Angelqueen.org

Retractions. The Holy Office Teaches Fisichella a Lesson

Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:34 am (GMT -5)
Retractions. The Holy Office Teaches Archbishop Fisichella a Lesson

The congregation for the doctrine of the faith has released a "clarification" that in fact repudiates the article published in "L'Osservatore Romano" by the president of the pontifical academy for life, on the abortion performed on a Brazilian mother-child. Here's the document

by Sandro Magister
Link to Original

ROME, July 10, 2009 - This afternoon, at the very same time as Benedict XVI was meeting at the Vatican with the United States president Barack Obama, "L'Osservatore Romano" printed a "clarification" by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, "on procured abortion."

The "clarification" is what many were waiting for after a controversial article published last March 15 by the same newspaper of the Holy See, signed by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the pontifical academy for life.

The "clarification" is printed on page 7 of the newspaper of the Holy See, and is announced on the front page.

Fisichella's article concerned the case of an extremely young Brazilian mother-child who was made to abort the twins she was carrying in her womb, and was interpreted by many as justifying the double abortion.

There followed a lively public controversy, which www.chiesa related in two extensive articles. But at the same time, the Vatican authorities received many protests and requests through private channels.

These included the step taken by 27 of the 46 members of the pontifical academy for life. On April 4, they wrote a joint letter to Fisichella, their president, asking him to correct the "mistaken" positions he had expressed in the article.

On April 21, Fisichella responded to them in writing, rejecting the request.

On May 1, 21 of the signers of the previous letter then went to Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, asking the congregation for a clarifying statement on the Church's teaching on the matter of abortion.

The letter was delivered on May 4, but did not receive any reply. The writers learned from an official at the congregation that the letter had been forwarded to the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, "because Fisichella's article had been written at his request."

Two members of the pontifical academy for life then sent a dossier on the matter directly to the pope.

On June 8, Benedict XVI discussed the case with Bertone, and ordered that a statement be published reconfirming that the Church's teaching on abortion is unchanged.

The "clarification" published today in "L'Osservatore Romano," dated July 11, 2009, is precisely the fruit of this decision.

Here it is in its original form:

On procured abortion
Clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Recently a number of letters have been sent to the Holy See, some of them from prominent figures in political and ecclesial life, explaining the confusion that has been created in various countries, especially in Latin America, following the manipulation and exploitation of an article by His Excellency Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on the sad affair of the "Brazilian girl."

In this article, which appeared in "L'Osservatore Romano" on March 15, 2009, the doctrine of the Church was presented, while still keeping in mind the dramatic situation of the aforementioned girl, who - as could be demonstrated afterward - had been accompanied with all pastoral delicacy, in particular by the archbishop of Olinda and Recife at the time, His Excellency Archbishop Jos� Cardoso Sobrinho.

In this regard, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterates that the Church's teaching on procured abortion has not changed, nor can it change.

This teaching has been presented in numbers 2270-2273 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in these terms:

�Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life �Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you� (Jer. 1:5). �My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth� (Psalm 139:15).

�Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.
This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: �You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish� (Didach�, 2:2). �God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes� (Vatican Council II, "Gaudium et Spes", 51).

�Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," (Code of Canon Law, can. 1398), �by the very commission of the offense� (Code of Canon Law, can. 1314) and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law (cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 1323-1324). The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

�The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation: "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death... The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined... As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights.� (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction "Donum Vitae", III)�.

In the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this teaching with his authority as Supreme Pastor of the Church:

�By the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops-who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine-I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church� (no. 62).

As for abortion procured in certain difficult and complex situations, the clear and precise teaching of Pope John Paul II applies:

�It is true that the decision to have an abortion is often tragic and painful for the mother, insofar as the decision to rid herself of the fruit of conception is not made for purely selfish reasons or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of the family. Sometimes it is feared that the child to be born would live in such conditions that it would be better if the birth did not take place. Nevertheless, these reasons and others like them, however serious and tragic, can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being� (Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae", no. 58).

As for the problem of specific medical treatments intended to preserve the health of the mother, it is necessary to make a strong distinction between two different situations: on the one hand, a procedure that directly causes the death of the fetus, sometimes inappropriately called "therapeutic" abortion, which can never be licit in that it is the direct killing of an innocent human being; on the other hand, a procedure not abortive in itself that can have, as a collateral consequence, the death of the child:

�If, for example, saving the life of the future mother, independently of her condition of pregnancy, urgently required a surgical procedure or another therapeutic application, which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired or intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an action could not be called a direct attack on the innocent life. In these conditions, the operation can be considered licit, as can other similar medical procedures, always provided that a good of high value, like life, is at stake, and that it is not possible to postpone it until after the birth of the child, or to use any other effective remedy� (Pius XII, Speech to the Fronte della Famiglia and the Associazione Famiglie numerose, November 27, 1951).

As for the responsibility of medical workers, the words of Pope John Paul II must be recalled:

�Their profession calls for them to be guardians and servants of human life. In today's cultural and social context, in which science and the practice of medicine risk losing sight of their inherent ethical dimension, health-care professionals can be strongly tempted at times to become manipulators of life, or even agents of death. In the face of this temptation their responsibility today is greatly increased. Its deepest inspiration and strongest support lie in the intrinsic and undeniable ethical dimension of the health-care profession, something already recognized by the ancient and still relevant Hippocratic Oath, which requires every doctor to commit himself to absolute respect for human life and its sacredness� (Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae", no. 89).

__________

The previous articles from www.chiesa on the controversy, with Archbishop Fisichella's article and other documents:

> The Recife Case. Rome Has Spoken, But the Dispute Has Not Ended (3.7.2009)

> Drifting Mines. In Africa the Condom, in Brazil Abortion (23.3.2009)

Do You Know Who's Behind Your News?

Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:56 pm (GMT -5)
Do You Know Who's Behind Your News?
Archbishop Chaput Warns of "Fourth Estate"

http://www.zenit.org/article-26440?l=english

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, JULY 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The news media have incredible influence over how opinion is formed, and it's urgent for Catholics to understand how news is reported and who works behind the scenes, says Archbishop Charles Chaput.

