BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Please see preceding page for earlier entries today, 7/25/12.




Wednesday, July 25, 16th Week in Ordinary Time
FEAST OF ST JAMES THE APOSTLE

St. James is one of the most depicted among the Twelve Apostles, next only to Peter and Andrew. Extreme left, St James by Rembrandt; fourth from left, by Andrea del Sarto; next three photos, James as Santiago Matamoros and as patron of pilgrims; the two on the right, St James, by Alonso Cano and El Greco.
ST. JAMES THE GREATER (SANTIAGO EL MAYOR), Apostle and Martyr, Patron Saint of Spain
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on June 21, 2006 to this saint,
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060621...
mentioned in the Bible as third in seniority among the apostles after the brothers Simon Peter and Andrew. Indeed, he and his younger brother John (the Beloved, also thought to be the Evangelist John) were disciples of John the Baptist, and were the second pair of fishermen brothers called by Jesus to join him. James became the first of the Apostles to be martyred, beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa in 44 AD, as cited in the Acts. Before that, legend has it that he had gone to Iberia to preach the Gospel, where Mary appeared to him atop a pillar (now conserved in the Cathedral of Zaragoza, main shrine of Nuestra Senora del Pilar), and that he subsequently returned to Judea where he met his death. Subsequently, one version has his body miraculously transported by angels to Iberia where it was enclosed by a rock in Compostela; alternatively, disciples carried the body by boat to Spain, landed on the coast of Galicia and took it inland to Compostela. The next Spanish legend concerning James (Jacobus in Latin, Iago in Spanish, hence Sant'Iago=Santiago) was that he appeared on horseback in the 10th-century battle of Clavijo to lead a vastly outnumbered Spanish army to defeat the Moors. Since then, he became known as Santiago Matamoros (killer of Moors), giving rise also to what has become the traditional battle cry of Spanish armed forces, "Santiago y cierra Espana!" (St James, and close ranks for Spain). The saint's relics were discovered in Compostela in 814 by a hermit, thus starting the tradition of the pilgrimage to the Galician town which became the third major pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, after Jerusalem and Rome. In Europe the routes to Compostela passing through France and Spain are known as the Camino de Santiago. The present Cathedral of St. James in Compostela was begun in 1075. In 1884, Leo XIII issued a papal bull declaring the authenticity of the relics in Compostela. [A rival claim to be the burial place of St. James is made by the Cathedral of St. Sernin in Toulouse.]
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072512.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No bulletins on the Holy Father.

Two texts were released:

- A telegram of condolence sent in the Pope's name by Deputy Secretary of State Angelo Becciu to
the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, mourning the deaths of Cuban human rights activists Oswaldo
Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante in a road accident on Sunday.
[See story on the funeral and the Pope's message in the preceding page.]

- Message from the Pontifical Council for Ministry to Migrants and Itinerant Workers on the occasion
of this year's World Tourism Day.

Another new statistic for Benedict XVI, for those who follow Anura Guruga's continuous work to track this Pontificate and compare it to chronological milestones in previous Pontificates since data became regularly available in 1400. Guruga is an East Coast-based IT consultant, specializing in data banks, and has written many books and articles on information technologies and communications. He writes the blog on Popes and the Papacy on the side. I just hope his mathematical calculations are more reliable than his opinions, which, from what he posts as images, he bases on Google translations from Italian and German when they are not available in English - he claimed in recent days that the two German associates of the Pope sought to be implicated by two writers in Vatileaks were Ingrid Stampa and Georg Gaenswein!

Benedict XVI has now surpassed
median length of all Pontificates

July 25, 2012



- Benedict XVI will be 5th oldest pope, since 1400, on October 31, 2012
- Benedict XVI oldest pope to travel abroad.
- Benedict XVI on September 8, 2012 will surpass the length of Benedict XV’s (Pope #259) pontificate.

Let me waste some time translating the following blog by Italian Panorama magazine's habitually imprudent, rash and often illogical Vaticanista Ignazio Ingrao, from his blog yesterday. Although the blog does not appear in the print issue, nowadays, online material gets a much wider readership and instant accessibility on demand compared to printed publications. A blog can easily be as offensive as - or even more than - a regular news report or commentary, but freedom of expression protects its writer from any actionable offense other than downright slander, libel or defamation of character. This one is not offensive for any character defamation per se. but for being a mindless tissue of conjecture, with barely any facts, but it does illustrate the rather loose ways by which many Italian Vaticanistas practice their profession...

The valet was used to check on the Pope -
who has so far not wanted to meet with him,
not even when he was in detention
by Ignazio Ingrao
Translated from


[OK, so Ingrao may not be responsible for the headline stuck on his blog. But 1) That the valet was 'used to check on the Pope' in the sense of reporting his actions to some person(s) is obviously not a statement of fact, even if it is made to look so; and 2) Why would the Pope seek out Gabriele while he was in detention? a) It was not necessary; b) Even the Pope must let the law take its course - to have intervened in any way that showed 'special favor' for Gabriele during the investigation would have been prejudicial to the investigation, in that the outside world could have interpreted as an attempt to influence the outcome one way or the other.]

The tension in the Vatican has not lightened after the release to house arrest of ex-valet Paolo Gabriele and the end of both Vatican investigations 'into Vatileaks]. The episode has left heavy marks on the Vatican. [Such observations are purely personal and subjective. First of all, Ingrao does not live and work in the Vatican, so who is he to say?]

In the first place, because of interceptions and checks instituted by the Vatican police affecting even bishops and cardinals who work int the Curia. [Is that fact or fiction?] In the second place, because the report of the cardinals' commission named by the Pope to investigate the document leaks is said to have reconstructed a not very edifying account of relationships and frictions within the Curia. [Sheer speculation, since only the Pope has seen the report so far.]

At the moment, the only copy of the report was handed directly by Cardinal Julian Herranz to the Pope, and it is said that not even Cardinal Bertone nor the Pope's private secretary, Mons. Georg Gaenswein has read it. [There you go! So unless one of the three cardinals had loose lips, how would Ingrao have any idea at all of what they had to say?]

It is obvious that beyond the direct criminal responsibility of Gabriele for pilfering the papal papers, and even beyond the intermediate level of possible co-responsibility [SUCH CO-RESPONSIBILITY IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE - IT HAS TO EXIST! Gabriele had to get out those documents somehow. He didn't just copy them in order to be caught redhanded with them! Even if it turns out that his instructions were to leave the papers under a stone somewhere and never have to see his recipient face to face, how can he not have told the police of any and all contacts that he had in connection with the leaked papers? It defies and insults commonsense to claim it could have been otherwise!] = there exists an even higher level of relationship between Gabriele and some archbishops and cardinals who had probably used the valet for years to keep them informed of the activities and actions of the Pope or the decisions that were made in the papal apartment. Perhaps some that are not even known to the Pope's private secretary. [In other words, Gabriele was their spy within the papal apartment! Why and how should this conjecture be obvious? What level of reliable information could a simple-minded valet pick up in the informal and unofficial instances when he is carrying out his functions? He does not sit in on the Pope's meetings. And does anyone think the valet is in the room when the Pope and his private secretaries go through the mail and other official correspondence and the Pope decides how to answer or what to do? And which 'archbishops and cardinals' could have possibly 'plotted together' for such a dastardly scheme? For all their speculative bravado, none of the Italian Vaticanistas has sought to investigate Vatileaks on their own - not that anyone expects them to solve it, but no one has even tried to clarify a single aspect of it. I continue to think that a checklist of the items published in Nuzzi's book is a most obvious and potentially useful tool. But not one journalist seems to have even wanted to bother at all about contributing to shed light on this crappy episode, only in muddling it by all sorts of wild conjectures. ]

According to the investigations, [Fact or speculation?] it seems, in fact, that Gabriele took advantage of the Pope's afternoon walks with his secretary to enter into the Pope's study and gather documents. [This is the sort of conjecture anyone could make who is aware of the Pope's daily habits at the Vatican - his afternoon walks are well-known - and that only his private secretary (or both of them) are with him when he does this.]

The cardinals' commission and the investigating magistrate Piero Bonnet have been in touch to exchange information they have obtained. [DUH! That's a safe assumption to make, and is not necessarily genuine reportorial information.]

The Vatican police asked the help of the Italian police to find out who was/were Gabriele's external contact(s). [That's a dumb statement! The Italian police cannot do that for them - it's not their investigation. If the Vatican police could not manage, after 60 days of interrogation, to get any names out of Gabriele, something is seriously wrong with their technique!]

According to Carlo Fusco, Gabriele's defense lawyer, his client acted completely on his own. It's hard to believe that he did not have any support and cover from people higher up in the Vatican, since the police found all those copies of private papal documents in his home on the day of his arrest, even if the investigations into Vatileaks had been known for weaks. [That's an even dumber conclusion to make. If Gabriele assumed that he would be protected by this supposed 'higher-ups' and therefore did not even think it necessary to get rid of any incriminating material in his possession, all it indicates is that he is indeed simple-minded, or even worse! No person in his right mind, and in possession of all his faculties, would have been so foolish!]

Gabriele has asked for the Pope's forgiveness, and everyone expects the Pope to be forgiving. In fact, everyone expects that pardon to come soon in order to avoid a public trial which would simply increase the media furor over Vatileaks. [But a trial can also he avoided by simply having Gabriele pleading guilty as charged and not offering a defense! Then the judge can sentence him for the crime of aggravated theft - and perhaps that is when the papal pardon could be given.]

Probably then, the charge of aggravated theft will be formalized, the results of the Vatican investigations will be reported to the public in summary, and then the Pope will meet with Gabriele and his family in private, far from any cameras or spotlights.

