BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Saturday, March 24, Fourth Week of Lent

ST. CATERINA DA GENOVA [Catherine of Genoa] (Italy, 1447-1510), Mystic
Born to one of the most historic families of Genoa, Caterina wanted to be a nun at age 13 but she was too young. However, she married a fellow noble youth at age 16. her husband turned out to be unfaithful and a wastrel, so she herself turned to a life of pleasure. When she was 26, a mystic vision during confession converted her. She became an example to her husband who eventually became a lay Franciscan. But he had brought them to financial ruin, and they now dedicated themselves to charitable work at Genoa's largest hospital. When her husband died, Caterina became manager of the hospital. For 25 years, she resisted having a spiritual adviser but 12 years before her death, she found one who would later publish Caterina's memoirs of her mystic experiences. From this, a Dialog of the Soul and the Body and a Treatise on Purgatory became popular spiritual works after her death, inspiring both St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Francis de Sales. She was canonized in 1737. Benedict XVI dedicated his catecheses on 1/12/11 to her as one of the great female figures of the medieval Church.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/032412.cfm


THE POPE'S DAY

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DAY 2 - APOSTOLIC VISIT TO MEXICO

Saturday, March 24
LEON/GUAJUANATO
08.00 Private Mass
Chapel of Colegio Miraflores.

18.00 COURTESY VISIT to President Felipe Calderon
Casa del Conde Rul, Guanajuato City.

18.45 GREETING TO SCHOOLCHILDREN
Plaza de la Paz, Guanajuato.
- Remarks by the Holy Father.

---

Since the Holy Father's next event is quite a few hours off, it is very instructive - and most fascinating - to examine the way MSM, typified by AP, pivoted on a dime in its-reporting of the Mexicans' welcome for Benedict XVI. After days of crowing - one would say gloating - that Benedict XVI would be lucky if even the proverbial four cats turned up to see him, much less to welcome him, "so overwhelming is Mexico's love and devotion for his predecessor that they have no room at all in their hearts for any other Pope", or so their storyline went.

Oh no, Benedict XVI, mere mortal, had no prayer of a chance to come anywhere near the place John Paul II, immortal hero and soon-to-be-saint, had carved for himself in the hearts of the Mexicans. Quoting, of course, only those Mexicans who did feel that way. As though they typified all Mexican Catholics... As though the reporters had never seen or heard - even if only on TV - the Mexican pilgrims who are invariably a loud and devout presence at every GA and Angelus of Benedict XVI at the Vatican or Castel Gandolfo.... As though the reporters had not been proved wrong again and again since Benedict XVI's first trip abroad to Cologne in thinking he could never possibly draw the crowds John Paul II did. But why do they keep bashing their heads repeatedly against, literally, the Rock?

Nonetheless, one must admire the fact that the AP reporters were not embarrassed at all to file such diametrically opposed stories about the actual welcome compared to what they had predicted, with unabashed Schadenfreude...The headline to the AP's lead story today tries to cover up their previous (and persistent) 'mis-underestimation', as George W Bush would say, not just of Benedict XVI but of the particular hold that the figure of the Pope has for the Catholic faithful..

Pope's arrival in Mexico
sparks surprising emotion
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON


LEON, Mexico, March 24 (AP) -- It had become tradition in Mexico. Before daybreak, youths would creep as close as security permitted and serenade their beloved Pope John Paul II with a song of greeting and celebration.

Now a new, less familiar pope had come, seeking to strengthen his own ties with the largest Spanish-speaking Catholic nation.

So well before dawn Saturday, two dozen youths from a Guadalajara church group gathered near the school where the Pope Benedict XVI was staying. "We sang with all our heart and all our force," said Maria Fernanda de Luna, a member of the group. "It gave us goosebumps to sing 'Las Mananitas' for him."

Songs, joyful throngs, church bells and confetti welcomed Benedict as he began his first trip to Mexico, a celebration that seemed to erupt spontaneously out of what had been a thin, sun-dazed crowd.

As Pope Benedict XVI's plane appeared in the shimmering heat of Friday afternoon, people poured from their homes. They packed sidewalks five and six deep, screaming ecstatically as the pope passed, waving slowly. Some burst into tears.

Many had said moments earlier that they could never love a pope as strongly as Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II. But the presence of a Pope on Mexican soil touched a chord of overwhelming respect and adoration for the papacy itself, the personification for many of the Catholic Church, and God. Thousands found themselves taken aback by their own emotions.

[I will never understand why journalists who report on the Catholic Church do not grasp this fundamental fact of how Catholics feel about the Pope -whoever he is at the moment. Our faith tells us that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is the personification of the message of Christ - that is primarily why pilgrims flock to see him at the Vatican or anywhere else he may be.

Journalists, including Catholic ones, who write as though a Pope's 'popularity' were purely a factor of who he is, should learn this lesson, but they don't. The years of John Paul II helped mislead them to believe that it was for him personally - Karol Wojtyla - that the crowds turned out. They forget how similar crowds turned out for Paul VI who was the first pilgrim Pope of the modern era.

So, all the wrong-headed Cassandras, who would have liked nothing better than for Benedict XVI to be 'boycotted' by the crowds, keep eating crow every time! And why has the fact never registered with these Benedict detractors that, from the very beginning, Benedict XVI was drawing more crowds at St. Peter's than John Paul II ever did alive, to tell them that, as different a personality as he is, Benedict XVI does have a personal factor - in addition to the fact that he is Pope - that works just as well as John Paul II's did, even if in a different way?]

As a girl, Celia del Rosario Escobar, 42, saw John Paul II on one of his five trips to Mexico, which brought him near-universal adoration.

"I was 12 and it's an experience that still makes a deep impression on me," she said. "I thought this would be different, but, no, the experience is the same."

"I can't speak," she murmured, pressing her hands to her chest and starting to cry.

Belief in the goodness and power of the Pope runs deep in Guanajuato, the most observantly Catholic state in Mexico, a place of deep social conservatism and the wellspring of an armed uprising against harsh anti-clerical laws in the 1920s. [The AP reporters seem to be using the 'Catholicity' of Guanajuato to explain the Pope-effect-cum-Benedict-phenomenon - as if it would be a different story if he had visited some other part of Mexico, even its least Catholic part! Just because they predicted earlier that 'the crowd will be thin', that he 'stirs no passions', that he will be dogged not by crowds but by 'the shadow of John Paul II'.]

Some in the crowd came for literal healing, a blessing from the pope's passage that would cure illness, or bring them more work. Others sought inspiration, rejuvenation of their faith, energy to be a better parent.

Many said the Pope's message of peace and unity would help heal their country, traumatized by the deaths of more than 47,000 people in a drug war that has escalated during a government offensive against cartels that began more than five years ago.

In a speech on the airport tarmac shortly after arriving, Benedict said he was praying for all in need, "particularly those who suffer because of old and new rivalries, resentments and all forms of violence."

He said he had come to Mexico as a pilgrim of hope, to encourage Mexicans to "transform the present structures and events which are less than satisfactory and seem immovable or insurmountable while also helping those who do not see meaning or a future in life."

No part of Mexico has been spared at least a small scrape with drug gang violence, but Escobar said she hopes that Benedict will help turn around a society devastated by the drug trade and the brutal violence it spawns.

"I would like him to raise the consciousness of those people who are hurting Mexico, those involved in drug addiction, in the mafia," Escobar said. "I hope that we have will more respect for life."

Antonio Martinez, 57, said he wanted relief from diabetes and divine intervention that would bring him more than occasional work in Leon's shoe factories. He stood by the side of the road, resting against his bicycle, waiting for a glimpse of the Pope.

"Simply greeting the Pope and receiving his blessing can change our lives," Martinez said. "I believe that my health will improve, that more sources of work will appear."

The faithful lined more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the Pope's route from the airport into Leon shouting the ultimate welcome: "Benedict, brother, you are now Mexican!"

The Pope responded to the greeting as he stepped off his plane to wild cheers and the clamor of ringing bells.

"This is a proud country of hospitality, and nobody feels like a stranger in your land," Benedict said. "I knew that. Now I see it and now I feel it in my heart."

The Pope had few public events on Saturday, but people from all over Mexico started pouring into a sprawling campground in the city of Silao to prepare for a papal Mass on Sunday.

Jose Luis Perez Daza, a 47-year-old lawyer who came by bus from Mexico City, wore a hat to protect himself from the hot sun on a three-mile (five-kilometer) trudge to the campsite with his sleeping bag.

Popes "have a personality, a positive energy," he said. "The simple fact of seeing him is a great satisfaction."

On Friday, Luz del Carmen Castillo Silva, a 15-year-old student at a Catholic women's technical college, said she came five hours from the city of Tlaxcala to strengthen a faith that already had her attending daily Mass.

"I want to become another person when I see the Pope, ministering to people, speaking with God. ... Seeing the Pope, we see the love that we have for Christ," she said. {Out of the mouth of the simple folk, the expression of faith that supposedly sophisticated journalists have never quite grasped. And they don't even seem to try, or they would not constyantly come up with the clunkers like the pre-visit situationers written by the wire agencies.]

The weeklong trip to Mexico and Cuba is Benedict's first to both countries, and it will be a test of stamina for the Pope, who turns 85 next month. At the airport Friday in Rome, he used a cane, apparently for the first time in public, while walking about 100 yards (meters) to the airliner's steps.

Papal aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Benedict has been using the cane in private for about two months because it makes him feel more secure and not for any medical reason. He left the cane aside as he stepped off the plane in Mexico. [Benedict XVI is German and very pragmatic. He will use the cane when he feels he needs it, and will do without it - in public or in private - when he feels the need. It is not about vanity at all.]

For the record, here was AP's earlier version of the above story - the one they had to file yesterday after the arrival. It starts by covering up their tracks - the situationer they had filed before the arrival.

Pope's arrival in Mexico
sparks surprising emotion
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

LEON, Mexico, March 23 (AP) — There was little excitement in Leon in the hours before the Pope arrived.

Crowds were thin. Spectators napped under trees. Vendors complained about the low turnout here in the conservative heartland of Mexico's Roman Catholicism.

Then, as Pope Benedict XVI's plane appeared in the shimmering heat of Friday afternoon, people poured from their homes. They packed sidewalks five and six deep, screaming ecstatically as the Pope passed, waving slowly. Some burst into tears. [What! Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans spontaneously, miraculously, had a mass epiphany as soon as the Pope had landed so they all came when they they had absolutely no intention of doing so at all?]

Many had said moments earlier that they could never love a Pope as strongly as Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II. But the presence of a pope on Mexican soil touched a chord of overwhelming respect and adoration for the papacy itself, the personification for many of the Catholic Church, and God. Thousands found themselves taken aback by their own emotions. [The next few paragraphs, starting with the sotry of Celia Escobar, are identical to those used in the latter story above, and ends with some of the 'down's tatistics AP had cited in their pre-arrival stories..]

Many businesses and schools closed in Leon on Friday, and thousands of people were traveling in on buses from across Mexico. But the city was not at full capacity.

About 30 percent of the city's 6,000 hotel rooms were still empty Friday, said Fabiola Vera, president of the Association of Hotels and Motels of Leon. She said people might have been discouraged by rumors that there weren't enough rooms.

SO! WHEN WILL THE MEDIA EVER LEARN? Not just to, at least, know the faith they are reporting on - one story yesterday, I think Reuters, said the Pope would 'deliver a Mass', but to be objective (not to project their own perceptions to 'the people' they then quote, or misquote, liberally) and fair to Benedict XVI, who has not done anything to them except prove their animus wrong (and whose fault is it anyway that they have and hold - and hang on for dear life - to such hostile and uninformed biases ?)

How can these opinion-makers (by virtue of 24/7 info-streaming in all possible ways in our day, and the loss of boundaries between objective news story and editorialized reporting, the media have become opinion-makers, whether we like it or not) treat a man with such eminent qualities and credentials as Joseph Ratzinger has that he was always a 'star' in whatever firmament he found himself - even if he had never become Pope - as if he were a dismissible lightweight, never mind if he is Pope? It says something of our time that MSM can adulate someone like Barack Obama and actually see him as a Messiah whereas they treat the true Vicar of Christ dismissively, almost with contempt!

Their historical horizon seems to go back no farther than 1978, seeing John Paul II as the only 'standard' for Popes, great and exceptional as he is, that any echoes in the present Pope of the great Doctors and Fathers of the Church, not to mention the great Popes Leo and Gregory, are completely inexistent for them. If only they could live long enough for a Benedictus Magnus to come into his own, no thanks to them! Thank God the annals of the Church do not depend on them.

Pope's videomessage to French bishops
celebrating 50 years of VaticAN-II

March 24, 2012

Pope Benedict has sent a video message to a meeting taking place in Lourdes celebrating 50 years since the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. The gathering, organised by the French Bishops’ conference, brings together 2,500 participants including priests, deacons lay people, bishops and council fathers.

The title of the meeting is “Joy and Hope”, after Gaudium et Spes, the Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World.

According to the Vice President of the French Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, the aim of two-day conference which began today “is to make known to Catholics the impact the Council has had on what it means to be Christian. It also aims to show how Vatican II allowed the Church to prepare itself for the changes that took place.”

Speaking via videolink Pope Benedict said, "The Second Vatican Council was and remains a true sign of God in our time" and if we interpret it "within the tradition of the Church and under the sure guidance of the Magisterium," it can become "more and more a great force for the future of the Church. "

The Holy Father also expressed the hope that this anniversary would be an occasion for "a spiritual and pastoral renewal" and a time to "strengthen communion in the great family of the Catholic Church," helping "to restore unity among all Christians, which, he said, was one of the main objectives of the Council."

Concluding his message Pope Benedict said, that "rediscovering the joy of believing and the enthusiasm to communicate the power and beauty of the faith was a key part of the new evangelization".

Scores of rallies protest
assault on religious freedom
through Obamacare mandate on
2nd anniversary of health law

03/23/2012

From the halls of government in the nation’s capital to the hills of San Francisco, thousands of Americans turned out today across the country to voice their opposition to what they perceive as serious encroachments on religious liberty.

Sponsored by an organization called Stand Up for Religious Freedom, the rallies were held in 140 locations, including the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington.

That is the office that issued a regulation earlier this year requiring most private employers to provide co-pay-free contraceptive and sterilization coverage in health-care plans.

The mandate provides only a narrow religious exemption, leading the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other organizations to protest it as an infringement on religious liberty.

More than a score of Catholic bishops spoke at rallies, and others issued statements to be read at the gatherings. But the nationwide event attracted people of all faiths.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, in a letter, commended participants for “standing up for the fundamental rights of all people of faith.”

“Since Jan. 20, when the final HHS mandate was announced, two things have been abundantly clear: Religious freedom is under attack, and we will not cease our struggle to protect it,” Cardinal Dolan said.

“Of course, this is not a ‘Catholic issue’ alone. It is wonderful to see so many of our fellow Americans of all faiths stand together in this important moment. Nor is this about what our opponents are marketing as ‘women’s health.’ It’s about the sacred right of any faith community to define its own teaching and ministry and the right of every person of faith to be free from being forced to do something that violates their conscience.”

New York City’s rally drew as many as 1,000 to Federal Hall on Wall Street. Cardinal Dolan’s letter to attendees noted the symbolism of the site. George Washington, described by the cardinal as one of the great defenders of religious liberty and whose statue dominates the steps, was inaugurated at Federal Hall in 1789. New York was the nation’s first capital.

Speakers included Alveda King, the late Martin Luther King’s niece, civil-rights activist and self-described “pro-life warrior”; Rabbi Yehudah Levin of the Rabbinical Alliance of America; Christopher Bell, head of Good Counsel, which provides homes for homeless, pregnant women; and Janet Morana, co-founder of the Silent No More campaign for women.

The Rev. Bill Devlin, pastor of Manhattan Bible Church, had just concluded a 42-day fast, which he ended after a favorable ruling allowing New York City schools to continue renting weekend space to churches was announced. To win this new fight for religious liberty, Devlin drew on his experience and urged everyone to pray, fast and work.

It is inevitable that a rally in New York City will draw detractors. A small group from the nearby Occupy Wall Street contingent shouted slogans for about three to four minutes. Two pro-choice women carried signs and engaged in interviews with New York 1 24-hour cable television channel.

Read more: www.ncregister.com/daily-news/at-scores-of-rallies-thousands-hear-calls-to-restore-constitutional-right-t#ixzz1...

Day 2 - AT COLEGIO DE MIRAFLORES



The Vatican filled up for the Holy Father's day hours on Day 2 of his visit to Mexico by releasing the following photos of his activites at the convent in the Colegio de Miraflores in Leon where he is staying during his visit to Mexico.

At the convent chapel upon arrival yesterday.



Mass this morning for the sisters.





A meeting with the Nuncio and local Archbishop.



A walk in the gardens, using the now-famous cane.



Some background on the Colegio de Miraflores
(from a post on this thread on 1/19/12):



The nuns hosting the Pope in Leon have a large modern campus, one of several colleges established by the Madrid-based order in the Hispanic world. The nuns show the typical furnishing of a sitting room such as the Pope will have next to his bedroom in Miraflores.

