BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

June 2, 2013, Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS DOMINI)
in most of the Catholic world, even if it falls properly on the Thursday before this Sunday.
Today's saints:

SAINTS MARCELLINUS and PETRUS OF ROME (d Rome 304), Martyrs
These two early martyrs are mentioned in the Eucharistic Canon of the Mass. Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist. They were beheaded together during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. They were killed in an out-of-the-way spot to keep Christians from finding their bodies, but two women were guided by a vision to the spot, and the Christians of Rome buried them in what has since been called the Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter. Pope St. Damasus wrote their epitaph. An ancient ceiling fresco in the catacombs shows Christ with Saints Peter and Paul, and below them four martyrs - Gorgonius, Marcellinus, Peter and Tiburtius (photo second from right above).
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060213.cfm

AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Pope Francis's daily Mass at Casa Santa Marta was said for a group of some 80 persons led by the Military Ordinary (Bishop) for Italy
who was with parents and relatives of Italians killed in the war in Afghanistan in the past 5 years and a dozen of the injured.

At the Angelus, he reflected on the miracle of loaves and fish as he did earlier in the week in his daily homilettes, saying that
the miracle was not so much that everyone was fed - because Jesus trusted that the Father would make it possible with the five
loaves and two fish available, but the fact that the food was shared in community. After the prayers, he expressed his concern for
the continuing civil war in Syria.

In the afternoon, he was to lead a simultaneous worldwide Eucharistic Adoration from 5-6 p.m. Rome time, at St. Peter's Basilica,
one of the universal events pre-programmed for the Year of Faith.

THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO TODAY...


Just five days after Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a bishop as Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Pope Paul VI
named him one of five new cardinals that he would elevate formally on June 22, 1977, in what was to be the last
consistory of his Pontificate.




One year ago today...
Benedict XVI had another event-filled day on Day 2 of his pastoral visit to Milan, as the program shows:

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[DAY 2 OF THE PASTORAL VISIT TO MILAN
Saturday, June 2, 2012



08.00 Private Mass at the Archbishop's Residence.

09.50 The Holy Father leaves the Archbishop's Residence for the Duomo (Cathedral)

10.00 CELEBRATION OF LAUDS
Duomo of Milan
with the priests and religious of the Archdiocese
- Meditation by the Holy Father
- Veneration of the relics of St. Charles Borromeo in the cathedral crypt

The Holy Father proceeds by car to
the Stadio di San Siro (Milan's football stadium)

11.00 MEETING WITH YOUNG PERSONS PREPARING FOR CONFIRMATION
Stadio di San Siro
- Address by the Holy Father

The Pope then returns to the Archbishop's Residence.

17.00 MEETING WITH CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES
Archbishop's Residence
- Address by the Holy Father

20.00 Proceed by car to Milano Parco Nord-Bresso Airport

20.30 MEETING WITH FAMILIES
FEAST OF TESTIMONIALS
Milano Parco Nord-Bresso
- Address by the Holy Father.

21.30 The Pope leaves Milano Parco Nord by car to return to the Archbishop's Residence.

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2013 P.S. From an event-filled day, I had already posted previously on LOOKBACK the Pope's meeting with the young confirmands at St. Siro stadium on the day Pope Francis administered confirmation as part of the pre-programmed Year of Faith celebrations. Although both his addresses to the priests and religious at Lauds and his address to the political and cultural leaders of Milan were both beautiful and significant, I have chosen to highlight for today's LOOKBACK Benedict XVI's encounter with the participants of the 7th World Meeting of Families, which was climaxed by a Q&A session with the Pope:

Day 2
MEETING WITH FAMILIES
Feast of testimonials
Translated from the Italian service of

June 2, 2012






With 350,000 in attendance, the VII World Meeting of Families in Milan had its much-awaited Feast of Testimonials tonight in the presence of Benedict XVI.

