BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

See preceding page for earlier entries today, 8/14/10.





Brussels authorities admit raids on
archdiocese premises were 'irregular'
by Salvatore Mazza
Translated from

August 14. 2010

The raids conducted on June 24 at the Archbishop's Palace in Mechelen-Brussels in the course of a police investigation of sex-abuse complaints against Belgian bishops and priests have been declared 'irregular' by the Brussels prosecutors' office, according to Fernand Keuleneer, lawyer for the Archdiocese adn retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels.

He said that the office issued its own verdict yesterday on the irregularity of the raids ordered by local Judge Wim de Troy who ordered the blitz that also targeted the residence of Cardinal Danneels and the tombs of two archbishops in the Cathedral of Mechelen.

Nonetheless, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office said that De Troy "is in charge of the investigation and I cannot go against his opinion", making it clear that De Troy remains in charge.

At a news conference afterward, Keuleneer said that the prosecutors' office considered that De Troy's orders "were too generic and overstepped the authority of an investigating judge".

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing abuse victims whose private files were confiscated by the police from the archdiocese during the June 28 raids said he was 'indignant over the lack of information from teh prosecutors' office'.

The newspaper Le Soir claims that the raids signalled the end of the investigation, because although a concluding statement is not expected till September, De Troy cannot make use of probatory elements gathered during the raids, and therefore, "his investigation against presumed pedophiles in the Church is virtually terminated".

But this does not necessarily bring this issue to an end. Although there was promptly severe reaction from the Archdiocese and the Vatican to the police raids, the objection was to the manner it was conducted, not to the reason for it.

On June 27, Benedict XVI himself wrote the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Mons.Andre Leonard, calling the manner of the raids 'surprising and deplorable', but said:

---

I hope that justice will take its course while guaranteeing the right of persons and institutions, respect of the victims, and the unprejudiced recognition of those who are committed to work with the system, while rejecting all that could obscure the noble duties that are assigned to each side.

---

An AGI story posted on p. 126 of this thread on Aug. 10 said the events of Ferragosto - as the Feast of the Assumption is familiarly called in Italy - in Castel Gandolfo will be fully covered on various satellite services of Italian TV: from the Pope's early morning walk to the parish chursh of Santo Tomas de Villanova to say Mass, to his walk back to the Apostolic Palace afterwards, and the Angelus prayers. CNA had this story about how the parish was preparing.


Castel Gandolfo parish prepares
for Pope's Mass on Sunday


Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 13, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News) - Early on Sunday morning the Holy Father will walk out of the gates of his summer villa to celebrate Mass at the local pontifical parish in Castel Gandolfo.



The Pope has celebrated Mass at the parish of St. Thomas of Villanova every Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, since his election to the papacy in 2005.

Fr. Waldemar Niedziolka, the parish priest and resident director of the Salesians of Don Bosco community, told CNA that the church will be full to its 200-person capacity when the Holy Father arrives at 8 a.m. for the Eucharistic Celebration.

Fr. Niedziolka said that the Mass will take place in an intimate atmosphere to which the parish choir will contribute.

Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, a member of the Salesian order, will be there to concelebrate along with local Bishop Marcello Semeraro and the major rector of Don Bosco's order, Fr. Pascual Chavez, in addition to Fr. Niedziolka himself.

As it is a parish Mass, said Fr. Niedziolka, the majority of the attendees will be members of St. Thomas of Villanova, including those chosen to participate in the liturgy.

For example, he said, a family, a couple celebrating 25 years of marriage, two newly-confirmed young people and a pair of first communicants will deliver the gifts to the Holy Father at the offertory.

Also attending will be civil, military and religious authorities from the area, including representatives from the Sisters of St. Martha and a Filipino teaching order.

Only a small fraction of the 4,000 members of the parish will be inside the church for the celebration, but a big screen placed in the square will allow those who remain outside to follow the Mass as it takes place. They will also enjoy the possibility of greeting the Pope as he makes his way back to his summer residence to recite the Angelus at noon.

This year's Mass, Fr. Niedziolka concluded, will not be unlike those of past years, but next year, he noted, with the 50th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's ordination to the priesthood and the completion of restoration efforts in the church, the parish will be putting together "something special."


Here is an essay from today's OR on the role of Mary in the ecumenical dialog, particularly with the Orthodox Churches:



From left, Dormition/Assumption of Mary: by Della Gatta, 1475; by El Greco, 1577; in a Coptic icon; in a Byzantine icon; by Titian, 1516, and by Rubesm 1577.

Mary and the ecumenical dialog
by Riccardo Burigana
Translated from the 8/14/10 issue of


'Are there any particular intentions for more insistent prayer?... (Yes), sbove all, for the Church - the great family of Christians, the Mystical Body of Christ, Mary's own family".

Paul VI's words in his homily on the Feast of the Assumption in 1964, are significant for understanding the role of Mary in the ecumenical dialog, which also shows what and how many steps have been taken towards reconstructing the visible unity of the Church at least in relation to the figure of Mary.

Paul VI's words were said in the second year of Vatican II, which was yet to define its ecclesiology and its ecumenical cnosequences. The dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium, on the role of the Church in the modern world, which would devote its last chapter to Mary; the decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum on the Eastern Catholic Churches; and Unitatis redintegratio to define the Catholic principles on ecumenism, were not to be adopted until the following year.

Also in August 1964, Paul VI's first encyclical, Ecclesiam suam, was published. Moreover, in addition to so many ecumenical words and gestures Paul VI had already made that historic 'ecumenical pilgrimage to Jerusalem' in January 1964, at which he met with the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, which marked the first turning point in Catholic-Orthodox relations since the Great Schism of 1054.

In the common christian patrimony, especially that of Catholics and Orthodox, Mary and the liturgical and spiritual traditions linked to her occupy a special position.

Among the four major Marian feasts in the Orthodox Churches, the oldest, most rooted and widespread is that of the Dormition, the term used in Byzantine liturgy for Mary's death and assumption. In 1950, Pius XII, after informal consultation with the world's bishops, proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption.

Vatican II and the Pontificate of Paul VI opened a new season in ecumenical dialog during which the figure of Mary was subjected to intense re-reading, as well as the recovery of the common traditions of two millennia, from patristics to liturgy to so-called apocryphal literature.

This was further enriched by studies, dialogs, local and itnernational meetings held during the Pontificate of John Paul II, who was particularly attentive to the Eastern world, with his repeated declaration about 'the two lungs of the Church'.

Thus the Catholic Church opened a continuing dialog with the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Charch in the USA. Likewise the Orthodox Churches opened dialog with the Eastern Churches and the Anglican Communion.

A highlight of this season of dialog was the publication of an ecumenical document "Mary in the plan of God and in the communion of saints" (1998), which made it clear how much the figure of Mary was fundamental in the ecumenical dialog, especially after her Biblical dimension was fully recovered, in the light of all the traditions about her that were so widepread and profound among believers.

Ecumenical reflection on Mary has continued in the pontificate of Benedict XVI, with a number of significant publications, among which one must single out Mariologia ecumenica by the Servite Fr. Giancarlo Bruni.

He organized his study into five sections: the various confessional approaches to Mary, the official ecumenical dialogs about her on the international and national levels, the unofficial meetings (above all,t hose of the Dombes Group), the contribution fo Italian ecumenism, and the prospects for further ecumneical collaboration in Mariology.

There have been significant conferences on the subject: the XVII International Mariological Symposium was held in October 2009 at the Pontificia Università Teologica Marianum, on the topic "The dogma of the Assumption of Mary: problems and attempts for new understanding".

Another very significant document was the 2004 declaration "Mary: Grace and hope in Christ' by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). Although it is not binding, the text is significant for defining an ecumenical pathway that is free of the conditioning that for centuries kept Christians from sharing their respective traditions.

The text points out that both Anglican and Roman Catholic tradition share many Marian feasts, showing that there is "profound convergence in the area of worship, in which we give thanks to the Mother of God, who is one with us in the endless community of love and prayer that we call the communion of saints".

The document devotes great attention to the Biblical Mary, with the aim not just of grasping the riches of Scripture about Mary, but also to reflect on the different exegetical currents which led, from the 16th century onwards, to a profound division in the West.

[Unfortunately, the essay does not describe what that division is!]

Here is a belated translation of Part II of Fr. Scalese's reflections on Vatican II, which, as it happens, will be the topic for the Ratzinger Schuelerkreis seminar in Castel Gandolfo on August 28-29.


Benedict XVI's
'reform of the reform':
Is it happening?
Translated from

July 27, 2010

This is the second article of mine published in the ECO DEI BARNABITI [journal of the Barnabites, the order to which Ff. Scalese belongs], No. 2/2010 (pp 12-13) under the rubric 'Osservatorio ecclesiale'. As with the first article, none of it is really new for the readers of this blog, but it is addressed to a larger public.


In the preceding article, we dwelt on what might be considered the 'key to interpreting' the Second Vatican Council and the present Pontificate: the so-called 'hermeneutic of reform'.

The first document approved by the Council Fathers was the Constitution on sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, on December 4, 1963.

The subsequent liturgical reform was always considered somewhat like the 'flower on the lapel' of the Council, which was assigned an emblematic value as the 'icon' of the more general reform of the Church intended by Vatican II.

Sacrosanctum concilium considers liturgy as "the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows" (No, 10). That is why liturgy occupies a central position in the life of the Church.

Specifically, there is a very intimate link between liturgy and faith: liturgy expresses the faith of the Church, it constitutes one of the principal testimonials to tradition, and has a normative character for the faithful - lex orandi, lex credendi. We pray as we believe.

No wonder therefore that a great theologian like Joseph Ratzinger, though he was not a liturgist by profession, devoted special attention to the liturgy, an attention that grew with the passing of time.

Precisely because of the centrality that liturgy has in the life of the Church, Cardinal Ratzinger reached the conclusion that there was a direct cause and effect between the deterioration of the liturgy which we witnessed after Vatican II and the crisis that faces the Church in our time.

---

I am convinced that the ecclesial crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in large part on the collapse of liturgy, which sometimes has been thought of etsi Deus non daretur - as if God did not exist - as if it is no longer important if there is a God, nor if he speaks to us or hears us. (Il dio vicino [God near us], Ed. San Paolo, 2003, p.21)

---

The work in which Cardinal Ratzinger collected his reflections on liturgy is Introduction to the spirit of liturgy, published in German in 1999 and translated to Italian in 2001.

With that book - which by its title, referred back to the work which had started the liturgical movement in Germany in the 1920s, Romano Guardini's Spirit of the Liturgy - Cardinal Ratzinger was prefiguring a new liturgical movement, "a movement towards liturgy and its correct celebration, exterior as well as interior" (p. 6).

This was based on his observation that something malfunctioned in the liturgical reform promoted after Vatican II. In his introduction to the volume cited, Cardinal Ratzinger resorted to an effective metaphor to explain what had happened in the Church during and after Vatican II:

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One could say that liturgy, in 1918, was in some aspects, similar to a fresco that had been conserved intact, but it had been almost covered over by successive incrustations of plaster: in the missal which the celebrant used, the form was fully present just as it had developed from its origins, but fot the believers, it was hidden by instructions and forms of prayer that had a private character.

Thanks to the liturgical movement and, definitely, thanks to the Second Vatican Council, that fresco was brought to light, and for a moment, we were all fascinated by the beauty of its colors and figures.

But in the meantime, because of various erroneous attempts at restoration or reconstruction, not to mention the effects caused by the sheer mass of its 'visitors', this fresco has been placed at great risk and is threatened with ruin if nothing is done quickly to take the necessary measures that will put an end to such damaging influences.

Of course, one should not plaster it over again, so it is indispensable to have a new understanding of its message and its reality, so that having brought it to light does not represent the first step to its definitive ruin. (pp 5-6)

---

I think this metaphor expresses very well Cardinal Ratzinger's judgment on the Vatican II liturgical reform, and his conviction that further intervention is needed to prevent the 'fresco' of liturgy from being lost for good.

In other statements, Cardinal Ratzinger was even more explicit and drastic:

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The outcome [of the liturgical reform] has not been a reanimation but a devastation... A manufactured liturgy was set in place of a liturgy that was the product of continuous development. The living process of growth and development was abandoned for that of fabrication. The becoming and maturation of the worship of the God who lives across the centuries was rejected and replaced, as in a technical process, by a banal fabrication of the moment. (Preface to Klaus Gamber's La réforme liturgique en question, Le Barroux, 1992)

[In the liturgical reform after Vatican II], the old building was demolished and another was built, to be sure largely using materials from the previous one and even using the old building plans. [La mia vita [Milestones], Ed. San Paolo, 1977)

In an interview with the French newspaper La Croix on Dec, 28, 2001, the cardinal came to the point of hoping for a 'reform of the reform':

Some responsible people [in liturgy] would make it seem that all ideas not perfectly in conformity with their plans represent a nostalgic return to the past... But they say this only out of partisanship. One must reflect seriously on the liturgy and not just accuse others of being blind followers of St. Pius V... Every generation has the task of improving and conforming itself better to the original spirit of the liturgy.

I think that today, there is a reason to work very hard at this, to reform the reform. Not a revolution - I am a reformer, not a revolutionary - but there should be a change. To say apriori that any improvement [to the liturgical reform after Vatican II] is impossible seems to me an absurd dogmatism

---

.
On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Benedict XVI. Usually, when someone takes on a new responsibility, he is forced to abandon any harshness in his statements. But it is also true that, from a high position, one can see things in a different light which often allows for a redimensioning of previously formulated judgments.* [In a commentary after this essay, I express my own deduction of Benedict XVI's actions. I disagree it was a redimensioning. I believe he is doing what and how he always thought should constitute a 'reform of the reform'.]Obviously, we cannot know what took place within Joseph Ratzinger after he was elected Pope. Moreover, it is not so important for us to know what the Pope thinks as a 'private' individual. What's important is what he does as the Supreme Pastor of the Church.

