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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

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16/07/2012 13:42
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Paolo Gabriele's father
defend's son's 'honesty'

By NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY. July 15 (AP) — The father of Pope Benedict XVI's imprisoned butler said in a letter published Sunday his son was honest and that he hopes the truth will emerge concerning the leaks of sensitive Vatican documents.

Andrea Gabriele's comments marked the first by relatives of papal butler Paolo Gabriele, who was arrested May 23 after scores of documents from the papal apartments were found in his Vatican City home. He is accused of aggravated theft and remains the only suspect in the case of leaked Vatican documents, which exposed corruption [I am compelled to point this out every time the MSM trots out this unfair generalization: One specific case alone was mentioned by Mons. Vigano despite his broad accusations - reported overpricing of the Christmas creche for St. Peter's Square], infighting and power struggles in the Catholic Church's highest levels of governance.

While Andrea Gabriele defended his son, he hinted that the motivation behind the leaks was to expose wrongdoing for the sake of purifying the Church. He said he hoped that Benedict's call to carry out "the necessary cleaning of the Church" is realized.

"Paolo is paying the price firsthand for a reality that's difficult to understand until the motive of what has happened is made public," he wrote in the letter to Italian television station Tgcom 24, which published it on its website.

The younger Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three, has been imprisoned in a holding facility located inside the Vatican gendarmes' barracks since his arrest; he is allowed regular visits by his family and lawyers, and attends Mass weekly.

Many Vatican watchers have seen in the leaks a plot to undermine the authority of Benedict's No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been blamed for a host of gaffes during Benedict's seven-year papacy.

But in one of his last acts before going on vacation July 3, Benedict sent a letter to Bertone, lamenting the "unjust criticism" that had been leveled against him and reaffirming his confidence in him.

Benedict's gesture was evidence of the seriousness with which the leaks have been treated in the Vatican. Aside from the criminal investigation that resulted in Paolo Gabriele's arrest, Benedict appointed three cardinals to canvas the Vatican bureaucracy to get to the bottom of the leaks.

They are due to report back to the Pope this week. Also expected soon is a decision on whether Gabriele will be indicted or whether charges will be dropped. If he is indicted, a trial in the Vatican tribunal — which would be open to the media — is likely to begin in September, the Vatican has said.

In the letter, Andrea Gabriele insisted on his son's "great generosity and moral integrity," and his love for the Church and both Benedict and Pope John Paul II. He said his son "is an honest person and will wait as long as it takes until everything is clarified."


In DIE WELT yesterday, Paul Badde had a lengthy article in which he focuses his attention on three persons who might have been behind Paolo Gabriele's work, with the simple motivation of envy and jealousy of those who are now closest to Benedict XVI by those who were previously close to him: Ingrid Stampa, the Pope's former housekeeper when he was a cardinal, who reportedly lives in the same building as Gabriele; Mons. Josef Clemens, who was private secretary to Cardinal Ratzinger for 19 years; and Cardinal Paolo Sardi, who used to head the section at SecState in charge of translating the Pope's texts, and who was one of Gabriele's earlier employers before he was recommended to work for Mons. James Harvey, the Prefect of the Pontifical Household. Badde claims that a survey of calls made to and from Gabriele's cellphone would most likely show frequent contacts with these three. However, Badde does not say that all three were working together to pull Gabriele's strings. Only that each one had strong reasons of jealousy and envy to want to strike against those close to the Pope now. (Why they chose to strike at Bertone especially, and not against Mons. Gaenswein, is not explained by Badde. One would think that, by virtue of the positions of confidence Stampa and Clemens previously held, their main target would be Gaenswein, not Bertone.]

I am not sure why no one has picked this up in the Italian or Anglophone media so far, but whereas I have always considered Badde one of the Vaticanistas most loyal to Benedict XVI, I find his theory rather tenuous if not implausible. Because it impugns three people separately and together, and even if Vatican investigation shows that indeed Gabriele's telephone trail shows frequent contacts with this unlikely trio, Badde's reasoning is entirely circumstantial and most unspecific.

In the case of Stampa, because she lives in the same building with Gabriele and is known to be friendly to him and his family. But Badde also grants that she is one of the few people who can get into the papal apartment and talk to the Pope whenever she asks to do so. [After April 19, 2005, Stampa was named to the Secretariat of State to work in the section on translations under Sardi, someone who was never known to be friendly to Cardinal Ratzinger oR Benedict XVI. In fact there were reports afterwards of conflicts in the working relationship between Sardi and Stampa, whose loyalty was with the Pope, whereas Badde claims they are 'one heart and one soul'!]]

In the case of Mons. Clemens, as with Ms. Stampa, no one before now has questioned his absolute loyalty to Benedict XVI, although there has always been gossip reported about the mutual dislike between him and Mons. Georg Gaenswein. Badde claims no other special relationship between Clemens and Stampa [other than the implied relationship during the years between 2000-2003 when both worked for Cardinal Ratzinger], except that the latter is one of the few people invited to the dinners at Clemens's apartment which the Pope reportedly attends about three times a year, and about which - another bishop reportedly told Badde - the Pope recently wrote Clemens to inform him there would be no such dinners again! [Would Clemens tell somebody else if this was the case?] No basis is laid for Clemens's possible influence over Gabriele.

As for Sardi, he may have continued to have some influence on Gabriele, but surely he could not have known when he recommended him to Mons. Harvey in the previous Pontificate, that Gabriele would eventually end up being assistant valet to John Paul II and then valet to Benedict XVI! Despite reports about his hostility to Benedict XVI, the latter appointed him pro-Patron of the Knights of Malta in 2010 (thus taking him out of the Secretariat of State) and made him cardinal in November, in order to become full Patron of the Knights. Of course, since he was a longtime SecState denizen, he is also the only one among the three 'accused' by Badde who had a visceral reason to single out Bertone as a target. [Both Clemens and Stampa (she from 2000) were working for Cardinal Ratzinger at the time Bertone was his #2 man at CDF from 1995-2002.]

Nonetheless, Badde is a serious journalist, and the fact that he went out on a limb with this theory shows how seriously he thinks of his singular deductions from Vatileaks.

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Monday, July 16, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

The iconography for this particular manifestation of the Virgin is among the most diverse and prolific. Leftmost in the top panel is the 'Brown Madonna' venerated in her Basilica in Naples, said to have been brought to Italy by nuns who fled Mt. Carmel in the 13th century. Most images show the Virgin or the Baby Jesus holding out the Brown Scapular, which traditionally has the images of the Madonna and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL
Hermits began to inhabit Mt. Carmel (in northern Israel) near the so-called Fountain of Elijah since the 12th century, and eventually called themselves the 'brothers of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel', with a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In the late 14th century, the Carmelites, whose contemplative order (male and female) was recognized by Pope Honorius III in 1226, instituted the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16, the date when according to their tradition, the Virgin appeared in 1251 to the leader of the Carmelite community on Mt. Carmel, St. Simon Stock, and handed him a scapular that would become the Carmelites' main devotional aid (it symbolizes her special protection and reminds its wearers to practice prayer and penance). July 16 became the patronal feast of the Order in 1609. The great Carmelite saints and theologians have promoted devotion to Mary. Teresa of Avila said Carmel was 'the order of the Virgin'. John of the Cross believed Mary had saved his life as a child and helped him escape prison later. Therese of Lisieux was a great Marian devotee.
A note about the 'Brown Scapular': Carmelite tradition states that Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary granted the Brown Scapular promise to St Simon Stock in Cambridge, England on July 16, 1261. This makes the Brown Scapular 760 years old today. The Holy See defines the Brown Scapular as "an external sign of the filial relationship established between the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Mount Carmel, and the faithful who entrust themselves totally to her protection, who have recourse to her maternal intercession, who are mindful of the primacy of the spiritual life and the need for prayer." We learned last year, as Benedict xVI reminded Poles at the Angelus yesterday, that Blessed John Paul II carried the Brown Scapular with him all the time.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071612.cfm


WITH THE POPE TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

The Vatican also said that after the Angelus yesterday at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope met with
Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, who will turn 96 next month. He had been the first president of the
Pontifical Council for the Ministry to Healthcare Workers when John Paul II established this in
1986, remaining at the helm until he turned 80 in 1996.
Before that, he was a co-worker and staunch defender of Pius XII. He lives in retirement in the Abruzzi, and two years ago,
Benedict XVI visited him in his home, on one of the Pope's summer excursions outside Castel Gandolfo.


The Vatican also released

- The theme for the Pope's Message for the World Day of Peace in 2013

- The Pope's message to the Bishop of Avila (Spain) on the 450th anniversary of the establishment
of the Convento de San Jose in Avila by St. Teresa of Avila and the start of the Carmelite order's
reformation with the initiatives of Saint Teresa and her good friend St. Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross).
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'Blessed are the peacemakers':
Theme for 2013 World Day of Peace


July 16, 2012

For the celebration of the 46th World Day of Peace on January, 1, 2013, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has chosen the following theme: "Blessed are the peacemakers".

The annual Message of the Pope, in the complexity of the present time, will encourage everyone to take responsibility with regard to peacebuilding.

The Message will embrace, therefore, the fullness and diversity of the concept of peace, starting from the human being: inner peace and outer peace; then, highlighting the anthropological emergency, the nature and incidence of nihilism; and, at the same time, fundamental rights, in the first place freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion.

The Message will offer, as well, an ethical reflection on some measures the world is going to take to contain the financial and economic crisis, the educational crisis, the crisis of the institutions and politics, which is also - in many cases - a worrying crisis of democracy.

The Message will also look at the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and of the encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, according to which the primacy is always for the human dignity and its freedom, for the building of an earthly city to the service of every person, without any discrimination, and directed to the common good which is based on justice and true peace.

"Blessed are the peacemakers" will be the eighth Message of Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace. Following are the titles of the previous ones: "In Truth, Peace" (2006), "The Human Person, Heart of Peace" (2007), "The Human Family, a Community of Peace" (2008), "Fighting Poverty to Build peace" (2009), "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation" (2010), "Religious Freedom, the path to peace" (2011), "Educating young people in justice and peace" (2012).


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Moneyval report on Vatican
to be made public Wednesday:
It is said to laud reforms made
but also calls for more action

by Philip Pulella


VATICAN CITY, July 15 (Reuters) - A European report on efforts by the Vatican to embrace financial transparency after a series of scandals involving its bank will laud recent reforms but also underscore what remains to be done to reach international standards in all areas.

According to people familiar with the still-secret report, due to be issued on Wednesday by a department of the Council of Europe, the eagerly anticipated evaluation will give the Vatican an overall passing grade in key areas but criticize others.

The report is by Moneyval, "The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism", which is the Council's monitoring mechanism that ensures that member states comply with international financial standards.

The external evaluation and recommendations are a milestone for the Vatican, which has been trying to shed its image as a suspect financial centre since 1982, when Roberto Calvi, an Italian known as "God's Banker" because of his links to the Vatican, died under mysterious circumstances.

It comes less than two months after the former president of the Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), was ousted in a dramatic boardroom showdown over the running of the bank, which Italian magistrates are still investigating over money laundering charges the Vatican denies.

The rigorous evaluation, which the Vatican requested several years ago, is made up of 49 recommendations, many interrelated, each rated according to levels of compliance: non-compliant, partially compliant, largely compliant, or compliant.

Essentially, compliant and largely compliant are "pass" grades and partially compliant and non-compliant are "fail" grades indicating more work has to be done in a specific areas.

Sixteen of the 49 recommendations are known as "key and core", and include subjects such as criminalization of money laundering, confiscation of laundered property, customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting.

The Vatican is expected to pass on about nine and receive around seven "partially compliant" or "non-compliant" marks, something which one source said was "good news" considering that it only enacted its financial reform legislation less than three years ago.

"Our intention is to be transparent and to become increasingly more so," one Vatican official said.

It is normal for countries to receive partially compliant or non-compliant marks on their first and even subsequent evaluations, accompanied by suggestions on how to improve, review of past evaluations shows.

Italy, for example, had five non-compliant or partially compliant marks, effectively failing grades, on "key and core" recommendations in a 2005 evaluation, years after it began the initial process.

The Moneyval report on the Vatican has a 12-page summary and categories are sub-divided into topics such as legal systems, preventive measures, and international cooperation.

Nine of the 49 recommendations are called "special recommendations" that have to do specifically with the fight against international terrorism and some of the nine are also part of the group of 16 "key and core" ones.

They include topics such as the implementation of United Nations instruments, the freezing of terrorist assets, and the reporting of suspicious transactions.

The report is expected to recognize specifically the progress the Vatican, the world's smallest state, with around 500 residents, has made, notwithstanding its late entry into Moneyval in a short period of time, but also offer critical observations.

In 2010, the Vatican drafted new financial transparency laws and set up internal regulations to make sure its bank and all other departments that administer the Church around the world adhered to international standards on money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Vatican also established an internal Financial Information Authority (FIA) along the lines of other countries and promised to liaise with other countries' equivalent agencies around the world.

The Moneyval report will use direct and pointed language in its recommendations on what must be improved.

Moneyval inspectors visited the Vatican in 2011 and 2012 and in one year they will issue a progress report on this Wednesday's evaluation suggestions.

The Vatican is a 108-acre city-state surrounded by Rome and is the location of the Holy See, which is recognized by more than 170 countries as the centre of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church with the pope as its sovereign.

Because it has less territory than some family farms and has no real economy, it is in a unique diplomatic and financial situation compared to other small countries or enclaves.

But its single financial institution, the IOR, has put it at the centre of controversy and scandal for decades.

In 2010, Rome magistrates investigating money laundering froze 23 million euros ($33 million) the IOR held in an Italian bank.

The Vatican said at the time that its bank did nothing wrong and was merely transferring its own funds between its own accounts in Italy and Germany. The money was released in June 2011, but the investigation is continuing.

The Vatican says Italian magistrates apply disproportionate attention to the Vatican, which has one financial institution, compared to say, the Republic of San Marino, which is also a sovereign country surrounded by Italy, but which has dozens of banks. [San Marino serves as the nearest 'offshore' financial haven for Italian citizens and corporations seeking relief from Italian taxes.]

Last May, the board of the IOR unanimously passed a no confidence against Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, 67, its Italian president.

Gotti Tedeschi, a conservative Catholic who heads the Italian retail unit of Spain's Banco Santander, said he was "paying the price of transparency". But the Vatican and board members said he was an inefficient and divisive manager.

