Beliefnet profiles woman-hating Pope's right-hand woman.
April 2005 Archives
Blogger Jeffrey Lloyd assembled an impressive collection of editorial cartoons commemorating the late Pope John Paul the great. Some of them are quite moving, and I think it's great that some of the images are repeated. It's evidence of the impact he left in people's minds and hearts.
Did you know Ryno writes a column for Yahoo sports?
Also, if you're in the Champaign area, Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins will be at Home Depot on Saturday signing autographs.
I think I've mentioned this before, but Wesley J Smith has a blog and you should read it. He is an excellent bioethicist and defender of human life. Please check him out.
For the wifey: Solzhenitsyn: Men Have Forgotten God.
Swiped from Father Sibley.
Stealing links is OK if done for love.
ROMA, April 28, 2005 – On Sunday, April 24, Benedict XVI inaugurated his “Petrine ministry as bishop of Rome” in the sunlight of a Saint Peter’s Square overflowing with crowds.
But his first intention was different. He had wanted to celebrate his first solemn mass as pope, not in the square, but inside the basilica of Saint Peter. “Because there the architecture better directs the attention toward Christ, instead of the pope,” he told the masters of ceremonies on Wednesday, April 20, his first full day as the elected pope. Only the immense number of faithful who were coming induced him to change his mind and celebrate the mass outdoors.
It gets better. Benedict is steeped in the liturgy, and has already begun his papacy by setting a liturgical example for the church. He as already made clear that the Eucharist will be at the heart of his papal ministry. Go read it here.
There's also a nice little piece at the bottom of the linked page about Dominus Iesus. The Pope repeated it's central message in his installation homily and the Gospel reading for that day contained: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
The 2004 election revealed a striking gap in the political leanings of people who are married with children: They favored the Republican, President George W. Bush, over the Democrat, Sen. John Kerry, by nearly 20 percentage points -- 59 percent to 40 percent. This married parent gap must now take its place in the popular political lexicon alongside previously established voter gaps such as the gender gap (in which women generally lean Democratic and men lean Republican) and the race gap (in which minorities lean heavily Democratic and whites lean heavily Republican)."
Amy Welborn blogs a great homily on the new Pope.
St. Paul had to discipline with strong words the early Christian community at Corinth for its factions, when some were saying, “I am for Apollos”, others, “I am for Paul”, others still, “I am for Cephas.” He asked them: “has Christ been parceled out that you cry out such slogans?” Today he might well have asked the same, “has Peter been parceled out, that some of you are saying, ‘I am for Martini’, ‘I am for Daneels’, ‘I am for Ratzinger’?” We should all be for Peter, this Peter, because this Peter is for Christ and Christ is for the Father!
Go read the whole thing.
The Catholic faithful broke into applause immediately after Bishop Daniel Jenky thundered out the words: "Long live the Pope!"
More than 200 laity and about 60 priests gathered at St. Mary's Cathedral on Monday night to celebrate a special Mass of Thanksgiving for Pope Benedict XVI, who officially began his papal reign Sunday.
Outside the cathedral, a yellow and white banner - the official papal colors - flapped in the gusting winds, and the bells tolled as parishioners streamed into the special service.
Full story from the Peoria Journal Star.
University of Oregon student newspaper editors make asses of themselves.
So far there are five comments on the page (oooh... look at that second one!), all lambasting them for shoddy reporting and lack of serious research on their basic arguments.
I think maybe the editors should take their own advice.
Grass grows, water is wet, Evangelicals stand firm in rejection of papal authority.
Two articles in the past two days talk about rap and its descent:
The first is by Martha Bayles in today's Opinion Journal: Heedful Hip Hop
Bayles describes rising anti-rap sentiment in black communities and on a wider scale. The best part is watching feminist academics try to wiggle their way around criticizing rap music's blatant degradation of women.
