Pope makes political appeal after boat tragedy

Speaking at the end of a week that saw some 70 would-be asylum seekers drown off Malta, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday appealed to politicians in both Africa and Europe to tackle the problems behind illegal immigration.

"The emergency into which the wave of migration has recently developed demands our solidarity, but at the same time needs an effective political response," he said during his weekly Angelus address to thousands of Roman Catholic faithful in St Peter's Square.

The countries of origin as well as the countries which migrants were desperately trying to reach all needed to work towards removing the need to migrate and the crimes associated with illegal migration.

Each year tens of thousands of would-be migrants make hazardous crossings across the Mediterranean from African to European Union countries, leading to tragedies like that off Malta earlier this week.

Seventy would-be African immigrants perished when their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, according to eight companions rescued off Malta on Wednesday. This was one of the worst incidents of life loss at sea this year. The fishing boat Madonna Di Pompei rescued the eight men from a dinghy that was taking in water, and passed them on to an AFM patrol boat.

According to Neil Falzon, a UNHCR representative who has spoken with some of the survivors, the migrants left Libya’s coast on Thursday. On Monday, the dinghy started taking in water until it overturned. The survivors held on to the dinghy until they were spotted by the Madonna Di Pompei on Wednesday night. The group was originally made up of about 78, of whom four were women, three of them pregnant. According to media reports, the survivors are Eritean, Ghanaian, Somali and Sudanese.

The last case of serious loss of life off Malta’s shores came in May last year when 53 would-be immigrants perished at sea.

Medecins sans Frontiers estimates that some 380 illegal immigrants have died at sea over the first six months of 2008 in the Sicily Canal, the Mediterranean strip between Sicily and Tunisia. About 500 died there in 2006.

Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com

What's Come of the Pope's Letter to China?

Theologians Assess Document After a Year

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 21, 2008

Two high-ranking theologians said Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics, more than a year after its release, has outlined key points for reconciliation in China.

With the world's focus on Beijing for the Olympic games, L'Osservatore Romano talked about the May 27, 2007, papal letter with Dominican Father Wojciech Giertych, Pontifical Household theologian, and Salesian Father Savio Hon Tai-Fai, a member of the International Theological Commission.

Both priests highlighted the importance of the letter in pointing out possible and specific ways to encourage the reconciliation of the national and underground Church in China, though they agree that the process will take time.

In China, the government permits religious practice only with recognized personnel and in places registered with the Religious Affairs Office and under the control of the Patriotic Association.

This explains the difference affirmed between the "national" or "official" Church, and the faithful who oppose such control and who wish to obey the Pope directly. The latter constitute the non-official, or underground, Church.

Morality

For Polish Father Giertych, one of the essential points of the letter is the consideration on the morality of human acts when freedom is lacking.

"In his message to the Church in China, the Holy Father attempted to address both those who have heroically resisted the persecutions and continued their clandestine existence, absolutely excluding any contact with the Chinese civil authorities, as well as those who, despite having made too many compromises, have tried to take advantage of the meager space, measured out carefully, which the political authorities offered," Father Giertych said.

"It is difficult to assess from the outside the thin line that exists between a cowardly retreat from a prophetic stand and prudence to keep what can be saved in face of oppression," he added. "The Holy Father has invited both groups, without condemning anyone, to overcome their lack of mutual trust and build the unity of the Body of Christ on the basis of forgiveness, and reconciliation and unity with the universal Church."

In making this appeal, the theologian noted, the Pope "has carefully avoided launching quick accusations, and has abstained from passing a moral judgment of condemnation, emphasizing the fact that in moral assessments, it is necessary to take into account the true intentions of a person who makes difficult prudential decisions."

The Pontifical Household theologian insisted that this "personalist" focus is essential when it comes to judging decisions made under a totalitarian regime.

He explained: "The fundamental principle -- according to which in all moral acts, in addition to the objective light that comes from the moral law, both the personal consideration made by the agent's reason as well as the agent's interior intention are of decisive significance -- will be useful, we hope, when it comes to reading recent history and to overcoming the climate of suspicion and mistrust that life often engenders under totalitarian regimes.

"The assessment of thorny issues, considered in the context of external oppression, calls above all for respect, sympathy and a feeling of compassion toward those who were forced to act in the face of impossible dilemmas. Only in a climate of respect and understanding will the wounds caused by persecution, fear and suspicion come to be cured."

In this connection, the priest added, Benedict XVI's letter expresses "words of caution so that grave injustices will not be committed on the part of those who, living in a different social context, apply simplistic criteria in their easy condemnations."

Therefore, Father Giertych concluded, "it is necessary, as John Paul II said in his May 2006 address to priests in Warsaw cathedral, to sincerely practice penance for past infidelities, avoiding arrogant judgment of past generations who lived in another time and in other circumstances."

Unity in Peter

For his part, Salesian Father Savio Hon Tai-Fai said the Pope "is aware that reconciliation cannot be effected from one day to the next. Prayer and patience are needed."

"The Holy Father inspires hope and wishes to touch the hearts of people so that change can take place," he said. "No matter how serious the limitations to freedom are, people must choose. In fact, the fidelity of Catholics in China 'at the cost of great sufferings' is much praised in the letter.

"The Salesian said that conversations he's had with Chinese Catholics affirm the letter was written with clarity and charity: "a charity with which the Pope requests reconciliation and forgiveness, and a clarity with which he states that the Church in China must be built on the rock of Peter through the bishops' communion with the Pope."

The letter "touches the crucial point of the problem -- the original cause of the rupture of unity," Father Tai-Fai added. "In recent years, the Church has enjoyed greater religious freedom than in the past, but there still are great limitations, which are harmful for the Church and of no advantage for the state."

"Catholics in China have been told to ignore the letter, which has been removed from Web sites. Priests and assistants have been asked not to speak about it," he lamented. However, the Salesian affirmed, all the efforts to silence the Pope's voice were "precisely what was needed to stimulate people's appetite to look for it."

On the Net:Pope's letter to Chinese: www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070527_china_en.html

Holy Father's namesake and its meaning in today's world

The great Monk is Still a True Teacher
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 9, 2008 -
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave
at the general audience in St. Peter's Square.
Translation by Giustina Montaque

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today I would like to talk about St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, and also the patron saint of my papacy. I will begin with a few words from Pope St. Gregory the Great who wrote the following about St. Benedict: “The man of God who shone on this earth with so many miracles does not shine any less for the eloquence with which he knew how to present his teaching” (Dial. II, 36).

The Great Pope wrote these words in the year 592: The holy monk had died barely 50 years earlier and was still alive in the memories of the people and above all in the blossoming religious order he founded. St. Benedict, through his life and work, had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture.

The most important source of information on his life is the second book of the Dialogues by Pope St. Gregory the Great. It is not a biography as such. According to the ideas of the time, he wanted to demonstrate by using a real person -- St. Benedict -- how someone who abandons himself to God can reach the heights of contemplation. He offers us a model of human life characterized as an ascent toward the peak of perfection.

Pope St. Gregory the Great tells us in the book of the Dialogues about the many miracles performed by the saint. Here too he did not want to simply recount a strange event, but rather demonstrate how God, by warning, helping and even punishing, intervenes in real situations in the life of man. He wanted to show that God is not a distant hypothesis situated at the beginning of the world, but rather that he is present in the life of man, of all men.

This perspective of the "biography" is also explained in the light of the general context of the times: Between the fifth and sixth centuries the world suffered a terrible crisis in values and institutions, caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire, the invasion of new people and the decline of customs. By presenting St. Benedict as a "shining light," Gregory wanted to show the way out of "this dark night of history" (cfr. John Paul II, Teachings, II/1, 1979, p. 1158), the terrible situation here in the city of Rome.

In fact, the work of St. Benedict and his Rule in particular are bearers of a genuine spiritual turmoil, which changed the face of Europe over the centuries and whose effects were felt way beyond his time and the borders of his own country. Following the collapse of the political unity created by the Roman Empire, it revived a new spiritual and cultural unity -- that of Christian faith, shared among the people of the Continent. This is how the Europe we know today was born.

The birth of St. Benedict is dated around the year 480. He was born, according to Pope St. Gregory, “ex provincia Nursiae” -- in the region of Norcia. His parents were well off and sent him to be educated in Rome. He did not stay long in the eternal city however. Pope St. Gregory offers a very likely explanation for this. He points out that the young Benedict was disgusted by the way of life of many of his fellow students who led unprincipled lives and he did not want to fall into the same trap. He wanted only to please God “soli Deo placere desiderans” (II Dial., Prol 1).