The IOR's most infamous entanglement with scandal involved the collapse 30 years ago of the Banco Ambrosiano, with its lurid allegations about money-laundering, freemasons, mafiosi and the mysterious death of Calvi, the Ambrosiano chairman.

The IOR held a stake [It owened majority of the stocks] in the Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank, and investigators alleged that it was partly responsible for the Ambrosiano's fraudulent bankruptcy.

The IOR denied any role in the collapse but paid $250 million to creditors in what it called a "goodwill gesture".

Several investigations have failed to determine whether Calvi, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge near London's financial district, killed himself or was murdered.

The IOR offers financial services to religious orders of priests and nuns, dioceses around the world, Catholic charity groups and Vatican employees.

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After a Saturday report in the Spanish media that the FSSPX was scheduled to announce at Sunday Mass yesterday July 15, that it was definitively turning down any further efforts to reconcile with Rome, the FSSPX did release the following statement which does not reveal its hand:

FSSPX to make public its decision
after it sends its reply to Rome


July 15, 2012


The General Chapter of the Society of Saint Pius X ended this Saturday, July 14, 2012, in Econe (Switzerland). Gathered near Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s tomb, the capitularies have given thanks to God for the profound unity that prevailed among them during all these workdays.

The General Chapter will soon make a common statement to Rome, which will then be made public.

The General Superior, Bishop Fellay, thanks deeply all the priests and faithfuls for their fervent prayers during this chapter.


So, from all indications, it may be that the effort to bring back the FSSPX to the fold, painstakingly restarted seven summers ago in Castel Gandolfo, when Benedict XVI met with Mons. Fellay in a surprise move, has all come to naught. This will be the most explosive news of this summer, barring disclosure of any new potential or real scandal in the Church.

Assuming this is so, the disappointment felt by those like me who had been looking forward to an FSSPX reconciliation with Rome cannot be as profound as it must be for the Holy Father, who must have had to weigh the cost-benefit ratio of agreeing to the FSSPX formulation of their position regarding Vatican-II, and the most relevant fact that the Church is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Vatican-II opening this year, and must reiterate the Council's importance in the Magisterium of the Church.

In any case, we do not yet know the facts, and we will have all summer to devote to this issue, once they are known. This is one of those causes, such as peace in the Middle East, when one feels so desperately that prayer is apparently unavailing in the face of the inscrutability of God's will.


Meanwhile, Andrea Tornielli, one of the Vatican observers who was almost 100% sure last July that the FSSPX was on the verge of saying Yes to the Vatican doctrinal preamble that would have signalled a reconciliation, now writes of this goal as failed:

The unwanted outcome of Benedict XVI's helping hand:
The FSSPX appears to be one step away
from a definitive break with the Church

by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from the Italian service of

July 16, 2012

"The documents of [the Second Vatican' Council contain an enormous richness for the formation of new Christian generations", so said Benedict XVI in Frascati yesterday.

Less than three months before the 50th anniversary of the Council Opening, he thus reiterated the importance and value of the event that most affected the life of the Church in the 20th century, on the very day when the FSSPX was ending its annual Chapter General meeting.

The Vatican is even now awaiting the final response of FSSPX Superior-General Bernard Fellay to the Vatican's formula for a re-admission to the Church of Rome of the traditionalist group founded by the late Archbishop Mons. Lefebvre, which claims that all the evils in the Church today, along with secularization and a widespread crisis in the Catholic faith, are all attributable to Vatican II.

After years of contact and the hand held out openly by Benedict XVI to the FSSPX, the prospects of reconciliation now seem far from rosy, and it is expected that the Lefebvrians will say NO to the Doctrinal Preamble to reconciliation that the Vatican wants them to sign.

Benedict XVI, who considers it a priority of his Pontificate to repair some historical ruptures and seek to heal wounds and schisms, has conceded all that he can to the traditionalists: He revalidated the traditional Mass, he lifted the excommunication incurred by the FSSPX bishops when they were illegally ordained by Mons. Lefebvre, he agreed for the FSSPX to hold 'doctrinal discussions' with Vatican theologians regarding their specific objections to Vatican II teaching.

Fellay, the most authoritative and the most reasonable of the four FSSPX bishops, also did his part by removing negationist Bishop Richard Williamson from any position of authority [and lately, it was learned, by even excluding him from the Chapter General meeting. Williamson co-signed a letter with the two other FSSPX bishops, bluntly opposing any reconciliation with Rome. One of the two bishops, Alfonso de Galarreta, lead the FSSPX panel that took part in the doctrinal discussions with the Vatican. It must be added that Fellay categorically rejected the three bishops' objections last July, just before submitting his most recent response to the Vatican formulation of the Doctrinal Preamble.].

But the Lefebvrians cannot ask the Pope to be exempted from accepting the Magisterium of Vatican II regarding those aspects which they claim to be opposed to the tradition of the Church.

Joseph Ratzinger experienced Vatican II as a theological consultant. He has never considered the teachings of Vatican-II to be a superdogma, nor that they represent the beginning of 'a new Church' [as progressivists do].

But he could never accept that documents voted unanimously [NOT ALL UNANIMOUSLY, but by convincing majorities, yes - one of those who signed all 16 documents having been Mons. Lefebvre himself] by bishops from around the world and sealed by Pope Paul VI could be declassified into an incidental event in the life of the Church and pointed to as the ultimate cause for the contemporary crisis of faith.

Before receiving Fellay's definitive answer, Benedict XVI yesterday in Frascati, extemporized on his prepared text to ask the faithful to read the texts of Vatican II as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church. [Since the Council documents do not exactly make easy reading, and not every 'simple faithful' will necessarily have the time nor the initiative to go online and download the documents to read, why does the CDF not prepare a simple primer on each of the 16 documents and start disseminating those primers now?]

The reference to the Catechism, whose preparation was supervised directly by Cardinal Ratzinger, is not casual, because it presents the documents of Vatican II in the context of all the Magisterium of the Church preceding the Council and after the Council.

It can only be hoped that the Lefebvrians will not turn down the irrepetible opportunity that has been offered to them.

VATICAN INSIDER has also prepared a brief Q&A about the whole FSSPX question that I will translate later.
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In any case, John Allen's most recent regular column for NCRep does point out to another potential time bomb for the Vatican, but it starts out with a most commendable round-up culled from AsiaNews of recent reports of anti-Christian hostility in many parts of the world.

Real war on religion and
a ticking Vatican PR bomb


July 13, 2012

America's annual celebration of Independence Day was accompanied this year by the U.S. bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a round of prayer and advocacy dedicated to the preservation of religious liberty. The exercise renewed debate over whether there is or isn't a war on religion in America, fueled, of course, by the politics of the 2012 election.

There are undeniably important church/state issues in play in America, but if they constitute a "war," it's a metaphorical one, waged in legislatures and courthouses.

Too often lost in the shuffle is the fact -- not a hunch, theory or conjecture, but hard empirical fact -- that in a growing number of other places, there's a decidedly literal war on religion under way. Its victims don't just lose government contracts or debates over insurance mandates; they're threatened, beaten, imprisoned and even murdered.

Here's a snapshot of what was going on around the world at the precise moment Americans were marking the July 4 holiday:

o Fr. Joseph Zhao Hongchun, apostolic administrator of the Chinese diocese of Harbin, was taken into police custody July 4 to prevent him from galvanizing opposition to the illicit ordination of a new Harbin bishop orchestrated by the government. He was detained for three days and released only after the ordination took place.
o New auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai was placed under house arrest in a seminary after he publicly resigned from the government-controlled "Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics" during his ordination Mass on July 7, which took place with the pope's blessing.
o Rev. Kantharaj Hanumanthappa, a Pentecostal pastor in the Indian state of Karnataka, was leading a prayer service July 4 when 20 radical Hindus stormed in to accuse the Christians of proselytizing, threatening them if they didn't leave. A police complaint was filed, but no action has been taken.
o The private home of Pastor Ramgopal, a Pentecostal minister in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was raided by police allied with the Hindu radicals. The pastor was reportedly told, "Either you go away and never come back or we'll arrest you." He was released only after signing a statement promising not to lead any more prayer services in the area.
o A Catholic priest in Vietnam, Fr. J.B. Nguyen Dinh Thuc, was attacked by plainclothes police and thugs reportedly paid $25 a head to raid a missionary chapel in a rural area July 1. Their aim was to prevent the celebration of a Mass, part of what local Catholics describe as a policy of "religious cleansing" imposed by Hanoi. When the priest tried to make his way through the mob, he was beaten up, along with several laity who came to his rescue. Maria Thi Than Ngho, one of those laity, suffered a fractured skull in the melee. As of this writing, she remains in critical condition.
o Abdubannob Ahmedov, a Jehovah's Witness in Uzbekistan, saw his four-year prison term for "illegal religious activities" extended for another 30 months for alleged violations of prison rules.
o Yelena Kim, a Baptist in Uzbekistan, was arrested in late June for "illegally teaching religion," is now looking at three years behind bars after police raided her home and confiscated Bibles, hymn books and other religious materials.
o Ghulam Abbas, a mentally disabled man in a region of Punjab under Pakistani control, was thrown into jail July 3 after rumors spread that he had burned some pages from a Quran. Before any investigation or trial could take place, a Muslim extremist mob stormed the jail, dragged Abbas from his cell and burned him alive. According to local observers, it's at least the 35th extra-judicial murder to take place following an arrest under Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws since 1986.

Deep thanks go to the Asia News service for bringing us these stories, which otherwise would be almost totally overlooked.

These accounts put flesh and blood on the most compelling Christian narrative of the early 21st century, which is the rise of an entire new generation of martyrs.

According to the International Society for Human Rights, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians, making Christianity by far the most persecuted religious community on the planet. Reliable estimates say that about 150,000 Christians are killed for the faith every year, which translates into 17 new martyrs every hour of every day.

The story of Abbas in Punjab is also a reminder that Christians aren't the only ones suffering, since reports suggest he was actually a Muslim. According to a recent study by a commission of the Catholic bishops' conference in Pakistan, at least 964 people were charged under the blasphemy laws between 1986 and 2009, of whom 479 were Muslims, 119 Christians, 340 Ahmadis, 14 Hindus and 10 from other religions. These arrests are often the pretext for mob violence and murder, as in the Abbas case.

The U.S. bishops, in collaboration with the Catholic University of America and Catholic Relief Services, are planning to hold a conference titled "International Religious Freedom: An Imperative for Peace and the Common Good" on Sept. 12 in Washington. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York will deliver the opening address, and the Vatican's top diplomat, French Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, has been invited to give the closing speech.

Here's hoping a concrete plan of action results, because God knows people such as those ticked off above desperately need the help.

(For the record, I was invited to speak but was unable to accept because I'll be on my way to cover Pope Benedict XVI's Sept. 14-16 trip to Lebanon, which offers him a platform to address the crisis in Syria, another place where the fate of a Christian minority is hanging in the balance.)

Nguyen in Vietnam reportedly said after his beating on July 1, "To die on the altar would be such a blessing to me." His courage is admirable, but if American Catholics apply even a fraction of the time and treasure we've devoted to domestic politics, perhaps we can help ensure it doesn't come to that.

********

The Vatican recently hired an American journalist, Greg Burke, as its new communications czar. Presumably, part of Burke's mandate is to defuse potential PR bombs before they go off rather than trying to clean up the debris afterwards, as has heretofore been the Vatican's modus operandi.

Memo to Burke: One such potential time-bomb is ticking right now in Slovakia.



On July 2, Archbishop Róbert Bezák of Trnava, the traditional cradle of the faith in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation of 5.4 million, was deposed by Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican offered no explanation for the move, which followed an investigation on the Pope's behalf by a Czech bishop in January. [As Mr. Allen ought to know, the Vatican never provides an explanation in its official announcement of dismissals or resignations when they are for other reasons than age or bad health. For obvious reasons of delicadeza when the reason has negative implications for the bishop concerned. It's the duty of reporters covering the diocese of the bishop to get the story.]

Locals have rallied to Bezák's defense. On July 6, hundreds of Slovaks attended a rally in support of the deposed prelate, carrying flowers and photos of Bezák that they placed on the square in Trnava's town center. An Internet petition backing Bezák has been signed by more than 6,700 people, and some parish priests have reportedly offered to resign in protest. Observers in Slovakia describe the Catholic rank-and-file as "puzzled, hurt and increasingly angry."

In the absence of any official rationale, the rumor mill has kicked into gear. Privately, Catholics sympathetic to Bezák have floated a theory that, if true, would be deeply embarrassing to Benedict XVI and the Vatican at a crucial moment.

Bezák was appointed in April 2009 to replace longtime Archbishop Ján Sokol, who had reigned in Trnava for 20 years. Sokol was a strong but controversial leader, known for his deeply traditional theological and political views. Among other things, Sokol was a vigorous defender of Jozef Tiso, a Catholic priest and Slovakia's president during World War II, when the country was a satellite state of Nazi Germany. (Under the Soviets, Tiso was convicted of war crimes and executed.)

Friends of Bezák, who's generally seen as a more moderate figure, say Sokol continued to be a major presence in the archdiocese after his resignation, reportedly maintaining a residence in the archbishop's palace. They also say that when Bezák started going over the books from the Sokol era, he discovered serious financial irregularities.

On July 6, civil prosecutors announced an investigation into alleged misappropriation of church funds under Sokol. Media reports say that decision was based in part on Bezák's findings.

The suspicion among Bezák's allies is that Sokol wanted to shut down this review by undercutting his successor, and that Sokol successfully enlisted friends in the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops to get it done.


At a distance, I have no way of knowing how much merit there may be to those charges, though some veteran church observers seem to take them seriously.

Should this theory be confirmed, it would obviously be bad news for the Vatican under any circumstances. At the moment, however, the timing could scarcely be worse.

Even as we speak, the Vatican is desperately trying to persuade the world that it's turned over a new leaf on financial transparency and accountability. On July 18, an evaluation of the Vatican should be released by Moneyval, the European arm of the Financial Action Task Force, the world's premier intergovernmental body in the fight against money-laundering. It marks the first time the Vatican has subjected itself to such critical outside scrutiny, and since the Vatican is expected to pass -- in the sense of avoiding a special review process for problem nations -- it shapes up as basically good news for Benedict's transparency campaign.

