Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), with Sheed & Ward, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, has published Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy -- "an unprecedented look into the first five years of Benedict’s reign":

Edited by Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the USCCB, it features forewords by King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Shimon Peres of Israel, and articles by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, USCCB president, and John Thavis, Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service. ...

Elegantly designed and produced in the style of the USCCB’s award-winning tribute to Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul II: A Light for the World, the new book features more than 100 full-color photographs. Images range from formal public appearances and meetings with world leaders and lay Catholics around the globe, to quiet moments of personal study or contemplation. [...]

Essays by USCCB staff illuminate the pope’s life and work as Pilgrim, Pastor, and Prophet and include topics such as his response to the sex abuse crisis; support of Africa, China, and Latin America; relations with Jews and Muslims; papal travels; liturgical reform; human rights, justice, war and peace, bioethics, the environment, and immigration; and his use of social media.

Personal reflections by friends and church leaders Cardinal Edward Egan, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., Cardinal Justin Rigali, Sister Eileen McCann, CSJ, Ambassador Johnny Young and many more, provide a glimpse into the warm, human aspect of Benedict, including his sense of humor. The book also includes excerpts from Pope Benedict’s writings and an extensive resource section.

Source: USCCB Press Release. * * *

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a personal copy for review. This is a beautiful tribute, with a full-color photographic retrospective on the pontificate of Benedict XVI to date, accompanied by reflections and brief personal anecdotes. Not only is this a good item for the library of any "Benedict fan", I imagine it would be a fitting gift for somebody not very well acquainted with, and wanting to learn about, the Holy Father.

I can only imagine the time and effort taken to assemble and edit something of this size -- Sister Mary Ann Walsh (and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) are to be commended for a job well done.

Pope Benedict Roundup!

News

• Pope Benedict XVI will have a full schedule following his visit to the United Kingdom, says Rome Reports. His Fall calendar looks to be one of the busiest of his pontificate. On the agenda: closing the Italian Meeting of Families in Palermo, Siciliy; meeting Church Leaders at the Synod of Bishops and its Special Assembly for the Middle East; canonizing six new saints and a pastoral visit to Spain.

• 09/03/10: The Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, brought 33 rosaries blessed by Pope Benedict XVI to the miners trapped 700 metres underground in San Jose, Chile (Rome Reports). See also: "Surviving the Darkness": How 33 trapped Chilean miners can beat the danger of living without sunlight (Newsweek). On September 17th, the New York Times reported an important milestone in the effort to rescue 33 trapped miners, reaching the caverns where the men are trapped with a bore hole that will now be widened so they can be pulled to safety.

• 09/03/10: Pope Benedict XVI has released his message for the next World Youth Day to be held in Madrid 2011 (Rome Reports):

  In warm and personal way, the Pope has invited young people around the world to turn out for the celebrations which will be held in the Spanish capital next summer. Recalling his own youth, Benedict XVI reflected on his time as a university student and the challenges of responding affirmatively to his vocation to the priesthood.

  Full Text of Pope Benedict's message for World Youth Day 2011.

• 09/01/10: Pope Benedict XVI has given a series of interviews to a German journalist that will form the basis of a new book to be published later this year (Catholic Herald) | Video:

  The Vatican said this week that the Holy Father and fellow Bavarian Peter Seewald spoke several times over the course of the final week in July at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome. It will be the third time their conversations have been published. Mr Seewald interviewed then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for his 1996 book Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium, a transcript of interviews on the state of the Church from Cardinal Ratzinger’s perspective as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. [Also, 2002's God and the World: A Conversation With Peter Seewald -- Christopher

  The Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the new book would be published before the end of the year by the Vatican’s publishing house in German and Italian. ...

  Mr Seewald has written three other books about the Pope, The German Pope – From Joseph Ratzinger to Benedict XVI, Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait and Benedict XVI: Life and Mission.

• 08/24/10: Zenit covers an interview with Pope Benedict's personal physician, Doctor Patrizio Polisca. Originally published in L'Osservatore Romano, Polisca recalled his prior service to Pope John Paul II as well:

  "I cannot think of my life without the responsibility to the Pope and to the Church. I live it, rather, as a joy that I share with my family." A job that enables him to realize his dream: "to practice the medical profession and have the possibility to do so in a dimension that is always mine: the Christian, to the utmost of its earthly expression."

