Pope Benedict Roundup!

• Does the Pope say the Old Mass privately? -- that's the claim of Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the SSPX. But Stuart Reid of The Catholic Herald thinks: "probably not."

• Anticipating the sequel to Jesus of Nazareth? -- according to Catholic News Service, "The translators are being careful. So careful, in fact, that the book isn’t expected to be published before Lent of 2011":

  It seems the first volume of “Jesus of Nazareth” has some discrepancies in the various language versions. To make sure that doesn’t happen this time, the translators are doing a lot of cross-checking.

  The Vatican wants the book to be released simultaneously in major languages. Lent would be an appropriate time to launch Volume 2, which treats Christ’s Passion and the Resurrection. The first volume of the work, which ran more than 400 pages, was published in the spring of 2007 and covered Jesus’ life from his baptism to his transfiguration.

• John Allen Jr (National Catholic Reporter): "hopes for a “grand partnership” between President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI so far have fizzled, although one shouldn't pronounce 'time of death' just yet.

• Rome Reports profiles Castel Gandalfo, where Pope Benedict has been vacationing since July 7 (following a 400 year old tradition established by Pope Urban VIII (pope from 1623-1644)). Speaking to an audience gathered in the courtyard of the papal residence, the Holy Father reminds us to take God on vacation.
  
  According to Zenit, the Pope will spend time with his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, spend time reading and writing new works, and play his grand piano.

• "The Court of the Gentiles" - a new initiative for evangelization promoted by Pope Benedict and as expounded by Archbishop Ravasi in L'Osservatore Romano:

  "I think that the Church should also open today a sort of 'court of the gentiles' where men can in some manner cling to God, without knowing him and before they have found the entryway to his mystery, which the interior life of the Church serves. To the dialogue with the religions it must above all add today a dialogue with those for whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown, and who nonetheless would not like simply to remain without God, but at least to approach him as the Unknown."

  These words, addressed to the Roman curia by Benedict XVI on the occasion of the Christmas greetings of 2009, have produced concrete effects: a Vatican dicastery, the pontifical council for culture, has given rise to an institution, called "Court of the gentiles," in order to open a serious and respectful dialogue between believers and agnostics or atheists.

  The inaugural event will take place in Paris in March of next year, simultaneously in multiple locations: the Sorbonne, UNESCO, and the Académie Française, according to different perspectives. ... [more]

• Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Bonaventure (Insight Scoop July 15, 2010. On the feast of St. Bonaventure, Carl Olson reviews the three general audiences that Pope Benedict XVI dedicated this past March to remarking upon the great saint and doctor.

• On the Feast of the Immaculate Heart, Mark Miravelle, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Introduction to Mary: The Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion examines Benedict XVI's Turn Toward Mary (Zenit News. June 11, 2010).

• On June 17th, Pope Benedict, who is normally guarded by a huge security entourage, reportedly tucked in to a fish dinner in a small, family restaurant 150 yards from the Vatican walls. The Herald Sun reports:

  He apparently timed his unofficial trip to coincide with the Italian soccer team's first World Cup game against Paraguay so that he could slip unnoticed through the empty streets as locals concentrated on the game.

  The claims, confirmed by a shocked waiter, were the subject of fevered speculation in the Italian media after they first appeared in a gossip column yesterday.

• Kevin Clarke, a theology teacher at St. Joseph Academy in San Marcos, CA, gave his seniors the not-so-easy task of not only reading the encyclical "Caritas in Veritate", but of synthesizing its teaching and applying its principles to current events.

• Registrations opened July 1 for the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, with Benedict XVI being the first to sign up.

• Is the Pope in danger on his UK trip?