Well, then, what has ne done in terms of liturgical intervention int he past five years?

Perhaps those who expected an immediate profound revision of the post-Vatican II liturgical reform have been disappointed. The only formal change in the Mass rite so far is the introduction, in the 'amended III typical edition' of the Latin Missal, of three alternative formulas for the Mass ending, alongside the familiar 'Ite missa est' - a change that was suggested by the Sbishops' synodal assembly on the Eucharist in 2005 and already present in various translations of the Missal (including the Italian). That's a trifle for those who were expecting radical changes.

Recently, the definite approval of the new English translation of the Missal was announced: an event that can be considered epochal in its effect on millions of faithfil around the world. But it does not change the Mass rite in any way - it is simply a more faithful and literal translation of Paul VI's Missal, according to the norms issued in 2001 with the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam.

So what became of the 'reform of the reform'? Benedict XVI has not used this expression as Pope, even if followers of his 'liturgical movement' continue to use it int he way he did in the Introduction to the spirit of liturgy.

Does this mean papa Ratzinger has renounced the statements he made as cardinal? Even if he has not intervended directly to modify the post-Vatican II liturgy and has not said anything officially, Benedict XVI has nonetheless adopted a series of measures that allow us to see his 'policy' in the liturgical sector.

First of all, the liturgical celebrations presided by him have taken on a distinct style. The most visible elements of the new style are the candles and Crucifix (which is always in traditional style) seen once again on the altar, and communion given on the tongue to kneeling faithful, not to mention his frequent use of liturgical vestments worn by previous Popes.

Of course, this has not been an imposition of a norm that is binding for everyone, but a recommendation to all who wish to follow.

But a decision that has caused much congtroversy was the liberalization of the pre-Conciliar liturgy with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007. Some considered it a renunciation of Paul VI's liturigcal reform.

But the document - and especially the accompanying letter to bishops - makes it clear that the post-conciliar reform is not 'in play'. Only that the possibility is being given to the faithful who wish it to celebrate and hear Mass in what is now called the 'extraordinary form' of the Roman rite - since Paul VI's Missal resulting from the Vatican II reform remains the 'ordinary' form of the Mass.

But in his letter to the bishops of the world accompanying the Motu Proprio, Benedict XVI does not hide an intention similar to what he had formulated when he was cardinal:

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The Forms of the usage of the Roman Rite can be mutually enriching: new Saints and some of the new Prefaces can and should be inserted in the old Missal... The celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage.

---

From this passage, we understand that the Pope has for now decided against any kind of direct intervention on the liturgy and has opted for a more 'soft' attitude: instead of modifying the Paul VI Mass by authoritative decree, he prefers to allow the old liturgy, now liberalized, and the pontifical liturgies, which have reacquired a hieratic sense, to exert their influence on ordinary liturgical celebrations.

But will such a discreet policy obtain the expected results? We can only wait and see.

In any case, it would seem that the much touted 'reform of the reform' has been set aside for now. [I disagree, as I explain below.] Last summer, there were news stories about possible adaptations in the liturgical rites. which were promptly denied by the Vatican.

But last fall, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, confirmed to the newspaper Catalunya Cristiana that his dicastery is looking at the question:

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What I can say for sure is that this is a time that is very important for all Catholics - we have worked intensely, there has been a plenary session of the Congregation which drew up proposals that the Holy Father has approved, and which constitute the basis for our work. The great objective is to revitalize the spirit of the liturgy in the whole Church...

The most urgent issue, which is felt most urgently throughout the world, is that this sense must be recovered. This does not mean changing the rubrics or introducing new things, but simply that the liturgy must be lived and be at the center of the life of the Church... We must recover that which we never should have lost. The greatest wrong done was to attempt to eliminate transcendence and the domension of mystery from man's life.

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As one can see, Cardinal Canizares does not descend to particulars, but confirms that his dicastery is at work on some 'reform of the reform'.

But one understands that it will not be in the form of radical changes to the present rites [the Novus Ordo], as much as a repositioning of liturgy in the center of Church life and the recovery of the sense of mystery which should once more characterize divine worship (but through what measures, we shall see). It is one point on which everyone can agree.


IMHO, very simply, the most important 'reform of the reform' was Summorum Pontificum itself.

In restoring the traditional Mass to full legitimacy in the universal Church, Benedict XVI in effect holds it up as the continuing standard for liturgy, with all the necessary characterisitics of what liturgy should be:
- It developed organically over centuries;
- God is clearly the protagonist, not the priest or the assembly;
- It keeps the sense of transcendence and mystery in divine worship; and
- It is the fullest and most beautiful expression of the content of the faith.

Except for organic development, the other characteristics of the traditional Mass can be made to emerge and to be expressed in the Novus Ordo, as Benedict XVI himself does in the liturgies he celebrates. His example is constant, vivid and visible to all, and even if he has not imposed rules to follow his example, his intention is clear.

Because Joseph Ratzinger is also traditional in his obedience to the Magisterium - including what other Popes teach and what an ecumenical Council decrees - I don't think he ever meant 'reform of the reform' to mean a structural 'drastic' overhaul of the Novus Ordo.

Instead, it was a brilliant stroke to simply 're-legitimize' the traditional Mass, thereby preserving it as the gold standard for liturgy, while showing how the Novus Ordo can and should be made to conform to Sacrosanctum concilium. (A most pragmatic approach, sort of like 'Since we cannot legislate it away, let's make the best of this instant fabrication and give it all the loving care and proper attention that liturgy deserves".)

So the complementary measure to restoration of the traditional Mass to full legitimacy is the restoration of the true sense of liturgy into the post-Vatican II liturgy - which will necessarily be a continuing organic effort, one that will make the Novus Ordo spiritually and not just canonically legitimate.

And that, I believe, constitutes the integral entirety of Benedict XVI's 'reform of the reform'.

August 15, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From left, Dormition/Assumption of Mary: by Della Gatta, 1475; by El Greco, 1577; in a Coptic icon; in a Byzantine icon; by Titian, 1516, and by Rubens, 1577.
SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The celebration of the Assumption of Mary (Dormition, as the Orthodox prefer to call it) stared in the sixth century and was widespread throughout the Eastern, Western, Coptic and Oriental churches by the late seventh century. Declaration of the Assumption as dogma was requested by the Fathers of the First Vatican Council in the mid-10th century. In 1950, after consulting all the bishops of the world - as Pius IX did when he declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1850 - Pius XII declared the dogma of the Assumption:

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By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority,
we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God,
the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
- POPE PIUS XII
Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus
Declaring the Dogma of the Assumption
November 1, 1950

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Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/081510a.shtml

OR today.

Illustration: Transit of the Theotokos, from a 13th-century Syriac Evangelarium.
The OR continues its series on major Catholic feasts seen in the light of Eastern Catholic tradition,
this time about 'the blessed day on which the Mother rejoined her Son'. An inside-page story about the
sense of the Assumption as described by Paul VI in his homilies in Castel Gandolfo. Page 1 international
news: Germany's economic growth this year (five times that of Italy, four times France's, twice Great
Britain's) based on increased industrial production and exports shows the way for European recovery;
Pakistan government says at least 20 million left homeless by current floods; Obama defends right of
Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero [the right was never questioned, but the propriety and
sensitivity of it!]; and Frere Roger's legacy is alive and well in Taize.


THE POPE'S DAY

Mass in Castel Gandolfo's parish church and Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected on the dogma
of the Assumption in his homily, as in his words at the Angelus later.

The Vatican does not publish any preparatory notes nor the actual libretto for liturgies celebrated by the Holy Father outside St. Peter's Basilica or St. Peter's Square - even if it publishes the full Missal for liturgies he celebrates during trips outside Rome... Coverage of the now traditional papal Mass at Castel Gandolfo on the Feast of the Assumption has also been quite spotty - the news agencies generally are stingy with their coverage of the Mass itself (wherever it is held), and I do not recall ever having seen a photo of the congregation at the Church of San Tomasso in the past five years... On top of which, the English service of Vatican Radio has been spotty this summer - its slideshow is still frozen at the Angelus from last Sunday, and it has not posted any news item for today, much less the text for the homily. So, I will lead off the post with the little there is about the Mass (a grand total of 4 news agency photos in all) and a translation of the homily, and deal with all the photos of Papino interacting with the crowd later.



FERRAGOSTO IN CASTEL GANDOLFO




The Holy Father presided at the Mass of the Assumption in the parish church of San Tomasso di Villanova in Castel Gandolfo this morning. Here is a translation of his homily:

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Eminence, Excellency, Authorities,
Dear brothers and sisters:

Today the Church celebrates one of the most important feasts devoted to the Most Blessed Mary in the liturgical year: the Assumption.

At the end of her earthly life, Mary was carried body and soul to Heaven, that is, to the glory of eternal life, in full and perfect communion with God.

This year will mark the 60th anniversary of when the Venerable Pius XII solemnly defined the dogma of the Assumption on November 1, 1950, and I wish to read - even if it is a bit complicated - the form with which it was dogmatized [made into doctrine]. The Pope wrote:

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...The revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb, and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages. (Apos. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, AAS 42 (1950), 768-769)

---

This, then, is the nucleus of our faith in the Assumption: we believe that Mary, like Christ her Son, triumphed over death and already triumphs in celestial glory, in the totality of her being, 'in body and soul'.

St. Paul, in the second Reading today, helps us to throw some light on this mystery, starting from the central fact of human history and of our faith. The fact, namely, of the Resurrection of Christ, who is 'the first fruit of those who have died'.

Immersed in his Paschal Mystery, we have been made participants in his victory over sin and over death. Here is the surprising secret and the key reality of the entire human experience.

St. Paul tells us that we have all been 'incorporated' in Adam, the first man, the 'old' man - and we all share his human inheritance: suffering,death, sin.

But to this reality that we can all see and live every day, a new thing has been added: we are not just heirs of the human race that began with Adam, but we are also 'incorporated' in the new man, in the risen Christ, and thus, the life of the Resurrection is already present in us.

Therefore, that first biological 'incorporation' was incorporation into death, an incorporation that generates death. The second new one, that is given to us at Baptism, is 'incorporation' that gives life.

I will further cite the second Reading today, where St. Paul says: "For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ" (1 Cor 15,21-24).

Now, what St. Paul says of all men, the Church, in her infallible magisterium, says of Mary, in a precise manner and sense: the Mother of God was situated in the Mystery of Christ to the extent of taking part in the Resurrection of her Son with her entire being at the end of her earthly life - she lives that which we await at the end of times when the 'last enemy' is destroyed, death (cfr 1 Cor 15,26). She already lives that which we proclaim in the Creed: "the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting".

We may then ask: what are the roots of this victory over death that was so miraculously anticipated in Mary? The roots are in the faith of the Virgin of Nazareth, as testified by the passage of the Gospel that we heard (Lk 1,39-56): a faith that is obedience to the Word of God and total abandon to divine initiative and action as announced to her by the Archangel.

Faith, therefore, was Mary's greatness, as Elizabeth joyously proclaimed: Mary is 'blessed among women" and 'blessed is the fruit of her womb', because she is 'the mother of the Lord' - because she believes and lives the 'first' of the beatitudes, the beatitude of faith.

Elizabeth proclaims this in her joy and that of the baby who leaps in her womb: "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (v. 45).

Dear friends, let us not limit ourselves to admiring Mary in her glorious destiny, as a person who is very distant from us. No! We are called to look upon what the Lord, in his love, also wished for us, for our final destiny: to live through faith in a perfect communion of love with him, and thus, to truly live.

In this respect, I wish to dwell a bit on an aspect of the dogmatic proclamation, where it speaks of assumption to celestial glory. We are all aware that today when we say 'Heaven' we do not refer to some place in the universe, a star or something similar. No!

We mean something much greater, and something difficult to define with our limited human concepts. With the word "Heaven', we affirm that God, the God who made himself close to us, will never abandon us, not even in death or beyond it, but has a place for us and grants us eternity. We are saying that in God, there is a place for us.

To understand this reality a little better, let us look at our own life: we all experience that a person, after his death, continues to subsist in some way in the memory and heart of those who knew and loved him. We can say that a part of that person continues to live in them, but like a 'shadow', because even this 'survival' in the heart of his dear ones is destined to end.

God however never passes away, and we all exist by the power of his love. We exist because he loves us, because he has thought us up and called us to life. We exist in the thought and love of God - where we exist in all of our reality, not just as a 'shadow'.

Our serenity, our hope, our peace, are based precisely on this: in God, in his thought and in his love, it is not just a 'shadow' of us that survives. In him, in his creative love, we are cared for and introduced with our whole life and our whole being into eternity.

It is his love that triumphs over death and that gives us eternity, and it is this love that we call 'heaven'. God is so great that he has room for all of us.

And the man Jesus, who is God at the same time, is our guarantee that being-man and being-God can exist and live eternally, one within the other.

This means that for each of us, it is not just a part of us that will continue to exist, a part ripped, so to speak, from the rest of us while the other parts end up in ruin. It means rather that God knows and loves the whole man, that which we are.

And God welcomes to his eternity that which now, in this life made up of suffering and love, of hope, of joy and sadness, grows and 'becomes'. All of man, all of human life, is taken in by God and, purified in him, receives eternity.

