BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

The Christmas season comes to an end tomorrow, Feast of the Epiphany. Until then, the days following the Octave of Christmas are called Christmas weekdays.

Saturday, January 5, Christmas Weekday

Third photo from left shows St. John Neumann's remains at his National Shrine in Philadelphia.
ST. JOHN NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN (Jan Nepomucyk Neumann)(b Bohemia 1811, d USA 1860), Missionary and Bishop
It's very strange that the Czech-born saint left his native land to go to the United States at age 24 because no bishop in Europe would ordain
him as a priest. The reason: there were too many priests already! He came to the US, was ordained, became a Redemptorist father after 4 years
(the first one in the US), and did missionary work in several states before he was appointed at age 41 to be the third Bishop of Philadelphia.
A great organizer, he changed the parochial school system into a diocesan one, resulting in a 20-fold increase in enrolment, He also brought in
religious teaching orders to serve the city. In life, he was reputed for his holiness and learning, his writings and his preaching. In 1963, he became
the first American bishop to be beatified, and then to become a saint when he was canonized in 1997. President Obama's gift to Benedict XVI
when he visited in July 2009 was the original pallium that had been placed on St. John's remains.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010512.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.

The Vatican announced that Benedict XVI has named Mons. Jean-Paul Gobel, till now Apostolic Nuncio to Iran,
as the Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt and Vatican observer at the League of Arab States.
[It's strange there is no mention of the previous Nuncio to Egypt and Arab League observer, the British Mons. Michael Fitzgerald. I have looked back and do not see any announcement that he had resigned! Almost at the start of his Pontificate, Benedict XVI had 'reassigned' Fitzgerald to the Nunciature in Egypt from having been president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialog under John Paul II. The open speculation at the time was that it was because he 'pushed' the Muslim agenda too hard, but during his service in Egypt, he appeared to be an unexceptionable representative of the Holy Father. P.S. It turns out Fitzgerald turned 75 and took the option to retire.]

The following list is obviously UK-oriented, but mutatis mutandis, such as substituting, say, 'our government' for 'Parliament, it stands up...

Six things to pray for in 2013
By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith

January 3, 2013

This is the period when newspapers publish their round-ups of important events of the year that had passed, and their predictions for the year that is to come. Rather than try something similar, I thought I would recommend things to pray for or about in 2013, which involves some degree of prediction.

So here it goes: six things to keep in mind before the Lord in the year of our Lord 2013.

1. The pro-life cause in Ireland. There is almost certain to be a brutal fight ahead in Ireland in the coming year over abortion. This matters perhaps more than anything else that the Church will face in 2013. The pro-lifers in Ireland will need our prayers, and because of Ireland’s proximity to the UK, and its close ties to this country (and of course America), the outcome of the battle will have a huge impact on us here.

2. Marriage; please note, marriage, not ‘same sex marriage’. Marriage is becoming less and less popular year in, year out, and 2013 is not likely to be any different. We need to pray for engaged couples, and for all those who are living together, with or without children, so that they may discover their vocation to marriage, if indeed God is calling them to it. And we need to pray for adolescents so that they may have marriage as their goal, rather than an aimless emotional life ahead of them.

3. Parliament. This once great institution seems less and less relevant to our lives each year that passes. Few watch the debates on television; the newspapers barely report them. Most important decisions are made, not in Parliament, but on some sofa somewhere in Downing Street. Our legislators need to take back their rightful place in the British constitution, and fast.

4. The Pope. As Catholics, we all love the Holy Father; it is shocking and distressing to see him subjected to abuse in the newspapers, and online. I doubt the Pope reads the infantile and ignorant comments that follow any article on Catholicism on the Guardian’s website, or reads anything by Johan Hari, George Monbiot or Oliver Kamm and other anti-Catholics, but though these things cannot upset him, they sure do upset us.

So, let us pray for the Pope, that God may surround him with comfort; and in so doing, let us renew and redouble our love and loyalty for the Throne of Peter.

5. Atheists, not just Richard Dawkins, all of them. May the God who they do not believe in, be good to them in 2013! It is sad that Richard Dawkins believes that a Catholic education is on a level with child abuse; it is sad that he believes that millions of people, including myself, have been subject to such abuse, and without realising it too.

We must pray that these atheists get used to the idea that the Catholic Church exists in this country and elsewhere, not as a thing that is tolerated, but by right, and that we are not going away, and that we are proud of our faith. And on that basis we are prepared to enter into dialogue with anyone. But it has to be rational dialogue: so let us pray for the restoration of a shared rationality.

6. And finally: peace and justice in the world; but once more, to have both, we first of all have to have a restoration of rationality. Peace won’t be attained in Syria by the British government supporting Jihadist rebels; and justice won’t be done, in the Jimmy Savile case, for example, unless there is an abandonment of overheated rhetoric.

We need to look at things as they are and put aside our anger. This calls for humility all round. So perhaps that might be the best prayer of all for 2013, and for every year. O God, makes us humble, and make us remember that we are weak human beings, who do not know it all!



On the other hand, here's John Allen's contribution to a review of the Vatican's 2012 - and as usual, he gets my critical juices flowing:

Top five under-covered
Vatican stories of 2012

January 4, 2013

Now that the dust has settled on the New Year's holiday, it's time for my annual run-down of the most under-covered Vatican stories. By that, I mean those stories that fell through the cracks in the last year or that didn't quite generate the buzz they really deserved.

To be clear, this is not a countdown of the most important Vatican storylines. That list would certainly include the arrest, trial, conviction and eventual pardon of papal butler Paolo Gabriele and the crackdown by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Both stories, however, were abundantly covered throughout the year. In a similar fashion, the Synod of Bishops on new evangelization and the Year of Faith didn't get a lot of traction in the secular press, but the Vatican's communications channels routinely beat the drum on them during 2012.

Instead, this is a run-down of five stories that made a brief appearance on the radar at some point but, for a variety of reasons, faded before their real importance could be adequately appreciated.

Here, then, are the top five Vatican storylines from 2012 that deserve another moment in the sun.

5. The sex abuse summit

In early February, Rome's Jesuit-run Gregorian University staged a major international summit on the sex abuse crisis, titled "Toward Healing and Renewal," in tandem with several Vatican departments. It brought together roughly 100 bishops and religious superiors from around the world ahead of a May deadline from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for bishops' conferences to submit their anti-abuse policies.

The big picture was that the old debates in the Vatican regarding the crisis are finished and the reformers have won.

When the scandals in the United States broke a decade ago, reaction in the Vatican was clearly divided between what one might loosely call the "reformers" and the "deniers." The fault lines broke down in terms of these sorts of debates:

- Is the crisis largely a media- and lawyer-driven frenzy, or is it a real cancer?
- Should the church cooperate fully with civil authorities, or is that surrendering the autonomy the church has fought titanic battles over the centuries to defend?
- Should the church embrace the use of psychology in screening candidates for the priesthood, or is that smuggling in a secular mentality in place of traditional spiritual principles of formation?
- Should the church support aggressive programs of abuse prevention and detection, or does that risk "sexualizing" children along the lines of secular sex education?
- Is the crisis truly a global phenomenon, or is it the fruit of a "moral panic" largely restricted to the West?
- Should the Vatican sign off on "zero-tolerance" policies, or does that rupture the paternal relationship that's supposed to exist between a bishop and his priests?

The Gregorian conference confirmed that those debates are finished, as the Vatican's most senior officials repeatedly weighed in in favor of reform positions on the questions listed above. Some of the deniers may still be around, but they've been driven underground.

To be sure, the conference also confirmed that the response to the crisis remains a work in progress. Several speakers acknowledged that holding bishops accountable is still a challenge -- a tension neatly illustrated by the United States, where Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., remains in office despite becoming the first bishop criminally convicted of failure to report a charge of child abuse.

Nonetheless, the Gregorian symposium showed the Vatican has moved a considerable distance in a decade. [I disagree, however, that it was under-reported in the Catholic media, or by Italian Vaticanistas, judging by the number of items I was able to post about it on this thread.]

4. The Vatican and Syria

It may be one measure of the difference between John Paul II and Benedict XVI that nobody seems to have noticed the Vatican has yet to offer a coherent line on the Syrian crisis, especially the crucial question of whether international intervention would be justified to protect the civilian population. [Excuse me, but has Benedict XVI not called on the international community for precisely such intervention everytime he has made an appeal regarding Syria????]

John Paul II helped coin the phrase "humanitarian intervention" to argue for the use of force in the Balkans in the early 1990s, and he was the biggest moral opponent of the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq in 2003. In both cases, people paid careful attention because John Paul had a proven capacity to drive opinion. Benedict XVI is seen as less politically consequential, so perhaps it's natural that people are less focused on the Vatican's diplomatic line.

In any event, it largely escaped attention in 2012 that the Vatican has said shifting and nebulous things about Syria and that its efforts to get involved were occasionally ham-handed and amateurish.

In June, the Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, quoted the pope's ambassador as saying the country is experiencing a "slow descent into hell," but also called the prospect of armed international intervention "very worrying." In September, Msgr. Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, a Colombian and the No. 2 official at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, outlined the Vatican's position on Syria during an Istanbul conference:

- An immediate end to violence "from whatever part"
- Dialogue "as the necessary path to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people"
- Preserving the unity of the Syria "regardless of ethnicity and religious affiliation"
- An appeal to the international community to commit itself to a peace process

That statement still left key questions unanswered, such as whether the Vatican believes the government of President Bashar al-Assad should stay or go and whether an armed international response would be warranted to impose a cease-fire. [Allen is clearly applying a double standard in 'judging' John Paul II's interventions compared to Benedict XVI. Although the Vatican is always clear about what it opposes - the US war against Saddam Hussein, for instance - the Vatican does not propose concrete political measures to deal with these thorny issues. Did it say anything at the time about what the international community should do regarding Saddam's reported weapons of mass destruction? Why should Allen now expect Benedict XVI to speak openly against the regime of Assad - and even worse, to advocate 'international armed intervention to impose a ceasefire' (a ludicrous self-contradiction!). Besides. the leading Catholic and Orthodox bishops of Syria are mostly supportive of Assad as being the lesser evil compared to the threat of the fundamentalist Islamist powers in Iran who are behind the rebels (but that is the bishops' position, not one that anybody in the Vatican has articulated, or could speak against either, because how can they know better than the bishops who are living this ordeal?).]

Throughout the year, the Vatican's ambivalence was tweaked in various quarters.

A leading Turkish daily called the pope's line "elusive." A well-known Italian Jesuit who spent 30 years in Syria, Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, lampooned the unwillingness to support international intervention. If the Vatican doesn't believe foreign troops have a role to play in keeping the peace, Dall'Oglio asked, what are the Swiss Guards doing in St. Peter's Square? [And we're supposedc to judge Benedict XVI by what a Turkish newspaper and a sarcastic Jesuit have to say???? In both cases, they had self-serving reasons for saying what they did.]

During the Synod of Bishops in October, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, dramatically announced the synod would dispatch a high-level delegation to Syria consisting of five senior prelates representing each continent, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. It was a powerful expression of the concern of the universal church, not to mention a precedent that a synod can do more than talk.

It quickly became clear, however, that the Vatican hadn't done its homework. They didn't know how the delegation would get into the country, or who they'd meet once they arrived. The plug was pulled just 48 hours after the announcement, leaving behind a residue of embarrassment. [This was clearly a most unfortunate grandstand play, in which Cardinal Bertone, who ought to have known better, once again did a disservice to the Pope, who must have presumed the necessary legwork had been done if he was presented with what looked to be a plan that only required the cardinals on the mission to get on the next plane to Damascus!]

No doubt, the Pope and his Vatican team have their hearts in the right place. They're deeply concerned about Syria, especially the fate of its Christian minority. It remains to be seen in 2013, however, whether those good intentions can be matched with effective diplomatic action. [What 'effective diplomatic action' does Allen expect, anyway, from the Vatican, which has absolutely no material resources to put into play except what Catholic charities are able to do to help the suffering civilians that they can? If the United States with all its might and national interests at stake in Syria has been unable and unwilling to go out on a limb there, what can the Vatican do? As great as John Paul II's reputation was for diplomacy, even he was not able to stop the war against Saddam Hussein which was prosecuted by a coalition of more than 40 nations! Does Allen point that out? No!]

3. Benedict the cosmopolitan

Benedict XVI has been characterized as a deeply "Eurocentric" Pontiff, and in some ways that's probably true, perhaps especially in his tight focus on secularism as the pre-eminent danger facing the faith in the early 21st century. [But secularism is not just a European phenomenon - it is a widespread Western phenomenon which, in the globalized village, has spread its tentacles worldwide!]

If all one had to judge by was the Pope's itinerary in 2012, however, the case for Eurocentrism would be much harder to make. [What a shallow criterion to use! It so happened there was no European nation for which a papal trip was absolutely necessary in 2012!]

Consider that the Pope made only two foreign trips in the last year, and neither took him to a European destination. He visited Mexico and Cuba in March, laying out a pastoral strategy for the church in Latin America during the Mexican component and engaging in some post-Castro diplomacy while in Cuba. He then visited Lebanon in September, providing a vision for the Church in the Middle East.

Consider too that Benedict held two consistories, the event in which a Pope creates new cardinals, in 2012. The first, in February, was a rather conventional affair -- 12 of the 18 new voting age cardinals were Europeans, and 10 were Vatican officials. There were, however, also new cardinals from China and India, the two emerging new superpowers of the 21st century.

Benedict's smaller consistory in November was remarkable because for the first time in living memory, there wasn't a single European in the bunch, and only one Westerner, American James Harvey. The other new princes of the church hailed from Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Colombia and the Philippines. At least two of those nominees seemed to have some real traction as possible papal candidates, Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila and John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria.

In the early 21st century, more than two-thirds of the 1.2 billion Catholics on the planet live in the developing world, a share that's expected to reach three-quarters by mid-century. It always takes a while for the concerns at the top of the Church to reflect its demographic realities on the ground, but 2012 may come to be seen as one of those moments when the wheels began to turn. [However, it is not a question of 'concerns at the top of the Church' - you would think the Vatican considers Third World Catholics as second-class citizens compared to Westerners - but of the availability and 'preparedness' of bishops in the Third World to become Princes of the Church, as the local hierarchies, most of whom have developed in the past few decades, are still catching up with the hierarchies in places where Catholicism was the dominant cultural force for centuries. Since Allen prides himself in having researched 'the Church of the future' extensively, let him cite any outstanding Asian, African or Latin American prelate whose merits the Vatican has failed to recognize appropriately! There is a reason the Pope meets weekly with the Prefect of Bishops - which is a continuing review of all the priests in the world who have the potential for episcopal leadership! ]

2. The 'what' of Vatileaks

The sexiest [a trendy but thoroughly inappropriate buzzword in this case!] storyline out of the Vatican in 2012 was the Vatileaks scandal, fueling Da Vinci Code-style images of power struggles and palace intrigue.

It also cemented impressions that the papacy of Benedict XVI may be a teaching triumph, but it's also something of an administrative mess [And can Allen cite any recent Papacy that Vaticanistas like him did not consider 'an administrative mess' - think of all the criticism about the final years of John Paul II, when he was effectively not running the Vatican at all!] making it likely that governance will be a voting issue the next time the cardinals elect a Pope. [Yeah, sure, the cardinals will trawl around for someone whose best drawing card would be a reputation for efficient administration! Gee, I wonder who would qualify! Besides, a Conclave's objective is not to elect a Curial administrator (i.e., Secretary of State), but a Pope as a total package, who will be Vicar of Christ, Successor of Peter, Supreme Pontiff, Bishop of Rome, Sovereign of Vatican City State. None of the papal titles calls for him to run the Curia as well. Jesus himself named someone like Judas Iscariot to handle the finances of the Twelve!]

Strikingly, it was the "who" and the "why" of Vatileaks that dominated attention as opposed to the "what": What exactly did we learn from the tidal wave of secret documents that flowed out of the Holy See?

In part, that's because some of these documents were either of minor importance or just downright silly. (Remember the alleged plot to kill the pope? Seriously, even if you're prepared to believe that a cardinal in the 21st century would plot to murder the pontiff, do you honestly think he'd discuss it over a business dinner in Beijing?)

Other documents, however, were far more serious and revealed some things well worth knowing.

For instance, we now know that Fr. Rafael Moreno, private secretary to the late Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, tried to inform Pope John Paul in 2003 about charges against Maciel, but the Pope "didn't want to hear them, didn't believe." (Maciel was eventually sentenced in 2006 to a life of prayer and penance over acts of sexual and financial misconduct.) [Allen has picked out the one previously-unreported 'news' in Nuzzi's book - and we must thank Mons. Gaenswein for making notes on his contacts with Fr. Moreno about this. All the other items Allen cites below were previously known and reported rather extensively, even if without the documentation Vatileaks provided, by Italian Vaticanistas.]

We also know that a high-profile Italian journalist [Dino Boffo, then the head of the Italian bishops' conference's newspaper, radio and TV network, who was the target of calculated calumny in one of the most despicable trials by media headline in memory - his 'case' provided Italian media with fodder for months until his chief non-anonymous accuser, the editor of a leading Italian newspaper, retracted his charges and admitted he used documents that do not even meet the minimum standards of credibility] directly accused both the Cardinal Secretary of State and the editor of the Vatican newspaper of orchestrating a plot against him, which, he alleged, included falsifying a legal document.

We know, too, that the leader of the Communion and Liberation movement wrote personally to the Pope in March 2011 to accuse the two previous Archbishops of Milan, Cardinals Carlo Maria Martini and Dionigi Tettamanzi, of promoting a "rupture" in the faith and "a sort of 'alternative magisterium' to Rome and the Holy Father."

