BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Year 8 of Benedict XVI's pontificate

April 21, 2012

Celebrations for Pope Benedict’s 85th birthday and the 7th anniversary of his election to the papacy have now come to their end. The people of Bavaria will continue their celebrations, as many were not able to come to Rome.

As the eighth year of the Pope’s pontificate begins, we wish the Pope all the best.

We share his hope that the dialogue with the Saint Pius X Fraternity will come to a resolution that bridges the gap without creating any new ones.

We wish him well as he delivers a message of love and hope for families around the world during his visit to Milan in early June.

It is our hope that dissenting groups will hear his invitation to be in communion with the Church and receive this invitation with respect and attention, and with an understanding of its significance.

We hope also that the journey towards renewal of the Church in Ireland, following an apostolic visitation to that country, will continue and intensify after the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin; and that, following the sexual abuse crisis, the Church may offer a genuine service for all society in the protection of children, with the commitment of the various Episcopal conferences, through healing, purification, and prevention.

We also hope that Pope Benedict’s journey to Lebanon may give him a chance to spread a message of peace amid the tragic conflicts in that region, and offer encouragement to the ecclesial communities who are being tried there.

Another wish is that the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council might be an occasion to promote the proper and objective understanding of the Council as a “compass for the Church of our time.”

We hope that the Synodal Assembly for new evangelisation will enrich the Church in its mission with creativity and impetus.

It is our hope that the Year of Faith will not only be filled with exemplary initiatives and beautiful celebrations, but that it will also promote a sense of renewal in the profound relationship between God, his Son Jesus Christ, and believers, against the ever decreasing awareness of the religious dimension of human life and mankind’s journey through history.

We also look forward to receiving the final installment of Pope Benedict’s work about Jesus.

Finally, the people of Brazil are busy in their preparations for the Pope’s visit to World Youth Day in Rio De Janeiro in 2013, which will take place during the ninth year of his pontificate.

Thank you, Fr. Lombardi, for a simple but very effective presentation of the agenda that our 85-year-old Pope has programmed for the eighth year of his Pontificate. The activities highlight the variety, scope and significance of his primary concerns.

For the record, here is a translation of the front-page editorial in L'Osservatore Romano on April 19...

Pope Benedict XVI is not alone
Editorial
by Giovanni Maria Vian
Translated from the 4/19/12 issue of


The eighth year of Benedict XVI's Pontificate begins. He was elected at the age of 78 on April 19, 2005, in less than 24 hours, by the largest Conclave in history.

This is a day of joy that has been carried over from the traditionally private observance of his 85th birthday on Monday, April 16. No Pope in the past century has reached this milestone, so it was celebrated with more warmth than usual.

Best wishes from around the world have flooded the Vatican for these April celebrations for the Pope, expressing affection and general esteem for Benedict XVI to a degree that was not foreseeable at the time of his election.

One must not forget the accumulation of prejudices, if not outright opposition, with which the quick decision by the college of cardinals was received in various circles, even in the Catholic world. [Almost exclusively in the Catholic world! Non-Catholics had no partisan interests or ideological causes invested in whoever was elected Pope.] Prejudices and oppositions against Cardinal Ratzinger dating back to the mid-1980s but which correspond in no way to his true personality nor to his record.

The man who succeeded John Paul II - who had been his most authoritative collaborator, whom the Polish Pope (himself more widely opposed in his time than people think today) had wanted almost immediately to be with him in Rome - came to be cited in contrast to him in stereotypes that became commonplace and over-used.

Thus, this has been a Pontificate that began with an uphill climb, but which this Pope has faced daily with lucid and patient serenity, having asked the faithful on that April 24 Mass that inaugurated his Petrine ministry, to pray for him so that he would not 'flee from fear of the wolves".

That homily was the first of what is now a long series that in terms of clarity and depth would not be outshone by the preachings of Leo the Great, the first Pope whose sermons were preserved. [Actually, Benedict XVI's first homily as Pope was the one he delivered in Latin at the Mass with the cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel the morning after his election, which was just as memorable as his headline-making homily as cardinal in the Mass celebrated just before the Conclave began. Just consider that he wrote it, in Latin, in the night hours following his election, after dinner with the cardinals - and this is a man who regularly goes to bed early - in time to celebrate the 9 o"clock Mass the following day!]

