BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for earlier posts on 9/25/10.





Prestigious book prize
to Georg Gaenswein
Translated from the 9/26/10 issue of




The 27th annual Premio San Michele of Capri, one of Italy's most prestigious book awards, in the category of Images and Documentation was presented Saturday afternoon in Anacapri to Mons. Georg Gaenswein, who edited and annotated the book BENEDETTO XVI URBI ET ORBI released last spring by the Vatican publishing house, on the fifth anniversary of the Pontificate.

The original edition in German was published by Herder.

Gaenswein chose the pictures and wrote the captions and brief texts to document the first five years of the Pontificate. In his words; "To follow the Holy Father urbi from his apostolic seat in Rome, and orbi, in his apostolic visits in Italy and various nations abroad", and notes that "the end of one trip is always the eve of another one".

The Pope as Cardinal Ratzinger won the Premio San Michele Grand Prize for Best Book three times.

In its Sunday issue (9/26/10), L'Osservatore Romano is publishing the text of Mons. Gaenswein's remarks at the presentation:


BENEDICT XVI URBI ET ORBI:
The style and courage
of a man of God
by Mons. Georg Gänswein
Translated from the 9/26/10 issue of



A lustrum [five years] can be long, a lustrum can be short. A five-year arch of time can be broad, it can be narrow. One can dispute it a lot and find ample arguments pro and con.

Last April 19, 2010, it had been five years since Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope and took the name of Benedict XVI. The fifth anniversary of his election was the immediate occasion for this book.

But the deeper reason was the invitation to trace the actions of the Holy Father in his episcopal seat in Rome (urbi) and in his apostolic trips in Italy and in different countries of the globe (orbi), and to find the common message in all his discourses, homilies, letters and catecheses.

It is in this perspective that earthly time, chronos, can and should become for everyone chairos, a time of grace. Then the discussion about the temporal value of the five-year period takes on an altogether different dimension that is beyond mathematical calculation.

Whoever was present at St. Peter's Square or watching TV at the moment when white smoke from the Sistine Chapel told the world that we had a new Pope, will never forget the emotion when the newly-elected Supreme Pontiff came out on the Loggia of the Benediction and addressed the faithful spontaneously with these memorable words:

"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. I am comforted by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act even with inadequate instruments, and above all, I entrust myself to your prayers.

"In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his continuing help, let is move forward. The Lord will help us, and Mary, his Most Blessed Mother, will be on our side. Thank you."

Anywhere in the world, water is always the same - it is always composed of hydrogen and oxygen molecules. And yet, it is also always different everywhere. Why? Because water always takes on specific characteristics with respect to the earth that filters it.

So it is with Popes. They all carry out the same mission and respond to the same call from Jesus. But each one responds with his own personality and his own unique and irrepetible sensibility.

And this is all wonderful: It is a sign of unity in diversity, a miracle of newness in continuity, a supreme manifestation of what happens in the whole body of the Holy Church of Christ, where novelty and continuity continually coexist and harmonize.

Pope Benedict XVI is not like John Paul II, Deo gratias! God does not like repetitions and photocopies. Likewise John Paul II was not like John Paul I, Deo gratias, John Paul I not like Paul VI, Paul VI not like John XXIII. Deo gratias for all.

Yet all loved Christ passionately and served his Church faithfully. Deo gratias quam maximam!

But the truly singular and edifying fact is that Pope Benedict XVI presented himself to the world as the first devotee of his predecessor. It is an act of great humility, which is striking and inspires admiration.

On April 20, 2005, speaking to the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel the day after his election, Benedict XVI said:

---

St this time, side by side in my heart I feel two contrasting emotions. On the one hand, a sense of inadequacy and human apprehension as I face the responsibility for the universal Church...

On the other, I have a lively feeling of profound gratitude to God who, as the liturgy makes us sing, never leaves his flock untended but leads it down the ages under the guidance of those whom he himself has chosen as the Vicars of his Son and has made shepherds of the flock.

Dear friends, this deep gratitude for a gift of divine mercy is uppermost in my heart in spite of all. And I consider it a special grace which my Venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, has obtained for me. I seem to feel his strong hand clasping mine; I seem to see his smiling eyes and hear his words, at this moment addressed specifically to me, "Do not be afraid!".

---

How sincere are these words, and at the same time, how perfused with humility! it is truly wonderful that a Pope attributes the first gift of his Pontificate to his immediate predecessor: peace of heart after the unexpected tempest of emotions.

Pope Benedict XVI thereby gave the Church and the world a stupendous lesson in pastoral style: whoever starts ecclesial service - this was the lesson - must not cancel the traces of those who have gone before, but should humbly put himself in the footsteps of those who worked and walked before him.

If it had always been so, much of the patrimony of good which has often been demolished or dilapidated would have been saved.

The Pope has accepted his legacy and has been elaborating on it in his gentle and reserved way, with his calm and profound words, with his measured but decisive steps.

In his homily at the Mass to inaugurate his Petrine ministry, he said:

---

My real programme of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history.

---

Five years have passed since then. For a Pontificate, it is not a long period at all, but it is enough time to make a first evaluation. What is Benedict XVI fighting for? What is the message that he is bringing to men, in Rome and in the world? What drives him and what has he succeeded to move along?

It must be underscored above all that this Pope has surprised us all: In the first place, for the ease with which he took on the task of his predecessor, interpreting it in his own way, but one that is equally full of vitality.

John Paul II was the Pope of great images that had an immediately evocative power. Benedict XVI is the Pope of words, of the power of words: He is a theologian, not a man of great gestures, but a man who 'speaks' of God.

At the same time, it has aroused our wonder that the ex-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with his warmth and a simplicity that is so spontaneous and authentic, has succeeded, without trying, to win over the hearts of the faithful.

Also unexpected was the courage which has clearly distinguished the Pontificate of the German Pope.

Benedict XVI does not fear confrontations and debates. He identifies by name the inadequacies and errors of the West and criticizes violence which claims to have a religious justification.

He never ceases to remind us that relativism and hedonism mean turning our backs to God just as much as the imposition of religion through threats and violence.

At the center of the Pope's thinking is the relationship between faith and reason, between religion and renunciation of violence.

In his view, the re-evangelization of Europe and the whole world will be possible when men understand that faith and reason are not in opposition but in a reciprocal relationship. A faith that does not measure up to reason becomes irrational itself and senseless. On the other hand, a concept of reason which only recognizes that which is measurable is not enough to understand all of reality.

Reason should have room for faith, and faith should bear witness to reason, so that neither is diminished in the constricted horizon of their respective ontologies.

The Pope wishes to reaffirm the core of the Christian faith: God's love for man, which finds its unsurpassable expression in the death of Jesus on the Cross and his Resurrection.

This love is the immutable corer on which Christian faith rests, but it is also the Christian commitment to mercy, to charity, to the renunciation of violence.

So it was not by chance that Benedict XVI's first encyclical was entitled Deus caritas est. It is a clear sign. Better yet, it is the programmatic statement of his Pontificate.

Benedict XVI wishes to show the fascinating splendor of the Christian faith. More than anything, this is what characterizes the Pontificate of the theologian Pope.

In his view, both the power and the future possibilities of the faith lie in this message, which is as simple as it is profound. Faith is not a problem to be resolved, it is a gift that must be discovered again, day after day. Faith that gives joy and completion.

This faith has a human face in Jesus Christ. In him, the hidden God has become visible and tangible. God, in his immeasurable greatness, offers himself to us in his Son. For the Holy Father, it is urgent to proclaim God-made-man, to the city and to the world, to the small and to the great, to the powerful and the powerless, within the Church and outside it, to everyone whether they like it or not.

And even if all eyes and the TV cameras are on the Pope, it is never about him. The Holy Father does not place himself in the center, only Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer of the World.

Because whoever lives at peace with God, who lets himself be reconciled to him, also finds peace in himself, with his fellowmen, and with the creation that surrounds him.

Faith helps us to live, faith gives joy, faith is a great gift: this is Pope Benedict XVI's deepest conviction. So, for him, it is a sacred duty to leave tracks that lead to this gift.

In words and images, the book that you have awarded bears witness: it is a testimonial of devotion and affection to the Holy Father, and a small instrument of evangelization - humble, and partial but evocative with the power of images - and documentation of a testimony that is expressed "in all of Judea and Samaria to the extreme ends of the earth" (Acts of the Apostles, 1,6).

Sept. 26, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SAINTS COSMAS & DAMIAN (b Arabia, d Syria, ca 303), Doctors and Martyrs
Little is known about these twin brothers, thought to have been born to Christian parents in Arabia, who then studied medicine in Syria where they devoted themselves to the apostolate of healing people for free. In the persecutions ordered by Diocletian (285-305), they were arrested and beheaded, probably around 303. Their cult began and spread rapidly shortly after their martyrdom, with churches and monasteries dedicated to them in Asia Minor, Bulgaria, Greece, Jerusalem adn Constantinople. Towards the close of the 5th century, Pope Simmacus dedicated an oratory for them in Rome, and in 526, Pope Felix IV built the basilica in their honor. Since the 6th century, their names have been in the Canon of the Mass, listed among 12 early martyrs invoked in the prayer after the 12 apostles. The San Damiano chapel rebuilt by St. Francis of Assisi honors one of the brothers [I haven't found out why Cosmas was left out!]
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092610.shtml


OR today.

Benedict XVI to Brazilian bishops on ad limina visit:
'Forgiveness rebuilds man and favors the renewal of society'
The other papal story in this issue is Mons. Georg Gaenswein's tribute to Benedict XVI in his acceptance speech of the Premio Capri for his book BENEDETTO XVI URBI ET ORBI (GG's address translated and posted in the post above). Also on Page 1, a tribute to Chiara Badano, a 19-year-old Roman teenager who died in 1990 and was beatified yesterday at the shrine of Divino Amore, as an example of youthful saintliness. Chiara, who belonged to the Focolari movement, was afflicted with bone cancer at age 16 and bore her illness bravely, refusing pain medications and offering her suffering to Christ. Her beatification came after a boy afflicted with meningitis was miraculously cured last year through her intercession. Page 1 international news: The UK government reduces its defense budget; at the UN, a new disarmament conference (while doing nothing about Iran); and the increasing cost of cereals poses a new threat for the developing world already hard hit by the economic crisis.


THE POPE'S DAY
Angelus today - The Holy Father reflected on today's Gospel of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, then paid
tribute to St. Vincent de Paul, the great 17th-century French saint, patron of Catholic charitable organizations,
on his feast day tomorrow, on the 350th anniversary of his death, and to the teenage Chiara Luce Badano, who
was beatified in Rome yesterday. He also told the faithful that, God willing, he will return to the Vatican on
Thursday, ending his longest summer sojourn yet in Castel Gandolfo.




The online summaries of news headlines this morning about the Papacy and the Vatican are dominated by news about a Vatican investigation of the consecrated lay women (total 900) belonging to the Regnum Christi, the lay arm of Fr. Maciel's Legionaries of Christ. The women are said to be following a severe cult-like regimen. ]I suspect the inordinate interest is because the story carries a whiff of scandal, and the media immediately gobble up and promptly spew forth any such stories about the Church.]

ANGELUS TODAY



The Holy Father reflected on today's Gospel of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, then paid tribute to St. Vincent de Paul, the great 17th-century French saint, patron of Catholic charitable organizations, on his feast day tomorrow, on the 350th anniversary of his death; and to the Roman teenager Chiara Luce Badano, who was beatified in Rome yesterday.

He also told the faithful that, God willing, he will return to the Vatican on Thursday, ending his longest summer sojourn yet in Castel Gandolfo.

In English, he said:

---

I am very pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present here this morning!

In today’s Gospel, the story of the rich man and Lazarus is held up to us as a warning to have a special care for the poor in all circumstances.

As followers of our blessed Lord, let us always look to others first, before we look to our own comfort. God’s abundant blessings upon you all!

---

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In the Gospel for this Sunday (Lk 16,19-31), Jesus narrates the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus. The first lived in luxury and selfishness, and when he dies, he ends up in hell.

The poor man, on the other hand, who fed on crumbs from the rich man's table, is brought by angels on his death to the eternal dwelling of God and the saints.

"Blessed are you who are poor," the Lord had proclaimed to his disciples, "for the kingdom of God is yours" (Lk 6,20).

But the message of the parable goes farther: it reminds us that while we are in this world, we must listen to the Lord who speaks to us through the Sacred Scriptures and live according to his will. Other wise, after death, it will be too late to repent.

Thus, this parable tells us two things: the first is that God loves the poor and will lift them from their humiliation. The second is that our eternal destiny is conditioned by our attitude - it is for us to follow the road that God has shown us to reach life.

And this road is love, not understood as a sentiment, but as service to others, in the charity of Christ.

By a happy coincidence, tomorrow we celebrate the liturgical feast of St. Vincent de Paul, patron of Catholic charitable organizations, on the 350th anniversary of his death.

In 17th century France, he knew at first hand the strong contrast among the richest and the poorest. Indeed, as a priest, he moved equally in aristocratic circles, in the countryside ,as well as in the slums of Paris.

Urged on by his love for Christ, Vincent de Paul organized stable institutions to serve the poor, and along with St. Louise de Marillac, he founded the Daughters of Charity, the first female congregation to live the consecrated life 'in the world', among the people, with the sick and the needy.

Dear friends, only love with a capital L gives true happiness! This is demonstrated by another witness, a young girl who was proclaimed Blessed yesterday here in Rome.

I speak of Chiara Badano, an Italian girl born in 1971, brought to her death by illness when she was not yet 19, but who was for everyone a ray of light, as the name by which she came to be known, Chiara Luce. [In Italian, the phrase means 'clear light'.]

Her parish, the Diocese of Acqua Terme, and the Focolari Movement, to which she belonged, are celebrating today. It is a feast for all young people who can find in her an example of Christian consistency.

Her last words, in full adherence to the will of God, were: "Mamma, ciao! Be happy because I am".

Let is praise God because his love is stronger than evil and death. Let us thank the Virgin Mary who leads young people, even through difficulties and suffering, to be enamored of Jesus and to discover the beauty of life.

In his Italian language greeting, after acknowledging various Italian groups present, he also said:

In the language of Dante, I also greet the students of Aquinas College of Sydney, with my evere-vivd memories of that city, where we experienced a memorable World Youth Day.

Dear friends, God willing, next Thursday I will return to Rome. And so, as I wish everyone a good Sunday, I address my heartfelt 'Arrivederci' to the community of Castel Gandolfo.

---

Just one week today since the last day of the Holy Father's visit to the UK, and one UK newspaper is already back in the same-old-same-old media game!


'Pope for hire' row as
rich pay millions and
then get to meet him
By Jonathan Petre

Sept. 25, 2010


The Pope’s visit to Britain came under fresh scrutiny last night after it was revealed that multi-millionaires funded a significant proportion of the trip and were granted a coveted private audience with the Pontiff.

[In almost every program for the Pope's pastoral visits in Italy, there is usually an event called 'private meeting with organizers and patrons of the visit', which is a brief private meeting usually squeezed in, whenever possible, after the Pope's midday rest and his first afternoon engagement, during which he is able to thank them personally for their work and contributions, material and otherwise. It generally is not listed on the programs for his international visits, but one must assume it also happens then. What is wrong with that? It is elementary courtesy to show them a gesture of gratitude. For many Catholics, an opportunity to meet the Pope briefly is a priceless privilege, and the Pope obviously manages to find time for this whenever possible.]

Insiders said the bulk of the £6.5 million raised so far by the Catholic Church to finance the visit came from businessmen including JCB boss Sir Anthony Bamford.

