ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - June 30, 2008
VATICAN DOSSIER Benedict XVI Notes St. Paul's Ecumenical Roadmap Paul's Message Is for Today, Says Pontiff Pope: Rome Was Key for Peter and Paul Orthodox Patriarch Says Dialogue Is Progressing Pauline Year Seen as Invitation for All Christians Love Christ First, Pope Urges Archbishops ANALYSIS Living Together Dangerously NEWS BRIEFS Nuncio Ordains 34 Legionaries to Diaconate IN FOCUS Bush's Embattled AIDS Bill ANGELUS On the Pauline Year DOCUMENTS Papal Greeting to Patriarch Bartholomew I Pope's Homily at Pauline Year Inauguration Papal Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul Patriarch's Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
VATICAN DOSSIER
Benedict XVI Notes St. Paul's Ecumenical Roadmap
Orthodox Patriarch Visits Pope for Pauline Year Inauguration
ROME, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says he thinks St. Paul offers "extremely helpful" guidance in the journey toward unity among Christians.
The Pope affirmed this Saturday upon receiving Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. The patriarch was in Rome for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and the solemn opening of the Pauline Jubilee Year, which runs through June 29, 2009.
"St. Paul reminds us that full communion between all Christians has its foundation in 'one Lord, one faith, one baptism,'" the Holy Father said, citing the Letter to the Ephesians. "May the common faith, the one baptism for the remission of sins and obedience to the one Lord and savior, be able to express themselves fully as soon as possible in the communal and ecclesial dimension.
"'Only one body and one Spirit,' affirms the apostle to the Gentiles, and adds: 'As only one is the hope to which you have been called.'
"St. Paul indicates to us, moreover, a sure way to maintain unity and, in the case of division, to repair it."
Enduring with love
Citing the Second Vatican Council, Benedict XVI recalled how guidelines from St. Paul were proposed in the context of the ecumenical commitment, "making reference to the weighty and always current words of the Letter to the Ephesians: 'I exhort you, therefore, I who am a prisoner of the Lord, to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the vocation you have received, with all humility, meekness and patience, enduring events with love, seeking to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.'"
The Pope said Paul gave a further exhortation to unity in his letters to Corinth, where "discord had arisen."
"St. Paul does not hesitate to address a strong call for them all to remain in agreement, for there to be no divisions among them, and for them to unite in the same mind and purpose," he said.
Still, Benedict XVI lamented, in the modern world, divisions continue, despite people's longing for peace. And in this regard, he affirmed, Christian unity is necessary for the world.
"In our world, in which the phenomenon of globalization is being consolidated, yet, despite this, persistent divisions and conflicts continue, men and women feel a growing need for certainty and peace," he said. "However, at the same time, they remain lost, as if ensnared by a certain form of hedonist and relativist culture which casts doubt upon the very existence of truth.
"The apostle's guidance in this matter is extremely helpful in encouraging efforts aimed at seeking full unity among Christians, which is so necessary in order to offer mankind of the third millennium an ever more resplendent witness of Christ, way, truth and life. Only in Christ and in his Gospel can humanity find the answer to its deepest hopes."
The Pope concluded expressing his prayer that the Pauline Jubilee Year will "help Christian people renew the ecumenical commitment, and may there be an intensification of joint efforts on the journey to the full communion of all Christ's disciples."
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Paul's Message Is for Today, Says Pontiff
Looks at 3 Fundamental Elements in Apostle's Teaching
ROME, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- St. Paul is not a mere historical figure, but someone who has a message for us today, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope affirmed this at the solemn inauguration of the Pauline Jubilee Year, which began with Saturday evening's vespers, held at St. Paul's Outside the Walls. The jubilee runs through June 29, 2009.
"We have come together not to reflect on a past history, irrevocably surpassed. Paul wants to speak with us today," the Holy Father said in his homily. "That is why I wanted to convoke this special 'Pauline year': to listen to him and to drink from him, as our teacher, in the faith and truth, in which are rooted the reasons for unity among the disciples of Christ.
"We are gathered, therefore, to question ourselves about the great apostle of the Gentiles. Not only do we ask ourselves, 'Who was Paul?' Above all, we ask ourselves 'Who is Paul?' 'What is he saying to me?'"
The Pontiff then proposed three texts from Pauline letters to look at Paul's "inner physiognomy […] that which is specific about his character."
Beloved by Christ
The first passage cited by the Pope was Paul's profession of faith in the Letter to the Galatians: "I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me."
"All that Paul does starts from this center," the Holy Father explained. "His faith is the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ in a totally personal way; it is awareness of the fact that Christ faced death not for something anonymous, but for love of him, of Paul, and that, risen, Christ still loves him, has given himself for him.
"His faith is having been captured by the love of Jesus Christ, a love that affects him in his innermost being and transforms him. His faith is not a theory, an option about God or the world. His faith is the impact of the love of God on his heart. So, this faith itself is love of Jesus Christ."
This faith and love, the Bishop of Rome continued, were linked to truth.
"The truth was too great for [Paul] to be ready to sacrifice it in view of an external success," he said. "The truth he had experienced in his encounter with the Risen One merited for him struggle, persecution and suffering. However, what motivated him in the depth of his being was being loved by Jesus Christ and the desire to transmit this love to others. Paul was someone able to love, and all his work and suffering is explained from this center."
With this foundation, the Holy Father suggested, it is easy to understand the concepts in the Pauline proclamation. He used as an example one of Paul's key words, freedom.
"The experience of being loved to the end by Christ opened [Paul's] eyes about truth and the path of human existence; that experience embraced everything," he said. "Paul was free as a man loved by God that, in virtue of God, was able to love together with him. This love is now the 'law' of his life and, precisely thus, was the freedom of his life. He speaks and acts, moved by the responsibility of love; he is free, and given that he is one who loves, he lives totally in the responsibility of this love and does not take freedom as a pretext for pleasure and egoism."
Identified with Church
Benedict XVI offered as a second text Paul's conviction about Christ being identified with the Church, a conviction that arose from his conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
The Holy Father recalled how Paul responded to the voice that asked him, "Why do you persecute me?" with the question, "Who are you, Lord?"
"And he received the reply: 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.' By persecuting the Church," the Pope said, "Paul was persecuting Jesus himself. 'You are persecuting me.'"
He explained: "Jesus identifies himself with the Church in a single subject. In this exclamation of the Risen One -- which transformed Saul's life -- is contained the whole doctrine of the Church as Body of Christ. […] The Church is not an association that wishes to promote a certain cause. It is not about a cause. It is about the person of Jesus Christ. […] He is personally present in the Church. 'Head and Body' form a single subject, said Augustine.
"So Christ becomes one spirit with his own, one subject in the new world of the resurrection. In all this, the Eucharistic mystery is visualized, in which Christ constantly gives his Body and makes of us one Body."
The Pontiff said that now, Paul and Christ address us with the question, "'How were you able to lacerate my Body?' Before the face of Christ, this question becomes at the same time an urgent appeal: Bring us together again from all our divisions. Make this again a reality today: There is only one bread; therefore, we, despite being many, are only one body."
Ready to suffer
Finally, Benedict XVI offered as a third citation one of St. Paul's last exhortations, written from prison where he was facing death: "Endure with me sufferings for the Gospel."
"The task of proclamation and the call to suffering for Christ are inseparably together," the Pope affirmed. "The call to be teacher of the Gentiles is at the same time and intrinsically a call to suffering in communion with Christ, who has redeemed us through his passion.
"In a world in which lying is powerful, truth is paid for with suffering. He who wishes to avoid suffering, to keep it far from himself, will have pushed away life itself and its grandeur. […] There is no love without suffering, without the suffering of denying ourselves, of the transformation and purification of the 'I' for true freedom.