But many have noted that the Pope had not gone to see his ex-valet in detention [Why would he????? The Pope knows his Ecclesiastes better than anyone! There is a time and place for everything.] And there has not been a gesture so far to indicate the least reconciliation between the two. Some have even made a comparison to the fact that John Paul II visited Ali Agca in prison [After Agca had undergone trial and been sentenced to prison! The crime took place on May 21, 1981; the prison visit took place on Dec. 27, 1983. Please, let's not bring this comparison game even to this absurd level! But this is typically Ingrao, to be so deliberately and gratuitously offensive]

The meeting could take place in the next few weeks. [DUH again!] Now the investigations have concluded and the impression from the outside is that the mountain has labored to give birth to a mouse - Gabriele as the lone culprit.

It is, of course, likely that the Pope has been given a more differentiated account. It appears that the investigators had the impression that the original leaks - the Vigano letters - were intended to help Mons. Vigano who did not want to be transferred from the Vatican, but that the situation soon got out of hand. [Another dumb conjecture! The Vigano letters were first made public on January 25, 2012. How would it have helped Vigano at all, whose appointment as Nuncio to the USA had already been announced in October 2011, and who, in fact, presented his credentials at the White House on January 18, 2012, a week before his early 2011 letters to Bertone and the Pope [protesting, in effect, that he was not being promoted to become President of the Vatican Governatorate] were first made public? If anything, the pettiness and character assassination of perceived enemies that were evident in the letters would militate against his ever being named a cardinal, which was his ultimate ambition.]

The entire article contained only three statements of fact [the sentences in black]. All the rest was pointless speculation and illogical conjecture.

Sorry to be one day behind with this news... I was aware of it all day yesterday, but somehow I forgot to post it, and it is a historic decision.


Philadelphia bishop sentenced
to 3-6 years in prison for
child endangerment felony
By MaryClaire Dale


PHILADELPHIA, July 24 (AP) - Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to three to six years in prison for covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests.

The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he “enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children.”

Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “helped many but also failed many” in his 36-year church career, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.

Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery is serving a 2 to five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999.

“I did not intend any harm to come to (Avery's victim). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm,” Lynn said. “I am a parish priest. I should have stayed (one).”

Lynn's lawyers had sought probation, arguing that few Pennsylvanians serve long prison terms for child endangerment and that their client shouldn't serve more time than abusers like Avery. They plan to appeal the landmark conviction and seek bail while the lengthy appeals process unfolds.

The judge said Lynn enabled “monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart.”

She believed he initially hoped to address the sex abuse problem and perhaps drafted a 1994 list of accused priests for that reason. But when Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua instead had the list destroyed, Lynn chose to remain in the job and obey his bishop _ by keeping quiet _ as children suffered, she said.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” Sarmina said.

The 61-year-old Lynn was acquitted last month of conspiracy and a second endangerment count involving a co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan. The jury deadlocked on a 1996 abuse charge against Brennan, and prosecutors said Monday that they would retry him.

In 1992, a doctor told Lynn's office that Avery had abused him years earlier. Lynn met with the doctor and sent Avery for treatment _ but the Church-run facility diagnosed an alcohol problem, not a sexual disorder. Avery was returned to ministry and sent to live at the northeast Philadelphia parish where the altar boy was assaulted in 1999.

Prosecutors who spent a decade investigating sex abuse complaints kept in secret files at the archdiocese and issued two damning grand jury reports argue that Lynn and unindicted co-conspirators in the Church hierarchy kept children in danger and the public in the dark.

“He locked away in a vault the names of pedophile priests. He locked in a vault the names of men that he knew had abused children. He now will be locked away for a fraction of the time he kept that secret vault,” District Attorney Seth Williams said of Lynn.

Defense lawyers have long argued that the state's child endangerment statute, revised in 2007 to include those who supervise abusers, should not apply to Lynn since he left office in 2004. They also insist he did more than anyone at the archdiocese to meet with victims, get pedophile priests into treatment and send recommendations to the cardinal.

“He did the best he could under absolute awful circumstances,” lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said after the hearing. “If he wanted to play the game, he wouldn't have met with them at all.”

Lynn was the first U.S. church official convicted for his handling of abuse claims in the sex scandal that's rocked the Catholic church for more than a decade. But he might not be the last.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese face a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse. Both Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty and are set to go on trial next month.

“Protecting children has to be first and foremost,” said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “We're extremely grateful that the judge and the prosecutors did not give Monsignor Lynn special treatment because of his priestly status".


The Archdiocese of Philadelphia released this statement:


This is a 'historic' case because Mons. Lynn becomes the first bishop to be criminally punished for conduct that in 1992 appeared to have been SOP, but that would not be allowed under guidelines passed by the US bishops since the 2001 Boston scandal forced the US Church - and the Vatican - to take full notice for the first time of sex abuses committed by some priests. In fact, Mons. Lynn was convicted under a 2007 law that was applied retroactively to an action he did in 1992 and this may be the basis for an appeal. But that it a technical way out.

In any case, the circumstances itself of what he is going to jail for seem to be extenuating. When Lynn was informed by a doctor that he had been abused by a priest years earlier, Lynn sent the priest for treatment. Which was SOP then. The priest was diagnosed with an alcohol problem, not sexual perversion, and reassigned to a distant parish. Seven years after the reassignment, the priest sexually assaults an altar boy. If the priest had not abused again, Lynn would never have been charged with child endangerment. [The case brings to mind the infamous Fr. Hullerman who came to Cardinal Ratzinger's diocese from a neighboring diocese in 1980 - 12 years earlier than Lynn's case - for psychiatric treatment of his sex 'disease', was somehow assigned to pastoral duties by the diocesan vicar, and remained on good behavior until 1988, only this time, he was apprehended, tried and convicted.]

But besides lucking out in that the priest abused again, Lynn was probably much more damned and doomed by having acquiesced to his bishop's decision to burn a list of sex-abuser priests he had drawn up. The late Cardinal Bevilacqua is no longer around to speak for himself, but if that incident is true - and obviously the jury believed it - the action in itself epitomized the pre-CDF culture of omerta about shameful acts by men of the Church. We can only pray and hope that those 'dark ages' never come back again.

As for Mons. Lynn, he would have concluded by now that God is using him for a higher purpose, and that should be a consolation to him.

Message for World Tourism Day:
Promoting sustainable development, respect
for creation, and the new evangelization


The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Workers has releaeed its messgae for World Touriskm Day this year, celebrated annually on Sept. 27. This yeasr's theme ks "Tourism and energy sustainability: Promoting sustainable development".

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World Tourism Day is celebrated on September 27th, promoted every year by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). The Holy See has adhered to this initiative from its first edition. It considers it an opportunity to dialogue with the civil world and offers its concrete contribution, based on the Gospel, and also sees it as an occasion to sensitize the whole Church about the importance of this sector from the economic and social standpoint and, in particular, in the context of the new evangelization.

As this message is being published, the echoes are still heard from the Seventh World Congress of the Pastoral Care of Tourism which was held last April in Cancún (Mexico) at the initiative of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in collaboration with the Prelature of Cancún-Chetumal and the Mexican Bishops' Conference. The work and the conclusions of that meeting will enlighten our pastoral action in the coming years.

Also in this edition of the World Day we make the theme proposed by the WTO our own: "Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development". It is in harmony with the present "International Year of Sustainable Energy For All" promulgated by the United Nations with the objective of highlighting "the need to improve access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound energy services and resources for sustainable development".1

Tourism has grown at a significant rhythm in the past decades. According to the World Tourism Organization statistics, it is foreseen that during the year in progress the quota will reach one billion international tourist arrivals, which will become two billion in the year 2030. To these should be added the even higher numbers involved in local tourism. This growth, which surely has positive effects, can lead to a serious environmental impact owing, among other factors, to the immoderate consumption of energy resources, the increase in polluting agents and the production of waste.

Tourism has an important role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals which include "ensuring environmental sustainability" (goal 7), and it must do everything in its power so that these goals will be reached.2 Therefore, it has to adapt to the conditions of climate change by reducing its emissions of hothouse gas, which at present represent 5% of the total. However, tourism not only contributes to global warming: it is also a victim of it.

The concept of "sustainable development" is already engrained in our society and the tourism sector cannot and must not remain on the margin. When we talk about "sustainable tourism", we are not referring to one means among others, such as cultural, beach or adventure tourism. Every form and expression of tourism must necessarily be sustainable and cannot be otherwise.

Along this way, the energy problems have to be taken into due consideration. It is an erroneous assumption to think that "an infinite quantity of energy and resources are available, that it is possible to renew them quickly, and that the negative effects of the exploitation of the natural order can be easily absorbed".3

It is true, as the WTO Secretary General points out, that "tourism is leading the way in some of the world’s most innovative sustainable energy initiatives.4 However, we are also convinced that there is still much work to be done.

In this area also the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People wishes to offer its contribution based on the conviction that "the Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere".5 It is not up to us to propose concrete technical solutions but to show that development cannot be reduced to mere technical, political or economic parameters.

We wish to accompany this development with some appropriate ethical guidelines which stress the fact that all growth must always be at the service of the human being and the common good. In fact, in the Message sent to the Cancún Congress mentioned earlier, the Holy Father stresses that it is important "to shed light on this reality using the social teaching of the Church and promote a culture of ethical and responsible tourism, in such a way that it will respect the dignity of persons and of peoples, be open to all, be just, sustainable and ecological".6

We cannot separate the theme of environmental ecology from concern for an appropriate human ecology in the sense of interest in the human being's integral development. In the same way, we cannot separate our view of man and nature from the bond which unites them with the Creator. God has entrusted the good stewardship of creation to the human being.

