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Rovente polemica tra il Cardinal Bertone e “Radio Maria”
Mar 04, 2005 Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, S.D.B. 0
Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, l’Arcivescovo di Genova, Canavesano di Romano, è balzato agli onori delle cronache per una rovente polemica con l’emittente radiofonica “Radio Maria”, molto ascoltata, ma vista con un fondo di scetticismo anche da gran parte del mondo cattolico.
(localport.it, 25/02/2005) La presunta pietra dello scandalo sono le dichiarazioni rilasciate dal Cardinale nel corso del suo intervento alla trasmissione televisiva di RaiUno “Porta a Porta”, condotta da Bruno Vespa. In quell’occasione Monsignor Bertone ebbe a esprimere il suo scetticismo in merito alle apparizioni di Medjugorje e di Civitavecchia.
La presunta pietra dello scandalo sono le dichiarazioni rilasciate dal Cardinale nel corso del suo intervento alla trasmissione televisiva di RaiUno “Porta a Porta”, condotta da Bruno Vespa. In quell’occasione Monsignor Bertone ebbe a esprimere il suo scetticismo in merito alle apparizioni di Medjugorje e di Civitavecchia.
Apriti cielo! Gli ascoltatori di Radio Maria sono letteralmente insorti, tempestando la redazione di e-mail e telefonate di protesta. Un vero linciaggio morale che Monsignor Bertone non ha potuto accettare e al quale ha replicato con un duro comunicato ufficiale. «Sono state – si legge nel documento - reazioni scomposte e offensive di fedeli e sacerdoti che si definiscono "medjugorjani" e anche da parte della stessa Radio Maria, attacchi non certo compatibili con i fautori di un’autentica devozione mariana». Tarcisio Bertone ha poi spiegato di non voler negare a nessuno il diritto di pregare la Madonna dove meglio crede, ma di condannare, senza appello, tutti gli eccessi di fanatismo, anche quelli legati al nome della Madre di Gesù.
Nella sua difesa il porporato ha dimostrato il carattere e il “polso” che lo contraddistinguono fin da quand’era ragazzo e che lo hanno portato a ricoprire incarichi di primissimo piano nel mondo della Chiesa: è stato per anni il “braccio destro” del Cardinale Ratzinger, a seguire per conto del Vaticano delicate faccende come il “caso Milingo”, i segreti di Fatima e la questione Alì Agca. Inoltre, anni addietro, proprio Monsignor Bertone ha seguito in prima persona l’istruttoria sulle apparizioni di Medjugorje e, in tema di devozione mariana, è stato inviato del Papa a Fatima per i funerali di suor Lucia.
A fronte delle polemiche di Radio Maria, il clero genovese si è schierato al fianco del suo Arcivescovo, senza mezze misure: «Ha ragione il Cardinale a prendersela con Radio Maria – è il commento di don Andrea Gallo, il “prete dei poveri” noto per la sua amicizia con Fabrizio De André—: fa propaganda martellante, una crociata. Ma che cosa aspettano a richiamarla? Se io raccomando ai ragazzi il preservativo, mi convocano subito in tribunale ecclesiastico. Se loro usano la Madonna per chiedere soldi, nessuno fa nulla. Quella radio è una patata bollente. E non è la voce di Maria, perché approfitta d’un certo fanatismo, un po’ come i maghetti in tv che sfruttano il dolore della gente»
Sempre più suore in convento e l’internet aiuta la clausura
Sept 25, 2005 Ersilio Cardinal Tonini 0
La loro vita oltre la grata, immersa nel silenzio, nella preghiera e nella contemplazione appare a molti impossibile. Eppure sono sempre di più le giovani donne che scelgono di ritirarsi in clausura, abbandondosi al mistero della vocazione.
Roma, 28 agosto 2005 (La Nazione) - Su quasi 120.000 suore, sono oltre 7.500 le monache appartenenti all'ordine claustrale sparse tra i vari monasteri d'Italia, e la regione più ricca di vocazioni sembra essere da anni le Marche. E nel terzo Millennio, la chiamata del Signore può arrivare anche da Internet.
