from the left, the Conservative Party became interested in the case for the defense.

A cabinet minister called a Catholic journalist of my acquaintance and asked to be taken, point by point, through Humanae Vitae, a previous Pope's encyclical on birth control. [Kudos to that cabinet minister! At least he has the intellectual honesty to confront the issue from teh Catholic point of view.]

The Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, publicly thanked the Pope for making Britain "sit up and think" and said it had been "an incredibly moving four days for our country."

All in all, it was a huge success.

But had the Pope been treated politely from the start, I suspect he would have come and gone without a trace.

The vast majority of Britons are not Catholic and would have tuned out deferential accounts of his sermons. The press would have relegated the whole thing to the religion section. Perhaps the faithful would still have gone to Mass, though maybe not so many:

[Spoken like a naive non-Catholic! That any Pope could visit any country and 'come and gone without a trace'? Never happened before! There will always be enough Catholics who see in the Pope the Vicar of Christ on earth - and few among them would pass up the chance to be in his presence. Applebaum - again considering she is married to a Pole - appears to have forgotten completely that a Pope had visited the UK once before. Or does she superciliously consider John Paul's trip sui generis and one that shouldn't even be compared with Benedict XVI's visit?]

In the end, some 500,000 people probably saw him during his visit, which is quite a lot in a country largely composed of pagans and Protestants.

And thus did Benedict's visit to Britain turn into an advertisement for religious freedom -- the freedom to abhor religion and the freedom to practice it. [It was also an advertisement for the hateful religious intolerance of so many liberals who never see the fundamental contradiction of their intolerance to the supposed liberal value of tolerance for all views!]

Much to everyone's surprise, including the Vatican's, raucous discussion of Catholicism turned out to be good for Catholicism [Let us hope so!] and interesting for atheists, too. The true aging theocrats -- in Saudi Arabia, in Iran -- should take note.





Papal visit 2010:
Key quotes from religious and political figures
By Laura Roberts

Sept. 20, 2010

Despite the predicted protests, the Pope's visit to Britain brought a uniformly positive response from politicians, other faith leaders and the thousands of Catholics who turned out to see him. Below is a selection of their reactions:


The Queen: "Your Holiness, in recent times you have said that religions can never become vehicles of hatred, that never by invoking the name of God can evil and violence be justified.

"Today, in this country, we stand united in that conviction. We hold that freedom to worship is at the core of our tolerant and democratic society."


David Cameron: "Faith is part of the fabric of our country. It always has been and it always will be.

"As you, your Holiness, have said faith is not a problem for legislators to solve but rather a vital part of our national conversation. And we are proud of that.

"You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing.

"Because I believe we can all share in your message of working for the common good and that we all have a social obligation to each other, to our families and our communities."


Lord Patten: "I think it's been a huge success, four days which have gone better and better.

"It began with a marvellous welcome in Edinburgh and we have been on a roll ever since. It's been historic ever since.

"I think it's demonstrated yet again that when people meet the Pope they realise what a warm and lovable person he is and I think perhaps most important of all it's demonstrated how much faith matters to so many people in this country, not just to Catholics but to people of all religions."


Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman : "If there are critics and protests, this is normal for us and the Pope and it is a positive sign of freedom of expression in this society."


Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams: "We live in an age where there is a desperate need to recover the sense of the dignity of both labour and leisure and the necessity of a silent openness to God that allows our true character to grow and flourish by participating in an eternal love."


The Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, who came to hear the Pope speak at St Mary's University College in Twickenham described the Pope as a "gentle man" with a "large vision":

"I found his words very touching. I found him very approachable and very human. I thought he was really encouraging us as a whole to continue this inter-faith relationship."


Jack Sullivan, the American deacon who was cured of a severe spinal disease after praying to Cardinal Newman: "Meeting His Holiness Benedict XVI is the greatest honour of my life next to marrying my wife.

"Through the process I experienced a great deal of pain and suffering. But after the example of Cardinal Newman I persevered with all my heart in faith, knowing that in God's goodness some higher purpose might be achieved. In this case it was Cardinal Newman's beatification."


Rafiq Hayat, President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK: "Religious leaders have a pivotal role to play in promoting peace and serving humanity. Indeed religions have far more commonalities than differences and we welcome moves that will help forge unity and foster greater understanding.

"I extend to His Holiness the Pope, the Islamic greeting of Salaam -Peace, and hope that his visit can help develop even stronger links between Muslims and Catholics and indeed people of all faiths and of none as we are all children of God."


Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols:
"The Church has made a mess of its response to incidents of child abuse, and there is nothing that can be said that excuses the crimes committed by members of the clergy against children." [Of all the statements Archbishop Nichols made, they had to pick out this one!]





I have yet to see a Times of London editorial posted or quoted somewhere on the papal visit [can't get through the Times paywall now], but I was saving this editorial from them on the day Benedict XVI concluded his visit to the United States... It's surprising how - except for the place names and the added cirumstance of the UN speech when he came to the USA - this editorial might have been written two days ago.

What it tells us is that MSM sometimes have no choice but to acknowledge an overwhelming reality at the time it happens - when masses of people see for themselves - and then quickly drop the positive attitude and conclusions once the precipitating event is safely behind!

BENEDICT THE BRAVE
The Pope has shown himself worthy
of his rapturous US reception
Editorial, The Times of London
April 20, 2008


A Catholic priest from California who attended Mass with the Pope in New York at the weekend said afterwards that he thought His Holiness might have been “a little stunned and surprised by the warm welcome he's received”. This is entirely possible.

The US has a way of surprising visitors, whether they be Benedict XVI or tourists attracted by the exchange rate and then won over by a diversity and generosity of spirit that defy stereotypes.

But the real surprises of the Pope's visit have been for his hosts. Few of them can have expected him to be so candid on the subject of the sexual abuse crisis that has threatened the foundations of the Catholic Church in America; so forthright on the role of human rights and the UN in international affairs; or so disarming on his own youth, shaped as it was by Nazism.

[If he had proved all this to the Times's satisfaction in 2008, why then did they come up with the identical denigration of him for the very same points in 2010? Either they were insincere in 2005 and did not really drop all their negative prejudgments of the Pope - but his visit was to the US, not to the UK, and they did not need to editorialize about it; or they are conveniently amnesiac, as much of MSM is, feigning amnesia when necessary in order to hammer home their true animus against Benedict XVI, in the case of the Times of London, as if they had never said anything positive at all about him on the very points they nag about relentlessly!]

Through the content of his words over the past five days, if not the style of their delivery, the Pope has unquestionably emerged in the US from the shadow of his charismatic predecessor.

He has also confirmed for those still in any doubt that he is a warmer, more responsive person than the apparently doctrinaire academic presented to the world in so many headlines on his elevation to the papacy three years ago.

