BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

See preceding page for earlier entries today, 4/2/11.





Reading JON-2:
Being with the Father, Jesus is always with us -
'present throughout history and in every place'
by Carlo Di Cicco
Deputy Editor
Translated from the 4/2/11 issue of



Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's new book makes Jesus of Nazareth our contemporary.

In the great disorder that reigns on earth today, the irruption of such a fascinating book prompts questions that touch the profundity of our unease. Each one can find in it a guiding light out of that unease.

Volume II recounts the three days that are crucial in the earthly existence of Jesus, his last hours of life marked by his Passion and death. The start of a new time - with the Resurrection - a true watershed in history that originated an alternative perspective on the future of the world and of human hopes.

The author is convinced that a positive confrontation with Jesus of Nazareth can be a solution rather than a problem for mankind. His investigation is convincing, reasonable and respectful of different cultures and viewpoints.

To be interested in Jesus, makes sense, the book tells us, in effect - because he is the only person in history who resurrected from the dead, the Living One who is immersed in all the ages of the world and therefore, in our present - a reliable travelling companion who introduces us to the unknown horizons of life after death.

Whoever would want to understand this mysterious Lord should reflect on the final days of his earthly life.

Page after page, from the words and actions of Jesus, the theologian who became Pope carries the anchors of what it means to be a Christian.

On the one hand, he links the Nazarene's experience of suffering, of anguish and of tenderness, with all the tears and immeasurable pain of all victims in all times; and on the other, he helps us to read fragments of the mystery of evil and suffering which are no longer invincible after his agony on the Mount of Olives and his total abandon on the Cross.

The resurrection of Jesus is not a belated flight of fancy by disciples who, unable to forget him, transformed him into a myth. It is a reality that actually happened, just like his crucifixion and his death.

But while we have experiential knowledge of the pain and death kneaded into history, our knowledge of the Resurrection is that of faith. A reasonable faith, but still faith.

Papa Ratzinger reminds us that Christian faith is founded on the Resurrection. Because it is so closely connected to the Cross, the memory of the Resurrection is 'dangerous' for human knowledge. [???]

For the disciples who had expected a regal and triumphant Messiah, the death of Jesus was an overwhelming loss. But the resurrection, once they had confirmed it, changed their perspective, and so they decided to follow the Master whom they finally understood for what he was - the Son of God.

The mystery of Christ's passion, death and resurrection, the author reminds us, contains some of the most profound existential questions/

In the trial of Jesus, we see a radical criticism of politics based on deceit and violence rather than on truth. The destiny of the world depends on truth, not on power which remains an illusory solution.

To interest ourselves about Jesus is to be interested in that destiny, because he came to earth to give the most authoritative testimony of truth which Christian teaching identifies with God.

In the style of the Fathers of the Church, Papa Ratzinger does not write for intellectual pleasure, but offers a book for life. Reading his JESUS books immerses us in the depths of the Christian mystery, revealing to us how little it is known and savored.

In choosing to interpret the accounts of the Passion based on both historical research and faith - that are not opposites but complementary - the author confirms the theology of the Council and puts an end to the prejudice against the Jewish people who had been accused for centuries of deicide.

In the various episodes he examines - from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection - Benedict XVI uses a new and accessible language without sacrificing depth.

He calls the Church 'the community of disciples'; he defines charity as 'concerned attention for others', not a second compartment of Christianity next to worship, "but rooted in the worship of God and part of it".

He evokes great emotion about the struggle between good and evil in Gethsemane when Jesus "elevates our recalcitrant nature to become its real self".

The Ascension is translated into the 'permanent nearness' of Jesus to us, an 'entering into the mystery of God", another dimension of being.

And he describes the Resurrection as a totally new phenomenon, a new dimension of being human, a decisive mutation, a qualitative leap, a new kind of future for men, a new dimension of human existence encompassed in the act of giving one's life.

Love and the resurrection, the author insists, are the two distinct motivations for being Christian. The Resurrection as a 'genetic mutation' fulfilled by God in Jesus and promised to everyone. Love as a way of life that distinguishes the children of God and which opens up for the cosmos a future of hope.




Cardinal Rouco Varela presents
JON-2 in Madrid:
'A precious tool for catechism'
Translated from the 4/1/11 issue of





MADRID, April 1 - "It is a magnificent book of spiritual reading and a catechetical-philosophical instrument that will help in the ministry of the faith and in religious dialog. It is a work that is particularly moving because it is born at a time of full maturity in the Pope's spiritual life".

These are among the remarks made by Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, presenting Benedict XVI's JESUS OF NAZARETH- Vol. II in the Spanish capital Wednesday evening, at the San Damaso Faculty of theology.

After recalling that Joseph Ratzinger, before he became Pope, "had always wanted to write about Jesus Christ", the cardinal underscored that the Pope's Jesus books "invite the reader to know the totality of his person, to meet the man who was Jesus so that those who read the book may get to know him".

The cardinal observed that the theologian Joseph Ratzinger had always thought of the student of theology as someone "who has a life touched by the great questions, a life that is in need of help. And therefore, to this end, he is served by getting close to the figure and the message of Christ, without intellectual malice or fundamental doubts, in order to know the truth, the reality of faith and reason, and get to the heart of Christ".

All this, he said, "gives us one key to comprehending this book."

It helps to read the book, he added, with some idea of theological and critical exegesis of Scripture. He considers it "an instrument that contributes to the consideration of philosophical problems and helps us to appreciate his form and manner of exercising the ministry of the Word, in bearing witness to the faith, in the dialog with other religions, as well as with the world of professors who find it difficult to wean themselves away from intellectual theologies that are 'pre-historic'."



Also taking part in the presentation were Mons. Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid, and secretary-general and spokesman of the Spanish bishops' conference; Ignacio Carbajosa, professor of Scripture at San Damaso; and Jose Miguel Oriol, president of Ediciones Encuentro, which published the Spanish edition of the book.

Oriol met the Pope at the Vatican on March 9, when, after the General Audience, the Pope gave an audience to the publishers of his book from various countries.



Also present was the dean of San Damaso, Javier Prades, who recalled the address given by Cardinal Ratzinger at the Pontifical Lateran University in October 2008 at an international conference to mark the 10th anniversary of John Paul II's encyclical Fides et ratio. He said the Pope's new book was "an instrument for us to grow in the loving knowledge of Christ".

Mons. Camino, commenting on the structure imposed by the Pope on his book, said the Pope noted properly how "when he Jesus preached, he spoke of the Father and the Creator but not of the Son".

He also noted the 'double distance' - that between Jesus and the New testament, and between the New Testament and our time - two gaps that scientific knowledge seeks to bridge.

He said historico-critical exegesis "would reconstruct for us the true historical Jesus, which, according to theological-philosophical understanding, is also the Jesus of faith".

However, he also notes that in the Pope's book, there is "a new direction, which is the result of his long search for the face of God in Jesus of Nazareth": the structuring of the book through its canonical historico-critical exegesis, completes scientific knowledge with the hermeneutic of faith, where Scripture is not merely an epilogue to historical texts".

Its true objective, he said, is to provide "a living encounter with Jesus and the essence of Christianity".

For Prof. Carbajosa, the book "contributes many new things to the totality of modern exegesis", and develops its originality along two axes: its methodological foundation and the practical exercise of canonical exegesis.

On RAI-TV today:
THE STYLE OF BENEDICT XVI

After six years of almost pointedly ignoring Benedict XVI, RAI-1, the premier channel of Italian state TV, dedicated another episode in its popular Sunday morning broadcast A Sua Immagine to the present Pope, just a month after it featured on March 3 a discussion of the second volume of JESUS OF NAZARETH.

[Our fellow Italian Benaddicts have often lamented the fact that the program has featured episodes about John Paul II far more often, even on occasions like the anniversary of Benedict XVI's election. They remember that when Benedict XVI turned 80, RAI dedicated an entire primetime current affairs program to the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, without mention of the Pope's milestone birthday (although later they did broadcast the late Giuseppe De Carli's documentary tribute to Benedict XVI to a morning audience). The fact that RAI is taking note of Benedict XVI on the anniversary of his predecessor's death is a surprising change, since in previous years, they have marked even the anniversary of Benedict XVI's election with a special on John Paul II.]

Here is a translation of RAI's online blurb for the feature on Benedict XVI today:

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"I am a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to work even with inadequate instruments, and above all, I entrust myself to your prayers".

A Sua Immagine this Sunday dedicates part of Sunday's program to the style of Benedict XVI and his Pontificate, distinguished by the union of faith and reason, bringing back the evangelical message to the center of Christian life, the constant search for truth, and dialog with other religions, with the faithful, and all those who for various reasons have become distant from the Church.

Along with program host Rosario Carello, we shall look at the teaching of Benedict XVI, and what he has to say about the eternal questions of man, his relationship with God, the totality of life, and the balance between freedom and truth.

Journalist and writer Vittorio Messori, who has called Benedict XVI 'the authentic post-modern intellectual' will be in the studio to speak about him.

For other parts of the program, A Sua Imagine continues its series on John Paul II, Un santo pellegrino in Italia (A saint on pilgrimage in Italy) capturing the words, encounters and prayers of the late Pope on his visits to our cities.

Francesca Faldini will report news and cultural events in the Italian Church, and to comment on the Pope's Angelus which airs at 12:00 noon, will be Angelo Scelzo, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

NB: RAI has faithfully broadcast the Sunday Angelus of the Popes since the time of Paul VI. The Angelus broadcasts are usually watched by 20-25% of the TV audience in its timeslot.]

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April 3, Fourth Sunday in Lent

Second from right, a fresco showing angels helping the saint in the kitchen, in the Palermo church where he is enshrined; extreme right, the saint's remains.
ST. BENEDETTO IL MORO (Benedict the Moor) (b N Africa, 1526, d Sicily, 1589), Franciscan
The son of Ethiopian slaves, he and his family were taken to Messina, where he was freed at age 18. He joined some hermits near Palermo, but since they
followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope Pius IV ordered them to formally join the order. A lay brother, he began as cook in the friary in Palermo but later
became novice master and then its superior. Although he was uneducated, his understanding of theology and of Holy Scriptures was considered remarkable.
He also had healing powers. He developed a reputation for holiness and attracted such a following he could only go out at night, well-covered, to avoid
recognition and people trying to tear pieces off his garments. In the last years of his life, he asked to serve once again as friary cook. His cult was immediate
after his death, and today, he is particularly venerated in Brazil. He is considered the patron saint of black Americans. He was canonized in 1807. His incorrupt
body lies in Church of the friary where he served in Palermo.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040311.shtml


OR today.
The Vatican announcement giving details for the Day of Dialog and Prayer in Assisi on Oct. 27 is prominent on Page 1 today, but there are no papal photos. Page international news: Hostilities continue in Libya with Qaddafi's forces pushing back the rebels towards Benghazi; protests continue to erupt in Afghan cities following the March 21 Koran burning by a Protestant pastor in Florida, and a violent protest raid on a provincial United Nations headquarters in which 12 people were killed, two of them decapitated; In the inside pages, the Italian bishops issue a strong appeal to the European Union to take concrete steps to face the waves of refugees arriving from North Africa which Italy alone cannot deal with.


ANGELUS TODAY

The Holy Father reflected on the meaning of Laetare Sunday today - a day of rejoicing during the Lenten season- and the Gospel account of Jesus healing a blind man. After the prayers, he recalled the sixth anniversary of John Paul II's death yesterday, explaining that this year, he did not celebrate a commemorative Mass in view of the late Pope's beatification on May 1. He enjoined the faithful to entrust themselves to his intercession as the Christian world prepared for Easter.


A PERSONAL NOTE
A small milestone today for the BENEDICT thread in the English section of the Forum: We are on Page 200, since it opened on May 1, 2009. It took 698 days to get here. An indication that as time goes, we are getting more 'efficient' with our posts - as we learn to track down stories better. It took 1008 days for us to get to Page 200 after we started the BENEDICT thread in the PRF in November 2005.

Another modest statistic: From an average of 200-300 hits a day when this thread began, we are now up to 700-1,000 a day. I thank each and everyone who has visited the Forum and continue to visit it, as I continue to hope for your active participation.

Over the years, both Forums have changed from the initial spurt of Benaddiction that had to be expressed volubly and effusively on a daily basis in 2005, to the far more sedate but still diligent channels for news and photos of Benedict XVI and his Pontificate.

By the time I started this thread on Gloria's Forum, I had settled for some time into treating it more like an online magazine - with possibilities for comment - about the Pope and his times, a convenient one-stop shop for those who want to know what's the latest about Benedict XVI, from sources that go beyond the Anglophone media, as well as a record of papal texts and available newsphotos of his Pontificate.

My comments have generally been a response to irresponsible media reporting and commentary, as well as my own effort to provide both Catholic and universal context to the events of this Pontificate - and occasional effusions of Benaddiction. Of course, every second that I devote to this Forum is motivated by sheer Benaddiction, and comes with a prayer for him and the Church.

God bless our beloved Pope, especially with good health and long years, as he has blessed him all his life in so many other ways.

ANGELUS TODAY



Pope Benedict reflects on Easter
and John Paul II's beatification

April 3, 2011

Pope Benedict at the Angelus today reflected on two forthcoming events in the Church calender, the feast of Easter and the Beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1st.

On the day after the 6th anniversary of John Paul’s death, the Holy Father said, "While, through our Lenten journey, we prepare for the feast of Easter, we are also joyfully approaching the day when we will venerate as Blessed this great witness of Christ and Pope and rely even more on his intercession".

He explained that because of the impending beatification of Pope John Paul, he did not celebrate a memorial Mass on Saturday, but “I fondly remembered him in prayer, as I think all of you did."