At the University of Chicago conference, "Feminism and Hip Hop," the focus was on "crunk," the Atlanta-based style of rap that casts black men as pimps and black women as strippers and "ho's." Some speakers--notably Ms. Bailey from Spelman and Joan Moore from Essence--used the language of morality when describing how crunk degrades women. But when the academic feminists weighed in, moral revulsion got bracketed as naive, and we groundlings were instructed to view "Tip Drill" as part of a "hegemonic intertextuality" in which "the structures of racism, patriarchy, heterosexism and advanced consumer capitalism" are "embedded" or "inscribed" (I forget which).
This sort of thing may sustain graduate students through long Chicago winters, but it is not going to advance the anticrunk cause. For one thing, academic feminism rejects something most people hold dear, the traditional family. As one earnest graduate student put it, the late Tupac Shakur was a true artist because his lyrics "cut against the grain of the normative family," an institution she clearly regarded as the root of all patriarchal evil.
Anything is OK, you see, as long as it fights against the system.
The second touches only slightly on hip-hop in a broader attack on the sexualization of childrens' everyday environments.
In Monday's National Review Online: an excerpt from Gil Reavill's book, Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough.
I'm not particularly interested in the book, but this excerpt is a pretty sobering look at what unsupervised children encounter on a daily basis. Also, since certain societal elements refuse to listen to "religious nutjobs" when they raise questions about the culture, maybe they'll listen to a pornographer.
An email I received today. I know others around St. Blogs have already been contacted.
To Whom It May Concern:
The United States Library of Congress preserves the Nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The Library's traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and scholarship, extend to digital materials, including Web sites. The Library has selected your site for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials related to the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of a new Pope, and we request your permission to collect and display your Web site.
The following URL has been selected:
http://papafamilias.stblogs.org
The Library of Congress or its agent will engage in the collection of content from your Web site at regular intervals. The Library will make this collection available to researchers onsite at Library facilities. The Library also wishes to make the collection available to offsite researchers by hosting the collection on the Library's public access Web site. The Library hopes that you share its vision of preserving Web materials about the death of Pope John Paul II and permitting researchers from across the world to access them.
I've always found it mildly amusing that people out there might care what I have to say about anything. Today, I am flabbergasted.
Mama-Lu says: "You should go back and put pictures of Matthew on all the posts!"
Beliefnet reports and includes this crazy story from Germany:
In Germany, once a great bastion of the classics, Internet help for Latin learners has even triggered legal battles.
A 15-year old boy has caused the ire of textbook publishers by placing his own translations of the Latin classics online to be downloaded by others.
For while Cesar's De Bellum Gallicum clearly does not benefit from copyright protection, abbreviated schoolbook versions of such texts do. And so one publisher is suing him for copyright infringements and causing his company severe economic harm.
Moreover, the publisher accused him of "advanced criminal energy" -- and threatened to have him dragged before a criminal court.
Today the Pope held his first Wednesday general audience. Here is the Vatican translation of his message:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is with great joy that I welcome you and also greet those following this audience through radio and television. After the holy death of my beloved predecessor, Pope John Paul II, I come before you today for my first General Audience. Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Norcia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions!
I extend a special welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims here today, including groups from England, Wales, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Singapore and the United States of America. Thank you for the affection with which you have greeted me. Upon all of you, I invoke the peace and joy of Jesus Christ our Lord!
From Vatican Information Services. Here is the full text of the address from Zenit.
MISSIONARY MANDATE IS MORE IMPERATIVE THAN EVER
VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2005 (VIS) - Yesterday evening, Pope Benedict XVI made his first trip outside the Vatican when he visited the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls in southern Rome in order to demonstrate the Church of Rome's inseparable bond with the Apostle to the Gentiles. Thirty-five cardinals and representatives from other Christian confessions were present for the ceremony.
The Pope greeted and blessed the thousands of people who filled the basilica, pausing to kiss a number of children.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the Holy Father addressed those present using the words of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans (1: 1-6, 8-9, 11-12, 14-15). Then, after venerating the tomb of the Apostle, he delivered the homily.