In the first place, a great educational effort is important in order to promote "an effective shift in mentality which can lead to the adoption of new life-styles". This conversion of the mind and heart "allows us rapidly to become more proficient in the art of living together that respects the alliance between man and nature".8

It is right to acknowledge that our daily habits are changing and that a greater ecological sensitivity exists. However, it is also true that the risk is easily run of forgetting these motivations during the vacation period in a search for certain comforts to which we believe we are entitled, without always reflecting on their consequences.

It is necessary to cultivate the ethics of responsibility and prudence and to ask ourselves about the impact and consequences of our actions. In this regard, the Holy Father says: "The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa. This invites contemporary society to a serious review of its life-style, which, in many parts of the world, is prone to hedonism and consumerism, regardless of their harmful consequences".

On this point, it will be important to encourage both entrepreneurs and tourists to consider the repercussions of their decisions and attitudes. In the same way, it is crucial "to encourage more sober lifestyles, while reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency".

These underlying ideas must necessarily be translated into concrete actions. Therefore, and with the objective of making the tourist destinations sustainable, all initiatives that are energy efficient and have the least environmental impact possible and lead to using renewable energies, should be promoted and supported to promoting the saving of resources and avoiding contamination. In this regard, it is fundamental for the ecclesial tourism structures and vacation proposals promoted by the Church to be characterized, among other things, by their respect for the environment.

All of the sectors involved (businesses, local communities, governments and tourists) must be aware of their respective responsibilities in order to achieve sustainable forms of tourism. Collaboration between all the parts involved is necessary.

The Social Doctrine of the Church reminds us that "care for the environment represents a challenge for all of humanity. It is a matter of a common and universal duty, that of respecting a common good".11 A good which human beings do not own but are "stewards" (Cf. Gn 1:28), a good which God entrusted to them so that they would administer it properly.

Pope Benedict XVI says that "the new evangelization, to which all are called, requires us to keep in mind and to make good use of the many occasions that tourism offers us to put forward Christ as the supreme response to modern man’s fundamental questions".

Therefore, we invite everyone to promote and use tourism in a respectful and responsible way in order to allow it to develop all of its potentialities, with the certainty that in contemplating the beauty of nature and peoples we can arrive at the encounter with God.

Vatican City, July 16th, 2012

† Antonio Maria Cardinal Vegliò
President

† Joseph Kalathiparambil
Secretary

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__________________

The decisive factor:
To make the faith entrusted to us
shine forth beyond any ideological conflicts
Interview with the new CDF Prefect
by Astrid Haas
Translated from the 7/26/12 issue of


"Faith is characterized by maximum openness. It is a personal relationship with God which carries in it all the treasures of knowledge. That is why our finite reason is always moving towards the infinite God. We can always learn something new and understand with more profundity the richness of Revelation, which we could never exhaust".

So says the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, in a long conversation with this writer and the editor of the newspaper. During the meeting at the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio, Mons. Müller also spoke of his arrival at the CDF, how he decided to become a priest, his time as a professor of theology and as a bishop, and his repeated travels to Latin America.

he also explained that he learned to know and appreciate Joseph Ratzinger originally from his Introduction to Christianity which was a bestseller when it first came out in 1968.

Tell us your first impressions of the new job, in an environment to which your are no stranger, after all, having been for many years a bishop-member of the CDF itself and of other dicasteries in the Roman Curia.
For five years, as a member of the CDF, I was able to take part in regular meetings of its cardinal and bishop members, and had admired the dicastery's conscientious and collegial work. So the tasks are not unknown to me. For many years, I was also part of the International Theological Commission, and worked with other dicasteries.

Overall, nonetheless, many things are new and unusual for me. I will need some time to orient myself in the complex structure of the Curia. Of course, what is most new for me is to be the Prefect. As a member, I studied in depth all documents prepared by the Congregation and took part in consultations. But now, I must carry out and guide the daily work, and prepare all decisions correctly.

I am grateful to the Holy Father for having shown his confidence in me and entrusting this job to me. The problems we face are great, if we look at the universal Church, with the many challenges to face and a certain discouragement in some circles which we must overcome.

We also have the problem of groups - from the left and from the right, as one usually labels them - who take up much time and attention. Here, there is an easy risk of losing sight somehow of our primary task, which is to announce the Gospel and explain the doctrine of the Church concretely.

We are convinced that there is no alternative to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Revelation responds to the great questions of man throughout time. What is the sense of my life? How can I face suffering? Is there a hope beyond death when life is so brief and difficult?

We are convinced that the secular and immanentist vision is not enough. It cannot give us any convincing answers. For which Revelation is a great relief, as we do not need to seek answers at any cost. But our capacity is great enough to make the human being capax infiniti. In Christ, the infinite God revealed himself to us. Christ is the answer to our most profound questions. And so we can face the future with joy and strength.

Much has been written about you mow. Would you like to tell us something about yourself, your family, your studies, your decision to become a priest, and your experience as a theology professor and then as bishop.
My father was for almost 40 years a simple laborer at Opel in Ruesselsheim. We lived nearby in Mainz-Fithen, a small place that was founded by the Romans, and where one can still see the ruins of an ancient aqueduct. From this viewpoint, our basic background was Roman. In Mainz, there are still a great many people conscious of this heritage, about which we are proud. To have a Roman horizon in the heart of Germany has left its mark. When one is Catholic, the two realities link automatically.

My mother was a housewife. I am grateful to my parents for having educated us in a normal way, without exaggerating one way or the other. e grew up in the Catholic faith and its practices, with the right balance between freedoms and responsibilities, and with clear principles. I continue to be in full agreement with what my parents believed.

Then I went on to theological studies thanks to which I acquired a more profound dimension of the faith. For my decision to become a priest, it was important that I continually met priests who led an exemplary spiritual life, with intellectual rigor. In this respect, there was never any contradiction between my studies and being a priest.

I was always convinced that the Catholic faith corresponded to the most elevated intellectual demands and that we should not hide this. The Church can boast of many great figures in the history of culture. That is why we can respond with certainty to the great challenges of the natural sciences, of history, of sociology, of politics.

Faith is characterized by maximum openness. It is a personal relationship with God which carries in it all the treasures of knowledge. That is why our finite reason is always moving towards the infinite God. We can always learn something new and understand with more profundity the richness of Revelation, which we could never exhaust.

As a bishop, I continued to underscore to seminarians that the vocation to priesthood requires an encounter with authentic priests. Faith begins with personal encounters, starting with our parents, priests, friends, in the parish, in the diocese, int he great family that is the universal Church. That they should never fear intellectual confrontation - we do not have a blind faith, but faith cannot be reduced in a rationalistic way.

I wish for everyone the same experience as I had - that of identifying myself simply and without any problems with the Catholic faith and to practise it. It is a beautiful thing.

Pope Benedict has entrusted to you the publication of his complete writings [as Joseph Ratzinger], and has even turned over to you his Roman apartment where he lived until he became Pope, and which still has many of his books. How did you get to know Joseph Ratzinger?
As a young student, I read his Introduction to Christianity. It was published in 1968 and we absorbed it like sponges. In those years, there was much uncertainty in the seminaries. But in the book, the Church's profession of faith was presented convincingly, analyzed with reason and masterfully explained. Everything that characterizes the entire theological work of Joseph Ratzinger - fides et ratio, faith and reason.

Then I came to meet him and learned to appreciate him as a person. In my work as a professor and then as bishop, he was a support and a clear reference point. I would call him a paternal friend, since he is more than a generation older.

I believe that I have not come to Rome to burden him with various issues. My task is to relieve him of part of his task and not to bring him problems that can be resolved at our level. The Holy Father has the important mission of announcing the Gospel and confirming his brothers and sisters in the faith.

It is for us who work with him to deal with all the less pleasant questions, so he is not burdened with them, even as we have to keep him informed of the essentials.

Shortly before the end of Vatican II, Paul VI transformed the Holy Office into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What do you think of that change and the role of the dicastery today?
The Church is, above all, a community of faith, and therefore, revealed faith is its most important asset, something we must transmit, announce and protect. Jesus entrusted to Peter and his successors the universal Magisterium, and this is what the CDF must serve. Thus, it has the responsibility for everything that concerns the Church most profoundly: the faith that leads to salvation and to communion with God and among ourselves.

I think the most important aspect of the changeover in 1965 was not about the relation between the CDF and other institutions of the Holy See, but the principal orientation of its work. Pope Paul VI wished the positive aspect to be in the foreground - the Congregation should first of all make the faith understandable - this is the decisive factor.

Then, there is the fact that the faith must be defended from errors and degradation. In our time, we need hope and the signals to relaunch our faith. If we look at the world, especially the European countries, which are those I am most familiar with naturally, we see many politicians and economists who do extraordinary things. But they are not the ones to look to when it has to do with transmitting hope and confidence.

In this, I see one of the great tasks of the CDF and of the Church in general. We should rediscover how to make the faith shine forth once more as a positive force, as a force for hope and as the potential to overcome conflicts and tensions, so we can continue to encounter each other in our common profession of the one and triune God.

The Pope's concern to announce the faith is well-known. And he has expressed this even through the institution of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization and in decreeing a Year of Faith. What are the plans of the CDF?
Faith is realized in the Holy Mass, in Christian life, in families. We actually can only provide support.

Many texts already exist for children, young people and adults, besides theological studies and the documents of the Magisterium.The next Synodal Assembly should give the participants and the whole Church a new impetus for transmitting the faith. I consider it my personal task to encourage bishops and theologians in this sense. We should be able to reinforce each other.

