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ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - March 12, 2009
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VATICAN DOSSIER
Pontiff Calls Unity a "Supreme Priority"
Lefebvrite Progress Hinges on Doctrine, Says Pope
Benedict XVI: Dialogue With Jews Necessary
Vatican-Jewish Row Declared Over
Papal Letter Called Unusual
WORLD FEATURES
Cardinal Pell Says Secularism Is Getting Totalitarian
Calling Greek Catholic Saints
ROME NOTES
Making Men Into Gods; Erasing Immortality
DOCUMENTS
Papal Letter on Society of St. Pius X
Pope's Words to Delegation from Israel's Chief Rabbinate
Pontiff Calls Unity a "Supreme Priority"
Explains Desire to Reconcile Pius X Society With ChurchVATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The light that comes from God is being dimmed at this moment of history, and the unity of Christians is a key factor to keep God on the human horizon, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope affirmed this in a March 10 letter to bishops of the world made public by the Vatican today, in which he considers the situation with the Society of St. Pius X.
The Holy Father began the letter by acknowledging that January's lifting of the 1988 excommunication of the four Society prelates caused a "discussion more heated than any we have seen for a long time."
He mentioned the "avalanche of protests" that was unleashed, "whose bitterness laid bare wounds deeper than those of the present moment."
And the Pontiff acknowledged that part of the reaction was due to mistakes by the Vatican.
He explained: "An unforeseen mishap for me was the fact that the Williamson case came on top of the remission of the excommunication. The discreet gesture of mercy toward four bishops ordained validly but not legitimately suddenly appeared as something completely different: as the repudiation of reconciliation between Christians and Jews, and thus as the reversal of what the council had laid down in this regard to guide the Church’s path. […]
"I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news."
Benedict XVI admitted that the reaction of some Catholics caused him sadness, those who "after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility."
"Another mistake, which I deeply regret," he continued, "is the fact that the extent and limits of the provision of Jan. 21, 2009, were not clearly and adequately explained at the moment of its publication."
In that regard, the Pope goes on to explain in the letter the implications of the lifting of the excommunication, both for the individuals involved and for the Society of St. Pius X as an institution.
Christ's mandate
Despite the turmoil caused by the lifting of the excommunication, the Holy Father made clear that seeking unity is a papal priority.
"Was this measure needed? Was it really a priority? Aren’t other things perhaps more important?" he asked.
And he answered that "there are more important and urgent matters." However, he continued, "I believe that I set forth clearly the priorities of my pontificate in the addresses which I gave at its beginning. Everything that I said then continues unchanged as my plan of action. The first priority for the Successor of Peter was laid down by the Lord in the Upper Room in the clearest of terms: 'You … strengthen your brothers.'"
The Pontiff went on to explain why this priority is needed: "In our days, when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women the way to God. […] The real problem at this moment of our history is that God is disappearing from the human horizon, and, with the dimming of the light which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects.
"Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter at the present time. A logical consequence of this is that we must have at heart the unity of all believers," he affirmed.
Acts of reconciliation, "small and not so small," are thus part of the Church's real priority, the Pope stated.
Mistaken?
He continued: "That the quiet gesture of extending a hand gave rise to a huge uproar, and thus became exactly the opposite of a gesture of reconciliation, is a fact which we must accept. But I ask now: Was it, and is it, truly wrong in this case to meet half-way the brother who 'has something against you' and to seek reconciliation? […] Can it be completely mistaken to work to break down obstinacy and narrowness, and to make space for what is positive and retrievable for the whole?"
The Pope said that he had personally seen "in the years after 1988, how the return of communities which had been separated from Rome changed their interior attitudes; I saw how returning to the bigger and broader Church enabled them to move beyond one-sided positions and broke down rigidity so that positive energies could emerge for the whole."
And, the Bishop of Rome asked, can we be "totally indifferent about a community which has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, six seminaries, 88 schools, two university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters and thousands of lay faithful? Should we casually let them drift farther from the Church?"
"I think for example of the 491 priests," he added. "We cannot know how mixed their motives may be. All the same, I do not think that they would have chosen the priesthood if, alongside various distorted and unhealthy elements, they did not have a love for Christ and a desire to proclaim him and, with him, the living God. Can we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical fringe, from our pursuit of reconciliation and unity? What would then become of them?"
Benedict XVI concluded his letter reflecting that Mary teaches us trust. "She leads us to her Son, in whom all of us can put our trust," he said. "He will be our guide -- even in turbulent times."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text of letter: www.zenit.org/article-25341?l=english
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Lefebvrite Progress Hinges on Doctrine, Says Pope
Clarifies Steps Needed for ReconciliationVATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is making it clear that for the Society of St. Pius X to be reconciled with the Church, the issues that need to be cleared up are doctrinal.
The Pope affirmed this in a March 10 letter to bishops of the world, made public by the Vatican today.