While in the city of Leon on March 23-26, the Pope is staying at the convent of the Servants of the Most Holy Eucharist and of the Mother of God at the Colegio Miraflores.

The Pope usually stays in a convent or monastery when he travels to a city where there is no Apostolic Nunciature.

After visiting the site in December of last year, Vatican officials decided the Pope should stay with the order – a congregation founded by Madre Trinidad of the Most Pure Heart of Mary and originally from Spain (her cause for beatification is under way).



Lobby of the main building at the Colegio de Miraflores; bottom photo, poster featuring Madre Trinidad, founder of the Pope's host community.

Day 2 - Guajuanato
Motorcade and Courtesy Call
on President Calderon




The Pope's official day began with a late afternoon drive to Guajuanato city from Leon, where at a spot just outside the city, he transferred from a car for the ride in the Popemobile to the center of the city. The newsphotos do not capture the turnout nor the excitement of the crowds as the Popemobile went through the city and its destination - the federal building Casa de Condel Rul off the Plaza de la Paz fronting teh Basilica of Our Lady of Light in Guajuanato city.




At Casa de Conde Rul, he was welcomed by the mayor who presented him with the keys to the city, preceding the Holy Father's formal courtesy call on President Felipe Calderon.






After the meeting with President Calderon,the latter led the Pope to a balcony overlooking the Plaza de la Paz so the Pope could address the crowd.



The New York Times, of course, chooses to interpret the Pope's visit as politically motivated in favor of President Calderon and his party' candidate in the coming presidential elections, and doesn't lack for envious local pols toquote in support of its silly hypothesis.

In Pope’s Mexico visit,
the pastoral is political
By DAMIEN CAVE


LEÓN, Mexico, March 24 — Pope Benedict XVI met with President Felipe Calderón on Saturday evening in what was described by the Vatican as a courtesy visit in the middle of a purely pastoral trip to Mexico and Cuba.

But his comments beforehand, about violence in Mexico and communism in Cuba, made it clear that the Pope did not intend to ignore his potential political influence. Especially here in Mexico, political observers have been arguing for months that the timing of his arrival — 14 weeks before the presidential election — makes the visit a political endeavor with a partisan goal: to bolster President Calderón’s conservative National Action Party, known as the PAN, as campaign season kicks into high gear.

“It’s not a pastoral visit, it’s an electoral visit for the PAN,” said Homero Aridjis, Mexico’s most famous poet. “Benedict isn’t going to cities like Ciudad Juárez,” the gritty border metropolis that has been traumatized by violence. “If it was a spiritual visit, he would go to the places that really need his presence and his ministry.” [Poet shmoet! What a sleazepot!]

It may not be quite that simple. Pope Benedict XVI is 84, and no pope before him has traveled so far from Rome so late in life. The Pope also addressed Mexico’s struggle against violence on the plane trip here from Rome, where he blamed the “idolatry of money” for drawing young people into lives of crime.

In a brief speech at the airport here, he also said he was praying for “those who suffer because of old and new rivalries, resentments and all forms of violence.”

And yet, the Pope’s approach — framing Mexico’s violence as a personal moral failing — perfectly matches that of President Calderón, a devout Catholic. [DUH! It's Calderon's position that matches that of the Pope - the Church, really - not the other way around!]

That message, experts say, will help shift the debate away from policy, and complaints about how the Calderón administration has managed the fight against drug cartels that has led to 50,000 deaths since late 2006.

President Calderón has done his part as well. As he introduced the Pope at the airport on Friday, he distanced his government from responsibility for problems like corruption by stressing that Mexico was enduring “difficult and decisive moments,” and “moments of great tribulation” as organized crime and “evil” sought to ruin the country.

The result so far is that while all three presidential candidates have said they would attend the papal Mass on Sunday in León, the Pope’s timing, comments and choice of location — a conservative, Catholic stronghold — have made clear that the Vatican’s natural partner is Mr. Calderón’s party. [I can hear Cave's editors telling him, "Write us a story that will 'sex up' this boring pastoral visit", and Cave gladly obliges marshalling any silly argument he can think of to support the politicla hypothesis.]

“The party closest to the Vatican, the Pope and Catholic religion, is the PAN,” said Gabriel Guerra, a political analyst and consultant whose clients have included all three of Mexico’s major political parties. “They would have the most to benefit.”

Experts say the Church also has a vested interest in keeping the PAN in power. The party was founded by conservative Catholics, and since it won the presidency in 2000, ending 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PAN officials and Catholic leaders have come to rely on each other for conservative support on social issues. The church has also found the PAN to be helpful in its push for greater freedom to add religious education to public schools.

But that tightening bond also carries political risks. Mexicans are used to a strict separation of church and state: “Don’t mess with politics” is a standard refrain even among the very religious. Perhaps conscious of those risks, Mr. Calderón did not kiss the Pope’s ring when they met, the standard papal greeting for Catholics, choosing a less submissive bow. [No, dumbo! It's not at all standard any more! An individual can choose to do it or not.]

In the final days of the trip, the dance between the Pope and the PAN is likely to continue at arm’s length, with occasional steps in alignment.

“If it looks like the PAN is too close to the Pope, especially given its history and where the Pope is going, it can look like an overreach,” said the Rev. Joseph Palacios, a sociology professor at Georgetown University whose research has focused on the Mexican church. “That’s the irony. If the Church looks like it’s really involved in politics, it loses a high degree of credibility and trust.” In all this pompous speculation and pontification, why has no one ever mentioned that the Church has never, since Mexico's anti-clerical mania reached the extremes it did in the 1920s all the way to the early 1990s, sought to influence Mexican elections in any way? I do not know if John Paul II in any of his five visits to Mexico was similarly accused, but clearly, this entire story is spun out of sheer and idle speculation -plausible perhaps to some, but totally unfounded. IT'S REALLY THE MSM THAT IS SEEKING TO POLITICIZE THE POPE'S TRIP AND BEING ABLE TO EXPLOIT IT THAT WAY.]

Day 2 - GUANAJUATO
Greeting to the Children of Mexico



Pope to Mexicans:
'Keep the smiles on children's faces'

March 24, 2012




Surrounded by a deafening chorus of children’s chants and song this Saturday, in the heartland of Mexico, a nation torn apart by decades of drug-related violence, Pope Benedict XVI raised an appeal to all members of society “to protect and to care for children, so that nothing may extinguish their smile, but that they may live in peace and look to the future with confidence”.

The Pope’s meeting with children was the second of only two public appointments on his first full day in Guanajuato state, Mexico. It was also his second public address, and he chose as his audience the builders of the future, the nation’s children.

As the sun set over the city, following his private courtesy visit with the Head of State, President Calderon, the Holy Father addressed the huge crowd gathered in the Plaza de la Paz, next to the Guajuanato Basilica of La Virgen de la Luz, from the balcony of the federal building where he had met the President, and in the surrounding streets - many of them assembled there for hours celebrating their wait with unending music, song and cheers.

Below is the official Vatican translation of the Pope's remarks:

---

Dear Young People,

I am happy to be able to meet with you and to see your smiling faces as you fill this beautiful square.

You have a very special place in the Pope’s heart. And in these moments, I would like all the children of Mexico to know this, especially those who have to bear the burden of suffering, abandonment, violence or hunger, which in recent months, because of drought, has made itself strongly felt in some regions.

I am grateful for this encounter of faith, and for the festive and joyful presence expressed in song. Today we are full of jubilation, and this is important. God wants us to be happy always. He knows us and he loves us. If we allow the love of Christ to change our heart, then we can change the world. [Those who watched the telecast will not forget the spontaneous wave of applause that interrupted the Pope's words at this point.] This is the secret of authentic happiness.

This place where we stand today has a name which expresses the yearning present in the heart of each and every person: “la paz”, Peace. This is a gift which comes from on high.

“Peace be with you” (Jn 20:21). These are the words of the Risen Lord. We hear them during each Mass, and today they resound anew in this place, with the hope that each one of you will be transformed, becoming a sower and messenger of that peace for which Christ offered his life.

The disciple of Jesus does not respond to evil with evil, but is always an instrument of good instead, a herald of pardon, a bearer of happiness, a servant of unity.

He wishes to write in each of your lives a story of friendship. Hold on to him, then, as the best of friends. He will never tire of speaking to those who always love and who do good. This you will hear, if you strive in each moment to be with him who will help you in more difficult situations.

I have come that you may know my affection. Each one of you is a gift of God to Mexico and to the world. Your family, the Church, your school and those who have responsibility in society must work together to ensure that you receive a better world as your inheritance, without jealousies and divisions.

That is why I wish to lift up my voice, inviting everyone to protect and to care for children, so that nothing may extinguish their smile, but that they may live in peace and look to the future with confidence.

You, my dear young friends, are not alone. You can count on the help of Christ and his Church in order to live a Christian lifestyle. Participate in Sunday Mass, in catechesis, in apostolic works, looking for occasions of prayer, fraternity and charity.

Blessed Cristóbal, Antonio and Juan, the child martyrs of Tlaxcala, lived this way, and knowing Jesus, during the time of the initial evangelization of Mexico, they discovered that there is no greater treasure than he. They were children like you, and from them we can learn that we are never too young to love and serve.

How I would like to spend more time with all of you, but the time has already come for me to go. [Another wave of applause!]

We will remain close in prayer. So I invite you to pray continually, even in your homes; in this way, you will experience the happiness of speaking about God with your families.

Pray for everyone, and also for me. I will pray for all of you, so that Mexico may be a place in which everyone can live in serenity and harmony.

I bless all of you from my heart and I ask you to bring the affection and blessing of the Pope to your parents, brothers and sisters, and other loved ones. May the Virgin accompany you. Thank you very much, my dear young friends. [Some children who were with him on the balcony released doves and some mechanism released a rain of yellow and white confetti on the plaza.]

---

Benedict XVI's remarks to young people are always very moving. He keeps to the essentials in the simplest terms - and I think they affect listening adults even more...

I must admit that watching the waiting, the welcome and the reception of the speech on Spanish Telemundo, I was moved to tears on many instances - even just listening to the crowd break out in the affectionate strains of 'Cielito Lindo', or a youth orchestra playing Mozart and Beethoven, or the crowd chanting "Se ve, se siente, El papa esta presente" (familiar from Vatican audiences and Madrid WYD)(We see him, we hear him, the Pope is present with us), or the new one for this visit, "Benedicto, hermano, ya eres Mexicano" (Benedict, brother, now you too are Mexican), or just seeing that sea of faces lit with fervor, unfazed by the forecast of a possible thunderstorm... The Mexicans are up there with the people of Africa in setting the standard of welcome and overt affection for the Pope.

B16 continues to take the rap
somehow for Maciel's sordid mess

And more exploitation of the Pope's visit... The timing, of course, is a way of indirectly focusing public blame on the present Pope, since any time the MSM uses the subject 'Vatican', public opinion automatically thinks of whoever is the current Pope... Anticipating the book release was part of the pre-visit MSM stories.


'Vatican' accused of covering up Maciel abuses
in book released during Benedict XVI's visit
[What the headline does not say is that one of the authors
excludes Benedict XVI from his denunciation of Popes from John-23 to JP2]
By Rafael Romo
Senior Latin American Affairs Editor


LEON, Mexico, March 25 (CNN) - On the same day Pope Benedict addressed and blessed a group of 1,800 children in Guanajuato, Mexico, three Mexican authors released a book accusing the Vatican of hiding or ignoring cases of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The book, "La Voluntad de no Saber" (Willing Not to be Aware), chronicles multiple cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by Marcial Maciel, a Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest who was influential at the Vatican.

Maciel, who died in January 2008 at age 87, was the founder and director of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.

The book was authored by Jose Barba, a former seminarian who says he was the victim of sexual abuse by a priest. Historian Fernando M. Gonzalez, a co-author, says the book is based on 212 documents leaked from the Vatican.

Alberto Athie, a former Catholic priest and whistle-blower, also contributed to the book.

According to the book, the Vatican had knowledge of multiple cases of sexual abuse committed by Maciel decades ago, but church authorities chose to do nothing about it.

Pope Benedict removed Maciel from active ministry in 2006 as a result of an investigation launched by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. [Some historical liberty needs to be corrected there. The investigation was launched by Cardinal Ratzinger under John Paul II, in the last years of his Pontificate.]

Athie said the Church either ignored or archived for years allegations of child sex abuse when he reported them during his years as a priest.

"How could this have been possible?" Athie said. "How can one explain it? I had to face a reality that I never imagined, that I never expected and I never looked for."

Gonzalez said the Vatican documents provide solid proof of a policy geared towards hiding cases of abuse.

"Anybody would have been able to perfectly learn about it by simply asking for the dossier (of sexual abuses cases). Be it John Paul II, Paul VI, John XXIII, any of them should have figured out that a series of denunciations was being hidden, euphemized, protected, delayed, silenced and distorted," he said.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Cardinal Jose Francisco Robles, head of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, defended the Pope and the Church.

"If there has ever been a Pope who has faced (the sexual abuse problem) with realism and energy that's Pope Benedict," he said. "Nobody can accuse him of being complicit or lacking will."

Pope Benedict has not specifically addressed the accusations [DUH! He does not have to - he addressed it all in the CDF investigation of Maciel and in the penalty he then imposed.It's not his place to answer for his predecessors, whose individual archives will surely contain their own explanations of why inves5tigations of Maciel did not prosper]; he cannot 'exonerate' anyone ], but in his message to the children at Plaza de la Paz, or Peace Square, in the colonial city of Guanajuato, he spoke about the Church's role in protecting children.

"I raise my voice," the Pontiff said, "to invite everybody to protect and take care of children so that their smile never fades away, allowing them to live in peace and to look at the future with confidence."

Later, the 84-year-old Pope on his first trip to Mexico, said, "You, my little friends, are not alone. You can count on the help of Christ and his Church."

I spoke too soon....This Los Angeles Times uses the pretext of a preparatory story on the papal Mass tomorrow to highlight instead a news conference held by the authors of the book on Maciel, and quotes one of them as saying that Cardinal Ratzinger was among those who knew of the accusations against Maciel for years. Of course, he knew - the problem was that he was not Pope at the time. This story does not point out that Cardinal Ratzinger could not launch his investigation until John Paul II himself became convinced in 2004 or thereabouts that the man he had just publicly praised as a model on the 60th year of his priestly ordination deserved to be investigated for accusations that had been made for decades against him!

I doubt anyone reminded the authors about this during their news conference, because apparently they now blame Benedict XVI for not meeting Maciel's victims this trip! Why don't they work on their local bishops instead? What can Benedict XVI tell them or do for them that he has not already proven by his investigations and the canonical penalty he imposed not just on Maciel but also on the movement he founded? What has stopped the victims in Mexico from filing charges in court before Maciel died? 'The Vatican' has not shackled them in any way from doing that. And 'the Vatican' cannot be held responsible if the Mexican system is such that Maciel and his minions were, say, able to buy out the right people so the victims could not get to file charges!

Besides, fair is fair. If MSM cannot stop idealizing the supposed single-minded devotion of the Mexican faithful to John Paul II, to the exclusion of anyone else, why can't they also acknowledge, simply, that unfortunately, Fr. Maciel remained a blind spot with the late Blessed Pope for too long? A blind spot is a human failing - it is not evil, and who knows what confessions the Blessed Pope may have made about Maciel after he realized his mistake?


Tens of thousands start gathering
24 hours before Pope Benedict's Mass
Amid religious fervor, the sexual abuses of Fr. Maciel
threaten to cast a pall over the Pope's visit
By Tracy Wilkinson and Michael Robinson Chavez

March 25, 2012

[Since they cannot now mock Benedict XVI for his inability to draw the same crowds and fervor in Mexico as John Paul II did, the next best thing is try to have that fervor overshadowed by Maciel. It was always their intention from the beginning, any way, to cast maciel as the shadow over Benedict XVI - for no reason that makes sense, but simply to denigrate Benedict XVI by simple association with the name of the once-powerful prelate he alone investigated and castigated!]

Leon and Silao, Mexico — Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours before an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI.

They walked miles and took up positions in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries.

But as religious fervor was on display in Silao, in central Mexico's Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall over the Pope's first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

At a news conference in nearby Leon to launch a scathing book, sexual-abuse victims and advocates angrily accused the Vatican of protecting the priest, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, for decades. And they said they were dismayed that there were no plans for Benedict to meet with victims.

Benedict has sat down with abuse victims in almost every country he has visited. But his spokesman said Mexican bishops didn't request such an encounter here, an omission that victims' advocates said was unconscionable. [So, blame their local bishops! Why is the Pope, visiting for three days, fair game for them? Why don't they attack their local bishops and say so openly that they asked Mons. X and Y and Z to arrange a meeting with the Pope but they were turned down, if that was the case indeed?]

The Pope arrived Friday in Leon and will travel to Cuba on Monday, the first time a pontiff has visited the communist island nation since Pope John Paul II's historic trip in 1998. [How annoying and so mindless for English-speakibg writers to say that! There has been no other Pope after John Paul II, so of course, Benedict becomes the first Pope to visit Cuba after him!]

