Pope Benedict XVI – Page 29

Pope speaks with the young

On May 30^th, the Vigil of Pentecost, Pope
Benedict answered three questions of young people with extraordinary simplicity. The tenderness of the Pope’s answers is breadth-taking. This it the second time he’s
taken questions from the youth. The following is Alessandro’s question and you can read the rest of questions here. Plus, visit the Holy Childhood Association website AND get involved with their mission as the Pope encourages.

Dear Pope Benedict, you are the first missionary. How can we
young people help you to proclaim the Gospel?

Answer: I would say that one initial way is this: work with the
Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood. In this way you are part of a great
family that brings the Gospel to the world. In this way you belong to a great
network. We see here how the family of the different peoples is reflected. You
are in this great family: each one does his part, and together you are
missionaries, bearers of the missionary work of the Church. You have an
excellent program: to listen, pray, learn, share, support. These are essential
elements that really are a way of being missionary, of advancing the growth of
the Church and the presence of the Gospel in the world. I would like to
highlight some of these points.

First of all, prayer. Prayer is a reality: God listens to
us, and when we pray, God enters into our lives, he becomes present among us,
active. Prayer is a very important thing, which can change the world, because
it makes the power of God present. And it is important to help each other to
pray: we pray together in the liturgy, we pray together in the family. And here
I would say that it is important to begin the day with a little prayer, and
also to end the day with a little prayer: remembering our parents in prayer.
Pray before lunch, before dinner, and on the occasion of the common celebration
on Sunday. A Sunday without the Mass, the great common prayer of the Church, is
not a real Sunday: the heart of Sunday is missing, and with it the light of the
week. And you can also help others – especially when there are no prayers at
home, when prayer is unknown – you can teach others to pray: pray with others
and introduce them to communion with God.

Next, listening, which means really learning what Jesus
tells us. Moreover, knowing the Sacred Scripture, the Bible. In the story of
Jesus, we come to know the face of God, we learn what God is like. It is
important to know Jesus deeply, personally. This is how he enters into our
lives, and, through our lives, enters into the world.

And also sharing, not wanting things for ourselves alone,
but for all; sharing with others. And if we see another who may be in need, who
is less fortunate, we must help him and in this way make the love of God
present without big words, in our little personal world, which is part of the
big world. And in this way we become a family together, where each respects the
other: bearing with the other in his uniqueness, even accepting those we don’t
like, not letting anyone be marginalized, but helping him to be part of the
community. All of this simply means living in this big family of the Church, in
this big missionary family.

Living the essential points like sharing, knowing Jesus, prayer, listening to each other, and solidarity is a missionary activity, because it helps the Gospel to become a reality in our world.

Pope & the Thatcher

On May 27, 2009 Pope Benedict and former Prime Minister of England,

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (b. 1925) met.

Christ is the answer, Pope reminds the Benedictines and all peoples

In speaking to the Benedictines at Montecassino, the Pope was speaking to all Benedictines, solemnly professed and oblates, and to the laity, in general. He proposes once again the person of Saint Benedict as a person who knew well that Christ is the answer to all things. The Pope’s homily at Vespers follows:

Almost at the end of my visit today, I am particularly pleased to pause in this sacred place, in this abbey, four times destroyed and rebuilt, the last time after the bombings of World War II, 65 years ago. “Succisa virescit” [in defeat we are strengthened; when cut down, this tree grows again]: the words of its new coat of arms represent well its history. Monte Cassino, just as the secular oak tree planted by St. Benedict, was “pruned” by the violence of war, but has risen more vigorous. More than once I also have had the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the monks, and in this abbey I spent many unforgettable hours of quiet and prayer. This evening we entered singing “Laudes Regiae” together to celebrate the Vespers of the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus. To each of you I express the joy of sharing this moment of prayer, greeting everyone with affection, grateful for the welcome that you have reserved for me and those who accompany me in this apostolic pilgrimage.

In particular, I greet Abbot Dom Pietro Vittorelli, who has made himself the spokesman of your common sentiments. I extend my greetings to
the abbots, the abbesses, and to the Benedictine communities present here.

Today the liturgy invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord. In the brief reading taken from the first letter of Peter, we were urged to fix our gaze on our Redeemer, who died “once and for all for sins” in order to lead us back to God, at whose right hand he sits “after having ascended to heaven and having obtained sovereignty over the angels and the principalities and the powers” (cf. 1 Pt 3, 18.22). “Raised on high” and made invisible to the eyes of his disciples, Jesus has not however abandoned them, but was: in fact, “put to death in the body, but made to live in the spirit” (1 Pt 3:18). He is now present in a new way, inside the believers, and in him salvation is offered to every human being without distinction of people, language, or culture. The first letter of Peter contains specific references to the fundamental Christological events of the Christian faith. The Apostle’s intention is to highlight the universal scope of salvation in Christ. A similar desire we find in St. Paul, of whom we are celebrating the two thousandth anniversary of his birth, who to the community of Corinth, writes: “He (Christ) died for all, so that those who live, live no longer for themselves but for him, who has died and is risen for them.” (2 Cor 5, 15).

