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[ZE120127] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-27T23:18:00.000-08:00

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The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 27, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope Tells What's Most Important on Path to Priesthood

Emphasizes Importance of Studying the Faith as an Organic Whole

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the most important thing on the journey toward the priesthood and in priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Christ.

The Pope affirmed this Thursday when he addressed three of Italy's regional seminaries.

After noting the value of seminaries that draw from several dioceses as a preparation for collaboration in the universal Church, the Holy Father went on to speak about the philosophical-theological formation of future priests.

"As I wrote in my letter to seminarians at the close of the Year for Priests, it is not only a question of learning obviously useful things but of knowing and understanding the structure of the faith in its totality -- which is not a summary of theses but an organism, an organic vision -- so that it becomes an answer to the questions of men, who change in externals from generation to generation but who remain fundamentally the same," he said.

The Pontiff also emphasized that the study of theology must be connected with the life of prayer.

"It is important," he said, "that the seminarian well understands that the object that he applies himself to is in fact a 'Subject' who calls to him, that Lord who spoke to him, inviting him to spend his life in service to God and to his brothers."

Promoting sanctity

Benedict XVI reflected on the integration of ministry and spiritual life, observing how important the human formation of the priest is.

"It is in fact in our humanity that we present ourselves before God to be authentic men of God in the eyes of our brothers. [...] Thus, the most important thing in the journey toward the priesthood and during the whole priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ," he affirmed.

The Pope cited his predecessor, Blessed John XXII, affirming: "In view of the mission with which you will be entrusted for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, this is the purpose of your education: forming the mind, sanctifying the will. The world awaits saints: this above all. Before cultured, eloquent, up-to-date priests, there is a need of holy priests who sanctify (sacerdoti santi e santificatori)."

"These words still have resonance today," Benedict said, "because in the whole Church, as well as in the regions from which you come, there is much more than ever the need for workers of the Gospel, credible witnesses and those who promote sanctity with their own lives."

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On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34201?l=english

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Pope's February Through April Schedule

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Information Service released the schedule of the liturgical celebrations over which Benedict XVI will preside from February through April:

FEBRUARY

Thursday 2: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day of Consecrated Life. At 5.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Vespers with members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life.

Saturday 18: At 10.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, ordinary public consistory for the creation of new cardinals and for the vote on a number of causes of canonisation.

Sunday 19: Solemnity of the Cathedra of St. Peter. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Mass with new cardinals.

Wednesday 22: Ash Wednesday. At 4.30 p.m. in the basilica of Sant'Anselmo, "statio" and penitential procession. At 5 p.m. in the basilica of Santa Sabina, blessing and imposition of the ashes.

Sunday 26: First Sunday of Lent. At 6 p.m. in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

MARCH

Saturday 3: At 9 a.m. in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

Sunday 4: Second Sunday of Lent. At 9.30 a.m., Mass in the Roman parish of "San Giovanni Battista de La Salle al Torrino".

Saturday 10: At 5.30 p.m., Vespers in the basilica of San Gregorio al Celio for the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Friday 23 to Thursday 29: Apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba.

APRIL

Sunday 1. Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, blessing of palms, procession and Mass.

Thursday 5. Holy Thursday. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Chrism Mass. At 5.30 p.m. in the basilica of St. John Lateran, beginning of the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper.

Friday 6. Good Friday. At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, celebration of the Lord's Passion. At 9.15 p.m. at the Colosseum, Way of the Cross.

Saturday 7. Holy Saturday. At 9 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Easter vigil.

Sunday 8. Easter Sunday. Mass in St. Peter's Square at 10.15 a.m. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.

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ANALYSIS

Contraceptive Coverage Decision Decried

Religious Freedom Under Threat in the USA

By Father John Flynn, LC

ROME, JAN. 27, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The federal government decision last week on insurance coverage for contraceptives in the United States has been widely condemned.

Under the new health care law passed by Congress it was left to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to decide which institutions would be exempted from having to pay for contraceptives under their health plans.

Last Friday the HHS announced that while churches would not have to pay for contraceptives other associations linked to churches, such as schools, hospitals and charitable agencies would not have any exemption.

The only concession offered was to allow employers extra time, until August 2013, to comply with the law: a concession that some observers noted conveniently pushes the obligation beyond the next elections.

“I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” declared the HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, in a press release announcing the decision.

A position not shared by many others who in the succeeding days expressed their views on the matter.

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a press release dated January 20.

He noted that the ruling means that sterilization and abortifacient contraceptives will also be included in the items that must be covered by health plans.

Disease

“The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” he stated.

“Never before in our US history has the Federal Government forced citizens to directly purchase what violates our beliefs,” declared Cardinal Daniel DiNardo in his homily at the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life on January 22.

At stake here, he said, “is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for conscience and religious liberty.”

Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, the president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, expressed her disappointment at the decision. “This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection,” she said.

Criticism has come from all quarters. “I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today,” said Cardinal Roger Mahony in a January 20 note on his blog. The recently retired archbishop of Los Angeles declared: “For me there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns.”

Even the Washington Post condemned the HHS ruling. In a January 23 editorial the paper said: “The administration’s feint at a compromise -- giving such employers another year to figure out how to comply with the requirement -- is unproductive can-kicking that fails to address the fundamental problem of requiring religiously affiliated entities to spend their own money in a way that contradicts the tenets of their faith.”

Moreover, “requiring a religiously affiliated employer to spend its own money in a way that violates its religious principles does not make an adequate accommodation for those deeply held views.”

“It is imperative,” said Pope Benedict XVI addressing a group of American bishops just the day before the HHS decision, “that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres.”

“Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion,” he insisted.

Elections

There is speculation about what impact this decision will have on the elections to be held this November.

William McGurn, in a post dated January 24 on the Web site of the Wall Street Journal, commented that Barack Obama had obtained a majority of the Catholic vote in 2008.

Now, however, many Catholics who had previously favored Obama are horrified at the HHS decision, he noted. This includes people such as the president of Notre Dame, the Reverend John Jenkins, who had come under strong criticism for inviting the president to speak at the university and awarding him an honorary degree.

“The irony, of course, is that the ruling is being imposed by a Catholic Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, working in an administration with a Catholic vice president, Joe Biden,” McGurn observed.

It is not just Catholics who are upset. Last December 21 more than 60 Protestant and Orthodox Jewish religious leaders wrote a letter to President Obama asking him not to require all private insurers to provide contraception and sterilization coverage.

“It is emphatically not only Catholics who deeply object to the requirement that health plans they purchase must provide coverage of contraceptives that include some that are abortifacients,” they said.

“We believe that the Federal government is obligated by the First Amendment to accommodate the religious convictions of faith-based organizations of all kinds, Catholic and non-Catholic,” they insisted.

An affirmation that will undoubtedly be repeated many times in the coming months as the elections draw nearer.

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Where God Weeps

The Church: Standing Her Ground in Uganda

Bishop of Kotido on Evangelization, Education and Development

ROME, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The bishop of Kotido explains that his diocese is the poorest in the central African country of Uganda. And he admits that he doesn't much like being a bishop. But with his missionary heart, he has outlined the main priorities of his Church and is working step by step. What does he say he needs the most? People to help him.

Marie Pauline Meyer for Where God Weeps in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need spoke with Bishop Giuseppe Filippi, a 66-year-old Comboni missionary originally from Italy.

Q: Can you describe the life of the people in your diocese?

Bishop Filippi: Yes, they are very, very poor. Their only concern is survival -- to continue living day to day -- and most of the time they are starving. The World Food Program supports them. Their diet is made of milk from cows and goats as well as meat and blood; they drink blood because the milk of the cow is not enough to sustain them.

Q: Do you have many tribes in your diocese?

Bishop Filippi: There are two main tribes and two smaller tribes. The biggest is the Jabwor, which occupies the southern part of the diocese. They are generally in a better area where there are mountains, and the rainy season is a bit longer, so they can cultivate different crops to survive. Another major tribe is the Krimojong divided into two groups, the Jie and the Dodos. They are [sustained through caring for animals] but they are very strong and powerful. Unfortunately they are armed with guns and they use them to steal or raid the cattle of neighboring tribes. This creates tensions and difficulty among themselves -- but that is their pattern of life, and unless the government and the institutions are able to provide an alternative way of life, this will go on.

Q: Are these tribes Catholics or what are their beliefs?

Bishop Filippi: Most of these people believe in traditional religions. There is a common element in their religions, which is the belief in one God, and that God is the creator and the giver of everything, which is good. They also believe in many spirits which have the power to intervene in their lives: the spirit of the river, of the dry season, rainy season, and so on. They have to deal with all these spirits to avoid all the troubles that may come from them. They also have the spirits of the ancestors that are to be obeyed. All these create a bit of fear. Generally, these tribes are more materialistic than any other of the Ugandan tribes because of their physical strength, power and the capacity to cope with the hard life, so they do not practice much their traditional religion except during great need, great suffering, or events with which they are incapable of coping.

Q: What is your work like?

Bishop Filippi: My work is evangelization. People generally welcome the teaching of the Church, though they are resistant to conversion. They perceive our teaching as attractive and very appealing to their needs. Their resistance is their perception that to be a Christian they have to change their lives, which means that they have to stop raiding the cattle of their neighbors. They have to stop killing and they find it a contradiction. They are not able to give up their pattern of life in order to take up a new pattern of life, which is less productive because if they live in peace the question arises, how do we survive?

Q: So peace means poverty?

Bishop Filippi: Yes, so, for this reason the Catholic Church and the other churches try to provide the Karimojong people with alternative ways of living, like agriculture and the development of other resources like the Arabica gum -- but it is not easy. Men are particularly resistant to conversion. They do not despise religion. They listen. They want to know about it, but they leave conversion to the end of their lives when they are elderly, when they are no longer warriors, when they can live in peace and are in need of peace.

Q: Is the Catholic faith the largest community in your diocese?

Bishop Filippi: Yes, it is the largest because the presence of the Catholic mission is very strong, strong in various ways, and in number. We can attribute this almost totally to the Catholic schools. The people have a great trust in the Catholic Church, which cannot be said about other institutions like the government or NGOs.

Q: What are your priorities in your diocese?

Bishop Filippi: I have three basic problems. The first is evangelization. We need to find a common way to evangelize people, not just proclaiming [the faith] and making people part of our diocese, but to help them find their identity. So we are working hard to set up a center of formation in order to form all types of leaders, particularly geared to lead the Christian community to a better life. The second priority is education. Education is a challenge.

Q: Why?

Bishop Filippi: It is not an issue of few schools. We have enough schools. It is the standard of the schools, which is very low. We are marginalized because we are in the periphery of the country and most of the teachers allocated to our schools are the rejects. The government controls the teachers and often the teachers engage in business or are not as committed. My purpose is not to reject or dismiss them but to try to help them to become more motivated to do their job. I have no other choice.

Q: And the third issue?

Bishop Filippi: The third is human development. We need to be realistic. Starvation has been a normal way of life for several years. Many NGOs have good will and a desire to help these people to improve the standard of their lives and the various NGOs come in and think that they can solve the problems in two or three years, but in Karimojo it takes 20 years. I would like to review the old system of assisting our people to find out ways that are more adapted to the place and take into consideration the nature of the people: their own resources their own capability, even if it means that we have to work for 20 years before we achieve something.

Q: You are an Italian missionary. How have the people accepted you?

Bishop Filippi: There are some people who are not happy and that is understandable, however, most people I see are happy. I, of course, have been there a long time now. I went there in 1978 and learned the language and I think I understand the culture quite well. So I feel at home. This understanding of the culture helps me to have a greater trust in them, and it is reciprocal.

Q: Can you give specific examples of these targets you have set for them?

Bishop Filippi: For example schools, alternative ways of surviving, the search for a way of making Arabica gum from the Acacia tree, the source of life, adult education. We promise a little bit and we do it. Recently, we had cholera so I helped those who were sick and told them how to avoid cholera, and for nurses who abandoned their post, I paid those who came back. I did it and they see that I am concerned with them, not myself as such, but the Church. The Church stands her ground, she does not run away, does not escape from difficulties and is ready to help. That is a way of creating trust.

Q: You sound as though you have been a bishop for a long time.

Bishop Filippi: No, I only became a bishop on Dec. 19, 2009, so I am a novice. I am still learning but the work compels you to do something, to act and to move and involve people, to listen, to see what is possible.

Q: Do you like being a bishop?

Bishop Filippi: No. I am a missionary and my previous training was studying as an engineer and working as an engineer for several years in a big factory in Italy. And then, following my missionary spirit that was given to me by my mother, because when I was still a child my mother used to talk to us about the mission. In addition, when we complained because we were quite poor -- it was just after the Second World War -- my mother used to say you cannot complain because people in Africa are suffering more than you, so you have no right to complain. This became part of my training and with this background I feel that I am equipped and I am prepared to work with people, less to be on a chair or in a role where there is honor and glory. This kind of thing is not for me. In a way I am happy to be the bishop of Kotido because it is the most miserable diocese in Uganda. So it is the right diocese for me, but I do not like being a bishop very much. People still call me Father.

Q: Are you comfortable in Uganda?

Bishop Filippi: As a missionary working in different places in different situations, and with different responsibilities, I have developed an attitude to be present where I am. When I was in Zambia, I set aside Uganda; when I returned to Uganda in 2005 I set aside Zambia. As a missionary I learn to get in involved with the people where I am sent. And if I am there, it is as if I've never been anywhere else.

Q: Your diocese is in the north of Uganda. What is your experience with the Lord's Resistance Army?

Bishop Filippi: The rebels attacked my mission. In 1998, some 300 rebels came and looted the mission completely, destroyed the dispensary, looted the leprosy section. They took 50 of our people and killed five or six. I experience personally the cruelty of these people. In 2007, the Lord's Resistance Army moved to Congo. The reason for this departure was due to the peace treaty in Sudan and this cost Joseph Kony, the rebel leader who was a refugee in Sudan, the loss of support from the government in the north of Sudan. The rebel camps in Uganda have slowly been dismantled and we can say that Uganda is enjoying the peace.

Q: Bishop Filippi, what is your episcopal motto?

Bishop Filippi: My motto is "Your Word is Peace" because there is no permanent peace between the various groups. There are the constant skirmishes among them. And peace meetings do not amount to long-term peace agreements. The real peace will not be a result of these peace meetings but will only occur when people consider a change of heart, when it becomes similar to the heart of Christ. For this reason, I've put on my coat of arms the Bible with two drops of blood and water in memory of Christ on the Cross being pierced by the lance and out of it came blood and water. That is the life in the spirit and the human life coming together. I talk to the people this way: unless we get the life of the spirit through our human life, then peace will never come.

Q: What can the Universal Church do?

Bishop Filippi: My diocese is poor and the Universal Church has sent me help. I feel that the Church supports me. I can get along with the little resources, but what I really need is people because people are the main resource. If you do not have people, then money is useless. I do not need that much money because I do not have enough people to work with. It is like building a cathedral in the desert and they do not function without the people for support. We need committed people to serve, lead and work with them with confidence and trust in God.

* * *

This interview was conducted by Marie-Pauline Meyer for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

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On the Net:

For more information: www.WhereGodWeeps.org

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DOCUMENTS

Pope's Address to 3 Regional Seminaries of Italy

"The World Awaits Saints: This Above All"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Thursday to superiors and seminarians from three Italian regional pontifical seminaries in Assisi, Catanzaro and Naples.

* * *
Lord Cardinals, venerable Brothers, and dear Seminarians!

I am very happy to receive you on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Seminaries Campano, Calabro and Umbro. I greet my confreres in the episcopate and the priesthood, the three rectors with their collaborators and instructors, and above all I greet you, dear seminarians!

The birth of these three regional seminaries, should be understood in the broader work of augmenting the formation of candidates for the priesthood carried forward by Pope St. Pius X in continuity with Leo XIII. To meet the growing demand for formation the route taken was the combining of diocesan seminaries into new regional seminaries together with the reform of theological studies, which produced a noticeable raising of the qualitative level, thanks to the acquisition of a basic common culture for everyone and to a sufficiently long and well-structured period of study. The Society of Jesus played an important role in this. The Jesuits, in fact, were entrusted with the direction of five regional seminaries, including the one in Catanzaro, from 1926 to 1941, and in Posillipo, from its foundation to today. But it was not only the academic formation that proved beneficial. The promotion of a common life among young seminarians hailing from different diocesan realities led to a noteworthy human enrichment. The case of the Campano Seminary in Posillipo was singular. Beginning in 1935 it was opened to all of the southern regions after it was given permission to grant academic degrees.

In the current historical and ecclesial context the experience of the regional seminaries is still quite suitable and valid. Because of relationships with theological faculties and institutes it is possible to have access to high-level courses of study, which provides training that is adequate to the complex cultural and social situation in which we live. Moreover, the interdiocesan character [of these seminaries] manifests an efficacious "palestra" of communion that is developed in the encounter with different sensibilities harmonized in the one service of the Church of Christ. In this sense, the regional seminaries furnish an incisive and concrete contribution to the path of communion among dioceses, fostering awareness, capacity for collaboration and enrichment of ecclesial experiences between future priests, between formators and among the bishops themselves of the particular Churches. The regional dimension, furthermore, presents a valid mediation between the lines of the universal Church and the demands of local realities, avoiding the danger of particularism.

Your regions, dear friends, are rich with great spiritual and cultural patrimonies but are also experiencing their share of social problems. I am thinking, for example of Umbria, the homeland of St. Francis and St. Benedict! Impregnated with spirituality, it is ever the destination of pilgrimages. At the same time this small region suffers like others, but still more than they, from an unfavorable economic situation. In Campania and Calabria the vitality of the local Church, strengthened by a still lively religious sense thanks to solid traditions and devotions, must translate this into a renewed evangelization. In these areas, the witness of the ecclesial communities must come to grips with serious social and cultural crises such as lack of jobs, above all for young people, and the phenomenon of organized crime.

Today’s cultural context demands a solid philosophical-theological formation for future priests. As I wrote in my letter to seminarians at the close of the Year for Priests, it is not only a question of learning obviously useful things but of knowing and understanding the structure of the faith in its totality -- which is not a summary of theses but an organism, an organic vision -- so that it becomes an answer to the questions of men, who change in externals from generation to generation but who remain fundamentally the same (cf. n. 5). What is more, the study of theology must always have an intense connection with the life of prayer. It is important that the seminarian well understands that the object that he applies himself to is in fact a "Subject" who calls to him, that Lord who spoke to him, inviting him to spend his life in service to God and to his brothers. In this way, in the seminarian of today, and the priest of tomorrow, there can be realized that unity of life desired by the conciliar document "Presbyterorum Ordinis" (n. 14), which finds its visible expression in pastoral charity, "the interior principle, the virtue that animates and guides the spiritual life of the priest insofar as he is configured to Christ the head" (John Paul II, post-synodal exhortation "Pastores dabo vobis," 23). The harmonious integration of ministry, with its multiple activities, and spiritual life is indispensable. "It is important for the priest, who is called to accompany others through the journey of life up to the threshold of death, to have the right balance of heart and mind, reason and feeling, body and soul, and to be humanly integrated" (Letter to Seminarians, 6). These are the reasons why so much attention is given to the human dimension of the formation of candidates for the priesthood. It is in fact in our humanity that we present ourselves before God to be authentic men of God in the eyes of our brothers. Indeed, he who wants to become a priest must above all be a "man of God," as St. Paul writes to his pupil Timothy (1 Timothy 6:11). Thus, the most important thing in the journey toward the priesthood and during the whole priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ (Letter to Seminarians, 1).

Blessed John XXIII, in receiving the superiors and students of the Campano Seminary on the 50th anniversary of the founding, on the threshold of Vatican Council II, expressed this firm conviction in this way: "In view of the mission with which you will be entrusted for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, this is the purpose of your education: forming the mind, sanctifying the will. The world awaits saints: this above all. Before cultured, eloquent, up-to-date priests, there is a need of holy priests who sanctify (sacerdoti santi e santificatori)."

These words still have resonance today because in the whole Church, as well as in the regions from which you come, there is much more than ever the need for workers of the Gospel, credible witnesses and those who promote sanctity with their own lives. May each one of you respond to this call! For this I assure you of my prayer and I entrust you to the maternal guidance of Blesses Virgin Mary, imparting a special Apostolic Blessing from my heart. Thank you.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

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Vatican Message for World Leprosy Day

Seeking the Transformation of Leprosy From a Threat to a Memory

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a message from Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, for the 59th World Leprosy Day, which will be marked Sunday.

The message is titled: "In the Fight Against Hansen's Disease the Commitment of All Men of Good Will in Required."

* * *

People treated for, and cured of, leprosy can, and must, express all of the riches of their dignity and spirituality, as well as full solidarity towards others, above all those who have been equally afflicted and have been marked indelibly by this infection! All the forces involved in the fight against Hansen’s disease must at the same time continue their work tenaciously so that the successes that have been obtained are made definitive and always improved, reducing as much as possible relapses and new cases.

Mycobacterium Leprae, in fact, has not as yet been eradicated, even though the official number of new cases of the infection continues to decrease and at the present time are about 200,000, according to the estimates of the World Health Organisation for the years 2010-2011. In addition to supporting the free distribution of those drugs and medicines that are required, one should, therefore, further promote speedy diagnosis and perseverance in receiving therapies. It is of fundamental importance, furthermore, that the work directed towards sensitising and training communities and families that run the risk of contagion be strengthened.

The gospel phrase ‘Stand and go; your faith has saved you’ (Lk 17:19), chosen by the Holy Father Benedict XVI as the theme for the twentieth World Day of the Sick which will be held on 11 February of this year throughout the world, constitutes an exploration and a call that touches in a particular way those who have been afflicted by this infection; in this passage from St. Luke, indeed, we are told about ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, readmitted to the community and reintegrated into the social and occupational fabric.

As is emphasised by the Holy Father in his Message for this year, ‘help us to become aware of the importance of faith for those who, burdened by suffering and illness, draw near to the Lord. In their encounter with him they can truly experience that he who believes is never alone! God, indeed, in his Son, does not abandon us to our anguish and sufferings, but is close to us, helps us to bear them, and wishes to heal us in the depths of our hearts (cf. Mk 2:1-12).

The faith of the lone leper who, on seeing that he was healed, full of amazement and joy, and unlike the others, immediately went back to Jesus to express his gratitude, enables us to perceive that reacquired health is a sign of something more precious than mere physical healing, it is a sign of the salvation that God gives us through Christ; it finds expression in the words of Jesus: your faith has saved you. He who in suffering and illness prays to the Lord is certain that God's love will never abandon him, and also that the love of the Church, the extension in time of the Lord's saving work, will never fail’.

This love, which is also expressed through individual action and through Church institutions and volunteer organisations, amongst which the Raoul Follereau Foundation and the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, as well as the successes that have been obtained hitherto in terms of a strong reduction in the number of people infected by this disease, certainly do not exempt governments and international organisations from increasing the attention they pay to, and their work to combat, the spread of leprosy, or from their responsibilities as regards prevention, in educational and hygiene/health-care terms, and the ‘readmission’ of people who have been cured, as well as support for all the victims of infection.

On the other hand, those who have been cured and have followed the difficult pathway of social reintegration can communicate their gratitude in a practical way as well, becoming themselves witnesses, contributing to the dissemination of the criteria of prevention and the swift identification of this disease, as well as providing moral support for those people who have been infected; and, where possible, in addition, cooperating with institutions and ad hoc initiatives so that the necessary therapies are completed and then followed by the social reintegration of those who have been cured. Those who have attained a cure can in this way communicate all their interior riches and experience and at the same time, in helping their neighbour, all their dignity and profundity as people touched by suffering and involved in working for the health of the community to which they belong.

This will amount to a further and relevant contribution to progress in the fight against Hansen’s disease which for millennia has constituted a terrible scourge and involved automatic exclusion from society. Indeed, only the involvement of everyone – and at all levels – will allow the transformation of leprosy from being a threat and a scourge into being a memory, however frightening, of the past.

To Mary, Mother of Mercy and Health of the Sick, we entrust our brothers and sisters who are afflicted by leprosy so that her maternal compassion and nearness may accompany them always, in the daily events of life as well.

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[ZE120126] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 26, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope's Advice on Ecumenism: Be Patient, Don't Miss a Single Opportunity
Vatican Official Backs Call for Transaction Tax

WORLD FEATURES

Courtyard of the Gentiles Goes to Palermo
Anti-euthanasia Ruling Hailed as Major Victory

INTERVIEW

Romanian Orthodox Bishop: Dialogue Gaining Ground

ROME NOTES

Disabled in Tanzania Draw Religions Together

DOCUMENTS

Pope's Address to Conclude Week of Prayer for Unity

VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope's Advice on Ecumenism: Be Patient, Don't Miss a Single Opportunity

Says Christian Unity Is Important for Whole Human Family

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that despite our divisions, Christians must look to the future with hope, accepting that victory happens in "God's timeframes.'"

The Pope offered this invitation Wednesday as he closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

"Despite experiencing in our days the painful situation of division, we Christians can and must look to the future with hope insofar as the victory of Christ means the overcoming of all that prevents us from sharing the fullness of life with him and with others," he said.

The Resurrection confirms that God's goodness is stronger than evil and love overcomes death, the Holy Father reminded.

"The presence of the risen Christ calls all of us Christians to act together in the cause of the good," he said. "United to Christ we are called to share his mission, which is that of bringing hope where injustice, hatred and desperation dominate."

Benedict XVI declared that the goal of complete unity among Christians "has importance for the good of the human family" and is not a "secondary victory."

This is because "our divisions dim the luminousness of our witness to Christ," he suggested.

Victory

Alluding to the theme of this year's Week of Prayer, which centered on victory, the Pope noted: "In today's dominant culture the idea of victory is often associated with an immediate success. In the Christian perspective, however, victory is a long -- and in the eyes of us men -- not an always linear process of transformation and growth in the good. It happens in God's timeframes, not ours, and it demands of us a profound faith and patient perseverance."

"Even our expectation of the Church's visible unity must be patient and confident," he said. "Our daily prayer and efforts for the unity of Christians have their meaning only in such a disposition."

Nevertheless, the Pope clarified, "The attitude of patient waiting does not entail passivity or resignation but a prompt and attentive response to every possibility of communion and fraternity that the Lord grants us."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34192?l=english

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Vatican Official Backs Call for Transaction Tax

Says It Would Be One Way to Return Finance to Its Real Vocation

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has declared his support for a tax on financial transactions. His statement comes just before a special European Union summit on the crisis in the Eurozone area, which will be held Monday.

The cardinal voiced his support during his address to the annual board of directors meeting of the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE). The organization, based in Brussels, in an international alliance of Catholic development agencies.

CIDSE has long advocated such a tax, it noted in a press release today that contained the text of Cardinal Turkson's statement.

"One way of bringing economics and finance back within the boundaries of their real vocation, including their social function, would be through taxation measures on financial transactions," he told the directors.

"These should be applied with fair rates, modulated in proportion to the complexity of operations, especially those made on the 'secondary' market," the Vatican official added.

This tax, he said, "would be very useful in promoting global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity." Moreover, "it could also contribute to the creation of a world reserve fund to support the economies of the countries hit by crisis, as well as the recovery of their monetary and financial systems."

John Arnold, auxiliary bishop of Westminster, present at the CIDSE meeting, also supported the tax.

"Human beings are both the source and the purpose of all economic activity, we have got to reform financial markets so that they can serve human well-being and society," he said.

"Speculative activities have been proven to generate economic fluctuations that have a destabilizing impact on the economy," Bishop Arnold noted. "Economic instability, in turn, increases inequality as amply demonstrated by the current situation of many European societies."

According to CIDSE's president, Chris Bain, adopting such a tax would raise funds needed to finance development and would foster justice and equity.

"Skeptics must realize that a tax on financial transactions could go a long way towards stabilizing financial systems," he said, "while tackling poverty in some of the most vulnerable countries in the world."

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WORLD FEATURES

Courtyard of the Gentiles Goes to Palermo

Discussions on the Mafia and Organized Crime Scheduled for March

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- After Bologna, Paris, Bucharest, Florence, Rome and Tirana, the "Courtyard of the Gentiles" will now meet in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, on March 29-30.

The "Courtyard of the Gentiles" -- a reference to the courtyard of the Temple of Jerusalem reserved for pagans-- will be an occasion to address another problem that challenges the contemporary world: the mafia and the problem of organized crime as a whole.

Palermo's magistrate Giusto Sciacchitano, an anti-mafia attorney, spoke with Vatican Radio last week about the initiative.

