BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

August 5, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From left: Pope Liberius tracing out the church design on snow, from a triptych by Masaccio and Masalino, 1492; shower of white petals from the church ceiling on August 5; upper panel, the altar of 'Maria,
Salus Populi Romani', venerated at Santa Maria Maggiore; the icon itself; coronation of Mary from the apse mosaic at SMM; and detail of the mosaic; lower panel, various images of Our Lady of the Snows.
DEDICATION OF 'SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE'
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
Today's feast commemorates the Roman legend that God responded with a snowfall in August to the gesture of a couple who pledged their treasure to the Church and told them a church should be built on the site, the Esquiline, one of the seven hills of Rome. Pope Liberius first built a church on the site in the mid-4th century, but after the Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary's title as Mother of God, Pope Sixtus rededicated the church to her in 431. It is called Santa Maria Maggiore because it is the largest church dedicated to Mary in the Eternal City. It has undergone many renovations over the centuries but it retains its character as an early Roman basilica. Its 5th-century mosaic decorations are the most ancient in Rome, and its famous coffered ceiling was lined with gold leaf made from the first gold mined in the New World. It is one of four papal basilicas, along with St. Peter, St John Lateran and St Paul outside the Walls. Today, the miracle of the snow is remembered annually at the Basilica on August 5, with a shower of white petals from the ceiling.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080512.cfm


WITH THE POPE TODAY

Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected on today’s Gospel in which Jesus reminds the crowds who were enthused
over the recent multiplication of the loaves and fish, that as important as it is to strive for our daily bread,
we must not forget to strengthen our relationship with him who is the true Bread of Life.




- For whatever it's worth, and if you are still interested in what seems more and more a tawdry melodrama we may never know the truth about, a report in Corriere della Sera today claims that ex-papal valet Paolo Gabriele told Vatican investigators he was the source 'Maria' referred to by Gianluigi Nuzzi in his book that published private documents from the Pope's desk, and that he was also the self-confessed 'mole' who appeared 'disguised' and with tech-altered voice speaking to Nuzzi about the documents in a TV interview about two weeks before he was arrested by the Vatican police. The formal report of Gabriele's investigation by a Vatican magistrate is expected to be made known by the end of next week, along with the decision on whether to take him to trial for aggravated theft. All this betrayal of the most grievous kind, reduced to nothing more than theft! Unfortunaetly, the criminal system does not penalize anyone for betrayal unless it is betrayal of country.