Later Saturday, Benedict met with President Felipe Calderon, whose political party faces likely defeat in an upcoming presidential election and could use the boost that a Pope's visit provides. {Obviously, that's one of those solemn speculative postulates that the MSM herd have agreed to peddle!]

Benedict also reached out to those he hopes are a future generation of Catholics, telling children in the picturesque historic center of Guanajuato that they must pray, love God and be good Christians.

On Sunday, Benedict is to preside over an open-air Mass in the vast, treeless park where people were already gathering Saturday. Organizers say the event could draw more than 300,000 people; also in the audience will be Mexico's four candidates for the July 1 presidential election and the world's richest man, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim.

"Emotions are very strong," said Felipe Martinez, 36, a telephone company employee with a rhinestone crucifix on his belt buckle. "This Pope is more reserved and cerebral than John Paul, but maybe that's what we need now, to take on the violence and decay in family values."

This is the most conservatively Catholic part of Mexico. Although Church membership has declined nationwide — from percentages in the high 90s two decades ago to the mid-80s now — Guanajuato state remains overwhelmingly Catholic. Historically, the area was also the heart of the Cristero revolt against revolution-era anti-clerical laws in the early part of the 20th century.

[I won't bother to fisk this part of the news report.]
Meanwhile, the sexual-abuse group said the new book establishes "irrefutably" that Vatican officials, including the man who is now Pope, knew of Maciel's abuses.

Maciel was the Mexican-born founder of the Legion of Christ, a very conservative and influential order that dates to the 1940s. He wielded enormous power and was considered a favorite of John Paul. After Maciel's death in 2008, the church was forced to acknowledge [Histporical revision!] that the priest had fathered at least three children with two women and for years had sexually assaulted seminarians and other youths.

Although the book, "La Voluntad de No Saber" ("The Will to Not Know"), doesn't contain new allegations, it does purport to document efforts to conceal the truth about Maciel in what the authors called a "complicity of silence" that went on for years.

"The book shows that the Vatican not only knew about [Maciel], but it tolerated and protected" his abuses, said Bernardo Barranco, a church expert who wrote the book's prologue. "The Vatican lied about Maciel and about sexual abuse."

Co-authors include Jose Barba, a former Legionary who said he was abused by Maciel, and Alberto Athie, a former priest who renounced the cloth in 2000 because of disgust over pedophilia in the church.

The documents in the book include Vatican correspondence and internal reports and are part of a cache of more than 200 pieces of evidence smuggled from Holy See files. Among those who should have known, the authors argue, was then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, for 24 years head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Maciel was also protected by some of Mexico's wealthiest entrepreneurs and media tycoons, with whom he had profitable friendships, along with the conservative local church hierarchy. The Legion of Christ established a chain of elite private schools attended by the children of Mexico's rich and powerful, including Slim.

The authors said it was inexplicable, given the level of Maciel's abuses, that the Pope would not meet with victims.

"They have been asking to be heard for 60 years," Athie said. [Sixty years! Who exactly have they been asking???? And who specifically did they ask this time???? Or did they? Why didn't anyone at the news conference challenge them with this simple logical questions????]]

Later Saturday, the head of the Mexican bishops' conference, the Rev. Carlos Aguiar, who earlier angered victims groups by saying he didn't know who they were, left open the possibility that the Pope might yet meet with their representatives.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2012 12:11]

In this article for tomorrow's issue of Le Figaro, Jean-Marie Guenois touches on the Maciel issue, but first he begins with a report I have not seen elsewhere so far. I must confess I have been unable to check how the Mexican newspapers are reporting the visit so far. I hope I have time to do that tomorrow before the Mass....

Day 2:
Mexico celebrates Benedict XVI
by JEAN MARIE GUENOIS
Translated from

March 25, 2012

These Mexicans are tireless! On Saturday evening, as Benedict XVI travelled from the magnificent World heritage city of Guanajuato to return to Leon some 60 kms away, where he is staying at the Colegio Miraflores, the faithful were still massed by the thousands along his route, even if night had fallen for over a few hours already. Acclaiming him and doing so without rest!

It was an objective correlative to the 'bombs' of confetti in the Vatican colors of yellow and white which rained down on the crowd after he spoke to chilren from the balcony of the federal building overlooking Guanajuato's main piazza.

"I have come so that you may know my affection. Each one of you is a gift of God to Mexico and to the world... That is why I wish to lift up my voice, inviting everyone to protect and to care for children, so that nothing may extinguish their smile, but that they may live in peace and look to the future with confidence", he said to them.

The crowd response was a sort of fireworks of colors and joy. A festival that is rare in this Pontificate, never before seen [OOPS! M'sieur Guenois, have you forgotten the WYDs in Cologne, Sydney and Madrid; the celebrating crowds n Cameroon, Angola and Benin, the million youth gathered in a Cracow field during Benedict's visit to Poland, and countless other occasions in Rome and in Italy that one could cite!] - in which the irresistible energy of the crowd forced the German Pope - who is always too serious when he reads a discourse - to interrupt himself at times in order to smile and even laugh. [Apparently, Guenois does not watch the telecasts of the GAs and Angelus gatherings either, since Benedict always reacts with pleasure and amusement whenever the crowd expresses itself!]

After all, this second day of the Pope's visit was conceived as a light interval - allowing the Pope to acclimatize himself, to establish a body rhythm to adjust for the eight-hour difference in time zones. It would have been 4 a.m. in Rome when he set back for Leon last night, but he continued to greet the faithful during the one-hour trip between Guanajuato and Leon.

In the historic city of Guajuanato, he also met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, with whom he presumably discussed a program of education that could counteract the daily bloodshed caused by rival drug cartels.

But while the confetti was raining down in Guanajuato, other papers, much heavier, were circulating in Leon. A book entitled 'La voluntad de no saber' [The will not to know) was presented to the media. Using internal irrefutable documents from the Vatican to support its allegations, the book purports to prove that 'the Holy See' had known for years about the multiple lives [children by different women and numerous cases of pedophilia) of Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, whom Benedict XVI officially exposed and punished in 2006 in one of the early major acts of his Pontificate.

But the three book authors - one of them an ex-Legionary priest, Jose Barba - accused the future Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, "of having covered up the truth of things he knew about and that had been established at the time". [That's false and unfair. He may have and would have known about the accusations made, but he had no way of proving them until he was allowed to investigate the main accusations. Presumption of innocence until proven guilty is still a principle of civilized law!]

In fact, once he was elected Pope, Benedict XVI moved ahead with Maciel's dossier and [on the basis of facts independently investigated by the CDF] punished Maciel by ordering him to private life in isolation and forbidding him to carry out his ministry. It meant the precipitous disgrace of one of the most flamboyant 'success stories' among the new ecclesial movements in the Church.

Asked about these charges Saturday night, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Benedict XVI has always followed a policy of transparency, and that since he was given the files on the Maciel case, although belatedly, he sought to act. [His first investigation was apparently suspended by John Paul II - and Cardinal Schoenborn suggested in 2010 that this was due to the advice of Cardinal Sodano and now Cardinal Dziwisz. He would not get John Paul's go-ahead until 2004..]

He also added that the Maciel case was well-examined during the beatification process for John Paul II as a possible 'error of discernment', and said that a solemn deposition was made by a cardinal that John Paul II 'never knew' that Maciel had been deceiving everyone.

Another controversy that is incomprehensible to public opinion [Do the majority of Mexicans really care? They know - even the simple folk, or especially they - that not all priests are lily-white, and that concubinage, pedophilia and financial corruption are not unknown among priests. If the faithful cared enough - or if the abuses against children had really been as grievous and widespread as church detractors seem to be cla9iming now, the faithful themselves would have long pressured the Mexican bishops to be pro-active rather than passive about this issue.]: The fact that the Pope will not be meeting with any victims of priestly abuse during this trip, though he has done this in other countries.

Besides the victims of Maciel, SNAP claims that at least 130 priests have been accused of pedophilia in Mexico, although "the problem continues to be non-existent for the Mexican bishops who have never made a statement nor taken any measures against this evil".

Fr. Lombardi also ruled out any meeting with victims during this trip, not because the Pope does not wish to, but that similar meetings in other countries had been 'carefully prepared' by local bishops beforehand. "In this case, nothing has been done at all".

It confirms that the subject is still considered taboo in Mexico and much of Latin America.

But this Sunday morning, all that will be put aside. Benedict XVI will concelebrate a gigantic Mass (around 6 pm, Paris time) at the Bicentennial Park at the foot of Mount Cubilete, which is surmounted by Mexico's giant monument to Cristo Rey (Christ the King), rallying point for the Cristeros who fought the Mesican anti-clericalist government in the 1920s. Massgoers started streaming towards the site as early as Saturday morning.

later today, the Mass, the Pope will be meeting with the bishops of Latin America on the subject of the new evangelization, after celebrating Vespers with them in the Cathedral of Leon.

The Catholic Church is increasingly concerned about the growing influence of Protestant evangelical sects even in Mexico.

On Monday morning, Benedict XVI will leave Mexico for Cuba, first visiting Santiago de Cuba and the Shrine of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, before proceeding to Havana on Tuesday.


Here's Vatican Radio's belated report on Fr. Lombardi's briefing:

Father Lombardi's press briefing:
A million turned out for the Pope
in Leon and Guanajuato on Saturday

March 25, 2012

A million people Saturday celebrated Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Mexican cities of Leon and Guanajuato. In a press briefing Saturday night, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi spoke about various aspects of the papal visit. We offer a summary of some of the main points touched by Fr. Lomabardi:

The visit
After Mass in the morning, the Pope spent a private and a quiet morning and preparing to travel with his collaborators.

The Pope was struck by the happiness of children.

The topics of the meeting with Mexican President Calderon are contained in a statement that was issued by the Presidency of the country: among them, the need for education against violence. While the Pope met with the President, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and the Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Mamberti, talked with their ministerial partners from Mexic, fpcusing on migration and education.

Violence in Mexico
Father Lombardi said that, to combat violence, the Church advocates cultural, moral and conscientious education, with reference to social values, as enunciated in the Church's social doctrine.

The education of young people, said Father Lombardi, is the recurring theme in all the meetings that the Pope has with world leaders or political leaders to overcome the problems of drugs, violence and lack of meaning in life.

Sex abuse
In response to one journalist’s query if it were not a contradiction that the Pope has met with victims of terrorism but not with victims of clerical sexual abuse, the Vatican spokesman said he did not have specific information about the meeting with victims of terrorism but would look into it. [A Mexican TV channel reported this morning that President Calderon had brought together some victims of drug cartel terrorism to meet the Pope last night at Casa de Conde Ruz.[

Concerning meetings with victims of paedophile priests, Father Lombardi said that when these have taken place in other countries, "they had been requested by the bishops and special preparations were made within a process of dialogue and assistance in which the Church was involved". This was not done by the Mexican bishops, but he also said that there have been many trips during which the Holy Father did not meet with victims of sex abuse.

Fr. Lombardi reiterated that meetings with victims of abuse must have adequate preparation and are included in a process of healing and reconciliation, in which the Church was actively involved, and local bishops presented to the Pope some victims who wanted to meet him in a very private way to be able express their feelings to the Pope in a process of purification and personal healing.

Father Lombardi firmly rejected the accusation made in a recently published a book in Mexico - that Cardinal Ratzinger had been aware since 1998 of the abuses committed by the late Fr. Marcial Maciel. Fr. Lombardi said "It is unfair to talk about Pope Benedict XVI as one who has worked against truth and against transparency... his also applies to John Paul II," he added saying that the late Pope was not aware of the double life or the dark side of Maciel.

"The two Popes," he concluded, "have always stood for truth and transparency on this issue." He pointed out that Benedict XVI's condemnation of priestly abuses has been expressed many times very clearly, and that those who follow the activities of the Pope and his teachings are well aware of this. He also said there is a large number of documents on this subject, as well as instructions from the Vatican for all the bishops' conferences and bishops of the world to follow.


It is most unfortunate that the sex abuse issue should have been brought up in this way at all, but an apostolic visit is hardly the occasion for the Vatican spokesman to go into full 'defense mode' over an issue - the late Maciel, specifically - that no one has handled more decisively than Benedict XVI did. His detractors, and the Maciel victims can say anything they want: the record is clear, and it is there for all to see, in their book and elsewhere.

I believe the Mexican faithful, insofar as they were interested, have generally known or been aware about Maciel's double life for some time and how he was corrupting Church hierarchy in Mexico and perhaps at the Vatican to keep from being officially exposed - certainly during the time when John Paul II visited Mexico for five times. The issue does not appear to have factored at all in their reception for him, just as it does not appear to have factored at all in their reception for Benedict XVI.

I would like to think that most Catholic faithful in the Third World - we simple folk - are not like the fair-weather Catholics of the West, and we understand instinctively that there are bad people even among priests and bishops - who are human and therefore fallible and sinful like the rest of us - but that does not make the message of Christ any less true and valid, so their fallibility should not affect our faith. MSM prefers not to give Catholics in the mass enough credit for the simple common sense that also informs their faith.

Moreover, the best 'defense' for Benedict XVI, if he needs any at all - he does not, at least not to the faithful who are flocking to him on this apostolic visit because he is the Vicar of Christ and is credible to them as the Vicar of Christ - is the truth as it stands in his record.]

March 25, Fifth Sunday of Lent
Today would be the Feast of the Annunciation, but because it is Lent, the Lenten Sunday takes precedence over its observance, and
it will be observed tomorrow instead.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/032512.cfm


THE POPE'S DAY

---

DAY 2 - APOSTOLIC VISIT TO MEXICO

Sunday, March 25

10.00 HOLY MASS
Parque del Bicentenario, Silao
- Homily by the Holy Father
- RECITAL OF THE ANGELUS
- Remarks by the Holy Father

18.00 CELEBRATION OF VESPERS with the Bishops of Mexico and Latin America
Cathedral of Madre Santisima de Luz, Leon
- Homily by the Holy Father.

---

I must apologize. I have been very sick (probably some stomach flu) - too nauseous and woozy to do anything but lie down and sleep it off, right after watching the Mass on Telemundo. I thought I would wake up in time to watch the Vespers but I couldn't even do that. I can at least sit up now....

Day 3: Papal Mass and Angelus
Parque Bicentenario, Silao

Doing this round-up more than 12 hours since the event, I have chosen to start off with a simple brief report from a Dallas-based TV news channel - if only because it gives the figure that appears to have been the police estimate for the attendance at the Mass.

640,000 people attend
Pope Benedict XVI's Mass
by ANGELA KOCHERGA
KVUE News
March 25, 2012




LEON, Mexico -- During his trip to Mexico, Pope Benedict XVI led Mass on Sunday, attracting more than half a million people to the arid center of Mexico hundreds of miles from the federal capital.

The Pope urged Christians in his homily to "look deeply into the human heart -- especially in times of sorrow as well as hope -- as are the times for the people of Mexico and Latin America."

At daybreak, tens of thousands of the faithful made their way to Mass -- mostly on foot, joining tens of thousands who had arrived at the site on Saturday. A few by bus or even horseback. They came from all parts of Mexico to see the Pope.

Antonio Munoz was sorry his relatives in Fort Worth, Texas could not be here, so he planned to share video and photos with them on Facebook.

Vendors catered to the crowds. There were piles of breakfast tacos, and even a special bread that read "Viva el Papa."

The Mass attracted not just the humble, but some of the most powerful people in Mexico, including the president, three presidential candidates, and also the man who tops Forbes magazine's wealthiest people in the world list, Carlos Slim.

The Pope prayed for peace, harmony and justice in Mexico.

Adriana Ramos said it's worth the long walk in the sun. Her family did not get to attend the Mass, but brought their own chairs -- so they could sit outside and hear the pope's words.

Sunday night, Pope Benedict XVI met with Catholic bishops from Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

Monday, the Pope will head to Cuba for a two day visit.





Illustration: Monumento al CRISTO REY (Christ the King), Monte Cubilete, Silao, Mexico.


Travelling to Silao from Leon by helicopter, the Holy Father gets a panoramic view of the Cristo Rey mon ument on Cubilete and the crowd
awaiting him at the Parque Bicentenario.


Benedict XVI:
Messenger of hope in Mexico

March 25, 2012




On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI led a congregation of thousands in prayer in his first Mass on Mexican soil. Philippa Hitchen reports from Leon:

Ever since the Pope announced his visit to Mexico on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe last December, people here have been preparing for this moment – the chance to attend the Pope's Mass at the Bicentennial Park in Silao, near Leon.

About half a million people had gathered, many of them camping out overnight, far exceeding the organisers’ expectations, and they gave the Pope the warmest welcome yet as he drove in the Popemobile around the grounds, part of the time wearing a hand-sewn sombrero that had been especially made for him by local craftswomen.

President Felipe Calderon and a wide representation of government and opposition politicians were present in the front row, as the Archbishop of Leon, Jose Martin Rabago, thanked the Pope for coming as a messenger of hope to this country which, he said, has experienced so much violence and death in recent years, provoking a painful sense of fear, impotence and affliction.

The roots of this dramatic situation, he continued, are to be found in the persistent problems of poverty, corruption, lack of opportunity, impunity, an inadequate justice system and a growing conviction that life is only worth living if one can accumulate wealth and power without worrying about the consequences.

