NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Mr. Elie can interpret (or misinterpret) history, but he cannot change it. Let’s pray that Papa will surprise some people.

Great work, Teresa!!! Thanks!!

I'd like to add my thanks to Teresa Benedetta for your work in posting the article here for those of us who are not subscribers to the Atlantic or haven't purchased a copy, as well as your subsequent reading of it. I just finished posting in the RFC thread concerning this which I'll just repeat here.

------------------
I've had a chance to read the piece. Without calling him names and with all due respect to Paul Elie, I also think this article is negative and paints Joseph Ratzinger as a man who was aiming to become Pope during John Paul's declining health, despite his well reported wishes for retirement. And since I fully agree with Amy Wellborn's interpretation of the article and she expresses her point better than I could ever do, I'll quote the meat of her opinion here:

---

I am interested in Elie's insistence on implying that Ratzinger's assumption of certain roles (for example, engaging in substantive meetings with bishops on ad limina visits when John Paul was unable to do more than just greet them) or wrangling with an issue in a different way that John Paul seemed prone to do (Dominus Iesus, for example, interepreted by Elie and others as a way to balance out, not just the religious relativism and indifferentism rampant even within Catholicism, but to certain symbolic gestures by John Paul II himself) - that all of this amounts to indicating a desire for the papal office, or, more generally, a desire to run the church. Which is, of course, why Ratzinger kept trying to resign and return to Germany - a point which Elie mentions but ignores the significance of.

I think what is missing in this piece is an understanding of how serious Christians understand service and discipleship. No one argues that ego can always get injected into the mix, or that motives, even of good people, are always pure and unmixed. But Elie, while not ascribing outright deviousness to Ratzinger, does indeed imply that he was angling for the job of running the Church his own way. But even based on his own evidence, one can come to a very different conclusion, based, as I said, on a different understanding of what should motivate Christians, and, indeed, does motivate many of them: to discern the call of the Spirit to do what is necessary. So if John Paul was unable to engage substantively with visiting bishops, and if ad limina visits are supposed to serve a certain purpose which and if the Pope cannot engage or make use of the information that might come out of those meetings...why should everything come to a halt? Someone needs to step in and hear those concerns and make sure that the process works the best it can under the circumstances. And if, during those meetings, Ratzinger was, indeed, interested and attentive (which is what I've heard , and what Elie reports) - why does that imply that he's interested because he's trying to curry favor or make a good impression in order to serve his own interests - for that is the implication of this article. Why can't it be that Ratzinger truly was concerned and interested? One of the things that has struck me about this Pope since I started reading and paying attention to him, is not just how intellectually deep and adept he is, but of how understanding he is of the human condition, and not just abstractly, but as it is lived in 2006. That "desert" imagery in his homily at his inaugrual Mass sealed the deal for me on that score, and nothing I've heard since has disappointed me.

I could go on with more examples, but I think you get my point. If I'm working in a parish in which the pastor, for example, is alienating people right and left, and if I try, within the limits of my role, to ameliorate that situation, am I angling for the pastor's job? If I perceive that the other religion teacher tends to emphasize, let us say, the more affective aspects of religious faith, so I therefore decide to utilize my own gifts and emphasize the more cognitive aspects, does that mean I'm trying to take her job? Not really. It means that in this matter of ministering in the Body of Christ, there is this constant shifting dynamic of what is done and by whom. If Cardinal Ratzinger discerned that certain points of faith needed to be emphasized by his Congregation...so?

---

Link - amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/2006/01/vaticanisti_abo.html

That pretty much says it all for me.

[Modificato da .Imladris. 16/01/2006 1.29]

Over the last couple of days, I read that article. It took me so long because I had to stop periodically from total frustration!!! Yes, we can be thankful that history will not be written by Mr. Paul Elie. I know his ramblings (and those of others like him) will never change my feelings of profound gratitude for Papa.

Here is a commentary published 1/13/05 by La Repubblica's Vatican correspondent Marco Politi,
on Benedict's address to the administrators of the city and province of Rome and the region of
Lazio last week.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Papa Ratzinger has crossed the Rubicon. With his words to Veltroni, Marrazzo and Gasbarra,
who came to give him New Year’s greetings, not to receive instructions on what administrative
provisions to adopt, the Pope has overstepped the line which defines the correct and respectful
distinction between the spheres of Church and State.

Up till now, Benedict XVI had limited himself to moral exhortations addressed to bishops,
to the faithful, and – if you will – to all Italians. And one could believe, although with
increasing difficulty, that the new Pope would occupy the chair of someone who can exercise
a universal magisterium, but leave the risky task of getting involved in Italian politics
to the local church, to the Conference of Italian Bishops.

But as of yesterday, Benedict XVI crossed the boundary of sane laicity, which even in ecclesiastical
doctrine, means “respect for the legitimate autonomy of temporal powers” (the definition
is Cardinal Ruini’s). The Pope spoke to the representatives of (government)institutions, and
urged a veto on going forward with the pill RU-486 and the recognition of de-facto
partnerships, to people who had been elected to govern a city, a province, a region.

It is an injury to every citizen – Christian believer or otherwise – who entrusts his own
(elected) representatives with the task of finding solutions to problems, taking into account the
plurality of opinions, religions and beliefs which characterize Italy today.

One really expects from ecclesiastical authorities, in view of a law on abortion ratified by
an overwhelming majority of Italians, to determine what types of interventions or medications
could be used to minimize the sense of guilt in women who interrupt a pregnancy. It is less
expected that the Church concern itself with whether there is a social need in Italy to recognize
de facto unions, already legal in many parts of Europe without having provoked any trauma to the
institution of marriage. To give juridical form to the needs of society and to new developments
that emerge is what deputies and councillors are for, and among them, there are many Catholics.

That the Pope is free to speak? Yes, indeed with 360 degrees of liberty. But so is everybody free
to agree, criticize, polemicize, without anyone shouting “lese majeste.” There is a strong
impression that in some ecclesiastical establishments , the successful campaign to get people
to abstain from voting in the last referendum (on liberalizing the law on assisted procreation)
has provoked an excess of confidence and an under-estimation of the inner temperament of
Italians. The Italian population is versatile. It pays great attention to the Church but
it wants to decide on its own. When it is asked whether the Church should interfere in
politics, the response is illuminating; 23% think that the Church should always be
involved, 32% think it should limit its involvement to strictly religious matters, and
41% think “it should never try to influence the decisions of politicians.”