If, however, stories were to break around the same time that Benedict has fired a reforming bishop who wanted to clean house, and that he did so at the prompting of another prelate who presided over a financially corrupt regime (and who, to boot, has a history of defending Catholics with Nazi sympathies), it doesn't take a PR genius to predict that any good news would be lost in the resulting storm. [It is hard to believe that Benedict XVI would have been so misled as to the true story in the diocese, but he was misled before in the Wielgus case. The difference is that at this time, the Prefect of Bishops is Cardinal Ouellet, a non-nonsense man like the Pope. Could he have been misled as well by the Czech bishop-visitator of Bezak? And what could the Czech bishop's motivation have been to do so?]

Right now, the Bezák story isn't making many waves outside Slovakia, largely because as of yet there's no way to either confirm or deny the suspicions floated by his allies. Burke and other senior Vatican personnel, however, would be well advised to get to the bottom of it quickly, and, at a minimum, to supply a convincing explanation for Bezák's removal. Otherwise, the rumors will simply metastasize.

The thing about ticking time-bombs is that, sooner or later, they have a habit of exploding.

As this does not appear as one of those 'hopeless' cases for which prayer seems to be unavailing, let us pray that this situation is clarified by the Vatican ASAP!

P.S. I must apologize for my inattentiveness to this issue, but it appears that the Apostolic Nunciature in Solvakia did issue a statement about Mons. Bezak's dismissal last July 11, without however, specifying exactly what irregularities were uncovered about the bishops' pastoral work. Apparently, even Allen failed to notice this report! The Nunciature note came nine days after the official announcement of Bezak's dismissal].

Nunciature in Slovakia explains
stages that led to the dismissal
of the Bishop of Trnava


July 11, 2012

The Nunciature of the Holy See in Slovakia has issued a communiqué clarifying the phases which formally led the Holy See to dismiss Mons. Robert Bezak, a Redemptorist priest, from his post as Bishop of the Diocese of Trnava.

“After the numerous reports sent by priests and faithful to the Holy See regarding the pastoral situation in the Archdiocese of Trnava, the Vatican Secretary of State authorised the Congregation for the clergy to carry out an apostolic visit to the Church to verify the complaints,” the communiqué states.

The visit was undertaken on Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 by the Bishop of Litoměřice (Czech Republic), Mgr. Jan Baxant, who sent his report to the Congregation for the Clergy to be examined by the relevant authorities.

The Congregation for Bishops then informed Mgr. Bezak of the main issues brought to light in relation to his pastoral work. It also asked the bishop to look into the report and answer the questions raised. [The report does not say whether Bezak provided an answer, but one infers he did not, because his public position is that the Vatican never informed him of the charges against him. This is the same position taken by the Bishop of Trapani, in Italy, when he was dismissed by the Pope recently. In this day and age, one finds it hard to believe that Benedict XVI, or Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of Bishops, for that matter, would act to dismiss a bishop without informing him of the specific grounds for the dismissal.]

The Nuncio's note says that after 'careful reflection', the Holy Father decided to ask Bezak to resign as Bishop of Trnava. When the bishop refused to leave, the Holy Father dismissed him and published the decision on 2 July 2012.

The note also said that the Holy See was “deeply saddened” by the fact that Mgr. Bezak spread the news prematurely, breaking “papal secrecy”. The Apostolic Nunciature called on the faithful in Slovakia to “accept the Holy Father’s decision in good will and in the spirit of faith,” expressing the hope that “the unity of the Church in the country would be strengthened.”

Allen apparently did not get the report of the Nunciature's note, because it is not reflected in his July 13 column at all, which only repeats the original 'facts' from Bezak's supporters that Allen reported in NCRep on the day the dismissal was announced. C'mon, Mr. Allen, one expects better enterprise from someone as conscientious a reporter as you are.
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The FSSPX information arm, DICI, has now released the text of an interview with Mons. Fellay following the society's Chapter General meeting, and though he does not anticipate the content of the FSSPX letter to Rome expected this week, he does not sound as if he is closing off all avenues... I checked, and Tornielli has an article about the interview, in which he concludes that "the answer he [Fellay] is about to send to Rome is not to be understood as the definitive closure of the dialog, and more than one passage in the interview underscores acknowledgment of the Pope's authority, as well as the [FSSPX] desire not to set up a parallel Church".... Of course, this raises the obvious question: "If you acknowledge the Pope's authority, why not take his word that the aspects you object to in Vatican II are not incompatible with Tradition? After all, Mons. Lefebvre did sign all the Vaitcan II documents and no one held a gun to his head when he did so!

Interview with Mons. Fellay

July 16, 2012



How did the General Chapter go? How was the mood of the meeting?
It took place in a rather hot atmosphere, since July is a particularly hot month in the Valais! But in a very busy schedule, where the members of the Chapter were able to freely exchange ideas, as it befits such a working meeting.

Were you able to discuss the relations with Rome? Were there any forbidden questions? The dissensions manifested within the SSPX these last momths - have they calmed down?
That makes for quite a few questions! Regarding Rome, we went to the very heart of the issues, and all the capitularies were able to study the complete file. Nothing was left aside and there were no taboos among us.

It was my duty to exhibit with detail all the documentation exchanged with the Vatican, something which was rendered difficult by the obnoxious climate of recent months. This made it possible for us to conduct direct discussions which have cleared out the doubts and dissipated any misunderstandings, resulting in peace and unity of hearts, which of course is something to rejoice about.

How do you foresee the relations with Rome after this Chapter?
All ambiguity has now been resolved among us. Very soon we will convey to Rome the position of the Chapter, which has been the occasion to specify our road map insisting upon the conservation of our identity, the only efficacious means to help the Church to restore Christendom.

As I told you recently, “if we want to make fruitful the treasure of Tradition for the benefit of souls, we must both speak and act” (cf. interview of 8 June 2012, DICI #256). We cannot keep silent when facing the rampant loss of faith, the staggering fall of the number of vocations, and the decrease of religious practice. We cannot refrain from speaking when confronted with the “silent apostasy” and its causes. Doctrinal mutism is not the answer to this “silent apostasy” which even John Paul II denounced in 2003.

Our approach is inspired not only by the doctrinal firmness of Archbishop Lefebvre but also by his pastoral charity. The Church has always considered that the best testimony to the truth is to be found in the early Christians’ unity built in prayer and charity. They had “but one heart and one soul,” as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 4, 32).

Such a common ideal is also our watchword, Cor Unum being the name of the internal bulletin of the SSPX. Hence we distance ourselves resolutely from all those who have tried to take advantage of the situation in order to drive a wedge turning Society members against each other. Such a spirit does not come from God.

What are your thoughts on the appointment of Archbishop Mueller as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?
It is no secret that the former bishop of Regensburg, where our seminary of Zaitzkofen is located, does not like us. After the courageous action of Benedict XVI on our behalf, in 2009, he refused to cooperate and treated us as if we were lepers! He is the one who stated that our seminary should be closed and that our students should go to the seminaries of their dioceses of origin, adding bluntly that “the four bishops of the SSPX should resign”! (cf. interview with Zeit Online, 8 May 2009).

[Fellay is right, Mueller's words and actions in the recent past about the FSSPX were certainly eyebrow-raising, to say the least, but I am confident that at the CDF, he will do as the Pope says in this matter, not as he may personally feel.]

For us what is more important and more alarming is his leading role at the head of the Congregation for the Faith, which must defend the Faith with the proper mission of fighting doctrinal errors and heresy. Numerous writings of Bishop Mueller on the real transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, on the dogma of Our Lady’s virginity, on the need of conversion of non-Catholics to the Catholic Church… are questionable, to say the least! There is no doubt that these texts would have been in the past the object of an intervention of the Holy Office, now the very Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith presided by him. [On this matter, I will trust the theological opinion of Fr. Nicola Bux, who has apparently read the said statements in the context in which they were made and has found them unexceptionable, and more importantly, the judgment of Benedict XVI, who would never appoint anyone who had 'questionable' views about the three subjects raised!]

How do you see the future of the FSSPX? In the midst of its fight for the Church’s Tradition, will the FSSPX keep to the same knife’s edge?
More than ever we must maintain the knife’s edge traced by our venerated founder. It is not easy to keep, yet absolutely vital for the Church and the treasure of its Tradition. We are Catholic, we recognise the Pope and the bishops, but above all else we must keep intact the Faith, source of God’s grace. Therefore we must avoid all that may endanger the Faith, without trying to become a replacement for the Church, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman. Far from us the idea of establishing a parallel Church, of exercising a parallel magisterium!

This was well explained by Archbishop Lefebvre more than thirty years ago: he did not wish to hand down anything else but what he himself had received from the Church of two millennia. This is what we want also, following his lead, so that we may effectively help “to restore all things in Christ.” It is not us who will break with Rome, the Eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth.

Nevertheless, it would be unrealistic to deny that there is a modernist and liberal influence in the Church since the Second Vatican Council and its subsequent reforms. In a word, we maintain the faith in the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and in the Church founded upon Peter, but we refuse all that contributes to the “self-demolition of the Church” acknowledged by Paul VI himself since 1968. May Our Lady, Mother of the Church, hasten the day of its authentic restoration!


FSSPX homepage as of today. Events featured on the DICI photo line-up at left include the society's 2012 Rosary Crusade; Mons. Fellay's most recent homily at Econe; and Cardinal Levada addressing the FSSPX representatives and Ecclesia Dei members at the July 15 meeting.
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The Pope's message for the 450th anniversary
of St. Teresa's convent for Carmelite sisters
in Avila and of the order's reform

Translated from

July 16, 2012

The following is the message sent by the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the Bishop of Avila (Spain), Mons. Jesús García Burillo, on the 450th anniversary of the founding of the Convent of San Jose in Avila and the start of the Carmelite reforms initiated by St. Teresa de Jesus.




To my Venerated Brother
Mons. Jesús GARCÍA BURILLO
Bishop of Avila

1. Resplendens stella. "A star that gives off such great splendor" (Libro de la Vida 32,11). With these words, the Lord encouraged Santa Teresa de Jesus to establish in Avila the Convent of San Jose, as the start of the reform of the Carmelite order, 450 years ago on August 24.

On the occasion of this happy event, I wish to share the joy of the beloved diocese of Avila, the Order of Discalced Carmelites, the People of God in Spain, d all those who, in the universal Church, have found in Teresian spirituality a sure light to discover that true renewal of one's life comes to man through Christ.

Enamoured of the Lord, this eminent woman yearned only to please him in everything. Indeed, a saint is not someone who realizes great feats based on the excellence of his human qualities, but someone who humbly allows Christ to penetrate his soul, act through his person - Christ being the true protagonist of all one's actions and desires, who inspires every initiative and sustains every silence.

2. To allow oneself to be led in this way by Christ is only possible for those who have an intense life of prayer. This consists, in the words of the saint of Avila, "of a state of friendship, being alone frequently with someone whom we know loves us"
(Libro de la Vida 8,5).

The reform of the Carmelite order, whose anniversary fills us with internal joy, was born of prayer and is projected towards prayer. In promoting a return to the primitive Rule, away from what had become a mitigated Rule, Teresa de Jesus wished to create the conditions for a form of life that favored personal encounter with the Lord, for which it is necessary to "be in solitude and look within yourself, and not be surprised by receiving such a good guest!" (Camino de perfección 28,2). The Convent of San Jose was born precisely for the purpose of providing its daughters with the best conditions to find God and establish a profound and intimate relationship with him.

3. Santa Teresa proposed a new way of being a Carmelite in a world that was also new. Those were 'hard times'
' (Libro de la Vida 33,5). in which, according to this Master of the spiritual, "strong friends of God are needed to sustain the weak" (ibíd. 15,5).

She insisted with eloquence: "The world is in flames, they want to judge Christ again, they want to bring down his Church to the ground. No, my sisters, this is not the time to talk top God about matters of little importance" (Camino de perfección 1,5). Does it not sound familiar to us, in the conjuncture at which we find ourselves, this luminous and interpellative reflection more than four centuries ago by this mystical saint?

The ultimate purpose of the Teresian reform and the creation of new convents amidst a world that was deficient in spiritual values, was to wrap apostolic commitment in prayer; to propose a way of evangelical life as a model for those who seek the way of perfection, with the conviction that all personal and ecclesial reform must pass through our desire to reproduce in ourselves, even better every time, the 'form' of Christ
(cf Gal 4,19).

That and nothing else was the commitment of the saint and of her spiritual daughters. As it was of their brother Carmelites who sought only "to progress farther in all the virtues" (Libro de la Vida 31,18). In this respect, Teresa wrote: "Our Lord values more a soul who, through our industry and prayer, we gain for him through his mercy, than all the services that we could render" (Libro de las Fundaciones 1,7).

In a world where God was forgotten, the sainted Doctor encouraged praying communities [of contemplatives] who clothed with their fervent prayer those who proclaimed the Name of Christ wherever they could, who invoked the Lord for the needs of the Church, who brought the clamor of all people to the heart of the Lord.

4. Today, as in the 16th century, and amidst rapid transformations, it is necessary that dedicated prayer be the heart of apostolate, in order that the redeeming message of Christ may resound with meridian clarity and forceful dynamism. It is urgent that the Word of life vibrates in souls in a harmonious way, with sonorous and attractive notes.

In this exciting task, the example of Teresa de Avila is a great help to us. We can say that, in her time, the saint evangelized without tepidness, with an ardor that was never quenched, with methods that were a long way from inertia, with words that had a nimbus of light.

Her example conserves all its freshness even at the crossroads where we find ourselves, with the urgency that all who are baptized may renew their hearts through personal prayer, focused as the saint of Avila proposes, on the contemplation of the Most Sacred Humanity of Christ as the only way to find the glory of God
(cf. Libro de la Vida 22,1; Las Moradas 6,7).

This is the way we can form authentic families who discover in the Gospel the fire for their hearth. Christian communities that are alive and united, with Christ as their keystone, with a thirst for a life of fraternal and generous service.

It is also to be hoped that unceasing invocation of the Lord may promote the priority cultivation of vocations to priesthood, specifically underscoring the beauty of consecrated life, which must be recognized as the treasure that it is for the Church, as a torrent of graces, both in its active as well as contemplative dimensions.

May the power of Christ also lead to doubling initiatives so that the People of God may recover their vigor in the only way possible: by making room within us for the sentiments of our Lord Jesus
(cf. Phil 2,5), seeking in every circumstance to live the Gospel radically.

Which means, before everything else, to allow the Holy Spirit to make us friends with the Lord and configure us to him. It also means accepting all his mandates and adopting criteria like humility of conduct, renouncing the superfluous, not aggravating others, and behaving with simplicity and gentleness of heart.

