Showing posts with label Brazil (Apostolic Journey). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brazil (Apostolic Journey). Show all posts

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Pope Benedict in Brazil

From the Vatican:

Addresses by Pope Benedict XVI

General Coverage Daily Coverage by John Allen Jr. Canonization of Father Antonio Galvao
  • Amid Burst of Fervor, Pope Canonizes a Brazilian New York Times May 12, 2007:
    “We Brazilians love to venerate the saints, like St. Anthony and St. George, but until now they’ve all been foreigners,” said Bernardo Leite Alves, a 39-year-old bus driver who said he often drove with an image of St. Sebastian on his windshield. As for Friar Galvão, he said, “This is a saint who is really truly ours, born and bred here, who looks like us and has a name like ours.”

    Friar Galvão was born in 1739 about 100 miles northeast of here, in Guaratinguetá, which Benedict will visit Saturday, and died here 83 years later. During his lifetime, the city council designated him a “man of peace and charity,” and he earned a reputation for defending the poor, which stimulated popular pilgrimages to his tomb and the use of “Friar Galvão’s pills,” slips of paper with religious phrases that are said by his devotees to have healing powers.

    Among the three miracles for which he is credited is the 1999 birth of a boy to a woman who had suffered three miscarriages and then used such “pills” after becoming pregnant again and praying for his help. The woman, Sandra Grossi de Almeida, attended the canonization Mass.

    “The significance of Friar Galvão’s example lies in his willingness to be of service to the people whenever he was asked,” Benedict said Friday. “He was renowned as a counselor, he was a bringer of peace to souls and families and a dispenser of charity, especially toward the poor and the sick. He was greatly sought out as a confessor, because he was zealous, wise and prudent.”

  • Pope Canonizes First Brazilian Saint, by Victor L. Simpson. APNews. May 11, 2007:
    The canonization makes Galvao the first native-born saint from the world's largest Roman Catholic country, home to more than 120 million of the planet's 1.1 billion Catholics.

  • "A New Saint" - Compilation of photo coverage of the canonization by Argent by the Tiber May 12, 2007.

    "Do you realize how big this is?" asked Herminia Fernandes, who joined the multitude that jammed an airfield for the open-air Mass. "It's huge, this pope is visiting Brazil for the first time and at the same time he is giving us a saint. It's a blessing."

  • Profile: Saint Antonio Galvao BBC News.

  • Pope canonizes Brazilian friar renowned for charity, healings, by John Thavis. Catholic News Service. May 11, 2007.
A Bit of Confusion en Route to Brazil
  • Vatican tones down papal remarks on pro-abortion Catholic politicians Catholic News Service. May 10, 2007:
    SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's comments on excommunication for pro-abortion Catholic politicians touched on huge and sensitive issues -- so sensitive that the Vatican issued a toned-down version of his remarks the following day.

    Speaking with journalists on the plane taking him to Brazil May 9, the pope left the impression that he agreed with those invoking excommunication for Catholic legislators in Mexico City who had voted in April to legalize abortion.

    When reporters pressed the pope on whether he supported the excommunication of the Mexican deputies, he answered: "Yes, this excommunication was not something arbitrary, but is foreseen by the Code (of Canon Law). It is simply part of church law that the killing of an innocent baby is incompatible with being in communion with the body of Christ."

    Referring to Mexican bishops, the pope continued: "Therefore, they did not do anything new, surprising or arbitrary. They only underlined publicly what is foreseen in (canon) law, a law based on the church's doctrine and faith, on our appreciation for life and for human individuality from the first moment."

    On May 10, the Vatican press office released the official transcript of the pope's 25-minute session with reporters. The pope's opening "yes" to the direct question about excommunication had disappeared, and so had the references to Mexican bishops.

  • As Pope Heads to Brazil, Abortion Debate Heats Up, by Larry Rohter. New York Times May 9, 2007.

  • Day One: Benedict’s ‘now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t’ hard line on pro-choice politicians May 9, 2007:
    During a news conference aboard the papal plane from Rome to São Paulo today, Benedict XVI appeared to significantly tighten the screws on pro-choice Catholic politicians, saying, in effect, that legislators who support pro-abortion measures should be considered excommunicated under church law.

    It was the first time a pope directly asserted that by virtue of voting in favor of a measure expanding abortion rights, a politician excommunicates him or herself.