Yet his undoubted successes in Washington and New York prompt two important questions: can the Church now harness the goodwill left by this visit to put the abuse scandal firmly behind it, not least by recruiting new clergy in a country where one in six Catholic parishes has no priest?

And does the Pope, at 81, envisage a sustained engagement in international affairs - or was his speech to the UN a one-off occasion? [How could they, in 2008, doubt this, with his interventions as Pope to bishops and various international audiences, not to mention his prompt statements in his Angelus messages about any international emergency or crisis? And Not to mention his analytical essays before he became Pope on the crisis of cultures!]

The answers depend partly on the Church's US bishops and partly on the Pope's physical stamina.

He has shown a natural ability to move people in settings ranging from the intimate (Ground Zero) to the immense. Hence his farewell Mass at a packed Yankee Stadium yesterday, but also hushed prayer meetings that he held with a group of severely disabled worshippers and, last Thursday, with victims of the abuse scandal from the Boston archdiocese.

One of them said afterwards that he had told the Pope: “You have a cancer in your flock... you have to fix this.” Another said: “I believe we turned the Pope's head a little in the right direction.” [Since these victims were quite aggrieved, we'll let them 'get away' with this presumptuous idea that they were telling the Pope anything he did not already know or that his head was ever in the wrong direction!]

Yet the plain truth is it was already pointed in the right direction. He condemned the abuse four times in five days and resisted travelling himself to Boston, which would have left him vulnerable to accusations of trying to compartmentalise the issue into one leg of his tour. It is hard to see how he could have done more in these circumstances.

The Pope's foray into international affairs was more measured, but no less specific. His attack on UN members' “indifference or failure to intervene” where sovereign states have failed to prevent suffering was as close as diplomatically possible to a direct condemnation of the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs by which China justifies its support of rogue regimes in Africa - and defies international sentiment in Tibet. His criticism of self-serving vetoes by permanent members of the UN Security Council was, likewise, thinly veiled.

Faith is the bedrock of organised religion. It is perhaps less reliable as a basis for UN diplomacy. The world should, nonetheless, be grateful for the Pope's involvement over the past few days.


TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 05:51



Here is one of the most thoughtful instant readings of the UK visit...


The key to the Pope's success
in Great Britain
by Phil Lawler

September 21, 2010


Most of the reporters writing about the papal visit are clearly surprised by this outcome, and more than a few are betraying their disappointment.

A week ago the same reporters were predicting a debacle, and some of them were relishing that prospect. The Pope would face angry protesters wherever he turned, they said. The crowds would be small and subdued. There would be empty seats at the Pope’s public appearances. The staid, jaded secular world of Great Britain would listen skeptically, perhaps nod and clap politely, and then quickly move on to other things, dismissing the old man from Rome.

But Pope Benedict didn’t follow that script.

In every particular, the predictions were wrong. The crowds were loud and enthusiastic. The protesters were there, but even their friends in the mass media had trouble locating them among the tens of thousands who lined the streets to cheer for the passing papal motorcade, or thronged around Hyde Park to join in an evening prayer vigil. [They did have a well-covered march, in which published photographs were carefully chosen to show the effect of a massed phalanx of protestors, which earlier estimates placed at 10,000, doubled to 20,000 by the protestors themselves, but which police eventually placed at 3,000 - more like the 2,000 they had expected before the visit began. And yet, the MSM already planted the myth - bought into even by hardened veterans like John Allen - that this was 'the largest protest against a Pope ever'. As I've pointed out before, consider a couple of Piazza Navona rallies by Italian gay groups.]

Britain’s political and intellectual leaders watched and listened carefully as the Pope spoke, and his words had an obvious impact. Prime Minister David Cameron spoke for an entire nation when, at the
conclusion of the papal visit, he told the departing Pontiff that he had made Britain “sit up and think.”

Now the analysts who had predicted a disaster — or perhaps, at best, a polite irrelevancy — are struggling to explain how the Pope confounded their expectations. I think I can explain.

When they predicted an unsuccessful papal visit, analysts were basing their judgment on an assumption. They took it for granted that Pope Benedict would respond to the criticism that had dominated the British media during the last few weeks before his arrival. They assumed that the Pope would be worried about the protests and nervous about the likelihood of popular rejection. Clearly he was not.

Speaking with reporters during the flight from Rome, Pope Benedict said that he recognized anti-Catholicism as a force in Britain, but was not disturbed by it. He voiced his confidence that a deeper, stronger, fundamental commitment to the Christian heritage would also come into play.

When asked how he would propose to make the Catholic Church more attractive to the people of Great Britain, he gave a surprising answer:
I would say that a Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for her own ends, she does not work to increase numbers and thus power. The Church is at the service of another: she serves, not for herself, not to be a strong body, rather she serves to make the proclamation of Jesus Christ accessible…
With those words the Holy Father was signaling that he did not intend to fulfill the analysts’ expectations. He would not be defending himself when he spoke to British audiences. He would not be worrying about how the public would perceive him.

He was traveling to the United Kingdom “at the service of another,” to proclaim the truth and spread the Gospel. So his own ego was not engaged; in a sense he did not care what people thought of him. He only cared what people thought of Jesus Christ.

Pope Benedict’s personal style is quiet and ingratiating. His evident humility, and the deference with which he treats others, make it impossible for the public to continue thinking of him as the media had portrayed him.

The people of Great Britain did not see a stern, rigid ideologue. They saw a mild, self-deprecating man who treated them with respect —and, because he respected them, told them the truth.

As he said several times during his visit, Pope Benedict saw Britain as a society longing for faith, thirsting for the truth. The reaction to his words proves that he was right. He offered his audiences the truths of the Catholic faith — without bombast, without polemics, but also without apology. And the crowds were fascinated.

Great Britain, clearly, is a nation searching for a sense of purpose. Once a great global empire, brimming over with a sense of moral righteousness, today the nation is uncertain about its own identity: uncertain what it means to be a British subject, or what are the fundamental principles on which British culture is founded.

In religious affairs especially, the old establishment has broken down. The Church of England has lost its place as the moral authority over the nation. The Anglican communion has disintegrated into a congeries of different groups with different beliefs and different practices, held together only by their desperate determination to ignore those differences.

Human nature abhors a vacuum, and now into this vacuum of moral leadership strode Pope Benedict, proclaiming truths that might not be welcomed by a secularized audience, but must be recognized as consistent and compelling, worthy at least of some consideration—enough to make people “sit up and think.”

Writing in (of all places) the Guardian, columnist Andrew Brown took note of this clash between — as the headline of his column put it — “moral absolutes and crumbling empires.”

The old Protestant ideas that had governed Great Britain for four centuries had run their course and lost their energy; now the Pope proposed a return to principles of thought that were both old and new: both a part of the British tradition from before the Reformation and a break with more recent history.

