BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

To try and catch up after an unavoidable absence of three days that's too complicated to explain, I've reserved spaces for the significant papal news in the past three days on the preceding page (which I will fill up as soon as I can), but will try to bring myself up-to-date starting with the Sunday Angelus and all the Monday (Dec. 3) news....





ANGELUS
First Sunday of Advent
December 2, 2012



Here is a translation of the Holy Father's reflection on this first Sunday of Advent:

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Today the Church begins a new liturgical year, a journey that is further enriched by the Year of Faith, 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first season of the liturgical year is Advent - n the Roman Rite, the four weeks that precede the Birth of the Lord, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation. The word “advent” means “coming” or “presence.”

In the ancient world, it indicated the visit of the king or emperor to a province. In the Christian language, it refers to the coming of God, to his presence in the world - a mystery that totally involves the cosmos and history, but which has two culminating moments: the first and second Coming of Christ.

The first was the Incarnation itself; the second is his glorious return at the end of time. These two events - which are chronologically distant, but which we are not given to know how distant - touch us deeply, because with his death and resurrection, Jesus realized that transformation of man and the cosmos that is the final goal of Creation.

But before the end, it is necessary that the Gospel be proclaimed to all nations, as Jesus says in the Gospel of St. Mark (cfr Mk 13,10). The coming of the Lord continues - the world must be penetrated by his presence.

This permanent coming of the Lord in the proclamation of the Gospel continually requires our collaboration. The Church, which is like the fiancee, the promised Spouse of the Lamb of God who was crucified and resurrected (cfr Ap 21.9),, in communion with her Lord, collaborates in this coming of the Lord, in which his glorious return already begins.

We are reminded of this today by the Word of God, which traces the line of conduct that we must follow to be ready for the coming of the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the disciples: "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life... Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man" (Lk 21,34-36).

Thus, sobriety and prayer. And the Apostle Paul adds the invitation to "increase and abound in love" for one another and for all, in order to make our hearts firm and blameless in holiness (cfr 1Ts 12-13).

Amidst the turbulences of the world, or in the deserts of indifference and materialism, Christians receive salvation from God and bear witness to it with a different way of life, as a city on a hill. "In those days," the prophet Jeremiah announced, "Jerusalem shall dwell safely; this is the name they shall call her: “The LORD our justice” (33,16).

The community of believers is a sign of God's love, of his justice which is already present and operating in history but which is not yet fully realized, and is therefore ever awaited, invoked and sought with patience and courage.

The Virgin Mary perfectly incarnates the spirit of Advent, which is listening to God, the profound desire to do his will, and glorious service to one's neighbor. Let us be guided by her, so that the God who comes may not find us closed or distracted, but will be able, in each of us, to extend a bit his kingdom of love, justice and peace.

After the prayers, he said:
Today in Kottar, India, Devasahayam Pillai, a layman who lived in the 18th century and died a martyr, has been proclaimed Blessed. We join the Church of India in her joy and let us pray that the new Blessed will sustain the faith of Christians in that great and noble nation.

Tomorrow, the world marks the International Day of Rights for the Disabled. Every person, despite his physical and psychical limitations, no matter how grave, always has inestimable value and must be considered as such.

I encourage the ecclesial communities to be attentive and welcoming to these brothers and sisters. I call on legislators and those who govern to protect persons with disabilities and promote their full participation in the life of society.

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Monday, December 3, First Week of Advent

Third photo from left is a painting of St. Ignatius sending off St. Francis on his mission to the Orient.
ST. FRANCISCO JAVIER (Francis Xavier) (b Spain 1506, d China 1552)
Co-Founder of the Soiety of Jesus, Missionary to the Orient, Patron Saint of Missionaries
He was a classmate of Ignatius Loyola in Paris, and together with five other friends, they founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuit order) in 1534. In 1541, he was sent to re-evangelize Portuguese colonies in Asia, and in the next 16 years until his death, he established missions in India, Ceylon, Malaysia and Japan. During this time, he was renowned for many miracles including raising the dead and calming stormy waters. He died in an offshore Chinese island on his way to establish missions in China. He was originally buried in Malacca (in what is now Malaysia), but the body was later transferred to a church in Goa, the Portuguese enclave in India [second photo from right ahows the altar with his casket], and an arm is kept as a relic in the Jesuit church of Gesu in Rome. He and Ignatius were canonized together in 1622.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Eight French bishops (Group IVa) on ad-limina visit

- Participants in the annual plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Address in Italian.

- The Community of the Venerable English College of Rome. Address in English.

A news conference was held to formally inaugurate the Holy Father's Twitter site @Pontifex. The tweets
will begin on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Why the Pope is joining
the Twitter community

December 3, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI will be launching his new Twitter account @Pontifex at his weekly general audience on Wednesday December 12th. This latest new media initiative from the Vatican was presented at a news conference Monday.



The presentors were led by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications; Mons. Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Council; Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., Director of the Vatican media services; Prof. Gian Maria Vian, editor of L’Osservatore Romano; Greg Burke, Media Adviser to the Secretariat of State. Also present were Claire Díaz-Ortiz, Director of Social Innovation for Twitter, and Dr. Dirk Hensen, Twitter's spokesman in Germany.

The following statement was issused about the Pope's presence on Twitter:

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The Pope’s presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena. This initiative is best understood in the context of his reflections on the importance of the cultural space that has been brought into being by the new technologies.

In his Message for World Communications Day 2009, which was published on the same day as the Vatican’s Youtube channel was opened, Pope Benedict spoke of the necessity of evangelizing the ‘digital continent’ and he invited young believers, in particular, to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives.

In 2010, he invited priests to see the possibility of sharing the Word of God through their engagement with new media: the new media offer ever new and far-reaching pastoral possibilities, encouraging them to embody the universality of the Church’s mission, to build a vast and real fellowship, and to testify in today’s world to the new life which comes from hearing the Gospel of Jesus, the eternal Son who came among us for our salvation.

In his Message for 2011, he specified that "The web is contributing to the development of new and more complex intellectual and spiritual horizons, new forms of shared awareness. In this field too we are called to proclaim our faith that Christ is God, the Saviour of humanity and of history, the one in whom all things find their fulfilment (cf. Eph 1:10)".

In this year’s Message, the Holy Father was even more precise: Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives.

The Pope’s presence on Twitter can be seen as the ‘tip of the iceberg’ that is the Church’s presence in the world of new media. The Church is already richly present in this environment – there exist a whole range of initiatives from the official websites of various institutions and communities to the personal sites, blogs and micro-blogs of public Church figures and of individual believers.

The Pope’s presence in Twitter is ultimately an endorsement of the efforts of these ‘early adapters’ to ensure that the Good News of Jesus Christ and the teaching of his Church is permeating the forum of exchange and dialogue that is being created by social media.

His presence is intended to be an encouragement to all Church institutions and people of faith to be attentive to develop an appropriate profile for themselves and their convictions in the ‘digital continent’.

The Pope’s tweets will be available to believers and non-believers to share, discuss and to encourage dialogue. It is hoped that the Pope’s short messages, and the fuller messages that they seek to encapsulate, will give rise to questions for people from different countries, languages and cultures.

These questions can in turn be engaged by local Church leaders and believers who will be best positioned to address the questions and, more importantly, to be close to those who question.

Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue (Communications Day Message, 2012).

Part of the challenge for the Church in the area of new media is to establish a networked or capillary presence that can effectively engage the debates, discussions and dialogues that are facilitated by social media and that invite direct, personal and timely responses of a type that are not so easily achieved by centralized institutions.

Moreover, such a networked or capillary structure reflects the truth of the Church as a community of communities which is alive both universally and locally.

The Pope’s presence in Twitter will represent his voice as a voice of unity and leadership for the Church but it will also be a powerful invitation to all believers to express their ‘voices’, to engage their ‘followers’ and ‘friends’ and to share with them the hope of the Gospel that speaks of God’s unconditional love for all men and women.

In addition to the direct engagement with the questions, debates and discussions of people that is facilitated by new media, the Church recognizes the importance of new media as an environment that allows to teach the truth that the Lord has passed to His Church, to listen to others, to learn about their cares and concerns, to understand who they are and for what they are searching.

When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge (Message, 2012).

It is for this reason that it has been decided to launch the Pope’s Twitter channel with a formal question and answer format. This launch is also an indication of the importance that the Church gives to listening and is a warranty of its ongoing attentiveness to the conversations, commentaries and trends that express so spontaneously and insistently the preoccupations and hopes of people.

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Masses set to flock to
Pope Benedict's tweets
By LIAM MOLONEY


VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI, who is known for his lengthy tomes on the Catholic faith, now wants to spread the word in 140 characters.

Miracle? No, Twitter.

Next week, the 85-year-old Pontiff will start tweeting in eight languages, Vatican officials said at a news conference on Monday. Followers didn't wait for the first tweet to sign up; the English-language handle @pontifex had 143,600 followers less than six hours after the Vatican made the announcement.

The Pope's communication gambit has a clear objective: reaching out to younger generations — the one demographic vital to the Church's expansion. It is the latest effort by the Church to walk the fine line between maintaining the traditions that keep older faithful loyal, while embracing new cultural mores.

"There no doubt that Twitter has precious characteristics that we are interested in," notably that 40% of its 140 million active accounts are held by 18- to 34-year-olds, said Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

But Msgr. Celli added that the Church wasn't trying to be too avant-garde. "From our point of view, this [Twitter account] isn't an excessive tribute we have to pay to modernity."

Pope Benedict's first tweet is scheduled for Dec. 12, timed to when the Pontiff holds his Wednesday general audience. Thereafter, the Pope will tweet as often as he wants, said Greg Burke, the Vatican's media adviser. Although he won't physically write each tweet, the Pontiff will be involved in what it says.

There will be eight versions of the @pontifex handle, reflecting the eight languages in which he will tweet—English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, French, Arabic, Portuguese and German. The first tweets will respond to questions about faith. Questions can be sent to #askpontifex in one of the languages, officials said.

The Pope has actually tweeted once before, but from a Vatican account, to announce the launch of the Holy See's news information portal. The Vatican uses other social-media tools, too, such as Facebook FB -3.43% and YouTube.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Twitter's director of social innovation, said she couldn't guess how many followers the Pope's account would get. But she indicated it was a clear coup for the company.

"As a company, it is important for us to have celebrities join and the Pope is possibly the most important religious leader," she said. [Possibly, Ms. Diaz-Ortiz? - who I assume must be Hispanic and very likely, Catholic, or at least, Christian!]

Msgr. Celli said followers should consider the Pope's messages not as dogma, rather as "pearls of wisdom." But followers shouldn't expect any special attention. Obviously, the Pope won't be 'following' anyone himself.

Chère Teresa, tu nous a manqué!

Béatrice

Pope refers once more
to a world authority
as once proposed by John XXIII
But one that would be a moral force
and participatory for the common good
Translated from

December 3, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI addressed on Monday morning the participants of the current plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace. Here is a translation of his address:

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Eminences,
Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters:

I am happy to welcome you on the occasion of your Plenary Assembly.
Sono lieto di accogliervi I greet the Cardinal President, whom I thank for the kind words addressed to me, and the Secretary and other officials of the dicastery, and all of you, members and consultants, who have gathered for this important time of reflection and planning.

Your Assembly takes place during the Year of Faith, after the Synodal Assembly dedicated to the New Evangelization, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, and, in a few months, of Blessed John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in terris. This is a context that in itself offers multiple stimuli.

Social doctrine, as Blessed John Paul II taught us, is an integral part of the evangelizing mission of the Church (cfr Enc. Centesimus annus, 54), and for more reason, it must be considered important for the new evangelization (cfr ibid., 5; Enc. Caritas in veritate, 15).

