BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for earlier posts today, 3/16/12.





COMMUNIQUE ON THE MEETING TODAY
BETWEEN THE PREFECT OF THE CDF
AND THE SUPERIOR-GENERAL OF FSSPX
Translated from

March 16, 2012

---

In the course of the meeting on Sept. 14, 2011 between His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and His Excellency Mons. Bernard Fellay, Superior-General of the Fraternite Sacerdotale St. Pius X (FSSPX), a Doctrinal Preamble, accompanied by a preliminary note, was handed to the latter as a fundamental basis for coming to full reconciliation with the Apostolic See.

The Preamble enunciates certain doctrinal principles and criteria for interpreting Catholic doctrine that are necessary to guarantee fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and a 'sentire cum ecclesia' (thinking with the Church).

The response of the FSSPX to the Doctrinal Preamble, received in January 2012, has been examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and then sent on for the Holy Father's judgment.

In accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father, the evaluation of the FSSPX response was communicated in a letter given to Mons. Fellay today.

The evaluation notes that the position expressed by the FSSPX is not sufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems that are the basis for the rupture between the Holy See and the said Fraternity.

At today's meeting, out of concern to avoid an ecclesial rupture with painful and incalculable consequences, the FSSPX superior-General was requested to clarify the position taken in order to arrive at a reduction of the existing rupture as desired by Pope Benedict XVI.

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I thought that once again, Phillip Pullella of Reuters might have pulled off a fast one with his headline, since no 'ultimatum' is indicated at all in the above note, but it turns out Fr. Lombardi enlarged on the communique:

Vatican issues ultimatum
to traditionalist Catholic group
By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY, March 16 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday told an ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic splinter group they must accept non-negotiable doctrinal principles within a month or risk a painful break with Rome that would have "incalculable" consequences.

The ultimatum was issued after a two-hour meeting between Swiss-born Bishop Bernard Fellay, leader of the dissident Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and U.S. Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican's doctrinal department.

Levada told Fellay the group's response after years of negotiations was still insufficient to overcome doctrinal problems at the root of the split with Rome.

The FSSPX, which rejects reforms made at the historic 1962 Second Vatican Council, defied Rome in 1988 by illegally consecrating four bishops, triggering their excommunication by the late Pope John Paul.

In a gesture of reconciliation, Pope Benedict lifted those bans in 2009 and promoted the use of the traditional Latin Mass favored by the FSSPX.

But Benedict has refused to grant FSSPX bishops the right to reject some of the Council's teachings, such as its historic reconciliation with Judaism and other faiths.

A Vatican statement warned of a possible "Church rupture that would have painful and incalculable consequences" and demanded that the FSSPX clarify its position if it wanted to rejoin the Church and heal the rift.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the group had been given a month to respond. He indicated this was the last chance for the traditionalists to come back on board, saying the process had already been a very long one.

"I don't know what else can be done," Lombardi said.

Benedict values the FSSPX's commitment to Church traditions and wants to avoid their movement creating a permanent schism claiming to be Catholic but outside Vatican control.

He has shown a keen interest in resolving the matter, including making a number of concessions to the traditionalists such as the limited use of the old-style Latin Mass.

Benedict's opening to the traditionalists has met with resistance in many quarters of the Church, particularly because of the group's reluctance to hold dialogues with other religions.

[Pulella goes on to present the restoration of the traditional Mass in the most negative terms possible:]

Last year, the Vatican told Catholic bishops around the world they had to allow priests to say the old-style Latin mass for traditionalist Catholics, whether they liked it or not.

Most Catholics regard the old mass as nostalgic, rigid and something that turns the clock back on the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which many saw as bringing the Church into modern times.

The return of the Latin liturgy has been controversial even in inter-religious relations.

During Good Friday services in the old liturgy, traditionalists still read a prayer in which they pray that Jews will "recognize Jesus Christ as the savior of all men".

Another question to be resolved will be the status of British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, who caused an uproar by denying the Holocaust just before Benedict lifted the excommunication bans on him and the other FSSPX bishops in 2009. [Williamson's status i\s for the FSSPX to decide. He has effectively been suspended in his functions since the February 2010 furor over his negationist statements, when the society recalled him from his post as rector of a seminary in Argentina and ordered him to check himself into one of the FSSPX houses in England, from where he has not been asked to carry out any functions, certainly not a a bishop, and was not even invited to the general assembly of all FSSPX superiors held in December in Italy to discuss the Doctrinal Preamble.

Andrea Tornielli adds a few considerations in his report. I will omit the first part, which is about the contents of the Vatican communique and Fr. Lombardi's subsequent comments:]

Vatican gives FSSPX one month
to give their final response
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from the Italian service of

March 16, 2012

...In the two responses sent to the CDF in December and in January, Mons. Fellay did not sign the doctrinal preamble, seeming to buy time with further explanation of the FSSPX objections, but without closing the door to dialog with the Vatican.

Now it is the Pope who wants clarity soon. The tone of the Vatican letter today was determined by the tone of the responses sent by Fellay, who, however, appeared to be more conciliatory today.

He reportedly said during the meeting with Cardinal Levada that he had "no difficulty in accepting the Profession of Faith" nor even with the principles expressed in the Doctrinal Preamble.

"The problem is not with the principles, but with their application," he reportedly said. "and the fact that the Church today lacks fidelity to the Magisterium". [What Magisterium? It is not for the FSSPX to define what is Church Magisterium and what is not - the Popes and the ecumenical councils exercise the supreme Magisterium in the Church. Bishops have similar Magisterium - or teaching authority - insofar as they are in communion with the Pope. The FSSPX has no canonical standing to exercise Magisterium.]

Thus, it appears that the dialog has not been broken off, the door remains open, and the possibility of healing the FSSPX rupture with the church still exists. Shortly after Easter, we will know if Fellay and the FSSPX decide to accept the Vatican offer or not.

If they say No, then the Holy See will take cognizance that the Lefebvrians have no intention of accepting doctrinal and disciplinary points that the Vatican considers fundamental and basic, thus formally excluding them from communion with the Roman Catholic Church with "painful and incalculable conseqnences".

It is evident from the attitude of Fellay that the problem is not just the text proposed by the Vatican but mainly the polarization within the FSSPX, in which half the community wish to return to full communion with Rome, but the other half are adamant that they would only do this "if Rome converts", namely, takes on the hard Lefebvrian line that rejects all of Vatican II.

Benedict XVI, shortly after becoming Pope, has done everything he can to heal the wound that opened after the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre insisted on illegitimately ordaining four bishops in 1988 against the expressed command of John Paul II.

He met with Fellay in 2005, restored full legitimacy to the traditional Mass in 2007 (as the Lefebvrians have always demanded), revoked in 2009 the excommunication of Fellay and the three other bishops ordained with him, and facilitated the doctrinal discussions begun in October 2010 that have resulted in the Doctrinal Preamble proposed by the CDF. [In the face of which, what 'concessions' have the Lefebvrians made? Not a single one. On the contrary, having entered the doctrinal discussions with four specific objections to the teachings of Vatican II, their public statements quickly morphed into a blanket denunciation of the entire Vatican II. Even if Fellay has simply been trying to humor the hardliners, it is still bad faith.

IMHO, he should take a lesson from the Archbishop of Canterbury's indecision, and make a hard decision one way or the other. If he is in favor of healing the FSSPX rupture, he should say Yes, and let the hardliners decide what they want to do with themselves. If he can't do that without jeopardizing the seminaries and schools the FSSPX has set up, he should nonetheless be prepared to start a new phase with less seminaries and half of his priests and congregations, but they will be within the Church and may even gain more adherents in this way. In any case, it will be the half who refuse to 'return to Rome' who will lose much more by their own choice. If the hardliners prevail and Fellay eventually says No, the FSSPX remains an almost infinitesimal fraction of one million out of nearly 1.2 billion Catholics. That's an almost invisible tail seeking to wag the dog!

The Pope is available if Fidel
wishes to see him in Havana


VATICAN CITY, March 16 (AP) -- The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI will be available should Fidel Castro ask to meet with the Pontiff when he visits Cuba later this month.

Castro hosted Pope John Paul II during his historic visit in 1998, but the 85-year-old former Cuban leader has made only rare public appearances in recent months. He was last seen in photographs released by Cuban state media March 2 with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who was recovering from tumor surgery in Cuba.

Asked about a possible meeting between the Pope and Castro at a media briefing Friday, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that if Castro "wants to, the Pope will be available." Benedict arrives in Cuba from Mexico on March 26.

During the briefing, Lombardi, asked about the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, said the Vatican's "often-repeated position" is contrary to the measure.

"The Holy See does not hold it to be a positive or useful measure. It is something that causes the population to suffer, and therefore does not attain its purpose," he said.

Other highlights of Fr. Lombardi's press briefing are reported by AGI:

'The Pope is very well -
the demands of his coming trip
constitute a sign of it'


VATICAN CITY, March 16 (Translated from AGI) - "The Pope is very well. You can see it just as I do. Despite his age, he has been carrying out all his commitments effectively", said Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi when asked today about the Pope health, at his press briefing for the 85-year-old Pope's trip to Mexico and Cuba March 23-28.

"During this trip, the Pope is facing commitments that are quite demanding for his age and for his strength. So this is a sign that he is well. We all know that since March 1, he is now older than John Paul II was when he died".

About why Benedict XVI is not visiting the Mexican capital, Fr. Lombardi recalled that "the altitude of Mexico City (12,000 feet above sea level) is not advisable for his health".

In any case, he said, "the Pope is not expected to use the rolling platform during this trip." He will be using the Popemobile for his arrival and departure from the major Mssses he will celebrate outdoors in both Mexico and Cuba.


No meeting planned or expected
in Mexico with victims of Fr. Maciel -
because none has been requested


VATICAN CITY, March 16 (Translated from AGI) - During his visit to Mexico on March 23-26, Benedict XVI is not expected to meet with victims of Fr. Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ shown to have had children out of wedlock and to have abused seminarians and young priests during the decades that he was revered as the leader of a very successful ecclesial movement that includes priests, consecrated men and women, and lay faithful.

Fr. Lombardi said at his press briefing when asked about this: "Although in previous occasions, the Pope's meeting with sexual abuse victim was not part of the program, this time the Mexican bishops have not requested for a similar occasion, so this eventuality can be excluded".

[In the USA, Australia, Malta, the United Kingdom and Germany, where the Pope met with victims, the local bishops had requested and arranged for some victims to meet with the Pope, but these meetings were only disclosed publicly after they had taken place.]


Dissidents protest Church move
for police to peacefully dislodge
protestors from a Havana church
by PAUL HAVEN


HAVANA, March 16 (AP) - A decision by Cuba's Roman Catholic cardinal to call police in to remove dissidents occupying a church has sparked an uncomfortable debate about the institution's role on this Communist-run island at the worst possible moment: just 10 days ahead of a high-profile visit by Pope Benedict XVI.

Cuban opposition leaders who had kept their distance from the 13 little-known protesters holed up in the Church of Charity since Tuesday nonetheless denounced the move by Cardinal Jaime Ortega to oust them, saying Friday it was a black mark for a Church that ought to protect human and political rights.

The criticism was joined by human rights officials and some exiles, though others acknowledged the dissidents put church leaders in a tough spot. Religious experts noted the eviction of the occupiers was not unprecedented, with police called in just last month to remove protesters from a camp outside St. Paul's cathedral in London, and Occupy Wall Street protesters removed from a church in New York last year.

The 13 Cuban dissidents were removed from the church in Central Havana at 9:30 p.m. Thursday by some 60 unarmed officers, who took them to a nearby police station, fingerprinted them and issued a formal warning before sending them home. The Church said in a statement that it had secured a promise from the government not to prosecute the dissidents for their action.

The group initially demanded an audience with the Pope during his March 26-28 visit, then asked that he mediate a list of demands on their behalf, including establishing a transitional government to end a half-century of Communist rule under Fidel and Raul Castro.

The Church said the dissidents were evicted peacefully in an operation that took less than 10 minutes, an account verified by local residents interviewed by The Associated Press on Friday, but vehemently disputed by at least one occupier.

"The church is lying, " Fred Calderon said in a telephone interview. "It wasn't peaceful. They removed us with violence and shoving."

The Vatican stood by Ortega in a terse statement from Rome.

"We approved of the position of the cardinal and the diocese," said Rev. Federico Lombardi, a spokesman for the Holy See. "I have nothing else to add."

Back in Cuba, many dissidents who had questioned their colleagues' tactics expressed outrage at Ortega's decision, as well as charges by the dissidents that they were denied food for nearly 48 hours.

Well-known blogger Yoani Sanchez tweeted that it was "an embarrassing night" for the church. Elizardo Sanchez, a de facto spokesman for the dissidents and proponent of human rights who is no relation to Yoani, said he was stunned by the cardinal's decision: "I thought they were going to look for other alternatives, like dialogue or mediation."

Ortega's role has been the subject of intense debate in Cuba. Some praise the 75-year-old cardinal for carving out a space for the church in a Communist country that in the past was openly hostile, and for personally mediating with President Castro in 2010 to secure the release of dozens of political prisoners.

Others say Ortega is passive and has grown too close to the government, which considers the dissidents mercenaries and common criminals paid by Washington to stir up trouble. The government had no comment on the raid, but pro-government blogs blamed the dissidents and accused exiles of having a hand in the occupation.

In Miami, filmmaker and political commentator Joe Cardona said the church's decision to call the police was "horrific but not surprising."

"People in Cuba are turning to the church for protection, and the church is turning its back on them because it puts a damper on the pope's visit," said Cardona, a Cuban-American who opposes the U.S. economic embargo on the island.

Pepe Hernandez, head of the Cuban American National Foundation and a decades-long opponent of the Cuban government, said the Church handled the standoff poorly, but he was more understanding of the bind Catholic officials were in.

"Historically the church, and specifically the Catholic Church, has been a refuge and asylum for those who have been persecuted throughout history. That space, which is a sacred space, should be reserved for that, and for those who come to be close to their faith," he said. If not, he warned, whoever has a demand is going to take over a church and stay there. [Now that's a sensible view!]

The Rev. Thomas Moore, senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said that while it is always better to avoid calling the police, the Church does not look kindly on people who try to occupy sacred ground.

"The demonstrators were doing two things: they were using the church to make a political statement, but also they were trying to force the Pope to speak to them," he said. "And I think that was really two strikes against them, trying to tell the Pope what to do."

The Church in Cuba has had to straddle a difficult path of compromise over the past decade since John Paul II's visit, in order to obtain concessions from the government, and Cardinal Ortega has used much of these favors to gain freedom for thousands of political prisoners who are not also facing charges for other crimes.

Surely the dissidents in Cuba who have not been jailed have had to work out their own individual practical compromises in order to avoid arrest and imprisonment. They must have known that the occupy-a-church ploy would not have worked, on practically the very eve of the Pope's visit, because it risked jeopardizing all the arrangements that have been done. It also appears that the treatment Cardinal Ortega got for the occupiers was more than fair.

The dissidents cannot now fault Ortega who has been doing all he can in behalf of all political prisoners regardless of their religion or lack of it. And how do they know that the Pope himself will not have thought about the dissidents enough to inform his hosts in Havana that he does plan to meets some dissident representatives before he leaves Cuba?

It's very strange that other Middle Eastern patriarchs have been breaking the announcements about the Pope's visit to Lebanon this year, but not the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon himself. The I-media/AGI item earlier today has been confirmed by this longer story from CNA, reporting on announcement by the Greek Melkite Patriarch of Antioch (Syria). Back in February, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Mons. Fouad Twal, gave the first concrete information about the visit in his homily on the Feast of the Presentation, saying the Pope would deliver his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the 2010 Sunday Assembly on the Middle East "when he travels to Lebanon in September".

Patriarch of Antioch discloses
dates for Pope's visit to Lebanon
By Benjamin Mann and Alan Holdren


Rome, Italy, Mar 16, 2012 (CNA/EWTN News).- Rumors of a papal trip to Lebanon have been confirmed by the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which will be among the Eastern Churches in the region who will welcome Pope Benedict XVI at the start of his Sept. 14-16 visit.