    Vatican efforts to soften this hard line, however, were quick in coming.

  • Day Two: Mexican cardinal says pope repeated bishops' line on abortion, by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter May 10, 2007:
    Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City, the place where recent debates over communion for pro-choice Catholic politicians formed the background to Benedict XVI’s Wednesday comments aboard the papal plane, said today that the pope “only repeated what we bishops already had said.”
  • Confusion on communion for pro-choice politicians nothing new May 9, 2007
    "Confusion created today on the papal plane – after Pope Benedict XVI appeared to say that politicians who vote in favor of abortion rights should be considered excommunicated, only to have Vatican officials back away from that interpretation – is nothing new. Attempts to discern the mind of Joseph Ratzinger on this question have long been complicated. . . .
    Allen revisits the then-Cardinal's July 2004 letter to Cardinal McCarrick, Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion — General Principles, addressing the issues raised in party by the presence of professed 'pro-choice Catholic' candidates of the 2004 U.S. presidential elections. As Allen observes, "for the last three years, both sides in the communion controversy have cited Ratzinger in favor of diametrically opposed positions." Allen concludes:

    Carefully studying the various statements that are now on the record, perhaps the best summary of Benedict XVI’s position can be phrased as follows.

    In the abstract, Benedict clearly seems to feel that a Catholic politician who knowingly and consistently supports legislation that expands access to abortion is in violation of church teaching, and thus should not receive communion. Moreover, the pope seems prepared to support bishops who apply this principle to specific cases; that was the premise of his answer to this morning’s question about the Mexican bishops. (Even though Cardinal Norberto Rivera has said he has no intention of excommunicating anyone.)

    Whether Benedict is ready to impose this position on bishops convinced of the wisdom of a different pastoral course in other cases, however, is the $64,000 question. His July 9 letter to McCarrick, endorsing the stance of the U.S. bishops, indicates that at least so far, he’s not ready to take that step.

    That may not be a fully satisfying position for anyone, but it seems the best summation of the pope’s thinking based on the available evidence.

  • Must-Read: A primer for those who prefer knowing to opining, by Edward Peters. In the Light of the Law May 7, 2007:
    In the vortex swirling around the pope's comments on the canonical consequences for supporting pro-abortion legislation (including what the pope said, or meant to say, or should have said), it might be good to set out calmly and simply some canons that directly impact on this situation. Strictly speaking, there are only two, but in light of comments I've heard or read, we apparently need to explicitate a third canon even though it only repeats sound personal moral theology and does not direct ecclesiastical responses to this kind of behavior. . . .
    See also Ed Peter's critique of Time magazine's interview with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and specifically the Cardinal's answers to questions concerning pro-abortion Catholic politicians. (Via Domenico Bettinelli).

  • Italian coverage of the Pope’s “excommunication” answer, by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (What Does Prayer Really Say? May 10, 20007).
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Monday, May 14, 2007

Pope Benedict in Brazil - Coverage by John Allen Jr. & 'American Papist'

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the excellent work already accomplished by Thomas N. Peters aka. American Papist for providing daily coverage of his own, well worth a visit:

Likewise to National Catholic Reporter's John Allen Jr., with daily coverage and insightful commentary:

  • Day Five: Benedict's critique of capitalism no surprise May 13, 2007:
    Benedict XVI’s stinging criticism of both Marxism and capitalism this afternoon may have caught some off-guard used to thinking of him as a consumate conservative, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Joseph Ratzinger’s history. . . .
  • Day Five: Pope raps Capitalism, Marxism as 'blind alleys'' in a world without God May 13, 2007.

  • Day Five: Christ, not ideology, creates a ‘continent of hope,’ pope says May 13, 2007:
    Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), many Catholic theologians, priests, bishops and lay activists in Latin America have sought to mobilize the church to respond to the continent’s pressing social and political crises, above all the disparities between rich and poor – a gap which, according to United Nations statistics, is more dramatic in Latin America than anywhere else in the world.

    The pope acknowledged that focusing on the spiritual dimension of the church’s life “must not serve as an excuse for avoiding the historical reality in which the church lives as she shares the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor and afflicted.”