Accepting Jesus Christ and his Gospel, not just in our personal life, but even in our social relationships, we become bearers of a certain view of man, of his divinity, his freedom and his ability to form relationships, which is marked by transcendence that is both vertical as well as horizontal.

The integral anthropology which derives from Revelation and the exercise of natural reason, is the foundation and sense of all human rights and duties, as Blessed John XXIII reminded us in Pacem in terris itself (cfr No.9).

Rights and duties, in fact, are not only and exclusively based on the social conscience of peoples, but they depend primarily on natural moral law which is inscribed by God in the conscience of every person, and is therefore the last recourse for the truth about man and about society.

Although the defense of human rights has made great progress in our time, today's culture - characterized among other things, by a utilitarian individualism and technocratic economicism tending to evaluate a person. This is thought as being 'fluid', without permanent consistency.

Although immersed in an infinite network of relationships and communications, man today paradoxically appears an isolated being because he is indifferent to the constitutive relationship of his own being, which the root of all other relationships - that with God.

Man today is considered primarily as a biological being, and as 'human capital', 'a resource', part of a productive and financial mechanism that is imposed on him.

If, on the one hand, one continues proclaim human dignity, on the other hand, new ideologies - like the hedonistic and selfish ones on sexual and reproductive rights, or that of an unregulated financial capitalism which abuaes politics and destructurizes the real economy - contribute to considering the dependent laborer and his work as 'minor' assets and to undermine the natural foundations of society, especially the family.

In fact, the human being, constitutively transcendent with respect to other earthly beings and goods, enjoys a real primacy which makes him responsible for himself and for creation. Concretely, for Christianity, work is a fundamental benefit for man, for his personalization, for his socialization, for the formation of families, in his contribution to the common good and to peace. Because of this, the objective of access to work for everyone is always a priority, even in times of economic recession (cfr Caritas in veritate, 32).

A new humanism and a renewed cultural and programmatic renewal can derive from a new evangelization in society. It will help to dethrone modern idols, to replace individualism, materialistic consumerism and technocracy, with the culture of brotherhood and giving freely, of fraternally supportive love.

Jesus Christ summarized and fulfilled all precepts in a new commandment: "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 13,34). Here is the secret of every social life that is fully human and peaceful, as well as of the renewal of politics and national and world institutions.

Blessed John XXIII motivated commitment to the construction of a world community with a corresponding authority, moving out of love, and more precisely, out of love for the common good of the human family.

So we read in Pacem in terris: "There is an intrinsic relationship between the historical contents of the common good, on the one hand, and the configuration of public powers, on the other. Thus, the moral order, as public authority demands for coexistence in realizing the common good, also demands that the authority be efficient for such a purpose" (No. 71).

The Church certainly does not have the task of suggesting, from the juridical and political angles, the concrete configuration of such an international order, but she offers to those who have the responsibility those principles of reflection, criteria of judgment and practical orientations that can guarantee anthropological and ethical structures aimed at the common good" (cfr Enc. Caritas in veritate, 67).

In reflecting on this, however, it must be kept in mind that one must not think of a superpower that is concentrated in the hands of a few who would dominate over all peoples, exploiting the weakest, but that any such authority must be understood, above all, as a moral force, a way that influences according to reason (cfr Pacem in terris, 27),, a participatory authority that is limited in competence by law.

I thank the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, because along with other pontifical institutes, it has chosen to study deeper the orientations I offered in Caritas in veritate. And it has done so, through its reflections on a reform of the international financial and monetary system, as well as in the plenary assembly these days and the international seminar on Pacem in terris next year.

May the Virgin Mary - she who with faith and love welcomed the Savior into herself to give him to the world - lead us in proclaiming and bearing witness to the social doctrine of the Church in order to make the new evangelization more effective.

With this wish, I gladly impart the Apostolic Blessing on each of you. Thank you.

---

Pope tells English seminarians in Rome
to be 'small fires of faith that can
set the world ablaze with God's love'

December 3, 2012

The Holy Father met Monday morning with the community of the Venerable English College of Rome and delivered the following address:

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Your Eminence, dear Brother Bishops,
Monsignor Hudson,
Students and Staff of the Venerable English College,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you today to the Apostolic Palace, the House of Peter. I greet my Venerable brother, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, a former Rector of the College, and I thank Archbishop Vincent Nichols for his kind words, spoken on behalf of all present.

I too look back with great thanksgiving in my heart to the days that I spent in your country in September 2010. Indeed, I was pleased to see some of you at Oscott College on that occasion, and I pray that the Lord will continue to call forth many saintly vocations to the priesthood and the religious life from your homeland.

Through God’s grace, the Catholic community of England and Wales is blessed with a long tradition of zeal for the faith and loyalty to the Apostolic See. At much the same time as your Saxon forebears were building the Schola Saxonum, establishing a presence in Rome close to the tomb of Peter, Saint Boniface was at work evangelizing the peoples of Germany.

So as a former priest and Archbishop of the See of Munich and Freising, which owes its foundation to that great English missionary, I am conscious that my spiritual ancestry is linked with yours.

Earlier still, of course, my predecessor Pope Gregory the Great was moved to send Augustine of Canterbury to your shores, to plant the seeds of Christian faith on Anglo-Saxon soil. The fruits of that missionary endeavour are only too evident in the 650-year history of faith and martyrdom that distinguishes the English Hospice of Saint Thomas à Becket and the Venerable English College that grew out of it.

"Potius hodie quam cras," as Saint Ralph Sherwin said when asked to take the missionary oath, "rather today than tomorrow". These words aptly convey his burning desire to keep the flame of faith alive in England, at whatever personal cost.

Those who have truly encountered Christ are unable to keep silent about him. As Saint Peter himself said to the elders and scribes of Jerusalem, "we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

Saint Boniface, Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Saint Francis Xavier, whose feast we keep today, and so many other missionary saints show us how a deep love for the Lord calls forth a deep desire to bring others to know him.

You too, as you follow in the footsteps of the College Martyrs, are the men God has chosen to spread the message of the Gospel today, in England and Wales, in Canada, in Scandinavia. Your forebears faced a real possibility of martyrdom, and it is right and just that you venerate the glorious memory of those forty-four alumni of your College who shed their blood for Christ. You are called to imitate their love for the Lord and their zeal to make him known, potius hodie quam cras - today rather than tomorrow. The consequences, the fruits, you may confidently entrust into God’s hands.

Your first task, then, is to come to know Christ yourselves, and the time you spend in seminary provides you with a privileged opportunity to do so. Learn to pray daily, especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, listening attentively to the word of God and allowing heart to speak to heart, as Blessed John Henry Newman would say.

Remember the two disciples from the first chapter of Saint John’s Gospel, who followed Jesus and asked to know where he was staying, and, like them, respond eagerly to his invitation to "come and see" (1:37-39).

Allow the fascination of his person to capture your imagination and warm your heart. He has chosen you to be his friends, not his servants, and he invites you to share in his priestly work of bringing about the salvation of the world. Place yourselves completely at his disposal and allow him to form you for whatever task it may be that he has in mind for you.

You have heard much talk about the new evangelization, the proclamation of Christ in those parts of the world where the Gospel has already been preached, but where to a greater or lesser degree the embers of faith have grown cold and now need to be fanned once more into a flame.

Your College motto speaks of Christ’s desire to bring fire to the earth, and your mission is to serve as his instruments in the work of rekindling the faith in your respective homelands.

Fire in sacred Scripture frequently serves to indicate the divine presence, whether it be the burning bush from which God revealed his name to Moses, the pillar of fire that guided the people of Israel on their journey from slavery to freedom, or the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost, enabling them to go forth in the power of the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Just as a small fire can set a whole forest ablaze (cf. Jas 3:5), so the faithful testimony of a few can release the purifying and transforming power of God’s love so that it spreads like wildfire throughout a community or a nation. Like the martyrs of England and Wales, then, let your hearts burn with love for Christ, for the Church and for the Mass.

When I visited the United Kingdom, I saw for myself that there is a great spiritual hunger among the people. Bring them the true nourishment that comes from knowing, loving and serving Christ. Speak the truth of the Gospel to them with love. Offer them the living water of the Christian faith and point them towards the bread of life, so that their hunger and thirst may be satisfied.

Above all, however, let the light of Christ shine through you by living lives of holiness, following in the footsteps of the many great saints of England and Wales, the holy men and women who bore witness to God’s love, even at the cost of their lives.

The College to which you belong, the neighbourhood in which you live and study, the tradition of faith and Christian witness that has formed you: all these are hallowed by the presence of many saints. Make it your aspiration to be counted among their number.

Please be assured of an affectionate remembrance in my prayers for yourselves and for all the alumni of the Venerable English College. I make my own the greeting so often heard on the lips of a great friend and neighbour of the College, Saint Philip Neri, "Salvete, flores martyrum!" (Greetings, flowers of martyrdom!)

Commending you, and all to whom the Lord sends you, to the loving intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you.

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The infancy of Jesus:
From Bach and Berlioz
to Joseph Ratzinger
by OLEGARIO GONZALEZ DE CARDEDAL
Translated from the 12/3-12/4/12 issue of


In recent decades, every once in a while there have been meetings on Christianity between philosophies and scientists on the one hand, and theologians on the other, when the former have always wanted to have Joseph Ratzinger as their interlocutor, rather than any other meN of the Church who are more liberal and who may advocate the latest theological modes. They knew that with him, they had a person who takes the articles of the Christian creed seriously.

Christianity consists of a few major essentials without which it would not exist. They must be presented to non-Christians with sensitivity, but without reticence. It would be a betrayal to offer others only those aspects of Christian life which they would find 'pleasing'.

It is not about simply proposing to others the isolated event of the Cross, which would be insupportable, but one cannot be silent about it and on those articles of the Creed that clash with the dominant mentality.

If it is true that religion is a vowel and history a consonant, so that uniting them one forms syllables, we can say that by joining together the original facts and experiences about Jesus with the experiences and hopes of every generation, we shall obtain that syntactical consonance that characterizes the Christian faith. It is a consonance of witness and reason, of intelligence and freedom, of love and hope.

Benedict XVI's book on the childhood of Jesus was recently published, the third volume in his trilogy on Jesus Christ. T.S. Eliot begins and closes the second of his Four Quartets with a statement that we first met among the pre-Socratics and in the New Testament: "In my beginning is my end; in my end is my beginning".

Ratzinger closed the second volume of his work speaking of the 'end': the Resurrection. The evangelists had described the beginning (infancy) of Jesus beginning from his 'end' (resurrection). When they realized that God had resurrected the man that had been crucified, they could not help but ask themselves about the meaning of everything they had experienced with Jesus, and above all, they asked themselves who they were, where they came from, in the light of what God had worked in Jesus. Thus they began a process of re-reading what they had experienced, arriving at the birth of Jesus himself.

One belief inspired the entire process: the personal unity of the subject. God did not entrust his action in just anyone who was not qualified for this mission and without a special relationship with him. The one who resurrected was the same man who had been crucified, who had preached the Kingdom of Heaven, the same who was born in Bethlehem. And they concluded that the man whom God had resurrected was his Son. The baby born in Bethlehem was the Son of God incarnated.

The Gospels arise from three 'sources' without which they would not be intelligible: the living memory of the words and actions of Jesus; the experience of the Church that was born and grows; and a re-reading of the Old Testament arising from the conviction that, insofar as it was the anticipation and announcement of the Messiah promised by God, it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Joseph Ratzinger's JESUS OF NAZARETH is not biography in the modern scientific sense of the term. The books presuppose the facts that are recounted, because there were still witnesses who could accredit as true - or belie - what the Apostles and Paul narrated. They wrote and preached not on the basis of speculation but of trust, and the joy of knowing that they had in their hands - though they were but vessels of clay - a treasure to be offered to others.

