BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for earlier entries today, 6/19.

FIVE YEARS AND TWO MONTHS TODAY, AND COUNTING....

AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU ARE

TO THE CHURCH, TO THE WORLD, TO ALL OF US.

We can never love you enough.

June 19, Saturday, 11th Week in Ordinary Time

Second and third from right: St. Romualdo's Vision, by Guercino, 1641; and Guido Reni's Coronation of Mary, 1595, with St. Romualdo (extreme right) and St. Catherine of Alexandria flanking Saints John the Evangelist and John the Baptist; and second from right, St. Romuald by Fra Angelico, in a 1441 fresco in the Convent of St. Mark, Florence.
ST. ROMUALDO (Italy, ca 950-1027), Benedictine monk, Hermit, Abbot, Founder of the Camaldolesi Benedictines
St. Piero Damiani would write the biography of this saint a mere 15 years after his death. One of the many saints who spent their early privileged life of wealth in profligacy, Romualdo had a change of heart at age 20 when he saw his father kill someone in a duel. He fled to a Benedictine monastery near Ravenna where he decided to become a monk. He left the abbey after three years because he did not think it was strict enough and became a hermit on an island. He gained a reputation for holiness that persuaded the Duke of Venice to leave office and join Romuald in a hermitage near the Benedictine abbey of San Miguel de Cuxa in Catalonia (Spain). Romuald returned to Italy after seven years when he learned that his father had become a monk but was tormented with doubts, which his son managed to resolve. Romuald also gained the friedship of Emperor Otto III who asked him to revive an old monastery as abbot. However, Romuald's reforms were resisted and he went back to being a hermit. For the rest of his life, however, he travelled all over France and Italy, establishing about a hundred monasteries and hermitages to propagate his mission to restore the Benedictine order to the primitive Rule of St. Benedict. In 1023, he founded the Congregation of Monk Hermits of Camaldoli, after he was given a property in Tuscany on which he could built an abbey. The Camaldolese have given the Church two popes (Pius VII and Gregory XVI) many saints and blesseds. His body was found to be incorrupt at the time he was canonized in 1582.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061910.shtml



The only papal story in today's OR is Cardinal Scola's Preface to an Arabic translation of Benedict XVI's Pauline Year catecheses on St. Paul (translated and posted yesterday on this page). The issue also contains the full text of the address given by Mons. Dominique Mamberti, deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Relations, on "Religious freedom in the secular state" during his visit to Cuba this week; and an advisory on a new book if photographs of John Paul II's Pontificate, published by the OR Ptotographic Service (story posted in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread).


THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)

- Mons. Velasio De Paolis, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See

- Bishops of Brazil (East Sector-II) on ad limina visit, all together (He has been meeting with them
individually). Address in Portuguese.


Pope's prayers for
flood-hit southern France


19 Jun 10 (RV) - On Saturday Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to the President of the French Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, to express the Pope’s pain at the loss of life and devastation in Southern France in the wake of last week’s storms:

---

Aware of the severe weather that hit the Southeast and other regions of France, causing numerous casualties and extensive damage, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI sends his condolences to the bereaved and deepest sympathy to the people affected by this tragedy.

He asks the Lord to welcome the deceased into His Kingdom of light, hoping that genuine solidarity will enable people affected by the floods to find brotherly support and assistance.

In these difficult circumstances the Holy Father asks God to encourage and comfort the entire population of these regions, with the abundance of his blessings.

---

Flash floods caused by torrential rain killed 19 people and left seven missing near France's Mediterranean coast, after the worst downpours the region has seen since 1827.




Speaking of OR, its over-the-top endorsement of The Blues Brothers, a film from 30 years ago, with a full-page spread and five articles devoted to it in last Wednesday's issue, has gained nothing but derision - and perplexity - from the secular press. And a lengthy satirical reaction dissing the Church and the Pope from lapsed Catholic Dan Akroyd, one of the film's stars.

With so much in the world of Catholic culture, past and present, to write about to the end of our days, why does the OR under Giovanni Maria Vian, continue to make a laughingstock of itself by its gratuitous 'hommages' to pop culture that are very subjective as they depend entirely on the writers assigned to doing them?

No matter what anybody says to the contrary, the public perception is that the OR is 'the Pope's newspaper', i.e., the official voice of the Vatican - though it is not - and therefore, everything published in it is reported and perceived as an imprimatur from 'the Vatican'. How can an intelligent man like Vian not see that he is doing harm to the Vatican and no good to anyone at all - except to feed his ego, perhaps - by his egregious lapses in editorial judgment?

Vian himself said that when the Pope spoke to him after he was named OR editor, the Holy Father said he wanted more news about the Oriental Churches, more women writers, and more pictures. He said nothing - nor would we expect him to - about wanting pop culture getting unwarranted space in an 8-page newspaper! That's Vian's own shtick, not the Pope's. It's disgraceful, to say the least, and does not contribute in any way to making the OR a genuine 'newspaper of ideas' as Paul VI dreamed about.

Ideas have to be prioritized, first of all - and how naming the 'top ten rock albums of all time', as Vian's OR has, to name just one example, can be any priority at all for the Pope's newspaper is simply a defiance of common sense. Does Cardinal Bertone, who is the real OR boss, not see this at all?

Nor, by the way, are we getting the pictures that a newspaper ought to have. Most pictures used on page 1 (other than those of the Pope) are generic stock shots suggestive of news reports, instead of actual newsphotos, and often we get more than one of these generic photographs. [How about all those absurd photo choices where the Pope is a tiny speck in the background framed between heads of bishops and other people in the foreground? They do not even have any artistic merit to justify their use!]

And this critique does not even touch on Vian's imposition of his personal political biases - very liberal - on his choice and treatment of news stories. That, by itself, and its multiple daily examples, deserves a full essay in Civilta Cattolica - if Bertone would allow such an essay to be printed.

Too bad the Italian newspapers are too restrained by 'professional courtesy' to a colleague like Vian to criticize the OR as it deserves to be.

About that visit to the UK... someone has now come up with this. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find out who he/she is:



It actually comes with a neat little introductory essay, as follows:

TU ES PETRUS!
Welcome to the UK

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is to come in September to visit the UK. While here he will beatify the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman. It is a truly historic occasion both for the country and the Church, at the prospect of which the whole Church should rejoice greatly, even if the whole country cannot bring itself to do so.

Despite numerous setbacks (the magnitude of which should embarrass the whole Church in England and Wales) in the planning of the visit so far, with the venue for the Beatification Mass in Coventry still to be confirmed, excitement is palpably building at the prospect of His Holiness arriving on these isles.

Pope Benedict XVI is the direct Apostolic Successor of St Peter and if St Peter could rouse a crowd without millions of pounds being squandered by the other Apostles, then it is perhaps possible for the Catholic Church in England and Wales to look after a Papal Visit here in September.

The timing of his visit is providential but it is a brave Pontiff who comes here. The United Kingdom is beset by a host of problems stemming from a largely secular mentality.

Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in a country which has severed itself from its traditional Christian roots, first established by St Augustine of Canterbury at the request of another Supreme Pontiff, Pope St Gregory the Great, and the country now suffers the grave consequences of that severance.

Abortion rates in the UK consistently average at around 200,000 innocent lives lost a year. The Labour Government passed legislation in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act which made commodities of human embryos, to be tested on, experimented upon and used and then destroyed - all in an attempt to further scientific enquiry. The Government then continued its assault on human dignity by refusing to lower the maximum number of weeks when abortions can be legal. [I really don't see how that solves anything - aborting babies at a younger gestational age is no less sinful and criminal!]

The Labour Government passed legislation attacking the institutions of Marriage and the Family, by passing the Civil Partnerships Act, creating, in law, a new kind of relationship recognised by the State set to rival marriage between one man and one woman.

The Labour Government also enshrined in law an Equalities Act which threatens to be used in a new and vicious assault upon religious liberty and human freedom, with several high profile cases suggesting that those who hold firmly to their Christian beliefs and practise them in public are vulnerable to persecution.

The UK, while remaining a country of many faiths and where the practise of religion is established in communities across the Union, is becoming increasingly and aggressively secular.

Prominent secular figures have gained a great deal of attention in the mass media and popular opinion, most notably and most vociferously, the atheistic biologist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins.

The Church has not been immune to the atheistic zeitgeist and the culture of moral relativism now taking hold of the UK. The Church is suffering a decline in the priesthood and many parish churches have paid the ultimate price of the decline of the Faith by having been shut down by Dioceses, often to the great protest and anger of the lay faithful.

The abuse scandals, most notably in Ireland and the US, which rocked the Church in 2010 have threatened (if you read the press and believe the hype) to overpower those who lead Hhr and the Faithful in the 21st Century.

Yet, while there is much over which the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom can mourn, there is hope. Christ may not have promised that the Gates of Hell would not come near the Church, but He did promise that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against her.

Pope Benedict XVI has been at the forefront of the renewal of the Church, liberating the Traditional Latin Mass which has seen many rediscover the beauty of the liturgy and enabled men and women to find a renewed sense of faith in the Risen Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI has been at the forefront of the drive to cleanse the Church, to rid Her of ‘filth’, to remove from positions of authority those who seek to betray the mission of the Church and abuse those who are most vulnerable in Her care.

While others in positions of authority in the Church seek to modernise the Faith to reflect the values of the World, Pope Benedict XVI remains resolutely faithful to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Deposit of Faith with which he is charged with defending, exhibiting in his writings and in his public proclamations great holiness and insight into the truths of the Most Holy Faith.

The Franciscan Friars and Nuns of the Immaculate are one new Order faithful to their holy father, St Francis, devoted to both the Traditonal Mass and the Pope, while living radical poverty for the love of Christ. The Dominicans, too, are enjoying a renaissance. Their members are growing and their new members are young.

Young people are rediscovering, in the Sacrament of marriage that true love never dies, nor shies away from sacrifice. The liberation of the Latin Mass has been instrumental in inspiring men to offer their lives as an oblation to God in the Priesthood. Young people are discovering that Love is not what the media tells it that it is, but something that is Holy, that comes from God.

It is against this backdrop of a Church wounded but still very much alive, shaken but still sanctified by the Holy Spirit, embattled but aided by the holy joy that comes from witnessing that same Spirit at work in the fresh growth evident upon the Vine, that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands (if permitted) of Catholics in the United Kingdom on his arrival.

The flame of Faith, given and handed down generations ago by a holy Pope and his holy but reluctant emissary (Gregory and Augustine, respectively), with his missionary monks in tow, is still very alive and it shall not be snuffed out, not even with all the bad will in the world (or even within the Church). The visit of Pope Benedict XVI will, God willing, be a huge success and increase the faith of the Church in the United Kingdom.

Tu es Petrus! You are Peter, Your Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, and we welcome you with open arms to the country once named Our Lady’s Dowry. We love you, Holy Father!


Some local news gives us an idea of how the locals are preparing. This one is from Paisley, the Scottish town that used to be a cloth-manufacturing capital, and is part of greater Glasgow, where the Holy Fahter will say Mass. [It also gave its name to the tear-shaped motif of Indian-Persian origin that continues to be a popular and colorful fabric pattern.]


Pupils make table for Papal Mass
by Kenneth Speirs

June 18, 2010


Pupils at St Andrew’s Academy have been asked by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to build a table to hold the vessels used during the historic Mass to be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, during his State Visit to Britain.

The wooden table, which is already under construction, will hold the cups and plates that will contain the communion wine and wafers used by the Pope during the ceremony.

Tony Quinn, headmaster of St Andrew’s Academy, said: “This is a great honour and privilege for the school.

“The table will be a lasting memento of this historic visit and will be used as an altar in our own oratory after the visit.”

The plans for the table were drawn up by pupils of the technical department at St Andrew’s after the school chaplain recommended their work to Church leaders.

It is being constructed using several types of hardwoods, and the front of the altar will be inscribed with the Latin words ‘Salva me bona crux’, which means ‘Save me good cross’.

Also featured on the front of the table is a scene from the Last Supper.

And this came about by a strange coincidence.

Mr Quinn said: “We were wondering what we should put on the front of the table, maybe a moulding or plaster cast.

“But by absolute coincidence, we came across something in the workshop, a mould of the Last Supper.