Commentary

• "Mainstream US media asleep on the job?" asks the Pertinacious Papist (September 24, 2010):

  A friend of mine, a retired Hollywood actor, who rightfully prides himself on keeping up with the news, wrote me recently and included a newspaper clipping on the Pope's recent trip to Great Britain. The newspaper article featured a large photo of crowds of placard-bearing anti-Catholic demonstrators and was substantially devoted to only one subject: the Pope's meeting with sex-abuse victims and the outrage of Britons over the sex scandal. If one's news sources were limited to the mainstream print media and TV networks in the US, this is likely all he would know about the Pope's journey to Britain, if he knew about it at all.

  Likewise, Deacon Greg Kandra notes, One of the biggest surprises of Pope Benedict's historic trip to the United Kingdom may be how few people realize that it was, in fact, historic."

• "It is a bad sign when the head of a Catholic college’s theology department ends an interview by calling Pope Benedict an Austrian." David Mills, First Things on Religion News Service's interview with Mark J. Massa, SJ.
• I lived next door to the Pope - Gerald O'Collins SJ (The Guardian September 18, 2010):

  It was summer 1968 and I'd just finished my PhD at Cambridge. I wanted a few months somewhere different and hit on Tübingen, a lovely, medieval city in southern Germany. I was researching and writing at the university before taking a post in the US.

  I found a room on the outskirts of town and moved straight in. The landlady wasted no time in telling me about the hotshot on the block, my next-door neighbour Professor Joseph Ratzinger. ...

• "Why They Are Attacking Me." Autobiography of a Pontificate Ever since he was elected, Joseph Ratzinger has been the target of a crescendo of assaults, from inside and outside of the Church. Is an "invisible hand" moving them? Here's how the pope sees and explains it. (Sandro Magister)

• Responding to the vicious critics of the papal visit to the UK, the blogger of Heresy Corner offers "ten reasons to love the Pope":

  ... the Heresiarch will not be joining in the frenzy of pope-baiting. As Brendan O'Neill astutely points out, "the great irony of this allegedly rationalist protest against the pope is that it is indulging in precisely the kind of demonology that the Catholic Church once excelled at."

• Space Alien Followers vs. Pope Benedict (No, Seriously) (Above The Law September 13, 2010):

  A prophet, who now goes by the name “Rael,” once encountered space aliens who told him the secret of life. Later, his followers, “the Raelians,” set up an advocacy group to expose pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church. But the group’s work was frustrated when Pope Benedict XVI (a.k.a. Joe Ratzinger) covered up the crimes of Catholic priests, in an effort to discredit the Raelians and suppress their message. ...

• Mark Dowd, author of the BBC documentary Trials of the Pope, on "How I changed my mind about the Pope" (Catholic Herald September 10th, 2010):

  . . . those who complain of the betrayal of Vatican II and have this pontificate down as unreservedly restorationist and insular have some explaining to do. How is it that such a man commands the respect of a towering figure and atheist intellectual such as Jürgen Habermas, so much so that they are prepared to engage in a dialogue in public? How is it that such a man devotes his first encyclical to a profound discussion of human love and ponders on the potential for Eros and Agape to be a bridge between the human and the divine? Furthermore, how is it that this pope has taken every opportunity to emphasise that care from the environment is not some woolly-minded aspect of New Ageism, but an integral part of his theological outlook?

• Tracey Rowland, Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, on Benedict XVI and the banality of sacro-pop (Religion and Ethics ABC.net.au September 6, 2010).

• How the Pope Brought God to Drug Addicts: Interview on Brazil's "Farms of Hope" When Benedict XVI visited Brazil in 2008, one of his stops was at a center for recovering drug addicts. A young patient later recounted what the experience meant for him: Not even my family wants to see me, he explained, but the Pope comes to see me and others like me. (Zenit September 6, 2010).

• Pope Benedict XVI: Theologian of the Bible, by Fr. Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J. This talk was the 15th Annual Peter Richard Kenrick Lecture, delivered at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, on March 18, 2010. (Homiletic and Pastoral Review)

Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Journey to the UK: September 16-19, 2010

Roundups Day Four - September 19, 2010: Roundup Day Three - September 18, 2010: Roundup Day Two - September 17, 2010: Roundup Day One - September 16, 2010: Roundup

Supplementary Website

"No Credible Threat" against Pope Benedict; 'Terrorist' suspects released

Five arrested in alleged terror plot (The Guardian):

Scotland Yard arrested five street cleaners today over an alleged terrorist threat to the pope.

The men were arrested by armed officers in central London at 5.45am on the second day of the pope's visit.