These elements must be kept in mind when reading the Gospels, and must be utilized as the 'sources' for a knowledge of Jesus. They are the criteria according to which Joseph Ratzinger wrote this trilogy.

But was it important to dedicate a book to the infancy of Jesus? Is not childhood a mere passage towards youth and maturity? Does it make sense to speak about the childhood of the eternal Son of God, making him share our becoming flesh in the womb of a woman, the fact that we are born, and the first steps we take in the world? And are the tales of the Nativity something more than just 'Christmas stories'? Had not writers like Dickens and philosophers like Schleiermacher demystified Christ and Christmas for always?

To reduce the stories about Jesus to myth or mere poetry is the eternal temptation of man in the face of the divine condescension. Yet these stories inspired so much poetry, so much art, and so much music because they are much more than mere story.

We would not have dared believe that God, being truly good, would have wished to share our human fate, that he would be Emmanuel, God-with-us. The Christian God is not just the god of the deists, the immobile motor of the cosmos, or the watchmaker who once and for all constructed the world and set it into motion.

What the Gospels state - and which Benedict XVI does in the Jesus books - is that God came into the world he created and acts through it, collaborating with man by becoming man himself. The dignity of anyone is not determined by opposing himself to God the Creator on the basis of a hypothetical autonomy, but by serving him in order to bring to completion his salvific plan.

This is the meaning of the miracle - God came into the world to help man. Thus the Incarnation reveals a new creation by the Spirit, who caused Jesus to be born from the womb of Mary, in the same way that in Genesis, we see everything born from nothing through the power of the Spirit.

The resurrection itself is the anticipation of a glorious re-creation at the end of history. Virginal conception, incarnation and resurrection thus recapitulate that original mystery which was Creation. God gives himself in all his love and his creative freedom to the point of becoming human.

To dare to speak in an absolutely serious way of the infancy of Jesus is to dare to speak of God-made-man, of the baby God in all his vulnerability, and of the new form of humanity that is based on this new creation in Christ.

Works like the Christmas Oratory of Bach (1723), or the 'Twenty Glimpses of the Baby Jesus' by Messaien (1944), or 'The Infancy of Christ' by Berlioz (1854) did not arise from sheer human genius alone.

We Spaniards are particularly grateful for the Berlioz work. Listening to it, we see what was called 'the extraordinary fact- his own conversion - by Garcia Morente, soul of the Faculty of Philosophy at the new University City of Madrid.

He wrote: "I was listening to a work by Berlioz entitled 'The infancy of Christ'. It had a fulminating effect on my life: 'This is God, this is the true God, the living God - this is living Providence', I told myself. This is a God who listens to men, who lives with men, who suffers with then, gives them courage and brings them salvation!"

A sidebar to the above article:

Spanish BAC to publish
Joseph Ratzinger's 'Collected Writings'
Translated from the 12/3-12/4/12 issue of


The above text, in our translation to Italian, is an article that appeared in tge Spanish newspaper ABC on December 1.

The author, one of the first three winners of the Ratzinger Prize in Theology in 2011, took part, along with the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Rouco Varela, at the news conference in which the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC) and the publishing house Planeta presented, respectively, the first volume of the Obras Completas de Joseph Ratzinger (Volume XI - Teologia de la Liturgia), and the third book of the JESUS OF NAZARETH trilogy, La infancia de Jesus.

BAC will publish the Complete Writings in 17 volumes, publishing three a year. The volume on liturgy [as in the original German edition and the subsequent Italian edition] is the first out because "it constitutes the center of Joseph Ratzinger's theological thought". [It was also the author's personal decision to lead off with the volume.]

The publisher of the original German edition is Mons. Ludwig Gerhard Mueller, now Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who, as Bishop of Regensburg, was president of the Institut Papst Benedikt XVI that was set up for this purpose.

Ratzinger Prize winner Gonzalez de Cardedal is among the eminent Spanish theologians whom BAC has chosen to translate the works from German.

Tuesday, December 4, First Week of Advent

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE (John of Damascus) (676-749), Monk, Theologian, Poet and Writer, Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on May 6, 2009 to St. John Damascene
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090506...
Often called 'the last of the Church Fathers', he was born to a prominent Arab Christian family in Damascus and lived under Muslim rule all his life. After serving an Umayyad Caliph as a tax official, he entered the Mar al Saba monastery in Jerusalem. He is best known for his writings against Iconoclasm (the image-destroyers), but his interests ranged from theology and philosophy to law and music. Besides writing treatises defending the Christian faith, he wrote hymns which are still sung today in Eastern Christian churches. He is one of the ten 'Doctors of the Early Church', the group of Church doctors recognized after the first eight great doctors of the Western and Eastern Churches.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120412.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.

A news conference was held to present the International Congress 'Ecclesia in America' on the Church
in the Americas, to be held in the Vatican from December 9-12. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation
for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America was the lead presenter.

24 hours since the account opened,
more than 500,000 followers for @Pontifex
Translated from the Italian service of

December 4, 2012

Twenty-four hours since Benedict XVI's Twitter account was activated, more than 500,000 followers had joined in worldwide, with English-language followers alone numbering about 350,000.

[In the same time period, followers in the seven other languages were reported by TMNews in round numbers (lower limit) as follows: 87,000 in Spanish, 33,000 in Italian, 14,000 in Portuguese, 10,000 in German, 7,000 in French, 4,000 in Polish, and 3,000 in Arabic.]

Alessandro Gisotti interviewed Vatican news director Fr. Federico Lombardi on this impressive response to the Vatican's latest social networking initiative.

FR LOMBARDI: I am not surprised at this reaction, because in recent weeks, I was always being asked when the Pope would come on Twitter, how would it go exactly, etc... This confirms that, especially in the communications world, the interest is very great, and this means that the initiative is on the mark and has shown the capacity, on the part of the Holy Father and his co-workers, to respond to expectations that are in the air...

In presenting this project, Mons. Celli said that the Pope's presence on Twitter arose from the desire of the Pope to encounter the men and women of today wherever they may be found...
Very true. Encounters today, as before, really take place mostly in day-to-day face-to-face interactions which remains an essential aspect of our living together, but much of it also now takes place in the 'digital continent'. The new communications technologies have provided new possibilities for virtual encounters. They may be superficial, they may be 'uninvolving', but they can also be significant and profound. Therefore, it is our task to appreciate these possibilities and to show that even in a world that is progressing so vertiginously, we must put into place elements of encounter that can be wider as deeper, in communicating ideas and sentiments, in reaching hearts and minds.

With his presence on Twitter, the Pope has called on all the faithful to evangelize the 'digital continent' - and we saw this, for instance, in his message for next year's World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro that is, of course, directly addressed to young people. How will this challenge be met?
The Pope already had a bit of experience in the new communications technologies in the past. For instance, there were the SMS messages sent out during the WYD celebrations starting in Sydney, which was the first time that SMS texts signed B16 were ever sent.

Then we opened channels on YouTube, and now we have Twitter which has its own special effectiveness. Of course, this new presence is a message to everyone: It is not just his own personal means of disseminating his words, but a sign to the world that the Pastor of the universal Church is setting an example and wants everyone to make use of this new dimension of communication and to be present in it.

The Pope will take part in his own way, for instance, by answering specific questions, as he will do at the launch on Wednesday, Dec. 12. More normally, he will be 'tweeting' words that sum up messages from his addresses, catecheses and homilies.

One must remember that the Pope is the head of a huge community which must be communicative and interactive with each other and with all others who are 'in search' and have many questions. So the Pope sets an example, he launches messages, he answers questions. But the questions that 'seekers' have need not always be answered by him personally because they are questions that can be answered in the Church.

All the Vatican media now seem to be engaged in amplifying and deepening their respective presences on the Web - with what aim?
The Vatican media have for some time been active and present on the Web as a new way of communicating their content, their messages, which are the messages of the Pope and of the universal Church. What has developed more - even if in a way, we still have to truly understand it better so as to have a better effect - is inter-activity in the social networks. In this sense, a presence on Twitter is a clear message: We seek not just to send one-way messages but to initiate a great dialog.

I remember when Benedict XVI visited Vatican Radio and spoke on our microphones. He said that communications today must be in both directions. It is this way that we build a community, a great family. The Web gives us new possibilities to do this, and we must learn to use it better.

In your opinion, as a communications person, what strikes you most about this full involvement of the Pope in the new communications, as a most refined theologian who now also utilizes the social networks?
I would say that he understands the situation very well. Obviously, as a person of his age and like so many other persons who are not 'native' Web users, he would use the social networks in a way that is not the way young people do. But he understands their reach, their potential, and wants the Church to be present in them. Therefore, he has made himself extremely available to let his own words circulate in these networks. That is why he has always been ready to any reasonable and intelligent proposals by his co-workers to lend his authority and his words to any efforts for greater dialog with the contemporary world. In this respect, intelligence and sensitivity will accomplish much to take new steps for dialog with great serenity and joy.

TMNews also reports the following:

Israeli President tweets
welcome to the Pope

The embassy of Israel to the Holy See said in a note today that Israeli President Shimon Peres has greeted Benedict XVI with a special tweet that says, "Your Holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their best and can form a basis for peace everywhere".

The Israeli head of state received five new ambassadors in Jerusalem today, among them the new Apostolic Nuncio to Israel, Mons. Giuseppe Lazzarotto, to whom Pres. Peres reaffirmed the 'good will' marking relations between Israel and the Holy See.

[Reuters saw fit t6o do a wrap-up story 24 days since the formal announcement of the papal Twitter account:


Pope Benedict gets more than
half million Twitter followers
24 hours since account opens
By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY. Dec. 4 (Reuters) - Even though he hasn't sent a single tweet yet, Pope Benedict had more than half a million Twitter followers in eight languages on Tuesday, the day after the Vatican unveiled his handle: @Pontifex.

They included people ranging from the simple Roman Catholic faithful to a Jewish head of state.

"Your holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their best & can form a basis to further peace everywhere," tweeted Israeli President Shimon Peres, who at 89 is four years older than Benedict.

The Vatican said on Monday that Benedict will start tweeting on mostly spiritual topics from December 12.

The Pope actually has eight linked Twitter accounts. @Pontifex, the main account, is in English. The other seven have a suffix at the end for the different language versions. For example, the German version is @Pontifex_de, and the Arabic version is @Pontifex_ar.

On Tuesday afternoon, the English version had the most followers, with nearly 400,000. The next largest was Spanish, with some 93,000. The lowest number of followers was the Arabic, with about 3,500. Benedict's native German had about 10,000.

But the Pope, leader of some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, won't be following anyone but himself, the Vatican said.

A look at his official Twitter page on Tuesday showed that he is "following" seven people but they are merely versions of his own Twitter account in different languages.

The first papal tweets will be answers to questions sent to #askpontifex.

The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future.

The tweets will come primarily from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters.

He will push the button on his first tweet himself on December 12 but in the future most of the tweets will be written by aides, and he will sign off on them.

The Vatican, whose website has been taken down by hackers in the past, said it has taken precautions to make sure the Pope's certified account is not hacked. Only one computer in the Vatican's Secretariat of State will be used for the tweets.

The Pope's Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colours of the Vatican - and his picture over the backdrop of a St Peter's Square packed with pilgrims.

The page may change during different liturgical seasons of the year and when the Pope is away from the Vatican on trips.

No, I have not joined the general Twittermania in the media over the Pope joining Twitterworld, but there just is no other story about the Pope today to provide a counterweight of sorts to the Twitter hullaballoo. Cyber-neanderthal that I am, I was never sold on the idea of Twitter or any of the social networks, to begin with. But I do see the value of using them to spread the Good News and the Word of God, and if anyone is going to do that best, it can only be the Pope, if only by sheer name recognition and weight of authority... Andrea Tornielli has a good column about how Jesus's most-quoted words seem tailored for the 140-character format of Twitter...

