Benedict on Original Sin

Sandro Magister reports on Pope Benedict's recent teachings on Original Sin. The Eastern Churches have always viewed Original Sin in different terms than the Roman Church. Indeed, it has been a topic of much polimical debate - although I have always found a congruence between the two understandings, which the Holy Father seems to balance in his catechesis. It will be interesting to see the reactions to his teachings from the various proponents of the differing interpretations.

Here is a snippet...

God created everything for existence, and in particular he created the human being in his own image; he did not create death, but this entered the world through the envy of the devil, who, rebelling against God, also drew men into deceit, inducing them to rebel (cf. Wis. 1:13-14; 2:23-24). This is the drama of freedom, which God accepts completely for the sake of love, while promising that there will be a son of woman who will crush the head of the ancient serpent (Gn. 3:15).

For the rest, go here.

Ecumenical Patriarch addresses Roman Synod

Thanks to Sandro Magister for the text of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople to the Roman Synod on the Holy Scriptures. His All Holiness' intervention came on Saturday, 18 October 2008 in the context of a Vespers Service. The main celebrant was His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope of Rome.

Josephus Flavius over at Byzantine, Texas in an article recounting an interview with Archimandrite Ignatios Sotiriadis, includes the quote:

"It was a historical event, in which a Pope celebrates vespers before the representatives of the entire Catholic episcopate and on this occasion, doesn't exercise his ministry as teacher, but concedes it to the second bishop of the Church when it was not yet divided."

Sandro provides the whole address. Read it all.

To whet your whistle, herein are a few snippets...

[I]n having today the privilege to address Your Synod our hopes are raised that the day will come when our two Churches will fully converge on the role of primacy and synodality in the Church’s life, to which our common Theological Commission is devoting its study at the present time.
...
At each celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the presiding celebrant at the Eucharist entreats “that we may be made worthy to hear the Holy Gospel.” For “hearing, beholding and handling the Word of life” (1 Jn 1.1) are not first and foremost our entitlement or birthright as human beings; they are our privilege and gift as children of the living God.
...
The challenge before us is the discernment of God’s Word in the face of evil, the transfiguration of every last detail and speck of this world in the light of Resurrection. The victory is already present in the depths of the Church, whenever we experience the grace of reconciliation and communion.

As part of Pope Benedict's response to the Ecumenical Patriarch's intervention, he is quoted as saying:

Your Fathers, that you have quoted so many times, are also our Fathers, and ours are also yours: if we have common Fathers, how could we not be brothers?

Indeed.

From the Address to Young People

Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person? Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others (cf. Spe Salvi, 28).

Address to Young People, St Joseph Seminary, New York 19 April 2008

Quotes from Pope Benedict in the US

15 April 2008

It is more important to have good priests than many priests.

En route on Volo Papale ("Shepherd One")

16 April 2008

Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility....The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24).

...The Church, for her part, wishes to contribute to building a world ever more worthy of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). She is convinced that faith sheds new light on all things, and that the Gospel reveals the noble vocation and sublime destiny of every man and woman (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 10). Faith also gives us the strength to respond to our high calling, and the hope that inspires us to work for an ever more just and fraternal society. Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation.

Address, Welcome Ceremony, The White House, South Lawn, Washington, DC

16 April 2008

What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike.

Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified and it continually reminds us of the need to remain focused on doing God's work, however many pressures and distractions may arise from the task at hand.

To Bishops, Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC

17 April 2008

Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the Church in America but also for society as a whole? It is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in many ways drawing closer together and becoming ever more interdependent. Yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God.

The fidelity and courage with which the Church in this country will respond to the challenges raised by an increasingly secular and materialistic culture will depend in large part upon your own fidelity in handing on the treasure of our Catholic faith. Young people need to be helped to discern the path that leads to true freedom: the path of a sincere and generous imitation of Christ, the path of commitment to justice and peace.

The challenges confronting us require a comprehensive and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellectual "culture", which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society.

Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.

Homily, Nationals Park, Washington, DC

A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)?

Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in - a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves.

When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual's immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.