The archbishop of Denver said this last week in an address he gave to Legatus, an organization that ministers to Catholic business leaders.

His talk was titled "Catholics and the 'Fourth Estate,'" making reference to a term coined in revolutionary times. At that time in France, the three main pillars of society -- the clergy, the nobles and the common people -- were referred to as the three "estates" of French society.

In was in that context that the press was referred to as the "fourth estate," acknowledging the power and influence of the written word.

"America's news media have enormous opinion-shaping power," Archbishop Chaput affirmed. "Therefore it's vital for Catholics to understand how the media work, and especially how they work on us."

"Most of what we know about the world comes from people we'll never meet and don't really understand," he explained. "We don't even think of them as individuals. Instead we usually talk about them in the collective -- as 'the media' or 'the press.'

"Yet behind every Los Angeles Times editorial or Fox News broadcast are human beings with personal opinions and prejudices. These people select and frame the news. And when we read their newspaper articles or tune in their TV shows, we engage them in a kind of intellectual intimacy in the same way you're listening to me right now."

Although he admits "this isn't necessarily a bad practice," one must be aware of who is behind the news.

"We usually know very little about the person who writes an unsigned editorial or the people who create the nightly news," the archbishop said. "And that's worth talking about. Here's why. In an information society, the people who shape our information control the public conversation."

Calling the media and the techniques they employ a "kind of 'soft imperialism,'" the prelate noted that "like it or not, most of us define the 'news' by what receives the most attention from a handful of major media."

"The media's power to shape public thought is why it's so vital for the rest of us to understand their human element," Archbishop Chaput stated. "When we don't recognize the personal chemistry of the men and women who bring us our news -- their cultural and political views, their economic pressures, their social ambitions -- then we fail the media by holding them to too low a standard. We also -- and much more importantly -- fail ourselves by neglecting to think and act as intelligent citizens."

Less thought

Archbishop Chaput spoke about the how Internet and 24-hour cable news networks have fundamentally changed not only the news cycle, which used to be marked by morning and evening editions of a newspaper, but also the way society consumes news.

"For the past 50 years our culture has been shifting away from the printed word to visual communications, which are much more inclined to sensation and passive consumption," he said. "This has consequences. When a print culture dies, the ideas, institutions and even habits of public behavior built on that culture begin to weaken.

"Visual and electronic media, today's dominant media, need a certain kind of content. They thrive on brevity, speed, change, urgency, variety and feelings. But thinking requires the opposite. Thinking takes time. It needs silence and the methodical skills of logic."

While acknowledging the benefits of having access to more information, Archbishop Chaput lamented the technology has "undermined the intellectual discipline that we once had when our main tools of communication were books or print publications. This is not a good development. In fact, it's a very dangerous thing in a democracy, which is a form of government that demands intellectual and moral maturity from its citizens to survive."

While not urging people to throw away computers, cell phones and other devices associated with new technology, the archbishop called to mind that "material progress is never an unmixed blessing."

"It gives, and it takes away," he explained. "And it always has unintended consequences, which means we need to be more -- not less -- vigilant about the way our news media form us, and how their influence shapes the content of our public life."

Getting it right

A second concern Archbishop Chaput put forth is that the media have lost their way in covering stories with "a right spirit."

He explained by recalling that the press has an important role in America's public order: "The press is the only field besides religion explicitly singled out for protection by the First Amendment. Thomas Jefferson, writing during his presidency, put the importance of a free press this way: 'No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press.'"

The archbishop called Jefferson's words "striking, because their defense of a free press emphasizes that freedom is a means and not an end in itself. Notice what he defines as the purpose of press freedom: the reason and truth needed for self-government.

"But in our own time, the news establishment -- even when discussing serious issues -- often seems less interested in reason and truth than in what Christopher Lasch called 'ideological gestures;' in other words, sound bites and tribal slogans designed to shape our thought rather than encourage it."

"The news media, despite their claims of impartiality, and despite the good work they often do accomplish, are just as prone to prejudice, ignorance, bad craftsmanship and tribalism as any other profession," he said. "But unlike other professions, the press has constitutional protections. It also has real power in shaping how we think, what we think about and what we like, dislike and ignore.

"America's media, including its news media, are the greatest catechetical syndicate in history. And if that kind of power doesn't make us uneasy, it should at least make us alert."

$10M makeover will restore glory to St. James Cathedral

Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:04 pm (GMT -5)
$10M makeover will restore glory to St. James Cathedral

The Orlando Sentinel
Jeff Kunerth
July 12, 2009
Link to original

In the 1970s, the Catholic Diocese of Orlando took what was once a plain parish church and turned it into a bland-looking cathedral.

The exterior of the cathedral was wrapped in pale yellow stucco, obliterating the stonework of the original facade. Then in the '80s, the graceful curve of the wall behind the altar was enclosed to hide the pipe organ and create a dressing room for clergy.

It was like giving someone an extreme makeover by removing her best features.

Now, an 18-month, $10 million renovation project will restore St. James Catholic Cathedral to its original 1950s appearance and dress it up with stained glass, murals and artwork befitting a true cathedral.

"The church was never properly dressed," said Sister Elizabeth Worley, who is overseeing the renovation.

The renovation began last week with the removal of the church pews, which are being sent to Catholic schools and orphanages in Jamaica. Next, the church's two pipe organs and their 3,500 pipes will be disassembled and shipped to Illinois for a $1 million restoration.

When completed, St. James will be larger, more ornate.

"It will look more like a cathedral. It will be very, very beautiful," said Elizabeth Jennings, St. James' associate director of music. "This way, it looks very plain."

In the meantime, the parishioners of St. James will have to live with dust and displacement. While reconstruction is under way, church services are taking place in St. James' social hall.

"Change is never easy, but I think it's exciting," said St. James parishioner Evelyn Hinson, 60. "It really is necessary. Our cathedral is too small."

St. James' 1970s remodeling was, in part, a reaction to directives from the Vatican that Catholic churches should be more streamlined and less ostentatious. Some feel church officials went too far in removing the beauty and majesty of the mother church of the Orlando diocese.

