BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

See preceding page for earlier entries on 10/21/12.




'The Church at Vatican II showed joy and optimism
and was not afraid', says Cardinal Arinze
who was the youngest bishop at the Council
Interview by Gerard O'Connell



Cardinal Arinze through the years.
Francis Arinze spent years in Rome after seminary earning his doctorate in theology, summa cum laude, from the Pontifical Urban University. He went home to his native Nigeria to teach and in August 1965, he was named a bishop. Apart from attending the last session of Vatican-II, his years as bishop and archbishop were marked by the Nigeria-Biafra war in 1867-1970, during which he distinguished himself by tireless work for refugees and destitute persons, and his ability to get along with the Muslims who are dominant in Nigerian society. As Archbishop of Onitsha and president of tne Nigerian Bishops. Conference, he gradually came to be known internationally. His work caught the attention of John Paul II who had met him at Vatican II. In 1985, he made Arinze a cardinal who, at 53, was among the youngest cardinals. In 1996, John Paul II named him president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialog, later promoting him in 2002 to Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. He remained at CDW until he reached retirement age in 2006. He was considered a papabile in the 2005 Conclave and would have been the first African Pope. When Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope, he named Arinze to take over the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri-Segni from the new Pope. He continues to be active in lecture tours around the world.

At the age of 32, Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze was the youngest bishop in the world when he participated in the last session of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II). On October 11, together with eleven other bishops who had taken part in that historic event, he joined the celebration in St Peter’s Square for the 50th anniversary of the Council’s opening, and the inauguration of the Year of Faith.

As the youngest of the 69 surviving Vatican II fathers, he greeted Pope Benedict at an audience for bishops on October 12. Some days later I talked with him about his exchange with the Pope then, and about his memories of Vatican II.

What did the Pope say to you at that audience?
He was happy and he said to me: “It must have been an unforgettable experience for you.” I replied, “Holy Father it is an unforgettable experience!”

What made it an unforgettable experience?
I was ordained bishop just two weeks before the last session began. I was the youngest bishop in the world, and being the youngest and knowing there was so much I did not know, I had no fixed ideas so I was open to what the Council was saying. I listened and I read its documents back and forth. It was inspiring.

There, I experienced at first hand the universality of the Church. I knew about this in theory already but to see the bishops from all parts of the world gathered together was something else, something one does not forget.

Then I was struck by the great sentiments of joy and optimism at the Council. “Joy” - the Church then conveyed an image of joy, and of not being afraid of the world. “Optimism” – yes, I use that word even though some have accused Gaudium et Spes (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) of being over optimistic.

But my reply would be to ask them: what do you expect the Church to be? Do you want the Church to be pessimistic about human nature, about cultures, about the calling, the vocation of the human person? Shouldn’t the Church be optimistic about these? The Gospel is actually optimistic, it’s Good News. When the angels appeared to the shepherds at Christmas night they announced Good News. 'Gloria in excelsis Deo' is certainly not pessimistic! So I believe it’s better for the Church to be more on the side of hope than on the side of no-hope.

That’s what struck me about the Council, together with the whole idea of ‘communion’ which has been emphasized ever since. We are a body communicating in Christ who brought us together, rejoicing in Christ, celebrating the mysteries of Christ, called together by Christ, we are a family. Indeed the 1994 African synod chose to use the word ‘family’, and ‘family spirit’ to convey all this.

Really, I was inspired by the Council: it projected a Church open to the human person as such, to the world, to other Christians, to other believers. It was truly remarkable. It defined my whole life as a bishop.

What has the Council given to Africa?
It encouraged missionary activity. This was already going on but the Council strongly encouraged it, in various documents.

Then Vatican II put the spotlight on ‘culture’ and ‘inculturation’. Four years later, Pope Paul VI focused on Africa when he visited Uganda, and on 31 July 1969, when the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) was inaugurated, he told the Bishops of Africa: “You Africans are to be missionaries to yourself”. He encouraged inculturation, and said once you share the same worldwide Catholic faith, you can and you must have an African Christianity. That was really something in 1969!

The Council also encouraged work for justice, peace and development. Now almost every diocese, and certainly every Bishops’ Conference in Africa, has an office for this purpose. It is not a new doctrine, but the emphasis is new in the Church: it tells us we must live our faith also by paying attention to this dimension. Over the past fifty years the Church worldwide has been paying greater attention to this whole area thanks to Vatican II.

The Council’s promotion of dialogue with other religions must have been significant for Africa.
Certainly, this is very important for Africa: the meeting of the human person, and therefore inter-religious contacts, collaboration. I use these words because at times when one says ‘dialogue’ some only think of discussion.

In our continent there are three religions: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion – which is the main religious background.

I must say also that the Council’s affirmation of the Bible is also very important for Africa. As you know, Africans love the Bible, and the bishops and priests encourage them to read it. Then, the Vatican II documents are most supportive of the lay apostolate, and of the apostolate of each person in the Church, and especially the lay faithful. Furthermore, as a consequence of the Council we have Bishops Conferences and SECAM.

So you don’t belong to those who say Vatican II made a lot of problems for the Church and created confusion?
I do not belong to that group! You see with sixteen documents, if people have their own fixed ideas they are likely to find one or two lines that seem to justify what they say, but if a person doesn’t have fixed ideas and simply reads the documents as they are, the result would be a very happy one. I think those documents have very much to tell us, even today.

In North America and Europe there has been some polarization over Vatican II and people have not experienced much of the joy, optimism and family spirit you mentioned earlier.
Yes, they miss the true spirit of Vatican II! They seem to be people with fixed ideas; they have their agenda pre-decided and don’t give the Council a chance to speak.

I started out with high hopes about this article, only to find that the writer took the easy way out and strung together whole paragraphs almost taken at random from Benedict XVI's first two encyclicals. The article does have the virtue of urging the reader to go read the encyclicals themselves all over... The 'sampling' from Benedict XVI's marvelous resume of the history of ideas in the modern era from Spe salvi is almost criminal, but the fragments are still compelling...

The idea of progress in
the Magisterium of Benedict XVI
by Rodolfo Papa


The writer is a professor of the History of Aesthetic Theories at the Pontifical Urban University.

ROME, Oct. 15 (Translated from the Italian service of ZENIT.org) - The 'hermeneutic of continuity' affirmed by Benedict XVI regarding the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council can be seen as a category that allows us to read history in a deeper and more effective way, evading the opposing traps of progressivism and regressivism.

As Cardinal Kurt Koch wrote in his recent book, "Pope Benedict XVI absolutely has no intention of turning back from Vatican II, but to proceed in depth, just like the mustard seed, which can only grow in the depths of the soil". [1]

Within this hermeneutic horizon, we can understand the analysis of 'progress' that Benedict XVI has carried out in his encyclicals.

In Deus caritas est, Benedict XVI shows the cultural roots of the 'philosophy of progress' and the inhuman aspects inherent in it. [2] In particular, he sees in Marxism a typical example of progressivism which is realy aimed at "blocking every tendency towards a better world".

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Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. It is not a means of changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly stratagems, but it is a way of making present here and now the love which man always needs.

The modern age, particularly from the nineteenth century on, has been dominated by various versions of a philosophy of progress whose most radical form is Marxism.

Part of Marxist strategy is the theory of impoverishment: in a situation of unjust power, it is claimed, anyone who engages in charitable initiatives is actually serving that unjust system, making it appear at least to some extent tolerable. This in turn slows down a potential revolution and thus blocks the struggle for a better world.

Seen in this way, charity is rejected and attacked as a means of preserving the status quo. What we have here, though, is really an inhuman philosophy. People of the present are sacrificed to the moloch of the future — a future whose effective realization is at best doubtful. One does not make the world more human by refusing to act humanely here and now.

We contribute to a better world only by personally doing good now, with full commitment and wherever we have the opportunity, independently of partisan strategies and programmes. The Christian's programme — the programme of the Good Samaritan, the programme of Jesus — is “a heart which sees”. This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly. [4]

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In Spe Salvi, the myth of progress is analyzed in its cultural roots and criticized for its wrong premises. Above all, Benedict xVI esposes its subjectivist insufficiency - the myth of progress means that man thinks he is the author of Paradise.

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Now, this “redemption”, the restoration of the lost “Paradise” is no longer expected from faith, but from the newly discovered link between science and praxis. It is not that faith is simply denied; rather it is displaced onto another level — that of purely private and other-worldly affairs — and at the same time it becomes somehow irrelevant for the world.

This programmatic vision has determined the trajectory of modern times and it also shapes the present-day crisis of faith which is essentially a crisis of Christian hope. Thus hope too, in Bacon, acquires a new form. Now it is called 'faith in progress'.

For Bacon, it is clear that the recent spate of discoveries and inventions is just the beginning; through the interplay of science and praxis, totally new discoveries will follow, a totally new world will emerge, the kingdom of man.

He even put forward a vision of foreseeable inventions—including the aeroplane and the submarine. As the ideology of progress developed further, joy at visible advances in human potential remained a continuing confirmation of faith in progress as such. [6]

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Thus, the utopia of progress consists in the secularization of hope. The center of this idea of progress is the exaltaiton of scientific reason and of social and political freedom.

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At the same time, two categories become increasingly central to the idea of progress: reason and freedom. Progress is primarily associated with the growing dominion of reason, and this reason is obviously considered to be a force of good and a force for good.

Progress is the overcoming of all forms of dependency—it is progress towards perfect freedom. Likewise freedom is seen purely as a promise, in which man becomes more and more fully himself.

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In the 19th century, hope was seen in terms of 'faith in progress', but at the same time, the limits of progress itself were being manifested, especially with the explosion of the social question of laborers:

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The nineteenth century held fast to its faith in progress as the new form of human hope, and it continued to consider reason and freedom as the guiding stars to be followed along the path of hope.

Nevertheless, the increasingly rapid advance of technical development and the industrialization connected with it soon gave rise to an entirely new social situation: there emerged a class of industrial workers and the so-called “industrial proletariat”, whose dreadful living conditions Friedrich Engels described alarmingly in 1845.

For his readers, the conclusion is clear: this cannot continue; a change is necessary. Yet the change would shake up and overturn the entire structure of bourgeois society. After the bourgeois revolution of 1789, the time had come for a new, proletarian revolution: progress could not simply continue in small, linear steps. A revolutionary leap was needed.

Karl Marx took up the rallying call, and applied his incisive language and intellect to the task of launching this major new and, as he thought, definitive step in history towards salvation — towards what Kant had described as the “Kingdom of God”. Once the truth of the hereafter had been rejected, it would then be a question of establishing the truth of the here and now.

The critique of Heaven is transformed into the critique of earth, the critique of theology into the critique of politics. Progress towards the better, towards the definitively good world, no longer comes simply from science but from politics — from a scientifically conceived politics that recognizes the structure of history and society and thus points out the road towards revolution, towards all-encompassing change.

With great precision, albeit with a certain onesided bias, Marx described the situation of his time, and with great analytical skill he spelled out the paths leading to revolution—and not only theoretically: by means of the Communist Party that came into being from the Communist Manifesto of 1848, he set it in motion.

His promise, owing to the acuteness of his analysis and his clear indication of the means for radical change, was and still remains an endless source of fascination. Real revolution followed, in the most radical way in Russia. [7]

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Overcoming the ambiguities of progress means going through a critque of progress itself. The Pontiff refers to Theodor Adorno:

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First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? In the nineteenth century, faith in progress was already subject to critique.

In the twentieth century, Theodor W. Adorno formulated the problem of faith in progress quite drastically: he said that progress, seen accurately, is progress from the sling to the atom bomb. Now this is certainly an aspect of progress that must not be concealed.

To put it another way: the ambiguity of progress becomes evident. Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil—possibilities that formerly did not exist.

We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world. [8]

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The only true progress is that which forms man in the mloral sense.

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First of all, we must acknowledge that incremental progress is possible only in the material sphere. Here, amid our growing knowledge of the structure of matter and in the light of ever more advanced inventions, we clearly see continuous progress towards an ever greater mastery of nature.

Yet in the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man's freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others — if that were the case, we would no longer be free.

Freedom presupposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. Naturally, new generations can build on the knowledge and experience of those who went before, and they can draw upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity.

But they can also reject it, because it can never be self-evident in the same way as material inventions. The moral treasury of humanity is not readily at hand like tools that we use; it is present as an appeal to freedom and a possibility for it. [0]

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The solution to the ambiguities of human progress is in the theological virtue of Hope, which is not the expectation of a better future but certainty of salvation: “Spe salvi facti sumus” (In hope we are saved) (Rm 8,24).

Benedict XVI's recurrent reflections on the parable of the mustard seed (Mk 4,30-42) can further enlighten us. As Cardinal Koch writes,
"The mustard seed is not just a metaphor for Christian hope but it is also evidence that the great can grow from the small even without revolutionary distortions, nor even because we men have taken on the direction of our affairs, but because such development takes place slowly and gradually, following its own dynamic. In the face of this, the Christian attitude can only be that of love and patience, which is the long breath of love" [10].

