[ZE120123] The World Seen From Rome
ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - January 23, 2012
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SPECIAL
- Father Pavone on Looking Ahead in the US Abortion Battle
- Leader of US Bishops Rallies Marchers
- After 40 Days, Nineveh Repented
- Paris Marchers Confront 'Right' to Eugenics
- Former Abortionist Speaks to San Francisco Marchers
- Pilgrim's Journal: Putting on the Armor of God
- Pilgrim's Journal: Is It Worth It?
VATICAN DOSSIER
ANGELUS
DOCUMENTS
SPECIAL
Father Pavone on Looking Ahead in the US Abortion Battle
Founder of Priests for Life Readying for Roe v. Wade at 40
By Ann Schneible
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Today's March for Life in Washington, D.C., marks the 39th year since abortion was made legal in the United States. As the pro-life movement enters its 40th year, however, there are reasons for hope: new pro-life initiatives, a crucial presidential election, and thousands of young people who are committed to fighting a law that has permitted the killing of one third of their generation.
Father Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, mentioned these issues when he spoke with ZENIT on Friday about the 2012 March for Life, and the pro-life initiatives for the upcoming year.
ZENIT: This is the 39th March for Life since abortion was made legal in the United States. Does this year's March for Life hold any particular significance?
Father Pavone: A couple of things. We at Priests for Life are launching a special series of observances leading up to the 40th [anniversary of Roe vs. Wade], which of course next year will be very big, very significant. And among those observances we're going to start with a special emphasis on the youth. We are leading the youth rally this weekend. In fact, tomorrow night, to kick off the March for Life weekend, [we're having] a big youth rally. Our youth director of youth outreach is doing that there, and has lined up a special conference that will take place in the evening. And the theme that he will emphasize is this beginning of the 40th year.
Now 40, of course, has a lot of Biblical significance. And so, we are intensifying our prayer campaign, which involves all the churches -- Catholic and Protestant alike -- with special prayer campaigns during the course of the year. We've been doing that, but we will intensify that as special preparation for this year.
Secondly, a special effort to create abortion-free states. There are several states here in the U.S., which have only one remaining abortion mill. And in conjunction with various other organizations, we are participating in an effort to focus on those abortion mills and those abortionists, and the work going on in those particular states, to bring about the victory of having a state -- or two, or three -- that we can point to and say: "There are no longer any functioning abortion facilities in this state." That would be largely a psychological victory, but significant nevertheless, and we hope to be able to achieve that this year.
So these and other things will be launched in a particular way this week, as we have special services and special opportunities there in Washington to rally people, and help them focus on things like this.
ZENIT: You mentioned working with other Christian groups. During this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, could you elaborate on the importance of collaborating with other Christian groups in the fight against abortion?
Father Pavone: When Pope John Paul II issued Evangelium Vitae (that was in 1995 in March), two months later, his encyclical on Christian Unity came out. I've always seen that as significant, that these two major encyclicals came out so closely together, practically simultaneously. That has always been very meaningful to us because, in both of those documents, he talks about Christians working together for the cause of justice, for the rights of the oppressed and the weak. This has been our theme constantly, and to echo the message of those documents together.
One of the ways that we'll do that in these coming days is that Priests for Life is a major co-sponsor of a prayer service that is held the morning of the March for Life. And we hold it in the U.S. Capitol building, so it's a significant location. Christians coming together, we have about two dozen denominations that are represented at that morning prayer service. This will be the 18th annual prayer service started the same year that I began my position with Priests for Life. That service is a very strong symbolic moment during the annual March for Life of the truth that's being expressed here in these papal documents and by the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: namely, that Christians are called to be a unified witness for justice in the world. When we pray for unity, [we should pray] that "the world may believe, Father, that you sent me." And he sent you exactly to raise you up to life, and to bring human beings to the throne of God. So the pro-life work signifies that in a very appropriate way.
I will also be there at that service, so one of the other groups co-sponsoring it is the National Pro-Life Religious Council (I'm currently serving as president of that council), and that is another body that works throughout the year, to bring Christians together in the fight for pro-life.
ZENIT: You spoke about involving the youth. Could you speak about the role that the youth can play in the pro-life movement?
Father Pavone: The reason that's so critical is that, first of all, the whole pro-life movement is a fight for the youngest of the young. The youth involvement in the movement is, in a particular way, something that highlights what the movement's all about in the first place.
Secondly, what's happening is that more and more young people are involved in the fight for life, precisely because they realize that they could've been the victims of abortion. And even in the world of psychology and psychiatry, people are studying now what is called "abortion survivor syndrome," and this is the effect on young people of realizing that their own right to life was not secure when they were in the womb. And that has multiple effects, very similar to survivor syndrome of soldiers that come back from a war.
