Pope Benedict Responds to Muslim Invitation to Dialogue

Pope invites senior Muslims to Vatican meeting AFP Nov. 29, 2007:

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI invited a delegation of senior Muslim personalities, who signed an appeal for greater dialogue between religions, to a meeting at the Vatican, according to a letter released Thursday.

The pope praised the "positive spirit" behind the October 11 message signed by 138 top Muslims from around the world and sent to Christian leaders, said Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the letter sent in Pope Benedict's name.

The pope wanted to meet a representative group of the signatories at the Vatican, he added in the letter sent to Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, head of the Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman.

"The Pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to Your Royal Highness and to all who signed the letter," Bertone wrote.

"He also wishes to express his deep appreciation for this gesture, for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world.

"Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the one God, the provident Creator and universal Judge who at the end of time will deal with each person according to his or her actions. We are all called to commit ourselves totally to him and to obey his sacred will."

The letter said the pope "was particularly impressed by the attention given in the letter to the twofold commandment to love God and one's neighbour." [...]

Bertone said that with a view to encouraging the "praiseworthy initiative" from the Muslim leaders, "His Holiness would be most willing to receive Your Royal Highness and a restricted group of signatories of the open letter, chosen by you.

"At the same time, a working meeting could be organized between your delegation and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, with the cooperation of some specialized Pontifical Institutes (such as the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and the Pontifical Gregorian University)."

Related

• Rocco Palmo posts the full text of the letter from the Pope to the 138 Muslim leaders.
• Pope invites Muslim scholars to meet with him, dialogue council, by Cindy Wooden. Catholic News Service. Nov. 29, 2007.
• Vatican: Pope expresses "deep appreciation" for Muslim letter ADN Kronos Int'l. Nov. 29, 2007.

Discussion of this topic on Against The Grain:

• Further Responses to "A Common Word" 11/29/07
• Fr. Christian Troll: Response to "A Common Word" 10/28/07
• "A Common Word" and Christian-Muslim Dialogue 10/27/07;
• Readings in Islam: "Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition" 7/2/07.
• Fr. Samir Khalil, SJ: Articles & Interviews 4/29/07
• Pope Benedict, Islam and the Prospect of Reform 4/23/07

Pope Benedict in Austria

On September 7th, the Holy Father left Rome on his seventh apostolic journey outside of Italy -- this time to Austria, to to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the Marian shrine at Mariazell. As the Pope himself put it, in his remarks on board the plane en route to Austria:

My trip above all is a pilgrimage. I want to take my place in the long line of pilgrims over the course of 850 years [to Mariazell], a pilgrim among the pilgrims, one who prays among all the others who pray. This sign of unity created by the faith seems important to me. It’s unity among peoples, because this is a pilgrimage site for many peoples. It’s also unity across time. Therefore, it’s a symbol of the unifying power that comes with faith, the power of reconciliation. In this sense, it’s also a symbol of the universality of the community of the faith, of the church, a symbol also of humility, and above all a symbol that we have confidence in God, in the priority of God – that God exists, that we need God’s help. Naturally, of course, it’s also an expression of love for the Madonna. Thus, I simply want to confirm these essential elements of the faith in this moment of its history.

Mariazell

Background to the Marian Shrine at Mariazell:

Mariazell dates back to 1157 when a monk named Magnus from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Lambrecht sought the solitude of the forests and the mountains. He carried with him a carved wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, twenty-two inches high. When he could go no further, he placed the figure on a branch of a linden tree and built a cell for himself and the holy statue there. This was in the Valley of Cell or the Zellertal.

Magnus soon attracted people, shepherds and hunters, to whom he ministered as their priest. A small village grew around his simple chapel. The carved wooden figure of the Virgin Mary became to be known as a miraculous object of great veneration, with a growing reputation for the signs and wonders which were worked through it.

Around 1200 a Romanesque church replaced the monk’s humble chapel and cell, and the fame of “Our Beloved Lady of Cell” (Mariazell) began to spread far and wide. Pilgrims from lands all around began to come to seek the aid and blessings of the Holy Virgin and Child. Venerated by Emperors and Kings, Mariazell attracted not only the nobility of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Bavaria and Slovenia, but simple pilgrims from all classes of society. The church became “Magna Mater Austriae” (the Great Mother of Austria), with similar titles in neighbouring lands.

About 1340 King Louis the Great of Hungary replaced the Romanesque church with a larger edifice in gratitude for the Virgin’s help in defeating the Turkish and Bulgarian invaders. The present Baroque church was built in the late 17th century; the interior and high altar being the work of the great Baroque architect, Fischer von Erlach. Von Erlach was born in Austria and spent his first 16 years of training in the workshop of Bernini in Rome. When he returned to Austria, his was a sought after architect that had great influence on the major building works of the day. So great and so appreciated that the Emperor, Joseph I raised him to nobility.

A magnificent silver gate frames the sanctuary in front of the holy statue of the Virgin Mary in the middle of the church and was donated by the Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705). The statue itself, which shows no signs of decay despite its great age, is normally clothed in rich robes reflecting the liturgical colours of the Catholic Church. It continues to attract pilgrims from the lands of Central Europe in their thousands all year round.

Resources / Roundups

• Papal Intinerary
• Coverage via The Schonborn Site
• Coverage on the Pope Benedict Forum with photographs and background history of the shrine.
• Basilika-Mariazell.at - website of the shrine.
• Blog by the Sea: Pope Benedict XVI in Austria | Pope Benedict XVI's Words in Austria - roundups & analysis from Catholic blogger Teresa Polk.

Papal Addresses

• Transcript of Remarks by Pope Benedict XVI aboard the Papal Plane Sept. 7, 2007. - Prior to takeoff at roughly 9:30 am Rome time, Pope Benedict XVI spoke with reporters aboard the papal plane to respond to four questions which had been collected in advance by Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson. (Courtesy of John Allen Jr.).
• Welcome ceremony at the international airport of Vienna/Schwechat (September 7, 2007)
• Prayer before the Mariensäule at Am Hof Square in Vienna (September 7, 2007)
• Meeting with the public authorities and the Diplomatic Corps at Hofburg Palace in Vienna (September 7, 2007) | Sky Video
• Holy Mass on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Mariazell (September 8, 2007) | Sky Video
• Celebration of Marian Vespers with priests, religious, deacons and seminarians at the Basilica of Mariazell (September 8, 2007)
• Holy Mass in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (September 9, 2007) | Sky Video
• Recitation of the Angelus Domini (September 9, 2007)
• Visit to Heiligenkreuz Abbey (September 9, 2007)
• Meeting with representatives of volonteer organizations at the Wiener Konzerthaus (September 9, 2007)
• Farewell ceremony at the international airport of Vienna/Schwechat (September 9, 2007)

News, Coverage & Commentary

Media [Video / Audio]

• Cardinal Arinze on Papal Voyage to Austria [audio] - Vatican Radio.
• Video of Pope's Arrival and Events of Sept. 7, 2007 www.skylife.it

Preliminary

• Big business Benedict: pope visit prompts tourist boom EUX.TV Mariazell, Austria:

  Rosaries, pictures, candles, figurines, keyrings and mugs bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI: The selection at stalls selling souvenirs and devotional objects in front of Mariazell's baroque basilica seems endless.

  Dealers in devotional objects at Austria's most important pilgrimage site and main destination of the Holy Father's September 7-9 visit are expecting "significant sales increases".

  Jealously guarding their territory, Mariazell's old-established traders banned all hawkers, infamous for their unholy kitsch, from the village.

  A papal visit is always connected with big business, be it investments ahead of his arrival, sales during the visit or long term effects generated by his presence, however short, at any given location. . . .

  Not content to leave the field to tourism managers and hawkers, Austria's church threw itself into the pope business, cutting sponsoring deals with mobile phone providers and setting up an online shop selling t-shirts, bags, local delicacies or replicas of the Marizaell Madonna for the charitable sum of 1,050 euros.

  At Heiligenkreuz abbey, where the pope will spend less than an hour of his busy schedule, the business-minded brethren hope that he will find the time to take a sip of their local wine.

  Labelled "as drunk by Pope Benedict XVI", the blessed grape juice should help boost sales of the highly unprofitable abbey vineyards.

  "The pope's visit is mainly a spiritual and not a business event. We do not want to make business with the Holy Father or reach economic goals," Heiligenkreuz abbot Gregor Henkel Donnersmarck stressed.

• Mariazell lacks dazzle, but its simplicity helps its fame in Austria, by John Thavis. Catholic News Agency. August 30, 2007:

  "Mariazell is not a 'spectacular' sanctuary. There are no apparitions or miracles that fill the pages of newspapers," said Benedictine Father Karl Schauer, superior of the sanctuary.