"Beautiful stained glass, beautiful statues: Those things create a prayerful environment and bring us back to our roots," said Marilyn Blanchette, who is leading the fundraising drive to renovate the cathedral. "Cathedrals around the world are being restored to their natural beauty."

Altogether, the diocese and parish plan to spend $1 million to dress up the cathedral with artwork. The cathedral also will be expanded to increase seating from 700 to 1,200. Its flooring, leaky tile roof, electrical, plumbing, air-conditioning and sound systems will be replaced.

When it rains, water seeps down the walls by the organ console. When it really storms, pails are used to catch the dripping water, said the Rev. John McCormick, the parish rector. "We've had some really bad storms where we have buckets in five or six places."

The repair, renovation and restoration of the cathedral are part of a $150 million Alive in Christ fundraising campaign among the 90 parishes and missions in the nine-county diocese. In addition to renovating the cathedral, the money will be used to create endowments for parochial-school tuition, expand Catholic social-service centers, repair and expand parish churches and schools, and fund Catholic services, said Blanchette, president of the Catholic Foundation of Central Florida.

So far, with the campaign halfway complete, about $75 million has been pledged, Blanchette said.

It's a hard time economically to think big, Blanchette said, but that's what Central Florida's Catholic diocese has done.

"As a church, we've never done a great job of creating a big dream; $150 million for a diocese is a pretty big dream."

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:23 am (GMT -5)
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

They did eat and were filled,
and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets. - St. Mark 8: 8.

The miraculous feeding of the multitude, of which to-day's Gospel gives us an account, reminds us that Jesus, the true Bread of heaven, came down to earth to be the food of our souls and bring them to life everlasting. Mankind, hungering and thirsting after true justice, looks up to Him, and He satisfies all with His grace. We, too, are hungry and thirsty, looking up with earnest desire of heaven, and He will bring us thither, if we follow Him. He is no less merciful now than when He said: "I have compassion on the multitude," and by His help we shall one day reach the abode of everlasting peace, where we shall drink of the fulness of His grace and joy, that fulness which contains unspeakable happiness for all eternity. We are destined for undying glory and bliss; in this fact is the dignity of man most beautifully revealed; and we perceive our destiny if we consider the dignity conferred by God upon man even now in this world.

In the world to come, the good will enjoy great honor and glory, for they will be not angels, but like to and equal to the angels, being children of God, because the Son of God became Man. Therefore every Christian possesses great dignity even on earth, and this is the fact of which we can really be glad and proud. At the Ascension our Lord in His human nature went up to heaven in order that all who through Him have become children of God may also go whither the Son of God has gone. In heaven He is highly exalted in His human nature, in order that all who follow Him here may be assured of sharing His indescribable glory in heaven. Indescribable, indeed, is the glory reserved for the children of God, far beyond all that our imagination can picture or our hearts desire.

Therefore, whilst we are in this world, let us walk with Christ, through whom alone we can attain to that true glory. To walk with Christ is the same thing as to live like a child of God; and he only walks with Christ who seeks happiness nowhere save in God, and, like Christ, desires not his own glory, but that of his heavenly Father. One who walks with Christ looks constantly at Him, remembering that even the Son of Man had to enter into His glory through self-denial, suffering and sacrifice. One who walks with Christ aims not at the things of earth, but at those of heaven. striving ever to become more like his Divine Master. Let us often think of the glory of heaven, secured for us by our God, Brother and Saviour, for this thought will help us really to walk in the way of holiness with Him. The glory and joy of heaven consists primarily in the contemplation and possession of God. This contemplation of God includes a delight in and knowledge of His works, not merely of the things that He created, but also of His government of the universe. All that has been obscure to us here on earth will be cleared and intelligible to us there. Now we know God reflected, as it were, in the mirror of His creation, and even in this partial knowledge we find great satisfaction and joy.

Far more perfect, however, is the knowledge that we derive from revelation, and especially from Christ's teaching. Whence did we receive the grace of knowing God and His revelations? It came to us by no merit of our own, and so we are bound all the more to be thankful for it. It is only by true thankfulness, manifesting itself in a right use of His benefits, that we can become worthy of the reward promised us by God. We make a right use of the revelation that we have received through Christ, when we accept it with firm faith, letting it have a practical influence upon our actions, and when we accept with humility all those truths which, far from contradicting the reason of man, lie above it, and are inexplicable by means of it alone.

Let us firmly resolve that throughout life we will accept these truths; they will be our light on the way that we must follow in order to attain to the contemplation of God.

Inseparably connected with this contemplation will be the love of God in heaven, which corresponds with the possession of what is infinitely good. It is only by loving God here that we shall gain that entrancing love of Him in heaven. If we are too weak to love Him fervently now, Jesus will help us, so let us pray earnestly for this love on earth, for in heaven it will be transformed into the delight of possessing Him. He has given us, in His infinite love, all the means that we require to enable us to reach the joy and glory of heaven. It depends upon ourselves alone whether we obtain what He desires to give us, provided we make a good use of the means at our disposal. We resolve to use them rightly, but the world does its best to prevent us from keeping this resolution. Therefore it behooves us often to meditate quietly upon the eternal reward awaiting us. May the remembrance of it strengthen us in our endeavour to walk with Christ, and not only to be true to our holy faith, but to unite with it a really heartfelt love of God, in order that our craving after God, innate in every heart unspoiled by the world, our hunger and thirst after justice, may one day be really satisfied in heaven, where all joy and glory are made perfect. Amen.

Possible Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aries

Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:50 pm (GMT -5)
Here is a link to a video of a scientist describing the miracle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbg_dhI4XCs

Mel Gibson to Return to the Big Screen

Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:00 am (GMT -5)
Mel Gibson to Return to the Big Screen

US Magazine
July 10, 2009
Link to original

Mel Gibson arrives for the Los Angeles industry screening of "X-Men
Origins-Wolverine" at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images CelebNews@Usmagazine.com!

Mel Gibson is headed back to the big screen.

