BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

By all accounts now, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston appears far less disgraceful in his cover-up of abusive priests than Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is - at least in terms of the duration and number of the cover-ups - though of course, not in serious culpability. The New York Times, including failed Benedict-character assassin Laurie Goodstein, has an initial story on what the LA diocesan documents reveal that a court has forced the diocese to release without editing out the names of bishops and priests involved... For now, one must consider the facts they choose to cite as reliable since the documents they looked at have been made available to everyone (though that did not stop Goodstein in 2010 from misrepresenting the facts of the Milwaukee case in gross contradiction of what was shown by the 'supporting' documents posted online by the NYT itself)...

Los Angeles diocesan files detail decades
during which cardinal protected priest-abusers
rather than worry about their vicrims
By JENNIFER MEDINA and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published February 1, 2013


People abused by priests and their supporters held quilts with photos of victims outside the Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of Angels on February 1, 2013.


LOS ANGELES — The church files are filled with outrage, pain and confusion. There are handwritten notes from distraught mothers, accounts of furious phone calls from brothers and perplexed inquiries from the police following up on allegations of priests sexually abusing children.

Over four decades, particularly under Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, parishioners in the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese repeatedly tried to alert Church authorities about abusive priests in their midst, trusting that the Church would respond appropriately.

But the internal personnel files on 124 priests released by the archdiocese under court order on Thursday reveal a very different response: how Church officials initially disbelieved them and grew increasingly alarmed over the years, only as multiple victims of the same priest came forward and reported similar experiences. [At least, the reporters acknowledge this eventual change in attitude.]

Even then, in some cases, priests were shuttled out of state or out of the country to avoid criminal investigations.

A sampling of the 12,000 pages suggests that Cardinal Mahony and other top Church officials dealt with the accusations of abuse regularly and intimately throughout the last several decades. It often took years to even reach the realization that a priest could no longer simply be sent to a rehabilitation center and instead must be removed from ministry or even defrocked.

In one case, the Rev. José I. Ugarte was accused by a doctor of having drugged and raped a young boy in a hotel in Ensenada and of taking boys every weekend to a cabin in Big Bear. But rather than turn Father Ugarte over to the authorities, Cardinal Mahony decided to send him back to Spain, made him sign a document promising not to return to the United States without permission for seven years, not to celebrate Mass in public and to seek employment in “a secular occupation in order to become self-supporting.”

The current archbishop, José H. Gomez, who succeeded Cardinal Mahony when he retired two years ago, took the unusual if not unprecedented step on Thursday night of censuring his predecessor, calling the documents he released late Thursday “brutal and painful reading” and announcing that he was removing him from administrative and public duties. He also accepted the resignation of one of his auxiliary bishops, Thomas Curry.

But in an extraordinary public confrontation between bishops, Cardinal Mahony adamantly defended himself on Friday, posting on his blog a letter he had sent to Archbishop Gomez. The cardinal insisted that his approach to sexual abuse evolved as he learned more over the years, and that his archdiocese had been in the forefront of reforms to prevent abuse and respond to victims.

Cardinal Mahony implied that his successor’s censure of him was unexpected and unwarranted: “Not once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices or procedures in dealing with the problem of clergy sexual misconduct involving minors.”

Church experts agreed that it was the first time that a bishop had publicly condemned another bishop’s failures in the abuse scandal, which has occupied the American bishops for nearly three decades. They also said that Archbishop Gomez had gone as far as he could under the Church’s canon laws to discipline Cardinal Mahony. He could not, they said, take away his authority to celebrate Mass, but he did order him not to preside at confirmations, a ceremonial role that often keeps retired archbishops in the public eye.

The Los Angeles church files are not unlike other documents unearthed in the Church’s long-running abuse scandal in the United States, but it appears to be the largest cache.

In 1977, the mother of a 10-year-old boy wrote to Msgr. John Rawden saying that George Miller, then a priest at parish in Pacoima, had taken her son on a fishing trip and molested him. The accusation was noted in Mr. Miller’s files, but he denied the charges and was presumed to be innocent. Then in 1989 another pastor complained that Mr. Miller violated church policy by repeatedly having young boys in his room in the rectory and traveling with them.

Mr. Miller was sent to a treatment center run by Catholic therapists in St. Louis in 1996. When he was scheduled to be released a year later, Msgr. Richard Loomis — who would eventually face his own allegations of sexual abuse — wrote Father Miller a letter saying that the “recent changes in the child abuse reporting law and the statute of limitations in California have changed the way we have to look at many things in our personnel policies.” Monsignor Loomis went on to say that he could not return to the ministry in Los Angeles.

But two months later, in May 1997, Monsignor Loomis then wrote to Cardinal Mahony suggesting that Mr. Miller could seek to serve as a priest in Mexico through a “benevolent bishop” or return to California and “begin a secular life,” and live “somewhere that would minimize potential contact with those involved in his situation.”

After leaving St. Louis, Mr. Miller returned to California and by 2004 was under investigation by the police.

In a letter in 2004 to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Mahony wrote: “The story of Father Miller is a very sad one. Clearly he never should have been ordained. Had the kinds of screenings we used now been employed in the 1950s, he would have never been admitted to the seminary.” [One would like to know exactly what was the context of that letter. Was it just about Fr. Miller and possibly a request to laicize him in view of his offenses? In 1994, the CDF had nothing to do with the investigation of sex abuses by priests, only with requests for laicization of priests for whatever reason was given by the requesting bishop or priest. It would therefore be unlikely that in 1994, Mahony was writing the CDF to report sexual offenses by his priests in general, much less asking advice on what to do about the problem.]

The documents also hint at the disillusionment on the part of church officials as they eventually realized that priests who had denied any accusations of abuse were eventually revealed as repeat violators. [In fairness to the erring bishops, it is all too human to refuse to think that someone under your supervision could be guilty of an outrageous crime, especially something which is personally unthinkable to the bishop himself. Even someone as sharp and sensible as Blessed John Paul II himself had the same attitude in general, because under the Communist regime in Poland, accusing priests of sexual abuse was a common tactic to discredit them. This benevolent attitude appears to have been reversed only when the gravity of the Boston cases became very apparent.]

In the case of Carlos Rodriguez, then a priest downtown, Los Angeles Police Department investigators called church officials to ask about a report that the priest took two teenage boys to the Grand Canyon and groped one boy’s groin. According to the files, Mr. Curry had already written to Cardinal Mahony about the allegation. The police said that when they called the church to speak with Mr. Rodriguez, the person who answered the phone responded by saying, “Oh no, they reported it, ” referring to the boy’s family.

In 2004, Mr. Rodriguez was sentenced to eight years in prison for molesting two brothers in the early 1990s, years after he was transferred because of the earlier allegations.

Another file chronicles the struggle by Cardinal Mahony and his advisers to discern the truth about accusations against Monsignor Loomis, a priest who himself helped advise the cardinal on abuse cases against priests in his role as vicar for clergy in the archdiocesan chancery. The archdiocese went to great lengths and expense to investigate the case, the files reveal.

They interviewed former colleagues of his, one who said, the notes show, “Loomis would be the last person he could think of who would be the subject of child molestation charges.”

Eventually in 2004, after several alleged victims stepped forward and a lawsuit was filed, Cardinal Mahony agreed to place Monsignor Loomis on administrative leave, writing on the document, “Although sad, we must follow our policies and the charter — regardless of where that leads,” a reference to the American bishops’ policies, or “charter” to protect young people.

Many victims said the release of the files felt like a vindication because they showed repeated abuse by the priests that church officials had often denied. “I wasn’t lying, I wasn’t embellishing, I wasn’t making it up,” said Esther Miller, 54, a mother of two who said she was abused by Michael Nocita, a priest, when she was in high school. “It shows the pattern of complicity. It shows the cover-up.”

Cardinal Mahony, who served from 1985 until 2011, when he reached mandatory retirement, has faced calls for his defrocking over his handling of the abuse cases for years. But the cardinal, a vocal champion of immigrant rights, remained hugely popular with Latinos here, who make up 40 percent of the four million parishioners in the archdiocese.

The Diocese of Los Angeles had fought for years to keep the documents secret, and until this week it argued that the names of top church officials should be kept private. But on Thursday, Judge Emilie Elias rejected the church’s requests to redact the names of officials before releasing the files. The diocese released the files, with the names of victims and many other church officials removed, less than an hour later.

The trove of documents suggests that church officials routinely sent priests accused of abuse out of state and in some cases out of the country to avoid the potential investigations from law enforcement.

And here is what Cardinal Mahony had to say on his blog after his successor, Cardinal Gomez, relieved him of all public duties in the diocese.

Mahony's self-defense

---

Friends in Christ,
This morning I sent this letter to Archbishop Jose H. Gomez giving the history and context of what we have been through since the mid-1980s. There is nothing confidential in my letter. I have been encouraged by others to publish it, so I am do so on my personal Blog. I hope you find it useful.

+ + + + +

February 1, 2013

Dear Archbishop Gomez:

In this letter I wish to outline briefly how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and I responded to the evolving scandal of clergy sexual misconduct, especially involving minors.

Nothing in my own background or education equipped me to deal with this grave problem. In two years [1962—1964] spent in graduate school earning a Master’s Degree in Social Work, no textbook and no lecture ever referred to the sexual abuse of children. While there was some information dealing with child neglect, sexual abuse was never discussed. [But what a pathetic 'excuse'! No Christian has to be 'prepared' in any special way to know that sexual abuse of minors is a despicable sin by anyone, and much more so, if the abuser is a priest! This statement is a serious indicator of Mahony's continuing state of denial that he did anything that was inexcusable under any circumstances!]

Shortly after I was installed on September 5, 1985 I took steps to create an Office of the Vicar for the Clergy so that all our efforts in helping our priests could be located in one place. In the summer of 1986 I invited an attorney-friend from Stockton to address our priests during our annual retreat at St. John’s Seminary on the topic of the sexual abuse of minors. Towards the end of 1986 work began with the Council of Priests to develop policies and procedures to guide all of us in dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct. Those underwent much review across the Archdiocese, and were adopted in 1989.

During these intervening years a small number of cases did arise. I sought advice from several other Bishops across the country, including Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, and then Bishop Adam Maida of Green Bay. I consulted with our Episcopal Conference frequently.

All the advice was to remove priests from active ministry if there was reasonable suspicion that abuse had occurred, and then refer them to one of the several residential treatment centers across the country for evaluation and recommendation.

This procedure was standard across the country for all Arch/Dioceses, for School Districts, for other Churches, and for all Youth Organizations that dealt with minors. We were never told that, in fact, following these procedures was not effective, and that perpetrators were incapable of being treated in such a way that they could safely pursue priestly ministry. [Mahony tries an easy 'alibi/ here - that everyone else (i.e., other bishops) was doing what he was doing. Mutatis mutandis, one must suppose, with infinite outrage in hindsight, that this was the general attitude at the time among bishops around the world, as it has indeed emerged in those countries where investigation of how bishops dealt with sex abuses by priests has been conducted.]

During the 1990s our own policies and procedures evolved and became more stringent. We had learned from the mistakes of the 1980s and the new procedures reflected this change. In 1994 we became one of the first Archdioceses in the world to institute a Sexual Abuse Advisory Board [SAAB] which gave helpful insights and recommendations to the Vicar for the Clergy on how to deal with these cases.

Through the help of this Board, we moved towards a “zero tolerance” policy for clergy who had allegations against them which had proven true.

In 2002 we greatly expanded the SAAB group into the new Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board. They were instrumental in implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth and served as an invaluable body for me and our Archdiocese. They dealt with every case with great care, justice, and concern for our youth.

From 2003 to 2012 the Archdiocese underwent several Compliance Audits by professional firms retained for this purpose. Most Auditors were retired FBI agents, and extremely competent. Every single Audit concluded that the Archdiocese was in full compliance with the Charter.

[All very well, Cardinal Mahony, but two examples of long-delayed action and attempts to protect the offending priest cited in the NYT story date to 1997 and 2004, respectively, though you cite continuing efforts by your Archdiocese starting in 1994 to deal with the problem. In the letter you posted on your blog on January 22, 2013, as a general apology for your failures and shortcomings in this respect, you candidly admitted:

---

...even as we began to confront the problem, I remained naïve myself about the full and lasting impact these horrible acts would have on the lives of those who were abused by men who were supposed to be their spiritual guides. That fuller awareness came for me when I began visiting personally with victims. During 2006, 2007 and 2008, I held personal visits with some 90 such victims...