  "There is no particular form of religiosity here, and no particular group has taken over this place for itself," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

  Then-Cardinal Ratzinger visited Mariazell in 2004, a few months before his election as Pope Benedict XVI. From Rcesq of the Benedict Forum, a translation of the homily preached by then-Cardinal Ratzinger during his October 2004 visit to Mariazell.

• Cardinal Schonborn on the Pope in Austria: Part I | Part II - Interview on Benedict XVI's Upcoming Trip. Zenit News. Sept. 6, 2007:

  Q: The Holy Father's visit to Austria is a pilgrimage to Mariazell. What importance does Mary have in the Christian life?

  Cardinal Schönborn: The motto "Turn your gaze toward Christ" is deeply inspired by Mariazell. If you look at the "full of grace" statue in Mariazell, the 850-year-old small statue of Linden wood, without festal vestments, without the opulent robes it is usually clothed in, you can see a simple figure of this smiling and mysterious Mother of God, and on her lap a child with an apple in his hand, symbol of the reign of divine power. And Mary is clearly pointing to the baby. That means that she is saying to us what she said at Cana -- "Do whatever he tells you" -- and she teaches us to look to Christ.

  She is looking at us but she is pointing to Christ. In a certain sense she is calling to us: "Look there, look at my son." And I think that this is the motto that Pope John Paul II chose for his entire life and especially for his pontificate. "Totus tuus" means to Christ through Mary. She shows us the way. Therefore let us begin Benedict XVI's pilgrimage, and with the Holy Father, to Mariazell, and to the Am Hof Plaza before the Mariensaeule.

• Criticism and little enthusiasm ahead of Pope visit EUX.tv Sept. 5, 2007:

  what should be a home game for the German-born pope is being met with increasing indifference by Austria's Catholics, according to several polls published in the run-up to Benedict XVI arrival. According to one survey, 82 per cent said the pope's visit was of "little importance" to them. . . .

  Progressive forces in the church are disappointed that a discussion of topics like celibacy or the role of women in the church is unlikely.

  In the traditionally strongly catholic country, the church, is losing members fast. A string of scandals over the past ten years drastically reduced the number of church members, 500,000 left the church between 1991 and 2006.

  A cardinal being accused of abusing children, a sex scandal involving child porn at a seminary and the appointment of several controversial churchmen to high positions eroded faith and sped up the exodus from the church.

September 7, 2007

• Benedict expresses sadness, repentance for Holocaust, by John Allen Jr.:

  The Holocaust memorial is located near Vienna’s Judenplatz, the location of the city’s main synagogue. In a driving rain, Benedict stood alongside Chief Rabbi Paul Chaim Eisenberg, as well as the head of the local Jewish community, for several moments of silent prayer. The monument contains the names of 65,000 Austrian Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis between 1938 and 1945.

  It’s an act with deep local resonance, since Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna supported Austria’s union with Nazi Germany in 1938, symbolizing for critics the Catholic Church’s insufficient resistance to Nazi ideology. . . .

  Benedict said aboard the papal plane that he wanted to visit the memorial to the Shoah “in order to demonstrate our sadness, our repentance, and also our friendship with our Jewish brothers, in order to move forward with this great union that God has created among his people.”

  As Benedict pulled away in his popemobile, a member of the Jewish community flashed the pope a peace sign. Benedict responded with a broad smile and a wave.

  During the visit, Two prominent Austrian Jewish leaders urged Pope Benedict XVI to use his moral authority to stop Iran from developing the ability to produce nuclear weapons and prevent a "catastrophe for all of humanity", according to the Associated Press. "The letter . . . was written in consultation with other Jewish communities in Europe, said Ariel Muzicant, the head of Vienna's Jewish Community. He co-signed the letter with Vienna's chief rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg."

• An untold chapter of Benedict's history with the Austrian Church, by John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter Sept. 7, 2007:

  Prior to becoming pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger apparently played a key role in arguably preventing a bad situation [the sex abuse scandals in Austria] from becoming worse.

  When the widely popular Cardinal Franz König stepped down as the Archbishop of Vienna in 1985, it was rumored that Pope John Paul II’s personal secretary, Stanislaw Dziwisz, told the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops that the pope had then-Fr. Kurt Krenn in mind as König’s successor. Krenn, at the time a priest of the Linz diocese, was a personal friend of Dziwisz.

  A strong theological and philosophical conservative, Krenn had served on the faculty of the University of Regensburg in Germany. He was seen in Austria as a combative, divisive figure. For example, Krenn once compared dissident Catholics to Nazi sympathizers who had welcomed Hitler in 1938. Many local figures felt that his appointment could split the church following the nearly thirty-year tenure of the moderate, pastoral König.

  Though it was not revealed at the time, it has since become conventional wisdom that the decisive voice against Krenn’s appointment came from Ratzinger.

• Benedict's correction of Paul VI - John Allen Jr. interprets Benedict's statement that Austria is “certainly not an enchanted island" as a corrective to Paul VI, who first referred to Austria as an “island of the blessed” in 1967, providing the background behind the phrase.

• Pope Vigorously Defends Catholicism in Austria and Raises Concerns on Europe’s Future, by Ian Fisher. New York Times September 7, 2007:

  VIENNA, Sept. 7 — Pope Benedict XVI confronted Friday the shadows of Europe’s past, praying at a Holocaust memorial here, as he spoke with worry about its future. Europe, he said, may extinguish itself, in numbers and spirit, if it embraces abortion and rejects Christianity, which he said “profoundly shaped the continent.”

  “It should be everyone’s concern to ensure that the day will never come when only its stones speak of Christianity,” the pope said, at the start of a three-day visit here. “An Austria without a vibrant Christian faith would no longer be Austria.”

  But the 80-year-old pope’s vigorous defense of Catholicism — delivered in a slightly hoarse voice because of what the Vatican said was a sore throat — may not be, at the moment, a popular stand in Austria.

• Looking for signs of a 'great awakening' in Austria, by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter Sept. 7, 2007:

  Pope Benedict XVI grew up in Bavaria, just across the Salzach River from Austria. In his 1997 memoirs Milestones, Joseph Ratzinger wistfully describes joining his family for Sunday walks across a local bridge into Salzburg, falling under the spell of Austrian culture and music. Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's brother, recently confessed that "both of us are Austria-lovers."

  Given that history, Benedict XVI's Sept. 7-9 trip to Austria, his first as pope, ought to be a warm homecoming for a pontiff who is virtually a native son. Yet in some ways, enthusiasm here does not exactly seem infectious. In a recent poll asking Austrians to name their most trusted international figure, Benedict XVI actually trailed both the Dali Lama and the Austrian-born governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another survey found that only 3 percent of Austrians had any interest in seeing the pope live, and 40 percent planned to "completely ignore" his presence.

  The ignominy of finishing behind the Terminator in terms of public trust offers one window onto the challenges awaiting Benedict. The church in Austria today may no longer be seething with anger, as it was for much of the last decade, but neither is it the homogenous Catholic culture of the pope's childhood memory.

Papal Mass in Mariazell. Sept. 8, 2007. Photo courtesy of Gerald Augustinus Closed Cafeteria

Sept. 8, 2007:

• Thousands join Pope Benedict XVI on Austrian pilgrimage :

  VIENNA (AFP) — Tens of thousands of devout Catholics Saturday braved pelting rain and chilly temperatures to join Pope Benedict XVI in a pilgrimage at Austria's historic Mariazell basilica.

  Pilgrims waving Polish, Czech or Bavarian flags and others of all ages and races attended the morning mass by the pope in front of the pink and white baroque church. . . .

  Many had traveled by bus. Others came by train, but a few walked with rucksacks on their backs, up the mountain to Mariazell, observing their pilgrimage in the traditional way.

  American Mary Jo Szekeres, 22, said she had traveled nine hours Friday from Piestany in Slovakia where she works as an English teacher, to attend the mass.

  The trip was well worth it, she said. "I feel a more personal connection to the pope now. I've seen him, I've heard him speak." . . .

  American theology student Erika Olson, 20, marveled that the pope was visiting Austria just as she was here for a semester.

  "When I go back and read his writings, I'll hear his voice from now on," she said.

  "I can't feel my feet," she added however with a laugh after standing for hours in the cold.

• Europe future bleak without God, more children - Pope Reuters. Sept. 8, 2007:

  Benedict, who appeared to be struggling with a hoarse voice, wove his sermon around the theme of revitalising Christian identity in a modern Europe marked by diminishing Church participation, low birthrates and rampant consumerism.