Perhaps most importantly, we learned that deep concerns circulated in the Vatican about financial mismanagement and corruption. The leaked documents include a lengthy memo from an unnamed official, presumably at the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, written in spring 2011. It ticks off a series of alleged problems, including ignoring the Vatican's own internal checks and balances, "demoralization" of personnel, and the appointment of people "who lack the adequate competence." [All of which point to bureaucratic ineptitude and the earlier culture of 'non-transparency' regarding financial matters, but none of which is equivalent to 'evil and corruption' in the sense that Mons. Vigano and Paolo Gabriele bandied those words around (and became heroes to the Vaticanistas who could attribute the accusation to them while freely perpetrating their unsubstantiated charges as 'fact').

The conclusion is unequivocal: "The problematic situations are numerous and of notable gravity, above all because they could have devastating effects in the future, even if they can't be seen right now and everything looks fine. My direct superiors, with whom I've spoken repeatedly, for now don't believe it's opportune to do anything. They say that our principal point of reference is the Secretary of State, yet in many cases he's precisely the problem. Conscience requires that I present these matters to the Holy Father." {Well, the fact is that he did - and he did so at a time when Benedict XVI was already into his campaign to render all financial transactions at the Vatican 'transparent', not just for the Moneyval people, but because it was the right and necessary thing to do! If Benedict XVI had not done everything he has done so far in this respect, then Allen and his ilk have cause to cry out in protest. But the Pope was ahead of the curve, it would seem! He signed the framework legislation for it as early as December 2010! Months before Mons. Vigano wrote his pharisaical letters that made it seem he was the only one in the Vatican who had a conscience about financial irregularities!

A second point Allen glosses over is that none of the 'problematic situations' cited by the unnamed prelate in his letter was apparently serious enough to cause any Vaticanista, including Allen, to pursue an independent investigation to disclose these 'situations' and name names, i.e., there seemed to be 'no there there' worth journalistic (much less, criminal) investigation. Or was everyone just unaccountably too lazy to their job?... And why does Allen not point out all the egregious instances when Benedict XVI obviously overrode Cardinal Bertone's unwarranted 'power-grabbing' moves? Which proves that it is still only the Pope who makes the decisions that matter, no matter how much he trusts and likes his Secretary of State.]

In the Anglophone realm, deeper appreciation of the "what" of Vatileaks may have to await an English translation of the book His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, published by journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, the primary conduit for Gabriele's leaks. [But the Anglophone media will only have themselves as a background reference, since, other than Vigano's letters, most of the significant stories purveyed in the Nuzzi book and previously reported and commented upon ampky in the Italian media, pre-Vatileaks, were hardly covered by them!]

1. Financial reform

Scandal has the tendency to breed reform, and even before the Vatileaks mess, there were important steps toward financial glasnost under Benedict XVI. [A belated admission that contradicts Allen's sanctimony in the previous discussion about Vatileaks, but an admission onetheless!]

Based on developments in 2012, obituaries of Benedict may have to be rewritten [An admission by Allen that perhaps his own 'prepared' obit on Benedict XVI already wrote off this Pontificate as an administrative shambles, but compared to what?] -- his papacy has had some serious administrative shortcomings, but he also arguably shapes up as a "great reformer" [Why the quotation marks? Are not the two fronts he has reformed major enough??? Somehow, Allen always finds a way to be condescending to Benedict XVI, but how dare he, or anyone for that matter!!] on two key fronts, the sex abuse crisis and finances.

Vis-à-vis finances, two developments from the last year lend credence to Benedict's profile as a reformer.

The first came in July, when the Vatican got the results of its first inspection for financial transparency by an independent secular body, in this case an outfit called Moneyval, the Council of Europe's anti-money-laundering agency. The verdict was a mixed bag, suggesting the Vatican "has come a long way in a very short period of time" toward transparency, but also raising questions about the role of the Vatican's new financial watchdog agency and about oversight of the Institute for the Works of Religion, the so-called Vatican Bank.

Specifics aside, the fact the Vatican was willing to undergo this test at all was a watershed. Never before has the Vatican opened its financial and legal systems to this sort of external, independent review with the results made public. In centuries past, had secular authorities shown up to conduct such a review, they would have been fought off tooth and nail in the name of defending the autonomy and sovereignty of the papacy. For Moneyval, the red carpet was rolled out instead. [In fact, the Vatican asked to be audited, as it were, by Moneyval, in order to get on the European 'white list' of financial institutions meeting international standards of financial transparency.]

Second, in September, the Vatican hired a 40-year-old Swiss lawyer named René Brülhart, who for the last 10 years had led anti-money-laundering efforts in the tiny European principality of Liechtenstein, as a consultant for its response to the Moneyval evaluation.

Brülhart brings an impeccable pedigree. He joined Liechtenstein's financial intelligence unit as deputy director in 2001, and took over the top job in 2004. Since 2010, he served as vice president of the Egmont Group, the global network of financial intelligence units, which are national-level bodies that coordinate the policing of transparency requirements.

Brülhart achieved brief fame in 2003 when he helped return a Falcon 50 business jet worth several million dollars to the new Iraqi government after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The plane had been grounded in Jordan shortly before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and it was registered to a shell company in Liechtenstein controlled by Hussein. Brülhart helped unravel the paper trail, and eventually the plane was returned -- the first case in which an asset held by Saddam outside Iraq was repatriated.

Not long after he arrived in the Vatican, Brülhart was reassigned as the new head of the Vatican's Financial Information Authority, the watchdog unit created by Benedict XVI to ride herd over other Vatican departments and to ensure compliance with global standards of transparency. It was a natural move, since the effectiveness of the Financial Information Authority was one of the central points of the Moneyval review.

In effect, the Brülhart hire was a way of telling financial experts and regulators that the Vatican is serious about getting its act together, since he's a known quantity in that world. It's also a way of "de-Italianizing" the financial operations of the Vatican by bringing in leadership with a more cosmopolitan formation and outlook.

Whether a sea change in accountability results from all this remains to be seen, but even the prospect of it ranks as the biggest untold story about the Vatican in 2012. [Once again, Allen chooses for some reason not to acknowsledge all the media focus there was in Italy on this matter (just because the Anglophone media severely underplayed it) - precisely because this was all previously unheard of and unprecedented in the Vatican! In fact, the side play was that in the weeks before the Moneyval report came out, the secular Italian media openly and gloatingly anticipated a drastic blackballing of the Vatican efforts to come up to international financial standards, and then had to eat their words when the actual Moneyval report came out. That attitude reflects the doggedness with which, for some reason, the Italian central bank appears to be carrying out a vendetta against the Vatican = exemplified by the recent move to prevent credit cards from being used at the Vatican.]

As a footnote, why didn't this momentum toward financial house-cleaning get the play it deserved? In part, perhaps, it didn't fit the normal media script of crisis and scandal. In part, too, it was muddied by confusing subplots, such as the firing in May of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the erstwhile Vatican Bank president, whose hire in 2009 was trumpeted as a major breakthrough. Even if it's true that Gotti Tedeschi proved to be an erratic and self-promotional disappointment, it's always tough to sort out the rights and wrongs of a personnel move. [The Gotti Tedeschi case was an unfortunate red herring tossed off by the Vatican Secretariat of State, and then caught, drawn out, quartered and seasoned with gusto by lip-smacking Italian prosecutors and bank officials to embarrass the Vatican and discredit the IOR.]

However, failure to perceive that Benedict has moved the ball on financial reform is also due, in part, to the Vatican's customary inability to tell its own story. {The Vatican communications machinery had its usual share of maddening and inexplicable fumbles in 2012, but under-reporting the Pope's financial transparency efforts and the Moneyval inquiries was not one of them! They cannot be blamed if the Anglophone media chose to under-report because it goes against the MSM narrative of a 'corrupt and secretive' Vatican. And, be consistent now! - How can one expect the Vatican's unwieldy Rube Goldberg communications contraption to be a PR machine as well when it cannot even get its basic communications skills right?]

Despite Benedict's launch on Twitter and the debut of a "Pope App" for the iPhone and Android, the Vatican still struggles to navigate routine communications challenges. To this day, for instance, Brülhart still hasn't appeared at a Vatican news conference to answer questions about the transparency campaign, despite the fact that he's smart, articulate, multilingual and, in the eyes of most of the women I know in Rome, awfully handsome. [And that's supposed to be a consideration???? Yet Georg Gaenswein gets flak for looking the way he does!]

The Vatican's PR woes, however, are not among the under-covered stories of 2012 or any other year.

And the MSM's 'fascination' with the Pope on Twitter and other initatives whereby the Vatican is trying to avail of the new communications technologies is all out of proportion to the event. Of course, the lack of proportion is aided and abetted by the ambiguous Pontifical Council of Social Communications itself, which has devoted an unwarranted amount of time and verbiage to touting the Twitter initiative, instead of, say, devising a way whereby all the parish priests and bishops of the world could get a direct e-mail that immediately, regularly and reliably conveys to them the homilies, catecheses and reflections of Benedict XVI, in a language they understand. Frankly, I have yet to see what meaningful work this Council has ever done to truly propagate the words of the Pope and the Church. And I will be very glad to stand corrected on that!


BTW, in the second part of the column, Allen informs us of the death of his 98-year-old maternal grandmother.
May she rest in peace. Condolences and prayers for Allen and his bereaved family.

Gaenswein's episcopal coat of arms
is a tribute to Benedict XVI
by Andrea Gagliarducci
Translated from

January 5, 2013

Will Georg Gaenswein's future be under the sign of Benedict XVI, as his present already is? One might say Yes, judging from the design that the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household has chosen for his coat of arms when he is ordained an archbishop by the Pope on the Feast of the Epiphany.


Besides the coat of arms, the Korazym article also has the photo of what looks like the front of the new archbishop's commemorative ordination card. Unfortunately, the Madonna image used is not identified.

The seal is divided in two parts: on the right are the main elements of Benedict XVI's own coat of arms - with the crowned Moor, St. Corbinian's bear and St. Augustine's scallop; and on the right, a dragon rampant on a blue field surmounted by the Star of Bethlehem. In heraldry, the dragon signifies loyalty, vigilance and military valor. In Church heraldry, it evokes the dragon fought by St. George, the new archbishop's name saint [and also of the Pope's brother]. In this case, the dragon appears to be spitting fire against the 'dwelling' of the Pope, but it is transfixed by the lance of fire that seems to have come from the Star of Bethlehem.

The episcopal motto he has chosen is also reminiscent of Cardinal Ratzinger's episcopal motto, 'Cooperatores veritatis' (co-workers in the truth). Gaenswein's is “Testimonium perhibere veritati” (to render testimony to the truth).

Clearly, the Pope's private secretary since 2003 wants to imprint his episcopal ministry with the signs of Benedict himself. And the message his coat of arms and the motto conveys is that of a faithful, loyal and vigilant co-worker, one who places himself in defense of a Pope who seems to attract no end of hostility from those who do not like him and wish to discredit the Church.

He does so by availing of a heraldic privilege given to the Prefect of the Pontifical Household, namely, to incorporate the reigning Pope's coat of arms into his own coat of arms. His immediate predecessor, now Cardinal James Harvey, did not do that, nor did now Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz when John Paul II made him a bishop and Prefect-Adjunct of the Pontifical Household, although Harvey's predecessor as Prefect, Dino Monduzzi did.

But Gaenswein marches to his own beat (or better, to Benedict's beat), and his coat of arms stands in stark contrast to the unkind things said and written about him during the months of the Vatileaks furor. Yet Don Giorgio, as he is widely known in Rome, has come out of that fire stronger than before, since the Pope has promoted him to be Prefect of the Pontifical Household and elevated him to the rank of archbishop, but he still remains his private secretary.

He is now the only 'filter' that controls direct access to the Pope. All this, in the face of attacks against him primarily in German circles.

And yet, Gaenswein's choices for the two prelates he requested to be present for the kiss of peace after his ordination tomorrow are two Germans. The first is Mons. Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg and president of the German bishops' conference.

It is well known that among German prelates considered most 'faithful to Rome', Zollitsch has always been thought to be 'at the mercy of progressive currfents. But among the Germans at the Vatican, he is considered a 'faithful bishop', whose problem appears to be that his German colleagues think he is not 'big enough' for the position he occupies [yet they elected him!].

The fact that Gaenswein has singled him out for his ordination would seem to show that, despite the hostility of the German hierarchy and clergy to him, the Pope's secretary wishes to be on good relations with them.

[I think Gagliarducci overlooks what seems to me the obvious and natural reason for Gaenswein's choice of Zollitsch - namely, that Zollitsch is the Archbishop of Gaenswein's home diocese. If only for that, he would have asked him, even if Zollitsch were not president of the German bishops' conference.]

In the past seven years, the German media, apparently at the urging of elements in the German Church, have taken every occasion to float the rumor that Benedict XVI was about to 'promote and remove' Gaenswein from the Vatican by naming him bishop of some important German diocese, including Munich and Regensburg, at some point.

The other German bishop specifically asked by Gaenswein to be present for his ordination is Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - obviously, a close associate of Benedict XVI, who turned over his former cardinal's apartment to Mueller for his use. Mueller, of course, as president of the Regensburg-based Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, is the nominal publisher of the Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger.

Gaenswein's third choice is perhaps surprising: New York-born Archbishop Charles Brown, now Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, named to that post in 2011 by Benedict XVI, who plucked him from a quiet middle-management position in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the challenging job, an appointment warmly endorsed by Gaenswein. [The two worked together for years at the CDF.]

What will be the future of Gaenswein? His episcopal nomination opens new horizons for him. His role in the Rome-based Fondazione Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI will become fundamental. For a bishop who is a defender of the Pope, what better way to actively defend the thinking of Jospeh Ratzinger and to do so to insure that his studies and teachings may be perpetuated and interpreted in the right way?

One could hypothesize that he will eventually be the president of this Foundation, and be committed, alongside Mueller, to the publication of Joseph Ratzinger's Collected Writings. A work which, for the Italian edition, Mueller has been working closely with the Vatican publishing house LEV.

As for the episcopal motto chosen by Gaenswein, "To render testimony to the truth" obviously echoes Cardinal Ratzinger's own "Co-workers in the truth" and means his closeness and faithfulness to the Pope as a worker in the truth.

The expression was used by Pius XII in his first encyclical Summus Pontificatus, when he wrote: "There is nothing that makes us feel how much we owe our offi ce and even our own time than in rendering testimony to the truth". [P.S. The original expression comes from Jesus's answer to Pilate in John 18:37: "For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth". The USCCB translation obviously uses a simpler formulation of the words.]

Its use as an episcopal motto is not original. It had previously been used by John Charles McQuaid, Bishop of Dublin, who died in 1973, but who was accused of sexual abuses (charges which were later completely refuted).It is also the motto of Mons, Piotr Jarecki, auxiliary bishop of Warsaw who was recently arrested for drunk driving.

To the superstitious, it would seem that both precedents are not a good omen for the Pope's secretary. But one can be sure that with his meticulousness, his precision, and above all his faithfulness and love for the Pope, Georg Gaenswein will rise above any bad omens.[What a strange way to end an otherwise positive piece!]

Some write-ups in the past about Mons. Josef Clemens, who was Cardinal Ratzinger's private secretary for 19 years, suggested that the cardinal considered him like the son he never had. It would not be far-fetched to say he also found another son in Georg Gaenswein, whom he has honored far beyond any papal private secretary has been honored by his Pope in modern times, and whose filial affection and devotion to the Pope no one but his inveterate detractors could possibly doubt. Prayers and all best wishes for Mons. Georg - the other Mons. Georg in Benedict XVI's life, after his own brother.

Instead of translating any of the various mini-biographies of GG that have sprouted all over the Italian media, I will follow Beatrice'es example and post this article by Alessandra Borghese in 2009, which I posted then in the PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE thread. ]

---

On the occasion of Georg Gaenswein's recent silver jubilee as a priest, Alessandra Borghese wrote a profile of him for GENTE, a PEOPLE-style Italian weekly. Here is a translation of the article as published on Alessandra's website. The illustrations are thanks to Beatrice who scanned them from the magazine and posted them on her site

25 years of priesthood:
A portrait of Mons. Gaenswein
by Alessandra Borghese
Translated from
GENTE
Issue of June 3, 2009


I have known Mons. Georg Gaenswein from when he was working at the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith - before he became the private secretary to then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

This to say that my sympathy and esteem for this young and cultured priest goes back some time. Over the years, I have had many occasions to meet him informally, if only because we have friends in common.

What fascinates me most about don Georg is his beautifully open face with its reassuring smile.

The other day, I received an e-mail invitation. In his usual quiet, spare and essential style, he informed me that on June 1 at 7 p.m., he would be celebrating Holy Mass in the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians in the Vatican, and that afterwards, friends and relatives would gather together for dinner at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican Gardens.

A simple statement explained the reason for the invitation, and it struck me because, brief as it was, it seemed laden with emotion: "Twenty five years ago, I was ordained a priest!"

For don Georg, this anniversary is a moment for thanksgiving and reflection. His decision to become a priest had developed consistently - it was not a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky.


Left photo, Georg at 18; right photo, with his fellow ordinands when he was ordained a deacon at age 24.

By the time he was 18, those who knew him already saw in his clear and transparent ways the roots of his confrontation with the priestly vocation.

"They were roots which just kept growing with the years and bearing good fruit," as he himself likes to say.

Initially, his family was not convinced about his choice, but they changed their mind after he showed that he did have a true and sincere vocation.


With his parents in a photo taken in 2007..

His relationship with his mother, which continues to be very strong, was decisive and fundamental in this. Don Georg describes her as "a lady who never asked or imposed anything, but who, above all, always knew how to answer her children's questions."

It would be easy to try and draw a balance sheet of don Georg's first 50 years of life - 25 of them as a priest - as he is one of the most high-profile monsignors in the Vatican.

