I was up bright and early on Wednesday morning to watch the announcement live myself. Here's John Allen's take on the new cardinals.

By the way, I made my cardinal countdown a couple weeks ago and posted it on the wall and it worked... when Cardinal Lara died last Tuesday, they asked why the number went down one. Then, when I told them about the consistory on Wednesday, they asked why I hadn't adjusted the number yet. Of course, they can't say I was boring them with trivial church matters because they were the ones who were asking!

Have you made yours yet?

Labels: Catholic education, international, Vatican

The Vatican Information Service began publishing again today after their summer hiatus. What a way to start:

Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. released the following declaration at midday today:

"At around 7.30 a.m. today Alessandro Benedetti, aged 26 and a member of the Corps of the Gendarmerie of Vatican City State, was found in a bathroom of the Gendarmerie's barracks in a very grave condition with a gunshot wound. The young man was taken immediately to Santo Spirito Hospital where he died at around 9 a.m.

"Initial evidence would seem to suggest that the young man committed suicide. A note found on the scene is currently being studied by Vatican magistrates who are following the case and who will examine the information that emerges from the autopsy which has been requested by the Italian coroner.

"Alessandro Benedetti was recruited into the Corps of the Gendarmerie last April as a 'gendarme cadet' following the usual psychological aptitude selection process, also concerning the handling of weapons

"His behavior had not, until now, given cause for concern.

"The Holy Father learnt the news with great sadness. He entrusts young Alessandro to the mercy of God, and remains spiritually close to the Benedetti family and to the members of the Gendarmerie."

In other news:

- Accepted the resignation from the office of president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, presented by Cardinal Paul Poupard, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Gianfranco Ravasi, prefect of the Ambrosian Library of Milan, Italy, as president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church, and of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Merate, Italy, in 1942 and was ordained a priest in 1966.

No doubt other more savvy bloggers will pick this up throughout the day and offer learned commentary.

Labels: Vatican

CNA on Arturo Mari:

Arturo Mari, who spent 51 years photographing the diverse episodes of the lives of the popes, has begun sharing his first memories of his long career after his recent retirement.
...
Mari recalled the beginning of his career, when he accompanied Pius XII to Vatican Radio on the outskirts of the Vatican City State. The short journey was almost an international trip for a Pontiff as discreet as Pius XII.

Mari also attended the opening of Vatican II and the first surprising trips outside the Vatican of now Blessed John XXIII to hospitals, prisons and even to the new Roman airport. But the Italian photographer’s international adventures began with John Paul II.

Mari said there was one thing he has never done: keep a secret picture for himself, especially after the ones he took during the attempt on John Paul’s life in St. Peter’s Square. “I don’t even know how I took them,” he recalled. “The same happened at the Gemelli Hospital, when I had to take a picture of him in bed. He said to me, ‘I’m still alive.’ I just cried and I couldn’t see anything.”

Mari has his favorite pictures. The one he considers the most important was taken during John Paul II’s last Via Crucis, when the elderly Pope asked for a crucifix. He rested his forehead on the cross. “That is the most emblematic photo of his Pontificate,” Mari said.

He has been called as a witness in the beatification process of John Paul II and without entering into details, he said he was a witness to miracles, cures, exorcisms and conversions.

Now 68, Mari said he is looking forward to resting and spending time with his family. “My dream is to see John Paul II beatified. I respect the Church’s timetable, but I am impatient,” he confessed.

Labels: Vatican

From Sotto Voce:

Did he do all that he could have done, all that he should have done?

Controversy over the conduct of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust has raged for over 40 years.

Pius's once sterling reputation for having done what he could behind the scenes for persecuted Jews first came under sustained attack in 1963, when Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy cast his failure to publicly denounce the Nazi genocide in an anti-Semitic light.

...

Would German Catholics have stopped the entire genocide machine in its tracks, or would open enmity have simply caused the Nazis to turn their murderous impulses on the Vatican or on Catholics in general, while doing nothing for Jews?

An interesting post follows.

Labels: history, Vatican

After last week's letter to the Catholics of China and tomorrow's Motu Proprio, it looks like we'll have more to read next Tuesday [h/t Rorate Caeli]:

Andrea Tornielli reports today in Il Giornale that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is about to release a Doctrinal Document stating in definitive and clear terms the interpretation of the Lumen Gentium passage according to which, "Haec ...unica Christi Ecclesia ... in hoc mundo ut societas constituta et ordinata, subsistit in Ecclesia catholica" ("this ...one Church of Christ ... constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church")

Rorate Caeli has an actual translation with more background that you can check out.