In his homily, as also in his Angelus address after Mass, the Pope spoke of the need to strengthen one's faith and to trust in God’s power to change hearts, bringing hope to even the most difficult situations today, just as the people of Israel learnt to place their hope and trust in God’s hands in the face of all adversity.

Speaking of the imposing monument to Christ the King on nearby Cubilete Hill, which he flew over by helicopter on his way to the park, Pope Benedict noted that the 72-foot high statue with outstretched arms is shown receiving from angels on either side two crowns – one of a sovereign, the other a crown of thorns, indicating that Christ’s royal status does not correspond to the way it has been seen or understood by many.

Rather than resting on the power of arms, he said, Christ's kingship rests on the power of God’s love which can win over hearts and provide hope to all. It is right, he concluded that this national shrine should be above all a place of pilgrimage, of fervent prayer, of conversion and reconciliation.

Addressing the wider context of bishops who travelled from across Latin America for this papal visit, Pope Benedict urged them to persevere with the process of revitalising the faith on the continent, a process begun at the Aparecida assembly in Brazil in 2007.

Only by deepening people’s faith and overcoming a superficial or fragmented form of worship, he said, can we find the joy and the energy needed to serve Christ - even in the most distressing situations of human suffering.



Below is the official Vatican translation of the Holy Father's homily.

---

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am very pleased to be among you today and I express my sincere gratitude to the Most Reverend José Guadalupe Martín Rábago, Archbishop of León, for his kind words of welcome.

I greet the Mexican Bishops, and the Cardinals and other Bishops present here, and in a special way those who have come from Latin America and the Caribbean.

I also extend a warm greeting to the authorities that are with us, as well as all who have gathered for this Holy Mass presided by the Successor of Peter.

We said, “A pure heart, create for me, O God” (Ps 50:12) during the responsorial psalm. This exclamation shows us how profoundly we must prepare to celebrate next week the great mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord.

It also helps us to look deeply into the human heart, especially in times of sorrow as well as hope, as are the present times for the people of Mexico and of Latin America.

The desire for a heart that would be pure, sincere, humble, acceptable to God was very much felt by Israel as it became aware of the persistence in its midst of evil and sin as a power, practically implacable and impossible to overcome.

There was nothing left but to trust in God’s mercy and in the hope that he would change from within, from the heart, an unbearable, dark and hopeless situation. In this way recourse gained ground to the infinite mercy of the Lord who does not wish the sinner to die but to convert and live (cf. Ez 33:11).

A pure heart, a new heart, is one which recognizes that, of itself, it is impotent and places itself in God’s hands so as to continue hoping in his promises. Then the psalmist can say to the Lord with conviction: “Sinners will return to you” (Ps 50:15). And towards the end of the psalm he will give an explanation which is at the same time a firm conviction of faith: “A humble, contrite heart you will not spurn” (v. 19).

The history of Israel relates some great events and battles, but when faced with its more authentic existence, its decisive destiny, its salvation, it places its hope not in its own efforts, but in God who can create a new heart, not insensitive or proud.

This should remind each one of us and our peoples that, when addressing the deeper dimension of personal and community life, human strategies will not suffice to save us. We must have recourse to the One who alone can give life in its fullness, because he is the essence of life and its author; he has made us sharers in the same through his Son Jesus Christ.

Today’s Gospel takes up the topic and shows us how this ancient desire for the fullness of life has actually been achieved in Christ. Saint John explains it in a passage in which the wish of some Greeks to see Jesus coincides with the moment in which the Lord is about to be glorified.

Jesus responds to the question of the Greeks, who represent the pagan world, saying: “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12:23).

This is a strange response which seems inconsistent with the question asked by the Greeks. What has the glorification of Jesus to do with the request to meet him? But there is a relation.

Someone might think – says Saint Augustine – that Jesus felt glorified because the Gentiles were coming to him. This would be similar to the applause of the multitudes who give “glory” to those who are grand in the world, as we would say today. But this is not so. “It was convenient that, before the wonder of his glorification, should come the humility of his passion” (In Joannis Ev. 51:9: PL 35, 1766).

Jesus’S answer, announcing his imminent passion, means that a casual encounter in those moments would have been superficial and perhaps deceptive. The Greeks will see the one they wished to meet raised up on the cross from which he will attract all to himself (cf. Jn 12:32).

There, his “glory” will begin, because of his sacrifice of expiation for all, as the grain of wheat fallen to the ground that by dying germinates and produces abundant fruit. They will find the one whom, unknown to them, they were seeking in their hearts, the true God who is made visible to all peoples.

This was how Our Lady of Guadalupe showed her divine Son to Saint Juan Diego, not as a powerful legendary hero but as the very God of the living, by whom all live, the Creator of persons, of closeness and immediacy, of heaven and earth (cf. Nican Mopohua, v.33).

At that moment she did what she had done previously at the wedding feast of Cana. Faced with the embarrassment caused by the lack of wine, she told the servants clearly that the path to follow was her Son: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).

Dear brothers and sisters, by coming here I have been able to visit the monument to Christ the King situated on top of the Cubilete. My venerable predecessor, Blessed Pope John Paul II, although he ardently desired to do so, was unable on his several journeys to this beloved land to visit this site of such significance for the faith of the Mexican people.

I am sure that in heaven he is happy that the Lord has granted me the grace to be here with you and that he has blessed the millions of Mexicans who have venerated his relics in every corner of the country.

This monument represents Christ the King. But his crowns, one of a sovereign, the other of thorns, indicate that his royal status does not correspond to how it has been or is understood by many.

His kingdom does not stand on the power of his armies subduing others through force or violence. It rests on a higher power than wins over hearts: the love of God that he brought into the world with his sacrifice and the truth to which he bore witness.

This is his sovereignty which no one can take from him and which no one should forget. Hence it is right that this shrine should be above all a place of pilgrimage, of fervent prayer, of conversion, of reconciliation, of the search for truth and the acceptance of grace. We ask Christ, to reign in our hearts, making them pure, docile, filled with hope and courageous in humility.

From this park, foreseen as a memorial of the bicentenary of the birth of the Mexican nation, bringing together many differences towards one destiny and one common quest, we ask Christ for a pure heart, where he as Prince of Peace may dwell “thanks to the power of God who is the power of goodness, the power of love”.

But for God to dwell in us, we need to listen to him; we must allow his Word to challenge us every day, meditating upon it in our hearts after the example of Mary (cf. Lk 2:51). In this way we grow in friendship with him, we learn to understand what he expects from us and we are encouraged to make him known to others.

At Aparecida, the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean saw with clarity the need to confirm, renew and revitalize the newness of the Gospel rooted deeply in the history of these lands “on the basis of a personal and community encounter with Jesus Christ which raises up disciples and missionaries” (Final Document, 11).

The Continental Mission now taking place in the various dioceses of this continent has the specific task of transmitting this conviction to all Christians and ecclesial communities so that they may resist the temptation of a faith that is superficial and routine, at times fragmentary and incoherent.

Here we need to overcome fatigue related to faith and rediscover “the joy of being Christians, of being sustained by the inner happiness of knowing Christ and belonging to his Church. From this joy spring the energies that are needed to serve Christ in distressing situations of human suffering, placing oneself at his disposition and not falling back on one’s own comfort” (Address to the Roman Curia, 22 December 2011).

This can be seen clearly in the saints who dedicated themselves fully to the cause of the Gospel with enthusiasm and joy without counting the cost, even of life itself. Their heart was centered entirely on Christ from whom they had learned what it means to love until the end.

In this sense the Year of Faith, to which I have convoked the whole Church, “is an invitation to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the only Saviour of the world […]. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy” (Porta Fidei 6, 7).

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to assist us in purifying our hearts, especially in view of the coming Easter celebrations, that we may enter more deeply the salvific mystery of her Son, as she made it known in this land.

And let us also ask her to continue accompanying and protecting her Mexican and Latin American children, that Christ may reign in their lives and help them boldly to promote peace, harmony, justice and solidarity. Amen.

---

Pope to Mexico: Have hope,
use faith against evil
by Michael Weissenstein and Nicole Winfield


SILAO, Mexico, Narch 25 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI urged Mexicans to wield their faith against drug violence, poverty and other ills, celebrating Sunday Mass before a sea of hushed worshippers beneath a blazing sun in the highlight of his Mexican visit.

Many in the crowd said they were gratified by Benedict's recognition of their country's problems and said they felt reinvigorated in what they described as a daily struggle against criminality, corruption and economic hardship.

Benedict delivered the message to an estimated 350,000 people in the shadow of the Christ the King monument, one of the most important symbols of Mexican Christianity, which recalls the 1920s Roman Catholic uprising against the anti-clerical laws that forbade public worship services such as the one Benedict celebrated.

The Pope flew over the monument in a Mexican military helicopter en route to the Mass at Bicentennial Park, where he rode in the Popemobile through the enthusiastic crowd. [It took almost 30 minutes for the Popemobile to make its way through all the sectors.]

Often seen as austere and reserved, Benedict charmed the cheering crowd by donning a broad-brimmed Mexican sombrero that he wore on his way to the altar at the sun-drenched park.

"We pray for him to help us, that there be no more violence in the country," said Lorena Diaz, 50, who owns a jeans factory in Leon. "We pray that he gives us peace."

Before the ceremony, the vast field was filled with noise, as people took pictures with cellphones and passed around food. But as the Mass started, all fell silent, some dropping to their knees in the dirt and gazing at the altar or giant video screens. [Thank you, AP, for reporting this!]

In his homily, Benedict encouraged Mexicans to purify their hearts to confront the sufferings, difficulties and evils of daily life.

It has been a common theme in his first visit to Mexico as Pope: On Saturday he urged the young to be messengers of peace in a country that has witnessed the deaths of more than 47,000 people in a drug war that has escalated during a government offensive against cartels.

"At this time when so many families are separated or forced to emigrate, when so many are suffering due to poverty, corruption, domestic violence, drug trafficking, the crisis of values and increased crime, we come to Mary in search of consolation, strength and hope," Benedict said in a prayer at the end of Mass.

The reference to Mary is particularly important for Mexicans, who revere the Virgin of Guadalupe as their patron saint, and he urged all of Latin America and the Caribbean to look to her for help.

"She is the mother of the true God, who invites us to stay with faith and charity beneath her mantle, so as to overcome in this way all evil and to establish a more just and fraternal society."

Benedict's reference to immigration resonated in Guanajuato, which is one of the top three Mexican states sending migrant workers north.

"People leave for the good of their families," said Jose Porfirio Garcia Martinez, 56, an indigenous farmworker who came to the Mass with 35 others from Puebla, another area that has many migrants in the U.S. "For us it's difficult, not seeing them for 10 years, communicating by phone and by Internet."

The archbishop of Leon, Monsignor Jose Martin Rabago, told Benedict that Mexicans needed a message of hope because they have been living in "fear, helplessness and grief" over the mass killings, kidnappings, extortion and other violence stemming from Mexico's drug trade.

"We know that this dramatic reality has perverse origins which are fed by poverty, lack of opportunities, the corruption, the impunity, the poor administration of justice and the cultural change which leads to the belief that that this life is only worth living if it allows you to accumulate possessions and power quickly regardless of its consequences and costs," Rabago told the Pope.

Benedict had wanted to come to Guanajuato because it was one of the parts of Mexico that Pope John Paul II had never visited during his five trips as Pope. In addition, Benedict wanted to see and bless the Christ the King statue.

With its outstretched arms, the 72-foot (22-meter) bronze monument of Christ "expresses an identity of the Mexican people that contains a whole history in relation to the testimony of faith and those who fought for religious freedom at the time," said Monsignor Victor Rene Rodriguez, secretary general of the Mexican bishops conference.

After nightfall Sunday, the Pope will remotely inaugurate its new lighting system.

Guanajuato state was the site of some of the key battles of the Cristero War, so-called because its protagonists said they were fighting for Christ the King. Historians say about 90,000 people died before peace was restored. The region remains Mexico's most conservatively Catholic.

With roads closed, pilgrims walked for miles to the Mass with plastic lawn chairs, water and backpacks. Old women walked with canes. Some Mass-goers wrapped themselves in blankets or beach towel-sized Vatican flags, trekking past vendors selling sun hats, flags, potato chips and bottles of juice.

Hundreds of young priests in white and black cassocks, waiting to pass through the metal detectors, shouted "Christ Lives!" and "Long Live Christ the King!" — the battle cry of the Cristeros.

Many Mexicans said they were surprised by the warmth of Benedict, whose image was more reserved and academic than his popular predecessor, John Paul II, who was dubbed "Mexico's Pope."

By Sunday morning, that perception seemed to have changed completely.

"Some young people rejected the Pope, saying he has an angry face. [What pictures have they been seeing? Even as the most photographed cardinal in history thus far, Joseph Ratzinger was hardly ever caught witn an angry face!]

"But now they see him like a grandfather," said Cristian Roberto Cerda Reynoso, 17, a seminarian from Leon. "I see the youth filled with excitement and enthusiasm."



While the Pope drew a rapturous response from the faithful, his time in Mexico has not been without criticism, particularly concerning the Church's treatment of children and sexual abuse.

Victims of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the influential, conservative Legionaries of Christ religious order, launched a book Saturday containing documents from the Vatican archives showing that Holy See officials knew for decades that Maciel was a drug addict who sexually abused his seminarians.

One of Maciel's most prominent victims, Juan Jose Vaca, followed up on Sunday with an open letter to the Pope decrying the fact that he hadn't met with survivors of those abused by Maciel or other clerics, as he has during earlier foreign trips.

"Today, you are honoring the heroic memory of men who gave their lives in defense of their faith and religious liberty, the Cristeros," Vaca wrote, noting his own father had been a Cristero fighter. "Meanwhile for us, victims and survivors of other atrocities, not a word."

The 84-year-old Pope, who will be going to Cuba on Monday, has made no explicit reference to abuse on this trip. But the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Pope's words about the need to protect children from violence referred also to the need to protect them from priestly sexual violence.

Some other victims of Maciel have said they didn't want a meeting anyway because the Pope had been head of the Vatican office that received their complaint against Maciel in 1998. It took the Vatican eight years before sentencing Maciel to a lifetime of penance and prayer for his crimes. [Of course, a deliberate and conveniently biased mis-statement of facts by AP. The investigation that led to Maciel's punishment even without a canonical process - which was waived because Maciel was already past 80 and ailing from a terminal disease - did not really begin until 2005 because an earlier attempt by the CDF to investigate was apparently suspended by John Paul II on the advice of Cardinals Sodano and his then secretary Mons. Dziwisz, and the late Pope did not give Cardinal Ratzinger the green light until 2004... I must admit that the AP could have been far more censorious on the Maciel case against Benedict XVI, given their muck-raking false 'smoking gun' allegations against him in 2010. I must check how they reported the punishment of Maciel in 2006.]

The Holy Father's
Angelus message

Before the end of the Mass, the Holy Father also led the recitation of Angelus, and spoke the following words before the prayers (the official Vatican translation to English):

---

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the grain of wheat that falls to the ground, dies and bears much fruit. This is his response to some Greeks who approached Philip asking: “we would like to see Jesus” (Jn 12:21).

Today we invoke Mary Most Holy and we ask her: “show Jesus to us”.
As we now pray the Angelus and remember the Annunciation of the Lord, our eyes too turn spiritually towards the hill of Tepeyac, to the place where the Mother of God, under the title of “the Ever-Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe” has been fervently honoured for centuries as a sign of reconciliation and of God’s infinite goodness towards the world.

My predecessors on the Chair of Saint Peter honoured her with affectionate titles such as Our Lady of Mexico, Heavenly Patroness of Latin America, Mother and Empress of this continent. Her faithful children, in their turn, who experience her help, invoke her confidently with such affectionate and familiar names as the Rose of Mexico, Our Lady of Heaven, Virgin Morena, Mother of Tepeyac, Noble Indita.

Dear brothers and sisters, do not forget that true devotion to the Virgin Mary always takes us to Jesus, and “consists neither in sterile nor transitory feelings, nor in an empty credulity, but proceeds from true faith, by which we are led to recognize the excellence of the Mother of God, and we are moved to filial love towards our Mother and to the imitation of her virtues” (Lumen Gentium, 67).

To love her means being committed to listening to her Son, to venerate the Guadalupana means living in accordance with the words of the blessed fruit of her womb.

At this time, when so many families are separated or forced to emigrate, when so many are suffering due to poverty, corruption, domestic violence, drug trafficking, the crisis of values and increased crime, we come to Mary in search of consolation, strength and hope.

She is the Mother of the true God, who invites us to stay with faith and charity beneath her mantle, so as to overcome in this way all evil and to establish a more just and fraternal society.

With these sentiments, I place once again this country, all Latin America and the Caribbean before the gentle gaze of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I entrust all their sons and daughters to the Star of both the original and the new evangelization; she has inspired with her maternal love their Christian history, has given particular expression to their national achievements, to their communal and social initiatives, to family life, to personal devotion and to the Continental Mission which is now taking place across these noble lands.

In times of trial and sorrow she was invoked by many martyrs who, in crying out “Long live Christ the King and Mary of Guadalupe” bore unyielding witness of fidelity to the Gospel and devotion to the Church.

