BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

At the Angelus tomorrow:
Romans called to show
their love for the Pope

First, an appeal from the Vicar-General for Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini:


And an appeal to young people
to surround him in a sea of love


An interview with the spokesman
of 'Noi per Benedetto XVI'
by the blogger Scenron
Translated from

June 28, 2012

We will be there! Tomorrow, on the occasion of the Angelus led by Benedict XVI on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, St. Peter's Square will welcome the participants of NOI PER BENEDETTO (We're here for Benedict), an initiative that arose spontaneously on the Internet and promoted by a group of young Italian Catholics to rally the faithful closely around the Holy Father after months and years of attacks against his person.

Also at St. Peter's Square tomorrow will be the clergy and faithful of the Diocese of Rome who have been invited by Cardinal Vicar Agostino Vallini to express to Benedict XVI affection and gratitude for his ministry.

This blog immediately joined and has been spreading this extraordinary initiative of affectionate solidarity with the Pope. On the eve of the event, we spoke to Domenico, one of the initiators and now the spokesman for the group.

Who is behind NOI PER BENEDETTO and what exactly is it? What made you launch such an initiative?
We began as a group of young Catholics who live in Rome and belong to various associations that are school- or work-related, and we decided it is time to raise our voices and make known clearly to the world, as we do on our website that 'WE ARE TIRED...' - tired of seeing the Holy Father being continually vilified in waves of demagogic attacks. Tired of hearing the usual stupidities about the Church's legitiamte tax exemptions [also enjoyed by other religious groups in Italy], about the absurd claim that selling the Pope's ring alone will solve hunger in the world, and about claims that all priests are pedophiles by the very fact alone that they are priests.

And tired of the fact that all the good work done by the Church - mostly and rightly in silence and away from cameras - is ignored or promptly forgotten.

Today we read and hear news about the Church that seem like fantasies from popular novels, as if everything in the Church were evil and troubled - the Church has its problems as any human institution does - but the negative reporting simply obscures all that is good and beautiful in the Church, which is also the work of humans.

But what urged us most of all are the continuous attacks against Catholics on the Internet and on social networks - as if the worst crime of all is to be a believer, while blaspheming and offending the religious belief of others has been turned into an inviolable right!

In short, NOI PER BENEDETTO is intended to counteract that anti-Catholic prejudice which an American sociologist once called 'the last socially acceptable prejudice'. {After World-War II and the Holocaust, anti-Jewish became unthinkable except to culturally-conditioned Muslims; and anti-Muslim is, of course, not just politically incorrect but it also comes with a blazing label, 'Warning: This could put your life in danger!' And no one except the leaders in Beijing could possibly be against Buddhists who literally would not kill a fly, even if some burn themselves to death, go figure!]

We have received countless messages of support on the social networks and throug!h e-mail, and almost each one begins or ends with "It's about time", as if this initiative was responding to a social need that has been unexpressed.

Now we must pass from a celebratory phase to an active phase of Catholic commitment. We must keep our heads high and defend our values, we must emerge from the 'new catacombs' to which we seem to have been run literally into the ground.

So we must begin by, on the one hand, standing up for the Supreme Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, and the Catholic Church, and on the other, by becoming elements of the New Evangelization and effective sensitivization in defense of Christian and Catholic values especially among young people.

What does Pope Benedict XVI mean to you?
For us, he is above all, a Father of the faith - he guides us with his his words and teachings to grow in authentic faith and to a full awareness of what it means to be Christian today.

He is also the symbol of the unity and communion among all the Christians of the world, and we feel sustained by his prayers and affection which he has always demonstrated everytime he is with young people.

The Holy Father is for us a true Master of truth, for the clarity of his Magisterium in the full light of both faith and reason; a Master of charity, for his extraordinary example of humility and goodness which he has invariably shown through all the difficulties of his Pontificate; a Master of authentic freedom because he has taught us that true freedom is realized in adhering to goodness and the search for the Truth that never changes or fades, which has a unique name and face in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us.

For all this, we are grateful to the Lord for having given us Pope Benedict XVI, and also we want to express to him our closeness and profound affection, like children feel for their own father.

Will there be other initiatives in support of the Pope?
We have a great idea, a dream that we wish to present to the Holy Father. We will continue through the Year of Faith when this project will go beyond Italy to bring together young people from every part of the world under the motto "young people of faith in a new prophecy". But for now, we shall concentrate our efforts so that tomorrow will be a true 'sea of love' surrounding the Holy Father.

Here is a tribute to the Holy Father's strength amid all the trials of his Pontificate, posted rather late, as I only saw it on a Modena website while I was googling for information about Cardinal Cafarra's welcome remarks to the Pope during the latter's visit to Rovereto...