"Wherever there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself also loses its value. The Eucharist -- center of our Christian being -- is based on the sacrifice of Jesus for us; it was born from the suffering of the love that found its culmination on the cross. We live from this love that gives itself. This gives us the courage and strength to suffer with Christ and for him, thus knowing that precisely in this way our life becomes great, mature and true."
It was Paul's suffering that make him "credible as teacher of truth," the Holy Father proposed.
And he concluded with a prayer: "At this hour in which we thank the Lord for having called Paul, making him the light of the Gentiles and teacher of us all, we pray: Give us also today the testimony of the Resurrection, touched by your love, and [make us] able to carry the light of the Gospel in our time. St. Paul, pray for us. Amen."
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Pope: Rome Was Key for Peter and Paul
Says City Was Fundamental to Catholicity, Unity of Mission
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Rome was key for both Peter and Paul in their respective missions, affirmed Benedict XVI on the apostles' feast day, in a Vatican Mass celebrated in the company of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople.
The Pope focused in the homily for Sunday's feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on the importance of Rome for both the "great princes" of the Church.
The Mass, held in St. Peter's Square, formed part of the celebrations for the inauguration of the Pauline Jubilee Year. The Holy Father inaugurated the Pauline year at Saturday's vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls. The jubilee runs through June 29, 2009.
Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople was in Rome for the occasion, and also gave a homily at Sunday's Mass.
"By their martyrdom, they -- Peter and Paul -- are now part of Rome," the Pontiff said. "Through martyrdom, even Peter became a Roman citizen forever. […] By virtue of their martyrdom, Peter and Paul are in reciprocal relationship forever.
"They die for the one Christ and, in the witness for which they give their lives, they are one."
Benedict XVI suggested that the New Testament enables us to "follow the development of their embrace, this unity in witness and in mission."
He noted how Paul, three years after his conversion, went to Jerusalem to consult Peter. Fourteen years later, he goes to Jerusalem again and at the conclusion of his meeting with the apostles, "James, Cephas and John give him their right hands, thus confirming the communion that unites them in the one Gospel of Jesus Christ," the Holy Father noted.
He continued: "Peter and Paul met each other at least twice in Jerusalem; at the end their paths take them to Rome. Why? Was this perhaps more than just pure chance? Is there perhaps a lasting message in it?
"While Paul usually only goes to places where the Gospel had not yet been announced, Rome is an exception. There he finds a Church whose faith the world speaks about. Going to Rome is part of the universality of his mission as one sent to all peoples. The way to Rome, which, already before his external trip, he had traveled interiorly with his letter, is an integral part of his task of bringing the Gospel to all peoples -- of founding the Church, catholic and universal. Going to Rome is for him the expression of his mission's catholicity. Rome must make the faith visible to the whole world, it must be the meeting place in the one faith."
Catholic
The Pope then turned his attention to Peter's journey to Rome, noting that the New Testament is less explicit about his motives.
Citing Paul's Letter to the Galatians, the Holy Father recalled: "Paul says that God gave strength to Peter for the apostolic ministry among the circumcised, and to Paul himself, the ministry among the pagans instead. But this assignment could be in force only as long as Peter remained with the Twelve in Jerusalem in the hope that all of Israel would adhere to Christ.
"In the face of later developments, the Twelve recognized the time in which they too must go forth into the world to announce the Gospel to it. Peter who, following divine order, had been the first to open the door to pagans, now leaves the leadership of the Christian-Jewish Church to James the Less, in order to dedicate himself to his true mission: to the ministry of the unity of the one Church of God made up of Jews as well as pagans. The desire of Paul to go to Rome highlights above all, as we have seen, the word 'catholica' ('catholic') among the characteristics of the Church."
Peter's journey to Rome, is, thus, associated with the word "one," the Pontiff affirmed. "He has the task of creating the 'unity' of the 'catholica,' of the Church made up of Jews and pagans, the Church of all peoples.
"And this is the permanent mission of Peter: to make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any one nation, any one culture or any one state. That it may always be the Church of all. That it may unite mankind beyond every frontier and, amidst the divisions of this world, make God's peace present, the reconciling power of his love. […] [W]e have all the more need of interior unity which comes from the peace of God -- the unity of all those who, through Jesus Christ, have become brothers and sisters. This is the permanent mission of Peter, as well as the special task entrusted to the Church of Rome."
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Orthodox Patriarch Says Dialogue Is Progressing
Notes That Church Will Also Celebrate Pauline Year
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- The Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople says dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is going forward, despite "considerable difficulties that exist and the well-known problems."
Patriarch Bartholomew I affirmed this in his homily Sunday at St. Peter's Basilica for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
The Mass, held in St. Peter's Square, formed part of the celebrations for the inauguration of the Pauline Jubilee Year. The Holy Father inaugurated the Pauline year at Saturday's vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls. The jubilee runs through June 29, 2009.
Bartholomew I affirmed that the Orthodox have also declared the jubilee. He said the Church is "planning, among others things, a sacred pilgrimage to some of the monuments of the apostolic activity of the apostle in the East: Ephesus, Perge and other cities in Asia Minor, but also Rhodes and Crete, the places called 'good ports.'
The patriarch stated that the Orthodox "honor and greatly venerate Peter -- he who made his salvific confession of the divinity of Christ, as much as Paul -- the vessel of election, who proclaimed this confession and faith to the ends of the universe in the midst of the most unimaginable difficulties and dangers. […] To strongly emphasize their equal importance, but also their weight in the Church and her regenerative and salvific work through the centuries, the East honors them in an icon in which they either hold a little ship in their hands, which symbolizes the Church, or they embrace and exchange the kiss in Christ.
"It is indeed this kiss that we have come to exchange with you, Your Holiness, emphasizing the ardent desire and love in Christ, things which are closely related to each other."
Bartholomew I then turned his attention to the progress toward unity between the two Churches.
"The theological dialogue between our Churches 'in faith, truth and love,' thanks to divine help, goes forward despite the considerable difficulties that exist and the well-known problems," he said. "We truly desire and fervently pray that these difficulties will be overcome and that the problems will disappear as soon as possible so that we may reach the desired final goal for the glory of God.
"We know well that this is your desire too, as we also are certain that Your Holiness will neglect nothing, personally working, together with your illustrious collaborators, through a perfect smoothing of the way, toward a positive fulfillment of the labors of dialogue, God willing."
The patriarch affirmed that in the context of the Pauline year, the Orthodox will pray for the Pope.
"And now," he concluded, "venerating the sufferings and the cross of Peter and embracing Paul's chains and stigmata, honoring the confession and martyrdom and the venerable death of both for the name of the Lord, which truly leads to life, we glorify the Thrice-Holy God and we supplicate him, so that through the intercession of Sts. Peter and Paul, […] he will, here below, grant us and all his children of the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world 'union of faith and communion in the Spirit' in the 'bond of peace' and there above eternal life and great mercy. Amen.
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Pauline Year Seen as Invitation for All Christians
Pope Says It Is Call to Be Missionaries of Gospel
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the newly inaugurated Pauline Jubilee Year is an invitation to every Christian to be a missionary of the Gospel.
The Pope affirmed this Sunday before praying the Angelus with thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square. On Saturday, he inaugurated the Pauline year at a ceremony at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
"Historians in fact situate the birth of Saul -- who later became Paul -- about seven to 10 years after Christ's," the Holy Father noted. "Thus, after the passage of about 2,000 years, I wanted to call this special jubilee, which will naturally have Rome as its center, especially the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the place of martyrdom at Tre Fontane.
"But it will involve the whole Church, beginning with Tarsus, Paul's city of birth, and the other Pauline places in present day Turkey and the Holy Land, which are pilgrimage destinations, as well as the island of Malta, where the apostle came after a shipwreck and sowed the fruitful seed of the Gospel."
The Pontiff said the "horizon of the Pauline Year cannot but be universal because St. Paul was, par excellence, the apostle of those who, in regard to the Jews, were 'distant,' and who, 'thanks to the blood of Christ,' were drawn 'near.'"