"[The mafia] is a cultural, political, sociological and economic problem that concerns the world," said Giusto Sciacchitano. And the mafia "must certainly be countered with juridical means but also with cultural means, because the mafia is based on an 'in-culture.'"

In Palermo, a crossroads of culture and traditions, but also a place and symbol of the fight against organized crime, a cultural event like this could be "of great importance from several points of view," said the anti-mafia expert.

In the first place, insofar as it takes up the historical situation of Sicily, dominated for centuries by so many different peoples, by their culture, by their juridical systems, "we had in any case to converse" and this conversation became a kind of habit.

However, there is also the fact that Palermo, which can be considered the capital of the mafia, has also been recognized by the U.N. as the capital of the anti-mafia. The United Nations Convention against organized crime was, in fact, signed in the Sicilian capital.

These two aspects, one negative, the other positive, which are shaping forces of a culture, be it at the local or world level, call for a universal vision and the meeting in Palermo will be an occasion to look at the "absolutely global" problem with the required attention.

"It certainly does not concern Italy or, obviously, Sicily alone," confirmed the national attorney. "We look at the situation of the Far East, we look at the situation of countries of South America, we look at the situation of Eastern Europe, at the Balkan countries, countries all crossed by routes through which illicit traffic passes from various organized groups."

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Anti-euthanasia Ruling Hailed as Major Victory

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Sets Forth Principles

BRUSSELS, Belgium, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- A decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to pass a resolution that calls for the prohibition of euthanasia, is being hailed as a major pro-life victory.

In a communiqué today, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) reported that the resolution passed, setting the principle: "Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited." This is the first time in recent decades that euthanasia has been so clearly rejected by a European political institution, the council explained.

It is a major victory in the battle to defend life and the ECLJ noted that it came a year after the European Court asserted that there is no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide under the European Convention. The resolution should also have an impact on a forthcoming decision by the European Court in the case of Koch v. Germany, concerning a ban on assisted suicide in Germany, said Grégor Puppinck, Director of the ECLJ.

The purpose of the resolution (No 1859/2012), passed Wednesday, is to define the principles that should govern the practice of "living wills" or "advance directives" in Europe.

The "living wills" or "advance directives" are aimed at enabling patients to express in advance their wishes regarding medical intervention or treatments, in case they are not able to express their preferences at the time of the intervention. The directives may apply, for example, when there is doubt about whether to resuscitate a patient or to continue to use extraordinary means to maintain someone alive.

Because these "living wills" or "advance directives" are open to many abuses, and can be a backdoor for introducing euthanasia or assisted suicide into legislation, the PACE has made a list of principles on how to govern this practice in the 47 states of the Council of Europe.

According to the ECLJ the list is based on principles elaborated in three documents previously adopted in the Council of Europe, including the convention on human rights and biomedicine (Oviedo Convention), which legally binds the majority of member states. Because of growing concerns about euthanasia, the Assembly judged it is necessary to state explicitly the basic principle that intentional killing must always be prohibited.

"This resolution is a clear indication that the growing majority of Europeans is opposed to euthanasia," said Puppinck.

Even if this resolution is not legally binding on member states, it has a real influence on the legislative process and on the judicial process, especially on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the ECLJ communiqué stated.

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INTERVIEW

Romanian Orthodox Bishop: Dialogue Gaining Ground

On How 'Domestic Faith' Is Building Relationships

By H. Sergio Mora

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- A Romanian Orthodox bishop ministering in Italy says that ecumenical dialogue is taking great steps forward, particularly at the grassroots level.

This was the assertion made by Bishop Siluan Span when he spoke with ZENIT after Wednesday's celebration of Vespers at St. Paul Outside the Walls. Benedict XVI led the liturgy, and with it, closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The bishop of the Romanian Orthodox diocese for Italy and member of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church reflected on how things are changing.

ZENIT: What is the situation of ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox?

Bishop Siluan: I believe, despite voices that say that the ecumenical dialogue is in crisis, that in the last 15 years Christians of Eastern Europe -- we are talking of Romania Bulgaria, Russia, but in particular of the countries that are in the European Union -- having the possibility and the willingness to leave, made contact with the reality of all the Western countries. We must say that the Catholic Church in Italy, Spain and other countries manifested an openness and willingness to help, which was much appreciated by the Churches of the East, by the Orthodox Church.

ZENIT: What kind of relationships have been created?

Bishop Siluan: I speak for the Romanian Orthodox Church and I see that different relations have developed from those of the past. In the sense that the Romanian cleaning lady meets an Italian family in its reality. It is a grassroots ecumenism which was never the case before. The Italian family entrusts to her not only the grandmother or grandfather, but also the children. And when the elderly woman prays at night, she asks the Romanian Orthodox cleaning lady to read the Liturgy of the Hours to her. They go to church together and I see that they commend to me names so that we will pray for the persons they look after.

ZENIT: Hence, in daily life!

Bishop Siluan: This prayer for one another, this, let's say domestic faith, is a beginning of closeness and of dialogue that is more profound than that of the high-level commissions. This is also true of the relationship between our parish priests and the Catholics who house the greater part of our communities in Italy. It is a very important dialogue between the different communities, because, for example, in some churches the Catholic community prays in the early morning and the Orthodox at 10 or 11 o'clock.

We see the presence of Italians at the baptism of children and in our churches. Moreover, there are so many mixed marriages, between Romanian men and Italian women and vice versa. Hence, it is a sort of dialogue without precedents.

ZENIT: What was determinant for this change?

Bishop Siluan: It must be said that during Communism, Romania could not have a dialogue of this kind. There was a representative who went out once or twice a year and who did not have the liberty to say what he wished to say. Hence, in these 15 to 20 years, unprecedented relations were created.

ZENIT: This is clear at the horizontal level, but between the religious?

Bishop Siluan: Although there are places and moments in which the dialogue is in crisis, relations undoubtedly matured. I see the meetings with Catholic monks, priests and bishops whom I met 20 years ago, in my case in France. Today we meet as old time friends.

There is no mistrust when we meet for the first time, not only between brothers but also between clerics. We had learned about one another only in books and notebooks, with a rather critical attitude.

Thus it wasn't easy to break in, but little by little we began to know individuals, to talk, to meet and to share what we could.

It is essential to share, food for example. It helps to overcome the mistrust that could not be eliminated by theological argumentations.

[Translation by ZENIT]

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ROME NOTES

Disabled in Tanzania Draw Religions Together

UK-based Charity Seen as Prism for Global Dynamic

By Edward Pentin

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Kakuru, age 22, greets you with a beaming smile as you enter his small mud hut in the remote Kagera hills of northwestern Tanzania.

Suffering from muscular dystrophy and unable to move his legs or arms, he remains seated on a dusty mat listening to the radio, just as he has done for almost the entire past seven years.

To add to the torment of the forced imprisonment caused by his terminal disease, Kakuru is also an orphan: His father died of AIDS, his mother committed suicide, and he had to cope with the loss of his twin brother. His uncle shares the hut, looking after him as best he can.

Kakuru's case is not an unfamiliar one here. An estimated 15 million people suffer with disabilities across Africa, most of them children. Genetic predispositions often go untreated due to poor medical facilities; low nutritional levels cause or exacerbate disability; and many face a variety of external dangers. These include snake bites, attacks by wild animals, a high number of traffic accidents caused by poorly maintained roads and vehicles (often these result in amputations), and malaria (leading to cerebral palsy).

The prevalence of disease and especially AIDS has also left many of these children orphaned. And without adequate special-needs schooling nor the means to reach classes, they lack access to education. Only 2% of Africa's disabled ever find employment; the rest depend on begging. The disabled also continue to be stigmatized in Africa, leading to abuse and abandonment. Albino children face even harder trials in East Africa where they have been persecuted, killed or dismembered based on a witchcraft-related belief that their body parts transmit magical powers.

Yet the disabled and vulnerable children in this particular region -- a vast area the size of Wales -- are blessed with the help of an array of faith-based action groups run by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, a Muslim non-governmental organization, and a Tanzanian government committed to upholding the rights of children. All of them have mobilized in an extraordinary and unique way, joining forces and pooling resources to support and transform the lives of those who arguably belong to the world's most vulnerable group after the unborn. And by doing so, these action groups offer a powerful witness in defending human dignity through interdenominational and interfaith collaboration on a scale probably not seen anywhere else in the world.

Rather fittingly, I had travelled to this region close to the Rwanda border during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and just ahead of the World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11. I was invited by Matthew McIlvenna, a British Catholic and old university friend, who is a founding director of a U.K.-registered charity called Friends of the Children of Tanzania (FoCT). Since its creation in 2007, the organization has helped forge this network of faith-based support by aiding them with financial assistance and capacity building (helping locals to help themselves).

"We have a very focused mandate and almost a self-targeting one," McIlvenna explains. "Often many programs in Africa struggle with targeting: How do you target the people you intend to help? But with people with disabilities, it's almost self-targeting because you know by definition who they are." He stresses that each client must contribute something toward costs of treatment to avoid total dependency. "Sometimes it will involve selling one chicken to pay for the bus fare to get to the hospital, and then FoCT will pay for the return bus fare and help pay for some maize and beans to feed their family while they're in hospital for two weeks undergoing treatment."

An expert in humanitarian assistance, having worked for many years for the U.N. World Food Programme, McIlvenna says the origins of FoCT grew out of the Rwanda genocide of the mid-1990s when the region hosted over a million Rwandan refugees. He and other U.N. staff were sent there to help build schools, camps and deliver food. But once the crisis was over and the humanitarian agencies left, McIlvenna noticed "an enormous vacuum" and a "huge need" in terms of dealing with disability. Being a very remote area, Kagera lacked the social, medical, and community services more commonly found elsewhere.

His personal faith then motivated him to start the charity. "As a Catholic and a Christian it's demanded of us to promote the rights of the vulnerable, to seek their protection based on the fact that we're all born in the image and likeness of God," he explains.

But interestingly he was introduced to this work by a local Muslim philanthropist called Raza Fazal whose Bukoba-based non-governmental organization "Izaas" has helped feed, educate, shelter and care for countless orphans and people with disabilities for decades.

Over the course of my week in Tanzania, we visited a number of these FoCT partners, all of which depend on collaboration with Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran or Muslim programs that will refer clients to one another depending on their needs.

As well as Izaas, these include Kagondo hospital, run by the Catholic Diocese of Bukoba, which has become the center for excellence in the Lake Victoria region in the field of prosthetics, orthopaedic surgery, and amputation prevention; Mugeza, a government-run school for children with disabilities, which is suffering from overcrowding and lack of resources (it's the only school of its kind in northern Tanzania); St. Nicholas Children's Home, a newly established refuge for abandoned and disabled children heroically run by a former Franciscan sister from Germany, Stefanie Köster; and a Lutheran center catering to 64 street children, run by a tireless Tanzanian Lutheran nun, Sister Adventina.

In Karagwe, close to the Rwandan border, is the Anglican Community Based Rehabilitation Programme -- a large operation founded by Bridget Hathaway, an Anglican from England, and run by a dynamic, well trained and truly ecumenical local staff made up of a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Seventh Day Adventist and an Anglican Canon as manager. (Thanks to their collaboration with FoCT, they were able to provide 22-year-old Kakuru with a wheelchair, mattress and a much appreciated recent trip to Bukoba). The program reaches out to distant, surrounding villages through mobile clinics, treating the disabled, buying equipment, raising awareness, and providing legal protection.

Each of these groups have their own specializations and comparative advantage, thereby complimenting the work of the rest. Yet despite these projects reaching out to thousands of clients, they're still only scratching the surface. "We're helping just 10% of the need here," says McIlvenna, "but with extra funding we can start to make a dent in the remaining 90%."

Much of the fruitful collaboration currently taking place owes itself to Tanzania's special historical context. The country's first president, Julius Nyerere, was a devout Catholic who founded the newly independent nation on the principle of "Umoja," or national unity. "He forged a real partnership and cohesion among the faith groups of Tanzania," says McIlvenna, "so the country has never been plagued by the religious strife that characterizes other parts of the African continent and other parts of the world." But he adds that in this case, it's the common fight for human dignity in a faith-based context that is also a powerful unifying force.

Raza Fazal's role in this collaborative witness is particularly interesting. His father, Abdullah, was a close friend and supporter of Nyerere (although a Muslim, he aided Nyerere's favorite religious order, the Poor Clares, and even paid for Nyerere's ticket to New York so he could appeal for Tanzania's independence at the United Nations).

For Fazal, the secret to good Catholic-Muslim relations is: "Keep your churches open for the Muslims and we will keep our mosques open for you." He adds that he remembered the Aga Khan asking his father the same question in 1954, to which his father replied: "Schools and hospitals -- they are the best way to make us work together."

Looking to the future, McIlvenna is hopeful that the ecumenical and interfaith collaboration will strengthen further still. Already Theresian sisters in Kayanga, a new diocese in Karagwe, have started work on a new special-needs school to take the pressure off Mugeza. The project, headed by Tanzanian Theresian nun Sister Godliva, will involve collaboration with the government, the Anglican program and Kagondo hospital.

The extent of collaborative endeavors in this little known region of Tanzania is a timely witness to what can be achieved at a time when interreligious strife threatens parts of the world, most recently in Nigeria. "This is a little crucible of a larger, global dynamic," says McIlvenna, "and FoCT is a prism through which we can see this global dynamic."

It is also witness to how much the pursuit of common goals in protecting the dignity of the human person -- a key humanitarian principle on which every major faith can agree -- can be a catalyst for transforming the lives of some of society's most vulnerable people.

"As Lutherans, Muslims, Catholics we divide ourselves," Sister Godliva says poignantly, "but in helping the neediest for God, we are one."

More details on FoCT can be found at www.foct.org.uk

* * *

Edward Pentin is a freelance journalist based in Rome and communications director for the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (Institute for Human Dignity). He can be reached at epentin@zenit.org

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DOCUMENTS

Pope's Address to Conclude Week of Prayer for Unity

"Patient Waiting Does Not Entail Passivity" but a "Response to Every Possibility of Communion"

ROME, JAN. 26, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave Wednesday evening at Vespers on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The celebration closed the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters!

It is with great joy that I address a warm greeting to all of you who are gathered in this basilica on the liturgical fest of the Conversion of St. Paul to conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in this year in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, which Blessed John XXIII announced here in this basilica on Jan. 25, 1959. The theme offered for our meditation during the Week of Prayer that we are concluding today is: "We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

The meaning of this mysterious transformation, of which the second short reading this evening speaks, is marvelously shown in the event of St. Paul. Following the extraordinary happening on the road to Damascus, Saul, who distinguished himself by the zeal with which he persecuted the young Church, was transformed into an indefatigable apostle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the event of this extraordinary evangelizer it is clear that such a change is not the result of a long interior reflection nor the fruit of a personal effort. It is first of all the work of the grace of God operating in its inscrutable way. This is why Paul, writing to Corinth some years after his conversion, states, as we heard in the first reading of these vespers: "By the grace of God … I am what I am, and his grace in me has not been ineffective" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Moreover, considering the event of St. Paul we understand that the transformation that he experienced in his existence was not limited to the ethical dimension -- as a conversion from immorality to morality -- nor to the intellectual dimension -- as change in his way of seeing reality -- but it is a matter rather of a radical renewal in his own being, similar in many aspects to a rebirth. Such a transformation has its foundation in the participation in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is delineated as a gradual journey of conformation to Christ. In light of this awareness, St. Paul, when he will later be called to defend the legitimacy of his apostolic vocation and the Gospel that he proclaimed, will say: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And this life that I live in the body I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20).

The personal experience lived by St. Paul allowed him to await with a reasonable hope for the fulfillment of this mystery of transformation, which will affect all those who have believed in Jesus Christ and all humanity and the whole of creation as well. In the second short reading that was proclaimed this evening, St. Paul, after having developed a long argument aimed at reinforcing hope of the resurrection in the faithful, using the traditional images of the contemporary apocalyptic literature, describes in a few lines the great day of the final judgment in which the destiny of humanity is met: "In an instant, the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet ... the dead will rise uncorrupted and we will be transformed" (1 Corinthians 15:52). On that day, all believers will be conformed to Christ and all that is mortal will be transformed by his glory: "It is necessary, in fact," says St. Paul, "that this corruptible body be clothed in incorruptibility and that this mortal body be clothed in immortality" (15:53). Then the triumph of Christ will finally be complete, because, St. Paul continues, showing how the ancient prophecies of the Scriptures will be realized, death will be definitively vanquished and, with it, sin that brought death into the world and the Law that determines sin without giving the power to overcome it: "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Death is the sting of sin and the Law is the power of sin" (15:54-56). St. Paul tells us, thus, that every man, through baptism in the death and resurrection of Christ, participates in the victory of him who first defeated death, opening a path of transformation that is manifested from thence in a newness of life and that will reach its goal in the fullness of time.

It is quite significant that the passage concludes with a thanksgiving: "May thanks be given to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (15:57). The canticle of victory over death becomes a canticle of gratitude lifted up to the Victor. We too this evening, celebrating the evening praises of God, would like to join our voices, our minds and our hearts to this hymn of thanksgiving for what divine grace has worked in the Apostle of the Gentiles and through the wondrous salvific design of God the Father has accomplished in us through the Lord Jesus Christ. As we lift up our prayer, we are confident that we too will be transformed and conformed to Christ's image. This is particularly true for the prayer for the unity of Christians. When we in fact implore the gift of unity of Christ's disciples, we make our own the desire expressed by Jesus Christ in the prayer to the Father on the eve of his passion and death: "that all may be one" (John 17:21). For this reason, the prayer for the unity of Christians is nothing other than a participation in the realization of the divine plan for the Church, and the active commitment to the re-establishment of unity is a duty and a great responsibility for all.

Despite experiencing in our days the painful situation of division, we Christians can and must look to the future with hope insofar as the victory of Christ means the overcoming of all that prevents us from sharing the fullness of life with him and with others. Jesus Christ's resurrection confirms that the goodness of God defeats evil; love overcomes death. He accompanies us in the struggle against the destructive force of sin that damages humanity and the entire creation of God. The presence of the risen Christ calls all of us Christians to act together in the cause of the good. United to Christ we are called to share his mission, which is that of bringing hope where injustice, hatred and desperation dominate. Our divisions dim the luminousness of our witness to Christ. The goal of complete unity that we await in active hope and that we pray for with confidence, is not a secondary victory but has importance for the good of the human family.

In today's dominant culture the idea of victory is often associated with an immediate success. In the Christian perspective, however, victory is a long -- and in the eyes of us men -- not an always linear process of transformation and growth in the good. It happens in God's timeframes, not ours, and it demands of us a profound faith and patient perseverance. If it is true that the Kingdom of God definitively irrupts in history in the resurrection of Jesus, it is still not fully realized. The final victory will happen only with the Lord's second coming, which we await with patient hope. Even our expectation of the Church's visible unity must be patient and confident. Our daily prayer and efforts for the unity of Christians have their meaning only in such a disposition. The attitude of patient waiting does not entail passivity or resignation but a prompt and attentive response to every possibility of communion and fraternity that the Lord grants us.

In this spiritual climate I would like to offer some special greetings, in the first place to Cardinal Monterisi, archpriest of this basilica, to the abbot and the community of Benedictine monks who host us. I greet Cardinal Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and to all the members of this dicastery. I offer my cordial and fraternal greetings to his Eminence the Metropolitan Gennadios, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the Reverend Canon Richardson, personal representative in Rome of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to all the representatives of the various Churches and ecclesial Communities gathered here this evening.

I entrust to the intercession of St. Paul all of those who with their prayer and their work commit themselves to the cause of the unity of Christians. Even if we can at times have the impression that the road toward complete re-establishment of communion is still very long and full of obstacles, I invite everyone to renew their determination to continue, with courage and generosity, the unity willed by God, following St. Paul's example, who, in the face of difficulties of every sort always maintained firm confidence in God, who brings his work to completion. After all, along this journey there are not lacking positive signs of a rediscovered fraternity and of a shared sense of responsibility before the great problems that afflict humanity. All of this is reason for joy and great hope and must encourage us to continue our commitment to arrive together at the final goal, knowing that our toil is not in vain in the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58). Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

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[ZE120125] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 25, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

No One Exempt From Missionary Vocation, Says Pope

WORLD FEATURES

Italian Bishops' President Suggests Path to Reawaken Yearning for God

NEWS BRIEFS

Eucharistic Congress to Have Ecumenical Touch

Questions on Bioethics

Licit Forms of Natural Family Planning

Spirit of the Liturgy

The Liturgy Source of Life, Prayer and Catechesis (CCC 1071-1075)

Wednesday's Audience

On the Priestly Prayer of Jesus

DOCUMENTS

Pope's Message for World Mission Day

VATICAN DOSSIER

No One Exempt From Missionary Vocation, Says Pope

Says Every Church Activity Should Have Mission Perspective

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that every component of the Church should feel bound by Christ's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that He is proclaimed everywhere.

The Pope said this in a text for World Mission Day, which the Vatican released today. World Mission Day will be celebrated this year Oct. 21.

"All the components of the great mosaic of the Church must feel strongly drawn in by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that Christ is proclaimed everywhere," the Holy Father affirmed.

"The mission ad gentes should be, also today, the constant horizon and paradigm of every ecclesial activity, because the very identity of the Church is constituted by faith in the Mystery of God," he added.

Benedict XVI called for a "taking up again [of] the same apostolic impetus of the first Christian communities, which, small and vulnerable, with their proclamation and witness, were able to spread the Gospel in the whole then-known world."

Giving from need

The Holy Father lauded Churches in mission territories, or young Churches, who are themselves actively engaged in missionary work, "even if they themselves are still in need of missionaries."

"So many priests, men and women religious, from every part of the world, numerous laymen and, in fact, whole families leave their countries, their local communities and go to other churches to witness and proclaim the Name of Christ, in whom humanity finds salvation," he noted.

The Pontiff stressed the need for missionary work so that all people have the opportunity to know Christ.

"The meeting with Christ as a living person who satiates the thirst of the heart cannot but lead to the desire to share with others the joy of this presence and to make it known so that all can experience it," he said. "It is necessary to renew the enthusiasm to communicate the faith so as to promote a New Evangelization of the communities and countries of ancient Christian tradition, which are losing their connection with God, in order to rediscover the joy of believing.

"The concern to evangelize must never be left on the margin of ecclesial activity and of the personal life of the Christian, but it must be strongly characterized by the awareness of being recipients and, at the same time, missionaries of the Gospel."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34186?l=english

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WORLD FEATURES

Italian Bishops' President Suggests Path to Reawaken Yearning for God

Looks at Example of World Youth Day

By Antonio Gaspari

ROME, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- It is unacceptable that "the door of faith" remains closed, that "salt becomes insipid" and that "light is hidden," says Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.

These were assertions from his opening address Monday to the Permanent Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

Referring to the Holy Father's decision to convoke the Year of Faith, CEI's president explained that the threshold of the door of faith "is the mystery and calamity of every life, dilemma and drama, as well as fascination and hope."

"Each one, sooner or later, is before that door," he added, citing the Pontiff's words. "It is better for us, then, if we are not found enveloped in indolence."

According to the archbishop of Genoa, at "the core of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the crisis of faith." Said in the Pope's words, "if the faith is not revitalized, becoming a profound conviction and a real force of grace to encounter Jesus Christ, all other reforms will be ineffective."

Cardinal Bagnasco said that it "seems that a strange reticence exists to say Jesus, a sort of weariness, a skepticism that at times is contagious."

"On the contrary, there is the verifiable enthusiasm of young people and of young continents, beginning with Africa, where we witness an impressive vitality and great passion for the Gospel," he noted.

CEI's president explained the pastoral challenge and posed the quaestio fidei "how to reawaken in oneself and in others a yearning for God and the joy to live and witness it?"

On the question of what to do and how to rediscover the roots of "why I believe," Cardinal Bagnasco pointed to the experience of the World Youth Day, "which is revealing a new, rejuvenated way of being Christians."

He also pointed to the experience of Holy Land pilgrimages, as well as the cultural exchange between immigrants and natives, and between international students and their peers.

"If all this is attempted, for an organic integration and intelligent support of ordinary pastoral ministry, then new ways will certainly open for the Gospel," he concluded.

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NEWS BRIEFS

Eucharistic Congress to Have Ecumenical Touch

DUBLIN, Ireland, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The 50th International Eucharistic Congress, which will take place June 10-17 in Dublin, is planning the extensive involvement of Christians of other traditions in both the pastoral preparation and the official program for the week.

The organizing committee of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, chose the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which concluded today, as the occasion for the launch of the ecumenical program of the Congress.

One of the more significant features of the event is the dedication of one day, June 11, to celebrating and reflecting on the relationship of communion into which Christians are drawn through baptism.

International Eucharistic Congresses are celebrated every four years. While previous Congresses have sometimes included an ecumenical workshop or prayer, the extensive involvement of Christians of other traditions in so many elements of this Congress (preparation of pastoral resources; Congress week program; youth program) is quite unique, a statement from organizers explained.

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Questions on Bioethics

Licit Forms of Natural Family Planning

No Reason to Reject Standard Days Method

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a question on bioethics asked by a ZENIT reader and answered by the fellows of the Culture of Life Foundation.

Q: The Standard Days Method (SDM) of Natural Family Planning (NFP) was introduced by Georgetown University and uses a bead counting method. Some Catholic doctors and priests have criticized the SDM for some/all of the following reasons:

1. It is not "natural" because a computer model was used to calculate the days of abstinence.

2. It is endorsed by USAID (which has links to abortion funding).

3. The original research paper left open the possibility of using a back-up method during the fertile period.

My question is: Can Catholic licitly teach and practice the SDM? -- Fr. JM, Southeast Asia

E. Christian Brugger offers the following response:

The Standard Days Method of fertility awareness is a newer and more precise variation of the older calendar ("rhythm") method that used the length of a woman's menstrual cycle to estimate when fertility was most likely to occur.

Promoters of the SDM state that the newer method is only reliable for women whose cycles range in length from 26 to 32 days. Women outside this range are encouraged to use another method. Those who fall into that range and who wish to avoid pregnancy are advised to abstain from intercourse on days 8-19 of their cycle. These are the days, according to the method, when they are most likely to conceive. SDM literature reports that when the method is used correctly it has a 95% rate of effectivity.

This is not so different from the older calendar rhythm method whose rate of effectivity, when used correctly, was 91%. The problem with the older method was that couples were required to carry out mathematical calculations that the SDM has built into its approach. So whereas the "perfect use failure rate" of the older method was 9% (91% success rate), few couples used it perfectly. The "actual use failure rate," because of the method's complexity, turned out to be 25%, which meant that couples trying to avoid pregnancy got pregnant approximately one in four times.

From the user's perspective, the SDM is much simpler. As stated above, it is limited to women with a specific and reliable cycle length. Once that is established, the days on which couples are advised to abstain are easy to determine. In some countries, a simple string of beads is used to assist women to count off the days of abstinence.

As for its ethical analysis, the SDM is simply a method of NFPassisting couples to regulate their fertility in ways consistent with the natural cycles of a woman's body and with moral norms taught and defended by the Catholic Church. Other methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, the Sympto-Thermal Method, the Creighton Fertility-Care Method, and Ecological Breastfeeding.

In the 1930s, the Catholic Church judged that NFP was a legitimate way for couples to regulate births. Pope Pius XI taught in Casti Connubii (1930): "Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth;" and two years later (1932), the Sacred Penitentiary ruled that couples could legitimately "abstain from the use of marriage" during fertile periods for "just and grave causes." Together these were taken as an approval of the recently developed rhythm method. Since that time, the Catholic Church has repeatedly affirmed the legitimacy of recourse to NFP for "iustae causae" ("just causes") (e.g., by Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

Why then might some think that the SDM is a problem? Our questioner states three possible reasons. The first argues that the method "is not 'natural' because a computer model was used to calculate the days of abstinence;" therefore, the logic goes, it must be "unnatural"; since contraception is also 'unnatural,' the SDM must be similar to contraception.

But using a computer to determine facts pertaining to one's fertility cycle is no more intrinsically problematic than using a computer to determine any other facts about one's biology (e.g., blood type, glucose levels, or blood pressure). In this case, the facts are used to assist couples to carry out morally legitimate means of family planning. This enables couples to practice "responsible parenthood," which, the Church teaches, is a great human good (cf. Humanae Vitae, no. 10). And technology used at the service of the moral law and human good is not only legitimate, but praiseworthy. If however technology is used at the service of wrongful forms of family planning, then it is used wrongfully.

The second reason is that the SDM has been "endorsed by USAID (which has links to abortion funding)." This is true. Not only has the SDM been endorsed by USAID, the method was developed (at Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health) by grants in part provided from USAID.