So when we lead young people in this fight, we're very sensitive to that, and we know what their motivation is, because most of them will say, when you ask them why they are involved, they'll say, "it could have been me." They're aware of what they've lost, in terms of siblings, other family members, classmates, potential spouses: a third of their generation has literally been slaughtered, and they know that. They realize that. They feel that. So their witness of commitment to this movement has a particular significance, even above and beyond what the rest of us can give, because we are not in the category of survivors in the U.S.. We were conceived before Roe vs. Wade was passed. And then of course, the youth are, in this generation, very talented at utilizing the latest means of social communications, and we utilize that to the maximum with their direct involvement. This is globalizing people as never before, for the cause of life, both for education, and also this being an election year, which is part of the focus here.
Our youth program [that] sponsored this rally tomorrow is launching something called the Be My Vote campaign, and it's where young people who are not yet old enough to vote approach adults and say, "I can't vote. If I could, I would vote for pro-life candidates. Will you be my vote instead?" And so they educate, mobilize, and activate older people to do what they should be doing anyway, which is to elect pro-life public officials.
So these are some of the roles the young people play now in this movement.
ZENIT: What should people keep in mind as they try to vote for pro-life candidates during this upcoming presidential election?
Father Pavone: What they should keep in mind is, first of all, we want to vote for pro-life candidates, not just as a statement, but as an actual transfer of power. We don't want to simply make it an idealistic statement; we want to actually get people into office. People should gather around those electable pro-life candidates that there are. That is point number one.
Point number two is that, nobody says there's just one issue. There are multiple issues always that need to be considered, and of course the Catholic teaching is very much focused on that, and rightly so. But the reason that any issue is an issue to begin with, is life. If an issue didn't impact human lives, it wouldn't be an issue to start with. And so, what we're trying to show people is that, when we talk about pro-life candidates, we're talking about people who understand what's at the heart and core of every issue. John Paul II made a very strong statement, I always quote it when I talk about elections, in his 1988 document, Christifideles Laici (The Role of the Lay Faithful), he said: "the common outcry" for the rights of work and health care, and education -- the outcry for these things is "false and illusory" -- he uses those two words -- if the right to life is not protected. The reason it's "false and illusory" is that if you're denying the right to life as a government, then you're also denying the right to health care and education; those children can't be educated or cared for if they're dead. So you're really undermining every right when you deny the most fundamental one that is the condition for all the rest. That's what people need to keep in mind when they're looking at their electoral choices. We will be reminding them of that, and we will also be urging churches to do voter registration.
This year, we've designated several weekends as "voter registration Sundays." And we've formed a coalition of pro-life groups that are promoting this and other activities. It's called the "Vote Pro-Life Coalition." You can see some information about it at voteprolifecoalition.com, and you'll also see there that the dates of the voter registration weekends are the weekend of Pentecost (which comes this year at the end of May), the weekend closest to the 4th of July (our Independence Day), and then the weekend closest to Sept. 11 (which is Patriot's Day). Those three days provide a special impetus and motivation for getting involved in the political process. So, those are some of the things that we'll be talking about, including in these next few days, regarding the election.
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Leader of US Bishops Rallies Marchers
Cardinal-designate Dolan: 'Goliath the Giant Didn't Win, Did He?'
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The closing homily for the National Prayer Vigil for Life was given by New York's Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan this morning, before the faithful poured out of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and onto the streets of the U.S. capital.
The cardinal-designate, also president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, celebrated the 7:30 a.m. Mass that brought an end to the all-night vigil for those who had just spent the night in what he referred to as "their mother's home," the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, America's national Marian shrine.
He welcomed them all and thanked them for the "radiant inspiration" they had given by their testimony.
We should not lose hope of winning the pro-life battle, he urged them. "God's grace, God's power is unlimited! There is no evil, no horror, no sin that is exempt from the healing rays of his grace."
Noting the difficulties, such as governments that promote abortion, and contraception and abortion being considered "rights," Cardinal-designate Dolan acknowledged that we can be tempted to despair and to think that all is lost.
"Not us! Not for thousands who have stayed up all night in prayer in this, the home of a pregnant woman;
"Not for hundreds of thousands who will march today with the words of 'We Shall Overcome' ringing in our ears," he exclaimed.
Comparing the struggle to the David versus Goliath contest, he said that like David the pro-life movement "has been dismissed by the Goliath of the well-oiled, well-inked, glitterati-crowded pro-abortion one."