The Lord himself told Peter: Confirm your brothers and sisters. Though this goes most especially for the Pope, it is for all those who announce the faith. It is important that they stay on the terrain of faith, to draw directly from its sources - from Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, the documents of the various Councils and Popes, the great theologians and spiritual writers.

When this does not happen, everything will be arid and empty. But when the faith is accepted with joy and determination, life is born. Scriptures gives us some beautiful images: the light on a candlestick, the salt that gives flavor to everything, the Gospel as a yeast and ferment for the world.

As a diocesan bishop, or a priest who must care for souls, one must meet persons face to face. One sees them concretely in their life situations. One cannot announce the Gospel to them if one does not also love them, and sees each one as a mystery who is the image and likeness of God. One must continue to repeat that Christ died on the cross for us. We know that our vocation is to be friends of God and in this way, to discover the hope for which we are destined. This makes all doubts disappear from the heart. Even the atheists and enemies of the Church should perhaps start asking themselves self-critically whether they have means of salvation to offer men today.

You have many contacts in Latin America. How did this relationship come about?
I have visited Latin America many times - not just Peru but other nations. In 1988, I was invited to take part in a seminar with Gustavo Gutierrez. I attended with some reservation as a German theologian, especially since I was very familiar with the two declarations of the CDF on liberation theology issued in 1094 and 1986.

And I saw that one should distinguish between a correct liberation theology and the wrong one. I believe that every good theology has to do with the freedom and glory of the children of God. Of course, one must reject any mixture of the Marxist doctrine of self-salvation with salvation by God.

On the other hand, we must ask ourselves sincerely: How can we speak about the love and mercy of God to people who are suffering because they do not have food, water and health care, who cannot offer a future to their children, who really lack conditions for human dignity, whose human rights are ignored by the powers that be?

Ultimately, this is possible only if one is prepared to live among them, to accept them as brothers and sisters, without an attitude of paternalism. If we consider ourselves as the family of God, we must contribute so that this situations unworthy of human beings can be changed and improved.

In Europe, after the Second World War and the totalitarian dictatorships, we built a new democratic society, thanks in large part to the social doctrine of the Church. As Christians, we must underscore that the values of justice, solidarity and human dignity were introduced to our Constitutions from Christianity.

I come from Mainz where, at the start of the 19th century,a great bishop, Baron Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, who had something to do with the beginnings of social doctrine and social encyclicals. A Catholic child from Main has social passion in his blood, and I am proud of that. This was certainly the perspective with which I have been visiting Latin America. In the past 15 years, I have been there two or three months every year, living in very simple conditions.

In the beginning, it meant a great effort for a citizen from central Europe. But when one begins to know the people as persons and see how they live, then it becomes easy.

I have also been to South Africa with our Domspatzen, the famous boys choir led by the Pope's brother for 30 years. I have given lectures in various universities and seminars not just in Latin America but in Europe and North America.

But what I experienced was that I felt at home everywhere. Wherever there is an altar, Christ is present, and wherever you go, you are part of the great family of God/

What do you think about the discussions with the Lefebvrians and the American sisters?
For the future of the 'Church, it is important to overcome ideological conflicts wherever they arise. There is one revelation of God in Jesus Christ that has been entrusted to the whole Church. And so there can be no negotiations about the Word of God- one cannot believe and not believe at the same time.

One cannot make the triple religious vow [poverty, chastity and obedience] and not take it seriously. One cannot cite the tradition of the Church and then accept it only in part. The journey of the Church moves on, and everyone is asked not to be closed off in a self-referential mindset, but accept the full life and the full faith of the Church.

In the Catholic Church, it has always been evident that man and woman have the same value - the story of Creation says so, and this is confirmed by the order of salvation. The human being does not need top emancipate himself, to create himself, or to self-invent himself. he is already emancipated and liberated through the grace of God.

Many declarations about the admission of women to priesthood ignore an important aspect of the priestly ministry. To be a priest does not mean creating a position for oneself. One cannot consider the priestly ministry as a position of earthly power and think that emancipation means everyone can be a priest.

The Catholic faith knows that we do not dictate the conditions for being admitted to the priestly ministry and that the will and the call of Christ is always behind every priesthood. I call on everyone to renounce polemics and ideology in order too immerse themselves in the doctrine of the Church.

In the United States, religious orders have extraordinary things in the education and formation of young people. Christ needs young people who follow this path and see that it reflects their own fundamental choice.

The Second Vatican Council has affirmed marvellous things in order to renew religious life, as well as for the common vocation to holiness. It is importanjt to reinforce reciprocal trust rather than work against each other.

Other than Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val [British-born Spaniard] from 1914 to 1930, the CDF had always been led by Italians. After 1965, it has been under non-Italians - Franjo Seper (Croatian), Joseph Ratzinger, William Levada and now you. What does this tendency show?
In the past, it was not possible to travel easily, so the persons iont he Curia tended to come from Rome and surrounding areas, or Italy in general. Today, modernity help us to live quite concretely the Church's catholicity.

But since the primacy of the Pope is linked to the Church of Rome, there are still many Italians in the Curia. Its internationalization has to do with the Church's catholicity. Even during the Roman Empire, there were many Christians in Rome and even Popes coming from other places, many from the East.

Today, as then, we are members of one family in the Church, and we must be the motor of authentic progress for mankind. No other institution has this international dimension which embraces all mankind and that is so committed for the unity of all persons and peoples.

Wherever we celebrate the Eucharist, we share the most intimate part of our belief, and we have the same communion of life with Christ, even if we have different cultures and languages. We feel right away that we are one, members of one body who together constitute the temple of God. In a way it is a prolongation of Pentecost - we come from different nations but we praise God all together, and we can listen to the Word of God in our own language. Adn the Holy Spirit speaks to uns in the language of love which unites us all in God, our Father.

Thursday, July 26, 16th Week in Ordinary Time

SAINTS JOACHIM AND ANNE, Parents of the Virgin Mary
The Holy Father will probably give us more information about the maternal grandparents of Jesus in his book on the infancy Gospels, in which he may well cite traditional apocryphal stories about them. Indeed, their names are not mentioned in the canonical Gospels, but come from the apocryphal Proto-Evangelium of James which tells their story and how Mary came to be conceived in Anna's old age. Joachim was said to have been a rich and pious man from the House of David whose offerings to the Temple of Jerusalem were rejected because his barrenness was considered a sign of divine displeasure. He went to the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. During that time, both he and Anna had angelic visions telling them that they would become parents. Giotto's famous painting (first left in the panel) shows them embracing at the city gates of Jerusalem after Joachim returned from the desert. The child was Mary. In gratitude, they took her to the Temple at age 3 and dedicated her to God. She was educated at the Temple until she was betrothed to Joseph. Joachim and Anna are considered the patron saints of grandparents.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072612.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father has named Mons. Paul Pallath as head of the Office for dispensations from broken or
non-consummated marriages and their sacramental nullification, in the
Tribunal of the Roman Rota.



I will be gone the rest of the day.

It came out yesterday in Le figaro, not for the love of truth of course

www.lefigaro.fr/international/2012/07/25/01003-20120725ARTFIG00415-vatileaks-trois-proches-du-pape-auditio...

And how lucky we are, we even have Ingrid Stampa's picture




Dear Flo, thanks for the info! Figaro makes the third newspaper I am aware of to pick up the Badde-Repubblica canard, after Die Welt and the UK Independent. The news agencies still have not touched it.

TERESA

Wednesday, July 27, 17th Week in Ordinary Time

BLESSED ANTONIO LUCCI (Italy, 1683-1752), Franciscan and Bishop
Educated by Franciscans, he became a Franciscan himself and went on to teach theology
in Franciscan seminaries. In 1717, he became provincial-general of the Franciscans, and
the following year, was named a professor at St. Bonaventure College in Rome. In 1729,
Pope Benedict XII named him Bishop of Bovino (east central Italy) calling him "an
eminent theologian and a great saint". He was bishop for 23 years, renewing his diocese
in living according to the gospel, and giving up his personal income to works of education
and charity. He also wrote a book about the conventual Franciscans who were canonized
and beatified in the first 200 years of the order. He was beatified in 1989.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072712.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

A belated bulletin about an event yesterday, June 26:
Benedict XVI gets reports
and briefing from cardinals
and criminal investigators

July 27, 2012

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Yesterday morning 26 July, the Holy Father received in audience the Commission of Cardinals which is undertaking the administrative investigation into the leaking of reserved information: Cardinal Julián Herranz, Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi. The cardinals were accompanied by Fr. Luigi Martignani O.F.M. Cap., secretary of the Commission; Examining Magistrate Piero Antonio Bonnet, and Promoter of Justice Nicola Picardi of the Tribunal of Vatican City State.

The Holy Father was informed about the conclusions reached by the Commission of Cardinals, and about the progress of the criminal procedures currently underway. He thanked them for the information he had received and invited the Vatican magistrates to proceed expeditiously.

The meeting was also attended by Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State; Msgr. Georg Gänswein, private secretary to the Holy Father; Domenico Giani, director of the Vatican Gendarmerie, and Gregory Burke, communications consultant of the Secretariat of State.

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- And a noontime announcement timed to coincide with 9 a.m. on the US West Coast where it was simultaneously announced:

Mons. Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, who heads
the USCCB 'defense of marriage' committee,
named Archbishop of San Francisco
The headline says it all. More about Mons. Cordileone later, the latest o the Benedictian bishops
named to lead a major US diocese, in this case the first unabashedly conservative bishop to lead Catholics
in the ultra-liberal city considered by many to be the gay capital of the world. Cordileone succeeds
Archbishop George Niederauer who turned 75 last year and served an additional year. He in turn had
succeeded Mons. William Levada when the latter was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith in May 2005. (Friends since they were 15, Levada and Niederauer will both live their
retirement at St. Patrikk's Seminary in Menlo Park near San Francisco.)

