BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

ALWAYS AND EVER OUR MOST BELOVED BENEDICTUS XVI

Thpugh it is dated June 22, 2013, the Vatican has belatedly posted its bulletin on the Saturday concert at the Vatican that Pope Francis declined to attend. I see no word of apology either in Mons. Fisichella's words to the assembly to explain the Pope's absence nor in the brief letter of greeting that he read from the Pope.

Concert on the occasion
of the Year of Faith

June 22, 2013

At 5:30 this afternoon, at the Vatican's Aula Paolo VI, a Grand Concert of Classical Music took place, under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, on the occasion of the Year of Faith.

Before the concert began, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Council, conveyed to those present a greeting from the Holy Father, who was not present:

"The Holy Father has charged me to bring to you his most cordial greeting, and his regret not to be able to share this evening with us because of an urgent task that cannot be delayed which he must confront at this time. I can say, however, that the events planned for him tomorrow, are all confirmed. I have the honor to read a few words that the Holy Father has sent":

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Dear Cardinals, Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wish to say Thank You to all those who organized and made this concert for the Year of Faith possible. I especially thank the soloists, the Choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra Sinfonia Nazionale [of RAI - not identified in the message], conductor Maestro Juraj Valčuha for the remarkable execution of this monumental symphony, which not only allows us to experience a moment of pause and spiritual upliftment, but inspires in all of us sentiments and emotions that urge us to reflection. Thank you so much.

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The National Symphony Orchestra of RAI, under Maestro Juraj Valčuha, performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 for soloists, chorus and orchestra, accompanied ]by the Choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

The written message from the Holy Father sounds like the words he would have said had he attended the concert, because he thanks the performers for their 'remarkable execution' of the symphony. But forget that little slip. The lack of a direct expression of apology for not being present is disturbing, as the entire episode is, for that matter. There is a Spanish saying we grew up with, as an incessant reproach from the elders when we were being impolite - "Lo cortez no quita lo valiente", literally "Courtesy takes nothing from courage", or more to the point, "You lose nothing by being polite". I am not saying the Holy Father would ever be impolite - that is unthinkable, even - but the manner he chose to stay way from this concert was certainly far from ideal.

And now, the Pope's adulators (idolators, really), like Repubblica's Paolo Rodari, are saying absurdities like this: "The Pope's refusal to attend the concert seems like the nth signal from the Pope of keeping his distance from a world that he does not feel to be his: the world of the Roman Curia, the Apostolic Palace, the rooms associated with Vatican power which lives and feeds on concerts and evening festivities. 'I work - none of that worldliness for me' is the sense that he means to convey to his co-workers". That's just too over the top to even comment on! But I will point out to Rodari anyway: Whoever accepts to be Pope accepts the 'world' that comes with being Pope - tradition, customs, practices, institutions. It is the Pope who makes of that 'world' what he wants it to be - even if all factors are not within his control (human nature is not changed by a mass phenomenon but by individual convcrsion).

But a Pope can surely follow the papal traditions, customs and practices his predecessors did unquestioningly because in themselves, they are innocuous - for instance, is anyone offended or deprived of anything by a Pope wearing his ceremonial mozzetta and stole, or living in the Apostolic Residence which is meant for the Pope? - even if, in private, they may express their discomfort or dislike of some aspects of these 'papal' usages handed down to them, as many modern Popes have done.

We've been through this over and over since March 13, 2013. Is it really humble to assert your own personal will and preference - be it ever so simple and seemingly humble - over time-honored papal usages that are intrinsically innocuous? Isn't such self-assertion a form of arrogance? And because such show gestures are generally received with great praise from the public, do they not constitute demagoguery, in its narrow sense of playing to the crowd?

Comparison is inevitable here, and not invidious at all in this case. For all his punctilious but hardly indiscriminate respect of the papal tradition handed down to him, Benedict XVI was never accused, even by his detractors, of enjoying or abusing the powers and privileges of the Papacy. They mocked his personal style for trivialities like wearing Prada shoes, which was not even a fact, or trendy brand sunglasses, or choosing to wear the camauro and saturno which they did not mock when John XXIII and other previous Popes wore them (even John Paul II wore the saturno when necessary). Or even for wearing the papal liturgical vestments (and using the papal chairs) from the historical collection that St. Peter's Sacristy has.

But no one ever accused him of mis-spending or over-spending to buy himself anything material or to live in luxury. Or of unseemly pomp in his liturgies, for that matter. His considerable annual income from his book royalties all go to foundations that use the money for educational, research and charitable purposes. The seven rooms occupied by him and his household in the Apostolic Palace are smaller than rooms in most middle-class apartments [and it was hyperbolic and inconsiderate of the new Pope to say "There is room here for 300 people" when he was first shown the papal apartment, even if he was quoted by the Vatican Press Office to underscore his simplicity and humility] and were furnished spartanly compared to the public rooms of the Apostolic residence.

I have absolutely no doubt that Pope Francis is a simple man and a humble man and a holy man. But even saints have blind spots, and in his case, since I have gone this far, I think it includes failing to see the wider meaning of humility beyond those mere gestures that are generally considered 'humble'. Sometimes a firm and deep-seated conviction that one is right about certain things can create tunnel vision, and I can only think this is the case with the Holy Father about his personal preferences.

I was going to add Sandro Magister's two reactions to the 'disconcertment at a missed concert' - one as a postscript to his 'assessment' of Poep Francis's first 100 days as Pope, and the other on his blog, but as I was scrolling down to get to this post, I did not realize I was scrolling down the wrong page until I got to my re-post of Benedict XVI's lectio divina on Baptism. When lo and behold, some words leaped out at me...Of course, Benedict said them in a totally different context, but mutatis mutandis, I found a rather serendipitous analogy to the thoughts I had expressed above about humility:

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"...the 'pomp of the devil' also refers to a kind of culture, a 'way of life' [The Pope uses the English term], in which truth does not matter, only appearances. Truth is not sought, but effect, sensation; and under the pretext of truth...the object is to destroy others and to build up themselves as the winners..."

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Anyway, to get to Magister's double-barreled reaction to the disconcerting concert snub. First from his P.S. to his www.chiesa article...


POST=SCRIPTUM: Precisely on the day he marked his 100th day as Pope on June 22, Francis did something which left even some of his most dedicated adulators speechless.

Because of an unspecified "urgent task which cannot be postponed" - which was announced at the very last minute and without warning even to L'Osservatore Romano which went to press for the next day's issue around that time - his seat remained empty in the center of Aula Paolo VI, where a concert was to be offered in his honor on the occasion of the Year of Faith, with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

"I am not a Renaissance prince who listens to music instead of working", was the remark attributed to him by some 'papists' in the Curia, without thinking that this could only be damaging for the Pope. [Really? How so, when 95% of reports and comments I have seen so far in the Italian med9a - for some reason, only Father Z picked up the story among the Anglophone Pope watchers - are acclaiming his action as yet another shining example of his virtue! The other point is that Stampa/Vatican Insider's Giacomo Galeazzi who was the very first to report the 'Renaissance prince' remark, because he was the very first to write about the Pope's effective 'snub' of the concert, said the quotation came from one of the Pope's 'close associates' not from 'Papists in the Curia'.

For Church historian Albetto Melloni, the Pope's gesture has the greatness of 'a solemn and severe death knell" [For what? For concerts in Aula Paolo VI? For music as a form of worldliness that good Chrtistians must eschew?] that "confirms Francis's innovative style". [But innovations are supposed to be for the better! And when a Pope introduces innovations on the basis of his personal preferences - and personal interpretation of Christian teaching - the message should at least be unequivocal and not bound to create confusion!]

But what it really does is to make the start of this Pontificate even more indecipherable.

The evangelical impulse of Pope Francis, his desire to reach the 'existential peripheries' of mankind, would in f have a vehicle of extraordinary efficacy in the great language of music.

In Beethoven's Ninth, this language reaches sublime peaks which makes it comprehensible beyond every frontier of faith and becomes a 'Courtyard of the Gentiles' with unmeasurable reach.

At each concert that he attended as Pope, Benedict XVI always shared reflections on the music performed, reflections that touched both the heart and the mind.

One year ago (June 1, 2012), after having heard the Ninth at La Scala in Milan, Papa Ratzinger concluded his post-concert remarks, saying:
[COL

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After this concert. many of you will go to Eucharistic Adoration of the God who immersed himself in our sufferings and continues to do so. To the God who suffers with us and for us, and thus made men and women capable of sharing the suffering of others and to transform this into love. It is to this that we feel called upon to do by this symphony.

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Further on this matter: Let us not even get into the question of courtesy that underlies this episode, but simply stick with the singularly inept excuse given. What task could have been so urgent that it could not be delayed for the 90 minutes that the Pope would have needed to grace the concert with his presence? I can't think of one, but then I have a very poor imagination. The adulators of course said it must have had to do with reform of the Curia but he has already said he is leaving that to his cardinal advisors who will work out a plan that he will then approve! And they do not meet until October.

Might it not have been more honest - and it would certainly have earned far greater kudos for him = to have issued a statement along the lines of "I am most thankful for the offering of this concert, and most happy that you will all have a musical experience that will be an occasion for spiritual upliftment as this great work has always been. It is a pleasure, however, that I deny myself because I personally have so many other sources and occasions for spiritual upliftment, simply in carrying out my daily tasks as a priest and as Bishop of Rome. So please forgive me for my absence this evening and enjoy the experience you are about to have..."

Here is Magister's second salvo, on his blog today (June 24):

The disconcertment over the concert snub
Translated from

June 24, 2013

In the issue of L'Osservatore Romano printed the afternoon of Saturday, June 23 [the Sunday issue o June 24], one reads:

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On the occasion of the Year of Faith, the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization has organized a concert which was to be held in the presence of Pope Francis, on the afternoon of Saturday, June 22, in the Vatican's Aula Paolo VI...

"It is always a great emotional experience to conduct Beethoven's Ninth," said Maestro Juraj Valčuha of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, "but it will be even more so in a place like the Vatican in the presence of Pope Francis...'

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Thus did 'the Pope's newspaper' announce the concert a couple of hours before it began, with a guarantee twice in as many sentences (three if we count the title) the presence of the Pope. –

But it all went otherwise. At the very last minute, Jorge Mario Bergoglio forfeited his attendance, leaving his special seat conspicuously empty in the middle of the concert hall.

It fell to an embarrasaed Mons. Rino Fisichella, who organized the concert, to give the Pope's explanation: "an urgent task that cannot be postponed".

News reports [in Italy] almost all referred to the Pope's gesture with approval and admiration.

But there were also some who criticized it, like Giuseppe Rusconi on his website 'Rossoporpora' in a commentsry entitled, "Pope Francis and music: A problematic relationship". We did so on www.chiesa in the article "The hundred days of Francis and the enigma of the empty seat".

One of our readers sent us the following letter:

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Dear Magister,

Unfortunately, the decision at the last minute not to attend a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony...was not a 'prophetic' gesture, given but not granted that one should continue using this word like idle prattle.

Papa Bergoglio seems to still be far from grasping that he is no longer just one of so many Catholic bishops around the world who each operates on a local level with local effects.

In any diocese, a pastor of strong personality, who then shows some brusque behavior in public, can easily be pardoned and can just as easily not care whether he is 'forgiven' or not. On the other hand, the 'Roman' gestures of a Pope have actually little relevance for Rome itself but very much for the whole Catholic world.

To leave that seat empty in front of the invited artists and guests - and not secondarily, in front of Beethoven [Not that any Pope must necessarily render homage to any musician!]= because he had work to do (not administering a sacrament with urgency to someone, but just 'must-do' work), sends a major message somewhere between a certain choice for efficientism and a kind of cultural deafness.

Listening to Beethoven's Ninth is always spiritual nourishment - the spirituality that is inherent in the arts - and even Popes need such nourishment. [Not really! Popes have so many other sources and ways of spiritual upliftment.]

It is possible that Papa Bergoglio does not like concerts. With his frankness, he could have said so earlier, thus not raising the expectations of the performers and the invited guests, and the organizers would not have set up that place of honor that was so conspicuous during the concert.

But that he considers going to a concert something like the behavior of a Renaissance prince (if he really said that) can only make one smile like an indulgent son. For two centuries, concerts have become a predominantly middle-class activity, avidly patronized even by various revolutionary and popular 'elites', and for quite some time, democratically accessible to all. Nihil obstat! (Without prohibitions]. [My own immediate reaction - as one of the hoi polloi who patronizes concerts and operas as far as my walletlets me.

In my opinion, it is not helpful to the image under construction of Pope Francis to add tassels of this genre that smack of moralism and little regard for form. Not just because even people who do not live in slums deserve respect. Not just because many 'poor' people, who would love to attend concerts if they could, would never criticize the Pope for doing so. [I often ask myself if those who say they 'love the poor' really know what it is to feel poor, and how much a poor man desires not to be poor!] [That's a new twist I didn't think of, as much as I have always been put off by 'bleeding-heart liberals'. But it is true that their attitude implies that 'the poor' they care so much about will never be other than 'poor', that they will always be objects of charity and never manage to get out of their neediness!]

But also because the continual equivocation about 'prophetic' gestures seems to be feeding on dangerous fantasies by those who anticipate a rapid metamorphosis and thus the symbolic and public dissolution of the very idea of the Papacy, and in general, to a so-called 'another Church'.

And that is certainly not the munus (function) - certainly not! - nor the intention of Pope Francis.

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If you have not already read it, the English version of Magister's article on Francis's 100 days is on
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350544?eng=y

John Allen's spin on the 'empty chair' and an unconfirmed story by Corriere della Sera claiming the Pope has abolished the institution called 'Gentlemen of His Holiness',in which he claims that a slow news day at the Vatican [the 100th day of this Pontificate a slow news day?]_and a tendency to 'over-interpret' Francis were the reason for all the furor over the empty chair, an be found here
ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/recipe-overinterpreting-pope

In fact, for the WonderPope that all media, including Catholic, have touted Pope Francis to be, there were remarkably few '100-day' assessments, and those that did appear, other than Allen's own piece
ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-100-days-worlds-paris...
did not quite measure up to the 'paragon of Popes' image that has emerged about Pope Francis. Allen himself acknowledges that "Because there's been little substantive action, there's been little controversy" in these first 100 days, despite the Pope's crowd-drawing phenomenon which he compares to the crowds that came to the canonizations of Mother Teresa and Padre Pio.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 28/06/2013 04:47]

Benedict's eyes are 'bright and joyous',
says Ratzinger Schuelerkreis president
This year's seminar will take place
without 'their Professor' Ratzinger
By Sarah MacDonald


MAYNOOTH, Ireland, June 24 (CNS) -- One of retired Pope Benedict XVI's oldest confidants downplayed concerns about the Pontiff's health, saying his friend was mentally and physically "fresh."

Salvatorian Father Stephan Otto Horn, president of the Ratzinger Schuelerkreis (Ratzinger Student Circle), told Catholic News Service he met the retired Pope in Rome in early June, and he acknowledged his mentor was frail.

"He is 86 now. At that age you are not so strong, but he seemed to me to be very fresh. His memory is fresh and his eyes are very bright and joyous," he said.

Father Horn was an academic assistant to then-Father Joseph Ratzinger from 1971 to 1977 at Germany's University of Regensburg. In early June, the priest met the former Pope for an hour to discuss this year's Ratzinger Schulerkreis seminar, scheduled to meet in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 29-Sept. 2.

The circle of the retired Pope's students has met since 1978 at an annual reunion-seminar to discuss topics in theology and the life of the Church.

Although Pope Benedict confirmed to Father Horn that he will not attend the meeting of his former students and the young theologians of the Junior Ratzinger Schulerkreis, the retired Pope chose the speaker, French historian Remi Brague [who won one of the Ratzinger Prizes for theology last year], and the topic to be discussed, "The Question of God Against the Background of Secularization."

"When I was with him, I asked him if it would be possible for him to attend, perhaps even for part of it. But he said he will stay at his convent and will not go to Castel Gandolfo," Father Horn said.

Father Horn also told CNS that Pope Benedict said Pope Francis had been trying to convince him to go to Castel Gandolfo for a vacation, while he was trying to convince Pope Francis to take a vacation there.

"He told me he had told Pope Francis that if he (Francis) couldn't go there for the summer, then he should at least go there for Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption, which the Pope traditionally spends with the people of Castel Gandolfo," Father Horn said.

Speaking to CNS at the Divine Word Missionaries school in Maynooth, during a symposium on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, Father Horn said: "After his resignation in February, [he said] it was difficult for him for three weeks, but after those three weeks, his well-being began improving. And he is very interested in everything," said the priest, who is in regular communication with his former mentor.

Of his decision to resign, Father Horn said Pope Benedict was "convinced his decision was the right one," and was happy and serene with it.

"The Dynamism of Ratzinger's Theology" conference was organized by a retired professor of moral theology at Maynooth, Divine Word Father Vincent Twomey, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict and another member of the Ratzinger Schulerkreis. The theological conference drew speakers from Ireland, Germany and Poland.

Asked about the absence of his mentor from this year's Schulerkreis, Father Twomey, who will turn 72 in July, told CNS: "We are all getting old. Every year one or two people die -- so it can't continue. We'll go this year primarily out of homage to Benedict."