NOTES
[1] K. Koch, Il mistero del granello di senape. Fondamenti del pensiero teologico di Benedetto XVI, trad.it., Lindau, Torino 2012.
[2] Per quanto segue, cfr. R. Papa, Discorsi sull’arte sacra, Cantagalli, Siena 2012, cap. III.
[3] Benedetto XVI, Deus caritas est, 25 dicembre 2005, n. 17 – corsivo aggiunto.
[4] Ibid., n. 31 b – corsivo aggiunto.
[5] Id., Spe salvi, 30 novembre 2007, n. 17 – corsivo aggiunto.
[6] Ibid., n. 18 – corsivo aggiunto.
[7] Ibid., n. 20 – corsivo aggiunto.
[8] Ibid., n. 22 – corsivo aggiunto.
[9] Ibid., n. 24.
[10] K. Koch, Il mistero del granello di senape, p. 8.




Not my day! This item had a very catchy title, it was in the Economics and Finance section of Il Sussidiario which is a serious and respectable online journal, and it was quoting a leading Italian economist.... Alas, what the writer quotes turns out to be nothing but a generic hodge-podge that is surely an injustice both to the economist bimself and to the Social Doctrine of the Church... But I suckered myself into translating it, so I'm keeping it in...

What if the Nobel Prize for economy is to be
found in the Social Doctrine of the Church
by Gianfranco Fabi
Translated from

October 21, 2012

Luigi Pasinetti says, "The Social Doctrine of the Church constitutes the most complete and relevant response to the difficulties of economic theories in the face of the contemporary crisis".

His name is certainly not known to the public, he does not write for the newspapers, he does not appear on TV. And yet, he is one of the leading contemporary economists, emeritus professor at the Catholic University, who also taught in Cambridge University for many years, and the author of an incredible number of books and essays.

The Catholic University has now published a book with two interventions of Pasinetti (in 1992 and 2010) on "The Social Doctrine of the Church and economic theory" (Vita e Pensiero, 130 pp). In both he underscores with extreme frankness how the dominant economic theory is profoundly inadequate to comprehend the problems of a society as deeply dynamic as that of today.

"Traditional economists," he writes, "move within the strong restrictions of arguments that are based on the 'model of pure exchange', a theoretical model which was inadequate even to confront the problems of industrial society. That is why economists are 'quite unwise' and 'devoid of all justification' if they do not consider the advice of the Church on the moral principles that must be the basis of criteria for responsible construction of our institutions."

His more recent intervention is even more explicit. Starting off with the observation that "economic theory is going through a very critical period which truly requires a severe and radical reconsideration of its fundamentals".

Pasinetti underscores the importance of the Social Doctrine of the Church with "its insistence on essential principles, such as the rights and dignity of the human person, knowing that in the historical epoch we are living, responsibility has gone beyond national frontiers".

His critique of dominant economic theories appears explicit and unqualified. It is as though the economy, with irresponsible certainty, has simply gone down the paths of quantitative principles, of the logic of interests, of a posteriori justifications of decisions that must perennially be brought back to rationality.

Pasinetti thus calls for paying "more attention to those characteristics which are radically new and so marked in our society, like the dynamic taken on by technological and social events and the profound demands generated by globalization, such as the need to protect the environment at the global level and the growing relevance of the principle of the universal destination of goods".

Particularly relevant is Pasinetti's admission that he was "struck and surprised" by the statement on the dynamic of charity expressed decisively in the encyclical Caritas in veritate that he ends his essay with an explicit but hardly usual "Grazie, Benedetto!"

The economist expresses his admiration for the constant insistence by the Church, starting with Rerum novarum, to values that economic theories do not take into account, do not even consider, and basically, do not understand.

And yet the mainstays of the Social Doctrine of the Church - such as the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common good - could concretely help the economy and economists to emerge from the aridity they are headed for and from which it seems increasingly difficult to leave, just using old instruments and old theories.

Monday, Oct. 22, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Second from left:St. Juan Capistrano appears to St. Pedro Alcantara', 16th-cent painting by Luca Giordano; next to it, the saint's founder statue in St. Peter's Basilica.
Other paintings are unattributed from the 17th-century.
SAN PEDRO ALCANTARA (Spain, 1499-1562), Preacher, Discalced Franciscan, Mystic, Founder of the Franciscans of Strictest Observance (Alcantarines)
One of the constellation of great Spanish saints of the Counter-Reformation, he is best-known as the confessor to Teresa of Avila, who encouraged her to reform the Carmelites. St Teresa's autobiography is the source of much information regarding Peter's life, work, the gift of miracles and prophecy. He was of noble lineage, joining the Franciscans at 15 and was ordained at age 25 after making a name as a great preacher. He was a true mystic, who often went into ecstasies and levitated during these experiences. His other great contemporaries and friends included St. Francisco Borja, St. John of Avila and the Venerable Luis of Granada. A recluse by nature, he nonetheless carried out various leadership positions in the order, which he sought to reform in keeping with what it was in the time of St. Francis, establishing the Alcantarine reform in 1555. His writings later inspired St. Francis de Sales. he died while on his knees in prayer in a monastery in Avila and was canonized in 1669.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102212.cfm



Poland and the diocese of Rome celebrate today the feast day of Blessed Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II,
for the second time since he was beatified in May 2011. The feast day falls on the day of his papal inauguration.
Earlier, the US bishops announced that the Vatican has approved their request for their dioceses to observe
the late Pope's memorial today. This means it will now be included in the liturgical calendar of the US Church.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

- Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

= Card-nal Giuseppe Bertello, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and
of the Vatican Governatorate.

Before I get any farther behind, let me make up for having failed to post anything about this controversy so far... And quite interestingly, it refers to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church which was the subject of one of the earlier posts on this page.

Cardinal Turkson apologizes for offending
anyone with video on Muslim demographics
that he showed to the Synodal Assembly
by Gerard O'Connell

Oct. 21, 2010

In an exclusive interview, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, regrets showing a controversial video to the 13th Assembly of the Bishops' Synod last week, but explains his rationale for doing so.

“For me to attack Islam would be to attack my own family. I come from a family which has an Islamic component. My paternal uncle was a Muslim and he took care of me when I was a boy, and when he grew old I took care of him until he died”.

With these words ,Cardinal Turkson responded to those who accused him of encouraging or supporting anti-Islamic sentiment by showing a YouTube video on “Muslim Demographics” to the synod fathers on Saturday evening, October 13.

“The point was not to be anti-Islam. Absolutely not! The point was to highlight the demographic situation as a result of the anti-life tendency and culture in the Western world where, as I see it, there is a great need to apply the values of the Kingdom of God and of the Gospel to the social order”, the 64-year old Ghanaian cardinal told me.

He said he regrets showing the controversial video. “I showed the video to illustrate this reality in the Western world and to emphasize that if we do not evangelize the social order, it is capable of giving rise to all kinds of problems for society.”

After the animated debate following the video’s projection, the cardinal recognizes that others viewed that documentary differently to him. Up to then he said, “I had never viewed that video in the anti-Islamic optic with which so many others have viewed it.” He believes this divergence in perception is due to his personal background.

“From my own personal experience I cannot have such anti-Islamic fears, nor can I ever buy into anti-Islamic propaganda or scaremongering. I come from a family that has an Islamic component. My paternal uncle was a Muslim. We lived together; we don’t have any trace of fear of Islam in my family. My mother was a Methodist, my father a Catholic. This is the inter-religious family and context in which I grew up”, he said.

He showed the video at the synod, he said, to press home a point he had made earlier that day when he addressed the gathering as President of the Council for Justice and Peace.

In that speech, he presented the Church’s Social Teaching as “a useful tool for evangelization” and requested that the Compendium of the Church’s Social Teaching be put on the Vatican’s website alongside the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and that a future synod be held on evangelizing the social order.

He used the video to emphasize more forcefully that second point, namely “the need for evangelizing the social order, especially in relation to the anti-life culture, the culture of death that we find in the West and which is now being exported to Africa and other parts of the world as –to quote Pope Benedict - ‘a toxic spiritual refuse which contaminates’.”

He felt the first part of the video brought out this point well by highlighting the falling birthrate across Western Europe as a result of this “anti-life culture” and the consequences it brings, even if he now admits the figures may not be accurate.

But, he insisted, no one denies that the birthrate has fallen dramatically low in Europe with serious consequences for the whole of society. It was this point that he wished to bring to the synod’s attention, together with the need to evangelize the social order in the West, so as to change its anti-life culture.

Some synod participants questioned the wisdom of showing the video, because of its anti-Islamic slant. Cardinal Turkson said he now wishes he had not shown it. “I understand that I chose the wrong video to stress the point of my concern.”

Last Monday evening, the Cardinal apologized to the synod fathers for showing the video, and for whatever distress it may have caused them. At the same time he hopes his central point will not get lost, namely, the need to evangelize the social order.

Here is the earlier story...

Cardinal Turkson sparks outcry
by showing Synodal fathers a video
some felt to be offensive to Islam
by Gerard O'Connell

Oct. 16, 2010

A Vatican cardinal sparked the liveliest debate in recent memory at the synod of bishops when he showed a video on “Muslim Demographics” to the assembly of prelates from all over the world, on October 13.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Ghanaian President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, took the synod by surprise last Saturday evening when he decided to show the video instead of giving a speech in the hour set aside for free-discussion.

The YouTube video, which first appeared on the Internet in 2008 and has been viewed no less than 13 million since then, purports to be “A Report on the world’s changing demographics”.

Basing itself on fertility rates and Islamic immigration, the seven-minute video predicts the Muslim conquest of Europe as well as of Canada and the USA before the middle of the 21st century.

“Some of you may have already seen this video, others may not”, the cardinal told the synod participants, without providing any rationale for showing it. After the screening, while several fathers engaged in lively comments on the video, Cardinal Turkson listened in silence.

A source close to the cardinal told Vatican Insider that his intention in showing the film was to get people to reflect on the choices they make and the values they treasure, and to inject an element of realism into the synod’s discussion on the new evangelization. On Monday evening, October 15, the cardinal spoke to the synod fathers, explained that this was his real intention and apologized for any misunderstandings that may have arisen.

Reporting from inside the synod, Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen said this “fear-mongering presentation of statistics” attempted to show “how Islam is conquering Europe and the rest of the world.” She said its “scary music, stark white words on a black background and the warning that dropping fertility rates in Europe, plus high birth rates among immigrant Muslim families” sought to convey that “our children face a threatening world of Islamic domination in the very near future.” [But this is the kind of commentary that does not belong to a news report. It is commentary that could have been laid out in an editorial by Fr. Lombardi, although he has not written about the video at all so far. If Hitchen's editors allowed her to get away with her editorializing within a news report, one can only think that it's a craven act reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's repeated denunciations of a 'repugnant and reprehensible' anti-Muslim video that the Obama administration has been blaming for the killing of the US ambassador to Libya on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 last month. In short, that some at Vatican Radio were bending over backwards not to offend Muslims. All Hitchen had to say to show that the video was questionable was that it was a propaganda film prepared by a US evangelical group and that the figures it uses may not all be reliable. She could read this report by O'Connell to show how a professional reporter does it!]

The video highlights the current low fertility rate in Europe, and asserts that the 31 countries of the European Union have an average fertility rate of 1.38%, with Germany (1.3%), Italy (1.2%) and Spain (1.1%) at the bottom of the league. “As the population shrinks, so too does the culture” and - it predicts - “Europe as we know it will cease to exist”.

It notes that the population of Europe is not decreasing but says this is entirely due to Islamic immigration which contributed 90% of the birthrate since 1990. Europe had 52 million Muslims in 2008, it says, but it claims that number will double within 50 years.

It predicts that by 2050 “France will become an Islamic republic”, so too will Germany. Based on present trends, it forecasts that half of the population of the Netherlands will be Muslim in 15 years, as will one in five of the Russian population. It notes that over the past 30 years the UK’s Muslim population has risen from 82,000 to 2.5 million, and says many of the 1000+ mosques in the country were former churches.

It recalled how Muammar Ghadaffi said, “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquest….The 50+ million Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.”

“Closer to home” in Canada and the USA, the anonymous narrator in the video says, “the figures tell a similar story”. It noted that between 2001 and 2006 the Canadian population increased by 1.6 million, but 1.2 of them were Muslim immigrants. The video then turns to the USA and says there were 100,000 Muslims there in 1970 but by 2008 the number was “over 9 million”.

“The world is changing, it is time to wake up!” the video’s narrator said. It recalled how the Catholic Church had announced some years ago that Muslims had surpassed Catholics worldwide. It predicted that if current rates of fertility are maintained then, “Islam will become the dominant religion of the world.”

The video concluded dramatically with “a call to action” saying, “As believers we call upon you to share the Gospel message with a changing world.”

While the video’s producer remains anonymous, the commentary would suggest that it originated in the USA. It should be noted, however, that the data given in the video has long been contested, including by the BBC, but it is not known if the cardinal was aware of this.

