NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Versione Completa   Stampa   Cerca   Utenti   Iscriviti     Condividi : FacebookTwitter
Pagine: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ..., 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, [78], 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, ..., 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265
TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 01:43
HOW THE POPE IS RESCUING VATICAN-II FROM ITS HIJACKERS

Magister is revisiting the MP and the CDF statement together but cops out and leaves the 'analysis' to others without offering a synthesis commensurate to the potential historical magnitude of Pope Benedict's recent series of actions. Also, he leaves out the China letter which he has never commented on - he published the Vatican's explanatory note is what he did at the time. He hasn't had a real analytical-synthetic piece in months! What's with him?????


Liturgy and Ecumenism:
How to Apply Vatican Council II


For Benedict XVI, there must not be rupture between the Church's past and present, but rather continuity.
He has given proof of this with his latest decisions - receiving less criticism than foreseen, and much more agreement.
The comments of Ruini, Amato, De Marco

by Sandro Magister


ROMA, July 16, 2007 - Just a few months ago, the French bishops were extremely concerned about the news that Benedict XVI was preparing to liberalize the celebration of the Mass labeled as that of Pius V.

"Such a decision endangers the Church's unity," wrote the most alarmed of them.

Benedict XVI went ahead and released his motu proprio on July 7. But there was no reaction of rejection from the French bishops. Nor was there from the bishops of the touchiest countries: Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain.

On the contrary, their most authoritative leaders hailed the Pope's decision with positive comments: from the German Cardinal Karl Lehmann to the English Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, both ranked among the progressives.

The same happened with the document released on July 10 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which nails down some firm points of doctrine about the Church. There was no comparison with the criticisms that in the summer of 2000 were hurled - even by high-ranking churchmen - against the declaration Dominus Iesus, signed by then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which to a great extent dealt with the same points of doctrine.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, one of the critics back then, decisively supported the Vatican document this time: "Clearly stating one's own positions does not limit ecumenical dialogue, but fosters it." And from Moscow, metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, president of the department for external relations at the Russian Orthodox patriarchate, described the text as "an honest declaration, because sincere dialogue requires a clear vision of the respective positions."

Criticisms did arrive, naturally, against both of these promulgations, from within and outside of the Church, and especially from Protestants and Jews. But in the Catholic camp the protests were limited to confined sectors, mostly Italian: the sectors of the liturgists and of the intellectuals who interpret Vatican Council II as a 'rupture' and a 'new beginning'.

Among the liturgists, the one most pained in contesting the papal motu proprio was Luca Brandolini, bishop of Sora, Aquino, and Pontecorvo, and a member of the liturgical commission of the Italian bishops' conference, in an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica:

"I cannot hold back my tears; I am living through the saddest moment of my life as a bishop and as a man. This is a day of mourning not only for me, but for the many who have lived and worked for Vatican Council II. What has been negated is a reform for which many worked at the cost of great sacrifices, motivated solely by the desire to renew the Church." [I am sorry - but every time I see this quotation, I want to throw up! It is so stupid and senseless, an operatic parody!]

Among the theorists of Vatican II as a 'rupture' and a 'new beginning', the most explicit against the papal provisions were the founder and prior of the monastery of Bose, Enzo Bianchi, and the historian of Christianity Alberto Melloni, co-author of the most widely read History of Vatican Council II in the world.[Perhaps because it is the only one available as an academic tract?]

For Melloni, the objective of pope Ratzinger is nothing less than that of 'deriding' and 'demolishing' Vatican Council II.

But we know that Benedict XVI's clear objective - plainly enunciated and argued in the memorable discourse to the Roman curia on December 22, 2005 - is to rid the Council of the wrong interpretation: precisely the interpretation of 'rupture' and 'new beginning' dear to Bianchi and Melloni.

"The hermeneutic of discontinuity," the pope said in this address, "risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church."

While instead the correct interpretation of Vatican Council II, in the view of Benedict XVI, is this:

"... the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God."

The motu proprio that liberalizes the ancient rite of the Mass and the successive document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are both applications of this stated aim.

The pope explained this in the letter to the bishops that accompanied the motu proprio. But he also had the foresight to expound and discuss his reasons on June 27, ten days before the publication of the motu proprio, with a select group of bishops from various countries, including the Cardinals Lehmann, Murphy O'Connor, and Jean-Pierre Ricard, Philippe Barbarin, and André Vingt-Trois of France. This preliminary meeting with the pope contributed to the later positive welcome of the provision on the part of all of these.

Among the participants at the meeting there was also, for Italy, cardinal Camillo Ruini. On July 8, the day after the publication of the motu proprio, he published in the newspaper of the Italian bishops conference, Avvenire, the editorial reproduced below.

Just after it, also on this page, is presented an interview with the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, co-author of the document released the previous day.

In it, he responds to some criticisms of the two latest papal proclamations, including the one in relation to the prayer for the conversion of the Jews in the rite of Holy Thursday in the missal attributed to Saint Pius V. The interview, released in Avvenire on July 11, was conducted by Gianni Cardinale.

Finally, as a third commentary written expressly for www.chiesa, there is a note by Pietro De Marco, professor at the University of Florence and at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy.


Solicitude for the Unity of the Church
by Cardinal Camillo Ruini

Ten days ago, at the end of the meeting dedicated to the motu proprio on the use of the Roman liturgy before Vatican Council II, Benedict XVI wanted to illustrate personally the motives that prompted him to promulgate this text.

As the first and foremost of these motives, the pope indicated concern for the unity of the Church, a unity that subsists not only in space, but also in time, and which is incompatible with fractures and opposition among the various phases of its historical development.

This means that Pope Benedict has taken up again the central message of his address to the Roman curia on December 22, 2005, in which, forty years after the Council, he proposed as the key for interpreting Vatican II, not "the hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture," but rather that "of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church."

He is not in this way bringing to bear his own personal point of view or theological preference, but rather fulfilling the essential duty of the successor of Peter, who, as the Council itself says (Lumen Gentium no. 23), "is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful." [Apparently Council 'historians' like Melloni and Bianchi choose to ignore Council statements when it does not suit their views. They certainly have never behaved as though they believed the Pope has any authority at all! They don't recognize his Magisterium and they don't recognize his decrees.]

At the same time, in the letter to bishops with which he accompanies and puts into their hands the motu proprio, Pope Benedict writes that the positive reason that induced him to publish it is that of reaching an internal reconciliation within the bosom of the Church.

He expressly recalls how, looking to the divisions that have wounded the Body of Christ over the centuries, "one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church's leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity."

From here, the pope continues, we receive the "obligation . . . to make every effort to enable for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew."

It is only by putting ourselves on this wavelength that we can truly grasp the meaning of the motu proprio, and put it into practice in a positive an fruitful way.

In reality, as the pope explains abundantly in his letter, there is no foundation to the fear that the Council's authority will be compromised and that the liturgical reform will be brought into doubt, or that the work of Paul VI and John Paul II will be discredited.

The missal of Paul VI remains, in fact, the 'normal' and 'ordinary' form of the Eucharistic liturgy, while the Roman missal from before the Council can be used as an 'extraordinary form'.

This is not - the pope clarifies - about 'two rites', but of a twofold use of one and the same Roman rite. John Paul II, moreover, first in 1984 and then in 1988, had permitted the use of the missal from before the Council, for the same reasons that are now prompting Benedict XVI to take a further step in this direction.

Besides, such a further step is not one-way. It requires constructive will and sincere sharing of the intention that guided Benedict XVI: not only for the overwhelming majority of the priests and faithful who are comfortable with the reform that followed Vatican II, but also for those who remain deeply attached to the previous form of the Roman rite.

In concrete terms, the former are asked not to indulge, in the celebrations, in those abuses that unfortunately have not been lacking, and which obscure the spiritual richness and theological profundity of the missal of Paul VI.

The latter are asked not to exclude in principle the celebration according to this new missal, thus manifesting concretely their acceptance of the Council.

In this way, the risk will be averted that a motu proprio released in order to better unite the Christian community will instead be used to divide it.

In his letter the pope, addressing the bishops, emphasizes that these new norms "do not diminish in any way" their authority and responsibility for the liturgy and for the pastoral care of their faithful.

As Vatican II teaches (Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 22), every bishop is in fact "the moderator of the liturgy in his diocese", in communion with the pope and under his authority. [Now, where do the liberal bishops get their idea that they are autonomous of the Pope and do not owe him obedience?]

This, too, is a criterion of the highest importance, in order that the motu proprio may bear the productive results for which it was written.


Knowing Who We Are
Aids Dialogue

An interview with Archbishop Angelo Amato,
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith


Q: Your Excellency, the first of the responses published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith reaffirms that Vatican Council II did not change the previous doctrine on the Church. But shouldnt this be obvious?

A: It should. But unfortunately it isn't. There are interpretations which, from opposite sides, would like the last Council to have been a rupture with the tradition of the Catholic Church. Some identify this presumptive fact as a glory of the Council, others as a disaster.

But that's not how it is. And it was fitting to reaffirm this in a clear and unequivocal manner, recalling also what Blessed John XXIII affirmed clearly in his allocution on September 11, 1962, at the beginning of the Council: "the Council . . . wishes to transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion . . ."][Melloni and other Council historians have also conveninently forgotten this.] This sure and unchangeable doctrine, to which faithful obedience is due, must be explored and presented in the manner required by our era.

The substance of the depositum fidei, or the truths contained in our venerable doctrine, is one thing, while the way in which these are expressed, though always with the same sense and meaning, is another.

Q: The second response, which is the central one, takes in hand the question of the phrase 'subsistit in'. How then should this assertion of the Council be interpreted, according to which the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?

A: In effect, this affirmation has undergone various interpretations, and not all of these are consistent with the conciliar doctrine on the Church.

The congregations reply, based on the Council documents and also on the annals of the Councils work, which are cited in the footnotes, reaffirm that subsistence indicates the perennial historical continuity and the endurance of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is found concretely on this earth.

It is not correct, therefore, to think that the Church of Christ today no longer exists anywhere, or that it exists only theoretically, or in fieri, under formation, in a future convergence or reunification of the different sister Churches, hoped for or promoted by ecumenical dialogue. No. The Church of Christ, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, exists in history in the Catholic Church.

Q: But why then - and this is the topic of the third response - didnt the Council affirm precisely that the Catholic Church is the Church of Christ, and instead used the term subsists?

A: This change of terms is not, and cannot be interpreted as, a rupture with the past. In Latin, subsistit in is a stronger form of est. The continuity of subsistence entails a substantial identity of essence between the Church of Christ and the Catholic Church.

With the expression subsistit in, the Council intended to express the singular and unrepeatable nature of the Church of Christ. The Church exists as a unique subject in historical reality.

But at the same time, the phrase subsistit in also expresses the fact that outside of the structure of the Catholic Church, there is not an absolute ecclesiastical void, but there can be found "numerous elements of sanctification and of truth . . . which as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel towards catholic unity."

Q: The fourth response concerns the ecumenical implications of what has been affirmed so far. And it clarifies the reason why Vatican Council II attributes the name of 'Churches' to the Eastern Churches, Orthodox and pre-Chalcedonian, that are separated from full communion with Rome.

A: The response is clear. These Churches, although separated from Rome, have true sacraments, and above all by virtue of apostolic succession have the priesthood and the Eucharist. Thus they deserve the title of particular or local Churches, and are called sisters of the particular Catholic Churches.

But to this it must be added that these sister Churches are affected by a lack, by a vulnus, in that they are not in communion with the visible head of the one Catholic Church who is the pope, the successor of Peter. And this is not an accessory matter, but one of the constitutive principles within every particular Church.

Q: The last response repeats that the title of 'Church' cannot be attributed to the Christian communities born from the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

A: This is a painful matter, I know, but as the Council affirms, these communities have not maintained apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, thus depriving themselves of an essential constitutive element of the Church's being. Because of the lack of the ministerial priesthood, these communities have not preserved the genuine and complete substance of the Eucharistic mystery. For this reason, according to Catholic doctrine, they cannot be called 'Churches' in the true sense.

Q: Is this also true of the Anglican communion?

A: Yes.

Q: Your Excellency, what is the value of these responses?

A: They have an authoritative theological character. Authoritative. They are a clarification, formulated by our Congregation and approved expressly by the Pope, of the Councils meaning.

Q: These texts were published a few days after the motu proprio that liberalizes the so-called Mass of Saint Pius V. Some might think that this was not a coincidence, but a precise strategy . . .

A: This is no ecclesiastical or media strategy. Our documents are published when they are ready. And that's all. Otherwise, if we had to pay attention to these kinds of problems that have nothing to do with us we would risk, for one reason or another, never publishing these texts awaited by the bishops and many of the faithful.

Q: In any case, these two events were interpreted - by some - as an offensive directed against Vatican Council II.

A: Thats not the way it is. In both cases there is an authoritative and orthodox development, obviously in the Catholic sense, of the Council. The Holy Father, and our congregation together with him, does not use the hermeneutic of rupture, of opposition between pre- and post-conciliar realities.

For the Pope and for us, what applies instead is the hermeneutic of continuity and of development within the tradition. There should be an end to considering the second millennium of the Catholic Churchs life as an unfortunate parenthesis that the Vatican Council, or rather its spirit, removed at a single stroke.

Q: And yet fears remain that these events are harmful to ecumenical dialogue.

A: What is affirmed in these responses has already been stated by the Council itself, and has been restated by a number of post-conciliar documents and by the declaration Dominus Iesus in particular.

In practice, this is nothing other than restating what the Catholic identity is, in order to face ecumenical dialogue serenely and more effectively. When your interlocutor knows your identity, he is led to dialogue in a more sincere way and without creating further confusion.

Q: Your Excellency, there are those who accuse the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of being anti-conciliar, because it offers full citizenship to a missal in which there is a prayer for the conversion of the Jews. Is it truly contrary to the letter and spirit of the Council to formulate this prayer?

A: Certainly not. In the Mass, we Catholics pray always and in the first place for our conversion. And we strike our breasts for our sins. And then we pray for the conversion of all Christians and all non-Christians. The Gospel is for all.

Q: But the objection is raised that the prayer for the conversion of the Jews was definitively surpassed by the one in which the Lord is asked to help them to progress in fidelity to his covenant.

A: Jesus himself affirms, in the Gospel of Saint Mark: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel," and his first interlocutors were his Jewish confreres. We Christians can do nothing other than re-propose what Jesus taught us. In freedom and without imposition, obviously, but also without self-censorship.

Q: A while ago, you announced the publication of an updated instruction, a second Donum Vitae, on the most burning topics related to bioethics and biotechnology. At what point is this?

A: This is a very delicate document that requires great care. I think it will still take a good bit of work before it can be released.

Q: And the other document announced, on the natural law?

A: We are still collecting the materials produced by various international conferences on this topic, which, at our suggestion, were held in various pontifical universities and Catholic institutions throughout the world.