---

It took you personally till 2006 to think about the victims of the priests you protected - does not say something about a basic insensibility or deliberate denial on your part about the problem of priests abusing minors sexually?

When you were formally received as our Archbishop on May 26, 2010, you began to become aware of all that had been done here over the years for the protection of children and youth. You became our official Archbishop on March 1, 2011 and you were personally involved with the Compliance Audit of 2012 — again, in which we were deemed to be in full compliance.

Not once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices, or procedures in dealing with the problem of clergy sexual misconduct involving minors. [What a specious and absurd argument, which also tries to palm off some blame on his successor. Mons. Gomez was dealing with the situation in 2011 and 2012 - after the Archdiocese had already been slapped with %660 million, while Mahony was still Archbishop, in damages from victims who had successfully prosecuted charges. If the diocese were still not in 'full compliance' after that crippling financial blow, it would have been real news... One must also imagine that with all his current pastoral problems, Gomez did not really look at past diocesan files under his predecessor until the courts asked the diocese to release the files and he obviously had to review what would be released!]

I have stated time and time again that I made mistakes, especially in the mid-1980s. I apologized for those mistakes, and committed myself to make certain that the Archdiocese was safe for everyone. [Your Eminence, an apology, which of course you had to make even if three decades late, does not exempt you from the consequences of your mistakes.]

Unfortunately, I cannot return now to the 1980s and reverse actions and decisions made then. [No, that is a deliberate falsehood, because the records appear to show that the wrong actions and decisions continued beyond the 1980s.] But when I retired as the active Archbishop, I handed over to you an Archdiocese that was second to none in protecting children and youth.

With every best wish, I am
Sincerely yours in Christ,

His Eminence
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles

---

OK, forget any illusions that Mahony will do what Cardinal Law never had the courage or sense of propriety to do = he won't give up his cardinal's prerogatives voluntarily, or at least offer to do so. (I frankly do not know whether a cardinalate is irrevocable - though John Paul II indicated with Vienna's Cardinal Hans Groer that their prerogatives and privileges are revocable; but then he made Cardinal Law Arch-Priest of Santa Maria Maggiore, almost like a consolation prize!) Mahony even self-styles himself as 'His Eminence' in this letter. Do cardinals customarily do that????

Sorry for being so down on Mahony, but his behavior in all this has certainly not been worthy of a conscientious priest, let alone a cardinal, even if unlike Cardinal Groer, he himself did not sexually abuse any minors. Like Cardinal Law, Mons. Magee, and other ranking prelates like them who were derelict in their pastoral duties towards their parishioners as well as their priests, I am sure they are seeking to make their peace with the Lord for past faults of omission and commission, but that does not at all diminish the disgrace they have brought on the Church by their misconduct and will continue to cost the Church everytime their misdeeds are recalled.

P.S. If Mahony does not seem to be arousing the same outrage from MSM as Cardinal Law did in 2001-2002, it's probably because they would willingly overlook his failings on sex abuse because he was such a 'model liberal' on social issues. It seems MSM is only outraged about erring bishops who also happen to be social and ecclesial conservatives, but not about people they always held up as role models!

I didn't see this yesterday, but John Allen has this contribution to the picture:

Vatican is not commenting
for now on Mahony case
by John L. Allen Jr.

Feb. 1, 2013

Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi told NCR today that the Vatican is not planning on releasing a public comment on a decision by Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles to relieve his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, of all administrative and public duties over his "failure to fully protect young people entrusted to his care."

Gomez announced in a Thursday letter, which coincided with the release of files from Los Angeles concerning priests who committed sexual abuse, that he had also accepted a request from Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry to be relieved of his duties.

Fr. Lombardi told NCR that although he has received several requests for comment from news agencies, there are no plans at this time to issue a statement. Among other things, he said, the Vatican needs time "to better understand the situation."

As a technical matter, Gomez's action affects only Mahony's responsibilities in the Los Angeles archdiocese. He remains a cardinal and a voting member of three Vatican departments: the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Council for Social Communications, and the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

Mahony will turn 77 on Feb. 27, which means that should a conclave occur in the next three years, he would also be eligible to cast a vote for the next Pope. (Mahony participated in the April 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.) [And so did Cardinal Law, but then Cardinal Law was never 'punished' by John Paul II for his misdeeds.]

It remains to be seen whether Gomez's decision will have any wider repercussions for Mahony's other roles.

I pray and personally hope that Benedict XVI will follow the logic of his rigorous response to the abuse of minors by priests, and divest Mahony of the positions he occupies because he is a cardinal and the privilege of voting in the next Conclave if - God grant it won't - it takes place before he turns 80. But I can see a few obvious factors that may stay the Pope's hand: 1) the bad precedent that Cardinal Law was never punished but in fact rewarded with a post in Rome; 2) the fact that Law is still alive, and if Benedict XVI were to punish Mahony for doing what Law had also done, although perhaps to a greater degree, he would have to mete out some punishment to Law as well (unlikely); 3) Mahony has been retired from pastoral work for two years now; and 4) the zero-tolerance policy has so far been applied only to priests, not to bishops, and to a simple layman like me, that does not seem fair at all. In fact, the bar should be higher for bishops.

When it rains, it pours - and one can expect MSM to play up over the next few days or weeks every incriminating detail they can find in the 12,000 pages of documents released by the LA Archdiocese. So brace yourself for the onslaught.

But here's a related story from another diocese. At first glance, it looks positive, but the writer poses the logical question of why it took four years for the Vatican to act to defrock a priest found guilty by a criminal court in 2008. The local diocese, unfortunately, was not commenting about it:

Pope Benedict defrocks priest
found guilty of sexual abuse
By GEORGE PAWLACZYK
Belleville News Democrat

BELLEVILLE, Illinois, February 1 — Raymond Kownacki, whose history of years of sexually abusing children was brought out in testimony during a 2008 civil trial that ended with a $5 million judgment against the Diocese of Belleville, has been booted from the priesthood by Pope Benedict XVI.

According to a Jan. 25 "Official Statement" from Belleville Bishop Edward K. Braxton, Benedict's decree "means that Mr. Kownacki is no longer a member of the clerical state and has been dispensed 'pro bono Ecclesiae' - for the good of the Church."

Diocese spokesman the Rev. John Myler could not be reached for comment. Braxton does not comment to local media.

Kownacki, 78, who resides in a nursing home in St. Louis County, is the second priest from the diocese to be removed from the priesthood following allegations of sexual abuse of minors. In 2007, Benedict removed Robert J. Vonnahmen, a former priest who was alleged by a diocesan review panel to have abused boys at a church-run camp in the 1970s...

Read more here: www.bnd.com/2013/02/01/2480422/pope-removes-kownacki-from-priesthood.html#story...

"Iran wanted John Paul II dead? This time, Ali Agca is credible" - The headline used by Il Giornale is certainly eye-catching even if that's not exactly what Vittorio Messori says in the interview, so I have changed the headline to something more accurate.

'There is something plausible
in Agca's latest claim -
the religious motivation'
Interview with Vittorio Messori
by Paolo Rodari
Translated from

February 2, 2013

It's been two days since a biography of would-be papal assassin Ali Agca went on sale in Italy, in which he claims that it was the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran who personally ordered him to assassinate John Paul II in 1981.

An account that was dismissed at length yesterday by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi citing "the most reliable testimonies" that Agca's latest claim is a falsehood.

Not so quick to dismiss Agca's statements is Vittorio Messori, arguably the most authoritative of Catholic writers today, who has published book-length interviews with the last two Popes, and other well-regarded books on religion and Biblical exegesis.

Mr. Messori, what is this all about? Another lie after years and years of false leads?
I don't think one can say that exactly.

In what sense?
In the stream of hypotheses and interpretations about the assassination attempt on John Paul II, I think that the religious angle has never been evaluated adequately, but it is the only one, in my opinion, that deserves to be taken seriously.

That is not to say that everything Agca says today is true, but the religious angle is the only plausible one.

Are you referring to Shi'ite Islam?
Of course. But also to Fatima. That shrine is sacred to every Muslim, In fact, its name is that of Mohammed's favorite daughter, whose marriage to Ali assured him of that posterity from Mohammed claimed by Shiite Islams, who are, not incidentally, the prevalent Muslim denomination in Iran. [Ali was Mohammed's cousin as well as son-in-law, and the Shiites believe he was the legitimate successor to Mohammed and consider him the First Caliph or First Imam. In contrast, the Sunni Muslim, who are far more numerous and are considered to be the 'orthodox' Muslims only consider Ali as fourth in line.]

One cannot under-estimate that the most important Marian apparition in the 20th century took place in the only place in the West that carries the name of someone who occupies a Marian role in Islam. The Koran itself has expressions of the highest praise and devotion for Mary. And so, in Fatima, there is a conjunction of the two women most venerated in Islam: the mother of Jesus and the daughter of Mohammed.

From there stems a long series of Islamic claims that the Western world has always been too distracted to note. All you have to do is watch what goes on Iranian TV every day to understand...

Which is?
With regularity, they have been broadcasting programs denouncing what they claim to be a hoax perpetrated by the Church about Fatima. The Shiites claim that it was not Mary who appeared to the three peasant children but Fatima, daughter of the Prophet.

To hear the authorities responsible for the shrine in Fatima describe how Muslim pilgrims are growing increasingly makes it clear how important the shrine is to Muslims.

What does John Paul II have to do with all that?
It's not a mystery at all to anyone in the Shiite world. It is intolerable for them that Fatima is a Catholic shrine. In this sense, the well-known coincidence that the assassination attempt took place on May 11, feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, served as a sign: That for his sacrilege, the head of a church that occupies a shrine that the Shiites wish for their own faithful, had to pay with his life. So even from this angle, there is no coincidence....

John Paul II quickly linked the attempt on his life with the so-called secret of Fatima. And in 2000, he revealed the long-awaited 'third secret' that was about an attempt to kill a Pope, and says that Pope was he. Does Shiite Islam think that?
It's hard to say. One thing is certain. Even the Vatican itself was never satisfied with the political angle. Nor did the East German secret service Stasi find this plausible.

We know that Marcus Wolf, the head of the Stasi, which had infiltrated an agent (the Benedictine priest Eugen Brammerte) into the Vatican to gather information, did not think the political angle was plausible, namely, that the assassination had been ordered by an East European nation. When asked directly whether the Stasi had anything to do with it, he replied: "No, it was not our work, if only because it would have been an enormous boomerang".

Moreover, Agca's links to fundamentalist Islamic circies are well-known.

For all the above reasons, one has to think that this latest hypothesis is plausible.



Some facts that must be noted about Agca:
- Following his arrest, Agca initially said the assassination attempt had been organised by the Soviet KGB and a group of Bulgarian diplomats.
- Now 55, he served 19 years in prison in Italy for shooting the Pope, and was then deported to Turkey where he served another 10 years. He was released in January 2010.
- He was diagnosed with 'anti-social personality disorder' by Turkish doctors who checked whether he was fit for military service after he was released from prison.
- He claimed in a Turkish TV interview in November 2010 that 'the Vatican government' was responsible for the assassination plot and that the order came from the late Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, at the time John Paul II's Secretary of State.

I don't remember reading about this ridiculous claim at all before I saw it today on Wikipedia, but I am sure there was no reaction from the Vatican then! Of course, it was a claim not even worth answering, but why the great effort this time to exculpate Iran and Khomeini? The Anglophone MSM only reported on Agca's latest claim because Fr. Lombardi made his ststement.

Agca may be mentally disturbed but there is enough method in his madness for him to be able to hire a ghostwriter Fr. Lombardi has described as 'expert', and obviously, to continue trying to exploit his notoriety for his own purposes.

For all that, I still find Paolo Gabriele more reprehensible in every way than Agca, who failed after all to kill the Pope and since John Paul II lived to reign another 24 years after Agca's attempt, he effectively did no harm to the Church at all. But the damage done by Gabriele and all his hero-worshippers in the MSM to public perception of the Church is as terrible as that done by perverted priests and their misguided bishops.

MASS OF THE PRESENTATION
OF OUR LORD AT THE TEMPLE
World Day for Consecrated Life
February 2, 2013


Libretto Cover: Presentation at the Temple (detail), 1502-1504, Raphael, from the Oddi Predella (Altarpiece), Hall VIII, Painting Gallery (Pinacoteca), Vatican Museums.

The Mass was preceded by the Blessing and Lighting of the Candles, signifying Jesus as the 'Light of the World' hailed by Simeon at the Presentation. The following prayer was said by the Holy Father at a side altar before the procession to the main altar:









To a congregation largely made up of men and women belonging to the various religious orders who work in Rome, the Holy Father said that the Feast of the Presentation “manifests the beauty and virtue of the consecrated life.”