But the fact that USAID is involved in some illicit activities does not mean that everything it does is illicit, nor does it mean that everyone who cooperates with its activities is doing something illicit. By funding the development of a morally legitimate form of family planning, USAID, to that extent, carried out a good act. Using the knowledge derived from that funding is unlikely to enrich USAID and hence equip it to carry out future illicit activity. And that same knowledge is likely to assist large numbers of couples, especially in developing countries, to plan their families in an upright way. Morally conscientious people should encourage USAID to devote more resources to similarly legitimate activities.

The final reason is that some of the literature promoting the SDM has "left open the possibility of using a back-up method [of contraception] during the fertile period." This tells us two things: first, that some who promote the method do not think that contraception is wrong and believe that the SDM is just another form of ("natural") contraception. In this regard, they are in error. Contraception is wrong to use; and the SDM is not a form of contraception, since for a method to be contraceptive it must aim to render sexual intercourse sterile; and the SDM promotes abstinence, which is the avoidance of intercourse.

Second, it tells us that the SDM can be used wrongfully, as when one uses it in tandem with another form of contraception. But the fact that it may be used wrongfully does not mean that everyone who uses it does so wrongfully. Those couples who understand the integrity of marriage and the marital act, and who abstain from intercourse for just reasons using the SDM, and who do not have recourse to other morally illicit forms of fertility control, do nothing illicit.

Therefore, Catholic (and non-Catholic) married couples may practice and promote the SDM as a licit form of Natural Family Planning. This was affirmed in July 2011 in a pastoral statement by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines.

* * *

E. Christian Brugger is a Senior Fellow of Ethics and director of the Fellows Program at the Culture of Life Foundation; and the J. Francis Cardinal Stafford Chair of Moral Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado.

[Readers may send questions regarding bioethics to bioethics@zenit.org. The text should include your initials, your city and state, province or country. The fellows at the Culture of Life Foundation will answer a select number of the questions that arrive.]

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Spirit of the Liturgy

The Liturgy Source of Life, Prayer and Catechesis (CCC 1071-1075)

Column of Liturgical Theology by Don Mauro Gagliardi

By Don Mauro Gagliardi

ROME, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Numbers 1071-1075 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) treat sacred liturgy as source of life, as well as its relationship with prayer and catechesis. The liturgy is source of life first of all because it is the “work of Christ” (CCC, 1071). In the second place, because “it is also an action of his Church” (Ibid.). But, which is the preeminent of these two aspects? Moreover, what does the word “life” mean in this context?

Vatican Council II responds: “From the liturgy, hence, and particularly from the Eucharist, grace flows in us as from a source, and obtained with the greatest efficacy is the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all the other activities of the Church tend as to their end” (Sacrosanctum Concilium [SC], 10). Understood thus is that, when the liturgy is called source of life, from it grace flows. Already answered here is the first question: the liturgy is source of life primarily because it is the work of Christ, Author of grace.

A classic principle of Catholicism, however, states that grace does not take away nature, rather it implies and perfects it (cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, 1, 8 ad 2 etc.). Given this, man also cooperates in liturgical worship, which is the priestly action of the “whole Christ,” namely the Head, which is Jesus, and the members, who are the baptized. Thus the liturgy is source of life also in as much as it is action of the Church. Precisely in so far as work of Christ and of the Church, the liturgy is a “sacred action par excellence” (SC, 7), it gives the faithful the life of Christ and requires their conscious, active and fruitful participation (cf. SC, 11). Understood here is the bond between the sacred liturgy and the life of faith: we could say “from Life to life.” The grace that is given us by Christ in the liturgy calls for vital involvement: "The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church” “ (SC, 9), in fact “it must be preceded by evangelization, faith and conversion. It can then produce its fruits in the life of the faithful” (CCC, 1072).

It is no accident that at the moment of bringing together in one volume the writings of J. Ratzinger, entitled “Theology of the Liturgy,” thought was given to expressing one of the fundamental intuitions of the author, adding the sub-title: “The Sacramental Foundation of Christian Existence.” It is a translation in theological terms of what Jesus said in the Gospel with the words: “apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In the sacred liturgy we receive the gift of the divine life of Christ without which we cannot do anything valid for salvation. Hence, the life of the Christian is nothing other than a continuation, or the fruit, of the grace that is received in divine worship, in particular, the Eucharistic.

In the second place, the liturgy has a close relationship with prayer. Again, the focus of understanding of this relationship is the Lord: “The liturgy is also a participation in Christ’s own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal” (CCC, 1073). Hence, the liturgy is also source of prayer. From it we learn to pray in the right way. As the liturgy is the priestly prayer of Jesus, what can we learn from it for our personal prayer? In what did the Lord’s prayer consist? “Fundamental to understand Jesus are the recurrent references to the fact that he withdrew “on the mountain” and prayed there entire nights, “alone” with the Father. […] This “praying” of Jesus is the Son speaking with the Father which involves the human consciousness and will, the human soul of Jesus, so that man’s “prayer” can become participation in the communion of the Son with the Father” (J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth,” I, Rizzoli, Milan, 2007, pp. 27-28 [our translation]). In Jesus, his “personal” prayer is not different from his priestly prayer: according to the Letter to the Hebrews, the prayer made by Jesus during the Passion “constitutes the Mass in action of the high priesthood of Jesus. Precisely in his crying, weeping and praying Jesus does what is proper to the high priest: He carries the suffering of being men lifted up to God. He bears man before God” (Ibid., II, LEV, 2010, p. 184).

In a word, Jesus’ prayer is a prayer of conversation, a prayer addressed to the presence of God. Jesus teaches us this type of prayer: “It is necessary to always arouse this relationship and to redirect it in continuation to daily events. We would pray that much better the more profoundly is the orientation of our soul to God” (Ibid., I, p. 159). Hence, the liturgy teaches us to pray because it re-orients us constantly to God: “Lift up your hearts; we lift them up to the Lord!” Prayer is to be turned to the Lord – and this is also the profound meaning of active participation in the liturgy.

Finally, prayer is the “privileged place of catechesis […] in as much as it proceeds from the visible to the invisible” (CCC, 1074-1075). This implies that the texts, the signs, the rites, the gestures and the ornamental elements of the liturgy must be such as to truly transmit the Mystery they signify and can thus be usefully explained within the mystagogic catechesis.

* * *

*Don Mauro Gagliardi is full Professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum “Regina Apostolorum,” professor at the Università Europea di Roma, Consultor of the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

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Wednesday's Audience

On the Priestly Prayer of Jesus

"Love Is True Glory, Divine Glory"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in Paul VI Hall. The Pope reflected on the priestly prayer of Jesus presented in Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters,

In today’s Catechesis we will focus our attention on the prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father in the “Hour” of his exaltation and of his glorification (cf. John 1:26). As the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: “Christian Tradition rightly calls this prayer the ‘priestly’ prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our High Priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his passing over (Passover) to the Father to whom he is wholly ‘consecrated’” (No. 2747).

Jesus’ prayer can be understood in its extraordinary depth of richness if we consider it against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation, Yom Kippur. On that day, the High Priest makes expiation first for himself, then for the priestly class and lastly for the entire community of the people. The purpose is to restore to the people of Israel, after the transgressions of one year, the awareness of reconciliation with God, the awareness of being the chosen people, a “holy people” among the other nations. Jesus’ prayer, presented in Chapter 17 of the Gospel according to John, adopts the structure of this feast. Jesus on that night turns to the Father as he is offering himself. He, priest and victim, prays for himself, for the apostles and for all those who will believe in Him, for the Church throughout the ages (cf. John 17:20).

The prayer that Jesus offers for himself is the request for his own glorification, for his “exaltation” in this, his “Hour.” In reality, it is more than a request and declaration of his full availability to enter freely and generously into God the Father’s plan, which is to be accomplished in his being handed over in death and resurrection. This “Hour” begins with Judas’ betrayal (cf. John 13:31) and will culminate in the Risen Jesus’ ascension to the Father (John 20:17). Jesus comments on Judas’ departure from the cenacle with these words: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified” (John 13:31). Not by chance does He begin the priestly prayer, saying: “Father, the hour has come: glorify the Son that the Son may glorify thee” (John 17:1). The glorification that Jesus asks for himself as High Priest is an entrance into the fullness of obedience to the Father, an obedience that leads him into the fullness of His Sonship: “And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made” (John 17:5). This availability and this request form the first act of Jesus’ new priesthood, which is a total self-giving on the Cross, and it is precisely on the Cross -- in the supreme act of love -- that he is glorified, because love is true glory, divine glory.

The second moment of this prayer is the intercession Jesus makes for the disciples who were with Him. They are those of whom Jesus can say to the Father: “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word” (John 17:6). “To manifest God’s name to men” is the realization of a new presence of the Father among His people, among humanity. This “manifestation” is not only a word; in Jesus, it is reality; God is with us, and thus the name -- His presence with us, his being one with us -- is “realized.” Therefore, this manifestation finds its fulfillment in the Incarnation of the Word. In Jesus, God enters into human flesh: He makes himself close in a unique and new way. And this presence has its summit in the sacrifice that Jesus offers in His Passover of death and resurrection.

At the center of this prayer of intercession and expiation for the disciples, is the request for consecration; Jesus says to the Father: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth” (John 17:16-19). I ask: what does it mean to “consecrate” in this case? First and foremost, it needs to be said that, strictly speaking, only God is “Consecrated” or “Holy.” To consecrate therefore means to transfer a reality -- a person or a thing -- to God’s ownership. And in this, two complementary aspects are present: on the one hand, the removal from common things, a segregation, a “setting apart” from the realm of man’s personal life, in order to be given totally to God; and on the other hand, this segregation, this transfer to the sphere of God, signifies “sending,” mission: precisely on account of its being given to God, the reality, the consecrated person exists “for” others; he is given to others.

To give oneself to God means no longer existing for oneself, but for all. He is consecrated who, like Jesus, is separated from the world and set apart for God in view of a task, and this is precisely why he is fully available to all. For the disciples, [the task] will be to continue the mission of Jesus, to be given to God so as to be on mission for all. On Easter evening, the Risen One appearing to his disciples will say to them: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21).

The third act of this priestly prayer extends our gaze to the end of time. In it, Jesus turns to the Father in order to intercede on behalf of all those who will be brought to faith through the mission inaugurated by the apostles and continued throughout history: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word.” Jesus prays for the Church throughout the ages, he prays also for us (John 17:20). The Catechism of the Catholic Church comments: “Jesus fulfilled the word of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation” (No. 2749).

The central petition of Jesus’ priestly prayer dedicated to his disciples throughout the ages is for the future unity of all those who will believe in Him. This unity is not a product of the world. It comes exclusively from the divine unity and arrives to us from the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Jesus invokes a gift that comes from Heaven, and that has its real and perceptible effect on earth. He prays “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21).

On the one hand, Christian unity is a hidden reality present in the hearts of believers. But at the same time, it must become visible in history with complete clarity; it must become visible, so that the world may believe; it has a very practical and concrete end -- it must become visible so that all may truly be one. The unity of the future disciples, being a unity with Jesus -- whom the Father sent into the world -- is also the original source of the Christian mission’s efficacy in the world.

We can say that the founding of the Church is accomplished in Jesus’ priestly prayer … it is precisely here, in the act of the Last Supper, that Jesus creates the Church. “For what else is the Church, if not the community of disciples who receive their unity through faith in Jesus Christ as the one sent by the Father and are drawn into Jesus’ mission to lead the world toward the recognition of God -- and in this way to save it?” Here we find a true definition of the Church. “The Church is born from Jesus’ prayer. But this prayer is more than words; it is the act by which he ‘sanctifies’ himself, that is to say, he ‘sacrifices’ himself for the life of the world” (cf. Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. II p. 101ff).

Jesus prays that his disciples may be one. It is in virtue of such unity, received and cherished, that the Church can journey “in the world” without being “of the world” (cf. John 17:6) and live out the mission entrusted to her, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent him. The Church becomes, then, the place where the very mission of Christ continues: to lead the “world” out of alienation from God and itself, out of sin, in order that it may return to being God’s world.

Dear brothers and sisters, we have taken in a portion of the great richness of Jesus’ priestly prayer, which I invite you to read and to ponder, so that it may guide us in conversation with the Lord, that it may teach us to pray. Then we, too, in our prayer may ask God to help us to enter more fully into the plan that He has for each one of us. Let us ask Him to grant that we may be “consecrated” to Him, that we may increasingly belong to Him, so that we may love others more and more -- those who are close to us and those who are far away; let us ask Him to grant that we may always be able to open our prayer to the dimensions of the world, not closing it in to the request for help for our own problems, but remembering our neighbor before the Lord and learning the beauty of interceding for others. Let us ask Him for the gift of visible unity among all believers in Christ -- we have earnestly invoked this during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity -- let us pray that we may always be ready to respond to whomever asks us the reason for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to the priestly prayer which Jesus offered at the Last Supper (cf. Jn 17:1-26). Against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation Yom Kippur, Jesus, priest and victim, prays that the Father will glorify him in this, the hour of his sacrifice of reconciliation. He asks the Father to consecrate his disciples, setting them apart and sending them forth to continue his mission in the world. Christ also implores the gift of unity for all those who will believe in him through the preaching of the apostles. His priestly prayer can thus be seen as instituting the Church, the community of the disciples who, through faith in him, are made one and share in his saving mission. In meditating upon the Lord’s priestly prayer, let us ask the Father for the grace to grow in our baptismal consecration and to open our own prayers to the needs of our neighbours and the whole world. Let us also pray, as we have just done in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, for the gift of the visible unity of all Christ’s followers, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent him.

* * *

I offer a warm welcome to the students of the Bossey Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies in Switzerland, and I offer prayerful good wishes for their work. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!

[In Italian, he said:]

Lastly, an affectionate thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which today we conclude, offers us the possibility of reflection on our belonging to Christ and to the Church. Dear young people, trust in the teachings of the Church, which are aimed at your integral growth. Dear sick, offer your sufferings for the cause of the unity of Christ’s Church. And you, dear newlyweds, educate your children according to the logic of gratuitous love, after the model of God’s love for mankind.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

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DOCUMENTS

Pope's Message for World Mission Day

"Faith Is a Gift That Is Given to Us to Be Shared"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's message for World Mission Day, which will be celebrated this Oct. 21. The text was released by the Vatican today.

* * *

"Called to Make the Word of Truth Shine" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 6)

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

The celebration of World Mission Day has an altogether particular meaning this year. The observance of the 50th anniversary of the Conciliar Decree Ad gentes, the opening of the Year of Faith and the Synod of Bishops on the subject of the New Evangelization concur in reaffirming the will of the Church to commit herself with greater boldness and ardor in the mission ad gentes, so that the Gospel will reach the ends of the earth.

The Ecumenical Second Vatican Council, with the participation of Catholic bishops from all corners of the earth, was a luminous sign of the universality of the Church, bringing together, for the first time, such a large number of Conciliar Fathers from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania. Missionary bishops and native bishops, pastors of communities spread among non-Christian populations, who brought to the Conciliar sessions the image of a Church present in all the continents and who made themselves interpreters of the complex reality of the then so-called "Third World." Rich in the experience stemming from being pastors of young churches in the process of formation and animated by passion for the spread of the Kingdom of God, they contributed in an important way to reaffirming the necessity and urgency of the evangelization ad gentes, and hence to put at the center of ecclesiology the missionary nature of the Church.

Missionary Ecclesiology

This vision has not diminished today, rather, it has gone through a profound theological and pastoral reflection and, at the same time, it is proposed again with renewed urgency because the number of those who still do not know Christ has grown. "The men who await Christ are still an immense number," said Blessed John Paul II in the Encyclical Redemptoris missio on the permanent validity of the missionary mandate, and he added: "We cannot be at peace when thinking of the millions of our brothers and sisters, also redeemed by the Blood of Christ, who live in ignorance of the love of God" (n. 86). In convoking the Year of Faith, I also wrote that Christ "today as then, sends us to the paths of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 7); a proclamation that, as the Servant of God Paul VI also expressed, in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, "is not an optional contribution for the Church: it is the duty that is incumbent upon her by the mandate of the Lord Jesus, so that men will be able to believe and be saved. Yes, this message is necessary. It is unique. It is irreplaceable" (n. 5). Hence we are in need of taking up again the same apostolic impetus of the first Christian communities, which, small and vulnerable, with their proclamation and witness, were able to spread the Gospel in the whole then-known world.

It is no wonder, therefore, that Vatican Council II and the successive Magisterium of the Church insist especially on the missionary mandate that Christ entrusted to his disciples, which must be the commitment of all the People of God: bishops; priests; deacons; men and women religious; and laity. The task of proclaiming the Gospel in every part of the earth corresponds primarily to bishops, directly responsible for the evangelization of the world, be it as members of the Episcopal College or as pastors of particular Churches. In fact, they "were consecrated not only for a diocese, but for the salvation of the whole world" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris mission, 63), "messengers of faith who bring new disciples to Christ" (Ad gentes, 20) and render "visible the missionary spirit and ardor of the People of God, so that the whole diocese becomes missionary" (Ibid., 38).

The Priority of Evangelization

The mandate to preach the Gospel is not exhausted, therefore, by a Pastor in caring for that portion of the People of God entrusted to his pastoral care, or in the sending of a fidei donum priest, layman or laywoman. It should involve the whole activity of the particular Church, all her sectors, in short, all her being and action. Vatican II indicated this clearly and the successive Magisterium confirmed it forcefully. This requires the constant adaptation of lifestyles, pastoral plans and diocesan organization to this fundamental dimension of being Church, especially in our world in constant change. And this is also true for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as for the Ecclesial Movements: all the components of the great mosaic of the Church must feel strongly drawn in by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that Christ is proclaimed everywhere. We, Pastors, men and women religious and all the faithful in Christ, must follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul, who, "a prisoner for Christ on behalf of you Gentiles" (Ephesians 3:1), worked, suffered and fought to have the Gospel reach the Gentiles (cf. Ephesians 1:24-29), not sparing energy, time and means to make Christ's Message known.

The mission ad gentes should be, also today, the constant horizon and paradigm of every ecclesial activity, because the very identity of the Church is constituted by faith in the Mystery of God, who revealed himself in Christ to bring us salvation, and by the mission to witness and proclaim him to the world, until his return. Like St. Paul, we should care for those who are far away, those who still do not know Christ and have not experienced God's paternity, in the awareness that "the missionary cooperation must be extended today to new forms including not only economic aid but also direct participation in evangelization" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 82). The celebration of the Year of Faith and of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization will be propitious occasions to re-launch missionary cooperation, especially in this latter dimension.

Faith and Proclamation

The eagerness to proclaim Christ drives us also to read history to perceive the problems, aspirations and hopes of humanity that Christ must heal, purify and fill with his presence. His message, in fact, is always timely, it is set in the very heart of history and is able to answer the profoundest concerns of every man. Because of this, in all her components the Church must be aware that "the immense horizon of the ecclesial mission, the complexity of the present situation require a renewed modality today, to be able to communicate the Word of God effectively" (Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, 97). Above all, this calls for a renewed adherence of personal and community faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, "at a time of profound change as that which humanity is experiencing" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 8).

One of the obstacles to the impetus of evangelization is, in fact, the crisis of faith, not only in the Western world, but in a good part of humanity, which nevertheless is hungry and thirsty for God and must be invited and led to the bread of life and the living water, as the Samaritan woman who went to Jacob's well and talked with Christ.

As the Evangelist John recounts, this event of this woman is particularly significant (cf. John 4:1-30): she meets Jesus, who asks her for a drink, but then speaks to her about a new water, able to satiate thirst for ever. At first the woman does not understand, she remains at the material level, but slowly she is led by the Lord to undertake a path of faith that leads her to recognize him as the Messiah. And regarding this, Saint Augustine says: "after having received the Lord Christ in her heart, what else could [this woman] do but abandon her jar and run to proclaim the Good News?" (Homily, 15, 30). The meeting with Christ as a living person who satiates the thirst of the heart cannot but lead to the desire to share with others the joy of this presence and to make it known so that all can experience it. It is necessary to renew the enthusiasm to communicate the faith so as to promote a New Evangelization of the communities and countries of ancient Christian tradition, which are losing their connection with God, in order to rediscover the joy of believing. The concern to evangelize must never be left on the margin of ecclesial activity and of the personal life of the Christian, but it must be strongly characterized, by the awareness of being recipients and, at the same time, missionaries of the Gospel. The main point of the proclamation is always the same: the Kerygma of the dead and risen Christ for the salvation of the world; the Kerygma of the absolute and total love of God for every man and every women, which culminated in the sending of the Eternal and Only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, who did not disdain to assume the poverty of our human nature, loving and rescuing it from sin and death by offering himself on the cross.

In this plan of love realized by Christ, faith in God is above all a gift and mystery to be received in the heart and in life and for which to be always grateful to the Lord. But faith is a gift that is given to us to be shared; it is a talent received so that it will bear fruit; it is a light that must not be kept hidden, but illumine the whole house. It is the most important gift that has been given to us in our lives and we cannot keep it for ourselves.

The Proclamation Becomes Charity

"Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" said the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9:16). This word resounds forcefully for every Christian and for every Christian community in all the Continents. Even for churches in mission territories, churches that are young in the main, of recent foundation, doing missionary activity has become a connatural dimension, even if they themselves are still in need of missionaries. So many priests, men and women religious, from every part of the world, numerous laymen and, in fact, whole families leave their countries, their local communities and go to other churches to witness and proclaim the Name of Christ, in whom humanity finds salvation. It is an expression of profound communion, sharing and charity between the churches, so that every man can hear and hear again the proclamation that heals and approach the Sacraments, sources of true life.

Together with this lofty sign of faith which is transformed into charity, I recall and thank the Pontifical Missionary Works, an instrument for cooperation in the universal mission of the Church in the world. Through their action the proclamation of the Gospel becomes also an intervention in aid of neighbors, justice for the poorest, possibility of instruction in the most isolated villages, medical care in remote places, emancipation from poverty, rehabilitation of the marginalized, support for the development of peoples, the overcoming of ethnic divisions, respect for life in every phase.

Dear brothers and sisters, I invoke upon the work of evangelization ad gentes, and in particular upon its workers, the effusion of the Holy Spirit, so that the Grace of God will make it advance more decisively in the history of the world. With Blessed John Henry Newman, I would like to pray: "O Lord, accompany your missionaries in the lands of evangelization, put the right words on their lips, make their toil fruitful." May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of Evangelization, accompany all missionaries of the Gospel.

From the Vatican, January 6, 2012, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.

[Translation by ZENIT]

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[ZE120124] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 24, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope Recommends Silence to Allow Reflecting, True Communication
Benedict XVI Stresses Value of Silence
St. Paul Outside the Walls Hosting Vatican II Exhibit
News.va to Open French, Portuguese Editions

WORLD FEATURES

Wife, Mother, Convert Shows Importance of Christians in Politics
Commentary on Canon Law Presented at Lateran University
Bangkok Hosts Interreligious Meeting

NEWS BRIEFS

Sant'Egidio Lauded for Aiding Costa Concordia Workers

FORUM

On Silence and the Word
Whose Conscience? Which Religion? The Enemy Is Partially Us

LITURGY

Disposing of Old Missals and Sacramentaries

DOCUMENTS

Papal Message for Communications Day

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope Recommends Silence to Allow Reflecting, True Communication

Says Quiet Is Necessary in Overload of Messages

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- "When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary."

Benedict XVI offered this reflection today in his message for World Communications Day, which he dedicated this year to the theme "Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization."

He spoke of the need for a balance between silence and word: "When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning."

Silence "gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved," the Pope said.

Referring to the Internet as a forum for questions and answers, the Holy Father noted that "people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive."

"Ultimately," he suggested, "this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life -- all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever."

Silence, moreover, is what we need to speak to God, the Pope recalled.

"If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God," he said.

"In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed," the Pontiff continued.

He concluded: "Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak."

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Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34175?l=english

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Benedict XVI Stresses Value of Silence

Message Presented for 46th World Day of Social Communications

By Luca Marcolivio

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Silence does not mean absence of communication. It is, rather, the other face of the word, which confers meaning on it, modulating the times of socialization, education and evangelization.

These are some of the reflections found in the Message for the 46th World Day of Social Communications, signed by Benedict XVI and published today, on the liturgical memorial of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists and communicators. The theme of the message is "Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization."

The Message was presented this morning in the Vatican Press Office by Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and the other leaders of that dicastery.

Silence, explained Archbishop Celli, is not "lack of communication" but "part of the flow of messages and information that characterizes the new culture of communication."

Silence "can express closeness, solidarity and care for others," in addition to being a "strong way to express our respect and love for others."

Silence is also a form of respect for the other, an "active attitude" that "gives room to the other to speak," added the prelate.

Silent behavior "reinforces relationship, the bond between two persons," it helps reflection and appreciation, gives "the correct meaning to communication" and helps us not to be submerged "in the volume of communication itself," he continued.

Today's culture, instead, entails the serious risk of "not listening to the other's question and of trying to impose prefabricated answers." In conversation, on the contrary, silence is fundamental in as much as it makes possible "inter-activity," hence, a real search for truth.

For humanity

Archbishop Celli commented to ZENIT on the apparent contradiction between the virtual nature of today's communication and the "bodily nature" of the Christian message.

And, if on one hand the Holy Father's invitation to reappraise the virtue of silence might appear in opposition to the massive deluge of information that we receive daily, the Vatican's communication official noted, the Pontiff's concern is addressed to the human eco-system, seen as a "propitious environment able to balance images, silence and sounds."

"The Pope's great concern is for man, in particular for men inserted in today's context," he said. "His message is not addressed only to us Catholics. There are laymen who feel the profound need to rediscover the authenticity of the word, and, at the same time, the authenticity of man, through a silence that we describe as 'contemplative.'"

Contemplation in expression

On the silence of the Church in face of evil, Archbishop Celli said that it is good "to distinguish the semantic value of silence and of being silent. There must be a moment when my contemplation must find a strong expression."

Hence, the alleged silence of the Church, which manifests itself sometimes in face of injustices and behavior that is contrary to Christian morality, is not always necessarily a "being silent."

In this connection, the Holy Father's message stresses that "it is from silence that the building of justice is born. Hence, the silence that the Pope invokes is not the alienating of oneself from the concrete reality," Archbishop Celli said. "There are moments, however, when I cannot be silent: My silence would be a betrayal of man."

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Full text of papal message: www.zenit.org/article-34175?l=english

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St. Paul Outside the Walls Hosting Vatican II Exhibit

Archbishop Wojtyła's Diplomatic Passport Among Original Documents on Display

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- An exhibition of the original documents of the Second Vatican Council opens Wednesday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the site where Blessed John XXIII announced the convocation of this important ecclesial event of the 20th century.

Oct. 11, 2012, marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the council. Basilica officials planned this exhibition to begin on the liturgical feast of the conversion of St. Paul, Jan. 25.

It was, in fact, on Jan. 25, 1959, that Pope John XXIII, after a solemn celebration in the basilica and while visiting the adjacent Benedictine monastery, announced his desire to convoke a Church council.

Both the basilica and the abbey are planning different events to celebrate the two ecclesial moments: the announcement and the opening of Vatican II.

On Wednesday, Benedict XVI will preside over the second vespers of the Pauline feast in the papal basilica, closing at the same time the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The program of events, organized by Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of the basilica, and by Benedictine Father Edmund Power, abbot of St. Paul's, includes meetings and conferences until Nov. 24, 2013, the closing of the Year of Faith convoked by Benedict XVI.

The exhibition, titled Sanctus Paulus extra moenia et Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, covers an area of 300 square meters (360 square yards).

The exhibition will include such documents as the handwritten texts of John XXIII's addresses to announce the council and also his opening speech on Oct. 11, 1962, in St. Peter's.

Also on display will be the diplomatic passport, signed by Cardinal Angelo dell'Acqua, which enabled Archbishop Karol Wojtyła to attend the Council: a very important document given that at that time the Polish government refused to issue a passport to the cardinal primate, Stefan Wyszynski.

All Vatican institutions have contributed to the exhibition, which will include the front pages and photographs from the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, as well as coins, medals and stamps of the time, loaned by the Vatican Library and the Philatelic and Numismatic Office. The new postal stamp, issued for the 50th anniversary of the council, will also be on display.

Vatican Radio has contributed recordings to help make an almost 15-minute video. "It is quite something to hear again the voice of Pope Roncalli," Cardinal Monterisi declared to Vatican Radio, "and to see again images of that time."

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News.va to Open French, Portuguese Editions

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The www.news.va Web site will soon be available in French and Portuguese, announced Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, during a press conference today to present Benedict XVI's Message for the 46th World Day of Social Communications.