Therefore, even before he completed his studies, Benedict left Rome and withdrew to the solitude of the mountains east of Rome. Initially he stayed in the village of Effide (now: Affile), where for some time he affiliated himself with a "religious community" of monks, and then became a hermit living in Subiaco, which was close by. For three years he lived completely alone in a cave there. In the High Middle Ages, this cave became the "heart" of a Benedictine monastery called "Sacro Speco." His time in Subiaco was a period of solitude spent with God and was for Benedict a time in which he matured.

Here he endured and overcame the three fundamental human temptations: the temptation of self-assertion and the desire to place oneself at the center of things; the temptation of the senses; and finally, the temptation of anger and revenge.

Benedict firmly believed that only after conquering these temptations would he be able to say anything useful to others in need. And so, having pacified his soul, he was fully able to control the drive to put oneself first, and so became a creator of peace. Only then did he decide to found his first monasteries in the valley of Anio, near Subiaco.

In the year 529 he left Subiaco to establish himself in Montecassino. Some have explained this move as a flight from the interference of a jealous local clergyman, but this is not likely, as the priest's sudden death did not lead Benedict to move back again (II Dial. 8). In truth, he took this decision because he had entered into a new phase of monastic experience and personal maturity.

According to Saint gregory the Great his exodus from the remote valley of Anio to Mount Cassio -- which dominates the vast planes around it -- is symbolic of his character. A monastic life of isolation has it's place, but a monastery also has a public aim in the life of the Church and society as a whole. It must serve to make faith visible as a force of life. In fact, when Benedict died on March 21, 547, through his Rule and the Benedictine order that he founded, he left us a legacy that bore fruit all over the world in the subsequent centuries, and continues to do so today.

In the whole of the second book of the Dialogues, Gregory shows us how the life of St. Benedict was immersed in an atmosphere of prayer, the foundation of his existence. Without prayer you cannot experience God. Benedict's spirituality was not cut off from reality. In the turmoil and confusion of the times, Benedict lived under the gaze of God. He never lost sight of the duties of everyday life and of man and his necessities. In seeing God he understood the reality of man and his mission. In his Rule he explains monastic life as “a school at the service of the Lord” (Prol. 45), and he asks his monks "not to place anything ahead of the work of God" (that is, the Divine Office and the Liturgy of the Hours)(43,3). He underlines, however, that the act of prayer is in the first instance the act of listening (Prol. 9-11), which is then translated into concrete action.

“Every day the Lord expects us to respond to his holy teaching with action” (Prol. 35).
The life of a monk therefore becomes a fruitful symbiosis of action and contemplation, “so that God is glorified in everything” (57,9). In contrast to an egocentric and easy self-fulfillment, often extolled today, the first and irrefutable duty of a disciple of St. Benedict is a sincere search for God (58,7) on the road traced by a humble and obedient Christ (5,13), the love of whom nothing should be allowed to stand in the way (4,21; 72,11).

It is in this way, in serving others, that Benedict becomes a man of service and peace. By showing obedience through his actions with a faith driven by love (5,2), the monk acquires humility (5,1), to which the Rule dedicates a whole chapter (7). In this way man becomes more like Christ and attains true self-fulfillment as a creature in God's own image.

The obedience of the Disciple must be matched by the wisdom of the Abbot, who "takes the place of Christ" (2,2; 63,13) in a monastery. His role, outlined mainly in the second chapter of the Rule, with a description of spiritual beauty and demanding commitment, can be considered a el-portrait of Benedict, since, as gregory the great writes, "the Saint could not teach what he himself had not lived" (Dial. II, 36). The Abbot must be both a loving father and a strict teacher (2,24), a true educator.

Inflexible when it comes to vices, he is called upon to imitate the tenderness of the Good Shepherd (27,8) to “assist rather than dominate” (64,8), to “point out more with actions than words all that is good and holy,” and to “ illustrate the divine commandments by setting an example” (2,12).

In order to be capable of making responsible decisions, the Abbot must also be someone who listens to “the advice of his brothers” (3,2), because “God often reveals the most apt solution to the youngest person” (3,3). This attitude makes the Rule, written almost 15 centuries ago very current! A man with public responsibility, even in small circles, must always be a man who knows how to listen and to learn from what he hears.

Benedict describes the Rule as “minimal, just an initial outline” (73,8); in reality, however, it offers useful advice not only to monks, but to anyone looking for guidance on the path to God. Through his capacity, his humanity, and his sober ability to discern between what is essential and what is secondary in the spiritual life, he is still a guiding light today.

Paul VI, by proclaiming St. Benedict the patron saint of Europe on October 24, 1964, recognized the wonderful work accomplished by the saint through the Rule toward creating the civilization and culture of Europe.

Today, Europe -- deeply wounded during the last century by two world wars and the collapse of great ideologies now revealed as tragic utopias -- is searching for it's own identity. A strong political, economic and legal framework is undoubtedly important in creating a new, unified and lasting state, but we also need to renew ethical and spiritual values that draw on the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise we cannot construct a new Europe.

Without this vital lifeblood, man remains exposed to the ancient temptation of self-redemption -- a utopia, which caused in various ways in 20th-century Europe, as pointed out by Pope John Paul II, “an unprecedented regression in the tormented history of humanity” (Teachings, XIII/1, 1990, p. 58).

In the search for true progress, let us listen to the Rule of St. Benedict and as a guiding light for our journey. The great monk is still a true teacher in whose school we can learn the art of living a true humanism.

Translation found at: http://www.mountangelabbey.org/pope-benedict-monks.htm

Pope Considers Lesson of John Paul II's Passion Points to Equal Importance of 2 Parts of Pontificate
BRESSANONE, Italy, AUG. 19, 2008

Benedict XVI says that the pontificate of Pope John Paul II can be divided into two equally important parts: the years when he took the Gospel to the world and the years of his "passion."

The Pope affirmed this Aug. 6 when he met with priests, deacons and seminarians of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone and answered in German six questions they asked him. The Holy Father was on vacation in the Dolomites, where he stayed at the major seminary of Bressanone.

A question was offered by a 42-year-old priest who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis the same year he was ordained, Father Willi Fusaro. Father Fusaro asked Benedict XVI to draw from the example of John Paul II and offer advice to elderly or sick priests on how to make their presbyterate fruitful and to live it well.

The German Pope responded by saying that, for him, "both parts of Pope John Paul II's pontificate were equally important. In the first part, in which we saw him as a giant of faith, with incredible courage, extraordinary force, a true joy of faith and great lucidity, he took the Gospel message to the ends of the earth. […]

"However, I must say that because of the humble testimony of his 'passion,' to my mind these last years of his pontificate were no less important; just as he carried the Lord's cross before us and put into practice the words of the Lord.

"With his growing weakness, John Paul II, "who had been a master of words, thus showed us visibly -- it seems to me -- the profound truth that the Lord redeemed us with his cross, with the passion, as an extreme act of his love," Benedict XVI said. "He showed us that suffering is not only a 'no,' something negative, the lack of something, but a positive reality. "He showed us that suffering accepted for love of Christ, for love of God and of others is a redeeming force, a force of love and no less powerful than the great deeds he accomplished in the first part of his pontificate."

Like the Lord
The Pope said that Jesus' life also had these two aspects.

"In the first part [Christ] teaches the joy of the Kingdom of God, brings his gifts to men and then, in the second part, he is immersed in the Passion until his last cry from the cross," the Holy Father explained. "In this very way he taught us who God is, that God is love and that, in identifying with our suffering as human beings, he takes us in his arms and immerses us in his love and this love alone bathes us in redemption, purification and rebirth.

"The Pontiff said that in a world "that thrives on activism, on youth, on being young, strong and beautiful, on succeeding in doing great things," people must "learn the truth of love which becomes a 'passion' and thereby redeems man and unites him with God who is love."

Still, Benedict XVI acknowledged, accepting suffering is no easy task, and those who suffer need prayers and signs of gratitude."

Let us therefore pray for all who are suffering and do our utmost to help them, to show our gratitude for their suffering and be present to them as much as we can, to the very end," he encouraged. "This is a fundamental message of Christianity that stems from the theology of the cross: The fact that suffering and passion are present in Christ's love is the challenge for us to unite ourselves with his passion.

"We must love those who suffer not only with words but with all our actions and our commitment. I think that only in this way are we truly Christian."