Labels: dissent, doctrine, Vatican

Il Giornale is reporting that Archbishop Marini will be named the President of the Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. Fr. Z. has the scoop.

Labels: Vatican

Robert Miller takes issue with the Ten Commandments of Driving over at First Things. Can anyone justify the writing of this document? I have yet to read one explanation that helps this to make any sense and show how this is going to assist anyone in the world.

What we have here, in fact, is a bureaucracy wildly out of control. It’s as if some ecclesiastical Dr. Frankenstein patched together a high school drivers-ed manual and the Compendium of Catholic Social Thought to produce some raving intellectual monstrosity let loose on the world to announce most solemnly the most absurd banalities decorated with irrelevant quotations from Scripture and the Second Vatican Council. Or, rather, it’s worse than that, but I don’t really know how to express it. It’s the kind thing that can’t be expressed but can only be experienced. Go look at the document for yourself.

Now, about two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, assumed human nature and was born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again in glory, redeeming the human race from sin, opening the gates of heaven, and completely transforming human history. In his final words to his apostles, he commanded them to go forth and teach all nations and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In thus sending forth the apostles, our Blessed Lord saw no need to add, “Drive safely!” For wisdom of that order, we had wait for Cardinal Martino.

Labels: Vatican

Cardinal Levada's interview is in this week's America Magazine (subscribers only). Rocco has a post up about it that includes a summary with short clips that are very representative of the entire interview.

The part I found the most interesting was when Levada discussed his relationship to the pope. I thought they had been close friends and had worked together a bit more over the past 25 years:

Pope Benedict came as prefect of this office in late 1981, when I was in my last year as an official in the congregation. I was here with him for four or five months. Later Cardinal Ratzinger appointed me to be a bishop-member of the editorial committee of the catechism project, and we met frequently, two or three times a year, sometimes for a period of a week or two at a time. We reviewed all of the 25,000 or so suggestions, amendments and other items sent in by the bishops of the world. At one point it was necessary to bring extra people in to help until we got the work done. I’ve known Pope Benedict over the years in different capacities, and I feel that I know him well enough through the work we are doing and have done together.

On their weekly meetings:

We meet on Fridays at 6 p.m. in the library of his apartment on the fourth floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. Thirty to 45 minutes would be the typical length of a meeting, and we speak in Italian. It’s more convenient for the pope, so that he doesn’t have to jump from language to language, even though he’s quite capable in many languages. Most of his work is in Italian now, the common language used in the Roman Curia.

Is your meeting strictly business?

It’s not chit chat, but some small talk that might be of interest to the pope, yes, there’s that. There are many things that I might refer to him—articles, news reports, meetings. I would also let him know items of my schedule related to the work in the congregation.

Interesting. Catch Rocco's post for more info.

Labels: U.S. Church, Vatican

From tonight's Zenit (my emphasis):

Benedict XVI will send the monetary gifts he received for his 80th birthday and the second anniversary of his pontificate to the Holy Land, Africa and other needy regions.

The Pope turned 80 on Monday and marked the second anniversary of his election on Thursday.

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the Holy Father's personal secretary, reported the intended destination of the gifts on Vatican Radio.

The cardinals of the Roman Curia gave the Pontiff a gift of €100,000 ($135,000) during the lunch they had with him in the Apostolic Palace on the day of his birthday, April 16.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, presented Benedict XVI the gift, asking him that, if possible, the needs of Christians in the Holy Land could be kept in mind.

Where does all this money come from?

Labels: Pope Benedict, Vatican

From the Hindu News Update:

The Malayalam version of the Catholic Church's official organ, L'Osservatore Romano, will be launched at a function here tomorrow, becoming the first edition of the Vatican journal in a non-European language.

Started in 1861, L'Osservatore covers the activities of the Pope, reviews encyclicals issued by the pontiff and carries general news concerning the Catholic Church the world over, according to its local publishers, Carmel International Publishing House.

Its Italian edition is a daily and the English version a weekly. The Malayalam edition will be a weekly one.

French, German, Spanish and Portuguese are the other languages in which the journal is published.

The Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, will launch the Malayalam version by presenting a copy to former Union minister and Congress leader Margaret Alwa tomorrow.

Labels: international, Vatican

NLM posted a text from Rorate Caeli which is supposedly from La Stampa saying that the "motu Proprio" will be released between the Annunciation (March 25) and Easter.

That to me is all well and good speculation, speculation I might add, that's been going on for six months. Thus, I refuse to waste a post on it.