"But, Goliath the Giant didn't win, did he? Trusting, shrewd, faithful, confident, energetic little David did!"
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On the Net:
Full text: www.usccb.org/about/media-relations/resources/2012-national-prayer-vigil-for-life-homilies.cfm
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After 40 Days, Nineveh Repented
Cardinal DiNardo Points to 2013 Anniversary at Vigil Mass
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Once again the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. was the scene on Sunday of the National Vigil for Life, held to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Jan. 22, 1973 decision legalizing abortion, Roe vs. Wade.
The homily at the Sunday evening Mass was given by the U.S. bishops' chair for Pro-Life Activities, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.
Addressing the many thousands of people packed in the basilica, Cardinal DiNardo classified the occasion as "a somber day of remembrance."
He remarked on the large number of children and young people present at the vigil. "You are grand and eloquent witnesses to human life, enthusiasm unmoved by sour pundits who prefer to ignore you."
Commenting on the first reading about the Prophet Jonah who urged the people of Nineveh to repent within 40 days, he observed that the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade is next year. Since that decision 53 million children have lost their lives, and "millions of men and women have lives that will never be the same because of their tragic choices."
We must continue to pray and work for a change in the laws, the cardinal said, but urged the protestors to avoid harsh rhetoric that would foreclose change and repentance.
"Yes, the Lord through his Son weeps over the loss of life; His simultaneous compassion and mercy opens up forgiveness to those who have greatly sinned," he reflected.
"It is not weakness to show compassion for those with whom we have fundamental disagreement on human life, a matter of the greatest importance," the cardinal added.
Witnesses
"We are the people of the Gospel of Life," he proclaimed. As such, he said, the first duty is to be credible witnesses, living chaste lives and not being overcome by a desire for material possessions.
Cardinal DiNardo noted that there is positive news in the pro-life battle, with a record number of state laws that restrict abortions. As well, state prosecutors have begun to take action against late term abortionists who often injure and maim women.
"At the same time conscience protection and religious liberty for all of us who work for life has been put in jeopardy and represents a significant and troubling issue," he said.
The cardinal also referred to the Holy Father's Jan. 9 address to the Diplomatic Corps. In it Benedict XVI said: "(W)ith particular reference to the West, I am convinced that legislative measures which not only permit but at times even promote abortion for reasons of convenience and for questionable medical motives compromise the education of young people and, as a result, the future of humanity."
He observed that the Church's Year of Faith, which begins this October, will overlap with the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. "(M)ay the new evangelization, which always begins with personal conversion, be a prime vehicle for re-invigorating the Gospel of Life here in the United States," he said, "for individuals, for the Church, and for the people of the United States."
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On the Net:
Full text: www.usccb.org/about/media-relations/resources/2012-national-prayer-vigil-for-life-homilies.cfm
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Paris Marchers Confront 'Right' to Eugenics
President of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation Talks About Sunday's Protest
By Anita Bourdin
PARIS, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Pro-lifers in Paris on Sunday admit that the environment they are facing in France is a worrisome one.
Jean-Marie Le Méné, president of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, participated in the March for Life.
He spoke with ZENIT about how the battle for the culture of life is faring on the France front.
ZENIT: Why take part in the 2012 March for Life?
Le Méné: The 2012 political events in France give me the occasion to speak about respect for life. The situation has become worse after the revision of the 2011 bioethics law.
The marchers can follow different ways. We, of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, also march for life, and for some time now, in the footsteps of Professor Jérôme Lejeune, [who discovered the gene that causes Down Syndrome], whose name we are proud to bear and whose work we are proud to follow. If I have agreed to speak, it is because the situation is worrying. As opposed to what is thought, the June 2011 bioethics law accentuates offenses to life, primarily on two counts.
ZENIT: What is the most worrying element?
Le Méné: For the first time, the law obliges all doctors to give pregnant women information on a prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 21, allowing abortion at any time.
Before the 2011 law, doctors already did this, with the consequence that 96% of trisomy babies were aborted. In the course of the debates, a parliamentarian asked why 4% still remained. Since then, the coupling of this practice with a legal obligation has made us pass from eugenics in fact to eugenics by right!
General practitioners -- not only obstetricians -- find themselves now on the front line and must give an account to the law of the efforts they've made not to have "undesirable" babies born.
ZENIT: Hence, trisomy babies are victims of a new form of eugenics?
Le Méné: One must be aware of the unheard of character of this generalized prenatal analysis for trisomy 21, for which there is no demand on the part of the [patient] population. There is no a priori risk, no prevention and no benefit for the one concerned, given that the baby is aborted in the majority of cases. This total or partial destruction of a group, selected by its genome, is the execution of a concerted plan marked by a eugenic policy that has nothing to do with medicine.