"For this reason, today too, in a world that has become 'small,' but where many have not yet met the Lord Jesus, the Jubilee of St. Paul invites all Christians to be missionaries of the Gospel," the Pope affirmed. "This missionary dimension must always be accompanied by that of unity, represented by St. Peter, the 'rock' on which Jesus Christ built his Church.
"As is underscored by the liturgy, the charisms of the two great apostles are complementary in building up the one people of God and Christians cannot offer a valid witness to Christ if they are not united."
"The Pauline year, evangelization, communion in the Church and full unity among Christians," Benedict XVI listed, "let us now pray for these great intentions, entrusting them to the celestial intercession of Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Church and Queen of the Apostles."
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Love Christ First, Pope Urges Archbishops
Receives 40 Prelates and Families in Audience
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Love for Christ comes before all else in the mission of an archbishop, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today upon receiving in audience 40 metropolitan archbishops accompanied by members of their families. On Sunday the archbishops received the pallium during a Eucharistic celebration held in St. Peter's Basilica.
The Holy Father greeted each of the metropolitan archbishops in their respective languages.
"The pallium," he explained in English, "is worn by metropolitan archbishops as a symbol of their hierarchical communion with the Successor of Peter in the governance of God’s people. It is made of sheep wool, as a symbol of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and the Good Shepherd who keeps vigilant watch over his flock.
"The pallium reminds bishops that, as vicars of Christ in their local Churches, they are called to be shepherds after the example of Jesus. As a symbol of the burden of the episcopal office, it also reminds the faithful of their duty to support the Church’s pastors by their prayers and to cooperate generously with them for the spread of the Gospel and the growth of Christ’s Church in holiness, unity and love."
St. Paul
Addressing them as a group, Benedict XVI reflected on St. Paul's image of the Body of Christ: "The image of an organic body applied to the Church is one of the powerful and characteristic elements of the doctrine of St. Paul. In this jubilee year dedicated to him, I wish to entrust each of you to his celestial protection.
"May the Apostle of the Gentiles help each of you to make the communities entrusted to your care grow in unity and mission, in harmonious and coordinated pastoral activity, animated by constant apostolic zeal."
"The condition of service for all pastors is love for Christ, which must come before everything," said the Pope.
Recalling Jesus' question to Peter -- "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" -- the Holy Father prayed that it "resound in our hearts and stimulate our ever fresh and passionate response: 'Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.'"
"It is from this love for Christ that the mission to 'feed my sheep' arises," he added, "a mission that may be summarized above all in his own testimony."
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ANALYSIS
Living Together Dangerously
Study Reveals Perils of Cohabitation
By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Living together before marriage is a very common practice for couples in many countries. Many defend it on the basis that it enables the future husband and wife to get to know each other better.
Abundant evidence exists, however, that cohabitation is more of an obstacle rather than an advantage in preparing for marriage. Michael and Harriet McManus recently published “Living Together: Myths, Risks and Answers (Howard Books), which documents their research on the topic.
The authors, founders of the organization Marriage Savers, warn that couples who cohabit before marriage are much more likely to divorce afterward. There is a big difference, they say, between a permanent bond such as marriage and just living together in a conditional relationship.
Typically in cohabitation the two individuals are more concerned on obtaining satisfaction from the other person, they write. In marriage, by contrast, spouses tend to focus more on giving satisfaction to the other person.
One major problem with cohabitation, the book explains, is that the two partners often start living together for very different motives. While many women look upon it as a stepping-stone to marriage, men often look at it for convenience, and not as a firm commitment.
Unfair
Furthermore, the authors cite studies showing that typically cohabitation is not a fifty-fifty division of expenses and burdens. Women tend to contribute more, both in terms of money and in domestic work.
Numerous recent studies also demonstrate that physical attacks against women are much more common among cohabiting couples than among married couples. Serious violence and murder are also more prevalent among couples who are not married.
Another concern is the welfare of children. Michael and Harriet McManus point out that 41% of cohabiting U.S. couples in 2003 had children under 18 years of age living with them.
Children of couples living together without being married are at a serious disadvantage. Compared to children of married couples, they have higher rates of delinquency, they do worse at school, and suffer psychologically from the unstable home environment.
Further detailed information on the perils of cohabitation came in a report published in June by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. Authored by family and marriage expert David Popenoe, the study titled “Cohabitation, Marriage and child Wellbeing: A Cross-National Perspective” starts by stating: “No family change has come to the fore in modern times more dramatically, and with such rapidity, as heterosexual cohabitation outside of marriage."
Popenoe cited data showing that in the United States figures from 2002 show that over 50% of women aged 19 to 44 had cohabited for a portion of their lives. As cohabitation rates have skyrocketed, marriage rates have plummeted, he added.
Social concern
“Yet cohabitation in place of marriage should be considered a major societal concern,” Popenoe warned. He explained that an abundance of research shows clear benefits for married couples, who are normally happier, healthier and economically better off.
Research also points to a significant reduction in these benefits if a couple is only living together and are not married.
Popenoe agreed with the McManus book concerning the disadvantages of cohabitation for children. Given that cohabiting couples break up at a higher rate compared to married couples, this brings with it more stress and disruption for children. Higher rates of child abuse and family violence also bring problems for kids.
This disadvantage for children, Popenoe commented, also has a lot to do with the major trend in family patterns in past years with the shift of child rearing from married parents to single parents, mostly mothers. In a number of countries the chances are now better than fifty-fifty that a child will spend some time living with just one parent before reaching adulthood.
Single parenthood stems both from unwed births and from parental breakup after birth. Cohabitation is a factor in spurring higher parenthood due to births to couples not married. It is also responsible due to the higher breakup rate for cohabiting couples who have children -- which is more than twice what it is for married couples with children.
Popenoe tied in the higher break-up rate to the lack of commitment in cohabiting couples, a point also mentioned in the McManus book. Cohabiting partners, he said, “tend to have a weaker sense of couple identity, less willingness to sacrifice for the other, and a lower desire to see the relationship go long term.”
He cited one study carried out in the United States that calculated cohabiting couples break up at a rate five times higher than for married couples.
Europe
Popenoe also looked at the situation in Europe, where cohabitation is even more prevalent than in the United States. In Northern and Central Europe, plus the United Kingdom, more than 90% of couples live together before marriage.
In general, Popenoe commented, just about all these countries, plus others such as Australia and New Zealand, are heading in the direction of the high cohabitation rates found in Scandinavia.
In response to these changes many governments have introduced varying forms of legislation to recognize partnerships that give a series of legal benefits to couples who register their relationship.
It is still not clear, he observed, whether legislation is merely following social changes, or if it has itself also fostered the growth of cohabitation. It is likely, however, Popenoe opined, that giving legal recognition to cohabitation will weaken the status of marriage.
“There can be no doubt that the rise of non-marital cohabitation in modern nations has seriously weakened the institution of marriage, and strongly contributed to substantial and continuing increases in unwed births and lone-parent families,” Popenoe concluded at the end of his analysis.
From the point of view of the welfare of society and of children cohabitation is of little benefit, he argued. Even in some European countries with very well-financed welfare systems that support children there is still a substantial gap in child well-being between children who grow up in intact families and those who do not.
Lifelong commitment
Marriage and the family were one of the topics examined by Benedict XVI in his recent visit to the United States. During the celebration of vespers with bishops on April 16 the Pope noted his “deep concern” over the state of the family.
The Pontiff commented that family life makes is not only where we can live the experience of justice and love, but that it is also the primary place for evangelization and passing on the faith.
He noted that in addition to an increase in divorce, many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or forego it.
“To some young Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended arrangement to live with another person,” the Holy Father observed.
“[T]he Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment,” is lacking in cohabitation, he added.
