The full text of the speech is found below of the speech Pope Benedict XIV was to give before cancelling an appearance at Rome's La Sapienza University after receiving protests from faculty members and students from the university.

It is a great joy for me to meet the community of "La Sapienza - Università di Roma" on the occasion of the inauguration of the academic year. For centuries, this university has marked the progress and the life of the city of Rome, bringing forth intellectual excellence in every field of study. Both during the period when, after its foundation at the behest of Pope Boniface VIII, the institution was directly dependent upon ecclesiastical authority, and after this, when the Studium Urbis became an institution of the Italian state, your academic community has maintained a very high standard of scholarship and culture, which places it among the most prestigious universities in the world.

The Church of Rome has always looked with affection and admiration at this university centre, recognising its sometimes arduous and difficult efforts in research and in the formation of the new generations. There has been no lack, in recent years, of significant instances of collaboration and dialogue.

I would like to recall, in particular, the worldwide meeting of university rectors on the occasion of the Jubilee of Universities, which saw your community take the responsibility not only for hosting and organising the meeting, but above all for making the complex and prophetic proposal for the development of a "new humanism for the third millennium".

I am moved, on this occasion, to express my gratitude for the invitation extended to me to come to your university to deliver an address to you. In this perspective, I first of all asked myself the question: What can a pope say on an occasion like this?

In my lecture in Regensburg, I indeed spoke as pope, but I spoke above all in the guise of a former professor of the university, seeking to connect memory and the present. But at the university "La Sapienza", the ancient university of Rome, I have been invited as "Bishop of Rome", and so I must speak in this capacity.

Of course, "La Sapienza" was once the pope's university, but today it is a secular university with that autonomy which, on the basis of its founding principles, has always been part of the nature of the university, which must always be exclusively bound to the authority of the truth. In its freedom from political and ecclesiastical authorities, the university finds its special role, and in modern society as well, which needs institutions of this nature.

I return to my starting question: What can and should the pope say in meeting with his city's university? Reflecting on this question, it has seemed to me that it includes two more questions, the clarification of which should by itself lead to the answer. It is necessary, in fact, to ask: What is the nature and mission of the papacy? And again: What is the nature and mission of the university? It is not my intention here to belabour either you or myself with lengthy examinations of the nature of the papacy.

A brief summary should be enough. The pope is, first of all, the bishop of Rome, and as such, in virtue of apostolic succession from the Apostle Peter, he has Episcopal authority in regard to the entire Catholic Church. The word "bishop"—episkopos—, which in its immediate meaning refers to "supervision", already in the New Testament was fused together with the biblical concept of the shepherd: he is the one who, from an elevated point of observation, surveys the whole landscape, making sure to keep the flock together and on the right path.

This description of the bishop's role directs the view first of all to within the community of believers. The bishop—the shepherd—is the man who takes care of this community, the one who keeps it united by keeping it on the path toward God, which Jesus points out through the Christian faith—and He does not only point this out: He himself is the way for us.

But this community that the bishop cares for as large or small as it may be—lives in the world; its conditions, its journey, its example, and its words inevitably influence the rest of the human community in its entirety. The larger it is, the more its good condition or eventual decline will impact all of humanity.

Today we see very clearly how the situation of the religions and the situation of the Church—its crises and renewals—act upon the whole of humanity. Thus the pope, precisely as the shepherd of his community, has increasingly become a voice of the ethical reasoning of humanity.

But here there immediately comes the objection according to which the pope does not in fact truly speak on the basis of ethical reasoning, but instead draws his judgments from the faith, and therefore he cannot claim that these have validity for those who do not share this faith. We must return to this argument later, because it poses the absolutely fundamental question: What is reason? How can an assertion—and above all a moral norm—demonstrate that it is "reasonable".

At this point, I would like to note briefly that John Rawls, while he denies that religious doctrines overall have the character of "public" reasoning, he nonetheless sees in their "non-public" reasoning at least a reasoning that cannot simply be dismissed by those who support a hard-line secularist rationality.

He sees a criterion of this reasonableness in, among other things, the fact that that such doctrines are derived from a responsible and well grounded tradition, in which over a long span of time sufficiently strong arguments have been developed in support of the respective doctrines. It seems important to me that this statement recognises that experience and demonstration over the course of generations, the historical backdrop of human wisdom, are also a sign of their reasonableness and their lasting significance.

In the face of an a-historical form of reason that seeks to construct itself in an exclusively a-historical rationality, the wisdom of humanity as such—the wisdom of the great religious traditions—should be viewed as a reality that cannot be cast with impunity into the trash bin of the history of ideas.

Let's return to the opening question. The pope speaks as the representative of a believing community, in which throughout the centuries of its existence a specific life wisdom has matured; he speaks as the representative of a community that holds within itself a treasury of ethical understanding and experience, which is important for all of humanity. In this sense, he speaks as the representative of a form of ethical reasoning.

But now we must ask ourselves: What is the university? What is its purpose? It is a huge question which I can only answer once again in almost telegraphic style by making just a few observations. I believe that it can be said that the true intimate origin of the university lies in man’s craving for knowledge.

He wants to know what everything around him is. In this sense the Socratic questioning is the impulse that gave birth to the Western university. I am thinking here, just to mention one text, the dispute that sets Euthyphro, who defends mythical religion and his devotion to it, against Socrates. In contrast Socrates asks: “And do you believe there is really a war amongst the gods, with terrible feuds, even, and battles . . . Are we to say that these things are true, Euthyphro? (Euthyphro, 6: b and c).

In this apparently not very devout question—but which drew in Socrates from a deeper and purer sense of religiosity, one that sought a truly divine god—the Christians of the first centuries recognised their path and themselves. They accepted their faith non in a positivist manner or as a way of getting away from unfulfilled desires but rather as a way of dissolving the cloud that was mythological religion so as to discover the God that is creative Reason as well as Reason-as-Love.

For this reason, asking themselves about the reason for the greater God as well as the real nature and sense of being human did not represent for them any problematic lack of religiosity, but was part of the essence of their way of being religious. They therefore did not need to solve or put aside the Socratic dilemma but could, indeed had to accept it. They also had to recognise as part of their identity the demanding search for reason in order to learn about the entire truth.

The university could, indeed had to be born within the Christian world and the Christian faith. We must take another step. Man wants to know; he wants the truth. Truth pertains first and foremost to seeing and understanding theoria as it is called in the Greek tradition. But truth is not only theoretic.

In correlating the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mountain and the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Isaiah 11, Augustine asserted the reciprocity of scientia and tristitia. For him just knowing is a source of sadness. In fact those who only see and learn all that happens in the world end up becoming sad. But the truth means more than knowledge.

The purpose of knowing the truth is to know what is good. This is also the sense of Socrates’ way of questioning: What good thing makes us true? Truth makes us good and goodness is true. This optimism dwells in the Christian faith because it was allowed to see the Logos, the creative Reason that, in God’s incarnation, revealed itself as that which is Good, as Goodness itself.

In medieval theology there was a great dispute over the relationship between theory and praxis, over the proper relationship between knowledge and action, a dispute that we must not go into further here. In fact with their four faculties medieval universities embodied this correlation. Let us begin with medicine, which was the fourth faculty according to the understanding of that time. Although it was seen more as an “art” than as a science, its inclusion in the realm of the universitas meant that it was seen as belonging to the domain of rationality.

The art of healing was seen as something guided by reason and was thus beyond the domain of magic. Healing is a task that always requires more than simple reason but exactly for this reason it needs the connection between knowledge and power and must belong to the realm of ratio. Inevitably in law faculties the relationship between praxis and theory, between knowing and doing takes front seat for it is about giving human freedom its right shape which is always freedom in reciprocal communion.

The law is the premise upon which freedom is built; it is not its adversary. But this raises another question. How can we identify what the standards of justice are, that is those that make freedom as part of a whole possible and serve mankind’s goodness? Let us come back to the present. It is a question that is related to how we can find legal rules that can govern freedom, human dignity and man’s rights.

It is an issue that concerns us insofar as it relates to the democratic processes that shape opinions but also one that can distress us insofar as it relates to humanity’s future. In my opinion Jürgen Habermas articulates a view, widely accepted in today’s world of ideas, in which the legitimacy of a constitution as the basis for what is legal stems from two sources: the equal participation of all citizens in the political process and reasonable conflict-resolution mechanisms in politics. Insofar as the reasonable mechanisms are concerned he notes that the issue cannot be reduced to a mere struggle for who gets more votes but must include a “process of argumentation that is responsive to truth” (wahrheitssensibles Argumentationsverfahren).

This is well said but it is something difficult to turn into political praxis. We know that the representatives of this public “process of argumentation” are for the most part political parties which shape the formation of the public will. In fact they invariably will seek a majority and will almost always take care of the interests they pledge to protect which are very often partisan and not collective interests. Responsiveness to the truth always takes the back seat to partisan interests. To me it is significant that Habermas should say that responsiveness to truth is a necessary component of political argumentation, since it reintroduces the concept of truth in philosophical and political debates.

Pilate’s question then becomes inevitable: What is truth? How do we recognise it? If we turn to “public reason” as Rawls does, another question necessarily follows: What is reasonable? How does a reason prove to be the true reason? Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that in the quest for freedom and for living together equitably groups other than parties and interest groups must be heard; although that does not mean that the latter are any less important. Let us go back to medieval universities and the way they were set up.