“It must have come over from the Old Sacred Heart school years ago.”

One of the pupils who played a major part in making the table was talented Andrew Law, 15, who is in fifth year.

He said: “I chose Tech as a fifth-year subject and one of the teachers asked me to get involved in making the table.

“It’s a great honour and I still can’t believe that it will be used at the Mass.”

Andrew added that he hoped he might get to attend the Mass and, if not, watch it on TV, where the table will be seen by millions.

“It really will be something to remember,” he said.

Benedict XVI’s visit to Glasgow on September 16 is at the invitation of the Queen, and is an official State Visit, the first ever by a Pope.

Pope John Paul II visited Scotland in 1982, but this was a pastoral visit arranged by the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict will be greeted by the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, before travelling through to Glasgow for the Mass at Bellahouston.

Thousands of Scottish Catholics are expected to attend, including many from Paisley’s parishes.

The Bishop of Paisley, the Rt Rev Philip Tartaglia, is expected to play a major role in the event.


Tickets to the Papal Mass:
Allocated to parishes based
on their Mass attendance
by Kenneth Speir



PARISHIONERS at Roman Catholic churches across Renfrewshire will soon find out their allocation of places for the historic Mass to be held by Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Scotland.

The news comes after the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland confirmed that Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park will be the venue for the special celebration, which takes place in September.

There will be a huge demand for places at the open-air Mass, with many thousands of Catholics from the Paisley area expected to be eager to attend.

A spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference – which includes the Rt Rev Philip Tartaglia, Bishop of Paisley – told the Paisley Daily Express: “Our parishes will shortly be advised of their allocation of places in the park.

“Each parish will receive a pro-rata allocation based on their Mass attendance figures.

“We expect that over half of the Mass-going population will be able to attend and urge every parish to take up its full allocation to ensure that the Catholic community is fully represented on the day.

“Additionally, many opportunities will exist for large numbers of people to line the route of the Pope’s motorcade through the City of Edinburgh earlier in the day.

“A St Ninian’s Day pageant is planned, comprising parades of schoolchildren and pipe bands, ahead of the Papal motorcade.”

Bishop Tartaglia and his colleagues also welcomed the appointment of Lord Patten as the Government’s co-ordinator for the visit.

Unlike the visit of Pope John Paul II to Scotland in 1982, which was pastoral in nature, the visit of Pope Benedict is a full State occasion and he will be in Britain at the invitation of the Queen, who will greet the Pontiff at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh.

Lord Patten took over the role of co-ordinator from Scots Secretary Jim Murphy, who lost his post when Labour was defeated at the recent General Election.

“We offer him our best wishes for his new role and welcome the fact that the Government have appointed such a senior figure to liaise with the Church in the planning and preparation work being undertaken in advance of the Pope’s visit,” said the spokesperson.

“We hope to be able to discuss with him as soon as possible the preparations being made by the Catholic Church in Scotland.”

Prayer vigil for the Pope
in St. Peter's Square
Translated from
the 6/20/10 issue of




The intercession of Peter, first Pope, so he may protect his present Successor, Benedict XVI, was invoked by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Vatican, at the prayer vigil "to be close to the Pope' held Friday night, June 18, in St. Peter's Square under the auspices of the Movimento dell'Amore Familiare (Movement for Family Love).

The lay movement, which works under the Centro Piccola Chiesa, with the Diocese of Rome, has been holding these prayer vigils for Benedict XVI annually since 2005. (The Piccola Chiesa center takes its name from the concept of the Christian family as a 'small church'.)

Fr. Stefano Tardini, the movement's diocesan coordinator. said "We wish to show our closeness to teh pastor of teh Universal Church, who is a symbol of peace and unity for mankind".

By candlelight, the vigil started with the recitation of the Rosary with meditations on the luminous mysteries. The reflections focused on defense of life, the solitude of older people, unemploymenT, youth problems and the sufferings of the Church.

Pope calls bishops
to saintly way of life





19 Jun 10 (RV) - Pope Benedict XVI today called on bishops to a ‘saintly life’ in order to encourage the faithful to open their hearts to the Gospel that they preach.

The Pope addressed the Brazilian bishops from Region II of the nation's eastern sector at the end of their ad limina visit.

Bishops from Brazil's 252 dioceses have taken turns by sector to come to Rome in 2009 and 2010 to make their once-every-five-years visit to report to the Holy Fatheir about their respective dioceses.

Saturday’s group comprise the bishops of southeastern Brazil, led by Mgr. Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo, Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, and regional president of the Brazilian Bishops Conference for Leste-II.

Speaking to them, Pope Benedict emphasized the importance of communion between the faithful and their pastors, and the importance of the "bond of unity, love and peace" that ties the Pope to the bishops.

He concentrated on three main tasks of pastors, namely teaching, sanctifying and governing the people of God, stressing that as teachers and doctors of the faith, the bishops are called to teach the truth with authentic courage.

Referring to his address at the 2007 Aparecida Conference the Pope said; “The Church has the great task of guarding and nourishing the faith of the People of God, and reminding the faithful”, that "by virtue of their Baptism they are called to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ. "

He also urged the bishops to help the faithful "to discover the joy of faith... the joy of feeling loved personally by God”.

“Believing” he said, "consists primarily in abandoning oneself to God who knows and loves us personally."

The Pope said bishops must instill trust in the Lord in their own people and ensure that the faith is always "preserved, defended and transmitted in all its purity and integrity."

Stressing the crucial importance of the celebration of the sacraments and the Eucharist, especially for bishops, he said: "The task you have received to sanctify... (must) urge you to be promoters and leaders of prayer in the, human city, which is often restless, noisy and forgetful of God" and where, he said, bishops need to create "places and occasions of prayer... where the faithful can hear God and experience the encounter with Jesus Christ”.

In the task of leading their flock, he said bishops must promote the participation of all the faithful in the building up of the Church.

"The bishop is called to administer and regulate the lives of the people of God" through rules, guidelines and recommendations. “This is an important function so that the diocesan community remains united within and continues on a path of sincere communion of faith, love and discipline with the Bishop of Rome and with the whole Church”.

The holy Father concluded by saying that a bishop's governance "will be pastorally effective" only if it rests "on a moral authority, revealed in a saintly life" - and that this alone will "encourage souls to welcome the Gospel he preaches in his Church, as well as the standards he sets for the good of the People of God".

Church organisers will try to keep
to £7m budget for papal visit
By Anna Arco

18 June 2010


The bishops of England and Wales have promised to operate within the original £7million budget planned for the papal visit, despite reports of soaring costs.

Speaking at the launch of the new pamphlet explaining the purpose of the papal visit, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster said that it was the intention of the bishops to remain within the budget.

Last week it was reported that projected costs had doubled from the original figure of £7 million to £14 million. But Archbishop Nichols, the president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said everything was not yet clear.

He said: "What is clear is that the Catholic community carries the cost of those things which are proper to it, of the manifestations of Catholic faith that are part of this state visit. What is equally clear is that the Government funds a state visit in its movement and its security.

"We are intending and hoping to fulfil our side of those obligations within the budget that we have already established. There are still things to be made clear but that process is moving forward very well and very quickly since there is somebody in place with whom we can have decisive discussions.

"It is our intention to operate within that but there are still things to be clarified and decided and that will in part involve the group coming from Rome. You'll have an answer after that."

Archbishop Nichols also said that the Church's plans continued to involve Coventry Airport for the John Henry Newman's beatification despite reports said that the venue had not been booked. The news reports said that there were plans to host the ceremony in Oscott seminary or at the Longbridge car plant instead.

But he also said that the Church's plans would be looked at in the coming week when a papal visit protocol team would come to England and Wales to discuss the visit in logistical detail and that there would be a clear answer by the end of next week.

He also said that the open-air vigil for Hyde Park would go ahead and that he was puzzled by reports in the press that the venue had not even been booked by the event.

"We're planning to have a vigil on the Saturday in Hyde Park and permission and everything has been given," he said.

The booklet about the papal visit - which featured the papal visit logo, based on a stained-glass window design by the artist Brian Clarke on its front cover - confirmed both details that the beatification of Newman would take place in Coventry Airport and that the Church had set itself a budget of £ 7million for the visit. It also gave answers to some potential questions about the visit.

The 300,000 booklets have been booklets printed for distribution in the media on a local and national level, for organisers, diplomats, people in Government, in local authorities and parishes.

When asked whether the papal visit pamphlet had been published in response to the Foreign Office memo which suggested that the Pope open an abortion ward during his September visit, Archbishop Nichols said it was already being prepared when the memo was leaked to the press. But he said, he hoped it would be distributed in the Foreign Office as well.

The papal visit coming in response to the Queen's invitation in May, Archbishop Nichols said, was a significant moment for the country.

He said: "The project of the Pope in coming to Britain at the invitation of the Queen is to address our society and obviously to beatify Cardinal Newman of whom he is very fond."

He said the visit worked "on the level of a state visit" and that most people did not see heads of state when they visited. Benedict's visit was different, he said, because the Pope would be visisble when driving around in the Popemobile.



Archbishop Nichols talks
about the Papal visit





We interviewed Archbishop Vincent Nichols about the Papal visit after he presented the new booklet promoting the visit. During the interview he explains why he is pleased it is a state visit, what is exciting about it and why he is emphasising Cardinal John Henry Newman’s role as a parish priest.

He also invites Catholics in England and Wales to put their support behind the Pope during the visit by praying, coming out to the events and giving financial and spiritual support. Here is the exclusive interview:


What would you say to a Catholic who said: “I have paid twice for the visit, through the tax system and the national collection”. Why will I not get so see the Pope in person? What do you recommend that person do?
The project of the Pope in coming to Britain at the invitation of the Queen is to address our society and obviously to beatify Cardinal Newman of whom he is very fond.

This means the visit works on all sorts of different levels. It works on the level of a state visit and normally heads of state aren’t seen by that many people in the country. But this is different because this state visit touches over four days and involves the Pope moving over major cities in his Popemobile in a way that many people will be able to go and express their support for the Pope and see him.

From a Catholic view, I think what is most important is that we understand the delicacy of the mission the Pope has taken on in coming to address British society with the gift of Christian faith.

Because we are very aware of the delicacy of the moment of strong voices raised in opposition for any role for religious faith in our society, and here is the Pope who is such an eloquent exponent of the gift of faith coming right into the midst of this multi-faith, multicultural, complex, at times aggressively secular, society.

So Catholics, really, I invite them to get behind the Pope and support him. There are many ways of doing this, with prayer, through the financial contributions that have already been made, and of course, if it's possible. to get to see the Pope personally in some of the big events.

But it’s the spirit of the thing that I think is most important and I would hope that every Catholic would rejoice in the fact that Her Majesty the Queen and the Government have invited the Pope, and rejoice in the fact that he is here, Our father in faith, our father in God, and we will support him wholeheartedly and not in any way begrudgingly.

If it were up to you would you prefer this to be a pastoral visit?
I think the historic nature of the Pope visiting this country as a state visit is quite astonishing. It’s obviously the first time in history at the opening of the visit to see the Queen and the Pope together. The Queen is the first person to welcome him to this country. I hope that many of our easy assumptions will be a little bit shaken, that somehow there is an intense antagonism to Catholicism in this country.

That is not what the picture will show. The picture will show a monarch who is held in huge esteem by everybody, making sure that this Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is warmly welcomed into this society. I think that is so important that nobody should underestimate it.

What was your reaction when the papal visit was discussed during the leaders’ debates?
They were very particular political moments and it seemed to me that none of the leaders expected it. The way the question was framed was from a particular point of view, a bit antagonistic point of view, and I was glad that each of the three leaders said, yes, they welcomed the visit of the Pope. Since then the (new) Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have made it very clear, the warmth of that welcome.

And in appointing Lord Patten to be his personal representative the Prime Minister has made it perfectly clear that the Government fully supports this visit and is in fact looking forward to it. He describes it as a tremendously exciting.

Why are you emphasising Newman’s role as a parish priest and not so much his theology of conscience or his conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism?
Well, Cardinal Newman is a rich and quite complex character. I think he is well known in some circles as an academic. He is known in some circles as a poet and a man of culture.