“In such circumstances, children are denied the secure environment that they need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is denied the stable building blocks which it requires if the cohesion and moral focus of the community are to be maintained,” Benedict XVI concluded. Problems that many countries around the world are struggling to deal with.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Nuncio Ordains 34 Legionaries to Diaconate
25 Years After Approval of Congregation's Constitutions
ROME, VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- When one puts Christ at the center of his life, he thinks and speaks of nothing other than him and his Kingdom, the apostolic nuncio to Italy told 34 candidates to the diaconate of the Legionaries of Christ.
Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello said this Sunday before ordaining the deacons in a liturgy held at the Center of Higher Studies of the Legionaries of Christ in Rome. The diaconate is the first of three ranks in the ordained ministry, and the last step for seminarians before being ordained to the priesthood.
"Jesus must be the center of our thoughts, the argument of our speech, and the model of our life," said Archbishop Bertello. "If we truly have this contact with our Lord, we will think of nothing other than his Kingdom, we will speak of nothing other than him and his Kingdom, and we will make our life an apostolate, giving ourselves totally to God.
"I am sure that each one of you has in his heart a spirit, a missionary ardor that is proper to your congregation."
Ranging in age from 29 to 35, the deacons hail from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela.
An additional 15 Legionaries were ordained over the past few weeks in Mexico, the United States and Germany. Six more will be ordained in Medellin, Colombia; Milan, Italy and Dublin, Ireland. In total, 56 Legionaries will be ordained to the diaconate during this period.
Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the approval of the constitutions of the Legionaries of Christ. The congregation, founded in 1941 by Father Marcial Maciel, has 760 priests and over 2,500 seminarians.
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IN FOCUS
Bush's Embattled AIDS Bill
Serious Concerns Raised Over Use of Funds
By Sue Ellin Browder
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Pressing the Senate to rubberstamp $50 billion in global spending on AIDS, malaria and TB, AIDS activists marched on the White House last week bearing signs with slogans like "Now or Never."
But this week, a Anglican priest from Uganda opened more serious dialogue about the bill, saying that "condom promotions have failed in Africa" and AIDS "profiteers" have subverted African fidelity and abstinence programs in order to sell commodities for a profit.
"AIDS is no longer simply a disease; it has become a multibillion-dollar industry," Reverend Sam Ruteikara, co-chair of Uganda's national AIDS-prevention committee, wrote today in the Washington Post.
Stalled for months in the Senate, the reauthorization for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) would more than triple program spending from $15 to $50 billion over five years. But Ruteikara told ZENIT that if the money is misspent, it won't stop the spread of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and it could even raise HIV rates.
President George Bush wants the bill passed before the G-8 summit in Japan next week. But in a March 31 letter to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, seven senators led by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma urged delay, saying the bill has "serious problems."
Among other concerns, the senators said the new initiative costs too much and would fund "morally dubious" activities such as needle-exchange programs for drug addicts.
Further, the letter expressed major concerns about the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The senators wrote, "The [Global] Fund has serious policy problems, drug quality problems, administrative corruption, and [it] operates programs not bound by U.S. laws on abortion, needle exchange, prostitution/trafficking policy and others."
Over five years, the new PEPFAR bill would give the Global Fund $10 billion -- a quarter of the fund's budget. But the U.S. has only one vote out of 20 on how the money is spent.
The senators also want to reinstate wording from the original PEPFAR bill specifying that 55% of AIDS monies will go for treatment.
Prevention first
An AIDS-prevention authority on the frontlines in Africa, Ruteikara agreed the Global Fund has serious problems that merit more U.S. oversight, but he questioned whether 55% of AIDS monies should be spent on treatment.
"HIV-testing and treatment are good, but they won't stop the pandemic," Ruteikara said. "With six Africans becoming infected for every person who gains access to treatment, we can't treat our way out of this tragedy. Effective prevention must come first."
Coburn, a physician, and others have argued that anti-retroviral treatment will do more than just prolong lives; it will prevent new AIDS cases by making the HIV virus less infectious and, therefore, less likely to be transmitted.
But in The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, James Shelton of USAID called this theory a "myth" unsupported by science. Shelton observed that as people become healthier on anti-retroviral treatment, they're likely to become more sexually active, creating further chances for the virus to spread.
Physician Norman Hearst of the University of California, San Francisco, agreed that "treatment is important, but it's not prevention."
"In sub-Saharan Africa, prevention must be linked to sexual behavior, because that's what fuels the pandemic," Hearst explained. Whereas most Westerners are monogamous -- one sex partner at a time -- many Africans, even when married, have one or two long-term lovers on the side. In a young-adult survey in Botswana, where one-third of the population carries the HIV virus, 43% of men and 17% of women reported having two or more regular lovers.
"The latest evidence shows it's these long-term, overlapping multiple partnerships that drive the pandemic," Hearst said. "This new scientific understanding that the African pandemic is fueled by people having more than one current sex partner explains why public-health campaigns urging sexually active adults to be faithful have worked so well in Africa."
ABC
Between 1991 and 2002, Ugandans lowered the proportion of the population infected with HIV from 21% to 6% with their famous ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, or use a Condom) campaign -- with "B" as the pillar. "We promoted fidelity for sexually active people, abstinence for young people, and condoms only as a last resort," Ruteikara said.
In response to the campaign, the number of Ugandan men embracing monogamy shot up from 59% to 79% -- and the number of faithful women rose from 79% to 91%. Rates of new HIV infections fell by two-thirds.
"Uganda provides the clearest example that HIV is preventable if populations are mobilized to avoid risk," Cambridge University researchers Rand Stoneburner and Daniel Low-Beer wrote in Science magazine. They likened Uganda's plunge in casual sex to the equivalent of an AIDS vaccine that's 80% effective.
What's more, prevention advocates say, sexual behavior change is a bargain. "HIV treatment costs an estimated $1,000-per-patient per added year of life. Uganda's successful prevention campaign cost less than 30 cents per person per year," says Edward Green, head of Harvard's AIDS Prevention Research Project.
"Because we knew what to do in our country, we succeeded," Ruteikara wrote in the Post. But he said that when "international AIDS experts" arrived in Uganda, they came with their own "casual-sex agendas," which they forced on Africans -- even to the point of rewriting Uganda's National Strategic Plan, which guides how PEPFAR money is spent.
Ruteikara reported that he and his fellow Ugandans would repeatedly put abstinence and fidelity into the National Strategic Plan. "Repeatedly, foreign advisors erased our recommendations. When the document draft was published, fidelity and abstinence were missing." Meanwhile, a suspicious statistic blaming most HIV infections on marriage appeared. Repeated requests for the source of the statistic have gone unanswered, the priest said.
"As fidelity and abstinence have been subverted, Uganda's HIV rates have begun to tick back up," Ruteikara wrote. "The Western media have been told this renewed surge of HIV infection is because there are 'not enough condoms in Uganda,' even though we have many more condoms now than we did in the early 1990s, when our HIV rates began to decline."
Off course
Green said that Western "sexual freedom ideologies" have caused successful AIDS-prevention strategies to be derailed in Africa, perhaps costing millions of lives.
"If AIDS prevention is to be based on [scientific] evidence rather than ideology or bias, then fidelity and abstinence programs need to be at the center of programs for general populations. [...] What the churches are inclined to do anyway turns out to be what works best in AIDS prevention," Green and his Harvard colleague Allison Herling Ruark wrote in the April issue of First Things.
In a 2004 "common ground" statement in The Lancet, 150 global AIDS-prevention leaders agreed fidelity should be the first-line prevention strategy for population-wide epidemics like those in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Senate bill mentions fidelity, but not as a central priority. Instead, the initiative, if passed, will fund a wide array of commodities and services to combat AIDS indirectly -- from HIV tests and Chlamydia treatments to female condoms. The latter are more expensive than male condoms -- and so unpopular in Africa that Uganda has stopped importing them.
Only 20% of funds in the new PEPFAR bill would go for prevention. Ruteikara would like to see that percentage doubled until the pandemic is under control.