Along with law, philosophy and theology had their own faculty with the task of studying mankind in his totality and thus keep alive responsiveness to truth. One might even say that this is the real and enduring meaning of both faculties—they maintain responsiveness to truth and prevent man from being distracted in his quest for the truth. But how can they do this?

This is a question which we must always work at and which can never be raised and answered once and for all. Hence at this point not even I can properly give you an answer. I can though invite you to keep asking this question, one that has involved all the great thinkers who throughout history have fought for and sought out the truth, coming up with their own answers and enduring their own fears, always going beyond any one answer.

Theology and philosophy are an odd couple; neither can be totally separated from the other and yet each must keep its own purpose and identity. Compared to the answers Church Fathers formulated in their day and age, St Thomas Aquinas deserves a special place in history for highlighting the autonomy of philosophy as well as that of the law. He equally has the merit of pointing out the responsibilities that fall on reason when it questions itself on the basis of its own strengths.

Unlike neo-platonic ideas that saw religion and philosophy inseparably intertwined, the Church Fathers had presented the Christian faith as real philosophy, insisting that this faith corresponded to the needs of Reason in its quest for the truth, that is a faith that was a “Yes” to truth when compared to mythical religions that had ended up turning into mere custom. However, when universities were founded in the West those religions were no more—only Christianity existed. This meant highlighting in a new way reason’s own responsibility, one that was not absorbed by the faith.

Thomas lived at a special time. For the first time all of Aristotle’s philosophical writings were available as were the Hebrew and Arabic text that embodied and extended Greek philosophy. Thus as Christianity interacted with others and engaged their reason in a new dialogue it had to fight for its own reasonableness. The Faculty of Philosophy, i.e. the so-called artists’ faculty, was until then only a preparatory stage before moving onto theology.

Afterwards it became a faculty in its own right, an autonomous partner to theology and the faith which the latter reflected. We cannot dwell on the gripping confrontation that followed. I would say that St Thomas’ idea about the relationship between philosophy and theology can be expressed by the formula handed down by the Council of Chalcedon on Christology, namely that philosophy and theology must relate to each other “without confusion and without separation.”

“Without confusion” is understood in the sense that each will maintain its own identity so that philosophy is truly a free and responsible search for reason and aware of its own limits and thus of its own greatness and vastness. Theology must instead continue to draw from a source of knowledge that it has not invented and that is always greater than itself, and which always renews the process of thinking since it is never totally exhausted by reflection.

“Without confusion” does not stand alone for there is “without separation,” that is the idea that philosophy never starts from scratch in isolation but is part of great dialogue found in the accumulated knowledge that history has bequeathed and which it always critically but meekly accepts and develops. Yet it should not shut itself off from what religions, especially the Christian faith, have received and given to humanity as a sign for the path to follow. Indeed History has shown that many of the things that theologians have said in the course of time or that Church authorities have put in practice have been proven false and today they confuse us.

But it is equally true that the history of the saints and the history of the humanism that has developed on the basis of the Christian faith are proof of the truth of this faith in its essential core, making it something that public reason needs. Of course, much of what theology and faith say can only be appropriated from within the faith and thus cannot be seen as a need for those to whom this faith remains inaccessible.

It is true however that the message of the Christian faith is never only a "comprehensive religious doctrine" in Rawls’ terms, but that it is instead a force that purifies reason itself, further helping the latter to be itself. On the basis of its origins the Christian message should always encourage the search of the truth and thus be a force against the pressures exerted by power and interests.

Well, so far I have only talked about the university in the Middle Ages, trying however to show to what extent its nature and purpose have remained the same all along. In modern times knowledge has become more multi-faceted, especially in the two broad fields that now prevail in universities.

First of all, there are the natural sciences which have developed on the basis of experimentation and subject matters’ supposed rationality.

Secondly, there are the social sciences and the humanities in which man has tried to understand himself by looking at his own history and uncovering his own nature. From this development humanity not only acquired a great deal of knowledge and power but also an understanding and recognition of the rights and dignity of mankind.

And for this we can be grateful. But man’s journey can never be said to be over and the danger of falling into inhumanity is never just warded off as we can see in today’s history. The danger faced by the Western world, just to mention the latter, is that mankind, given its great knowledge and power, might give up on the question of the truth.

At the same time this means that reason in the end may bow to the pressures of partisan interests and instrumental value, forced to acknowledge the latter as the ultimate standard. From the point of view of the academic world this means that there is a danger that philosophy, feeling incapable of fulfilling its task, might degenerate into positivism, a danger that theology and the message it has for reason might be confined to the private sphere of a group more or less big.

If however reason, concerned about its supposed purity, fails to hear the great message that comes from the Christian faith and the understanding it brings, it will dry up like a tree with roots cut off from the water that gives it life. It will lose the courage needed to find the truth and thus become small rather than great.

Applied to our European culture this means that if it wants to constitute itself on the basis of its arguments and whatever appears to it to be convincing, with concerns about its own secular nature, it will cut itself off from its life-sustaining roots, and in doing so will not become more reasonable and pure but will instead become undone and fragmented.

And so let me go back to the initial point. What does the Pope have to do or say in a university? He certainly should not try to impose in an authoritarian manner his faith on others, which can only be freely offered. Beyond his ministry as Pastor of the Church and on the basis of the intrinsic nature of this pastoral ministry, it is his task to keep alive man’s responsiveness to the truth.

Similarly he must again and always invite reason to seek out truth, goodness and God, and on this path urge it to see the useful lights that emerged during the history of the Christian faith and perceive Jesus Christ as the light that illuminates history and helps find the way towards the future.

Copyright © 2008 Spero

The desire for freedom of expression is alive and well after all.

Soul-searching in Italy after Pope scraps speech
Thursday, 17 January, 2008, 02:05 AM Doha Time

VATICAN CITY: University students poured yesterday into Vatican City to show support for Pope Benedict after protests over his views on science forced him to cancel a speech at Rome’s top public college.

The German Pontiff decided late on Tuesday not to deliver an address today at La Sapienza university following protests by a small but vociferous group of students and faculty members. Some had occupied part of the campus to demand he stay away.

Italians condemned the protests, saying they smacked of censorship. Politicians and pundits used words like “shame” and “humiliation” to describe national sentiment.

The Pope, with a smile, welcomed university students who showed up at his general audience. As he entered the audience hall, they shouted: “Freedom!”, in a reference to his right to free speech.

“If the Pope won’t come to La Sapienza, La Sapienza will come to the Pope,” read one banner held by students.

The vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, invited Romans to show their support for the Pope by coming to St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for his weekly prayer.

He said the “sad episodes” that forced the Pope to cancel his speech “delivered a very painful blow to the whole city”.

Since being elected in 2005, the conservative Pontiff has fought what he sees as efforts to restrict the voice of the Church in the public sphere - particularly in Europe.

But his public posturing on issues ranging from abortion and gay marriage to euthanasia has led critics in Italy to accuse him of meddling in politics.

The protesters said if the Pope wanted to speak, he could do so from the Vatican. They criticised his views on science, saying a speech he gave in 1990 showed he would have favoured the Church’s 17th century heresy trial against Galileo.

Student leader Francesco Raparelli called the protests “a tremendous victory”.

But hostility toward his appearance at La Sapienza, which was founded by a Pope more than 700 years ago, outraged free speech advocates. Leading newspaper Corriere della Sera ran a front-page editorial headlined “A Defeat for the Country” and left-leaning La Repubblica called the protests against the Pope “sick”.

Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano wrote to the Pope condemning “demonstrations of intolerance”.

The episode drew out allies of all stripes who condemned the students’ actions, ranging from Rome’s chief rabbi to outspoken Church critic Dario Fo, a Nobel Prize winning writer.

“Being secular does not mean closing your ears when someone who is religiously inspired speaks,” said Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, who has invited the Pope to speak at his synagogue. – Reuters
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And More

Sapienza Rector to Re-invite Pope
Papal Discourse Read by Professor Gets Standing Ovation

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 17, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The rector of Rome's Sapienza University announced that he will re-invite Benedict XVI to visit the institution.Renato Guarini affirmed this after the inauguration ceremony today that was supposed to have included a lecture given by the Pope. The Vatican announced Tuesday that the visit would be postponed, due to what the Pope's secretary of state called a lack of the "prerequisites for a dignified and tranquil welcome."

A small protest that eventually reached the point of several students occupying the rector's offices motivated the Holy See to cancel the visit. The protestors called the Pope "hostile" to science and took issue with a 1990 speech by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the Galileo case. The 1990 speech in its entirety showed the protestors to have taken Cardinal Ratzinger's words out of context.

Guarini said, "I will offer a new invitation to the Pope, Benedict XVI." He said the invitation would "be in accord with the desire of the majority of Sapienza's academic community."

During the inauguration ceremony, a professor read the discourse the Holy Father had prepared for the occasion. A standing ovation and students' shouts of "Long live the Pope" followed the reading.

Fabio Mussi, the Italian minister of education, and Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome, were present.

Protests around the university continued, since the issue has ballooned into a national debate about the roles of science and religion. Auxiliary Bishop Enzo Dieci of Rome was blocked from entering the university, thus impeding him from celebrating Mass in its chapel.