At the synod, a European bishop promised to provide more updated projections from a recent European Bishops’ Conference study, but had not done so by Monday evening’s free discussion session when some speakers again expressed concern about the showing of the video.

While one must question Cardinal Turkson's judgment in using a 2008 propaganda video to make his point about the inevitable demographic and social crisis posed by the Western world's negative birth rate, it does not invalidate his point. The European bishop who promised to provide accurate figures should do so ASAP, because the birth rates cited for Europe seem to be accurate - it's the projected growth of Islam in the Western world that may be exaggerated.

Here's a reaction to the video by traditionalist author Roberto de Mattei after he viewed it (he also embeds the YouTube link to the video in his post):

Watch the video
and decide for yourself!
by Roberto de Mattei
Translated from

Octobefr 19, 2012

Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, showed the participants of the 13th General Assembly of the Bishops' Synod a seven-minute video entitled "A report on demographics in a changing world".

It is an English-language video that has been on YouTube for many years and which shows in a realistic way the implications of the demographic expansion of the Muslim population in Western countries.

But Cardinal Turkson's initiative triggered a wave of protests in the mass media and even among many of the Synodal Fathers, such as the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, who was reported to have said, "This is a Manichean vision which is not ours - we cannot possibly start an anti-Muslim crusade".

Cardinal Turkson was forced to express an apology: "I never intended to deceive, raise fear, or do wrong to anyone. I was not calling Christians to arms".

Well, we would like to show this video, and say, "It has nothing to do with calling Christians to arms - but it does call on all Christians, starting with the Synodal Fathers, not to close their eyes to reality, whether we like it or not. It is a dramatic reality because Islam is advancing, and not just on the demographic level but even on the religious. European churches are closing down or pass on to other hands, mosques are multiplying in almost a vertiginous fashion, and Islam clearly aims to be the leading religion in Europe."

And why would the pastors of the Church not want to listen to this tragic situation? What are they afraid of? Islam is not a threat to the Christian faith itself. Are they afraid to speak up about Islam because doing so could lead to martyrdom?

But has the Pope not just called on us to bear witness to our faith to the point of martyrdom if need be> What better occasion then the Synodal Assembly in this Year of Faith to brandish the standard of Catholic truth against false religions like Islam? [That's the traditionalist bigot in De Mattei who will not even pay lip service to show respect for another religion which does not need to be gratuitously branded 'false'.

Those who have faith have no fear of a video which presents the expansion of Islam in the West that is apparently impossible to halt.

But the words of the Angel to Mary has to resound in the heart of those who have faith: Everything is possible to God. And whoever chooses to fight back knows that it is possible, with the help of God, to make the West of the future not the land of Allah [I think the correct phrase should be 'land of Muhammad' since 'Allah' is God], but a new Christian civilization, faithful to the Christian message. The Church fears nothing and no one.

It is in this spirit that I would like you to watch and disseminate the video that Cardinal Turkson showed to the Synodal Fathers.
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h5-z23qslLg

Well, I have seen the video, and it is far tamer than I had been led to expect, from some of the reactions it provoked. I did not think there was a single word in it that can be construed as anti-Islam. It is certainly not Manichean, as Cardinal Vingt-Trois sees it, much less a call to an anti-Islam crusade! It is, in effect, a call to action for the Western world to stop its demographic suicide. If the video is anti-anything at all, it is against the inaction and seeming passivity of the West to the realities of demographc decline.

If we just stick to the fundamental premise that Muslim expansion - and possibly, its eventual dominance - in the West is made more likely by the continuing decline of the birthrate among most of the nations of the so-called Western world, which includes at this time, all of Eastern Europe and Russia (which has one of the most alarming denatalization rates in the world), then even allowing for possibly skewed statistics built into the video, it should act as a jolt to the cultural and social complaisancy of Westerners - seculars and Christians alike. Committed Christians will resist any threat to their faith and their way of life. But would the seculars resist at all? And yet, this is a question of their very survival as Europeans or Canadians or North Americans.

Facing the reality of Islam in our day is a matter of necessity, if not urgency. A world where most Westerners opt for less children or no children at all must once again learn to be a culture of life, not a culture of hedonism that sees children as obstacles to the pursuit of pleasure ,and is therefore ultimately a culture hostile to new life.

If the peoples of Europe are truly not interested in the survival of their respective nationalities and cultures, the alternative might be to let the Christians of Latin America, Africa and Asia flood Europe and let their birthrate and numbers counteract those of the European Muslims! [According to the video, the USA, alone among the leading Western countries, is at the minimum 'cultural survival rate' of 2.11 children per family only because of the Latinos in the USA.] Either way, the European races will be moribund.

The simple faith of Third World Christians might also prove to be a good foil for the universal religiosity of Muslims who apparently do not fail to pray five times a day, attend mosque on Fridays, observe a month of fasting once a year, and do all they can to be able to travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. When was the last historical era when Catholics were so universally devout and disciplined in their religious practices? Not that slavish adherence to Islam's basic religious precepts necessarily makes Muslims 'holier' or 'more moral' or 'better' persons than most Christians are. But at least, they do observe the discipline of their faith. How many of us can say that of ourselves?

In a spirit of fraternal humility, Cardinal Turkson has apologized for showing the video. He needn't have done so - especially if, as he is in a position to do (and is actually part of his Council's work), he had supplemented it with sourced and verifiable figures as a countercheck to the statistics cited by the video - which does not cite any sources for its figures. Too bad that many of his fellow bishops took umbrage for the wrong reasons.



Last January, I posted two articles on the world's 'demographic winter', particularly evident in the West. They are worth re-reading. And just to round out the picture, I also excerpted what Benedict XVI writes in Caritas in veritate about the social and economic consequences of the birth rate falling below 'replacement level'.
benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=85272...

Benedict XVI's decision to revive the use of the papal fanon does not need to be defended - it is a prerogative exclusive to him as Pope. It is not as if he suddenly decided to revive the use of the papal tiara (the three-tiered crown used by the Popes up to John Paul I)! And it is not as if the fanon were some egregiously ornate bejeweled accessory rather than the simple lightly-quilted double capelet that it is.

As a liturgical garment, it is every bit as legitimate as the alb, amice and chasuble that every priest wears to celebrate the Eucharist. In fact, it is considered analogous to the amice, the cloth that goes over the priest's alb and covers the priest's shoulders as the fanon does, but is fastened to the priest's torso by cloth strings. When putting on the amice, over his head and down to his shoulders, the priest asks God to clothe him with the "helmet of salvation"... In this interview, liturgist Fr. Nicola Bux says more about the fanon and Benedict XVI's use of liturgical vestments.

'One never consigns
the sacred to a museum'
by Francisco Grana
Translated from
ORTICALAB
Oct. 22, 2012

"One never consigns the sacred to the museum," says Fr. Nicola Bux unhesitatingly when asked about Benedict XVI's decision to use the papal fanon, considered by many critics to be obsolete, and reinforcing his detractors' accusation that this Pope is retrograde and has a predilection for using garments that belong to a museum.

Bux, who is a consultor at the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith and for the Causes of Sainthood, as well as the Office of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, is a longtime friend of the Pope, who in 1997, presented his book, Il quinto sigillo (The fifth seal).

Precisely as consultor to Mons. Guido Marini's office, Fr. Bux has collaborated in modifications to papal liturgies which the faithful and the rest of the world have noted from televised broadcasts in the past seven years.

As they did again on Sunday, Oct. 21, when the Pope canonized seven new saints and celebrated the Eucharist.

For the first time in his Pontificate, Papa Ratzinger wore the papal fanon, which was last used by John Paul II in 1987 [apparently the only time he used it].

Don Nicola, why did Benedict XVI decide to wear the fanon?
The fanon, worn over the chasuble, is made up of two super=imposed capelets - the lower one is longer than the top layer. It is of white cloth striped perpendicularly with gold, sometimes highlighted in purple or red. A gold cross is embroidered on the top capelet where it rests on the Pope's chest. [Good description, but it did not answer the question!]

What is the liturgical significance of the fanon?
It symbolizes the shield of faith (cfr Eph 6.16) that protects the Catholic Church represented by the Pope. The stripes, which can be gold or silver, represent the unity and indissolubility of the Church, both Latin and Oriental.

For the first time yesterday, the rite of canonization preceded the Mass. Likewise, the last public consistory for the creation of new cardinals last February, and for the past three years at least, the Calenda rite of the Christmas Eve Mass. What is the reason for separating these rites from the Mass itself?
In order to underscore the difference between the rites that belong properly to the Eucharistic celebration, and any other additional and exceptional celebration. There has been a tendency to 'pad' the Mass with other rites, or to mix in unwarranted rites or even to superimpose other sacramental rites. This all results in blurring for the faithful the essentials of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, as well as of the individual sacraments or sacramental rites, and converts the Mass into a palimpsest of rituals that one can fill in as one wishes.

[I wish the interviewer had asked Fr. Bux about the sacraments of Baptism, Matrimony and Holy Orders that are still performed within a Mass. So far, Benedict XVI has performed the Easter Vigil and Epiphany Baptisms within a Mass. I have not paid attention to these subtleties, but perhaps the Novus Ordo indicates that these sacraments are to be performed within a Mass.]

Is there not the risk of a negative image for Benedict XVI to believers and the rest of the world, because he wears liturgical garments that have not been in recent use and who is continually making changes to the liturgies that he presides over? [It's an unwarrantedly tendentious question. 1) Benedict XVI has not added anything to his liturgical vestments other than the fanon, to which he is entitled exclusively, and he wears a Roman chasuble as against the poncho-like Novus Ordo chasuble perhaps once for every nine times he wears the Novus Ordo chasuble. 2) The modifications made to the liturgies are not to the Mass itself - he follows the Novus Ordo rigorously - but to the chronological order of the supplemental rite relative to the Mass, and he has sensibly opted to hold them before the Mass. In that way, the 'main event' for which most of the faithful would be attending the liturgy is over and done with, before the Mass, to which the faithful can then devote their attention fully and undistracted.]
No risk at all. Rather, this is a signal of continuity within the Church - what was always considered sacred remains sacred. The fanon was also worn by John Paul II, Paul VI, John XXIII and Pius XII. [The Vatican said that the fanon used by Benedict VXI yesterday was that of Paul VI.]

It must be understood that liturgical vestments do not follow the criteria of secular fashion - they are intended to render glory to God as part of the liturgy for which they are worn. Priests and bishops, including the Pope, are ministers, which means 'servants' - the Pope is by definition servus servorum Dei, servant of the servants of God - and therefore, before the divine majesty, they must present themselves with maximum dignity.

The 'richness' of liturgical vestments are a sign of appropriate worship, even if they are never really adequate to God's glory, but this outward signs must be matched by purity of heart and chastity of the body, as St. Francis writes in his Letter to the Faithful.

One never consigns the sacred to a museum. The contemporary tendency to 'museify' sacred garments and accessories has something of the pathological, when it is not justified by reasons of conservation. Liturgical vestments are largely donations from the faithful, especially those who want to confer splendor to our worship of God.
[Benedict XVI mostly uses garments worn by his predecessors, except for a couple that were ordered especially for him, and those that he receives as gifts when he makes pastoral visits in Italy.]

As for the modifications to some rites, they also correspond to the exigency of restoring what has been deformed (due to abuses or misuse over time or by yielding to momentary 'fashion'), in order to allow the rites to express more clearly the Church lex credendi.

For example: Unlike beatifications, canonization is a solemn act of the Papal Magisterium exclusively, during which the Pope declares ex cathedra [literally, in this case, 'from the chair' of Peter]], and therefore, infallibly, that some of his children are enjoying a beatific vision of God in Paradise, and therefore they can be invoked as intercessors and held up as examples for the universal Church and not just for their local Churches.

This is the second incident in less than two months of a prominent bishop caught by the police for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco was arrested last month a few weeks before he took over his new diocese after being Bishop of nearby Oakland. At least, he was not involved in a road accident (in fact, he was driving his mother home from a dinner with friends), as this Polish bishop was... This provides yet another category of reasons for bishops constrained to resign... Mons. Jarecki is to be commended, nonetheless, for owning up to his misdemeanor and to his alcohol problem...

Warsaw auxiliary bishop arrested
for drunken driving, apologizes
to the faithful and has offered
his resignation to the Pope
Translated from

Oct. 22, 2012

Mons. Piotr Jarecki, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, offered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI today after he was arrested for drunken driving on Saturday and found with 2.5% alcohol in his blood.

Jarecki admitted to his responsibility and has asked forgiveness from the faithful for 'betraying their trust' while saying he would place himself under a health regimen to cure alcoholism.

The 67-year-old bishop said in a statement on the diocesan website: "I place myself in the hands of the Holy Father for his disposition as to my role as auxiliary bishop of Warsaw".

"I should never have driven under the influence of alcohol," he said. He was arrested and detained by the police for a few hours Saturday evening after he crashed his car into a lamp post.

His blood alcohol level was way beyond the allowable limit of 0.2%. Warsaw laws are rather harsh for drunken driving and can impose as much as two years in prison for those found guilty.