During this Feast, he said, we recall “the entrance of Mary into the Temple: the Virgin Mary… carrying in her arms Light Itself, the Word incarnate, who came to dispel the darkness of the world with the love of God.”

The joy of the consecrated life, the Holy Father continued, is in participation in the Cross of Christ, saying that just as God’s light flowed from the pierced heart of Mary, it is through the suffering, sacrifice, and gift of self that consecrated persons live, loving God and their fellowmen, and evangelizing by radiating God's light.




Here is a translation of the Holy Father's homily:

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In his account of the childhood of Jesus, St. Luke underscores how Mary and Joseph were faithful to the Law of the Lord. With profound devotion, they fulfilled everything that was prescribed after the delivery of a firstborn son.

It had to do with two very ancient prescriptions; one about the mother, the other about the newborn baby. For the woman, it was prescribed that she abstain for 40 days from all ritual practices. after which she must offer a double sacrifice: a lamb for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or two doves for a purification offering (cfr Lv 12,1-8).

St. Luke specifies that Mary and Joseph offered the sacrifice of the poor (cfr 2,24), to show that Jesus was born to a family of simple folk, humble but deeply believing - a family belonging to the poor of Israel who made up the true people of God.

For the firstborn son, which according to the Law of Msoes belongs to God, a ransom was prescribed, by the offering of five shekels to be paid to a priest anywhere. This was in perennial memory of the fact that at the time of the Exodus, God saved the firstborn of the Jews (cfr Ex 13,11-16).

It is important to note that for these two acts - the purification of the mother and the ransom of the son - it was not necessary to go to the Temple. But Mary and Joseph wished to comply with everything in Jerusalem, and St. Luke makes us see how the entire event converges towards the Temple, thus focusing on the fact that Jesus entered it.

And here we see that precisely through the prescriptions of the Law, the event becomes something else, namely, the 'presentation' of Jesus at the Temple of God, which signifies offering the Son of the Most High to the Father who sent him (cfr Lk 1,12.15).

This narration of the evangelist finds its counterpart in the words of the prophet Malachi that we heard at the start of the First Reading: "Now I am sending my messenger — he will prepare the way before me; And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple... He will purify the Levites... that they may bring offerings to the LORD in righteousness" (3,1-3).

Clearly, the words do not speak about a baby, but nonetheless, they find fulfillment in Jesus because 'suddenly', thanks to the faith of his parents, he is brought to the Temple; and in the act of his 'presentation', or his being offered personally to God the Father, the themes of sacrifice and priesthood appear clearly, as in the passage from the prophet.

The baby Jesus, who was presented at the Temple is the same one who as an adult would purify the Temple (cfr Jn 2,13-22, Mk 11,15,19)), and above all, would make himself the sacrifice and the High Priest of the new Covenant.

This is also the perspective of the Letter to the Hebrews, a passage of which was cited in the second Reading, reinforcing the theme of the new priesthood - a priesthood inaugurated by Jesus that is existential: "Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested" (Heb 2,18).

Here we also find the theme of suffering, very marked in the Gospel passage, when Simeon pronounces his prophecy about the Baby and his mother: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce" (Lk 2, 34-35).

The salvation that Jesus brings to his people, and which he incarnates in himself, goes through the Cross, through a violent death that he will conquer and transform with the oblation of his life for love.

This oblation is pre-announced in the act of the Presentation at the Temple, an act that was certainly motivated by the traditions of the old Covenant, but intimately inspired by the fullness of faith and love that corresponds to the fullness of temples - to the presence of God and his Holy Spirit in Jesus.

Indeed, the Spirit hovers over the entire scene of the Presentation, especially on the figure of Simeon, but also of Anna. It is the Spirit as Paraclete [comforter], which brings comfort to Israel, who motivates the steps and the heart of those who await him.

It is the Spirit who suggests the prophjetic words of Simeon and Anna, words of benediction, praise of God, faith in his Consecrated One, gratitude that finally our eyes can see and our arms can hold 'your salvation' (cfr 23,30).

"Light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel" (2,32) - thus Simeon describes the Messiah of the Lord, at the end of his song of blessing. The theme of light, which re-echoes the first and second poems of the Servant of the Lord in Deutero-Isaiah (cfr Is 42,6; 48,6), is strongly present in today's liturgy.

In fact, it was opened by an evocative procession, with the superiors and superiors-general of the Institutes of Consecrated Life represented here, bearing lit candles.

This sign, which is specific to the liturgical tradition of this feast day, is very expressive. It manifests the beauty and the value of consecrated life as a reflection of the light of Christ - a sign that recalls the entrance of Mary into the Temple: the Virgin Mary, who is the consecrated one par excellence, carried Light itself in her arms, the Word incarnate that had come to drive away the shadows of the world with the love of God.

Dear consecrated brothers and sisters, all of you are represented in that symbolic pilgrimage which in the Year of Faith expresses even more forcefully your gathering together to be confirmed in faith and to renew the offering of yourselves to God.

To each of you, and to your institutes, I affectionately extend my most heartfelt greeting and thank you for your presence. In the light of Christ, with the multiple charisms of contemplative and apostolic life, you cooperate in the life and mission of the Church in the world.

In this spirit of acknowledgment and communion, I wish to extend to you three invitations so that you may enter fully that 'door of faith' which is always open to us (cfr Porta fidei, 1).

In the first place, I ask you to nourish a faith that can illuminate your vocation.And for this I call on you to remember, as in an interior pilgrimage, that 'first love' with which the Lord Jesus Christ warmed your heart, not out of nostalgia but in order to feed the flame.

For this, you must be with him in the silence of adoration, thus re-awakening the will and the joy of sharing with him your life, your decisions, the obedience of faith, the beatitude of the poor, the radicality of love.

Always starting off anew from this encounter of love, you have left everything to be with him and placed yourself as he did in the service of God and your brothers] (cfr Apost. Exhort. Vita consecrata, 1).

In the second place, I invite you to a faith which recognizes the wisdom of weakness. In the joys and afflictions of the present time, when the hardness and weight of the Cross are felt, do not doubt that the kenosis [self-emptying] of Christ was already the Paschal victory.

It is in our human limitations and weakness that we are called to live in conformity with Christ, in a totalizing tension that anticipates eschatological perfection, to the degree that it is possible in time (ibid., 16).

In societies of efficiency and success, your life, characterized by the 'minority' and weakness of the little people, by empathy with those who have no voice, constitute an evangelical sign of contradiction.

Finally, I ask you to renew the faith that makes you pilgrims towards the future. By its nature, consecrated life is a pilgrimage of the spirit, in search of the Face that sometimes shows itself and sometimes is concealed: "Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram" (Your face, Lord, I seek) (Ps 26[27],8).

Let this be the constant yearning of your heart, the fundamental criterion that orients your journey, both in the small daily steps as well as in the most important decisions. Do not go with the prophets of doom who proclaim the end or the lack of sense of consecrated life in the Church of our day. Rather, clothe yourself anew in Jesus Christ and put on the weapons of light - as St. Paul exhorts (cfr Rm 13,11-14) - remaining alert and vigilant.

St. Cromatius of Aquileia wrote: "May the Lord keep us far from every danger that faithlessness may weigh on our sleep, but may he grant us his grace and mercy so that we may always hold up in faithfulness to him - indeed,that our faithfulness can keep vigil in Christ" (Sermon 32, 4).

Dear brothers and sisters, the joy of consecrated life necessarily passes through participation in the Cross of Christ. So it was for the Most Blessed Nary. Hers was a suffering of the heart that is one with the Heart of the Son of God, pierced by love.

From that wound flows the light of God - that also irradiates the sufferings, the sacrifices, and the gift of self that consecrated persons live for love of God and others, and evangelizes others.

On this feast, I especially wish for you who are consecrated that your life may always have the flavor of evangelical parrhesia [speaking boldly] so that in you, the Good News of Christ may be lived, witnessed, announced and shine forth as the Word of truth (cfr Porta fidei, 6). Amen.

---

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales may not be able to mobilize the crowds that pro-family groups in France have been able to call out to the streets, but they have a vigorous ongoing campaign to e the faithful to dissuade lawmakers from voting for the ruling coalition's bill that would legalize 'marriage' between persons of the same sex...

UK bishops distribute 1 million
postcards against gay ‘marriage’
by Hilary White


LONDON, January 30, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to the Catholic bishops, the UK government’s proposed gay "marriage" bill eviscerates the meaning and content of marriage, reducing it to an institution divorced from its fundamental biological and social functions.

Over the weekend, the Catholic bishops conference of England and Wales distributed one million postcards for churchgoers to send to MPs asking for the defeat of the legislation.



Marriage, they said, cannot be understood unless it is "seen as intimately related to the conception and rearing of children”. But it is precisely this understanding that the government’s bill throws out.

“Marriage,” they said, “is not only the institutional recognition of love and commitment. Marriage, as legally recognised in this country, is also the institutional recognition of a unique kind of relationship in which children are raised by their birth-parents. Even if this is not always possible in practice, the law, by recognising this core understanding of marriage, sends a vital signal to society of an ideal.”

Under the proposed law, “marriage" will become “an institution in which openness to children, and with it the responsibility on fathers and mothers to remain together to care for children born into their family unit, is no longer central to society’s understanding of that institution,” the bishops said in a brief.

The bishops pinpointed several clauses in the bill they said will change the legal precepts that until now have created the foundation of the nation’s law on marriage, particularly as it relates to the bearing and raising of children.

These include the common law presumption that a child born to a mother during her marriage is also the child of her partner; altering the provisions on divorce so that sexual infidelity by one of the parties in a same sex marriage with another same sex partner will not constitute adultery; and nonconsummation will not be a ground on which a same sex marriage is voidable.

Maria Miller, the culture secretary, unveiled the legislation on Friday, saying it protects religious institutions that do not want to perform ceremonies and would secure “equal and fair” treatment for same-sex partners.

Miller said that marriage “has changed throughout our history, and continues to change.”

“The values of marriage bind families and communities together and bring stability. I believe that couples should not be excluded from marriage just because they love someone of the same sex. In opening up marriage to same-sex couples, we will further strengthen the importance of marriage in our society.”

But the bishops responded that this argument, although “intuitively appealing,” is “fundamentally flawed” because it excises the procreative aspect of marriage.

“Those who argue for same sex marriage do so on the basis that it is unjust to treat same sex and heterosexual relationships differently in allowing only heterosexual couples access to marriage. Our principal argument against this is that it is not unequal or unfair to treat those in different circumstances differently. Indeed, to treat them the same would itself be unjust.”

Anthony Ozimic, the communications manager for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children told LifeSiteNews.com that his organisation is urging rejection of the bill on the basic principle that marriage cannot ever, by its objective nature, include same-sex partners.

He agreed with the bishops that among the many damaging aspects of this law would be the codification of the separation of marriage from its natural, procreative purpose. He called it, “Yet another way in which gay marriage reduces marriage to the level of child-free and commitment-lite relationships.”

He responded to the effort by Edward Leigh MP who is putting forward a bill to protect conscientious objectors, saying that SPUC’s focus is on getting MPs to reject the bill as a whole on principle.

It needs to go, he said, “not because of this or that element or because some elements will make life difficult. Those elements are changeable and the government may change some of those elements in order to win over MPs or voters who will accept gay marriage in law as along as churches or conscientious objectors get stronger protections.”

The bill surpasses the work of the “social revolutionaries of centuries past plotted to debase marriage in order to remove an obstacle to the corruption of public morals,” he said. “Not even they proposed the dangerous absurdity of same-sex marriage."

“We now see that the Cameron government’s bill will debase the currency of marriage by creating a counterfeit version of marriage, one in which neither procreation nor sexual fidelity are central. Gay marriage is far more than a small extension to include a minority preference.”

Noting that the government has set Second Reading for the bill for February 5th, SPUC is asking supporters to call or email MPs, instead of waiting for the post. John Smeaton, Director of SPUC, wrote, “The postcard campaign can still be helpful, but phoning or emailing MPs is most urgent.”