Q: So will it be a while before we have new documents from your congregation?

A: No, there will be two texts soon. The first is on a specific question touching on bioethics. The other concerns a problem relating to the missions. But it would be premature to say any more.


Pope Benedict's Cure
by Pietro De Marco

In Summorum Pontificum, Benedict XVI firmly indicated in the Missale Romanum, promulgated by Pius V and revised by John XXIII in 1962, a completely valid and current expression of the lex orandi - the rule of prayer - and of the lex credendi - the rule of faith.

Along with the Missal promulgated by Paul VI in 1970, this represents a distinct use of the one rite of the Latin Church. Although it was marginalized, in fact, through the adoption of modern languages in the liturgy, the Missal of 1962 was never 'replaced' nor could it have been, much less 'abrogated'. It has remained in effect, being itself 'a living expression of the Church'.

The new legitimization of the Missale Romanum decreed by Summorum Pontificum brings Catholic life back to its essential nature of complexio. The pope proposes Catholic history prior to Vatican Council II as the living context of the 'spirit' of the Council itself, and of its realization: a realization that many extremists have instead interpreted as incompatible with the past.

Thus the objective of 'internal reconciliation in the bosom of the Church' becomes part of a wider curative intervention for the universal Church, even independent of local tensions with schismatic minorities.

The same rare but virulent negative reactions to the motu proprio confirm, without meaning to do so, the urgency of this curative action by Pope Benedict. Two serious accusations have been raised against Summorum Pontificum.

1. It is thought to impinge on episcopal authority, because the Pope's decision is said to take away from 'the liturgist of his church' - the bishop - the authority to discipline the liturgical styles and intentions of the priests who minister according to his delegation.

2. It is thought to introduce a paradoxical form of liturgical relativism, liturgy a la carte, according to the subjective preferences of the faithful.

The second objection is decidedly out of place. If anything has offered, for decades, a dangerously à la carte spectacle of liturgical styles, it is the rampant (and early - appearing right after the Council) abuse of the 'interpretation' or 'inculturation of the Mass rite.

Who can forget the arbitrary suppression of prayers and gestures, and the illegitimate introduction of new liturgical texts, actors, and places? This led to an exodus of believers looking for styles of celebration more in keeping with their taste. This problem has been known for some time, and Benedict XVI's recent motu proprio waspreceded by many warnings - above all by the instruction Redemptoris Sacramentum of April, 2004 - condemning the excessive 'arbitrary deformations' of the Mass.

The recovery of the ancient rite could, contrary to what is objected, act as a paradigm for stabilizing the variable liturgies in the modern languages. As Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German bishops, has noted, the motu proprio is a good occasion to promote with new attentiveness a fitting 'ordinary' celebration of the Eucharist and of the other rites.

As for the first objection, the authority of the bishop is the subject of the accompanying letter by Benedict XVI to his 'dear brothers in the episcopate'. In it, there is a reminder that the ancient rite is not a different rite, that its presence in the Christian people is a constructive memory, and that its celebration is legitimate and opportune.

The historical-traditional richness of Christian worship is, therefore, the primary reality to be drawn upon; and the authority exercised by the bishop-liturgist should be understood accordingly.

The bishop does not generate autonomously, much less by inclination, neither the fact of the rite, which has its center in Christ, nor its form, which belongs above all to the one and universal Church.

Besides, the pope explains in the letter to the bishops, the very men responsible for the unity of the Church have often failed, even in the recent past, to fulfill their primary task of avoiding or healing divisions.

So in what perspective should Benedict XVI's motu proprio, as an act of governance, be understood?

Above all, the new freedom to celebrate the Mass improperly called 'pre-conciliar' will act as a corrective, if not as reparation, for the unwarranted practical and ideological fracture effected during the post-conciliar years. It was a fracture with the tradition of the modern Church, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, and with regard to language, practically with the entire tradition.

This fracture was not intended by the constitution on the liturgy promulgated by Vatican Council II. The fracture consisted in the de facto negation of the spirit of the liturgy prior to the reform, implying or letting it be understood that the traditional liturgy was inadequate in itself.

The initiative of Pope Benedict is thus directed against the ideological and substantially 'revolutionary' interpretation made of the Council by the Catholic theological and pastoral elites, an interpretation unfortunately that slowly spread among the clergy and the parishes.

The renewed legitimacy of a Eucharist celebrated in the Latin language and according to the Roman Missal of 1962 would bring back balance to current excesses in ritual, language, and architecture, and to the frequent tendency to rid the Mass of sacramentality - with worrying implications for the faith.

It is claimed that the Missal promulgated on March 26, 1970 - formed on a 'traditional foundation' through 'mature liturgical study' - would have been sufficient to achieve these effects.

No one is unaware of the enormous work done by the Congregation for Divine Worship over the decades, nor of John Paul II's passion for the liturgical life of the Church: especially if one reads his letter Dominicae Cenae of February, 1980.

But has all that richness translated into practice? There has been no apparent capacity to provide direction, nor containment of the the 'liturgical renewal' carried out through daily dilettantisms, often extraneous to the very idea of the sacredness of the Eucharist and of the sacrifice? One must reflect on this proven impossibility to found 'great works' on the sand of post-conciliar rhetoric.

How could the Tridentine rite serve to restore a balance?

1. The Latin language fosters the perception of the ancient quality of the rite. Even occasional participation in the ancient rite in Latin will help to understand that tradition and innovation have a necessary relationship and a mutual power of moderation. This is well-known to those who have attended Latin liturgies in the monasteries these past decades, more than just the liturgies celebrated by non-monastic traditionalist groups.

2. The ritual form and discipline of the ancient Mass teach faith precisely through their way of teaching prayer. The celebrant facing the Lord - not 'turning his back' to the people, as many senselessly repeat - together with the whole assembly, as well as the position of the altar with respect to those around it, lead to a reflection on sacred space and time, on their meaning and foundation.

Neither the gathered community, nor its sentiments, nor its social company are the focus of the sacrificium missae. The actions of the praying community are governed by the norms of the sacramental sacrifice - action is at the service of the divina mysteria. The Divine Priest, Christ, sacrifices himself to the Father - the celebrant and the assembly must be drawn into this sascrifice.

Symbolically, everything is clearer for the faithful when they are permitted to look 'beyond the altar', toward the Lord. The idea of facing the Lord does away with the temptation to think of the altar as a 'spectaculum' at the center of the assembly.

Is the offering to the Father from the One Priest adequately manifested in the current 'direct conversation' between celebrant and people? In the New Mass, the assembly appears predominantly turned toward the celebrant, and the celebrant toward the assembly, fostering the impression that the assembly is the sacrament, not the Trinitarian 'mystery of the faith' at work in the liturgical action,

3. The traditional liturgy "has at its center the Most Holy Sacrament that shines with vibrant light" (as the great liturgist Josef A. Jungmann put it). It implies a catechesis and a preaching of the real presence of Jesus in the bread and wine, of the 'God with us' dear to Joseph Ratzinger the theologian. In short, the traditional liturgy will bring renewed attention to the sacrament as a proclamation of Eucharistic reality, beyond just the undeniable but secondary value of communal 'participation' by the assembly.

It seems to me this is the hope implicit in the Pope's decision: that a meaningful and deeply felt sense of tradition may channel the
disorientation of so many faithful.

The hope of a 'christifidelis laicus' such as myself is that, with the consent of the bishop, our parish priests may make possible the celebration of the Mass at least once a week, best if on a Sunday or feast day, according to the Missale Romanum of John XXIII, thus helping all to recover the deep meaning of the ancient liturgical tradition, and bring reconciliation to cultures, generations, and spiritualities within the Church.

benefan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 07:00
The Latin Mass--Back to the Future?

I think I am one of a select few on this forum old enough to remember when the
"old" Mass was the "only" Mass. And I remember very well the transition to the
"new" Mass, which was more of an upheaval or revolution than a transition.

Teresa has described her memories of incense, mantillas, rosary beads, missals,
and centuries-old prayers spoken in Latin during the old Mass--mystery,
reverence, grace-filled silence, holy paintings that inspired the imagination,
and angelic music and chants that lifted the soul. I have the same memories,
even though I was raised in the midwestern United States and she was raised in
the Philippines. I have the same memories of Masses that I attended in Canada
and Mexico. That was one of the most significant advantages of the Latin Mass.
It unified the church both horizontally and vertically, through time and space.

When the new Mass was implemented, it wasn't just a change in style or language.
It didn't just simplify gestures and vestments, art, music, language, and
architecture. It removed the vertical dimension from the church. All of a
sudden, the Mass was all about Us, not so much about Him.

That shift in focus stretched out beyond the Mass to affect everything in the
church. What I recall most vividly is the response of so many priests and nuns.
Suddenly, the earth had shifted on its access. The church they had signed up
their lives to was no longer the same. The new focus on Us, not Him, made their
sacrifice pointless. They left the rectories and convents in droves. I
personally was very seriously considering entering the convent at that time. I
had become acquainted with quite a few nuns at the local Catholic school. When
Vatican II was implemented, their convent emptied out. I finally asked myself
the question, "Why go in when everybody was running out?" I didn't want to be
the only one rattling around an empty building. Not long afterward, I met my
future husband and got married. The priest who performed the ceremony quit
shortly afterward.

I have made my peace with the changes from Vatican II over the years and have
come to appreciate the more reverent forms of the "new" Mass. Luckily, many of
the priests in our diocese make a valiant effort to say the Mass with care and
respect. Unfortunately, the congregation, which has mostly grown up with the
new Mass, still behaves often as if the Mass were all about Us--a form of
entertainment, a group hug, a social gathering. The mystery and reverence are
scarce.

I don't know how much the Latin Mass will be embraced here because of Benedict's motu
proprio but I hope it helps sharpen the focus on Who should be the center of our
attention and what is a respectful way to demonstrate our attention and
devotion.

=====================================================================

Omigosh, Benefan, what a testimonial! It's the sort of firsthand experience of that 'revolution' that I have been looking for in vain, and have not found even among all the traditionalist bloggers and their readers. The tie-up with the exodus of religious is dramatic (and here I was thinking all the time when reading of that exodus these days - "So many wanted to leave to get married?!?!" - because that's the impression given, so already we have been getting revisionist history)...

I don't doubt that the greatest offense perpetrated by the progressives who took the lead in executing all sort of reforms not decreed either by Vatican-II nor by the rubrics of the New Mass, was in introducing and stressing those elements that shifted the focus to the assembly, making God simply into the pretext or excuse for having Mass, instead of the reason and only object for it. I have observed before that it was so typical of the 'Me' generation to make the Mass all about themselves not about God. And they have foisted that on to a whole new generation which does not now know anything different....

Now I'm still waiting for some traditionalist or even neutral observer/historian of the early years of that liturgical tyranny (as Dr. Spaemann calls it) to shed some light on how, if at all, Paul VI ever reacted to the unintended and lamentable, if not tragic, consequences of his reform. After all, he lived 8 more years after it came into force. Maybe no one told him, for the simple reason that perhaps all those around him were advocates of even the most drastic changes.

Too bad we will never know if Joseph Ratzinger ever had a chance to discuss the liturgy with the man who recognized his work enough to make him archbishop and cardinal, and if he did, what might he have said. We can only thank God that he has now corrected a historical anomaly (suppression of the traditional Mass and its de-facto prohibition and stigmatization by New Mass advocates), and the traditional Mass can now come out of the 'oubliette' to which the Novus Ordo unceremoniously consigned it.


Teresa

@Andrea M.@
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 09:16
The Holy Father is a traditionalist
I do not know whether this item has been posted before, but I considered it interesting:

Pope Benedict uses older ritual for his private Mass

Vatican, Jul. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI, who recently issued a motu proprio allowing all Catholic priests to celebrate the old Latin Mass, uses the older ritual himself for his private Mass, CWN has learned.

Informed sources at the Vatican have confirmed reports that the Holy Father regularly celebrates Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal.

In his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum the Pope says that the older form-- the form in universal use before the liturgical changes that followed Vatican II-- was never abrogated.

Since becoming Roman Pontiff, Benedict XVI has always used the new ritual-- which he identifies in Summorum Pontificum as the "ordinary form" of the Roman rite-- for public celebrations of the Eucharistic liturgy. However few people have witnessed the Pope celebrating his private daily Mass.

Unlike his predecessor John Paul II, who regularly invited visitors to attend the Mass that he celebrated each morning in his private chapel, Benedict XVI has made it his regular practice to celebrate Mass with only a few aides. The Pope's closest associates have established a reputation for preserving confidences.

Pope Benedict has long been known as an ardent defender of the Catholic liturgical tradition. In the early 1990s he raised eyebrows in Rome by writing a laudatory preface to the book The Reform of the Roman Liturgy, in which Msgr. Klaus Gamber decried many of the liturgical changes of the past few decades.

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger also traveled to Wigratzbad, in Bavaria, to ordain priests for the Fraternity of St. Peter, a group devoted to the use of the traditional liturgy. He performed those ordinations, as well as Mass on Easter Sunday in 1990, using the 1962 Roman Missal.

====================================================================

Thanks for the post, Andrea! Commendable enterprise reporting by CWN that not anyone in the Italian media has thought about. I always personally thought that he most likely used the old Mass for his own private Masses, but the Mass that RAI shot for the birthday docu - even if he was facing the altar because it's a private chapel - must have been Novus Ordo, because he has his Italian lay sisters in attendance, unless of course, being C&L, they are open to the traditional Mass. Also, De Carli, who did the docu for RAI, would have noticed and reported it.

Teresa

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 13:30
LORENZAGO UPDATE - 7/17/07


THE POPE ON VACATION, LORENZAGO DI CADORE, JULY 9-27




Benedict ventures
farther out

By Francesco del Mas






DANTA DI CADORE, July 17 - After a week of sampling country walks around his vacation house or its immediate environs, Pope Benedict ventured farther out yesterday, leaving Villa Mirabello at 6 p.m. and returning one and a half hours later.

This time he went to Danta, where he told the parish priest, "I'm in rapture over such beauty!"

The Papal convoy from Mirabello went through the tunnel in the direction of Santo Stefano di Cadore, into a scenic road leading to the chapel of our Lady of the Miracles, which had been consecrated by the former Bishop of Belluno.

When the Pope came back to the chapel after his walk through the surrounding woods, he found the parish priest waiting, Don Angelo Balcon, who then accompanied him to the nearby Church of Santa Barbara. This is located on top of a hill that overlooks the countryside, a sort of balcony looking out towards the mountain chain around Comelico with the Austrian Alps beyond.