  "Europe has become child-poor," he said. "We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future."

  It was the second time in as many days that the Pope decried Europe's declining birth rates. On Friday he condemned abortion, rejecting the concept that it could be considered a human right, and urged politicians enact legislation to help new families.

  The average birth rate in the European Union is down to about 1.5 children per woman, raising fears that an ageing population will not be able to finance pensions systems.

  From Benedict's homily:

  The child Jesus naturally reminds us also of all the children in the world, in whom he wishes to come to us. Children who live in poverty; who are exploited as soldiers; who have never been able to experience the love of parents; sick and suffering children, but also those who are joyful and healthy. Europe has become child-poor: we want everything for ourselves, and place little trust in the future. Yet the earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished – when the face of God no longer shines upon the earth. Where God is, there is the future.

• Pope defends celibacy and obedience, offers gesture to China, by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter Sept. 8, 2007:

  . . . Earlier in the day, Benedict XVI signaled that his universal interests haven’t faded despite being on a virtual homecoming. He laid hands on a replica of the statue of the Madonna of Mariazell that will be presented to the Bishop of Shanghai in China by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna. According to Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi, the pope expressed satisfaction that the Catholic Church in China was remembered as part of his Austrian pilgrimage.

  The estimated 13 million Catholics in China face a series of restrictions on their religious freedom, and the Chinese government has recently announced plans to ordain new bishops without Vatican approval.

  During the vespers service, the pope styled his remarks as reflections upon the three “evangelical counsels” of poverty, chastity and obedience. . . . [Read More]

Papal Mass at St. Stephens. Sept. 9, 2007. Photo courtesy of Gerald Augustinus Closed Cafeteria

Sept. 9, 2007:

• Bad weather, muted turnout beset pope as 3-day Austria pilgrimage ends International Herald Tribune Sept. 9, 2007:

  Despite a chilly rainfall, about 15,000 people packed the square outside Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral for Sunday's papal Mass, according to official estimates. Another 12,000 cheering pilgrims flocked to an abbey on the outskirts of the capital to see the pope.

  But the turnout was low, considering 200,000 Viennese identify themselves as Catholics.

  It underscored Benedict's challenge not just in Austria but across an increasingly multicultural Europe, where many believers have become disillusioned and drifted away from the church. . . .

  But the atmosphere was festive at Benedict's brief stop at the medieval Heiligenkreuz Abbey just south of Vienna, where pilgrims waved giant foam hands and young former drug addicts sang and danced on an outdoor stage.

  "At first I didn't feel like coming, but it was definitely worth it — he has an incredibly positive charisma," said Helga Bertoni, among the faithful who packed the abbey's courtyard. . . .

  A few weak rays of sunshine poked through as Benedict delivered his weekly Angelus prayer on the plaza, but a gust of wind blew his white skullcap off his head, sending aides scrambling to retrieve it.

  "The wind has spoken for itself," the pope joked as more gusts tugged at the crimson mantel around his shoulders and repeatedly flipped it up over his face.

  There is of course some dispute as to the 'low turnout' and the media's apparent need to emphasize such. See also Gerald Augustinus' photography, Tales of the Cape, on Benedict's Battle with the Wind. =)

• Pope calls Catholics to charity work; Concluding his Austrian visit, he also tells a Vienna crowd that Sundays should be reserved for God, by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Sept. 10, 2007:

  Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-day pilgrimage to Austria on Sunday, telling Catholics to keep Sundays holy and to dedicate themselves to volunteer work to spread "the Christian image of God."

  With those themes, Benedict homed in on two aspects of Christian life that Austrians are particularly adept at. Despite disaffection with the once-powerful church here, Austria remains one of Europe's last countries to ban most commercial activity on Sundays, and it is a leading force in social charity work.

  After two rain-drenched days, the sun came out Sunday as the pope finished holy Mass at Vienna's landmark St. Stephen's Cathedral, a Gothic and Baroque church that survived heavy damage in World War II bombing. Its distinctive roof in blue, green and gold geometric-patterned tiles dominates the skyline of Old Vienna.

  The Mass was filled with the music of Haydn performed by orchestra and chorus and echoing out of doors in the plaza and cobblestone streets, where thousands of faithful gathered and chanted the pope's name.

  "Without the Lord and without the day that belongs to him, life does not flourish," the pope said in his homily, seated under the cathedral's gilded 17th century high altar.

  Western societies, he complained, have turned Sundays into part of a weekend of leisure. Leisure is necessary, he said, "especially amid the mad rush of the modern world."

  But without an "encounter" with God, he said, Sunday "becomes wasted time that neither strengthens nor builds us up."

• Pope Tells Children They Are His "Co-Workers" Zenit News Service. Sept. 9, 2007:

  Benedict XVI took up pen and paper to assure the children of Austria's Pontifical Mission Societies that he sees them as true co-workers.

  After reciting the Angelus today in Vienna's St. Stephen's Square, the Pope paused to greet a group of children from "Missio," who gave him letters and drawings to welcome him to Austria.

  Benedict XVI wrote a letter of gratitude to the children, delivered to the institute's national director, Father Leo Maasburg.

  The Pope said: "I see in you little co-workers in the service that the Pope gives to the Church and he world: You support me with your prayer and with your commitment to spread the Gospel.

  "There are in fact many children who still do not know Jesus. And unfortunately there are as many others who do not have the necessities to live: food, medical care, education; many do not have peace and serenity.

  "The Church gives them particular attention, especially through missionaries; and you too feel called to offer your contribution, whether personally or as a group."

  The Pontiff added: "Friendship with Jesus is such a beautiful gift that you cannot keep it to yourselves! Those who receive this gift feel the need to give it to others; and in this way the shared gift does not diminish but multiplies! Keep to this path!"

• On Sept. 9th, Benedict visited the Cistertian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz. According to the Abbey's website, Cardinal Ratzinger has visited the abbey "often," both privately and in official capacity. Following is a translation (credit: Rcesq / Benodette of the Benedict Forum) of one of Ratzinger's visits:

  For one of [Cardinal Ratzinger's] visits our students prepared a musical welcome to the university for him. The photograph is from May 4, 1989.

  Then the Dean Professor Fr. Dr. Augustinus Fenz greeted the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith with a two-page Latin address. Cardinal Ratzinger answered off-the-cuff – likewise in Latin. He said, among other things: "... vitam present magna consolatio est hic invenisse insulam culturae latinae... audivisse scholares et non solum frequenter cursus venire, set etiam into hac valle nemorosa non solum pulchritudine naturali sed etiam pulchritudine vitae spiritualis ornata studiis incumbere. Omnia fausta tibi et huic illustri facultati ex corde exoptamus." Translation: “Your way of life here is for me a great comfort, and I am happy to find here an island of the culture of the Latin language. I am happy to hear that the students also attend lectures daily, and that in these Vienna woods not only the beauty of nature is to be admired, but also the beauty of your spiritual life. From my heart I wish you and your illustrious university a thriving prosperity.”

  Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in 1985 in Eisenstadt at a lecture for priests. On the right one sees Fr. Gregor Henckel Donnersmarck, now Lord Abbott; on the left is Fr. Karl Wallner, now the Rector of the Papal University Benedict XVI, Heiligenkreuz.

  One of the reasons why the Holy Father wanted to come to Heiligenkreuz, is probably also the elevation to “papal university,” which took place on January 28, 2007, of the university that was established in 1802. The university has already existed for 205 years, but it has never flourished before as it does now: at present 160 are studying here; more than 100 are on the way to the priesthood. The elevation means the independence of the university. In the future the degree of Master of theology can be achieved in Heiligenkreuz directly and not, like before, by the detour of the University of Vienna. . . .

  It was the personal wish of Abbot Gregor, who always admired the theologian Joseph Ratzinger, that for the future the papal university would bear the name: “Papal Philosophical-Theological University Benedict XVI, Heiligenkreuz.” The Holy Father is indeed truly – irrespective of his office – one of the greatest intellectuals of the present day. . . .

  We Cistercians of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey are a little astonished at the “horn of plenty” that was poured out over us in 2007: a boom of young, good vocations, then the elevation from university to papal university, and then the Oscar [Academy Award] for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who wrote the script [The Lives of Others] here – and now as high point the Holy Father’s visit in 2007.

• Finally, photos of "One Happy Swiss Guard", bidding the Holy Father goodbye as he departs from Heiligenkreuz. A special congratulations and note of appreciation to Gerald Augustinus, whose photographs from this event rival anything produced by the "mainstream media."

Pope Benedict Roundup!