The CBEW's webpage on SPEAK OUT FOR MARRIAGE:

February 3, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

ST. BLAISE [Barsegh, Blas, Biagio] (Turkish Armenia, d 316)
Bishop, Martyr, One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
What is known of his life was not written till many centuries after his death.
He was said to be a physician who became Bishop of Sevastea. Most of his
life was spent before the Edict of Milan in 313 which decreed religious
toleration throughout the Roman Empire. But it was not immediately followed
in Armenia, and Blaise retired to a cave to escape persecution. There he is
said to have befriended the wild beasts. Some hunters found him and dragged
him back to the authorities who compelled him to worship pagan idols. He
refused and was tortured by laceration using wool combs, hung from a tree,
and eventually beheaded. His cult grew in the 12th and 13th century throughout
most of Europe including England. When the Black Death struck in the 14th
century, he was one of the so-called Fourteen Holy Helpers, saints who were
invoked to cure specific illnesses. Blaise was associated with throat ailments
because he had helped a child who choked on a fishbone.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020313.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected on today's Gospel in which Jesus appears to provoke the anger
of his townmates in Nazareth because he tells them that two miracles by the prophets Elijah and Isaiah
show that sometimes faith in God is stronger among those who are not among the chosen people. The Pope
points out that Jesus came not to seek the consensus of men but to speak the truth. He also hailed
the associations promoting the culture of life on the annual Day for Life observed today in Italy.

The Vatican released the texts of the Holy Father's formal concession of ecclesial communion to His Beatitude
Mons. Louis Raphael I Sako, the newly=elected Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Mon. Sako's letter
requesting such acknowledgment. The Holy Father also named Cardinal Leandro Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation
for Oriental Churches, to represent him at the consecration of Mons. Sako tomorrow at St. Peter's Basilica.


@Pontifex 2/3/13



One year ago...

A massive snowfall took place in Rome, where snow is rare, during a a nationwide weather emergency that
caused the Italian national railways to cancel all its trains.

ANGELUS TODAY
Day for Life in Italy



The Holy Father reflected on today's Gospel in which Jesus appears to provoke the anger of his townmates in Nazareth because he tells them that two miracles by the prophets Elijah and Elisha show that sometimes faith in God is stronger among those who are not among the chosen people.

The Pope points out that Jesus came not to seek the consensus of men but to speak the truth. In English, he said:

---

In the Gospel of today's liturgy, Jesus reminds us that being a prophet is no easy task, even among those nearest to us.

Let us ask the Lord to give each of us a spirit of courage and wisdom, so that in our words and actions, we may proclaim the saving truth of God's love with boldness, humility and coherence. God bless each of you!

---

He also hailed the associations promoting the culture of life on the annual Day for Life observed today in Italy.

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

---

Dear brothers and sisters:

The Gospel today is taken from Chapter 4 of the Gospel of St Luke - a continuation of the passage from last Sunday. We are in the synagogue of Nazareth, the place where Jesus grew up and where everyone knew him and his family.

Now, after some time away, he has returned but in a new way. During the liturgy of the Sabbath, he reads a prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah, and he announces that it has been fulfilled, indicating that the prophecy referred to him, that Isaiah had spoken of him.

This disconcerted the Nazarenes. On the one hand, they were witness - with great wonder - to the words of grace that came from him (Lk 4,22). St. Mark remarks that many said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!" (6,2).

But on the other hand, his own townmates knew him too well: "He is one of us," they said. "His claims can only be presumptuous" (cfr The Infancy Narratives, Italian ed., p 11). "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Lk 4,22), which is to say, This is a carpenTer from Nazareth. What aspirations could he have?

Knowing only too well about this closed attitude, which confirms the proverb that 'no one is a prophet in his own country', Jesus then addressed the people in the synagogue with words which sound like a provocation. He cites two miracles performed by the prophets Elijah and Elisha for persons who were not Israelites, to show that sometimes, there is more faith among people who are not of Israel.

At that point, the reaction was unanimous: Everyone rose and chased him out of the synagogue, and even tried to push him off a precipice. But he, with sovereign calm, simply walked through the angry crowd and left.

At this point we may ask ourselves spontaneously: Why would Jesus have sought to provoke such a rupture? Initially, the people had admired him, and perhaps, he could have obtained a consensus from them.

But this is the very issue. Jesus did not come to obtain the consensus of men, but - as he would later tell Pilate - to 'bear witness to the truth' (Jn 18,37).

The true prophet does not obey anyone but God and is in the service of truth, ready to pay for it in person. It is true that Jesus is the prophet of love, but love has its truth. Rather, love and truth are two names for the same reality, two names for God.

Today's liturgy also resounded with words from St. Paul: "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth (1Cor 13,4-6).

Believing in God means renouncing one's prejudices and welcoming the concrete face in which He revealed himself: the man Jesus of Nazareth. This way also leads to recognizing him and serving him in others.

In this, Mary's attitude is illuminating. Who besides her was more familiar with Jesus's humanity? But she was never scandalized at him as were their townmates in Nazareth. She guarded the mystery in her heart and welcomed it ever more and aver anew in the journey of faith, up to the night of the Cross and the full light of the Resurrection.

May Mary help us to undertake this journey with faithfulness and joy.

After the prayers, he said:
In Italy, the first Sunday of February is observed as the Day for Life. I join the bishops of Italy who, in their message for this year's observance, call on everyone to invest in life and the family, as an effective answer even to the present crisis.

I greet the Movimento per la Vita and wish them success for the initiative called 'Uno di noi' (One of us), so that Europe may always be a place where every human being is protected in his dignity.




I greet the representatives of the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery of the various Roman universities, especially the professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who are here with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome (Agostino Vallini), and encourage them to train health care professionals and workers in the culture of life.

---

CDF prefect says anti-Catholic campaign today
similar to pre-war anti-Jewish pogroms in Europe


There will probably be an outcry against Mons. Mueller for this, not the least from those Jewish circles who bristle at the very idea that anyone could ever, ever possibly compare criticism or persecution of their faith to what the Jews underwent under the Nazis (even if no Christian has claimed Christianophobia today is anywhere near what the Holocaust was)... Remember the protests two or three years ago, when the preacher of the Pontifical Household, in his Good Friday homily at St. Peter's Basilica, recounted a similar observation passed on to him by a Jewish friend? But obviously, the nature of the harassment and demonization of Catholicism and the Church, and the systematic pursuit of such by Western MSM and cultural elite, is no different from the anti-Jewish manifestations evident in Germany during the 1930s. Just as obviously, Mons. Mueller knows his history.

BERLIN, February 3 (AP) – The Vatican's head of doctrine says critics in North America and Europe are conducting a "concerted campaign" to discredit the Catholic Church that is resulting in open attacks against priests.

In an interview published Saturday by Germany newspaper Die Welt, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller likened the sentiment directed toward the Church to that of the pogroms against Jews in Europe.

Mueller, who leads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was quoted as saying that those attacking the Church borrow arguments used by totalitarian ideologies such as Communism and Nazism against Christianity.

In recent years, the Catholic Church has faced growing criticism in Europe and North America for its handling of sexual abuse cases and its opposition to contraception, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women.

I have yet to check out the original article - will translate and post if warranted.

Dutch journalist's book on sex abuses
by priests may blow the lid on
a long-untouchable problem in Poland
by Giacomo Galeazzi
Translated from the Italian service of

February 3, 2013

A new scandal involving sex-offender priests is looming for the Catholic Church.

"There could be thousands of victims of pedophile priests in Poland," says Dutch jnournalist Ekke Overbeek in a new book published in Polish entitled Lękajcie się (“Be afraid?), and the Polish newspaper Polska asks, "Is this a time bomb about to go off in the Church?"

The author describes the ruined lives of 12 victims of sexual abuse by priests in Poland and harshly condemns the Church in Poland, which is still very influential in the country, for "having done pracically nothing to eradicate pedophilia aong its priests".

[I must object to the routine use of the word 'pedophilia' to describe the crime of priests accused of sexual abuse. Their victims are not always children - pedophilia specifically means the unnatural attraction to children. Attraction to minors who are past puberty - adolescents - is more properly called ephebophilia. But there are also adult victims of priests who, in any case, regardless of the age or sex of their sexual partners, are openly sinning twice - the abuse itself, and violating their vow of chastity even if they indulge in consensual sex. I have taken to referring to priests indulging their sexual desires as 'perverted priests', since perversion best describes their improper conduct, or 'sex=offender priests'.]

Mons. Charles Scicluna, former chief prosecutor of sex abuse cases against priests at the CDF, said recently that "In the Church, sexual abuses are also almost always a form of abuse of power." Scicluna is now auxiliary Bishop of Malta.

That statement is useful to understand what is happening today in Poland and in the United States in terms of 'purification' following disclosures of sex abuses and/or systematic cover-up by local bishops, as in Los Angeles.

The front in the war against abusive priests led by Benedict XVI is now shifting to Poland, where for too long, the closeness of some suspects to the entourage of the late Pope John Paul II has made investigation difficult. The same reason that the case of Father Marcial Maciel was 'frozen' until after Benedict XVI became Pope.

Under him, the bar has been raised: Investigation is no longer limited to identifying those who actually committed sex crimes, but also to strike at those who covered up for them.

That is why in the space of a few weeks, after some 60 bishops have been dismissed from pastoral functions over the past few years, two cardinals have also 'fallen' from grace. [The two cases Galeazzi goes on to cite are as different from each other as a green apple from a sour orange and it is neither fair nor appropriate to speak about them in the same breath.]
The first was the Primate of Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, who, as a young priest in charge of investigating a case of pedophilia, failed to report his own bishop to the Holy See for covering up the case. [Everything is wrong about the way Galeazzi sought to give the background in a few words, and it is inexcusable that his editor allowed him to perpetrate falsehoods in this way. 1) Brady was not 'in charge' of the investigation, but was merely ordered to ask the accuser questions provided to him by the bishop and to record the answers - his one single involvement in the investigation; 2) his bishop did not cover up anything, but in fact, dismissed the accused priest from his diocese and sent him back, properly, to the priest's order for appropriate discipline; 3) Brady is not being faulted for failing to report his bishop to the Vatican but for failing to report to the police that he had information about a possible crime - in the early 1970s, that was not required in Ireland or anywhere else; 4) the media resonance of the Brady case is not so much in what Brady did or did not do, but because the accused priest eventually became a notorious serial abuser over the next several years, after his order continued to assign him to duties involving contact with children.]

Now Brady has been excluded from pastoral duties in his diocesed with the appointment of a coadjutor bishop. {I cannot believe that Galeazzi, a veteran Vaticanista, can make such false statements. The appointment of a coadjutor means primarily that the Pope is naming the eventual successor of the bishop, not that the current bishop is suddenly 'excluded from his pastoral functions'. Also, in fairness to Brady, Galeazzi ought to have mentioned that Brady himself asked for a coadjutor back in May 2010 when a BBC documentary that misrepresented the facts of his involvement in the 1970s case led to a media campaign calling on him to resign. Benedict XVI would not have delayed making a decision for two and a half years if he really thought Brady's fault was serious enough to dismiss him!]

Also sanctioned recently was the former Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney. The present Archbishop, Mons. Jose Gomez (with the approval of Benedict XVI) [We do not know that, Mr. Galeazzi. Especially considering that today, Gomez backtracked on his previous announcement regarding Mahony's functions within the Archdiocese.] has relieved him of all his administrative responsibilities [he has no administrative responsibilities in the archdiocese, having retired two years ago!] and of taking part in public celebrations, finding him responsible for covering up hundreds of cases. [In fairness to Mahony, not 'hundreds of cases', but for a number of priests who may have been responsible for 'hundreds' of cases.] [How are journalists allowed to get away with such imprecise reporting - especially when referring to events that are very fresh! And how can someone like Galeazzi be so cavalier about his fundamental responsibility to 'fact' - newsmen are not expected to report 'truth', which in practical terms, is relative and subjective, but to report facts which are verifiable and which can help determine what is true.]

"It is truly a turning point because before this, two other cardinals who were caught up in the sex abuse scandal were treated very differently," says Vaticanista Salvagore Izzo. "The former Archbishop of Vienna, Caridnal Hans Hermann Groer, who was directly accused of committing sexual abuses, was allowed to retire to a convent, after he was defended for a long time by eminent members of the Roman Curia, against Cardinal Ratzinger, who was the only one who argued that Groer, a Benedictine, had to be tried canonically."

[Izzo does not mention that three years after Groer retired, he renounced all his privileges as a cardinal at the the behest of John Paul II. This was in 1998, before the US scandals erupted. We might imagine that Cardinal Ratzinger eventually convinced John Paul II about the gravity of Groer's offenses.]

And of course, the former Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, was transferred to Rome (by John Paul II) to become Arch-Priest of the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, after having under-estimated accusations made against priests in his diocese thus allowing them to continue their crimes, and then eventually, limiting himself only to transferring accused priests from one parish to the other.