Knowing him, I would say that he looks on this anniversary as a take-off point rather than a point of arrival. The young Gaenswein certainly never planned to end up in Rome and become the closest collaborator of the Pope. Indeed, he has never hidden his emotion and surprise to find that 'his' cardinal had been elected Pope.

On more than one occasion, I have heard him say that he never made any specific plans for himself but always simply followed orders from his superiors.

I remember once when he had to address a group of young men who were still intimidated by the thought of eventually choosing the priestly vocation.

Don Georg, in a direct way and without skirting around, simply told them: "As the Lord taught, we can only gain life if we lose it!"

He added: "The moment of deciding what to do with one's life is, of course, most important - so if you decide something, you must do it with all your heart, from the depth of your soul. For this, one must know how to give oneself totally, not just a piece. Only then, you can achieve fullness".

I thought listening to him that he certainly had doctrinal clarity!

In the past few years, his external behavior has changed by force majeure, as it were. At the start, his open and cordial attitude to everyone was perhaps too ingenuous for someone in his position, leaving himself open to superficial criticisms. And so, he has become much more prudent.

But he has never hidden from friends his surprisingly constant emotion at being with the Pope, no matter how difficult his job is. To be with the Pope is not just a 'glamorous' task - he sees it above all as service in humility and total devotion.

Everything he does is for another person, which means he must renounce himself and his own desires. And yet, despite the pile of work to the done and the many commitments and appointments on the Pope's agenda, he does share intimate moments with the Pope - the daily morning Mass, praying the rosary together in the afternoons,
small talk over meals or while they take a daily walk in the gardens or on the roof terrace of the Apostolic Palace.

In the popular imagination, don Georg is often compared to Father Ralph in the famous novel and TV series The Thorn Birds: beautiful but 'impossible'.

He knows that the physical aspect - which is a gift one receives gratuitously - may nonetheless be useful for pastoral work and announcing the Gospel. But certainly not as a source of pride nor arrogance. However, because of this, he has been the object of envy and victim of petty jealousies at the Vatican.

So, he tries to act in such a way that distinguishes who he is from the image that people wish to see in him. He bases his own discernment on the sincerity of his inter-personal relationships. He believes that "sincerity is proven with time and cannot be hidden".

Perhaps the aspect of him that is least-known to the public is his academic credentials. A doctor of Canon Law from the University of Munich [also the Alma Mater of Joseph Ratzinger], he was a professor of Canon law at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, during which time he published 17 studies on canonical and theological subjects.

But I also think his sports personality had much to do with his human formation. He says "sport offers the possibility of competing with others in a positive way - it is a healthy way to relate to others and to measure oneself against others".

Obviously, he misses his beloved Black Forest native land, and when he speaks of it, his eyes do not hide his nostalgia.

His principal traits are seriousness, obstinacy and perseverance. And if we have to name a failing, it would be his lack of patience - in the sense that he is so determined to do things and see them realized as perfectly as possible that he cannot wait to see the outcome of his efforts.

In conclusion, Mons. Gaenswein is a completely realized man and even if he says he has no secret wishes, he will continue being talked about, and certainly, to distinguish himself in his service to the Church.

---

This being a significant milestone in Mons. Gaenswein's life. here are some more filephotos for an brief overview of his life:


Left, the Gaenswein family home in Rieden; right, Georg with his parents and three of his siblings, photographed in 2009. [One brother was cropped out by the magazine's photo editor.]


The Gente spread in 2009 features photos of Georg at 28 shortly after being ordained a priest (left); top right of his priestly and diaconal ordinations in Freiburg; and bottom right, with his fellow deacons.


The Gente spread of 2009, featuring photos of Gaenswein with Benedict XVI.


In 2007, Gaenswein with his parents lead their townmates to the Church for Mass.


In August 2009, Gaenswein photographed with his Mom Gertrud when he celebrated his 25th jubilee as a priest in his hometown. Three months later, in October, she died suddenly of a heart attack. She was 78.


Gaenswein, from left, in 2006; in 2009 when he marked his silver jubilee as a priest; and this morning, at St. Peter's for his episcopal ordination.


First photos of Gaenswein as an ordained bishop, with miter and pastoral staff.

One of the hitherto unpublicized details of the new arhcbishop's life surfaced today in the Italian media - it appears that he spent his first two years as a seminarian at the FSSPX mother house in Econe, Switzerland. It is said that neither Gaenswein nor the Vatican has ever denied this. That, along with the fact that he taught at the Opus Dei;s Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, appears to reinforce his reputation as a true 'conservative'.

P.S. Paul Badde wrote a lengthy profile and commentary on Gaenswein for Die Welt yesterday, which I have yet to translate.

January 6, Last day of the Christmas Season
SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY

From left: 'Adoration of the Magi', 13th-century mosaic, Sta. Maria Maggiore; painting by Bartolo di Fredi; Russian icon of the Theophany; prayer-card image of the 'Adoration'.
The Epiphany on the twelfth day after Christmas celebrates the manifestation of Jesus to the world. In the Western Church, it is symbolized by the adoration of the Magi; in the Eastern churches, it is represented by the Baptism of Christ - the Theophany, or his manifestation as the Son of God. In some countries following the Latin rite (as in the USA), the Epiphany is now celebrated on the first Sunday following January 1, which is today this year.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010613.cfm

January 6 is also the feast day of a recently canonized saint.

st. ANDRE BESSETTE (Canada, 1845-1937), Priest
The eighth of 12 children born to a poor Montreal family, the sickly Andre nonetheless
worked as farmhand, shoemaker, blacksmith, baker, and factory worker before applying
to the Congregation of the Holy Cross (CSC). He was first refused ordination because
of his poor health, but he was finally ordained at age 28 and was assigned to be
a doorman and general go-fer at the CSC's Notre Dame College, a job he would hold for
40 years. A lifelong devotee of St. Joseph, he used oils from votive candles to the saint
on visits to the sick. Miraculous cures started being attributed to the oil, particularly
during an epidemic, attracting pilgrims in ever-growing numbers. In 1904, Andre started
a small chapel to St. Joseph with $220 in contributions. Meanwhile, the CSC acquired
the property on Mount Royal near the college. In 1924, construction began on St. Joseph
Oratory, completed in 1967 as Canada's largest church, with the world's third largest
dome, next to St. Peter's. When Brother Andre died at age 92 in 1937, a million people
came to view his remains. Today, the Oratory gets at least 2 million visitors every year.
Brother Andre was beatified in 1992, and was canonized by Benedict XVI in October 2010.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father presided at the Eucharistic celebration at St. Peter's Basilica this morning to mark
the Solemnity of the Epiphany, during which he ordained four new archbishops, including his personal secretary
and new Prefect of the Pontifical Household, Georg Gaenswein.

Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected on the manifestation of Jesus to the world, not just to Israel,
symbolized by the visit to the Baby Jesus by the Magi. He also took note that the Orthodox Churches will celebrate
the Nativity tomorrow, and that in Italy, the Church marks the Day for Missionary Children, who are actively
involved in speaking about Jesus to other children of their age.


@Pontifex 1/6/13

MASS OF THE EPIPHANY
AND EPISCOPAL ORDINATIONS
Adapted from

January 6, 2013


Libretto cover: Adoration of the Magi (detail), Raphael, 1502-1504, Loggia Raffaele, Vatican Apostolic Palace.







Following a tradition begun during the Pontificate of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI today ordained four new bishops in the service of the Holy See at the Mass of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica.

All elevated to the rank of Archbishop recently, they are, in the order of their nominations: Angelo Vincenzo Zani Italy), Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, nominated Nov.9; Fortunatus Nwachukwu (Nigeria), Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua, both nominated Nov. 12; Georg Ganswein (Germany), Personal Secretary to Pope Benedict XVI and Prefect of the Papal Household, nominated Dec. 7; and Nicolas Thevenin (Italy) , also Apostolic Nuncio in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See, nominated Dec. 15.

Concelebrating with the Holy Father were Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education. who were also the principal consecrators after him, and the four new bishops.

Also at the Mass, the date for Easter 2013, March 31, was officially announced.It is the movable feast by which all other moveable feasts during the liturgical year are dated.


Before the homily, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, formally asked the Holy Father to accept the four ordinands into the Episcopate, to which he replied formally, "Most willingly". The ordination rite itself would follow the homily.



Here is the Vatican's official translation of the Pope'e homily:

---

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

For the Church which believes and prays, the Wise Men from the East who, guided by the star, made their way to the manger of Bethlehem, are only the beginning of a great procession which winds throughout history.

Thus the liturgy reads the Gospel which relates the journey of the Wise Men, together with the magnificent prophetic visions of the sixtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah and Psalm 71, which depict in bold imagery the pilgrimage of the peoples to Jerusalem.

Like the shepherds, who as the first visitors to the newborn Child in the manger, embodied the poor of Israel and, more generally, those humble souls who live in deep interior closeness to Jesus, so the men from the East embody the world of the peoples, the Church of the Gentiles – the men and women who in every age set out on the way which leads to the Child of Bethlehem, to offer him homage as the Son of God and to bow down before him.

The Church calls this feast "Epiphany" – the appearance of the Godhead. If we consider the fact that from the very beginning men and women of every place, of every continent, of all the different cultures, mentalities and lifestyles, have been on the way to Christ, then we can truly say that this pilgrimage and this encounter with God in the form of a Child is an epiphany of God’s goodness and loving kindness for humanity (cf. Tit 3:4).

Following a tradition begun by Pope John Paul II, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord also as the day when episcopal ordination will be conferred on four priests who will now cooperate in different ways in the ministry of the Pope for the unity of the one Church of Jesus Christ in the multiplicity of the Particular Churches.

The connection between this episcopal ordination and the theme of the pilgrimage of the peoples to Jesus Christ is evident. It is the task of the Bishop in this pilgrimage not merely to walk beside the others, but to go before them, showing the way.

But in this liturgy I would like to reflect with you on a more concrete question. Based on the account of Matthew, we can gain a certain idea of what sort of men these were, who followed the sign of the star and set off to find that King who would establish not only for Israel but for all mankind a new kind of kingship.

What kind of men were they? And we can also ask whether, despite the difference of times and tasks, we can glimpse in them something of what a Bishop is and how he is to carry out his task.

These men who set out towards the unknown were, in any event, men with a restless heart. Men driven by a restless quest for God and the salvation of the world. They were filled with expectation, not satisfied with their secure income and their respectable place in society. They were looking for something greater.

They were no doubt learned men, quite knowledgeable about the heavens and probably possessed of a fine philosophical formation. But they desired more than simply knowledge about things. They wanted above all else to know what is essential. They wanted to know how we succeed in being human. And therefore they wanted to know if God exists, and where and how he exists. Whether he is concerned about us and how we can encounter him.

Nor did they want just to know. They wanted to understand the truth about ourselves and about God and the world. Their outward pilgrimage was an expression of their inward journey, the inner pilgrimage of their hearts. They were men who sought God and were ultimately on the way towards him. They were seekers after God.

Here we come to the question: What sort of man must he be, upon whom hands are laid in episcopal ordination in the Church of Jesus Christ?

We can say that he must above all be a man concerned for God, for only then will he also be truly concerned about men. Inversely, we could also say that a Bishop must be a man concerned for others, one who is concerned about what happens to them.

He must be a man for others. But he can only truly be so if he is a man seized by God, if concern for God has also become for him concern for God’s creature who is man. Like the Wise Men from the East, a Bishop must not be someone who merely does his job and is content with that.

No, he must be gripped by God’s concern for men and women. He must in some way think and feel with God. Human beings have an innate restlessness for God, but this restlessness is a participation in God’s own restlessness for us.

Since God is concerned about us, he follows us even to the crib, even to the Cross. "Thou with weary steps hast sought me, crucified hast dearly bought me, may thy pains not be in vain", the Church prays in the Dies Irae.

The restlessness of men for God and hence the restlessness of God for men must unsettle the Bishop. This is what we mean when we say that, above all else, the Bishop must be a man of faith. For faith is nothing less than being interiorly seized by God, something which guides us along the pathways of life.

Faith draws us into a state of being seized by the restlessness of God and it makes us pilgrims who are on an inner journey towards the true King of the world and his promise of justice, truth and love. On this pilgrimage the Bishop must go ahead, he must be the guide pointing out to men and women the way to faith, hope and love.

Faith’s inner pilgrimage towards God occurs above all in prayer. Saint Augustine once said that prayer is ultimately nothing more than the realization and radicalization of our yearning for God.

Instead of "yearning", we could also translate the word as "restlessness" and say that prayer would detach us from our false security, from our being enclosed within material and visible realities, and would give us a restlessness for God and thus an openness to and concern for one another.

The Bishop, as a pilgrim of God, must be above all a man of prayer. He must be in constant inner contact with God; his soul must be open wide to God. He must bring before God his own needs and the needs of others, as well as his joys and the joys of others, and thus in his own way establish contact between God and the world in communion with Christ, so that Christ’s light can shine in the world.

Let us return to the Wise Men from the East. These were also, and above all, men of courage, the courage and humility born of faith. Courage was needed to grasp the meaning of the star as a sign to set out, to go forth – towards the unknown, the uncertain, on paths filled with hidden dangers.

We can imagine that their decision was met with derision: the scorn of those realists who could only mock the reveries of such men. Anyone who took off on the basis of such uncertain promises, risking everything, could only appear ridiculous.

But for these men, inwardly seized by God, the way which he pointed out was more important than what other people thought. For them, seeking the truth meant more than the taunts of the world, so apparently clever.

How can we not think, in this context, of the task of a Bishop in our own time? The humility of faith, of sharing the faith of the Church of every age, will constantly be in conflict with the prevailing wisdom of those who cling to what seems certain.

Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the Church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking, even in our own day. Today’s regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs.

Therefore the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset is particularly urgent for a Bishop today. He must be courageous. And this courage or forcefulness does not consist in striking out or in acting aggressively, but rather in allowing oneself to be steadfast in his principles against the prevalent way of thinking.

The courage to stand firm in the truth is unavoidably demanded of those whom the Lord sends like sheep among wolves. "Those who fear the Lord will not be timid", says the Book of Sirach (34:16). The fear of God frees us from the fear of men. It liberates.

Here I am reminded of an episode at the very beginning of Christianity which Saint Luke recounts in the Acts of the Apostles. After the speech of Gamaliel, who advised against violence in dealing with the earliest community of believers in Jesus, the Sanhedrin summoned the Apostles and had them flogged. It then forbade them from preaching in the name of Jesus and set them free.

Saint Luke continues: "As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the name of Jesus. And every day… they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah" (Acts 5:40ff.).

The successors of the Apostles must also expect to be repeatedly beaten, by contemporary methods, if they continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that can be heard and understood. Then they can rejoice that they have been considered worthy of suffering for him.

Like the Apostles, we naturally want to convince people and in this sense to obtain their approval. Naturally, we are not provocative; on the contrary we invite all to enter into the joy of that truth which shows us the way. The approval of the prevailing wisdom, however, is not the criterion to which we submit.

Our criterion is the Lord himself. If we defend his cause, we will constantly gain others to the way of the Gospel. But, inevitably, we will also be beaten by those who live lives opposed to the Gospel, and then we can be grateful for having been judged worthy to share in the passion of Christ.

The Wise Men followed the star, and thus came to Jesus, to the great Light which enlightens everyone coming into this world (cf. Jn 1:9). As pilgrims of faith, the Wise Men themselves became stars shining in the firmament of history and they show us the way.

The saints are God’s true constellations, which light up the nights of this world, serving as our guides. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, told his faithful that they must shine like stars in the world (cf. 2:15).

Dear friends, this holds true for us too. It holds true above all for you who are now to be ordained Bishops of the Church of Jesus Christ. If you live with Christ, bound to him anew in this sacrament, then you too will become wise men. Then you will become stars which go before men and women, pointing out to them the right path in life.

All of us here are now praying for you, that the Lord may fill you with the light of faith and love. That that restlessness of God for man may seize you, so that all may experience his closeness and receive the gift of his joy.

We are praying for you, that the Lord may always grant you the courage and humility of faith. We ask Mary, who showed to the Wise Men the new King of the world (cf. Mt 2:11), as a loving mother, to show Jesus Christ also to you and to help you to be guides along the way which leads to him. Amen.

---

The ordination rite began with the chanting of the Veni, Creator Spiritus, after which the four candidate bishops prostrated themselves before the Altar of the Confession during the chanting of the Litany of Saints.




This was followed by the laying of hands on the ordinands, first by the Holy Father at the altar, and then by the two principal co-consecrators, Cardinals Bertone and Grocholewski, and all the cardinals and bishops present at the Mass.





Next, the Gospel was laid over the heads of the ordinands.

Each candidate bishop then approached the Holy Father to be anointed with Chrism, and handed the Gospel, the bishop's ring, the miter and the crozier (pastoral staff).



Now fully ordained, the new bishops are asked by the Pope to join him at the altar to concelebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist.




The new bishops go down to the nave to exchange the sign of peace with the cardinals and bishops present.

[Unfortunately, I have not found a photograph showing Mons. Gaenswein with the three bishops he specifically requested to be there for him. I thank Father Z for the videocaps he posted that portray important parts of the rite not otherwise represented in the newsphotos, and Vatican Radio for a couple of shots. As usual, however, we do not get all the important moments of the Mass. Nor are there any photos of the new bishops, wearing their miters and carrying the crozier, going down the central aisle of St. Peter's and back up again towards the altar to bestow their first episcopal blessings before the end of the Mass..


The last available newsphoto shows Italian Prime Minister Monti in the congregation, as the Holy Father leaves the altar.


Pope tells new bishops
they must have the courage
to stand up to attacks


VATICAN CITY, Jan. 6 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Sunday that Roman Catholic leaders must have the courage to stand up to attacks by "intolerant agnosticism" prevalent in many countries.