The 53-year-old actor -- who is expecting a baby with girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva -- has signed on to headline The Beaver, a drama to be directed by Jodie Foster.

Gibson will play "a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet," according to Variety. Foster will play his wife.

Filming is expected to begin in September in New York City.

Gibson and Foster previously starred in 1994's Maverick.

The actor's last big movie role was in the 2002 chiller Signs.

In April, Gibson announced he and his wife Robyn were divorcing after nearly 30 years.

The $64,000 question from Benedict's encyclical, and other V

Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:09 pm (GMT -5)
The $64,000 question from Benedict's encyclical, and other Vatican goings-on

By John L Allen Jr
Created Jul 09, 2009

[Note: John Allen is in Rome covering the visit Friday of President Barack Obama to Pope Benedict XVI. Watch the NCR web site for his breaking news reports.]

Now that Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical on the economy, Caritas in Veritate, is finally out, the predictable war of spin is well underway. Partisan reactions on both the Catholic left and right already seem clear, which might be referred to as the "Khrushchev letter" and the "Blue Meanies" strategies respectively.

In many cases, the left seems to be approaching Caritas in Veritate much like the Kennedy administration approached communication from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis -- responding to what they liked, and disregarding the rest. Hence liberal commentators have hailed what Benedict had to say about labor unions, global redistribution of wealth and a planetary form of governance, but have largely glossed over his treatment of the "life issues," including abortion, birth control, gay marriage, and population control. Reading some progressive Catholic commentary, it's as if sections 15, 28 and 74-75 of Caritas in Veritate, devoted to the defense of human life and bioethics, simply weren't there.

The Khrushchev letter strategy also describes a fair bit of media coverage of Caritas in Veritate, intrigued by the irony of "conservative pope issues liberal document" and willing to overlook whatever doesn't exactly fit that script.

On the right, meanwhile, another game is afoot -- finding a cabal of "Blue Meanies" to blame for the sections of Caritas in Veritate that conservatives find appalling. The clearest example has come from George Weigel, who distinguished between "gold passages" in the encyclical, which he believes come from the pope himself, and "red passages," which Weigel ascribes to a "peace and justice" crowd in the Vatican, still smarting from the blow their anti-capitalist agenda took with the late John Paul II's 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus.

Of course, the main obstacle for any such "Blue Meanie" exegesis is to explain how a brilliant scholar-pontiff could have failed to notice that whole sections of a major teaching document, upon which he's been laboring for years, somehow misrepresent his own thinking. (It's a tribute to Weigel's influence that a senior Vatican official pulled me aside Thursday morning in the hallway outside the pope's apartment, maybe ten feet from where Benedict was conducting a meeting with the President of South Korea, to ask me if I had seen Weigel's piece � even if he went on to say that he found it unpersuasive.)

In the end, it's hard to avoid the sensation that both these readings, in the words of Ned Flanders of "Simpsons" fame, feel like they're strainin' to do some explainin'.

The $64,000 question

Over time, after this entertaining but probably ephemeral round of spin dies down, experts may begin to sink their teeth into some of the truly interesting questions raised in Caritas in Veritate, but not really settled by it. Such points might include what Benedict XVI has in mind by new global "synergies" among labor unions, and if the pope's dismissal of "abstract subdivisions" in Catholic social teaching -- chiefly, between pro-life and peace-and-justice advocacy -- can be translated into a more unified spirit at the Catholic grassroots.

Yet if there's a $64,000 question left hanging by Caritas in Veritate -- a point where Benedict's teaching seems interesting and important, but cries out for more meat on the bone -- it's probably this: What exactly would the "true world political authority" urged by the pontiff actually look like?

In keeping with papal social teaching as far back as John XXIII's Pacem in Terris in 1963, Benedict XVI argued that the development of a global system of governance is an urgent priority, both "to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis" and "to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration."

Yet for a bit of counsel that's been around at least for 46 years, the outlines of what popes mean by a "true world political authority" are notoriously fuzzy.

Popes themselves -- including, it must be said, Benedict XVI in Caritas in Veritate -- often don't seem terribly clear what they have in mind. Sometimes it seems like they're talking about a formal, constitutional one-world government -- a sort of United Nations on steroids. Yet in the same breath, popes usually invoke the principle of subsidiarity, which implies a devolved system of decision-making at the lowest possible level. How to square these two points remains a bit of a mystery.

To take just one example, John Paul II wrote in his 2003 message for the World Day of Peace that Catholic social teaching doesn't necessarily point to a "global super-state," but rather to "continuing and deepening processes already in place to meet the almost universal demand for participatory ways of exercising political authority, even international political authority." What precisely that means was never really explained.

Many experts regard the idea of planetary governance as perhaps the most glaring gap between the promise of Catholic social teaching and its delivery. As American Jesuit sociologist Fr. John Coleman has put it, Catholic social doctrine on this point remains "much too vague and moralistic."

Noted ethicist Fr. Bryan Hehir once explained the problem this way: Catholic social doctrine arose in an age in which the primary actors were nation-states and mediating institutions within nation-states, especially families, civic associations, and churches. Formally speaking, Catholic social teaching has relatively little to say about inter-governmental organizations such as the World Bank or Interpol or the World Trade Organization, or the burgeoning sector of Non-Governmental Organizations. In the age of globalization, those non-state actors seem destined to carry an increasing share of the load in terms of governance.

In Caritas in Veritate, Benedict XVI refers to the "governance of globalization," not "government" -- suggesting that the pope is aware that there are a variety of ways to exercise control over economic life other than a souped-up UN, or some other new planetary bureaucracy.

In that light, the following are two possible lines of reflection that academics, activists and others interested in fleshing out the promise of Catholic social teaching on this point might want to pursue.

1. A nuncio to Standard and Poors

First, in the 21st century a great deal of governance is not carried out by traditional states, or even groupings of states such as the G8 (which is meeting this week in Italy), but rather what experts call "global policy networks." These networks may be exclusively private or a mixture of public and private actors, but in either case they exercise enormous influence over global economic life.

