ZE090206
ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - February 06, 2009
VATICAN DOSSIER
Communication in the Curia: Aide Looks at Problems
Vatican Didn't Lobby Authorities on Eluana Case
WORLD FEATURES
US Bishop Protests Taxes-for-Abortions
Bartholomew I Foresees Orthodox Unity With Kirill
Cardinal Egan Speaks Out on Holocaust
Bishop Encouraged in Sri Lanka After Fast
NEWS BRIEFS
Vatican Recognizes 1st Asian Society of Priests
Liam Neeson Records Way of the Cross CD
INTERVIEW
Caritas President on the Role of Family
CLASSIFIED ADS
If ZENIT Is Your Morning Paper, Mystic Monk Coffee Is the Perfect Mate
NEW WEB SITE "SOCIETA' MISSIONARI DELLA GIOIA" (JOY MISSIONARIES SOCIETAS)
Communication in the Curia: Aide Looks at Problems
Says Clear Explanations Are Sometimes LackingVATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- In the wake of the turmoil over the lifting of excommunication for four Lefebvrite bishops, a Vatican spokesman says much of the misunderstanding could have been avoided.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, spoke today with the French daily La Croix, acknowledging that sometimes there are communications problems in the Roman Curia.
He addressed this most recent case, wherein the excommunication of four Society of St. Pius X bishops was removed by a Jan. 21 decree of the Congregation for Bishops, working under papal mandate. The decree was made public by the Vatican three days later, on Jan. 24.
However, the lifting of the excommunication caused a stir largely because almost simultaneous to the release of the decree, a November interview with one of the prelates in question, Bishop Richard Williamson, aired on Swiss television. In the interview, the bishop claims that there is no historical evidence to confirm the gassing of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps. Hence the lifting of the excommunication -- an issue in the framework of the Holy Father's intention to nourish Church unity -- was criticized as an affront to Catholic-Jewish relations.
A note from the Vatican Secretariat of State this week affirmed that the Pope was unaware of Bishop Williamson's position and reiterated once again the Pontiff's own position of solidarity with the Jews.
According to Father Lombardi today, the decree lifting the excommunications "was negotiated at the last moment" and "some points were not made clear."
"It was not the end of a process, but a stage; therefore, it didn't give clear results," he explained. "Nevertheless, the communiqué accompanying its publication left too many elements in doubt, giving room to different interpretations."
The situation was further complicated, the spokesman observed, because the matter concerns negotiation with a party outside the Curia, and therefore, news of the document was available before its official release from the Vatican.
Organizational challenges
In any case, Father Lombardi acknowledged, "for the Church, the problem of communication is not easy."
The question is asked: "Should everything be said and immediately," the spokesman noted. And he reflected: "Sometimes it's better not to speak. A very open communication, above all regarding a negotiation process that is so complex, can on occasion block or discredit [it].
"But in this concrete case, what has caused most harm is the concomitance between the issue of the excommunication and the publication of the negationist -- and unjustifiable -- position of Bishop [Richard] Williamson.
"Honestly, the delicate point is in knowing who knew the opinions of this man. When it is proposed to the Pope to lift the excommunication of four bishops -- it's not a matter of a big number, as if it were 150.
"Undoubtedly the people who have managed this issue were not aware of the gravity of Bishop Williamson's positions. And it is true that the negotiations were carried out by Bishop [Bernard] Fellay," superior-general of the Society.
Still, Father Lombardi contended, the positions of other bishops were not sufficiently taken into account. "What is sure is that the Pope wasn't aware of it," he said.
Role of the press
The Vatican spokesman expressed his belief that the role of the press in the turmoil was "neither better nor worse than on other occasions. It reflects our world."
"Let's be clear," he said. "There are currents that oppose the Church, that consider it as a 'liberty-destroyer.' The message of the Church frequently goes against the current of the opinions of the majority, of which the press is naturally a spokesman.
"But reactions can also be positive. We could see it with the death of John Paul II. It's enough to recall Benedict XVI's trips to the United States, Australia and France where, notwithstanding that at the beginning, public opinion had not been won over at all, and which showed how the message can also be transmitted through the press."
Reaching the choir
Father Lombardi also considered the difficulties Catholics themselves sometimes have in understanding Church documents, but he said that is the nature of the issue.