I now ask that her presence in this nation may continue to serve as a summons to defence and respect for human life. May it promote fraternity, setting aside futile acts of revenge and banishing all divisive hatred. May Holy Mary of Guadalupe bless us and obtain for us the abundant graces that, through her intercession, we request from heaven.

---

Benedict XVI's 'charro' moment

Midway through his half-hour Popemobile tour of teh various sectors filled with Massogers at Mexcios' Parque Bicentenario on Sunday monring, someone handed a black-and-white Mexican cowboy hat - sombrero de charro (sometimes, just charro) - through the open window, and Mons. Gaenswein promptly put it on the Pope who wore it for the rest of the ride - and caused great excitement even among the news teams that were covering the event for Spanish Telemundo, who found it infinitely endearing. It will probably be the favorite front-page photo in Mexican publications today, Monday. Of course, the charro is much like the papal saturno, also made of straw, only with a much wider brim...







In brightening the pictures - which were too shaded because taken from outside the Popemobile - I serendipitously got the beautiful ethereal effect...

Day 3: Vespers at the Cathedral of Leon
with the bishops of Latin America




Illustration: Nuestra Madre Santissima de la Luz, oil on canvas, Palermo, Sicily, 1722. Brought to Leon in 1732.

Benedict XVI to bishops:
'Plant seeds of hope in
Latin America and Caribbean'


Leon, Mexico, Mar 25, 2012 (CNA/EWTN News).- During a March 25 evening prayer service at the cathedral in León, Mexico, Pope Benedict XVI called on Latin American and Caribbean bishops to plant the “seed of hope” through the Church's work in the region.

“Certainly your dioceses face a number of challenges and difficulties at the present moment,” the Pope acknowledged.

“Yet, in the sure knowledge that the Lord is risen, we are able to move forward confidently, in the conviction that evil does not have the last word in human history, and that God is able to open up new horizons to a hope that does not disappoint.”

“You are not alone amid your trials or in your successes in the work of evangelization,” the Pope told the Latin American and Carribean bishops, promising them that “all of us are one in sufferings and in consolation.”

“Know that you can count on a special place in the prayers of the one who has received from Christ the charge of confirming his brethren in faith,” the Pope said, referring to his role as the Successor of St. Peter.

“He now encourages you in your mission of making our Lord Jesus Christ ever better known, loved and followed in these lands, and he urges you not to let yourselves be intimidated by obstacles along the way.”...



Here is the official Vatican translation of the Holy Fahter's homily at Vespers:

---

Dear Brother Bishops,

It gives me great joy to be able to pray with all of you in this Basilica-Cathedral of León, dedicated to our Lady of Light. In the lovely painting venerated in this basilica, the Blessed Virgin holds her Son in one hand with immense tenderness while extending her other hand to succour sinners.

This is how the Church in every age sees Mary. We praise her for giving us the Redeemer and we put our trust in her as the Mother whom her divine Son bequeathed to us from the Cross. For this reason, we invoke her frequently as “our hope” because she has shown us Jesus and passed down to us the great things which God constantly does for humanity. She does so simply, as a mother teaches her children at home.

A decisive sign of these great things is given to us in the reading just proclaimed at these Vespers. The people of Jerusalem and their leaders did not acknowledge Christ, yet, by condemning him to death, they fulfilled the words of the prophets (cf. Acts 13:27). Human evil and ignorance simply cannot thwart the divine plan of salvation and redemption. Evil is simply incapable of that.

Another of God’s great works is evoked in the second of the psalms which we recited: “the rock” turns into “a pool, and flint into a spring of water” (Ps 113:8).

What might have been a stumbling block and a scandal has, by Jesus’ triumph over death, become a cornerstone: “This is the work of the Lord, a marvel in our eyes” (Ps 117:23). There is no reason, then, to give in to the despotism of evil. Let us instead ask the risen Lord to manifest his power in our weakness and need.

I have greatly looked forward to this meeting with you, the Pastors of Christ’s pilgrim Church in Mexico and in the different countries of this great continent.

I see this meeting as an occasion to turn our gaze together to Christ, who has entrusted you with the splendid duty of preaching the Gospel among these peoples of sturdy and deep-rooted Catholic faith.

Certainly your dioceses face a number of challenges and difficulties at the present moment. Yet, in the sure knowledge that the Lord is risen, we are able to move forward confidently, in the conviction that evil does not have the last word in human history, and that God is able to open up new horizons to a hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5).

I thank the Archbishop of Tlalnepantla, President of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference and the Latin American Episcopal Council, for the cordial welcome offered me in your name. I ask you, the various Pastors of the local churches that, on returning to your Dioceses, you bring to your faithful the warm affection of the Pope, who holds all their sufferings and aspirations deep in his heart.

In you I see reflected the concerns of the flocks which you shepherd, and I am reminded of the Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops, where the participants applaud after an intervention by someone who exercises his ministry in particularly troubling situations for the Church’s life and mission.

That applause is a sign of deep faith in the Lord and fraternity in the apostolate, as well as gratitude and admiration for those who sow the Gospel amid thorns, some in the form of persecution, others in the form of social exclusion or contempt. Neither are concerns lacking, for want of means and human resources, or for limitations imposed on the freedom of the Church in carrying out her mission.

The Successor of Peter shares these concerns and he is grateful for your patient and humble pastoral outreach. You are not alone amid your trials or in your successes in the work of evangelization. All of us are one in sufferings and in consolation (cf. 2 Cor 1:5).

Know that you can count on a special place in the prayers of the one who has received from Christ the charge of confirming his brethren in faith (cf. Lk 22:31). He now encourages you in your mission of making our Lord Jesus Christ ever better known, loved and followed in these lands, and he urges you not to let yourselves be intimidated by obstacles along the way.

The Catholic faith has significantly marked the life, customs and history of this continent, in which many nations are commemorating the bicentennial of their independence. That was an historical moment in which the name of Christ continued to shine brightly.

That name was brought here through the labours of outstanding and self-sacrificing missionaries who proclaimed it boldly and wisely. They gave their all for Christ, demonstrating that in him men and women encounter the truth of their being and the strength needed both to live fully and to build a truly humane society in accordance with the will of their Creator.

This ideal of putting the Lord first and making God’s word effective in all, through the use of your own native expressions and best traditions, continues to provide outstanding inspiration for the Church’s Pastors today.

The initiatives planned for the Year of Faith must be aimed at guiding men and women to Christ; his grace will enable them to cast off the bonds of sin and slavery, and to progress along the path of authentic and responsible freedom.

A great contribution will be made to this goal by the continental mission being launched from Aparecida, which is already reaping a harvest of ecclesial renewal in the particular Churches of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This includes the study, dissemination and prayerful reading of sacred Scripture, which proclaims the love of God and our salvation. I encourage you to continue to share freely the treasures of the Gospel, so that they can become a powerful source of hope, freedom and salvation for everyone (cf. Rom 1:16).

May you also be faithful witnesses and interpreters of the words of the incarnate Son, whose life was to do the will of the Father and who, as a man among men, gave himself up completely for our sake, even unto death.

Dear Brother Bishops, amid the challenges now facing us in our pastoral care and our preaching of the Gospel, it is essential to show great concern for your seminarians, encouraging them humbly “to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor 2:2).

No less fundamental is the need to remain close to your priests; they must never lack the understanding and encouragement of their Bishop, nor, if necessary, his paternal admonition in response to improper attitudes.

Priests are your first co-workers in the sacramental communion of the priesthood, and you ought to show them a constant and privileged attention. The same should be said for the different forms of consecrated life, whose charisms need to be gratefully esteemed and responsibly encouraged, in a way respectful of the gift received.

Greater attention is due to the members of the lay faithful most engaged in the fields of catechesis, liturgical animation, charitable activity and social commitment. Their faith formation is critical if the Gospel is to become present and fruitful in contemporary society.

It is not right for them to feel treated like second-class citizens in the Church, despite the committed work which they carry out in accordance with their proper vocation, and the great sacrifice which this dedication at times demands of them.

In all of this, it is particularly important for Pastors to ensure that a spirit of communion reigns among priests, religious and the lay faithful, and that sterile divisions, criticism and unhealthy mistrust are avoided.

With these heartfelt words of encouragement, I urge you to be vigilant in proclaiming day and night the glory of God, which is the life of mankind. Stand beside those who are marginalized as the result of force, power or a prosperity which is blind to the poorest of the poor.

The Church cannot separate the praise of God from service to others. The one God, our Father and Creator, has made us brothers and sisters: to be human is to be a brother and guardian to our neighbour.

Along this path, in union with the whole human family, the Church must relive and make present what Jesus was: the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered our human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us.

Beloved Brother Bishops, the Church in Latin America, which has often been joined to Christ in his passion, must continue to be a seed of hope enabling the world to see how the fruits of the resurrection have come to enrich these lands.

May the Mother of God, invoked as Our Lady of Light, dispel the darkness of our world and illumine our path, so that we can confirm the faith of the people of Latin America amid their struggles and aspirations, with integrity, valour and firm faith in the One who can do all things and loves all men and women to the fullest. Amen.

---

New night lighting for
the Cristo Rey de Cubilete

Before leaving the Cathedral of Leon, Pope Benedict XVI added yet another Pontifical distinction to the Cristo Rey monument of Cubilete. Having been the first Pope ever to visit this monument to Mexico's Catholic faith, he also threw on the switch - via iPad - for the monument's new light lighting.

The AP - and probably MSM in general - insist on treating Benedict XVI as if the only purpose of his Pontificate is to hurdle or topple every obstacle they can think of. No sooner does he succeed - not because he is playing their game but because he has what it takes, and more, to succeed at what he does - and they think up a new challenge. Some people just happen to be favored by God, and that has been the story of Joseph Ratzinger's life - which his detractors would see plain as day if only they could drop their irrational bias against him!

Pope Benedict wins over Mexico
but Cuba will be a tougher sell
[And here we go again!]
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and NICOLE WINFIELD


LEON, Mexico, March 26, 2012 (AP) - He donned a sombrero and was serenaded by mariachi bands, embraced by Mexicans who called him their brother. Pope Benedict XVI has a bit of a tougher sell as he heads to a Cuba that until recently was officially atheist. [He's not going there to 'sell' anything, but to confirm Cubans in their faith. That's what an apostolic visit is. ]

Benedict leaves behind Spanish-speaking Latin America's most Roman Catholic country Monday and arrives in its least, hoping to inspire the same outpouring of faith on the communist-run island that he did in Mexico's conservative Catholic heartland.

Benedict's first stop is Santiago de Cuba, the island's second city that is home to the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, a tiny wooden statue that is revered by Cubans, Catholic and not. [And that is the clue to the Christianity that survives among the Cubans, even if the Catholic population may be relatively sparse today. In the same way as the Virgin of Guadalupe is the custodian of the Mexican people's faith and hope, so is the Virgen del Cobre for the Cubans. The outpouring of faith will be there - it has been there during all these months that the image has been on a nationwide tour of the island.]

The Pope will celebrate an open-air Mass Monday evening in Santiago's main plaza then pray at the sanctuary housing the statue Tuesday before heading to Havana, where he will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro — and presumably his brother Fidel.

Benedict's three-day stay in Cuba will of course spark comparisons to Pope John Paul II's historic 1998 tour, [Where does the 'of course' come from? This is a different visit altogether, and a different time. Even in Cuba, the passage of 14 years has seen some changes.] when Fidel Castro shed his army fatigues for a suit and tie to greet the Pope at Havana's airport and where John Paul uttered the now famous words: "May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba."

Those comparisons were also evident in Mexico, which had claimed John Paul as its own during his five visits over a nearly 27-year pontificate.[That's how MSM has chosen to read it. But every Catholic nation claims the Pope for their own, because the Pope is the Universal Pastor! DUH!]
But with his first visit to Mexico, Benedict appeared to lay to rest the impression that he is a distant, cold pontiff who can never compare to the charisma and personal connection forged by his predecessor. {So AP insists on going on with the MSM mania that Benedict XVI has to prove himself with every trip - despite all the striking evidence from every trip he makes.

George Weigel recounts that on John Paul II's first trip to Mexico in 1979, about a million Mexicans turned up in Mexico City streets to welcome him; 300,000 turned up for Mass at Constitution Square in Mexico City; another million lined the 80-mile route from Mexico City to Puebla which he chose to travel by car. Days later, more than half a million indigenous Mexicans from the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas came for a special Mass for them in Cuilapan.

The figures for Benedict XVI appear to match up very well, indeed - especially considering that Leon and Guajanato are small cities compared to Mexico City with its 18 million population (world's largest urban conglomeration , though it was probaly around 12 million back in 1979). I dislike having to get into the comparison game, but facts are facts. For instance, the attendance at the prayer vigil and the Mass the following day at Fatima in May 2010 was estimated both times as at least half a million, where the maximum attendance at a John Paul II ceremony in Fatima was 350,000. Larger attendance figures do not mean that the faithful like one Pope better than the other - but that there seem to be more Catholics showing their enthusiasm for the faith with the passing of the years, despite the onslaughts of secularization. And that is surely something we can all celebrate.]

"Some young people rejected the Pope, saying he has an angry face. But now they see him like a grandfather," said Cristian Roberto Cerda Reynoso, 17, a seminarian from Leon who attended Benedict's Sunday Mass. "I see the youth filled with excitement and enthu9siasm." [Boy, AP really is doing what it canto plant that myth of 'an angry face'. I bet the person never said that!]

Benedict charmed the crowd at Mass by donning a sombrero for his Popemobile tour through the estimated 350,000 people. He put on another one later Sunday night when he was serenaded by a mariachi band as he returned to the school where he has been staying. [Nothing new for Benedict who has probably donned a greater variety of headgear than any other public figure!]

"We saw a lot of happiness in his face. We are used to seeing him with a harder appearance [No, Esther, you were used to thinking he was 'hard', and you are projecting that past impression to create false memories!], but this time he looked happier, smiling," said Esther Villegas, a 36-year-old cosmetics vendor. "A lot of people didn't care for him enough before, but now he has won us over."

The feeling was mutual.

"I've made a lot of trips, but I've never been welcomed with such enthusiasm," Benedict told a wildly cheering crowd who greeted him late Sunday. "Now I can understand why Pope John Paul II used to say, 'I feel like I'm a Mexican Pope.'"

While Cubans eagerly awaited Benedict's arrival, the political overtones on the second leg of his trip were far greater than what he encountered in Mexico.

Cuba's single-party, Communist government never outlawed religion, but it expelled priests and closed religious schools upon Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba in 1959. Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism in the constitution and let believers of all faiths join the Communist Party.

John Paul's 1998 visit further warmed relations. But problems remain. Despite years of lobbying, the Church has virtually no access to state-run radio or television, is not allowed to administer schools, and has not been granted permission to build new places of worship. The island of 11.2 million people has just 361 priests. Before 1959 there were 700 priests for a population of 6 million.

The Catholic Church, however, is now the most influential independent institution in the country, thanks in no small part to Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana. He has negotiated with Raul Castro for the release of political prisoners, given the government advice on economic policy and allowed church magazines to publish increasingly frank articles about the need for change.

In the weeks leading up to Benedict's arrival, the government cracked down on dissidents with detentions [who were promptly released]. But on Sunday, the dissident group known as the Ladies in White held its customary weekly protest outside a Havana church without incident.

The Vatican has said the Pope has no plans to meet with the dissidents. More certain but still unconfirmed is a meeting with Fidel Castro. And a new wildcard entered into play with the arrival Saturday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is getting radiation therapy for his cancer.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, was asked Sunday about reports the Pope might meet with Chavez while in Cuba. Lombardi said that as of Sunday morning, there were no such plans. [They already met at the Vatican some time in 2010!]

"That can change, anything can change," he told reporters. But he said the Pope's delegation hadn't heard that Chavez was in Cuba until Sunday morning and that they reported having received no request for any audience.

In Mexico on Sunday, Benedict urged Mexicans to wield their faith against drug violence, poverty and other ills — a constant theme during his three days that increasingly took on political overtones a week before campaigning opens for Mexico's presidential election on July 1.

Guanajuato state remains Mexico's most conservatively Catholic, one of the few states with a government dominated by the conservative, Catholic-oriented National Action Party, which is trying to retain the presidency.

The Church has repeatedly disavowed any political overtones to the Pope's trip, saying the Pontiff has no intention of boosting the party in power.

John Paul, however, made a point to avoid visiting countries in the throes of election campaigns, to not be seen as giving any political message. And he always made it a point to meet with opposition leaders. [Maybe so - I would not vouch for the truth of these statements. I'd like a fact check. In any case, if it was that way with John Paul II, Benedict XVI does not have to follow his predecessor's playbook at all times. He has his own judgment. Besides, he does not have the luxury of time to put off certain projects just because it is an election year. He visited the US in an election year, but as in Mexico this year, it was a few months before the actual electoral campaign began.]