To Educators, Catholic University, Washington, DC

By bearing witness to those moral truths which they hold in common with all men and women of goodwill, religious groups will exert a positive influence on the wider culture, and inspire neighbors, co-workers and fellow citizens to join in the task of strengthening the ties of solidarity.

While always uniting our hearts and minds in the call for peace, we must also listen attentively to the voice of truth. In this way, our dialogue will not stop at identifying a common set of values, but go on to probe their ultimate foundation. We have no reason to fear, for the truth unveils for us the essential relationship between the world and God.

To Interfaith Communities, John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington, DC

The Birth of Christ - Hope and Contradiction

The Holy Father's talk at the general audience today touched on the Mystery of the Incarnation. The unity of the Pope's thought and theology is breathtaking. (I've pondered recently that while John Paul the Great was Pope for a very long time, even accounting for that, his literary theological output was voluminous and complex. Benedict, on the other hand, while only Pope for a brief time thus far has revealed a genius for compact, clear and challenging theological reflection. Witness the immediately accessible Deus Caritas Est and Spe Salvi in comparison to any one of John Paul's Encyclicals.)

The Vatican Information Service has released a summary of his talk. One can hardly wait for the whole text! Below are a couple of excerpts.

"Hoping for justice in the Christian sense means ... that we too begin to live under the eyes of the Judge, ... creating justice in our own lives. ... In this way we can open the world to the coming of the Son and prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord Who comes."
...

"Moreover," he added, "we have formed a view of tolerance and pluralism such that to believe that Truth has been effectively manifested appears to constitute an attack on tolerance and the freedom of man. If, however, truth is cancelled, is man not a being deprived of meaning? Do we not force ourselves and the world into a meaningless relativism?"

He continued: "How important it is, then, for us to reinforce the mystery of salvation which the celebration of Christ's Nativity brings. In Bethlehem the Light that illuminates our lives was revealed to the world; we were shown the Way that leads us to the fullness of our humanity. If we do not recognize that God was made man, what sense does it have to celebrate Christmas? We Christians must reaffirm with profound and heartfelt conviction the truth of Christ's nativity, in order to bear witness before everyone of the unique gift which brings wealth not just to us, but to everyone. "
...

"In these days leading up to Christmas," said Pope Benedict, "the Church prays more intensely for the realization of hopes of peace and salvation, of which the world today still has such urgent need. Let us ask God for violence to be defeated with the strength of love, for contrasts to give way to reconciliation, for the desire to dominate to be transformed into a desire for forgiveness, justice and peace. May the wishes for goodness and love that we exchange over these days reach all areas of our daily lives."

UPDATE: Zenit now has the full text online.

Pope Teaches on the Cappadocian Fathers

Pope Benedict has been giving a series of talks on the Church Fathers. This follows his earlier catechesis on the Apostles. Having already spoken on Sts Ignatios, Athanasios, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, today the Holy Father continued with a discussion on St Gregory of Nyssa (Basil the Great's younger brother). The series on the Church Fathers, and the previous series on the Apostles, is shaping up to be Benedict's Theology of the Body, as his clear elucidation is heightening awareness and appreciation of these holy witnesses to the Faith. Below is the Vatican Information Service report on today's catechesis.

GREGORY OF NYSSA: AIM OF MAN IS TO BE LIKE GOD

VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 2007 (VIS) - This morning, the Pope travelled by helicopter from his summer residence at Castelgandolfo to the Vatican, where he landed shortly before 10 a.m. He then went to St. Peter's Square where he presided at his weekly general audience, attended today by 16,000 people.

Continuing his series of catecheses on the Fathers of the Church, the Holy Father returned to consider the figure of St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-395) - who had also been the subject of last week's catechesis - highlighting how the bishop saint always "showed a highly elevated sense of man's dignity."

For St. Gregory, "man's aim is to make himself like God ... through love, knowledge and the practice of virtues, ... in a perpetual and dynamic adherence to good, like a runner stretching forwards."

However, "the perfection that makes us participants in God's own sanctity is not something granted forever," the Holy Father warned. Rather it is "a permanent journey, a constant commitment to progress ... because complete likeness to God can never be achieved, The history of each soul is that of a love ... open to new horizons, because God continually expands the possibilities of the soul, so as to make it capable of ever greater good."