Catholic pilgrims apply for asylum
Wednesday, 13 August, 2008, 08:36 AM Doha Time

CANBERRA: About 20 Catholic pilgrims who attended World Day Youth services in Australia with Pope Benedict XVI last month have claimed asylum, with more applications expected, refugee advocates said yesterday.

The majority of applicants were from Africa, including Zimbabwe, where political and economic upheaval have driven millions to flee, as well as Cameroon, Burundi and Kenya, the Sydney-based Asylum Seeker Centre said.

“We are seeing utter destitution, we see malnutrition, we are seeing depression, we see homelessness. People are coming to us from a place of crisis,” centre spokeswoman Tamara Domicelj said.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International said more of the 100,000 overseas pilgrims who attended World Youth Day would seek asylum once special three-month visitor visas expired. An estimated 3,000 were still in the country.

“There are still a number of people in the community who came out during World Youth Day. There is certainly an expectation that some will decide to seek asylum rather that return,” Amnesty International refugee co-ordinator Graham Thom said. Australia’s new centre-left government last month dumped mandatory detention in special immigration jails for asylum hopefuls, saying it would now be used only for people who posed a risk to the community.

The policy overturned a controversial practice enforced by the previous government of sending asylum seekers to small Pacific nations for processing. Many spent years behind razor wire awaiting refugee visas.

Immigration officials refused to comment on the latest applications, which also included some from Pakistan.

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, said while the church was sympathetic to the claims of pilgrims for refuge in Australia, they had to follow Australian laws.

-Reuters

Restoration of Knights Templar?

VATICAN CITY — A Spanish group claiming to be the heirs of the Knights Templar have filed a law suit against Pope Benedict XVI, seeking the "rehabilitation" of the once-powerful Catholic religious order that was disbanded 700 years ago.

The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ also demands recognition — though not restitution — of $156 billon in assets that it claims the original Templars lost upon their dissolution.

The Knights Templar, officially known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were founded in the early 12th century to protect Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. But their growing military and economic power inspired envy, suspicion and accusations of heresy. Pope Clement V, under pressure from King Philip IV of France, disbanded the order in 1312.

The Templars' glorious and tragic history has figured prominently in legend and popular culture, including Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

Last year, the Vatican published a document only recently discovered in its archives showing that Clement had actually absolved the order of heresy before dissolving it for political reasons.

According to statements appearing on the plaintiffs' website, the current law suit was originally submitted to a Madrid court last December, and dismissed two months later. The group says it has appealed the dismissal, and expects a decision in October.

A report by the EFE news agency said the first judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction, since events so far in the past are "properly the subject of historians."

By Francis X. Rocca, Religion News Service

Syria's grand mufti invites pope to Syria

VATICAN CITY - Syria's grand mufti, the country's top Sunni Muslim religious authority, says he would like to meet Pope Benedict XVI and persuade him to visit Syria.

The mufti, Sheik Ahmad Badereddine Hassoun, made the comments in Damascus, according to the Italian news agency Apcom and other reports Friday.

"I would like to invite the Holy Father to visit our country, following in the footsteps of St. Paul," Hassoun was quoted by Apcom as saying. "I am available for a meeting at the Vatican. I would like to see him one on one to plan the visit together."

Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made a groundbreaking visit to the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus in May 2001.

Benedict has been vacationing in the Italian Alps.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the invitation attests to the current "serene climate" in Syria and "good relations" with the country.

Benedict has been trying to improve ties with Islam since giving a speech in Germany in 2006 that angered many in the Muslim world.

In the Regensburg University speech, Benedict cited a medieval text that characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The pope later said he was "deeply sorry" about the reactions his remarks sparked and stressed that they did not reflect his own opinion.

Hassoun, a moderate cleric, said the case was closed.

"There is a dialogue, and between religions and intellectuals there are always discussions," he said, according to Apcom. "One can fight with one's wife, but then the love grows."

Hassoun is among a group of 138 Muslim scholars that has called for greater dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

Benedict XVI met with Syria's vice president in September to discuss the situation of Christians in Syria and the role Damascus should play in bringing peace to the Middle East.

The pope has urged Syria to use its influence in the region to help resolve conflicts and counter terrorism.

From a theologian to Pope of the people


World Youth Day under Sydney's limpid blue skies has opened a new chapter in the story of Pope Benedict XVI, one which seasoned Vatican observers describe as a turning point in his papacy.

The shy professor of theology turned cardinal, chief inquisitor and keeper of the Catholic faith has shown the first glimpse of a mass communicator in the making - one whose DNA may not be infused with the star power of John Paul II but who has now, even if reluctantly, embraced the need to engage directly with his 1.2 billion global followers.

"It is in Sydney that this Pope has truly learnt his job," said Andreas Englisch yesterday. Englisch, a German author, journalist and member of the Vatican press corps since 1986, has written seven books, including two on Pope John Paul II and one on Benedict XVI.

"Ratzinger is a theologian. He knows his church but he knew it through books, through his writing, from his study but not from the people. In Australia, even more than in the United States, he has learnt the church from his people … they do not want to be kept at arm's length.
"In Cologne in 2006, 1.5 mill-ion people lined the Rhine to see him. He spoke only to the young people on the boat with him … there was no effort to wave, to smile, to acknowledge all those that came out to see him … There was much criticism of him, even from his bishops. Here in Sydney it has been different, completely different."

Pope Benedict, born and bred in the cold of Bavaria, seems to have thawed in Australia.
When he faced the first phalanx of television cameras and microphones on board the flight to Sydney from Rome seven days ago he looked transfixed, hesitant in demeanour and rusty in English, the language of his soon-to-be hosts in Australia.

"He was faced by a battery of cameras and lights … he is not at his best in a crowd, he looked like a deer caught in a spotlight," another veteran Vatican specialist on board the flight said.
"But just a few days later, if you talked to those 12 kids who had lunch with him at St Mary's, you would not know it was the same man," she said.

"He laughed, he relaxed, he played with the stress ball that one of the American kids gave him. Theatrics go against his nature, but he has learnt here to play his audience … even to punch his applause lines, to listen, to time delivery with them."

In the past seven days the Pope, a man of undisputed fierce intellect and steadfast theological position, has gradually allowed a different part of his personality to emerge. At last he has provided a glimpse of the man behind the mitre.

At Government House, during his first official outing after resting at Kenthurst, the Pope was led through a review of the troops - an Australian protocol for a visiting head of state but one that departed entirely with papal tradition. It was clear from the Pope's demeanour that he was unsure of what was expected of him - even mildly embarrassed - as the navy, army and air force military bands waited at attention and he was led past each one.

"It is simply not a papal thing to do … I think it has only ever happened once or twice, usually in small African nations," said a senior Vatican reporter and veteran of 19 papal trips.
"He is never made to walk past like that … but it was obviously local tradition, and so he stopped each time, he waved; he obviously seemed to want to make a human connection."

According to his spokesman, the Jesuit priest Padre Federico Lombardi, the previous pope, John Paul II, had come from a pastoral tradition. "All of us see the difference in their personalities, the difference in their approach to people. You only need to watch them to see that difference.
"I think that for John Paul II this [a World Youth Day event] was a very spontaneous thing. He also had a personal past in pastoral work with youth. He used to take canoe trips, nature walks in forests with them. His gestures, his ripostes to curious questions [from youth] were all spontaneous.

"Pope Benedict XVI was a university professor. You can see that too in the way he imparts his speeches, his relationships, the way he expresses himself and so on … he has a rapport with the young but is more shaped by his students. I think though that he has shown a great willingness to live this new pastoral experience, which he inherited from his predecessor but which he has now infused with his own characteristics, of simplicity, of humility and availability to all."

Padre Lombardi said what was most visible in Sydney was the Pope's direct participation with young people and that he allowed himself to become involved.

The changes observed in the Pope during his Australian trip are particularly significant as no cardinal of the Roman curia had ever enjoyed the celebrity status - but as an intellectual not a populist - enjoyed by Joseph Ratzinger in Europe when he was cardinal.

According to John Allen, the Pope's unauthorised biographer, the then Cardinal Ratzinger's fame "transcended the borders of church life; [making him] a bona fide public figure with a cultural profile similar to [the conservative commentator and writer] William F. Buckley jnr's in the United States."

In his biography, which the Vatican did not receive warmly as it meticulously and critically analyses Joseph Ratzinger's dramatic evolution from early libertarian theologian to arch-conservative, Allen points out that in German newspaper polls at the time he was cardinal, Ratzinger came in the top 30 of German's most important and powerful nationals. He was placed ahead of the then head of the German central bank and even the tennis player Steffi Graf.