International congress to mark
15 years since John Paul II's
Post-Synodal Exhortation on
the Church in the Americas
Translated from

December 4, 2012

At 11:30 Tuesday morning, a news conference was held to present the International Congress 'Ecclesia in America' which will take place in Rome December 9-12. It is organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus, in association with the Institute of Guadalupan Studies.

The presentors were led by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; Prof. Guzman Carriquiry Lecour, Secretary of the Commission; and Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

Here is a translation of Cardinal Ouellet's presentation:

---

In a few days, from December 9-12, an International Congress will take place at the Vatican to review Blessed John Paul II's Post-Synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in America.

Fifteen years ago, around this time, the Special Assembly of the Bishops' Synod on Latin America took place, and its most mature fruit was the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation published by Blessed John Paul II in January 1999.

His Holiness had first indicated the idea of convoking the Synod in his inaugural address to the IV General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops in Santo Domingo on October 12, 1992, when he affirmed that "the Church, on the threshold of the third Christian millennium, and in time when many ideological barriers and frontiers have fallen, notes that it is her inescapable duty to unite spiritually in a much better way all the peoples that make up this great continent, and at the same time, from her own religious mission, she must promote a spirit of solidarity among them".

He reprised the initiative in his Apostolic Letter Terzo Millennio adveniente confirming his intention to call a Synodal assembly on "the problems of the new evangelization in two parts of the same continent that are so different from each other by origin and history, and on the themes of justice and international economic relations, bearing in mind the enormous difference between North and South America".

That Special Assembly took place from November 16 to December 12, 1997, on the theme 'Encounter with the living Christ - the way for conversion, communion and solidarity in America".

This theme will certainly animate the work of our coming International Congress which will seek to reexamine the prophetic intuition of Blessed John Paul II and the fundamental contents of the exhortation Ecclesia in America, and to intensify the relationships of communion and cooperation between the Churches of Canada and the United States with the Churches of Latin America in order to face common problems and challenges to the mission of the Church on the American continent.

It is not chance, therefore, that this International Congress is taking place in direct relation to two great events of Catholicism. This follows the indications in the Benedict XVI's Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei in which he decreed the Year of Faith, in order to rediscover the journey pf faith that highlights with ever greater proof "the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ".

It is also an invitation to the Churches in America to "an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the only Savior of the world", in order to "confess the faith in full and with renewed conviction, with trust and hope".

This International Congress is one of the first great events of the Year of Faith. At the same time, how can we not note that it is taking place not too long after the recent General Synodal Assembly which looked at "the new evangelization for the transmission of the faith".

These then will be the fundamental references for the Congress's work, as they are for the Churches on the American continents. The precious patrimony of the Christian faith, which was at the origin of the 'New World' of the Americas and which animates the life of her peoples - but which is now subject to erosion brought on by waves of secularization, the impact of a global culture that is ever more remote and hostile, and the proliferation of sects - needs to be continually revitalized, reformulated, and re-actualized.

How beautiful and enriching it could be - such an exchange of gifts and experiences among the Churches of God who live in the different latitudes of the Americas! This exchange already has a providential laboratory in the increasingly massive presence of Hispanics in the United States and Canada.

Moreover, it cannot escape anyone that in the past 15 years, common problems and challenges to the Churches of North, Central and South America, must be passed in the light of better communion and cooperation.

All it takes is to list some of these problems to realize their weight. Immigration, for instance, which is a burning issue for the United States as it is for Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. The networks of drug traffic, the dependency on drugs, and the policies necessary to fight these challenges. These are all subjects of grave concern and debate.

Everywhere, there is increasing urban violence which involves the youth. The culture of life and the family as an institution are under grave assault everywhere in the Americas. In education, the Church counts on a network of institutions that are called to offer a fundamental contribution. Everywhere, it seems, there is concern over the defense and promotion of religious freedom. There are strident situations of poverty and indigence. And all of this is in the context of new conditions of rethinking political, economic and relations among the United States, Canada, and the Latin American nations, which must strive for better dialog, understanding, respect, solidarity and justice.

To face these problems in the light of the mission of the Church, it is fundamental to reinforce the sense of communion in each of the local Churches and among each other. This International Congress also aims to create networks of friendship throughout the continents, with a faithful sense of belonging to the Church.

Without true and firm unity, neither missionary nor social action is possible. In this light, one understands why the Congress is being held at the Vatican. It highlights the universal solicitude of the Churches which represent more than half of the Catholics in the world, in their faithfulness and devotion to the Successor of Peter, Universal Pastor, first witness and guarantee of unity and communion in the Church.

Finally, the Congress that is jointly organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus, also has the cooperation of the Institute of Guadalupan Studies.

It was not by chance that Blessed John Paul II presented his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation by laying it at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe at her shrine in Mexico City. Our Congress, too, entrusts its intentions and work to the Patroness of the Americans, Star of the New Evangelization, to her maternal intercession, that through the work of the Holy Spirit, God's merciful love and the grace of Christ can be ever more present in the personal, familial and social life of all Americans.

---

Wednesday, December 5, First Week in Advent

Panel shows an aerial view of Mar Saba, and the high altar where the saint's remains repose.
ST. SABAS (b Cappadocia [present Turkey] 439, d Jerusalem 532)
Venerable Father, Hermit, Abbot
Considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism, Sabas came to Jerusalem at age 18, where he started his exemplary
monastic life in a monastery under the mentorship of St. Euthymius. At age 30, he was allowed to spend five days a week
in a cave, praying and weaving baskets. When his mentor died, he moved to a cave in the Kidron valley east of Bethlehem,
where he was eventually joined by other monks. This became the nucleus for the Great Lavra, now known as Mar Saba,
the first monastery founded by Sabas. St. John Damascene was the most famous pupil of the monastery. Subsequently, Sabas
travelled throughout Palestine establishing more monasteries, preaching and gaining Christian converts. He was appointed
Archimandrite of all Palestinian monasteries in 491. At age 91, he undertook a mission to Constantinople for the Patriarch
of Jerusalem. He died of an illness shortly after his return. In the 12th century, Crusaders took his body for safekeeping
to Rome, but Paul VI returned the remains to Mar Saba in 1965.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120512.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

General Audience - The Vatican has not yet posted today's bulletin.




- The French Catholic magazine La Vie reports that the Vatican commission studying the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje will release its findings by the end of this year. Established by Pope Benedict XVI and chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the commission is said to be ready to present its report to the Pontiff by the end of December. The French magazine did not cite any authority for its story, but in February an Italian publication made the same report.

The reports of Marian apparitions at Medjugorje began in 1981, and the six “seers” claim that they continue to this day, taking place on a regular, predictable schedule. Interest in the “Medjugore phenomenon”—which has persisted despite the efforts of the local hierarchy to discourage it—prompted the Vatican to undertake its own investigation. Cardinal Ruini’s commission has been holding hearings under conditions of strict secrecy.

P.S. Fr. Lombardi has belied the La Vie report, according to a report by National Catholic Register's Edward Oentin:

---

The Vatican is denying reports that a Vatican commission studying the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje will release its findings by the end of this year.

In comments to the Register today, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said the speculation was “not true” and that the commission’s findings will take longer.

“I have spoken with Cardinal Ruini and I can assure you that it will take longer,” Fr. Lombardi said. “Among other things, the commission must first give its opinion to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss, so it’ll be a long time yet.”

---

False idols and their devotees:
What happens when Christians put more faith
in modernity than they do in the Faith?
by Carl E. Olson

Issue for December 2012

Jonathan Aitken, an Anglican, has penned a piece for The American Spectator praising the edgy, intellectual heights and depths of Rowan Williams [the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury] and the late Cardinal Carlo Martini.

The latter was not known to many non-Italian Catholics (at least on this side of the pond), I suspect, until after he died this past August and it was revealed, with much media furor, that he was critical of certain qualities exhibited by the Church in Europe. He stated, rather (in)famously, in an interview late in life, "The Church is 200 years behind the times".

This was top-grade catnip for the chattering classes, who immediately made Cardinal Martini a saint, prophet, and folk hero. [Actually, these same chattering classes, even in the Anglophone world, were rooting for Martini to be elected Pope in 2005 = "No martini, no party!" - even if he already was ailing from Parkinson's at the time - for the simple reason that his liberal views on many things about Church doctrine mirrored theirs.]

Aitken is late to the party, but wants the tired band to play on. He writes that Cardinal Martini "shook up a heady intellectual cocktail for the Catholic Church before he passed away." [Intellectual, no! Ideological, yes. There really wasn't very much 'intellectual' about the stock yada-yada arguments the cardinal presented for his liberal ideology! You want intellectual that also goes to the heart? Read Benedict XVI - who does not offer a 'cocktail' but water from the living source!] That's certainly debatable. Making a splash and making a difference are, well, different. And an occasional fireworks display from the secular media does not equate in the least to serious—that is, meaningful, mature, and rational—discussion within the Church.

But Aitken seems to think the dusk has fallen on the Catholic Church [Yeah? And what about the Anglican Church? Let Aitken's preachifying begin 'at home'!]; yet a much stronger case can be made that the light of faddish, liberal Christianity is fast faltering, if only because it is (to switch metaphors in midstream) parasitical and the host, secular humanism, will only abide it while it is helpful.

But, before getting too far afield, here is Aitken outlining the impressive achievements of his two heroes:

---

The lives of Cardinal Martini and Archbishop Williams share common themes. Both have held the highest academic positions and been recognized as great scholars, having produced over 50 works of theology between them. Both are remarkable linguists — Martini spoke 11 languages and Williams speaks six. Their prelatical concoctions pack a punch, and both will certainly enliven the debates about the future of the world’s two largest churches...

---

And, he adds, "Cardinal Carlo Martini, who died on August 31, was the best modern pope we never had." It's interesting, of course, to hear what an Anglican hopes for in a Pope, keeping in mind that Anglicanism was the product of a king rejecting the papacy. (If I ever make the mistake of trumpeting my choice for king or queen of England, please chastise me promptly.) It appears that Aitken, not surprisingly, would prefer a Pope who is, well, not really Catholic or papal; in short, someone like Williams.

Cardinal Martini, he notes approvingly, "was the counterweight to papal conservatism. On a crucial range of issues—contraception, homosexuality, family values, and the right to end life—he took popular positions that made him almost a leader of the opposition within the hierarchy of the Church." Or, in other words, he apparently took positions contrary to historical, traditional Catholic teaching.

Agreed, those positions are certainly popular, most notably among those who have either renounced the Catholic Faith or large chunks of it. Shocking, that. Anyhow, this means Martini is deemed worthy of one of the greatest titles that can be granted a capitulating Christian: modernizer. The assumption is that being "modern"—which seems to ultimately fixate on loosening moral and marital bonds while lamenting the demands of traditional beliefs—is not just inevitable but enviable.

Williams is wonderfully brilliant and incredibly open minded, Aitken notes, yet has somehow managed to repeatedly mess things up, having openly "spoken with engaging self-deprecation about his sense of failure and frustration." The departing Archbishop of Canterbury has not been able to bring unity to his "disparate flock" and has been "troubled by the impossibility of maintaining doctrinal unity."

Granted, Williams was dealt a difficult hand. As Monsignor Ronald Knox, who left Anglicanism in 1917 (and whose father was a Church of England bishop), once noted, “The Anglicanism of today, except where it is expounded by people definitely under the influence of the Oxford movement, simply does not possess enough of fixed background to allow for it being intelligently yet authoritatively taught.” Things have only gotten worse in the meantime. Aitken writes:

---

Williams feels his church has been “wrong” in its treatment of homosexuals but remains opposed to same-sex marriages. He supports women bishops but has been unable to make progress on this even within the comparatively open-minded Church of England. Nor has he been able to make any meaningful contribution to the dialogue between Islam and Christianity. In fact he made things worse, at least among his own faithful, by suggesting that Islamic Sharia law should be recognized by the courts.

