BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for earlier posts today, 9/12/10.




When I saw the title for this article on an online news round-up, I immediately thought, "Oh no! Not another bad one!". Until I opened the link and realized I wasn't thinking British when I read the word 'flogging', which means what it says in American English, but in British English, it means the American word 'plugging' as in hyping or selling... And suddenly, I feel almost elated, because how uninterested can the UK public be in this visit when apparently, manufacturers have flooded the market with all sorts of promotional merchandise that they obviously expect to sell, and which merits this lengthy article?... BTW, being an inveterate souvenir-collector myself, I say to those, including the author of this article, who sniff at this predilection, 'You don't know what you're missing'...


Flogging the Pope
By Craig Brown




LIFE-sized cardboard cut-outs, Pope cologne, Swarovski bracelets, wall clocks, fridge magnets, keyrings and coffee coasters, all bearing the likeness and insignia of the Pope.

This is the backdrop to Benedict XVI's visit next week - an avalanche of merchandise, official and unofficial, tasteful and tacky, all available for the faithful to purchase at a competitive price.

The arrival of the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic church - the first state visit to Britain by any Pope - has been accompanied by an explosion of unbounded commercialism, and one in which the Church has been a willing participant

But given that sales of official merchandise alone could be worth up to £3 million to the Church and the hot topic of the cost of the visit to the UK taxpayer - expected to be in the region of £12m - ethical and spiritual questions aside, it simply makes good business sense to get involved.

Certainly for the majority of the pilgrims who will congregate at Glasgow's Bellahouston Park next Thursday, the enduring memory of their journey along Paisley Road West to join the faithful is likely to be the welter of papal memorabilia, merchandise and souvenirs - not all of it official - clogging up the pavements.

The recurring theme will be T-shirts and flags of varying quality bearing the visit's official motto - Heart Speaks Unto Heart - and the symbol of St Peter's keys, plus anything that the canny-minded hawker can conceivably stick a Pope-related transfer on.

There already exists a booming trade in unofficial papal merchandise on the internet which hints at what will be on offer, and nothing would seem to be too outlandish to be considered: the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Benedict can be yours for £29, or perhaps a £10 "Benedictaphone" voice recorder that allows the owner to record a message and play it back as if the former Cardinal Ratzinger was saying it.

If that seems a bit too tacky, then maybe a ceramic Pope Benedict XVI beer stein is what you are looking for, or perhaps a nodding Pope for the back of the car. Or try a bottle of Pope Cologne, at £16 and said to be made from the private formula of 19th-century Pope Pius IX. It is not clear why the pontiff felt compelled to start developing his own scents. The list is, if not endless, then certainly diverse.

But while there is a number of companies churning out these items, along with the obligatory cheap key rings, T-shirts and scarves, it is the Church that is leading in how to merchandise a tour effectively.

In fact, the range of memorabilia relating to Benedict's pending visit is enough to make any veteran rocker pull out their branded pens and pads to take notes.

When the Vatican [Not the Vatican! Never the Vatican! In this case, it's the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales] unveiled its range of official merchandise, eyebrows were raised at some of the items available. Among the programmes, flags and mugs were flickering, battery-powered candles to hold during the Mass, baseball caps, heavy metal-style T-shirts and tote bags.

For the more bling-minded, the official visit Swarovski crystal bracelet will cost them £30, while at the far end of the spectrum there is a solid gold commemorative medallion, accompanied with an appropriately weighty £775 price tag.

But in making sure it offers something for every taste and price range, the Vatican has left itself open to criticism from some quarters of tackiness and selling tat.

Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, admitted that in trying to cater for all, such criticisms were inevitable.

"This is a perennial problem. When it comes to religious memorabilia, where is the line drawn between taste and tat? It comes down to beauty being in the eye of the beholder. One person's tasteful souvenir is another's tacky trinket."

He insists, however, that whatever people may say about their aesthetic worth, official goods are produced to a high standard and that the Scottish Catholic Church was involved in their design and "signed off" on the final list of official items.

For Scottish Catholic Observer editor Liz Leydon, the Church is simply trying to cover all its bases.

"The official line is that the Church is trying to cater for what people might want," she says. "It's difficult to gauge until the day what will sell, what won't. These aren't things that people are going to be forced to buy, and some people are going to question it [the merchandise], but on the day, if people have a tremendous experience they may want a souvenir of that."

But what of the plethora of unofficial merchandise being sold? You would imagine that like any company or rock act keen on protecting its image and brand, the Church would be unhappy at the prospect of the Pope's visit being used by traders for pure profit. According to Kearney, having set out its own official range, the Church is taking a relaxed view of the unofficial side

"As long as the material is in good taste and respectful, there is no problem with that," he says.

"Anything that raises the profile of the papal visit is a good thing, but the Church would hope people realise that any money that comes through official merchandise helps to offset the very significant cost of the visit, while unofficial items don't."

Unfortunately for the opportunists, Glasgow Council Trading Standards officers have not taken the same view and will be there in force to confiscate the stock of any unlicensed traders.

Coincidentally, it was the sale of official Vatican items to help offset significant costs that helped to spark the Reformation, when Martin Luther took umbrage with the sale of papal indulgences in the 16th century to help raise money to rebuild St Peter's Basilica. [Totally inappropriate comparison. Selling souvenirs can hardly be spoken of in the same breath as selling indulgences, for heaven's sake!]

However, while the sale of merchandise, official or otherwise, is unlikely to prompt another religious schism, the Church's image is affected by the sheer volume of it - last year the Vatican said that it was looking at taking steps to wrest back some sort of control over the use of the Pope's image.

But according to Susanna Freedman, managing director of Edinburgh brand agency Tsuko, the Catholic Church has little to worry about: "I don't think it can be damaging. All of it's promoting the Catholic Church. I don't think it can dilute what Brand Catholicism is all about, it's too well-known and recognisable. The level of awareness is just going to be unbelievable in the time that the Pope is here.

"I think the Catholic Church has proved time and time again that they are more powerful than most in terms of how they operate and function, and have countless examples of how they have capitalised on these opportunities.

"So perhaps they are just more entrepreneurial in some ways than other churches; I wouldn't have expected anything less, to be honest, it just demonstrates that it is a business and operates likes any other business."

[Wouldn't you like to know if there's any similar business for any, say, 'Our own Rowan' or 'Canterbury Pilgrims' T-shirts, keyrings, etc?]

And few piims who have visited Lourdes in France will be unfamiliar with the wall-to-wall kitsch that has built up around the shrine, where nearly every second shop is selling "Our Lady" mementoes of some sort. [Or the shops around St. Peter's Square, for that matter! Italian entrepreneurs have been doing steady dependable business for decades on Vatican and papal souvenirs.]

The Lourdes experience prompted some Scottish Catholics to create their own line of devout duds to capture what they felt was the neglected Catholic youth market.

Establishing Catholics With Attitude four years ago, they have produced a line of hip T-shirts and hoodies bearing legends for those who are spiritually-minded but also fashion-conscious.

If proof were needed of the sort of profits Benedict-mania brings with it, the company's tops bearing legends such as "Team Benedict", "Benedict 16" and "Pilgrim" have done a roaring trade, with sales up 45 per cent over the whole of 2009.

According to its Elliot Bohannon, the popularity of their Benedict lines has prompted some criticism: "We have had a couple of letters saying ‘you're taking money from the Church'. What we are saying is that we are not doing anything new - we've been here for four years - and we actively encourage people to go to the church's official website. Anything that helps to put money in the Church is fine."

The company, he adds, also donates part of its profits to charity.

Despite being in the merchandise business himself, Mr Bohannon claims that he has not seen anything that had made him "have an intake of breath" at its tastelessness.

Certainly, compared with some of the objects, both official and not, created for the Pope's US tour - an official "Benny" cuddly bear, Pope soap on a rope - the stuff being touted this time around is relatively restrained.

Even when John Paul II came to Scotland in 1982 there were questionable items: a JPII jam spoon and a JPII fruit knife being among them.

In fact, lack of equivalent items has even led some commentators to claim, almost perversely, that the merchandise has not been tacky enough and lacks the celebratory feel the visit deserves. However, Liz Leydon believes the merchandising is a sideshow. [Of course, it is. It's part of the 'celebration' aspect of any papal visit. Just the sight of them, especially when in profusion, adds to the exhilaration, but no pilgrim would be foolish enough to think it is anything other than the fun part of the celebration. One can certainly have fun even with the inevitable kitsch and tackiness.]

"Once the Mass in Bellahouston Park starts, I think people will remember they are at Mass, so any commercial side will happen before and after, it won't happen during," she says. [OBVIOUSLY!]

Even Catholics With Attitude will be shutting up shop to attend the Mass, as Mr Bohannon admits happily, though he points out: "We have it on very good advice that several members of the clergy are going to be wearing our T-shirts on the day."

Even those who have opposed the Pope's visit are not averse to making a buck in setting out their opposition. The National Secular Society has produced a straight-to-the-point, if ungrammatical, "Pope Nope" T-shirt, but on eBay T-shirts can be bought bearing the image of Benedict with the addition of a Hitler-type moustache and a swastika on the lapel of his gown - highlighting how divisive a figure he remains to those outside the faith.

But those traders set on making money for themselves from the Pope's visit may be wise to take note of the T-shirt manufacturer who was employed to produce a line for a papal visit to Spain bearing the words "Viva la Papa". [The Pope is male, and the right article is 'el' not 'la'] Unfortunately, a typographical error resulted in the loss of the vital capital P, turning it into "papa" which, throughout Andalucia, means potato.

*********************************************************************

ALTHOUGH it is supposed to be the spiritual event of a lifetime, for many families the Pope's visit to Scotland could work out to be a very expensive experience.

A family with two children travelling to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow have been advised to donate £20 per adult and a voluntary sum for children to their parish to help the funding of Benedict XVI's visit.

These charges include organised bus travel to and from the event leaving from your local parish.

But adding in the cost of a family picnic to sustain everyone for the day at costs soar to about £75 before even catching a glimpse of the Holy Father.

The souvenir programme - expected to be very popular - costs another £10.

And all this before any memorabilia is purchased from the pop-up stands.

A display plate at £20 for your mother because you know she would love it and she was so upset she couldn't make the trip?

The kids want a key ring at £5 each, and your partner likes the mug which is £10 so you get a pair.

And suddenly you realise the day has already cost you more than £130.

[Isn't that comparable to what families spend when going to a ballgame or to a big rock concert? And if I were the devout head of such a family, I;d find a way to scrimp on 10 pounds a month for the next 13 months to work off that expense... Why are the media so concerned suddenly on what a Catholic family might spend to be able to see the Pope - it's their choice to do as they want, and it's their money - when I don't think they care what people spend to go see some pop star in a mega-concert or a top-of-the-line sporting event?]

Sept. 12, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF MARY
St. Alphonsus de Liguori wrote a most beautiful essay on the devotion to the Name of Mary in Christian history
www.themostholyrosary.com/appendix8.htm
This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3). Celebration of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, Jan Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended the feast to the entire Church.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/091210.shtml


In today's OR, the papal story on Page 1 is the Pope's address yesterday to recently appointed metropolitan bishops who took part in this year's continuing education seminar for bishops under the auspices of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. (Full translation posted as the last item in the preceding page. Another gem in Benedict XVI's consistent 'counsel to priests and bishops'!)[Because of a glitch that continues to show yesterday's online selection of OR articles instead of today's, I am unable to see what other papal stories might be in the inside pages.] Other Page 1 items: On the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States, President Obama reiterates that the enemy is terrorism, not Islam; India starts a census to determine caste membership; Washington denounces corruption in the Afghan central government a week before nationwide parliamentary elections.


THE POPE'S DAY

The noontime Angelus in Castel Gandolfo - The Holy Father offered a brief reflection on the 'parables of mercy'
that Jesus recounts in today's Gospel passage, and asked the faithful to pray for him on his apostolic visit to
the United Kingdom later this week.


SEPT. 12 ANNIVERSARIES



2006 - Benedict XVI's lectio magistralis at the University of Regensburg, on "Faith, Reason and the University"

2008 - At the College des Bernardins in Paris, his lecture on "The Origins of Theology and the Roots of Western Culture"

With great regret, I note that starting last Sunday, Vatican Radio online has modified its presentation format and discarded its mini- slideshow feature which was almost 100% dependable in the past for providing the earliest photos posted online of the Holy Father's activities, including regular ones like the Angelus and the General Audiences. It was not always an optimal selection, but at least, it was prompt and generally included photographs - especially audience shots - that do not always appear in the news agency photos posted online.

ANGELUS TODAY

Before the Angelus prayers today, the Holy Father offered a brief reflection on the 'parables of mercy' that Jesus recounts in today's Gospel passage. and asked the faithful to pray for him on his apostolic visit to the United Kingdom later this week.





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

---

Dear brothers and sisters:

In the Gospel this Sunday - Chapter 15 of St. Luke's Gospel - Jesus narrates the three 'parables of mercy'.

When he "speaks of the shepherd who goes in search of a lost sheep, of the woman who looks for a lost drachma, of the father who welcomes back his prodigal son with an embrace, these are not merely words - they constitute an explanation of himself and his work (Deus caritas est, 112).

Indeed, the shepherd who finds the lost sheep is the Lord himself who took upon himself, with the Cross, mankind and its sins in order to redeem it.

The prodigal son in the third parable was a young man who, having obtained his share of his inheritance, "set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. " (Lk 15,13).

"The words which he (the prodigal) prepares to say on his return allow us to know the importance of the interior pilgrimage that he is now completing - a return 'home', to himself and to his father": (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Milan 2007, pp 242-243).

"I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers'." (Lk 15,18-19).

St. Augustine writes: "It is the Word itself which cries out to you to come back - the place of imperturbable quiet is where love does not know abandonment" (Confessions, IV, 11.16).