“This was the end of the British Empire,” Brown said, speaking of the Pope’s address to political leaders in Westminster Hall.

(Whether he was exaggerating the importance of the papal address, time will tell. But in connecting the British Empire with the Protestant experiment, Brown was historically accurate. It was Henry VIII, the founder of the schismatic Church of England, who first defined the British crown as an imperial enterprise.)

Pope Benedict was gentle but relentless in challenging the basic ideas that sustained that distinctively Protestant imperial era. In his historic address at Westminster Hall — with every living former prime minister in attendance — the Pope suggested that St. Thomas More, who had been condemned to death in that same hall, was a model for Church-state relations.

At Lambeth Palace, speaking to Anglican bishops with the Archbishop of Canterbury at his side, he proposed Blessed John Henry Newman as a model for ecumenical affairs.

Now obviously if St. Thomas More was right, then King Henry was wrong to have him executed, and to break with the Holy See. If Cardinal Newman was right, then today’s Anglican prelates can make themselves right by entering the Catholic Church. The Pope did not draw out these conclusions, but his implications were inescapable.

Indeed, the impact of Pope Benedict’s message to Great Britain was heightened by the things he did not say — because he did not need to say them. In his address to Anglican prelates he did not focus on Anglicanorum Coetibus, with its bold invitation for Anglicans to enter into the Catholic Church. But surely that apostolic constitution was on the minds of the Anglican bishops who were listening as he spoke about the path to Christian unity.

At Westminster Hall, when he praised the anti-slavery crusade led by William Wilberforce, he did not mention today’s battle to end abortion, but only a very dull politician would fail to notice the parallel.

When he mentioned that Westminster cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter, he could rely on those who listened to realize that St. Peter’s successor was now in the building.

And when he recalled the great heritage of British Christianity dating back to the times of St. Edward the Confessor and the Venerable Bede, it required very little imagination to notice that those happy days were before the split that gave rise to the Church of England.

Throughout the trip, Pope Benedict was quietly, humbly, but persistently staking a claim. He was not coming to Britain as a visitor from outside, hoping to be welcomed by the nation’s leaders.

He was claiming, as St. Peter’s successor, to be the rightful moral leader of this old Christian society. He was inviting Britain to end its 400-year flirtation with Protestantism and reclaim its Catholic heritage. He was promising that a nation founded on the truths of the Catholic faith could be a prosperous, pluralistic, and successful modern society.

The Pope was making an astonishingly bold series of claims, really. He made them with disarming humility, so that his audiences did not take offense.

Still the challenges were unmistakable. Now with the Pope back in Rome, a stunned British society has time to digest the papal message, to realize the implications of what he said, to sit up and think.




Benedict XVI:
Battler for Britain
The Pope used his visit to England and Scotland
to teach some important lessons.
by Michael Cook, Editor

Sept. 21, 2010

Defying dreary weather and drearier protests, the state visit of Benedict XVI to England and Scotland was, by all accounts, a smashing success. Although only about 5 million of 60 Britons are Catholic, the enthusiasm of the crowds bowled over a sceptical media.

London’s saucy tabloids ran interviews with star-struck teenagers under punning headlines like “Bene’s from Heaven”.

One young woman gushed to the News of the World, "English Catholicism needs a bit of oomph and this is our chance to give it some welly. I have got a feeling that I've not had for a long time. He should come more often."

No doubt the Pope appreciated the devoted crowds, but he had come with a message, not an applause meter. British Prime Minister David Cameron picked that up.

In his farewell remarks, he thanked the Pope for raising searching questions. “You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing.”

Think about what?

Five themes impressed me about Benedict’s subtle and subdued addresses.

Remember 1066 and all that. Even in Britain it’s easy to forget how yoked we are to our past. Voldemort Dawkins and his disciples seemed unaware of how much they owed to generations of anti-popery campaigners. Different costumes, same script.

Benedict, on the other hand, has a knack for placing messages in an historical framework. In Westminster Hall, he said,

“The angels looking down on us from the magnificent ceiling of this ancient Hall remind us of the long tradition from which British Parliamentary democracy has evolved. They remind us that God is constantly watching over us to guide and protect us. And they summon us to acknowledge the vital contribution that religious belief has made and can continue to make to the life of the nation.”

Britain, he reminded his hosts time and time again, is incomprehensible without its faith. Even its first history was penned by a Saxon monk, Bede the Venerable.

“The Christian message has been an integral part of the language, thought and culture of the peoples of these islands for more than a thousand years. Your forefathers’ respect for truth and justice, for mercy and charity come to you from a faith that remains a mighty force for good in your kingdom, to the great benefit of Christians and non-Christians alike.”

In short, democratic values of freedom, equality and solidarity have Christian roots. The greatest triumph of British democracy in the 19th century, the abolition of the slave trade, was due to the work of reformers like William Wilberforce and David Livingstone, both staunch Christians.

And, taking a leaf from the tormented history of his own homeland, Benedict reminded listeners that atheist regimes, like the slavers, denied a common humanity to Jews and other subject peoples.

“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a ‘reductive vision of the person and his destiny’.”

What lies ahead if secularism erases religion from civic life?

Reason and faith are compatible. Benedict could easily have side-stepped the enormous tensions of this trip. Nowadays beatifications are normally proclaimed by local bishops. But the life and work of Cardinal Newman offered him an opportunity to take the battle against aggressive secularism into enemy territory.

Without ever mentioning He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he pounded his contention that “There is no logical pathway from atheism to wickedness.”

A schoolboy knowledge of the 20th century shows how dumbfoundingly daft that is but Benedict put it more eloquently:

“Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason … can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.”

Young people need challenging ideals. The last 40 years have thrown a soggy blanket of booze and sex over youthful idealism and generosity. One of the leaders in the Pope’s Unwelcome Committee, the Commissar of the British secularist commentariat, Polly Toynbee, exemplified this in a recent column when she wrote that repression of “sex lies at the poisoned heart of all that is wrong with just about every major faith”. What Jack and Jill need is more safe sex, in other words.

Benedict, on the other hand, offered young Britons the demanding challenge of creating a civilisation of love, rather than a civilisation of indulgence.

“There are many temptations placed before you every day - drugs, money, sex, pornography, alcohol - which the world tells you will bring you happiness, yet these things are destructive and divisive. There is only one thing which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you.”

The Pope has a vision of life as demanding commitment to dignity, friendship, wisdom and truth – like John Henry Newman – instead of the frantic pursuit of “the glittering but superficial existence frequently proposed by today’s society”. The eruption of petulant nastiness in the media before the visit made a shabby contrast with the Pope’s invitation to reach for the stars.

Religion has a place in the public square. Nowhere in the Western world is religion more on the back foot than in Britain.

But as Prime Minister Cameron pointed out, Christianity is challenging: “For you have offered a message not just to the Catholic Church but to each and every one of us of every faith and none. A challenge to us all to follow our conscience to ask not what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities? To ask not what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others?”

