BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

March 26, Tuesday in Holy Week
Since strangely, the current calendar of saints for 2013 does not carry a saint for March 26, I looked up other saints who are commemorated on this day, and picked out the following two (out of about a dozen):
ST BASIL THE YOUNGER (Byzantium, d 952), Hermit
Said to have gifts of prophecy, he was living as a hermit near Constantinople when imprisoned and tortured as a spy. His miracles and prophecies won him his freedom, and he returned to his hermitage with a disciple, Gregory. There he denounced the immorality of the Byzantine aristocracy, an activity that brought him persecution.
ST. MARGARET CLITHEROW (b England 1555, d 1686), Wife, Mother, Martyr
Born of Protestant parents, good-looking Margaret married John Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032613.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No official events for Pope Francis today, but the Press Office made it a point to announce under the heading
'Activities of the Holy Father that: "As in the past days, this morning at 7 a.m., Pope Francis celebrated
Holy Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Taking part were other guests staying at the Domus.
(In the past several days, persons employed by the Vatican Governatorate, including gardeners, cleaners and garbage collectors, as well
as within various Vatican offices, have taken part in these morning Masses.]

At a press briefing later, Fr. Lombardi announced that the Pope has decided to stay at the Domus for now, instead of moving to the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace. No reason was given.

He did say that the Pope has now moved from the room assigned to him as a cardinal for the conclave, into the VIP suite of the Domus so he has more space, but walks each day to the Apostolic Palace for work and to receive guests.

Another detail revealed by Fr. Lombardi today was that some non-Christians will be among the 12 minors at the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center whose feet Pope Francis will wash during the Mass of the Lord's Supper.

[In 2005, after his election, Benedict XVI stayed at the Domus Sanctae Marthae for weeks - staying in the same room he had been assigned for the Conclave - until he left for Castel Gandolfo for the summer, and did not occupy the papal apartment at the Apostolic Palace until his return in September. At the time, the delay was due to the extensive renovations needed to reconfigure the papal apartment - particularly the bed/bath/dressing area - to normal use, because of the major changes that had been made to accommodate the physical disabilities of John Paul II in his final years and the high-tech medical equipment required to be on hand for immediate intervention. If the reason for Pope Francis not moving into the Apostolic Palace now is because he wants changes to the layout as it was during Benedict's Pontificate, the Press Office should say so. About the Masses, one presumes Benedict XVI also said his morning Mass daily while at Domus Sanctae Marthae but no announcements were ever made about it...

The Vatican Press Office has begun to act more like a PR office these days, something it never did even during the terrible months in 2010 when Benedict XVI was the daily target of some new media outrage clearly designed not just to discredit him and the Church but to pressure him into resigning! Not one word from anyone in the Vatican then in his behalf, other than from Cardinal Levada who took it upon himself to make a detailed response to the New York Times's hatchet job on Cardinal Ratzinger over the Fr. Murphy case in Wisconsin. Levada based his response on the written testimony of the priest who led the diocesan inquiry that took place in 1995, more than 23 years after Fr. Murphy was retired by the diocese. Cardinal Levada later posted his response in the CDF's special webpage on "The Church's Response to Abuse of Minors"...

In contrast to the deafening silence from the Vatican in 2010, Fr. Lombardi immediately issued a strong statement denouncing irresponsible and unfounded accusations that Cardinal Bergoglio had been complicit with the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in the 1990s.

While it is very laudable indeed that the Vatican Press Office has decided to be more proactive in supporting the Pope, what has been so sadly missing in all the reporting these days, even from the Vatican, is context and perspective. Everything cannot be reported as if they were happening for the first time ever, because to do so simply reinforces the willfully naïve and vulgar (in the sense of common and popular) media view that previous Popes, particularly Benedict XVI, were somehow inferior in virtue to the new Pope because they honored papal tradition and therefore sinned against 'simplicity and humility'.



But, just to cite one example, il Papa Buono, Blessed John XXIII, even when he was Patriarch of Venice, followed dress tradition to a T with apparently no qualms or reservations (not even about the papal tiara and the sedia gestatoria), but was never criticized for doing what all Popes had done before him, nor more importantly, did it take away from his personal holiness. Tradition was obviously not incompatible with moving ahead, because he also had the prophetic wisdom to convoke the Second Vatican Council.

I will defer posting the 'Lookback' feature until later today - one year ago, Benedict XVI departed Mexico and arrived in Cuba for his apostolic visit.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/03/2013 01:57]