"While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him" (Lk 15,20). And full of joy, he ordered a feast prepared.

Dear friends, how can we not open our hearts to the certainty that, even if we are sinners, we are loved by God? He never tires of coming to meet us. It is always he who takes the first steps along the road that separates us from him.

The Book of Exodus shows us how Moses, with trust and daring, pled - and succeeded, we might say - to move God from the throne of justice to the throne of mercy (cfr 32,7-11,13-14).

Repentance is the measure of faith, and thanks to it, we return to Truth. The apostle Paul writes: "I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief" (1 Tim 1,13).

Going back to the parable of the son who 'came home' again, we note that when his older brother appears, indignant at the lavish feast prepared for his brother, it is also the father who goes to him and pleads: "'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours" (Lk 15,31).

Only faith can transform selfishness to joy and re-establish the right relationship with our neighbor and with God.

"We must celebrate and rejoice," the father says, "because your "brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found" (Lk 15,32).

Dear brothers, on Thursday, I will be going to the United Kingdom, where I will proclaim Cardinal John Henry Newman Blessed. I ask you all to accompany me with prayers on this apostolic trip.

To the Virgin Mary, whose Most Blessed Name the Church celebrates today, let us entrust our journey of conversion to God.


After the Angelus, he said:

Today, in Granada, Spain, the Capuchin friar Leopoldo de Alpadeire, born Francisco Sánchez Márquez, will be proclaimed Blessed. I rejoice with the Franciscan family, which now sees another brother join their long list of saints and blesseds.


He elaborated further on the new Blessed in his Spanish greeting:
Today I wish to unite in the joy of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Granada and other parts of Spain, who this morning, are celebrating joyfully the inscription of the name of Fray Leopoldo de Alpandeire among the Blesseds of the Church.

The life of this simple and austere Capuchin was a song to humility and trust in God, and a luminous model of devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

I invite everyone, following the example of the new Blessed, to serve the Lord with a sincere heart so that we may experience the immense love that he has for us and which makes it possible for us to love all men without exception.

Thank you and I wish you a happy Sunday.


In English, he said:

I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially the Bishops taking part in the ecumenical meeting sponsored by the Focolare Movement. I also greet the young people of the Don Bosco Oratory from Victoria, Gozo, Malta, and the Friends of the John Paul II Foundation from Saudi Arabia. I thank the members of the parish choir from Slovenia for their praise of God in song.

In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of the rejoicing in heaven which accompanies the return of sinners to the house of the Father. May his words encourage us to trust always in God’s merciful love and forgiveness. Upon all of you I invoke the Lord’s abundant blessings!

---

UK Catholics look to the Pope
to make them more valued

Sept. 12, 2010


The BBC has released the findings of an opinion poll they commissioned into attitudes among British Catholics on the eve of the papal visit. Here are some of the findings:

• 69% think the Pope’s visit will be helpful to the Catholic Church here;
• More Catholics think the Pope should drop his insistence on clerical celibacy than do not (49% to 35%, with a further 17% uncommitted);
• More than six in ten Catholics (62%) say women should have more authority and status in the Catholic Church -- with identical scores for men and women.
• Almost six in ten, 57%, feel their Catholic faith is not generally valued by British society
• A majority of Catholics – 52% - say that the scale of child abuse within the Catholic Church, and how it has subsequently been handled, ‘has shaken their faith in the leadership of the Church’.

[Such is the effect of media's blanket assault on the Church on Catholics whose faith is shaky enough to be affected by the dominant opinion as the media portray and shape it! For half of the Catholics surveyed to prove so swayable - a similar percentage is advocating abolitoon of priestly celibacy - is, for me, the most distressing result of this survey.]

None is very surprising. The first finding -- 7 out of 10 Catholics think the visit will be helpful to the Church -- should be set aside the fourth: almost 6 out of 10 say their Catholic faith is not generally valued by society.

There is a perception among Catholics that the Church's voice is largely excluded from the public sphere, and a belief that Pope Benedict can help put that right.

The desire for women to have more leadership roles in the Church is to be expected, given British cultural attitudes to gender. Most Catholics would be suprised to discover -- because they will seldom see them -- the number of women who administer parishes (as pastoral assistants) or who are in charge of formation and catechesis, let alone those who run abbeys and schools.

That said, there could be, should be, many more Vatican departments run by women. [This observation overlooks the simple fact that most Vatican departments, by the nature of the services they must perform, must be run by priests, and therefore, leadership roles for women in the Vatican will necessarily be limited to functions that can be carried out by lay people.]

Perhaps, eventually, it will be possible for women to lead Vatican organisms that do not primarily involve ecclesiastical or theological responsibilities that can only be carried out by priests and bishops - such as the pontifical councils for the family, for health care workers, for migrants and itinerant workers - even though these are all qualified by the words 'for the pastoral care of...' There is greater opportunity for women in some of the pontifical academies (where Mary Ann Glendon, for instance, has been president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences for almost a decade now).

Many -- not far under half, in fact -- of the 'Catholic Voices' team are lay women...


A rare bright spot in the Guardian's relentlessly dire and negative presentation of the papal visit and related news so far is this report, which uses the noun 'church' to denote all the Christian denominations in the UK:


Church attendance in the UK for
all Christians has bottomed out
by Benita Hewitt

Saturday 11 September 2010

It's time to believe that the church in this country is no longer in decline. The latest statistics coming from various denominations are clearly showing stability in church attendance and even signs of growth. This news may come as a surprise to many people who believe that the church is a dying institution.

But the news is no surprise to us at Christian Research. We've been watching the church adapt and change over recent years, and have been collecting statistics for some time which suggest that the church in this country is in reasonably good health. There is now enough combined evidence to state confidently that the decline is over.

The long term decline in weekly Mass attendance in the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales ended in 2005 and the figures have been broadly stable since. In 2008 there were 918,844 attending Mass, an increase from 915,556 the year before.

The Church of England has seen fairly steady attendance over the last ten years, with 1.67m attending services each month in 2008, compared with 1.71m in 2001. An important point to note is that the statistics over the past decade include all worship during the week, and not just Sunday morning services.

One of the most significant changes we have been monitoring in the church is the growth in mid-week worship, which is an indication of how the church has been adapting and changing over recent years.

These figures for the Church of England do not take into account the significant number of people that attend churches at Christmas and Easter: 1.4m at Easter 2008 and 2.6m at Christmas.

They also do not include many of the people who have joined 'Fresh Expressions' of church, which is a growing movement of new ways to do church in this country. They represent something of a challenge to us researchers as the Fresh Expressions are growing so quickly it is difficult to count what and where they are, let alone how many people are attending them!

Christian Research has been monitoring with interest the growth in Cathedral worship which has steadily increased by a total of 28% since the start of the century. Again, midweek services are an important factor adding 81% extra people to those worshipping on a Sunday.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain has seen attendance rise from 148,835 a week in 2002 to 153,714 in 2008, with particular growth in the contact with young people aged 13 to 18 – up from 34,095 in 2002 to 41,392 in 2008.

In July of this year Christian Research conducted 1000 interviews in the streets of 44 locations in England and Wales with a representative sample of the population.

63% think of themselves as Christian, 14% said they attended church at least once a month and 29% at least once a year. Those are significant proportions of the population.

The research also shows that 41% of adults agree "The Bible is an influence for good in society". Just last week there was also research published which showed that two in three adults agree "British Society should retain its Christian culture".

There are more statistics we could quote relating to growth in other factors of church life, for example the steady growth in the number of people training for ordination in the Church of England together with increased levels of parish giving to record levels.

All of this paints a picture of the church as living movement rather than a dying institution. And it is a living movement which is generally recognised as a good influence in society, one which many people do not wish to see decline and die. It is time to stop talking about the decline of church and start facing up to the fact that it is here to stay.


I am sorry to see that Cambridge professor Eamon Duffy, who wrote a pre-visit article for the Irish Times on 9/8 [posted in the preceding page of this thread], has now spread his purposeful and systematic denigration of Benedict XVI - in 'dreadful' comparison to his predecssor - to the pages of the Daily Telegraph.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/the-pope/7996573/A-visit-that-reflects-our-changing-ti...
Duffy's views of Benedict XVI reflect his obstinate refusal to see anything in the past five years that could possibly change the prefabricated animus he already had against Joseph Ratzinger when he was elected Pope. I limit myself to posting a link to the article, which is a mere rewrite of what he wrote for the Irish Times and therefore repeats the same biases and fallacies.



Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor says Benedict XVI
will warn against 'privatizing' religion

Sept. 12, 2010

In a radio interview with the BBC World Service, the retired Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, says Pope Benedict believes "Europe is afraid of its future".

He says the Pope in the UK will want to lay out some "principles" governing the question of the "freedom of religion in the public sphere":

---

He does not want religion to be privatised. He wants it to play its part in the public forum. He thinks it would be disastrous if religion in that sense were to be just personal, not social.

He will be saying to the Government: we respect the opinions of others, this is a free society, but society must also respect the views of the Church, which should be able to propose them in a public forum. There have been occasions when the state has gone too far in limiting the rights of churches and faith communities to their disadvantage.

I do think there's a very large number of people -- the majority: good, sensible people -- who are not averse to hearing this message. Because there is a worry that some of the freedoms that society gives have gone too far and that the views which make a community flourish are not being heard enough.

That's why some of the Pope's messages are countercultural. But there's a feeling in this country that maybe we must listen to this alternative voice.

---

But for Christianity to be counter-cultural - is that not what Jesus himself had warned the Apostles it would be, when said his teachings would be 'a sign of contradiction' in the world?


Here's another welcome entry from CATHOLIC VOICES - especially since I have been unable to see anything of the Times of London online since it became a subscribers-only reference recently (Who knows what they have been writing these days? But I do have in reserve a rather 'lovely' TofL editorial hailing the success of Benedict XVI's visit to the US in April 2008, which you would never suspect to have come from them.)


Look out for 'Benedict enigma',
says Our Man in the Vatican

Sept. 12, 2010

"I have to say I have never met someone who is so different from his public profile", Francis Campbell, British ambassador to the Holy See, tells The Times's Rome correspondent, Richard Owen.

People expect Benedict XVI to be a "stern dogmatist", says Campbell, "but in fact he is a somewhat shy individual. He comes across as an elderly granderfatherly figure, an academic. He is always deeply interested in the person sitting in front of him, he is not looking at the big stage beyond."

The British, he predicts, "will be surprised at his gentleness and humility".

Campbell recalls Pope Benedict's visit to Sydney for World Youth Day two years ago. "One heard in Australia a lot of the same things we are hearing in Britain -- the cost, why is this happening, and so on. But there were 250,000 young people there. Sydney was thronged with people wanting to see Benedict".

Three gems:

o The Pope, who represents more than 17 per cent of the population, "is someone who may be the spiritual leader of your friends, neighbours and co-workers. There is no other foreign head of state of whom that is true."

o Far from writing off Britain as godless, the Pope sees Christianity as "very much alive" in Britain. "It may be small in terms of practice, but it has a very vocal position in society, including Anglicanism, Catholicism, Presybterianism and evangelical groups".

o Pope Benedict "draws a distinction between the Anglo-Saxon version of the Enlightenment, which was about freedom for religion, and the French or continental version, which was about freedom from religion. ... What he would object to is not atheism or humanism; they have their place and are part of the dialogue with faith. What he objects to is the irrationality of some of those on the polemical militant fringe who want to impose their order to the detriment of everything else." [Of course, all right-thinking and fair-minded persons think that, but it's a sentiment that the Pope cannot express so bluntly, being Pope.]

This being the Sunday preceding the Pope's visit to the UK, the news agencies have started filing their pre-visit overviews. As in his previous trips - and for his Pontificate, in general - the MSM challenge to Benedict XVI is overt, blunt, rather crude (and stubbornly reiterated despite the fact they have often had to eat crow during and after the visits they were most down on): "Here's how it was with John Paul II. You can't possibly measure up!"


Different Pope,
different times



VATICAN CITY, Sept. 12 (AP) — The Falklands war was in full swing and John Paul II was in London as the first Pope ever to set foot on English soil.

Even as he snubbed Margaret Thatcher and prayed for peace in implicit criticism of Britain — whose troops were battling Catholic Argentines — the Pontiff received a rapturous welcome and was described in glowing terms by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

[As this article explains much later, the Pope hardly 'snubbed' Thatcher. It was a diplomatic decision in view of the Falklands war. And in the next decade, she and Ronald Reagan would join John Paul II himself in the triumvirate of world leaders now widely credited for leading the push that led to the collapse of Communism.]

His successor, Benedict XVI, can expect a far cooler — if not at times downright hostile — reception in his upcoming state visit.

It all underscores the contrasting public fortunes of the two leaders of the Church. John Paul was an international superstar who could send a thrill even through non-Catholics and made many people forget how at odds he was with their personal views. Benedict seems to step into crisis and controversy at every turn when he ventures abroad on bridge-building missions.

In 1982, Robert Runcie, then Archbishop of Canterbury, said John Paul came to Britain "with the grace of a pilgrim and a prophet." Runcie’s successor, Rowan Williams, told the BBC in April that Benedict would be welcomed "as a valued partner, and that’s about it." {These comments say more about the persons making the comment than they do about the persons being commented upon.]

Benedict’s visit has been fraught with controversy ever since it was announced by Buckingham Palace in May.

There have been complaints over the costs to British taxpayers for the Sept. 16-19 trip, anger and revulsion over the church’s clerical sex abuse crisis, and a feeling of betrayal among Anglicans upset over the Vatican’s efforts to woo conservative members of their Church.

