Raniero Cantalamessa

Raniero Cantalamessa re-confirmed Preacher Apostolic by Pope

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa has been re-confirmed Preacher Apostolic by Pope Francis. A letter dated July 18, 2013 from the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Father Raniero of the decision by the Pope: “I now have the pleasure to inform you that his Holiness Pope Francis, who knows your depth of mind and heart, confirmed you as preacher of the Pontifical House.”

Friar Raniero was appointed preacher of the Pontifical House by Blessed John Paul II on June 23, 1980, He was subsequently re-confirmed by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, October 29, 2005. Raniero is a member of the Province of the Marches in Italy.

You can visit the website of Raniero Cantalamessa published in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese at www.cantalamessa.org.

The office of Preacher Apostolic was established in 1555 by Pope Paul IV as one among many ways to reform the Roman Curia because the Preacher Apostolic would speak about theological matters as well as points of spiritual and ministerial discipline. Members of various religious families had the ministry of Preacher Apostolic until 2 March 1753 when Pope Benedict XIV gave the ministry perpetually to the Capuchin Franciscans. The Capuchin order was known then as a keen “example of Christian piety and religious perfection , the splendor of doctrine and Apostolic zeal.”

Father Raniero is a popular speaker and has authored several books.

Fr Cantalamessa: Good Friday – there is one truth…

The papal preacher preaches to the Pope each Good Friday. A distinction not given to many. The renown Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa said many good things to think about, not a few points that are crucial to our own witness of the Gospel, a few are given here now. The link to his homily is given below.

There is a truth that must be proclaimed loud and
clear on Good Friday. The One whom we contemplate on the cross is God “in
person.” Yes, he is also the man Jesus of Nazareth, but that man is one person
with the Son of the Eternal Father. As long as the fundamental dogma of the
Christian faith is not recognized and taken seriously — the first dogma
defined at Nicea, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is himself God, of
one substance with the Father — human suffering will remain unanswered.

The
response of the cross is not for us Christians alone, but for everyone, because
the Son of God died for all. There is in the mystery of redemption an objective
and a subjective aspect. There is the fact in itself, and then awareness of the
fact and our faith-response to it. The first extends beyond the second. “The
Holy Spirit,” says a text of Vatican II, “offers to all the possibility of
being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery.”

One thing
distinguishes genuine accounts of martyrdom from legendary ones composed later,
after the end of the persecutions. In the former, there is almost no trace of
polemics against the persecutors; all attention is concentrated on the heroism
of the martyrs, not on the perversity of the judges and executioners. St.
Cyprian even ordered his followers to give twenty-five gold coins to the
executioner who beheaded him. These are the disciples of the one who died
saying: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” Truly, “Jesus’ blood speaks a different language from the blood of Abel
(Hebrews 12:24): it does not cry out for vengeance and punishment; it brings
reconciliation.”

Read the papal preacher’s homily in full here: Fr Cantalamessa Good Friday homily 2011.pdf

Jesus is the victor because He’s the victim, Cantalamessa reminds us on Good Friday

The official preacher to the pope, but not an official of the Holy See, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preached this homily to the Holy Father (and thus to the world) at the Good Friday Service. The preacher’s has received much criticism –VERY unfairly in my opinion if you read what he said– from the secular world, from Catholics who live on the margins of the Faith and others like the Jews for the points of comparisons made therein. It is not a perfect text and nor is it prudent in some places, but it needs to be engaged with faith and reason and not broken into pieces and read out of context. Read the text!!! The problem is that the sound bites we receive from the media become the only criteria of assessing whether something is good, worthy or acceptable for consumption whereas reason would want to hear the whole thing, even to re-read what was said before making foolish comments. Does the imperfect always mean bad? Father Cantalmessa is an evocative and provocative thinker and preacher. I think he deserves a fair hearing without the spin given in the media.

Father Raniero’s homily can be read here Good Friday homily 2010.pdf.

Saint Francis’ Way in the World: the encounter with Christ

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, spoke to the participants in the Chapter of the Mats in Assisi, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the Church’s oral approval of the life proposed by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Friar Raniero gives the reader a terrific sense of the Franciscan charism through the centuries but resting on the one and only central aspect of Franciscan life: Christ is everything. His point is that believe that Francis is really unimportant in comparison to following Christ because our salvation comes not from following Francis but Christ crucified and risen. That is, Francis kept his focus on Christ and Christ alone –and we ought to do the same. Hence what we ought to do is to closely follow Christ with the assistance of Saint Francis (and the Franciscan saints). As Francis kept his eyes on Christ so ought we to do the same.

The text of his remarks is found here.