Before the recitation of the Marian prayer the Pope took time to reflect on the Sunday Gospel which recounts the miracle of the man born without sight.

“In today’s Gospel Jesus, the light of the world, gives sight to the man born blind. May the light of Christ, received in Baptism, always guide us through this life to the splendour of divine glory, the Pope said in his brief synthesis for English-speaking pilgrims.

In his mini-homily, the Pope explained that this man was on a journey of faith; he meets Jesus “as a 'man' among others, then he considers him a 'prophet', finally, his eyes open and he proclaims Him 'Lord'."

Pope Benedict went on to say that, "we too because of the sin of Adam are born" blind ", but in the baptismal font we were enlightened by the grace of Christ.”

Finally , before greeting the faithful in Saint Peter’s Square in a number of languages including English the Pope prayed that “in these days which prepare us for Easter may the gift we received at Baptism be rekindled in us, that flame that sometimes threatens to be stifled. Let us nourish it with prayer and love of neighbour".




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

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The Lenten itinerary that we are living these days is a special time of grace, during which we can experience the benevolence of the Lord towards us.

The liturgy this Sunday, called Laetare Sunday, invites us to rejoice, as the entry antiphon of the Mass does: "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad, all you who love her; Exult with her, all you who were mourning over her!" (cfr Is 66,10-11).

What is the profound reason for this joy? Today's Gospel, in whicb Jesus heals a man who had been born blind, tells us. The question Jesus asks the man who was once blind constitutes the main point of the narrative: "Do you believe in the Son of man?" (Jn 9.35).

That man recognizes the sign that had been worked by Jesus and passes from having light in his eyes to the light of faith: "I believe, Lord" (Jn 9,36).

One must point out how a simple and sincere person gradually achieves the path of faith. At first, he meets Jesus as just another 'man' among others, then considers him a 'prophet', and finally, his eyes are opened and he proclaims him 'Lord'.

The opposite of the faith of the blind man who was cured is the hardening of the heart among the Pharisees who would not acknowledge the miracle because they refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

And the crowd stops to talk about what has happened while remaining distant and indifferent. Even the parents of the once-blind man were overcome by fear of the judgment of others.

And we, what attitude do we take in front of Jesus? We too, beause of Adam's sin, were born 'blind', but in thebaptismal font, we were enlightened by the grace of Christ. Sin had wounded mankind, making man destined for the obscurity of death, but in Christ shines the new life t which we are all called.

In him, and reinvigorated by theHoly Spirit, we receive thestrength to conquer evil and to do good. Indeed, Christian life is a continual 'conformation' to Christ, the image of the new man, in order to reach full communion with God.

The Lord Jesus is the 'light of the world' (Jn 8,12), because in him, 'the knowledge of the glory of God shines" (2 Cor 4,6) who continues to reveal the sense of human existence in the complex tangle of history.

In the rite of Baptism, the candle lit from the great paschal candle that is the symbol of the Risen Christ, is a sign that helps us to grasp what happens in the Sacrament.

When we allow our life to be illuminated by the mystery of Christ, we experience the joy of being liberated from all that threatens its full realization.

During these days as we prepare for Easter, let us revive in us the gift received at Batpsim, the flame which at times risks being stifled. Let us nourish it with prayer and charity towards our neighbor.

To the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, let us entrust our Lenten journey, so that everyone may encounter Christ, Savior of the world.

After the prayers, he said:

Dear brothers and sisters, yesterday was the sixth anniversary of the death of my beloved predecessor, the Venerable John Paul II.

Because of his forthcoming beatification, I did not celebrate the traditional commemorative Mass for him, but I remembered him affectionately in prayer, as did all of you, I think.

While, through our Lenten journey, we prepare for Easter, we also approach with joy the day when we can venerate as Blessed this great Pontiff and witness to Christ, and entrust ourselves even more to his intercession.

---

Speaking of a wider context for this Pontificate, from a Catholic point of view, that is provided very well by the new format adopted by Vittorio Messori and Andrea Tornielli, editorial director and managing editor, respectively, of the online journal La Bussola Quotidiana (The Daily Compass), in which they discuss the major events of the week in the Church and in the world.

With Andrea asking the questions and giving his own opinions, Messori replies - a format they used very well in the book PERCHE CREDO published in 2009, in which Messori explains all the reasons why he is a believer and explains the life and the background that made him rediscover the faith of his childhood as an adult... I post this not because I think what they have to say is necessarily true or valid - in any case, they are always interesting, and even informative in many ways - but because it is an indication of how two prominent lay Catholics 'loyal to the Pope', as their founding manifesto implies, think in the Age of Benedict.

TABLE TALK:
On Libya, global warming,
school uniforms in Spain,
and the Pope's book
with Vittorio Messori and Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

April 2, 2011


Vittorio, for this our seventh appointment 'at the table', it is obligatory to begin once again with the Libyan crisis. There has been some sort of scandal over the fact that Italy was not included in the 'club' of nations who have taken it on themselves to decide the fate of Libya. What do you think of our exclusion?
Dear Andrea, you know how I detest victimism, and that I prefer to say what I believe to be the truth above and beyond any rhetoric. In this case, 'patriotic' rhetoric.

I believe that every nation, much like every person, ultimately gets what it deserves. Unfortunately, Italy's diplomatic discredit has been long-standing. It has precise historical reasons that are not unfounded.

It is based above all on the fact that in the last century, on the occasion of three world wars (the two that are called such, plus the Cold War that followed), our country has been considered either a traitor or unreliable by its allies of the moment.

It started with the Great War (WWI) and the fact that Italy betrayed its Triple Alliance - with Germany and Austria-Hungary - and changed sides at the last minute in the hope of coming out with some gains. Likewise in the Second World War, after Sept. 8, 1943 (when the Mussolini government allied to Nazi Germany was toppled), Italy again betrayed its ally.

Excuse me for interrupting, but in the second case, it was a 'betrayal', to use your term, that was definitely understandable. It had to do with breaking off from Nazism and the alliance forged by Hitler with the Fascist regime. I don't think that was a shameful choice at all....
Don;t misunderstand me. I am not getting into the political or even moral merit of specific choices, but simply citing a series of objective circumstances. At that time, Italy broke the so-called 'Pact of Steel' with Germany which had been solemnly signed.

And finally in the Cold War, the Americans always considered us unreliable because Italy had the largest, most organized and most influential Communist Party in the West. We were considered so questionable diplomatically as well as militarily that during the conflict with the Soviet Union, NATO considered Italy a lost cause, with a Communist fifth column that was perfectly organized for sabotage.

And now, in the case of Libya, our government did all it could to avoid making a definitive choice that would make our allies more trusting. First, Berlusconi allowed the use of Italian bases and airplanes to enforce the UN-sanctioned 'no-fly zone', but then, he expressed sorrow for what was happening to his friend Qaddafi and added that Italian planes flying over Libya would not shoot at anything.

In short, it's an attitude that has been judged as a decision to straddle the fence, which has been a tradition of modern Italy...

I will interrupt you once more. Last week, you, like other authoritative commentators here at Bussola, expressed many doubts about the hypocrisy of the so-called 'humanitarian' motivation for the intervention...
And once again, do not misunderstand me. Even here, I will not enter into the merit of the military operation since we have discussed that thoroughly and criticized it. Nor do I rule out that there may be justification for the stand taken by the Berlusconi government. But if it was against this war, it should not have allowed use of Italian bases. As Bismarck said at the end of the 19th century in his peremptory way: "Italy always betrays".

In any case, Italy has never been a secure reference point on the international scene. And diplomacy has a long memory - and so to leave Italy out of great decisions is a sort of guarantee for the countries that do count. I would prefer that Italy acknowledges reality and drop any poses of outraged nationalism or victimism.

Staying with the Libya question, what future do you see for that country?
But even the very expensive and often useless secret services of the major allies do not know what they need to know, much less the so-called experts and all the consummate politicians who depend on them!

What is certain, as we saw in the Libya Conference in London last week, is that other nations are trying to decide the fate of Libya without the participation of the Libyan people - the Western powers will decide for them. Or at least, they want to. And we know how these things usually end.

As usual, the realities on site have nothing to do with armchair planning. From my direct contact with persons who have worked for years in Libya, I am told that it was the one North African country where no one was seeking to flee, before now. The per capita income was more than double that of Tunisia and Egypt.

And not only did the Libyans not seek to leave despite open borders on all sides - but great masses of people from the Maghreb (sub-Saharan Africa) and Egyptians came to Libya in search of work and better living.

Among other things, Qadddafi has been trying to complete the great task of tapping the ocean of fresh water lying under the Sahara desert, which would be capable of transforming the nations of the region into gardens.

And now, everyone is mouthing the axiom invented by Sarkozy that the entire Libyan people is in revolt against Qaddafi. I am not defending him or his leadership but merely pointing out that it is not true that everyone in Libya was lying prostrate under his autocracy.

And also that not everyone, especially in Africa, is particularly crazy about holding regular and free elections especially if their living conditions are fairly good and improving.

Then how do you explain the apparent exultation of the people of Benghazi to be 'finally' liberated from Qaddafi?
Actually, and at least on TV, we have not really seen great assemblies of people, but a few armed men scurrying among the dunes in tourist minibuses, occasionally firing a gun in the air to play their role for TV cameras or posing in front of Libyan tanks shattered not by them but by the allied airstrikes.

In any case, one must recall some history and geography. Libya as such was a 'nation' that did not exist - it was an invention by us Italians when we conquered the territory in the Belle Epoque (early 20th century). Before that, under the Ottoman Turks, there was Tripolitania, with its capital in Tripoli, and Cyrenaica, with its capital in Benghazi.

It was Italy that united these two regions by force, giving it the name that the ancient Romans had used to refer to all of North Africa, something only a few students of history now recall.

But there is a millenary history of hatred between the Cyrenaic and Tripolitan tribes. And so, the West is acting in error here as it did in Afghanistan, where there is a democracy that has nothing to do with the Anglo-Saxon model, but a 'democracy' that conforms to regional tribalisms, according to what the tribal chiefs say.

The heroic fight of Benghazi against the dictator is an expression of that perennial tribal hatred, and Qaddafi understands this. It has nothing to do with the noble and politically correct sentiments called democratic or liberal held by Euro-American politicians and the media who support them.

On another topic: It is officially spring, after an extremely cold and rainy winter. I know you have a pebble in your shoe regarding alarmism over supposed global warming...
Yes, I was rather amused by a cartoon I recently saw in the New York Times - which as everyone knows is most ecologically correct. It showed this cartoon on page 1 with an American family - mother, father and two children - kneeling on the snow and praying, "Lord, please give us a little global warming!"

You know quite well that environmentalism is above all an ideology, and like all ideologies, if the facts contradict their scheme, then too bad for the facts!

We have all noted that lately, winters have been colder, with more sleet and snow than usual. But to force these realities to conform with the theory of global warming, its advocates have been circulating strange explanations. First, they point out that climatic patterns cannot be seen by opening your window when you wake up. Then they say that since both the North and South ice poles have been melting, they release a massive amount of vapor that gives rise to more snow and rain... And so on, with such buffooneries that have nothing to do with genuine science.

I think that environmental alarmism represents not just a gigantic hoax but worse: it is a ferocious ideology that considers man as the only harmful creature on the planet. The Greens advocate economic and demographic 'de-growth', and an environmental fanatic like Charles of England has more than once publicly wished for an epidemic or virus that could wipe out half the global population.

Behind this hoax of global warming - and we now know from e-mail disclosures how its principal scientific advocates admitted to falsifying data in order to fit their theories - are the Greens and others who hope to gain more votes by their alarmism, not to mention the economic interests of those involved in so-called alternative energies.

But at the basis of this environmentalist ideology is a conviction that is pagan, and profoundly anti-Christian, and it is too bad that many Catholics, including some in the Church, take the fanatics seriously. It may reach a point where man is left as the only unprotected species on the planet [everything else being protected by law against him!]

Now they want to protect even cockroaches and mosquitoes, but not man! The goal seems to be not human extinction but at least a drastic reduction of the human population since man is the major obstacle to the triumph of Nature, which they have divinized as pagan religions did.

What did you think was the worst news of the week?
Something from Spain - Zapatero's latest feat. His Minister of Education has proposed that all those who go to state educational institutions, from the primary grades to college, should wear a single uniform. At a time when even priests - unfortunately - no longer dress uniformly, and even the military, who are allowed to go about in civilian clothes outside official hours.

It might seem just a curious and amusing proposal, and some Spanish conservatives may think it is a return to the 'good old days'. But it is a serious and troubling matter. For two reasons which I will explain.

The first is demagoguery - it proclaims the demagoguery of a supposedly classless society, where everyone dresses the same way, and the rich cannot dress ostentatiously compared to those with lesser means. The eternal, ever-recurring myth of egalitarianism. It is also
a Marxist demagoguery, like the Mao jacket which was imposed on all Chinese, male and female alike. An initiative that is typical of totalitarian regimes.

The second reason it makes me uneasy is because if is the nth manifestation of the most dangerous of realities, that of an 'ethical state', a government of morality which would impose virtue on its subjects.

I read the declaration of the Spanish minister. She said it was time to put an end to students who waste their time shopping, who spend too much money on what they wear. The moral state tells you how to live - it already prohibits smoking, obliges the biker to wear a helmet and phosphorescent clothes, urges people to eat less to avoid obesity, now requires not just a calorie count but the cholesterol content of foods served in restaurants, places absurd and punitive limits on alcohol for drivers. Let it not tell me what to wear. Keep the Government of Virtue out of my wardrobe, and let parliament worry about how to improve the standard of living but not my personal behavior.

And which news was most welcome?
To see that the Pope's new book on Jesus has become a bestseller in many countries according to all the lists I see on the Internet. Even in the most secularized countries like France and Germany.