Faith has a role in political life, Benedict insisted. Politics is not just a matter of administrative effectiveness or balancing interests, but of ethics.

“Substantially politics came into being in order to guarantee justice, and with justice, freedom. Now justice is a moral value, a religious value, and hence faith, the proclamation of the Gospel, is linked to politics at the point of ‘justice’, and from here are born common interests.”

The 20th century has shown that that governments are constantly tempted to tyranny. It is faith that protects citizens from being swallowed up by Leviathan:

“Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy.”

The foundation for tolerance is respect, not relativism. The Pope’s critics accuse him of being deaf to dialogue but they were in no mood for dialogue themselves last weekend.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named told a rally of supporters that he was “a leering old fixer” and “an enemy of humanity, of children, of gay people, of women, of the poorest people on the planet, of truth, of science, of education”. Isn’t Britain’s Pope of atheism capable of civility or tolerance?

By contrast, Benedict pulled no punches but gave no offence.

In Westminster Hall he reminded the great and good of British society that Thomas More had been martyred for his loyalty to Rome.

In Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Anglican Primate, he made a veiled reference to the ordination of homosexuals and women and Newman’s conversion from the Anglican Church.

In Westminster Abbey, he described himself as the successor of Peter.

He met Muslim leaders and alluded to the lack of religious freedom in Muslim-majority countries.

Everywhere he spoke with courtesy and respect and without insolence or irony. But everywhere he sought out common ground for promoting human dignity and religious freedom.

More with deeds than with words he gave a memorable lesson in tolerance. On the one hand, it is not forbearance, or ignoring points of difference. On the other it is not minimising differences as if they did not matter.

Benedict showed that tolerance is possible without being a relativist. Is it because he is sure that reason will ultimately triumph that he has the courage to dialogue?

Read the speeches yourself. It is not for nothing that MercatorNet nominated Joseph Ratzinger as one of the great champions of human dignity.





Benedict XVI in the UK:
Bold and triumphant
By Edward Pentin


LONDON, SEPT. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's four-day state visit to Britain defied doomsayers and the negative publicity that preceded it, bringing out an estimated 500,000 people in Scotland and England as well as countless others who heard his messages in the media and on the Internet.

Both the government and the Vatican were delighted with how well it went. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said it was a “wonderful visit” and, above all, a “spiritual success.”

The numbers of cheering supporters were far greater than any protest groups (200,000 on the streets of London on Saturday compared to around 5,000 protesters who took part in a march that day), but the Vatican doesn't judge success by numbers. Father Lombardi said the Pope felt it was a success because “many, many people listened with profound interest to what he had to say.”

The British press, some of which has been extremely hostile to the visit, gave a virtually unanimous verdict that it could not have gone better for the Church. The Daily Mail described the visit as "triumphant," adding that “by last night, the protesters appeared defeated, with celebrity objectors virtually silent and demonstrations against the visit few and muted.”

Benedict XVI began his trip by telling Queen Elizabeth II of his concerns over “aggressive forms of secularism,” but he ended it on a message of hope: Britons, he said, have a “deep thirst” for the message of Christianity, even if the country has become a “highly secularized environment.”

He constantly warned of the excesses of secularism and the perils of “atheist extremism,” yet reminded the country of its deep Christian roots from which so much good has been achieved by its people in the course of history.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron noted in his farewell address that the messages Benedict had delivered to the country had made it "sit up and think." He gave strong assurances that faith "has been and always will be" part of the fabric of British society.

An important factor in the visit's success was the chance for British people to see what the Pope is really like, as opposed to his media-concocted image.

They were won over by his shyness, deep humility, and child-like innocence -- just as many in the Vatican predicted they would be. But they were also impressed by his courage and his willingness to speak his mind.

“This was a much more successful visit than the Roman Catholic hierarchy could have dared to hope,” wrote English commentator Stephen Glover. “The Pope spoke to the soul of our country, affirming the eternal moral verities which our own political and religious leaders normally prefer to avoid. In essence, he has been asking us to examine what kind of country we want this to be.”

And perhaps more than on any other papal visit, he comprehensively addressed the sexual abuse scandal, first referring to his “shock” and “sadness” that priests had abused children, then voicing his “deep sorrow” over the “unspeakable crime” of pedophilia by clergy, and finally meeting five Britons who had suffered such abuse.

He also called for better safety measures for children in schools and urged the Church in Britain, which over the past decade has handled the scandal well, to share its expertise.

This was a truly historic visit designed to help bring reconciliation between Church and state and between Catholics and Anglicans. Half of all the nation's Parliamentarians turned out for the Pope's speech in Westminster Hall, where St. Thomas More, the patron saint of politicians, was tried and condemned in 1535.

The Holy Father expressed his concern at the “marginalization” of religion in society, reminding them that religion is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a “vital contributor” to the national conversation.

With the Church of England, the exchanges were remarkably friendly, despite relations having reached their lowest ebb in recent times. The Pope also reached out to inter-religious leaders, and engaged teachers and young people, urging the latter not to follow a celebrity culture but to enter into relationship with God and pursue holiness.

He also spoke from the heart to elderly people, stressing the importance of life from conception until natural death and telling them that ever longer lives offer an opportunity to remember in prayer those “whom we have cherished in this life."

The Pope called Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian whom the Pope came to England to beatify, a "great son of England," recalling how he showed his priestly compassion to the poor, sick and imprisoned.

The visit was also a historic first, which above all signified a new chapter for the Church in this historically Protestant country, one in which a line had finally been drawn under the sectarian and bloody disputes of the past.

How much this visit will affect the country in the long term remains the subject of debate. Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, has spoken of a “Benedict bounce” and a hoped-for growth in vocations.

But for the Catholic lay faithful and Britons who value the Church's teaching and Christian principles -- evidently many more than the media tends to convey -- the Holy Father's visit was a much needed and very welcome "shot in the arm" after years of encroaching secularist intolerance.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 07:45



The moment everything changed
by Joanna Bogle

September 20, 2010


Joanna Bogle is an author, journalist, and broadcaster living in London. She served for some years as a London Borough councillor and has also worked as a research assistant for Members of Parliament. She writes for various newspapers and magazines in Britain, America, and Australia, including Britain's Catholic Times, and America's National Catholic Register.


How to describe the wonderful events of recent days, with the visit of the Holy Father to Britain? It has all been magnificent – and the greatest thing about it all by far was the way in which, from the moment the Pope arrived, everything changed.

That day, news bulletins had been highlighting not so much his visit, but the opinion and reactions of leading homosexual-rights campaigners and organisers of atheist groups who planned a protest demonstration.

The significance of the visit – its setting in the historical situation of Christianity in Britain, the events of the 16th century, the tensions today with an increasingly secular culture – were not discussed. All we seemed to get was endless discussion about contraception and homosexual activity.

