Waiting for peace

AsiaNews:

Rome (AsiaNews) - The 12 February issue of the influential weekly America, published by US Jesuits, carries an article (its cover article) titled "A New Treaty for the Holy Land?", written by Arieh Cohen, a frequent contributor to AsiaNews from Tel Aviv.

The article calls for consideration of the possibility of achieving legal security for the Church in the Holy Land through a multilateral treaty that would include a mechanism for "monitoring and enforcement," and which would apply to both Jerusalem and the two national States, Israel and the future Palestinian State.

The need to consider this, the article says, arises from the observation that, while the "question of Jerusalem" remains unresolved, the pioneering attempts to secure the freedoms and rights of the Church in the two national States through bilateral Agreements have not yet given practical results. The Palestinian State is not yet in existence, and the Holy See's 1993 Fundamental Agreement with Israel has not yet been written into that State's laws, making it in practice unenforceable in Israel.

But a proposal for a multilateral treaty for Jerusalem does exist, and was discussed in the late 1990's by diplomats of several countries, and it could be enlarged to cover religious freedom and respect for the Church's historic rights in the two national States as well. This does not mean that the ongoing efforts to perfect the bilateral Agreements should or could be given up, the writer observes, but that it might be useful to study a multilateral alternative.

This suggestion is an interesting one. If it is meant as a final completion of the process going on now, it would certainly be worth pursuing.

The birthday party

Zenit:

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 11, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will preside over a Mass in St. Peter's Square to mark his 80th birthday.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Holy Father's vicar for Rome, sent a letter Friday to invite all the faithful to the celebration on April 15, the eve of the German Pontiff's birthday.

"We pray with the Pope and for the Pope, praying for an abundance of divine blessings for him," wrote Cardinal Ruini, president of the Italian episcopal conference.

The Mass will be celebrated on Divine Mercy Sunday, a liturgical solemnity introduced by Pope John Paul II.

The cardinal also asked the faithful to pray for Benedict XVI on April 19, the second anniversary of his election as Supreme Pontiff.

On April 2, Benedict XVI will preside over a Mass for the eternal repose of John Paul II.

Bolding is all mine.

No legislation can change the law of the Creator

The Seven Founders of the Servite Order
Feria

AKI:

[...] Pope Benedict XVI on Monday slammed the planned legislation as weakening the family and harming society. "No legislation can change the law of the Creator without making the future of society precarious with laws which are in stark contrast with natural law," the pontiff said.

"A very concrete application of this principle can be found in relation to the family, which is the intimate communion of life as founded by the Creator, with its own rules," Benedict also said. The family "has its stability under divine laws. The good fortune of spouses and society does not depend on arbitrary acts."
[...]

The bill was approved last week for consideration in the parliament. It has proven to be highly divisive, even in Mr. Prodi's ruling coalition; if it fails, it could lead to the fall of the coalition and Mr. Prodi's government.

Indult Watch

Father Z. has lately mentioned February 22, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, as the latest rumored date for the issuance of the motu proprio. Father Z. noted that he had heard nothing himself from his usual sources and that it was merely the rumor, though 2/22 was as good a date as any.

What I said last April (yes, we've been waiting oh so long!):

Anyone who is in the know on what Benedict's plans are is not going to say anything worth reporting. Those who are talking are outside the inner circle and are just talking for the sake of striking it rich should his particular prognostication prove to be right.

Happy Heart Day!

I was casually browsing through Valentine's Day cards even though I don't have a young lady to whom to send one (ladies take note). I noticed a trend.

Happy Heart Day in place of Happy Valentine's Day.

Obviously, the word 'Valentine' was all over the place, but there was some advertising for this 'Heart Day' along with one of the cards that I looked at saying on the inside, "Happy Heart Day."

Is this some kind of move away from the Christian origin of the day (even though the day of love has little to do with the three Roman martyrs who were honored on February 14 before they were liquidated from the General Roman Calendar)? Are we seeing another Christmas-secularization?

To where did I disappear?

I was sick on Wednesday. On Thursday I was tired. On Friday, I got up late after having slept all evening on Wednesday and having gotten up at 5:30 on Thursday. So there you have it.

The Pope denounced something!