Although the Polish-born John Paul held virtually the same views on Church doctrine as Benedict, he was at the height of his popularity at the time, celebrated for standing up to Communism during the Cold War. [The usual historical revisionism here. I'm not pointing this out to quibble but for the sake of accuracy: In 1982, John Paul II was only less than 5 years into his Pontificate and was yet to reach the 'height of his popularity'. He had visited Poland only once (1979) at that point, which led to the formation of the Solidarity movement, but few outside Poland in 1982 considered Solidarity and Lech Walesa even newsworthy, and the fall of the Berlin Wall was seven years away. John Paul's stature as a force against Communism was not to be recognized until many years after his visit to the UK!]

His charisma helped him make strong connections with people who did not share his faith or conservative social views. Problems of pedophile priests were already brewing but kept from public knowledge, only coming out when the abuse scandal exploded in the United States toward the end of his papacy. [And why does the AP not add its usual prefabricated slug found in every story it runs about Benedict XVI denouncing the Church for its 'cover-up', indeed avoiding that term when referring to John Paul II, and using the euphemism 'kept from public knowledge'?]

Top British politicians say they welcome Benedict’s visit, but seem compelled[????] to state their differences with him. [When have politicians anywhere ever been reluctant to express their disagreement with the Pope's - i.e., the Catholic Church's - traditional positions against abortion, contraception, and all the other liberal causes that are against its teaching? The same positions which John Paul II held, by the way! The despicable implication is that perhaps they did not mind being associated in any way whatsoever with a 'charismatic' Pope but would not touch this Pope with a ten-foot pole because his 'unpopularity' might reflect on them!]

During a televised debate in April before general elections, David Cameron, now prime minister, said he wanted the visit to be a success but "do I agree with everything the Pope says? No."

"I don’t agree with him about contraception. I don’t agree with him about homosexuality and I think the Catholic church has got some very, very serious work to do to unearth and come to terms with some of the appalling things that have happened and they need to do that but I do think we should respect people of faith," Cameron said.

Benedict will meet with the Queen at a castle in Scotland shortly after arriving and with Cameron in London on Saturday. [Shouldn't the UK pols take the example of the Queen who did, after all, approve of her Government's invitation to the Pope and is sending her husband, in an unprecedented step, to personally welcome the Pope when he arrives at Edinburgh airport?]

John Paul’s visit was two years in the planning, but only confirmed days before departure because of complaints from Argentina, which was at war with Britain after invading the Falkland islands, which it claims are its own and refers to as Las Malvinas.

The Pope agreed to visit Argentina shortly after returning from England, where he prayed for peace during every public event. [As if the Pope only prayed for peace because of the Falklands war. Every Pope prays for peace!]

"We cannot forget that an armed conflict is taking place — brothers in Christ fighting in a war that imperils peace in the world," he said during one Mass.

John Paul also dropped plans to meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; the official reason was to stress that it was a pastoral and not a state visit.

But he did meet with Queen Elizabeth, whose ancestor, Henry VIII, established the Church of England after breaking with Rome in 1534 over the Vatican’s refusal to annul his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

John Paul said he felt "deeply moved" to be the first Pope on English soil in what was described as a pilgrimage of reconciliation to a country that officially discriminated against Catholics until the 1820s.

Catholics, less than 10 percent of the population, still face a problem marrying into the royal family. They can marry in, but the royal loses his or her place in the succession.

There were scattered demonstrations during John Paul’s visit, mainly by small groups calling the Pope "Anti-Christ" and by followers of the Rev. Ian Paisley, the militant Northern Ireland Protestant leader.

In contrast, for this papal visit, a group called Protest the Pope has lined up gay, feminist and secular groups to stage protests against the visit — and there has even been talk of serving the Pope with an arrest warrant because of the abuse scandal. [What does it say of AP's objectivity that it fails to mention teh ff: 1) Protest the Pope had to cancel a planned demo in Scotland for lack of participation; 2) London police do not think they can muster more than 2000 at most for their planned London rally?]; and 3) that the arrest-the-Pope ringleaders have conceded they cannot do it, legally nor physically????]

Although Benedict has not been accused of any crime, some British lawyers have questioned whether the Pope should have immunity as a head of state and whether he could be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction for an alleged systematic cover-up of sexual abuses by priests.

The German-born Benedict has never sought to be a crowd pleaser like his predecessor, having assumed the papacy after two decades in the back rooms of power [A sinister suggestion of 'smoke-filled rooms' generally associated with politicians plotting shady deals. By all accounts, Cardinal Ratzinger was always a loner in the Roman Curia and was part of no faction at all] as the Vatican’s ideological chief. At 83, he is 20 years older than John Paul when he made his British pilgrimage and drew an estimated 2 million people to his events.

[The point AP - and almost all of MSM - consistently ignore is that, although 'Benedict has never sought to be a crowd pleaser', even as young Prof. Ratzinger, he has always been a crowd pleaser just by being himself - shy but dubbed 'Goldmund' from the start because of what he said and how he said it. And would anyone less than a crowd pleaser consistently draw audiences to his routine events in numbers that surpassed John Paul II's from the beginning? But of course, they consistently ignore any facts in Joseph Ratzinger's biography that does not fit the ironcast cliche to which they have reduced him to.]

Benedict, who speaks good English among other European languages, seems more comfortable among small groups.

Monsignor Mark Langham, the British-born Vatican official in charge of relations with Anglicans, recalled the excitement of John Paul’s visit as he spoke to The Associated Press at the English College seminary in Rome’s historic center. Forty-four of its former students were martyred in England in past centuries.

"The Falklands war was going on, the forthcoming marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana had just been announced, the Pope was coming. We felt we were living through history. The enthusiasm, the excitement was something you could feel."

He acknowledged that the atmosphere over Benedict’s trip is not the same.

"We’re in a different era now, and Pope Benedict is not Pope John Paul II. I think for various reasons there have been problems and issues. What I have noticed is that in the last few weeks and days, excitement is ratcheting up and I think people are beginning to take up and take notice about what’s going to happen."

And what will happen on this visit?

"I think it will be one perhaps where people came to see John Paul, they’ll come to hear Pope Benedict," Langham said.

[Mons. Langham should avoid thinking in cliches, such as his last statement which never made any sense since it was first coined. Especially because it is more of an insult to John Paul II, as if no one was ever interested in what he had to say. And a self-contradiction for those who think no one is interested in Benedict XVI at all! Also, in terms of excitement, a second papal visit is never of the same order as a first one in a country where Catholics are a minority. Unlike in Catholic countries, where every papal visit is a singular event, sui generis.

BTW, despite its full share of biases, this AP story is suspiciously 'tame' compared to its Munich-Oakland offensive last spring. Are they perhaps saving up some new 'scandal' they intend to spring just as the Pope steps on British soil? ]


Here's AFP's pre-visit overview. UN disarmament agencies should take lessons from Benedict XVI on how he has managed to sidestep all the 'minefields' that MSM have predicted for him on almost every trip he makes abroad!

Pope faces minefield in
historic visit to Britain


VATICAN CITY, Sept. 12 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI embarks Thursday on a historic but delicate visit to Britain as the paedophile priest scandals and tensions with the Anglican Communion threaten to undermine his mission.

The first state visit of a Pope to Britain -- his predecessor John Paul II made a "pastoral visit" in 1982 -- will begin in Scotland, where Benedict will meet Queen Elizabeth II, titular head of the world's Anglicans, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

The 83-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church will proceed to Glasgow, London and Birmingham on the four-day trip.

He will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and attend Mass gatherings that will feature singing sensation Susan Boyle and The Priests, a trio of Catholic priests. [Typical secular insensitivity, to identify these 'mass gatherings' - they are Masses, dummies, spiritual events - with the presence of pop stars. As if the events would have no significance otherwise.]

But paedophilia will be a dominant theme, notably because the Pope is expected to meet with victims for a fourth time in his five-year-old papacy.

"At least on that day, there will be a lot of talk about that," Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli of the conservative Italian daily Il Giornale told AFP.

The Vatican would however not confirm the mooted encounter with 10 British victims in London. [There was an item yesterday in which Jack Valero of Catholic Voices committed the questionable indiscretion of speaking of such a meeting as a done deal, even saying ten victims were expected to be present.]

Pope Benedict met with victims during trips to Australia and the United States in 2008 as well as in Malta in April this year.

The Vatican was plunged into deep crisis in 2009 after two successive reports in Ireland revealed widespread abuse mainly of boys by priests going back decades, coupled with alleged high-level cover-ups by the Church hierarchy. [That's a more objective statement than one usually sees in MSM. But there's still the loose use of the adjective 'widespread' without indicating the fairly small number of complaints amassed in over six decades.]

Protests are set to unite those who accuse Benedict of not doing enough to crack down on predator priests with activists who oppose his views on a range of issues such as abortion, contraception, women's ordination and gay couples' right to adopt children.

The main protest is set to take place in London, where an estimated 2,000 people will march from Hyde Park to the prime minister's Downing Street office.

The relatively small number suggests general indifference to the second visit by a Pope since England's King Henry VIII broke with the Church of Rome in 1534, according to the Vatican, which asserted that Britain has more anti-Pope sentiment than anywhere else. [Why should the small number of protesters suggest 'general indifference' rather than, more obviously, the fringe nature and overall insignificance of the protesters despite the disproportionate attention paid to them by media and the even more disproportionate amplification of their messages to strengthen the MSM's 'case' against Benedict and the Church?]

Britain's 5.2 million Catholics make up less than 10 percent of the population.

A recent opinion poll found that four in five Britons say they are indifferent to the Pope's visit, while 77 percent objected to the cost estimated at more than 20 million euros (25 million dollars) in public money. [77% objection is not indifference! That's hostility! Don't the pollsters and the media see that at all? However, the 77% apparently do not object enough to go out and march against the Pope. That's not indifference either. It's laziness or their objection is not strong enough to warrant marching in protest!]

The British government is paying up to 14.5 million euros for the state elements of the visit, while Catholic churches in Britain have contributing up to 10 million pounds (12 million euros) for the religious aspects, of which six million has already been raised.

"Pilgrim contributions" of between six and 30 euros will be solicited at the Pope's public appearances, another object of harsh criticism.

The Pope will also be walking on eggshells in handling relations with the Anglican Communion since the official highlight of the trip will be the beatification of 19th-century cardinal and writer John Henry Newman, an Anglican who converted to Catholicism. [Unless I have been misreading all the reports and commentary, Newman's beatification has never been raised as a bone of contention with the Anglicans, who are happy Newman will be beatified as they have long included him in their calendar of venerated Christians. Did the reporter forget about Anglicanorum coetibus which he/she fails to mention at all? And no, the pope won't be walking on eggshells because whatever it is Pthat Rowan Williams wished to thresh out with him about Anglicanorum coetibus was already addressed, at least initially, when they met at the Vatican earlier this year!]

Some 65,000 people are expected to attend the beatification mass set to take place on September 19 in Birmingham.

Pope Benedict last year announced measures making it easier for disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic fold. [Almost 20 years, it must be pointed out, since the Traditional Anglican Communion first started writing the Vatican to work out such a mechanism. A convenient omission which gives the impression that the Pope actively pursued these disaffected Anglicans!]

"Part of the Anglican world considers it like a sort of incorporation on the part of the Catholic Church," said Marco Politi, the Vatican expert for Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.

The Pope has appeared undaunted by the diplomatic challenge, saying on Wednesday that he was "very much looking forward" to the trip.

Tornielli predicted that Benedict would "not fail to speak out against what he believes are dangerous trends, such as the adoption of children by gay parents."

Part of the great intellectual excitement Benedict XVI can generate in those with an open mind is that he always manages to surprise - whether in major discourses like Regensburg and Bernardins, or in his 'routine' homilies and messages, not to mention in his encyclicals and books. Even if the general topic can be known, no one can predict exactly what new approach he will take, what he will say and how he will say it. Speaking as a highly biased Benaddict, I am always enchanted by the freshness he brings to his texts.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/09/2010 21:46]

Here's a bit of 'much ado about nothing' based on a questionable feature of a guide put out by the papal visit organizers for the benefit of non-Catholics and non-Christians, it appears.



Not quite as tacky as pop Masses and far less objectionable because it is not part of any liturgy, the above glossary seeks to translate terms familiar to Catholics in language that might be more understandable to seculars.

The objection by some Catholics appears to be that it equates a Mass to a pop concert and the Pope to a rock star. Why the Daily Mail should fall in with these objection is beyond me - when for almost 40 years now, they havenot cared at all that many pop Masses are a travesty of liturgy, and when for a quarter-century, they have blithely referred to John Paul II routinely as a rock star.

The glossary does not equate the two categories at all - it draws an analogy. It says 'Similar terms often used', not 'equivalent terms', because clearly, they are not!... And why the Daily Mail should 'cringe' at this glossary, when it has not cringed at all in reporting slanderous, or at least derisive, articles about Benedict XVI, is yet another show of sanctimony that is really intended to ridicule!... And after you have seen the glossary page and read the story below, it is readily apparent how MSM can so cavalierly misrepresent fact to suit their chosen narrative.


The Pope star, headlining at a gig near you:
Catholic bishops under fire for
'cringe-making' guide to the Papal visit
By Jonathan Petre And Nick Pisa

12th September 2010


Catholic bishops have likened the Pope to the headline act at a series of gigs in a ‘cringe-worthy’ guide to his visit this week which insiders fear exposes the Church to ridicule.

In a list of ‘useful terms’ in the official booklet on the papal visit, the three open-air Papal masses – the most solemn occasions of the historic trip – are referred to as ‘shows’ or ‘gigs’, terms normally associated with rock concerts. [Since the document in question is later described as an eight-page leaflet, it is clearly not the 'official booklet' on the Pope's visit, of which there are three (and all far more than eight pages):

1) 'Heart speaks unto heart', 32 pages of introductory material about the Church, the Pope and the visit; 2) the official program, which is sold online for 10 pounds, and which is clearly intended for Catholics; and 3) the Magnificat booklet (of which one million were printed), which is an excellent 400-plus-pp booklet of prayers and liturgies for the faithful covering the days preceding the visit, the visit itself and several days after the visit - and distributed free in all of the UK parishes. Both the first and third booklets can be downloaded from www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/

The Church is distributing thousands of copies of the glossy, eight-page pamphlet produced by the Papal Visit Team, overseen by Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols. Its cover carries the official slogan of the visit – the first to Britain since 1982 – Heart Speaks Unto Heart. [Note the 'thousands of copies', compared to the one million ordered for the Magnificant prayer book!]