It is right that the Church Magisterium gives indications but it should not assume these will be
binding. Because the majority prefer to decide on their own according to flexible and subjective
criteria. In the end, it should be left to conscience to decide. The conscience of the
individual and the conscience of the legislator.

The ball is now in the politicians’ court. It would be good to clear the field of any mistifications
which have circulated for months. Constitutional protection of the family does not prevent public
regularization of de-facto unions. Otherwise, divorce – which breaks up the family - would never
have been possible. As for the abortion pill, no arbitrary evaluations that can be presented,
but (its use) only needs medical vigilance. Whoever truly wants to promote the family and
the birth rate knows something else needs to be done. Something which has not been done for
decades! [I must confess I have no idea what he is referring to here!]

I must take issue once again with Politi for the new broadside he has fired against Benedict. Politi is the journalist who marked Benedict's first six months in office with a “non-story” that many of his colleagues quickly picked up and purveyed. Lacking any "scoop" to report, Politi had written that Benedict has actually done nothing, sees very few people, listens to no one, and makes decisions all by himself in an invory tower. Facile conclusions that other reporters around the world - too lazy to find out facts for themselves - have since been repeating in a mad echo-chamber of distortions that gullible minds have by now accepted as fact!

Now, he accuses the Pope of crossing the line that demarcates the spheres of Church and State. How? By speaking to elected officials who run the city and province of Rome and rhe region of Lazio and placing his “veto on going forward with the (abortifacient) pill RU-486 and the recognition of de-facto partnerships.” As if that was all he talked about. There was much more, to which no one could take exception, so Mr. Politi does not refer to them at all.

What exactly did the Pope say about these two issues?
He, of course, never mentioned RU-486. He said one sentence that referred to it –
“It is necessary to avoid introducing drugs that, in a certain sense, conceal the seriousness of abortion, as an option against life."
And on the subject of de-facto partnerships-
"It is a grave error to cloud the value and functions of the legitimate family, founded on marriage, attributing to other forms of union improper juridical recognition, of which there does not exist, in reality, any effective social exigency.”

He is re-stating Church positions that have been articulated over and over lately. In what way is he overstepping any bounds? The fact that his audience is composed of elected officials? If, conversely, a politician addressed the same group and espoused the opposite of what the Pope said, urging them not to listen to what the Church says in this respect, would he then be overstepping this boundary? It takes very little to reduce Mr. Politi’s allegation to absurdity, and yet he doesn’t see that he is being absurd.

Re-stating the Church’s principles does not mean imposing them, any more than a politician advocating his own platforms does. It ls for the citizens and voters being addressed to decide whose stand they will take at the ballot box. That is what the democratic dialog is all about. In a democracy, speaking your mind is not interference.

Politi claims the Pope’s words constituted “an injury to every citizen – Christian believer or otherwise – who entrusts his own (elected) representatives with the task of finding solutions to problems, taking into account the plurality of opinions, religions and beliefs which characterize Italy today.”

How is a citizen injured by hearing the other side of a democratic dialog? Even if the group of local officials the Pope addressed had any hand in framing national laws – which they don’t, because their role is to implement the law as it stands - they are not being coerced to accept the Pope’s dicta. The Pope has no power whatsoever in temporal government – that is separation of Church and State, and properly so. His words are exhortatory; his audience can accept it or not, individually or collectively. What is Politi huffing and puffing about?

Journalists, including Politi, have been free to criticize and even excoriate the Church and the Pope all along. Has anyone ever screamed “lese majeste” (offense against the dignity of a sovereign power)? This is the 2ist century, where no one is above criticism, and “lese majeste” is an 18th-century concept.
Mr. Politi is being absurdly melodramatic.

“It is right that the Church Magisterium gives indications but it should not assume these will be binding,” he pontificates. So what if it does? It expects conscientious Catholics to listen to what the Church says, but it knows not everybody listens. So what’s new? This 2,000-year-old institution is not naïve. Of course, it knows that in the end, it is individual conscience that decides. But if the Church has taught the faithful well, then their individual consciences may well decide in favor of what the Church teaches. Then it will have won another battle in the never-ending conflict of competing ideas and principles!

FIRST GLIMPSE AT ENCYCLICAL

From ANSA

First words of new papal document

Benedict's encyclical warns about dangers of pure 'eros' (ANSA) - Rome, January 16 - Pope Benedict XVI begins his first encyclical with the words "God is love" and goes on to discuss the concept in 50 pages which explore the themes of charity and eros.

Encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal writing. Although they are aimed at the entire Catholic world, they usually take the form of a letter to bishops .

Benedict's first such document, whose Latin title is Deus Caritas Est (God is love), is expected to be officially released later this week. According to well-placed sources, the first part of the document contains a warning from the pope about the danger of separating human, erotic love from divine love .

Without "love founded on faith and moulded by it", eros ends up being "merchandise" that can be bought and sold", the pope reportedly says .

The second part of the document looks at the concept of charity, especially as a part of the Catholic Church's relationship with the world .

Charity will always be needed "even in the most just societies", the pope says, adding that this activity must be kept separate from political parties or ideologies .

The first lines of Benedict's encyclical are believed to be: "God is love, whoever stands in love resides in God and God resides in him. These words from the letter of Saint John express with singular clarity the centre of the Christian faith, the Christian image of God and also the resulting vision of man and his path."

thanks Teresa..i hope people will get to read and assimilate his coming encyclical

The Italian online news agency tgcom published today a scheme to describe
Pope Benedict's approach to the concept of love in his first encyclical,
now expected to be presented on January 19.



A translation of the above -

THE WORDS FOR LOVE
Benedict XVI dedicates his first encyclical
to the theme of love, recalling that
traditional theology distinguished two types:
Concupiscent love vs Love that gives
In ancient Greece:eros - agape
In Latin: amor - caritas
In the Middle Ages: profane love - Christian love
Common meaning at present:
falling in love/sexual attraction - charity

For the theologian Pope, there is no need
to radicalize this opposition:
When that is done, (love as the)
characteristic aspect of Christianity
is detached from the fundamental context
of human life. Rather, the more that
both dimensions are unified, the more
the true essence of love, God, is realized.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Later, tgcom posted an article from the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero by a writer
who apparently has seen parts of the encyclical. Here is a translation of his piece:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THEOLOGY OF THE INCARNATION
By Sergio Givone

We will not know the full text of Pope Benedict’s first encyclical for a few more days,
but we know now that its theme is the central message of Christianity. Or as the Pope
formulates it in the opening sentence of the encyclical:
“God is love, whoever stands in love resides in God and God resides in him. These words
from the letter of Saint John express with singular clarity the centre of the Christian
faith, the Christian image of God and also the resulting vision of man and his path."