There was also, of course, a great deal on the subject of priests who have sexually molested children. These evil deeds, of course, merit much highlighting, but it was odd to have the discussion dominated by leading atheist campaigners who have never mentioned the subject before, and lobbyists whose opinions about sexual activity and the young have previously been rather more ambivalent. [Not to mention that one of the protest leaders, homosexual activist Peter Tatchell, previously advocated consensual sex between adults and minors.]

From the moment the Pope arrived on British soil, everything changed. The Queen and Prince Philip welcomed him in Scotland with smiles and warmth; there were bands and all the splendour of a State greeting; then, he was taken to the Popemobile and out into the city of Edinburgh.

And what a joyful procession it became! Cheering crowds were lining the street, babies were held up for him to kiss and bless, groups surged forward to call out greetings; everything had erupted into the most wonderful of welcomes.

On to Glasgow, where thousands attended a glorious Mass at Bellahouston Park – and, by now, media commentators were scrapping their pre-arranged scripts and doing some wholesale rewriting.

It has been a triumph! In London, history was made as the Pope spoke in Westminster Hall, addressing a gathering that included Members of Parliament, leading figures in public life, and representatives of the nation’s charities, church organisations, and community groups.

As he arrived, trumpets were sounded; the trumpeters standing in the niches of the great stained-glass window through which radiant light pours into the great Medieval hall. The arches of the great hammerbeam roof have echoed to the great events of British history, notably the trial of St Thomas More, the most significant event of the reign of King Henry VIII.

For a Pope to speak here, having just come from Westminster Abbey, where he prayed alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, is something of huge, almost indescribable, significance.

The sorrows, tensions, cruelties, and passions that have marked the division of Christianity in Britain since the events of the reign of Henry VIII have defined our history.

As Benedict XVI stood there, a slight, humble figure, speaking about faith and reason, about truth and human value and the common good, a great healing was taking place, and something gigantic was happening.

In the streets, people with anti-Papal placards were hugely outnumbered by the joyful and enthusiastic crowds of well-wishers, and by the exuberant young Catholics who carried banners saying “We love U Papa Benedict” and “Welcome to Britain, Holy Father!”

And so it went on. Saturday saw a great youth festival in Hyde Park, with music, dancing, theatre and picnicking, culminating in a vigil of prayer, with the Holy Father leading some 80,000 young people in an unforgettable time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, young faces intent and serious in the glowing candlelight.

Some of us who had been at this vigil stayed awake all night, travelling on by buses to Birmingham to join the crowds gathering in the early hours of Sunday morning for the great Mass marking the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

A gentle rain fell as dawn slowly arrived, but this is Britain: our “pilgrim packs” included plastic macs, and there were hot drinks available, and the mood was cheerful and upbeat.

When morning broke and the hillside of Cofton Park was filled with pilgrims, the sight was a splendid one – and when the Holy Father arrived to resounding cheers and applause, the sun broke through, and a delicate rainbow arched across the sky.

As long as I live, I will never forget these days. To be in Westminster Hall, where history is written into every inch of the stone-flagged floor and rounded Norman arches, listening to the successor of St Peter speak, was thrilling.

To follow this with joyful prayer with young Catholics in the heart of London was glorious, and to stand singing John Henry Newman’s wonderful hymns on an English hillside at a Papal Mass was beyond glorious.

Deo gratias. Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain has been wonderful.


What I missed greatly when the Holy Father came to the USA in 2008 was first-hand accounts like the above (and I fully expect Bogle to write more extensively about her experience) from the leading US Catholic bloggers who, apparently, all chose to stay home and watch on TV comfortably, instead of plunging into the great adventure of taking part in a papal visit, which is generally a once-in-a-lifetime event. But maybe most of them had done that before with John Paul II, who came to the US so many times, and didn't need to feel that special rush all over...

As limited, brief, tangential and improvised as my own experience was in 2008, they remain for me the most emotion-filled and memorable moments in my lifetime - though I had the great privilege of meeting John Paul II up close three times, and all those times, without having to exert any effort because I was part of a private audience at the Vatican, and on the last occasion, in 1981, to receive a Catholic media award from him directly when he was in Manila. As a journalist, I covered Paul VI's visit to Manila in 1970, when right upon getting off the airplane, a Bolivian madman tried to stab him, so I have also known what it is to be in the thick of covering a papal visit where your press card only facilitates getting into an event, after which you have to fend for yourself like every other pilgrim straining to experience the opportunity to the most!)

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 15:05


I return to the coverage of the visit proper to post what L'Osservatore Romano published in the 9/20-8/21 issue in addition to the texts of teh Pope's discourses.




The kindly light
Editorial
by Giovanni Maria Vian
Translated from the 9/20-9/21/10 issue of


A Church that seeks to be attractive to the eyes of the world would be on the wrong path because her duty is to allow the light of Christ to shine forth - the light that Christians of the Orient called 'joyous' (phos hilaron) in the evening prayer, the light that Blessed John Henry Newman saw and called 'kindly', asking to be led by it.

According to this criterion - pre-announced by the Pope on the flight to Edinburgh - Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom was a complete success, as most of the media, in the UK itself, have acknowledged and reported it. But also beyond that, since it overcame all the prejudiced analyses that foresaw difficult days for teh Pope and all the distortions aimed at obscuring the significance of the trip.

That all such predictions proved wrong - evident in the welcome and the attention from all those who saw and listened to the Pontiff - must be attributed how Benedict XVI presents himself, even in this visit: with simplicity and openness.

Which are immediately perceived in his face and his words, expressed in the tradition of 'gentle scholarship' born in the Middle Ages and which Newman embodied.

Thanks to the mass media which generously relayed to the public of a large nation characterized by a society that is now multicultural, the acts and moments of a perfectly organized program, so many persons saw the Pope not only in the formal official events but also meeting with the elderly 'most of all like a brother', caressing babies - as when he left the Nunciature in Wimbledon, he blessed a blind baby in the arms of his mother who wept with gratitude - or in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament int he impressive silence of more than 80,000 faithful in Hyde Park at the prayer vigil just several hours before beatifying Cardinal Newman.

It is precisely Benedict XVI's tenderness towards the small and the weak that is behind his strong words - often renewed and repeated - against the crimes against minors committed by some members of teh clergy, his meeting with a few of their victims, and that with a group in charge of safeguarding children in Catholic institutions.

In this, the British bishops, collaborating with civilian authorities, have been exemplary, along the lines of the very long tradition of the care and education of children that has been historically and undeniably plated by the Catholic church and its many institutions around the world.