To live no longer for themselves but for Christ: this is what gives full meaning to the lives of those that let themselves be conquered by him. The human and spiritual journey of St. Benedict attests to this clearly, he who, leaving all things behind, dedicated himself to the faithful following of Jesus. Embodying in his own life the reality of the Gospel, he has become the founder of a vast movement of spiritual and cultural renaissance in the West. I would now like to refer to an extraordinary event of his life, which the biographer St. Gregory the Great relates, and with which you are certainly well acquainted. One could almost say that the holy patriarch was “lifted up” in an indescribable mystical experience. On the night of October 29 of the year 540 — reads the biography — and, facing the window, “with his eyes fixed on the stars he recollected himself in divine contemplation, the saint felt that his heart was inflamed … For him, the star filled firmament was like the embroidered curtain that revealed the Holy of Holies. At one point, he felt his soul felt itself carried to the other side of the veil, to contemplate the revealed face of him who dwells in inaccessible light” (cf. AI Schuster, History of Saint Benedict and his time, Ed Abbey Viboldone, Milan, 1965, p. 11 et seq.). Of course, similar to what happened to Paul after his heavenly rapture, St. Benedict, following this extraordinary spiritual experience, also found it necessary to start a new life. If the vision was transient, the effects were lasting, his very character — the biographers say — was changed, his appearance always remained calm and his behavior angelic, and even while he was living on earth, he understood that in his heart he was already in heaven.

St. Benedict received this gift of God not to satisfy his intellectual curiosity, but rather because the charism with which God had endowed him had the ability to reproduce in the monastery the very life of heaven and reestablish the harmony of creation through contemplation and work. Rightly, therefore, the Church venerates him as an “eminent teacher of the monastic life” and “doctor of spiritual wisdom in the love of prayer and work; shining guide of people in the light of the Gospel” who,”raised to heaven by a luminous road” teaches people of all ages to seek God and the eternal riches prepared by him (cf. Preface of the Holy in the monastery to the MR, 1980, 153).

Yes, Benedict was a shining example of holiness and pointed the monks to Christ as their only great ideal; he was a master of civility, who proposed a balanced and adequate vision of the demands of God and of the final ends of man; he also always kept well in mind the needs and the reasons of the heart, in order to teach and inspire a genuine and constant brotherhood, so that in the complexity of social relationships the unity of spirit capable of always building and maintaining peace was never lost sight of. It is not by
chance that the word Pax [peace] is the word that welcomes pilgrims and visitors at the gates of the abbey, rebuilt after the terrible disaster of the Second World War, which stands as a silent reminder to reject all forms of violence in order to build peace: in families, within communities, between peoples and all of humanity. St. Benedict invites every person that climbs this mountain to seek peace and follow it: “inquire pacem et sequere eam” [seek peace and follow it.] (Ps. 33,14-15) (Rule, Prologue, 17).

By its example, monasteries have become, over the centuries, centers of fervent dialogue, encounter and beneficial union of diverse peoples, unified by the evangelical culture of peace. The monks have known how to teach by word and example the art of peace, implementing in a concrete way the three “ties” that Benedict identifies as necessary to maintain the unity of the Spirit among men: the cross, which is the very law of Christ, the book which is culture, and the plow, which indicates work, the lordship over matter and time. Thanks to the activity of the monastery, articulated in the three-fold daily commitments of prayer, study and work, entire populations of Europe have experienced a genuine redemption and a beneficial moral, spiritual and cultural development, learning in the spirit of continuity with the past, of concrete action for the common good, and of openness to God and the transcendent aspect of the world. We pray that Europe always exploit this wealth of principles and Christian ideals, which constitutes an immense cultural and spiritual wealth.

This is possible but only if the constant teaching of St.
Benedict is embraced, the “quaerere Deum,” to seek God, as the fundamental commitment of man. Human beings cannot achieve full self-realization or ever be truly happy without God. It is your special responsibility, dear monks, to be living examples of this interior and profound relationship with him, implementing without compromise the program that your founder summarized in the “nihil amori Christi praeponere” [put nothing before the love of Christ.] (Rule 4.21). In this holiness consists, a valid proposal for every Christian, more than ever in our time, in which the need to anchor life and history to solid spiritual principles is felt.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, your vocation is a timely as ever, and your mission as monks is indispensable.