Saturday, July 28, 16th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. LEOPOLD MANDIC (b Montenegro 1887, d Italy 1942), Capuchin, Apostle of the Confessional
Baptized Bogdan, the saint was born to a family of noble Croatian origin. At 16, he entered the Franciscan seminary in Udine, northern Italy, took the name Leopold, and was ordained a Capuchin at age 24. He lived in Italy for the rest of his life, eventually settling in Padua. Suffering from physical deformity (he was only 4'4"), stuttering and a variety of ailments all his life, Leopold taught patrology (the study of the Church Fathers) in Franciscan seminaries, But he was best known for his zeal in promoting confession, often spending 13-16 hours a day hearing confessions. His dream was to preach to the Orthodox Christians and promote reunification of the Church, but his poor health never allowed him to be a missionary. He died of esophageal cancer in Padua in 1942, and was canonized in 1982.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072812.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Press Office announced following appointments made by the Holy Father:

- Fr. Edoardo Aldo Cerrato, C.O. to the new Bishop of Ivrea, northern Italy. Until now, he was the Deputy
Superior of the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Phillip Neri and Provost of the Oratorian house in Rome.

- Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, Vice-Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, and
- Archbishop Zygmunt Zymowski, emeritus archbishop of Radom(Poland), and president of the Pontifical Council
for Ministry to Healthcare Workers,
as members of the Congregation for Bishops.

- Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, Arch-Priest of the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, as his
special envoy to the 950th anniversary of the Diocese of Sape (Albania) on Sept. 29.


Pope's condolence for the death
of the President of Ghana

The Press Office also released the text of the Holy Father's telegram of condolence for the death of
the President of Ghana last Tuesday, to the new President:

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HIS EXCELLENCY
JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
ACCRA

IT WAS WITH SADNESS THAT I LEARNED OF THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF PRESIDENT JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS. RECALLING HIS YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND HIS DEDICATION TO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES, I JOIN YOU, HIS FAMILY, AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF GHANA IN MOURNING HIS PASSING. ENTRUSTING THE LATE PRESIDENT’S SOUL TO THE PROVIDENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD, I PRAY THAT GHANA WILL BE BLESSED WITH PEACE AND PROSPERITY AS YOU BEGIN YOUR SERVICE AS PRESIDENT IN THESE SAD CIRCUMSTANCES.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

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Page 1 of the Sunday, 7/29/12 issue of L'Osservatore Romano has a tribute to the Brits and the great success of en Olympics opening ceremony that did not seek to compete with Beijing's 2008 mind-boggling extravaganza, but succeeded enormously nonetheless in a riotous and witty celebration of all the good things that make the British who they are. Congratulations to director Danny Boyle of 'Slum Dog Millionaire' fame for his intelligently-conceived and brilliantly-executed concept fittingly called 'Isle of Wonder'...There ought to be a DVD series with appropriate accompanying booklets of the various Olympics opening rites since the 1980s - the event has evolved into a unique multimedia display to present to the world a once-in-a-lifetime overview of the host country's history and culture, with the best and the brightest of modern technology to highlight the performances of the its best and brightest cultural icons. I've come to look forward to it as much as I do the athletic performances themselves....



Irony is truly Britain's pride:
The opening rites of the XXX Olympics
by Giuseppe Fiorentino
Translated from the 7/29/12 issue of


"Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not."

The words pronounced by Caliban in William Shakespeare's The Tempest inspired the spectacle that marked the opening of the Olympic Games in London Friday night.

Declaiming some passages from the Bard's last work was Sir Kenneth Branagh, the most recent hair of A glorious tradition of Shakespearean actors, to whom director Danny Boyle had entrusted the task of reading the the texts for the entire ,much-awaited ceremony.

The choice was not accidental: the event, in fact, all played along that line of typically British irony that finds its best expression in William Shakespeare.

None of what was seen Friday night recalled the redundant exhibitions of strength and economic power seen in previous opening rites. Of course, the opening spectacle in London also cost much - 34 million euros - a third of the 92 million euros it cost in Beijing.

But Great Britain, which celebrated its history yesterday - from its rural past to the Industrial Revolution, from swinging London of the 1960s to the social network generation - did it with lightness and joy. With the awareness that to be able to laugh at oneself, casting an affectionate look at its own past, guarantees the power to open itself to the future, without denying its own roots.

And if Mr. Bean, the actor Rowan Atkinson, with his caustic humor, re-interpreted the emotional theme of Chariots of Fire [the 1981 Oscar Best Picture about 2 British Olympic track athletes who ran in the 1924 Olympics], minimized any hint of self-celebration, it was Queen Elizabeth II who stole the show even from stars like Paul McCartney, guaranteeing for the rites - with her characteristic grace - that additional touch that made it truly unforgettable.

What other head of state would have lent herself to the 'stunt' of appearing to leave Buckingham Palace in a helicopter escorted by James Bond [in his latest incarnation by Daniel Craig], with both, courtesy of stunt doubles, then parachuting into Olympic Stadium?

This is the answer to those ho0 ask why the monarchy is alive and well in the United Kingdom after centuries. Few institutions in the world have been capable of expressing the spirit of the nation that they lead and represent. The British crown is certainly one of those.

Earlier, the Olympics was also the subject of Fr. Lombardi's weekly editorial:

The Olympics: Aiming
for 'more than gold'

July 28, 2012

The Olympics! Once again the world looks to the largest, most attended, most fascinating sporting event. Even Christian Churches are being mobilised for the occasion.

Since the Barcelona Games in 1992, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists and Episcopalians have started the ecumenical initiative “More than Gold” to together build the Kingdom of God in the enthusiastic and cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Olympics.

This year the Catholic Church in England has also whole-heartedly joined the initiative. And on the morning of Friday July 27th, all the bells of Christian places of worship rang out at the same time to welcome athletes, tourists and others who have reason to participate in this extraordinary event and to help raise one’s heart to God.

What do we expect that is more than the gold of the most prestigious medals, more than admiration for what is, after all, short-lived success? Admiration for the strength, the elegance, the charm and athletic ability mustn’t stop at worshipping the beauty of the human body, but come to understand that it’s about a body being trained and guided by the mind and by will, by the spirit that inhabits it.

It is therefore right to combine the Olympics with the Paralympics for disabled athletes. The latter do not mean less. They are necessary in order to understand the positive meaning of the former.

And it is right to indissolubly unite the Olympics with the hope of peace for the international community of humanity: this is clearly stated by the ancient tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, recalled by the Pope during his greetings at last Sunday’s Angelus: “We pray that the Games in London will be a true experience of brotherhood between the peoples of the world!”

And who would have thought that 1968's 'Hey Jude' would turn into the unofficial hymn of the 2012 Olympics and arguably the greatest singalong participation of all time (worldwide TV audience estimated at one billion)? After all, take it out of its pop-song heartsick context, and the lyrics do have commonsense counsel: "Hey Jude, don't make it bad, Take a sad song and make it better...And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain, Don't carry the world upon your shoulders. For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder. Nananana, nananana..." The Beatles fan in me can't resist to point out that McCartney wrote the song originally as 'Hey Jules', to comfort John Lennon's five-year-old son Julian, while on his way to visiting Cynthia Lennon and Julian shortly after John had divorced her for Yoko Ono. Musicians hailed its engaging structure, arrangement and orchestration. including that hypnotic 'NA-NA-NA, nananana' coda, when it was recorded as a seven-minute single.

For the second day in a row, on July 27 - after a lengthy interview published in the July 26 issue - L'Osservatore Romano gave the new CDF Prefect the Page 1 treatment, a teaser for excerpts from his new book on the theme of faith and reason in the writings of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

If Jesus were to be
simply a 'case'
by Mons. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller
Translated from the 7/27/12 issue of


The book Ampliare l’orizzonte della ragione. Per una lettura di Joseph Ratzinger—Benedetto XVI (Widening the horizon of reason: For a reading of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI)(Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012, 77 pp) by the Archbishop-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Mueller. Here are excerpts from the chapter on the lecture given by Mueller at the conference "Dal lògos dei Greci e dei Romani al Lògos di Dio" (From the logos of the Greeks and Romans to the Logos of God), held at the Universita Cattolical del Sacro Cuore in November 2011.

In the lecture that he gave in Regensburg - a magical moment in the history of that German university - Pope Benedict XVI once more highlighted the synthesis of faith and reason, of freedom and love. Four concepts that a secularised world wishes to claim for itself today, while refusing to recognize the right of the Church to present herself as a basic foundation and source of sensible life in society.

Those who do not believe in Christ as the one and only mediator of salvation vaunt their own mental openness and capacity for tolerance while accusing the Church of constraining consciences and spiritual imperialism.

This overpraised absolute tolerance in a pluralistic vision of the world does not apply, it seems, when it comes to the Christian and his fundamental choice of faith.

Behind all this is the idea that man can reach a more profound knowledge only in a unidimensional way, purely immanent. The non-visible becomes confined to the field of psychology or mythology, as a subjective means of overcoming of unsustainable reality - to which therefore, no real existence is attributed.

Therefore, no pretense of truth exists, no ultimate measure, no God. But how is it possible to pronounce, with an agnostic attitude, such an apodictic [necessarily or demonstrably true] statement?

That is how the dictatorship of relativism is born, which Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of at the opening of the conclave from which he would emerge as Benedict XVI.