"Certain documents are designed for specialists in canon law, others for bishops, others for Catholics as a whole, others to all people," he explained. "But today, independently of the nature of the document, they are found in the public square. And this gets to be somewhat difficult to manage."
In the case of the decree on the excommunications, for example, the spokesman acknowledged that there was a lack of time after the negotiations to be able to foresee and explain to the bishops of the world. But this is not normally the case, the spokesman assured.
"On occasions," he said, "a document is already in the hands of the local bishops even before we have it."
"I think," Father Lombardi continued, "that there is still a need to create a culture of communication in the heart of the Curia." The spokesman said that currently each dicastery communicates autonomously without thinking "necessarily of passing by the press office, nor of offering an explanatory note when the information is complex."
"If the explanations from the Secretariat of State note of Feb. 4 would have been given in the moment of the publication of the decree, we would have avoided various days of turmoil," he contended. "When it's about 'hot' topics, it's better to prepare the explanations well.
"But, it's impossible to avoid every difficulty. We have to be willing to run risks too. And we cannot think that it is possible to advance on a path of reconciliation without clearing up the ambiguities."
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Vatican Didn't Lobby Authorities on Eluana Case
Denies Media's Claim of InterferenceVATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Today the Vatican denied the media's claim that there was a telephone call between Benedict XVI's secretary of state and the Italian prime minister on behalf of the woman being called Italy's Terri Schiavo.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardo, director of the Vatican press office, affirmed in a declaration: "We categorically deny the report published this morning, with such emphasis, by an Italian daily newspaper, concerning a supposed telephone conversation between Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"The news is completely unfounded."
The Italian newspaper, "La Stampa," published a story in which it claimed that the cardinal made a telephone call to the prime minister in order to share the Church's concerns in the case of Eluana Englaro, the 38-year-old woman who has been in a vegetative state for 17 years.
Englaro, in a coma since a car accident in 1992, was moved at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday from the hospital where she was being cared for, to a geriatric residence in Udine.
This center agreed to fulfill the wish of Englaro's father, that she be disconnected from her feeding tubes and allowed to die. The process has already begun of decreasing the Italian woman's supply of food and water.
Today, ministers of the Italian government met and approved an emergency decree backed by Berlusconi against the suspension of nourishment. The decree must be approved in Parliament in order to become a law.
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US Bishop Protests Taxes-for-Abortions
Urges Congress to Maintain Current Pro-life LawsWASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The United States has some "modest, common-sense" policies supported by pro-lifers and abortion advocates, and a U.S. bishops' official is urging Congress to protect them.
This appeal came in a Feb. 5 letter written by Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the bishops' Committee for Pro-life Activities.
He noted that one of Congress' first orders of business this session is examining appropriations bills to keep federal programs funded, and in this process, the bishop warned against removing anti-abortion clauses.
Noting the widespread lack of support for the Freedom of Choice Act, he cautioned: "While an extreme proposal like FOCA would overturn hundreds of pro-life laws at once, we are equally concerned that such laws may be overturned one at a time during Congress' appropriations process."
"Lawmakers who disagree about the legal status of abortion have long agreed that Americans should not be forced by government to support or participate in abortion against their will," the cardinal added. "Efforts to coerce consciences in this way violate any possible definition of 'pro-choice,' and undermine our nation’s long tradition of respect for conscience and religious freedom."
Making sense
Cardinal Rigali went on to list several amendments to protect, legislation with aims ranging from keeping American tax dollars from funding abortions to protecting the rights of conscience for healthcare officials.
"These and similar laws have been in effect for many years, no matter which party controlled Congress or the White House, because they are modest, common-sense policies that are widely supported even among people who disagree on the legal status of abortion," the cardinal affirmed. "In a society that often seems torn between the values of 'choice' and 'life,' it is easy to agree that we should honor the consciences of pregnant women and healthcare professionals who want to choose life.
"In a society that wants to reduce abortions, it makes no sense for government to force its citizens to fund and promote abortion."
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On the Net:
Complete text of letter: www.usccb.org/prolife/rigali_2-5-09.pdf
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Bartholomew I Foresees Orthodox Unity With Kirill
Proposes a Convocation of the Grand SynodMOSCOW, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, expressed hope that the election of Kirill as the new Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia will bring greater unity among the Orthodox Churches.
Bartholomew I made this known in his message to the new Russian patriarch on the occasion of his enthronement in Moscow on Feb. 1, reported L'Osservatore Romano today. He expressed the hope that this event will be a step forward toward the celebration of "The Great and Holy Synod" that gathers together all the Orthodox Churches.