From this place, where his mortal remains rest, the patron saint of Europe continues to urge everyone to continue his work of evangelization and human promotion. I encourage you in the first place, dear brethren, to remain faithful to the spirit of your origins and to be authentic interpreters of this program of social and spiritual rebirth. The Lord grants you this gift, through the intercession of your holy founder, of his holy sister St. Scholastica, and of the saints of your order. And may the heavenly Mother of the Lord, who today we invoke as “Help of Christians,” watch over you and protect this abbey and all your monasteries, as well as the diocesan community that lives around Monte Cassino. Amen!

Pope Benedict XVI
Homily at Vespers II
The Abbey of Monte Casino
May 24, 2009

Building a new humanity in Christ, Pope says during a Mass at Monte Cassino

Pope Benedict, as noted before, celebrated the Mass for the diocese of Montecassino on May 24, 2009. As previous popes had done so Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage to the place of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. His homily follows:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). With these words Jesus bids farewell to the Apostles, as we heard in the first reading. Immediately afterward the sacred author adds that “as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). Today we are solemnly celebrating the mystery of the Ascension. But what does the Bible and the liturgy intend to communicate to us in saying that Jesus “was lifted up”? We will not understand the meaning of this expression from a single text, nor from one book of the New Testament, but in carefully listening to the whole of Sacred Scripture. The use of the verb “to lift” is in effect Old Testament in origin and it referred to an installation in royalty. Christ’s ascension thus means, in the first place, the installation of the crucified and risen Son of Man in God’s royal dominion over the world.

There is a deeper meaning, however, that is not immediately graspable. The passage from the Acts of the Apostles says first that Jesus was “lifted up” (1:9), and afterward it adds that “he was assumed” (1:11). The event is not described as a voyage up above, but rather
as an action of God’s power, which introduces Jesus into the space of nearness to the divine. The presence in the clouds that “took him from their
sight” (1:9) recalls a very ancient image of Old Testament theology and
inserts the Ascension into the history of God with Israel, from the clouds of
Sinai and above the tent of the covenant, to the luminous clouds on the
mountain of the Transfiguration. Presenting the Lord wreathed in clouds
definitively evokes the same mystery expressed in the symbolism of “sitting
at the right hand of God.” In Christ ascended into heaven, man has entered in a new and unheard of way into the intimacy of God; man now finds space in God forever. “Heaven” does not indicate a place beyond the stars but something more bold and sublime: it indicates Christ himself, the divine Person that completely and forever takes on humanity, he in whom God and man are united forever. And we draw near to heaven, indeed, we enter into heaven, to the extent that we draw near to Jesus and enter into communion with him. For this reason, today’s Solemnity of the Ascension invites us to a profound communion with Jesus dead and risen, invisibly present in the life of each of us.

In this perspective we understand why the evangelist Luke says that, after the Ascension, the disciples returned to Jerusalem “full of joy” (24:52). They are joyful because what happened was not a separation: in fact now they had the certainty that the crucified and risen Christ was alive, and in him the gates of eternal life were opened forever. In other words, the Ascension did not begin Christ’s temporary absence from the world but inaugurated instead the new, definitive and insuppressible form of his presence, by virtue of his participation in the royal power of God. It will belong to them, to the disciples, emboldened by the power of the Holy Spirit, to make his presence felt with their witness, preaching and missionary commitment. The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord should fill us also with serenity and enthusiasm like the Apostles, who returned from the Mount of Olives “full of joy.” Like them, we too, accepting the invitation of the two men “dressed in white garments,” must not stay looking up at the sky, but, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must go everywhere and proclaim the salvific message of the death and resurrection of Christ. His own words — with which the Gospel according Matthew concludes: “And behold I am with you all days until the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19) –accompany and comfort us.

Dear brothers and sisters, the historical character of the mystery of the resurrection and ascension of Christ helps us to recognize and
to understand the transcendent and eschatological condition of the Church, which was not born and does not live to take the place of the Lord who has “disappeared” but which finds its reason for being in his mission and in the invisible presence of Jesus working with the power of his Spirit. In other words, we could say that the Church does not carry out the function of preparing for the return of an “absent” Jesus, but, on the contrary, lives and works to proclaim his “glorious presence” in an historical and existential manner. Since the day of the Ascension, every Christian community advances in its earthly journey toward the fulfillment of the messianic promises, fed by the Word of God and nourished by Body and Blood of its Lord. This is the condition of the Church –the Second Vatican Council says — as she “presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes” (Lumen Gentium, 8).