Dear friends, I think this is a reality that should fill us with profound joy. Christianity does not just announce some generic salvation of the soul in an imprecise afterlife, in which everything that was precious and dear to us in life would be annulled - but it promises eternal life, 'the life of the world to come'. Nothing of that which is precious and dear to us will end in ruin but will rather find their fullness in God.

All the hairs on our head are counted, Jesus said once (cfr Mt 10,30). The world to come will be the fulfillment of this earth, as St. Paul affirms: "Creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Rm 8,21).

Thus, one can understand why Christianity gives strong hope in a luminous future and opens the way towards realizing this future. We are called, precisely because we are Christian, to build this new world, to work so that one day it becomes 'the world of God', a world that will surpass everything that we ourselves could ever hope to build.

In Mary assumed to heaven, fully participating in the Resurrection of her Son, we contemplate the realization of the human creature according to 'God's world'.

Let us pray to the Lord that he may make us understand how precious our whole life is to his eyes; strengthen our faith in eternal life; make us men of hope, working to build a world that is open to God - men full of joy who can perceive the beauty of the future world in the midst of the concerns of daily life, and who live, believe and hope in such a certainty. Amen.

---

WOW! I was not expecting such a fresh, original and beautiful reflection on the meaning of eternal life and heaven in the context of the Assumption, though I should be constantly prepared by now to the constant theological surprises from Benedict XVI.


BENEDICT XVI'S WALKABOUT

Before the Mass







After the Mass


First 'photo sighting' of Mons. Georg this summer!

ANGELUS TODAY





Here is a translation of the Pope's mini-homily at the Angelus today:

---

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, on the Solemnity of the Assumption to heaven of the Mother of God, we celebrate the passage from her earthly condition to heavenly beatitude of she who generated in the flesh and welcomed in faith the Lord of Life.

The veneration of the Virgin Mary has accompanied the journey of the Church from the beginning and Marian feasts first began to be celebrated in the fourth century. In some, the role of the Virgin in the story of salvation was exalted; others celebrated principal events in her earthly existence.

The significance of today's feast is found in the concluding words of the dogmatic proclamation promulgated by the Venerable Pius XII on November 1, 1950:

"The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory" (Apost. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, AAS 42 [1950], 770).

Artists in every age have painted and sculpted the holiness of the Mother of the Lord in adorning churches and shrines. Poets, writers and musicians have paid homage to the Virgin with hymns and liturgical songs. From East and West, the all-Holy has been invoked as the celestial Mother who carried the Son of God in her arms and under whose protection all mankind finds refuge, with the ancient prayer: "Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God: despise not the petitions of us who are in difficulties but protect us from all danger, o glorious and blessed Virgin"

In the Gospel for today's Solemnity, St. Luke describes the fulfillment of salvation through the Virgin Mary. She, in whose womb the Almighty had made himself small, after the annunciation by the Angel, without further hesitation, went in haste to her relative Elizabeth to bring her the Savior of the world.

In fact, "when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb... and (she was) filled with the holy Spirit" (Lk 1,41); she recognized the Mother of God in she "who believed that what was spoken by the Lord would be fulfilled" (Lk 1,45).

The two women, who were awaiting the fulfillment of divine promises, had a foretaste of the joy of the coming of the Kingdom of God, the joy of salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us entrust ourselves to her who, as the Servant of God Paul VI said, "assumed to heaven, did not give up her mission of intercession and salvation" (Apost. Exhortation Marialis Cultus, 18, AAS 66 [1974], 130).

To her, guide to the Apostles, support of martyrs, light of the saints, let us address our prayer, invoking her to accompany us in this earthly life, to help us look to heaven and to welcome us one day alongside her Son Jesus.

In English, he said later:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors. Today we join our voices to the many generations who praise the Virgin Mary and call her blessed for her glorious Assumption into Heaven. Her example of faithful perseverance in doing the will of God and her heavenly reward are a source of courage and hope for all of us. May God bless you and your families with peace and joy!

---

Belatedly. Vatican Radio online finally posted its mini-slideshow on the Assumption observance in Castel Gandolfo yesterday, but it is limited to the Angelus part. It has no report or pictures at all of the earlier papal Mass and homily, and even its Angelus reportage is a copout (a oneline introduction to an audio report (transcript not provided).

Nothing pleasant in what passes for 'news' about the papal visit today. Here's what appears in the online headline summaries:

PayPal Visit?
Secular Right 4 hours ago
Taxpayers to foot luxury hotel bill for Pope's entourage
Daily Mail - UK 19 hours ago
The two stories are the latest twist on the continuing negative narrative being persistently hammered home in the British media that the Pope's visit is costing the British taxpayer a pretty penny. I haven't researched if they have protested similarly when, say, the King of Saudi Arabia made a state visit to the UK last year.

British Catholics wary of Pope who speaks from head not heart
Belfast Telegraph 1 day ago
I'm not even reading this one - the smug generalization of an Irish newspaper purporting to speak for 'British Catholics' is absurd.

Jewish leaders angry at clash with Yom Kippur
The Independent 1 day ago
This was first reported 2-3 weeks ago, and it's one of those anything-to-blame-on-the-Pope gimcrack fabrications that's being reported all over as if it was 'news'! Jewish members of Parliament complain that the Pope's address to the legislators at Westminster Hall takes place a few hours before the sundown start of Yom Kippur, and that if they attend it, they will have no chance to eat a meal before the holiday fast begins! So eat before the event! Hey, no one's holding a gun to their head to attend the affair- why make a federal case of it? And anyway, when was the last time any head of state visiting any country but Israel ever had to tailor his program to the demands of Jewish holidays?


has a long piece today in which it rebuts point by point the 'lies, half-truths, distortions and misrepresentations' that constituted gay ueber-activist Peter Tatchell's latest rant against Benedict XVI. it's worth bookmarking:
protectthepope.com/?p=624

Time out for a flashback

Last April, I posted a 2003 photograph of Cardinal Ratzinger in Carnavaca, Spain, where a piece of the True Cross of Christ is venerated. Today, Caterina posted another photo (below,) taken on the same occasion, in the FOTO GIGANTI part of the main Forum.




In the first photo (Caterina's), the cardinal is holding the relic in its cross-shaped reliquary. In the second photo, the reliquary is in the ostensorium.

She had more information about the event, namely, that in 1998, the VAtican approved a Holy Year to be observed every year for the True Cross relic. In 2003, Cardinal Ratzinger was the guest of honor for the second Holy year observance.

More information about the 'Vera Cruz' (True Cross) of Carnavaca may be found on
www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/caravaca.html

Monday, August 16, 20th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. STEPHEN I (ISTVAN) OF HUNGARY (975-1038), First King of Hungary
Born a pagan, the future king was baptized at age 10 with his father, chief of the Magyars (Hungary's principal ethnic group), and at age 20, married Gisela, sister of the future Holy Roman Emperor, St. Henry. Succeeding his father, Istvan adopted Christianization as a policy, consolidated the people and their territory, defeated the pagans, and asked the Pope to name him King of Hungary, thus establishing the Kingdom of Hungary in 1001. His coronation day has been marked as Hungary's national day ever since. He legislated tithes to support the churches and help the poor, and drastically abolished pagan customs. He was said to be always accessible to everyone, especially the poor. The death of his only son Emeric in 1031 greatly affected him, especially since his nephews tried to kill him in their efforts to succeed him. He died in 1038 and was canonized in 1083, along with his son.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/081610.shtml


No OR today.


No Vatican bulletins so far.

This article appears in a number of regional newspapers in Gloucestershire, southwest England. The very title given to it suggests the perceived public attitude towards the papal visit, to which the natural response is, why should he not visit Britain??? Especially since he was invited as a state guest, no less, to a country whose 'open sesame' immigration policy to all comers has been all too accommodating, and whose secular society would now reject the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics as if he were an international pariah!


Should the Pope be coming to Britain?
BY John Badham

August 16, 2010


POPE BENEDICT XVI will visit the UK from September 16 to 19. He will go to Glasgow, London and Birmingham on the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II came here in 1982. But should Benedict be coming at all? JOHN BADHAM, a retired Catholic school head teacher, from Tewkesbury, argues in favour of the visit.

THE Pope as head of state, invited by the British Government, should be warmly welcomed in September. It is surely wonderful that we will witness the first State visit to Britain by a Roman pontiff.

The fact that perhaps 10 per cent of the UK population are members of the church of which he is leader surely reinforces this.

Yet, there is an increasing furore against this visit so often orchestrated by an incongruous alliance of secularists aided and abetted by the more traditional anti-Catholic sirens.

At the very least this attitude seems mean-spirited; more so because so much of the debate is so frequently couched in the most personal and calculatingly insulting terms.

That is not to say that there are many issues facing the Catholic church today and the scandals have been both shameful and extremely damaging.

However, no one of goodwill can doubt that Pope Benedict is a good man doing his best to deal with these problems, however painful this is.

The truth is that the hostility to his visit is bound up with the various alternative agendas of the principle objectors and have little to do with the real issues that make this visit so important for many in this country; not just Catholics!

Our history has been scarred by the centuries-long persecution and prejudice inflicted mostly on, and sometimes by, the Catholic community.

It is worth remembering that as late as 1851, some fanatics in Cheltenham tried to destroy St Gregory's Church!

In recent years there have been the dreadful consequences of such attitudes played out in Ireland. Those of us who are old enough to remember Pope John Paul II's visit in 1982 will also recall the healing effect of his presence and the wonderfully generous way he was welcomed by so many of faith, and no faith; as well as the longstanding friendship he was able to forge with the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

It is perhaps a sad reflection of our contemporary world that so many want to damage the real positive possibilities of this visit.

If we allow this ungenerous, and sometimes malicious, campaign to succeed, either by withdrawing the invitation, or encouraging the kind of thoughtless contempt so amply displayed by some individuals, we will undoubtedly hurt a good and holy man who is coming with a spirit of repentance, apology and seeking forgiveness and attempting to bring a much needed message of hope, charity and goodwill.

Attempting to hijack the visit will do nothing but harm. Little good will be served by that.

More importantly, we will flout the basic principles of hospitality, tolerance and fair play so often, one hopes correctly, attributed to our society.


I found this May 2005 item from ZENIT which I had not seen before, but it is highly relevant and must be kept in mind when considering local coverage in the UK itself of the Pope's visit, in which rudeness and crudeness appear to be the rule.


The British media's sharp
coverage of Benedict XVI:
Interview with the aide to
the Archbishop of Westminster


BIRMINGHAM, England, MAY 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The British media's overall reaction to the election of Benedict XVI showed its secular agenda, says a bishop's press secretary.

Peter Jennings, press secretary to Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, has covered events in the Catholic Church worldwide since the canonization of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales in October 1970.

Jennings is the author of a number of books including "The Pope in Britain," the official record of the pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II to Great Britain in 1982. He is now editing a book about Benedict XVI and Cardinal John Henry Newman.

How did the British press react to the election of Benedict XVI?
Predictably. The British media works out of a framework of liberal secularism and does not understand events from the perspective of faith. Hence it constantly used the term "conservative" and "liberal" to describe the cardinal-electors at the conclave.

In several "live" television interviews that I gave from Rome shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI the new Pope was invariably referred to as the "archconservative" Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

I emphasized that the cardinals, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, had elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope on only the fourth ballot.

I also explained that Cardinal Ratzinger, as the prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, had a very specific role in the Church. But now as Pope Benedict, he would embrace and encourage all Catholics and Christians of different traditions, as well as people from other religious faiths and none.

I felt exhausted by the time I had completed my last national television interview at 11:45 p.m. Rome time but privileged to have presented the Catholic Church in a very positive way to the general public in Britain.

Many observers detect an anti-Catholic, anti-Roman mentality in the press that dates back to the 19th century. What is the reason for this hostility?
Attitudes towards the Catholic Church in Britain have changed considerably for the better over the past three decades. Unfortunately there is still a trace of an anti-Roman mentality combined with a general British suspicion of all things "foreign."

In addition, hostility now is based more on an aggressive secular agenda that dominates the British media.

The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury has had words of praise for John Paul II, and he went to the installation of Benedict XVI. Has the age of ecumenism softened the attitude of British journalists toward the Catholic Church?
Not particularly! The British media is hostile to the Church of England, too. In fact, for some journalists, there is a respect for the strength and coherence of the Catholic Church.

At present the worldwide Anglican Communion is under an intense media spotlight over the ordination of practicing homosexuals as bishops, the blessing of same-sex marriages, and the ordination of women bishops.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is doing everything he can to prevent the provinces of the Anglican Communion from going into schism. He needs our prayers and encouragement at this crucial time.

What does the press reaction to the recent events in Rome tell us about British society in general?
Don’t judge British society by the British press! The press has its own agenda.

There was very widespread and positive interest among British society, at every level, in the death and funeral Mass of Pope John Paul II, and the conclave, election and inaugural Mass of Pope Benedict XVI.

People who had never been into a Catholic Church attended a special requiem Mass for Pope John Paul II celebrated in St. Chad's Cathedral, situated in the center of Birmingham, on the day of the funeral Mass in Rome.

One lady told me: "I heard you talk about the special Mass at St. Chad's Cathedral on local radio earlier today. I have never been into a Catholic Church before but I have been so moved by the television coverage of Pope John Paul II from Rome that I wanted to be part of something for him."

Does the press try other religions the same way? Why not?
The attitude of the British press to Christianity is generally hostile.

Its attitude to Judaism and Islam is completely different because of the potential criticism that would follow hostile and negative reporting of these faiths.