Benedict XVI affirmed that his visit represented "a much longed-for pilgrimage, a gesture of faith that I undertake in my own name, but also in the name of the dear diocese of Rome, of which the Lord has made me bishop and pastor, and in that of the Universal Church which is entrusted to my pastoral care. A pilgrimage, so to speak, at the roots of the mission, the mission that the risen Christ entrusted to Peter, to the Apostles, and in a particular way also to Paul, urging him to announce the Gospel to the people until he reached this city where, after having long preached the Kingdom of God, he gave with his own blood the final witness to the Lord, who had 'conquered' and sent him."
After highlighting the fact that, as Peter's successor, he had come to the basilica "to revitalize in faith this 'grace of the apostolate'," about which the Apostle speaks, Benedict XVI recalled the example of John Paul II, "a missionary Pope, whose intense activity, as witnessed by more than 100 apostolic trips outside Italy, is truly inimitable. What impelled him to such dynamism if not that same love of Christ that transformed the existence of St Paul? May the Lord also nourish such a love in me, that I do not hold back before the urgent need of announcing the Gospel in the world today. The Church is missionary by nature, her primary task is evangelization."
"At the beginning of the third millennium the Church feels with renewed vitality that Christ's missionary mandate is more imperative than ever," said the Pope. Recalling the motto used by St. Benedict in his Rule, exhorting his monks "to put nothing before the love of Christ," the Holy Father emphasized that "the passion for Christ brought (St. Paul) to preach the Gospel not only with words but with life itself, ever more conformed to his Lord. In the end St. Paul announced Christ through martyrdom, and with his blood - together with that of St. Peter and of so many other witnesses to the Gospel - he bathed this land and made fruitful the Church of Rome, which presides over the universal communion of charity."
Pope Benedict XVI stressed that "the twentieth century was a time of martyrdom. This was much emphasized by Pope John Paul II who asked the Church 'to update the Martyrologium,' and who canonized and beatified numerous martyrs of modern history. If then, the blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians, at the beginning of the third millennium we may expect a new flowering of the Church, especially where she suffered most for the faith and the witness of the Gospel."
"We entrust this desire to the intercession of St. Paul. May he obtain for the Church of Rome - especially her new bishop and all the people of God - the joy of announcing and bearing witness to the Good News of Christ the Savior."
Is this the best pic or what?
I don't think I've mentioned this since my previous blog, btu the Chicago Sun Times has the worst religion writer.
She writes for a major newspaper in a major American metropolis, and these are the best questions she can manage when she gets to sit down with Cardinal George in Rome for an interview. I can't believe they sent her of all people to Rome to cover this.
God bless George Weigel. Has anybody else done more to defuse medis disinformation on the new Pope?
Here he is in this week's Newsweek.
The Pantagraph reported Monday on the progress of Fulton Sheen's cause for sainthod.
The report states that his cause will likely be held up because of the death of John Paul II, but I don't see why that would be. Sure, there may be some administrative delays during the transition, but it's not like these things normally speed along anyway. They could be referring to what others have hinted at: that Benedict XVI may not be as prolific in his beatifications and canonizations as his predecessor, but that's not actually said in the article.
Catholic News Service: German Catholics gear up to meet new pope at World Youth Day
From last week's Opinion Journal: You Have to Love a Pope Who Loves St. Augustine
How could I not read it with a title like that?
A glimpse:
Augustine [vs. Aquinas] is the more mystical personality, closer in some ways to the "new age" impulses of our times. In the writings of Augustine, arguably the most complex mind Christianity has produced, the exercise of deep faith carries with it the possibility of what I would call a "high" experience in one's pursuit of and relationship to God. That was the Church of the 5th century. In our time, religion has become freighted with correct politics (the Left) or correct morality (the Right), rather than the substance of one's relationship with God.