Benedict eschewed the opposition meeting on this trip. [What reason does he have to meet with them? Mexico is a democracy and none of the political parties are persecuted! The only country he visited where he met with 'the Opposition' was the UK - and I believe they asked to make a courtesy call, and the Government minister coordinating the trip arranged it! Did John Paul II meet with Allende's opponents when he visited Chile? Don't think so!] President Felipe Calderon appeared with the Pope on every day of the trip, and on each day the Pope addressed the toll of drug cartel violence, which has killed more than 47,000 since Calderon launched a militarized offensive against the cartels at the end of 2006.

The Pope also greeted some prominent victims of drug-cartel violence in a brief session organized by the government. Calderon's office said the Pope had "met" with the victims, sending out a press release with their names. The Vatican spokesman said there was no "meeting" but merely a brief handshake and exchange of words as the Pope left the government palace in Guanajuato city. [Aw, grow up! Of course, Calderon;s PR people would try to make the most of the occasion. visit. He's a politician. But his three presidential rivals did not pass up the chance either to attend the Pope's Mass on Sunday. More importantly, Mexican politics follow a different rule, in which cozying up to the Church is seen as a disadvantage, because separation of Church and state is seen as such a big deal. The Pope's viist will have no practical effect on Calderon's political fortunes (or his party's).]

The National Action Party has suffered in recent polls, trailing the candidate of Mexico's previous ruling party by double digits, and many ascribe its poor showing to public anger over the drug violence. [Unfortunately, the Pope's visit is not bound to change that situation dramatically, much less right away. But apparently that doesn't stop AP from concocting a new accusation against Benedict XVI - that he tries to interfere in the electoral process of other countries! They probably would not have served it up at all if they had not been proven oh-so-wrong in their anticipation of a Benedict boycott by what they portrayed as Mexico's besotted JPII diehards for whom the only good Pope is a dead Pope - or so MSM would have the world believe. Until Benedict XVI arrived in Leon!]

Benedict XVI on 'a God
who responds to our reason'
by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.

March 25, 2012

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“It seems to me very important to announce a God who responds to our reason. We see the rationality of the cosmos; we see that there is something behind it. But we do not see how this God is near to us, how He concerns Himself with me. We do not see how this synthesis of the great and majestic God with the small God orients me, shows me the values of my life. To show this is the nucleus of evangelization.”
-- Pope Benedict XVI, Interview on Flight to Mexico City
March 23, 2012 (Translation from Italian by the author)

---

I.

Customarily, recent Popes, while flying to visit some distant country, give an interview to journalists who are with the Lope on the flight. On Benedict XVI's flight to Mexico, five questions were directed to him by reporters.

The questions concerned naturally the spirit and problems of Mexico and touched on general issues of Catholic thought and purpose. Benedict gave very thoughtful and indeed profound answers to what might seem, at first sight, ordinary questions.

Benedict made it clear that he considered himself to be following the footsteps of John Paul II’s earlier and historic visits to Mexico. He recalled that Mexico had recently changed its many anti-religious and anti-clerical laws so the Church was now much freer to pursue its own religious purposes without excessive governmental control.

Benedict recalls that he himself had previously visited Mexico as a Cardinal. In May of 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger addressed the Latin American bishops in Guadalajara on the condition of the modern intellectual world. (For discussion, see Schall, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, October 1997).

He states right away that Mexico is a country in which 80% of the people are Catholic. But Benedict is quite aware of the issue of drug traffic in Mexico, Latin and North America. This traffic constitutes a profoundly moral issue, not just political or economic.

“We ought to do what is possible against this evil so destructive of humanity and of our youth,” Benedict responds to a reporter. He then adds something that has been emphasized all through Benedict’s pontificate, especially in Spe Salvi, namely the fact of final judgment. Benedict sees this judgment as having something directly to do with the whole drug world—consumers, suppliers, and enablers.

“First, we must announce that God is a judge. We are to be soberly reminded that those who participate in the growing, transporting, protecting, legally enabling, failing to enforce, bribing, killing, and corruption that goes on in this wholly sordid business must understand that they will be judged for the terrible consequences of their acts."

Benedict presents this fact as the essential first step of dealing with the problem, namely, the personal responsibility of every one and anyone involved. Justice will be requited, even if it looks like it will succeed in this world.

To be sure, “God loves us, but He loves us to attract us to the good, to the truth and against evil.” The Church is to address itself to the consciences of everyone, not just Catholics. Its duty is to unmask evil, the idolatry of money which “enslaves” part of humanity. "Lies and deceptions stand behind drugs.” (See Schall, "Why the Drug Problem is a God Problem", Ignatius Insight, February 3, 2011).

Here Benedict sees that behind drugs is a false messiah. Drugs substitute for what is really sought in our longings.

“Man has need of the infinite. If God does not exist, the infinite is created as a parody of Him, an appearance of ‘infinitude’ that can only be a lie. This metaphysical and theological root of the drug trade and its causes shows how important it is that God be present, accessible.

We have a great responsibility before “God the judge who guides us, attracts us to the true and the good. In this sense, the Church ought to unmask this evil, render present the goodness of God, his truth, the true infinity of which we have a great thirst.” It is to this duty to which we must “hasten.”

II.

What about the question of “social justice” on this great Continent? We must first remember that “the Church is not a political power. It is not a political party. Rather, it is a moral reality, a moral power. Insofar as politics itself fundamentally ought to be a moral reality, the Church, on this duality of authorities, has fundamentally something to do with politics.”

Benedict adds that the “first responsibility of the Church is to educate the conscience and thus to create the necessary responsibility, to educate the conscience be it in individual ethics, be it in public ethics.”

Perhaps, the Church does not do enough. Wherever we look, not just in Latin America, we see “in not a few Catholics a certain schizophrenia between individual and public morality. In the sphere of personal morality, they are Catholics and believers. But in the public order they follow a path that does not correspond to the values of the Gospel. These latter are what are necessary for the basis of a just society.” No doubt this principle applies directly to many well-known Catholic politicians in the United States.

“But public morality ought to be a reasonable ethics, understood and appreciated even by non-believers, a morality of reason.” The Pope acknowledges that faith can help reason to be reason, to see many things, both good and evil, that might be overlooked.

“Faith frees reason from false interests.” Frankly, Benedict, on being asked, doubts whether “liberation theology” would help much. With many proper distinctions, the phrase can have a good meaning. (See, Ratzinger, “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation'", Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, August 4, 1987).

What is important is “the common rationality to which the Church offers a fundamental contribution.” Notice that the Church does not claim sole jurisdiction over reason, but rather the abiding duty and responsibility for itself to address this reason on its own grounds.

The Church stakes its stand on, as it were, “the reasonableness of reason” and addresses itself to it from within its own resources but not as reason could not itself be understood and normative.

Today, “Marxist ideology, as it was originally conceived, does not respond to reality.” It cannot “reconstruct” society. New models have to be found. We need patience and decisions.

The notion of a “fraternal and just society” is a worthy one. Everyone in the world would like to see it come about. The Church would freely like to cooperate in this effort to work for and establish what is reasonably possible.

What is especially at stake is freedom of conscience and religion. The irony of this passage is that, in fact, modern governments are deviating more and more from reason and no longer hold themselves bound by it.

III.

The new evangelization in fact began with Vatican II. The Gospel always needs to “express itself” in new ways. The world itself, in its “confusion,” has need of a new “word.” In a secularized world, the “absence of God” and widespread “syncretism” make it difficult to grasp how God is concerned with “my life.”

Behind all this variety of particular situations, however, Benedict sees a common issue. Interestingly, it is not, per se, a question of faith or its loss. Rather, “We must announce that God responds to our reason.”

I note that it is the Pope of Rome who is saying this remarkable truth about reason to the secular world, not vice versa. We need to see how the God who created the cosmos relates to the God who is my judge and destiny, in my very life. In Latin America especially “it is important to see that religion is not only something of reason but also of the heart.”

Finally, following the theme of reason and the heart, the Pope turns to Our Lady of Guadeloupe in Mexico and Our Lady of Cobre in Cuba as a reminder of the love of Mary and her Son for everyone, something of the “heart” that everyone understands.

“But these intuitions of the heart should go along with the reason of faith and with the profundity of the faith that goes beyond (but not contradictory to) reason. We should look not to lose our heart, but to associate heart and reason so that they work together, since alone in this way is man complete and able really to aid the world for a better future.”

Benedict is not a utopian, but he does see how things can be better, but only on the grounds of reason and the truths of faith addressed to it, be it in Mexico, Cuba, or anywhere else.

Monday, March 25, Fifth Week in Lent
SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
[March 25, but celebrated today because yesterday was a Sunday in Lent.]

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1437; Botticelli, 1489; Raphael, 1501
'FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA!...ET VERBUM CARO FACTUS EST'
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/032612.cfm


THE POPE'S DAY

---

FINAL DAY - APOSTOLIC VISIT TO MEXICO

Monday, March 26

09.00 DEPARTURE CEREMONY
International Airport of Guanajuato, Silao
- Address by the Holy Father

09.30 Departure for Santiago de Cuba.




DAY 1 IN CUBA

Monday, March 26
SANTIAGO DE CUBA

14.00 ARRIVAL CEREMONY
Antonio Maceo International Airport
= Address by the Holy Father

17.30 HOLY MASS on the 400th anniversary of the finding
of the image of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre
Plaza Antonio Maceo
- Homily by the Holy Father

---

Re-posting some 'Ratzinger readings' on Mary on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, courtesy of


First, a brief excerpt from Cardinal Ratzinger's first book about Mary, Daughter Zion. But the end notes also refer to a much longer reflection that I had not read before, excerpted from an sarlier book on Mary co-authored by Prof. Ratzinger with Hans Urs von Balthasar, written in the simple but eye-opening exegetic exposition that makes the JESUS OF NAZARETH books so compelling.



Excerpted from
DAUGHTER ZION: Meditations on the Church's Marian belief

The mystery of the annunciation to Mary is not just a mystery of silence. It is above and beyond all that a mystery of grace.

We feel compelled to ask ourselves: Why did Christ really want to be born of a virgin? It was certainly possible for him to have been born of a normal marriage. That would not have affected his divine Sonship, which was not dependent on his virgin birth and could equally well have been combined with another kind of birth.

There is no question here of a downgrading of marriage or of the marriage relationship; nor is it a question of better safeguarding the divine Sonship. Why then?

We find the answer when we open the Old Testament and see that the mystery of Mary is prepared for at every important stage in salvation history. It begins with Sarah, the mother of Isaac, who had been barren, but when she was well on in years and had lost the power of giving life, became, by the power of God, the mother of Isaac and so of the chosen people.

The process continues with Anna, the mother of Samuel, who was likewise barren, but eventually gave birth; with the mother of Samson, or again with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer. The meaning of all these events is the same: that salvation comes, not from human beings and their powers, but solely from God—from an act of his grace.

(From Dogma und Verkundigung, pp. 375ff; quoted in Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year [Ignatius Press, 1992], pp. 99-100.)

The annunciation to Mary happens to a woman, in an insignificant town in half-pagan Galilee, known neither to Josephus nor the Talmud. The entire scene was "unusual for Jewish sensibilities. God reveals himself, where and to whom he wishes." Thus begins a new way, at whose center stands no longer the temple, but the simplicity of Jesus Christ. He is now the true temple, the tent of meeting.

The salutation to Mary (Lk 1:28-32) is modeled closely on Zephaniah 3: 14-17: Mary is the daughter Zion addressed there, summoned to " rejoice", in formed that the Lord is coming to her. Her fear is removed, since the Lord is in her midst to save her.

Laurentin makes the very beautiful remark on this text: "... As so often, the word of God proves to be a mustard seed.... One understands why Mary was so frightened by this message (Lk 1:29). Her fear comes not from lack of understanding nor from that small-hearted anxiety to which some would like to reduce it. It comes from the trepidation of that encounter with God, that immeasurable joy which can make the most hardened natures quake."

In the address of the angel, the underlying motif of Luke's portrait of Mary surfaces: she is in person the true Zion, toward whom hopes have yearned throughout all the devastations of history. She is the true Israel in whom Old and New Covenant, Israel and Church, are indivisibly one. She is the "people of God" bearing fruit through God's gracious power. ...

Transcending all problems, Marian devotion is the rapture of joy over the true, indestructible Israel; it is a blissful entering into the joy of the Magnificat and thereby it is the praise of him to whom the daughter Zion owes her whole self and whom she bears, the true, incorruptible, indestructible Ark of the Covenant.



Excerpted from
Mary: The Church at the Source

"From henceforth all generations will call me blessed" – these words of the Mother of Jesus handed on for us by Luke (Lk 1:48) are at once a prophecy and a charge laid upon the Church of all times.

This phrase from the Magnificat, the spirit-filled prayer of praise that Mary addresses to the living God, is thus one of the principal foundations of Christian devotion to her.

The Church invented nothing new of her own when she began to extol Mary; she did not plummet from the worship of the one God to the praise of man. The Church does what she must; she carries out the task assigned her from the beginning.

At the time Luke was writing this text, the second generation of Christianity had already arrived, and the "family" of the Jews had been joined by that of the Gentiles, who had been incorporated into the Church of Jesus Christ. The expression "all generations, all families" was beginning to be filled with historical reality.

The Evangelist would certainly not have transmitted Mary's prophecy if it had seemed to him an indifferent or obsolete item. He wished in his Gospel to record "with care" what "the eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Lk 1:2-3) had handed on from the beginning, in order to give the faith of Christianity, which was then striding onto the stage of world history, a reliable guide for its future course.

Mary's prophecy numbered among those elements he had "carefully" ascertained and considered important enough to transmit to posterity. This fact assumes that Mary's words were guaranteed by reality: the first two chapters of Luke's Gospel give evidence of a sphere of tradition in which the remembrance of Mary was cultivated and the Mother of the Lord was loved and praised.

They presuppose that the still somewhat naive exclamation of the unnamed woman, "blessed is the womb that bore you" (Lk 11:27), had not entirely ceased to resound but, as Jesus was more deeply understood, had likewise attained a purer form that more adequately expressed its content.

They presuppose that Elizabeth's greeting, "blessed are you among women" (Lk 1:42), which Luke characterizes as words spoken in the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:4 1), had not been a once-only episode.

The continued existence of such praise at least in one strand of early Christian tradition is the basis of Luke's infancy narrative. The recording of these words in the Gospel raises this veneration of Mary from historical fact to a commission laid upon the Church of all places and all times.

The Church neglects one of the duties enjoined upon her when she does not praise Mary. She deviates from the word of the Bible when her Marian devotion falls silent. When this happens, in fact, the Church no longer even glorifies God as she ought.

For though we do know God by means of his creation–"Ever since the creation of the world [God's] invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom 1:20) – we also know him, and know him more intimately, through the history he has shared with man. just as the history of a man's life and the relationships he has formed reveal, what kind of person he is, God shows himself in a history, in men through whom his own character can be seen.

This is so true that he can be "named" through them and identified in them: the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Through his relation with men, through the faces of men, God has made himself accessible and has shown his face.

We cannot try to bypass these human faces in order to get to God alone, in his "pure form", as it were. This would lead us to a God of our own invention in. place of the real God; it would be an arrogant purism that regards its own ideas as more important than God's deeds.

The above cited verse of the Magnificat shows us that Mary is one of the human beings who in an altogether special way belong to the name of God, so much so, in fact, that we cannot praise him rightly if we leave her out of account.

In doing so we forget something about him that must not be forgotten. What, exactly? Our first attempt at an answer could be his maternal side, which reveals itself more purely and more directly in the Son's Mother than anywhere else. But this is, of course, much too general.

In order to praise Mary correctly and thus to glorify God correctly, we must listen to all that Scripture and tradition say concerning the Mother of the Lord and ponder it in our hearts. Thanks to the praise of "all generations" since the beginning, the abundant wealth of Mariology has become almost too vast to survey.

In this brief meditation, I would like to help the reader reflect anew on just a few of the key words Saint Luke has placed in our hands in his inexhaustibly rich infancy narrative.

Let us begin with the angel's greeting to Mary. For Luke, this is the primordial cell of Mariology that God himself wished to present to us through his messenger, the Archangel Gabriel.

Translated literally, the greeting reads thus: "Rejoice, full of grace. The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). "Rejoice": At first sight, this word appears to be no more than the formulaic greeting current in the Greek-speaking world, and tradition has consistently translated it as "hail".

But looked at against the background of the Old Testament, this formula of greeting takes on a more profound significance. Consider, in fact, that the same word used by Luke appears four times in the Septuagint, where in each case it is an announcement of messianic joy (Zeph 3:14; Joel 2:21; Zech 9:9; Lam 4:21).

This greeting marks the beginning of the Gospel in the strict sense; its first word is "joy", the new joy that comes from God and breaks through the world's ancient and interminable sadness. Mary is not merely greeted in some vague or indifferent way; that God greets her and, in her, greets expectant Israel and all of humanity is an invitation to rejoice from the innermost depth of our being.

The reason for our sadness is the futility of our love, the overwhelming power of finitude, death, suffering, and falsehood. We are sad because we are left alone in a contradictory world where enigmatic signals of divine goodness pierce through the cracks yet are thrown in doubt by a power of darkness that is either God's responsibility or manifests his impotence.

"Rejoice": what reason does Mary have to rejoice in such a world? The answer is: "The Lord is with you."