Jarecki has been auxiliary bishop of Warsaw since 1994. For six years, he was vice-president of the Commission on Episcopates of the European Community.

Corriere de la Sera acknowledges getting the original report from AFP, but it has supplemented it with information not found in the AFP story..


Speaking of assignments and reassignments made by Pope Benedict XVI, I was saddened the other day to see that even Andrea Tornielli has joined John Allen and other Catholic media writers in English who are peddling the idea that Mons. Tobin, the Redemptorist named by the Pope to be #2 at the Congregation that oversees religious orders two years ago, was 'promoted by removal' to be Archbishop of Indianapolis because he was, at the very least, 'sympathetic' to the dissenting nuns of LCWR. You may find the English account of Tornielli's report in the Vatican Insider on
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/tobin-stati-uniti-united-states-estados-unidos-vescovi-bishops-obispos-19061/
Tornielli names some other reassignments made by Benedict XVI in recent years with the implication that they were all 'politically' motivated, including the appointment of now-Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to be Archbishop of Colombo after he had been #2 at the Congregation for Divine Worship. Among the examples he cites, the only apparently questionable move - everything else seemed reasonable and right - was the reassignment of an Italian bishop from the Vatican Prefecture for Economic Affairs to become a coadjutor bishop (therefore de facto successor as bishop) to a major Italian diocese, simply because he reportedly did not get along with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

On the other hand, what self-respecting bishop would not welcome the chance to head his own diocese versus being some middle-level bureaucrat in the Roman Curia? An argument that applies to Mons. Sciculan's promotion to the Archdiocese of Malta. That was criticized as having been prompted by objections 'in the Curia' to his tough line against sex-offender priests! Even assuming there are still some such benighted objectors - who would therefore be objecting to Benedict XVI's tough line - does anyone really think their objections would have forced the Pope to 'get Scicluna out of the way' to appease them? Because that is the implication of the unwarranted speculation on why Scicluna was promoted.

This sort of unnecessary speculation reduces Benedict XVI to just another run-of-the-mill executive whose decisions are not necessarily aboveboard but can be dictated by expediency.

Following that logic, one would have to conclude that Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was guilty of everything the IOR board accused him of because his precipitate and totally unprecedented 'defenestration' from the IOR continues to be unredressed. And that however nauseating it is to think about, Mons. Vigano was given the consolation prize, despite his evident political maneuvering within the Curia, of the 'prestigious' post of Nuncio to Washington just to get him out of Rome. (Or maybe the Pope just does not consider that post particularly 'prestigious' or 'important' at this time since he himself can have direct access to United States bishops without the need of Vigano's mediation.) It would be interesting to learn what input Vigano had, if any, into Tobin's nomination to Indianapolis - since the Nuncio does formally provide the short list of three nominees for an episcopal post to the Pope and the Congregation for Bishops. If Vigano had no hand in it, is this something he could use sooner or later to get back at the Pope?

P.S. I am well aware I may be accused of challenging the consensus - if consensus it is - of Vatican reporters and commentators who have been plying their trade for decades, and who am I to do so. Well, consensus is not always equivalent to what is true and right, and consensus among reporters and commentators covering the same beat often seems to be automatic. It is common practice for reporters covering the same beat to 'coordinate' the line they will pursue in reporting a story, and that is why one sees very little authentically independent reporting in the MSM. What I am challenging is the automatic 'consensus reporting and commentary' that marks MSM journalism. I do not have to toe anyone's line, I am beholden to no one, and I can write what I think, since I do not have to please any editor, or generate a headline that may get greater readership because it raises a controversy where there really isn't one. My opinion is just as legitimate as anyone else, and not necessarily more right or more wrong, for that matter..

A post-script to the awards ceremony of the 2012 Ratzinger Prizes - about the introductory remarks by the president of the Foundation and Cardinal Ruini's presentation of the prize-winners. I just wish the OR had simply published the full texts of their remarks, which were brief enough, instead of bothering to excerpt and paraphrase them. I think their readers would have been much better served. After all, they are supposed to be the newspaper of Vatican record...

The Ratzinger Prizes are meant
to show that 'the study of God
brings light and joy to man'
Translated from the 10/21/12 issue of


"The quest for God and man's capacity to give voice to his presence are a true and decisive investment for the future of man: of the whole man who is 'made of something a little less than angels, crowned with glory and honor".

With these words, Mons. Antonio Scotti, president of the Administrative Council of the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI opened the awarding ceremony Saturday morning of the 2012 Ratzinger Prizes in Theology.

In his introductory remarks, Mons. Scotti underscored the importance of the annual Ratzinger Prize(s) which are being given out for the second year."It is the way by which the Foundation wishes to say that study and scientific research, with God as the object, are able to bring light and joy to the life of man. This, we all know well, is the heart of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI's teaching".

Mons. Scotti recalled the words used by Benedict XVI last Easter Vigil when the Pope affirmed that "the truly menacing darkness for man is the fact that he, in fact, is able to see and investigate tangible and material things but does not see where the world is going and from whence it came. Where does our life lead to? What is good and what is evil?... Faith which shows us the light of God (...) is an irruption of God's light into our world, an opening to the true light for our eyes".

Mons. Scotti said, "We are all aware of the great and immense need for a new 'irruption of light' in our time". And in this context, he underscored not just the importance of the Ratzinger Prise which reminds everyone that is is possible to seek and find that light, but also the precious gift of the Year of Faith which has just begun, to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. These are occasions, he said, to enable us "once again to be capable of effectively re-proposing the Christian mystery to contemporary man".

In the name of all those present - among whom were the Synodal Fathers who took a break from their work to attend the ceremony - Mons. Scotti thanked Benedict XVI: "Thank you, most blessed Father, because through your service, you call us back to the true and profound meaning of existence. With your words and writings, you have led each of us to ask ourselves, 'Is it true what I am being told?', and if it is, 'Does it really concern me?', and if it concerns me, 'How exactly?"

These are questions posed in a friendly way to the heart and mind of man, which we will all have an occasion once again to read and hear shortly, when we have in our hands your book on the childhood of Jesus, which completes your trilogy on JESUS OF NAZARETH. The act of awarding today the Ratzinger Prize to these two scholars, who have rendered service to the enlightened reason of faith in many different universities, is a noble and eloquent way by which the Church, through this authoritative gesture by Peter, invites everyone towards a fresh encounter with the Lord who alone can fill our existence with profound significance and peace".

Cardinal Ruini's presentation
of the 2012 Ratzinger Prize winners
Translated from the 10/21/12 issue of

"The Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI." said Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who heads the Foundation's scientific committee, on presenting the 2012 winners of the Ratzinger Prize for Theology, "sees in Femi Brague and Brian Daley two scholars who, starting from an extraordinary knowledge of the origins and the history of the Christian faith, have looked ahead in order to construct on the basis of this faith the present and the future of the human family".

Fr. Brian Daley, Jesuit theologian and patrologist from the United States, completed his theological studies at the Hochschule Skt. Georgen of Frankfurt, where he was also an assistant to the great historian of Christology, Alois Grillmeier. He obtained his doctorate from Oxford University with a critical study of the works of Leontius of Byzantium. He taught theology at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1978 to 1996, and since then to the present, at the University of Notre Dame.

Moreover, he has worked much in the ecumenical field, especially for relationships between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, and is currently the Executive Secretary for the Catholics on the Catholic-Orthodox Organization for North America.

He is the author of the book The hope of the Early Church: a Handbook of Patristic Eschatology and has translated to English the ancient Greek homilies on the Dormition of Mary and Greek and Byzantien patristic homilies on the Transfiguration, as well as Hans Urs von Balthasar's Cosmic Liturgy: The universe according to Maximus the Confessor.

«Rémi Brague, with whom I have the honor to have a personal relationship as well," Ruini continued, "is a true philosopher who is also a great historian of cultural thought, who combined with his speculative powers and historical vision a profound and explicit Catholic and Christian faith, to which he bears witness without complexes".

Brague studied philosophy and classical languages at the Ecole Normale Superieure of Paris. and later, Hebrew and Arabic. He taught for 20 years, from 1990-2010, at the Sorbonne, and currently he holds the Romano Guardini Chair of Science and History of Religions and of the Christian World View at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich.

He is a mamber of the Institut de France's Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and has earned prestigious international prizes, such as the Grand Prix for Philosophy of the Academie Francaise.

"Among his many books - which range from Greek philosophy to medieval Christian, Jewish and Muslim philosophy, and to works of theoretical synthesis and analysis, I want to point out Europe, la voie romaine (Europe, the Roman way) and La Sagesse du rnonde. Histoire de l'expérience humaine de l'univers (The wisdom of the world: The history of the human experience of the universe), which I particularly like; Du Dieu des chrétiens (About the God of Christians); and finally, his most recent book, Les Ancres dans le ciel: L'infrastructure métaphysique» (Anchors in heaven: The metaphysical infrastructure).

The European Union paradox:
Largely anti-Christian, the EU bears
Mary's 12 stars on its flag
by GIACOMO GALEAZZI

Oct. 22, 2012

Marian devotion versus Christianophobia: Our Lady of Fatima comes to Strasbourg. The twelve stars on the EU flag are a homage to her and yet this will be her first “visit” to the political headquarters of the EU.


Strasbourg's late 13th-century Muenster (Cathedral) is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of late Gothic architecture and is the tallest surviving structure that was built entirely in the Middle Ages.

At 10 am today, Oct. 23, the statue of the Virgin Mary will be brought to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg, the city that symbolises European technocracy, by a group of pilgrims from all across the continent. The statue is also expected to come past the European Parliament building.

Lorenzo Fontana and Mario Borghesio said the arrival of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in Strasbourg is “a unique event,” and noted that “Few people know that the symbol of unified Europe has exquisitely Marian origins, as the European Union’s official flag proves with its twelve stars and the Virgin Mary’s blue and white colours.”

“Unfortunately, said the two who are Members of Parliament belonging to the two Italian Northern League, "Europe has deviated dangerously from the symbol’s original source of inspiration, veering in a different direction, to benefit interests that have little to do with those of our people and with the Christian values the vast majority of Europeans uphold.”

Fontana and Borghezio presented a written statement in support of the requests borne with the Fatima image "to save Europe and the world and ensure peace and prosperity". Fr. Nicholas Gruner, founder of the Our Lady of Fatima Association, a non profit organisation, was to present the proposal to the European Parliament.

Mario Mauro, leader of the Italian People of Freedom Party (PDL), one of the parties that form part of the the European People’s Party (EPP), stressed that the EU flag has twelve golden stars that form a circle set against a blue backdrop. The number of stars has nothing to do with the number of EU states but is an ancient numeric symbol that stands for harmony and solidarity, he said.

A competition was held in order to choose the flag and French Catholic designer Arsène Heitz won. The flag’s symbolism can be found in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation: “Then a huge sign became visible in the sky – the figure of a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head.”

The President of the competition commission was a Belgian Jew who had converted to Catholicism and was acutely sensitive to the biblical symbolism of the number 12. In ancient symbology, this number stood for completeness and perfection: the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 months of the year, the 12 Apostles, the 12 Tables of Roman Law.

Heitz was inspired by the Miraculous Medal he wore around his nec commemorating the apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Catherine Laboure in 1830. The Virgin Mary told the nun to have twelve stars struck on the medal, in representation of the the stars on the crown worn by the woman in the Book of Revelation. Saint Bernadette Soubirous also had a necklace made of tin and string around her neck when the Virgin Mary appeared to her on 11 February 1858, dressed in white and blue.

Arsène Heitz did not refer to the symbol’s biblical origin but claimed the number twelve was meant to symbolise ancient wisdom, a “symbol of completeness”. This interpretation stuck and the number was confirmed in the constitutional treaty.

Papal message for the reopening
of the Cathedral of Pavia
after 16 years of renovation
Translated from the 10/22-10/23/12 issue of





On Sunday afternoon, October 21, thousands of faithful attended a solemn Pontifical Mass, presided by Bishop Giovanni Giudici and concelebrated with Mons. Paolo Magnani, emeritus Bishop of Treviso but a native of Pavia, that marked the full reopening of the city's Cathedral of the Assumption and St. Stephen after 16 years of restoration.

A letter was read to the faithful from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in behalf of Benedict XVI:

---

The Holy Father keeps a vivid memory of his visit to this diocese in 2007 during which he could only see the exterior of the Cathedral, which has been closed for almost two decades following the collapse of its main tower. Today, he joins you spiritually in this sacred edifice, participating with his heart and prayers at the solemn re-opening of the Cathedral.

He cannot do other than dedicate special attention to this monument that now reaffirms itself as an eloquent sign of the historical value and beauty of the Italian Renaissance. The Cathedral of Pavia, dedicated to the Blessed Mary of the Assumption and to the protomartyr St. Stephen, with its majestic dome that is one of the largest in Italy, rises above the city but is also its heart.

The community of Pavia, in fact, developed around this religious symbol, whose construction began in the 15th century and lasted all the way to the 20th century. The city and its cathedral grew together for more than six centuries of political, social and religious history.