---

So, other than being a failure, he's been great! And that is exactly what the Catholic Church needs, if one follows Aitken's puff its logical conclusion: an establishment pope who goes with the democrati—er, elitist—flow, regardless of tradition and truth.

In a recent First Things essay, "The High Price of Establishment", Wesley J. Smith (an Evangelical, if I'm not mistaken), admits being "astonished" that Williams, after the failed attempt to usher in female bishops in the Anglican Communion, not "only bemoaned the failure in his farewell speech to the General Synod, but also insisted that the Church had betrayed its responsibility to reflect the sensibilities and values of the general culture."

The take-it-home-and-let-it-make-you-ill-quote goes like this: “Whatever the motivation for voting yesterday,” Williams sternly lectured his flock, “whatever the theological principle on which people acted or spoke,” dissenters had to understand that their objection to woman bishops “is not intelligible to wider society. Worse than that, it seems as if we are willfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of wider society.”

Much could be said about what the brilliant but often failing Williams misses here. For instance, is the rejection of female bishops really an act of willful blindness to "the trends and priorities of wider society" or in fact the recognition that occasionally—yes, sometimes!—the tradition and teaching of what we might generally call orthodox Christianity is preferable to current fads? The serious danger with being a “modernizer”, it turns out, is that modernity not only seeks to direct and distort the faith, it can become the faith. Smith writes: "Here’s a further irony: Statues honoring Christian martyrs—including Martin Luther King—have been installed above the main entrance to Westminster Abbey. But what Christian was ever martyred for adhering to mainstream cultural values?"

It is amazing that Rowan Williams, a widely respected scholar of Church history, would urge the church toward such a blatantly conformist course. Under his theory of fitting in, for example, should early Christians have attended the wildly popular gladiator games in order to prove they were not “blind” to the values of their culture? Rather than seeming aloof and intolerant, should they have participated in pagan feasts and consumed meat dedicated to idols? Heck, maybe they should have gone through the motions of emperor worship—such as famously required by Pliny the Younger and approved by Trajan—to avoid martyrdom.

I mean, dying rather than lighting incense to a statue? How “not intelligible to wider society!”

Smith is right, but is it really so "amazing" that Williams gets it wrong? After all, even his fans, such as Aitken, acknowledge that he gets much wrong. Begin with faulty premises and you’ll never be surprised when you arrive at faulty conclusions. Unless, that is, you never really test and evaluate your assumptions.

Meanwhile, it's more than a little revealing that Aitken, in all of his talk of intellectual giants and Popes — "we need spiritual leaders who are intellectuals of the highest stature", he says — never mentions a pope who has published close to a hundred books—on a dizzying array of topics—and is widely acknowledged as the greatest Pope-theologian of modern times. If you really want a "religious stirrer", you cannot go wrong with Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. [But willfully blind liberals like Aitken conveniently ignore the Holy Father's intellectual credentials lest they have to confront his arguments on intellectual and not ideological grounds!]

The current Pontiff is well aware of what he calls the “dogma of relativism”, which presents active, orthodox Christian belief as narrow-minded, reactionary, and outdated. He knows, as he wrote in Truth and Tolerance (Ignatius, 2004) that “the belief that there is indeed truth, valid, and binding truth, within history itself, in the figure of Jesus Christ and in the faith of the Church is referred to as fundamentalism …” Much more has followed over the course of his pontificate.

So, it is Benedict who continues to address modernity with both directness and nuance. He is neither reactionary or capitulating, and he does not make the self-destructive mistake of preferring the "trends and priorities of wider society" over the teachings of Christ, the Tradition of the Church, and the intimate guides of faith and reason. His pontificate, to indulge Aitken’s metaphor, has been a bracing and exceptional drink, not shaken, but truly stirring.

GENERAL AUDIENCE
December 5, 2012






Pope Benedict on
the 'obedience of faith'
Adapted and translated from the Italian service of

Decembefr 5, 2012

"Obedience is not an act of constriction but abandoning oneself to the ocean of God's goodness".

Pope Benedict added these words - along with other lesser additions off the cuff - to his written text at Wednesday's catechesis.

[But unless one had listened to the catechesis itself (or an audio broadcast available on demand at Vatican Radio), one might never have known of it, if one only went by the 'official' text published by the Vatican Press Office in its daily bulletin.

Yet the sentence above was so noteworthy that not only Lella (Raffaella), who noted the omission on her blog right away, but other Italian news agencies such as ANSA and La Stampa/Vatican Insider took note of the sentence added off the cuff, and led off their reports with it. Unfortunately, this is yet another continuing example of how Fr. Lombardi and whoever he delegates to supervise the actual daily routine of his staff consistently fail to do the simplest things that fall outside the 'routine'.

If someone on the Press Office staff were assigned daily the task of listening to what the Pope actually says when he delivers his texts and follows it on the prepared text, he would immediately be aware of additions or changes that he makes off the cuff - especially if major - and thus be able to make the necessary modifications to the prepared text so that the Vatican publishes what was actually said. They have the audio and video recordings to turn to for getting the exact changes. How difficult can that be? Ninety percent of the time, the Pope does not improvise on his prepared texts, but that does not excuse failing to be vigilant for the times when he does improvise.

It's all very well for the Vatican communications outfits to pat each other on the back for initiatives like the Pope's Twitter account, but first, don't they have to get the basics right? This general laxity in Fr. Lombardi's news operations - like the continuing editorial lapses and journalistic shortcomings of the OR - is chronic and inexcusable.

Marking the first week of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience catechesis to living the season as an act of faith in God’s benevolent plan for humanity.

The context of the added sentence was that "the attitude in which man abandons himself ["- all of himself -", he added to the written text] - to God's plan for man, "is not an act of constriction" but one of allowing oneself to be drawn to God, "abandoning oneself to the ocean of his goodness".

Ir is from this obedience and abandon, he said, that "a new reality is born and everything appears in a new light - it is a new conversion. In fact, faith is a change of mentality: God takes hold of us, draws us to him, becomes the sense of our life, the rock on which we find stability".

At the end of the audience, the Pope launched an appeal for an end to a fresh outburst of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

---

News of great concern continue to come regarding the serious humanitarian crisis in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which for months has become a theater of armed encounters and violence. A large part of the population lack means of primary subsistence, and thousands of inhabitants have been forced to abandon their homes to seek refuge elsewhere.

I therefore renew my appeal for dialog and reconciliation and I call on the international community to do everything it can to meet the urgent needs of the affected people.

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Here is my translation of the catechesis, including the words interposed by the Holy Father into the prepared text (indicated below in red), as heard in the Vatican Radio audio of the catechesis, but not reflected in the text published by the Vatican:

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Dear brothers and sisters,

At the start of his letter to the Christians of Ephesus (cfr 1,3-14), the apostle Paul raises a prayer of benediction to God, Father of or Lord Jesus Christ, which introduces us to living the season of Advent in the context of the Year of Faith.

The theme of this hymn of praise is God's plan for mankind, defined in terms full of joy, of wonder and of gratitude, as a plan of benevolence, of mercy and of love. [NB: The USCCB's revised New American Bible translates the citations given in the catechesis using words different from that in the Italian citations used by the Holy Father, for the specified chapter-and-verse references. Direct citations from the NAB will be used here in quotation marks even if they are not the literal translation of the Italian citations in the original papal text.]

Why did the Apostle, from the depths of his heart, raise this benediction to God? Why did he look at God's action in the history of salvation - which culminated in the Incarnation, death and Resurrection of Jesus - and contemplate how the celestial Father had chosen us, even before the creation of the world, to be his adopted children in his only Son, Jesus Christ (cfr Rm 8,14s.; Gal 4,4s.).

We have existed for eternity in the mind of God, in a grand design that God kept to himself and which he decided to actuate and reveal "in the fullness of time" (cfr Ef 1,10). Thus, St. Paul makes us understand that all creation, especially man and woman, is not the result of chance, but a response to a benevolent plan from the eternal reason of God, who with the creative and redemptive power of his Word, originated the world.

This statement reminds us that our vocation is not simply to exist in the world, to be set into history, and not even to be merely a creature of God. It is something much greater - which is, to have been chosen by God, even before the creation of the world, to be in his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, we have always existed in him, so to speak.

God contemplates us in Christ as his adopted children. God's benevolent plan, which the apostle also calls a plan of love (Eph 1,5), is defined as 'the mystery of the divine will', hidden at first and then manifested in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The divine initiative precedes every human response: It is the free gift of God's love that enfolds and transforms us.

But what is the ultimate purpose of this mysterious design? What is at the center of God's will? It is that, Paul says, of leading back all things to Christ, the only Head (v 10).[The NAB translation pf verse 10 reads: "to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth".]

In this we find one of the central formulations of the New Testament that makes us understand God's design, his plan of love for all mankind, a formulation which, in the second century, St. Irinaeus of Lyon placed at the nucleus of his Christology: 'recapitulating' all of reality in Christ.

Perhaps some of you may remember the formulation used by Pope St. Pius X when he consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart: Instaurare omnia in Cristo - to establish everything in Christ - a formulation that recalls the Pauline expression and which was also the motto of that sainted Pope.

But the apostle Paul speaks more precisely of the 'recapitulation' [summation'] of the universe in Christ, and this means that in the grand design of creation and of history, Christ emerges as the center of the world's entire journey, what one might call the weight-bearing axis of everything, who draws all of reality to himself in order to overcome its dissipation and limitations, and lead everything to the fullness desired by God (cfr Eph 1,23).

This benevolent plan did not remain, so to speak, in the silence of God, in the heights of his heaven, but he made it known by entering into a relationship with man to whom he revealed not just something, but himself, his very self. He did not just communicate the whole of truth, but self-communicated himself to the point of being one of us, of incarnating himself.

In the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council says: "It pleased God in his goodness and his wisdom to reveal himself - not just something of himself but his very self, - and make known the mystery of his will, through which men, through Christ, the Word made flesh, and by the action of the Holy Spirit, have access to the Father and have therefore been made participants in the divine nature" (No. 2).

It is not just that God says something, but he communicates himself – he draws us to divine nature such that we become involved in it, we are divinized. God reveals his grand design of love by entering into a relationship with man, coming near to him to the point of becoming a man himself.

The Council continues: “The invisible God in his great love speaks to men as with friends (cfr Es 33,11; Jn 15,14-15) and lives among them (cfr Bar 3,38) to invite them and admit them to communion with him (ibidem)"" With only his intelligence and abilities, man could not have reached a revelation so luminous of God’s love. It is God who opened his heaven and lowered himself in order to lead men into the abyss of his love.

And St. Paul also writes to the Christians of Corinth: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him = this, God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God” (1Cor 2,9-10).

And St. John Chrysostom, in a celebrated page of commentary on the start of the Letter to the Ephesians, invites us to savor all the beauty of this ‘benevolent design’ by God revealed in Christ, with these words: “What is it that you lack? You have become immortal, you have become free, you have become a child, you have become just, you have become a brother, you have become a co-heir – with Christ you reign, with Christ you are glorified. Everything has been given to us – and as it was written – ‘how will he not also give us everything else along with him?’ (Rm 8,32). Your first fruit is adored by the angels… what more do you lack?” (PG 62,11).

This communion in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, offered by God to all men with the light of Revelation,is not something that has come to superimpose itself over our humanity, but it is the fulfillment of the most profound aspirations, of that desire of the infinite and of fullness that dwells in the intimacy of the human being, and opens him to a happiness that is not momentary and limited but eternal.

St. Bonaventure of Bagnaregio, referring to the God who reveals himself and speaks to us through Scriptures in order to lead us to him, says: “Sacred Scripture is… the book on which are written the words of eternal life because not only do we believe, but we possess eternal life, in which we shall see, love, and all our desires will be realized” (Breviloquium, Prol.; Opera Omnia V, 201s.).