Sono molti infatti i monasteri che usano la posta elettronica per stare vicino alla gente e parlare del loro mondo. Dalla grata ad Internet il passo è breve: le suore di clusura si sono ormai globalizzate e raccontano via web la loro vita. Danno consolazione a chi le chiama per pregare per i propri defunti, offrono conforto ai malati. Ma soprattutto cercano di illuminare le giovani donne che sentendo la chiamata alla vita clustrale, si dimostrano impaurite ed incerte. Una scelta così radicale dev'essere ben ponderata.
«I monasteri via web? Sono espressione del mondo della comunicazione sempre più in evoluzione - ha dichiarato il Cardinale e arcivescovo di Ravenna Ersilio Tonini - e anche le suore di clausura si sono adeguate. In questo modo la gente conosce il loro mondo, che non è fatto solo di sacrificio e penitenza, ma di gioia e serenità. Una serenità che nella clausura trova espressione nel silenzio e nella contemplazione. Trovo inoltre che sia meraviglioso che queste religiose diano conforto alle persone pur mantenendo il voto della clausura, restando cioè dentro le mura del covento».
«Sul sito internet delle suore di clausura - ha aggiunto Tonini - oggi sta accadendo quello che ieri accadeva nella portineria dei conventi, un luogo molto affollato di anime che andavano a chiedere conforto, preghiere e consigli di vita. Una volta si scherzava sul fatto che per sapere cosa stesse succedendo in città, il luogo per avere tutte le ultime notizie era la portineria delle suore di clausura. Oggi tutto si è trasferito via internet, ed è un modo per rispettare di più la loro clausura».
«L'apertura del mondo ecclesiastico al web è un fenomeno positivo - ha detto ancora l'arcivescovo di Ravenna - al contrario di nuovi gruppi, come la Congregazione di Madre Teresa, che vogliono distinguersi per una loro spiritualità molto forte e per la loro estrema rottura con la famiglia e con il mondo. Tutto ciò che è estremo può essere sbagliato, come anche l'uso di internet che deve essere espletato con moderazione».
Sull'aumento delle giovani donne che decidono di votarsi alla clausura, Tonini è molto cauto. «Sì è vero che il fenomeno è in aumento, ma è bene dire che molte delle giovani donne che scelgono questa via, molto spesso decidono di tornare indietro».
Conclave in casa Angiolillo
Apr 17, 2005 Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re 0
Il cardinale Re incontra la regina (dei salotti) d’Urso Camerlengo, Rossella il Papalino, Matteo apre New Entry
(Dagospia.com, 26 Ottobre 2003) Seratona, seratissima, da consegnare al caro diario. Ma austera e impegnativa. Il cazzeggio angiolillesco è rimasto per una volta acquattato nei tovaglioli davanti alla ieratica presenza del cardinale Giovan Battista Re. Ecco attovagliato un gigante di diplomazia applicata e scienza della politica apparecchiata che dimostra a Lor Signori – se ancora ce ne fosse bisogno – come Santa Madre Chiesa Apostolica e Romana di Andreotti e di Letta, messi insieme, ne può sfornare a mazzi. Col fiocco e controfiocchi.
Il carisma-clerical di Re – non a caso sempre torreggiante nella top-ten dei papabili – è calato sopra il capino cotonato dei Volti Noti chiamati a raccolta dalla Sora Maria. E più il porporato si intratteneva con tutti, tranquillo e sereno, e più la porpora della soggezione si impadroniva delle gote di gente che è scafatissima a tutto e a tutti. "Dio, dammi un assegno della tua presenza", avrebbe scherzato il sommo Marcello Marchesi agli ospiti residenti del Villino Maria.
Invece quel mix di mentalità «manageriale» coniugata allo spirito del Vangelo, senza rovesciare protocolli secolari e tirando avanti come un bulldozer, con la sua figura franca e ironica, i modi pacati e solenni del suo ruolo, il prelato ha tenuto a bada tutti. Da Fedele Confalonieri a Maurizio Costa, Francesco B. Caltagirone con la sposa Rita Rovelli (la mejo del cucuzzaro femminile) al sottosegretario alla Giustizia Jole Santelli, Vittoria Leone e Vincenzo De Bustis, Carraro e Benelli, da Elio Catania a Matteo Arpe (che ha fatto la sua new entry nell’Angiolillo salottomatico).