"In this journey of spiritual ascent, Christ is the Model and the Master Who shows us the beautiful image of God. Looking at Him, each of us discovers ourselves to be 'the painter of our own life' in which our will undertakes the work and our virtues are the colors at our disposal."

"The value that St. Gregory gives to the word Christian is very important," said Pope Benedict, "because a Christian is one who bears the name of Christ, and one who bears the name of Christ must be like Him also in this life. ... But Christ, Gregory recalls, is also present in the poor," and he invites people to recognize the dignity of the poor, precisely because "they represent the Person of the Savior."

The Holy Father concluded by saying that "the path to God, then, passes through prayer and pureness of heart, and through love for others. Love is the stairway that leads to God."

At the end of the audience, the Holy Father greeted participants in various anguages. Then, addressing Missionaries of Charity who have come to Rome for the tenth anniversary of the death of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, he highlighted how "the life and witness of this true disciple of Christ ... are an invitation for you and for the entire Church always to serve God faithfully in the poorest and the most needy."

AG/GREGORY OF NYSSA:MOTHER TERESA/... VIS 070905 (460)

The Zenit report of the Holy Father's catechesis on St Gregory is here.

More on the Pope and the Patriarch

Benedict XVI Sends Letter to Alexy II

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Roger Etchegaray delivered a letter written by Benedict XVI to Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, but says "trust must be built" before the two leaders can meet.

The retired president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said this on Vatican Radio upon returning from his trip to Russia. He visited Siberia, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk, and celebrated Mass on the feast of the Assumption in the Catholic cathedral in Moscow.

The cardinal said of Alexy II that "in the last 30 years we have worked a lot together for Europe. I can say that I feel very close to him: I consider him as a brother."

"We talk as friends, and among other things I delivered to him a personal message sent by Benedict XVI. It was a message that Alexy II appreciated very much. All this demonstrates the fluid relationship that exists between us two," Cardinal Etchegaray added.

The 84-year-old cardinal said that a possible meeting between the Holy Father and the Russian patriarch has been "talked about for a long time. I am sure that the patriarch and Benedict XVI, just as Pope John Paul II before him, sincerely and ardently desire this encounter, but no one knows when it will take place."

"No one can say," he confirmed, "because for both men, the greatest concern is that it be an encounter in truth and not a mediagenic spectacle, so that it can simply be said that the met."

The prelate said the desire of both is "that the meeting be well-prepared and that it take place in the best conditions of truth."

"Many times," added Cardinal Etchegaray, "the media exaggerate events, simplify or idealize the reality, which, it must not be forgotten, is normally quite complicated."

The prelate said he spoke with the patriarch about "the numerous projects that Catholics and Russian Orthodox run together, and it is impressive all that is done in various ways: It is a great novelty. Therefore it is necessary to not speak so much of the date and time of the meeting: Trust must be built."

ZE07082008 - 2007-08-20

The Pope Remembers the Recent Council ... and Vatican II

Sandro Magister has published the English text of Pope Benedict's answer to a question related to the confusion and often lost sense of optimism in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. In the Holy Father's answer he reveals a keen knowledge of history and of the Eastern Church Fathers.

It is tempting to believe that the great Councils of antiquity were received with humble obedience and prayer. However, the Holy Father reminds, "The periods following a council are almost always very difficult." [Sometimes the necessary consequence of a Council has been the calling of another Council to further clarify and refine the teachings of the earlier one (cf. the Council of Ephesus, a.d. 431, and the Council of Chalcedon, a.d., 451.)]

The Holy Father points out the reality of what might be called an adjustment period after a Council and the need to understand each Council in the light of the unity of the Faith and continuity of the Spirit's guidance and protection throughout history.

Below is Benedict's comments about post-conciliar adjustments.

I, too, lived through Vatican Council II, coming to Saint Peter’s Basilica with great enthusiasm and seeing how new doors were opening. It really seemed to be the new Pentecost, in which the Church would once again be able to convince humanity. After the Church’s withdrawal from the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it seemed that the Church and the world were coming together again, and that there was a rebirth of a Christian world and of a Church of the world and truly open to the world.

