BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

See preceding page for earlier posts today, 3/2/10.





A young priest from Archbishop Charles Chaput's diocese in Colorado has recorded for CNA-TV a passionate, fact-based defense of Pope Benedict's widely misinterpreted remarks about condoms and AIDS last year. I hope it gets a ton of viewing!


www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxYBTPzhH9A&feature=player_embedded

Denver youth minister encourages
abstinence in fight against AIDS



DENVER, COLORADO, March 1 (CNA) - Nearly a year after the Holy Father visited Africa and sparked controversy over the ineffectiveness of condoms in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, the facts continue to speak in favor of the Pope, a Denver youth and young adult minister told CNA.

Benedict XVI’s March 2009 remarks on condoms were made to a French reporter as he explained the Church’s two-pronged approach to fighting AIDS.

At one point in his response, the Pontiff stressed that AIDS cannot be overcome by advertising slogans and distributing condoms and argued that they “worsen the problem.”

The media responded with an avalanche of over 4,000 articles on the subject, calling Benedict a “threat to public health,” and saying that the Catholic Church should “enter the 21st century.”

Harry Knox, a member of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships added to the criticism accusing the Pope of “hurting people in the name of Jesus.”

Then last month, when Knox was asked if he still stood by his statement, despite growing evidence that the Pope was right, he replied in the affirmative, stating that “scientific evidence shows otherwise.”

“The Pope is right,” argued Chris Stefanick, director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministries for the Archdiocese of Denver. “And the fact that people like Harry Knox are critiquing the Pope and continuing to throw condoms at the AIDS epidemic globally, and its not working, shows you who has personal dogmas that are more important to them than human lives.”

Stefanick’s statement also referred to Rebecca Hodes of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign who said of Pope Benedict, “his opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans.”

But, Stefanick argued, the facts are behind Benedict XVI. To prove his point, Stefanick compared the African nations of Botswana and Uganda. Botswana promoted condom use from the beginning. Uganda, a primarily Catholic country, encouraged abstinence.

“In Botswana, Cameroon, and Kenya – they saw AIDS prevalence rise alongside condom distribution until they both leveled out,” noted Stefanick. “In Botswana today, where condoms are available nearly everywhere, one in six people is HIV positive or living with AIDS.”

In Uganda, where abstinence is strongly promoted, the prevalence of AIDS has dropped and now affects less than six percent of the population.

Stefanick quoted BBC News who stated that Uganda has done extremely well in fighting AIDS because, in many parts of the country, its prevalence “was at least three times higher in the early 90s.”

Stefanick also cited a similar comparison, made between Thailand and the Philippines, where AIDS broke out at the same time. Thailand’s approach promoted the distribution of condoms while the highly Catholic Philippines promoted abstinence. Twenty years after the outbreak, the prevalence of AIDS in Thailand is 50 times higher than in the Philippines.

“According to the British Medical Journal, which is not a Catholic publication, ‘the greater the percentage of Catholics in any country, the lower the level of HIV. If the Catholic Church is promoting a message about HIV in those countries it seems to be working,’” said Stefanick.

A prominent American Baptist theologian disputes the notion presented in a 2/26/10 article in the Wall Street Journal (posted in the preceding page of this thread) that the Protestant Reformation may have run of steam and sees Anglicanorum coetibus as 'the beginning of the end'. He argues that the doctrinal heart of the Reformation - justification by faith alone - remains very much valid.


Is the Reformation over?
By R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Guest Columnist

February 28, 2010


The Rev. Eric Bergman thinks he has seen the future - and it isn't Protestant. Known as Father Bergman now, Rev. Bergman became a Catholic priest after serving for years as an Episcopalian minister.

His conversion to Roman Catholicism came, he relates, after he began to ponder the moral and theological issues related to contraception.

Looking back, he dates the fall of the Anglican tradition to 1930, when the Church of England accepted birth control. "Out of that," he says, "came a confusion about the roles of men and women, a theology of androgyny."

We know all this thanks to an article by Charlotte Hays, whose writings are always thoughtful and perceptive. She serves as editor of a very interesting journal, In Character, but this article was published in Friday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. In "The Beginning of the Reformation's End?," she fires a salvo at mainline Protestantism.

She writes of a Washington gathering of "ex-Episcopalians, curious Catholics, and a smattering of earnest Episcopal priests in clerical collars" who were drawn to an Evensong and Benediction service sung according to the Book of Divine Worship, which Hays describes as "an Anglican use liturgical book still being prepared in Rome." In the main, it follows the order and language set down by Thomas Cranmer almost 500 years ago.

Confused yet? The phrase "Anglican use" refers to a limited allowance for Roman Catholics to use a revised version of the Anglican liturgy in Catholic worship.

The idea has taken on a new urgency with Pope Benedict XVI's declaration of the Apostolic Constitution known as Anglicanorum coetibus, handed down back in November. As Hays rightly explains, this papal allowance "provides for former Anglicans to come into the Catholic Church as a group and retain certain of their traditions."

Significantly, Anglican priests undergoing conversion to Catholicism under this constitution may retain their wives, but if their wife should subsequently die, the priest may not remarry. Priests who convert to Catholicism are "every bit as much priests as other Catholic priests," she insists, even though married priests will not be eligible to serve as bishop. There will be an "ordinariate" (much like a diocese) that will oversee Episcopalian members, priests, and congregations that convert.

The Pope's outreach to Anglicans did not go without protest from Anglican leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Nevertheless, there is more here than Catholic opportunism.

The Pope is reaching out to Anglicans who are outraged by the liberalism within their communion. The election of an openly-homosexual bishop in 2003 was the last straw for many Episcopalians. The election of a second openly-gay bishop in recent weeks will add insult to injury.

Rev. Bergman sees even more. As Charlotte Hays reports:

---

But Father Bergman not only predicts a mass movement toward Rome. He believes Anglican Use may mark the beginning of the end of the Reformation. There will be "a flourishing of this throughout the world," he says. "Wherever there are Anglicans, there will be people who want to enter Holy Mother Church." As he told a rapt audience at St. Mary's, "If we look at histories, heresies run themselves out after about 500 years. I believe we are seeing the last gasp of the Reformation in the mainline Protestant groups."

The beginning of the end of the Reformation? Rev. Bergman sees the 60 people gathered for Evensong and Benediction as a sign that the Reformation is over. He describes the Reformation as a movement of "heresies" and then suggests, quite creatively, that "heresies run themselves out after about 500 years." Thus, he now sees "the last gasp of the Reformation in the mainline Protestant groups."

---

In all honesty, I have to give him his due on that last argument. A look around mainline Protestantism will provide ample evidence of "the last gasp of the Reformation" within many churches and denominations founded and grounded in the faith of the Reformers.

The Episcopal Church seems determined to commit ecclesiastical suicide, electing homosexual bishops, looking the other way when same-sex unions are blessed, and generally allowing just about any heresy to find a voice and a constituency - often among its bishops.

Those looking for evidence of theological disaster need look no further than the Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, the retired bishop of Newark, New Jersey. Spong has denied every conceivable Christian doctrine, leaving Christianity itself beyond its "last gasp" in his reconstruction.

The mainline Lutheran denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA], voted this past summer to distort Martin Luther's affirmation of his conscience "bound by the Word of God" to allow for its ministers to deny clear teachings of Scripture and requirements of the creeds. The denomination now allows for the service of openly-homosexual and "partnered" clergy and same-sex blessings.

The largest Presbyterian denomination, the Presbyterian Church, USA [PCUSA]. has debated the same issues for years now, even as it has discussed allowing its clergy to replace references to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with metaphors like "Rainbow, Ark and Dove," "Speaker, Word and Breath," "Overflowing Font, Living Water and Flowing River," "Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-Giving Womb," "Sun, Light and Burning Ray," "Giver, Gift and Giving," "Lover, Beloved and Love," "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple," and "Fire that Consumes, Sword that Divides and Storm that Melts Mountains."

Several other denominations with Reformation roots have followed similar courses or have merged within new denominational forms that allow for much the same. The bottom line is that there is no shortage of evidence to support Rev. Bergman's argument that "the last gasp of the Reformation" can be seen in many quarters.

Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine liberal Lutherans, Presbyterians, or members of the United Church of Christ converting to Catholicism. The same holds true, of course, for liberal Episcopalians in the United States or liberal Anglicans worldwide.

Rev. Bergman knows this, but he sees the promise of more conservative Protestants giving up on their churches, giving up their Reformation convictions, and coming home to Rome.

With the zeal of a convert, Rev. Bergman calls the convictions of the Reformation "heresies." While I hold these doctrines to be the very Gospel of Christ, I do understand and appreciate Rev. Bergman's honesty. Evidently, he has read the anathemas from the Council of Trent.

The central doctrine of the Reformation is this - justification by faith alone. Angry and disenchanted Episcopalians may seek refuge from their denomination's apostasy, but if they "cross the Tiber" they deny the central doctrine of the Reformation and take the position that it is heresy.

In other words, the exodus of any number of Episcopalians - whether it be large or small - will not point to the end of the Reformation, or even to what Charlotte Hays describes as "the beginning of the end of the Reformation." Instead, it will point to the urgent need for genuine reformation in the churches that once claimed Reformation faith.

The Reformation was fed and led by those who affirmed, with Luther, that justification by faith alone is "the article by which the church stands or falls." Thus, those who go "home to Rome" are repudiating the core of the Reformation. This is about far more than homosexual bishops and wacky metaphors for the Trinity.

The Reformation may be on its "last gasp" in the liberal churches of mainline Protestantism, but thankfully not everywhere. If Rev. Bergman gets out much. he is more likely to find a generation of young evangelicals who are embracing with fervor and commitment the very doctrines he sees as heresies on their last gasp.

Short of a major act of God, mainline Protestantism will continue its slide into apostasy and irrelevance. Pope Benedict is likely to find more than a few Catholic-leaning Anglicans who are exhausted by Anglican travails and ready to cross over to Rome.

But is the Reformation on its last gasp? Not where the Gospel is prized and preached. Not where a repudiation of justification by faith alone is known to be a repudiation of the Gospel itself - and to be a heresy that has lasted far more than 500 years.