Brothers and sisters of this dear diocesan community, today’s solemnity calls on us to reinvigorate our faith in the real presence of Jesus; without him we cannot do anything of value in our life or apostolate. It is he, as the Apostle Paul recalls in the second reading, who “made some apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and
teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” that is, the Church. And he does this so that “we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature to manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13, 14). My visit today is situated in this context. As your pastor noted, the purpose of this visit is to encourage you constantly to “build, found and rebuild” your diocesan community on Christ. How? St. Benedict himself points the way, recommending in his Rule to put nothing before Christ:”Christo nihil omnino praeponere” (LXII, 11).

This is why I thank God for the good that your community is accomplishing under the leadership of your pastor, Father Abbot Dom Pietro Vittorelli, whom I greet with affection and thank for the kind words that he spoke to me on behalf of everyone. Together with him, I greet the monastic community, the bishops, the priests and the men and women religious who are present. I greet the civil and military authorities, in the first place the mayor, to whom I am grateful for the speech with which he welcomed me in here in Piazza Miranda, which will afterwards bear my name. I greet the catechists, the pastoral workers, the young people and those who in various ways are overseeing the spreading of the Gospel in this land rich with history, which experienced moments of great suffering during the Second World War. The many cemeteries that surround your resort city are a silent witness of this. Among these, I think particularly of the Polish, German and Commonwealth cemeteries. Finally I extend my greeting to all the citizens of Cassino and the nearby towns: to each, especially to the sick and suffering, I assure my affection and my prayer.

Dear brothers and sisters, we hear St. Benedict’s call echo in this celebration of ours, to keep our hearts fixed on Christ and put nothing before him. This does not distract us but on the contrary moves us even more to commit ourselves to the building up of a society where solidarity is expressed in concrete signs. But how? Benedictine spirituality, which you know well, proposes an evangelical program synthesized in the motto: “ora et labora et lege” — “prayer, work, culture.” First of all prayer, which is the most beautiful legacy that St. Benedict left the monks, but also to your
local Church: to your clergy — most of whom were formed in the diocesan seminary, for centuries housed in the Abbey of Monte Cassino itself — to the
seminarians, to the many who were educated in the Benedictine schools and
recreation programs and in your parishes, to all of you who live in this land.
Looking up from every village and district of the diocese, you can all admire
that constant reminder of heaven that is the monastery of Monte Cassino, to
which you climb every year in the procession on the eve of Pentecost. Prayer —
to which grave peals of the bell of St. Benedict calls the monks every morning
— is the silent path that leads us directly to the heart of God; it is the
breath of the soul that gives us peace again in the storms of life.
Furthermore, in the school of St. Benedict, the monks always cultivated a
special love for the Word of God in the “lectio divina,” which has
become the common patrimony of many today. I know that your diocesan Church,
following the instructions of the Italian Bishops’ conference, takes great care
in studying the Bible, and indeed has begun a course of study of the Sacred
Scriptures, dedicating this year to the evangelist Mark and continuing over the
next four years will conclude, please God, with a diocesan pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. May attentive listening to the divine Word nourish your prayer and
make you prophets of truth and love in a joint commitment to evangelization and
human promotion.

The other hinge of Benedictine spirituality is work. Humanizing
the world of work is typical of the soul of monasticism, and this is also the
effort of your community that seeks to be at the side of the many workers in
the great industry present in Cassino and the enterprises linked to it. I know
how critical the situation of many workers is. I express my solidarity with
those who live in a troubling precariousness, with those workers who on
unemployment assistance and those who have been laid off. May the wound of unemployment that afflicts this area lead those who are responsible for the
“res publica,” the entrepreneurs and those who are able, to seek, with everyone’s help, valid solutions to the employment crisis, creating new
places of work to safeguard families. In this respect, how can we not recall
that today the family has an urgent need to be better protected, since it is
gravely threatened in its very institutional roots? I think also of the young
people who have difficulty finding a dignified job that allows them to build a
family. To them I would like to say: Do not be discouraged, dear friends, the
Church will not abandon you! I know that more than 25 young people from your diocese participated in last year’s World Youth Day in Sydney: treasuring that extraordinary spiritual experience, may you be evangelical leaven among your friends and peers; with the power of the Holy Spirit, be the new missionaries in this land of St. Benedict!

Attention to the world of culture and education also belongs to your tradition. The celebrated archive and library of Monte Cassino contain innumerable testimonies of the commitment of men and women who meditated on and researched ways of improving the spiritual and material life of man. In your abbey one can touch with one’s hands the “quaerere Deum,” the fact that European culture has been constituted by the search for God and availability to listen to him. And this is important for our time as well. I know that you are working with this very spirit at the university and in the schools, so that you become workers of knowledge, research, passion for the future of new generations. I also know that in preparation for my visit you recently held a conference on the theme of education to solicit in everyone the lively determination to transmit to the young people the values of our human and Christian patrimony that we cannot renounce. In today’s cultural effort aimed at creating a new humanism, faithful to the Benedictine tradition you rightly intend to stress attention to the fragility, weakness of man, to disabled persons and immigrants. And I am grateful that you have given me the possibility today of inaugurating the “House of Charity,” where a culture attentive to life will be built with deeds.