The document compares the clergy who organise services – known as liturgists – to ‘performers’ or ‘artists’.

It refers to the ‘Holy Father’ and the bishops as ‘headline act(s)’ and says congregations are often termed ‘audiences’ or ‘crowds’.

Injecting even more showbusiness style, the leaflet translates weighty terms such as ‘sanctuary’ into ‘stage’ and the distribution of Holy Communion into ‘giving out’.

Religious words such as ‘spiritual’ and ‘uplifting’ become ‘enjoyable, fun, exciting’.

The unusual glossary raises fresh questions over the handling of Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit, which starts on Thursday and has already been mired in controversy.

Insiders said the pamphlet is aimed at workers from companies arranging events, police officers, broadcasters and journalists who may not be Catholics and are unsure about the Church’s rituals and beliefs.

But copies have also been circulating around Government departments, including Downing Street, where one senior source said it had prompted ‘a rolling of eyes’. The controversy comes after a diplomatic crisis in April when a Foreign Office memo mocked the trip. [A real act of stupidity compared to the relative harmlessness of the glossary, as silly as the choice of some of the popular terms are, and as it may all seem to these freshly-minted sticklers for propriety!]

In the memo, staff who were asked to propose ideas for the ‘ideal’ visit suggested the Pope could launch a range of ‘Benedict’ condoms, open an abortion clinic or back a Miss Developing World beauty contest.

To defuse the furor, the Foreign Office issued a grovelling apology and the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell, met Vatican officials.

A senior Catholic insider said last night: "This booklet is most unfor­tunate because it risks exposing the Church to ridicule once again. I suppose the idea is to give non-Catholics an idea of what Catholics believe in easy-to-understand English, but the result makes me cringe.

"It seems like an attempt to be trendy, but it just undermines the dignity of the trip and I can’t understand how the bishops can have approved this.’ [See, there's sanctimony on both sides. This 'senior insider' appears so ready to find fault with the Church even on such a trivial matter. It is trivial because it has nothing to do with the liturgies themselves, and has no impact on them whatsoever. And it has nothing to do with Catholics for whom the terms do not need to be dumbed down, and who will probably not be recipients of this pamphlet anyway!]

But Church officials defended the way the guide was written. A spokesman said: ‘We are explaining to the Government, police and the technical people involved in the events that even though some of the services are in the open air, they have to be treated as if they are in a cathedral. We have used language familiar from their own experience while emphasising the reverence of the occasion."

Unfortunately, the official papal visit site does not have the 8-page pamphlet online, so we can better judge. But on the basis of the above glossary, I'm not cringing at all.


The Daily Mail does have an innocuous newsfeature today on the Pope's visit:

The bullet-proof Popemobiles

12th September 2010

At several points during his visit to Britain this week, Pope Benedict XVI will drive past the crowds in his famous ‘Popemobile’.

There are in fact two specially-adapted vehicles, one to be used in Scotland and Birmingham, while the other will remain in London.



They were packed on to a lorry at the Vatican last week and driven across Europe to arrive at a secret location in Britain this weekend.

Each £75,000 vehicle is designed to give a clear 360-degree view of the Pope to the faithful on his tour, first in Edinburgh, where he will arrive in Britain on Thursday, and then in Glasgow, London and Birmingham.

The design of the Popemobile has moved on significantly since Pope John Paul II sat on the back of an open-air truck more than 30 years ago on a visit to his native Poland.


A Popemobile for the Vatican itself, usually without the glass roof, at a recent night event for the Pope.

Today the Vatican garage has an array of vehicles to choose from, depending on security in the country being visited. For one viewed as safe, an open-topped vehicle is used.

If safety is a doubt, a Popemobile with bulletproof glass is preferred. However, on a trip to Turkey in 2006 security was so tight Pope Benedict travelled in a blacked-out limousine.

The Popemobile to be used this week is a modified Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport utility vehicle with a special glass-enclosed cabin built into the back.

The Pope enters by a rear door and climbs several steps. He then sits in a chair which is raised by a hydraulic lift up into the glass-enclosed space, where there is also room for two aides to sit in the area in front of him.

In the front, in addition to the driver, there is room for one passenger, usually a security agent.

In theory, the car has a top speed of 160mph, but in Britain it will do a more sedate 6mph. The bulletproof glass windows and roof, armoured side panels and reinforced chassis provide security.

Describing the vehicles, Dr Alberto Gasbarri, the Vatican official responsible for organising all the Pope’s trips, said: ‘The two for this trip were sent to Britain and are currently in a secret location.

‘Both use green petrol and the driver will be British and chosen by the local authorities in Britain. He will have to be a competent driver and he will get a chance to accustom himself to the Popemobile.

‘Each Popemobile has about 5,000km on the clock which for an eight-year-old car is not bad at all.’


The more I think of it, the more objectionable and inappropriate I find the 'rock star' simile applied to a Pope, whose 'popularity', if you can call it that, transcends the popularity of any other mortal, including the President of the United States, or the most famous sports figure or pop artist in the world. (That is why I found it significant that the Scotsman story today on papal promo merchandise says it would be the envy of any rock star.)

Who else but the Pope would require a Popemobile so the greatest number of people can see him 'live'? Yet, what stops real rock stars and their kindred pop celebrities from showing themselves to the public in something similar? I suppose, the fact that they want to have fans pay for the privilege of seeing them, not allow them to see their 'idol' for free and then opt out of buying concert tickets.

Or why doesn't the President of the United States, even if he is someone like Barack Obama who until recently, his followers believed could walk on water? First and most obvious, the security nightmare it would mean. And second, consider that his party has to go to great lengths now to put together a crowd to listen to him when he comes to town to give a speech! The charisma of politicians is only as good as their current poll numbers.

On the other hand, people do not flock to the Pope because he is a celebrity, or is on top of the polls, but because, whoever he was before he became Pope, he is now, for devout Catholics, the Vicar of Christ on earth and direct Successor to St. Peter. Seculars who do not understand that will forever under-estimate the transcendent reason behind the drawing capacity of a Pope.

An attraction that is immeasurably enhanced by the actual spiritual dimension to the experience of 'seeing' the Pope or meeting him that one hardly associates with any mortal other than rare living persons who radiate genuine holiness.

So enough already of a 'rockstar Pope'! Even if we are not likely to ever see a celebrity of whom it will be said that he/she draws 'Pope-like veneration' from 'papal-event-sized crowds'!

For the second time in two weeks, the Telegraph publications have come out with a positive editorial welcoming the Pope to the UK. We who love our Pope can only be thankful for expressions of support like this - and may there be many more!


The Pope must be made welcome
For thousands of Catholics, this visit will be
one of the great experiences of their lives –
but it should serve as an inspiration for others, too.
Telegraph View

12 Sep 2010


Next week, Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Britain for a state visit – the first by a holder of his office, and the first Papal visit in any capacity since 1982.

It should be a joyous occasion, an opportunity for Britain’s Catholics to affirm their faith, and the bonds that link them to their co-religionists throughout the world.

Yet the Pope will arrive at a challenging time for his Church, and for religion in general. In Britain, a trend of increasing (and increasingly militant) secularism has seen religious institutions and values come under threat: witness Labour’s assault on faith schools and Catholic adoption agencies.

Past scandals within the Church, relating to the abuse of the innocent, have reared their heads, prompting accusations that the hierarchy actively concealed such crimes, and protected their perpetrators.

Benedict XVI has himself been attacked – partly because he has angered some within the Church of England by announced the creation of a process that makes it easier for disgruntled Anglicans to convert, but mostly because he is a sterner figure than his predecessor, a man who clearly takes his faith very seriously and is unwilling to compromise its fundamental doctrines (something that immediately puts him into conflict with the permissive atmosphere of modern Britain).

As a result, many have objected to the Pope’s visit in its entirety. This, however, is the height of folly. The fact that the hierarchy of the Church of England has welcomed and engaged with this visit shows the extent to which it has the potential to become a showcase of the best in Christian life.

For thousands of Catholics, this visit will be one of the great experiences of their lives – but it should serve as an inspiration for others, too, an example of devotion that can rekindle the spirit of faith and sacrifice in this country.

We trust our readers will join with us in giving His Holiness a welcome that shows Britain at its best.


In Scotland, the head of government is setting an example - and he's not even Catholic:


Scotland's First Minister to join
crowds for Mass in Bellahouston
by Mark Smith

Sept. 13, 2010

The First Minister Alex Salmond will play a leading role during the Papal visit and will attend the Mass alongside up to 100,000 Catholic worshippers in Glasgow.

Salmond said he was "honoured" to be attending the Mass being celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at Bellahouston Park on Thursday. He added that the event would be a spiritual high point for Scots of all faiths. [Salmond is Presbyterian, but has always spoken openly of his Christian faith and its influence on his life and political career.]

The Mass takes place on the day of the first state visit by a Pope to the UK.

Pope Benedict's visit starts in Edinburgh, where he will be greeted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Holyroodhouse Palace.

The First Minister will also be there to greet him alongside Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the leaders of the devolved nations of the United Kingdom.

At the same time, thousands of people are expected to take part in the inaugural St Ninian's Day Parade on Princes Street to mark the feast day of Scotland's first saint.

The Pope will travel to Glasgow to celebrate the early-evening Mass.

Mr Salmond said: "I am honoured to be attending the Mass celebrated by His Holiness at Bellahouston Park.

"It will be the spiritual high point of a week which will be a celebration not just for Scottish Catholics but Scots of all faiths and none."

A Scottish Government spokesman said the British ambassador to the Holy See, Glasgow's Lord Provost, and the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police will also attend the Mass.

Mr Salmond said: "The coming days will celebrate not only the first ever visit by a pope to Scotland as head of state, but also the shared history of the Catholic Church and the Scottish nation.

"St Ninian, our nation's first saint, established our first Christian settlement at Whithorn before 400 AD.

"The Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 was a letter to Pope John XXII confirming our country's independent standing.

"Almost 200 years later, in 1507, Pope Julius II reaffirmed Scotland's status by presenting the Sword of State - which is now among the most precious of the Honours of Scotland at Edinburgh Castle."

The First Minister will join young Scots for a reception at Edinburgh Castle tomorrow during a celebration of the Pope's visit.

He will first attend a service at the Castle's St Margaret's Chapel to celebrate the creation of the Scottish Youth Cross. The cross will be taken by young Scots pilgrims to the Pope's World Youth Day in Madrid next year. [How remarkable of Salmond! As a Presbyterian, he really does not have to attend what is a relatively minor affair without the Pope!]

Mr Salmond has previously said he "warmly" welcomed the prospect of the visit, saying it would be a "wonderful occasion".

Mr Salmond and the Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray both wore a new tartan marking the Pope's visit at First Minister's Questions at Holyrood earlier this week.

Monday, Sept. 13, 24th Week in Ordinary Time

A few historical images of Chrysostomos, one of the most depicted saints throughout history. From left: 13th-cent Russian illumination; 16th-cent Greek-Byzantine icon, between Archangels; 10th-cent apse mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul; 10th-cent apse mosaic, Antioch; apse mosaic, Sn Paolo fuori le Mure, Rome; late 16-cent icon, Corfu; 1430 icon attributed to Andrei Rublev.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (b Antioch [in present Syria], d Armenia 407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI dedicated two catecheses in Sept. 2006 to this great saint starting on 9/19/07:
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070919...



No OR today.



THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- H.E. Walter Jürgen Schmid, Ambassador from the Federal Republic of Germany, who presented his credentials.
Address in German.

- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

- Recently appointed bishops who participated in a seminar at the Congregation for Bishops. Address in Italian.





- The Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations has released the Holy Father's calendar of events in October-November.

- Cardinal Raffaele Farina, SDB, held a news conference today on the re-opening of the Vatican Library Sept. 22,
after three years of renovation.

- The Vatican has now posted the 186-page Missal for the Apostolic Visit to the United Kingdom:
www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/libretti/2010/messale_regnounito...

RATZI AND HIS TEDDY BEAR


Despite another very late start today, which is a busy day for papal news, I cannot resist starting with this post, from a blog CATHOLICSSEEKING, whose author resurrects one of my favorite Ratzi-pix. along with a familiar anecdote as told by a neighbor of young Pepperl in Marktl-am-Inn soon after the April 19, 2005 Conclave.

---

Photo apparently taken in Cardinal Ratzinger's apartment some time in the 1990s.

Teresa, 82 years old now, remembers how young Joseph Ratzinger would dash out of his family’s house and press his nose against the window of the shop across the road.

“He was looking at a teddy bear. He wanted it so much that he would stand there gazing at it,” Teresa said. “He was only two years old. I was a little older, but I wanted that teddy too. Then I remember that one day Joseph was in floods of tears. The teddy bear had gone from the window. I cried too!

“But what we didn’t know was that his mother had bought him it for Christmas. I had to settle for a doll.”

Teresa was three years older than Joseph, who was born in the small Bavarian town of Marktl-am-Inn on April 16, 1927, an Easter Saturday. His father, Joseph senior, was the local policeman and his mother, Maria, a cook.

The little boy who got the teddy bear he so dearly wanted grew up to become archbishop of Munich and then held one of the most senior posts in the Vatican before, three days after his 78th birthday, he was elected Pope following the death of John Paul II.