The Holy Father reiterated a clarification made by the Vatican Secretariat of State last month, which affirmed that the society has no canonical status in the Church. And, he said in his letter, this is "not, in the end, based on disciplinary but on doctrinal reasons."
The consequence of this lack of canonical status, he explained, is that the society's "ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church. [U]ntil the doctrinal questions are clarified, the society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers -- even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty -- do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church."
To resolve the pending doctrinal issues, Benedict XVI announced that he will join the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established precisely to oversee the process of healing the society's separation from the Church, with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"This will make it clear," he said, "that the problems now to be addressed are essentially doctrinal in nature and concern primarily the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the Popes."
Two sides
The Holy Father went on to speak of the centrality of the Second Vatican Council for any progress with the Society: "The Church's teaching authority cannot be frozen in the year 1962 -- this must be quite clear to the society.
"But some of those who put themselves forward as great defenders of the council also need to be reminded that Vatican II embraces the entire doctrinal history of the Church. Anyone who wishes to be obedient to the council has to accept the faith professed over the centuries, and cannot sever the roots from which the tree draws its life."
The Pontiff recognized that the members themselves of the society have shown both positive and negative attitudes.
He said: "Certainly, for some time now, and once again on this specific occasion, we have heard from some representatives of that community many unpleasant things -- arrogance and presumptuousness, an obsession with one-sided positions, etc.
Yet to tell the truth, I must add that I have also received a number of touching testimonials of gratitude which clearly showed an openness of heart."
And the Bishop of Rome asked if the Church should not be able to show generosity.
He said: "But should not the great Church also allow herself to be generous in the knowledge of her great breadth, in the knowledge of the promise made to her? Should not we, as good educators, also be capable of overlooking various faults and making every effort to open up broader vistas? And should we not admit that some unpleasant things have also emerged in Church circles?
"At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown; which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them -- in this case the Pope -- he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint."
Priority of love
Benedict XVI concluded with a reflection on Galatians 5:13-15, where St. Paul says, "Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another."
He contended that "this 'biting and devouring' also exists in the Church today, as expression of a poorly understood freedom. Should we be surprised that we too are no better than the Galatians? That at the very least we are threatened by the same temptations? That we must always learn anew the proper use of freedom? And that we must always learn anew the supreme priority, which is love?"
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Benedict XVI: Dialogue With Jews Necessary
Receives Delegation of Israel's Chief RabbinateVATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI calls dialogue with Jews not only possible, but necessary, due to the common spiritual heritage shared by the two faiths.
The Pope said this today upon receiving in audience a delegation from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews.
Speaking in English, the Pontiff underlined the importance of the dialogue between the two bodies, which began as a result of "the historical visit of my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land in March 2000."
"During these seven years not only has the friendship between the Commission and the Chief Rabbinate increased, but you have also been able to reflect on important themes which are relevant to the Jewish and Christian traditions alike," the Holy Father said.
The Pontiff called dialogue between the two faiths "necessary and possible" as the two "recognize a common rich spiritual patrimony."
"Working together you have become increasingly aware of the common values which stand at the basis of our respective religious traditions, studying them during the seven meetings held either here in Rome or in Jerusalem," Benedict XVI explained.
He continued: "You have reflected on the sanctity of life, family values, social justice and ethical conduct, the importance of the word of God expressed in Holy Scriptures for society and education, the relationship between religious and civil authority and the freedom of religion and conscience.
"In the common declarations released after every meeting, the views which are rooted in both our respective religious convictions have been highlighted, while the differences of understanding have also been acknowledged."
Chosen people
"The Church recognizes that the beginnings of her faith are found in the historical divine intervention in the life of the Jewish people and that here our unique relationship has its foundation," the Pope said. "The Jewish people, who were chosen as the elected people, communicate to the whole human family, knowledge of and fidelity to the one, unique and true God.
"Christians gladly acknowledge that their own roots are found in the same self-revelation of God, in which the religious experience of the Jewish people is nourished."
Benedict XVI also noted that he is preparing to travel this May "as a pilgrim" to the Holy Land.
"My intention," he said, "is to pray especially for the precious gift of unity and peace both within the region and for the worldwide human family."
The Pontiff added, "May my visit also help to deepen the dialogue of the Church with the Jewish people so that Jews and Christians and also Muslims may live in peace and harmony in this Holy Land."
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Vatican-Jewish Row Declared Over
Rabbis Satisfied With Papal ResponseVATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The row that ensued between Jewish leaders and the Vatican after the latter lifted the excommunication of a bishop who denied the extent of the Holocaust, is over.
Shear-Yashuv Cohen, the chief rabbi of Haifa, said this today in comments to the press after Benedict XVI met with a delegation from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews.
Relations with Israel's' Chief Rabbinate came to a breaking point in January after the Vatican moved to lift the excommunication of holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X, along with three other Lefebvrite bishops.