The only hint of a spending requirement for fidelity in the current bill is a clause stating that in the event a country chooses to spend less than half its prevention funding on fidelity and abstinence programs, a report must be sent to Congress.
The bill also calls for preventing 12 million new HIV infections worldwide, but doesn't specify how.
Calling for HIV/AIDS profiteers to "let [his] people go," Ruteikara wrote, "We understand that casual sex is dear to you, but staying alive is dear to us. Listen to African wisdom, and we will show you how to prevent AIDS."
Green said, "This is a challenging moment for Congress to unite behind objective scientific evidence, and do the right thing. If Congress puts fidelity promotions at the center of our AIDS response, billions of tax dollars will be effectively spent and millions of African lives will be saved."
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On the Net:
"Let My People Go, AIDS Profiteers":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062901477.html
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ANGELUS
On the Pauline Year
"Invites All Christians to Be Missionaries of the Gospel"
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the greeting Benedict XVI gave Sunday after celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and before praying the Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This year the feast of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul occurs on a Sunday, thus, the whole Church, and not only the Church of Rome, celebrates it in a solemn way.
This coincidence is also propitious insofar as it further highlights an extraordinary event: the Pauline Year, which I officially opened last night at the tomb of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and which will last until June 29, 2009.
Historians in fact situate the birth of Saul -- who later became Paul -- about 7 to 10 years after Christ’s. Thus, after the passage of about 2,000 years, I wanted to call this special jubilee, which will naturally have Rome as its center, especially the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the place of martyrdom at Tre Fontane.
But it will involve the whole Church, beginning with Tarsus, Paul’s city of birth, and the other Pauline places in present day Turkey and the Holy Land, which are pilgrimage destinations, as well as the island of Malta, where the apostle came after a shipwreck and sowed the fruitful seed of the Gospel.
In reality, the horizon of the Pauline Year cannot but be universal because St. Paul was, par excellence, the apostle of those who, in regard to the Jews, were “distant,” and who, “thanks to the blood of Christ,” were drawn “near” (Ephesians 2:13). For this reason, today too, in a world that has become “small,” but where many have not yet met the Lord Jesus, the jubilee of St. Paul invites all Christians to be missionaries of the Gospel.
This missionary dimension must always be accompanied by that of unity, represented by St. Peter, the “rock” on which Jesus Christ built his Church. As is underscored by the liturgy, the charisms of the two great apostles are complementary in building up the one people of God and Christians cannot offer a valid witness to Christ if they are not united.
The theme of unity is highlighted today by the traditional rite of the pallium, which I bestowed upon the metropolitan archbishops who were named this past year. There are 40, and 2 others will receive the pallium in their Sees. Again I greet them too.
Today’s solemnity is further a special cause of joy for the Bishop of Rome inasmuch as he welcomes the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the dear person of His Holiness Bartholomew I, to whom I renew my fraternal greeting, extending it to the entire delegation of the Orthodox Church that he leads.
The Pauline Year, evangelization, communion in the Church and full unity among Christians: Let us now pray for these great intentions, entrusting them to the celestial intercession of Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Church and Queen of the Apostles.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
[The Holy Father then greeted the pilgrims in various languages. In English, he said:]
I am happy to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors. In a special way I greet the Metropolitan Archbishops who have received the pallium, accompanied by their relatives and friends on this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. May the courageous example of these Holy Patrons inspire the Archbishops as they preach the saving word of God. I am also pleased to extend warm greetings to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness Bartholomew I, and to the members of his delegation. Through the intercession of the Apostles Peter and Paul, may all Christians bear clear witness to the truth and the love that sets us free. God bless you all!
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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DOCUMENTS
Papal Greeting to Patriarch Bartholomew I
"Men and Women Feel a Growing Need for Certainty and Peace"
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Benedict XVI's address upon receiving Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in audience Saturday on the occasion of the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul and the opening of the Pauline Year.
* * *
Holiness,
With profound and sincere joy I greet you and the distinguished party accompanying you, and I am pleased to do so with the words expressed in the Second Letter of St. Peter: "To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" (2:1-2).
The celebration of Sts. Peter and Paul, patrons of the Church of Rome, as well as that of St. Andrew, patron of the Church of Constantinople, offer us annually the possibility of an exchange of visits, which are always important occasions for fraternal conversations and common moments of prayer. Thus reciprocal personal knowledge grows; initiatives are harmonized and hope increases, which animates everything, to be able to attain full unity soon, in obedience to the Lord's mandate.
This year, here in Rome, to the patronal feast is added the joyful occasion of the opening of the Pauline Year, which I wanted to call to commemorate the second millennium of the birth of St. Paul, in the hope of promoting an ever more profound reflection on the theological and spiritual heritage left to the Church by the Apostle to the Gentiles, with his vast and profound work of evangelization.
I learned with pleasure that Your Holiness has also called a Pauline Year. This happy coincidence highlights the roots of our shared Christian vocation and the significant harmony of feelings and pastoral commitment we are experiencing. For this I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, who guides our path to unity with the strength of His Spirit.
St. Paul reminds us that full communion between all Christians has its foundation in "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). May the common faith, the one baptism for the remission of sins and obedience to the one Lord and Savior, be able to express themselves fully as soon as possible in the communal and ecclesial dimension.
"Only one body and one Spirit," affirms the Apostle to the Gentiles, and adds: "As only one is the hope to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:4). St. Paul indicates to us, moreover, a sure way to maintain unity and, in the case of division, to repair it.
The decree on ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, has taken up the Pauline indication and proposes it again in the context of the ecumenical commitment, making reference to the weighty and always current words of the Letter to the Ephesians: "I exhort you, therefore, I who am a prisoner of the Lord, to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the vocation you have received, with all humility, meekness and patience, enduring events with love, seeking to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (4:1-3).
To the Corinthians, among whom discord had arisen, St. Paul does not hesitate to address a strong call for them all to remain in agreement, for there to be no divisions among them, and for them to unite in the same mind and purpose (cfr1 Corinthians 1:10).
In our world, in which the phenomenon of globalization is being consolidated, yet, despite this, persistent divisions and conflicts continue, men and women feel a growing need for certainty and peace. However, at the same time, they remain lost, as if ensnared by a certain form of hedonist and relativist culture which casts doubt upon the very existence of truth.
The apostle's guidance in this matter is extremely helpful in encouraging efforts aimed at seeking full unity among Christians, which is so necessary in order to offer mankind of the third millennium an ever more resplendent witness of Christ, way, truth and life. Only in Christ and in his Gospel can humanity find the answer to its deepest hopes.
May the Pauline Year, which will begin solemnly this evening, help Christian people renew the ecumenical commitment, and may there be an intensification of joint efforts on the journey to the full communion of all Christ's disciples. And as part of that journey, your presence here today is certainly an encouraging sign. For this I express again to all of you my joy, while together we raise our grateful prayer to the Lord.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Pope's Homily at Pauline Year Inauguration
"Paul Wants to Speak With Us Today"
ROME, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's homily from Saturday afternoon's vespers for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The service, held at the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, was the inaugural ceremony of the Pauline Jubilee Year, which runs through June 29, 2009.
* * *
Holiness and Fraternal Delegates,
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are gathered before the tomb of St. Paul, who was born 2,000 years ago in Tarsus of Cilicia, in present-day Turkey. Who was this Paul? In the temple of Jerusalem, before an agitated crowd that wanted to kill him, he introduced himself with these words: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but educated in this city, instructed at the feet of Gamaliel in the exact observance of the Law of our fathers; I was full of zeal for God." At the end of his journey he would say of himself: "I have been made a herald and apostle, teacher of the Gentiles in the faith and in the truth."