The Pope as theologian/philosopher reviews the links between theology and anthropology
as well as the concepts of God and of man. If God is love, then man should pattern his whole
existence on love. Christianity is essentially a message of love. But what exactly does
one mean by Christian love? The gospel uses the Latin word “caritas”. Charity is
the basis of love, the love which St. Paul proclaims in his first letter to the Corinthians:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love)is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered,it does not
brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The following appears to be the thread of the exposition:
The Pope explains in which sense love and charity are one and the same. First,one must
get rid of all previous equivocations, starting with that which dissociates love into
two diverse and incompatible aspects.On the one hand, erotic love, on the other
fraternal love; eros versus agape. Tradition, going back towards the end of classical
times and the birth of Christianity,has accustomed us to think of eros and agape as if
they are two opposed realities, thus misrepresenting both concepts.

Eros thus becomes reduced to merely sexual impulses and deprived of that urge to beauty
which in fact gives it force and value. In turn, agape is transfigured and sublimated
into an ascetic concept that forgets man as a creature of flesh and blood.

The Pope then invites us not to degrade eros. It is degraded by whoever reduces to
a mere skin game, to a simple instrument of pleasure, or worse, to an instrument of deceit,
dominion and possession- in short, by not seeing eros as a precious gift which reveals
a man, as he truly is, to others.

Eros is human profundity, knowledge, an act which can transfigure, not a banal object
of consumption. And so one must approach it with awe and care in order to live it in all
its wondrous, fragile and delicate reality. It is diminished if one takes it lightly and loses
sight of how it relates to the bigger, higher things in life. Eros without a degree of agape
is no longer eros, even, because it becomes a death impulse. Eros with agape becomes more
than eros, it becomes love – that love which is God himself, but also the love which men
experience in the fullness of existence, the presence of which is the presence of God himself.

How then can we define God who is love, except through the God who was born, who was
incarnated, who became man?

It is here that the theological sense of the encyclical become clear. It is a theology
of the Incarnation, which links man to God indissolubly – because it attributes to God
everything that is most human in man, and to man, everything that is most divine. And what
is more human than love, love which is both eros and agape? Such a love, we are reminded,
is not only the image of God. It is God himself.
------------------------------------------------------------
Additional info from tgcom -

It was originally planned to present the encyclical on January 25, 47th anniversary of John XXIII’s
convocation of the second Vatican Councill, but it is now more likely to take place on Jan. 19.

Two Curial authorities will present the encyclical at a news conference: Archbishop William Levada,
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who will speak about the first part
of the encyclical, which is a theological reflection on God as love, with references to the
various concepts of love under the eros-agape dichotomy; and Monsignor Josef Cordes,
head of Cor Unum, the council in charge of papal charities, who will present the second part –
love as a social doctrine, in its applications to society and politics and in the life of
the Church itself through its works of charity. This part of the encyclical will also discuss
charity in the context of justice and peace, two themes of major concern during the Papacy
of John Paul II and which Benedict XVI has similarly stressed in his statements so far.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/01/2006 0.07]

The Pope with representatives of the Jewish community in Rome. Dr. Da Segni,
Chief Rabbi, is third from left. (Photo from Avvenire)

The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Da Segni, invited Pope Benedict to visit the Synagogue in Rome when he met him in audience at the Vatican yesterday, Jan. 16.

“In April we will mark 20 years since the historic visit of your predecessor to the Synagogue of Rome – a unique event, but there is no reason it cannot be repeated by the new Pope, who is always welcome,” Da Segni said. The Pope received him and a delegation representing the Jewish community in Rome.

Benedict XVI began his short address by referring to Moses' song of thanksgiving after his passage through the Red Sea. "Your visit fills me with joy," he said "and it motivates me to renew with you this song of thanks for salvation. The people of Israel have been liberated many times from the hands of their enemies and, in times of anti-Semitism, in the dramatic moments of the Shoah, the hand of the Almighty guided and sustained them. The favor of the God of the Covenant has always accompanied them, giving them the strength to overcome trials. Your Jewish community, present in the city of Rome for more than two thousand years, can also bear witness to this divine loving attention."

"The Catholic Church," he continued, "is close to you and is your friend. ... Following Vatican Council II the reciprocal esteem and trust between us has increased. Ever more fraternal and cordial contacts have developed, becoming even more intense during the pontificate of my venerated predecessor, John Paul II."

"In Christ we partake in your heritage of the Fathers, in order to serve the Almighty, ... grafted onto the one 'holy tree' of the people of God. As Christians, this fact makes us aware that, with you, we share in the responsibility of cooperating for the good of all people, in justice and peace, in truth and freedom, in holiness and love. Keeping in mind this shared mission we cannot fail to denounce and fight firmly against the hatred and misunderstanding, the injustice and violence that continue to worry the soul of men and women of good will. In this context, how can we not be pained and concerned over the renewal of manifestations of anti-Semitism?"

The Pope concluded by expressing his best wishes to the rabbi, affirming that "the many challenges and needs of Rome and the world demand that we unite our hands and hearts in concrete initiatives of solidarity, justice and charity. Together, we can work to transmit the torch of the Ten Commandments and of hope to the young generation."

For his part, the rabbi recalled the role played by John Paul II in weaving a new relationship with Judaism, and underscored how then-Cardinal Ratzinger had a “dEterminative role” in “the most important documents issued in John Paul’s pontificate) which defined doctrine. ” He expressed Appreciation for the “acts” and “declarations” of Benedict in condemning anti-Semitism and “fundamentalist terrorism.”

"From the first moments of the new Pontificate," Di Segni said, “we were strongly convinced that not only would there be no steps back in the common course that the Catholic church and Judaism had started together, but that the indicated road whould be followed progressively.”

“This conviction of ours,” he continued,“ has been confirmed already in your numerous acts, your declarations, in the sensitivity you have demonstrated to denounce anti-Semitism, past and present,in condemining fundamentalist terrorism, in your attention towards the state of Israel, which for the Jewish people is a central and essential reference point.”

‘The world is not waiting to find out whether Catholicism or Judaism represents the true faith, but wishes to know in what way each of us can be coherent to the sacred commitment that tradition imposes on us towards our fellowmen.