ZENIT: Are there other worrying elements that should alert public opinion?
Le Méné: The bioethics law is also characterized by aggravated contempt for the human being in the embryonic state. Although research with human embryos is prohibited, the 2011 law has notably extended the exceptions to this principle. The cannibalization of embryos to appropriate their stem cells is always unjustifiable.
Moreover, it is "uselessly immoral," given that no therapeutic progress has been achieved from these works. Today the human embryo serves to economize on animals in pharmaceutical laboratories.
ZENIT: But your own commitment continues?
Le Méné: The Jérôme Lejeune Foundation spares no efforts to promote a clinical medicine that respects its patients, even if belittled in the eyes of the world. We invest in scientific research that will always be at the service of man and of humanity.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Former Abortionist Speaks to San Francisco Marchers
Minister Says Pro-Life Campaign Is a 'Holy Spirit Movement'
SAN FRANCISCO, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Though the U.S. pro-life movement draws most attention to Washington, D.C., on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the capital march has a sister event on the west coast.
A group estimated at 40,000 gathered in front of San Francisco's City Hall on Saturday and then filled the city's main thoroughfare, walking about two miles down Market Street to the Embarcadero.
"We are here to say life is the choice and women are hurt by abortion," said Dolores Meehan, co-chair of the Walk for Life West Coast, which is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
At the rally, Dr. Vansen Wong, an obstetrician-gynecologist, told his story of performing abortions to pay off his medical bills, saying he ended hundreds of lives over the course of seven years working at an evening abortion clinic for his employer.
"Abortion is barbaric, abortion is intolerable," Wong declared. He now works with a pro-life medical clinic where pregnant women receive ultrasounds. "Abortion has no place in any civilized society," the doctor added.
A former Miss West Virginia, Jacquie Stalnaker, told of being forced by her boyfriend to get an abortion,and of the toll it took for 24 years. Stalnaker, who is now a regional representative for the Silent No More Campaign, an organization of women who have had abortions, urged the crowd to get pro-choice friends to visit the group's Web site to hear the stories of women who have had abortions.
Other speakers included Lori Hoye, an African American activist whose mother became pregnant at 15 and whose sister had an abortion, and the Baptist preacher Reverend Clenard Childress who has spoken at seven of the eight walks.
"You are the salt of the earth," Childress told the Walk for Life crowd. "This is more than a pro-life movement. This is a Holy Spirit movement because the Spirit addresses evil."
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Pilgrim's Journal: Putting on the Armor of God
A University Student's View From the Back Corner of the DC Basilica
By Mary Yep
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- If Jesus said in the Gospels "where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them," then surely he was present as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception began to fill to overflowing Sunday, before the opening Mass for the Vigil for Life.
Thousands of pilgrims, arriving from all parts of the country, packed into the largest Catholic church in the United States, stretching well past the basilica's 4,000-person seating capacity already hours before the opening Mass was set to begin.This Eucharistic Celebration and the annual March for Life today commemorate and protest the legalization of abortion in the United States, which occurred on Jan. 22 in 1973 with the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade.
For weeks, the Basilica of the National Shrine and neighboring Catholic University of America have been preparing to welcome those coming for the weekend's Respect Life events. One might think that college students, already short on time and living space, would be reluctant to share those two values with others. This is a misconception. We students from the Catholic University of America opened our doors to the many pilgrims. Around 1,200 visitors stayed in the university's athletic center, and more boarding was available with individual students. Students also volunteered their time as ushers and staff for the Mass, helping to organize the crowds that were arriving. Early last week, basilica staff set up video screens in the Crypt Church as well as in the side chapels in the main basilica in order that all pilgrims, regardless of seating, would be able to participate in the Mass.
In the days leading up to the vigil, I had heard that "a lot" of people were coming. "A lot" did not capture just how many people would be present in the shrine. I arrived at 3 p.m., three and a half hours before Mass began, and I discovered all the seats in the upper basilica already filled. It was incredible how many people showed up. Up until the last minutes before Mass, the faithful were still pouring in the doors, eager for just a place to stand.
At last, the majestic organ began its interlude and the procession began. Even from the very nave of the basilica's upper church, it was impossible to miss the white-robed army of seminarians, deacons, priests, bishops and cardinals all marching toward the altar. The procession alone lasted 40 minutes. The principal celebrant and homilist of the Mass was Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, and the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.