Allen's final analysis rejects critics who portray the Pope as a man driven only by fear - of losing power, of women, of sex, of modernity. He argues that the very few people who know the man, and even those who disagree with his theological positions, describe him differently: "… He is a refined man with a lively sense of humour, not someone working out his personal pathologies through the power of his office," he writes. When asked once, on Bavarian television, what he was afraid of, Allen writes that his quick-witted response was "I'm afraid only of the dentist".

On Sydney Harbour, during a welcome usually afforded rock stars, the Pope surprised many when he moved out of the papal entourage and ensconced himself at the front of the boat, looking as excited as the teenagers who flocked around him.

Similarly, his triumphant tournee around the racecourse at Randwick yesterday was markedly populist and warm. His security men turned a blind eye to the many babies and toddlers thrust through the open window for the Pope to kiss.

The only real criticism of the week revolved around the complexity of his homily at the Saturday night vigil on the St Augustine's theology of the Holy Spirit.

Some youngsters found the teachings impenetrable, and even Padre Lombardi, in a flash of great humour, admitted that he and others who had read the homily found it difficult "on first impression".

But that, he said, was a good measure of this Pope. "It was his choice, to choose issues that invite reflection, that require work to understand, that may need you to come back and return to them to seek clarity. There are other things that he might have said that might glean greater applause … but they would not have stimulated thought."

It's good to read things like this.

School of the prophet welcomes Lord's flock


POPE Benedict XVI may have raised the ire of the Muslim world almost two years ago when he invoked a harsh medieval description of Islam during a speech in Germany, but for almost 300 Catholic pilgrims, an Islamic school will be home during World Youth Day.

"Pope Benedict clarified his comments on Islam," said Pinad Elahmed, a teacher in charge of inter-religious activities at Malek Fahd school in Greenacre. "Anyway, no one here even thought of it when we decided to offer hospitality to the pilgrims.

"We are Muslims but we are also very committed Australians and that means living in a multicultural, multi-faith country. We want to be a role model of generosity for all Muslims.
"This is not unusual. After all, the prophet himself opened his house to Christians."

The 281 pilgrims will bunk down in the gymnasium and several classrooms. "They will basically have the run of the place," Ms Elahmed said.
Andrew West

Sydney farewells Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI farewelled Australians with "deep gratitude", before boarding a Qantas charter flight bound for Rome at the end of his hectic World Youth Day tour.

The 81-year-old pontiff took off from Sydney airport, having closed the six-day WYD celebrations with a huge open air mass before 400,000 people on Sunday.

"Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly on this city, this country and all its inhabitants," he said.

"And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again, may God bless the people of Australia."

From a small dais in front of his plane at Sydney airport's Hangar 96, the Pope thanked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Governor General Major General Michael Jeffery, the federal and NSW governments, the business community and the people of Australia.

"In characteristic Australian style you have extended a warm welcome to me and to countless pilgrims who have flocked here from every corner of the globe," he told the crowd.
"You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world's youth and on their behalf I thank you."

He also thanked more than 200,000 pilgrims for making the journey to Sydney, saying it was "them who have made this a global event".

"I thank them for coming, I thank them for their participation and I pray that they have a safe journey home," he said.

The pontiff expressed hope people would be inspired by the Blessed Mary MacKillop's example of compassion and service, and nominated his visit to her North Sydney memorial among the highlights of his trip.

Rudd thanked the pontiff for making the long journey to Australia for WYD, saying his presence, and WYD, had both left an indelible mark on Australia.

"Within that week, Your Holiness, it feels very much that you have already become one with us, indeed that you have become one of us," the prime minister said.

"After sharing this week with us I believe you now know you are among friends." Rudd said the sun had shone literally for the duration of the papal visit.

"As we think back on this last great week of reflection and celebration, minds and hearts of people are filled with the images of affirmation, of possibility and of unity," Rudd said.

He noted the Pope's special efforts to examine indigenous issues and address the difficult issue of child sex abuse by members of the clergy.

Pope Benedict then personally farewelled many of the 200 dignitaries gathered at Sydney airport's Hangar 96, including newly appointed Ambassador to the Vatican Tim Fischer, and the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.

After climbing the steps to the aircraft, he waved both hands and bowed slightly, before shaking hands with Qantas flight crew and disappearing into the cabin.

Earlier he thanked thousands of WYD volunteers in the Domain, many of whom waited for hours to see him. The Pope arrived at the Domain in the Popemobile just before 9am and toured the crowd before again taking centre stage.

"I want to thank all of you for the generous commitment of time and energy you have made in order to ensure the smooth running of each of the events we have celebrated together," Pope Benedict said.

Pope urges Australian youths to spurn materialism
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - Pope Benedict XVI urged young people Sunday to reject what he said was the "spiritual desert" spreading throughout the world and to embrace Christianity to build a new age free from greed and materialism.

At a Mass before more than 200,000 young Roman Catholic pilgrims in Sydney, Benedict said "the world needs renewal" and challenged them to be the agents of change.

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said.
The 81-year-old pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."

The aim was "a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships," he said.

Sunday's Mass wraps up the church's six-day World Youth Day festival in Sydney that has drawn massive crowds to Australia's largest city, and has been watched on television by a global audience estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

The Mass, delivered at a horse racetrack filled with pilgrims who had camped out overnight, comes a day after the pope made a forceful apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy. The apology is part of an effort that began in the United States to publicly atone for what he called evil acts by priests.

In his apology Saturday, Benedict said: "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them as their pastor that I too share in their suffering," Benedict said in Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral.

He said he wanted "to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt" and called for those responsible to be "brought to justice." The acts were "evil" and a "grave betrayal of trust," he said.

But the pope's apology was not enough to satisfy representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse, who said it must be backed by Vatican orders to Australian bishops to stop what they say are efforts to hide the extent of the problem and block survivors' attempts to win compensation.
Sunday's events wrap up a busy four-day schedule for Benedict in which he touched on all the major themes of his three-year-old papacy, including the need to rejuvenate what he says is a church in "crisis" in the West because people are losing their faith in God.

He also stressed the need for mankind to protect the environment and end its "insatiable consumption" of the world's resources. He continued to reach out to other faiths, telling leaders of Islam and other religions they must unite against those who were threatening the world with "sinister and indiscriminate violence."

The pope flew over the scene early Sunday in a helicopter — dubbed "the holy-copter" by bleary-eyed pilgrims below — to see the assemblage amassed on the track with a jumble of sleeping bags, backpacks and other personal items.

He later took a slow drive through the crowd, stopping once to plant a kiss on the forehead of a toddler held up to the popemobile's window. Pilgrims from more than 160 countries gave him a rock-star welcome, waving the flags of their nations, cheering and chanting: "Benedicto!, Benedicto!" — the pope's Italian name.

The pope, who was due to leave Australia for the Vatican on Monday, said the next Roman Catholic youth festival would be held in Spain in 2011.

"I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time," he said.

Pope Benedict Apologizes to Australian Abuse Victims
By Jacob Greber and Ed Johnson

July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Benedict XVI apologized to victims of childhood sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church's Australian clergy, saying those responsible should be brought to justice.

``I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering,'' the pontiff said today at a mass in Sydney. ``I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy'' in Australia.

Australian support group Broken Rites, which says more than 3,500 people have sought its help during the past 15 years, demanded ``action, not just words,'' and said the Catholic Church must make it easier for victims of sexual abuse to take action in the courts.

The German-born pope addressed the issue during a visit to the U.S. in April, where some had criticized the Vatican's reluctance to confront child abuse. His apology today came as tens of thousands of Catholic pilgrims celebrating World Youth Day walked through Sydney and gathered for an overnight vigil.

``These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation,'' Benedict told clergy as he dedicated a new altar at St. Mary's Cathedral. ``Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice.''

Fight Against `Evil'
Broken Rites says 107 Catholic priests and brothers have been sentenced in Australian courts for abuse since the group was set up in 1993.

It says the church's approach to tackling the problem lacks transparency and that many victims are reluctant to trust the institution to investigate abuse allegations independently.
The pope must tell his Australian bishops to ``stop blocking victims' access to justice in the civil courts'' by fighting litigation ``fiercely,'' the group said in a statement.