[Note: There was a lot of topics to cover from our last roundup in June 2007; if some are omitted, it is either due to a lapse on my part or -- as in the case of Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics -- a wish to make it the subject of an individual post. Enjoy.]

• On June 16, Pope Benedict XVI received Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of New Justiniana and Cyprus. From the Vatican website, the English translations of Benedict and Chrysostomos II's addresses to each other and their common declaration.

• On June 17, Pope Benedict XVI visited Assisi on the anniversary of the conversion of St. Francis. From the Vatican website, links to translations of all five addresses, along with a photo gallery.

  In his homily during the Mass celebrated outside the Basilica of St. Francis, Pope Benedict recalls the interfaith / ecumenical gatherings initiated by his predecessor, and adds his own perspective on the interreligious dialogue:

  . . . I cannot forget in today's context the initiative of John Paul II, my Predecessor of holy memory, who in 1986 wanted to gather here at a Prayer Meeting for Peace representatives of the Christian denominations and of the different world religions.

  It was a prophetic intuition and a moment of grace, as I said a few months ago in my Letter to the Bishop of this Town on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of that event. The choice of celebrating the meeting at Assisi was prompted precisely by the witness of Francis as a man of peace to whom so many people, even from other cultural and religious positions, look with sympathy.

  At the same time, the light of the "Poverello" on that initiative was a guarantee of Christian authenticity, since his life and message are so visibly based on Christ's choice to reject a priori any temptation of religious indifferentism which would have nothing to do with authentic interreligious dialogue.

  The "spirit of Assisi", which has continued to spread throughout the world since that event, counters the spirit of violence and the abuse of religion as a pretext for violence. Assisi tells us that faithfulness to one's own religious conviction, and especially faithfulness to the Crucified and Risen Christ, is not expressed in violence and intolerance but in sincere respect for the other, in dialogue, in a proclamation that appeals to freedom and reason and in the commitment to peace and reconciliation.

  The failure to combine acceptance, dialogue and respect for all with the certainty of faith which every Christian, like the Saint of Assisi, is bound to foster, proclaiming Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life of man (cf. Jn 14: 6), the one Saviour of the World, can be neither an evangelical nor a Franciscan attitude.

  (Via Carl Olson, who also recommends on this subject Fr. Schall's commentary on "The Spirit of Assisi: On Praying With Other Religions" (Ignatius Insight October 16, 2006).

• On June 24, Pope Benedict gave the closing address to participants of the European Meeting of University Professors in Rome. Touching on themes from his Regensburg address, he pointed to several issues worthy of reflection: 1) "the need for a comprehensive study of the crisis of modernity" - countering the "false dichotomy" between theism and authentic humanism, divine law and human freedom. "The anthropocentrism which characterizes modernity can never be detached from an acknowledgment of the full truth about man, which includes his transcendent vocation"; 2) "the broadening of our understanding of rationality" - beyond the confinement of the "purely empirical," fostering a cooperation between faith and reason; 3) the contributions of Christianity to humanism -- "The question of man, and thus of modernity, challenges the Church to devise effective ways of proclaiming to contemporary culture the 'realism' of her faith in the saving work of Christ":

  Knowledge can never be limited to the purely intellectual realm; it also includes a renewed ability to look at things in a way free of prejudices and preconceptions, and to allow ourselves to be "amazed" by reality, whose truth can be discovered by uniting understanding with love. Only the God who has a human face, revealed in Jesus Christ, can prevent us from truncating reality at the very moment when it demands ever new and more complex levels of understanding. The Church is conscious of her responsibility to offer this contribution to contemporary culture.

  Some amazing photography of Benedict's visit to Assisi, taken by Benodette @ The Benedict Forum.

• In June, Pope Benedict also visited the Vatican Library and Secret Archives, reminding the employees of their vocation:

  The Pontiff told the staff that on his 70th birthday, he asked Pope John Paul II for permission to "dedicate myself to study and research the interesting documents and finds you safeguard so carefully, real masterpieces that help us to follow the story of humanity and of Christianity."

  "In his providential designs, the Lord had other plans for me," Benedict XVI said, "and here I am today among you not as a passionate student of ancient texts, but as a pastor called to encourage the faithful to work together for the salvation of the world, each one carrying out God's will where he has placed them."

  At the end of his visit, the Pope exhorted the staff to consider their work "as a true mission to be carried out with passion and patience, gentleness and in the spirit of faith […] aware that the Gospel message is passed on through your coherent Christian testimony."

  Here is the full text of Benedict's address to the staff of the Vatican Library.

  According to Zenit, The Vatican Library was founded in 1450 by Pope Nicholas V and houses 1,600,000 ancient and modern books; 8,300 printed documents, including 65 parchments; 150,000 manuscript codes and archive papers; 300,000 coins and medals; and some 20,000 works of art.

• Benedict XVI has re-established that a two-thirds majority will always be required for the election of a Pope. The Holy Father decreed the norm in a June 11 "motu proprio" written in Latin. It was published today by L'Osservatore Romano and is effective immediately. (Zenit News June 26, 2007).

• On June 28, speaking at vespers celebration held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Pope Benedict celebrated the Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul:

  [F]rom the outset, Christian tradition has considered Peter and Paul to have been inseparable, even if each had a different mission to accomplish.

  Peter professed his faith in Christ first; Paul obtained as a gift the ability to deepen its riches. Peter founded the first community of Christians who came from the Chosen People; Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles. With different charisms they worked for one and the same cause: the building of Christ's Church.

  and dedicated the Jubilee year of June 2008-June 2009 to Paul the Apostle in celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth. From Zenit, here is Father Sassi, superior general of the Society of St. Paul, on the question: "What would St. Paul do if he were alive today?"

• July 7th, Pope Benedict issued the long-anticipated motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, announcing new norms that will allow the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962 to be used as an extraordinary form of the liturgical celebration. In an interview with Zenit, the Wanderer's Father John Zuhlsdorf provides an analysis of the document and its implications.

  A further list of recommended resources and links to discussion can be found here; for ongoing chronicles of the reaction to the document, see SummorumPontificum.net.

• On July 15th, Pope Benedict expressed his gratitude to God (and his hosts) for being able to enjoy the mountains of Northern Italy, where he vacationed until the 21st. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, confirmed that Benedict XVI was chiefly occupied with working on the second volume of Jesus of Nazareth.

  At a July 18 press conference, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone elaborated on the Pope's vacation habits:

  "The Pope is playing the piano a lot but he is also working. He has a great capacity to write a lot. He is writing the second part of his book, 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and a new encyclical with a social theme -- I don't know when it will be published -- and other things.

  "He is a volcano of creativity. He is working on things like the message for World Youth Day 2008 and other things 'in pectore.' And he is drawing out and elaborating further themes he has already written about."

  And in the Italian daily Il Giornale, Benedict's secretary Msgr. George Ganswein decribed the glowing reception given to the Pope by the residents of the Veneto region:

  The Holy Father, "was surprised, even overwhelmed" by "so much affection, kindness and love," from the people he encountered on his vacation, but "he has learned this affectionate language very well," Monsignor Georg Gänswein told the Italian daily Il Giornale.

  "At the beginning, I have shared this observation," Monsignor Gänswein said. "Afterward, I have been able to see how the Pope has learned this affectionate language very well, responding with simple and humble, but very eloquent, gestures.

  "And the people immediately realize that the Pope is not looking for applause and does not want to call attention to himself, but instead, only wants to guide the faithful to Christ. This is the authentic objective of the Pope's reactions. And the hearts of the people have understood this very well."

• Benedict devoted his July 22 Angelus to the spectre of war, issuing a renewed plea for peace among nations:

  If men lived in peace with God and with each other, the earth would truly resemble a "paradise." Unfortunately, sin ruined this divine project, generating divisions and bringing death into the world. This is why men cede to the temptations of the evil one and make war against each other. The result is that in this stupendous "garden" that is the world, there open up circles of hell.

  War, with the mourning and destruction it brings, has always been rightly considered a calamity that contrasts with God's plan. He created everything for existence and, in particular, wants to make a family of the human race. . . .

  Benedict recalled the letter of his predecessor, Benedict XV's "Nota Alle Potenze Belligeranti" (Note to the Warring Powers), calling for an end to the "useless bloodbath" of the First World War.

  Benedict XV's "Nota" did not limit itself to condemning war; it indicated, at a juridical level, the ways to construct an equitable and durable peace: the moral force of law, balanced and regulated disarmament, arbitration in disputes, freedom on the seas, the reciprocal remission of war debts, the restitution of occupied territories, fair negotiations to resolve problems.