In short, this was truly a historic visit, distinguished by the official but very cordial meeting with Elizabeth II, a universally esteemed sovereign, the solemn meeting with civilian authorities and other representatives of civilian society at Westminster Hall, where the Pope paid tribute to the British parliamentary institution, and his meetings with the nation's top three political leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who in his farewell address to teh Pope, underscored the positive contribution of religion to the public discourse.

At the end of a state visit which was very important for the promotion of relations with the Anglicans - there is also the personal friendship between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury - with other Christian confessions and with the non-Christian religions.

A visit during which Benedict XVI radiated to the world that kindly light which leads every man just as it led Blessed John Henry.


Every Christian is called on
to change the world
by Gianluca Biccini
Translated from the 9/20-9/21/10 issue of




"Faith and life inevitably converge": in the 'Christian realism' of John Henry Newman, there is a sense of the mission for every believer, who is "called on to change the world" and 'to work for a culture of life, a culture forged in love and respect for the dignity of every human being".

The Pope concluded his visit to the United Kingdom by beatifying in Birmingham the great English thinker and theologian. About whom he underscored the awareness that the truth, in order to set men free, requires witness.

"There cannot be a separation," Benedict XVI admonished at the prayer vigil on Saturday evening, Sept. 18 in London's Hyde Park, "between what we believe and the way we lead our life".

The Christian faith can truly "bear fruit in the transformation of our world', only when truth is accepted not as a mere 'intellectual act' but as a 'spiritual dynamic which penetrates the most intimate fiber of our being'.

This is a task, he said, entrusted above all to the laity who have a role in education, in teaching, in catechesis. A laity that, citing Newman in his homily at the beatification Mass, Benedict said must be “not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious”, but intelligent and well-informed about their faith.

Christians, in short, can no longer continue to do the things of every day, ignoring the profound crisis of faith that has overcome society but to roll up their sleeves in order to imprint the values of the Gospel on daily life.

On Sunday afternoon, before the farewell ceremony, the Pontiff returned to the embarrassing issue of sexual abuses y priests in addressing the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland., in the chapel of Oscott College.

After having expressed his concern for the consequences of the economic crisis – unemployment and privation for “numberless persons and so many families” – he reiterated that “ the shameful abuse of children and young people by priests and religious…seriously undermines the moral credibility of Church leaders”. A new stern reminder, given the day after he had a meeting with some of the abuse victims and with the pastoral workers in charge of protecting children in church institutions.


 
A new method for dealing
with the sex abuse issue
by Gianluca Biccini
Translated from the 9/20-9/21/10 issue of


The strategy of rigor and transparency chosen by the Pope and the Church to fight sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious has been enriched by a new method.



Benedict XVI suggested on the penultimate day of his visit to the United Kingdom, when he met in London on Saturday afternoon with first a few victims, and then a group of professionals and volunteers who are in charge of safeguarding children and minors in Church institutions.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican press director, spoke of such a method when he briefed newsmen Sunday morning in Birmingham. “It begins,” he said, “by listening to the victims and understanding them, so that in investigating the offenses, justice is done, and subsequently, to create a renewed environment in which such offenses will no longer be repeated".

Compared to similar meetings with victims in the US, Australia and Malta, the novelty was that the Pope also met for the first time with child safeguarders – eight members of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission named by the UK bishops and led by Bill Killgallon.

He met with them after having visited with the wards and staff of St. Peter’s Residence for the aged in Vauxhall.

Earlier, he met with five victims – four women and a man – at the Apostolic Nunciature in London. A communiqué from the Holy See said that the Pope was moved when listening to their stories and expressed “sorrow and shame for their sufferings and that of their families”.

The Pope also prayed with them, assuring them that ‘the Catholic church, while it continues to carry out effective measures to protect the young, is doing all it can to investigate accusations, to collaborate with civilian authorities and to bring to justice the priests and religious accused of these grave crimes”.

Words which leave no room for doubts and misinterpretation.

The communiqué underscored that the Pontiff is thinking, above all, of the victims, for whom he prated “as on previous occasions, so that that may experience healing and reconciliation, and succeed in overcoming past and present anguish with serenity and new hope for the future”.

Afterwards, the Pope proceeded to St. Peter’s Residence in Vauxhall where he was welcomed by the Archbishop of Southwark, Mons. Peter Smith, chaplain Martin Lee, and the provincial superior and nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor, spiritual heirs of St. Jeanne Jugan, who run the residence. (St. Jeanne founded the congregation in 1839 in Paris and is now present in 32 nations.)

Among the 76 aged wards of the residence, some of them with terminal illness, are a dozen priests and religious.



After a brief prayer in the chapel, the Pontiff proceeded to the theater where he met with the wards and the staff and volunteer personnel, in the presence of the British minister of health.

The Pope gave the residence a mosaic portrait of St. Peter executed
after a painting at the Vatican by the school of Raphael.

The topic of sexual abuse by priests was also brought up by the Pope on Sunday afternoon, when he met with about 50 bishops of England, Wales and Scotland, in the chapel of Oscott College, a Newman site which is the seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

To the seminary, the Pope gave a mosaic image of Our Lady as Mater Ecclesiae and two chalices for the cathedrals of Southwark and Liverpool.



The choice of the seminary for the meeting had a historical basis: it was here in 1852 that the bishops of the kingdom first met together for the first time since the earlier reconstitution of the Catholic Church hierarchy. On that occasion, Newman gave one of his most famous addresses entitled ‘The second spring’. It was a wish then, as it is today.


The Pope looks at a famous portrait of the 1852 meeting in which Cardinal Newman is shown in his cardinal's robes, though he was not made a cardinal until 1888.
 

In the footsteps of Newman
by Gianluca Biccini
Translated from the 9/20-9/21/10 issue of


Half a mile separates the Oratory House in Rednal where 120 years ago, John Henry Newman died and was buried, from Cofton Park, Birmingham, where on Sunday morning, Sept. 19, Benedict XVI raised the great English Cardinal to the honors of the altar.

Thus, the most significant event in the Pontiff’s trip to the United Kingdom took place in the places which zealously conserve the memory of the new Blessed. A trip whose obvious success caused local and international media, as the trip progressed, to discard the pre-visit controversies and other specifics and acknowledge the growing interest in the visit by the British public at every level. Tens of thousands of persons had turned out to take part in the events or to watch the Popemobile pass by.

Benedict XVI’s spiritual esteem for Newman, a towering figure in British history and culture, was shown in his constant reference to the relevance of Newman’s message today, but also and especially by his decision to preside personally, for the first time in his Pontificate, at his beatification Mass.

He also became the first Pope to visit Birmingham, England’s second largest city, cradle of the Industrial Revolution, and one of Europe’s most multi-ethnic cities.

The Pope arrived by helicopter from London and proceeded to the rolling hills of Cofton Park, drenched by rains since the previous night which stopped upon his arrival.