Sources say the men are believed to be Muslim and that some of them are Algerian. A spokesperson for Westminster city council said they were working for Veolia Environmental Services, a contractor which employs 650 on-street staff to keep Westminster's streets clean. The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50, were held under the Terrorism Act 2000 at business premises in the central London. They were taken to a nearby police station, where they will be interviewed by detectives.

An assessment of the intelligence judged it to be so severe that police needed to disrupt the alleged plot immediately.

A sixth conspirator was arrested at his home, later in the day (AP). Related

• "Oh, those suspects in alleged pope threat" GetReligion:

  ... the response of some of the world’s major news players has been interesting. The key point, again, is this: How high in the story do you answer the question that everyone really wants answered?

• The Vatican said the arrest of terrorist suspects would not affect Pope Benedict XVI's schedule of events and hat the pope remained "calm" and happy with the visit (Catholic News Service).
• Extensive coverage of plots against Pope Benedict (this was not the first!) courtesy of Dave Hartline (The American Catholic).
• Metropolitan Police have completed their investigations into the six Muslim street cleaners arrested in connection with a plot to assassinate Pope Benedict, concluding there was “no credible threat” to the Holy Father (Catholic Herald 7/18/10).
• BBC reports that Six men arrested by police investigating an alleged plot to attack the Pope have all been released without charge. (7/19/10)

Further updates at benedictintheuk.blogspot.com

Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal John Henry Newman

In 2005 a small book was published by Catholic journalist and broadcaster Peter Jennings, entitled, simply: Benedict XVI and Cardinal Newman.

Zenit News ran a brief article at the time of its publication, from which we gather the following description:

"Benedict XVI and Cardinal Newman" was presented to an audience of Curia members, journalists and pontifical university students during an upright English, yet relaxed Roman affair.

The glossy book is filled with select writings from both Church figures and other leading English clergy, and is edited by longtime religious commentator Peter Jennings.

Produced in only six months (from the time of the papal election), Jennings' book clearly presents Benedict XVI's keen interest in this convert from Anglicanism which dates back to his seminary days.

Declared venerable in 1991 for heroic virtues, the cardinal's effect on the current Holy Father is recognized throughout the writings in the new book.

These include introductory addresses given by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the symposium "John Henry Newman, Lover of Truth," to his address on conscience and truth, presented at a bishops workshop in Texas.

Jennings told me how he tried to enhance the in-depth chronology of Newman's life by using previously unpublished pictures like that of Newman in his role as founder of the English Oratory of St. Philip Neri, from the archives of the Birmingham Oratory.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell the book is only available through various bookstores in the UK -- although some copies may be purchased through Amazon's UK website.

On August 26, 2010, it was announced that Peter Jennings was given the task by the Bishop's Conference of Wales & Scotland of compiling the official record of the historic State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom, to be published by the Catholic Truth Society in October:

Peter Jennings said: “It is an honour and privilege to have been invited to compile the official record of this historic State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI, culminating as it does with the beatification of Cardinal Newman.”

Mr Jennings added: “I was baptised by the eminent Newman scholar Fr Stephen Dessain in the Newman Memorial Church situated next to the Oratory of St Philip Neri, Edgbaston, where Cardinal Newman lived from 1852 until his death on 11 August 1890, aged 89. I have worked on the Newman Cause since the Holy Year of 1975, helping to raise the world-wide profile of Cardinal Newman not only as a great academic, theologian, writer and preacher but in particular as a holy pastoral parish priest who looked after the sick and poor in Birmingham.”

See Also

• The Influence of John Henry Newman on Benedict XVI, by Tracey Rowland. ABC Religion and Ethics | 16 Sep 2010. "Few English speakers seem to realise the extent to which Newman influenced German Catholic thought in the first half of the twentieth century, and particularly the theology of Joseph Ratzinger."
• Newman, Sophie Scholl, and Joseph Ratzinger - Carl Olson (Insight Scoop) observes a personal connection between Cardinal Newman, Joseph Ratzinger and German heroine Sophie Scholl, martyred for resisting the Nazis.
• Ratzinger the Professor: the influence of Cardinal Newman - The Cause for the Canonisation of Cardinal Newman reports on a new book by Gianni Valente, published in Italian: Ratzinger Professore: Gli anni dello studio e dell’insegnamento nel ricordo dei colleghi e degli allievi (1946-1977) (Milan: Edizioni San Paolo, s.r.l., 2008) [‘Ratzinger the Professor: the years of study and teaching as recalled by his colleagues and students’] -- which addresses Newman's influence on Ratzinger's theological development.