  The Holy See's proposal was oriented toward the future of Europe and of the world, according to a project that was Christian in inspiration but able to be shared by all because it was founded on the law of nations. It is the same program that the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II followed in their memorable speeches at the United Nations, repeating in the name of the Church: "No more war!"

• On July 24, 2007, Pope Benedict took part in another question-and-answer session with priests from the dioceses of Belluno-Feltre and Treviso, Italy.

  The questions were on topics including the education and Catholic formation of youth, the priest shortage, divorce and remarriage, immigration into Europe, evangelism, burdens facing priests and educators, sports, and the Vatican II Council.

  The Vatican has the English translation of the exchanges. Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea) links to some earlier translations from the PapaRatzinger Forum. The tenth question was made the subject of a column by Sandro Magister: All Against All: The Postconciliar Period Recounted by Ratzinger, Theologian and Pope, responding to a priest who expressed his disappointment that so many hopes and dreams by those who participated in the Second Vatican Council had been dashed.

In Other News . . .

• Benedict XVI is moving the Church away from religion, in the modern sense of the term, and toward a deeper understanding of Christianity, according to Augustinian scholar John Peter Kenney, professor of Religious Studies at St. Michael's College, in Vermont. Zenit interviewed Kenney on the Augustinian influences in Benedict's pontificate (Zenit News, June 19, 2007):

  Religion is a category of modernity, usually understood to mean either individually authenticated spiritual experiences or else a particular type of collective ideology based on socially defined values.

  To think of Christianity in such terms is to drift toward the relativism that Pope Benedict has so famously decried. Hence Benedict XVI has insisted that personal spiritual experiences can only become meaningful within the shared context of a lived theology. And the collective life of the Church is far more than a form of social or political association. Christianity is not an ideology.

  These modern representations of religion can constitute a reduction of Christianity to psychological, sociological and political categories and can result in a denial of its claims to transcendent truth.

  Benedict XVI has a masterful grasp of all these reductionist tendencies and he has pushed back hard in order to restore recognition of the richness and depth of Christianity.

• Dr D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, congratulates his former doctoral supervisor on his election to the papacy. Courtesy: Fotografiafelici

  Zenit interviews Father Twomey, retired professor of moral theology at the Pontifical University of St. Patrick's College, in Maynooth, and author of Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age:

  Q: What do you think are the most defining characteristics of the writings of Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI?

  Father Twomey: The most defining formal characteristics of his writings are originality, clarity and a superb literary style that is not easy to render in translation.

  Ratzinger is more than a world-class scholar and academic: He is an original thinker.

  He has the Midas touch, in the positive sense that whatever he touches, he turns to gold, in other words, whatever subject he examines, he has something new and exciting to say about it, be it the dogmas of the Church or a mosaic in an ancient Roman church or bioethics. And he writes with amazing clarity.

  With regard to his style, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne is reported as commenting that Ratzinger is the Mozart of theology -- he writes masterpieces effortlessly.

  With regard to its content, as Ratzinger once said himself, "God is the real central theme of my endeavors."

  There is hardly an area of theology -- dogma, moral, political life, bioethics, liturgy, exegesis, music, art -- that he has not examined in-depth. And everything he examines, he does so from God's viewpoint, as it were, namely trying to discover what light revelation -- Scripture and Tradition -- can shine on a particular issue.

  Twomey also addressed Ratzinger's "courage to be imperfect," as indicated by the unfinished state of his published works:

  Basic to his whole attitude to life and to theology is the assumption that only God is perfect, that human effort is always imperfect. . . .

  We cannot know everything, least of all God and his design for man. I have described his writings as "fragmentary." Most of his writings are unfinished -- like his classic book, "Introduction to Christianity," and, more recently, his "Jesus of Nazareth." And yet he has the courage to publish them in their unfinished state.

  This attitude gave Joseph Ratzinger that inner calm and detachment which the world is now experiencing in Benedict XVI. But it also is, perhaps, the secret of his gentle humor and wit.

  On Father Twomey's long friendship with and appreciation of the Holy Father, see also:
  • The Courage to be Imperfect The Word May 30, 2005.
  • The Theological Genius of Joseph Ratzinger | An Interview with Fr. D. Vincent Twomey Carl Olson, Ignatius Insight
  • Blast from the past: Fr. Twomey wrote a pretty critical review of John Allen Jr.'s The Vatican Enforcer in the October 2001 Homiletic & Pastoral Review, taking Allen to task for being tendentious, uncritical, and altogether too favorable to hostile witnesses (like Hans Kung). Following the election of Benedict XVI, Allen made something of a turnaround -- even going so far as to "recant", accepting another priest's criticism of his biography.

• For Benedict, environmental movement promises recovery of natural law tradition, by John Allen, Jr. Daily Journal, National Catholic Reporter July 27, 2007:

  One could say that summer 2007 is when the Vatican decided to go green. First came an announcement in June that more than 1,000 photovoltaic panels will be installed atop the Paul VI Audience Hall, allowing the building to utilize solar energy for light, heating and cooling. A month later, the Vatican became the first state in Europe to go completely carbon-neutral, signing an agreement with a Hungarian firm to reforest a sufficiently large swath of Hungary's Bükk National Park to offset its annual CO2 emissions.

  To some, these may seem curiously cutting edge moves from a pope whose recent decisions to revive the pre-Vatican II Mass and to reaffirm claims that Catholicism is the lone true church have cemented his reputation as the ultimate "retro" figure. He sometimes brings to mind the famous quip that rolling back the clock is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if it's keeping bad time.

  So what gives?

• Benedict’s Gifts and ‘Gaffes’ National Catholic Register August 12-18, 2007 Issue:

  The media is a double-edged sword: It can lift you up, and it can knock you down. Last year, headlines and commentators expressed surprise at the gifts the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI had brought to the Church. Now, their praise has been replaced by finger-pointing at the “gaffes” of the same Holy Father.

  The problem: There’s not that much difference between those gifts and those gaffes. . . .

• Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth is one of the best-selling books in France. In the current list published by the magazine L'Express, the book is at No. 5. It was released on June 7 and has remained on the bestsellerlist for 7 weeks.

• "Miracles are very hard to come by in Britain" - or so says Pope Benedict, to English prime minister Tony Blair during their meeting this past June. American Papist has the details.

• Gift or Gaffe?: Why Bush Gave Benedict a Walking Stick, by Wayne Laugesen. National Catholic Register June 24-30, 2007 Issue -- on the carved walking stick that President Bush presented the Pope on the occasion of his first visit, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The gift was regarded as a laughingstock by liberal critics; the Register tells a different story:

  The stick was designed and carved by Roosevelt Wilkerson, a man who lived on the streets of Dallas with his wife until Susan Nowlin, a good friend of George and Laura Bush, discovered his craft and began helping him sell the carvings, known as Moses Sticks. [...]

  The first stick Nowlin bought was given to her pastor. Subsequently, she gave a stick to then-Gov. Bush because she knew he cared about the homeless and the poor — and the Ten Commandments. Greeting Nowlin for a luncheon at the governor’s mansion, Laura Bush told her that Gov. Bush considered his Moses Stick “the greatest gift ever.” [...]

  In preparing for the Vatican visit, Bush contacted Nowlin about acquiring a stick so the White House protocol office could review it as a possible gift for Pope Benedict XVI. Wilkerson and his wife haven’t been homeless for most of the past 10 years because of the Moses Sticks, but Nowlin says it hasn’t been easy. Sometimes, sales have been slow.

  “I needed to sell at least seven sticks a month, if they were to stay off the street,” Nowlin said. “When orders were slow, Roosevelt and I would pray. We would just pray and pray and pray and the orders would come in.”

  As a result of the president’s gift to the Pope, Nowlin said she and Wilkerson can’t keep up. She has raised the price of the sticks to $100, but says she could probably charge $1,000 or more and still have a backlog of orders.

  The Register reports that the Holy Father did not appear at all phased by the President's gift of a walking stick, nor is down-home Texan manner of referring to him as "Sir." Neither should we, I suppose.

• The Ratzinger Effect: more money, more pilgrims – and lots more Latin July 7, 2007:

  Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, head of economic affairs at the Holy See, said that the “remarkable increase” in both donations and numbers of pilgrims showed that there was “a symbiosis, a mutual sympathy between this Pope and Christian people everywhere”.

  Presenting the Holy See’s annual budget yesterday, Cardinal Sebastiani noted that not only had it closed last year with a surplus of €2.4 million, partly thanks to diocesan donations, there had also been a “huge jump” in “Peter’s Pence”, the annual church collections given directly to the Pope to use for charity, from $60 million (£30 million) in 2005 to $102 million. “The days when people talked of papal bankruptcy are past,” said Marco Tosatti, Vatican correspondent of La Stampa. . . .