I am comforted by this. Of course, I know that high sales figures do not necessarily mean effective reading. But even if it sells much more than it is truly read, the fact that people want to have the book at home is still a sign of interest, despite everything else, in Him on which our faith is based.


Just to round off the discussion of the Libyan issue here, I translated what they discussed in their March 26 talk:

TABLE TALK:
On the war in Libya, hypocrisy,
and Jesus's realism about the poor
with Vittorio Messori and Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

March 26, 2011

Dear Vittorio, last week in the space of about 48 hours, we found ourselves at war with Libya. Personally, I find it hypocritical to call what is taking place a UN operation and without using the word 'war'. Granted that the military action, pushed by France in great haste, is said to have a humanitarian reason - to prevent Qhaddafi from the massacre of his own people. But it is actually a true and proper war. With incalculable consequences - and not at all well calculated, I think - especially for Italy. What do you think?
Andrea, alas. it is too easy to answer you. Many have already said so - that what has prevailed here is the usual tangle of hypocrisy and contradictions that characterize post-modern ideology and politics.

Behind the humanitarian reason are obviously economic interests, political ambitions. In the case of France, just think of France which since 1930 [its conquest of Algeria], has thought of North AFrica as 'hers' and has not been resigned to the independence of those countries. Libya was an Italian colony, but the Gallics had wanted it to be Francophone too...

I said that it is far too easy to take this situation for the usual thing... But let me try to go deeper into it. Because the problem is in the very idea of a 'humanitarian war', which is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. In itself, it is a truly unprecedented juridical monster born out of today's hypocrisy.

How 'humanitarian' has been the calvary, which is far from over, of the Iraqis who ended up in the meatgrinder of the Empire of Goodness, those who wish to impose their brand of democracy whether the people want it or not. [In the case of Iraq, though, it turns out the Iraqis did, as they have shown, surprisingly and impressivley, through how many national elections now, even at greta risk to their lives! Almost as though it was a trade-off they are willing to accept for the completely unexpected and otherwise insupportable consequence of unprecedented domestic terrorism.]

War should be war, and peace, peace! Enough with the euphemisms and circumlocutions. And yet, why has nobody thought of bombing China for what its government has been doing to the Tibetans or for gunning down student protestors in Tienanmen Square? No one has ever proposed to bomb New Dehli for massacres perpetrated by Indian troops in Kasmir. The fact is that no one would dare to do to India and China what they are now doing to Libya and what they did in Serbia about 10 years ago. Obviously, because both China and India have nuclear arms.

And that champion of cynicism in its travesty of justice which is the International Court of Justice at The Hague - it's the Nuremberg of poor nations, good for trying Serbian colonels, and at the most, perhaps some Sudanese military, if at all. Representatives of countries that count or have friends who count have never ended there nor will they ever.

On the other hand, no other country has earned so many solemn condemnations and hartsh reprimands then Israel from the United Nations. Which does not always follow what it's told. And why? Because besides the fact that it has the protective umbrella of the USA, Israel itself has its own nuclear arms... [But probably at least 90 percent of the anti-Israel resolutions at the UN are almost obligatory showpieces for the hostility of Israel's many enemies in the UN that would seemingly deny Israel any right to defend itself against enemies who make no secret they want to destroy her or drive her out of the Middle East. Using Messori's own argument, Iran and its minions in Lebanon and Syria would long ago have tried to crush her were it not that Israel has nuclear capability, and Iran doesn't have it yet.]

What do you think of the name chosen by the Western anti-Qaddhafi combatants - the 'coalition of the willing'...
It reminds me of Boy Scouts. I think of the eager boy who wished to help a little old lady across the street even though she was not planning to cross the street. It is a label that inspires good feelings and is not necessarily aasociated with the hail of bombs and missiles raining down on Libyan cities and military targets.

There was a similar coalition of the willing that bombarded Belgrade which then allowed the Kosovo Muslims to persecute Kosovo Christians without hindrance. And in that case, we cannot forget that the Serbs also indulged in ethnic 'cleansing' even if we know know - from independent and fairly accurate investigations later - that many episodes were exaggerated in order to inflame public opinion... But do such conflicts require supranational governance and management on an international level?

There will always be visionaries, utopians, idealists - in short, ingenuous and naive people, even though they may have the best intentions - who invoke a single planetary government as the answer to any of the world's ills. But God forbid!

Obviously, Andrea, these are my personal opinions that I express within the context of Catholic freedom. I speak as a believer but I have never claimed to represent all believers. They represent my point of view as a member of the Church - not the teachings of the Church.

And it is a legitimate freedom. A saint famous for his granitic orthodoxy, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, used to say that for Catholics, there are not, there cannot be, and there should not be dogmas on political ro social matters.

Having said this, I can think of no worse incubus than a world government, which would transform all wars into civil wars - which are the msot terrible - and whose principal instrument would be an invasive and omnipotent supranational police. Where can you seek refuge then if you are persecuted? And who would choose the leadership called on to govern the world?

Remember that this idea of a world government is a characteristic of the reign of the Anti-Christ, as authoritative Catholic writers have hypothesized in the past two centuries. From the perspective of believers, we should not forget that God loves diversity - and so we have various races, various languages, various cultures.

The fact that the world is not in black and white, but multi-colored, is not an error to be corrected but a value to be protected. Diversity is a divine gift. Obviously the Christian wishes that everyone comes to an understanding, to agreements, to unions even, but without cancelling colors, races, cultures. The popular saying is correct which says "The world is beautiful because it is diverse".

I agree. But you must admit that something must be done to stop massacres or genocide. I have so many doubts about the war that has been launched against Libya. But in principle, I do believe there are cases where it is a duty to intervene.
Look, let me leave the area of geopolitics, to the fact that Jesus himself said disconcerting things about the world. He said that all of it is subject to sin. He said things that deoagogues, including Christian ones, would like to 'erase' because it is against their own disastrous utopias, as we have seen with the Catho-communists and those who advocated liberation theology.

For example, Jesus said the poor will always be with us... Inspite of all our revolutionary dreams, there will always be poverty in the world .. To go on, the League of Nations was born after the Great War at the initative of the idealist and ‘willing’(therefore dangerous) President Woodrow Wilson. He was convinced – that naïve Yankee – that the League would guarantee world peace. In fact, it accelerated in a way the coming of the Second World War. .. And so, after the Second World War, the United Nations was born, following the collapse of the League of Nations, for the same noble reason: to guarantee world peace. It has since authorized armed interventions under the hypocritical motivation of ‘humanitariansm’… So, I repeat, the idea of a planetary Sanhedrin which will decide how everyone is to live is not a dream to be realized but an incubus to flee from…

P.S. I missed seeing it earlier, but on 3/28/11, the following article appeared in AsiaNews which talks about the good points about Qaddhafi that are never reported in the West, and expands on some of the points that Messori makes above.
www.asianews.it/news-en/Gaddafi-a-controversial-dictator-21...
It is written by Fr. Piero Gheddo, the remarkable 84-year-old who founded Asianews in 1987 and is currently head of thr History Division of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME, from its Italian name), the parent entity of AsiaNews. Covering the work of the missionaries of PIME, he has lived in at least 70 countries and has written 70 books about the missions. He is also the postulator for the sainthood causes of four contemporary missionaries. The point of Gheddo's AsiaNews article is not to defend Qhaddafi from all the things he is guilty of but to give him credit for the good that he has done.

How the Pope presents the problem
of Christian unity in JON-2
April 3, 2011

With the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for those Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated a new era of hope for Christian unity, something which is a central theme of his book Jesus of Nazareth II.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father that his followers, “May be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:11). The Holy Father points out that this prayer is repeated four times throughout Christ’s discourse known as the “High-Priestly Prayer”.

Historical divisions and schisms and the resulting religious conflicts have often been a 'scandal in the Greek sense of the word, namely, a stumbling-block for non-believers', but it is not just for them that this vital task must be undertaken.

The Pope puts the question thus:

---

We have to ask with all the more urgency: For what unity was Jesus praying? What is his prayer for the community of believers throughout history?

For this the Lord prayed: for a unity that can come into existence only from God and through Christ and yet is so concrete in its appearance that in it we are able to see God’s power at work.

That is why the struggle for the visible unity of the disciples of Jesus Christ remains an urgent task for Christians of all times and places.

---

If we accept this, the next question is, how are we to accomplish it? How do we make it visible, both for Christians and non-believers?

For the Pope the three things that formed the foundation of that unity in the early Church are still vital today.

---

“The unity of three constitutive elements of the Church — the sacrament of succession, Scripture, and the rule of faith (creed) — is the true guarantee that [as Rudolf Bultmann says] ‘the word can resound authentically’”.

---

This part of St John’s Gospel is key to seeing that unity is a gift of God and cannot be constructed by worldly means alone.

It is something that we ought to work towards, not simply because a more unified Christian community would be a stronger sign for the rest of the world, but firstly because it is what Christ prayed for and what he wanted. He died on the cross to make unity among men, and between men and God possible.

As Pope Benedict writes:

---

In this prayer, the cruel event of the Cross becomes ‘word’, it becomes the Feast of Atonement between God and the world. From here the Church emerges as the community of those who believe in Christ on the strength of the Apostles’ word.

---

Four days ago, on Page 198 of this thread,I posted a BBC story about the lead books seen above reportedly found in Jordan and now in the possession of an Israeli. For me, at least, the story sounds more potentially huge than the Dead Sea Scrolls ever were. Not only because of what they potentially are - the first accounts of Christianity written shortly after Christ died - but also for the providential disclosure just when Benedict XVI's JESUS OF NAZARETH-II came out. As if it was the 'objective correlative' - and a literal one - to Benedict XVI's 'personal search for the face of Jesus'. Now a follow-up by the Daily Mail makes it even more exciting.... Strangely, few in the MSM or in the Catholic media have picked up the story so far...

Could this be the earliest
portrait of Jesus?
by Nick Pryer

April 3, 2011




Is this the first ever portrait of Jesus? The image is eerily familiar: a bearded young man with flowing curly hair.

After lying for nearly 2,000 years hidden in a cave in the Holy Land, the fine detail is difficult to determine. But in a certain light it is not difficult to interpret the marks around the figure’s brow as a crown of thorns.

The extraordinary picture of one of the recently discovered hoard of up to 70 lead codices – booklets – found in a cave in the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee is one reason Bible historians are clamouring to get their hands on the ancient artefacts.

The tiny booklet, a little smaller than a modern credit card, is sealed on all sides and has a three-dimensional representation of a human head on both the front and the back. One appears to have a beard and the other is without. Even the maker’s fingerprint can be seen in the lead impression. Beneath both figures is a line of as-yet undeciphered text in an ancient Hebrew script.

Astonishingly, one of the booklets appears to bear the words ‘Saviour of Israel’ – one of the few phrases so far translated.

The owner of the cache is Bedouin trucker Hassan Saida who lives in the Arab village of Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli. He has refused to sell the booklets but two samples were sent to England and Switzerland for testing.

A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed that the artefacts were originally found in a cave in the village of Saham in Jordan, close to where Israel, Jordan and Syria’s Golan Heights converge – and within three miles of the Israeli spa and hot springs of Hamat Gader, a religious site for thousands of years.

According to sources in Saham, they were discovered five years ago after a flash flood scoured away the dusty mountain soil to reveal what looked like a large capstone.

When this was levered aside, a cave was discovered with a large number of small niches set into the walls. Each of these niches contained a booklet. There were also other objects, including some metal plates and rolled lead scrolls.

The area is renowned as an age-old refuge for ancient Jews fleeing the bloody aftermath of a series of revolts against the Roman empire in the First and early Second Century AD.

The cave is less than 100 miles from Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and around 60 miles from Masada, scene of the last stand and mass suicide of an extremist Zealot sect in the face of a Roman Army siege in 72AD – two years after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

It is also close to caves that have been used as sanctuaries by refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt, the third and final Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire in 132AD.

The era is of critical importance to Biblical scholars because it encompasses the political, social and religious upheavals that led to the split between Judaism and Christianity.

It ended with the triumph of Christianity over its rivals as the dominant new religion first for dissident Jews and then for Gentiles.

In this context, it is important that while the Dead Sea Scrolls are rolled pieces of parchment or papyrus containing the earliest-known versions of books of the Hebrew Bible and other texts – the traditional Jewish format for written work – these lead discoveries are in book, or codex, form which has long been associated with the rise of Christianity.

The codices seen by The Mail on Sunday range in size from smaller than 3in x 2in to around 10in x 8in. They each contain an average of eight or nine pages and appear to be cast, rather than inscribed, with images on both sides and bound with lead-ring bindings.

Many of them were severely corroded when they were first discovered, although it has been possible to open them with care.
The codex showing what may be the face of Christ is not thought to have been opened yet. Some codices show signs of having been buried – although this could simply be the detritus resulting from lying in a cave for hundreds of years.

Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, the lead codices appear to consist of stylised pictures, rather than text, with a relatively small amount of script that appears to be in a Phoenician language, although the exact dialect is yet to be identified.

At the time these codices were created, the Holy Land was populated by different sects, including Essenes, Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Dositheans and Nazoreans.

There was no common script and considerable intermingling of language and writing systems between groups. Which means it could take years of detailed scholarship to accurately interpret the codices.

Many of the books are sealed on all sides with metal rings, suggesting they were not intended to be opened. This could be because they contained holy words which should never be read. For example, the early Jews fiercely protected the sacred name of God, which was only ever uttered by The High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem at Yom Kippur.

The original pronunciation has been lost, but has been transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH – known as the Tetragrammaton – and is usually translated either as Yahweh or Jehovah. A sealed book containing sacred information was mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelations.