- Adapted from R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s weblog at www.albertmohler.com. Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Is 500 all the young people
they can come up with?

March 2, 2010



Over 500 young people will be participating in an activity to welcome Pope Benedict XVI at the Valletta Waterfront next April.

The activity will include a concert made up of different bands and in which young people will share their experiences with the Pope.
The design for the stage was conceived by a number of youths under the direction of designer Carlo Schembri.

A better story from the Times of Malta:

14,000 expected for Pope's
youth meeting in Valletta

March 2, 2010

The organisers of the Papal visit today unveiled the designs of the stage to be used for the Pope's meeting with young people at Valletta Waterfront in the afternoon of Sunday, April 18.

They expect some 14,000 young people to turn up.

Architect Daniel Darmanin, speaking for the team which designed the stage, said that the focus of the structure would be the Cross and then the Pope, who leads Man to God.

The organisers explained that activities will kick off at 2 p.m. with performances featuring various Christian bands and solo artistes.

The Pope will arrive at Valletta Waterfront at 5.15 p.m. on a catamaran from Kalkara. Addresses will then be made by youths, representing those who are active in the church, young families, those who do not feel they are part of the church, and those preparing for the priesthood.

Pope Benedict will deliver his own address and reply to the comments.

The one-hour activity will also feature prayer with the Pope.

Activities will continue after the Pope leaves, including a guest appearance by Winter Moods.

Fr Savio Vella SDB, the Archbishop's delegate for young people, said the Valletta Waterfront would feature a 'youth village' with stands by various youth organisations and areas for counselling services.

The organisers expect some 14,000 young people to turn up.
Participants are urged to to register on www.popemalta.org



Earlier, the organizing committee for the visit said Pope Benedict XVI is expected to pass through 33 different localities in his Popemobile during his short visit to Malta next April.

However, the Pope is not expected to stop in any of these localities but the route has been chosen to include going by old people’s homes so that the sick and elderly may be able to see him at close range.

More on this from the Times of Malta - and a controversy that ought to be resolved easily - if the tIme and distance considerations are as described:

Local council protests that Pope's
Malta route does not lead north
by Herman Grech


The Mellieħa council believes the Pope should be driven through their village, even though the 83-year-old Pontiff is visiting 40 Maltese parishes in just 26 hours.

The council has filed an official protest to the committee overseeing the Pope's visit, saying it fails to understand why he cannot make a short detour to the north.

"The Mellieħa sanctuary and St Paul's Islands are synonymous with our Christianity. It is only natural that the Pope should visit them," Mellieħa Mayor Robert Cutajar told The Times.

The Pope is visiting Malta in connection with the celebrations marking 1,950 years since St Paul landed in Malta.

He said the council was reflecting residents' anger that Pope Benedict XVI was not following in the footsteps of his predecessor, who had stopped to bless the Mellieħa sanctuary during his visit in 1990.

The Pope will visit Malta on April 17 and 18 - being driven through several streets before celebrating Mass on the Floriana granaries.

But it appears some localities want to take an even closer look at the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

"In the name of the Mellieħa community, I would like to show my disapproval as mayor, that my locality has not been included (in the routes)," Mr Cutajar wrote to the chairmen of both the Church and government organising committees.

Mellieħa has close ties with the Christian faith, as highlighted especially by St Paul's Islands (which fall under the council's jurisdiction) and the Mellieħa sanctuary, the mayor wrote.

Mr Cutajar told the committee that the Mellieħa sanctuary was one of just 20 in the world dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. St Luke is also known to have accompanied St Paul to Malta and was responsible for painting the image of Our Lady at the sanctuary.

"The Pope travels around the world so much - is it possible that he cannot travel an extra 15 minutes by car via St Paul's Bay and Mellieħa?" the mayor said.

Mr Cutajar even suggested the Pope be taken on a boat for a quick tour to the Gozo harbour, passing by St Paul's Islands, without disembarking.

He urged the organisation committee to revise the programme, maybe even with the intervention of the Vatican. Charles Bonello, chairman of the National Organisation Committee who is also Mr Cutajar's colleague at the Office of the Prime Minister, replied, saying it was impossible to include Mellieħa on the route since it was distant in relation to the program prepared for the Pontiff.

Mgr Charles Cordina, chairman of the Curia committee, said he was sorry he could not satisfy everybody's requests because of time constraints, which also precludes the Pope from visiting other significant venues - like the Gozo diocese, San Ġorġ Preca's museum Society and St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

The Popemobile will be driven slowly to allow the people to see the Pope, who will be greeted with bands in some localities. Where possible, the vehicle will be driven near old people's homes, monasteries and town centres.






The Portuguese bishops conference has issued a pastoral note to the faithful about the Pope's visit in May. (However, it is so far available only in Portuguese. I will post when translated).


Later today, the organizing committee for the Pope's visit, led by the auxiliary bishop of Lison, Mons. Carlos Azevedo, released today the sketches for the atage and altar to be erected in Liscon's main square, the Terreira do Paco (Palace Square), the old name still used by man for what is now called the Praca do Comercao, where the Holy Father will celebrate Mass on the evening of May 11.




The Terreiro do Paco is the size of about two and a half football fields, one of the largest public squares in Europe. It is in the lower part (Baixa) of old Lisbon on the banks (Ribeira) of the Tagus river, opening out towards the river.

It was built on the site of the old Palace Square and the two centuries-old Ribeira royal palace after the great earthquake and tsunami of 1755 destroyed most of Lisbon.

The palace was rebuilt inland. The equestrian statue on the square is that of King Jose I, who was king during the earthquake. The Baixa of Lisbon was declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO in 2004.

Remembering Leo XIII
born 200 years ago today
Translated from
the Italian service of

March 2, 2010


The satellite image also shows Sulmona, the first pastoral visit outside Rome this year for the Pope, where he will pay homage to another Pope, St. Celestine V, born near Sulmona 800 years ago.


On March 2 two hundred years ago, a baby was born in Carpineto Romano, s small town 70 kilometers southeast of Rome, who would pass into history as one of the most long-lived and farsighted of Popes.

Leo XIII, born Vincenzo Pecci, was Pope from 1878 to 1903, living to the ripe age of 93. His name is most linked to his encyclical Rerum novarum (Of new things), considered the first magisterial statement of the social doctrine of the Church.



These days, the commune of Carpineto Romano (5,000 inhabitants) and the diocese of Anagni-Alatri are observing the Anno Leoniano (Leonine Year) to remember their illustrious son. The year's highlight will be the visit of Benedict XVI on September 5.

Alessandro De Carolis spoke to the Bishop, Mons. Lorenzo Loppa, who underscored the continuing relevance today of Leo XIII:

MONS LOPPA: Leo XIII's Magisterium spanned many elements of Christian life, but in particular, certain elements that are very relevant even today. The universal Church is now observing the Year for Priests - Papa Pecci wrote a great deal on the formation of clergy in different nations, on the proper formation of seminarians.

Today, in Italy, we are engaged in meeting the educational challenge as urged on by the Holy Father, but Leo XIII too wrote quite a lot on the educational challenge.

His third theme of continuing relevance is the Gospel, which he said should be the yeast for growth in a community in which everyone must be respected in his dignity, his freedom, his development.

I would say that his Magisterium was rooted very solidly in tradition but was very open to res novae (new things), even with that ironic smile that was characteristic of him - Leo XII was shrewd and refined both physically and in his words.


Right photo, above: Leo XIII's tomb in St. John Lateran Basilica; left photo below, Leo XIII in his coronation regalia; he was 68.


Leo XII was a great Pope but also an illustrious Carpinetano. What has been your relationship to this great figure?
Of course, the residents of Carpineto call him 'our Pope', and during my pastoral visit there in 2008, I realized how much the work of this Supreme Pontiff, the interest which he never lost for the place of his birth, is very real today in the presence of so many religious communities there. In particular, he wanted the presence there of the Sisters of the Sacrament and of the Augustinians. [There is also a Carmelite monastery which is particularly devoted to him.]


In six months, the Pope will be visiting your diocese, How are you preparing for this event?
On the spiritual level and the Christian life, I would say we are preparing very well. My Lenten message always takes off from the Pope's Lenten message, and this year, Benedict XVI's message is on the justice of Christ, a justice that is greater and beyond human justice.

For this year, I declared a whole year, starting today up to March 2, 2011, dedicated to the rediscovery and study in depth of the teachings of Leo XIII. We will have a variety of events - a convention in Carpineto, spiritual gatherings, conferences... I have asked the diocesan clergy to use Leo XIII's Magisterium as material to help them prepare for Pope Benedict's visit.


Panoramas of Carpineto Romano.

I think the title to this blog entry by Magister is inappropriate because it assumes there are 'beans to spill' about the Pope - in fact, what the article reveals is the interviewee's deep prejudice, if not malice, against Joseph Ratzinger and conservatives in general. The incidents he cites are not at all the kind of 'beans' one spills or needs to spill!


German ex-Nuncio
'spills the beans' on the Pope
Translated from

March 2, 2010


“De bello germanico”. A Germanic war has been declared by the recently retired Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg, who has unleashed unseemly criticism of the Holy Father in an interview given to Il Regno

[the Bologna-based bimonthly journal of the Dehonian fathers of the Institute of the Sacred Heart].

Now retired to a convent in Rothenburg, German Archbishop Karl-Josef Rauber [born 1934 in Nuremberg, first named Nuncio in 1982] indulges in polemics against the Pope which is unusual for someone who until recently had served as his ambassador. [And highly questionable, to say the least, and probably unheard of! His age does not excuse him in any way.]

His criticisms of Joseph Ratzinger go back in time. In his judgment, Ratzinger took to wrong turn - too conservative by far - when he was a professor in Regensburg, and he, Rauber, was in charge of his communications with Rome. [What would Prof. Ratzinger have had to do with Rome at the time? that would have required Rauber's intervention? And how does Regensburg figure at all in hisdecision to be 'conservative' - something he had made clear since after the Council when, along with Hans Urs von Balthasar, Yves Congar, et al, he split from the Concilium progressives (Kueng, Rahner et al) to set up Communio?]