Tuesday, June 25, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Third from left, the saint's statue among the founder-saints' gallery in St. Peter's Basilica.
ST. GUGLIELMO (WILLIAM) OF VERCELLI (also 'of Montevergine') (Italy, 1085-1142)
Hermit, Founder of the Williamites Benedictine Congregation
The saint was born into a noble family of Vercelli in northwest Italy. At age 14, he went on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela,
during which, tradition says, he encircled his body with iron bands to increase his suffering. Back in Italy, he went to live as a hermit
on the summit of Monte Vergine (then known as Monte Vergiliana) between Nola and Benevento, southwest Italy. By 1119 his followers
were united in the Benedictine congregation, the Hermits of Monte Vergine (Williamites), which he headed. The austerity of his rule led
to dissension among his monks. To restore peace he left and was taken under the protection of Roger I of Naples who built a monastery
for him in Salerno. He founded monasteries throughout the then Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. He died at Santa Maria di Guglieto, a
daughter house of Montevergine. He is often portrayed with a wolf - according to legend, a wolf attacked and ate his donkey, whereupon
the saint tamed him. Although he was immediately venerated in Italy, he was not canonized till 1785.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062513.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No official events announced for Pope Francis.



One year ago...
Benedict XVI met with His Highness Fra Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and his delegation; ardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; - Cardinal José Manuel Estepa Llaurens, emeritus Military Ordinary for Spain.

At a news conference, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, presented a document entitled "Pastoral orientations for the promosion of vocations to the ministry of priesthood".

The Vatican also released the texts for two recent Vatican interventions before the United Nations:
- A statement on national debts and human rights 20th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva[ and
- The closing statement of the Vatican delegation to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development that just
ended in Rio de Janeiro.

2013 P.S. One of the most significant documents in Benedict xVI's Pontificate was issued on this day last year with little fanfare and even less attention from the media. It seeks to institutionalize in concrete form those principles about desirable qualities and the proper formation of priests that Benedict XVI underscored every occasion he could - admonitions which somehow the media have forgotten because they report Pope Francis;s general statements about priests and bishops.



Vatican issues new guidelines
for priestly vocations
By Carol Glatz


VATICAN CITY, June 25, 2012 (CNS) - In an effort to respond to a "clear and pressing" need for priests, the Vatican released a set of guidelines to help bishops and church communities promote, recruit and educate a new generation of men for the priesthood.

The Church needs "suitable" candidates and must avoid men who "show signs of being profoundly fragile personalities," while helping others heal from any possible "individual deviations" from their vocations, the document said.

"The witness of Christian communities giving account of the faith that is in them becomes even more necessary," because it's a community of believers committed to passing on God's love that "prepares the Lord's call that invites people to consecration and mission," it said.

Based on responses to a questionnaire sent to bishops' conferences and directors of national vocations offices around the world in 2008, the Congregation for Catholic Education sought to address a widespread demand for pastoral guidelines for fostering vocations "based on clear and well-founded theology of vocation and of the identity of the ministerial priesthood."

Titled "Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry," the 29-page document was released June 25. It also marked the 70th anniversary of the inauguration of the congregation's Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations.
http://www.vianneyvocations.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Pastoral-Guidelines-for-Fostering-Vocations-to-Priestly-Ministry-1.pdf

The challenge of attracting men to the priesthood is made more difficult by declining birthrates in the developed world and a materialist, secular culture in which people are less likely to make "courageous and demanding Gospel choices" in their lives, the document said.

"In the West, there is a prevailing culture of indifference to the Christian faith, a culture unable to understand the value of vocations to a special consecration," it said.

Key to turning things around isn't just setting up new programs and initiatives, but building a vibrant, active and dedicated community of Catholics, united in prayer and with Christ, it said.

Some reasons men say "no" to or ignore a call to the priesthood, it said, include:

-- having parents who are reluctant about their son's choice because they have different hopes for their child's future;

-- living in a society that marginalizes priests and considers them irrelevant;

-- misunderstanding the gift of celibacy;

-- being disillusioned by the scandal of priests who abused minors;

-- and seeing priests who are too overwhelmed by their pastoral duties to the detriment of their spiritual life.

Vocations are fostered when boys and young men have an uplifting and transformative Christian experience, it said. That experience can be found in family life, at school, in the parish, as an altar boy, in Catholic groups and associations or in volunteer work, all of which allow them to "know firsthand the reality of God himself, in communion with their brothers and in Gospel mission," it said.

During a Vatican news conference presenting the guidelines, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the education congregation, said that, paradoxically, "experience teaches us that the strongest candidates grow in hostile environments."

In places where there is open hostility to the church, he said, vocations are "very healthy, very strong and (priests are) very aware that we have a mission."

Msgr. Vincenzo Zani, undersecretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, said the aftermath of the sex abuse crisis in the United States has had some positive results, specifically in Boston, where the seminary is now filled thanks to an aggressive effort, led by the archbishop, to search for serious vocations.

While dioceses and seminaries bear most of the responsibility of determining the suitability of a candidate, vocations offices, too, must be consistent in attracting and forming people who display a healthy "integration and maturing of the affections," the document said.

Men who "show signs of being profoundly fragile personalities" should not be encouraged to consider a vocation, it said.

The educational setting must support a candidate's authentic reasons to be a priest and contribute "to healing any possible individual deviations from his vocation."

Cardinal Grocholewski said determining "a fragile personality" at the early stages of a candidate's journey is a question of discretion by trained professionals from the diocesan vocations office.

"There are some people whose fragility is easily seen, while others hide themselves, sometimes just because they want to seem like good people," he said. "It's a question of fundamental human maturity. We are looking for a person who is responsible, someone who can be trusted, a person who can control himself" and his impulses, he added.

"A more serious, mature judgment should come in the seminary, where in speaking and observing a candidate, his maturity can be better determined," the cardinal said.

A priest represents Christ the shepherd, the document said, and as such, he must draw his strength from and base his vocation on loving and serving Christ and his church.

All Catholics, including parents, coaches, catechists and group leaders, should help their young charges to see the priestly vocation as a gift.

Boys and young men should be taught the value of prayer and meditation on God's word, the document said, so that they learn to hear what God is calling them to do with their lives.

The congregation's guidelines also called for diocesan vocation offices to organize a so-called "invisible monastery" where large numbers of people are dedicated to providing non-stop prayer for priestly vocations.


While searching online for the text of the new guidelines described above, I did come across one of two new anthologies by Benedict XVI published by the Vatican publishing house LEV this month:

Unfortunately I can find no information about it, but I imagine it would be a collection of what he has said in homilies and in various Q&A sessions about priesthood and the consecrated life in general - which, as general spiritual and practical guidelines, ought to go hand in hand with the 'technical' guidelines described in the new document by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

The other book published by LEV this month, about which I can find no information either apart from the catalog display, would appear to be is an anthology of what Benedict XVI has written and said about Vatican-II since he became Pope.


In May, LEV came out with the artistic edition of the Pope's catecheses on the Prayers of Jesus:

Further looking back to just one year ago to a development completely ignored by the media in their hyper-enthusiastic reaction to Pope Francis's announcement that he was naming an 8-man commission of cardinals to assist him in the governance of the Church. At the peak of the media outcry over Vatileaks last summer, Benedict XVI not only created a three-man cardinals' commission to conduct an internal inquiry into Vatileaks and the circumstances at the Vatican that have created the abiding culture of suspicion about the Roman Curia. After meeting with the heads of curial offices, he also met with five cardinals whose judgment he trusted to discuss the problems that this culture has caused in the governance of the Church. Of course, despite all of Benedict XVI's best intentions, this was probably too little too late, but I have no doubt that whatever lessons he drew from the experience of Vatileaks and its far-reaching consequences were contained in the documents he consigned to his successor to assist him in carrying out the reforms he was unable to pursue before stepping down as Pope.



The headline and the contents of this analysis may well represent at best the writer's wishful thinking, and one gathers he will not be saddened if Cardinal Bertone goes, though he ascribes the same sentiment to more than just 'a few people'. What, in fact, has Bertone done that has served to inspire confidence in his ability as an administrator, which he was hired to do? He said very famously - and rather unrealistically - when he took office, that he did not intend to be 'a minister of State but a minister of the Church'. But he was hired to be a minister of State, and it is his duty to be a minister of State, which is not at all incompatible with being a minister of the Church. Being Secretary of State, and a most efficient one at that, did not make Eugenio Pacelli, future Pius XII, any less holy, a reputation he held unsullied, nor any less worthy as a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.


Significant maneuvers in the Vatican:
Is the Pope preparing a post-Bertone
administration by technocrats?
by Giacomo Galeazzi
Translated from the Italian service of

June 24, 2012

Yesterday morning, Benedict XVI consulted the heads of the Curial dicasteries and offices (including Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone), and in the afternoon, he met with five other cardinals, presumably to stem the negative effects from the publication of private documents that have passed through his desk in the past two years.

The Curia, despite the usual formalities, is inevitably concerned over the unprecedented seriousness of a crisis in administration to solve which the Pope has started consulting the members of the College of Cardinals.

Mons. Angelo Becciu, deputy Secretary of State (Sostituto) for general affairs, and therefore #2 to Bertone, admits: "Today, the credibility of the Church appears to be in doubt - now is not the time to abandon her". [He was addressing seminarians in his native Sardinia.]

The urgency manifested by Benedict XVI is interpreted in the Vatican i two ways. On the one hand, it would seem to mark a countdown to the ever more likely replacement of Bertone as Secretary of State when he reaches age 78 in December.

On the other hand, the Pontiff is telling the Curia to protect itself by giving his principal ministers the responsibility for guarding the privacy of their documents.

In effect, the Pope appears to be sounding the Church hierarchy over the possibility of a 'technocratic government' entrusted to a representative of the Vatican diplomatic world.

In December, Bertone turns 78, and protests about his work as Secretary of State have reached the Pope both from the majority of Curial officials as well as from bishops and apostolic nuncios. Some errors (such as the Williamson fiasco) have been attributed to him, even by Papa Ratzinger [How does Galeazzi know this, who does not even hedge the statement with a 'reportedly'!]?], who is, however, ever aware that his closest collaborator has been the object of hostile reaction from various sectors that have been dominant for decades in strategic areas like geopolitics and health care. [In both of which Bertone has openly indicated in words and actions that he would like to take control. Think CEI-Bagnasco, San Raffaele and Toniolo-Gemelli!]]

Therefore, in order not to leave the field open to old and emerging power centers, the Pope seems to be analyzing all possible scenarios. So this does not exclude that he may decide to keep Bertone in command - someone he has always trusted even now that he has been crippled by Vatileaks - but 'ordering' him to a more collegial conduct of the Vatican bureaucracy.

In recent days, two prominent and authoritative cardinals have sounded an alarm by publicly saying they desire clarification on what is happening in the Vatican: Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris and president of the French bishops' conference, who might be said to represent the thinking of some local bishops, and Cardinal Peter Turkson, who heads one of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

"The Holy Father wishes to explore in depth his thoughts about the situation by consulting persons who share with him the responsibility for the governance of the Church," said Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi yesterday.

The Pope presided at the 10 a.m. meeting yesterday of his 'Council of Ministers' - the heads of the various Curial offices - and then at 6 pm, in his own residence, he met with cardinals who have his complete confidence - Ouellet, Pell, Ruini, Tauran and Tomko - in an effort to 're-establish a climate of calm and confidence in the services of the Roman Curia'. The latter was an atypical move, one of exceprional significance.

In the next few days, he will continue such consultations, "availing of the presence in Rome of so many cardinals and bishops who will be here for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul".

Meanwhile, exactly one month (yesterday) since the search of his Vatican apartment which yielded a huge volume of documents presumably copied from originals that were on the Pope's desk of that of his private secretary, Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's ex-valet, continues to be deatained at Vatican police headquarteers.

"Gabriele appears to be a monster created by the vanity of those who got into his brain and exploited him for years as a source of documents but who then lost control over him or yielded it", says Vaticanista Salvatore Izzo of AGI. "In fact, it is likely that Gabriele was recommended to be the Pope's valet because his patrons thought he would thus be useful to them".

[With all due respect to Izzo, 1) he is thereby casting doubt unfairly on the motivations of persons like Mons. Harvey, in whose household Gabriele once served; Angelo Gugel, the papal valet to whom he was an assistant for years; and the Polish chaplain who was Gabriele's parish priest near the Vatican - all of whom vouched for Gabriele; and 2) How is it that none of the leaked documents so far dates back to more than two years ago? Does it mean that Gabriele - or whoever is pulling his strings - thought that any earlier documents were completely unimportant? There has to be a logical relevance of the time period to which the purloined documents date back, but as far as I can see, no one has publicly questioned this arbitrary timing at all.]

"It is not known into what other hands the stolen files may have fallen, other than the journalist who published them, but perhaps some corrupt members of the Curia who intend to use them as a shield", Izzo continues. [Unless these hypothetical figures have documents more damaging than those that have been published - none of which are objectively damaging in terms of proving evil-doing by anyone in the Secretariat of State or the Curia, but at best, only of bad faith and intentions gone wrong - can any of the revealed documents really 'shield' anyone from accusations of corruption? If this is what passes for analysis, Izzo is best left to reporting on the Vatican which he does excellently, not attempt any 'analysis' which does not even abide by elementary logic.]

Benedict XVI could well entrust to a 'sdirectory' of cardinals in whom he trusts completely the transition towards a new leadership in the Secretariat of State. An administration that will be less 'Italian' that will be able to manage the 'control room' of the unviersal Church.

This would be a sign of farsightedness and humility on the part of a Pontiff who is seeking not just an emergency exit from the quagmire of Vatileaks but also to force a reform of the Curial structure that has always been hampered, whoever the Pope is.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat of State has named Fox News correspondent Greg Burke, an Opus Dei member, to be a communications adviser to the Secretariat of State.

"To confront a crisis, it is an absolute novelty that the Pope decided to consult these five cardinals," some said at the Vatican. "It seems the Pope has decided to consult trusted cardinals he has known for a long time who are neither too closely tied in with Italian interests nor with the current administration".

They also claim that after hearing from local bishops of the same thinking as the Archbishop of Paris, "the Pope realized the need to listen to more opinions and above all, to ask help in governing the Church from prelates with international prestige and proven reliability".

Therefore, a possible benefit springing from a setback. A cardinal observed that "Before Papa Ratzinger, only Pope Paul VI had the advantage of having such a long experience with the Curia before becoming Pope. [Before Paul VI, there was, more famously, Pius XII, who was, in fact, his predecessor's Secretary of State, whereas Paul VI was 'sidelined' to Milan after his long service in the Secretariat of State without ever becoming Secretary of State].]




Quite a few Vaticanistas today (Monday, June 25) went out on a limb to assert that Benedict XVI's recent moves indicate he is planning for a post-Bertone administration in the Vatican, going so far as to mention some likely candidates from the Vatican's experienced diplomats. I don't know how much credibility - or even plausibility - one can place in these judgments, but Giacomo Galeazzi gives the rationale for their point of view, and cites some 'facts' regarding the private meeting between the Pope and the five cardinals that could be sheer conjecture... As much as my mind is made up about the utter management fiasco at SecState - and how it all works against the Pope's best intentions for the Church - I do not wish to indulge in wishful thinking, and I hope the Vaticanistas are not doing that...

After a season of vipers and venom,
Benedict XVI seems set to revamp
the Vatican's administration
by Giacomo Galeazzi
Translated from the Italian service of

June 25, 2012

Phase 2 of this Pontificate may be starting. Benedict XVI plans to restore Vatican diplomacy to the top of the Vatican administrative pyramid, and will most likely name one of the Vatican's most experienced Apostolic Nuncios to succeed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as Secretary of State.

The five cardinals who met with the Pope privately on Saturday evening are said to have agreed on two possible names, both with outstanding diplomatic experience - Italian Luigi Ventura, now Nuncio to France, and Spaniard Pedro Lopez Quintana, now Nuncio to Canada.

Of course, the Pope does not move at the pace of the 24/7 news cycle, and for now, he is seeking to understand the situation within the Church as a consequence of Vatileaks and its related developments, as well as keep track of the investigations being carried out by the Vatican police and by his three-man cardinals' commission.

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that for now, the Pope wishes to restore 'calm and confidence' in the Roman Curia [that has unfairly been vilified in general by the media due to Vatileaks, even if clearly all the negative inferences and deductions emerging from the documents divulged have to do with mismanagement and false moves at the Secretariat of State and its two main dependencies, the Governatorate and IOR].

However, it appears as if it's a done deal. Cardinals Pell and Ruini reportedly advised the replacement of Bertone, a solution said to be favored even by Benedict's faithful secretary, Georg Gaenswein, who is believed to be increasingly trusted by the Pope.

Cardinals Tomko, Ouellet and Tauran were said to be more prudent though they concurred on the criticality and gaps apparent in the 'governance' by the Secretariat of State.

Benedict XVI obviously wishes to put an end to any power infighting in the Vatican. His Saturday morning meeting with all the heads of the Curial offices and then with the five trusted cardinals in the evening, shows he wants to listen to diverse opinions and be kept up to date on what's happening in the Curia after Vatileaks, but more specifically, the meetings serve as informal consultations about the possible choice of a new Secretary of State.

A changing of the guard could take place as early as October (after the Pope ends his annual summer stay in Castel Gandolfo), or in December [when Bertone turns 78, though age apparently is not always a factor for retirement, the same way John Paul II named Joseph Ratzinger to a fifth five-year term as CDF Prefect after he turned 75. What's more, Secretaries of State do not have a fixed term as the Curial cardinals do. So, unless the Holy Father himself decides that Bertone has become more of a liability than an asset, it would really be wishful thinking to count on Bertone going when he turns 78! I love the Pope unconditionally, but I pray he will make an objective rather than an affective decision in this case.]