After an hour of experiences lived in the light of the Gospel, recounted by families representing the inhabited continents and Oceania, the Pope responded to five questions posed to him on the most typically acute problems facing families today, ranging from the unprecedented national crisis in Greece to the recent earthquakes that struck the central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Alessandro De Carolis has this report:

On a former airport that has become a park and Milan's largest fairground, it became this week the epicenter for Catholic families upholding Christian values, a topic that is hardly ever discussed in public, but tonight was 'on show' for world television: the faith of those who build their lives by starting with making room for God.

From the huge stage designed to recall the vault of heaven but open to the skies, it all took place, thanks to precise and expert direction, interspersed with musical numbers by renowned Italian and European pop artists, amid which Benedict XVI sat like a master sage.

Like a fond grandfather with a beloved grandchild, the Holy Father answered the first question from a Vietnamese girl, Cat Tien, by ecalling scenes of domestic tranquillity from his own childhood, and then saying: "To tell the truth, if I try to imagine what it could be like in Paradise, I think back to the days of my youth, of my infancy. In an atmosphere of trust, of joy and of love, we were happy. And so I think that in Paradise there should be something of what my childhood was like. In this sense, I look forward to 'going home' on the other side of our world."

Next, a young engaged couple from Madagascar, confided that they appreciated the virtues of Christian marriage but were apprehensive about the 'for always' part of it.

The Pope said that the way to overcome it was simply to build on a love that is not just sentiment. Which he would also remind a Greek couple whose life has become dependent on the outcome of their country's current crisis. But in this respect, he also said that political leaders should learn to assume responsibility:

"I think that a sense of responsibility should grow in all political parties, not to promise things which they cannot realize; not just to seek votes for themselves, but to be responsible for the good of everyone, that they may understand that politics is always a moral responsibility before God and before men".

A couple from the United States spoke about a typical complaint in the West - the difficulty of observing Sunday rest because of work demands.

"I would call on employers to think of the family, how to make it possible for parents to reconcile both priorities. Then there's Sunday, a holiday. I do not know if in the USA, Sunday is still observed as such. But I think it is very important that Sunday, the Lord's day - and because of this, also 'a day for man' - must be defended as a freedom for man. Let us defend Sunday and other religious holidays as days for God, and therefore for men".

The last question was about divorced Catholics who subsequently remarry without having annulled their previous marriage. The Pope called this "one of the great sufferings for the Church today". He said the Church does not stop loving those in such irregular situations, and said parishes should always be the first refuge for those who are burdened by the problem. [Unfortunately, the report does not say anything more about the Pope's answer!]

The Pope did not forget the victims of recent earthquakes in the Emilia-Romagna region, greeting onstage a family from Cento who lost their home. He directly addressed the residents of the tent cities that now house the homeless, for whom a live TV feed of the Milan event had been arranged:

"Dear friends, you know that we feel your pain profoundly, your suffering, and that above all, I pray everyday that the earthquakes may come to an end. Be assured that we do not forget you and that we are doing everything possible to help you. I wish you well, and may the Lord bless you all".

At 9:30 p.m., after leading the assembly in praying the Our Father, surrounded by representative families, the Pope left Parco Bresso to return to the city. He will be back tomorrow morning to celebrate the concluding Mass of the VII World Meeting of Families.







THE POPE'S DIALOG
with representatives of families
from around the world
Translated from

June 2, 2012

This evening, the Feast of Testimonials of the VII World Meeting of Families took place at Milan's Parco-Nord at the former airport of Bresso.

The Holy Father Benedict XVI arrived at Bresso at 8:30 pm. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, opened the event with some words of greeting.

In the course of the program, the Pope listened to representatives of families and couples from different regions of the world and answered some questions. Here is a translation of the Q&A transcript:

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1. CAT TIEN (a girl from Vietnam):
Ciao, Papa. I am Cat Tien from Vietnam. I am seven years old, and I would like to present my family to you. This is my father Dan, and my mother Tao, and my little brother Binh. I would like so much to know something about your family and when you were a child like me...
THE HOLY FATHER: Thank you, carissima, and to your parents, thank you from the heart. Now, you want to know what I remember about my family and my childhood - that would be quite a lot. I would just want to say a few things.