What advice could you give Church officials as one who has to work in a difficult environment?
It is important that representatives of the Catholic Church try to build up personal relationships with key media figures at local, regional and national level, while always recognizing that there are
different values and agendas at work.

During the last few years professional spokespeople have been employed by the Catholic Church and their work with the British media has been vital particularly in a crisis.

There are times when the Catholic Church and the media work well together and can be a great benefit for evangelization. This is always in the back of my mind when I give a quote or a media interview.


One of the rare individual stories so far that I have seen in connection with the Pope's visit:

A teenage girl who will be
onstage with the Pope
at Hyde Park prayer vigil


August 14, 2010

A survivor of a rare blood condition from Northampton has been selected to read a prayer with the Pope in front of tens of thousands of people in Hyde Park.

Caitlin Behan, aged 13, from Westone, was helped by the Handicapped Children's Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT) charity following her recovery from Fanconi's anaemia in 2004.

The brave youngster was asked to carry the charity's banner at the Hyde Park vigil when Pope Benedict XVI comes to the UK on a state visit.

But after organisers learned of her story from the charity, Caitlin was invited to take to the stage with the Pope in front of up to 80,000 people in Hyde Park and a TV audience.

She will read a liturgy, which will involve her reading the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the Pope answering each line.

Liam Connoly, a member of the committee of Northampton Cathedral, and chairman of the Northampton branch of HCPT, said: "Caitlin has been on our annual trips to Lourdes where she does readings and does others every week so she's very capable.

"But this is one of the main readings in the event. It's a big part for her. She's very lucky."

Caitlin was told she had a rare blood disorder, Fanconi's anaemia, aged six, and her diagnosis sparked the search for a bone marrow transplant.

Although a donor was not found, her condition was eventually cured in 2004 using stem cells taken from an umbilical cord in Spain.

Mum Bernie said: "I think she was chosen partly because of her illness and partly because she's an experienced reader.

"She's quite excited about it all but a bit nervous because of the occasion. We're very proud of her."


One of the negative headlines I referred to yesterday turns out to have an interesting article attached to it - the headline only refers to a secondary argument in it. It is remarkable in a way because it is an attempt to be objective by the associate editor of the newspaper Independent, but although it makes some positive acknowledgments that the liberal media generally ignore, its premise as well as its eventual conclusions are still negatively prejudiced, and - it is obvious - the result of a far from fully informed awareness of the facts about Benedict XVI (or more likely, a willful desire not to know)....


Worshippers wary of a leader
who speaks from the head not the heart
The Church has a vital message – but can Benedict convey it?
by Paul Vallely

Saturday, 14 August 2010


The scandal of paedophile priests – and the Church's cover-up [a false generalization!] – shocked and outraged believers and non-believers alike. But there was an additional hurt for many members of the Catholic Church: they felt betrayed as well. [Oh ye of shallow faith, who mistake the sins of a few for the totality of the Church! The betrayal is rather to have so little faith in your Church. As for the 'shock and outrage', spare the sanctimony! Why is no one expressing 'shock and outrage' over the wider phenomenon of child sexual abuse that takes place within families and in most school systems]

It is difficult to overstate the impact of that but it manifests itself in many ways. One of them is the nervousness and ambivalence which is widespread in the Catholic community at the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain next month.

The wider community has been bolder in expressing negativity. Secularists have attacked the visit. Public debate has largely focused on whether the cost to the state is justified and asked whether the Pope will meet victims of clerical abuse.

Some news outlets have tried to manufacture further controversy, seeking out interviews with Ian Paisley (who, unsurprisingly, is against the visit) or unsuccessfully inviting Jewish leaders to complain that they had been invited to meet the Pope on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Many Catholics have been irritated by the media's inability or unwillingness to focus on anything other than the negative aspects of the Church, of which 11 per cent of the British population are members.

The fact that the visit was prompted by successive invitations from British prime ministers rather than at the request of the Vatican – and that all state visits are usually paid for by the taxpayer – is routinely ignored.

Little mention is made of the fact that the English bishops have put in place a child protection scheme, which Lord Nolan devised at their behest, which is an exemplar for other institutions in its rigour and transparency.

And there is little attempt to contextualise the place of the Church in society or mention its extensive work in education, healthcare, housing, international poverty relief or with the homeless, refugees, asylum-seekers and in Britain's most run-down inner city areas.

But set against all that are a number of reservations which are no less deep-seated for being more nuanced. Benedict has been a more pastoral figure than many English Catholics feared when the then-Cardinal Ratzinger, the Vatican's hardline doctrinal watchdog, was elected their leader. But ordinary churchgoers are disturbed at the present Pope's evident insensitivity as to how his pronouncements impact in the world.

Catholic relations with Muslims and Jews have taken several knocks under this papacy which has shown itself to be extraordinarily maladroit in PR terms – as was again evidenced when the Pope coupled the announcement of his visit with an apparent attack on Britain's equalities legislation. The possibility of another PR disaster makes many Catholics nervous.

[The fact that many Catholics, even among the most intelligent and orthodox in the blogosphere, often appear more concerned about 'PR Impact' than they are about the underlying issues is rather disturbing. Even if one grants that in a thoroughly mediatized world, perception is usually, if not always, more 'significant' than substance...

Benedict XVI, who represents a fast-vanishing generation that spoke to truth rather than to public opinion, cannot be expected to suddenly 'tailor' his statements according to public opinion (often based on the very erroneous criterion of 'political correctness', which, I often say, is a euphemism for 'hypocrisy'] - both because of his own personal temperament and upbringing, as by the more important fact that the mission of the Vicar of Christ is not to be politically correct but to uphold the faith in every way, much of it bound to be unpopular because Christianity,as Christ warned, is by its nature, 'a sign of contradiction' to the worldly mindset.

It is, however, the duty of those who are in charge of Vatican communications to anticipate possible PR problems and seek to cushion or minimize the predictable negative impact of any statement or decision from the Vatican that clashes with prevailing opinion, with appropriate backgrounders, written and spoken, given out ahead of time.]

The other tension is that the Pope is regarded by English Catholics with dutiful respect rather than warmth. His predecessor, John Paul II, was embraced by those who did not agree with his every pronouncement because he spoke from the heart. Benedict is an altogether more cerebral figure; when someone speaks from the head it is easier to disagree with what he says. [Has Mr. Vallelly read or heard any of Benedict XVI's statements at all??? Nothing could be more illustrative of 'the heart that thinks' and John Newman's 'hear speaks to heart'! Especially since this Pope writes most of his texts himself! From the time he was a university lecturer, he has always been distinguished by the ability to convey the most intellectual of propositions in simple language that goes to the heart! I dare Vallelly to describe the Pope's Letter to Irish Catholics, to name a recent historic example, as anything less than written from the heart.]

There is also the question of his style. Contrary to many of the smears made against him, Benedict has not been soft on paedophile priests. Indeed, all the evidence from Rome is that he has done so much to root them out that a number of senior Vatican figures have complained that he has not given a fair hearing to accused priests. [That's a new and far-out accusation! Especially since the BBC and other knee-jerk detractors have been accusing him of ordering a cover-up of accused priests, in instructions that have to do with protecting the reputation of accused priests and the identity of their victims while any case is under investigation.]

The problem is that he always acts in secrecy – for fear that dirty linen washed in public will bring the Church into disrepute. [There it is again! What does a statement like 'he always acts in secrecy' mean when applied to a Pope? Has any Pope in all of history - and even in recent history - ever carried out his deliberative processes in public? Any more than presidents and lawmakers necessarily show the public all of the messy 'sausage-making' process that precedes any major decision or legislation. As for washing dirty linen, there is a place for doing so, and even in the literal sense, it's not out in the open. And in the sexual abuse issue, Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has not just shoved the dirty linen into an out-of-the-way basement where they will no longer see the light of day, or sent them off to be burned, but has sorted them out systematically to be examined and 'cleaned' with due process!]

Of course, in an age which values openness, such an approach only adds to scandal rather than reducing it. It gives the appearance that this offence is not being dealt with at all. [An objective journalist would qualify that statement of perception by a statement of fact- referring to what the CDF has been doing since 2001, with the necessary proviso that the CDF can only act on cases which are brought to its attention, either by local bishops or by complainants themselves. It is not and cannot be responsible fof ferreting out priestly offenses in each of the world's parishes and dioceses - that's the function of the local bishops.]

But the difference between the enthusiasm for John Paul II's visit here 28 years ago and the present mood is not all down to Benedict. Then Catholics felt they had a good story to tell and a charismatic leader to tell it; today the picture is far more mixed. [That's a statement, colored by nostalgia and bias, which ignores historical reality at the time! What 'good story' did Catholics have to tell about the Church in 1982 when all the consequences of the rash ultra-liberalization that followesd Vatican II were starting to be felt worldwide? When discipline was practically absent from the Church and laissez-faire was rampant? If John Paul II's charisma were all that the Church needed under the circumstances, why did the situation in the Catholic Church in the UK steadily deteriorate to the sorry state it is in today, during his long Pontificate?]

In 1982 the general population shared more of the negative attitudes to homosexuality which shamefully remain part of the Church's teaching. [Again, a statement made without actually reading what the Church says about homosexuality. And why can liberals not admit that, [S}at the very least, homosexuality is not normal - it is not the natural biological order, because if it were, then the human race would have died off long ago - surely, they cannot argue it is otherwise!] In those days, to the secular élite, religion was a harmless irrelevance – a view which has shifted significantly since 9/11. [I'm not so sure at all that the elite ever thought it 'harmless', since, by definition, secularism is opposition to any notion of religion or God, which are seen as concepts (and therefore, major foes) to be eliminated at all costs from the public square!]

A generation with minimal religious knowledge and sympathy has grown up – extending even to the Foreign Office where the papal visit team earlier this year bizarrely suggested that the Pope should open a British abortion clinic – which is unable to disentangle paedophile priests from celibacy, sexuality, clericalism or the centralisation of power.

All of this means that Britain is unlikely to be receptive to the important messages Benedict has on offer. Catholicism has a rich tradition of teaching on the interplay between economics, politics and morality. It could tell David Cameron why his idea of a Big Society, as an alternative to a vision dominated by the market or the state, will not work without a reawakening of values such as mutuality, solidarity, compassion and generosity. And it can offer strategies for rebuilding them in a world where consumerist materialism and militarism have relativised morals.

All that is embodied in the person of that most English of figures, John Henry Newman, the Anglican cleric who became a Catholic cardinal – and whom Benedict will beatify on the last day of his visit.

Newman was a man who understood that faith had to encompass both the intellectual spirituality of Oxford, where he was a leading Anglican academic, and work among the destitute in disease-ridden Birmingham, where he lived for the final decades of his life.

That's a message many Catholics feel contemporary Britain needs to hear, but is Benedict the man to communicate it?

[Again one would think that Vallelly has not bean reading anything but the negative reports about Benedict XVI, much less watched any video or direct broadcast of events headlined by Benedict XVI! Why did 250,000 turn up for Mass in that most venerable of secular capitals, Paris, and a million pilgrims in Fatima, not to mention the multitudes that turned up for him in Cologne and Melbourne? Why do the pilgrims regularly fill up St. Peter's Square (or Castel Gandolfo) twice a week? Why do people buy not just his books but his encyclicals and booklet compilations of his papal Magisterium? Why has he registered in the past five years unprecedented figures in terms of attendance and sales of his writings, especially after the 26-year-long media dominance of the phenomenally charismatic John Paul II?

Just because all that is unimaginable for the media - that Benedict XVI could be so popular in his own right as to surpass his predecessor in some key indicators - is no reason to ignore the facts!]



August 16, 2010
has chosen to accentuate the positive about Vallelly's piece, and limits its comments to the following:


The admission by a serious UK newspaper that the Holy Father has not been ‘soft on paedophile priests’ is a welcome recognition of the truth after months of groundless and false attacks on Pope Benedict’s reputation.

However, Paul Vallely’s interpretation of Pope Benedict’s insistence on confidentiality as a concern to hide scandal that could damage the Church is wrong. Some bishops may have acted at Vallely suggests, but not Pope Benedict. He has a fearless regard for the truth, and believes that the Church must be purified from the filth committed by some of her members.

The Holy Father’s insistence on confidentiality has two sources: for 2,000 years the Church has guaranteed strict confidentiality to enable people to be entirely honest about their sins; secondly, over the centuries there have been many instances of allegations being made against priests, some of which have been false and malicious.

One of the most famous is the false accusation that St Gerard Majella had fathered an illegitimate child. After years of rumours and lies the mother finally admitted that the allegation was false.

Thanks to Beatrice and her site

benoit-et-moi.fr/2010-II/
for pointing out this article by Jean Madiran - at age 90, one of France's leading traditional Catholic intellectuals and editor of the newspaper PRESENT. He also recently published a book, Chroniques sous Benoit VI (Events under Benedict XVI)

which gathers his articles since April 5, 2005, upon the death of John Paul II, to January 1, 2010, or roughly the first five years of Benedict XVI's Pontificate. It is Madiran's 43rd book on religion and its social implications...


Pope Benedict's 'greatest blunders'
in the eyes of the media
by Jean Madiran
Translated from

August 13, 2010


According to a refrain which Catherine Panzoni [resident Benedict-basher of the weekly magazine Paris Match], has practically endowed with letters of patent, Benedict XVI has accumulated in his government of the Church a series of 'stumbles', 'repeated faux pas', and 'his nth glaring blunder'.
[Count John Allen in the company of Panzoni, since he brings up the same formulas at the slightest pretext! I am sick to death of the continuing condescension by so many 'inferior beings' towards someone who is way beyond their miserable league!]