A year after its birth, the site, which brings together Vatican news sources, is already available in Italian, English and Spanish.

Archbishop Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, also gave some statistics related to the Vatican news site. The daily visits fluctuate from 8,000 to 10,000, with 16, 0000 recorded on Christmas Day.

The average time on the site is two minutes, a sign that those visiting don't do so accidentally but stop, read and seek information, he added.

Visits to the Vatican news site come from some 180 countries worldwide, primarily from the United States (27% of the visits), followed by Italy, Germany, Spain, Canada and Brazil.

Just over half, 53%, of the visitors are new and the remaining 47% are regulars.

Archbishop Celli said that the vast majority of news.va contacts come from social networks: 65% from Facebook, and about 30% from Twitter.

He also unveiled to the press the re-design of the Web site of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (www.pccsva.org).

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WORLD FEATURES

Wife, Mother, Convert Shows Importance of Christians in Politics

Austria to Host Beatification on Sunday

By Britta Dorre

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Hildegard Burjan (1883-1933), founder of the Sisters of Social Charity (Caritas Socialis), will be proclaimed blessed in St. Stephen's cathedral in Vienna on Sunday.

"For the Archdiocese of Vienna, but also for the whole of Austria, Hildegard Burjan is an impressive figure, a person who should be made known," said the cardinal archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn.

The process of beatification was opened in 1963 by the then cardinal of Vienna, Franz Konig. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, will preside over the solemn beatification ceremony.

Burjan was born on Jan. 30, 1883, in Gorlitz, Germany, a city on the Neisse river -- since cut in half due to a change in the German-Polish border after World War II -- the second daughter of the Freund family, which had Jewish origins. From her youth, Hildegard was distinguished by her interest in social problems and for her free spirit. She was one of the first women to attend university and the first to occupy a seat in the Austrian Parliament.

She concluded her study of philosophy in Zurich, Switzerland, with a doctorate summa cum laude. After her marriage in 1907 to Alexander Burjan, she went with her husband first to Berlin and then, in 1909, to the Austrian capital.

In Vienna she witnessed great social contradictions. However, instead of ignoring the great state of poverty there, she began to commit herself seriously to social matters.

She joined a group of women who were striving to implement the ideas of Pope Leo XIII's social encyclical Rerum Novarum(1891). Hildegard Burjan's commitment was profoundly marked by the Catholic faith, to which she converted in 1909 after a serious illness.

She considered interior liberty and the correct formation of personality as indispensable for people's interior development. She was convinced that genuine social care lies in helping others to help themselves. For her, human dignity always came first.

In 1912 she founded the Association for Domestic Christian workers (Verein christlicher Heimarbeiterinnen) and in 1918 she amalgamated all the organizations of working women in the Social Assistance Association (Soziale Hilfe). She also helped the starving people of Erzgebirge (the Ore Mountains) with a food collection and created a network of assistance for families (Familienhilfe) in Sudetenland.

Commitment

Faithful to the principle according to which social action requires a combination of private and political commitment, Hildegard Burjan entered politics in 1918, the year of the end of World War I and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her objective was to change social structures permanently, demonstrating a great sensitivity to the economic and social problems of her time.

She fought for equality, for a minimum salary for domestic workers, for care for those involved in dangerous activities. She combated child labor.

With the help of a Catholic priest, Ignaz Seipel, who after World War I was chancellor of Austria twice, she founded the apostolic society of the Sisters of Caritas Socialis in October 1919. Putting flexibility first, Burjan gave up the idea of a cloistered life for her congregation and other aspects of religious life, which she considered too limiting.

Today, the congregation she founded runs a number of centers in Vienna, among them a hostel for mothers and children, day nurseries, health clinics and specialized clinics for the elderly and chronically ill, and day centers for patients affected by Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. In the Austrian capital, the congregation runs the Rennweg Hospice of Caritas Socialis, which specializes in palliative care.

With her tireless commitment and example, until her death on June 11, 1933, this mother of a daughter, Lisa (whom doctors advised she abort for health reasons, a proposal she point-blank refused), Hildegard Burjan created institutions that continue to be very important and which will continue to help future generations.

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Commentary on Canon Law Presented at Lateran University

Union Emphasized Between Juridical, Pastoral Approaches

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The juridical and pastoral dimensions are inseparably united in the Church.

This was one of the key points made in a recent presentation of a new Italian-language commentary on the Code of Canon Law.

The book, "Il Codice di diritto canonico," published by the Italian publishing house EDB, is the third edition of the juridical-pastoral commentary. It was presented Jan. 17 in the Paul VI Hall of the Pontifical Lateran University.

The two previous editions were authored by the late Monsignor Luigi Chiappetta. This new edition was prepared by a group of experts on canon law: Professors Francesco Catozzella, Arianna Catta, Claudia Izzi and Luigi Sabbarese.

Uniting the pastoral and juridical dimensions is needed in order to avoid relativistic procedures and a merely subjective interpretation of canonical norms, according to the presentation.

The rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, Monsignor Enrico Dal Covolo, said that "in a manner consistent with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1983, showed the naturally juridical nature of every human experience, and of the relationships that are constituted in the ecclesial community."

"There is no place in the Church for a relativistic mentality and procedure, with the inevitable consequence of a distorted view of law and of a merely subjective interpretation of the canonical norms. In a cultural context marked by relativism and juridical positivism, the Church's pastoral ministry, guided by the pope and the bishops, is the correct dimension to lead the human person to law and justice," he added.

The rector of the Lateran University quoted a 1990 speech of Blessed John Paul II: "It's not true that to be more pastoral law must be less juridical […] The juridical and pastoral dimension are inseparably united in the Church, pilgrim on this earth. Above all, there is a harmony that stems from their common end: the salvation of souls."

Moreover, Monsignor Dal Covolo insisted on the risk of identifying the law of the Church solely with judicial activity. "Between the two aspects, the juridical and the pastoral, there is no opposition, but, rather, complementarity."

Law and a pastoral approach, hence, constitute an "unbreakable binomial" for the good of the Church and for the salus animarum, just as the Holy Father Benedict XVI affirmed almost a year ago in an address to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, he explained.

On Saturday, the Holy Father touched on similar themes in this year's address to that tribunal.

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Bangkok Hosts Interreligious Meeting

Group Looks at Social Challenges That Need Cooperation Between Creeds

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Religious leaders from regions of Asia and the West met in Thailand this month to consider the various social challenges that can be dealt with through religious dialogue and cooperation between different creeds.

Fifty experts and scholars of Asian cultures and religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism and Taoism – from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, the Lebanon, Macao, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and the United States -- met Jan. 11-13, as reported last Friday by L'Osservatore Romano.

The event was coordinated by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, the retired archbishop Guwahati, India, who is in charge of the office for evangelization of the Federation of Asian Episcopal Conferences.

The group discussed violence, the economic crisis, corruption, conflicts between cultures, environmental damage, the destruction of cultures and values, as well as good government.

One of the purposes of the encounter was to demonstrate the rich religious and cultural diversity of the different countries. As well, it was intended to create positive attitudes toward other religious traditions and to highlight the goodness, truth and beauty present in them.

Archbishop Menamparampil was pleased with the numbers present at the meeting and pointed out that this type of event has as its objective "to seek visions and inspirations from the culture and tradition represented by each scholar."

"With progressive world globalization, there is an infinity of possibilities for dialogue between culture, civilization and faith; it is an occasion to hear the ideas of each one and to learn from others' point of view," he added.

Other topics included reflections on Asia's intrinsic values, ecology in Taoism, the challenge of ethical action in the Chinese context, and Confucian ethics in modern society.

Asked if this cultural exchange can help to alleviate tensions in some parts of Asia, where Christians, as well as ethnic and religious minorities, are victims of attacks, the archbishop said that "it could be a valuable contribution, but the profound cause of the tensions must be studied and the motives of dissatisfaction."

Archbishop Menamparampil added that "at first it was very difficult to communicate to the people the project of bringing together persons of different cultures and traditions to talk among themselves, but once the idea was clarified, many have supported it enthusiastically."

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NEWS BRIEFS

Sant'Egidio Lauded for Aiding Costa Concordia Workers

Provided Filipinos and Indonesians With Basic Necessities

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Community of Sant'Egidio reported on what happened with the 180 Filipinos and 170 Indonesians who were left without anything in Italy, far from their countries and families, in the aftermath of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Last Jan. 13, a total of 350 foreign workers were on board the Costa Concordia, which was shipwrecked off the coast of the Italian Island of Giglio.

The communiqué refers to the workers as "angels," who helped and rescued hundreds of persons. The workers finally disembarked, soaked and freezing, and almost all of them barefoot. None of them had clothes to change into, or a family to help them.

They appealed to the Sant'Egidio Community, which from its collection and distribution center in Rome, called the "Eco-Solidarity City," in just a few hours sent coats, shoes and warm clothing for the shipwrecked workers.

For its part, the embassy of the Philippines to the Holy See thanked the Sant'Egidio Community for the aid offered, and made it known that, after a thanksgiving Mass, all the Filipino citizens were on their way home. Only one has stayed behind in hospital in Italy.

In its Eco-Solidarity City in Rome, the Sant'Egidio Community collects and distributes food, clothing and other aid, fruit of the generosity of many donors.

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FORUM

On Silence and the Word

A Commentary on Pope Benedict's Message to Communicators

By Ann Schneible

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Today, on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, all those who work in the fields of communication can pray and reflect upon their vocation to be communicators.

It is a challenge being a communicator in this modern world, trying to rapidly sift through an onslaught of real-time information in order to provide readers, viewers or listeners with a story of interest and importance. As a result, it becomes far too easy to forget that the objective of any communicator should not be merely to communicate information, but truth.

And here lies the dilemma. The constant assault of information that modern means of communication put upon the human consciousness fills the interior life with noise; yet, it is only in interior silence that the soul can be disposed to hearing the truth that God speaks to the heart of every person. How, then, can Catholic communicators transmit the truth to a public whose interior life has become inundated with a sheer cacophony of information?

Pope Benedict, in his letter of preparation for the 46th World Day of Communications, calls us to reflect upon the relationship between silence and the word, without which there cannot be a lasting and meaningful communication of the truth. These two aspects, silence and word, must be "kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved."

In order to communicate silence, moreover, communicators must learn to establish a discipline of silence within themselves.

"In silence," says the Holy Father, "we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others, and we choose how to express ourselves." Silence also promotes a certain generosity, one which permits the one to whom we are communicating to speak freely. It is in this freedom where a truly enriching dialogue between persons can take place. "If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God."

The widespread use of search engines and social networking sites indicates a hunger for truth, a constant search for answers. The challenge of communicators, therefore, is to use words and images to inspire their audience to silent contemplation, for it is through this that "the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed."

It is through listening and contemplation that meaningful communication of ideas is made possible. By therefore following the example of the Scriptures, where God often spoke most powerfully and poignantly through silence, we can find what is necessary to transmit effectively and with generosity the truth which we ourselves have received.

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Ann Schneible is a member of ZENIT's Rome Bureau.

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Whose Conscience? Which Religion? The Enemy Is Partially Us

Ruling on Health Care Needs to Be Judged in Light of Truth

By E. Christian Brugger

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- There is a lot of anger over the Obama administration's recently announced decision to require religiously-affiliated employers to cover contraceptive services in their insurance plans, and rightly so. On Friday, the secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, announced that institutions such as Catholic universities and hospitals have one-year to "adapt" their policies to ensure employee coverage for all FDA approved contraceptives, including the abortion drug Ella, no copays, no deductibles.

Opponents of the mandate are crying foul: "Obama has waged a war on religious liberty!" "Conscience rights are being trampled!," and so on. Because I hold the Obama administration in such disdain, I feel sympathy for these battle cries. But I fear the problem is deeper; and that if we don't take a harder look at what's going on around us, we'll all end up like Dr. Seuss' North-going Zax and South-going Zax, puffing out our chests, standing nose to nose with our enemy, barking out disagreements devoid of understanding of the deeper problem. Easy as it is to blame the liberals for this appalling state of affairs, I think the problem to a certain degree is that none of us any longer believe in truth.

This wasn't always so. Once upon a time, "reasonable laws" were the aims of lawmakers. "Reasonable" in the eminent tradition of English common law -- the seedbed for our Anglo-American legal tradition -- meant "in accord with right reason," which meant "true." So reasonable standards were true standards. And true standards were something that stood over and above the standard-bearer. They corresponded in some primordial way with reality, to which republicans and monarchists, conservatives and liberals alike were subordinate. Everyone knew, of course, that error was possible and no one was brash enough to hold that every policy proposed or adopted was timelessly true. But the standard toward which political discourse aimed was a standard of truth.

We are now embarrassed by the term "truth." As an artifact of language ("We hold these 'truths' to be … "), the term is still occasionally heard in the public sphere. But as a normative term affirming the correspondence of some proposition with reality, the term in the public sphere has been dead and buried for decades. It connotes being inflexible and uncompromising, a genuine threat to pluralism, an offense against dialogue, and an insult against inclusivity -- American virtues all. Down deep in our democratic soul, we suspect -- yes, even conservatives -- that those who assert "truth" in the public sphere are dangerously slouching toward tyranny. After all, we rejected in 1776 Britain's Erastian politico-religious system of the "divine" right of kings.

So we talk rather about opinion, consensus and party platforms. We reduce moral judgment and religious belief to sectarian "rights," with the full implication that no moral judgment or religious doctrine is timelessly true. In order to avoid sectarian conflict, we agree to tolerate the ideas of the other side. But we believe they (i.e., the other side and their ideas) are stupid and our side is right. And rightness -- and this is the clincher -- is an essentially subjective concept, no connection to truth. Of course, to sever rightness and truthfulness is philosophically untenable. But dammit we're Americans, not philosophers.

What are we left with? Elections. Get our guy into office so he can advance our view and oppose the other side. Sounds like a bunch of children on a playground: befriend the big kid. We seem content to resolve weighty issues bearing on the future of our civilization through political solutions. But, alas, politicians are sinners. When our guy gets in, he starts an unjustified war, bullies smaller nations whose cultures he doesn't understand, apologizes for American failings, fraternizes with tyrants, fornicates, adulterizes, says he's "sorry" and other maddening things such as "I feel your pain" or "mission accomplished!" We grow disillusioned, throw him out of office, and search for another savior. Has our grand experiment in ordered liberty been replaced by a conception of authority more near to Nietzche's ubiquitous will-to-power? Can the integrity of our community endure five more decades of this modus operandi?

Has "Obama waged a war on religious liberty"? Are "conscience rights being trampled"? He and his defenders certainly don't think so. They think they're waging a war on intolerance and bigotry that has its origin in anti-pluralistic, dogmatic, subjective religious opinion. And our side unwittingly reinforces that view. Ten out of 10 conservative blogs and sites after the HHS decision announced: "Conscience is under attack!" "Religion is under attack!" Rubbish. Truth, reality, human welfare is under attack. "Conscience" to the other side means subjective moral opinion; and when it's our consciences they're referring to, it means dangerous moral opinion; and "religion" means bigotry. Of course they're going to oppose it. But we -- all of us -- have supported the public rhetorical instruments by which those terms have become morally inert.

Yes, there is a lot of anger over Obama's radically illiberal policy. But that anger is only rightly felt if it concerns the violation, not of legal or even constitutional rights, but the violation of truth. We need to stand up and say confidently and resolutely to Kathleen Sebelius, her thugs at HHS and her puppet-master in the White House: Your view is false and untrue; it radically violates human good and is destructive of communal integrity. Forcing persons wrongfully to cooperate in actions they judge to be evil is evil. And no president, king or emperor rightly demands others to do what is evil. We won't do it.

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LITURGY

Disposing of Old Missals and Sacramentaries

And More on the Confiteor and Breast-Beating

ROME, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: What is the proper way to dispose of old missals and sacramentaries? I have heard that they should be burned, and that some priests have done so at the Easter Vigil for the blessing of the new fire. -- P.R., Oak Harbor, Washington

A: This question was addressed by the secretariat of divine worship of the U.S. bishops' conference. The advice offered is pertinent to other places as well. To wit:

"The Secretariat of Divine Worship has received a number of timely inquiries regarding the disposition of copies of the current Sacramentary once the new Roman Missal, Third Edition has been implemented.

"There is relatively little written about exactly what to do with liturgical books which have been replaced by updated or revised editions, but some related writings, as well as some common sense, can provide some context. The Book of Blessings, no. 1343, indicates that the Sacramentary, the Lectionary, and other liturgical books are counted among those articles used in the Sacred Liturgy which ought to be blessed using the rite provided for that purpose, the Order for the Blessing of Articles for Liturgical Use (nos. 1341-1359). The Latin De Benedictionibus, editio typica, however, does not explicitly mention the Missale among the articles that are properly blessed.

"Whether or not the Sacramentary has been blessed by an official rite, it is appropriate to treat it with care as it has been admitted into liturgical use. Its disposal should be handled with respect. The Secretariat recommends burying the Sacramentary in an appropriate location on church grounds, or perhaps in a parish cemetery if there is one. Some have even suggested following a custom used in various Eastern Churches whereby liturgical books or Bibles are placed in the coffin of the deceased as a sign of devotion and love for the Liturgy. In lieu of burying old liturgical books, they could be burned, and the ashes placed in the ground in an appropriate location on church grounds. It is advisable to retain a copy of the Sacramentary for parish archives or liturgical libraries.

"Looking ahead to the reception of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, the above-mentioned blessing from the Book of Blessings could be used to bless copies of the Missal before their first use on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011. The blessing could take place during a Mass on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, at the last weekday Mass prior to the First Sunday of Advent, or outside Mass at a separate gathering of liturgical ministers or other parish leaders.

"Many parishes will also replace hymnals and other participation aids (such as hand missals) in light of updated editions corresponding to the new Roman Missal. While the Blessing of Articles for Liturgical Use also mentions hymnals, it might be difficult to appropriately dispose of a large number of copies of such books. After setting aside an appropriate number of copies for archives and libraries, other copies could be stored for use by prayer or study groups in the parish, offered to parishioners for their own private devotional use, or donated to other small communities that could effectively make use of them. Due to copyright agreements, annual hymnals and participation aids should be discarded after their prescribed period of use and cannot be retained for other uses in parishes."

Some dioceses facilitated this disposal by arranging common drop-off places where priests could leave old missals. The Archdiocese of Denver, for example, made arrangement for a number of old missals to be buried in an unoccupied grave of a Catholic cemetery.

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Follow-up: "Brothers" or "Sisters"

In the wake of our Jan. 10 response on the Confiteor, a reader inquired: "In today's answers to question about the forgiveness of sins at Mass, you state from the Roman Missal: '. . . the priest invites those present to take part in the Act of Penitence, which, after a brief pause for silence, the entire community carries out through a formula of general confession. The rite concludes with the priest's absolution, which, however, lacks the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance.' How do you reconcile that with the following teaching of the Council of Trent? Trent in its consideration of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice had declared (where I have added the emphasis): '. . . through the Mass we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (see Hebrews 4:16). For by this oblation the Lord is appeased, he grants grace and the gift of repentance, and he pardons wrongdoings and sins, even grave ones….'"

There is no contradiction here. The rubric states that the priest's absolution during the rite of penance is not a sacramental absolution. In other words, it is not the same as the absolution granted in the sacrament of penance. If it were so, there would be almost no need to go to confession at all.

The conciliar doctrine parts from a different level entirely. It is speaking of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice insofar as it is the un-bloody re-enactment of Christ's unique sacrifice on Calvary, and hence it has the same infinite effects as this sacrifice among which is to obtain the forgiveness of sins.

The forgiveness of sins is thus a fruit of the Mass because it is a fruit of the sacrifice of Calvary. This does not mean that each concrete individual who attends Mass is forgiven because in this case the application of the fruit of Christ's sacrifice also depends on the use of the sacrament of penance. A person who attends Mass with the proper dispositions will certainly receive forgiveness for venial sins. The Council of Trent does not say that someone in mortal sin obtains forgiveness by attending Mass but supposes that Mass may obtain the necessary grace to move the person to avail himself of the ordinary means of obtaining absolution.

As illustrated in Ludwig Ott's classical dogmatic manual: "The sacrifice of the Mass does not produce the forgiveness of sins immediately, as is the case of the sacraments of Baptism and penance, but only in a mediate way by granting the grace of repentance" (Eucharist 26,2a).

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Follow-up: Breast-Beating

Some readers still expressed doubts about the correctness of my opinion regarding the legitimacy of the triple beating of the breast in spite of an official pronouncement justifying the single strike (see Jan. 10 and Dec. 13).

One reader suggested that my earlier follow-up "seemed to imply that we were saying that the Holy See's one-beat indication could be ignored because it's been ignored for 30 years."

I therefore deem it necessary to revisit the argument once more, hoping to finally clarify myself.

First of all, allow me to say that, effectively, Spanish and Italian faithful, including most priests and bishops, have been ignoring the one-strike indication for 30 years. By "ignoring" I do not mean they were disobeying but rather that they had no knowledge that this official reply existed. After all, it was published in Latin in a review with a somewhat limited circulation.

Second, the official reply did not forbid the use of three strikes but simply stated that once was enough and there was no obligation to follow the older rubrics which mandated three strikes. Therefore, people simply kept on doing what they had always done and struck the breast three times at the triple manifestation of sin.

The point I was trying to make is that now that the English translation has restored the triple manifestation, it is probable that the faithful will naturally and spontaneously revert to the former practice of three strikes to the breast even though once is enough to comply with the rubrics.

As mentioned above, the official reply does not forbid this triple strike and I see no good coming from trying to impede its development.

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Readers may send questions to liturgy@zenit.org. Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province or country. Father McNamara can only answer a small selection of the great number of questions that arrive.

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DOCUMENTS

Papal Message for Communications Day

"When Messages and Information Are Plentiful, Silence Becomes Essential"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's message for World Communications Day 2012.

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Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.

The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.

Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life – all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever: "When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals" (Message for the 2011 World Day of Communications).

Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives. It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things. The God of biblical revelation speaks also without words: "As the Cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his silence. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word …. God’s silence prolongs his earlier words. In these moments of darkness, he speaks through the mystery of his silence" (Verbum Domini, 21). The eloquence of God’s love, lived to the point of the supreme gift, speaks in the silence of the Cross. After Christ’s death there is a great silence over the earth, and on Holy Saturday, when "the King sleeps and God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages" (cf.Office of Readings, Holy Saturday), God’s voice resounds, filled with love for humanity.

If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. "We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born" (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation "to communicate that which we have seen and heard" so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.

In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, divine revelation is fulfilled by "deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them" (Dei Verbum, 2). This plan of salvation culminates in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. He has made known to us the true face of God the Father and by his Cross and Resurrection has brought us from the slavery of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God. The fundamental question of the meaning of human existence finds in the mystery of Christ an answer capable of bringing peace to the restless human heart. The Church’s mission springs from this mystery; and it is this mystery which impels Christians to become heralds of hope and salvation, witnesses of that love which promotes human dignity and builds justice and peace.

Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelization: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church’s work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today’s world. To Mary, whose silence "listens to the Word and causes it to blossom" (Private Prayer at the Holy House, Loreto, 1 September 2007), I entrust all the work of evangelization which the Church undertakes through the means of social communication.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2012, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

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THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY

2012-01-24T03:08:00.000-08:00

Dear ZENIT Reader,

With news spreading instantly around the globe, it is easy to be informed about the many problems facing humanity.

Every day we hear about those who live in misery, and those who are spiritually poor because they do not know God. We hear of injustices and "structures of sin" that might seem impossible to eradicate. We hear of aggression against life from conception to its natural end, the crisis of the family, and cultural and moral relativism. We hear of scientific and technological development that goes forward at all costs and in any direction possible, without giving a thought to ethics.

Perhaps we hear less of brothers and sisters in Christ who continue to die as martyrs in many places of the world. And less still of the hostility shown the Pope and the Church.

In such a context, as Christians and supporters of ZENIT, how do we react?

As the Vatican II document "Gaudium et Spes" tells us, the world gives us reasons for sadness but also many reasons for joy.

It is indeed sad that there are persecutions, problems, sufferings and injustices, yet every period of human history has had to face and overcome grave problems.

We are convinced that what is needed is a message of hope!

This is the message that countless men and women of good will not cease to proclaim throughout the world, as do Christians who try to put the Gospel into practice. A message that the Church proclaims, as does Benedict XVI.

And the great message of hope is Christ himself!

How can this message be spread if there is no one to proclaim it?

This is ZENIT's mission; this is your mission!

The world of today offers many opportunities!

We want to make the best possible use of the instruments offered to us by present-day technology to spread the message of the Pope, the Church, Christians and people of goodwill, to every corner of the earth.

No doubt you already are engaged in this battle with your daily work and sacrifice. Today we suggest that you add to that your support for ZENIT.

Help us to carry out ZENIT's mission!

You can send a donation by clicking here:

http://www.zenit.org/english/donation.html

In this way, you will also help readers who cannot make a donation, and enable ZENIT to continue and reach more people than the 500,000 that at present receive our services by electronic mail.

If you are convinced, please make your donation now!

Cordial greetings and thank you in advance for what you might be able to contribute.

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[ZE120123] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

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

Pope Outlines Right Perspective for Interpreting Canon Law

ANGELUS

On Christian Unity

DOCUMENTS

Papal Address to Roman Rota

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.

* * *

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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[ZE120120] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 20, 2012

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SPECIAL

Pope Praises Neocatechumenate's Missionary Zeal
1,000 Families on a Mission
Founder's Thanksgiving

VATICAN DOSSIER

Benedict XVI Encourages Seminarians to Study Hard

ANALYSIS

Death Penalty on Decline in United States

WORLD FEATURES

US Bishops Decry Ruling on Abortifacients in Health Plans

Where God Weeps

India: the Laity Must Be Uplifted

INTERVIEW

Cardinal-designate O'Brien on Defending Freedom

DOCUMENTS

Papal Address to Seminary of Diocese of Rome
Pope's Address to Neocatechumenal Way

SPECIAL

Pope Praises Neocatechumenate's Missionary Zeal

Reflects on Meaning of Liturgy

By Salvatore Cernuzio

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that the Neocatechumenal Way is a "special gift that the Holy Spirit has given our time," and he lauded the members of the Catholic lay group for their commitment to the proclamation of the Risen Christ, at the cost of "abandoning personal and material safety, even leaving your own countries."

The Pope said this today to the crowds of members of the Neocatechumenal Way who packed Paul VI Hall. An official degree formally approving the celebrations of the Way was proclaimed, the culmination of roughly 15 years of careful study by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The audience also included the formal sending-out of 100 families -- with a total of 362 children -- and the priests who have answered Christ's call to go on mission, leaving everyday life to devote themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel.

The families are headed to eight destinations, six of them European and two American, which were marked out on a posterboard presented to the Holy Father: France (Alby, Nice, Bayonne, Toulouse, Strasbourg), Belgium (Antwerp), Slovenia (Ljubljana), Austria (Vienna), Estonia (Tallinn) and Great Britain (Manchester). In addition, Venezuela (Güria) and the United States (Lawrence, Cambridge and Brockton).

"New presences of the Church in the world, requested by the bishops," as Kiko Argüello, the founder of the Way, described them in his speech, in areas that are "difficult and secularized."

History

The meeting opened with an invocation to the Holy Spirit, followed by Bishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, reading the decree that was the culmination of the audience today.

Bishop Clemens retraced the steps that mark the history of the Way: from the approval of the statutes on May 11, 2008, to that of the Catechetical Directory "as a binding aid for the Neocatechumenal Way," on Dec. 26, 2010, up to today with the "green light" by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the "favorable opinion" of the Congregation for Divine Worship, to the celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory that "by their nature are not already in the liturgical books of the Church."

Argüello then took the floor, stressing the importance of the Kerygma, or the good news of the risen Christ that permeates the entire Neocatechumenal itinerary that is "all celebratory, based on the power of the tripod of the Word, Eucharist and community, pillars of the Christian life."

Viva!

Around 11:30 a.m., accompanied by the notes of the song "Mary Blessed Mary," Benedict XVI arrived, immediately met by applause and by the affectionate cry "Viva il Papa!" (Long live the Pope!)

After the presentations, Father Mario Pezzi proclaimed the Gospel of Matthew of the glorious resurrection of Christ, in response to which the Orchestra and Chorus of the Neocatechumenal Way performed two songs of the Symphony "El Sufrimiento de los Inocentes"("The Suffering of the Innocents").

"This year I have the joy to meet you and share with you this moment of sending out for the mission" began the Pontiff, addressing an affectionate greeting "to all the priests, seminarians, families, formators and members of the Neocatechumenal Way."