The cardinals' commission and the Vatican police and magistrates continue their separate investigations into Vatileaks. Meanwhile, the leaked documents have evidenced a state of non-governance that has reached a tipping point and that must be confronted.

Of course, Benedict XVI does not make his decisions - much less strategic choices such as a changeover at State - because of 'scandals' and media pressure. But the College of Cardinals is rallying behind him to make the right decision because they saw how he singlehandedly handled the pedophile-priest crisis in 2009 and 2010, going against established (and erroneous) Vatican practice in terms of transparency.

But it will be recalled that when Bertone presented a customary letter of resignation when he turned 75, the Pope turned it down. And last May, speaking publicly about Vatileaks for the first time, Benedict reiterated his confidence in 'my closest collaborators'.

Age is not a factor in this. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, appointed Secretary of State back in 1990 by John Paul II, continued as Benedict XVI's Secretary of State for another 18 months, retiring a month and a half before he turned 79. So the matter of replacing Bertone is a matter of substance, not just of form.

Perhaps after an unnerving war of attrition between Bertonians and Sodanians, Benedict XVI may wish a more collegial and shared leadership at State, a 'Prime Minister' with a more palatable style of being 'first among equals' in the Curia.

But he is also facing a more general problem regarding fundamental aspects of governance at the Vatican that will not be solved by simply having a new Secretary of State.

Perhaps he is thinking of accelerating the pace of Curial reform that has been pending for decades. For less bureaucracy and more coordination. In which everything must be, by definition and in fact, considered 'service to the Church'.

The lingering image now of infinite power struggles in the Curia is damaging to Papa Ratzinger's Church of preaching and purification. And Fr. Lombardi underscored Saturday that the Pope is well aware of the central role that his Secretary of State has in that image.

Whatever the Pope decides to do, it will be a well-considered move, not a punitive measure nor the sacking of a cardinal who had been Cardinal Ratzinger's right-hand man for six years at the CDF.

It will be an acknowledgment that changed conditions demand new responses. Vatileaks has weakened Bertone, not the Pope. A 'technocratic' government that will allow a 'settling down' would seem to be the only feasible escape from the venomous quagmire of Vatileaks.

Meanwhile, the Holy See appears to be shielding itself in a way by turning to the Opus Dei and its reputation for quietly systematic order. First, Cardinal Julian Herranz who leads the three-man cardinals' commission looking into Vatileaks. [Herranz served closely with Opus Dei founder St. Josemaria Escriva for almost two decades.]

And then, on Saturday, the announcement that Greg Burke, veteran Rome correspondent for over two decades for Reuters, Time and Fox News, will the senior communications adviser to the Secretariat of State. Burke is an Opus Dei lay member.

[I think the Opus Dei connection is purely coincidental. Two swallows don't make a summer, although I don't doubt that, following the precedent of John Paul II in hiring lay journalist and Opus Dei member Joaquin Navarro Valls, Burke's being Opus Dei must have given him an advantage when the Vatican was making its choice, in addition to the fact that he is American and therefore quite knowledgeable in the ways of both the conventional media and the new Internet-based outlets. I cannot think of any other present Vaticanista who has such a connection...

Let this blogger from Brighton, who belongs to Fr. Blake's parish, express my dilemma about having to take exception to certain personal choices made by Pope Francis in his way of being Pope - and the consequences of such 'apostasy' from universal opinion in terms of my own conscience. Unlike Mr. England, however, I do not think that my objections could 'affect the unity of the Church' in any way since I am obviously very much in the minority compared to the universe of the Pope's proper and unquestioning faithful, my objections being limited to what others would consider the 'non-essentials'. My offense would be in even daring to express my criticism, and that is a matter I have already discussed with my confessor...

Gather with Peter
by Lawrence England

June 24, 2013

No pun intended, but I find the 'empty chair' image quite disconcerting. Far be it for me, a lowly, if not particularly humble layman, to criticise the Holy Father. I have to reserve my disquiet, since we are talking about the Successor of St Peter, under whom we gather as children of the Lord in unity.

Would St Francis of Assisi have attended a concert in his honour? No, but then St Francis was never a Pope, nor a Bishop, nor a Priest, and again we see here the striking discordance between the role of anyone who wishes to imitate the Poverello and stand in the shoes of St Peter, Prince of the Apostles simultaneously.

The Lord Jesus knows what I've been thinking about the Holy Father's recent public action (or omission) and I'm certain that my thoughts have been uncharitable enough to warrant a Confession if only because we may not have the real/full story.

Harbouring resentment and grievances is always wrong, and to do so against your spiritual Father, the Chief Shepherd on Earth, is not good. It is sinful, it damages our Faith and fosters discord and disunity. The good news is that 'out there', outside of the uptight Catholic blogosphere and in the real (virtual) world, there is universal applause for the Holy Father. This is good because the Pope has won headlines again and even atheists are shouting, 'way to go, Pope!' with others saying 'This Pope might bring me back to the Church.' If that is the case, Deo gratias!

The problem is - and I've said this before - that with every bold, surprising, external gesture of poverty, simplicity and humility, His Holiness makes it more difficult for a Pope to enjoy some music with his Bishops and Cardinals ever again and makes Cardinals who enjoy Beethoven look bad, while His Holiness looks good, even though this was arranged ages ago. Let us be clear, however. The Lord Jesus sees into the heart. He knows 'what is in a man'. External appearances mean nothing to Him. That which rises high in the sight of men can be loathsome to God.

Maybe it is a bit indulgent to go to a concert in the Year of Faith called by the music-loving Pope Benedict XVI. Maybe the Princes of the Church shouldn't be publicly entertained with beautiful music. Maybe they should be out washing the feet of the poor instead. Maybe that's true, so maybe next year why not cancel this kind of thing and do something else more 'Gospel' orientated rather than the whole thing becoming a PR sensation and leaving some wondering if it is possibly a carefully manicured publicity stunt.

What I do not like about the 'empty chair' signal is that it could be interpreted that here we have a Pope who is willing to make others look bad in order to look good and to accept worldly honour while throwing his Cardinals under a public relations bus.

It will displease many to hear it, but I consider it more sinful to seek headlines, fame and honour from the World than to enjoy a relaxing bit of Beethoven with your Brothers and, in this case indeed, spiritual Sons.

Are we really saying that a Pope cannot be seen in public doing anything that isn't radical, public, touching or sends a potent Gospel message? Must the Pope always be seen 'doing' something radical? Is the Papacy to be transformed into a 'show'? Let's be frank. The Pope is still enjoying good headlines, but it was not 'great PR' and the admiration of the World that got St Peter crucified upside down.

Not every Pope will be like Francis, so how can any Pope come after Francis? What does the evidence of Francis's humility mean for the pbulic perception of all of his predecessors? How can anyone be a 'normal run of the mill Pope' again?

Humility is hard for all of us. It goes against our natural inclinations towards the elevating of the self. We are told to reject the Devil and all his pomp and all his works and all of his 'empty show'.

As Pope, Benedict XVI had the humility to see that not everything depended on him. His critics often found it hard to see his own simplicity and quiet humility as he pointed to Jesus.

The challenge to the critics of Pope Francis is not about recognizing his great humility - because that is evident to everybody. No. Pope Francis's critics need to recognise Peter, under whose pastoral care we share communion and visible unity. Whatever our thoughts of the first months of Pope Francis's pontificate, he is the Successor of St Peter and where Peter is, there is the Church and where the Church is, there is eternal life. [I don't dispute any of that, nor any of the self-evident truths the Pope preaches with such colloquial intensity. My problem is with some choices related to his style of being Pope - in the same way, I was sorry to watch John Paul II seeming to sanction liturgical abuses allowed into some of his Masses as Pope, and what I still consider to be Benedict XVI's misplaced and obstinate trust in Cardinal Bertone.]

Wednesday, June 26, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

ST. JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA DE BALAGUER (b Spain 1902, d Rome 1975), Priest, Founder of Opus Dei
An estimated 300,000 people filled St. Peter's Square on October 6, 2002, for the canonization of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. His canonization came only 27 years after his death, one of the shortest waiting periods in Church history. Opus Dei, which means Work of God, emphasizes that men and women can become holy by living their daily lives in a Christian way. Born in Barbastro, Spain, the future saint was ordained a priest in 1925, briefly served in a rural parish, then moved to Madrid, where he obtained a doctorate in law. At the same time, he began to flesh out a movement that would allow 'ordinary' people to achieve lives of holiness in their daily activities. Opus Dei was officially founded in 1928. Fr. Escriva himself continued to minister to the poor and the sick. During the Spanish Civil War, he had to exercise his ministry secretly and move from place to place. After the war, he returned to Madrid to complete his studies, then moving to Rome where he obtained his doctorate in theology. Pope Pius XII named him an honorary prelate and a consultor to two Vatican congregations. All the while, Opus Dei grew in size and influence. When Msgr. Escriva died in 1975, Opus Dei was established in dozens of countries around the globe. Today its membership includes approximately 83,000 laypersons and 1,800 priests in 90 countries. However, his beatification and canonization, which were almost literally advocated by John Paul II, stirred up much controversy because of hostile accusations from some persons who had worked with him for years, and because of the 'speed' with which it happened (he died in 1975, was beatified in 1992, and canonized in 2002). He was one of the first candidates for sainthood to whom the new simplified rules for canonization desired by John Paul II were applied. The saint's remains are found beneath the main altar at the Opue Dei's prelature Church in Rome.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062613.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

General Audience - Pope Francis devoted his catechesis to the Church as the temple of God. In his Italian greetings
afterwards, he had special words for Cardinal Salvatore Di Georgi, who celebrates the 60th anniversary of his priestly
ordination today and the 40th anniversary of his episcopal consecration.
Vatican Radio's English translation of the catechesis may be found here:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/06/26/pope_francis:_weekly_general_audience_%28full_text%29/en1-704903

Pope sets up Pontifical Commission
to study reforms for the IOR

June 26, 2013

Pope Francis has established a Pontifical Commission charged with drawing up an “exhaustive” report into the juridical standing and activities of the Vatican’s financial institution, the Institute for Religious Works, more commonly known as the IOR.

The Commission is composed of 5 people. These include two US natives, Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon and Monsignor Peter Bryan Wells, of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Presenting the Secretariat of State communique to journalists Wednesday, Holy See press office Director, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. stated that the Commission is tasked with carrying out inquiries and present thing the Holy Father with a report of their findings “in view of possible reform".

Fr. Lombardi noted that the Commission of 5 people is not permanent. It will present the report to Pope and then be dissolved. He also added that no deadline has been set.

The new Pontifical Commission, which will begin its work in the coming days, is not involved in running the Institution. Its main aim will be to study it to help Pope Francis ensure the IOR’s activities are in harmony with the Church's mission.

Here is Vatican Radio's translation of the Communiquè issued by the Secretariat of State:

---

he Holy Father has established a Pontifical Commission to the Institute for the Works of Religion with a Letter of June 24 . As you can see from the text of Chirograph published today, the opportunity to establish a Contact the Commission arose from the desire of the Holy Father to learn more about the juridical position and activities of the Institute to enable better harmonization of said Institute with the mission of the Universal Church and the Apostolic See, in the more general context of reforms that should be carried out by the institutions that aid the Apostolic See.

The Commission aims to collect information on the Institute and present the results to the Holy Father.

As specified in the Chirograph, during the course of the Commission’s work, the Institute will continue to operate according to the 1990 Chirograph that established it, except as otherwise provided by the Holy Father.

The purposes and powers of the Commission are described in more detail in the aforementioned Chirograph.

The members of the Commission are:
Cardinal Raffaele Farina, President
Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, Member
Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, Coordinator
Monsignor Peter Bryan Wells, Secretary
Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Member

The Commission will begin its work in the coming days. The Holy Father looks forward to a happy and productive collaboration between the Commission and the Institute.

---

NB: Far more than the fact that this commission was formed - something of the sort was bound to happen, if only to show something was being done about IOR - I am truly happy to see the membership of the Commission - each one of them, except Prof. Glendon (who nonetheless is president of the Pontifical Council for Social Sciences, and was George W Bush's ambassador to the Vatican), Curial officials of long standing, and all with special ties to Benedict XVI:
- Commission chairman Cardinal Farina, s Salesian, was named by B16 to be the Archivist-Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, and subsequently a cardinal back in 2009;
- Cardinal Tauran, who was once deputy SecState for Foreign Relations under John Paul II, was named by B16 to head the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialog, and late,r to the five-man cardinals' commission recently renamed to a second five-year term to oversee IOR (and one of the five cardinals he called in this time last year to discuss the Vatilcaks 'crisis' and what to do about it);
- Mons Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, was the official who in 2010 unearthed the letters of Cardinal Ratzinger in the 1980s to the Council seeking ways in which canon law might be amended to make it more specific and applicable in dealing fast with serious crimes committed by priests.
- Mons. Wells, the highest ranking American in the Secretariat of State, was promoted by Benedict XVI in 2009 from a staff position at SecState to be Assessor for General Affairs, in effect, chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary of State (first, to now Cardinal Fernando Filoni, and now to the current Sostituto, Mons Becciu. And of course,
- The admirable Prof. Glendon, who overturns every cliché about Harvard professors, and who has never hidden her admiration for Benedict XVI.

OK, how bad could Benedict XVI's Curia have been if the five people Pope Francis found to study how to reform IOR are all, in effect, Ratzingerians of the first water? Anybody care to answer that? All you who have been dumping on 'the Roman Curia' indiscriminately as if each and every official and member were corrupt and/or evil?


One year ago...

Benedict XVI visited parts of the north-central Italian region struck by a violent earthquake in June 2012. The Vatican also announced a number of Curial resignations and appointments:
- Mons. Jean-Louis Bruguès, Emeritus Archbishop of Angers (France), who has been till now Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, as the Archivist-Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.
He succeeds Cardinal Raffaele Farina who has retired because of age.
-- The retirement due to age of Cardinal Ennio Antonelli as President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, who will be succeeded by - Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, till now Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia, who is also elevated to the rank of Archbishop
= Mons. Joseph Augustine Di Noia, until now Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, as Vice-President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
- Mons. Arthur Roche, until now Bishop of Leeds (UK), is the new Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and will be elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
- The retirement due to age of Mons. Piergiuseppe Vacchelli, as Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and President of the Pontifical Missionary Works, who is succeeded by Mons. Protase Rugambwa, until now Bishop of Kigoma (Tanzania), who is elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
- The retirement due to age of Mons. Gianfranco Girotti, as Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, succeeded by - Mons. Krzysztof Józef Nykiel, until now an official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Holy Father also accepted the resignation of Mons. Fernando María Bargalló as Bishop of Merlo-Moreno (Argentina), according to Section 2 of Art. 401 in the Code of Canon Law, and has named
Mons. Alcides Jorge Pedro Casaretto, emeritus Bishop of San Isidro as the Apostolic Administrator of Merlo-Moreno until a new bishop can be named. [Bargallo resigned after admitting to a romantic relationship with a childhood friend with whom he was photographed vacationing in a Mexican resort.]




THE POPE IN ROVERETO



To earthquake victims:
‘God is your rock’

June 26, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI flew up to Italy’s northern region of Emilia Romagna today to express his solidarity and pray with victims of a series of powerful earthquakes that devastated the area last month.

At least 12,000 people across a large swathe of north central Italy saw their homes destroyed or damaged and are living in tents and makeshift camps. Thousands braved the soaring temperatures and scorching sun to greet the Pope when he arrived in San Marino di Carpi outside Modena and hear his words of comfort. Tracey McClure reports:

A visibly moved Pope Benedict said he had been following their plight since the first quake struck May 20th and had remained “close to them in prayer and concern.”

But he said when he “heard their plight had become even harder, he felt an increasing need to come in person to be with them.”

In offering prayers for those families and communities who had lost loved ones in the destruction, the Pope said he “wanted everyone in every town to feel how the Pope’s heart is close to theirs to console them but above all to encourage and support” them.

Pope Benedict recalled flying over the stricken region on his way up to Milan in early June for the World Meeting of Families, saying he had wanted to visit them then and his “thoughts turned frequently to them.”

He said he knew that “besides suffering the material consequences, your souls were also tried by the continued tremors, even strong ones; and by the loss of several symbolic (historic) buildings of your towns…amongst which many churches.”

On his arrival in Rovereto di Novi, near Modena, Pope Benedict toured the “red zone,” the historic and hardest hit part of town where parish priest Ivan Martini died in the collapse of his church as he tried to rescue a statue of Our Lady.

Paying tribute to his memory, the Pope commended the local clergy for demonstrating “generous love for God’s people” and pointed to the comfort he found in reading Psalm 46 which recalls the trembling earth. In that passage, the Pope said God is seen as “our refuge and our fortress” especially in times of anguish and duress.

“On this rock, with this firm hope,” the pope said, “we can build, we can rebuild.” And likening the tragedy to post war Italy, the Pope reminded the quake victims that they are not alone and that their country “was rebuilt certainly thanks also to the help received, but above all thanks to the faith of so many people moved by the spirit of true solidarity.”



The Pope 's visit to Rovereto


Vatican City, 26 June 2012 (VIS) - At 9 a.m. today the Holy Father departed by helicopter from the Vatican to fly to the Italian region of Emilia Romagna which, beginning on 20 May, has been affected by a series of earthquakes that have left many dead and hundreds of injured. The tremors have forced thousands of people to abandon their homes, destroyed historic buildings and seriously damaged the infrastructure and economy of the entire area.