We had such great hopes, but in reality things proved to be more difficult. Nonetheless, it is still true that the great legacy of the Council, which opened a new road, is a “magna carta” of the Church’s path, very essential and fundamental.

But why did this happen? I would like to begin with an historical observation. The periods following a council are almost always very difficult. After the great Council of Nicaea – which is, for us, truly the foundation of our faith, in fact we confess the faith as formulated at Nicaea – there was not the birth of a situation of reconciliation and unity, as hoped by Constantine, the promoter of the great Council, but a genuinely chaotic situation of a battle of all against all.

In his book on the Holy Spirit, saint Basil compares the Church’s situation after the Council of Nicaea to a nighttime naval battle, in which no one recognizes another, but everyone is pitted against everyone else. It really was a situation of total chaos: this is how saint Basil paints in vivid colors the drama of the period following the Council of Nicaea.

50 years later, for the first Council of Constantinople, the emperor invited saint Gregory Nazianzen to participate in the council, and saint Gregory responded: No, I will not come, because I understand these things, I know that all of the Councils give rise to nothing but confusion and fighting, so I will not come. And he didn’t go.

So it is not now, in retrospect, such a great surprise how difficult it was at first for all of us to digest the Council, this great message. To imbue this into the life of the Church, to receive it, such that it becomes the Church’s life, to assimilate it into the various realities of the Church is a form of suffering, and it is only in suffering that growth is realized. To grow is always to suffer as well, because it means leaving one condition and passing to another.

And we must note that there were two great historic upheavals in the concrete context of the postconciliar period.

The first is the convulsion of 1968, the beginning – or explosion, I dare say – of the great cultural crisis of the West. The postwar generation had ended, a generation that, after seeing all the destruction and horror of war, of combat, and witnessing the drama of the great ideologies that had actually led people toward the precipice of war, had discovered the Christian roots of Europe and had begun to rebuild Europe with these great inspirations. But with the end of this generation there were also seen all of the failures, the gaps in this reconstruction, the great misery in the world, and so began the explosion of the crisis of Western culture, what I would call a cultural revolution that wants to change everything radically. It says: In two thousand years of Christianity, we have not created a better world; we must begin again from nothing, in an absolutely new way. Marxism seems to be the scientific formula for creating, at last, the new world.

In this – let us say – serious, great clash between the new, healthy modernity desired by the Council and the crisis of modernity, everything becomes difficult, like after the first Council of Nicaea.

One side was of the opinion that this cultural revolution was what the Council had wanted. It identified this new Marxist cultural revolution with the will of the Council. It said: This is the Council; in the letter the texts are still a bit antiquated, but behind the written words is this “spirit,” this is the will of the Council, this is what we must do. And on the other side, naturally, was the reaction: you are destroying the Church. The – let us say – absolute reaction against the Council, anticonciliarity, and – let us say – the timid, humble search to realize the true spirit of the Council. And as a proverb says: “If a tree falls it makes a lot of noise, but if a forest grows no one hears a thing,” during these great noises of mistaken progressivism and absolute anticonciliarism, there grew very quietly, with much suffering and with many losses in its construction, a new cultural passageway, the way of the Church.

And then came the second upheaval in 1989, the fall of the communist regimes. But the response was not a return to the faith, as one perhaps might have expected; it was not the rediscovery that the Church, with the authentic Council, had provided the response. The response was, instead, total skepticism, so-called post-modernity. Nothing is true; everyone must decide on his own how to live. There was the affirmation of materialism, of a blind pseudo-rationalistic skepticism that ends in drugs, that ends in all these problems that we know, and the pathways to faith are again closed, because the faith is so simple, so evident: no, nothing is true; truth is intolerant, we cannot take that road.

So: in these contexts of two cultural ruptures, the first being the cultural revolution of 1968 and the second the fall into nihilism after 1989, the Church sets out with humility upon its path, between the passions of the world and the glory of the Lord.

Along this road, we must grow with patience and we must now, in a new way, learn what it means to renounce triumphalism.

The Council had said that triumphalism must be renounced – thinking of the Baroque, of all these great cultures of the Church. It was said: Let’s begin in a new, modern way. But another triumphalism had grown, that of thinking: We will do things now, we have found the way, and on it we find the new world.