His homilies are characterized by an exemplary equilibrium between classical heritage and Christian novelty, analogous to his intention to act always with a harmony of faith and reason. Addressed to everyone, as demonstrated in the meeting he organized in Assisi in October 2011, when a quarter-century after John Paul II had called the first Assisi gathering for believers, Pope Benedict also included non-believers, to announce the Gospel to today's world.

This was just as evident in his extemporaneous homily last Monday on the anniversary of his birthday which was also his baptismal day, and which fell on Holy Saturday in 1927. He spoke of the saints honored by the liturgy on that day - Bernadette Soubirous and Benedict Joseph Labre; of Mary, the Mother of God; and of the pure water of truth that the world thirsts for, even without knowing it.

Invisible friends who are no less real, whose closeness the Pope experiences in the communion of saints. Just as he experiences the friendship and affection of all those who pray for him daily, or who simply look at him with good will and listen to his words attentively.


Thanks to the site of the Archdiocese of Vienna, which carries this article written by Cardinal Schoenborn and published in the Austrian daily newspaper Heute on April 20.

Pope Ratzinger - personally
by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn
Translated from


A few days ago, he celebrated his 85th birthday. Yesterday, it was seven years since we cardinals elected him Pope.

Much has been written about Pope Benedict XVI. Both sympathetic as well as critical.

Today, I wish to speak about him as a person. It has been 40 years since I first got to know Prof. Joseph Ratzinger. In 1972, I went for doctoral studies to Regensburg where the then already famous Prof. Ratzinger was teaching. He welcomed me into the circle of his doctoral students, and we have continued to meet every year with our former professor, who meanwhile had become Pope.

[Unfortunately, Schoenborn continues to perpetrate the mistaken idea that he was a doctoral student of Prof. Ratzinger in Regensburg. We have the words of Fr. Vincent Twomey, who was studying with Prof. Ratzinger at the time, and who, correcting the repetition of the untruth by John Allen in his 2000 biogrpahy of Cardinal Ratzinger, pointed out that Schoenborn, who already had his doctorate in theology from Paris, merely attended their doctoral colloquiums at Regensburg as a guest for two semesters. I checked Schoenborn's biography on the archdiocesan site, and it says, "In (schoolyear) 1971-1972, he completed his doctorate at the Institut Catholique de Paris, and in (schoolyear) 1972-1973, he spent a study year in Regensburg, where Joseph Ratzinger was his professor". So even his official biography seems to be deliberately misleading in this respect. ]

What has held this circle of some 50 former doctoral students together? Then and now, a fascination for his extraordinary gifts: an incredible memory, great personal simplicity and modesty, a rare spirituality, and clarity.

In these 40 years, he has always moved us by his attentiveness to each of us, for our families, our problems, and he never forgets whatever we confide in him.

That is why we are always surprised and pained at the negative image that has been painted of him in the public perception, with pejorative labels like Panzerkardinal, Grand Inquisitor and arch-conservative, used in the headlines. That is not the man we know.

One thing has always impressed us about him: He does not allow himself to be defined by public opinion. He goes his own way - serene, prudent and self-composed - with God and in his faith.

That is why we keep our loyal friendship with him. Even after 40 years. [That's rather lame! Why 'even after 40 years'. Aren't true friendships supposed to be lifelong?]

More importantly, one wonders why Cardinal Schoenborn does not follow the Pope's lead and not allow himself to be guided by public opinion as he apparently does - by the anti-orthodox preferences of his cafeteria-Catholic flock and clergy, and Austria's liberal media. Three of Lella's followers who read a news agency report about this article all had the same thought - the best service Schoenborn could do for the Pope would be to resign as Archbishop of Vienna - he's been there since 1995 - since he has failed his pastoral duties so miserably, with ever more dropouts and dissidence among his priests and lay parishioners.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone also wrote an article for an Italian newspaper, Il Messaggero, which was published on April 19, but the newspaper has a paywall that I cannot access. The OR reported sketchily on it the next day, with an abridged translation in English
www.osservatoreromano.va/portal under the title "The fraternity and imagination of a gentle man", which ought to warn you about the unidiomatic translation.... The articles by the two cardinals are rather disheartening to a Benaddict. My reaction was - "You've known him on an intimate basis all these years, and that's all you can say?" I don't doubt they are sincere, but their articles read like they were tossed off perfunctorily in the course of their busy schedules.