Two examples help make the point. As Coleman has observed, Standard and Poors is by no means a government; it's a private research firm (a division of McGraw-Hill) that analyzes stocks and bonds. Despite that, it has a remarkable degree of power to regulate the international bond market. As of 2007, over $4.5 trillion of international investments were linked to Standard and Poor's family of ratings services.

Similarly, the private Internet Corporation for Assigned Agencies, headquartered in Marina del Rey, Calif., oversees the assignment of domain names and IP addresses on the Internet. In effect, it's the closest thing cyber-space has to a "government," even though it's certainly not a public authority in the traditional sense.

Fleshing out what a "true world political authority" would look like in a 21st century would inevitably means taking seriously the role of these global policy networks -- encouraging them where they're able to perform governance more efficiently than traditional states, but also insisting that they're inspired by a sense of the common good rather than exclusively the interests of their clients or stakeholders.

Here's a possibility to ponder.

One could make the argument that by concentrating much of its diplomatic energy on the United Nations and its member states, the official structures of the church are not yet in sync with where the emerging "action" is these days in terms of global governance. Perhaps what the Vatican really needs in the 21st century is a nuncio, meaning a papal ambassador, to Standard and Poors! Whether a private financial ratings agency might be open to such an appointment is another question, but the point is that the church needs to think creatively about how to develop what Benedict XVI called for in Caritas in Veritate: "New forms of engagement" with global governance.

2. Horizontal Catholicism

In an October 2004 lecture at Loyola Marymount University, Coleman pondered the paradox that Roman Catholicism should be the religious actor best positioned to engage the issues raised by globalization, but aside from debt relief, its impact so far has been marginal. How to explain it?

Citing a 1998 study by Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink called Activists Beyond Borders, which concludes that successful global activism is "non-hierarchical, involves wide partnerships and remains truly flexible," Coleman floated the hypothesis that the official structures of the Catholic church "may lack the inner organizational flexibility for rapid and networked response to global issues as they arise."

As a result, Coleman suggests that "semi-autonomous and more local Catholic sub-groups will be the major actors in activist global networks."

Whether his diagnosis of Catholic officialdom is correct or not, Coleman was certainly onto something in highlighting the importance of what might be called "horizontal Catholicism," meaning a host of movements, associations, ad-hoc networks, and religious communities, engaged in the issues raised by globalization in a staggering variety of ways. These malleable, rapid-response forms of Catholicism will exercise a steadily more important role in framing Catholic social activism as the century unfolds.

One indicator is recent expansion in Catholic NGO's in and around the United Nations. According to a 2005 study by Kevin Ahern, when the UN first began accrediting NGO's in 1947, there were two Catholic groups: the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues, and the Catholic International Union for Social Service. As late as 1989, fewer than thirty Catholic NGOs were recognized by the UN's Economic and Social Council. In 2005, Ahern reported, there were 63, so the total had more than doubled. Three of these Catholic NGO's hold "general status," signifying the most important and influential non-governmental bodies: Caritas Internationalis, the Congregations of St. Joseph, and Franciscans International.

In the Catholicism of the future, NGOs, international Catholic organizations, new movements, religious orders, and a variety of ad-hoc networks without formal leadership or structures may often shape the church's public role more effectively than its official leadership.

As the church elaborates its vision of a world political authority, its own NGOs and other informal activist networks ought to have a central place at the table. The experience and insight of this horizontal Catholicism might also become a fertile locus teologicus, meaning a valuable foundation for new trajectories in Catholic social doctrine.

* * *

The old joke about Rome in the summer is that the only things stirring are cani e americani � dogs and Americans. Usually the one-two punch of intense heat and lengthy Italian vacations mean that it's a pretty sleepy place.

This week, however, has been a rare exception, packed with drama on the Vatican beat. In addition to the release of Caritas in Veritate on Tuesday during a packed Vatican news conference, we've also seen a shake-up in the Vatican office that handles relations with Catholic traditionalists, and papal sessions with a flock of heads of state -- including, of course, the highly anticipated first meeting between Benedict XVI and U.S. President Barack Obama tomorrow.

Given everything else happening, Benedict's overhaul of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, created in 1988 by John Paul II to oversee relations with the followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, to some extent fell through the cracks. In any other week, however, it likely would have been the big Vatican headline, for two reasons.

First, by bringing Ecclesia Dei directly under the control of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Benedict has made clear that "rehabilitating" the traditionalists isn't just a matter of finding the right political and canonical solutions to reabsorb the Society of St. Pius X founded by Lefebvre. It's about dealing with the doctrinal questions that still "remain open," as a statement on Wednesday from American Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now president of Ecclesia Dei, put it.

Those open questions pertain not simply to the old Latin Mass or other liturgical questions, but also the heart of the traditionalist critique of the church since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), especially with regard to ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, and religious freedom -- all now articles of official Catholic teaching about which many traditionalists harbor serious reservations. In effect, Benedict has signaled that those differences can't be glossed over or put on hold while a process of reconciliation moves ahead.

Second, Benedict's move is noteworthy because it meant the previous leaders of Ecclesia Dei have lost their jobs. Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, the previous president, and Msgr. Camille Perl, the longtime secretary, are both now out of work. (Castrillon-Hoyos is 80 and thus at the normal retirement age for cardinals.)

Since Ecclesia Dei played a lead role in preparing Benedict's decision last January to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops -- including one, Richard Williamson, who has questioned the Holocaust -- most people in and around the Vatican tended to assign the lion's share of blame for the furor that followed to Castrillon-Hoyos and Perl. Fairly or unfairly, Benedict's decision this week has thus been read as a gentle way of cleaning house.

In an institution where it's rare for anyone to lose a job over reputed mistakes or failures, the pope's nod toward accountability -- however oblique and indirect -- has raised some eyebrows.

* * *

As noted above, the Vatican is the world's original globalized institution. In that regard, it's worth noting that while Vatican personnel certainly grasp that Obama's visit has a special significance, it's hardly as if other business has come grinding to a halt.