In opening remarks, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C., welcomed all who had come to participate in the weekend's events. He gave a very special welcome to the young people. Later, in the homily, Cardinal DiNardo also emphasized the importance of the youth. He called them the "grand and eloquent witnesses full of enthusiasm; a 'good infection that we all want to catch.'" He encouraged the young people to never underestimate their presence and to never be compromised in their dedication to life. The young people, the cardinal said, are truly the future of this country and their special mission is "weaving Christ into the culture with all their characteristic energy, joy, love of life, and deep friendship with Christ, just as Our Lady did."
It was powerful to experience the Mass with such a large gathering of faithful. Since the crowd blocked my view of all that was happening on the altar, I focused less on what I could see and more on what I could hear. The recitations of the "Amens" were so much more resounding than ordinary, and parts of the Eucharistic prayer recited by the army of priests sounded majestically thunderous. Standing in the very back of the Church with no visibility had its advantages, contrary to what I had first expected. The sign of peace further united the crowds. I welcomed and shook hands with the neighbors around me who, maybe hours before, had been silently competing with me for a nook in which to stand.
As Mass ended and the faithful each received the blessing from the cardinal with the sign of the cross, I could not help but imagine a vast army putting on their shields, the shield of the cross, readying themselves to continue in the battle for life.
The Prayer Vigil for Life continued after Mass with confessions, a Rosary for Life, night prayer, and a series of Holy Hours, united with those that would take place until this morning in cities around the United States.
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Mary Yep is an Illinois native in her first year of nursing studies at the Catholic University of America.
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Pilgrim's Journal: Is It Worth It?
Amid Drizzle and Cold, Protestors Affirm Hope
By Mary Yep
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Despite the chilling temperatures and the steady drizzle of rain, the annual March for Life attracted around a quarter of a million participants. Parents, youth leaders, rabbis, pastors, seminarians, religious and so many other people from all faiths and walks of life convened in D.C. today, from various parts of the United States and countries such as Canada, Paraguay, Australia and Belgium.
This year's March for Life marks the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade which legalized abortion in the United States.
Like many universities and colleges around the country, the Catholic University of America organized a group of students, faculty and religious to participate in the March for Life. Before taking the metro downtown into the city, the students gathered for a small rally hosted by the Students for Life group on campus. It was horrifying to hear how, since 1974, 54 million babies have been killed in the name of choice. One third of my generation has been wiped out. Since the legalization of abortion, I have one third fewer potential friends, one third fewer classmates, one third fewer birthday parties to attend. The students listened intently as John Garvey, the president of the university, spoke about the importance of fighting for the preservation of the sanctity of life. Garvey and his wife accompanied the university students on the march. The Catholic University of America had the largest group of students attending the march out of all the universities in the country.
There was a rally held at the beginning of the March in which Speaker of the House John Boehner delivered the opening remarks. Before and after the rally, it was exciting to see the people gradually gathering. Slowly, it began to drizzle. The cold drops of rain only intensified the misery of the already chilling temperature. I asked myself if I thought it was all worth it. Yes, it was. I looked around at the sea of faces around me: cold, wet, tired. Nevertheless, they were present. When conversing with the individuals around me, all admitted that being able to participate in this March for Life was entirely worth their time and sacrifice.
Along the way toward the Supreme Court, there was a medium-sized screen that depicted graphic footage of the helpless, innocent victims of abortion. Those grotesque images were difficult to view, but they were instrumental in inspiring all the participants to keep walking as a testimony for these babies who had not been given a voice or a chance at life.
Toward the end of the March, I looked backward down a hill and was astonished at how massive the sea of participants was. As far as the eye could see, there were moving dots, arrayed in various colors and holding a variety of signs, flags and banners. Despite our differences in race, faith or backgrounds, we were all united in one mission.
It wasn't uncommon to see lines of women holding signs that read "I regret my abortion." Looking into the teary eyes of each of these women, I asked myself what words I could say to them. Each woman conveyed the deep sorrow and remorse she felt. Many of the marchers exchanged hugs with these women. Despite the awfulness of abortion, I thought, there is hope and redemption.
In spite of our numb fingers, tired legs and wet clothes, our spirits were not dampened. We reached the Supreme Court along with so many other young people, full of enthusiasm and hopeful for the future. If all of the day's sacrifices, prayers and efforts saved even just one baby's life, then it was worth it.
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Mary Yep is an Illinois native in her first year of nursing studies at the Catholic University of America.
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VATICAN DOSSIER
Pope Outlines Right Perspective for Interpreting Canon Law
Emphasizes Need to Seek Out the Mind of the Church
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Just as the correct interpretation of the Second Vatican Council requires thinking and feeling with the Church, so the right interpretation of canon law demands the same perspective.