Pope didn't want 'unpleasant' protests

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press WriterWed Jan 16, 2:38 PM ET

The pope's top aide said Wednesday that Benedict XVI's reason for canceling a visit to a Rome university was that he did not want to create a pretext for further "unpleasant" protests by professors and students opposed to the religious leader speaking at a secular campus.

Anti-pope slogans have appeared on banners and posters around buildings at La Sapienza University, where Benedict was to have spoken on Thursday.

A group of professors, mainly from the sciences, wrote to the university rector late last year to object to the pope's visit, depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed to science. On the grounds of separating secular and non-secular, they disapproved of him speaking at a public university.

The rector had given students a designated space where they could protest during the pope's visit.

The Vatican said Tuesday that the pontiff would not go to the university because protests by students and professors had made such a visit "inopportune."

It is rare for the pope to cancel a visit, and on Wednesday, the Holy See's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, spelled out the reasoning behind the decision.

"Since there were no longer the conditions for a dignified and calm welcome, thanks to the initiative of a decidedly minority group of professors and students, it was judged opportune to skip the planned visit to remove any pretext for demonstrations which would have ended up being unpleasant for all," said Bertone in a letter to the university rector, Renato Guarini.

Bertone also sent the rector a copy of the speech that the pope would have read, "with the hope that all can find in it reason for enriching reflection and probing."

In the speech, the pope explores the mission of popes and of universities.

As if answering the skeptics who opposed his visit, the pope wrote: "What does the pope have to do or say in the university?"

Benedict said he did not intend to "impose faith in an authoritarian way on others" but that it was his task to "maintain high the sensibility for the truth, to always invite reason to put itself anew at the service of the search for the true, the good, for God. ..."

Benedict's speech was supposed to have been one of several addresses during a ceremony to inaugurate the academic year at the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

Pope's visit to university canceled

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press WriterTue Jan 15, 6:37 PM ET

Pope Benedict XVI has canceled his visit to a Rome university following protests by secular professors and students, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Such a cancellation of a scheduled papal event is extremely rare, and the few times it has happened in recent decades, the Vatican cited security concerns. No specific reason was given in a brief Vatican announcement and Vatican spokesmen could not be reached for comment.

"It was considered opportune to skip the event," the Vatican said of Benedict's planned visit and speech Thursday at La Sapienza, a public university. Instead, the pope will send his speech to the university.

When news of the cancellation reached the campus, students in a political sciences hall broke into applause.

About 60 of the 4,500 professors at the university had signed a letter to the university rector, opposing the visit. Banners reading "Science is secular" and "No pope" have been strung from university buildings and posters plastered on walls objected to the visit. Students had announced several days of demonstrations this week. The university has 145,000 students.

On Monday, Vatican Radio had described the mobilization by students and professors at Europe's largest university as smacking of censorship.

Benedict was scheduled to deliver the speech as part of a ceremony to inaugurate the academic year at the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

The theme for the school ceremony is efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide, a cause close to the Vatican's interests. The topic of the pope's speech was not revealed.

University rector Renato Guarini expressed "regret" but said he respected the pope's decision.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi urged the pontiff to change his mind. "No voice must go silent in our country, let alone that of the pope," Prodi said in a statement.

The politically influential Italian bishops conference said Benedict was the object of "antidemocratic intolerance."

Interior Minister Giuliano Amato ruled out security concerns as the reason for cancellation.

This, in my opinion, is infuriating. Sixty signatures out of 4500 professors. How could such a squeek become such a roar?? The speech, seemingly, wasn't even going to be on the topic of any science. I can only wonder what really pushed this to occur. I don't think a protest would have led Holy Father to cancel. He's dealt with harsher stuff than student protests.

This would come under the heading of "Any excuse is better than no excuse at all" or "People only hear what they want to hear".

Protest ahead of Pope's lecture at Rome university

Some professors and students are protesting against plans for Pope Benedict to address Rome's most prestigious university, saying a speech he made nearly two decades ago showed he had reactionary views on science.

The German-born Pope is due to speak at La Sapienza on Thursday at a ceremony opening the 2008 academic year. The inaugural event's theme is the death penalty, which the Vatican and the Italian state want abolished globally.

But more than 60 professors have written a letter saying the invitation should be withdrawn because the Pope's views "offend and humiliate us."

They pointed to a speech he made in 1990, saying it showed he favored the Church's heresy trial against Galileo in 1633 for teaching that the Earth revolved around the sun.
That clashed with the Bible, which read: "God fixed the earth upon its foundation, not to be moved forever."

The Pope's supporters say the speech by the pontiff, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, only quoted an Austrian philosopher saying the Galileo trial was "rational and just" and did not reflect his own views.

"He expressed a different position, distancing himself from that belief and absolutely not adopting it as his own," wrote conservative newspaper Il Giornale, after republishing a transcript of the speech.

Still, some students have seized upon the controversy to launch protests against the Church, with one group declaring an "anti-clerical" week, and preparing protest banners.
"There have been a few protests and moves (at La Sapienza) with tones of censorship," lamented Vatican Radio on its website: www.radiovaticana.org.

The protest has put La Sapienza's chancellor on the defensive, and prompted a genetics professor to come out on Vatican radio on Monday to denounce the "shameful" protests.
"I would invite him a hundred times," Renato Guarini, the chancellor of La Sapienza, told Italian state television.

La Sapienza was founded by a pope in 1303, and Guarini noted that this would hardly be the first time a pontiff has addressed an Italian university.

Benedict's supporters have noted that the Galileo controversy itself was long over. The late Pope John Paul II acknowledged in 1992 the Church was wrong to have condemned the revolutionary Italian scientist.

The controversy has added to a fierce debate about the power of the Catholic Church in Italy, which even divides the Catholics-to-Communist coalition government.
(Writing by Phil Stewart)

Pope Benedict turns his back on new rituals

Pope Benedict celebrated parts of Sunday's Mass with his back turned on the congregation, reintroducing an old ritual that was phased out decades ago.

The Pope used the Sistine Chapel's ancient altar, set right against the wall under Michelangelo's dramatic depiction of the Last Judgment, instead of a mobile altar which allowed his predecessor, John Paul II, to face the congregation.

A statement by the Vatican's office for liturgical celebrations said it had been decided to use the old altar, where ballots are placed during papal elections, to respect "the beauty and the harmony of this architectural jewel".

That meant that for the first time in this kind of celebration since the Second Vatican Council, between 1962 and 1965, the Pope occasionally turned his back on the faithful and faced the Cross.

The pontiff is slowly reintroducing some of the rituals phased out after Vatican II, which modernised the Church and ordered that local languages be used instead of Latin.
In another nod to traditionalists, he has said he would like the centuries-old Gregorian chant to be more widely used.

During the Mass, the Pope also baptised 13 babies, pouring water on their heads from a golden shell.

There was a brief panic when the pontiff realised that he had lost his papal ring, which an aide found near the altar.

Vatican clarifying Latin Mass rules
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 3,

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has begun drafting a document to elaborate on Pope Benedict XVI's recent liberalization of the old Latin Mass because some bishops are either ignoring his move or misinterpreting it, Vatican officials said.

The Vatican's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said in comments published Thursday that the Vatican would be issuing an "instruction" on how to put the pope's document into practice, since there had been what he called some "uneven" reactions to it since it went into effect last year.

The document Benedict issued in July removed restrictions on celebrating the so-called Tridentine Mass, the rite celebrated in Latin before the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s paved the way for the new Mass used widely today in local languages.

Following the 1960s reform, the Tridentine rite could only be celebrated with permission from local bishops — an obstacle that supporters of the old rite said had greatly reduced its availability.

In a gesture to such traditional Catholics, Benedict removed that requirement in his document, saying parish priests could celebrate the Tridentine Mass if a "stable group of faithful" requested it.

Implementation, however, has been uneven, with some bishops issuing rules that "practically annul or twist the intention of the pope," Monsignor Albert Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Divine Cult and Discipline of Sacraments, said recently, according to the Vatican's missionary news agency FIDES.

Such reactions amounted to a "crisis of obedience" toward the pontiff, he was quoted as saying, although he stressed that most bishops and other prelates had accepted the pope's will "with the required sense of reverence and obedience."

Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, said the upcoming instruction would lay out criteria for the pope's document to be correctly applied, according to an interview published Thursday in the Italian religious affairs weekly Famiglia Cristiana. He gave no date for its publication.
He complained that reactions to the pontiff's document had been uneven.

"Some have even gone so far as to accuse the pope of having reneged on Council teaching," Bertone was quoted as saying. "On the other hand, there are those who have interpreted the (document) as authorization to return exclusively to the pre-Council rite. Both positions are wrong, and are exaggerated episodes that don't correspond to the pope's intention."

Despite such incidents, the Rev. John T. Zuhlsdorf, who runs a blog that has charted implementation of the pope's document, said he had seen growth in both interest in and celebrations of the older form of the Mass.

"In some dioceses in the United States, bishops have been stepping up to the plate and not only learning the older form, but celebrating it themselves," he said in an e-mail. "Younger priests are attending workshops. Several seminaries are offering training for their priesthood candidates."

Even before the pope's document was released, liberal-minded Catholics had complained that Benedict's move amounted to a negation of Vatican II, and some bishops and cardinals publicly warned that its implementation would create a rupture in the church.

Jewish groups also complained because the old rite contains a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews. Bertone has said the issue could be resolved and that the church in no way intended to go against its spirit of reconciling with Jews.