The bishop claimed in an interview taped in November for Swedish television that historical evidence denies the gassing of Jews in Nazi concentration camps. He also alleged that no more than 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II.
The move strained relations between the Vatican and Israel's Chief Rabbinate, which were established in 2000 when Pope John Paul II visited Israel. The rabbinate had said in a letter that "without a public apology and repudiation of the bishop, it will be difficult to continue the dialogue."
Since then Benedict XVI has repeatedly denounced those who deny the extent of the Holocaust, and today the Vatican released a letter in which the Pope apologizes for the mishaps surrounding the move to lift the excommunication of the four Lefebvrite bishops.
Rabbi Cohen said to the press after meeting with the Pope that he thanked "the Holy See for making this renewal possible by the clear and unequivocal statements deploring Holocaust denial."
He said today's audience was "a very special experience, marking the end of a crisis." He added that Jews "couldn't expect more" from the Pontiff.
Rabbi Cohen made history last October when he participated in the synod of bishops on the Word of God. He was the first Jewish participant ever in a synod.
Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee's director of Interreligious Affairs, said after the meeting that the Jewish community has "reason to be very satisfied," and that he considered the question to "be resolved."
The meeting with the delegation of Israel's Chief Rabbinate had been scheduled for January, but was postponed in the midst of strained relations.
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Spokesman Says It Merits "Great Attention"
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican spokesman says that Benedict XVI's letter released today regarding the Society of St. Pius X is an "unusual document worthy of great attention."
This was the estimation offered by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi in an explanatory note accompanying the Pope's March 10 letter to bishops of the world, according to the Vatican Information Service.
"Never before in his pontificate has Benedict XVI expressed himself so personally and intensely on a matter of public debate," Father Lombardi said. "The Pope experienced the [...] remission of the excommunication and the consequent reactions with evident concern and suffering," and felt the obligation "to intervene in order to contribute to peace in the Church."
Father Lombardi added: "With his habitual lucidity and humility he recognizes the limitations and errors that had a negative influence on the affair, and with great nobility he does not seek to attribute the responsibility for them to others, but expresses solidarity with his collaborators. He speaks of inadequate information in the Williamson case and of insufficient clarity in explaining the procedure and significance of remitting excommunication."
The spokesman also noted how the Holy Father was able to "recall with satisfaction" that moves toward reconciliation with Jews, "beginning with Vatican Council II, is something his own 'work as a theologian had sought from the beginning to take part in and support.'"
Love as priority
Above all, however, Father Lombardi said the Pontiff wishes "to clarify the nature, significance and aims of the remission of excommunication."
"Benedict XVI is profoundly aware of his responsibility as pastor of the universal Church and feels the need to give his brothers in the episcopate unambiguous clarification [...] of the priorities and spirit with which he is undertaking his service," the Jesuit affirmed.
"The Pope continues his considerations," he said, "by inviting his interlocutors to serious reflection, at both the personal and the ecclesial level. The paradoxical fact that a gesture that aimed to be merciful and conciliatory actually created a situation of acute tension, means we must ask questions to discern what spiritual attitudes where [...] at work in this case."
Father Lombardi also noted the Holy Father's "critical realism," which brought him to note "the grave defects of many of the traditionalists' statements" as well as the "members of the Church and society who meet all efforts of reconciliation, or even of the recognition of positive elements in others, with rigid intransigence."
The Pope's letter concludes, the spokesman said, "by reiterating an impassioned appeal for love as the absolute priority for Christians, and by expressing a hope for peace in the community of the Church."
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Cardinal Pell Says Secularism Is Getting Totalitarian
Considers Cases of Religious IntoleranceLONDON, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Modern liberalism has strong totalitarian tendencies, according to the archbishop of Sydney.
Cardinal George Pell affirmed this at a conference last week in Oxford on "Varieties of Intolerance: Religious and Secular."
The Australian prelate began his address considering two examples of intolerance. The first was the little-publicized reaction to California's vote in November to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
The cardinal said that religious groups, businesses and individuals that worked toward the amendment have been the victims of pro-homosexual retaliation, ranging from death threats to boycotts to forced resignation from jobs.
He went on to consider as a second example the opposite reaction of human rights groups to what is considered intolerance of Islam.
The prelate said these cases show there is "onesidedness about discrimination and vilification."
"Some secularists seem to like one way streets," he added. "Their intolerance of Christianity seeks to drive it not only from the public square, but even from the provision of education, health care and welfare services to the wider community. Tolerance has come to mean different things for different groups."
The cardinal noted how particularly in the United States, members of Church organizations are facing more and more legal obstacles when it comes to following their consciences.
And in Australia, he said, the abortion law enacted last year in the state of Victoria "made a mockery of conscientious objection."