I get the impression that Joseph Ratzinger--who reveres the early, transcendent Church Fathers (its "founding fathers")--is at heart more a vibrant 5th-century Christian than a stale 19th-century dogmatist; as conceivably was John Paul II, who often let himself slip into an Upward-directed reverie in public. In short, Benedict XVI looks to be very different from the stolid, authoritarian German described this week in the public prints.
Here is the English translation of the homily delivered by Pope Benedict XVI at his installation, courtesy of Vatican Information Service:
"Your Eminences, my dear brother bishops and priests, distinguished authorities and members of the diplomatic corps, dear brothers and sisters.
During these days of great intensity, we have chanted the litany of the saints on three different occasions: at the funeral of our Holy Father John Paul II; as the cardinals entered the conclave; and again today, when we sang it with the response: 'Tu illum adiuva' - sustain the new Successor of Saint Peter. On each occasion, in a particular way, I found great consolation in listening to this prayerful chant. How alone we all felt after the passing of John Paul II - the Pope who for over twenty-six years had been our shepherd and guide on our journey through life! He crossed the threshold of the next life, entering into the mystery of God. But he did not take this step alone. Those who believe are never alone - neither in life nor in death. At that moment, we could call upon the Saints from every age - his friends, his brothers and sisters in the faith - knowing that they would form a living procession to accompany him into the next world, into the glory of God. We knew that his arrival was awaited. Now we know that he is among his own and is truly at home.
"We were also consoled as we made our solemn entrance into conclave, to elect the one whom the Lord had chosen. How would we be able to discern his name? How could 115 bishops, from every culture and every country, discover the one on whom the Lord wished to confer the mission of binding and loosing? Once again, we knew that we were not alone, we knew that we were surrounded, led and guided by the friends of God. And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this? How will I be able to do it? All of you, my dear friends, have just invoked the entire host of saints, represented by some of the great names in the history of God's dealings with mankind. In this way, I too can say with renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me. And your prayers, my dear friends, your indulgence, your love, your faith and your hope accompany me. Indeed, the communion of saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christ's Body and Blood, through which He transforms us and makes us like Himself.
"Yes, the Church is alive - this is the wonderful experience of these days. During those sad days of the Pope's illness and death, it became wonderfully evident to us that the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future. The Church is alive and we are seeing it: we are experiencing the joy that the Risen Lord promised His followers. The Church is alive - she is alive because Christ is alive, because He is truly risen. In the suffering that we saw on the Holy Father's face in those days of Easter, we contemplated the mystery of Christ's Passion and we touched His wounds. But throughout these days we have also been able, in a profound sense, to touch the Risen One. We have been able to experience the joy that He promised, after a brief period of darkness, as the fruit of His resurrection.
"The Church is alive - with these words, I greet with great joy and gratitude all of you gathered here, my venerable brother cardinals and bishops, my dear priests, deacons, Church workers, catechists. I greet you, men and women religious, witnesses of the transfiguring presence of God. I greet you, members of the lay faithful, immersed in the great task of building up the Kingdom of God which spreads throughout the world, in every area of life. With great affection I also greet all those who have been reborn in the Sacrament of Baptism but are not yet in full communion with us; and you, my brothers and sisters of the Jewish people, to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual heritage, one rooted in God's irrevocable promises. Finally, like a wave gathering force, my thoughts go out to all men and women of today, to believers and non-believers alike.
"Dear friends! At this moment there is no need for me to present a program of governance. I was able to give an indication of what I see as my task in my Message of Wednesday April 20, and there will be other opportunities to do so. My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He Himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history. Instead of putting forward a program, I should simply like to comment on the two liturgical symbols which represent the inauguration of the Petrine Ministry; both these symbols, moreover, reflect clearly what we heard proclaimed in today's readings.