If genuine, it seems clear that these books were, in fact, created by an early Messianic Jewish sect, perhaps closely allied to the early Christian church and that these images represent Christ himself.


Hassan Saida and some of his 'treasures'; at right, the leaden plate thought to be a schematic map of Jerusalem.

One plate has been interpreted as a schematic map of Christian Jerusalem showing the Roman crosses outside the city walls. At the top can be seen a ladder-type shape. This is thought to be a balustrade mentioned in a biblical description of the Temple in Jerusalem. Below that are three groups of brickwork, to represent the walls of the city.

A fruiting palm tree suggests the House of David and there are three or four shapes that appear to be horizontal lines intersected by short vertical lines from below. These are the T-shaped crosses believed to have been used in biblical times (the familiar crucifix shape is said to date from the 4th Century). The star shapes in a long line represent the House of Jesse – and then the pattern is repeated.

This interpretation of the books as proto-Christian artefacts is supported by Margaret Barker, former president of the Society for Old Testament Study and one of Britain’s leading experts on early Christianity.

The fact that a figure is portrayed would appear to rule out these codices being connected to mainstream Judaism of the time, where portrayal of lifelike figures was strictly forbidden because it was considered idolatry.

If genuine, it seems clear that these books were, in fact, created by an early Messianic Jewish sect, perhaps closely allied to the early Christian church and that these images represent Christ himself.

However another theory, put forward by Robert Feather – an authority on The Dead Sea Scrolls and author of The Mystery Of The Copper Scroll Of Qumran – is that these books are connected to the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-136AD, the third major rebellion by the Jews of Judea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars.

The revolt established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for two years before the Roman army finally crushed it, with the result that all Jews, including the early Christians, were barred from Jerusalem.

The followers of Simon Bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, acclaimed him as a Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba, they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews. The war and its aftermath helped differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism.

The spiritual leader of the revolt was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who laid the foundations for a mystical form of Judaism known today as Kabbalah, which is followed by Madonna, Britney Spears and others. Yochai hid in a cave for 13 years and wrote a secret commentary on the Bible, the Zohar, which evolved into the teaching of Kabbalah.

Feather says that all known codices prior to around 400AD were made of parchment and that cast lead is unknown. They were clearly designed to exist for ever and never to be opened. The use of metal as a writing material at this time is well documented – however the text was always inscribed, not cast.

The books are currently in the possession of Hassan Saida, in Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli, which is at the foot of Mount Tabor [the mount of the Transfiguration], 18 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.

Saida owns and operates a haulage business consisting of at least nine large flatbed lorries. He is regarded in his village as a wealthy man. His grandfather settled there more than 50 years ago and his mother and four brothers still live there.

Saida, who is in his mid-30s and married with five or six children, claims he inherited the booklets from his grandfather.

However, The Mail on Sunday has learned of claims that they first came to light five years ago when his Bedouin business partner met a villager in Jordan who said he had some ancient artefacts to sell.

The business partner was apparently shown two very small metal books. He brought them back over the border to Israel and Saida became entranced by them, coming to believe they had magical properties and that it was his fate to collect as many as he could.

The arid, mountainous area where they were found is both militarily sensitive and agriculturally poor. The local people have for generations supplemented their income by hoarding and selling archeological artefacts found in caves.

More of the booklets were clandestinely smuggled across the border by drivers working for Saida – the smaller ones were typically worn openly as charms hanging from chains around the drivers’ necks, the larger concealed behind car and lorry dashboards.

In order to finance the purchase of booklets from the Jordanians who had initially discovered them, Saida allegedly went into partnership with a number of other people – including his lawyer from Haifa, Israel.

Saida’s motives are complex. He constantly studies the booklets, but does not take particularly good care of them, opening some and coating them in olive oil in order to ‘preserve’ them.

The artefacts have been seen by multi-millionaire collectors of antiquities in both Israel and Europe – and Saida has been offered tens of millions of pounds for just a few of them, but has declined to sell any.

When he first obtained the booklets, he had no idea what they were or even if they were genuine. He contacted Sotheby’s in London in 2007 in an attempt to find an expert opinion, but the famous auction house declined to handle them because their provenance was not known.

Soon afterwards, the British author and journalist Nick Fielding was approached by a Palestinian woman who was concerned that the booklets would be sold on the black market. Fielding was asked to approach the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and other places.

Fielding travelled to Israel and obtained a letter from the Israeli Antiquities Authority saying it had no objection to their being taken abroad for analysis. It appears the IAA believed the booklets were forgeries on the basis that nothing like them had been discovered before.

None of the museums wanted to get involved, again because of concerns over provenance. Fielding was then asked to approach experts to find out what they were and if they were genuine.

David Feather, who is a metallurgist as well as an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, recommended submitting the samples for metal analysis at Oxford University.

The work was carried out by Dr Peter Northover, head of the Materials Science-based Archaeology Group and a world expert on the analysis of ancient metal materials.

The samples were then sent to the Swiss National Materials Laboratory at Dubendorf, Switzerland. The results show they were consistent with ancient (Roman) period lead production and that the metal was smelted from ore that originated in the Mediterranean.

Dr Northover also said that corrosion on the books was unlikely to be modern.

Meanwhile, the politics surrounding the provenance of the books is intensifying. Most professional scholars are cautious pending further research and point to the ongoing forgery trial in Israel over the ancient limestone ossuary purporting to have housed the bones of James, brother of Jesus.

The Israeli archeological establishment has sought to defuse problems of provenance by casting doubt on the authenticity of the codices, but Jordan says it will ‘exert all efforts at every level’ to get the relics repatriated.

The debate over whether these booklets are genuine and, if so, whether they represent the first known artefacts of the early Christian church or the first stirrings of mystical Kabbalah will undoubtedly rage for years to come.

The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, has few doubts. He believes they may indeed have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately following his crucifixion.

‘They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ he says. ‘The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.’

If he is right, then we really may be gazing at the face of Jesus Christ.


Later depictions of Christ, including Da Vinci's Christ from his Last Supper, gave him the same features as that in the Saham portrait.

Monday, April 4, Fourth Week in Lent

ST. ISIDRO DE SEVILLA (Isidore of Seville), 560-636, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI devoted his catechesis on 6/18/08 to the first of three Spaniards so far declared as a Doctor of the Church (the others are Teresa of Avila and Juan de la Cruz)
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080618...
Born in Cartagena, southeast Spain, of a family that included three other saints, he was educated (severely) by his elder brother, now Saint Leandro, whom he succeeded as bishop of Seville. It was a time of conflict and growth for the Church in Spain. The Visigoths had invaded the land a century and a half earlier and shortly before Isidore's birth they set up their own capital. They were Arians —Christians who said Christ was not God. Thus Spain was split into Roman Catholics Arian Goths. Isidore reunited Spain, making it a center of culture and learning, a teacher and guide for other European countries whose culture was also threatened by barbarian invaders. An amazingly learned man, who was also known for his austere piety, he was sometimes called "The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages" because the encyclopedia he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries. He required seminaries to be built in every diocese, wrote a Rule for religious orders and founded schools that taught every branch of learning. Isidore wrote numerous books, including a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a history of Goths and a history of the world—beginning with creation! He completed the Mozarabic liturgy, which is still in use in Toledo, Spain. In the last six months of his life, he increased his charities so much that his house was crowded from morning till night with the poor of the countryside. Because of his vast knowledge and far-ranging influence,, he has been suggested as patron saint of the Internet. As one of the major Spanish saints, he is among the Patrons for the World Youth Day in Madrid this year.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040411.shtml


No OR today.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne

= Mons. Franz-Josef Overbeck, Bishop of Essen (Germany)

- Mons. Carlo Maria Viganò, Secretary-General of the Governatorate of Vatican City State

- Six bishops of India's Syro-Malabar Church (Group 4) on ad limina visit. Individual meetings.


ONE YEAR AGO TODAY...



This day last year, it was Easter Sunday. Despite Holy Week, the media was still nastily hounding Benedict XVI for supposed personal participation in the sex-abuse cover-ups, and Cardinal Sodano's simple tribute and expression of support for him before the start of the Easter Mass on St. Peter's Square, fueled the flames farther.

The MSM howled, claiming that the phrase he used ('idle chatter') - to describe the unfounded accusations against the Pope - referred to media stories about sex-offender priests. This built on the MSM - and Jewish - outrage over Pontifical Preacher Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa's Good Friday sermon in which he recounted a Jewish friend writing him that "some aspects of recent attacks against the Pope and the Church, including the use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt" reminded him of the worst aspects of anti-Semitism.

The widespread protest this roused in liberal and Jewish circles all but said it was all right to make such attacks against Catholics but wrong to do so against Jews. In other words, Catholics are fair game for anyone, and it's open season on them any time! Which is, unfortunately, one of the morally reprehensible notions that underlie the new age of Christian persecution in the world today.




- It is amazing that the few accounts I have seen so far of the US-based History Channel's telecast Saturday called 'Secret Access' report on the sequences taken at the Vatican in 2007 by the late Giuseppe De Carli's RAI crew as though it were a completely new thing! Not surprising that those who wrote the reviews have never seen it before, since only Italians and Germans who watched the documentary for the Pope's 80th birthday then, along with Benaddicts who seek out any and all videos of the Pope, would have been expected to have seen it. But I should think that the History Channel, or whoever produced 'Secret Access' would have credited RAI-TV for these video sequences and not pass it off as the 'world premiere' of a docu that is four years old by now.... And a UK Daily Mail review makes a big deal out of the orange juice the Pope drinks in the lunch sequence shown on the docu, only she thinks it is Fanta, 'the fizzy drink'. Who would serve a fizzy drink in a pitcher, and why should the Pope have to drink soda in his own household where he can have freshly-squeezed orange juice whenever he wants it? Sorry for the trivia, but it is annoying...

Apropos to my last comment in the post above on a new age of Christian persecution in the world today:

Time to be serious
about religious freedom
Editorial
by Philip F. Lawler

Issue of April 2011

Lawler was a former editor of the CWR.

Two years into his administration, President Barack Obama still has not filled the post of roving US ambassador for religious freedom. Meanwhile in Pakistan the government’s only Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated for suggesting that the country’s blasphemy law should be changed.

Urged to pass a resolution condemning the persecution of Christians, the European Parliament instead approved a vague statement, worded in general terms, decrying intolerance of all faiths.

Meanwhile in Egypt Copts were slaughtered, in China “house churches” were raided by police, in Nigeria a Christian village was torched.

In Iraq, Chaldean Christians are hunted down and executed, gangland-style, by Islamic zealots. In Afghanistan a Christian man faces the death penalty for the “crime” of conversion from the Islamic faith. And these are countries where American troops are shedding their blood in defense of freedom!

In his message for the World Day of Peace this year, Pope Benedict gave the world’s leaders a much-needed reminder that religious liberty is an essential aspect of human freedom. It follows logically that to pursue freedom without acknowledging religious liberty is to embark on a hopeless quest.

In fact, the Holy Father observed, it is a downright dangerous quest, because false conceptions of freedom beget new threats to human rights, new threats to peace.

Unfortunately the leaders of the Western world have not yet recognized the force of the Pontiff’s argument. The policy-makers of Europe and America cling to the illusion that they can somehow promote freedom, both at home and abroad, while ignoring religious affairs. This approach will not work. It cannot work. It is a recipe missing an essential ingredient.

For too many years now, we in the West have pursued a foreign policy based on the presumption that other societies are as thoroughly secularized as our own.

Our political executives and diplomats and scholarly analysts have paid little attention to the role of religion in the Middle East and Asia, because the same opinion leaders pay only so little attention to religion at home (except during election campaigns).

So we have formed alliances of convenience with regimes that mistreat their religious minorities. Yes, we are distressed by their repressive policies, and occasionally we protest. But the diplomatic pressure we exert in favor of religious freedom is rarely intense, and still more rarely effective.

Because of our blind spot, we in the West are often caught off guard when a religious moment crops up in a foreign country — or even when a secular movement arises in a society we regard as profoundly religious.

Early in 2011, when a wave of popular uprisings spread across the Middle East, we were unable to discern whether public opinion would press for democracy or for Sharia law. We could only watch: hopeful that the mass demonstrations would produce more responsive governments, fearful that Islamic fundamentalists would seize the opportunity to impose a more repressive regime, powerless (or at least feeling powerless) to influence the course of events.

We should not be so helpless when confronted with manifestations of faith. Without playing sectarian favorites, we in the Western nations can support the regimes and the political movements that promise freedom of worship.

We can adopt the promotion of religious liberty as an essential goal of our foreign policy: a cause more important than cheap exports or low trade barriers.

In his World Day of Peace message, Pope Benedict made another important point about the state of religious freedom around the world. “At present,” he observed, “Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith.”

The reality that Christians bear the brunt of persecution seems improbable to those of us living in the West, in countries where liberal secularists are accustomed to depicting Christians as the oppressors rather than the oppressed.

Sometimes the persecution of Christians is accomplished by governments, as in Saudi Arabia or China, where police routinely raid illegal church meetings.

Sometimes the violence is done by extremist groups that the government cannot or will not control, as in Pakistan or Iraq.

Sometimes the distinction between official persecution and unchecked gang violence is blurred, as in India, where police stand by while Hindu mobs attack churches.

But in all these cases, government policies are to blame: for carrying out, or encouraging, or winking at, or failing to stop the persecution.

The persecution will surely continue, if the governments of the Western world do not exert more diplomatic pressure. And our governments’ policies are not likely to change unless we, the Christians of the West, demand it.

Pope accepts resignation of
Australian bishop over
abuse scandal in his diocese

April 4, 2011


POPE Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Australian bishop Michael John Malone, the Vatican said today, following child abuse scandals in his Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

"The Holy Father Benedict XVI has accepted the renunciation of pastoral authority in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in Australia presented by Monsignor Michael John Malone," the Vatican said in a statement.

