Top German bishop
assures Pope of solidarity
BERLIN, April 18 (AP) — The top bishop in Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland offered the Pope "unreserved solidarity" on Sunday as the Pontiff marks the fifth anniversary of his election amid the
worldwide sex abuse scandal.
['Worlwide? Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Malta - even throw in the US and Canada - is 'worldwide'? It's only the MSM that is calling it that because they know if they say it often enough, it sticks!]
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, the head of the German bishops’ conference, wrote in a congratulatory letter that "even if we are experiencing difficult times at the moment, we must not become fainthearted."
He thanked the {ope for his "encouraging words, which testify to living belief in our Lord,"
but did not elaborate.
[Zollitsch was writing the Pope, not the media, and if the media not 'elaboration' for that statement, the Pope certainly does not!]
The Pope’s native Germany has been among the countries shaken this year by allegations of sexual abuse by clerics. Benedict hasn’t yet spoken directly about the cases in Germany.
[Oh yes, he did - directly to Mons. Zollitsch at the Vatican, after which Zollitsch gave a news conference to convey the Pope's sentiments. But all MSM seem to have forgotten that ever took place! Not that, from the way AP reports it, most Germans would care anyway what the Pope said even if he said anything. Yes, 'Wir sind Papst' at a history-making moment, but after that, perhaps Der Spiegel's viciousness typifies the 'contempt' they have!]
Benedict can rely on the German Church’s "full support" in the coming years, Zollitsch wrote. "You can be sure of our unreserved solidarity," he added.
Benedict was elected five years ago Monday to succeed the late Pope John Paul II.
"Pope Benedict is giving us a spiritual papacy that is marked by theological depth," Zollitsch wrote in a separate article for the Vatican’s daily newspaper,
L’Osservatore Romano.
"With a fine and sure touch, he points to the modern threats to human life that hide behind, for example, globalization and faith in progress," such as unrestrained capitalism and excesses in biotechnology, the archbishop wrote.
Zollitsch highlighted Benedict’s search for dialogue with other religions and said that he has a deep connection with Jews — "for all the commotion around the Williamson affair."
The Pope drew criticism for his handling of British Bishop Richard Williamson — one of a group of ultraconservative bishops whose excommunications were reversed just as Williamson was shown on Swedish television asserting that historical evidence was against the Nazis having gassed millions of Jews.
Zollitsch didn’t refer directly to the abuse scandal, but wrote that
"even if there are dark hours in our Church, every moment is valuable in this papacy, which lives from the full strength of the Lord and so is marked by hope, as the Pope himself has said."
Which reminds me that I still have to translate that OR article by Zollitsch....[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/04/2010 18:25]