"Pro-abortion commentators attacked the concept of conscientious objection as nothing more than a way for doctors and nurses to impose their morality on their patients," Cardinal Pell recalled. "Victoria’s statutory charter of rights, which purports to protect freedom of religion, conscience and belief, was shown to be a dead letter when it comes to abortion. […] The human rights industry ran dead on the freedom of conscience issues which the legislation raised. Amnesty International seems to have been completely missing in action. […] As we know, abortion corrupts everything it touches; law, medicine and the whole concept of human rights."
Christian response
The cardinal contended that "there is an urgent need to deepen public understanding of the importance and nature of religious freedom."
"Believers should not be treated by government and the courts as a tolerated and divisive minority whose rights must always yield to the minority secular agenda, especially when religious people are overwhelmingly in the majority," he said. "The opportunity to contribute to community and public good is a right of all individuals and groups, including religious ones. The application of laws within democracies should facilitate the broadening of these opportunities, not their increasing constraint."
Affirming that "modern liberalism has strong totalitarian tendencies," the cardinal went on to explain how it is different than "traditional liberalism, which sees the individual and the family and the association as prior to the state, with the latter existing only to fulfill functions that the former require but which are beyond their means to provide."
He said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights understand and articulate this proper relationship.
Cardinal Pell stated that new trends in using anti-discrimination law and human rights claims to advance the "autonomy project" is not new but that there is a new and "dangerous" trend: the withholding or retrenchment of exemptions for church agencies and conscience provisions for individuals.
The broad effect of this, he said "is to enforce conformity."
The key to the solution, Cardinal Pell affirmed, is that "Christians have to recover their genius for showing that there are better ways to live and to build a good society; ways which respect freedom, empower individuals and transform communities. They also have to recover their self-confidence and courage.
"The secular and religious intolerance of our day needs to be confronted regularly and publicly. Believers need to call the bluff of what is, even in most parts of Europe, a small minority with disproportionate influence in the media. This is one of the crucial tasks for Christians in the 21st century."
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On the Net:
Full text of address: http://documents.scribd.com/docs/1aqyamje35bx7w1omesl.pdf
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Symposium Affirms Need for Modern Witnesses
GAMING, Austria, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Participants in a Greek Catholic symposium concluded that the Church cannot rest in the legacy of its martyrs, but needs contemporary witnesses to apply the same faith to today's challenges.
A communiqué from the International Theological Institute in Gaming reported this conclusion from a March 4-6 international symposium on the mission of the Greek Catholic Churches in Central and Eastern Europe.
Participants included 17 bishops -- 15 of them Greek Catholic -- priests, scholars, students and laypeople from 20 countries.
The example of Christians in Communist times was upheld, as a testimony of those who underwent persecution to preserve their mission and Greek Catholic identity.
The communiqué reported, "Despite the tragic 20th-century history of totalitarian repression and centuries of discriminated status of their Churches, the Greek Catholic hierarchs, clergy and scholars from Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, as well as the United States, reaffirmed that their Eastern identity and Catholic communion constitute a rich spiritual treasure -- the very substance of a unique religious experience."
Church identity
It stated that the Greek Catholic Churches "refuse to be categorized in a manner that either lessens their Eastern identity or negates their Catholic communion" and that the participants "renewed their commitment to the arduous task of living in the middle of a divided Christian world, hoping and working for its unity."
The statement asserted, "The urgent and life-giving vocation of the Greek Catholics is to integrate and synthesize the patristic, liturgical, canonical, cultural and mystical tradition of the Christian East with a living witness to the catholicity and universality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, participated in the meeting and expressed the hope that Greek Catholics, as well as Orthodox, "can help people in the West better experience liturgical beauty and holiness, offsetting a flattened sense of the sacred in an increasingly secularized post-Enlightenment world."
In a letter addressed to the symposium, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, quoted Benedict XVI, stressing that "Greek Catholic Churches are called to be faithful to the Eastern tradition, to witness to it in the Catholic communion, thus being an example to Orthodox Christians of what living communion with the Catholic Church means."
The report noted that the new martyrs of the 20th century, who fought against "the suppression of God-given freedom and human dignity by ideological totalitarianisms," manifest the authentic of the Greek Catholic religious experience. These examples provide hope and "countercultural courage" for Christians facing the challenge of life in "a secularized post-Christian Europe."
The Greek Catholic bishops presented and discussed the challenges of their individual Churches. Symposium participants proposed, in order to meet these challenges, to petition Benedict XVI to devote a papal synod to the topic of Eastern Catholic Churches. As well, they resolved to hold annual conferences like this symposium, noting the desire to discuss the topic of the family and married priesthood in the Greek Catholic Church at a future conference.
Participants concluded that the Greek Catholic Church "should not rest on the spiritual laurels of their martyrs" but rather should "apply themselves with the faith of their fathers and mothers to the challenges of Christian witness and unity in the 21st century."