But there is a strand of pastoral care that runs consistently through his life and it started when he was a young tutor in Oxford and he saw the purpose of education was to care for the whole person and not simply be the acquisition of knowledge. And that underlying gold thread of pastoral care is, I think, not often enough focused upon.

Certainly his years as a parish priest in Birmingham and the reputation he enjoyed and built up among Catholics and others in Birmingham was the reason why 20,000 people or more lined the streets of Birmingham when his body was taken from the Oratory in Birmingham to Rednall where he was buried.

Most of those people might not have read a letter of Cardinal Newman’s, nor a book, though they may have heard some of his sermons, but they came out onto the streets because they recognised a parish priest who was committed to them who visited them in their homes, who brought them food if they were hungry, coal if they were cold, who pleaded with their employers on their behalf, who did the things that a parish priest does.

And considering that we are just ending the Year for Priests, I think it’s a remarkable grace that an English parish priest should be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI, and I wouldn’t want that dimension of Newman to be forgotten or overlooked.

What’s your nightmare/dream scenario for the visit? What’s the worst and what’s the best you imagine happening?
Well, what I remember from 1982 of course were that the days of the visit of John Paul II were marked by wonderful sunshine and I would hope for the same. If we can have an Indian summer over that weekend, I think that would make a lot of difference to the hundreds of thousands of people who will come out to see the Pope.

What I really hope for, too, is that the gentleness and the readiness to engage in dialogue that is so characteristic of Pope Benedict will come across. And in this I think television coverage will help a great deal, because here is a man who is most impressive when you sit down and talk to him face to face.

One of the great advantages of television is that it brings the face close to us, and I think with that help, people will see the utter integrity of this man who is at peace in his faith, not afraid of difficult questions, not afraid of difficult challenges, and will engage with us in a way that I think will be a significant contribution to our shared life.

Do you expect some sort of an outbreak of abuse stories or negative stories about the Church shortly before the Pope’s arrival?
When preparations were in hand for the World Youth Day in Sydney, I am told that for 10 days before Pope Benedict arrived in Sydney, there was a constant stream of negative stories about the Catholic Church. But they stopped and changed on the day he arrived.

I don’t think that will happen here. I think that those who are critical of the Church for whatever reason will continue to be critical and I quite understand that.

But I think that most people will recognise its importance and begin to see it in its proper dimensions and will begin to put in their proper context the terrible things that have been quite properly publicly criticised about the life and behaviour of some priests and bishops in the Church. I think it’s time now for us to look at the bigger picture and I think people will be ready to do that.

Would you encourage Catholics to come out and catch a sight of the Pope on the route?
Well, yes. But I think there will be plenty of opportunities in the major cities for people to wave and greet the Pope on one of his journeys on one his journeys through the cities and I’m very pleased that city authorities are being extremely cooperative and being in fact not at all reluctant to foresee very large numbers of people who want to come out into the streets to see the Pope.

Benedict XVI:
The reforming Pope
by Lucio Brunelli
Translated from

June 19, 2010

Only a few weeks ago it seemed that the ship of the Church was about to sink in the waves of the pedophilia scandal. Her public credibility was plummeting, and perhaps even the morale of the ship's crew was shaky.

It's not that the storm is over, since waves as high as the luxury mansards of Propaganda Fide properties in Rome continue to lap at Peter's ship. [The reference is to Italian police investigations into a possible corruption scandal involving Italian bureaucrats who had close and questionable connections with the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples - or Propaganda Fide, its old name by which the Italians refer to it - when it was under Cardinal Crescensio Sepe (2001-2005), now Archbishop of Naples, who has said he has nothing to hide. Propaganda Fide derives much of its income to finance the missions from rentals on the many properties it has in Rome.]

But everything has changed. The fear is over. It is when the tempest rages most that the helmsman's quality is best measured.

Firmness and serenity have always been the qualities of Benedict XVI. He has faced adversities not simply undergoing and supporting them but also in the only way that is Christianly fruitful: as St. Paul says, to make even the bad serve the good.

If commander-in-chief Ratzinger had listened to any of his 'admirals', he might have screamed out against the gale, wagging his finger or futilely waving his fist at the enemy fleet.

But, seeing quite well the Enemy's paw, he has asked all his 'sailors' to withstand all the wounds and shame heaped on their backs like a goad - and ask God humbly for strength, the truth, and forgiveness.

He himself, the helmsman, has been doing so - as in a time of penitence and conversion - to get through the mare magnum of sins for which the Church has been condemned.

He has done so with pain, but with that serenity which is the most objective and persuasive indicator that it is one Other who is steering the ship. That the Church is not just a human institution, which tends to decay as all old institutions do, but also the sign of a presence that is eternal.

At the start of his Pontificate five years ago, Benedict XVI faced two choices: he could become a prisoner of the stereotypes that many enemies and even some of his friends had made him out to be - the frowning Pope of No, the militant anti-modern Pope.

Or, he could undertake a papacy of spiritual and moral reform of the Church - reform understood as a return to the essentials of the faith, to the clear springs of Christian tradition. With the consequent 'clean-up' of the dregs and filth that have over time soiled and spoiled Christ's mystical Body on earth.

His experience of almost a quarter-century in the Roman Curia - knowing its vices and virtues to perfection, his well-known reserve keeping him from being part of any ecclesiastical faction or lobby - makes his reformatory actions more credible and effective.

Think of the embarassing case of the Legionaries of Christ, and the investigations he undertook while still a cardinal, against much resistance, into the activities of a founder who was widely thought to be above suspicion.

Think of the changes he made almost immediately after he became Pope in the leadership of Propaganda Fide, based on his fears that the 2000 Jubilee Year celebrations had been too tied up to business interests. [Cardinal Sepe had been John Paul II's Jubilee Year coordinator.] Those fears had made him cite the words of the writer Giovanni Papini who, in 1950, had warned against the risk that the Holy Year would be debased "in the saraband of interests and modern conveniences, into a vast touristic speculation, into some sort of euphoric and Mammon-driven kermesse".

He may be a theologian Pope, but he is hardly out of touch with the world. He is gentle, but not ingenuous. Serious, but not unlikable.

Rather than the Ratzingerism - defined as a radical pessimism about the world - that everyone was warned about, we have seen a Ratzinger who is not above being interested in the World Cup.

Recently, a text he wrote in 1985 resurfaced in which he reflects on the reasons for the planetary fascination with football. He observes that the pessimists would say nothing has changed since pagan Rome - that people want panem et circenses (bread and circuses).

"But that is a reply," the future Pope writes, "which may be true but insufficient. Because sport expresses basically the yearning for paradise, a life of satisfaction without effort and of fully realized freedom".

June 19, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

ST. PAULINUS OF NOLA (b France ca. 354, d Italy 431), Bishop, Poet, Father of the Church
Benedict XVI dedicated a catechesis to Paulinus on Dec. 12, 2007
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071212...
Son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, he was born near Bordeaux and followed his father in a successful career as a lawyer and administrator of the Empire. At a young age, he became governor of Campania (the region that includes Naples), where the devotion of the local folk to a local martyr, St. Felix, impressed him and began his road to conversion. He studied under Ambrose in Milan, went back to Bordeaux where he was baptized, married a Spanish woman and retired with her to Barcelona. After many childless years, they had a son who died as an infant. This spurred them to dedicate their lives to God, living in chastity from then on. Paulinus was ordained a priest and they moved to Nola near Naples, where they gave away most of their worldly goods to help the poor and the homeless. The couple attracted like-minded Christians with whom they formed a monastic community. He became Bishop of Nola by popular acclaim and served his diocese for 21 years. Paulinus lives on in his poems and letters, which Benedict XVI describes as 'rich in a lived theology, woven from God's Word, constantly examined as a light for life'. The letters testify to his spiritual friendship with his great contemporaries - Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Martin of Tours, and Roman personages. Benedict quotes him again in his description of friendship: "We are members of one body, we have one head, we are steeped in one grace, we live on one loaf, we walk on one road, and we dwell in the same house". The Holy Father called it 'a very beautiful description of what it means to be Christian, to be the Body of Christ, to live within the Church's communion'.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/062010.shtml


OR today.

This issue's papal story is the Holy Father's address to the bishops of southeastern Brazil who completed their ad limina visit. Other Page 1 stories: A report about a Catholic-Muslim ceremony in southern France to commemorate seven Cistercian monks of the Abbey of Thibbirine in Algeria who were kidnapped by armed Muslims in 1996 and then murdered; the UN estimates a million Uzbeks fleeing the ethnic fighting in Kyrgyzstan are in urgent need of international aid; US sends its special envoy Holbrooke to Islamabad (So??? That's his regular mission!).


THE POPE'S DAY

Mass of Ordination for 14 new priests in the Diocese of Rome - Homily.

Angelus at noon - Message.



Vatican statement on Italian
investigation of Cardinal Sepe



20 Jun 10 (RV) - Vatican Press Office Director Fr Federico Lombardi issued the following statement today on ongoing investigations regarding Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples:

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“First, I would like to express my esteem and solidarity with Cardinal Sepe at this difficult time. Cardinal Sepe is a person who has worked, and continues to work, for the Church and the people entrusted to him in an intense and generous manner, and as such has the right to be respected and esteemed.

Then, naturally, we all hope and trust that the situation will be fully and rapidly clarified, so as to eliminate all shadow of doubt regarding both him personally and Church institutions.

Cardinal Sepe, - as he has already stated – will collaborate to clarify this situation. Naturally, the procedural and juridical aspects implicit in relations between the Holy See and Italy, will be taken into account, is they should eventually be required.

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[NB: Cardinal Sepe was the overall coordinator of the 2000 Jubilee Year celebrations and was subsequently named by John Paul II to head the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which he led from 2001 to 2006, when Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of Naples.

The Italian police are investigating corruption charges into some ranking Italian bureaucrats who did business with the Congregation during Sepe's administration. The Congregation owns properties in Rome worth many millions of dollars, from which, along with contributions worldwide, it finances the work of Catholic missions around the world.

Cardinal Sepe said in his homily today that he has nothing to hide and is prepared to answer any questions the police or the courts may have.

MASS TO ORDAIN
14 NEW PRIESTS FOR
THE DIOCESE OF ROME

Illustration: The Calling of Peter and Andrew, Sano di Pietro, 1472. Miniature from 'I corali del Duomo di Siena'. Right, the program lists the names, birthdays, and hometowns of the 14 new priests.



20 Jun 10 (RV) - Pope Benedict XVI today ordained 14 men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Rome. In a solemn ceremony held in St Peter’s Basilica, the Pope warned against careerism and ambition, noting that “the priesthood can never be a way to achieve security in life or to gain a position in society”, rather it must be rooted in conformity to Christ and his total gift of self.



Here is the Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father's homily:

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More libretto illustrations: Miniatures by Sano di Pietro, 1472, from 'I Corali della Duomo di Siena'.


Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear ordinands,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!

As bishop of this diocese I am especially pleased to welcome fourteen new priests to the Roman presbyterium. Together with the Cardinal Vicar, the Auxiliary Bishops and all priests I thank the Lord for the gift of these new pastors of God's people.

I would like to extend a special greeting to you, dear ordinands: Today you are the focal point of the People of God, a people symbolized by those who fill this Vatican Basilica: they fill it with prayer and song, deep affection and profound, genuine emotion, of human and spiritual joy.

Among this people of God, your parents and family, friends and companions, superiors and seminary educators, the various parish communities and the different realities of the Church from which you come and who have accompanied you on your journey and those in which you yourselves have already served pastorally have a special place.

Not to mention the unique proximity, in this moment, of many people, humble and simple but great before God, such as, for example, cloistered religious, children, the sick and infirm. They accompany you with the precious gift of their prayers, their innocence and their suffering.

It is, therefore, the entire Church of Rome, that today gives thanks to God and prays for you, that puts so much faith and hope in your future, waiting for the abundant fruits of holiness and goodness from your priestly ministry.

Yes, the Church is counting on you; it counts a lot on you! The Church needs each of you, in the knowledge that it is the gift that God offers you, together with the absolute necessity of every human heart to meet with Christ, the One and only universal Saviour of the world, to receive from him new and eternal life, true freedom and full joy.