What I really wanted to show was an interview with Cardinal Catrillon from Rorate Caeli that was much more interesting. He starts:

Eminence, indiscretions regarding the publication of a Motu Proprio which would liberalize the Latin Mass of Saint Pius V have spread widely for several months...

"The Holy Father has this situation under his eyes of universal Shepherd of the Church. Naturally, [the matter] being in his hands, we do not advance any particular note regarding it, out of holy respect. The personal interest of the Holy Father regarding the liturgy is, nonetheless, known to all, [as well as] his profound knowledge of the same, his veneration for tradition and, at the same time, his clear position to put into practice all that the Holy Spirit gave the Church in the Second Vatican Council. These are the parameters through which the historical difficulties regarding [this matter] are examined."

Cardinals Alfons Maria Stickler and Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, have declared that the Mass of Saint Pius V has never been abolished. What do you think of it?

"Cardinals Stickler and Medina are right, and their opinions are followed by the opinions of liturgy experts, other cardinals and bishops. We have ourselves studied the problem and we deem that the ancient Mass has never been forbidden. On the other hand, it is very important, to have a clear mind, to grasp the light which comes from the Successor of Peter. According to the thinking of the Holy Father, clearly expressed, there are two forms of the Roman Rite: the ordinary form, which is the Mass of Paul VI, and the extraordinary form, which is the Mass of Saint Pius V."

On Lefebvre:

"Retracing the complete life story of Archbishop Lefebvre, we are certain of the great esteem and appreciation of the Church for him. He was considered worthy of being an Archbishop, Apostolic Delegate, Superior-General of his religious congregation; by speaking to people who knew him during the exercise of his ministry, the fecundity of his life is discovered.

"Yet, with the same clarity, according to the most genuine tradition of the Church, it cannot be accepted that a bishop may consecrate another bishop without a pontifical mandate, or that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Councils, and in particular for their importance, in ecumenical Councils, be disputed.

"Archbishop Lefebvre - it is important to stress this - signed the documents of the Second Vatican Council, even though he was critical towards them, either regarding the texts, or regarding their interpretation."

Labels: liturgy, Vatican

John Thavis gives us a preview of the Pope's retreat this coming week:

Continuing an 80-year-old papal tradition, Pope Benedict XVI is canceling regular audiences and clearing his calendar to make a weeklong Lenten retreat.

...

Chosen to preach the Feb. 25-March 3 retreat this year was Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, the retired archbishop of Bologna, who is making an unusual second appearance. In 1989, he led the Lenten retreat for Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Biffi has a reputation for outspokenness, and perhaps his history of verbal fireworks led the pope to bring him back for another round. The papal retreat is attended by the Roman Curia and involves many hours of sermons and meditations, and the ability to keep people awake is a requisite for the job.

...

Cardinal Biffi, who is 78, will preach on the theme, "The Things Above," which refers to St. Paul's letter advising early Christians to "think of what is above, not of what is on earth."

...

The retreat opens with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, an evening prayer service and an introductory talk. Each day afterward, the retreat master gives three meditations in morning and afternoon sessions, accompanied by prayer and reflection.

As the retreat goes on, the Roman Curia machinery winds down. Not everyone attends the entire program of spiritual exercises, but the top officials in each office are encouraged to do so, and the pope's Redemptoris Mater Chapel fills up quickly.

The pope disappears for a week, too. No private audiences, no liturgies, no working lunches. Even the Wednesday general audience is canceled, to the disappointment of pilgrims who chose this week to be in Rome.

Pope Benedict certainly has plenty to do: the final review of a long-awaited post-synodal document, a book on Jesus due out this spring, a backlog of "ad limina" appointments with bishops and a string of homilies and talks to prepare for the coming weeks.

Second Preview: John Allen interviewed Fr. Cantalamessa about this year's Good Friday homily that he will preach in Saint Peter's:

On Good Friday, when Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the Preacher of the Papal Household, delivers his annual homily in St. Peter’s Basilica before the pope, he’s likely to reflect on modern martyrdom and the suffering of Christians for the faith, though without addressing the issue of “reciprocity” in Christian-Muslim relations, he said Feb. 21.

Cantalamessa sat down for an interview with NCR on the margins of his Feb. 21 appearance at Seton Hall University.