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Making Men Into Gods; Erasing Immortality
Julius Caesar's Stamp on HistoryBy Elizabeth Lev
ROME, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- "Julius Caesar" remains one of the best-known names of Ancient Rome. It lives on as the popular female name Julia, and it spawned the titles of Tsar and Kaiser. While Julius has enjoyed both praise and blame in his centuries of renown, his name has never been forgotten. He achieved his greatest goal, immortality.
For the first time in Italy, an exhibit in the cloister of the Roman church Santa Maria della Pace explores this fascinating figure, from the historical facts to the scintillating lore to the lasting legend that still captivates today.
Caesar was born around 100 B.C. into the "gens Iulia," one of the noblest and most ancient families of Rome, but was raised in an impoverished household in a tenement district of Rome. He grew up during the difficult age of civil wars on the Italian peninsula caused by the strife between the two most powerful men in Rome, Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
Visitors to the exhibit are greeted by a beautifully modeled bust of Julius Caesar from the Vatican Museums. The distinctive features -- high brow, slightly aquiline nose and high cheekbones -- reveal portraiture at the brink of the Empire. The republican desire for individuality remains in the wrinkled forehead and deep-set eyes, but the new idealization of imperial imagery is hinted at through the elegant lines of the face.
Caesar's Rome was torn between two warring political factions, the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates represented the old nobles bent on retaining the privileges of the aristocracy while the latter comprised new members of the Senate. The Populares frequently used rhetorical demagoguery, attempting to harness the power of the masses of discontent Romans.
Caesar, of aristocratic lineage, joined the Populares hoping to reconcile the two increasingly opposed groups. Extraordinary even in youth, he had survived Sulla's assassination attempt, won the Civic crown at 19 and took a seat in the Senate soon after.
A famous anecdote recounts Caesar's awareness of his own singularity from the outset. He was kidnapped by pirates in 74 B.C., who demanded a ransom of 20 talents. Caesar declared himself worth 50 talents and vowed that he would pay his ransom, and then return to capture and crucify the pirates, a promise he kept.
Caesar's public life is represented in the exhibition through a bronze tablet inscribed with several of his laws. Another intriguing object is an image of a senator's chair, the "sedile curule," next to a similar seat found in the ruins of Pompeii. Portraits of Pompey and Crassus, who formed the triumvirate with Julius in 60 B.C. to rule Rome, sit next to the portrait of Cicero, one of Caesar's bitterest enemies. In the dark exhibition space it feels like witnessing a meeting of the ancient Senate.
Caesar's exploits continued to amaze Rome. Taking governorship of Gaul from 58 to 52, Caesar subdued the entire territory ultimately conquering the Gaul king Vercingetorix. His political alliance was unraveling, but his prestige was growing. Highlights of the show are the artifacts from the excavations from the site of Caesar's campaign in Gaul. Swords of Gaul, some in excellent condition, Roman lance points and helmets render vivid the memory of Caesar's victories.
The triumvirate dissolved with the death of Crassus and soon the Optimates drew Pompey to their side. Faced with the order to disband his legions and return to Rome, on Jan. 10, 49 B.C., Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome.
The resulting civil war did not end until Pompey's defeat at Pharsalus in 48 B.C.. Caesar pursued Pompey to Egypt, where he found his former ally treacherously murdered and met Cleopatra. In true Italian form, the exhibit, dedicates much space to the romance between Caesar and Cleopatra. A striking bust in black basalt presents the exotic Egyptian queen, while nearby a delicate portrait in Parian marble depicts her as similar to a Greek goddess.
In the land where rulers were divinities, one wonders if it was here where Julius first dreamed of immortality. A low relief shows Caesar as the Egyptian god Amon with his consort Cleopatra as the goddess Mut and their son Caesarion.
Back in Rome, Caesar was emphasizing the Julian connections with divinity. His family claimed a direct tie to Aeneas the Trojan prince who was the son of the goddess Venus. In the last year of his life, Caesar assumed the title of Jupiter Julius, associating himself with the king of the gods.
Caesar erected a new forum, with a lofty temple dedicated to Venus Genetrix, as progenitor of his clan. A stunning statue from the Louvre shows what the cult statue would have looked like, with the elegant goddess draped in a long white robe, holding the golden apple as the most beautiful of all.
Cases of exquisite handicrafts reflect Caesar's taste for luxuries. Silver drinking cups, glass plates, gold jewels and minute mosaics reflect a love of things temporal, but Caesar always kept his eye on posterity.
Caesar was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey on the Ides of March 44 B.C., but for his legend, this was only the beginning. The rest of the exhibit studies how the memory of Caesar's feats only grew after his death. His cremation in the Forum by a grief-stricken mob of Romans attested to the fact that while many Romans would not accept Caesar as king, they were willing to accept him as a god.
Caesar's adopted son and designated heir Octavian, later to be known as Augustus, did the most to promote Caesar's deification. Everything he commissioned, from decorative reliefs of Roman histories to Virgil's Aenead written from 28-19 B.C., was intended to establish the divine lineage of the gens Iulia.