The Pope emphasized this in an address Saturday to the members of the Roman Rota.
With his characteristic precision, the Holy Father examined various missteps in the interpretation of canon law.
"[T]rue law is inseparable from justice," he said. "Obviously [this] principle also holds for canon law in the sense that it cannot be shut up in a merely human normative system but must be connected to a just order of the Church in which a superior law reigns."
Interpretation of canon law, the Pontiff added, "must occur in the Church."
"It is not a question of a mere external, environmental circumstance: it is a return to the very 'humus' of canon law and the realities it regulates," he said. "The dictum 'sentire cum Ecclesiae' (thinking or feeling with the Church) is also relevant to disciplinary matters by reason of the doctrinal foundations that are always present and at work in the Church's legal norms."
The Holy Father said the "hermeneutic of renewal in continuity," which he has advocated in interpreting Vatican II, "is so closely connected to current canonical legislation."
"Christian maturity leads one to an ever greater love of the law and a desire that it be faithfully applied," he stated.
Interpretation is "a task that is enlivened by an authentic contact with the whole reality of the Church, that seeks to penetrate the true meaning of the letter of the law. Something occurs that is similar to what I have said about the interior process of St. Augustine in biblical hermeneutics: 'transcending the letter made the letter itself credible.' Thus we confirm that even in legal hermeneutics the juridical truth to be loved, sought and served provides the authentic horizon."
Matrimony and holy orders
The Bishop of Rome stressed that this perspective has a "peculiar relevance in the sphere of the laws regarding the constitutive act of matrimony and its consummation and the reception of sacred orders, and to those pertaining to the respective processes."
Harmony with the true meaning of the Church's law in these matters has "profound practical importance in the life of persons and communities," he said and it thus "requires special attention."
The Pope concluded by recognizing the effort required of the members of the Roman Rota, and entrusting them to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "Speculum iustitiae" (Mirror of Justice).
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Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34170?l=english
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ANGELUS
On Christian Unity
Unity "Demands Our Daily Commitment"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Sunday before and after praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters!
This Sunday falls in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is celebrated from the 18th to the 25th of January. I cordially invite everyone to join themselves to the prayer that Jesus addressed to the Father on the eve of his passion: "That they may be one so that the world may believe" (John 17:21).
This year in particular our meditation during the week of prayer for unity turns to a passage from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians with which the motto was formed: "We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58). We are called to contemplate the victory of Christ over sin and over death, that is, his resurrection, as an event that radically transforms those who believe in him and opens to them the way to an incorruptible and immortal life. Recognizing and welcoming the transformative power of faith in Jesus Christ sustains Christians even in the pursuit of full unity with each other.
This year the aids for the week of prayer for unity were prepared by a Polish group. In fact, Poland has known a long history of courageous struggles against various adversities and has repeatedly given proof of great determination, animated by faith. For this reason the words of the theme mentioned above [for this week of prayer] have a resonance and special incisiveness for Poland. In the course of the centuries the Polish Christians have spontaneously intuited a spiritual dimension in their desire for freedom and understood that the true victory can occur only if it is accompanied by a profound interior transformation. They remind us that our search for unity can be conducted in a realistic manner if change first of all happens in us and if we let God act, if we let ourselves be transformed in Christ's image, if we enter into the new life of Christ, which is the true victory. The visible unity of all Christians is always a work that comes from above, from God, a work that requires the humility to recognize our weakness and to accept the gift. However, to use the expression that Blessed Pope John Paul II repeated often, every gift also becomes a task. The unity that comes from God therefore demands our daily commitment to open ourselves up to each other in charity.
For many decades, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has constituted a central element in the Church's ecumenical activity. The time that we dedicate to prayer for the full communion of Christ's disciples permits us to understand more deeply how we will be transformed by his victory, by the power of his resurrection. Next Wednesday, as is customary, we will conclude the week of prayer with the solemn celebration of vespers for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, at which representatives of the other Christian Churches and Communities will also be present. Many people will attend the gathering to renew together our prayer to the Lord, who is the source of unity. We entrust it now, with filial confidence, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
[Following the Angelus the Holy Father addressed the faithful in various languages. In Italian he said:]
Dear brothers and sisters,
In these days various countries of the Far East celebrate with joy the lunar new year. In the present situation of global financial and social crisis I wish for all these peoples that the new year be concretely marked by justice and peace, that it bring relief to those who are suffering, and that young people especially, with their enthusiasm and idealistic drive, might offer a new hope to the world.