When Cantalamessa preaches in St. Peter's on April 6, it will mark the 28th time the 72-year-old Italian Capuchin has delivered the Good Friday homily before the pope. The homily is considered a cornerstone of the Catholic year, and is broadcast around the world on television and radio, as well as reprinted in full in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

Cantalamessa told NCR this his style over the years has been to try to “remain open” to inspiration up to the last minute. He has not yet begun writing a text for this year, he said. Because the homily must be distributed to translators a few days before Good Friday, he said he’ll probably produce a draft in late March. Even so, Cantalamessa said, he reserves the right to amend it on the fly if he feels the Spirit nudging him in a given direction.

...

The first year he delivered the Good Friday homily, he timed his text based on his normal rate of delivery. Just before he began, however, one of the ceremonial officials from the papal household warned him that the echoes in St. Peter’s tend to reverberate, and therefore he should slow down. Cantalamessa said that by the time he was finished, it took him fully ten minutes longer than expected to deliver the homily. He said he was nervous about exceeding his time limit, especially because he could see one of John Paul’s aides repeatedly checking his watch as the homily drug on.

Later, however, he bumped into the aide while doing other Vatican business, and the aide told him something which put his mind at ease. Apparently, Cantalamessa was not the only one who noticed the aide fretting about the time.

“The pope called me in the next day,” the aide said to Cantalamessa, “and told me, ‘When a man of God is speaking, you shouldn’t be looking at your watch.’”

From that point forward, Cantalamessa said, time limits were never an issue.

You may remember last year's homily in which he spoke about the Gospel of Judas and The DaVinci Code. This homily is always something to watch carefully.

Labels: Lent, Pope Benedict, reflection, Vatican

John Allen has an interesting post on a panel he participated in recently:

I was in Los Angeles yesterday for a conference at Loyola Marymount University on “Catholics and Politics.” The morning panel dealt with the politics of the Vatican, and featured myself, Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese, and Eric Hanson of Santa Clara University; the afternoon session, devoted to the Church and American secular politics, included Kristin E. Heyer of LMU, Matthew Streb of Northern Illinois University, and Mark Rozell of George Mason University.

Here's what Reese said:

Reese, for example, argued that modern political “best practices” should be applied to the reform of the Roman Curia. He suggested six points:
• The Vatican should be a bureaucracy rather than a court, meaning that no Vatican official should be a bishop, archbishop or cardinal, to make it more clear that they serve the pope and bishops;
• Legislative bodies in the church, including the Synod of Bishops, should be strengthened;
• Congregations in the Curia should become synodal committees;
• The church should have an independent judiciary;
• Bishops should be elected at the local level;
• Bishops’ conferences should become local councils, with real deliberative authority.

I know you're all falling over with surprise. Here's John Allen's response:

I told him I agreed, on the basis of three considerations: 1) a powerful Catholic Identity movement in the West means that we are in a period of reaffirming, not reforming, existing structures, doctrines, and practices; 2) the increasingly important churches of the South generally they do not see ad intra reform as a priority; 3) the distinction Reese implied between matters of “universal” and “local” concern flirts with being an anachronism in an age of 24/7, instantaneous global communication, in which anything that happens anywhere on the planet can immediately become “universal.”

His other interesting contribution:

I was asked to address the “Politics of Papal Elections,” and I took a descriptive tack, based on my experience of covering the conclave of April 2005 -- most notably, interviewing eight of the 115 electors after the fact for my book The Rise of Benedict XVI.

In a nutshell, I argued that journalists and armchair handicappers alike tended to misdiagnose the conclave by treating it as a referendum on issues in the church, such as papal primacy, Islam, women, the sexual abuse crisis, and so on. In fact, I suggested, cardinals generally understood themselves to be voting for a person, not a “candidate” in the secular political sense, and thus individual evaluations were far more important – how smart a person is this? How trustworthy is he? Will he listen? Is he holy?

I suggested that one useful parallel to a conclave may be the election of a department chair in a university. With a few exceptions, faculty members do not generally look to set the ideological direction of the department when they pick a chair. They’re looking for someone they know, someone they trust, who they feel will be a competent manager, and who will give them a fair shake in divvying up office space, making teaching assignments, approving sabbaticals, and so on. They may ferociously disagree with a colleague on philosophical matters, but still see him or her as a good administrator. They’re looking to elect a friend, in other words, or at least a non-enemy, more than to make a statement.

Labels: politics, U.S. Church, Vatican

From Catholic News Service:

Listening to an early morning talk show on the radio one recent morning, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone grew annoyed as callers complained about the Vatican's "silence" on soccer violence.

So the Vatican's secretary of state picked up the phone and soon found himself on the air, giving listeners an earful.

