 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
civilian
|
Posted: Fri Apr 14th, 2006 02:24 pm |
|
Pope condemns geneticists 'who play at being God'
Ruth Gledhill / London Times | April 14 2006
THE Pope will deliver a blistering attack on the satanic mores of modern society today, warning against an inane apologia of evil that is in danger of destroying humanity.
In a series of Good Friday meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of anti-Genesis described as a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the filth that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from decadent narcissism.
Particular condemnation is reserved for scientific advances in the field of genetic manipulation. Warning against the move to modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God, the Pope will lead prayers against insane, risky and dangerous ventures in attempting to take God's place without being God.
The Pope has not actually composed the prayers for the traditional Way of the Cross, but is certain to have given his blessing to the Good Friday meditations at the Colosseum.
Their author is Archbishop Angelo Comastri, Vicar General at Vatican City. The tone of the meditations is striking in its contrast to the contemporary fashion for feel-good religion.
While some will regard their emphasis on sin and the dark side of human nature as retrograde, others will welcome them as a sign of the strong and conservative leadership that Pope Benedict XVI was elected to provide. All Roman Catholic churches and many others, including Anglican churches in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, celebrate a liturgy around the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.
The 14 stations begin with Jesus's condemnation to death, take Christians through meditations of the Way of the Cross and the Crucifixion and end with the laying of Jesus's body in the tomb. The Pope wrote the meditations himself for last year's Way of the Cross in Rome. But today's Catholic prayers, published in Italian this week and in English on the Zenit website yesterday, go further than most in their thorough denunciation of contemporary culture.
At the Third Station of the Cross, where Jesus falls for the first time, Archbishop Comastri has written: Lord, we have lost our sense of sin. Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication.
At the Fourth Station, where Jesus is helped by Simon the Cyrene to carry the cross, Pope Benedict and his followers will pray: Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society's incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness.
One of the strongest meditations warns against the attack on the family. Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family.
There is a moving meditation for the Eighth Station, where Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, describing the River of tears shed by mothers, mothers of the crucified, mothers of murderers, mothers of drug addicts, mothers of terrorists, mothers of rapists, mothers of psychopaths, but mothers all the same.
The Pope will also confront the question of evil in the world in a meditation that asks: Where is Jesus in the agony of our own time, in the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty . . . in one room they are concerned about obesity, in the other, they are begging for charity?
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/140406_b_Pope.htm
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun Apr 16th, 2006 02:49 am |
|
Pope begins his first Easter
Apr 15, 6:00 PM (ET)
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict began the first Easter of his pontificate on Saturday, urging Catholics to let the risen Christ help them transform a world of violence and corruption.
The 78-year-old German Pope, who marks the first anniversary of his election next week, presided at an Easter Vigil mass in St Peter's Basilica to mark the most important day in the Church's liturgical calendar.
At the start of the service, the Pope carved the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet -- alpha and omega -- and the numbers of the year 2006 on a large candle.
For a few minutes, the first part of the service took place without lights to symbolize the darkness of Christ's tomb before he rose from the dead. Then candles were lit and later the great lights of St Peter's Basilica were turned on for the start of the mass.
In his homily the Pope, wearing gold and white vestments, said the resurrection of Christ could not be considered a thing of the past because it was still sending a message of hope to people.
"We grasp hold of it, we grasp hold of the risen Lord, and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak," he said before thousands of people in the basilica.
"If we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a program opposed to corruption and the desire for power and possession," he said.
During the long service, due to last up to three hours, the Pope was conferring the sacrament on baptism of seven people from Japan, Albania, Peru, Colombia and Cameroon.
On Sunday, the Pope will say an Easter day mass in St Peter's Square and deliver an "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message.
This is the first Easter season for the 1.1 billion member Church since the death of Pope John Paul II, who was in his final days a year ago was only able to make brief appearances in the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.
John Paul II died on April 2, a week after Easter.
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060415/2006-04-15T220018Z_01_SCH579091_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-POPE-DC.html
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun Apr 16th, 2006 06:20 pm |
|
Pope Benedict celebrates Easter Mass
Pope Benedict XVI holds his pastoral staff as he leaves St. Peter's Basilica
at the Vatican at the end of the Easter Vigil ceremony, Saturday.
(Pier Paolo Cito/AP)
Associated Press
Vatican City
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first Easter Sunday as pontiff, praying for peace Iraq, negotiated solutions to the world's nuclear disputes and dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.
Looking tired, Benedict led nearly 100,000 pilgrims, tourists and Romans in Mass in St. Peter's Square. His 79th birthday coincided with Easter, when Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion.
"Today, even in this modern age marked by anxiety and uncertainty, we live the event of the resurrection, which changed the face of our life and changed the history of humanity," Benedict said in the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message � Latin for "to the city and to the world."
From the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the pontiff reviewed conflicts around the globe to rousing cheers and applause.
"In Iraq, may peace finally prevail over the tragic violence that continues mercilessly to claim victims," Benedict said, pausing as the crowd applauded.
"I also pray sincerely that those caught up in the conflict in the Holy Land may find peace, and I invite all to patient and persevering dialogue, so as to remove both ancient and new obstacles," the pope said.