Earlier this week the pope met the Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, himself a Catholic. On Thursday, the day before Obama's visit, Benedict XVI met with both the Prime Ministers of Australia and the President of South Korea, and on Saturday, the day after Obama, Benedict will host the Prime Minister of Canada.

All that activity may help explain why the pope and his Vatican advisors approach the Obama administration from a different, more global perspective than many American Catholics, understandably more focused on the domestic scene.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to go up to the fourth floor of the Apostolic Palace to watch the pope receive President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea -- a businessman and former Seoul mayor who, his official biography tells us, has vowed to donate everything he owns except his family's residence to the Korean state. Myung-bak is also a Presbyterian who had overwhelming support from the roughly 30 percent of the Korean population that's Christian; in 2008, some Buddhist monks in South Korea actually took to the streets to protest what they called his "pro-Christian" policies. (He later apologized for any appearance of discrimination.)

The pope was in good form, spending considerable time looking at the books and photos that Myung-bak had brought, and listening carefully to the explanations of the gifts offered in Italian by an interpreter. Msgr. Georg G�nswein also seemed upbeat, spending a few moments in the hallway chatting with reporters while the pope and the Korean president were behind closed doors.

At the end of the meeting, those of us in the press pool for the event had the opportunity to say hello to the pope. Here's one sign that the Vatican realizes the Obama meeting is on people's minds: As I walked up, Benedict XVI looked at me and said, "Ah, an American � we'll see you tomorrow, then!"

Source URL: http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/64000-question-benedicts-encyclical-and-other-vatican-goings

Pope's Encyclical Speaks Against One-World Gov/NWO

Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:09 pm (GMT -5)
Pope's New Encyclical Speaks Against, not for One-World Government and New World Order

LifeSiteNews
July 8, 2009
John-Henry Westen

Newspapers, blogs, talk-shows on radio and television are full of discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's supposed call for a "new world order" or a "one-world government." These ideas are, however, neither based in reality nor a clear reading of the Pope's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, the release of which yesterday spawned the heated discussion.

The Pope actually speaks directly against a one-world government, and, as would be expected from those who have read his previous writings, calls for massive reform of the United Nations. Confusion seems to have come from paragraph 67 of the encyclical, which has some choice pull-quotes which have spiced the pages of the world's news, from the New York Times to those of conspiracy theorist bloggers seeing the Pope as the Anti-Christ.

The key quote which has led to the charge reads: "To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago."

However, in paragraph 41, the Holy Father specifically differentiates his concept of a world political authority from that of a one-world government. "We must," he says "promote a dispersed political authority." He explains that "The integrated economy of the present day does not make the role of States redundant, but rather it commits governments to greater collaboration with one another. Both wisdom and prudence suggest not being too precipitous in declaring the demise of the State. In terms of the resolution of the current crisis, the State's role seems destined to grow, as it regains many of its competences. In some nations, moreover, the construction or reconstruction of the State remains a key factor in their development."

Later in the encyclical (57) he speaks of the opposite concept to one- world government -subsidiarity (the principle of Catholic social teaching which states that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority) - as being essential. "In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity," says the Pope.

Another of the key quotes which is being extracted for shock value from the encyclical is this: "In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth."

Since long before his papacy, Joseph Ratzinger has vigorously fought the United Nations' vision of a 'New World Order'. As early as 1997, and repeated subsequently, Ratzinger took public aim at such a vision, noting that the philosophy coming from UN conferences and the Millennium Summit "proposes strategies to reduce the number of guests at the table of humanity, so that the presumed happiness [we] have attained will not be affected."

"At the base of this New World Order", he said is the ideology of "women's empowerment," which erroneously sees "the principal obstacles to [a woman's] fulfillment [as] the family and maternity." The then-cardinal advised that "at this stage of the development of the new image of the new world, Christians - and not just them but in any case they even more than others - have the duty to protest."

Benedict XVI in fact repeats those criticisms in the new encyclical. In Caritas in Veritate, the Pope slams "practices of demographic control, on the part of governments that often promote contraception and even go so far as to impose abortion." He also denounces international economic bodies such as the IMF and World Bank (without specifically naming them) for their lending practices which tie aid to so-called 'family planning.' "There is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to specific health-care policies which de facto involve the imposition of strong birth control measures," says the encyclical.

Any vision of a proper ordering of the world, of international economics or political cooperation, suggests the Pope, must be based on a "moral order." That includes first and foremost "the fundamental right to life" from conception to natural death, the recognition of the family based on marriage between one man and one woman as the basis of society and freedom for faith and cooperation among all peoples based on principles of natural law.

Canadian PM Harper Pockets Host at LeBlanc's Funeral Mass

Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:10 am (GMT -5)
Questions Catholics demand explanation for PM pocketing communion wafer at LeBlanc funeral
Link to Original

A senior New Brunswick Roman Catholic priest is demanding the Prime Minister's Office explain what happened to the sacramental communion wafer Stephen Harper was given at Rom�o LeBlanc's funeral mass.

During communion at the solemn and dignified service held last Friday in Memramcook for the former governor general, the prime minister slipped the thin wafer that Catholics call "the host" into his jacket pocket.

In Catholic understanding, the host - once consecrated by a priest for the Eucharist - becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is crucial that the small wafer be consumed when it is received.

Monsignor Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John, wants to know whether the prime minister consumed the host and, if not, what happened to it.

If Harper accepted the host but did not consume it, "it's worse than a faux pas, it's a scandal from the Catholic point of view," he said.

Henneberry said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office is in order.

"If I were the prime minister, I would at least offer an explanation to say no offence was meant, and then (clarifying) what happened to the consecrated host is in order," he said. "I would hope the Prime Minister's Office would have enough respect for the Catholic Church and for faith in general to make clear whatever happened."

On Friday, during the mass, Harper reached out with his right hand and accepted the wafer from a priest.

A television camera lingered long enough to show New Brunswick Lt.-Gov. Herm�n�gilde Chiasson, the next person to receive the host, raise his to his mouth.

But the tape shows that Harper does not consume the wafer before the camera cuts away several seconds later.