[In English he said:]
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today's Angelus. This week, Christians throughout the world mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We are confident that, as Saint Paul says, "We will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58). Let us renew our prayer for the unity of all of Christ's followers, and deepen our resolve to be one in him. Upon each of you and your loved ones at home, I invoke God's blessings of peace and joy.
[Concluding in Italian he said:]
I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week!
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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DOCUMENTS
Papal Address to Roman Rota
"Christian Maturity Leads One to an Ever Greater Love of the Law"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of an address Benedict XVI gave Saturday to members of the Roman Rota.
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Dear members of the Roman Rota!
It is a joy for me to receive you today in our annual meeting on the occasion of the beginning of the judicial year. I offer my greeting to the College of Prelate Auditors, beginning with the dean, Monsignor Antoni Stankiewicz, whom I thank for his words. A cordial greeting also to the other officials, to the lawyers, to the other collaborators and to everyone present. In this context I renew my esteem for the delicate and valuable ministry that you undertake in the Church; it is a task that requires an ever renewed commitment insofar as it impacts the "salus animarum" of the People of God.
In this year's gathering I would like to begin with a reference to an important ecclesial event that we will enter upon in a few months; I am speaking of the "Year of Faith," which, following in the footsteps of my venerable predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI, I wish to call for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. That great pontiff, as I wrote in my letter of indiction, first established such a period of reflection "fully conscious of the grave difficulties of the time, especially with regard to the profession of the true faith and its correct interpretation."[1]
Acknowledging a similar exigency, passing to the ambit that touches more directly on your service to the Church, today I would like to consider a primary aspect of the judicial office, namely, the interpretation of canonical law with respect to its application.[2] The connection with the topic that I have mentioned -- the right interpretation of faith -- is not to be reduced to a mere semantic agreement given that canon law has in the truths of faith its foundation and its meaning, and that the "lex agendi" (rule of acting) cannot but reflect the "lex credendi" (rule of believing). The question of the interpretation of canon law, moreover, constitutes quite a vast and complex matter, and because of this I will limit myself to a few observations.
First of all, the hermeneutics of canon law is tightly connected to the very conception of the law of the Church.
If we tend to identify canon law with the system of canon laws, the knowledge of what is juridical in the Church would consist essentially in understanding the legal texts set down. At first glance this approach would seem to turn the law into something merely human. But the impoverishment of this view is obvious: with the practical overlooking of natural law and divine positive law and the vital relationship of every right with the communion and mission of the church, the work of the interpreter is deprived of living contact with ecclesial reality.
In recent times some currents of thought have warned against excessive attachment to the Church's laws, beginning with the Codices, regarding it as a manifestation of legalism. Consequently, there have been proposals for hermeneutic approaches that are more in keeping with the theological bases and also the pastoral intention of the canonical norm, leading to juridical creativity in which the individual situation becomes the decisive factor for grasping the authentic meaning of the legal precept in the concrete case. Mercy, equity and "oikonomia," which is so dear to Eastern tradition, are some of the concepts that one has recourse to in such an interpretive approach. It is worth noting immediately that this position does not overcome the positivism that it denounces, limiting itself to replacing the one positivism with another in which the human interpretive work comes to prominence as the protagonist in determining what is lawful. There is a lack of a sense of an objective law to be discovered since it is subjected to considerations that pretend to be theological and pastoral, but that are, in the end, exposed to the danger of arbitrariness. Thus legal hermeneutics is rendered vacuous: at bottom there is no interest in understanding the law's disposition from the moment that it can be dynamically adapted to any situation, even one opposed to the law's letter. Certainly there is in this case a reference to vital phenomena but their intrinsic juridical dimension is not understood.
There is another route, one in which the adequate understanding of canon law opens the way to an interpretive effort that inserts itself into the pursuit of the truth about law and justice in the Church. As I wished to explain at my country's Federal Parliament, in the Reichstag in Berlin,[3] true law is inseparable from justice. Obviously the principle also holds for canon law in the sense that it cannot be shut up in a merely human normative system but must be connected to a just order of the Church in which a superior law reigns. In this perspective human law loses the primacy that it wants to give itself since law is no longer simply identified with it. But human law is, nevertheless, valued inasmuch as it is an expression of justice, first of all to the extent that it follows divine law but also in that it is a legitimate determination of human law.
In this way a legal hermeneutics that is authentically juridical is made possible in the sense that, when it puts itself in harmony with the proper meaning of the law, it can pose the crucial question about what is just in each case. It is important to note that, in this regard, to grasp the proper meaning of the law it is always necessary to look to the reality that is subject to its discipline and to do this not only when the law expresses what is largely a matter of something declared by divine law but also when it introduces that which is the product of human rules. These also must be interpreted in the light of what is regulated, which always contains a core of natural and divine positive law with which every norm must be in harmony to be rational and truly lawful.