The Pope's helicopter landed at 10.30 a.m. at the sports ground of San Marino di Carpi where he was welcomed by Bishop Francesco Cavina of Carpi and by Franco Gabrielli, head of the Italian Civil Protection Department.

The Pontiff then boarded a minibus to travel to Rovereto di Novi where he made a brief visit to the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria which partially collapsed during the earthquake killing the pastor Fr. Ivao Martini.

Subsequently the Holy Father boarded a Jeep from which he greeted the faithful while being driven to the central square of Rovereto di Novi where, in the presence of the archbishops and bishops of the affected areas (Bologna, Carpi, Modena, Mantua, Ferrara and Reggio Emilia) he delivered his address.

Ample extracts from the Holy Father's words are given below:

"Ever since the beginning of the earthquake which affected you I have been close to you with my prayers and concern. But when I saw that the trial had become more arduous, I felt the impelling need to come among you in person, and I thank the Lord for having enabled me to do so. Thus I greet all of you who are gathered here, as with my mind and heart I embrace all the villages and all the people affected by the earthquake, especially the families and communities mourning their dead. May the Lord welcome them into His peace".

"I was aware that, apart from suffering the material consequences, your spirits were also being sorely tried by the continuation of the seismic activity, including even strong tremors, and by the loss of certain symbolic buildings in your towns and villages, in particular many churches. Here in Rovereto di Novi in the collapse of a church - which I have just visited - Fr. Ivan Martini lost his life. Paying homage to his memory, I address a special greeting to you, dear priests, and to all confreres who, as has happened at other difficult moments in the history of these lands, are showing their generous love for the people of God.

"As you all know, we priests (as well as religious and no small number of lay people) daily pray the 'Breviary' which contains the Liturgy of the Hours, the prayer of the Church which marks the hours of the day. We pray the Psalms in an order which is the same for the entire Catholic Church. Why am I telling you this? Because in recent days I came across this expression in Psalm 46: 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble'".

"These words seem to contrast with the fear we inevitably feel following an experience such as the one you have just been through; that is an immediate reaction, which can become more profound if the phenomenon is prolonged. However, the Psalm does not in fact refer to that kind of fear; and the confidence it expresses in not that of supermen untouched by normal feelings. The confidence expressed is that of the faith. Yes we may feel fear and anguish - even Jesus did - but above all is the certainty that God is with us. ... His Love is as solid as a rock. We see this Love in the crucified Christ; at one and the same time a sign of suffering and of love. This is the revelation of God Love, Who remained united to us even unto extreme abasement.

"On this rock, with this firm hope, we can build, we can rebuild. Italy was rebuilt on the postwar ruins, and not just material ruins, thanks also to help received, but above all thanks to the faith of so many people animated by a spirit of genuine solidarity, by the will to give a future to their families, a future of freedom and peace. You are a people whom all Italians respect for your humanity and sociability, for hard work and cordiality. These qualities have been dealt a harsh blow by the current situation, but this must not and cannot affect your identity as a people, your history and your culture. Remain faithful to your vocation as a fraternal and united people, and face everything with patience and determination, rejecting the temptations which are unfortunately always associated with such moments of weakness and need.

"The situation you are going through has highlighted an aspect which I hope will remain at the forefront of your minds: You are not and you will not be alone! Over these days, amidst so much destruction and pain, you have seen and felt how numerous people have expressed closeness, solidarity and affection through so many signs and concrete forms of assistance. My presence among you is intended to be another such sign of love and hope. Looking at you lands I have been profoundly moved by the sight of so many wounds, but I have also seen many hands extended to cure those wounds with you. I have seen that life restarts with force and courage, and that is the most beautiful and lustrous sign of all.

"From here I wish to launch an appeal to the institutions, and to all citizens, despite the difficulties of the current time, to be like the Good Samaritan of the Bible who did not walk by indifferent to the one in need, but lovingly tended him, helped him, remained at his side and took full responsibility for the other's needs. The Church is close and will remain close with her prayers and with the concrete help of her organisations, especially Caritas, which will also undertake to rebuild the social fibre of parish communities".

Having completed his address, the Holy Father greeted the civil and religious authorities present. He then returned to the sports ground of San Marino di Carpi where his helicopter took off at midday, arriving in Rome shortly after 1.30 p.m.

In two related decisions, the US supreme Court voted 5-4 on two marriage-related questions raised for its consideration in their 2013 session. Given the cultural climate in the United States, where public 'support' to legalize gay unions as 'marriage' shifted drastically from disfavor to majority approval in the past ten years alone, I was hoping against hope that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote between the so-called conservative and liberal members of the nine-man US Supreme Court, would prove to be sensible and vote with the four bona-fide conservatives on the Court (all four of them Catholics - Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito). Instead, he even turned out to be the author of the majority decisions.

Even if legally, the twin decisions do not explicitly redefine marriage as something more than just the union of a man and a woman, they do leave the question legally open, and in fact, a matter for each state of the Union to decide (as 14 states and the District of Columbia already do recognize same-sex unions performed by a public official to be the equivalent of traditional marriage.

Supreme Court Decisions on marriage:
US bishops lament 'a tragic day
for marriage and our nation'


WASHINGTON, June 26, 2013 — U.S. Supreme Court decisions June 26 striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and refusing to rule on the merits of a challenge to California’s Proposition 8 mark a “tragic day for marriage and our nation,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

The statement follows:

---

Today is a tragic day for marriage and our nation. The Supreme Court has dealt a profound injustice to the American people by striking down in part the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The Court got it wrong. The federal government ought to respect the truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, even where states fail to do so. The preservation of liberty and justice requires that all laws, federal and state, respect the truth, including the truth about marriage.

It is also unfortunate that the Court did not take the opportunity to uphold California’s Proposition 8 but instead decided not to rule on the matter.

The common good of all, especially our children, depends upon a society that strives to uphold the truth of marriage. Now is the time to redouble our efforts in witness to this truth. These decisions are part of a public debate of great consequence. The future of marriage and the well-being of our society hang in the balance.

Marriage is the only institution that brings together a man and a woman for life, providing any child who comes from their union with the secure foundation of a mother and a father.

Our culture has taken for granted for far too long what human nature, experience, common sense, and God’s wise design all confirm: the difference between a man and a woman matters, and the difference between a mom and a dad matters. While the culture has failed in many ways to be marriage-strengthening, this is no reason to give up. Now is the time to strengthen marriage, not redefine it.

When Jesus taught about the meaning of marriage – the lifelong, exclusive union of husband and wife – he pointed back to “the beginning” of God’s creation of the human person as male and female (see Matthew 19).

In the face of the customs and laws of his time, Jesus taught an unpopular truth that everyone could understand. The truth of marriage endures, and we will continue to boldly proclaim it with confidence and charity.

Now that the Supreme Court has issued its decisions, with renewed purpose we call upon all of our leaders and the people of this good nation to stand steadfastly together in promoting and defending the unique meaning of marriage: one man, one woman, for life.

We also ask for prayers as the Court’s decisions are reviewed and their implications further clarified.

---

Background information can be found at
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/backgrounder-on-proposition-8-and-doma.cfm

This article in the Los Angeles Times typifies the joy in Mudville today - the gloating among liberals celebrating a win for one of their pet causes:



Supreme Court rulings:
The gay rainbow grows bright
By David Horsey

June 27, 2013

Never has the power of an idea whose time has come been demonstrated more dramatically than in America’s rapid shift toward approval of same-sex marriage. The trickle turned to a steady stream and now, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to open the way to gay marriage in California and strike down key provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, it has become a flood.

Once regarded as an abomination that would never find acceptance, marital unions of a man with a man and a woman with a woman are being normalized in state after state. Even more powerful, the force of law is now heavily weighted against traditionalists who, only a few years ago, were comfortably in the mainstream of public opinion. They must be reeling from the speed with which they have been bumped to the margins.

When it came down to it, ancient religious teachings could not trump personal experience and common sense. The simple fact that so many gays and lesbians are longing to marry and live conventional lives pretty much like the rest of us worked against the contention that homosexuals are a bunch of hedonistic perverts who are out to destroy marriage and recruit kids to their lifestyle.

Now, the Supreme Court has ratified the view that marriage is a civil institution that can be made available to all citizens, no matter what their sexual preference may be. The justices did not go so far as to legalize same-sex marriage in every state, but they did say that all marriages are equal under the law and, if a state chooses to expand the definition of marriage, the federal government cannot discriminate between married couples.

The court also tossed out an appeal of a lower court ruling that said California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, was unconstitutional. Prop. 8 backers claim they still have some legal maneuvers left to try, but there seems little doubt that, within about a month, the nation’s largest state will join 12 other states, the District of Columbia and five Indian tribes who have already legalized same-sex marriages.

It may be a generation before states like Alabama, Kansas and Utah join the club (actually, Utah may take several generations), but the Supreme Court’s ruling is a watershed. On this issue, America has made an abrupt turn and will not be turning back.

I don't care how he got hold of this photograph, but author Francesco Grana (who has written a couple of books about Benedict XVI) posted this photograph on his Twitter account today, simply titled 'Avvistamento papale' [Papal sighting], showing our beloved Benedict VI during a walk with Mons. Gaenswein ... Any current photograph of the man who for almost eight years was the world's most daily-photographed personality is infinitely precious... He's using a cane but he looks very well, and that magnificent hair looks great now that it is allowed to grow out more than when he was Pope...

A fitting way to mark an important anniversary in the life of B16 -
36 years ago today, Joseph Ratzinger became a cardinal. Here is how we took note of the anniversary last year...







35 YEARS AGO TODAY....
Joseph Ratzinger was
made a cardinal
Translated from

June 27, 2012


Right photo, Cardinal Ratzinger greeted by the faithful upon returning to Munich on July 1, 1977, after being consecrated cardinal.

Thirty-five years ago today, on the consistory of June 27, Joseph Ratzinger, who had been consecrated Archbishop of Munich-Freising one month earlier (May 28), was created cardinal by Pope Paul VI. Along with him, in what was to be the last consistory of Paul VI's Pontificate, also elevated to cardinal rank were the Archbishop of Florence Ugo Benelli (who would be the leading conservative papabile in the next conclave); Bernardin Gantin, pro-president of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace (and first African ever to be considered papabile); Mons. Luigi Ciappi, Theologian of the Pontifical Household; and Frantisek Tomasek, apostolic administator of Prague, who had been named cardinal in pectore (secretly) the year before. In this issue we reprint the address given by Pope Paul VI during the public consistory, and his homily at the Mass he concelebrated with the new cardinals two days later on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.


Top photo, Cardinals Ratzinger, Gantin and Benelli; in the bottom photo, Cardinals Benelli and Ratzinger.

---

Address of Paul VI
Public Consistory to Name 5 New Cardinals
June 27, 2013

The consistory that we celebrated this morning in the Apostolic palace according to tradition, continues here and reaches its culmination. We shall shortly impose the berretta on the new cardinals, who we greet wholeheartedly and welcome as new members of the Sacred College.

We also greet the delegations present - bishops, civilian and military authorities, members of the clergy and the faithful who have come to be with the new cardinals representing their country of origion, as well as the dioceses of which they are the pastors. We thank you all for coming to this important ecclesial event.

Our thanks above all to Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, Archbishop of Florence, who expressed the sentiments of himself and his brothers in the Episcopate and in the cardinalate to which they have been called at this time in their life.

The singular character of this final ceremony of the consistory suggests to us some reflections on a subject which seems to us fundamental and specific to this ceremony: faithfulness.

It is exactly what we wished to underscore in calling this consistory. Indeed, the most worthy and venerated ecclesiastics whom we have now added to the number of Cardinals are all distinguished principally by this gift: the absolute faithfulness with which they have lived (during this post-Conciliar period so rich in healthy ferment but also in disgregatory elements) in continuous readiness, in daily service, in total dedication to Christ, to the Church, to the Pope, without bending, withoout hesitation, without transaction.

In carrying out the most sensitive tasks, you, who we call our venerated Brothers,have offered to the entire Church an incomparable witness of fidelity.

Of this faithfulness, we are happy to render public attestation today:

First of all to you, Cardinal Benelli, who have been so close to use for a very long time, but above all during the ten years when, as Deputy Secretary of State (Sostituto), you diligently executed our will, without sparing time or energy, working uninterrupted and tirelessly.

And as much as it cost us to do without your daily collaboration, we thought of the good that will come to the Church of Florence to whom we are making a gift of your gifts, of your dedication, and of your spirit of sacrifice.

Likewise we acknowledge your fidelity, Cardinal Gantin, who after having served exemplarily your native archdiocese of Cotonou in Benin (as the ancient Dahomey is now known), became secretary of the dicastery to promote evangelization around the world, and now preside over the Commission on Justice and Peace, instituted by us to promote the cause of justice and peace especially in the emerging nations.



And we acknowledge your fidelity, Cardinal Ratzinger, whose elevated theological magisterium in prestigious university professorships in your native Germany and in numerous worthy publications, have shown how theological research - following the high road of fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding) - cannot and should never be detached from the profound, free and creative adherence to the Magisterium that authentically interprets and proclaims the Word of God; and who now, from the Archbishopric of Munich and Freising, shall be leading, with our trust, a chosen flock along the ways of truth and peace.

And in you, Cardinal Ciappi, we acknowledge a faithfulness that has always been second nature to you and which inspired your teaching at the Angelicum as Dean of the Faculty of Sacred Theology, and also as the much appreciated, humble and authoritative Theologian of the Pontifical Household from the time of our predecessors Pius XII and John XXIII, as well as during the 14 years of our Pontificate.

Our gesture serves also as a reward for this most valuable service, as well as further recognition for the Dominican order of which you have been an exemplary son.

And finally, how much faithfulness has been shown by Cardinal Tomasek, whom we rejoice to see among us today, after finally revealing his name which had remained in pectore since the Consistory of May 1976!

Your long and generous work as priest and Bishop in our beloved Czechoslovakia, with such evangelical directness and consistency, has made it our duty to present it to the Church and to civilian society as a token of a more serene and constructive tomorrow.

We publicly thank you, our venerated Brothers, for the example of your meritorious and beneficial faithfulness. But if we have given public witness of this, we certainly cannot forget the tousands upon thousands of lives spent in silence, in prayer, in work, for the glory of God and for the good of our brothers.

Let us think of the healthy and heroic young people who remain faithful to divine law and to the imperatives of conscience in the midst of perils of every kind.

Let us think of the mothers and fathers who keep the faith in living out their matrimonial vows and who make their homes 'a small church', a crucible for education, a school for apostolate.

Let us think of our beloved seminarians who prepare for the priesthood in faithfulness to an austere and edifying program of interior life, of study and self-discipline.

Let us think of the generous priests who, in the monotony of an obscure and unseen life, give everything to preach the Word of God, to the ministry of reconciliation, to caring for the sick, to the formation of adolescents, and in varied and multiple works of apostolate.

To everyone goes our gratitude. Yes, we know what they do, we are grateful to them, we bless them, we remember them.

This day that speaks to all of us of faithfulness is a wonderful occasion to recognize and encourage faithfulness which, for the most part, lives in the Church, while not allowing ourselves to he influenced by new ideologies, by the thirst for worldly applause, by seeking only our own advantage.

This,brothers and chlidren, is the significance of today's ceremony. Because even the oath which the new cardinals will be making soon is nothing but a new and larger commitment to faithfulness, an act of allegiance.

We will hear them say: "I promise and swear, that from this time to the end of my life, I will be faithful and obedient unto St Peter, the holy apostolic Roman Church and our most Holy Lord, the Pope of Rome and his successors, canonically and lawfully elected..."

The faithfulness that you will swear today shall henceforth distinguish even more your activities and your life - both as chosen members of the Roman Presbytery, to which the titles assigned to you will bind you visibly; or as our co-workers in the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, and therefore specifically assigned to the service of the Holy See and the demands of the entire ecclesial family; or as the authorities of the diocese entrusted to some of you, and in which you will carry out the triple pastoral duty to teach, to minister and to govern, as teachers, as liturgists, and as pastors, in commu8nion with the Successor of Peter, who counts on you and your Churches.

As we said in last year's consistory, "a current of life flows from the center towards single local points, which returns to the center, in a unique exchange of vitality and love which manifests the intimate fruitfulness and unity of the Church of Christ".

In this respect, may we be aided by Our Lady, Virgo Fidelis (faithful virgin), who was always attentive to the Word of God, and may she teach us to live it and to know it profoundly. May the grace of the Lord, to whom we entrust ourselves with immense hope and total confidence, bless the commitment of everyone.

---

NB: For years, the only photographs I could get online of Joseph Ratzinger's elevation to cardinal rank were the above photos, with watermarks, in which the two showing the imposition of the beretta at St. Peter's Basilica have both the Pope and the cardinal in purple-colored robes, when both should be wearing red, the liturgical color used at a cardinals' Mass. The first photo is of the conferral of the title at the public conssistory, in which it looks like Paul VI is wearing a purple mozetta (it remains purple no matter what intensity one places on the cardinal's red. Because the sources of these few photos (including the unmarked photos above, and the sepia ones) are necessarily different, it has not been possible for me to match the color tones in all the pictures, but I have managed to make the chasubles look reasonably red, not purple, for the beretta imposition. I will have to spend much more time learning how to improve problem pictures than the simple 1-4 steps I am now able to take, and some playing around with the hue-and-saturation wheel.

Just as the communications meisters at the Vatican oh-so-wrongly assumed that everyone would know exactly what excommunication is, why it is imposed, why and how it can be lifted (not to mention, failing to do adequate background research on Bishop Williamson) back in January 2009, this time they just assumed everyone would know what 'chirograph' means - a word that has been used and said in the past 24 hours infinitely far more than it has ever been used and said since someone first came up with the word.