"May the international community, which reaffirms Israel's just right to exist in peace, assist the Palestinian people to overcome the precarious conditions in which they live and to build their future, moving toward the constitution of a state which is truly their own," he added.
He also prayed for resolutions to global nuclear crises, though he did not name specific countries. Disputes over the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea have embroiled many countries and are at an impasse.
"Concerning the international crises linked to nuclear power, may an honorable solution be found for all parties, through serious and honest negotiations," Benedict said.
Benedict also called on world leaders to promote racial, cultural and religious harmony "to remove the threat of terrorism."
The pope touched on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region and conflicts in other parts of Africa. He said that in Latin America, millions of people needed better living conditions and democratic institutions.
When the faithful read out prayers during the Mass, a woman speaking in French prayed for the pope. She offered a birthday wish and prayed that Benedict receive peace and the comfort of "serene" days.
Benedict wished the faithful a joyous holiday in 62 languages.
His wishes in Italian referred to Italy's political stalemate, in which conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi has refused to concede defeat to center-left rival Romano Prodi in the extremely narrow April 9-10 elections.
"In the particular moment that Italy has been living through in these months, may the risen Lord bring serenity to the national community and strengthen those who work to serve it," Benedict said.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, died six days after Easter last year. He was so weak during his final illness that he was unable to address faithful in the square on Easter, only raising his hand in blessing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060415.wpope15/BNStory/International/home
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun Apr 16th, 2006 10:23 pm |
|
Europe's Chastisement? --
How the Abandonment of Christianity
May Be Leading to Disaster
Feature by Ed Vitagliano
April 12, 2006
(AgapePress) - Anyone know where we can find some Etruscans? You know, members of the Etruscan civilization that existed in ancient Italy, predating even Rome?
Well, there aren't any. The Etruscans were absorbed by the Roman civilization and ceased to exist as a distinct people.
Ominously, if a growing number of experts and cultural observers are right, it's entirely possible that the same question may be asked 100 years from now -- only about Italians or Spaniards or Russians.
As writer Mark Steyn glumly put it in The New Criterion, "Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries."
A Birth Dearth
What could possibly cause such a cataclysm? Another world war? A nuclear confrontation? The devastation of a plague, similar to that caused by the Black Death in the 14th century? Nothing quite so dramatic, say the experts. Rather, Europe is slowly dying simply by refusing to have enough children to replace the people who die each year.
Catholic scholar George Weigel, a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of The Cube and The Cathedral, says Europe is "committing demographic suicide, systematically depopulating itself."
For any population to remain stable, it must maintain a birthrate of 2.1 births per woman. That rate provides a replacement for both mother and father, while the .1 covers infant and child mortality. When the birthrate falls below that number, a population goes into decline -- unless it invites in large numbers of immigrants.
"The 'birth dearth' is what demographers call plummeting birth rates in most of the industrialized world," says culture critic Chuck Colson. "Throughout Western Europe and East Asia, the birth rate is well below 2.1 births per woman ...."
Sociologist Ben Wattenberg, author of Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future, puts this birth dearth in historical perspective. "Never in the last 650 years, since the time of the Black Plague, have birth and fertility rates fallen so far, so fast, so low, for so long, in so many places."
According to U.N. figures and other projections, Patrick Buchanan states in The Death of the West that by 2050 Europe (from Iceland to Russia) will see its population drop from 728 million (in 2000) to 600 million -- and perhaps 556 million. And if current trends continue, by the end of the century Europe's population will stand at 207 million.
Collapse of Family Values
Why has this happened? As it turns out, a variety of factors and trends have combined to create, as it were, the "perfect storm."
World magazine's Gene Edward Veith sums it up this way: "Why the population decline? The worldwide collapse of what are, literally, family values. Thanks to contraceptive technology, sex has become separated from childbearing. With women pursuing careers of their own and men getting sex without the responsibility of marriage, why bother with children? For many women and men, pregnancy has become an unpleasant side effect, something to prevent with contraceptives or easily treated with a trip to the abortion clinic."
Abortion comes in for particular blame in Veith's view. "The dirty little secret of the population implosion, one seldom mentioned by demographers, is that the world is aborting its future generations," he says.
Pro-family groups in the U.S., for example, rightly bemoan the abortion rate here, where Veith says one-third to one-fifth of all pregnancies end in abortion. Some European nations are far worse, however. "In Russia, the average woman may have as many as four abortions in her lifetime," he says. "There are two abortions for every live birth. That is to say, Russians kill two-thirds of their children before they are born."
All this is symptomatic of a pervasive hedonism that permeates the West, "a complete philosophy of pleasure," according to Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society.
"Everywhere in the European Community and Anglo-America, real attention focuses on the consumption of food (alternately rich and fat-free), frequent sex, and raucous fun," Carlson says. "Relatively few are pestered these days by children. Fertile young adults rely on mechanical devices and chemical agents to thwart the designs of nature. In places as culturally different as Spain, Italy, Denmark and Germany, the sexual experimentation starts early, but hardly anyone brings forth a child."
Despite efforts on the part of some European nations to increase the desire of adults to have children -- such as tax breaks or cash incentives -- some experts think the pursuit of personal fulfillment will triumph.