Finally, Blessed John Paul II recalled that “Revelation sets into history a reference point that man cannot do without if he wants to arrive at an understanding the mystery of his existence, but on the other hand, this knowledge constantly brings us to the mystery of God which the mind cannot exhaust but only accept in faith” (Enc. Fides et ratio, 14).

In this perspective, what then is an act of faith? It is man’s response to the Revelation of God, who makes himself known, who manifests his benevolent design. And, to use an Augustinian expression, it is allowing ourselves to be gripped by the Truth who is God, a Truth that is Love.

That is why St. Paul underscores that the ‘obedience of faith’ is due to God, who has revealed his mystery (Rm 16,26; cfr 1,5; 2 Cor 10, 5-6), the attitude with which “man freely abandons everything to him, lending the full adherence of his intellect and will to the God who reveals, and assenting voluntarily to the Revelation that he gives” (Dogm. Const. Dei Verbum, 5).

Obedience is not an act of constriction, but of abandoning oneself to the ocean of God's will. Thus we become involved in the divine nature and we are divinized.

All this leads to a fundamental change in the way we relate to all reality{ Everything appears in a new light - and so it has to do with a true ‘conversion’. Faith is a ‘change of mentality’, because the God who revealed himself in Christ and who has made known his plan of love, takes hold of us, draws us to himself, becomes the sense that sustains life, the rock on which it can find stability.

In the Old Testament, we find a dense expression of faith that God entrusts to the prophet Isaiah in order to communicate to the King of Judea, Acaz.

God says, “If you don’t believe” (meaning, if you do not remain faithful l=to God [the Pope's emphatic parenthetical]), “you will not stay firm” (Is 7,9b). [The revised NAB translation is more elegant than the Italian: “Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm!”]

Thus there exists a link between 'staying in place' and understanding, which expresses well that faith means welcoming the vision of God about reality into our life, letting God guide us with his Words and the Sacraments in understanding what we ought to do, what is the road that we must follow, how to live. At the same time, however, it is truly understanding reality in God’s way, seeing with his eyes that which makes life firm, that which allows us to ‘be on our feet’, not to fall.

Dear friends, Advent, the liturgical season that we have just begun and which prepares us for the Holy Nativity, places us before the luminous mystery of the coming of the Son of God, to the grand ‘benevolent design' with which he wishes to draw us to him, to make us live in full communion of joy and peace with him.

Advent invites us once again, amidst so many difficulties, to renew the certainty that God is present. He entered the world and made himself man like us to bring his plan of love to fulfillment. God asks that we too should be a sign of his action in the world. Through our faith, our hope, and our charity, he wishes to enter the world always anew and to always make his light shine anew on our night.

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I must underscore that I continue to be grateful to Vatican Radio online because it is usually - but not always - the promptest source for any initial report about a papal event, but I have learned not to depend on it exclusively nor unconditionally. And if I may be forgiven, I continue to find their unofficial translations of papal texts sub-optimal, and not rarely, even sloppy and careless, which is why, except when the translations they post are the actual 'official' translations of the Vatican, I prefer to do my own translation, as I will with this catechesis.

Also, all the pictures in this post, except the last, are from the various language services of Vatican Radio online - for some reason, they had a greater variety of photos today than usual. The Yahoo newsphoto service only has a couple of pictures.

'Gloria mundi transit...':
B16 rises to #5 in this year's
Forbes power list from #7 last year

Here's how the secular arbiters of the power game have rated him in the preceding years...

Thursday, December 6, First Week of Advent


Fourth photo from left: Fabrizio da Gentile's Pilgrims visiting Nicholas's tomb in Bari, 1415; and next to it, the tomb itself today.
ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA [Nicholas of Bari] (Asia Minor [in present Turkey], 270-347)
Bishop, Defender of Orthodoxy, Wonderworker, Holy Hierarch
Arguably the most popular saint in the Orthodox world, legend surrounds the life of this 4th century Bishop of Myra, who was also said to be the most popular saint of the medieval world, next only to the Virgin Mary. In 1027, Italian sailors took his remains from his tomb in Myra to Bari, southeastern Italy, to prevent it from desecration by the Muslims who were slowly conquering the once-mighty Byzantine Empire. His legend as a giftgiver arose from his works of charity as a bishop, most of them done anonymously. This gave rise to the custom of gift-giving on his feast day, starting in the Middle Ages, and persisting today in Europe, and how he came to be conflated into the 19th-century figure of Santa Claus. His casket in Bari exudes a mysterious rose-scented oil much prized by pilgrims that has reputed miraculous powers; to this day, priests in charge of the shrine extract a flask of the 'manna' every year. Both Putin and Medvedev have been to Bari in recent years to venerate his remains. St. Nick's image as Santa Claus (from the Dutch 'Sinter Klaes') began with Dutch descendants in New York City who wished to renew Christmas celebrations in the early 19th century. It became fixed in the popular mind when Clement Moore wrote the poem "The Night before Christmas' in 1822.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120612.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- H.E. Joachim Gauck, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and his delegation

- Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid

- Mons. Diego Causero, Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.




The Holy Father has named Rev. Rudolf Voderholzer of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising as Bishop of Regensburg,
a post vacated last summer by Mons. Gerhard Mueller when he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith. Voiderholzer, who has been professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Trier, has also been
the director of the Institut Papst Benedikt XVI based in Regensburg which is responsible for publishing
the 16-volume Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger.

Pope Benedict receives
the President of Germany

December 6, 2012

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This morning, Thursday 6 December, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, who subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., accompanied by Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, under-secretary for Relations with States.

The discussions highlighted the cordial nature of bilateral relations; attention was given to the Christian view of the person, as well as the challenges currently posed by globalisation and the secularisation of society.

This was followed by a fruitful exchange of opinions on the international situation and the current economic crisis, especially in relation to its consequences in Europe, and the contribution that the Catholic Church may offer.

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President Gauck 'moved' by
audience with the Pope
Translated from


VATICAN CITY, December 6 (Translated from TMNews) - Benedict XVI and German President Joachim Gauck agree, as the Vatican communique said this morning, that the European Union must move forward inspire of its continuing difficulties.

"We spoke about the importance of the very concept of Europe", Gauck said after his meeting with the Pope this morning to a group of newsmen in St. Peter's Square.

"The Pope is well-informed on the current debate underway in Germany on the future of Europe, and we agree that the idea of Europe cannot be abandoned".

Gauck said he was 'moved' by his 'spiritual and political encounter' with the Pope, underscoring that it was a 'friendly' chat, and praising the Pope's 'concise and non-triumphalistic attitude; and his 'direct' way of addressing his interlocutor.

"I had expected to see the Pope weighed down by the burden of his tasks, but he was very lively, sharp and very well-informed, even about my own story... And when two Christians get together, they also speak about God," Gauck said. Gauck, who comes from East Germany, was a Lutheran pastor.

"I did not wish to speak to him about differences, but about what we have in common." He said they did not speak about the 500th anniversary of the Reformation that the Protestants are preparing to celebrate in 2017 with a preparatory 'Luther decade' that started in 2007.

"We did not speak of Wittemberg [the cathedral on whose doors Martin Luther affixed his 95 theses outlining his break with Rome] but of Habermas [the German philosopher with whom Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has had an ongoing 'dialog' on faith and reason]

The item continues by quoting the Vatican communique on the meeting.





Italian news reports before the visit noted that President Gauck was visiting without his consort, to whom he is not married, to avoid an embarrassing situation. Gauck is not Catholic, but his predecessor, who was the Pope's host during the state visit to Germany in 2010, was a Catholic who divorced and remarried.

Benedict XVI's most recent motu proprio 'On the service of charity', issued Saturday, Dec. 1, while I was on forced AWOL, drew so little attention for the major papal document that it was, that even Vatican Insider did not run a story about it, and the few Anglophone media that did report about it sissutifully report that the Pope insists that 'charities' should not be cavalierly laelled Catolic unless they truly reflect and practice Christian charity. It's been a few days since then, and the following reflection from an English blogger is the only engaged commentary I have seen about it so far. It is made more resonant by the author's personal experience of having worked previously in the self-importantly labelled 'social justice' field of secular work by Catholic individuals and institutions...

Pope's Motu Proprio on charity:
Misguided 'love' cannot be an excuse
for taking anti-Catholic positions

December 6, 2012

The Pope recently published a Motu Proprio on the work of charitable organisations within the Church, especially those that carry the name ‘Catholic’ or operate under the aegis of the hierarchy.

In his Apostolic Letter 'On the Service of Charity', Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that the Church performs three important functions: she preaches the Word and witnesses to the Gospel, she worships God through the sacred liturgy, and she also provides a 'service of charity' to the world.

Concentrating on this last function, the Holy Father writes:

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...all the faithful have the right and duty to devote themselves personally to living the new commandment that Christ left us (cf. Jn 15:12), and to offering our contemporaries not only material assistance, but also refreshment and care for their souls (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 28).

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As well as acknowledging that Catholic charitable groups need proper organisational structures, the Pope emphasises the bonds that exist between the three missions of the Church, and how each informs the other.

Works of mercy, when carried out in the name of the Gospel, can also be a means of preaching the Word – of witnessing to the reality of God’s love. In light of this, the Pope, according to the Motu Proprio, wishes that those who work in the 'service of charity' in the Church do so according to her mind and the full treasury of her teaching.

In recent times, it has become apparent to many within the Church that some of those organisations charged with helping the Bishops and faithful to exercise their rights and duties in performing a service of charity tend towards dissent from the Gospel -- as it is understood by the Catholic Church.

Such counter-witnessing to the truth, whilst claiming to be ‘Catholic’ causes scandal both inside and outside the Church. Often, those who come across ‘social justice’ or ‘charitable’ movements within the Catholic Church are surprised to see that these groups sometimes preach an alternate Gospel to the one which challenges men and women in every aspect of our lives -- social and personal.

Whilst it is true that many Christians with a ‘social justice’ bias wish to be prophetic voices, witnessing to God’s love for the poor and dispossessed, the very same people can also fall into the delusion of false prophecy -- seeing the whole Gospel message purely through the truncated (and often perverse) prism of worldly social progressivism or socialism. Yes, lives can be helped in a material way by such men and women, but eternal souls are sometimes left to fend for themselves.

The modernist ‘social Gospel’ is often preached at the expense of the real one – the one that also asks followers of Christ to renounce the world and stand up as witnesses to the truth. It is only by witnessing to the truth that we can begin to be properly prophetic -- truly standing up for life and the family, as well as for the poor; for the rights of God in a secular and relativist world, as well as for a fair wage.

My liberal days... or, Confessions of a former Modernist
For many years, I was quite a liberal 'Catholic' -- so I know a lot about the 'social Gospel' or the Church's 'social justice' movements. Having been malformed as an under- and postgraduate in a secular and mildly Protestant theology department, I was a ‘progressive’ throughout most of my 20s – despite knowing deep down that the Church I had constructed in my head was often far removed from the objective Catholicism I had sought as a 15-year-old convert.

As a new Catholic, the first parishes I found myself in also tended to espouse ‘liberation theology’ at the expense of traditional Catholic faith and morals. A few priests openly advocated ‘women clergy’, whilst ‘lay ministers’ seemed to cringe at the very idea of Processions of the Blessed Sacrament or Latin in the liturgy. Homilies concentrated on saving the poor from oppression, but only in material terms -- Hell and the reality of sin were hardy, if ever, mentioned.

I was young. And, as so many within these parishes told me, I hadn’t seen 'how awful Catholicism' was before the ‘spirit of Vatican II’ opened the windows and doors and created a new sort of Church. Being young, and wanting to trust my elders and betters, I accepted their version of history.