Right photo, the Holy Father met the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon, Bechara Boutros Rai, in April last year, one month after the Patriarch was elected; left, photo, Patriarch Gregorios at his news conference yesterday.

“We came to him and now he's coming to us,” said Patriarch Gregorios III, a major participant in the 2010 synod of bishops on the Middle East at the Vatican. He confirmed recent talk of a papal visit during a March 15 press conference at the Melkite Catholics' headquarters in Rome, after he met with the Pope.

The Pope “will come to support Christians so that they are united,” the Patriarch said, according to Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper.

The Melkite Catholic leader will give a discourse in the Pope's presence on the afternoon of Sept. 14, at the Church of St. Paul at Harissa.

Patriarch Gregorios, who is based in the Syrian capital Damascus, said the Pope would be making the visit “for all of the Middle East.” Pope Benedict may even stop over in Syria “if the situation improves,” according to the Eastern Catholic patriarch.

Along with a “message of peace” for all people of the region, the Pope will consign his post-synodal apostolic exhortation summarizing the conclusions and recommendations of the 2010 Synod for the Middle East.

That gathering gave top priority to the problem of how to keep Middle Eastern Catholics and other Christians from leaving their historic homelands, as circumstances in the region have increasingly forced them to do in large numbers over the past decade. The Synod took place just a few months before the Arab world erupted in a series of ongoing and often violent revolutions.

Concern over the survival of some Middle Eastern churches has grown following the rise of political Islam in Egypt and the prospect of a civil war in Syria.

Lebanon, by contrast, is considered a model of stability and religious coexistence in the Middle East. The country's power-sharing system divides different leadership offices between Muslim groups and the Maronite Catholics, who are led by Patriarch Bechara Rai and make up 21 percent of the population.

The Pope was invited to Lebanon by its Sunni Muslim prime minister Najib Mikati, during his November 2011 visit to the Vatican.

Full-scale inquiry into
'disloyal' moles at State
Translated from the Italian service of

March 16, 2012

Archbishop Angelo Becciu, deputy Secretary of State for General Affairs, says a fullscale inquiry into Vatileaks is going on 'in all the organisms of the Holy See".

He told L'Osservatore Romano, in an interview published in the March 16 issue that the investigation covers everyone, none excluded, and that the episode is being investigated criminally by a promoter of justice of the Vatican tribunal, and on the administrative level by the Secretariat of State itself. In addition, he said, Benedict XVI named an ad hoc committee to shed light on the entire episode.

Becciu said that "the Pope is always abreast of what's happening", that he was 'pained' by the episode but 'serene' and 'resolute'. He said disloyalty would be punished, if only to correct all the 'stereotypes' about the Curia, which is 'not a place of conspiracies and careerism", but a place of service to the Church.

The immediate objective, he said, is to re-establish 'a climate of confidence - with seriousness, loyalty and correctness' as a basis for 'being able to work'.

Mons. Becciu spoke of the 'disloyalty' and 'vileness' of those who have been responsible for leaking out confidential Vatican files, saying they "took advantage of their privileged position' to exploit files "whose confidentiality they were obliged to respect".

Nonetheless, the #2 man at the Secretariat of State has positive words for the work of the Secretariat which he described as "disinterested and at a good level, whether they are ecclesiastics or lay persons", adding that "the few who are disloyal should not obfuscate this positive fact".

The odd thing is that the above story appeared in the VATICAN INSIDER at the same time as a bylined story by Marco Tosatti, which leads off this way:

"No internal investigation at the Vatican has been initiated, and at this point, it probably never will be, in order to find out who is or are responsible for leaking out confidential documents to the media..."

Yet the news report does not cite any objective fact to support the statement! In fact, the rest of the story recounts what documents were leaked and what they contained, which simply makes it all the more obvious that they amounted to not very much, really... So, where were the Insider editors today, and did they not see any embarrassing contradiction at all between the stories? Since the Becciu interview appeared in the March 16 issue of OR which was posted online around 3 pm the previous day, shouldn't Vaticanista Tosatti have read it first and factored it into his story? How irresponsible is it to claim 'no investigation at all has been initiated etc' without citing objective proof of such a sweeping statement?

And most important question of all with respect to Mons. Becciu's accounts of the various investigations going on - surely it should not take two months, as it has been so far since the first leaks, to find out the traitors after winnowing down the suspects to those who would have had at least two out of three of the "means, motive and opportunity" criteria for determining criminal responsibility! One would think the Vatican police would have had an idea by now!

At book presentation,
Pope's secretary decries
distorted media image
of Benedict XVI



MUNICH, March 16 (Translated from kath.net/KNA) - The Pope's private secretary, Prelate Georg Gaenswein, used part of the media presentation Thursday evening of a new book to criticize the image that most media generally had of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and which continues to be ascribed to Benedict XVI, saying that this was for the most part a distortion.

He pointed out that this became especially true after the Pope had lifted the excommunication of four FSSPX bishops, including Mons. Richard Williamson, who had publicly made negationist statements about the Holocaust, although the Pope was not made aware of this earlier.

Gaenswein said that the Pope's distorted image was most evident in the German and Anglophone media, calling on the media to correct this distortion. He said, "Whoever knows what the Pope says - which they can read, as his texts are always published - can ask themselves whether they are not watching the wrong film".

He also denied media claims that 'negative news' is withheld from Benedict XVI. "He is always informed about good news as well as bad, and he has long learned how to deal with criticism, to place them in context, and to welcome constructive critiques".



A tribute to Benedict XVI
for his 85th birthday
by Christine Schröpf
]Translated from

March 16, 2012

MUNICH - He has been called 'the George Clooney of the Vatican'. Pope Benedict XVI's good-looking private secretary came to Munich for a quick visit in order to present to the media an early 85th birthday gift for the Pope.



Gaenswein was joined by former Bavarian President Minister Edmuhd Stoiber for the book presentation at the Munich Press Club of the book Benedikt XVI: Prominente über den Papst, a tribute to Benedict XVI from 20 prominent Germans whose lives have been affected by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and who describe their personal impressions and experiences in this regard.

The testimonials come from churchmen, entrepreneurs, politicians, theologians and sports figures from football icon Franz Beckenbauer and the ski champion Maria Höfl-Riesch' from Cardinals Joachim Meisner of Cologne and Reinahrd Marx of Munich-Freising to Benedictine abbot Notker Eolf, from prominent Protestants like Peter GGauweiler and the former Minister President Christine Lieberknecht of Thuringia; from Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Scaheuble to Bavarian Social Minister Christine Hadertbauer.

Gaenswein rarely makes public appearances on his own. Thursday night he was besieged by cameramen and media representatives who also wanted him to sign their copies of the new book.

At the book presentation, he began by conveying the Holy Father's greetings. Then he said that as the editor of the book, he had not asked the contributors to 'praise' the Pope, nor that he had wanted only to get 'sweet music from Germany' for the project.

The presentation took place not far from the Mariensäule - where in 2006, on his visit to Bavaria, Benedict XVI had declared that "My heart always beats Bavarian" to describe his what he feels about his native land.

Back in 1982, when he said goodbye to Munich as its archbishop to go to Rome as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had said at a farewell ceremony in Marienplatz, „Etiam Romae, semper civis bavaricus ero“ (Even in Rome, I will always remain Bavarian).

Bundestag representative Peter Gauweiler noted in his testimonial that "over the years, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has always prided himself in being Bavarian".

Gauweiler's path crossed that of the man who is now Pope since 2001 in the lead-up towards the US-led war in Iraq, when Cardinal Ratzinger made it possible for Gauweiler to visit Baghdad. He brought letters from ranking Bavarian religious leaders to Saddam Huseein expressing their hopes for peace, along John Paul II's advocacy that a war in Iraq was not justifiable. Gauweiler also represented the sentiments of his own party (CDU), whom he had challenged at the party's annual meeting, "Who will you favor - President Bush or the Pope?"

Gauweiler's most recent encounter was during the Pope's visit to Germany last year, when he met with leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt where Martin Luther had lived and worked.

"The decade leading to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation couldn't have had a better beginning," he notes. "Where it all began for Luther, the Pope praised his brother Catholic Luther's search for reforms as well as salvation..."

Germany's football 'Kaiser' (emperor) Franz Beckenbauer recalls in the book that he found his way back to the faith after meeting the Pope in 2006 at the Vatican, when he was on a world tour to promote the World Cup held in Germany that year and presented him with a World Cup pennant. He said he found Benedict XVI surprisingly well-informed about football.

Since then, eh said, the picture of that meeting has gone with him on every trip, because he began to go to Church again, going every morning after he dropped off his children in school. "I find the silence pleasing and I pray - prayers of gratitude since God has always given me graces, and I have had much good fortune in my life".

Mons. Ganeswein himself contributes his own tribute, that begins with a question that a reporter for this newspaper had asked the Pope on his trip to Berlin in 2011. We wanted to know how German he still felt, and the Pope replied that he would always be German but that his position meant he now belonged to the universal People of God which gives a new dimension to his nationality.

Mons. Gaenswein, looking back at almost seven years of Benedict's Pontificate, praises his his ease as Pope ('the Pope of words'), his sincerity, his simplicity - and his courage. "He calls out shortcomings and errors by name".

At the same time, he says, the Pope is not 'unmoved' by criticism. "Good news makes him happy, and reacts with a heavy heart to reports that are injurious", as he denied that bad news is kept from the Pope. However, he says, media criticisms do not constitute "the standard under which the ship of the Vatican sails".

The birthday book, he hopes, will give a well-rounded picture of the Pope and correct distortions of his image. The 20 essays provide 20 portraits of the Pope from Catholics as well as a few critics.

March 16, 2012

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“The restless heart,…echoing St. Augustine, is the heart that is ultimately satisfied with nothing less than God, and in this way becomes a loving heart. Our heart is restless for God and remains so, even if every effort is made today, by means of more effective anaesthetizing methods, to deliver people from this unrest. But not only are we restless for God; God’s heart is restless for us. God is waiting for us. He is looking for us. He knows no rest either, until he finds us. God’s heart is restless, and this is why he set out on the path towards us—to Bethlehem, to Calvary, from Jerusalem to Galilee and on to the very ends of the earth.”
— Pope Benedict XVI, Solemnity of the Epiphany, 2012
L’Osservatore Romano, January 11, 2012

“Silence is nothing merely negative; it is not the mere absence of speech. It is a positive, a complete world in itself. Silence has greatness simply because it is. It is, and that is its greatness, its pure existence.”
— Max Picard, The World of Silence, 1948.

“Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself, and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested.”
— Pope Benedict XVI, Message for 46th World Communications Day
May 20, 2012

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I

We are used to the notion that God is in peace, at rest. If He were not, He would be lacking something necessary for the complete beatitude in which He exists.

God did not create the world because He needed something that He was lacking to Him. Yet, the cosmos, though not necessary either from God’s side or the world’s side, was created for a purpose, as it were, a human purpose.

Christian revelation is unique since it is based on the fact that God goes out of His Trinitarian life to “dwell amongst us.” The Incarnation implies that something needs to be accomplished in the world that only God can achieve or at least inspire.

In the creation of the free, intelligent being we call man, God put Himself at risk. This risk followed from the very nature and hence purpose of His creation. This purpose was to invite other free beings into His own inner Trinitarian life.

Creation is for man, not man for creation. To bring this purpose about, God had, so to speak, to play fair. He could not make the world a deterministic place where what He wanted would automatically come to pass even in the free being.

The meaning of the creation of a real, finite, free, and rational being was that the end of God’s plan had to be freely accepted on the side of the creature. And if initially it was not accepted, as it evidently was not, God would have to freely and intelligently respond, as it were, to man’s free choice.

This response is the origin of Benedict’s use of the notion that God has some “unrest” in His being. Our world is not just one in which we are looking for some answer to what we are, an answer to our own restlessness. This restlessness itself is put in us from the very beginning because we are created to—invited to—participate in this inner life of rest in the Godhead.

Such response implies an active providence on the part of God. His constant reaction to human evil is to find what is good and bring forth from it something better, yet still bearing God’s respect for human freedom. This is what is known as the divine plan of human salvation.

Do we ever hear this divine “unrest” in our souls? In some sense, I suppose, we would call it grace. Grace is not merely justice. God’s mode of redemption, through the Cross—a way that none of us would have chosen—represents something beyond our expectations. But God’s way remains within the order of freedom, both human and divine.

Something at risk is really going on among us. This is the more profound meaning of hell. Our acts are not ultimately indifferent. We are every day deciding what we are and what we shall be. We do this within the confines of our individual lives, whenever and wherever they play themselves out.

We are given enough rope, as they say, to hang ourselves and more than enough to grasp the gift of salvation. This is the meaning of the relation of mercy and justice. Indeed, as St. Paul says, God’s grace is “sufficient” for us. We are not, any of us, left alone. But we are left free.

II.

Following this Epiphany reflection on the “restlessness” of God, Benedict wrote a brief but powerful reflection on silence in connection to the upcoming World Day of Communication. A young man I know enthusiastically called it to my attention even before it appeared in L’Osservatore Romano.

In it, the Holy Father shows himself to be aware of something we in the colleges and universities notice every day, namely, the lack of silence in students’ lives. With the internet and cell phones and the many various modifications, everyone can be busy all day or night, every day of the year, hearing and talking.

“The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers,” Benedict wrote. “Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers—indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were never aware.”

Watching the world of cell-devices today, one can easily get the impression not of freedom but a kind of slavery, an inability to depend on the human memory or experience. Some authority is always out there to modify, contradict, or affirm what anyone thinks he know.

Few would deny the value of knowing “facts” and having them immediately at hand. And yet, the Pope is right. It is rather eerie to have answers before we have questions, to be prodded to needs we were pleasantly unaware of moments before.

Again, we do not much live in a world of silence. A moment of silence almost seems like an irresponsible use of time when we could be doing something useful. In a famous introductory passage to his work, On Duties, Cicero cites Marcus Tullius Scipio who once remarked he was “never less idle than when he had nothing to do, and never less lonely than when he was by himself.”

The Christian addendum to these memorable words would be that, for us, we have seen the face of God. We are also taught that we can converse with Him. He is not an isolated or inert being.

“When word and silence become mutually exclusive,” Benedict tells us, “communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.”

III.

In today’s world of all news, all the time, reading the following sentence of the Pope is almost shocking: “Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist.”

The word bears reality to us. Each existing thing deserves and invites pondering. We often allow ourselves only to see the surface of things, including one another.

“By remaining silent, we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself, and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested.” It is out of silence that the voice of others arrive to us and arise in us.

But unless we ourselves have contemplated what is, have wondered and searched for what it is all about, we will not easily recognize what we hear. Our silence is not designed to lock us into ourselves but to free us to listen to what is not ourselves.

“Deeper reflection helps us to discern the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge.”

Aristotle taught that what the best friends have most in common is agreement on the highest things. Benedict points out that much of what married couples know of each other they learn in silence.

“Many people,” Benedict tells us, “find themselves confronted with ultimate questions of human existence: Why am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call of silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer….”

One wonders how many students pass through our colleges and universities without ever really wondering about these basic questions and what answers might be given, even in silence.

Indeed, how many people pass through life itself without asking them? The culture conspires to never answer them because it is itself closed off from the sources of silence and revelation in which these answers are heard.

It denies an order of nature or human soul, a providence of God at work in history. Hence, there is nothing to look for or to hear. The culture wants the answer to be, “There are no answers. Therefore tolerate everything; deny truth to anything.”

Yet, Benedict rightly adds: “Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiments of life.”

Benedict does wonder if there cannot be at least some “websites” that might help us to silence and meditation. He points out that even one verse of the Scripture can serve to ground us in the reality of the transcendent. But we come across this meaning only in silence, even if we read it or hear it first in public.

Benedict recalls the beautiful homily that is heard on Holy Saturday about the whole world suddenly being in stillness, as if something is gone, as if something is awaited.