Thus we are all invited to enter into the "mystery" of the event of grace that is taking place in your hearts with Priestly Ordination, enlightened by the Word of God.

The Gospel that we just heard shows us a significant moment in the journey of Jesus in which he asks his disciples what people think of him and how they judge him themselves.

Peter replies on behalf of the Twelve with a confession of faith, which differs substantially from the view that people have of Jesus, for he says: You are the Christ of God (cf. 9.20).

Where does this act of faith come from? If we go back to the beginning of the Gospel passage, we note that Peter’s confession is tied to a moment of prayer: "when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him"(9:18).

That is, the disciples are involved in Jesus’s unique being and talking with the Father. And so they are allowed to see the Master in the depths of his condition as Son, they are allowed to see what others can not, by 'being with Him.

Through being with Him in prayer comes a knowledge that goes beyond the opinions of people to reach the profound identity of Jesus, to reach the truth.

Here we are given an indication for the life and mission of the priest: in prayer he is called to rediscover the new face of the Lord and always the most authentic contents of his mission.

Only those who have an intimate relationship with the Lord can 'grasp' him, may bring him to others, can be sent out. This is the "being with him" that must always accompany the exercise of priestly ministry; it must be the central part of it, above all, in difficult times when it seems that "things to be done" should take priority.

I wish to highlight a second element in today's Gospel. Immediately after Peter's confession, Jesus proclaims his coming passion and resurrection, and he follows this announcement with a lesson on the path his disciples must take, which is to follow Him, the Crucified, follow the road of the Cross.

And he adds - with a paradoxical expression - that being a disciple means "losing oneself", only in order to fully rediscover oneself (cf. Lk 9.22 to 24). What does this mean for every Christian, but especially what does it mean for a priest?

Of discipleship, we can safely say: the priesthood can never be a way to achieve security in life or to gain a position in society. The man who aspires to the priesthood to enhance his personal prestige and power has misunderstood the meaning at the root of this ministry.

The man who wants above all to achieve personal ambition, achieve personal success, will always be a slave to himself and public opinion. In order to merit their consideration, he will have to flatter, to say what people want to hear; he will have to adjust to changing fashions and opinions and thus deprive himself of the vital relationship with the truth, reducing himself to condemning tomorrow what he would praise today.

A man who plans his life like this, a priest who sees his ministry in these terms, does not truly love God and others, only himself and, paradoxically, ends up losing himself.

The priesthood - let us always remember - rests on the courage to say yes to another will; in the awareness, to be nurtured everyday, that our compliance with the will of God, our "immersion" in this will, does not cancel our originality, but on the contrary, it helps us enter deeper into the truth of our being and our ministry.

Dear ordinands, I would like propose a third thought for your consideration, closely related to the one just mentioned: the call of Jesus to "lose oneself" in order to take the cross recalls the mystery we celebrate: the Eucharist.

With the sacrament of Holy Orders you are now gifted to preside at the Eucharist! You are entrusted with the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, you are entrusted his Body, the Blood he shed.

Of course, Jesus offers his sacrifice, his gift of love, full and humble, to the Church his Bride, on the Cross. It was on that wood, that the Father dropped a grain of wheat on the field of the world so that in dying it would become mature fruit, the giver of life.

But in God's plan, this gift of Christ is made present in the Eucharist through the sacred potestas that the Sacrament of Holy Orders bestows on you Priests.

When we celebrate Holy Mass we hold in our hands the bread of Heaven, the bread of God which is Christ, the grain broken to multiply and become the true food of life for the world.

It is something that cannot fail to fill you with intimate wonder, vibrant joy and immense gratitude: now the love and gift of Christ crucified and glorious, pass through your hands, your voice, your heart!

We pray to the Lord to give you an ever vigilant and enthusiastic consciousness of this gift, which is at the centre of your being priests! So that he may give you the grace to be able to experience in depth all the beauty and strength of this as well as your priestly service, the grace to live this ministry with consistency and generosity every day.

The grace of the priesthood, that soon you will be given, will connect you intimately, even structurally, to the Eucharist. It will deeply link your heart to the feelings of Jesus who loves to the end, until the total gift of self, to his being multiplied as bread for the holy feast of unity and communion.

This is the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit, designed to ignite your soul with the love of the Lord Jesus. It is an outpouring that, as it affirms the absolute gratuity of the gift, carves an indelible law into your being – a new law that urges you to make love of the Crucified Christ’s gift part of the fabric of the specific attitudes and gestures of your daily life and helps it to flourish.

We can hear the words of the Apostle Paul - in which we recognize the powerful voice of the Holy Spirit - "You who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal 3:27).

Already with Baptism, and now by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, you cloth yourselves with Christ. Attentive celebration of the Eucharist is always accompanied by a commitment to a Eucharistic life lived in obedience to one great law, namely, that of love that gives itself entirely, and serves with humility, in a life which the grace of the Holy Spirit helps to increasingly resemble that of Christ Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, Servant of God and men.

Dear friends, the path that today's Gospel indicates to us is the path of your spirituality and your pastoral action, its efficiency and effectiveness, even in the most strenuous and arid situations. This is the sure way to find true joy.

May Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, who conformed her will to the will of God, who generated Christ and gifted him to the world, who followed her Son to the foot of the cross in the supreme act of love, accompany you in your everyday life and of your ministry.

Thanks to this Mother's tender and strong affection, you can joyfully be faithful to the conferral that today is given you as priests: to abide in Christ the Priest, who obeyed the will of the Father and loves man to the very end. Amen!

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At the Angelus, Pope appeals for
a return to peace in Kyrgyzstan




20 Jun 10 (RV) - During his Angelus address today, Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an end to the tragic situation in Kyrgyzstan.

Speaking to an estimated 20,000 thousand people who withstood unseasonably bad weather in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father said:

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I want to make an urgent appeal so that peace and security are quickly restored in southern Kyrgyzstan, following serious clashes in recent days. To the relatives of the victims and those suffering from this tragedy I express my heartfelt closeness and assure them of my prayers. I also invite all ethnic communities in the country to forgo any further provocation or violence and I ask the international community to work so that humanitarian aid quickly reaches the affected populations.

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Pope Benedict also recalled the UN World Refugee Day observed today, "to draw attention to the problems of those who have been forced to leave their land families, and customs arriving in environments that are often very different".

The Holy Father was uncharacteristically late for his midday appointment with pilgrims. But with good reason as he explained before the Angelus prayer - as Bishop of Rome, he had just ordained 14 men as new priests for the Diocese of Rome.

Commenting on today’s Gospel (from Luke 9), he said “Jesus calls us to carry our cross in union with him. May we always give ourselves to him and thus discover anew the joy that he promises to those who follow him. Upon you and your loved ones at home, I invoke the blessings of Almighty God”.


Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's words today:

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Dear brothers and sisters:

This morning, a St. Peter's Basilica, I conferred priestly Holy Orders on fourteen deacons of the Diocese of Rome. The Sacrament of Holy Orders manifests, on the part of God, his attentive nearness to man, and on the part of those who receive it, total availability to be the instruments of this nearness, with radical love for Christ and the Church.

In the Gospel for this Sunday, the Lord asks his disciples, ""But who do you say that I am?" (Lk 9,20). To this question, the apostle Peter answers promptly: "You are the Christ, the Messiah of God" (ibid.), thus going beyond all the earthly opinions that considered Jesus one of the prophets.

According to St. Ambrose, Peter, with this profession of faith, "embraces everything together, because he has expressed the nature and the name of the Messiah" (Exp. in Lucam VI, 93, CCL 14, 207).

Jesus, in the face of this profession of faith, renews to Peter and the other disciples the invitation to follow him on the demanding road of love all the way to the Cross.

To us, as well, who can know the Lord through faith in his words and in the sacraments, Jesus addresses the proposition to follow him every day, and he reminds us, too, that in order to be his disciples, one must partake of the power of his Cross, the summit of all our good and the crown of our hopes.

St. Maximus the Confessor observed that "the distinctive sign of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Cross which he carried on his shoulders" (Ambiguum 32, PG 91, 1284 C).

Indeed, Jesus told everyone: "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Lk 9,23).

To take up the Cross means to commit oneself to defeating sin which hinders the path to God; it means to accept the will of the Lord daily, to grow in faith especially in the face of problems, difficulties and suffering.

The Carmelite saint Edith Stein bore witness to this in a time of persecution. From the Carmel of Cologne in 1938, she wrote: "Now I understand what it means to be the spouse fof the Lord, in the sign of the Cross, although I will never understand it completely because it is a mystery. The more it becomes dark around us, the more we should open our hearts to the light that comes from above" (Choosing God: Letters (1917-1942).

Even in our time, there are many Christians in the world, inspired by love of God, who take up the Cross every day, whether it is that of daily trials, or that caused by human barbarism which often calls for the courage of the extreme sacrifice.

May the Lord grant that each of us may awlays place our solid hope in him, certain that by following him and carrying our Cross, we will reach the light of the Resurrection with him.

Let us entrust to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary the priests who were ordained today as they join the ranks of those whom the Lord has called by name.

Let us always be faithful disciples, courageous announcers of the Word of God, and administrators of his gifts of salvation.


After the prayers, he said this:

I wish to address an urgent appeal for peace and security to be re-established right away in southern Kyrgyzstan following the serious encounters that have taken place in recent days.

To the relatives of the victims and all those who are suffering because of this tragedy, I express my heartfelt nearness and assure them of my prayers.

I also call on all the ethnic communities of that nation to renounce any provocation or violence, as I ask the international community to do all it can so that humantiarian aid can quickly reach the affected peoples.

Today the United Nations celebrates the World Day of the Refugee to call attention to the problems of those who have been forced to leave their own lands and familiar circumstances, to arrive in environments which are often profoundly different.

Refugees wish to find acceptance and be recognized in their dignity and their fundamental rights, and at the same time, they intend to contribute to the society which accepts them.

Let us pray that, with just reciprocity, such expectation can meet an adequate response, and that the refugees will show respect for the identity of the communities that take them in.


In English, he said:

In today’s Gospel Jesus calls us to carry our cross in union with him. May we always give ourselves to him and thus discover anew the joy that he promises to those who follow him. Upon you and your loved ones at home, I invoke the blessings of Almighty God.

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That CNS comes out only ten days later with a commentary on the Pope's Q&A with priests on June 10 is emblematic of the lack of initiative of the Anglophone Catholic news media themselves to keep abreast of the truly significant Catholic statements the Pope makes - leaving MSM to preempt and co-opt them by coming out with their version of these statements promptly even if often wrong, distorted, very much truncated, or taken out of context...That is why I could never understand why VIS, CNS, CNA and Zenit take weekends off! Vatican Radio, does not, to cite the most obvious example. It's not a full day's work to file one or two stories about what the Pope does or says on weekends.


Tracking the Pope's
words on celibacy
By John Thavis



VATICAN CITY, June 19 (CNS) — Throughout his five-year pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has made some of his most interesting comments off the cuff, often during question-and-answer sessions with priests.

His late-night meeting with 10,000 priests June 10 was a good example. Although questions were known in advance, the Pope's responses were unfiltered and impromptu — the kind of "organized spontaneity" for which his mind is apparently hard-wired.

Unfortunately, the world often misses out on these talks for a number of reasons. His vigil with priests ended close to midnight and a Vatican text wasn't made available until several days later. Moreover, the Pope used concepts and terms that weren't exactly user-friendly to the mass media. [He was addressing priests, after all, so he was speaking to them in their language! Which, with the modicum of knowledge about Catholic doctrine that reporters covering the Church have a duty to know, should not be unfamiliar or strange to them at all.

When you are a reporter, if you really want to report well and fairly, then you must work at understanding what you are reporting. And if you have lived in Rome for as long as most Anglophone Vatican reporters have done, you do not have to wait for a translation, or for a transcript, for that matter. That's why every self-respecting reporter these days carries an audio-recording device of some sort!

And by the way, you do not excuse failing to report on an important event because it ends around midnight! If you can't do it right away because you want to go to bed, then do it first thing in the morning.

No, I think the poor coverage was principally because none of the questions touched directly on sex abuses, and nothing else interested the MSM. So they reported the event in the most perfunctory manner. Restatement of Catholic taching does not interest them in the least, and it would offend their secular souls to have to report it at all.