"We prayed together," said Don Angelo. "The Pope's secretary was there, of course. Then we had a long chat - almost half an hour. The Pope didn't tire of looking around, marvelling at what he called the 'extraordinariness' of the landscape. He asked the names of all the peaks. I pointed out Mt. Zovo, which has been climbed by John Paul II, who loved these mountains of the Comelico. Also Mt.Peralba, which John Paul climbed in 1988"

Don Angelo said he found the Pope to be someone of 'exemplary simplicity.'

"I didn't feel like I was dealing with a Pope, because he was so amiable. We talked about many problems," said the priest, who still appeared emotional about the encounter, "but I prefer to keep his observations and remarks to myself. They were really beautifully profound."

When the Pope asked about the place itself, Don Angelo pointed out that Danta was one of the few mountain towns that has enjoyed great social and economic autonomy for decades because of the local industry - the manufacture of surveying instruments.

A group of families with many children among them had by now gathered around the church. The Pope had a word for each of them.

Don Angelo said that afterwards, they all agreed that the Pope was 'very fatherly" and that "he is able to establish immediate rapport with whoever is in front of him."

That the Pope was 'in movement' was perceived yesterday not so much by those who live near Mirabello but by people driving along the state highway.

"At one point, we were stopped for about 10 minutes," says the mayor of Auronzo, who was on the road. "I feared for the worst, that there had been an accident."




'Where are the flies?':
Chatting with the Pope
'like he was one of us'


DANTA DI CADORE. "Why are there no flies here?" the Pope asks a resident of Danta, one of those who came to see him while he was visiting the Church of Santa Barbara.

"Does that mean you have flies where you live?" the man answered.

He says later, "The Pope laughed - he appreciated that!" It exemplified how informal the encounter was with the group of villagers.

"You're fortunate to live here," they heard him remark to the parish priest, after he had taken his leave from them.

One man recalls, "When I saw the Pope open the door of his car, I gave in to impulse and would have rushed to him to say 'Tu sei benedetto' [You are blessed], but of course, at that point, a security agent took me firmly by the arm and led me away."

A man and his wife met the Pope while he was walking through the nearby woods. "What a marvelous place this is!" the Pope commented.

The man recalls, "Just yesterday, I was telling my wife - well, we've visited the Pope's hometown [Marktl]. Just wait, he'll come visit us too. And it happened today! I felt it in my bones!"

After the Pope left, the community gathered on the hill of Santa Barbara for a Marian procession. Don Angelo told them of the Pope's visit. "I think it became even more prayerful," he says.

The Pope has given everyone much to talk about - wherever he has been in the past week.

A boy who met him in the woods of Lozzo said the Pope stopped to remark, "So you're a football player," because he was wearing an Inter shirt. He was too flustered to answer, so Fr. Georg helped him out and remarked, "You're from Inter!", and the Pope said, "OK, then you're an 'interista'!"

And this is the man they called a Panzer [armored tank]!

Corriere delle Alpi, 17 luglio 2007


Other details from Vatican Radio and Avvenire stories on the Pope's vacation today:

Avvenire's Salvatore Mazza says that on the Pope's return from his excursion to Danta, he had his car slow down during its passage through the town of Lorenzago to give everyone who was along the main street a chance to see and greet him.

On Sunday, the Lorenzagans had to content themselves with watching the Angelus from a giant screen set in the town piazza, because the limited space in front of Castello Mirabello could only accommodate 1500 comfortably (although twice that number made it up there through security) and last Sunday's Angelus was specifically for the benefit of people from the diocese of Treviso.

Lorenzago will have its Papal Angelus next Sunday at the town piazza.


Even now that we have the Danta photos,
it's still worth re-posting this B/W picture
from today's Osservatore Romano:




TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 13:43
ANTICIPATING AUSTRIA
Reuters reporters may not be very sympathetic to Pope Benedict XVI
but their local photographers have often preceded everybody else in
anticipating a Papal trip. Here are some photos released today through
Yahoo, taken in the Austrian village of Maria Luggau, presumably near
Mariazell, the sanctuary whose 850th anniversary celebrations the Pope
will lead on September 8.





====================================================================

The Reuters photographers may have telepathically caused it but here's a story from Petrus that ties up Maria Luggau to the Pope's day today:

It was rumored
he took a chopper
to Maria Luggau!
July 17


LORENZAGO DI CADORE, July 17 - Pope Benedict XVI ended his day today with a walk in the Stabie area [around where he had his 20-minute roadside chat last Thursday] in the evening and praying the rosary at a woodland shrine to the Crucified Lord.

But he headed back home in the papal Volkswagen shortly after 7 p.m., greeting people along the Mauria Pass by waving to them from his car window.

But Lorenzago this morning was abuzz from the rumor that the Pope had taken a helicopter ride to Maria Luggau over the Alps in the neighboring Austrian province of Carinthia.

Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican press director, had to issue a statement saying, "The Pope is not going to Austria this time, not today, not at any time during this vacation."

The Pope is scheduled to make a pastoral visit to Austria on September 7-9.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 13:51
If you want to work out your spleen, look at Father Z's blog entries for July 16 - a couple of the most contemptuous and deliberately ill-informed screeds you are likely to see about Summorum Pontificum and the Holy Father. Father Z fisks them mercilessly and deservedly, and he gives fair warning: What follows is ugly. But then the writers' CV puts their venom and vileness in place.

www.wdtprs.com/blog/



And for those who may not have seen it before, Thomas on American Papist has obviously just found the same NYT site I discovered last week - and posts a screen shot on his blog, which leads the alphabetical list. His heading says it:


Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Well, this is gratifying





benefan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 17:56
Sometimes I think somebody in the Vatican must read our forum entries. Here is a correction of a story posted above earlier today.


Vatican spokesman: Pope concelebrates daily Mass using current missal

By Cindy Wooden
7/17/2007
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI concelebrates his daily morning Mass in Italian using the current edition of the Roman Missal, the Vatican spokesman said.

Claims that the pope celebrates his private Mass using the Tridentine rite are incorrect, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi told Catholic News Service July 17.

The Tridentine Mass is the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council; it was last revised in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal.

Less than 10 days after Pope Benedict July 7 issued his letter and norms providing greater opportunity for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, news reports claimed Pope Benedict already had been celebrating the old rite privately.

"The confusion probably was caused by our footage of the pope celebrating facing the altar, which is due to the fact that the altar is against the wall" in the private chapel of the Apostolic Palace, Father Lombardi said.

With the altar against the wall, the concelebrants in the private chapel end up having their backs toward the congregation during the eucharistic prayer. The congregation at the morning Mass generally is made up of the pope's valet and the consecrated women who staff the papal apartment.

The images Father Lombardi referred to were released by the Vatican to coincide with celebrations of Pope Benedict's 80th birthday April 16. Father Lombardi heads the Vatican Television Center, which produced the footage, as well as serving as director of the Vatican press office and Vatican Radio.

Father Lombardi also said the fact that the pope's two private secretaries concelebrate the Mass with him each morning "obviously means he is using the new Missal," since the Tridentine Mass strictly limits concelebration.

At public Masses with an international congregation, Pope Benedict uses the post-Vatican II Mass with most of the prayers in Latin. However, on occasions such as the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, which is considered a Rome diocesan celebration although there is an international congregation, the pope recites the prayers in Italian.

===================================================================

Well, there goes one enterprise story - and my personal fantasy - proved wrong! I did observe the RAI producer would have reported it if the Mass he shot had been other than Novus Ordo. Teresa
benefan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 21:05

When Ratzinger Last Visited New York

By Sewell Chan
New York Times
July 17, 2007, 1:32 pm

Pope Benedict XVI, who is expected to visit the United Nations next year, last visited New York in 1988, according to the archdiocese here. Back then  17 years before he was elected pope, in 2005  he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the churchs top theologian. Cardinal Ratzinger was harassed by noisy demonstrators and snubbed by rabbis during that visit, in January 1988, according to an Associated Press account from the time. That visit drew out some of the major doctrinal controversies that have dogged Pope Benedict, who has long been one of the staunchest defenders of Roman Catholic orthodoxy.

The A.P. reported that on Jan. 26, 1988, several prominent rabbis refused to attend a meeting with Ratzinger because he maintains that Judaism finds its fulfillment in Christianity. The following day, gay demonstrators, angered by Cardinal Ratzingers contention that homosexuality is a moral disorder, heckled him during his talk at the St. Peters Church, a Lutheran congregation in Midtown.

The demonstrators  some shouting Hes no man of God, inquisitor and Nazi  interrupted a talk by Cardinal Ratzinger for about 10 minutes. The A.P. reported that Cardinal John J. OConnor, the archbishop of New York at the time (he died in 2000), sat somberly beside him during the disruption at the presentation. Six demonstrators were arrested.

Cardinal Ratzingers talk, and a closed-door conference on Jan. 28, 1988, were organized by the Center on Religion and Society at the Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal foundation based in Charlottesville, Va.

The Vatican announced recently that Pope Benedict is planning trips next year to New York to address the United Nations at the invitation of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; to Sydney, Australia, to mark World Youth Day; and to Lourdes, France, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Madonna.

The popes visit would be only the fourth in New York Citys history. Pope Paul VI visited in October 1964, during the first-ever papal visit to the United States. Paul John Paul II visited New York in October 1979 and October 1995.

Today, Peter Kiefer of The Timess Rome bureau spoke with the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. Father Lombardi said there is no plan or a stable date for the popes visit to New York, but confirmed that any papal visit to the United Nations would probably be accompanied by a pastoral event. It is true that if he passes through he would not just be visiting the building of the United Nations, Father Lombardi said. It is likely that there would be some other event, other carpets to touch.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said today: We are expecting the Holy Father to come. Were still waiting on a date.

Practically the first thing Cardinal Egan did after Pope Benedict was elected was to invite him to New York, Mr. Zwilling said, referring to Cardinal Edward M. Egan. We had been hoping he would be willing to come. We first got word of this several months ago that the pope had accepted the invitation to Ban Ki-moon to address the United Nations. A few days later the Holy See made it clear it would not be in 2007, so from that point on we anticipated it would be in 2008. Mr. Zwilling added that the visit to New York could occur as early as the spring, but cautioned that no firm date had been set.

About a week and a half ago, Cardinal Egan was in Rome and expressed to the pope the enthusiasm of New Yorkers for a papal visit, Mr. Zwilling said.
benefan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 21:34
Turning Bread and Wine into Bread and Whine
or The Sky is Falling


Full participation before all else

National Catholic Reporter
Editorial
Issue Date: July 20, 2007

Upon learning about Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVIs apostolic letter allowing greater use of the Tridentine Mass ( see story), no doubt quite a few NCR readers reacted liked Bishop Luca Brandolini, a member of the liturgy commission of the Italian bishops conference. I cant fight back the tears, he told the Rome daily La Repubblica in an interview July 8.

Its a day of mourning, not just for me but for the many people who worked for the Second Vatican Council. A reform for which many people worked, with great sacrifice and only inspired by the desire to renew the church, has now been canceled.

On the other hand, many traditionalists see this document as the culmination of a 40-year struggle to preserve an ancient tradition unjustly abandoned.

Our Vatican correspondent John Allen thinks the avalanche of commentary the Latin Mass issue has generated comes from small minorities with vested interests.

To those who would see this as another sign of a rollback on Vatican II, Allen suggests that if they look at Benedicts full record as pope, they will find little to support the lurch to the right they feared at his election two years ago.

Furthermore, Allen finds scant evidence of a pent-up demand for the old Mass. Individual bishops have been granting permission for use of the 1962 Missal since 1984, and according to Allen, dioceses where it has been allowed report that the celebrations are often well attended, sometimes with a surprising number of younger Catholics, but there has been no widespread exodus from the new rite to the old.

In the end, Allen says, the normal Sunday experience for the vast majority of Catholics will continue to be the new Mass celebrated in the vernacular.

Allens argument, which echoes the opinions of quite a few bishops in the United States and Europe, is persuasive -- for now.

This does not mean that we do not have concerns.

Summorum Pontificum may well ease reconciliation with traditionalists and conservative groups, but what about others -- especially Catholic women -- who have felt deeply pained by the church? What outreach can they expect?

We join with Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and call on the pope to publicly repudiate language in the rite that calls for the conversion of the Jews and for God to lift the veil from their hearts.

We know that priests are already strapped for time and energy. That was confirmed by the Synod of the Eucharist convened in Rome last October. We are concerned that priests will be further burdened not just because they have to offer additional services, but because nearly all will need training in the old rites.

But we also have deeper concerns, as we find persuasive the argument that this is a small change that presages more substantive changes.

From the opening words of their first document, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the bishops at the Second Vatican Council proclaimed that the key to reforming the church was reform of the liturgy. And the goal of liturgical reform is enshrined in the core statement of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Paragraph 14:

Mother church earnestly desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy. ... This full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else. For it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit.

We fear that re-embracing the Latin Mass could undermine the liturgical reforms that undergird the spiritual and theological developments of the Second Vatican Council. Changes that will set off our alarms include:

Reconfiguring seminary curricula to focus time, resources and talent on training priests to offer Mass and other sacraments in Latin and away from training that would support celebrating the sacraments in the vernacular.

Cutting back on seminary training on pastoral duties, such as counseling and chaplaincies.

Restricting church design and architecture in favor of old forms not conducive to the guidelines in liturgical documents written in the last 20 years.

Discouraging efforts to use contemporary music and other artistic expressions in liturgy.

Increasing restrictions on liturgical ministries open to all laypeople, men and women.

Rembert Weakland, then archbishop of Milwaukee, wrote what must now be seen as a prophetic article in America magazine in 1999 that warned of a creeping rubricism and movement to reinterpret Vatican II to assure validity and orthodoxy. Like Weakland, we have to ask: Can the two, the reform of the liturgy and the reform of the church, be separated?

====================================================================

EEEEWWWWW! Trying hard not to say UGGGGHHHHHH! AND AAARGHHHHHH! instead. I tell you it all comes down to mortally-wounded egos!

They're all thinking - these NCR and Tablet types and their fellow liberals - "How dare any Pope do this to us! How dare Benedict show us up! How dare he go against our 'spirit of Vatican II' - and here we were all, doing very well for almost 50 years, imposing our idea of the Church on every thinking Catholic! Who does he think he is? Just because he participated in Vatican-II? Just because he is Pope? But we know better than Popes, we know better than this Catholic Church that clings to its past, we know best what is good for the Church. What's best for the Church is what we think is good for us. The Church should be thinking what we think and teaching what we teach. What does it need a Pope for, when here we are - it's our Magisterium that's infallible, not the Pope's."

That's what they really mean by all their bitching and whining now, but they're trying their best to cloak it in some semblance of logic. Hard to do that when it is very clear now that they really think the traditional Mass is worthless, so worthless it shouldn't even be around as a choice. The Novus Ordo - and the ordure they have made of it - is the perfect rite, and no Catholic worth the name should even think of anything else!