    Yet Benedict has insisted that this social solidarity must not dislodge proclamation of Christ, participation in the sacraments, and the promotion of holiness as the heart of Catholic identity. It is not the role of the church to provide specific political solutions to Latin America’s problems, the pope has said, but rather to provide the evangelical “motor fuel” for a commitment to finding those solutions.

  • Day Four: Facing dramatic losses, Benedict says: ‘It’s worth it to stay Catholic!’ May 12, 2007.

  • Day Four: Benedict issues dramatic warning to drug dealers, but his real message is Christ May 12, 2007:
    Citing Jesus’ promise in the Gospel of John that whoever follows him “will have the light of life,” Benedict said that his mission is to “renew in people’s hearts this light that never goes out, so that it will shine in the most intimate corners of the souls of all those who seek true goodness and peace, which the world cannot give.”

    “God does not compel, does not oppress individual liberty,” the pope said. “He only asks the openness of that sacred place of our conscience, though which all the noblest aspirations pass, but also the disordered feelings and passions that obscure the message of the Most High.”

    Benedict told the Poor Clares that, “It is the risen Christ who heals the wounds and saves the sons and daughters of God, saves humanity from death, from sin and from slavery to passions.”

    The bottom line for Benedict XVI in Brazil thus seems to be this: If you want to give life to the suffering peoples of Latin America, give them Christ. Downplaying the specifically “religious” dimension of the church’s message not only betrays its mission, he believes, but in the end it fails to produce the desired social results.

  • Day Three: Pope calls Brazil's bishops to order May 11, 2007:
    While Benedict XVI is too genteel a figure to engage in what political writers call “taking someone to the woodshed,” his speech this afternoon to some 430 Brazilian bishops came about as close as he’s likely to get.

    Wrapped in gratitude for the bishops’ service, and for the warm welcome he’s received in Brazil, Benedict’s message was nonetheless an unambiguous call to order. . . .

    “Wherever God and his will are unknown, wherever faith in Jesus Christ and in his sacramental presence is lacking, the essential element for the solution of pressing social and political problems is also missing," he said.

    For that reason, the pope said, it’s important to teach the faith “without interpretations motivated by a rationalistic ideology.” The bishops, he said, must take care that this doesn’t happen.

    In terms of pastoral programs, Benedict analyzed the problem of Catholic defections to Pentecostal churches, which he called a source of “just concern,” as the result of a lack of evangelization and catechesis which places “Christ and his church at the center of every explanation.” He therefore urged an urgent program of missionary outreach, stressing “personal and communal adhesion to Christ.”

  • Day Three: Benedict holds up a model of authentic liberation theology May 11, 2007:
    Though Benedict did not put it this way, Frei Galvão is an icon of what the pope considers an authentic form of liberation theology: one that puts God and the life of the spirit first, direct charitable care of others second, and only then draws consequences for a just social order.
  • Day Two: Benedict strikes softer tone May 10, 2007:
    If Benedict XVI’s tough comments about excommunication for pro-choice Catholic politicians marked day one of his May 9-13 trip to Brazil, day two had a softer tone, focusing on pastoral moments and issues where church and state in Brazil are in broad agreement.

    In their meeting in a government palace in São Paulo, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Pope Benedict steered clear of potential flash-points such as abortion and contraception, focusing instead on efforts to support families, education, and environmental concerns. . . .

    After lunch with the officers of the Brazilian bishops’ conference, Benedict XVI also held a brief, but highly symbolic, meeting with the emeritus Archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Paulo Arns. During the battles over liberation theology in the 1970s and 1980s, Arns and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger often locked horns. When four new dioceses were split off from São Paulo in 1988, in a fashion that Arns himself had opposed, it was widely taken as a sign of Vatican disapproval.

    In that light, Benedict’s choice to put an encounter with Arns on his schedule was seen as a gesture of reconciliation.

  • Day Two: Hopelessness, not Pentecostalism, as Brazil's mega-trend in religion May 10, 2007: Although much conversation surrounding Benedict XVI’s trip to Brazil has focused on defections from the Catholic church to Pentecostalism, Fr. Jose Oscar Beozzo says the more important, albeit less discussed, phenomenon is the striking rise in the percentage of Brazilians with no religious faith at all.