See Pope Benedict in the UK for ongoing roundups of articles, commentary and information on the Pope's September 16-19 visit to England and Scotland. See Cardinal John Henry Newman online archive for news, articles and books on the thought of England's most renowned theologian.

Understanding Pope Benedict on the Liturgy

Assessing Benedict's views of the liturgy

In "Where Truth and Beauty Meet": Understanding Benedict (The Tablet August 14, 2010) - Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity, and Fellow and Director of Studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge, aptly summarizes Pope Benedict's view of the liturgy and his calls for reform

[Pope Benedict] believes that behind many celebrations of the new liturgy lie a raft of disastrous theological, cultural, sociological and aesthetic assumptions, linked to the unsettled time in which the liturgical reforms were carried out. In particular, he believes that twentieth-century theologies of the Eucharist place far too much emphasis on the notion that the fundamental form of the Eucharist is that of a meal, at the cost of underplaying the cosmic, redemptive, and sacrificial character of the Mass.

The Pope, of course, himself calls the Mass the "Feast of Faith", "the Banquet of the reconciled". Nevertheless Calvary and the empty tomb, rather than the Upper Room, are for him the proper symbolic locations of Christian liturgy. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist has to be evident in the manner of its celebration, and the failure to embody this adequately in the actual performance of the new liturgy seems to him one of the central problems of the post-conciliar reforms. ...

In his view, the liturgy is meant to still and calm human activity, to allow God to be God, to quiet our chatter in favour of attention to the Word of God and in adoration and communion with the self-gift of the Word incarnate.

The call for active participation and instant accessibility seem to him to have dumbed down the mystery we celebrate, and left us with a banal inadequate language (and music) of prayer. The "active participation" in the liturgy for which Vatican II called, he argues, emphatically does not mean participation in many acts. Rather, it means a deeper entry by everyone present into the one great action of the liturgy, its only real action, which is Christ's self-giving on the Cross. For Ratzinger we can best enter into the action of the Mass by a recollected silence [emphasis mine - Chris], and by traditional gestures of self-offering and adoration – the Sign of the Cross, folded hands, reverent kneeling. [...]

For the Pope ... liturgical practice since the Council has taken a wrong turn, aesthetically impoverished, creating a rupture in the continuity of Catholic worship, and reflecting and even fostering a defective understanding of the Divine and our relationship to it.

Apropos is Ratzinger's strong criticism of certain forms of contemporary music and dance, which take on the character of 'performance'; the very spirit of which runs counter to that of authentic liturgy.

According to Professor Duffy, Benedict's 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, permitting the free celebration of the Tridentine liturgy, "was intended both to repair that rupture and to issue a call to the recovery of the theological, spiritual and cultural values that he sees as underlying the old Mass."

Criticism of the Novus Ordo - Can one go too far?

In a recent column, Dr. Jeff Mirus criticizes those who he believes go to the extreme in opposing and denigrating the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, claiming that they are simply following the lead and writings of Cardinal Ratzinger ("The Mind of the Church on the Novus Ordo " Catholic Culture. August 13, 2010):

I want to emphasize that he expressed these concerns in scholarly work, and that, taken in context, it is always clear that Ratzinger as a cardinal was not ill-disposed toward the Novus Ordo. Rather, he was interested in improvements which might be made (no liturgy is perfect) and, in particular, he was opposed to the free-wheeling manner in which some ignored the rubrics when saying Mass.

Dr. Mirus reminds us that "it is absolutely critical to note that the mind of the Church or even of the Pope himself cannot be determined by looking at the writings of a future pope before he became pope," and that "while in office, Pope Benedict XVI has made his approval of the Novus Ordo clear":

[Pope Benedict XVI] has also made clear that his serious criticisms do not apply to the rite itself but to the false interpretation of the Missal of Paul VI as something that requires constant experimentation and innovation, as if priests are to superimpose their own improvisations on the official liturgy and, in so doing, frequently substitute the banal for the sublime.

Benedict made these points in explaining his decision to widen the use of the Tridentine Mass (the Missal of Pope John XXIII) in his 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. Readers will recall that the Pope issued an accompanying Letter to the Bishops on the Occasion of the Publication of Summorum Pontificum to explain his decision. In that letter he recounted why he wanted to expand the use of what he now called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and, in so doing, he deliberately responded to the fear that this expansion was somehow intended to demote the Novus Ordo or undermine the Second Vatican Council’s call for liturgical reform.