In this realistic perspective, the interpretive work, which is occasionally arduous, acquires a meaning and a direction. The use of the interpretive methods foreseen by the Code of Canon Law in canon 17, beginning with "the proper meaning of the words considered in their text and context," is no longer a mere logical exercise. It is a matter of a task that is enlivened by an authentic contact with the whole reality of the Church, that seeks to penetrate the true meaning of the letter of the law. Something occurs that is similar to what I have said about the interior process of St. Augustine in biblical hermeneutics: "transcending the letter made the letter itself credible."[4] Thus we confirm that even in legal hermeneutics the juridical truth to be loved, sought and served provides the authentic horizon.
It follows that interpretation of canon law must occur in the Church. It is not a question of a mere external, environmental circumstance: it is a return to the very "humus" of canon law and the realities it regulates. The dictum "sentire cum Ecclesiae" (thinking or feeling with the Church) is also relevant to disciplinary matters by reason of the doctrinal foundations that are always present and at work in the Church's legal norms. In this way, there must also be applied to canon law that hermeneutic of renewal in continuity, of which I spoke in reference to Vatican II, which is so closely connected to current canonical legislation. Christian maturity leads one to an ever greater love of the law and a desire that it be faithfully applied.
These basic attitudes apply to all categories of interpretation: from scientific research on canon law, to the work of legal workers in judicial or administrative matters, to the daily pursuit of just solutions in the life of the faithful and of communities. We must have a spirit of docility to accept the laws, seeking to study the Church's legal tradition with honesty and dedication so as to be able to identify with it and with the juridical regulations coming from bishops (pastori), especially the pontifical laws and magisterium on canonical questions, which is binding of itself in what it teaches about law.[6] Only in this way can the cases be discerned in which the concrete circumstances demand an equitable solution to achieve the justice that the general human norm was unable to foresee; and only in this way too can we be capable of manifesting in a spirit of communion what can serve to improve the legislative asset.
These reflections acquire a peculiar relevance in the sphere of the laws regarding the constitutive act of matrimony and its consummation and the reception of sacred orders, and to those pertaining to the respective processes. Here the harmony with the true meaning of the Church's law becomes a question of broad and profound practical importance in the life of persons and communities and requires special attention. In particular all those legally binding means must be applied that aim at securing that unity of interpretation and application of laws that is required by justice: the pontifical magisterium specifically concerns this area, above all the papal allocutions to the Roman Rota; the jurisprudence of the Roman Rota, about whose relevance I have already had a chance to speak to you;[7] and the norms and declarations of the other dicasteries of the Roman Curia. Such hermeneutic unity in what is essential does not in any way render superfluous the functions of local tribunals, which are the first called to respond to the complex real situations that arise in every cultural context. Each one of them, in fact, must proceed with a sense of genuine reverence for the truths about the law, seeking to practice the communion in discipline as an essential aspect of the Church's unity in an exemplary way when they apply judicial and administrative principles.
Coming to the conclusion of this moment of encounter and reflection, I would like to recall the recent innovation -- to which Monsignor Stankiewicz referred -- in virtue of which the competency over procedures of dispensation from marriages that are ratified but not consummated and the cases of the nullity of sacred ordination have been transferred to this Apostolic Tribunal.[8] I am certain that there will be a generous response to this new ecclesial task.
In encouraging your precious work, which requires faithful, daily and committed effort, I entrust you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "Speculum iustitiae" (Mirror of Justice) and I gladly impart to you the apostolic blessing.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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[1] Motu proprio "Porta fidei," October 11, 2011, 5: "L'Osservatore Romano," October 17-18, 2011, p. 4.
[2] Cf. canon 16, § 3 CIC; canon 1498, § 3 CCEO.
[3] Cf. Speech at Federal Parliament in the Reichstag Building, September 22, 2011: "L'Osservatore Romano," September 24, 2011, pp. 6-7.
[4] Cf. Post-synodal Exhortation "Verbum Domini," September 30, 2010, 38: AAS 102 (2010), p. 718, n. 38.
[5] Cf. Speech to the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005: AAS 98 (2006), pp. 40-53.
[6] Cf. John Paul II, Allocution to the Roman Rota, January 29, 2005, 6: AAS 97 (2005), pp. 165-166.
[7] Cf. Allocution to the Roman Rota, January 26, 2008: AAS 100 (2008), pp. 84-88.
[8] Cf. Motu proprio "Quaerit semper," August 30, 2011: "L'Osservatore Romano," September 28, 2011, p. 7.
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