The message was delivered to Patriarch Kirill by Archbishop Ireneus of Crete, head of the delegation of the ecumenical patriarch in Moscow.
It read, "The expectations of the Church of Constantinople are many and are focused above all on unity and good will, as well as the common path toward the organization and convocation of the Great Synod, which has been announced for some time."
The celebration of the Great Synod "should be accelerated in order to preserve the credibility of the Orthodox Church and the cooperation with the other Christian Churches when the theological discussions have finished," added the patriarch.
He affirmed that "the peaceful solution of bilateral divergences and other issues that have come up in time" also necessitates the unity between Orthodox Christians.
Furthermore, he added, Christians should face together "the socioeconomic problems which affect the contemporary world," as well as the “challenges of bioethics.”
Bartholomew I described Kirill as "an active and creative man" and "a man of proven ecclesial value, characterized by wisdom and by his contribution to the unity of Christians."
Rifts
The Russian Orthodox Church, according to tradition born in 988 with the conversion of Vladimir the Great, depended initially on the patriarch of Constantinople, until 1589. It is one of 14 Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and the most numerous in members, including more than 80 million of the 200 million Orthodox believers in the world.
The patriarch of Moscow does not recognize the patriarch of Constantinople as "primus inter pares" [first among equals], a title traditionally attributed to him by other Orthodox Churches. This has given rise to historical disagreements and misunderstandings.
The last of these rifts took place in 1996 on the occasion of Estonia's independence. The Church of that country requested to enter the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, abandoning Moscow, and the Moscow Patriarchate does not recognize it.
This particular controversy led to the Russian Orthodox Church's withdrawal from the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, in protest of the participation of Estonians in the meeting held in Ravenna, Italy, Oct. 8-14, 2007.
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Cardinal Egan Speaks Out on Holocaust
Poland's Bishops Praying for Benedict XVINEW YORK, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Edward Egan of New York reiterated his support for the Jewish community in the United States and his condemnation of anyone who negates the extent of the Holocaust.
The archbishop said this yesterday during his weekly radio program "Conversation with the Cardinal," referring to the uproar in the Jewish community last month after Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication for Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X.
Bishop Williamson, who claimed on Swedish television that gas chambers weren't used to kill Jews during World War II, was one of four bishops of the society who were excommunicated in 1988 when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ordained them to the episcopacy without papal approval.
“Yesterday," said Cardinal Egan, "the Vatican condemned in the clearest terms a statement made by an illicitly consecrated bishop by the name of Richard Williamson in which the evil of the Shoah was questioned or at least minimized. As Archbishop of New York, I add my voice to that of the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in rejecting Williamson’s words as hurtful, baseless, and outrageous.
"It is my prayer that all of our Jewish brothers and sisters understand that we in the Catholic community here in New York hold them in the highest esteem, and look forward to continuing to cooperate with them in countless good works for our community and our nation.”
Polish episcopate
Meanwhile, the episcopal conference of Poland sent a letter of support to Benedict XVI today in which they expressed their gratitude to the Pontiff for taking steps toward unity with the Society of St. Pius X.
They said the Holy Father's move to open the "door of dialogue" was "an act of great courage and genuine pastoral charity."
The Polish episcopate said they hoped an equal willingness will be seen on the part of the society, and that they will accept the Second Vatican Council and the recent magisterium of the Church.
The bishops also assured the Pope of their prayers: "The Church in Poland constantly supports the Successor of Peter in his concern for all the Churches and prays to the Lord that every step toward reconciliation of the Christian faithful may bring forth fruit."
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Bishop Encouraged in Sri Lanka After Fast
Hopes President More Concerned With CiviliansJAFFNA, Sri Lanka, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Sri Lankan bishop who prayed and fasted six days for the plight of his people now feels that he received an answer from the country's president.
Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam told Aid to the Church in Need: "We have been contacting the government frequently to ask them to stop the war. We asked them not to use weapons in the 'safe zone' area because of the number of people there."
ACN reported Wednesday that after almost a week of five-hour prayer vigils and refusing to eat out of solidarity with the suffering, the prelate believes President Mahinda Rajapaksa "has at last listened to his concerns and is willing to act."