Dear brothers and sisters! It is not hard to see in your community, this portion of the Church that lives around Monte Cassino, is heir and repository of the mission, impregnated by the spirit of St. Benedict, to proclaim that in your life no one and nothing must take Jesus away from the first place; the mission to build, in Christ’s name, a humanity to teach hospitality and help of the weakest. May your patriarch help and accompany you, with St. Scholastica his sister; may your holy patrons, and above all Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of our hope, protect you. Amen!

Pope Benedict XVI visits Monte Cassino

Pope Benedict XVI with great affection for Saint Benedict of Nursia, the Rule of Saint Benedict and Benedictine spirituality made a visit to Monte Cassino, 75 miles southeast of Rome, today. The Abbey of Monte Cassino was founded by Saint Benedict in 529 and it’s the sight of great holiness and humanity.

Among the various pastoral engagements the Holy Father had, he celebrated Mass for the diocese in the heart of the city, prayed Vespers with the monks, offered prayers for the dead, and visited the House of Charity. (This house works for peace and the promotion of life.) He also visited the monks of the monastic community there and addressed visiting abbesses and abbots. The Pope was hosted by Abbot-Nullius Pietro Vittorelli, 46.

Historically Monte Cassino is a center of art, culture, learning, and faith. The monks at Cassino are quick to recall that the abbey’s culture is Neapolitan. Nevertheless, the sole purpose of life in the abbey, indeed in any Benedictine abbey, is the search for God, pressing forward announcing the Paschal Mystery, of which is the incredible fact of Christ’s presence known now, that is today. Thus we comprehend the reason for the holy Rule of Benedict: keeping our gaze fixed on Christ.

In Saint Benedict we have a genius who gave cohesion to Europe and the rest of the world through his Rule for monasteries and Lectio Divina. Some will say it is one of the centers of humanity, of Western civilization because the Benedictine life gave voice to the aspirations of men and women. The notable archive at Monte Cassino attests to the search for God and the conscience of the Christian life. A new humanism is underlined by the Rule because it is attentive to one’s real humanity seen particularly in the vulnerable of society.

A fascinating heritage of Cassino abbey is the historic presence of the Greek monks who lived there for a few hundred years prior to founding the Abbey of Grottaferrata. Without digressing the Abbey was destroyed four times (in 577, 883, 1349 & 1944) and rebuilt four times. The last time the abbey was destroyed it was bombed by the American military during the Second World War because the Allied armies feared the advance of the enemies. The destruction, however, was carried out under wrong intelligence which the cost the lives of many. However, Succisa virescit! It is the 65th anniversary of the rebuilding of the abbey and city, the icon of beauty, strength and peace all people.

This visit of Pope Benedict is in continuity with the visits of past popes. This is not a first visit of Benedict XVI since he made several visits before as cardinal (but it is the first visit as the first as pope) to Monte Cassino; significantly in 1992 made a few days of retreat with his brother and personal secretary at the abbey and then he worked with Peter Seewald on his book, Salt of the Earth (1997) there. So, as an honor, the Mayor of Cassino announced today that Miranda Square was renamed today to “Pope Benedict XVI Square.”

The Pope’s homily was incredibly striking and we wait for a proper translation in English.

Blessed is he comes in the Name of the Lord.

Pope Benedict speaks to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 2009

The Holy Father gave the following address to the Social Sciences Academy which is led by Mary Ann Glendon. It is a rather important speech with regard to faith and reason and it deserves our serious attention. As supplementary readings you might re-read the Pope’s 2008 address to the United Nations and an essay by Tracey Rowland, “Natural Law: From Neo-Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism” in the journal Communio 35 (Fall 2008).

As you gather for the fifteenth Plenary Session of the Pontifical
Academy of Social Sciences, I am pleased to have this occasion to meet with you
and to express my encouragement for your mission of expounding and furthering
the Church’s social doctrine in the areas of law, economy, politics and the
various other social sciences. Thanking Professor Mary Ann Glendon for her
cordial words of greeting, I assure you of my prayers that the fruit of your
deliberations will continue to attest to the enduring pertinence of Catholic
social teaching in a rapidly changing world.

After studying work, democracy, globalisation, solidarity
and subsidiarity in relation to the social teaching of the Church, your Academy
has chosen to return to the central question of the dignity of the human person
and human rights, a point of encounter between the doctrine of the Church and
contemporary society.