During the four-day visit, many of the donors met Benedict XVI at a series of gatherings [They are obviously brief informal meetings, long enough for the Pope to express his thanks, shake their hands and have a photograph taken with them], one of which took place just before Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

Costs for State events during the visit, including the Pope’s meeting with the Queen, were met by the taxpayer, but the Catholic Church was faced with a £10 million bill for staging religious events such as the Hyde Park prayer vigil.

The Church still needs to raise another £3.5 million to cover this bill and it is set to approach many of the donors again to see if they are prepared to make up the shortfall.

A national collection in the parishes earlier this year raised only about £1 million.

Catholics last night voiced their unease over the need to raise money from businessmen. One insider said:
"It is always an uncomfortable place for the Church, cosying up to the rich".



Stop with the hypocrisy already! For the above cited Catholic critic, what exactly does he mean by 'cosying up'? Sure, the bishops may have requested these rich donors personally, but so what? Asking help from the rich is nothing to be ashamed about, as long as it does not involve any unethical quid pro quo. It's done all the time. What do the bishops promise in return? They are not selling indulgences or guaranteeing them heaven! So, maybe a brief meeting with the Pope, and a prayer or even a Mass for them. Why not?

To call this 'Pope for hire' is cheap and tacky. It's nothing like the Clintons having charged Democratic donors for the privilege of sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom!

In fact, when the fund-raising problems of the Church in England and Wales was first raised months ago, my first reaction - as would most people - was to pray that some billionaire would pick up the $10 million tab in one fell swoop. So it turns out some millionaires did pick up a considerable part of it. Deo gratias!

[Too bad neither Bill Gates nor any of the young Internet-pioneer billionaires are Catholic! Facebook's 26-year-old 'inventor' Mark Zuckerberg just gave $100 million to prime the eucational system in Newark, New Jersey, God bless him!]





As an antidote to that rather malicious Daily Mail article, here's a letter from a Scottish Catholic who totally gets it, published in The Scotsman:


The Pope's successful visit
Letter to the Editor

Sept. 25, 2010

---

THE warm and generous welcome the Scottish people afforded Pope Benedict XVI last week showed the depth of religious belief that still exists in our society.

The challenge the Holy Father laid down is to take seriously the impact of faith on our society. This nation has been formed by the Judeo-Christian ethic that each person is sui generis invested with dignity as being made in the image and likeness of God.

This right to life exists from the moment of conception to natural death. Neither the state nor any individual has the right to terminate the life of another person.

The right and duty of the Christian believer to argue this case in the public square is the challenge Pope Benedict has left to us.

The notion that religious believers are to be ignored or bullied into silence by secular bullies like Dawkins, Tatchell et al is a challenge that cannot be baulked.

The future of our fellow Scots depends on the defeat of the culture of death.

Andrew Gray, Edinburgh

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Actually, quite a number of little personal stories and reactions on the Pope's visit have been appearing online - I should start putting them together to post in an eventual and convenient 'B16 in the UK' thread compendium thread.

The following essay is by someone identified as the most widely-quoted socilogist in the UK today. Hungarian-born Frank Furedi (b 1947) was raised in England, and as a youth radical, founded the Revolutionary Communist Party. He moved on to become an activist humanist. He teaches at the University of Kent and is' well-known for his sociology of fear, therapy culture, and paranoid parenting'. His wife is the president of the UK's largest provider of abortion services.

Like Brendan O'Neill, though not in favor of Church positions himself, he sees clearly the reductio-ad-absurdum of the Pope-haters' rhetoric, which the latter do not realize because they have become so unhinged by rage and hate. But at heart, they must realize that they wouldn't be so fixated on the Church if they did not realize that she remains the main obstacle - formidable, time-tested and enduring - to their ability to impose their world-view on the rest of mankind.


The p.c. purists have someone to hate:
Anti-Papists need anger management
by Frank Furedi

Sept. 25, 2010


THE Pope's recent visit to Britain provided much of the British cultural elite with a prominent figure it is OK to hate.

Indeed, anti-Catholic prejudice is one of the main themes of today's increasingly conformist imagination. It has reached a level where anyone who doesn't possess a strong feeling of animosity towards the Pope and his visit is viewed as a hopeless apologist for the abusive authority of theocratic despots.

The display of anti-papal prejudice is not only conformist. Worse, it is the kind of conformism that is usually seen among children under peer pressure, who compete to see who can come up with the meanest phrase to castigate the playground scapegoat.

Consider the infantile exchange between anti-papal zealots who were recently asked what they would say to the Pope if they met him. "Go home to your tinpot Mussolini-concocted principality, and don't come back," said the Grand Inquisitor of the new atheist sandbox, Richard Dawkins, who refers to the Pope as "Mr Ratzinger" and describes him as the "head of the world's second most evil religion".

Not to be outdone, the journalist Johann Hari imagines he is a policeman and declares: "I am placing you under arrest for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and for your central role in the systematic cover-up of the rape of children across five continents."

If all the extravagant accusations thrown at the Pope are true, then it seems he is responsible for virtually every evil afflicting the modern world. When he is not covering up the deeds of child molesters, he is sabotaging the work of embryonic stem cell researchers. He is apparently totalitarian, a manipulative homophobe, and an enemy of women.

Peter Tatchell's tendentious television program The Trouble with the Pope, informed us that Benedict is "manipulating and distorting" the image of Cardinal Newman to "serve his own autocratic, homophobic leadership", because the Pope was in Britain primarily to beatify Newman.

Oh, and Benedict also refuses to take a stand against the legacy of Nazism. "I am shocked he has embraced Catholics accused of being soft on Nazism,"says Tatchell. Getting carried away with his melodrama, he warns: "This is a Pope to fear."

Tatchell has indicted the Pope on the grounds he is out of touch with British public opinion, is doctrinaire, and believes in traditional conservative values. Consequently the world would be a better place without him.

The principal hallmark of today's breed of secular moraliser is unabashed intolerance, and a demand that everyone conform to their zero-tolerance values.

Historically, religious intolerance was focused on denouncing deviant theological beliefs. Of course we still have this form of traditional intolerance today, but we now also have to contend with its younger cousin: intolerance towards religion.

Increasingly, religion is indicted for taking its own doctrines too seriously; that is, for being religion. Today's opportunistic atheists even take it on themselves to get stuck into the theological controversies of religions they despise.

These secular moralisers are not really interested in the intricacies of theological disputes; they merely want to exploit them. Their mission is to call into question the moral integrity of their opponents by depicting them as a malevolent force that violates the elementary norms of contemporary society.

This is not theological criticism. Instead the Catholic Church is denounced for the alleged threat it poses to morality and health.

So celibacy is attacked because it is deemed so unnatural it makes priests suffer profound psychological distress, leading them to countenance suicide or pedophilia.

The Pope's criticism of contraception is denounced because it encourages unprotected sex, leading to the spread of AIDS. In other words, Catholicism represents a health problem; it leads to moral pollution of the innocent.

This is what Tatchell meant when he said: "The Pope's dogma is literally putting lives at risk."

This is about stigmatising the Pope through pathologising the religious imagination itself.

When the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee declares that "sex and death lie at the poisoned heart of religion", she is betraying her own passionate hatred for those who can still be inspired by something higher than reacting to the MPs' expenses scandal.

Typically, these moralisers find it difficult to acknowledge their insatiable inner appetite for a secular anti-Christ, so instead they tend to masquerade as "secular humanists" or "concerned democrats".

But liberal humanism has traditionally distanced itself from the venomous rhetoric of intolerance and from conspiratorial thinking. No doubt some of the opponents of the Pope's British visit mistakenly believe they are acting from a liberal humanist perspective.

But one of the main features of liberal humanism was its refusal to accommodate the intolerance of minority opinions. Liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill recognised that social or cultural intolerance was no more acceptable than state intolerance.

So when Tatchell argues that "the trouble with the Pope" is that his views do not reflect the opinions of the British public, he is really arguing for the silencing of a minority view.

It's worth noting that back in the 1980s, when Tatchell's views on gay and lesbian rights were very much in a minority, he was forced to tackle precisely the kind of cultural intolerance he now advocates against the Pope.

The 17th-century liberal philosopher John Locke, in A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), put forward the first serious critique of religious intolerance. He argued that while it was legitimate for the state to curb people's actions and behaviour, it was wrong for the state to interfere in our religions and beliefs.

His argument that no double standards should be applied against people with the "wrong" beliefs had a great influence on liberal humanism in subsequent centuries.

Intolerance comes in many shapes and forms. Do not be misled into thinking the crusade against the Pope has anything to do with liberal humanism, at least in the way liberal humanism was classically understood.

Intolerance has always been fuelled by an irrational and visceral sense of existential disgust, leading to moral disorientation.

In line with this, consider the words of the former agony aunt Claire Rayner, as she attempts to describe her feelings for the Pope. "In all my years as a campaigner, I have never felt such animus against any individual as I do against this creature," she says, stripping the man of any human qualities.

It is not really surprising that she casually concludes: "The only thing to do is to get rid of him." The phrase "get rid of him" is not a slip of the tongue, either from the standpoint of a seemingly hi-tech but actually medieval moral crusade against the Pope - getting rid of "evil" is its own justification.

It is almost as if the anti-Pope crusade represents an unconscious mimicking of the Catholic Church's inquisition. Inquisitors are not interested in rational argument or a free debate. And the vitriolic invective hurled at the "second most evil religion", as Dawkins describes Catholicism, is similar to the passions of the old fanatical inquisitors.

There is of course an honourable tradition of fighting against papal authority in the interests of freedom and liberty.

[Furedi's presentation of this 'tradition' is undertsndably tendentiously selective:]

In the 14th century, the conciliar movement rejected the attempt by the papacy to dominate religious and political life in Europe. The move to subordinate secular rulers and lower clergy to papal authority was contested by philosophers and theologians, who were concerned about the expansion of papal power.

One of the clearest statements of this standpoint came from Marsilius of Padua. In his Defensor Pacis (1324), he questioned the idea of the papal fullness of power, and argued that the Pope was not the source of secular power.

And he claimed that the authority of the Catholic Church, which was principally concerned with doctrinal authority, was not the provenance of the Pope but of the church's council. The conciliar movement argued that the authority of the council of the church took precedence over the authority of the Pope.

This questioning of the Church hierarchy can be seen as an early attempt to curb the power of despotic authority. The fundamental idea behind the conciliar movement was that authority should be based on the principle of consent.

The anti-authoritarian implication of this avowal of consent was not lost on the Church hierarchy, which regarded the conciliar movement as a direct threat to its survival. Later, some of the ideas first raised by the conciliar movement were adopted by secular leaders who wished to assert their independence from Rome.

[Note that Furedi had to hark back to the 14th century for his example. If he had been more attentive to the history of the Church, he might have cited Vatican II as the latest attempt to democratize the Church (i.e., 'consent of the governed') - the attempt failed. Indeed, superficial research might have shown Mr. Furedi what Vatican II reaffirmed: that the teaching authority of the Church, after Scripture and Tradition, is vested in Ecumenical Councils and the Pope, with whom bishops are enjoined to be in communion. The progressives may have failed to push their 'majority rule' idea of Church doctrine and practice at Vatican II, but it has guided all their strategies, plans and actions ever since.]

The conciliar movement's "principle of consent of the governed" inspired future generations of thinkers to develop and push forward ideas of liberty.

It is important to note the fundamental difference between the progressive demand for the institutionalisation of consent and the infantile gestures made by today's anti-Pope crusaders, who are actually demanding conformism.

It is perfectly legitimate to criticise Church doctrine on a variety of social and moral issues; no institution or individual should claim immunity from questioning and criticism. [The Church has not claimed any such immunity. Indeed, it's open season 365/24/7 against her by all her enemies and critics, internal and external. The outrage is that she is ridiculed when she stands up for her positions in response to the criticisms, as she has a perfect right and duty to do.

Besides, it's one thing to criticize Catholic positions on social issues - and for dissenting Catholics to openly defy those positions in practice as they do, since the Church can only teach, it cannot compel. It's quite another to behave and talk as though the Church is obliged to follow her critics' positions and preferences. Which is what all the media and 'public opinion' anti-Church campaigns are all about, in the mistaken belief that the Church must and will yield to such pressures!]

But adopting the ideology of "evil" to dehumanise an individual and pathologise their religion represents a form of inquisition-in-reverse.

It took many centuries for Locke's idea of religious tolerance to gain influence, and to assume a genuinely liberal and open-minded form. Tolerance is too precious an idea to squander through childish displays of anger.

Pope meets IOR president
briefly after Angelus today
by Salvatore Izzo


CASTEL GANDOLFO, Sept. 26 (Translated from AGI) - After the Angelus prayer today, Benedict XVI had a brief audience with Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of the Vatican bank IOR.

Gotti Tedeschi was accompanied by his wife Francesca, and presented the Pope with a copy of his new book, Denaro e paradiso.
I cattolici e l'economia globale (Money and paradise: Catholics and the global economy), co-authored with Rino Camilleri, with a preface by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

(The book was released in Italy shortly before the Rome police announced that Gotti Tedeschi and his principal aide at the IOR are under investigation for possible violation of bank regulations against money-laundering.)

The meeting with the Pope follows the expression of solidarity and support from the Secretariat of State that was released by the Vatican immediately after the news on the investigation came out.




The latest development on the IOR investigation, according to the Vaticanista of La Stampa:

IOR officials to cooperate
with police investigation
by GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Translated from


VATICAN CITY, Sept. 25 - IOR will cooperate and take the initiative in the investigation by Roman authorities of its alleged violation of a bank regulation intended to combat money laundering.

Sources at the Secretariat of State said the IOR has been given the green light to "anticipate the moves of the lead investigator Nello Rossi and his aide Rocco Fave instead of merely waiting for them to move".

This approach was reportedly suggested by the two IOR officials being investigated - IOR president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi himself and his director-general Paolo Cipriani, and that Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone would formally sign an authorization. Bertone is the president of the Council of Cardinals that oversees the activities of IOR.

The Vatican has said "let the facts and figures speak for themselves in order to lift the cloud of suspicion" and that IOR will comply with all rules and regulations that will improve 'transparency and credibility'.

The IOR is accused of failing to disclose the identity/identities of the actual account holders of an IOR fund held in IOR's name at the Italian bank Credito Artigiano. Because of this, the funds were frozen by the Banca d'Italia (Bankitalia) which oversees bank transactions in Italy.

The account is for 23 million euros, which the IOR ordered transferred to two other banks - 20 million to a German bank and 3 million to a smaller Italian bank.

Gotti Tedeschi said that the IOR was unaware the funds had been blocked, and would never have ordered a fund transfer if they had known this.

IOR is also accused of not revealing the purpose of the fund transfers. [Earlier reports said the fund transfer to Germany was for the purchase of German treasury bonds.]

Gotti Tedeschi said that IOR has been in talks with Italian and European bank officials for months over how IOR, a private bank, can join the 'white list' of European banks that are cooperating in the fight against money laundering and the use of bank accounts to fund terrorism.

The European Office for Cooperation and Economic Development said it intends to "continue the dialog with the Vatican": "We are open to any institution that wishes to abide by the internationally accepted norms on financial transparency and information exchange".

It turns out that Italian investigators are also looking at fund movements totalling over 180 million euros from an IOR account at a Unicredit bank near the Vatican.

New rules in effect since Sept. 9 at Bankitalia sharpened the focus on IOR, which has been classified as 'an extra-communitarian credit institute' which makes it subject to reinforced verification rules.

The Vatican says it is committed to 'constant collaboration' with the Paris-based OECD and GAFI (international financial action group against money laundering).

Crowd turn-outs bigger than expected;
predicted large protests fail to materialize

Sept. 25, 2010

Michael Kelly, a writer and broadcaster in religious and social affairs based in Dublin, reported on the papal visit from Great Britain.


Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain has confounded the critics and offered a vision of Catholicism that is vibrant and life-giving in a country dominated by secularism.

In his farewell address to the Pope, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Benedict had made Britain “sit up and think.”

“You have spoken to a nation of six million Catholics, but you have been heard by a nation of over 60 million citizens,” Cameron said.

Newspaper predictions of widespread apathy or angry protest largely failed to materialize as hundreds of thousands turned out to welcome the Pope. There were some protests from gay-rights and pro-abortion activists; however, these were dwarfed by higher-than-expected turnouts at the various papal events.

Unexpectedly, a reported 200,000 people gathered on London’s iconic Mall near Buckingham Palace as Benedict traveled via Popemobile to a Eucharistic vigil in nearby Hyde Park.

Perhaps perversely, the negative caricature conjured by the media may have played to the Pope’s favor, as the British public witnessed a shepherd who leads his flock with a markedly gentle hand.

For the Pope, the highlight of the visit was always going to be the beatification of John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian and convert to Catholicism whom Benedict has admired for decades.

As the Pope’s helicopter landed in Birmingham, near the cardinal’s final resting place, rain clouds gave way to brighter skies and 50,000 pilgrims joined in singing Cardinal Newman’s famous hymn "Praise to the Holiest in the heights."

There was rapturous applause as the Pope read the formula of beatification and a huge portrait of the new Blessed was unveiled.

Powerful testimony was given to the intercession of Cardinal Newman when Deacon Jack Sullivan proclaimed the Gospel. It was Deacon Sullivan’s cure from a crippling spinal injury after praying to Cardinal Newman that cleared the way for beatification. “He’s a living miracle,” one pilgrim beamed.

In his homily, the Pope placed Newman firmly in the heart of Britain’s rich Christian tradition.

“England has a long tradition of martyr saints, whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries. Yet it is right and fitting that we should recognize today the holiness of a confessor, a son of this nation who, while not called to shed his blood for the Lord, nevertheless bore eloquent witness to him in the course of a long life devoted to the priestly ministry, and especially to preaching, teaching, and writing.

Cardinal Newman “is worthy,” the Pope said “to take his place in a long line of saints and scholars from these islands: St. Bede, St. Hilda, St. Aelred, Blessed Duns Scotus, to name but a few.”

The Pope praised the theologian’s “gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom, and profound love for the Lord,” which, the Pope said, “has borne rich fruit, as a sign of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit deep within the heart of God’s people, bringing forth abundant gifts of holiness.”

The German-born Pontiff was in Britain as the country was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the epic Battle of Britain during World War II, when the Nazi Luftwaffe pounded British cities in an attempt to win air supremacy.

The sense of occasion was not lost on the Pope. As “one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany,” the Pope said, “it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.”

“Seventy years later, we recall with shame and horror the dreadful toll of death and destruction that war brings in its wake, and we renew our resolve to work for peace and reconciliation wherever the threat of conflict looms,” he said during the Birmingham Mass.

The previous evening the Pope had held a prayer vigil with 80,000 pilgrims in London’s Hyde Park; yellow and white papal flags lined the Mall as a crowd of 200,000 people lined the route to the park. The organizers achieved the perfect mix of enthusiasm and reverence.

A carnival-like atmosphere of singing and dancing was followed by appropriate silence and awe as the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and the Pope led the huge congregation in silent adoration before going to the altar to give the Benediction.

Despite the hope and joy signified by his visit, the Pope did not shy away from the crime of sexual abuse by priests and religious and the pain it has caused for the victims and the wider Church. He held a private meeting with five people who had been abused by priests to hear first-hand their painful experiences.

Expressing his sorrow and shame, the Pope also met with those engaged in ensuring that the Church now responds to allegations of abuse in a more decisive fashion. “Your work,” he told them, “has made a vital contribution to the promotion of safe environments for young people.”

“It helps to ensure that the preventative measures put in place are effective, that they are maintained with vigilance, and that any allegations of abuse are dealt with swiftly and justly,” he said.

Echoing an apology that he made during Mass in Westminster Cathedral earlier in his visit, the Pope said: “It is deplorable that, in such marked contrast to the Church’s long tradition of care for them, children have suffered abuse and mistreatment at the hands of some priests and religious.”

The visit also included a historic first on the ecumenical front, with the Pope’s visit to Westminster Abbey, in the shadows of the Houses of Parliament. The foundation-stone of the abbey was laid by King Edward the Confessor in 1045 and became a centerpiece of King Henry VIII’s English reformation. Benedict is the first Pope to visit the abbey, which, ironically, is dedicated to St. Peter. [Its formal name is 'the Collegiate Church of St. Peter's.]

Before participating in ecumenical vespers at the abbey, the Pope addressed Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and his fellow Anglican bishops, alongside their Catholic counterparts.

Benedict's remarks were intended to be an important moment to address Catholic Church relations with the Anglican Communion.

Perhaps seeking to avoid controversy, the Pope began, “It is not my intention today to speak of the difficulties that the ecumenical path has encountered and continues to encounter. Those difficulties are well-known to everyone here.”

Instead, sounding a positive note, the Pope said: “I wish to join you in giving thanks for the deep friendship that has grown between us and for the remarkable progress that has been made in so many areas of dialogue during the 40 years that have elapsed since the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission began its work.”

Catholic relations with the Church of England and other parts of the Anglican Communion have been strained for some time over such controversial issues as the ordination of women as priests and bishops and the consecration of actively homosexual bishops.

Some Anglicans in Britain feel that their church has strayed away from orthodox Christianity, and have been making gestures toward Rome. When the Church of England started ordaining women almost 20 years ago, some Anglicans left their church and became Catholics. That process has accelerated in recent years.

Last year, the Vatican announced the establishment of so-called Anglican Ordinariates to allow Anglicans who want to enter communion with the Catholic Church do so while retaining some of their distinct Anglican traditions.

The move has been met with joy by many traditional Anglicans but disappointment by some who accuse the Catholic Church of fishing in the Anglican pond. The Vatican insists that they are simply responding to the heartfelt desire of many Anglicans to enter the Church.

The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury embraced at the Westminster Abbey meeting, a sign to some that historic wounds of the Reformation are beginning to heal. But given the ongoing turmoil in the Anglican Communion, friendship and warm relations between the two leaders will likely be the best thing accomplished on the ecumenical front.

Many involved in the ecumenical movement will privately concede that the current controversies leave talks toward unity more-or-less stalled.

During his visit to Britain, Pope Benedict delivered a positive but challenging message to the country’s Catholics and to the wider society.

He has shown that the Catholic Church, once so reviled by the British establishment, has taken its rightful place as a moral compass for the nation.

The Pope has also put the country’s political leaders on notice that religious believers will not be pushed quietly to the margins of society by aggressive secularists. In so doing, he was speaking not only to Britons but to the wider political trend in parts of the western world to see religious faith as irrelevant in the public sphere.

He left British Catholics with a call to arms too. “No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society.”

Prime Minister Cameron spoke for many of his countrymen when he said “[the visit] has left us with strong and positive memories.”

But, the Pope’s visit too has left the political elite with many challenges and much food for thought: respect the place of faith, respect people of faith, do not attempt to marginalize believers.

His visit serves as a graceful rebuke to those who would seek to present a vision of Britain in which religion continues to be diminished and believers fade in to the background.

The Holy Father’s reference to Nazism, a cruel regime under which he lived in his youth, and its desire to remove God from society with the disastrous consequences of the Holocaust and World War II, is a reminder too that a vision of human society that does not have a spiritual basis rooted in God inevitably leads to totalitarianism.

Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which was the lead-organizer of events, estimated that more than 750,000 people turned out to welcome the Pope, while more than one billion people across the globe watched on television.

Notable about the faces of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims was the diversity those present, which reflected in the universality of the Catholic Church.

Catholics from every background converged on the papal events united by their common Catholic Faith and their desire to have their faith confirmed by Peter’s successor.

It’s too early to tell what the legacy of the visit will be. The hope is that it will serve as a shot in the arm for all Britons and not just Catholics, for, as Prime Minister Cameron observed, the Pope’s message was for all of Britain.

The visit has also given many Catholics an opportunity to express their faith in a public, unapologetic fashion. The sight of thousands of young Catholics carrying their rosary beads and papal flags as they marched past Tyburn, where their forefathers were martyred for refusing to renounce their faith, is surely a sign that, as Pope Benedict, “the Church is alive, and, yes, the Church is young.”


Kelly filed an earlier report on the first two days of the papal visit:



Pope Benedict XVI took his battle to renew Europe’s flagging faith against “aggressive secularism” to the heart of Britain this week, warning that a society that excludes God risks turning totalitarian.

Half-way through his four-day visit to Great Britain, he has warned against attempts to push religion to the margins and silence the voice of faith. His visit appears to have given a much-needed boost to Britain’s Catholics, tens of thousands of whom turned out to greet the Pope.

Bigger-than-expected crowds turned out on day one of the visit, which began in Scotland. Some 125,000 Scots lined the streets of the capital city of Edinburgh to cheer the Pope, while some 70,000 people attended the papal Mass in nearby Glasgow before the Pope departed for London.

In a speech to Queen Elizabeth II on his arrival in Edinburgh, the Pope paid tribute to Britain’s decisive role in World War II, standing “against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society.”

“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion, and values from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society,” he warned.

Benedict’s trip to Britain is the first-ever state visit to the country by a pope (John Paul II’s 1982 trip was a “pastoral visit”), and the Pontiff pulled no punches in his various public addresses, speaking frankly about his alarm at some current trends in British society.

There had been a lot of negativity in the build-up to the trip, with secularist organizations protesting the official character of the visit and insisting that the Pope was not welcome. Expected protests have failed to materialize during the first half of the visit, with just 80 protesters in Scotland and approximately 150 in London.

However, the so-called Protest the Pope group — made up mostly of pro-abortion and gay-rights campaigners — has planned a demonstration for London to coincide with the Pope’s Eucharistic vigil in Hyde Park on Saturday evening.

A handful of demonstrators also protested against the Church’s mishandling of clerical sexual abuse, a crime the Pope denounced as a “perversion” of the priesthood. The Church, he said, had failed victims by not dealing with the issue “swiftly and decisively.”

Reflecting on the place of Christianity in Britain’s emerging multicultural society in his Edinburgh address, the Pope said “in this challenging enterprise, may [Britain] always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.”

In a thinly-veiled reference to the negative media commentary on issues of faith in Britain, the Pope stated that “because their opinions reach such a wide audience, the British media have a graver responsibility than most.”

At the Glasgow Mass, blessed by glorious sunshine, flag-waving pilgrims heard the Pope return to a consistent and pressing theme. Underlining the importance of Catholics engaging in the evangelization of culture, he said “this is all the more important in our times, when a ‘dictatorship of relativism’ threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good.”

“There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty,” the Holy Father continued. “Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister.”

The Pope urged rank-and-file Catholics to take up the challenge of evangelizing the culture. “I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum.”

The Pope is standing on firmer ground than he might have a year ago. While former Prime Minister Tony Blair was himself religious (and indeed converted to Catholicism soon after he left office) his government spokesman once famously announced, “We don’t do God.”

On the other hand, the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government is warmer toward people of faith, even trying to encourage more faith-based initiatives in British society.

Londoners awoke on Friday morning to see their city bedecked with yellow and white papal flags, with enthusiastic pilgrims on the move from early morning.

It was in the historic Westminster Hall on Friday evening — part of the beautiful Palace of Westminster [better known as 'the Houses of Parliament'] — where the Pope delivered what many people considerthe keynote address of the visit.

An announcement that London police had arrested five north-Africans working locally as cleaning contractors on suspicion of terrorist activity did not dampen the importance of the occasion, and the Pope’s schedule remained unaltered.

Billed as an address to “civic society,” the Pope’s speech was delivered to government ministers, parliamentarians, academics, and other opinion-formers, and it addressed the right-ordering of the relationship between Church and state.

The Pope must have felt the hand of history upon his shoulders as he stood at the exact spot where St. Thomas More was sentenced to death in 1535, after refusing to accept King Henry VIII’s edict declaring himself head of the Church in England in defiance of the Pope.

St. Thomas More, the Pope said, “is admired by believers and non-believers alike for the integrity with which he followed his conscience, even at the cost of displeasing the sovereign whose ‘good servant’ he was, because he chose to serve God first.”

The dilemma which faced More, the Pope said, is “the perennial question of the relationship between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God.” This, the Pope said, “allows me the opportunity to reflect with you briefly on the proper place of religious belief within the political process.”

The Pope praised much of Britain’s tolerant approach to diversity and thirst for equality. “While couched in different language,” he said, “Catholic social teaching has much in common with this approach, in its overriding concern to safeguard the unique dignity of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, and in its emphasis on the duty of civil authority to foster the common good.”

In a strong but respectful speech, the Pope questioned the basis for a just society. “If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident—herein lies the real challenge for democracy.”

Referring to the global financial crisis, he said the recession laid bare “the inadequacy of pragmatic, short-term solutions to complex social and ethical problems.”

“The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation.”

Benedict warned against a “corrective” role of religion vis-à-vis reason which, he said, “is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms of religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create serious social problems themselves.”

However, he also emphasized the fact that “it is a two-way process.”

“Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person.”

“Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century.”

This brought Benedict XVI to the crux of his entire address and, in some sense, the leitmotif of his Pontificate.

“The world of reason and the world of faith — the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief — need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.”

Religion, he said, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation.

“In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance.”

“There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere,” he said.

The Pope wasn’t pulling any punches when he made reference to the backers of so-called equality legislation who argue “that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience.” The Pope appealed for “dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life.”

Earlier on Friday Pope Benedict was feted by thousands of Catholic school children, whom he encouraged not to be swept up by celebrity culture, urging them instead to strive to be saints.

The Pope led the so-called “big assembly” that linked up Catholic schools across Britain via the Internet to hear his address.

Having reached the half-way mark and with just two days to go on this historic trip, papal aides and Church leaders in Britain are likely to be pleased with turnout and public reaction.

In stark contrast to the media build-up that spoke of apathy and anger, the Pope has been met by flag-waving and enthusiastic Catholics keen to catch a glimpse of their Holy Father and listen to the vital message he has to share with a society often struggling to understand faith.

Most gratifyingly, Paolo Rodari steps out of the general rut of commentary about the Pope's visit to the UK to see the larger picture in this weekend article:


The triumph of the modest Pope:
Five years of public success
that still surprises the critics
by PAOLO RODARI
Translated from

Sept. 25, 2010

After the charismatic triumphalism of Karol Wojtyla, the monastic modesty of Joseph Ratzinger. Two different styles that reflect two different personalities. Two styles that have led to the same success: the enthusiasm of the crowds.

In John Paul II, the public applauded the gesture, the striking soundbite, the theatrical tendencies, which sometimes overshadowed what he said.

In Benedict XVI, they follow his homilies, they listen when he speaks, they seem to heed every word with an attention that perplexes experts and analysts. It happened again in the United Kingdom.

"Papa Ratzinger came across as a kind man, humble, one who speaks in a kindly way," says the retiring Vaticanista, Richard Owen of the Times of London, "offering profound reflections, without raising his voice".

Perhaps more than anywhere, Papa Ratzinger's style found its compliment in the UK. It was difficult to imagine, before he left for what many had called 'his most difficult trip so far', that 100,000 faithful in Hyde Park, heart of London, could assemble and participate in a 90-minute liturgy - and observe total silence during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

What is the secret of Joseph Ratzinger? What is his communications strategy? Just one answer: not to have any strategy. He explained it himself on the flight that took him to Edinburgh ten days ago.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, had asked him a question submitted by the Vatican press corps: What can Catholics do to make the Church more attractive?