"Your presence today," he continued, "is a visible testimony of your joyful commitment to living the faith, in communion with the whole Church and with the Successor of Peter, and to be courageous heralds of the Gospel."

"Bringing Christ to the people and bringing people to Christ," the Pope said, "this is what breathes life into each work of evangelization," stressing that the Neocatechumenals carry this out "in a way that helps those who have already received baptism rediscover the beauty of the life of faith, the joy of being Christian."

The Holy Father encouraged members of the Way to continue this mission and "offer your original contribution to the cause of the Gospel."

Sunday Eucharist

With regard to the celebrations in the "Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way," which "are not strictly liturgical, but are part of the itinerary of growth in faith," the Pope, quoting Article 13 of the statutes, confirmed the possibility that members of the Way "may celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in small communities, after the first Vespers of Sunday in order to facilitate the rapprochement to the wealth of the sacramental life by people who have strayed from the Church, or have not received adequate training."

At the same time, the Pontiff reflected on the public character of the Holy Eucharist.

"The celebration in small communities, regulated by the liturgical books, which should be followed faithfully, and with the particular features approved in the Statutes of the Way, has the task of helping those who are undergoing the Neocatechumenal itinerary to receive the grace of being inserted into the saving mystery of Christ, which makes possible a Christian witness capable of assuming the traits of radicality," he said. "At the same time, the gradual growth in faith of the individual and of the small communities should promote their integration into the life of the larger ecclesial community, that finds in the liturgical celebration of the parish, in which and for which the Neocatechumenate is implemented (cf. Statutes, art. 6), its ordinary form. But even during the way it is important not to separate from the parish community, right in the celebration of the Eucharist which is the true place of the unity of all, where the Lord embraces us in the various states of our spiritual maturity and unites us in the one bread that makes us one body."

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On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34156?l=english

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1,000 Families on a Mission

Pontiff Sends Out 17 More Neocatechumenal Way Groups

By Salvatore Cernuzio

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- At an audience today with some 7,000 members of the Neocatechumenal Way, Benedict XVI sent another 17 groups for the "missio ad gentes" and the Catholic lay group received the news that the celebrations characteristic of the Way have received Vatican approval.

The 17 groups sent out today -- to live, for example, among the Aborigines in Australia, to Papua New Guinea and to the most secularized parts of Europe -- join hundreds of these communities in working toward the new evangelization around the globe.

These "missio ad gentes" teams are comprised of three or four families, who together with a priest, are sent to areas where a bishop has requested them.

Before the audience, ZENIT spoke with Kiko Argüello, who along with Carmen Hernández initiated the Way, asking him to comment on the event.

Argüello: One of the proofs of the validity of this itinerary to form adult Christians are the mission families. Currently there are nearly 1,000 families of the Neocatechumenal Way in mission in different parts of the world.

This missio ad gentes means a new presence of the Church.

There are many people today who are completely secularized and no longer go to church, they are not interested in the churches, but when they see a group of Christians who love each other, that interests them, they are impressed by how they relate to one another.

We have many experiences of people who have asked to be baptized after seeing how we relate among ourselves, how we love one another.

I must say that in Europe many people suffer from loneliness. This is a terrible reality, typical of modern cities: the number of people living alone, the quantity of people who are alcoholic, the huge number of suicides, divorces, abortions...

It's obvious that we need a new presence of the Church.

We answered the call of John Paul II, who in the symposium of the European bishops in 1985 said to the European bishops that the situation in Europe is very difficult, that Europe is headed toward apostasy, that the families are being destroyed.

Do not be afraid, said the Pope, on the contrary, we must nourish the hope that the Holy Spirit is already responding: we must return to the Cenacle, the first apostolic model when the Church lived in the houses and the people who came into contact with these communities were amazed, and wanted to become Christian.

This is what the Neocatechumenal Way is doing. Following the directions of John Paul II, we form Christian communities in even the most heathen environments, such as in Chemnitz, which was the model city of communist East Germany, where 98% of people are not baptized. The bishop of Chemnitz requested two missio ad gentes [teams], which have already resulted in two communities, with people who were not baptized. These people were surprised to see how a Christian community lives.

The missio ad gentes is a new presence of the Church, it is the answer for the new evangelization, it is the new evangelization in action.

The Pope is very happy to send 18 new missio ad gentes to Europe, in southern France to Toulon, Albi, Montpellier, Bayonne.

ZENIT: What do you think of the approval of the celebrations that mark the stages of Christian initiation brought forward by the Neocatechumenal Way?

Kiko: The recognition of the validity of this Christian initiation is a historic moment for us, it's what we were waiting for. After years of study and analysis by the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments, it has been approved.

In the recognition of validity, it says that the celebrations that mark the stages of growth in the itinerary of maturation of the new man are wonderful and are truly inspired, they help people convert and become Christian, they help them to grow in faith and unite themselves to Jesus Christ.

We are pleased and grateful to God for this recognition.

After so much suffering and hard work we are grateful to the Church, which officially recognizes the validity of this Christian initiation for the creation of a new man.

We insert the new man into a Christian community. It is our task to show what the pagans saw in antiquity, when they cried out, "Look how the Christians love one another."

In ancient times there were the same problems as there are today: people were alone and suffered from loneliness and despair. When a man falls prey to the devil, he no longer knows how to love and becomes confused.

St. Paul wrote that Christ died for man so that man might live no longer for himself. In this way, he explains that the man separated from God is condemned to suffer from his own selfishness.

We are very grateful to Benedict XVI and the Church for this act in which we see and confirm that the Church is Mother and Teacher.

[Translation by Peter Waymel]

* * *

The approval comes after 15 years of study by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, and concludes the path for the approval of the Neocatechumenal Way: In 2008 the Holy See approved the final version of the Statutes and in 2011 approved the doctrine contained in 13 volumes of the Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Today Benedict XVI sent out 17 missio ad gentes teams: 12 to Europe (Albi, Nice, Bayonne, Toulon, Strasbourg, Lyon, Antwerp, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Tallinn, Vienna, Manchester), four to America (three in Boston and one in Venezuela), and one in Africa, in Libreville (Gabon). In addition, other families for the missio ad gentes were also sent, already formed, to the Ukraine, among the Australian Aborigines, and to Papua New Guinea.

These teams are added to the other 40 that have already been sent all over the world by Benedict XVI in previous years.

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Founder's Thanksgiving

Kiko Argüello Shares Impressions of Papal Audience

By Salvatore Cernuzio

ROME, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Joy is still sparkling in Kiko Argüello's eyes a few moments after the Neocatechumenal Way founder leaves this morning's audience with Benedict XVI.

With good reason: After a decade and a half of study, the Vatican announced today that the celebrations used by the Way along the journey of Christian initiation have the Church's approval.

After speaking with Argüello shortly before the audience, ZENIT caught up with him again right afterward.

ZENIT: Kiko, let's start with a simple question: how did the meeting this morning go?

Argüello: Fantastic! It was really wonderful that the celebrations that mark all the stages of Christian gestation that the Way has created, have been confirmed.

We were waiting for this moment, and finally the Church has confirmed the Neocatechumenal Way as a Christian initiation, in its doctrine, liturgy and its stages. What is important, above all, is the fact that the Pope has reiterated that the communities can celebrate the Sunday Mass as a community.

It is a sociological fact of immense importance, which means that the small community is the salvation for the New Evangelization. The Eucharist, in fact, creates and forms the Christian community, it makes it stable, unites it.

ZENIT: And with regard to the missio ad gentes (the family groups sent on mission by the Pope)?

Argüello: The missio ad gentes is also a small community in the midst of persons who are completely pagan or far away from the Church. What we see is that these people are attracted to the "small community" represented by the mission families; they are surprised by the love they show to others and among one another. They agree to be catechized in their homes and become, thus, a small community themselves.

ZENIT: What richness does all this bring to the Church?

Argüello: We can say that we are writing a new page in history: the new evangelization, in the midst of an epochal crisis affecting all of society, called secularization. A lot of people, we don't know why, "harass" the churches; in some countries, especially European ones, they have arrived at the point of selling or closing them.

For this reason, I am happy and surprised when, with these missions ad gentes, in fact, there are people who say "thank you, because otherwise I'd never have entered a church" or give thanks for the "the love and acceptance" they breathe in the houses of these brothers who welcome them.

In fact, there are many people who come to catechesis, and who don't want to go away: eleven o'clock at night and they still haven't left. This happens because the people in our society feel very lonely ...

ZENIT: By now it's been 40 years that the Neocatechumenal Way has continued to bear fruit; just think of the large number of vocations. What do you think of these gifts that the Lord is giving the Way and above all to the Church?

Argüello: What do I think? ... that the Lord is very good to us. I really thank God, because although we had and we have many difficulties and sufferings, he has has never abandoned us, but always supported and sustained us. The meeting today is a testimony of that.

ZENIT: In what direction is the Way moving now?

Argüello: Toward the start-up of a new evangelization all over the world.

We are looking toward new horizons; for example, even the Orthodox Church has lately shown interest in our journey of faith.

Above all, I believe, however, that we must prepare for China, Vietnam, throughout Asia in short, and in fact we have several families ready to go on mission into the Eastern part of the world.

ZENIT: And besides that, five new seminaries have been created to prepare young people to leave for China?

Argüello: Exactly! We asked for 20,000 young people who feel called to become priests and evangelize in China, and 5,000 stood up.

Now these boys will be screened, trained, we have to see who will complete their studies and so on. In short, China, Asia!

ZENIT: Finally, Kiko, is there anything you would like to say to all those who are part of the Neocatechumenal Way, but also to all Christians?

Argüello: Yes, I want to express a simple wish for them: to find Christ and find, therefore, the true life that leads to eternal life. I hope that all can really meet with Jesus Christ, because he gives you his nature and his eternal life and changes your existence completely, he helps you and prepares you.

[Translation by Peter Waymel]

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Benedict XVI Encourages Seminarians to Study Hard

Notes Faith-Reason Synthesis Unique to Christianity

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today told those preparing for the priesthood that their path to holiness also includes a commitment to their studies.

The Pope said this today in an address to the community from one of the Diocese of Rome seminaries, the Almo Collegio Capranica, which he received in audience for the feast of St. Agnes, patron of the college.

He said that priestly formation requires integrity and asceticism, as well as "heroic constancy and fidelity."

"Deep down there should be a solid spiritual life animated by an intense relationship with God on the personal and community level, with particular care shown in liturgical celebrations and the frequenting of the sacraments," the Holy Father encouraged. "The priestly life requires a growing desire for holiness, a clear sensus Ecclesiae and an openness to a fraternity without exclusions or partiality."

And he said that the priest's path to holiness also includes a decision to develop his intelligence and cultural knowledge, the "fruit of passionate and constant study."

"Faith has its own intellectual and rational dimension that is essential," the Pontiff explained. "For a seminarian and a young priest still struggling with academic study, it means assimilating the synthesis between faith and reason that is peculiar to Christianity. The Word of God became flesh, and the priest, the true priest of the Incarnate Word, must become more transparent, luminous and profound, to the eternal Word which is given to us. He who is mature also in this, his global cultural training, can be a more effective educator and promoter of that worship 'in spirit and truth' of which Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman."

Universal

Benedict XVI also encouraged the seminarians to steep themselves in the experience of the Church's universality.

"Always have a deep sense of history and tradition of the Church," he invited them. "Being in Rome is a gift which should make you especially sensitive to the depth of the Catholic tradition. You touch it with your hands already in the history of the building that houses you. In addition, you live these years of training in a special closeness with the Successor of Peter, which enables you to perceive with particular clarity the size of the universal Church and the desire that the Gospel may reach all peoples. Here you have the opportunity to broaden your horizons with experiences of internationality; here, above all, you breathe Catholicism.

"Take advantage of what is offered, for future service to the Diocese of Rome, or your dioceses of origin! By friendship, which springs from living together, learn about the different situations of the nations and Churches around the world and learn to form in yourselves a Catholic view. Prepare yourselves to be close to every person you meet, not allowing any culture to be a barrier to the Word of life, which you proclaim also with your life."

The Pope concluded by reminding the seminarians that "the Church expects much from the young priests in the work of evangelization and new evangelization."

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On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34158?l=english

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ANALYSIS

Death Penalty on Decline in United States

Report Shows Historic Low

By Father John Flynn, LC

ROME, JAN. 20, 2011 (Zenit.org).- For the first time since capital punishment was reintroduced in the United States in 1976 the annual number of new death sentences fell below 100 last year. Shortly before the end of the year the Death Penalty Information Center released "The Death Penalty in 2011: Year End Report."

New death sentences dropped to 78 in 2011. This compares with the high point in 1996, which saw 315 capital punishment sentences. The decline started in the late 90s, which had seen an average of about 300 annual sentences. Since then the number has steadily dropped.

The number of executions also declined, down to 43, three fewer than the previous year.

Only 13 states carried out executions in 2011, 74% of which were in the South, the report pointed out. Only eight states, however, carried out more than one execution. As usual Texas was the state with most executions, with 13. Even so the report pointed out that this number is a 46% decrease from 2009, when there were 24 executions, and also a drop from 2010, when there were 17 executions.

Since 1976 out of the overall number of 1,277 executions Texas has accounted for no less than 477, which is 37% of the total. In 2011, nevertheless, there were only eight new death sentences.

In January, the Illinois legislature voted to repeal the death penalty. In its place is the option of a sentence for life without parole. This made Illinois the fourth state in as many years to abolish capital punishment.

One of the reasons behind the change in Illinois was the cost of the death sentence. A state commission found that $100 million had been spent on assisting counties with death penalty prosecutions over the past seven years.

"The evidence presented to me by former prosecutors and judges with decades of experience in the criminal justice system has convinced me that it is impossible to devise a system that is consistent, that is free of discrimination on the basis of race, geography or economic circumstance, and that always gets it right," said Governor Pat Quinn as he signed the bill abolishing the death penalty.

This brings down to 34 the number of states that have the death penalty.

As well, in Oregon in November, Governor John Kitzhaber halted a pending execution and declared that no additional executions would occur during his tenure.

Among other news at the state level, in Ohio, the Chief Judge of the state's Supreme Court convened a 21-person commission to study the problems with the death penalty. Meanwhile, the report said that in Pennsylvania a justice of the Supreme Court described the appellate work being done in many capital cases as marked by "disarray and inconsistencies" and called "for immediate reform."

Opinion

Support for the death penalty also continued to decline. According to the report an annual Gallup Poll on the death penalty revealed that last year only 61% of people were in favor of the death penalty, the lowest level recorded in recent decades.

The report also observed that the application of death penalty sentences continues to be very arbitrary. In 1972 the Supreme Court stopped the use of the death penalty because it considered it was being applied in an unpredictable and arbitrary way.

Following changes to the laws in some states the Supreme Court allowed the use of the death penalty in 1976. Nonetheless, according to the Death Penalty Information Center death sentences continue to be applied in a very inconsistent fashion.

This accusation was reinforced by a study recently carried out by Professor John Donohue of Stanford Law School. He examined the death penalty sentences handed out from 1973 to 2007 in the state of Connecticut.

In its summary of his findings on Jan. 12 the Death Penalty Information Center reported that Donohue concluded that "the state's record of handling death-eligible cases represents a chaotic and unsound criminal justice policy that serves neither deterrence nor retribution."

Donohue found that "arbitrariness and discrimination are defining features of the state's capital punishment regime."

According to his study there is no meaningful difference between death-eligible murders in which prosecutors pursue the death penalty and those in which prosecutors do not.

Racial factors also heavily influence the likelihood of receiving a death sentence. Defendants who belong to a racial minority that commit death-eligible murders of white victims are six times more likely to receive a death sentence as minority defendants who commit murders of minorities, Donohue found.

Meanwhile, early news in 2012 suggests that the trend away from the death penalty will continue. On Monday, the Death Penalty Information Center reported that the Pennsylvania Senate recently passed a resolution to initiate a study of the death penalty. It will look at issues such as fairness, equality and costs of capital punishment.

Only three people have been executed since Pennsylvania reinstated the death penalty in 1978, but there are more than 200 prisoners on death row.

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WORLD FEATURES

US Bishops Decry Ruling on Abortifacients in Health Plans

Say Obama Decision Is 'Literally Unconscionable'

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 20, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. episcopal conference says that a decision made by Barack Obama today is effectively a message that "we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences."

This was Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan's response to a decision to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today's announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

"In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences," said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement.

The cardinal-designate continued, "To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."

The Health and Human Services (HHS) rule requires that sterilization and contraception -- including controversial abortifacients -- be included among "preventive services" coverage in almost every health care plan available to Americans.
"The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs," added Cardinal-designate Dolan.

At issue, the U.S. bishops and other religious leaders insist, is the survival of a cornerstone freedom that ensures respect for the conscience of Catholics and all other Americans.

"This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights," said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. "I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all."

Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, voiced disappointment with the decision. Catholic hospitals serve one out of six people who seek hospital care annually.

"This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection," Sister Keehan said.

Cardinal-designate Dolan urged that the HHS mandate be overturned.

"The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand," he said. "The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation. We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision."

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Where God Weeps

India: the Laity Must Be Uplifted

Bishop From Bihar State Speaks on the Priority of Education

ROME, JAN. 20, 2011 (Zenit.org).- India is the world's largest democracy and second most populous country, with a population estimated at 1.21 billion. The country is highly diverse with many languages, cultures, and religions although the population is still influenced by the Hindu caste system. Most converts to Christianity are dalits -- the very lowest caste in Indian society, historically referred to as "untouchables."

Marie-Pauline Meyer for Where God Weeps in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need spoke with Bishop Sebastian Kallupura of the Buxar Diocese in northern India, about the situation of the Church in the nation.

Q: You are a bishop of the Diocese of Buxar. Where is this diocese?

Bishop Kallupura: India is a large country, which is divided into 25 states. One of the largest states in the north is Bihar. We have about 25,000 Catholics and maybe another 20,000 from other Christian groups. So we are a microscopic minority in fact. It is a peaceful area. The Hindus are strong in their beliefs and the people have a very mild disposition. Even their language which is called Bhojpuri -- the official language is of course Hindi -- sounds very musical, like the Italian language. The people are generally very affectionate and there is no conflict.

Q: India still has a caste system. Do the Christians in your diocese belong to a caste?

Bishop Kallupura: Once they become Christians of course they no longer belong to a caste. The local population, prior to embracing Christianity, usually belong to a caste and often those in the lowest rung, the so-called dalits most respond to our faith. They are socially, economically, educationally quite backward. We bring them the message of Christ and we help them in any way we can educationally, socially, and economically through our social outreach programs. The dalits respond and willingly embrace our faith.

Q: Can you explain the caste system?

Bishop Kallupura: In the Hindu religion, members are divided into different groups or castes. People are divided according to trade in a way. The highest are the Brahman, the priestly class who are in the temple service. The warrior class who engaged in warfare especially in the olden days is called the Kshatriyas. Another group belongs to the Vaishya caste, including the businessmen or industrialists of today. Then there are the Shudra, the artisans and agriculturalists, and finally the dalit -- the lowest rung in the caste system. Even within each of these castes, there are sub castes which make it difficult for individuals to get out of this system. Those who belong to the highest caste, however, do not shed their caste affiliation because of the benefits. Those in the lowest rung, the dalits, can achieve some upward mobility socially through education but they still carry the stigma of their caste and so they often go to the urban areas where, through their education, it allows them to work and maintain some degree of anonymity.

Q: You do not belong to a caste. Does this fact influence, for example, your relations with the government?

Bishop Kallupura: I do not belong to a caste. The Indian Constitution does not recognize the caste system and it is illegal to discriminate based on caste affiliation; in reality however, people do. I do not have a problem with the government; neither do I have a problem with the people. In the mission areas, people think that we Christians belong to a caste, the Christian caste. Some people find it difficult to think of a society without a caste system. That is their mindset. Once the dalits embrace Christianity, they shed their Hindu and caste affiliation officially, constitutionally and of course the Church does not recognize caste affiliations.

Q: The Church undertakes education for the poor; does this mean that there is no universal education especially for those among the lowest members of society?

Bishop Kallupura: That is the problem. There is nobody to educate these people, especially the dalits, for whom we are working. There are government schools, but they are there in name only; teachers do not show up and children don't bother showing up either. The wealthier people are able to send their children somewhere else to be educated. But the poor people are not educated. Nobody cares for them. So this is where we missionaries go. We have our schools. The government does not support many of these schools yet they recognize these schools.

Q: Is this one of your projects as a bishop?

Bishop Kallupura: This is one of my priorities. Educationally speaking our people are very backward, so I want to uplift them for, unless the laity is uplifted, the Church cannot be the true Church. The laity has to be educated and have to develop in life. My priority is to uplift them, educate the youth, and educate the children as people with dignity.

Q: You have so much energy to do this?

Bishop Kallupura: I have my faith in Jesus and naturally, it is he who will help me. He is the one who gives me the strength and in any case it is not on my own volition that I do this. He called me to this place. He called me and ordained me to be the bishop. He has asked me to do this job, and I do this with his help.

Q: What is your Episcopal motto?

Bishop Kallupura: My motto is "Honor to all." It is in the Bible when St. Peter asks people to honor everybody. So "Honor to all" means that I want to build a diocese where everybody is honored, not only the bishop, priests and religious but everyone; the lay people and people of other faiths because we are all human beings.

Q: What then is the most important thing for you when you meet people? What is the first thing you say?

Bishop Kallupura: Immediately I say "Jesu" which means praise be Jesus Christ. If I meet Hindus or others who do not share our belief, I greet them with "Pranam," which is another way of greeting people and we become friends; then we start a conversation. We do not start with religion, but eventually we get there. Then they find out that I am a priest and a bishop. They will ask why I am a priest. Then I share that I have had a God experience.

Q: Can you share with us this God experience?

Bishop Kallupura: I have a tremendous prayer experience. The moment I sit in prayer I know that Jesus is with me filling me with grace and life. Somehow, the Lord listens to my prayers and they are answered. I pray for others and myself and he listens especially when I pray for others. That is the kind of experience; I am with the Lord.

Q: What do you pray for your diocese?

Bishop Kallupura: My diocese is very new and we do not have any infrastructure. I am lacking in personnel. I need priests, and lay people. We are also financially lacking. We do not have anything. So I have to go around begging from the people. I see one good thing, however, in that everybody's very accommodating. We have a small church and the people sleep in the church. There is also a school and they sleep in the veranda by putting the benches together. This is how we are.

* * *

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On the Net:

For more information: www.WhereGodWeeps.org

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INTERVIEW

Cardinal-designate O'Brien on Defending Freedom

Former Baltimore Archbishop Comments on 'Ad Limina' Visit

By Ann Schneible

ROME, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Christians must remain ever vigilant in confronting movements that seek to infringe upon religious freedom.

This was the reminder voiced by Cardinal-designate Edwin O'Brien when he spoke to ZENIT today about Benedict XVI's address Thursday to U.S. bishops on their "ad limina" visit.

The archbishop of Baltimore from 2007 till last year, and now the Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Cardinal O'Brien also served for a decade as the archbishop for the Military Services.

The Holy Father announced Jan. 6 that the 72-year-old prelate will be made a cardinal next month.

ZENIT: What have been your impressions of this ad limina visit, especially in light of the upcoming consistory in which you will be created Cardinal?

Cardinal-designate O'Brien: Well, I don't see much connection, but I'm certainly taking an extra interest in things Roman, since I will be living here soon, as soon as my successor is installed -- and I hope that's very soon, but we've had no word on that yet. I will be moving permanently here to Rome, and the visits to these dicasteries have given me some good insight, some good orientation, and kind of a sense of expectation for what awaits me here.

ZENIT: The Holy Father in his discourse to the bishops spoke about the issue of religious freedom. Throughout the world Christians have been facing persecution, both through the secularization of the West and also with violent persecution in other places. What does it mean for you to be created a cardinal at this point in Church history?

Cardinal-designate O'Brien: Aside from being created a cardinal, I think we in the United States have always been concerned about persecution and intolerance around the world. I don't think we ever expected it to come in the form it is coming in our own country, where the government is impinging on some very good work we are trying to do, to force on us values that are foreign to the Judeo-Christian heritage.

The highlight of this ad limina visit has been the visit with the Holy Father. I don't think any of us expected as magnificent an allocution as we heard yesterday. He was right on, and made the proper distinctions and it applies perfectly to our country. I hope that we can make best use of that to help our fellow Americans realize that slowly but surely, "Big Brother" is closing in on religious communities such as ours and the good work we're trying to do.

ZENIT: Could you speak a little more about this problem of the government infringing on religious freedom, such as regards abortion and same-sex marriage. For instance in Baltimore, there was the instance of the mayor speaking in favor of same-sex marriage.

Cardinal-designate O'Brien: In Baltimore, a couple of years ago, we had a novel requirement which would never have been dreamed of, where our pregnancy counseling centers were told by law, passed by the city council, that they had to put a sign up saying: "We do not provide birth-control or abortion services." Why did we have to do that? That was totally arbitrary on their part, and an attempt to put us out of business in favor of Planned Parenthood. The courts so far have ruled in our favor on this.

[Moreover,] if we imitate other states that have passed legislation regarding same-sex marriage, the next step will be that we have to teach this as appropriate in all our schools, that every one of our institutions has to accept the principle, and the reality in their communities and wherever they work. The next step will be as it is in European countries: if you speak openly about the immorality of same-sex marriage, you're open to prosecution. It's a slippery slope, and it's certainly going to happen.

The basic thing is, that to compare this to discrimination by race, discrimination by color -- that's pigmentation, that's real discrimination. But we're talking about the basic fundamental institution of marriage from the very beginning, from Scriptures and through civilized nations has [always] been between a man and a woman open to children. When we try out of sympathy or emotion to change that, it's a huge and dangerous initiative, and one that is dangerous for our future.

ZENIT: As the Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, could you speak about the conflicts that are going on in the Holy Land, and how the Church in Rome can be present to the Christians there?

Cardinal-designate O'Brien: My responsibility will be to support the Christian institutions in the Holy Land, primarily -- but not exclusively -- as they relate to the patriarch of Jerusalem. And to encourage members of the order to take interest in what's going on there: [such as] the diminishing number of Christians, and the many obligations we have in schools and hospitals, seminaries, the obligations we've taken on to support these Christian institutions, and many Catholic institutions, and the people living there. [With] so few people living there, help has to come from outside. That is the principle goal that I will have: to educate, to encourage members of the order to take greater interest -- not only by their donations, and by their participation in the activities of the order, but certainly by pilgrimage.

Our main emphasis is the personal sanctity of every member of the order. If we accomplish that -- and have that especially [present] in this upcoming Year of Faith -- and work on the new evangelization with the various lieutenancies and members of our order, I think the rest will fall into place. Our attention and our help to the institutions in the Holy Land and our patriarch there will follow pretty quickly. We're doing a lot already, but throughout the Church, this new evangelization reminds us that we never are where we should be. There's always more we can do, and we should not presume without grace. And grace is available to us, and I think there will be many graces during this Year of Faith.

ZENIT: You were the archbishop of the Military Services. What is the state of the military chaplaincy, and how can this new evangelization be brought to the military?

Cardinal-designate O'Brien: From 1997-2007 I was the archbishop for the military services, which includes 1.5 million Catholics in the armed forces of the United States and their families, and veterans' hospitals, over 170 of them. Archbishop Broglio is now the military ordinary, and he's doing a wonderful job. Our biggest problem is bringing the faith to our brave and generous men and women of our armed forces and their families. And without priests we can't do that adequately. We should have more than 800 priests serving in all the branches, and we're well below 300 right now. And it's still diminishing.

There are some good signs of vocations; Archbishop Broglio has done wonderful work, and I think there are over 30 seminarians now studying. They will belong to the various dioceses of the country, but after three years of ordination they will join the military. That's a first, it's a huge step forward. And I hope that, as a result of the experiences that some of our men have had in combat, and in the armed forces, the sense of generosity, of self-sacrifice, of discipline, there are ample signs that vocations are coming as a result of the reality of sin and hardship and suffering that's taken place, and the importance of the Church to meet those needs. I think that's what our young people are going to respond to when it comes to vocations.

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DOCUMENTS

Papal Address to Seminary of Diocese of Rome

"Faith Has Its Own Intellectual and Rational Dimension That Is Essential"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today to the community from a seminary of the Diocese of Rome, the Almo Collegio Capranica, for the feast of St. Agnes, patron of the college.

* * *

Your Eminence,
Your Excellency, Dear Brothers!

