Friday, Oct. 22, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Second from left:St. Juan Capistrano appears to St. Pedro Alcantara', 16th-cent painting by Luca Giordano; next to it, the saint's founder statue in St. Peter's Basilica.
Other paintings are unattributed from the 17th-century.
SAN PEDRO ALCANTARA (Spain, 1499-1562), Preacher, Discalced Franciscan, Mystic, Founder of the Franciscans of Strictest Observance (Alcantarines)
One of the constellation of great Spanish saints of the Counter-Reformation, he is best-known as the confessor to Teresa of Avila, who encouraged her to reform the Carmelites. St Teresa's autobiography is the source of much information regarding Peter's life, work, the gift of miracles and prophecy. He was of noble lineage, joining the Franciscans at 15 and was ordained at age 25 after making a name as a great preacher. He was a true mystic, who often went into ecstasies and levitated during these experiences. His other great contemporaries and friends included St. Francisco Borja, St. John of Avila and the Venerable Luis of Granada. A recluse by nature, he nonetheless carried out various leadership positions in the order, which he sought to reform in keeping with what it was in the time of St. Francis, establishing the Alcantarine reform in 1555. His writings later inspired St. Francis de Sales. he died while on his knees in prayer in a monastery in Avila and was canonized in 1669.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/102210.shtml
No papal stories or photos on Page 1 of the OR today, although the texts of the Holy Father's messages to the new ambassadors from South Korea and Romania are in the inside pages. OR's 'big story' for the day is entitled 'Obama's strategies' which merely reports a routine security meeting by the US President that was nothing more than a calendar item even in the Washington papers. Second story is a commentary that contrasts a recent Economist poll showing that 75% of British respondents voted for the proposition that religion does more harm than good in ad debate between two journalists(!) and the message of a new French film about the seven Cistercian monks of the convent of Tibbhirine in Algeria who remained with the villagers despite Muslim fundamentalist threats during the Algerian civil war - they were kidnapped in 1996 and found dead two months later. There is also a review of the film in the inside pages. The two other page 1 stories: UK Prime Minister David Cameron's proposed austerity budget-cutting measures; and a UN report on refugees saying that more than half of the world's 36 million persons now living in refugee camps are women and children.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with
- Three new ambassadors to the Holy See, who presented their credentials:
H.E. Luis Dositeo Latorre Tapia, from Ecuador
H.E. Mme. Maja Marija Lovrenčič Svetek, from Slovenia
H.E. Manuel Tomás Fernandes Pereira, from Portugal.
His messages to them were in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, respectively.
- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)
- A major story in Libero today by Giancarlo Nuzzi, author of a much-acclaimed book last year Vaticano s.p.aabout the questionable management of the Vatican Bank IOR 'during the Wojtyla years' which continued after the major scandals involving it in the 1980s. His major statement: Benedict XVI and the man he named to be the IOR president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, are above blame in the current investigation by Italian authorities for alleged violation of money-laundering regulations. Rather, the charges - especially coming at this time - have been due to vengeful machinations by powerful IOR officials dismissed under Benedict XVI, who want to block the reforms underway. Some of these officials, in their time, reportedly did use IOR to launder money acquired by some Italian politicians in the bribery scandals that rocked Italy in the 1980s. [It's not an easy story to translate because of the financial verbiage and the use of many colloquialisms to describe bad behavior, but I will try to provide a translation later.]
- Fr. Federico Lombardi has issued a new statement regarding the IOR investigation (translated here):
The responsible officials of IOR acknowledge (receiving) the reasons given by the Review Tribunal of Rome to conform teh preventive sequestration of an IOR deposit in Credito Artigiano and are examining them with their lawyers.
In any case, IOR officials confirm their intention to proceed with transparency in all the bank's financial activities as indicated in the communique of the Secretariat of State last September 21, and are confident that they cay provides as soon as possible all the clarifications requested by the competent entities.
- Another important story that requires trasnlation is a lengthy letter from Cardinal-designate Velasio De Paolis, the Pope's administrator for the Legionaries of Christ, which was made public the day before De Paolis was named cardinal, in which he announces the next moves to rehabilitate the movement founded by disgraced Father Marcial Maciel. He says a commission will study the revision of the Legion's constitutions, and that two more will deal with complaints presented against maciel by his victims, and another to sort out the Legion's finances, complicated by Maciel's personal involvement.
- A surprise item today comes from the Jordanian news agency Petra, which says:
His Majesty King Abdullah II on Thursday sent a cable to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI congratulating him in his name and on behalf of the Jordanian people and government on the National Day of the Vatican City. His Majesty wished Pope Benedict continued good health and happiness and the Vatican further progress and prosperity.
The problem is that I cannot find any reference to Oct. 22 as Vatican National Day. Last year, the Vatican observed with appropriate prominence thw 80th anniversary of the creation of Vatican City State on February 11, 1929, with the signing of the Lateran pacts with Italy. There was no mention today in any Vatican bulletin or the news media of Vatican National Day.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2010 18:17]