The abuse issue captured headlines last week as the leader of the Catholic Church in Australia acknowledged mishandling allegations of sexual assault by a priest more than 20 years ago. Cardinal George Pell announced a panel would review the case involving a former church education coordinator who says he was abused by a priest in 1982 when he was 29 years old.
``I ask all of you to support and assist your bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil,'' said the pope.

Pilgrimage Walk
Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed to traffic as the first pilgrims began crossing at 5:30 a.m. local time. They will sleep at the city's main horseracing track while awaiting a papal mass tomorrow before as many as 500,000 people that will close the weeklong World Youth Day celebrations.

``It is the climax of the week,'' said Dave Gale, 20, from Wagga Wagga, 450 kilometers (280 miles) southwest of Sydney. ``So many Christian people in one place for this event is incredible.''
Activists protesting Benedict's policies against contraception and abortion also marched through the city. The NotoPope Coalition, which includes gay rights activists and atheists, says it will hand out condoms and carry coat hangers to symbolize the death of women from ``backyard'' abortions.

Freedom of Speech
The Federal Court of Australia this week overturned police powers to fine protesters more than A$5,000 ($4,865) if they ``annoy'' people attending the event, saying the regulations introduced by the New South Wales state government infringe upon freedom of speech.
Protesters wore T-shirts with slogans such as ``Pope Go Homo'' and ``The Pope Is Wrong, Put a Condom On.''

World Youth Day is billed as the biggest youth festival in the world. Organizers say it is the largest event Australia has hosted, drawing people from 167 other countries.
The state government, which has spent A$86 million hosting the event, forecasts it will generate A$150 million in revenue for the local economy.

It is Benedict's first visit to Australia, where about 26 percent of the country's 21.3 million people described themselves as Catholic in the most recent census, in 2001. About 17 percent of the world's population is Catholic, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook.

To contact the reporters for this story: Jacob Greber in Sydney at jgreber@bloomberg.netEd Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

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Pope Benedict XVI warns of critical juncture for Christianity
Manila Times19 July 2008
SYDNEY:

Pope Benedict XVI warned Christian leaders Friday that the push to unite Christian churches was at a critical juncture, as Anglicans met to avert a schism over the ordination of women and gays.

The Pontiff, leading hundreds of thousands of Catholics in World Youth Day celebrations in Australia, also called on people of all religions to unite against sinister and indiscriminate forms of violence.

At a meeting with around 50 Christian leaders, including those from the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran and Uniting churches, the Pontiff called on them to fight for unity within the Christian faith.

I think you would agree that the ecumenical movement has reached a critical juncture, the leader of the worlds 1.1 billion Catholics told a meeting in Sydneys Saint Marys Cathedral.
We must guard against any temptation to view doctrine as divisive and hence an impediment to the seemingly more pressing and immediate task of improving the world in which we live.
The Pope did not elaborate on what he saw as the critical juncture in the search for greater unity.

But his comments came as Anglican bishops from around the world gathered at Canterbury in England, for a once-a-decade conference amid splits between liberal and conservative elements of the church.

Around 650 bishops were to attend the 20-day conference, with the issue of gays and women in the church expected to dominate.

About a quarter of the churchs bishopsincluding most from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Ugandaare staying away, a week after the Church of England approved the ordination of women bishops.

The Pope later told leaders from the Muslim, Jewish and other faiths that religions had a special role in maintaining peace and uniting peoples.

A harmonious relationship between religion and public life is all the more important at a time when some people have come to consider religion as a cause of division rather than a force for unity, he said.

In a world threatened by sinister and indiscriminate forms of violence, the unified voice of religious people urges nations and communities to resolve conflicts through peaceful means and with full regard for human dignity.

After a series of private meetings Friday, the Pope took part at the start of a stations of the cross re-enactment of the last days of Jesus Christs life.

The re-enactment, held at some of Sydneys most famous sites including the Opera House, had been expected to draw between 350,000 and 450,000 spectators, organizers said.

Police moved seven activists from Broken Rites, a support group for victims of abuse by Catholic clergy, from outside St Marys Cathedral where the Pope was to pray at the start of the re-enactment.

Its really shameful of the church to be doing this, to be moving people on. Theyre just stopping people from being heard, said protester John Ellis.

Thousands of spectators gathered at each of the seven sites as the actors made their way around the 13 stations in bright sunshine in the heart of Sydney.

As night fell on the city, the crucifixion of Jesus was solemnly re-enacted at the former wharves where a day earlier the 81-year-old Pontiff received a rapturous welcome from some 200,000 young Catholic pilgrims.

The World Youth Day celebrations, aimed at strengthening the faith of young Catholics, ends on Sunday with a papal mass, which organizers hope will attract 500,000 people. -- AFP

Address to Australia and Youth of the World

To the beloved people of Australia and to the young pilgrims taking part in World Youth Day 2008

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be my witnesses" (Act 1:8)

The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you! In a few days from now, I shall begin my Apostolic Visit to your country, in order to celebrate the Twenty-Third World Youth Day in Sydney. I very much look forward to the days that I shall spend with you, and especially to the opportunities for prayer and reflection with young people from all over the world.

First of all, I want to express my appreciation to all those who have offered so much of their time, their resources and their prayers in support of this celebration. The Australian Government and the Provincial Government of New South Wales, the organizers of all the events, and members of the business community who have provided sponsorship – all of you have willingly supported this event, and on behalf of the young people taking part in the World Youth Day, I thank you most sincerely. Many of the young people have made great sacrifices in order to undertake the journey to Australia, and I pray that they will be rewarded abundantly. The parishes, schools and host families have been most generous in welcoming these young visitors, and they too deserve our thanks and our appreciation.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be my witnesses" (Act 1:8). This is the theme of the Twenty-Third World Youth Day. How much our world needs a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit! There are still many who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, while many others, for whatever reason, have not recognized in this Good News the saving truth that alone can satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts. The Psalmist prays: "when you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30). It is my firm belief that young people are called to be instruments of that renewal, communicating to their peers the joy they have experienced through knowing and following Christ, and sharing with others the love that the Spirit pours into their hearts, so that they too will be filled with hope and with thanksgiving for all the good things they have received from our heavenly Father.

Many young people today lack hope. They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers. They see poverty and injustice and they long to find solutions. They are challenged by the arguments of those who deny the existence of God and they wonder how to respond. They see great damage done to the natural environment through human greed and they struggle to find ways to live in greater harmony with nature and with one another.

Where can we look for answers? The Spirit points us towards the way that leads to life, to love and to truth. The Spirit points us towards Jesus Christ. There is a saying attributed to Saint Augustine: "If you wish to remain young, seek Christ". In him we find the answers that we are seeking, we find the goals that are truly worth living for, we find the strength to pursue the path that will bring about a better world. Our hearts find no rest until they rest in the Lord, as Saint Augustine says at the beginning of the Confessions, the famous account of his own youth. My prayer is that the hearts of the young people who gather in Sydney for the celebration of World Youth Day will truly find rest in the Lord, and that they will be filled with joy and fervour for spreading the Good News among their friends, their families, and all whom they meet.

Dear Australian friends, although I will only be able to spend a few days in your country, and I will not be able to travel outside Sydney, my heart reaches out to all of you, including those who are sick or in difficulties of any kind. On behalf of all the young people, I thank you again for your support of my mission and I ask you to continue praying for them especially. It remains only for me to renew my invitation to the young people from all over the world to join me in Australia, the great "southern land of the Holy Spirit". I look forward to seeing you there! May God bless you all.

Sydney Harbor

A smiling Pope greeted tens of thousands of young pilgrims as he sailed through Sydney Harbour into Barangaroo during his official arrival for the 23rd World Youth Day.

Waving pilgrims lined the shore of Sydney Harbour, flags fluttered in Barangaroo and people stood on the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, watching the Pope's boat-a-cade come into the harbour. Ten boats carrying young people followed the Holy Father's cruise ship, which was filled with clergy and specially selected youngsters in national dress.

Disregarding protocol-the young people had been told to go up to the Pope on the top deck-Benedict XVI came down and stood on the lower deck chatting with them, waving and smiling, as boat entered the harbour. The Pope and the youngsters were both visibly moved by their personal encounters. One young Papua New Guinean could not be moved from his place at the Pope's elbow for the entire journey.

Once on shore, a group of Aborigines performed a dance for the Pope, before he moved up to the Sanctuary where Cardinal George Pell celebrated the Opening Mass for WYD08 on Tuesday.

Sydney's Cardinal Pell greeted the Pope on behalf of Australian Catholics, focusing on his role as the successor of Peter. The cardinal pointed out that there had been a pope in Rome 900 years before there was a king of England and 1,700 years before the Gospel first came to Oceania.