The Pope and the Church have come under increased attack because of their opposition to homosexual marriage and women priests. [The way this is said, one would think the opposition was recent and topical, rather than fundamental and unchanging in the teaching and tradition of the Church. The Pope has repeatedly denounced what he says are attempts to push religion out of public debate.

The 85-year-old Pontiff celebrated Mass on the day Christians in the West mark the Epiphany, and ordained four new archbishops including his personal secretary.

In a homily to about 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, he firmly rejected suggestions the Church should change to suit public opinion.

"Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the Church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking," he said. "The approval of the prevailing wisdom, however, is not the criterion to which we submit."

In the United States, a group last month started a petition on the White House website asking the administration of President Barack Obama to list the Catholic Church as a "hate group" because of its opposition to gay marriage. [Don't you just detest bigots like them? If anyone is a hate group, they are! They confuse a genuine article of religious faith for a judgmental opinion that amounts to an act ofdiscrimination by the Church hierarchy,]

"Today's regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs," the Pope said.

"Therefore the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset is particularly urgent for a bishop today. He must be courageous," he said.

The Pope ordained the new archbishops in a ceremony attended by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, placing his hands on the heads of the four men and anointing them with holy oil to symbolize the transmission of episcopal authority.

The best known of the four new archbishops is the Pontiff's chief private secretary Monsignor Georg Ganswein, who has been the closest person to Benedict since his election in 2005 as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Last month Ganswein, 56, a German like the pope, was promoted to the job of Prefect of the Pontifical Household, a position that will significantly increase his power as the Pope gets older and frailer. {That is a non sequitur, unless the writer assumes that an 'older and frailer' Benedict will leave all decisions to his subordinates as did the Parkinson-challenged John Paul II in the final years of his life! 'Older and frailer' does not automatically mean less able to exercise his mind and other faculties! Even considering the relatively minor role of media and public opinion a century ago, did anyone accuse Leo XIII in his final years - he lived to be 93 - of having been mentally incompetent?]

As prefect, Ganswein, 56 - already one of the most recognizable and powerful figures in the papal court - will arrange all the Pope's private and public audiences and his daily schedule. [He's already been doing that, all these years, except that in the past, he had to coordinate with Mons. Harvey who was the Prefect of the Pontifical Household. Now, he only has to coordinate with himself! And although undoubtedly, the Pope asks his opinions about the affairs he must review with him daily as they work together, I don't think Gaenswein even considers himself an 'adviser' to the Holy Father! The secular media continue to attribute a predominantly secular mindset to the people who work with the Pope, i.e., that their main concern is to gain, consolidate and exercise power - that is an unwarranted assumption that is most unfair to honest priests and bishops just trying to serve the Lord and his Church in everything they do.]

And because he is expected to keep his job as chief private secretary, he will have even more power in deciding who has access to the Pope. [Yada, yada, yada....]

Ganswein was the immediate superior of Paolo Gabriele, the former papal butler who was convicted of stealing sensitive papal documents and leaking them to the media. [He was not Gabriele's immediate superior (that would really be the Pope], but even if Gaenswein gave him minor tasks in the Pope's private office, technically, the valet staff is under the Prefect of the Pontifical Household (who, before Gaenswein, was not part of the 'papal family' living in the Pope's residence).

Gaenswein is obviously the senior member of the 'papal family' because of his seniority and rank, but no one has ever referred to him as the 'head' of the papal household staff. The Memores Domini are certainly not under his orders, and even if he is senior to the other private secretary, Mons. Xuereb, it's unlikely he treats him as a subordinate, but more as a peer, who like him, gets his orders from the Holy Father himself. All this further underscores how wrong it is for the media to keep referring to Gabriele as the 'butler' or 'majordomo' (literally, chief of the household) which gives him a supervisory household role he never had! He was the Pope's chief valet, after Angelo Gugel retired. Period. Just because he also served the Pope's meals did not make him majordomo!]

The secretary was the person who confronted Gabriele about papers that had gone missing. Gabriele was pardoned by the Pope last month after being sentenced to 18 months in jail for aggravated theft.

Because of the leaks scandal, Ganswein is expected to further tighten his control over Vatican personnel who have a direct connection to the papal apartments. [His 'control' really has to do with if, when and how they get access to the Pope, with no supervisory power at all, except now, over the staff of the Pontifical Household.]

The other new archbishops are Angelo Vincenzo Zani, an Italian in the Vatican's department for Catholic educatio;, Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a Nigerian who becomes the Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua, and Nicolas Thevenin, a [Genoa-based] Frenchman who becomes ambassador to Guatemala.

ANGELUS TODAY




Pope Benedict began his Angelus message today by apologizing for starting 15 minutes late, after the Epiphany Mass with episcopal ordinations that lasted almost three hours in St. Peter's Basilica.

AGI reports that some 100,000 faithful crowded St. Peter's Square for the noontime Angelus prayers with the Pope.



Here is a translation of the Pope's words at the Angelus today:

---

Dear brothers and sisters!

Please excuse my tardiness. I ordained four new bishops in St. Peter's Basilica and the ceremony lasted a bit longer than expected.

Today we celebrate above all the Epiphany of the Lord - his manifestation to all peoples - even as many of the Oriental Churches who follow the Julian calendar, will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow.

This slight time difference, which sort of super-imposes the two events, highlights that the Baby, born humbly in the cave in Bethlehem, is the light of the world who orients the journey of all peoples.

It is a coupling of events that also make us reflect on it from the viewpoint of the faith: On the one hand, at Christmas, we see the faith of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds before Jesus; today, at the Epiphany, the faith of the three wise men who came from the east to adore the 'king of the Jews'.

The Virgin Mary and her spouse represent the 'stock' of Israel, the 'remains' referred to by the prophets, from whom the Messiah was to sprout.

The Magi represent the peoples of the world - the civilizations, the cultures, the religions, we can say - who are journeying toward God, in search of his kingdom of peace, of justice, of truth and of freedom.

There was first a nucleus, represented above all by Mary, the 'daughter of Zion': a nucleus of Israel, the people who knew and had faith in the God who had revealed himself to the Patriarchs and throughout their history.

That faith reached its fulfillment in Mary, in the fullness of time, In her, who was 'blessed because she believed', the Word became flesh, God 'appeared' in the world. The faith of Mary became the first fruits and the model of faith for the Church, the People of thew New Covenant.

But this people were universal from the beginning, and we see this today in the figures of the Magi who reached Bethlehem following the light of a star and indications in Sacred Scriptures.

St. Leo the Great said: "Once Abraham was promised a numberless descendancy that would be generated not by the flesh but in the fruitfulness of faith" (Discourse 3 for the Epiphany, 1: PL 54, 240).

Mary's faith can be set beside that of Abraham - it is the new beginning of the same promise, of God's same immutable design which now finds its full completion in Jesus Christ.

The light of Christ is so luminous and strong that it makes the language of the cosmos as well as that of Scripture intelligible, such that all who, like the Magi, are open to the truth can recognize it and come to contemplate the Savior of the world.

St. Leo says further: "Therefore, let the great mass of peoples enter into the family of the patriarchs... to adore the Creator of the universe, and God may be recognized not just in Judea but in all the earth" (ibid.).

In this perspective, we can also view the episcopal ordinations that I had the joy of conferring this morning in St. Peter's Basilica - two of the new bishops will remain in Rome in the service of the Holy See, while the other two will set out as pontifical representatives to two nations.

Let us pray for each of them, and for their ministry, and that the light of Christ may shine on all the world.

After the prayers, he said this:
As I said earlier, the Oriental Churches that follow the Julian calendar will celebrate the Nativity of the Lord tomorrow. In the joy of our common faith, I extend to them my most heartfelt wishes of peace, and a special remembrance in prayer.

In Italy, today is the Day for Missionary Children, dedicated to the children who are actively involved in spreading the Gospel and to concretely helping children of their age who are most needy. Dear children, I thank and encourage you in bringing the love of God to everyone.

In English, he said:
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims present today, including the boys of the Palestrina Choir of Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, who sang this morning at the solemn Mass of the Epiphany.

At that ceremony I had the joy of conferring episcopal ordination upon four priests, including Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu of Nigeria. May the new Bishops be faithful successors of the Apostles, always bearing witness to Christ, who today reveals the face of God to the nations. May the Lord bless all of you and grant you his peace!

[In his German and Italian greetings, he also welcomed the delegations who had come to Rome for the ordinations of Mons. Gaenswein, and Zani and Thevenin, respectively.]

---

I apologize for the poor pictures- they are all from RV thumbnails, as I have not seen any regular newsphotos online yet.

The last occasion to use the Holy Father's 2012 Christmas card...

Monday after Epiphany, January 7
Today is Christmas Day - the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord - in the Orthodox world
and Eastern Churches who celebrate liturgical feasts according to the Julian calendar.



ST. RAMON PENYAFORT (Raymond Penafort) (Catalonia, 1175-1275)
Dominican, Bishop and Confessor
One of the most brilliant in the great constellation of saints who lived in the 12th and 13th
centuries, Ramon was born into a noble family related to the royal family of Aragon. He was
educated in Bologna where by age 20, he was teaching theology and philosophy, while earning
doctorates in canon and civil law. He was called back to Spain to tutor the man who would
become King James I of Aragon. In 1222, having met St. Dominic, he joined the Dominican order
and became well-known for his preaching against the Moors. His reputation in the law drew the
attention of Pope Gregory IX who called him to Rome to be his chaplain and confessor, and to
compile all the decrees of previous Popes and Councils, resulting in the monumental Gregorian
Decretals, published in 1231, which remained the basic reference on canon law until the
present Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1917. He returned to Spain in 1236. At age 60,
he was named Archbishop of Tarragona but he resigned after two years to return to working
within the Dominican Order. Shortly after that, he was elected Superior General of the order,
to succeed St. Dominic. He reformed the order and then resigned, devoting the remaining 35 years
of his life to preaching against heresy and the Moors, and seeking to convert Jews and Muslims.
It is said he convinced Thomas Aquinas to write the Summa contra Gentiles, often called
a missionary manual on the truths of the Catholic faith and the errors of the infidels. Raymond
died peacefully in Barcelona at the age of 100, and is buried in the Cathedral there.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010713.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met today with

- The diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican for the traditional exchange of New Year greetings and
the Pope's always-anticipated 'state-of-the-world' address.

In the afternoon, he is meeting with two of the newly-ordained Arcbishops and their families:

- Mons. Angelo Zani, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Edcation

- Mons. Georg Gaenswein, Prefect of the Pontifical Household


The Vatican released the text of the Holy Father's videomessage, delivered in French, to the Catholic Church
in Cambodia on the occasion of a National Congress on the Second Vatican Council held in Phnom Penh on January 5-7.
The English translation of the text has been provided.


@Pontifex 1/7/13:





ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS GREETINGS








Sorry I have been unable to update my Orthodox Christmas montage from last year.

New Year address to diplomats:
The Pope reviews the state of the world




Benedict XVI's new appeal:
'Stop the war in Syria now'
By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY, January 7 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict urged the world on Monday to end what he called the endless slaughter in Syria before the entire country becomes a "a field of ruins".

Speaking in his yearly "state of the world" address to diplomats from nearly 180 countries and global organisations, Benedict also condemned "terrorist attacks" against Christians in Nigeria and violence in Mali, where Islamist rebels in the north are seeking to erase a more moderate religious tradition.

The 85-year-old leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said there was no justification for "baneful religious fanaticism" that had turned places of worship into places of trepidation.

He also said the global economic crisis was caused in part by an absolutist view of profit and denounced moves in some countries to decriminalise abortion.

But in his virtual tour of world hot spots, he reserved his toughest words for the civil war in Syria, where the United Nations estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed in a 21-month-old conflict that shows no signs of a let-up.

Syria is bring "torn apart by endless slaughter and (is) the scene of dreadful suffering among its civilian population," he said. The Pope called for an "end to a conflict which will know no victors but only vanquished if it continues, leaving behind it nothing but a field of ruins".

Benedict urged the diplomats gathered in the Sala Regia of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace to push their governments to do everything possible to face "this grave humanitarian situation", telling them political authorities had "a grave responsibility to work for peace".

Global powers have been loath to intervene in Syria for fear of triggering a wider conflict in a volatile region.

The Pope delivered his French-language address a day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war.

On Nigeria, Benedict denounced violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram, who have killed hundreds in their campaign to impose sharia law in the north, targeting a number of churches.

"Nigeria is regularly the scene of terrorist attacks which reap victims above all among the Christian faithful gathered in prayer, as if hatred intended to turn temples of prayer and peace into places of fear and division," he said.

He called for "effective attention of the international community" to the situation in Mali, where a mix of Islamists with links to Al Qaeda have carried out amputations to help impose strict Islamic law on a population that has practised a more moderate form of Islam for centuries.

Turning his attention to the economy, Benedict said the global crisis was in part caused "because profit was all too often made absolute" .

He condemned short-sighted "unrestrained ventures" in the economy and called for a rediscovery of "the meaning of work and proportionate profit".

"To that end, it would be well to teach people how to resist the temptations of particular and short-term interests, and to look instead to the common good," the pope said.

He hoped the United Nations' recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state would lead to a two-state solution and make Jerusalem "a city of peace and not of division". [But the Palestinianss consider 'getting' East Jerusalem as the capital of a sovereign Palestine a sine qua non for any 'deal'. How can Jerusalem not be a major bone of contention and division? The Vatican favors an international status for Jerusalem, which Israel would be hard put to accept since Jerusalem is their capital and has been since the time of David, thousands of years before Islam was even born!]



Here is the Vatican's official translation of the Holy Father's address:

---

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As at the beginning of each New Year, I am happy to receive you, the distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, and to offer you my greetings and personal good wishes, which I extend to all the beloved nations which you represent, together with the assurance of my constant thoughts and prayers.

I am especially grateful to your Dean, Ambassador Alejandro Valladares Lanza, and to your Vice-Dean, Ambassador Jean-Claude Michel, for the kind words which they addressed to me in the name of all.

In a special way I wish to greet those who take part in this meeting for the first time. Your presence is a significant and valued sign of the fruitful relations which the Catholic Church entertains with civil authorities the world over.

It involves a dialogue which has at heart the integral spiritual and material good of each man and woman, and seeks to advance their transcendent dignity everywhere. As I stated in my Address on the occasion of the last Ordinary Public Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals: "the Church, from its origins, is oriented katholon, it embraces the whole universe", and with it each people, each culture and each tradition.

This "orientation" does not represent an intrusion in the life of the different societies, but serves rather to illumine the right conscience of their citizens, encouraging them to work for the good of each person and for the progress of the human race.

It is in this context, and with the aim of fostering fruitful cooperation between Church and State in the service of the common good, that in the past year bilateral Accords were signed between the Holy See and Burundi, and with Equatorial Guinea, and the Accord with Montenegro was ratified.

In this same spirit, the Holy See takes part in the work of various International Organizations and Institutions. In this regard, I am pleased that this past December its request to become an Extra-regional Observer in the Central American Integration System was accepted, not least by reason of the contribution which the Catholic Church offers in several sectors of the societies of that region.

The visits of the various Heads of State and of Government whom I received in the course of the past year, as well as the memorable Apostolic Journeys which I made to Mexico, Cuba and Lebanon, were privileged occasions for reaffirming the civil commitment of Christians in those countries, and for promoting the dignity of the human person and the foundations of peace.

Here I am also pleased to mention the valued work accomplished by the Papal Representatives in constant dialogue with your Governments. I would like in particular to recall the esteem enjoyed by Archbishop Ambrose Madtha, Apostolic Nuncio in Cote d'Ivoire, who died tragically a month ago in an automobile accident, together with the chauffeur who was accompanying him.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Gospel of Luke recounts that on Christmas night the shepherds heard choirs of angels who gave glory to God and invoked peace on mankind. The Evangelist thus emphasizes the close relationship between God and the ardent desire of the men and women of every age to know the truth, to practise justice and to live in peace (cf. Blessed John XXIII, Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 [1963], 257).

These days, we are sometimes led to think that truth, justice and peace are utopian ideals, and mutually exclusive. To know the truth seems impossible, and efforts to affirm it appear often to lead to violence.

On the other hand, according to a now widespread way of thinking, peacemaking consists solely in the pursuit of compromises capable of ensuring peaceful coexistence between different peoples or between citizens within a single nation.

Yet from the Christian point of view, the glorification of God and human peace on earth are closely linked, with the result that peace is not simply the fruit of human effort, but a participation in the very love of God.

It is precisely man's forgetfulness of God, and his failure to give him glory, which gives rise to violence. Indeed, once we no longer make reference to an objective and transcendent truth, how is it possible to achieve an authentic dialogue?

In this case, is it not inevitable that violence, open or veiled, becomes the ultimate rule in human relationships? Indeed, without openness to the transcendent, human beings easily become prey to relativism and find it difficult to act justly and to work for peace.

The consequences of forgetfulness of God cannot be separated from those resulting from ignorance of his true countenance, the root of a baneful religious fanaticism which, again in 2012, reaped victims in some countries represented here.

As I have often observed, this is a falsification of religion itself, since religion aims instead at reconciling men and women with God, at illuminating and purifying consciences, and at making it clear that each human being is the image of the Creator.

Consequently, if the glorification of God and earthly peace are closely linked, it seems evident that peace is both God's gift and a human task, one which demands our free and conscious response. For this reason, I wished my annual Message for the World Day of Peace to bear the title: Blessed are the Peacemakers.

Civil and political authorities before all others have a grave responsibility to work for peace. They are the first called to resolve the numerous conflicts causing bloodshed in our human family, beginning with that privileged region in God's plan, the Middle East.