Benedict then turns to a theme that was all through his book, Jesus of Nazareth. “If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God.”

All reading of the Old and New Testaments, all scholarship points to the fact that Jesus was who He said He was. He was the Word who dwelt amongst us.

"I and the Father are one." With this event, the world can never be the same, however much we might want it to be, because of this fact. “Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ…”

God’s “plan of salvation” is “being accomplished through our history by word and deed.” Everything conspires in our noisy world to prevent us from seeing such events working themselves in our lives and in in that of those we love.

But that plan is what is happening. In silence we hear; in light we see. A world day of communication is nothing if what is communicated are not the deepest things of what we are.

We best see this depth in the silence that teaches us what the words, and the Word, mean to us and our kind.

Exposing SNAP -
its scam and scum

Last Dec. 31, I posted a brief item from the National Catholic Reporter
http://benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=8527207&p=275
that the director of Catholic-bashing vendetta-driven SNAP had been ordered by a Missouri court to make a deposition and submit documents relating to SNAP's role in cases filed against priests accused of abusing minors - after he had repeatedly resisted all attempts to get him to surrender requested documents. The contents of the deposition have now been made known, and I shall use a summary prepared by the Catholic League to present the facts that have emerged.

I must confess that from all the publicity that SNAP has been getting from MSM - which has given them a moral equivalency to the Pope, no less - I had presumed, very naively for all my media experience, that SNAP was a legitimate organization with at least hundreds of active members across the United States. It turns out from the following summary that their big panjandrum, David Clohessy - the man MSM have all but cloaked with the same moral authority as Benedict XVI - can name no other 'member' of SNAP other than the organization's founder! The extent of the huge and hollow front that SNAP has flaunted all these years, with the blessings of MSM, is incredibly appalling, and it shows that no one in MSM apparently bothered to check out the 'organization' at all and took them at face value just because they could be used as an instrument for media to bash the Church...

---

SNAP unravels
by Bill Donohue
President, Catholic League

At the end of 2011, a Missouri judge ordered David Clohessy, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), to be deposed regarding his role in cases of priestly sexual abuse. Clohessy fought the order vigorously, but lost. On January 2, 2012, he was deposed; the deposition was made public only recently
http://www.themediareport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CLOHESSY-DEPOSITION-010212.pdf
[NOTE: all pages cited herewith are taken from the deposition.]

Clohessy proved to be uncooperative, refusing to comply with a request for internal documents; he only released a small portion of them. On the stand, he was similarly recalcitrant, refusing to answer many questions. He took refuge in a Missouri law which protects the confidentiality of rape crisis centers. But there are serious reasons to doubt whether SNAP meets the test of a rape crisis center.

Clohessy was asked point blank, “Did you identify yourself as a rape crisis center?” His reply, “I don’t know.” [p. 87.] At another point, he admitted, “I don’t know, under the Missouri statutes, exactly what constitutes a rape crisis center.” [p. 112.] The lawyers for an accused priest were not impressed. From their questions, and from subsequent statements they’ve made, it is clear that they do not believe that SNAP qualifies as a rape crisis center. They have plenty of reasons for reaching this conclusion.

When asked what training he has as a rape crisis counselor, Clohessy said, “You know, I’ve done— I’ve provided support to victims of sexual assault for 20 — roughly 23 or 24 years. I do not have a— No.” He was then asked, “Do you have any formal education or training with regard to rape crisis counseling?” He answered, “I do not.” [p. 19].

Clohessy has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science. He is not a licensed counselor, yet counseling alleged victims of sexual abuse is what he does for a living. When asked, “Did you have any classes at all in counseling sexual abuse victims?”, he answered, “Any formal classes?” The attorney affirmed his question, answering, “Yes.” To which Clohessy replied, “No, sir.” [p. 191.]

The defense attorneys wanted to know if anyone at SNAP is licensed to counsel abuse victims. Clohessy was asked, “Does SNAP have any licensed counselors in the State of Missouri?” He said, “We are a— as I said at the beginning, we’re a self-help group. We are not— we don’t hold ourselves out to be formal licensed counselors.” [pp. 19-20.]

Clohessy then maintained that SNAP has support groups that “meet on a regular basis and offer support and comfort and consolation and guidance” to alleged victims. The lawyers picked up on this by asking, “Are there any licensed social workers or counselors on the staff at any of those meetings in the state of Missouri?”

Clohessy was able to mention the founder of SNAP, Barbara Blaine, who is “a licensed — as I said, she has a Master’s degree in social work.” The attorneys were curious. “Is Barbara Blaine licensed as a counselor or social worker in the State of Missouri or the State of Illinois?” Clohessy answered, “I don’t know.” [p. 20.]

(There is a difference between someone who holds a Master’s in Social Work and someone with a Master’s in Counseling. It is expected that if someone wants to practice independently, he obtains licensure. Typically, this means at least two years of clinical work in a supervised setting. No one at SNAP is a licensed counselor.)

The attorneys for the defense sought to find out where the counseling takes place. Clohessy said, “We meet people wherever they want to meet, in Starbucks, at, you know—wherever people feel comfortable, that’s where we meet.” [p. 22.] When they meet at Starbucks for their “counseling” sessions, they mostly just talk. “You know, the overwhelming bulk of our work is talking to, listening to, supporting sex abuse victims,” he admitted. [p. 23.]

Of interest to the defense attorneys was the amount of money SNAP spends on “counseling.” “How much annually does SNAP spend for individuals in individual therapy sessions?” Clohessy offered a straight-forward answer: “I have no idea.” [p. 26].

He then dug himself in deeper. He was asked how much money has been paid “to an individual counselor for an individual victim.” Explicitly, “out of that $3 million that’s in the tax return,” how much was spent on individual counselors? Clohessy confessed, “Don’t know.” [p. 30.]

Regarding the $3 million in SNAP’s bank account, he was asked, “Where is that money kept?” He wasn’t sure. “I’m assuming it’s in Chicago.” [p. 29.]

Clohessy explained what he does for a living. He says SNAP has a business address in Chicago, but that he doesn’t know the ZIP code. Having no office — he works out of his home in the St. Louis area — he fields phone calls. [p. 9.]

“Individuals call me and they share their pain with me.” So what does he do about it? “I console them and I may be on the phone with them for an hour.” He said he doesn’t charge them a fee for his consolation over the phone. [p. 26].

Declaring one’s home to be a place of business raises legal questions. Clohessy was asked whether “at your house do you have an occupational license or a business license to do business out of your house.” He simply said, “No.” [p. 98.]

Clohessy refused to disclose his source of funding. When asked, “You won’t tell us the sources of your funding; isn’t that correct?”, he said, “That’s correct.” [p. 85.]

Now it is well known that Church-suing lawyers have generously given to SNAP over the years [see my 2011 report, SNAP EXPOSED: Unmasking the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests]
http://70.40.202.97/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/image_2011082233321.pdf

When asked specifically about monies SNAP receives from lawyers, once again Clohessy refused to answer. What really set him off was the question, “Does SNAP have any agreements with attorneys regarding referral of victims to those attorneys?” Clohessy snapped, “Can I say I’m offended at the question?” [p. 32.]

Given the type of work SNAP does, it is mandated by law to give a portion of its funds to charity. “As a director of SNAP,” Clohessy was asked, “do you understand that SNAP is required by federal law to contribute so much of their assets every year for charitable purposes.” His reply, “I’m not aware of that.” [p. 82.]

So what does SNAP do with its money? In 2007, it spent a total of $593 for “survivor support.” [pp. 102-03.] The following year it spent $92,000 on travel. [p. 107.]

SNAP says it pursues priests who are “credibly accused.” It may interest bishops and priests what Clohessy means by this. “How would you define the word ‘credibly accused?’” (This is important because many accused priests have been railroaded by those who have made false claims.)

Clohessy replied, “You know, there’s all kinds of criteria.” All kinds of criteria? He continued by saying sometimes there are multiple accusers, but at no time did he say what the criteria were. [p. 110.]

Anyone who has followed SNAP is aware how often it holds a press conference condemning a diocese before a lawsuit is filed. By working with its attorneys, and some reporters, SNAP is able to get on the evening news, making the diocese look bad (lawyers for the diocese are usually the last ones to receive the lawsuits). So it was not surprising that the defense lawyers would ask Clohessy about this tactic.

For example, in one case, where a lawsuit had a file stamp of October 20, 2011, the time was recorded as 2:44 p.m. When asked how SNAP could have had this information before it was filed in court, Clohessy refused to answer. [pp. 52-53.] In another case, a lawsuit had a file stamp of November 8, 2011 at 1:28 p.m., yet Clohessy was able to post information about this before it was filed with the court. When asked to explain himself, he refused. [pp. 62-63.]

Apparently, Clohessy knows next to nothing about his 'staff'. When asked about his staff, he mentioned the founder, Barbara Blaine. He also said, “We have an administrative person who is new,” but he could only remember the person’s first name. He admitted that they also had a fundraising person but “I apologize, I don’t know the spelling of her last name.” [pp. 13-14.] Later, he was asked, “Who is in charge of SNAP’s website? Is there a specific company or is it done in-house?” Clohessy was blunt: “I don’t know.” [pp.165-66.]

Finally, Clohessy admitted that he has lied about some of his statements to the press. “Has SNAP to your knowledge ever issued a press release that contained false information?” He didn’t blink: “Sure.” [p. 39.] Did he lie about priests he knew to be innocent, or at least thought may have been innocent? We don’t know.

So is David Clohessy a sincere man driven by the pursuit of justice? Or is he a con artist driven by revenge? It may very well be that the former description aptly explains how he started, while the latter describes what he has become.

---

At the beginning of 2012, I also posted a number of articles from Catholic World Report looking back at 10 years since the sex-abuse scandal erupted in the USA - and in an interview
http://benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=8527207&p=276
David Pierre, a reporter who has written a book called Catholic Priests Falsely Accused, said the following about SNAP:

---

One Church leader who once thought that it would be productive to reach out to SNAP is Archbishop Timothy Dolan. When he was a prelate in Milwaukee years ago, he believed that making himself available to the group would be a constructive expression of support to abuse victims. He soon learned the hard way that such an overture was not welcome.

At a contentious visit to a parish in Milwaukee, a member of SNAP actually spat in Archbishop Dolan’s face. The member then roared that he would not be silent “until there was a ‘going out of business’ sign in front of every Catholic parish, church, school, and outreach center.”

“That’s when I knew I should have listened to those who told me that working with them would not be helpful,” recalled Archbishop Dolan.

Unfortunately, such relentless mean-spiritedness is part of the fabric of SNAP. The group’s tactics are rooted in the aggressive, in-your-face activism formulated by the infamous and influential 1960s radical, Saul Alinsky. Alinsky’s tactics are inherently spiteful and anti-Christian.

SNAP’s national director, David Clohessy, worked for nearly a decade with the notorious community organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), whose nasty strategies were rooted in the theories of Alinsky. [Theories carried out in practice by a certain Barack Obama when he was a 'community organizer' in Chicago, and which he apparently continues to encourage in the shenanigans of the 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters and the unions that supported his presidential bid.

SNAP is downright hostile to acknowledging the efforts that the Church has made in the past decade to protect children. It is also adamant in refusing to recognize the prevalence of false accusations.

When one examines the activities of SNAP, it becomes apparent that the organization is more about bludgeoning the Catholic Church than providing any concrete support to clergy abuse victims. [I've said so all along about this victimhood-mongering groups. They actively feed victim resentment, and who knows what concrete support they provide to them other than their questionable 'moral support' which exacerbates wounds to fester rather than seek to heal them.]

SNAP’s 2007 tax returns, for example, show that it garnered income of over $470,000. Yet these same papers show that only a measly $593 was spent on “survivor support.”

The numbers speak for themselves. Although it may have started with the noble intention of assisting abuse victims, SNAP has simply evolved into a Church-bashing operation.

The media often turns to leaders of SNAP to reliably provide quotes that [depict] the Catholic Church as a “callous” and “insensitive” gang that deliberately harbors child molesters.

It is no secret that the media harbors no love for the Catholic Church, and they love the Church-bashing material that SNAP provides.

Catholics should be aware of the nefarious operations of SNAP, if they are not already.

---

The cautionary note about all this is that even David Pierre, who makes his living as an investigative journalist, appears not to have looked behind the shell of SNAP, simply assuming that because it files tax returns, it is a true and proper 'organization' when in fact, SNAP appears to is nothing more than a SCAM, operating with what apparently seems to be a skeleton if not phantom staff.!

Saturday, March 17, Third Week of Lent

ST. PATRICK (PADRAIGH) (b Britain 387?, d N. Ireland, 493), Bishop, Missionary, Apostle of Ireland
Few saints have as many legends about him as Patrick. But the only facts known about his life before he came to Ireland as bishop
and missionary derive from one of only two existing letters from him. He called himself a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and several
others were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. He was put to work as a shepherd but escaped back to Britain
after six years. He may have studied in France, but the next known event is that he was consecrated bishop at age 43. A dream
about Irish children convinced him it was his mission to Christianize what was then pagan Ireland. Once sent there, he made friends
with local chieftains and began converting many Irish, to the point that soon he was creating dioceses, calling councils, founding
monasteries, constantly preaching 'greater holiness in Christ' - and eventually able to send Irish missionaries to help Christianize
Europe in a matter of decades. If the dates currently 'established' for his birth and death are approximately right - they have been
changing over the centuries - he would have been about 106 when he died, and would have spent at least 60 years Christianizing
Ireland. The Irish have celebrated him on the anniversary day of his death for over a thousand years, and he has become very
much part of Irish culture and tradition.
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/031712.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)

- Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops' conference

In the afternoon, with

- Mons. Guy Marie Bagnard, Bishop of Belley-Ars (France).





- On March 14, the Vatican correspondent of Rome's Il Messaggero newspaper, Franca Giansoldati, published a rather frivolous article about an Italian perfume creator, Silvana Casoli, who was supposed to have created a cologne expressly for the Pope.('Silvana creates a perfume for the Pope: Essence of the woods and music'). I did not feel called upon to post anything about it because the details were too imprecise: namely, that on the basis of some colognes Casoli had created for 'the Shrine of Santiago de Compostela' of which the prelates there had apparently given the Pope samples ('Acqua di Fede' and 'Acqua di Speranza'), the perfume-maker reportedly received a request months later from 'the Vatican' to create a cologne for the Pope. As a former journalist, I mistrust generic sources like 'the Shrine of Santiago de Compostela' or 'the Vatican', on the ground that if the sources cited cannot be more specific, then the item's 'news value' is reduced to the level of idle hearsay....

But again, despite all my personal caveats about the ways of MSM, I ought to have known that - like the canard about Prada making the Pope's red shoes, or his wearing designer Serengeti sunglasses - it would be the kind of trivia picked up by the Anglophone press and blown up to yet another myth about the 'vanities' of this Pope.

The same day the story came out In Messaggero, there was a story in The Guardian entitled 'Pope commissions custom-blended eau de cologne', which has since been picked up by other Anglophone media outlets. It shamelessly picks up the details in the Messaggero story and then embellishes it with sentences directly attributing the ordering to the Pope himself, i.e.: "Alerted to Casoli's talents, Benedict put in a request for his own stock of scent" and "Casoli said she had 'a pact of secrecy' with her most illustrious client to date [Yeah, sure! Like, they had this telephone conversation, and the Pope said, 'Swear to me you will never tell anyone what you put into this, and that you will never give this scent to anyone else!"], and refused to release the full list of ingredients that had gone into his scent" (As though any parfumier would ever 'reveal' his/her formulas! The elements she did specify were lime, verbena and grass, as she wanted it to be 'light and clean'). There are quite a few more outrageous statements meant to insinuate an excess of worldly vanity in this Pope such as one might find in dandies or gays.

The article is as offensive an item of malicious myth-making by the media as the Peter Popham article back in 2005 that launched the Prada myth. I will post both the Messaggero and Guardian articles in the Waste thread just to keep a record of when, how and where this particular myth was born. I remember posting and fisking the Popham article for the RFC forum at the time.