Cardinal Bertone pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican newspaper and the cardinal himself had all condemned the recent killing of a policeman at a soccer match -- and said if people didn't know that, they weren't paying attention.

He added that it was a huge mistake to suggest, as some listeners had done, that the pope was somehow detached from the concerns of average people.

"This is just typical boorish ignorance," he said.

Historically, a Vatican secretary of state communicates in discreet, closed-door conversations and not via talk radio. But five months into his new job, Cardinal Bertone already has signaled that he's going to be different.

Instead of spending all day behind the scenes, dealing with foreign affairs and the administrative problems of the universal church, Cardinal Bertone frequently goes outside the Vatican walls to give speeches, say Mass or join in a debate.

That's a contrast with his diplomatically trained predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

"I think we're seeing a different style. Cardinal Sodano was an office person, at his desk from 7 in the morning until midnight, and he'd get his energy from that," said one Vatican source.

"Cardinal Bertone is more of a people person, an extrovert, and he needs the energy that comes from being in circulation," he said.

The media has warmed to the cardinal's personality and given him ample ink and airtime. As a result, the 72-year-old Salesian is building a reputation as a kind of populist pastor willing to speak his mind on a wide spectrum of topics -- from the importance of religious art to medical ethics.

Labels: international, Vatican

I found this story from CNS to be very interesting:

Rarely is a general audience talk interrupted by spontaneous applause, and Pope Benedict XVI seemed as surprised as anyone when the clapping began in the Vatican's audience hall.

The pope had been talking about the church's early times, and he set aside his text to drive home a point: The apostles and first disciples weren't perfect, but had their own arguments and controversies.

"This appears very consoling to me, because we see that the saints did not drop as saints from heaven. They were men like us with problems and even with sins," he said Jan. 31.

That's when the applause erupted among the 6,000 people in attendance. The pope paused, looked up and smiled awkwardly, then continued to ad lib about how holiness doesn't mean never making a mistake.

The moment marked a milestone for Pope Benedict as a communicator and demonstrated two important facts: First, the scholarly pontiff is focusing on uncomplicated lessons about the church and the faith. Second, when he talks, people listen.

The simple idea that saints were also sinners resonated with his audience, and journalists were among those eagerly awaiting the Vatican's official text of the pope's remarks. But a funny thing happened on the way to the printing presses.

When the Vatican press office released the text two hours later, gone was the line about the sins of saints. Instead, the official version had the pope saying that the early saints "were men like us with problems that were complicated."

The pope spoke in Italian, and "con peccati" ("with sins") sounds like "complicati" ("complicated"). But a close listening to a tape confirmed that the pope had indeed been speaking about sins. The Vatican spoiled his applause line.

...

When Pope Benedict extemporizes, the Vatican press office scrambles to transcribe the talk and put it in the hands of the media. But before that happens, the transcript is sent to an office of the Secretariat of State, where it undergoes a "final polishing in Italian," Father Lombardi said.

The reasoning is that the German pope, although fluent in Italian, might use an awkward or imprecise phrase that could be rendered more elegantly.

Reporters have noticed these changes from the beginning of Pope Benedict's pontificate. Most are minor stylistic modifications. But some are more substantial and seem to suggest the presence of an overly cautious editor.

For example, when the pope learned in 2005 that Brother Roger Schutz of the Taize community had just been stabbed to death, he went out and told a general audience about what he called the "terrifying news." That was changed to "dramatic news" in the official version, which toned down his spoken remarks and drained it of the emotion the pope had expressed so well.

...

The problems stem partly from Pope Benedict's less formal style at the Wednesday general audiences.

In Pope John Paul II's later years, general audiences were primarily a mass photo op instead of a catechizing moment for those who attend. Most people came to see the pope, not hear a speech. That explains why reporters seeking reaction to papal remarks at the audience were usually met with blank stares.

But that is changing under Pope Benedict. For one thing, his diction is clear -- in contrast to that of his ailing predecessor.

Another big reason people pay attention is that the pope often puts down his printed text and drives his ideas home in simple asides. He seems to have a keen sense of when he's engaging people and when he risks going over their head.

Labels: media, Pope Benedict, Vatican

Vatican City may be the smallest sovereign nation in the world but sometimes it seems like its residents couldn't be further apart from each other. From John Allen:

Despite widespread suggestions in the press, and even last April from a Vatican cardinal, that Rome might be on the brink of allowing married couples to use condoms to block HIV/AIDS, a forthcoming document on bioethics from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will not treat this question, that office's number two official has revealed.