“Jewish Rome and Christian Rome - meeting each other, respecting each other, living together in peace, collaborating while each remains true to his faith - set an example for a world afflicted by conflicts which are often sustained by exacerbated religious visions.”

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/01/2006 18.59]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/01/2006 19.20]

In the nature of news that has been too long anticipated and may finally come to pass,
we have been getting driblets of information about THE ENCYCLICAL, so it will be
interesting to refer back later to these "previews" to see how close they are to fact.
This one is a translation from an article today in the newspaper IL GIORNALE.
Tornielli is a veteran Vatican correspondent who wrote one of the first biographies
about Benedict XVI shortly after April 19, 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------

LOVE, ACCORDING TO RATZINGER
By Andrea Tornielli

Benedict XVI’s first encyclical will most likely be made public Friday: the conditional tense
is obbligatory because the Vatican Press Office has not made any official announcement,
although the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana has already announced it will distribute
the text with the edition that goes on sale January 25.

“Deus caritas est” – God is love – is the title, as has been known for some time. So is
the structure of this awaited document, which will not be a “programmatic” encyclical
but a theological reflection on the love of God and on charity.

Because of the delayed release – it as originally expected to come out on December 8 –
the anticipation has grown, and yesterday the news agency ANSA published
a few fragments of supposedly direct quotes from the encyclical.

The text, consisting of 51 paragraphs in some 20 pages, is composed of two parts:
the first one are the reflections of Joseph Ratzinger, theologian, who first
explains that Christian revelation finds its culimnation in the expression found in the
first letter of John: “God is love, whoever stands in love resides in God and
God resides in him. These words from the letter of Saint John express with singular
clarity the centre of the Christian faith, the Christian image of God and also the
resulting vision of man and his path."

Then, the encyclical goes on to warn against dissociating the two dimensions of love,
eros and agape. Without agape, which is “love that is based on faith and shaped by it,”
eros ends up being “degraded into mere sex.” And "even man himself becomes
merchandise.” Whereas if eros and agape are united, they result in a perfect
synthesis, a unified concept of love which consists of giving to the other and
seeking the other. The Pope’s reflections therefore provide an answer to those who
would separate the two concepts.

The Pope notes that if the opposition is radicalized beween the love that gives,
agape, and sensual love, eros, love as the characteristic aspect of Christianity
would be detached from the fundamental context of human life. He points out that even
“matrimony (which) is based on an exclusive love” is an image of God’s relationship
to man. In the Christian faith, God is love who becomes man to save humanity.

The second part of the encyclical is dedicated to the theme of charity. It reportedly makes
use of material that was already drafted in the last months of John Paul II’s papacy by the
pontifical council Cor Unum, which had been established to “help the indigent.”
The Pope speaks of Christian charity as the solidarity and mutual responsibility
of Christians for each other.

It is the concept of ‘amore-caritas’ (love-charity) applied to the activities of lay
and Catholic charitable organizations. This dual concept of amore-caritas, says the Pope,
will always be necessary, even in the most just societies, and its activities should be
detached from and independent of parties and ideologies, because it is the
realization “here and now of the love which man is always in need off.”

A two-day conference organized by Cor Unum to discuss the encyclical will start
Monday, January 23, at the Vatican. Film director Liliana Cavani will present the encyclical.

The delay in the release of the encyclical appear to have been caused by internal problems
related to its translation. Specifically, in the Secretariat of State, between the German
section headed by Mons. Christopher Kuehn, and Bishop Paolo Sardi, chief “ghost writer”
for the Popes since the time of Paul VI, who, it is said, turns to the Pope’s former
governess-secretary Ingrid Stampa (now reportedly employed in the Secretariat) for all
questions regarding German translation.

It appears then that the translation of the encyclical was not originally given to
the section that traditionally handles translations, and that the official translators
subsequently decided to re-translate from scratch.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/01/2006 0.03]

AND EVEN MORE ON THE ENCYCLICAL

From the News.Telegraph

Love should not be confused with lust, says Pope

By Hilary Clarke in Rome
(Filed: 18/01/2006)

Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, expected in the next few days, warns believers not to confuse love with lust or degrade it "to mere sex".

The encyclical, a papal letter to bishops that sets out Roman Catholic policy, discusses the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape", a Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love.

"It is not totally negative on eros," a Vatican source said. "It argues that eros under the right circumstances is OK."

But the Pope issues a warning in the document, entitled Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), that eros risks being "degraded to mere sex" if it is not balanced with spiritual or divine love founded on the teachings of Jesus.

John Allen, a columnist with the National Catholic Reporter and one of the most respected Vatican watchers, said: "The Pope wants to make sure that everything he does is grounded in fundamentals in terms of objective truth.

"The encyclical is his attempt at being a compassionate conservative. In his mind, you can't really be free and happy unless you accept God's plan for human life."

Whe he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope was known as a staunch traditionalist whose election as pontiff filled liberal Catholics with dismay. While the encyclical focuses on sex, it is likely to be a good deal less controversial than the Vatican's recent instruction banning homosexuals from the priesthood.

Although the instruction is a much less important form of Vatican communication, it has infuriated Christian gay activists who see it as discriminatory.

In explaining his views on love and sex in the encyclical, the Pope quotes from biblical writings, encyclicals written by his predecessors and the works of philosophers such as the 17th century French thinker René Descartes.

He wrote the first part himself during his holiday in the Alps last summer. The second part, dedicated to the theme of charity, draws on the work of theologians working under Pope John Paul II, who died last April.

Italian newspapers reported the encyclical as saying that even in "more just societies" Christians should do charitable works, not just for the benefit of others but for their own good.

The Vatican declined to confirm that the encyclical would appear on Friday. But the magazine Famiglia Cristiana is to publish it as a special supplement on Jan 25.

The document was originally due out last December but was delayed as cardinals and senior theologians pored over every word.

Pope Benedict's first encyclical could prove a profitable source of income for the Vatican. The leaking of its contents coincide with news that the Vatican is to transfer copyright on papal texts to its own publishing house, which will then charge others wishing to publish them.

The introduction of Vatican publishing rights is one of the new Pope's first important administrative acts. A major source of controversy between the Vatican and publishers wishing to reprint papal texts will be the Vatican's desire to charge rights retroactively on any papal texts of the past 50 years.