"The purification of the Church desired by Benedict XVI is taking place more and more by breaking up consolidated power groups on the diocesan level, 'clubs' which did not limit themselves over the years merely to promoting their members to ever more prestigious positions but also covered up for their offenses. [A rather sweeping and unfair generalization, IMHO.] Of course, the other great theme of the Benedettian reform is combating careerism among men of the Church".

The 'old boys club' system that Papa Ratzinger has sought over the past eight years to break up was certainly not approved by John Paul II, either, but during his final years, the Polish Pope was not always promptly informed of internal developments, although he did personally intervene in some extraordinary cases and supported Cardinal Ratzinger who sought justice. [I wish Galeazzi had mentioned at least one example. This paragraph sounds to me like a ritual genuflection to a Pope who is now Blessed, and an unnecessary one, because, as a good Christian, he would be the first to object if things that did not go right during his Pontificate are now glossed over.]

The one who broke the armored wall that surrounded the ailing Pontiff was psychiatrist Wanda Poltawska, whom the Pope treated like his sister, and who dared to oppose those in high positions who had sought to do nothing about the case of Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan, in the Pope's home country.

Some background on the Paetz case is necessary, especially since there may be an analogy to the case of Cardinal Mahony, in terms of sanctions against public celebration of liturgies:

---

Archbishop Juliusz Paetz resigned as head of the Poznan archdiocese in 2002, after being accused of sexual abuse and/or improper advances to seminarians. In 2010, several Polish outlets reported that the Vatican had lifted his suspension, over the objections of his successor, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, denied both reports.

In the case of Archbishop Paetz, the papal spokesman said, “it is inappropriate to speak of ‘rehabilitation.’” The only question raised to the Vatican, he reported, was whether the retired archbishop should be allowed to preside at public liturgical events. Father Lombardi said that after weighing that question the Vatican decided: “The criteria and restrictions established in 2002, and followed since then, will nonetheless not be modified.”

Archbishop Paetz could theoretically preside at liturgical events if he received permission from the current Archbishop of Poznan. Given the attitude of Archbishop Gadecki, that seems highly unlikely.

---

[Might one conclude from the timing - 2002 - of Paetz's dismissal that this was one of the cases successfully pled to John Paul II by Cardinal Ratzinger? Or was this completely Dr. Poltawska's achievement?]

Two other courageous prelates who, together with Mons. Scicluna, defied other ecclesial powers to support the efforts of then Cardinal Ratzinger were the successors of Law and Groer - Capuchin Cardinal Sean O'Malley (whose principal aide in cleaning up Boston's priest scandals, Fr. Oliver, was named by Benedict XVI to succeed Mons. Scicluna at the CDF), and the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schoenborn, a Dominican. [On the other hand, the number of Austrian priests openly cohabiting with women (probably men, too, in some cases) has risen alarmingly in the 18 years since Groer retired in 1995 and Schoenborn took over as the ranking archbishop in Austria. Is that not as terrible as sex-offender priests?]

For the record, here are statements relating to the release of the Los Angeles 'clergy files'. The statement was read from all the pulpits of Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, today, Sunday, February 4.:



The archdiocesan site has the documentation on clergyfiles.la-archdiocese.org/listing.html
along with the following useful Q&A:

---

1. Which files are being disclosed?
The files concern those priests named in the litigation that settled in 2007. Pursuant to the settlement agreement between victims and the Archdiocese, retired Federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian ordered files released subject to certain rules designed to protect the privacy of certain individuals, including the redaction of the names of victims, third parties and church hierarchy.

Judge Emilie Elias then adopted the Judge Tevrizian order with certain modifications. Specifically, she ordered that the names of the church hierarchy generally be disclosed in the files. The Archdiocese accepted her ruling, and has restored the names of church hierarchy in the documents being released.

2. How many files are being released with names?
124 files are being released with names. Of this number, 82 files have information on allegations of childhood sexual abuse and 42 files have no information on allegations of childhood sexual abuse but, in those instances, the "proffers" are being provided.

"Proffers" are summaries of personnel files, prepared for litigation that describe some of the documents in that file. These summaries were previously published by the Archdiocese after they were determined by the Court to be complete and accurate regarding the lack of notice to the Archdiocese of any claims of childhood sex abuse for that priest.

3. How many pages are being released?
There are approximately 12,000 pages in the files being released, in accordance with the Court orders. Media reports that there were 30,000 or more pages were inaccurate.

4. There are 6 additional files where the priests are identified by Roman Numerals instead of names. Why?
There are certain priests against whom charges were never substantiated. In those instances, the Court ordered that their identities be protected.

5. There were 192 priests and bishops named in the litigation, what about the remaining 62 individuals?
In those cases the Archdiocese had no file at all or the party was exonerated and the files were not to be produced.

6. There were additional priests who were previously identified in the Report to the People of God, why are they not included?
The Report to the People of God, published in 2004, included the names of every priest or brother who had been publicly accused. In many instances, those individuals were not affiliated with the Archdiocese, had nothing relevant in their files, were exonerated, or were never named in litigation.

7. There appear to be a number of duplicate documents or blank pages in some of the files. Why?
The files being released reflect an assembly from several Archdiocesan files containing tens of thousands of pages. If a document appears in more than one file, it appears in the released files as a duplicate. In some instances, there are many duplicates.

8. Most of the documented abuse seems to have happened a long time ago. Do you have statistics that deal with this?
Yes. The chart below displays the timing of each claim of abuse:



9. What has the Archdiocese done to insure that these experiences are not repeated?
The Archdiocese has been a leader in initiating reforms designed to protect its children.
- Every adult who supervises children is investigated, fingerprinted and trained in the detection of child abuse.
- Every child enrolled in an Archdiocesan school or program receives age-appropriate training every year on how to detect inappropriate behavior and how to talk about it.
- We employ retired FBI agents who investigate every claim of abuse.
- Any person, whether priest, teacher, coach or volunteer who is credibly accused is reported to police and immediately removed from his or her position.

There follows a list of the clergy whose files were releaed.

---

And here is Arhbishop Gomez's 'clarification' on the status of Cardinal Mahony and Mons. Curry insofar as their ability to continue administering the Sacraments:



So what is Cardinal Mahony prohibited from doing? If he says Mass or administers a sacrament, is that not a 'public' event, or is he limited to doing these priestly acts only in a strictly private setting?

No babies, no future:
The latest evidence
by Austin Ruse

February 3, 2012

Are you worried about massive immigration both legal and illegal coming from south of the border? The problem might be taken care of all on its own. So says Weekly Standard writer Jonathan Last in his very good new book on population and demography.

Last tells a story that would interest any New Yorker who may be forgiven if they believe there was at one time a virtual invasion of their city by Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans came to New York City in a trickle back in the 1920s, “fewer than 2,000 per year. By 1930, there were 50,000 Puerto Ricans living in the city. This eventually grew to 30,000 per year.

Last explains that the 1950s were a golden age for Puerto Ricans in New York. West Side Story told their story and this movie won the Academy Award and grossed “$440 million in today’s dollars.” There were so many Puerto Ricans in New York that in 1958 the city changed the name of the Hispanic Day Parade to the Puerto Rican Day Parade and they moved it from Harlem to Fifth Avenue. Then something happened.

While in 1955, 85,000 Puerto Ricans moved to New York, by 2010 that number was down to 4,283. What happened? Did immigration become more difficult? No. If anything it became easier. Did the economic situation in Puerto Rico greatly improve? Maybe a little. It’s not like the population of Puerto Rico dropped. In fact it doubled, from 2.25 million in 1955 to 3.99 million in 2010.

What did happen in that time frame was that Puerto Rico’s fertility rated plummeted from 4.97 births per woman to 1.64 in 2012. This eased the economic need to leave. Last says as this same thing happens all over Latin American, and it is happening, immigration will begin to recede in the same way.

This is just one of many interesting stories told by Last in What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster out next week from Encounter Books.

The Puerto Rican story is about the only good news in this bleak tale.

Fifteen years ago the United Nations Population Division held its first expert group meeting of demographers on falling fertility rates. The demographers, largely from Europe, were truly alarmed by fertility rates that seemed to have fallen off a cliff and fallen down below replacement levels.

A few years later a similar group met at the UN to explore the question, “how low can fertility rates go?” Their answer was unsettling to say the least because, get this, they did not know.

How far we have come from the population bomb days! Those of a certain age will remember a poster hanging in many 1970’s dorm rooms, a painting of people living on the beach, crowded onto the beach from just too many darned people in America! This and other population predictions never panned out for the doomsayers and you don’t hear much along those lines any longer. [That was the scare of the 1970s, and those giving in to the false scare of 'global warming' should perhaps learn from it. I hasten to add that though the objective fact of global warming in our time as being significantly different in scope and degree from previous 'warm periods' in the earth's known geologic history is still an open question (it has not been established because so many other cosmic factors, besides manmade reasons, come into play), we do - each of us individually, and nations collectively - have a moral obligation to conserve energy and safeguard the environment following basic common=sense principles, for reasons far more practical and immediate than an elusive phantasmal phenomenon like 'global warming'.]

What has happened is something that has never occurred before - plummeting fertility rates not caused by war or famine or disease. As Last explains, this causes profound societal problems as populations begin to age and there are fewer and fewer young people who are needed to keep economies alive and to take care of the needs of the elderly.

Last explains how difficult modern society makes it to have children. Take the car seat. I vividly recall bouncing all over the back seat and arguing about who got to climb into the way back. I grew up in a family of four children. That was an unremarkable number for that time. Today it seems like a troop. And try putting four mandatory car seats in anything other than a very expensive mini-van.

There is also the cost of children. We had our first child seven years ago and my wife left full time employment. I estimate her missed wages in those seven years to be roughly half a million dollars. There’s less coming in and plenty going out. The cost of our daughters’ grade school — we now have two little takers — comes in at $12,000 per year, almost ten times what I spent for yearly college tuition.

Many governments have tried to goose fertility, mostly through monetary incentives. They hardly ever work. Russia, the really sick man of Europe that has an average life span in the upper 60’s and is actually losing several hundred thousand in population each year, has instituted national stay-at-home-and-make-babies day that has not worked.

France and Sweden have had some luck in both monetary transfers and in very liberal stay-at-home-with-baby policies. Their fertility rates have inched up but are still below replacement.

Statistics show that large parts of our world are in the process of simply emptying out. Cities will be left abandoned. It is happening already in Germany. Italy may shrink to half its size by the end of this century. Lots of fantastic villas will stand empty and turn to dust.

Last says America may be an exception, but only maybe. What drives fertility in this selfish child-phobic age is religious belief and practice. As it happens, the US is a very religious country and our fertility rates stand above all the industrialized societies. This may not hold as the US becomes spiritually more like Europe.

The one place in the world that has truly bucked the trend and holds a lesson for us all is the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Where much of the former Soviet Union aborts like crazy and dies early and drunk, Georgia has rebounded largely under the inspiration of Patriarch Ilia II, the longtime head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, who promised that “he would personally baptize any child born to parents who already had two or more children.” No cash offered, only the healing water of baptism by their spiritual father. Georgia’s fertility rate increased by 20%.

Is there a plan here — one we cannot see — that fecund religious folk will inherit the Earth?

I would refer you to two major articles on the world's demographic decline that I posted on this thread about a year ago and that provide more basic information:
freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=8527207&p=274
freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=852720Caritas in veritate about population decline:

Benedict XVI
on population decline

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The primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: “Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life” (No. 24).

Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good...

To consider population increase as the primary cause of underdevelopment is mistaken, even from an economic point of view. Suffice it to consider, on the one hand, the significant reduction in infant mortality and the rise in average life expectancy found in economically developed countries, and on the other hand, the signs of crisis observable in societies that are registering an alarming decline in their birth rate. (No. 28)

Morally responsible openness to life represents a rich social and economic resource. Populous nations have been able to emerge from poverty thanks not least to the size of their population and the talents of their people.

On the other hand, formerly prosperous nations are presently passing through a phase of uncertainty and in some cases decline, precisely because of their falling birth rates; this has become a crucial problem for highly affluent societies.

The decline in births, falling at times beneath the so-called “replacement level”, also puts a strain on social welfare systems, increases their cost, eats into savings and hence the financial resources needed for investment, reduces the availability of qualified labourers, and narrows the “brain pool” upon which nations can draw for their needs.