Here are the principal examples of these 'gross blunders':

The address to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005 - This was a radical discrediting of the so-called 'spirit of Vatican II', namely, that everything that has been said and done in the name of this 'spirit' has no normative value, i.s., no value at all.

At the moment, almost all bishops [I suppose he means in France, because on a worldwide scale, the percentage has to be lower!] have not appeared to take note of this discrediting. But at least the post-conciliar implementation has been liberated from the anonymous dictatorship that has imposed its odious 'religiously correct' criteria, a liberation that will gradually spread its wings in the years to come.

The Regensburg lecture of Sept. 12, 2006 - One can find in it a severe rectification of ecumenism as it had been practised since the Council. La Croix perceived this soon enough with regret, duly noted summarily by Isabelle de Gaulmyn, who said that "in Regensburg, the Pope expounded a view of the ecumenical dialog that was quite different from that of his predecessor".

Most of the bishops paid little heed to this either, but the word had come down to reject any so-called ecumenical dialog that makes of the Catholic religion just another opinion among many others.

At the same time, the lecture also decries the philosophical de-hellenisation which would detach Catholicism from her culture of origin, from the Latin language, and from Greek philosophy.

Address at the Lateran on February 12, 2007 - A restoration of natural moral law, forgotten in today's society and too often little regarded even in the Church. Benedict XVI re-establishes the objective reality of this 'law written by God in the heart of man', spelled out in the Decalogue and comprehensible to human reason. He has called on theologians to return to the principles of natural law.

Motu proprio of 7/7/07 - The traditional Mass was never validly forbidden, and the effective 'ban' that had suppressed it for decades was, in effect, a criminal abuse of power. And so, the actual accomplices in this virtual ban, who are determined to make it survive one way or the other, are criminals in this respect. [See 'Le rendez-vous de Septembre 2010' in Present, issue of 7/22/10.]

Opening address to the Special Assembly of the Bishops' Synod on the Word of God, Oct. 4, 2008 - La Croix lamented that Benedict XVI had 'harshly criticized' the present (state of) Catholic exegesis': "The principal current of exegesis in Germany [and elsewhere!] denies that the Lord had instituted the Holy Eucharist and declares that the body of Jesus remained in his tomb".

That is to say that the principal current of theology in Catholicism today has lost its faith! And these doctors who have lost the faith are most arrogant in wishing to impose on us their superstitious devotion to the so-called 'spirit of Vatican II'. They certainly deserve to be 'criticized harshly'. Particularly because with the 'prestige' of their hollow erudition, they have been intellectually manipulating the more gullible bishops.

Lifting the excommunication of the Lefebvrian bishops on January 21, 2009 - Benedict XVI lifted the automatic excommunication (further explicitly promulgated by John Paul II), of the four bishops consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 despite the Pope's express prohibition.

The excommunication was lifted in the absence of a retraction, an expression of repentance, or an absolution. The simple faithful cannot help feeling that, under the circumstances, the lifting of the excommunications has implications and consequences of great import.

Letter to the bishops of the world on March 10, 2009 - In the face of the mediatic 'revolt' against the Sovereign Pontiff [after his gesture towards the Lefebvrian bishops], he noted the participation of a great many bishops, priests and faithful in that revolt.

The Pope wrote that "those who proclaim themselves as the great defenders of Vatican II" must be reminded that they should "accept the faith professed down the centuries" and "the entire doctrinal history of the Church".

And that, in fact, is the real issue.


While Madiran cites some of the seminal statements of the Pontificate so far, he does fail to touch on the more familiar examples that Allen et al rattle off whenever they can: After Regensburg -

1) the supposed 'slight' to indigenous natives of America during his major address in Aparecida, Brazil, that angered all the bleeding hearts but especially, the politically exploitative advocates of indigenous rights in South America;
2) the revision of the Good Friday prayer in 2007 that angered the Jews;
3) his December 23, 2008 address to the Roman Curia in which a single statement he made was falsely trumpeted by the MSM around the world as 'Pope says saving humanity from homosexuals is as important as saving the rain forests';
4) the remarks about condoms and AIDS enroute to Cameroon in March 2009, which angered all the liberals who are outraged that the Church should interfere in any way with absolute sexual freedom by advocating abstinence and an end to promiscuous sex;
5) the proclamation of Pius XII's heroic virtues, which angered the Jews and all the liberals who see only Pius XII's apparently 'silence about the Jews in World War II, but ignore everything else he actually said and did in their behalf since he was the Nuncio to Germany in the early 1930s to the end of World War II - which was more than any other leader, even Jewish, in that time period.

Lately, they have added the following:
5) the general statement he made to Portuguese bishops in May 2010, namely,

---

Initiatives aimed at protecting the essential and primary values of life, beginning at conception, and of the family based on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, help to respond to some of today’s most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good.

---

was translated into MSM headlines screaming 'Pope says gay marriage insidious and dangerous'.
6) the PR-slanted view, shared by even some Catholic intellectuals in the blogosphere, that it was stupidly counter-productive to re-state the Church's rejection of the idea of women priests in the same norms that also govern current Church handling of sex abuse cases - obviously ignoring the fact that the now-canonized norms have to do with canonical crimes against the faith, against morals and against the Sacraments!

But it is typical of MSM, when it suits them, to ignore context and overview in favor of zooming in on the isolated detail erroneously reported to make their point about Benedict XVI's 'communications fiascos'.

7) the Pope's rejection of the resignations submitted by two auxiliary bishops of Dublin who were pressured into submitting those resignations by the media and their own boss, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin - simply because their names were mentioned in the Murphy Report without implicating them in any cases having to do with sex abuses by priests.

Not to mention peripheral fallout from:
8) Papal preacher Fr. Cantalamessa's Good Friday homily citing a Jewish friend who noted that the media attacks against the Church over sex abuses by priests reminded him of attacks against the Jews in the Nazi era.
9) Cardinal Sodano's use of the Italian word 'chiacchiericcio' on Easter Sunday to describe 'idle chatter' habitually demonizing the Church and the Pope in the sex abuse scandals. Especially since the Pope himself had used the same word on Palm Sunday to tell the faithful they should have the courage to resist the idle chatter of prevailing opinion.

I probably have missed one or two egregious examples, but the point is abundantly clear. Think of the rivers of ink and verbal diarrhea that have been spewed to elaborate these media contrivances - certainly not in an attempt to be informative, much less to get at the truth, but simply to feed into the negative narrative MSM has decided to make of this Pope and his Pontificate, regardless of facts!

BTW, Beatrice also points out that one French journalist has attributed the ensemble of faults found by the MSM in Benedict XVI to the Pope's 'pathologic tactlessness'. So says a typical pathologic calumniator and defamer from the self-exalting world of MSM!

PORTRAITS OF THE POPE

Beatrice has availed of the summer scarcity of news to revisit some of the best anecdotes about Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI that have appeared over the years, and yesterday, livened it up with a special reportage on three papal portraits so far:

The latest of them is one by US-based Russian artist Igor Babailov who did this portrait for the Pope's 80th birthday and was able to present it to him in Washington, DC, on that occasion. Babailov's site
http://babailov.homestead.com/PopeBenedictXVIsitting.html
also presents pictures of how he was allowed to sketch the Pope during a GA as a basis for his portrait.




Top right, Babailov presents the portrait to the Apostolic Nuncio, Mons. Sambi, in Washington, before the Pope's arrival; and bottom left, Babailov at a private audience with the Pope in Castel Gandolfo in August 2008.


Below left, Natalia Tsarkova and her 2007 portrait of Benedict XVI, which she presented to the Pope at the Vatican; and right, Ulisse Sartini's 2005 portrait of the Pope, done in conjunction with the round portrait he was commissioned to make as a model for Benedict XVI's mosaic panel set in the Gallery of Popes found along the top of the walls in the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls.


Sartini (extreme left), presenting the portrait for the mosaic mural to the Pope on the day the mosaic was installed at St. Paul outside the Walls.

Finally, Beatrice adds the cartoon below, left, crated in August 2008 by an American who calls himself Gero for the site www.toonpool.com. It is one of the most felicitous cartoon depictions yet of Benedict XVI - it captures his joy and that unusual quality of being 'childlike' despite all his years and intellect!

For graphic balance, I used the cartoon on the right from the New Yorker magazine's slampiece on Benedict and Islam back in 2008, compared to which the cartoon and its caption - "Benedict wants to purify the Church, to make it more observant, obedient, and disciplined - more like the way he sees Islam" - appear quite innocuous and unexpectedly, not unflattering!

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any online photos of the Tsarkova and Sartini portraits that do not carry watermarks.

Tuesday, August 17, 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/081710.shtml


OR for 8/16-8/17:

The Pope celebrates the Feast of the Assumption in Castel Gandolfo:
'The life of the Resurrection is already in us...
Heaven is God's love that has room for all of us'

Coverage of Sunday's Mass and Angelus, and the papal texts, with an editorial on the strong hope of Christians embodied by Mary. Page 1 news: Tokyo acknowledges losing out to China for the first time as the world's second largest economy after the USA; UN agencies warn that 3.5 million children are endangered by epidemics among the flood-stricken population of Pakistan; Bartholomew I celebrates the liturgy of the Assumption/Dormition in the historic monastery of Sumela in southern Turkey (above,left); and Italy mourns the loss of two of its most prominent citizens: former President, Prime Minister and senator for life Francesco Cossiga (center photo above), who was 82; and nuclear physicist Nicola Cabibbo (above, right), 75, who was president of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences - he discovered the mechanics of sub-atomic particles called quarks and their role in the Big Bang, but was passed over for the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 which went to three Japanese scientists whose work was based on Cabibbo's discovery. The issue contains tributes to both of them. Also, most unusually, a 2000 essay written by Cossiga on Cardinal Newman as 'the absent Father at Vatican-II'.


No Vatican bulletins since the Angelus text last Sunday.

I am posting on this thread a tandem obituary on former Italian President Francesco Cossiga and nuclear physicist Nicola Cabibbo, who had been president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences since 1993. Both were towering figures in their respective fields, both very devout Catholics, and both were esteemed by Benedict XVI.


Pope very saddened
by Cossiga death
Translated from the Italian service of

August 17, 2010


Pope Benedict XVI offered prayers today for former Italian President Francesco Cossiga who passed away at the Gemelli Polyclinic at 3:18 this morning after being on life support for cardiac-respiratory emergency since last Wednesday.

His condition had stabilized afteer his first 48 hours in the hospital. At midnight last night, however, the hospital issued a bulletin saying the patient had gone into a condition of 'extreme gravity'. He died a few hours later.

Last Friday, the Holy Father had sent Mons. Rino Fisichella to visit Cossiga on his behalf. Sources said the Pope was able to telephone Cossiga himself in the past few days. The two last met each other when they were both vacationing in Bressanone in 2008

Here is AP's obituary on a statesman-politician who was in many ways larger than life during his time in the limelight:

Veteran Italian politician Cossiga dies
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO



Cossiga with Benedict XVI at a 2006 special audience held by the Pope for the Opus Dei movement.


ROME, Aug. 17 (AP) - Veteran politician Francesco Cossiga, who led Italy's fight against domestic terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s but resigned after failing to save the life of a politician kidnapped by the Red Brigades, died on Tuesday. He was 82.

Cossiga had been hospitalized since last week with heart and respiratory problems. His health took a "drastic" turn for the worse Monday night, and early Tuesday he was put back on life support, Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic said.

Cossiga declared himself "politically dead" in 1978 after the Red Brigades leftist terrorist group assassinated his mentor and friend Aldo Moro, the leader of the Christian Democrats and a former premier, two months after kidnapping him.

But Cossiga went on to lead a vigorous political life for several more years, including as prime minister and later, President of the Republic, Italy's highest office.

As President in the mid-1980s, he used the largely ceremonial, head-of-state role to publicly lambast Parliament and the judiciary in what some saw as an effort to spur reform in an increasingly inefficient, moribund postwar system of revolving door coalition governments.

Often accused of harboring political secrets, Cossiga, a staunch U.S. supporter, eventually admitted involvement in a shady Cold War-era, anti-Communist network known as Gladio.

In another murky, never resolved Italian case, Cossiga was premier in 1980 when an Italian domestic jetliner exploded in flight and crashed near the island of Ustica. Among theories for the jet's demise was a bomb planted by domestic terrorists, or an errant U.S. or French missile allegedly fired at a Libyan MiG streaking over the Mediterranean.

Various nicknames marked the stages of Cossiga's political career.

In the 1970s, the "years of lead" marked by a surge of domestic terrorism, leftists scrawled "Killer Kossiga" graffiti on walls. During his presidential years of outspoken - many said out-of-control - criticism, he was dubbed the "picconatore" - literally somebody wielding a pickax and roughly meaning a wrecker.

A constitutional law professor, Cossiga, silver-haired in his latter decades, likened himself to Don Quixote and held a post endowed with largely ceremonial duties in Italy's postwar constitution to the limits.

Many, even his communist foes, remembered him as a civil servant who always put the good of the state before his own. A "deeply saddened" Pope Benedict XVI prayed for him, Vatican Radio said.

Cossiga was born on July 26, 1928 in Sardinia. He was the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer, the late longtime leader of the Italian Communist Party.

After receiving his law degree, Cossiga soon entered the local Christian Democratic party and rose in its ranks, entering parliament in 1958 and holding his first position in government as defense undersecretary in 1966.