The sex abuses were rightly, perhaps even deliberately, not dwelt upon at the prayer vigil. The priests who came to Rome for the conclusion of the Year for Priests were not stand-ins for the relatively tiny minority of their colleagues who have committed sex offenses against minors. They have more urgent and direct pastoral/spiritual concerns of their own.]

His response on priestly celibacy was a case in point and deserves a closer look. He was asked by a Slovakian priest to "enlighten us about the wisdom and the authentic meaning of ecclesial celibacy."

The Pope's angle of attack was unusual. He did not speak about Christ's own celibacy or the history of the celibate priesthood, or about any of the practical questions connected with the requirement of celibacy in the Western church.

Instead, he said priestly celibacy was a way for the priest to become more united with Christ and his mission, in an anticipation of "the world of the resurrection." In celibacy, he said, the priest is pulled forward toward "the new and true life" of the future.

That creates a problem with the contemporary mindset, which seeks to close off God, the Pope said.

"It is true that for the agnostic world, the world in which God does not enter, celibacy is a great scandal precisely because it demonstrates that God is considered and lived as a reality," he said. In the eyes of critics, the influence of God in this world "is supposed to disappear," he said.

In Pope Benedict's analysis, the world's problem with celibacy is not really about sexuality, but about the priest's commitment to the call of a higher power.

He then turned to marriage and developed another rather surprising thesis: that celibacy has more in common with marriage than with the single lifestyle — which, he noted, is increasingly fashionable today.

"But this not getting married is something totally and fundamentally different from celibacy, because not getting married is based on the desire to live only for oneself, to reject any definitive bond," he said.

In short, he said, people who reject marriage in favor of "complete autonomy" are saying "no" to commitment. Celibacy is the opposite, a "yes" to God's plan that is not unlike "the definitive 'yes' of marriage," he said.

"Therefore celibacy confirms the 'yes' of marriage with its 'yes' to the future world," he said.

Almost as an aside, he added that he was speaking of marriage as "the natural form of being man and woman," which he said was "the foundation of the great Christian culture, of the great cultures of our world."

"And if this disappears, the root of our culture will be destroyed," he said.

In his final point, the Pope referred to the priestly sex abuse cases that have been the focus of so much attention in recent months. Some critics have suggested that mandatory priestly celibacy may be a contributing factor in the crisis.

The Pope turned that idea on its head, saying that "celibacy, as the criticisms themselves show, is a great sign of faith, of the presence of God in the world."

For that very reason, he said, celibacy is a "scandal" in the eyes of many people.

"We know that next to this great scandal, which the world does not want to see, there are also the secondary scandals of our own shortcomings, of our sins, which obscure the true and great scandal, and make people think: 'But they don't really live on the foundations of God,'" he said.

"But there is so much fidelity!" the Pope added. He then prayed that God would "help us to free ourselves from the secondary scandals."

Pope Benedict often uses language that is difficult for the mass media to understand and interpret, and here was a good example.

Take the word "scandal." To the media, it means disgraceful action that damages the reputation of an institution — just as the Church has been damaged [???Shaken, perhaps, not damaged, at least not beyond what it already has been in the past five decades following Vatican II!] by sex abuse by priests.

But in this talk, the Pope was using the word in two very different ways. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, further explained the pope's remarks to Catholic News Service in a lengthy e-mail.

[Why does it require an e-mail from Fr. Lombardi to explain the use of the word 'scandal' by the Pope in the sense that the Bible uses it? This is not the first time the Pope has used it to describe the reaction of the outside world, in every era, to the radical teachings of Jesus which are 'scandalous' because they go against the ways of the world, against the human tendency to always take the easy way and to avoid making any sacrifices.]

In saying that the strong faith demonstrated in celibacy is a scandal to the world, the Pope meant that it challenges — in a positive sense — the dominant cultural mentality, Father Lombardi said. For the Pope, this is the "primary necessity" of the faith, the spokesman said.

The Pope's reference to the sins of priests as "secondary scandals" was widely quoted and drew criticism from sex abuse victims' groups. [Of course, they would. As they criticize everything that the Pope says or does not say, what he does and what he does not do. Father, forgive the willfully blind and relentlessly hate-full!]

But Father Lombardi said the Pope meant the phrase not to imply that priestly sex abuse scandals were unimportant, but to indicate that they have nothing to do with "the very nature of the Church, and in fact contradict it."

In this sense, Father Lombardi said, they are of a second order, working against the Church's primary mission.

While acts of abuse can be "very serious and very damaging or absolutely terrible, they are of a completely different type because they are opposed to the 'positive scandal' of good witness of the faith and of Christian life," Father Lombardi said.

Such subtleties might have been understood by the priests who listened to the Pope's extemporaneous talk. For journalists, it was a reminder that Pope Benedict doesn't speak the language of sound bites.
[No, that's being disingenuous, Mr. Thavis! You are an intelligent man. What was it about the Pope's statement -

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We know that next to this great scandal, which the world does not want to see, there are also the secondary scandals of our own shortcomings, of our sins, which obscure the true and great scandal (i.e., 'that God is considered and lived as a reality')

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that is not clear to anyone who understands English (or Italian or any of the other languages into which the Pope's words were translated)?]





Well, blow me down! The New York Times has actually published a pro-Benedict letter to the editor.
I could take issue with some of what the writer says, but still...

The Pope’s Path
Letter to the Editor

Published: June 18, 2010

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To the Editor:

Re “From St. Peter’s Square, Pope Pleads for Forgiveness Over Abuse and Vows Action” (news article, June 12):

How typical of Pope Benedict XVI’s humility and love of truth that he should address the clerical abuse crisis, before an audience of priests, with a profound apology and a promise of real change.

It is increasingly clear now that his past actions were constrained by past practice, and that as Pontiff his teaching, and especially to the episcopacy, has been dramatically otherwise.

As such, it may well be that this teaching will become the great work of his pontificate, at least as important as any undertaken by his immediate predecessor.

John C. Hirsh
Washington, June 12, 2010

The writer is a professor of English at Georgetown University.

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June 21, Monday, 12th Week in Ordinary Time

Third and fourth from left: St. Aloysius in Glory, by Tiepolo; and St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Aloysius adoring the Immaculate Heart of Mary, by a 17th-century Spanish painter.
ST. ALOYSIUS (LUIGI) GONZAGA (Italy, 1568-1591), Jesuit, patron of Christian youth
When a young priest was presented to Benedict XVI last year
During his visit to Padre Pio's shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo on this day last year, the Pope remarked to a young priest named Luigi for today's saint that they were both celebrating their name day because his own second name is Alois, so HAPPY NAME DAY, HEILIGE VATER!*... Born in the family castle near Mantua of the House of Gonzaga, one of Italy's most storied noble families, young Aloysius grew up in the full splendor of Renaissance courts and the best education possible. As a teenager, he served as a page in the court of Spain's Philip II when his family lived in Spain for two years. However, he was always very pious from childhood; by age 7, his prayers included the Daily Office of priests; and at 9, he vowed himself to chastity, and received first Communion from Cardinal Charles Borromeo. After a four-year battle with his father who wanted him to be a soldier, he renounced his inheritance and joined the Jesuit order in Rome, where his confessor was Robert Bellarmine. One condition for his acceptance was that he should reduce his level of self-mortification in order not to alienate his fellow seminarians. He was ordained in 1589. In 1590, he had a vision of the Archangel Gabriel who told him he would die within a year. In 1591, plague broke out in Rome. Aloysius helped in a hospital and caught the disease himself. He was always sickly, suffering from kidney disease. Although he recovered from teh plague, he was weaker than ever. He told Bellarmine that he would die in the Octave of Corpus Christi which fell on June 21 that year. he seemed well that day, but he was given Extreme Unction. He died just before midnight. He was beatified just 14 years after his death, and was canonized in 1626 along with Stanislaus Kostka, another young Jesuit. Benedict XIII proclaimed him teh patron of students in 1729, and in 1926, Pius XI named him patron of Christian youth. He was buried in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome, but his head is now enshrined in the Basilica named after him in Castiglione, his hometown.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/062110.shtml


No OR today.


THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met individually today with 11 more bishops from Brazil (Eastern Sector-II).



Conferment of the 'pallium'
to new metropolitan bishops
on June 29


On Tuesday, June 29, Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the Holy Father will preside at a 9:30 a.m.
Eucharistic concelebration in St. Peter's Basilica with metropolitan archbishops named in the past year
who will receive the pallium as symbol of their office.

Italian media continues to focus on the corruption scandal in which Cardinal Crescencio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, will be interrogated by prosecutors for his possible role in cases that involved the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which he headed from 2001-2006 and some ranking Italian bureaucrats.

One specific case mentioned is that the Italian government donated some 2.5 million euros to for a museum project of the Congregation which never materialized, and for which, apparently, the contribution has not been accounted for.

It is claimed additionally that in consideration for that contribution, the Congregation facilitated the acquisition of a Rome building at a 'friendly' price to one Pietro Lunardi, an Italian sub-minister who had procured the contribution.

The Congregation, still called locally by its old name Propaganda Fide, is said to own nine billion dollars worth of properties accumulated over four centuries. Income from these properties, along with worldwide contributions, enables the congregation to support not just Catholic missions around the world, but also more than 1,200 dioceses in the poorer countries.

The other buzz is that Benedict XVI may have decided to name Mons. Velasio de Paolis, 74, President of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, as the apostolic delegate to oversee the post-Maciel/Corcuera Legionaries of Christ.

He is both an accomplished canonical jurist (he was #2 at the Apostolic Segnatura for 5 years) as well as a financial expert - both qualifications necessary for whoever will try to straighten out the LC's affairs. The Pope gave an audience to De Paolis a few days after he had met with Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, who succeeded Maciel as Superior-General of the LC.

Looking at the Pope's daily audiences last week, I thought naturally that De Paolis, who saw the Pope one day after Cardinal Ivan Dias's last meeting with the Pope, may have been called to shed light and expertise on the economic affairs of Propaganda Fide - under Dias since 2006 - and how it could have been involved in the corruption investigation by the Italian government.

There is similar speculation that the frequent audiences of Cardinal Dias with the Pope lately may not be due (only) to his desire to retire from the Curia due to poor health, but to better acquaint the Pope with the financial situation of Propaganda Fide today and before 2006.

Meanwhile, Sandro Magister on his blog today has reprinted two unflattering articles he published in L'Espresso back in 2002 that profiled the rise of Cardinal Sepe in the Curia before he was even named by John Paul II to head the coordinating committee for the 2000 Jubilee celebrations, and how Sepe reportedly assembled his own media machine much earlier - among those on his side were reportedly Joaquin Navarro Valls and the then editor Mario Agnes of L'Osservatore Romano - to promote himself, because his real target was to be named Secretary of State when Cardinal Sodano reached 75 in 2002 (except that John Paul II did not retire Sodano, but he did make Sepe cardinal and head of Propaganda Fide).

A prominent article in Corriere della Sera today that has all the makings of a puff piece quotes Cardinal Sepe's homily in Naples yesterday, in which, among other things, he says that he is ready to bear his Cross, and that the people of his diocese are with him.

Other Italian newspapers meanwhile chose to link the Pope's statement in his homily yesterday - yet again, as he has often done - against careerism in the priesthood, as an indirect reference to the Propaganda Fide scandal.

You can see why it is not possible for me to do direct translations of all these articles, much of which is polemical.

P.S. Of course, Benedict XVI would have had to have very compelling reasons to replace Cardinal Sepe at Propaganda Fide in one of his very first Curial moves (after Levada was named to CDF, in fact), i.e., he was aware of the 'situation' as it was. Because by every criterion, naming someone to become a metropolitan archbishop after he has been head of a Curial discastery was a demotion.

However, to the credit of Cardinal Sepe, he accepted the reassignment humbly and gracefully, and he has since been near exemplary in leading a very difficult diocese like Naples, which has been plagued by Mafia corruption and violence for decades.