The congregation is also working on a project on the subject of natural law, said Archbishop Angelo Amato, the congregation’s secretary.

Amato said that any reconsideration on condoms would have to come from the doctrinal office, and therefore, “Opinions on these issues coming from other institutions or ecclesiastical personalities, however respectable, cannot have the authority that sometimes the mass media seems to want to suggest.”

In part, that appeared to be an indirect reference to comments from April 2006 by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President of the Pontifical Council for Health, who told reporters that his office had been asked by Pope Benedict XVI to study the use of condoms by a married couple when one spouse is HIV-positive and the other is not. Barragan made clear that he would be favorable to allowing condoms in that context, though he stressed that a final decision is up to the pope.

While church teaching bans artificial contraception, some bishops and theologians have argued that in the situation described above, the intent of condom use is not to block pregnancy but to block disease, and therefore condoms should be acceptable. The Vatican has never ruled on that question, and Amato’s comments indicate that it will not do so in the forthcoming document.

Several other cardinals, including Jean-Marie Lustiger, the former archbishop of Paris; Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former archbishop of Milan; Swiss Cardinal George Cottier, theologian of the Papal Household under John Paul II; Cardinal Godfriend Danneels of Belgium; and Cardinal Cormac Muphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, have all supported condoms in the context of AIDS in one fashion or another.

Amato described the document currently under preparation as a way to address new bioethical dilemmas, not to revisit the morality of birth control.

Labels: bioethics, moral issues, Vatican

A beautiful tradition... bumped up a day early since it falls tomorrow which is a Sunday. Rocco, as usual, gives a fine summary:

Every 21 January, the Popes have long marked the feast of St Agnes by blessing two lambs. This morning, moved up a day as the liturgical memorial falls on a Sunday, Benedict XVI continued the practice, blessing the lambs in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

The rite has a dual significance -- a lamb is the traditional symbol of the day's patron, whose name is the feminine form of "Agnus," and it's from the shorn wool of the blessed sheep that the Benedictine Sisters of S. Cecilia in Trastevere weave the year's crop of pallia, the ancient insignia proper to metropolitan archbishops which, for the last two decades, has been conferred on recent appointees to the world's residential archdioceses every 29 June, the solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul, at a papal liturgy. (John Paul II is shown above performing the blessing in 2004 at the close of the Wednesday audience. Before 1984, when Wojtyla instituted the "Pallium Mass," a new metropolitan received his pallium in his cathedral from the hands of a specially-appointed papal legate.)

Once the pallia are made, the lambs-wool bands return to the Vatican, where they're blessed by the Pope after spending the night before their conferral in a gold coffin directly over the tomb of St Peter.

Labels: Catholic culture, Pope Benedict, Vatican

The Code of Canon Law requires that all diocesan bishops submit a letter of resignation to the Holy See on their 75th birthday. After due consideration of various circumstances, the Holy See decides when to accept the resignation and appoint a successor (Canon 401, § 1). Likewise, in the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis of Pope John Paul II (February 22, 1996), a document which governs the papal interregnum and the conclave that elects a new Roman Pontiff, the prescript laid down by Paul VI that cardinals who have reached the age of 80 can no longer vote in the next papal conclave was confirmed. Thus, this becomes a significant milestone in the life of a prince of the Church.

During the year, eight cardinals will turn 80 years old. Some of these eight held or currently hold important positions in the Church. First among them is Cardinal Sodano, who just relinquished his role as the second-in-command at the Vatican as the Secretary of State in September. The Chamberlain, Cardinal Somalo, who plays a key role in a papal interregnum will turn 80 in March. Cardinal Martini, S.J., often mentioned as a possible candidate for the papacy in the last conclave, will celebrate his birthday in March. Finally, Cardinal Szoka, an American who until this past September was the head of Vatican City-State, will turn 80 in September. Rounding out the list are Cardinals Rivera of Mexico City, Paskai of Budapest, Macharski of Krakow, and Vithayathil of the Syro-Malabar Rite in India.

Going into the new year, there are fifteen Ordinaries in the United States who are already past the normal retirement age, including two cardinals (Maida of Detroit and Keeler of Baltimore) and two archbishops (Kelly of Louisville and Lipscomb of Mobile).

In 2007, one cardinal, Edward Egan of New York, will turn 75 (April 2) along with Cardinal Stafford, an American native, who is currently the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome (July 26). Two archbishops, Eldin Curtiss of Omaha (June 16) and Alfred Hughes of New Orleans (December 2) will reach this milestone.