But the humility of the Cross, of the Crucified One, excludes precisely this triumphalism as well. We must renounce the triumphalism according to which the great Church of the future is truly being born now. The Church of Christ is always humble, and for this very reason it is great and joyful.

It seems very important to me that we can now see with open eyes how much that was positive also grew following the Council: in the renewal of the liturgy, in the synods – Roman synods, universal synods, diocesan synods – in the parish structures, in collaboration, in the new responsibility of laypeople, in intercultural and intercontinental shared responsibility, in a new experience of the Church’s catholicity, of the unanimity that grows in humility, and nonetheless is the true hope of the world.

And thus it seems to me that we must rediscover the great heritage of the Council, which is not a “spirit” reconstructed behind the texts, but the great conciliar texts themselves, reread today with the experiences that we have had and that have born fruit in so many movements, in so many new religious communities. I arrived in Brazil knowing how the sects are expanding, and how the Catholic Church seems a bit sclerotic; but once I arrived, I saw that almost every day in Brazil a new religious community is born, a new movement is born, and it is not only the sects that are growing. The Church is growing with new realities full of vitality, which do not show up in the statistics – this is a false hope; statistics are not our divinity – but they grow within souls and create the joy of faith, they create the presence of the Gospel, and thus also create true development in the world and society.

Thus it seems to me that we must learn the great humility of the Crucified One, of a Church that is always humble and always opposed by the great economic powers, military powers, etc. But we must also learn, together with this humility, the true triumphalism of the Catholicism that grows in all ages. There also grows today the presence of the Crucified One raised from the dead, who has and preserves his wounds. He is wounded, but it is in just in this way that he renews the world, giving his breath which also renews the Church in spite of all of our poverty. In this combination of the humility of the Cross and the joy of the risen Lord, who in the Council has given us a great road marker, we can go forward joyously and full of hope.

For the complete article by Sandro, click here.

Welcome Back to Long-Lost Sister

We welcome back our Sister Liturgy, the Rite of Rome often referred to at the Tridentine, or Rite of St Pius V. Specifically, the Holy Father Benedict XVI is easing the path for more common celebrations of the Roman Rite according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII.

As is so often the case, Rocco has the scoop.

Well, the cycle of speculation is now past, replaced at long last (after
years of consultations, delays and divisions in the Roman Curia) by the
definitive text – an impeccably constructed and painstakingly finessed package
of what is, at its core, a decisive compromise on the part of the
liturgically-attuned pontiff.

Chiding both sides in the furious debate over the wider availability of the
1962 Missal for voicing “very divergent reactions ranging from joyful acceptance
to harsh opposition, about a plan whose contents were in reality unknown,”
according to an advance copy of the documents obtained exclusively by Whispers,
Benedict yields a clear verdict as the “fruit of much reflection, numerous
consultations and prayer.”

For the whole report, visit Whispers in the Loggia.

St Basil and Charity

St. Basil a Model of Charity, Says Pope

VATICAN CITY, JULY 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Though St. Basil was a bishop in the fourth century, he continues to be a model for Christians today, Benedict XVI says.

The Pope said that today at the general audience held in Paul VI Hall. He dedicated his address to St. Basil, continuing with his series of teachings on early Church Fathers.

"Through preaching and writing, he carried out intense pastoral, theological and literary activities. With wise balance, he was able to blend service to souls with dedication to prayer and meditation in solitude," the Holy Father said.

The Pontiff highlighted Basil's dedication to acts of charity, which the saint multiplied by training his monks in the same spirit of service."

In reality," the Bishop of Rome affirmed, "St. Basil created a special kind of monasticism: not closed off from the local Church, but open to it. His monks were part of the local Church; they were its animating nucleus. Preceding others of the faithful in following Christ and not merely in having faith, they showed firm devotion to him -- love for him -- above all in works of charity."

Benedict XVI continued: "As bishop and pastor of his vast diocese, Basil constantly worried about the difficult material conditions in which the faithful lived; he firmly condemned evils; he worked in favor of the poor and marginalized; he spoke to rulers in order to relieve the sufferings of the people, above all in moments of disaster; he looked out for the freedom of the Church, going up against those in power to defend the right to profess the true faith."