"The first symbol is the pallium, woven in pure wool, which will be placed on my shoulders. This ancient sign, which the bishops of Rome have worn since the fourth century, may be considered an image of the yoke of Christ, which the bishop of this city, the Servant of the Servants of God, takes upon his shoulders. God's yoke is God's will, which we accept. And this will does not weigh down on us, oppressing us and taking away our freedom. To know what God wants, to know where the path of life is found - this was Israel's joy, this was her great privilege. It is also our joy: God's will does not alienate us, it purifies us - even if this can be painful - and so it leads us to ourselves. In this way, we serve not only Him, but the salvation of the whole world, of all history.
"The symbolism of the pallium is even more concrete: the lamb's wool is meant to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders and carries to the waters of life. For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The human race - every one of us - is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; He cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon His shoulders and carries our humanity; He carries us all - He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. What the pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time it invites us to carry one another. Hence the pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherd's mission, of which the second reading and the Gospel speak. The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.
"The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, Himself became a lamb, He stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how He reveals Himself to be the true shepherd: 'I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for the sheep,' Jesus says of Himself (Jn 10:14ff). It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: He Himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show Himself stronger, that He would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God's patience. And yet, we need His patience. God, Who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified Him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man.
"One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. 'Feed my sheep.' says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, He says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God's truth, of God's word, the nourishment of His presence, which He gives us in the blessed Sacrament. My dear friends - at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love His flock more and more - in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.
"The second symbol used in today's liturgy to express the inauguration of the Petrine ministry is the presentation of the fisherman's ring. Peter's call to be a shepherd, which we heard in the Gospel, comes after the account of a miraculous catch of fish: after a night in which the disciples had let down their nets without success, they see the Risen Lord on the shore. He tells them to let down their nets once more, and the nets become so full that they can hardly pull them in; 153 large fish: 'and although there were so many, the net was not torn' (Jn 21:11). This account, coming at the end of Jesus' earthly journey with His disciples, corresponds to an account found at the beginning: there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire night; there too, Jesus had invited Simon once more to put out into the deep. And Simon, who was not yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply: 'Master, at your word I will let down the nets.' And then came the conferral of his mission: 'Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be catching men' (Lk 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the successors of the Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel - to God, to Christ, to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendor of God's light, into true life. It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God.
"It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God's joy which longs to break into the world.
"Here I want to add something: both the image of the shepherd and that of the fisherman issue an explicit call to unity. 'I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must lead them too, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd' (Jn 10:16); these are the words of Jesus at the end of His discourse on the Good Shepherd. And the account of the 153 large fish ends with the joyful statement: 'although there were so many, the net was not torn' (Jn 21:11). Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has been torn! But no - we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of Your promise, which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path towards the unity You have promised. Let us remember it in our prayer to the Lord, as we plead with Him: yes, Lord, remember Your promise. Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd! Do not allow Your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity!
"At this point, my mind goes back to October 22 1978, when Pope John Paul II began his ministry here in Saint Peter's Square. His words on that occasion constantly echo in my ears: 'Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!' The Pope was addressing the mighty, the powerful of this world, who feared that Christ might take away something of their power if they were to let Him in, if they were to allow the faith to be free. Yes, He would certainly have taken something away from them: the dominion of corruption, the manipulation of law and the freedom to do as they pleased. But He would not have taken away anything that pertains to human freedom or dignity, or to the building of a just society. The Pope was also speaking to everyone, especially the young. Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life. Amen."
From the New York Sun: How Future Pope Won the Respect of Jewish Leaders
Here's another dissident woman's gripefest about Pope Benedict.
Some women I've spoken to use words like devastation and alienation. The pope is, after all, the cardinal who pushed the conservative agenda that attacks gays, feminists and birth control, and rejects the possibility of women becoming priests.
"THE Cardinal," as in, the only Cardinal pushing X, Y and Z. Not only is that blatantly false, it's also a blatant show of disrespect for John Paul II and all that he consistently taught. The funny thing is, all the nay-sayers talk about modernizing the Church and being more open. JP2 took ancient teachings and demonstrated in fully modern terms why the Church's beliefs help man live to his fullest. He confronted and dialogued with the modern world every day of his pontificate.