---

As the visit approaches, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of the flood of articles about it, choose the most important and most interesting, and have some semblance of 'organized' posting. So I will be posting as I come across must-post and postable articles. The first is this commentary by Catherine Pepinster, who is the editor of the ultra-liberal Tablet newspaper. While she and her publication are no great fans at all of Benedict XVI and 'his Church', she has been, in her way, plugging for this visit. In this article, she makes important points on the rationale for the British invitation to the Pope and why he is being accorded a state visit.


We can do business with Benedict
The Pope was invited on a state visit because the Labour government
discovered that the Holy See is a major agent of development
by Catherine Pepinster

Monday 13 September 2010


Bit by bit, week by week, the focus of attacks on the forthcoming papal visit to Britain have sharpened so that now they boil down to one thing: why should this be a state visit?

The vitriol first expressed by critics of Roman Catholicism was so vicious that one sensed that it backfired: people in this country who always like fair play started to feel that the condemnation of the most fervent opponents of Pope Benedict XVI and of his Church were getting too personal.

So there's been a noticeable change in gear: now the critique is you Catholics should be able to see your Pope, but don't bother the rest of it with us. And it's worked: a poll for the Theos think tank this week shows that people don't approve of this being a state visit, with 76 per cent objecting to taxpayers part-funding it, while a survey for my own publication, The Tablet, by Ipsos MORI, shows that most people neither support nor oppose the actual visit. So it's the trip's status that sticks in the craw.

But people need to get a few things straight. Firstly, this isn't quite a state visit. This is an official visit, with the status of a state visit. So the Pope won't be the guest of honour at a vast banquet at Buckingham Palace, nor will there be a ride down the Mall with the Queen with all the attendant pomp, nor will the pope stay at Buckingham Palace and be waited on there by flunkeys.

That wasn't desired by the Pope, nor was it entirely possible, given the Queen is currently resident at Balmoral for her annual holiday there, and the absence of these events will make the visit vastly cheaper for the taxpayer. [And even if it had been possible, it is unthinkable that the Pope would have stayed at Buckingham Palace. The policy since Pope Paul Vi became the first modern Pope to travel outside Italy is that the Pope stays in the residence of the Apostolic Nuncio to the host country, or the bishop's residence if the city where he must spend the night is not the capital city.]

Secondly, the protests about the papal state visit are much noisier than any protests about visits by other heads of state that some people might object to coming here. Where were the loud cries of disgust at the appearance of heads of state from China, Saudi Arabia etc, despite their track records on human rights issues? Does the Pope really deserve to be singled out in this way?

And that reference I just made to heads of state: yes, the Pope is one too, and that's why he gets a state visit (just not too fancy a one). Critics might object to him being accorded this status, but the Holy See which forms the central government of the Church is recognised in international law as a sovereign entity, and maintains relations with 178 states, including the United Kingdom.

You might not like it, but that is what the reality is. And the Government of this country has worked out that it can do business with the Holy See. That's why Benedict XVI is heading this way.

It would be more accurate to say that it was the previous administration that worked this out. While Labour might have had difficulties at the domestic level with the Catholic Church – one thinks of clashes over faith schools and over same-sex couples adopting children – things were different at the global level.

It was rather like that revelation of Mrs Thatcher's when she encountered Gorbachev: this is someone we can do business with. A series of Labour Cabinet ministers – Gordon Brown, first as chancellor and later as Prime Minister, David Miliband as Environment Secretary, Douglas Alexander and Baroness Vadera from International Development, as well as Tony Blair on several occasions during his tenure at Number 10, all flew to Rome to do business with the Vatican.

That business has focused on the most pressing of issues for the people of this planet and the planet itself: poverty in the developing world, eradication of diseases such as malaria, climate change, sustainability, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Coalition Government has recognised the same opportunities there are to do business with the Holy See on these issues.

There are several reasons why:
- The Catholic Church has a vast network of people on the ground, working in developing nations. Its global social services organisation, Caritas, is second only in size to the International Red Cross.
- The Church acts as a useful influence on other nations' views on such vital issues, and
- It's also a superb conduit of information from around the globe; its diplomats are legendary.

That is why all those British politicians went to Rome, and why the Pope is coming here, with the taxpayer part-funding the visit. It's all about pragmatism.

No doubt all the media attention will be on the Pope by the media, and all the pomp and ceremony of the visit, and the possibilities of faux-pas, and what I hope will also happen – meetings with abuse victims and a chance to listen to what ordinary Catholics have to say about their Church.

But don't ignore the entourage that is coming too. For they're the ones who will do business with their hosts. They're the seguito, the followers, and in their midst are people who run Vatican departments.

The talks they will hold with civil servants and ministers, including a major dinner at Lancaster House, will be a chance to discuss some of the most crucial matters affecting the world today, with people who could well make a difference.

The Pope will address not just Catholics but the whole nation during his visit. If they give him a chance, he might just have an impact on their lives. But this visit could change the lives of people in Africa and Asia too.

Pope 'feels pain' over
Belgian child sex scandal
By the CNN Wire Staff

September 13, 2010


VATICAN CITY, Sept. 13 (CNN) -- A Vatican spokesman said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI feels much pain after revelations that members of the clergy were involved in widespread sexual abuse of children from the 1950s through the 1980s in Belgium.

"The publishing of this report is a new cause of pain for us, for the victims," said Father Federico Lombardi.

The announcement came after leaders of the Church in Belgium said Catholic priests who abused children should tell their superiors.

"We want to repeat this call with force," Bishop Johan Bonny, the bishop of Antwerp, said. "It is to everyone's advantage that the abuser in a pastoral relationship communicates this fact to his superior" or to a new "center for investigation, healing and reconciliation" which he announced Monday.

Bonny said instead that the Church "envisions the creation" of the new center. The Church has identified four experts to start preparatory work on the center, he said, but he did not name them.

Belgian church officials will begin interviews Tuesday as a follow up to a Church-backed investigation that detailed hundreds of assertions of sexual abuse of children by clergy and others working for the church from the 1950s into the late 1980s. It was led by Dr. Peter Ariaenssens, a psychiatrist.

"From the mistakes of the past, we wish to take the necessary lessons," said Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium. "In the interviews that will be conducted from tomorrow, we will consider the relevant reflexions and proposals of Professor Ariaenseens."

The process will take time because "it is impossible to try to resolve these traumatic experiences too quickly," Archbishop Leonard said.

It is to everyone's advantage that the abuser in a pastoral relationship communicates this fact to his superior.

"We want to commit ourselves to giving the maximum support for the victims," said Leonard. "We must listen to their questions in order to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they have endured."

The commission said it received about 500 reports from alleged victims, about 60 percent of them from males.

It cited 320 alleged abusers, of whom 102 were known to have been clergy members from 29 congregations.

Thirteen of the alleged victims committed suicide, it said.

"We can say that not a single congregation escaped sexual abuse of minors by one or more of its members," said the Commission on Church-Related Sexual Abuse Complaints on Friday.

"The stories they contain and suffering make us shudder," Archbishop Leonard said.

Investigators had information about when the abuse started for 233 of the alleged victims. Forty-eight were 12; one was 2; five were 4; eight were 5; seven were 6; ten were 7.

Of the 230 alleged victims about whom investigators said they had reliable information, more than 70 percent are currently between the ages of 40 and 70, it said. Ten percent are 31 to 40.

Four alleged victims are 20 to 30 years of age, and one is younger than 20, it said.

At the other end of the scale, five alleged victims are aged between 80 and 90 years old and one is older than 90.

Belgian police raided Catholic Church headquarters in the country earlier this year and questioned a cardinal over allegations of a cover-up by the church.

Belgian police questioned Gotfried Danneels, the country's former Catholic archbishop, for about 10 hours over accusations he knew of sexual abuse in the church but failed to stop it, the Belgian prosecutor's office told CNN in July.

Danneels was being considered a witness but could become a suspect, prosecutor's spokesman Joseph Colain told CNN.

Danneels, who was questioned July 5, could be interrogated again as the investigation continues, Colain said.

Danneels was archbishop of Brussels for more than 30 years before he stepped down in January. [He retired when he turned 75. Danneels was also a long-time hero to the liberal media for his espousal of their causes, and was one of their favored papabile in the Conclave that elected Cardinal Ratzinger. He notoriously left the Vatican in a huff hours after the Conclave to indicate his displeasure with the result. Strangely, since he became involved in the sex abuse investigations, not one story about him has mentioned all this as a background, and he has largely been almost Teflonized by the MSM. If he had been a conservative cardinal, just imagine how he would have been demonized by now!]

Belgian police raided the national headquarters of the Catholic Church in June over allegations of child abuse, prompting an angry response from Pope Benedict XVI and other church leaders. [The Pope publicly referred to the raid only once, in a letter to Mons. Leonard, saying it was 'surprising and deplorable'. That's not angry! When has Benedict XVI ever shown anger in his responses to anything. Pain, sorrow, condemnation of the offense, yes. But never anger - which is, after all, as wrath, one of the seven deadly sins!]

Investigators seized archdiocese archives covering 25 years as well as personal computers and other personal possessions, said Fernand Keuleneer, a lawyer for the archdiocese.

Police raided Danneels's private residence and the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Belgium, as a meeting of bishops was taking place.

They detained the bishops and other church employees -- even the cook -- for about nine hours, the Rev. Eric De Beukelaer said.

[This report conspicuously omits the news from last week that the Belgian authorities have ruled the raids were wrong, that they returned all the files they had confiscated, and ruled as well that these files could not be admissible as evidence in any further investigation.]

Members of a Belgian church commission that helps sexual abuse victims resigned en masse to protest the raid a week after it took place, said De Beukelaer, a spokesman for the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese.

The commission worked with people who have been abused by clergy members, said the spokesman.

The Belgian Prosecutor's Office said in July it is investigating death threats against witnesses and magistrates involved in clergy child abuse cases.

The Vatican criticized the raids but reaffirmed its "strong condemnation of any sinful and criminal abuse of minors by members of the church."

It cited "the need to repair and confront such acts in conformity with the law and teachings of the Gospels."

The Catholic Church is facing allegations that clergy members abused children in at least half a dozen countries, including the Pope's native Germany, as well as Belgium, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and the United States. [Thanks, at least, for pointing out that all the hot air and bile spewed over the past several months have been about incidents in a handful of countries, instead of the 'worldwide' occurrence that MSM routinely, shamelessly, and wrongly trumpets!]


Vatican team looking into Irish abuses
will meet victims' groups soon
by Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent

Monday 13 September 2010


The unprecedented Vatican inquiry into the Catholic establishment's handling of clerical sex abuse in Ireland will include dialogue with groups representing abuse victims, the Guardian has learned.

The papal examination, or "apostolic visitation", of Catholic dioceses and orders of priests and nuns will be headed by the former archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and will begin within weeks of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain this month.

Abuse survivors and priests critical of the church hierarchy's handling of paedophile priests say the visit is a clear sign that the Vatican no longer trusts the Irish Catholic establishment to clean up its own act. [Something of an overstatement, probably, and maybe unfair to the bishops now in place. The point is that Pope Benedict pre-announced these visitations in his March letter to the Catholics of Ireland, and the visitation teams were constituted a few weeks later, each headed by prominent and 'unimpeachable' Catholic bishops - except Murphy-O'Connor himself, whose appointment to be one of them has been criticized because it is thought he himself was too lax about offending priests in his own diocse.]

Patrick Walsh, who was incarcerated [????] in several Christian Brothers schools, including Dublin's notorious Artane, and is co-founder of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca), said the Vatican team's presence is a welcome development. Bless you, Patrick. You are probably the first victim I have read about who has acknowledged that the Vatican is doing something right!]

Walsh said: "In March this year, we handed Cardinal Sean Brady [the leader of Ireland's Catholics] a letter to the Pope asking for Rome to come in and examine the entire Church in Ireland. Now that is exactly what is going to happen, we are certain this delegation from the Vatican will meet us and other survivors' groups.

"Irish Soca and other survivors' groups are excited over the apostolic visitation because it's the end of allowing the Irish hierarchy to handle the scandal and crises on their own. They are no longer being allowed to clean up their own mess or, to be more accurate, sweep it under the carpet."

Gary O'Sullivan, editor of the Irish Catholic, said Ireland had not seen such a high-powered delegation, some of whom are in line to become cardinals, since the Norman conquest.

"This is a very high-powered group of Vatican officials who are coming here to look over the workings of the church. You can compare it to top people in, say, IBM's global headquarters coming over to a country where one of its branches is based to sort out some problems there."

One of Ireland's most famous priests, the broadcaster and writer Father Brian D'Arcy, also welcomed the Vatican inquiry but said he hoped its purpose was not to impose hardline theology on the Irish church.

"If the apostolic visitation deals with the big issues such as celibacy, the structures of the church, the need to get the laity more involved in decision making, then they will be doing their job. It would be worrying if their visit to Ireland was just to reinforce Vatican authority." [D'Arcy is too quick to interject his own ideological causes! His concerns are not the purpose of these visitations - which intend primarily to establish responsibility and examine why neglect of the problem and inaction or cover-up by some bishops took place, in order to recommend ways to make sure that henceforth, local churches will be more vigilant, attentive and wise regarding priestly discipline and diocesan responsbilities for this.]

Cardinal Brady is among the clerics under pressure ahead of the Vatican delegation's arrival, after revelations earlier this year that he had kept quiet for more than a decade despite knowing about sexual abuse carried out by the late Father Brendan Smyth. [A habitually overblown misrepresentation by now of Brady's actual 'offense'!]

Despite the bitterness and hurt among survivors of clerical child abuse in Ireland, Soca has called for Pope Benedict's visit to be treated with respect.