This way, those around us will perceive the joy that comes from our adherence to the Lord, and that we put nothing ahead of his love, always being ready to give the reason for our hope
(cf. 1Pt 3,15), living, as did Teresa de Jesus, in filial obedience to Holy Mother Church.

5. To that radicality and fidelity we are invited today by this most illustrious daughter of the Diocese of Avila. Accepting her beautiful legacy, at this hour in history, the Pope calls on all the members of your local Church in a manner that may draw young people to seriously take this common calling to holiness.

Following the footsteps of Teresa de Jesus, allow me to say to those who have their whole future before them: Aspire like her to belong totally to Jesus, only to Jesus and always to Jesus. Do not fear to tell our Lord as she did: "I am yours, I was born for you - what do you want me to do?"
(Poesía 2).

I ask him that, illuminated by divine grace, you may know how to respond to his calls, with ]determined determination' in order to offer 'the little' that there is in you, confident that God never abandons those who leave everything for his glory (cf. Camino de perfección 21,2; 1,2).

6. Santa Teresa honored the Most Blessed Virgin with great devotion, invoking her under the sweet name of Carmel. To her maternal protection, I entrust the apostolic efforts of the Church in Avila, so that, made young again by the Holy Spirit, she may find the opportune ways to proclaim the Gospel with enthusiasm and courage.

May Mary, Star of Evangelization, and her chaste spouse, St, Joseph, intercede so that the 'star' that the Lord lit in the universe, the Church with its Teresian reform, may continue to radiate its great splendor of love and the truth of Christ to all men.

With this wish, Venerated Brother in the Episcopate, I send you this message which I ask you to make known to the flock entrusted to your pastoral efforts, and most especially, to the Discalced Carmelites of the Convent of San Jose in Avila who perpetuate in time the spirit of its founder, and for whose fervent prayers for the Successor of Peter I am always grateful.

To them, to you, and to all the faithful of Avila, I impart with affection the Apostolic Blessing as a token of copious celestial favors.


The Vatican
July 16, 2012






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All photos in the strip from Mittelbayerische's video of the interview, except for the one on the extreme right.

I reserved this space yesterday after I finally found a link to the full text of an interview Mons. Mueller gave to Mittelbayerische Zeitung last July 6 (the newspaper now has a pay wall so I couldn't see the full interview although it was written about quite a bit. Though quite belated, I did it want it here for the record as another aid to getting to know the new CDF Prefect. This is the interview in which he confirms that he will be residing in then-Cardinal Ratzinger's apartment right next to the Vatican's Leonine wall.

Mons. Mueller at the CDF:
The Pope even gave him
his own apartment

Interview by CHRISTINE SCHOPF
Translated from

July 6, 2012


Mons. Mueller in Regensburg: From left, at the Pope's residence in Pentling; in front of Regensburg's St. Peter's Cathedral; and at the interview with Mittelbayerische.

A relaxed Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller returned to Regensburg just a few days since he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with a series of interviews with the media on his agenda regarding liberation theology, the FSSPX, and remarried divorcees. Minefields for a churchman who now finds himself in the front ranks of the Roman Curia.

First of all, congratulations on the new job. Since when did you know about it?
I knew it for certain on May 16 when the Holy Father asked me to see him.

Did your position on liberation theology endanger your appointment?
I would not know. But if one knows Catholic doctrine, then one also knows that social duty, universal responsibility and love for the poor are part of it. Liberation theology is a big term – but every Christian theology has something to do with men’s freedom. Even in South America, theological questions are seen in this context. In the face of misery and degradation, of the kind that a lot of people among us [Europeans] cannot imagine, in the face of crying injustice, we cannot simply give it all a pious glance. Faith and doing good go together. They are two sides of a coin.

Are you and the Pope on the same page in this?
Perfectly so. As my predecessor at the CDF, he never questioned all of liberation theology, but some aspects of it which I will underscore. Liberation theology is not a loose mixture of communism and Catholic belief. Theology, if it is to be Catholic, must find its answers from within Catholicism itself. The social doctrine of the Church has proven to be far superior to Marxist analysis. We do not want a society that is divided between rich and poor, where one has access to education and the other does not. Workgivers and workers should not confront each other as interest groups, since they all have the same duty towards the common good. We must also be critical of the rampant commercialization of all aspects of life. Industry is there for men, not the other way around.

Because of such words, you have been branded a liberal. Were you surprised by that?
Well, St. Thomas Aquinas said that “Deus maxime liberalis est” –God is the greatest liberal. In the original sense, ‘liberalis’ meant freely-giving and generous, In that sense, I am most happy to be liberal.

You have always been very critical of the Lefebvrians. Now as CDF Prefect, you are responsible for trying to bring them back to the flock. How difficult will that be?
The Vatican has been dealing with the FSSPX in a friendly, Christian and considerate way, while also being clear in its formulation. Whoever wants to be considered Catholic must acknowledge the authority of the Pope and the bishops. No one should think that he can impose his own ideas on the Catholic Church. The discussions in Rome were not negotiations between two parties. No society can set conditions for the Church.

These discussions have gone on since January 2009, [Actually, the doctrinal discussions began in October 2009) How much longer will they take?
There has to be a ‘point of no return’ [he uses the English term] at which they have to decide. Do they want unity with the Church? That means accepting the form and content of the Second Vatican Council, along with the preceding and succeeding clarifications and decisions of the Magisterium. There is no way around that.

[I really hope some Vaticanista can research the ‘formulas’ required by the CDF under Cardinal Ratzinger of the other FSSPX offshoots who decided early on to re-enter into communion with Rome even if they have remaining reservations about Vatican II. Again, one must ask, why is it OK for ‘inhouse’ Catholic dissidents to preach and practice the killing of unborn life, to support women priests and unnatural unions, but not OK for the FSSPX to have reservations about the Vatican-II concepts of religious freedom (not because they are against religious freedom but because they take the most literal interpretation of the Church’s mission to evangelize everyone) and the related matters of ecumenism and inter-religious dialog? Their reservations may be silly, but they don’t kill anyone nor are likely to lead to killing anyone!!

I understand that especially on the 50th anniversary of the Council Opening and the upcoming Year of Faith, the Vatican must make clear to the world that acceptance of Vatican-II - as renewal in continuity with Tradition - is paramount, but compared to the 'deal' given to the Institut Bon Pasteur, for example, isn't the specific inclusion of Vatican-II in the Magisterium that one professes to follow in the Profession of Faith that returning Catholics are expected to sign - this is the Doctrinal preamble everyone talks about - a blatant 'class legislation' against the FSSPX? I can't wait to find out how Fellay proposed to square the circle here!]


The FSSPX has been most critical of Vatican II, as well as its authorization of the use of vernacular languages instead of Latin for the Mass. Is there any room for give and take on this? [The question is totally wrong! The question of the Mass has been settled since July 7, 2007. But the FSSPX are also to blame for public confusion, because although they came into the ‘doctrinal discussions’ stating they wished to dispute the concepts of ‘religious freedom, ecumenism, inter-religious dialog and collegiality’, their subsequent statements have often tended to condemn all of Vatican II, ignoring that their own founder signed all the Vatican II documents, and only became ‘schismatic’ after the liturgical reform was implemented.]
What can be allowed is what already exists within the diversity of Catholic living. The liturgical reform after Vatican II was right and necessary. One cannot polemicize about it even if there have been abuses. [Joseph Ratzinger had other ideas about the reform that was carried out – even if he agreed some reform in liturgy was necessary, he did not think it would take the ‘Protestantizing’ form that it did, so in that sense it was not ‘right’, but as an obedient Catholic and intelligent priest, he has been able to make the most of the Novus Ordo, and show that it can (and should) be celebrated with all the sense of sacredness and mystery as the traditional Mass.]

The Lefebvrians have called you heretical, one who has strayed from the faith…
I don’t have to answer every stupidity.

In Germany there has been much discussion about communion for remarried divorcees. What do you say to this?
The same as the Pope. The teaching about this is clear. For Christians, every validly contracted matrimony is indissoluble and is a lifelong vow. We should also look at the harm done to children by broken marriages. They are deeply affected when suddenly their parents break up and suddenly there is a strange man or woman in the home. But more than that, we must also look into the mentality which takes the vows of marriage and family ties too loosely.
[It's very maddening, but not one of the reports about this question ever mentions exactly how many couples are faced with the problem. How many couples are affected in Germany, for example? I know the divorce rate is high among Western Catholics, but it would be nice to know exactly how many remarried Catholic divorcees really care about whether they can receive communion or not. They knew when they decided to divorce that they would be denied the Eucharist unless their first marriage was validly annulled by the Church (and I imagine relatively few meet that requirement). So why do they now expect the Church to bend the rules for them? As the Pope said, they can always have the comfort of ‘spiritual communion’.]

We also see the difficulties of such persons in a variety of situations, in which their parish priest must judge case by case how best to proceed. In any case, it is not right for them to think that “If I cannot go to communion, then I am excluded from the Church”. Communion does not constitute the entire Catholic faith. The central part of the Mass is the Consecration and the sacred mystery of Christ. It is our duty to take part in the offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass but not always to receive communion, although frequent Communion is desirable.

You will add to the German contingent in the Vatican. What does this mean for the ‘national mix’ there?
In the CDF, there are at least 15 nations represented, working together. We are a universal Church, so we have a variety of peoples speaking a variety of languages. But languages do not separate us from the Pentecost event which leads us forward in the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, I am thankful that God has willed that I was born and raised in the German language and culture, and that’s not out of naïve patriotism nor as a sort of competitiveness as to who is better.

Regensburg will need a new bishop, as will Passau. What can you say publicly about this or what have you heard behind the scenes?
The appointment of bishops is an important matter. But it is not about any power struggles behind the scenes as it is often depicted. One must be discreet when it comes to persons, and that has nothing to do with being secretive.

What should be the qualities of the Bishop of Regensburg?
One must be qualified to be a bishop, or found to be qualified. One can never make the ideal nomination because men are always a mixture of idealism and objective reality. But obviously, the nominee must stand clear and firm in the Catholic faith and be able to preach his faith. He must have leadership competence or the ability to acquire it. As a person, he must also be able to ‘plug in’ to people without necessary catching cold from every breeze that blows.

Being a bishop also means positive confrontation. There’s an understandable human wish to be seen by everyone as a favorite uncle but it]s not the best prerequisite for a good nomination.

Do you think there will be a long transition until the next bishop of Regensburg is named?
I hope that a decision will be made this year. August and September are still within the annual holiday period but afterwards, the process will move fully.

Are there suitable candidates?There’s never a lack of them. But the new bishop must think of Katholikentag 2014 which will be held in Regensburg.

There is speculation about Bishop Gregor Miara Hanke of Eichstatt, Augsburg Auxiliary Bishop Anton Losinger, the dircctor of the Institut Papst Benedikt Rudolf Voderholzer, or the rector of the shrine of Maria Vesperbild, Wilhelm Inkampf. Who seems to be the favorite?
I would much rather not name names. I am not the one who will name the new bishop.That process goes through the Apostolic Nuncio in Germany. Of course, I will be consulted. It is important that continuity be preserved. There are objective guidelines that began under my predecessor Bishop Manfred Mueller – with specific programs for the schools, the Domspatzen, the many charitable associations, or our efforts for the handicapped. We cannot turn back on these initiatives.

Finally, a private question. How did it come about that the Pope offered you his former residence when he was a cardinal?
I think everyone was surprised. But the Pope said he was entrusting the place to me along with the books and many other things still in it, which he wants the Institut Papst Benedikt in Regensburg to have.
.
Will he be visiting you in his former residence?
I certainly will ask him to.

You gave been an archbishop for a new weeks now. When will you be a cardinal?
Only the Holy Father knows that.
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Tuesday, July 17, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

CARMELITE NUNS OF COMPIEGNE(France, d 1974), Virgins and Martyrs
When the French Revolution started in 1789, a group of twenty-one discalced Carmelites lived in a monastery in Compiegne, founded in 1641. The monastery was ordered closed in 1790 by the Revolutionary gov­ernment, and the nuns were disbanded. Sixteen of the nuns were accused of continuing to live in a religious community in 1794. They were arrested on June 22 and imprisoned in a Visitation convent in Compiegne, where they openly resumed their religious life. On July 12, 1794, the Carmelites were taken to Paris and five days later were sentenced to death by guillotine. At the foot of the scaffold, the community jointly renewed their vows and began to chant the ;Veni Creator Spiritus', the hymn sung at the ceremony for the profession of vows. They continued their singing as, one by one, they mounted the scaffold to meet their death. The novice of the community, Sister Constance, was the first to die, then the lay Sisters and externs, and so on, ending with the prioress, Mother Teresa of St. Augustine, O.C.D. The martyrdom of the nuns was immortalized by the composer Francois Poulenc in his famous opera Dialogues des Carmelites.
Readings for today's Mass:

www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071712.cfm



AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.


Briefing tomorrow
on Moneyval report



The Moneyval report on the status of the Vatican's application to get on the 'white list' of European states meeting international standards for measures against money laundering and funding of terrorism will be released officially at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday.

The report is based on the second on-site inspection held by Moneyval in April 2012.

This will be followed at 11:30 by a briefing in the Vatican Press Room by Mons. Ettore Balestrero, Vatican Under-Secretary for Relations with States.

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A website for the visit -
and an overview of the places
the Pope will be visiting


The official website for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon has been launched. The website is available in four languages – Arabic, English, French, and Italian.
http://www.lbpapalvisit.com/test2/public/index.php
The Holy Father’s trip will be from September 14 to 16, and he will visit Beirut, Harissa, Baabda, Bzommar, Bkerké, and Charfet. (All are located within 10-30 miles from Beirut).

[Unfortunately, the website so far does not contain any information on the places the Pope will be visiting. It wasn't easy to put together the little information I have assembled here.]


Other than Beirut and Harissa, the other place names are not indicated on the map because they are not population centers. Baabda is east of Beirut and south of Harissa, while Bzommar, Bkerke and Charfet are all slightly northwest of Harissa (nearer the sea. Right photo shows the location of St Paul's Cathedral and the Shrine to our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.

Harissa is a mountain location a few miles inland from the capital, looking down on the Mediterranean. It is the site of the Apostolic Nunciature, where the Pope will be staying, as well as two major churches.