6/22/10
P.S. AP's report today on the affair is generally accurate and surprisingly objective, despite the generic use of 'the Vatican' in the headline. Even more surprisingly, it has not painted the story - at least not in this report - as yet another scandal to blame on Benedict XVI, since the investigations all have to do with events that took place before he became Pope - even if there is an attempt to bring in the L'Aquila reconstruction into the picture [it is highly unlikely the Italian officials concerned would have tried any hanky-panky in the post-earthquake contracts because the corruption investigations into them were already underway when the earthquake happened!)



Kickbacks and property scandal
hits the Vatican
by FRANCES D'EMILIO



ROME, June 22 (AP) - The Vatican has pledged that the Archbishop of Naples will co-operate fully with an investigation by Italian prosecutors into a scandal about alleged corruption while he led the Holy See office which bankrolls missionary work abroad.

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe's real-estate transactions and other dealings while he headed the Vatican's influential Propaganda Fide office [in 2001-2006] are being scrutinised by prosecutors in the widening ''Great Works'' scandal.

Investigators have been untangling an alleged web of kickbacks and favours, including purported sexual ones, involving businessmen, church hierarchy and public officials.

Among those being investigated is a top aide to the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi - the head of the civil protection agency, Guido Bertolaso.

Prosecutors aim to determine if corruption influenced the awarding of billions of euros worth of contracts for such mega-projects as preparing 2000 Holy Year events in Rome and rebuilding the quake-shattered town of L'Aquila.

A Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said on Sunday ''collaboration is in the interest of everyone to fully clear up'' the allegations against Cardinal Sepe, ''who already has said he will fully co-operate''.

Mr Lombardi added that, while Cardinal Sepe has ''the right to be respected and esteemed'', the Vatican wants the ''situation to be cleared up fully and rapidly, so that shadows on him and on church institutions can be eliminated''.

In the Naples cathedral, the faithful crowded around Cardinal Sepe in a show of solidarity after Sunday Mass.

He told journalists he would ''speak soon'' to investigators and was ''absolutely'' tranquil about the probe. ''Truth always triumphs, no?'' he said.

Italian prosecutors by law cannot reveal details of investigations before any indictments are brought.

Mr Bertolaso said after his recent interrogation by the prosecutors that he was allowed to live rent-free in a palazzo owned by Propaganda Fide on one of Rome's priciest streets, Via Giulia.

News reports have said others investigated in the scandal told magistrates that the rent was paid by Diego Anemone, a constructor at the heart of the alleged kickback ring.

Italian newspapers have reported that also under investigation are several remodelling contracts for Propaganda Fide properties given to figures in the inquiry during Cardinal Sepe's tenure at the well-financed Vatican missionary office. [DIM=8pt][It is 'well-financed' by the income brought in by its $9-billion worth of properties in Rome which it uses to finance missions and poor dioceses around the world.]

Also under investigation is Pietro Lunardi, who allegedly purchased a Propaganda Fide palazzo in Rome in 2004, while minister of infrastructure, for a fraction of its real worth.

Mr Berlusconi's industry minister, Claudio Scajola, has been forced by the inquiry to quit. Mr Scajola purchased an apartment with a view of the Colosseum with the alleged help of €900,000 ($1.3 million) from an Anemone associate.

Cardinal Sepe won favour with John Paul II when he oversaw the running of the 2000 Holy Year.

[The AP story does not include statements made by Cardinal Sepe and his lawyer at a news conference yesterday, in which Cardinal Sepe said that all his transactions were reviewed and approved by the Secretariat of State (then under Cardinal Sodano; and that insofar as certain arrangements with Italian officials, Sepe says he delegated them to subordinates and had no personal knowledge of the eventual arrangements made.

Also, I was less than discerning to note the bult-in bias in the story which does not mention when establishing the facts that Cardinal Sepe headed Propaganda Fide under John Paul II and was almost immediately replaced by Benedict XVI when the latter took office - and that Sepe is now Archbishop of Naples, and no longer in theRoman Curia.

It does mention Naples later in the story - "In the Naples cathedral, the faithful crowded around Cardinal Sepe in a show of solidarity after Sunday Mass" - without making it clear that Sepe is and has been Archbishop of Naples since early 2006.].

Thanks Teresa for giving us a resumé of the Italian press articles and takes on the Cardinal Sepe case. Goodness, there is always some drama, it seems. Now the Pope has to contend with the Mixa case as well. Never a dull moment.




Dear Crotchet...

You mention the Mixa case, which is another one with major buzz these days. Sueddeutszhe Zeitung has published an article claiming that the Pope had received a 'secret dossier' about Mixa accusing him of having a serious problem of alcoholism which had been interfering with his functions as bishop, and that some priests had accused him of sexual molestation incidents before he became Bishop of Augsburg.

However, the story doesn't say whether and how such reports have been substantiated. For instance, did anyone in the German bishops' conference investigate the priests' sexual molestation complaints? The one sex abuse complaint that made the news before Mixa's resignation turned out to be unfounded. The alcoholism is another matter, but it seems that those who worked directly under Mixa in the Diocese are among the most hostile to him.

Sure, Bishop Zollitsch for the German bishops' conference and Bishop Marx of Munich-Freising openly pressured Mixa into submitting his resignation by giving a news conference that they were urging him to resign, apparently before they had even talked to him. That is no way to treat a colleague, let alone a fellow bishop, to whom other bishops owe a modicum of fraternal courtesy.

However, Mixa did present his resignation, and the Pope accepted it. That was followed, we now learn, by Mixa entering some facility for psychiatric counselling. Then, having been discharged after a month, what does he do but go back and take up residence once again the bishop's palace - giving his former underlings an opportunity to further run him down. Of course, he no longer has a right to the residence, but he could have talked to them beforehand to say he needs time to make other living arrangements.

Then he inflames the situation even further by saying his colleagues in the German bishops conference had fed the Pope false and poisoned information that led the Holy Father to accept his resignation.

Until there is an investigation of all the charges that have been presented against Mixa, we can't say if the information was necessarily false or simply unfounded accusations.

However, Mixa must also see that, given the very public way his case had played out, at a time when the Vatican - and Benedict XVI himself - are being bombarded on all sides by accusations that the Church is tolerating abusive bishops and priests, the Pope had no choice but to accept his resignation, which he did present, voluntarily or not.

In a more rational time, if Mixa had not so promptly turned in his resignation under pressure, the Vatican may have responded to the dossier against Mixa by saying, "The following accusations have been made, and while they are being investigated, Bishop Mixa will take a leave of absence".

Now understandably, a group called Forum Deutschen Katholiken (forum of German Catholics)
forum-deutscher-katholiken.de/htm/aktuelles.html
founded in September 2000 to rally German Catholics faithful to the Church and its doctrine as embodied in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and who recognize the leadership of the Pope, has issued the following appeal:

---

Only Rome can help now!



The Forum of German Catholics and with it, the Initiativskreis of lay Catholics and priests in the Diocese of Augsburg are turning to Rome for help in the current situation.

We ask for help because until the proceedings that led to Bishop Mixa's resignation are clarified, unity and discipline in the diocese will be further lost. On every level, tendencies towards a split in the local Church are visible.

Most especially, some prominent members of the diocese have issued a so-called 'Whitsun Declaration' which betrays itself by the very name chosen, which echoes the 'Whitsun Declaratio' of 1871 that opened the way for the 'Old Catholics' to split off. The schismatic tendency of this group has been all too clear in their different manifestations lately.

The diocese needs solid foundations towards renewal in unity with the Holy Father.

(Sgd)
Prof. Dr. Hubert Gindert, Forum Deutscher Katholiken
Gerhard Stumpf, Initiativkreis kath. Laien und Priester
in der Diözese Augsburg


For Church unity
and against open schism


The Church of Jesus Christ is the communion of the faithful led by the Successor to St. Peter and the bishops united with him. They are all united by belief in the faith, the Sacraments and Church leadership.

Leading representatives of the so-called Whitsun Declaration have been trying to avail of the current crisis in the Diocese of Augsburg in order to push for changes in the Church's teachins and practices. Their obkective is to crease another church - a 'democratic', bureaucratic church in the spirit of the times.

We are for the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the Church we love. Therefore, we stand in loyalty to the Holy Father, to his magisterium, and to the bishops united with him.

We ask all Catholics ro resist schismatic tendencies, because it is precisely through the re-establishment of unity that the Church can be renewed.

Prof. Dr. Hubert Gindert
Forum Deutscher Katholiken
and associated communities

---

The situation in Germany is going to be horrific in the years to come. The abuse-crises has given much needed ammunition to all those movements (and people who are now actively creating more movements) who have been actively advocating against Church teaching. They are attacking the same old 'problems' which have been the object of discussion for decades!
Women ordination/married Priests/ a humane way of treating people of different sexual orientation/ a more loving way to treat people who are affected by the troubles of our time (divorce/2nd marriage...etc.,

The difference to former times is, that they are now aggressively pursuing their cause, on diocesan levels and that they are now actively pushed and hailed by the media.

There is one pattern: the respective responsible Bishop either remains silent and/or possibly support their agenda!!

I am SO sick and tired of this!!!! Can't they please just LOOK at the protestant 'Church' and see what kind of a state it is in??
Another thing that makes me want to scream is that most of those movements are supported by the protestants, who are so obviously fishing for defectors to fill their empty pews.

I agree with the above mentioned forum: we need help from Rome!! We need a clear line and a clear NO to those schismatic tendencies - even if may lead to a massive exodus. We need to keep our identity! No matter what!!

I am SO hoping for a conservative choice to Augsburg, since the Mixa opposition managed to do exactly what they wanted from the beginning - get rid of the uncomfortable Bishop. They have now been asking for a democratic process to replace the traditional Papal appointments of Bishops - I wonder why!!





The picture of the German Church today - at a time when the Pope is German, of all times - is certainly grim and discouraging. That last Katholikentag hosted in Munich by Mons. Marx who, as far as I have read, did not even acknowledge the Holy Father's beautiful message for the occasion (really a pearl cast upon swine) was an absolute disgrace that I cannot rationalize in any way.

Marx's and other German liberal bishops' misguided idea of ecumenism at all costs - even the outright Protestantization of the Caholic Church - is as counter-productive and unfaithful to the Church as Schoenborn's self-serving papabile breast-beating in Austria.

Who is left in Germany as a true friend of Benedict XVI among the bishops? I cannot think of anyone else other than Cardinal Meisner of Cologne, and I think, maybe, the bishop of Eichstatt. You know better than me.

It is unfortunate that Cardinal Mixa, who is definitely conservative even if prone to expressing himself in a controversial way, has compromised himself by the bad judgments and timing he made recently in handling the accusations against him.

We can only pray to the Holy Spirit to enlighten the bishops aand seek the intercession of all the great German Saints in behalf of the Church in Germany.

Tuesday, June 22, 12th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. THOMAS MORE (England, 1478-1535), Widower, Lawyer, Writer, Chancellor of England, Martyr
Known in his lifetime as omnium horarum homo (a man for all seasons) because of his wide scholarship and knowledge). Educated in London and Oxford, he was a page for the Archbishop of Canterbury and became a Lawyer. Twice a widower, he was the father of one son and three daughters, and a devoted family man. Writer, most famously of the novel which coined the word Utopia. Known during his own day for his scholarship and great knowledge. Friend of King Henry VIII. Lord Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532, a position of political power second only to the king. Fought any form of heresy, especially the incursion of Protestantism into England. Opposed the king on the matter of royal divorce, and refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy which declared the king head of the Church in England. Resigned the Chancellorship, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Beheaded for his refusal to bend his religious beliefs to the king’s political needs. Beatified in 1886 and canonized in 1935, he is considered the patron saint of lawyers and of politicians.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/062210.shtml


OR for 6/21-6/22:

At the Sunday, Angelus, Benedict XVI underscores the way of the Cross as the way of love:
Seeks humanitarian aid for Kyrgyzstan in its quest for peace adn security
Pope advocates a just reciprocity between respect for refugees' fundamental rights and their respect for their host societies.
The other papal story in this issue is the Mass at which he ordained 14 new priests for Rome. Other Page 1 stories: First international aid shipments arrive in the Kirghiz capital; Beijing to undertake financial reform that will put its currency in line with the world system; and Gulf oil discharge far greater than officially admitted.


No public events scheduled for the Holy Father today.