The turning point of his career came a decade later, when he was made interior minister by then-Premier Moro. As the official in charge of state police forces, he was at the helm of the state's fight against the left-wing and right-wing terror that was bloodying Italy with shootings and bombings. He oversaw a reform of public security forces and organized anti-terror departments.

In 1978, Cossiga played a key role during one of the most dramatic moments in Italy's recent history when the Red Brigades kidnapped Moro and held the statesman in hideouts.

Often sleeping at his office, for 54 days Cossiga led feverish but futile efforts to pinpoint where the terrorists were holding Moro.

When Moro's bullet-ridden body was found in the trunk of a car parked in downtown Rome - symbolically left in a street equidistant from the headquarters of the Christian Democrats and those of the Communists - Cossiga resigned.

"I'm politically dead," he was quoted as saying.

But he defended the government's refusal to negotiate the exchange of prisoners demanded by the Red Brigades, saying that was a policy espoused by Moro.

"I contributed to carrying it out with conviction, loyalty and firmness, even if with an understandable tumult of human feelings," Cossiga said.

After a brief stint as Premier between 1979 and 1980, Cossiga was elected by Parliament as President of the republic in 1985, and once again faced tempestuous times.

The political system that had emerged in Italy after World War II, crippled by corruption and perennial compromise among coalition partners, was struggling to survive. It would soon collapse under the "Clean Hands" kickback scandals of the early 1990s, which swept the Christian Democrats from power and led to the rise of new political forces, including media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's populist movement and the antiestablishment Northern League party.

Cossiga assailed the old system with a vehemence and directness that was unprecedented for an Italian head of state. Supporters said he wanted to spur reform; opponents thought he was overstepping the boundaries of his mandate.

Many thought he had simply gone crazy. "The worst (critics) talk about a racing case of hardening of the arteries or schizophrenia," Cossiga once said.

Calls for his resignation increased after disclosures about Gladio, a guerrilla network coordinated by NATO across Europe to organize resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion. In Italy, there was speculation of Gladio's links to a series of unsolved right-wing terrorist attacks in the 1960s and 1970s.

Cossiga denounced his critics as traitors. To foes in the former Communist Party, which at that point had changed its name, he sent a more pointed message: chunks of the Berlin Wall.

Eventually, he did step down as President, leaving his post in April 1992 with two months to go before the end of his seven-year term. The kickback scandals were beginning to unfold.

In a dramatic televised speech, Cossiga said he was "alone" and a "very weak man."

But as a senator for life, an honor granted all former presidents, Cossiga remained vocal for years, even as his clout diminished.

He is survived by a daughter, Anna Maria, and a son, Giuseppe, who is a deputy in Berlusconi's conservative coalition. A private funeral will be held in Sardinia, the ANSA news agency said.

I will translate the OR tribute to Cossiga and his essay on Cardinal Newman later... Meanwhile, the caliber of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences can best be gleaned from a list of its past and present members, many of them Nobel Prize winners, but its president since 1993, one of the world's leading nuclear physicists, was robbed, many in the scientific community believe, of a rightful share of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering the science of sub-atomic particles that played a role in the Big Bang.

Italian physicist Cabibbo,
passed over for Nobel, dies



Right, Cabibbo greets Benedict XVI formally at a session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences when the new Pope first visited the Academy in the Casino Pio V within the Vatican Gardens On Nov. 11, 2005, to unveil a bust of John Paul II.

ROME, Aug. 16 (AFP) – Prominent Italian physicist Nicola Cabibbo, an expert in particle interaction who many said should have shared a Nobel prize in 2008, died Monday aged 75, the ANSA news agency reported.

He had been admitted earlier in the day to a Rome hospital with respiratory problems, ANSA said.

An American and two Japanese scientists -- Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa -- won the 2008 Nobel prize for physics for work based on an idea spawned by Cabibbo, a professor at the University of Rome La Sapienza.

The three laureates were lauded for their efforts to explain concepts of the nature of matter and the origins of the Universe, created in the "Big Bang" some 14 billion years ago.

Roberto Petronzio, president of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics, said after the 2008 Nobel prize award: "Cabibbo was the first to understand the mechanism of the phenomenon of quarks" that was developed by the laureates.

"I cannot hide our bitterness because Kobayashi and Maskawa have the sole merit of having generalised a central idea that Cabibbo fathered," he said.

Each Nobel prize is limited to a maximum of three recipients.

Supplemental information from Wikipedia:

Recent work on evaluating the importance of scientific papers using Google's PageRank algorithm identifies Cabibbo's paper "Unitary symmetry and leptonic decays" as the top ranked out of 353,268 articles on physics published since 1893. [That means outranking all the great pioneering giants of modern physics including Albert Einstein!] The same research shows that most of the authors of the top-ranked papers are also Nobel Prize winners, which makes Cabibbo's exclusion seem all the more curious.

More recently, Cabibbo had been researching applications of supercomputers to address problems in modern physics.

NB: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has announced that funeral services will be held for Cabibbo at the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mure tomorrow morning, August 18.

An unexpected tribute
to Benedict XVI

Elizabeth Scalia, who blogs as The Anchoress, wrote a beautiful essay for her Tuesday turn at FIRST THINGS's On the Square - her reflections on the self-loathing that afflicts Europe after that continent's century of near-unprecedented evil... and ends with this tribute to a man who has survived, transcended and sublimated that experience...

Excerpt from
'Hating Ourselves to Death'
by Elizabeth Scalia


...Pope Benedict XVI, imperfect-but-faithful, unjustly reviled, is the last great man of the twentieth century who is still astride the world stage.

He has lived under the jackboot of totalitarianism and is intimate with Europe’s deadly depths. He has received the confessed failings of his own priests and bishops and wept with their victims, and prayed.

A lifetime spent immersed in the pageant of human sin and redemption has given him some insight as to how a single person (and a nation, and a culture and a Church) may transcend unimaginable confusion, guilt, and pain in hope and faith.

When Joseph Ratzinger took Benedict for his papal name, it was a nod to his own monastic leanings, and a recognition that Europe – of whom St. Benedict of Nursia is co-patron – is in a spiritual extremis that is manifesting in the physical, as well.

As he prepares to visit the United Kingdom, it remains to be seen whether dying Europe (and not-well America) will allow this burdened-but-willing old man to teach them how to put on the new man, and choose to live.


That is beautiful! Thank you, Ms. Scalia.
And AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER -
Long may you continue to be our 'dolce Cristo in terra'!


Read the whole essay on
www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/08/hating-ourselves-...

UK Catholics prepare for
papal visit with prayer


17 Aug 10 (RV) - Pledges for more than six months of continuous prayer for the Holy Father have poured in to a Catholic charity ahead of the Pope’s visit to the UK.



Benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)
www.churchinneed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=mainpage
have promised to pray 31,000 decades of the Rosary – which would take more than seven weeks to say – and spend more than 130 days in Eucharistic adoration.

The charity’s appeal, that ran from the May to the middle of August, was in anticipation of the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Great Britain on the 16th-19th September.

Those supporting ACN’s ‘Prayer-Action’ for the Pope will have their names included in a hand-made commemorative book that will be presented to the Pope or the Apostolic Nuncio during the visit.

ACN spokesman, Terry Murphy said: “The response to our Prayer-Action for the Pope has been really heartening and inspiring. Catholics in the UK have made a real commitment of solidarity – both with the Holy Father and with persecuted and suffering Christians around the world.”

The charity has also encouraged Catholics to have Mass said for the Pope’s intentions by a priest in a country where the Church is in serious need.

ACN’s Mass Stipends for Poor Priests programme provides support for struggling clerics in impoverished countries, who celebrate Masses for benefactors’ intentions. Benefactors of the charity have asked for more than 11,000 Masses to be offered for the Pope’s intentions.

One of the places helped by the Mass Stipends initiative is the Middle East, which Pope Benedict considers to be a priority area. As part of its ‘Prayer-Action’ for the Pope the charity has also asked benefactors to support projects in the region.

ACN is helping with projects such as aid for Iraqi Christian refugees and training for seminarians.

Pope Benedict XVI highlighted the importance of helping Christians in the Middle East when he greeted members of ACN at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in 2007 for the 60th anniversary of the charity’s founding.

In a letter to the charity, he observed “with great concern that local Churches in the Middle East are threatened in their very existence and that many Catholics are forced to live their faith without pastoral care or unable to profess total or in part in community and publicly”.

During a visit to Cyprus in June 2010, the Pope reiterated his concerns, saying: “Christians from the rest of the world need to offer spiritual support to their brothers and sisters in the Middle East.”

In response to the Pope’s request ACN has expanded its help for these ancient Churches which are rapidly declining in numbers.


Official beatification conference
on Cardinal Newman on Sept. 18





On the day before the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, an official conference will take place at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre dedicated to this extraordinary man of God and his historic beatification.

Delegates will hear four unique assessments of Newman, and then receive a free copy of the wonderfully illustrated official beatification biography - written by one of the speakers.

The Conference is an important opportunity to hear four world-class Newman scholars and biographers talk about the man, the message and his enduring significance.

Delegates will have the opportunity for extended discussion with the speakers at this event, both during the conference and over lunch, which is included.

The event starts at 9am and finishes at 4pm. Delegates are invited to a post-conference civic reception with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham at which an exhibition on Newman will be opened and some items of Newman’s possession, and some items in the City collection, will be on display for the first time.

At 5.30 pm there will be a special performance of The Dream of Gerontius by the Birmingham-based Ex Cathedra choir and the Orchestra of the age of Englightenment, using period instruments, in Birmingham Town Hall, where Gerontius was originally first performed. The original Elgar score signed by the first performers will be on display.

The Dream of Gerontius is an oratorio (Opus 38) in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by Cardinal Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory.

It is widely regarded as Elgar's finest choral work, and by some to be his magnum opus. It was composed for the Birmingham Music Festival of 1900 and the first performance took place on 3 October 1900, in Birmingham Town Hall.

Birmingham's convention center is considered the premier facility of its kind in the United Kingdom.



Birmingham's Cofton Park to open
from 2am for Pope's Mass
by Kat Keogh



TENS of thousands of pilgrims will starting rolling into Birmingham from as early as 2am for the Pope’s historic visit next month.

Around 70,000 people will pack out Cofton Park to see Pope Benedict XVI celebrate Mass on September 19, with the site opening to pilgrims at 2am.


Cofton Park adjoins the village of Rednal where Cardinal Newman was buried until the grave was exhumed last November and the scant remains found within were transferred to the Birmingham Oratory.

The eyes of the world will be on the Second City for the event, which will see the Pope beatify Birmingham theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman.

And, with just over a month to go until the event, Coun Alan Rudge, Birmingham City Council’s lead on the Papal visit, said the council was working with the Roman Catholic Church and West Midlands Police to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.

He said: “An event of this size will undoubtedly result in a considerable amount of work in preparation for this historic occasion.

“The city council is working closely with key agencies such as the Church and West Midlands Police to ensure that any disruption to local people is kept to an absolute minimum.”


The city council of Birmingham has opened a web page on the papal visit on its site, with basic information about the events taking place in the city for the visit.

Some 10,000 letters have been printed for distribution to residents around Cofton Park to them advise of plans being put in place for the Papal visit.

The timetable includes morning worship at 8.10am, Mass from 10am-12 noon, The Angelus from 12.30pm before the site closes at 6pm.

Attendance at the mass will be by “pilgrim pass” only, which are being allocated through the Roman Catholic Church by local parish priests.

Visitors will arrive by coach only and strictly timed according to an agreed programme, to allow ease of access and departure. There will be limited access to parts of the park during construction, which is due to begin on Friday, August 26, but most of the park will be open over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Councilor Rudge added: “The visit of His Holiness is a great honour for Birmingham and a chance to show the world our rich historical and cultural heritage.”


EWTN to air Pope's
historic U.K. visit live


IRONDALE, Ala., Aug. 17 (EWTN) – EWTN Global Catholic Network will provide live coverage of every public event during Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to England and Scotland Sept. 16-19, numerous original productions on the life and works of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be beatified by the Pope during his visit, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.

Coverage will be seen and heard on all nine EWTN Television Networks worldwide, and can be heard in English, Spanish, French and German; on EWTN Radio Network, and at www.ewtn.com through live streaming video. (Find EWTN Television at www.ewtn.com/channelfinder and EWTN Radio at www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm.htm or on Sirius Satellite Channel 160.)

Special live coverage will be provided by EWTN News Anchor Raymond Arroyo, who has covered more papal events than anyone in the industry and who obtained the only English language interview in existence today with the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. (Contact EWTN to arrange an interview.)

"To my mind, this visit to the U.K. is to Pope Benedict XVI's papacy what Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland was to his," said "World Over" Host Raymond Arroyo, who will anchor EWTN's coverage. "Not enough attention is being paid to the historicity of this seismic moment."

EWTN's coverage of these events will include exclusive interviews with Deacon John "Jack" Sullivan, who prayed to Newman for healing after watching a series on the saint on EWTN and whose resulting miracle is responsible for Newman's beatification; Cormack Murphy O'Connor, former Archbishop of Westminster, who worked tirelessly behind-the-scenes to make this papal trip possible; Lord David Alton, a member of Parliament, who will discuss the government's view of the trip and what Catholics can expect; Westminster's current Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, and many others.

You'll also travel to the Birmingham Oratory and the rooms in which Newman lived and worked; Westminster Hall, where St. Thomas More was condemned to death; the Guild Chapel and much more.

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 30th year, is available in 160 million television households in 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.