The Pope replied: "A church which seeks above all to he attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for herself, she does not work to increase her own membership and therefore, its power. The Church is at the service of Another: she does not serve herself, in order to be a strong force, but she serves to make the announcement of Jesus Christ accessible - the great truths and the great power of love, of reconciliation, that always come in the presence of Jesus Christ".

And that is the secret of Papa Ratzinger - for many the Panzerkardinal, for others 'God's Rottweiler' who became Pope: He does not wish to attract anyone to himself. Rather, he steps back in order to leave one Other in the center.

It is a style that is very distinctly his - in contrast to the thousand and one communications strategies often vaunted by various ecclesial organisms, from the Roman Curia to the different bishops' conferences - and which comes across with explosive authoritativeness.

This Pope's style is always moderate, even in his contact with the masses. It is as if, for him, every public event is liturgy. In fact, through all his Masses, his catecheses, his benedictions, Benedict XVI is a minimalist.

"The Pope should not proclaim his own ideas, but rather link himself and the Church constantly with obedience to the Word of God," he said when he took possession of the cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St John Lateran on May 7, 2005.

A criterion which for him is his program of government. He makes little of himself. Stage center is never him, but the essential - Jesus Christ who is living and present in the sacraments of the Church.

The first months of Benedict XVI's Pontificate left Vatican analysts dumbfounded. The crowds who came to the Wednesday audiences in St. Peter's Square and to the Sunday Angelus had doubled compared to the average numbers under John Paul II. In May to September 2004, 194,000 came to John Paul II's general audiences, In the same months in 2005, 410,000 came to see and hear Benedict XVI. Likewise for the Angelus on Sundays - 262,000 for Papa Wojtyla for those months in 2004, 600,000 for Papa Ratzinger in the same months in 2005.

Benedict XVI never does anything for effect. He does not hammer home any bombast, he does not encourage applause and cheers. He almost tries to retreat from celebrations with large crowds. He arrives at public events on time simply to preside and/or celebrate. Even the program for his pastoral visits are limited to the essentials, disdaining the superfluous to concentrate on the really necessary events.

Rome, St. Peter's Square, Oct. 16, 2005. Benedict XVI met the children of Rome who had just had their First Communion or were about to. The program was unique: first, the Pope would respond spontaneously to some questions from the children, followed by a half hour of Eucharistic Adoration.

"It was quite a risk to take, after years of youth encounters that were more like music festivals than anything else," Vatican insiders noted.

The Pope arrives at the Piazza punctually, emerging through the Arch of Bells in the Popemobile. The children applaud and cheer, shouting slogans. The Pope waves at them. After touring all the sectors in the Popemobile, he takes his seat onstage surrounded by many children. The assembly becomes quiet.

A boy asks him: "My catechist tells me that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. How? I do not see him".

Answer. "No, we don't, but there are so many things we do not see which exist and are essential. For example, we don't see our reason. Yet, we do have reason. We don't see electric current, but we know that it exists - we see this microphone, that it works, and we see the lights..."

And so on, for a few more questions. The Pope is teaching theology to children.

Then the Pope proceeds to lead them in Eucharistic Adoration. The silence is total. He kneels in front of the Eucharist. Everyone looks beyond the Pope, towards the object of his attention, the Eucharist.

In less than an hour, he had captured the total attention of a crowd that was sui generis - a hundred thousand children aged 7-9. It was a scene that recalled the Eucharistic vigil he led at World Youth Day in Cologne in August 2005.

That night in Marienfeld, the Pope knelt in front of the Eucharist, and almost a million young people followed his example, knelt and kept total silence. A silence so surreal that made the broadcasters uneasy because of the resulting 'dead air'. And for almost an hour they did not know what to say by way of commentary.

Twenty months after his election, Benedict XVI became a case study for current affairs analysts. White Star, a publishing house affiliated to the National Geographic Society, published a book entitled Benedetto XVI, l’alba di un nuovo papato (Benedict XVI: Dawn of a new papacy).

The authors are the great Italian photographer Gianni Giansanti and the former Rome bureau chief of Time magazine, Jeff Israely. The book was born with an explicit motivation: to study 'the Ratzinger case' - the reason for the popular success of the so-called Panzerkardinal who had become the Successor of Peter.

Israely wrote: "The gestures of his predecessor impressed the world. On the other hand, Benedict XVI makes news with the power of his words. But his words do not represent mere intellectual exercise - they are a manifestation of his faith and humanity. The message becomes visible in the messenger". [What a wonderful way to express the thought! Too bad Israely made a very obvious about-face on Benedict after that, and has never come around again! I cannot figure out what it was that made him and John Allen do the turn after their apparent post-Conclave 'conversion', but for some reason, it was after Regensburg. But why they should have been so disdainful because of that epochal statement - epochal not just for the Church but for the contemporary history of the world - and continue to insist that it was the Pope's 'worst blunder ever'???? Even after all the good things it led to, like An Open Word and the bilateral initiatives that followed that!]

A few days later, L'Espresso's Vaticanista Sandro Magister wrote: "John Paul II dominated the scene. Benedict XVI offers the crowd only his bare words. But he is always careful to draw their attention to that Other which is beyond himself".

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, But one must note that in the days following the Pope's visit, two words were most frequently found in the news and commentary about it in the British newspapers: success and nostalgia.

The Pope's success with crowds: 200,000 persons who watched him riding the Popemobile towards Hyde Park for the prayer vigil before the beatification of John Newman - that was no small matter!

And nostalgia that he had gone. Anna Arco, Vaticanista for the Catholic Herald, confessed to suffering from PPD - post-papal depression.

Perhaps, in the gigantic pile of articles that have been written and are being written to assess Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom, there was no better way than her reaction to reflect the pastoral, ecclesial, spiritual and human dimensions of the visit.

A popular success that apparently surprised the Pope himself, who said at the Wednesday general Audience, that it had been 'a historic event'.

[Better still was his response to Richard Owen on the plane returning to Rome, when the latter asked him what had impressed him most about the visit:

---

Benedict shook his head. "Everything," he said in Italian. "Everything."

Then he added in English: "It was all wonderful."

He looked out of the aircraft window at the coast of England sliding beneath us as we headed across the Channel. "It was all just wonderful," he repeated.

---

It was stunning in its candor and simplicity. Imagine hearing that from an 83-year-old Pope for whom the experience of 'popular' success has by now become habitual!

Antonio Socci wrote in Libero: 'Papa Ratzinger never uses words at random. He explained that it was a historic event because it had overturned all the predictions".

Damian Thompson in the Daily Telegraph wrote that Britons had seen "things as they are" - they had 'seen' the Pope and 'heard him speak', and were conquered.

There is an enigma about the crowds that come out for Benedict XVI during his trips outside Italy. In this enigma, the British crowds are last in order of time. The last to do what? To be won over by the Pope.

Always considered by the media to be a potential 'loser' before leaving for abroad, he gains points as soon as he steps foot on foreign soil. And he gains points with the public - the very people who, according to the prevailing 'wisdom', would be most hostile. Yet this 'mystery' repeats itself promptly where he goes.

All of his trips abroad have contradicted the most grim predictions - even to the most potentially hostile regions. Turkey in 2006, the US and France in 2008, Israel and Jordan in 2009.

What has been most striking everywhere is his daring. In Regensburg, in 2006, he did not hesitate to uncover the roots of religious violence - when the idea of God is unhinged from reason. Controversy erupted. Winds of fanaticism fanned the flames of protest in the Muslim world. [In fact, the immediate 'acute phase' of that inflammatory reaction lasted only two weeks, as I noted with wonder at the time - it had seemed like an eternity.] Was Papa Ratzinger beaten back?

On the contrary, thanks to that lecture, moderate Muslims have become more vocal about the need for an 'enlightened' revolution in Islam such as Catholicism underwent in the centuries since the Age of Enlightenment. Thanks to that lecture, moderate, thinking Muslims everywhere - even in places where Islam is most fanatic - accept a dialog with Christians.

Benedict XVI often initially wounds with his words. He strikes at the heart of today's society with his thinking. In doing so, he uncovers what is false. That is why his words remain, why they do not pass away.

Last spring, during a Wednesday catechesis, he likened the present time in the Church to the period that followed the death of St. Francis. There were currents of Catholic thought then that evoked 'an age of the Spirit' - a new church without a hierarchy nor precepts nor dogmas.

Something similar has been happening with those who now call for a Third Vatican Council that should be 'a new beginning and a rupture'. [The fact that a Vatican III is being advocated for this purpose is really an admission of defeat by its proponents, who are the same who have championed Vatican II as precisely that, 'a new beginning and a rupture'!]

But a new beginning for what? After all is said and done, the objectives are nothing other than those of the progressive school that has made inroads in Protestant communities, with mediocre results that have failed to win few others to their cause - abolishing priestly celibacy, ordaining women as priests, liberalizing sexual morality, a democratic Church government without the Petrine primacy.

Papa Ratzinger opposes to all this a governance of 'thought enlightened by prayer', as St Bonaventure did.

Joseph Ratzinger speaks about the faith. About God. About Jesus Christ. Of the Church in the world, in society, and in the public discourse. Of faith applied to how we live each day, all our days, with its private as well as its public relevances.

He is not seeking consensus from the public. He does not bend with the whims of teh world. He accepts the challenge of bringing to the world the Sword of the Gospel. And that is why, in the long run, he wins. What he says remains. It endures.

Of course, there are those who react violently to his words, demonstrated by the many recurrent tempests during his Pontificate so far. There are even those who wish to arrest him for 'crimes against humanity'. But there are those who allow themselves to be 'wounded' by his thoughts and who start to follow him.

There are intellectuals who would wish nothing better than that Benedict XVI would stop talking! In fact, there are 'intellectuals' who would not even let him speak, as those professors at La Sapienza University.

But there are others - as the audiences in Regensburg, the College des Bernardins and Westminster Hall - who, after their initial skepticism, cannot help but rise to their feet to applaud him afterwards.

These constitute Benedict XVI's most sophisticated audience. A public that is distinctly his. One quite apart from the crowds of regular folk. They are necessarily a limited public - the intellectuals, artists and representatives of the world of culture. But they all end up applauding the theologian Pope.

"From God's Rottweiler to perhaps the better Pope" [compared to John Paul II]," wrote the New York Times Op-Ed columnist Ross Douthat a few months ago, at the peak of the revived sex abuse 'scandal'.

This seems to be an across-the-board opinion among Anglophone intellectuals. [???? It may not be all that widespread, because as I often point out, it is difficult, even for Catholic intellectuals, to imagine that the Church could produce two uniquely extraordinary great Popes in succession. The reasoning seems to be: 'If John Paul II is John Paul the Great, how can his successor ever be Benedict the Great? It has not happened before; it's not likely to happen ever'!

And yet, the history of Popes since Pius IX in the 19th century is really a succession of great Popes - Blessed Pius IX (also the longest reigning Pope in history), Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, Blessed John XXIII, Paul VI (for all his relative failure to dominate the post-Vatican II chaos), John Paul I (his first 33 days already indicated he intended some deep reforms in the Church), John Paul II - each leaving his distinctive mark on the Church, even if not all of them have been recognized to the same degree as Papa Wojtyla.]

It is a positive opinion that appears to have emerged strongest on what would seem to have been the worst days of Benedict's Pontificate so far - the recent months of grand assault over the question of pedophile priests.

Hendrik Hertzberg in the New Yorker, after recalling Martin Luther in relation to 'the current crisis of power and culture in the Church', has words of praise for Benedict XVI. [Shame on me - I did not even know of this New Yorker article, and I must look for it! P.S. Alas! The article is not what it would seem to be. Far from it! (see footnote below']]

At around the same time, an open letter of support for Benedict XVI was signed by French intellectuals and artists - among them, Jean-Luc Marion and Remi Brague, philosophers and members of the Académie Française; mathematician Laurent Laforgue, philosopher Chantal del Sol, actor Michel Lonsdale, to name a few.

Papa Ratzinger is able to talk to the most humble folk as to intellectuals. And he is able to convey his message to all of them. Without any communication strategy. His only concern is the truth, the content of what he has to say.

Two years ago, Gianni Valente published his book Ratzinger professore about the future Pope's years as a student and as a teacher, from 1946 to 1977, told through the recollections of his colleagues and students.

Valente notes that from the very beginning, Ratzinger had no problem capturing the attention of his students. How? He introduced a new way of lecturing different from the standard academic model.

One ex-student from his days in Bonn recalled: "He would read his lectures over the kitchen table to his sister Maria, an intelligent person who had never studied theology. If his sister liked it, he took it as a sign that it was good".

Another former student said: "The lecture hall was always packed for his lectures. The students adored him. His language was simple and beautiful - the language of a believer". [The overcrowded lectures was due to the fact that even students not enrolled in his courses could attend. I don't know if the same thing happened with Hans Kueng!]

In these lectures, Professor Ratzinger never flaunted his erudition, nor use the oratorical professorial tone that was usual in those days. He presented his lessons plainly, with language that was simple and lucid even on the most complex topics.

Many years later, he would explain what was, in effect, the secret of his success as a lecturer: "I never sought to create my own system, my own particular theology. In specific terms, I simply sought to think with the Church, which means, above all, with the great thinkers of our faith".

His students perceived, through his lectures, not just that they were receiving academic ideas, but that they were in touch with something greater, the heart of the Christian faith. And this was the 'secret' of the young theology professor that made him so attractive to his students.

It is the element that is behind his success as Pope: He never puts himself in center stage, always what is far greater - the heart of the Christian faith, Christ himself.

Thus, the most important 'secret' of his success is precisely the absence of any communications strategy. He does not need it. Papa Ratzinger is not seeking consensus.


P.S. So far, only three Vaticanistas have not been shy about proclaiming their admiration for Benedict XVI, and have indirectly indicated in various ways they believe he will be considered at least as great a Pope as John Paul II - Sandro Magister, Andrea Tornielli and Paolo Rodari. Vittorio Messori and Bruno Mastroianni, too, but they are not Vaticanistas. Luigi Accattoli, Massimo Introvigne, Salvatore Izzo, and a couple of other Italian religion writers, maybe.

Everyone else, Italian or otherwise, has been either noncommittal or hostile. In the Anglophone media or blogosphere, George Weigel, curiously (being JP2's definitive biographer has not clouded his judgment), and Father Z. (I don't count Ross Douthat since his article last April was clearly a circumstantial one-off specifically linked to the pedophilia issue, not a genuine overview of Joseph Ratzinger's life and career.)

P.P.S. I have now looked up the New Yorker article Rodari refers to, and he should not have mentioned it at all in the context that he did! Entitled 'Indulgence: Sexual abuse and the Catholic Church',
www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/04/19/100419taco_talk_h...
it is a rather standard liberal diss of the Church that adds no new information or insight but simply - and shamelessly - exaggerates the extent of priest pedophilia and consequent mismanagement by the Church, while failing to mention anything that the Church has done about it since the issue exploded in 2001-2002. Worse, this is what it says of the Pope:

---

As Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and now as Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger appears to have been at best neglectful, at worst complicit, in minimizing and covering up specific cases of abuse that came under his supervision... (but) even his critics agree that he has taken the problem more seriously, both before and since his elevation to the throne of St. Peter, than did his predecessor, the soon-to-be-sainted John Paul II.
On the other hand, that’s not setting the bar very high. When serious discipline has been imposed, it has generally been in the wake of bad publicity, usually from outside the Church and always from outside the hierarchy.

---

I suppose Rodari is referring to that part comparing what B16 has done to JP2's record as 'words of praise' from the article writer. Hardly, as the next sentence of the article shows!