Joseph Chamie, director of the U.N. Population Division, says, "No demographers believe birth rates will rebound. How much will it take to convince a woman to have four children? People are concerned about their appearances, their education, their careers."
What's ironic, however, is that this pursuit of personal pleasure and personal wealth may result in economic ruin.
"When it comes to forecasting the future, the birthrate is the nearest thing to hard numbers," Steyn argues. "If only a million babies are born in 2006, it's hard to have two million adults enter the workforce in 2026 ...."
Veith lists but a few of the ramifications of population decline. "Citizens are not just consumers but producers," he says. "Having fewer people can wreak havoc on an economy, creating both a labor shortage and a shortage of buyers. A government with a shrinking population faces a smaller military and fewer taxpayers. Dwindling populations have always signaled cultural decline, with less creativity, energy, and vitality on every level of society."
Abandoning Christianity
These explanations do not go far enough to suit culture critic and columnist Don Feder, who sees Europe's abandonment of its Christian heritage as the true root cause of its population problems.
"It's no coincidence that central to the new Europe ... is a refusal to acknowledge the continent's origins," says Feder, who is Jewish. "The proposed constitution for the European Union (a document of over 70,000 words) contains not a single reference to Christianity. Thus more than a millennium of European history is effectively erased."
The abandonment of Christianity in most European countries has been well-documented. For example, author and journalist James P. Gannon says that in five key European countries -- France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy -- over the last 30 years regular church attendance has fallen from roughly 40% of the population to about 20%." As Weigel says, Western Europe has become a "post-Christian society."
Feder believes there is a clear link between a lack of faith and the loss of that sense of duty to the future that leads people to conceive and bear children. "Having lost their faith and embraced an ethic of radical autonomy," he says, "Europeans stopped going to church, stopped taking the Bible seriously, stopped believing in the future and stopped having children."
Maria Burani, president of the Parliamentary Commission for the Family and Infancy in Rome, told Citizen magazine that faith is a foundation for the kind of lifestyle that parenting requires. "If you don't have inside your head great religious and ethical principles," she insists, "you're just not going to want to go and have these kids because it's a sacrifice."
Beyond that, of course, is the fact that religious principles also restrain the often selfish behavior that grows out of the "radical autonomy" that permeates Europe. "Among the consequences of Europe's abandonment of its religious roots and the moral code that derives therefrom is a plunge in its birth rates to below the replacement level," says Gannon. "Abortion, birth control, acceptance of gay marriage and casual sex are driving the trend."
Islamification of Europe
However, the prognosis for Europe gets even worse because many of the nations there have chosen a risky path for making up for their population shortfalls: immigration. Because North Africa and the Middle East represent a relatively convenient source of cheap labor, millions of Muslim immigrants have been flooding the continent for a half century.
"Western Europe has gone from a Muslim population of 250,000, 50 years ago, to 20 million today," says Feder.
Unlike Westerners, however, Muslims typically have large families. According to Robert S. Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Program at the Nixon Center, higher Muslim birthrates combined with Muslim immigration have led the U.S. National Intelligence Council to project that Europe's Muslim population will double by 2025.
As a result, Colson says flatly, "[d]emographics may bring about what the Moors and Ottoman Empire couldn't: a Muslim Europe."
But so what? Isn't such hand-wringing about Muslim immigrants nothing more than utter bigotry?
Hardly, say concerned Westerners. The Islamification of Europe would bring incredible cultural changes to Europe. "In 50 to 100 years, the Europe of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo, the Europe of Rembrandt and Bach, the Europe of Churchill and Karol Wojtyla will exist only in textbooks and museums," Feder says. "Or, perhaps the remnants of Christian Europe will be subjected to the fate of Afghanistan's Buddhist statues, demolished by the Taliban regime."
Political changes would also be inevitable, Steyn insists. "Can a society become increasingly Islamic in its demographic character without becoming increasingly Islamic in its political character?"
It is a rhetorical question, of course, and Steyn predicts that by 2050 many European nations will be forced to apply Sharia -- Muslim law -- to Muslim communities. He notes the results of a 2004 poll that found that over 60 percent of British Muslims want to live under Muslim law -- while living in the United Kingdom.
At first, most European governments would probably resist the demands of an increasingly assertive Muslim population. But in response, it would not be surprising to see an escalation of what has already begun to transpire: terrorist bombings in London and Madrid; the 2002 assassination of conservative Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, who campaigned on a platform of limiting Muslim immigration; the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 for allegedly insulting Islam; rioting by Muslim youths throughout France in 2005; and rioting this year in response to political cartoons that were deemed offensive to Muslim sensibilities.
Steyn thinks Europe will see more such unrest -- and soon. "It seems more likely that within the next couple of European election cycles, the internal contradictions of the [European Union] will manifest themselves in the usual way," he says, "and that by 2010 we'll be watching burning buildings, street riots and assassinations on American network news every night."
In any case, Carlson says, "the Great Party [of Western hedonism] will not last much longer. There is an iron law in history: the future belongs to the fertile. Just as the clan-centered, child-rich barbarian tribes of the Germans swept away the sensuous and sterile Western Roman Empire, so shall new barbarians arise."