The last pope published 2,770 titles under his name in English, 1,000 in Spanish and 330 in Italian, plus titles in other languages.

When Pope Benedict was still a cardinal, he published hundreds of texts, especially in his native Germany, with publishers having already acquired the rights. They could now face demands for hefty back-payments.

---

Pope Benedict's first encyclical could prove a profitable source of income for the Vatican. The leaking of its contents coincide with news that the Vatican is to transfer copyright on papal texts to its own publishing house, which will then charge others wishing to publish them.

The introduction of Vatican publishing rights is one of the new Pope's first important administrative acts. A major source of controversy between the Vatican and publishers wishing to reprint papal texts will be the Vatican's desire to charge rights retroactively on any papal texts of the past 50 years. ...

When Pope Benedict was still a cardinal, he published hundreds of texts, especially in his native Germany, with publishers having already acquired the rights. They could now face demands for hefty back-payments.

---

I would take whatever the Telegraph reports with a HUGE grain of salt! This thing about the Vatican wishing to charge retroactively for papal texts published in the last 50 years -
a policy ascribed to Benedict! - is something we are reading for the first time. Is it possible the Italian press has missed something as "juicy" as this? And why did the Telegraph itself not report it - whenever it was that this policy was supposed to have been announced - as a separate story, instead of pegging it on to a completely derivative story about the encyclical?

It would have been an opportunity for the Telegraph to file an original story from the Vatican for a change! Remember this is the same paper that published that derivative story about the Pope's Prada shoes - pieced together from snippets that had appeared in the Italian and German press previously, but hyped internationally because it happened to be one of the first English-language stories about the whole ridiculous business.
(And I will try to go back and see how they reported Benedict's election!)

We know that Benedict turned over his personal publishing rights to the Vatican - but that he has decreed retroactive Papal text royalties as well???

We know that as far as Joseph Ratzinger's writings, the announcement 2-3 months back that the Pope had turned over publishing rights to the Vatican specified quite clearly that the rights of third parties who had previously acquired rights to specific Ratzinger books would be respected. In fact, there was even a recent meeting at the Vatican between these third parties and the Vatican publishing house to thresh out any questions in this matter.

For the Telegraph corespondent to imply that the Pope somehow has a personal interest in the copyright and royalty business is, I believe, a deliberate act of malice - especially if the other part of her "report" on this copyright business turns out to be false!

A MORE TRUSTWORTHY SOURCE ON THE ENCYCLICAL--PAPA!

Pope says first encyclical explores dimensions of love, charity

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI offered a sneak preview of his first encyclical, saying the text would explore the different dimensions of love and charity.

In impromptu remarks at his general audience at the Vatican Jan. 18, the pope announced that the text, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"), would be released Jan. 25.

"In this encyclical I want to explain the concept of love in its various dimensions. In today's terminology, the meaning of love often is far from that which we know as Christians," he said.

The text, about 50 pages in all, has been described by sources as a spiritual reflection on Christian love and erotic love, the church's work of charity and its mission to announce Christ.

The pope said his goal was to demonstrate that "love is one movement with different dimensions."

"Eros, this gift of love between a man and a woman, comes from the same source of the goodness of the Creator as does the possibility of a love which renounces the self in favor of the other," he said.

Self-sacrificial love can transform erotic love so that "one no longer seeks his own joy and pleasure, but seeks first of all the good of the other person," he said.

He said the transformation of eros into charity was a "journey of purification" that impacts one's immediate family and the larger families of society, church and world.

The pope also alluded to the second part of the encyclical, which examines the church's charitable work in relation to love. He said he makes the point that the personal act of love that comes to humanity from God should be reflected in the church's own actions at an organizational level.

"The church as church, as a community in its institutions, must love," he said.

He said the church's charity, however, is "not just an organization like other philanthropic organizations" but expresses "the more profound act of the personal love God has created in our hearts."

The pope said he considered it providential that the encyclical, which was delayed for weeks, would finally come out on the day he will close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

While not specifically focused on ecumenism, he said, the encyclical's foundation is ecumenical because "God's love and our love is the condition for unity among Christians and for peace in the world."

Vatican sources said the encyclical was delayed by a number of revisions in the text and that translation of the revisions was completed Jan. 17.

One source said an earlier version of the encyclical was circulated to Vatican departments and a small number of theologians last fall, resulting in a significant number of suggested changes. Subsequent editing of the text included wording modifications, new explanatory sections and revision of the conclusion, he said.

The encyclical takes its theme and title from a passage in the First Letter of John, "God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." The pope says these words clearly express the centrality of the Christian faith, the Christian image of God, and the vision of man and his path.

According to a brief excerpt published by the Italian news agency ANSA, the encyclical warns that in contemporary society the division between erotic love and the self-sacrificing spiritual love proposed by Christianity is resulting in sexual degradation.

The complete text of the encyclical will be released to journalists at a press conference Jan. 25, the Vatican said. Presenting the document will be U.S. Archbishop William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Italian Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and German Archbishop Paul Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

On Jan. 23, Cor Unum, the Vatican agency that coordinates charitable activities, was hosting a major Vatican conference that was expected to examine Catholic charitable operations.

Archbishop Cordes was said by sources to have had a key role in preparation of the encyclical.

PAPA'S BUSY LENTEN SCHEDULE

Papal Program for Lent and Holy Week Has Novelties

Includes Mass for Repose of the Soul of John Paul II

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The coincidence of a liturgical feast and the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death will mark Benedict XVI's first Lent in the papacy.

Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, March 1. At 5 p.m. Benedict XVI will preside over Mass and the blessing and imposition of ashes in the Roman Basilica of St. Sabina, according to the calendar of liturgical celebrations published by the Holy See.

At 6 p.m. the following Sunday, March 5 -- the first of Lent -- the Pope and Curia will begin their Spiritual Exercises in the Apostolic Palace's Redemptoris Mater Chapel. That retreat ends Saturday, March 11. During that week, the Holy Father will suspend his audiences and dedicate himself to prayer.

At 9:30 a.m. on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 26, Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome, will make his second pastoral visit to a Roman parish and preside over Mass.

At 9:30 a.m. on March 19, the Third Sunday of Lent and feast of St. Joseph, the Holy Father will preside over Mass for workers at St. Peter's Basilica.

The first anniversary of John Paul II's death, April 2, coincides with the Fifth Sunday of Lent. The anniversary will be commemorated with a special ceremony on Monday, April 3: Benedict XVI will preside over a Mass in St. Peter's for the repose of the soul of his predecessor.