Benedict's document was also a bid to reach out to the followers of an excommunicated traditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Council reforms, notably the introduction of the new Mass.

FROM: Christian Today

In his New Year message to millions of Catholics worldwide on Tuesday, Pope Benedict reaffirmed the status of the family as one of the most important foundations for peace in the world.

The Pope expressed his support for the family in a midmorning mass on January 1, traditionally celebrated within the Catholic Church as World Day of Peace. He later appeared at his window to wave to thousands of believers in St Peter’s Square.

"The family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace," he told the crowds.

Although the Pope stopped short of naming specific policies, he criticised political moves in a number of countries to undermine the traditional family.

The UK is among the countries that have introduced legislation conferring legal rights upon same-sex and unmarried couples in recent years.

Pope Benedict said in his New Year prayer for peace that the family was an “irreplaceable” institution and that undermining the traditional family headed by a husband and wife would undermine peace.

“Whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community,” he said.

"Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman... constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.”

Thousands turned out for a pro-family rally in the largely Catholic Spain on Sunday, during which the Pope defended the family in an address via videolink.

He said: "Founded in the indissoluble union between man and woman, it is the place in which human life is sheltered and protected from its beginning until its natural end.”

MORE THOUGHTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVENTION BY THE HOLY SEE
AT THE "HIGH-LEVEL EVENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
ENTITLED "THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS:
ADDRESSING THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE"

ADDRESS OF MSGR. PIETRO PAROLIN

New York
Monday, 24 September 2007

Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express some considerations of the Holy See in light of what we have heard today from the preceding distinguished speakers.

Climate change is a serious concern and an inescapable responsibility for scientists and other experts, political and governmental leaders, local administrators and international organizations, as well as every sector of human society and each human person. My delegation wishes to stress the underlying moral imperative that all, without exception, have a grave responsibility to protect the environment.

Beyond the various reactions to and interpretations of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the best scientific assessments available have established a link between human activity and climate change. However, the results of these scientific assessments, and the remaining uncertainties, should neither be exaggerated nor minimized in the name of politics, ideologies or self-interest. Rather they now need to be studied closely in order to give a sound basis for raising awareness and making effective policy decisions.

In recent times, it has been unsettling to note how some commentators have said that we should actually exploit our world to the full, with little or no heed to the consequences, using a world view supposedly based on faith. We strongly believe that this is a fundamentally reckless approach. At the other extreme, there are those who hold up the earth as the only good, and would characterize humanity as an irredeemable threat to the earth, whose population and activity need to be controlled by various drastic means. We strongly believe that such assertions would place human beings and their needs at the service of an inhuman ecology. I have highlighted these two extreme positions to make my point, but similar, though less extreme attitudes, would also clearly impede any sound global attempts to promote mitigation, adaptation, resilience and the safeguarding of our common future.

Mr. Chairman,

Since no country alone can solve the problems related to our common environment, we need to overcome self-interest through collective action. On the part of the international community, this presupposes the adoption of a coordinated, effective and prompt international political strategy capable of responding to such a complex question. It would identify ways and means of mitigation and adaptation which are economically accessible to most, enhance sustainable development and foster a healthy environment. The economic aspect of such ways and means should be seriously taken into account, considering that poor nations and sectors of society are particularly vulnerable to the adverse consequences of climate change, due to lesser resources and capacity to mitigate their effects and adapt to altered surroundings.

It is foreseeable that programmes of mitigation and adaptation would meet a series of barriers and obstacles, not so much of a technological nature, but more so of a social nature, such as consumer behaviour and preferences, and of a political nature, like government policies. We must look at education, especially among the young, to change inbred, selfish attitudes towards consumption and exploitation of natural resources. Likewise, government policies giving economic incentives and financial breaks for more environmentally friendly technologies will give the private sector the positive signal they need to programme their product development in such direction. For instance, present-day research into energy mixes and improving energy efficiency would be made more attractive if accompanied by public funding and other financial incentives.

Mr. Chairman,

We often hear in the halls of the United Nations of "the responsibility to protect". The Holy See believes that applies also in the context of climate change. States have a shared "responsibility to protect" the world’s climate through mitigation/adaptation, and above all a shared "responsibility to protect" our planet and ensure that present and future generations be able to live in a healthy and safe environment.

The pace of achieving and codifying a new international consensus on climate change is not always matched by an equally expeditious and effective pace of implementation of such agreements. States are free to adopt international conventions and treaties, but unless our words are matched with effective action and accountability, we would do little to avert a bleak future and may find ourselves gathering again not too long from now to lament another collective failure. We sincerely hope that States will seize the opportunity that will be presented to them shortly at the next Conference on the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

The Mathetes Award list begins here.

Steve, at Who With the Autumn, recently awarded me with the Mathetes Award for Excellence in Discipleship. After getting over the shock of receiving an award at this little traveled site, humbly and with great gratitude, posted the little badge that was sent with it. I then immediately went into a long THINK about who to send this award onwards to.

I've been exploring the possibilities and time has been marching by. So rather than wait any longer, I'm going to award ONE now and then award more later this week. the reason it has taken so long is that I wanted to give this particular award the seriousness of thought it so rightly deserves. I'll edit this post as I go along so that any who visit here can keep up with the list as it grows to that magic number five.

"Mathetes is the Greek word for disciple, and the role of the disciple (per the Great Commission) it to make more disciples. I'd like to take the opportunity to award five other bloggers with this award and badge for acting in the role of a disciple of Christ. These five all share the message in their own creative ways, and I admire them all for what they do.

"In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple. Winners of this award must pick five other "disciples" to pass it on to. As you pass it on, I just ask that you mention and provide links for

(1)this post as the originator of the award ( Dan King of Management by God)
(2) the person that awarded it to you, and then
(3) name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.

If you know of other deserving recipients of this award, and would like to start a new string, then please post a link to where you've started in in the comments to this post. I would love for many deserving bloggers to be blessed with this recognition."

The rules of participating:
1. Copy this post.
2. Reflect on five bloggers.
3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.
4. Go leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.
5. Put the award icon on your site.

Number one on my list of recipients is Deb at PIACERE. This peace-filled and gentle woman has become a good friend to me and the thoughtful insight she provides in her comments (not to mention her own good sites) enrich my life and have given new depths of understanding to questions that I have been posing to myself lately. I hope that you enjoy her as much as I have been.

UPDATE

Number Two on my list of recipients is Rebecca at Cre8Tiva - A Creative and Spiritual Journy. I have only known Rebecca for a few short weeks, but the tone of her beautiful and creative blog reveal a constant threat of love of the spirit and Christ's love that I have come to much appreciate.

The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom

By SIMON CALDWELL

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.
"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow," he said in the message entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace".

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."
Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.

He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the planet.

The Pope's message is traditionally sent to heads of government and international organisations.
His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.

A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change.

But there is also an intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon.

Such scientists point out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in its own right.

In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that was welcomed by environmentalists.

But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion.

In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius.
"The industrial-military complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless drastic solutions were enforced.

Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=501316

Pope Benedict XVI Receives Palestinian Representative to Holy See
11/12/2007
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 11, 2007 (Zenit.org): The Vatican press office confirmed Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI received Monday Shawqi Jabriel Armali, director of the office of representation to the Holy See of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Armali was named representative of the PLO before the Holy See in November. After meeting with Benedict XVI, he met with the secretary for the relations with states, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

Armali delivered a message on behalf of the President Mahmoud Abbas in which the Palestinian leader requests an "active presence" on the part of the Holy See in the Middle East peace process.

The Palestinian diplomat recognized "the important role of the Vatican in the question of Jerusalem's status."

PLO wants Pope involved
10/12/2007

Vatican City - The Palestinian Liberation Organisation's new Vatican envoy urged Pope Benedict XVI during a meeting on Monday to be actively involved in the Mideast peace process, said a religious news agency.

Envoy Shawqi Armali delivered a message to the pontiff from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a "very active presence of the Holy See during negotiations taking place after the (Middle East peace) conference in Annapolis," reported the I Media news agency.
The Vatican said in a statement only that the two had met.

A steering committee of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators holds talks on Wednesday for the first time since the November conference outside Washington.

A Holy See delegation took part in the US-sponsored peace talks.

The Vatican backs separate Palestinian and Israeli states and says any sustainable peace must resolve the status of Jerusalem.

from News 24 out of South Africa

Pope: Atheism Led to 'Greatest Forms of Cruelty'

Pope Benedict XVI has strongly criticized atheism and blamed it for bringing about the ”greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” ever known in history.

Tue, Dec. 04, 2007 Posted: 15:14:52 PM EST

---

Pope Benedict XVI has strongly criticized atheism and blamed it for bringing about the ”greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” ever known in history.

In the second encyclical of his papacy, the head of the world’s one billion Catholics also criticized modern-day Christianity, saying its focus on individual salvation had ignored Jesus' message that true Christian hope involves salvation for all.

In the 76-page document titled ”Spe Salvi,“ or “Saved by Hope,” Benedict said that many people rejected religious faith because they no longer found the prospect of an eternal after-life attractive.

Instead, they had put their faith in human reason and freedom in the hope that the "kingdom of man" would emerge.

In his scholarly analysis, the 81-year-old pontiff said that these ideas had originated during two periods of political upheaval – the French and Communist revolutions.