Tutti al loro posto. Eccetto, l’ineffabile Rossella. Subito nomignolato “Carlino il Papalino”. Non appena ha visto il prelato gli ha messo in mano una copia-staffetta di “Panorama” con in copertina un terribile Papa Wojtyla disegnato a mo’ di icona bizantina. Roba kitsch, modello oltretomba, che il Papa si sarà subito toccato lì. Ma anche la Sora Cesira Buonamici ha fatto la sua parte non staccandosi un attimo dalle sottane cardinalizie. Ma, come dicevamo, Re è un genio della svicolata, non rispondendo a un cazzo. Come sta il Pontefice? “Bene, grazie. L’altra settimana ho pranzato con Lui. (pausa) Mangia e beve…”
Avvisate, meglio:precettate, dall’Angiolillo, le signore si sono presentate alla cena in gramaglie. Niente abitini can-can con imbastiture frou-frou ma uno stile Vatican-black. La Sora Maria, ad esempio, era impizzotta di pizzi nero-chic; sembrava l’Infanta di Spagna. La bombastica Santelli non ce l’ha fatta del tutto ad osservare il diktat della sobrietà e un po’ di scollatura ha fatto capolino. Chi ha ricevuto una medaglia sul petto dal porporato è stato Brunello Vespa: “Sono un fedelissimo della sua trasmissione”, ha comunicato all’ego ipertrofico del conducator di “Porta a Porta”.
L’uomo forte del mini-conclave Angiolillo è stato comunque Marione D’Urso, grande amico di Re (habitué alle scampagnate con messa a Campagnano) e subito si è seduto al suo fianco, nel ruolo di camerlengo assistente al soglio pontificio. Francesco Micheli, da meneghino, si è divertito del concistoro Angiolillo, meravigliato della bellezza stilè della sicula Stefania Prestigiacomo. L’ingresso di Matteo Arpe è stato valutato in maniera interrogativa: è sempre sorridente, ha i labbroni da Naomi, si capisce che è sveglio, garbato sì ma che pesce è? Re si è intrattenuto a lungo con l’Ad fighettone di Capitalia.
A tavola veniva rovesciato il corrispettivo di Arpe, cioè un salmone freddo fatto a Mont-Blanc, seguito da cappone tartufato e crepe suzette, con finale discorso di Gianni Letta in onore di Re. Che ha replicato benedicendo tutti, augurando serenità e buona digestione a tutti, non dimenticando le gesta di Letta-Letta al quotidiano “Il Tempo” diretto dal marito della Regina Maria, l’indimenticabile viveur Renato Angiolillo.
Dileguatosi Sua Eminenza, è ripartito il cazzeggio angiolillesco. Bersaglio: le dichiarazioni di Gad Lerner a “Sette”, che vorrebbe tutti i sessantenni potenti seduti a una panchina dei giardinetti pubblici. Ma pensasse piuttosto al suo futuro, hanno detto in coro gli inviperiti vecchiaroli presenti: se Prodi, come tutti profetizzano, finirà a Reggio Emilia a fare salsicce, cancellato dall’outsider Veltroni, per Gad resterà la mera speranza di un baracchino per hot-dog…
10 Rules to Resist Temptation
Sept 18, 2004 Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi 0
Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, 66, [then] the archbishop of Genoa has published 10 rules on how to resist Satan's temptations. Cardinal Tettamanzi dedicated his lenten letter to combating the fascination of a devil who is charming, shrewd and very real.
(5 March 2001) Those who follow his 10-step programme are promised the ability to rebuff offers of forbidden fruit, unlike Adam and Eve.
First rule: "Do not forget that the devil exists."
Rule two: "Do not forget that the devil is a tempter."
Rule three: "Do not forget that the devil is very intelligent and astute."
Cardinal Tettamanzi urges permanent watchfulness. "Be vigilant in the eyes and the heart. Be strong in spirit and virtue."
Another five rules recommend tireless prayer, adoring God, listening to His words, remembering Christ's victory over temptation and man's sharing in that victory.
Obeying the tenth rule, though, should seal the devil's defeat: "Be humble and love mortification."