Scripture teaches that God rules over the nations, and the future of Europe looks increasingly like that of Israel when its prophets warned of impending chastisement and judgment. Are we on the brink of God's chastisement of Europe, even after a century of wars and other atrocities failed to bring the continent back to Christianity?
How ironic it would be that a European culture that demanded unlimited personal freedom might wind up living under the repressive heel of Muslim totalitarianism. Or that a culture that rejected its Christian heritage might, instead, be subjected to Islamic fundamentalism.
Cultures have disappeared before. Just ask the Etruscans.
If you can find one.
Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article, reprinted with permission, appears in the April 2006 issue.© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved. http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/122006a.asp
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun Apr 16th, 2006 11:21 pm |
|
Benedict keeps reformers waiting
Is Pope Benedict lacking vision?
(Keystone)
Pope Benedict XVI marks the end of his first year in office on April 19, a year which began in pomp and celebration and has ended on a quieter note.
Catholic church observers in Switzerland expect more from the former Joseph Ratzinger in the coming year. But most are sceptical about the chances of wide-ranging reform.
Leading Swiss newspapers echoed the disappointment of those hoping for signs of change in the Church.
While the Neue Zürcher Zeitung referred to Benedict's cautious start to his pontificate, Philippe Pfister writing in the SonntagsZeitung dismissed the pontiff as a mere "footnote" on the history books.
Negative comparisons have been made with Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, a man of the people who loved to travel and meet his flock. Benedict is seen as being less charismatic and more bookish. In his first year, he has made just one trip outside Italy – to his homeland of Germany.
Style and substance
While it is clear that Benedict has a very different style to John Paul, Vatican observers tend to agree that he is following the same theological line as his predecessor and close friend – a disappointment to some within the Church.
"Most Catholics here in Western Europe probably hoped for reform, for example doing away with the celibacy rule for priests or admitting remarried divorcees to the sacraments. In this respect Benedict has certainly disappointed," conceded Josef Bossart, head of the Catholic International Press Agency in Fribourg.
Swiss theologian Eva Südbeck-Baur, who leads an open church in Basel, told swissinfo that while the pope had chosen love for the subject of his first encyclical, he had treated it in a philosophical way.
"The most important questions about human rights in the Catholic Church, for example the rights of men and women to be ordained or the right to non-discrimination for same sex couples, are still to be addressed," she said.
For Jean-Francois Mayer, a religious studies lecturer at Fribourg University, expectations of change from an arch-conservative were misplaced. "He wasn't going to suddenly advocate women priests or a liberal policy towards homosexuals," he told swissinfo.
Taking his time
Catholic affairs commentator Felix Corley thinks the pope's low profile over his first year in office shouldn't be seen as a sign of inability to act.
"I think he's taking his time to see what issues he ought to be addressing," he said.
But there were signs already of where Benedict's priorities lay, he argued. Relations with Islam and moves towards healing the rift with a schismatic movement based in Switzerland were two of the main issues at a meeting the pope convened with his cardinals.
The sign of reconciliation towards Archbishop Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X took many Vatican watchers by surprise, as did a meeting last autumn between the pope and dissident Swiss theologian Hans Küng, one of the Vatican's fiercest critics.
Benedict's apparent desire to reunify the Church was also evident in his approach towards the Orthodox churches, Mayer said. Healing the rift with the Orthodox communion would be a "fundamental commitment" of the papacy, the lecturer told swissinfo.
Observers agreed that the pope recognised the need to deal with the challenge of Islam, although inter-religious dialogue interested him less than dialogue with other Christian churches.
"Like many in the Christian churches, he's frightened of the power of militant Islam and is going to be more assertive in pushing the rights of Christians living in Muslim countries," Corley maintained. "And that is a new departure."
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/social_affairs/detail/Benedict_keeps_reformers
_waiting.html?siteSect=201&sid=6631154&cKey=1145181118000
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Mon Apr 17th, 2006 12:40 am |
|
Jerusalem enjoys busiest Easter for years
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/16/060416201119.k8ytahxs.html
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun May 28th, 2006 07:20 pm |
|
Pope speaks of canonization for John Paul II
VICTOR SIMPSON
Associated Press
KRAKOW, Poland
Pope Benedict XVI stoked Poles' fervent hopes that John Paul II will be declared a saint, telling people in the late pontiff's native region Saturday that he hopes for canonization in the near future.
Benedict's encouraging remark an addition to his prepared text generated a roar of applause from the 15,000 people gathered at a shrine outside Krakow, the city where John Paul served as archbishop before becoming pope.
Honouring John Paul is a major theme of Benedict's four-day trip to Poland, where the cause of John Paul's sainthood is extremely popular. Some hoped Benedict might make the official announcement during the trip.
Benedict, standing next to John Paul's former secretary, Krakow's Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz outdoors at the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska shrine, said: Your Cardinal Stanislaw expresses the hope, as do I, that in the short future we will be able to enjoy the beatification and canonization of John Paul II.
Benedict earlier visited John Paul's nearby birthplace of Wadowice, where he joined townspeople's prayers for sainthood.