If Harper was unclear about what was appropriate during the funeral mass, said Henneberry, it "would say to me it's time to get new protocol people."

Harper and his senior spokespersons were en route to Italy on Tuesday for the G8 leaders' summit.

Harper will spend five days in Italy and on Saturday he has an audience with Pope Benedict.

Requests for comment left with Harper's media office were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

What Harper did or didn't do at the ceremony quietly raised questions at the ceremony in Memramcook Friday.

When Harper took the host, "everybody just paused and said, 'What did he do with it?'"�" said one official who watched the pool feed with reporters who were not inside St. Thomas Church in Memramcook.

"You could see he was, 'Uh oh, I don't know what to do with this.'"�"

The curiosity among Catholics has not gone unnoticed among Liberal insiders in Ottawa, either.

Henneberry said he has received a call on Harper's actions from a concerned Catholic, and he doubts that she is the only one puzzled and perturbed.

"She said she was very upset," he said, adding he had not seen the footage.

"She said, 'All weekend long it has been bothering me and I know I can't do something about it, but someone should.'

"She can't be the only one in this country that is thinking that."

Harper's religious affiliation raises a separate but related question about his accepting the host: As a Protestant, should he have politely declined it?

The fact it was a national event that was televised live likely complicated the situation for everyone - the priests and Harper, Henneberry said.

"If the prime minister is not a Catholic, he should not have been receiving communion and if he comes up it places the priest in an awkward position, especially at a national funeral because everyone is watching," he said.

But Rev. Arthur Bourgeois, who delivered the homily, did not have a problem with the prime minister accepting the host.

"Usually, to partake in holy communion in the Catholic Church, you have to be a member of it, but if you're not, exceptionally sometimes at major occasions (it is different)," Bourgeois said.

"If you are up there and giving holy communion you are not going to stop and asked everyone if they are Catholic or if they are not Catholic.

"You say the Lord provides."

Monsignor Andr� Richard, who is Bishop of the Diocese of Moncton, gave Harper communion but said he didn't see what Harper did with the host.

"I didn't see anything wrong there "� because I was busy doing something else."

Bourgeois said it is acceptable to decline the host by simply folding one's hands, which signals the priest to bless the person.

Rev. James Weisgerber, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and archbishop of Winnipeg, said if Harper was not given good advice before the ceremony about what to do, it is a regrettable oversight.

"I would feel very sorry for the prime minister if he wasn't informed about what the procedure is," Weisgerber said. "I would find it terrible if we put him in an embarrassing situation.

"My concern is at a funeral of that level everyone knows what the protocol is."

Harper could have simply consumed the host shortly after he was off-camera; or he could have hesitated because he expected a priest would soon invite everyone to consume the host once everyone present had received it, as occurs in some Protestant churches.

His own faith tradition certainly does things differently, says an evangelical Christian journalist who specializes in religion and politics.

Lloyd Mackey's 2005 book The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper traces Harper's political and faith journey.

Given his church background, Harper might not have known exactly what was expected of him as a Protestant at a Roman Catholic mass, Mackey suggested.

"I don't think by himself as a Protestant adherent he'd be aware of the nuances," said Mackey, who added there would be people in his inner circle who should have advised him.

For a number of years, in Calgary and in Ottawa, Harper has worshipped at churches within the Christian and Missionary Alliance, said Mackey.

Communion in Alliance churches is typically held once a month.

It would involve the seated congregation passing along wafers and, in small individual glasses, unfermented grape juice.

Harper grew up in a background with United Church of Canada and Presbyterian influences, but he was something of a skeptic until he was a young adult.

Mackey's book says Harper's journey to a committed personal faith was influenced by fellow politician Preston Manning, among others, and came after reading much-admired Christian apologists C.S. Lewis and Malcolm Muggeridge.

LeBlanc, 81, died in late June. He had been the country's first Acadian and Maritime governor general, and before that, a senator, MP and press secretary to two prime ministers.

Benedict XVI reverses Paul VI's changes to Pauline Chapel

Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:26 am (GMT -5)
www.chiesa.espressonline.it

The Pauline Chapel Reopened for Worship. With Two New Features

It is the pope's private chapel, in the Vatican buildings. Subjected to a complete restoration, it again has the altar turned toward the tabernacle. But also new is the interpretation that Benedict XVI has given to the two frescoes by Michelangelo, especially concerning the expression of the apostle Peter...

by Sandro Magister
Link to Original

ROME, July 6, 2009 - The illustrations reproduced above are two details from two frescoes by Michelangelo, facing each other in the Pauline Chapel: the conversion of Paul, and the crucifixion of Peter.

The Pauline Chapel is not open to visitors. Situated in the Vatican buildings just a few steps from the Sistine Chapel, it is a place of prayer reserved for the pope. After undergoing a complete restoration, it was reopened for worship on Saturday, July 4, by Benedict XVI, who presided over vespers there.

The news of the reopening of the Pauline Chapel for worship received scant coverage in the media, being overshadowed by the imminent publication of the encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" and by the meeting between the pope and Barack Obama.

But at least two new developments must be noted.

***

The first is that the renovation included a restructuring of the sanctuary, in fidelity to the liturgical tradition.

In 1975, Paul VI had replaced the altar turned toward the tabernacle with an oval-shaped altar detached from the wall, to be used while facing the faithful.

He had also eliminated the wooden communion rail, and replaced it with an ambo in carved marble. The floor was covered with a red carpet. So were the side walls, up to the level of the frescoes.

Benedict XVI has put the previous altar back in its place, although still a short distance from the tabernacle, restoring the celebration of all "facing the Lord." He has had the ambo removed, and the communion rail put back in its place. The red carpet has disappeared from both the floor and the walls, which have been restored to their original appearance.

***

The second important new development concerns the interpretation of the two frescoes by Michelangelo dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, in particular the interpretation of Peter's expression.

The traditional interpretation says that Peter - while he is about to be crucified upside down - is turned to look at everyone who enters the chapel, to remind him that martyrdom can be the fate of those who follow Jesus.