Furthermore, smaller and at times miniscule families run the risk of impoverishing social relations, and failing to ensure effective forms of solidarity. (No. 44)

- BENEDICT XVI
Caritas in Veritate

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Monday, February 4, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Center photo: The saint's tomb in Leonessa; right photo, a painting by Tiepolo.
ST. GIUSEPPE DA LEONESSA ;Joseph of Leonissa] (Italy, 1556-1612)
Capuchin, Preacher and Missionary
Born Eufranio Desiderio in a small town near Assisi, he joined the Capuchins
at age 17 and spent the first decade of his priesthood preaching to the country
folk in Umbria and the Abruzzo. He lived a very ascetic life, referring to himself
as 'Brother Ass' - "not fit to be treated like a noble horse but content to be
a poor ass". He rose to become prior of his convent but in 1587, he volunteered
to go to Turkey to help tend Christians who had been taken galley slaves by
the Muslims. He was imprisoned because of his preaching and was released
through the intervention of the local Venetian agent. He was rearrested
when he tried to bring his preaching to the Sultan himself. He was condemned
to death and hung on hooks by his left arm and leg with a slow fire underneath.
Miraculously, he was released after three days, and he went back to Italy,
where he was assigned to Naples. and continued preaching to the poor and helping
to reconcile warring families. He asked to go back to Leonessa to die, and
his remains are kept in the Basilica of his native town. He was canonized in 1746.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020413.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, recently elected Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, and the bishops
of the Chaldean Synod who elected him. The new Patriarch was to be consecrated this afternoon at St, Peter's
Basilica by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches representing the Pope.

- Mons. Paul Richard Gallagher, Apostolic Nuncio to Australia

- Eight Italian bishops from the Emilia-Romagna region on ad limina visit.

This afternoon, the Holy Father was to meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in the Auletta reception room
of Aula Paolo VI, before a concert for the Pope offered by the President to mark the coming February 11
anniversary of the 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Vatican. Zubin Mehta was to conduct the Orchestra
of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in selections from Giuseppe Verdi's La Forza del Destino, and the Third
Symphony (Eroica) of Beethoven.

A news conference was held by Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family,
to present the Council's major activities in 2013 in preparation for the next World Meeting of Families
to take place in Philadelphia in 2015. He also presented the volume that gathers all the acts (speeches and
discussion proceedings) that took place at the VIII World Meeting for Families held in Milan last July.

An Ordinary Public Consistory will be held in the Vatican Apostolic Palace on Monday, February 11,
to vote on the canonization of the following Blesseds:
- Antonio Primaldo and Companions, martyrs. Primaldo and 800 other Italians were martyred in Otranto,
southeastern Italy, in 1480 by invading Turks because the Christians refused to convert to Islam.
- Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya Y Upegui, virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and St Catherine of Siena, and
- Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, co-foundress of the Congregation of the Handmaids of St Margaret Mary (Alacoque) and the Poor.

Benedict XVI meets new Patriarch
and bishops of the Chaldean Church



The Holy Father personally extended his congratulations and best wishes to His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, recently elected Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, at an audience in the Apostolic Palace on Monday morning.

With the new Patriarch were the bishops of the Chaldean Synod convoked in Rome by the Pope to choose a successor to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, 85. who retired last month due to age and health reasons. The Synod elected Mons. Sako, who was the Archbishop of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on January 28.

Patriarch Sako was consecrated later Monday in an afternoon Mass at St. Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, representing the Holy Father.



The cardinal in the group photo is Cardinal Sandri, who accompanied the Chaldean bishops.

President Napolitano's farewell
offering to Benedict XVI



The concert offered this year by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in honor of Benedict XVI was particularly special, because it was also in his honor. His seven-year term as President of the Republic ends in May, a month before the veteran politician and ex-Communist turns 88.

The concert was organized by the Italian Embassy to the Holy See as a farewell tribute to Napolitano and to honor the Holy Father on the 84th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts between the State of Italy and the Holy See.

Every year since he became President in May 2006, President Napolitano has offered a concert for the Holy Father to mark various occasions - the Pope's birthday, the anniversaries of the Pontificate, the anniversary of Italian unification, and this year, the 84th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts.

What do you give a Pope "who has everything he needs and more", as his brother Georg always says? President Napolitano and various groups in Germany and Italy have had the initiative in the past eight years of offering the musical Pope a classical music concert, and have thus brought to the Vatican some of the world's most famous conductors either with their famous orchestras or with smaller music groups that they work with.

Yesterday evening at the Aula Paolo VI, Indian-born conductor Zubin Mehta and the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the summer music festival in Florence, performed for the Pope, the President and their guests a symphonic treatment of melodies from Giuseppe Verdi's 'La Forza del Destino' and the thematically related Third Symphony (familiarly called the 'Eroica') by Ludwig van Beethoven. An appropriate repertoire for President Napolitano's farewell concert with the Pope.

The Italian embassy to the Holy See used the occasion to raise funds for the Flying Angels Foundation, a private non-profit group headed by Ambassador of Italy to the Holy See, Francesco Greco, which provides free airline tickets for disadvantaged children in need of specialized care in top-ranked hospitals.

As in the past, the concert was preceded by a private meeting between the Pope and the President, about which the Vatican said this in its communique:

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Before the concert, the Holy Father and the President of the Republic the Honorable Giorgio Napolitano met for a conversation that lasted 20 minutes at the Auletta (small reception hall) adjoining the Aula Paolo VI.

The meeting was particularly intense inn the context of the approaching end of the President's seven-year term, which, as everyone knows, has been characterized by the great reciprocal esteem and the unfailing very heartfelt encounters between the two distinguished personalities.

During the conversation, the Pope expressed his attention and sense of participation in the important events which await the Italian people in the next few weeks.

They discussed the main issues on the international scene today, especially their concern for peace in the most troubled spots in the world - the Middle East and Africa.

---

A Corriere della Sera article says that thrice during his introductory remarks, President Napolitano's voice broke with emotion. Here is a translation of the President's greeting:

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Holiness,

The occasions, propitiated by a common love for music which have succeeded each other through the years in the concentrated but collective atmosphere of the Aula Paolo VI, come to an end for me with this concert, which takes place during the final months of my mandate as President of the Italian Republic.

You will therefore not be surprised if my brief words will carry particularly emotional tones. Because this is not only the occasion to address you, as in past years, with heartfelt homage and best wishes for the coming anniversary of your election to the Pontificate, and to open the celebration of the 84th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts, but also a form of public farewell.

Recalling the Lateran Pacts allows us to measure the long road taken - even in recent years and through converging commitment - towards a serene and trustful cooperation between State and Church in the service of the common good, "in full respect", to use your words - "of the distinction between the political sphere and the religious sphere".

But I take away something else, and much more, from the memory of our meetings and conversations on multiple occasions in the course of these seven difficult years, difficult not just for my country but for a world that is increasingly interdependent.

The memory of our reciprocal listening to each other says much to me. I have been much enriched by the dialog that we have been able to carry on about Italy and Europe, about peace, and about politics itself as an essential dimension of human behavior, and on the idealistic and moral roots of political commitment.

We will continue, Holiness, as Italians, in whatever position, to pay attention to your messages, as a motivation for reflection and trust.

And now, thank you to all who have made this concert possible. We can now concentrate ourselves to listen to an excellent Italian orchestra and a Maestro who has been adopted by Florence, and therefore, by Italy.

---

After the President's speech, the photo of the Pope thanking him by putting his arm on the President's shoulder instantly became the iconic representation of the unusual friendship between these two octogenarians, a photo picked up by most of Italian media and used by the OR on the front page of tomorrow's issue.

The article that accompanies the photo basically reiterates the contents of the Vatican communique, so I will not bother to translate it. The title comes from the Pope's post-concert remarks.







After congratulating Maestro Mehta, the Holy Father delivered these remarks:

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Mr. President of the Republic,
Eminences.
Honorable Ministers and Distinguished Authorities,
Ladies and gentlemen:

First of all, I greet the President of the Italian Republic, the Honorable Giorgio Napolitano, and thank him for the intense words that he addressed to me. In these seven years, as he recalled, we met several times and shared experiences and reflections.

I greet his gracious wife, the Italian authorities present and the ambassadors and other personalities who are here.

And thank you from my heart to the promoters and organizers of this event, especially the Flying Angels Foundation that is involved in the fraternal work of solidarity.

The orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and its director, Zubin Mehta, do not need any introductions: Both occupy important places on the international music scene, and they have demonstrated their reputation tonight by giving us moments that greatly elevated the spirit with the remarkable execution of the Verdi symphonic medley and of Beethoven's Third Symphony.

Giuseppe Verdi and 'La Forze del Destino' - it is a homage to the great Italian composer on the year we remember the 200th anniversary of his birth.

In his works, we are always struck by how he was able to grasp and musically transcribe situations in life, especially the dramas of the human spirit, in a way that was so immediate, incisive and essential, as pne rarely finds in the musical panorama.

Verdi's characters always had a tragic destiny, as the protagonists of 'La Forza del Destino': The symphony we just heard made us perceive these from its first notes.*

But in facing the theme of destiny, Verdi found he had to face the religious theme directly, to confront God, as it were, with faith, with the Church. And the spirit of this musician emerges - his disquiet, his religious quest.

In this opera, not only is one of its most famous arias, 'La Vergine degli Angeli', a heartfelt prayer, but we also find two stories of conversion and getting close to God - Leonora who tragically realizes her faults and decides to retire to a hermit's life, and Don Alvaro, who fights to choose between the world and a life of solitude with God.

It is interesting to note that the two versions of this opera - that of 1862 for St. Petersburg, and that of 1869 for La Scala in Milan - have different endings. In the first, Don Alvaro ends his life by suicide, rejecting the religious life and invoking hell. In the second, he accepts the words of Friar Guardiano and trusts in God's forgiveness, so the opera ends with the words, 'salita a Dio' - ascended to God.

Here is depicted the drama of human existence which is marked by a tragic destiny and nostalgia for God, for his mercy and love that offer light, meaning and hope even in darkness.

Faith offers us this perspective that is not illusory but real. As St. Paul writes, "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord} (Rm 8,38-39).

This is the the strength of the Christian [la forza del Cristiano], that is born out of the death and resurrection o fChrist, from the supreme act of the God who entered human history not just with his words but by incarnating himself.

And a word about the Third Sumphony of Beethoven, a complex work that clearly marked its distance from the classic symphonism of Haydn and Mozart. As we know, it was dedicated to Napoleon, but the great German composer changed his mind after Bonaparte proclaimed himself emperor, and he changed the programmatic title to "Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man".

Beethoven musically expresses the idea of the hero as bearer of freedom and equality, who is faced with the choice between resignation and fighting on, between death and life, between surrender and victory,

The symphony describes these states of mind with a coloristic and thematic richness that had not been known till then. I will not get into all four movements, but I will stress only the second - the famous 'Funeral March' - a deeply felt meditation on death that begins with a first section with tragic and desolate tones, but in the central part, contains a serene episode introduced by the oboe, followed by a double fugue and trumpet blares.

Thinking about death is an invitation to reflect on what is beyond death, on the infinite. In those years, Beethoven wrote in the so-called testament of Heilgenstadt from 1802: "From on high you look into my intimacy, you know it well, and know that it is full of love for mankind and with the desire to do good". The search for meaning that leads to a solid hope for the future is part of mankind's journey.

Thank you, Mr. President, for your presence. Thank you to the Musical Director and the professors of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Thanks to the promoters and organizers, and to all of you. I wish you a good night.

---

Among those who came up to greet the Holy Father after the concert was Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti (above),
and the Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi (below), whose city hosts the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino


Note the security phalanx around the Pope and the President - even Cardinal Bertone, Mons. Gaenswein and papal valet Sandro Mariotti are 'kept off'...


Finally, this photo I cannot place - it seems to show the Pope ascending the stage at Aula Paolo VI. Yet it was notable that today, for the first time, he did not go up to the stage to deliver his post-concert remarks but did it from his seat.

P.S. Found another photo which completes the picture, as it were. The Pope and the President exited the Aula Paolo VI through the stage door used by the Pope during the GAs.


*A musical PS: If you are familiar with the Overture to La Forza del Destino and the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, you will note that the overture begins with an ascending inversion of the familiar and ominous descending 'da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum' that starts the Fifth symphony.