At a news conference today led by Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for culture,
the Vatican disclosed new archaeological findings in the catacomb of St. Tecla, showing some of the earliest
known images of the Apostles. Around this time last year, the Vatican unveiled the oldest known images of
Saints Peter and Paul uncovered in the same catacomb.



I'm terribly behind today, but luckily there aren't any news stories on the Pope nor any significant commentary that I can post directly.
It's a big disadvantage to get started very late because the preliminary 'survey' alone of what is out there does take time...


NB: The 'scandals' surrounding two prominent bishops - Mons. Walter Mixa, until recently Bishop of Augsburg (Germany) and Cardinal Crescencio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, continue to dominate news and commentary on the Church today. I will post updates in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread insofar as new developments only touch on the Holy Father tangentially.

Yes, I've been following the Mixa Geschichte, Teresa and Cowgirl. The problem is that since the European "scandal" erupted and so many news media went overboard in their reporting of certain aspects of the situation and in their grossly unfair reporting about the Pope's role in all of this, I have simply lost trust in the neutrality and truthfulness of most media reports. It is hard for someone from the outside to get a balanced view and I have almost reached the stage where I believe nothing in print anymore.

Predictions of a second Reformation, a great break-away from the RCC in Germany were made in the media some weeks ago by a well known historian who is at present living in Europe and is supposed to have his ear on the ground. He did mention though that Germany has become very secular and that both the Catholic and Protestant churches have lost many members over the last decade or more. The familiar European Christian profile.

Cowgirl, could you perhaps give us your assessment of the true situation in Protestantism (Lutheran and otherwise) in Germany at present? Oops, maybe this is not the right thread for it.....! Perhaps you could come up with some web site links instead? I do read German.

And how strong and widespread is the "democratic" or "We are Church" movements in Germany? Are they deep down still Catholic in terms of the central dogmas or do they present a true Protestant profile?

Like you - if I am not mistaken - I have also been a Protestant (but converted to the RCC in 2009). It goes without saying that these latest developments in Germany and Austria are worrying for someone with my background who left the wobbly Protestant tradition for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church - and now this! People should have their heads read. I sincerely hope that reforms, if necessary, will be made internally and without any schisms. The history of schismatic Christian groupings has never turned out well. And it is simply against the wish/commandment of our Lord.





Hi, Crotchet... Let me just address the problem of what to believe in news reports, because there does exist a modicum of fact in most reports, even those of the most biased MSM. I give credence to any part of a news item that reports objective verifiable facts [events were covered on TV, for instance, or with news photographs] about any event or person, and to direct quotations from written or oral statements made by the principal figures in a story (as opposed to opinions expressed by observers). Everything else, I treat as questionable at best, or sheer unwarranted editorializing.

As for the Catholic Church in Germany today, it's hard to have a high opinion of it. The fact that Benedict XVI's choice to be Archbishop of Munich has apparently turned out to be not so sterling at all on many counts is perhaps an indication of the sad state of the Church there. I have the impression that the Catholic news services in Germany and Austria are for the most part orthodox (small o) in their orientation, and therefore quite reliable in their reporting. Heike will correct me if I am wrong.

TERESA

Here is one of the two lead articles in the April-June issue of Humanitas, the journal of the Catholic University of Chile, that I mentioned recently.




Benedict XVI's prophetic plea:
'Pray for me that I may
not flee from the wolves!'
by Jaime Antúnez Aldunate, Editor
Translated from
Humanitas No. 58, April-June 2010


April 2005. In an atmosphere that was still strongly marked by the death of John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the new Successor of Peter, taking the name of Benedict XVI.

No one who paid attention in those days could forget the plea he made in his memorable homily inaugurating his Pontificate: “Pray for me that I may not flee from the wolves!”

A plea that did not go unnoticed, which left a profound mark on many Catholics, and which leads us now to exclaim with profound gratitude: “How prophetic it was! And how much that plea has been needed!”

One cannot summarize in the brief space of an editorial the magnitude and importance of the immense magisterial achievement that we have contemplated in the past five years. Reasonably informed public opinion has been able to continually observe a Pope who, with kind, profound, perceptive and detailed attention, has moved ahead without yielding a millimeter to the wolves he has not fled.

Indeed, the steps he has taken and his utter lack of personal vanity are a reminder of yet another line in that memorable inaugural homily: ”My real programme of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history. … To know what God wants, to know where the path of life is found – this was Israel’s joy, this was her great privilege. It is also our joy.”

Joy which, however, as it has happened with recent Pontiffs – think of Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II himself - has turned into a new passion that must be undergone by the ‘Dolce Cristo in terra’.

As we are reminded in the Paschal triduum, it is the same passion that was experienced by the murdered Abel, by Isaac bound for sacrifice, by the wandering Jacob, by Joseph who was sold into slavery, by the Moses whom his own people misunderstood, by David who was persecuted, by all the prophets vilified in their day, by Peter who was crucified.

It is the passion experienced today by his successor – accompanied however by the prayers of the Church – when a cultural, political and mediatic global presence has him in the crosshairs, with a furor and weapons more insidious than anything so far used, turning him into the focus of an immense and unhinged wave of hostility.

It is a time when we hear the Lamentations for Jerusalem, prefiguring the Church: “Is this the most beautiful of cities, the joy of the earth? All your enemies mock you with laughter, whistling and gnashing their teeth, saying, ‘We have razed her: This is the day we have been waiting for. We have reached it and we are seeing it’.”

Without regard for the reasons why we have to fear such enemies, within and outside the Church, the captain of the ship – and we can see this daily – looks out on the uncommonly agitated waves without losing confidence.

On the contrary, he calls on his flock to band together, and recalling one of his most beloved masters, St. Bonaventure, shows us that “governing the Church is “not simply doing, but also thinking and praying”; he reminds us that the Spouse of Christ is guided “not only by mandates and structures” but by a mission “to lead and illuminate souls, orienting them to Christ”.

And that was the tenor of his inaugural homily in which he made clear that “Christ himself will lead the Church at this hour of her history”.

To understand this better, the person of this Pope and his time in history, few words are as right and eloquent as those that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said about him on his recent name day, the Feast of St. Joseph:

“Those who know you, Holiness, see a resemblance between you and your patron saint Joseph… The custodian of the Redeemer was a humble and obedient man, who did discreet and assiduous work. He was a ‘just man’, always intent on understanding and following the will of God in his life. He lived completely committed to the service of the Virgin Mary, whom he loved more than himself, and their son Jesus, in whom he recognized and adored the presence of God, who had come to visit and save hie people. We recognize each of these traits in the person of Your Holiness, as though, by carrying the name of St. Joseph, you have assimilated his spiritual style, made up of interior attitudes that are reflected externally. And that is so, we know, because of your interior familiarity with Christ cultivated in prayer”.

From the last speech he delivered as cardinal in Subiaco on April 1, 2005 - “Only through men who have been touched by God can God return among men” – to his recent Easter blessing – “Today, mankind needs an ‘exodus’ which consists not only in superficial touches but a moral and spiritual conversion which demands profound changes, starting with consciences” – there is a consistent line in Benedict XVI's will for ecclesial reform.

As Joseph Ratzinger, this was discernible from his earliest prominence as a theologian at Vatican–II, which he followed as an archbishop and then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

To heal hearts and enlighten consciences cannot be achieved by disciplinary measures alone. His active proposal for a way of penitence against a background of luminous doctrinal clarity, in order to yield abundant spiritual fruits, is a revival of what has always been the high road in the history of the Church.

Benedict XVI is conscious like no other that Christ, as Pascal said, is in agony to the end of the world.

He wrote on Easter of 1969, in a meditation on the second day of the Paschal Triduum: “The experience of our age helps us to see profoundly on Holy Saturday – when God was 'absent' from the world – that the impotence of God, although he is the Almighty, must be the concern of our time.”.

But he says this not in a spirit of defeat, but of hope – a hope that should penetrate Christianity anew, he says, because the faith of the Church is not one of the past but of the future: “Her faith is hope at the same time, because Christ not only died and was resurrected, but he is also Christ who will come again”.

That explains the profound peace of his prayer that Christians may have “the humble simplicity of faith that does not hesitate when you call us at the hour of darkness and abandon when everything seems inconsistent” in that long-ago Meditation for Holy Saturday.

Wednesday, June 23, 12th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. JOHN FISHER (England, 1469-1635), Bishop, Cardinal Martyr
Fisher is the ecclesial 'twin' of Thomas More, his secular contemporary. They were imprisoned together and then beheaded two weeks apart, essentially for their refusal to uphold the validity of Henry VIII's adulterous marriage to Anne Boleyn, much less his split from the Roman Catholic Church to set up the Church of England. He was a great Renaissance humanist in the category of Erasmus and More. He was named a bishop at 35 and gained fame as a preacher and writer. With the Reformation, he wrote eight books against the Lutheran heresy, earning him a leadership role among European theologians. Then he was asked to make a ruling on Henry VIII's marriage and he upheld Catherine of Aragon as his lawful wife. Henry found a pretext to imprison Fisher and More in the Tower of London when they refused to take an oath to the Act of Succession that meant recognizing the validity of the king's marriage and his leadership of the Church of England. Meanwhile, the Pope had made Fisher a cardinal, further angering the King. When he told a priest that he did not consider the King as head of the Church, he was brought to trial and sentenced to death. Along with Thomas More, he was beatified in 1886 and canonized in 1935.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/062310.shtml


No papal stories in today's OR except a backgrounder for his visit tomorrow to the Orione movement's shrine to Our Lady on Monte Mario in Rome and to a Dominican nuns' convent nearby. There are four stories on the discovery of the apostles' images in St. Tecla's catacomb, including the use of lasers to strip away incrustations that have kept the paintings hidden for centuries without damaging the original images nor affecting their colors.


THE POPE'S DAY

General Audience today - The Holy Father's third and final catechesis on St. Thomas Aquinas, at which
he discussed the saint's masterwork, Summa Theologiae.

GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY:
Catechesis #3 on St. Thomas Aquinas



The Holy Father held the General Audience in Aula Paolo VI today before an audience of about 9,000 faithful. He concluded his catecheses on St. Thomas Aquinas by discussing the saint's great masterpiece, the Summa Theologiae. Here is how he summarized the lesson in English:

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In our catechesis on the Christian culture of the Middle Ages, we turn once more to the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The Summa Theologiae, his masterpiece, reflects Thomas’s serene confidence in the harmony of faith and reason, and in the ability of reason, enlightened by faith, to come to an understanding of God and his saving plan.

The Summa treats of the Triune God in himself, in his work of creation, and in the person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, whose humanity is the means by which we return to the Father.

Thomas illustrates the working of divine grace, which perfects our natural gifts and enables us, through the practice of the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to attain the eternal happiness for which we were created. His description of Christ’s saving work stresses the importance of the seven sacraments, and especially the Eucharist.

These great theological truths are also reflected in Thomas’s preaching which in a clear and simple way presents the mysteries of the faith, the content of Christian prayer, and the demands of a moral life shaped by the natural law and the Gospel’s new commandment of love.

With the Angelic Doctor, let us pray for the grace to love the Lord with all our heart, and to love our neighbour, "in God and for God".

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Here is a full translation of the Pope's catechesis:

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Today I wish to complete, with a third installment, my catecheses on St. Thomas Aquinas. Even more than 700 years after his death, we can learn a lot from him. This was recalled by my predecessor Paul VI who siad, in an address in Fossanova in September 1974, on the seventh centenary of Thomas's death, asked, "Master Thomas, what lesson can you give us?"

His answer: "Confidence in the truth of Catholic religious thought, such as hedefended, explained and opened to the cognitive capacity of the human mind" (Teacnings of Paul VI, XII, 1974, pp 833-834).

On the same day, in Aquino, still referrring to St. Thomas, he said: "All of us, insofar as we are faithful children of the Church, can and should, at least in some measure, be his disciples" (idbid., p. 834).

Let us therefore place ourselves in the school of St. Thomas and his masterwork, the Summa Theologiae. It was unfinished but nonetheless, it is a monumental work, containing 512 questions and 2,669 articles.

Tightly argued, human reason is applied to the mysteries of the faith with clarity and depth, in questions and answers, whereby St. Thomas deepens the teaching that comes from Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, above all from St. Augustine.