The essential reference point for our family was always Sunday, but it began for us on Saturday afternoon. That was when Father told us about the readings for the next day, from a book that was in wide use in Germany at the time, which explained the Bible texts. Thus we began our Sunday by getting into the liturgy, in an atmosphere of joy.

Then the next day we went to Mass. We lived in places that were near Salzburg, so we always had a lot of music - Mozart, Schubert, Haydn - and whenever the Kyrie begun, it was like heaven had opened.

Later, the big meal together at home was of course important. And we sang a lot. My brother is a great musician, and even as a boy, he composed things for all of us that the whole family could sing. Our father played the zither and he sang. These were unforgettable times.

We also made little trips together, and took walks. We lived near woods, and so walking through the woods was always beautiful- with adventures, games, etc. In short, we were one heart and one soul as a family, with so many experiences in common, even in very difficult times - because there was the war, and before that, the dictatorship, and afterwards, poverty.

But there was mutual love among us, a joy even in simple things that was so strong that we could overcome and endure the difficulties. I think this was very important: that even small things could give joy - it is the way we expressed our heart to each other.

So we grew up in the certainty that it is good to be alive, to be a human being, because we could see the goodness of God reflected in our parents and our siblings. To tell you the truth, if I try to imagine what it would be like in Paradise, it always seems to me something like my childhood, my infancy. In which we were happy in an atmosphere of trust, of joy, of love. I think that Paradise would be something similar to my childhood. So, in this sense, I expect to be 'going home' as I am bound for the other side beyond our world.

2. SERGE RAZAFINBONY and FARA ANDRIANOMBONANA (Engaged couple from Madagascar)
SERGE: Holiness, we are Fara and Serge, from Madagascar. We got to know each other in Florence where we are students - engineering for me, economics for her. We have been engaged for four years and as soon as we graduate, we plan to return to our country and give a hand to our people through our professions.

FARA: The family models dominant in the West do not convince us, but we are also aware that many traditions in Africa are being lost or overturned. We feel that we are made for each other, and that is why we want to get married and build a family together. We also want every aspect of our life to be oriented by the values of the Gospel. But speaking of matrimony, Holiness, there is a term about it that attracts us more than anything else, but it also frightens us - and that is, 'for always'...
Dear friends, thank you for your witness. My prayers go with you during your engagement and I hope that you will be able to create, with the values of the Gospel, a family 'for always'.

You have indicated various forms of metrimony: we know about the 'mariage coutumier' (customary marriage) in Africa, and Western marriage. But in Europe, in fact, until the 19th century, there was a different kind of marriage that prevailed: often, matrimony was really a contract between clans, where it was sought to preserve the clans, to open them up to a better future, to defend clan property, etc.

And so it was the clans that sought to find who should marry whom among them, hoping that they would turn out to be suitable for each other. That was the case in part of my country. I remember that in the little village where I was a schoolboy, it was still largely like that.

But since the 19th century, too, there emerged the idea of emancipation of the individual, the freedom of each person, and therefore, marriage no longer had to be based on the will of others, but on one's own personal choice. First, falling in love, then engagement, and finally, marriage.

From that time, the whole world was convinced that this was the only correct model and that love in itself would guarantee the 'for always', because love is absolute, and would therefore last for all time, for always.

Unfortunately, reality is not always so. Falling in love is beautiful, but perhaps it is not something that can last in perpetuity, a because that's the way sentiments are - they do not last. Therefore, the passage from falling in love, to engagement, and finally to marriage demands a series of decisions, which are interior experiences.

As I said, the sentiment of love is beautiful, but it must be purified, it must go through a process of discernment - which means reason and will should get into it. One must unite reason, will and sentiment.

The rite of the Church does not say, "Are you in love?", but it asks, "Do you want this (marriage)?" "Are you decided on this?" Therefore, being in love must become true love which involves reason and should go hand in hand with sentiment and will. This is what happens during engagement, a purification that gives greater depth, so that the whole person, with all his abilities, with the discernment of reason adn the strength of his will, can say, "Yes, this is the life I want".

I often think of the marriage at Cana. The first wine is great - that's falling in love. But it doesn't last to the end of the feast. There must be a second wine, one that has fermented and matured. A definitive love which truly becomes this 'second wine' is more beautiful, much better than the first wine. This is what we should seek.