I think first and foremost of Syria, torn apart by endless slaughter and the scene of dreadful suffering among its civilian population. I renew my appeal for a ceasefire and the inauguration as quickly as possible of a constructive dialogue aimed at putting an end to a conflict which will know no victors but only vanquished if it continues, leaving behind it nothing but a field of ruins.

Your Excellencies, allow me to ask you to continue to make your Governments aware of this, so that essential aid will urgently be made available to face this grave humanitarian situation.

I now turn with deep concern towards the Holy Land. Following Palestine's recognition as a Non-Member Observer State of the United Nations, I again express the hope that, with the support of the international community, Israelis and Palestinians will commit themselves to peaceful coexistence within the framework of two sovereign states, where respect for justice and the legitimate aspirations of the two peoples will be preserved and guaranteed.

Jerusalem, become what your name signifies! A city of peace and not of division; a prophecy of the Kingdom of God and not a byword for instability and opposition!

As I turn my thoughts towards the beloved Iraqi people, I express my hope that they will pursue the path of reconciliation in order to arrive at the stability for which they long.

In Lebanon, where last September I met the various groups which make up society, may the many religious traditions there be cultivated by all as a true treasure for the country and for the whole region, and may Christians offer an effective witness for the building of a future of peace, together with all men and women of good will!

In North Africa too, cooperation between all the members of society is of primary concern, and each must be guaranteed full citizenship, the liberty publicly to profess their religion and the ability to contribute to the common good. I assure all Egyptians of my closeness and my prayers at this time when new institutions are being set in place.

Turning to sub-Saharan Africa, I encourage the efforts being made to build peace, especially in those places where the wounds of war remain open and where their grave humanitarian consequences are being felt.

I think particularly of the Horn of Africa, and the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where new of acts of violence have erupted, forcing many people to abandon their homes, families and surroundings.

Nor can I fail to mention other threats looming on the horizon. Nigeria is regularly the scene of terrorist attacks which reap victims above all among the Christian faithful gathered in prayer, as if hatred intended to turn temples of prayer and peace into places of fear and division. I was deeply saddened to learn that, even in the days when we were celebrating Christmas, some Christians were barbarously put to death.

Mali is also torn by violence and marked by a profound institutional and social crisis, one which calls for the effective attention of the international community.

In the Central African Republic, I hope that the talks announced as taking place shortly will restore stability and spare the people from reliving the throes of civil war.

The building of peace always comes about by the protection of human beings and their fundamental rights. This task, even if carried out in many ways and with varying degrees of intensity, challenges all countries and must constantly be inspired by the transcendent dignity of the human person and the principles inscribed in human nature. Foremost among these is respect for human life at every stage.

In this regard, I was gratified that a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in January of last year, called for the prohibition of euthanasia, understood as the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being.

At the same time, I must note with dismay that, in various countries, even those of Christian tradition, efforts are being made to introduce or expand legislation which decriminalizes abortion.

Direct abortion, that is to say willed as an end or as a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law. In affirming this, the Catholic Church is not lacking in understanding and mercy, also towards the mother involved.

Rather, it is a question of being vigilant lest the law unjustly alter the balance between the right to life of the mother and that of the unborn child, a right belonging equally to both. In this area, the recent decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding in vitro fertilization, which arbitrarily redefines the moment of conception and weakens the defence of unborn life, is also a source of concern.

Sadly, especially in the West, one frequently encounters ambiguities about the meaning of human rights and their corresponding duties. Rights are often confused with exaggerated manifestations of the autonomy of the individual, who becomes self-referential, no longer open to encounter with God and with others, and absorbed only in seeking to satisfy his or her own needs. To be authentic, the defence of rights must instead consider human beings integrally, in their personal and communitarian dimensions.

Pursuing our reflection, it is worth emphasizing that education is another privileged path to peacemaking. The current economic and financial crisis, among other things, has also made this clear.

The crisis developed because profit was all too often made absolute, to the detriment of labour, and because of unrestrained ventures in the financial areas of the economy, rather than attending to the real economy.

There is a need, then, to rediscover the meaning of work and proportionate profit. To that end, it would be well to teach people how to resist the temptations of particular and short-term interests, and to look instead to the common good. Furthermore, it is urgent to train leaders who will one day guide national and international public institutions (cf. Message for the 2013 World Day of Peace, 6).

The European Union also requires farsighted representatives capable of making the difficult choices necessary to rectify its economy and to lay solid foundations for growth.

Alone, certain countries may perhaps advance more quickly, but together, all will certainly go further! If the differential index between financial taxes represents a source of concern, the increasing differences between those few who grow ever richer and the many who grow hopelessly poorer, should be a cause for dismay.

In a word, it is a question of refusing to be resigned to a "spread" in social well-being, while at the same time fighting one in the financial sector.

Investment in education in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America means helping them to overcome poverty and disease, and to create legal systems which are equitable and respectful of human dignity.

Certainly, if justice is to be achieved, good economic models, however necessary, are not sufficient. Justice is achieved only when people are just!

Consequently, building peace means training individuals to fight corruption, criminal activity, the production and trade in narcotics, as well as abstaining from divisions and tensions which threaten to exhaust society, hindering development and peaceful coexistence.

Continuing our meeting today, I would like to add that peace in society is also put at risk by certain threats to religious liberty: it is a question sometimes of the marginalization of religion in social life; sometimes of intolerance or even of violence towards individuals, symbols of religious identity and religious institutions.

It even happens that believers, and Christians in particular, are prevented from contributing to the common good by their educational and charitable institutions. In order effectively to safeguard the exercise of religious liberty it is essential to respect the right of conscientious objection.

This "frontier" of liberty touches upon principles of great importance of an ethical and religious character, rooted in the very dignity of the human person. They are, as it were, the "bearing walls" of any society that wishes to be truly free and democratic. Thus, outlawing individual and institutional conscientious objection in the name of liberty and pluralism paradoxically opens by contrast the door to intolerance and forced uniformity.

Moreover, in an ever more open world, building peace through dialogue is no longer a choice but a necessity! From this perspective, the joint declaration between the President of the Bishops' Conference of Poland and the Patriarch of Moscow, signed last August, is a strong signal given by believers for the improvement of relations between the Russian and Polish peoples.

I would also like to mention the peace accord concluded recently in the Philippines and I would like to underline the role of dialogue between religions for a peaceful coexistence in the region of Mindanao.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, at the end of the Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, whose fiftieth anniversary will be celebrated this year, my predecessor Blessed John XXIII remarked that peace remains "an empty word" if it is not nourished and completed by charity (AAS 55 [1963], 303).

Indeed, it is at the heart of the diplomatic activity of the Holy See and, above all, of the concern of the Successor of Peter and of the whole Catholic Church. Charity cannot take the place of justice that has been denied; nor can justice, on the other hand, replace charity that has been refused.

The Church daily practises charity in works of social assistance such as hospitals and clinics, her educational institutions such as orphanages, schools, colleges and universities, and through help given to peoples in distress, especially during and after conflicts.

In the name of charity, the Church wishes also to be near all those who suffer due to natural disasters. I am thinking of the flood victims in Southeast Asia and of those of the hurricane which struck the East coast of the United States.

I am also thinking of those who experienced the earthquake that devastated some regions of Northern Italy. As you know, I wanted to go there personally and see for myself the earnest desire to rebuild what had been destroyed. In this moment of its history, I hope that such a spirit of tenacity and shared commitment will move the entire beloved Italian nation.

To conclude our encounter, I would like to recall that, at the end of the Second Vatican Council - which started fifty years ago - the Servant of God, Pope Paul VI, sent out messages which remain relevant, including one addressed to world leaders. He encouraged them in this way: "Your task is to be in the world the promoters of order and peace among men. But never forget this: It is God who is the great artisan of order and peace on earth" (Message to Leaders, 8 December 1965, 3).

Today, as I make those sentiments my own, I convey to you, the Ambassadors and other distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as to your families and colleagues, my very best wishes for the New Year. Thank you!

---

The Pope exchanges greetings with the ambassador from Sweden, Ulla Gudmundson.



The splendid setting for the annual address to the diplomatic corps is the Sala Regia or Throne Room of the Apostolic Palace, and the 'throne' on which the Pope sits is the now-familiar one that was built for Leo XIII. (I've always thought the cherubs on the chair uncannily depict Benedict's own countenance, angelic Pepperls whose features reiterate the facial features of an octogenarian who often looks as cherubic as they do! Or is that just the impression oft a doting Benaddict?]

Patriarchal Encyclical
of Bartholomew I for Christmas 2012

---

+ BARTHOLOMEW
By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome
And Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, Mercy and Peace
From the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem

“Christ is born, glorify Him; Christ is on earth, exalt Him.”

Let us rejoice in gladness for the ineffable condescension of God.The angels precede us singing: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will among all people.”

Yet, on earth we behold and experience wars and threats of wars. Still, the joyful announcement is in no way annulled. Peace has truly come to earth through reconciliation between God and people in the person of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, however, we human beings have not been reconciled, despite God’s sacred will.

We retain a hateful disposition for one another. We discriminate against one another by means of fanaticism with regard to religious and political convictions, by means of greed in the acquisition of material goods, and through expansionism in the exercise of political power. These are the reasons why we come into conflict with one another.

With his Decree of Milan issued in 313AD, the enlightened Roman emperor, St. Constantine the Great, instituted freedom in the practice of the Christian faith, alongside freedom in the practice of every other religion. Sadly, with the passing since then of precisely 1700 years, we continue to see religious persecution against Christians and other Christian minorities in various places.

Moreover, economic competition is spreading globally, as is the pursuit of ephemeral profit, which is promoted as a principal target. The gloomy consequences of the overconcentration of wealth in the hands of the few and the financial desolation of the vast human masses are ignored.

This disproportion, which is described worldwide as a financial crisis, is essentially the product of a moral crisis. Nevertheless, humankind is regrettably not attributing the proper significance to this moral crisis.

In order to justify this indifference, people invoke the notion of free trade. But free trade is not a license for crime. And criminal conduct is far more than what is recorded in penal codes. It includes what cannot be foreseen by the prescription of statutory laws, such as the confiscation of people’s wealth by supposedly legitimate means. I

nasmuch, therefore, as the law cannot be formally imposed, the actions of a minority of citizens are often expressed in an unrestrained manner, provoking disruption in social justice and peace.

From the Ecumenical Patriarchate, then, we have been closely following the “signs of the times,” which everywhere echo the “sounds” of “war and turmoil” – with “nation rising against nation, dominion against dominion, great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues, alongside dreadful phenomena and heavenly portents.” (Luke 21.10-12)

In many ways, we are experiencing what St. Basil wrote about “the two types of love: one is feeling sorrow and concern upon seeing one’s beloved harmed; the other is rejoicing and striving to benefit one’s beloved. Anyone who demonstrates neither of these categories clearly does not love one’s brother or sister. (Basil the Great, Shorter Rules, PG31.1200A)

This is why, from this sacred See and Center of Orthodoxy, we proclaim the impending new year as the Year of Global Solidarity.

It is our hope that in this way we may be able to sensitize sufficient hearts among humankind regarding the immense and extensive problem of poverty and the need to assume the necessary measures to comfort the hungry and misfortunate.

As your spiritual father and church leader, we ask for the support of all persons and governments of good will in order that we may realize the Lord’s peace on earth – the peace announced by the angels and granted by the infant Jesus.

If we truly desire this peace, which transcends all understanding, we are obliged to pursue it palpably instead of being indifferent to the spiritual and material vulnerability of our brothers and sisters, for whom Christ was born.

Love and peace are the essential features of the Lord’s disciples and of every Christian. So let us encourage one another during this Year of Global Solidarity to make every conscious effort – as individuals and nations – for the reduction of the inhumane consequences created by the vast inequalities as well as the recognition by all people of the rights of the weakest among us in order that everyone may enjoy the essential goods necessary for human life. Thus, we shall indeed witness – at least to the degree that it is humanly possible – the realization of peace on earth.

Together with all of material and spiritual creation, we venerate the nativity of the Son and Word of God from the Virgin Mary, bowing down before the newborn Jesus – our illumination and salvation, our advocate in life – and wondering like the Psalmist “Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid?” (Ps 26.1) as Christians, since “to us is born today a savior” (Luke 2.11), “the Lord of hosts, the king of glory.” (Ps 23.10)

We hope earnestly and pray fervently that the dawning 2013 will be for everyone a year of global solidarity, freedom, reconciliation, good will, peace and joy.

May the pre-eternal Word of the Father, who was born in a manger, who united angels and human beings into one order, establishing peace on earth, grant to all people patience, hope and strength, while blessing the world with the divine gifts of His love. Amen.

At the Phanar
Christmas 2012

Your fervent supplicant before God
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople

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Christmas message of
the Patriarch of Moscow

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Patriarch KIRILL of Moscow and All Russia
to the Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics
and All the Faithful Children
of the Russian Orthodox Church

Your Eminences the archpastors, honourable fathers, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!

Today the Holy Church radiantly and with joy glorifies the mystery of the birth from the Most Pure Virgin of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Creator, in loving his creation, ‘was manifest in the flesh’, ‘became man’ and ‘like as we are, yet without sin’ (see: 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 4:15). The Infant lay in a manger in Bethlehem. He did this in order to save the world from spiritual and moral decay, to liberate the human person from fear of death. The Maker lays before us the greatest gift of all: his divine love and the fullness of life. In Christ we can find hope that conquers fear, we can attain holiness and immortality.

He comes into our world torn apart by sin in order that, through his birth, life, sufferings, death on the cross and glorious resurrection, he may establish a new law, a new commandment – the commandment of love. ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another’ (Jn 13:34). The Lord addressed these words to his disciples and through them to the whole world: to those who lived then, to those who live now and to those who will live after us, right until the end of time.

Each person is called upon to respond to this commandment through his own deeds. In the way that Christ showed to us true mercy and unbounded forgiveness towards our faults, so too we are to be merciful and forgiving towards people.

We must care not only for our own and for our neighbours, although we are to care for them in the first instance (see: 1 Tim 5:8), not only for our friends and for those who think like us, but also for those who have yet to find oneness with God. We are called to imitate the Saviour in love, to pray for those who oppress and despise us (see: Mt 5:44), to have always in our thoughts the good of our people, the homeland and the Church.

Each of us, in accomplishing good works, can change for the better, if only to a small degree, the reality which surrounds us. It is only in this way that we can become stronger together, for lawlessness can never vanquish love as the darkness can never engulf the light of true life (see: Jn 1:5).

The history of our homeland knows many examples whereby our people has placed its hopes in God and has overcome tribulations, has emerged from the most difficult trials with dignity.

We have recalled many of these events in the past year. We celebrated the four-hundredth anniversary of the end of the Time of Troubles, culminating in the invaders being driven from Russia and the restoration of national unity. We marked too the two-hundredth anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812 during which our forefathers rebuffed the invasion of the ‘twelve nations’ – the huge army gathered by Napoleon from all the ends of conquered Europe.

The year 2013 will be marked by the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ by the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. The acceptance of the Christian faith was the beginning of a new era in the life of our nation. The light of Christ’s truth that once shone forth upon the blessed hills of Kiev today illumines the hearts of those who live in the countries of historical Rus’, teaching us the way of accomplishing good works.

In summing up the past year we give thanks to God for his great and rich mercies and for the afflictions which he allowed us to endure. Throughout her entire history the Church has never known long periods of well-being: after times of peace and tranquility there have inevitably come times of discord and tribulations.

Yet in all circumstances the Church has, in word and deed, proclaimed God’s truth; she proclaims it today, testifying that a society built on the principles of gain, moral chaos, unlimited freedom, disdain for eternal truths and the rejection of authority is morally sick and threatened by many dangers.

I call upon all people to have that patience which is commanded to us by God and pray for the Mother Church, for the people of God and for our native land. Have in mind always the words of the apostles to the nations: ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity’ (1 Cor 16:13-14).

In expressing my heartfelt congratulations on today’s feast, I prayerfully entreat for all of us from the Divine Infant Christ spiritual and bodily strength so that each of us through his personal example may testify to the world that our Lord and God who has now been born is love (see: 1 Jn 4:8). Amen.

+ KIRILL
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

The Nativity of Christ
Moscow

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If it weren't near ludicrous, I would almost welcome this development because then, maybe, the gay Anglican bishops can set an example for all the gay Christians in the world, that, as the Catholic Church has always taught, it's not homosexuality per se that she opposes but the active practice of it.

Yet liberals have sneered at the Church's line advocating chastity for Christian homosexuals, as much as they sneer at her teaching that abstinence in any environment that breeds HIV can be a far more effective way of fending off the virus than the cheap condoms handed out to the poor in Africa and Asia (which can and do break and are therefore far from failsafe against AIDS).

How, these narcissistic Western liberals ask, can anyone possibly expect human beings to be chaste? If anyone can, it's the Church, which - despite those despicable priests and religious who have offended God and man by making their own sexual gratification their highest priority (they are, of course, only reflecting anything-goes hedonism of post-1968 Western society)-- can point to two millennia of nuns, priests, religious and countless saintly and sainted laymen and women who have led chaste and joyous lives in service to God!

Anyway, consider this development, to which my first reaction was ROTF-LOL..

Church of England will now allow
gay men to become bishops -
provided they remain chaste


LONDON, Jan 4, 2013 (CNA/EWTN News) - The Church of England has decided to permit gay male clergy in civil partnerships to become bishops, provided that they promise to be celibate.

“The House (of Bishops) believed it would be unjust to exclude from consideration for the episcopate anyone seeking to live fully in conformity with the Church's teaching on sexual ethics or other areas of personal life and discipline,” Graham James, Anglican bishop of Norwich, stated Jan. 4.