Malone has been head of the diocese since 1995 but had talked about his exhaustion in recent months following a series of allegations of child abuse by clergymen in the diocese that dated back to before his nomination.

The local Newcastle Herald newspaper earlier this year quoted Malone as saying: "I'm emotionally drained by what has happened and feel disillusioned."

The 71-year-old was also quoted as saying that he was considering early retirement before the official pension age for Catholic bishops of 75.

The most unpleasant. regrettable and perennially annoying aspect of the build-up to John Paul II's beatification is that it provides malicious minds - in both the Catholic and secular worlds - with a gift-wrapped, silver-platter occasion to pursue their preposterous Ratzinger-cannot-hold-a-candle-to Wojtyla spite campaign. I am posting this rather frivolous British blog from someone who calls himself Heresiarch because it typifies the malice that drives this campaign, which began the moment the world was told that the new Pope was Joseph Ratzinger. At least, Heresiarch is not Catholic, so his blithe cynicism is perhaps even to be expected, unlike the malicious 'Vatican insider' he cites...

Revealed: Ratzinger's
'palace revolution'
by The Heresiarch

April 3, 2011
An interesting tidbit about differing pontifical styles in yesterday's Times [of London], which had a piece on preparations for the forthcoming (and laughably rushed) beatification of Pope John Paul II. It comes from a Vatican insider who preferred to remain anonymous [They always do, the cowards!]:

"In 27 years he [JPII] didn't change a nail in his personal apartment. Ratzinger had it completely refitted with German kitchen equipment and electronic devices everywhere".

This is presented as evidence of JPII's superior personal sanctity - the report says that this "trumped his weaknesses as governor of the church".

Others might see the state of the apartments as a metaphor for stagnation and rot in the institution more generally. The vignette does reveal that the present Pontiff has been, at least as regards his personal living space, a radical moderniser. He has also moved to copyright the papal image, so we're unlikely to be seeing many Benedict lollipops.

It could be that, coming from Communist Poland, Wojtyla found the papal apartments splendid rather than antiquated, and Ratzinger simply had higher expectations.

[ALRIGHT ALREADY! There was a very practical reason why the new Pope could not move into the papal apartment for several weeks in 2005. The Pope's private quarters (bedroom and adjoining bathroom facilities) had to be conformed back for 'normal' use because in the final years of Papa Wojtyla's illness, these had to be refitted to meet the physical limitations of an octogenarian in the last stages of Parkinson's and his medical needs, including an adjoining emergency room with all the hospital apparatus that might conceivably be needed by a patient who was, after all, the spiritual leader of the world's Catholics. So, even in this sense, it is false that nothing was ever changed in the papal apartments for 27 years!

This much we also know from what was reported at the time: Since there had to be renovations, anyway - three decades is more than a reasonable time between home renovations! - Benedict XVI asked that the walls in his private quarters be repainted with warmer colors; he had apartments built for his private secretaries in what had been attic space above the papal apartment; and when a German firm offered equipment for a complete modern kitchen, he accepted it, for the convenience of his housekeepers, because it was well known that Papa Wojtyla's Polish housekeepers had to make do with an antiquated kitchen. It was also for their convenience that the patchwork and inefficient electrical system was updated. So what is wrong with all that?

In his sixty years as priest, professor, cardinal and now Pope, I do not think Joseph Ratzinger was ever accused of being other than austere in his private life. Even his house in Pentling is a very modest middle-class home!]

On the other hand, John Paul II strikes me as the type who, in the Middle Ages, would have worn a hair-shirt, while Benedict XVI, in the Renaissance, would probably have hired Raphael to paint his bedroom. They would both have enjoyed burning heretics, however.

Benedict XVI is also getting short shrift for his personal holiness from his mindless critics, as if holiness only consists of hairshirts and mystical trances! And yet many of the cardinals who wrote about the 2005 conclave later pointed out Cardinal Ratzinger's personal holiness as one of the factors that made them vote for him.

The comparison game will only get worse because now, they will be comparing him not just to another Pope but to a saint-by-acclamation who will probably be canonized before long. These gratuitous comparisons are nothing but vicious exercises undertaken by idle minds, the devil's very workshop.

Eamon Duffy, a Cambridge professor of Christian history and a prominent Catholic writer, wrote a condescending and almostt insulting article about Benedict XVI before the UK visit last September.(Page 135 of this thread). Among other things, he said, in a typical putdown of Benedict XVI:

"John Paul II was manifestly a giant on the world stage...By contrast, Pope Benedict is an altogether smaller figure, a man of the sacristy and the lecture room..." to which I reacted with these words:

---

Has Duffy just dropped in from Mars? Where was he in the past five years, when Benedict XVI quickly eclipsed John Paul II's audience figures at the Vatican, scored a number of impressive foreign trips, wrote 3 landmark encyclicals and an even more landmark book on Jesus, to mention just a few concrete facts?

And where was he in the 25 years before that, when Joseph Ratzinger was arguably the most prolific and best-selling Catholic theologian of the second half of the 20th century? And that Joseph Ratzinger had all these solid theological achievements independent of his function in the Roman Curia.

Everyone seems to forget that he came to the Papacy better known internationally before he became Pope than any new Pope in the entire 20th century (Pius XII maybe, but he was Secretary of State in the 1930s long before communications technology made the world a global village)! And by virtue of having presided at John Paul II's funeral Mass, he was also the first potential Pope in history to be seen 'in action' by the largest worldwide TV audience so far.

I really do not understand why so many Catholic prelates and academics like Duffy appear to forget - conveniently and unpardonably - the extraordinary biography of Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope, and continue treating him as almost 'unworthy' to be wearing the Shoes of the Fisherman after someone like John Paul II. Especially since from all accounts, he was elected Pope precisely because there was no one else who could conceivably step into the shoes of the late Pope with the same authoritativeness and personal holiness!

---

In checking back on that Duffy article, I found on the same page a blog entry by the Heresiarch that I posted before the Pope's UK visit entitled 'Ten reasons to love the Pope', of which 5 were serious and the other 5 flippant and frivolous...

Umbria's religious and civic authorities
mobilize for the October event in Assisi
Translated from




ASSISI, April 2- The bishop of Assisi, Mons. Domenico Sorrentino and representatives of all the Franciscan orders said they "participate fully and aware of their responsibility and mission to welcome the 'pilgrims for peace and justice' to a city which, as the Pope said, has become a symbol of brotherhood and peace".

At a news conference Saturday after the Vatican announced details of the inter-religious assembly convoked by Benedict XVI for Oct. 27 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first World Day of prayer for peace, Mons. Sorrentino underscored the inclusion this time "of personalities from the worlds of science and culture who, even without being religious, are on the same quest for the truth, thus widening the space for dialog".

He said that St. Francis "without ever attenuating his witness to the faith, offered it to others humbly, and was able to promote relations with others based on reciprocal respect and acceptance, even in dialog with believers of other religions, as in his conversation with the Eygptian sultan:".

Representatives of local institutions, along with cultural adviser Fernanda Cacchini representing the regional government of Umbria; the president of Perugia province, Marco Vinicio Guasticchi; and Mayor Claudio Ricci of Assisi, said they would provide their cull cooperation in preparing for the event.

Fr. Enxo Fortunato, press director of the Sacro Convento (Franciscan headquarters in Assisi), presented the poster for the event, and said that information would be available at sanfrancesco.org until a website for the event is opened.



An unexpected bonus from that site - a video of the Pope's prayer at the tomb of St. Francis during his pastoral visit to Assisi in June 2008:




Assisi program does not
include inter-religious prayer
at Assisi, Vatican says
By Cindy Wooden


VATICAN CITY, April 4 (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI and representatives of the world's major religions will make speeches and sign a common commitment to peace when they meet in Assisi in October, but they will not pray together, the Vatican said.

In fact, Pope Benedict's formal prayer service will be held at the Vatican the evening before the encounter Oct. 27 in Assisi with leaders of other Christian communities and representatives of the world's main religions.

The October gathering will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's "prayer for peace" encounter in Assisi. The 1986 event was seen by many as a milestone in inter-religious relations but was criticized by some Catholics who said it appeared to inappropriately mix elements from Christian and non-Christian religions.

The Vatican press office issued a statement April 2 giving the theme for the 2011 event -- "Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace" -- and a general outline of events.

"Every human being is ultimately a pilgrim in search of truth and goodness," the Vatican statement said.

The search requires people to enter into dialogue with others, "believers and unbelievers alike, without sacrificing one's own identity or indulging in forms of syncretism" where elements of different religions are used indiscriminately, the statement said.

"To the extent that the pilgrimage of truth is authentically lived, it opens the path to dialogue with the other, it excludes no one and it commits everyone to be a builder of fraternity and peace. These are the elements that the Holy Father wishes to place at the center of reflection," the Vatican said.

The statement said Pope Benedict will prepare for the Assisi gathering by hosting a prayer service with Catholics from the Diocese of Rome in St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 26.

Other Catholic dioceses and other Christian communities are encouraged to organize similar prayer services, the statement said.

The Vatican said the Pope was inviting to Assisi representatives of other religions, other Christian communities and representatives of the worlds of culture and science who do not profess a religious belief, but who "regard themselves as seekers of the truth and are conscious of a shared responsibility for the cause of justice and peace."

The Pontifical Councils for Inter-Religious Dialogue, for Promoting Christian Unity, and for Culture are sending out the invitations.

Pope Benedict and other participants will take a train to Assisi from Rome on Oct. 27, the statement said.

After speeches in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, there will be a simple lunch, followed by "a period of silence for individual reflection and prayer."

In the afternoon, participants will go in pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. Francis, the saint's resting place, where they will make "a solemn renewal of the joint commitment to peace," the Vatican said.

I just realized I never did post the full report on the latest roster of candidate saints announced by the Vatican last Saturday, other than the brief announcement I posted in the day's almanac... CNA provides a summary.


New candidate saints include
martyrs of the French Revolution
and the Spanish civil war, and
a German teenager in World War II
by Alan Holdren



Vatican City, Apr 4, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).- Twenty-two martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and a priest beheaded during the French Revolution will be declared “blessed” by the Church in coming months.

On April 2, the Pope met with Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to review canonization causes up for advancement.

The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had approved 29 beatification decrees and recognized the "heroic virtue" of six candidates for sainthood.

The Church has recognized the martyrdom of Father Francisco Esteban Lacal of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and 21 of his companions – among them Oblate students, religious and priests – who were killed in 1936 along with a layman, Candido Castan San Jose, after a series of persecutions against them for their work in religious communities and parishes.

It is estimated that nearly 7,000 clergy and religious, including 12 bishops, were killed for their faith during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War.

The Vatican also determined that Father Peter Adrian Toulorge of the Premonstratensian Regular Canons died as a martyr during the French Revolution. He was guillotined in Coutances, France, in 1793 for being a Catholic priest.

His cause was opened in 1922, along with those of 56 other priests from France's Normandy region.

In addition to the newly declared martyrs, the Vatican certified miracles attributed to the intercession of two priests and three religious sisters from Italy and Spain, thus paving the way for their beatifications.

Among them is Father Clemente Vismara, an Italian priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions who died in 1988 at 91 years old. The miracle involved a 10-year old boy in Myanmar, where Fr. Vismara worked.

The boy hit his head on a rock after he fell from a tree branch 15-feet above the ground. He went into a coma, but after three days of prayer for Fr. Vismara's intercession, the boy woke up and suffered no permanent damage.

Although no canonization causes were approved for full sainthood in this batch, six Catholic faithful were recognized for having shown "heroic virtue" in their lives. Bishop Thomas Kurialacherry*, the first bishop of Changanacherry, India; Canadian religious Br. Theophanius-Leo Chatillon of the Brothers of Christian Schools and 14-year old Bernhard Lehner, a courageously faithful German teenager who died from an illness in 1944 were among them.

**How fitting that a sainthood cause should begin for the first bishop of Changanacherry shortly after the death of Cardinal Vayanathil, who was the Syro-Malabar Primate. This eastern rite Church counts with a number of Blesseds already, as well as the first Indian female saint, St. Alphonsa.


The following is the list of the candidate saints whose cause has advanced one step:

---

MIRACLES

- Venerable Servant of God Serafino Morazzone, Italian diocesan priest (1747-1822).

- Venerable Servant of God Clemente Vismara, Italian professed priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (1897-1988).

- Venerable Servant of God Elena Aiello, Italian foundress of the Minim Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1895-1961).

- Venerable Servant of God Maria Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray (Sr. Maria Desposorios), Spanish professed nun of the Congregation of Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick (1848-1918).

- Venerable Servant of God Enrica Alfieri (nee Maria Angela), Italian professed nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne-Antide Thouret (1891-1951).

MARTYRDOM

- Servant of God Peter Adrian Toulorge, French professed priest of the Premonstratensian Regular Canons, killed in hatred of the faith at Coutances, France (1757-1793).

- Servants of God Francisco Esteban Lacal, Spanish professed priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and 21 companions,including Candido Castan San Jose, Spanish layman, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain in 1936.

HEROIC VIRTUES

- Servant of God Thomas Kurialacherry, Indian, first bishop of Changanacherry and founder of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (1873-1925).

- Servant of God Adolphe Chatillon (Br. Theophanius-Leo), Canadian professed religious of the Brothers of Christian Schools (1871-1929).

- Servant of God Maria Chiara of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus (nee Vincenza Damato), Italian professed nun of the Order of St. Clare (1909-1948).

- Servant of God Maria Dolores Inglese (nee Maria Libera Italia), Italian professed nun of the Congregation of Sisters Servants of Mary Reparatrix (1866-1928).