A large banner reading Wadowice Prays For Sainthood Immediately, John Paul II the Great in Italian and Polish hung in the packed square in front of the church where John Paul was baptized. Benedict said he shared the people's cause.
I wished to stop precisely here, in the place where his faith began and matured, to pray together with all of you that he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars,� Benedict told some 30,000 people jammed into the town square under cloudy skies.
The crowd waved yellow-and-white Vatican flags as Benedict arrived by motorcade to pray in the church and visit John Paul's childhood home, accompanied by Dziwisz.
After praying in the ornate church, Benedict walked down a cobblestone street to the house on Koscielna Street where John Paul spent his boyhood. The house is now a museum devoted to John Paul.
Benedict was greeted by the nuns who run the museum, and he walked through the rooms where photographs document the boyhood of Karol Wojtyla, the future pope.
Shortly after assuming the papacy, Benedict waived the usual five-year waiting period after a person's death to begin a case for possible sainthood for John Paul. Miracles are needed for both beatification and canonization, and the case of a French nun whose inexplicable recovery from Parkinson's disease is being investigated by church officials as a possible miracle.
The Holy Father is doing everything to make John Paul II a saint and we owe him deep gratitude for that,said Halina Bucka, 48, a kindergarten teacher from Wadowice who joined the crowd. �I think that the visit in Wadowice will strengthen him on that path and that very soon John Paul II will be officially announced a saint.
Mieczyslaw Koziol, 53, a businessman from Laczany, near Wadowice, also was quick to praise German-born Benedict.
Benedict is consistent in his effort to make John Paul a saint. The fact that the process is proceeding so quickly is all thanks to him, he said. Benedict follows in the footsteps of John Paul II, and this way he shows his greatness.
On a later stop, Benedict blessed sick and elderly people at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, a modern sanctuary near Krakow consecrated in 2002 by John Paul.
I would so willingly embrace each one of you, Benedict told them. �But since this is impossible, I draw you spiritually to my heart.
Benedict was on the third day of a four-day trip that will include a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, a visit heavy with significance for Catholic-Jewish relations, a favorite cause of both Benedict and John Paul.
Benedict has written in his memoirs of being enrolled in the Hitler Youth against his will, then risking execution by deserting the German army days before World War II ended.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060527.wpope0527/BNStory/Front
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun May 28th, 2006 07:23 pm |
|
The Pope visits Auschwitz
Associated Press
OSWIECIM, Poland — German-born Pope Benedict XVI, walking solemnly with his hands clasped, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp Sunday, passing alone under the infamous gate — a solitary figure in white.
Benedict's black-clad entourage kept its distance as he walked under the notorious words, "Arbeit Macht Frei" or, "Work Sets You Free."
Other than a brief greeting to the local bishop, Benedict kept silent, his lips moving in prayer and the wind tossing his white hair as he stopped before the execution wall where the Nazis killed prisoners.
Then, he was handed a lighted candle, which he placed before the wall.
A line of elderly camp survivors awaited him in the courtyard. He moved slowly down the line, stopping to talk with each, taking one woman's face in his hands.
He also visited a underground cell that held Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who traded his life for that of a married man at Auschwitz in 1941. Kolbe was canonized by John Paul in 1982.
The visit, by a pope who was enrolled unwillingly in the Hitler Youth and drafted into the German army, is heavy with significance for Catholic-Jewish relations, a favorite theme for Benedict and predecessor John Paul II.
This was the third time Benedict has visited Auschwitz and the neighboring camp at Birkenau. The first was in 1979, when he accompanied John Paul, and in 1980, when he came with a group of German bishops while he was archbishop of Munich.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060528.wauschwitz0528/BNStory/International/home
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun May 28th, 2006 10:41 pm |
|
Bishops to vote on New Order of Mass in English
By Jerry Filteau
5/25/2006
Catholic News Service (http://www.catholicnews.com)
WASHINGTON
The U.S. bishops will be asked to approve a new translation of the Order of Mass when they meet in Los Angeles June 15-17.
If the new translation is adopted as proposed and subsequently approved by the Vatican, Catholics will have to learn a number of changes in their Mass prayers and responses. Among the more obvious will be:
- Whenever the priest says "The Lord be with you," the people will respond, "And with your spirit." The current response is "And also with you."
- In the first form of the penitential rite, the people will confess that "I have sinned greatly... through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." In the current version, that part of the prayer is much shorter: "I have sinned through my own fault."
- The Nicene Creed will begin "I believe" instead of "We believe" a translation of the Latin text instead of the original Greek text.
- The Sanctus will start, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts." The current version says, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might."
Approving a new text of the Order of Mass is only the first step in a long process of considering and approving a new translation of the entire book of prayers said at Mass. In the United States that book has been called the Sacramentary since 1970, but the Vatican wishes to restore the name Roman Missal, since it is an English translation, with minor adaptations, of the normative Latin "Missale Romanum."
Officials of the bishops' Secretariat for the Liturgy told Catholic News Service May 23 that it is uncertain whether the bishops will seek to publish the New
Order of Mass for U.S. use as soon as possible or wait until they have the new English translation of the entire Roman Missal completed.
Completing the entire Roman Missal is likely to take at least two more years.