Four ordinaries will turn 75 this year. They are Bishops Nevins of Venice (January 19), Murray of Kalamazoo (July 5), Moynihan of Syracuse (July 16), and D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend (August 18). The list also includes three auxiliaries: Bishops Quinn of Cleveland (April 8), Dougherty of Scranton (April 29), and Chavez of San Diego (May 9).

Original location

Labels: U.S. Bishops, Vatican

Labels: international, politics, Vatican

Well I just played the Christmas Vigil for the Episcopalians... more on that in a later post. My friend William will enjoy my thoughts.

I'm relaxing before going to see family while watching the Holy Father's Midnight Mass which is beautiful. Some interesting things I've seen is the presence of a volunteer choir singing the psalm which was beautiful. A young guy from Bismarck read the second reading. He is a student at the NAC. Both the young boys in the choir and the old bishops look like they could fall asleep standing up! It sounds like Archbishop Foley is giving the English commentary which can be quite cumbersome to someone who knows all the prayers anyway. I wish he'd be quiet sometimes so I can hear the singing and the Holy Father!

Well, Mike Aquilina has some great things to say over at Way of the Fathers. Block out some time to read it... I must say it's beautiful and gives lots of history.

I'll be around posting here and there. Midnight for me is in Taunton tonight so who knows when I'll have a chance to post again.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Labels: Christmas, personal, Pope Benedict, Vatican

Forgot to post this yesterday from CNS:

Unless the Catholic Church can show the world concrete models of male-female cooperation in positions of responsibility and decision-making, the church will continue to struggle against charges that it is chauvinistic, said Mary Ann Glendon.

The Harvard law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences said church teaching that women and men are equal, but not identical, is a healthy corrective to the feminism of the late 20th century, which, she said, promoted a "unisex society."

Glendon and Lucetta Scaraffia, a professor at Rome's La Sapienza University, spoke at a Dec. 15 Rome conference on "Feminism and the Catholic Church."

Both women argued that, despite a widely held prejudice, for centuries the Catholic Church has been a key promoter of women's dignity and equality, particularly by offering them education and through women's religious orders, which raised up generations of strong, creative leaders.

While most people, including Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, recognize more must be done to include women in church decision-making, Glendon said, "the right things have been said at the highest levels."

When Glendon speaks, I listen. I have a lot of respect for her. I remember reading her article "The Hour of the Laity" in First Things in response to the sex abuse scandal [read it here]. What a wonderful daughter of the Church!

Labels: feminism, Vatican

From tonight's Zenit:

From now on, Rome's four patriarchal basilicas will be called "papal" basilicas.

Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, made that announcement Monday.

At a press conference, the cardinal clarified that "many thought that the title 'patriarchal' referred to the fact that through the latter the Pope exercised his title of 'Patriarch of the West,' in contrast to the 'Patriarch of the East,' something which is not at all true."

For historical and ecumenical reasons, Benedict XVI has decided to give up the title "Patriarch of the West."

The basilicas to be known henceforth as "papal" rather than "patriarchal" are St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul's Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major.

"The four basilicas had been given in the past by the popes, as a base in Rome, to the Catholic Eastern patriarchs, not as an official title," clarified the cardinal. "Therefore, the Pope has decided that from now on the four major basilicas will be called 'papal' basilicas."

Labels: Pope Benedict, Vatican

I greeted this week's news of the Holy See's agreement with Bishop Bruskewitz's excommunication decision of certain fringe groups ten years ago with joy. Although excommunication is never joyful, it can sometimes be necessary. These groups, on both the right and left of the theological spectrum, are so far from the middle that they've literally fallen off the radar.

Take Call to Action, for example. There's nothing wrong with being in favor of relaxing the discipline of mandatory celibacy for priests of the Latin Rite, since it is just a discipline (one that I happen to love, by the way) and could be changed. However, existing in order to protest women's ordination and the Church's teaching on artificial contraception is an exercise in futility. These will not (and cannot) change and beginning a "Catholic" group in order to oppose them just promotes disunity and is waste of energy. If you want to fight for justice, first figure out what that means, then work with the Church, not against it.

In a statement released by Call to Action yesterday, they continued beating their drum against the hierarchy of the Church. They even resorted to the very tired argument that Jesus sometimes challenged the religious hierarchy of his day. It seems these folks so easily forget that Jesus set up a hierarchy when he founded the Church.

In the same statement they also rail against the penalty of excommunication, calling it "medieval" which we all know is a dirty word in today's world. While excommunication is not always the best solution to a problem, sometimes it seems we have to exercise some standard of membership in order to preserve the unity of the Body of Christ.