Relativism applied to the truth is not just philosophical reasoning buti nevitably ends up necoming intolerance of the very idea of God. Pronouncements about God, Christ, the Church, are considered at best as coming from a religiously motivated subculture. God becomes an 'ideal', employed to eody and pedagogize men. Jesus Christ becomes a 'case' particularly appropriate to serve as a model for society's morals, and the Church a free union - somewhat like an association - of people who share the same subjective opinions about religion.

One must seek in this the reasons why religious topics have been tabooed in the public sphere, and why the Christian message and the Church have been removed from political debate.

The Church, it is said, represents religiously motivated persons who nonetheless do not possess any right to intervene and participate in the configuration of the world. They are linked to a limited cultural paradigm that is not generally binding and thus belongs to the sphere of individual and collective subjectivity.

Even for the idea that theology cultivates itself, this valuation of faith is not without consequences. Does it it still constitute a genuine inquiry into God with the blessings of reason, or is it just a program to which some adherents are devoted?

Relativistic liberalism as an agent of pluralism cannot tolerate that God is effectively 'revealed' to men, because if so, it must be admitted that man is not the measure of all things, but that he owes himself to divine love which also dispenses freedom.

Relativistic liberalism, which absolutizes pleasure and profit, opposes itself to the eucharistic man who owes his very existence and redemption to God, and is a co-participant in the freedom and glory of the children of God.

Can a world without God succeed? This question is not purely theoretical. It must be linked to the premise that God exists. The question is not whether God exists but rather of the clear rejection of his presence. Whoever sees in God the linchpin and hinge of his very life, is often derided, not because of the fact that there is no God to whom one can address oneself, but because God is deliberately being excluded from reality.

Enlightened reason is proclaimed god and suggests that man alone suffices unto himself. But our profession of faith already contains the seed of an encounter with God that is oriented according to human reason. Reason, rationality, are not concepts incompatible with faith, even if this is the recurrent reproach by pluralistic and relativistic modernity.

As rational beings, we are conceived in a way that we do not hide God from reason. He created it, he is the all-comprehensive Logos, the only one, in short, who could guide us towards experience and knowledge.

Man thinks of himself and the world, and thinks about the transcendental reason that gives origin to everything. He uses his own reason. But how can reason think of itself without making a reference to God?

Relativistic pluralism and secularism come up with the man who would like to live without God in order not to live under rules even if those rules derive from the very fact of being human.

A discussion devoid of this reference point unhinges man. Because there no longer is a basis that is able to show him who he is, substantially. Without the liberating dominion of Jesus Christ, that which essentially constitutes man becomes a farce. Devoid of consistency, he becomes a monster, a terror to those who are not able to defend themselves.

The examples are before everyone's eyes: millions of abortions, research on embryonic stem cells and euthanasia.

Precisely because of this, the world needs reason that is not deaf to the divine. Divine Logos took on human nature in Jesus Christ. This is the faith that reason teaches us to understand, this is the reason that arrives at faith, this is the freedom that reacts according to conscience.

Perhaps not the most felicitous excerpt to choose to sample Mueller, or this could be typical of a prose style and expression that is far from the clarity, linearity and elegant expression of his boss, the Pope.

July 29, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fifth from left: An Orthodox icon showing Mary, Lazarus and Martha.
ST. MARTHA OF BETHANY, Virgin, Myrrh-bearer
St. Luke's Gospel recounts the visit of Jesus to the home of Mary and Martha, during which, famously, Martha bustled about serving the Lord as mistress of the house, while Mary sat at his feet, listening to him. Jesus then tells Martha that Mary had chosen 'the better part'. St. John's Gospel mentions the siblings of Bethany twice: first, the episode where the sisters call for Jesus to come to them because their brother Lazarus had died. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead four days after he was buried, and tells the sisters "I am the Resurrection and the Life...Do you believe this?" Martha answers, "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come to the world". The second episode is one that takes place shortly before the Lord's Passion, when Mary anoints the Lord's feet with perfume and dries it with her hair. Matthew and Mark recount the same episode but without naming the woman, as John does. It is this episode that has resulted in the conflation of Mary of Bethany with the figure of Mary of Magdala and an adulterous woman pardoned by Jesus - a conflation that St. Gregory the Great articulated. As a result, Mary of Bethany does not have a feast day of her own in the Roman Catholic faith, although her brother and sister do. The orthodox celebrate a joint feast for Mary and Martha on June 4. Martha is the patron saint of housewives and cooks.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072912.cfm


WITH THE HOLY FATHER TODAY

Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected on the account of the miracle of loaves and fish from the Gospel of John,
and the parallels between the material distribution of bread to Christ describing himself as the Bread of Life as
an analog to the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. In addition, he expressed continuing messages of concern
for the worsening situation in Syria and continuing terrorist carnage in Iraq. But he also looked forward with hope to
World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro for which the one-year countdown began on July 23. one year from today.


ONE YEAR AGO TODAY...
An unprecedented anti-Church mania in Ireland, generated rather surprisingly by the official release of the Cloyne Report whose findings had been known for months, reached its peak, nine days after the Irish Prime Minister, on the floor of Parliament, had denounced the Vatican, the Church and the Pope with quite a few mis-statements of facts for which he has never apologized. It abated almost shortly thereafter, and like most media-fueled 'crises', it seemed to have gone on forever. George Weigel called it 'Erin go bonkers!' while John Allen saw it this time last year as 'blood in the water' which signalled that the sharks were going in for the kill (another one of his failed predictions). As it turned out. the build-up to World Youth Day in Madrid soon dominated news about the Church, and the sharks never did come in for the kill (whatever it is that amounts to, in the case of the Papacy!) because WYD Madrid became one of the greatest episodes of this Pontificate.

TWO SUMMERS AGO...

In the absence of anything interesting or significant from the Vatican or the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo: In 2010, the Vatican released a photo of the Holy Father walking in the gardens of Castel Gandolfo wearing a baseball cap.


Although it obviously was not the first time he was photographed wearing a baseball cap, the photo was a one-day 'sensation' for MSM worldwide, including outlets usually dedicated only to style or to pop culture!

ANGELUS TODAY




In his Angelus message today to the faithful who gathered in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father reflected on the account of the miracle of loaves and Fishes from the Gospel of John, and the parallels between the material distribution of bread and Christ describing himself as the Bread of Life to the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.

In addition, he expressed continuing messages of concern for the worsening situation in Syria and continuing terrorist carnage in Iraq.

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I continue to follow with apprehension the tragic and growing episodes of violence in Syria with the sad consequences in dead and wounded and an enormous number of homeless within the country as well as refugees to neighboring countries.

I therefore ask that the necessary humanitarian assistance and supportive fraternal assistance be assured. As I renew my closeness to the suffering population and that I remember them in prayer, I also reiterate my urgent appeal that all violence and bloodshed end. I ask God to grant the wisdom of the heart especially to those who have the responsibility not to spare any effort in seeking peace, as well as on the part of the international community, through dialog and reconciliation, with a view to an adequate political solution to the conflict.

My thoughts also go to the dear nation of Iraq, which has been struck in recent days by numerous attacks that have caused so many deaths and injuries.May this great nation find the way to stability, reconciliation and peace.

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The Holy Father also expressed concern at the closure of Italy's largest steelworks in the southern city of Taranto where a pollution investigation has so far led to the arrest of eight plant managers and ex managers. [The closure order said the plant's fumes caused the death of nearly 400 people over the last 13 years and dust endangered the health of thousands of workers and residents living nearby. Twelve thousand workers of ILVA's plant in Genoa have also protested because their factory depends on materials coming from the Taranto site.]

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I follow with concern the news regarding the ILVA steel works of Taranto, and I wish to express my closeness to the workers and their families who are living through these difficult days with great apprehension.

As I assure them of my prayers and the support of the Church, I call on everyone to exercise a sense of responsibility, and encourage national and local institutions to do all they can to reach an equitable solution of the problem, one that will protect the right to health and well as the right to work, especially in these days of economic crisis.

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On a positive note, he looked forward with hope to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, July 23-28, 2013, for which the one-year countdown began last Monday.

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Within a year, around this time, the 36th World Youth Day will have taken place in Rio de Janeiro.

It is a valuable occasion for so many young people to experience the joy and beauty of belonging to the Church and to live the faith. I look forward with hope to this event and I wish to encourage and thank the organizers, especially the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, who are engaged in preparing diligently to welcome the young people from around the world who will take part in this important event for the Church.

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Here is a translation of the Pope's pre-Angelus reflection:

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Deat brothers and sisters:

This Sunday, we started reading Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. It opens with the scene of the multiplication of loaves, which Jesus would later comment on at the synagogue in Capharnaum, indicating that he himself was the Bread of life.

The acts performed by Jesus are parallel to those at the Last Supper: "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining" (Jn 6,11). The insistence on 'bread' which must be shared, and on giving thanks (v.11, in Greek, eucharistesas, to give thanks) recall the Eucharist, Christ's sacrifice for the salvation of the world.

The Evangelist observes that the feast of Passover was near (v 4). Our attention is directed toweards the Cross, the gift of love, and towards the Eucharist, which is the perpetuation of that gift: Christ becomes the Bread of Life for men.

St. Augustine commented thus: "who, if not Christ, is the bread of heaven? But in order that man could eat of the bread of angels, the Lord of angels became man. If that had not happened, we would not have his Body; not having his Body, we would not eat the bread of the altar" (Sermon 130,2).

The Eucharist is Man's permanent great encounter with God, in which the Lord becomes our food, he gives himself to transform us into him.

In the scene of the multiplication of loaves, we are also told of the presence of a boy who, in the face of the problem of feeding so many people, offers the little that he has - five loaves of bread and two fish (cfr Jn 6,8)

The miracle is not produced from nothing, but from the first modest sharing of what a simple boy had with him. Jesus does not ask us for what we do not have, but he makes us see that if each one offers the little that he has, the miracle can happen all over. God is able to multiply our every little gesture of love and make us participants in his gift.