February 5, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. AGATHA

The Passion of St. Agatha was a popular subject for medieval artists. From left, a conventional portrait by Carlo Crivelli, 15th-cent; miniature showing her torture, Sano del Pietro, 1471; a detailed Passion by Del Piombo, 1519; St. Peter healing St. Agatha, school of Caravaggio, 1614; unconventional portrait by Zurbaran, 1630.
ST. AGATA (Agatha) (Sicily, ca 231-253), Virgin and Martyr
She was martyred under Decian but like Agnes of Rome, her story comes down to us mostly from the medieval Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend), and follows the same line: She was arrested for her faith, tortured, sent to a house of prostitution, preserved providentially from violation and put to death. Unique to her legend is that on her second day in prison, her breasts were cut off, but St. Peter visits her cell to heal her. Four days later she is rolled onto burning brands, but this torment is ended by a sudden earthquake. Back in her cell, she prays that Jesus will take her and then dies. She is buried in Catania and is the patron saint of both Palermo and Catania. As an early martyr, she is one of seven women other than Mary who is mentioned in the canon of the Mass.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020513.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.

The Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations announced that he will preside at the traditional opening
of the Lenten season in Rome on Wednesday, February 13, with the penitential procession on the Aventine
Hill from the church of Sant'Anselmo to the Basilica of Santa Sabina for the Mass of Ash Wednesday.
Santa Sabina is the first of the so-called station churches of Rome, which in earlier days, were visited
serially by pilgrims during each of the 40 days of Lent.

A news conference was held to present an upcoming major art exhibit at the Museo Nazionale of Castel Sant'Angelo
entitled "Il cammino di Pietro" (The journey of Peter), gathering together works of art that depict the life,
work and martyrdom of the Church's first universal Pastor. It is a special project for the Year of Faith, and
was presented by Mons. Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization.



As I was unable yesterday to 'work' on the Forum, I have set aside two spaces for the two events which I would have posted - the Holy Father's meeting with the new Patriarch of Babylon, and the concert offered in the Pope's honor by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to mark the coming 84th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts. I shall fill them in ASAP.

New CDF prosecutor of sex abuse cases
says solving the problem is 'long-term'
By Cindy Wooden


ROME, February 5 (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's efforts to prevent clerical sexual abuse and protect children around the world will be "a long-term effort," said Father Robert W. Oliver, a Boston priest who began work Feb. 1 as the promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.


Right: Fr. Oliver conducting a training session in Boston; center and right, at yesterday's event in the Gregorian.

"All of us -- every single person has difficulty coming to understand what this really is and how prevalent it is in our societies across the world," said Father Oliver, whose position includes monitoring and investigating cases of priests accused of sex abuse.

When one first hears of a case of abuse, he said, "every single one of us begins with denial," which is why the entire Church, at all levels, must make a concerted effort to educate its members about the reality of abuse and the best practices for protecting children.

Speaking at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University Feb. 5, Father Oliver said the conference that the university and several Vatican offices sponsored last year for bishops and for superiors of religious orders was an important step forward, as is the pilot project for an online prevention and child protection course being run by the Gregorian-based Center for Child Protection.

Father Oliver spoke at the university as the center presented a report on its activities over the past year since it was founded at an international symposium hosted by the Gregorian.

Responding to a reporter's question about the role of the media, especially in the United States, in forcing the church to come to terms with the reality and breadth of the sex abuse scandal, Father Oliver said, "those who continued to put before us that we needed to confront this problem did a service" and continually reminded the Church that it had to deal with the scandal "with honesty and transparency."

Still, he said, in some parts of the world bishops and other Catholics are just starting to become aware of the problem and their need to enact measures to protect children and deal with allegations.

In 2011, the doctrinal congregation asked every bishops' conference in the world to submit guidelines for assisting victims; protecting children; selecting and training priests and religious; dealing with accused priests; and collaborating with local authorities.

Father Oliver said "three-quarters" of the world's 112 bishops' conferences have sent in guidelines, and the doctrinal congregation has just begun responding with observations and suggestions. Most of the countries that have not yet responded are in Africa, he said.

He also told reporters that the greatest number of cases of suspected abuse reported to the doctrinal congregation in a single year was about 800 cases reported in 2004; in the last three years, he said, the number has remained steady at about 600 "from the whole world," with most of the abuse having taken place between 1965 and 1985.

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the directors' committee of the Child Protection Center, said that in responding to the scandal and preventing abuse, "the road will be long and difficult because of resistance, conflicts and tensions" as well as "inertia, discouragement on the inside and attacks from the outside."

Just in the past month, he said, the Church's handling of abuse cases has continued to make the news, demonstrating that "unfortunately, the matter will be with us for a long time. The Church is working much more than people know, but is also the object of criticism because of its errors, its failures and the sins of the past. This is why it is extremely important to continue the work of prevention with every available means."

While some people believe the problem of child sexual abuse afflicts society at large and others "doubt the sincerity of any commitment made by the Church," he said, "that which gives us energy and inspiration are the words of Jesus himself, who taught us that the truth will make us free and who tells us that his love for children is absolute and unconditional."


Vatican Radio has this report today:

New CDF Promoter of Justice pledges
commitment to child protection

February 6, 2013

While there is a continuing commitment to making the Church a safer place for children, there has been very little theological reflection on the effects of the sex abuse crisis.

That was the message that emerged from a press conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University on Tuesday, one year after the first international symposium for bishops and leaders of religious orders on how to deal with preventing clergy sec crimes and helping the victims of abuse to heal.

Among those speaking at the press conference on Tuesday was Fr Robert Oliver, the new promoter of justice with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body which oversees all allegations of clerical abuse.

An average of some 600 cases continue to be reported to the CDF each year, most of them dealing with abuse that took place in the two decades between 1965 and 1985.

Fr Oliver said while the Church is still struggling with issues of denial and disbelief, it is firmly committed to confronting the problem and protecting children in its care..

The main purpose of the press conference was to present the full proceedings of the 2012 Symposium in 12 different language editions – something the Jesuit organisers hope will provide a valuable resource for Church leaders in countries just beginning to tackle the problem of sexual abuse.

At that Symposium a new Centre for Child Protection was also launched, based around an e-learning internet platform currently being introduced to countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner, Dean of the Gregorian’s Institute of Psychology and head of the steering committee at the Centre for Child Protection, said:

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Certainly we have very encouraging signs......we work with various people, for example in East Europe with people at state level also who look forward to having an instrument which could be a very helpful tool for preventing abuse...

I think many bishops and religious superiors who participated in the Symposium have gotten the message and went back to their dioceses with their sensibility and availability heightened, to encounter victims, to offer what help they can and to go on evaluating the structures of our institutions...

Healing takes place in long processes, especially if there are wounds as deep as abuse inflicts, so I know many priests, bishops, many councelling centres of the Church are involved in this but it's a silent work. It's not done in a year or five years. This is a process that has to continue, as our work of prevention has to continue with unwavering perseverance.

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Thanks to Lella and her blog for calling attention to this new book. Someone was bound to - and ought to - have written a book about it sooner rather than later - namely, Joseph Ratzinger's participation, memoirs and commentaries on the Second Vatican Council. And Italian journalist-author Gianni Valente has now published this book, a few months after the Regensburg-based Institut Papst Benedikt II published last autumn its two-volume anthology on everything Joseph Ratzinger wrote about Vatican II, from his Collected Writings, in time for the 50th anniversary of the Council Opening last October (a book available so far only in German, and therefore, uncommented upon in the Anglophone press. I have been unable to check what the reaction was in the German media. Apparently, it made no great waves, which is strange (one would think all the contrary theologians would have seen it as a chance to jump on him yet again), but then the 'Wir sind Papst' euphoria in the Pope's native country did not really last.



In 2008, Valente - who writes for 30 Giorni and Avvenire - published RATZINGER PROFESSORE, an account of the quarter century that the present Pope lived as a university professor in Germany, based largely on the recollections of those who had been his students, co-workers or colleagues during that time. Here is the publisher's blurb for the new book:

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Gianni Valente reconstructs with great care the chronicle of Joseph Ratzinger'a Vatican II adventure, as it emerges from documents and available testimonials from the archives and publications about Vatican II.

What did Joseph Ratzinger do at the Council? Did he make a personal contribution to the drafting of the Council documents? Which were the battles he fought most strongly? What ideas were enkindled in him by the events and theatrical setting of the Council through its four sessions? Who were his friends and dialectical partners?

Following Joseph Ratzinger through the concrete details of meetings, votes, discussions, the work of drafting and correcting Conciliar documents, one can better appreciate the compass that guided him through his own personal experience of the Council, and the successive stages of the post-Conciliar period, as he took on responsibilities in the Church that eventually became major, from being Archbishop of Munich-Freising, to Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally, to the humanly vertiginous role as Successor of Peter.

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Wednesday, February 6, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions

Left, Memorial to the martyrs in Nagasaki.
SAINTS PAULUS MIKI and COMPANIONS (d Nagasaki, 1597), Martyrs
After Francis Xavier brought Christianity to Japan in 1549, the faith grew so fast that by the end of the century, there were an estimated 300,000 Christians in Japan. However, the Japanese government feared the influence of the Jesuits, and persecution of Christians started soon afterwards. In 1597, Paulus (born around 1562), by then a Jesuit brother, along with two other Jesuit brothers, six Spanish Franciscan missionaries, and 17 Japanese laymen including 3 boys, were arrested and forced to march from Kyoto, the imperial capital, to Nagasaki, where they were put to death by crucifixion on what is now called Martyrs Hill, then stabbed in the heart to ensure death. Paulus is remembered for preaching his faith in Christ even from the Cross. He and his 25 fellow martyrs were canonized in 1862 - the first of many Japanese Christian martyrs. The faith would not return to Japan until 1880, when returning missionaries were surprised to find a thriving underground Christian community.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020613.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

General Audience - The Holy Father reflected on the third phrase in the Apostles' Creed, describing God
as 'Creator of heaven and earth". He said that to live the faith means to acknowledge the grandeur of God
and our smallness as his creatures, allowing him to fill us with his love, so that we can grow in faith,
which illuminates the mystery of evil, helps us deal with pain and suffering, and grants us the certainty
that it is good to be human.

After the GA, the Holy Father met with participants in the General Assembly of the Priestly Fraternity
of San Carlo Borromeo, the priestly arm of the Comunione e Liberazione movement.


@Pontifex 2/6/13





And there goes the UK...

- The British House of Commons yesterday passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage with the support of Prime Minister David Cameron. The bill enables same-sex couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies, provided that the religious institution consents. The proposed law was strongly opposed by the Catholic Church.

OREMUS!

GENERAL AUDIENCE
Articles of the Creed (4):
'Creator of heaven and earth'





In his catechesis today at the General Audience, the Holy Father reflected on the third phrase in the Apostles' Creed, describing God
as 'Creator of heaven and earth".

He said that to live the faith means to acknowledge the grandeur of God and our smallness as his creatures, allowing him to fill us with his love, so that we can grow in faith, which "illuminates the mystery of evil, helps us deal with pain and suffering, and grants us the certainty that it is good to be human. In English, he said:

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In our continuing catechesis during this Year of Faith, we now reflect on the Creed’s description of God as "Creator of heaven and earth".

In the work of creation, God is seen as the almighty Father who by his eternal Word brings into existence a universe of goodness, harmony and beauty. The world thus has meaning as a part of the divine plan, a plan which in a special way embraces man and woman as the culmination of God’s creative activity.

The Scriptures teach us that man was created in the image and likeness of God, formed from the dust of the earth. Here we see the basis not only of the unity of the human family but also of our inviolable human dignity.

We also see something of the mystery of man as a finite creature called to a sublime role in God’s eternal plan. The tragedy of Adam’s sin, by falsifying our original relationship with God, has affected our relationship with one another and the world itself.

Through the saving obedience of Christ, the new Adam, God himself has justified us and enabled us to live in freedom as his beloved sons and daughters.

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Here is a translation of the full catechesis:

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Dear brothers and sisters,

The Credo that begins by describing God as 'the Father almighty', as we reflected upon last week, then adds that he is 'Creator of heaven and earth', thus reaffirming what is said at the start of the Bible.

In the first verse of Sacred Scripture, we read: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1,1). God is the origin of all things and he displays his omnipotence as a loving father in the beauty of creation.

God manifests himself as Father in creation, as the origin of life, and in creating, he shows his omnipotence. The images used by Sacred Scripture in this respect are very evocative (cfr Is 40,12; 45,18; 48,13; Ps 104,2.5; 135,7; Pr 8, 27-29; Jms 38–39).

As a good and powerful father, he takes care of everything he has created with a love and faithfulness that will never diminish, as the Psalms say repeatedly (cfr Ps 57,11; 108,5; 36,6).

Thus creation is the place in which to recognize and acknowledge the omnipotence of the Lord and his goodness, and it becomes an appeal to the faith of believers so that we may proclaim him as Creator.

"By faith", writes the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, "we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible (11,3).