Vatileaks shows ethical collapse in media -
and the strength of Benedict XVI under siege
Guest Editorial
by Mon. Bruno Forte
Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto (Abruzzo)
Translated from
re
June 17, 2012

The publication of some private papers belonging to Benedict XVI (many of them confidential and meant for his eyes only) in a book intended to be an easy best-seller, represents a serious collapse of ethics in the communications media.

In this journalistic enterprise, the respect that is due to every person was not even minimally considered, especially that respect which ought to be more than merely dutiful for the person of the Pope and for those who wrote the letters to him in confidence, and perhaps, out of a sense of responsibility.

If the purpose is to make it appear that the ecclesial community at its universal center, the Roman Curia, is a nest of vipers - thus discrediting at the same time the moral authority of the Catholic Churc -, the attempt appears to have failed. Especially in the eyes of the People of God, in whom the efforts to portray the Successor of Peter as weak and isolated has only inspired a wave of affection and closeness in prayer of truly impressive proportions.

The ovations that greeted the Pope by the million or so persons present at the concluding Mass of the World Meeting for Families in Bresso-Milan are proof of this, as are the countless signs of devotion and affection in all the local churches of the world.

Even some leaders of secular culture and public life have shown their rightful indignation at this mediatic exploitation and violation of privacy rights, especially of Benedict XVI who is the world's most important moral and spiritual leader.

What is most striking about this unfortunate story is the man identified (the only one so far) as the faithless 'crow' who copied those papers and took them out of the Vatican. It was a serious betrayal of the Pope's trust, and a morally reprehensible act of the highest order.

Of course, the community of Christ's disciples has been no stranger to traitors from its earliest days, starting with the tragedy of Judas and the '30 coins' he received for it. Bloodstained, they served no other purpose than to buy a burial ground for strangers to Jerusalem.

And yet, out of all this, the extraordinary positive aspect is Benedict XVI's own witness - more than ever luminous and credible - to a faith that is as solid as rock.

As we heard in the words of the Pope at his General Audience last Wednesday (June 13), which deserves our reflection more than ever. He was reflecting on prayer as "an oasis of peace from which we can draw the living water to nourish our spiritual life and transform our existence".

And the model for such prayer is the Apostle Paul, who during a time of grave suffering, "three times prayed the Lord insistently to deliver him from such testing". But contemplating God profoundly, he received an answer to his plea: "“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2Cor 12,9).

The logic of the Apostle is linear: "He does not boast of his activities, but of the action of Christ who acts precisely on his weakness".

Benedict XVI commented: "This attitude of profound humility and trust in God manifesting himself is also fundamental for our prayer and for our life, for our relationship to God and to our weaknesses... St. Paul understands with clarity how to face and live every event, especially suffering, difficulty, persecution. At the moment when he experiences his own weakness, God manifests his power, he does not abandon him, he does not leave him alone, but becomes his support and strength".

This is followed by a touching declaration from the Pope, in which he seems to indicate with discretion and modesty something of the suffering he himself is experiencing: "Of course, Paul would have preferred being freed of this 'thorn', of this suffering, but God says: 'No, this is necessary for you. You will have enough grace to endure and to do what needs to be done'. This goes for us, too. The Lord does not liberate us from evil but he helps us to mature in our sufferings, in difficulties, in persecutions... It is not through the power of our means, of our virtues, of our abilities, that the Kingdom of God is realized, but it is God who works wonders through our weakness itself, our inadequacy for the responsibility. We must, therefore, have the humility not to trust simply in ourselves, but to work with the help of the Lord in the vineyard of the Lord, entrusting ourselves to him as fragile 'earthen vessels'."

This is the testimony of a man of faith, who knows very well how important are "the constancy, the fidelity of our relationship with God, especially in situations of aridity, of difficulty, of suffering, of the apparent absence of God".

This is the fruit of great love: "Only if we are gripped by Christ's love will we be able to face every adversity as Paul did, convinced that we can do everything in him who gives us strength".

And thus, the greatness of this Pope's spiritual stature rises above the squalor of Vatileaks - and becomes a message of life and hope for all of us - in the face of the trials of life and of history, especially those that arrive unexpectedly as well as sadly, moral as well as physical trials (such as, for example, the tragic events from the recent earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna).

In the face of the ethical crisis that is at the root of the present difficulties for the 'global village', we need above all to maintain our trust in the power of good, in the capacity of truth to end up triumphant, and the serene certainty - very vivid in those who believe - that we are not alone, but that we can count on the fidelity of a love that will never fail us, and that, amid the waves, will sustain the Barque of the Church and whoever trusts in the living God, along a secure route, towards a port of justice and peace for all.