In the end, after completing my studies, I became heavily involved in the Justice & Peace and ‘social justice’ movements that seem to have redefined Catholicism in England and Wales during the few decades that followed the Second Vatican Council. Belonging to these movements helped me with my anger problems, in that – like belonging to a cult – there was always another person or object to blame for everything. All the Church’s problems were the fault of the Pope or the ‘conservatives’ or ‘hardliners’, whilst all the world’s problems were the fault of the rich, or the US, or oil companies, or readers of the Daily Telegraph (which now happens to be my favourite newspaper!) … One could be as self-righteous as one liked, whilst always denouncing others as ‘Pharisees’ or 'hypocrites'.

During those years, it was taken as read by myself and my 'comrades' that anyone who liked Latin in the liturgy was a ‘Pharisee’ – ignoring the weightier matters of the law to concentrate on 'lace cottas', as some would put it. Yet, looking back at that time, I can now honestly say that I was the Pharisee (and still am in many ways, but at least I recognise that now!) – I was so busy trying to build a socialist utopia on earth, for my fellow man, that I had completely missed the point: God, and His Kingdom; which is not of this world.

I put down Hans Küng and took up the Gospels.

Slowly, during the early stages of recovery from a serious illness as well as an attempt on my life, I began to question my position within the Church. Had I got it all wrong, after all? I put down whatever pretentious Hans Küng book I happened to be reading, and turned my attention to the Gospels once more, together with the Fathers and the Catechism. I then began looking around me, at my colleagues and fellow ‘social Gospelites’. What was all this anger about? Why were they so hateful towards the Pope? Were they / we really properly Catholic at all?

After about a year or so, I realised that I had – willingly or not, I do not know – been a Modernist for most of my 20s. I was a sort of angry-socialist-protestant-cuckoo in the Catholic nest – but I was far from being alone! A lot of bishops were on my side, as were so many others within the hierarchical structures of the Church. It also became apparent to me at the time -- I was offering myself as a student for the priesthood -- that those who wished to serve the Church as priests had to conform to the ‘social Gospel’, and reject much of the real one! It dawned on me that something had seriously gone wrong in the Church, as well as in my own formation as a Catholic.

Social fads ranked higher in J&P groups than did the unchanging and often very challenging Gospel -- the one that speaks to the individual soul as opposed to a political collective. It always seemed OK to challenge governments or the ‘baddy other’, but never oneself.

Women’s rights, even to be ordained, trumped the allegiance and love owed to the Successor of St Peter. Not offending homosexuals and cohabitees, and supporting their ‘rights’, meant abrogating Sacred Scripture. Ecumenism meant doing away with Catholicism, for the sake of not hurting those in error. The Pope, it seemed, was always wrong; the world was always right. My conscience eventually forced me to admit it: this 'social Gospelism' wasn't a complete or proper expression of Catholicism -- rather, it was a terrible and very misguided distortion of it.

Thankfully, I began moving away from the model of ‘Catholicism’ (if I can now call it that) that I had been told was the norm – the ‘social justice’ or ‘we are Church’ models.

I began taking sin seriously once more, and eventually managed to discover authentic Catholic liturgy and teaching – the traditional Mass, Benediction, the early Councils, and so on. I was still infected by error, though… and even whilst in seminary, I was rather conflicted. Maybe I still am sometimes. We human beings can be a mixed bag of ideas and convictions, sins and strengths, throughout our lives – which is why Purgatory is such a wonderful doctrine!

After many years as an active member of the J&P and social justice movements in the Church in England & Wales, I know for a fact that open dissent from Catholic teaching within these groups is/was for many, at least – par for the course.

Dissent is dangerous
Since discovering that Catholicism which I was searching for as a teenager, and since moving away from dissent and rebellion in the name of ‘my’ (wrong) version of the Gospel to accepting the magisterial authority of the Church, I have often been left bemused when confronted with those who still cling to their angry anti-Catholic brand of Catholicism.

Why do they stay, what motivates them? The answer is obvious – they want to see revolution and chaos in the Church. If they are anything like I was during my ‘social justice’ days, then they are dangerous.

Whilst acknowledging the fact that many within movements such as Caritas Internationalis and so on perform a great service of charity in many respects, the Pope in his recently published Motu Proprio also realises that certain charitable or social justice organisations within the Church can be vehicles for dissent and confusion.

Promoting a ‘social Gospel’ (or a ‘political’ or anti-Catholic one) at the expense of the entirely of the Church’s moral and theological teaching, whilst pretending to act in the name of the hierarchy, is a danger that Pope St Pius X warned us about. Now Pope Benedict XVI is also responding to the crisis produced by those counter-Catholics who 'vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church' and who have designed the ruin of the Church 'not from without but from within' (cf Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 1907).

Here are a few quotations from On the Service of Charity, with my headings (above) and comments (in italics) below:

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Catholic charities must conform to Catholic teaching
It is the responsibility of the diocesan Bishop to ensure that in the activities and management of these agencies [such as Caritas, CAFOD, etc] the norms of the Church’s universal and particular law are respected, as well as the intentions of the faithful who made donations or bequests for these specific purposes (cf. canons 1300 CIC and 1044 CCEO).

When members of the Church give money to an organisation that claims to be Catholic (and has the privilege of calling itself ‘Catholic’), then it is only right and just that the donations given should not be used to fund projects that go against Christian faith and morals. Sometimes, it seems that certain ‘Catholic’ organisations have used money provided by the faithful to campaign against Church teaching or to fund questionable projects (handing out condoms, or whatever). This is not to happen anymore – and bishops will have to ensure that this does not happen.

The responsibilities and duties of the Bishop
It is the responsibility of the diocesan Bishop … to coordinate within his territory the different works of charitable service, both those promoted by the Hierarchy itself and those arising from initiatives of the faithful, without prejudice to their proper autonomy in accordance with their respective Statutes. In particular, he is to take care that their activities keep alive the spirit of the Gospel.

That is, the whole Gospel, not some part of it that has been deliberately distorted or twisted to an extent that it no longer represents the mind of the Catholic Church.

Employees working for Catholic charities must respect Catholic teaching
The agencies referred to … are required to select their personnel from among persons who share, or at least respect, the Catholic identity of these works.

During my ‘liberal’ days it was well known that many employed members of various social justice movements called themselves ‘Catholic’, yet hardly respected the teachings of the Church in certain matters. In fact, they often spoke out against things such as the Church's teachings on human sexuality, etc.

Reform the malformed
To ensure an evangelical witness in the service of charity, the diocesan Bishop is to take care that those who work in the Church’s charitable apostolate, along with due professional competence, give an example of Christian life and witness to a formation of heart which testifies to a faith working through charity. To this end, he is also to provide for their theological and pastoral formation, through specific curricula agreed upon by the officers of various agencies and through suitable aids to the spiritual life.

A very important paragraph, in that it seeks to help those within certain movements to attain a proper formation. As a youngster, I was malformed. In a certain sense, I knew no better. Thankfully, a set of events led me to question my position and then change my beliefs for the better. Sadly, lots of dissident ‘social Gospellers’ think they are being Catholic because that’s the way they were brought up to be, according to the ‘spirit of Vatican II’. With proper catechises, these men and women, if they are open to the rich treasury of the Church’s teaching, and are willing to submit to it in humility, can become effective witnesses to the Gospel – not stumbling blocks to it.

Bishops: stand up to error!
It is the duty of the diocesan Bishop and the respective parish priests to see that in this area the faithful are not led into error or misunderstanding; hence they are to prevent publicity being given through parish or diocesan structures to initiatives which, while presenting themselves as charitable, propose choices or methods at odds with the Church’s teaching.

Need I add to this? The Pope is rightly placing the onus on Bishops. If a ‘Catholic’ charity (or organisation) in their diocese leads the faithful into error or confusion, then they must act – decisively, if needed.

In particular, the diocesan Bishop is to ensure that charitable agencies dependent upon him do not receive financial support from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to Church’s teaching.

Similarly, lest scandal be given to the faithful, the diocesan Bishop is to ensure that these charitable agencies do not accept contributions for initiatives whose ends, or the means used to pursue them, are not in conformity with the Church’s teaching.

Will certain Church-sponsored charitable organisations be able to survive now that they seem to be forbidden from accepting funds from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to the Church’s teaching? In some instances, it would seem to me that funding from the state, when it comes with immoral conditions, must be rejected.

Often, ‘progressive Catholic’ charities receive the bulk of their funding from the state. As I have argued before, it might be best for Catholic charities and schools to ‘go it alone’ – better be wholly Catholic than to be compromised by fiscal concerns.

No more fat cats in the curia or our charities!
In a particular way, the Bishop is to see that the management of initiatives dependent on him offers a testimony of Christian simplicity of life. To this end, he will ensure that salaries and operational expenses, while respecting the demands of justice and a necessary level of professionalism, are in due proportion to analogous expenses of his diocesan Curia.

Let’s just say that I once knew a man who worked for a ‘Catholic’ (social justice) charity. He received a very fat salary, yet the feeling amongst many, even amongst the charity’s supporters, was that this person did nothing to justify such a large wage. Just wage – not likely! Time to end a certain ecclesial and bureaucratic gravy-train? Charitable money should go to the vulnerable, first and foremost.

If they're no longer Catholic, let the people know
The diocesan Bishop is obliged, if necessary, to make known to the faithful the fact that the activity of a particular charitable agency is no longer being carried out in conformity with the Church’s teaching, and then to prohibit that agency from using the name “Catholic” and to take the necessary measures should personal responsibilities emerge.
Alleluia!

I order that everything I have laid down in this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio be fully observed, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if worthy of particular mention, and I decree that it be promulgated by publication in the daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and enter into force on 10 December 2012.

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And there we have it… Now, I wonder whether this Motu Proprio will have the desired effect?

It seems that the Bishops of England & Wales have already recognised the importance of this document. They are to be commended, I think, for their swift and welcoming reaction to it. Speaking on their behalf, Fr Marcus Stock said yesterday:

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The Bishops are resolved to ensure that the agencies and organisations of the Catholic Church in England and Wales which support the poor and vulnerable both at home and overseas, fulfil their mission in a way which is fully consistent with the social and moral teaching of the Catholic Church. The Steering Group has been asked to make recommendations to the Bishops' Conference at the November 2013 plenary meeting.

The publication by the Holy Father of his Apostolic Letter ‘On the Service of Charity’, and the principles and norms it contains, is very welcome at this moment in time by the Bishops as it will provide the essential framework on which their proposals will be developed and carried forward.

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As one singer who used to be popular amongst 'social Gospellers' would put it: The times, they are a changin'.

The Holy Father's Motu Proprio, which will come into effect next week, is welcome indeed, as is the response to it from the Bishops of England & Wales. Knowing how powerful a lobby the 'social justice' movement still is, and how those within it can sometimes be led astray by erroneous interpretations of the Gospel, I feel that this Apostolic Letter -- with the possible exception of Summorum Pontificum -- will be regarded by future generations as among Pope Benedict XVI's most important publications. It signals a decisive, yet measured, end to dissent in the Church -- especially that dissent which claims to act in the name of love.