In support of this interpretation, it is recalled that until 1670, many conclaves were held in the Pauline Chapel. Peter was looking into the eyes of the cardinals preparing to elect his successor. And the newly elect, who from then on would go into that chapel to pray, would exchange glances each time with the first of the apostles.

Those in charge of the restoration, in presenting the renovated chapel to the public on June 30, also adhered substantially to this interpretative tradition.

So then, the new development is that Benedict XVI has distanced himself from it. In the homily for vespers with which he reopened the Pauline Chapel for worship, he gave a new interpretation of Peter's expression in the fresco by Michelangelo.

The pope said that Peter's gaze, instead of being directed at the visitor, is instead intended to be directed at the face of Paul on the opposite wall: at Paul, who bears within himself the light of the risen Christ. "It is as if Peter, in the hour of the supreme trial, were seeking that light which gave the true faith to Paul."

Naturally, the pope added, this does not change the fact that this dialogue of gazes between the two apostles is a great lesson for those who enter to pray in the Pauline Chapel, and in particular for the successors of Peter.

The following is the central passage of Benedict XVI's homily at vespers on July 4, 2009, in the Pauline Chapel, dedicated to the two apostles frescoed by Michelangelo:

"The two faces of Peter and Paul are across from each other . . ."

by Benedict XVI

[...] The eyes are drawn first of all by the faces of the two apostles. It is already clear from their position that these two faces play a central role in the iconographic message of the chapel. But, beyond their placement, they draw us immediately beyond the image: they question us, and prompt us to reflect.

First of all, let us examine Paul: why is he represented with such an old face? It is the face of an old man, while we know - and Michelangelo also knew this well - that the call of Saul on the road to Damascus took place when he was about thirty years old. The decision of the artist already brings us beyond pure realism, it makes us go beyond the simple narration of events in order to usher us into a more profound level. The face of Saul-Paul - which is actually that of the artist himself, elderly, restless, and in search of the light of truth - represents the human being in need of a light from above. This is the light of divine grace, indispensable for acquiring new vision with which to perceive the reality oriented to the "hope that waits for you in heaven" - as the apostle writes in the opening salutation of the letter to the Colossians, which we have just heard (1,5).

Having fallen to the ground, Saul's face is illuminated from above, by the light of the Risen One, and, in spite of its dramatic nature, the depiction inspires peace and infuses trust. It expresses the maturity of the man who is illuminated inside by Christ the Lord, while around him turns a disarray of events in which all of the figures look like they are caught up in a whirlwind. The grace and peace of God have enveloped Saul, they have conquered and transformed him from within. He will proclaim this same "grace" and this same "peace" to all of his communities on his apostolic voyages, with a seasoned maturity not of age, but of spirit, given to him by the Lord himself.

Here therefore, in the face of Paul, we can already perceive the heart of the spiritual message of this chapel: the miracle of Christ's grace, which transforms and renews man through the light of his truth and his love. This is what constitutes the novelty of conversion, of the call to faith, which finds its fulfillment in the mystery of the Cross.

From the face of Paul we move to that of Peter, depicted at the moment in which his inverted cross is being raised, who turns to look at those who are observing him. This face also surprises us. Here the age represented is correct, but it is the expression that amazes and puzzles us. Why this expression? It is not an image of suffering, and the figure of Peter communicates surprising physical vigor. The face, especially the forehead and the eyes, seem to express the interior state of a man facing death and evil: there is a sense of confusion, an expression reaching outward intently, almost as if seeking something or someone in the final hour. And the faces of the people around him are also remarkable for their eyes: a chain of restless expressions, some of them even fearful or dismayed.

What does all of this mean? It is what Jesus had told this apostle in advance: "when you are old, another will take you where you do not wish to go"; and the Lord had added: "Follow me" (John 21:18,19). And here it is, at this very moment is the culmination of discipleship: the disciple is not greater than his Master, and now experiences all of the bitterness of the cross, of the consequences of sin that separates from God, all the absurdity of violence and deceit. If one comes to meditate in this chapel, one cannot escape the radical nature of the question that is posed from the cross: the cross of Christ, head of the Church, and the cross of Peter, his vicar on earth.

The two faces that we have stopped to consider are across from each other. One could even believe that Peter's face is turned toward Paul, who, for his part, does not see, but bears within himself the light of the risen Christ. It is as if Peter, in the hour of the supreme trial, were seeking that light which gave the true faith to Paul.

And so it is that in this sense, the two icons can become two acts in a single drama: the drama of the Paschal mystery: cross and resurrection, death and life, sin and grace. The chronological order of the events represented may have been overturned, but what emerges is the plan of salvation, that plan which Christ himself realized in himself by bringing it to fulfillment, as we have just sung in the hymn from the letter to the Philippians.

For those who come to pray in this chapel, and for the pope first of all, Peter and Paul become teachers of faith. With their testimony, they invite us to go to the depths, to meditate in silence on the mystery of the cross, which accompanies the Church until the end of time, and to welcome the light of the faith, thanks to which the apostolic community can extend to the ends of the earth the missionary and evangelizing action entrusted to it by the risen Christ. Here there are no solemn celebrations with the people. Here the successor of Peter and his collaborators meditate in silence and adore the living Christ, present especially in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. [...]

__________

The complete text of the pope's homily on July 4, 2009:

> "Si realizza quest'oggi..."

__________

For more information on the chapel, on the Vatican website:

> Il restauro della Cappella Paolina

__________

More on these topics on www.chiesa:

> Focus on ART AND MUSIC

__________

English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.

__________

6.7.2009
Search the site

All the articles
in chronological order:
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
Newsletter
Do you want to receive notification for each new article?
To change your address
or informations:
To cancel
your subscription:
E-mail: s.magister@espressoedit.it
Postal address: Sandro Magister, "L'espresso", via C. Colombo 90, 00147 Roma

Site design by Theo Nelki.

At the top of the page, a detail from the mosaics in the basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome, fifth century, depicting the heavenly Jerusalem.

� 1999-2009 Gruppo Editoriale L�Espresso Spa - Partita IVA 00906801006