In order to grasp the sense of this announcement, we must return once more to the Old Testament texts upon which it is based, in particular to Zephaniah. These texts invariably contain a double promise to the personification of Israel, daughter Zion: God will come to save, and he will come to dwell in her.

The angel's dialogue with Mary reprises this promise and in so doing makes it concrete in two ways. What in the prophecy is said to daughter Zion is now directed to Mary: She is identified with daughter Zion, she is daughter Zion in person.

In a parallel manner, Jesus, whom Mary is permitted to bear, is identified with Yahweh, the living God. When Jesus comes, it is God himself who comes to dwell in her.

He is the Savior – this is the meaning of the name Jesus, which thus becomes clear from the heart of the promise. René Laurentin has shown through painstaking textual analyses how Luke has used subtle word play to deepen the theme of God's indwelling.

Even early traditions portray God as dwelling "in the womb" of Israel–in the Ark of the Covenant. This dwelling "in the womb" of Israel now becomes quite literally real in the Virgin of Nazareth.

Mary herself thus becomes the true Ark of the Covenant in Israel, so that the symbol of the Ark gathers an incredibly realistic force: God in the flesh of a human being, which flesh now becomes his dwelling place in the midst of creation.

The angel's greeting – the center of Mariology not invented by the human mind – has led us to the theological foundation of this Mariology. Mary is identified with daughter Zion, with the bridal people of God.

Everything said about the ecclesia in the Bible is true of her, and vice versa: the Church learns concretely what she is and is meant to be by looking at Mary. Mary is her mirror, the pure measure of her being, because Mary is wholly within the measure of Christ and of God, is through and through his habitation.

And what other reason could the ecclesia have for existing than to become a dwelling for God in the world? God does not deal with abstractions. He is a person, and the Church is a person. The more that each one of us becomes a person, person in the sense of a fit habitation for God, daughter Zion, the more we become one, the more we are the Church, and the more the Church is herself.

The typological identification of Mary and Zion leads us, then, into the depths. This manner of connecting the Old and New Testaments is much more than an interesting historical construction by means of which the Evangelist links promise and fulfillment and reinterprets the Old Testament in the light of what has happened in Christ.

Mary is Zion in person, which means that her life wholly embodies what is meant by "Zion". She does not construct a self-enclosed individuality whose principal concern is the originality of its own ego. She does not wish to be just this one human being who defends and protects her own ego. She does not regard life as a stock of goods of which everyone wants to get as much as possible for himself.

Her life is such that she is transparent to God, "habitable" for him. Her life is such that she is a place for God. Her life sinks her into the common measure of sacred history, so that what appears in her is, not the narrow and constricted ego of an isolated individual, but the whole, true Israel.

This "typological identification" is a spiritual reality; it is life lived out of the spirit of Sacred Scripture; it is rootedness in the faith of the Fathers and at the same time expansion into the height and breadth of the coming promises.

We understand why the Bible time and again compares the just man to the tree whose roots drink from the living waters of eternity and whose crown catches and synthesizes the light of heaven.

Let us return once more to the angel's greeting. Mary is called "full of grace". The Greek word for grace (charis) derives from the same root as the words joy and rejoice (chara, chairein). Thus, we see once more in a different form the same context to which we were led by our earlier comparison with the Old Testament.

Joy comes from grace. One who is in the state of grace can rejoice with deep-going, constant joy. By the same token, grace is joy.

What is grace? This question thrusts itself upon our text. Our religious mentality has reified this concept much too much; it regards grace as a supernatural something we carry about in our soul. And since we perceive very little of it, or nothing at all, it has gradually become irrelevant to us, an empty word belonging to Christian jargon, which seems to have lost any relationship to the lived reality of our everyday life.

In reality, grace is a relational term: it does not predicate something about an I, but something about a connection between I and Thou, between God and man.

"Full of grace" could therefore also be translated as: "You are full of the Holy Spirit; your life is intimately connected with God." Peter Lombard, the author of what was the universal theological manual for approximately three centuries during the Middle Ages, propounded the thesis that grace and love are identical but that love "is the Holy Spirit".

Grace in the proper and deepest sense of the word is not some thing that comes from God; it is God himself. Redemption means that God, acting as God truly does, gives us nothing less than himself.

The gift of God is God – he who as the Holy Spirit is communion with us. "Full of grace" therefore means, once again, that Mary is a wholly open human being, one who has opened herself entirely, one who has placed herself in God's hands boldly, limitlessly, and without fear for her own fate.

It means that she lives wholly by and in relation to God. She is a listener and a prayer, whose mind and soul are alive to the manifold ways in which the living God quietly calls to her. She is one who prays and stretches forth wholly to meet God; she is therefore a lover, who has the breadth and magnanimity of true love, but who has also its unerring powers of discernment and its readiness to suffer.

Luke has flooded this fact with the light of yet another round of motifs. In his subtle way he constructs a parallel between Abraham, the father of believers, and Mary, the mother of believers.

To be in a state of grace means: to be a believer. Faith includes steadfastness, confidence, and devotion, but also obscurity. When man's relation to God, the soul's open availability for him, is characterized as "faith", this word expresses the fact that the infinite distance between Creator and creature is not blurred in the relation of the human I to the divine Thou.

It means that the model of "partnership", which has become so dear to us, breaks down when it comes to God, because it cannot sufficiently express the majesty of God and the hiddenness of his working. It is precisely the man who has been opened up entirely into God who comes to accept God's otherness and the hiddenness of his will, which can pierce our will like a sword.

The parallel between Mary and Abraham begins in the joy of the promised son but continues apace until the dark hour when she must ascend Mount Moriah, that is, until the Crucifixion of Christ.

Yet it does not end there; it also extends to the miracle of Isaac's rescue - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Abraham, father of faith -this title describes the unique position of the patriarch in the piety of Israel and in the faith of the Church.

But is it not wonderful that-without any revocation of the special status of Abraham – a "mother of believers" now stands at the beginning of the new people and that our faith again and again receives from her pure and high image its measure and its path?

[Excerpted from the chapter "'Hail, Full of Grace': Elements of Marian Piety According to the Bible", from Mary: The Church at the Source by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar, pp. 61-69. Footnotes have been omitted.

NB: Ignatius Press published this early this year but I have not found the date of the original publication which was in German.]

I was working on this particular post earlier this afternoon, while watching the Pope's departure from Mexico when my monitor went black, and I couldn't do anything about it till late this afternoon... So first, this headline from one of the major Mexican newspapers gives the official number for the attendance at the Mass in Parque Bicentenario, Silao, yesterday:


More than 650,000 attended the Pope's Mass


Take that, AP, which persists in reporting the crowd as 350,000 (the pre-arrival estimate).

The report begins thus:

The state government [of Guanajuato confirmed that more than 650,000 were at the Pope's Eucharistic celebration at the Parque Bicentenario on Sunday.

Governor Juan Manuel Oliva also said he was very happy at the way the public behaved.

He welcomed Father Federico Lombardi's statement that the Mass was a historic event and one of the most important in the Pontificate of Benedict XVI...


The other story I had was from something the commentators at Telemundo recounted as they showed coverage of the Pope leaving Colegio Miraflores for the airport. I found the corresponding story in a Mexican newspaper and on the CNN-Mexico site, which also had a photo. This is the CNN story - I included a couple of details from the newspaper report.

Benedict XVI:
'Mexico will always be
in my prayers and in my heart'


LEON, Mexico, March 25 (Translated from CNN Mexico) - Pope Benedict XVI, in an unscheduled act, came out after dinner Sunday night from the Colegio de Miraflores where he was staying in Leon to greet a few hundred faithful who had been serenading him outside the college grounds. He was accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, Mons. Christoph Pierre, along with Mons. Gaenswein and his security chief.

"Thank you very much for your enthusiasm. You've made me very happy," he said. "I have made a number of trips but I have never seen such enthusiasm," he continued to cheering and chanting from the faithful.

[Since he arrived Friday night, groups of faithful, usually, with a mariachi band, had been waiting outside Miraflores hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Many more were waiting Sunday night.]




The Pope was presented a gold-trimmed white sombrero charro by a donor who had given one to John Paul II years ago (a hat which has ended up in a current exhibit on John Paul II in Mexico City).

"Now I can say that Mexico will always be in my heart. I have always prayed much for Mexico, but I will be praying even more now", eh continued. "Now I can understand why John Paul II said he felt like he was a Mexican Pope".

"Dear friends, I would love to be with you much longer, but you know that tomorrow morning I leave for Cuba, so I must retire for the night, but I leave you with my blessing".

He gave the blessing In Italian, and ended with a 'Buenas noches".

He went back to his convent residence inside the campus as the mariachis broke out in the Mexican universal song of affection, "Cielito Lindo".

DEPARTURE FROM MEXICO
Leon/Guanajuato International Airport


Pope Benedict XVI left Mexico en route to Cuba on Monday morning, after a brief but intense first leg of a six-day Apostolic Voyage to Latin America.

In his remarks at the official farewell ceremony at Guanajuato international airport, where he was seen off by President Felipe Calderon and his wife, the Holy Father thanked all those who contributed to making his pilgrimage to Mexico a success.

Bidding the people of Mexico farewell, he prayed that they might remain, "for ever in the love of Christ, in which we meet each other and will again meet with one another."



Here is the official Vatican translation to English of the Holy Father's departure remarks:

---

Mr President,
Distinguished Authorities,
Your Eminences,
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Mexican friends,

My brief but intense visit to Mexico is now coming to an end. Yet this is not the end of my affection and my closeness to a country so very dear to me. I leave full of unforgettable experiences, not the least of which are the innumerable courtesies and signs of affection which I have received.

With all my heart I thank the President for his kind words to me, and for all that the authorities have done for this memorable Journey. And I thank the many people who have helped, even in the smallest details, to make the events of these days go smoothly.

I beg the Lord that all these efforts may not be in vain, and that with his help, they may produce abundant and long-lasting fruits in the life of faith, hope and charity of León and Guanajuato, in Mexico and the other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Recognizing the faith in Jesus Christ which I have felt resounding in your hearts, and your affectionate devotion to his Mother, invoked here with beautiful titles like Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Light, a light I have seen reflected in your faces, I wish to reiterate clearly and with vigour a plea to the Mexican people to remain faithful to yourselves, not to let yourselves be intimidated by the powers of evil, but to be valiant and to work to ensure that the sap of your Christian roots may nourish your present and your future.

I have also seen for myself expressions of concern for various aspects of the life in this beloved country, some more recent and others longstanding, which continue to cause such great distress. I take them with me as well, as I share in the joys and the suffering of my Mexican brothers and sisters, so as to place them in prayer at the foot of the Cross, in the heart of Christ, from which flow the blood and water of redemption.

In these circumstances, I strongly urge Mexican Catholics, and all men and women of good will, not to yield to a utilitarian mentality which always leads to the sacrifice of the weakest and most defenceless.

I invite you to a common effort so that society can be renewed from the ground up, in order to attain a life of dignity, justice and peace for everyone.

For Catholics, this contribution to the common good is also a requirement of that essential dimension of the Gospel which is human promotion and a supreme expression of charity. For this reason, the Church exhorts all her faithful to be good citizens, conscious of their responsibility to be concerned for the good of all, both in their personal lives and throughout society.

Dear Mexican friends, I say to you “Adios!” in the traditional sense of this fine Hispanic expression: remain with God! Yes, “Adios!”; for ever in the love of Christ, in which we meet each other and will again meet with one another. May the Lord bless you and may Mary Most Holy protect you!

---

Cuba, Day 1:
Arrival in Santiago




Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba on Monday afternoon, at the start of the second leg of his two-nation Apostolic Voyage to Latin America.

He was welcomed at Santiago de Cuba's international airport by Cuban President Raul Castro, the Holy Father thanked the civil and religious authorities for their welcome, and also greeted the diplomatic corps.

He recalled the visit of his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, saying, "[He] left an indelible mark on the soul of all Cubans. For many, whether believers or not, his example and his teachings are a luminous guide for their personal lives and their public activity in the service of the common good of the nation."



Here is the official Vatican translation of the Pope's arrival remarks:

---

Mr President,
Dear Cardinals and Brother Bishops,
Distinguished Authorities,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear People of Cuba,

Thank you, Mr President, for your welcome and your kind words, with which you also conveyed the sentiments of respect of the Cuban government and people for the Successor of Peter.

I greet the civil authorities here present, as well as the members of the diplomatic corps. I cordially greet the President of the Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba; the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, and my other Brother Bishops of Cuba, and I assure them of my deep spiritual closeness.

Finally, I greet with heartfelt affection all the faithful of the Catholic Church in Cuba, the beloved people of this beautiful island, and all Cubans wherever they may be. You are always present in my heart and prayers, especially in the days preceding the much anticipated moment of my visit to you, which the grace and goodness of God has made possible.

Standing here among you, I cannot but recall the historic visit to Cuba of my predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, who left an indelible mark on the soul of all Cubans. For many, whether believers or not, his example and his teachings are a luminous guide for their personal lives and their public activity in the service of the common good of the nation.

His visit to this island was like a gentle breath of fresh air which gave new strength to the Church in Cuba, awakening in many a renewed awareness of the importance of faith and inspiring them to open their hearts to Christ, while at the same time kindling their hope and encouraging their desire to work fearlessly for a better future.

One of the important fruits of that visit was the inauguration of a new phase in the relationship in Cuba between Church and State, in a new spirit of cooperation and trust, even if many areas remain in which greater progress can and ought to be made, especially as regards the indispensable public contribution that religion is called to make in the life of society.

I am pleased to share your joy as you celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the holy statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. Since the beginning she has been very much present in the personal lives of Cubans as well as in the great events of the nation, especially since independence, for she is honoured by all as the true mother of the Cuban people.

Devotion to the Virgen Mambisa has sustained the faith and inspired the defence and promotion of all that gives dignity to the human condition and its fundamental rights, and continues to do so today with ever greater strength, giving visible witness to the fruitfulness of the preaching of the Gospel in these lands, and to the profound Christian roots which shape the deepest identity of the Cuban soul.

Following in the footsteps of countless pilgrims down the centuries, I too wish to go to El Cobre to kneel at the feet of the Mother of God, to thank her for her concern for all her Cuban children, and to ask her to guide the future of this beloved nation in the ways of justice, peace, freedom and reconciliation.

I come to Cuba as a pilgrim of charity, to confirm my brothers and sisters in the faith and strengthen them in the hope which is born of the presence of God’s love in our lives.

I carry in my heart the just aspirations and legitimate desires of all Cubans, wherever they may be, their sufferings and their joys, their concerns and their noblest desires, those of the young and the elderly, of adolescents and children, of the sick and workers, of prisoners and their families, and of the poor and those in need.

Many parts of the world today are experiencing a time of particular economic difficulty, that not a few people regard as part of a profound spiritual and moral crisis which has left humanity devoid of values and defenceless before the ambition and selfishness of certain powers which take little account of the true good of individuals and families. We can no longer continue in the same cultural and moral direction which has caused the painful situation that many suffer.

On the other hand, real progress calls for an ethics which focuses on the human person and takes account of the most profound human needs, especially man’s spiritual and religious dimension.

In the hearts and minds of many, the way is thus opening to an ever greater certainty that the rebirth of society demands upright men and women of firm moral convictions, with noble and strong values who will not be manipulated by dubious interests and who are respectful of the unchanging and transcendent nature of the human person.

Dear friends, I am convinced that Cuba, at this moment of particular importance in its history, is already looking to the future, and thus is striving to renew and broaden its horizons.

Of great help in this enterprise will be the fine patrimony of spiritual and moral values which fashioned the nation’s true identity, and which stand out in the work and the life of many distinguished fathers of the country, like Blessed José Olallo y Valdés, the Servant of God Félix Varela, and the acclaimed José Martí.

For her part, the Church too has diligently contributed to the cultivation of those values through her generous and selfless pastoral mission, and renews her commitment to work tirelessly the better to serve all Cubans.

I ask the Lord to bless abundantly this land and its children, in particular those who feel disadvantaged, the excluded and all those who suffer in body or spirit. At the same time, I pray that, through the intercession of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, he will grant to all a future of hope, solidarity and harmony. Thank you.

---

Pope Benedict XVI
touches down in Cuba


SANTIAGO, CUBA, March 26 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba on Monday in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor, saying he holds great affection for Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits and has heartfelt hopes for reconciliation.

President Raul Castro, 82, warmly greeted the Pope, who said he was coming as “a pilgrim of charity” as he arrived at the sweltering airport in Santiago, Cuba’s second largest city.

The Pontiff, who last week said Marxism “no longer responds to reality,” gave a more gentle tweak to his hosts by expressing sympathy for all islanders, including prisoners.

“I carry in my heart the just aspirations and legitimate desires of all Cubans, wherever they may be,” he said. “Those of the young and the elderly, of adolescents and children, of the sick and workers, of prisoners and their families, and of the poor and those in need.”

In his own remarks, the Cuban leader assured Benedict his country favours complete religious liberty and has good relations with all religious institutions. He also criticized the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and defended the socialist ideal of providing for those less fortunate.

