00 30/08/2009 14:35



Senator Kennedy's letter to the Pope
and the Vatican response disclosed
at graveside final rites



A surprise at Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral last night in Arlington National Cemetery was provided by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, emeritus Archbishop of Washington, DC, who performed the final funeral prayers at graveside before the senator was laid to rest.

Cardinal McCarrick read excerpts from the letter Sen. Kennedy had sent to Pope Benedict XVI through President Obama when the latter visited the Vatican last July 10, as well as the excerps from the response sent by the Vatican, written in the name of the Pope (the signatory was not revealed), which was received by Sen. Kennedy two weeks later.

The cardinal said that when he and Mrs. Kennedy were planning the funeral, they decided that both letters would be read at the gravesite rites. It was the first disclosure that the Vatican had responded to the letter sent through Obama, the fact of which was publicized at the time, but not the contents.

First, the text of the disclosed excerpts from Sen. Kennedy's letter:

Most Holy Father,

I asked President Obama to personally hand deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Roman Catholic faith is to me and I am so deeply grateful to him.

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I pray that you have all of God's blessings as you lead our church and inspire our world during challenging times.

I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer over a year ago and although I am undergoing treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me.

I am 77-years-old and preparing for the next passage of life.

I've been blessed to be part of a wonderful family and both my parents, specifically my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives.

That gift of faith has sustained and nurtured and provided solace to me in the darkest hours. I know that i have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my past.

I want you to know, your Holiness, that in my 50 years of elected office I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I've opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a U.S. Senator.

I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life.

I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I'll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.

I've always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness. And though I have fallen short through human failings I've never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith.

I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me.



Here is the text of the disclosed excerpts from the Vatican response:

The Holy Father has read the letter in which you entrusted to President Obama, who kindly presented it to him during his recent meeting.

He was saddened to know of your illness and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness. He is particular grateful of your prayers for him and for the needs of our universal church. His Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God, our merciful Father.

He invokes upon you the consolation and peace of our risen savior, to all who share in his sufferings and trust in his promise of eternal life, commending you and the members of your family to the loving intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Holy Father cordially imparts his apostolic blessing as a pledge of wisdom, comfort and strength in the Lord.



We will never know if Sen. Kennedy ever mentioned in his letter his opposition to Catholic teachings in his legislation and political policies, even if he acknowledges his human failings. But in fact, he also writes, "I've never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith".

The Holy Father's response was very paternal and generous, but calibrated in the sense that it was not written by him directly. [But perhaps this is simply according to protocol regarding personal letters to the Pope from pesons who are neither heads of state or government, nor his own personal friends.].

The fact that the Pope reached out to the senator in his last days perhaps also made it unnecessary for the Vatican to issue a public expression of condolence, that would have had some measure of hypocrisy because it would have been unseemly to mention Kennedy's 'anti-Catholic' public record.

Again, one must contrast this with the letter the Pope sent unsolicited to the family of Eunice Kennedy Shriver - conveyed through the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington - when she was hospitalized three weeks ago and eventually died. Mrs. Shriver was the only member of the Kennedy family who was staunchly pro-life to the end.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/08/2009 18:03]