Basil spent himself completely in faithful service to the Church in his multifaceted episcopal ministry.

"This is the program that the holy bishop gives to those who proclaim the word -- yesterday like today -- a program that he himself generously put into practice. […] He was a man who truly lived with his gaze fixed on Christ, a man of love for his neighbor. Full of the hope and the joy of faith, Basil shows us how to be real Christians."
ZE07070410 - 2007-07-04

Pope Benedict on Truth and the Baptist

Rocco has the scoop again!

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today, 24 June, the liturgy invites us to celebrate the solemnity of the Birth of St John the Baptist, whose life was wholly oriented toward Christ, like that of his mother, Mary. John the Baptist was the precursor, the “voice” sent to announce the incarnate Word. In reality, then, to commemorate his birth means to celebrate Christ, the fulfillment of the promises of all the prophets, among whom the Baptist was the greatest, called to “prepare the way” leading to the Messiah (cf Mt 11:9-10).

All the Evangelists begin the narrative of Jesus’ public life with the story of his baptism in the Jordan at the hand of John. St Luke places the Baptist’s entrance onto the scene within a solemn historical frame. My book Jesus of Nazareth also treats the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan as an event that would have enormous resonance for his times. From Jerusalem and from every part of Judea the people came to listen to John the Baptist and were baptized by him in the river as they confessed their sins (cf Mk 1:5). The repute of the prophet-baptizer would grow to the point that many asked themselves if it was he who was the Messiah. But – as the evangelist underscores – this he quickly denied: “I am not the Christ” (Jn 1:20). He remains, however, the first “witness” of Jesus, having received the indication of heaven: “The man on whom you will see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who will baptize in the Holy Spirit” (Jn 1:33). This happens precisely when Jesus, having received his baptism, rose from the water: John sees descending upon him the Spirit as a dove. It was then that he “understood” the full reality of Jesus of Nazareth and began to make him “known to Israel” (Jn 1:31), pointing to him as Son of God and redeemer of man: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

By authentic prophecy, John remained a witness to the truth without compromise. He denounced the transgression of the commandments of God, even when the powerful were its protagonists. And so, when Herod and Herodiade [Salome] accused him of adultery, he paid with his life, signing with martyrdom his service to Christ, who is the Truth personified. Let us invoke his intercession, together with that of Mary Most Holy, that in our own times, too, the church may know to keep itself faithful to Christ and to witness with courage his truth and his love for all.

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae....

Pope Urges Prayers for Middle Eastern Christians

Christians in Middle East need prayerful support, Pope says

Vatican, Jun. 21, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) expressed his deep concern about the situation facing Christians in the Middle East, and particularly in Iraq, as he met on June 21 with representatives of aid organizations working in the region.

Addressing participants in an annual meeting of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO), the Holy Father assured them that he prayed for the Christians in the violence-torn region "with the urgency and constancy they deserve." The Pope added that he recognized and shared ROACO's "pain and concern for the delicate situation affecting vast areas of the Middle East." He urged the aid organizations to redouble their efforts in light of today's crises.

Speaking directly to Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Babylon, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Pope expressed his sorrow over "the barbarous killing of a defenseless priest and three sub-deacons in Iraq at the end of Sunday liturgy on June 3." Their deaths, he said, were examples of "true martyrdom in the name of Christ." The Chaldean Patriarch had traveled from Baghdad to Rome to join the ROACO meeting.

Pope Benedict blessed the work of ROACO, encouraging the aid agencies to recognize the importance of working with other Christian groups in the Middle East, and stressing the value of unity with the Eastern churches. He reminded the participants to base their initiatives on prayerful planning, since "in prayer we will always find the true source of commitment to charity, and in prayer we will verify its authenticity."

The Pope and the Eastern Churches

On Saturday, the Holy Father visited the Sacred Congregation for Oriental ("Eastern") Churches. During his visit he accepted the resignation (due to age) of the congregation's prefect His Eminence Ignace Cardinal Daoud and appointed Archbishop Leonardo Sandri as his successor.