UConn's (that is the University of Connecticut) newspaper, The Daily Campus, has a commentary from the editorial board on the Pope's recent statements on euthanasia.

Title:
Pope Mistaken On Euthanasia

First line:
Pope Benedict XVI denounced euthanasia over the weekend, once again proclaiming life a gift from God and asserting that it could not be terminated under "the guise of human compassion."

[Yes, a 78-year-old man who has various academic degrees denounces euthanasia, a mistaken position. At the same time, Cardinal Martini's arguments are nuanced (more on that later in the essay).]

Thesis statement:
While it is indeed the pope's prerogative to take a stance on such divisive issues, the purportedly infallible Benedict is undoubtedly mistaken on the issue of euthanasia. Without question, euthanazing a pain-wrought patient who is not going to recover is an act of genuine human compassion that should not be prohibited.

[It is his prerogative, thanks for the boon. Ohhhh, mention how the Pope is purportedly infallible as a counterpoint to calling his misguided views mistaken, that is just so clever! Everyone should go to UConn!]

Second paragraph, first line:
Many terminal illnesses can be extremely painful to endure.

[Oh really! Thanks for sharing that gem, who knew!?]

Third paragraph:
The pope ought to heed the words of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who contradicted the pontiff last month when he said that terminally ill patients deserve the right to refuse "unreasonably obstinate" treatment that will merely stave off inevitable death. While Martini does not support active euthanasia, i.e. administering a lethal injection to a dying patient, his nuanced perspective on the subject is appreciated, given the generally unyielding nature of the Vatican. Perhaps, in the future, a pope may come to realize, like Martini, that allowing a consenting party to die is not tantamount to murder.

[This Martini guy is smart and nuanced. Why isn't he Pope? He's a man of the 21st century.]

Conclusion:
Societies proscribe murder because killing another human being entails violating his or her rights. In the case of an individual who wants to die, however, preserving life does not mean preserving one's rights - it means violating them. While the pope is right to believe that life deserves respect, he is wrong to maintain that all life must be continued. As evidenced by the will of some patients to die, some lives simply are not worth continuing. In these cases, euthanasia is the most rational and compassionate course of action.

[The wise, rational, compassionate and purportly infallible student editorial board of The Daily Campus of the University of Connecticut, USA has spoken!]

Enemies of the Church (both real and imagined?)

Saint Romuald, Camaldolese Abbot
Feria

Vatican clamps down on controversial bishops

That is the headline from CathNews. The article reports that Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful activists are alleging that Bishop Gumbleton is not allowed to speak without permission of the local ordinary, which he was denied in Arizona.

Which makes absolutely no sense since if Bishop Gumbleton really had something he felt strongly about, he could stand on any street corner in this country and shout to the heavens his message. The Bishops of Phoenix and of Tucson stated that it was due to Call to Action's positions that they asked Bishop Gumbleton not to address the local chapter.

But of course, Bishop Gumbleton and his friends obey, but then proclaim how they are oppressed when if they were really serious about their positions, they ought to have disobeyed and paid the consequences. Thoreau, where art thou?

The other bishop being clamped down upon is the one in Paraguay who wants to run for president, Fernando Armindo Lugo Mendez. In reply to his request to be laicized, he was suspended for his continued political activities.

The request was not accepted because being a bishop is considered by the Church, something that is "accepted freely forever."

The Paraguayan Constitution also does not allow ministers of any religion to hold the post of president.

The Pope "can either accept my decision or punish me. But I am in politics already," the bishop was quoted as saying.

Known for his work among the poor, Mr Lugo was appointed bishop of San Pedro by Pope John Paul II in 1994. He retired as bishop 10 years later.

Those blog awards

Since they are being mentioned today, everyone out to go nominate his or her favorite blog at the Catholic Blog Awards site.

Go check it out. ;)

Paging Dr. Peters

Dr. Peters sounds off on the excommunication case in Salzburg where an auxiliary bishop has allegedly excommunicated a mall owner for renting space for an abortion clinic.

Finally, as I've said many times, canon law imposes excommunication only for a very narrow range of actions; renting space to an abortion clinic isn't among them. Maybe it ought to be, and maybe there's some other way to visit penal consequences on what is obviously an objectively gravely immoral action; but as of now, even if the right diocesan officers were citing the most relevant canons, there is no excommunication in canon law for the act described.