“All candidates for the episcopate undergo a searching examination of personal and family circumstances, given the level of public scrutiny associated with being a bishop in the Church of England.”

The decision was published Dec. 20, and was made by the Church of England's House of Bishops earlier that month.

Civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2005, at which time those in civil partnerships were allowed to become priests of the Church of England so long as they promised celibacy.

The Church of England holds that clergy “cannot claim the liberty to enter into sexually active homophile relationships,” according to a 1991 document “Issues in Human Sexuality.”

The Church of England teaches that “sexual intercourse...properly belongs within marriage exclusively” and that marriage is “between a man and a woman,” according to its 2005 statement on civil partnerships. [But does the CofE enforce - or even simply espouse - this teaching at all with its faithful? In ueber-secular UK, are you kidding me? Yet it would now purport to enforce it among its clergy and bishops. Very confusing! Heterosexual Anglican clergy can marry and live married lives like their faithful, but homosexuals must be chaste because the Church says so. Why doesn't it say so for the lay faithful as well?]

The Church of England's new policy is the result of controversy surrounding Jeffery John, a priest of the church who is gay.

In 2003 he was appointed bishop of Reading, but was forced to withdraw. Then in 2010 he was nominated for bishop of Southwark but was rejected because of his sexual orientation. He has been in a civil partnership since 2006, and maintains that his relationship is celibateThe move has drawn criticism from both Anglo-Catholic and evangelical factions within the Church of England, who in November successfully opposed plans to allow women bishops in the church.

Rod Thomas is chairman of the evangelical group Reform, and told the BBC that the decision is a grave one and will further split the Anglican Communion.

“It would be much more divisive than what we have seen over women bishops. If you thought that was a furore, wait to see what will happen the first time a bishop in a civil partnership is appointed.”

Gay advocates within in the Church of England greeted the announcement with mixed reviews. Colin Coward, a Church of England priest and director of the group, Changing Attitude, stated that the celibacy requirement was a poor one.

“Jesus, the Holy Spirit, advocates deeply loving faithful committed relationships in which people express their love sexually, and that is Biblical teaching,” he said, according to the BBC.

[See what happens when the devil quotes Jesus himself to try and justify conduct that was once universally considered an 'abomination' Apparently, Coward never heard of Sodom and Gomorrah and why God visited such a terrible punishment on their sins!

Sorry to sound so priggish! This is not an abstract subject for me. Working in multimedia, my best friends and most valuable co-workers were and are gay who stopped being observant Catholics because they did make a conscious lifestyle choice. I wish I could say it brought them joy, but the two or three who thought there was a monogamous future in a gay relationship were pretty quickly disillusioned, and most of them ended up settling for casual sex when and where they can get it.

One of them decided in his 40s that he wanted to raise a child, so he adopted an abandoned baby and raised him with the help of an older sister. He turned out to be the happiest and most settled among all our homophile friends. One tried to join the Trappist order, but the vocations master convinced him after a few weeks in the monastery that he didn't pass their psychological muster. And I think, with age, the others have since realized that self-gratification need not be sexual, especially if they are gifted with enviable creative talents through which they could channel their energies.

As for the Anglican priests and bishops who say they have succeeded to remain chaste in same-sex unions, I hope they share their experience and lessons with others who can use their example just to show that it can be done - and how it can be done. What a great pastoral service that would be.]

The Pope's videomessage
to the Church in Cambodia:
'Proclaim Christ to the world'

January 7, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday delivered a video message to the faithful in Cambodia, at the end of a special national congress to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II and the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Holy Father expressed his hope “that the Cambodian language translation of the conciliar documents and the Catechism that you will receive on this occasion will allow you to better understand the teaching of the Church and grow in faith.”.

He called on Cambodian Catholics to focus on the person of Jesus Christ, and to continue to proclaim the Good News to the modern world.

Recalling the troubling history of Cambodia’s recent past, Pope Benedict said, “I would like to emphasize the faith, courage and perseverance of your pastors and of your Christian brothers and sisters, those so many who have died, is a noble testimony to the truth of the Gospel.”

Here is the Vatican's English translation of the message which was delivered in French:

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Cambodia,

It is with great pleasure that I join you in prayer these days and through the heart, send you warm greetings while you gather around your pastors to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I hope that the Cambodian language translation of the conciliar documents and the Catechism that you will receive on this occasion will allow you to better understand the teaching of the Church and grow in faith.

In this Year of Faith, I invite you to keep your eyes fixed on the person of Jesus Christ who is the origin and end of our faith (cf. Heb 12: 2) and to reiterate the Good News to the world today.

In Him, the examples of faith that have marked our history, find their full light. Also, remembering the period of troubles that precipitated your country in the darkness, I would like to emphasize the faith, courage and perseverance of your pastors and of your Christian brothers and sisters, those so many who have died, is a noble testimony to the truth of the Gospel.

And this testimony has become a priceless spiritual strength to rebuild the church community in your country. Today, many catechumens and adult baptisms show your dynamism and is a happy sign of the active presence of God in you.

Dear brothers and sisters, after the Apostle Paul, I urge you to "keep the unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace" (Eph 4, 3). Be assured of the prayers of your brothers and sisters whose blood flowed in the rice fields!

Be a leaven in the dough of your society, witnessing to the love of Christ for all, building bonds of brotherhood with members of other religious traditions, and walking on the paths of justice and mercy.

Dear young people, my friends who have been baptized in these recent years, do not forget that the Church is your family; she is counting on you to witness the life and the love that you have found in Jesus.

I pray for you and I invite you to be generous disciples of Christ.
Cambodian seminarians, priests and religious, you are a sign of the seeds of the Church that is building up herself. You have offered your life and your prayers are a source of hope. May they be also an invitation to other young people to give their lives as priests and religious in the heart of God.

Missionaries, religious, consecrated laity from five continents, be the beautiful sign of ecclesial communion around your pastors so that your brotherhood in the diversity of your charismas may lead many people you serve and love with zeal to meet Jesus Christ.

And all of you, who seek God, persevere and be sure that Christ loves you and offers you His peace!

Beloved brothers and sisters, pastors and faithful of Cambodia, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Mekong, in her humility and fidelity to the will of the Lord, enlighten you throughout this Year of Faith. Be sure that I keep you in my prayers and in the bottom of my heart I convey you all an affectionate Apostolic Blessing!

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Here is some background on Cambodia from the excellent website of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang (which includes Siem Reap, Cambodia's second largest city after Phnom Penh, and which is near the monumental Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat):

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Since 1969, Cambodia has suffered a number of conflicts which have severely affected its infrastructure and its natural resources. It was only in December 1998 that the Khmer Rouge factions laid down their weapons.

While Cambodia has begun to rebuild itself, the task may take generations. Peace remains a challenge, but at least the systematic violence of armed factions has been relegated to history.

Today it is estimated that 36% of Cambodia's people live below the poverty line. The poverty rate is particularly high in rural areas and rural households, 84%, especially those for whom agriculture is the primary source of income.

The principal factor leading to poverty is lack of access to land because the Khmer Rouge destroyed all the land titles. In areas that are mined, land is not worth anything and it is occupied by people who are very poor. Due to the landmines and of the years without vaccinations against polio, there is a high number of people with disabilities in the region.

When big investors come, no one protects the property and interests of small farmers. Landless families are effectively forced to migrate to other areas, whilst young people also drift into the city in search of education or work. As a result, many end up in garment factories, where they earn a pittance, and girls may be drawn into the city's booming sex trade.

Tourism is a growing area that opens up Cambodia to the world. It is a source of income for the Cambodians and transmits the cultural richness of the country. But tourism also brings about risks: human trafficking, prostitution, lack of transparency or corruption and HIV-AIDS infections.

Children below 18 years of age represent about 50% of the total population. Only 33% of 12 year-olds complete the sixth grade. Many students do not have enough supplies for school; there is an abundance of unqualified teachers, and the teachers are paid very poorly in most places.

About the Cambodian martyrs cited by the Holy Father:

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The Catechism in Cambodian:
A gift for the Year of Faith


Phnom Penh, Jan. 7 (Agenzia Fides) - The Catechism of the Catholic Church has been translated into Khmer (the Cambodian language) and "will be a valuable tool for all communities and associations of the faithful to deepen their understanding of the 'Creed' and of Catholic doctrine, in the Year of Faith", the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, Mons. Olivier Schmitthaeusler, MEP, told Fides at the conclusion of the Congress organized by the Apostolic Vicariate on "The Second Vatican Council and the Church."

The participants of the Congress, which ended today, listened to a video message sent by the Holy Father Benedict XVI to encourage Christians in Cambodia so "they feel they are truly part of the universal Church," the postolic Vicar said.

Also translated on the occasion of the Congress were the documents of Vatican II translated into Khmer - as "a resource for meditation, deepening and study" that will help one to understand how the Khmer Church is part of the post-conciliar dynamic.

The Apostolic Vicar said that the local community has chosen, in particular, this year to reflect on the document Lumen Gentium, about "the Church as the People of God, the faithful called to holiness."

The Catechism in Khmer will be a valuable tool for evangelization. The bishop said that the Cambodian Church, which represents 1% of the population in a country where 96% are Buddhist, "is experiencing again the time of the Acts of the Apostles, with a first proclamation of the Good News" and is "a laboratory of evangelization in a Buddhist world."

Suring the Congress, the Vicar stressed the two significant points for the new evangelization, referring to the situation of the Church in Cambodia, persecuted at the time of the Khmer Rouge: forgiveness and commitment of the laity.

"The real encounter with Jesus Christ," he said, "opens the heart to love and experience of forgiveness, to lead to the discovery of the gift of life," and "the laity are the apostles of this announcement", he said.

I always welcome it when a papal event or message draws attention to a local Church about which we know little, as an opportunity to learn something about it, and what good fortune, in the case of the Church in Cambodia, to find the site of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang online, www.battambang.net/index.html, which is a model of excellence for a pastoral site, as you can see from the items I have lifted from it, and for a website, in general, from the point of view of presentation in clear straightforward and good English and in its graphics, as you can see from the following composite:

Don't you love the little vignette on the left with the doves seeming to fly out of the oil lamp in the lady's hand?

And I cannot pass up this opportunity to call attention to Angkor Wat, said to be the largest religious monument in the world,
and Cambodia's enduring cultural legacy to mankind.

Built in the 12th century at the height of the Hindu Khmer Empire as a temple for Vishnu, Angkor Wat (Temple City) eventually became a Buddhist shrine by the end of the 13th century, as Theravada Buddhism established its dominance in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand. A Portuguese monk, António da Madalena, who visited in 1586, wrote that Angkor Wat "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of" - architecture and adornments which another Western writer has described as the work of an oriental Michelangelo.

Along with the equally monumental 9th century Mahayana Buddhist temple complex in Borobudur, Indonesia, and the 6th-10th century golden pagoda of Shwe Dagon in Rangoon, Burma, Angkor Wat ranks with the great cathedrals of Europe as examples of religious inspiration translated into lasting symbolic beauty, and of extraordinary architectural and artistic achievements by the peoples of Southeast Asia, unrivalled in scale and magnificence anywhere else on the continent. (The remarkable thing is that Angkor Wat is surrounded by numerous lesser temples built in the late Middle Ages that have survived very well to this day, despite the ever-present threat of encroachment from surrounding jungle).

I was wrong = the Vatican considers the Christmas season to end on the Feast of the Lord's Baptism, not the Epiphany, and so it continues to use the Christmas 2012 banner on its website.

January 8, Tuesday after Epiphany
BLESSED ANGELA da FOLIGNO (Italy, 1248-1309), Widow, Franciscan Tertiary, Mystic, Author. 'Teacher of Theologians'
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on Oct. 13, 2010, to Blessed Angela
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101013...
Born to a wealthy family in Foligno, near Assisi, she married early and had children but lived a life described as 'wild, adulterous and sacrilegious'. She reportedly converted after praying to St. Francis who came to her in a dream. Shortly afterwards, her husband and children died and she joined the Franciscan Third Order for lay people. She wrote an account of her conversion and the temptations she met with afterwards: The Book of Visions and Instructions continues to be published in modern editions), and for this, she has been called 'mistress of theologians'. She organized a community of Third Order Franciscan sisters who worked for the poor. Her increasing fame for sanctity attracted many women to the order. After she died, many miracles were attributed to her. Her incorrupt body lies in the Church of St. Francis in Foligno.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010813.cfm
NB: Blessed Angela died on January 4, which is her feast day elsewhere but in the United States where American St. Elizabeth Seton takes precedence, and Blessed Angela's feast day is marked instead on January 7. As the US calendar for saints of the day is blank for January 8, I am using Blessed Angela's story for today. [Yesterday, her feast day was 'overshadowed' by the Orthodox Christmas and by St. Ramon Penyafort... BTW, I do not understand why any day of the year should be left blank on a calendar of feast days, since the Church has more than enough saints and blesseds whose feast days fall on the same day of the year, and I also still have to find out what the criterion is (other than traditional importance and/or personal history bound to the local Church] used by each national Church to designate which saint to highlight on each calendar day.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father met separately with the two other new archbishops he ordained on Sunday, accompanied
by their respective families:

- Mons. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua

- Mons. Nicolas Henry Marie Denis Thevenin, Apostolic Nuncio to Guatemala.

He met yesterday afternoon with Archbishops Angelo Zani and Georg Gaenswein, with their respective families.

The Vatican released the text of the Holy Father's message for the next World Day for the Sick observed
annually by the Church on February 11, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Vatican spokesman rebuffs Mons. Fellay
for calling Jews 'enemies' of the Church
by Alessndro Speciale


VATICAN CITY, January 8 (RNS) - Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Monday that remarks by a breakway traditionalist bishops that called Jews 'enemies' were 'unacceptable.'

The Vatican reaffirmed its commitment to dialogue with Jews on Monday after the head of a traditionalist breakaway group called them "enemies of the Church" in a late December video now circulating on YouTube.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the traditionalist Fraternal Society of St. Pius X (FSSPX), said on Dec. 28 that "the enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the modernists" were opposing the group's reconciliation with the Church.

Fellay assessed the status of relations between the FSSPX and the Vatican in a long speech in New Hamburg, Ontario on ecember 28, 2012, the audio of which was posted on YouTube on Dec. 30.

Monday, the Vatican chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi,called the comment "meaningless" and "unacceptable."

Lombardi said "both Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II personally engaged in dialogue with Jews." As a sign of their commitment, Lombardi noted the two Popes' visits to Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's most sacred site, and to synagogues in Rome and elsewhere.

Pope Benedict XVI has been pushing since 2009 to repair the decades-long breach with the FSSPX, focusing on the group's rejection of the modernizing changes of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Those changes including revolutionizing the church's relations with Judaism.

Lombardi declined to comment on the potential impact of Fellay's words on the dialogue between the Vatican and the FSSPX. The dialogue is currently stalled as the Vatican awaits the FSSPX's response to a reconciliation offer submitted last June.

Leaked FSSPX documents slammed the proposal as "clearly unacceptable," but the Vatican signaled in October that it is willing to give the traditionalists "additional time for reflection and study."

Anti-Semitic strains within the FSSPX have been a major headache for the Vatican; shortly after Benedict lifted the 1988 excommunications of four FSSPX bishops, it emerged that one of the bishops, Richard Williamson, was a vocal denier of the Holocaust.

In a statement, the American branch of the FSSPX dismissed the "false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech" made against the group.

It said the fSSPX leader used the word "enemies" as a "religious concept," referring to "any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls."

"Fellay's comment was aimed at the leaders of Jewish organizations, and not the Jewish people, as is being implied by journalists," the group said.

Just to be precise about what Fellay said, as quoted by CNS: He said that "those most opposed to Rome granting canonical recognition to the FSSPX have been the enemies of the Church: - the Jews, the Masons, the modernists - who are outside of the Church, who over centuries have been enemies of the Church, urged the Vatican to compel the FSSPX to accept Vatican II". If that is what he said, that's pathological paranoia and insulting to Benedict XVI, as if he does not have his own mind! I have not seen a transcript of Fellay's discoursee, only what Carol Glatz reported about it for CNS on January 4. (There is a link to the full audio,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz9RduZzw1Q&feature=player_detailpage but I do not have the time to sit through 1 hour and 39 minutes of it, to check out exactly what he said - even if Fellay speaks English quite well and clearly.)

But the American FSSPX is not denying what he textually said, only the sense of it as applying to Jews in general. A clarification from the FSSPX's very efficient propaganda arm DICI would be far moe reassuring. While I am willing to give Fellay the benefit of the doubt and say he may not have meant it the way he said it, he did it say it the way he did - which is most objectionable, if not despicable - in the course of remarks which were not said in haste, but deliberately, thoughtfully and carefully, if I am to judge by the first few minutes I listened to...

The following article is not meant to be a commentary in any way on Fellay's statement about the Jews - it just happens to be a thematically related story whose timing is apropos...

Austrian Jewish leader says
anti-Semitism growing in Europe


VIENNA, January 7, 2013 (AP) - The leader of Vienna's Jewish community says the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Austria reported to his office have doubled over the past year and adds that Jews are under duress elsewhere in the EU as well.

Oskar Deutsch tells the Kurier newspaper that the Jewish community registered 135 such incidents last year, compared to 71 in 2011.

In comments published Monday, he named Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Greece as the EU countries where Jews are most under threat, adding that fearful Jewish families in Hungary have recently started to immigrate to Austria.


Fr. Lombardi is an intelligent and highly cultured man, and I am sure he does not harbor the least of bad intentions against anyone, but if only because he is the Vatican spokesman, he has a duty to research what he says before he says it - he cannot take it for granted that his 'memory' is infallible. He erred egregiously during Benedict XVI's visit to the Holy Land when he said at a news briefing, "The Pope has said he never, never was a member of the Hitler Youth, which was a movement of fanatical volunteers," which is, of course, factually wrong, as Cardinal Ratzinger himself made clear in his memoir Milestones - not that he was a voluntary member in any way but that it was mandatory for all German youth at the time to be 'automatically' enrolled in the Hitler Youth...