Walsh said: "This is a celebration for English and Scottish Catholics and we would urge everyone to allow them to enjoy the pope's visit, to respect people over in Britain who have nothing to do with what happened to us at the hands of religious orders and the Irish state." [Mr. Walsh, you are a fair man and a good Christian! May your tribe increase!]

The current anger in Ireland towards the Catholic Church is in sharp contrast to the joy and fervour that surrounded its last papal visit in 1979. [IMore to the point, it was also the first ever papal visit to Ireland.] Almost a quarter of the country's population turned out to see Pope John Paul II at several outdoor "monster masses" in Dublin, Drogheda and the west of Ireland.

Pope talks about the example of martyrs,
life issues, biotechnology and media responsibitity
in address to the new German ambassador





VATICAN CITY, 13 SEP 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received the Letters of Credence of Walter Jurgen Schmid, the new ambassador of Germany to the Holy See.

The Pope began by mentioning Fr. Gerhard Hirschfelder, a martyr priest who died under the Nazi regime and who is due to be beatified in Munster on 19 September. He also referred to the beatifications of four other priests and the commemoration of an Evangelical pastor, scheduled for 2011.

"Contemplating these martyrs", said Benedict XVI, "it emerges ever more clearly how certain men, on the basis of their Christian convictions, are ready to give their lives for the faith, for the right to exercise their beliefs freely and for freedom of speech, for peace and human dignity".

However, he went on, "many men tend to show an overriding inclination towards more permissive religious convictions. The personal God of Christianity, Who reveals Himself in the Bible, is replaced by a supreme being, mysterious and undefined, who has only a vague relation with the personal life of human beings.

"These ideas are increasingly animating discussion within society, especially as regards the areas of justice and lawmaking", the Pope added. "If, however, one abandons faith in a personal God, then an alternative 'god' arises, one who does not know, does not feel and does not speak". ... If God does not have His own will, then good and bad end up being indistinguishable. ... Man thus loses the moral and spiritual energy necessary for the overall development of the person. Social activity is increasingly dominated by private interest or by power calculations, to the detriment of society".

"The Church", the Holy Father explained, "looks with concern at the growing attempts to eliminate the Christian concept of marriage and the family from the conscience of society. Marriage is the lasting union of love between a man and a woman, which is always open to the transmission of human life".

In this context he identified the need for a "culture of the person", using an expression of John Paul II. Moreover, he continued, "the success of marriages depends upon us all and on the personal culture of each individual citizen. In this sense, the Church cannot approve legislative initiatives that involve a re-evaluation of alternative models of marriage and family life. They contribute to a weakening of the principles of natural law, and thus to the relativisation of all legislation and confusion about values in society".

Going on then to address the question of "new possibilities" in biotechnology and medicine, the Pope laid emphasis on "our duty to study how these methods can help man, and where they involve manipulation of man, the violation of his integrity and dignity. We cannot reject these developments, but we must remain highly vigilant.
Once we have begun to distinguish (and this often already happens in the mother's womb) between a life that is worthy to be lived and one which is unworthy, then no other phase of existence will be spared, particularly old age and infirmity".

The Holy Father concluded by highlighting how "the construction of a human society requires faithfulness to truth". In this context he mentioned certain phenomena related to the communications media.

"Being in ever-greater competition with one another", he said, they "feel impelled to attract as much attention as possible. Moreover, in general it is contrast that makes news, even if this goes against the truth of the story. The question becomes particularly problematic when authority figures take up public stances on the matter, without being able to verify all aspects adequately. The intention of the federal government to look into these cases is to be welcomed".

The Holy Father today had his second opportunity in several days to address newly appointed bishops from around the world about his view of the duties of bishops. This group was a wider group than those he received last week who were taking part in a continuing education seminar sponsored yearly for new bishops by the Congregation for the Evangelization of peoples.


Bishops are custodians
of the Church, Pope says





VATICAN CITY, 13 SEP 2010 (VIS) - A hundred and twenty recently-appointed bishops from various countries, currently participating in an annual congress promoted by the Congregation for Bishops, were received today by the Holy Father who began his remarks to them by greeting Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., the new prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

In his address to them ,the Pope referred to the "important custom" of new bishops making a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter, "who conformed himself to Christ, Teacher and Shepherd, until death and death on the cross". And he quoted Jesus's words from the Gospel of St. John: "The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep".

Thus, the Holy Father went on:
"The mission of the bishop cannot be understood with a mindset of efficiency and effectiveness in which attention is primarily focused on what has to be done; rather, it is important to concentrate on the ontological dimension, which acts as foundation for the functional level.

"The bishop, in fact, by the authority of Christ with which he is invested, when he sits on the Cathedra is 'above' and 'in front of' the community, in that he is 'for' the community towards which his pastoral solicitude is directed".

Reflecting then on the words used when consigning the ring during episcopal consecrations - "Take this ring, the seal of your fidelity. With integrity of faith and purity of life protect the bride of God, His Holy Church" - Benedict explained:

"The concept of 'protecting' does not only mean conserving what has already been established (though this must not be lacking); rather, in its essence it also includes the dynamic aspect: a perpetual and concrete tendency towards perfection, in complete harmony with, and continually adapting to, the new requirements that arise with the development and progress of that living organism which is the community".

"The bishop has responsibility for the good of his diocese, but also for that of society", the Pope added. "He is called to be 'strong and determined, just and serene' in order to be able exercise that wise discernment of people, facts and events which is required of him in his duty to be 'father, brother and friend' along the Christian and human journey".

He concluded:
"The ministry of the bishop - who is not a mere governor or bureaucrat, or a simple moderator or organiser of diocesan life - is part of a profound perspective that is not simply human, administrative or sociological, but a perspective of faith.

It is paternity and fraternity in Christ that enable the bishop to create a climate of trust, acceptance and affection, but also of frankness and justice".

---

CALENDAR OF LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

PRESIDED BY THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI

October-November 2010

OCTOBER

Sunday, Oct. 3
XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pastoral visit to Palermo on the occasion of
the Regional Encounter of Families and Youth


Sunday, Oct.10
XXVIII Sunday in Ordinary Time
9:30 St. Peter's Basilica
CAPPELLA PAPALE
Opening Mass of the Special Aseembly
for the Middle East, Bishops' Synod


Sunday, Oct. 17
XXIX Sunday in Ordinary Time
1o:00 Piazza San Pietro
CAPPELLA PAPALE
Canonization of the Blesseds -
- Stanisław Sołtys (Kazimierczyk)
- André (Alfred) Bessette
- Cándida María de Jesús Cipitria y Barriola
- Mary of the Cross (Mary Helen) MacKillop
- Giulia Salzano
- Battista (Camilla) Varano


Sunday, Oct. 24
XXX Synday in Ordinary Time
9:30 St. Peter's Basilica
CAPPELLA PAPALE
Concluding Mass of the Special Aseembly
for the Middle East, Bishops' Synod


NOVEMBER

Thursday, Nov. 4
11:30 St. Peter's Cathedral
Altar of St. Peter's Chair
CAPPELLA PAPALE
Holy Mass in commemoration of Cardinals and Bishops
deceased in the past 12 months


Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 6-7
Apostolic Visit to
Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona

---

The stage is set
for the Pope’s visit

Monday 13th September 2010




The stage was today being set for the Pope’s visit to Birmingham with the transformation of a city park.

A temporary amphitheatre is being created in the grounds of Cofton Park ready for the visit on Sunday.

Organisers today said preparations were running on schedule and confirmed onlookers will get a glimpse of the Popemobile inside the park, as Pope Benedict XVI travels along the lower level of the stage.

Councillor Alan Rudge, of Birmingham City Council, said: “Everything is on time for the visit.“The setting is looking really good and we know the Popemobile can now be used inside Cofton Park.

“It will drive from one side to the other at the base of the amphitheatre setting, as well as along Hagley Road on the way to Birmingham Oratory.

“The setting is a beautiful park with trees crowning the top of the stage. It really will be a beautiful setting for the beatification.

“It will give it that sincerity.”

Rows of grey seats were today being put in place ready for around 70,000 people to arrive, while lighting was also being rigged in place.


Upper left photo, the design for the altar-stage, Other photos shows temporary enclosure for the work area.

Around 1,200 coaches of people are expected to descend on the park for the event, which will see the Pope beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman.

The main stage is already in place, which will effectively become the chapel for the Pope’s Mass.

On either side 300 priests will sit on the same platform.

A total of 1,000 choristers will sit in the grey seats on either side of the main stage, backed by two relay screens for onlookers to see the service more clearly.

In front of the stage there are seats for 1,650 invited pilgrims, some of whom are expected to start arriving from 3am on Sunday

There are 16 public announcement towers, providing lighting and sound, stationed around the park to aid pilgrims arriving by night and 850 wheelchair users can benefit from two platforms, with their own relay screens, while those hard-of-hearing can tune in their aids to hearing aid deaf loop which has been wired up around the entire site.

Mark Wallace, chairman of event organisers WRG, said: “The great thing about Cofton Park, as well as having a connection with Cardinal Newman - it is a natural amphitheatre as you’ll see from the layout of this site.”

USCCB announces new book
about Pope Benedict XVI
to be released Sept. 19


WASHINGTON, Sept 13, 2010 (PRNewswire) - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), with Sheed & Ward, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, will release on Sept. 19 Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy, an unprecedented look into the first five years of Benedict's reign.



Edited by Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the USCCB, it features forewords by King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Shimon Peres of Israel, and articles by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, USCCB president, and John Thavis, Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service.

Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy ($29.95 cloth, 224 pages, 8 x 10 )will be in bookstores in late September. Special promotions with Borders and Barnes & Noble will take place in late September and early October. The book will also be available from online booksellers such as Amazon.com and directly from the USCCB (www.usccbpublishing.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1475).

Elegantly designed and produced in the style of the USCCB's award-winning tribute to Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II: A Light for the World, the new book features more than 100 full-color photographs.

Images range from formal public appearances and meetings with world leaders and lay Catholics around the globe, to quiet moments of personal study or contemplation.

"Pope Benedict's first five years reveal a man who can walk calmly through troubled times as he seeks to heal wounds and bring people together," says the book's editor, Sister Mary Ann Walsh.

"He has faced the searing sexual abuse scandal with compassion and moved head-on to meet inter-religious challenges to build understanding among diverse people.

"He has addressed the problems of contemporary society and highlighted for the world the moral implications of environmentalism and the unequal distribution of the world's resources.

"He has urged the Church to spread the Gospel both through witness and prayer and through every modern means of communication.

"He is a leader with the wisdom of years, and a graced theologian who helps men and women to take their rightful place in today's world."

Essays by USCCB staff illuminate the Pope's life and work as Pilgrim, Pastor, and Prophet and include topics such as his response to the sex abuse crisis; support of Africa, China, and Latin America; relations with Jews and Muslims; papal travels; liturgical reform; human rights, justice, war and peace, bioethics, the environment, and immigration; and his use of social media.

Personal reflections by friends and church leaders Cardinal Edward Egan, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap., Cardinal Justin Rigali, Sister Eileen McCann, CSJ, Ambassador Johnny Young and many more, provide a glimpse into the warm, human aspect of Benedict, including his sense of humor. The book also includes excerpts from Pope Benedict's writings and an extensive resource section.

Having sought dutifully and insistently, as tiresome as it is, to highlight all the misinformation and disinformation in MSM reporting and commentary about the Pope and the Church, and having on more than one occasion, trotted out statistics from the US study on sex abuses by priests in the US, and more recently, on the Irish reports, to comment volubly on the absolute lack of context and scale in MSM reporting on the issue, I am symbolically lighting candles in gratitude that Brendan O'Neill has articulated those concerns from a venue that cannot be missed by his targets.

The wonder is that, as far as I know, no one else before him - not John Allen, for instance, or Andrea Tornielli, or Damian Thompson - has written so explicitly and directly on the extent of this 'abuse of truth' as O'Neill calls it. (Massimo Introvigne has cited the US figures in some of his excellent commentaries on the subject, but has so far failed to tie it up to the Irish figures)....


How the New Atheists
are abusing the truth
Did Catholic priests really rape 10,000 children over the past 50 years,
as respectable media outlets claim? No, they didn't.
by BRENDAN O'NEILL, Editor

Sept. 13, 2010


Apparently the British state is about to roll out the red carpet for a seriously evil rape facilitator. Pope Benedict XVI is the boss of a Church that acts as a ‘patron, protector and financier of child rape’, says one secularist writer.

Last week the UK Independent reported that in America, ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped as part of this misery-go-round’ overseen by His Holiness and His Lackeys. In Ireland alone, a tiny country of 4.5million people, ‘Thousands were raped in reform schools’, said a British broadsheet headline last year, ramming home the ugly truth of how many kids have been raped by the Catholic Church’s army of paedophile priests.

But how true is this ugly truth? Were 10,000 children in America and thousands more in Ireland really raped by Catholic priests? In a word, no.

Instead, what has happened is that in the increasingly caliginous, almost Inquisitorial mindset of sections of the New Atheist anti-pope lobby, every allegation of abuse against a Catholic priest - whether it involved sex talk or fondling or actual penile penetration - has been lumped together under the heading of ‘rape’, and every allegation has been described as an actual proven ‘rape’ regardless of whether it resulted in a legal trial, never mind a conviction.

The term ‘paedophile priest’ has become such a part of everyday cultural lingo that most people, when they read in last week’s relatively respectable UK Independent that ‘over 10,000 children have come forward to say they were raped [by Catholic priests]’, would probably think, ‘Yeah, that’s possible’. But it isn’t true.

The Independent was referring to a study commissioned in 2002 by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was published in 2004 under the heading ‘The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States’.

This study covered the period of 1950 to 2002, and it did indeed find that 10,000 individuals in the US - 10,667, to be precise - had made allegations of sexual abuse against priests (against 4,392 priests in total, around four per cent of the 109,694 Catholic priests active in the US between 1950 and 2002). But this doesn’t mean that these 10,000 ‘[came] forward to say they were raped’.