Once the bishops adopt new liturgical texts, they must also be confirmed by the Vatican before they can be authorized for use.
In general, people will find many of the Mass prayers in the new version slightly longer and fuller, as the new translation is based on rules for liturgical translations issued by the Vatican in a 2001 instruction. Unlike the previous Vatican rules which encouraged freer translations more adapted to the language into which one was translating the new rules require closer adherence to the normative Latin text.
In a recent letter Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, told the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that if a current text does not conform to the new translation norms it must be changed.
"It is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past 30 or 40 years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes.... The revised text should make the needed changes," he wrote.
He said his congregation is open to dialogue about "difficulties regarding the translation of a particular text," but the 2001 instruction calling for translations more faithful to the Latin text "remains the guiding norm."
His letter, dated May 2 and addressed to Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., USCCB president, was posted on the Catholic World News Web site in late May.
In response to a query from CNS, Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., chairman of the USCCB Committee on the Liturgy, said Bishop Skylstad sent the letter to all Latin-rite bishops in advance of the June meeting.
"I see this letter as a clarification and further restatement of criteria for translation previously authored by the congregation," Bishop Trautman said. He said it "offers additional input for the deliberation of the bishops."
The Order of Mass, found at the center of the Roman Missal, consists of the prayers recited every day at Mass, as distinct from the Scripture readings and prayers that are proper to the day's feast.
Thus what the bishops are to vote on in June are new versions of the prayers that Massgoers are most familiar with because they hear or say them so regularly.
Within the Order of Mass are some prayers for which there are a limited number of alternatives, such as the forms of the penitential rite, the four different eucharistic prayers or the various acclamations following the consecration.
The text the bishops are to vote on in June does not include the prefaces, solemn blessings, prayers over the people or elements found in the appendix that also form part of the Order of Mass.
The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), which prepared the text to be voted on, is still consulting with English-speaking bishops' conferences around the world on the translation of the prefaces and other elements and does not have a final version of them yet.
Churchgoers will have to learn a different version of the Gloria when the new texts are put into use because part of the current prayer in English does not follow the structure of the Latin version.
In the Nicene Creed, where the current version refers to Christ as "one in being with the father," the new ICEL translation says, "consubstantial with the father." In the documentation sent to the bishops before the meeting, however, the Committee on the Liturgy has recommended keeping the "one in being" translation in the United States.
The new ICEL text for the people's prayer before Communion says, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
The committee proposed that the bishops seek to keep the current shorter version of the beginning of that prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you." The committee did not, however, propose a change from the ICEL translation at the end, where the people currently pray, "but only say the word and I shall be healed."
The bishops will also vote on several American adaptations in the Order of Mass, such as adding the acclamation, used in the United States since 1970 but not found in the Roman Missal in Latin, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."
- - -
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=19967
Comment:
Is this part of Vatican III?
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 07:11 pm |
|
FORCES OF EVIL
"In the Eternal City of Rome, the forces of evil have gathered.
Secretly in secret societies, and openly by brazen mankind shall
come forth revolution."
- Our Lady, May 18, 1977
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 07:26 pm |
|
1965
"I ask that all who hear My voice will take their Bibles, and if they do not have one, search, but find the right Bible, those printed not after 1965, My children."
- Jesus, October 5, 1985
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Wed Jun 7th, 2006 10:37 pm |
|
The Vatican has issued a sweeping condemnation of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world. Do you agree?
Yes---------------------------------------------------(59%) 22292 votes
No---------------------(41%) 15580 votes
Total votes: 37872
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/con
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Fri Jun 16th, 2006 11:37 pm |
|
To criticize Darwinism is to preserve the Faith
says Toronto priest and seminary professor...
"Man shall not create a new world as he seeks. For there cannot
be a lasting world without His God. And I speak not of the false idols
and gods that man creates in his human nature! There is only
one Creator....
"Little by little you go forward�I say, little by little, but I should
stress that many is running fast and faster to the edge of the abyss.
In his seeking for power and knowledge, man seeks to dethrone
his God and create his own god. But who shall set himself above his
Creator, even attempting to control birth and death? I say unto
you, you shall never learn the secrets, the sacred secrets
of death and life, for these are controlled by the Eternal Father."
- Jesus, February 10, 1978
LifeSiteNews.com reported on June 14, 2006:
Pure materialistic Darwinism is a theory that denies important Christian teaching about man and his origins, says Toronto priest, Fr. Martin Hilbert in the most recent edition of Touchstone magazine.
The problem in the debate over the origins of life, says Hilbert, is that barring a few who contend that their theory does not banish God from the picture, most adherents of the Darwinian theory are, whether they know it or not, crass materialists. Those who adhere religiously to the theory start out with an established prejudice against the possibility that anything other than pure random chance could have created life or its many complexities.
The debate has become hot again last year in the US with proponents of the theory called Intelligent Design and the atheistic Darwinian scientific establishment fighting over the use of their respective theories in public schools. Then a prominent Vatican theologian, Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, added fuel when he wrote in the New York Times correcting the media-generated myth that the late Pope John Paul II had judged the Darwinian theory as acceptable for Catholics.