Schedule in Brazil

From Zenit, with rearranging:

May 9, Wednesday
Arrival in São Paulo in the afternoon.

May 10, Thursday
Meeting with young people at Pacaembu Stadium in the afternoon.

May 11, Friday
In the morning, the Pope will preside over Mass with the country's bishops in Campo de Marte.

In the afternoon he will meet with the prelates in the cathedral of São Paulo.

The Pontiff will then travel to the southeastern city of Aparecida.

May 12, Saturday
In the morning, he will visit a "Fazenda da Esperanca" (Farm of Hope) in Guaratingueta. These "fazendas" are centers for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and are present in several countries. The initiative began in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

At 6 p.m. on the same day, Benedict XVI will pray the rosary with the faithful in the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida.

May 13, Sunday
At 10 a.m. the Pontiff will preside at Mass and at 4 p.m. will open the working sessions of the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America.

That night, he will travel to Guarulhos International Airport for his return trip to Rome.

Bioethics and natural law

Saint Agatha

Sandro Magister talks about two documents that are coming out soon, one on bioethics and another on natural law, both from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. My excerpts below have gotten rather long, but do read through them all. The bit about the 'Ratzinger style' is interesting. The link to the CDF document is mine.

ROMA, February 5, 2007 – Unborn life and the natural law: these are the themes of two new documents being prepared by the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith. They were announced in the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, “Avvenire,” in an interview with the secretary of the congregation, archbishop Angelo Amato.

The first document:

The first of the two new documents, the one on unborn life, will follow in the footsteps of the instruction “Donum Vitae,” published in 1987 by the then-prefect of the congregation, cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Amato says in this regard:

“This Donum Vitae II is not intended to abolish the previous one, but to confront the various questions of bioethics and biotechnology that are posed today, and that were still unthinkable back then. Donum Vitae still retains all of its value, and in certain regards it is prophetic.

Regarding those clerics who have spoken out lately:

Amato further clarifies:

"The study of such delicate topics is the competency of our congregation, which then submits its work to the pope. And therefore the opinions on these topics that come from other ecclesiastical institutions or personalities – as respectable as these may be – cannot have the authoritativeness that the mass media sometimes seem to want to attribute to them."

The opinions of ecclesiastical persons to which Amato refers include, in particular, those expressed by cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in the “Dialogue on life” he published in the weekly “L’espresso” in April of 2006, a discussion that dealt with the very same topics found in “Donum Vitae.” They also include the opinions formulated by the same cardinal on the matter of euthanasia last January 21, in the newspaper “Il Sole 24 Ore,” one week before this interview with Amato in “Avvenire.” Both of cardinal Martini’s contributions diverge on a number of points from the Church’s official teaching.

The second document:

But the second new document, the one on natural law, will be the very first of its kind. On a number of occasions Benedict XVI has indicated as the foundation of shared existence among all men the moral principles inscribed upon the heart of every man, and “spoken in an unmistakable way by the quiet but clear voice of conscience.” But even as prefect of the congregation of the doctrine of the faith, he never dedicated a specific document to this.

Amato explains:

“A Catholic, for example, cannot consent to legislation that introduces marriage between two persons of the same sex; this is contrary to biblical revelation and to the natural law itself. [...] The pope often cites natural law in his catecheses. Our congregation is preparing something on this topic, and to that end has already consulted all of the Catholic universities. Everyone’s responses are very encouraging, even those from the professors considered the most ‘difficult’. The natural law is very important, in part because it alone provides the foundation for productive interreligious dialogue.”

The volume of the documents of the CDF was also discussed by Archbishop Amato in his interview with the Italian Bishops Conference's newspaper.

The first 200 pages of the volume collect the documents released by the congregation when its prefects were the cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Franjo Seper. The next 400 pages collect the much more extensive and numerous texts from when Ratzinger was prefect. In Amato’s view, it is possible to speak of a “Ratzinger style” in the congregation.

“With him, there was an effort to extend and articulate the arguments in defense of contested truths of the faith, and also a desire to present reliable guidelines on the many challenges of contemporary culture.”

At the Vatican site, the CDF page has listings of doctrinal and disciplinary documents.