On Aug. 18, 29 B.C., Augustus dedicated the temple to the Divine Julius, the first temple in the Forum to a man who had become a god. Erected on the site of his ad hoc cremation, the temple faced the great shrine of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. Caesar had achieved what no Roman had done before him, official recognition of his immortality.
The subsequent emperors would claim deity based on the precedent of Julius Caesar and Rome would be littered with temples to the deified Hadrian, Claudius and others. Caesar had forged a new path of conquest for Rome where men become gods.
Meanwhile, in the very age when the emperors began to imagine that they could live forever, the true promise of eternal life was born. Forty four years after the death of Caesar, in the reign of his successor Augustus, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. As altars and shrines to neo-deities proliferated through the Empire, Jesus would teach there is only one path to eternal life -- through him.
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Forever Punished
While the Romans on the cusp of the Empire established deification as the greatest honor that could be conferred on man, they similarly devised a punishment intended to reach beyond the confines of mortal life, the "condamnatio memoriae."
The condemnation of memory, a posthumous punishment, came into being when Emperors could expect deification in due course. Images of apotheosis abounded in Rome from Titus peering from the back of an eagle as he is born heavenward, to the finely wrought Antoninus Pius and Faustina being conveyed by winged figures.
An emperor who had too flagrantly abused his power, however, would not only be denied divinity, but as in the case of Emperor Domitian, assassinated in 96, the Senate "… could not restrain itself from outdoing one another in showering the defunct with injurious and violent invectives, and from ordering ladders brought immediately to detach the images and busts of Domitian and throw them to the ground."
The historian Suetonius also tells us that they "decreed that they erase all his inscriptions and cancel his memory." In a world where immortality was everything, the deliberate destruction of a man's deeds and memory was the cruelest punishment of all. With no chance of ever rehabilitating his name, the cloud of ignominy would dwell over him forever.
In the vindictive spirit of this decree, detractors heaped accounts of misdeeds upon misdeeds, each more graphically detailed than the next. Roman "transparency" decreed that sexual aberrations be exhaustively recounted and murders described in gory exactitude, while all positive exploits and achievements were systematically effaced.
The miscreant would be consigned to history as an appalling being, with no redeeming quality worthy of remembrance and respect.
Christianity took judgment after death out of the hands of men, mobs and senators and put it in the hands of God. Compassion and prayer for the dead replaced the persecution of a person's memory. While Christians declared "saints" of those who exhibited exceptional virtue, especially the martyrs, they never thought to draft a list of the damned, commending all rather to God's mercy and leaving judgment to him.
The Christian injunction to not speak ill of the dead and to avoid defamation grew from the Christian virtue of charity, Christ's "new commandment." As the greatest of all virtues, it superseded the pagan desire to pursue retribution beyond the grave, commending to God's mercy and justice the faithful departed.
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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus and the University of St. Thomas Catholic studies program. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.
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Papal Letter on Society of St. Pius X
"We Must Have at Heart the Unity of All Believers"VATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the letter written by Benedict XVI concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X that were ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988.
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Dear Brothers in the Episcopal Ministry!
The remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre without a mandate of the Holy See has for many reasons caused, both within and beyond the Catholic Church, a discussion more heated than any we have seen for a long time. Many Bishops felt perplexed by an event which came about unexpectedly and was difficult to view positively in the light of the issues and tasks facing the Church today. Even though many Bishops and members of the faithful were disposed in principle to take a positive view of the Pope’s concern for reconciliation, the question remained whether such a gesture was fitting in view of the genuinely urgent demands of the life of faith in our time. Some groups, on the other hand, openly accused the Pope of wanting to turn back the clock to before the Council: as a result, an avalanche of protests was unleashed, whose bitterness laid bare wounds deeper than those of the present moment. I therefore feel obliged to offer you, dear Brothers, a word of clarification, which ought to help you understand the concerns which led me and the competent offices of the Holy See to take this step. In this way I hope to contribute to peace in the Church.
An unforeseen mishap for me was the fact that the Williamson case came on top of the remission of the excommunication. The discreet gesture of mercy towards four Bishops ordained validly but not legitimately suddenly appeared as something completely different: as the repudiation of reconciliation between Christians and Jews, and thus as the reversal of what the Council had laid down in this regard to guide the Church’s path. A gesture of reconciliation with an ecclesial group engaged in a process of separation thus turned into its very antithesis: an apparent step backwards with regard to all the steps of reconciliation between Christians and Jews taken since the Council -- steps which my own work as a theologian had sought from the beginning to take part in and support. That this overlapping of two opposed processes took place and momentarily upset peace between Christians and Jews, as well as peace within the Church, is something which I can only deeply deplore. I have been told that consulting the information available on the internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news. I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility. Precisely for this reason I thank all the more our Jewish friends, who quickly helped to clear up the misunderstanding and to restore the atmosphere of friendship and trust which -- as in the days of Pope John Paul II -- has also existed throughout my pontificate and, thank God, continues to exist.