Wednesday,August 18, 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Center photos: St. Francis de Sales receives the vows of Jeanne Chantal; Francis de Sales and Jeanne Chantal.
ST. JEANNE FRANCOISE DE CHANTAL (France, 1562-1641), Mother, Widow, Founder of the Order of St. Mary of the Visitation
Raised by her politician father in Dijon, she married a baron at age 21, had six children (three died in infancy), and was widowed after seven years. As baroness, she restored the practice of daily Mass in the castle and engaged in various charitable works. After her husband died, she raised her three surviving children in her father-in-law's household. During her prayers, she had a vision of a man who would be important for her spiritual life. Three years later, at age 32, she met the future St. Francis de Sales, whom she recognized as the man in the vision. He became her spiritual director and friend for life. Their published correspondence is among the classics of Western spirituality. He spoke with her about a religious community for women whose health, age or other considerations barred them from entering other established orders, but who would undertake spiritual and corporal works of mercy, exemplifying the virtues of Mary of the Visitation. In June 1610, at age 45, Jeanne founded the Order of the Visitation in Annecy, which became a cloistered community following the Rule of St. Augustine. Despite personal tragedies (the death of her children and St. Francis) and great suffering, she oversaw the founding of 69 convents in France. During a plague that ravaged France, she mobilized her convents to help the sick. Incidentally, she was the paternal grandmother of Madame de Sevigne, who would become renowned in her lifetime for her wise and witty letters to her own daughter. Jeanne Chantal She was beatified in 1751 and canonized in 1757.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/081810.shtml


For the second day in a row, the OR is late posting today's issue.


THE POPE'S DAY
General Audience at Castel Gandolfo - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to St. Pope Pius X,
whose feast will be observed on Saturday. He also asked for prayers and international assistance to
the millions of victims in Pakistan's worst floods in recent memory.

The Vatican and the organizers of the papal visit in the UK simultaneously
published today the full program for the Holy Father's four-day visit.

---

APOSTOLIC VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE UNITED KINGDOM

on the occasion of

THE BEATIFICATION OF CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

September 16-19, 2010

P R O G R A M


Thursday, 16 September

08:10 Departure from Ciampino Airport, Rome

EDINBURGH
10:30 Arrival at Edinburgh International Airport

11:00 State Welcome and Audience with HM Queen Elizabeth II,
Palace of Holyrood House

11:40 State Reception, Palace Grounds, Holyrood House
Address: HM The Queen
Address: The Holy Father

13:00 Private Lunch with the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Archbishop's House

GLASGOW
17:15 Mass, Bellahouston Park
Homily: The Holy Father

20:00 Departure from Glasgow Airport for London Heathrow

LONDON
21:25 Arrival at London Heathrow Airport

Friday, 17 September

08:00 Private Mass, Chapel of the Apostolic Nunciature, Wimbledon

10:00 Celebration of Catholic Education, St Mary's University College, Twickenham
- Prayer with Representatives of Religious Congregations, St Mary's Chapel
Greeting: The Holy Father
- Gathering with Schoolchildren and Students, Sports Arena,
and the inauguration of the John Paul II Institute for Sport
Address: The Holy Father

11:30 Meeting with Religious Leaders and People of Faith
Waldegrave Drawing Room, St Mary's University College.
Speech: The Holy Father

16:00 Fraternal Visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace
Speech: Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Speech: The Holy Father

17:10 Address to Civil Society, Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster
Speech: The Holy Father

18:15 Celebration of Evening Prayer, Westminster Abbey
Speech: The Holy Father
Speech: Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury


Saturday, 18 September

At Archbishop's House, Westminster:
09:00 Courtesy Call from the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Cameron MP
09:20 Courtesy Call from the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP
09:30 Courtesy Call from the Acting Leader of HM Opposition, the Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP

10:00 Mass, Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Westminster
- Pope Benedict will greet 2,500 young people gathered in the Piazza to welcome him
- Pope Benedict will greet the people of Wales
Greeting and Homily: The Holy Father

17:00 Visit to St Peter's Residence for Older People, Vauxhall
Speech: The Holy Father

18:15 Prayer Vigil on the Eve of the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, Hyde Park
Speech: The Holy Father


Sunday, 19 September

08:00 Farewell to the Apostolic Nunciature, Wimbledon
08:45 Departure by Helicopter for Birmingham from Wimbledon Park

BIRMINGHAM
09:30 Arrival by Helicopter
10:00 Mass with the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, Cofton Park
Homily and Angelus: The Holy Father

13:10 Private Visit to the Oratory of St Philip Neri, Edgbaston, Birmingham

13:45 Lunch with the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales and the Papal Entourage, Oscott College
16:45 Meeting with the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales, Seminary Chapel, Oscott College
Speech: Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien
Speech: Archbishop Vincent Nichols
Speech: The Holy Father

18:15 Departure Ceremony, Birmingham International Airport
Speech: The Holy Father

18:45 Departure by air from Birmingham International Airport

ROME
22:30 Arrival at Ciampino Airport, Rome

Time Zones
Rome: +2 GMT
UK: +1 GMT

---

THE POPE'S CONDOLENCES
on the deaths of
President Cossiga and
Professor Cabibbo
Translated from

August 18, 2010

The Holy Father's telegram sent yesterday to the family of the late President:

---

HON. GIUSEPPE and ANNAMARIA COSSIGA
c/o MINISTERO DELLA DIFESA
PALAZZO DELLA MARINA
VIA LUNGOTEVERE DELLE NAVI 17
00196 ROMA

I AM SPIRITUALLY CLOSE TO YOU AT THIS TIME OF SORROW FOR THE DEATH OF YOUR PARENT, SENATOR FRANCESCO COSSIGA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY.

I OFFER MY SINCERE PARTICIPATION IN THE DEEP MOURNING THAT IS FELT BY THE ENTIRE NATION. REMEMBERING WITH AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE THIS ILLUSTRIOUS CATHOLIS STATESMAN, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR OF LAW AND OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY, WHO IN THE PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITIES HE UNDERTOOK, DID ALL HE COULD WITH GENEROUS COMMITMENT TO PROMOTE THE COMMON GOOD, I RAISE FERVENT PRAYERS ASKING DIVINE GOODNESS FOR ETERNAL PEACE FOR HIS SOUL, AND FROM MY HEART, I IMPART TO ALL HIS FAMILY THE COMFORT OF AN APOSTOLIC BLESSING.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

---

The following telegram was sent by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, in the name of the Holy Father, to the current President of Italy:

---

TO HIS EXCELLENCY
HON. GIORGIO NAPOLITANO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY
PALAZZO DEL QUIRINALE
00187 ROMA

INFORMED OF THE PASSING AWAY OF SEN. FRANCESCO COSSIGA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY, LONGTIME PROTAGONIST IN PUBLIC LIFE AND GENEROUS SERVANT OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF THIS NATION, THE HOLY FATHER SENDS YOUR EXCELLENCY AND THE ENTIRE ITALIAN NATION HIS PROFOUND CONDOLENCES AND OFFERS FERVENT PRAYERS IN BEHALF OF THIS DISTINGUISHED AND BELOVED LEADER.

CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE
SECRETARY OF STATE TO HIS HOLINESS

---

The telegram sent in the Holy Father's name by Cardinal Bertone on the death of Professor Nicola Cabibbo:

---

TO HIS EXCELLENCY
THE MOST REV. MONS. MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO
CCHANCELLOR OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
VATICAN CITY

HAVING LEARNED THE SAD NEWS OF THE DEATH OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED PROF. NICOLAS CABIBBO, PRESIDENT OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR SCIENCES, THE SUPREME PONTIFF REQUESTS YOUR EXCELLENCY TO EXTEND TO HIS WIFE AND FAMILY HIS CONDOLENCES.

RECALLING GRATEFULLY THE PROFESSOR'S GENEROUS SERVICE TO THE HOLY SEE, HE OFFERS FERVENT PRAYERS FOR HIS SOUL AND IMPARTS TO ALL THOSE WHO MOURN HIM THE COMFORTS OF AN APOSTOLIC BLESSING, ALSO EXTENDED TO ALLL THOSE WHO WILL BE AT HIS FUNERAL RITES.

CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE
SECRETARY OF STATE TO HIS HOLINESS

---

Earlier, the Holy Father paid tribute to another departed Catholic head of state:


Pope praises late President of Malta
for his witness to the faith


17 Aug 10 (RV) - Pope Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolences to the people of Malta on the death of former President Guido de Marco.

The message was issued on behalf of the Holy Father by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See. It was read during the funeral Mass at St John's Co-Cathedral in La Valletta Monday afternoon.



The Pope had received Prof and Mrs de Marco when he visited Malta in April.

Addressed to Archbishop Paul Cremona, the telegram reads:

---

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Professor Guido de Marco, former President of Malta, and he sends prayerful condolences to Mrs de Marco, to the family, and to all who mourn the loss of this fine statesmen.

His Holiness recalls with esteem the deceased's significant contribution not only the domestic affairs of the Maltese nation, which he served for many years with great distinction, but to the life of the international community, especially during his term of office as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Mindful of the deceased's clear and constant witness to his faith in Christ in the conduct of political life, the Holy Father prays that many who serve in public office will draw inspiration from his example.

His Holiness joins all who are gathered for the solemn funeral rite in commending Professor de Marco's soul to the merciful love of our heavenly Father, and as a pledge of spiritual strength and comfort, he willingly imparts his Apostolic Blessing to the de Marco family and to the entire nation.

---

Prof de Marco died Thursday Aug 13th after suffering a heart attack at his home. He was 79 years old. As President, he had welcomed John Paul II on his visit to Malta.

Fr Lombardi: Great expectations
for the Pope's trip to the UK


18 Aug 10 (RV) The Vatican published today the detailed itinerary of Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic voyage to the United Kingdom from September 16th to 19th. Vatican Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J. gave us his reaction and hopes for this upcoming trip:

FR. LOMBARDI: It is a very rich, intense and articulate program. Of course there is great expectation and excitement in the lead-up to the first day, which immediately sees the Pope’s meeting with Her Majesty, the Queen.

It is also the day when he will meet with the faithful of Scotland, which is a very important part of this journey. I would like to remind people that the Pope’s visit to Scotland coincides with the Feast of St. Ninian, who is the patron saint and evangeliser of Scotland. As such it is a very important day for Scottish people. We think it will be a great celebration, a very beautiful moment.

Then, I would highlight the Pope's address in Westminster Hall, which will be his meeting with civil society, the world of culture, with all the most active and influential members of English society. This certainly will be a closely watched moment. The Pope will address, on a very broad level, the problems facing society in the United Kingdom and in the world today.

Then there is the ecumenical dimension, in his meeting with the Anglican Primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury: the ecumenical celebration is certainly of great significance. We also know that it is a delicate moment for Anglicanism, because of internal debates, as for its relations with the Catholic Church, because these debates also reflect on the relationship between Anglicans and Catholics.

Then, obviously, we come to the culminating moment which takes place in two stages, if you will: the vigil in Hyde Park in London and the Beatification in Birmingham dedicated to the figure of Newman. So with this great figure, who is almost “the spiritual heart of this visit”, the journey ends. We know that the Pope accepted the invitation for this visit because of the occasion of Newman’s Beatification.

Many have pointed to a special bond between Newman, this great nineteenth century pastor and intellectual and Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI. What are your thoughts?
It’s not unfounded[…] because in the person of the Pope, Benedict XVI, we have a profound synthesis between faith and reason, and I would add, even spirituality.

There is a connection between living the Christian witness in today's world, in the modern world, giving all the reasons of Christian faith for those who seek it, giving the reason for our hope in the world today, and displaying a deep faith, a very careful, very great, vibrant spirituality as well as a very broad pastoral sensibility.

The figure of Newman is complete, he is a fascinating character because of his depth, not only for his intellectual dimension, but also his cultural and pastoral dimension. His ability to convey the completeness of the cultural commitment to the world of today is captivating.

He is certainly the perfect figure to present the dignity of Christian witness as capable of addressing the problems and the biggest questions of modern man, to modern society.

There has been much talk in recent days, of the so-called "tickets" to attend some of the visit’s events, such as the vigil in Hyde Park. The coordinator for the trip, Mgr. Summersgill, explained that this is actually a contribution and is not mandatory for the believers. Would you like to comment on the matter?
Yes, I think it's fair to comment on it a little, although in itself it is of rather marginal importance compared to the significance of the central themes of this trip.

Absolutely unfounded objections have been read and heard. I even heard some speak about the Vatican demanding paid tickets to attend Mass, thus involving the Vatican in very specific organizational decisions. This is absolutely wrong.

We must remember that the Pope goes to a country because he is invited, and invited in this case by the highest authorities of the State - the Queen and the government - and by the local Church. Therefore, the costs, the organizational commitments of the visit naturally belong to those who extend the invitation.

So, first thing: the Vatican did not establish any rules in this regard. These are organisational methods dealt with on the spot by the local Church, but taking into account all the many organizational constraints imposed by civil authorities.

For example, in this case we have the unusual situation that people cannot move freely on foot to where the three major public events will be taking place: they must use arranged transportation and all the seats must be allocated to an extremely precise number.

This isn’t how people usually travel to take part in the major events during the Pope’s journeys. So this must be taken into account, and this is dictated by the security needs of civil authorities. Thus, the church authorities themselves had to organize groups of faithful who could travel on arranged transportation, thereby giving them a "pass", a special passport for all the faithful who are to take part, and this is delivered along with a small "kit" – that is both pastoral and logistical.