And today, he makes an even more unforgivable error of historical omission that, to be fair, is widespread among many Catholics. including many 'autoritative' commentators (conditioned, I suppose, by five decades of progressivist propaganda that would attribute anything 'progressive' in the Church to Vatican II).

Here is an account by the Italian service of Vatican Radio of what Fr. Lombardi said today when asked to comment on Mons. Fellay's recent ostensibly anti-Jewish statement. For some reason, the great minds running the English service of RV do not consider the report 'newsworthy' for their section...

Fr. Lombardi says Fellay statement
'unacceptable' in view of Vatican II
and Magisterium in recent decades
Translated from the Italian service of

January 8, 2013

A Magisterial tradition that has lasted for decades on the part of the Popes and the Church, united in their commitment to inter-religious dialog, shows that it is absolutely impossible to speak of the Jews as 'enemies of the Church', Fr. Federico Lombardi said today.

He was asked by newsmen to comment on a recent statement by Mons. Bernard Fellay, superior-general of the FSSPX, lumping the Jews with 'Masons and modernists' as 'enemies of the Church'.

Without getting into the merit of Fellay's statements, Fr. Lombardi underscored that the position of the Catholic Church with regard to its relationship with Judaism was authoritatively expressed in the declaration Nostra Aetate by the Second Vatican Council, and that since then, the Popes have demonstrated frequently in words and acts the great importance that the Church attaches to dialog with the Jews.

He also recalled the visits of John Paul II and Benedict XVI to various synagogues, and to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. John Paul II visited the synagogues in Rome and Damascus, whereas Benedict XVI visited synagogues in Cologne, New York and Rome.

[IMHO, the basic issue here is not about dialog with the Jews, since Nostra aetate advocates dialog with the major non-Christian faiths, not just Judaism. The basic question is the Church's official attitude towards Judaism itself.

Without having to do other than basic research, it first occurred to me at the time Jewish circles questioned the Good Friday prayer for the Jews as revised by Benedict XVI in 2007, when he revalidated the traditional Mass for general use in the Church. The Apostles' Creed says Jesus 'suffered under Pontius Pilate' = not 'suffered under the Jews' - from the time these articles of faith were first codified by the Council of Nicea in the 4th century. Whatever their reasons for the quite-specific formulation, the Nicean Fathers obviously did not share a popular belief that had already taken root by then that the Jews 'killed Jesus' and are therefore to be condemned forever as God-killers. Forgive me for going back to a post on this thread that I made back in March 2011
benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=85272...
when the media were collectively in a tizzy over the passages in JESUS OF NAZARETH-Vol. 2, where the Holy Father, as the MSM put it at the time, 'exonerated' the Jews of deicide...

---

I must admit that I never before fretted about the 'culpability' of the Jews, because even to my child's mind at the time I was first exposed to the story of Christ's Passion and death, it was apparent that one could not ascribe actions by a group of people at a specific time to everyone who ever belonged/belongs to such a group. Fellow Catholics in the provincial town where I grew up certainly did not harbor any animus against Jews, even if, from our colonial history under Spain, it became part of the vernacular in all Philippine languages to call traitors either 'Judas' or 'judio' (Spanish word for Jew). So I must admit to great ignorance about how the Church has dealt with anti-Semitism where it existed/exists among the faithful. In fact, no priest I have been exposed to ever blamed Jews in any way.

Now it turns out that the collective memory of the most outstanding Catholic writers and Vaticanistas have so far failed to recount what is found about this subject in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), prepared under the overall supervision of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as our friend Caterina pointed out promptly in comments posted on Lella's blog, and of which I must admit total ignorance, since I have never looked at the CCC except to check out certain sections when I find them cited. Caterina posted her comment in indignation at Repubblica where a writer claimed that Benedict XVI was 'rewriting' Scriptures!

I have pulled the relevant citation about the Jews from the English version:

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994

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Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus's death.

597 The historical complexity of Jesus's trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. The personal sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone. Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches contained in the apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost.

Jesus himself, in forgiving them on the cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept "the ignorance" of the Jews of Jerusalem and even of their leaders.

Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!", a formula for ratifying a judicial sentence.

As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: "....[N]either all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his Passion. . . [T]he Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture.

All sinners were the authors of Christ's Passion.

598 In her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that "sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured." [Roman Catechism I, 5, 11; cf. Heb 12:3][NB: Roman Catechism I is the Catechism published in 1566 after the Council of Trent!]

Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself, [Cf. Mt 25:45; Acts 9:4-5] the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone:

"We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt.

"And it can be seen that our crime in this case is greater in us than in the Jews. As for them, according to the witness of the Apostle, "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." We, however, profess to know him. And when we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him. [Roman Catechism I, 5, 11; cf. Heb 6:6; 1 Cor 2:8]

Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins. [St. Francis of Assisi, Admonitio 5, 3]

---

The other great 'revelation' to me of these passages from the CCC is that the Council of Trent back in the 16th century already said what needed to be said about the Jews! (In other words, the Lefebvrians cannot possibly act holier than the Council of Trent - their base reference for what is Tradition - and strike out at Benedict XVI now for re-stating, with the benefit of and reinforced by additional scholarship in the 450 years since the Council of Trent, the necessary and obvious!)

Another 'discovery' I made while looking up the correct CCC citation was a 2004 article in America magazine itself, about a resource book put out by the USCCB in 2004 for use by Catholic preachers, teachers, interested laity and Catholic-Jewish dialogue groups, entitled The Bible, the Jews and the Death of Jesus: A Collection of Catholic Documents
www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=3413
which cites the CCC paragraphs and its references to the Council of Trent, and adds: "Of all the historical actors, we are reminded, only Pilate is mentioned in the ancient creeds of the Church" (and is still mentioned in the Creed today!).

It reminded me of an argument that immediately came to mind when some Jewish critics made a casus belli of the Good Friday prayer in 2007. Leaving aside the fact that Benedict XVI's modification is applicable only to the traditional Mass, and that the prayer is said once a year only, the Creed, which is recited at every Mass and in every rosary by Catholics around the world thousands of times every day, says nothing about the Jews. In fact, I have seen no version of the Creed which lays the blame on the Jews in any way, the line being 'suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and was buried...'

One other thing: From what I have read cursorily in the CCC and how it presents the life of Jesus, I think the CCC was a sort of technical rehearsal by Cardinal Ratzinger in preparation for JON, which he would start writing 10 years after the CCC first appeared.

And, of course, as Fr. Martin and others point out, this definitive teaching about the Jews by the Catholic Church would never have received the attention it has now, if the Pope had not written it, and in widely accessible form, in a book.

I doubt any of the writers who had to report on the CCC when it first came out even thought of checking out what it had to say about the Jews. And not even during all the Sturm und Drang over the Good Friday prayer in 2007 did anyone ever even point out that the 1994 CCC, let alone the 1566 Catechism after the Council of Trent, had made all the definitive statements about the Jews that Catholics need to make. Benedict XVI, in JON-2, performed a great service by restating these statements for the contemporary reader.

---

Today, I found an English translation of exactly what the Tridentine Catechism said on the matter:

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Reasons Why Christ Suffered
[From the discussion of Article 4 in the Creed]

The reasons why the Savior suffered are also to be explained, that thus the greatness and intensity of the divine love towards us may the more fully appear. Should anyone inquire why the Son of God underwent His most bitter Passion, he will find that besides the guilt inherited from our first parents the principal causes were the vices and crimes which have been perpetrated from the beginning of the world to the present day and those which will be committed to the end of time.

In His Passion and death the Son of God, our Savior, intended to atone for and blot out the sins of all ages, to offer for them to his Father a full and abundant satisfaction.

Besides, to increase the dignity of this mystery, Christ not only suffered for sinners, but even for those who were the very authors and ministers of all the torments He endured.

Of this the Apostle [Paul] reminds us in these words addressed to the Hebrews: "Think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. In this guilt are involved all those who fall frequently into sin; for, as our sins consigned Christ the Lord to the death of the cross, most certainly those who wallow in sin and iniquity crucify to themselves again the Son of God, as far as in them lies, and make a mockery of Him".

This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; while we, on the contrary, professing to know Him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on him.'

- Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1566

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When was the last time Mons. Fellay looked at the Tridentine Catechism, one wonders!

Which brings me back to what got me started on this necessary historical lookback - Fr. Lombardi's facile assumption )without checking his facts), shared by a majority of thinking Catholics today, I think, that the Church's official position about the Jews only dated back to Vatican II and Nostra aetate - in my opinion, an inexplicably a-historical view that even ignores the words of St. Paul - whose Letter to the Romans (especially Chapters 9 and 11) has been cited by Benedict XVI in homilies to underscore the Christian attitude about the Jews.

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"Go and do likewise"(Lk 10,37)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. On 11 February 2013, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Twenty-first World Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated at the Marian Shrine of Altötting.

This day represents for the sick, for health care workers, for the faithful and for all people of goodwill “a privileged time of prayer, of sharing, of offering one’s sufferings for the good of the Church, and a call for all to recognize in the features of their suffering brothers and sisters the Holy Face of Christ, who, by suffering, dying and rising has brought about the salvation of mankind” (John Paul II, Letter for the Institution of the World Day of the Sick, 13 May 1992, 3).

On this occasion I feel especially close to you, dear friends, who in health care centres or at home, are undergoing a time of trial due to illness and suffering. May all of you be sustained by the comforting words of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council: “You are not alone, separated, abandoned or useless. You have been called by Christ and are his living and transparent image” (Message to the Poor, the Sick and the Suffering).

2. So as to keep you company on the spiritual pilgrimage that leads us from Lourdes, a place which symbolizes hope and grace, to the Shrine of Altötting, I would like to propose for your reflection the exemplary figure of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10.25-37).

The Gospel parable recounted by Saint Luke is part of a series of scenes and events taken from daily life by which Jesus helps us to understand the deep love of God for every human being, especially those afflicted by sickness or pain.

With the concluding words of the parable of the Good Samaritan, “Go and do likewise” (Lk 10,37), the Lord also indicates the attitude that each of his disciples should have towards others, especially those in need.

We need to draw from the infinite love of God, through an intense relationship with him in prayer, the strength to live day by day with concrete concern, like that of the Good Samaritan, for those suffering in body and spirit who ask for our help, whether or not we know them and however poor they may be.

This is true, not only for pastoral or health care workers, but for everyone, even for the sick themselves, who can experience this condition from a perspective of faith: “It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love” (Spe Salvi, 37).

3. Various Fathers of the Church saw Jesus himself in the Good Samaritan; and in the man who fell among thieves they saw Adam, our very humanity wounded and disoriented on account of its sins (cf. Origen, Homily on the Gospel of Luke XXXIV,1-9; Ambrose, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke, 71-84; Augustine, Sermon 171).

Jesus is the Son of God, the one who makes present the Father’s love, a love which is faithful, eternal and without boundaries. But Jesus is also the one who sheds the garment of his divinity, who leaves his divine condition to assume the likeness of men (cf. Phil 2:6-8), drawing near to human suffering, even to the point of descending into hell, as we recite in the Creed, in order to bring hope and light.

He does not jealously guard his equality with God (cf. Phil 2:6) but, filled with compassion, he looks into the abyss of human suffering so as to pour out the oil of consolation and the wine of hope.

4. The Year of Faith which we are celebrating is a fitting occasion for intensifying the service of charity in our ecclesial communities, so that each one of us can be a good Samaritan for others, for those close to us.

Here I would like to recall the innumerable figures in the history of the Church who helped the sick to appreciate the human and spiritual value of their suffering, so that they might serve as an example and an encouragement.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, “an expert in the scientia amoris” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 42), was able to experience “in deep union with the Passion of Jesus” the illness that brought her “to death through great suffering” (Address at General Audience, 6 April 2011).

The Venerable Luigi Novarese, who still lives in the memory of many, throughout his ministry realized the special importance of praying for and with the sick and suffering, and he would often accompany them to Marian shrines, especially to the Grotto of Lourdes.

Raoul Follereau, moved by love of neighbour, dedicated his life to caring for people afflicted by Hansen’s disease, even at the world’s farthest reaches, promoting, among other initiatives, World Leprosy Day.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta would always begin her day with an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist and then she would go out into the streets, rosary in hand, to find and serve the Lord in the sick, especially in those “unwanted, unloved, uncared for”.

Saint Anna Schäffer of Mindelstetten, too, was able to unite in an exemplary way her sufferings to those of Christ: “her sick-bed became her cloister cell and her suffering a missionary service. Strengthened by daily communion, she became an untiring intercessor in prayer and a mirror of God’s love for the many who sought her counsel” (Canonization Homily, 21 October 2012).

In the Gospel the Blessed Virgin Mary stands out as one who follows her suffering Son to the supreme sacrifice on Golgotha. She does not lose hope in God’s victory over evil, pain and death, and she knows how to accept in one embrace of faith and love, the Son of God who was born in the stable of Bethlehem and died on the Cross.

Her steadfast trust in the power of God was illuminated by Christ’s resurrection, which offers hope to the suffering and renews the certainty of the Lord’s closeness and consolation.

5. Lastly, I would like to offer a word of warm gratitude and encouragement to Catholic health care institutions and to civil society, to Dioceses and Christian communities, to religious congregations engaged in the pastoral care of the sick, to health care workers’ associations and to volunteers.

May all realize ever more fully that “the Church today lives a fundamental aspect of her mission in lovingly and generously accepting every human being, especially those who are weak and sick” (Christifideles Laici, 38).

I entrust this Twenty-first World Day of the Sick to the intercession of Our Lady of Graces, venerated at Altötting, that she may always accompany those who suffer in their search for comfort and firm hope.

May she assist all who are involved in the apostolate of mercy, so that they may become good Samaritans to their brothers and sisters afflicted by illness and suffering. To all I impart most willingly my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican
2 January 2013

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Altoetting, sometimes called the Lourdes of Germany (even if its history is at least a thousand years older than the shrine in France), is also particularly associated with Joseph Ratzinger who spent his childhood and youth in towns near Altoetting, and whose childhood memories include frequent visits to the Marian shrine with his family. The center of the Marian pilgrimages is the Gnadenkappele, or Chapel of Graces (left, lower panel) with the miraculous image of the Madonna of Altoetting, also called Our Lady of Bavaria. Benedict XVI celebrated a huge open-air Mass in Altoetting when he visited Bavaria in September 2006.

'The Infancy Narratives':
Not just a book for Chbristmas
by Dan Burke
from his blog on

January 07, 2013

You may have avoided the JESUS OF NAZARETH books by Pope Benedict because you don't feel particularly scholarly. Maybe you're busy. Maybe they just seem like they don't really apply to you.

As we come out of the holiday season, with all of its hustle and hurry, the Pope's third and final Jesus of Nazareth book offers a chance to reflect on what just happened.

In just over 100 pages, the Pope examines the Gospel accounts of Jesus's childhood. Reading this book is a chance to be part of a discussion, one that doesn't require a degree in theology. It's a relatively short book and within it is a story that touches the very heart of what it is to be human.

Pope Benedict approaches the topic with the passion of a scholar but the words of a conversationalist. [Not a 'conversationalist' so much as a 'conversation partner', and this has been one of the outstanding characteristics of Joseph Ratzinger's writings, so evident in the JON books, but even in his more 'academic' works like Introduction to Christianity - you can almost hear him talking to you, as he actually does in his papal homilies and discourses!] Even as you scratch your head at the miracle, Papa invites you to open your heart for the Incarnation [and to the mystery of Christ in general].

In the foreword, Pope Benedict asserts that this book "is not a third volume, but a kind of small 'antechamber' to the two earlier volumes on the figure and message of Jesus of Nazareth." What that means in practice is that it's a book that tucks nicely into your briefcase and accompanies you easily before lunch.

The theology is flawless, in part for its approachability. The beauty of the ideas presented and discussed--those of Jesus's childhood and specifically his birth--is in part found in the simplicity of the Pope's language.

Picture yourself as a child sitting with a favorite uncle or a brilliant grandfather. How would they tell you the story of Jesus's birth, explaining the Gospels? What kind of inflections would his voice have? That's the feel of this book, and it's no less brilliant for that aspect.

The book begins with the question of where Jesus is from and continues to the annunciation of John the Baptist, which is then contrasted with the annunciation of Jesus. We read about the wise men and the significance of the star, followed by the flight into Egypt. The epilogue considers the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple.

It doesn't seem like much--but yet it seems like so much. Pope Benedict guides the reader on a journey to help us understand some of the depth and breadth of Scripture...

The Pope to new bishops:
'Aim to convince others of the faith,
but be prepared to accept attacks'
Translated from

January 8, 2013

The dominant agnosticism these days is far from being a garden of tolerance, Benedict XVI said in his splendid homily on the Magi, whom he held up as a mirror for what a bishop must be, well aware that his great task of renewing the Church must go through a renewal first of the episcopate.

As the Pope points out, current agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant of anyone who would question its criteria. And that is why he said "the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset is particularly urgent for the bishop today".

One only has to randomly scan the pages of any newspaper to be aware of this urgency. Benedict XVI himself has suffered a new round of brutal insults in recent days for having denounced the falsehood of an ideology of gender - coming not just from the hate brigades in teh social media but even from democratic institutions like the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

And here, in Spain, no less than the spokesman of an autonomous government, that of Andalucia, has just asked for the Bishop of Cordoba to be muzzled! Perhaps, he studied democracy in Moscow's Lubjanka prison, but this state of affairs is not new.