The bishop's concern -- as well as that of the international community -- is a group of some 250,000 civilians trapped in the last corner held by the rebel Tamil Tigers as 25 years of conflict to gain a separate Tamil nation has reached its bloody head.
The Sri Lankan government has the Tigers holed into some 100 square miles, part of which has been designated a "safe zone" for the civilians. But aid organizations say the civilians are being wounded, either by the Tigers or the government or both, and are urging that they be released from the combat zone altogether. Meanwhile a food crisis is ensuing, as aid groups are unable to get convoys into the area.
The bishop stated, "Until now, nobody has been willing to listen to us. We decided to start praying and fasting in the hope that this would soften the hearts of those responsible."
Church appeals
On Wednesday, Benedict XVI addressed part of his general audience to appeal for peace in Sri Lanka and aid for civilians. He made "a pressing appeal to the combatants to show respect for humanitarian law and for people's freedom of movement."
The apostolic nuncio of the country, Archbishop Mario Zenari, also called for an end to the violence and humanitarian aid for the thousands of destitute civilians.
The nuncio met with the president on Monday in Colombo. And it was this meeting that encouraged Bishop Savundaranayagam.
The prelate said he decided to end the fasting period after he observed that as a result of Monday's meeting, the president "had acknowledged the Church's concerns about ending the conflict and ensuring the safety of civilians."
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Vatican Recognizes 1st Asian Society of Priests
Founded in 1965; Working in 13 NationsMANILA, Philippines, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Canonical recognition was given to the Mission Society of the Philippines, the first society of priests founded in Asia, now present in 13 countries.
AsiaNews reported that the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias signed the pontifical decree.
The Missionary Society of the Philippines (MSP) was created in 1965 by the bishops of that country, on the fourth centennial of their nation's evangelization. Their goal was "to express in the concrete our gratitude to God for the gift of our faith," sharing it with "the peoples in Asia and the rest of the world,"
With this recognition, made public on Jan. 30 during the seventh general assembly of the MSP, they became a "Society of Apostolic Life for mission ad gentes of Pontifical Right" under the authority of the Holy See rather than the local bishops.
According to its statues, the MSP mission is directed especially to the villages of Asia, to the most de-Christianized zones or where the young Churches need most help.
Another of its objectives is to make Filipino emigrants conscious of their missionary vocation, to help them participate and be instruments of evangelization.
The MSP has more than 70 members working in the Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea, as well as in the United States, Australia, Holland and Great Britain.
In Asia there are five other similar societies, though under the jurisdiction of the local Church: There is another in the Philippines, one each in South Korea and Thailand, and two more in India.
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Liam Neeson Records Way of the Cross CD
DENVER, Colorado, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson is the featured narrator of a CD for Lent titled "Praying the Way of the Cross," produced for the Redemptorists of Denver.Neeson reads the Introduction and prayers for each of the 14 Stations of the Cross written by St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori. The 18th-century Italian saint is a doctor of the Church and founded the Redemptorists.
"I had heard about the Redemptorists and their missionary work in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil and in the slums of Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria," Liam Neeson said in a statement released by the order. "I was moved to help because the Redemptorists are living the Gospel message in some of the poorest parts of the world, offering hope to families who have been forgotten or abandoned."
The CD was produced by Ray and Theresa Herrmann, co-founders of Little Lamb Music.
Ray Herrmann is a Grammy-award winning musician who has played with and arranged music for such names as Diana Ross, Chicago, Bob Dylan, Santana, LeeAnn Rimes and Stevie Wonder. Ray is also in the house band on American Idol.
Proceeds from the sale of the CDs support the work of the Redemptorist missions in Brazil and Nigeria.
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On the Net:
To order the CD: www.littlelambmusic.com
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Caritas President on the Role of Family
Interview With Cardinal RodrÃguez MaradiagaBy Gilberto Hernández García
MEXICO CITY, FEB. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- With all of the importance that families have for individuals and society -- including in the economic realm -- the decision to form a family should be made with ample preparation, says the president of Caritas.
Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga affirmed this last month when he spoke with ZENIT at the 6th World Meeting of Families, held Jan. 14-18 in Mexico City.
In this interview, he considers the impact of poverty on family relationships and the Church's response.
Q: You have a broad vision of social issues and their repercussion on families. In this regard, what is the issue that most concerns the Church today?
Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: The family itself -- that is the principal point, the most important option in the life of the human being; as a consequence, it is on the list of the concerns we have: what to do so that people are ever better prepared for this life option. All big things are prepared for, they are not improvised, but many times the greatest decision of life, which is love and family, is improvised in a frightful way. Sometimes we have families that start off because of a mistake and not because of a decision made freely. To prepare this life option is perhaps the biggest objective of all evangelization of family ministry.
Q: What do you think about the evident process of poverty and inequality that Latin America suffers and that in many cases restrains the integral development of families?
Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: In the World Meeting of Families, a specialist in economics presented to us the consequences that a lack of families has for economic development, for poverty itself. With studies and statistics, she showed us that physical and mental health is much better in united families than in single-parent or disintegrated families. Poverty is much worse in broken than in united families. In this regard, they looked at distinct aspects, for example, higher education and the obstacles when parents are divorced. These are elements very little considered by the press and it's worthwhile to give them attention.
The educative role of the family is spoken of; some reduce it to school education. Here it was made clear what moral education in the family means, spiritual education, economic aspects and the testimony of the father of the family, when in the midst of life's vicissitudes, he is capable of heroically accompanying the family. These are unexplored riches and it's worthwhile to make them known, because there are people who suffer and hearing these cases gives them strength.
Poverty is a reality that is increasing in our countries, instead of diminishing. Now we have this very grave financial crisis and it is foreseen that it will have many consequences.
Q: Some say poor countries are poor because they don't regulate births. Many governments focus their strategies against poverty with policies of birth control.
Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: These birth control policies are in reality the elimination of the birth rate. They consider only one of the perspectives. It is thought that we are poor because we have a large population and this is a sophism. Population is necessary for economic development; there is a country in Latin America that was the first, already in the 50s, to apply reductions of birth rate. What has happened to that country? It cannot grow and, as a consequence, it doesn't have consumers so that there are prosperous businesses. They have to import everything from other large countries and barely have a subsistent economy -- not a development as there should be.
The Church speaks clearly of responsible paternity and maternity; the transmission of life is a great responsibility of the parents, not a product of some disorder. It is a great responsibility. In the same way governments have the grave responsibility to procure the common good for all citizens, and if there are citizens that should be privileged, it should be the poor and not those who have more. And that is why the Church, that is Mother, heavily insists in its social doctrine that the family is not like an element that doesn't play a part in the social problems.
In the social doctrine of the Church, a very important chapter is the family, because it is very linked to everything that refers to social problems. The Church has always made the appeal to governments to concern themselves with poor families.
Q: What merit has the idea that the Church only gives privileges to the rich?
Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: One who says this doesn't know the life of the Church. In the first place, the Church is not reduced to the hierarchy; every baptized person is the Church. If we look at all the pastoral developments in the continent, we see that the Church has made a preferential option for the poor.
In Mexico there is a unique case for our continent: businessmen and people of the high economic class sustain the Instituto Mexicano de Doctrina Social (Mexican Institute of Social Doctrine), which educates the people precisely in the conviction they have that one of the best ways to relieve poverty is through education. The institute has given scholarships to students from poor countries, including Cuba, who have come to Mexico with full scholarships, to go deeper in the study of the social doctrine of the Church. So this judgment cannot be generalized. One who examines the life of the Church understands that the preferential option for the poor is not poetry, but reality.
Sometimes Catholic morality is criticized because it is opposed to the use of condoms as a solution for the problem of HIV-AIDS. Well I want to say that 27% of the organizations in the world [that work] in favor of patients with this illness are from the Catholic Church and they receive barely 2% of the Global Fund for aid for HIV-AIDS patients. If we move to programs of housing construction, we realize what it means when, during natural disasters, I speak as president of Caritas Internationalis, the most respected institution in the preferential option for the poor.
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NEW WEB SITE "SOCIETA' MISSIONARI DELLA GIOIA" (JOY MISSIONARIES SOCIETAS)
"Società Missionari della Gioia" S.M.G. -(Joy Missionaries Societas), a lay Association established pursuant to can. 299 Codex Iurex Canonici, is glad to announce the opening of its web site: www.missionaridellagioia.org.
The objects of the Association are as follows: to meet the requirements of announcing, via the Net, the spirituality of "Joy and good mood" and to disseminate the "Joy of Gospel", as reminded by Benedetto XVI in his homily of April 29, 2008, upon ordering 29 deacons. PEACE AND JOY!
http://www.missionaridellagioia.org
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