After the opening prayers and reading from the Gospel of Matthew (20:25-28), Pope Benedict gave a homily, addressing the pain suffered by the Aborigines and indigenous peoples of Australia and Oceania first, saying that the time for healing had come.

He said: "I am deeply moved to stand on your land, knowing the suffering and injustices it has borne, but aware too of the healing and hope that are now at work, rightly bringing pride to all Australian citizens."

As expected the Holy Father then spoke about Creation drawing the parallel between the scars affecting both physical environment and the social environment.

Looking out of the window of the Papal plane on the flight to Australia, he was filled with a sense of awe at the beauty and goodness of Creation with men and women at its heart he said. But under the beauty there are scars, he said. Erosion, deforestation, "the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption" affected the physical environment, but society too has its scars affecting the innate good in people.

Once on shore, a group of Aborigines performed a dance for the Pope, before he moved up to the Sanctuary where Cardinal George Pell celebrated the Opening Mass for WYD08 on Tuesday.

Sydney's Cardinal Pell greeted the Pope on behalf of Australian Catholics, focusing on his role as the successor of Peter. The cardinal pointed out that there had been a pope in Rome 900 years before there was a king of England and 1,700 years before the Gospel first came to Oceania.

After the opening prayers and reading from the Gospel of Matthew (20:25-28), Pope Benedict gave a homily, addressing the pain suffered by the Aborigines and indigenous peoples of Australia and Oceania first, saying that the time for healing had come.

"Yet such moments do not last. So again, we ponder. And we discover that not only the natural but also the social environment - the habitat we fashion for ourselves - has its scars; wounds indicating that something is amiss. Here too, in our personal lives and in our communities, we can encounter a hostility, something dangerous; a poison which threatens to corrode what is good, reshape who we are, and distort the purpose for which we have been created."

He spoke about alcohol and drug abuse, the exhaltation of violence, sexual degradation and exploitation.

Pope Benedict XVI said: "There is also something sinister which stems from the fact that freedom and tolerance are so often separated from truth. This is fuelled by the notion, widely held today, that there are no absolute truths to guide our lives.

"Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made 'experience' all-important. Yet, experiences, detached from any consideration of what is good or true, can lead, not to genuine freedom, but to moral or intellectual confusion, to a lowering of standards, to a loss of self-respect, and even to despair."

The Holy Father said that life was not just a succession of events or experiences but a search for the Truth:"

It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this - in truth, in goodness, and in beauty - that we find happiness and joy.

"Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth."

"Christ offers more! Indeed he offers everything! Only he who is the Truth can be the Way and hence also the Life. Thus the "way" which the Apostles brought to the ends of the earth is life in Christ. This is the life of the Church. And the entrance to this life, to the Christian way, is Baptism."

Earlier that day, Benedict XVI met the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and congratulated him on having made a public apology to t he Aboriginal people of Australia. He said that Mr Rudd had made a "courageous decision to acknowledge the injustices committed against the indigenous peoples in the past" which was helping close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian peoples.

After meeting with the prime minister, he went to pray at the Mary MacKillop Chapel, where the beatified nun lies.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict texted thousands of young pilgrims in Australia on Tuesday, urging them to renew their faith as they gathered for the Catholic church's largest youth festival.
Hymns and chants of hallelujah filled Sydney's streets as hundreds of thousands of young Catholics from around the world gathered for the opening mass of World Youth Day, July 15-20.

"Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI," read the first of the Pope's daily text messages which will be sent out during World Youth Day.

Using "u" instead of "you" is a popular shortcut among youth around the world, who send millions of text, or SMS, messages daily.

Pope Benedict arrived in Sydney on Sunday and will attend World Youth Day events from Thursday, culminating in a Sunday mass before an estimated 300,000 pilgrims.

The Pope has said he will apologize to Australian victims of sexual abuse in the church. Broken Rites, which represents abuse victims, has a list of 107 convictions for church abuse, but says there may be thousands more victims as only a few go to court.

"I'm glad there will be an apology, but the church needs to do more to alleviate the living hell of those who have endured the ultimate betrayal," said sexual assault lawyer Vivian Waller. "The church must embrace justice rather than playing legal charades," she said, claiming the Catholic church in Australia regularly used the legal system to avoid sex abuse cases.

The Pope confronted the issue of sexual abuse in the church during a visit to Washington in April, meeting victims and vowing to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood.

Some sex abuse victims plan to protest against the papal visit in Sydney, along with a group called "No Pope" which opposes church teachings on sex and marriage and new anti-protest laws which they say crush their civil liberties.

The "No Pope" group has launched a legal challenge to overturn new laws which could see protesters arrested and fined A$5,500 (US $5,340) for annoying pilgrims with anti-Catholic T-shirts or by handing out condoms.

Reflecting the religious fervor in Sydney, "Ratzinger Rules" was spray painted on a war memorial overnight. Josef Ratzinger is the birth name of Pope Benedict.

Police have closed some 300 roads and erected concrete and wire security fences across the central business district, in a security operation not seen since the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Sydney is treating World Youth Day as bigger than the Olympics, urging workers to take holidays. Organizers estimate the event will earn the city up to A$200 million.

But the Catholic church hopes the biggest windfall will be religious in a country where church attendances are falling. Despite being led by the oldest Pope elected, the church believes the 81-year-old pontif can still engage with young people.

In Australia, home to the world's biggest gay and lesbian mardi gras and where abortion and stem cell research is legal, the Catholic church's teachings often fall on deaf ears.

Some 5 million Australians describe themselves as Catholic, but less than one million attend Sunday mass and the number may have dropped to about 100,000 in the past 5 years.

"We're a very secular society in Australia, we're very materialistic and I think we've lost something in all of that," said World Youth Day ambassador John Herron.

Organizers are expecting more than 150,000 pilgrims, 26 cardinals, 400 bishops and up to 4,000 priests at the opening mass on Tuesday on the shores of Sydney Harbor.

"That will make it the biggest mass we've ever celebrated in Australia," said Bishop Anthony Fisher.

Holy Father Arrives in Australia for World Youth Day

The pope was greeted Sunday by officials including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the tarmac of a military air base on Sydney's outskirts, after a flight from the Vatican of more than 20 hours and a refueling stop in the northern city of Darwin.

Benedict, 81, will rest for three days at a retreat in Sydney before joining the World Youth Day festival starting Thursday.

Benedict told reporters during the flight that while in Australia he wants to help heal wounds caused by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

He was also asked during his flight about climate change following discussions on the environment during this month's Group of Eight summit in Japan.

There is a need to "wake up consciences," Benedict responded. "We have to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life."
Benedict said politicians and experts must be "capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge."

"We have our responsibilities toward creation," Benedict said, stressing, however, that he had no intention of weighing in on technical or political questions swirling around climate change.
Benedict said he would also address the problem of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. He reiterated his view that sexual abuse is "incompatible with the behavior" required of priests.
At the start of his U.S. pilgrimage, Benedict had said he was "deeply ashamed" of the abuse scandal and pledged to work to make sure pedophiles do not become priests.

Benedict said that during the 10-day visit to Australia he would work for "healing and reconciliation with the victims" of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy there "just as I did in the United States" earlier this year.

Clergy abuse support groups in Australia have demanded that Benedict apologize during his visit for the abuse they suffered. The exact number of victims of clergy abuse in Australia is not known, though activists say they number in the thousands.

Benedict acknowledged that the Church in the West was "in crisis" but insisted it was not in decline. "I am an optimist" about its future, he said.

The Australia pilgrimage is the longest in his three-year-old papacy and will test the pontiff's stamina.

Although aides say the pope is in fine health, the Vatican appeared to be taking no chances to ensure Benedict is fit for World Youth Day, canceling a weekly public audience this past Wednesday and most other meetings to give him as much rest as possible.

After he succeeded John Paul three years ago, Benedict said he doubted he would make many long trips. But invitations keep coming in from world leaders and officials of his global 1-billion member flock.

He visited Brazil last year, made a pilgrimage to the United States in April and will travel to France in September.

Benedict will be greeted at Sydney Harbor Thursday by a group of Aborigines and other young people from the Pacific Basin and deliver what is expected to be an important address. In 2001, John Paul issued a formal apology to the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands for injustices perpetrated by Catholic missionaries.