Algunas características del emprendedor
Jan 12, 2005 Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani Thorne 0
Extracto de: La misión del estado y del empresariado a la luz de la doctrina social de la Iglesia: Breves reflexiones. Conferencia al „Instituto de Gobernabilidad del Perú“ como invitado especial del anterior presidente del Perú Alan García Pérez, Lima, 4 de septiembre del 2004.
1. Ágil captador y utilizador de información , sin apatía ni conformismos.
2. Encontrar oportunidades con sacrificio, sin vivezas
2. Capacidad de tomar riesgos sobre la base de disponer de las habilidades para enfrentarlos, no la suerte. Sin miedo o manejándolo correctamente
4. Responsabilidad moral. Tenacidad. Sacrificio.
5. Encontrar las cosas que hay que hacer y concentrar ahí los recursos y esfuerzos: Focalizar con disciplina personal e intelectual
6. Capaz de movilizar recursos externos, no propios, al generar confianza con su capacidad personal. Experiencias recientes Mega Centros para clases C y D
7. Red que una a potenciales emprendedores y a los poseedores de recursos: centros de información confiables. Espíritu de investigar. Leer. Culturizarse.
8. Se es emprendedor porque se quiere serlo cuando encuentra una oportunidad y no se asusta sino que la analiza bien y decide. Premiar el éxito y no castigarlo.
9. En los años 80 en USA las pequeñas empresas generaron 20 millones de puestos, mientras que las 500 empresas más grandes perdieron 3 millones de empleos.
On Rock Music in the Liturgy
Oct 16, 2004 Benedictus XVI. P.P. 0
At the Eighth International Church Music Congress in Rome in 1986, for example, Ratzinger blasted rock music.
(The Tablet, 18 September 2004) At the Eighth International Church Music Congress in Rome in 1986, for example, Ratzinger blasted rock music as a “vehicle of anti-religion”. He said rock and roll is a secular variant of an age-old ecstatic religion, in which man “lowers the barriers of individuality and personality” to “liberate himself from the burden of consciousness”. Rock is thus “the complete antithesis of Christian faith in the redemption”.
Vegetarian Antichrist is 'Walking Among Us'
Sept 18, 2004 Giacomo Cardinal Biffi 0
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 71, the Archbishop of Bologna said that the "Antichrist" was already on Earth in the guise of a prominent philanthropist whose concern for human rights and the environment and advocacy of ecumenicism masks his real aim: the destruction of Christianity and "the death of God".
(6 March 2000) Cardinal Biffi said the Antichrist was not the beast with seven heads described in the Book of Revelation but a "fascinating personality" whose outward charm and plausibility had deceived his enemies. The cardinal said the Antichrist espoused vegetarianism, pacifism, environmentalism and animal rights.
He also identified the Antichrist as an expert on the Bible who nonetheless promotes "vague and fashionable spiritual values" rather than the Scriptures. He advocates ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, including Anglicanism and the Orthodox Church. This appeared to be a worthy aim, but was in fact being used by the Antichrist in an attempt to water down and undermine Catholicism to the point where it collapsed.
The cardinal did not say whether he had any particular world figure in mind, and his real target seemed to be the substitution of "feel-good" causes, such as ecology and humanitarian aid, for "true religion".
Cardinal Biffi was speaking at a conference in Bologna on the work of Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), the Russian philosopher and mystic, whom he praised as a "forgotten prophet" who had "lucidly foreseen" the horrors of the 20th century. In his last writings, the cardinal said, Solovyov had predicted the rise of the Antichrist after a century of bloodshed, wars, revolutions and the breakdown of the nation state.
Niega haber conocido a Pablo Escobar
May 08, 2005 Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo † 0
El cardenal colombiano Alfonso López Trujillo negó hoy haber conocido personalmente al narcotraficante Pablo Escobar, jefe del cartel de Medellín, muerto por miembros de la policía en diciembre de 1993.
BOGOTA, 05-05-05 (ANSA) - Las precisiones de López Trujillo aparecen hoy en el diario El Tiempo, en respuesta a una columna de la periodista Maria Jimena Duzán, quien lo acusó el pasado 25 de abril de mantener "buenas relaciones" con Pablo Escobar, en la época en que este era diputado, y gerenciaba un programa de viviendas en Medellín.