The Congregation is charged with overseeing the non-Latin Churches of the Catholic Church. Its goal is to preserve and promote the equality of these Churches with the great Church of Rome. Thus the congregation serves to ensure that 'Latinizations", the oft-mentioned fear of Eastern Churches not in communion with Rome, does not happen and that the all churches within the Catholic Church flourish.

ZENIT has published a summary account of the Holy Father's visit. Below are a few snippets.

He said: "Today the Pope gives thanks to Eastern Christians for their fidelity at the price of the shedding of blood -- admirable accounts which fill the pages of history even to the present-day martyrology!"...

Benedict XVI said he took the name of a "Pope who dearly loved the East" because he wants his pontificate to be "a pilgrimage to the heart of the East."

The Holy Father told Eastern Christians that "he wants to stay by their side."

He reiterated "his profound appreciation for the Eastern Catholic Churches for their particular role as living witnesses of the origins."...

Benedict XVI added: "In a particular way, the Eastern Churches guard the echo of the first announcement of the Gospel; the most ancient memories of the signs performed by the Lord; the first beams of the paschal light, and the reverberations of the unquenchable Pentecost fire."...

When the whole speech is available in English, I will add a link.

For the whole article, click here.

Retired Bishop Reviews Jesus of Nazareth

Retired Bishop Basil Meeking has written a very nice review of Pope Benedict's book Jesus of Nazareth. For anyone still uncertain whether to read it, Bishop Meeking's analysis of the contents should remove lingering doubts. A few highlights are presented below.

Jesus of Nazareth is not in the first place devotional reading but a closely argued exposition written in a spirit of faith with the hope of eliciting rational reflection. But the thoughtful reader may well be led to prayer as well. To read the book is to experience the highly cultivated thinking of a clear and sharp mind, one that can present theological questions and insights in contemporary style. It abuses no one but is the civilised discourse that has its source in the Catholic culture of Europe.

The Sermon on the Mount shows that "being human is essentially about relationship with God". Integral to this relationship is the speaking and listening to God which is prayer. Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer, the prayer of the community and of the believer. Jesus of Nazareth is worthwhile if only for the light it throws on the meaning of the Our Father and the nature of prayer. It is the prayer of Jesus, the prayer to be said with him as he leads us from the primacy of God to the right way of being human. It shows us from heaven what we human begins (sic) can and should be like.

When he points out that the Scripture experts of Jesus' day, those professionally concerned with the sacred writings, do not recognise Jesus for what he is because they are too taken up with the intricacies of their detailed knowledge, Benedict has an eye to the present. He does not hesitate to uphold the place of historical criticism in Biblical exegesis, while being equally firm about its limits and the excesses which have led some exegetes to opinions that "destroy the figure of Jesus and dismantle faith".

Read the whole review here.

Benedict's Jesus

I have stopped all other pleasure reading to concentrate on the theological masterpiece of the decade. This post is intended to give you a glimpse of what will be remembered as one of the most important works of the twenty first century. The book in question is so straightforward one could read it through in a weekend; and yet it is so profound that one will want to savor every paragraph.

Reading Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth is a most humbling experience. After reading the foreword, I realized that all my theological and intellectual posturing is mere hubris compared to the thought of this truly great mind. After reading the introduction, I was certain that I must have squandered my entire academic life in the face of such precise theological prose. After reading the first chapter, I began to wonder if I had ever really read the Scriptures or encountered Jesus Christ before. In this post I will focus solely on the Foreword.

One would assume the book to be a huge theological tome of sophisticated argumentation. Benedict is arguably one of the greatest minds of the last century having an intellect capable of dissecting the premises and fallacies of even the most challenging treatises. Yet, this is the same Benedict whose only Encyclical to date is Deus Caritas Est, one of the most readable and uplifting affirmations of the Christian message since John Chrysostom.

It has been said that people came to see John Paul the Great but they come to listen to Benedict. He is a teacher; not in the stodgy sense of dry academia, rather as one who passionately believes in his subject, who has respect and love for his students, and who has the gift to explain his subject so that every listener goes away refreshed, enlightened and enriched in their humanity. This is the Benedict speaking in Jesus of Nazareth.