Penitential service

At 9:30 a.m. on Palm Sunday, April 9, the start of Holy Week, the Pope will preside over the blessing of palms, the procession and Mass in St. Peter's Square.

The calendar shows two novelties. On Holy Tuesday, April 11, the sacrament of reconciliation will be highlighted with a communal celebration also presided over by Benedict XVI. The celebration, which includes individual confession of sins, will take place in St. Peter's Basilica.

The sacrament of reconciliation is carried out this way in many parishes, which includes individual faithful approaching a priest for confession and absolution.

The second novelty is the day on which the celebration will take place. According to Archbishop Piero Marini, master of papal liturgical celebrations, "Until the Renaissance, this was also one of the traditional appointments and it took place on Holy Thursday," reported the Italian episcopate's newspaper Avvenire.

The whole Roman Curia will be invited to the Holy Tuesday celebration. The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff is studying the best way to make an adequate number of confessors available in the Vatican basilica during the rite.

The reason for changing this rite to Holy Tuesday is "not to crowd even more a day like Holy Thursday," explained Archbishop Marini.

Triduum

That morning, the Chrism Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter's and, in the afternoon, the Easter triduum will begin. The Mass of the Lord's Supper will be celebrated in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Benedict XVI will preside over both celebrations on April 13, at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively.

At 5 p.m. on Good Friday, April 14, the Holy Father will preside over the celebration of the Lord's Passion, in St. Peter's Basilica and, at 9:15 p.m., over the Way of the Cross, at the Colosseum.

Last year, at John Paul II's request, the meditations and prayers for the Way of the Cross were written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope).

Benedict XVI will also preside over the Easter Vigil Mass that begins at 10 p.m. Holy Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica.

At 10:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday, April 16, the Holy Father will preside over the Mass in St. Peter's Square and at noon will impart the blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of the Vatican basilica.

But for the exceptions mentioned, the Pope plans to keep to his schedule of general audiences on Wednesdays, his meeting with pilgrims on Sundays and holy days to pray the Angelus, and his private audiences.

Well, Pope Benedict did right to end all speculation about the release date of his first encyclical by announcing it himself unexpectedly towards the end of his general audience today (as recounted in the story filed above earlier).

At about the same time, the Vatican Press Office released an announcement of a press conference for the presentation of the encyclical, at 12 noon on January 25, at the John Paul II Press Hall.

Three Curial officials will speak:
Cardinal Renato Rafaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Cuncil for Justice and Peace; Mons. William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Mons. Paul Josef Cordes, President of teh Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

Texts of the encyclical in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portugues will be available as of 9 a.m. that day but will be under embargo till 12 noon.

Here is how the Pope made his announcement and previewed his message:

"...I follow in the footprints of Pope John Paul II next Wednesday, 25 January, the Feast of the Conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls , to pray with our Orthodox and Protestant brothers: a prayer to thank the Lord for all that He has given us and to ask that the Lord guides us along the path to unity.

"Moreover, on the same day, January 25, my first encyclical will fimally be published. Its title is already well-known, "Deus caritas est," God is love. The theme is not directly ecumenical , but the context and the background are ecumenical, because God and love are the conditions for the unity of Christians. They are the conditions for peace in the world.

"In this encyclical, I would like to show the concept of love in its different dimensions. Today, in the terminology that we know, “love” often seems very far from what a Christian means when he speaks of "charity." On my part, I would like to show that we are dealing with a single movement of different dimensions. Eros, this gift of love between a man and a woman, comes from the same source of the Creator’s goodness as the love that renounces self in favor of the other. Eros is tranformed into agape, in the measure by which two persons love each other truly, and each one no longer seeks the self, one’s own joy, one’s own pleasure, but seeks above all what is good for the other. And so eros transforms into caritas, charity, in a process of purification, of going even deeper. It opens into the family, and from there towards the greater family of society, towards the family of the Church, towards the universal family.

"I also seek to show how the most personal act which comes to us from God is a unique act of love. It should be expressed as well as an ecclesial act, an organizing act. If it is really true that the Church is the expression of the love of God, of that love that God has for his human creation, it should be equally true that the fundamental act of faith which creates and unites the Church, and which gives us hope in the life eternal and in the presence of God in this world, generates an ecclesial act. In practice, the Church, even as Church, as a community, must (show) love in an institutional manner.

"And so, that which we call “Caritas” [the organization for papal charity] is not a mere organization, like other philanthropic organizations, but is a necessary expression of that most profound act of personal love with which God created us, inspiring in our hearts an urge towards love, a reflection of the God-Love which created us in his image.

"Before the text (of the encyclical) could be ready and translated, some time passed. Now it seems to me a gift of Providence that the text will be published on the day on which we shall pray for the unity of Christians. I hope that it may enlighten and help our Christian life."

Daniel Pipes, a prominent Middle East expert, wrote the following article in the
New York Sun to refute a statement attributed to Pope Benedict XVI by Father Joseph Fessio
in a radio interview recently (see previous post "Benedict and Islam"). This comes from
Mr. Pipes' website http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3281
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Pope and the Koran
by Daniel Pipes
January 17, 2006


Islam and Muslims are expected to be a priority for Pope Benedict XVI, but he
has been publicly quite muted on these topics during his first nine months in office.
One report, however, provides important clues to his current thinking.

Father Joseph D. Fessio, SJ, recounted on the Hugh Hewitt Show the details of
a seminar he attended with the pope in September 2005 on Islam. Participants heard
about the ideas of a Pakistani-born liberal theologian, Fazlur Rahman (1919-88), who
held that if Muslims thoroughly reinterpret the Koran, Islam can modernize. He urged
a focus on the principles behind Koranic legislation such as jihad, cutting off
thieves' hands, or permitting polygyny, in order to modify these customs to fit
today's needs. When Muslims do this, he concluded, they can prosper and live
harmoniously with non-Muslims.

Pope Benedict reacted strongly to this argument. He has been leading such annual
seminars since 1977 but always lets others speak first, waiting until the end to comment.
But hearing about Fazlur Rahman's analysis, Father Fessio recalled with surprise,
the pope could not contain himself:

"This is the first time I recall where he made an immediate statement. And I'm still
struck by it, how powerful it was. … the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but clear
way, said well, there's a fundamental problem with that [analysis] because, he said,
in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Muhammad, but it's an eternal word.
It's not Muhammad's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility
of adapting it or interpreting it.