"Nunca conocí, traté, o permití que otros lo hicieran, a narcotraficante alguno. Solamente en fotos vi a Pablo Escobar", señaló el cardenal, quien recordó además que por su postura de "rechazo total al narcotráfico" fue víctima de dos atentados por parte de mafiosos que "prometieron quitarme la vida".
Letter of Resignation of Rev. Fr. Charles Murr
Oct 21, 2004 Edward Michael Cardinal Egan 0
On Friday, April 2, 2004, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales. I am writing to you now to explain the circumstances that led me to make this decision.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES CHURCH
135 EAST 96TH STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10128
April 5, 2004
To the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and the Children and Parents of the St. Francis de Sales School/St. Lucy Academy:
On Friday, April 2, 2004, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales. I am writing to you now to explain the circumstances that led me to make this decision.
Our parish school, the St. Francis de Sales School/St. Lucy Academy, currently faces some grave problems. One concerns financial management. Contrary to the policies of the Archdiocese, no financial statements for the school have been prepared for any period after August 31, 2001, and thus no one knows what the financial condition of the school actually is. It is clear, however, that for several years the school has not been making required payments for insurance and pension benefits, and the Archdiocese calculates that the school owes the Archdiocese over $638,000. Although I attempted to work with the administration of the school to prepare the needed financial statements, the school’s administration consistently failed to cooperate with me, and, on the advice of the Parish Council, I notified the Archdiocese in January that I intended to replace the principal and vice principal of the school. The Archdiocese accepted this decision and last week resolved to send officials from the chancery to begin preparing and auditing financial statements for the school.
The second problem at the school concerns religious instruction. On the most recent administration of the Archdiocese’s standardized religion test last June, approximately 66% of our students failed. The major reason for this was that several of our teachers were not committed to teaching the Catholic faith. One teacher, for example, was taking her students to non-Catholic religious services on Sunday mornings. Another refuses to teach her students to make the Sign of the Cross. Others do not teach those doctrines of the Catholic faith with which they disagree. To rectify these problems, I appointed a new Director of Religious Education for the school this year, but the teachers who were hostile to Catholic doctrine disrupted his classes, belittled him in front of his students, instructed his students to ignore him, and even spread slanderous reports about him. I thus determined that the employment contracts of these teachers would not be renewed for the coming academic year, and on April 1, I informed these teachers accordingly.
It has been reported to me that, on April 1, at least some of these teachers held their students after school, read to them my letter declining to renew their employment contracts, and provided their own comments on the matter. Predictably, they reduced many children to tearful hysteria. The behavior of these teachers was reprehensible; they intentionally inflicted harm on innocent children in order to advance their own private interests. On behalf of the school, I apologize to these students and their parents for the grossly unprofessional conduct of these teachers.
On Friday afternoon, Msgr. Thomas Gilleece, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, informed me without further explanation that, by order of the Cardinal, I was to renew the employment contracts of the principal, the vice principal, and all the affected teachers. Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and as administrator of the Parish of St. Lucy. On Saturday, April 3, the members of the Parish Council wrote Cardinal Egan informing him that they shared my views regarding the need to reform the school and had concluded that they could not in good conscience as faithful Catholics be associated with his order to reinstate the principal, the vice principal, and the affected teachers. The members of the Parish Council thus resigned their positions. The Parish Trustees likewise resigned. As of the date of this letter, none of us has received any reply from the Cardinal.
It has been a great honor to serve as your pastor. You will all remain in my prayers.
Servus, in Christo Jesu,
Fr. Chas. Theo. Murr
Debate with Mother Angelica
Sept 18, 2004 Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony 0
Late last year Mother Angelica became involved in a debate with Cardinal Mahony, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, as the result of comments she made about a new directive the cardinal issued on September 4, 1997 - the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels.
(5 January 2001) The directive - "Gather Faithfully Together" - was issued as a guide for Sunday Mass for the Los Angeles archdiocese to be implemented by the year 2000.