Once again, guys. The Pope hasn't taken anything away from anyone - quite unlike 1970! You can all ignore the traditional Mass, forget it exists at all. Why are your knickers all bunched up over something you don't even have to deal with ever, if you don't want to????? Why do you begrudge others - a scarce, insignificant, pitiful minority as you often want to picture them - the right to worship as they wish, in a way that has been valid and legitimate for all these centuries?

Why, except that you're being mean and petty and utterly selfish. Does your 'spirit of Vatican-II' not have any room in it for charity or fraternal understanding? Perhaps you didn't even bother to read the Pope's letter, asking for everyone to open their hearts and welcome everything that the faith allows.

But it becomes a circular argument because in your minds, you determine what the faith allows, not the Pope.


Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of thy love....

benefan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 21:43

Bringing back best of old Mass can bring out better in the new

Guest column: Rich Leonardi
Cincinnati Enquirer
July 17, 2007

In the discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's liberalization of the rules permitting the celebration of the "old Mass," i.e., the form of the Mass celebrated before - and during - Vatican II, much has been made of its goal of reunifying Traditionalist groups with the Catholic Church.

What's been overlooked is the extent to which the Holy Father hopes this liberalization will reform the celebration of the "new Mass" that followed, but is distinct from, Vatican II. As Benedict writes in the letter announcing the change, "in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear."

Those "deformations" undoubtedly contributed to plummeting rates of Mass attendance. From a high of 75 percent of Catholics in the early 1960s, attendance rates have sunk to a national average of around 25 percent.

In defiance of the decrees of Vatican II, which call for solemnity-inspiring things like the retention of Latin and the singing of Gregorian Chant, celebrations of the new form of the Mass have all too often become lazy, careless affairs subject to the whims of local worship committees.

Benedict seeks something better. "The celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI [the new form of the Mass] will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage."

In other words, exposure to the dignity, solemnity and contemplation that characterize the "old" form of the Mass might inspire similar sensibilities in the celebration of the new.

What can be done to encourage these sensibilities? Benedict reminds pastors and those charged with the celebration of Mass that "[t]he most sure guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish communities and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated with great reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. This will bring out the spiritual richness and the theological depth of this Missal."

Rich Leonardi, publisher of the blog "Ten Reasons" (http://richleonardi.blogspot.com), writes from Hyde Park.
ljiljan
00martedì 17 luglio 2007 22:51
Amen, benefan!
Excellent post, benefan! My memories are very similar to yours. In addition to changing the Mass, our parish church was "remodelled" (or "wreckovated" as some call it). The beautiful high altar was removed as were the two side altars and all the statues. The area around the altar was expanded with the result being that, suddenly, the altar looked very small and insignificant. [SM=g27812] I always found it difficult to concentrate on the Mass after that.

"I have made my peace with the changes from Vatican II over the years and have come to appreciate the more reverent forms of the "new" Mass. (Like you, it took me some time to reach that point, but until Benedict's Motu Propio, I can't say that I didn't still have some reservations.)Luckily, many of the priests in our diocese make a valiant effort to say the Mass with care and respect. Unfortunately, the congregation, which has mostly grown up with the new Mass, still behaves often as if the Mass were all about Us--a form of entertainment, a group hug, a social gathering. The mystery and reverence are scarce." (In my experience, it seems to me that most people involved in the liturgy - priests and laity - usually go out of their way to make it UN-mysterious and "accessible". But, if you believe what we're taught about what happens during a mass, why would you want to de-emphasize the mystery?)
loriRMFC
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 01:19
Cardinal calls Chinese Catholic reaction to papal letter positive


By Cindy Wooden
July 17, 2007
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican has not had any official comment from the Chinese government on Pope Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics, but the reaction has been "positive from the faithful and the bishops," said the Vatican secretary of state.

The 55-page letter, released June 30 in Chinese and several other languages, has led to "an extraordinary movement of meditation and reflection, especially through the Internet, by the official patriotic community and the clandestine community," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The pope's letter urged cooperation between Catholic communities officially registered with the government and Catholic communities that have continued clandestinely since the 1950s, when the Chinese government began closing churches. While the papal letter criticized Chinese government limits on church activities, it also invited civil authorities to open a new dialogue on several key issues, including the appointment of bishops.

In a July 16 interview with the Italian Catholic news agency SIR, Cardinal Bertone said, "We still have not received precise signals from the Chinese institutions, and we are waiting."

The letter, he said, was an attempt to demonstrate "confidence in the Chinese people and in their government so that they would reconsider a bit their position toward the Catholic Church, which wants to work for the good of the Chinese people."

The cardinal also said that in drafting the letter the pope tried to tap into and build on a Chinese cultural sensitivity to moral questions that comes from Confucianism.

From the viewpoint of its moral code, Confucianism has "roots that are somewhat close to Christianity's," he said.

Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, "said that man either is a moral being or he is not a true man," Cardinal Bertone said. "The great tradition of Confucius is morality."

The Catholic Church wants to build on the strong moral code emphasized by traditional Chinese culture, showing how Christianity emphasizes not only correct behavior, but also solidarity, love and forgiveness, which benefit the entire society, he said.


SOURCE: www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?...
loriRMFC
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 05:43
RE: LORENZAGO UPDATE


Thanks so much for posting these Teresa. Each one is wonderful & the pictures are great.

Also, the commentary by benefan on the change to the Novus Ordo is interesting. The most suprising to read was her description of religious leaving the rectories and convents in droves. One can only imagine how they feel seeing the changes in the Mass & some 'creative' priest turn it into a show. The Cincinnati Enquirer article was good as well.Thanks for posting!


TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 11:22
LORENZAGO UPDATE - 7/18/07 (#1)


THE POPE ON VACATION, LORENZAGO DI CADORE, JULY 9-27



Pope will meet priests
of Belluno and Treviso
July 23 or 24 at Auronzo

By FRANCESCO DAL MAS


AURONZO - It's confirmed. Benedict XVI will meet the clergy of the dioceses of Belluno-Feltre and Treviso at the Church of Sgt. Justina, martyr, in Auronzo on July 23 or 24.

"We are all in fibrillation," said an excited Don Renzo Roncada, parish priest of Auronzo.

There has been no official announcement, but "we have received visits from Vatican officials who made a series of technical verifications," Roncada said.

The mayor of Aurzonzo, Bruno Zandegiacomo said "This would be the greatest honor we can hope for," adding that as soon as the Vatican had announced the Pope has chosen to come to Lorenzago for his summer vacation, the town wrote the Vatican to say it would gladly host an Angelus.

In the time of John Paul II, Auronzo lost out to neighboring Domegge as the site of a Papal Angelus.

"We would love to bring the Pope to the town 'balcony' overlooking the lake, where he would have the lake on one side, and the Three Peaks of Cadore on the other.

San Justina Church is the third largest in the diocese of Belluno-Feltre, next to the Basilica of Belluno and the Cathedral of Feltre. It will be able to accommodate the 500-600 priests of both dioceses.

Auronzo has 3,700 residents and three parishes. The parish of Santa Justina itself will celebrate next year its 800th year of autonomy from Pieve di Cadore.

Don Renzo met Pope John Paul II when the latter came to Lorenzago on vacation. At the time, Don Renzo was parish priest of Danta (which Pope Benedict visited Monday evening).

"I met Papa Wojtyla twice while he was out walking and we exchanged a few words," he recalls. "I would love to welcome Pope Benedict here, not to ask him for anything - he already has too much to think about. Simply to tell him to stand firm, because the Church has too many problems.

Cardinal Bertone meets Pope today

LORENZAGO. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was to meet Pope Benedict today at his vacation villa in Castello Mirabello.

Park officials said that there are three gazebos in the park surrounding the villa that will be ideal for their conversations.

In teh afternoon, Bertone is expected at Pieve di Cadore for a special televised interview by RAI-1 with both its Vatican correspondent Giuseppe de Carli, and Laura Cason from Italian state TV's premier newscast, TG-1.

The topic will be Bertone's first year as Secretary of State.

Also expected to visit the Pope one of these days is the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola. Belluno-Feltre and Treviso are both in the Veneto region, of which Scola is the highest-ranking prelate.

Corriere delle Alpi, 18 luglio 2007



The Pope embraces
Italy's oldest parish priest


LORENZAGO (Belluno) - "I've studied less than I could have - that's never been my strong point. I have never written out a homily - I've always spoken from the heart; I have always liked to laugh and to make others laugh."

So said Don Armando Durighetto, 96, the oldest active parish priest in all of Italy, who was able to meet Pope Benedict XVI yesterday. [For some reason, the story does not say where they met.]

"I do what all parish priests do, perhaps even more. I say Mass every day, and three on Sundays. I visit the sick. I carry on the work of the parish."

His parish is Caposile, a district of Musile di Piave.

He is a fisherman and goes out fishing often - "sometimes in a boat, sometimes even at night, with a net."

"I have seen 5 or 6 Popes," he recalls, "and six or seven bishops have sought to retire me, but they have all retired before me. Unfortunately, I realize that the present one may well be at my funeral, but I have always been happy to be a priest."

He said the Pope told him, "By all means, go on, go on! The Lord will give you the health you need. I wish you all the best."

Don Armando says he has celebrated 36,495 Masses. He is known by everyone in the region, not only for his liveliness in old age.

During the great flood of 1966, he rang his church bells to warn everyone when to go up to their roofs for safety. He took out his boat and went from house to house to rescue those who needed to be rescued, including animals.

Corriere del Veneto, 18 luglio 2007


PETRUS has more information, and apparently more exact quotations, as well as this picture, taken of Don Armando with the Pope after a General Audience at the Vatican.


Don Armando met the Pope again after the Sunday Angelus at Castello Mirabello.

He said he has asked Bishop Mazzocato of Treviso "whom I expect will bury me" to say at his funeral: "He studied less than he could, he laughed more than he should, he made others laugh as much as he could."

About his fishing, he goes to the lagoon in Venice every Tuesday to do that.

"At my age," Don Armando says, "I can only be happy - that I am a priest."


The Vatican has now released pictures
of Don Armando's meeting with the Pope
last Sunday
:

We should all look so well at 96!
TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 11:51
CONSOLIDATING THE ANTI-BENEDICT STAND
Here is a report appearing in the Christian Science Monitor today - which consolidates the least flattering liberal viewpoint of what Pope Benedict is doing, not to mention its fair share of inaccuracies and misinformation that most journalists these days do not hesitate to purvey without the least attempt at fact-checking. The first 'resource person' he cites, Father Flinn, wrote a poisonous article about the Pope for the Boston Globe last week, and his second 'authority' is the religion editor of the leftist French newspaper Le Monde, which has not had a good word to say about Pope Benedict since his election.

Marquand quotes Fr. Lombardi towards the end, but otherwise he simply rehashes all the knee-jerk liberal reactions towards the Pope, particularly about the last CDF statement, and adds Father Flinn's contemptuous view of what he thinks is Joseph Ratzinger's eschatology.



A church's assertive shift toward tradition
By Robert Marquand


Rome and Paris - The leader of 1.1 billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI, is completing a significant theological shift of the Roman Catholic church  a sweeping change that not only eclipses 40 years of a more moderate and collegial Catholicism, but seeks to reassert the spiritual supremacy of the Vatican and more openly proclaim the authority of the office of pope among all Christians.

Some two years after taking the reins, say Protestant and Catholic theologians and religious experts, the Bavarian-born pope is moving swiftly to affirm orthodox doctrines and medieval church rituals that undermine the spirit of Vatican II, a period of modernization in which the church appeared to be rethinking its centuries-long insistence that it had exclusive claims to matters of grace, truth, salvation, and church structure in the Christian world.

Liberal Catholics go so far as to characterize Benedict as leading a counterreformation in the church - in which fervent backers of traditional Catholic identity and faith are favored, even at the expense of popularity.

"While Vatican II said that the Holy Spirit was in operation among the people, now we are saying, no, the holy spirit is operating in the bishops. It is an enormous change." says Frank Flinn, author of the "Encyclopedia of Catholicism." The "impression [previous Pope] John Paul II gave was to emphasize teaching so that all may be one. But Benedict is turning around and saying to churches, 'you aren't all one.' It is destroying the ecumenical movement."

When the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became pope on April 8, 2005, many Catholics felt he might soften his reputation as a hard-line "enforcer of the faith."

Yet his tenure has shown few signs of mellowing. In the space of three days this month, for example, he promoted the old Latin Mass, which contains references to the conversion of the Jews, then issued a blockbuster doctrinal clarification statement saying that Orthodox and Protestant churches were "lacking" and only authentic through their relationship with Rome.

"Benedict has fought for the same thing for 30 years and now he is putting it to work," says Frederic Lenoir, editor of Le Monde's religious supplement in Paris. "His main aim in being pope is to unify the true believer groups - and he will lose members or destroy religious dialogues, if that's what it takes."

Defenders say that only by a radical reassertion of traditional Catholicism can the church become the body able to bring clarity, order, and moral authority to a troubled world. The various attempts to adapt the church to modernity in the 1960s, they argue, have resulted only in muddled meanings and a lack of proper moral concepts.

Beyond that, the opening of the church allowed Jewish, Protestant, atheist, and Islamic ideas to compete against what is seen as God's church, instituted by Christ and the apostle Peter.

Since Vatican II (1964-1969), the Roman Catholic church in Europe has lost tens of millions of churchgoers at a time when Muslim populations are increasing in Europe. Benedict has stated his central mission is to restore the Catholic church in Europe and to bridge the gap with Eastern Orthodox churches that more closely share a traditional Catholic suspicion of modernity, the Enlightenment, the Reformation, pluralism, and secularism.

"We think this pope may be starting back on the proper pathway," says a friar at the St. Nicolas du Chardonnet church in Paris, a center of the ultratraditional Lefebvrist Catholic sect. "We think he understands the real faith. What we object to is his visiting of the mosque in Turkey. He shouldn't have done that."

Last September, the pope stirred the Muslim world following an academic talk that made reference to Islamic teachings as inherently violent. It was the kind of religious assertion, described later by the Vatican as a "misunderstanding," that was rarely if ever heard under Pope John Paul II.

"The previous pope was friendly, down-to-earth, and a good pastor," says Daniele Garrone, a Rome-based theologian of the Waldensian church, a reformed faith. "But Benedict is emphasizing theological clarity, and I think he is painting himself into a corner. If you believe the church is the sole authority, and you teach this, you have to pay the consequences. Benedict takes it seriously, so I really feel he is suffering right now. He doesn't take this lightly, but feels it is his duty. I wouldn't want to be pope at this point."

Pope Benedict was a German academic and prolific theologian. In the early years of his career, he studied with Hans Kung, a highly influential liberal Catholic theologian whom Benedict would one day reprimand for questioning the concept of papal infallibility.[WRONG ON TWO COUNTS! Ratzinger never studied with Kueng - they taught together at the same university, and tt was Ratzinger's predecessor at the CDF who disciplined Kueng in 1979 for writing against papal infallibility.]