This basic difference, Pope Benedict continued, makes Islam unlike Christianity and
Judaism. In the latter two religions, "God has worked through His creatures. And so,
it is not just the word of God, it's the word of Isaiah, not just the word of God,
but the word of Mark. He's used His human creatures, and inspired them to speak
His word to the world." Jews and Christians "can take what's good" in their traditions
and mold it. There is, in other words, "an inner logic to the Christian Bible, which
permits it and requires it to be adapted and applied to new situations."

Whereas the Bible is, for Benedict, the "word of God that comes through a human community,"
he understands the Koran as "something dropped out of Heaven, which cannot be adapted
or applied." This immutability has vast consequences: it means "Islam is stuck.
It's stuck with a text that cannot be adapted."

Father Fessio's striking account prompts two reactions. First, these comments were made
at a private seminar with former students, not in public. As "Spengler" of Asia Times
points out, even the pope "must whisper" when discussing Islam. It's a sign of the times.

Second, I must register my respectful disagreement. The Koran indeed can be interpreted.
Indeed, Muslims interpret the Koran no less than Jews and Christians interpret the
Bible, and those interpretations have changed no less over time. The Koran, like the
Bible, has a history.

For one indication of this, note the original thinking of the Sudanese theologian Mahmud
Muhammad Taha (1909-85). Taha built his interpretation on the conventional division of
the Koran into two. The initial verses came down when Muhammad was a powerless prophet
living in Mecca, and tend to be cosmological. Later verses came down when Muhammad was
the ruler of Medina, and include many specific rulings. These commands eventually served
as the basis for the Shari'a, or Islamic law.

Taha argued that specific Koranic rulings applied only to Medina, not to other times
and places. He hoped modern-day Muslims would set these aside and live by the general
principles delivered at Mecca. Were Taha's ideas accepted, most of the Shari'a would
disappear, including outdated provisions concerning warfare, theft, and women.
Muslims could then more readily modernize.

Even without accepting a grand schema such as Taha proposed, Muslims are already
making small moves in the same direction. Islamic courts in reactionary Iran, for
example, have broken with Islamic tradition and now permit women the right to sue
for divorce and grant a murdered Christian equal recompense with that of a murdered Muslim.

As this suggests, Islam is not stuck. But huge efforts are needed to get it moving again.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Jan. 17, 2006 update: It was Christian W. Troll, SJ. who explained Fazlur Rahman's
thinking at the seminar mentioned above. In a note replying to my article, Dr. Troll
replies to Father Fessio's account of the discussion, disagreeing with a key point in it:

Sir,

I took part in the seminar that Fr. Fessio mentions and I happen to be the person
who presented the paper about Fazlur Rahman referred to by him.

I can only say that the reported remark of the Holy Father, among others, points
to the well-known point of essential difference between classic mainstream Muslim and
classic mainstream Catholic theology concerning the Word of God and of revelation/inspiration.
It also suggests that Muslim theological thinking must deal with the weight of this
deep-rooted faith conviction and the theological vision it continues to shape.

However, I cannot remember at all the Holy Father having said the words reported at
the end of the indented paragraph in D. Pipes's report, "The Pope and the Koran," that
"There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it."

The Holy Father is well-informed enough to know that there have existed and that there
exist today, probably increasingly, other interpretations of the Qur'anic evidence
with regard to a theology of revelation. These considered Muslim views and approaches
do not (yet?), it would seem, inform the thinking and approach of a sizable Islamic movement
or organisation — and we do not know what future problems lie ahead in this regard –
but it does exist and is vividly discussed in many places, both in academia and beyond.

An open debate on these matters does not yet seem to be possible within the Arab
world but Turkish and Indonesian society grant relatively more room for airing and
discussing such ideas, and the so-called Western countries offer even more space.

Recently, I published "Progressives Denken im Zeitgenössischen Islam"
("Critical Survey on Progressive Thinking in Contemporary Islam"), Islam und Gesellschaft,
Nr. 4, that looks at such religious thinking. The German original (and the English
translation of it) are available from Franziska Bongartz, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung,
D-10785 Berlin, Hiroshimastr. 17, Franziska.Bongartz@fes.de.

Sincerely,

Christian W. Troll
PhD (London)

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/01/2006 7.47]

Alejandro Bermudez, editor of both Catholic News Agency and AciPrensa, a Spanish
religious news service, recently statred a blog called "Catholic Outsider."
Because of his job, he is privy to some items before they break in public.
Here is an example.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Who is resisting Pope Benedict’s leadership?
Alejandro Bermudez
January 17th, 2006

The papacy might be the toughest job in the world - and perhaps even tougher
than usual in the case of Pope Benedict. The list of theologians, organizations -
inside and outside the Church - thinkers, cults, and others - who oppose him
is endless.

Nevertheless, according to Sandro Magister, the Vaticanista of the Italian weekly
L’Espresso, currently there are three major forces actively resisting Pope Benedict.

Magister’s list will be published on Friday in L’Espresso, and a full version in English
will also be available on his website www.chiesa.espressonline.it/index.jsp?eng=y

But The Outsider can give you a first look.

According to Magister, the three forces openly undermining Benedict’s new course are:

The Neocathecumenal Way and its active disobedience to the new liturgical norms;
those promoting what Magister calls the “black legend” about how the conclave went;
and finally Vatican translators who are refusing to faithfully translate his documents.

Magister’s black list will definitively irritate many and will spark, I believe,
a large response. But he makes his case quite clearly and with his usual disregard
for stepping on some toes.

Don’t miss Magister’s “Trame vaticane: Chi resiste a Benedetto XVI” on Friday.

From the Times Online
Look who they're blaming for the encyclical's delay

Pope's first encyclical on love and sex is lost in translation

From Richard Owen in Rome

POPE BENEDICT XVI’s first important pronouncement has been delayed by an unprecedented tussle over the final wording between key Vatican departments and the Pope’s German household staff.
Vatican officials said that the delay in publishing the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, on the subject of love, was because of the Pope’s busy schedule over Christmas.

Other Vatican sources said, however, that the reason was a disagreement over the translation of the final 50-page draft into various languages, inclu- ding English and Italian. The official language of encyclicals is Latin.

Andrea Tornielli, the Pope’s biographer, said that Pope Benedict had put the finishing touches to the text only late on Tuesday.