While Benedict came down heavily on Karl Marx and the 19th and 20th century atheism spawned by his revolution, the pope acknowledged that both were responding to the deep injustices of the time.

Marxism, Benedict wrote, had left behind "a trail of appalling destruction" because it failed to realize that man could not be "merely the product of economic conditions." For man to be redeemed, he also needs God's unconditional love.

"It is no accident that this idea (Marxism/Atheism) has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice, rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim", he wrote. "A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope."

Benedict also cited Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, and the "intermediate phase" of dictatorship that Marx saw as necessary in the revolution.

"This 'intermediate phase' we know all too well, and we also know how it then developed, not ushering in a perfect world, but leaving behind a trail of appalling destruction," the pope wrote.

Commenting on the pope’s latest encyclical, Monsignor Robert Wister, professor of church history at Seton Hall University in the United States, explained that the pope's concern “is that you have secularizing forces that are trying to eliminate religion from public and private life."

"In most countries, political Marxism is dead [but] philosophical Marxism is very much alive and it fuels the secularizing philosophy often seen in Europe and North America," Wister said, according to the Associated Press.

At the same time, Benedict also looked critically at the way modern Christianity had responded to the times, saying such a "self-critique" was also necessary.

"We must acknowledge that modern Christianity, faced with the successes of science in progressively structuring the world, has to a large extent restricted its attention to the individual and his salvation," the pope wrote. "In doing so, it has limited the horizon of its hope and has failed to recognize sufficiently the greatness of its task."

The Christian concept of hope and salvation, the pontiff stated, was not always so individual-centric.

Quoting scripture and theologians, Benedict said salvation had in the earlier church been considered "communal" — illustrating his point by using the case of monks in the Middle Ages who cloistered themselves in prayer not just for their own salvation but for that of others.

"How could the idea have developed that Jesus' message is narrowly individualistic and aimed only at each person singly? How did we arrive at this interpretation of the 'salvation of the soul' as a flight from responsibility for the whole, and how did we come to conceive the Christian project as a selfish search for salvation which rejects the idea of serving others?" he asked.

While seeking to provide answers, the pope said there are ways for the faithful to learn and practice true Christian hope – in prayer, in suffering, in taking action and in looking at the Last Judgment as a symbol of hope.

"Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that He does so. The image of the Last Judgment is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in love. God is justice and creates justice."

The first encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI was "God is Love," released last year. The third one is expected to be on ”Faith,” as it will complete the three Christian theological virtues – faith, hope and love.

Peter B. Beita
Christian Post Reporter

Pope attacks atheism, questions modern Christianity in encyclical
By Victor L. Simpson - ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” ever known.

In his second encyclical, Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity, saying its focus on individual salvation had ignored Jesus’ message that true Christian hope involves salvation for all.

The document, titled “Saved by Hope,” is a deeply theological exploration of Christian hope: that in the suffering and misery of daily life, Christianity provides the faithful with a “journey of hope” to the Kingdom of God.

“We must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world is not in our power,” Benedict wrote. “Only God is able to do this.”

An encyclical is the most important papal document, addressed to all members of the 1 billion-member Catholic Church.

In the 76-page document, Benedict elaborated on how the Christian understanding of hope had changed in the modern age, when man sought to relieve the suffering and injustice in the world. Benedict points to two historical upheavals: the French Revolution and the proletarian revolution instigated by Karl Marx.

Benedict sharply criticizes Marx and the 19th and 20th century atheism spawned by his revolution, although he acknowledges that both were responding to the deep injustices of the time.

“A world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God,” he wrote. But he said the idea that mankind can do what God cannot by creating a new salvation on Earth was “both presumptuous and intrinsically false.”

“It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice,” he wrote.

He specifically cited Vladimir I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, and the “intermediate phase” of dictatorship that Marx saw as necessary in the revolution.

“This ‘intermediate phase’ we know all too well, and we also know how it then developed, not ushering in a perfect world, but leaving behind a trail of appalling destruction,” Benedict wrote.
At the same time, Benedict also looks critically at the way modern Christianity had responded to the times.

“We must acknowledge that modern Christianity, faced with the successes of science in progressively structuring the world, has to a large extent restricted its attention to the individual and his salvation,” he wrote. “In doing so, it has limited the horizon of its hope and has failed to recognize sufficiently the greatness of its task.”

The Christian concept of hope and salvation, he says, was not always so individual-centric.
Quoting scripture and theologians, Benedict says salvation had in the earlier church been considered “communal” — illustrating his point by using the case of monks in the Middle Ages who cloistered themselves in prayer not just for their own salvation but for that of others.

“How could the idea have developed that Jesus’ message is narrowly individualistic and aimed only at each person singly? How did we arrive at this interpretation of the ‘salvation of the soul’ as a flight from responsibility for the whole, and how did we come to conceive the Christian project as a selfish search for salvation which rejects the idea of serving others?” he asked

Sat Nov 24th

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that by elevating the patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans to the rank of cardinal he wished to express his spiritual closeness and affection for Iraqis.

By inducting Emmanuel III Delly into the College of Cardinals, "I intend to express in a concrete way my spiritual closeness and my affection for these people," the pope said at a Vatican ceremony creating 23 new cardinals.

"I think now with affection of communities entrusted to your care and, especially, to those most tried by suffering, challenges and difficulties of various kinds," he said.

"Among them, how can one not turn one's gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian communities in Iraq?" he asked, drawing loud applause from the prelates assembled in Saint Peter's Basilica.

"These brothers and sisters of the faith are experiencing in the flesh the dramatic consequences of a lasting conflict and live in a fragile and delicate political situation," he said.

Emmanuel III, the 80-year-old spiritual leader of Iraqi Christians, said Friday that the honour was for "all Iraqis."

"The title of cardinal that the pope has accorded me is not for my poor self alone but for all Iraqis, both those who still live in our tortured country and those who have emigrated," he told reporters.

"I will continue to serve Iraq and all the ethnic and religious groups of the country who should be united. I will serve my country, Iraq, to the last drop of my blood," he said.

Emmanuel III said Benedict had referred to his nomination as a "sign of reconciliation ... between Christians and all the Muslims, whether Sunni or Shiite."

The pope has repeatedly called for dialogue between Christians and Muslims to combat intolerance and violence.

Pope to release encyclical on hope

Published: Nov. 23, 2007 at 1:59 PM

VATICAN CITY, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI's second encyclical, with the tentative title "Spe Salvi" or "Saved by Hope," reportedly focuses on Christian hope and modern philosophy.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarciscio Bertone announced that the pope will sign the document next week, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Bertone did not say when the encyclical will be published.

The pope wrote the encyclical during the summer. He is reportedly working on a third, which will explore social themes.

Benedict's first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" or "God Is Love," was signed on Dec. 25, 2005, and published within a month. In it, he explored the relationship between eros or romantic and sexual love and agape or spiritual love.

Pope John Paul II published 14 encyclicals in 27 years.

I am seriously happy.

Pope revives Gregorian chant
Posted on : 2007-11-20

VATICAN CITY, Nov. 20 (UPI) Pope Benedict XVI is returning the Vatican to Gregorian chant, the medieval music that served the Catholic church for centuries.

The pope has named a new director of pontifical liturgical celebrations. He has also dropped Pope John Paul II's practice of using singers from Catholic churches around the world for the St. Peter's choir, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Benedict's leanings on forms of worship are conservative. Earlier this year, he gave churches more freedom to use the Tridentine mass, the Latin rite replaced by vernacular translations after Vatican II. In an address to the bishops and priests of St. Peter's, the pope called for "continuity with tradition" and talked about "the time of St. Gregory the Great," referring to the pope after whom Gregorian chant is named.

Monsignor Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, believes the entire church should return to Gregorian chance."

Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality," he said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Pope gets radical and woos the Anglicans
By Damian Thompson

Two and a half years after the name "Josephum" came booming down from the balcony of St Peter's, making liberal Catholics weep with rage, Pope Benedict XVI is revealing his programme of reform. And it is breathtakingly ambitious.

The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away. This recovery of the sacred is intended to draw Catholics closer to the Orthodox and ultimately to heal the 1,000 year Great Schism. But it is also designed to attract vast numbers of conservative Anglicans, who will be offered the protection of the Holy Father if they covert en masse.

The liberal cardinals don't like the sound of it at all.

Ever since the shock of Benedict's election, they have been waiting for him to show his hand. Now that he has, the resistance has begun in earnest - and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, is in the thick of it.

"Pope Benedict is isolated," I was told when I visited Rome last week. "So many people, even in the Vatican, oppose him, and he feels the strain immensely." Yet he is ploughing ahead. He reminds me of another conservative revolutionary, Margaret Thatcher, who waited a couple of years before taking on the Cabinet "wets" sabotaging her reforms.

Benedict's pontificate moved into a new phase on July 7, with the publication of his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum.

With a stroke of his pen, the Pope restored the traditional Latin Mass - in effect banned for 40 years - to parity with the modern liturgy. Shortly afterwards, he replaced Archbishop Piero Marini, the papal Master of Ceremonies who turned many of John Paul II's Masses into politically correct carnivals.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was most displeased. Last week, he hit back with a "commentary" on Summorum Pontificum.