The world’s great religions and philosophies have
illuminated some aspects of these human rights, which are concisely expressed
in “the golden rule” found in the Gospel: “Do to others as you
would have them do to you” (Lk 6:31;
cf. Mt 7:12).
The Church has always affirmed that fundamental rights, above and beyond the
different ways in which they are formulated and the different degrees of
importance they may have in various cultural contexts, are to be upheld and
accorded universal recognition because they are inherent in the very nature of
man, who is created in the image and likeness of God. If all human beings are
created in the image and likeness of God, then they share a common nature that
binds them together and calls for universal respect. The Church, assimilating
the teaching of Christ, considers the person as “the worthiest of
nature” (St. Thomas Aquinas, De potentia, 9, 3) and has taught that the ethical
and political order that governs relationships between persons finds its origin
in the very structure of man’s being. The discovery of America and the ensuing
anthropological debate in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe led to a
heightened awareness of human rights as such and of their universality (ius
gentium). The modern
period helped shape the idea that the message of Christ – because it proclaims
that God loves every man and woman and that every human being is called to love
God freely – demonstrates that everyone, independently of his or her social and
cultural condition, by nature deserves freedom. At the same time, we must
always remember that “freedom itself needs to be set free. It is Christ
who sets it free“ (Veritatis Splendor, 86).

In the middle of the last century, after the vast suffering
caused by two terrible world wars and the unspeakable crimes perpetrated by
totalitarian ideologies, the international community acquired a new system of
international law based on human rights. In this, it appears to have acted in
conformity with the message that my predecessor Benedict XV proclaimed when he
called on the belligerents of the First World War to “transform the
material force of arms into the moral force of law” (“Note to the
Heads of the Belligerent Peoples”, 1 August 1917).

Human rights became the reference point of a shared
universal ethos –
at least at the level of aspiration – for most of humankind. These rights have
been ratified by almost every State in the world. The Second Vatican Council,
in the Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, as well as my predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II,
forcefully referred to the right to life and the right to freedom of conscience
and religion as being at the centre of those rights that spring from human
nature itself.

Strictly speaking, these human rights are not truths of
faith, even though they are discoverable – and indeed come to full light – in
the message of Christ who “reveals man to man himself” (Gaudium et
Spes, 22). They receive
further confirmation from faith. Yet it stands to reason that, living and
acting in the physical world as spiritual beings, men and women ascertain the
pervading presence of a logos which
enables them to
distinguish not only between true and false, but also good and evil, better and
worse, and justice and injustice. This ability to discern – this radical agency – renders every person capable of
grasping the “natural law”, which is nothing other than a
participation in the eternal law: “unde…lex naturalis nihil aliud est quam
participatio legis aeternae in rationali creatura“ (St. Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 91, 2). The natural law is a
universal guide recognizable to everyone, on the basis of which all people can
reciprocally understand and love each other. Human rights, therefore, are ultimately
rooted in a participation of God, who has created each human person with
intelligence and freedom. If this solid ethical and political basis is ignored,
human rights remain fragile since they are deprived of their sound foundation.

The Church’s action in promoting human rights is therefore
supported by rational reflection, in such a way that these rights can be
presented to all people of good will, independently of any religious
affiliation they may have. Nevertheless, as I have observed in my Encyclicals,
on the one hand, human reason must undergo constant purification by faith,
insofar as it is always in danger of a certain ethical blindness caused by
disordered passions and sin; and, on the other hand, insofar as human rights
need to be re-appropriated by every generation and by each individual, and
insofar as human freedom – which proceeds by a succession of free choices – is
always fragile, the human person needs the unconditional hope and love that can
only be found in God and that lead to participation in the justice and
generosity of God towards others (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 18, and Spe Salvi, 24).

This perspective draws attention to some of the most
critical social problems of recent decades, such as the growing awareness –
which has in part arisen with globalisation and the present economic crisis –
of a flagrant contrast between the equal attribution of rights and the unequal access to the means of attaining those
rights. For Christians who regularly ask God to “give us this day our
daily bread”, it is a shameful tragedy that one-fifth of humanity still
goes hungry. Assuring an adequate food supply, like the protection of vital
resources such as water and energy, requires all international leaders to
collaborate in showing a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the
natural law and promoting solidarity and subsidiarity with the weakest regions
and peoples of the planet as the most effective strategy for eliminating social
inequalities between countries and societies and for increasing global
security.

Dear friends, dear Academicians, in exhorting you in your research and deliberations to be credible and consistent witnesses tot he defence and promotion of these non-negotiable human rights which are founded in divine law, I most willingly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing.

The real agenda of Pope Benedict

Often we hear assertions by the media (and others) that they know what a person is thinking, or better, what he’ll do next and why. This is certainly true when talking about the pope: Vatican watchers (speculators?) think they have the pope pinpointed. Much of what is said in the media is a string of partial understandings: one would hope that we could just say we are making a prediction so when it doesn’t materialize we don’t run away with our heads hung low. Of course human nature seems to want to be right all the time to garner power, fame and even money. Intrigue is rather boring 99% of the time. That said, there are a few people who modestly have an understanding of Benedict XVI which we ought to note.