What amazes me is that these people seem to think Pope John Paul II didn't mean these things when he said them. I blame this all squarely on the dissident movements who delude people into thinking change is only a pope away.
BBC News asked eight religious figures of various faiths to comment on the Pope. Notable is Hans Kung's astoundingly arrogant reaction:
Let us therefore give him a chance: as with a president of the US, we should allow a new pope 100 days to learn.
How generous of you, Hans. We sure wouldn't want to actually learn anything from the Pope, would we?
Here's my bishy on Papa Ratzi (PDF):
"With gratitude and thanks to Almighty God and enormous happiness, the Catholic Diocese of Peoria welcomes the election of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the Chair of Saint Peter. Our new Pope has a vast experience in serving the Catholic Church throughout the world, he is a great scholar, a linguist, but most of all he is a humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have asked that every parish of the Diocese observe this Sunday, April 24, the Fifth Sunday of Easter as a day of special prayers and thanksgiving. I also invite all the priests, deacons, religious and faithful to gather with me in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception at 7:15 p.m. on Monday April 25th for a special Mass of Thanksgiving.
On behalf of the entire Catholic community I would also like to express a deep appreciation to all those many people of good will here in Central Illinois who have consoled us in our sorrow and now join us in our joy.
Area priests speak highly of new pope. Quotes Monsignor Swetland.
A belated welcome to any visitors from Proverbs Daily. Feel free to look around and comment on anything you see.
Jeff sent you here for comments about the Pope. My comment is:
My suggestion is that you disregard any news story that uses the words "rottweiler" and panzerkardinal to describe Benedict XVI and instead look to those who know him well and have described him as kind, gracious, intelligent and open to dialogue.
Despite his "hardliner" reputation, I predict you will see a lot of goodness and love. Will he come down hard if he has to? Undoubtedly. But a**-kicking and name-taking are not the Pope's primary ministry, he is a shepherd.
As for comments you may have seen about his being unfriendly towards other religions, I think a quick study will only show that he's being honest. If you are a Protestant reading this, you are not Catholic. Why? Because you in some way think that the Catholic faith is defective. We may not always speak that way, but to say it isn't being mean or disrespectful, it's being truthful.
As Catholics, we believe that non-Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, New Ageism, etc. contain errors. That's why we're Catholic. That doesn't devalue the adherents of those religions, nor does it ignore the genuine true human and even divine goodness and wisdom which may be found in those religions. It merely asserts that there are differences and we are on a certain side of them. If we refuse to assert that there are differences, there can be no unity, because we would be lying.
Despite the differences, we cherish the goodness and truth which we share with people of all faiths, and appreciate, respect and love all people precisely because they are people, created in God's image.
I blogged yesterday about an image of Mary allegedly appearing under an overpass in Chicago.
Donn sees hope for Cubs fans in the message.
Speaking of the Cubs, I congratulate them on their two game winning streak, but what I really have to says is: OUCH!
Nomar looks pained after collapsing with a groin strain.
[Warning, this post is long. Skip to the next one if you get bored.]
Wiegel: Light in a New Dark Age
AP: Pope's email address and No Staff Shake-Up At Vatican and Russian patriarch congratulates pope
Detroit News: Catholics 'on top of the world'
NYTimes: Few see taint in service by Pope in Hitler Youth (yet they're still talking about it) and Pope May Color Debate in U.S. Over 'Life' Issues Like Abortion
Reuters: Benedict XVI memorabilia? It's just a click away
James Pinkerton: The Crucifixion Will Be Televised on Tech Central Station
Catholic World News: Benedict XVI at a glance and Benedict: What's in a name? and First steps for new pope
Maggie Gallagher: We have a pope!
Chiesa: Benedict XVI: The Pope and His Agenda - Very detailed and insightful.
Roger Kimball: The new Benedict
Michael Novak: Rome's Radical Conservative (NYTimes, registration required)
NCR (the good one): ‘A Beautiful Personality’
The Old Oligarch is excited. So is Jeff Miller.