Now, it turns out that at least one correspondent present at Fr.Lombardi's press briefing yesterday did not think he had meant at all that the Vatican had issued an 'ultimatum' to the FSSPX, much less one limited to a month from yesterday, contrary to the consensus reporting by the news agencies and most of the Italian Vaticanistas, including Andrea Tornielli. My initial reservation about that 'ultimatum', which was not at all mentioned or implied in the communique, appears justified.....

The Vatican is not 'desperate' about
reaching an accord with the FSSPX
by Jean Marie Guenois
Translated from

March 16, 2012

A rather bizarre distortion of information! When the Vatican revealed today that there had been a new meeting this morning between Mons. Fellay of the FSSPX and Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, towards finding an agreement - which certainly poses great difficulties - many of my colleagues wrote about an 'ultimatum' issued by the Vatican for the FSSPX to answer within 'a month'.

I have read and reread the official communique from the Vatican about the meeting and I do not find the word 'ultimatum' anywhere, much less any hint of one! That is to say, there is no hint of any pressure to race against the calendar in order to reach an agreement!

Worse, to say that profoundly deforms the information published by the Vatican. The idea of an ultimatum comes from the interpretation of a statement made by Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi who answered a question from newsmen about the 'delay' in the process.

He estimated that the Vatican expected a response 'within a month' from today. To my knowledge, he did not speak of an 'ultimatum'. Which would, in any case, be ridiculous for an issue that has been open for 50 years, since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. [Guenois's dating is questionable. Mons. Lefebvre took part in Vatican-II as a Council Father, and apparently signed all the Vatican II documents. He changed his mind after the Novus Ordo reform came into effect in 1969-70, and did not openly defy Rome until 1988, when, after having signed an agreement with Cardinal Ratzinger, he backed off and proceeded to consecrate four bishops against the express order of John Paul II. Personally, I have thought it bad faith on the part of the FSSPX to have changed their 'conditions' to what they are today, instead of simply modifying the agreement that Lefebvre had signed!]

Here, in fact, is the entire text of the Vatican communique [Guenois proceeds to quote the text, written originally in French.]

The very Roman courtesy of the note is not anodyne. On the contrary, it indicates that the Pope continues to desire an agreement, whether we like it or not, and that Mons. Fellay also wants one [Do we really know that?], whether we like it or not.

In fact, it seems to me that the negotiations are directly entering the last phase. And that the nature of such negotiations has changed - from doctrinal to ecclesial.

Let me explain. For three years, one might say that the 'systems engineers' on both the Vatican and the FSSPX sides, have been trying to find compatibility between two versions of the same Catholic 'software' ... just dated from different eras.

They have tried everything. But they have concluded there is one technical - but definitive - incompatibility. Which is, to put it simply, the 'theological' difference between Vatican I and Vatican II. [No! Guenois hurts his own argument by saying the difference is 'theological'. It is not - it is ecclesiological, because the four main teachings of Vatican II which the Lefebvrians refuse to accept are religious freedom, ecumenism, inter-religious dialog, and collegiality. These are all ecclesiological and pastoral issues, rather than doctrinal or theological issues.]

But this disagreement, formally established, does not mean that an 'ecclesial' solution - or 'political', to use worldly language - has become impossible. Such is the new 'negotiation' that begins with the letter given to Mons. Fellay today.

I don't think Rome is looking for any cheap compromise. The Lefebvrians, in any case, would never accept it. And any such compromise would quickly present problems in the medium term.

Rome is seeking an agreement that is based on an ample view of Catholicism - as a religion that integrates several families, some of which will be quite distant from each other. But also a religion capable of allowing internal debate, that disputatio that is so much a part of the great intellectual tradition - currently lost - of the Catholic Church.

In short, a graceful 'elevated' exit from this crisis. Not from below, with a compromise worked out by petty 'accountants' who will never agree on the interpretation of their results and tables because both sides would insist on observing every last millimeter and comma with the meticulousness of a Swiss watchmaker.

That is not at all the style of Benedict XVI, from what I have been able to observe. With him, intellectual precision and rigor go with amplitude of vision and spiritual breadth. He would never allow himself to be shackled by a so-called ultimatum, especially considering the Church's traditional time scale.

Furthermore, one must not exclude the possibility that once Mons. Fellay has responded to this latest letter, and it gets to the Pope, he - who has wanted to restore this unity for so long - may well wish to invite this rebellious son to a meeting as he did once before, shortly after he became Pope.

And that he will present the issue to Fellay, like a father to a son - that's to say, man to man, not as a theological technician to another - as a question of trust. And the desire for reconciliation, even if all the details, as well as past affronts, cannot all be set straight.

Such is the daring of the disciples of Christ. It is also the characteristic of great men who know how to seize the moment to make a decision.


We can only pray that it happens this way. I have no doubt about the Pope - and that it is his call alone, not that of Cardinal Levada or Mons. Pozzo, or anyone who may oppose him in the Curia. He is being the Good Shepherd who goes out of his way to try and rescue the lost sheep. My fears have to do with Mons. Fellay and whether, as I commented earlier, he will have the courage to assert himself against the hard line of his militant intransigents!

I finally found the full article on which the AGI item was based that I posted yesterday in the preceding page on Mons. Alfred Xuereb, the Holy Father's other private secretary. Nichelino is a small town near Turin.
.
'My days alongside Benedict XVI'
by Mons. Alfred Xuereb
Translated from

March 12, 2012

You listen to someone you live alongside of practically the whole day and you are even more aware how much and how often the media have distorted the image of the present Pope. Ratzinger [as most media people. even Catholic journalists, often refer to him rather disrespectfully - what does it cost them to say 'Papa' or 'Pope' as well?] the professor, the Teuton, detached, insensitive, immovable, intransigent, and much worse. And you know it isn't that way at all.

So, how is he, really, this 265th Successor of Peter at the dawn of the third millennium, the 'rock' - the man who alone on earth represents a history begun a long time ago in Galilee, and who carries, along with the Good News, the incredible burden of 2,000 years of Christianity?

And you discover that Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, is, yes, an ex-professor of vast culture from Bavaria, but also a man of extraordinary humanity, faith and gentleness.

Don Alfred Xuereb, 53, Maltese, has been since 2007 one of the Supreme Pontiff's two private secretaries (along with Mons. Georg Gaenswein). He lives in the Vatican, in an apartment above that of the Pope's. Last February he was in Nichelino for a lightning visit, when the city was in the grip of an icy winter, to mark the fifth anniversary of his friend and fellow Maltese priest, Don Joe Galea.



Meeting that night with the young people of the parish, Don Alfred did not decline to answer their questions about what it's like to live so close to the Pope.

He answered with disarming simplicity: "My service begins at six in the morning and ends around nine at night. Almost every day, the Pope receives various groups and persons, but on Wednesdays, there is always a crowd for the General Audience.

"Everyday, a great deal of correspondence arrives from the Secretariat of State, One of my duties is to gather all the requests for prayers that arrive for the Pope - from sick people, from those who are going through difficulties, and those who are suffering. I place these every day on the prie-Dieu in the private chapel where the Pope spends time in recollection and prayer.

"What impresses me most is that among the thousand things he has to do, he remembers names and persons. Days after he first reads their names, he will follow up and ask about their particular circumstances,"

Benedict XVI maintains a human and paternal relationship with those who work with him most directly. "You can observe it even in small things. For example, the other day, after lunch, we were going down to the Gardens to pray the rosary. It was rather cold so I helped him put on a windbreaker. Later, as we emerged from the elevator, it was his turn to help me on with my raincoat. He said to me, 'See, we must help each other'."

"And whenever he knows that I have just called home [to Malta], he always asks me how my mother is doing. When I had to come to Nichelino, I explained to him why - and he remembered about Don Joe, and about Don Joshua and a new book by Don Paolo [other priest friends of Mons. Alfred]. And I am sure when I get back, he will ask all about my trip."

Everyday at the Vatican, people come - chiefs of state, bishops, ordinary people from all parts of the globe. The desk of the Successor of Peter is always flooded with a myriad of internal and external problems, controversies, tragic news from places where the Church and the faithful live on the edge in very difficult circumstances. The picture is global. What must the Pope do? What must he say? How can he let his voice be heard, without making it worse for Christians who are already being persecuted?

"Benedict XVI is serene - he is supported by his very great faith. He is a man who continues to live the Gospel in a very simple way". And that's how the boat of the fisherman Peter has proceeded. For over 2,000 years. Sometimes it seems to run aground and to halt, sometimes it may seem on the point of capsizing in story waters, but once the tempest is over, it sails back out into the open. And that is the way it has always been from the beginning.

Other questions from those present. Was it difficult for Benedict XVI to deal with the 'legacy' of Papa Wojtyla and his great charism?

"The Lord asks something special from everyone. Papa Ratzinger has had the courage and the ability to just be himself, and I admire him for this," Don Alfred answered.

Snapshots of daily life. "In the morning I listen to news on the radio, and at breakfast, I transmit the most important news items to the Pope. He loves to talk during meals. Normally, other than myself and Don Georg, we also have the four lay sisters who take care of the household, and we talk about everyday happenings. In the evening, after supper, we watch TV news in Italian or in German".

A boy asks if the Pope is interested in football. Apparently, not really, but he hears of any interesting games from the secretaries, and Don Alfred indicates that he himself is not at all indifferent to football. In fact, during his visit, he was wearing a black scarf with white stripes identified with a Turin football team.

How did this jovial priest, sunny like his people on the island of Gozo [the other large island besides Malta in the nation-archipelago], come to be secretary to the Pope?

His story is like that of don Joe, don Joshua, don Maximilian and so many other Maltese priests we have known. The nation still flourishes with vocations, and Malta has always sent many priests as missionaries. As seminarians, almost all have to spend one season abroad, and then as priests, they must spend at least two years of ministry abroad.

Don Alfred was sent to a parish in Rome, where he continued his studies at a Pontifical University. Then he was employed for many years first at the Secretariat of State then in the Pontifical Household.

When Mons. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki (don Mietek) - who had been an adjunct secretary to John Paul II and continued as such with Benedict XVI - was named a bishop in the Ukraine in 2007, don Alfred was called to take his place.

And what are the Pope's hobbies, another boy asked. "Well, first of all, it is not true that we have a cat at home, although Papa Benedetto loves animals a lot. They say that when he was a cardinal, he would stop on the streets to talk to stray cats. Someone asked him, 'Eminence, what language do you use with the cats? Italian or German?' And he answered, 'It doesn't matter - they understand your tone of voice'.

"Of course, the Pope is a passionate music lover. He is an excellent pianist. Sometimes, after supper, we can hear him play. And of course, there are his books, which fill up his study. It's a very simple place. All the book shelves and the desk he uses were those he had with him when he was a professor in Tuebingen".

Benedict XVI is 84, one month away from his 85th birthday, before which he will be travelling to Mexico and Cuba. Those who portray him as a sedentary Pope who has no contact with people are simply wrong.

Don Alfred says: "When he was a cardinal and he could move about freely without any escort, he went shopping and browsing in stores in his neighborhood, often stopping to talk to people. 'The things we could do when we both were more free,' the Pope joked once to Italian President Napolitano."

I find it strange that the following communique has been published so far only in the Italian service online of Vatican Radio...

New Vatican visit by Moneyval:
Decision expected in July
Translated from the Italian service of

March 17, 2012

In the framework of the active collaboration undertaken by the Holy See with Moneyval (the division of the Council of Europe that evaluates anti-money laundering systems of its member countries), some meetings of a technical nature took place at the Vatican from March 14-16, according to a communique from the Holy See Press Office.

The meetings - previously agreed upon in consideration of the specific character of the Holy See and Vatican City-State, as well as by the fact that this would be the first evaluation of the (anti-money laundering) provisions in new Vatican laws - allowed the presentation of information about the steps taken by the Vatican to be in conformity with international standards on the prevention and fight against money laundering and the funding of terrorism, such as the adoption of Decree No, CLIX dated January 25, 2012, that replaced Law No. CXXVII of December 30, 2010, as well as the ratification and adherence of the Vatican to some international conventions on this subject.

The communique goes on to say that as in the first meetings held during a Vatican visit of Moneyval representatives in November 2011, they met with represenatives of competent financial authorities of the Holy See and Vatican City state.

This phase will lead to a report which, as previously announced, will be reviewed by the plenary assembly of Moneyval when it meets in July.

VATICAN INSIDER has this report, worthy of AP and Reuters at their snarkiest. I really don't understand why the reporter takes a disparaging tone. It's not as if this process has been going on forever. January to July 2012 is not an unreasonable for a report to be prepared, and Moneyval will certainly not convoke its annual plenary assembly earlier just to consider the Vatican situation! :

The 'long march' towards the White List
Moneyval inspectors at the Vatican to gather data
about a new law introduced in January.
But no decision is expected till July
by Alessasndro Speciale
Translated from the Italian service of

March 17, 2012

Grey smoke so far for the Holy See's acceptance into the White List of nations meeting international financial standards for tansparency, and measures against money laundering and funding of terrorism. [The 'grey smoke' metaphor refers to the continuing failure of a conclave to elect a Pope. Using it for this situation is totally uncalled for! There is no failure here - only a procedural period before a decision can be reached, with the timing dependent upon the annual date of Moneyval's plenary session! It's just offensive when Vaticanistas think they ought to adopt a critical, if not accusatory, tone towards the Vatican, even in situations where it is not warranted at all!]]

The recent visit by the inspectors of Moneyval lasted three days, during which, according to the Holy See communique, they looked into "the steps taken by the Vatican to be in conformity with international standards on the prevention and fight against money laundering and the funding of terrorism".

The Authority for Financial Information, the IOR, the Prerecture of Economic Affairs, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, and the Governatorate were among the Vatican institutions that took part in meetings with the Moneyval representatives.

The evaluation focused on two elements: "Decree No, CLIX dated January 25, 2012, that replaced Law No. CXXVII of December 30, 2010, as well as the ratification and adherence of the Vatican to some international conventions on this subject".

It is the first point about which the Vatican is 'holding its breath'. The decree, which profoundly modifies the fundamental law - was discussed in a couple of documents that were part of the recent 'Vatileaks' which indicated that there were differences in opinion among some Curial officials involved as to which line to take [The exchanges took place before the decree was adopted in January 2012].

In February, we summarized the provisions of that decree here at Vatican Insider, as follows:

---

With respect to the earlier law, the role of the Secretariat of State is greater, as well as that of the Vatican Police and APSA.

Whereas the 2010 law did not indicate the subjects (entities), but rather the activities, that fall under this law, the new decree lists those various eubjects as well. It would precisely be the distribution of anti-money laundering tasks among these various entities that would bring the Vatican law in conformity with international standards.

However, this does not mean that the AIF shall be placed under the 'control' of the Secretariat of State which shall have a 'political' role of protection - for example, in giving a 'nulla osta' [nothing stands in the way of...] on the transparency agreements between AIF and other similar entities in other European states.

Indeed, the AIF will continue to have absolute autonomy in gathering and analyzing data on suspicious financial activities [within any of the various Vatican agencies, including the Secretariat of State].

---

Decree CLIX also addresses the controversial question of the law's retroactivity. It obliges the Vatican to open the archives for inspection [by European authorities] of institutions like IOR, which has been the subject in past decades of many inquiries and scandals.

The Moneyval inspectors have only been gathering data and taking notes so far, and have not made any evaluations. [DUH! It was an inspection. Inspectors don't generally announce their findings and evaluation at the end of a visit, especially when the subject matter is technical.]

Not accidentally, the Vatican communique underscores that the meetings were of a technical nature held among experts, and that the inspectors must now prepare a report on which the plenary assembly of Moneyval can make a decision when it meets in July.