So a small "contribution" has been asked from every group that is organizing itself to attend the events. How this contribution is then distributed among the people taking part depends on the parish or diocese that has organized these groups. It is not, therefore, a ticket paid by the individual to go to Mass. I think if you keep this in mind, we will understand the issue better.

Also with regard to - for example - access to the media and journalists, there are checks and restrictions that are quite demanding, more so than in other trips. This does not depend on the Vatican and neither does it depend on the local Church.

Finally, what are the expectations for this trip almost 30 years since John Paul II’s historic visit to Great Britain?
The situation is very different in terms of development, also on a social and cultural level, because many things have changed in recent years.

The visit itself is also of a different nature. It has the aspect of being a state visit with an official invitation from the Queen and government, while that of Pope John Paul II was more pastoral.

I would say that what is expected, desired and really hoped for from this visit is that the service of Christian faith and service of the Catholic Church to a very developed but also very secular society, like the United Kingdom, will be presented and understood.

A reality in which perhaps many people question the value of Christian witness and indeed Catholic witness in society. Therefore, to help understand that this is a gift to society, a wealth that is offered through a service of spiritual inspiration but, also, of involvement in education, in health, in charity which is very important.

Indeed, we hope that the Pope's trip will help make known this friendly positivity of the Catholic Church and the Christian faith, to a society that for many reason is no longer – perhaps –very aware of this.

I would also say that the Holy Father’s journeys this year - to Malta, Portugal and Cyprus - have been very positive trips. We hope that this trip really is a manifestation of the beauty, the positivity of service of the Holy Father to society, especially in times when we have also had moments of protest.

The hope is to be able to effectively propose the fundamental, positive input that the Church gives to society today, a society that is modern, pluralistic, even secular, so that it never forgets, so that it knows how to appreciate the positive contribution that faith offers.


Tolkien's great nephew sculpts
statue of Cardinal Newman
for the beatification Mass
by Jasbir Authi

August 18, 2010



THE great nephew of legendary Birmingham author JRR Tolkien is sculpting a statue of Cardinal Newman which will be specially placed in Cofton Park for the Papal visit.

Award-winning sculptor and Catholic Tim Tolkien's life-size statue of the Cardinal which will be fabricated in steel and sprayed with bronze.

Pope Benedict XVI will hold an open-air Mass at Cofton Park on September 19 and will beatify Cardinal Newman in front of tens and thousands of pilgrims.

There are plans to get the statue, which is expected to be placed next to the stage, blessed by the Pope. Mr Tolkien, who is making the statue with Chris Yeomans, a blacksmith originally from Alvechurch, said the aim was to show Newman as a scholar and a priest rather than a Cardinal.

The statue will feature the Cardinal seated on a chair with a book and pen on a small table at his side.

Red sandstone for the six foot high plinth will be sourced from a local working quarry and the finished statue will be chemically aged for the visit.

Mr Tolkien, aged 47, who runs a wood carving and metal sculpture business in Cradley Heath, said he was approached by the council around three weeks ago to make the statue.

The father of two said: “I haven’t got time to make it complicated, it’s got to be simple. It’s going to be life-size rather than larger than life. “There is no council fund, no budget - money is being raised by sponsorship".

“It’s a great privilege. The Pope doesn’t come often and it’s happening in this city".

Mr Tolkien has applied for planning permission application to put the statue in the park.

Council leisure boss Martin Mullaney said: “We want pilgrims to touch the statue. Cofton Park will become a site of pilgrimage together with the Birmingham Oratory and Oscott College.

“It could become a holy site for Catholics like Lourdes in France and resurrect Longbridge.”

Mr Tolkien is probably most famous for his Sentinel sculpture, which stands at the entrance to Castle Vale estate, and features three Spitfires peeling off into the sky in different directions.

He has also sculpted a memorial to the actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, which has been set up at his birthplace of Lye, West Midlands, for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Note on JRR olkien and Birmingham:
J.R.R. Tolkien's enduring masterpiece, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is one of the most outstanding literary classics with profoundly Catholic inspiration. The author was born in South Africa in 1893 and came with his mother and brother to England in 1895 for a vacation that turned permanent when their father died. They settled in a suburb of Birmingham where most of their mother's relatives lived. Seeking spiritual comfort, their mother found it in the Oratory dedicated to St. Philip that Cardinal Newman had founded in Birmingham. In 1900, she and her two sons became Catholic. When she turned terminally ill with the consequences of diabetes, which was then untreatable, she made one of the Oratory fathers guardian for her sons and her modest estate until they became adults. Tolkien and his brother lived in various homes around Birmingham, and the influence of his surroundings (Rednal and the Lickey Hills) was to be found later in the geography of his famous masterpiece. He lived in Rednal until he went to Oxford in 1910.

GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY:
Catechesis on St. Pope Pius X






Pope renews appeal for help
to Pakistan’s flood victims


CASTEL GANDOLFO, Aug 18 (RV) The unfolding tragedy of Pakistan’s flood victims was the focus of a renewed appeal by Pope Benedict XVI to the International community this Wednesday.

Speaking from his hilltop summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope said: “My thoughts go at this time to the dear people of Pakistan, recently hit by severe flooding, which has caused many victims and left many families homeless”.

He went on to say: “As I entrust to the merciful goodness of God all those who are tragically gone, I express my spiritual closeness to their families and all who suffer because of this disaster. Our solidarity and the concrete solidarity of the international community must not be lacking to these our sorely tried brothers and sisters!”.

Tasnim Aslam, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Italy, says: “the proportions of this disaster are overwhelming, no government could possibly cope with this on their own”.

Ambassador Aslam says the government is particularly concerned about the plight of millions of young children, often the first victims of disease. At least 20 million people are affected, msot of them made homeless, by the floods which have devastated central pakistan from north to south.

The Holy Father’s appeal came at the end of his catechesis, this week dedicated to the figure of Pope Saint Pius X. Over two thousand pilgrims packed into the Papal Palace’s inner courtyard for this Wednesday’s audience 50 km from Rome.

In the sweltering heat of the capital, thousands more followed the Pope's audience on giant screens in St. Peter's Square.

This is what he said in English:

---

My dear brothers and sisters, today we recall Pope Saint Pius the Tenth, whose feast we celebrate this coming Saturday. He left an indelible mark in very many aspects of the Church’s life and activity, his overarching goal being to 'renew all things in Christ' through our intimate personal union with our Saviour. By Pope Saint Pius’s prayers, may we grow daily in love for Christ and help open others to his love. God’s abundant blessings upon you all!

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Pope Benedict XVI’s next public appointment is this Sunday for the recitation of the traditional midday Angelus.



Benedict XVI affirms First Communion
for children reaching the age of reason



Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 18, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Father remembered Pope St. Pius X and reviewed his Church reforms and renewals during Wednesday's general audience catechesis.

Pope Benedict highlighted the importance of St. Pius X's decree that set the "age of reason" as the appropriate time for children to receive First Communion.

The general audience was held in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo as is customary at this time of year. The space was filled with pilgrims carrying flags and banners and waiving scarves.

During the catechesis, Benedict XVI spoke of Pope St. Pius X, who from the time of his ordination at 23 years old, "showed that deep love of Christ and the Church, that humility and simplicity and that great charity towards the most in need, that were characteristic of his entire life."

Although he accepted his election to the papacy with difficulty because he did not feel himself to be worthy of the position, Pope Benedict XVI said, "he left an indelible mark in the history of the Church" through a pontificate that "was characterized by a notable effort for reform, summarized in his motto 'Instaurare omnia in Christo' (Renew all things in Christ)."

Pope Benedict pointed to Pius X's reorganization of the Roman Curia, how he began work to re-examine the Code of Canon Law, and his revision of the protocol for priestly formation.

He also spoke of the Pope-saint's work to develop a universal catechism after having witnessed the great need for a reference point of the faith amidst widespread emigration.

"The Catechism called 'from Pius X,' was for many a sure guide in learning the truth of the faith for its simple, clear and precise language and for its expositive effectiveness," recalled Pope Benedict.

He was also reminded of the attention Pius X gave to liturgical reform, in an effort "to guide the faithful to a more profound prayer life and to a fuller participation in the Sacraments." Referencing the 1903 motu proprio "Tra le sollecitudini," he explained that Pius X asserted through it that "the true Christian spirit has its first and indispensable source in the active participation in the sacrosanct mysteries and in public and solemn prayer in the Church.

"For this," continued Benedict XVI, "he recommended receiving the sacraments often, promoting daily participation in Holy Communion, (being) well prepared, and anticipating opportunely the First Communion of children at seven years of age, 'when the child begins to reason' ... "

In marking the 100th anniversary of the Pius X-approved decree Quam singulari earlier this month, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments wrote about the same subject in the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper. He suggested that the Church must confirm Pius X's decree and even possibly contemplate lowering the age further to ensure the graces for children as they reach the age of reason amidst the difficulties of today's world.

Concluding Wednesday's catechesis, the Holy Father said:

"Dear brothers and sisters, St. Pius X teaches all of us that the base of our apostolic action in the various fields in which we work must always be for us an intimate personal union with Christ, to cultivate and grow day after day this nucleus of all of his teaching, of all of his pastoral genius.

"Only if we are in love with the Lord will we be capable of bringing men to God and opening them up to His merciful love."



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

---

Dear brogthers and sisters,

Today, I wish to dwell on the figure of my predecessor St. Pius X, whose liturgical commemoration we observe on Saturday, August 21, by underscoring some of his traits that may be useful even for pastors and the faithful in our time

Giuseppe Sarto, his birth name, was born in Riese (Treviso) in 1835 to a peasant family. After studies in the seminary of Treviso, he was ordained a priest at age 23. First, he was assistant parish priest in Tombolo, then parish priest in Salzano, then a canon in the Cathedral of Treviso with the functions of episcopal chancellor and spiritual director of the diocesan seminary.

In those years of rich and generous pastoral work, the future Pontiff demonstrated his profound love for Christ and the Church, the humility, simplicity and that great charity towards the neediest that charatcerized his whole life.

In 1884, he was named Bishop of Mantua, and in 1893, Patriarch of Venice. On August 4, 1903, he was elected Pope, a ministry he accepted with some hesitation because he did not believe he was equal to such a high position.

The pontificate of St. Pius X has left an indelible mark on the history of the Church and was characterized by a remarkable effort at reform, synthesized in his motto Instaurare omnia in Christo - renew everything in Christ.

In fact, his interventions covered various aspects of the Church. From the very beginning, he dedicated himself to the reorganization of the Roman Curia. Then he started the process of putting together the Code of Canon Law, that would be promulgated by his successor, Benedict XV.

He then promoted a revision of the formative course for priests, establishing several regional seminaries equipped with good libraries snd well-prepared professors.

Another important sector that concerned him was the doctrinal formation of the People of God. During his years as a parish priest, he had prepared a catechism, and as Bishop of Mantua, he worked so that there could be one common catechism, if not for the universal Church, at least for the Church in Italy.

As an authentic pastor, he understood that the situation then, especially marked by the phenomenon of migration [Italians leaving for foreign countries], made a catechism necessary on which every Catholic could refer to, independent of place and circumstances.

As Pope, he approved a text of Christian doctrine for the Diocese of Rome, which was later disseminated throughout Italy and the world. This Catechism called the 'Catechism of Pius X' became for many a sure guide to learning the truths of the faith, qith its simple, clear and precise language, and its effective exposition.

He gave remarkable attention to the reform of the liturgy, particularly sacred music, with the aim of leading the faithful to a more profound life of prayer and fuller participation in the Sacraments.

In the Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudini (1903), in the first year of his Pontificate, he affirmed that the true Christian spirit has its first and indispensable source in active participation in the sacramental mysteries and in the public solemn prayer of the Church Ccfr. ass 36[1903], 531).

To do this, he urged frequentation of the Sacraments, including well-prepared daily Communion. He lowered the age for First Communion to seven "when the child starts to reason" cfr. S. Congr. de Sacramentis, Decretum Quam singulari: aas 2[1910], 582).

Faithful to the mission of confirming his brothers in the faith, St. Pius X, in the face of some tendencies which were manifested in the theology of the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, he intervened decisively, condemining 'modernism', in order to defend the faithful from erroneous concepts and to promote a scientific examination of Revelation in consonance with the Tradition of the Church. On May 7, 1909, with the Apostolic Letter Vinea electa, he established the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

The last months of his life were saddened by the eruption of [the First World] War. His appeal to the Catholics of the world, launched on August 2, 1914, to express his 'bitter sadness' for the present time, was the suffering cry of a father who saw his children ranged against each other. He died shortly afterwards, on August 20, and his reputation for sanctity quickly became widespread among Christians.

Dear brothers and sisters, St. Pius XI taught us all that the basis of our apostolic activity, in the various fields in which we work, must always be an intimate personal action with Christ, to be cultivated and grown day after day.

This is the nucleus of all his teaching, of all his pastoral commitment. Only if we are enamored of the Lord shall we be capable of bringing men to God and opening them to his merciful love and thus open the world to the mercy of God.

At the end of his plurilingual greetings, he made the following appeal:
My thoughts at this time are with the dear people of Pakistan, recently struck by serious flooding which has claimed a great number of victims and left many families homeless.

As I entrust those who have died tragically to the merciful goodness of God, I express my spiritual closeness to their families and to all those who are suffering because of this calamity.

Let not our solidarity and the concrete support of the international community fail these brothers of ours who are so sorely tested.

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* Pius X was beatified in 1951 and canonized in 1954. Both times, two miracles instead of the usual one were certified before his beatification and canonization, respectively. He is the patron of the Lefebvrians whose order is formally named after him.