Pope Benedict XVI: October 2011 Archives

The "Day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world: Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace," is to take place in Assisi on 27 October. The event needs our prayer and solidarity.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace had a press conference in which he said, "Following two and a half decades of collaboration and joint witness among religions, it is time to assess the results and to re-launch our commitment in the face of new challenges."

The Pope's called for a few days (a journey) of reflection on truth and peace in the world in Assisi on October 27. This gesture recalls the first Assisi meeting of religious leaders in 1986. But you know this. You've also heard that among some rigid Catholic-types there's been an expressed outrage. Sad, I think. The past events have been "interesting" due to the way the event was organized and perhaps on how it was conceived to bring non-Christians together for prayer when the notion of prayer is not common to all religions and philosophy, but a complete dismissal of the gesture is unwarranted. I trust that Pope Benedict knows what he's doing. The emphasis is not on prayer; the papal emphasis is on a pilgrimage. The list of participants is incomplete but it is expected that those who participate will represent the major religions and philosophies of the world and number under 100.

Pope Benedict, 84, is feeling the natural and unavoidable effects of being a senior citizen. If you've ever walked around the Vatican Basilica you would recognize the great distances one has to traverse to get from point A to point B. To ease the strain, Pope Benedict has restored the use of Blessed John Paul II's wheeled platform as a manner of getting around St Peter's Basilica.

In speaking at a Charterhouse on October 9, Pope Benedict contrasted modern life and the monastic life saying that society "throws light on the specific charism of the Carthusian monastery as a precious gift for the Church and for the world, a gift which contains a profound message for our lives and for all humanity. I would summarise it in these terms: by withdrawing in silence and solitude man, so to speak, 'exposes' himself to the truth of his nakedness, he exposes himself to that apparent 'void' I mentioned earlier. But in doing so he experiences fullness, the presence of God, of the most real Reality that exists. ... Monks, by leaving everything, ... expose themselves to solitude and silence so as to live only from what is essential; and precisely in living from the essential they discover a profound communion with their brothers and sisters, with all mankind".