Pope welcomes Bahrain's tolerance of Christians

King Hamad invites Benedict XVI to visit Bahrain as Pope praises Manama’s religious tolerance praise.

CASTELGANDOLFO - The Vatican praised Bahrain's religious tolerance on Wednesday during a visit by the Gulf state's king to Pope Benedict XVI at his summer residence outside Rome.
Benedict and King Hamad had what the Vatican described as "cordial" discussions in Castelgandolfo.

"The Vatican authorities thanked the king for the welcome given to numerous Christian immigrants" to his country, it said in a statement.

The two men "reiterated their common commitment to intercultural and inter-religious dialogue."

The tiny Gulf state has a population of 530,000 people, nine percent of which is Christian, nearly all of them expatriate workers from the Philippines.

The king recently named a Jewish woman, Huda Nunu, as ambassador to the United States in what Bahraini officials said was a choice which reflected a climate of tolerance towards minorities in Bahrain.

During the course of their discussions, the king invited Benedict to visit Bahrain, the Vatican said.

The country has close ties with Washington and is the headquarters of the US navy's Fifth Fleet.

And the Times Online had this to say

Pope says old-rite Latin Mass should be on offer in every Catholic parish
June 17, 2008

The Vatican is writing to seminaries to request all student priests are trained in how to say the Tridentine Mass, a liturgy abandoned for Mass in the vernacular in the 1960s

Pope Benedict XVI wants every parish in the West to offer believers the Mass in the Tridentine or Gregorian Rite, the Latin-language liturgy used until the 1960s by every Catholic church in the world.

The Vatican is now writing to seminaries to ask that student priests be required to learn the rite, which, in widescale liturgical changes following the modernising church council Vatican II (1962-5), was largely replaced by Mass in the vernacular.

The Pope wishes every parish to offer both rites for Sunday Mass, an eminent Vatican Cardinal announced in London on Saturday. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, said: “The Holy Father is willing to offer to all the people this possibility, not only for the few groups who demand it but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.”

It was a “gift” and a “treasure,” Castrillon Hoyos said, hours before celebrating a Tridentine liturgy attended by some 1,500 worshippers at Westminster Cathedral on June 14. “This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful – the deepest theologians’ way to express our faith. The worship, the music, the architecture, the painting, makes a whole that is a treasure.”

He attacked claims by Catholics who claim the Tridentine revival is a step backwards liturgically, saying: “Others think that the Holy Father is going against the Second Vatican Council. That is absolute ignorance. The Fathers of the Council, never celebrated a Mass other than the Gregorian one. It [the Novus Ordo] came after the Council ? The Holy Father, who is a theologian and who was in the preparation for the Council, is acting exactly in the way of the Council, offering with freedom the different kinds of celebration.”

He added: "The experience of these 40 years has not always been so good. Many people abandoned the sense of adoration (of God)?

There is (now) an atmosphere that makes it possible for these abuses and that atmosphere must be changed,” he said in English. “It is not a matter of confrontation but of dialogue — fraternal dialogue — making efforts to understand the precious things contained in the new and the old rites.”

Used worldwide in Catholic parishes from 1570 until the 1960s, the Tridentine Rite also differs in key aspects from the modern Catholic liturgy. In the modern Mass, a priest will face the congregants, in the Tridentine Rite, he will pray facing the altar, traditionally placed facing East, towards Jerusalem, and thus the direction of the place from which Christ is believed to have ascended to heaven.

In July 2007. Benedict XVI announced that every priest who wished to do so might celebrate Mass in the Tridentine Rite – without requiring, as had previously been the case, permission from their local bishop.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos added: “Today for many bishops it is difficult because they don’t have priests who don’t know Latin.

Many seminaries give very few hours to Latin – not enough to give the necessary preparation to celebrate in a good way the Extraordinary Form.”

Latin Days Are Here Again?

Pope Benedict wants to revive the Latin mass in Roman Catholic worship. But what exactly does that mean?
George Weigel
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 11:19 AM ET Jun 19, 2008

Is Pope Benedict XVI determined to restore the Latin mass that many Roman Catholics thought had been consigned to the dustbin of history? The answer, in short, is both yes and no. But neither the "yes" nor the "no" quite fits the conventional speculations in several recent media reports following off-the-cuff remarks to a small Catholic association in Great Britain by a Vatican official. In unraveling this, it helps to begin at the beginning.

As he reminds us in his memoir, "Salt of the Earth," the young Joseph Ratzinger was deeply influenced, both spiritually and intellectually, by the mid-20th-century movement to reform the Roman Catholic Church's public worship--a movement that helped pave the way for the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Father Ratzinger was a peritus, a theological expert, at the council, and like many others, he welcomed the council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: here was a ratification of the liturgical reform movement he had long supported and a blueprint for further organic development of the celebration of mass. In the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, however, Ratzinger became convinced that organic development had been jettisoned for revolution, the liturgical Jacobins being a cadre of academics determined to impose their view of a populist liturgy on the entire Catholic Church.

In the decades between Vatican II and his election as Benedict XVI, Ratzinger became a leader in what became known as "the reform of the reform": a loosely knit international network of laity, bishops, priests and scholars, committed to returning the process of liturgical development in the Catholic Church to what they understood to be the authentic blueprint of Vatican II. Seeing a Gregorian chant CD from an obscure Spanish monastery rise to the top of the pop charts in the 1990s, they wondered why much of the church had abandoned one of Catholicism's classic musical forms. Finding congregations that seemed more interested in self-affirmation than worship, and priests given to making their personalities the center of the liturgical action, they asked whether the rush to create a kind of sacred circle in which the priest faces the people over the eucharistic "table" might have something to do with the problem.

And they reminded the entire church that Vatican II had not mandated many of the things most Catholics thought it had decreed: for example, the elimination of Latin (and chant) from the liturgy and the free-standing altar behind which the priest faced the congregation.

Over the past 40 years, the Catholic liturgical wars have tended to be fought among specialists and activists. The largest post-Vatican II splinter group, associated with the excommunicated French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, certainly had its problems with the new liturgy; but the deeper cause of the Lefebvrists' march into schism was their rejection of Vatican II's teaching on religious freedom, which they deemed heresy. The overwhelming majority of Catholics throughout the world have welcomed the new form of the mass that became normative in 1970, a mass celebrated entirely in English (or Spanish or French or Polish, or whatever language the congregation speaks). Over time, the silly season in Catholic liturgy that peaked in the 1970s--"clown" masses (with the priest vested as Bozo or somesuch), free-for-all prayers that ignored the prescribed rite, dreadful pop music, inept "liturgical dance," a general lack of decorum--began to recede. A re-sacralization of Catholic worship became evident in many parishes. What Ratzinger and other specialists had called "the reform of the reform" was underway at the grass roots, and under its own steam.

It was to accelerate that "reform of the reform" that Benedict XVI issued a decree last summer permitting the widespread use of the 1962 Roman rite, known technically as the Missal of John XXIII. Amidst the recent, fevered speculations that Latin days are here again, it's important to note what the Missal of John XXIII is not. It is not the "Tridentine Rite," because it includes modifications of the missal mandated by the Council of Trent in the 16th century; it is not the "mass of Pius V," which some Catholic megatraditionalists argue is the only valid form of Catholic worship. It is, in fact, the mass as celebrated every day at every session of the Second Vatican Council. (The 1962 missal did contain a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews, which some, but certainly not all, Jews found offensive. After a brief flurry of criticism, Benedict XVI modified the prayer; conversations about its further alteration continue. The modified prayer was used in the minuscule number of Catholic congregations that celebrated Holy Week 2008 according to the Missal of John XXIII; no pogroms resulted, and indeed the argument seems to have died out.)

Some may find it ironic that the "old Latin mass" that Benedict XVI has permitted is precisely the mass as known by Pope John XXIII, hero of Catholic progressivism. But there is in fact something "progressive," in the sense of reformist, about Benedict's strategy here.

Yes, the mass of John XXIII is celebrated in Latin, and yes, it is often celebrated (although it need not be) with the priest and the congregation facing the same direction as they pray--looking together, as classic liturgical theology teaches, toward the return of Christ and the inauguration of the heavenly Jerusalem. But the pope's point in making this form of liturgy more widely available is neither nostalgic nor retrogade. Rather, by encouraging the more widespread celebration of this classic form of the always-evolving Roman rite, Benedict XVI intends to create a kind of liturgical magnet, drawing the "reform of the reform" in the direction of greater reverence in the Catholic Church's public worship. In doing so, the pope is also reminding the church that, as Vatican II put it, the mass is a moment of privileged participation in "that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle." "Going to mass," in other words, is not something we do for ourselves, or something we make up ourselves; liturgical worship is our participation in something God is doing for us.