In the foreword, the Holy Father states his intentions to present a reflection on Jesus to counter the dominant historical-critical scholarship of the last century. He notes truthfully and simply that these approaches "have produced a common result: the impression that we have very little certain knowledge of Jesus and that only at a later stage did faith in his divinity shape the image we have of him." (p. xii) Benedict, on the other hand, offers a perspective that "sees Jesus in light of his communion with the Father, which is the true center of his personality; without it, we cannot understand him at all, and it is from this center that he makes himself present to us still today." (p. xiv) He will not jettison the historical-critical method; he will utilize it while recognizing that "it does not exhaust the interpretive task for someone who sees the biblical writings as a single corpus of Holy Scriptures inspired by God." (p. xvi) It is a tool; an important tool, but only a tool.

Benedict proposes a "canonical exegesis" which views the individual books of the Scriptures as part of a whole. This uniative approach recognizes "that any human utterance of a certain weight contains more than the author may have been immediately aware of at the time." (p. xix) In this context we see the reality of inspiration, the power of the word to speak in a living dynamic context. The Scriptures have a life that confronts us and transfigures us when we approach them from the perspective of faith. It is God who speaks through the Scriptures with a voice as real as the voices of the writers of its individual books. Thus, Benedict asserts, "I trust the Gospels." (p. xxi)

I believe that this Jesus - the Jesus of the Gospels - is a historically plausible and convincing figure. Unless there had been something extraordinary in what happened, unless the person and words of Jesus radially surpassed the hopes and expectations of the time, there is no way to explain why he was crucified or why he made such an impact. (p. xxii)

Jesus is precisely who he claims to be, the Son of God taught by the Church, the Saviour. This faith and trust in Jesus as proclaimed in the Scriptures does not require a rejection of historical-critical scholarship. Rather, this theological tool can serve to enhance our appreciation of the Scriptures and the Jesus who is revealed in their pages. It is in this context that Jesus of Nazareth is written.

And it gets better with every page.

I wonder how the New York Times will take it when this book becomes the number one best seller of the summer (and yes, I know there's a Harry Potter book coming out).

Wait for it!

Weigel Reviews New Yorker Mis-Characterization of Holy Father

In the most recent issue of the Denver Catholic Register, George Weigel presents a typically succinct reveiw of a recent New Yorker article on the Holy Father. He not only clarifies the Pope's positions on a variety of topics but also gives example to the media bias that mis-characterizes so much of Church teaching. Below are the opening paragraphs of Weigel's article.

The New Yorker was once famous for the ferocity of its fact-checking and editing. No more. Any magazine whose editors give a pass to falsehoods (e.g., Catholics believe that “heaven, and possibly earth, belongs exclusively to them”), grossly tendentious mis-readings of documents (e.g., Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate taught “the dim possibility of Jewish salvation”), and factual errors (e.g., Karol Wojtyla was “one of the young theological advisers at Vatican II”) is a magazine that is not seriously edited.

Jane Kramer’s lengthy tantrum in the New Yorker’s April 2 issue, “The Pope and Islam,” is really several articles in one. It’s a wailing wall for left-leaning Vaticanisti, disgruntled Curial bureaucrats, and Italian Catholic activists unhappy with Benedict XVI’s challenge to Islam. It’s an effort — rather unsuccessful, I fear — to come to grips with the substance of the Pope’s Regensburg Lecture in September 2006. It’s yet another attempt to drive a wedge between Benedict XVI and John Paul II, along the hoary “nice Wojtyla/nasty Ratzinger” axis of pseudo-analysis. And it’s a brusque dismissal, without serious examination, of Benedict XVI’s suggestion that the first inculturation of Christianity in the world of classical rationality was providential, because it gave early Christians the intellectual tools to turn their evangelical confession of faith (“Jesus is Lord”) into doctrine and creeds, such as the Nicene Creed universally prayed by the Church.

The media generally seems to follow the relativistic multi-cultural political correctness that is the subject of my Monday book review and several earlier postings. Having been present occasionally at 'events' later reported by various elements of the media, I firmly believe their collective motto is often that of Groucho Marx: "Who are you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?"

To read the whole Weigel article, check out the Denver Catholic Register. To read the New Yorker article on which he comments, click here.