The first is the Melkite Greek Catholic Basilica of St. Paul, where, on the afternoon of his arrival, the Holy Father will sign his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation that formally summarizes the Special Synodal Assembly on the Middle East held in October 2010.



The other is the Maronite Catholics' modern shrine to Our Lady of Lebanon, wits its giant statue of the Virgin. (For some reason, a visit to the shrine is not on the program at all, although the Holy Father is staying in Harissa.)

The following day, Saturday, Benedict XVI will hold a number of meetings at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, also an exurb of Beirut. [Like the location of the Nunciature in Harissa, this probably makes sense since Beirut itself was the center of fighting during Lebanon's long civil war.] The government of Lebanon is treating this as a state visit.

The Pope will be holding a series of meetings with the President of Lebanon, the President of Parliament, the Prime Minister, other government authorities, the diplomatic corps and representatives of Beirut's world of culture, and leaders of the Muslim communities.

The rest of the Pope's appointments inv olves visits to the seats of the three major Catholic communities of the Eastern rite in Lebanon.



On Saturday, he will lunch with Lebanese bishops in Bzommar, seat of the Syro-Catholic Patriarchate, and then proceed in the afternoon to Bkerke, seat of the Maronite Patriarchate, where he will be meeting with young people.



On Sunday, his final day in Lebanon, the Pope will have his only event in central Beirut - Mass at the area called the Waterfront, centerpiece of the reconstruction of Beirut after the civil war from 1975-1990 destroyed much of the city that had been known as the Paris of the Mediterranean.



[Beirut's location on the edge of the Mediterranean, with mountains a few miles inland, and its French colonial heritage, had made it one of the most beautiful cities in the region. Day excursions can be made from Beirut to two sites of antiquity which contain impressive ruins - Byblos and Baalbek. ]



In the afternoon, after leaving the Nunciature for the last time, he will be visiting Charfet, seat of the Syro-Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, for an ecumenical meeting. From there, he will proceed to the international airport for the departure ceremony and the trip back to Rome.
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Cardinal Zen and HK Catholics
pray for Mons. Ma and
the suffering Church in China

by Eugenia Zhang


Hong Kong, July 17 (AsiaNews) - More than 800 Catholics in Hong Kong packed St. Margaret's Catholic Church last night to pray for the early release of heroic Auxiliary Bishop Ma Daqin of Shanghai, who is under restriction after he openly left the Patriotic Association at his Episcopal ordination on 7 July.

[The good news yesterday was that Mons. Ma had resumed his blog, publishing three poems by an 18th century Chinese Jesuit expressing 'solitude and sorrow'. His last entry before this was July 6, the day before his episcopal ordination.]



Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, presided over the Mass, and Fr Dominic Chan, vicar general, and other priests concelebrated.

In his homily, Cardinal Zen accused China's atheist and Communist regime of interference in Church activities, calling it unwarranted.

He also criticised some Church officials on the mainland for yielding to profits and rewards, thus becoming slaves of evil.

The prelate led the assembled faithful in prayer for the early release of Bishop Ma Daqin and the restoration of his Episcopal ministry. The congregation also prayed for the release of other jailed members of the clergy.

Before the Mass, about 200 Catholics recited the rosary outside the China Liaison Office, Beijing's de facto office in Hong Kong, calling on the mainland to release of Bishop Ma and other jailed and missing clergy, including Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian (Hebei) and Vicar General Fr Lu Genjun of Baoding (Hebei).

Regarding unlawful ordinations, the Diocese's Justice and Peace Commission also prayed for two priests who are now forced to stay away from their Church because they refused to take part in the unlawful ordination in Harbin (Heilongjiang).

Catholics prayed for the communion and solidarity of the Church, as well as for Chinese authorities, that they may respect freedom of religion in China and allow the Catholic Church to operate normally and freely in the country.

Their hope is that Beijing and the Vatican will start a genuine dialogue, with openness and sincerity.

Earlier, AsiaNews editor Fr. Bernardo Cervellera wrote this tribute to Mons. Ma:


Shanghai's new auxiliary bishop
A prophet and a hero

by Fr. Bernardo Cervellera




- ROME, July 10 (AsiaNews) Bishop Ma Daqin, by refusing the imposition of hands from an excommunicated bishop and quitting the Patriotic Association, is upholding the very religious freedom that the Chinese constitution guarantees, but that is betrayed by religious regulations.

His rejection of the Patriotic Association has theological reasons (the PA is "incompatible with Catholic doctrine"), but also pastoral and social. For months, pastors are kept at a distance from their dioceses, on 'official tours' with government-sponsored banquets while their faithful have to face poverty. The "opportunist" bishops are like tasteless salt. The value of the lay faithful in reconciliation with the pope.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ]A prophet and a hero' is how many Chinese Catholics - and we with them - define the first steps of the newly elected auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, Msgr. Ma Thaddeus Daqin. In just one day, the day of his consecration on July 7, he rejected the imposition of hands by an excommunicated bishop; did not drink from the same cup of the illicit bishop, and publicly resigned from the Patriotic Association (PA), considering this an obstacle to his "pastoral and evangelization work."

The Religious Affairs Bureau did not like this perfectly aimed blow and has confined him to house arrest in the Sheshan seminary, for a forced period of "rest".

In carrying out these gestures Msgr. Ma simply claimed religious freedom for his commitment as a bishop, a principle which the Chinese Constitution states. But overriding the Constitution are provincial and national regulations that subject the life of Christian community and their pastors to controls, threats, flattery, bribery, putting up every possible obstacle to the commitment to evangelization.

Through these gestures Msgr. Ma also affirms that the ordination of a pastor is not a political issue manipulated by those in power, but a religious act in which the Pope and his instructions are to be respected for the sake of truth.

From this point of view, Msgr. Ma has made the same choice which the Church's unofficial communities and bishops (underground) have been struggling to uphold in the name of safeguarding the freedom to evangelize, risking imprisonment, detention, isolation and marginalization.

But he is a hero because the pollution in the political life of the Church in China has reached dangerous levels. After the 1977 Letter of Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics - in which the Pope declared the basis of the Patriotic Association (to build a Church independent of the Holy See) "incompatible with Catholic doctrine", the leaders of the Association launched a campaign to defend their existence.

Faced with bishops who affirmed their loyalty to the Pope, they began to choose bishops easy to compromise with the Party, engaged in politics, government representatives. At the ordination of bishops approved by the Pope, they began to impose the participation of excommunicated bishops; they also began to force bishops in communion with the Pope to participate in illicit ordinations. All this to say that 'legitimacy' does not belong to the Roman Pope, but to the presidents and secretaries of the Patriotic Association.

Amidst this miasma of ambiguities and equivicocies, the prophetic gesture of Daqin Ma has arisen, like "a ray of sunshine in a dark sky."

Bishop Ma is the first official bishop to resign from the PA and many Chinese Catholics hope that others will follow him.

Moreover, being a member of the PA has now become counterproductive, for religious reasons. First of all ideological ones and then theological ones: a Church separated from the Pope is not the Catholic Church, but just another Protestant church which is likely - as has happened many times in history - to become a sect increasingly emptied of its spiritual character and which survives only thanks to the good will of political power.

Belonging to the PA is also an obstacle to pastoral work: the bishops are obliged to continue to travel, to attend meetings and formation programs, staying away from their dioceses for months at a time, to listen to lectures about the control of religion and the benevolent power of the PA, and to forced to express "profound gratitude" to the almighty association that allows them to survive. When they finally get to be in their diocese, their every encounter, or personal relationship, is authenticated, verified, registered, permitted or cancelled by the PA.

Being a PA prop has also become socially embarrassing. While the Chinese people suffer from a deep economic crisis, with inflation making it increasingly difficult to scrap together a meal every day, PA secretaries and presidents are famous for their spending and largesse at the expense of the government and the diocese, in luxury hotels, banqueting at up to 24-course meals, while the faith ful of the dioceses, especially those in the rural areas, are strugglin for three meals a day, or even just to get drinkable water or a minimum of medical care.

A statistical report by the Chinese government denounces that every year Party members spend around 31.5 billion Euros on banquets, a sum capable of feeding at least one hundred million people for a whole year. Conscientious bishops can only try to distance themselves in order to fulfill their mission placing themselves of the side of Christ and the poor.

Bishop Ma's decision is prophetic and destined to make history. It is probable that some bishops remain attached to the PA, because it enables them to have a chauffeur-driven car, s new episcopal palace, money and other treats. Benedict XVI has referred to them as 'opportunists'.

It must be pointed out that even now many faithful are putting pressure on their bishops to pay more attention to living their Episcopal ministry, rather than their political role. In the years after Mao Zedong, the lay faithful forced many fearful bishops to contact the Holy See to be reunited - after decades of ambiguity - with the One Catholic Church.

Even today, the lay faithful demonstrate their faith and their love for Christ and the bishops by deserting Masses where the pastors are illegal and transmigrating into other dioceses loyal to the spiritual bond with Benedict XVI.
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Wednesday, July 18, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Center photo: The saint's statue in the Founders Gallery of St. Peter's Basilica; poster at right looks towards the 400th centenary of his death in 2014.
ST. CAMILLO DE LELLIS (Italy, 1550-1614), Priest, Founder of the Camellian order, Patron of Nurses
The saint was born in Bocchianico, Italy. He fought for the Venetians against the Turks, was addicted to gambling, and by 1574 was penniless in Naples. He became a Capuchin novice, but was unable to be professed because of a diseased leg he contracted while fighting the Turks. He devoted himself to caring for the sick, and became director of the San Giacomo Hospital in Rome. He received permission from his confessor (St. Philip Neri) to be ordained and decided, with two companions, to found his own congregation, the Ministers of the Sick (the Camellians), dedicated to the care of the sick. They ministered to the sick of Holy Ghost Hospital in Rome, enlarged their facilities in 1585, founded a new house in Naples in 1588, and attended the plague-stricken aboard ships in Rome's harbor and in Rome. In 1591, the Congregation was made into an order to serve the sick by Pope Gregory XIV, and in 1591 and 1605, Camillus sent members of his order to minister to wounded troops in Hungary and Croatia, the first field medical unit. Gravely ill for many years, he resigned as superior of the Order in 1607 and died in Rome on July 14, the year after he attended a General Chapter there. He was canonized in 1746, was declared patron of the sick, with St. John of God, by Pope Leo XIII, and patron of nurses and nursing groups by Pope Pius XI. A church in Rome is dedicated to him.
Readings for today's Mass:http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071812.cfm



AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No bulletins regarding the Holy Father.

A briefing was held as scheduled on Moneyval's status report on financial transparency measures
taken by the Holy See.




A report from Australia today
mobile.news.com.au/national/priests-could-be-ordered-to-report-confessions-of-sex-abuse-to-police/story-fncynjr2-12264...
says the state of Victoria is considering a law that would 1) require priests to reveal crimes told to them in confession and 2) make bishops face criminal charges for misconduct by their priests.

At the height of the orgy of 'Vatimania' last year, Ireland, of course, threatened legislation that would compel priests to break the saxrosanct seal of the confessional, but the talk has since died down. Australia, however, does not have the deep and long-reaching Catholic tradition of Ireland, and its lawmakers are secular enough to act where the Irish have not done so far.

Quite apart from all the immediate objections Catholics have to breaking the seal of the confessional, there are two practical considerations that make any such legislation ultimately useless. First, unless a priest reveals information voluntarily (which would violate the seal of the confessional), who is to know except he and the confessee what he was told (Besides, the confessor generally does not even know the identity of the confessee). Two, the obvious corollary is that anyone who thinks he has committed a reportable crime, knowing there is such a law in force, will probably not confess his crime at all. [Or go confess some place where there is no such stupid law),

As for the law that would make bishops criminally responsible for what their priests do, I am sure legal minds will challenge that easily. But the very existence of such a law will probably make bishops more vigilant and conscientious and less inclined to be tolerant, and if only for that, it might be salutary!
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Vatican passes Moneyval evaluation
on 9 out of 16 key criteria


July 18, 2012

The following statement was delivered by Mons. Ettore Balestrero, Vatican Under-Secretary for Relations with States, regarding the Moneyval latest evaluation of measures undertaken by the Holy See to meet international standards of transparency in its financial operations. The original text is in English.

As the Head of Delegation of the Holy See to the Plenary Session of Moneyval that discussed and adopted the Holy See’s First Mutual Evaluation Report on July 4, 2012, I welcome you to this briefing, which aims to present the key findings of the Report and to share with you also some insights as to where the Holy See has been and where it is going.

The goal: Making moral commitments concrete

For the Holy See, this process is first and foremost a moral rather than a technical commitment. As Pope Benedict XVI stated in his 30 December, 2010 Motu Proprio, just as the rest of the international community equips itself with the tools necessary to fight these evils, it is right and good that the Holy See share in these efforts, adopting such tools "as its own" and thereby also "carrying out the mission of the Holy See."

As the Secretariat of State clarified in requesting this evaluation, the Holy See recognizes that moral commitments must be accompanied by the technical compliance and effective implementation of the international standards necessary to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Compliance and effective implementation are indeed what render moral commitments concrete.

Our jurisdiction

Vatican City State has a very small territory, with a small population, a very low level of domestic crime, and no market economy. It is not a financial centre and its financial activities are meant to support its works of charity and of religion.

However the Holy See enjoys a recognized moral voice and in this sense is deeply connected not only with its immediate neighbors, but with all countries of the world.

Moreover, the Holy See, as primarily responsible for the universal mission of the Church, has a special ability – even duty – to guide and orient Catholic religious organizations throughout the world. While those organizations exist within their own civil jurisdictions and are bound to follow the laws of those jurisdictions for AML/CFT issues, it is important that the Holy See use its moral authority to raise maximum awareness about the far too frequent transnational crime of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Beginning along the path
and first accomplishments


Now, let’s see where we are coming from. The last nineteen months have been months of work and learning.

Before starting this process, we already had a good number of requirements in place. Above all, there has always been a clear determination to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as a legal system that already had several of the elements necessary to tackle ML/FT problems.

At the end of 2010, we passed an AML/CFT law and requested evaluation in February 2011 by MONEYVAL. Our law came into force on April 1, 2011. Our Financial Intelligence Authority was operational by June. In November 2011, we received our first MONEYVAL onsite visit. The team of our evaluators was widely considered to be perhaps the strongest team MONEYVAL had ever assembled.

It included the President, the Secretary and an Administrator of MONEYVAL, the President of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, two senior financial experts, and a Professor of International Law. We take both the praise and criticism contained in the report with seriousness.