Thus faith implies being able to recognize the invisible, identifying it from its traces in the visible world.The believer can read the great book of nature and understand its language (cfr Ps 19,2-5); but the Word of Revelation which inspires faith is necessary so that man may achieve full consciousness of the reality that God is Creator and Father.

In Sacred Scripture, man can find, in the light of faith, the key to understanding the world. In particular, the first chapter of Genesis occupies a special place, with its solemn presentation of the divine work of creation which took place over seven days: In six days, God completed his creation, and on the seventh day, the Sabbath, he stopped all activity and rested. It is a day of freedom for everyone, a day of communion with God.

With this image, the book of Genesis tells us that God's first thought was to find love that would respond to his love. The second thought was to create a material world upon which to express this love and the creatures who would be able to respond freely to him.

This structure thus requires that the text be characterized by some significant repetitions. Six times, for example, the phrase "And God saw that it was good" is repeated. (vv. 4.10.12.18.21.25),, to conclude, the seventh time, after the creation of man: "God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good (v 31).

Everything God creates is beautiful and good, pervaded with wisdom and love. God's creative action brings order, instills harmony and gives beauty.

In the account of Genesis, it also emerges that God creates through his Word. Ten times we read the expression, "God said.." in the text (vv. 3.6.9.11.14.20.24.26.28.29). It is the word, the Logos of God, which is the origin of the reality of the world, and the words 'God said' underscores the powerful efficacy of the divine Word.

Thus, the Psalmist sings, "By the LORD’s word the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth, all their host... For he spoke, and it came to be; commanded, and it stood in place" (13, 6.9). Life emerges, the world exists, because everything is obedient to the Word of God.

Our question today is: In the age of science and technology, does it still make sense to speak of creation? How should we understand the account of Genesis?

The Bible is not meant to be a manual of natural sciences, but it wants to make us understand the authentic and profound truth about things. The fundamental truth that the accounts of Genesis reveal to us is that the world is not a collection of forces that oppose each other - but that it has its origin and stability in the Logos, in the eternal Reason of God who continues to sustain the universe.

There is a design to the world that was born out of this Reason, from the Creative Spirit. To believe that this is the basis for all things illuminates every aspect of existence and gives us courage to face the adventure of life with trust and hope.

Thus, Scripture tells us that the origin of being, of the world, our origin, is not the irrational, nor is it necessity - but reason, love and freedom. So the alternatives are: the priority of the irrational and of necessity, or the priority of reason, of freedom, of love. We believe in the latter position.

But I also wish to say something about the vertex of all creation: man and woman, the human being, the only being "capable of knowing and loving his Creator" (Apost. Const. Gaudium et spes, 12).

The Psalmist, looking at the heavens, asks himself: "When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place - What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?" (8,4-5).

The human being, created by God with love, is such a small thing in the immensity of the universe. St times, when we look at the enormous dimensions of the firmament, we can perceive our limitations. The human being is used to this paradox: Our smallness and our transience co-exist with the grandeur of what God's eternal love wants for us

The account of the creation in the book of Genesis also introduce us to this mysterious sphere, helping us to understand God's plan for man. First of all, it affirms that God made man out of the dust of the earth (cfr Gen 2,7). This means that we are not God, we did not make ourselves, we are dust. But it also means that we come from the good earth, through the work of the good Creator.

To this another fundamental reality must be added: All human beings are dust, beyond all the distinctions made by culture and history, beyond all social differences. We are one humanity, formed by God's one earth.

There is also a second element: The human being has his origin because God blew the breath of life into the body modelled from clay (cfr Gen 2,7). The human being is made in the image and likeness of God (cfr Gen 2,7).

So all of us carry the vital breath of God, and every human life - the Bible tells us - is under God's special protection. This is the most profound reason for the inviolability of human dignity against every temptation of rating a person according to utilitarian and power criteria.

Being in the image and likeness of God also indicates that man is not closed in on himself but he has an essential relationship to God.

In the first chapters of the book of Genesis, we find significant images: the garden with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the serpent (cfr 2,15-17; 3,1-5). The garden tells us that the reality into which God placed the human being is not a wild forest but a place that protects, nourishes and sustains.

Man must see the world not as his property to plunder and to exploit, but as a gift of the Creator, a sign of his will to save us, a gift to cultivate and protect, to develop with respect and harmony, following its rhythms and logic, according to God's design (cfr Gen 2,8-15).

The snake is a figure that comes from Oriental cults of fertility, which fascinated Israel and constituted a constant temptation to abandon her mysterious covenant with God.

In this light, Sacred Scripture presents the temptations that Adam and Eve underwent as the very core of temptation and sin. What does the snake actually say? He does not reject God, but he insinuates a devious question: “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” (Gen 3,1)

In this way, the snake arouses the suspicion that the covenant with God is like a chain that binds, that deprives man of freedom and the most beautiful and precious things in life. The temptation becomes that of building by oneself the world in which he lives, not to accept the limitations of the human creature, the limits of good and evil, of morality.

Dependence on God's creative love is seen as a weight from which to be liberated. This is always the core of temptation. But when we falsify our relationship with God with a lie, putting ourselves in his place, all other relationships are changed. The other person becomes a rival, a threat.

Adam, after yielding to temptation, immediately blames Eve (cfr Gen 3,12); they both hide from the sight of the God with whom they had been conversing in friendship (cfr 3,8-10). The world was no longer a garden in which one could live in harmony, but a place to exploit and which had hidden traps (cfr 3,14-19); .

Envy and hatred towards the other entered the human heart, in which the exemplar is Cain who killed his brother Abel (cfr 4,3-9). In going against his Creator, man is really going against himself = he denies his origin and therefore his truth. So evil entered the world with its heavy chains of pain and death.

And thus, as much as what God had created was good, very good, evil entered the world after man chose falsehood over truth.

In the accounts of the Creation, I would like to point to one last teaching. Sin generates sin, and all the sins in history are interconnected. This aspect urges us to speak of that which has been called 'original sin'. What is the meaning of this reality, which is difficult to understand?

I wish to cite some elements. First of all, we must consider that no man is closed into himself, no one can live only by himself and for himself. We receive life from others, not only at the moment of birth, but everyday. The human being is a relationship: I am myself, only because you are you. I am myself through you, in a relationship of love with the You of God and the you of other persons.

Well, to sin is to disturb and destroy that relationship with God - this is its essence. It destroys the relationship with God, the fundamental relationship, by putting oneself in the place of God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that with the first sin, man "preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good" (No 398).

Once the fundamental relationship is disturbed, then other poles of the relationship are also compromised and destroyed. Sin ruins relationships, and so it ruins everything, because we are relationships.

Now, if the relational structure of mankind was disturbed from the very beginning, every man enters the world marked by this disturbance of relationships. He enters a world that has been upset by sin which personally marks him. The first sin corrupted and wounded human nature (cfr Catechism of the Catholic Church ,404-406).

Man by himself cannot get out of this situation. He cannot redeem himself by himself. Only the Creator himself can restore the right relationships. Only if he from whom we have been alienated comes to us and holds out his hand with love, then the right relationships can be restored.

This happens through Jesus Christ who follows precisely a path that is the reverse of Adam's, as described in the hymn found in the second chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Philippians: (2,5-11): Whereas Adam does not recognize that he is a creature and wants to put himself in God's place, Jesus, the Son of God, is in perfect filial relation with the Father, he abases himself, he becomes the servant, he follows the way of love, humbling himself to the point of dying on the Cross, in order to make right once more man's relationship with God. And thus, the Cross of Christ becomes the new tree of life.

Dear brothers and sisters, to live the faith means recognizing the grandeur of God and accepting our smallness, our condition as a creature, allowing the Lord to fill us with his love and thus make our own true greatness grow.

Evil, with its weight of pain and suffering, is a mystery that is illuminated by the light of faith, which gives us the certainty that we can be liberated, the certainty that it is good to be human.

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Benedict XVI on
'the daring realism of divine love'
by James V. Schall, S.J.

February 06, 2013

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“The event of the Incarnation, of God who became man, like us, shows us the daring realism of divine love. God’s action, in fact, was not limited to words. On the contrary, we might say that he was not content with speaking, but entered into our history, taking upon himself the effort and burden of human life.”
— Pope Benedict XVI,
General Audience, January 9, 2013

“There is a fundamental criterion in the Christian interpretation of the Bible. The Old and New Testaments should always be read together and, starting with the New, the deepest meaning of the Old Testament is also revealed.”
— Pope Benedict XVI
General Audience, January 9, 2013

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I.

This year’s general audiences of the Pope are on faith. Each one is instructive. He tells us, in the January 9th Audience, that “the great mystery of God” is that “He came down from heaven to enter our flesh.”

This entering our flesh was an event, not an imagination. It is generally thought that the idea of God becoming man while remaining God is unimaginable. Looked at from another angle, Benedict calls it a “daring” realism. That is, it really happened.

In so doing, God risked the possibility of being rejected by man. The drama of Christ on the Cross includes this risk. That is, Christ as man was free; otherwise His sacrifice made no sense. He did freely choose His Father's will for Him.

The fact that the Word was made “flesh,” as we read in the Prologue of John, means that in Christ everything that is human was called to be saved. This salvation “affects man in his material reality and in whatever situation he may be. God assumed the human condition to heal it from all that separates it from him.”

Ultimately, it enables us also to call God “Abba, Father.” We could not do this on the basis or our own nature alone. The capacity had first to be given to us.

Yet, once it was offered to us, in each case, it had to be accepted and lived freely by the one who receives this gift. Here we are dealing with something “that utterly defeats the imagination, that God alone could bring about and into which we can only enter with faith.”

A gift, Benedict tells us, is a sign, a sign of love and affection. Whatever a material gift’s intrinsic worth, that is not the most important thing about it. The idea of giving is also “at the heart of the liturgy.” In taking flesh, God made a “gift of himself to men and women.” Christ took on our “humanity” so that He might give His “divinity” to us.

“This is the great gift.” God did not give us “something,” but He gave us Himself. When we give, we intend the gift be a sign or symbol of ourselves, of our love. God literally gave Himself to us, giving His “only-begotten Son.”

Benedict next turns to the “daring realism of God.” God did not just “speak” to us or utter words. He did that too, but He spoke to express what He did. Christ was born in a definite place, in a family; we know of Joseph and Mary, of Augustus the Emperor, of Christ's friends. He formed disciples; he sent them into the world. He died on the Cross.

What is the import of these facts? We are not dealing with a myth, with “a story”. We are hearing words that tell us what actually happened to a definite man who lived in this world. “The way God acted is a strong incentive for us to question ourselves on the reality of our faith, which must not be limited to the sphere of sentiment….”

Again, Benedict returns to the fact that words alone are not enough. “God did not stop at words but showed us how to live.” In a certain sense words can help. The words of Plato, for instance, wind around the effort to understand the ways of God. As Augustine said, the Platonists had the Word but not the “Word made flesh.” What we get from the longing that we find in Plato is precisely a search for a reality which is more than words.

II.

Benedict takes up this theme by referring to the Catechism of Pius X. It asks: “What must we do to live according to the will of God?” This is its answer: 1) we must believe the truths that Christ has “revealed and 2) we must “obey” the commandments” with the help of grace. In this endeavor we are helped by the sacraments and by prayer.

Finally, Benedict again refers to that passage in John’s Prologue that tells us the Word was with God “from the beginning” and that nothing was made without Him. Obviously, the beginning of Genesis and the beginning of John are related. This is why the Pope states that we cannot fully understand the Old Testament without the New.

In the Old Testament we are told that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. But in John we are told that there is, as it were, being before the beginning. All things in the world have an origin in the Word, who is to become flesh. “The eternal and infinite God immersed himself in human finiteness, in his creature to bring back man and the whole of creation to himself.”

Thus, the General Catechism will tell us of the new creation that was brought about in Christ. It is this new creation in which we find the full answer to our question: “Who is man?” God has a “plan” for man that is “fully manifested” in Jesus Christ.

Because of Christ, we can recognize the face of God also in every man. “By opening ourselves to his grace and seeking to follow him every day do we fulfill God’s plan for us, for each one of us.”

We exist, in the end, by this very “daring realism” of “divine love.” We do not just imagine that we exist. We do exist. We can perhaps “imagine” not existing. Indeed, it is a healthy exercise sometimes to do so. But this recognition that we might not exist, tells us of the unexpectedness of the fact that we are.

We exist because God willed that we exist. But we also represent the confidence, yes, “daring”, that God took in His calling us out of nothing but within His love. The fact that we can reject God is but the other side of the freedom we have in loving and choosing Him.