According to Murphy-O'Connor, the ruling leaves the power of local bishops untouched. In fact, it removes the bishops' power to block the ancient liturgy. In other words, the cardinal - who tried to stop Benedict issuing the ruling - is misrepresenting its contents.

Alas, he is not alone: dozens of bishops in Britain, Europe and America have tried the same trick.
Murphy-O'Connor's "commentary" was modelled on equally dire "guidelines" written by Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds with the apparent purpose of discouraging the faithful from exercising their new rights.

A few years ago the ploy might have worked. But news travels fast in the traditionalist blogosphere, and these tactics have been brought to the attention of papal advisers.

This month, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, a senior Vatican official close to Benedict, declared that "bishops and even cardinals" who misrepresented Summorum Pontificum were "in rebellion against the Pope".

Ranjith is tipped to become the next Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, in charge of regulating worldwide liturgy. That makes sense: if Benedict is moving into a higher gear, then he needs street fighters in high office.

He may also have to reform an entire department, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which spends most of its time promoting the sort of ecumenical waffle that Benedict abhors.

This is a sensitive moment. Last month, the bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a network of 400,000 breakaway Anglo-Catholics based mainly in America and the Commonwealth, wrote to Rome asking for "full, corporate, sacramental union".

Their letter was drafted with the help of the Vatican. Benedict is overseeing the negotiations. Unlike John Paul II, he admires the Anglo-Catholic tradition. He is thinking of making special pastoral arrangements for Anglican converts walking away from the car wreck of the Anglican Communion.

This would mean that they could worship together, free from bullying by local bishops who dislike the newcomers' conservatism and would rather "dialogue" with Anglicans than receive them into the Church.

The liberation of the Latin liturgy, the rapprochement with Eastern Orthodoxy, the absorption of former Anglicans - all these ambitions reflect Benedict's conviction that the Catholic Church must rediscover the liturgical treasure of Christian history to perform its most important task: worshipping God.

This conviction is shared by growing numbers of young Catholics, but not by the church politicians who have dominated the hierarchies of Europe for too long.

By failing to welcome the latest papal initiatives - or even to display any interest in them, beyond the narrow question of how their power is affected - the bishops of England and Wales have confirmed Benedict's low opinion of them.

Now he should replace them. If the Catholic reformation is to start anywhere, it might as well be here

Pope Warns Against Temptation of Euthanasia
Says Life Must Be Defended Against Culture of Death
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 18, 2007, (Zenit.org).-

Benedict XVI asked that the value of life be respected in the face of the temptation to euthanize the elderly sick, which he called a symptom of the culture of death.


The Pope said this Saturday upon receiving in audience participants in the 22nd international conference promoted by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry. The theme of the meeting, which was held last week in the Vatican, was on "The Pastoral Care of Elderly Sick People."

The Pontiff said to the audience of scientists, researchers, medical personnel and pastoral workers that "today's mentality of efficiency" views elderly sick people as "a 'burden' and a 'problem' for society."He added that euthanasia "appears as one of the more alarming symptoms of the culture of death that is advancing above all in the society of well-being."

"Those who have an understanding of human dignity, however, know that the elderly must be respected and supported while they face serious difficulties linked to their state," said the Holy Father.

Benedict XVI then recalled John Paul II, who in his "exemplary witness of faith and courage" in his illness exhorted scientists and physicians to never cede "to the temptation to have recourse to the practices of shortening the life of the elderly or the sick, practices that would in fact result in forms of euthanasia."

A gift of God"Man's life is a gift of God, which all of us are always called to protect," he said. "This must also involve health workers, whose specific mission is to be 'servants of life' in all its phases, especially in that phase marked by the fragility connected with infirmity."

For this reason, the Pope added, "a general commitment is necessary so that human life be respected not only in Catholic hospitals but in every place of care."Moreover, the elderly who are affected by incurable illnesses need palliative care that is able to mitigate the pain, the Holy Father said, in order to face "in a conscious and human way the last stage of earthly existence, to serenely prepare for death."

Pontiff continued: "In general it is opportune to do what is possible for the families themselves to welcome and with grateful affection take care of them so that the elderly who are sick can pass the last period of their life at home and prepare themselves for death in a climate of family warmth."

Benedict XVI said that this is important because "the sick need understanding, comfort and constant encouragement and accompaniment," as well as competent medical care."

May the sick person in the most difficult moments, supported by pastoral care, be encouraged to find strength to face his difficult trial in prayer and the comfort of the sacraments," said the Pope. "May he be surrounded by brothers in faith, disposed to listen to him and share his sentiments."

The Holy Father invited believers facing illness and death to "not to lose their serenity, because nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of Christ."

800,000 Saved by Pius XII’s ‘Silence’
DONALD DEMARCO

In response, to the controversy stimulated by The Deputy, Jewish historian Pincus Lapide researched the matter and concluded that as many as 800,000 Jewish survivors owe their lives to the pontiff's leadership.

Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy, had its world premier in Berlin in the year 1963. The Deputy is Pius XII, the “deputy” or vicar of Christ. The play was soon translated into English and imported to Broadway in New York City. The playwright contends that Pope Pius XII, when he was the sovereign pontiff of the Catholic Church, might have prevented deportations and the mass murder of so many Jewish people had he spoken out against the Nazi extermination camps. His “silence,” according to Hochhuth, was criminal, inhuman and cowardly.

The storm of controversy The Deputy generated and continues to generate is almost certainly the largest ever raised by a play in the history of drama. Hochhuth himself, an instant celebrity at age 31, added to the storm's intensity when he came to the United States in 1964 accompanied by an unusual amount of press and radio-TV coverage, together with a great outpouring of emotion.

In reviewing the play in 1964, The New York Times stated that its “facts may be in dispute; the history imperfect; the indictment too severe.” America condemned the play as “an atrocious calumny against the memory of a good and courageous world leader occupying the Chair of Peter during one of the great crises of humanity.” Cardinal Francis Spellman called the play “an outrageous desecration of the honour of a great and good man, and an affront to those who know his record as a humanitarian who love him and revere his memory:”

In response to the play's contention that the pontiff was criminally responsible for the death of countless Jews, Jewish historian Pincus Lapide set to work researching the matter. The result was his book, Three Popes and the Jews, in which he defended Pius XII. According to Lapide, as many as 800,000 Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust owe their lives to the pontiff's leadership.

The pope may have been silent, but he was not inactive. In order to be effective in assisting the Jews, he had to act surreptitiously. Had he been too outspoken, he most likely would have invited swift and severe retaliation from both the Fascists in Italy and the Nazis in Germany. When Hochhuth was asked in an interview whether the pope should have protested publicly, granted that his opposition would have retaliated, his answer was categorical: “Absolutely.”

In The Pope and the Holocaust, researchers John Bader and Kateryna Fedoryka provide evidence that both Pope Pius XI and XII were targeted by Hitler because of their pro-humanity efforts which included stern repudiations of anti-Semitism. It was only too clear that the pope could be most helpful if he remained alive and acted covertly. It is now well known how nearly all Catholic convents in Europe were hiding Jews and that the Vatican was instrumental in forging thousands of documents, especially in southern France, to facilitate their emigration.
The pope was involved in the systematic work done by nuncios throughout Nazi-occupied Europe of enlightening the heads of governments in Catholic countries about the true and murderous meaning of the word “resettlement.”

The Jewish community has not been silent about what Pius XII did for his persecuted brethren. In October 1945, the World Jewish Congress made a financial gift to the Vatican in recognition of the work the Holy See performed in rescuing Jews from Fascist and Nazi persecutions. Dr. Israel Goldstein of the same World Jewish Congress said, on the occasion of Pius XII's death, “The Jewish community told me of their deep appreciation of the policy which had by the pontiff for the Vatican during the period of the Nazi-Fascist regime to give shelter and protection to the Jews, whenever possible.

Hochhuth and his supporters alleged that Pope John XXIII would have acted differently had he been the pope instead of Pius XII. They cited with admiration Roncalli's (John XIII's surname) rescue record as apostolic delegate in Istanbul. But Roncalli never failed to point out that the reportedly heroic things he did then were done with the approval and even on orders from the Vatican.

The glib way in which thoughtless or uninformed writers condemn Pius XII for his “silence” is a good example of the very propaganda and prejudice that the Nazis themselves exemplified in spreading their doctrine of anti-Semitism.

The “data smog” of endless sound-bites and factoids that our information superhighway supplies often clouds reality. Education is not the mere accumulation of information, but an integrated and often complex understanding of how things really are or truly have been. One cannot begin to take steps to eradicate prejudice by exchanging an old prejudice for a new one. Factoids travel faster than truth. This itself is a truth that cannot be ignored in the continuing fight against prejudice.

From Times Online

Pope seeks dialogue with non-Catholic Christians
Richard Owen in Rome November 1, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI is to hold an extraordinary consistory of cardinals later this month to promote ecumenical dialogue with non-Catholic Christians.

The gathering of 202 cardinals from 67 countries will take place on the eve of the consistory on November 24, convened by the Pope to create 23 new cardinals. The debate on ecumenism will be led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. It follows the Vatican's dialogue with Orthodox leaders at Ravenna last month and an inter-faith conference at Naples attended by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury and organised by the Community of Sant' Egidio.

The Pope's choice of new cardinals has reinforced the European and American presence among voting-age members of the College of Cardinals. Ten are from Europe, so that Europeans now make up half of the 121 conclave voters.