As we are reminded in a recent article by Mons. Vittorio Lanzani of the Fabbrica di San Pietro at the Vatican, whoever approaches the city of Pavia - whether it is from the river that laps its walls and which gave its ancient Roman name of Ticinum to the settlement, or from the surrounding green fields - can only be stunned by the sight of the great cathedral with its majestic dome rising to the sky above the city like the sacred tent over a shrine in Biblical references.

It is an exaltation and an elevation of the house of God, as intended by the original plans - "this imposing Cathedral, a miracle born in the mind of Bramante" (Cesare Angelini, 'Viaggio in Pavia'). The third largest of Italy's Renaissance domes [after St. Peter's and the Florence Cathedral], it elicited these words in 1888 from Mons. Agostino Riboldi, the courageous bishop who was the true mover behind its completion: "How high is this monument to faith! It is altitude par excellence - the altitude of the temple. How high it is for its divine origin, which is God's gift, his Word! How ardently it rises towards the clouds as it overlooks the highest products of God's creation! How it presides majestically over earthly things,
inaccessible to base human passions! This temple is vast - but so are the reasons for our faith that all of us accept and each of us employs according to our needs".

---

April 22, 2007: Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Augustine in Pavia at the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro.

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

The saint was the subject of many paintings in the 15th century because of his legendary fame as a preacher and as a soldier. Third from left, he is shown holding up the crucifix in the midst of battle; next to it, with St. Bernardine of Siena (right); and second from right, appearing to San Pedro Alcantara in a vision.
ST. GIOVANNI DA CAPESTRANO (b Italy 1386, d Croatia 1456), Franciscan Preacher and Theologian, Inquisitor, Missionary and Papal Emissary, Army General
More familiarly known as San Juan Capistrano, from the Spanish version of his name, he was born in the diocese of Sulmona and received a thorough education in Perugia, specializing in the law. At the time he was born, one-third of the population of Europe and nearly 40 percent of the clergy had been wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Church was undergoing the Western Schism with two or three Pope claimants at any one time, and the city states of Italy were in constant conflict. Giovanni's talents were such that at 26, he was appointed governor of Perugia and was imprisoned after leading a battle with the powerful Malatesta clan. Resolving to change his way of life, he became a Franciscan novice at age 30, along with the future San Giacomo (James) delle Marche, and was ordained four years later. At this time, the order was in turmoil over the observance of St. Francis's rule and Giovanni fought for strict observance as did Bernardine of Siena; they succeeded in suppressing the heretical Fraticelli and 'Spirituals' of the Order. He and Bernardine were summoned to Rome to answer charges of heresy themselves, but they were absolved by the Commission of Cardinals. From 1420 onwards, he gained great fame all over Italy for his preaching - once in Brescia, he preached to a crowd of 125,000. When he was not preaching, he tirelessly wrote tracts against all kinds of heresy, and later, in defense of papal supremacy. His talents led Popes Eugene IV and Nicholas V to send him on missions to other countries of Europe, during which his preaching was equally acclaimed and instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion. As papal emissary, he also acted as Inquisitor to prosecute heretics in Italy and in central Europe. After the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, the Pope commissioned him to preach a crusade in defense of Europe. He concentrated his efforts in Hungary and then with the Great General Junyadi, led the Christian army in an overwhelming victory against the Turks in Belgrade. After this, however, he fell victim to the bubonic plague and died in a village in what is now Croatia. There are two dates given for his canonization - 1690 and 1724 - but his feast was first included in the Roman calendar in 1890. He is the patron saint of military chaplains and of jurists.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102312.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.

The Press Office released the text of the Vatican three-man tribunal's sentence finding ex-valet Paolo Gabriele
guilty of aggravated theft and sentencing him to 18 months in prison. The lengthy text summarizes all the evidence
presented and testimonies heard, as well as the conclusions the judges drew therefrom.

Publication of this lengthy text reiterates most of the facts already disclosed to the public by previous investigative and trial documents, and is, of course, continuing proof of the Vatican effort to be transparent in exposing Gabriele's role in Vatileaks, but it does not add to what we have already been told. It does contain the following observations towards the end that would seem to leave the way open for Gabriele and any others to be investigated for the more serious crimes mentioned:

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Regarding the [defendant's] assertions of high moral motives in defense of the Holy Father and the faith, the College (tribunal) must observe that Gabriele's actions actually harmed the person of the Pontiff; the rights of the Holy See; the entire Catholic Church; and Vatican City State; just as his actions were objectively harmful to the rights and interests of persons and the institutions from which the documents were illegally taken and to which they were addressed.

In particular, Gabriele's actions violated not just the fundamental right to the reputation and privacy of all the subjects involved, but even the secrecy of the private acts of a sovereign of state.

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Also announced today was that the separate trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti, wno is/was(?)
an IT specialist at the Secretariat of State, will begin on November 3, and that among the witnesses called
by his defense lawyer are Paolo Gabriele himself and Mons. Carlo Polvani, who heads the Information Section
at SecState and was Sciarpelletti's direct superior. He will testify in this capacity and not because of
presumed involvement in Vatileaks. Polvani is the nephew of Mons. Carlo Maria Vigano, Nuncio to the US,
whose denunciatory letters to the Pope and Cardinal Bertone in 2011 were made public in January this year
and constituted the first direct evidence of what came to be known as Vatileaks.



From the traditional blogsite Rorate caeli today:

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Rorate has learned and can confirm that Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and co-consecrated by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer on June 30, 1988, in Écône, Switzerland, for the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), has been removed from membership in said society by its Superior General, and can now be considered a former member. The removal comes at the end of an internal procedure that included repeated entreaties by the higher authorities of the Society regarding Williamson's decisions and actions that apparently went unheeded.

---

Kudos to Mons. Fellay for taking the ultimate disciplinary action. The FSSPX has enough problems without having to deal with a willful egotistic renegade in their midst.

Some of the digs at Al-Hira uncovere4d last August.

Nuncio and 15 Iraqi bishops say Mass
at 4th century site believed to be
Iraq's oldest Christian monastery
by Kassem al-Kaabi

Oct 22, 2012

The Vatican's ambassador to Iraq (the Apostolic Nuncio), Mons. Giorgio Lingua, and a number of monks held the first Mass in 1,500 years at the site of one of the oldest monasteries in Irag, in the city of al-Hira (south of Najaf), and met with the top Iraqi Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Al=Hira had been a spiritual capital for Christians and a pilgrimage destination for monks for more than 500 years before the introduction of Islam to the country. There are 33 monasteries between Najaf and Kufa, some of which were only discovered recently. However, the majority of the monasteries in this region have yet to be rediscovered.

The Christian delegation — which also included the head of Iraq's Christian Endowment, the endowment's general inspector and 15 Iraqi bishops — later met with Sistani.

During a press conference, Archbishop Lingua said Pope Benedict XVI "is very concerned with the situation of Christians in Iraq, and has urged them to stay in the country and live their lives naturally."

He added that "the Iraqi Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to live anywhere within the country, regardless of religion."

Lingua said: "The visit to Najaf was religious and fraternal, aimed at creating a spirit of love between all religions. It was a positive visit."

He added: "I delivered a message from the Pope to Sistani, filled with words of brotherhood and love, and thanking him for his positions regarding the situation in Iraq, particularly relating to forced displacement suffered by the Christians."

Furthermore, the head of the Christian Endowment in Iraq Raad Kajaji said that the delegation "expressed its thanks to the religious authorities for its sympathy and for protecting the Christians."

He added that the delegation "denounced, on behalf of the Church and the council of Church leaders, the insults directed at the Prophet Muhammad, which go against our customs and traditions."

The pastor of the Chaldean Church of St. Joseph, Father Saad Syrop, said to Al-Hayat newspaper that "the papal ambassador wanted to express his gratitude to Sistani and thank him for his positions. He also wanted to deliver a message from the Pope that was addressed to all the people of the Middle East."

He emphasized that "Sistani was very happy and warmly welcomed the delegation, expressing great esteem for its mission."

The director of the Department of Antiquities in Najaf, Mohammed Hadi Mayali, told Al-Hayat that "there are more than 60 Christian archaeological sites scattered throughout al-Hira and Najaf and the surrounding desert. People visit these sites on a weekly basis."

After Mass was performed at in Al-Hira - at a site near Najaf airport that was only recently unearthed, literally - the pastor of the Chaldean Rising Church said that "this is the first [Christian] prayer performed in Hira in 1,500 years," adding that "it will be followed by other visits to all of the Christian sites, where we will hold prayer and introduce this city to the world.

The story on the discovery of the ancient Christian site at Al-Hira last August, can be found on Page 364 of this thread
http://benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=8527207&p=334

Late yesterday, the Vatican Press Office issued the following statement:

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The announced mission to Syria of representatives of the Holy See and of the Synod of the Bishops is still being studied and prepared, in order to carry it out as soon as possible and effectively respond to the identified goals in terms of solidarity, peace and reconciliation, in spite of the severe acts which recently took place in the region.

---

Vatican mission to Syria postponed
by Andrea Tornielli

Oct. 23, 2012

It was only a week ago that the Vatican Secretary of State announced a Vatican mission to Syria at the Synod of Bishops in Rome. He explained that a delegation of Synod Fathers and the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, were to go on a mission to Syria to show the Church’s closeness to the country’s suffering population, especially Christians.

The idea was meant to be put into practice quickly. But the reality and the complications involved in visiting the war-torn country are greater than expected. So today, following Fr. Federico Lombardi’s announcement that the visit was being postponed, Cardinal Bertone explained the reasons for the delay to the Synod Fathers.

"The initiative raised wide interest and received a positive welcome, not only in Rome and Syria, but also at the international level,” the Vatican Secretary of State said. “First of all, I wish to tell you that we have continued to study the issue and to prepare the visit, despite the tragic episodes that have taken place in the region in recent days. As is well known, there is a strong desire to express the closeness of the Holy See and the universal Church by means of a delegation, which will travel to Damascus at the time and in the manner which will be announced after they have been defined in the light of the contacts and preparations currently under way. Given the gravity of the situation, the visit will be postponed, probably until after the conclusion of the Synod, and the composition of the delegation will be modified, also due to other commitments on the part of its members,” Bertone concluded.

The public announcement reported by media across the world, was obviously made before important details were examined and operational difficulties were properly analysed.

The Vatican “prime minister” said the Synodal mission will probably take place at the end of the Synod, not this week. And the delegation will not be made up of the individuals announced eight days ago by Bertone himself (Mamberti, Cardinals Laurent Mosengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa; Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York; Fabio Suescun Mutis, Military Ordinary of Colombia and Joseph Nguyen Nang, Bishop of Phat Diem), since some of these members will return to their dioceses which they have been absent from for a few weeks now.

It is true that the recent car bombing in Beirut have complicated the issue, but even Catholic assessments on the country’s domestic situation are varied and often contradictory. Opinions on the Assad regime and the nature of the revolt are also not unanimous.

But it is also true that from a diplomatic point of view, it would perhaps have been preferable for the announcement to have been made shortly before the mission actually had a schedule to leave for Damascus.

At the time of the announcement, I had been rather uneasy, but limited myself to noting this:

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Neither the AP nor the CdS story say exactly who the delegation will be meeting with. As they would have to get visas to Syria, it would seem inevitable that they must meet with a representative(s) of the Assad government, with whom obviously they cannot express 'solidarity', but bring the message of the Church asking for an end to the now 19-month-long civil conflict, in which Assad's forces have been trying to repress internal opposition to the regime and in the process, have indiscriminately killed as many as 30,000 Syrians, many of them innocent civilians.

---

The stranger omission from the original announcement was that a date was not given, although it was implied it would be sooner rather than later, perhaps as early as the week following the announcement. It was rather rash to assume all of that, if no prior arrangements - or at the very least, feelers with some positive response - had been made with the Syrian government. The announcement today seems to show that Cardinal Bertone spoke too soon - was he perhaps misled by his people on the ground in Syria? In any case, it now seems to have been a grandtsnad play that missed, but worse, 's a needless embarrassment for the Pope, in the name of whom he spoke.

I started working on this post late last night, but it turned out to need some research about facts that are not readily available online, so even if I am behind for the day (Oct. 24) because it was my day for doctors' appointments, I shall post it first before proceeding to the Oct. 24 event....

Some Synodal bishops go to bat
for remarried Catholic divorcees


VATICAN CITY, Oct. 23 (Translated from TMNews) - As the current Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization draws towards its close, working groups are finalizing the draft of the so-called 'Propositions' which will summarize the recommendations of the participants on how the Catholic Church can best transmit the faith in the effort of New Evangelization.

A sidelight to the interventions of the Synodal Fathers, however, was that at least three bishops spoke up to recommend that it is time for the Church to allow divorced Catholics - who do not have a canonical annulment of their first marriage and who then remarry - to receive Communion.

But what will be said about this in the final 'Propositions'? (Upon which Benedict XVI will base his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, which will 'promulgate' these propositions as pastoral guidelines for the whole Church.)