The 10,667 made various allegations, ranging from verbal abuse (being forced to indulge in sex talk) to being shown pornography to being touched by a priest over or under their clothing. Then there were the more serious allegations, which included being coerced into mutual masturbation, oral sex and, in some instances, rape.

Yet where 3,553 of the individuals claimed to have been touched over their clothing and 3,981 to have been touched under their clothing, a smaller number claimed to have been subjected to what is described in the report as ‘penile penetration or attempted penile penetration’, that is rape or attempted rape; 990 boys and 213 girls made this allegation – a total of 1,203 individuals, not 10,000.

Moreover, if we are serious about such Enlightened ideals as justice and equality before the law, then we have to accept the fact that not all of these allegations were ultimately proven to be true. Out of the 10,000-plus allegations made against priests in America, 3,300 were not investigated at all because they were made after the accused priest had died (surely even the most riled anti-Pope commentator accepts that a man who is no longer around to defend himself cannot be convicted of a crime).

Of the 4,392 priests in America who were accused of sexual abuse in the period of 1950 to 2002, 1,021 were investigated by the police, and of these, 384 were charged, of whom 252 were convicted. So around six per cent of all American priests who had allegations made against them were finally convicted. (Of course there are many reasons for this relatively tiny number of convictions: some alleged victims were pressured to keep quiet; some (25 per cent in the US) didn’t make their allegations for more than 30 years after the alleged incident occurred; and in some instances there was just a lack of evidence.)

So nothing like 10,000 individuals in America ‘say they were raped’ by Catholic priests. In truth, 1,203 made this allegation. And not all of them resulted in a conviction.

Every allegation of rape should be treated seriously, of course, but what happened to the idea of innocent until proven guilty? How did a complex US report about all manner of allegations against priests come to be translated in the words of the Independent into the idea that ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped [by priests]’?

Because in the outlook of certain sections of the intolerant New Atheist lobby, everything from sex talk to fondling to being shown a porn flick is ‘rape’ - if it’s done by a priest, that is - and every priest is guilty of what he is accused of despite the question of whether or not he was convicted in a court of law.

[O'Neill for all his praiseworthy fairness appears to limit his accusation of 'abusing truth' to the New Atheists - when abusing truth has been SOP in the MSM (not all of whom are New Atheists, but whose ultra-liberal ideology, I grant, might be synonymous to New Atheism) for almost half a century now, since adversary and advocacy journalism became the only 'legitimate' journalism and all elementary rules of fairness, objectivity and truth were discarded by this new and contemptible journalism.]

A similarly warped conflation has been made in relation to Ireland, now widely looked upon as a country where crazy priests spent most of their days handing out communion wafers and/or raping children.

When the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was published in May 2009 - with its analysis of accusations of abuse made by individuals who had attended Irish reform schools between 1940 and 1999 - the media reported it as if it had uncovered apocalyptic, Caligulan levels of sexual depravity.

‘Thousands were raped in Irish reform schools’, said the Independent. ‘Thousands raped in Ireland’s Christian Brothers schools’, said the Belfast Telegraph. ‘Thousands raped and abused in Catholic schools in Ireland’, said the Guardian.

So were thousands of children - in particular boys, the main focus of the media reports - raped in Irish reform schools? No - 68 were, allegedly.

Two-hundred-and-forty-two male witnesses made 253 reports of sexual abuse against the staff of Irish reform schools at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse - and of these, 68 claim to have been raped.

Once again, not all of the allegations resulted in convictions. Some witness reports involved priests who had died, and out of the 253 male reports of sexual abuse, 207 related to the period of 1969 or earlier; 46 related to the 1970s and 1980s.

How did 68 claims of anal rape made against the staff of Irish reform schools over a 59-year period translate into headlines about thousands being raped?

Because once again, everything from being neglected to being smacked to being emotionally abused - which thousands of Irish reform-school kids were subjected to - was lumped together with being raped, creating a warped image of a religious institution that rapes children on an almost daily basis.

(If it were true that 10,000 Americans had claimed to have been raped by priests between 1950 and 2002, that would have amounted to more than one alleged priest-rape every two days.)

Why is it worth pointing out these basic facts? Not in order to defend the Catholic Church, which clearly has a sexual abuse problem, or to minimise the suffering of those individuals who ‘only’ suffered being verbally abused, shown dirty photos or fondled over their clothing by Catholic priests - all of those acts are abhorrent and potentially punishable in a court of law.

No, it is worth pointing out the reality of the extent of allegations against the Catholic Church in order to expose the non-rationalist, anti-humanist underpinnings of the current fashion for Catholic-baiting amongst the liberal, opinion-forming classes in the US and the UK.

[I think the more fundamental reason to point out these untruths peddled routinely by the MSM and the anti-God squads -and promptly gobbled up as gospel truth by gullible folk around the world - is precisely to present the actual truth about these incidents. To provide a sense of scale, the proper perspective to evaluate the problem and make judgments about everyone concerned. Not the rush to merciless judgment by holier-than-thou types who have forfeited all sense of elementary decency and honesty, and to whom the very concepts of Christian charity and mercy are either completely unknown or to be snorted upon!]

The wildly inaccurate claim about thousands of children being raped by the representatives of an institution which actively ‘protected and financed child rape’ suggests that modern-day atheism, this New Atheism, has zero interest in applying the tools of rational investigation and critical questioning to the problem of certain religions’ infrastructure, and instead is hellbent on using the politics of fear to invent a fantastical rape-happy ogre, in contrast to which it can pose as the pure defender of childlike innocence and societal integrity.

The irony is almost too much. For in the past, of course, it was the Catholic Church, especially during the period of the Inquisition, which viewed being accused as the same thing as being guilty, and which demonsied its enemies, on the basis of questionable evidence, as depraved perverts whose mad habits posed a threat to morality and stability.

Now, somehow, bizarrely, worryingly, the so-called New Atheists have adopted these very tactics in their drive to depict religion as the greatest evil of our age.

I would be interested to find out if the habitual liars and truth-benders/stretchers in the MSM and their secular choir will reply to O'Neill!

And apropos this contemptible breed, tonight in the UK, BBC and Channel 4 were to broadcast two documentaries by oneof the most strident, vitriolic and blindly biased critics of the Pope (one is an individual, the other an institution), and I am sure within a few hours, we will be seeing reviews and commentaries. Richard Dawkins's site has been plugging the shows, which are presented at the same time (How brilliant is that? Maybe they think viewers will be interested enough to Tivo and watch both later):

---

The Trouble with the Pope, Channel 4 - Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell examines the beliefs and policies of the leader of the Catholic Church on the week of the pontiff's state visit to the UK. He questions Pope Benedict XVI's policies on contraception and his handling of the child sex abuse scandal.

Panorama: What the Pope Knew, BBC1 - An investigation into the Pope's record on dealing with paedophile priests while he was an archbishop and a top Vatican official. Reporter Feargal Keane meets the people who want an apology for the handling of cases involving alleged child sex abuse. Presented by Jeremy Vine.

---

Meanwhile, not only do the Pope's most obsessed critics lie when it suits them. One of the most prominent voices in the UK lately, Peter Thatchell, has a record that makes his bleeding-heart concern for victims of pedophile priests a whole sham! Here's an article on Sunday by Peter Hitchens, Christopher's younger brother, also an experienced journalist and a former atheist himself but is now a devout Anglican. However, he is also a moral and social conservative, so he does not approve of the liberalization going on in the Church of England.

Who said 'not all sex involving children
is unwanted and abusive'?
Answer: The Pope's biggest British critic
by PETER HITCHENS

Sept. 11, 2010

Here comes the Pope, though he would have much more fun if he stayed in Rome for root canal dentistry. His mysterious visit, to the country in Europe where he is most likely to be insulted, is the target of every liberal elitist in Britain.

A whole assembly of crackpot sexual revolutionaries and wild ultra-Leftists will be ranged against him. Such people normally do not have much popular support.

Against the previous Pope, their campaign would have been insignificant squeaking, barely heard above the applause.
But thanks to the abuse of children by some priests, and the Roman Church’s feeble efforts to punish them, all that has changed. It is now respectable again to be anti-Catholic.

Well, that’s reasonable. Paedophilia is disgusting, and particularly so among men supposedly dedicated to goodness.

But the Vatican doesn’t actually tell its priests to abuse children. The vast majority of them do not so do. And it has tried to stamp out the problem and to offer genuine apologies to the victims.

I (as a non-Roman Catholic) have examined some of the main charges levelled against Benedict XVI by his attackers, and found that several of them are simply untrue, whereas others have been crudely distorted.

I have also examined the record of one of the main critics of the Papal visit.

This is Peter Tatchell, prominent in the ‘Protest the Pope’ campaign.
I admire Mr Tatchell’s physical and moral courage, notably when he was badly beaten by Robert Mugabe’s bodyguards for attempting a citizen’s arrest of that monster. The effects of that beating still trouble him.

But this does not cancel out what I believe is the hypocrisy of his attempt - and that of the Left in general - to wage war on the Pope by employing the charge of condoning or failing to act against paedophilia (it is No  5 in the charge-sheet set out by ‘Protest the Pope’).

For on June 26, 1997, Mr Tatchell wrote a start­ling letter to the Guardian newspaper. In it, he defended an academic book about ‘Boy-Love’ against what he saw as calls for it to be censored.

When I contacted him on Friday, he emphasised that he is ‘against sex between adults and children’ and that his main purpose in writing the letter had been to defend free speech.

He told me: ‘I was opposing calls for censorship generated by this book. I was not in any way condoning paedophilia.’

Personally, I think he went a bit further than that.

He wrote that the book’s arguments were not shocking, but ‘courageous’. He said the book documented ‘examples of societies where consenting inter-generational sex is considered normal’.

He gave an example of a New Guinea tribe where ‘all young boys have sex with older warriors as part of their initiation into manhood’ and allegedly grow up to be ‘happy, well-adjusted husbands and fathers’.

And he concluded:
"The positive nature of some child-adult sexual relationships is not confined to non-Western cultures. Several of my friends - gay and straight, male and female - had sex with adults from the ages of nine to 13. None feel they were abused. All say it was their conscious choice and gave them great joy.

"While it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful.’

Well, it’s a free country. And I’m rather grateful that Mr Tatchell, unlike most of his allies, is honest enough to discuss openly where the sexual revolution may really be headed.

What he said in 1997 remains deeply shocking to almost all of us. But shock fades into numb acceptance, as it has over and over again. Much of what is normal now would have been deeply shocking to British people 50 years ago. We got used to it.

How will we know where to stop? Or will we just carry on for ever?

As the condom-wavers and value-free sex-educators advance into our primary schools, and the pornography seeps like slurry from millions of teenage bedroom computers, it seems clear to me that shock, by itself, is no defence against this endless, sordid dismantling of moral barriers till there is nothing left at all.

Yet when one of the few men on the planet who argues, with force, consistency and reason, for an absolute standard of goodness comes to this country, he is reviled by fashionable opinion.

Hostile coverage - the purple prose pieces - of the Pope's visit I will now have to put under the DETRACTORS&DISSENTERS banner, rather than the UK VISIT... Here's one that's not even from a UK paper - it's from Canada's most militantly liberal newspaper (whose name registers in my mind as TOOTH&NAIL)...

Concentric circles of antipapal fury
await the Pope in Britain
BY Doug Saunders

Monday, Sept. 13, 2010

On Thursday, when Pope Benedict XVI steps off his private plane [So a jet from the Alitalia fleet is now 'his private plane'???] in Edinburgh for the first papal visit to Britain in 28 years, he won’t be bending down to kiss the soil of Britain – a custom, begun by his predecessor John Paul II, that he has abandoned. [It was a completely personal gesture by the late Pope that I do not think he meant for every Pope to follow! So there is nothing for Benedict to 'abandon'! And even if Benedict XVI were 62 today as John Paul was, he would never have imitated the gesture - it's not him!]

In any case, Britain does not seem prepared to kiss him back. While the Pope’s visit – the first time a Pontiff has come to Britain as a head of state, rather than a religious figure – is intended to heal a widening schism between the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, “rarely has a religious leader’s visit been anticipated with the level of dissent, hostility and open contempt seen in Britain this week.

Police are spending record sums, estimated at £10-million per day, protecting the pontiff against expected mass protests in one of Europe’s least religious countries, where the cover-up of child rape by Vatican officials has galvanized public opinion.

But British Catholics seem equally indifferent to their spiritual leader’s visit. A public-opinion poll by Ipsos MORI showed that only 6 per cent of believers planned to attend the Pope’s masses, and only 11 per cent felt the Vatican had dealt with the child-abuse scandal well.

Another poll, by ComRes for the BBC, showed that more than half of British Catholics have had their faith shaken by the child sex-abuse scandal. And, in an indication of the country’s liberal leanings, a full 62 per cent want to see women ordained as priests, a position the conservative Pope Benedict has vociferously opposed.

When his predecessor arrived in 1982, John Paul was received by enormous, cheering crowds. Even though this will be a media spectacle – the BBC alone is sending 300 staff to Scotland to cover the tour’s first day – its mood could not be more different. [The media interest, considering that MSM have been overwhelmingly negative, strikes me as rather ghoulish. As though they all want to be around to witness and record the 'disaster' they expect the trip to be!]

For the former Cardinal Ratzinger, the four-day north-south trip across Britain may feel more like traversing concentric circles of antipapal fury.

This is the land that has produced the most outspoken and well-organized anti-religious voices in the world, and some of them – including noted British atheist campaigners Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens – have called for the Pope’s arrest.

Stephen Hawking, the Oxford University physicist, chose the week before the Pope’s visit to declare that there was no possibility of any spiritual origin to the universe, a statement that some say was aimed at the Vatican.