Hilbert quotes Pope Benedict XVI at his inaugural Mass unambiguously refuting the Darwinian claims of randomness. Benedict said that man is not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed each of us is necessary.
A priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto, Martin Hilbert holds a doctorate in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Toronto and teaches a course in the philosophy of science at St. Philips Seminary. He points out what he says is an important philosophical danger of accepting Darwinism: its degradation of human reason by ruling out of bounds the intellects ability to see design in creation.
Hilbert cites the unbelievable complexity of the simplest forms of life that makes clear that there is very little substantial evidence for the grand claims of Darwinism.
If such evidence were there, [to show that random mutations had created the variations and structures of all life forms] proponents of the argument for Gods existence from design in nature would not be able to cite the human eye or the bacterial flagellum as being beyond the ability of natural processes to create without Gods intervention�
To criticize Darwinism,Hilbert writes, is not meddling in a neutral science. It is preserving intact the deposit of faith, which says some very definite things about the origin and fall of man, by rejecting claims made in the name of science that science itself cannot maintain.
Touchstone magazine bills itself as a journal of mere Christianity and covers social and scientific and cultural issues from a conservative Christian point of view from each of the three great divisions of Christendom Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox.
Read the full article:
Darwin's Divisions by Fr. Martin Hilbert:
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=19-05-0...
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Darwinian Evolution Incompatible with Catholic Faith says Cardinal and Author of Catholic Catechism
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071104.html
A war far greater than any war fought in the history of creation
shall come upon mankind soon. Flames shall engulf many nations,
burning the skin from the bones, and the skin shall dry up and blow
away as if it had never been! Eyes will see and still not believe that
these are the fruits of their evil corruptive ways and loss of a belief
in the Creator."
- Our Lady of the Roses, May 28, 1978
http://www.tldm.org/News9/evolution2.htm
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sat Jul 15th, 2006 02:23 am |
|
Vatican condemns Israel for attacks on Lebanon
VATICAN CITY
(Reuters)
The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into "a conflict with international repercussions."
"In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence," he told Vatican Radio.
Israel struck Beirut airport again on Friday and bombed Lebanese roads, power supplies and communication networks in a widening campaign after Hizbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Sodano said the Vatican condemned both "terroristic attacks" and military reprisals.
Hizbollah, which wants to trade its captives for prisoners held in Israel, has showered rockets across the frontier in its fiercest bombardment since 1996 when Israel launched a 17-day blitz against southern Lebanon and Hizbollah.
But Sodano reserved his harshest words for Israel.
"The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations," he said.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060714/3/2n5ti.html
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Tue Jul 18th, 2006 04:08 am |
|
POPE JOHN PAUL II and THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA
(From QUEEN Magazine, published by the Mantfort Fathers-Bayshore, New York September, l983)
The German magazine "Stimme des Glaubens," has published the following account of Pope John Paul II's interview, with a small group of German Catholics, on the occasion of his visit to Fuida, in November of 1980. We are reproducing it here for the benefit of our readers.
THE QUESTION: "Holy Father, what has become of the 3rd Secret of Fatima? According to Our Lady's instructions, wasn't it supposed to be revealed in 1960? And what will happen in the Church?"
'THE HOLY FATHER'S RESPONSE: "Because of the seriousness of its contents, in order not to encourage the world wide power of Communism to carry out certain coups, my Prederessors in the Chair of Peter have diplomatically preferred to withhold its publication.
"On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this much: if there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish...there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message.
"Many want to know merely out of curiosity, or because of their taste for sensationalism, but they forget that 'to know' implies for them a responsibility. It is dangerous to want to satisfy one's curiosity only, if one is convinced that we can do nothing aganst a catastrophe that has been predicted."
At this point, the Holy Father took hold of his Rosary and said: "Here is the remedy against the evil! Pray, pray and ask for nothing else. Put everything in the hands of the Mother of God!"
Then he went on to say: "We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-to-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise.
"We must be strong, we must prepare ourselves, we must entrust ourselves to Christ and to His holy Mother, and we must be attentive, very attentive, to the prayer of the Rosary. "
http://www.marianland.com/thirdsec.html
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sat Jul 22nd, 2006 12:34 pm |
|
Pope Benedict XVI Calls for
Prayer and Penance
this Sunday for
Middle-East Cease Fire
Fatima Center urges Pope to Consecrate Russia
Friday, July 21, 2006:
Confronted with the worsening situation in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI has named Sunday as a day of prayer and penance for peace in that region.
The Popes call for prayer and penance was issued yesterday in a Vatican communiqu, and was prompted due to great concern for what the Holy Father calls, the fate of the afflicted people.
According to the communiqu, the Holy Father has proclaimed this Sunday, July 23, as a special day of prayer and penance, inviting the pastor and faithful of all particular Churches and all believers of the world, to implore from God the precious gift of peace.
In particular, Pope Benedict XVI appeals for prayer to the Lord for an immediate cease-fire between the sides, for humanitarian corridors to be opened in order to bring help to the suffering peoples and for reasonable and responsible negotiations to begin to put an end to objective situations of injustice that exist in that region.
In reality, according to the Pontiff, the Lebanese have the right to see the integrity and sovereignty of their country respected, the Israelites, the right to live in peace in their State, and the Palestinians have the right to have their own free and sovereign homeland.