Although the issue was included in the final list of Propositions read out to the Synodal Assembly Tuesday morning, it will be confined to a paragraph within the overall Proposition on the role of the family, with a text that is essentially concerned above all about staying with the current teaching of the Church. [The Propositions are theoretically covered by 'pontifical secrecy' but in the past several Synodal assemblies, the have been disclosed 'unofficially' at the conclusion of the assembly.]

Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Budapest, said at a briefing about this particular topic, "There is something in the Propositions, but the text is still 'immature'".

Since he became Pope, Benedict XVI has shown a sensitivity for this topic. "To remarried divorcees," he said at the World Meeting of Families in Milan last June, "we must say that the Church loves them - they must see and feel that we are truly doing what we can to help them... They are not outside the Church, and even if they cannot receive absolution and the Eucharist, they live completely within the Church".

The Propositions, initially elaborated by linguistic working groups (circuli minores), originally totalled 326 which have now been combined and condensed into 57 final Propositions. In remaining discussions this afternoon and tomorrow among the 'circuli minores', the Synodal Fathers can fill in any blanks.

However, it is not unlikely that the Pope - as he has done in his earlier Post-Synodal Exhortations - may insert some propositions of his own.

One of the more outspoken in favor of 'mercy' for remarried divorcees, was the Bishop of Chieti, Mons. Bruno Forte, who told the assembly it was time for the Church "to pivot towards a sense of pastoral charity".

The Bishop of Gozo, Mario Grech, said, "We cannot ignore the painful reality of so many marriages that unfortunately end up badly."

Mons. Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg and president of the German bishops' conference, who openly supported 'pastoral charity' to remarried divorcees when Benedict XVI visited Germany in 2011, said "this is a typical problem in central Europe".

And the Bishop of Basel, Mons. Felix Gmur, said the Church must find solutions that will not reduce remarried divorcees to a 'sinful reality'. "We must rethink this, because every case is unique".

But Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence, who heads the Synodal Assembly's Information Committee. told Vatican Radio in an interview that "No one is excluded from the Church community because they are in an irregular marriage situation".


I've expatiated more than once on this topic, because, in effect, the 'pastoral charity' that bishops sympathetic to remarried Catholic divorcees whose first marriage was not canonically annulled, would exempt them from the penalty of 'living in adultery', a sin that can be absolved only if the condition ends, and for which, until then, they are denied the privilege of receiving the Eucharist. [The circumstance for ending the condition, as one of the articles I cite below points out, almost demands that the concerned couple be saints.]

Leaving aside that consideration of unwarranted class exemption for this kind of sin, my first problem with all the 'bleeding bishops' hearts' stories about this issue is that no one ever mentions the number of remarried Catholic divorcees for whom not receiving Communion is a problem. How widespread is it?

One imagines that many Catholics who opt for divorce and then remarry did so well aware of the canonical consequences of their actions. Without ignoring the fact that in some cases, divorce may be the only answer to an intolerable and irremediable domestic situation (when one spouse, for example, is the victim of chronic and criminal abuse by the other), I imagine the universe of divorced Catholics is largely similar to the larger universe of divorced couples in the Western world, for whom divorce is first and foremost, a legal convenience.

If a Catholic couple think so little of the Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage that they resort to divorce, how likely is it that they were 'observant Catholics' to begin with - people who went to Sunday Mass regularly, went to confession regularly, and lived for the day when they could receive the Eucharist?

The only figure I could find online to get an idea of the extent of the problem comes from a 2011 General Social Survey (a federal study) in the United States cited in an Our Sunday Visitor report in 2011 that "The percentage of adult Catholics [in the USA] who are divorced or separated, divorced and remarried, or widowed increased from 8 percent in 1972 to 22 percent in 2010."

There is no breakdown of that figure, so for argument's sake,let us say that the present 22% consists of one-third divorced or separated persons who have not remarried, one-third divorced and remarried, and one-third widowed, we would have about 7.3% of adult US catholics in the divorced and remarried category - which would mean about 4,750,000 individuals out of the US Catholic population of 65 million. That's huge! But if one also considers that the latest numbers from the USCCB indicate that only 20% of US Catholics go to Mass every Sunday, and we applied that percentage, again for argument's sake, to the universe of remarried divorcees, our figure comes down to about 950,000 - the ballpark figure for the number of remarried Catholic divorcees who may truly feel the pain of not being able to receive Communion, assuming they continue to be observant Catholics after their divorce and remarriage.

The Church cannot possibly give a class exemption from the consequences of committing any sin that amounts to 'public scandal' in the eyes of the Church - since the community knows when a couple has been divorced and then remarry others. That is the reason why the Church has not and cannot possibly issue a ruling that would exempt remarried divorcees whose first marriage is still canonically valid. It is the same reason 'conservative' bishops in the US - I prefer to call them orthodox, because they keep to the straight doctrine of the Church - refuse to give Communion to prominent Catholic politicians who unabashedly promote abortion and other anti-Catholic practices.

These are obviously sensitive pastoral issues that are best dealt with in private - case by case - rather than debated in public, because all this public divulgation is actually a means by the liberal bishops and clergy to pressure the Church into changing its teaching. IMHO, the ultra-liberal tendencies of secular society do not justify their attitude of seeking thereby to secularize some Church practices because of misplaced 'pastoral charity'. The commandments of God are for everyone. Why should anyone be exempt? If you exempt one class of offenders, it's the slippery slope to adding more and more exempt categories - where is the discipline in that?

Remarried divorcees who are really 'suffering' the consequences of their second marriages (when the first marriage is still valid in the Church and the 'ex'-spouse is alive) - if they have not had a chance to read what Benedict XVI has said about this issue - should take up the problem with their confessor, listen to what he has to say, and then decide what they must do. Which, in any case, must be their personal responsibility, whatever they decide. And let them not make a public display of their decision-making process!

Benedict XVI has given the best advice so far - live with the consequences of your actions, but know that you are still part of the Church which loves you, and that spiritual Communion is always possible. [I can vouch from personal experience of being a very casual Catholic for more than two decades - though not living in a spiritual desert - that spiritual Communion is almost as deeply satisfying as actual Communion.]

Now, when will some enterprising Catholic journalist come up with an article that offers a ballpark figure at least for the number of remarried Catholic divorcees in the Western world who are genuinely 'suffering' from their inability receive Communion? And cite the relevant figures for how many of such remarried divorcees are actually observant Catholics - and were they before they divorced?

I found this article online which presents the three levels at which the Church approaches the problem of remarried divorcees, and many aspects of the issue that are generally not presented...
http://catholicexchange.com/divorced-catholics-and-the-eucharist/
and a presentation from the Archdiocese of Atlanta of what the Catechism says about this problem
http://www.archatl.com/offices/tribunal/drm_c.html

Wednesday, October 24, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

ST. ANTONI MARIA CLARET (b Spain 1807, d France 1870), Weaver, Priest, Missionary, Founder of the Claretians, Archbishop, Writer and Publisher
A Catalan born near Barcelona, Antoni learned his father's trade as a weaver and worked in the textile mills of Barcelona, studying Latin and printing while he did this. He was a mediocre Catholic, but a near-drowning accident revived his faith. When he decided to enter the religious life, he wanted to be a Carthusian or a Jesuit, but in both cases, he was rejected due to ill health. He became a diocesan priest and was ordained at age 28. He became a famous preacher and retreat master throughout Spain. He was a fiery orator with extraordinary charisms (prophecy, exorcism and miracles) and attracted enormous and enthusiastic crowds. He stressed devotion to the Eucharist and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After spending 15 months as a missionary in the Canary Islands, he came back to the mainland and at age 42, he and five young priests started the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (commonly known as the Claretians). Later, he would also found the order of the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Just as important, he founded what became the great religious publishing house of Barcelona, now known as Libreria Claret, which went on to publish millions of cheap editions of the best Catholic works, old and new. Claret himself, in his lifetime, published over 200 books and pamphlets. In 1850, Pope Pius IX named him Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba to reform the Church on that Caribbean island. His reforms, both in the clergy and in social practices, were bitterly opposed in the anti-clerical atmosphere of that era. when Freemasons were highly influential. Particularly resented was his campaign to have families produce a variety of crops for their own use and for the market, instead of everyone merely devoting themselves to cultivating sugar cane. At least 15 attempts were made against his life. After seven years, he was recalled to Spain to be the chaplain to Queen Isabella II. He agreed on three conditions: he would not live in court; he would only come to hear the Queen's confession and instruct her children; and he would be exempt from court functions. He used his influence to help the poor and to propagate learning. He established a monastic school at the Escorial, which had a science laboratory, a museum of natural history, a library, a college and schools of music and languages. In the Revolution of 1868, he fled with the Queen's entourage to Paris, where he used his time preaching to the Spanish colony in France. he continued his popular missions and distribution of books and pamphlets wherever he went. When Isabella recognized the government of the new unified Italy, Claret went to Rome where he was summoned by Pius IX. In 1869, he took part in the First Vatican Council where he defended the concept of papal infallibility. During an argument by liberal bishops opposing it, he had a stroke from which he never recovered. He retired to a Cistercian monastery in southern France where he died the following year. In 1897, when his relics were transferred from France to his mission house in Vic, near Barcelona, his heart was found to be incorrupt. He was beatified in 1934 and canonized in 1950. Today, the Claretians have 450 houses and 3100 members, with missions in five continents. and hundreds of educational institutions around the world are named for him.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102412.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

General Audience - The Holy Father reflected today on the nature of faith in the second of his catecheses
specially tailored to the year of Faith, and then surprised everyone by announcing a consistory for Nov. 24 -
the fifth of his Pontificate - aimed at keeping the number of cardinal electors at 120, after a few
more cardinals turned 80 in the past few months.


One year ago...
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace caused a seven-day media 'controversy' after publishing a note
"For the reform of the international financial system from the perspective of a public financial authority
with international competence". The attendant problem was, of course, that because the note was from
a Pontifical Council, MSM were quick to attribute its analysis and recommendations to Benedict XVI, when all they had to do was go back and re-read Caritas in veritate.

GENERAL AUDIENCE:
'The nature of faith'
Oct. 24, 2012




The nature of faith

At his General Audience on Wednesday at St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI tackled essential questions about the nature of faith, as he gave his second catechesis for the Year of Faith.

Questions like: What is faith? Does faith still make sense in a world where science and technology have opened new horizons that were, until recently, unthinkable? What does it mean to believe today?

Here is how he synthesized the catechesis in English:

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In our series of catecheses for the Year of Faith, we now consider the nature of faith. More than simply knowledge about God, faith is a living encounter with him.

Through faith we come to know and love God, who reveals himself in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and in so doing reveals the deepest meaning and truth of our human existence. Faith offers us sure hope and direction amid the spiritual confusion of our times.

Before all else, faith is a divine gift which enables us to open our hearts and minds to God’s word and, through Baptism, to share in his divine life within the community of the Church.

Yet faith is also a profoundly human act, engaging our intelligence and freedom. When we welcome God’s invitation and gift, our lives, and the world around us, are transformed.

May this Year of Faith help us to live our faith fully, and to invite others to hear and welcome God’s word, opening their hearts to the eternal life which faith promises.

---

Here is Vatican Radio's translation of the catechesis:

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Wednesday with the start of the Year of Faith, I began a new series of catecheses on faith. Today I would like to reflect with you on an elementary question: What is faith? Does faith still make sense in a world where science and technology have opened new horizons that were, until recently, unthinkable?

What does it mean to believe today? In fact, in our time what we need is a renewed faith education, which includes a certain awareness of its truth and the events of salvation, but that mainly arises from a real encounter with God in Jesus Christ, from loving Him, trusting him, so that our entire life is involved.

Today, along with many signs of good, a sort of spiritual desert is growing around us. Sometimes, the events we hear about in the news every day give us the feeling that the world is not projected toward building a more fraternal and peaceful community; the very ideas of progress and well-being show their darker shadows.

Despite the greatness of the discoveries of science and the breakthroughs of technology, today man does not seem to have truly become freer, more humane; there are still many forms of exploitation, manipulation, violence, oppression, injustice ...

Moreover a certain kind of culture, has educated us to move only within the horizon of things, of the feasible, to believe only what we can see and touch with our hands.

On the other hand, the number of people who feel disoriented is growing and, in seeking to go beyond a purely horizontal reality, they are willing to believe anything and its direct opposite.

In this context, some fundamental questions emerge, which are much more concrete than they appear at first sight: What is the meaning of life? Is there a future for the man, for us and for future generations? Where should we direct the choices of our freedom for a successful and happy life? What awaits us beyond the threshold of death?

These unrelenting questions reveal how the world of planning, of exact calculation and experimentation - in a word, the knowledge of science - while important for human life, is not enough. We need not only material bread, we need love, meaning and hope, a sure foundation, a solid ground to help us live with an authentic sense even moments of crisis, darkness, difficulties and daily problems.