More serious challenges may also await. Monday saw the release of a carefully argued legal brief by Geoffrey Robertson, a well-regarded human-rights lawyer, making the case for criminal actions against the Pope for his alleged role in covering up child sex abuse.

“He can’t be arrested on this visit because he is here as a head of state rather than a religious leader, and therefore has immunity,” Mr. Robertson said, “but he clearly falls under international law, for having assisted in the protection of sex offenders in a mass atrocity, and could be prosecuted in international law under the doctrine of command responsibility.”

Mr. Robertson’s book outlining his legal argument, The Case of the Pope, has had a friendly reception in Britain, and this could give the Vatican cause to worry: It was the British government, using legal arguments strongly similar to those presented by Mr. Robertson, that arrested the former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in March, 2000, only releasing him because of ill health. The House of Lords ruled, after a year-long debate, that former heads of state do not have legal immunity in Britain – a doctrine that could apply to the Pope, were he to visit as a religious leader.
[What a stupid premise! As if the Pope could ever shed his being head of state. It's his civilian title and function, which, since the Lateran Pacts of 1929, comes with being Pope!]

“I think it’s important for the Church to recognize that it is not above the law,” Mr. Robertson said. [When did she ever say it was above the law? She has always followed what Jesus said: "Render unto Caesar etc." except in certain periods of history when the Church happened to be both Caesar (through the Holy Roman Emperors) and the Church of God.]

While there is no indication that British officials will try to charge him, the Pope will face tense moments within his own community [What? This jackass thinks Catholic protesters will disrupt a mass to call attention to themselves and their assorted causes?] as he holds Mass at the Palace of Westminster, presides over two major outdoor vigils and beatifies cardinal John Henry Newman, the nineteenth-century English writer and theologian who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism.

Those Masses are a source of controversy themselves, as the Church for the first time is charging admission fees, including a £25 entry fee in London, to attend the outdoor services. [The most malicious way I've seen so far to describe the fee charged from the pilgrims attending the public events.]

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 24th Week in Ordinary Time

EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
Illustrations, from left: Crucifixion, El Greco, 1597; Exaltation, two Greek Orthodox icons, undated; Exaltation, 12th-cent. mosaic, apse of San Clemente Church, Rome;
St Helena and the Cross, St. Peter's Basilica; Crucifixion, Giotto, 1316.
The True Cross is said to have been discovered in 326 by the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, Helena of Constantinople, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later. The date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church - although the actual consecration of the church was on September 13, the cross itself was brought outside the church on September 14 so that the clergy and faithful could pray before the True Cross, and all could come forward to venerate it.


OR today.

To the new ambassador from Germany, the Holy Father reiterates:
'The Church cannot approve alternative models of the family'
He also recalls the ecumenical testimony of Germans martyred by the Nazis
The other papal story is his address to new bishops, saying they should find a balance between authority and charity. Other Page 1 stories: In a referendum, Turks approve reversal of constitutional amendments made by a military junta when it took power in 1982 - the changes make the country 'more democratic', according to Prime Minister Erdogan; a UN environmental report says the world may face a crisis in drinking water over the next 10 years that will primarily affect 135 million children in Africa; and the Vatican Museums director quiets the 'excess of zeal' in alarms expressed over the conservation of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, saying a recent study indicates what modifications are needed to update the system of sophisticated controls set up 18 years ago to deal with the problems of temperature, humidity and dust generated by tourist crowds. In the inside pages, two essays on John Henry Newman, and a report on the renovated Vatican Library.


No public events scheduled for the Holy Father today.



Today is the third anniversary of the day Summorum Pontificum went into effect.

There's a strange scarcity of new stories online today from the UK media on the visit - not even any reviews so far that I expected the MSM would use to amplify the negative message of last night's anti-B16 TV programs in the UK. The lull before the storm, certainly. But here's a good message to start the day...


UK Prime Minister offers
a 'very warm welcome'
to Pope Benedict XVI

Sept. 14, 2010


Prime Minister David Cameron has offered Pope Benedict XVI a “very warm welcome” to Britain ahead of his “incredibly important and historic visit”.

Pope Benedict XVI starts his four-day official visit to the UK on Thursday 16 September. This is the first ever official Papal visit to the UK.

The Pope will be visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Birmingham.

The PM said:

---

This is the first ever Official Papal Visit to these shores. And it’s a great honour for our country.

These will be a very special four days not just for our six million Catholics but for many people of faith right across Britain, and millions more watching around the world...

---

That's only the start of the message which is on a 2-minute video, and which, for the record, a full transcript will be available.
www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/09/pm-offers-a-very-warm-welcome-to-pope-benedict-x...

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the UK as Head of State of the Vatican and as the leader of a major denomination.

The full itinerary for the visit is available on the Cabinet Office website and there will be live coverage on the Papal visit website throughout the four days.


Meanwhile, stories like the next ones surely warm the heart cockles of the Pope's detractors, but on the other hand since they have set such low expectations, will they acknowledge any better outcome???


Despite Mass tickets going begging,
Catholic Church says there is
high anticipation for Pope visit

Sept. 14, 2010


The Pope will arrive in the UK for his four-day trip on Thursday, and tThe leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has brushed off any concerns that there is a lack of enthusiasm for the Pope's visit.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said he was sure "Catholics are looking forward to this visit very much indeed".

The archbishop's comments came after it was revealed that thousands of tickets remain unsold for events during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK.

The Pope's four-day stay will see him attend events in Scotland and England.

The largest organised event is an open-air Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on the opening day of Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the UK.

The capacity has been reduced to 80,000 after a slow take-up of tickets.

Dioceses in England and Wales have also reported thousands of unfilled places for a London vigil, and the service to beatify Cardinal Newman in Birmingham.

The archbishop added: "The Catholic tradition in this country is one of actually very profound loyalty to the person of the Holy Father.

"While many would want to suggest differences of trends and opinion, this way or not, I'm quite sure - and it is my experience at parish after parish, and standing at the back of Westminster Abbey day after day - that Catholics are looking forward to this visit very much indeed.

"And the Catholic people of this country know what it is to show their affection and support for Pope Benedict."

Jack Valero, who is co-ordinating the beatification of 19th Century English cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park on Sunday, said: "It is still not as many as expected, although it's pretty full."

Archbishop Nichols said he expected 54,000 to 55,000 people to attend the 60,000-capacity event, which requires a "pilgrim pack" costing up to £25 for entry.

The London vigil takes place in Hyde Park on Saturday.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says the relatively slow uptake of passes for the big events appears to indicate less enthusiasm among Catholics to see Pope Benedict than they showed for his charismatic predecessor John Paul II 28 years ago. [Maybe it has more to do with objecting to paying a few and/or having to deal with the time and effort associated with the stringent security measures in place! Though these objections are hard to understand for a Filipino Catholic like me who grew up with the traditional Catholic idea to consider the Pope above all as Christ's Vicar on earth - that is why 5 million Filipinos turned up for John Paul II at the concluding Mass of the 1995 World Youth Day in Manila, the largest single crowd ever assembled for a Pope.

But aren't the organizers just giving up unnecessarily on the expected Mass attendances? Surely they could easily distribute any unsold or returned tickets for free to various religious institutions like nuns' orders and charitable homes!... If it's any consolation at all, the two public Masses on Pope Benedict's program in the US both had crowds much less than the low-end estimate of the UK attendance because they were limited to the capacity of the baseball stadiums where they were held... Still, Cardinal Newman's beatification Mass should have been at least on the order of Fray Galvao's 800,000-1 million crowd in Sao Paolo...]

Pope Benedict's visit has already sparked controversy over its cost and relevance.

The cost of policing the trip will be up to £1.5m, the Association of Chief Police Officers has estimated.

A BBC poll ahead of the Pope's arrival found almost six-in-10 British Catholics asked said their faith was not "generally valued" in British society, but 70% expected the visit to help the Catholic Church in the UK.

The Pontiff will go to Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Birmingham on the first visit by a Pope to the UK since John Paul II in 1982.


The following article is hardly much better...

British Catholics are 'anxious'
about the Pope's visit
but no longer outsiders
by Stephen Bates

13 September 2010

It is almost impossible to conceive the change in the position of Roman Catholicism in England over the past 50 years. In the 1960s, when I was serving as an altar boy at mass, to be a Catholic was to be an outsider, a group outside the mainstream of British life, separate, slightly alien.

As if to emphasise the distinctness, our parish church was weirdly out of keeping with the rest of our suburban town: an enormous, garish, red-brick Italianate structure complete with campanile and a large statue of Christ on the roof.

On feast days we processed around the grounds behind a plaster Virgin Mary, praying fervently for the conversion of England as we went. My Anglican father was one of those we described as our separated brethren.

There were no British Catholic role models, so when John F Kennedy – young, personable, dynamic and Catholic – became president of the United States, we were ecstatic. He was one of our own. Ironically, at the very moment we were celebrating, Kennedy himself was assuring American Protestant clergy that he would not take his political orders from the Vatican.

How different today. This week's Tablet newspaper has a list of 100 influential Catholics, ranging from the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, to the BBC's Mark Thompson and Mark Damazer; from Delia Smith and Danny Boyle to David Lodge, Peter Ackroyd and Hilary Mantel; from Chris Patten and Iain Duncan Smith to Mark Serwotka and Jack Dromey; not to mention Frank Skinner, Peter Kay, Adrian Chiles, Susan Boyle and Ant and Dec. Not necessarily religious role models or holy folk, but certainly diverse.

Not so long ago, when Duncan Smith and Charles Kennedy led their parties and Tony Blair was Prime Minister, all three were Catholics, or on the way to converting, an event which passed without comment or censure in a way that would have been unthinkable even 30 years ago.

Catholics, less than 10% of the population, are at the heart of every establishment. And yet, as the Pope prepares to fly to Britain on Thursday, the anticipation is muted and fearful rather than excited.

"I just hope it goes off peacefully, and he gets away again without too much fuss," said one Catholic editor.

This contrasts sharply with the enthusiasm that greeted Benedict's much more charismatic and vigorous predecessor, John Paul II, in 1982 and the huge crowds that attended his appearances. This time, parishes have complained about the lack of organisation and have been sending back their allocated tickets.

Young Catholics may be more enthusiastic. Danny Curtin, helping to organise youth attendances at next week's events, said: "There's genuine enthusiasm to see the Pope, not necessarily the man but what he represents. The 3,000 young people who will greet him do not have issues or problems with their faith. The sex abuse issue just does not come up – they know that safeguards have been put in place in the church to protect them over the last few years."

The Church here has changed in the last 28 years. While Catholics have become more pronounced – and less remarked upon – in public life, mass attendances have been in decline or static in recent decades. Then, about 2 million of Britain's 5 million Catholics attended weekly mass; now the figure is less than 1 million. Immigration has disguised the drop in some areas. Filipino nurses mingle with Polish plumbers, Nigerians and occasional Anglican converts to boost congregations.

The newcomers tend to be more fervent and more conservative than the locals, long used to quietly ignoring Vatican injunctions they do not agree with, a process that got under way with the 1968 Vatican encyclical Humanae Vitae, prohibiting artificial forms of contraception.

Some Vatican injunctions seem perverse: many of us knew good Catholic priests cast into outer darkness when they wanted to get married, while the Church welcomed married Anglican priests into its clergy. [That's a simplistic reduction of a complex situation in both cases. And priests who wanted to get married did get married but were not 'cast into outer darkness' - they just weren't priests anymore.] The idea of women priests remains anathema in a priesthood compromised by a tiny minority of sex abusers, a crisis the old men in the Vatican seem clueless about containing. [And this is a deliberate, almost unforgivable, refusal to acknowledge what the Church has done about the problem - pretty much contained everywhere now, since the news in the past several months has not brought up any cases of recent abuse. Also, a thoughtless remark about 'old men' in the Vatican, considering that the oldest man in question is Benedict XVI, who has looked into the issue much earlier, farther and deeper than anyone in the Church, or in the world, for that matter.]

The current Pope's tendency to lecture church members without deviation or hesitation but plenty of repetition [It is his duty, as Pope and as a Christian, to insist upon Church teaching, and if that is lecturing, so be it!], and his effortless ability to antagonise Muslims, Anglicans and Jews with careless phrases, may not re-enthuse the lapsed. [I am starting to actively detest this Bates!]

We have the ironic prospect of the head of one of the world's most autocratic institutions addressing the Mother of Parliaments. [Isn't it surprising that a Catholic intellectual - he's an opinion writer, after all - misses the point that a religion is necessarily 'autocratic' because a true religion also implies discipline? Look at the disarray in the Church of England which has decided literally to put its faith to a vote! And, BTW, the Pope is not addressing the Mother of Parliaments on this visit. Parliamentarians are invited to his address at Westminster Hall, but they will be there as part of the UK's civilian society.]

That he will do so in fluent but heavily accented German English, just as Britain has been awash with Second World War commemorations, calls for extra sensitivity if he is not to stir up latent but deep-seated anti-Catholic passions.

John Wilkins, a former editor of the Tablet, said: "Can the Pope succeed in talking to the hearts of the people? He lectured the bishops in Rome recently on the dangers of dissent but he is coming to a country with a strong tradition of dissent. It is a very honourable tradition here and he needs to recognise that. We know he is not like John Paul II – he's a man of the library. The question is, can he succeed in the market place of British opinion?" [Every time the Pope says something that the liberals dislike, they say he is 'lecturing'! This whole comment is so biased, arrogant and supercilious - you'd think Benedict XVI was naive and would come to the UK unprepared and completely ignorant of its history and culture!]


One of the world's most sanctimonious do-good organizations, Amnesty International, has issued a statement condemning the Pope for 'failing to protect children' and this 'violating human rights', yada yada, while calling on the Catholic church to join them in their worldwide campaign for abortion!
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18990
Protect the Pope says the man who founded AI is a British Catholic!