Things became 'worse', in Rauber's view, when he was Nuncio in Switzerland. He claims now that Cardinal Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 'denounced ' him four times to the Secretariat of State for having publicly criticized priestly celibacy and spoken badly of other bishops. [And he should have been reported for those! - if only for conduct unbecoming a Nuncio! Apparently, Rauber's backbiting goes back a long way, too.]

But his greatest objection to Joseph Ratzinger is something quite recent: the Pope's nomination of the conservative Bishop Andre Leonard of Namur to succeed the progressive Cardinal Gotfreed Danneels as Archbishop of Malines-Brussels.

Rauber claims that Leonard was not in the terna [list of names] that he, as Nuncio in Belgium, had recommended to Rome. Not in the first, nor in the second, because in his opinion, Leonard was 'not at all suitable' for Brussels, where his, Rauber's, preference was an auxiliary bishop of Danneels.

But, he points out, 'from on high' they decided on Leonard. In other words, that it was Benedict XVI himself who stepped in to promote Leonard, "unmindful that this would displease many, including the King of Belgium". [Not only is Rauber's criticism of Leonard's selection out of bounds - regardless of the recommendations made by the local Nuncio, it is still the Pope who has the exclusive personal prerogative to name bishops- but for him to drag in the King of Belgium into the picture is total disrespect for the King. Besides, this is no longer the pre-modern Papacy when papal appointments to bishoprics required the consent of the local monarch!]

In 2009, Rauber risked being declared persona non grata by the Belgian government as a consequence of Benedict XVI's statement on condoms and AIDS. [The 'risk', if any, clearly was not for himself as Rauber, but because he was the Pope's ambassador. However, since it was only the kneejerk-reacting, ultra-liberal and scientifically ignorant grand panjandrums of the Belgian Parliament who issued a resolution condemning the Pope's statements, where was the risk to Rauber? Acceptance or rejection of ambassadors is not the prerogative of Parliaments anywhere - in the case of monarchies, it rests with the sovereign.]

However, in recounting this, Rauber avoided saying at all whether he sided with the Pope or not. [Coward! Conduct unbecoming not only for a Nuncio or ex-Nuncio, but for a priest and for a decent man!]

Of course, Rauber also recalls that he had a difficult life under Cardinal Andelo Sodano when the latter was Secretary of State, and therefore, his direct superior. For having criticized the nomination of an ultra-conservative Swiss bishop, he says Sodano 'punished' him by sending him to Hungary. [Rauber is an equal-opportunity weasel! Again, how dare he criticize a bishop's appointment because he is 'ultra-conservative' in his opinion? It's not his decision at all to make. The slap at Sodano is ultimately a slap at John Paul II. And he insults Hungary by considering it a 'punishment' to be assigned there from Switzerland!]

He also owns up to making some errors himself - once in Switzerland, and then in Hungary. He says that he once recommended for the post of the Military Ordinary in Hungary two men who later got entangled with women. [Hear, hear! Doesn't say much of Rauber's judgment, does it? Nor of the Hungarian bishops, if this kind of conduct takes place at their level!]

But he claims he made up for this in Switzerland when he recommended a name that he claims Papa Ratzinger did not favor but whom he finally appointed. [If it is true that the Pope 'did not favor' the man but appointed him nonetheless, does that not prove that the Pope's appointment of bishops is not based on personal liking alone but on a genuine judgment of merit and suitability?]

He claims that bishop is Kurt Koch, who "has shown himself to be excellent". To the point, Rauber underscores, that Koch is speculated on now as the Pope's leading candidate to succeed Cardinal Walter Kasper as president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. [PDouble points for the Pope if this is true!]



I tried to look up the original article online, but although the current edition of Il Regno lists a bewildering array of articles, I cannot find the interview among them. What would have motivated the magazine to feature such an article at all! Is this a way for the Dehonians to get back at Benedict XVI?

Early in his Pontificate, he took the unusual step of temporarily halting the beatification of their founder, Leon Dehon, who had been scheduled for beatification April 24, 2005, a schedule set before Benedict XVI became Pope.

He did this because some French historians pointed out that Dehon had written strong anti-Semitic texts available to everyone, and the French government had said it would not send a representative to the beatification. It is not known whether John Paul II was made aware of this.

Benedict XVI ordered a high-ranking panel to review Dehon's writings, but there has been no word about the status of Dehon so far. Some background for this is available on www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/15/AR2005061502...

As for Rauber himself, a Bavarian, he appears to typify all those German bishops and clergy who never liked Joseph Ratzinger because he preaches and practices orthodox Catholicism, not their ultra-liberal do-as-you-please brand.]

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

ST. KATHARINE DREXEL (USA, 1858-1955)
Missionary, Abbess, Founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (for Indians and Colored Peoples)
Born to a Main Line Philadelphia family, the first 30 years of her life could have been straight out of the movie
'High Society'. But a vacation out West began her interest in the plight of American Indians. On a trip to Rome
in the mid-1880s, she met Pope Leo XIII, whom she asked to send missionaries to a bishop friend of hers in
Wyoming. The Pope challenged her, "Why don't you become a missionary yourself?" Back in the US, she visited
the Dakotas, met with Sioux leaders, and decided to take on the religious life. She announced on the Feast
of St. Joseph in 1889 that she intended to devote the rest of her life "to help American Indians and colored
people". The headlines screamed "Heiress gives up $7 million", her part of the family fortune which she donated
totally to her cause. With some friends she set up the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (she would later consult
St. Frances Cabrini about the rules for the order), and eventually set up 50 mission for Indians in 16 states.
She also founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University for Afro-Americans. At 77,
a heart attack forced her to retire. She spent the rest of her life as an anchoress, recording her meditations
on slips of paper. She died in 1955 at age 96. She was beatified in 1988 and canonized in 2000, also named
the patron saint of racial justice and of philanthropists. She was the second American-born American woman
saint, after Elizabeth Seton.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030310.shtml


OR today.

No papal story in this issue but a papal photo, showing Benedict XVI when he paid a brief visit to Australian Sister Rosemary Goldie in Sydney in 2008. Goldie, who was the first woman to occupy an important position in the Roman Curia (under-secretary of the Congregation for the Laity from 1967-1976), died on February 27 at the age of 94. Page 1 stories: The UN considers how to deal with catastrophes like the Haiti and Chile earthquakes in the age of globalization; disorder and looting complicate the situation in Chile; Obama plans a 'spectacular' reduction in the US nuclear arms stockpile; the International Monetary Fund projects global economic growth of 3.9% this year and 4.3% in 2011; the decline of the British pound below the exchange rate of $1.50 to the US dollar raises uncertainty about the British economy, with the nation one month away from an expected change of government after the parliamentary elections. In the inside pages, an essay on the Church teaching on evolution which deserves translation.


THE POPE'S DAY

General Audience today - The Holy Father spoke about St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, one of
his theological 'masters'. To the Polish pilgrims, he paid tribute to Frederic Chopin, born 200 years
ago today, as Poland marks a Chopin Year.

Pope quietly changes Nuncio
in charge of China



VATICAN CITY, March 2 (AFP) – The Vatican has secretly elected a new delegate in China, the French press agency i.media said Tuesday, as diplomatic relations between Beijing and the Holy See remain frozen since 1951.

Officially, the Croatian Ante Jozic is Nuncio in the Philippines, though he lives in Hong Kong and acts as a link between the Holy See and the dioceses in China, said the agency that specialises in news from the Vatican.

He has been presented to the Chinese authorities as the new head of the Holy See Study Mission in Hong Kong, replacing Irishman Martin Nugent.

Nugent headed the mission since 2001 but only visited mainland China once after he was refused two other visa applications.

Diplomatic relations between China and the Holy See were broken in 1951, two years after the Communists came to power.

As conditions to a thaw in relations, Beijing has demanded that the Vatican cuts its diplomatic links with Taiwan and gives Chinese authorities the power to control the Catholic Church's activities on the mainland.

And we thought this question had been settled! However, the problem with this report is that it does not mention a source for the information given, though it sounds plausible because of the dates given - and visiting Spain from the Vatican is almost like visiting a farflung Italian region in terms of distance.


The Pope to Spain
in November 2010?
Translated from
the Spanish service of

March 3, 2010


Benedict XVI will visit Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona in Spain on November 6-7.

The trip will start in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which is observing a Holy Year in honor of St. James (Santiago), patron of Spain and the city.

The Pope has accepted the invitation of both Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero as well as the president of the Galician autonomous region who saw him at the Vatican on Monday.

In Santiago, he will also lunch with the bishops of Galicia and civil authorities.

On November 7, he will proceed to Barcelona to consecrate the central nave of Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia temple.

It will be Benedict XVI's second visit to Spain as Pope. He was there for two days in July 2006 to conclude the World Encounter for Families in Valencia.

He is also expected to preside at the conclusion of World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011.



YES, IT'S NOW OFFICIAL!
Spanish bishops make
the announcement



Santiago de Compostela, Spain, March 3 (dpa) - Pope Benedict XVI is to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in November, the northern Spanish city's archbishop Julian Barrio announced Wednesday.

Santiago de Compostela, which is regarded as the burial place of Saint James, marks a holy year dedicated to the apostle this year. The holy year takes place every time the day of Saint James, which is on July 25, falls on a Sunday.

The Pope will visit Santiago de Compostela on November 6, said Barrio, who met Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Monday.

On November 7, the Pope will come to Barcelona to inaugurate the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) church, Barcelona archbishop Lluis Martinez Sistach announced.

The church, which was designed by the legendary late architect Antoni Gaudi, has been under construction since the late 19th century.

The visit will be Benedict XVI's second to Spain as Pope, after visiting Valencia in July 2006.

Santiago de Compostela is one of the main pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world.

I must say the President of Galicia did a masterful job of 'mis-direction' the other day, so as not to disclose anything prematurely. And the Spanish newsmen apparently did not think of asking queestions of Archbishop Barrio after that meeting!