Monday, Sept. 27, 26th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL (France, 1580-1660), Priest, Founder of the Congregation for Mission and Co-Founder, Daughters of Charity
A farmer's son from Gascony. Vincent was ordained a priest in 1600, but not long afterwards on a trip to attend to his inheritance, he was captured by Turkish pirates off the coast of France and sold to slaves in Tunis. Somehow, he converted his owner and then escaped back to France in 1607. Pursuing further studies in Paris, he became a chaplain to the Queen, Marguerite De Valois, then the spiritual adviser and confessor to a wealthy woman, Mme. De Gondi. While working on her country estate, he became aware of the material and spiritual needs of country people, especially the poor. His patroness got her husband to endow a group of priests who would do missionary work in the countryside. For this, Vincent and his recruits established confraternities of charity in each locality to help the poor. Meanwhile, he was appointed chaplain for galley slaves, whom he evangelized and aided in Paris, Marseilles and other French cities, with the aid of his band of 'country missionaries'. The band grew enough so that by 1625, Vincent founded the Congregation of the Mission (known as the Vincentians), and eight years later, along with the future St. Louise de Marillac, the complementary Daughters of Charity. Tirelessly, he organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, mobilized his congregations to minister to war victims during the Thirty Years' War, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He also conducted regular retreats and weekly meetings for the clergy where they could renew themselves spiritually, and established seminaries for the proper training of priests, while being active in fighting the Jansenist heresy. By nature an irascible person, his apostolate made him a tender and affectionate man, who was very sensitive to the needs of others. He was 80 when he died. He was canonized in 1737. In 1885, Leo XIII named him patron of all charitable societies. The Society of St. Vincent De Paul, a society of laymen to carry on the work of their patron, was founded in 1833 by his admirer, Blessed Frederic Ozanam, and now has almost a million members in 132 countries.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092710.shtml


No OR today.


THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- Two more Brazilian bishops from Eastern sector-I, on ad limina visit. one of the being
Mons. Fernando Arêas Rifan, Apostolic Administrator of the personal Apostolic Administration of
São João Maria Vianney in Brazil*.

- Delegation from the commune of Castel Gandolfo, its civilian and military authorities, its religious
communities, and all who provided services for the Pope during his summer stay.

- Mons. Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano, the diocese to which Castel Gandolfo belongs. The town of Albano
itself adjoins the rear boundary of the Pontifical Estates.
Vescovo di Albano (Italia).


* The Vianney Apostolic Administration is the autonomous traditional community created by John Paul II in 2002, after Brazilian traditionalists in the Diocese of Campos decided to seek full communion with Rome. The community originated under bishops and priests who opposed the liturgical reform introduced by Paul VI. One of their bishops joined Mons. Marcel Lefebvre in consecrating the four FSSPX bishops in 1988. He,too, was excommunicated, but this was lifted by John Paul II when the Campos community sought full communion in 2001 after a Jubilee visit to Rome in 2000. The personal Apostolic Administration is one of the possible forms that the Lefebvrians could assume once they decide to rejoin Rome. The Brazilian group is the first and only one of its kind at present.


The Vatican released the Holy Father's message to the Second World Congress for the pastoral ministry of pilgrimages and shrines, which is meeting in Santiago de Compostela, from Sept. 27-30.

GG: Towards revealing
the 'true Benedict XVI'
by Santa Di Salvo


ANACAPRI, Sept. 26 - Few can probably remember his difficult last name. But to everyone, he is simply 'Padre Georg', secretary and personal assistant to Papa Ratzinger.

Nonetheless, Georg Gaenswein, theologian from Freiburg, Germany, 54 years carried splendidly, with the athletic build of someone who has long walked and skied the paths of his beloved Black Forest, is a discreet man with some power who keeps away from the spotlight if he can, so he can better carry out his duties.



Unless they are on a fully-lit stage or in an open Popemobile, the Pope's secretary spends much of his time in the shadows, literally and fittingly.

However, he is often compared with the omnipresent 'Padre Stanislao', John Paul II's long-time righthand man, who was believed to have had great powers, and who has an even more difficult surname, Dsiwisz, now Archbishop of Cracow.

"Please, no comparisons! The discretion I exercise is by personal choice, and necessarily, institutional - it comes with the nature of the position", says Mons. Georg.


Why then did you decide to come out with a book telling the story of the Pope's first five years in photographs? [The book, BENEDETTO XVI URBI ET ORBI, published in Italian by the Vatican publishing house, won one of the annual book awards of the Premio San Michele this year as the best book of 'truth documentation' in pictures.]
Two reasons. One was subjective. The first five years of Papa Ratzinger's Pontificate has already marked our time but have often been badly understood, badly seen and badly interpreted. It is necessary to broaden the horizons of his Magisterium. One of the best ways to do it is through the universal language of pictures - which speaks all the languages of the world. But above all, pictures can speak of the heart.

The objective reason?
That came from the German publishing house Herder who asked me to do it. And with the Holy Father's persmission, I did.

Also for the first time, you entered the debate over the sex abuse issue in your official capacity, in an interview with BILD last April, where you said that "No one has ever condemned these abuses more forcefully than this Pope". Is this book also an answer to those who depict Papa Ratzinger very differently from what he is?
No, all I wanted to do was simply to follow what the Holy Father has done, here in Rome and on his travels. In the end, all these various tiles representing individual events make up a mosaic that portray the true image of the Pope.

Most Vatican correspondents say that, having left Italy facing potential 'defeat', the Pope returned triumphant from his trip to the United Kingdom. What do you think happened to change so radically the perception about the Pope and his Magisterium in just four days?
I think that the physical presence of the Pontiff always ends up changing what I have called 'published opinion' - not public opinion, or what the general public really thinks, but what the media write, which is not always faithful to what the Pope has said. [That's a very charitable way to put it!]
Yes, the welcome in the United Kingdom was one of incredible affection. Not only from Catholics but from all men of good will. I must admit that even for us [in the papal delegation], it was a great surprise to encounter this unaccustomed British warmth...

MESSAGE TO WORLD CONGRESS
ON THE PASTORAL CARE
OF PILGRIMAGES AND SHRINES

---

To Our Venerable Brothers
Most Rev. Antonio Maria Vegliò,
President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care
of Migrants and Itinerant People,

and Most Rev. Julián Barrio Barrio,
Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela:

On the occasion of the Second World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Pilgrimages and Shrines, to be held in Santiago de Compostela from September 27-30, I wish to express my cordial greetings to you which I extend to our venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, the members of the Fraternal Delegation, the participants in this important meeting, and the civil Authorities who collaborated in the preparation of the Congress.

I also express my deferential greetings to His Majesty the King of Spain who has honored this initiative by accepting its Honorary Presidency.

With the theme, "So he went in to stay with them" (Lk 24:29), taken from the Gospel passage of the disciples of Emmaus, you are preparing to study in depth the importance of pilgrimages to the shrines as a manifestation of Christian life and a space of evangelization.

With great pleasure I would like to express my spiritual closeness to the congress participants to encourage and accompany them in carrying out a pastoral task of such great importance in ecclesial life.

I will personally make a pilgrimage soon to the tomb of the Apostle Saint James, the "Lord's friend", in the same way that I have made my way to other places in the world which many of the faithful visit with fervent devotion.

In this regard, from the beginning of my pontificate, I have wanted to live my ministry as the Successor of Peter with the sentiments of a pilgrim who travels over the roads of the world with hope and simplicity bringing on his lips and in his heart the saving message of the Risen Christ, and strengthening his brothers in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). As an explicit sign of this mission, my coat-of-arms includes the pilgrim's shell, among other elements.

In these historic moments in which we are called, with greater force if possible, to evangelize our world, the riches offered to us by the pilgrimage to shrines should be highlighted.

First of all, for its great ability to summon and bring together a growing number of pilgrims and religious tourists, some of whom are in complicated human and spiritual situations, somewhat distant from living the faith and with a weak ecclesial affiliation.

Christ speaks to all of them with love and hope. The desire for happiness that is imbedded in the soul finds its answer in Him, and human suffering together with Him has a meaning. With his grace, the noblest causes also find their complete fulfillment.

As Simeon met with Christ in the temple (cf. Lk 2:25-35), so too a pilgrim should have the opportunity to discover the Lord in the shrine.

For this purpose, efforts should be made so that visitors may not forget that shrines are sacred places in order to be in them with devotion, respect and propriety.

In this way, the Word of Christ, the Son of the living God, can ring out clearly, and the event of his death and resurrection, the foundation of our faith, can be proclaimed completely.

Very careful attention should also be given to welcoming the pilgrims, by highlighting, among other elements, the dignity and beauty of the shrine, the image of "God's dwelling... with the human race" (Rev 21:3), the moments and spaces for both personal and community prayer, and attention to devotional practices".

(Homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, May 22, 2008).

In fact, different from a wanderer whose steps have no established final destination, a pilgrim always has a destination, even if at times he is not explicitly aware of it.

And this destination is none other than the encounter with God through Christ in whom all our aspirations find their response. For this reason, the celebration of the Eucharist can really be considered the culmination of the pilgrimage.

As "God's co-workers" (1 Co 3:9), I exhort all of you to be dedicated to this beautiful mission so that through your pastoral care, you will favor in pilgrims the knowledge and imitation of Christ who continues to walk with us, enlighten our lives with his Word, and share with us the Bread of Life in the Eucharist.

In this way, the pilgrimage to the shrine will be a favorable occasion to strengthen the desire in those who visit it to share the wonderful experience with others of knowing they are loved by God and sent to the world to give witness to that love.

With these sentiments, I entrust the fruits of this Congress to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostle James as I direct my prayer to Jesus Christ, "the Way and the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6), to whom I present all those who seek His face as they peregrinate through life:

Lord Jesus Christ, pilgrim of Emmaus,
you make yourself close to us for love,
even if, at times, discouragement and sadness
prevent us from discovering your presence.

You are the flame that revives our faith.
You are the light that purifies our hope.
You are the force that stirs our charity.

Teach us to recognize you in the Word,
in the house and on the Table
where the Bread of Life is shared,
in generous service to our suffering neighbor.

And when evening falls, Lord, help us to say:
"Stay with us". Amen.

I impart to all the implored Apostolic Blessing, a pledge of abundant celestial graces.

The Vatican, September 8, 2010

---

September 27, 2010

---

Following the lead of Newman, Ratzinger has opened Catholic theology to a consideration of the problem of history, but he does not allow the Tradition to be constructed from historical elements external to revelation itself. Consistent with de Lubac and Mohler, he believes that the faith of a twenty-first century Catholic in any diocese of the world is not essentially different from that of a first-century Christian.
- Tracey Rowland, Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: T & T Clark, 2010), p. 157.

---

I.

The British publishing house, T & T Clark, has recently produced a series of theological reflections under the series title of "A Guide for the Perplexed."

This title comes from a book of the famous medieval Jewish philosopher, Moses Maimonides. The perplexed were those Christians, Jews, and Arab thinkers who first re-encountered, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Aristotle and his enormous wisdom.

What perplexed them, as believers, was whether the revelation that they lived was not natural. Aristotle seemed to figure out much of it without its benefits. The task, among Christians pioneered by Aquinas, was to distinguish what kind of knowledge that was revealed to us from what kind could we figure out ourselves.

The T&T Clark series previously dealt with given writers like Tillich, von Balthasar, Calvin, and de Lubac as well as with Christian topics like the Trinity, Christology, and bioethics.

Tracey Rowland's new book on Benedict is part of this series. Rowland, an Australian theologian who studied in Cambridge, has previously written an excellent book on Benedict (Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Benedict XVI, Oxford, 2008).



This second Rowland book is relatively short (160 text pages). It is designed primarily to situate Benedict as that theologian who best understands modernity and the place of Catholicism in relation to it.

Essentially, the Pope does not judge the faith by the culture, but examines the intellectual and moral meaning of the faith to ask what, if any thing, does modernity have to do with it.

As the pope pointed out in Spe Salvi, many of modernity's most forceful ideas are, when separated out, misplaced versions of basic Christian positions now thought to be achieved by means other than Christian. Without careful analysis, Benedict neither accepts nor rejects the operative ideas of modern times.

This caution is in large part because the pope has such a thorough grasp of other times and cultures with which to compare anything in modernity that is said to be contrary to Christianity. Of course, much of it is thus contrary, the pointing out of which is the purpose of this insightful book.

The pope examines the elements of culture in the light of both reason and revelation. He does this analysis over against a culture that in many ways denies validity to both revelation and reason. In this sense, the Church and the Pope become paradoxically the principal voices of reason in the modern world.

Benedict is not easily deceived by dubious theories that seek to reduce faith to culture. But he understands that faith naturally seeks to find expression in local language, ideas, and images, even when its origin is not simply a manifestation of this origin.

This endeavor is a service of enormous importance both to the world and to the Church. Rowland displays an enormous amount of reading and reflection on the vast literary work of Ratzinger and of those who have written about him.

She spells out the arguments that are said to indicate either a narrowness or elitism in Benedict and puts them in a broader context where they always make sense.

"For the second half of the twentieth century (especially since 1968) and the beginning of the twenty-first he has represented Catholic theology in the face of a militant secularism and various crises internally created within the Catholic Church" (152).

Thus, the principal question for Benedict is not: "How in the light of modern truths can the stated positions of revelation be explained?"

Rather it is: "What in the light of faith is the intelligible meaning of modern ideas and movements?" If it is "modern," it is not, as such, either true or false. That is what must be ascertained.

In all of his writings, Benedict has shown the happy facility of carefully getting to the heart of an issue. He wants to know what exactly the Muslim, the relativist, the scientist, the Calvinist, the Hindu, or the Marxist holds. He then seeks to discern how such views came about and to relate them to the truth, including the truth of revelation.

The Pope is never merely polemical. He lays out an argument with which he disagrees in careful and accurate detail. He gives its history and premises. Nothing is to be gained by not knowing and considering the arguments against your position.

But Benedict then responds to what is presented. This book is full of such careful responses. The popular opinion is that Catholicism has no adequate responses to the views leveled against either its truth or historicity.

After reading Rowland's book, it quickly becomes clear that the opposite is the case. This opinion includes those within the Church's broader fold whose ideas are skewered from the truth at some point or other.

Benedict knows about the small error in the beginning that leads to the large error in the end.

II.

What disconcerts many about Benedict is precisely the fact that he does make sense of revelation as a primary source of understanding of man and the world. When included, revelation and reasoning about it explain our lot much more adequately than any of the popular or dogmatic alternatives, with which Benedict is familiar.

In each of Rowland's seven chapters, she addresses a particular issue in which Benedict has taken up critical issues said to present some presumably insurmountable barrier between Christianity and truth.

She shows how Ratzinger has dealt with these issues — the Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment, the relation between humanism and the Incarnation, tradition, the theological virtues, the relation of history and metaphysics, the place of social thought, and the question of Christian unity.

In each of these areas, Ratzinger has made a unique contribution that consists essentially in showing that the basic Catholic solution is the most coherent one in careful comparison to the alternatives presented against it.

We are not surprised that this calm approach is not well received in quarters convinced that the views of Catholicism cannot be valid or even seriously considered on either scientific or historical grounds. In each case, as Rowland spells it out, Ratzinger makes the counter case that history, or metaphysics, or Scripture, or science does in fact support what is the basic Catholic position.

But, as Rowland describes it, Ratzinger is not writing polemically. Rather he carefully presents the evidence and the basis on which it rests. Whether anyone will accept such arguments is itself something of a personal and spiritual problem. Truth also has to be chosen.

What cannot any longer be maintained is that there is no case to be made. Everyone needs to look at the evidence and analysis that clearly show the force of the arguments making sense of it all.