Benedict’s three-day stay in Cuba will inevitably spark comparisons to John Paul II’s historic 1998 tour, when Fidel Castro traded his army fatigues for a suit and tie to greet the pope and where John Paul uttered the now-famous words: “May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba.”

In his remarks 14 years ago, John Paul singled out Cuban prisoners jailed for their ideas, something Benedict did not do in Monday’s speech. [I knew I had to fact-check this particular statement. I went back to JPII's airport arrival statement in 1998 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1998/january/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19980121_lahavana-arrival_en.html and this is what he said, exactly:"I wish to express my admiration for so many of the Cuban faithful for their fidelity to Christ, to the Church and to the Pope, as also for the respect they have shown for the more genuine religious traditions learned from their elders, and for the courage and persevering spirit of commitment demonstrated in the midst of their sufferings and ardent hopes." Where is it that he even mentions 'prisoners'?]

Cuba has released dozens of political prisoners in recent years, often through agreements with the Church, and denies it holds any now.

Unlike in Mexico, where multitudes showed up to greet the 84-year-old Pope at the airport, Cubans were kept away from the tightly controlled arrival ceremony, which took place on the tarmac in steamy 31C weather.

Flag-waving well-wishers lined the streets leading from the airport into town as Benedict rode past in the glass-walled popemobile, though the numbers were nothing like those seen in Mexico.

Later, the Pope was to rally tens of thousands of believers at an outdoor Mass in the colonial city’s main square on a blue-and-white platform crowned by graceful arches in the shape of a papal mitre. Benedict will spend the night in a house beside the shrine of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre.

In Mexico, which remains devoted to John Paul, Benedict appeared to lay to rest the impression that he is a distant, cold Pontiff whose appeal can’t compete with his predecessor’s. [Forgive me for having to take every occasion to point out how absurd and false are all the claims stated or implied in this kind of statement! It's not that the reporters do not realize the absurdity and fallacy of what they are saying - it's that they are deliberately planting and reiterating the fallacy to be consistent with their stubbornly-held prejudices and thus reinforce the myth they wish to leave behind about Joseph Ratzinger for future lazy and sloppy researchers!]

Some 350,000 people welcomed him warmly at a mass on Sunday and he delighted the crowd by briefly donning a Mexican sombrero before the ceremony.

The reception was inevitably less fervent in Cuba, where only about 10 per cent of the people are practising Catholics.


The above doesn't look like 'less fervent' to me!


The story syndicated in the McClatchy newspapers also reports on the Cuban Americans who came to Cuba for this occasion...

Pope Benedict arrives in Cuba
for first papal visit in 14 years
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday, March 26, 2012

SANTIAGO, Cuba, March 26 - Pope Benedict XVI arrived Monday in this sweltering city along Cuba's southeastern coast, the first stop in a whirlwind tour of this communist island aimed at building on the spiritual gains that his predecessor, John Paul II, made during a historic visit 14 years ago.

Cuban President Raul Castro, who wore a business suit and sported a red tie, met Pope Benedict. In his arrival remarks, Benedict said Cubans "wherever they may be" were in his prayers.

Applying subtle criticism of the authoritarian government in Cuba and a U.S. trade embargo on the island that's more than 50 years old, Benedict said he prayed for guidance for "the future of this beloved nation in the ways of justice, peace, freedom and reconciliation."

Tweaking the Castro government, Benedict said, "Greater progress can and ought to be made" in relations between the church and state. In a criticism of the United States and other developed countries, Benedict said "not a few people regard" the world's current economic troubles "as part of a profound spiritual and moral crisis" afflicting the developed world.

Benedict was scheduled to celebrate Mass in Santiago later Monday afternoon, pay homage to Cuba's patron saint on Tuesday and then fly on to Havana, where he'll celebrate Mass at the massive Revolution Square and meet again with Raul Castro.

Two planes carrying pilgrims from Miami, some of whom were born in Cuba but left once Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, arrived before the pope.

The pilgrims went directly to Our Lady of Charity shrine in the small mining town of El Cobre, which was open until noon as a special gesture for the pope's visit. The statue of Our Lady of Charity had been moved from a perch high above the altar to a position in front of the altar.

The Pope's trip coincides with the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the small, doll-like wooden statue of the Virgin Mary bobbing in the Bay of Nipe after a violent storm. From that day forward, Catholics have revered her as Our Lady of Charity. For centuries, the faithful have prayed to Our Lady of Charity, now Cuba's patron saint, for her help.

The visit Monday was an emotional experience for many of the Miami pilgrims. Most headed to the front of the hilltop church and knelt in silent prayer.

Olga Saladrigas, a resident of the Kendall area outside Miami, burst into tears.

"Being here with our Lady of Charity is one of the greatest blessings of my life," she said. "I talked with her about a blessing for my family and this country."

She added, "It is my land, it is my country and it is my people here. I believe we need to get along, build bridges _ not walls _ for a better future."

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who led the pilgrims, said their reception had been warm.

"For many of my pilgrims it was a first visit to Cuba _ or a first visit back," he said.

"I think (Benedict) will give a message of inspiration and uplifting to the Cuban people," Wenski said. "It won't be a political message, but Cubans are tired of politics. It will transcend politics, but in this transcending of politics, it may be a transforming experience."

As part of the pilgrimage, Wenski will celebrate Mass on Tuesday in the Havana Cathedral, one of the oldest in the Americas.

While the German-born Pope Benedict lacks the charm and charisma of his Polish predecessor, his visit has stirred hopes among Cuban believers and Cuban exiles in Miami and elsewhere for change in an island nation that the Castro brothers have ruled for more than five decades, first Fidel, and then, since 2006, Raul.

"We await the Pope with much joy. The Cuban people love the Pope. The Cuban Catholic Church is very proud that the Pope has shown a preference for Cuba, because it's the second such visit in which a Pope has come," said Jose Julio Garcia, who was interviewed Sunday as his four-truck caravan, carrying dozens of Roman Catholic worshippers from the city of Camaguey, paused along the way to Santiago, Cuba's second-largest city. "The joy and the peace of our father, we hope, will accompany us and ... we want to show all of our faith."

Pope Benedict, 84, was to celebrate an outdoor Mass in Santiago at the Plaza of the Revolution Antonio Maceo under a large blue and white canopy topped with metalwork that mimics the lines of a chapel. He was to stay the night at a restored home in El Cobre for retired priests to which a Miami furniture store donated a new 'memory foam' mattress. On Tuesday morning, he'll pray at the shrine before leaving for Havana.

Church leaders in Cuba and the United States are walking a fine line. On one hand, they're trying to boost the influence of the Catholic Church in Cuba, which has made tremendous gains in followers and charity work since John Paul II's 1998 visit.

On the other hand, they're under pressure from staunchly Catholic Cuban exiles in the United States and Europe who think the Church should use its moral authority to pose a stronger challenge to Cuba's autocratic regime and help bring about its end. [But they don't live in Cuba! They do not seem to understand that a persecuted minority cannot survive by being uncompromisingly defiant, that compromise is necessary and possible for survival and for getting concessions incrementally. They, the fortunate ones, left Cuba precisely because they were not ready to make any compromises. The Church in Cuba, which obviously cannot uproot itself, has to look after hewr own people, while trying to extend social assistance to even less fortunate Cubans regardless of their religion or lack thereof.]

Even before he arrived, Pope Benedict caused a stir by suggesting during his visit to Mexico that Cuba's Marxist ideology is outdated and the country needs a new model. Overlooked were his comments that changes should come slowly and in a deliberate process, not unlike the sorts of openings already happening in a small scale under President Raul Castro.

Raul, 81, who assumed the presidency in 2006 when Fidel, now 85, fell seriously ill, has expanded self-employment, shrunk government jobs and scaled back subsidies to state enterprises. The communist government, however, continues to have firm control over many aspects of public life, and there are no opposition parties.

The government has been closely following the activities of the so-called Ladies in White, a small movement of women who wear white and gather at Masses at Catholic churches in Cuba to protest the treatment of the island's prisoners of conscience.

They're expected to protest sometime during the papal visit to Santiago, and the dissident group is still holding out hope that it will be able to speak with the Pope when he arrives in Havana on Tuesday.

After a protest march Sunday outside the Santa Rita church in Havana's Miramar neighborhood, the group's leader, Berta Soler, said that all they wanted was "just a moment" with the Pope to discuss human rights. The Castro government doesn't want the Ladies in White to attend the Pope's Mass in Havana's Jose Marti Revolution Square, but Soler vowed that the women will make their presence known.

"We will be there, all of us, dressed in white," she said. "We won't stop until human rights are respected."

After Sunday's rally of more than 30 Ladies in White, Soler gave instructions for Tuesday's.

"You can't bring bags, Ladies in White," she said. "You can't bring photos. Don't bring signs. We won't be provoked. You need to wear comfortable shoes. Bring a little water. Bring a cookie, a caramel or something to eat."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/03/2012 08:31]

Day 1 in Cuba
Mass in Santiago




A news agency estimated the crowd at 200,000, which is huge for Cuba.


Celebrating Mary in Cuba
on the Feast of the Annunciation

March 26, 2012







Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass last night to mark the feast of the Annunciation in the main square of Santiago de Cuba, with the unexpected attendance of President Raul Castro. Correspondent Philippa Hitchen has this report.

Nothing is impossible for God: those words from St Luke’s Gospel of the angel Gabriel to Mary, as she learns that God has chosen her to be the mother of His son, rang out as the sun set across the central square in Santiago de Cuba where Pope Benedict celebrated Mass on Monday marking the feast of the Annunciation.

Mary, the Pope explained in his homily, occupies a central place in the great mystery of the Incarnation at the heart of our Christian faith.

She also occupies a central place in the life of the Church in Cuba which has been celebrating a Jubilee year for the 400th anniversary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, an ancient wooden statue which was found floating in the sea off the northern coast of the island by three local fishermen.

Normally the precious image is kept in the Basilica shrine which the Pope visits on Tuesday morning, but for the whole of the past year it has been travelling on pilgrimage around the towns and villages of this island nation, drawing unexpectedly large crowds and reinforcing the public face of the Church in this communist country (one of only four surviving Communist regimes in the world, along with China, North Korea and Vietnam).

The main reason for this papal pilgrimage to Cuba is to symbolically close this Jubilee year, and so, the 60-cm high statue of Our Lady with a golden mantle was brought in a glass case on an open top car to the Mass, making her own tour of ecstatic crowds before the Popemobile followed close behind.

Despite a lone protester shouting anti-government slogans at the start of the Mass, there were few signs of the tensions that continue to characterise Church–state relations in this country, a problem the Pope referred to in his meeting with President Raul Castro at the airport earlier in the day.

But in his homily he spoke of the ‘effort, daring and self-sacrifice’ that people here face every day as they struggle to build a more open and inclusive society – a goal which many here are hoping that this papal visit to Cuba will help to encourage.





Here is the official translation of the Holy Father's homily:

---

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I give thanks to God who has allowed me to come to you and to make this much anticipated trip. I greet Bishop Dionisio García Ibáñez, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, and I thank him for his warm words of welcome offered on behalf of everyone.

I greet the Bishops of Cuba and those who have come from elsewhere, and the priests, religious men and women, seminarians and lay faithful present for this celebration. I cannot forget all those who, for reasons of illness, advanced age or for other motives, are not able to join us. I also greet the civil Authorities who have graciously wished to join us.

This first Holy Mass which I have the joy of celebrating during my pastoral visit to this country, takes place in the context of the Marian Jubilee Year called to honour and to venerate Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Patroness of Cuba, in this fourth centenary of the discovery and presence of her venerable statue in this blessed land.

I cannot forget the sacrifices and the dedication with which this jubilee has been prepared, especially spiritually. I was deeply touched to hear of the fervour with which Mary has been welcomed and invoked by so many Cubans during her journey to every corner of the island.

These important events in the Church in Cuba take on a special lustre because of the feast celebrated today throughout the universal Church: the Annunciation of the Lord to the Virgin Mary.

The Incarnation of the Son of God is the central mystery of the Christian faith, and in it Mary occupies a central place. But, we ask, what is the meaning of this mystery? And, what importance does it have for our concrete lives?

First of all, let us see what the Incarnation means. In the Gospel of Saint Luke we heard the words of the angel to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).

In Mary, the Son of God is made man, fulfilling in this way the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means ‘God-with-us’” (Is 7:14).

Jesus, the Word made flesh, is truly God-with-us, who has come to live among us and to share our human condition. The Apostle Saint John expresses it in the following way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).

The expression, “became flesh” points to our human reality in most concrete and tangible way. In Christ, God has truly come into the world, he has entered into our history, he has set his dwelling among us, thus fulfilling the deepest desire of human beings that the world may truly become a home worthy of humanity.

On the other hand, when God is put aside, the world becomes an inhospitable place for man, and frustrates creation’s true vocation to be a space for the covenant, for the “Yes” to the love between God and humanity who responds to him. Mary did so as the first fruit of believers with her unreserved “Yes” to the Lord.

For this reason, contemplating the mystery of the Incarnation, we cannot fail to turn our eyes to her so as to be filled with wonder, gratitude and love at seeing how our God, coming into the world, wished to depend upon the free consent of one of his creatures.

Only from the moment when the Virgin responded to the angel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), did the eternal Word of the Father began his human existence in time.

It is touching to see how God not only respects human freedom: he almost seems to require it. And we see also how the beginning of the earthly life of the Son of God was marked by a double “Yes” to the saving plan of the Father - that of Christ and that of Mary.

This obedience to God is what opens the doors of the world to the truth, to salvation. God has created us as the fruit of his infinite love; hence, to live in accordance with his will is the way to encounter our genuine identity, the truth of our being, while apart from God we are alienated from ourselves and are hurled into the void.

The obedience of faith is true liberty, authentic redemption, which allows us to unite ourselves to the love of Jesus in his determination to conform himself to the will of the Father.

Redemption is always this process of the lifting up of the human will to full communion with the divine will (cf. Lectio Divina with the parish priests of Rome, 18 February 2010).

Dear brothers and sisters, today we praise the Most Holy Virgin for her faith, and with Saint Elizabeth we too say, “Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45).

As Saint Augustine said, Mary conceived Christ by faith in her heart before she conceived him physically in her womb; Mary believed and what she believed was came to be in her (cf. Sermo 215, 4: PL 38, 1074).

Let us ask the Lord to strengthen our faith, to make it active and fruitful in love. Let us implore him that, like her, we may welcome the word of God into our hearts, and carry it out with docility and constancy.

The Virgin Mary, by her unique role in the mystery of Christ, represents the exemplar and model of the Church. The Church, like the Mother of Christ, is also called to embrace in herself the mystery of God who comes to live in her.

Dear brothers and sisters, I know with what effort, boldness and self-sacrifice you work every day so that, in the concrete circumstances of your country, and at this moment in history, the Church will better present her true face as a place in which God draws near and encounters humanity.

The Church, the living body of Christ, has the mission of prolonging on earth the salvific presence of God, of opening the world to something greater than itself, to the love and the light of God.

It is worth the effort, dear brothers and sisters, to devote your entire life to Christ, to grow in his friendship each day and to feel called to proclaim the beauty and the goodness of his life to every person, to all our brothers and sisters.

I encourage you in this task of sowing the word of God in the world and offering to everyone the true nourishment of the body of Christ. Easter is already approaching; let us determine to follow Jesus without fear or doubts on his journey to the Cross.

May we accept with patience and faith whatever opposition or affliction may come, with the conviction that, in his Resurrection, he has crushed the power of evil which darkens everything, and has brought the dawn of a new world, the world of God, of light, of truth and happiness. The Lord will not fail to bless with abundant fruits the generosity of your commitment.

The mystery of the Incarnation, in which God draws near to us, also shows us the incomparable dignity of every human life. In his loving plan, from the beginning of creation, God has entrusted to the family founded on matrimony the most lofty mission of being the fundamental cell of society and an authentic domestic church.

With this certainty, you, dear husbands and wives, are called to be, especially for your children, a real and visible sign of the love of Christ for the Church. Cuba needs the witness of your fidelity, your unity, your capacity to welcome human life, especially that of the weakest and most needy.

Dear brothers and sisters, before the gaze of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, I appeal to you to reinvigorate your faith, that you may live in Christ and for Christ, and armed with peace, forgiveness and understanding, that you may strive to build a renewed and open society, a better society, one more worthy of humanity, and which better reflects the goodness of God. Amen.

---

After the Mass, the Holy Father honored the Virgin of Cobre with a Golden Rose.



He had a brief chat with President Castro afterwards.


Note on the tropical white shirt worn by President Castro and most of the Cuban men present. It is called a guayabera, usually white, of light material, trimmed with vertical rows of simple cutwork and/or narrow pleats, and is meant to be worn untucked. Introduced to the Philippines in the 17th century thereabouts via the galleon trade that originated from Acapulco, it evolved into the formal Filipino man's shirt called the barong Tagalog (Tagalog shirt), generally woven from undyed pineapple fiber(beige or offwhite), in which the discrete cutwork of the guayabera has been replaced by equally discrete embroidery on the collar and the front panels, and sometimes the sleeves. It is equivalent to the formal Western suit and tie and even evening men's wear.