In Rome,
Fr. Lombardi confirms



VATICAN CITY, March 3 (AP) — The Vatican's spokesman says the Pope will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters Wednesday that Pope Benedict XVI will go to the western pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela on Nov. 6 and then will visit the Mediterranean port city of Barcelona the next day.

La Sagrada Familia is a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century.

Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain. It's the year of 'European commute' for Benedict XVI!


It will be a beautifully symbolic trip for Benedict XVI, the third millennium Benedict seeking to save Christianity in Europe, as his namesake did in the 9th century.

The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is celebrating the 800th year of its consecration. It is one of the glories of cathedral construction, and the cathedral complex, with its Baroque complements, is one of the most stunning church architecture ensembles in the world!


Panoramic view of one end of Compostela's Cathedral Square does not give an idea of the other magnificent buildings on the square and around the catehdral.


And Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, begun in 1883 and not to be completed till 2026, ranks with the best of the medieval cathedrals in terms of design and size. It is also spectacularly original!


Left, Sagrada Familia as it is today; right; scale model of the completed design.

See Page 68 of this thread for when the Spanish newspaper La Razon first reported the Pope was likely to come to Barcelona to consecrate the cathedral.


AFP considers the trip in the cultural/social context of Spain today. I take issue with the headline. Can a papal visit be anything less than 'high profile'?


Pope Benedict to make
high-profile visit to Spain
by Gina Doggett



VATICAN CITY, March 3 (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI will this year visit Spain, which last month passed a law easing access to abortion over fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.

Benedict's second trip to the predominantly Catholic country as pontiff will take place on November 6 and 7, with stops in Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona.

Spain's new law allows abortion on demand up to the 14th week of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks if there is a risk to the mother's health or if the foetus has serious problems, in line with most European Union nations.

But hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid in October to condemn the abortion liberalisation by the socialist government.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been at loggerheads with Spain's conservative Catholic Church hierarchy since he came to power in 2004, moving to transform Spanish society with reforms including same-sex marriages and fast-track divorce.

Benedict addressed a message of support to a family values rally of Catholics in Madrid in December, saying a family was "founded on the marriage between a man and a woman."

One of the greatest services Christians could perform was to raise a "family based on marriage between a man and a woman... because it is of paramount importance for the present and the future of humanity," he said.

The Vatican has long been concerned about what Spanish bishops describe as militant secularism in Spain and its influence in Europe and former Spanish colonies in Latin America.

Spain's health ministry last year mounted a high-profile challenge to controversial remarks by Pope Benedict during a trip to Africa last year when he said condoms aggravated efforts to battle AIDS.

It said it would send one million condoms to Africa, which has been worst hit by the disease.

The Pope said on his first trip to Africa last March that the solution to the AIDS pandemic lies in a "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer." [Not exactly. He also referred to the activities of Catholic agencies in terms of education and actual assistance to AIDS victims. ]

The Vatican opposes contraception and has long argued that sexual abstinence is the best way to prevent the spread of AIDS.

The 82-year-old Pontiff will go on November 6 to Santiago de Compostela -- which during the Middle Ages was Christendom's third most important place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem and Rome.

Officials predict around 10 million people will visit the city this year because it is a jubilee year, when pilgrims believe they are granted remission for their sins.

Jubilee years occur when Saint James the Apostle's feast day of July 25 falls on a Sunday.

The faithful believe James's remains lie in the city's cathedral, which is a World Heritage site.

In Barcelona on November 7, the Pontiff will inaugurate [consecrate!] modernist Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi's unfinished church -- the Sagrada Familia -- where part of the interior is scheduled to open to the public by September.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi confirmed the visit, already announced in Madrid, to reporters.

Benedict visited Spain in 2006, the second year of his papacy, speaking out against sweeping secularism at a Mass in eastern Valencia.

The visit was designed to galvanise Church opposition to what Benedict called the "rapid secularisation" of the former Catholic bastion.

Benedict condemned the "excessive exaltation of the freedom of the individual" in contemporary culture in Spain, where 80 percent of the population consider themselves Catholic but only one in five attend Mass.

GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY:
Catechesis on St. Bonaventure




The Holy Father spoke about St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, one of his theological 'masters'. To the Polish pilgrims, he paid tribute to Frederic Chopin, born 200 years ago today, as Poland marks a Chopin Year.

Here is how he synthesized his catechesis in English:

---

In our catecheses on the Christian culture of the Middle Ages, we now turn to Saint Bonaventure, an early follower of Saint Francis of Assisi and a distinguished theologian and teacher in the University of Paris.

There Bonaventure was called upon to defend the new mendicant orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, in the controversies which questioned the authenticity of their religious charism.

The Friars, he argued, represent a true form of religious life, one which imitates Christ by practising the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Elected Minister General of the Friars Minor, he served in this capacity for seventeen years, at a time of immense expansion accompanied by controversies about the genuine nature of the Franciscan charism.

His wisdom and moderation inspired the adoption of a rule of life, and his biography of Francis, which presented the Founder as alter Christus, a passionate follower of Christ, was to prove most influential in consolidating the charism of the Franciscan Order.

Named a Bishop and Cardinal, Bonaventure died during the Council of Lyons. His writings still inspire us by their wisdom penetrated by deep love of Christ and mystical yearning for the vision of God and the joy of our heavenly homeland.

---

Oh, what a beautiful Papa! And oh, what a beautiful 'ciuffo'!



Here is a full translation of the catechesis today:

---

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today I wish to talk about St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. I must confess that in proposing this topic to you, I feel a certain nostalgia thinking back on the research that, as a young scholar, I carried out on this author, who is particularly dear to me. Getting to know him made quite an impact on my formation.

With great joy, a few months ago, I made a pilgrimage to his place of birth, Bagnoregio, a little city in Lazio, which guards his memory with veneration.

Born around 1217, he died in 1274, having lived in that 13th century which was an era when the Christian faith, that had by then penetrated profoundly into the culture and society of Europe, inspired undying works in literature, the visual arts, philosophy and theology.

Among the great Christian figures who contributed to the composition of this harmony between faith and culture, Bonaventure stands out as a man of action and contemplation, of profound piety and prudent governance.

He was born Giovanni da Fidanza. An episode when he was a child profoundly marked his life, as he himself recounted. He was struck by a grave illness and not even his father, who was a physician, hoped to save him from death. His mother then turned to ask the intercession of St. Francis who had just been canonized. Giovanni was healed.

The figure of the Poverello of Assisi became more familiar to him years later when he came to Paris for his studies. He had obtained a Master of Arts diploma, which was like that from a prestigious high school in our time. At that point, like so many young people in his day, as well as today, Giovanni asked himself a crucial question, "What should I do with my life?"

Fascinated by the fervor and evangelical radicalness of the Friars Minor (who had reached Paris in 1219), Giovanni knocked on the door of the Franciscan convent in that city and asked to be admitted into the great family of St. Francis's disciples.

Many years later, he would explain the reason for his choice: that he saw the action of Christ in St. Francis and the movement he started. He wrote in a letter to a fellow friar: "I confess before God that the reason that made me love even more the life of the blessed Francis is that it resembled Christian life at the beginning and during the initial growth of Christianity. The Church began with simple fishermen, and only later enriched herself with illustrious and wise doctors. The religion of St. Francis was not established by the prudence of men but by Christ" (Epistula de tribus quaestionibus ad magistrum innominatum, in Opere di San Bonaventura. Introduzione generale, Roma 1990, p. 29).

Therefore, around 1243, Giovanni took on the Franciscan habit and the name Bonaventure. He was immediately ordered to pursue his studies, and he attended the Faculty of Theology at the University of Paris, following a curriculum of very demanding courses. He earned the various titles required for an academic career - those of
"baccelliere biblico" and "baccelliere sentenziario" [bachelor of Biblical studies and bachleor of theology].

Thus, he studied Sacred Scripture in depth, the 'Sentences' of Pietro Lombardo - which was the manual of theology at the time [and for many centuries after, as the Pope pointed out in his catechesis on Pietro Lombardo], as well as the most important authors of theology. In contact with the teachers and students who came to Paris from all of Europe, he matured his personal reflection and a spiritual sensibility of great value which, in the course of the following years, he would decant into his own works and sermons, becoming one of the most important theologians in the history of the Church.

It is significant to recall the title of the thesis he defended in order to earn his Habilitation to teach theology, the licentia ubique docendi (license to teach everywhere), as it was called at the time.

His dissertation was entitled "Questions about knowing Christ". This showed the central role that Christ always had in the life and teaching of Bonaventure. We can say that all of his thought was profoundly Christocentric.

During those years in Paris, Bonaventure's adopted city, a violent controversy raged between the Friars Minor of St. Francis of Assisi and the Friar Preachers of St. Dominic de Guzman. They disputed the right to teach at the University of Paris, and even called into question the authenticity of their consecrated life as they lived it.

Certainly, the changes introduced by the mendicant orders in the way they understood the religious life - about which I spoke in preceding catecheses - were so innovative that not everyone could understand them. Then, as it often happens even among sincerely religious persons, one must add questions of human weakness like envy and jealousy.

Bonaventure, although he was surrounded by opposition from other teachers at the university, had already started teaching in the theology chair of the Franciscans, and to answer those who questioned the Mendicant Orders, he composed a document called Evangelical perfection.

In it, he demonstrated how the Mendicant Orders, especially the Friars Minor, by practising vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, were following the counsel of the Gospel itself.

Beyond these historical circumstances, the teaching provided by Bonaventure in this work and in his life has always remained relevant: the Church is made more luminous and beautiful by the fidelity to their calling of her sons and daughters who, not only practice the evangelical precepts, but, by the grace of God, are also called to observe Gospel counsel, and tuis, bear witness with their lifestyle of poverty, chastity and obedience, that the Gospel is a spring of joy and perfection.

The conflict died down, at least for a time, and by the personal intervention of Pope Alexander IV, Bonaventure was officially recognized in 1257 as a doctor and master at the University of Paris.

However, he had to renounce that prestigious position because in the same year the Chapter General of the Order elected him Minister General.