Rowland points out that Ratzinger is ever ready to come to agreement with various controversial positions once it is clear that what is at stake is compatible with the faith. Take the classic issue with Lutherans about faith and works.

"Ratzinger agreed that while Christians are obliged to do good works, justification and final judgment remain God's gracious acts. The actual wording of the key sentence of the declaration is as follows: 'By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to do good works'" (139).

This happy formula at the same time avoids the issue of Pelagianism, that is, the claim that we save ourselves by our own powers. Ratzinger retains the Pauline and Johannine teachings about the first necessity of grace in our salvation.

One might say this happy result is due both to good will and to careful thinking that clearly understands the whole issue in its principles and in its development.

The number of basic issues that Rowland touches on is quite impressive. Behind it all, Ratzinger stands for the fact of God's creation and redemption as realities, the basic ones that, above all others, concern us.

The Christian narrative in its outlines is not a myth, nor is it a kind of mechanism that unfolds automatically. The Father is always present in creation and history, acting through the Son and the Holy Spirit for our eternal salvation, the achieving of which is the real drama of human and cosmic history.

"The Christian sees in man, not an individual, but a person". According to Ratzinger, 'this passage from individual to person contains the whole span of the transition from antiquity to Christianity, from Platonism to faith.' It completely transcends the logos of the Stoics, since a 'world created and willed on the risk of freedom and love is no longer mathematical'" (126).

Rowland sees one of Ratzinger's major accomplishments as that of reconciling ontology and revelation in such a fashion as the integrity of both is retained.

A proper metaphysics serves the possibility of revelation. Revelation does not replace the natural order, but it does not divinize it either. Once this background is clear, Ratzinger is concerned with our relation to God, how we serve and worship Him.

Rowland is quite blunt in her description of the loss of dignity in liturgy and the effect this has on ordinary believers. Ratzinger is a man who knows and appreciates the importance of beauty in our lives, especially as related to liturgy. Ratzinger stands for dignity, solemnity, beauty, and reverence because he first knows that men are called to worship God.

This relatively short book is wide-ranging. Rowland has managed to show the enormous learning of the Pope within the context of his now operative papacy in which he is concerned with the Church itself and what it stands for.

It does stand for the fact that the Son of Man did take flesh and did dwell among us. There is nothing mythical about this. Moreover, human destiny is not to continue within this world.

Each person is constantly being called to eternal life, to nothing less, though what he is offered in our world is mostly "something less." This is his chief temptation that deflects modern man from any real understanding of himself.

Much of modernity wants this something less. Rowland is very good in showing how Ratzinger is a thinker who does know what the modern man proposes and the inadequacy of such proposals.

Modern man has a difficult time (largely a culpable difficulty, I think) imagining that the Christian position is grounded in both thought and history, and that it does make sense and explain things that are most important to human life.

Reading Rowland's account of Benedict is an exercise in the recovery both of our tradition and of our mind. It is not to be missed.

The Pope thanks the citizens
and all who provided services during
his summer in Castel Gandolfo
Adapted from

Sept. 27, 2010




Benedict XVI said his formal farewells today to a delegation from the commune of Castel Gandolfo, its civilian and military authorities, and its religious communities, along with all those who provided services for the Pope during his summer stay, his longest sojourn so far at the papal summer residence.

The Pope came to Castel Gandolfo on July 7 and will be returning to the Vatican on Thursday, Sept. 29.

The Holy Father greeted Mons. Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano, and the priests and religious accompanying him, and thanked the mayor of Castel Gandolfo and the town authorities.

He likewise expressed his gratitude to personnel of the Vatican Governorate, the Gendarmerie and the Swiss Guard, as well as the police and the Italian air force (which flew him by helicopter to and from Castel Gandolfo and his various short trips).

Here is a translation of his remarks to them:

---

Dear brothers and sisters,

Before taking leave of Castel Gandolfo, now that summer has ended, I am happy to meet with all of you who represent the ecclesial and civilian community of this beloved little town, so dear to me, where Providence has allowed me to spend a serene and fruitful stay every year.

First of all, my fraternal greeting and heartfelt gratitude to the Bishop of Albano, Mons. Marcello Semeraro, and to the entire diocese, whom I follow with special and prayerful affection in its life of faith and Christian testimony.

I greet the parish priest of Castel Gandolfo and the parish community, along with the different male and female religious institutes who live and work in joyful service of the Gospel and their brothers.

A deferential greeting to the Mayor and the members of the Communcal Administration, to express once more my sincere gratitude for the indispensable contribution that they offer within their respective competences, so that Castel Gandolfo could adequately welcome the many pilgrims who come here from various parts of the world.

Through you, I wish to convey to your fellow citizens my sincere appreciation for their celebrated courtesy and the attention that they have always surrounded me with, as they follow my activities in the service of the universal Church.

Then I wish to sincerely thank the officials and all the members of the various services of the Vatican Governatorate, starting with the Gendarmerie Corps, the florists' department, the departments of health services and of technical services, as well as the Pontifical Swiss Guard.

Dear friends, to all of you, I say a special 'Thank you' for the solicitude and professionalism with which you have done all you can to respond to my needs, those of my co-workers, and those who have come here this summer to visit me.

For each of you and your families, I assure constant remembrance in my prayers.

Likewise, my deep-felt gratitude to the officers and agents of the various law and order services of the Italian government, for their prompt and efficient work, and to the officers and airmen of the 31st Squadron of the Italian Military Aeronautic Force.

I thank God and all of you because everything has proceeded in order and in tranquillity.

In bidding farwell to you, I ask you to consider the figure of St. Vincent de Paul, whsoe feast we observe today. This apostle of charity, so dear to the Christian people and best known through the Daughters of Charity founded by him, was proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII as the "universal patron of all charitable activities in the world".

With his incessant apostolic work, he made it possible for the Gospel to become ever more a luminous beacon of love and hope for men in his time, particularly for those who were poorest in body and spirit.

May his virtuous example and his intercession inspire in your communities and in each of you a renewed commitment to solidarity, so that the efforts of each one may together contribute to the common good.

I accompany this cordial wish with assurances of my prayers to the Lord that he may help all of you and your families with his grace and fill you with abundant consolations.

Once again I thank you, dear friends, and bless you from the heart.

---

Spanish bishops' conference opens
website for Pope's two-city visit





Madrid, Sept. 27 - The Spanish bishops' conference has launched an official website (www.visitadelpapa2010.org) where Internet users may follow the visit of Benedict XVI to Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona on November 6-7.

The site is in Spanish, Italian, English and French. Right now it contains the official program; biographical documentation on Benedict XVI; background on previous papal visits to Spain [three times by John Paul II, once before by Benedict XVI as Pope, though he visited Spain about 7 times as cardinal; and important dates for the Church in Spain.

From the site, it will be possible to follow the TV coverage of the events. It also links to Facebook and Twitter, as well as to the special papal visit sites launched by the Archdioceses of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona, which provide more information from the point of view of the two local churches.


With 40 days to go, the Compostela site is surprisingly still under construction. The tag for the papal visit is 'Benedict XVI: Pilgrim of faith and witness to the risen Christ'. I like the separate poster for the Papal Mass in Plaza Obradoiro.



Barcelona's visit site, now available only in Catalan and Spanish, uses its now-familiar poster design very effectively...

But it has a new image for the webpage featuring the official program for the visit:
and features the poster design in a version that makes for an excellent bookmark:



Pope will meet Spain PM Zapatero
in Barcelona on November 7


(MADRID, Sept. 27 (Translated from ANSA) - Spain's Socialist Premier Jose Luis Zapatero will have a brief meeting with Pope Benedict XVI during the Pope's visit to Barcelona on November 7, Vice Premier Maria Teresa de la Vega told the Spanish media today.

Such a meeting was not on the official program for the visit released two days ago. Apparently, the meeting was agreed upon after De la Vega met with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone at the Vatican.

She pointed out that the Pope will be meeting King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia in Barcelona before the Mass to dedicate the Church of Sagrada Familia, and that in Santiago, he will be welcomed by the Crown Prince Felipe, Prince of Asturias, and his wife Leticia.

[Zapatero, whose government has passed aggressive legislation liberalizing abortion, legalizing gay marriage and curtailing government aid to Catholic schools, has met twice with the Pope before - in Valencia, in July 2007, when the Pope came to preside at the closing ceremonies of the V World Encounter of Families, and at the Vatican earlier this year. Zapatero is a nominal Catholic but he did not attend the Pope's Mass in Valencia..]

De La Vega said she had a very cordial meeting with Cardinal bertone, during which she gave him a shirt of the Spanish national team which won the recent World Cup of soccer in South Africa. Bertone is a football fan.





Austin Ivereigh has written an excellent brief introduction to the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia and its genius creator, Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi: 'God's architect'
and the Sagrada Familia basilica
by Austen Ivereigh



When Pope Benedict XVI visits Spain’s most popular tourist attraction on Nov. 7, he will consecrate the 128-year-old structure known as the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, and it will formally become a Catholic church.

Since Barcelona is already home to a cathedral, this monumental building by the famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) will be designated the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia.

Even in its unfinished state, the Sagrada Familia is a jaw-dropper. The building can hold 14,000 worshippers; and its towers, when finished in the next two years, will soar over the Barcelona skyline. [They already do!]

Yet it is not just the building’s size that amazes, but the scale of Gaudí’s spiritual ambition: the geometric forms he found in creation have been placed at the service of liturgy and worship. Perhaps only St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante can match Gaudí in having attempted, in their own genres, to condense the entirety of Catholic doctrine into a single work.

As I stood recently under its just-finished golden canopy, like the roof of a magical forest, I found it hard to imagine the finished building. A huge truck sat in the nave amid the whiz and whir of machines, while men in hard hats worked furiously to ready the altar.

Work has not yet begun on the Glory facade, where the Credo will float heavenward on suspended clouds. At least two more decades will be needed to complete Gaudí’s vision. But when the interior is ready, a milestone will have been reached.

The recent progress has been astonishing. The Sagrada Familia has been financed privately — in Gaudí’s time, the late 19th century, through donations, these days by three million tourists a year (more than visit either the Prado or the Alhambra), who pay 12 euros each.

Ten years ago, when the Japanese-born sculptor Etsuro Sotóo became a Catholic, he could never have imagined that the building would be so ready so soon. “There were few tourists and not a lot of money then,” said Sotóo, who began working on the Sagrada Familia in 1978.

The 1992 Olympics put Barcelona and Gaudí’s templo on the tourist map. But only in the past five years, as popular fascination for Gaudí has grown, have visitors brought in sufficient cash to accelerate construction.

It is easy to miss the irony of the story: Europe’s largely secular, agnostic crowds have funded the construction of the continent’s last great Catholic church.

The archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Luis Martínez Sistach, believes the Sagrada Familia will be “an ‘atrium of the gentiles’ open to all who seek beauty, truth and kindness” in Barcelona, city of hedonism and tolerance, 'el Amsterdam del sur'.

Gaudí’s church “brings the religious and the divine — the Gospel message of human dignity — into the heart of secularised western European culture,” said the cardinal.

The papal Mass of consecration in November will be attended by Spain’s royals, its anticlerical prime minister and at least 50 cardinals. The consecration will also give Pope Benedict XVI an opportunity to summon European culture to its Christian roots by re-twinning faith and art.

Gaudí is the antithesis of postmodern subjectivity. For him, beauty is the splendor of truth. A truth exists in the material world that echoes Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word. The artist unveils but does not create this truth, which is accessible to anyone from anywhere, for the Word is at once objective and universal.

For Gaudí, an artist must obey creation, the manifestation of God’s will. Take gravity, for example. Gaudí sought to work with gravity, converting an enemy into a friend. His buildings look curiously upside-down. The Sagrada Familia is a summary of the geometric forms —hyberbolic paraboloids — from which eggs, bones, muscle and mountains are made.

“With two rulers and a cord,” Gaudí once said, “one generates all architecture.” In those two straight lines Gaudí saw the Father and the Son, each unique and infinite, with the cord of the Holy Spirit (the love between the first two persons of the Trinity) binding them together.

All of creation is formed from these surfaces, which bear the Trinitarian imprint. When you pray in the Sagrada Familia, you will be enveloped by structural forms that are closer to God’s designs than are those of any other church.

“People will find answers to their questions, to their dissatisfaction with materialism,” says Sotóo.

It falls to Joan Rigol, a former president of the Catalan parliament who is now in charge of the building works of the association that owns the Sagrada Familia, to manage the delicate shift from tourist mecca to Catholic basilica. He must do so without alienating the millions of nonbelievers who support it.

The Sagrada Familia, he told me, must keep the tourists but also attract the pilgrims. Hence his plans to create “not just spaces” within the structure, “but also times of day” when visitors —believers and nonbelievers alike — will be asked to pause and reflect.

He says the basilica will be dedicated to promoting the human family, “not just in the biological sense of father, mother, children but in the sense that we all form one large family.”

How will the spiritual infrastructure — Mass, confession, adoration —happen without an upsurge in vocations? “That all still has to be worked out,” Rigol shrugs.

Josep Maria Tarragona, a leading authority on Gaudí who is currently writing the positio (position paper) for his beatification, believes that opening the Sagrada Familia for worship is an act of faith by the cardinal in the architect’s massively optimistic vision of Christianity in Europe.

“Gaudí saw his church as a kind of Lourdes dedicated to the Holy Family. The liturgies he foresaw would involve a bishop and 200 priests. It was pretty outrageous for his own time, but for our own,” laughs Tarragona, “it’s incredible.”

Tarragona is one of a small group of visionaries who in the early 1990s proposed the idea of beatifying Gaudí. The Junta de Obras (the building association), then under a different president, opposed the move, resenting what its members saw as an attempt to “restrict” Gaudí’s appeal, while secular Barcelona deplored what it saw as the Church stealing “their” artist.

Finding little support from bishops, the Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí was established as a civil association, printing prayer cards and documenting Gaudí’s sanctity.

The church endorsement came in 2000 from Pope John Paul II, who asked Cardinal Ricard Carlés if it were true that Gaudí was a layman. With Pope John Paul’s blessing, the nihil obstat was granted in months.

The association is awaiting a miracle, but with Barcelona’s archbishop, the new president of the Junta de Obras and Rome (now in the person of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone) all now eager, Gaudí’s road to canonization is clearly open.

The architect’s conversion took place when he was in his 40s, a decade after he had begun work on the Sagrada Familia; it was a mature decision that he saw through to its final consequences.

While in his 30s Gaudí was the most sought-after (and expensive) architect in Spain, whose wealthy patrons hired him to design some of the most remarkable houses ever built. Some are Barcelona landmarks. The artist’s base for many years was a workers’ colony south of the city, funded by the industrialist Eusebi Güell. It was the most advanced architectural studio of its day.

Favoring the fibrous forms of nature, Gaudí designed structures that can be, on first encounter, deeply unsettling: walls swell, columns defy gravity, surfaces flow like lava. But as in nature, his forms serve function. An architect who seeks that function, Gaudí believed, can arrive at beauty.

“Those who seek out the laws of nature as support for their new work collaborate with the Creator,” he said. “Originality consists in returning to the origin.”

Genius and success threatened Gaudí’s rapid-burn life. After Pepita Moreu, a beautiful woman who fascinated Gaudí, spurned his offer of marriage, his life took a sharp turn. The architect shed his wealth and, from his 40s until his death at 74, took up asceticism, including a meat-and-alcohol-free diet and regular prayer.

Gaudí took over work on the Sagrada Familia in 1883, revising the original architect’s plans from scratch. But in 1906 Gaudí’s life was framed by daily confession and Mass; his spiritual life and great work began to merge.