Faith gives us just that: it is a confident trust in a "You", that is God, who gives me a different but no less solid certainty, than that which comes from exact calculation or science.

Faith is not a mere intellectual assent to the special truths of God, it is an act by which I entrust myself freely to a God who is our Father and who loves me, it is adherence to a "You" that gives me hope and confidence.

Certainly this union with God is not devoid of content: with it we know that God has revealed himself to us in Christ, He showed us His face and became really close to each of us. Indeed, God has revealed His love without measure for man, for each one of us:

On the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God made man, shows us in the most luminous way how far this love can go, even to the point of giving himself up in total sacrifice. With the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, God descends to the depths of our humanity to bring it back to Him, to raise it to His heights.

Faith is to believe in this love of God which is not missing even in the face of man’s wickedness, of evil and death, but it is capable of transforming all forms of slavery, gifting man with the possibility of salvation.

Having faith, then, is encountering this "You," God, who sustains me and grants me the promise of an indestructible love that not only aspires to eternity, but gifts it; it is entrusting myself to God with the attitude of a child, who knows that all his difficulties, all his troubles are safe in the "You" of the mother.

And this possibility of salvation through faith is a gift that God offers to all men. I think we should meditate more often - in our daily lives, characterized by problems and sometimes tragic situations - that Christian believing means this confident abandonment to this profound sense that supports me and the world, a sense that we are not able to give ourselves, but only to receive as a gift, and that is the foundation on which we can live without fear. And we must be able to proclaim this liberating and reassuring certainty of faith by word and show it with our lives as Christians.

Around us, however, we see every day that many are indifferent or refuse to accept this Good News. At the end of the Gospel of Mark, today we have the harsh words of the Risen Jesus who says: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16,16). He loses himself. I invite you to reflect on this.

Confidence in the action of the Holy Spirit, we must always push us to go and preach the Gospel, to a courageous witness of faith, but, in addition to the possibility of a positive response to the gift of faith, there is also the risk of rejection of the Gospel, of not welcoming the vital encounter with Christ.

St. Augustine already addressed this issue in a commentary on the parable of the sower: "We talk," he said, "cast the seed, spread the seed. There are those who despise, those who criticize, those who scoff. If we fear them, we have nothing more to sow, and when the day comes to reap. we will be left without a harvest. So the seed comes from good land" (Discourse on Christian discipline, 13,14: PL 40, 677-678).

Rejection, therefore, must not discourage us. As Christians we are witness to this fertile soil, our faith, even within our limits, shows that there is good soil, where the seed of the Word of God produces abundant fruits of justice, peace and love, of a new humanity, of salvation. And the whole history of the Church, with all the problems, also shows that there is fertile ground, there is a good seed and it bears fruit.

But let us ask ourselves: From where does man draw that openness of heart and mind to believe in the God who has made himself visible in Jesus Christ who died and rose again, to receive His salvation, so that He and His Gospel are the guide and the light of existence?

The answer: We can believe in God because He comes to us and touches us, because the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen Lord, enables us to accept the living God.

Faith then is primarily a supernatural gift, a gift of God. The Second Vatican Council affirms this. I quote: "To make this act of faith, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist, moving the heart and turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind and giving "joy and ease to everyone in assenting to the truth and believing it". (Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 5).

The basis of our journey of faith is baptism, the sacrament which gifts us the Holy Spirit, making us children of God in Christ, and marks our entry into the community of faith, the Church: We cannot believe by ourselves, without the coming of the grace of the Spirit. And we do not believe alone, but together with our brothers and sisters. From Baptism onwards, every believer is called to re-live and make this their own confession of faith, together with their brethren.

Faith is a gift of God, but it is also a deeply human and free act. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says it with clarity. It states: "Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason" (No. 154).

Thus states the Catechism. Indeed, it implies and exalts these truths, in taking a chance on life that is somewhat like an exodus, that is, from our freedom: a going beyond ourselves, our securities, our thought patterns, to rely on the action of God who shows us the way to achieve true freedom, our human identity, true joy of heart, peace with everyone.

To believe is to trust freely and joyfully in God's providential plan in history, as did the patriarch Abraham, as did Mary of Nazareth. Faith then is an agreement by which our minds and our hearts say their "yes" to God, confessing that Jesus is Lord. And this "yes" transforms life, opens the way towards fullness of meaning, thus making it new, full of joy and of reliable hope.

Dear friends, our time needs Christians who are gripped by Christ, to grow in faith through familiarity with Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments - people who are almost an open book that recounts the experience of new life in the Spirit, the presence of the God who sustains us on our journey and opens us to life that will never end. Thank you.

---

Pope surprises everyone with
a mini-consistory on Nov. 24
to create six new cardinals
Adapted from

Oct. 24, 2012

At the end of his Wednesday catechesis and plurilingual greetings to the pilgrims, Pope Benedict XVI announced a consistory for the creation of six new Cardinals to take place on November 24. Here is a translation of his announcement:

---

And now, with great joy, I announce that on November 24, I will hold a Consistory to name six new members of the College of Cardinals.

Cardinals have the task of helping the Success of Peter carry out his ministry of confirming our brethren in the faith and to be the principle and foundation of unity and communion in the Church.

Here are the names of the new cardinals:

1. Mons. JAMES MICHAEL HARVEY, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, whom I will also name Arch-Priest of the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls.

2. His Beatitude BÉCHARA BOUTROS RAÏ, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites (Lebanon)

3. His Beatitude BASELIOS CLEEMIS THOTTUNKAL, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankar Church (India)

4. Mons. JOHN OLORUNFEMI ONAIYEKAN, Archbishop of Abuja (Nigeria)

5. Mons. RUBÉN SALAZAR GÓMEZ, Archbishop of Bogotá (Colombia)

6. Mons. LUIS ANTONIO TAGLE, Archbishop of Manila (Philippines)

The new cardinals, as you heard, will carry out their ministry in the service of the Holy See or as Pastors of local Churches in various parts of the world.

I invite everyone to pray for the newly selected prelates, asking the material intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that they may always love Christ and his Church with courage and dedication.

---

This is Benedict XVI’s fifth consistory to create new cardinals, and with the consistory of November 24, he will have created 90 cardinals.

On that date, the College of Cardinals will have 211 members: 120 are eligible to vote in conclave being under age 80.

In a geographical breakdown of current Cardinal-electors, Europe has 62; North America 14, South America 21, Africa 11, Asia 11, Oceania 3.

My first reaction was that Benedict XVI stumped the Vaticanistas and their convoluted speculations about the whys and wherefores of his choices for cardinal. Everyone who had written about the need for the Pope to replace a number of cardinals who are turning 80 was positive he would do this at the earliest in February 2014 when he would have at least 20 elector seats vacant.

No one thought he would call a mini-consistory reminiscent of that at which he and four others were created cardinal by Paul VI in 1977. And of course, the speculative post-facto commentary about his decision was immediately forthcoming, with some rather absurd conclusions. Consider this one from Vatican Insider and Andrea Tornielli, even though the emphasis on the lack of any Italian on the list has not been exclusive to the Italian Vaticanistas:

Benedict’s surprise move:
A new Consistory
by ANDREA TORNIELLI

Oct. 24, 2012

The announcement of the new nominations that are to be celebrated in a mini-consistory this coming 24 November was unexpected and somewhat 'shocking', considering Benedict XVI’s choices.

For the first time, the Pope has called a consistory without including one single Italian Curia member or diocesan bishop in the list. [First, since the College of Cardinals has become predominantly non-Italian, there is no rule that requires the Pope to name an Italian every time he calls a consistory. Second, there are no Italian heads of Curial dicasteries who are not already cardinals, as all who occupy positions usually held by cardinals were elevated at the last consistory. There may be a reason why the new Patriarch of Venice, Mons. Francesco Moraglia, is not among the bishops promoted in the next consistory, which seems to me because the Pope only intended this time to complete the maximum number of cardinal electors (120), as he will in the next consistory during which a greater number of vacancies will be filled. Obviously, he has pastoral priorities and considerations for naming the five heads of local Churches that he did.]

This is the first time that the Prefect of one of the most important Vatican congregations, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (once called “the Supreme” congregation), is missing his turn and not getting the red biretta. [This was the real surprise to me, as one would have thought it was more 'important' for Mons. Mueller to be made cardinal ahead of Mons. Harvey. Again, as with Mons. Moraglia, no one doubts Mueller will be in the next consistory. BTW, a similar argument as for Mons. Moraglia might be made for Mons. Sviatoslav Shevchuk, 42-year-old Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who would probably become the youngest ever cardinal to be named in modern times. Karol Wojtyla was 47 when he was made cardinal. Joseph Ratzinger was 50.]

Looking through the list of cardinals Pope Benedict XVI read out at the end of today’s general audience, it is obvious that next November’s consistory is a necessary extension of the one that was celebrated last February and provoked a great deal of criticism because too many Italians and Curia members were created cardinals. [That was, of course, the prevailing view of almost all MSM and Catholic media who reported on the last consistory. So for Tornielli to now depict this mini-consistory as an 'extension' of the previous one is, IMHO, an attempt to rationalize their earlier criticism.]

Many of these individuals were known to be close to the Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone. No Africans or bishops of local Churches appeared in the February list, instead, other prelates with fast careers in the Curia were selected. [This is a criticism that I thought at the time was quite insulting, and still is, to Benedict XVI, as though he only made them cardinals because they were proteges of Bertone. Their curial positions happen to be traditionally occupied by cardinals - the rationale being that Curial heads of administrative (mostly financial) dicasteries must have the 'clout' to deal with the cardinal heads of the dicasteries with specific tasks, whose activities fall within the supervision of the administrative dicasteries. To begin with, would Benedict XVI have appointed these lesser-known Curial heads to their positions if they were not qualified? And if they are qualified, their patronage by Bertone ought not to disqualify them!]

Benedict XVI intended today’s announcement as a way of balancing out the choices made during the last two consistories and the fact that he decided not to include any Italians or Europeans is significant.

It is not hard to see why the Pope chose the men he did [Then why did you call the choices 'shocking'?]

Bechara Boutros Rai, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (Lebanon) recently welcomed Ratzinger in Lebanon and the nomination is a sign of the Holy See’s solidarity with Christians in the Middle East at such a difficult phase of their history.

Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church of Trivandrum (India) and the young Archbishop of Manila (Philippines) Luis Antonio Tagle, are indicative of the importance the Pope gives to the Asian continent. [They also represent two different cases altogether: The Syro-Malankar Church, along with the Syro-Malabar Church (whose Major Archbishop wad made a cardinal in the last consistory), is one of the two Apostolic Churches in India that trace their origin to St. Philip the Apostle; and Mons. Tagle heads the premier archdiocese of the Philippines, which is the only Asian country with an overwhelming Catholic majority.]

John Olorunfermi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja (Nigeria) was chosen as the cardinal representing Africa and a martyr Church living under the fear of terrorist attacks. Rubén Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogotá (Colombia), was the Pope’s Latin American choice.

The living predecessors of all five diocesan heads are over age 80, so the Pope has respected the unwritten rule against naming a current diocesan bishop cardinal when the emeritus bishop can still vote in conclave. [Presumably, this keeps any diocese from having a numerical disadvantage over the others. The Pope did not observe this rule, however, when he named Mons. Dolan cardinal, given the importance of the Archdiocese (and that Dolan is the present head of the US bishops' conference), even if his predecessor, Mons. Egan, has not yet turned 80.]

The real surprise was the inclusion of the American, James Michael Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household, who has been in charge of organising the Pope’s audiences and travels [???Isn't that the task of papal trip coordinator Alberto Gasbarri????] for the past 14 years.

There was talk in the past that he might leave his position to take over a diocese in the United States. By creating him cardinal, Papa Ratzinger is also entrusting him with the archpriesthood of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, usually given to clerics who are over seventy five years old, and who usually stay in office beyond their eightieth birthday, as was recently the case with Cardinal Montezemolo. [That's a strange statement by Tornielli to make, considering that Montezemolo was the first-ever Arch Priest of St. Paul outside the Walls, very possibly an honor created for him by Benedict XVI when he turned 80 in 2005, later naming him cardinal in his first consistory in 2006. [As a trained architect, Montezemolo was instrumental in the restoration work on the Basilica and the literally ground-breaking investigations into the Tomb of St. Paul.] In short, there really is no tradition to speak of yet about the Arch Priests of St. Paul outside the Walls. But then again, Tornielli appears to be laying the ground for his next speculation.]

Harvey, 63, will replace Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, 78. Harvey’s nomination is the only one which can be linked to the Vatileaks scandal that has devastated those closest to the Pope. [1) Why must there be anything in the cardinal nominations that can be linked to Vatileaks? Since when does Vatileaks ebcome the standard for judging everything the Pope does? 2)'Devastated those closest to the Pope'? What about the Pope himself?? The treason of someone who was treated and trusted as family for six years must have shaken someone like Benedict XVI who has probably not experienced anything remotely like this, but of course, he has exceptional inner and 'higher' resources to cope with such a situation than anyone has. Still, that Gabriele could do what he did to a man in his 80s makes his crimes even more unspeakable!