Dr. Mirus' caution is a welcome one and worth reading in full, as he examines the commentary of Benedict on the liturgy as Pope -- which may be contrasted with, and qualify -- the more acerbic and oft-cited criticisms of Ratzinger the Cardinal. Dr. Mirus concludes with some advice (and admonishment) to critics of the Novus Ordo:

Admit your personal preference for the Extraordinary Form if you like; true Catholics should not criticize you for it, even if they prefer the Ordinary Form. Combat abuses of the Novus Ordo where you can; the Church will thank you for that. But do not denigrate the rite itself, as if it is something unworthy or profane, and never imply that the billion Catholics who use and have come to love it are somehow inferior in their Faith.

It is possible to debate the merits and demerits of any liturgy, but it is not possible to cite either Pope Benedict XVI or the mind of the Church as being anything less than in favor of the prescribed use of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite. Finally, no approved liturgy of the Church should ever be treated with disrespect, nor its adherents stigmatized if they are not disobedient, for it is a sacred thing.

Understanding Summorum Pontificum

Speaking of Summorum Pontificum, Ignatius Press has published a new book, The Old Mass and the New: Explaining the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI, by Bishop Marc Aillet:

In July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI released his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, allowing for unprecedented freedom for priests to celebrate the so-called Tridentine Mass, now referred to as the "Extraordinary Form" of the Mass, as opposed to the Mass of Paul VI, or the "Ordinary Form". In this new book by French bishop Marc Aillet, the historical and cultural impetus for the motu proprio as well as the rich tradition of liturgical reform are explored.

As a priest of the Community of Saint Martin, which celebrates the Mass of Paul VI in Latin, Bishop Aillet has been committed to the promotion of liturgical reform that is rooted in tradition for many years. As bishop of the diocese of Bayonne in France, he has been instrumental in reintroducing the Extraordinary Form in his diocese.

A work that is both easy to understand and deeply rich, The Old Mass and the New gives an overview of the history and theology of the liturgy. At the same time, Bishop Aillet beckons us to look ahead to move beyond the crisis in the liturgy to a reconciliation of these two forms of the Latin rite. An excellent introduction for those interested in the theological foundations of the liturgy.

(Click here to read the preface).

Related Reading

• The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. ( Ignatius Press (September 2000).
• How Should We Worship? | Preface to The Organic Development of the Liturgy by Alcuin Reid, O.S.B. | by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Worshipping at the Feet of the Lord: Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy by Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | Ignatius Insight April 28, 2005
• On Saying the Tridentine Mass | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. on Pope Benedict's Summorum Pontificum | August 16, 2007
• The Mass of Vatican II, by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.

Pope Benedict Roundup!

• In a symbolic gesture, the Holy Father went to the mountains to pray on the Feast of the Transfiguration - Catholic News Agency reports:

  There were no public events on Pope Benedict's unannounced Aug. 6 tour, although, as Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio, despite its private nature he was able to greet some surely surprised people in the course of the day.

  The Pope left the bounds of Castel Gandolfo in the morning to pay a visit to the "Madonna dei Bisognosi" Sanctuary for the Feast of the Transfiguration, according to the Holy See's Press Office.

  During the Lord's Transfiguration, as recounted in the synoptic gospels, Jesus led Peter, James and John to a high mountain where he changed in appearance before them and was surrounded by a glorious light.

  Marking this feast also in a mountain setting, the Pope prayed with those who accompanied him in the Marian sanctuary located in Italy's Abruzzo region at an altitude of over 3,000 ft.

  During his excursion, the Pope visited a religious community in the nearby town of Carsoli and the city of Rocca di Mezzo, where he "visited St. Leucio's parish where he prayed for those affected by the earthquake that rocked the region in April of last year."

• Sandro Magister highlights the role of the Transfiguration in Benedict's series on Jesus of Nazareth:

  It is important to emphasize that the Transfiguration of Jesus has a central place in the entire work. It is the endpoint for the first volume, and the starting point for the second, which is centered on the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

  In the Transfiguration, in fact – Benedict XVI wrote in the first volume – "Jesus' divinity belongs with the cross." Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah about the "necessity" of his passion. That mystery "which God predetermined before the ages" (1 Corinthians 2:7) is revealed in the crucified Christ....

  In addition to being the center of the evangelical narrative, therefore, the Transfiguration is also necessarily the focal point of any form of the theology that intends to explore the mystery of Christ.