Scandal prevented

Amy reports:

...from a source with, er...knowledge. Terry McAuliffe's application for the Knights of Malta was "withdrawn." The Knights office in DC was flooded with emails and calls - and, I'd expect, many of them from the good Knights and Dames themselves.

Amen.

Papal appearances

VATICAN CITY, FEB 2, 2007 (VIS) - Below is the calendar of liturgical celebrations due to be presided over by the Holy Father between the months of February and April.


FEBRUARY

- Wednesday 21, Ash Wednesday. In the basilica of Santa Sabina at 5 p.m., blessing and imposition of the ashes.

- Sunday 25, first Sunday of Lent At 6 p.m. in the Apostolic Palace's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.


MARCH

- Saturday 3. At 9 a.m. in the Apostolic Palace's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

- Sunday, 25, fifth Sunday of Lent. Pastoral visit to the Roman parish of St. Felicity and her martyr children. At 9.30 a.m., celebration of the Eucharist.

- Thursday 29. At 5.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, penitential celebration with young people from the diocese of Rome.


APRIL

- Sunday 1, Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, blessing of palms, procession and Mass.

- Monday 2. In the Vatican Basilica at 5.30 p.m., Mass for Pope John Paul II.

- Thursday 5, Holy Thursday. In the Vatican Basilica at 9.30 a.m., Chrism Mass. In the Basilica of St. John Lateran at 5.30 p.m., the beginning of the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper.

- Friday 6, Good Friday. In the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m., celebration of the Lord's Passion. Way of the Cross at the Colosseum at 9.15 p.m.

- Saturday 7, Holy Saturday. Easter vigil at 10 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica.

- Sunday 8, Easter Sunday. Mass in St. Peter's Square at 10.30 a.m. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.

- Sunday 15, second Sunday of Easter. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Mass for the 80th birthday of Benedict XVI (born on April 16, 1927).

- Saturday 21 - Sunday 22, pastoral visit to Vigevano and Pavia, Italy.

- Sunday 29, fourth Sunday of Easter. At 9 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, priestly ordination of deacons from the diocese of Rome.

General symptoms or just a few extremists?

AKI:

Rome, 1 Feb. (AKI) - A television report to be aired in Italy on Thursday night shows that clerics in three Italian mosques are campaigning for Islamic sharia law in the country. The report by a Somali and an Iraqi journalist who attended services at the mosques of viale Jenner in Milan, at the center of several anti-terror investigations, Centocelle in Rome and Varese, in northern Italy, also shows how the imams promote poligamy, which is illegal in Italy, according to transcripts from the programme published by Italy's leading paper Corriere della Sera on Thursday.

Footage to be aired by 'A veil between us' on satellite television news channel Sky TG24, shows Abu Imad, an imam at the Viale Jenner mosque, saying that "their (Italy's) democracy is useful to us, as a community and as individuals. The truth is that in the land of Muslims, if we are Muslims, we must be governed by Sharia." The imam concludes his speech that the majority Catholic country "will become an Islamic state."

The cleric in Milan is also quoted as saying that "poligamy is a problem which can be solved." "Those in poligamous marriages are few and if someone wants to have two wives, it is possible to find a solution. For example, he could marry officially one in a civil ceremony and the second one only under Sharia. It's not a problem."

Bolding is of course mine. These guys are either really stupid or they know something we don't. Or maybe they're just hoping for general apathy.

1. There will be calls of 'they're just a few extremists, they don't represent Islam in Italy', and they'll disappear back under the radar again for five to ten years until they start putting together sizeable communities with electorial clout. Then the democratic system will be in trouble.

Or:

2. We've seen lately a subtle trend towards dealing with 'immigrants' and the like in Europe. Europe seems to be finally realizing that things are not great and with clerics like this speaking out more and more boldly than before, they ought to be getting the message loud and clear. Hopefully they'll remember the lesson of Mein Kampf and realize their enemies have publicly stated their intentions and are now only biding their time and waiting for general European apathy to grow and birthrates to fall even further.