The longtime friend and collaborator of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, Msgr. Massimo Camisasca, also the founder of the Priestly Fraternity Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, wrote an OP-Ed piece, “The Method Of Benedict XVI

” for the online daily Il Sussidiario.net where he outlines a few important things in understanding Pope Benedict. Msgr. Camisasca is providing neither a comprehensive nor exhaustive look into Benedict’s life and work but is noting the evident things that many seem to miss. Consider the following themes:

1. there’s preference for a person’s interior change; the Pope relies on theological premise of conversatio morum (conversion of life/attitude) wrought by the Holy Spirit: nothing is impossible with God;

2. Catholic life necessarily entails a focus on the Church’s Liturgy which is rich in tradition because it is our first theology, that is, all else is derivative from the Liturgy: “…manifestation of God’s absolute prior initiative in human life, his grace, his mercy, and at the same time his ability to intervene in history, to give shape to existence, to accompany, visibly and invisibly, the paths of the cosmos toward their recapitulation” (above cited article); among other things read the Pope’s homilies because there’s an theological/spiritual itinerary that we need to be aware of but it’s found in this medium;

3. consider the initiatives found in the Years of Saint Paul and Saint John Vianney; what is more is more important than evangelization and priesthood? I would also add the work of the Synods of Bishops on the Word of God and the forthcoming one on Africa;

4. go east: think of Christian life in China which by all accounts has not been a raging success.

Aside from the normal cliches of recognizing that some call Pope Benedict the “new Leo the Great” or the “new Augustine” Msgr. Camisasca rightly focuses our attention on some rather important areas of concern for Benedict which also should concern us if we want to follow his lead to Christ. Instead of focusing on Benedict perhaps we focus on Christ through the lens of Benedict.

Greed takes the cake

At the Pope’s weekly audience he addressed the role of greed as the basis of our current economic problems viz. the life of an 8th century monk. Read the article published at Asia News.

Pope to Franciscans: define yourselves by the beauty of the Gospel

On Saturday, April 18, the Holy Father received various members of the Franciscan family at Castel Gandolfo to observe the 800th anniversary of the ecclesial recognition of the Charism of Saint Francis of Assisi. His remarkable talk is presented here with my emphases. As always the Pope gently and clearly speaks a word of truth and hope.

With great joy I welcome you all at this happy and historic occasion that has gathered you all together: the eighth centenary of the approval of the “protoregola” [monastic rule] of St. Francis by Pope Innocent III. Eight hundred years have passed, and those dozen friars have become a multitude, scattered all over the world and now here, by you, worthily represented. In recent days you have gathered in Assisi for what you wanted to call the “Chapter of Mats” to recall your origins. And at the end of this extraordinary experience you have come together with the “Signor Papa” [Lord Pope], as your seraphic founder would say. I greet you all with affection: the Friars Minor of the three branches, guided by the respective Ministers General, among whom I thank Father José Rodriguez Carballo for his kind words, the members of the Third Order, with their Minister General; the Franciscan women religious and members of the Franciscan secular institutes, and knowing them spiritually present, the Poor Clares, which constitute the “second order.”

I am pleased to welcome some Franciscan bishops, and in particular I greet the bishop of Assisi, Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, who represents the Church of Assisi, the home of Francis and Clare, and spiritually, of all the Franciscans. We know how important it was for Francis, the link with the bishop of Assisi at the time, Guido, who acknowledged his charisma and supported it. It was Guido who presented Francis to Cardinal Giovanni of St. Paul, who then introduced him to the Pope and encouraged the adoption of the Rule. Charism and institution are always complementary for the edification of the Church.

What should I tell you, dear friends? First of all I would like to join you in giving thanks to God for the path that he has marked out for you, filling you with his benefits. And as Pastor of the Church, I want to thank him for the precious gift that you are for the entire Christian people. From the small stream that flowed from the foot of Mount Subasio, it has formed a great river, which has made a significant contribution to the universal spread of the Gospel. It
all began from the conversion of Francis, who, following the example of Jesus “emptied himself” (cf. Phil 2:7) and, by marrying Lady Poverty, became a witness and herald of the Father who is in heaven. To the “Poverello” [little poor man], one can apply literally some expressions that the apostle Paul uses to refer to himself and which I like to remember in this Pauline Year: “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And this life, I live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who has loved me and given himself for me” (Gal. 2:19-20). And again: “From now on let no one bother me: for I wear the marks of Jesus on my body” (Gal 6:17).