He carried out this office for 17 years with wisdom and dedication, visiting the various provinces of the order, writing to his brothers, often intervening severely to eliminate abuses.

When Bonaventure began this service, the Order of Friars Minor had developed prodigiously: There were more than 30,000 Friars Minor all over Western Europe, with a missionary presence in North Africa, the Middle East, and even in Beijing.

It was necessary to consolidate this expansion, and above all, to confer on it, in full fidelity to Francis's charism, a unity of action and spirit.

Indeed, among the followers of the Saint of Assisi, there came to be diverse ways of interpreting his message, and there was a real risk of internal fracture. To avoid this danger, the Order's Chapter General in Narbonne, in 1260, accepted and ratified a text proposed by Bonaventure, which put together and unified the norms regulating the daily life of the Friars Minor.

Bonaventure sensed, nonetheless, that legislative dispositions, no matter how much they were inspired by wisdom and moderation, were not sufficient to assure a communion of spirits and hearts. It was necessary for everyone to share the same ideals and the same motivations.

For this reason, Bonaventure wished to present the authentic charism of Francis in his life and teaching. With great zeal he assembled documents pertaining to St. Francis and listened intently to the recollections of those who had known Francis directly.

This gave rise to a biography of the Saint of Assisi, historically well-founded, entitled Legenda Maior, and edited in a shorter form as the Legenda Minor.

The Latin word 'legenda', unlike its cognate in Italian, does not mean a fruit of fantasy; on the contrary, 'legenda' signified an authoritative text, one that was compulsory reading officially.

And in fact, the Chapter General of the Friars Minor in 1263, meeting in Pisa, acknowledged in the biography written by Bonaventure the most faithful portrait of their Founder, and this therefore became the official biography of St. Francis.

What is the image of St. Francis that emerges from the heart and pen of his devoted son and successor, St. Bonaventure? The essential point was that Francis was an alter Christus, a man who passionately sought Christ. In the love that impelled him to the imitation of Christ, he conformed himself entirely to him.

Bonaventure pointed out this living ideal to all the followers of Francis. This ideal, valid for every Christian, yesterday, today and always, was also indicated as a program for the Church of the Third Millennium by my predecessor, the Venerable John Paul II.

This program, he wrote in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio ineunte (At the beginning of the Third Millennium), is centered "on Christ himself, to know, love, and imitate him, in order to live in him the trinitarian life, and to transform history with him until its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem" (No. 29).

In 1273, the life of St. Bonaventure underwent another change. Pope Gregory X consecrated him Bishop and named him a Cardinal. He also asked him to prepare for a most important Church event: the Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons, whose purpose was to re-establish communion between the Latin and Greek Churches.

He dedicated himself diligently to this task, but failed to see the conclusion of that ecumenical assembly because he died during the Council.

An anonymous pontifical notary composed an elegy of Bonaventure which offers us a definitive portrait of this great saint and excellent theologian: "A good man, affable, pious and merciful, full of virtues, loved by God and men... God indeed gave him such grace that all who saw him were pervaded by a love that the heart could not conceal" (cfr J.G. Bougerol, Bonaventura, in A. Vauchez (ed.), Storia dei santi e della santità cristiana. Vol. VI. L’epoca del rinnovamento evangelico, Milano 1991, p. 91).

Let us take up the legacy of this sainted Doctor of the Church who reminds us of the meaning of our life with these words: "On earth... we can contemplate the divine immensity through reasoning and admiration. But in the heavenly fatherland, when we will have become similar to God, through seeing and in ecstasy,... we shall enter into God's joy" (La conoscenza di Cristo, q. 6, conclusione, in Opere di San Bonaventura. Opuscoli Teologici /1, Roma 1993, p. 187).


To the Polish pilgrims, the Pope had this special message:

Although in the audiences, I have been presenting the figures of those who formed the spirit of Christian Europe, I wish to make an exception today to remember the person of Fryderyk Chopin who lived not too long ago.

These days, the second centenary of his birth is being observed with the Year of Chopin underway in Poland. The music of this very famous Polish composer has been a great contribution to the culture of Europe and the world, bringing those who listen to his music closer to God, and helping to uncover the depths of the human spirit.

I bless you all from the heart.

---

After nine months on Gloria's Forum - for which I can never thank her enough - I'd like to clarify some things about the 'coverage' I try to provide in this Forum of the Pope's activities and pronouncements:

1. I try to be as comprehensive as I can be, in which, of course, my obvious limitation is that I am unable to survey regularly (i.e., daily) all possible sources of news and commentary about the Pope in English, Italian, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese - the languages I can manage. However, generally, the primary Italian and English sources online account for 90 percent of all the news available on the Pope, so I am confident that I would rarely miss anything major.

2. I try to provide a full translation of every papal text as soon as possible because I believe that it is the best way to present what he says.

This way, the Pope's words are unfiltered by the editorial selection that journalists inevitably exercise when they write news stories about what the Pope said, which a) generally resorts to inadequate sound bites, not uncommonly misrepresented and out of context, and do not therefore do full justice to what the Pope says; and b) for practical reasons, pick out only one or two themes, or significant points, out of several that are usually contained in a papal text.

Therefore, I only post news items reporting what the Pope says for any one of three reasons: 1) if the item also includes some useful background; 2) if the full text is not immediately available, and I use these items as a stopgap (e.g., the reports of VIS or AsiaNews); and 3) if the item, usually by a major news agency, is such a flagrant distortion of what the Pope said that it needs to be fisked and set straight.

3. I believe it is more convenient for a Forum visitor to get all the news and timely commentary on Benedict XVI in a single thread, rather than have to consult several threads. News is news, whatever its nature, serious or light.

I therefore use the secondary threads about the Holy Father only for special compilations, such as the various trips, of reports that are first posted on this main thread; or for 'timeless' items that are not pegged to current news, such as the Magisterium thread and the one on Joseph Ratzinger texts - both of which I can only occasionally fill, as I come across suitable texts, and that I wish I could regularly fill with what is out there online abundantly, but which necessarily get less priority than 'new' items.

4. Lella's blog provides me throughout the day with a quick survey of what's in the Italian media, and it is a very convenient time-saving aid for which I am very thankful. Out of habit from my journalist days, I do go back to the primary source whenever possible. Only in a few cases is that not possible. Likewise, Beatrice's site leads me to material from the French media that I would otherwise not come across as promptly as she does.

5. Having worked in TV news which is basically a 'show and tell' way of reporting, and on newspaper and magazine layouts, I do cultivate a certain visual look for my posts, with banners and devices that immediately peg the topic, as well as with any useful supplementary visual material that I can glean online (along with facts that help to explain and appreciate the story better). I only regret that I haven't found the time to learn how to maximize the formatting possibilities of our posting boxes, nor to move on to a more sophisticated graphic program than the primitive 'Paint' that I use with Powerpoint for convenient resizing, cropping, etc.

And obviously, my policy about the newsphotos concerning the Pope is to try and post everything available from the major newsphoto sources, and anything else I can find from Gloria's posts or from some of the blogs.

I had always hoped, even in the PRF, that someone would volunteer to do nothing but look through the Vatican and Foto Felici photos daily - which are largely untapped because no one has the time to go through those dozens of photos - but I know that would take at least a few hours each day.

6. I am sorry I cannot be as comprehensive with the other main threads here - but I do try to make sure I do not miss anything really important.

7. Finally, I would welcome any Forum reader contributing anything that is informative, interesting and even provocative.

Thank you all for your interest.

All I can contribute - next to the occasional rant - is a very, huge, gigantic THANK YOU for doing what you do!!

Even though I'm still convinced that you're keeping a few replicas of yourself chained down in some type of dungeoun!




We have quite a busy year to look forward to in terms of Papal activity!
AND!!! The 5 year anniversary!!!



Again!! Thank you so much for keeping us informed/updated/happy!!







Dear Heike,

Thanks again for your kind words. I aim to please. Ehem!

Hey, I welcome the rants, as well, considering that I am quite a ranter, myself! And I do welcome the leads that you provide for items in the German media. And your cheery notes - you perk up my day!

And yes, what a year 2010 is shaping up to be - our beloved Heilige Vater sure sprung a beautiful Spanish surprise on us! What a love! And his photos today were super....


TERESA

And now, B16 in high-def! -
Sony will provide CTV with a mobile
HD-capable broadcast center
Translated from
the Italian service of

March 3, 2010


The Vatican television center CTV has decided to have Sony Professional provide it with a new mobile unit completely equipped for high-definition TV filming and broadcasting. The new mobile unit is expected to be delivered in October.

"The transition to High Definition," said Fr. federico Lombardi, director general fo CTV, "represents for us a development necessary to our service of transmitting the activities of the Pope and other Vatican events, in order to keep CTV in the vanguard and as a reference point for international broadcasting".

For this phase of updating, he continued, "we sought a partner that not only has a depth of technical knowledge but also a level of competence and a capacity to manage such a project with grezt reliability. We chose Sony with which CTV has worked for over 20 years."

For his part, the head of Media Business for Sony-Italia, Bentito Manlio Mari, said Sony was committed to work in closest collaboration with CTV from the very beginning of the new project.

The funding for the project comes from the CTV budget itself, supplemented by contriibutions from foundations like the Knights of Columbus, which had donated the mobile center now in use.

CTV, established in 1983, documents the pastoral ministry of the Pope and the activities of the Holy See. Every year, it records some 200 Vatican events in entirety, in addition to its work on the Pope's trips in Italy and abroad.

I wish OR would perform this service more regularly - and provide the appropriate pictures. The Pope with Vagni and his family would have been good - his wife is Thai and they have a little daughter.


Sidelights after
the GA today
Translated from
the 3/4/10 issue of




Left, Vagni shortly after he was released by Muslim guerrillas; right, the all-gypsy orchestra Rezko who played for the Pope.


A released hostage
thanks the Pope

"But are you a friend of the Pope? He wishes you well and is asking for your release". Eugenio Vagni, the Red Cross worker who was kept hostage for 178 days by Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines from January to July 2009, says he learned from his captors of Benedict XVI's public appeals in his behalf.