• The second volume of Jesus of Nazareth will be published on March 13, 2011 -- the first Sunday of Lent, according to Rome Reports.

• James V. Schall on "The Challenge of Jesus of Nazareth" (Ignatius Insight August 11, 2010):

  Ignatius Press announced recently that it will publish the English version of the second volume of Benedict's book on Jesus of Nazareth in the coming spring. In lieu of the fact that Schall has no advanced text or a copy of the Italian translation, it seems worth while again to take a second look at the first volume. This volume, I must confess, left an indelible impression on my soul. I found it frankly breath-taking in its implications, yet it was presented so calmly and clearly.

  Jesus of Nazareth was nothing less than a challenge thrown down to our times. But our times take special care not to listen, never really to consider what Benedict is saying. It is too dangerous to the culture to do so, and not just Western culture. Not considering or denying its pertinence is the protection which modern men must have to continue to do what they are doing. That they "will not listen" is, indeed, their only defense. ... [more]

• A Look at Benedict XVI's Words on Faith. In anticipation of an alleged fourth encyclical from the Holy Father, reportedly on the subject of faith, Kevin M. Clarke "at what the Pontiff has already spoken concerning faith in his previous encyclicals - "Deus Caritas Est", "Spe Salvi" and "Caritas in Veritate." (Zenit, July 30, 2010).

• Pope Benedict XVI is meeting his former doctoral students this weekend to discuss how best to interpret the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The Catholic Herald August 27, 2010:

  The yearly closed-door seminar, dubbed the “Ratzinger-Schülekreis”, or “Ratzinger Student-Circle”, will be addressed by Archbishop Kurt Koch.

  Archbishop Koch’s talk is entitled “The Second Vatican Council, Between Tradition and Innovation”. He will also speak on the Vatican Council’s document on the liturgy and the liturgical reforms following the Council. ...

  The talks will be followed by a discussion by the participants, the Pope included. The Holy Father will celebrate Mass for the group on Sunday morning, before having breakfast with them. The group will then join the Pope in his recitation of the Angelus.

  The Schülerkreis has met annually since the 1970s, when the Pope was professor of theology at Regensburg University, and has continued to meet since Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope.

  
  
  This year's meeting will bring over 300 scholars, including Cardinal Cristoph Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna. Carl Olson (Insight Scoop) reports that Fr. Joseph Fessio will also be in attendance.

  According to Father Stephan Horn, president of the Ratzinger Study Circle (by way of Zenit News), the topic and main speaker were chosen by the Pope from among a series of proposals.

  In 2005, they reflected on the question of Islam; in 2006 and 2007, on creation and evolution theories; in 2008, the topic was the historical Jesus and his passion; and in 2009, mission and dialogue with religions and cultures.

• According to the Christian Science Monitor, the career of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI is characterized by "a 30 year campaign to reassert conservative Catholicism", and that "to understand Pope Benedict's past, present, and perhaps future responses to the sexual abuse crisis, one must examine the arc of his religious life." Catholic Culture's Diogenes critiques The Christian Science Monitor's flight of fancy:

  Let’s concede that from the editorial perspective of the Christian Science Monitor, any authentic form of Catholicism will look like “conservative” Catholicism. Yes, Pope Ratzinger has been working to reassert that faith. It’s not too tough to demonstrate that proposition. So it’s all the more remarkable that in developing the argument, the Monitor commits these whoppers ...

  Read the rest.

• it was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's dream to leave the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to retire and become a librarian. That's the story according to Cardinal Raffaele Farina, interviewed recently by Inside The Vatican magazine. (As we know, the Holy Spirit had other plans).

• 'Attack on Ratzinger': Italian book assesses Benedict's papacy -- John Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter August 27, 2010):

  Friends and foes alike of Pope Benedict XVI concur that he's got an image problem. Where they place the blame for it may differ, but the fact itself seems clear: From a PR point of view, this is a pontificate defined by its train wrecks.

  Cataloguing those train wrecks is the burden of a new book by two of the best Italian vaticanisti going: Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale and Paolo Rodari of Il Foglio, titled Attacco a Ratzinger: Accuse e scandali, profezie e complotti ("Attack on Ratzinger: Accusations and Scandals, Prophecies and Plots"), published in Italian by Piemme.

  While the sexual abuse crisis has occasioned the most serious criticism of Benedict XVI, it's hardly an isolated case. Tornielli and Rodari treat a long list of other controversies and PR debacles ...