Another mistake, which I deeply regret, is the fact that the extent and limits of the provision of 21 January 2009 were not clearly and adequately explained at the moment of its publication. The excommunication affects individuals, not institutions. An episcopal ordination lacking a pontifical mandate raises the danger of a schism, since it jeopardizes the unity of the College of Bishops with the Pope. Consequently the Church must react by employing her most severe punishment -- excommunication -- with the aim of calling those thus punished to repent and to return to unity. Twenty years after the ordinations, this goal has sadly not yet been attained. The remission of the excommunication has the same aim as that of the punishment: namely, to invite the four Bishops once more to return. This gesture was possible once the interested parties had expressed their recognition in principle of the Pope and his authority as Pastor, albeit with some reservations in the area of obedience to his doctrinal authority and to the authority of the Council. Here I return to the distinction between individuals and institutions. The remission of the excommunication was a measure taken in the field of ecclesiastical discipline: the individuals were freed from the burden of conscience constituted by the most serious of ecclesiastical penalties. This disciplinary level needs to be distinguished from the doctrinal level. The fact that the Society of Saint Pius X does not possess a canonical status in the Church is not, in the end, based on disciplinary but on doctrinal reasons. As long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church. There needs to be a distinction, then, between the disciplinary level, which deals with individuals as such, and the doctrinal level, at which ministry and institution are involved. In order to make this clear once again: until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers -- even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty -- do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.
In light of this situation, it is my intention henceforth to join the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" -- the body which has been competent since 1988 for those communities and persons who, coming from the Society of Saint Pius X or from similar groups, wish to return to full communion with the Pope -- to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This will make it clear that the problems now to be addressed are essentially doctrinal in nature and concern primarily the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the Popes. The collegial bodies with which the Congregation studies questions which arise (especially the ordinary Wednesday meeting of Cardinals and the annual or biennial Plenary Session) ensure the involvement of the Prefects of the different Roman Congregations and representatives from the world’s Bishops in the process of decision-making. The Church’s teaching authority cannot be frozen in the year 1962 -- this must be quite clear to the Society. But some of those who put themselves forward as great defenders of the Council also need to be reminded that Vatican II embraces the entire doctrinal history of the Church. Anyone who wishes to be obedient to the Council has to accept the faith professed over the centuries, and cannot sever the roots from which the tree draws its life.
I hope, dear Brothers, that this serves to clarify the positive significance and also the limits of the provision of 21 January 2009. But the question still remains: Was this measure needed? Was it really a priority? Aren’t other things perhaps more important? Of course there are more important and urgent matters. I believe that I set forth clearly the priorities of my pontificate in the addresses which I gave at its beginning. Everything that I said then continues unchanged as my plan of action. The first priority for the Successor of Peter was laid down by the Lord in the Upper Room in the clearest of terms: "You… strengthen your brothers" (Lk 22:32). Peter himself formulated this priority anew in his first Letter: "Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet 3:15). In our days, when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women the way to God. Not just any god, but the God who spoke on Sinai; to that God whose face we recognize in a love which presses "to the end" (cf. Jn 13:1) -- in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. The real problem at this moment of our history is that God is disappearing from the human horizon, and, with the dimming of the light which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects.
Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter at the present time. A logical consequence of this is that we must have at heart the unity of all believers. Their disunity, their disagreement among themselves, calls into question the credibility of their talk of God. Hence the effort to promote a common witness by Christians to their faith -- ecumenism -- is part of the supreme priority. Added to this is the need for all those who believe in God to join in seeking peace, to attempt to draw closer to one another, and to journey together, even with their differing images of God, towards the source of Light -- this is interreligious dialogue. Whoever proclaims that God is Love "to the end" has to bear witness to love: in loving devotion to the suffering, in the rejection of hatred and enmity -- this is the social dimension of the Christian faith, of which I spoke in the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est.
So if the arduous task of working for faith, hope and love in the world is presently (and, in various ways, always) the Church’s real priority, then part of this is also made up of acts of reconciliation, small and not so small. That the quiet gesture of extending a hand gave rise to a huge uproar, and thus became exactly the opposite of a gesture of reconciliation, is a fact which we must accept. But I ask now: Was it, and is it, truly wrong in this case to meet half-way the brother who "has something against you" (cf. Mt 5:23ff.) and to seek reconciliation? Should not civil society also try to forestall forms of extremism and to incorporate their eventual adherents -- to the extent possible -- in the great currents shaping social life, and thus avoid their being segregated, with all its consequences? Can it be completely mistaken to work to break down obstinacy and narrowness, and to make space for what is positive and retrievable for the whole? I myself saw, in the years after 1988, how the return of communities which had been separated from Rome changed their interior attitudes; I saw how returning to the bigger and broader Church enabled them to move beyond one-sided positions and broke down rigidity so that positive energies could emerge for the whole. Can we be totally indifferent about a community which has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters and thousands of lay faithful? Should we casually let them drift farther from the Church? I think for example of the 491 priests. We cannot know how mixed their motives may be. All the same, I do not think that they would have chosen the priesthood if, alongside various distorted and unhealthy elements, they did not have a love for Christ and a desire to proclaim him and, with him, the living God. Can we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical fringe, from our pursuit of reconciliation and unity? What would then become of them?
