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'BENADDICTIONS': The lighter side...and sheer indulging!

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My day for coming across previously unseen oldies but goodies. This is a Catholic Herald interview with Alessandra Borghese in June 2008 at the time her book, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JOSEPH RATZINGER, came out in English. I have excerpted only the one where she talks about Cardinal Ratzinger. The rest of the itnerview is about her 'rebirth' as a Catholic.

THE PRINCESS AND THE POPE
by ANNA ARCO


...

Donna Alessandra's journey to faith made her another friend, one whom she admires and respects very much: Joseph Ratzinger. Such is her admiration for the Holy Father that a Roman wit remarked at the Pope's election: "Now Alessandra Borghese will probably become a cardinal."

She rates him as one of the greatest thinkers of our time, but describes him as a gentle and humble man who has taken a great burden on his shoulders.

"He has changed a lot since he became Pope. I mean, he is still himself - gentle, humble and amiable to everybody, always saying thank you - but he has had to adapt and become the Pope of everybody. As Cardinal Ratzinger he was a lot more free to say what he thought, but now, while he still says what he has to in a straightforward way, he has to temper it.

"The reaction to his speech at Regensburg caused him great suffering, I think. He went there as a professor, to address his colleagues and it spiralled out of control. Since then something has changed. Maybe he has understood that being Pope is a tough job. He has carried the cross many times, but he's a free man.

"He would have been very well in the house at Pentling, relaxing with his friends and writing. Becoming Pope is not winning the lottery, it requires a big sacrifice and is a great weight that you have to put on your shoulders."

She speaks a great deal of the personal encounter with Christ, with the person and not an abstract idea which is at the heart of faith.

"It is a very personal, very real and loving relationship we Catholics have with Christ," she says. "Pope Benedict writes about it beautifully in Deus Caritas Est. It is an encounter and through his love, he is real."

In a way, it is the same personal encounter with Christ, the sense of his humanity, which prompted her to write In the Footsteps of Joseph Ratzinger. She wanted people to see Pope as a child, see the places Benedict visited and the places where he prayed and see him, perhaps not as the follower of Peter, a distant figure, but as someone who is human and approachable.



And this April 2005 report shows the impact Cardinal Ratzinger made among the bishops of Hongkong and Macau when he visited those dioceses in 1993.

Most striking is Cardinal Zen's description of Benedict XVI as 'a person who defends truth in love'.



Bishops of Hongkong
and Macau on Benedict XVI




HONG KONG, April 27, 2005 (UCAN) - Catholic leaders in Hong Kong and Macau have welcomed Pope Benedict XVI 's election and say they hope he will soon revisit them.

The new Pope visited both territories in March 1993 when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At that time, Hong Kong and Macau were respectively British and Portuguese colonies but they have since become part of China.

When the 78-year-old cardinal was elected on April 19 to succeed the late Pope John Paul II, he took the name Benedict XVI.

Hong Kong diocese celebrated a Mass on April 25 to mark the Pontiff's inauguration at the Vatican the day before. In a homily during that Mass, Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong described the new pope as one who does not escape from labor and as a person who defends the truth in love.

Bishop Zen insisted the new pope "is not a 'Rottweiler,' as dubbed by the media, nor a judge with a heart of stone."

Rather, "he welcomes dialogue and with his professional expertise, patiently expounds the doctrine of faith handed down to us by the apostles." Some media dubbed Cardinal Ratzinger "God's Rottweiler" for enforcing Church doctrine in his previous position.

About 1,400 people, including consulate representatives and leaders of various religions and Christian denominations, attended the Hong Kong Mass.

The 80 or so concelebrants included retired Archbishop Joseph Ti-Kang of Taipei, who was in Hong Kong on his way back to Taipei. He later told UCA News he met Cardinal Ratzinger several times when the German prelate headed Munich archdiocese in Germany. Archbishop Ti also recalled that the cardinal showed great interest in Chinese culture and history.

In nearby Macau, Bishop Jose Lai Hung-seng of Macau presided at a Mass on April 24 afternoon, just as the Pope's inaugural Mass was underway at the Vatican. About 1,000 people, including government officials, attended.

Macau's churches and chapels chimed bells three times that day to welcome the new pontiff and to give thanks to God. Macau diocese also declared a holiday on April 25 for all Catholic organizations and schools.

Bishop Lai told UCA News on April 21 Pope Benedict "was close to Pope John Paul II because they worked together for 26 years." Thus, the bishop said, he expects him to continue his predecessor's "unfinished mission, such as ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and concern for Catholics in China."

Father Pedro Chung Chi-kin, vicar general of Macau diocese, told UCA News on April 26 the new Pope, "with his wisdom," will cooperate with bishops "to lead the Church's evangelization ministry in the new generation."

Both Macau Church leaders said they hope he will step on Chinese soil. Hong Kong and Macau reverted to Chinese rule respectively in 1997 and 1999.

In the 1993 visit to Macau, Father Chung recalled that Cardinal Ratzinger met the then diocesan ordinary, Bishop Domingos Lam Ka-tseung, and also visited famous places, including the Ruins of Saint Paul Church, a local landmark.

In Hong Kong, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke at a meeting that the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences held March 2-6.

He told the Asian bishops that the Church's mission is more a matter of "inter-culturality" than "inculturation." He coined the new term and urged its use, he explained, to express more precisely "the meeting of cultures" that should take place when the culture of Christian faith encounters other cultures.

Father Edward Hsueh Kwan-ho, who also met Cardinal Ratzinger during that 1993 event, told UCA News on April 25 he found him to be "a kind and humble theologian." The priest, a member of the Focolare Movement, said he chatted with Cardinal Ratzinger for a few minutes about inter-religious dialogue.

Auxiliary Bishop John Tong Hon of Hong Kong told UCA News that, also in 1993, he drove Cardinal Ratzinger to meet Governor Christopher Patten, a Catholic, at the Governor's House. He also recalled that Cardinal Ratzinger met as well with the late Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung of Hong Kong and visited Hong Kong's Holy Spirit Seminary and Holy Spirit Study Centre.

Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, vicar general of Hong Kong, told UCA News he hopes the new Pope will visit Hong Kong again. However, Father Louis Ha Ke-loon, director of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, says such a visit would be hard to arrange before the Holy See establishes diplomatic ties with China. Even so, Father Ha told UCA News, a visit to Hong Kong or mainland China would be "not impossible for Pope Benedict XVI."

Until now, the only Pope to visit Hong Kong was Pope Paul VI. He presided before a crowd of about 15,000 at an open-air Mass in Hong Kong Stadium on Dec. 4, 1970.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/09/2009 04:17]
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