Teacher of the Gentiles, apostle and herald of Jesus Christ, thus he characterized himself in a retrospective look over his life. However, he did not look only to the past. "Teacher of the Gentiles" -- this word opens to the future, which we recall with veneration. He is, also for us, our teacher, apostle and herald of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we have come together not to reflect on a past history, irrevocably surpassed. Paul wants to speak with us today. That is why I wanted to convoke this special "Pauline year": to listen to him and to drink from him, as our teacher, in the faith and truth, in which are rooted the reasons for unity among the disciples of Christ. In this perspective, I wished to light -- for this bimillenary of the apostle's birth -- a special "Pauline Flame," which will remain lit during the whole year, in a special niche placed in the portico of the basilica. To solemnize this event, I have also opened the so-named Pauline Door, through which I entered the basilica accompanied by the patriarch of Constantinople, the cardinal archpriest and other religious authorities.
For me it is a motive of profound joy that the opening of the Pauline year assumes a special ecumenical character, given the presence of numerous delegates and representatives of other Churches and ecclesial communities, which I welcome with an open heart. I greet first of all His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I and the members of the delegation accompanying him, as well as the large group of laymen from several parts of the world who have come to Rome to participate in these moments of prayer and reflection with him and all of us. I greet the fraternal delegates of the Churches that have a special bond with the Apostle Paul -- Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus and Greece -- that form part of the geographic environment of the apostle's life before his arrival in Rome. I cordially greet the brothers of the different Churches and ecclesial communities of the East and West, together with all of you I have wished to take part in this solemn opening of the year dedicated to the Apostles of the Gentiles.
We are gathered, therefore, to questions ourselves about the great apostle of the Gentiles. Not only do we ask ourselves, "Who was Paul?" Above all, we ask ourselves "Who is Paul?" "What is he saying to me?" At this hour of the beginning of the Pauline year that we are inaugurating, I would like to choose three texts from the rich testimony of the New Testament, in which [Paul's] inner physiognomy appears, that which is specific about his character.
In the Letter to the Galatians, he has given us a very personal profession of faith, in which he opens his heart to the readers of all times and reveals what is the most profound source of his life: "I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." All that Paul does starts from this center. His faith is the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ in a totally personal way; it is awareness of the fact that Christ faced death not for something anonymous, but for love of him, of Paul, and that, risen, Christ still loves him, has given himself for him. His faith is having been captured by the love of Jesus Christ, a love that affects him in his innermost being and transforms him. His faith is not a theory, an option about God or the world. His faith is the impact of the love of God on his heart. So, this faith itself is love of Jesus Christ.
For many, Paul appears as a combative man who knows how to use the sword of the word. Indeed, in his path as apostle, there was no lack of disputes. He did not seek a superficial harmony. In his first letter dedicated to the Thessalonians, he himself says: "We had the courage in our God to declare to you the Gospel of God in face of great opposition. … For we never used either words of flattery, as you know, or a cloak for greed." The truth was too great for him to be ready to sacrifice it in view of an external success. The truth he had experienced in his encounter with the Risen One merited for him struggle, persecution, and suffering. However, what motivated him in the depth of his being was being loved by Jesus Christ and the desire to transmit this love to others. Paul was someone able to love, and all his work and suffering is explained from this center.
The concepts underlying his proclamation can only be understood on the basis of this. Let us take only one of his key words: freedom. The experience of being loved to the end by Christ opened his eyes about truth and the path of human existence; that experience embraced everything. Paul was free as a man loved by God that, in virtue of God, was able to love together with him. This love is now the "law" of his life and, precisely thus, was the freedom of his life. He speaks and acts, moved by the responsibility of love; he is free, and given that he is one who loves, he lives totally in the responsibility of this love and does not take freedom as a pretext for pleasure and egoism. He who loves Christ as Paul loved him, can truly do what he wills, because his love is united to the will of Christ and, therefore, to the will of God, because his will is anchored in truth and because his will is no longer simply his will, arbiter of his autonomous I, but is integrated in the freedom of God and from it receives the path to follow.
In the search for St. Paul's inner physiognomy, I would like, in the second place, to recall the word that the Risen Christ spoke to him on the road to Damascus. Earlier the Lord asked him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He answered: "Who are you, Lord?" And he received the reply: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." By persecuting the Church, Paul was persecuting Jesus himself. "You are persecuting me."
Jesus identifies himself with the Church in a single subject. In this exclamation of the Risen One -- which transformed Saul's life -- is contained the whole doctrine of the Church as Body of Christ. Christ did not return to Heaven, leaving a handful of followers to carry his cause forward. The Church is not an association that wishes to promote a certain cause. It is not about a cause. It is about the person of Jesus Christ, who also as Risen remained "flesh." He has flesh and bones," affirms the Risen One in Luke, in face of the disciples who thought he was a ghost. He has a body. He is personally present in the Church. "Head and Body" form a single subject, said Augustine. "'Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ?' wrote Paul to the Corinthians, and he adds: 'That, according to the Book of Genesis, man and woman become one flesh?'"
So Christ becomes one spirit with his own, one subject in the new world of the resurrection. In all this, the Eucharistic mystery is visualized, in which Christ constantly gives his Body and makes of us one Body: "Is not the bread we break communion with the body of Christ? Because, though being many, we are only one bread and one body, as we all share in one bread."
He addresses us with these words, at this moment, not just Paul but the Lord himself: "How were you able to lacerate my Body?" Before the face of Christ, this question becomes at the same time an urgent appeal: Bring us together again from all our divisions. Make this again a reality today: There is only one bread; therefore, we, despite being many, are only one body.
For Paul the word Church as Body of Christ is not just any analogy. It goes far beyond a comparison. "Why do you persecute me?"
Christ attracts us continually to his Body, he builds his Body from the Eucharistic center, which for Paul is the center of Christian existence, in virtue of which all, as well as each individual can experience in a totally personal way: "He has loved me and given himself up for me."
I would like to conclude with a later word of St. Paul, an exhortation to Timothy from prison, in face of death. "Endure with me sufferings for the Gospel," said the apostle to his disciple. This sentence, which is at the end of the roads traveled by the apostle as a testament, leads us back to the beginning of his mission. While, after his encounter with the Risen One, the blind Paul was in his room in Damascus, Ananias received the order to go where the feared persecutor was and lay his hands on him, so that he would recover his sight.
To Ananias' objection that this Saul was a dangerous persecutor of Christians, this answer was given: "This man must take my name to the Gentiles, to kings and to the children of Israel. I will show him all he will have to suffer for my name."
The task of proclamation and the call to suffering for Christ are inseparably together. The call to be teacher of the Gentiles is at the same time and intrinsically a call to suffering in communion with Christ, who has redeemed us through his passion. In a world in which lying is powerful, truth is paid for with suffering. He who wishes to avoid suffering, to keep it far from himself, will have pushed away life itself and its grandeur; he cannot be a servant of truth and thus a servant of faith. There is no love without suffering, without the suffering of denying ourselves, of the transformation and purification of the "I" for true freedom.
Wherever there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself also loses its value. The Eucharist -- center of our Christian being -- is based on the sacrifice of Jesus for us; it was born from the suffering of the love that found its culmination on the cross. We live from this love that gives itself. This gives us the courage and strength to suffer with Christ and for him, thus knowing that precisely in this way our life becomes great, mature and true.
In the light of all of St. Paul's letters we see how on his journey as teacher of the Gentiles, the prophecy of Ananias was fulfilled at the hour of the calling: "I will show him all that he will have to suffer for my name." His suffering makes him credible as teacher of truth, which does not seek its own benefit, its own glory or personal pleasure, but is committed to him who loved us and gave himself up for all of us.
At this hour in which we thank the Lord for having called Paul, making him the light of the Gentiles and teacher of us all, we pray: Give us also today the testimony of the Resurrection, touched by your love, and [make us] able to carry the light of the Gospel in our time. St. Paul, pray for us. Amen.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Papal Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
"Going to Rome Is for Paul the Expression of His Mission
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's homily for the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was Sunday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I was present at the ceremony.