  Record numbers attend Benedict’s weekly audiences, and seven million people a year now visit St Peter’s, a rise of 20 per cent. Similar increases are recorded for pilgrimages to Catholic shrines at Assisi, Lourdes, Fatima in Portugal and Madonna di Guadalupe in Mexico. “This is a Ratzinger phenomenon,” reported La Repubblica.

• Bonaventure & Benedict July 15, 2007. dotCommonweal [blog]:

  Today, tucked into the celebration of "the weekly Easter," the Dies Domini, the Church also commemorates, with the entire Franciscan family, St. Bonaventure, theologian and pastor.

  In 1959 the young professor, Joseph Ratzinger, published a significant study: The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure. This second thesis, or Habilitationschrift, is required for the aspirant to hold a chair in a German university.

  In his 1969 "Foreword to the American Edition," Ratzinger writes of his findings . . . READ MORE

• "A Day in the Life of the Pope" - stills from a documentary, with shots from inside the rather modest Papal apartment, study and chapel. (Courtesy of the The Pope Benedict XVI Forum).

• Interview with Msgr. Georg Gaenswein Sueddeutsche Zeitung July 26, 2007 (kindly translated from German by Gerald Augustinus of Closed Cafeteria ). The interviewer, Peter Seewald, is the co-author of several book-length interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger - Salt of the Earth and God and the World. On the state of the Pope's health:

  PS: When he was a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wanted to retire, stating he was exhausted.

  MG: With his election as Pope something happened that he neither strived for nor wanted. But I am convinced that, as he by and by surrendered to God's will, the grace of the office in his person and his actions has shown effect and still is. . . .

  On his own service to the Holy Father:

  PS: The son of a blacksmith from a 450 people village in the Black Forest who now travels with the Holy Father in a helicopter and shares the concerns of the global Church (Weltkirche) - does one ask oneself: Why me? What does God want from me?

  MG: I asked myself this very question, and not just once. It is a task that you cannot plan. In promising the Holy Father fidelity and obedience, I tried to answer that question. In that, I see a message from God, to face this task without reservations.

  On the unfortunate caricatures of him by the tabloids and the ogling of adoring fans:

  PS: You're probably the first Papal secretary in history that's also in the spotlight next to the Pontifex: People Magazine swoons over the "Sunnyboy in the cassock", the Swiss Weltwoche calls you the "most handsome man in a soutane". Donatella Versace dedicated a fashion line to you. Does this image as a "ladykiller" (ie someone who looks like one) bother you ?

  MG: It didn't make me blush, but it irritated me a bit. It doesn't hurt and it was flattering, and it's no sin. I'd never been confronted like this with my "shell". Then I noticed that it was largely an expression of sympathy - a bonus, not a malus; I can handle that well. But, I don't want that people don't just look at me but also acknowledge the substance.

  It's a lengthy (and, as it progresses, substantial) interview, so read on.

  Also, from Benodette @ Benedict Forum, translation of another interview with Msgr. Ganswein in Suedkurier.de:

  . . . [Jesus of Nazareth] is enjoying a great success in Germany too. Have you read it already?

  Yes, for the second time. It is a spiritual legacy of a man who has grappled with Jesus throughout his whole life as a priest, as a professor, as archbishop and Cardinal Prefect, and now as Pope. He draws upon the sum of his life, and sets down a confession [of faith]. Readers will be much encouraged and strengthened in their faith by this book.

  The Regensburg speech was the speech with the greatest worldwide echo. Some Muslims reacted indignantly. Since this experience do you look at the papal speeches beforehand?

  Naturally, the Pope takes reactions to his speeches into account, and ponders, separates the wheat from the chaff. But he doesn’t let himself be hemmed in, because someone doesn’t agree with this or that statement or heavily criticizes it. Many who remain silent, who do not announce themselves with public bluster, are grateful for his clear, trailblazing words.

  Are other departments of the Catholic Curia involved with papal pronouncements?

  The Pope usually writes speeches, homilies and lengthy texts himself. When necessary, individual components are provided or suggestions are compiled. But he is the architect of the text. . . .

• From the Benedict Forum, news of a German biography of Benedict's brother, Georg Ratzinger:

  A biography of Monsignor Georg Ratzinger is to be published later this month by Herder-Verlag. The author is 56 year old journalist Anton Zuber who lives near Heilbronn.

  Oberpfalznetz -The Pope will be given the book by his brother on 16 August at Castelgandolfo. It will be generally available on 25 August. The book is titles Georg Ratzinger and the Regensburg Domspatzen. The book will concentrate on Georg Ratzinger’s life as a musician. The book has 256 pages and will be sold at 19.90 Euro.

  From the German wires:

  German news wires - People have always had an interest in those who are close to a Pope. Stanislaw Dziwisz, now Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, has published a book about his years with Pope John Paul II which reveals something of how close their relationship was.

  Never before, however, has a book been dedicated to the life of a Pope’s brother. Today, at Castelgandolfo, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger presented the first copy of his biography to his bother the Pope. Written by the journalist Anton Zuber, and published by Herder, the book is focused on his years as Master of the Regensburg Domspatzen, which achieved world-wide celebrity under his leadership between 1964 and 1994.

  Anton Zuber spent many hours in conversation with Georg Ratzinger for the biography. The book also covers Monsignor Ratzinger’s shocked reaction to the result of the conclave, his childhood and youth, his career as a musician, his time in the war (he was wounded in Italy), his captivity as a POW, his ordination and his first Mass. He also speaks of his small brother, with whom he and his sister Maria would play, their respect for their industrious mother and firm but fair father. He recalled the tale of his brother’s tears over a teddy bear which disappeared from the shop window across the street, only to turn up under their Christmas tree.

• Pope set to declare income tax evasion 'socially unjust', by Richard Owen. Times [UK] August 11, 2007:

  Pope Benedict XVI is working on a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust”, according to Vatican sources.

  In his second encyclical – the most authoritative statement a pope can issue – the pontiff will denounce the use of “tax havens” and offshore bank accounts by wealthy individuals, since this reduces tax revenues for the benefit of society as a whole.

  It will focus on humanity’s social and economic problems in an era of globalisation. Pope Benedict intends to argue for a world trade and economic system “regulated in such a way as to avoid further injustice and discrimination”, Ignazio Ingrao, a Vatican watcher, said yesterday.

  The encyclical, drafted during his recent holiday in the mountains of northern Italy, takes its cue from Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples), issued 40 years ago. In it the pontiff focused on “those peoples who are striving to escape from hunger, misery, endemic diseases and ignorance and are looking for a wider share in the benefits of civilisation”. He called on the West to promote an equitable world economic system based on social justice rather than profit.

  Adds Rick Garnett (Mirror of Justice): "I hope this document attends carefully to the non-trivial challenge of defining 'tax evasion.'" At this point, we can only speculate.

On a Lighter Note . . .

• For the Papist Who Has Everything . . .. A Bobble-Head Benedict. It has to be seen to be believed.

• Pope Outed as Catholic (Parody is Therapy July 13, 2007):

  A Vatican document published with the Pope's blessing has created a firestorm of controversy and has outed the Pope as a believing Catholic.

  Apparently he thinks the Catholic Church is the true Church and considers the sacraments real and are what they signify.

• Papist Picture of the Day @ American Papist: "Little did Timmy know, but his most memorable night of working at the McDonald's drive-through window was about to begin!"