It is also important that the I is not isolated - the I and the you - both should be involved also in the life of the parish, of the Church, of friends. This - all of the right personal relationships, the communion of life with others, with families that can support each other - is very important, because only in this common involvement with the community, with friends, with the Church, in the faith, in God himself, will you have the wine that is 'for always'. My best wishes to both of you!

3. THE PALEOLOGOS FAMILY (form Greece)
NIKOS: Kalispera![Good evening.] We are the Paleologos family from Athens. I am Nikos, and this is my wife Pania, and our two children, Pavlos and Lydia. Years ago, with two associates, we invested everything we had to launch a small informatics company. Because of the current economic crisis, we have lost many customers, and those who remain are increasingly behind with their payments. We can barely afford to pay our two employees, and very little is left for us, the investors, after paying expenses. So, every day that passes, we have even less to keep up with family expenses. Our situation is one of many, of millions like us. In the city, everyone goes around with heads hung low. No one trusts anyone, and there is no hope.

PANIA: And even if we continue to believe in Divine Providence, we too, Holy Father, cannot think what the future can be for our children. Night and day we ask ourselves what should we do not to lose hope. What can the Church tell all this people like us, persons and families who seem to have no prospects left?
Dear friends. Thank you for this testimonial which has struck me in the heart, the hearts of everyone. What can we possibly answer you? Words are insufficient. We ought to be able to do something concrete, and we all suffer from the fact that we are unable to do anything concrete.

But let us speak of politics first. I think that a sense of responsibility should grow in all political parties so they may not promise things which they cannot realize, that they may not seek votes only for themselves but in order to be responsible for the good of everyone, understanding that politics is a human responsibility, a moral one, to God and to men.

Then, of course, individuals suffer and must accept things as they are, often without a possibility of defending themselves, Nonetheless, we can also say: Let us see to it that everyone does what he can and think of himself, his family, and others, with a great sense of responsibility, knowing that sacrifices are necessary to move ahead.

And the third point, what can we do? That is the question now. I think perhaps that 'twinship' between cities, parishes, families, could help. We already have in Europe a network of twin cities but they are focused on cultural exchange - certainly very good and useful - but perhaps, there can be twinships in another sense: for instance, that a family in the West, from Italy, from Ger5many, from France, assumes the responsibility of helping another family elsewhere. Likewise, for parishes and cities, who could take on the responsibility to help their 'twin' in a concrete sense.

But be assured that I and so many others pray for you, and a prayer that is not merely saying words, but opening our heart to God, so we may be given the creativity to find solutions. Let us hope that the Lord may help us, and that the Lord help you always. Thank you.


4. THE BERRIE FAMILY (United States)
JAY: We live near New York. I am Jay, of Jamaican origin, and I work as an accountant. My wife Anna is a substitute teacher. These are our six children, aged 2 to 12. You can well imagine, Holiness, that our life is a perennial race against time, problems and very complicated jams. Even in the United States, one of the absolute priorities is to maintain a job, and to do so, we ought not to mind the hours, often to the point of sacrificing family relations.

ANNA: It is not always easy. The impression, Holiness, is that institutions and enterprises do not care about reconciling work hours with time for the family. And certainly for us, it is not easy to reconcile our infinite work commitments with rest. Do you have any advice for finding this necessary harmony? In the vortex of so many stimuli imposed by contemporary society, how can families to observe holidays according to God's wish?
It's a big problem, and I wish to understand this dilemma between two priorities: the priority of a job is fundamental, so is the priority of the family. How then to reconcile the two. I can only try to give some advice.

The first point: There are some enterprises that allow some kind of bonus days off for the family, such as on your birthday, and they see that to concede a bit more liberty ultimately is good for the company itself because it helps reinforce the employer's love for their work, for their job. So I would call on jobgivers to think of the family, to help them so that they can reconcile both priorities.