Certainly, for some time now, and once again on this specific occasion, we have heard from some representatives of that community many unpleasant things -- arrogance and presumptuousness, an obsession with one-sided positions, etc. Yet to tell the truth, I must add that I have also received a number of touching testimonials of gratitude which clearly showed an openness of heart. But should not the great Church also allow herself to be generous in the knowledge of her great breadth, in the knowledge of the promise made to her? Should not we, as good educators, also be capable of overlooking various faults and making every effort to open up broader vistas? And should we not admit that some unpleasant things have also emerged in Church circles? At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown; which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them -- in this case the Pope -- he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint.
Dear Brothers, during the days when I first had the idea of writing this letter, by chance, during a visit to the Roman Seminary, I had to interpret and comment on Galatians 5:13-15. I was surprised at the directness with which that passage speaks to us about the present moment: "Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another." I am always tempted to see these words as another of the rhetorical excesses which we occasionally find in Saint Paul. To some extent that may also be the case. But sad to say, this "biting and devouring" also exists in the Church today, as expression of a poorly understood freedom. Should we be surprised that we too are no better than the Galatians? That at the very least we are threatened by the same temptations? That we must always learn anew the proper use of freedom? And that we must always learn anew the supreme priority, which is love? The day I spoke about this at the Major Seminary, the feast of Our Lady of Trust was being celebrated in Rome. And so it is: Mary teaches us trust. She leads us to her Son, in whom all of us can put our trust. He will be our guide -- even in turbulent times. And so I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many Bishops who have lately offered me touching tokens of trust and affection, and above all assured me of their prayers. My thanks also go to all the faithful who in these days have given me testimony of their constant fidelity to the Successor of Saint Peter. May the Lord protect all of us and guide our steps along the way of peace. This is the prayer that rises up instinctively from my heart at the beginning of this Lent, a liturgical season particularly suited to interior purification, one which invites all of us to look with renewed hope to the light which awaits us at Easter.
With a special Apostolic Blessing, I remain
Yours in the Lord,
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
From the Vatican, 10 March 2009
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Pope's Words to Delegation from Israel's Chief Rabbinate
"I Am Preparing to Visit the Holy Land As a Pilgrim"VATICAN CITY, MARCH 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI gave today upon receiving a delegation from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.
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Distinguished representatives of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel,
Dear Catholic Delegates,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, the delegation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, together with Catholic participants led by the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. The important dialogue in which you are engaged is a fruit of the historical visit of my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land in March 2000. It was his wish to enter into a dialogue with Jewish religious institutions in Israel and his encouragement was decisive to attaining this goal. Receiving the two Chief Rabbis of Israel in January 2004 he called this dialogue a "sign of great hope".
During these seven years not only has the friendship between the Commission and the Chief Rabbinate increased, but you have also been able to reflect on important themes which are relevant to the Jewish and Christian traditions alike. Because we recognize a common rich spiritual patrimony a dialogue based on mutual understanding and respect is, as Nostra Aetate (n. 4) recommends, necessary and possible.
Working together you have become increasingly aware of the common values which stand at the basis of our respective religious traditions, studying them during the seven meetings held either here in Rome or in Jerusalem. You have reflected on the sanctity of life, family values, social justice and ethical conduct, the importance of the word of God expressed in Holy Scriptures for society and education, the relationship between religious and civil authority and the freedom of religion and conscience. In the common declarations released after every meeting, the views which are rooted in both our respective religious convictions have been highlighted, while the differences of understanding have also been acknowledged. The Church recognizes that the beginnings of her faith are found in the historical divine intervention in the life of the Jewish people and that here our unique relationship has its foundation. The Jewish people, who were chosen as the elected people, communicate to the whole human family, knowledge of and fidelity to the one, unique and true God. Christians gladly acknowledge that their own roots are found in the same self-revelation of God, in which the religious experience of the Jewish people is nourished.
As you know, I am preparing to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim. My intention is to pray especially for the precious gift of unity and peace both within the region and for the worldwide human family. As Psalm 125 brings to mind, God protects his people: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from this time forth and for evermore". May my visit also help to deepen the dialogue of the Church with the Jewish people so that Jews and Christians and also Muslims may live in peace and harmony in this Holy Land.
I thank you for your visit and I renew my personal commitment to advancing the vision set out for coming generations in the Second Vatican Council's declaration Nostra Aetate.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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