"To feel the Pope's nearness," says Vagni now, "gave me courage in those terrible moments. I was afraid they would behead me. Today, I have come with my family to thank him".


Pastoral ministry for gypsies

Also at the Wednesday general audience were officials of the pastoral ministry for gypsies, who came to Rome for a meeting of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Workers. They presented to the Pope their pioneering experiences and had a surprising piece of information for him: There are currently 120 gypsies who have embraced the religious life, and 70 have already been ordained as priests.

Their ministry has two golden rules which they said were proposed by the gypsy community itself: to listen to them and live with them, and to help them but not with mere assistentialism.

One Padre Luigi is cited as a priest who has lived with the nomad communities for 30 years, sharing their life of emargination and poverty.

"It is a matter of promoting together evangelization and human promotion," said Paolo Ciani of the Sant'Egidio Community, "bearing witness to the Gospel in the disadvantaged situation that ethnic gypsies find themselves in".

Helping give voice to the gypsies yesterday was an all-gypsy orchestra from Hungary, the Rejko. They played the Overture to the opera William Tell by Gioacchino Rossini for the Pope before he began his plurilingual greetings.

"The Vatican is the 100th nation where we have played," said the conductor Istvan Gerandasi, who underscored "the positive message that comes from the art and the dissemination of popular gypsy traditions".


New crowns for the
Black Madonna of Czestochowa

At the end of the audience yesterday, the Pope blessed two new crowns for the image of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, in which are imbedded stones from the moon and other planets, along with stones from Jerusalem and Nazareth.

Benedict XVI was also shown "the stars, in precious gems, that will adorn the new garments we are preparing for the image", according to the prior of Czestochowa, Fr. Roman Majewski.

"We had new crowns made to commemorate the gifts of Pius X a hundred years ago. We believe Czestochowa continues to be the key for understanding the identity of the Polish people".

For the 5th centenary of
the Marian apparition in
Motta di Livenza

The Pope also blessed the votive lamp for the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Motta di Livenza*.

"Starting March 9, the lamp will be lit at the Basilica of the Madonna dei Miracoli," said its rector, Fr, Alfonso Cracco, who said that the location of the chrine at the crossroads of four dioceses - Vittorio Veneto, Treviso, Pordenone and Venice - makes it a popular place for pilgrimages and confessions".



I must confess I had never heard of Motta di Livenza before! This is what Wikipedia says about it:

---

Basilica of Motta di Livenza, built near the spot where Giovanni Cigana reported the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him on March 9, 1510 during his praying of the rosary. She asked him and the inhabitants of the area to fast as an act of repentance for sin for at least three consecutive Saturdays, pray to God for mercy, and to build a basilica on the site so that people could come for prayer. The Marian apparition was subsequently investigated and proclaimed worthy of belief by Pope Julius II.

---

These are some images from the official site of the Basilica of the Madonna dei Miracoli:

The website for the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela says that at 1 a.m. Wednesday, March 3, they were informed on their cellphones to prepare for a mid-morning press conference by their Archbishop, who did not break the confidential news until he met with the canons of the Cathedral and the diocesan council shortly before his news conference. This is the account of the news conference by the Spanish news agency Europa Press.


Behind the scenes of the Pope's
decision to visit Compostela



MADRID, March 3 (Translated from Europa Press)- Pope Benedict XVI has requested "preparations for a very simple visit" when he makes a pilgrimage on November 6 to Santiago de Compostela on the occasion of the Holy Year of St. James, after which he will go on to Barcelona the following day to consecrate the Sagrada Familia temple.


Mons. Barrio announces the good news to his Cathedral Canons and diocesan council, and then at a news conference on Wednesday.

In a press conference this morning, Mons. Julián Barrio Barrio, Archbishop of Compostela, explained that he sent a formal invitation to the Holy Father in October 2009 requesting his presence at some time during the Jacobean Holy Year of 2010.

In addition, the invitation was also extended by Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero when Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of state, visited Spain last year, and in the same month, October 2009, by the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, Francisco Vazques, when they met with the Pope.

Mons. Barrio said the invitation had been 'very well received" by the Pope, and that it became a question of finding a date that would fit into the Pope's travel schedule in 2010.

"It was not easy", the bishop said. Initially, t was considered to have the visit take place in 2011 when the Pope would be coming to Spain for the World Youth Day in Madrid in August. 2011 is another Jubilee Year for the Diocese of Compostela, which will mark the eighth centenary of the consecration of the Cathedral. But this option was quickly ruled out, he said.

Then, last Thursday, he received a communication from the Vatican - "at the time, strictly confidential" - notifying him that the Pope would visit Compostela on November 6 and thus, be able to make the Jacobean jubilee pilgrimage.

On Monday, March 1, Mons. Barrio, accompanied by the president of the autonomous region of Galicia (where Compostela is located), were granted an audience with the Pope, presumably to discuss the visit.

He said the private audience had been previously scheduled in response to his request - "one that the Archbishop of Santiago makes every Holy Year to thank the Pope for his message sent on the occasion of the opening of the Holy Door... and to present him with the commemorative medallion."

In turn, he invited the President of the Galician Junta to accompany him, and so, they came to the Vatican as a delegation, with other officials who would be involved in the visit.

Mons. Barrio said that the Pope expressed his desire to come to Santiago "as a pilgrim of faith and witness to the risen Christ". The archbishop said the papal visit was the 'golden brooch' to the celebration of the Jacobean Holy Year.

Although the program for the short visit has yet to be determined, he said the Pope expressed his desire for "a very simple visit" on a day that he wished to "dedicate completely to St. James".

He said that first, he had a 'truly intimate' conversation with the Pope for twenty minutes before the Pope greeted the president and his entourage.

The only previous papal visit to the shrine of St. James the Greater in Compostela was by John Paul II in 1982, also a Jacobean Holy Year. A plaque at the tomb of the Apostle recalls his message urging Europe to recover its Christian roots.

John Paul I returned to Compostela in 1989 for World Youth Day.


Here is the wrap-up report by the Spanish news agency EFE on the twin announcements yesterday:

Pope favors Spain with
special visits in November



MADRID, March 4 (Translated from EFE) - Benedict XVI will travel on November 6 and 7, respectively, to Santiago de Compostela "to take part as a pilgrim of faith" in the Jacobean Holy Yar, and to Barcelona to consecrate the Sagrada Familia temple, in his second visit to Spain since he was elected Pope in 2005.

The presence of the Pope will serve "to reiterate the Holy See's commitment to Christianity and Europeanism", according to the president of the regional Xunta of Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

The Archbishop of Santiago, Julian Barrio, said that during his audience with the Pope last Monday, accompanied by Nunez Feijoo, the Pope had expressed his desire to make 'a very simple visit' to Santiago.

He said that when he first sent the Pope a formal invitation to come to Compostela for the Jacobean Holy Year, it was "very well received" by the Pope and his closest associates.

"From the beginning, the Pope had great interest in being able to join us in the celebration," Barrio said.

On November 7, the Pope will preside at a Solemn Mass to consecrate the still unfinished masterpiece of the late Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi, whose cause for beatification has been elevated to Rome after having concluded its diocesan phase in Barcelona. [The nave, or central part of the cathedral, will be completed in September and much of the exterior is done, but the final completion is not expected until 2026.]

The Archbishop of Barcelona, Lluís Martínez Sistach, says the Pope's visit has a 'global' significance, since the Sagrada Familia is one of the best-known architectural structures in the world. He said that the roofing of the entire cathedral [a vast space which can accommodate 15,000) would be finished in May.

Mons. Martinez anticipates that the Mass will be 'very beautiful' and will be enhanced by the 'spectacular' features of the church. He also expects the Pope to pray at the crypt of Gaudi, "a man of God... who planned the Sagrada Familia from the roots of his faith" and whose beatification process is under way.

The Spanish bishops conference said the Church in Spain welcomes with joy the twin papal visits and will fully cooperate with the two host dioceses.

"We call on sll the faithful and Christian communities in Spain to offer prayers, starting now, for the success of the Holy Father's visits and for its apostolic fruits", said a note from the bishops's conference.

Almost four years ago, in July 2006, Benedict XVI presided at the conclusion of the V World Encpunter of Families in Valencia, Spain. He will be back in Spain in August 2011 for World Youth Day in Madrid.

Thursday, March 4

ST. CASIMIR OF POLAND (b Cracow 1458, d Vilnius 1483), Confessor
Patron Saint of Poland and Lithuania, Patron of Young People
He was born in Cracow's Wawel Castle, to King Casimir III of the Jagiellon dynasty, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the
Holy Roman Emperor Albert II Hapsburg. From childhood, he chose to live a higly-disciplined severe life and vowed himself to
lifelong celibacy. When he was 15, the nobles of Hungary were dissatisfied with their king, they asked King Casimir to send his
son to be their king. The young Casimir went eagerly, but the army at his disposal was weak and in no position to withstand
a threatened Turkish invasion. He fled back to Poland, returned to his studies, and vowed never again to be involved in any war.
He served as regent of Poland in 1481-1482 when his father was away, and he was said to have ruled with prudence and justice.
In 1483, while on a visit to Lithuania, of which he was the Grand Duke, he succumbed to a lung disease. He was buried in
Vilnius. Several miracles were quickly ascribed to him, and he was canonized in 1522, and in 1948, Pope Pius XII declared him
a patron saint for young people.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030410.shtml


OR today.

Illustration: 'Bonaventure seeks admission to Franciscan order', F. Herrera, 1628.
At the General Audience, the Pope speaks on St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio:
'A master of knowing Christ'
Other papal stories in this issue: A brief announcement of the Holy Father's visit to Spain on November 6-7, and an item
about Vatican TV going high-definition starting October. Page 1 international news: Northern Ireland approaches a new
stage in the long peace process when London turns over control of justice and police to the Belfast government this week;
more violence in Iraq before the national elections on March 7; and a teaser for an interview with Cardinal Agostino Vallini,
the Pope's Vicar for Rome, as he completes two years in that position. Other inside stories of note: Turkish Premier grants
first interview to Cypriot newsmen since Cyprus was split in 1974, saying Turkey will withdraw its troops from the northern
part of the island as soon as Greek and Turkish Cypriots agree on reunification; and an article citing what Joseph Roth,
an Austrian who was considered in his time the most outstanding Jewish writer in German, wrote about Pius XII after
attending his coronation ceremonies in Rome, describing him, among other things, as "the enemy par excellence of the
pre-Apocalyptic beasts of Nazi Germany". The article appears in a newly published collection of Roth's journalistic work.


THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- Bishops of Uganda (Group 2) on ad-limina visit

- H.E. Francisco A. Soler, Ambassador of El Salvador, on a farewell visit.

As the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father knows his mission is also a day-to-day Via Crucis. After the Irish sex scandal reports, and then the German, something closer to home even if it is rather peripheral.

I was going to write two lines about this in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread because it involves translating a non-priority item, but now Reuters has an English overview that chooses to involve the Pope, just because of a Vatican connection, but trust Phillip Pullella to indulge in his usual reprehensible attempt to associate the Pope with anything negative, especially if it is somewhat salacious...


New woe for Vatican as usher
is linked to prostitution
By Philip Pullella



VATICAN CITY, March 4 (Reuters) – One of Pope Benedict's ceremonial ushers and a member of an elite choir in St Peter's Basilica have been implicated in a gay prostitution ring, in the latest sexual scandal to taint the Vatican.

[Just to make it clear from the start: The principals are a ranking civil bureaucrat who had the backing of Cardinal Sodano in 1995 when he was appointed a 'Gentleman of His Holiness' by John Paul II, and a Nigerian seminarian who happened to belong to a secondary Vatican choir. The Vatican yesterday promptly said the 'Gentleman' would no longer be considered such, and the seminarian has been dismissed from the choir - neither fact is reported by Pullella, though the Vatican made the announcements yesterday, and Pullella's story was filed today.

A Vatican source explained that although appointments as 'Gentleman of His Holiness' are traditionally held for life, the Vatican will simply stop asking Balducci to carry out any services and will also drop his name from the listing in the Annuario Pontificio, the official directory of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.]

Ghinedu Ehiem, a Nigerian, was dismissed by the Vatican on Wednesday from the Giulia Choir after his name appeared in transcripts of police wiretaps, published by an Italian newspaper, in an unrelated Italian investigation.

The wiretaps were carried out in connection with a probe into corruption in contracts to build public works, including the planned venue in Sardinia of last year's G8 summit. The summit was eventually moved to the Abruzzo region as part of efforts to help it recover from an earthquake.

Among four people arrested last month in the corruption probe was Angelo Balducci, an engineer who is a board member of Italy's public works department and a construction consultant to the Vatican. Balducci was arrested on corruption charges, and the allegations of prostitution emerged only later.

Balducci is also a member of an elite group called "Gentlemen of His Holiness", ushers who are called to serve in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on major occasions such as when the Pope receives heads of state or presides at big events.

[Pullella expressly does not mention that Balducci was appointed in 1995 and was therefore already in place when Benedict XVI became Pope, but it is very germane to the report, because otherwise, the casual reader simply assumes that Balducci was named by the present Pope.]

"Gentlemen of His Holiness" carried the coffin of the late Pope John Paul at his funeral in 2005.

Excerpts of the wiretaps and police documents published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica showed that Ehiem, 40, had been in regular contact with Balducci before Balducci's arrest last month and the subject of their conversation was gay sex. [In the wiretaps, he is heard describing physical characteristics of some boy prostitutes to Balducci.]

A police document prepared for magistrates and published in part by La Repubblica said Balducci was in contact with Ehiem and an Italian who were part of what the police called "an organized network ... to abet male prostitution."

It was not immediately possible to contact Ehiem's lawyer.


Equally objectionable is the Anglophone media's exploitation - and obvious attempt to pin guilt by association - of the recently uncovered sexual abuses by priests in German Catholic schools 'in the Pope's own country'! As though he ever had anything to do with clergy or schools that were not part of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.

But as I commented when this German story first emerged, God forbid someone will come up with sex abuses committed by priests and religious in his jurisdiction when Joseph Ratzinger was Archbishop. You can bet German media started raking the muck for this (much as the American MSM sent a whole army of investigative reporters to Alaska in 2008 to dig up any dirt on about Sarah Palin, and got zilch).

It's been over two months now, so keep your fingers crossed... It's not unlikely that the Pope himself would have immediately asked Archbishop Marx in Munich to carry out a quiet investigation if any cases may have occurred in the archdiocese since 1977.


In Germany's biggest sex abuse scandal,
focus is on priests at Roman Catholic schools
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER



BERLIN, March 3 (AP) - In the home country of Pope Benedict XVI, new revelations of child abuse by Roman Catholic priests at German high schools are surfacing almost daily. [An outright exaggeration!]

The Catholic church in Germany — where around 30 percent of people consider themselves Catholic — has apologized for the incidents, but already there are calls for the government to take action because most of the cases date back to the 1970s and 1980s, beyond the reach of statutes and prosecution.

The first accusers came forward a month ago in Berlin. Since then, the list of schools and victims who say they were scarred and haunted by alleged abuses has grown.

First it was seven alumni of the prestigious Canisius Kolleg prep school in Berlin. Then it was Aloisius Kolleg in Bonn and then St. Blasien, another Jesuit-run boarding school in the Black Forest as well as other Catholic schools in Hamburg, Goettingen and Hildesheim.

Just days ago, the renowned boarding schools Ettal Monastery and St. Ottilien in Bavaria made headlines when allegations about child molestation by Benedictine priests there surfaced. The total number of alleged victims has reached at least 150. [Ettal is in Bavaria, but I do not know if it is part of the Archdiocese of Munich, and the initial reports referred to offenses commited in the 1950s, but there have been subsequent references of alleged offenses in the 1970s-1980s. This report should also have mentioned that the abbot of the monastery resigned as soon as the reports surfaced.]

Ursula Raue, an attorney appointed by the Jesuit religious order to handle the charges, told The Associated Press she has been overwhelmed by the number of cases that flood her inbox and answering machine daily.

"This whole case has taken on a dimension of unbelievable proportions," she said.

Raue said she "heard from mothers, sisters and brothers, whose children or siblings took their own lives or cannot function in daily life because of deep psychological scars."

[A conscientious reporter would have added at least two lines about the statements made by the German bishops conference (DBK), and that the DBK president will be meeting the Pope at the Vatican this week to discuss the problem. By leaving out a number of relevant attenuating or positive facts, reporters can make any story appear completely negative against some one or some entity they do not sympathize with, in this case, the Church.

What I don't understand is, given how unpopular the Church is in Germany, and that Catholics are a minority, how is it that none of these victims and their families made any complaints - to the civilian justice system - at the time of the alleged incidents? Or even, say at the time the US scandals erupted bigtime. Was that not incentive enough for them to come out and make their accusations? Especially since most German bishops are hardly orthodox Catholics, and usually liberal, so it would have been a great liberal crusade for them to use against the Church establishment!]


P.S. New development in this story:

Vatican plans apostolic visitation
of the Benedictine abbey in Ettal
Translated from

March 4, 2010


ROME - The Vatican has decided on an apostolic visitation to the Benedictine abbey of Ettal in Bavaria, at the request of the abbey officials themselves. This was announced today in the German press and confirmed by Ettal.

Along with some other religious institutions in Germay, Ettal is at the center of newly uncovered sexual abuses committed by priests.

It all began with accusations made in January against two priests of Jesuit-run Canisius high school in Berlin for offenses committed during a decade spanning the 1980s and 1990s. {School officials said both priests left the order in the early 1990s and are no longer employed by the school.]

This led to revelations in other Catholic schools, with a total of 150 cases so far.

The German bishops conference, after their annual plenary assembly last week, issued a public apology to the victims and their families, and said they would cooperate fully with the civilian justice system to seek redress for the victims.

The bishops also established an office to take charge of such matters, headed by Mons. Stephen Ackermann, Bishop of Trier.

Last Wednesday, Ettal abbey was searched on orders of the Munich magistrate in its investigation of possible sexual abuses committed against children who attended the abbey's boarding school. Since the end of the Second World War, no church institution has ever been the object of such a search.

Earlier, the prior of the Abbey, Maurus Krass resigned after admitting that he had not informed Church authorities of accusations of sexual abuse made in 2003-2005. Fr. Brnabas Boegle, director of the boarding school, also resigned.

Three religious in the Monastery of Wechselburg, in Saxony, were suspended after they were implicated in sexual abuses committed while they were assigned in Ettal. So far, 20 charges have been filed by former students against four priests.

And now, a breath of fresh air and much good sense from Bruno Mastroianni...


Benedict marches
to a different drumbeat

While everyone else rummages in the back rooms,
the Pope does the housekeeping

by Bruno Mastroianni
Translated from

March 4, 2010


The more people speculate about what's happening behind the scenes at the Vatican, the more Benedict XVI talks of God.

The more concern there is about balances of power and supposed frictions in the Church hierarchy, the more the Pope offers admirable lessons on the mission of the Church - as he did last month in his meeting with the Roman clergy, explaining to them that "to live according to the will of the Creator" means to be 'truly human".

It is the Ratzinger style: to concern himself with the basics, knowing that everything else will follow.

With the Church, one can stop at the facade - evaluating its structural elements and its historico-sociological aspects. Or one can go to its back rooms in search of gossip and voices hiding in the shadows.

But it is only by entering through its doors that one can see what it really is: an institution dedicated to the task of bringing God to the world.

Before addressing the Roman priests, the Pope had addressed the seminarians of Rome. He told them that the story of salvation is the story of God seeking out man and not yielding to his rebellions - rather, constantly offering his creature a way to come back, a way of love.

And that is what Benedict XVI has been doing with dedication.

Regardless of contrary voices, of those who peddle dark scenarios and all other critics fixated on the Pope's purported retro-vision, the Church, under the leadership of Benedict XVI, is carrying out its mission with determination: to keep open, for anyone, the door that leads to God.

