HOMAGE TO THE 'IMMACOLATA'
The Holy Father this evening travelled to the tourist heart of Rome to pay the now-traditional homage by the Bishop of Rome to the Immacolata, represented by an image atop a pillar in front of the Spanish Steps on Piazza di Spagna.
Along with Corpus Christi, this annual event is one of the best occasions for the faithful to be able to see the Pontiff at close range outside of events at the Vatican.
Pope keeps Roman tradition
at the Spanish Steps
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
ROME, Dec. 8 (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday lamented what he described as a steady diet of news about evil in the world, saying it hardens hearts, as he prayed at the Spanish Steps in a Christmas season tradition.
Shoppers who jammed the narrow streets, including Via Condotti with its posh shops, paused from buying Christmas gifts to catch a glimpse of Benedict as he was driven in a glass-sided popemobile to the square below the Spanish Steps.
"Every day, through the newspapers, television, radio, evil is reported, repeated, amplified, making us used to horrible things, making us become insensitive, and, in some way, poisoning us," the pope said after kneeling in prayer before a statue of the Virgin Mary to mark the Dec. 8 Catholic feast day in her honor.
"Hearts harden and thoughts darken," Benedict said.
He also complained that the mass media "tend to make us feel like spectators, as if evil regards only others and certain things could never happen to us."
Instead, Benedict said, "we are all actors, and for better or worse, our behavior has an influence on others."
An aide held a white umbrella over the 82-year-old Pontiff in a drizzle at dusk. Benedict wore an ermine-trimmed, crimson cape to guard against the chill.
Benedict's next major public holiday appointment is Christmas Eve Mass, which he will celebrate at 10 p.m. instead of the traditional starting hour of midnight in St. Peter's Basilica.
The announcement by the Vatican that the Pope had agreed with his aides to move up the appointment by two hours raised some concern about the pontiff's health.
But Vatican officials have insisted his health is fine, and that Benedict had agreed with aides to have more time to rest before a noon appearance to crowds in St. Peter's Square on Christmas Day.
Although Benedict at the start of his papacy ventured that he would travel far less than his globe-trotting predecessor, John Paul II, did in his 26-year-long pontificate, the German-born theologian has been making several international and domestic trips each year.
On Tuesday, Church officials announced that Benedict would make several Italian pilgrimages in 2010, including a visit in October to Sicily, where the local church has been speaking out against organized crime.
Other trips include a visit in May to Turin to see the famed Shroud and a journey in July to the central town of Sulmona, the spiritual home of the 13th-century hermit pope, Celestine V, the only Pontiff to have resigned.
[She missed the trip to Leo XII's hometown of Carpineto Romano.]
At least two foreign trips have been announced for next year: separate pilgrimages to the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus. Britain and Fatima, Portugal, are possibilities for other trips.
[Portugal has definitely been confirmed.]
Of course, the Vatican has not yet posted the text of the Pope's homily in Piazza Spagna because the event took place after regular office hours, and on a holiday yet! Unusually, AsiaNews promptly posted an English translation of the full address.
Dear brothers and sisters!
In the heart of Christian cities, Mary constitutes a sweet and reassuring presence. In her self-effacing way, she gives everyone peace and hope during the happy and sad moments of life. In churches, chapels or the walls of buildings, a painting, a mosaic or a statue remind us of the Mother’s presence, constantly watching over her children. Here too in Piazza di Spagna, Mary stands high, watching over Rome.
What does Mary tell the city? What does her presence remind us? It reminds us that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more (Rom., 5:20), as the Apostle Paul wrote. She is the Immaculate Mother who reiterates even to people of our time: Do not be afraid, Jesus defeated evil - he uprooted it, to free us from its dominion.
How much we need such good news! But in fact, every day, in newspapers, television and radio, evil is narrated, repeated, amplified, so that we get used to the most horrible things, making us desensitized to evil.
In some way, this poisons us, because the negative is never fully drained out but accumulates day after day. The heart hardens and thoughts become dark.
For this reason, the city needs Mary, whose presence speaks of God, it reminds us of the victory of Grace over sin and makes us hope even in situations that are most humanly difficult.
There are invisible persons who live - or survive - in the city, who every so often, turn up on the front pages or on TV screens, and who are exploited to the limit, for as long as the news and the images can call attention. It is a perverse mechanism, which is unfortunately difficult to resist.
The city first hides and then exposes the individual to the public. Without pity, or with false pity. But there is in every man the desire to be accepted as a person, to be considered as a sacred reality, because every human story is a sacred story that calls for utmost respect.
The city, dear brothers and sisters, is us! Each of us contributes to its life and its moral atmosphere, for good or bad. The boundary between good and bad passes through the heart of each of us, and none of us has the right to judge others. Rather, each of us should feel obliged to make our own selves better.
The mass media tend to make us feel like “spectators” all the time, as though evil only concerns other persons, and that certain things could never happen to us. On the contrary, we are all 'actors', and our behavior, good or bad, has an influence on others.
We often complain about air pollution, that the air is unbreathable in some parts of the city. That is true: it requires the commitment of everyone to make the city cleaner.
However, there is another pollution, less perceptible to the senses but just as dangerous. It is spiritual pollution - it makes us smile less, gives us dark thoughts, makes us ignore each other or avoid looking at each other directly.
The city is made up of human faces, but unfortunately, the collective dynamic can make us lose our perception of the depths in everyone. We see everything superficially. Persons become bodies, bodies without souls, who become things, faceless objects that are exchangeable and consumable.
Mary Immaculate helps to rediscover and defend the depth that there is in persons, because in her, the soul is perfectly transparent in the body. She is purity personified, in the sense that in her, spirit, soul and body are fully consistent with each other and with the will of God.
Our Lady teaches us to be open to God's action, to look at others as God looks at them - which is, from the heart. And to look at them with mercy, with love and infinite tenderness, especially those who are alone, scorned, exploited. “Where there is more sin, grace overflows all the more.”
I wish to pay public tribute to all who, in silence, not in words but in deeds, strive to practice this evangelical law of love, which moves the world forward.
They are many, even here in Rome, and they rarely make the news: men and women of all ages who have understood that it doesn't pay to condemn, to complain, to recriminate, but that it is better to respond to evil with good. This changes things - or better said, it changes persons, and consequently, it improves society.
Dear Roman friends, and all who live in this city! As we face our daily activities, let us lend our ears to Mary's voice. Let us listen to her silent but urgent appeal.
She tells each of us: Wherever sin increases, may grace overflow all the more - starting with your heart and your life! Thus the city will be more beautiful, more Christian, more Roman.
Thank you, Holy Mother, for your message of hope. Thank you for your silent but eloquent presence in the heart of our city. Immaculate Virgin, Salus Populi Romani, pray for us!
12/9/09
P.S.
I posted the AsiaNews translation yesterday,
www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=17067&size=A
but after seeing the original text today from Vatican online, I have modified the translation to be more in keeping with the phraseology employed by the Pope.
There were also a few places in which the sense of the sentence itself was mistranslated. An example: At the start, when the Pope says "Quanto abbiamo bisogno di questa bella notizia!", it was translated as "When do we need such good deeds?", which is very different from the actual translation, which is fairly simple, namely, "How much we need such good news!" - not a question, but a rhetorical exclamation.
While AsiaNews does a terrific job of reporting, the general run of their English stories suggests that none of their translators is an English speaker with command of the idiom;
and I'm sorry to say there has always been some laxity about their translation of papal texts.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/12/2009 19:29]