Revision of the first AML/CFT legislation

Based on the preliminary remarks of the evaluators in November, it became apparent that the first version of the law, while representing an important effort at proper legislation, contained gaps and other difficulties that needed to be addressed in order to move forward.

All jurisdictions that receive an on-site visit are given two months time to introduce changes in their legislation, that will be included in the evaluation report. Within this timeframe, on January 25, 2012 a new law was introduced that provided for more effective cooperation among the Vatican Authorities involved in the prevention and countering of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The new law stressed the importance of their mutual connections and the need to better allocate their respective competences in order to establish a stronger and more sustainable system AML/CFT system.

The present AML/CFT system

Now I would like to draw your attention to some of the more important elements of the current AML/CFT Regime:

- The establishment of a risk-based approach to AML/CFT work, particularly in regard to the identification of suspicious transactions;

- Enhanced emphasis on international cooperation, including full exchange of information with foreign counterparts. And I stress that this includes exchange of information including information prior to April 1, 2011;

- Laws relating to financial institution secrecy are consistent with the international standards;

- The criminal law is significantly improved, by providing a comprehensive definition of money laundering, and an array of predicate crimes in line with the international standards, as well as the criminalization of the financing of terrorism;

- The power of the courts to prosecute money laundering, financing of terrorism, and its predicate crimes, as well as to freeze and confiscate the proceeds of ML/FT activity has been strengthened;

- The sanctions for failure to fulfill AML/CFT requirements are enhanced and made applicable to legal persons;

- Entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a requirement for the exchange of financial information with financial intelligence units from other states. We pledge this to be an effective and reliable tool for exchanging information on the basis of reciprocity with those jurisdictions that are also committed to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism;

- The power of the AML/FT supervisor to perform an inspection of any financial institution is made explicit and the law provides for the creation of a specific and detailed regulation upon the basis of which that inspection could be conducted.

In addition, the Holy See, acting also on behalf of Vatican City State, has ratified the following Conventions:

- the Vienna Convention against Illicit Traffic on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988).

- the New York Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999).

- the Palermo Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000).

These Conventions are immediately applicable in our legal system, without any further need to implement legislation regarding extradition and cooperation.

In addition, the area of international cooperation was carefully assessed. The findings of the evaluators were that the current system of the Holy See and of Vatican City State is largely compliant with the international standards.

Areas re where evaluators noted a need for improvement

We are aware that, like other jurisdictions, some areas of the Vatican’s systems to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism still need to improve. After the new law was adopted in January, we addressed many of these issues in the course of our continuing exchanges with the evaluators. Other issues will be addressed expeditiously and giving proof of effectiveness.

For example:

- There are some concerns expressed in the report regarding the use of an MOU to establish the basis for international cooperation between financial intelligence units;

We feel that the adoption of this requirement, which is in line with international standards, represents the right approach for the Vatican, which, as a smaller jurisdiction, wishes to interact on fair and fully reciprocal terms with other countries. Indeed, this is a common choice made by many jurisdictions, including New Zealand, Canada, Australia and others; nor is this choice disfavored by such noted FATF members as the United States;

- The Pontifical Commission is mandated by the law to provide for a regulation permitting the AML/CFT Supervisor to perform on-sight inspections. The evaluators note that until such a regulation becomes law, the supervisors inspection powers are not yet defined. We agree. That regulation, which is already being drafted, will reflect our seriousness of purpose;

- The report notes that the original structure of a Financial Intelligence Authority, which combines the financial intelligence unit function and the regulatory functions of a Supervisor, appears to create difficulties. This structure of the FIA, which concentrated all AML intelligence and supervision was inherited from the first version of the law. It was retained in the second version of the law. The evaluators have expressed certain skepticism as to its "workability" . We are grateful for this observation which we take seriously;

- The report notes that conflicts of interest may arise due to the same person working at the same time in a Supervisor and in one of the supervised entities.

Steps taken after passing the new law

After adoption of the present law, the Holy See has continued to improve its anti-money- laundering system. Above all, the Holy See and the Vatican Authorities have moved from shorter-term solutions to the creation of long term, sustainable and effective solutions; and will continue to do.

For example, after January 25, that is after the above mentioned period of two months following the first on-site visit:

- The Holy Sere established and implemented a terrorist list in line with the measures required by the United Nations Security Council;

- We have officially applied to join the Egmont Group, which is the internationally accredited group of Financial Intelligence Units formed to favor rapid and reciprocal exchanges of information;

- Through the execution of memoranda of understanding, we have expeditiously moved to insert our own financial intelligence authority into the international network of financial intelligence units;

- As mentioned, the Cardinal’ Commission for the Vatican City State is in the process of adopting an inspection regulation;

- We have initiated further revision of our criminal law, with a view to further modernize its provisions in light of the international standards;

- Shortly we will complete our risk assessment;

- We are considering ratification of other crime fighting conventions and new legislation regarding non-profit organizations.

CONCLUSION

Therefore the report released today is not an end, but a milestone in our continuing efforts.

In regards to the actual findings, simply stated we obviously wish to strengthen the overall system; in particular out of the 16 key and core recommendations of the international standards to fight ML/FT there are 7 areas where the Holy See must and will focus on.

In this light, the report released today is not the end, but is rather an important passage of our continuing efforts to marry moral commitments to technical excellence.

We have taken a definitive step to lay the foundations to a structure – a house if you will – that is to a robust and sustainable system to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Now it is our wish to fully construct a building that effectively shows the Holy See’s and Vatican City State’s desire to be a reliable partner in the international community.

With pride in what we have accomplished, tempered by recognition of what we must still do, I now welcome your questions.




Vatican passes key financial
transparency test but fails
seven key criteria

by NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY, July 18 (AP) — The Vatican has passed a key European financial transparency test, but received poor grades for the effectiveness of its new financial watchdog agency and the ability of its bank to track suspicious transactions.

The Council of Europe report released Wednesday marked a milestone in the Holy See's efforts to shed its reputation as a shady tax haven long mired in secrecy and scandal and move onto the so-called "white list" of countries that share financial information.

The report showed the Vatican had received compliant or largely compliant grades on nine of the 16 "key and core" internationally recognized recommendations to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.

But seven other areas were found lacking, particularly concerning its anti-terror finance measures and the Vatican's financial oversight agency, created amid much fanfare in 2010 to try to respond to international demands for greater fiscal transparency.

The report found that the agency had yet to conduct any inspections, and that its role, authority and independence needed clarification. It said its ability to share financial information with other governments was hobbled by the Vatican's insistence that it enter first into bilateral agreements.

The Holy See put the requirement for in place largely because it fears Italy would make unreasonable demands for financial information from the Vatican bank, where Vatican officials, dioceses and members of religious congregations hold accounts. The Holy See wanted to make sure that if it gave such information to Italy, a reciprocity agreement would compel Italy to share similar information with the Holy See.

The so-called Moneyval committee praised the Holy See for making so much progress in a short amount of time to come into compliance with the norms, and the Vatican scored compliant or largely compliant grades overall in 49 percent of the criteria.

Moneyval's executive secretary, John Ringguth, said the uniqueness of the Holy See as a state stood out to evaluators. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and a state with financial institutions but without a private sector.

"One of the first things that we had to get our head around was the law of 1929, which basically creates a public monopoly system in the Vatican City State and Holy See," he said in a phone interview.

Overall he said the Vatican fared well in its first round evaluation, noting that it comes out "somewhere in the middle" of Moneyval member states in terms of rankings; some of those states, however, have had years to come into compliance whereas the Vatican only began the evaluation process last year.

Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, the Vatican undersecretary of state, said the Vatican welcomed the findings and recommendations.

"We take both the praise and criticism contained in the report with seriousness," he told reporters.

The report said more work needs to be done. In particular, it said the Vatican bank, long the subject of rumor and scandal, should be independently supervised and should make rules about who is actually eligible to keep accounts there.

Currently, the bank is supervised by five cardinals, headed by the Vatican secretary of state.

It said the bank's customer due diligence measures were lacking in some areas, particularly concerning high-risk transactions. And it found fault with the Vatican's procedures to report suspicious financial transactions.

The Vatican submitted itself to the Moneyval evaluation process more than two years ago after it signed onto the 2009 EU Monetary Convention. Since then, it has written and rewritten a law criminalizing money laundering, created the financial watchdog agency and ratified three anti-crime U.N. treaties, among other measures.

Each of those moves is required by the Financial Action Task Force, the Paris-based policymaking body that helps countries develop anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing legislation. The Council of Europe's Moneyval committee rated whether the Vatican was compliant, largely compliant, partially compliant or noncompliant in each of the task force's recommendations.

Sixteen of the original 49 recommendations are considered "key and core," with a score of eight or more passing grades sparing the Vatican from a more intensive review and evaluation process in the future.

By scraping by with a 9-7 report card, the Vatican is solidly in the company of other countries that have been working for years, and gone through numerous rounds of Moneyval evaluations, to come into compliance with the FATF norms.

One area singled out for improvement was in putting into operation U.N. anti-terrorism conventions, which require the Vatican keep a list of terror suspects and show how it can freeze and confiscate terrorist assets. The Vatican scored partially compliant and noncompliant, respectively.

Balestrero noted that after the reporting deadline passed, the Vatican established the terror list.

Pope Benedict XVI himself has said he wanted the Vatican's finances to follow international principles, saying peace in the world today is threatened by terrorism and an improper use of the global financial system.

The Vatican's Moneyval evaluation process has been the source of enormous attention and speculation in Italy, given that it corresponded with the eruption of the scandal over leaked Vatican documentation that alleged corruption in the Holy See's finances as well as infighting over whether the Vatican's efforts to comply with the anti-money laundering norms were on the right track.

As the process neared its end, the Vatican bank — known as the Institute for Religious Works — threw another wrench into the mix by firing its president who had been brought in by the Pope's No. 2 specifically to usher in a new era of financial transparency at the Holy See. The bank's board accused him of actually being an obstacle to transparency and of failing to do his job. {It was never specified how exactly he was an obstacle to such transparency, considering that he was one of the principal collaborators in drafting the original law of December 31, 2010, and that he cooperated promptly with Italian authorities in their investigation of a suspected money-laundering transaction worth 23 million euros which was explained by IOR as its own fund transfer from an Italian bank to a German bank for the purchase of German bonds...BTW, if Gotti Tedeschio had been an 'obstacle' to transparency in any significant way, the Moneyval inepectors would have cited it one way or the other. Has anyone among the Vaticanistas read through the 240-page report yet to find out?]
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Who knows what else I missed seeing by being away all day yesterday? This sounds like great news, and I am surprised I have not seen it elsewhere so far....

A second Parkinson's cure
proposed for John Paul II's
'canonization miracle'



Bogotá, Colombia, July 17, 2012 CNA/EWTN News)- The testimony of a Colombian man who says he was “miraculously cured” of Parkinson's Disease through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II could allow for the canonization of the Polish pope.

According to the newspaper El Tiempo, the case involves Marco Fidel Rojas, the former mayor of the town of Huila, whose testimony has now been sent to the Vatican office heading the sainthood cause for the late pontiff.

Recounting his story to the Colombian paper, Fidel remembers experiencing the first symptoms of the disease in December of 2005. After a series of examinations, doctors determined he had suffered a stroke, which led to the development of Parkinson's.

Little by little the disease began to get worse. “I felt like I could collapse at any moment. Various times I fell down outside on the street,” he recalled, adding that once he was almost run over by a taxi.

As the years went by and his health continued to deteriorate, Fidel suddenly remembered on the evening of Dec. 27, 2010, that during a trip to Rome he had met Pope John Paul II after Mass and spoke with him for a few moments.

“I have a friend up there,” Fidel thought that night, amid his pain. “And he had Parkinson's. Why didn’t I pray to him before? Venerable Father John Paul II: come and heal me, put your hands on my head.”

After praying, Fidel said he slept perfectly that night, and that the next morning he woke up with no symptoms of the illness.

“Yes, John Paul II gave me the miracle of curing me,” he said. “My great promise to my healer is to spread devotion to him wherever I can.”

El Tiempo reported that Dr. Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita, a renowned neurologist in Colombia, has certified Fidel’s healing and says he is in good health.

The miraculous healing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre – who also suffered from Parkinson's Disease – paved the way for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, which took place in Rome in May 2011.

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Thursday, July 19, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. SYMACCHUS(b Sardinia), 51st Pope (498-514)
Born in Sardinia, he was baptized in Rome where he became Arch-Deacon under Pope Anastasius II. An anti-pope, Laurentius, was elected the same day by a minority with Byzantine sympathies and with the support of Roman Emperor Anastasius. But the Visigoth King Theodoric the Great supported Symmachus who ascended to the throne. The schism with Laurentius continued for years, with continuous intrigue and forgeries to support one side or the other. In 501, Senator Festus, a supporter of Laurentius, accused Symmachus of assorted crimes, including being unchaste and misusing his office. The Pope refused to answer the charges and claimed that secular rulers had no jurisdiction over a Pope. At one point Theodoric installed the anti-pope in the Lateran Palace and proclaimed him the legal pontiff. But the emperor later decided that Laurentius was too Byzantine, and had him removed. A Synodus Palmaris of all bishops in October 502 decided to dismiss all the charges against Symmachus on the ground that only God could judge him. During all the turmoil, Symacchus was not idle. He took severe measures against the Manichæans, ordered the burning of their books, and expelled them from the city. He erected or restored and adorned various churches in Rome. He also built asylums for the poor near the three churches of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence. He contributed large sums to support the Catholic bishops of Africa who were persecuted by the rulers of the Arian Vandals. He also aided the inhabitants of the provinces of upper Italy who suffered severely from the invasion of the barbarians. After his death he was buried at St. Peter's.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071912.cfm



AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No bulletins about the Holy Father.

Statement on FSSPX publication
of Vatican proposal for
their canonical status
in the event of reconciliation


July 19, 2012

The Vatican has released the following statement:

The recently concluded General Chapter of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has addressed a Declaration regarding the possibility of a canonical normalization in the relationship of the Fraternity and the Holy See. While it has been made public, the Declaration remains primarily an internal document for study and discussion among the members of the Fraternity.

The Holy See has taken note of this Declaration, but awaits the forthcoming official Communication of the Priestly Fraternity, as their dialogue with the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" continues.



In the absence of any news today other than the FSSPX statement and the Vatican reaction to it, you may want to sccroll up to near the top of this page to read a translation of the interview given by Mons. Mueller, the new CDF Prefect, to his (and the Pope's) regional newspaper, Mittelbayerische.