Pope Benedict also contributed to Vatican II, a period when the church was engaging Martin Luther's concept of the "priesthood of all believers" and vesting more authority in and pastoral attention to ordinary churchgoers.

Yet during the German student riots of 1968, a chaotic time when many young Germans were demanding that their parents face up to the Nazi past, Ratzinger felt deeply that the Vatican II project was coming unhinged.

He became archbishop, then cardinal in 1977, and in 1981 was made prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith at the Vatican  a meteoric rise. Ratzinger began to pursue and censure liberal theologians favorable to Vatican II. He issued a paper, "Instruction Concerning Certain Aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation'" that started to quash liberation-theology movements, particularly in Latin America.

His tenure as prefect became synonymous with a host of conservative positions on abortion, homosexuality, and birth control, earning him the informal nickname of "the enforcer." In 2002, he was made dean of the College of Cardinals, the pope's right-hand man. [Since when is the Dean of the College of Cardinal's necessarily 'the Pope's right hand man? He wasn't righthand man because he was dean. He was already righthand man as CDF Prefect, and not by virtue of the position, but by who he is as a person.]

In the first year, he issued "Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life" that requested bishops not to allow communion to politicians that did not uphold the church teachings on abortion.

Pope Benedict's press officer, Fr. Federico Lombardi, told the Monitor that the church is not changing its theological positions but is simply clarifying them and seeking to "end the confusion" inside Catholic seminaries about church beliefs. He felt the main difference is a stronger emphasis on "Catholic identity," however.

Mr. Garrone argues that the church must appear to have continuity and can't admit it is changing.

"Many nuns, priests, sisters, theologians, and Catholics felt that Vatican II was a new beginning in the history of the church. But by emphasizing 'continuity,' Benedict is saying the second Vatican council was not a new beginning."

The new papal favoring of Latin Mass is an example. Also known as the "Tridentine" mass, it is performed by priests who turn their back to the congregation and speak in Latin. This mass was largely abandoned after Vatican II, partly because it was incomprehensible to lay Catholics and because it contained negative references to Jews.

The Latin mass has long been hated by Jews for its emphasis on the Jewish role in turning Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion and for its call for Jews to come into the church. Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, described the Latin mass initiative as "a theological setback in the religious life of Catholics and a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations."

While the Vatican is not forcing local Catholic churches to say the Latin mass, it is encouraging local members who want it to lobby their parishes. Some priests argue that this may create further strains on their resources and possibly bring contention.

On July 10, the Vatican issued "Regarding Certain Aspects of Church Doctrine." It argued that churches emerging from the Reformation outside the direct authority of Rome "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense."

Protestants, in particular, "suffer from defects," are properly called communities, not churches, and must one day recognize "the Catholic church, governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him"  a major affirmation of papal authority. While Catholics may engage in ecumenical activities, they must do so through a stronger sense of Catholicism as the true church.

Not surprisingly, the July 10 statement brought a mixture of anger and irritation in other churches.

The Rev. David Phillips, an Anglican official, described it as "ludicrous" to "accept the idea that the pope is in some special way the successor of the apostle Peter," and added: "We are grateful that the Vatican has once again been honest in declaring their view that the Church of England is not a proper church&. We would wish to be equally open; unity will only be possible when the papacy renounces its errors and pretensions."

The Vatican said it was surprised Protestants would feel anger at being described as less than churches in hundreds of stories in English-language papers around the world and asked them not to "overreact."

"This isn't about Protestants, it is an internal theological document for purposes of clarity," Father Lombardi stated.

Some analysts say that, as with the September controversy over Islam, the Vatican sought to downplay the issue even as the hard-line message was amplified in the world media, putting Rome in the position of defining the issue.

"Benedict wants to say that Vatican II is not threatened, but the document on July 10 shows a very different reading," says Christian Mercier, religion editor of the Paris-based Catholic magazine, La Vie.

In the past year, the pope has visited the mosque in Turkey, met with Eastern Orthodox prelates, written to Catholics in China, visited Brazil, and authored a best-selling book about Jesus.

Many theologians say the shifts under Pope Benedict aren't simply a small matter of rules, rituals, clarifications, and a tidying up of doctrine. Perhaps one of the most significant, though little noticed, changes has to do with the changing concept of the meaning of the kingdom of heaven. The current pope has a different vision of time and eschatology.

Under Vatican II, it was accepted that the coming of the kingdom is possible to experience on Earth and not simply in the afterlife. Vatican II stressed concepts like "becoming," "change," and "newness," and championed social justice and liberty as linked to ideas of grace.

Pope Benedict has begun to roll back such ideas, says Mr. Flinn, the Catholic theologian at Washington University in St. Louis, and his theology is "pessimistic, in the sense that heaven and earth are separate concepts, and that Christ's kingdom can't be experienced here."

"It is the old vertical eschatology," Flinn says. "Liberal Catholics read the scriptures as saying the kingdom is already here, but not yet. The Vatican seems to be saying the kingdom is not yet, not yet, until the end of time, when Jesus returns. Meanwhile, the church is in charge, the pope is the vicar of Christ, and the church has the full truth."

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 12:33
BENEDICT'S 'TRUE GRIT'

From the blog called Creative Minority Report, thanks for this composite photo, and the column that goes with it. He takes off from Russell Shaw's article posted in this thread last weekend about Benedict's 'snail's pace' at the Vatican - which I sought to answer objectively with a comparison of the highlights that marked John Paul II's first 26 months as Pope [as listed in George Weigel's biography] and the comparable period in Benedict's young Papacy.

It is trivializing to use tags like 'the John Wayne of Popes' but it does convey a concrete idea.





Tuesday, July 17, 2007
"Follow Me, Pilgrim" -
The John Wayne of Popes



Russell Shaw has an article on Catholic Exchange in which he wonders aloud that given the Pope's reputation as timid, overly cautious, and slow to make decisions; After the last few weeks, if this is the timid and indecisive Pope, one can only wonder a bold risk taker would look like. In reading the piece, I couldn't help but conjure the image of John Wayne. That's right, the Duke.

Like John Wayne, Pope Benedict does not need to make a big scene to be heard. His quiet self-assurance makes his presence felt. When he enters a room, or in the case of the Pope, when he enters a discussion, he is heard. When he has made a judgment about the course to be taken, there is no doubt that he will take it.

The Pope made a prudential decision that the 1962 missal should not be mired in the half-banned status that it has lingered in for the last 20 years. He knew what he had to do. He set out on the course, undeterred by those metaphorical Indians shooting arrows at him along the way.

There were those who vehemently opposed this effort and those who complained about how long the process was taking. The pope would not be impeded or rushed. He worked with the bishops, heard their concerns, took his time, and then made the decision.

He knew that the CDF document 'On the Church' would not be popular, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He rightly understands that ecumenism is not the watering down your beliefs to appease others. Rather, true ecumenism is preaching the truth in a gentle and loving way so that people not generally inclined to listen might come to understand the truth. Ecumenism from strength.

In all his quiet certitude, in his determination to do the right thing in a gentle voice that seems to say "Follow Me, Pilgrim", Pope Benedict may be remembered as the John Wayne of Popes.


===================================================================

And here's a belated discovery. It was written 7/10/07, but it will be relevant for as long as there are bigots who do not understand the difference between faith and bigotry. It's from Father Morris's blog on foxnews.com


CDF document stirs controversy
By Father Jonathan Morris

Yesterday, the Vatican released a document, written by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and approved by Pope Benedict XVI, about Catholic ecclesiology - the study of the way, according to Catholic theology, God works through the Church to bring about the eternal salvation and happiness he desires for all people of all faiths.

Because I have received a barrage of e-mails asking what this document means - not a few expressing sentiments of great concern - I will try to explain in common terminology its purpose and significance for Christians of all denominations.

Just in case you've been reading mainstream media headlines, we should probably start out with this: Pope Benedict does not believe, and has never suggested, non-Catholics are all going to hell because they are not members of the Catholic Church.

Regardless of what you may be reading on news sites and blogs elsewhere, this document does not represent a shift away from the teaching of the late and revered Pope John Paul II about ecumenism (relationship and dialogue with Christians of other denominations.)

It is not a return to pre-Vatican II theology. It is not a move to drive a wedge between Catholics and Protestants.

In fact, it is an attempt to lay the foundations for eventual unity by clearly expressing the theological disagreements that currently divide Christian communities. Unity based on a whitewashing of differences, according to Pope Benedict, is a facade and only stalls fruitful dialogue.

The new document is a summary and clarification of Dominus Iesus, a theological treatise about ecclesiology published by the Vatican in the year 2000 during the pontificate of John Paul II.

Pope Benedict and his collaborators released this new summary - in an easily accessible question and answer format - "to clarify the authentic meaning of some ecclesiological expressions used by the magisterium [teaching of the Catholic Church] which are open to misunderstanding in the theological debate."

This quote from the introduction to the document puts us into the full context of the five questions and answers the document presents. With these introductory words, the Pope is tipping the reader off to the fact that he is speaking primarily to theologians, and he is making his theological distinctions within a context of highly sophisticated theological debate.

One way to understand his academic approach is that if inside baseball, so to speak, was to a great extent responsible for the breaking of ecclesial and theological union in centuries past, a full reunion of this sort will require confronting head-on, equally nuanced issues.

The Pope considers it necessary for lasting unity to go beyond 'soundbite' journalism, when dealing in theological debate, even if he runs the risk of being misunderstood in the short term.

If we read this document, therefore, as if it were a press release to media outlets, we simply won't get it
. The headlines I have seen in the mainstream media confirm most journalists are not theologians, and in this case didnt bother to consult experts of sound, Catholic theology regarding what the debate is all about.

Without a proper context, we read that the Pope says some non-Catholic Christian communities are not churches 'in the proper sense of the word' - meaning, they are not part of the one Church Jesus established while on Earth - and think he is trying to say if a person's name and address is not registered in the local Catholic parish, he or she is not going to heaven.

The Pope doesn't mean that. I'll say it again; the Pope is not saying only registered, baptized Catholics can be saved, and any journalists or critic who says otherwise, has officially missed the point.

Speaking of salvation, from the sight of things as I see it, it is quite possible that many present day non-Catholic Christians who are fervent believers in, and practitioners of, the teachings of Jesus will get to heaven before the throngs of wishy-washy, nominal Catholics who only show up to the church doors for infant baptism, the taking of marriage vows, and their own funeral.

Of course, I don't know who will be on the other side of the pearly gates, but I believe, with the Pope, that there is more to the challenge of personal justification and salvation than calling oneself a Catholic - or a Christian, for that matter.

God works everywhere and in mysterious ways, and if we respond generously to him in as much as he reveals himself to us, I believe his grace will be sufficient. In this most recent document, the Pope puts this principle like this:

"It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them..."

The Pope, along with all Christians, believes salvation comes from belief in and acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's personal Lord and Savior, as the only mediator between God and man. The Bible says as much.

But in this document, Pope Benedict also affirms the long-standing doctrine of the Catholic Church that Jesus chose to work out this plan of salvation through his Church, under the direction of his 12 apostles and their successors (bishops in communion with the Pope):

"Jesus established here on earth only one Church and instituted it as a visible and spiritual community that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. [...] This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him."

The Pope believes not even the imperfections and sins of some Catholic leaders in the past and present (we could all enumerate many) have been able to eliminate the 'apostolic succession' (or authority received from Jesus, as head of the Church) passed on from the apostles to the bishops.

Should we be surprised that the Pope thinks the Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ and is the one, true Church? No, after all, if he thought the Methodists, Baptists, or any of the other thousands of Christian denominations were right, he would have joined up long ago, and he certainly wouldnt be Pope.

But he doesn't see the unapologetic expression of theological differences as a barrier to friendship, respect and brotherhood. Have you noticed, that a false sense of tolerance has made it now almost impossible to say, "I think I'm right", without being called a bigot?

Steadfast belief in true religion is never the cause of uncivilized discord or war. Religious conflict is the work of insecure people who feel they must take up violence to defend their own position of weakness, instead of trusting in the power of God to work out his plan, in his time. They abuse God's name in the process.

The headlines you and I have seen in reference to this document sound 'retro' and 'intolerant' because contemporary society is not used to hearing people like Benedict XVI express strong personal views, in a respectful and reasonable way, as an overture to honest dialogue.

The Pope is keenly aware that thousands of other denominations think they've understood Jesus's intentions better than him. He is hoping to hear them say it, and explain their reasoning, as he has done in this most recent document.

Here's a hint to understand Pope Benedict: he's a German academic by trade. He says the same things as the late Pope John Paul II, but instead of using camera angles and international voyages to tell his story, he most often uses a pen, behind which, he feels most comfortable, and perhaps most effective.

The new approach will take a while to get used to, I admit, but it may be exactly what a world now unfamiliar with dialogue needs in its present crisis of truth.

====================================================================

In the same spirit, American Papist's PPOTD and caption yesterday, for LOTR fans:


"Gandalf the White approaches the tower of Orthanc to clean house."




TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 13:39
LORENZAGO UPDATE - 7/18/07 (#2)


THE POPE ON VACATION, LORENZAGO DI CADORE, JULY 9-27


Here are Italian wire-service updates from Lorenzago, translated:


'Question time' with the local clergy
will be Tuesday, July 24


Lorenzago di Cadore, July 18 (Apcom) - The Diocese of Belluno says Pope Benedict's question-and-answer session with the clergy of Belluno-Feltre and Treviso dioceses will take place Tuesday, July 24, at the Church of St. Justina Martyr in Auronzo, starting at 11 a.m.

The Diocese has informed the Mayor of Auronzo about this, although the Vatican has not yet officially announced it.

[See earlier story posted in the first LORENZAGO UPDATE for 7/18/07 above.]


Preparations for July 22
Angelus in Lorenzago


Lorenzago, July 18 (ASCA) - Before his Angelus appearance next Sunday at the town piazza of Lorenzago, Pope Benedict XVI will say a prayer at the town cathedral before a copy of the Holy Shroud of Turin, which is visiting Lorenzago starting today till July 27.

Town officials met this morning to discuss security arrangements for the Angelus. The piazza can accommodate 4000 seats, but a giant TV screen will also be set up for those who will not find a place.

Before the Angelus, Mass will be concelebrated by Mons. Giuseppe Andrich, Bishop of Belluno-Feltre, along with his predecessor, Mons. Ducoli; Mons. Andrea Mazzocato, Bishop of Treviso; and all local clergymen present.

The stage will be set up under the balcony of local resident Giuliana Tremonti, who said happily, "Oh, we're very glad to be the Pope's 'host' - even if he will turn his back on us!"

"Our people are really 'discovering' the Holy Father and his own personal way of spending a vacation in the mountains," said parish priest Don Sergio de Martin. "We are all feeling very filial - he has been so willing to approach everyone when he has the opportunity."