As I had never seen the word before, I had to look it up, and as most of you know by now, it simply means, in this case, 'a papal letter intended only for the Roman Curia', not for everyone urbi et orbi. How hard could it have been to slip in that nine-word definition in the Vatican bulletins announcing this momentous chirograph! But no, the Vatican media-meisters think everyone exposed to the media should be omniscient, ignoring one of the first rules journalism students were taught in my time - always include pertinent essential information in any story, as if it was the first time your 'information consumer' is reading or hearing it.

Anyway, the Vatican media also did not take the effort to convey the now-famous and rather short chirograph in anything but Italian, so here is a translation:

---

Chirograph of the Holy Father Francis
establishing a Pontifical Reference Commission
for the Institute for the Works of Religion

With a Chirograph on March 1, 1990, Blessed John Paul II gave a public juridical personality to the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, giving it a new configuration while conserving its name and purpose.

From the same perspective, considering that he wished to better adapt the structures and the activities of IOR to the demands of the times; following the invitation of Our predecessor Benedict XVI to allow the principles of the Gospel to permeate even activities of an economic and financial nature; having heard the opinion of various cardinals and other brothers in the Episcopate, as well as other co-workers; and in the light of the need to introduce reforms to the institutions which assist the Holy See, We have decided to institute a Reference Commission on the IOR which will collect accurate information on the juridical position and various activities of the Institute in order to allow, if necessary, a better harmonization with the universal mission of the Apostolic See.

The Commission will carry out its tasks according to the provisions of this Chirograph and Our operative dispositions.

1. The Commission is composed of at least five members among which is a President who will be its legal representative; a Coordinator who has the powers of a delegate acting in the name and on behalf of the Commission in collecting necessary documents, data and information, as well as Secretary who will assist the members and be in charge of documents.

2. The Commission is endowed with powers and faculties appropriate to the execution of their institutional functions within the limits established by this Chirograph and the norms of its juridical status.

Official secrecy and other eventual restrictions established by such juridical status shall not inhibit or limit the Commission's access to documents, data and information, other than the norms that safeguard the aut9nomy and independence of the Authorities that carry out activities of supervision and regulation of the Institute, which norms remain in force

3. The Commission will have the human and material resources adequate to its institutional functions. If necessary, it will avail of co-workers and consultants.

4. The governance of the Institute will continue according to the norm established by the (1990) Chirograph that erected it, unless We provide otherwise.

5. The Commission will seek the collaboration of the organs of the Institute as well as all its personnel. Moreover, the Superiors, Members and Officials of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and pther entities linked to the latter, as well as those of Vatican City State, will likewise collaborate with the Commission. The Commission may also avail of the collaboration of other subjects, spo9ntaneously or upon request.

6. The Commission will keep Us informed of their activities during the course of their work.

7. The Commission will present to Us the results of their work as well as its entire archive, in a timely manner at the conclusion of its work.

8. The activity of the Commission begins as of the date of this Chirograph.

9. The eventual dissolution of the Commission will be made known.

Given at the Vatican
June 24, 2013
in the First Year of My Pontificate

FRANCESCO

---

I wondered about the use of the royal 'we' (the so-called majestic plural used by high dignitaries) and its derivatives - capitalized in the original text, as I have kept it in the translation - only to revert to the singular form in 'My Pontificate'. I read somewhere that under John Paul II, the royal 'we' used in the original Latin of papal documents was nonetheless translated to other languages in the singular, and so were those under Benedict XVI. The text of this Chirograph however has only been posted in Italian by the Vatican, and the text uses the royal 'we'.

The broad powers given to the Commission, even if it is only ad hoc and will be dissolved once it makes its final report and recommendations to the Pope, reinforce for me the irony that the five persons named to it may all be considered Benedict's men (and lady). I consider the Commission an indirect tribute to Benedict XVI.

Thursday, June 27, 12th Week in Ordinary Time

Center icon: In orthodox iconography, Cyril is often paired with Athanasius (left), his great predecessor as Bishop of Alexandria.
ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA (Egypt, 376-444), Bishop, Theologian, Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI devoted his catechesis on October 3, 2007, to Cyril of Alexandria
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071003...
who was made a Doctor of the Church by Leo XIII and who has been called 'Pillar of Faith' and 'Seal of the Fathers' because of his staunch doctrinal orthodoxy. He grew up under an uncle, Theophilus, who was bishop of Alexandria and who took him to Constantinople where eventually, he took part in a Synod that deposed John Chrysostom as Bishop of Constantinople, in the context of an ongoing rivalry between Constantinople and Alexandria (along with Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch, they made up the premier Sees of the early Church). When Theophilus died, Cyril was elected to succeed him and served as Bishop of Alexandria for 32 years. He was responsible for closing down the churches of Novatian heretics, and for expelling anti-Christian Jews from Alexandria and confiscating their properties. His biggest conflict was with Nestorius, elected Bishop of Constantinople in 418 who affirmed that Jesus was only a vessel in whom God dwelt and therefore refused to call Mary Theotokos (or God-bearer). Cyril spearheaded a theological campaign against this heresy to affirm the traditional teaching that human and divine nature united uniquely in Jesus. Significantly, Benedict XVI chooses this quotation from a letter that Cyril wrote to Nestorius: "It is essential to explain the teaching and interpretation of the faith to the people in the most irreproachable way, and to remember that those who cause scandal even to only one of the little ones who believe in Christ will be subjected to an unbearable punishment". Benedict goes on to say that "the faith of the people is an extension of tradition and a guarantee of sound doctrine". Cyril and his supporters held the Council of Ephesus in 431 which affirmed traditional Church teaching on Christ and the Theotokos, condemned Nestorius, and exiled him. Cyril was a prolific writer who was widely read in his day. His theology was very Christ-centered and much of it carried on the ideas of his great predecessor Athanasius (285-373), not surprisingly known as the Doctor of Orthodoxy, whose great fight was against the Arian heresy.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062713.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Pope Francis met with
- Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See.
(He is the latest of the heads of Curial offices to meet the Pope one on one.)

- Madame Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the UN's World Food Program.


One year ago...
At the General Audience, Benedict XVI reflected on the great "Christological hymn" found in the Letter to the Philippians (2:6-11), in which St. Paul, a prisoner for the Gospel, exhorts his hearers to "that deep joy which is the fruit of our imitation of God’s Son, who humbled himself and took on our human nature"...

Again, yet another eerie 'prequel' - it simply means Benedict XVI thought ahead of the curve, though no one credits him for it - to Pope Francis's much-vaunted appointment of a reference commission to study possible reform of the IOR, was in the news this time last year, though the OR seemed to have been the only outlet to take note:. Earlier in the week, he called n five cardinals who have his confidence to consult them on the 'crisis' brought on by Vatileaks - and Cardinal Bertone was not one of them.

IOR executives meet -
Pope watches them closely
Translated from

June 27, 2012

---

This morning, the Administrative Council of IOR met, currently composed of the Vice President, Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz; Carl Albert Anderson, Antonio Maria Marocco, and Manuel Soto Serrano.

Afterwards, tghey reported to the Cardinals' oversight commission presided by Secretary of Satte Cardinal tarcisio Bertone.

Both meetings were useful to share information and proposals both on the regular management of the institution, as well as to draw up the criteria of professionalism and universally recognized experience for the next IOR president.

The Holy Father is paying close attention to the current situation of IOR and has asked to be constantly informed by the Secretary of State.

---

Note the last line of the communique. Does it not seem to indicate that Benedict XVI is riding herd over IOR management for the first time? As if to say, "Guys, you're not just dealing with Cardinal Bertone now. I'm watching you all, him included". Perhaps the era of blind unquestioning trust in this particular co-worker has ended for the Pope. Cardinal Tauran, who's on the cardinals' oversight commission, may have told him a thing or two about IOR last Saturday.



GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY
June 27, 2012



In his last General Audience before his July summer break, Pope Benedict XVI today continued his catecheses on prayer in the letters of St. Paul. Once again, the audience was held in Aula Paolo VI because of the summer heat in Rome.

The Holy Father leaves for Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday, July 2, and will be staying there to the end of September, with a brief 'interruption' when he travels to Lebanon on Sept. 12-14.



Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's catechesis:

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Our prayer consists, as we have seen in past Wednesdays, of silence and speech, of singing and gestures that involve the whole person: from the mouth to the mind, from the heart to the whole body. It is a characteristic that we find in Jewish prayer, especially in the Psalms.

Today I would like to talk about one of the oldest songs or hymns of the Christian tradition, which St. Paul presents to us in what is, in a sense, his spiritual testament: The Letter to the Philippians. It is, in fact, a letter that the Apostle dictated while in prison, perhaps in Rome. He feels close to death, because he says that his life will be poured out as a libation (cf. Philippians 2.17).

Despite this situation of grave danger to his physical safety, St. Paul, throughout the text, expresses the joy of being a disciple of Christ, of being able to reach out to Him, to the point of no longer seeing his death as a loss but as gain.

In the last chapter of the Letter there is a powerful invitation to joy, a fundamental characteristic of our being Christians and of our prayer. St. Paul writes: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!" (Phil 4,4).

But how can one rejoice in the face of an imminent death sentence? From where, or rather, from whom does St. Paul draw the serenity, strength, courage to go to meet his martyrdom, and the shedding of his blood?

We find the answer at the centre of the Letter to the Philippians, in what Christian tradition calls carmen Christo, the hymn for Christ, more commonly known as the 'Christological hymn', a hymn in which all attention is centered on the 'sentiments' of Christ, that is, on his thinking, as well as his lived and concrete experience.

This prayer begins with an exhortation: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2,5). These feelings are presented in the following verses: love, generosity, humility, obedience to God, the gift of oneself.

It is not simply to follow the example of Jesus, as a moral thing, but to involve all of our existence in his way of thinking and acting. Prayer should lead to an ever deeper knowledge and union of love with the Lord, to be able to think, act and love like Him, in Him and for Him. To exercise this, to learn the sentiments of Jesus, is the path of Christian life.

Now I will linger briefly on some elements of this dense hymn that sums up the whole human and divine journey of the Son of God, and encompasses all of human history: from his being God, to the incarnation, to his death on the cross and his exaltation in the glory of the Father, all of which also implies the behavior of Adam, of man at his origins.

This hymn to Christ starts off from his being «en morphe tou Theou», as the Greek text says, namely, his being 'in the form of God', or better yet, in the condition of God. Jesus, true God and true man, does not live his 'being like God' in order to triumph or to impose his supremacy - he does not consider it a possession, a privilege, a jealously guarded treasure.

Rather, he 'stripped himself', he emptied himself, assuming, as the Greek text says, the 'morphe doulos', the form of a slave, which is the human reality marked by suffering, poverty, death. He assimilated himself totally in humanity, except in sin, so that he behaved as a servant completely dedicated to the service of others.

In this regard, Eusebius of Cesarea in the fourth century said: "He took upon himself the burdens of the members who suffer. He made his own our lowly diseases. He suffered and was tortured for our sake: all this in conformity with his great love for mankind" (The evangelical demonstration, 10, 1,22).

St. Paul continues by delineating the 'historical' context in which this self-abasement of Jesus took place: "He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death" (Phil 2,8). The Son of God had truly become man and completed a journey in complete obedience and faithfulness to the will of the Father up to the supreme sacrifice of his own life.

Again, more than ever, the Apostle specifies that Jesus was 'obedient to death, even death on a cross". On the cross, Jesus reached the maximum degree of humiliation, because crucifixion was the penalty reserved for slaves, not for free men: «mors turpissima crucis» (the shameful death on the Cross) wrote Cicero (cfr In Verrem, V, 64, 165).

On the Cross of Christ, man is redeemed, and the experience of Adam is overturned: Adam, created in the image and likeness of God, presumed to be like God with his own forces, to put himself in God's place, and thus he lost the original dignity that he had been given.

Jesus, on the other hand, was 'in the condition of God', but he abased himself, immersed himself in the human condition, in total fidelity to the Father, in order to redeem the Adam in us and give back man the dignity that he had lost.

The Fathers underscored that he was obedient, restoring to human nature, through his own humanity and obedience, that which was lost through the disobedience of Adam.

In prayer, in our relationship with God, we open the mind and the heart, our very will, to the action of the Holy Spirit in order to enter into that same dynamic of life, as affirmed by St. Cyril of Alexandria, whose feast we celebrate today: "The work of the Spirit seeks to transform us through the grace of perfectly copying his humiliation" (Lettera Festale 10,4).

But instead, human logic often seeks realization of the self in power, in dominion, with powerful means. Man continues to want to build with his own powers the tower of Babel so that by himself he may reach the height of God, to be like God.

The Incarnation and the Cross remind us that full self-realization is conforming our human will to that of the Father, emptying ourselves of self in order to be filled with love, the charity of God, and thus become truly capable of loving others.

Man does not find himself by remaining closed in on himself, affirming himself. Man finds himself only by leaving himself, Only if we leave ourselves do we find ourselves. If Adam wanted to imitate God, that in itself is not bad, but he was wrong in his idea of God. God is not one who only wants greatness. God is love who gives himself in the Trinity and then in Creation. To imitate God means leaving oneself, to give oneself in love.

In the second part of this Christological hymn in the Letter to the Philippians, the subject changes: it is no longer Christ, but God the Father. St. Paul underscores that it is precisely because of his obedience to the will of God that "God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name" (Phil 2,9).

He who had profoundly abased himself taking on the condition of a slave was exalted, elevated over every other by the Father, who gives him the name Kyrios, Lord - the supreme dignity of lordship. In the face of this new man, in fact,given the name of God himself in the Old Testament, "every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (vv 10-11).

The Jesus that is exalted is the Jesus of the Last Supper, who took off his outer garments, girded himself with a towel, and bent to wash the feet of the Apostles, asking them: "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet" (Jn 13,12-14).

It is important to remember this always in our prayer and in our life: "The ascent to God comes precisely in the descent to humble service, the descent of love, which is the essence of God, and therefore the truly purifying power which makes man able to perceive and to see God" (JESUS OF NAZARETH, Milan, 2007).

The hymn in the Letter to the Philippians offers us two important indications for our own prayer. The first is the invocation Lord addressed to Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father. He is the only Lord of our life, among so many 'dominators' who wish to direct and guide it. Therefore, it is necessary to have a scale of values in which God has the primacy so we can affirm with St. Paul: "I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil 3,8). His encounter with the Risen One made him understand that he is the only treasure for whom it is worth giving one's own existence.

The second indication is prostration, that 'every knee may bend' on earth and in the heavens, which recalls an expression of the prophet Isaiah, when he indicates the adoration that all creatures owe to God (cfr 45,23).

Genuflection before the Most Blessed Sacrament or kneeling when we pray, express the attitude of adoration before God, even with the body. Thus the importance of this gesture, not out of habit and in haste, but with profound awareness. When we kneel before the Lord, we confess our faith in him, we acknowledge that he is the only Lord of our life.

Dear brothers and sisters, in our prayer, let us keep our gaze on the Crucified One, let us pause in adoration more often before the Eucharist, in order to make our life enter into God's love, who debased himself with humility to raise us to him.

At the start of the catechesis, we asked how is it that St. Paul could rejoice with the imminent risk of martyrdom and the shedding of his blood. This is possible only because the Apostle had never turned away his look from Christ, to the point of conforming with him in death in the hope that "somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Phil 3,11).

Like St, Francis before the Crucifix, let us also say: "Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me true faith, certain hope and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out Your holy and true command. Amen" (cfr Prayer before the Crucifix FF [276])..

---

In 2008, the blogsite Rorate caeli posted a compilation of Benedict XVI's major statements on marriage in the first two years of his Pontificate. The blog re-posted it yesterday in view of the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) twin rulings that, in effect, validate legal unions between homosexuals as 'marriage' and granting such couples the same legal rights as traditional married couples.

I think, however, that an equally important motivation for the traditionalist site to do this is the impression by Vaticanistas like Sandro Magister that Pope Francis intends to remain silent on the so-called 'non-negotiable principles' espoused by Benedict XVI on every occasion that he could, as the new Pope has made clear he wants local bishops to carry on the discussion of thorny social issues which are also necessarily political, and in which the dominant mentality favors liberal positions that run counter to basic Catholic doctrine. The Rorate compilation is an excellent beginning, to which I shall later try to add later statements.

NEVER SILENT
Benedict XVI on marriage
between a man and a woman:
A non-negotiable value -
reject pseudo-marriages

---

None of us, in fact, belongs exclusively to himself or herself: one and all are therefore called to take on in their inmost depths their own public responsibility.

Marriage as an institution is thus not an undue interference of society or of authority. The external imposition of form on the most private reality of life is instead an intrinsic requirement of the covenant of conjugal love and of the depths of the human person.

Today, the various forms of the erosion of marriage, such as free unions and "trial marriage", and even pseudo-marriages between people of the same sex, are instead an expression of anarchic freedom that are wrongly made to pass as true human liberation.

This pseudo-freedom is based on a trivialization of the body, which inevitably entails the trivialization of the person. Its premise is that the human being can do to himself or herself whatever he or she likes: thus, the body becomes a secondary thing that can be manipulated, from the human point of view, and used as one likes.

Licentiousness, which passes for the discovery of the body and its value, is actually a dualism that makes the body despicable, placing it, so to speak, outside the person's authentic being and dignity.

