'REGINA CAELI' TODAY:
World Day of Prayer for Vocations
Recalling that this Sunday is also known as the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, the Holy Father spoke on the Church's World Day of Prayer for Vocations, calling on the faithful to pray for more vocations and to pray for our priests to be stronger witnesses to the Gospel of Christ in their own lives as an example to the flock entrusted to their spiritual care.
He also reminded the faithful that today the Church beatified two priests - the 18th century Carmelite Angelo Paoli who was known as Rome's 'apostle of charity' and 'father of the poor', beatified in St. John's Lateran; and Jose Tous y Soler, a Catalonian Capuchin who founded a charitable sisterhood, and was beatified today in Barcelona.
This is what he said in English:
This Sunday the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
As we rejoice in the new life that the Risen Lord has won for us, let us ask him to inspire many young people to centre their hearts on the things of Heaven (cf. Col 3:1-2) and to offer themselves joyfully in the service of Christ our Good Shepherd in the priesthood and religious life.
Confidently entrusting this petition to Mary, Queen of Heaven, I invoke upon you God’s abundant blessings of peace and joy!
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's words today:
Dear brothers and sisters,
On this fourth Sunday of Easter, called Good Shepherd Sunday, we observe the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which this year has the theme "Witness inspires vocations", a theme that is "closely connected to the life and mission of priests and consecrated persons" (Message for the XLVII World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Nov, 13, 2009).
The first form of witness that inspires vocations is prayer (cfr ibid.), as the example of St. Monica shows us, who, supplicating God with humility and insistence, obtained the grace of seeing her son Augustine become a Christian. He wrote: "With bo uncertainties, I believe and affirm that through her prayers, God granted me the intention not to propose, not to wish, not to think, not to love anything other than arriving at the truth" (De Ordine II, 20, 52, CCL 29, 136).
Therefore, I invite parents to pray so that the heart of their sons may open up to hearing the Good Shepherd, and that "the smallest seed of vocation... may become a luxuriant tree, laden with fruit for the good of the Church and all mankind" (Message cit.).
How can we listen to the voice of the Lord and recognize it? In the preaching of the Apostles and their successors, in which the voice of Christ resounds, who calls to communion with God and the fullness of life, as we read today in the Gospel of St. John: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand" (Jn 10,27-28).
Only the Good Shepherd guards his flock with immense tenderness and defends it from evil, and only in him can the faithful place absolute trust.
On this special day of prayer for vocations, I particularly call on ordained ministers so that, inspired by the Year for Priests, they may feel committed "to a stronger and more incisive evangelical witness in today's world" (Letter to decree the year for Priests).
May they remember that the priest "continues the work of Redemption on earth". May they learn to pause gladly before the tabernacle; adhere "totally to their own vocation and mission through severe asceticism'; Christianly shape the people entrusted to them; cultivate carefully the priestly fraternity" (cfr ibid.).
May they take the example of wise and zealous pastors, as did St. Gregory Nazianzene, who wrote to his fraternal brother and Bishop, St. Basil: "Teach us your love for the sheep, your solicitude and capacity for understanding, your watchfulness... severity in gentleness, serenity and obedience in activity...the combats in defense of the flock, the victories achieved in Christ" (Oratio IX, 5, PG 35, 825ab).
I thank all those present and those who with their prayers and affection sustain my ministry as the Successor of Peter, and upon each one I invoke the heavenly protection of the Virgin Mary, to whom let us now turn in prayer.
After the prayers, he said:
This morning, in Rome and Barcelona, respectively, two priests were proclaimed Blessed: Angelo Paoli, Carmelite, and José Tous y Soler, Capuchin. I will refer to the latter later,
I am happy to recall that Blessed Angelo Paoli, native of Lunigiana who lived between the 17th and 18th centuries, was an apostle of charity in Rome, where he was called 'father of the poor'. He dedicated himself especially to the sick at the San Giovanni Hospital, and took care of convalescents as well.