  On the crises they do examine, Rodari and Tornielli's work has two principal merits.

  First, they strike the right balance between insider and outsider approaches. Readers who did not follow these episodes closely will find the main twists and turns ably summarized, while even devotees will learn things they didn't know. (More on those revelations in a moment.)

  Second, Rodari and Tornielli present a diverse sampling of theories to explain the negative public image of this papacy, surveying what the authors describe as the "most qualified observers" in Europe and the United States. ...

  One thing everyone seems to agree on is that the Vatican's PR strategy is often deficient. Commenting on the conventional wisdom that Joaquin Navarro-Valls, John Paul's spokesperson, brought Vatican communications into the 20th century, George Weigel quips, "Yeah … the first half of the 20th century." Today, he said, things actually seem to be moving backward.

  Read the rest of John Allen Jr.'s review.

• In a unique effort to help promote Christian unity, the pope’s shoemaker has made the same pair of shoes for both Pope Benedict XVI and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. (Catholic News Service August 25, 2010).

• Lastly, a reminder to check our special blog Pope Benedict in the UK for weekly roundups of news, commentary and information on preparations for his September 16-19 visit to England / Scotland.

"Reading Pope Benedict XVI in the UK"

The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club is pleased to announce the launch of a new page on our website: Reading Benedict (in the UK), a lasting resource to accompany our special blog devoted to Pope Benedict XVI's September 16-19 2010 visit to the UK.

Reading Benedict (in the UK) is an ongoing compilation of books by (and about) Pope Benedict XVI available for purchase in the UK via Amazon.co.uk.

Spinning John Henry Newman and Pope Benedict's visit to the UK

In an August 2 interview with Asia News, John Milbank, Anglican theologian and professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics, at the University of Nottingham, perceives the papal visit as a chance to revitalize the Pope's image in the eyes of the British media and fostering goodwill between Catholics and Anglicans.

However, I expect Milbank's spin on things may raise a few eyebrows in disbelief. For instance, he heralds Anglicanorum Coetibus -- which provides a canonical framework to integrate groups of disaffected Anglicans seeking to swim the Tiber into the Roman fold -- as "a new recognition by the Papacy of the validity of the Anglican tradition, beginning to equate it more with Eastern Orthodoxy", creating "a fluidity between the two communions that will help to lead to full intercommunion in the future."

Likewise, Milbank welcomes Benedict's beatification of the Anglican convert to Catholicism, as a "positive development":

Anglicans by no means feel that Newman ‘betrayed’ them by becoming a Catholic. On the contrary, they are very proud of Newman’s double contribution to both modern Anglicanism and to modern Catholicism. Newman is a sign of unity: he belongs to both Churches and I am sure that our prayers to God through him will aid us in the cause of Church unity, as in the revival of a Christian Britain.

William Oddie takes issue with Milbank in the Catholic Herald ("Sorry, Professor Milbank, Newman was no ecumenist" August 6, 2010):

The “cause of Church unity”, however, was hardly one ever espoused by Newman, and I fear that Professor Milbank’s mellifluous sentiments are part of a general movement towards setting him up as a somewhat anaemic “plaster saint”.

The fact is that Newman was the very opposite of an ecumenist: he was, in his very bones, a controversialist in such matters. To say that “Newman belonged to both Churches” is absurd: the Catholic Newman didn’t believe that the Established Church was a Church at all, but a mere national institution.

This is how he addressed those of Catholic mind within the Church of England (Difficulties of Anglicans, lecture 4): “You can have no trust in the Establishment or its Sacraments and ordinances. You must leave it, you must secede; you must turn your back upon, you must renounce, what has—not suddenly become, but has now been proved to you to have ever been—an imposture. You must take up your cross and you must go hence.”

Related

• The Conversion of John Henry Newman, by Peter A. Kwasniewski.
• Why John Henry Newman converted to Catholicism, by Michael Davies. AD2000 Vol 14 No 4 (May 2001)

Regular roundups of articles and commentary on Pope Benedict's September papal visit to the UK can be found at benedictintheuk.blogspot.com.

Pope Benedict Roundup!

• Pope Benedict is enjoying his vacation at Castel Gandolfo The pope takes these days to stroll through Castel Gandolfo's gardens. Benedict XVI enjoys nature in a hat and comfortable shoes, accompanied by his personal secretary Georg Gänswein (RomeReports.com July 23, 2010). Carol Glatz of the Catholic News Service has a roundup on the Pope’s summer program, including this:

  From Aug. 28-29, the pope will host his traditional “Ratzinger Schulerkreis” (Ratzinger student circle) with former students of his. This year the topic will be the hermeneutic of Vatican II, a theme the pope talked about in his address to the Roman Curia Dec. 22, 2005.