Francis reflects perfectly the footsteps of Paul and in truth can say with him: “For me, to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21). He has experienced the power of divine grace and he is as one who has died and risen. All his previous wealth, any source of pride and security, everything becomes a “loss” from the moment of encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus (cf. Phil 3:7-11). The leaving of everything at that point becomes almost necessary to express the abundance of the gift received. A gift so great as to require a total detachment, which itself isn’t enough; it requires a entire life lived “according to the form of the holy Gospel” (2 Tests, 14: the Franciscan Sources, 116).

And here we come to the point that surely lies at the heart of our meeting. I would summarize it as follows: the Gospel as a rule of life. “The Rule and life of the Friars Minor is this, to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:” this is what Francis writes at the beginning of his Rule (Rb I, 1: FF, 75). He defined himself entirely in the light of the Gospel. This is his charm. This is his enduring relevance. Thomas of Celano relates that the Poverello “always held himself in the heart of Jesus. Jesus on the lips, Jesus in his ears, Jesus is his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in all the other members […] In fact finding himself often traveling and meditating or singing about Jesus, he would forget he was traveling and would stop to invite all creatures to praise Jesus” (1 Cel., II, 9, 115: FF115). So the Poverello has become a living gospel, able to attract to Christ men and women of all ages, especially young people, who prefer radical idealism to half-measures. The Bishop of Assisi, Guido, and then Pope Innocent III recognized in the proposal of Francis and his companions the authenticity of the Gospel, and knew how to encourage their commitment for the good of the Church.

Here is a spontaneous reflection: Francis could have also not gone to the Pope. Many religious groups and movements were forming during that time, and some of them were opposed to the Church as an institution, or at least didn’t seek the Churches’ approval. Certainly a polemical attitude towards the hierarchy would have won Francis many followers. Instead, he immediately thought to put his journey and that of his companions into the hands of the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter. This fact reveals his true ecclesial spirit. The little “we” that had started with his first friars he conceived from the outset inside
the context of the great “we” of the one and universal Church. And the Pope recognized and appreciated this. The Pope, in fact, on his part, could have not approved the project of the life of Francis. Indeed, we can well imagine that among the collaborators of Innocent III, some counseled him to that effect, perhaps fearing that his group of monks would end up resembling other heretical groups and pauperisms of the time. Instead the Roman Pontiff, well informed by the Bishop of Assisi and Cardinal Giovanni of St. Paul, was able to discern the initiative of the Holy Spirit and welcomed, blessed and encouraged the nascent community of “Friars Minor.”

Dear brothers and sisters, eight centuries have passed, and now you have wanted to renew this gesture of your founder. You are all sons and heirs of those origins, of that “good seed” which was Francis, who was conformed to the “grain of wheat” which is the Lord Jesus, died and risen to bring forth much fruit (cf. Jn 12:24). The saints propose anew the fruitfulness of Christ. As Francis and Clare of Assisi, you also commit yourselves to follow the same
logic: to lose your lives for Jesus and the Gospel, to save them and make them abundantly fruitful. While you praise and thank the Lord who has called you to be part of such a great and beautiful family, stay attentive to what the Spirit says to it today, in each of its components, to continue to proclaim with passion the Kingdom of God, the footsteps of your seraphic father. Every brother and every sister should keep always a contemplative mood, happy and simple; always begin from Christ, as Francis set out from the gaze of the Crucifix of San Damiano and from the meeting with the leper, to see the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters who suffer and bring to all his peace. Be witnesses to the “beauty” of God, which Francis was able to sing contemplating the wonders of creation, and that made him exclaim to the Most High: “You are beauty!” (Praises of God Most High, 4.6: FF 261).

Dear friends, the last word I would like to leave with you is the same that the risen Jesus gave to his disciples: “Go!” (cf. Mt 28:19, Mk 16:15). Go and continue to “repair the house” of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Church. In recent days, the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region has severely damaged many churches, and you from Assisi know what this means. But there is another “ruin” that is far more serious: that of people and communities! Like Francis, always start with yourselves. We are the first house that God wants to restore. If you are always able to renew yourselves in the spirit of the Gospel, you will continue to assist the pastors of the Church to make more and more beautiful the Church’s face, that of the bride of Christ. The Pope, now the same as then, expects this of you. Thank you for coming! Now go and bring to all the peace and love of Christ the Savior. May Mary Immaculate, “Virgin made Church” (cf. Greetings to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1 FF, 259), accompany you always. And may my Apostolic Blessing, which I cordially impart to all of you here present, and the entire Franciscan family, support you as well.

Benedictus PP. XVI

See the video clip on the Pope-Franciscan visit

Happy 4th anniversary Pope Benedict!

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, Pope Benedict, a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love.

By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and vicar of Christ, build Your Church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

May God grant Pope Benedict many years!