He blessed a statue of Cardinal Newman executed by sculptor Tim Tolkien, grand nephew of J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote Lord of the Rings. (The author, as a youth, had been entrusted by his mother to a priest of the Birmingham Oratory before she died; Tolkien spent seven years more in Birmingham before leaving for Oxford University.

Visibly moved, American Deacon Jack Sullivan, the man whose healing was the miracle that led to Newman’s beatification, read the Gospel at the beatification Mass. Now 71, a native of Boston, he had a serious neurological disorder that caused him severe spinal pain, but was completely healed on August 15, 2001, after praying to Cardinal Newman.

After the Mass, which ended with the recitation of the Angelus, the Pope proceeded to the Birmingham Oratory in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham, where Newman spent almost 4o years after his conversion o Catholicism and where he died on August 11, 1890.

Welcomed by the Oratory rector, Mons. Richard Duffield, - who is also the postulator for Newman’s cause for canonization - the Pope prayed in silence before the urn that contains the few remains of Blessed John Henry.

Afterwards, he visited Newman’s rooms. He spent some time in the room filled from floor to ceiling with Newman’s books. He saw the desk and the cardinal’s liturgical vestments and headwear. He also looked through some of the original manuscripts.



In anticipation of the beatification, the Pope held a prayer vigil with tens of thousands of faithful in London’s Hyde Park. The audience of some 100,000, mostly young people, heard the Pope speak to them about ‘the heart of the Church’.

Before the Pope arrived, there was an impressive procession of 3,000 persons representing the dioceses of England and Wales, and carrying the banners of their respective parishes.

During the vigil, they presented the Pope with films and documentation of the work that the Church of Great Britain does in the field of charity.

In his address, the Pope recalled that near Hyde Park was Tyburn, where many Catholics had died on the scaffold, martyrs who proclaimed their fidelity to the Church to their last breath.

Returning to the Nunciature after the prayer vigil, the Pope greeted, from a Nunciature window, a group of faithful who had awaited his return, as he had done Thursday night and Friday night.

The crowds outside the Nunciature during the three nights of the Pope’s visit was yet another sign of the loving atmosphere of this visit. An enthusiasm that was reflected even by Prime Minister David Cameron, in his farewell address, who called the visit ‘historic’ during which the nation had experienced “four incredibly moving days’.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 17:00



Wednesday, Sept. 22, 25th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. LORENZO RUIZ (Lorenzo de Manila) (b Manila 1600, d Nagasaki 1637) AND FIVE COMPANIONS, Martyrs
Lorenzo, born in Manila to a Chinese father and Filipino mother, was a layman killed along with a band of missionaries from the Philippines in the persecutions of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. In Manila, he had been an altar boy for the Dominicans and was a professional calligrapher of Church documents. He was married with two sons and a daughter. Then he was accused of a murder, and according to the only records known, the Dominicans gave him asylum because he was sought for a homicide at which he was present or which was attributed to him'. Three Spanish Dominican priests were set to sail for Japan as missionaries along with a Japanese Dominican and a lay leper. They decided to take Lorenzo along. Shortly upon arriving in Japan, they were arrested and taken to Nagasaki, where 50,000 Christians had been dispersed or killed in the persecutions. They were subjected to unspeakable torture to which their superior succumbed first. Lorenzo and the Japanese priest were tempted to apostasize but their companions kept their courage alive. Finally, the five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits to die a slow death. Lorenzo and the leper died after three days. The other priests were beheaded. In 1987, on his second trip to the Philippines, John Paul II canonized the six martyrs of Nagasaki, along with 10 other Asian and European men and women who had spread the faith in the Philippines, Formosa (Taiwan) and Japan. Lorenzo is the first Filipino saint.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092210.shtml


The major Vatican news item in today's OR is the Vatican statement yesterday regarding the investigation announced by the Rome prosecutor's office of the top two officials Vatican bank IOR for alleged violation of banking rules against money laundering; they also held 30-million dollars in IOR deposits with an Italian bank. In the inside pages, follow-up stories to the Pope's UK visit are a Vatican Radio interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury and an OR interview with Mons. Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who was with the Pope in the UK. Both discuss the ecumenical significance of the visit. Page 1 international news: UN Secretary-General denounces the failure of the wealthy nations to live up to their financial commitment to the UN's Millennium Development Goals; the World Trade Organization says that despite the economic crisis, the volume of world trade this year is expected to rise by a record 135% over 2009, better than the 10% that had been projected; and India fears worsening floods from record monsoon rains which have already left tens of thousands homeless in northern India along the banks of the Ganges.


THE POPE'S DAY

General Audience - The Holy Father held it at St. Peter's Square, reporting on his recently concluded
apostolic trip to the United Kingdom. Afterwards, he expressed his best wishes for the resumption starting
today in Vienna, of the working sessions of the Mixed International Commission for theological dialog between
the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.


The Vatican today released the official program for the Holy Father's pastoral visit to Palermo on Sunday, Oct. 3.




TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 18:20



GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY:
Report on UK Visit

The Holy Father flew to the Vatican today to preside at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square. As is customary after he makes an apostolic trip abroad, he reported in his visit to the United Kingdom last week.


Christianity still strong
and active in UK, Pope says

Rome, Italy, Sep 22, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Father used positive language to describe the outcome of his Apostolic Visit to the U.K. at the General Audience today.

Speaking of the joy and satisfaction he felt during the trip, he noted also that the "Christian heritage is still strong and ever active at every level of social life" in the U.K.

Summarizing the trip in a single line during his Italian-language address, he said, "I had the great joy of speaking to the hearts of British citizens and they spoke to mine ..."

The Pope spent Sept. 16-19 in the U.K. where he visited four cities: Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland on the first day, London for the next two, and Birmingham on the final day for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

The visit, he said, ushered in "a new and important phase in the long-standing relations between the Holy See and Great Britain."

Pope Benedict said he was able to affirm "how the Christian heritage is still strong and ever active at every level of social life. The hearts of the British and their existence are open to the reality of God and there are numerous expressions of religiosity that my visit has put even more in evidence."

In his Italian-language presentation, he said that the meeting he had with five abuse victims on Saturday afternoon was "very moving and prayerful."

On Sunday, he remembered the "joy" and "deep personal satisfaction" with which he celebrated the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman was celebrated.

Citing his own admiration for the Blessed's life and writings, he said that Newman's "clear-minded search to know and express the truth in charity ... is a wonderful testimony of a pure desire to know and love God in the communion of the Church.

"His is surely an example that can inspire us all," he concluded.








Because his host country was the United Kingdom, the Holy Father delivered his report in English in an extended form rather than a brief summary:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you know, I have just returned from my first Apostolic Journey to the United Kingdom, and I wish to send my affectionate greetings to all those I met and those who contributed to the visit through the media during four days, which have begun a new and important phase in the long-standing relations between the Holy See and Great Britain.