It is always a joy for me to meet the community of the Almo Collegio Capranica, which for over five centuries has been one of the seminaries of the Diocese of Rome. I greet you all with affection, and of course in particular Cardinal Martino and the rector, Msgr. Ermenegildo Manicardi. And I thank your Eminence for the kind words. On the occasion of the feast of St. Agnes, patroness of the College, I would like to offer some reflections that her figure suggest to me.

St. Agnes is one of the famous Roman maidens, who illustrated the genuine beauty of faith in Christ and friendship with Him. Her dual status as Virgin and Martyr reflect the fullness of holiness's dimensions. This is a fulness of holiness that is requested also of you by your Christian faith and the special priestly vocation with which the Lord has called you and binds you to Him. Martyrdom, for St Agnes, meant the generous and free acceptance of giving her own young life, in its entirety and without reservation, that the Gospel might be preached as truth and beauty that illuminate life. In the martyrdom of Agnes, received courageously in the stadium of Domitian, there shines forever the beauty of belonging to Christ without hesitation, relying on Him. Even today, for anyone who steps into Piazza Navona, the effigy of the saint from atop the gable of the church of St. Agnes in Agony, reminds him that our city is based also on the friendship with Christ and witness to his Gospel, of many of its sons and daughters. Their generous surrender to Him and to the good of their brothers is a primary component of the spiritual physiognomy of Rome.

In martyrdom, Agnes also seals the other crucial element of her life, virginity for Christ and for the Church. The total gift of martyrdom is prepared, in fact, by the conscious, free and mature choice of virginity, a witness to the will to belong totally to Christ. If martyrdom is a final heroic act, virginity is the result of a long friendship with Jesus that has matured in the constant hearing of His Word, in the dialogue of prayer, in the Eucharistic encounter. Agnes, still young, learned that being a disciple of the Lord means loving Him by putting all her life at His disposal. This dual qualification -- Virgin and Martyr -- calls to mind in our reflection that a credible witness of the faith must be a person who lives for Christ, with Christ and in Christ, transforming their lives according to the higher needs of Grace.

The formation of the priest, too, requires integrity, completeness, ascetic exercise, heroic constancy and fidelity in all the aspects that constitute it; deep down there should be a solid spiritual life animated by an intense relationship with God on the personal and community level, with particular care shown in liturgical celebrations and the frequenting of the Sacraments. The priestly life requires a growing desire for holiness, a clear sensus Ecclesiae and an openness to a fraternity without exclusions or partiality. The path of holiness of the priest forms part also of his choice to develop, with the help of God, his intelligence and his own commitment, a real strong personal culture, fruit of passionate and constant study. Faith has its own intellectual and rational dimension that is essential. For a seminarian and a young priest still struggling with academic study, it means assimilating the synthesis between faith and reason that is peculiar to Christianity. The Word of God became flesh, and the priest, the true priest of the Incarnate Word, must become more transparent, luminous and profound, to the eternal Word which is given to us. He who is mature also in this, his global cultural training, can be a more effective educator and promoter of that worship "in spirit and truth" of which Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:23). Such adoration, which is formed by listening to the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to become, especially in the Liturgy, the "rationabile obsequium" of which the Apostle Paul speaks, a cult in which the man himself in his totality as a being endowed with reason, becomes adoration, glorification of the living God, and that can be achieved not by conforming to this world but being transformed by Christ, renewing the way we think, to discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2).

Dear students of the Capranica College, your commitment to the path of holiness, also with a solid cultural background, is the original intention of this institution, founded 555 years ago by Cardinal Domenico Capranica. Always have a deep sense of history and tradition of the Church! Being in Rome is a gift which should make you especially sensitive to the depth of the Catholic tradition. You touch it with your hands already in the history of the building that houses you. In addition, you live these years of training in a special closeness with the Successor of Peter, which enables you to perceive with particular clarity the size of the universal Church and the desire that the Gospel may reach all peoples. Here you have the opportunity to broaden your horizons with experiences of internationality; here, above all, you breathe Catholicism. Take advantage of what is offered, for future service to the Diocese of Rome, or your dioceses of origin! By friendship, which springs from living together, learn about the different situations of the nations and Churches around the world and learn to form in yourselves a Catholic view. Prepare yourselves to be close to every person you meet, not allowing any culture to be a barrier to the Word of life, which you proclaim also with your life.

Dear friends, the Church expects much from the young priests in the work of evangelization and new evangelization. I encourage you so that in the daily fatigue, rooted in the beauty of authentic tradition, deeply united to Christ, you are able to bring it into your communities with truth and joy. With the intercession of Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, and Mary Most Holy, Star of the Evangelization, may your commitment today contribute to the fruitfulness of your ministry. I cordially impart to you and your loved ones my Apostolic Blessing. Thank you.

[Translation by Peter Waymel]

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Pope's Address to Neocatechumenal Way

"The Church Has Recognized in the Way a Special Gift That the Holy Spirit Has Given Our Time"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today to members of the Neocatechumenal Way.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters,

This year I have the joy to meet you and share with you this moment of sending out for the mission. A special greeting to Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández and Father Mario Pezzi, and an affectionate greeting to you all: priests, seminarians, families, formators and members of the Neocatechumenal Way. Your presence today is a visible testimony of your joyful commitment to living the faith, in communion with the whole Church and with the Successor of Peter, and to be courageous heralds of the Gospel.

In the passage we heard from St. Matthew, the apostles received a clear mandate from Jesus: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19). At first they doubted, in their hearts there was still uncertainty, wonder before the event of the Resurrection. And it is Jesus himself, the Risen one -- the Evangelist underlines -- who draws close to them, makes his presence felt, sends them to teach all that he has communicated to them, giving a certainty that accompanies every preacher of Christ: "And behold I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). They are words that resonate strongly in your hearts. You have sung Resurrexit, expressing faith in the Living One, the One who, in a supreme act of love has conquered sin and death and gives to man, to us, the warmth of the love of God, the hope of being saved, a future of eternity.

In these decades of life of the Way, one of your strong commitments has been to proclaim the Risen Christ, responding with generosity to his words, often abandoning personal and material safety, even leaving your own countries, facing new and not always easy situations. Bringing Christ to the people and bringing people to Christ: this is what breathes life into each work of evangelization. You do it in a way that helps those who have already received the baptism of faith discover the beauty of the life of faith, the joy of being Christians. The "following of Christ" requires the personal adventure of looking for him, of going with him, and always involves going out of the closed-ness of one's ego, breaking down the individualism that often characterizes the society of our time, to replace selfishness with the community of the new man in Jesus Christ. And this happens in a deep personal relationship with him, in listening to his word, in walking the path that he has shown us, but it also happens inseparably with believing with his Church, with the saints, in whom one always discovers again and again the true face of the Bride of Christ.

It is a commitment -- we know -- that is not always easy. Sometimes you are present in places where there is need for a first proclamation of the Gospel, the mission ad gentes; often, however, in areas that, despite having known Christ, have become indifferent to faith: secularism has eclipsed the sense of God there, and eclipsed Christian values. Here, your commitment and your testimony is like yeast that, with patience, in time, with sensus Ecclesiae, causes the dough to rise. The Church has recognized in the Way a special gift that the Holy Spirit has given our time, and the approval of the Statutes and of the "Catechetical Directory" are a sign of this. I encourage you to offer your original contribution to the cause of the Gospel. In your valuable work, seek always a deep communion with the Apostolic See and with the Pastors of particular Churches, to which you belong: the unity and harmony of the body of the Church are an important witness to Christ and his Gospel in the world we live in.

Dear families, the Church thanks you; it needs you for the new evangelization. The family is an important cell for the ecclesial community, where one is formed in human and Christian life. With great joy I see your children, many children who look to you, dear parents, to your example. One hundred families are leaving for 12 missions ad gentes. I invite you not to be afraid: he who carries the Gospel is never alone. I greet with affection the priests and seminarians: love Christ and the Church, communicate the joy of having met him and the beauty of having given Him everything. I also greet the itinerants, directors and all the communities of the Way. Continue to be generous with the Lord: He will sustain you with his consolation!

A while ago I was reading the decree with which the celebrations which are in the "Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way" are approved; celebrations which are not strictly liturgical, but are part of the itinerary of growth in faith. It is another element that shows you how the Church accompanies you with a patient discernment that includes your richness, but also looks to the communion and harmony of the whole Corpus Ecclesiae.

This gives me the opportunity to offer a brief thought on the value of the liturgy. The Second Vatican Council defines it as the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body the Church (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). At first glance this might seem strange, because it seems that the work of Christ refers to the historical redemptive action of Jesus, his Passion, Death and Resurrection. In what sense, then, is the liturgy the work of Christ? The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus are not only historical events; they reach into and penetrate history, but also transcend it and are always present in the heart of Christ. In the liturgical action of the Church there is the active presence of the Risen Christ who makes present and effective for us today the same Paschal Mystery; it draws us into this act of gift of Self that in his heart is always present, and causes us to participate in this presence of the Paschal Mystery. This work of the Lord Jesus, who is the real content of the Liturgy, the entering into the presence of the Paschal Mystery, is also the work of the Church, which, as his body, is a single entity with Christ -- Totus Christus caput et corpus -- says St. Augustine. In the celebration of the sacraments, Christ immerses us in the Paschal Mystery for us to pass from death to life, from sin to new life in Christ.

This applies most especially for the celebration of the Eucharist, which, being the summit of Christian life, is also the cornerstone of its rediscovery, to which the Neocatechumenate tends. As your Statutes read, "The Eucharist is essential to the Neocatechumenate, as a post-baptismal catechumenate, lived in small communities" (art. 13 §1). Precisely in order to promote the rapprochement to the wealth of the sacramental life by people who have strayed from the Church, or have not received adequate training, the Neocatechumenals may celebrate the Eucharist in small communities, after the first Vespers of Sunday, according to the provisions of the diocesan bishop (cf. Statutes, art. 13 §2). But every Eucharistic celebration is an action of the one Christ together with his one Church and therefore essentially open to all those who belong to this Church. This public character of the Holy Eucharist is expressed in the fact that every celebration of Holy Mass is ultimately directed by the Bishop as a member of the Episcopal College, responsible for a particular local church (cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution. Lumen Gentium, 26). The celebration in small communities, regulated by the liturgical books, which should be followed faithfully, and with the particular features approved in the Statutes of the Way, has the task of helping those who are undergoing the Neocatechumenal itinerary to receive the grace of being inserted into the saving mystery of Christ, which makes possible a Christian witness capable of assuming the traits of radicality. At the same time, the gradual growth in faith of the individual and of the small communities should promote their integration into the life of the larger ecclesial community, that finds in the liturgical celebration of the parish, in which and for which the Neocatechumenate is implemented (cf. Statutes, art. 6), its ordinary form. But even during the way it is important not to separate from the parish community, right in the celebration of the Eucharist which is the true place of the unity of all, where the Lord embraces us in the various states of our spiritual maturity and unites us in the one bread that makes us one body (cf. 1 Corinthian 10:16f).

Courage! The Lord does not fail to accompany you and I assure you of my prayers and I thank you for the many signs of closeness. I also ask you to remember me, too, in your prayers. May the Holy Virgin Mary with her maternal gaze assist you and may my Apostolic Blessing sustain you, which I extend to all the members of the Way. Thank you!

[Translation by Peter Waymel]

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[ZE120119] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 19, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope Backs US Bishops' Concern About Religious Freedom

WORLD FEATURES

The Family Presented as Antidote to Economic Crisis
Vatican Financial Expert Indicates Root of Economic Crisis

ROME NOTES

A City's Soul in the Balance

DOCUMENTS

Papal Address to Ecumenical Group From Finland
Benedict XVI's Address to US Bishops on 'Ad Limina' Visit

VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope Backs US Bishops' Concern About Religious Freedom

Calls for 'Articulate and Well-Formed' Laity Ready to Engage Culture

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today joined his voice to that of the US bishops and warned of "certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion."

The Pope spoke with a group of bishops from Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas today, telling them that one of the most memorable elements of his 2008 trip to the United States was "the opportunity it afforded me to reflect on America's historical experience of religious freedom, and specifically the relationship between religion and culture."

"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing," he said. "In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such."

The Holy Father said that the Church in the U.S. "is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering."

"To the extent that some current cultural trends contain elements that would curtail the proclamation of these truths, whether constricting it within the limits of a merely scientific rationality, or suppressing it in the name of political power or majority rule, they represent a threat not just to Christian faith, but also to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, our relationship to God."

The Pontiff referred to Blessed John Paul II's vision, saying that a culture that attempts to "suppress the dimension of ultimate mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth" "inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey [...] to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society."

Faith and reason

Benedict XVI said with the Church's long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, it has a "critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth."

"Our tradition does not speak from blind faith, but from a rational perspective which links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning," he clarified. "The Church's defense of a moral reasoning based on the natural law is grounded on her conviction that this law is not a threat to our freedom, but rather a 'language' which enables us to understand ourselves and the truth of our being, and so to shape a more just and humane world. She thus proposes her moral teaching as a message not of constraint but of liberation, and as the basis for building a secure future."

Benedict XVI explained, thus, that the Church's witness "is of its nature public: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation."

Serious threats

The Bishop of Rome said it is "imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church's public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres."

"Of particular concern," he continued, "are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion."

The Pontiff noted concerns about the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices; and a tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

"Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church's participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society," he said. "The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level."

Catholic politicians

Benedict XVI lauded the bishops' "efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God's gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights."

"Respect for the just autonomy of the secular sphere must also take into consideration the truth that there is no realm of worldly affairs which can be withdrawn from the Creator and his dominion," he reminded. "There can be no doubt that a more consistent witness on the part of America's Catholics to their deepest convictions would make a major contribution to the renewal of society as a whole."

New generation

The Holy Father stated that anyone who looks realistically at the issues he described will see "the genuine difficulties which the Church encounters at the present moment."

"Yet," he continued, "in faith we can take heart from the growing awareness of the need to preserve a civil order clearly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as from the promise offered by a new generation of Catholics whose experience and convictions will have a decisive role in renewing the Church's presence and witness in American society. The hope which these 'signs of the times' give us is itself a reason to renew our efforts to mobilize the intellectual and moral resources of the entire Catholic community in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34148?l=english

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WORLD FEATURES

The Family Presented as Antidote to Economic Crisis

Meeting at Italian Parliament Considers Prospects for Development

By Salvatore Cernuzio

ROME, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- A rabbi who spoke of the family, an economist who spoke of morality, a priest who spoke of conjugal love.

All this took place during the meeting "The Family as an Engine of Economic Growth: Values and Prospects," which took place Tuesday afternoon in the Regina Room of the lower house of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies.

The meeting, organized by AISES, the International Academy for Economic and Social Development, examined what is one of the most debated topics in this new year: the family. The symposium was introduced by Maurizio Lupi, vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, who described the family as the "first social shock absorber of the economic crisis."

"The family must become not an element but the element of economic development, and on this we have found more agreement than opposition," said Lupi. This is reflected in the recent government budget package that for the first time includes an increase in exemptions for families.

"Judaism and Christianity are the only two religions that put the person, the family and children at the center," said the director of ZENIT, Antonio Gaspari, moderator of the symposium, before introducing Valerio De Luca, president of AISES.

"A united family leads to a more cohesive and supportive society and the economy and politics must protect this fundamental cell," De Luca said.

"In face of the crisis that breaks up the family, what role do we entrust to the man/woman, parents/children relationship," wondered the president of AISES, adding that "children, who are the real hope for the future, are now seen only as a threat and limitation of the present. This leads persons to favor abortion, sterilization, in vitro fertilization and all those other techniques that render him an experiment of himself and impoverish life."

"[O]openness to life is the principal way for the development of a more human and cohesive society," concluded De Luca.

Edith Arbib Anav, the AISES director of interreligious dialogue, referred to an "individualism" which has made us entrust to others the services that before were useful for the family and the needs of the community, limiting us to a "cold coordination that leads to a not very lasting economic development."

Failure

Riccardo Di Segni, chief rabbi of the Jewish community of Rome, described the family as a "failed institution," given what is presented in the first pages of the Bible.

"It is a paradox, but right from the Book of Genesis we are shown negative family situations: Cain and Abel, Joseph sold by his brothers; Esau and Jacob, and so on. This shows, however, that the family is the place of life, where mistakes are made, there are errors on the part of parents, but without it one cannot live," he said.

He continued on, addressing the current family crisis, which according to Di Segni, in reality is nothing other than "transformation" of a "system that from the start was based on the family" to another "modern" system according to which "the patriarchal family has become the mononuclear family; the rate of feminine fertility has been reduced to 1.3%; women give birth after 30 years of age and there are no longer marriages, but in the best of cases cohabitation."

A crisis of the family that has led to an economic crisis, hence, it is an economic crisis that "has put the couple and conjugal love itself under pressure," observed Monsignor Lorenzo Leuzzi, chaplain of the Chamber of Deputies.

"Economic law has taken the upper hand over the whole of the life of society and has become its 'soul,' neglecting its identity of 'body,' of something, that is, instrumental."

"If they wish to give back to the economy its true role, if they wish to overcome the idea that society does not grow just by producing more, we must recover conjugal love, the first community where people learn not only to produce, but to build," said Monsignor Leuzzi in conclusion to the conference.

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Vatican Financial Expert Indicates Root of Economic Crisis

Says Family Is the Solution

By Salvatore Cernuzio

ROME, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The decline in births, from the 70s to our days, is what has led us to the present situation of economic crisis.

This was the affirmation made at a symposium on the family held at the Italian Parliament, which included a presentation from Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of IOR, the Italian initials for the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, often referred to as the Vatican's Bank.

"If the six of us speakers here today were the government, we would have resolved the economic problem immediately, because we would know where to point: the family," Tedeschi exclaimed.

Then, he outlined what he termed the five No's, illustrating the negative effects that come about when "births are interrupted and the family and children are ignored in the Western world."

No Growth of the Economy: "In the last 30 years children were not born, and the number of inhabitants that we had in Italy in 1980 has remained unchanged; hence how can the GDP grow when it grows only when there is more consumption?"

No Saving: "One of the phenomena of our days is that the banks have no liquidity, the reason is that there has been no saving for more than 25 years.

"In 1975-'80 the rate of savings accumulation of Italian families was 27%; today it is 4.5%! Of 100 lire earned, 27 were put in the bank, they entered the cycle of investments and brokerage. Today all that is earned is consumed, there are no resources for financial markets."

No Marriages: "How is it that today there is no possibility of getting married before 32 years of age? Because a young couple cannot afford to purchase a house, due to the fact that, even if they are professionals, they earn half of what was earned 30 years ago, due to an increase in tax rates from 25% to 50%."

No Elderly: "Children are not born and the population ages and is of pensionable age. Economically this means an increase in fixed costs. Society has no more money to look after the elderly and as a result is studying the so-called sudden death."

No Work: "To be able to consume, we have moved the most important work to Asia. Half of what was first produced in the Western world, today is imported because it costs less. By moving production, jobs have also moved. Hence, there is no longer work and 70%-80% are employed in the service sector."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

A report on the symposium: www.zenit.org/article-34150?l=english

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ROME NOTES

A City's Soul in the Balance

Witnessing the Show in New York's Own Colosseum

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- On a recent trip to New York City, I was struck once again by the intense and dramatic contrasts that live side by side in this cosmopolitan mecca. The juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane that one witnesses there brings to mind some of the most dramatic moments in history.

Sometimes I can glimpse what it must have been like to be in Rome during the first years of legalized Christianity, when the pagans were desperately fighting the oncoming tide of conversion (a win for the Christians,) or in Paris during the Enlightenment when the secularists were mounting the offense against an established Church (things went badly for the Church on that one). Today it feels like another epic battle is raging over the soul of yet another city, and, as in the case of Paris and Rome, the result will have implications for the world.

The New York skirmishes and victories range from the sublime to the ridiculous. And while the political arena may seem to be the best place to watch the battle for America's soul, I was actually more struck by stories from the contemporary Colosseum: the entertainment world. Amid the theaters and sound stages of New York, I saw innocents thrown to the lions of dance and music, the emergence of a new Ben Hur, and a quiet witness that has prayerfully watched the comings and goings for decades.

Lady Gaga gags the Gospel

Last Thanksgiving, while Americans were thanking God (or some unspecified, unseen benefactor) for their blessings, pop singer Lady Gaga, baptized Stephanie Germanotta, was offering thanks to herself for the gift of herself at her former high school, the Sacred Heart Catholic School in Manhattan.

Sacred Heart School was founded in 1881 by the French congregation of the Society of the Sacred Heart, and is the oldest private school for girls in New York. Ms. Germanotta filmed her "holiday" special at the school reflecting on the events and experiences of her 29 years.

Granted, Sacred Heart isn't known for producing Nobel prize winners -- most of the celebrity alumnae are actresses -- but one wonders what alumna Eunice Kennedy-Shriver would have made of Ms. Germanotta crooning her hit "Born This Way" (the tired genetic excuse for unbridled sexual license) after Kennedy-Shriver's lifetime crusade to help people born with disabilities to lead a life of dignity.

Ms. Germanotta is less known for her formidable singing talent than for her provocative get-ups and tawdry music videos, which are usually one step shy of pornography. Taking a page from her predecessor Madonna, Gaga has a penchant for using Christian imagery in her exhibitions, from wearing an upside down cross over her genitals to donning a parody of a religious habit in red latex and eating rosary beads. With this in mind one wonders whether she is truly the best role model for a K-12 audience in a "Catholic" school. As Catholics, do we honor anyone who achieves notoriety, or those who provide a model of Christian virtue?

More pointedly still, Ms. Germanotta is an active supporter of contraceptive and abortion providers, and a very determined proponent of gay "marriage." Curious that this gave no pause to school leaders and parents who permitted 8-year-olds in their Catholic school uniforms to sing her anthems before a television camera.

This situation bears more than a passing resemblance to Notre Dame University's 2009 decision to confer an honorary degree on the openly pro-abortion President Barack Obama. If we are going to offer platforms to those who denigrate our teaching, how can we be surprised if the faithful are confused?

But what is most striking to me, in the present climate of sex abuse and scandal, is that no one questioned Ms. Germanotta's performance of her song "Bad Romance" in front of the high school students singing into a phallic-shaped microphone. Were a priest or a religious sister to do something of the sort, the law suits would (rightly) accumulate faster than Lady Gaga's costume changes. As it stands, parents, children and teaching faculty proudly stood by and applauded. The New York notion of protecting youth and setting a good example for young women seems oddly contradictory.

This is not the first time Ms. Germanotta has returned to her old school. In 2010, she attended her sister's graduation wearing a transparent lace bodysuit and black veiled hat, eclipsing the achievement of the graduates by drawing attention to herself. Even media sympathetic to the singer recognized that she was "getting even" with a school where she had felt "bullied." Not unlike Lord Voldemort and Hogwart's, Lady Gaga too got her revenge, unfortunately with the full support of the director of Sacred Heart School.

Book of Mormon vs. The Joy of Sex

Lady Gaga's adolescent antics are minor compared to the expletive extravaganza set to music in the Broadway musical, "Book of Mormon," which I saw together with a Mormon friend. Written by the authors of "South Park," it opened in March 2011 to constantly sold out audiences. Critics heaped praise and awards on the musical, while detractors mutter that the teachings of the Church of the Latter Day Saints have been taken out of context. Yet most commentators suggest that it's all fun and games set to catchy music.

I admit, I was an erstwhile fan of South Park and its equal opportunity satire, but Book of Mormon seemed less democratic in its jabs. The story is ostensibly about two young Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda to share their scripture. The villagers are uninterested as their lives are consumed by poverty, famine and AIDS. When the local warlord plots to mutilate the women of the village, however, the villagers decide to feign conversion so as to flee. When they go for instruction from the Mormons they encounter an especially ignorant missionary who makes up his own revelation from snippets of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. When the ruse is discovered, all conclude that religion is better when taken as a metaphor instead of literally.

My first red flag went up with the portrayal of the Ugandans, seen as virtually illiterate, and enslaved by their sexual instincts. I don't know what a Ugandan would make of being presented as almost bestial in his desires and with a vocabulary limited to profanity. (In the show, all but one of the 75 instances of foul language are uttered by the Ugandans.)

Furthermore, the story presumes that female genital mutilation is a normal practice despite the fact that Uganda outlawed the practice in 2009, blazing the trail for other African nations. And although the plot supposes that the overwhelming majority of Ugandans are infected with the AIDS virus, Uganda has been the most successful battleground against AIDS with its "ABC" policy, of Abstinence, "Be faithful," and Condoms, with the latter seen as a last resort. Thanks to this program HIV has declined dramatically in Uganda, and between 1991 and 2007, HIV infection rates dropped by more than 50%.

Frankly, the AIDS question made me realize this was not merely a satire of what Mormons believe, but also an attack on any religion that teaches morals, especially sexual morals. From that moment on, I saw every joke about the Mormon angel Moroni as if it were about Gabriel and the Virgin Birth, and the show became less funny.

The next, very catchy, number was called "turn it off," about leaving painful experiences behind and forging onward. If these were Catholic missionaries, it would be called "offer it up." After a few desultory lyrics about authentic family tragedies, the song gets to its real point: homosexuality. At this point the missionaries are transformed into a pink-sequined kick-line of sexually repressed young men.

That's when I started to do a little math. Proposition 8, the California amendment banning gay marriage, was passed in November 2008, largely with the support of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who provided a great deal of the funding and the door-to-door canvassing to pass the legislation. The Mormons were very hard hit in the backlash from gay activists with everything from protests, to vandalism, to threats of violence.

"Book of Mormon," like Lady Gaga's return to high school, smacks of revenge served with music and lyrics. The authors claim to have a long-standing interest in Mormons, but I suspect that the rewrites between 2008 and 2010 underscored the homosexual angle.

Again, it seems that by slapping the LDS, the writers were really after any church that stands by its teachings. As a Catholic watching Broadway bully the Mormons, I kept thinking, why don't you pick on someone your own size?

"Book of Mormon" is weakened further by its relentless obscenity. Even The New York Times review of the play admitted that the musical was "more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak."

A friend and fellow art historian had perhaps the most reasoned criticism of the show, "So much expense, so much work and so much talent … for this?" The sexual humor and profanity soon become tired gags.

Engaging the camera

While the dark clouds of sex and satire obscuring stage and screen may suggest a bleak forecast, I also witnessed a great force for the year of evangelization, in the newly nominated Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York.

The morning of Jan. 6, I went to morning Mass in the cathedral (silly me, I thought Epiphany was a holy day of obligation) and saw Cardinal Dolan just hours after the nomination, as TV cameras and reporters were piling into the church. Archbishop Dolan met the cameras with ease, explaining his new duties and his commitment to his present responsibilities with a clarity, confidence and joy that was more engaging than any show tune.

He then walked across the street to the set of the Today show, and, pre-empting politics and entertainment, used his new status for a few instants of morning evangelization.

My most memorable New York moment, however, was walking out of the "Book of Mormon" theater, relativist mantras still resounding in my head, and seeing a little chapel directly across the street. It was the Actor's Chapel dedicated to St. Malachy, which has been quietly sitting on 49th Street since 1902. The prayerful space holds chapels to St. Genesius, the patron saint of actors and St. Cecelia, the patroness of music. Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope and Ricardo Montalban prayed here, and Jimmy Durante served at Mass.

The tabernacle with its little red Eucharistic lamp reminds us that Christ sees all. He has been mocked before, far more severely than any musical taunt could, and he has triumphed.

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DOCUMENTS

Papal Address to Ecumenical Group From Finland

"There Is a Need for Christians to Arrive at a Profound Agreement on Matters of Anthropology"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the address Benedict XVI gave today to a delegation from Finland, who are on an annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome for today's feast of St. Henry, the patron of Finland.

* * *

Dear Bishop Sippo,
Dear Bishop Häkkinen,
Distinguished friends from Finland,

It is with great joy that I welcome you, the members of the Finnish delegation, on the occasion of your annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome in order to celebrate once more today’s feast of Saint Henrik, the patron saint of Finland. In remembering our patron Saints we give thanks for the action of the Holy Spirit, informing and transforming the lives of those who have left us an outstanding example of fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel.

The annual visit of an ecumenical delegation from Finland testifies to the growth of communion among the Christian traditions represented in your country. It is my profound hope that this communion may continue to grow, bearing rich fruit among Catholics, Lutherans and all other Christians in your beloved homeland. Our deepened friendship and common witness to Jesus Christ – especially before today’s world, which so often lacks true direction and longs to hear the message of salvation – must hasten our progress towards the resolution of our remaining differences, and indeed of all matters on which Christians are divided.