The communiquends with the Popes appeal to charitable organizations to help all the people struck by this pitiless conflict.
The Fatima Center urges all Catholics to heed the Popes call for prayer and penance; particularly by praying the Rosary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima.
As it is clear that that we are not in the period of peace promised by Our Lady, the Fatima Center respectfully askes the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the bishops of the world.
Our Lady told us at Fatima that this Consecration of Russia is only this means to bring about world peace, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, and to avert the annihilation of nations.
http://www.fatima.org/news/newsviews/popebenedict.asp
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25th, 2006 01:59 pm |
|
CLERGY FALLING INTO THE PLAN
The Faith is being attacked in My House upon earth, My Church, and many of My clergy are falling into the plan with the octopus, the great world powers that seek to gather all nations into a rule of a one-world government and a one-world religion based on humanism and modernism.
Bayside Prophecies
- Jesus,July 25, 1978
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25th, 2006 02:18 pm |
|
Pope Calls for a New World Order
RELATED: Bush senior proposed that Pope John Paul II become "the chaplain of the New World Order"
Prophecy on Pope Fulfilled by Eclipses?
As Pope Nears Death; Has He Hindered Or Helped The New World Order?
Israel Praises Pope Despite Past Nazi Ties
NWO Puppets to Go to Pope Funeral
New pope's brother very concerned about his election
Ratzinger and Pedophilia in the Church
AAP | December 27, 2005
Pope Benedict, in his first Christmas address, on Sunday urged humanity to unite against terrorism, poverty and environmental blight and called for a "new world order" to correct economic imbalances.
The Pope made his comments to tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered under umbrellas in a rainy St Peter square for his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing.
In his address, telecast live from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to tens of millions of people in nearly 40 countries, he also urged his listeners not to let technological achievements blind them to true human values.
He said humanity should look to the Christ child for encouragement in times of difficulty and fear.
"A united humanity will be able to confront the many troubling problems of the present time: from the menace of terrorism to the humiliating poverty in which millions of human beings live, from the proliferation of weapons to the pandemics and the environmental destruction which threatens the future of our planet," he said.
"Do not fear; put your trust in him! The life-giving power of his light is an incentive for building a new world order based on just ethical and economic relationships," he said, speaking in Italian.
The address by the leader of the world's some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was different in style than those of his predecessor John Paul, who died last April.
John Paul wrote his Christmas addresses in free-style verse and resembled poetry, whereas Benedict's was in prose like a normal homily or speech.
Since his election, the Pope has repeatedly reminded Catholics not to give in to an "ethical relativism" where circumstances can be used to justify actions that should be considered wrong in all cases.
The Pope, wearing a gold cape and with a gold mitre, continued in that line on Sunday by beaming in on the dangers of technology and progress, implying that it should not be allowed to become tantamount to a God in its own right.
"Today we can dispose of vast material resources. But the men and women in our technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart," he said.
"That is why it is so important for us to open our minds and hearts to the birth of Christ, this event of salvation which can give new hope to the life of each human being," he said.
In other parts of the address he appealed for respect for the rights of people suffering a humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
He made another appeal for peace in the Holy Land and called for "actions inspired by fairness and wisdom" in Iraq and Lebanon.
The Pope asked God to favour dialogue on the Korean peninsula so that "dangerous disputes" there and elsewhere in Asia can be solved peacefully.
The Urbi et Orbi followed a solemn Christmas eve midnight mass attended by a congregation that packed St Peter's Basilica.
In his homily at that mass he urged the world's Catholics to be beacons of peace in a troubled world and offered a special prayer for an end to strife in the Holy Land.
The next major event on the Pope's Christmas season calendar is a mass on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Two days later he will baptise children.
In early January, the Pope is due to publish his first encyclical, a major writing addressed to all Church members.
The encyclical, believed to be called "God is Love", deals with the individual's personal relationship with God.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/nwo/benedict_calls_for_nwo.htm
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Tue Aug 1st, 2006 02:48 pm |
|
The Passion of Christ, and now Mel Gibson.
Turn off the neo cons that are demonizing Mel Gibson.
His new movie exposes the human sacrifices of the Mayan cuture and
compares it to modern times, specifically the Bush regime, in the film Apocolypto.
Should Hollywood turn its back on
Mel Gibson for his alleged anti-Semitic
remarks?
Yes--------------- 27%
No---------------------------------------------------------------------- 73%
Total Votes for this Question: 2,418
http://www.torontosun.com/
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
civilian
|
Posted: Sun Aug 20th, 2006 02:30 am |
|
BESIEGE THE POPE
"Every single soul upon earth that hears My voice this evening has an obligation, for the sanctification of their own souls and the souls of those they love, to listen to Me and follow the direction. I wish that all who hear My words this evening will go forward and besiege, if necessary, the Holy Father and the bishops with a request for this consecration of Russia. We do not mean the world, My children, We mean Russia!"
Bayside Prophecies
- Jesus, June 17, 1989
____________________
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face.
Psalm 67
|
Current time is 09:28 pm | Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...   |
|
|
|
|
