BENEDICT EXPRESSES THE TRUE 'SPIRIT OF ASSISI'
(If you have not yet done so, please read the texts of the Papal addresses in Assisi. English translations have been posted in the reports on this thread regarding the individual events at which they were delivered. They are truly beautiful and memorable, as most of the texts he personally writes are, but the variety of ways in which the Pope presents the life of Francis and his message, depending on the audience he addresses, is most instructive and illuminating.)
I will translate the OR and Avvenire pieces later (see below), but I thought this one, which came out in a Sicilian newspaper, La Sicilia, yesterday, says it best. Thanks to Lella for posting it on her blog. Here is a translation:
Fresh wind from Assisi
By Giuseppe Di Fazio
Ecologists and pacifists have taken advantage. So have intellectuals and directors who have reduced to tatters the figure of Francis of Assisi, unilaterally and arbitrarily usurping his message. As have those Christians and even devotees of the saint who have 'mutilated' him
[a term used by the Pope Sunday], reducing 'the spirit of Assisi' to nothing more than a do-goodism for all seasons, the antechamber of religious indifferentism, and the pretext for publicity-seeking marches of all colors and varieties.
Benedict XVI, visiting Assisi Sunday, meant to pick up the pieces, recompose the entire Franciscan mosaic, restore the essential link between the values preached by Francis and the root of his life choice - Christ.
Without having made that radical decision to follow Christ, all the Franciscan themes - respect for nature, peace, dialog, the choice of poverty - would be simply words, good intentions. And the relationship among religions is reduced to nothing more than fragile irenism.
The message of Assisi, as re-stated by Pope Benedict, sounds explosively relevant in its simplicity - radical for young people who are looking for unadulterated answers to their questions about the absolute, and prophetic for a world that is increasingly torn apart by armed conflicts.
It was said in the past that Cardinal Ratzinger was critical of Papa Wojtyla's initiative for an inter-religious summit in Assisi.
On Sunday, Benedict XVI clearly showed he is in continuity with his predecessor, while clearing up the equivocations that have been generated by that event.
As he pointed out, a 'mutilated' Saint Francis also corresponds to a 'diminished' Christ, one who is reduced to a mere prophet of values, "admired in his extraordinary humanity, but rejected in the profound mystery of his divinity."
In Assisi, Benedict XVI called for a 'high-profile line', undiscounted and unadulterated, in proclaiming through words and example, the true spirit of Assisi.
A world that is drifting violently is not served by warmed-over, 'do good' platitudes.
Here is the front-page editorial from the Osservatore Romano issue of June 18-19, 2007:
BENEDICT XVI RE-DELIVERS
FOR THE THIRD MILLENIUM
THE MESSAGE OF SAINT FRANCIS
He re-consigned to the Third Millennium the life and witness of Francis. He re-stated for Assisi its misison of welcome, dialog, and reconciliation. And he re-addressed mankind with his strongest invocation for peace, tragically shattered today by a blind perversity towards violence and war.
A pilgrim in the footsteps of the Poverello, Benedict XVI issued from Assisi a message of great ecclesiastical breadth and of profound social relevance. By his words,
he confronted the conscience of the world with the fearless and demanding message of Assisi's 'convert of love.'
With his Magisterium, he reaffirmed the truth of the Christological and evangelical message of a man who belonged totally to God and so belonged totally to others, who loved God fully and therefore loved all men fully.
In Francis's humble but welcoming hometown, the Pope paid tribute to a home for humanity, an oasis of hope, a pulpit for peace.
There were so many outstanding moments that marked Benedict XVI's day in Assisi. But there was one, in particular, which showed the most intimate core of his being.
During his encounter with the youth of Umbria, the Pope recalled his predecessor John Paul II. That brought on long, intense and warm applause from the thousands of young people who were gathered in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. From the heart of the Successor of Peter came a simple, "GRAZIE!"