In recent times, ethical questions have become one of the points of difference among Christians, especially with regard to the proper understanding of human nature and its dignity. There is a need for Christians to arrive at a profound agreement on matters of anthropology, which can then help society and politicians to make wise and just decisions regarding important questions in the area of human life, family and sexuality.

In this regard, the recent ecumenical bilateral dialogue document in the Finnish-Swedish context not only reflects a rapprochement between Catholics and Lutherans over the understanding of justification, but it urges Christians to renew their commitment to imitate Christ in life and action. We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to make possible what may still seem beyond our reach: a widespread renewal of holiness and public practice of Christian virtue, after the example of the great witnesses who have gone before us.

In this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the second reading from today’s suggested texts recalls the patience of faithful believers like Abraham (Heb 6:15) who were rewarded for their faith and trust in God. The realization that God lovingly intervenes in our history teaches us not to place undue emphasis on what we can accomplish through our own efforts. Our longing for the full, visible unity of Christians requires patient and trustful waiting, not in a spirit of helplessness or passivity, but with deep trust that the unity of all Christians in one Church is truly God’s gift and not our own achievement. Such patient waiting, in prayerful hope, transforms us and prepares us for visible unity not as we plan it, but as God grants it.

It is my fervent hope that your visit to Rome will help to deepen the fraternal relations that exist between Lutherans and Catholics in Finland. Let us thank God for all that he has granted us so far and let us pray that he may fill us with the Spirit of truth to guide us towards ever greater love and unity. Upon you and all your fellow-citizens, I invoke God’s abundant blessings.

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Benedict XVI's Address to US Bishops on 'Ad Limina' Visit

"The Legitimate Separation of Church and State Cannot Be Taken to Mean That the Church Must Be Silent"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the address Benedict XVI gave today to the bishops of Washington, D.C., and surrounding regions, who are at the Vatican for their "ad limina" visit.

* * *

Dear Brother Bishops,

I greet all of you with fraternal affection and I pray that this pilgrimage of spiritual renewal and deepened communion will confirm you in faith and commitment to your task as Pastors of the Church in the United States of America. As you know, it is my intention in the course of this year to reflect with you on some of the spiritual and cultural challenges of the new evangelization.

One of the most memorable aspects of my Pastoral Visit to the United States was the opportunity it afforded me to reflect on America’s historical experience of religious freedom, and specifically the relationship between religion and culture. At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.

For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 10). To the extent that some current cultural trends contain elements that would curtail the proclamation of these truths, whether constricting it within the limits of a merely scientific rationality, or suppressing it in the name of political power or majority rule, they represent a threat not just to Christian faith, but also to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, our relationship to God. When a culture attempts to suppress the dimension of ultimate mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth, it inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey, as the late Pope John Paul II so clearly saw, to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society.

With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth. Our tradition does not speak from blind faith, but from a rational perspective which links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning. The Church’s defense of a moral reasoning based on the natural law is grounded on her conviction that this law is not a threat to our freedom, but rather a "language" which enables us to understand ourselves and the truth of our being, and so to shape a more just and humane world. She thus proposes her moral teaching as a message not of constraint but of liberation, and as the basis for building a secure future.

The Church’s witness, then, is of its nature public: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.

In the light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level.

In this regard, I would mention with appreciation your efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights. As the Council noted, and I wished to reiterate during my Pastoral Visit, respect for the just autonomy of the secular sphere must also take into consideration the truth that there is no realm of worldly affairs which can be withdrawn from the Creator and his dominion (cfr. Gaudium et Spes, 36). There can be no doubt that a more consistent witness on the part of America’s Catholics to their deepest convictions would make a major contribution to the renewal of society as a whole.

Dear Brother Bishops, in these brief remarks I have wished to touch upon some of the pressing issues which you face in your service to the Gospel and their significance for the evangelization of American culture. No one who looks at these issues realistically can ignore the genuine difficulties which the Church encounters at the present moment. Yet in faith we can take heart from the growing awareness of the need to preserve a civil order clearly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as from the promise offered by a new generation of Catholics whose experience and convictions will have a decisive role in renewing the Church’s presence and witness in American society. The hope which these "signs of the times" give us is itself a reason to renew our efforts to mobilize the intellectual and moral resources of the entire Catholic community in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love. With great affection I commend all of you, and the flock entrusted to your care, to the prayers of Mary, Mother of Hope, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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The Places ZENIT Could Go!

2012-01-19T08:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader,

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta frequently said that the worst poverty is not knowing Christ, and that if we would just open our eyes and look around, we'd see that people all over the world are hungry for God.

Here at ZENIT, we seek to draw people closer to Christ through our news service on the Pope and the Church that is sent to more than 500,000 e-mail inboxes every day -- in seven different languages.

Given the enormous needs of the world, our mission to communicate the message of Christ and of his Church through ZENIT's news service may seem to be a small project, and it is. But it's a small project with great reach, and even greater potential.

Bishops, priests and other religious use ZENIT articles in their pastoral activities; catechism and religion teachers use ZENIT in their classrooms; friends and relatives send ZENIT articles to others who may have fallen away from the faith.

The possibilities are endless with regard to how far ZENIT can reach on any particular day. And imagine where ZENIT could go if our team grew!

For this reason, dear readers, we are asking your help so that ZENIT can grow and multiply our efforts to spread the news of the Church to the ends of the earth. What's more, we are asking you to become a part of ZENIT's team!

There are many ways to be a committed member of the ZENIT team; your promotion of ZENIT and your prayers are always appreciated.

Another way is to help with whatever you can in our current fund-raising campaign!

As you know, ZENIT has no other form of funding than its readers' donations. For ZENIT to be able to continue its work, this campaign needs to reach a total of $1,410,000.

For the English edition, with its 120,000 e-mail subscribers (not counting visits to its Web page), we propose a specific goal to collect $320,000.

Can we count on your support?

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[ZE120118] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 18, 2012

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VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope: Christian Unity Will Take More Than Kindness
Benedict XVI to Youth: Be Generous in Your Witness to Christ

WORLD FEATURES

Vatican Official Speaks Out on Imprisoned Chinese Clergy
A Chaplain's Role on a Sinking Ship

NEWS BRIEFS

Beatification Causes Advance for 2 London-Born Nuns

Life Watch

Emergency 'Contraceptives' More Available Than Ever: Now What?

Wednesday's Audience

On the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

FORUM

It Should Be Called the 'Friend of Truth'

VATICAN DOSSIER

Pope: Christian Unity Will Take More Than Kindness

Calls for Conversion at Personal and Community Level

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The path to Christian unity requires more than being nice to each other and cooperating, says Benedict XVI. Full and visible unity will require transformation and being conformed to the image of Christ.

The Pope said this today as he dedicated his weekly general audience to the theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins today.

The annual celebration is held in the Northern hemisphere in the week leading up to the feast of the conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25), while in the Southern hemisphere, it is generally marked around the feast of Pentecost.

"The full and visible unity of Christians for which we long demands that we allow ourselves to be ever more perfectly transformed and conformed to the image of Christ," the Holy Father stated. "The unity for which we pray requires interior conversion, both communal and personal. It is not simply a matter of kindness and cooperation; above all, we must strengthen our faith in God, in the God of Jesus Christ, who has spoken to us and who made himself one of us; we must enter into new life in Christ, which is our true and definitive victory; we must open ourselves to one another, cultivating all the elements of that unity that God has preserved for us and gives to us ever anew; we must feel the urgency of bearing witness before the men of our times to the living God, who made himself known in Christ.'

The theme for this year's Week of Prayer is "We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ," and the texts for reflection and meditation were prepared by ecumenical groups in Poland.

Essential

The Holy Father reflected on the Church's commitment to ecumenism, "The Second Vatican Council put the ecumenical pursuit at the center of the Church's life and work," he said.

He cited John Paul II, who referred to unity, not as "something added on, but [which] stands at the very heart of Christ's mission. ... [I]t belongs to the very essence of this community."

Benedict XVI affirmed, "The ecumenical task is therefore a responsibility of the whole Church and of all the baptized, who must make the partial, already existing communion between Christians grow into full communion in truth and charity. Therefore, prayer for unity is not limited to this Week of Prayer but rather must become an integral part of our prayer, of the life of prayer of all Christians, in every place and in every time, especially when people of different traditions meet and work together for the victory, in Christ, over all that is sin, evil, injustice, and that violates human dignity."

The Pontiff noted the "clear recognition" that the lack of unity jeopardizes Christians' credibility and "prevents the Gospel from being proclaimed more effectively."

"How can we give a convincing witness if we are divided?" he asked. "Certainly, as regards the fundamental truths of the faith, much more unites us than divides us. But divisions remain, and they concern even various practical and ethical questions -- causing confusion and distrust, and weakening our ability to hand on Christ's saving Word."

The Bishop of Rome stressed, however, that only Christ is "capable of transforming us and changing us -- from being weak and hesitant -- to being strong and courageous in working for good. Only he can save us from the negative consequences of our divisions."

Thus, the Pope invited the faithful to "be more intensely united in prayer during this Week for Unity, so that common witness, solidarity and collaboration may grow among Christians, as we await the glorious day when together we may profess the faith handed down by the Apostles, and together celebrate the Sacraments of our transformation in Christ."

--- --- ---

On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34139?l=english

On the Net:

Materials for prayer week: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer-doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20110414_week-prayer-2012_en.html

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Benedict XVI to Youth: Be Generous in Your Witness to Christ

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- In his traditional greetings to close the weekly general audience, Benedict XVI today exhorted youth to "witness generously to your faith in Christ, who illumines the journey of life."

As is customary, the Pope also had a special message for the sick and for newlyweds.

"May faith be a constant comfort in suffering," he said to the sick.

And to the brides and grooms, he said, "May the light of Christ be for you, dear newlyweds, an effective guide in your family life."

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WORLD FEATURES

Vatican Official Speaks Out on Imprisoned Chinese Clergy

Rome-based News Agency Launches Freedom Campaign

ROME, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Rome-based AsiaNews agency has launched a campaign to appeal for the release of three bishops and six priests who are detained by the Chinese government.

The agency has written a letter to President Hu Jintao and the Chinese ambassador in Italy, Ding Wei.

"Their release could be a gesture of friendship and hope for Catholics and human rights activists, as well as a sign of true hope for the upcoming Chinese New Year," said the AsiaNews appeal, published Monday.

According to the agency, the bishops and priests have not been charged with any crime. Moreover, they have never been given a trial or been convicted by a court. In spite of this, they have been placed in forced labor camps, or have simply disappeared after being seized by the police

A day after the announcement of the campaign AsiaNews published an interview with the highest-ranking Chinese prelate, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The Hong Kong native explained that requests by the Vatican for information on the whereabouts of the missing bishops and priests have been unsuccessful. The reply by Chinese authorities has simply been: "We do not know."

Clearly, he said, this indicates that the motive behind the disappearances is religious.

Prayer

In terms of what can be done to resolve this situation, Archbishop Hon Tai-Fai said that first of all we should pray for them. Then what is needed is to appeal to the Chinese government for their release, or at least the chance for a trial if they have done something wrong.

The witness of these bishops and priests makes me proud, the Vatican official declared. Their sufferings "have a great mystical value of salvation," he reflected, adding that not only are they models of heroism, but they will also make the work of evangelization fruitful.

The Vatican will continue to do all it can to help these prisoners, Archbishop Hon affirmed, saying that it is important to keep up the pressure on the Chinese government. He also called upon the underground Catholic community to forgive their persecutors, following the example of the martyr, St. Stephen.

Study sessions

The AsiaNews appeal comes amid continuing evidence that clergy in China face the constant threat of persecution. It was reported on Jan. 11 by the UCANews agency that Bishop John Wang Ruowang of Tianshui and some of his priests have been forced to attend "study sessions."

The bishop, who belongs to the underground Catholic Church, was secretly ordained with the Pope's approval last year. He was taken Dec. 30 from Taijing church by officials to a guesthouse in Tianshui city in northern Gansu province.

According to the report, people have been in contact with Bishop Wang and he has reported that he is undergoing "education and conversion classes." Since Jan. 4, seven diocesan priests have been taken away for this type of "study."

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Details of the bishops and priests detained: www.asianews.it/news-en/Appeal:-Bishops-and-priests-disappeared-or-in-prison,-home-for-the-Chinese-New-Year-23704.html

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A Chaplain's Role on a Sinking Ship

Italy's Maritime Ministry Director Comments on Costa Concordia Tragedy

ROME, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Search and rescue efforts are still under way as 21 passengers from the Costa Concordia cruise ship remain unaccounted for, after the giant vessel hit rock and began sinking Friday off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy.

As friends and family of the missing still await news of their loved ones -- including a Catholic couple from Minnesota who were excited about the chance to visit Rome during their two-week vacation -- public eye is turned on the tragedy and particularly the national soul-searching related to the captain's response to the wreck.

Among those intimately involved in the disaster are the personnel from the Church's ministry to seafarers. Father Raffaele Malena was the chaplain on board and lived the wreck firsthand.

Another priest, Father Lorenzo Pasquotti, parish priest on the island of Giglio, provided assistance to the survivors as they landed on the island.

And Father Giacomo Martino, the director of maritime ministry for the Church in Italy, has been coordinating assistance to the survivors.

The onboard chaplain called the headquarters of the Apostleship of the Sea when the wreck happened, reporting his intention to "stay close to the crew and the passengers to comfort them at this moment of great confusion."

Speaking with Vatican Radio, the chaplain has in fact given a different account of the crew's reaction than that which has circulated in some press reports.

"The problem of the evacuation was the panic; the crew behaved well," he said.

The priest shared his impression of the first moments. "There were so many children," he said. "I took a little girl in my arms. I asked that she be sent first with her mother and her evacuation took precedence."

Father Malena also praised the residents of Giglio, saying "all wanted to give a hand, they opened the inns, they gave us something to eat, blankets and everything they had."

Shock recovery

ZENIT spoke with the director of the maritime ministry, Father Martino, about the tragedy.

"The crew has probably not yet assimilated the blow entirely, and the accusations flying in the media against them make them feel shipwrecked once again," he commented.

He stressed that "speaking with many people, I see that what has been said by some of the media about incompetence is not true. Simulations of shipwrecks are made, but it is quite different when there is a real shipwreck and panic spreads."

Father Martino also spoke about the role of chaplains on cruise ships.

"He acts as a man of God, without making distinctions between the passengers and crew, even if his main task is in the sector of the crew," the director said. These "workers count on the presence of a chaplain, even if they are of other religious confessions."

"Even in Ramadan, for example, though not automatically, I am sometimes asked to say the final prayer," he commented.

[Reporting by H. Sergio Mora]

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NEWS BRIEFS

Beatification Causes Advance for 2 London-Born Nuns

Mother Riccarda Saved Jews From Nazis

LONDON, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The causes of beatification for two London-born nuns have finished their diocesan stage and are headed to Rome.

The dossier on Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough (1887-1966), and on Sister Katherine Flanagan (1892-1941) have been sent to the Congregation for Saints' Causes, the Catholic Herald reported Tuesday.

Both nuns were Bridgettine Sisters.

Mother Riccarda served as the director of the order for a time; while at the motherhouse in Rome in 1943, she helped to save the lives of some 60 Jews by hiding them in the convent.

Sister Katherine, meanwhile, was dedicated to opening Bridgettine convents around the world. She was the first prioress of new convents in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire; Lugano, Switzerland; and Vadstena, Sweden.

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Life Watch

Emergency 'Contraceptives' More Available Than Ever: Now What?

How Science Should be Used to Stem the Tide

By Arland K. Nichols

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Recent controversies in the United States surrounding the “morning after pill” point to international trends making such potentially abortifacient drugs increasingly accessible to men and women of all ages. While the Catholic Church’s consistent teaching about the intrinsic evil of contraception (cf. Humanae vitae) seems to be increasingly validated by the sciences as a destructive social and physical phenomenon in society, many still have the mistaken impression that it is to be avoided only for "religious" reasons. In fact, what we are seeing is widespread acceptance of drugs that not only prevent pregnancy, but actually cause abortions, making their labeling as "contraceptives" somewhat misleading.

In the late 1990s the Rockefeller Foundation formed the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC), whose charter was to spread the use of “emergency contraception” throughout the world.[1] Among the original member organizations are International Planned Parenthood Federation, Population Council, and Population Services International, and their initial campaign targeted nations long in the crosshairs of “population control” organizations: Sri Lanka, Kenya, Mexico and Indonesia.

The campaign has been "successful" as emergency contraception is now available in over 140 countries today.[2] It is available from a pharmacist (which allows for consultation with the patient) without a prescription in 58 nations and enjoys full “over the counter” status in six nations -- India, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, most provinces in Canada, and for women as young as 17 in the United States. The widespread and growing acceptance of emergency contraception is a troubling trend for Catholics that deserves our attention, so in order that our concern may be properly informed, let’s briefly make some distinctions among the drugs in question.

The primary emergency contraception promoted all these years by the ICEC is the synthetic hormone levonorgestrel, which is marketed under numerous names: in English-speaking countries these include Plan B, Next Choice, Levonelle and Pregnon. Levonorgestrel is approved for use up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse, but is commonly used up to five days later to prevent pregnancy. Studies indicate that levonorgestrel does not kill an embryonic human being who has already implanted in the uterus; nonetheless, it may still act as an abortifacient.

Levonorgestrel is often confused with what is popularly known as "the abortion pill" or "RU-486." RU-486 is the synthetic steroid, Mifepristone. Mifepristone (marketed as Mifeprex in the United States) is FDA approved to chemically abort a child who has reached seven weeks of age in the womb. Mifepristone terminates established pregnancies.

Another "emergency contraceptive" was added to the market when the European Medicines Agency approved ulipristal acetate in 2009, while the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved its use for the United States in 2010. It is marketed as Ellaone and Ella, respectively, and is available in 30 countries. Its method of action is summarized well by the European Medicines Agency: "Ulipristal acetate prevents progesterone from occupying its receptor ... progesterone is blocked, and the proteins necessary to begin and maintain pregnancy are not synthesized."[3] That is, it can prevent a newly conceived child from implanting, and can disrupt the child that has already implanted, killing him.

Because levonorgestrel is the most common emergency contraceptive, here we will focus on two common and flawed claims that have led to its acceptance in the international community. The first claim is that science has proven that levonorgestrel never causes an early abortion, so a woman may take it without fear of ending the life of her child.

Levonorgestrel primarily functions so as to prevent a woman from ovulating. As has been noted, it does not kill a child that has already implanted. Many studies indicate that Plan B may also have a secondary method of action if a woman ovulates even though she took levonorgestrel.[4] If fertilization occurs (bringing a new human being into existence) following a "breakthrough ovulation" the drug may prevent this embryonic human being from implanting on his mother's uterus. Patrick Yeung Jr. and his coauthors explain that levonorgestrel "interferes with the normal development and function of the corpus luteum; a dysfunctional corpus luteum then leads to an impaired endometrium [wall of the uterus] that interferes with embryonic implantation."[5] They argue that "no evidence exists to contradict this interceptive effect" and suggest that "levonorgestrel is estimated to act as an abortifacient 3%-13% of the time" when taken immediately prior to ovulation. This abortion-inducing effect is acknowledged by the FDA, which states that levonorgestrel "is believed to act as an emergency contraceptive principally by preventing ovulation or fertilization. ... In addition, it may inhibit implantation (by altering the endometrium)."[6]

The Catholic Church, noting that levonorgestrel may at times act as an abortifacient by preventing the child conceived from implanting in his mother's womb, says in Dignitas personae that use of such a drug when it prevents implantation "fall[s] within the sin of abortion and [is] gravely immoral" (n. 23).

The second claim that is often used to gain public acceptance of Plan B is that easy access to it will reduce unintended pregnancies and, thus, abortions. For example, Doctor Andre Lalonde of Canada’s Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has stated "[b]etter access and greater knowledge and use of emergency contraception could significantly reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy in Canada."[7] This claim was echoed by the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) recent recommendation that led the United States Department of Health and Human Services to require all insurance plans to cover levonorgestrel free of charge. The IOM stated "that greater use of contraception within the population produces lower unintended pregnancy and abortion rates nationally.”[8] Such assertions are specious, as numerous studies show that greater access to emergency contraception reduces neither unintended pregnancies nor abortion.

A 2010 study of eleven randomized control trials by Chelsea Polis of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded: "Our review suggests that strategies for advance provision of emergency contraception which have been tested to date do not appear to reduce unintended pregnancy at the population level.”[9] Further, a 2007 study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology arrived at the same conclusion: “increased access to emergency contraceptive pills enhances use but has not been shown to reduce unintended pregnancy rates.”[10] And a November 2006 study in the same journal concluded that increased access to emergency contraception “did not show benefit in decreasing pregnancy rates.”[11] Similarly, levonorgestrel does not reduce rates of abortion, as indicated in a 2004 study published in Contraception.[12] In spite of free provision of emergency contraception to 18,000 women, “no impact on abortion rates was measurable. While advanced provision of EC probably prevents some pregnancies for some women some of the time, the strategy did not produce the public health breakthrough hoped for.”

All told, the studies reveal that, contrary to the many “professional and editorial opinions and projections” that emergency contraception reduces unintended pregnancies and abortion, I am unaware of a single population-based study indicating that it is actually effective in doing so.

Yet the international trend toward greater and easier access to levonorgestrel continues, and over time, drugs that are more likely to cause the death of the embryonic human beings (such as “Ella” and “EllaOne”) are likely to replace levonorgestrel. While this article has not focused on the immoral use of contraception within marriage, it has identified the pervasive and life-threatening results of the contraceptive mentality in society. We cannot ignore these troubling trends which are clear manifestations of the culture of death. Our knowledge and principle-based action can stem the tide as seen in Honduras which, in 2009, banned the sale of emergency contraception.

Massive and influential organizations with deep pockets are actively promoting abortion-inducing contraceptives throughout the international community, misleading many who would oppose their use if they were aware of their potential abortifacient effects and non-effectiveness in reducing abortion rates. To date, such organizations have faced little effective opposition. One way for the Catholic pro-life community to stem the tide is to shed light upon the false claims made about emergency contraception. Against those who claim that "science" requires the adoption of ever more life-changing and life-ending medications, we must be ready to reply with the scientific facts that show their claims for what they really are -- anti-life.

* * *

Arland K. Nichols is the National Director of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International. His articles may be found at www.hliamerica.org.

---

[1] http://www.cecinfo.org/

[2] http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/dedicated.html

[3] http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/001027/WC500023670.pdf

[4] The author notes that there are some, including within the Catholic scholarly community, who suggest that an abortifacient effect is extremely unlikely. Perhaps most notable is Rev. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P. See “Is Plan B an Abortifacient?,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, (V7 N4), 703-707.

[5] Yeung et al., “Argument Against the Use of Levonorgestrel in Cases of Sexual Assault,” Catholic Health Care Ethics: A Manual for Practitioners, Ed. Edward J.Furton, (Philadelphia: 2009), 144.

[6] http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2009/021998lbl.pdf

[7] http://www.cwhn.ca/resources/cwhn/ec.html

[8] http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Clinical-Preventive-Services-for-Women-Closing-the-Gaps.aspx

[9] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/182584.php

[10] http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Abstract/2007/01000/Population_Effect_of_Increased_Access_to_Emergency.25.aspx

[11] http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Fulltext/2006/11000/Impact_of_Increased_Access_to_Emergency.9.aspx

[12] http://www.cwfa.org/images/content/scotland0905.pdf

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Wednesday's Audience

On the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

"The Unity for Which We Pray Requires Interior Conversion, Both Communal and Personal"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in Paul VI Hall. The Pope reflected on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins today.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which for more than a century has been celebrated by Christians of all Churches and ecclesial Communities, in order to invoke that extraordinary gift for which the Lord Jesus Himself prayed during the Last Supper, before His Passion: "that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21). The practice of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was introduced in 1908 by Father Paul Wattson, founder of an Anglican religious community that subsequently entered the Catholic Church. The initiative received the blessing of Pope St. Pius X and was then promoted by Pope Benedict XV, who encouraged its celebration throughout the Church with the Brief, Romanorum Pontificum, promulgated Feb. 25, 1916.

The octave of prayer was developed and perfected in the 1930s by Abbé Paul Couturier of Lyon, who promoted prayer "for the unity of the Church as Christ wills, and in accordance with the instruments He wills." In his later writings, Abbé Couturier sees this Week as a way of allowing the prayer of Christ to "enter into and penetrate the entire Christian Body"; it must grow until it becomes "an immense, unanimous cry of the whole People of God" who ask God for this great gift. And it is precisely during the Week of Christian Unity that the impetus given by the Second Vatican Council toward seeking full communion among all of Christ’s disciples each year finds one of its most forceful expressions. This spiritual gathering, which unites Christians of all traditions, increases our awareness of the fact that the unity to which we tend will not be the result of our efforts alone, but will rather be a gift received from above, a gift for which we must constantly pray.

Each year, the booklets for the Week of Prayer are prepared by an ecumenical group from a different region of the world. I would like to pause to consider this point. This year, the texts were proposed by a mixed group comprised of representatives of the Catholic Church and of the Polish Ecumenical Council, which includes the country’s various Churches and ecclesial Communities. The documentation was then reviewed by a committee made up of members of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and of the Faith and Order Commission of the Council of Churches. This work, carried out together in two stages, is also a sign of the desire for unity that animates Christians, and of the awareness that prayer is the primary way of attaining full communion, since it is in being united with the Lord that we move toward unity.

The theme of the Week this year -- as we heard -- is taken from the First Letter to the Corinthians: “We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ” -- His victory will transform us. And this theme was suggested by the large ecumenical Polish group I just mentioned, which -- in reflecting on their own experience as a nation -- wanted to underscore how strong a support the Christian faith is in the midst of trial and upheaval, like those that have characterized Poland’s history. After ample discussion, a theme was chosen that focuses on the transforming power of faith in Christ, particularly in light of the importance it has for our prayer for the visible unity of Christ’s Body, the Church. This reflection was inspired by the words of St. Paul who, addressing himself to the Church of Corinth, speaks about the perishable nature of what belongs to our present life -- which is also marked by the experience of the “defeat” that comes from sin and death -- compared to what brings us Christ’s victory over sin and death in His paschal mystery.

The particular history of the Polish nation, which knew times of democratic coexistence and of religious liberty -- as in the 16th century -- has been marked in recent centuries by invasions and defeat, but also by the constant struggle against oppression and by the thirst for freedom. All of this led the ecumenical group to reflect more deeply on the true meaning of "victory" -- what victory is -- and "defeat." Compared with "victory" understood in triumphalistic terms, Christ suggests to us a very different path that does not pass by way of force and power. In fact, He affirms: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Christ speaks of a victory through suffering love, through mutual service, help, new hope and concrete comfort given to the least, to the forgotten, to those who are rejected. For all Christians, the highest expression of this humble service is Jesus Christ Himself -- the total gift He makes of Himself, the victory of His love over death on the Cross, which shines resplendent in the light of Easter morning.

We can take part in this transforming “victory” if we allow ourselves to be transformed by God -- but only if we work for the conversion of our lives, and if this transformation leads to conversion. This is the reason why the Polish ecumenical group considered particularly fitting for their own reflection the words of St. Paul: “We will all be changed by the victory of Christ, Our Lord” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

The full and visible unity of Christians for which we long demands that we allow ourselves to be ever more perfectly transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. The unity for which we pray requires interior conversion, both communal and personal. It is not simply a matter of kindness and cooperation; above all, we must strengthen our faith in God, in the God of Jesus Christ, who has spoken to us and who made Himself one of us; we must enter into new life in Christ, which is our true and definitive victory; we must open ourselves to one another, cultivating all the elements of that unity that God has preserved for us and gives to us ever anew; we must feel the urgency of bearing witness before the men of our times to the living God, who made Himself known in Christ.

The Second Vatican Council put the ecumenical pursuit at the center of the Church’s life and work: “The Sacred Council exhorts all the Catholic faithful to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism” (Unitatis redintegratio, 4). Blessed John Paul II stressed the essential nature of this commitment, saying: “This unity, which the Lord has bestowed on his Church and in which he wishes to embrace all people, is not something added on, but stands at the very heart of Christ’s mission. Nor is it some secondary attribute of the community of his disciples. Rather, it belongs to the very essence of this community (Ut unum sint, 9). The ecumenical task is therefore a responsibility of the whole Church and of all the baptized, who must make the partial, already existing communion between Christians grow into full communion in truth and charity. Therefore, prayer for unity is not limited to this Week of Prayer but rather must become an integral part of our prayer, of the life of prayer of all Christians, in every place and in every time, especially when people of different traditions meet and work together for the victory, in Christ, over all that is sin, evil, injustice, and that violates human dignity.