Secondly, I think one must also find a certain creativity, which is not always easy. But at least, try every day to bring some element of joy into the family, some attention, some giving up of one's own personal desires in order to be together as a family, and to learn to overcome the nights, the dark times we referred to earlier, thinking of the great good which the family is, so that even in the thoughtfulness of giving the family a bit of something good every day, a small act of goodness, one is able to reconcile the two priorities somehow.

Finally, there is Sunday. I hope Sunday is still observed in the United States. I think that Sunday, the Lord's day, and because of this, 'the day of man' also, is very important, as a day to be free. In the story of Creation, this was the Creator's original intention - that on one day of the week, everyone may be free. And in this being free to be for each other, for ourselves, even, we are free for God. I think doing so, we defend man's freedom by defending Sunday and holidays as days for God, and therefore, days for us. I wish you the best.

5. ARAUJO FAMILY (From Porto Alegre, Brazil)
MARIA MARTA: Holiness, as in the rest of the world, marital failures continue to grow in Brazil. I am Maria Marta, he is Manoel Angelo. We have been married for 34 years and we are grandparents. As a doctor and familial psychotherapist, we meet so many troubled families, noting in the conflicts between couples an increasingly marked difficulty to forgive and to accept forgiveness. But in other cases, we find the desire and the will to construct a new union, something that will last, for the children who will be born from this new union.
MANOEL ANGELO: Some of these remarried divorcees wish to be nearer to the Church but their disappointment is great when they are refused the sacraments. They feel excluded, branded with a judgment that is unappealable. These sufferings deeply hurt those who are concerned, and these are also our wounds. Holy Father, we know that these situations and these persons are very much in the heart of the Church - but what words and what signs of hope can we give them?
Dear friends, thank you for the work that you do as family psychotherapists, which is very necessary these days. Thank you for all that you do to help those who suffer as you say. Indeed, this problem of remarried divorcees is one of the great sufferings for the Church herself. We do not have a simple prescription. The suffering is great, and we can only help through the parishes, so they may help these people to bear the consequences of divorce.

But I would say that it would naturally be very important to begin with prevention, namely, to help couples so that from the time they fall in love, they are able to proceed to a mature and profound decision about marriage. And later on, when they are married, to accompany these couples along the way, so that they do not feel alone or isolated.

As for those you speak about, we must say, as you did, that the Church loves them, but they should be able to see and feel this love. I think it is a great task for a parish, for a Christian community, to do what is possible to make them feel loved and accepted, that they are not cast out because they cannot receive absolution and the Eucharist. They must see that even so, they still live fully within the Church.

Even if the absolution of confession is not possible, they can still have permanent contact with a priest, with a spiritual guide, which is important so that they can see they are truly being helped along.

And they must feel that the Eucharist is true, that they participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice if they truly enter into communion with Christ. Because even without physically receiving the Sacrament, we can be spiritually united to Christ in his Body [the Church]. To make them understand this is important - so that they may truly find the possibility of living a life of faith, with the Word of God, in the communion of the Church, seeing their suffering as a gift to the Church, serving to help everyone defend the stability of love in marriage; and that this suffering is not just a physical and psychological torment, but a suffering in the community of the Church in the name of the great values of our faith. I think that their suffering, if accepted interiorly by themselves, is a gift to the Church. And they should know that in their way, they serve the Church, they are in the heart of the Church. Thank you for your commitment.

TO THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
OF CENTRAL ITALY

The feast of families from around the world did not forget the tragedy of those persons struck in recent days by the earthquakes in Emilia-Romania. In a satellite link to the children assembled at the tent city in San Felice sul Panaro, the Holy Father addressed this greeting:

Dear friends, you know that we feel profoundly your pain and your suffering. Above all, I pray everyday that these earthquakes may end. We all wish to work together to help you - Caritas, all the organizations of the Church, the State, other communities - each of us wish to help you, you are in our prayers, we are spiritually close to you in our hearts, as well as with material assistance, and I pray constantly for you. God help you, and God help us all. I wish you well, and that the Lord bless you all.

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At 9:30 pm, the Pope left Bresso and returned by car to the Archbishop's residence in Milan. The family prayer vigil in Bresso continued to 10:30 pm.