At vespers on Saturday, the Pope inaugurated the Pauline Jubilee Year, which ends June 29, 2009.
* * *
Your Holiness and fraternal Delegates,
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable brothers in the episcopate and priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters
From the earliest times, the Church of Rome has celebrated the solemnity of the great apostles Peter and Paul as a single feast on the same day, June 29. Through their martyrdom, they became brothers; together, they are the founders of the new Christian Rome. They are sung of as such in the hymn of the second vespers, which goes back to Paulinus of Aquileia (+806): "O Roma felix -- Oh happy Rome, adorned with the crimson of the precious blood of such great princes, you surpass every beauty of the world, not by your own merit, but trough the merit of the saints whom you have killed with bloody sword". The blood of martyrs does not call for revenge -- but reconciles. It does not present itself as an accusation but as a "golden light," according to the words of the hymn of the first vespers. It presents itself as the power of love which overcomes hate and violence, founding, in this way, a new city, a new community.
By their martyrdom, they -- Peter and Paul -- are now part of Rome. Through martyrdom, even Peter became a Roman citizen forever. Through their martyrdom, through their faith and their love, the two apostles show us where true hope lies, and are the founders of a new kind of city, which must again and again form itself in the midst of the old city of man, which continues to be threatened by the opposing forces of the sin and egotism of men.
By virtue of their martyrdom, Peter and Paul are in reciprocal relationship forever. A favorite image of Christian iconography is the embrace of the two apostles on the way to martyrdom. We can say that their martyrdom itself, in its deepest reality, is the realization of a fraternal embrace. They die for the one Christ and, in the witness for which they give their lives, they are one. In the writings of the New Testament, we can, so to speak, follow the development of their embrace, this unity in witness and in mission.
Everything starts when Paul, three years after his conversion, goes to Jerusalem "to consult Cephas" (Galatians 1:18). Fourteen years later, he again goes up to Jerusalem to explain "to the most esteemed persons" the Gospel that he preaches in order so that he might not run the risk of "running, or having run, in vain" (Galatians 2:1f). At the end of this meeting, James, Cephas and John give him their right hands, thus confirming the communion that unites them in the one Gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal 2:9). A beautiful sign of this growing interior embrace, which develops despite the difference in temperaments and in tasks, I find in the fact that the co-workers mentioned at the end of the First Letter of St. Peter -- Silvanus and Mark -- were equally close co-workers of St. Paul. This having of the same co-workers makes the communion of the one Church, the embrace of the great apostles, visible in a very concrete way.
Peter and Paul met each other at least twice in Jerusalem; at the end their paths take them to Rome. Why? Was this perhaps more than just pure chance? Is there perhaps a lasting message in it? Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner, but at the same time as a Roman citizen who, after his arrest in Jerusalem, as a Roman citizen appealed to the emperor, to whose tribunal he was brought. But in a more profound sense, Paul came to Rome voluntarily. Through the most important of his letters, he had already drawn close to this city interiorly: to the Church in Rome, he had addressed the writing which, more than any other, is the synthesis of his whole proclamation and his faith. In the opening salutation of the letter, he says that the whole world speaks of the faith of the Christians of Rome and that this faith, therefore, was known everywhere as exemplary (Romans 1:8). And then he writes: "I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, though I was prevented until now" (1:13). At the end of the letter he comes back to this theme, now speaking of a plan to travel to Spain. "When I go to Spain I hope to see you when I pass through and to be helped by you on my way to that region, after having enjoyed your presence for a little while" (15:24). "And I know that, having come to you, I shall come in the fullness of Christ's blessing" (15:29). There are two things made evident here: Rome is for Paul a stage on the way to Spain, that is -- according to his conception of the world -- towards the extreme end of the earth. He considers his mission to be the fulfillment of the task received from Christ, the bringing of the Gospel to the very ends of the world. Rome is along this route. While Paul usually only goes to places where the Gospel had not yet been announced, Rome is an exception. There he finds a Church whose faith the world speaks about. Going to Rome is part of the universality of his mission as one sent to all peoples. The way to Rome, which, already before his external trip, he had traveled interiorly with his letter, is an integral part of his task of bringing the Gospel to all peoples -- of founding the Church, catholic and universal. Going to Rome is for him the expression of his mission's catholicity. Rome must make the faith visible to the whole world, it must be the meeting place in the one faith.
But why did Peter go to Rome? About this the New Testament does not say anything directly. But it gives us some indication. The Gospel of St. Mark, which we may consider a reflection of the preaching of St. Peter, is intimately oriented towards the moment when the Roman centurion, facing the death of Christ on the cross, says, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39). At the cross the mystery of Jesus Christ is revealed. Beneath the Cross the Church of the gentiles is born: the centurion of the Roman execution squad recognizes the Son of God in Christ. The Acts of the Apostles describe the episode of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italic cohort, as a decisive stage for the entrance of the Gospel into the pagan world. Following a command of God, he sends someone to get Peter, and Peter, also following a divine order, goes to the centurion's house and preaches. While he is speaking, the Holy Spirit descends on the gathered domestic community and Peter says: "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?" (Acts 10:47).
Thus, in the Council of the Apostles, Peter becomes the intercessor for the Church of the pagans who do not need the Law because God "has purified their hearts with faith" (Acts 15:9). Certainly, in the Letter to the Galatians, Paul says that God gave strength to Peter for the apostolic ministry among the circumcised, and to Paul himself, the ministry among the pagans instead (Gal 2:8). But this assignment could be in force only as long as Peter remained with the 12 in Jerusalem in the hope that all of Israel would adhere to Christ. In the face of later developments, the 12 recognized the time in which they too must go forth into the world to announce the Gospel to it. Peter who, following divine order, had been the first to open the door to pagans, now leaves the leadership of the Christian-Jewish Church to James the Less, in order to dedicate himself to his true mission: to the ministry of the unity of the one Church of God made up of Jews as well as pagans. The desire of Paul to go to Rome highlights above all, as we have seen, the word "catholica" ["catholic"] among the characteristics of the Church.
St. Peter's journey to Rome, as representative of the peoples of the world, is above all associated with the word "una" ["one"]: he has the task of creating the "unity" of the "catholica," of the Church made up of Jews and pagans, the Church of all peoples. And this is the permanent mission of Peter: to make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any one nation, any one culture or any one state. That it may always be the Church of all. That it may unite mankind beyond every frontier and, amidst the divisions of this world, make God's peace present, the reconciling power of his love. Due to technology that is now the same everywhere, due to the global information network, and due also to the linking of common interests, there are new modes of unity in the world, which have caused the explosion of new oppositions and given new impetus to old ones. In the midst of this external unity, based on material things, we have all the more need of interior unity which comes from the peace of God - the unity of all those who, through Jesus Christ, have become brothers and sisters. This is the permanent mission of Peter, as well as the special task entrusted to the Church of Rome.
Dear confreres in the Episcopate! I wish now to address those of you who have come to Rome to receive the pallium as the symbol of your rank and your responsibility as archbishops in the Church of Jesus Christ. The pallium is woven from the wool of the sheep that the Bishop of Rome blesses every year on the Feast of Peter's Chair, thus setting them apart, so to speak, to be a symbol for the flock of Christ, over which you preside.
When we put the pallium on our shoulders, this gesture reminds us of the Shepherd who puts the lost sheep upon his shoulders -- the lost sheep who by himself can no longer find the way home -- and takes him back to the sheepfold. The Fathers of the Church saw in this sheep the image of all mankind, of human nature in its entirety, which is lost its and can no longer find the way home. The Shepherd who takes the sheep home can only be the Logos, the eternal Word of God himself. In the Incarnation, he placed us all -- the sheep who is man -- on his shoulders. He, the eternal Word, the true Shepherd of mankind, carries us; in his humanity he carries each of us on his shoulders. On the way of the Cross, he carried us home, he takes us home. But he also wants men who can "carry" together with him. Being a shepherd in the Church of Christ means taking part in this task, which the pallium commemorates. When we put it on, he asks us: "Will you also carry, together with me, those who belong to me? Will you bring them to me, to Jesus Christ?" What comes to mind next is the order Peter received from the Risen Christ, who links the command, "Feed my sheep" inseparably with the question, "Do you love me? Do you love me more than others do?" Every time we put on the pallium of the shepherd of Christ's flock, we should hear this question, "Do you love me?" and we must ask ourselves about that "more" of love that he expects from the shepherd.