Benedict then continued by saying "Be my joy, as you were a joy to John Paul II."* And the assembly responded by chanting out theIr affection for him, "BE-NE-DET-TO! BE-NE-DET-TO!", whose joyous echoes seemed to resound throughout the whole region.
A father's 'Thank you' and a filial 'Benedetto!' A meeting of souls, a harmony of hearts. A delicate, touching ecclesiastical family moment.
*[These are the words in the text released by the Vatican yesterday, but when Angela Ambroggeti reported for PETRUS last Sunday, the words she quoted were "Be with me, as you were with John Paul II" - which is very poignant, and somehow stronger - because more 'naked' - than saying "Be my joy...", as poetic as this may be.]
And here is the editorial from Avvenire today:
Pacifism, environmentalism,
'the spirit of Assisi' -
all must be re-centered around Christ
By Luigi Geninazzi
Papa Ratzinger has re-launched the spirit of Assisi. He did it from the Piazza of the Lower Basilica where John Paul II had prayed for peace in 1986 alongside religious leaders from all over the world.
"Let the weapons be silent, put an end to the conflicts which bring bloodshed to the world" was the 'urgent and heartfelt' appeal that Benedict XVI made Sunday, echoing that raised by his predecessor in January of 2002: "Never again war! Never again violence! Never again terrorism!"
In Assisi last Sunday, one could perceive not only a spiritual continuity but even a physical super-imposition of Benedict XVI's figure on that of John Paul II. The same cry of condemnation, the same anguish "for all those who weep, suffer and die because of wars", the same dramatic plea to listen to each other's reasons.
Because, today more than ever, everything is tangled in a murderous spiral of violence - and from Iraq to Palestine, passing through Lebanon, civil war threatens to engulf all of the Middle East.
"To put an end to so much pain and restore life and dignity to persons, institutions and peoples," there is an urgent need for "responsible and sincere dialog, sustained by the generous support of the international community," said the Pope.
The Holy See will not tire of reproposing 'a negotiated and regional solution", which the Pope last discussed with President Bush, as the only sensible option after the failure of unilateral strategies and the use of force.
Benedict XVI also wished explicitly to refresh "the icon of Assis as a city of dialog and peace." And he did this on the very special occasion of the 8th centenary of Francis's conversion, precisely to underline that
without that conversion to Christ, there could never have been a 'spirit of Assisi.'
The Pope's message was: if we truly want to understand the greatness of the Poverello, we cannot do this only on tghe basis of his love for peace and for nature.
"Francis is a true master in these matters, but he is, because for him, it all comes from Christ," says the Pope, in effect denouncing the misuse of the 'spirit of Assisi' by pacifists and environmentalists of every kind.
In the direct and clear words typical of the Ratzinger Pontificate, we are told that "Francis suffers multilation when he is used simply to attest to values that are undoubtedly important, but forgetting that the heart of his life was his choice of Christ." In this context, the desire for peace has its essential basis in conversion - "not what we might call a social conversion, but a true religious experience."
Francis's real message is very relevant today and overwhelming - he reminds us that to be truly 'a man for others', one must first be 'a man of God'.
And his message of peace and brotherhood has a particular resonance in the Middle East - where once, in the middle of the ferocious clash of civilizations that the Crusades represented - Francis faced the Muslim Sultan of Egypt and spoke to him of universal brotherhood.
But today in the Holy Land, persons use the name of God as a hammer to incite others to hatred and to violence. The cause of peace itself is badly in need of conversion.
It is not an easy message for fanatics and fundamentalists who believe only in themselves.
But this - and the centrality of Christ in all causes for the good of mankind -is the Spirit of Assisi that Papa Ratzinger has redefined, in the name of St. Francis and in continuity with Papa Wojtyla's prophetic intuition.
Avvenire, 19 giugno 2007
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Having translated all three pieces now, I am more than ever impressed by the concise, direct and organic formulation of the Pope's message in Assisi by the writer for La Sicilia, whose editorial easily outshines those of his colleagues in Osservatore Romano and Avvenire.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/06/2007 17:43]