Choirs will serenade Pope

Lorenzago di Cadore, July 18 (Apcom) - The Pope will attend a concert offered to him by choirs of the mountain towns around Lorenzago Friday evening, starting at 8 p.m. at Castello Mirabello.

It will be a private concert, according to Fr. Giuseppe Bratti, spokesman of the diocese. The choirs are from the towns of Comelico, Cadore, San Vito, Cortina, Rualan, Peralba and Oltrepiave.


'POPE BENEDICT IS LIKE AN ANGEL'

Vatican Radio's Italian service has filed this story on Italy's oldest active parish priest first reported above in LORENZAGO UPDATE #1. Correspondent Amedeo Lomonaco has this telephone converstion with Fr. Armando Durighettto, 96:




Don Armando: I'm the oldest priest who is still serving as parish priest. I turned 96 in May, and because of this, the Bishop called me [to be at Castello Mirabello last Sunday]. I had the pleasure of listening to the Pope's homily and later to receive his blessing.

For me, it was truly a great honor which I will always carry in my heart and which extends to all my parishioners as well, with the same enthusiasm and the same faith.

I am enamoured of the figure of the Pope - I was born in 1911 and I have seen so many of them....Benedict XVI, with his smile, seems like an angel to me.

What did the Holy Father say to you?
When the bishop presented me, he said, "He's 96 and still a parish priest." The Pope later said, "May the Lord give you more years even so that you may continue to do good."

These simple words are impressed on my heart and in my prayers. I told him I thank the Lord for everything, for 71 years of saying Mass - of which I have said 36,495. I have always been gratefu to teh Lord and I have never regretted being a priest.

Would you say that faith keeps one young?
I have always sought to carry out my mission as priest with joy. I have sought to laugh and to make others laugh, and I'm still doing so.

You said you have never written out a homily because you speak from the heart...
I look at people in the eye, I watch their expressions, and my heart speaks for itself, it says what I feel. Of course, I feel that, with all the graces the Lord has given me, I should be even more 'good', fore holy. So whatever I can, I express and try to convey to my parishioners.


=====================================================================

AND HERE'S OUR ANGEL



One of the many photos Gloria (Paparatzifan) has discovered from the site of the Diocese of Belluno-Feltre - she has posted some of them in FOTO DA PAPA. I'm also waiting for her to post her account of the Sunday Angelus - she went up to Lorenzago from Venice.....

TERESA BENEDETTA
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 14:45
NEW VATICAN WEBSITE WITH MORE WEBCAMS
WE MIGHT EVEN GET TO SEE THE POPE'S DAILY WALKS

This item from Repubblica online, thanks to Lella's blog, translated here:

VATICAN CITY - A whole new way to look at the Vatican physically - starting with its famous gardens.

Officially, the service starts tomorrow, but they're already operative - five webcams will be trained on the Vatican Gardens which make up almost half the Rome territory of Vatican State.

Fountains, towers, trees, historic buldings, walkways, belvederes, statues, even rare flowers and centuries-old trees will be on view online through the new Internet site dedicated to Vatican City State, www.vaticanstate.va.

That means we may have a chance to see the Pope on his daily walks when he is in residence at the Apostolic Palace.

Webcams will also be trained on St. Peter's Square, the Dome and the tomb of John Paul II.

But the webcams are only one feature of a site that is dedicated to all the non-religious activities of Vatican City State - its museums, the observatory, its filmotheque, its postal and numismatic services, and the Vatican pharmacy. It will link, of course, to the regular Vatican site, www.vatican.va, for real-time information about the Holy Father's activities.

The new site will be accessible in Italian, English, French, Spanish and German. Portuguese will be added soon.

It will have an online shopping site for Vatican stamps and coins, and for publications and reproductions from the Vatican Museums.


===================================================================


POPE SENDS MESSAGE
FOR RELATIVES OF AIR ACCIDENT
VICTIMS IN SAO PAOLO



VATICAN CITY, JUL 18, 2007 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a telegram sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. to Archbishop Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paolo, Brazil, for yesterday afternoon's air accident at the airport of Congonhas, which cost the lives of more than 200 people.

"The Holy Father, distressed by the hundreds of victims of the air disaster in Sao Paolo, which he visited not long ago, wishes to give his most heartfelt condolences to all their relatives. He gives assurances of his prayers for the dead and invokes the strength and consolation of God for the injured and for all those affected by this tragedy, granting everyone, as a sign of his spiritual closeness, his consoling apostolic blessing."

====================================================================

NB: For those who might be wondering, the Pope's plane last May used the international airport at Sao Paulo/Guarulhos, not the domestic airport of Sao Paulo/Congonhas.



benefan
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 22:23

Press gets it wrong

7/18/2007
Our Sunday Visitor

While many church observers, including us, thought that the long-awaited motu proprio on the new guidelines regarding the celebration of the Tridentine Latin Mass would generate controversy and debate, it came and went with barely a peep, at least in this country.

But an unheralded three-page document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) with the vague title, Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church created a pastoral brouhaha that is still reverberating.

In truth, it was not the document itself. Rather, it was the overheated and undernuanced media coverage of the document, particularly a story by The Associated Press that created the firestorm of commentary.

The APs lead sentence was that Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

We are hearing from parishes around the country about the tears and anger provoked by this story, not to mention family discord and ecumenical ire.

We encourage Catholics  indeed all Christians  to read the brief CDF document (www.vatican.va).

Perhaps the key quote in the document, at least in response to the misguided upset provoked by the news story, is taken directly from the Second Vatican Council: It follows that these separated churches and communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict has clearly stated his concern about the kind of relativism that permeates society and even sectors of the church today, and he has also made it clear that he wants to affirm what the Second Vatican Council really taught, not what people think it taught. This document is clearly intended to accomplish both goals.

If ever Catholics needed a reminder of why they should not get their news about the church from the secular press, The Associated Press has provided us with exhibit one. The Catholic media is, unfortunately, ignored by most Catholics today, who get their Catholic news from non-Catholic sources. The fact that so many Catholics seem surprised by this unassuming documents claims is evidence of the ongoing catechetical crisis we find ourselves in, and a further affirmation of the value of sound Catholic media.

If we may be permitted one complaint, the Vatican should have been better prepared to handle the pastoral confusion this documents release unfortunately created. Slipping it into the public domain on the eve of the Roman summer holidays without commentary, indeed with no visible effort to control the spin that would have been easily predicted, was not helpful.

We continue to be impressed by the intellectual vigor of this pontificate, but in the modern media age, it is not simply waging battle over theological abstractions. It is engaged in a struggle for hearts, minds and souls. The very problems that provoked this document should have been warning enough that its dissemination would demand pastoral as well as theological acumen.
benefan
00mercoledì 18 luglio 2007 22:54

Religious motivation important to our behaviour

David Warren
CanWest News Service
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

It is because we in the West have cultivated -- collectively, if not individually -- an extraordinary insensitivity to religion that we fail to grasp the seriousness of the radical "Islamist" challenge to our being.

I am not going to discuss that today, but mention it to bring home the importance of the subject that follows.

Ignorance of, or indifference to, religious motivations in human behaviour, is something that can hurt you. It leaves one blind, uncomprehending and powerless in an immense field of potential good and evil. It may even leave one blind towards one's own motivations, which are often not as plain as first appears.

And it is from the same insensitivity, even insensibility, that we might overlook the importance of the Pope's Motu Proprio last week, removing some obstacles to the celebration of the old Catholic Mass.

I think the writing of that document may prove the most important act in the pontificate of Benedict XVI, and that its consequences may go far beyond the immediately visible ones.

Yet it is also part of something larger than any individual, including any pope -- part, I think, of the operation by which the Catholic Church is righting itself, after having been thrown on its beam ends in the 1960s and '70s.

As the Pope was at pains to explain in the letter that accompanied the long-awaited Motu Proprio, its immediate end is modest. (Motu proprio means "of his own accord" in Latin, and is a papal decree. The reasons for the decree are always stated openly.)

For many years now, Catholic priests have required the permission of their bishop to celebrate the Mass in the traditional way, in which it had been celebrated over many centuries. This restriction is cautiously removed.

The alternative, Novus Ordo form of the Mass, which emerged in the heady days after Vatican II, was and remains the new standard.

But it is a stripped-down version, translated often unworthily into the various modern languages; and simply by scanning differently from the old, universal Latin, it obviates the Church's magnificently rich musical inheritance, if not much else.

The Novus Ordo is a valid Mass, as Pope Benedict again assured us, but to my mind and that of many faithful Catholics it is also a concession to the times, to the Zeitgeist. And because the times are out of joint with Catholic faith and practice, we might almost think, a painful concession.

Liturgy is "just words," and sometimes music, in the received postmodern view, which immediately overlooks dress, censing, intonation and the spiritual atmosphere.

To the contrary Catholic view, we do not go to church of a Sunday only to see and be seen, nor strictly as a "memorial" of the Last Supper, nor as a healthy habit on the analogy of bran muffins.

All of these things count, too, but the Mass combines such incidentals into something larger and simpler and therefore harder to express.

At its centre is an act of communion with the Christ. Which is to say, with God.

It is not, in the Catholic view (shared by many other Christians), a looking back to the gospels through history. It is a participation, a dipping, a step out of current time into the eternal.

Why am I telling you all this? In the hope that even if my reader is repelled, he may try to understand what is going on in Catholic churches, where far more than a billion of the earth's inhabitants go to pray, if they go anywhere.

Likewise, though not myself a Muslim, I have tried to imagine what goes on in a mosque. For I must do that if I am to understand anything at all about Islam.

Practically, I explain this in the hope of making my skeptical reader understand why liturgy might be so important.

I do not imply by this that good works are not important, that Christian life is not exhibited in faith, hope and charity, in prayerful humility and a bold willingness to suffer with Christ.

I am only saying that from the Catholic view, love is not a nothing. It springs from a fount, and in this world we go to the Mass as to that fount.

That is what sustains our spirits, just as food sustains our bodies.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 01:58
CARDINAL BERTONE'S NEWS CONFERENCE TODAY
As anticipated earlier, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone gave a wide-ranging press conference at Pieve di Cadore this afternoon, after visiting with Pope Benedict XVI this morning and over lunch at the Pope's vacation villa in Castello Mirabello.

I was just going though the snippets - reported by the Italian news agencies almost question by question - of his news conference, when I thought to check on what the Anglophone wire services might have to say about it.

Indeed, the Associated Press leads off with something I had not seen in the Italian accounts - and just as well, because it ties up with what I felt was the major NEWS ABOUT THE CHURCH today - the naming of a bishop for Beijing by the 'official' Church, but which seemed initially to have the approval of the 'underground' Church as well as the Vatican's. [See that thread for the stories].

Cardinal Bertone's statements reinforce the sense that this could mark a new stage in Vatican-Beijing relations - at least over the thorny problem of bishops' nominations - as one concrete outcome of the Pope's letter to the Catholics of China which called for unity and reconciliation of the Church in China.



Here's the AP story first, because it does not have to be translated!


New Beijing bishop
praised by Vatican

By NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY, July 18 (AP) - Despite not being chosen by the pope, the new Beijing bishop is a "very good" candidate, the Vatican said Wednesday — further evidence of the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to reach a compromise with China over the contentious nomination of bishops.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said the Vatican still had not received any official word from the Chinese government about the naming of Bishop Joseph Li Shan, who was selected by a group of Chinese priests, nuns and lay people earlier this week.

"Normally, they enter into contact with the Holy See ... and ask approval. We hope this occurs," Bertone said at a news conference in Pieve di Cadore, in northern Italy.

But he said Li was a "very good, well-suited" candidate for the job. "This seems to us a positive sign," he said.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in the government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations that are not registered with the authorities.

Pope Benedict XVI sent the letter to all Catholics in China on June 30 in a bid to unite them. In it, he praised the underground faithful but urged them to reconcile with followers in the official church. At the same time, he called the government-sanctioned China Patriotic Catholic Association "incompatible" with Catholic doctrine.

The Beijing appointment had been closely watched as an early indication of the government's reaction to Benedict's letter. The appointment of bishops has been the main stumbling block in resuming relations; China views papal appointments as interference in its internal affairs.

Benedict did not explicitly insist on that right in his letter, taking a more conciliatory approach by saying merely that the Vatican "would desire to be completely free to appoint bishops."

"I trust that an accord can be reached with the government," he added.

The Vatican would like to have a formula similar to one it has with Vietnam, another communist country, where the Vatican proposes a few names and the government selects one.

The ANSA news agency quoted the deputy chairman of the Patriotic Association as saying Li's nomination was not formalized yet, since China's bishops had yet to approve it.

"It's too early to speak about contacts with the Vatican," ANSA quoted him as saying.

Calls to the Beijing Catholic Patriotic Association and China Catholic Patriotic Association rang unanswered on Wednesday.

The Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency AsiaNews said Li Shan had shown independence in his dealings with the Patriotic Association, and was admired by the faithful as a result.

Li Shan replaces Bishop Fu Tieshan, the hard-line chairman of the Patriotic Association who died in April.

In other news Wednesday, AsiaNews reported that Zhao Zhendong, bishop of Xuanhua, had died after a long illness.

====================================================================

The AP story is, of course, upbeat for a change, whereas Reuters which filed out of Beijing this morning reported the story as a widening of the 'rift' in Vatican-China relations!

First of the translations is a sort of umbrella account of the Bertone news conference, from PETRUS:


PIEVE DI CADORE - "All the reports published about votes in the 2005 Conclave are wrong."

"The Pope's trip to Brazil was not a flop...Even Leonardo Boff has acknowledged that the final document from Aparecida approved by the Pope is the best that has come out of CELAM so far." [I just wish he had not cited Boff as though he were some authority, even if I understand he was citing someone who is 'not friendly' to Benedict to make his point.]

The Pope is most concerned about "Iraq, the Holy Land and Africa."

"The Pope does not use the second person informal with anyone!" [But Cardinals Lehmann and Meisner said shortly after the Conclave the Pope told them to go on addressing him 'Du', second person informal! He can't possibly answer someone who addresses him 'Du' with 'Sie', especially as he's the 'bigger' figure,=.!]

Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone swung through a 360-degree overview of the Papacy and the Church during a news conference here to mark his first year as the #2 man at the Vatican.

About the recent CDF statement on the doctirne of the Church:
"It shouldn't be considered as a setback for ecumenism," because it was meant to clarify the terms of the ecumenical dialog.

About Fatima:
"There is nothing more to be revealed about the Virgin Mary's messages, and there is no fourth secret."

About the beatification of recent Popes:
Although he hoped that the beatification process would conclude soon for Pope John Paul I (who comes from the province of Belluno, which is co-hosting the Pope's vacation this year), "the Church must follow all the rules for the process", including those for Pius XII and Paul VI, and that in any case, it was not his place to say anything more "because I am not the Prefect for the Congregation for the Cause of Sainthood."