He devoted himself singlemindedly to the “expiatory temple,” knowing it would take generations after his death to make good his epic vision. “My client,” he would joke when people asked when it would be finished, “is not in a hurry.”

Thanks to Tarragona and the other promoters of Gaudí’s beatification, including Etsuro Sotóo, the architect has been rescued from the myths that attached to the popular interest in his work. The Catholic ascetic Gaudí is now part of the guidebook account.

“Gaudí, apart from his faith, is incomprehensible,” Tarragona says. “What the Sagrada Familia offers artistically is the same whether you have faith or not. But only understanding Gaudí’s religious culture and purpose can you grasp his art and message.”

That will be easier after November, when form will at last meet the function for which “God’s architect” designed the Sagrada Familia: Europe’s last great church — or the first of its new Christian age.


Gaudi's Sagrada Familia:
A personal reflection

Gaudi's masterpiece, even during the long decades when it was mostly a shell, was immediately considered a most original milestone in the history of architecture, truly the only one of its kind. A recent list of the 10 most beautiful churches (as architecture) in the world ranked it next only to Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral. However, the church is sui generis in many ways.

The great medieval cathedrals were anonymous creations, by divinely inspired teams of artists, engineers and artisans - sometimes over many generations - but Gaudi's temple is clearly the work of a single author, down to the smallest detail of every feature. And the detail is as amazing as the organizing mind behind it that sought to illustrate all of Christian doctrine in stone and sculpture.

Even the great basilicas of Italy, like St. Peter's, had more than one designer, and much of the rest of the structures, including the adornments, was the work of dozens or hundreds of other artists and artisans.

To top it all, Sagrada Familia will be consecrated by a Pope. It's as if the medieval Popes had gone down to Paris, Rheims, Cologne, Toledo, Compostela and Burgos to consecrate their landmark cathedrals in their time!

Gaudi, whose cause for beatification has passed the diocesan level and is now before the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood, was not proposed for sainthood because of his architectural and artistic genius - Michelangelo and all the other great Renaissance artists, not just Fra Angelico, would have been proposed, otherwise - but because after his conversion, he lived an authentic life of Christian witness and holiness.

I like to think that he also represents the legions of unnamed geniuses and humble workers in the Lord's vineyard who built the great cathedrals of the world and non-Christian wonders of spiritual expression like Angkor Wat, Borobudur and Shwe Dagon.

It's literally giddying, heady and exhilarating to experience Sagrada Familia up close, even when it was just a shell. Awesome does not begin to say it. The first image that comes to mind is that of a virtually infinite flowering of the human mind, its potential for prefiguring on a human scale the infinity of God's creativeness. Like all the great cathedrals, it is a prayer in stone, a hymn that exalts the glory of God in the highest, and, seen through the eyes of faith, capable of bringing a foretaste of heavenly beatitude.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/09/2010 03:54]

Possible model for Catholic-Orthodox
unification: 'sister churches' with
the Pope as common head, but keeping
respective hierarchies and liturgies
Adapted from


Vienna, Austria, Sep 27, 2010 (CNA) - While qualifying that full unity is still in the distant future, leaders from Catholic and Orthodox churches meeting in Vienna last week indicated that they have made more progress in theological talks centered on the issue of Petrine primacy in a future unified Church.


In group photo, front row, second from left, Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church; metropolitan Zizioulas of pergamon; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna; unidentified Orthodox prelate, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran; and unidentified Orthodox prelates.

Reuters reported on Sept. 24 that the theologians meeting in Vienna concurred that the two traditions – which have been separated since the Great Schism of 1054 – could eventually become “sister churches” that recognize the Holy Father as head but maintain their individual liturgies, customs and church structures.

Leaders from the International Commission for Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue, a group comprised of around 30 theologians who meet annually, gave comments to reporters in Vienna last Friday, noting the positive advances both churches have made towards full communion.

Archbishop Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said in a news conference last week that the two churches “will be able to enrich each other,” adding that the “basic principle of ecumenism is the exchange of gifts.”

“The first step is to tell each other individually how we imagine unity would look like. For the Catholic Church, of course, unity without the Bishop of Rome is unimaginable,” he underscored. “That’s because the issue of the Bishop of Rome is not just an organizational question, but also a theological one. The dialogue about just how this unity should be shaped must be continued intensively. Unity means that we see each other fully as sister churches.”

Archbishop Koch added that he thinks Pope Benedict is “thinking in this direction.”

“He has said to the Anglicans who want to come back that they would be able to keep their tradition and celebrate their liturgy. So he’s said himself that there should be diversity. That will be the second step. It’s far too early ask each other how we can do this together.”

“There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches,” Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon stressed. “If we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain.”

Significant progress has been made in recent years towards reunification, starting with the 2007 meeting of the joint theological commmission in Ravenna, Italy, where both churches agreed to focus their efforts on agreeing on the role of the Bishop of Rome in a unified Church.

In Paphos last year, they agreed to begin by looking at the role of the Pope in the Church before the Greath Schism of 1054.


Here is the original Reuters report:


Catholic and Orthodox report
promising progress on unity
By Boris Groendahl


VIENNA.Sept. 24 (Reuters) – Roman Catholic and Orthodox theologians reported promising progress Friday in talks on overcoming their Great Schism of 1054 and bringing the two largest denominations in Christianity back to full communion.

Experts meeting in Vienna this week agreed the two could eventually become "sister churches" that recognize the Roman Pope as their titular head but retain many church structures, liturgy and customs that developed over the past millennium.

The delegation heads stressed unity was still far off, but their upbeat report reflected growing cooperation between Rome and the Orthodox churches traditionally centered in Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.


Left photo, Mons. Koch; right photo, Metropolitan Zizioulas and Cardinal Scchoenborn, host of the weeklong meeting.

"There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches," Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon told a news conference. "If we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain."

Archbishop Kurt Koch, the top Vatican official for Christian unity, said the joint dialogue must continue "intensively" so that "we see each other fully as sister churches."

The churches split in 1054 over the primacy of the Roman Pope, the most senior bishop in early Christianity. The Orthodox in Constantinople, now Istanbul, rejected Roman primacy and developed national churches headed by their own patriarchs.

The Vatican has sought closer ties for years but the Russian Orthodox Church -- whose 165 million followers are the largest branch of the world's 250 million Orthodox -- responded slowly as it emerged from over seven decades of Communist rule.

Roman Catholicism is Christianity's largest church, with 1.1 billion of the estimated 2 billion Christians worldwide.

Pope Benedict has close ties to the spiritual leader of the Orthodox, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, and hopes to meet Russian Patriarch Kirill, who has shown great interest in better ties since taking office in February 2009.

Benedict and Kirill are both conservative theologians who say Europe should return to its Christian roots. The Orthodox are closer to Catholicism in their theology and liturgy than the Protestant churches that broke from Rome in the 16th century.

Unity will require change on both sides, the delegation heads stressed. "I won't call it a reformation -- that is too strong -- but an adaptation from both sides," Zizioulas said.

For the Orthodox, he said, that means recognizing there is a universal Christian church at a level higher than their national churches and the bishop of Rome is its traditional head.

The Catholics would have to strengthen the principle of synodality, by which a church leader consults bishops before making important decisions, he added.

Both those points are sensitive. The Orthodox traditionally prize their decentralized structures and reject the idea of a Pope, while the Catholic hierarchy is a pyramid with clear lines of authority from local churches up to the powerful pontiff.

To work this out, they are studying Christianity's early history to see how the Latin-speaking West and Greek-speaking East worked together for 1,000 years before the Great Schism.

"The basic discussion is about how these churches lived in the first millennium and how we can find a new (common) path today," Koch explained.

Koch said Pope Benedict recently showed his readiness to accept diversity in the church by inviting disaffected Anglicans to become Catholics while keeping some of their traditions.

Zizioulas said a next step along the way to unity will be a pan-Orthodox council to work out relations between national churches and the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has spiritual leadership but no practical authority over them.

"We hope that very soon we will be able to invoke such a council," he said. He said the joint theological commission could probably meet again in 2012 to discuss the theological aspects of closer unity.



P.S. OK... Reuters committed a major 'error' by reporting the above without any input from the Russian delegation head, Patriarch Kirill's 'foreign minister' and #2 man, Metropolitan Hilarion, who expostulated the Russian position - disagreeing that any progress has been made on the Petrine Primacy issue - with some indignation. It's almost as if he was at a different meeting from that attended by Mons. Koch and Metropolitan Zizoulias.


Moscow Patriarchate says 'no breakthrough'
accomplished in Orthodox-Catholic dialog


In fairness, neither Koch nor Zizoulias ever used the word 'breakthrough'. The most optimistic term they uses was 'promising progress'. But the Russians say NYET! As wet blankets go, this is a Siberian killer chiller!

Moscow, September 28 (Interfax) - The Moscow Patriarchate has denied media reports claiming that a breakthrough has been accomplished in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue at a meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue in Vienna last week.

"Contrary to media reports, no 'breakthroughs' were accomplished. The entire meeting was devoted to the role of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium. The Coordinating Committee had drafted a report, which was discussed in Cyprus last year. The raw copy of this document was leaked to the media and was published," Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Department of External Church Relations, said in a statement.

"It was thought that the discussion of this document would be finished in Vienna, he said.

"But this did not happen and much time was spent on a discussion of the status of this text. The Orthodox participants had been arguing from the start that the 'Cretan document' (updated later in Cyprus) - cannot be officially published on behalf of the commission, or signed by its members. In our opinion, this document is in need of thorough editing. But even after editing, it may only have the status of a 'working' document. i.e., the status of 'instrument laboris' which can be used to prepare subsequent documents. But by itself it cannot have any official status," he said.

Metropolitan Hilarion said that the document drafted in Crete is of "purely historical character," which, while elaborating on the role of the Bishop of Rome, almost does not mention bishops of other local churches in the first millennium, which creates a wrong understanding of how powers were distributed in the ancient Church, he said.

In addition to this, the document carries no clear assertion that the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium did not extend to the East. Metropolitan Hilarion said that these blank spaces would hopefully be filled in the edited text.

Following a long-lasting discussion, the commission agreed that the draft needs to be edited and that the decision on its final status will be announced at the next plenary meeting, in about two years.

A new document, which will look at the same problem from a theological (rather than purely historical) point of view, is expected to be drafted by the same time.

It is clear for the Orthodox participants that the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome only extended to the West in the first millennium, Metropolitan Hilarion said. In the East, the territories were divided between the four Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antiochia and Jerusalem.

The Bishop of Rome "had no direct jurisdiction over the East," even though in individual instances Eastern hierarchs would turn to him as an arbiter in theologian disputes, he said.

"These instances were not systematic and cannot in any way suggest that the Bishop of Rome was seen in the East as the possessor of supreme authority over the Universal Church," the Metropolitan said.

The Catholic side will hopefully accept this position at subsequent sessions - a position which is being confirmed by numerous historical evidence. [??????]

If I understand correctly the possible model cited by Koch and Zizoulias, the Bishop of Rome would be the titular head of a unified Church in which the Orthodox Churches would retain their hierarchies and liturgies. But as it has done throughout its history, the Moscow Patriarchate appears to insist that it is fully the equal of the Apostolic See of Peter and would never accept even the token authority of the Pope suggested by Koch and Zizoulias!

Also, I don't think anyone has suggested that the Joint Theological Commission has anything like a document to agree on at this stage! Cardinal Kasper made it clear last year when the Paphos draft was leaked that it was very much a working document. And it would truly be a miracle if the commission had reached a point of voting on an outcome, just two years after it first decided to tackle head-on the main obstacle to any ecumenical discussion - the role of the Bishop of Rome in a unified Church.

Hilarion's comments are the sharp updraft of a cold phase in Moscow's blow-hot-blow-cold ecumenical game with the Vatican and its open continuing challenge to the idea that Bartholomew's Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (which has been reduced to a few thousand members compared to the Russian Orthodox Church's 150 million) is primus inter pares in the Orthodox universe.

Bridging the Anglican-Catholic gap:
The ecumenical impact of the Pope's visit
By Kevin M. Clarke



SAN MARCOS, California, Sept. 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Five years into his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI marked a new papal first for himself -- celebrating a beatification.

This beatification occurred in the homeland of the one raised to the altars, as has been the Vatican’s trend. But the papal voyage for a beatification was unique. Then again, 19th-century former Anglican and Catholic convert John Henry Cardinal Newman is no ordinary beatus.

Pope Benedict stated on the flight on the way to the United Kingdom that Newman is a man of “exceptional stature for our time” and a “bridge” to unity between Anglicans and Catholics. He even stated that he is “like a Doctor of the Church for us and for all.”

So, the now Blessed Newman may also become the 34th of the Church’s doctors -- an act that may accompany his future canonization. And why not? Consider the many spheres of Catholic theology in which Blessed Newman extended his influence -- development of doctrine, ecumenism, the nature of Catholic education.

And while the Pope stressed Blessed Newman’s impact over each, in addition to Newman’s spirituality and holiness, the visit to the United Kingdom bear the greatest impact upon the future of the ecumenical movement.

Among his Friday stops was Lambeth Palace, where the Pope met with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. While the Pope did not dwell heavily upon the present state of ecumenism in his address, he offered insights that no doubt will bear heavily upon the future of the Anglican-Catholic dialogue.

The Pope even managed to raise, eloquently, the often ecumenically complicated question of conversion, when he said of Blessed John henry that he “was moved to follow his conscience, even at great personal cost.” That movement, of course, was his historic acceptance of the Catholic faith.

But the Holy Father pointed to a second dimension to Blessed Newman’s ecumenical witness - his continued companionship with members of the Anglican community. This “led him to explore with them, in a truly eirenical spirit, the questions on which they differed, driven by a deep longing for unity in faith.” The Pope thus indicated to Williams his desire to continue in that same spirit.

The graceful mention of Newman’s fidelity to his conscience is an important one. All too often one hears personal conversion stories in which pastors from other communities desiring full communion with Rome were encouraged -- in some cases even by Catholics themselves -- to remain separate from the Catholic Church to achieve the greatest possible unity [????] But what is lost in such an approach is the pastor’s duty himself to follow his conscience.

And this, of course, is why Blessed Newman’s example is so vital. That dialogue and friendship continue on both sides, in charity and in truth, even after a conversion.

During the ecumenical evening prayer at Westminster Abbey, the Pope noted that this is the centenary year of the modern ecumenical movement and poibnted to the progress that has been made since then.

He drew attention to the common theological beliefs shared by Anglicans and Catholics, but also addressed the many challenges, both on the path to Christian unity and with regard to the proclamation of Christ in the modern age.

He offered the following “word of encouragement: “Fidelity to the word of God, precisely because it is a true word, demands of us an obedience which leads us together to a deeper understanding of the Lord’s will, an obedience which must be free of intellectual conformism or facile accommodation to the spirit of the age.”

Looking back at to the past year will shed light on the present state of Vatican-Anglican relations [dominated by Benedict XVI's decreeing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus to facilitate the conversion of traditional Anglican groups disaffected by the growing liberalization within the Anglican Communion.]

Less than a week after the beatification, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Washington Archbishop Daniel Wuerl, by appointment of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will head the U.S. body in charge of implementing the Anglicanorum coetibus.

Archbishop Wuerl’s job will be twofold: to implement the apostolic constitution and to gauge the actual extent of interest in it. No doubt his duty will also entail the assuaging of fears -- on the part of both Anglicans and Catholics -- concerning the many challenges of the change.

The Vatican is in the process of setting up the structures to receive groups of Anglicans who have requested “repeatedly and insistently” to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. The document, issued last November, looks to create “ordinariates” for Anglicans desiring full communion.