There had been “unheard- of tension” over the wording between the German section of the Secretariat of State, or Vatican Prime Minister’s office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pope’s German entourage, headed by Sister Ingrid Stampa, his housekeeper, and Father Georg Gaenswein, his secretary.

Sister Ingrid, 55, is regarded as the Pope’s confidante rather than merely head of his household. A member of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, she shares his interests in music and literature and has been his “right-hand woman” for 15 years.

Vatican sources said that tensions had been exacerbated because the Pope had written the first part of the encyclical in German during his summer break and the second part was an adaptation of a document left behind in Polish by the late John Paul II. It had been passed to Vatican specialists for further revision but remained unfinished at the time of John Paul’s death ten months ago. The two parts had had to be “harmonised”.

The Pope, responding to growing speculation about the delay, told pilgrims at his weekly audience yesterday that the release of the text, originally planned for early December, had been delayed until next Wednesday.

An encyclical is the most authoritative doctrinal statement a Pope can issue and this one has been eagerly awaited because the first from each Pope is seen as a particularly important guide to his thinking. Pope Benedict said that it would discuss the concept of love “in its various dimensions” from “the love between man and woman to the love that the Catholic Church has for others in its expression of charity”. He added: “In today’s terminology, ‘love’ seems very far from what a Christian thinks about when he speaks of Christian charity. I want to show that it is about one single movement with different dimensions.” He noted the difference between “eros” — love between man and woman — and the Greek concept of “agape” or spiritual love.

This week the Italian press carried purported leaks from the text focusing on the concept of eros. Vatican officials, however, said that some of the quoted passages were inaccurate or speculative. The Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, which will issue the encyclical, said that it had still not received the final text.

Pope Benedict will visit the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, the traditional venue for ecumenical celebrations, next Wednesday.

He said that the focus of his encyclical was not ecumenism, “but let us say the big picture is the ecumenical theme, because the love of God is the foundation of Christian unity and the condition for peace in the world”. According to Italian media reports, the Pope says in the encyclical that eros risks being degraded to mere sex if it does not have a balancing component of spiritual love.

In an unusual move, the encyclical will be the subject of a Vatican-sponsored conference next week involving Liliana Cavani, the film director, and James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank. Signora Cavani is best known for The Night Porter and Ripley’s Game but is valued in the Vatican for an earlier film on the life of St Francis.

The late Pope John Paul II issued 14 encyclicals. The Vatican’s recent instruction banning homosexuals from the priesthood was also delayed for months because of disagreements over the wording.

On 1/17/05 (see above), I did post a translation of Andrea Tornielli's story that day
in Il Giornale, with the pertinent excerpt below:
----------------------------------------------------------------

"The delay in the release of the encyclical appear to have been caused by internal problems
related to its translation. Specifically, in the Secretariat of State, between the German
section headed by Mons. Christopher Kuehn, and Bishop Paolo Sardi, chief “ghost writer”
for the Popes since the time of Paul VI, who, it is said, turns to the Pope’s former
governess-secretary Ingrid Stampa (now reportedly employed in the Secretariat) for all
questions regarding German translation.

"It appears then that the translation of the encyclical was not originally given to
the section that traditionally handles translations, and that the official translators
subsequently decided to re-translate from scratch."

George Weigel on Papa's Views about the Church and Modernity
From: The Tidings

Re-reading modern history

In his Christmas address to the Roman Curia on true and false interpretations of Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI asked why the Church had had such a difficult time opening a dialogue with "the modern age." His answers are provocative --- and turn some of the conventional accounts of modern history inside-out.

"Catholicism-and-modernity" got off to a bad start, the pope suggested, when the Galileo trial opened a fissure between the Church and natural science. Immanuel Kant's philosophical attempt to define "religion within pure reason" then seemed to eliminate any notion of a divine revelation to which the Church was accountable.

The most dramatic breach came after 1789, when the French Revolution proposed --- and bloodily enforced --- an "image of the state and of man...intended to crowd out the Church and faith." A liberalism with no room for God was not a liberalism with which the Church could co-exist. And how could there be a dialogue with science when science "claimed to embrace, with its knowledge, the totality of reality to its outermost borders," a claim that made the "hypothesis of God" unnecessary?

European ideas and European politics thus led to a reaction under Pius IX --- what Benedict called "a harsh and radical condemnation of this spirit of the modern age." Yet Pius' broadsides were no less "drastic" than the rejection of Christianity by those who most self-consciously embodied the spirit of the "modern age."

There were other currents at work in modernity, however, and they eventually made their presence felt. Here, Benedict is worth a longish quote:

"It was becoming clear that the American Revolution had offered a model of the modern state that was different from that theorized by the radical tendencies that had emerged from the second phase of the French Revolution. Natural sciences began...to reflect [on] their own limits, imposed by their own method which, while achieving great things, was nevertheless not able to comprehend the totality of reality. Thus both sides began...to open up to each other.

"In the period between the two world wars and even more after the Second World War, Catholic statesmen had shown that a modern lay state which is not neutral with respect to values can exist [by] tapping into the great ethical fonts of Christianity. Catholic social doctrine...became an important model between radical liberalism and the Marxist theory of the state. Natural sciences…realized ever more clearly that [their scientific] method was not comprehensive of the totality of reality and thus opened again their doors to God, knowing that reality is greater than what a naturalistic [scientific] method can embrace."

Several points are worth teasing out of this trenchant analysis.

(1) The harshness of the 19th century confrontation between Catholicism and "modernity" was, so to speak, bilateral. Powerful forces in European culture and politics aimed at nothing less than the eradication of Christianity, or, at the very least, tethering the Church to an all-powerful state. As Benedict concedes, Pius IX's language was the language of condemnation; but there was, in truth, a lot that needed condemning (as Anglican historian Owen Chadwick made clear in A History of the Popes 1830-1914 and as another British scholar, Michael Burleigh, will underscore in his forthcoming Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War.)

(2) The American Revolution, which institutionally separated Church and state while affirming the transcendent origins of the "truths" on which democratic politics had to be based, was an entirely different matter than its French counterpart. Thus "1776" helped compel the development of doctrine that eventually led to Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom (a point that might be pondered, not only by Lefebvrists, but by Communio contributors convinced that America is, at bottom, an ill-founded republic).

(3) Catholicism and science can have a mutually beneficial dialogue when the Church remembers that it's not in the geology business and science remembers that the scientific method can't measure, much less account for, all-there-is --- which is, I take it, the central point at issue in the current round of the Darwin wars.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.