- Servant of God Irene Stefani (nee Aurelia), Italian professed nun of the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Consolata (1891-1930).

- Servant of God Bernhard Lehner, German layman (1930-1944).

---

Salvatore Izzo of AGI gives us soem information about this German teenager:

The saintly teenager
from Regensburg
by Salvatore Izzo
Translated from


"In prayer, he was the most assiduous; in study, the most engaged; and at play, the most joyful. During my 37 years in this seminary, he was my best student. And now, we all have an intercessor in heaven."

These were the words of the rector of the seminary in Regensburg at the funeral in 1944 of Bernhard Lehner, who died of diphtheria at 14, and whose 'heroic virtues' the Church has now formally recognized.

A carpenter's son, Bernhard entered the seminary by dispensation when he was only 11. Struck by his fatal illness, he offered all his sufferings so that peace would come to a world lacerated by the Second World War.

Every year, he has been remembered at a 'Bernhardfest' in Regensburg as a tribute to the continuing renown of his holiness.

'In China, it's time
for clear choices'
Interview with Mons. Hom Tai-Fai
by Gianni Cardinale
Translated from

April 1, 2011



Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai is the first Chinese to be given a major position in the Roman Curia. On December 23, 2010, Benedict XVI named him secretary - #2 man - in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (propaganda Fide) which has jurisdiction over dioceses in all mission lands, including China.

A native of Hongkong, tall and lean, with the joviality typical of the Sslesian children of Don Bosco, Mons. Hon defines himself as 'a rather undiplomatic theologian'. And he has very clear ideas on the delicate situation of the Church in China, which he discusses in this interview:

Excellency, what was the reaction in your homeland to your nomination?
Very positive in Hongkong. But I also received many congratulations from communities and bishops on the mainland. They considered my nomination a real Christmas gift from the Pope.

And from the government and official organisms of China?
No reaction. perhaps it's better that way. As they say in English, No news is good news. They have not expressed any judgment one way or the other. I think their attitude is one of prudent waiting.

You have travelled much in the mainland. When was your last time there?
I was in Shanghai from Dec. 8-13.

Precisely around the time of the eighth assembly of Chinese Catholic representatives in Beijing from Dec. 7-9! What opinions did you gather about it?
The friends and students with whom I spoke were all very critical. It could be that some of them were really approving but just did not want to let me know. And I spoke with some of those who attended the assembly, and they too were critical about it, at least to me. They claimed they were all under tremendous pressure to attend.

The Holy See issued a communique that was rather severe at that time...
Yes. But I would say that not all the participants were coerced. Some came spontaneously just as they have spontaneously adhered to the official policy of the 'autonomy' of the Church in China from the Pope and the Holy See.

Even among the bishops?
Unfortunately yes, even among those recognized by Rome. In Beijing, not a few of them made it a point to make nice with the new Bishop of Chengde, who was illegitimately consecrated a few weeks earlier - to congratulate him, to be photographed with him, but they did not have to do this!

In short, 45 bishops took part in this assembly, with an average age less than 50. Some of them were forced to attend, some not.

What conclusion do you draw from this?
That unfortunately, the number of 'opportunists' has grown.

What is the reason for this?
A lack of adequate formation among the clergy. But also a discernment deficit in choosing episcopal candidates. Sometimes, the better candidates are not proposed, instead compromise candidates are chosen.

In fact, the government has understood for quite a few years now that illegitimate bishops will never be acceptable to the faithful, and that is why they are trying to have their liege priests consecrated with the approval of the Holy See.

So are you saying that in recent years there has not been adequate priest formation nor more attentive discernment on the part of the Holy See in choosing candidates for bishop? {But Hon did not say the lack of discernment was on the part of the Holy See!]
It is not just my opinion - but I often hear complaints by the faithful and priests on the mainland against compromise candidates for bishop. The Holy See itself has rightly been concerned about avoiding any illegitimate ordinations.

So it is difficult to strike a balance between this need and that of trying to avoid illegitimate ordinations and making do with compromise candidates?
It is, in effect. It is difficult to choose good candidates. The Chinese government maintains that in presenting the Vatican with lists containing names they consider acceptable, it is already making a concession. And if the Holy See refuses to give its approval, then they threaten to go ahead with consecrating their choice anyway...

That's what happened in Chengde...
Yes. I considered that a clear message. The government was saying: In my house, I command. It's almost like going back to the 1950s, as if there had never been any positive dialog, which there have been!

How can this dialog be restored?
The Chinese government has officials who are very well prepared and competent negotiators, which we should match on our part. But first, we must know whether the government really wants to come to an agreement with the Holy See or not.

In this respect and others, two China experts have different opinions - Cardinal Zen and Fr. Jerome Heydrickx. What do so say about this dispute?
Fr. Heydrickx has two premises. The first is that the Chinese government has good intentions, including that of signing an agreement with the Holy See. The second is that after the Pope's letter in 2007, the clandestine community no longer has a reason to exist.

On the other hand, Cardinal Zen, who knows both Chinese reality and mentality very well, does not trust the Chinese authorities. He maintains, rightly, that if the government is to be trusted, it must show some concrete acts to earn it but so far we have not seen that. An example would be to let the Church choose its own bishops.

On the second point, Cardinal Zen - and I agree with him on this - maintains that the underground Church continues to have reason to exist.

A last question. Why have the bishops who were illegitimately consecrated and those bishops who ordained them not been excommunicated?
In fact, excommunication would be automatic for both he who receives and he who confers an illegitimate ordination. However, there can be extenuating circumstances for those, for instance, who are forced to take a role in these acts. I think that the Holy See, before publicly declaring excommunication, looks into each individual case carefully to see if there are any extenuating circumstances. But this tends to be a long and delicate process. [In any case, it has been reported that almost all of the official bishops have been legitimized by the Vatican, so there cannot be too many under investigation now. I think Cardinale should have researched the numbers or asked the archbishop about it.]

What do you think about these illegitimate bishops?
There are candidates who allow themselves to be consecrated illegitimately, thinking that not long afterwards, if they ask the Holy See, it will pardon them and give them legitimacy. The Vatican must be vigilant about this kind of calculation and oppose it.

However, one must also keep in mind that the Church is the Body of Christ, and if a little part of this body is breaking off, then we should not just let it go but seek to take it back with justice but also with mercy.

It is encouraging that Mons. Hon is able to speak bluntly without sounding abrasive or belligerent. For someone who calls himself undiplomatic, he manages to keep a moderate tone. It escaped me two days ago when I was impatient about Cardinal Zen's hard line, especially in seeming to attack Cardinal Dias at Propaganda Fide, that Mons. Hon is now the #2 man to Cardinal Dias, and would have been the right and obvious channel for a behind-the-scenes mediation before venting in public.


Sandro Magister's take on this:

The Vatican has a new strategist on China
The new #2 man at Propaganda Fide speaks
for the first time about the situation in China.
He is more moderate than the hawkish Cardinal Zen,
but neither does he advocate 'dialog at any cost'


ROME, April 4 – This weekend, almost simultaneously, two important representatives of the Catholic Church, expressed their views on the difficult situation faced by the Church in China.

The first is Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, former Archbishop of Hong Kong, who has retired but is still very vigilant over what is happening in his country.

On April 1, Cardinal Zen published in AsiaNews, news agency of the Pontifical Isntitute for Foreign Missions, a vehement act of accusation against a 'triumvirate' he accuses of trying to replicate in China the Ostpolitik practised by the Vatican with Communist regimes during the Cold War. [Apparently, the Vatican thought Ostpolitik was Realpolitik enough at the time in order to save Catholics behind the Iron Curtain more grief than they already had - even if part of the 'cost' was not to say anything about Communism during the Second Vatican Council! Would Cardinal Zen condemn John XXIII and Paul VI for that? ]

Zen called that policy one of 'dialog at any cost' which he said was 'disastrous then and even more disastrous now', and whose only outcome would be to "drive the Chinese Catholics deeper into the swamp of slavery".

The triumvirate he accuses is composed of Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a 'minutante' [in the Curia, someone who edits official documents and even drafts them] of the Congregation, and Fr. Jerome Heydrickx, a renowned Sinologist, for their strategy.

Zen accuses them of acting against the line taken by Benedict XVI in his letter to Chinese Catholics in 2007, and against the opinion of the overwhelming majority of the commission the Pope appointed to monitor the China situation, of which Zen is a member.

[As I commented yesterday: Since the latter part of 2010, Benedict XVI has made Cardinal Dias the third Curial head with whom he meets once a week. If the Cardinal - whose dicastery has jurisdiction over the dioceses in mainland China - and his people were doing anything so flagrantly against the Pope's wishes, would the Pope not have set him right by this time????]

The second high-ranking prelate who spoke about China on the same day was Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai in an interview with Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference.

[Magister then picks up Cardinale's opening paragraphs about Mons. Hon before the interview above...]

In this interview, which is the first ever given in Rome by Archbishop Hon, he expresses his opinions very frankly and does not elude any questions. He describes the positions of Cardinal Zen and Fr. Heydrickx in simple terms, and does not hide the fact that his position is closer to the former thought not following him in everything.

I am reproducing the interview here, but to frame it better, here is a brief summary of what has happened in the past three months between the Vatican and the Chinese government.

On March 30, a new bishop, Paul Liang Jian-sen, 46, was ordained in Jiangmen. His nomination was 'approved' by the Holy See and 'authorized' by the Chinese government.

From April 18 to November 15, 2010, another 10 bishops were ordained in China with such joint approval in the dioceses of Hohot, Haimen, Xiamen, Sanyuan, Taizhou, Yan'an, Taiyuan, Yuncheng, Nanchang,and Zhoucun.

But on November 15, an illicit ordination took place in Chengde, without the Pope's approval. The last such ordination in China had been in 2006.

Shortly after, from Dec. 7-9, the government summoned to Beijing a so-called national assembly of Catholic representatives, with the attendance of 45 bishops, many of them recognized by the Vatican. Some were even elected officers of the government-sponsored bishops' conference and the Patriotic Association, neither of them recognized by the Vatican.

On November 24 and on December 17, the Holy See issued two very strongly-worded communiques denouncing the Chengde ordination and the Beijing assembly.

[He then reprints Cardinale's interview with Mons. Hon.]

Tuesday, April 5, Fourth Week in Lent

ST. VICENTE (Vincent) FERRER (b Spain 1350, d France 1419)
Dominican, Prior, Preacher, Miracle Worker
Born in Valencia to an English father and a Spanish mother, Vicente joined the Dominican order at age 18,
and soon distinguished himself for his great scholarship in philosophy and theology, as well as by unusual
gifts of preaching. He was named prior of his friary at Valencia shortly after he was ordained by the
Spanish cardinal De Luna who would become the anti-Pope Benedict XIII. Ferrer lived through the turbulent
second half of the Western Schism, when there were two Popes, one in Avignon and one in Rome. Unlike his
great contemporary Dominican, Catherine of Siena, Ferrer supported the Avignon Popes - first Clement VII,
and then Benedict XIII, who made him Apostolic Penitentiary and Master of the Palace Household. However
in 1399, Benedict allowed him to resume preaching which he would do through most of Western Europe,
Britain and Scotland for the next 21 years. In his own homeland, his preaching led to the conversion of
many Jews (as many as 25,000) and Moors (8,000). He was said to have the gift of tongues, since he only
spoke the dialect of Valencia, and Latin, but inspired extraordinary ardor in his listeners. He became
known as the 'Angel of the Apocalypse' for his fierce sermons on sin, penance and teh Last Judgment. He
also performed numerous miracles, being credited with at least 25 episodes of raising dead people to life
(a record among saints), including a few after his death. Towards the end of Ferrer's life, as the monarchs
of France and Spain withheld their support for Benedict XIII, Ferrer tried in vain to persuade him to resign,
but he would not. In fact, in 1409, when the Council of Pisa decided that the three claimants to the Papacy
should all resign so a new Pope could be elected, Benedict XIII was the only one who refused to resign.
Ferrer died in Vannes, Brittany, during one of his preaching tours.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040510.shtml


OR today.

Photo: John Paul II remembered on the 6th anniversary of his death at a football game in Poland. Illustration: Detail from Lorenzo Lotto's 'Adoration of the Shepherds'.
Below: Faithful at the Sunday Angelus, and two illustrations from a new children's book on the life of John Paul II.

Benedict XVI on the death anniversary of John Paul II:
'I remembered him in prayer'
Other Page 1 stories: More bloodshed in the Ivory Coast as forces of President-elect Ouattara take over most of the country from the
loyalists to ex-President Ngagbo who refuses to leave office four months after his electoral defeat; Qaddafi's government reportedly
seeking a diplomatic way out, but shooting continues between his forces and Benghazi-based rebels; in Japan, technicians fail to
contain increasing radioactivity from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant; and an essay on the Italian painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556),
as the lesser known face of 16th century Renaissance painting which was dominated by Raphael and Michelangelo. A major exhibit of his
works has opened at the Scuderie (former stables) of the Quirinale Palace; Lotto was a student of Raphael but he left Rome and chose to
paint his religious art in various small churches in central Italy. In the inside pages, a major essay by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect
of the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood, explaining the rigorous procedures followed even if the certification for
beatification took place in record time.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

- No events announced for the Holy Father today.

- A news conference was held led by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, to discuss
the program for the beatification of John Paul II, which begins with a prayer vigil at the Circo Massimo and
in several other churches of Rome which will remain open the night of April 30.

Andrea Tornielli starts his employment with La Stampa today after 15 years at Il Giornale, with a new look for his blog, and a new book entitled IL FRAGILE CONCORDIA (The fragile agreement) about the relations between the State and Catholics during the 150 years of Italian sovereignty... And this important update....