They say that they believe in the Nicene Creed. Whatever happened to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church? Lower our standards, abandon our tradition, and ditch our structures of authority and you have what many other Christians experience today: disunity, misunderstanding, constant disputes with no recourse to authority, and a lack of corporate memory. These often lead me to wonder that if you don't have a past, can you have a future?

If we, as Catholics, have these wonderful things at our disposal (a unified structure that is faithful to a common tradition) we should embrace it because it truly is who we are. Those who don't like it should really examine why they are Catholics at all. This is how we believe that we can stay faithful to the mission of Jesus. After 2,000 years of varying historical circumstances including both good and bad, how can we not trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Labels: dissent, reflection, U.S. Bishops, U.S. Church, Vatican

Interesting comments from the new head of the Congregation for Clergy, especially considering the Vatican's recent affirmation of the discipline:

An influential Brazilian cardinal says the Roman Catholic Church should reconsider its ban on allowing priests to marry.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who was recently named to head the Vatican's office in charge of priests around the world, made the comment about two weeks after the Holy See reaffirmed the requirement of celibacy for priests.

"Celibacy is a discipline, not a dogma of the church," Hummes was quoted as saying by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. "Certainly, the majority of the apostles were married. In this modern age, the church must observe these things, it has to advance with history."

Labels: priesthood, Vatican

I will be seeing this movie on the opening weekend!

The world premiere was today at the Vatican (the first-ever in the world's smallest country). Fr. John was there and I really enjoyed his review.

Labels: entertainment, Vatican

Lately I've noticed the Vatican is very busy with Saturday announcements. Today there was a whole list of items including the naming of members and consultors to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (headed by an American, Archbishop John Foley) and a total reorganization of the Church in Mexico. As usual, Rocco has full coverage.

Labels: Vatican

Elizabeth Lev uncovers something unfortunate in her Rome Notes column in tonight's Zenit. She expounds on her discovery:

...a ZENIT reader brought to my attention that one of the official Patrons of the Vatican Museums is also an active and public supporter of Planned Parenthood, the world's largest abortion provider.

The Patrons of the Vatican Museums were formed in 1983 as an international society organized from within the Holy See institution. The Patrons were dedicated to supporting and maintaining the art of the Vatican Museums. While there are chapters of Patrons in several parts of Europe, by far and away the greatest number of patrons can be found in the United States.

The Vatican Museums maintain an office just for the Patrons where they are brought on private guided visits and have special events and dinners on the premises.

The Patrons donate between €250 and €1,000 (about $320 to $1,280 at current exchange rates) annually to the museums and are coordinated in different parts of the United States by chairpersons who serve as links between the Vatican institution and the local area.

The chair for the Minnesota chapter is one Maureen Kucera-Walsh, as can be seen on the Vatican Museums Website on the Patrons page.

Kucera-Walsh was particularly instrumental when the "St. Peter and the Vatican" show toured the States in 2004. She was indicated in the June 2004 issue of Basilica, the magazine of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the point person for visiting the traveling exhibition. Her Minnesota chapter restored the hammer used to verify the death of the Pope as well as the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul from the sacristy of St. Peter's.

But Kucera-Walsh does not limit her charitable activities to the preservation of sacred art. Last Oct. 9, she served as a host for a Planned Parenthood event in Minneapolis.

This event was organized to marshal support against the proposed law in South Dakota which would have make it a crime for anyone to perform an abortion except where the mother's life was in danger. One of the principal items on the agenda of this event was to "get the inside scoop on the effort to defeat South Dakota's abortion ban."

Benefactors of this event paid between $100 and $1,000 to participate. Kucera-Walsh was listed among the hosts for this event.

This activity, unfortunately, is not the extent of Kucera-Walsh's role in Planned Parenthood. In the Planned Parenthood annual report of 2005, she sits on the 2006 board of directors.

What a sad state of affairs when one can be so involved with the preservation and protection of the works of art in the Vatican but so easily turn one's back on most fundamental moral teachings and beliefs that inspired them.

Why does this matter?

The position of Kucera-Walsh reflects the common contemporary view that the art of the Vatican is somehow disconnected from the teaching of the Church that commissioned it.

...

With one hand, people like Maureen Kucera-Walsh polish the effigies of the saints, while with the other they dismiss what the saints died for. That gives a perverted twist to the Gospel injunction not to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing!

Labels: life issues, Vatican