His apostolate drew strength from the Eucharist and from devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, as well as from an intense life of penitence.
In the Year for priests, I gladly offer his example to all priests, particularly to those who belong to Religious Institutes of active life.
Later, in his greeting to Spanish-speaking pilgrims, he said:
On this Sunday of the Good Shepherd, when the Church celebrates the Day of Prayer for Vocations, the beatification took place in Barcelona of the Capuchin priest José Tous y Soler, founder of the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Good Shepherd.
Despite numberless trials and difficulties, he never allowed himself to be overcome by bitterness or resentment. He distinguished himself for his exquisite charity and his capacity to tolerate and understand the deficiencies of others.
May his example and intercession help everyone, especially priests, to live faithful to Christ.
In Catalan, he said:
May our Blessed Josep Tous i Soler bless and protect us.
Addressing the Italian pilgrims, he said:
I address a special greeting to the METER Association, which for 14 years, has promoted the National Day for Child Victims of Violence, Exploitation and Indifference.
On this occasion, I wish to thank and encourage, above all, those who are dedicated to the prevention of such violence, and to education, particularly parents, teachers, and so many priests, sisters, catechists and animators who work with children in the parishes, in schools and in associations.
The following story by AP advances its agenda of trying to nail down the Holy Father for personal culpability in the sex abuse scandal, and reflects the current media strategy - uncoordinated to be sure, but reflexive and indicative of their common mindset: In the absence of any new muck they can spatter the Pope with, they now read everything the Pope says in the light of the 'scandal' they persist in mongering, and as though they had forced the Pope to face up the scandals!
In 2005, where were they when he denounced the 'filth' within the Church committed by those who are supposed to 'belong' to Christ? That was reported by MSM fleetingly as if to say 'Here's another Church figure spouting fire and brimstone' - and not one among them felt compelled at all to re-examine where the Church was after the furor a few years earlier over the US scandals!
Perhaps because in March 2005, less than a month before Joseph Ratzinger would be elected Pope, MSM only considered him as a 78-year-old Church has-been on the verge of retirement, and not worthy of further notice!
Pope says priests
must protect children
by NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY, April 25 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI told priests Sunday to safeguard children in their charge from evil and win the "absolute" trust of their flock,
even as his own papacy is clouded by accusations he and other top churchmen failed to protect minors adequately from pedophile clergy.
Since a trip to Malta a week earlier when he wept with adults who had been sexually abused as children by priests,
Benedict seems to be stepping up his reaction as the scandal deepens and widens, posing the most challenging crisis in decades for the Roman Catholic church.
Benedict, in remarks to the public in St. Peter's Square Sunday, told priests they must "fight for the defense of the flock," defend their charges from "evil" and ensure that faithful can place "absolute trust" in their pastors.
He urged them to model themselves on Jesus the "Good Shepherd," who, "with immense tenderness, safeguards his flock and defends it from evil," adding "only in him can the faithful place their absolute trust."
But
Benedict made no admission of responsibility for devising and overseeing what victims in lawsuits contend were strategies to protect the church from scandal instead of children from harmful priests.
[For God's sake, he was giving a mini-homily about Good Shepherd Sunday and the Church's World Day for Vocations! And there is no culpable responsibility for him to 'admit', as AP and its slanderous media cousins insist against all available facts!
The pathetic condition of media is obvious when in the past few days, their persistent headline has been about an abuse victims suing Benedict XVI for abuses he suffered in the 1950s (when Joseph Ratzinger was nowhere near the Curia), on the hilarious basis his publicity-seeking lawyer is now advancing that the Vatican is a business enterprise!
That they give more prominence to this, and the similarly absurd publicity stunts of an Ali Agca, than to the Pope's meeting with some victims in Malta - which got its 15 minutes of media fame and no more - illustrates media bias quite graphically. In seeking to bring down the Pope and the Church, they have lost all sense of proportion, of logic, and of decency.]