And that is the story that we hope to hear about, not wasting our time with odds and ends in the back room.


I am a bit confused because for two Thursdays now, Mastroianni's weekly piece has been published in the Opinion page of TEMPI, instead of on his blog for TEMPI, where it usually appears under the rubric of 'Recensire Ratzinger'. Regardless, his brief essays continue to be a model of conciseness, clarity, focus and passionate Catholicism.

This really belongs in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread but I want to make sure it's not missed, because it is somewhat of a shocker, if it turns out to be true.....


John Paul II's cause reportedly
snagged by medical panel's rejection
of the 'miracle' presented



Rome, March 4 (dpa) - The process to make Pope John Paul II a saint has been delayed by the decision of a Vatican medical commission not to recognize an alleged miracle attributed to the late pontiff, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.

John Paul, who died in 2005, is currently a candidate for beatification, the last step before being canonised, or recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church.

But before a person is beatified and given the title "blessed," by the Pope, the Vatican's saint-making department must obtain proof that a miracle has taken place with the candidate's intercession.

According to the website of the Rome-based daily, La Repubblica, the Vatican medical commission has rejected the case involving a French nun who was apparently cured from Parkinson's disease after she prayed to him to ask for God's help.

The commission found that the nun's Parkinson's diagnosis was not certain, and that in any case, patients with certain forms of the disease - a degenerative nervous system disorder which afflicted John Paul himself -have been known to make a full recovery, La Repubblica said.

The commission will now ask to review one of the other 271 possible miracles that have been attributed to the Polish-born Pontiff, La Repubblica said.

Chants of "Santo subito! (Saint immediately) and banners bearing the same slogan rose amongst the hundreds of thousands who attended the funeral of John Paul, whose death ended one of the longest and most eventful pontificates in modern history.

A month after John Paul's death, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, put him on the fast track by waiving Church rules that normally impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can start.


Repubblica has been guilty - even chronically so - of any number of journalistic boo-boos, but I don't think they would have gone out on a limb with this unless they had an uinmpeachable source. So while I pray that they are once again wrong, let us pray, too, that in the event this report is true, that John Paul's postulators will find the strongest case to present out of those 271 other possible miracles. Might they have been too hasty with betting everything on the case they did present?



P.S. Big sigh of relief for now!

False alarm?
Definitely false reporting -
by dpa, not 'Repubblica'

I had to do something earlier, so I could not immediately check out Repubblica's report, but now that I have, the dpa report above turns out to be guilty of not faithfully passing on what Repubblica did say.

First of all, Repubblica was merely passing on a story in a Polish newspaper (not named) today about the 'rejection' of the miracle and thus, a snag in the late Pope's beatification, etc.

However, the second line of Repubblica's story is that Vatican sources contacted by the Italian news agency ANSA denied the report.

It adds that 'an eminent Vatican source' consulted by the agency Apcom reacted with surprise, saying, "It cannot be so simply because the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood has not yet officially analyzed it [the miracle]". He said a meeting of the medical commission is scheduled to be held next week.


See what happens when one does not try to track down primary souces???? And how could the editors at dpa have passed on such a misleading account?

Some Italian newspapers already mentioned this last December, in pointing out how Cardinal Camillo Ruini, whom many in the media and on the Catholic left in Italy would see as completely out of the picture following his retirement, is actually still very much in the picture with his stewardship of the Italian bishops' conference 'cultural project' to raise the level of Christian awareness and practice among Italians; the international symposium on God held in December under its auspices; and the Pope's naming him to head a commission of inquiry into Medjugorje. Ruini is a world-class theologian, whose views are very Ratzingerian, and I have always fancied the thought that Cardinal Ratzinger might have voted for Camillo Ruini in the 2005 Conclave!


Pope names commission to set
the record straight on Medjugorje
by Ignacio Ingrao
Translated from

Issue No, 11, 2010


Benedict XVI wants to get the facts right about the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje. He has therefore named a commission of inquiry at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to be led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini.

The coming months promise to be rather tempestuous for the Shrine to Our Lady of Peace in the village close to the diocesan seat of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It has become the third most visited Marian shrine in Europe [after Lourdes and Fatima] with more than one million pilgrims annually, and thousands of conversions.

However, unlike the title given to the Mother of God venerated in this shrine, it has brought a lot of conflict within the Church itself.

Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, formerly vice parish priest of Medjugorje, who presented himself in the first years as the spiritual adviser to the children who claimed to see the apparitions [all of them now adults and married, but some of them still claiming to see the Virgin Mary everyday], was early on accused of manipulating their consciences and later, of relations with a nun in his parish, was constrained to leave the Franciscan order to avoid being subjected to a canonical tribunal by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Subsequently, there were unpleasant confrontations between the Diocese of Mostar led by Bishop Ratko Peric, and nine ex-Franciscans, who were expelled from the Friars Minor but refused to leave their parishes.

The recent visit to Medjugorje of Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, has rekindled the controversy. The Bishop of Mostar protested that Schoenborn came to Medjugorje and celebrated Mass without informing the local bishop, as is the canonical practice everywhere. Additionally, Schoenborn met with some of the supposed visionaries.

[His statements afterwards seemed to imply that he believed in the apparitions - "They confirm the 'grammar' of Marian apparitions" - and an interview with an Italian magazine even quoted him as saying he believed Pope Benedict was equally favorable and would be visiting Medjugorje himself. His spokesman later denied that he had said any of that.

Schoenborn also appeared to ignore the bishop's protest letter dated January 2, until January 15, after he had an audience with the Pope, (while he was attending the annual plenary session of the CDF) - at which time he faxed a short handwritten note to the bishop, of which only two lines were made public by the Diocese of Mostar- the first in which he tells Bishop Peric it was not his intention to sow further conflict by his visit to Medjugorje, and the second, his closing salutation. There was no mention of whether the Cardinal apologized for not informing the bishop he would be saying Mass in Medjugorje.]

"Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the first 'apparition'. It is time to make things clear: Medjugorje is either the most colossal razzle-dazzle in human history, or the most important event in the history of Christianity since the Resurrection of Christ", says Saverio Gaeta, author of a book called Medjugorje: E tutto vero (Medjugorje: All of it is true). [What hyperbole! Why should these apparitions, assuming they are true, be more important to Christianity than previous apparitions as in Lourdes or Fatima?]

And for those who may want to 'verify' in person, they may come to the Palasport in Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, on March 13, where there will be a prayer assembly of 13 hours dedicated to the Virgin Mary of Medjugorje with the presence of one of the 'seers', Mirijana, who, the program says, will be receiving during the course of the prayer rally, the daily apparition of the Virgin. [Are they charging admission?]

[I am very much on the skeptical side in this matter. What defies credulity is the fact that these apparitions are claimed to take place daily for the past 30 years, and that the 'seers' have been staging similar events in the past to have others 'witness' them 'seeing the apparition'. Moreover, the supposed messages from the Virgin appear very banal, necessarily repetitive, and obviously derivative from the messages she gave in Lourdes and in Fatima. Not to mention that the 'seers' have reportedly all become wealthy. All of it is light-years away from the experiences of Bernadette, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco - who were obviously not sophisticated enough to indulge in self-delusion. And none of it is helped by the blatant online promotions of those who do business organizing pilgrimages to Medjugorje!

Thank God for those who have come away from Medjugorje with renewed Christian faith, or with newly-acquired faith, as the case may be, and may they not only keep it but spread it. Most of all, may they realize that true faith does not need miracles or apparitions to sustain it.]


P.S. My prejudices are obvious - I feel great affection and admiration for Cardinal Ruini, while I am increasingly outraged and disappointed at the many questionable judgments Cardinal Schoenborn has shown in the past few years. I would not care so much what he does, except that he is reputed to be one of the Pope's intimates and is president of the Benedict XVI Foundation, for heaven's sake!.

Here's the message of the Portuguese bishops I had intended to translate two days ago, and haven't found time to do because the Spanish surprise came and i was more important for me to translate the news from Spanish sources, but here's CNA's report on the highlights of the message:


Portuguese bishops announce
initiatives for faithful to
prepare for Pope's visit



Lisbon, Portugal, Mar 4, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- As the date of Pope Benedict XVI's arrival nears, the bishops of Portugal have made a call to the people of the country to prepare themselves, the Church and society to welcome him. They also exhorted the population to use the Apostolic Visit as a "seed that sprouts and gives fruits of spiritual renewal."

The Portuguese episcopal conference circulated a letter to prepare for Pope Benedict's trip to Lisbon, Fatima and Porto between May 11 and 14 of this year, calling the visit an "event of singular importance."

For this reason, they wrote, "it must be prepared appropriately, not just in an outer glow and a festive atmosphere, but especially in the realm of faith, of construction of ecclesial unity and of a more just and fraternal society."

Noting the "happy coincidence" of the pilgrimage coming just after Lent and Easter, the bishops called for people "to reflect and meet the challenges" included in the Pope's Lenten message, on the theme, "The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ."

The Portuguese bishops promoted putting individualism aside, living a life of constant conversion, promoting justice, especially to the most vulnerable, and announcing the Gospel with the "face of a saved people" as good Lenten preparation.

"The dynamism of the Easter of Christ," they added, "must embody attitudes and gestures of persevering hope and creative love."

The bishops expressed their hope that preparations for the papal pilgrimage will revive faith, create possibilities for solutions to "difficulties and crises" in society, and strengthen charity and unity in the nation.

The note also outlined "concrete actions" that would be useful in preparation for Pope Benedict's arrival. Among their "tips," they suggested considering the visit in personal and communal prayer intentions, making use of Church-sponsored activities to further knowledge issues relating to the Pope, Church teachings and Catholic tradition and promoting participation in the Eucharistic celebrations to be presided over by the Pope.

"We appeal to everyone," concluded the bishops, "to not let this visit of the Holy Father be a mere passing event... but that it be first a seed that sprouts and bears fruit of spiritual, social and apostolic renewal."

The bishops invited the participation of all the residents of Portugal in the May celebrations. "The Pope wishes to welcome everyone, regardless of their creed or ideology," they wrote.