The crowd is struck by the miracle: They see in Jesus the new Moses, worthy of power, and in the new manna, that their future is assured. But they stop at the material element, what they have eaten, and the Lord, knowing that they would come to make him king, "withdrew again to the mountain alone" (Jn 6,15),

Jesus is not an earthly king who exercises dominion, but a king who serves, who bends down towards man in order to satisfy not just material hunger, but above all, the most profound hunger, that for orientation, for meaning, for truth - hunger for God.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord to make us rediscover the importance of nourishing ourselves not just with bread, but with truth, with love, with Christ - the Body of Christ, by taking part faithfully and with great awareness in the Ecuharist.so we may be ever more united to him.

Indeed,"it is not the eucharistic food that is changed into us, but rather we who are mysteriously transformed by it. Christ nourishes us by uniting us to himself" (Apost. Exhort. Sacramentum caritatis, 70).

At the same time, let us pray so that no one may ever lack the bread necessary for a dignified life, and that all inequalities may be broken down not with weaposn of violence, but by sharing and love.
Let us entrust ourselves to the Virgin Mary, as we invoke her maternal intercession on us and those who are dear to us.

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He ended his plurilingual greetings today with a message for the people of Castel Gandolfo:

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Today, Castel Gandolfo celebrates the annual 'Sagra della Pesche' (Festival of Peaches). I wish every success for this traditional event with the collaboration of the Communal Administration, the parish and all the citizens. I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good week.

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Because of the overflow crowd in the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father also briefly addressed the pilgrims gathered in the main square of Castel Gandolfo from the central balcony of the Palace facing the square.

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Dear friends, I wish you a good Sunday. Today we heard in Church the Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves, a sign of God's goodness with us, a sign of the goodness of creation, a sign of the goodness of men among themselves.

Let us seek that this light of divine goodness may shine forth on us and among us today, that this may truly be a good Sunday and a good week. Best wishes to everyone, and thank you.

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Presenting the Premio Ratzinger:
Italians call it 'the Nobel for theology';
Foundation says better to just call it 'the Ratzinger'
by ANDREA TORNIELLI
Translated from the Italian service of

July 28, 2012

The two winners of the 2012 Premio Ratzinger (Ratzinger Prize) in theology to be awarded by the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI were not to be announced officially till September, but Vaticanista Sandro Magister revealed the names earlier this week on his website.

To be recognized for their outstanding lifework in the second year that the prizes are awarded will be French philosopher Remi Brague and American Jesuit patrologist Brian Daley,

Brague is a professor of Greek, Roman and Arab philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, and has been the object of media attention in recent years for his attacks against Catholic 'progressivists and theocons' alike.

Fr. Daley, who specializes in Patristics (study of the Fathers of the Church], teaches at Notre Dame University in Indiana, and is a contributing editor to the English edition of Communio, the international theological jounral founded after the Second Vatican Council by Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, and Joseph Ratzinger.

Vatican Insider interviewed the president of the Foundation sponsoring the award, Mons. Giuseppe Scotti, who is adjunct secretary to the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications.

Can you explain the reasons for the choice of Brague and Fr. Daley this year?
I cannot confirm nor belie this information, because as I have repeatedly told newsmen, there will be a press conference in September at which the formal announcement will be made, and we can then answer all such questions.

What is the Fondazione Ratzinger and how was it born?
It is a concrete way by which the Pope can say 'thank you'. It was the Pope himself who spelled out the frame of reference within which the Foundation should function, on the day it was formally born on March 1, 2010. He said it was a way to say thank you "to all those theologians who want to know more out of love for what they do". So it provides the concrete historical opportunity for the Pope to acknowledge these theologians - and there are many - who have had the courage not to follow the cultural fashions of the day and who are able to make understandable to everyone, by their writings as well as by their actions as university professors and scholars that, in his words, "the Lord has given us the Church as a living subject, with its structure of bishops in communion with the Pope".

Who chooses the awardees?
It is the specific task of the Foundation's scientific committee, as decided by its administrative board at its first meeting. That committee, presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, avails of the assistance of various university professors and rectors to bring up names which they think should be brought to the attention of the Holy Father, and who should be considered for the prizes.

Can we call the prizes the Nobel for theology?
If the term Nobel is meant to underscore that this prize is an honorific that has international value as well as great prestige, I would say yes, the analogy to the Nobel Prize is appropriate. But I would prefer to call it the 'Ratzinger', making an explicit reference to Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI who wished to establish it, and for which he has designated part of all his author's royalties for the purpose, just as Alfred Nobel endowed the prizes named for him with his personal patrimony.

Some stir was caused by the publication in the Vatileaks book of a document that took note of an internal debate that had taken place over one of last year's winners - the Italian patrologist Manlio Simonetti, because his views were said to be not in consonance with those of Benedict XVI as expressed in the JESUS OF NAZARETH books. Can you explain this?
Simonetti is one of the greatest scholars of the Fathers of the Church, whom not just Italy but all Europe can be proud of. That is just fact, known to all scholars of religion. The fact that the Holy Father awarded him one of the first three Ratzingers is an act of recognition. That a specialist also writes about other areas which are not his specific competence is not unusual. What is unusual is that there should be any question about such an obvious thing. [In other words, Simonetti was not rewarded for his Christology, whatever that may be, but for his area of expertise, the Fathers of the Church, so dear to the Holy Father.]

Today, much of the talk about theology seems to be all about oppositions - positions condemned or to be condemned, much dissent, little of which is in propositive terms. What do you think of the state of theological research and how is the Foundation promoting it?
I would say the perception is a bit 'too Italian'. I would even say, marginal. Of course, there are diverse positions that are even violently opposed at times. But this has never been a problem in the history of the Church.

Of course, perhaps it is more necessary today to call attention to the method of theology. To make clear that to 'do theology' means to speak of the Church as a living subject, and that the logic of communion with bishops and with the Pope is fundamental in theological work. And this is what the Foundation wishes to encourage and promote, especially through involving the universities.

Last year, the Foundation did this in Bydgosczc, Poland, where 32 European universities discussed how to be "Pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace". This year, from November 8-9, we will have something similar in Rio de Janeiro with a theme suggested by the Archbishop of Rio, Mons. Grani Tempesta, "What makes man man?" There are beautiful prospects ahead. We are only at the first steps.

Does the Pope follow your work closely, and if so, how does he do it?
Obviously, he does. It's his Foundation. Besides that official and solemn aspect of deciding who should get the Ratzinger, there is our daily work, simple and discreet, but which the Holy Father is familiar with in detail.

The risks of philanthropy:
Melinda Gates and her uninformed
statements about Catholic teaching
di GIULIA GALEOTTI
Translated from the 7/28/12 issue of


A few days ago, during a meeting between the United Nations and the British government, organized in London by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the wife of Microsoft's founder announced that in the next eight years, the Foundation will spend 450 million euros to research new ways of birth control, improve information about contraception, and make available services and tools for birth control in the poorest countries, starting in Africa.

In an interview with CNN, Melinda Gates said that for her, as a Catholic, giving women more and better access to contraception was a fulltime commitment. And to the Guardian, she confided her dilemma as a believer, who is aware that this commitment is a defiance of the Catholic hierarchy. [NOT THE HIERARCHY, BUT CATHOLIC DOCTRINE ITSELF!]

In fact, the American philanthropist is a bit off-target, beclouded as she is by misinformation and stereotypes that persist about birth control. To continue to believe in a Catholic Church which, by being opposed to the use of condoms, allows women and children to die, out of sheer misogyny, is unfounded and cheap.

As Paul VI wrote in Humanae vitae (perhaps the most striking 'victim' of such distortion), the Church approves natural regulation of fertility with methods based on the science of human physiology itself.

To demonstrate that natural birth control is not based on Byzantine abstractions but on concrete and effective measures, let us recall the Australian couple John and Evelyn Billings, who originated the natural fertility regulation method called the BOM (Billings ovulation method), by which women can determine the time of the month when they are actually 'fertile', upon which they can then base when not to have sexual relations to avoid conceiving.

[All natural methods of birth control - the Church prefers to call it natural family planning (NFP) - are based on not having sexual relations on the few days of the month when a woman of reproductive age is bound to be fertile. The only time a woman can conceive is if she has released a mature egg cell through ovulation, and the egg is both available to be fertilized by a sperm cell, and capable of being fertilized - a period which lasts for about 36 hours after the egg is ovulated. Sperm enteiing the uterus towards the fallopian tubes where it can encounter the egg, can survive for about 24 hours after it is deposited in the woman. A woman with regular periods about 28 days apart would ovulate on or around Day 14 after her period begins. Doctors advising natural birth control would therefore recommend not to have sexual relations from Day 13 to about Day 16, to allow for a possible earlier or later ovulation. BOM has determined through years of research that these days can generally be recognized by the woman herself, because on these days, she will tend to produce much cervical mucus, resulting from her increased estrogen production around the time of ovulation.]

A striking but not generally known fact is that the Chinese Communist government has taken an interest in BOM, in its search for a method of fertility regulation that costs nothing and does not harm a woman's health. Studies have shown that BOM has 98% reliability [far better than condoms].

Alongside the unfounded accusations of its failure rate and scarce success, BOM continues to incur widespread skepticism, if not a condescending smile for a method the skeptics consider to be unscientific, pre-scientific, primitive and/or terribly naive. All of which is wrong [as any simple online information sarch would show], and most likely disseminated deliberately.