On the Pope's writing projects:
"He's a volcano of creativity, and besides the Jesus book and a second encyclical, he has other important things lined up." But he would not venture a release date for the encyclical.

About positions for women in the Vatican:
Yes, he said, it was very likely the Pope may surprise everyone by nominations that will give greater visibility to women in the Church. He said that one of his three closes aides at State, besides a Polish bishop and a French one, was an Italian lady "who was indispensable at the CDF" and whom he had brought with him to State.

About Jewish protests against the Tridentine Mass:
He pointed out that the Pope's motu proprio specifies the use of the 1970 Missal for the Paschal Triduum celebrations which include the Good Friday prayers objected to by the Jews - already substantially revised by Pope Paul VI.

On the settlement made by the diocese of Los Angeles with complainants against sex abuse by priests:
"It's a very grave matter...that is contrary to everything that we are supposed to do in the Church, (but) it is a reality which has involved a tiny percentage of our priests."

From Apcom:
On the 2005 Conclave:
"I took notes of all the ballotings, but later we had to burn everything." He said he obviously could not reveal any facts but "I know that whatever has been published are inaccurate."

Asked whether Cardinal Ratzinger got more or less than the votes reported, Bertone cut the question short and simply said, "I'm not answering."

On the Pope's appeal:
"So many are attracted to him because he is brionging Christ back into the hearts of men. His aim is to sustain the faith of the simple folk.....With his book on Jesus, he also wanted to contribute as a writer, thinker and theologian."

About the Pope's trip to Brazil:
"I do not know how the criticism that the trip was a flop could have come about. Hundreds of thousands welcomed the Pope and listened to him."

Underscoring the theological significance of Benedict's address to open the fifth general conference of Latin Americna and Caribbean bishops in Aparecida, Bertone said: "The Church is often accused of interference when it speaks out on social and political issues, and this time, the Pope made a great Christological discourse, and he is accused of the same thing."


From ADNkronos:
On the Pope's Motu Proprio -
"The Pope wishes to recover tradition, of Mass celebrated in Latin, a language that should not be cast to oblivion....The Poe wants to preserve the patrimony of the Church."

===================================================================

7/20/07

Here's how CNS wrapped up Bertone's conference in a report posted 7/19/07:


Pope pained by clerical sex abuse
in Los Angeles

By Catholic News Service

PIEVE DI CADORE, Italy, July 19 (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's closest aide said the pope was pained and concerned by the "devastating scale" of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, held a wide-ranging press conference July 18 in Pieve di Cadore, near where Pope Benedict is vacationing in the northern Italian Alps.

Even if the percentage of priests who have sexually abused children "is a minority," he said, just one instance "clashes with the identity and mission we are called to undertake."

"The problem of pedophile priests is one that pains all churchmen," he said, adding that the problem "in the diocese of Los Angeles was on a devastating scale."

Cardinal Bertone also was asked about concerns over the prayer for the conversion of the Jews in the Good Friday liturgy of the 1962 Roman Missal.

After Pope Benedict issued his letter allowing greater use of the Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 missal, several Jewish leaders and Catholics involved in dialogue expressed concern over the missal's prayer for the conversion of the Jews, which asks God to remove "the veil from their hearts" and help them overcome their "blindness."

Since the Second Vatican Council, in the Good Friday prayer approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970, the Jews are referred to as "the first to hear the word of God" and the prayer asks that "they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant."

Cardinal Bertone said "the problem can be resolved" either by closely following Pope Benedict's limits on using the 1962 Missal during Holy Week "or through a reflection that would lead to a decision valid for everyone - for the traditionalists and for those who want to celebrate the Mass according to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council" - that only the 1970 prayer be used at any Good Friday liturgy.

The Good Friday prayer for the Jews is one of a long set of prayers for various intentions, including prayers for the church, its ministers, other Christians, other believers in God and those who do not believe in God.

"It is a formula," Cardinal Bertone said. "The problem can be studied, and it could be decided that all those celebrating the Mass in the Catholic Church, according to the old missal or the new missal, recite the same formula of the Good Friday prayers, which were approved by (Pope) Paul VI; this can be decided, and it would resolve all the problems."

Cardinal Bertone also said the exact meaning of the limits Pope Benedict put on using the 1962 missal may need to be clarified. The papal document said, "In Masses celebrated without the people, any priest of Latin rite, whether secular or religious, can use the Roman Missal published by Pope Blessed John XXIII in 1962 or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, on any day except in the sacred triduum," which includes Good Friday.

But referring to those who have criticized in general Pope Benedict's decision to allow wider use of the Tridentine Mass, Cardinal Bertone said, "There is nothing worse than despising something you do not know."

Asked about the mid-July election in China of Father Joseph Li Shan as the new bishop of the Beijing Diocese, Cardinal Bertone said, "The bishop chosen is a very good and suitable subject, and this certainly is a very positive sign."

The vote by a group of priests, nuns and laypeople must be confirmed by the government-recognized Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church of China before it is final. It was the first election of a bishop in the registered church community since Pope Benedict's letter to Catholics in China was released June 30.

"We have not had an official communication about this election," Cardinal Bertone told reporters.

Normally, he said, a bishop elected by a government-registered community would later "enter into contact with representatives of the Holy See and ask for approval; we hope this will happen."

Cardinal Bertone also was asked if there was any possibility for a greater involvement of women in decision-making positions in the Catholic Church.

He told reporters there could be some surprises in the coming months.

"We are working on new appointments," he said.

"Considering the possibilities, the gifts and the feminine potential, I think there could be some positions that will be assigned to women," the cardinal said.

Currently inside the Vatican, the highest-ranking woman is Salesian Sister Enrica Rosanna, undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The prefects, secretaries and undersecretaries of the eight other Vatican congregations are all bishops, cardinals or priests.

Of the 11 pontifical councils, two - the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications -- have laymen serving as undersecretaries.

===================================================================

What the article fails to point out is that the Vatican dicasteries that have to do directly with Church matters have to be headed (both Prefect and Secretary) by priests. They are not jobs that can be given to someone who has not received Holy Orders.



TERESA BENEDETTA
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 02:29
LORENZAGO UPDATE - 7/18/07 (#3)


THE POPE ON VACATION, LORENZAGO DI CADORE, JULY 9-27


PETRUS has this very brief item of what the Pope did tonight for his evening prayer excursion.



At the church in Lozzo, 7/11/07.


LORENZAGO DI CADORE - Pope Benedict XVI chose to return this evening to the 17th century church of Our Lady of Loreto in nearby Lozzo, which was the first local church he chose to visit during his vacation, exactly one week ago today.

Leaving the church to return to Lorenzago, the Pope found 'all the village children' lined up on the road to greet him. He had his car stop, and got off to greet the children 'one by one' before heading back home.

===================================================================

P.S. Paparatzifan has filed her story of going to Lorenzago - it wasn't Sunday when she went, but Monday, July 16, to scout out the territory for coming back next Sunday, July 22, for the Angelus in Lorenzago, with Gabriella from Trieste and Beatrice coming down all the way from Metz, France...I must let here know Benevolens and Benedetto-fan will also be there....

Being Gloria, she was rewarded for her evening wait at the Lorenzago piazza by the Pope himself whose car passed by close enough and slow enough so she got one of his blessings....Another account to translate....But it's Benaddiction in sporty style: she travelled from Venice on a regional train with her bike, rode her wheels from the closest train station to Lorenzago (13 kms) and up to Mirabello as far as security would allow...and....and....



I had been trying to get a similar picture off the OR photo site since last week, so thank God we have a clean picture.
The sign says: 'LORENZAGO DI CADORE - Summer home of the Popes'.


Gloria and her bike.



benefan
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 04:19

All the Children of the Village

What a clever way to get Papa to stop and get out of his car! Stretch all the village kids across the road. Teresa, tell Gloria and the other 4 girls to keep that in mind when they are plotting how to get close to Papa.

With 5 of our members planning to attend the Angelus, we should get some really interesting stories and some great photos. I've got high hopes about this, girls! Don't let us down. Take candy for the kids. [SM=g27811]

benefan
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 04:36

It's good to see Fr. Twomey sticking up for Papa. I wish more of his colleagues and former students would speak up.



In defence of Pope Benedict

Wednesday July 18 2007
The Independent (Ireland)
Letters Section


I VIGOROUSLY protest at the way your columnist, Ian O'Doherty, consistently calumniates Pope Benedict XVI. By doing so, he displays nothing but his bile and his ignorance.

In his column for the 4 June 2007 on the American "creationists" (anti-evolutionists), he places the Pope in the same category. As one who took part in the Pope's seminar at Castel Gandalfo last September to discuss evolution with, among others, Professor Dr Peter Schuster, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, I must reject this complete fabrication.

More serious is the claim that the Pope "was once in the Hitler Youth". This is untrue (see my book: Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age, San Francisco, 2007).

Finally, deeply offensive, and indeed racialist, is the nickname he uses: "old Sour Kraut". This pathetic attempt at wit evidently appeals to Mr O'Doherty, as he repeated it on 3 July 2007, where he falsely accuses the Pope of "his shameful record of cover-ups and protection of rapists". How low can you go! This really is gutter press of the worst kind - an insult to all Catholics, many of whom, I presume, still subscribe to your paper.

And yet, to my knowledge, there has been no public protest at such atrocious journalism. In no other country but Ireland would it be tolerated. Shame on you!

REV DR D VINCENT

TWOMEY SVD

Professor Emeritus of Theology

Maynooth

Co Kildare
benefan
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 04:46

Pope Is Man of Heart, Says Cardinal Bertone


Vatican Secretary of State Speaks to Press


PIEVE DI CADORE, JULY 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says that the secret to Benedict XVI's popularity is his character, because he is a man of God who loves, and who speaks from the heart.

The Vatican secretary of state said this today when speaking with journalists in a press conference near Lorenzago di Cadore, the spot where the Pope is vacationing until July 27.

Cardinal Bertone was recently sworn in as the chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church in a ceremony took place in the presence of Benedict XVI on July 7. The Pope had named him to the post April 4.

The cardinal told the press how the Holy Father is spending his days of vacation: "The Pope is playing the piano a lot but he is also working. He has a great capacity to write a lot. He is writing the second part of his book, 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and a new encyclical with a social theme -- I don't know when it will be published -- and other things.

"He is a volcano of creativity. He is working on things like the message for World Youth Day 2008 and other things 'in pectore.' And he is drawing out and elaborating further themes he has already written about."

The extensive press conference included a variety of themes, including women working in the Roman Curia, reactions to three recent Vatican documents, the personality of Benedict XVI and the persecution of Christians.

Asked about women in the Roman Curia, Cardinal Bertone said, "We are designing new posts, and according to the possibilities, there will be posts that women could also take on."

3 documents

Journalists asked the cardinal about recent Vatican documents, which have brought much media attention.

Speaking of Benedict XVI's May 27 letter to the faithful in China, Cardinal Bertone hailed positive reactions among the Chinese people. He spoke of a bishop from that Asian country who had written to say that the papal letter is being meditated upon and studied. Cardinal Bertone expressed his hopes that the official and the underground Church in China would walk together toward unity.

"The Pope's letter has become an instrument of reflection, dialogue and comfort," he said.

Cardinal Bertone also commented on the July 7 apostolic letter "Summorum Pontificum," issued "motu proprio" (on one's own initiative). The cardinal affirmed that the Pope's expansion of the use of the 1962 missal reflects the Holy Father's desire to protect the heritage of the Church.

The Vatican secretary of state spoke of the June 29 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the Catholic understanding of the Church. Cardinal Bertone said the document, in its honest presentation of Catholic teaching, shows how close Christians are in certain areas, and how far away in others.

"To have honest theological dialogue we must have a clear idea of the positions on the other side. This helps us understand the path we must take," he said. "This document is not a slap in the face, but an invitation" to more open dialogue.

Benedict XVI's patience

Cardinal Bertone also fielded questions regarding his experience as secretary of state and the personality of the Pope.

The 72-year-old cardinal characterized the Pontiff as a man of God and noted his cordiality and infinite patience.

"I have never seen him perturbed in meetings in the Vatican, when he may have had reason to be. He is very kind," the cardinal added, noting that he meets with the Holy Father for about two hours, three times a week.

Cardinal Bertone further commented on Benedict XVI's capacity for listening and showing respect, even to the youngest or most inexperienced of his collaborators.

Papal worries

Journalists asked Cardinal Bertone about the phenomenon of pedophilia, especially after Sunday's announcement in Los Angeles, California, of the largest court settlement yet in cases of alleged sexual abuse of children by clergy.

The secretary of state affirmed that it is a concern of the Pope, but also highlighted that the percentage of priests that have been found guilty of abuse is very low. The crime of pedophilia is not something that happens just with Catholics, but among other institutions as well, he added.

Cardinal Bertone said the persecution of Christians is another of the Pope's concerns, citing countries like Iraq. The situation of peace in the Holy Land and European values are also among Benedict XVI's worries, the cardinal said.

The Vatican official also spoke of Catholic relations with Muslims.

"We have begun a serene conversation with the Muslim world, which is continuing," he said. "We are on the path of open dialogue with the Muslim world."
loriRMFC
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 07:27
NEWS ARTICLES & LORENZAGO UPDATE (yay!)
Thanks again for posting. Wow at Don Durighetto! He continues to do the work of a parish priest at his age. A great example of dedication for others. Great that he has his health as well & can fish. Another 'question time' w/ Papa! How lucky are those priests? Yet I don't think not to many media outlets are taking note that Benedict will be doing something unpredented for the 6th time.

An interesting analogy; calling Pope Benedict the John Wayne of Popes, but it makes sense. The article below by Fr. Morris is good; I'll think I'll send it to some friends. Even my parish priest said at the end of the mass how parishioners had been coming up to him questioning about the CDF document. He clarified what was really said & ended saying "If you want to know the truth, go to the source. Not Sun Sentinel, not MSNBC." I couldn't help but grin hearing that & seeing heads nodding in agreement infront of me.


loriRMFC
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 07:45
Opinion divided on Mass decision – Some downplay demand for old rite, but other liturgists predict confusion
Teresa, if this has already been posted:DELETE AWAY! I don't think it has, though.

By John L. Allen Jr.
July 18, 2007
National Catholic Reporter - (www.ncronline.org )

VATICAN CITY (National Catholic Reporter) - Pope Benedict XVI's decision to broaden permission for celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass appears to be playing to predictably mixed reviews, with some observers praising its intent and downplaying its likely impact, while others suggest it poses risks of division and theological confusion.

On July 7, the Vatican released "Summorum Pontificum," a motu proprio, or document under the pope's personal authority, that eliminates requirements for priests who want to celebrate the pre-Vatican II Mass to obtain special permission from the local bishop. The document takes effect Sept. 14.