Benedict XVI
Address at the Diocesan Convention in Rome
Lateran Basilica
June 6, 2005



When new forms of legislation are created which relativize marriage, the renouncement of the definitive bond obtains, as it were, also a juridical seal.

In this case, deciding for those who are already finding it far from easy becomes even more difficult. Then there is in addition, for the other type of couple, the relativization of the difference between the sexes.

The union of a man and a woman is being put on a par with the pairing of two people of the same sex, and tacitly confirms those fallacious theories that remove from the human person all the importance of masculinity and femininity, as though it were a question of the purely biological factor.

Such theories hold that man - that is, his intellect and his desire - would decide autonomously what he is or what he is not. In this, corporeity is scorned, with the consequence that the human being, in seeking to be emancipated from his body - from the "biological sphere" - ends by destroying himself.

If we tell ourselves that the Church ought not to interfere in such matters, we cannot but answer: are we not concerned with the human being? Do not believers, by virtue of the great culture of their faith, have the right to make a pronouncement on all this? Is it not their - our - duty to raise our voices to defend the human being, that creature who, precisely in the inseparable unity of body and spirit, is the image of God?

Benedict XVI
Christmas Address to the Roman Curia
December 22, 2006



[Human] love is the privileged path that God chose to reveal himself to man and in this love he calls human beings to communion in the Trinitarian life.

This approach enables us also to overcome a private conception of love that is so widespread today. Authentic love is transformed into a light that guides the whole of life towards its fullness, generating a society in which human beings can live. The communion of life and love which is marriage thus emerges as an authentic good for society.

Today, the need to avoid confusing marriage with other types of unions based on weak love is especially urgent. It is only the rock of total, irrevocable love between a man and a woman that can serve as the foundation on which to build a society that will become a home for all mankind.

Benedict XVI
Address to Members of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute
May 11, 2006




...there are mounting threats to the natural composition of the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, and attempts to relativize it by giving it the same status as other radically different forms of union. All this offends and helps to destabilize the family by concealing its specific nature and its unique social role.

Benedict XVI
Address to the Diplomatic Corps
January 8, 2007




...no law made by man can override the norm written by the Creator without society becoming dramatically wounded in what constitutes its basic foundation. To forget this would mean to weaken the family, penalizing the children and rendering the future of society precarious.

Benedict XVI
Address to Participants of Congress on Natural Moral Law
February 12, 2007




Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms. These values are not negotiable. Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature. There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29).

Benedict XVI
Sacramentum Caritatis

---

Friday, June 28, 12th Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS (b Asia Minor, ca 140, d Lyons 202), Bishop, Theologian and Martyr
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on March 28, 2007
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070328...
to this early Father of the Church. He was born in Izmir (in present-day Turkey) and had been a student of Bishop Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist. He eventually moved to Gaul and was listed among the presbyters of Lyons in 177. That year, he was on a mission to the Pope in Rome when at least 48 Christians, including the aging bishop of Lyons, were martyred by order of Marcus Aurelius. Returning to Lyons, he was elected Bishop and served so until his death, possibly martyred, himself. He distinguished himself both as a pastor and as a defender of the faith, explaining its truths clearly to the faithful, especially in specific response to the Gnostics, an ascendant heresy in the second century. One of his two extant works could be called the oldest catechism of the Catholic Church. Benedict's lecture on Irenaeus is fascinating for how he describes the Church Tradition that Irenaeus taught - one, holy, apostolic, public and 'pneumatic', or inspired by the Holy Spirit - as handed down from the Apostles themselves. "His tradition, uninterrupted Tradition, is not traditionalism, because this Tradition is always enlivened from within by the Holy Spirit, who makes it live anew, causes it to be interpreted and understood in the vitality of the Church".
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062813.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Pope Francis met with
- His Eminence Ioannis Zizoulas, Metropolitan of Pergamum, and head of the Orthodox delegation representing
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in this year's observance of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
= The full delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Address in Italian.
Vatican Radio's English translation may be found here:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/06/28/pope_to_orthodox_delegation_from_ecumenical_patriarchate/en1-705667

- Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid (Spain)
- Prof. Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Commander of the Knights of Columbus and member of thee five-man
IOR lay executive board.




One year ago...
Benedict XVI met with the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the observance of the Solemnity of
Saints Peter and Paul. This reciprocates annually a similar visit by a Vatican delegation to the observance in Istanbul of the Feast of St. Andrew, patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Two ambassadors on a farewell visit: Mordechay Lewy, Ambassador of Israel; and Madame Lamia A. H. Mekhemar, Ambassador from the Arab Republic of Egypt. [She had been President Mubarak's envoy to Egypt when relations with the Vatican were briefly disrupted after the eruption of violence in Egypt in late 2010. She was recalled to Egypt, but sent back by the Egyptian army council that took over after Mubarak was forced out of office in early 2011. Her departure this time apparently reflects the imminent change to an elected civilian government under President-elect Mohammed Morsi, who is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.]

At a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood, the Holy Father authorized a number of decrees that will lead to the beatification of an Italian priest and a Brazilian laywoman, both of whom lived in the 19th century, for whom miracles attributed to their intercession have been confirmed.
Also decreed: Martyrdom for a total of 156 Spanish priests, religious and lay faithful killed in hatred of the faith during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939); an Indian layman martyred in 1792, and an Italian priest killed by the Mafia in Palermo in 1993. Martyrs will proceed to canonization without requiring a beatification miracle, but will require one before canonization. Most notable among nine persons whose heroic virtues were proclaimed today (they will proceed to beatification after the Vatican certifies a miracle attributed to their intercession) are Mons. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), the charismatic American bishop who was the evangelizing face and voice of the US Church for decades, and Fr. Alvaro Portillo (1914-1994), who succeeded St. Josemaria Escriva after his death in 1975 as head of the Opus Dei.



Pope meets Orthodox delegation
to Rome's observance tomorrow of
the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

June 28, 2012



Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday greeted a delegation sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, to mark Friday’s Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The delegation sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch was led by Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis, who heads the Greek Orthodox Church in France.

During his remarks, Pope Benedict praised the accomplishments of the apostles Peter and Paul, and said that in their preaching, sealed by the witness of martyrdom, we can find the roots of the bonds which exist between the two Churches. He asked that through their intercession, God may “bring closer the blessed day when we can share the Eucharistic table.”

He also mentioned the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, which the Holy Father said began “an important new phase” in Catholic-Orthodox relationship.

“Recalling the anniversary of Vatican II, it seems right to remember the figure and the work of the unforgettable Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, of whose death we will in a few days mark the fortieth anniversary,” Pope Benedict said.

“Patriarch Athenagoras, with Blessed Pope John XXIII and the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, animated by passion for the unity of the Church which comes from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, became proponents of bold initiatives which paved the way for a renewed relationship between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Catholic Church.”

The Pope concluded by speaking of his “great joy” in the manner which the current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, has continued this work, “with renewed faithfulness and abundant creativity…noted around the world for his openness to dialogue between Christians, and his commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel in the modern world.”

It turns out that Francesco Grana's photo 'scoop' of B16 from yesterday was part of a series of photos obtained by the Italian 'People'-style weekly magazine OGGI which has published
a series of 20 photos taken of the Emeritus Pope on one of his walks near Mater Ecclesiae with Mons. Gaenswein. One encouraging sign is that he obviously does not yet need someone to hold him by the arm as
he moves about, and seems to get by just with his cane.



For now, I am making use of the montage assembled by Beatrice on her website - many thanks, Beatrice! - and will post the photos in larger format as soon as I have sorted them in their probable chronological order. I will translate the article, along with a neat story by an OGGI staffer who attended one of Pope
Francis's morning Masses earlier this week and spoke to him briefly afterwards.

BIG NEWS:

SCANDAL AT THE VATICAN!

The case against a seemingly corrupt monsignor

Finally, a concrete case of seemingly blatant corrupt behavior by a Vatican monsignor who worked in one of the Vatican's financial offices. Major headlines in the Italian media, of course. And the Anglophone news agencies used it as a new occasion to lash out at IOR, even if the major story about this monsignor does not involve IOR at all.

The wonder is that not one journalist got wind of this story, which certainly has all the elements of scandal, before it broke this week. The story also does not make clear when this particular attempt to smuggle money took place. And one must also ask when exactly the Vatican began to look into the monsignor's accounts at IOR which he apparently used for some personal schemes. Was this among the suspicious activities detected by the Vatican's AIF last year?

Vatican monsignor arrested for plot
to smuggle S20 million into Italy
By NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY, June 28, 2013 (AP) — The plot involved an armed police escort, a wealthy shipping family and a plan to secretly transport $26 million (20 million euros) from a Swiss bank account into Italy aboard a private jet. At the heart of the story of greed: a silver-haired Vatican monsignor.

The latest corruption scandal to hit the Holy See unraveled in public on Friday as Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican accountant, was arrested in the customs-dodging Swiss bank case. [When exactly was the last documented corruption scandal? Was that not back in the 1980s with the Banco Ambrosiano crash? The statement is made by the AP reporter to reinforce the media-created myth of perennial corruption in the Vatican without ever naming a specific case, as there finally is, in this one.]

He is also under investigation in a separate case of alleged money-laundering involving his Vatican bank account.

The developments came two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to its reputation as an unregulated, offshore tax haven.

Francis has made it clear that he has no tolerance for corruption or for Vatican officials who use their jobs for personal ambition or gain. [You would think the Popes before him had not also made that very clear! And who legislated financial transparency for all Vatican offices and opened Vatican finances to international scrutiny in a true revolution that the media has not credited him for at all and which is therefore virtually unknown to the public?]

He has said he wants a "poor" church that ministers to those most in need. He has also noted, tongue in cheek, that "St. Peter didn't have a bank account." [Great one-liner and crowd pleaser, but Jesus and the Apostles had common 'coffers' for which they appointed a treasurer, Judas Iscariot, to be in charge! Jesus never said money or wealth in itself was bad, as long as they are acquired honestly and used well. And of course, there's a special grace for those who can give up all their wealth and give it to the needy so they could 'follow' Christ.]

With Francis's reform-minded hand now running the show, the Vatican said it was prepared to fully cooperate with Italian investigators. [Note how this fallacious premise completely ignores the trail-blazing done by Benedict XVI - even implying openly that if Francis were not Pope, the Vatican would not be prepared to cooperate with the investigation! The bias is just so appalling and I bet it is deliberate.]

The Italians described a remarkably detailed scheme allegedly spearheaded by Scarano to benefit some very wealthy friends. Prosecutor Nello Rossi identified them as the d'Amicos, one of Italy's most important shipping families from Scarano's hometown of Salerno in southern Italy.

Rossi declined to say if any of the d'Amicos were under investigation, but said developments were expected in the coming days.

Three people were arrested on Friday: Scarano, a onetime banker who was recently suspended from his job in the Vatican's main finance office, Italian financier Giovanni Carenzio and Giovanni Zito, who until recently was a member of the Italian military police's agency for security and information.

[Fr. Federico Lombardi makes a more precise job description: Scarano, who worked at a bank before he became a priest, was a supervising accountant at APSA_(Italian acronym for the Administration for the Patrimony of the Holy See, which is certainly not 'the Vatican's main finance office', as Winfield claims.

APSA's specific duty under 'Pastor Bonus' is specifically to manage properties owned by the Holy See in order to provide the funds necessary for the Roman Curia to function. On the other hand, the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See oversees all the offices of the Holy See (except IOR) that manage finances, regardless of their degree of autonomy. The Prefecture does not manage finances itself, but instead audits the balance sheets and budgets of the offices that do. It then prepares and publishes annually a general financial report. It must be consulted on all projects of major importance undertaken by the offices in question. In December 2010, Benedict XVI( created the Financial Information Authority (AIF) which does has both oversight and investigative powers over the various offices reporting to the Prefecture, as well as IOR.]

According to wiretapped conversations, the three allegedly plotted to smuggle in some 20 million euros in cash that Carenzio held in a Swiss bank account without declaring it to authorities at the airport.

Scarano's lawyer described him as something of a middleman: The 20 million euros belonged to the d'Amicos, who had given the money to Carenzio to invest but wanted it back. Scarano was tasked with persuading Carenzio to hand it over.

Rossi said the d'Amico money was presumably being held in Switzerland to avoid paying Italian taxes. An email seeking comment from the family's Rome-based company, the d'Amico Societa di Navigazione SpA, wasn't immediately returned.

According to prosecutors, Zito, the Carabinieri agent, called in sick to his job one day in July 2012, rented a private plane and flew with Carenzio to Locarno, Switzerland, to pick up the money. The plan was for Carenzio to withdraw the cash from his bank account and hand it over to Zito to bring back to Italy. The arrangements were so detailed there was even to be an armed police escort waiting at the airport to bring the money to Scarano's home in Rome, Rossi said.

"This operation was meticulously planned in all its details," the prosecutor said, noting that Zito was chosen to be the mule because his high-ranking position in the Italian police agency would have enabled him to pass through the airport customs area without being stopped.

The money could have been transported relatively easily because euros are issued in high denominations. If the cash had been withdrawn in the largest denomination – 500 euro notes – it would have weighed 97 pounds (44 kilos) and fit into a suitcase.

But at a certain point in Locarno, the deal fell through. Carenzio, who had been increasingly balking at handing the money over, made excuses that the Swiss bank couldn't come up with the money, Rossi said.

He declined to identify the bank and it's not clear where the money is. But this isn't the only investigation looking into Carenzio's financial dealings: Rossi noted news reports in the Canary Islands that authorities there are investigating Carenzio for alleged fraud, misappropriation of funds and concealment of assets. He is alleged to have operated a Ponzi scheme, the reports say.

After the aborted transport flight, Zito returned to Rome empty-handed. But he still demanded from Scarano his fee of 600,000 euros for the operation. Scarano cut him one check for 400,000 euros which he deposited. He gave him a second check for 200,000 euros, but in a bid to prevent the check from being deposited, reported it as missing, the prosecutor said.

That put a block on the check and resulted in Scarano being accused of slander for filing a false report knowing that the check was in Zito's hands, Rossi said.

Scarano, as well as the other two, are also accused of corruption. If they are indicted and convicted, they could face up to five to six years in prison, prosecutors said. Rossi said investigators were also looking into the source of Scarano's wealth and his real estate holdings.

Asked how his client responded to the accusations, Scarano's attorney, Silverio Sica, said the monsignor would respond to prosecutors' questions.

"As far as I know, Father Nunzio was only trying to help some friends and then entered a mechanism that later revealed to be dangerous for him too," he said in an interview. "I believe he did it with naivety".

The Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, is cooperating with Italian authorities and its lay board has launched an internal investigation, spokesman Max Hohenberg said. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Scarano was suspended more than a month ago and that the Vatican was taking the appropriate measures to deal with his case.

He said the Vatican hadn't yet received any request for information from Italian authorities, but said it was prepared to offer its "full cooperation."

Rossi, the Italian prosecutor, described the operation as one branch in a "mosaic" of investigations targeting the Vatican bank, which has long been a source of scandal for the Holy See. [The aforementioned case for which Scarano was arrested had nothing to do with IOR, nor with the Vatican, for that matter, since Scarano was acting in his personal capacity. The Vatican is involved because Scarano's account in IOR is now being looked at - and even his revealed activities with regard to that account were strictly for his own personal motivations.]

Rossi's team of prosecutors in 2010 placed the top two Vatican bank officials under investigation for allegedly violating anti-money laundering norms during a routine transaction involving an Institute for Religious Works account at an Italian bank. They ordered the 23 million euros in the transaction seized. The money was eventually unfrozen but the two men remain under investigation. [If Italy released the IOR money that was sequestered, it could not have much of a case against the two men - in this case, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was IOR president at the time' and Paolo Cipriani, who remains managinu director of IOR. There seems to be malice in Italy's treatment of IOR for choosing to keep both men under a cloud of suspicion for two and a half years now.]

The Swiss investigation didn't immediately appear to directly involve the Vatican Bank, but both Rossi and Vatican officials said there could be further developments.

Rossi noted that the d'Amicos were frequent contributors to Scarano's charitable account at the Vatican Bank, known as the "Fondo Anziani," a fund purportedly aimed at helping out the elderly.

Rossi's team is also working with prosecutors in Salerno on a separate money-laundering investigation involving Scarano and his Vatican bank accounts.

According to Sica, Scarano took $729,000 (560,000 euros) in cash out of his Vatican bank account in 2009 and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.

The money had come into Scarano's Vatican bank account from donors who gave it to the prelate thinking they were funding a home for the terminally ill in Salerno, Sica said.

To deposit the money into an Italian bank account – and to prevent family members from finding out he had such a large chunk of cash – he asked 56 close friends to accept 10,000 euros apiece in cash in exchange for a check or money transfer in the same amount. Scarano was then able to deposit the amounts in his Italian account.

The lawyer said Scarano had given the names of the donors to prosecutors and insisted the origin of the money was clean, that the transactions didn't constitute money-laundering, and that he only took the money "temporarily" for his personal use.

The home for the terminally ill was never built, though the property has been identified, Sica said.

On Wednesday, Francis named five people to head a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank's activities and legal status "to allow for a better harmonization with the universal mission of the Apostolic See."

Father Lombardi's statement
on Monsignor Scarano

June 28m 2013

---

As already known from the past few days, Monsignor Nuncio Scarano has been suspended from duty at APSA (Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See) for over a month, as soon as his superiors were informed that he was under investigation.

This is in accordance with the Regulations of the Roman Curia, which requires the precautionary suspension for persons against whom criminal proceedings have begun.