In the eyes of some in the Western world, BOM is doubly inconvenient. First of all, it is simple to understand and any woman. even if illiterate, can do it on her own, once she is instructed. But the greater objection is that it costs nothing, and so it antagonizes the multinational drug companies who manufacture birth control pills and other contraceptive methods at great profit. [Philanthropies like the Gates Foundation and many Western governments spend a fortune buying contraceptives in bulk to give out free in Third World nations.]

Anyone can use the BOM who wants to. But this is hampered by deliberate misinformation that does not present the facts as they are. And this presents the risk of policies like those of Nestle.
As is now well-known, the Swiss-based multinational company had, for decades, marketed baby formula to mothers in Africa by providing free samples that encouraged them to stop breastfeeding and rely on commercial baby-formula instead.

Critics alleged that Nestle advertising presented breastfeeding as a barbaric practice, and massive advertising featuring actors as medical professionals advocated the use of baby formula instead of breast milk, thus creating a demand for the product. [Critics also claim that, even worse, baby formula became a leading cause of infant death in Africa, because it is often prepared with unsafe water.]

All done in the name of good intentions but ultimately for commercial profit. Not that this is the purpose of the Gates's 350 million euros, but it would be good if Ms. Gates had availed herself first of some correct information.

Monday, July 30, 17th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS (Italy, 406-450), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Born in Imola, central Italy, he was a deacon serving the Bishop of his diocese when he was named Bishop of Ravenna
by Pope Sixtus II in 433. The Pope had a vision in which St. Peter and St. Apollinaire, the first bishop of Ravenna,
showed him a young man whom they said should be the next Bishop of Ravenna, then the capital of the Western Roman
Empire. Sixtus recognized the young man of the vision at an audience with a delegation from Ravenna who came to tell
him whom they had elected bishop; he consecrated Peter instead. The new bishop quickly became known for his short
but inspired sermons (he said he was afraid of boring his listeners). When the Empress Galla Placidia first heard
him speak, she called her 'Peter Chrysologos' (Peter of the Golden Words) and later was the patroness of many of
his projects. Peter spoke against the Arian and Monophysite heresies and explained the basic topics of the faith
in simple and clear language. He advocated daily Communion and trust in the power of confession. He was a counsellor
to Pope Leo I, but he died young of an illness when he was on a visit to Imola. In the eighth century, a bishop of
Ravenna assembled 176 of Peter's homilies, which are still reprinted today. Benedict XIII proclaimed him a Doctor
of the Church (Doctor of Homilies) in 1729.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073012.cfm



No bulletins from the Vatican today,
other than a couple of episcopal nominations.

Tuesday, July 31, 17th Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA

ST. IGNACIO DE LOYOLA (b Spain, 1491, d Rome 1556), Soldier, Mystic, Priest, Founder of the Society of Jesus
Among the founders of the major religious congregations, perhaps no one had as troubled a history as the Basque mystic, who converted fairly late in life (he was 30). Son of a Basque nobleman, Inigo de Loyola became a courtier at the court of the King of Castile, and lived a courtier's profligate life until he decided to become a soldier. In the 1521 Battle of Pamplona, while fighting the French, a cannon ball tore through his left leg and ended his military career. During his long convalescence, the only book available at the hospital was a Life of Christ. It had a profound effect on him, and a vision of Mary and the Infant Jesus convinced led him to visit her shrine in Montserrat. He then retired to a cave in nearby Manresa where he underwent further spiritual trials including a 'dark night of the soul' that made him contemplate suicide. But he eventually found peace, and his experiences resulted in his great work, the Spiritual Exercises. In 1523, he went to the Holy Land, expecting to settle there, but the Franciscan custodians sent him back under a papal bull allowed them to minimize the Muslim threat of kidnapping Christians for ransom. Back in Europe, choosing to be called Ignacio, he spent the next 11 years studying in various universities, starting from the basics, and usually in hard straits. He was never erudite (and he never finished his doctorate in theology) but he learned enough to hold his own among learned men. In Paris, in 1534, when he was already 43, he and six friends (among them, the future St. Francis Xavier) vowed themselves to poverty and chastity, and to go to the Holy Land, but if the latter objective continued to be impractical, they would dedicate themselves to apostolic service for the Pope, which indeed became their only choice. Four years later, having been ordained a priest in 1537, Ignacio decided to formalize the association. Pope Paul II approved the new Society of Jesus, and Ignacio was elected the first Minister General. While his companions were sent to do various missions for the Pope, Ignacio remained in Rome to consolidate the new order. He also built homes for orphans, catechumens and penitents. He founded the Collegio Romano as a model for all Jesuit schools. But this most practical leader of the congregation nonetheless remained a true mystic, profoundly devoted to the essentials of the Faith, especially Christ, the Trinity, and the Eucharist. He gave the Jesuits his personal motto, Ad majorem Dei gloriam (For the greater glory of God). He emphasized obedience as a primary virtue, and taught his priests that all activity was to be guided by a true love of the Church and unconditional obedience to the Pope as the head of the Church. That is why the Jesuits profess a fourth vow that formalizes this allegiance to the Holy Father. [Which makes it a great irony that the major theological dissenters in our day are Jesuits, who apparently have chosen to ignore Ignatius's admonition of 'sentire cum Ecclesia' - think with the Church.] Famously, he said the ff:

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That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity with the Church herself, if she shall have defined anything to be black which appears to our eyes to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black. For we must undoubtingly believe, that the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of the Orthodox Church His Spouse, by which Spirit we are governed and directed to Salvation, is the same.

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He died of a form of malaria in Rome and is buried in the Church of Gesu. He was beatified in 1609 and canonized in 1622.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073112.cfm


AT THE APOSTOLIC PALACE TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Mons. Antoni Stankiewicz,Dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.

The Pope resumes his General Audiences tomorrow, Aug.1.

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation for having reached canonical retirement age of
- Mons. Donald W. Trautman, as Archbishop of Erie (Pennsylvania), and named
Mons. Lawrence T. Persico, till now a parish priest in the Diocese of Greensburg, to succeed him.

Unlike L'Osservatore Romano's virtually unqualified praise for the brilliant opening rites of the XXX Olympiad in London, a commentator in the Catholic Herald notes an obvious missing element - not that the spiritual element has ever been played up in any of these quadrennial extravaganzas, which may well explain why the OR writer did not see fit to bring it up at all. Danny Boyle is the film director who conceived, executed, and brought off successfully the Isle of Wonder scenario...

What was missing from the London Olympics opening rite:
The overview of Britain ignored its spiritual history
by Francts Phillips
Abridged from

July 21, 2012

...Danny Boyle comes from a working class Irish Catholic family, was educated by the Salesians and thought about becoming a priest in his youth. Now he describes himself as a “spiritual atheist”. How can you be both?... Danny Boyle’s problem is that atheism on its own sounds stark, boring, even ugly. Adding the word “spiritual” gives you an extra dimension: soulfulness, creativity, the divine spark of the imagination, which he brought to such zany triumph in his introduction to the Olympics.

What could Boyle have added to his island story that might have acknowledged the deeper underpinning of our cultural heritage? ...Here are my thoughts. Perhaps the evening’s early theme of our “green and pleasant land” to the accompaniment of William Blake’s “Jerusalem” sung by choir boys could have included a nod to the legend of Joseph of Arimathea coming to Glastonbury, especially as a Glastonbury-style tor was included in this tableau. OK, it is only a story – but a pious, ancient, Christian one.

Much has also been made of Boyle’s working-class and therefore Left-wing roots. But being a socialist in the past was never seen as incompatible with being a Christian. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was a working-class man whose Christian faith led him to devote his life to the poor. When the theme of the Industrial Revolution was being played out in the stadium, why could we not have thrilled to the sight of a Salvation Army band, something odd, lovable and quintessentially English?

If the band had played that great Christian hymn “Abide with Me” (which was actually sung at the end of the evening as 50 dancers dramatised the conflict between life and death) it would surely have stopped the entertainment feature of the night in its tracks for a brief moment?...

And another thought: there was Rowan Atkinson, running along a beach while the theme tune of the film 'Chariots of Fire' was being played: What about a mention of the real Eric Liddell [the hero of the film], a devout Christian missionary in China, who wouldn’t run on the Sabbath because it was the Lord’s Day?

These isles are full of noises, as actor Kenneth Branagh, aka Isambard Kingdom Brunel, intoned; they are also full of wonder, as Danny Boyle tried to suggest in his idiosyncratic kaleidoscope. Let’s just not forget that the greatest wonder of all, which has changed history itself, is our Christian inheritance.


Earlier, George Weigel had a completely negative commentary on the opening rites, describing it as nothing less than the epitome of secular liturgy, which it is.
www.nationalreview.com/corner/312561/liturgy-world-state-georg...

Indeed, the modern Olympics completely lack the religious aspect of the ancient Games, which were dedicated to Zeus, and whose origins were mythologically ascribed to the gods. Olympia, where the Games were born, was the site of a major shrine, where priests and priestesses ran races to honor their deities. The ancient Olympics lasted all of six centuries, held every four years, from 776 BC to 384 AD, when the Byzantine emperor banned the games after he had imposed Christianity as the state religion.

St. Paul, writing to the Christians of Corinth where the Isthmian Games (one of the major Games held in years outside the Olympic quadrennial) were held, said in one of his most quoted lines: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize", (1 Corinthians 9:24). That was the Greek ideal. But St. Paul also went on to write later, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith".

The Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin who revived the Olympiad in the modern era, back in 1896, expressed the Olympic ideal thus: "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." The Jesuit-educated Coubertin saw in sports education, training and competition as an excellent instrument of physical and moral development for young people.