'Summorum Pontificum' Instruction
will come out in early May
Trasnslated from

April 5, 2011


It turns out that even if the Latin text of the Instruction on Summorum Pontificum has been very carefully finalized, it will not be published before Easter but in early May. The document will be dated April 30, feast of St. Pius V [Patron of the CDF - he standardized the liturgy after the Council of Trent, and the 1570 Missal is referred to as the Pius V Missal].

The delay is due to the slow translation process. As I said in an earlier post, the Instruction will give details on how to apply the provisions of the Pope's Motu Proprio on the traditional Mass, leaving no room for the restrictions imposed by some bishops, and above all, designating the Ecclesia Dei Commission under Mons. Guido Pozzo within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as the organism which will decide on all questions regarding its implementation.

I can assure you the recent news that the Instruction has already been sent to the bishops of the world is not true. The bishops will get the Instruction in the original Latin and in their own language after all the translations are finalized.

I must add that despite assertions to the contrary, the text of the Instructions was not modified in response to speculation and concern that the Instruction would water down the sense and substance of Summorum Pontificum.




Thanks to

for pointing to this interview with Mons. Marini published online in the English edition of a Polish magazine:


Beauty in the liturgy
Interview with Mons. Guido Marini
by Wlodzimierz Redzioch

Issue #14, 2011

We can see them always standing by the Pope; they are his shadows, concentrated on his movements and gestures; they direct him, remind him what to do; help him when it is required; discreet and indispensable. They are the papal masters of ceremonies. People recognise their faces as they recognise the faces of popes themselves.

During almost the whole pontificate of John Paul II the Papal Master of Ceremonies was Fr Piero Marini who was appointed archbishop in 2003. He served Benedict XVI for over two years.

In October 2007 a new Master of Ceremonies appeared – by strange coincidence he has the same surname but his Christian name is Guido. Fr Guido Marini comes from Liguria.

He was born in Genoa in 1965. After his studies in the Archdiocesan Major Seminary in his home town he was ordained in 1989 by Cardinal Giovanni Canestri. He continued his formation in Rome, at first at the Pontifical Lateran University where he received his doctor’s degree ‘in utroque iure’ [a medieval term meaning in both civil and canon law] and then at the Salesian Pontifical University where he studied psychology of communication.

After returning to Genoa he worked as the personal secretary and master of ceremonies of the archbishops: Cardinal Giovanni Canestri, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. He gave lectures and fulfilled various functions in the local Curia.

In October 2007 Benedict XVI appointed him, most likely at the suggestion of Cardinal Bertone, the Master of Ceremonies of the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations. Thus the young priest was made responsible for the hard task to implement the papal reform of liturgical celebrations aiming at returning to the true spirit of the liturgy. (W.R.)

What does the collaboration between Benedict XVI and his Master of Ceremonies look like? Does the Pope decide about everything?
First, I would like to stress that the celebrations the Holy Father presides over are to be the points of reference for the whole Church.

The Pope is the highest priest, the one who offers the sacrifice of the Church, the one who shows liturgical teaching through his celebrations – the point of reference for all.

Considering this explanation it is easier to understand what the style of collaboration between the Papal Master of Ceremonies and the Holy Father should be. One should act so as to make the papal liturgies the expressions of his authentic liturgical orientation. Therefore, the Papal Master of Ceremonies must be a humble and faithful servant of the liturgy of the Church. I have understood my work in the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations in this way since the very beginning.

We all can see the changes introduced to the liturgical celebrations by Benedict XVI. How can we synthesize these changes?
I think that these changes can be synthesized in the following way: First of all, these are changes made in accordance with the logic of development of continuity with the past. So we are not breaking with the past and juxtaposing with the former pontificates.

Secondly, the introduced changes serve to evoke the true spirit of liturgy like the Second Vatican Council wanted: "The 'subject' of the liturgy's intrinsic beauty is Christ himself, risen and glorified in the Holy Spirit, who includes the Church in his work".

Celebrations directed towards the cross, Holy Communion received directly by mouth and while kneeling, longer moments of silence and meditation – these are the most visible liturgical changes introduced by Benedict XVI. Unfortunately, many people do not understand the theological and historical meanings of these changes and what is worse, they can see them as ‘return to the past.’ Can you briefly explain the meanings of these changes?
In fact, our office has received many testimonies of the faithful who have favourably received the changes introduced by the Pope because they see them as the authentic renewal of the liturgy.

As for the significance of some changes I will offer a few synthetic reflections. Celebrating towards the cross stresses the correct direction of liturgical prayer, i.e. towards God. During prayers the faithful are not to look at themselves but should direct their eyes towards the Saviour.

Giving the Host to people kneeling aims to emphasize the aspect of adoration, both as the fundamental element of celebration and the necessary attitude while facing the mystery of God’s real presence in the Eucharist.

During the liturgical celebration prayer assumes various forms: words, songs, music, gestures and silence. Moments of silence let us participate truly in the act of worship, and what’s more, from the inside, they evoke every other form of prayer.

The Pope attaches importance to liturgical vestments. Is it a matter of pure aestheticism?
To understand better the Pope’s ideas about beauty as an important element of liturgical celebrations, I would like to quote his apostolic exhortation Sacramentum caritatis:

---

This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor. […]

This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed himself to us in the paschal mystery. […]

The beauty of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime expression of God's glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of heaven on earth. Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation.’

---

Benedict XVI has changed his pastoral staff – currently he is using the cross-shaped staff. Why?
Until the pontificate of Pope Paul VI Popes did not use crosiers at all; on special occasions they carried a ferula (cross-shaped staff).

Then Paul VI, introduced a cross-shaped crosier, which John Paul II used, and so did Benedict XVI until Pentecost Sunday of 2008. Since then, he has been using a ferula because he thinks that it is more suitable for the papal liturgy.

Why is it so important that the Church preserves using Latin in the liturgy?
Although the Second Vatican Council introduced the use of local languages, it also recommended using Latin in the liturgy. I think it is for two reasons that we should not give up Latin.

Above all, we have a great liturgical legacy of Latin: from the Gregorian chant to polyphony as well as ‘testi venerandi’ (sacred texts) that Christians have used for ages.

Besides, Latin allows us to show the catholicity and universality of the Church. We can experience this universality in a unique way in St Peter’s Basilica and during other international gatherings when men and women from all continents, nationalities, languages, sing and pray in the same language.

Who will not feel at home when being at church abroad and can join his/her brothers in the faith at least in some parts by using Latin?

Do you agree that the faith of the priest himself is expressed in the liturgy in a special way?
I have no doubts about it. Since the liturgy is the celebration of Christ’s mystery here and now, the priest is called to express his faith in a twofold way.

Firstly, he should celebrate with the eyes of one who looks beyond the visible reality to ‘touch’ what is invisible, i.e. God’s presence and work. It is this ‘ars celebrandi’ (art of celebration) that allows the faithful to sense whether the liturgy is only a performance or spectacle for the priest, or whether it expresses his vivid and attractive relation with Christ’s mystery.

Secondly, after celebrating Mass, the priest is renewed and ready to follow what he has experienced, i.e. make his life a celebration of Christ’s mystery.

Cardinal Amato:
'John Paul II beatified
for his personal holiness,
not for his Papacy'
By Cindy Wooden


ROME, April 5 (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II is being beatified not because of his impact on history or on the Catholic Church, but because of the way he lived the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.

"Clearly his cause was put on the fast track, but the process was done carefully and meticulously, following the rules Pope John Paul himself issued in 1983," the cardinal said April 1, during a conference at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

The cardinal said the Church wanted to respond positively to many Catholics' hopes to have Pope John Paul beatified quickly, but it also wanted to be certain that the Pope, who died in 2005, is "in heaven". [Did he really express himself that way????]

Cardinal Amato said the sainthood process is one of the areas of church life where the consensus of church members, technically the "sensus fidelium" ("sense of the faithful"), really counts.

"From the day of his death on April 2, 2005, the people of God began proclaiming his holiness," and hundreds, if not thousands, visit his tomb each day, the cardinal said. A further sign is the number of biographies published about him and the number of his writings that are translated and re-published.

"In the course of a beatification cause, there is the vox populi," he said, which must be "accompanied by the vox dei (voice of God) -- the miracles -- and the vox ecclesiae (voice of the Church)," which is the official judgment issued after interviewing eyewitnesses and consulting with historians, physicians, theologians and church leaders to verify the candidate's holiness.

Beatification and canonization are not recognitions of someone's superior understanding of theology, nor of the great works he or she accomplished, he said. Declaring someone a saint, the Church attests to the fact that he or she lived the Christian virtues in a truly extraordinary way and is a model to be imitated by others, the cardinal said.

The candidate, he said, must be perceived "as an image of Christ."

Cardinal Amato said, "the pressure of the public and of the media did not disturb the process, but helped it" because it was a further sign of Pope John Paul's widespread reputation for holiness, which is something the church requires proof of before it moves to beatify someone.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who served as Vatican spokesman under Pope John Paul, told the conference that the late Pope's voice, his pronunciation, his use of gestures, and his presence at the altar or on a stage all contributed to his success as a communicator.

But the key to his effectiveness was that he firmly believed that each person was created in God's image and likeness, Navarro-Valls said. "I think this was what attracted people even more than the way he spoke."

People felt he was sincere in his recognition of their dignity and of their destiny to be with God, he said.

"He was a man profoundly convinced of the truth of those words in Genesis -- 'God made man and woman in his image and likeness.' This gave him optimism even when he could no longer walk, and then even when he could no longer speak," Navarro-Valls said.

The Spaniard, a member of Opus Dei, said he had the blessing of personally knowing three saints: Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei; Blessed Teresa of Kolkata; and Pope John Paul.

What all three have in common, he said, was a good sense of humor, a ready smile and an ability to laugh.

As for those who question beatifying Pope John Paul only six years after his death and those who say the explosion of the clerical sex abuse scandal during his pontificate casts a dark shadow on his reign, Navarro-Valls said people must remember that beatification is not a judgment on a pontificate, but on the personal holiness of the candidate.

The key question, he said, is: "Can we be certain he lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way?"


The above report carries the message in Cardinal Amato's article in the OR today, and makes a point that the Church can never stress or repeat enough: the honors of the altar for Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II is for his personal holiness throughout his life, and not for his Papacy, which is for history to judge.

This is something ignored by all those who criticize the beatification because of specific shortocmings or failings in his Papacy, which do not reflect on his personal holiness, but on other factors that went into his administrative actions and judgments.

Surely not even his most bitter critics can think he approved of the actions of pedophile priests or the cover-up of these actions by their bishops, nor that he knew of Marcial Maciel's perversions when he praised him on the last public occasion they were seen together.

To insist that the Church must establish 'what he knew and when he knew it' about these unpleasant facts before going on with his sainthood cause is to be as perverse and sanctimonious as Pius XII's most hostile opponents who condemn him for his 'silence' about the Holocaust while completely ignoring the thousands he rescued and all his other actions he performed in their behalf.


This is all that the AP has reported so far from the news conference today at the Vatican on the 3-day program (April 30-May 2) surrounding the beatification of John Paul II on May 1. There's lots more material but right now, it's all in Italian...

Miracle nun and JPII's closest aides
will 'star' in prayer vigil
for the May 1 beatification


VATICAN CITY, April 5 (AP) - A French nun whose inexplicable cure from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed to beatify Pope John Paul II will have a starring role in the Vatican's three-day beatification extravaganza.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, as well as John Paul's closest aide Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and longtime spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls will all speak about their experiences with the beloved pope at a prayer vigil at Rome's Circus Maximus on the eve of the May 1 beatification.

The Vatican on Tuesday released details about the event, which is expected to draw some 300,000 people to the Eternal City.

Organizers said the €1.2 million ($1.7 million) price tag is being paid for by private sponsors, who are also donating water, chips, sandwiches and fruit for pilgrims.

The story omits to say that Benedict XVIO will take part in the main prayer vigil with a videmessage.


RV's Engl;ish service has now conveniently summarized the important points from today's news conference:

The Diocese of Rome:
Details of 3-day
beatification program

April 5, 2011

With less than one month to go until the beatification of the Venerable John Paul II, those in charge of organising the mammoth event revealed the final program for the three days of celebration, which includes the testimony of Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre, whose miraculous healing opened the way for the late Pope’s beatification and a live link up with five Marian shrines around the world.

Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar-General for the diocese of Rome, was joined by Msgr. Marco Frisina, Director of the Diocesan liturgical Office, and Vatican Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. in a news conference at teh Vatican Tuesday morning..

Cardinal Vallini said that the Diocese of Rome, as the diocese promoting the sainthood cause for John Paul II, has asked Benedict XVI to declare “universal veneration” for the new Blessed.

This is a prerogative for saints, whereas Blesseds are generally endorsed by the Church for 'local veneration' only until they are canonized. He said that the request was part of the original petition presented by then Cardinal Vicar Camillo Ruini to Benedict XVI when the Diocese of Rome first opened the late Pope's cause of beatification.

The full program for the beatification celebrations presented today is "strongly characterised by particular elements intended to emphasise the richness of John Paul II's personality, and the impact of his pontificate on the life of the diocese of Rome and on the whole world".

The Vigil
Saturday, April 30
Circus Maximus (20.00 to 22.30)

The celebration will be divided into two parts, the first part dedicated to remembering the words and actions of John Paul II.

A solemn procession by representatives of all the parishes and chaplaincies of the diocese will accompany the icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani from Santa Maria Maggiore, to be enthroned for teh Prayer Vigil.

Personal testimonies will then be given by two of John Paul II’s closest collaborators, Joaquin Navarro-Valls and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and by Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre, whose miraculous recovery opened the way for the beatification process.