• Finally, congratulations to The American Papist for his recognition as a resource on Benedict XVI by the New York Times. (The Benedict Blog / Benedict XVI Fan Club was selected as well):
  

New Books by Pope Benedict XVI / Joseph Ratzinger

As Pope Benedict XVI
The Apostles (Our Sunday Visitor, July 2007): In this fascinating and inspirational journey with the friends of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI demonstrates a profound, unbreakable continuity--built upon the foundation of the Apostles and alive in the succession of the Apostles---by which Christ is present today in His people and His church. Let Pope Benedict be your guide as the distance of centuries is overcome and he reveals the impact of Christ s vision through the calling and works of the Apostles. Ignite your faith with this timeless connection between Jesus, His Apostles, the Church, and you.
Amy Welborn has edited an adult "study guide" to OSV's The Apostles: a compilation Benedict's Wednesday General Audiences: A master catechist, the Holy Father's inspirational words about the chosen disciples of Jesus are as clear as though he were sitting down and explaining it to you personally. Because the book naturally lends itself to adult study, a study guide has been developed. There are twelve sessions, each with questions for study and questions for reflection, as well as opening and closing prayers. It is available for purchase online at a modest fee, or you can download The Apostles study guide for free directly from Our Sunday Visitor's website. [.pdf format]
An Invitation to Faith: An a to Z Primer on the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI Edited by Jean-michel Coulet. Ignatius Press (July 31, 2007). From the publisher: With strong words, Benedict XVI invites us to place God at the center of our lives. Thus, this book is a selection of key words from the teachings of the Holy Father since he began his Pontificate, presented in alphabetical order. Each key word leads to an inspiring and insightful meditation from the Pope on various important spiritual themes and topics. Benedict XVI invites us in these words to become daily actors in the real revolution that comes from God and is called Love. This volume is a handy little primer on the thought of the beloved Pontiff in which the reader can pick out any key word or topic form the alphabetical order of meditations throughout the book to meditate and focus on.
Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church Ignatius Press (November 2007).: Based on Pope Benedict XVI's weekly teaching on the relationship between Christ and the Church, this book tells the drama of Jesus' first disciples -- his Apostles and their associates -- and how they spread Jesus' message throughout the ancient world. Far from distorting the truth about Jesus of Nazareth, insists Pope Benedict, the early disciples remained faithful to it, even at the cost of their lives. Beginning with the Twelve as the foundation of Jesus' re-establishment of the Holy People of God, Pope Benedict examines the story of the early followers of Christ. He draws on Scripture and early tradition to consider such important figures as Peter, Andrew, James and John, and even Judas Iscariot. Benedict moves beyond the original Twelve to discuss Paul of Tarsus, the persecutor of Christianity who became one of Jesus' greatest disciples. Also considered are Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, the wife and husband "team" of Priscilla and Aquila, and such key women figures as Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Phoebe.
The Blessing of Christmas: Meditations for the Season Ignatius Press (October 31, 2007): This lovely little book, profusely illustrated, is ideal for the Christmas and Advent season with its inspiring, profound, yet popular meditations on the blessings of the season by the current Pope. Taken from his sermons as well as his writings, these beautiful meditations by the acclaimed spiritual teacher, writer and now Pontiff, give his usual fresh insights into the deeper meaning of this most wondrous event, and show the Pope to be a man who knows how to address both the mind and the heart.
As Joseph Ratzinger [One beneficial thing (among many) about Benedict XVI being the pope -- we can expect new editions of his works as Cardinal Ratzinger, some of which are currently out of print.]
New Outpourings of the Spirit, by Joseph Ratzinger. Ignatius Press (October 2007): The volume consists of two fundamental texts by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, on the ecclesial movements and new communities within the Church since the Second Vatican Council. These writings are particularly meaningful with regard to the intense spiritual journey which the ecclesial movements and the new communities are experiencing in view of their meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on Pentecost 2006. These writings are a precious guide for the entire Church, leaders and laity alike, who are invited to welcome the new "outpourings of the Spirit". The first part of the book presents in an articulate and exhaustive way the theological vision of the Pope on these ecclesial movements and the new communities. It is his talk titled Church Movements and their Place in Theology which he gave at the beginning of the World Congress of the Ecclesial Movements in Rome in Ma, 1998. It combines extraordinary theological depth with a warm pastoral tone. The second part of the book is very different from the first, but complements the first part. It contains the dialogue of Cardinal Ratzinger with a large group of Bishops from all continents, convened together for a seminar on the topic, The Ecclesial Movements in the Pastoral Concern of the Bishops held in Rome in 1999.This dialogue format was very favorably received by the Bishops, and it is quite wide-ranging, touching on topics such as the relation between the old and the new charisms, the institutional dimension and the charismatic dimension of the Church, and the Church's mission in a non-Christian society and more.
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life [2nd Edition] by Joseph Ratzinger. Catholic University of America Press; 2 edition (October 7, 2007): Originally published in English in 1988, Joseph Ratzinger's Eschatology remains internationally recognized as a leading text on the "last things"--heaven and hell, purgatory and judgment, death and the immortality of the soul. This highly anticipated second edition includes a new preface by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI and a supplement to the bibliography by theologian Peter A. Casarella. Eschatology presents a balanced perspective of the doctrine at the center of Christian belief--the Church's faith in eternal life. Recognizing the task of contemporary eschatology as "to marry perspectives, so that person and community, present and future, are seen in their unity," Joseph Ratzinger brings together recent emphasis on the theology of hope for the future with the more traditional elements of the doctrine. His book has proven to be as timeless as it is timely.
Seek That Which Is Above: Meditations Through the Year [Reprint] Ignatius Press (September 30, 2007): In this beautifully illustrated book, Cardinal Ratzinger gives us meditations on various Liturgical Seasons and Feasts throughout the year, as well as other interesting spiritual and secular themes. These profound and inspiring thoughts bring his broad theological experience as well as his wide literary interests to his people. Here is a shepherd nourishing spiritually the faithful addressed to his care. Themes the Cardinal covers include Advent, Candlemas, Mardi Gras, Easter, Corpus Christi, Marian Devotion, Vacation & Rest, Peace and Creation.
Ratzinger / Benedict Scholarship
Joseph Ratzinger - Life in the Church and Living Theology: Fundamentals of Ecclesiology by Maximilian Heinrich Heim. (Ignatius Press, October 2007). 500pp. This is a major work on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, by a highly regarded German theologian, priest and writer. Since his election to the Papacy, Ratzinger's theology, and in particular his ecclesiology (theology of the Church), has been in the limelight of theological and ecumenical discussions. This important work studies in detail Ratzinger's ecclesiology in the light of Vatican II, against the ongoing debate about what Vatican II really meant to say about the life of the Church, its liturgy, its worship, its doctrine, its pastoral mission, and more. Has his theology of the Church changed since Vatican II, or has it continued to develop consistently? Is the Catholic Church one church among many churches? Is she the object of hope or a historical reality? Ratzinger the theologian figures centrally in this investigation, not as the former Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but as a thinker and as a writer.
Expected in 2008 Ratzinger's Faith, by Tracey Rowland. Oxford University Press (March 6, 2008): general introduction to the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, including his approach to issues in moral and political theology, ecclesiology, liturgy, interpretations of the of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and the theology of history. Tracey Rowland also addresses the question of Pope Benedict's place in the constellation of contemporary Catholic theologians. It has become a commonplace observation that Pope Benedict has been influenced by the thought of St Augustine, in contrast to many of his predecessors in the papacy who were much more strongly influenced by St Thomas Aquinas. Rowland therefore asks in what way Benedict is an Augustinian, and how this marked difference in theological perspective may play out in the coming years. Her book includes an extensive thematic bibliography, which will be valuable for students. Dean and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Continental Theology of the John Paul II Institute, Melbourne, Australia, and Member of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.

Pope Benedict Recognizes 100th Anniversary of Scouting

On July 5, 2007, Pope Benedict recognized the 100th anniversary of Scouting:

"For one century, through play, action, adventure, contact with nature, life as a team and in service to others, you offer an integral formation to anyone who joins the Scouts," said the Holy Father in his letter written in French.

He continued: "Inspired by the Gospels, scouting is not only a place for authentic human growth, but also a place of strong Christian values and true moral and spiritual growth, as with any authentic way of holiness.

"The sense of responsibility that permeates Scout education leads to a life of charity and the desire to serve one's neighbor, in the image of Christ the servant, based on the grace offered by Christ, in a special way through the sacraments of the Eucharist and forgiveness."

The Pontiff encouraged the brotherhood of the Scouts, "which is a part of its original ideal and makes up, above all for young generations -- a witness of that which is the body of Christ, within which, according to the image of St. Paul, all are called to fulfill a mission wherever they are, to rejoice in another's progress and to support their brothers in times of difficulty."

The full text of the papal letter on Scouting can be found here.

Scouting is a worldwide youth movement founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Lieutenant General in the British Army. (Here is an interview with Lord Powell on the origins of Scouting Listener magazine, 1937).

According to the Boy Scouts of America on Scouting for Catholic Youth:

[the Catholic Church] is one of the most extensive users of the BSA program. There are more than 330,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers in more than 9,600 packs, troops, and crews under Catholic auspices, and an equal number of youth members in other Scouting units. Scouting is used in about one-third of the parishes in the United States.

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

Following is a round-up of news and reviews and commentary on the Pope's new book. Consider this the 'anchor' post for this topic, meaning that if I run across any more pertinent links they will be updated here. -- Christopher

• Last month, Zenit News Service reported Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth has sold more than 1.5 million copies, the statistic referring to the Italian, Slovenian, Greek, Polish and various English editions. According to Zenit "There are 42 editors worldwide who have agreements to publish "Jesus of Nazareth," and 30 translations are in the works."