Mother Angelica said that the document placed too much emphasis on the community and not nearly enough on the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the consecrated species. In fact, the Jesus Presence par excellence, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, appears to be noted only by numeric reference to a section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is not mentioned directly anywhere in the 30+ page document, an apparent oversight that creates a very confusing picture of the celebration of Jesus' eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood, particularly to the faithful for whom the directive was intended.
Mother Angelica initially urged the Catholics of Los Angeles to ignore the Cardinal's directive, then later apologized after the Cardinal demanded she do so. She apologized for overstepping her bounds but then systematically found theological problems with several sections of the Cardinal's new directive. On hearing of this, the Cardinal apparently appealed to the Vatican in December asking for her removal as the head of EWTN.
Opus Dei Cardinal Accuses Bishops and the Vatican Curia
Sept 10, 2004 Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani Thorne 0
Falsified letters, plots, and lies. The Church in Peru is at war. The target is the archbishop of the capital, the first Opus cardinal. And he’s fighting back-
(Espresso, 30.07.2004) ROMA – A taboo was overturned last June 15, the one that forbade Opus Dei from having one of its own bishops in Spain. The nominee is Jaume Pujol Balcells, new bishop of the diocese of Tarragona.
It was Paul VI who established the prohibition during the 1960’s, with his trusted nuncio in Madrid, Giovanni Benelli. Spain is the birthplace of Opus Dei, but in the view of pope Giovanni Battista Montini, a Spanish bishop for Opus would inevitably have created too much division. The organization founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer seems destined to be either loved or hated too much. Even with Pope John Paul II – who has great respect for Opus; he made it a personal prelature and canonized Escrivá – it took twenty-five years to get approval for their first bishop in Spain.
In compensation, Opus Dei has long had a good number of its bishops in Peru. There are presently seven of them there. In 2001, one of them was made a cardinal: the archbishop of Lima, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, 61 (in the photo).
But judging by what has happened to him, Paul VI was right: Opus cardinal Cipriani has landed squarely in the center of an explosive disagreement among his admirers and detractors. And the aftershocks reach all the way to the Vatican.
Cipriani is popular in Peru. A recent poll found his approval rating to be at 52 percent, against a miserable 8 percent for the current president, Alejandro Toledo. But things are different in the higher echelons of politics, culture, and especially the Church. Here the attacks against him are ferocious.
In a July 11 interview with John L. Allen, Jr. of the “National Catholic Reporter,” Cipriani listed one by one the attacks of which he has been victim. And he counterattacked by accusing other bishops, and even, to a small extent, the Vatican.
* * *
The first attack against Cipriani dates back to when he was bishop of Ayacucho, in the Andes, the epicenter of the “Sendero Luminoso,” Shining Path terrorists. Between 1980 and 1992, there were roughly 70,000 victims of repression and violence throughout Peru. Cipriani was accused of having been complicit in a massacre of schoolteachers that took place during an anti-terrorism operation. Since then, he says, “it's one lie after another, for 16 years. Many of these lies come from inside [the Church], not from outside. For me this really hurts.”
Fresh venom came along in 1997. Terrorists of the group Tupac Amaru took hostages at the Japanese embassy in Lima. The ordeal lasted four months, and Cipriani was the principal mediator between the terrorists and Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori. The bishop was accused of putting himself on show, of bringing spy equipment into the embassy, of playing the double game. It all finished with an armed assault during which 14 terrorists were killed, and Cipriani was blamed even for this.
Today he denies all of these accusations en masse. He affirms that the Vatican asked him to mediate: “I continued as a representative of the Holy See, approved by the secretariat of state.” But he complains that the Vatican refused to confirm the matter in writing, thus leaving room for malignant rumors. As for the spy equipment, this was brought in by others, not by him. “I risked my life day by day going in and coming out.”
Third accusation. In 1999, Cipriani was promoted to be the archbishop of Lima, and there were rumors that he had collaborated in the assassination of his predecessor, Jesuit cardinal Augusto Vargas Alzamora, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Fourth. In 2000, secretary of state Angelo Cardinal Sodano received a letter on official stationery, and apparently signed by Cipriani. It accused of immoral behavior two bishops who have since died: the auxiliary of Lima, Alberto Aurelio Brazzini, and the former archbishop of the capital, Juan Landázuri Cardinal Ricketts. Cipriani notified Sodano that the letter was false, including the signature, but at the secretariat of state they hesitated to believe him, and during the bishops’ synod in 2001, while he was in Rome, they subjected him to an embarrassing interrogation.