The Vatican Game

Purification of the BVM
Presentation of the Lord

Chicago Sun-Times:

Nanko-Fernandez and four of her colleagues -- Melissa Maday, assistant to CTU's vice president; Gilberto Cavazos-Gonzalez, a professor of spirituality, director of Hispanic ministry and a Franciscan priest; Robin Ryan, a systematic theology professor and Passionist priest, and Thomas Nairn, a Franciscan priest and professor of Catholic ethics -- joined me this week to play a spirited (pun intended) round of Vatican: The Papal Election Board Game.

[...]
The Vatican game, released last week by the College of DuPage Press, is something of a hybrid of Monopoly, Risk and Clue -- with a bit of theological Chutes-and-Ladders thrown in for good measure.

Authored by Stephen Haliczer, a retired historian from Northern Illinois University who specializes in Catholic history (the Inquisition in particular), the game follows six cardinals through their early careers as they build their reputations, the death of a pope, and the conclave to elect his successor.
[...]

But then ... divine intervention brought the conclave proceedings and what had become a rather boisterous game, to an abrupt halt, when Nairn (who had been trailing with 63 votes) read his fifth conclave card:

"The Holy Spirit intervenes in your favor by appearing to certain cardinals who have been wavering in their support for you. +40 votes."

Habemus Papam!

With 103 votes, Nairn, as the Jesuit cardinal from Panama, became heir to the throne of St. Peter.

"I just want you all to know that the rightful pope was unseated by a pigeon!" would-be Pope Carmen shouted in faux disgust.

That's when she remembered her hat.

'Intervention of the Spirit'
The baseball cap Nanko-Fernandez brought to the table, the one with the P for "pope" on it, was a Team Panama hat from the World Baseball Classic.

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo.

"It's always the intervention of the Spirit," Cavazos-Gonzalez said.

They say God moves in mysterious ways. I suppose that includes baseball hats and board games, too.

Mmmhmmm....

Stuff to do today

Saint Ignatius, Bp of Antioch
Feria

Good morning, readers.

I have to take my car in for some work in an hour or so, so I won't be posting this morning. Perhaps when I return home this afternoon I will, but we'll see.

Be sure to hit the 'Daily Readings' blogs down on the left.

An open letter

From Amy, who got it someplace else: Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is to be initiated into the Order of Malta in the US.

The following is the note I left in the Order's comment form.

To the officers of the Order of Malta in the United States:

Terry McAuffile's addition to your fine order will only result in scandal for you and for the Universal Church the order serves. A man who can proclaim his Catholic identity while at the same time supporting in the public square positions that are diametrically opposed to the doctrine of the Church he professes his loyalty to does not belong in the Order of Malta.

I ask you to reconsider offering him membership. I will pray for your members and your great works around the world.

In Christ,
Jacob

Coleridge would be proud

ANSA:

(ANSA) - Rome, January 31 - Dante could have been tripping on psychedelic drugs in his loftiest poetic flights, an Italian expert said Tuesday, commenting on cheeky speculation by eminent British Dantist Barbara Reynolds. "It's not just possible but probable," said Giulio Leoni, a scholar who has written three 'cowl and dagger' thrillers featuring Dante as an imaginary detective.
[...]

But Italy's Dante Association was sniffy about the idea, saying "this is not a credible hypothesis".

"There has recently been a widespread and regrettable tendency to project all our vices onto Dante, even the guiltiest ones," said the association's president, Guglielmo Gorni.

One of Italy's two great Dante popularisers, scholar and broadcaster Vittorio Sermonti, called the notion of an acid-dropping Dante "completely idiotic".

The other one, filmmaker Roberto Benigni, told an audience for his regular Dante reading and stand-up show Tuesday night: "People today take heroin to write a rock song. What was Dante supposed to do?"

If drugs aid in the creative process, then one would think that the songs coming out today would be a whole lot more interesting. Maybe, just maybe, Dante was just a really intelligent guy with insights most people will never have, even if they dope up.

One magazine's list

Inside the Vatican has a top ten persons of 2006 list out.

They are:

1. Anonymous
   
2. Bartholomew I of Constantinople
   
3. Pietro Parolin
   
4. Peter Erdo
   
5. Elisabetta Valgiusti
   
6. Caroline Cox
   
7. Yehuda Levin
   
8. Otto von Habsburg
   
9. Jesus Colina
   
10. Fernando Botero

Each person has a blurb on why he or she was chosen. Take a look.