BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Thursday, Oct. 21, 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Center illustration:'The Temptation of St. Hilarion' was a subject of many paintings in the 16th-19th centuries.
ST HILARION THE GREAT (Hilarion of Gaza) (b Palestine ca 291, d Cyprus 371), Hermit and Abbot
Hilarion's life is known to us from a biography of him written by St. Jerome. Born to pagan parents in Gaza, Hilarion was sent to study in Alexandria, where he converted to Christianity, gave up all worldly pleasures in favor of going to church, and at age 15, sought out the future St. Anthony Abbot in his Egyptian hermitage. After a few months there, he returned to Palestine. When his parents died, he gave up his inheritance to his brothers and decided to be a hermit himself, choosing a spot in the Gaza desert between the coast and marshland. During his 22 years as a hermit, he was beset by temptations and demonic visions and starved himself to help fight them off. In the meantime, word spread about him and people came to see him for spiritual comfort and guidance. After curing a woman who had been barren for 15 years, more people came to him for healing and he performed a number of miracles. In time, a monastery grew around his cell, which was so beset by visitors, especially females, that Hilarion fled. After numerous adventures, always beset by enthusiastic visitors seeking his help, Hilarion died in Cyprus in 371 AD.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/102110.shtml


OR today.

At the General Audience, the Pope announces a consistory on Nov. 20 to create 24 new cardinals who reflect -
'The universality of the Church'
In the catechesis, he speaks of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Other Page 1 stories: UK Prime Minister threatens to veto any European agreement that would, in effect, 'transfer power from Westminster to Brussels' (.e., from national governments to the European Union) on the eve of an EU summit next week; in Pakistan, seven million remain homeless from the recent floods; and Tokyo seeks direct talks with Beijing to restore regular rates of exporting rare earths to Japan (China has 97% of world resources in rare earths, which contain a group of chemical elements essential to high-tech industries; China slowed down its exports because of its current diplomatic war with Japan.]

THE POPE'S DAY

The Holy Father met today with

- H.E. Han Hong-soon, Ambassador from the Republic of South Korea, who presented his credentials. Message in English.

- Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

- H.E. Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban, Ambassador from Romania, who presented his credentials. Message in French.




I hate having to waste space, time and effort on that OR-generated controversy about the religion of a TV cartoon institution, but this the latest kinda outrageous development, in an AFP news service story:

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Jesuit says 'Vatican
misunderstood my Simpsons study'

ROME, Italy, Oct. 21 (AFP)— The author of an in-depth religious study on The Simpsons told AFP on Wednesday that the official Vatican newspaper had misinterpreted his work as meaning the famous cartoon family was Catholic.

"I don't think that at all," said Francesco Occhetta, a Jesuit priest and staff writer for the Rome-based journal La Civilta Cattolica.

"I wouldn't say they're Catholic, I would say they're people of faith," said Occhetta. Watching the Simpsons "could help us" spiritually, he added.

The claim in Sunday's issue of Osservatore Romano in an article entitled "Homer and Bart are Catholics" was also countered by the US show's executive producer Al Jean, who told Entertainment Weekly he was in "shock and awe"....

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How insidious is it that anything which comes out in OR is automatically considered as the opinion of 'the Vatican' when even a Jesuit, who should know better, says something like his first statement above? The article was bylined 'Luca Possati' -
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/cultura/2010/240q0...
if there was any misinterpretation at all, it was by Possati alone (who in the past has been equally reckless in making sweeping favorable conclusions about most of the now widely-reviled legislative 'reforms' pushed through by Obama), not by the OR itself [And certainly, not that of 'the Vatican', as most MSM has reported it]. Although of course, the OR's editor, who determines what goes into the newspaper and how it is played up, certainly had a major role in this most inopportune and unncessary controversy by using the item at all in the first place and giving it Page 1 prominence.

The least Vian ought to do right now is to issue a statement acknowledging his poor judgment in deciding as he did, and to immediately cease and desist from his ill-judged, counterproductive and totally unnecessary forays into pop culture! Once again, this was not at all one of his mandates from Benedict XVI.