Last Thursday, I was honoured by the warm welcome of Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in Scotland’s historic capital Edinburgh.

Later that day, I celebrated Mass in Glasgow in the presence of many bishops, priests, religious and a great concourse of the faithful against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset at Bellahouston Park, within sight of the place where my beloved predecessor celebrated Mass with the Scots twenty-eight years ago.

Upon arriving in London, I met thousands of Catholic students and schoolchildren at a very joyful celebration, reminding all of us of the excellent and essential work being done by Catholic schools and teachers throughout the land.

I then had the pleasure of meeting the clerical and lay representatives of different religions and of discussing the search for the sacred common to all men.

Later, I had the honour of calling upon His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury who has come on several occasions to meet me in Rome. Our meeting at Lambeth Palace, in the presence of the Bishops of the Church of the England, was very cordial and fraternal.

I then crossed the river to Westminster where I was given the unprecedented opportunity to address both Houses of Parliament gathered in Westminster Hall on the importance of a fruitful dialogue between religion and reason, a theme as relevant in the time of Saint Thomas More as it is in our own day.

Finally that day, I had the privilege of kneeling in prayer with the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Tomb of Saint Edward in Westminster Abbey, and of giving thanks to God with the Archbishop, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and other British Christian leaders, for the many blessings God has bestowed upon our efforts to re-knit the fabric of our Christian fellowship.

The next morning, I had the pleasure of greeting Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Ms Harriet Harman, leader of the Opposition, before celebrating Mass in Westminster Cathedral, with a liturgy evocative of the best of the English musical tradition in the celebration of the Roman rite.

That afternoon, I was welcomed very cordially by the Little Sisters of the Poor and the elderly people they look after. There I also had the chance to thank and encourage those charged with the safeguarding of children in Britain.

That evening I participated at a beautiful vigil of deep prayerfulness and stillness at Hyde Park with tens of thousands of the faithful.

On Sunday morning, I travelled to Birmingham where I had the joy of celebrating the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Later that day, after a warm and fraternal meeting with all the Bishops of Britain, I was bidden farewell by Prime Minister Cameron during a very cordial speech at Birmingham International Airport on the Government’s wish to build a partnership for development with the Catholic Church and others.

Sunday, then, was a moment of deep personal satisfaction, as the Church celebrated the blessedness of a great Englishman, whose life and writings I have admired for many years and who has come to be appreciated by countless people far beyond the shores of his native land.

Blessed John Henry Newman’s clear-minded search to know and express the truth in charity, at whatever cost to his own personal comfort, status and even friendships, is a wonderful testimony of a pure desire to know and love God in the communion of the Church. His is surely an example that can inspire us all.
















Lord Patten says papal visit
was an 'overwhelming success'
By Martin Beckford
Religious Affairs Correspondent

21 Sep 2010

The Pope's visit to Britain has been an "overwhelming success", according to the Government's organiser.

Lord Patten of Barnes, who was parachuted in by Prime Minister David Cameron to take control of preparations after a series of setbacks, said the historic four-day trip proved that religion is still relevant and made people think more about their responsibilities towards society.

His assessment of Benedict XVI's visit was backed up by the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, which disclosed that it has already been contacted by dozens of members of the public keen to learn more about the faith.

Lord Patten, the former Governor of Hong Kong who is now tipped to become Ambassador to the Holy See, said: "The Papal visit has been an overwhelming success. It has clearly demonstrated the relevance of faith groups in general and the Catholic Church in particular today.

"I hope the visit will make us think deeper about the sort of society we live in and want to live in. I hope it will make us think more about our social responsibilities while encouraging a serious dialogue between religious and secular groups."

Meanwhile volunteers who have been manning the phones at the Catholic Enquiry Office received as many as 100 calls on Monday morning alone, just hours after Benedict returned to Italy.

Among those phoning was a Sikh woman, who said she had been moved by the first-ever state papal visit and wanted to find out how she could convert.

The Church expects more calls to come in over the coming weeks, as happened in 1982 after John Paul II’s visit to the country.

“We have had some enquiries but it’s going to take some time,” a spokesman said.

Before the Pontiff arrived many feared that he would be greeted by half-empty arenas and angry protests, after preparation for the trip was marred by complex ticketing arrangements and the entire Church was engulfed by allegations of clergy child abuse and cover-ups.

It was also claimed that the 83 year-old German theologian would be seen as less charismatic than his “rock star” predecessor, John Paul II, further dampening public interest.

But as many as 500,000 people are thought to have seen Benedict either at the outdoor services in Glasgow, Hyde Park in Birmingham or lining the streets. A well-attended protest march and rally took place in London on Saturday but was dwarfed by the number cheering and waving flags when the Popemobile passed by.

Millions more followed his appearances across the country online, church statistics show.

Video coverage on the official Papal Visit website was watched as many as 1.3 million times over the four days of the trip, while the site itself had 1.7 million page visits.

Many of those attending the open-air events, or following them online and on television, also took to the social networking website Twitter to express their opinions.

The Church believes that, despite high-profile protests, there were twice as many positive comments about the Pope than negative ones.

A spokesman said: “The people spoke more loudly than the cynics. The numbers on the streets, that was what touched the Holy Father.”

Benedict himself, having left Birmingham on Sunday evening, is now resting at his summer residence in Castelgandolfo, a lakeside down south of Rome.

The most senior Catholic in Britain, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, coined the phrase “Benedict bounce” to describe the positive effect the visit will have on the church.

“Already in Scotland we are talking about the ‘Benedict bounce’,” he told the Pope at Oscott College, Birmingham, on Sunday.

“Be assured, Holy Father, that we are bouncing back. You are reassuring us that Christianity is alive and well in our countries."

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 22 settembre 2010 18:44


Benedict XVI urges intense prayer
for Catholic-Orthodox talks


Vatican City, Sep 22, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pope called the faithful to a greater commitment to Christian unity during Wednesday's general audience.

The "peace and harmony" of Christians, he said, shows the world an "authentic" witness to the Gospel message.

At the end of Wednesday morning's audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict drew attention to the concurrent plenary meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

The meeting is taking place in Vienna, Austria this week, with participants examining "the role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the Universal Church," particularly in the first millennium of Christianity.

Of this, the Holy Father said, "obedience to the will of the Lord Jesus and consideration for the great challenges facing Christianity today, oblige us to commit ourselves seriously to the cause of re-establishing full communion among the Churches.

"I exhort everyone to intense prayer for the work of the commission and for the ongoing development and consolidation of peace and harmony among the baptized, that we may show the world an increasingly authentic evangelical witness."

Questa è la versione 'lo-fi' del Forum Per visualizzare la versione completa clicca qui
Tutti gli orari sono GMT+01:00. Adesso sono le 08:09.
Copyright © 2000-2024 FFZ srl - www.freeforumzone.com