March 18, Fourth Sunday of Lent

Extreme right: 15th century painting of St. Jerome appearing to St. Cyril.
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (315-386), Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
St. Cyril was born in Caesarea and is among the remarkable group of great 4th century Church Fathers and eventual Doctors of the Church
who were his contemporaries (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Athanasiua, Basil, Gregory Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Ephraem of Syria,
Hilary of Poitiers). He was ordained deacon by Macarius, and consecrated as a bishop by Maximus, both of whom would become saints. Cyril
lived during the high tide of the Arian heresy, and his determined stand against this heresy earned him exile three times, so that half his life
as bishop was spent in exile. With St. Gregory of Nyssa, he attended the second Council of Constantinople, which adopted a modified version
of the Nicene Creed. Although his orthodoxy was apparently doubted by Jerome and Athanasius, the Council at Constantinople hailed him as
a champion of the faith against Arianism. [In fact, his specific Church title is 'Doctor of Faith and against Heresy'.] Before he became a
bishop in 350, he was assigned to prepare catechumens for Baptism. The Catecheses that he wrote for them survive to this day, and was for
a long time, a primary reference on the liturgy and doctrine of the 4th century. Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis of June 7, 2007
to St. Cyril.
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070627...
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/031812.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected that in Lent, we continue our journey through the desert of silence
and temptation with Christ, facing the prospect of the Cross at the end, the Cross as the summit of love. After
the prayers, he thanked those who have sent him good wishes and prayers for his name day tomorrow, the feast
of St. Joseph, and requested prayers for his trip to Mexico and Cuba which begins on Friday.


The Vatican Press Office released the communique regarding the visit of European Council inspectors last week
to examine Vatican compliance with international standards against money-laundering and funding of terrorism
(See post above).


BENEDICT XVI MOURNS DEATH
OF ORTHODOX COPTIC POPE

The Vatican site does not carry this yet, but here is Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's
telegram of condolence today at the death of Pope Shenouda III, 88, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Orthodox Copts,
who succumbed to cancer.

---

On learning of the sad departure to God, our common Father, of His Holiness Shenouda III, Patriarch of Alexandria of the See of Saint Mark the Evangelist, I wish to express to the members of the Holy Synod, to the priests and all the faithful of all the Patriarchate, my most sincere brotherly compassion.

I recall with gratitude his commitment to Christian Unity, his memorable visit to my predecessor Pope Paul VI, and their signing of the Joint Declaration of Faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God together in Rome, on May 10, 1973, as well as his Cairo meeting with Pope John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, on February 24, 2000.

I can say how the Catholic Church as a whole shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts, and how she stands in fervent prayer asking that He, who is who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant. May the God of all mercy receive Pope Shenouda in his joy, his peace, and his light.

---

ANGELUS TODAY


How many ways can you frame the Pope at his study window? The statues atop Bernini's colonnade provide the photographers down on the Piazza many ways to 'frame the Pope', as these three pictures show...


The penitential path to Easter
Adapted from

March 18, 2012

NB: I reversed the order in which RV presented the report, in which they started with the Pope's secular message about water resources.. The Angelus is a spiritual devotion, and its spiritual intent and content should take precedence, unless the secular message has to do with a major catastrophe or a truly world-shaking event.

In his Angelus reflection today, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the penitential preparation for Easter. He called the Lenten season “a journey with Jesus across the ‘desert’ - a time in which to listen more and more closely to the voice of God, and to unmask the temptations that speak within each of us.” In English he said:

---

This Sunday, we reach the mid-way point of our Lenten journey. As we continue on our way, we keep our eyes fixed upon our goal, when we will accompany our Lord on the path to Calvary, so as to rise with him to new life. May Christ, the light of the world, shine upon you and fill you with his blessings!

---

After The 'penitential path' to Easterthe prayers, the Pope appealed for continued commitment to achieving equitable access to safe water resources adequate to the needs of all.

He ntoed the closing of the VI World Water Forum in Marseille this weekend,, as well as World Water Day to be observed on Thursday. He expressed the hope that these initiatives will help promote the right to life and the nutrition of every human person, as well as responsible use of the Earth’s resources in a manner ordered to the common good, today and in the future.

The Pope also the faithful for prayers in support of his upcoming voyage to Mexico and Cuba starting Friday, and thanked all who have sent him good wishes and prayers for his name day tomorrow, teh FEast of St. Joseph.



Here is a translation of the Holy Father's reflection for today's Angelus:

---

Dear brothers and sisters:

In our itinerary towards Easter, we have arrived at the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is a journey with Jesus through the 'desert', that is, a time for us to listen better to the voice of God and also to unmask the temptations that speak within us.

On the horizon of this desert is the Cross. Jesus knows that it is the culmination of his mission: indeed, thee Cross of Christ is the summit of love which gives us salvation. He says so himself in today's Gospel: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (Jn 3,14-15).

The reference is to the episode during the exodus from Egypt, when the Jews were attacked by poisonous serpents and many died. Then
God commanded Moses to make a serpent of bronze and to hoist it on a staff: if someone was bitten by a serpent, he would be healed by looking at the bronze serpent (cfr Nm 21,4-9).

Jesus too would be raised on the Cross, so that whoever would be in danger of death because of sin, would be saved by turning with faith to him, who died for us. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3,17).

St. Augustine comments: "The doctor, for as much as it depends on him, comes to heal the sick. One who does not abide by the doctor's prescription ruins himself. The Savior came to the world: If you do not care to be saved by him, you will be judging yourself" (On the Gospel of John, 12,12L PL35, 1190).

Therefore, just as God's merciful love is infinite, for he gave his only Son as a ransom for us, our responsibility must also be great. Each one must indeed recognize that he is sick in order to be healed. each one must confess his own sins, so that God's forgiveness, already given on the Cross, can have an effect on one's heart and one's life.

St. Augustine also writes: "God condemns your sins; and if you too condemn them, then you unite yourself to God... When what you have done starts to be displeasing to you, then your good works can begin, in order to condemn your bad deeds. Good works begin with an acknowledgment of bad deeds" (ibid., 13: PL 35, 1191).

Sometimes man likes shadows more than light, because he is attached to his sins. But it is only by opening oneself to the light, only by sincerely confessing one's sins to God, that one finds true peace and true joy.

It is important therefore to regularly frequent the Sacrament of Penitence, especially during Lent, in order to receive the Lord's forgiveness and intensify our journey of conversion.

Dear friends, tomorrow we shall celebrate the solemn feast of St. Joseph. I thank from my heart all those who will remember me in their prayers on my name day. But I especially ask you to pray for my apostolic visit to Mexico and Cuba, which I will undertake starting next Friday.

Let us entrust it to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so loved and venerated in these two countries that I am preparing to visit.

After the prayers, he said:

Dear brothers and sisters:

Yesterday, in Marseilles, the VI World Forum on Water was concluded, and next Thursday, the world will mark the World Day of Water, which this year, focuses on the fundamental link between this precious and limited resource with food security.

I hope that these initiatives will contribute to guarantee equitable, sure and adequate access to water for all, thus promoting the rights to life and to nutrition of every human being, and a responsible and mutually supportive use of the goods of the earth for the benefit of present and future generations.

He had a special message for Spanish-speaking pilgrims:

I greet all Spanish-speaking pilgrims, particularly the the group from the Pontificio Colegio Mexicano in Rome, and the faithful who have come to Rome from Tarragona, Ferrol and Madrid.

I call on you all to turn your eyes to Jesus Christ, raised as a standard for the world, who is the reason for the salvation of the human species.

At the same time, I ask your prayers for my coming apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba, where I have the good fortune of going w9ithin a few days in order to confirm the Christians of those beloved nations and of all Latin America in their faith.

I ask everyone to accompany me with spiritual nearness so that this pastoral visit may reap abundant fruits of Christian life and ecclesial renewal, thus contributing to authentic progress in those countries.

I entrust this pilgrimage to the most blessed Virgin Mary, which in those blessed lands, is known intimately as Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Charity.

---

March 19, 2012

DOUBLE GALA TODAY FOR OUR BELOVED HOLY FATHER

SIX YEARS, ELEVEN MONTHS, AND COUNTING....

AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU ARE

TO THE CHURCH, TO THE WORLD, TO ALL OF US.

AND A BLESSED NAME DAY, DEAR PAPINO...

---

Tribute to the Pope on his name day
Editorial
by Giovanni Maria Vian
Translated from the 3/18/12 issue of




L'Osservatore Romano extends its best wishes to the Pope with this popular representation of St. Joseph who carries the baby Jesus in his arms. In turn, the baby caresses him and appears to be supporting him, with the Cross in his hand, under the loving and protective gaze of the Virgin Mary.

It is an ingenuous image which is also very expressive that this newspaper offers the Pope, who was baptized with the name of the Patron of the Universal Church, its most heartfelt wises fOr his name day feast. Wishes that we express in the name of our readers, who join so many men and women throughout th world who look to the Holy Father with attention, affection and admiration.

Benedict XVI, too, like his patron sasint, shows us Jesus - about whom he is completing the third and last volume of his book - and is supported by him, under the gaze of Mary, daughter of Zion and image of the Church.[/DIM[

---

St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, is honored by the Church twice during the year - March 19 and May 1, when he is honored as the Patron Saint of Laborers.He is also the patron of a happy death.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/031912.cfm

The Vatican site is once again inaccessible - for the third time in a week - and one must think it is once again under hacker attack, as it was both times earlier, by the group called Anonymous.


Holy See joins in horror
at Toulouse school shooting

March 19, 2012

The Church is united in prayer with the suffering of the Jewish community in France following the Monday morning school shooting in the southern city of Toulouse in which three children and a teacher were killed.

Vatican Press Office Director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, described the act which saw an unknown gunman open fire at the Ozar Hatorah school before fleeing on a scooter as “ignoble and shameful”.

Fr. Lombardi continued that the hurt provoked by the shooting adds “to other recent acts of absurd violence that have hurt France”. Three soldiers were killed in similar circumstances in other parts of France in the past weeks.

Monday's attack, said Fr. Lombardi, “arouses deep indignation and bewilderment and the most resolute condemnation”, particularly given “the age and the innocence of the young victims, and because it happened in a peaceful Jewish educational institution”.

Fr. Lombardi expressed deep condolences to the “bereaved families and Jewish community, our concern for this horrible deed, and our deepest spiritual solidarity”.

The Archbishop of Toulouse, Robert Le Gall, has also issued a statement expressing “profound sympathy”:

---

After the assassination of paratroopers in recent days in Toulouse and Montauban, which has deeply affected our region, a further horrific act took place this morning with the murder of four people including three children at the Jewish college Ozar Hatorah in-the Rose Garden neighborhood, in Toulouse.

Cardinal Vingt-Trois [Archbishop of Paris and president of the French bishops' conference] is currently in New York with a delegation of bishops for three days of meetings with our Jewish brothers and sisters. We express our profound sympathy to families affected by this horror and ensure our prayers.

---

French President Nicolas Sarkozy travelled to the site of this morning’s shooting, declaring it "a national tragedy," and promised that "everything will be done to find" the killer.

The Church of France is organizing a prayer service after these tragedies. Vespers will be held tonight at 5:45 p.m. in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.

Fear has spread beyond the borders of France. Israel has expressed its "horror" at the atrocity and has called on Paris "to shed light on this tragedy and bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice." The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, in turn condemned the shooting denouncing it as "a heinous crime".

Who knew when the Internet era dawned on us that it would lend itself to some of the most outrageous white-collar crimes possible, with national legislatures and law enforcers,even in the most advanced countries, unable to effectively prevent or counteract these crimes? The Vatican site has not only been hacked - apparently at will - three times in the past week - rendering it inaccessible to users. But apparently, there are many other ways by which even not-so-sophisticated Web criminals can wreak havoc... Why can't the endlessly inventive minds of the people behind Faeebook, Google and Yahoo figure out ways to minimize cybercrime? But then, they, too have been involved in their own brand of cybercrime all this time, since the Web has become the greatest 'spy ring' imaginable, able to track and store every bit of information about any user not just through what the user posts online about himself, his family, friends and foes, but also through what he searches on the Net and what products he buys... Cybernetics has created a whole new world of unwanted consequences, and we are all victims...

Pope exploited in .XXX
pro-Islam cybersquat
By Kevin Murphy

March 19, 2012

A Turkish cybersquatter has registered at least a dozen variants of Pope Benedict's name as .xxx internet domains and is using them to promote Islam.

Cybersquatted sites including PopeBenedict.xxx currently proclaim "Everyone will find Islam" alongside pictures of the Quran and Kaaba.

Unsurprisingly, the sites also state that "This Web Site is For Sale".

PopeBenedict.xxx is registered to one Bulent Ozcan, a resident of Turkey, according to Whois records. Other domains evidently squatted by the same person include: josephaloisiusratzinger.xxx, josephaloisiusratzinger.com, benedictus.xxx, benedictxvi.xxx, ratzinger.xxx, xvibenedictus.xxx, xvibenedictus.com benedictusxvi.xxx pontificio.xxx holyfather.xxx and josephratzinger.xxx.

While the pope is not the first person to be cybersquatted in the new .xxx domain – Sir Richard Branson recently recovered richardbranson.xxx from a squatter – this does seem to be the most comprehensive effort to trash an individual by linking their name to .xxx porn (and to promote a "competitor").

The Vatican's quickest option for shutting down the domains might be to file a Rapid Evaluation Service complaint with the National Arbitration Forum, the US body hired by .xxx manager ICM Registry to handle this kind of case.

RES complaints cost $1,300 to file, but cybersquatted domains can be permanently suspended in as little as two working days. Because the policy covers personal names, the Pope won't need to show trademark rights in his name.

However, it would probably be cheaper to file a complaint using the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, which unlike RES offers bulk discounts, instead.

The Vatican briefly got its cassocks in a twist last December when it mistakenly thought that vatican.xxx had been registered by a cybersquatter.

However, it turned out that the domain had actually been reserved by ICM Registry as a sensitive domain and made unavailable for registration.

Before opening the floodgates to general registrants last December, ICM offered national governments the chance to block culturally or religiously sensitive names. It also unilaterally blocked many religious names it thought might get the company in hot water.

However, while muslim.xxx, christian.xxx, anglican.xxx, jewish.xxx and hindu.xxx have all been registry-reserved, catholic.xxx appears to be registered to an individual hiding behind a Whois privacy service.

The Pope celebrates
his name day

March 19, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti exchanged best wishes in a brief telephone conversation today.

March 19th is the feast day of St. Joseph, and the name-day of Pope Benedict XVI, who was baptised Joseph Ratzinger. It is also the birthday of Monti, the head of Italy’s government.

[Earlier, the Holy Father received the following greeting from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, translated here:

---

Holiness, on the happy occasion of your name-day. I am particularly happy to extend my best wishes in my onw personal name and that of the Italian people.

The Feast of St. Joseph is dear to the Italian nation, who recognize him as a beloved paternal figure and an elevated reference to the familial institution.

In this spirit, i ask you, Holiness, to accept our most sincere wishes for your well-being and serenity.

---

The Holy Father’s Name-day was also celebrated here at the Vatican, where papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope is inspired by his patron saint:

---

Saint Joseph guided his family ‘as one who serves.’ He teaches us that one can love without possessing, and he reveals to us the secret of living in the presence of mystery.

In him there is no separation between faith and action, because his faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Joseph is a ‘just man’ because his existence is always ‘adjusted’ to the word of God. This is how the Pope spoke about his patron some time ago, in a beautiful sermon that expressed not only his devotion, but also the inspiration he receives from this humble and sublime model (March 18, 2009, Vespers in Yaounde).

---

On behalf of everyone here at Vatican Radio, as well as for the members of the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) and the Press Office of the Holy See, Father Lombardi then addressed the Pope directly: “In this same spirit, we wish you a very happy Name Day, especially in light of your upcoming duties of faith and service. Best wishes, Holy Father!”

In the Catholic faith, one's name day - onomastico in Italian - is almost as important as the birthday. Persons named for one of the saints whose feast is observed on the day they are born obviously celebrate the birthday and name day on the same day. Traditional Catholics still use the names of saints or important liturgical events espcially those associated with Mary (In Hispanic countries, names like Anunciacion, Asuncion, Presentacion, Immaculada, Concepcion, Encarnacion, are not uncommon) for their children.