Lileks has no stake, or does he?
AFP: On Internet frontlines, bloggers have a lot to say about new pope
Time Magazine: Assessing Pope Benedict XVI
Canadian Press: Catholic doctrine OK; world's attitude needs to change: cardinals
Christianity Today: Upright But No Panzer Pope
Catholic News Service: Vatican colleagues say 'church will come to love' Pope Benedict XVI
NY Daily News: Vatican enforcer has soft side, too.
Awww....
Belfast Telegraph: The Benedict legacy and Pope may receive invite to Ireland
USA Today: Introduction electrifies cheering, chanting crowd and U.S. cardinals predict faithful will warm to new pope
Seattle Times: Reaction around the world
CNN: Reader emails
WaPo: Joy Tempered by a Wish for a Third World Pope and Steadfast Beliefs in a Tumultuous World and Church Turns to Its Guardian of the Faith
Radio Australia: Asia and Pacific react to new pope
Fox News: Benedict Pledges to Continue John Paul's Work
AP: Pope Benedict XVI promises to continue church reforms, reach out to other religions and China hopes for better Vatican ties and Cardinals break silence and American cardinals excited about choice of new pope and Sketches of a conclave and Ratzinger's love of tradition was nurtured in conservative Bavaria and Italians Again Shut Out of Papacy and Benedict Showed 2 Sides After Pope's Death (this last one quotes Hans Kung, who must be furious) and Pope to Hold Press Conference Saturday and Poverty in Latin America Faces Pope and New Pope Inspired by Anti-War Pontiff and Pope Predicted a Short Reign to Cardinals
Wichita Eagle: Choice of `Benedict' may have been inspired by saint, scholars say
To borrow a line from James Taranto: What would we do without scholars?
BBCNews: Africans hail conservative Pope
This one contains a special brown nugget:
In the 1980s, Cardinal Ratzinger cracked down on Bishops in Latin America who backed liberation theology, which argued the church had a duty to liberate the poor from oppression.
Right, notice the ommission of the fact that the main problem with liberation theology was its embrace of Marxist ideas. Leave that fact out and you have "The Church hates the poor."
Yorkshire [UK]Post: Traditionalist Takes over Reins
NY Post: He Deserted Hitler's Army to Enlist as God's Soldier
Jersey Journal: German residents take pride in pope
World Faith News: Statement of Conference of European Churches
Worst headline award goes to the AP: Israel Praises Pope Despite Past Nazi Ties
Miami Herald [Registration Required]: Morality battle predicted
Reuters: Leaders Welcome New Pope, Liberal Catholics Dismayed
MyMotherLode [Sonora, CA]: World: "Mixed reaction"
Pulse Journal [Somewhere in Ohio]: Latin America: "Mixed Reviews"
Reuters: Mixture of Joy and Concern
LA Times: Joseph Ratzinger, a Close Ally of John Paul, Draws Mixed Reactions
AP: Some Hopeful, Others Disappointed by Pope
AP: Pilgrims Watch New Pope With Mixed Emotion
WPMI [Pensacola Beach]: New Pope Bad Choice For Liberal Catholics
Cybercast News Service: Feminist, Homosexual Groups Turn Thumbs Down on New Pope
News24.com [Southern Africa]: New pope 'has been homophobic'
Greeley: Pervasive 'non-campaign' fractured rules of secrecy
Maureen Dowd: Smoke Gets in Our News
Reuters: Liberal U.S. Catholics Dismayed at Choice of Pope
Chicago Sun-Times: New man on top, but nothing changes for Catholic women -
Interpress Service News Agency: New Pope a Disappointment to Progressives, Women
365gay [ew]: Extreme Homophobe Ratzinger Elected New Pope
Salon.com: Habemus blabbemenum!