The Holy See has not yet received any request from the competent Italian authorities on the matter, but has confirmed its willingness to cooperate fully.

The competent Vatican authorities, the AIF, are following the problem to take, if necessary, measures appropriate to its competence.

---

This story this time last year is quite apropos:




This would never have happened without the decision of Benedict XVI in 2010 to make all Vatican financial operations transparent. And if it had been left to those who pull the string at IOR - and who resisted any measures that would allow Moneyval to examine Vatican's financial transactions for purposes of guarding against money laundering through the banks - they would never have interpreted 'financial transparency' to mean letting the world know these basic facts that the faithful have a right to know about the IOR. IOR first opened its doors to 'outsiders' when it invited ambassadors to the Holy See to a briefing on IOR last May 15, two weeks before IOR president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was dismissed by the IOR administrative council.

See, that wasn't so hard:
IOR opens up to newsmen
by ANDREA TORNIELLI

June 28, 2012

The Vatican financial institution IOR manages approximately 6 billion Euro and has some 33,000 accounts belonging to 25,000 client depositors, but has no secret or anonymous accounts. [For example, a corporate depositor, such as a religious congregation, can have multiple accounts, one for each of its national branches and different institutions.]

It operates strict checks on money transfers, guarantees traceability of payments and is doing everything in its power to bring itself in line with international anti-money laundering regulations.

This was the crux of the message conveyed today by IOR director-general Paolo Cipriani ina briefing for 53 journalists from all around the world. It was the first time ever that IOR has ever opened its doors and given a briefing to journalists. [Also the first time that anyone finally has an idea of how big - or small - the IOR is as a financial institution. For perspective, consider that the top 50 banks in the world today control assets ranging from 500 billion to 2.7 trillion dollars.]

The open house included a visit to the hall with counters open only to selected clients, preceded by a two-hour presentation on the activities of the institution established by Leo XIII in 1887 and transformed to its present strucgture by Pius XII in 1942.

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, said he was happy with the initiative: “We want to further this line of legality, transparency and correctness; this is why we want to communicate important information to the media.”

During his presentation, Cipriani, accompanied by deputy director Massimo Tulli and four other directors, reiterated on a number of occasions that the Vatican bank wants to “remove the veil of secrecy” concealing its activities and eliminate suspicions about the Vatican bank being used for dirty operations.

Cipriani also stressed that the services offered by the Vatican bank “are conceived according to the Catholic Church’s basic ethical principles.” He explained that the institute’s primary objective was not to create profit on its balance sheet but to satisfy the client. [That's a strange statement. Wasn't IOR created so that it could generate legitimate profits through its investments, out of which the Church can finance various 'religious works' around the world? Of course, every bank wants to satisfy its clients, and clients want their money to grow and to remain safe, hopefully in legitimate ways, and their privacy to be respected - those are general intentions, not specific objectives, much less the primary objective for IOR! It is so frustrating when reporters don't challenge statements like that made by Cipriani.

This is why the IOR organizes conferences with the financial authorities of various religious orders, to illustrate market trends to them and rationalize how the bank programs its investments in order to get the best and safest deal for its clients and itself.

Entities who can open an account with IOR include nunciatures, bishops, dioceses, religious congregations, parishes, canonical foundations, seminaries, Catholic educational institutions and embassies to the Holy See.

Cipriani said that 77.% of IOR clients are Europeans, 7.3% Vatican, 6.3% African, 4.1% South American, 2.3% North and Central American, 2.5% Asian and 0.2% from Oceania.

Cipriani retierated IOR's version of the Italian investigation into a 2010 IOR transaction, in which some 23 million euro of IOR funds was sequestered by the Italian government which suspected an irregular money transfer from the IOR account in Italy's Credito Artigianle bank to its own bank account in Frankfurt for the purpose of buying German bonds.

“These funds", he said,"are intended for normal treasury operations by IOR, and not for money transfers".

He also explained how and why JPMorgan closed out its Milan account with IOR recently. The bank had asked for detailed information that was not specified in the collaboration contract: “We wanted to know how the information was going to be used and we expressed our willingness to provide said information if the Italian bank surveillance authority requested it.”

Cipriani also pointed out that “The IT system which has been in place since 1996 makes it impossible for any shady operations to take place; while in the past there may have been irregularities in some accounts, this is no longer possible because every single Euro that comes in and out can be traced.”

Under scrutiny, Vatican opens
IOR doors to newsmen


VATICAN CITY, June 28 (AP) – The Vatican bank, one of the most secretive institutions in the secrecy-obsessed Vatican [The Vatican is no more secrecy-obsessed than, say, any sovereign state's defense and intelligence establishments!], opened itself up to a little external scrutiny Thursday in a bid to show it's serious about fighting money-laundering and being more financially transparent. [AP and other newsmen, including the most veteran Vaticanistas insist on calling IOR the Vatican bank, and it isn't until the 12th paragraph that AP bothers to ackonwledge the difference.]

During a nearly three-hour power-point presentation to a few dozen journalists, the bank's director, Paolo Cipriani, highlighted the peculiar nature of the Institute for Religious Works, the institute's official name, and stressed its internal and external financial controls.

But more importantly, he sought to refute media allegations that the institution has been less than cooperative with requests for financial information from banks such as JPMorgan and Italian authorities.

At one point, Cipriani displayed a letter from Italy's financial police thanking him for his "timely and exhaustive response" in signaling a suspect transaction to them even before the Vatican's new anti-money laundering law went into effect last year. And he described in detail the exhaustive checks carried out by the institute to ensure that the money that comes into and out of its accounts is clean.

The institute, known by its Italian acronym IOR, has long been the subject of rumor and scandal — earned in part because of its role two decades ago in one of the most spectacular banking collapses in Italy, and ongoing suspicions by Italian investigators that it hasn't abided by anti-money laundering norms.

Cipriani, in fact, remains under investigation by Rome prosecutors for a 2010 suspect transaction. He hasn't been charged and said the transaction merely involved moving money from one IOR treasury account to another — not a client transfer which requires more information be provided.

In his first ever news conference, Cipriani said that his aim in coming before reporters was to "remove the veil and shadow of the past and do the utmost to respect the needs of the Holy See."

However, TV cameras and recording devices were barred, and Cipriani didn't take spontaneous questions from reporters. Instead the Vatican spokesman selected some that had been previously submitted and posed them to Cipriani, an affable, fast-talking Italian who nevertheless seemed a bit overwhelmed by the whole encounter.

The visit comes on the eve of a crucial decision by a Council of Europe committee on whether the Vatican has complied with a host of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing norms.

A good compliance grade will enhance the Vatican's chances of eventually getting on the so-called "white list" of countries that share financial information — a keen aim of both the Pope and Cipriani, since the bank has to deal with financial institutions that insist that its books are clean.

The Institute was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets destined for religious or charitable works. Located in a squat stone tower just inside the Vatican City gates, it is not open to the public and isn't even a bank per se but rather an institution that provides financial services, such as bank transfers and financial advice, for church entities in 150 countries.

It has about 35,000 accounts belonging to religious congregations, dioceses, Holy See offices, diplomats and Vatican officials. Cipriani said it has about €6 billion ($7.5 billion) in assets and makes conservative, ethically-minded investments, about five percent of which are in the stock market and the bulk in bonds.

It doesn't do any business with offshore banks, applies regular customer due diligence and internationally-approved bank transfer measures and has a fully functioning anti-money laundering system of checks, he said.

The IOR has been in the news lately because of the unprecedented ouster of its president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was brought in specifically to help usher in a new era of transparency. The IOR's lay board of financiers removed Gotti Tedeschi last month, saying he was actually becoming an obstacle to transparency. [They have never explained how - considering that he managed the drafting of the first financial transparency law signed by Benedict XVI in December 31, 2010, which was subsequently amended to give three other Vatican offices (the Secretariat of State, the Vatican Governatorate and the Vatican Gendarmerie) financial oversight powers alongside the Financial Information Authority created by the 2010 law - amendments made over the objections of Gotti Tedeschi and the Pope's personal pick for the Vatican's financial supervisory czar, Cardinal Nicora.]

On Wednesday, the board met for the first time since the ouster and began deliberations on the selection of a new president.

Cipriani didn't mention Gotti Tedeschi's name or refer to the ouster. He did, however, respond to some other issues that have arisen in recent months, including the abrupt decision by JPMorgan to close its IOR account earlier this year.

Because the IOR isn't a traditional bank per se, it relies on commercial banks in Italy and elsewhere to carry out its transactions. Its 35-year relationship with JPMorgan came to an end when the U.S. bank asked for information about transactions beyond the scope of what the IOR was contractually required to provide.

Cipriani said the type of information JPMorgan was seeking involved "types of questions made by vigilance authorities" — a reference to the Vatican's belief that Italian banking regulators were forcing JPMorgan to seek such information, even though it went beyond what is required.

The questions didn't concern an individual suspect transaction, but rather general questions about the IOR's policies about joint accounts, accounts with delegates and other matters, Cipriani said.

Cipriani displayed a letter in which he told JP Morgan to go through the Vatican's financial intelligence unit to get the information it wanted. Instead, JP Morgan "unilaterally" closed the account, he added.

JP Morgan has said it cannot comment. The Bank of Italy has refused repeated requests for comment about its decision to designate the IOR an offshore entity, a move that required banks in Italy to apply more scrupulous controls over their IOR transactions.

The IOR was implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that remain mysterious.

Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.[It certainly is pertinent to mention here that the IOR was the majority stockholder in Banco Ambrosiano]

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.




___

Saturday, June 29, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL

This feast day commemorates the martyrdom of the two great Apostles, assigned by tradition to the same day of June in the year 67. They had been imprisoned in the famous Mamertine Prison of Rome and both had foreseen their approaching death. Saint Peter was crucified; Saint Paul, a Roman citizen, was slain by the sword.

The Chief of the Apostles was a native of Galilee like Our Lord. Peter was poor and unlearned, but candid, eager, and loving. In his heart, first of all, his conviction grew, and then from his lips came the spontaneous confession: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Our Lord chose him and prepared him to be the Rock on which He would build His Church, His Vicar on earth, the Head and Prince of His Apostles, the center and indispensable bond of the Church’s unity, the unique channel of all spiritual powers, the guardian and unerring teacher of His truth. Ten years after the Ascension Saint Peter transferred his apostolic capital to Rome, going in person to the center of the majestic Roman Empire, where were gathered the glories and riches of the earth, along with all the powers of evil. From there he sent Saint Mark, his valued secretary, to establish the Church of Alexandria in Egypt. In Rome Saint Peter’s Chair was placed; there for twenty-five years he labored at building up the great Roman Church. He was crucified by order of Nero and buried on the Vatican Hill, where now the Basilica stands which bears his name.

Saint Paul was originally Saul of Tarsus, born in that city of Cilicia of Jewish parents, two or three years after the Saviour was born in Bethlehem of Judea. He studied in Jerusalem at the feet of the famous teacher Gamaliel, who later would be converted and listed among the Saints.While still a young man, Saul was present to oversee, as commanding officer, the stoning of the proto-martyr Stephen. In his restless zeal he pressed on to Damascus, “breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of Christ,” intending to drag them from their houses and imprison them. But on the road a light from heaven struck him to the earth. He heard a voice which said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.” He asked who was speaking, and astonished on hearing His Name, inquired what Jesus wanted of him. And then, struck blind, for three days he saw nothing more. But he had been told what to do. He was led by the hand to Damascus, where he remained in the house of a Christian until, three days later, he rose for his baptism by a Christian leader of that city. Then he saw the light of day again, and the brilliance of the full truth for the first time, as another man, a new creature in Jesus Christ. He left Damascus for a long retreat in Arabia, before he set out at the call of God, and carried the Gospel to the uttermost limits of the known western world, for years living and laboring with no thought but that of Christ crucified, no desire but to dispense himself for Him. He became the Apostle to the Gentiles, whom he had been taught to hate. With Saint Peter in his final year he consecrated Rome, the new holy city, by his martyrdom.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062913.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Mass and Angelus on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul - Pope Francis bestowed the pallium on 34 diocesan archbishops
named within the past 12 months:

---

Patriarch Manuel Jose Macario do Nascimento Clemente of Lisbon, Portugal;
Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic;
Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli of Gorizia, Italy;
Archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna of Beira, Mozambique;
Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu of Visakhapatnam, India;
Archbishop Antonio Carlos Altieri of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil;
Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Lodz, Poland;
Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, Scotland;
Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of San Francisco, California;
Archbishop Rolando Joven Tria Tirona of Caceres, Philippines;
Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera Lopez of Monterrey, Mexico;
Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis, Indiana;
Archbishop Carlos Maria Franzini of Mendoza, Argentina;
Archbishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni of Ravenna-Cervia, Italy;
Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras and Mylapore, India;
Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto of Delhi, India;
Archbishop John Wong Soo Kau of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia;
Archbishop Murray Chatlain of Keewatin-Le Pas, Manitoba;
Archbishop Sérgio Eduardo Castriani of Manaus, Brazil;
Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva, Fiji Islands;
Archbishop Alfonso Cortes Contreras of Leon, Mexico;
Archbishop Alexander King Sample of Portland, Oregon;
Archbishop Joseph Effiong Ekuwem of Calabar, Nigeria;
Archbishop Jesus Juarez Parraga of Sucre, Bolivia;
Archbishop Fabio Martinez Castilla of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico;
Archbishop Ramon Alfredo Dus of Resistencia, Argentina;
Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli of Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Archbishop Gintaras Linas Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania;
Archbishop Michael Owen Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa;
Archbishop Duro Hranic of Dakovo-Osijek, Croatia;
Archbishop Moacir Silva of Ribeirao Preto, Brazil;
Archbishop Jozef Piotr Kupny of Wroclaw, Poland;
Archbishop Sergio Alfredo Gualberti Calandrina of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia;
Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi of L’Aquila, Italy.

---

Vatican Radio's English translation of the homily and Angelus remarks may be found here:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/06/29/pope_francis:_mass_and_angelus_on_sts_peter_and_paul/en1-705903#


ON THE 62nd ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR PRIESTHOOD

Prayers, love and all good wishes

to Benedict XVI and Mons. Georg

on this blessed day -

Ad multos annos!

None of us even suspected it then, but June 29, 2012, turned out to be the last Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul that Benedict XVI would preside over as Pope. The events of the day merit a full re-post today.



SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER & PAUL
Mass and Imposition of Palliums


Cover illustration: Saints Peter and Paul with Pope Nicholas III. Late 13th-century fresco. Cappella del Sancta Sanctorum, Scala Santa, Rome.

Frieze: Details from 'Crucifixion of Peter' and 'Conversion of Paul', Michelangelo, 1550, Cappella Paolina.

At 9 a.m. today, the Holy Father Benedict XVI imposed the sacred pallium on 43 new metropolitan archbishops at the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter's Basilica. Three other archbishops who could not come to Rome will be given the pallium at their respective metropolitan Sees by the Apostolic Nuncio.

After the pallium rite, the Pope presided at the Eucharistic Celebration concelebrated by the archbishops.

As has now become a tradition following the Second Vatican Council, a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was present, led this year by His Eminence Emmanuel Adamakis, Orthodox Metropolitan for France and director of the Orthodox Church Office at the European Union; His Grace Iias Katre, Bishop of Philomelion (USA); Rev. Deacon Paisios Kokkinakis, Codifier of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.





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

---

Your Eminences,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are gathered around the altar for our solemn celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, the principal Patrons of the Church of Rome. Present with us today are the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the past year, who have just received the Pallium, and to them I extend a particular and affectionate greeting.

Also present is an eminent Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, sent by His Holiness Bartholomaios I, and I welcome them with fraternal and heartfelt gratitude.

In an ecumenical spirit, I am also pleased to greet and to thank the Choir of Westminster Abbey, who are providing the music for this liturgy alongside the Cappella Sistina.

I also greet the Ambassadors and civil Authorities present. I am grateful to all of you for your presence and your prayers.

In front of Saint Peter’s Basilica, as is well known, there are two imposing statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, easily recognizable by their respective attributes: the keys in the hand of Peter and the sword held by Paul.

Likewise, at the main entrance to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, there are depictions of scenes from the life and the martyrdom of these two pillars of the Church. Christian tradition has always considered Saint Peter and Saint Paul to be inseparable: indeed, together, they represent the whole Gospel of Christ.

In Rome, their bond as brothers in the faith came to acquire a particular significance. Indeed, the Christian community of this City considered them a kind of counterbalance to the mythical Romulus and Remus, the two brothers held to be the founders of Rome.

A further parallel comes to mind, still on the theme of brothers: whereas the first biblical pair of brothers demonstrate the effects of sin, as Cain kills Abel, yet Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and notwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made possible by the grace of Christ’s Gospel working within them.

Only by following Jesus does one arrive at this new brotherhood: this is the first and fundamental message that today’s solemnity presents to each one of us, the importance of which is mirrored in the pursuit of full communion, so earnestly desired by the ecumenical Patriarch and the Bishop of Rome, as indeed by all Christians.

In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too.

In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the "rock", the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19).

But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’S identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come "through flesh and blood", that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father.

By contrast, immediately afterwards, as Jesus foretells his passion, death and resurrection, Simon Peter reacts on the basis of "flesh and blood": he "began to rebuke him, saying, this shall never happen to you" (16:22). And Jesus in turn replied: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me ..." (16:23).

The disciple who, through God’s gift, was able to become a solid rock, here shows himself for what he is in his human weakness: a stone along the path, a stone on which men can stumble – in Greek, skandalon.