St. Joseph:
Model of fatherhood

March 19, 2012


Childhood of Christ, Gerri van Honthorst, 1640, oil on wood.

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church. It is also the Holy Father's name day.

The head of Vatican Radio’s English for Africa service, Fr. Moses Hamungole, offered his reflections on the role of St. Joseph in the life of the Church.

“Today is the day to celebrate fatherhood,” he said. “To be a father is not an easy challenge – there are many difficulties that go with it.”

At the same time, Fr. Moses said, “We can look to St. Joseph, who quietly – as I would say, one of the ‘silent fathers’ – handled whatever needed to be handled.”

Speaking of St. Joseph’s exemplary faith and wisdom, Fr. Moses said, “it is important [that fathers] pray for discernment, to pray for patience, to pray for these qualities, which can make one a good father.”

At the Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict thanked the faithful for all those who sustain him by their prayers, especially around his name day. Fr. Moses said it is extremely important to pray for the Pope, who is spiritual father to the whole Church. “If he has to discharge his ministry, he needs the spiritual support of every one of us.”


St. Joseph:
Father of the New Evangelization
by Anita Bourdin


ROME, MARCH 15, 2012 (Zenit.org).- March is the month of St. Joseph, whose feast the Church will celebrate Monday.

Currently the holy patron of Vatican II is now seen as the “Father of the New Evangelization” and “the holy patron of the third millennium,” according to an initiative launched by the bishop of the French diocese of Frejus-Toulon, Bishop Dominique Rey.

On Saturday, the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon will be consecrated to Saint Joseph.

Saint Joseph had a special role in the preparation of Vatican Council II, given that Pope John XXIII chose him as a protector of the event, with his Apostolic Letter of March 19, 1961.

In the text, Blessed John XXIII mentions “the voices that come to Us from all points of the earth” and the documents on Saint Joseph of his predecessors, from Pius IX to Pius XIII.

In his document, the Pope proposed, in addition, that on March 19, Saint Joseph’s altar in the Vatican Basilica “be clothed in new splendor, wider and more solemn” to become a “point of attraction and religious piety for individual souls, for innumerable crowds.”

Then, in October of 1962, he made a gift of his papal ring to Joseph, offering it to the Polish shrine of Kalisz, where a painting of Saint Joseph is kept, which is considered miraculous.

It was Blessed John XXIII, moreover, who had Saint Joseph’s name inserted in the Canon of the Mass, as he announced in his address at the closing of the first session of the Council on Dec. 8, 1962.*

John Paul II and St. Joseph

John Paul II also gave his ring to Saint Joseph, to whom he had also been devoted since his childhood. [He was baptized 'Karol Josef'!] The ring was placed by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, archbishop of Krakow, in the church of Carmel, a shrine dedicated to Saint Joseph, on March 19, 2004.

The Polish Pope recalled the importance of Saint Joseph for the life of the Church in his Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos (August 15, 1989), a century after Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Quanquam Pluries (August 15, 1889) on devotion to Saint Joseph.

For his part, Benedict XVI announced recently a Year of Faith, starting on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. On many occasions, Benedict XVI has invited Catholics to learn from the school of Saint Joseph, to have a “spiritual conversation” with him, linked to a renewal of faith.

Before the Angelus on December 18, 2005, for example, he said: “It is therefore particularly appropriate in the days that precede Christmas to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St Joseph, so that he may help us live to the full this great mystery of faith.”

On March 18, 2009, in Yaounde, Cameroon, the Pope dedicated his homily to his patron saint. Addressing all the people of God, he concluded saying that in Saint Joseph there is no separation between faith and action.

“Dear brothers and sisters, our meditation on the human and spiritual journey of Saint Joseph invites us to ponder his vocation in all its richness, and to see him as a constant model for all those who have devoted their lives to Christ in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in the different forms of lay engagement.

"Joseph was caught up at every moment by the mystery of the Incarnation. Not only physically, but in his heart as well, Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life. In Joseph, faith is not separated from action.

"His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Paradoxically, it was by acting, by carrying out his responsibilities, that he stepped aside and left God free to act, placing no obstacles in his way. Joseph is a 'just man' (Mt 1:19) because his existence is 'ad-justed' to the word of God.”

The Year for Priests

On December 19, 2010, the 4th Sunday of Advent, Benedict XVI reflected before the Angelus on the Announcement to Joseph, entrusting to his protection all priests worldwide, stressing his role of “legal Father” of Jesus in God’s plan of salvation.

“In witnessing to Mary’s virginity, to God’s gratuitous action and in safeguarding the Messiah’s earthly life St Joseph announces the miracle of the Lord. Therefore let us venerate the legal father of Jesus (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 532), because the new man is outlined in him, who looks with trust and courage to the future. He does not follow his own plans but entrusts himself without reserve to the infinite mercy of the One who will fulfil the prophecies and open the time of salvation.” said the Pope.

“Dear friends, I would like to entrust all Pastors to St Joseph, universal Patron of the Church, while I urge them to offer “Christ’s [humble] words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world”, (Letter Proclaiming the Year for Priests, 16 June 2009).),” he continued.

Brother Andre and Cotignac

On Sunday, October 17, 2010, the Pope canonized in Rome the Canadian Religious apostle of Saint Joseph, Brother Andre Bessette (1845-1937), who had Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal built, of which he was custodian until his death.

For its part, the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon has on its territory the shrine of Cotignac, entrusted to the Brothers of Saint John, where in June of 1660 the Holy Custodian appeared to a 22-year-old shepherd of Provence, Gaspard Ricard, pointing to a large rock and saying simply: “I am Joseph, move it and you will drink.” [I have been unaware of this till now. Inf act, I have never thought that St. Joseph may have had such apparitions at all!. Must look up the subject more!]

Louis XIV, going on pilgrimage to Cotignac, only 10 days after his ascent to the throne, entrusted France to the protection of Saint Joseph the following year, on March 19, 1661.



*My personal footnote to Blessed John XXIII including St. Joseph in the Canon of the Mass back in 1962:
As a child, I was so impressed with the inclusion of St. Joseph in the Mass Canon that I clipped the news item from my local newspaper when it was announced, and to this day it serves as my Missal marker for the Feast of St. Joseph.

Indulge me as I share a reproduction of part of that clipping - a poor one since by now (50 years later), the clipping is yellow with age, so it doesn't scan as well as if the background were still white! The lead paragraphs read:

---

"The Sacred Congregation of Rites issued the decree entitled 'Urbis et Orbis' concerning the insertion of the name of St. Joseph in the Canon of the Mass, which will take effect beginning Saturday. The decree which was published in the Dec. 1 issue of L'Osservatore Romano was in consonance with the disposition of Pope John XXIII in the same mater. The full text in Latin of the decree is as follows..."

---

I have recalled previously that my devotion to St. Joseph and to St. Anthony of Padua was influenced by the strong devotion in my hometown to these two saints, whose confraternities, men and women, attended Mass and religious events in their distinctive habits - green with a yellow cord sash for St. Joseph, brown with a white cord sash for St. Anthony; and that my devotion to St. Joseph was further intensified in the 1980s after I first visited the great shrine built for him by St. Andre Bessette in Montreal.... I suppose all of it was a preparation for my eventual devotion, in a different sense, of course, to a man named Joseph who became Pope.]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/03/2012 11:03]

one can almost feel the Schadenfreude behind this report which seeks to reinforce public opinion - shaped and misinformed/disinformed by MSM - holds about financial chicanery in the Vatican, along the same lines that MSM painted the town red with the allegations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano about two months ago...

Vatican bank faces fresh controversy
By Nick Squires

March 19, 2012

ROME - Thirty years after it was entangled in a scandal involving the mafia, money laundering and the mysterious death of the man nicknamed "God's banker", the Vatican bank faces fresh controversy.

[The MSM persist in calling the IOR - Instituto per Opere Religiose - a bank, even if Fr. Lombardi clearly said the IOR, often called the Vatican bank, is not a bank but a foundation that undertakes financial activities for the purpose of raising money to support the Holy See's various charitable works. However, it does not perform all the activities of a regular bank, e.g., it accepts deposits but does not make loans or give out credit cards, to name two common banking activities.]

The Vatican Bank [sic - the B iin bank is capitalize,d as though 'Vatican Bank' were a proper noun, i.e., the formal name of the institution] has had one of its accounts closed by JP Morgan after [reportedly] stone-walling requests for information.

The bank – formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion or IOR – has suffered the ignominy of having one of its accounts closed by JP Morgan after stone-walling requests for information.

The sanction came less than two weeks after the US State Department listed the Vatican as being potentially vulnerable to money laundering.

A Milan affiliate of JP Morgan said it will shut the account by the end of the month after revealing Vatican bankers had been "unable to respond" to requests for details about payments into the account.

A spokesman for JP Morgan in Milan declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

The Milan branch had been seeking information since 2010, when the Vatican bank was accused by authorities in Rome of contravening money-laundering regulations. [The actual 'charge' made in public was that IOR officials were being asked to explain the provenance of certain accounts that IOR held in a commercial Italian bank and used to purchase German bonds, for which reason Italian banking authorities sequestered some 24 million euros in the questioned account(s). But they have since released these funds after a few months, having received a presumably satisfactory explanation by IOR officials. It is typically MSM to mention an accusation against the Vatican without mentioning the outcome if it is favorable for the Vatican!]

In an unusual move, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of the Vatican bank, was placed under investigation and a judge in Rome ordered a freeze on €23m (£19.5m) held in one of the bank's accounts.

The scandal prompted the Vatican bank to initiate anti-money-laundering legislation, which is currently being debated by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. [That is a biased statement. Even before the sequestration, the Vatican was already taking steps to get into the European Union's White List of financial institutions deemed to comply with international standards against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. These efforts culminated in a landmark law signed by Pope Benedict XVI on December 30, 2010, to enforce transparency int he financial operations of all Vatican organisms, not just IOR, with an autonomous Authority for Financial Information to oversee enforcement. It was a historic measure which few in MSM even bothered to acknowledge as such - because it is contrary to their 'conventional' negative assumptions about the Vatican. The MSM, for obvious reasons - seeing the unfailing association in the public mind of financial activities and corruption plus scandal - has chosen to portray any financial activities within the Church as inherently suspicious, if not criminal.]

The Vatican has a chequered history on financial transparency and propriety. Its financial past has included, most notoriously, its involvement in the bankruptcy of Italy's largest private bank, the Banco Ambrosiano, in 1982.

Its president, Roberto Calvi, nicknamed "God's Banker", was found hanged beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge, with investigators unable to rule whether he had committed suicide or was murdered.

The Vatican bank was unavailable for comment.

The Pope and Mexico’s spiritual crisis
Pope Benedict XVI prepares to visit a Mexico
torn by violence on the street—and in the womb
by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

March 19, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI's coming trip to Mexico will bring the pontiff to a country much transformed since the path-breaking visits of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, whom some credit for the radical changes that have delivered the nation from the 80-year stranglehold of an anti-Catholic party dictatorship, and inaugurated a new era of democracy and individual freedom.

For the first time since the rise of the ultraliberal and anticlerical regime of Benito Juarez in the 1850s, a nominally pro-Catholic party has taken the reins of federal power in Mexico, and Church authorities speak with unprecedented freedom.

The poverty and extreme poverty rates of the country have fallen significantly in recent years, multiple political parties compete for public office, and the press enjoys a liberty of expression that is virtually complete.

The democratist individualism of the new Mexico, however, has come at a price. Vicious narco-traficking gangs are vying for control of key points in the Western Hemisphere's supply route for the rich markets of the United States and Canada, and their internecine wars and conflicts with government forces have claimed over 47,000 lives in only five years.

Looming even above the massive death toll from the country's drug wars is the fact of 75,000 unborn children killed in the nation's capital, Mexico City, since the legalization of abortion in 2007, a massacre of innocents that the country has not seen since the end of Aztec rule. [75,000 abortions in 5 years seems to be a very modest figure to rack up in Mexico City, which with about 18 million inhabitants is the world's largest urban conglomeration.]

Added to the death toll are millions more that will never be conceived, as contraception lowers the birthrate below replacement level. While Mexico is advancing economically, demographically and morally the nation is in stark decline.

There is little doubt that Pope Benedict had Mexico's spiritual crisis in mind when he decided to visit the country in its Catholic heartland, in the southwestern state of Guanajuato. The state and its environs remain one of the few strongholds remaining to the Church in a society that is increasingly besieged by what Pope John Paul II called the "culture of death" — the anti-life and anti-family consensus embraced by global elites and international foundations, which is making devastating inroads in this historically Catholic country.

Tension grows between Church and State

In Mexico, Pope Benedict will find a Catholic Church that enjoys unprecedented freedom from government interference, but whose doctrines are ever-less heeded by an increasingly secularized society.

Mass attendance and priestly vocations continue to be low, as they were when John Paul II last visited in 2002. Non-Catholic sects are on the rise, and Catholicism is declining, as it has in much of Latin America since Vatican II. [Papal visits, unfortunately - lasting only a few days compared to the daily bombardment of secular stimuli to which Catholics are subjected to in the secularized countries - rarely result in perceptible and enduring results. The fact that John Paul II made five trips to Mexico, six to the Untied States and three to Brazil during his Pontificate, indicates the Church's concern for the state of the faith in those countries which are among the top 5 in terms of Catholic population. Benedict XVI's visit is almost obligatory, but it needs to be reinforced by pastoral adherence to the initiatives proposed by the Church for the Year of Faith for the essentials of the faith to seep down again to the faithful so that the Christian message can become a way of life as it was for the first Christian generations.] The growing secularism of Mexican society has led to bitter conflicts between the country's most important Catholic bishops and aggressive government officials, especially in the nation's capital. The conflict came to a head in 2010 when the Supreme Court ruled that Mexico City's homosexual "marriage" law was constitutional, and must be honored by the country's 31 states.

Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, Archbishop of Guadalajara, called the ministers of the Supreme Court who had voted for the verdict, as well as an earlier verdict accepting the constitutionality of abortion, "traitors" to the country.

He added that they had been "fed" by international organizations in cahoots with Marcelo Ebrard, the ultra-leftist governor of Mexico City.

Fr. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, accused Ebrard and the socialist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) of creating "laws that are destructive to the family, that cause worse damage than narcotrafficking."

The remarks led organs of the Federal government to invoke the country's Law of Religious Associations and Public Worship, which dates back to the persecution of the Catholic Church in the 1920s, led by the dictator Plutarco Elias Calles.

Article 29 of the law prohibits clerics from "associating for political purposes, as well as carrying out proselytism or propaganda of any kind in favor or against any candidate, party, or any political association." Ebrard also initiated procedures against the two clerics with Mexico City agencies on grounds of "human rights" and "discrimination."

Both Sandoval and Valdemar have remained defiant, and although they have lost their cases in the first instance, they have appealed. Valdemar has said that Ebrard's suits against him are motivated by "intolerance, hatred, and viscerality" and even warned that the actions of the governor could "unleash a war in the country."

Such words may seem alarming, especially given a history of conflict between Church and State that led to the deaths of over 100,000 people in the 1920s and 30s, and resulted in an 80-year standoff between Mexico's two most important institutions.

However, the mere fact that Cardinal Sandoval and Fr. Valdemar can speak publicly in this way represents an enormous change since the country began the process of political reform in the early 1990s, when clerics were not even permitted to wear their distinctive garb in public.

And, although Ebrard may be winning in the juridical venues he handpicked for his showdown with Catholic leaders, he has tellingly lost the nomination for presidential candidate of the PRD to his more Catholic-friendly rival, Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Paradoxically, while the country's Catholicism is at a historical weak point and even in decline, its leaders exercise greater political influence in the new climate of openness, and national politicians are generally eager to court the favor of the clergy.

There is perhaps no stronger indication of this change than the historic visit to Pope Benedict in Rome in December of 2009 by the crown prince of Mexico's historically liberal and anti-clerical Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Enrique Peña Nieto.