Thus the pallium becomes a symbol of our love for the Shepherd Christ and our loving together with him -- it becomes the symbol of the calling to love men as he does, together with him: those who are searching, those who have questions, those who are self-assured and the humble, the simple and the great; it becomes the symbol of the calling to love all of them with the strength of Christ and in view of Christ, so that they may find him, and in him, find themselves. But the pallium which you will receive "from" the tomb of Peter has yet another meaning, inseparably connected with the first. To understand this, a word from the First Letter of St. Peter may help us. In his exhortation to priests to feed the flock in the correct way, St. Peter calls himself a "synpresbýteros" -- co-priest (5:1). This formula implicitly contains the affirmation of the principle of apostolic succession: the shepherds who follow are shepherds like him; together with him, they belong to the common ministry of the shepherds of the Church of Jesus Christ, a ministry that continues in them. But this "co-" (in co-priest) has still two other meanings. It also expresses the reality that we indicate today by what is said today about the "collegiality" of bishops. We are all "co-priests." No one is a shepherd by himself. We are in the succession of the apostles thanks only to being in the communion of the college in which the college of apostles finds its continuation. The communion -- the "we" -- of the shepherds is part of being shepherds, because there is only one flock, the one Church of Jesus Christ. Finally, this "co-" also refers to communion with Peter and his successor as a guarantee of unity. Thus, the pallium speaks to us of the catholicity of the Church, of the universal communion of shepherd and flock. And it refers us to apostolicity: to communion with the faith of the apostles on which the Church is founded. It speaks to us of the "ecclesia" that is "una," "catholica," "apostolic," and naturally, binding us to Christ, it speaks to us of the fact that the Church is "sancta" us that the Church is holy, and that our work is a service of this holiness.
This brings me back, finally, to St. Paul and his mission. He expressed the essence of his mission, as well as the most profound reason for his desire to go to Rome, in Chapter 15 of the Letter to the Romans, in an extraordinarily beautiful passage. He knows he has been called "to be a 'leitourgos' of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles, serving the Gospel of God as a priest, so that the pagans become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the holy Spirit" (15:16). Only in this passage does Paul use the word "hierourgein" -- serving as a priest -- together with "leitourgos" -- liturgist: he speaks of the cosmic liturgy, in which the world of men itself must become worship of God, an offering in the Holy Spirit. When the whole world will have become the liturgy of God, when in its reality it will have become adoration, then it will have reached its goal, then it will be whole and saved. And this is the ultimate objective of St. Paul's apostolic mission and of ours. It is to such a mystery that the Lord calls us. Let us pray in this hour that he may help us carry it out in the right way, to become true liturgists of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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Patriarch's Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
With Benedict XVI's Introduction
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily from Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I for the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was Sunday.
At vespers on Saturday, Benedict XVI inaugurated the Pauline Jubilee Year, which ends June 29, 2009.
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The Holy Father's Introduction to the Patriarch's Homily
Brothers and Sisters,
The great feast of Saints Peter and Paul -- patrons of this Church of Rome and, together with the other apostles, pillars of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church -- brings to us every year the welcome presence of a fraternal delegation of the Church of Constantinople which, this year, because of the opening of the "Pauline Year," is led by the Patriarch himself, His Holiness Bartholomew I. I address my cordial greeting to him as I express my joy of once again having the happy opportunity of exchanging the kiss of peace with him in the common hope of seeing the coming of the day of "unitatis redintegratio" -- the day of full communion between us.
I also greet the members of the patriarchal delegation, the representatives of the Churches and ecclesial communities, who honor us with their presence, offering with this presence a sign of the will to intensify the movement toward the full unity of the disciples of Christ. We dispose ourselves now to listen to the reflections of His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, words that we desire to receive with an open heart because they come from our dearly beloved brother in the Lord.
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Homily of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
Your Holiness,
Having again experienced, in November 2006, the joy and emotion of the personal and blessed participation of Your Holiness in the patronal feast of Constantinople, the commemoration of the St. Andrew the Apostle, the First Called, I set out "with a joyous step" from Fener in the New Rome, to come to you to participate in your joy in the patronal feast of Old Rome. And we have come to you "with the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:29), returning the honor and love, celebrating with our beloved brother in the land of the West, "the certain and inspired heralds, the coryphaei of the disciples of the Lord," the holy apostles Peter, brother of Andrew, and Paul -- these two great, central pillars of the whole Church stretched out toward heaven, which, in this historic city, also offered the ultimate shining confession of Christ and gave their souls to the Lord here through martyrdom, one on the cross and the other by the sword, and thus sanctified this city.
We greet, with the deepest and most devoted love, on the part of the Most Holy Church of Constantinople and her children throughout the world, You Holiness, desired brother, wishing from the heart "those who live in Rome beloved of God" (Romans 1:7), good health, peace, prosperity and progress day and night toward salvation "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, joyful in hope, strong in tribulation, steadfast in prayer" (Romans 12:11-12).
In both Churches, Your Holiness, we duly honor and greatly venerate Peter -- he who made his salvific confession of the divinity of Christ, as much as Paul -- the vessel of election, who proclaimed this confession and faith to the ends of the universe in the midst of the most unimaginable difficulties and dangers. Since the year of salvation 258 we have celebrated their memory in the West and in the East on June 29. In the East we also prepare for this feast by a fast observed in their honor on the preceding days, following a tradition of the ancient Church. To strongly emphasize their equal importance, but also their weight in the Church and her regenerative and salvific work through the centuries, the East honors them in an icon in which they either hold a little ship in their hands, which symbolizes the Church, or they embrace and exchange the kiss in Christ.
It is indeed this kiss that we have come to exchange with you, Your Holiness, emphasizing the ardent desire and love in Christ, things which are closely related to each other.
The theological dialogue between our Churches "in faith, truth and love," thanks to divine help, goes forward despite the considerable difficulties that exist and the well-known problems. We truly desire and fervently pray that these difficulties will be overcome and that the problems will disappear as soon as possible so that we may reach the desired final goal for the glory of God.
We know well that this is your desire too, as we also are certain that Your Holiness will neglect nothing, personally working, together with your illustrious collaborators, through a perfect smoothing of the way, toward a positive fulfillment of the labors of dialogue, God willing.
Your Holiness, we too have proclaimed the year 2008 "Year of the Apostle Paul" on the 2,000 anniversary of the great apostle's birth. In regard to the events of the anniversary celebration, in which we have also venerated the precise place of the St. Paul's martyrdom, we are planning, among others things, a sacred pilgrimage to some of the monuments of the apostolic activity of the apostle in the East: Ephesus, Perge, and other cities in Asia Minor, but also Rhodes and Crete, the places called "good ports." Be assured, Your Holiness, that on this sacred journey, you too will be present, walking with us in spirit, and that in each place we will offer up an ardent prayer for you and our brothers of the venerable Roman Catholic Church, fervently asking the divine Paul's intercession with the Lord for you.
And now, venerating the sufferings and the cross of Peter and embracing Paul's chains and stigmata, honoring the confession and martyrdom and the venerable death of both for the name of the Lord, which truly leads to Life, we glorify the Thrice-Holy God and we supplicate him, so that through the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul, who are his protocoryphaei and apostles, he will, here below, grant us and all his children of the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world "union of faith and communion in the Spirit" in the "bond of peace" and there above eternal life and great mercy. Amen.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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