SEVEN YEARS, THREE MONTHS AND COUNTING...

AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER!




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Second edition of
Ratzinger Prizes for theology
to be given out in October

by Gianluca Biccini
Translated from the 7/20/12 issue of




Pope Benedict XVI will hand out the second edition of the Ratzinger Prize for theology in the context of the upcoming Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization.

Mons. Giuseppe Antonio Scotti, president of the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI, which gives out the prizes, said that "On October 10, Pope Benedict XVI wishes to express very simply his thanks to those who, in the darkness of the present time, are giving their everything in order that the splendor of the truth may shine forth, in a spirit of profound communion with the Holy Father".

The Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization will take place from October 7-28 next month.

Awarding the prizes named for the Pope to scholars who distinguish themselves by their publications and scientific research on theological topics is one of the activities of the Vatican-based Foundation, which is modelled after the Munich-based Joseph Ratzinger-Benedikt XVI Stiftung (Foundation) set up by the Ratzinger Schuelerkreis in December 2007.

My addendum, from the presentation of the Fondazione Vaticana in 2011:
[Fr. Stephan Horn, the Salvatorian father who is president of both associations, said at the news conference presenting the Vatican-based foundation in November 2010 that the ultimate objective is "to make known the theological thinking and spirituality of Pope Benedict XVI so it may live on".

Mons. Scotti said that the Foundation would be financed mainly by 50 percent of the Pope's royalties - which he assigned to the Vatican publishing house in a 2005 agreement (the other 50 percent will go to selected charities).]





Last year, on June 30, the Holy Father handed out the first three Ratzinger Prizes for theology to Patristics scholar Manlio Simonetti, Spanish theologian Olegario González de Cardedal and German theologian Fr. Maximilian Heim.

The choices are made by a scientific committee headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, with Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Angelo Amato, and Archbishops Luis Ladaria Ferrer, secretary of the CDF, and Jean-Louis Brugues, formerly secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and recently named Archivist-Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.

With the first Ratzinger Prizes last year, they called attention to the work of Simonetti, the 86-year-old lay Italian who is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on early Christian history; Spanish priest Fr. Gonzales Cardedal, now 78, who founded the Karl Rahner-Hans Urs von Balthasar School of Theology in Spain in 1998; and the Cistercian Maximilian Heim, 51, abbot of Heiligenkreuz monastery outside Vienna.

Cardinal Ruini said when the first awardees were announced in June last year that the Prizes are open even to non-Catholics or to theological scholars at the start of their career but who already 'demonstrate rigor and passion in their work'.

For this reason, at the presentation of the first awardees, it was Abbot Heim - who has been very active in the new generation of Joseph Ratzinger'ss Schuelerkreis - who gave the lectio magistralis on that occasion.

He cited the Pope's well-known personal dedication to scientific research on 'the real Jesus', from which alone, he believes, 'a Christology from below' is possible.

This year, Mons. Scotti said, the prizes will go to two personalities who "with their intense and generous life of study, research and ample publication, have grasped and given voice to a theology capable of expressing - (and he cites from the Holy Father's most recent Easter homily) - that 'light makes life possible. It makes encounter possible. It makes knowledge possible - which is access to reality, to truth. And by making knowledge possible, it makes freedom and progress possible'".

The prize winners will be announced at a news conference soon.

Because in recent years, the publication of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's two volumes of JESUS OF NAZARETH has raised remarkable interest not just among ordinary readers, but even in scientific and university circles, the Vatican foundation is organizing, in cooperation with all the pontifical universities of Rome, a symposium on "The Gospels, historical research and Christology" planned for the autumn of 2012.

The event which will be held at the Lateran University, from October 24-26, is the third in such a series sponsored by the Foundation.

The first one, in which 32 universities took part, was held in Sydgoszcz, Poland, in conjunction with the October 2011 pilgrimage to Assisi organized by Benedict XVI, on the theme of the event itself: "Pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace".

The second convention will be held this year in Rio de Janeiro from November 8-9this November. The participating universities will discuss the anthropological question "What makes man human?" in the context of World Youth Day to be held in Rio in July 2013.

For those who may have missed this brief video by the Fondazione Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI assembled last year for the 60th anniversary of the Holy Father's priesthood, it's worth watching:
http://www.fondazioneratzinger.va/player_e_video/player/60anni_sacerdozio_benedettoxvi/flash_it.html
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For the record, here is the FSSPX statment on their last General Chapter meeting , which the Vatican commented upon briefy. It does not indicate their answer to the Vatican's July 15 rejection of their propsoed formulation to the Doctrinal Preamble to any reconcilitation but discusses the post-reconciliation proposal by the Vatican.

Statement of the FSSPX General Chapter
July 114, 2012

As announced in the press communiqué of the Society of St. Pius X’s General House on July 14, 2012, the members of the General Chapter sent a common statement to Rome. It has been published today. [???? It was not, which is why Fr. Lombardi said the Vatican continues to await that 'common statetment'.]

During the interview published at DICI on July 16, Bishop Bernard Fellay stated that this document was “the occasion to specify the (SSPX’s) road map insisting upon the conservation of the Society’s identity, the only efficacious means to help the Church to restore Christendom”.

“For,” he said, “doctrinal mutism is not the answer to this “silent apostasy”, which even John Paul II denounced already in 2003.”

At the conclusion of the General Chapter of the Society of St. Pius X, gathered together at the tomb of its venerated founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and united with its Superior General, the participants, bishops, superiors, and most senior members of the Society elevate to Heaven our heartfelt thanksgiving, grateful for the 42 years of marvelous Divine protection over our work, amidst a Church in crisis and a world which distances itself farther from God and His law with each passing day.

We wish to express our gratitude to each and every member of our Society: priests, brothers, sisters, third order members; to the religious communities close to us and also to our dear faithful, for their constant dedication and for their fervent prayers on the occasion of this Chapter, marked by frank exchanges of views and by a very fruitful common work.

Every sacrifice and pain accepted with generosity has contributed to overcome the difficulties which the Society has encountered in recent times.

We have recovered our profound unity in its essential mission: to preserve and defend the Catholic Faith, to form good priests, and to strive towards the restoration of Christendom.

We have determined and approved the necessary conditions for an eventual canonical normalization. We have decided that, in that case, an extraordinary Chapter with deliberative vote will be convened beforehand.

We must never forget that the sanctification of souls always starts within ourselves. It is the fruit of a faith which becomes vivifying and operating by the work of charity, according to the words of St. Paul: “For we can do nothing against the truth: but for the truth” (cf. II Cor., XIII, 8), and “as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it… that it should be holy and without blemish” (cf. Eph. V, 25 s.).

The Chapter believes that the paramount duty of the Society, in the service which it intends to offer to the Church, is to continue, with God’s help, to profess the Catholic Faith in all its purity and integrity, with a determination matching the intensity of the constant attacks to which this very Faith is subjected nowadays.

For this reason it seems opportune that we reaffirm our faith in the Roman Catholic Church, the unique Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, outside of which there is no salvation nor possibility to find the means leading to salvation; our faith in its monarchical constitution, desired by Our Lord Himself, by which the supreme power of government over the universal Church belongs only to the Pope, Vicar of Christ on earth; our faith in the universal Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both the natural and the supernatural orders, to Whom every man and every society must submit.

The Society continues to uphold the declarations and the teachings of the constant Magisterium of the Church in regard to all the novelties of the Second Vatican Council which remain tainted with errors, and also in regard to the reforms issued from it. [One imagines that the FSSPX wanted this 'reservation' to be expressed in their version of the Docgtrinal Preamble, a wording which the Vatican would never accept!]

We find our sure guide in this uninterrupted Magisterium which, by its teaching authority, transmits the revealed Deposit of Faith in perfect harmony with the truths that the entire Church has professed, always and everywhere.

The Society finds its guide as well in the constant Tradition of the Church, which transmits and will transmit until the end of times the teachings required to preserve the Faith and the salvation of souls, while waiting for the day when an open and serious debate will be possible which may allow the return to Tradition of the ecclesiastical authorities.

We wish to unite ourselves to the other Christians persecuted in different countries of the world who are now suffering for the Catholic Faith, some even to the extent of martyrdom. Their blood, shed in union with the Victim of our altars, is the pledge for a true renewal of the Church in capite et membris, according to the old saying sanguis martyrum semen christianorum.

“inally, we turn our eyes to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is also jealous of the privileges of her Divine Son, jealous of His glory, of His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven. How often has she intervened for the defense, even the armed defense, of Christendom against the enemies of the Kingdom of Our Lord!

We entreat her to intervene today to chase the enemies out from inside the Church who are trying to destroy it more radically than its enemies from outside. May she deign to keep in the integrity of the Faith, in the love of the Church, in devotion to the Successor of Peter, all the members of the Society of St. Pius X and all the priests and faithful who labor alongside the Society, in order that she may both keep us from schism and preserve us from heresy.

May St. Michael the Archangel inspire us with his zeal for the glory of God and with his strength to fight the devil.

May St. Pius X share with us a part of his wisdom, of his learning, of his sanctity, to discern the true from the false and the good from the evil in these times of confusion and lies.” (Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre; Albano, October 19, 1983).

Given at Ecône, on the 14th of July of the Year of the Lord 2012.


It appears from the statement that the FSSPX hasn't entirely closed the door on a possible reconciliation with Rome. In fact, it reaffirms faith in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Pope as the only 'supreme power of government' in the Church. I have raised this point before - that if they do recognize the authority and power of the Pope, why do they make an exception to his judgment on Vatican II and the the 'novelties' they oppose?

In their specific denunciation of these 'novelties tainted with error' and the 'reforms issued from it' - when they specifically mean those four concepts they question - religious freedom, ecumenism, inter-religious dialog and collegiality - why don't they use the formulation in the agreement that Lefebvre signed with Cardinal Raztinger in 1988 before he decided to revoke it one month later? In 1988, the discussions were between the cardinal and Lefebvre, one on one, and surely, what Lefebvre agreed to in 1988 ought to be valid for his followers as well. In fact, why weren't all these 'doctrinal discussions' based on that agreement, to begin with? The FSSPX today cannot be more Lefebvrian than Lefebvre himself!


Mons. Lefebvre's doctrinal declaration

The full text of that agreement may be found on
www.fssp.org/en/protoc5mai.htm
but here, textually, is the doctrinal declaration that Mons. Lefebvre signed:


I. Text of the Doctrinal Declaration

I, Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Tulle, as well as the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X founded by me:

1. Promise to be always faithful to the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiff, her Supreme Pastor, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Blessed Peter in his primacy as Head of the Body of Bishops.

2. We declare our acceptance of the doctrine contained in number 25 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council on the ecclesial Magisterium and the adherence which is due to that magisterium.

3. With regard to certain points taught by the Second Vatican Council or concerning later reforms of the liturgy and law, and which seem to us able to be reconciled with the Tradition only with difficulty, we commit ourselves to have a positive attitude of study and of communication with the Holy See, avoiding all polemics.


4. We declare in addition to recognize the validity of the Sacrifice of the Mass and of the Sacraments celebrated with the intention of doing that which the Church does and according to the rites indicated in the typical editions of the Roman Missal and the Rituals of the Sacraments promulgated by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.

5. Finally, we promise to respect the common discipline of the Church and ecclesiastical laws, especially those contained in the Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II, without prejudice to the special discipline granted to the Society by particular law.

Note that Point 4 even accepts the validity of the Novus Ordo, which the present FSSPX effectively rejects!

I myself failed to look up this text until after the doctrinal discussions had begun, but I wonder why no one in the media, not even the Catholic media, brought this up and kept it in focus through all the months that followed, and especially since September 2011 when the back-and-forth over the Doctrinal Preamble ensued?

Thus, Point 3 could simly have been amended to read: "With regard to certain points taught by the Second Vatican Council concerning religious freedom, ecumenism, inter-religious dialog and collegiality, which seem to us able to be reconciled with the Tradition only with difficulty, we commit ourselves to have a positive attitude of study and of communication with the Holy See, avoiding all polemics". (I believe the last condition is the formulation used with the other FSSPX offshoots such as teh Fraternal Society of St. Pius (FSSP) who subsequently decided to enter into full communion with Rome.

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Friday, July 20, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

From left, the mosaic work in the apse of Sant'Apollinare in Classe; detail showing the saint; a Byzantine icon; a 16th century painting showing St. Apollinaris (left)
and St. Anthony Abbot with the Madonna.

ST. APOLLINARIS OF RAVENNA (first century AD), Bishop and Martyr
Tradition has it that he was a native of Antioch sent to Ravenna as bishop by St. Peter himself. Four times during his long service
(26 years), he was expelled from the city during various waves of anti-Christian persecution, returning each time except the last,
when he was captured by the Roman authorities and put to death. In Ravenna, there are two 6th-century basilicas named for him -
the first one, Sant'Apollinare in Classe built on the site of his martyrdom, the other one Sant'Apollinare Nuovo which housed his
relics for a few centuries to better preserve them from pirate desecration (Classe is near the sea). Both basilicas house some of
the best-preserved and finest works of Byzantine mosaic from late antiquity.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072012.cfm



AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The only bulletin so far is an advisory to journalists who will be travelling on the papal plane
for the visit to Lebanon in September.
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One must commend John Allen Jr. for being the first among the Vaticanistas of any nationality to come out and present the resent Moneyval report on the Holy See's financial transparency in the right context - as a solid nuts-and-bolts governing achievement of Benedict the Legislator, as Sandro Magister has called him, from whom all sectors might learn a lesson.

Contrary to Allen's own favorite label of Benedict XVI as 'a teaching Pope', as if that were his only qualification, he is far from a 'one-trick' Pope. In a role that is more complex and universally demanding than any leadership function that could have been imagined by man, he does what he has to do, and can do, according to a sensible scheme of priorities that are not confined to spiritual transcendence, as he never loses sight of the everyday context in which man tries to achieve such transcendence.

]G]Along with the Church's now all-out war against sex predators in the clergy and the bishops who cover up for them, this transparency effort would never have been possible without the political will of one man, a most enlightened - and most likely, divinely illuminated - sovereign monarch
, in a world where the exercise of 'democracy' has often meant inherent stalemate, and therefore inaction, among battling partisan interests on any significant policy... Papa Bene also shows that at 85, he has the leadership, dynamism and initiative of men half his age.