Peña Nieto, whose nomination as the PRI's presidential candidate in this year's elections was already a fait accompli, was accompanied by his then girlfriend and now wife, the actress Angela Rivera; the two used the occasion to announce their engagement, in what was widely seen as an attempt to receive the papal blessing for the union.

The spectacle of a political party that had been forged by freemasons and liberals during Mexico's most bitter church-state conflict, bowing to the institution it had been created to oppose, could not speak more loudly about the Church's growing political influence and freedom of speech.

Nieto, who is currently the front-runner in the presidential elections, has said he will also attend Benedict's Sunday mass in Leon. [Something Spain's ex-Prime Minister Jose luis Zapatero - a nominal Catholic, who happens to share both baptismal names of Joseph Alois Ratzinger - never did during the three visits Benedict XVI made to Spain while Zapatero was in power!]

While an ultra-liberal Supreme Court hangs on the precipice of legalizing abortion throughout Mexico's 31 states, the nation's parties are seeking to separate themselves from the abortionist agenda.

The ruling National Action Party (PAN) has nominated the strongly Catholic Josefina Vazquez Mota for the presidency, in a move that has rattled the party's more moderate establishment, led currently by President Felipe Calderon.

Even Manuel Lopez Obrador, the socialist PRD's candidate for the presidency, has retreated from its socially liberal agenda, offering to take "input" from the public on abortion and promising not to impose it.

The Pope is scheduled to travel to one of Mexico's most Catholic states, Guanajuato, where he will spend three days in the environs of the city of Guanajuato and the state's capital, Leon.

Guanajuato represents the rough geographic center of Mexico's "Catholic heartland" — the states that have historically exhibited the strongest attachment to the Catholic faith, including Jalsico, Zacatecas, Michoacan, San Luis Potosí, and Queretaro.

The Pope will fly out of Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport at 9:30 am on Friday, March 23, and arrive at 4:30 pm at Guanajuato's International Airport, where he will give an opening speech.

The next day he will say Mass in private at the chapel of the Miraflores School, and at 6 pm he will receive a visit from President Felipe Calderón in the House of Conde Rul. Forty-five minutes later he will greet children in Guanajuato's Plaza de la Paz.

On Sunday, the Holy Father travels to the city of Leon, where he will say Mass at the Bicentenial Park, pray the Angelus Domini, and give a speech.

At 6 pm he will celebrate vespers with the bishops of Mexico and Latin America in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of the Light (Madre Santísima de la Luz) of León, and give another talk.

He leaves at 9:30 the next day from Guanajuato International Airport, for Cuba, the second and final leg of his trip.

Although a specific list of topics that the Supreme Pontiff is likely to cover has not been given to the press, the country's papal nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, has said that the Pope will address the issue of the violence plaguing Mexico.

"The Pope will bring us courage for difficult times, in order to have the strength to fight against violence and help us unite for peace," Pierre said in late November.

A March 4 editorial published in the Archdiocese of Mexico's "Desde la Fe" (From the Faith) newspaper, further hints that the Holy Father will speak about a variety of political and social issues

"In reality, there are no topics alien to the concern of the church in the midst of society and, therefore, there are no topics that the Pope won't touch in his religious and social message," the archdiocese stated, adding that "he might say a word toward our political and social reality, where we place our commitment, all of us Catholics as citizens."

The primary concern for Benedict is likely to be the growth of what he has dubbed the "anti-culture of death" in Mexico: the increasing disrespect for the values of human life and family, which have resulted in tens of thousands of murders on the street and in the womb.

The state of Guanajuato is one of eighteen that have passed right-to-life amendments to its constitution in the wake of the legalization of abortion in Mexico City in 2007, which allows and even provides abortion-on-demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy to any woman requesting it.

The Supreme Court, however, currently stands one vote away from overriding Guanajuato's and the other states' right-to-life amendments by imposing abortion as a constitutional "right" on the entire country.

The socialist-dominated government of Mexico City has passed a panoply of anti-family laws as well, including the creation of homosexual "marriage," and express divorce. [There was a reason the Pontifical Council for the Family chose Mexico city as the site of the VI World Encounter of Families in January 2009.]

Even at the federal level, the government has approved sex-ed programs that legitimize the homosexual lifestyle, and has contemplated the commercialization of human embryos. The country faces numerous other problems of interest to the Catholic Church as well, including a high percentage of impoverished citizens, government corruption, and environmental issues.

A deeper problem, however, appears to underlie the cultural and moral decline afflicting Mexican society, and that is the condition of the Church itself, which faces liturgical abuse and vocational malaise, and is failing to communicate its teachings to large numbers of the faithful.

While Mexicans maintain a fierce attachment to outward signs of piety, so deeply embedded in the culture, the substance of the faith appears increasingly lost in the hedonism and religious indifferentism of the modern world.

If the previous visits of Pope John Paul II are any measure, Pope Benedict will be greeted by large and enthusiastic crowds, eager to see and hear him. A narco-trafficking gang active in the state of Guanajuato has even agreed to a "cease-fire" called for by the Bishop of Leon.

But Pope Benedict will need more than an emotional outpouring if he is to reverse the trends threatening Mexican society. He will need a "new evangelization" that will begin with Catholics themselves, who remain the moral anchor of the society, and its most defining element.



This is the kind of denigration-by-negative-contrast that journalists ought not to indulge in - and that their editors should not allow them to do - but this is AP's idea of a pre-trip situationer....

Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Mexico
and Cuba fails to stir passions
By Andrea Rodriguez and E. Eduardo Castillo


MEXICO CITY, April 18 (AP) — For his first visit to Spanish-speaking Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the region's most Roman Catholic country — and its least.

In Catholic Mexico, towns throw parties for their patron saints, pilgrims prostrate themselves at shrines and many people cross themselves every time they pass a church. In Cuba, abortions are legal and many adults have been divorced more often than they've been to Mass.

Cuba's churches are mostly empty, and until the 1990s, believers were barred from the Communist Party.

What the two countries on the Pope's week-long itinerary share is a disaffection with a German pontiff known as a staid academic who is uncomfortable with Latin America's mix of Catholicism and popular mysticism and its legions of unsanctioned saints. [First, how can these reporters make such a sweeping statement about 'disaffection' with Benedict XVI - do they have any fairly reliable polls at all to back them up? I think not. They are merely stating their own personal feelings as general public opinion. Next, they obviously have not been reading Benedict XVI's statements at all about popular piety and its importance, forgetting as well that the Pope comes from Bavaria, where popular piety continues to be a distinctive feature of its Catholicism. Two reporters putting their name to a fairly short story, and none of them being truly informed about the topic they are writing about!]

For many Catholics, the papal visit to Mexico starting Friday is long overdue , given that it has more Catholics than any other Spanish-speaking country. [OK now, what is it? If Mexicans are 'disaffected' with the Pope, they shouldn't care less if he visited them or not! Why is it now being made out that they feel the visit is 'long overdue'? You can't have it both ways.]

In Cuba, the trip is seen as the Vatican's recognition of the local Church's work in nudging the Communist government to release political prisoners and institute economic reforms. That effort has given the Church an outsized political role, despite the fact that practicing Catholics make up only 10 percent of the population.

In both nations, there is hope that Pope Benedict's visit will close an alarming distance between the Vatican and a region shaped by Catholicism.

"In seven years as Pontiff, he has never visited Hispanic America," said Bernardo Barranco, a specialist in contemporary Catholicism at the Center for Religious Studies in Mexico. "The Pope has shown a clear preference for Europe." [Specialist shmecialist! Barranco is speaking out of sheer bias. The 'preference' for Europe is partly dictated by geography - an 85-year-old Pope with a heart condition cannot travel long distances when he pleases, as he may have been able to do if he were 10 years younger.]

The biggest challenge for Benedict is that he is not John Paul II. [Nor is he trying to be! If some Catholics choose to be devoted to a departed Pope to the detriment of the living and present Vicar of Christ on earth, that's their misfortune - they ought to know better, and should not be encouraged to do so. Benedict XVI is not just Joseph Ratzinger - he is Christ's Vicar on earth and the Successor of Peter, here and now!]

Devotion still runs high for the Pope's predecessor, who honored Mexico by making it his first trip outside the Vatican and coming back four more times. He is known as "Mexico's Pope."

John Paul had an age advantage; he was 58 when he first came here, while Benedict turns 85 next month.

Still, the papal souvenirs and promotions that preceded John Paul have yet to materialize for Benedict's trip.

"We believed in John Paul II, but Benedict, no. We know he exists, but we don't feel him," Noemi Huerta said at a celebration for St. Jude, the apostle, that overwhelms a church in central Mexico City every month. "That's because he has rejected us a little. He keeps us at arm's length."

[To end the report in the way these two reports did is outrageous. Objective reporters would have also quoted from someone who looks forward to Benedict XVI's visit. Surely, they could have found someone who does! Did they even try? If they did and found no one, they should have added, "Out of the X number of people we interviewed, not one was looking forward to Benedict XVI's visit". As I am sure they would have, with a great deal of Schadenfreude, if that had been the case. I'm sure they didn't even try.

AP reporters did this same trick before Benedict XVI visited Lourdes, and on a limited basis, before he came to the United States. Just one indication of AP's apparent vested interest in denigrating Benedict XVI in any way they can. And one of their most reprehensible ploys is this eternal comparison with his predecessor. John Paul II is now Blessed and may even become a saint sooner than we think. These comparisons must stop. It was most unwarranted and unfair before John Paul II was beatified - it is even more so now. Benedict XVI would never see himself in competition with any Pope, much less with someone he has beatified!]

Tuesday, March 20, Fourth Week of Lent

Left photo: Death of St. Salvador, 16th century painting.
ST. SALVADOR DE HORTA (b Spain 1520, d Sicily 1567), Lay Franciscan
Yet another in the line of sainted Franciscan laymen who, while serving as porter, cook and official beggar for his community,
revealed healing powers and was venerated in his day. Son of a peasant family, he worked as a shepherd and shoemaker before
joining the lay Franciscans at age 21. Carrying out his humble work, it was found he could heal by the Sign of the Cross. His fame
was such that 2,000 people came to see him every week and tore at his habit to get a relic. The relentless attention eventually
forced his community to transfer him to Cagliari in Sicily where he died two years later. Many miracles continued to happen
at his tomb. When he was exhumed 23 years after his death for his beatification, the body was found incorrupt. However,
he was not canonized until 1938.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/032012.cfm


No events announced for the Holy Father today.


The Press Office today released a Summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland,
on the results of the Visitations to four Archdioceses, Religious Institutes and to Irish Seminaries
held in 2010-2011. It has been approved by the Offices which conducted the Visitation and it also
contains some further observations from the Holy See, in addition to those that the individual
Dicasteries communicated to the leaders of the respective Archdioceses or Institutes. It comes
on the second anniversary of Benedict XVI's historic pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS OF
THE APOSTOLIC VISITATION IN IRELAND

March 20, 2012

The Summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland, published herewith, offers a synthesis of the results of the Visitations to the four Archdioceses, to Religious Institutes and to the Irish Seminaries.

It has been approved by the Offices which conducted the Visitation and it also contains some further observations from the Holy See, in addition to those that the individual Dicasteries communicated to the leaders of the respective Archdioceses or Institutes:

---

Now that the Apostolic Visitation to certain Dioceses, Seminaries and Religious Institutes in Ireland has been concluded, it is intended here, in accordance with what was stated in the Communiqué of 6 June 2011, to offer an overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects highlighted by the Visitation.

It should be borne in mind that the Visitation was pastoral in nature; the Holy Father’s intention was that it should "assist the local Church on her path of renewal" (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010).

It was not intended to replace or supersede the ordinary responsibility of Bishops and Religious Superiors, nor to interfere "with the ordinary activity of the local magistrates, nor with the activity of the Commissions of Investigation established by the Irish Parliament, nor with the work of any legislative authority, which has competence in the area of prevention of abuse of minors" (Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office, 12 November 2010).

In communicating this summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis.

***

The Visitation to the Dioceses was carried out in the four Metropolitan Sees during the first few months of 2011. The four Visitators, accompanied by qualified and authorized persons and in coordination with the Archbishops of the Sees concerned, met individuals from the various categories listed in the Communiqué of 12 November 2010, along with others who requested a hearing, including representatives of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Special priority was given to the meetings with victims of abuse, who were assured of the particular closeness of the Holy Father. Some of the Archdioceses held very moving penitential liturgies in the Cathedrals, attended by clergy and members of the faithful, with the participation of victims of abuse in each case.

These four Visitations included meetings with the suffraganeous Bishops and yielded sufficient information to provide an adequate picture of the situation of the Church in Ireland, such as to obviate the need to extend the Visitation to the suffraganeous Sees.

The Visitation to the Seminaries examined the situation of four Institutes: the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, Saint Malachy’s College in Belfast, and two Institutes in the Archdiocese of Dublin – the National Seminary, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and the Milltown Institute of the Society of Jesus.

All Hallows College in Dublin informed the Visitator that it no longer offered a programme of priestly formation and consequently it was not included in the Visitation.

Before visiting each of the Institutes, the Visitator was able to study documentation on the Colleges concerned. Upon arrival, with the assistance of several Bishops and priests, all previously approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Visitator examined, to the extent possible, all aspects of priestly formation, along the lines indicated in the Press Communiqué of 31 May 2010.

The Visitator and his assistants held individual meetings with formators and seminarians, as well as others holding positions of authority in the seminaries, including those responsible for the protection of minors.

Priests ordained within the last three years were also invited to a personal conversation if they so wished. It should be pointed out that the Milltown Institute, which is more an academic centre than a seminary, was examined only with regard to the theological formation offered to future priests.

The Visitation to the Religious Institutes took place after careful study of the responses to the questionnaire that was sent to all Institutes with Religious houses in Ireland. The questionnaire sought to elicit information on the current safeguarding measures and policies adopted by each Institute and the effect of the present crisis on the Institute's members.

The Visitators then held various meetings with Bishops, Superiors and formators of the different communities and with any particular groups, including abuse victims, that requested a meeting, as well as representatives of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Meetings were held with the members of the Conference of Religious of Ireland, both in the common assemblies and in regional assemblies throughout the country. The Visitators had the opportunity to conduct extended visits to 31 Institutes. They estimate that, during the visit, they had the opportunity to dialogue with a significant portion of Religious in Ireland.

With a view to promoting the work of renewal called for by the Holy Father, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Catholic Education have carefully studied the information collected by the respective Visitators.

Keeping in mind the provisions of the document Towards Healing and Renewal issued by the Irish Episcopal Conference, they have communicated their conclusions to the four Metropolitan Archbishops and to the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the seminaries visited, indicating courses of action. The Archbishops and the Ecclesiastical Authorities gave their responses.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life is likewise forwarding its conclusions to the Superiors of all Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life with houses in Ireland.

A Summary Report will also be presented to the Apostolic Nuncio to be shared with the Bishops of Ireland.

* * *

During their stay in Ireland, the Visitators were able themselves to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible phenomenon of the abuse of minors, not least on the part of various Bishops and Religious Superiors.

With a great sense of pain and shame, it must be acknowledged that within the Christian community innocent young people were abused by clerics and Religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively. Indeed, "wounds have been inflicted on Christ's body" (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010).

For these faults, forgiveness must once more be asked: from God and from the victims! As Blessed John Paul II said: "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young" (Address to the Cardinals of the United States, 23 April 2002).

At the same time the Visitators were able to verify that, beginning in the 1990s, progressive steps have been taken towards a greater awareness of how serious is the problem of abuse, both in the Church and society, and how necessary it is to find adequate measures in response.

The Visitation was also intended to determine whether the structures and procedures put in place by the Church in Ireland from that period onwards are adequate to ensure that the tragedy of the abuse of minors will not be repeated. In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

1) Particular attention has been given to the assistance offered by the Church in Ireland to victims of past abuse. All the Visitators acknowledge that, beginning with the Bishops and Religious Superiors, much attention and care has been shown to the victims, both in terms of spiritual and psychological assistance and also from a legal and financial standpoint.