• Pope's new book addresses key concerns for this pontificate: Christ is key" - John Allen Jr. notes with amusement the varied attempts by the press to make sense of the Pope's book:

  . . . The first wave of stories focused on comments in the book about Africa and capitalism, even though they amount to asides in a 448-page treatise on the Gospels. Other stories styled the book as a rebuke to The Da Vinci Code. (That red herring was encouraged by an indirect allusion to Dan Brown's potboiler from Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna in a Vatican news conference.) Still others seemed charmed by the fact that the pope wrote that because his book is not a magisterial act, "everyone is free to contradict me." Beyond those angles, there was little interest in follow-up, in large part because a pope discussing Jesus strikes most people as the ultimate in "dog bites man" developments -- that is, the most normal thing in the world.

  By the time anyone had actually read all 448 pages of Jesus of Nazareth, the moment for further analysis had already passed. Passed, that is, everywhere but here, where papal analysis never goes out of fashion. . . .

  and comes to his own conclusions about the Pope's motivation:

  What seems clear is that the motive for the book is also emerging as the core doctrinal concern of this pontificate: Christology. Put in a nutshell, Benedict's thesis in Jesus of Nazareth is that there can be no humane social order or true moral progress apart from a right relationship with God; try as it might, a world organized etsi Deus non daretur, "as if God does not exist," will be dysfunctional and ultimately inhumane. Jesus Christ, Benedict insists, is "the sign of God for human beings." Presenting humanity with the proper teaching about Jesus is, therefore, according to Benedict, the highest form of public service the church has to offer.

• A Portrait of Faith, by Lisa Miller. Newsweek May 21, 2007. With Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI fights back against 'the dictatorship of relativism' by showing the world his vision of the definitive truth of Christ. (Most amusing sentence: "Liberal Catholics worry that, in spite of assurances to the contrary, Benedict is writing an 'official' biography, and they have cause for concern.")

• Theme of papal book may also be hallmark of his papacy, panelists say, by Nancy Frazier O'Brien (Catholic News Service), covering a panel discussion with Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., and Vatican analysts George Weigel and John Allen, at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington on May 15, 2007.

• From Michael Dubriel (Annunciations):

  A few months ago someone asked me what book I would recommend that they give to their adult children who no longer practiced the faith, without hesitation I named this book as the one. At the time I had only read some excerpts available online from Germany and Italy. It was an act of faith then, now that I have the book I know that my recommendation was justified.

• "A Pope’s Love of Writing", by Fr. Raymond J. de Souza. National Post, (Canada) May 17, 2007.

• Jesus of Nazareth: Review by Jeff Miller aka. The Curt Jester May 18, 2007: ". . . The chapter on the Our Father prayer is worth the price of the book alone. This is not just an academic exegesis of the Our Father prayer line-by-line, but a deep meditation into this prayer. Often we can repeat a prayer so often that it looses its freshness and his meditation on this prayer can shock us back into reality of what the prayer that Jesus gave us really means and indicates."

• Over at Catholic Analysis, Oswald Sobrino is periodically blogging a series of commenaries on Jesus of Nazareth.

• From the UK Times, a Jesus of Nazareth - Review by Geza Vermes The Times (London). May 19, 2007.

  See also: Response to Geza Vermes by Carl Olson @ Ignatius Insight; Mark Brumley on The Goodness and Divinity of Jesus and another Response to Geza Vermes by MetaCatholic.

• Benedict XVI on Jesus (Review), by Fr. Joseph O'Leary. Spirit of Vatican II May 25, 2007.

• Reading Benedict on Jesus, by Lawrence S. Cunningham (Commonweal) May 25, 2007:

  I have just finished reading and it is with some trepidation that I post this message since the blogosphere is cluttered with reactions. It is not my intention to review the work but let me say that I did think it is a powerful book. Those who think it only a work of devotion are mistaken as are those who think his approach to the scriptures is retrograde or those who hail it as the greatest thing since the Summa. . . .

• My Argument with the Pope, by Rabbi Jacob Neusner. Jerusalem Post May 29, 2007:

  In the Middle Ages rabbis were forced to engage with priests in disputations in the presence of kings and cardinals on which is the true religion, Judaism or Christianity. The outcome was predetermined. Christians won; they had the swords.

  But in the post-WW II era, disputations gave way to the conviction that the two religions say the same thing and the differences between them are dismissed as trivial. Now a new kind of disputation has begun, in which the truth of the two religions is subject to debate. That marks a return to the old disputations, with their intense seriousness about religious truth and their willingness to ask tough questions and engage with the answers.

  My book, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus, was one such contemporary exercise of disputation, and now, in 2007, the pope in his new book Jesus of Nazareth in detail has met the challenge point-by-point. Just imagine my amazement when I heard that a Christian reply is fully exposed in Pope Benedict XVI's reply to A Rabbi Talks with Jesus in his Jesus of Nazareth Chapter Four, on the sermon on the Mount. . . .

  In 1993, then-Cardinal Ratzinger heralded Neusner's book as "by far the most important book for the Jewish-Christian dialogue in the last decade.". Time magazine recently profiled Rabbi Neusner (The Pope's Favorite Rabbi, by David Van Biema. May 24, 2007).

• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI, by Joel Gillespie. June 12, 2007:

  Every so often a book comes along that deeply moves and inspires me as a person, and as a Christian. I can never know when this will happen. Many books disappoint, and many surprise.

  I am right in the middle of one of those amazing books. It is “Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration” by Joseph Ratzinger, otherwise known as Pope Benedict XVI.

  OK, I am an evangelical Protestant pastor. How can I speak such of a book by the Roman Catholic Pope of all people? . . .

• Christ First, Last and Always, by George Weigel. "The Catholic Difference" June 13, 2007:

  Time and again, whether he's writing about the temptations, the parables, the Lord's Prayer, or the miracles of Jesus' public ministry, Pope Benedict's method of reading the Gospels puts the edge back on stories and messages often dulled by familiarity. Reading the New Testament through the eyes of Joseph Ratzinger in Jesus of Nazareth thus becomes a way to read the Gospels afresh -- and to be reminded that, whether the New York Times thinks it's "news" or not, the proclamation of Jesus Christ is what the Church is for.

• Franz Michel Willam, the Theologian the Pope Has Rescued from Oblivion, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa. - Author in 1932 of a famous life of Christ, he had been forgotten by everyone. Benedict XVI cites him in "Jesus of Nazareth," and an Austrian scholar explains why. (Based on unpublished correspondence between the two).

• The Face of God: What Benedict's Jesus Offers, by Peter Steinfels. Commonweal August 17, 2007 / Volume CXXXIV, Number 14.

• God Made Visible: On the Foreword to Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth, by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. Ignatius Insight June 18, 2007.

• "God Is The Issue" | The Temptation in the Desert and the Kingdoms of This World, by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. Ignatius Insight June 29, 2007.

• Related: The Pope's Jesus: Gerd Lüdemann and Benedict XVI - Review of Das Jesusbild des Papstes: Über Joseph Ratzingers kühnen Umgang mit den Quellen (Springe: zu Klampen Verlag, 2007), 157 pp.:

  Just months after Benedict XVI released Jesus of Nazareth, the New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann has produced this spirited book-length critique of “the Pope’s Jesus.” Lüdemann writes both as a post-Christian who is deeply sceptical about the claims of church doctrine, and as a rigorous advocate of the historical-critical method. A central contrast between Benedict and Lüdemann thus lies in their respective attitudes towards the biblical texts: while Benedict approaches the texts with basic trust and theological commitment, Lüdemann insists that it is “a blind alley” to privilege these texts and to assume that they are historically or theologically trustworthy (p. 23). . . .

  (See also: Ben Myers on Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth August 10, 2007).

• Further reflections on Jesus of Nazareth - remarks from Ignatius Press' authors Roy Schoeman (author of Salvation is from the Jews) and Dr. Regis Martin, professor of Systematic Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

• Jesus of Nazareth - review by Craig Blomberg, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of New Testament Denver Evangelical Seminary:

  There are plenty of places where one might quibble with this or that minor point of exegesis. But they pale in comparison with the number of pages on end where the reviewer finds himself underlining, agreeing with, and including exclamation points, thank you's, and even smiling faces in the margins of his copy of the book. I am indebted to our graduate, Jon Haley, long-time church worker in Spain, for first calling this book to my attention and suggesting that it was worthy of review. Evangelical readers can derive considerable encouragement from the pope's positions and devotional inspiration from his applications.

• "Jesus of Nazareth" Gets a Special Reviewer: The Vicar of the Man Who Wrote It, by Sandro Magister [on Cardinal Ruini's review of Jesus of Nazareth]. December 14, 2007.