This first part of the celebrations will be concluded with the hymn "Totus tuus", composed for the 50th anniversary of John Paul's priestly ordination.

The second part will focus on the recitation of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, which were introduced by John Paul II.

After the hymn "Open the doors to Christ", Cardinal Vallini will give an introduction summarising the spiritual and pastoral character of John Paul II.

The Rosary will then be recited, with a live connection to five Marian sanctuaries around the world. Each of the five Mysteries of the Rosary shall be linked to a prayer intention of importance to John Paul II.

In the Sanctuary of Lagniewniki, Krakow, the prayer intention will take the theme of youth; in the Sanctuary of Kawekamo, Bugando, Tanzania, the family; in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon, Harissa, evangelisation; in the Basilica of Sancta Maria de Guadalupe, Mexico City, hope and peace among peoples; and in the Sanctuary of Fatima, the Church.

To conclude the vigil, Pope Benedict XVI will recite the final oration and impart his apostolic blessing to all participants, in a live link up from the Apostolic Palace.

That night, across Rome, the following churches shall remain open for prayer: Sant' Agnese in Agone, Piazza Navona; San Marco al Campidoglio; Santa Anastasia; Santissimo Nome di Gesù all'Argentina; Santa Maria in Vallicella; San Giovanni dei Fiorentini; San Andrea della Valle; and San Bartolomeo all'Isola.

Mass of Beatification,
May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday
St. Peter's Square

The solemn liturgy of beatification will be preceded by an hour of prayerful preparation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a devotion introduced by Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska and dear to the soon-to- be-Blessed John Paul II.

The preparation will conclude with an Invocation to Mercy in the world, with the hymn "Jezu ufam tobie".

This will be followed by Mass, with the texts for the First Sunday after Easter. At the end of the rite of beatification, a tapestry depicting the newly Blessed will be unveiled to the notes of the Hymn to the Blessed in Latin.


Mass of thanksgiving
Monday, May 2 May
St. Peter's Square

Officiated by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, this will be the first Mass celebrated in honour of the newly Blessed John Paul II, with texts toe be called the Mass of the Blessed John Paul II.

Music during the celebrations shall be provided by the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, with the participation of the Choir of Warsaw and the Wadowice Symphony Orchestra, Poland.

Other details

Fr. Lombardi said that in the evening of Friday, April 29, the tomb of the Blessed Pope Innocent XI - currently in the Chapel of St. Sebastian in St. Peter's Basilica - shall be transferred to the Altar of Transfiguration, to make way for the body of John Paul II.

That morning, the coffin of John Paul II - which shall not be opened - will be exhumed and transferred from its tomb in the Vatican grottoes to rest before the tomb of St. Peter.

On the morning of 1 May, it will be brought before the Altar of Confession in the Basilica.

Following the beatification ceremony, the Pope and the concelebrating cardinals will make their way to the Altar of Confession in the Basilica and will before the coffin.

In the afternoon after the Beatification Mass, the Basilica will be opened to the faithful who wish to venerate the new Blessed and will stay open for as long as there are people seeking to do so.


The Diocese of Rome has now renovated their site
www.karol-wojtyla.org/En/Home%20Page.aspx
for the cause of John Paul II's sainthood which has been up since May 2005:

Benedict XVI's
'Court of the Gentiles'
comes to Assisi
by Austen Ivereigh

April 4, 2011

There will be two major differences between the global interfaith prayer for peace which Pope Benedict has called for in Assisi on 27 October, and the two previous ones called by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and 2002.

The first is that the representatives of the different faiths will not actually pray together. After speeches in the morning, there will be "a simple lunch, followed by a moment of silence for individual reflection and prayer," according to the Vatican statement April 2nd.

"Later, all those present in Assisi will make a 'pilgrimage' to the Basilica of Saint Francis, in silence, leaving room for personal meditation and prayer". The final part of the Day will include "a solemn renewal of the joint commitment to peace".

It was an open secret that Cardinal Ratzinger, then head of the CDF, opposed the idea of people of different faiths joining in a collective prayer in 2002, so that's one change that could have been predicted.

The other change is more interesting, and surprising. Not only will there be representatives of the world's faiths at Assisi, but also "some figures from the world of culture and science will be invited to share the journey", says the Vatican communique.

These are "people who, while not professing to be religious, regard themselves as seekers of the truth and are conscious of a shared responsibility for the cause of justice and peace in this world of ours".

This announcement comes on the heels of the Courtyard of the Gentiles initiative in Parish on 24-25 March, in which there was an attempt at a serious dialogue between Catholics and atheists, bringing together Christian clergy, activists and artists together with nonbelievers from the worlds of politics, economics, law and the arts.

If you didn't catch much about it, that's because, as Magister says, it was extremely ineffectively publicised. (I was in another European city, Madrid, at the time, where it passed laregely unnoticed.)

The Courtyard initiative, following news of the Vatican's new Council for Promoting New Evangelization, and now the announcement that nonbelievers are to be invited to Assisi, all point to Benedict XVI's papacy opening up a new dialogue front -- with "post-Christian" Europe. By recognizing it as, in effect, a faith, the Pope shows how serious he is about engaging with secularist humanism.

About the lack of coverage
of the Paris events -
even by Catholic media

Having been avidly behind the Holy Father's Court of the Gentiles initiative since he proposed it in December 2009, I was most mortified, as I had occasion to note here more than once, at the lack of coverage and paucity of materials regarding the two days that launched it internationally in Paris on March 24-25.

In the past few days, two commentators - Sandro Magister in www.chiesa and Armin Swibach in Die Tagespost - have come out lamenting the same.

The deficiency in the Catholic media was almost criminal:
- Even L'Osservatore Romano's only coverage of it was limited to publishing the text of the Pope's closing message.
- CNA did a middling perfunctory summary two days after the event.
- CNS to date has not had a single word about it.
- ZENIT, which can report actively from London if it wants to, did not bother to have anyone reporting from Paris, and was content with posting the Pope's message, and two days later, quoting from Fr. Lombardi's Octava Dies editorial about the event.

I had mentioned that Avvenire has a special dossier on the COG in general, going back to when the Holy Father first proposed it in his Christmas address to the Roman Curia. But even they - although they did two good interviews with philosophers Julia Kristeva and Jean-Luc Marion, who took part in the dialogs, only reported on Day 1 of the Paris events - when the dialog was held at UNESCO headquarters, and nothing other than the Pope's text for Day 2 - which included discussions at the Sorbonne, the Institut Francais and the College des Bernardins, plus the youth assembly and Vespers at Notre-Dame.

Let us look at what Armin Swibach in Die Tagespost had to say (his translated text is in italics). After an opening paragraph saying what the COG is all about, and a second paragraph quoting from how teh Pope introduced the idea back in December 2009, he goes on to write:

The Pontifical Council for Culture spent much time and effort to prepare for the event that symbolically wanted this dialog between agnostic or atheistic culture and Catholic thought to be launched in Paris.

High-profile participants were invited, and impressive interventions were expected. Unfortunately, it was not possible to follow the events as they deserved to be.

That is not right, though. KTO, the French Catholic TV channel, broadcast all the events, and any reporter who could not be in Paris but who understands French could have followed most of the events sitting home. All the main Catholic media have French-speaking reporters but nobody bothered. I certainly would have done so if I had been a reporter assigned to follow the COG initiative, and I would have wanted to as it is, but I could not juggle my tasks for the day to watch KTO at the appointed times.

Its organizers had forgotten to set up a press office and to provide interested parties with detailed information. Nor did they think it necessary to provide the media with either the partial or full texts of the papers delivered.

A website that had been prepared for the event - www.parvisdesgentils.fr - only gave a sketchy overview of the event (locations and topics), and only in French.

I confess that I, too, had no reason to doubt that after the actually rather detailed preparatory information on that site, it would follow up during the events with running reports and eventually, the texts corresponding to all those mouth-watering mental delights that their published programs showed. Alas, they seem to have stopped functioning on the day of the event itself, apart from Twitter-like messages of which the last I saw was a repeated alert that "The Pope's message is about to come on live TV".

Even the text of the Pope's message was not published until the day after. [No! Actually, Vatican Radio's English service had the English translation almost right away - I should have checked the other services too, but apparently, the German service was not as efficient, since Swibach complains!]

And the Internet site of the Pontifical Council on Culture makes no reference to the initiative or to the event at all. [Actually, that web page has nothing useful except a brief history of the Council, but the week after Paris, I found out they had opened a website on the COG specifically, but most of it was still under construction and was not useful other than to get an idea of their visual look!... I have just checked now, and it is no longer online. Maybe someone made a mistake and put it online when it was so woefully incomplete, and now they've pulled it.]

Conclusion: An opportunity for a new dawn of dialog between faith and the secularized mainstream culture was missed. A failure to follow up on the Pope's initiative on December 21, 2009....
[That's a rather sweeping conclusion to make, considering that the Court will be on the road in a number of other cities this year.]

What Swibach fails to note is the glaring fact about the total lack of media coverage for the Paris events in the secular media. I have mentioned twice how even AFP, the French news agency, never once acknowledged it in its France 24 bilingual online and TV service. Similar near-total blackout in the Italian media. Their way of saying - "No thanks, we're not looking for God, nor for the truth - neither exists for us. Nor are we interested in what you Catholics have to say about anything whatsoever!"

It was so naive of me to think that the big names of the non-Catholic participants in the Paris forums would at least merit media attention in general!

Second glaring fact that no one points out: Cardinal Ravasi is supposed to be one of the smartest guys on earth - the sharpest intellectual sword in the Catholic sheathe, by John Allen's account - but why has he never thought it was worthwhile, or even necessary, to open an appropriate website for the Pontifical Council on Culture and its activities, and not the skimpy webpage on vatican.va which only allows the dicasteries to post documents and not to have a proper website with various subsites and sub-sections?

The same could be said for Mons. Fisichella at the new Council for Promoting New Evangelization. Both he and Ravasi are fairly young intellectuals with solid academic contacts: How difficult is it for them to tap some computer-whiz staff member or camp follower to come up with a functional website at little expense? The media love to go on about the Vatican's erratic, occasionally appalling, communications strategy or lack thereof. What excuse do Ravasi and Fisichella have, when they are supposed to be among the best brains in the Curia?

I remember that shortly after Benedict XVI brought up the Court of the Gentiles idea in his December 2009 address to the Roman Curia, Fr. Schall came out with his usual perception with an article saying "The Internet can well be the present-day Court of the Gentiles".

I know the cardinal has bigger things to think of than having a proper website for this important project, but considering all the admirable foresight and work that he and his people put into preparing the Paris events, how could they have overlooked providing for timely and appropriate dissemination of supporting information and documents during and after the event?

Journalism works the same way science does - "If it is not reported (or documented in some way), it is as if it never happened" - like the tree falling in the forest that no one hears.

Sandro Magister makes the same points Swibach does,
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1347333?eng=y
but he did get hold of the text of one of the interventions at UNESCO - that by philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj, a convert to Catholicism, which I hope I can translate soon.

JON-2 has now sold
1.8 million worldwide


MILAN, April 5 (SIR) – “1.8 million copies of the Pope’s book have already been sold around the world - 430,000 in Italy alone”, said Mgr. Giuseppe Costa, director of Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican publishing house, at a presentation Jesus of Nazareth. From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection.

[It must be recalled that the initial print order at the time the book was released last March 10 was 1.2 million, which means another 600,000 have been reprinted since then. The first printing in Italian was 300,000 which sold out in 3 days.]

The event took place at the Catholic University of Milan, with the Secretary-General of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Mgr. Mariano Crociata, as the principal presenter.

Mgr. Costa said the book is a non-fiction best-seller "in almost all the countries in which it is sold. Up to now, the book has been printed in 12 countries but we have already made agreements to distribute it in 25”.

He pointed out that the book is particularly useful for Catholics this Lent, point out that it is used by many prayer groups to reflect on the events of salvation represented by Jesus's life.







Since the following item is about Milan, in a way, I am posting it in this box, because a new postbox will go on to Page 201...



Cardinal Martini to visit
the Pope on Saturday
Adapted and translated from

April 5, 2011

It has been learned that the Pope will receive Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, emeritus Archbishop of Milan, at a private audience on Saturday.

The Jesuit cardinal, who turned 84 in January, has been suffering from Parkinson's disease for several years. After his retirement as archbishop of Milan, he retired to Jerusalem where he pursued his lifelong Biblical studies. He now lives in a Jesuit rest home in Gallarate near Rome.

The meeting is considered significant among other things because Benedict XVI will decide soon who will succeed Archbishop Dionigi Tettamanzi, Martini's successor in Milan. [Tettamanzi is due to retire on his 77th birthday, having asked the Pope in 2009 for a two-year extension when he turned 75.]

My addenda:

In the 2005 Conclave, Martini was touted as the candidate of the liberal wing of the Church, but his illness probably kept him from presenting any real challenge in terms of actual votes cast at the first ballot.

He has not always preached the Church Magisterium, particularly on social issues, but has been careful not to express anything that is openly heterodox. The media have been quick to hype such borderline statements, treating him, in effect, as the anti-Pope to Benedict XVI.

Last year, he took the unusual step of expressing support publicly for Benedict XVI at the height of the accusations against him in connection with the pedophile-priest scandals,

And recently, for the first time, he corrected media statements that claim he supports the abolition of priestly celibacy, saying that it was not celibacy he was questioning but the isolation of priests unless they live in a community, or at least with other priests.

In effect, Joseph Ratzinger's two most famous contemporaries, Cardinal Martini and Hans Kueng, are also his strongest ideological opponents. Martini turned 84 in January, Kueng turned 85 in March, and the Pope will be 84 on April 16.