In his remarks from his studio window in the Apostolic Palace, he
appeared on guiding the world's 1.1 billion Catholics through the Church crisis. He thanked the crowd and "all those who with their prayers and affection support my ministry" as Pontiff.
[As any decent person would do, you do not take any good deed for granted!]
Benedict singled out for praise an Italian church group that promoted Sunday as a national day to remember abused children.
The Meter Association combats pedophilia in the Italian Catholic church. But while hailing its work in defending children from "violence, exploitation and indifference,"
the Pope never used the word "pedophilia" and did not mention the violence that children have suffered at the hands of priests and, in at least a couple of cases, even bishops.
[The Pope greeted METER in a one-liner during his general greeting to Italian-speaking pilgrims. He is neither stupid nor a masochist - why would he parrot what the media wants him to say, opportunely or not, which in this case was not at all opportune? Also, MSM has used pedophilia as a blanket pejorative term, even if most of the cases on record are not pedophilia (sexual obsession and violation of children) but efepbophilia (in whcih the victims are adolescents).]
Instead the Pope focused on the good clergy do for children.
[AND WHY NOT? The good deserve to be praised and encouraged, never taken for granted or ignored.]
"Above all, I want to thank and encourage all those who dedicate themselves to prevention and education" against violence, Benedict said, singling out parents, teachers and the "so many priests, nuns" and others who work with young people in parishes, schools and church groups.
Meter was founded by the Rev. Fortunato Di Noto, [COLORE=9910#FF]who has complained that some cases of pedophile priests were handled "with imprudence" by the Church.
[A remark Fr. Di Noto made months or years ago is reported, whereas his recent statement of support for Benedict XVI on the Pope's birthday is not, nor his prominent participation in the conference on the use of the Internet to spread the message of the Church, which the Pope addresed yesterday.]
Benedict so far has resisted calls [by the media!] that he take responsibility for his own actions, first as archbishop in Germany, and later in his long years heading the Vatican watchdog office against immorality.
Revealed in the scandals has been a pattern of transferring molesting clergy from parish to parish. In some cases abusers were sent to missions in faraway countries, including in Africa where many impoverished parents depend on the Church for the welfare and education of their children.
Victims' lobbies have been skeptical that real change is in motion, starting from the top, despite recent promises from the Vatican that "effective measures" to protect children are in the works, and Benedict's recent decision to accept the resignations of some bishops, including an Irish one last week who failed to report abuse to police.
The Catholic dissident group We Are Church, while appreciating Benedict's latest efforts, has lamented that the action is late in coming.
Still, Benedict's open talk about abused children and his admonishment to priests to protect minors is an
abrupt turnaround from the defensive parries the Vatican was making only a few weeks earlier against the seemingly relentless scandal revelations.
Only three weeks earlier,
the Vatican turned its most solemn religious occasion Easter Sunday Mass into a ringing defense of the Pontiff against what one top cardinal scornfully dismissed as "petty gossip."
[Only the most malicious mind could call Cardinal Sodano's tribute a 'defense' of anything. All he said was that the Church was behind the Pope, and he made the remarks before the Mass began. The translation 'petty gossip' is AP's choice when the sense in which it was 'public chattering'.]
Since then, nearly every day the scandals' shock value seems to spiral upward, tainting the ranks of bishops, who are all appointed to their posts by pontiffs. [And no one ever makes mistakes appointing people? Barack Obama knowingly appointed a confessed tax cheat to be his Treasury Secretary - in charge of the tax services of the country, among other things - and no one outside the Republicans reproves him for that!]
On Friday, Belgium's longest serving bishop resigned because he sexually abused a young boy for years, including after becoming bishop. It was also recently revealed that a Norwegian bishop resigned because he had molested a child as a priest. [So? At least, they have owned up and resigned, and hopefully, will make the appropriate penitence for their sins. Winfield and all her colleagues at AP and the MSM have never sinned at all????]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/04/2010 05:27]