  • Day One: Confusion on communion for pro-choice politicians nothing new May 9, 2007. "Confusion created today on the papal plane – after Pope Benedict XVI appeared to say that politicians who vote in favor of abortion rights should be considered excommunicated, only to have Vatican officials back away from that interpretation – is nothing new. Attempts to discern the mind of Joseph Ratzinger on this question have long been complicated."

  • Day One: The Love/Hate Relationship between Benedict and Liberation Theology May 9, 2007:
    In terms of church politics, Ratzinger’s involvement with debates over liberation theology began even before he arrived in the Vatican. While still the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Pope John Paul I dispatched him as a papal legate to a Marian congress in Ecuador in September 1978, where Ratzinger cautioned against Marxist ideologies and the theology of liberation. Upon arriving at the Vatican, his struggles with the liberationists quickly became the stuff of ecclesiastical legend.

    Ratzinger always insisted that the problem was not with the motive of liberation theologians, but with efforts to reshape or even bowdlerize the church’s traditional doctrine to make it more “relevant” for desired social outcomes. When one does that, Ratzinger argued, not only is the faith distorted, but the desired social outcomes are never reached. . . .

  • Day One: Transcript of News Conference aboard the Papal Plane May 9, 2007.

  • Day One: Benedict’s ‘now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t’ hard line on pro-choice politicians May 9, 2007:
    During a news conference aboard the papal plane from Rome to São Paulo today, Benedict XVI appeared to significantly tighten the screws on pro-choice Catholic politicians, saying, in effect, that legislators who support pro-abortion measures should be considered excommunicated under church law.

    It was the first time a pope directly asserted that by virtue of voting in favor of a measure expanding abortion rights, a politician excommunicates him or herself.

    Vatican efforts to soften this hard line, however, were quick in coming.

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Saturday, April 28, 2007

Preparing for Pope Benedict's Trip to Brazil (May 2007)

  • The Brazilian Bishops' conference has released the finalized schedule for Benedict's visit [May 9th-13th 2007], where he will open the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America.

  • Official Website for the Papal Visit to Brazil Brazilian Bishops Conference.

  • A look ahead to Benedict in Brazil, by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter May 3, 2007.

  • The Associated Press reports that the Pope is expected to attract more than 1 million to open-air Masses in Brazil:
    The pope, in his first trip to Latin America, will only visit the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s wealthiest and most populous, home to one of the world’s the largest Roman Catholic dioceses.

    The pontiff will celebrate his first open-air Mass before a crowd that is expected to top 1 million people on May 11 at Sao Paulo’s Campo de Marte airport, said Odilo Pedro Scherer, the archbishop of Sao Paulo.

    At least 350,000 people are expected to attend the second open-air Mass on May 13 at the small city of Aparecida, Scherer said.

    Home of Brazil’s biggest shrine, Aparecida was named after Nossa Senhora Aparecida, or Our Revealed Lady, the patron saint of the world’s largest Roman Catholic country.

  • On his apostolic journey to Brazil in May, Benedict XVI will stay in a Benedictine monastery during his days in São Paulo, reports Zenit News:
    São Paulo doesn't have an apostolic nunciature, and due to the impossibility of accommodating the Pope in the archbishop's palace, the then archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Cláudio Hummes requested Abbot Matthias Tolentino Braga of the Benedictine monastery to receive the Pope.
  • Rabbi Charged With Shoplifting To Meet Pope Benedict XVI - FirstCoastNews.com April 6, 2007:
    SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- A rabbi who temporarily resigned last month as head of South America's largest Jewish Congregation after being arrested in Florida on shoplifting charges, said he will meet with Pope Benedict XVI when the pontiff visits in May.
  • Pope hopes to stem loss of faithful in Latin America International Herald Tribune April 25, 2007:
    Pope Benedict XVI will encourage the Roman Catholic Church to focus on proselytizing to reverse a sharp loss of parishioners in Latin America when he arrives in Brazil next month to meet with regional church leaders, a church authority said Wednesday.

    "The loss of the faithful is an objective fact ... We have lost in terms of numbers, but are winning in those who have strengthened their belief in the Christian message," Argentine Bishop Andres Stanovik, secretary-general of the Bogata-based Latin American bishops council, told The Associated Press.

    Stanovik said that the pope's trip to the Brazilian town of Aparecida to open the once-a-decade meeting of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean on May 13, would add a new impulse to the church's missionary work in the region.

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