Friday, December 7, First Week of Advent
MEMORIAL OF ST. AMBROSE

Panel shows 2nd, 3rd and 4th from left, St. Ambrose, by Zurbaran; Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius, Van Dyck; and the saint's tomb in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan.
ST. AMBROSE (AMBROGIO) [b Trier, Germany 340, d Milan 397), Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
One of the first four Doctors of the Church named by Boniface VIII in 1295 (along with Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great), this great influential figure of the 4th century was not even a priest. Born in Germany (his father had been Praetorian Prefect of Gaul), he was educated in Rome for the civil service, distinguishing himself in law. At age 32, he was named governor of Emilia-Liguria, with headquarters in Milan. Two years later, while trying to settle a dispute over who would succeed the Bishop of Milan who just died, he was chosen Bishop by popular acclaim, though he was not even baptized. He accepted only after the emperor said he should. He was baptized, ordained and installed as Bishop in short order. He gave away all his lands and goods to the poor, adopted an ascetic lifestyle, and set about to learn Scriptures and theology, using his knowledge of classic Greek and Hebrew to good use. He was soon plunged into defending the Church against Arianism, the great heresy of the day, and became a great preacher, arousing the admiration of the young Augustine of Hippo whom he mentored and eventually baptized. He successfully pitted his will against emperors of his time, who exalted either Arianism or paganism, telling one of them: "The emperor is in the Church, not against the Church" and refusing to give up two basilicas that the Emperor wished to hand over to Arians. Besides his writings, he also composed hymns (the 'Te Deum' is attributed to him). He championed liturgy as the locals practise it ["When in Rome, do as the Romans do"]. The Ambrosian Rite used to this day by the Archdiocese of Milan is named after him although it came to be established only in the 8th century.
Readings from today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120712.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Before his official events this morning, the Holy Father attended the first Advent sermon by the preacher
of the Pontifical Household, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa.

Afterwards, the Holy Father met with

- H.E. Georgios Papadopoulos, Ambassador of Greece to the Holy See, who presented his credentials

- H.E. César Castillo Ramirez, Ambassador of Peru, with his wife, on farewell visit

- Members of the International Theological Commission. Address in Italian.

Having posted this initially before I left for the day early this morning, I missed the 'big news' of the day later released by the Vatican:

Mons. Georg Gaenswein is the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household, but will remain as the Pope's
secretary. He has been elevated to the rank of Archbishop and will be consecrated by Benedict XVI on Jan. 6.

The Vatican also released the text of the Holy Father's letter to the Orhtodox Metropolitan of Heliopolis, His Eminence
Spyridon, on the death of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the Orient, His Beatitude Ignace IV Hazim.

The Savita story is one of those fabricated 'controversies' willy-nilly involving the Catholic Church that was headline fodder for weeks and which I chose not to post about, least of all not blow by blow - an intuition that proved to be right when it turned out that it had really been much ado about misreported 'facts'. The following story not just sets the Savita reports straight but also tackles the larger issue of the unabashed anti-Catholic bias in MSM, not that we aren't already painfully and outrageously aware of it...

On abortion, on homosexuality and on abuse,
MSM has it in for the Catholic Church
By Tim Stanley

December 7th, 2012

People wonder why conservatives moan endlessly about what they label “the mainstream media”. One reason is that it often displays a subconscious prejudice against religion. Catholics, for example, are sometimes presented as misogynistic cultists with the blood of millions on their hands. To anyone who occasionally attends Mass, this can come off as rather insulting. Sorry, but we’re sensitive that way.

Take the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, who died earlier this year in a hospital in Galway, Ireland. Here’s how The Guardian reported the story:

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Ireland's near-total ban on abortion has come under renewed scrutiny amid an outcry over the death of a woman who was denied a termination. Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, died of blood poisoning at Galway University hospital. She had turned up at the hospital a week earlier, but was denied a medical termination and, according to her husband, was told: ‘This is a Catholic country.’”

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It was thus assumed that a) Savita did indeed request an abortion, b) an abortion would have saved her life and c) the hospital made a definitively Catholic decision to deny her the lifesaving procedure.

Pro-choice protests erupted and Ireland’s politicians started talking about the need for reform. Savita became a martyr to Catholic cruelty. “I am ashamed that Ireland's medieval abortion law still stands,” wrote one Guardian commentator. And who wouldn’t be, if all they read was The Guardian?

But the story was a lot more complicated than it first appeared. The journalist who broke it later admitted that the facts were “rather muddled.” She now thinks that a termination might not have been requested and that Savita was only healthy “as far as we know” before going into hospital, implying that her condition might already have been fatal and that an abortion wouldn’t have saved her.

It took an unsolicited letter from a consultant microbiologist to raise the possibility that Savita’s death was due to a “resistant bacteria strain” rather than “obstetric mishandling.” Also, few media outlets seemed aware that both Irish law and Catholic moral teaching would have permitted an abortion if it genuinely would have been “lifesaving.” And next to nobody noticed that Catholic Ireland – a land of “medieval” laws – actually has one of the lowest rates of death from childbirth in the world.

Perhaps what was most disturbing about the Savita story is how it was leaked to pro-choice activists before it was broken by the Irish Times. At least three days before the story went public, Irish Choice Network was notified by email that “a major news story in relation to abortion access is going to break in the media early this coming week,” and that it would be followed by a pre-arranged protest. We can infer that someone at either the Irish Times or the Health Services Executive conspired to use a private tragedy to push a political agenda. It's all very Alinsky.

Run a news search on Savita’s death and you’ll find very little in the mainstream press that addresses these problems or, more importantly, corrects earlier false reports. It’s as if the story never happened. Perhaps it would have been better if it hadn’t.

Rather than waiting for a proper investigation of what went wrong, some chose to broadcast the opinions of understandably distressed family members as if they were indisputable facts. And the commentary accompanying the journalism drew a straight, short line between an individual’s death and the Catholic Church. The takeaway: Catholicism kills.

Of course, this is not to deny that Catholics have committed crimes or that the Church, as an institution, has failed the innocent. It is self-evident that its many sins should be investigated and exposed. But the journalism applied to the Church is often uneven. We might forgive a little misunderstanding about theology. But on the stuff that really matters, I’m beginning to detect the sulphurous whiff of a witch hunt.

Consider the New York Times’s hasty reporting of an allegation that the Dutch Catholic Church had castrated a gay man in the 1950s because he complained about bing sexually abused by two priests. Never mind that the two priests were charged and prosecuted, that the use of castration was secular and horribly widespread in psychiatric hospitals, or that the allegation had been dismissed by an earlier inquiry for lack of evidence.

The New York Times chose to ignore all of this in preference for an angle that, by coincidence, offers a damning indictment of Catholic homophobia.

Similar artistic licence is found in the “journalism” of Johann Hari – a man with multiple personalities (all of them, alas, horrible). As part of a campaign against the Catholic Church, Hari used a TV appearance to read from a 2001 letter in which the future Pope apparently told bishops that “cases of child abuse should be dealt with in the most secretive way, restrained by perpetual silence, and everybody is to observe the strictest secret.”

But, the missive itself was not a secret (it was published a few days after being read) and the word “secret” didn’t occur in the untranslated version at all. The letter was actually written in order to inform bishops that Benedict was now handling child abuses cases personally and nowhere did he tell them not to approach the police. Hari’s representation of the Pope’s past was wildly inaccurate. To Hari, "the truth" is something that he writes on other people’s Wikipedia entries.

In all of these stories, members of the mainstream media have taken incredibly complicated, personal and tragic stories and turned them into straightforward exhibits of Catholic evil. If the truth was being inexpertly pursued for the sake of the truth, this situation would be regrettable but worth suffering. But the pattern is rather more ugly.

Stories are reported as evidence of Catholic hatred for women, AIDS sufferers or the LGBTQ community. And when the details of those stories are later challenged, the contradictions seem to get much less attention than the original accusation. In the desperately sad case of Savita, the silence is unnerving.

If anyone ever doubted Benedict XVI's trust in his private secretary, Mons. Georg Gaenswein, the not entirely surprising announcement today should dissipate any doubts. Benedict XVI has gone beyond John Paul II even, in manifesting his regard for the man who has been, by virtue of being his private secretary, his closest associate in the past nine years. Where John Paul II named Mons. Stanislaw Dsiwisz vice-prefect of the Pontifical Household, more as an honorific than as an actual operating position, Mons. Gaenswein now takes charge of the Pope's entire household, official as well as private, and rightly takes on the responsibility for approving and scheduling all the events the Pope will have - as well as for all the persons serving the Pontifical Household including ushers and chamber aides in the papal offices - in what is also a logical and sensible streamlining of the entire Pontifical Household's organizational chart...

Pope makes Georg Gaenswein
Prefect of the Pontifical Household -
but keeps him on as private secretary
by ANDREA TORNIELLI
Translated from the Italian service of

December 7, 2012

Benedetto XVI has named as the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household his private secretary, Mons. Georg Gaenswein, 56, who has been at his side for the past nine years, first at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and then, since April 2005, in the papal apartment.

Gaenswein, who has been elevated to the rank of Archbishop, will continue to live in the papal apartment and to coordinate the Pope's private secretariat.

His new appointment, which had been speculated on for weeks, is unprecedented in the recent history of the Papacy: It's true that John Paul II had made his private secretary, Mons. Stanislaw Dsiwisz, 'adjunct prefect' alongside Archbishop James Harvey, who was taken from being a ranking official at the Secretariat of State to be Prefect of the Pontifical Household.

In this case, 'don Georg' takes on full responsibility for that Prefecture which manages access to papal audiences.

At the start of Benedict's Pontificate, few would have thought that Benedict XVI would ever come to such a decision - considering the criticisms against his predecessor in such circumstances - but today's appointment must be seen in the context of Vatileaks, the theft and publication of documents from the Pope's own desk.

In naming his secretary an archbishop and entrusting to him a sensitive role in the Curial organizational chart, Papa Ratzinger is shielding and protecting his closest associate even for the future. He has reinforced Gaenswein's role notably since he now is formally the principal interface in the relationships between the Pope and the Curia, and with the external world.

Gaenwein was born in Waldshut, in the Black Forest, on July 30, 1956, the oldest of five children (2 brothers and 2 sisters). He was ordained a priest on Mau 31, 1984 for the Diocese of Freiburg im Breisgau. He obtained his doctorate in canon law at the theological faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. After having been a judge in the diocesan tribunal of Freiburg, he was hired by the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican, then transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1996, where in 2003, he became the private secretary to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, taking the place of Mons. Josef Clemens [who was promoted to become Secretary of the Congregation for the Laity], with whom his relationship has reportedly always been tense.

Athletic and passionate about skiing and tennis, he has been the object of online fan clubs. Last week, when he received a 'tribute of holiness' from the Vatican association 'Tu es Petrus', don Georg explained the way he sees his role as the Pope's private secretary: "Personally I see my service to the Pope as something like a glass window. Glass does what it does when it is clean. The cleaner it is, the better it serves its purpose. If it becomes dirty or if it breaks, then it no longer functions as it should... I must let the sun shine through. Glass is best the less it can be seen, because it means it does its work well".

He said that he offers his service to the Pope daily "with my heart, my brain, my spirit, with all the strength I have".

"There are hostile winds, of course, and if they touch the Holy Father, sometimes they also touch his secretary. But suffering is part of the Way of the Cross, even if we do not choose it".

It must be noted that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's point man in the Curia, turned 78 last December 3 - an age at which, it had been widely speculated last summer at the peak of the Vatileaks raucus, he was expected to be allowed to resign by Benedict XVI. Didn't happen. Or hasn't yet. Nor did he submit a ritual resignation letter as he did when he turned 75. But did anyone in MSM even note this? No - perhaps because it contradicts all their much-aired speculations last summer.

The other side note is that last week, Benedict XVI named the new Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Malta, Mons. Charles Scicluna as a member bishop of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [an assembly composed mostly of cardinals] - which is quite a giant step for someone who, until a few weeks ago, was a staff member serving the CDF. So again, media wise guys have been proven wrong who - most inexplicably - considered Scicluna's promotion as bishop from being the CDF's chief prosecutor for sex crimes by priests as a 'removal by promotion'. These same wise guys have, of course, chosen not to even report or comment on Scicluna's being named to membership in the CDF.

The point still missed by MSM about Benedict XVI is that he marches to his own drum and does not concede in any way to the commonplace expectations, mostly negative, that the MSM - and the part of public opinion they shape - persist to indulge in.