New American cardinals are Archbishop John Foley, Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and former head of Social Communications at the Vatican, and Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the first cardinal from a Texas diocese. This gives the United States 13 under-80 cardinals.

By contrast there are only two archbishops from Latin America on the list, one from Brazil and one from Mexico, even though Latin America has the world's largest Catholic population and many had expected a Latin American to be elected Pope after the death of John Paul II. Both Mexico and Brazil will now have four under-80 cardinals.

After the consistory, the global breakdown of voting-age cardinals will be 60 from Europe, 21 from Latin America, 16 from the United States and Canada, 13 from Asia, nine from Africa and two from Oceania. The Pope's emphasis on the West is seen as a reflection of his concern over shoring up the faith in Europe and the US in an age of secularism.

Most media attention at the time of the announcement however went to the appointment of the Iraqi Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly, 80, a sign of the Pope's his concern for the sufferings of the Christian population of Iraq. The Pope said the new cardinals "reflect the universality of the church with its multiple ministries."

The naming of Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, as a cardinal led to some speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might pay a visit to Ireland, including the North. The late John Paul II stopped in Ireland in 1979 on his way to the United Nations, visiting both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

A year ago Archbishop Brady invited Pope Benedict to make a similar visit, and some Vatican diplomats see a possible visit by the pontiff to the UN next April as offering an opportunity. "The British and Irish governments are known to support a papal visit to Ireland, and Archbishop Brady is in very good standing with the Irish Protestant community" said Gerard O'Connell, an expert in Rome on Vatican affairs. "His receipt of a red hat gives him extra leverage in persuading the Pope to add Ireland to his travel schedule".

Pope Benedict has repeatedly praised the peace process in Northern Ireland, observing that it offers "a witness to the world". Archbishop Brady's elevation means Ireland will now have three cardinals for the first time in its history, with Dr Brady joining Cardinal Cathal Daly and Cardinal Desmond Connell.

Some Vatican watchers had expected the Pope to give the red hat to Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin. But others said Monsignor Martin - who previously served in Vatican posts for thirty years - had only held the Dublin post for three years. He succeeded Monsignor Desmond Connell amid allegations of paedophile scandals among clergy in the Dublin diocese, which are still under investigation.

At his weekly audience on Wednesday, held in heavy rain, Pope Benedict urged Christians to live as good citizens, paying their taxes, sharing with the poor and working for political policies that promote justice and peace. He referred to St. Maximus, the fourth century bishop of Turin, noting that the Barbarian invasions at the end of the Roman Empire forced early Christian leaders to become civic leaders when social structures collapsed.

These "obligations of the believer toward his city and nation" remained valid, the pontiff said. St. Maximus had not only worked to increase Christians' sense of patriotism, but also preached their "precise responsibility to pay their financial dues, however heavy and unpleasant they may seem. His homilies reflect a growing awareness of the responsibility of Christians to promote a just social order grounded in solidarity with the poor".

Pope plans Yonkers visit
By GARY STERNTHE JOURNAL NEWS

Pope Benedict XVI will meet with youth at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, celebrate Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Yankee Stadium, pay his respects at Ground Zero and address the United Nations during his first papal trip to the U.S. in April.

Extensive planning for the trip to Washington, D.C., and New York has been under way for months, with advance teams visiting several locations in New York. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, revealed the details yesterday in Baltimore at the start of the annual fall meeting of U.S. bishops.

Sambi said the pope would visit Ground Zero to show "solidarity with those who have died, with their families, and with all those who wish an end of violence and in the search of peace."
Benedict's April 15-20 trip will be right on time to help celebrate the 200th birthday of the archdioceses of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville, Ky., all of which were created in 1808.

The pope is scheduled for a visit St. Joseph's - known throughout the Catholic world by its Yonkers address, Dunwoodie - on the afternoon of April 19. He will meet with youth and seminarians and celebrate that day his third anniversary as pope.

Pope John Paul II visited the seminary on the late afternoon of Oct. 6, 1995, during his most high-profile American trip, and urged several hundred seminarians from across the region to deliver the full Christian message to their future parishes.

"It's humbling that a pope is coming back to Dunwoodie," said the Rev. Gerard F. Rafferty, chairman of the Scripture Department at St. Joseph's. "It is a great blessing for the church of New York, the church of the United States, that the chief shepherd is coming after some of the crises we've gone through. We at the seminary are thrilled he is coming back for any part of the visit."

Benedict has been to Yonkers before. On Jan. 27, 1988, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he visited Dunwoodie with Cardinal John O'Connor to address an academic conference.

Monsignor William Smith, who has taught moral theology at St. Joseph's for more than three decades, thought the 1995 papal visit to Dunwoodie would be one-of-a-kind.

"I said it was the last time that something like this would happen," Smith said.
It appears that he was wrong.

Benedict XVI will celebrate his 81st birthday while in Washington on April 16, and he is not nearly as enamored with travel as his predecessor. So it's possible that this will be his only visit to New York - or perhaps the United States.

He is expected to arrive in Washington on April 15 and to be formally greeted at the White House the next day. While in Washington, he will address the nation's Catholic bishops, Catholic educational leaders and an unspecified interreligious gathering.

On April 18, he will address the United Nations General Assembly, the centerpiece of the entire trip, and host an ecumenical meeting at a Manhattan church. The following day he will celebrate Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral for priests, deacons and religious orders, and then visit Dunwoodie in the afternoon.

On the April 19, he will celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium. Tickets probably will be distributed through parishes.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, openly campaigned for the pope to visit his city and help it heal from its disastrous sex-abuse scandal. But Boston did not make the final itinerary because of Vatican concerns about the pope's stamina.

New York will experience its fourth papal visit. Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the U.S. when he came to New York in October 1965. John Paul II came twice, in October 1979, when he was still an unknown to many, and in 1995, when he was at the height of his traveling evangelist powers.

Time will tell how Benedict, an erudite theologian who has the ability to speak and write plainly, will connect with New Yorkers.

For the Archdiocese of New York, which has been struggling to draw seminarians to replace its aging priests, Benedict's visit to Dunwoodie promises to be the best possible marketing campaign.

The Rev. Luke Sweeney, director of vocations for the archdiocese, said that when he first heard months ago of a planned papal visit to New York, he asked Cardinal Edward Egan to put in a plug for a stop at Dunwoodie.

"For him to visit the seminary will highlight some young men who are preparing to give their lives completely to God and his service," Sweeney said. "For him to come to Dunwoodie will highlight the priesthood in the Archdiocese of New York and give people an opportunity to see inside a place they would not otherwise know much about."

Security, of course, will be tremendous for Benedict. Those without tickets or credentials should not expect to get close to any papal event. Faculty members at St. Joseph's Seminary still joke about the extent of Secret Service precautions for John Paul II's visit, and that was before Sept. 11.

Monsignor Francis McAree, pastor of St. Gregory the Great Church in Harrison, who was rector of St. Joseph's for the 1995 visit, said it was a lot of work but well worth it.

"Logistically, it was everything involving the Secret Service, a lockdown, the securing of the property, everything," he said. "There was a lot to do. But everyone will be extremely happy to hear the words of the pope. Certainly, it is a tremendous honor for the seminary."

When Ratzinger visited Dunwoodie in 1988 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he gave a talk about the study of Scripture.

"He gave an outstanding address on the nature of Scripture scholarship," McAree recalled. "Many of the things he said there can be found in his present book 'Jesus of Nazareth.' "

Also during his stop in Yonkers, a maple tree was planted in his honor on the seminary grounds. On April 19, the pope is likely to stop and see how tall it's grown.

The papal itinerary for 2008 visit

An outline of Pope Benedict XVI's first American trip, as released yesterday by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States:-

April 15: Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Washington, D.C.-

April 16: The pope, on his birthday, is welcomed at the White House and addresses the U.S. bishops in the afternoon.-

April 17: The pope celebrates Mass at the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium, meets with Catholic educational leaders at Catholic University, and attends an interreligious meeting at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington.-

April 18: Now in New York, the pope addresses the United Nations in the morning and attends an ecumenical meeting in the afternoon.-

April 19: On the third anniversary of his pontificate, Benedict celebrates Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the morning and visits St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers during the afternoon to meet with youth and seminarians.-

April 20: The pope visits Ground Zero in the morning and celebrates Mass at Yankee Stadium in the afternoon. He returns to Rome in the evening.

Catholic bishops instruct voters
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP
Religion Writer
Wed Nov 14th

Roman Catholics voting in the 2008 elections must heed church teaching when deciding which candidates and policies to support, U.S. bishops said Wednesday.

And while the church recognizes the importance of a wide range of issues — from war to immigration to poverty — fighting abortion should be a priority, the bishops said.
"The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many," the bishops said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops overwhelmingly adopted the statement, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," as they ended the public sessions of their fall meeting.
The document does not recommend specific laws or candidates, and it emphasizes that "principled debate" is needed to decide which policies best promote the common good.
But "that does not make (moral issues) optional concerns or permit Catholics to dismiss or ignore church teaching," the bishops said.

American bishops have been releasing similar recommendations for Catholics before every presidential election since 1976. However, in recent years, some independent Catholics groups have been distributing their own voter booklets.

Among them are Priests for Life and California-based Catholic Answers, which distributed material on five "nonnegotiable" issues: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and same-sex marriage. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which formed last year, issued a guide emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice.
But the bishops urged Catholics to only use voter resources approved by the church.