A Vatican watershed on transparency,
and a new tool for reformers


July 20, 2012

For sure, I’m no Nostradamus. To cite just one example of my failures as a prognosticator, in 1999 I published a biography of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger containing four reasons why his election as pope was improbable. We’re now, of course, into the eighth year of his reign.

A month ago, however, I finally got one right.

On June 22, previewing an evaluation of the Vatican’s financial transparency by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, I wrote: “The report is probably destined to trigger confusing and conflicting headlines about how well the Vatican did.”

On cue, these headlines ran shortly after the report’s release on Wednesday, July 18:
o Associated Press: “Vatican passes key financial transparency test”
o AGI: “Moneyval flunks the Vatican”
o L’Espresso: “Moneyval passes the Vatican”
o RTE: “Serious failings identified in Vatican Bank”
p Sunday Times: “Report cites progress in Vatican anti-money laundering efforts”

Sometimes the juxtaposition actually came in the same piece. The Italian daily Il Messaggero ran a headline (“Moneyval: Still little transparency at Vatican Bank”) which was at odds with its own opening paragraph (“The Vatican Bank is not quite transparent, but almost, the report says.”)

Why the confusion? In reality, the Vatican probably did about as well as was reasonable to expect, but the report contains plenty of criticism too. As a result, it’s a Rorschach test for broader attitudes, open to being spun in whichever direction someone feels like taking. [The fact is there is no need to spin anything - though the media could not resist doing so, as foolish as that is. The report is down-to-earth and specific, and it was never expected to be undiluted praise. It is in the nature of an interim report that while certain aspects will be praised, others will be criticized, the point being to achieve as close to full compliance with the evaluating agency's criteria. The Vatican itself struck the right note and balance in its statements. ]

We’ll get to the results in a moment, but first a word about the historical significance of the process. Without a doubt, the word is: “Watershed.”

Never before has the Vatican opened its financial and legal systems to this sort of external, independent review, with the results made public. In centuries past, had secular authorities shown up to conduct such a review, they would have been fought off tooth and nail. For Moneyval, the red carpet was rolled out instead.

American lawyer Jeffrey Lena, an advisor to the Vatican on the Moneyval process, told me that evaluators were able to examine records of judicial and diplomatic cooperation, anti-money laundering certifications, accountancy management letters, foundation registry records, and other confidential legal documents.

To say that the Vatican traditionally has been reluctant to grant such access is a bit like saying the Tea Party is lukewarm about Obama — in other words, it really doesn’t do justice to the depth of emotion involved.

In quick-and-dirty fashion, here’s a summary of the key Moneyval findings.

Evaluators found that the Vatican “has come a long way in a very short period of time”, and said that “the Holy See and Vatican City State authorities have cooperated closely with the evaluators, and reacted quickly to remedy a number of the deficiencies highlighted during the first on-site visit.”

The evaluation reflects the situation between November 2011 and January 2012, and the report lauds the Vatican for continuing “to move forward to improve and modernize its laws and practices” since that time.

Yet evaluators also found that “important issues still need addressing in order to demonstrate that a fully effective regime has been instituted in practice.”

In light of the Vatican’s checkered history of financial scandals, this finding seems especially key: “Although there have been recent unsubstantiated allegations of corruption in the media,” the report states, “there is no empirical evidence of corruption taking place within the Vatican City State.”

(For the record, the media didn’t just invent those allegations. The Vatican’s current ambassador in Washington wrote a letter two years ago, while he was a top official in the Vatican City State, complaining to thePpope about “so many instances of corruption and dishonesty.” The correspondence came to light amid the Vatican leaks scandal, though it’s been described as exaggerated or inaccurate by other officials.) [And for the record, Mr. Allen and all you reporters and commentators out there, as I have been hammering home ad mauseam, you are simply taking the word of Vigano about alleged "so many instances of corruption and dishonesty", when he only cited one example - the now oft-repeated tale of the cost overprice in the 2009 Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square [which, moreover, has been explained by the Governatorate Technical Services Department as having represented a one-time investment in a permanent base and frame for the annual construction]. Considering the detail into which Vigano went into describing the alleged personal misconduct of his 'enemies' at the Vatican, does anyone really think that if there had been more than the creche overprice, he would not have presented them in detail? Why has no one in MSM pointed this out at all? Because it is convenient for their purposes - to paint the Vatican and therefore the Church in the most negative light - to simply quote Vigano and not investigate what he said? What happened to independent reporting and corroboration? Well, now we have the presumably unbiased conclusion of the Moneyval inspectors themselves to tell us otherwise. But has anyone else besides Allen picked this out from the 240-page report?]

Overall, Moneyval found that “the threat of money laundering and terrorist financing is very low.” The report said that three factors, however, increase the risk:

- A high volume of cash transactions and wire transfers. (The report acknowledges that cash transactions “are an important contributor to the funding of the global mission of the church”.)
- The global footprint of the church’s activities, which include transactions with countries that insufficiently apply transparency standards.
- Limited information on non-profit organizations operating within the Vatican.

The Vatican has said that it’s already initiated a risk assessment in these areas, which presumably will be examined during the next round of Moneyval review.

In evaluating European states, Moneyval uses the 49 benchmarks established by the Financial Action Task Force, founded by the G8. Four were judged non-applicable to the Vatican, while it got passing grades on 22 and failing marks on 23. Most importantly, the Vatican was judged “compliant” or “largely compliant”, the highest marks available, on nine of the sixteen “key and core” standards.

Those results put the Vatican squarely in the middle of the global pack, with scores similar to recent evaluations of Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. The Vatican actually earned better scores on the “key and core” recommendations than 19 of the 29 countries Moneyval has evaluated, and most of those states have been through two previous evaluation cycles.

In other words, the Vatican almost finished in the top third of European nations the first time it took the test.


As a result, the Vatican will not be placed into Moneyval’s “Compliance Enhancing Procedures,” designed for problem states -- as close as they come to saying that a country has “failed”. Instead, the Vatican will be subject to the normal follow-up process for states seen as moving in the right direction.

* * *

In terms of deficiencies, Moneyval found that the “role, responsibility, authority, powers and independence” of a new financial watchdog unit created by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 need to be clarified and strengthened. At the time, the creation of that watchdog, called the Financial Information Authority, was touted as a cornerstone in Benedict’s campaign for a financial glasnost.

According to the report, the Financial Information Authority lacks adequate powers to carry out its duties. It also lacks the ability to issue sanctions with regard to APSA, the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See, one of the Vatican’s two main financial entities, along with the Institute for the Works of Religion, popularly known as the “Vatican Bank.” [I wonder if this was part of the 'weakening' of the original FIA concept by the 2011 amendments made by Bertone and company to the original law signed by the Pope in December 2010?]

Evaluators found that the Financial Information Authority has not yet conducted any on-site inspections, nor has it done any sample testing of files. The report also said that the watchdog unit hasn’t yet performed an inspection of either APSA or the Vatican Bank, despite the fact that bank officials requested one. [What good would inspections be if, as the previous paragraph says, the FIA has no ability to impose sanctions???]

Further, evaluators said the number of reports the Financial Information Authority has received regarding suspect transactions is low, even allowing for the small size of the Vatican’s financial sector.

As a result of the Vatican leaks scandal, we know that similar concerns have percolated internally.

Earlier this year, Italian Cardinal Attilio Nicora, the president of the watchdog unit, wrote a confidential memorandum voicing concern that limits on its authority from the Secretariat of State could be seen as a “step back” on reform, and could “create serious alarm in the international community.”

On the other hand, some Vatican insiders argue that Nicora isn’t blameless himself. To some extent, they say, the watchdog unit has been slow to get off the mark, not because of internal resistance but because the personnel chosen didn’t know much about the inner workings of the Vatican.

The Vatican has said that new regulations providing inspection powers with teeth for the Financial Information Authority are on the way. Officials say it’s more important to get those regulations right than to get them fast, but when they’re issued, they vow, they’ll satisfy international standards.

Moneyval also proposed that the watchdog unit should inspect not just the Vatican’s own institutional entities, but also the 46 non-profit organizations housed within the Vatican. These are mostly small foundations created by a cardinal or other senior figure to promote some pet project, such as inter-faith dialogue, and are largely unregulated. [But one understood the December 31, 2010 law signed by the Pope to cover all financial transactions by any agency operating in the Vatican!]

On the Vatican Bank, the Moneyval report suggested that it be subject to independent supervision. The lack of such oversight, it warned, “poses large risks to the stability of the small financial sector of the Holy See and Vatican City State.”

Though there is a Commission of Cardinals that governs the bank, evaluators apparently felt that because the commission is technically a part of the institution, it’s not an objective overseer. In part, this reflects eternal confusion over whether the Institute for the Works of Religion is or isn’t a “bank”. Commercial banks are normally subject to an external regulatory agency, such as the FDIC in the States, while the IOR is a non-profit public entity.

The question of oversight is especially current in the wake of the late May firing of Italian economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as the bank’s president. Gotti Tedeschi had been seen in some quarters as a symbol of the Vatican’s new commitment to transparency, though officials insisted that his removal was a personnel issue related to what they described as “erratic” behavior and basically not doing his job. [No, Mr. Allen, Carl Anderson's now infamous internal memo detailing the reasons for the no-confidence vote in Gotti Tedeschi specifically said that he had himself become an obstacle to transparency!]

The appointment of a new president for the Institute for the Works of Religion was initially expected quickly, but some observers now believe it won’t happen until Benedict XVI returns from his summer break at Castel Gandolfo in early September.

Moneyval also recommended that a formal statute should set out the kinds of legal and natural persons eligible to hold accounts at the bank, while applauding its internal efforts to review its database of just over 33,000 accounts -- an inspection which actually predates the Moneyval process.

Wednesday morning, the Vatican official who headed up the team working on the Moneyval evaluation, Italian Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, gave a briefing to the press. Balestrero called the report “not an end, but a milestone in our continuing efforts,” and said the Vatican takes “both the praise and the criticism with seriousness.”

In concrete, Balestrero said the Vatican is open to making financial supervision separate from intelligence-gathering, as Moneyval suggested, in order to protect the independence of the review, and to ensuring that the same people aren’t serving both as inspectors and the inspected.

On at least one point, however, Balestrero hinted that the Vatican won’t yield.

The report noted that the Vatican insists on negotiating a bilateral “memorandum of understanding” with other countries before sharing financial information. On background, Vatican officials have long said they worry that Italy could demand information from the Vatican Bank in order to give Italian banks an unfair commercial advantage, and so it wants an agreement to level the playing field.

Balestrero said on Wednesday this remains the “right approach for the Vatican, which, as a smaller jurisdiction, wishes to interact on fair and fully reciprocal terms with other countries.”

Balestrero described efforts to satisfy international standards in tracking the movement of money as “first and foremost, a moral rather than a technical commitment.” He also suggested that the Vatican’s newfound commitment to transparency should “guide and orient Catholic religious organizations throughout the world”.

[Allen then provides the links to the Moneyval site containing the 24-page Executive Summary of the report and the 240-page report itself. I must admit I skimmed through these 240 pages after the briefing on Wednesday but decided that I do not have the time - nor the technical wherewithal - to get into the details.]

Standing back from the specifics, here are three final observations about the significance of the Moneyval report.

First, journalists probably need to update their draft obituaries of Pope Benedict XVI. Up to this point, the consensus [OF WHOM? Allen and his fellow Vaticanistas who largely shape the way the public perceives the Vatican, the Church and the Pope?] has been that Benedict is a teaching Pope, not a governor, and that his inattention to management has allowed a string of train-wrecks to happen. There’s still truth to that assessment, but we now have independent secular evaluators saying that considerable progress on financial rigor has been made on Benedict’s watch.

Benedict also has launched various reforms on the clerical sexual abuse scandals, and while their effectiveness is still debated, few observers doubt that the Vatican is in a better place today than seven years ago. His record may thus have to be reconsidered: Still primarily a teaching pope, perhaps, but one who’s made management strides in at least a couple of key areas. [Unfortunately, rather than being a 'concession' that Benedict XVI has other achievements other than teaching, this sounds more like condescension! "Oh look, he may have more than one trick to show!"]

As a footnote, one might make a similar point about Benedict’s top deputy, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State. Fairly or not, Bertone has taken a beating in the press over the last seven years for his alleged incompetence, related to such spectacular flame-outs as the Holocaust-denying bishop affair. This time around, however, Bertone’s team managed to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. [One wonders, if the Pope had not overruled Bertone and the latter had succeeded to involve the Vatican in San Raffaele and the Toniolo Isntitute, what might Moneyval have thought of such financial excursions?]

Second, Balestrero is clearly a rising Vatican star. Currently the Under-Secretary for Relations with States and someone seen as enjoying strong support from Bertone, Balestrero will get much of the credit for the Moneyval result.

Born in Genoa, Balestrero, 45, is a diplomat who served in Korea, Mongolia and the Netherlands before coming back to work in the Secretariat of State in 2001. Known as a competent and easy-going guy, Balestrero likes to say that he’s “half-American” because his mother is from New York. He’s emblematic of a new generation of senior Vatican personnel, comfortable in the world outside the church, including 21st century technology, business practices, and media platforms.

From this point forward, Vatican-watchers probably won’t be able to talk about Balestrero without asking themselves: Are we watching a future Secretary of State in the making?

Third, it’s the nature of the Catholic system that everything a Pope does, for good or ill, sets a tone. [I wish! It seems too many are out of tune with his initiatives in the sex-abuse issue and on liturgy!] By subjecting the Vatican to a Moneyval review, Benedict XVI in effect has handed financial reformers across the Catholic world a new club with which to beat recalcitrant officials over the head and shoulders.

From now on, any bishop or religious superior who resists an independent audit; any pastor who drags his feet about proper controls on receipts from the collection plate; any head of a Catholic school, hospital or charity who plays fast and loose with the books; anybody in authority, in fact, who shrugs off concerns about money management; will inevitably face the question, “If the Pope’s open to criticism, why aren’t you?” [Not that this has worked in the case of liturgy and the sex-abuse issue!]

Whether a sea change in accountability ensues remains to be seen, but even the prospect suggests that the Moneyval process could be of consequence not just for the Vatican, but for the Church everywhere.


So, once again, as we Benaddicts think all the time -

DEO GRATIAS!

BRAVO BENEDETTO XVI IL GRANDISSIMO.

BENEDICTUS QUI VENIT IN NOMINE DOMINI!


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 22/07/2012 19:38]
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