Here we see the tension that exists between the gift that comes from the Lord and human capacities; and in this scene between Jesus and Simon Peter we see anticipated in some sense the drama of the history of the papacy itself, characterized by the joint presence of these two elements: on the one hand, because of the light and the strength that come from on high, the papacy constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history; on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action.

And in today’s Gospel there emerges powerfully the clear promise made by Jesus: "the gates of the underworld", that is, the forces of evil, will not prevail, "non praevalebunt".

One is reminded of the account of the call of the prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said, when entrusting him with his mission: "Behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you - non praevalebunt -, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you!" (Jer 1:18-19).

In truth, the promise that Jesus makes to Peter is even greater than those made to the prophets of old: they, indeed, were threatened only by human enemies, whereas Peter will have to be defended from the "gates of the underworld", from the destructive power of evil. Jeremiah receives a promise that affects him as a person and his prophetic ministry; Peter receives assurances concerning the future of the Church, the new community founded by Jesus Christ, which extends to all of history, far beyond the personal existence of Peter himself.

Let us move on now to the symbol of the keys, which we heard about in the Gospel. It echoes the oracle of the prophet Isaiah concerning the steward Eliakim, of whom it was said: "And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open" (Is 22:22).

The key represents authority over the house of David. And in the Gospel there is another saying of Jesus addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, whom the Lord reproaches for shutting off the kingdom of heaven from people (cf. Mt 23:13).

This saying also helps us to understand the promise made to Peter: to him, inasmuch as he is the faithful steward of Christ’s message, it belongs to open the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to judge whether to admit or to refuse (cf. Rev 3:7).

Hence the two images – that of the keys and that of binding and loosing – express similar meanings which reinforce one another. The expression "binding and loosing" forms part of rabbinical language and refers on the one hand to doctrinal decisions, and on the other hand to disciplinary power, that is, the faculty to impose and to lift excommunication. The parallelism "on earth ... in the heavens" guarantees that Peter’s decisions in the exercise of this ecclesial function are valid in the eyes of God.

In Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel, dedicated to the life of the ecclesial community, we find another saying of Jesus addressed to the disciples: "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18).

Saint John, in his account of the appearance of the risen Christ in the midst of the Apostles on Easter evening, recounts these words of the Lord: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23).

In the light of these parallels, it appears clearly that the authority of loosing and binding consists in the power to remit sins. And this grace, which defuses the powers of chaos and evil, is at the heart of the Church’s mystery and ministry.

The Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognize their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus's sayings concerning the authority of Peter and the Apostles make it clear that God’s power is love, the love that shines forth from Calvary.

Hence we can also understand why, in the Gospel account, Peter’s confession of faith is immediately followed by the first prediction of the Passion: through his death, Jesus conquered the powers of the underworld, with his blood he poured out over the world an immense flood of mercy, which cleanses the whole of humanity in its healing waters.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I mentioned at the beginning, the iconographic tradition represents Saint Paul with a sword, and we know that this was the instrument with which he was killed. Yet as we read the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we discover that the image of the sword refers to his entire mission of evangelization.

For example, when he felt death approaching, he wrote to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight" (2 Tim 4:7). This was certainly not the battle of a military commander but that of a herald of the Word of God, faithful to Christ and to his Church, to which he gave himself completely. And that is why the Lord gave him the crown of glory and placed him, together with Peter, as a pillar in the spiritual edifice of the Church.

Dear Metropolitan Archbishops, the Pallium that I have conferred on you will always remind you that you have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the Church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter.

Inspired by this conviction, we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and "symphonic", and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit. May the Holy Mother of God guide and accompany us always along the path of faith and charity. Queen of Apostles, pray for us!
Amen.

---

None of us even suspected it then, but June 29, 2012, turned out to be the last Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul that Benedict XVI would preside over as Pope. The events of the day merit a full re-post today.



SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER & PAUL
Mass and Imposition of Palliums


Cover illustration: Saints Peter and Paul with Pope Nicholas III. Late 13th-century fresco. Cappella del Sancta Sanctorum, Scala Santa, Rome.

Frieze: Details from 'Crucifixion of Peter' and 'Conversion of Paul', Michelangelo, 1550, Cappella Paolina.

At 9 a.m. today, the Holy Father Benedict XVI imposed the sacred pallium on 43 new metropolitan archbishops at the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter's Basilica. Three other archbishops who could not come to Rome will be given the pallium at their respective metropolitan Sees by the Apostolic Nuncio.

After the pallium rite, the Pope presided at the Eucharistic Celebration concelebrated by the archbishops.

As has now become a tradition following the Second Vatican Council, a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was present, led this year by His Eminence Emmanuel Adamakis, Orthodox Metropolitan for France and director of the Orthodox Church Office at the European Union; His Grace Iias Katre, Bishop of Philomelion (USA); Rev. Deacon Paisios Kokkinakis, Codifier of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.





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

---

Your Eminences,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are gathered around the altar for our solemn celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, the principal Patrons of the Church of Rome. Present with us today are the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the past year, who have just received the Pallium, and to them I extend a particular and affectionate greeting.

Also present is an eminent Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, sent by His Holiness Bartholomaios I, and I welcome them with fraternal and heartfelt gratitude.

In an ecumenical spirit, I am also pleased to greet and to thank the Choir of Westminster Abbey, who are providing the music for this liturgy alongside the Cappella Sistina.

I also greet the Ambassadors and civil Authorities present. I am grateful to all of you for your presence and your prayers.

In front of Saint Peter’s Basilica, as is well known, there are two imposing statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, easily recognizable by their respective attributes: the keys in the hand of Peter and the sword held by Paul.

Likewise, at the main entrance to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, there are depictions of scenes from the life and the martyrdom of these two pillars of the Church. Christian tradition has always considered Saint Peter and Saint Paul to be inseparable: indeed, together, they represent the whole Gospel of Christ.

In Rome, their bond as brothers in the faith came to acquire a particular significance. Indeed, the Christian community of this City considered them a kind of counterbalance to the mythical Romulus and Remus, the two brothers held to be the founders of Rome.

A further parallel comes to mind, still on the theme of brothers: whereas the first biblical pair of brothers demonstrate the effects of sin, as Cain kills Abel, yet Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and notwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made possible by the grace of Christ’s Gospel working within them.

Only by following Jesus does one arrive at this new brotherhood: this is the first and fundamental message that today’s solemnity presents to each one of us, the importance of which is mirrored in the pursuit of full communion, so earnestly desired by the ecumenical Patriarch and the Bishop of Rome, as indeed by all Christians.

In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too.

In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the "rock", the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19).

But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’S identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come "through flesh and blood", that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father.

By contrast, immediately afterwards, as Jesus foretells his passion, death and resurrection, Simon Peter reacts on the basis of "flesh and blood": he "began to rebuke him, saying, this shall never happen to you" (16:22). And Jesus in turn replied: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me ..." (16:23).

The disciple who, through God’s gift, was able to become a solid rock, here shows himself for what he is in his human weakness: a stone along the path, a stone on which men can stumble – in Greek, skandalon.

Here we see the tension that exists between the gift that comes from the Lord and human capacities; and in this scene between Jesus and Simon Peter we see anticipated in some sense the drama of the history of the papacy itself, characterized by the joint presence of these two elements: on the one hand, because of the light and the strength that come from on high, the papacy constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history; on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action.

And in today’s Gospel there emerges powerfully the clear promise made by Jesus: "the gates of the underworld", that is, the forces of evil, will not prevail, "non praevalebunt".

One is reminded of the account of the call of the prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said, when entrusting him with his mission: "Behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you - non praevalebunt -, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you!" (Jer 1:18-19).

In truth, the promise that Jesus makes to Peter is even greater than those made to the prophets of old: they, indeed, were threatened only by human enemies, whereas Peter will have to be defended from the "gates of the underworld", from the destructive power of evil. Jeremiah receives a promise that affects him as a person and his prophetic ministry; Peter receives assurances concerning the future of the Church, the new community founded by Jesus Christ, which extends to all of history, far beyond the personal existence of Peter himself.

Let us move on now to the symbol of the keys, which we heard about in the Gospel. It echoes the oracle of the prophet Isaiah concerning the steward Eliakim, of whom it was said: "And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open" (Is 22:22).

The key represents authority over the house of David. And in the Gospel there is another saying of Jesus addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, whom the Lord reproaches for shutting off the kingdom of heaven from people (cf. Mt 23:13).

This saying also helps us to understand the promise made to Peter: to him, inasmuch as he is the faithful steward of Christ’s message, it belongs to open the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to judge whether to admit or to refuse (cf. Rev 3:7).

Hence the two images – that of the keys and that of binding and loosing – express similar meanings which reinforce one another. The expression "binding and loosing" forms part of rabbinical language and refers on the one hand to doctrinal decisions, and on the other hand to disciplinary power, that is, the faculty to impose and to lift excommunication. The parallelism "on earth ... in the heavens" guarantees that Peter’s decisions in the exercise of this ecclesial function are valid in the eyes of God.

In Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel, dedicated to the life of the ecclesial community, we find another saying of Jesus addressed to the disciples: "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18).

Saint John, in his account of the appearance of the risen Christ in the midst of the Apostles on Easter evening, recounts these words of the Lord: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23).

In the light of these parallels, it appears clearly that the authority of loosing and binding consists in the power to remit sins. And this grace, which defuses the powers of chaos and evil, is at the heart of the Church’s mystery and ministry.

The Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognize their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus's sayings concerning the authority of Peter and the Apostles make it clear that God’s power is love, the love that shines forth from Calvary.

Hence we can also understand why, in the Gospel account, Peter’s confession of faith is immediately followed by the first prediction of the Passion: through his death, Jesus conquered the powers of the underworld, with his blood he poured out over the world an immense flood of mercy, which cleanses the whole of humanity in its healing waters.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I mentioned at the beginning, the iconographic tradition represents Saint Paul with a sword, and we know that this was the instrument with which he was killed. Yet as we read the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we discover that the image of the sword refers to his entire mission of evangelization.

For example, when he felt death approaching, he wrote to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight" (2 Tim 4:7). This was certainly not the battle of a military commander but that of a herald of the Word of God, faithful to Christ and to his Church, to which he gave himself completely. And that is why the Lord gave him the crown of glory and placed him, together with Peter, as a pillar in the spiritual edifice of the Church.

Dear Metropolitan Archbishops, the Pallium that I have conferred on you will always remind you that you have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the Church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter.

Inspired by this conviction, we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and "symphonic", and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit. May the Holy Mother of God guide and accompany us always along the path of faith and charity. Queen of Apostles, pray for us!
Amen.

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None of us even suspected it then, but June 29, 2012, turned out to be the last Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul that Benedict XVI would preside over as Pope. The events of the day merit a full re-post today.



SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER & PAUL
Mass and Imposition of Palliums


Cover illustration: Saints Peter and Paul with Pope Nicholas III. Late 13th-century fresco. Cappella del Sancta Sanctorum, Scala Santa, Rome.

Frieze: Details from 'Crucifixion of Peter' and 'Conversion of Paul', Michelangelo, 1550, Cappella Paolina.

At 9 a.m. today, the Holy Father Benedict XVI imposed the sacred pallium on 43 new metropolitan archbishops at the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter's Basilica. Three other archbishops who could not come to Rome will be given the pallium at their respective metropolitan Sees by the Apostolic Nuncio.

After the pallium rite, the Pope presided at the Eucharistic Celebration concelebrated by the archbishops.

As has now become a tradition following the Second Vatican Council, a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was present, led this year by His Eminence Emmanuel Adamakis, Orthodox Metropolitan for France and director of the Orthodox Church Office at the European Union; His Grace Iias Katre, Bishop of Philomelion (USA); Rev. Deacon Paisios Kokkinakis, Codifier of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.





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

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Your Eminences,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are gathered around the altar for our solemn celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, the principal Patrons of the Church of Rome. Present with us today are the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the past year, who have just received the Pallium, and to them I extend a particular and affectionate greeting.

Also present is an eminent Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, sent by His Holiness Bartholomaios I, and I welcome them with fraternal and heartfelt gratitude.

In an ecumenical spirit, I am also pleased to greet and to thank the Choir of Westminster Abbey, who are providing the music for this liturgy alongside the Cappella Sistina.

I also greet the Ambassadors and civil Authorities present. I am grateful to all of you for your presence and your prayers.

In front of Saint Peter’s Basilica, as is well known, there are two imposing statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, easily recognizable by their respective attributes: the keys in the hand of Peter and the sword held by Paul.

Likewise, at the main entrance to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, there are depictions of scenes from the life and the martyrdom of these two pillars of the Church. Christian tradition has always considered Saint Peter and Saint Paul to be inseparable: indeed, together, they represent the whole Gospel of Christ.

In Rome, their bond as brothers in the faith came to acquire a particular significance. Indeed, the Christian community of this City considered them a kind of counterbalance to the mythical Romulus and Remus, the two brothers held to be the founders of Rome.

A further parallel comes to mind, still on the theme of brothers: whereas the first biblical pair of brothers demonstrate the effects of sin, as Cain kills Abel, yet Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and notwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made possible by the grace of Christ’s Gospel working within them.

Only by following Jesus does one arrive at this new brotherhood: this is the first and fundamental message that today’s solemnity presents to each one of us, the importance of which is mirrored in the pursuit of full communion, so earnestly desired by the ecumenical Patriarch and the Bishop of Rome, as indeed by all Christians.

In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too.

In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the "rock", the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19).

But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’S identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come "through flesh and blood", that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father.

By contrast, immediately afterwards, as Jesus foretells his passion, death and resurrection, Simon Peter reacts on the basis of "flesh and blood": he "began to rebuke him, saying, this shall never happen to you" (16:22). And Jesus in turn replied: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me ..." (16:23).

The disciple who, through God’s gift, was able to become a solid rock, here shows himself for what he is in his human weakness: a stone along the path, a stone on which men can stumble – in Greek, skandalon.

Here we see the tension that exists between the gift that comes from the Lord and human capacities; and in this scene between Jesus and Simon Peter we see anticipated in some sense the drama of the history of the papacy itself, characterized by the joint presence of these two elements: on the one hand, because of the light and the strength that come from on high, the papacy constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history; on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action.

And in today’s Gospel there emerges powerfully the clear promise made by Jesus: "the gates of the underworld", that is, the forces of evil, will not prevail, "non praevalebunt".

One is reminded of the account of the call of the prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said, when entrusting him with his mission: "Behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you - non praevalebunt -, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you!" (Jer 1:18-19).

In truth, the promise that Jesus makes to Peter is even greater than those made to the prophets of old: they, indeed, were threatened only by human enemies, whereas Peter will have to be defended from the "gates of the underworld", from the destructive power of evil. Jeremiah receives a promise that affects him as a person and his prophetic ministry; Peter receives assurances concerning the future of the Church, the new community founded by Jesus Christ, which extends to all of history, far beyond the personal existence of Peter himself.

Let us move on now to the symbol of the keys, which we heard about in the Gospel. It echoes the oracle of the prophet Isaiah concerning the steward Eliakim, of whom it was said: "And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open" (Is 22:22).

The key represents authority over the house of David. And in the Gospel there is another saying of Jesus addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, whom the Lord reproaches for shutting off the kingdom of heaven from people (cf. Mt 23:13).

This saying also helps us to understand the promise made to Peter: to him, inasmuch as he is the faithful steward of Christ’s message, it belongs to open the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to judge whether to admit or to refuse (cf. Rev 3:7).

Hence the two images – that of the keys and that of binding and loosing – express similar meanings which reinforce one another. The expression "binding and loosing" forms part of rabbinical language and refers on the one hand to doctrinal decisions, and on the other hand to disciplinary power, that is, the faculty to impose and to lift excommunication. The parallelism "on earth ... in the heavens" guarantees that Peter’s decisions in the exercise of this ecclesial function are valid in the eyes of God.

In Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel, dedicated to the life of the ecclesial community, we find another saying of Jesus addressed to the disciples: "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18).

Saint John, in his account of the appearance of the risen Christ in the midst of the Apostles on Easter evening, recounts these words of the Lord: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23).

In the light of these parallels, it appears clearly that the authority of loosing and binding consists in the power to remit sins. And this grace, which defuses the powers of chaos and evil, is at the heart of the Church’s mystery and ministry.

The Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognize their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus's sayings concerning the authority of Peter and the Apostles make it clear that God’s power is love, the love that shines forth from Calvary.

Hence we can also understand why, in the Gospel account, Peter’s confession of faith is immediately followed by the first prediction of the Passion: through his death, Jesus conquered the powers of the underworld, with his blood he poured out over the world an immense flood of mercy, which cleanses the whole of humanity in its healing waters.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I mentioned at the beginning, the iconographic tradition represents Saint Paul with a sword, and we know that this was the instrument with which he was killed. Yet as we read the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we discover that the image of the sword refers to his entire mission of evangelization.

For example, when he felt death approaching, he wrote to Timothy: "I have fought the good fight" (2 Tim 4:7). This was certainly not the battle of a military commander but that of a herald of the Word of God, faithful to Christ and to his Church, to which he gave himself completely. And that is why the Lord gave him the crown of glory and placed him, together with Peter, as a pillar in the spiritual edifice of the Church.

Dear Metropolitan Archbishops, the Pallium that I have conferred on you will always remind you that you have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the Church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter.

Inspired by this conviction, we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and "symphonic", and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit. May the Holy Mother of God guide and accompany us always along the path of faith and charity. Queen of Apostles, pray for us!
Amen.

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