The ordinariates may be compared with particular churches, as provisions guarantee that much of the Anglican liturgical identity will be preserved, while establishing full doctrinal communion within Sacred Tradition (with the Catechism of the Catholic Church as its authoritative expression). The constitution also elucidates the terms of assimilating Anglican clergy into Catholic Holy Orders.

The Pope’s earlier thought is useful in illustrating his navigation of the Barque of Peter. He writes in "Church, Ecumenism, & Politics: New Endeavors of Ecclesiology" (Ignatius, 2008, originally published in Communio in 1983):

“The actual goal of all ecumenical endeavors must naturally remain the transformation of the plurality of the separate denominational churches into the plurality of local Churches, which, in reality, form one Church despite their many and varied characteristics” (p. 119).

The idea is essentially the same -- the ordinariates are as local churches, preserving the characteristics of the Anglican communion while achieving koinonia in the Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church.

Forget the protesters and the embittered anti-Catholic reports that characterize much of the secular media. The true ecumenical face of Benedict XVI's image must not be be overlooked: progressive healing of centuries-old divisions.

Anglicans and Catholics -- servants of the same Lord, together “seeking a deeper understanding of the Lord’s will” -- both share in the glorious triumph of the recent papal visit.

And if Blessed Newman becomes St. Newman - - perhaps sooner rather than later - many will make the physical journey from the U.K. to Rome and St. Peter's Square for the canonization rite - a journey symbolic of the increasing spiritual union that is a gift of the “bridge” to which the Pope had referred -- Newman himself.

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 26th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. WENCESLAS (VACLAV) (Bohemia [now part of the Czech Republic], 903-935), Prince, Martyr, Patron of the Czech Republic
The 'good King Wenceslas' of song and legend, Vaclav was born to Duke Bratislav, a Christian [said to have been converted by Saints Cyril and Methodius], and Dragomir, a heathen. He received a good Christian education from his grandmother (St. Ludmilla). When Bratislav died, his widow Dragomir, acting as regent, opposed Christianity, and Vaclav urged by the people, took the reins of government. He placed his duchy under the protection of Germany, and the German Emperor Otto I conferred him with the regal title. Vaclav introduced German priests to the duchy and favoured the Latin rite instead of the old Slavic, which had gone into disuse in many places for want of priests. Vaclav had taken a vow of virginity and was known for his virtues. For religious and national motives, and at the instigation of his mother, Vaclav was murdered by his brother Boleslav, as follows: "In September of 935 (in older sources, 929) a group of nobles allied with Vaclav's younger brother Boleslav in a plot to kill the prince. Boleslav invited Vaclav to the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Stará Boleslav. Three of Boleslav's companions ambushed Vaclav on his way to the church and murdered him. Boleslav thus succeeded him as the Duke of Bohemia." Vaclav's body, hacked to pieces, was buried where he was murdered, but three years later Boleslav, having repented, ordered its translation to the Church of St. Vitus in Prague. On this day last year, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in Stara Boleslav on the Feast of St. Vaclav, for a gathering of at least 40,000 Czechs.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/092810.shtml


OR for 9/27-9/28/10:

From left: Illumination of 'The rich man and Lazarus', from a 15th century Camaldolense Missal; the Pope bids farewell to the community of Castel Gandolfo; and a pilgrim in medieval pilgrim's garb arrives at the Cathedral of St. James in Compostela.
At the Angelus, the Pope recalls St Vincent de Paul, patron of charitable associations:
'God loves the poor and asks us to serve our brothers'
He also paid tribute to Roman teenager Chiara Badano (died 1990) who was beatified last Saturday.
Other papal stories in this issue: The Holy Father's letter to the Second World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Shrines and Pilgrimages meeting in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and his farewell to the Castel Gandolfo community and various support services preparatory to returning to the Vatican on Thursday; and his message of condolence at the funeral of Mons. Eleuterio Fortino, for years the #3 man in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Page 1 international news: The US tries to salvage intended Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as Israel's moratorium on settlement-building in the West Bank ends; NATO steps up anti-terrorist operations from Afghanistan in Pakistan's Waziristan province, long a Taliban and Al-Qaeda refuge.


No events scheduled for the Holy Father today.




IN MEMORIAM JOHN PAUL I


Photos at right show Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger paying homage to John Paul I on his installation as Pope, and Cardinal Albino Luciani as Patriarch of Venice welcoming Pope Paul VI at St. Mark's's Square.

32 years ago today, Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) was found dead in his bedroom at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, after only 33 days as Pope. He was 65. The cause for his beatification awaits certification of the miracle that cured a southern Italian man afflicted with terminal cancer.

Papa Luciani's beautiful prayer above translates as follows:
"Lord take me as I am,
with all my defects and shortcomings.
But make me become
what you want me to be".

A small step back in time: It's taken more than a week to find any pictures online of the Holy Father's private visit to the Birmingham Oratory and Blessed John Newman's new shrine and the rooms he lived in for about five decades until his death in 1890. Thanks to

who posted pictures from the OR catalog for the actual visit inside the oratory and to BBC for pictures of the Holy Father's arrival adn departure at the Oratory.


DAY 4 OF THE VISIT:
At Birmingham Oratory

The Holy Father rode the Popemobile to the Oratory in the Edgbaston neighborhood of Birmingham from Cofton Park after the beatification Mass.




At the new Newman Shrine in what was the St. Phillip Neri chapel of teh Oratory:


The Pope then visited the new Blessed's private rooms - a library, really, with his desk, and with his private chapel in one corner; as well as a collection of religious items and chasubles used by Cardinal Newman.







And a little 'domestic' moment with a black cat, before ending the visit:



Outside the Oratory, the Holy Father did one of his little impromptu walkabouts to greet the crowd before getting into the car to leave for Oscott College and his last appointment on Sunday, Sept. 19 - a meeting with the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland.

When the 'vicar of Christ' becomes
an object of trivial pursuit..

Not that lists or polls necessarily mean anything - their putative 'value' depends very much on who's compiling the lists or taking the polls.

Well, Britain's radically chic New Statesman (weekly circulation between 20,000-30,000) published their annual list of so-called '50 people who matter most' two days after the Holy Father left the UK. And guess what? They bumped him up from #26 last year to #6 this year... after Australian Rupert Murdoch (who owns the London Times, News of the World and Sky TV in the UK, as well as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Fox News in the US) ranking above Obama, who is #2, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Xi Jinping (expected to be China's next leader) and Steve Jobs of Apple. Check the full list here...
www.newstatesman.com/2010/09/global-influence-world-2
The people on the list supposedly "all have world-changing potential... and are individuals who have global influence - for good or ill". Fifteen of the names on the list I never saw before (obviously I am far from au courant). But Lady Gaga?



Their blurb on Benedict tells us all we need to know about their standards, or lack thereof.

---

The reaction to Benedict XVI's UK visit demonstrates the divisive but enduring impact of the pontiff today.

For critics of the Vatican, he has become a symbol not only of Catholic doctrine at its reactionary worst, but also of the cover-up of child abuse in his Church.

Don't forget the scale of the faith Benedict leads - according to recent figures, there are nearly 1.2 billion baptised Catholics worldwide.

With assets thought to be worth upwards of $1.8bn and a dedicated bank that frequently holds more than $1bn in deposits, the Vatican is also a financial power. This Pope's influence goes far beyond the spiritual inspiration of his flock.

---

One suspects that if, by some highly unlikely fluke, the UK visit had been a flop, they would have considered the Pope devoid of 'global influence' despite the size of his flock and the presumed wealth that the Vatican has!

Lord Patten says the Pope's visit
was a 'trumph and a huge success'
Westminster speech will impact
public debate for years to come
by Serena Sartini


LONDON, Sept. 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The government representative who oversaw Benedict XVI's Sept. 16-19 journey to the United Kingdom has evaluated the trip as a "huge success" and a "triumph."

Lord Chris Patten, who was appointed by the prime minister in June to oversee the papal visit, told ZENIT that "by common consent, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain was a huge success."

"His four days with us in September were a triumph for His Holiness, for the Catholic Church and its partner Christian denominations, for other faith groups in our country, and for all those from civil servants to police officers who helped to organize his visit," he said.

Lord Patten spoke of the "huge and enthusiastic crowds of well-wishers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike" who greeted the Pope.

"I will long remember the crowds in Edinburgh when he arrived, the throng along the Mall in London on his way to the Hyde Park prayer vigil, and the mix of worshippers -- young, old, and from every race and class -- on all the pastoral occasions," he said.

Citing the role of Catholic education in the country and the government's partnership with the Church on certain issues, Lord Patten said that the visit "reminded us, in case we had forgotten, the role that faith groups play in our domestic life."

He affirmed that the Pope was "clearly impressed by the evidence that the Christian legacy is -- in his own words -- 'strong and still alive in every level of social life' in Britain."

Lord Patten called the Pope's series of speeches and homilies "remarkable," and said that he "challenged us all to observe the relationship between reason and religion and the importance of establishing an ethical foundation for political action and policy making in the public arena. Success is not just about advances in consumerism."

The government official made particular reference to the Pope's speech to representatives of British society at Westminster Hall. He said this address "will have a substantial impact on public debate for many years to come."

"So Pope Benedict’s stay with us was in the most profound sense a visit to remember," Lord Patten concluded. "Some of its lessons and messages will reverberate down the years.”





One of the most inspired initiatives by the Church organizers of the papal visit was the distribution through all parishes - and thereby potentially to every Catholic household - of the 480-page booklet MAGNIFICAT: Liturgies and Events of the Papal Visit. A million copies altogether, and it was also available as a PDF download from many sites.
www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/content/download/9844/63860/file/UK-Magnif...
My only regret is that none of the downloads includes the front and back covers, a complaint I have had all these past three years almost, with Mons. Marini's Office of Papal Liturgies, which omits including the cover of the missals they post online, for reasons I do not understand! At least, if he posts a Notification of the liturgy a few days earlier, the illustration is usually the one that goes on the cover of the Missal. If there is no notification, then I am forced to use an appropriate illustration for the feast or event being celebrated.]


Finally, after the visit, I find two not very good reproductions of the cover for the booklet, but I have to use a news agency photo to show what the back cover looks like! The cover illustration, a 4th century Roman mosaic of Christ, deserves the explanation given in the booklet, which I will post after the article.


Booklet aided the faithful
in following the papal liturgies


LONDON, Sept. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- As many as half a million people were personally with Benedict XVI during his four-day trip to the United Kingdom. But twice that number of liturgy booklets distributed around the nation ensured that even those who couldn't see the Pope firsthand were still able to pray with him.

The monthly missalette Magnificat, which has subscribers around the world, cooperated with U.K. bishops' conferences in producing a booklet to help the faithful follow all the papal liturgies, as well as put the main themes of the visit in context.

Forewords were prepared by the archbishops of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland; and Westminster; as well as by Lord Patten, the government representative to prepare the trip; and Archbishop Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion.

As is customary for the Magnificat booklets, various spiritual reflections gave insight into themes such as the relationship between the Scottish government and religion, the importance of Mass, and meditations on the saints.

Romain Lize, assistant director of Magnificat, told ZENIT that the initiative took place because "it was very important for the episcopal conferences of Great Britain to associate the greatest possible number of persons with this historic visit, particularly those who could not travel."

"Magnificat has been present for several years in Great Britain, so it was natural for it to invest in the preparation of the Pope's visit both financially and spiritually," he said. "This visit was an opportunity to make the booklet available to the faithful in a completely British version, with the appropriate liturgical calendar and biblical translation."

Lize added that the missal's distribution in Great Britain reflects a "determination to support the English Catholic community and to encourage the 'second spring' desired by Cardinal John Henry Newman, beatified on Sunday."


For those who have not had a chance to check out the booklet - which chould be saved on your hard drive - this brief essay about the mosaic on the book cover is a sample of the abundance of informative material in the book in addition to the complete texts of the liturgies.

---

AN IMAGE OF CHRIST
FROM THE 4TH CENTURY

Most Christians are familiar with the stories of the second
evangelisation of “mainland” Britain during the 6th and 7th Centuries, with the mission of Columba, of Aidan and Cuthbert in Scotland and North of England, and with that of Augustine in the South of England.

But there was a first and earlier evangelisation in England and wales – not so well known and which faded during the Dark Ages, but
which bore rich fruit, amongst whom must be counted St David of Wales and Saint Patrick, apostle to Ireland.

That first evangelisation began during the time of the Roman occupation. Scarcely anything is known of the organisation of the Church here during that time, and perhaps it came to these shores only because it had first been embraced by Roman traders and settlers.

But it took root quickly and firmly. We know of the fervour of the faith of these early communities through the accounts of the martyrdoms of Saints Alban, Julius and Aaron during the Diocletian persecution. And we know something of the way they practised faith through the traces of their homes and places of worship recovered by archaeologists. It is still possible to visit the remains of the chapel in the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, Kent, and in the British
Museum to see the Christian paintings which decorated its walls.

More perfectly preserved is a mosaic floor now in the British Museum but which comes from a Roman villa at Hinton St Mary, Dorset. This mosaic from the 4th century contains what is one of the very earliest known representations of Christ not only in Britain, but anywhere.

The image is featured on the cover of this book nd it shows Christ as a clean-shaven young man. The bust is placed before the Greek letters chi and rho, the first two letters of Christ’s name: a sign adopted in AD 312 by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. The Chi Rho was a common symbol for Christianity from this time, and also features in the decoration of the chapel at Lullingstone. Also in this image, flanking the head of Jesus are two pomegranates, symbols of eternal life, and of the resurrection.

The image of Christ is incorporated into a larger mosaic made of two panels. The first and smaller panel includes hunting scenes and a central roundel which shows the hero Bellerophon mounted on his winged horse Pegasus, slaying the three-headed monster, Chimaera. A pagan scene is depicted, but perhaps it is intended for a Christian audience as a scene which illustrates the triumph of good over evil.

The second, larger, panel contains the image of Christ, but also images of the four winds, or are they the four apostles? Probably both.

Pagan imagery was commonly used in Christian art,and for a variety of reasons. It was relatively anonymous, accessible to the initiate, But “hidden” from persecutors of the Church. It indicated an ascendency of Christianity over the pagan cults, and the fulfilment of all which these promised – so a Christian looking at an image of Apollo saw not Apollo the Sun God but Jesus the Son of God, and not Hermes carrying a ram ready for slaughter and sacrifice, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, carrying the lost lamb home for which he himself was the sacrifice who saves and wins us life, and freedom for those who will receive his love.

The mosaic of Hinton St Mary stands at the end of that practice, for with the prominent Christian symbolism accompanying the image of Christ, there is no mistaking who is portrayed.

And this explicitly Christian mosaic stands at the beginning of the great mosaic tradition which would come to its fullest expression in the mosaics of the Christian basilicas of Rome, Constantinople and Ravenna.

---

Posted 9/30/2010

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Illustrations from left: Michael, Raphael and Gabriel in usual representations (2 each). Third and fifth are Greek icons showing all three.
THE ARCHANGELS MICHAEL, GABRIEL & RAPHAEL
The only angels named in Scripture, the archangesl are the highest-ranking angels acting as God's messengers to men . Michael is generally considered the protector archangel; Gabriel the messenger archangel, having anounced the Incarnation to Mary; and Raphael, the healing archangel.

(Because of my tardiness, I missed seeing the 9/29/10 OR posting. By the time I checked last night, it had been replaced by the 9/30 issue. But apparently, we have not missed anything significant because none of the 9/29 items is in the available online archive.)


THE POPE'S DAY

General Audience - The Holy Father's catechesis was on the 13th-century Cistercian nun St. Mathilda of Hackeborn.
He made a special appeal in behalf of two million Nigerians who are the victims of severe flooding.