"Catholics" for a Free Choice: The First One hundred Days
Salon.com assebles: Gripefest - Dissenter-Style
Scotsman.com: Anglican Bishop Denounces New Pope's Election
IOL [South Africa]: I wouldn't have voted for new pope, says Tutu
Virginia Pilot: Some locals unsure what to expect from pope
Arkcity.net [Arkansas City, KS]: Locals positive on pope
News Channel 11 [Lubbock, TX]: Catholic Bishop of Lubbock Praises New Pope
Herald & Review [Decatur, IL]: Local Catholic leaders praise the election of the new pope
Oneida [NY] Dispatch: Local Catholic leaders pleased
Stuff [New Zealand]: Kiwi Catholic leaders approve choice of pope
Dodge City [KS] Daily Globe: Dodge City bishop says new Pope will preserve Catholic values
Minnesota Public Radio: Local Catholic leaders react to new pope
PhillyBurbs.com: Catholic students in Bucks share views on new leader
Glencoe [IL] News: Area Catholic leaders welcome 'brilliant' pope
NBC San Diego: Local Catholics Cheer New Pope's Election
For Lisa: Wichita Eagle: Pope's quick election a surprise and a cause for celebration
CBS2 [Chicago]: Catholic, Jewish Children Celebrate Together (with video) and Cardinal George says new pope will preserve toughened discipline plan for abusive priests and
New Hampshire Union Leader: Choice of 'Benedict' pleases local monks and NH brother may have influenced new Pope
WGRZ [Western NY]: WNY Germans Thrilled
Daily Citizen [NW Georgia]: Area Catholics not surprised with selection
WTVO [Rockford, IL]: Rockford Bishop Pleased with New Pope
York [PA] Daily Record: Churches Celebrate Choice
Arizona Daily Star: Tucsonans back pontiff despite some concerns
Yankton [S Dakota]Press and Dakotan: Classwork Stopped For New Pope
SB Sun [San Bernardino]: Some local Catholics fear for church's unity, reform
Denver Post: Stern reputation ill-deserved
Daily Local News [Philly]: Residents react to news of pope's appointment
The Evening Tribune [Hornell, NY]: Our Lady of the Valley Catholics celebrate new pope
Recordnet (Stockton, CA): Local Catholics discuss the change
Jackson [Tennessee] Sun: 'We hope he does a good job'
Berkshire [MA] Eagle: Berkshire clergy envision new pope following same path as John Paul II
Northwest Indiana Times: Munster native witnessed pope's debut and Melczek, clergy celebrate selection
My Kawartha [somewhere in Canada I think]: 'Kind of stunned' says local priest of pope's election
Portales [NM] News-Tribune: Residents feel Ratzinger the right choice
Toronto Star (registration required): Pope a 'quiet, gentle man'
Washington Times: National Basilica draped in celebration
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pope is a 'gentle soul'
Courier & Press [Evansville, IN] (Registration required): Gettelfinger says don't sell transitional pope short
Vanguard [Nigeria]: Ratzinger is new Pope
Pacific Daily News [Guam]: New pope selected
NBC 15 [Madison, WI]: Wisconsin Catholics Welcome New Pope, Wonder About Future
KLTV [Jacksonville, TX]: Bishop Corrada Met New Pope In 1988
First Coast News [Somewhere in Florida]: Local Catholics React To Choice
Winona [MN] Daily News: Winona's Catholics pleased by pope pick
Star-Ledger [NJ] - Jersey residents with German roots react with pride and Theologians imagine forceful, if brief, reign
Pensacola News Journal: Local Catholics rejoice
CBS 21 [Harrisburg, PA]: Pope Benedict the 16th
LA Times (Registration may be required): Mahony Says the World Soon Will See Pontiff's Pastoral Side
News Journal [Central Ohio]: Watching "intently"
13WHAM [Rochester, NY]: New Pope Says First Mass, Local Reactions (with video)
Fulton [MO] Sun: Callaway Catholics pleased
Channel Oklahoma: OKC Archbishop Pleased With New Pope
WBAL [Baltimore]: Catholics Want Pope To Address Social Issues