It has been recommended, therefore, that, following the example given by Pope Benedict XVI in his meetings with victims of abuse, the Irish diocesan authorities and those of the Religious Institutes continue to devote much time listening to and receiving victims, providing support for them and their families.

2) Their meetings with the victims of abuse helped the Visitators to understand better various aspects of the problem of the sexual abuse of minors that took place in Ireland. The Visitators and the Church in Ireland are thankful for this contribution and want to assure them that their well-being is of paramount concern for the Church.

3) In their meetings with the chief officers of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church and various diocesan officials, the Visitators were able to verify that the current norms of Safeguarding Children: Standards and Guidance Document for the Catholic Church in Ireland (Guidelines) are being followed.

The Visitators welcome the process, already initiated by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, of regularly auditing the implementation of the Guidelines. It is recommended that this process of covering all Dioceses and Religious Institutes by regular audits will be implemented in a prompt manner.

4) In recent years the work of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has been thorough and far-reaching, for which reason it should be supported by the Bishops, Religious Superiors and the whole community of the Church in Ireland, and it should continue to receive sufficient personnel and funding.

5) The Archbishops of the visited Archdioceses gave assurance that all newly-discovered cases of abuse are promptly brought before both the competent civil authority and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

6) The norms contained in the Guidelines, as well as the procedures to implement them, must be updated in accordance with the indications published on 3 May 2011 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and also periodically revised.

The Guidelines need to be amended in order to create a common model for all the Dioceses and Religious Institutes, and they should be periodically re-examined in order to ensure increasing effectiveness both in the work of prevention and in the response to cases of abuse in all the required aspects, for the good of everyone concerned.

7) In view of the shortage of personnel trained in canon law, the Visitators insisted on the need for a reorganization of Ireland’s ecclesiastical tribunals, to be carried out in cooperation with the competent bodies of the Holy See, so that the various cases still awaiting definitive resolution can be adequately processed.

8) The Visitators were struck by the efforts made throughout the country by Bishops, priests, Religious and lay persons to implement the Guidelines and to create safe environments. In the four Archdioceses, the results of these efforts were judged to be excellent.

In addition to the large number of volunteers, they noted the presence of men and women within the various safeguarding structures who bring the highest level of professionalism to the service of the Christian community.

In the Visitation to the Seminaries, the following elements were examined: theological doctrine on the priesthood, seminary governance, questions regarding the admission of candidates to the seminary and assessment of them prior to ordination, the process of formation (human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral), and possible ways of assisting recently ordained priests.

Particular attention was given to the admission of candidates and to programmes of spiritual and human formation aimed at enabling seminarians to live priestly celibacy faithfully and joyfully. The Visitation to the Seminaries gave priority to issues involving the protection of minors.

In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

1) The Visitation was able to establish that there are dedicated formators in Irish seminaries, committed to the work of priestly training. The seminarians themselves were generally praised for their human and spiritual qualities and for their motivation and commitment to the Church and her mission. Studies are taken seriously, and attention is given to human and spiritual formation.

2) Each seminary has clear child protection norms in place and the Irish seminaries are committed to educating future priests with a broad understanding of all that is involved in the protection of minors within the Church.

3) For the further improvement of the seminaries, it has been proposed, wherever necessary:

a. to ensure that the formation provided is rooted in authentic priestly identity, offering a more systematic preparation for a life of priestly celibacy by maintaining a proper equilibrium between human, spiritual and ecclesial dimensions;

b. to reinforce structures of Episcopal governance over the seminaries;

c. to introduce more consistent admission criteria – this would involve the seminary, in consultation with the Dioceses, examining and deciding admissibility of candidates;

d. to show greater concern for the intellectual formation of seminarians, ensuring that it is in full conformity with the Church’s Magisterium;

e. to include in the academic programme in-depth formation on matters of child protection, with increased pastoral attention to victims of sexual abuse and their families;

f. to re-evaluate the pastoral programme, ensuring that it is sacramental, priestly and apostolic, and duly concerned with preparing candidates to celebrate the sacraments and to preach;

g. to ensure that the seminary buildings be exclusively for seminarians of the local Church and those preparing them for the priesthood, to ensure a well-founded priestly identity.

The task entrusted by the Holy See to the Visitators to Religious houses was twofold: 1) ensuring that all Religious Congregations have adequate protocols for safeguarding children and are implementing them; and 2) encouraging members of Institutes and Societies to a renewed vitality in their life and mission as Religious or members of Societies of Apostolic Life.

In a spirit of cooperation with the Bishops, clergy and lay faithful of Ireland, the Superiors and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are encouraged to develop the resources at their disposal, so that they may be better equipped to meet the needs of those still suffering the effects of abuse.

In the light of the immense contribution they have made in the past to the life of the Church in Ireland and their remarkable missionary outreach across the world, consecrated persons should renew their commitment to building communities capable of offering their members mutual support along the path towards holiness and capable of contributing effectively to the renewal of the entire local Church community.

In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

1) The Religious in Ireland will join Bishops in mutual reflection, planning and support, revitalizing the instruments of dialogue and communion that have been envisioned by the Magisterium (cf. Mutuae Relationes).

The Bishops themselves will convoke and lead the process of renewing dialogue and concrete collaboration in the field of safeguarding children, while also seeking to bring about a more effective and deeper communion between different and complementary charisms in the local Church.

2) The Major Superiors of each Institute in Ireland should design a programme for focusing anew over the next three years on the Institute's fundamental sources, particularly the following of Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, and contained in the Apostolic Tradition of the Church’s teaching, the living of their vows in a contemporary context, and the life, works and charism of the founder of the Institute (Perfectae Caritatis; Vita Consecrata).

3) All Institutes should perform an audit of their personnel files, if such an audit has not yet been carried out. As in the case of the Dioceses, every Religious Congregation, active and contemplative, should perform the regular audit monitoring the implementation of the norms contained in the Guidelines, in coordination with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

4) Major Superiors should develop, with the members of their Institutes, concrete means for revitalizing communities of prayer, community life and mission.

5) The Religious in Ireland are asked to consider developing a collaborative ministerial outreach to those suffering from the effects of abuse.

Based on the proposal of the Visitators and the observations made by various Dicasteries of the Holy See, it has been recommended that the Bishops of Ireland and Religious Superiors, in collaboration with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, should continue to examine and update the current Interim Guidance – Leave from Sacred Ministry and Apostolate for Clergy and Religious with a view to:

1) Formulating guidelines for handling the varied cases of those who have been accused, but in whose case the Director of Public Prosecution has decided not to proceed.

2) Formulating policies regarding the falsely accused and their return to ministry.

3) Formulating policies regarding the pastoral care of those who are convicted of abuse: the appropriate settings and the conditions under which such offenders should live.

* * *

The Visitators have been able to establish that, over and above the suffering of the victims, the painful events of recent years have also opened many wounds within the Irish Catholic community.

Many lay persons have experienced a loss of trust in their Pastors. Many good priests and Religious have felt unjustly tainted by association with the accused in the court of public opinion; some have not felt sufficiently defended by their Bishops and Superiors.

Those same Bishops and Superiors have often felt isolated as they sought to confront the waves of indignation and at times they have found it difficult to agree on a common line of action.

On the other hand, this time of trial has also brought to light the continuing vitality of the Irish people’s faith. The Visitators have noted the exemplary way in which many Bishops, priests and Religious live out their vocation, the human and spiritual bonds among the faithful at a time of crisis, the deep faith of many men and women, a remarkable level of lay involvement in the structures of child protection, and the heartfelt commitment shown by Bishops and Religious Superiors in their task of serving the Christian community.

These are just some of the signs of hope that the Visitators have identified, alongside the various difficulties, in the life of the Church in Ireland.

It is vitally important that, at a point in history marked by rapid cultural and social transformation, all the components of the Church in Ireland hear in the first place a renewed call to communion: communion among the Bishops themselves and with the Successor of Peter; communion between diocesan Bishops and their clergy; communion between Pastors and lay persons; and communion between diocesan structures and communities of consecrated life - communion that is not attained merely through human agreements or strategies, but above all by listening humbly to God’s Word and to what the Holy Spirit gives and asks of the Church in our day. Only a united Church can be an effective witness to Christ in the world.

Among the pastoral priorities that have emerged most strongly is
- the need for deeper formation in the content of the faith for young people and adults;
- a broad and well-planned ongoing theological and spiritual formation for clergy, Religious and lay faithful;
- a new focus on the role of the laity, who are called to be engaged both within the Church and in bearing witness before society, in accordance with the social teachings of the Church.

There is a need to harness the contribution of the new Ecclesial Movements, in order better to reach the younger generation and to give renewed enthusiasm to Christian life.

A careful review is needed of the training given to teachers of religion, the Catholic identity of schools and their relationship with the parishes to which they belong, so as to ensure a sound and well-balanced education.

Since the Visitators also encountered a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium, this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation.

It must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal.

The Visitation also placed in question the present configuration of Dioceses in Ireland and their ability to respond adequately to the challenges of the New Evangelization.

The Holy See and the local episcopate have already initiated a joint reflection on this matter, in which the communities concerned are to be involved, with a view to adapting diocesan structures to make them better suited to the present-day mission of the Church in Ireland.

Finally, the Visitation attested to the great need for the Irish Catholic community to make its voice heard in the media and to establish a proper relationship with those active in this field, for the sake of making known the truth of the Gospel and the Church’s life.

* * *

For its part, the Holy See recalls the ongoing importance of the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, which proposes an overall vision that can shed useful light on the pastoral priorities of the Church in Ireland, and on the special attention that must be given to the younger generation.

The forthcoming International Eucharistic Congress will surely represent an important stage in this process, as will the subsequent National Mission, which it is hoped will provide all the members of the Church community with a fruitful opportunity for prayer, common reflection and instruction on the content of the Christian creed, in harmony with the Holy Father’s vision for the approaching Year of Faith.

As Pope Benedict said in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland: "Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, the Church in Ireland can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all Bishops, priests, Religious and lay faithful."

In the name of the Holy Father, heartfelt gratitude must once again be expressed to all those who worked so generously to ensure a fruitful outcome for the Apostolic Visitation – firstly, to the Visitators and their assistants, then to the entire Catholic community of Ireland: the lay faithful, including the various victims of abuse, the Bishops, the clergy and the Religious communities who have responded so well to this concrete sign of the solicitude of the Successor of Peter for the future of the Church in Ireland.

Consequently, the Apostolic Visitation should now be considered completed. The Holy See entrusts its conclusions to the responsibility of the Bishops, clergy, Religious and lay faithful of Ireland, in the hope that they will bear fruit worthy of that process of healing, reparation and renewal which Pope Benedict XVI so eagerly desires for the beloved Church in Ireland.

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Vatican advises changes
to child protection measures

March 20, 2012

A delegation of senior Catholic Church officials sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict in the wake of a series of clerical sex abuse scandals has proposed a number of reforms to improve child protection.

A seven-page summation of the report by the apostolic visitation was published at the Columba Centre in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth this morning at a briefing attended by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown.


Cardinal Brady and Mons. Brown at the briefing.

The report was completed after seven teams of Vatican-appointed church leaders visited Ireland. The teams visited the four Irish Archdioceses, two seminaries and the male and female congregations.

The report said changes should be made to seminaries and admission criteria for would-be priests. It found that while guidelines to protect children are being followed, academic programmes in seminaries should put more focus on the issue.

During their stay in Ireland, the "visitors" were able to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible abuse of minors, the report said.

“With a great sense of pain and shame, it must be acknowledged that within the Christian community innocent young people were abused by clerics and religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively,” the report found. “The visitors were able to verify that beginning in the 1990s progressive steps have been taken towards a greater awareness of how serious is the problem of abuse, both in the church an society."

The report said the current standards for safeguarding children and guidance document for the Catholic Church in Ireland are being followed.

It said archbishops of the visited dioceses gave assurance that all newly-discovered cases of abuse are being notified to the Garda and church authorities. It said the visitors were struck by efforts made by the clergy to implement guidelines and to create safe environments for children.

Among the recommendations included in the document are:

- A proposal to re-evaluate the pastoral programme

- A proposal to introduce more consistent admission criteria to seminaries

- A proposal to reinforce structures of episcopal governance over seminaries

- A proposal to ensure that seminary buildings be exclusively for seminarians "to ensure a well-founded priestly identity"

The visitors also called for a continual examination of the current guideliness in order to formulate standards for handling cases of those who have been accused of clerical sex abuse, but in whose case the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to proceed and for assisting those who are falsely accused to return to ministry. Policies regarding the pastoral care of those who are convicted of abuse should also be amended as necessary, the report said.

The report added the visitors had encountered a tendency among some preiest to hold theological opinions which are "at variance with the teachings of the Magistrerium." It said "this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation."

Commenting on the findings, Dr Martin said the extent of the abuse that happened in the church was "shattering".

Cardinal Brady said the report "provides us with a helpful snapshot of a key moment on the ongoing journey of renewal, and a signpost to future priorities and directions".

He added: “In expressing true sorrow and regret we make our own heartfelt plea for forgiveness from the victims, and from God, for those terrible crimes and sins.

“We particularly welcome today the call in the report for 'a new focus on the role of the laity, who are called to be engaged both within the Church and in bearing witness to Christ in the world.”

Dr Brown said the Pope had been “outstanding” in his efforts to address issues around clerical sexual abuse. “There has been a progression and learning and an improved dressing of problems,” he said.

The visits followed Pope Benedict XVI’s Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland which was published two years ago today following the publication of the Murphy Report into clerical sexual abuse in November 2009. The report documented some 70 years of child abuse by a number of priests across the State.


Pope Benedict 'eagerly desires' renewal
for the 'beloved Church in Ireland'

March 20, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI 'eagerly desires' renewal for the 'beloved Church in Ireland', where many people have “experienced a loss of trust” in the Church as a result of abuse of minors by clergy, stated a Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation to the Church in Ireland, published Tuesday.

The seven-page Summary was presented to the public at the Columba Centre in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin Sr Marianne O'Connor representing Irish Religious and papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown. Emer McCarthy has this report:

Ultimately 'pastoral' in nature and in tone, the Visitation Summary is, in essence, a document of proposals to the Irish Church as it continues in its efforts towards renewal.

It states that during their stay in Ireland, the 7 teams charged with Visiting the Church there were able to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible abuse of minors.

It reiterates the “great sense of pain and shame”, that must be acknowledged by Church authorities. It notes the "very moving penitential liturgies in the cathedrals" held to address the issue of abuse within the Church and seek forgiveness from God and from victims.

But the Visitators – who included Cardinal Sean O’ Malley of Boston, New York Cardinal Tim Dolan, Toronto Cardinal Tom Collins and British Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’ Connor - also have words of praise for the “progressive steps” that have been taken since the 1990’s; for the efforts to ensure safeguarding procedures are being strictly followed; for the Bishops, priests and religious, who live out their vocation in an "exemplary way", despite feeling unjustly tainted by association with the accused in the court of public opinion.

Then the Visitators make some proposals on where they see room for improvement in the Irish Church.

Among them: A new focus on the role of laity; the recommendation that the bishops consider 'adapting' diocesan structures to meet current needs; the great need for the Irish Church to establish a 'proper relationship' with media.

But the overarching emphasis is on formation and communion. The formation of future priests, fidelity to Church teaching of current priests, religious and theologians.

The Visitators observe that when in Ireland, they encountered “a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation.

It must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal”.

So they propose a re-evaluation of the pastoral program, the reinforcement of structures of Episcopal governance over the seminaries and the introduction of more consistent admission criteria.

And communion between the many Church realities in Ireland, between bishops themselves, bishops and priests, religious and ordinary Catholics in the pews, because as the Visitators observe, “only a united Church can be an effective witness to Christ in the world”.

The Visitation was called for by Pope Benedict in his 2010 Letter to Catholics in Ireland following revelations of reports into the handling of cases of abuse by the Church there.

It was conducted in four Irish Archdioceses - Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Emly and Tuam – as well as among religious congregations and seminaries early 2011.