Under the terms of the ruling, use of the older Mass becomes optional, not mandatory. Benedict XVI calls the new Mass the "ordinary" form of the Mass, and the pre-Vatican II rite the "extraordinary" form.

According to the new rules, a priest can celebrate the old Mass privately whenever he wants, even with people attending, except during Holy Week. He can celebrate it publicly in a parish whenever a "stable" group of Catholics asks for it. If priests and bishops won’t accommodate a group’s request, the motu proprio allows them to take their case to the Vatican office in charge of the old Mass, known as the Ecclesia Dei Commission.

The pre-Vatican II rite is also known as the "1962 Missal," because that was the year in which the Mass was last re-issued prior to the reforms of Second Vatican Council (1962-65). It’s also sometimes called the "Latin Mass," but experts point out that’s misleading because the post-Vatican II Mass can also be said in Latin. "Summorum Pontificum" provides for celebration not just of the Mass, but of the other sacraments and also the funeral rite according to the 1962 formula.

At the popular level, the most obvious differences are that the priest celebrates the old Mass facing east, with his back to the congregation, and that the old Mass is said in Latin, while the new Mass is generally celebrated in the local language.

Advocates of the pre-Vatican II Mass were understandably elated.

"The traditional Mass is a true gem of the church’s heritage, and the holy father has taken the most important step toward making it available to many more of the faithful," said Michael Dunnigan, chairman of Una Voce America, an organization that has long promoted celebration of the older rite.

Several observers expressed skepticism that the numbers of priests or Catholics likely to choose to celebrate the old Mass will be terribly large.

Msgr. James Moroney, executive director of the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, estimated that at present perhaps "2 to 3 percent" of the priests in the United States know how to celebrate Mass according to the pre-Vatican II rite, and said that even under the more liberal rules of "Summorum Pontificum," he doubts that figure will rise above 5 to 10 percent. (Then these priests could take a class on the mass of 1962...*sigh*)

"This will not be a widespread phenomenon that in any way threatens the ordinary form of the Mass," Msgr. Moroney said. "We’re talking about a relatively small number of people." (Threatens? Why use that term? I've only experienced the new Mass & I don't feel threatned.)

Msgr. Moroney argued that American bishops had already been fairly generous in permitting celebration of the old Mass under a 1984 ruling from Pope John Paul II, which allowed it with the bishop's approval, so in his view there’s not much pent-up demand.

Some liturgical experts expressed concern that however small the number of devotees of the old Mass may be, the pope’s ruling has potentially negative implications.

Benedictine Sister Mary Collins, a popular liturgical author and speaker, said that by allowing priests to bypass the local bishop, the bishops' "pastoral authority is being undermined in favor of a growth in Roman centralization."

Sister Collins also argued that the pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II rites have "distinct ecclesiologies," with the pre-Vatican II Mass, she said, expressing an "unashamedly monarchical and hierarchical" vision.

"This motu proprio will cause confusion and generate fragmentation, wittingly or unwittingly," Sister Collins said.

Jesuit Father Keith Pecklers, a liturgical expert at Rome's Gregorian University, agreed that the fundamental question is ecclesiology.

"Proponents of this rite largely disagreed with the Vatican Council's view of the church in dialogue with the modern world, adapting the liturgy to diverse cultural situations, engaging in ecumenical dialogue with other Christians and interreligiously with Jews and Muslims," he said.

Father Pecklers also predicted practical difficulties, as diocesan bishops who are already "overextended with too many responsibilities" will now have to deal with constituencies demanding not just the old Mass, but also the other sacraments. He also noted that the two rites follow different calendars, creating the potential for deeper confusion.

One element of the old Mass has drawn fire from Jewish groups and Catholic advocates of Jewish-Christian dialogue - the fact that the Good Friday liturgy in the 1962 Missal contains a prayer for the "conversion of the Jews."

"We are extremely disappointed and deeply offended," said Abraham

Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "This is a theological setback in the religious life of Catholics and a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations." (This same foolishness again? Why doesn't John Allen note that Blessed John XXIII already took this out??)

Msgr. Moroney described "Summorum Pontificum" as an "ambitious attempt" by Benedict XVI to foster reconciliation with Catholics alienated by the reforms in the liturgy that followed Vatican II. He said the pope is concerned about three such groups:

- Catholics who have been attached to the old rite since childhood;

- Catholics subjected to what Msgr. Moroney described as "undue and unwarranted creativity not foreseen by the reformers";

- Traditionalist followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Msgr. Moroney said that with the third group, known popularly as the "Lefebvrites," the possibilities for swift reconciliation are probably limited. For this group, most observers believe, the old Mass is a symbol of deeper objections to the post-Vatican II church, especially its teaching on ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and church/state separation.

Sacred Heart Sister Kathleen Hughes, a scholar in residence at the Collegeville Institute at St. John's University in Minnesota, said that those who opt for the pre-Vatican II Mass will be missing a great deal.

Sister Hughes pointed to "the nine eucharistic prayers, the variety of prefaces, the hundreds of original texts that have been able to name particular circumstances when the assembly gathers ... [and] the revised funeral rite which includes different texts for those who die as infants or in old age, those who die by suicide or violence, or after a long and suffering affliction." She also cited "the variety of patterns of reconciliation, the rediscovered unity and order of the sacraments of initiation, and the recovery of the sacrament of the sick for those who are seriously ill though not at the point of death."

Father Pecklers said he shares the pope’s desire "to recover the dimension of the transcendent, the symbolic, within Catholic worship," but said that in his view the best way to go about it is to continue efforts to improve liturgies using the post-Vatican II rites.



John L. Allen Jr. is National Catholic Reporter senior correspondent.

SOURCE: www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=2474...

====================================================================

Frankly, I am very disappointed that John Allen took time out from his deadline-making effort just to come up with this sorry little piece that plays up all the dumb and prejudiced views of those who dislike the traditional Mass. Particularly these very vocally disobedient priests and nuns who argue all the wrong things...[And I agree Allen should know better than just to parrot Foxman's tired and groundless accusation without stating the facts!...Are you sure the byline for this article is not Joan Chittister Allen????]

It is they who feel 'threatened' by it - what a blow to their egos, they think - otherwise why should they be so vehement about something they can completely ignore if they want to, and that does not in any way detract from the Novus Ordo to which they are as fanatically attached as some traditionalists are to the Old Mass? If the people interested in the old Mass are such a pitifully insignificant number, then why are they all so worked up about it?

All this naysaying completely ignores the spirit of the Pope's letter and his appeal for unity and reconciliation. And I think that's what offends and saddens me most of all - this open defiance and disobedience of the Pope.

Compare the assorted types that Allen appears to cite approvingly with this French bishop! It's very apropos to cite parts of an article written by the Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand in France, Mons. Hippolyte Simon, which appeared in Le Monde on July 14, and excerpted by Patrice de Plunkett on his blog on 7/17. I tried to get the entire article from le Monde online, but it is accessible only to subscribers. Here is a translation of the blog.



A brilliant article by Mons. Hippolyte Simon
in Le Monde on July 14, 2007

By Patrice de Plunkett

The bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, whom no one would call 'conservative', has just published a remarkable article - in Le Monde yet! Excerpts:

Since the issuance of Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio liberalizing the Catholic liturgy, I am often asked what I am going to do. Every time, I answer the same way: "What a question! Obbviously, I will obey!"

And I will obey for two reasons: First, which should be enough, is that I am a bishop, and on the day I was ordained, I vowed communion and obedience to the Pope. If I had any reasons of conscience not to obey, there is only one thing I should do: present my resignation to the Vatican.

But I do not have any conscientious objections that would oblige me to resign, and I would not abandon my flock in the line of fire over a question of liturgy....

And Mons. Simon, reading the text of the Motu Proprio objectively, goes on to show how Benedict XVI - in restoring validity to the Missal of John XXIII - 'totally devastates' the Lefebvriste arguments against Vatican-II. His article concludes:

"I hope that the faithful who are devoted to the Council are not going to harden into a fundamentalism in the name of opening to modernity, which can only be the symmetrical reflection of the fundamentalism in the name of loyalty to tradition."

Because in both cases, they are missing the essence!

That the Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand expresses himself this way is a sign of the times. A page is turning. We should all take note.



TERESA BENEDETTA
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 15:17
LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED BY
THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2007



AUGUST

8/15 Wednesday
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
8 a.m. HOLY MASS
Parish Church of St. Thomas
Castel Gandolfo


SEPTEMBER

9/01 Saturday
9/02 Sunday
Trip to Loreto for the Agora of Italian Youth
[Eucharistic Vigil on Saturday, Holy Mass on Sunday]

9/07-9/09 Friday-Sunday
Apostolic voyage to Austria
[Various celebrations in Vienna and Mariazell]

9/23 Sunday
Pastoral visit to Velletri*
9:30 HOLY MASS
at Cathedral square


Vatican Press Office Bulletin
7/19/07


====================================================================

*As PETRUS helpfully points out, Velletri is the site of the Suburban Church of Velletri-Segni, Cardinal Ratzinger's titular cathedral when he was promoted to the rank of cardinal-bishop in 1993. Before that, his titular church (since 1977) was Santa Maria Consolatrice in Tiburtino, which was the object of his first pastoral visit to a Roman parish as Pope in December 2005.

His last titular Church as Cardinal was the Suburban Church of Ostia, which he assumed in November 2002 when he became Dean of the College of Cardinals. It is now the titular church of his successor as Dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The current titular holder of Velletri-Segni is Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

TERESA BENEDETTA
00giovedì 19 luglio 2007 15:45
SOME DESK-CLEARING THAT WAS!

This is a 7/13/07 article I didn't get to see till today, but I'm posting it anyway because it gives the MSM interpretation about the timing and presentation of certain important Vatican documents.

Also, because the Benedict newsday today appears to be a slow one. All the news from Lorenzago so far is still about Cardinal Bertone's news conference yesterday,`and the Pope will not do anything 'scheduled' till the concert to be given in his honor tomorrow night by seven mountaintown choirs at Castello Mirabello.



This summer, Vatican tradition
brings flurry of decisions, documents

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Before Pope Benedict XVI took off for his summer vacation in the Italian Alps, he engaged in a time-honored Vatican tradition: clearing his desk.

That resulted in a flurry of decisions and documents, some long-awaited and some complete surprises. Their common denominator, apparently, was that no one wanted to deal with them again when they returned to their offices in September.

Topping the list was the pope's July 7 apostolic letter on wider use of the Tridentine Mass. The document had been floating around so long that the Latin term "motu proprio," which refers to the form of the text, actually was making it into mainstream news reports.

The pope began consulting on the Tridentine question in late 2005, and in early 2006 he discussed a draft text with members of the Roman Curia and the world's cardinals.

The document then went into hibernation, and some people are still wondering why. After all, very few changes were made in the course of its preparation, according to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a strong supporter of the pope's decree.

In the end, the pope acknowledged some apprehensions about his decision but made it abundantly clear that he wanted wider latitude shown to traditionalist groups who desire Mass in the old rite.

The outcome was not surprising to reporters covering the Vatican. What seemed a little odd was that such a sensitive document was not unveiled at a Vatican press conference.

Before his election, Pope Benedict participated in many such press conferences as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At best, these media events can head off confusion and resolve doubts about a document; at worst, they add unnecessary verbiage and risk veering off into irrelevant controversies.

Perhaps the pope weighed the option and decided that his voice -- in the Tridentine Mass letter and an accompanying explanatory letter -- was enough.

The lack of a press conference was also noticed on three other recent occasions: the release of the pope's letter to Chinese Catholics, a change in papal conclave rules and a doctrinal document insisting that the Catholic Church was the true church of Christ.

The letter to Chinese Catholics was so finely tuned that a press conference was probably never even considered. Again, the Vatican decided not to bury what the pope was saying in a lot of extraneous comment.

The China letter also had been expected for months and went through an ample review process involving Vatican departments and others.

In contrast, the pope's one-page letter changing the conclave rules dropped out of nowhere. Clearly, this was something the pope did not feel needed broad or lengthy consultation.

For journalists in the Vatican's press room, the conclave change was a reminder to always be prepared for anything. It simply appeared in the noon press bulletin, in Latin and with no translation.

Fortunately, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, had been briefed and could answer some questions. The pope's move effectively restored the two-thirds majority for all circumstances of papal election, eliminating a simple majority option.

The latest document to drop out of the Vatican pipeline was a statement reaffirming that the Catholic Church is the one true church, even though "elements" of truth can be found in other Christian communities. It was personally approved by the pope.

Although it agitated the ecumenical waters, the document said nothing new, raising the question of why it was released at this particular moment. The Vatican said it was because of possible confusion in theological and ecumenical circles.

Those who see a grand design in Vatican actions, however, suspected it may have been another olive branch to the breakaway traditionalist followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre -- just three days after the Tridentine Mass decree. In this reading, the Vatican has delivered a double demonstration, liturgical and doctrinal, that answers some of the Lefebvrites' strongest objections about the modern church.

The doctrinal document certainly illustrated Pope Benedict's ongoing concern with the correct implementation of the Second Vatican Council. It was chock full of footnotes citing Vatican II documents and emphasized that the council never intended to question the "fullness of grace and truth" present in the Catholic Church.

In a similar manner, the decree on the Tridentine Mass insisted that the council had never officially abrogated the old liturgy, which can therefore coexist with the new Mass. As the pope said early in his pontificate, Vatican II teachings must be seen as reform and not as "discontinuity and rupture" with the past.

Pope Benedict also made some long-expected appointments in June and July. One of the most important was the naming of French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran as head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, a move that signaled priority interest in interfaith relations.

Five more appointments were announced, too. The timing probably had as much to do with logistics as anything: Summer vacation gives relocating prelates a chance to move their offices and, if needed, their residences.

As for the pope, he's not expected to return to his desk at the Vatican until the end of September. After nearly three weeks of "real" vacation in the mountains, he'll spend most of the summer at his villa in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, where he keeps up a limited schedule of meetings.

This year, he'll interrupt his time at Castel Gandolfo for two pastoral visits: to Marian shrines in the southern Italian city of Loreto and the Austrian pilgrimage site of Mariazell.


TERESA BENEDETTA
00venerdì 20 luglio 2007 00:03
FR. BOSSI IS FREE - GREAT JOY FOR THE POPE AND THE CHURCH

MILAN - "A very great joy!" (Una grandissima gioia!) was the Pope'e reaction to the liberation of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, the Italian missionary abducted in southern Philippines last June 10.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the news was great joy for the whole Church.

At the start of hs vacation in Lonrenzago last July 9, the Pope told newsmen that he offered daily prayers for Fr. Bossi.


[I will now transfer all other reporting on Fr. Bossi to NEWS ABOUT THE CHURCH, unless some later development will directly involve the Pope.]


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 20:21.
Copyright © 2000-2024 FFZ srl - www.freeforumzone.com