• Benedict XVI is now the seventh oldest Pope since reliable records began being collected in the year 1400. (Catholic News Agency).

• A new children's book has been published under Pope Benedict XVI's name, titled "Gli Amici di Gesu" (The Friends of Jesus) (Catholic News Agency):

  It presents a collection of the Holy Father's descriptions of Jesus' relationship with his "first companions," taken from his catecheses at general audiences over the past five years. ...

  The 48-page volume produced for the youngest of readers is a "route that takes the reader to the origins of the Church, through the events of the first people who found Jesus and became his friends," according to the publishing house.

  Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, says in the preface of book that, through the stories, "The Pope takes us by the hand and accompanies us to discover who were the first companions of Christ, how they found him and how they were conquered by him until they decided that they would never abandon him again."

• A "spiritual bouquet" campaign collected more than 1 million prayers for Benedict XVI (Zenit News).

• Unsure how to make charitable donations truly arrive to a worthy destination? Try sending them through the Pope, says Zenit:

  Millions of dollars each year are distributed by the Holy Father, through the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. In this way, the Successor of Peter is able to manifest the solicitude of the universal Church for needy populations.

  There are a handful of channels that direct the funds to projects deemed most needy. The funds themselves come from donors around the globe. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum, established by Pope Paul VI in 1971, coordinates the initiatives of Catholic charitable institutions.

• The Vatican Publishing House has awarded publishing rights of the English version of Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. 2" to Ignatius Press, reports Zenit News Service. Edward Pentin details some of the Catholic publishing house's preparations for the release of the second volume for National Catholic Register's:

  Ignatius Press said it is planning several activities leading up to the book’s release aimed at fomenting discussions over the themes it addresses. “We really want to have this broader discussion, so we’re going to be working with Protestants, exploring this issue of biblical scholarship and the questions that it raises with respect to Gospel presentations of Jesus,” Brumley told the Register. “We’re excited about launching the book simultaneously, and we’re excited about the impact it will have on wider culture.”

  Ignatius will also be releasing a study guide to broaden these discussions, thereby offering parish groups, students and seminarians a springboard to talk about the issues raised in the book. Brumley said he expects to see “very sophisticated” discussions on a subject made “very accessible.”

  Msgr. Giuseppe Costa, the director of Libreria Editrice Vaticana, is one of only a few to have read the book. He told Rome Reports July 29 that one of the most impressive things is “the rich spirituality that it conveys.”

• Pope Benedict has started work on the third volume of Jesus of Nazareth - Zenit News has the story:

  "After having handed in some months ago the manuscripts of the second volume, dedicated to the Passion and the Resurrection, which are now being translated and edited in various languages, and should be available next spring, Benedict XVI has now begun the third and last part" of his work on "Jesus of Nazareth," Father Lombardi reported.

• Coins bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI are now in open circulation within Vatican walls, reports Catholic News Agency:

  Since the Vatican accepted the euro in Jan. 2002, the only coins bearing the Pope's visage available were those sold as part of a collection. Now, as the result of a Dec. 2009 accord between the European Union and the Holy See, approximately two million 50 cent pieces have been minted for circulation. ...

  The coin features the image of Pope Benedict on one side along with the words "Citta del Vaticano 2010."

• The second part of Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth will be published in March 2011. At least that's the word from RomeReports.com.

• Benedict XVI is planning to visit Carpineto Romano, the birthplace of Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci -- Pope Leo XIII. L'Osservatore Romano reported today that the Pope will make the visit on Sept. 5 to mark the bicentenary of his predecessor's birth. (Zenit News, July 28, 2010).

• So who makes those red shoes work by the Pope? ("originally thought to be Prada but turned out to be custom made by a shop in northern Italy" -- HT: David Gibson)

• Milo Yiannopoulos reviews The Pope Is Not Gay! "a charming little book that purports to expose Pope Benedict XVI’s complicated relationship with homosexuality while mocking his dress sense". His verdict? -- "The latest tasteless attack on the Pope has a strangely self-defeating undercurrent."
• Finally, from Zenit, a recap of noteworthy elements of the pope's year thus far were compiled and published by the Vatican, spanning April through July 2010.