Mons. Harvey played a key role in the selection of Paolo Gabriele as papal butler, substituting Angelo Gugel. [If I recall the stories at the time of Gabriele's arrest, Gabriele had worked for Harvey. who, as Prefect of the Pontifical Household named by John Paul II, recommended Gabriele to the Wojtyla household as an assistant valet; Gabriele was therefore in line to be promoted after the veteran Angelo Gugel retired in 2006, and Gugel himself reportedly endorsed the choice. Mons. Harvey must have excellent relations with the Vaticanistas because not one of them has ever suggested, as they easily could if they wanted to, that he 'planted' Gabriele in the papal household for whatever reasons of his own.]

Though Harvey will be leaving the Apostolic Palace, he is not leaving Rome. This means that despite his wish to reorganise his entourage [Does Tornielli know this for a fact?], the Pope still trusts Harvey who is indeed not named at all in the investigations which led to Paolo Gabriele being charged with stealing the Pope’s private papers.

It will be interesting to see who will take over from the American in the Prefecture: his deputy, Fr. Leonardo Sapienza, has just been promoted to the post although there had been rumours in the past about the Pope’s personal secretary, Georg Gänswein, taking over. This, however, is seen as unlikely. [One wouild think so! Can anyone imagine the Pope having to take on and train a new private secretary at this time in his life, and introduce another relative 'unknown' into the papal family? Besides, if GG were to be given any oher assignment, even if he were bishop of an important German diocese, all the Vaticanistas would fallaciously make of him another Scicluna or Tobin, and claim that in his case, he was being 'promoted by removal' because of Vatileaks!]

Thursday, Oct. 25, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Center photos show Benedict XVI at the canonization of Frei Galvao in Sao Paolo on May 11, 2007.
ST. ANTONIO DE SANT'ANNA GALVAO (Brazil, 1739-1822), Franciscan Friar, Founder of Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Miracle Healer
Born near Sao Paolo, Antonio started studying at the Jesuit seminary but decided to become a Franciscan instead and was ordained in 1762. He served as preacher, confessor and porter in a Sao Paolo parish, and was appointed confessor to the Recollect nuns of St. Teresa. With one of the nuns, he founded a new community of sisters, which he was left to care for after his co-founder's premature death. Over the next 28 years, besides acting as their spiritual director, he raised money to build a convent and church for them which was inaugurated in 1802. Now called the Monastery of Light, the complex has been declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. At the same time, Frei Galvao became guardian of the Franciscan Friary in Sao Paolo and established a new convent in Sorocaba. During this time, he gained widespread fame for miraculous healing and other supernatural powers like bilocation. In his old age, he retired to the Recollect House where he died. His tomb remains a very popular pilgrimage site, and he is even more greatly venerated now as the first native-born saint of the world's largest Catholic country. He was beatified in 1998, and Benedict XVI canonized him during his visit to Brazil in 2007.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102512.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met with

= H.E. Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, with his wife and delegation.

- H.E. Mons. Paul Tschang In-Nam, Apostolic Nunzio to Thailand and Cambodia, and Apostolic Delegate
to Laos and Myanmar.

The Vatican Press Office announced that, there having been no appeal presented against Paolo Gabriele's sentence.
his imprisonment starts today. He will be held in a cell at the Vatican Gendarmerie headquarters instead of
being sent to an Italian jail.

At the same time, the Secretariat of State released a statement commenting on Gabriele's trial and sentence.




Hans Küng says he is retiring
from the ‘big stage'
when he turns 85 next March

25 October 2012

Liberal theologian professor Hans Küng has announced that he will withdraw from the "big stage" when he turns 85 next March.

Fr Küng, who has clashed repeatedly with the Vatican and specifically with Pope Benedict XVI during his career, announced at a meeting of reform-minded church groups in Frankfurt last weekend that he would be "withdrawing from the big stage and making room for the next generation".

Nonetheless, he told The Tablet that he would "continue to be present in public through the media" and would publish his third volume of memoirs next year. He said he would hand over his Global Ethic Foundation to the former German President, Horst Köhler.

At last weekend's meeting Fr Küng encouraged his listeners to seek interim solutions on such issues as priestly celibacy by pressing for it to be made voluntary instead of mandatory.

Does anyone really believe he will leave the public stage? It's been his raison d'etre for decades! Besides, the MSM will continue to flock to him every time they need his name to bolster their latest anti-Catholic move!

As expected, after a brief two-week hiatus more or less enforced on the media by the Synodal Assembly and the Year of Faith, today, the Italian MSM, at least, went back with a vengeance today to their all-Gabriele-all-the-time point of view for reporting on the Vatican, on the pretext that the unspeakable cad [whom some in the Italian media hold up as a hero and an instant saint - one disgusting picture even showed him with a halo above his head] finally started serving his prison sentence today. Moreover, the Secretariat of State decided to weigh in and publish an official communique about Gabriele's crime and its consequences... I just find it outrageous and embarrassingly emblematic that Italian media has spent much more verbiage and play today on Gabriele than they ever did on the two new Doctors of the Church and the seven new saints combined...And now, out of duty, and for the record, here is a translation of the SecState communique this morning...

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF STATE
Translated from

October 25, 2012
]

---

The sentence in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, which has now gone into execution, marks a firm point on a sad episode which has had very painful consequences.

A personal offense has been committed against the Holy Father; the right to privacy of many persons was violated, persons who had written to him because he is the Pope; it has created undue prejudice against the Holy See and its institutions; it has placed an obstacle to the communications between the bishops of the world and the Holy See, and has caused scandal to the community of the faithful.

Finally, for a period of several months, it has disturbed the atmosphere for those who work daily in the service of the Successor of Peter.

The accused was found guilty at the end of a judicial process that took place with transparency and equanimity, and in full respect of the accused person's right to defense. The discussions in court were able to ascertain facts, and verified that Mr. Gabriele carried out his criminal undertaking without the instigation or incitement of others, but based only on his personal beliefs which can by no means be shared. Various conjectures about the existence of plots or the involvement of others, were shown to be unfounded.

With the execution of his sentence, Mr. Gabriele must serve the prison term meted him. At the same time, a procedure against him hss started for destitution of rights [reduction of his rights because of the nature of the crimes) he committed, such as, for instance, restricting the kind and nature of jobs he can work at, as a Vatican citizen, and in the Vatican, after he serves his prison term] under the General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

Regarding Mr. Gabriele's detention, the eventuality of a concession of clemency remains, which, as has been stated many times, is a sovereign act that can be done by the Holy Father alone. Nonetheless, that also implies a reformation of the criminal himself and his sincere request of forgiveness from the Holy Father and everyone who has been unjustly harmed because of his crime.

Compared to the damage that he caused, the penalty given to Mr. Gabriele appears at the same time mild and equitable, because of the peculiarity itself of the judicial system in force.

---

I certainly hope that during his 18 months in jail, Gabriele will not be given any computer and Internet privileges at all. God forbid he should spend all that idle time revelling in how he has been glorified in the media, or cultivating all-too-willing allies online who will further inflate an already stratospheric ego and incite him to God knows what other wilder forms of messianic delusion! Depriving him of Internet access might actually be the cruellest form of punishment for his type! Color me cynical, but I doubt types like Gabriele could ever 'reform'... I hope the Holy Father lets him serve his full jail term, at the end of which he can say to him, perhaps in a letter, nothing public (I don't think a public 'act of clemency' is necessary if he will not have commuted the almost perfunctory sentence, since it will then have no practical news value), but its moral value cannot be more significant: "As a Christian, I forgive you for what you did to me, but I cannot forgive you in behalf of all the other people you betrayed or harmed by your actions. You must seek their forgiveness individually, but how will you redress the harm you have done to them? Or to the Church and the faithful that you have scandalized? Jesus said, 'Go and sin no more'. It's a difficult standard to live up to, but first, you must realize and accept that you sinned and harmed many people, as well as the Church, regardless of how noble you believe your intentions to be".

A film on 'art and faith'
for the Year of Faith
Translated from

Oct. 25, 2012

At 6 pm on Thursday, the Holy Father attended the screening of a the documentary film "Arte e Fede - Via Pulchritudinis" (Art and Faith: The way of Beauty) at the Aula Paolo VI, with the participants of the 13th General Assembly of the Bishops' Synod.

The film was a co-production of the Vatican Governatorate and the Vatican Museums with the Polish TV channel TBA, with the Polish Ambassador to the Holy See, Przemysław Jan Häuser, as its nominal producer.



At the end of the screening, the Holy Father delivered remarks in Italian and Polish. Here is a translation:

---

Venerated Brothers,
Distinguished Authorities,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the end of this screening, I am happy to extend to all of you my heartfelt greeting.

He continued in Polish:
I greet above all the Polish delegation, especially government authorities, the ambassador to the Holy See and all those who contributed to the realization of this film.

Back to Italian:
I greet Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State, and Cardinal Bertello who, as president of the Governatorate, presented this initiative. I thank him and congratulate him and the direction of the Vatican Museums. I extend my appreciation to the administrators of the company that produced the film and supported its production.

The Vatican Museums are not a stranger to initiatives that illustrate the link between art and faith, starting with the patrimony conserved in the Pontifical Galleries. Various expositions have been organized on this theme, including some that were audiovisual.

Still, the film we have just seen is a contribution of special note, above all because it comes at the start of the Year of Faith. In effect, it constitutes a specific and expert contribution of the Vatican Museums to the Year of Faith, which justified the great commitment shown at various levels.

As the final part of the film specifically highlights, for many persons, a visit to the Vatican Museums represents their best contact, sometimes their only contact, with the Holy See when they visit Rome, and therefore, a propitious occasion to get to know the Christian message.

One can say that the artistic patrimony of Vatican City constitutes a kind of great parable through which the Pope speaks to men and women in every part of the world, and therefore of multiple cultural and religious origins - persons who for the most part have probably never read any papal address or homily.

One thinks of what Jesus told his disciples: To you, the mysteries of the Kingdom of God are explained,, whereas to those who are 'outside', everything is announced in parables (cfr Mk 4,10.12). The language of art is a parabolic language, endowed with special universal openness: the via Pulchritudinis - way of beauty - is a way that can lead the mind and heart toward the Eternal, to elevate them to the height of God.

I very much appreciated that the film makes repeated reference to the commitment of the Roman Pontiffs to conserve and set great value on the artistic patrimony of the Vatican, and even, in the contemporary era, towards a renewed dialog between the Church and artists.

The Collection of Modern Religious Art in the Vatican Museums is a living demonstration of the fruitfulness of such a dialog. But it has not been limited to that. All of the huge organism of the Vatican Museums - it truly is a living reality - also possesses this dimension that we might call 'evangelization'.

Everything that is seen there - that is to say, all the works exposed - also presupposes a great deal of work that may not be apparent, but is indispensable, so that they may be best conserved and enjoyed.

He resumed in Polish:
I am particularly happy to render homage to the great sensibility towards the dialog between art and faith of my beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul II. The role that Poland had in this production attests to his merit in this field.

He resumed in Italian:
Art and faith - a binomial that has accompanied the Church and the Holy See for 2,000 years, a binomial that even today we must value greatly in the commitment to bring the Gospel to the men and women of our time, announcing God who is Beauty and infinite Love.

Once again, I thank all who, in various ways, have cooperated to realize this documentary film, and I wish that it will inspire in many persons the desire to know better the faith that has inspired such and so many works of art. A good evening to all!

---

Friday, Oct. 26, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

BLESSED CONTARDO FERRINI (Italy, 1859-1902), Professor and Jurist, Secular Franciscan
Born in Milan and home-schooled by his professor father, he went on to become a most learned man himself who knew a dozen languages and was recognized as an expert in both civil and canon law. A child prodigy, he earned his doctorate in jurisprudence at age 21, then won a scholarship to Berlin where he pursued further studies. He returned to Italy where he taught at several top universities, including a stint at the University of Paris, before ending up in the famous University of Pavia. As a scholar he left more than 200 books, articles and speeches on law, as well as the relationship between science and faith. Always a devout Catholic, he read the Scriptures in the original languages, and was a member of the secular Franciscan order and the charitable Society of St. Vincent de Paul. In an era marked by the dominance of Freemasonry, anti-clericalism and the general breakdown of traditional values, he was remarkably untouched by secularism, managing to live a silent apostolate of work, prayer, charity and friendship with God. Even his atheist friends said that his llfestyle 'allowed a glimpse of God', and a friend who would become Pius XI said it was almost a miracle that Ferrini could live as he did. He died at the age of 42 after contracting typhus from infected water. Immediately, his townspeople and his fellow professors declared him a 'saint'. Pius X began the cause for his canonization in 1909, and was proclaimed Venerable by his friend Pius XI. He was beatified by Pius XII in 1947. Having advocated a Catholic university for Italy in his lifetime, eh is considered a patron of universities, and the Catholic University of Milan, founded after his death, now has his remains entombed in its chapel.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102612.cfm


No bulletins so far from the Vatican.