P.S. I have now translated the article about Bertone's article (because it also quotes from a radio interview given by Bertone on April 19), but I have added a couple of lines missing from the OR account that I found in a report by Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register.

Cardinal Bertone on
Pope Benedict as he is -
not as the media depict him
Translated from the 4/20/12 issue of


A gentle and serene man, who is friendly and sincere even during work sessions, and who is never "tied to routine nor rigid, but is able to generate an atmosphere of brotherliness and of being imaginative"

It is the man Joseph Ratzinger away from the media clamor and spotlights about whom Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State - for years one of the Pope's closest associates - writes in the newspaper Il Messaggero on April 19, the anniversary of Benedict XVI's election to be the Successor of Peter.

"People are really mistaken," he writes in the page 1 article, "if they choose to see the Pope as someone who is focused only on his books and is detached from the real problems of man today".

He is, without a doubt, a person "of elevated intellectual and doctrinal profile", but above all, "he is capable of getting to the heart of a problem" and to present himself as 'an educator and exceptional teacher... especially for the younger generations".

Bertone's testimonial is that of someone who has met with the Pope almost daily for the past six years, and therefore beyond the pale of outworn stereotypes.

"Because of my work as Secretary of State, "I have had the chance to deal assiduously with the issues of the Church together with Benedict XVI, thus experiencing first-hand his personal capacities".

He says that one is most struck with "the consistency, wisdom and serenity of Benedict XVI, even if he is clearly aware of the problems that confront the Church and mankind. And what he says comes from his own completely lived experience."

Perhaps because of this, Bertone adds, "his teaching does not leave his listeners indifferent - neither the simple folk to whom brings the sense that God is near, nor educated persons who seek in philosophical and cultural confrontations a path to reflecting about faith, or even merely on the reality of man in the universe".

He praises the Pope for giving the world clear messages about essential human values and religious freedom, his appeal to people of all cultures and religions, his concern to defend the family and call attention to its needs, and his affection for young people "to whom he has been a true teacher of life and educator of the faith.”

The Vatican Secretary of State concluded by saying that Benedict XVI is leading the Church and confronting all the issues of major concern in the world, above all “the crisis of values.”

“Thank you Holy Father,” Cardinal Bertone said, “for your untiring ministry, for your humility and serenity. Ad multos annos!”

Cardinal Bertone also spoke about the human and personal dimension of Benedict XVI in a radio interview with Italian state broadcasting on Thusrday, April 19.

"The image that has been disseminated by the mass media," he said,"is unfortunately far from reality, although they are starting to know this Pope better - his wisdom, his sincerity, his consistency, I would even say his gentle sweetness." [He
uses the word 'dolcezza' which does not have a single-word English equivalent because it connotes gentleness, tenderness, sweetness, lightness all at once.... And as for 'starting to know this Pope better", the cardinal is surely 'making nice'! Does it take seven years for them to start knowing this man who has lived in Rome since 1981 and has been in the news for just as long? They'll never know him because they don't want to - they prefer to persist in the false image they have built up over two decades of him. The MSM has invested too much time and effort to peddle that fake portrait, and will continue, as they do, to withhold praise where praise is due, and to exploit every little peccadillo they can find in order to continue casting him and the Church in a bad light.]

To have portrayed him "as an armored tank (Panzer) is absolutely misleading and falsifying - he is a sweet and endearing man".

He also says, "Benedict XVI is not an isolated man. He is a man of relationships, starting with his closest associates. He is not isolated - he is always surrounded by faithful and committed co-workers". [That charge was always ridiculous anyway. If his daily contacts were limited only to his two secretaries, his valet, and his four housekeepers with all of whom he takes all his meals, and the daily meeting he has with Bertone and his chief deputies (for general affairs and for foreign relations), not to mention that he watches the primetime TV news in German and Italian, and reads six newspapers daily (not just the clippings sent to him by State), he would be more than well-informed - much better than Politi could ever hope to be - with points of view that range from the down-to-earth concerns of his valet and housekeepers to the specialized data and opinions conveyed to him by his Curial heads.]

Best of all, Bertone says, "he does not let himself be affected by rumors, by unpleasant reports, by shifting moods, not even by the hard incrustation of prejudices. He keeps himself informed, he asks, he listens, and is always discreet. Then he considers his options and waits for a decision to mature and consolidate itself. He leads the Church with a true charism for governance, facing the concrete problems not just of the Church but also of mankind - and I say that from experience".