The Pope vividly recreated what it must have meant for the Magi to the 'realists' in their time when they decided to go forth following a star. Always, the humility of faith finds itself in conflict with the dominant thinking of those who adhere to what they think appears to be certain.

And that is why a bishop has to be courageous. But what kind of courage does he need" The Pope says, "it does not consist in striking out or in acting aggressively, but rather in allowing oneself to be steadfast in his principles against the prevalent way of thinking... the courage to remain firm in the truth."

Evidently this is not about a morbid taste for confrontation nor of savoring the role of victim. The Pope goes on: "Like the Apostles, we naturally want to convince people and in this sense to obtain their approval. Naturally, we are not provocative; on the contrary we invite all to enter into the joy of that truth which shows us the way. The approval of the prevailing wisdom, however, is not the criterion to which we submit".

I think Benedict XVI is the living image of this effort which seeks to persuade both the mind and the heart of contemporary man. It is not about launching forth the truth as if it were a stone to hurl against the opponent's shield, but to convince and invite.

Christian witness is not about exacerbating contradiction but obtaining an acknowledgment of the Truth. Because what we desire is that men listen to the Christian message and follow it.

But in any case, the dominant mindset will never be the criterion to which the Christian must answer, least of all, a bishop who must walk ahead, opening the way and marking the route to faith, hope and love.

The criterion can only be the Lord himself, who, as Benedict XVI often points out, surpasses the limits of human reason but never contradicts it. And so it always happens that the announcement of the Gospel draws many persons 'home' to the Church, even as it disturbs and challenges others.

But it also has happened and is bound to happen that the witness for Christ (and the bishop should be first to bear such witness) is inevitably attacked by those who would oppose the Truth. In such a case - never wanted nor sought - "then we can be grateful for having been judged worthy to share in the passion of Christ". [Obviously, that is what sustains the Holy Father in dealing with all the unfair and unwarranted attacks on him and the Church even by some Catholics who ought to know better. We defend him best by unfailingly praying for him and all those who serve the Lord by serving the Church.]

The bishop, as leading witness, cannot offer any discourse that is different from the life he leads - he must demonstrate with his own life the truth that he is announcing, and that means exposing himself, being ready to pay the price.

At this point, we may well ask - All this for what? We must return to the first part of the homily when the Pope explains that, like the Magi from the East, a bishop is not just someone who is content with carrying out his task efficiently.

Rather, he must be a man possessed with the same 'restlessness' God has for men, nothing less. He must be a man concerned for others, who feels touched by the vicissitudes of others. And who knows that his own harvest brings little that can truly help him. That only to the degree that he can reflect on God, that he can open for others the way to him, only then will he truly serve those for whose spiritual wellbeing he is responsible. Nothing less will do.

Restan inadvertently omits the explicit statement that

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The Bishop, as a pilgrim of God, must be above all a man of prayer. He must be in constant inner contact with God; his soul must be open wide to God. He must bring before God his own needs and the needs of others, as well as his joys and the joys of others, and thus in his own way establish contact between God and the world in communion with Christ, so that Christ’s light can shine in the world.

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It is always awesome when Benedict XVI speaks about what it means to be a priest and a bishop, because one hears someone who is sharing his own personal experience. No one can speak so constantly, consistently and compellingly about the Catholic ministry unless he has lived what he says. It's the closest we can get to a first-person account of the Holy Father's most intimate being. One can appreciate even more why he is the Pope who convoked a Year for Priests. Perhaps there ought to be a Year for Priests every five years - in addition to a topdown overhaul of the priest formation process - in order to breed the kind of priest exemplified by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

The word 'spread'
enters the papal lexicon -
but the Pope uses it to describe
the gap between rich and poor
By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY, January 8 (Reuters) - The ubiquitous term "spread" - a staple of financial news bulletins and one of the main measures of investor sentiment - has now penetrated even the elevated lexicon of the papacy.

In his speech to diplomats from around the world on Monday, Pope Benedict chastised those who only think of a "spread" in financial terms. He said there should be a simultaneous concern for a social "spread" - the gap between the rich and poor.

"If the differential index between financial taxes represents a source of concern, the increasing differences between those few who grow ever richer and the many who grow hopelessly poorer, should be a cause for dismay," the Pope told the diplomats in his speech at the Vatican on Monday.

"In a word, it is a question of refusing to be resigned to a 'spread' in social well-being, while at the same time fighting one in the financial sector," he said.

During the financial crisis facing Italy for more than a year, hardly a week has passed without a news report about the see-sawing spread - the risk premium investors demand to hold Italian bonds rather than their safer German equivalents.

The higher the spread, the greater interest payments are for Italy to finance its public debt. The spread was at 574 basis points about 14 months ago when Prime Minister Mario Monti took office, and is now at about 279 basis points.

But in the part of his speech that centered on financial issues - most of the address was dedicated to hot spots such as Syria - the Pope said politicians had to consider people as well as numbers.

"Certainly, if justice is to be achieved, good economic models, however necessary, are not sufficient. Justice is achieved only when people are just," he said.

As far as the spread is concerned, Benedict, a world-class theologian who by his own admission is not good with numbers, is only the latest person to be unexpectedly touched by the S-word.

Last month Monti told a television interviewer that talk of bond spreads had filtered down from the power lunches of bankers and brokers all the way to his grandson's kindergarten.

"The youngest of my daughter's three children was home and saw a news program on television and they were talking about the spread," Monti said. "And he said 'Mamma, but I'm Spread'".

It seems the word has become so much a part of the common lexicon that his schoolmates gave him the nickname "Spread".

The West has its own 12 days of Christmas, of course, which ends on the Feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night....

Russian Orthodox Christians
celebrate Christmas for 12 days



Left, Patriarch Kirill celebrates Christmas Mass in Moscow; in the background, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev and his family. Right, President Putin lights candles at a church in the Russian resort city of Sochi where he is spending the holidays.

MOSCOW, January 8 (Itar-Tass) - It’s Christmastide in Russia. Orthodox Christians will be celebrating the arrival of Jesus Christ for the next 12 days. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill was to conduct a service at the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The liturgy will be devoted to the Holy Virgin and other earthly relatives of Jesus Christ.

In the daytime, the Patriarch will greet children who will be attending a New Year party at the State Kremlin Palace.

A Christmas festival will kick off at the Moscow House of Music on January 9. The program includes performances by the best spiritual choirs from Russia, Ukraine and Spain.

Puppet Nativity shows will be staged outside the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

The old halls of the Naryshkin chambers of the State Literary Museum will host the traditional Christmas Tales holiday. The “Tri Lika” (three images) Nativity Theatre will show a play there at noon. The Nativity Theatres from Lithuania and the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitsky will stage shows on other days. The Vagrant Booth Theatre will organize an Orthodox New Year festival on January 13 and 14.

Eastern Orthodox Christians often abstain from meat, eggs, dairy, and/or alcohol for a period of 40 days leading up to Christmas and then fast during the day of Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve observances include church services followed by an evening meal of 12 dishes corresponding to each of the 12 apostles.

During the Soviet era, the celebration of Christmas in Russia was banned (along with the celebration of other religious holidays); during this period many Christmas traditions were transposed to New Year’s to align with the law. Since 1991 Russian Orthodox Christmas has been a public holiday in Russia.

Orthodox Christmas holidays are traditionally accompanied by charitable actions.

Over 1,500 volunteers have gathered 35,000 gifts for orphans, families with many children, old and lonely people as well as the homeless as part of the “Give Joy for Christmas” action held at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, a source at the Orthodox service called Miloserdiye (Charity) of the Synodal department on church charity told Itar-Tass.

"Good people brought not only sweets and chocolate but also expensive gifts such as household appliances, digital equipment, furniture and wheel chairs,” Yekaterina Metleva, the charity programs coordinator at the Miloserdiye service, said.

For example, the seven-year-old Misha Filimonov from a family with many children will get a much-desired drawing easel during Christmastide. Misha who used to suffer from infantile cerebral paralysis has almost been cured of his disease and is now going to an ordinary school. Misha is fond of drawing and his dream of having a folded drawing easel will finally come true at Christmastime.

Sisters of Charity, priests and volunteers will greet their fosterlings in boarding schools, hospitals, social adaptation centers or at home during the Christmas week from January 7 to 14.

The first “Give Joy for Christmas” action was held last year. More than 24,000 gifts were collected in five Russian regions. The action’s geography has expanded this year. Volunteers and Sisters of Charity will hand out Christmas gifts in 14 cities in Russia as well as in Belarus and Tskhinval.

In the meantime, Christmas was traditionally marked in Georgia and Belarus on January 7.

A traditional Christmas procession known as Halleluiah was held in Georgian districts, cities and villages on Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7. In Tbilisi, people went through the Rustaveli Avenue to the St. Trinity Church. Children dressed in white gowns with red crosses sang songs announcing the news the Jesus Christ had been born. Clergymen carried crosses and the Savior’s icon in front of the procession. Catholicos Patriarch Iliya II met the procession near the St. Trinity Church. He extended Christmas greetings to Orthodox Christians.

People put sweets, fruit and toys in carts harnessed with mules. The donations will be handed over to orphanages, hospitals and homes for old people.

The tradition of holding the Halleluiah procession which is 15 centuries old was interrupted when Georgia became part of the USSR. It was restored in the mid-1990s at the request of Iliya II. Georgia adopted Christianity in the 4th century. Today, 84% of Georgia’s population (four and a half million people) are Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox Christians in Belarus marked Christmas on Monday. Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk conducted a liturgy at the Minsk Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

In his Christmas address Metropolitan Filaret noted that the state and the church had established good relations with each other. "We develop cooperation communicating in the language of moral values. Today, it’s important to remember that Christianity is turned not only to a community of people but also to each separate individual,” Metropolitan Filaret went on to say.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also extended Christmas greetings to his compatriots. "According to an old tradition, god-believers in Belarus mark this family holiday at home with their relatives,” Lukashenko said. He wished that the Christmas holiday could unite the Belarusians, help them doing nice deeds and work to make their wonderful homeland prosperous.

At present, 80% of Belarusian population call themselves Orthodox Christians. More than 1,500 parishes and 1,300 churches, ten monasteries and 19 convents function in Belarus. Hundreds of religious institutions are being built.


Above: In istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I celebrates Christmas Mass at the Phanar. Below, two days earlier, the Patriarch presided at a traditional Epiphany/Baptism of Christ custom in Istanbul's Golden Horn, in which male swimmers dive into the icy waters to retrieve a crucifix tossed by the Patriarch.

Report says some 100 million Christians
are persecuted around the world
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor


PARIS, January 8 (Reuters) - About 100 million Christians are persecuted around the world, with conditions worsening for them most rapidly in Syria and Ethiopia, according to an annual report by a group supporting oppressed Christians worldwide.

Open Doors, a non-denominational Christian group, listed North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan as the three toughest countries for Christians last year. They topped the 50-country ranking for 2011 as well.

Syria jumped from 36th to 11th place on the list as its Christian minority, first suspected by rebels of close ties to the Assad government, has increasingly become a target for radical Islamist fighters, the report said.

Ethiopia, which is two-thirds Christian, shot up from 38th to 15th place in the ranking due to a "complex mix of persecution dynamics" including attacks by radical Islamists and reprisals by traditional Christians against new Protestant movements.

Mali came from no listing for 2011 to 7th place because the sharia rule the Islamist Ansar Dine group imposed on the north of the country not only brought harsh punishments for the Muslim majority but also drove the tiny Christian minority, it said.

"There are over 65 countries where Christians are persecuted," said the report released on Tuesday by Open Doors, which began in the 1950s smuggling Bibles into communist states and now works in more than 60 countries.

"An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide are persecuted," the United States-based group said in the report. All but one of the 50 countries in the list - Colombia, which ranked 46th - were in Africa, Asia or the Middle East.

Christianity is the largest and most widely spread faith in the world, with 2.2 billion followers or 32 percent of the world population, according to a report by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

It faces restrictions and hostility in 111 countries around the world, ahead of the 90 countries limiting or harassing the second-largest faith, Islam, another Pew report said.

"In recent years, we've been hearing that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world - that sounds right to us," said Open Doors France director Michel Varton at a presentation of the report in Strasbourg.

Leaders of various denominations - including Pope Benedict, whose Roman Catholic followers account for more than half of all Christians - increasingly make this accusation.

It may well be the case given Christianity's size and global spread, but it is hard to produce enough reliable comparative statistics to give it a solid empirical basis.

Some German politicians and human rights groups criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel last November for saying this at a Protestant Church conference there, saying it was pointless to try to rank religions according to how persecuted they were.

Open Doors, which documents cases of persecution of Christians, said its report was based on official studies, news reports and field reports and questionnaires filled out by its staff workers around the world.

Of the top 10 countries on the list - North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran, Yemen and Eritrea - eight are majority Muslim states threatened by what Open Doors called "Islamic extremism".

North Korea has kept its number one ranking for the past 11 years because it is illegal simply to be a Christian there, it said. Open Doors estimates that up to 70,000 North Koreans have been sent to labour camps for their faith.

The report said second-placed Saudi Arabia, which bans public practice of any faith but Islam, has a growing Christian population because of its migrant workers and some converts it says converted after watching Christian satellite television.

"Christians risk further persecution and oppression in the future due to the rising number of converts and their boldness in sharing their faith," it said.

The president seems determined
to make America 'unexceptional'
By James V. Schall, S.J.

Tuesday, 08 January 2013

Is the United States just like other nations? Or is there something unique about its founding that resolves the central issue of politics, namely what is the best practical regime for most people? If I read the current president correctly, he does not think that the United States has anything exceptional about it.

Indeed, he apparently thinks that the very notion of this exceptionalism has caused havoc in the world. In a quasi-Marxist analysis, America has “exploited” the world to its benefit. The president’s mission is to set things right by reducing America to size.

We have not explained to the world, as many think we can and should, how it is that the nations can benefit themselves by embracing certain unique American ideas of freedom, responsibility, rule of law, enterprise, and limits of government.

In the president’s view, however, we need to withdraw because our ideas are harmful to the poor. Not a few conservatives hold a similar thesis. The difference is that the president seems to think that the best regimes are the European socialist-welfare configurations that put most things in the control of government, while the latter think that America is unique, decentralized, but un-exportable.

In reflecting on the nature of our polity, however, we must keep in mind the classical thinkers, particularly Plato and Aristotle. If we are Christians, we recall that the New Testament says little about politics – render to Caesar, be obedient to proper authorities, love thy neighbor. This relative indifference to politics is a theological compliment to reason, to what reason can figure out by itself.

Pace the liberationists of whatever stripe, revelation is not concerned with the political or economic structures of this world. We are given brains to deal with such things. Rather, it is concerned with eternal life and how it is achieved in any polity, good or bad.

Granted that politics can obstruct and obscure the proper hierarchy of human goods, still revelation did not reveal what reason could figure out without it. Christianity does presuppose that man is a certain kind of being. He is free to reject or accept what he is. In either case, acceptance or rejection, consequences follow from free human actions. In more healthy times, we would call this natural law. We do not call it so today. Why?

Because how we choose to live requires that we reject any implication that an objectively right and wrong way of living exists, especially a right and wrong way that deals with sex, marriage, and the family. This conscious denial of an identifiable and normative human nature brings to our consciousness the classical descriptions of the relation between polity and ways of personal living.


Fr. Schall chose to illustrate this essay with 'The Triumph of Virtue Over Evil' (1556), by Paolo Veronese, which he painted for the Hall of the Council of Ten in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. (I suppose it expresses a wish we can all share!)

In practice, we are carrying out the Greek cycle of regimes that lead from oligarchy to democracy to tyranny, all of a most genteel nature. In our concern with exceptionalism and un-exceptionalism, we failed to notice that human nature is going pretty much along the paths that were sketched out for us particularly by Aristotle and Plato.

The Platonic principle that the order of polity is but a reflection of the order of soul seems to be a perfectly accurate way to conceive the real nature of our public order. Gradually, but with increasing quickness, the public order has been declining along the lines that lead from the classic definition of the end of democracy to the classic definition of the end of tyranny. These ends were always seen to be related.

The central political issue remains that of personal virtue or its lack manifested in identifiable vice. While government may make either virtue or vice easier or more difficult through law, it cannot dictate what goes on in the souls of the citizens. The definition of oligarchy was wealth as a definition of personal happiness. Democracy placed liberty at its center.

At first sight this freedom sounds noble until we realize that it is a liberty that has no definitive content as such. It is whatever we want. Government exists to provide our wants. The political form of democracy does not oppose such “liberty” but fosters it and elevates it to the status of legal “rights.” In such a regime, the discipline needed for virtue disappears.

In a multi-chaos of conflicting desires arise men, probably relatively young and articulate, who can sway the people. The most eloquent associates himself with what he thinks the people should want. He sets himself against any remains of wealth or virtue that might resist him. He takes the side of the “poor.” He orders the polity to himself and his own ideas which have no further grounding than what he wants.

Initially, this “leader of the people” achieves his end by promising the people what they want, by putting more and more of them under direct control of government agencies. The people themselves think that they have a “right to everything.”

The new leader, however, is not their servant, but their master. His mission is the achievement of his own ideas. The people, lacking their own virtue, pass from an envious benevolence to the status of subjects, not citizens.

The circle is logically complete. It goes on whether we notice it or not. In the beginning, America might have been “exceptional,” but, on more careful analysis, it looks now pretty much as Aristotle and Plato described a regime that rejected virtue and the knowledge thereof.

Or, as I have often said, the most difficult and dangerous task in political philosophy is accurately to describe, in terms of reason, the real character of the regime in which one lives.

Father Schall articulates very clearly the vortex of frustration and utter puzzlement that continues to agitate people like me who cannot understand how the American electorate freely chose to be led like lemmings to what amounts to national suicide.