Will this Benedictine reform-of-the-reform mean that every Catholic parish will soon have at least one Sunday celebration of mass in Latin, using the Missal of John XXIII? It seems unlikely, not least because very few priests today are competent Latinists. But in those places where the Latin mass of 1962 is celebrated reverently and without nostalgic accretions (lace-bedecked older vestments, for example), it will be a source of spiritual nourishment for the minority that prefers this way of worship, even as it introduces a new generation to what will be, for them, a new form of liturgy. In international settings, the use of this rite in Latin may help revive that ancient tongue as a common Catholic language for common worship--no small matter in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic church. Among scholars and parish clergy alike, the more widespread celebration of mass according to the Missal of John XXIII may prove to be the reformist magnet that Benedict XVI wants it to be, encouraging those who are already at work re-sacralizing the liturgy.

And the net result, over time? Almost certainly not "Latin days are here again" in every Catholic parish but rather a more reverent, more prayerful celebration of mass according to a reformed missal of 1970--and according to what the Second Vatican Council actually prescribed.

New pope continues traditions

VATICAN CITY -Pope Benedict XVI reinforced his caretaker image yesterday, reappointing the entire Vatican hierarchy chosen by his populist predecessor, John Paul II. At the same time, the new pontiff sought to dispel any impression that he was aloof or dour.

He waved and smiled at crowds gathered along the short stretch between the Vatican gates and his old apartment, where he spent some time in the afternoon. "Viva il papa!" some shouted. The pope, dressed all in white, raised both hands in a greeting.

His schedule also shows hints of the openness and symbolic gestures that were at the heart of John Paul's reign: a meeting with journalists Saturday, an outdoor Mass to formally take the papal throne Sunday and a visit Monday to a church built over the tomb of St. Paul -an apostle who carries deep significance for Roman Catholics and Christian Orthodox.

The Vatican even unveiled new e-mail addresses for Benedict, following an innovation started by John Paul.

In the first days of his papacy, the 78-year-old Benedict has projected two clear styles.

One was expected: The confident and well-prepared Vatican insider who was one of John Paul's closest advisers for more than two decades. His decisions on the top-level posts came quickly -some popes have struggled for weeks -and showed continuity with his predecessor.

Benedict was reported to have told cardinals shortly after he was elected that his papacy would be a short reign.

Friday, April 22, 2005
The Associated Press

Pope welcomes Islamic delegation to Vatican

From: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, June 13, 2008

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday met a delegation of Muslim dignitaries at a Vatican meeting ahead of a high-level inter-faith forum this November. The Muslim delegation represented an Islamic international conference held early this month in Mecca which called for increased inter-faith dialogue, Algerian academic Mustapha Cherif said in a statement.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Roman Catholic Church's point man for dialogue with Islam, was present at the audience with the pope, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano noted.

The conference titled "Christians and Muslims, Witnesses of the God of Justice, Peace and Compassion in a World that Suffers from Violence" was to continue until Friday. It will lay the groundwork for a high-level Catholic-Muslim Forum set to hold its inaugural meeting November 4-6 in Rome, with a follow-up to be held in a Muslim country in 2010.

The unprecedented forum was scheduled in early March in response to a letter by 138 Muslim leaders in October 2007 calling for heightened dialogue with Christians. The initiative was sparked by the pope's own controversial speech at a German university in 2006, when he appeared to link Islam with violence.

The structure could also be activated in case of a crisis such as the global uproar that followed the publication of cartoons of Mohammed in 2005. The conference in Mecca set up a center to promote inter-faith dialogue, as advocated by Saudi King Abdullah.

Take God Out of the "Parentheses," Urges Pope

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
If people want to have hope and find meaning in their lives, they need to take God out of the "parentheses," says Benedict XVI.The Pope affirmed this Monday in the Basilica of St. John Lateran when he inaugurated the ecclesial congress of the Diocese of Rome. The event is under way through Thursday, focused on the theme: "Jesus Has Risen: Educating for Hope in Prayer, Action and Suffering."

The Holy Father referred to the subject of Christian hope, explaining that, "in a certain way, it concerns each of us personally, [...] but it is also a community hope, a hope for the Church and for the entire human family."

"In today's society and culture, and hence also in this our beloved city of Rome, it is not easy to live in an atmosphere of Christian hope," he said. "There is a widespread feeling that, for both Italy and Europe, the best years have passed and that a future of instability and uncertainty awaits the new generations."

"Moreover," the Pontiff added, "hopes for great novelties and improvements are concentrated on science and technology." Yet, "it is not science and technology that can give meaning to our lives and teach us to distinguish good from evil. Indeed, as I wrote in my encyclical 'Spe Salvi,' it is not science that redeems man: Man is redeemed by love, and this applies even in terms of the present world.

"Benedict XVI lamented how "our civilization and our culture [...] too often tend to place God in parentheses, to organize personal and social life without him, to maintain that nothing can be known of God, even to deny his existence. But when God is laid aside, [...] all our hopes, great and small, rest on nothing.

"In order, then, to 'educate for hope' -- as we propose in this congress and during the coming pastoral year -- it is necessary, in the first place, to open our hearts, our intellects and all our lives to God, in order to be his credible witnesses among our fellow man."

Commitment
The Bishop of Rome mentioned some concrete areas in which the Church will work to better the Eternal City.

"An acute and widespread awareness of the evils and problems afflicting the heart of Rome is reawakening the desire for [...] joint commitment," he said. "It is our task to make our own specific contribution, beginning with the decisive question of the education and formation of the person, but also facing with a constructive spirit the many other real problems that often make the lives of those who live in this city wearisome."

In particular we will seek to promote a form of culture and social organization more favorable to the family and to welcoming life, as well to valuing the elderly who are so numerous among the population of Rome. "We will work to respond to the crucial needs of work and housing, especially for the young. We will share the commitment to make our city safer and more 'liveable,' but we will work to ensure it is so for everyone, especially the poorest, and to ensure that immigrants who come among us to find a living space in respect for our laws are not excluded."

Benedict XVI concluded his address by encouraging young people to make "the gift of Christian hope" their own, using it "in freedom and responsibility [...] to enliven the future of our beloved city."

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Author Notes Secret to Pope's Efficacy

Says It's More Than Benedict XVI's Keen Mind
By Marta Lago
ROME, MAY 26, 2008

Benedict XVI is an effective communicator, not just because every talk he gives is like an "encyclical in miniature," but because there is a secret to his efficacy, affirmed the author of a biography of the Pope.

That secret, says Giuseppe De Carli, is the beauty "that convinces almost more than rational arguments: love, friendship with God, the joy of being Christian. ... Tell me that this is not a Pope who is happy to be Christian."

De Carli, head of the Vatican bureau of the Italian public broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana, and a 20-year veteran in covering the See of Peter, has just released "Benedictus: Servus Servorum Dei" (Benedict: Servant of the Servants of God).

The book was presented last week by a group of Church and civil leaders along with the author.
The volume opens with De Carli's description of the Pope as "a man of timid character on the stage of the world." De Carli said he hopes the book "will be at least be placed among those contributions that help in some way to understanding Benedict XVI's personality."

"I made an entirely journalistic attempt to talk about Joseph Ratzinger," De Carli said. "It is the only edition of a newspaper; indeed, it is a newspaper-book. Today there are newspapers that seem like books; I wrote a book that seems like a newspaper."

"We have gone from the communicative and charismatic eruption of John Paul II to a kind of effective communicative minimalism with Pope Ratzinger," the author proposed. "It is effective because it is not supported by the physicality of gestures."

Every talk given by Benedict XVI is an "encyclical in miniature," De Carli said. The Pope's intellectual profile "is that of one who knows how to teach," and "his public, in its many-sidedness, would be surprised by an advertiser."

De Carli suggested: "Pope Wojtyla's style was centrifugal -- he obliged the media to abandon all logic and follow him toward everything and everyone. Benedict XVI's style is centripetal -- he obliges the media to turn toward the mystery that the Church represents with its liturgical tradition.

"From that which has been seen so far, it is a pontificate of concentration and deepening. [...] The fulcrum of the Christian faith is charity, love, it is the only thing that can give a prospect of hope and then rationality and the beauty of the faith.

"I believe that he is a pastor who says much to the people of our time, those who believe and also those who don't believe."