In these reflections about the true questions of his time - which are often our own questions - St. Thomas, using the method and thinking of ancient philosophers, especially Aristotle, arrives at precise, lucid and pertinent formulations of the truths of the faith, where truth is a gift of faith, it shines and becomes accessible to us, for our own reflection.

But this effort of the human mind - As Aquinas reminds us with his own life - is always illuminated by prayer, by the light that comes from above. Only he who lives with God and his mysteries can understand what they say.

In his 'summary of theology', St. Thomas starts from the fact that God exists in three different ways:

First, he exists in himself - he is the principle and end of all things, and all creatures proceed from him and depend on him.

Then, God is present through his Grace in the life and activities of the Christian, of the saints.

And finally, God is present in a very special way in the Person of Christ truly united with the man Jesus, and working through the sacraments that flow from his redemptive work.

That is why the structure of this monumental work (cfr. Jean-Pierre Torrell, La «Summa» di San Tommaso, Milano 2003, pp. 29-75) - a quest with a 'theological outlook' into the fulness of God (cfr. Summa Theologiae, Ia, q. 1, a. 7) - is articulated in three parts illustrated by the Doctor Communis himself with these words: "The main purpose of sacred doctrine is to make God known, not only in himself, but insofar as he is the beginning and the end of all things, especially of the creature with reason. In exposing this doctrine, we shall first discuss God; then, the movement of his creatures towards God; and thirdly, Christ who, as a man, is our way to ascend to God" (Ibid., I, q. 2).

It is circular: God in himself, who goes out of himself and takes us by the hand, so that with Christ, we return to God, we are united with God, and God will be everything in everyone.

Thus the first part of Summa Theologiae is an inquiry on God in himself, on the mystery of the Trinity, and on God's creative activity.

We also find a profound reflection on the authentic reality of the human being insofar as he comes from the creative hands of God, fruit of his love. On the one hand, we are created, dependent beings - we do not come from ourselves. But on the other hand, we have true autonomy, in that we are not simply something apparent - as some Platonist philosophers maintain - but a reality willed by God as such, with value in ourselves.

In the second part, St. Thomas considers man, impelled by Grace, in his aspiration to know and love God in order to be happy in time and in eternity.

First of all, the author presents the theological principles of moral action, studying how, in man's free choice to do good things, reason, will and passions are integrated - to which are added the strength that God's grace gives through the virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as with the help of moral law.

Thus, the human person is a dynamic being that seeks itself, that seeks to become itself, and seeks, in this sense, to do things that build it up, that make it truly human. And here, moral law comes in, with Grace and reason, will and passions.

On this basis, St. Thomas delineates the physiognomy of the man who lives according to the Spirit and who thus becomes an icon of God. Here, St. Thomas pauses to study the three theological virtues - faith, hope and charity - followed by an acute examination of more than 50 moral virtues organized around four cardinal virtues - prudence, justice, temperance and firmness. He ends with a reflection on the different vocations in the Church.

In the third part of the Summa, St. Thomas studies the Mystery of Christ - the Way and the Truth - through whom we can reach God the Father. In this section he writes pages that are near-unsurpassable on the Mystery of the Incarnation and the Passion of Jesus, adding an ample treatise on the seven Sacraments, by which the divine Word incarnate extends the benefits of the Incarnation for our salvation, for our journey of faith towards God and eternal life - it remains almost materially present in the realities of Creation, and thus touches us intimately.

Speaking of the Sacraments, St. Thomas dwells particularly on the Mystery of the Eucharist, for which he had a very great devotion, to the point that according to his earliest biographers, he used to lay his head on the Tabernacle, as though to hear the beating of the divine and human heart of Jesus.

In one of his works of commentary on Scripture, St.Thomas helps us to understand the excellence of the Sacrament of the Eucharist when he writes: "Since the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Passion of our Lord, it contains in itself Jesus Christ who suffered for us. Therefore all that which is the effect of the Passion of our Lord is also the effect of this sacrament, since it is no other than the application in us of the Passion of Christ" (In Ioannem, c.6, lect. 6, n. 963).

We can understand why St. Thomas and other saints have celebrated the Holy Mass shedding tears of compassion for the Lord who offers himself as a sacrifice for us, tears of joy and gratitude.

Dear brothers and sisters, in the school of the samints, let us be enamored of this Sacrament. Let us take part in Holy Mass in the spirit of contemplation, in order to obtain its spiritual fruits. Let us nourish ourselves with the Body and Blood of the Lord, so we may be incessantly fed by Divine Grace. Let us gladly and frequently devote ourselves, one on one, in the company of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

What St. Thomas illustrated with scientific rigor in his major theological works, as the Summa theologiae itself, he exposed the Summa contra Gentiles in his preaching, addressed to his students and to the faithful.

In 1273, one year before his death, during the entire Lent, he preached at the Church of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. The contents of those sermons were assembled and conserved - these are the booklets in which he explains the symbol of the apostles, he interprets the 'Our Father', he illustrtes the Decalog (Ten Commandments) and comments on the 'Hail Mary'.

The contents of the preaching of the DoctorAngelicus corresponds almost completely to the structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In fact, in catecheses and preaching, at a time like ours of a renewed commitment to evangelization, these fundamental arguments must never be missing: what we believe - that is the Symbol of the faith [an expression that refers to the Creed]; what we pray - the Our Father and the Hail Mary; what we live, as Biblical revelation teaches us - namely, the law to love God and our neigbor, and the Ten Commandments as an application of the commandment of love.

I wish to cite some examples of the simple, essential and persuavice content of St. Thomas's teaching. In his booklet on the Symbol of the Apostles, he explains the value of faith. Through faith, he says, the soul unites itself to God and produces something akin to a seed of eternal life; we receive a sure orientation for life, and we can easily overcome temptation.

To those who object that faith is foolish, because it asks us to believe in something which does not fall within sensory experience, St. Thomas offers a very detailed answer, recalling that this is an inconsistent doubt, because human intelligence is limited and cannot know everything. Only when we can perfectly know all things visible and invisible would it be true foolishness to accept the truths of pure faith.

Moreover, he says, it is impossible to live without trusting in the experience of others in matters which our personal knowledge cannot reach. Therefore it is reasonable to have faith in God who reveals himself, and in the testimony of the Apostles: they were a few, simple and poor people who were terrified because their master had been crucified - and yet, so many people who were wise, noble and rich were converted within a short time because of their preaching.

It was thus a historically miraculous phenomenon, to which one can give no reasonable explanation other than the encounter of the Apostles with the Resurrected Lord.

Commenting on the Symbol of the Incarnation of the divine Word, St. Thomas makes the following considerations: He affirms that Christian faith is reinforced with the mystery of the Incarnation. Hope becomes more confident with the thought that the Son of God has come among us, as one of us, to communicate his own divinity to men. Charity is revived because there can be no more evident sign of God's love for us than to see the Creator of the universe become a creature himself, one of us.

Finally, considering the mystery of the Incarnation of God, we feel inflamed within us the desire to reach Christ in his glory. Using a simple and efficient metaphor, St. Thomas observes: "If the brother of a king lived far, he would certainly want to live near him. Well, Christ is a brother to us: we must therefore desire his company, to become one heart with him" (Opuscoli teologico-spirituali, Roma 1976, p. 64).

Presenting thr Lord's Prayer, St. Thomas shows that it is perfect in itself, having all the five characteristics that a well-said prayer should have: trustful and serene abandon; convenience in its content [because, St. Thomas notes, "it is difficult enough to know exactly what is right to ask for and what not, since it is difficult to choose from our desires" (Ibid., p. 12)]; an order that is appropriate to the request; the fervor of charity; and the sincerity of humility.

St. Thomas was, like all the saints, a great devotee of Our Lady. He defined her with a stupendous title: Triclinium totius Trinitatis, - a place where the Trinty finds repose, because with the Incarnation, in no other creature but her, the three divine Persons dwelt and found delight and joy in inhabiting a soul full of Grace. Through her intercession, we can obtain every assistance.

With a prayer that has been traditionally attributed to St. Thomas, and which, in any case, reflects the elements of his profound Marian devotion, let us say with him: "Most Blessed and sweetest Virgin Mary, Mother of God... I entrust my whole life to your merciful heart... Obtain for me, my sweetest Lady, true charity with which I can love your Most Blessed Son with all my heart, and you after him, above all things, and my neighbor in God and for God".

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Mons. Mixa asks for diocesan reconciliation
and thanks the Pope for a 'loving letter'



A significant development on the Mixa case is reported by the German Catholic news agency kathnet, which has published a letter written by the retired bishop to the diocese of Augsburg. Here is how Vatican Radio reports it:


The emeritus Bishop of Augsburg and Military Chaplain of the German Church has written a letter to the faithful of Augsburg asking for forgiveness and reconciliation.

He refers in general to the news that has been published about his alleged offenses which he called tendentious, but nonetheless, he asked for forgiveness from those who have been disappointed in him for errors he has committed and from those whom he may have treated inappropriately in the past.

He said that that because of the many charges made, he found himself in the 'painful situation of having to resign from the dicoese, but he notes that at the moment, it is urgent to dissipate reciprocal ill will in the diocese and to work for "understanding and peace in the Church community".

He concludes by calling on the diocesan faithful to achieve reconciliation and mutual trust.

[Mixa also expresses thanks in the letter to Pope Benedict for " letter full of love which assures me that I remain a bishop and can continue to exercise episcopal functions, including Confirmation".]

]Benedict XVI sets an example of wisdom and mercy in writing a letter to an afflicted brother bishop that I hope other bishops will find instructive and worthy of emulating.

Here is a more complete account of this development from AP:

Mons. Mixa now sticks to
his decision to resign
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER



BERLIN, June 23 (AP) _ A former German bishop accused of physical abuse, alcoholism and sexual harassment apologized for any misconduct on Wednesday and agreed to stand by his decision to resign.

Germany's Augsburg diocese said in a statement that it has reached a written agreement with the Rev. Walter Mixa that his decision to step down as its Roman Catholic bishop is final. [That's an odd way to put it - considering that it's not up to Mixa, whose resignation Benedict XVI already accepted.]

In a separate letter by Mixa, which was published on the diocese's website Wednesday, he also apologized for his shortcomings without specifying them in detail.

Mixa, 69, who served the Augsburg diocese from 2005 to 2010, offered his resignation on April 22 after accusations surfaced that he had hit children decades ago as a priest and allegations of financial misconduct in the congregation.

Pope Benedict XVI accepted Mixa's resignation on May 8, but earlier this month the bishop said members of the Augsburg diocese and two German bishops had forced him to resign against his will. Fresh allegations also surfaced, including that Mixa had made sexual
advances to two priests.

Wednesday's statements from Mixa and his diocese are the latest twist in the unusually public controversy surrounding his exit, which came at the height of the abuse scandal that rocked the Church in Germany and elsewhere in the first half of the year.

The agreement between the diocese and Mixa states that the bishop "will not question his resignation again". It also says that Mixa will move out of the bishop's residence, comply with the Pope's invitation to meet with him in Rome, and will no longer hold anybody else responsible for having forced him to resign. [I am taking AP's word for this as I have not seen the diocesan statement yet, only Mixa's letter as published by kathnet.]

In his letter, Mixa asks for forgiveness for his "many mistakes" without naming them.

"I am not only apologizing, but also asking for forgiveness for everything I did not do right, and I am especially asking all those people for forgiveness who I did not treat the right way, whose expectations I did not fulfill, and who I disappointed," Mixa wrote.

Mixa's admission of misconduct and surprising turnaround comes only a week after he told Germany's Die Welt newspaper that he had been pressured by his peers to sign the letter of resignation, that he repealed the offer three day later, and that it was based on a sexual abuse claim that was later dropped. [I don't think this is a truthful summary.]

Reacting to Mixa's earlier accusations, Germany's Roman Catholic bishops confirmed Tuesday that a secret file detailing alleged misconduct by the former bishop was sent to the Vatican before the Pope accepted his resignation in May.

The bishops did not specify which accusations they were referring to, but the statement came the day after German media widely reported the secret file contains allegations that Mixa is an alcoholic and that two priests claim he made sexual advances toward them.