The document makes clear the broad concerns in Catholic teaching that make it difficult for parishioners to feel fully comfortable with either the Democrats or Republicans.

The bishops say helping the poor should be a top priority in government, providing health care, taking in refugees and protecting the rights of workers, and the bishops highlight the need for environmental protection.
However, they also oppose same-sex marriage, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research, in addition to their staunch anti-abortion position.

The prelates say torture is "always wrong" and they express "serious moral concerns" about "preventive use of military force." But at the last minute Wednesday, they added a sentence acknowledging "the continuing threat of fanatical extremism and global terror."

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.

I WOULD FILE THIS UNDER THE HEADING OF "WHO CARES?" PERSONALLY, I THINK HOLY FATHER IS JUST FINE. HE SIMPLY LIVES IN AN AGE WHEN THE MEDIA CAN TEAR APART OR BUILT UP ANY POINT OF VIEW THEY CHOOSE.

A minority of the U.S. public ( 38%) expresses the view that Pope Benedict XVI is doing an excellent or good job at promoting good relations with other major religions; nearly half (46%) of US adults who have heard at least a little about the pope say he is doing only a fair or poor job at this in a recent Pew poll. Catholics themselves are divided ideologically over the pope’s performance in fostering ties with other religions: 63% of self-identified conservative Catholics say the pope has done well in promoting good interfaith relations, but just 50% of moderate Catholics and 45% of liberal Catholics agree. People who have heard at least a little about Pope Benedict are in general agreement about the pope’s own ideological leanings: 56% say he is either very conservative (20%) or conservative (36%); 17% say the pope is a moderate, while just 5% view him as a liberal. And among Catholics, fully 68% say Pope Benedict is a conservative.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the United States as pontiff next year, and plans to visit the White House, ground zero and speak at the United Nations, the Vatican's ambassador said Monday.

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the United States from April 15 to 20.

Benedict will travel to Washington and New York from April 15 to 20, speak at the United Nations on April 18 and visit ground zero on the final day of his trip, Archbishop Pietro Sambi said.

The pope will visit the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York to show "solidarity with those who have died, with their families and with all those who wish an end of violence and in the search of peace," Sambi said.

The visit will take place on the third anniversary of Benedict's election to succeed Pope John Paul II, who died in April 2005.

An official welcome reception for Benedict will be held at the White House on April 16, Sambi said. The pontiff will celebrate two public Masses, first at the new National Stadium in Washington on April 17, and again at Yankee Stadium on April 20.

He will also hold meetings with priests, Catholic university presidents, diocesan educators and young people.

"The pope will not travel much, but he will address himself to the people of the United States and the whole Catholic Church," Sambi said.

In first meeting, pope, Saudi king speak of cooperation
Boston Globe - Elisabeth Rosenthal

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia clasped hands at the Vatican yesterday in a cordial meeting, the first meeting ever between a pope and the Saudi monarch, who is entrusted to protect Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed and center of the Islamic world.

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia clasped hands at the Vatican yesterday in a cordial meeting, the first meeting ever between a pope and the Saudi monarch, who is entrusted to protect Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed and center of the Islamic world.

The pair met for half an hour, speaking through interpreters, in a conversation that a Vatican press release later said had covered such themes as the "value of collaboration between Christians, Muslims, and Jews for promoting peace" and "the necessity of finding a just solution" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Marco Politi, the Vatican correspondent for La Repubblica and a biographer of Pope John Paul II, said, "I think it is extraordinarily important that an official communique from the Vatican and an important Islamic state like Saudi Arabia mentions 'cooperation' between Christians, Muslims, and Jews - not dialogue but cooperation."

The meeting, presaged by an upbeat front-page story in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, was also a clear attempt by the Vatican to repair damage done by the pope's earlier statement on Islam, which had been seen as insensitive if not incendiary in the Arab world.

In a speech in Regensburg, Germany, a little over a year ago, Benedict quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who called Islam "evil and inhuman." The comment led to protests in Islamic nations and prompted some Islamic states to recall their ambassadors to the Vatican. Firebombers attacked churches in the West Bank and Gaza, gunmen killed an Italian nun in Somalia, and the pope himself was threatened. The Vatican expressed "deepest regrets" but said the remark had been misinterpreted in a way that "absolutely did not correspond" to the pope's intentions.

The article in the Vatican newspaper seemed to open the door for a new diplomatic initiative toward Islam and the Middle East. It said that the meeting with Abdullah was "of great importance," noting: "In a world where the boundaries have become day by day more open, dialogue is not a choice but a necessity."

The article also acknowledged that some weeks ago Benedict had received a letter from 138 Islamic religious leaders from 43 nations, appealing for more dialogue between Christians and Muslims. As the weeks went by with no response, some scholars here had complained that the pope seemed slow to address an important appeal.

The Vatican allayed those fears yesterday.

Official statements issued yesterday made no mention of establishing diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia, and it was not clear that that topic had even been discussed.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

AND SO IT GOES

Saudi king's historic Vatican visit comes amid tension
By IANS
Sunday November 4, 07:33 AM

Rome, Nov 4 (DPA) When Saudi King Abdullah arrives in Rome Tuesday he may wish to take a break from his schedule, including a historic meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, for a quiet moment of prayer at the city's central mosque, Europe's largest Muslim house of worship.

In the highly unlikely event of Benedict visiting Saudi Arabia, there the pontiff would not find a single church to pray in. The kingdom prohibits all public religious displays that are not Islamic and routinely refuses clerics from other faiths entry into the country.

Rome's central mosque, reportedly built for more than $50 million largely donated by Saudi Arabia's former king Fahd, stands on a hilltop overlooking a city, which is the centre of the Roman Catholic world. The mosque was inaugurated in 1995 in a ceremony attended by representatives of the Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist faiths.

'Reciprocity is what we hope for, precisely because we permit the Saudi Arabians to have a place of worship here,' Cardinal Francesco Colasuonno, the then Papal Nuncio or envoy to Italy who attended the inauguration, was quoted as saying at the time.

'It is necessary to take account of the needs of Christians there' in Saudi Arabia, he added.
Twelve years on and those words still ring true for the Vatican, which continues to lament the lack of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the site of two of its holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.

While no precise figures exist on the religious denomination of the some eight million mostly Asian and African foreign guest workers in the kingdom, according to the Philippines government, some 90 percent of the 1.2 million Filipinos who form part of this contingent are Catholic. Christians, like other non-Muslims, are not only denied places of worship but also face arrest if found in possession of religious books and symbols.

Last month, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who as president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue is the Vatican's top official for dealing with Islam, reiterated what he said was the Holy See's willingness to reach out to Muslims.

Without specifically mentioning Saudi Arabia with which the Vatican does not have formal diplomatic relations, he also suggested something was expected in return.

'In a dialogue among believers, it is fundamental to say what is good for one is good for the other. For example, we must explain to the Muslims that if they can have mosques in Europe, it is normal that churches can be built in their countries,' Tauran was quoted as saying in an interview with the French Catholic newspaper, La Croix.

Tuesday's scheduled meeting in the Vatican, the first between a pope and a Saudi monarch - a position that carries the Islamic title, Custodian of the Holy Sites - is important for its symbolism, according to Mario Scajola who heads the Italian branch of the Saudi-based World Muslim League.

The meeting, which comes at the behest of Abdullah, is an example of his 'illuminated reign', said Scajola, a former Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia who converted to Islam in 1987. Since the king succeeded to the throne in Aug 2005 following the death of his half-brother Fahd, he has introduced reforms including elevating women to important positions in the business and diplomatic fields, Scajola said.

This is in a country where women are not allowed to drive and are only granted legal status through their husbands or a male relative.

But an accord on non-Muslims practicing their faith in Saudi Arabia, 'where this is banned but tolerated in practice', Scajola insisted, was 'difficult' he said, referring to the possible outcome of the meeting between Benedict and Abdullah.

'It is not for me to tell the Saudi king what he should do, but in accordance with the teachings of the Quran I am personally in favour of religious freedom,' Scajola said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity a Catholic priest who says he has visited Saudi Arabia clandestinely said Tuesday's scheduled meeting was 'pretty remarkable'. However, he believes the talks would not have a major impact on conditions faced by Christians in Saudi Arabia where non-Muslim religious services are also prohibited from being held inside foreign embassies.
'When we tell the Saudis: 'Look, we allow you to build a mosque in Rome, why won't you allow us to build churches in Saudi Arabia?' the standard reply is: 'Yes, but that would be like building a mosque in the Vatican,'' the priest said.

Still, whatever practical objectives Abdullah's visit to the Vatican achieves, it offers Benedict an opportunity to be seen engaging in dialogue with a top representative of Islam, the world's second largest religion after Christianity.

The pope opened a wound in Sep 2006 during a trip in his native Germany when during a speech he appeared to associate Islam with violence, sparking protests, in many cases violent, by Muslims around the world.

The pontiff has since somewhat made amends. First by stating that his words had been misinterpreted and that he meant no disrespect to Muslims, then by a visit last November to Turkey where he stopped to pray in Istanbul's main Blue Mosque becoming the second pope after John Paul II to enter a Muslim house of worship.

On Tuesday he may have another chance to show the world his intention to heal relations with Islam.