From the time the modern ecumenical movement was born over a century ago, there has always been a clear recognition of the fact that the lack of unity among Christians prevents the Gospel from being proclaimed more effectively, because it jeopardizes our credibility. How can we give a convincing witness if we are divided? Certainly, as regards the fundamental truths of the faith, much more unites us than divides us. But divisions remain, and they concern even various practical and ethical questions -- causing confusion and distrust, and weakening our ability to hand on Christ’s saving Word. In this regard, we do well to remember the words of Blessed John Paul II, who in the Encyclical Ut unum sint, speaks of the damage caused to Christian witness and to the proclamation of the Gospel by the lack of unity (cf. no. 98,99). This is a great challenge for the new evangelization, which can be more fruitful if all Christians together announce the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and give a common response to the spiritual thirst of our times.

The Church's journey, like that of all peoples, is in the hands of the Risen Christ, who is victorious over the death and injustice that He bore and suffered on behalf of all mankind. He makes us sharers in His victory. Only He is capable of transforming us and changing us -- from being weak and hesitant -- to being strong and courageous in working for good. Only He can save us from the negative consequences of our divisions. Dear brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to be more intensely united in prayer during this Week for Unity, so that common witness, solidarity and collaboration may grow among Christians, as we await the glorious day when together we may profess the faith handed down by the Apostles, and together celebrate the Sacraments of our transformation in Christ. Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which begins today invites all the Lord’s followers to implore the gift of unity. This year’s theme – We Will All Be Changed By The Victory Of Our Lord Jesus Christ – was chosen by representatives of the Catholic Church and the Polish Ecumenical Council. Poland’s experience of oppression and persecution prompts a deeper reflection on the meaning of Christ’s victory over sin and death, a victory in which we share through faith. By his teaching, his example and his paschal mystery, the Lord has shown us the way to a victory obtained not by power, but by love and concern for those in need. Faith in Christ and interior conversion, both individual and communal, must constantly accompany our prayer for Christian unity. During this Week of Prayer, let us ask the Lord in a particular way to strengthen the faith of all Christians, to change our hearts and to enable us to bear united witness to the Gospel. In this way we will contribute to the new evangelization and respond ever more fully to the spiritual hunger of the men and women of our time.

* * *

I offer a cordial welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience. My special greeting goes to the Lutheran pilgrims from Finland. I also greet the group of sailors and marines from the United States. Upon all of you and your families I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings!

[In Italian, he said:]

Dear brothers and sisters,

I extend a cordial welcome to all Italian-speaking pilgrims. In particular, I greet priests belonging to the Focolare Movement, and I hope that these days of study help you to persevere in the generous following of Christ and in the joyous witness of the Gospel. I greet the students from the diocese of Caserta who are accompanied by their Bishop Pietro Farina: may this meeting strengthen the faith and commitment to Christian life in each one of you. I warmly greet the young patients of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment of Milan, and I assure you of my fervent prayers that the Lord may sustain each of you by His grace. I greet the large representation of the Bar of Rome and, while I thank them for their presence, I wish to encourage them to carry out their delicate profession by always remaining faithful to the truth, the fundamental prerequisite for the implementation of justice.

I also offer a cordial greeting to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. I invite you, dear young people, always to witness generously to your faith in Christ, who illumines the journey of life. May faith be a constant comfort in suffering to you, dear sick. And may the light of Christ be for you, dear newlyweds, an effective guide in your family life.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

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FORUM

It Should Be Called the 'Friend of Truth'

A Tribute to L'Osservatore Romano

By Antonio Gaspari

ROME, JAN. 18, 2012 (Zenit.org).- It should be called "the friend of truth." It opposed Nazism and Communism. In defense of the Pope and of the poor, it has challenged dictators worldwide. Its motto affirms "Non praevalebunt." Pope Paul VI pointed it out as "a light nourished by the See of Peter," it has just celebrated its 150th anniversary, and Benedict XVI speaks of its "long and great history."

We are talking about L'Osservatore Romano, commonly known in Rome as "the Pope's newspaper." Born in difficult times in 1861, when it seemed that the Holy See would be swept away, it has grown enormously and today comes out with editions in eight languages among which is also the Malaysian version published in India.

In Brazil there is a street dedicated to L'Osservatore Romano in the Carlos Lourenco Garden of Campinas.

The paper was founded by lawyer Nicola Zanchini together with journalist Giuseppe Bastia after Pope Pius IX gave his blessing to the publication.

Written in the founding constitution is that the objective of L'Osservatore Romano is to "unmask and confute the calumnies hurled against the Roman Pontificate," to "recall the principles of the Catholic religion and those of justice and law as the basis of ordinary civil living" and to "stimulate and promote the veneration of the Sovereign Pontiff."

In connection with the nascent Italian nation and the sciences, L'Osservatore Romano proposed "to instruct on the duties owed to the homeland" and to "bring together and illustrate all that through art, literature and sciences merits being pointed out to the public, especially the inventions and related applications."

In the course of its glorious history, L'Osservatore Romano has distinguished itself for opposing every form of totalitarianism and for defending the liberty and dignity of the person.

Speaking of the 30s, when Italy was under the Fascist dictatorship, Francis Charles Roux, ambassador of France to the Holy see, writes in his memoirs that L'Osservatore Romano is "the only newspaper in Italy that does not obey the governmental dispositions and those of the Fascist party."

"Its independence in confrontations with the government, made its circulation grow to a number that was very different from the usual," added the French diplomat. In that period the Pope's newspaper sold close to 60,000 copies, reaching even to 100,000, an enormous number at that time.

The diffusion of L'Osservatore Romano infuriated the Fascist militia, to the point that some customers were mistreated, entire packets of the newspaper were confiscated and burnt.

In this connection, in the Constituent Assembly of March 20, 1947, the well-known Italian journalist, jurist, writer and politician Piero Calamandrei said: "In the years of the greatest oppression, we must remember that the only newspaper in which one could still find some reference to liberty, to our liberty, to the liberty common to all free men was L'Osservatore Romano.

"And when the racial persecutions began, the Church lined up against the persecutors and in defense of the oppressed; because when the Germans sought our sons to torture and shoot them, they, no matter what their party, found refuge in the rectories and convents; because priests were found who were prepared to offer themselves as hostages to save the population of a municipality and to rescue the life of all with their sacrifice."

Among the thousands of acts of heroism carried out by Catholics, emerges that of the director of L'Osservatore Romano, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, who, to follow the indications of the Servant of God Pius XII, on Oct. 29, 1943, took care of and sent the Jew Giovanni Astrologo with his father and four aunts to the Lombard Seminary of Rome.

They were persecuted and sought by the Nazis. Dalla Torre entrusted them to Monsignor Francesco Bertoglio, rector of the seminary, who on June 29, 2010 was recognized by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations."

On Sept. 24, 1936, intervening in the second international congress of Catholic journalists, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli said that L'Osservatore Romano "for fifteen lustrums was the austere herald of the voice and sentences of Peter and the champion of his most sacred rights."

And when Pacelli became Pope Pius XII he described it as "faithful and dear."

According to Blessed Pope John XXIII, L'Osservatore Romano is "the daily herald, the instrument, the surest voice by which the Pope's thought is ordinarily transmitted and guaranteed of its authenticity, from Rome to the extreme ends of the world."

In the introduction of the pamphlet marking the paper's 150th anniversary, Benedict XVI explained that L'Osservatore Romano knows how to express "the cordial friendship of the Holy See for humanity in our time, in defense of the human person created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by Christ."

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Please Support Our Campaign!

2012-01-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

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ZENIT

[ZE120117] The World Seen From Rome

2012-01-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

Daily dispatch - January 17, 2012

VATICAN DOSSIER

Catholics, Protestants Set to Begin Unity Week

WORLD FEATURES

Hundreds Gather to Give Thanks for Ordinariate's 1st Year
Day for Jewish-Catholic Dialogue Marked in Italy
India Missionaries Serving in 166 Countries
Church in Congo Begins Non-Violence Program

NEWS BRIEFS

St. Anthony Abbot: An Italian Tradition

INTERVIEW

A Wish for Jewish-Catholic Dialogue in 2012

LITURGY

"Cup" Instead of "Chalice"

VATICAN DOSSIER

Catholics, Protestants Set to Begin Unity Week

Annual Initiative Will Provide Reflection on What It Means to Win

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins Wednesday and will conclude on Jan. 25, the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. The texts for this year's celebration were prepared by groups in Poland.

This year's theme is "We will all be changed by the victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

A statement from the Vatican Information Service noted that the week is promoted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), a worldwide fellowship of 349 churches seeking unity, common witness and Christian service. The Catholic Church participates in this ecumenical initiative, despite not being a member of the WCC.

This year's theme comes from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, which promises the transformation of human life -- with all its apparent dimensions of "triumph" and "defeat" -- through the victory of Christ's resurrection.

After leading the Angelus on Sunday, Benedict XVI invited the faithful, "as individuals and in communities, to participate spiritually, and where possible practically, in the Week of Prayer, to ask God for the gift of full unity among the disciples of Christ."

Materials

A working group composed of representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and Old Catholic and Protestant Churches active in Poland prepared the texts this year.

The materials for the Week of Prayer explain the choice of the theme: "The history of Poland has been marked by a series of defeats and victories. We can mention the many times that Poland was invaded, the partitions, oppression by foreign powers and hostile systems. (...) And yet where there is victory there are also losers who do not share the joy and triumph of the winners. This particular history of the Polish nation has led the ecumenical group who have written this year's material to reflect more deeply on what it means to 'win' and to 'lose,' especially given the way in which the language of 'victory' is so often understood in triumphalist terms. Yet Christ shows us a very different way!"

The text goes on to note that the 2012 European Football Championship will be held in Poland and Ukraine. "Thinking of this example might lead us to consider the plight of those who do not win -- not only in sport but in their lives and communities: who will spare a thought for the losers, those who constantly suffer defeats because they are denied victory due to various conditions and circumstances? Rivalry is a permanent feature not only in sport but also in political, business, cultural and, even, church life."

But Jesus' teaching on victory is simple, the text continues: "'Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all' (Mark 9:35). These words speak of victory through mutual service, helping, boosting the self-esteem of those who are 'last,' forgotten, excluded. For all Christians, the best expression of such humble service is Jesus Christ, his victory through death and his resurrection. (...)

"The point is to achieve a victory which integrates all Christians around the service of God and one's neighbor. (...) The unity for which we pray is not merely a 'comfortable' notion of friendliness and co-operation. It requires a willingness to dispense with competition between us. We need to open ourselves to each other, to offer gifts to and receive gifts from one another, so that we might truly enter into the new life in Christ, which is the only true victory."

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Materials for the week: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer-doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20110414_week-prayer-2012_en.html

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WORLD FEATURES

Hundreds Gather to Give Thanks for Ordinariate's 1st Year

Ordinary Calls for Personal Responsibility to Make Pope's Vision a Reality

LONDON, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The first year of the first ordinariate established for Anglican communities who sought full communion with Rome was marked by "much to be joyful and thankful for," according to the group's leader. There were also misunderstandings to be addresses, he acknowledged.

Last Sunday marked the first anniversary of the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. On Jan. 15, 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a decree which formally established a Personal Ordinariate in England and Wales for groups of Anglicans and their clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

According to the ordinariate's Web site, around 500 Catholics and Anglicans gathered to mark the anniversary with solemn evensong, and a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by benediction at St. James, Spanish Place, London.

It was offered up in thanksgiving for the Pope's decision to allow Anglicans who wish to enter the Catholic Church to retain the use of some of their traditional prayers and liturgy.

During his sermon, the ordinary, Monsignor Keith Newton said, "This evening we have much to be joyful and thankful for. For the gifts and spiritual riches of Anglicanism which nurtured our faith; for the warmth of welcome and support we have received from so many Catholics; for the vision, love and faith of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict."

Monsignor Newton also issued a pastoral letter to mark the anniversary. "A year is not a long time in the life of any institution particularly that of the Catholic Church, but as it was such an historic moment we should not let it pass without reflection," he said.

"I give thanks to God for your courage and faith sometimes at great personal cost," the monsignor commented, reflecting on the transition during the past year.

He also thanked the Catholic congregations and individuals who had given their support during the first year of the ordinariate's existence.

"There have, of course, been disappointments and setbacks on the way but these have been outweighed by the warmth of the welcome and the knowledge of being in communion with the See of Peter and countless millions across the world," he continued.

Prophetic

Monsignor Newton acknowledged that there had been some misunderstandings, in part because many Catholics have had no firsthand contact with the ordinariate or the members of it. "It is up to all of us to help people understand and to make a reality the vision that Pope Benedict has set before us, that the ordinariate should be 'a prophetic gesture' to contribute to the wider goal of visible unity between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion," he urged.

The ordinary also announced that more people will be joining the ordinariate in the coming year. He said several groups will enter this Easter and there will also be ordinations to the priesthood around the time of Pentecost.

"We are part of an historic moment in the Church," Monsignor Newton concluded. "We each have an important part to play in realizing the possibilities and opportunities this year has set before us, remembering that nothing will be achieved without prayer and holiness of life."

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Day for Jewish-Catholic Dialogue Marked in Italy

Reflect on Commandment 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'

ROME, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Today in Italy marks the Day for Dialogue Between Catholics and Jews, and the reflection continued with a 10-year program on the Ten Commandments, this year focused on "Thou shalt not kill."

The annual dialogue day was established by the Italian bishops' conference in 1990.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, retired president of the Italian Rabbinic Assembly, explained that the aim of the day "is to simplify and intensify Jewish-Christian dialogue."

"To this end," he said, "Jews and Catholics meet to reflect especially on those themes we can confront together, such as the search for peace and mutual understanding after 2,000 years of misinterpretation and distressing events. Thus, both the Catholic and Jewish worlds await this day with high expectations, because the more dialogue is consolidated the more the risk of anti-Semitism diminishes."

Following their program on the Ten Commandments, the theme for this year led the group to reflect on the command not to kill.

"The command not to kill is vital for men and women, irrespective of their membership of one religion or the other," the rabbi noted. "It is vital to respect and honor human life in all its sacredness and uniqueness. This is an important theme for our own times, in which throughout the world respect for human life is often ignored and violated."

Father Gino Battaglia, director of the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, observed that "the rich Jewish tradition, developed through millennia of studying the Law, makes a fundamental contribution. Yet the validity of this Commandment is evident, and not only in the literal sense of murder being a crime. I am thinking, for example, of the battle to abolish the death penalty, the problem of widespread violence ... and of respect for life. In this sense, Jewish-Christian dialogue takes concrete form in its commitment to society and to the world."

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India Missionaries Serving in 166 Countries

'Mission Territory' Sending Faithful to Evangelize the Globe

ROME, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- India, regarded for a long time as mission territory, has become one of the countries that sends most missionaries abroad.

This was confirmed at a conference earlier this month in Bangalore, organized by the nation's bishops and panel of religious superiors.

Eglises d'Asie, the news agency of the Foreign Missions of Paris, reported that according to Indian Father Balthazar Castelino of the Foreign Missions of Paris, himself currently on mission in Madagascar, India's missionaries today are present in 166 countries.

The missionary, who is also administrative secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar, believes the number of Indian missionaries at present is about 15,000. A figure that "far from being exaggerated" looks like it will increase in the near future, said Father Castelino, who pointed out that today more than 214 religious congregations send members of Indian nationality to missions abroad.

The testimonies of participants and the statistics established at the congress also showed that the great majority of these missionaries are working primarily in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific area.

At the end of this first consultation, the participants published a statement stressing the need to create an official structure within the Church in India, which will make possible the formation and preparation of future missionaries, and also give logistical and financial support to evangelization ad extra.

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Church in Congo Begins Non-Violence Program

Angelus Bell Taken as Symbol of Peaceful Protest

By Nieves San Martin

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Last Saturday all the bells of the parishes of the Democratic Republic of Congo rang to invite people to the Marian prayer of the Angelus. The bells also were intended to symbolize a cry of non-violent protest by the Congolese people.

This bell-ringing will be repeated every Saturday of this month, as part of a program of formation in peace-building announced by the bishops at the end of their recently concluded plenary assembly.

The closing Mass of the assembly of the National Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (NECCO) took place in the cathedral of Kinshasa last Thursday. During it, NECCO's general secretary, Father Leonard Santedi, read a statement of the Congolese bishops , titled "Courage of the Truth," in which they addressed the situation of their country.

Following the general elections, disputed by international observers and the Church, there has been tension between the Church and the government of President Joseph Kabila. Some of the media have published defamatory remarks about the cardinal archbishop of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.

"A state of law is not built on a culture of cheating, lies and terror," state the bishops in their declaration. "What has happened on computing the results of the legislative elections is unacceptable. It is a disgrace for our country."

They lament the "disquieting irregularities and weaknesses," as well as the "climate of terror maintained and exploited," to alter the ballot boxes that make questionable "the credibility of the published results."

The bishops also condemn the campaign of disparagement orchestrated publicly against Cardinal Monsengwo, who in a press conference expressed his opinion that the result of the presidential election was not "in keeping with the truth or justice."

The bishops request that the international community favor "the interest of the Congolese people, that it support the Congolese people in their quest for justice and peace, and that it respect their self-determination."

They ask the people not to give in to pessimism, despair, violence, tribalism or xenophobia; they request politicians to give proof of maturity and responsibility, and Parliament to revise the composition of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which does not enjoy the trust of the people.

New impulse

Those present in the cathedral applauded the statement. One of those present told ZENIT that it was "as if it were a new impulse that drew the people out of their disappointment and humiliation."

At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Monsengwo announced a series of actions inspired by non-violence. To implement the program a meeting was held with all the country's pastoral agents in the parish of St. Joseph of Matonge, Kinshasa.

Jacinthe, a Congolese Catholic teacher who attended the meeting, told ZENIT that the pastoral agents are very much in tune with the Catholic Church at this time, because it "is playing a good role in this critical situation. The people are most grateful."

Jacinthe expressed her emotion when participating in the Mass in the cathedral on Thursday, during which the faithful felt that the Church is on their side. "You can't imagine how complete and important it is. We received it with cries, tears of joy. A real resurrection," added Jacinthe.

At the end of the Mass, the cardinal invited and encouraged those present to take part in formation and peaceful manifestations and, above all, to try to live non-violence every day.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

The text of the declaration in French is available on NECCO's Web page: http://www.cenco.cd/

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NEWS BRIEFS

St. Anthony Abbot: An Italian Tradition

Animals Blessed in St. Peter's Square to Mark Today's Feast

By Pietro Barbini

ROME, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Today is the feast day of St. Anthony, Abbot. Even though he was an Egyptian hermit, his day has been marked in a special way in Italy for many centuries.

The feast of St. Anthony, considered to be the founder of monastic life, is celebrated not only by the Catholic Church, but also by the Lutheran and Coptic Churches. His life was handed down to us by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who was his faithful disciple and companion in the fight against Arianism.

Italians mark his memory with a variety of vigils, processions, special blessings, parades and gigantic bonfires, along with open air celebrations involving songs, music and historical re-evocations that recount the life and miracles of the saint. This takes place generally between Jan. 16 and 17.

The celebrations usually start with a vigil, which is followed by the opening of the stands filled with the food typical of the local region. The following morning, after Mass, bonfires are lit, after being blessed by the parish priest. During the day and into the evening there is dancing, singing and food-tasting, accompanied by folkloric music and dramatic performances of several kinds, such as the reading of poetry and folk tales.

In addition to the bonfire, there is also a the custom of having the parish priest bless the fields, cattle and harvest. St. Anthony is the patron of butchers, peasants, breeders and domestic animals.

Many entrust themselves to his intercession, asking for healing of illnesses, but also praying for release from the devil. In religious art, St. Anthony is known as "the saint of the demonic temptations"; in fact, he was continually attacked during his life, tempted and tormented by the devil, at times even physically.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Jan. 17 was marked by a blessing of animals in St. Peter's Square. Presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, the animals included chickens, sheep, goats and horses.

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INTERVIEW

A Wish for Jewish-Catholic Dialogue in 2012

Founder of Pave the Way Foundation Speaks on Steps for the Future

By Anita Bourdin

ROME, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's invitation to promote peace by working with the youth is right on target, according to the Jewish founder of a New York-based organization that aims to reconcile religions.

Gary Krupp, founder of the Pave the Way Foundation, spoke with ZENIT on the occasion of the annual day of Jewish-Catholic dialogue, celebrated in Italy today.

ZENIT: On the occasion of the annual day of dialogue with Judaism organized by the Catholic Church in Italy today, could you explain the aim of the Pave the Way Foundation, which you founded?

Krupp: The Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF) is a non-sectarian organization that seeks to remove obstacles between the world's religions. Jewish-Catholic dialogue has been an important part of understanding one another's faith traditions and that clears away prejudices and hatred. PTWF, however, concentrates our efforts on identifying concrete obstacles and seeks to remove them. First, through our historic gestures we establish a level of trust and then we can move to accomplish our core mission. Religion must be removed as a tool to justify private agendas. Removal of this abuse makes dialogue easier.

ZENIT: The message of Pope Benedict for the World Day of Peace 2012 is focussed on educating the youth in justice and peace: How can we put into practice this invitation for peace between religions?

Krupp: The message of Pope Benedict XVI is exactly right on. It is the youth who must learn the truth about the problems of today if we ever hope to solve them. The hidden problem in learning, however, is the international media and its abuse of its awesome power to control ideas and thinking. News reports today intentionally editorialize and push private agendas, which muddies the truth and in turn creates hostility, hatred and in some cases death. Along with the Pope's remarks, I would add a statement of caution to the youth of today. Take care to weigh what you learn from news reports and mass media. Question the report; go to original local sources in order to seek the true story. Then try to find solutions based on the facts, not unbalanced and biased reporting.

ZENIT: You have come several times to Rome and you have been received by John Paul II and Benedict XVI: Do you remember one of these meetings as especially important for you?

Krupp: Our fantastic meetings with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have been life changing. One was July 29, 2000, I received a telephone call from then Archbishop Renato Martino, that the Pope invested me as a Papal Knight of St. Gregory the Great. It was this action that changed the course of my life's work, prompting my wife Meredith and I to form Pave the Way Foundation (Merry came up with the name).

Specifically, two of the most important recollections in meeting with both Holy Fathers are, first: Jan. 18, 2005, when PTWF organized the Jewish audience to simply thank Pope John Paul II for all he had done in religious reconciliation with Jewish people. Watching three rabbis bless the Pope in Hebrew in the Clementine Hall and seeing tears in the eyes of the Pope will forever be etched in my memory.

The second most memorable meeting was when we presented the Bodmer Papyrus to Pope Benedict XVI with our wonderful friend and donor, Mr. Frank Hanna III, on Jan. 22, 2007. After our presentation ceremony, I gave the Pope a little framed photo of the rainbow that appeared in the sky when he blessed the memorial at Auschwitz. I took this photo when we accompanied the Pope with Jerzy Kluger to Poland, May 27, 2006. Pope Benedict was emotionally moved with this seemingly insignificant gift. The Pope asked me, "Was this Auschwitz?" I said, "Yes, Holy Father, I took this picture myself." He seemed almost as excited about this little photo of the rainbow and God's sign of approval in Poland, as he was in accepting the most important Christian manuscript in existence today.

ZENIT: How important is the Yad Vashem research on the Righteous Among the Nations for the dialogue between Jews and Catholics?

Krupp: Yad Vashem's research is precise and exacting and I believe extremely important in Jewish-Catholic relations. PTWF submission of the evidence in the case for Eugenio Pacelli as "Righteous Among the Nations" should be given immediate attention so that the black legend regarding Pope Pius XII is corrected by truth and facts. This is Jewish responsibility since we have amassed a huge amount of evidence that Eugenio Pacelli was indeed one of the great heroes to the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Ingratitude is one of the worst character flaws in Judaism; the acceptance of the truth of Pacelli's personal heroism, I believe, is essential to bring my Jewish brothers and sisters to redemption. Eugenio Pacelli's reputation must be restored to where it was before the KGB intentionally began the greatest character assassination of the 20th century. This KGB Operation called "Seat Twelve" successfully accomplished its mission to isolate the Jews from the Catholics at the very moment of religious reconciliation with "Nostra Aetate."

ZENIT: How can a media organization such as ZENIT participate in changing mentalities and promoting peace?

Krupp: ZENIT's work throughout the years has been exemplary in reporting the truth and always in a positive manner. I can only encourage that when reporting on issues as sensitive as the Holy Land that the news reports are fair and the story reflects both sides of the conflict. Often, too many reports of Palestinian suffering supersede any mention of Israeli suffering, with the constant rocket attacks against civilian populations. Since there are 1.1 million Israeli citizens who are Muslim Arabs, violence against Israelis is against all Israelis, Christians, and Muslims as well. It is these acts of violence that first prompted the necessity for sea blockades, security checkpoints and a security wall. If the violence ends, then these security measures, so often criticized, can be lifted. If one seeks peace, they must stand in everyone's shoes.

ZENIT: What is your wish for Jewish-Catholic dialogue in 2012?

Krupp: In 2012, my wish is that the intense work of posting 46,000 pages of documents and news articles and video recording of eyewitnesses of the actions of the Holy See during WWII, will be finally studied in a serious way, so that this 48-year-old obstacle between Jews and Catholics can be eradicated. Our wish is that God grants wisdom to the negotiators of the Fundamental Agreements between Israel and the Holy See. This diplomatic obstacle should be completely resolved soon after 17 years of negotiations. Pave the Way Foundation's goal recognizes that resolution of these two issues will "pave the way" to the wonderful positive relations between Jews and Catholics.

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LITURGY

"Cup" Instead of "Chalice"

And More on Crucifixes

ROME, JAN. 17, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: Why does the second response to the celebrant's invitation, "The mystery of faith" retain the term "cup" instead of "chalice" as contained in the words of consecration? Is this an error in translation or is it correct? -- T.A., Makurdi, Nigeria

A: I was not involved in the translation so, to be quite honest, anything I say will be speculative at best.

The text says: "When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again."

It is unlikely to have been a simple oversight or a cut-and-paste job because the acclamation has been changed. The former translation said: "When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory."

The new translation of this text is generally more accurate even though in this case the Latin calicem is translated "cup" instead of "chalice" as is done elsewhere in the missal.

By keeping the word "cup," it is probable that the translator wanted to follow as close as possible the original inspiration for this acclamation in 1 Corinthians 11:23-28:

"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup."

Practically all English-language Bibles translate the Greek poterion as "cup" rather than chalice, as current English attributes a technical meaning to this word which it did not have in the original. In a similar vein the word calicem in Latin can refer to many drinking and cooking vessels and not just those reserved for liturgical use.

These memorial acclamations constitute a novelty within the Latin rite, and they were only introduced with the liturgical reform. With the removal of the acclamation "Christ has died …," which was found only in the English missal, the remaining three are basically scriptural quotes.

For this reason I think the translator is justified in following here the commonly accepted biblical translation while translating the same word as "chalice" in the texts that manifest the Church's 2,000-year development of her liturgical traditions.

Although respecting the biblical text is probably the principal reason for retaining "cup," the translator may also have been influenced by a desire to allow continued use of melodies already well-known by the faithful who often sing this part of the Mass. The addition of an extra syllable would likely make this particular text a bit more difficult to manage.

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Follow-up: Covering the Crucifix

There were several inquiries regarding the crucifix (see Dec. 20). A reader from Zambia asked which direction the figure of Christ should face when the cross is placed upon the altar itself or when the processional cross is used as the altar cross. Answer: In both cases the figure of Christ should face toward the celebrant. This is the current practice for papal Masses in Rome.

When there is a large crucifix present behind or suspended above the altar, there is no need for other crosses to be placed upon or near the altar itself.

A figure of the Risen Lord or any other similar image of Christ does not substitute the crucifix.

The crucifix, however, may adopt any of several historical styles. As well as the more common form of a dying or deceased Christ, it is possible to use an image of the Regal Christ. This image has the Savior with arms outstretched on the cross but alive, fully robed and sometimes wearing a kingly crown as the one who reigns from the cross. According to art historians, this form of representing Christ crucified was quite common until the Middle Ages, when the more dramatic images of the dying Christ became more popular in art and devotion.

This question arose with the beginning of Mass facing the people. Beforehand, both people and celebrant always faced toward the crucifix. The source for the answer is a clarification published in Latin in the review Notitiae in 1966. Although Notitiae is hard to find, the website www.ipsissima-verba.org has performed an invaluable service in publishing the most important responses and clarifications issued by this review which is the official organ of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Not all of the replies have the same legal force, and some are outdated, but the fact that the material is available on the web saves a lot time in the library.

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