Fifth. Again in 2001, the Peruvian justice minister at the time, Fernando Olivera, came to Rome asking to meet with the substitute secretary of state, Argentinian Leonardo Sandri, and showed him three letters seeming to prove a plot between the authors and the ill-famed former head of Peru’s security forces and president Fujimori’s henchman, Vladimiro Montesinos, who is now in prison. The first letter seemed to have been signed by Cipriani, and it asks for the “elimination and incineration” of secret videotapes that show him with Montesinos. The other two bore the signature of the Vatican nuncio in Lima, Rino Passigato, believed to be one of Cipriani’s supporters: the letters thank Montesinos for a contribution of 120,000 dollars and ask him for more money.
In reality, these three letters were also false. Cipriani and the nuncio attested to the fact, and the government also admitted it. A judicial investigation of the affair was opened.
And Cipriani says he hopes that justice will be done and the guilty parties found. He told Allen he is “completely convinced” that “there are bishops involved,” that the sheets of paper used “were in the national [bishops’] conference” and “we know who took them away.” As for his counterfeited signature, he says that the hand of the forger is the same for the letter to Montesinos as for the one that Sodano received earlier.
But in the Vatican – Cipriani complains – they are afraid of unleashing a scandal, and want to block the judicial investigation. Last May, Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, prefect of the congregation for bishops, wrote to the nuncio in Peru, Passigato, to “look for a peaceful resolution to this problem.” Cipriani comments: “They prefer to sweep it under the rug, for not facing the truth. They cannot block it, but they are trying.”
* * *
Cardinal Cipriani doesn’t name names. But it is known who the bishops are in Peru who are most opposed to him.
The most visible is Luis Armando Bambarén Gastelumendi, 76. Until a few months ago he was the bishop of Chimbote, and he has been the president of the bishops’ conference. He is a Jesuit, and thus a traditional enemy of Opus Dei. Moreover, he belongs to the movement of liberation theology, which is the polar opposite of the conservative strain personified by Cipriani and by Opus.
Liberation theology was born in Peru, with the book “A Theology of Liberation,” published in 1971 by Gustavo Guttierez, and since then it has split the Peruvian Church down the middle. Guttierez, who lives in Lima, became a Dominican friar in 1999, a few months after Cipriani’s nomination as archbishop of the city, and spends part of the year teaching in the United States. His being a Dominican gives him more autonomy than he would have had as a diocesan priest. Cipriani makes no mystery of considering him as “faking” Dominican, with the sole purpose of evading his control.
Cardinal Cipriani is very critical of those whom he calls “the followers of Gutierrez” in the bishops’ conference: “They created a system of pastoral work that is now inside of the church, and not only in Peru. Desacralization, making social work the first thing to do, criticizing the magisterium, involving priests in politics: it's a whole system, a parallel magisterium to the real magisterium. This way of doing the Church, the pastoral work, is still going on and is quite difficult to change.”
One of Cipriani’s other implacable enemies is the archbishop of Trujillo, Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, 66, a Franciscan. Having become a bishop very early, at just 39, he was an auxiliary of Lima and of the military chaplaincy, and does not hide his ambition of becoming archbishop of the capital. He comes to Rome frequently, and has connections at the Vatican. He gives them alarming accounts of the ruptures in the Peruvian hierarchy, provoked, according to him, by Cipriani.
The aim of Cipriani’s enemies is his removal, perhaps by nomination to a post in the Vatican. But if their method is that of discrediting him personally through false letters and unlikely accusations, it is more probable that this will backfire against its authors. The judicial investigation into the letters is underway, and could set off a mini Watergate in the Peruvian Church.
On Cipriani’s side are, naturally, the other bishops of Peru belonging to Opus Dei. These are the archbishop of Cuzco, Juan Antonio Ugarte Pérez; the archbishop emeritus of Arequipa, Luis Sánchez-Moreno Lira; the bishop of Chiclayo, Jesús Moliné Labarte; the bishop of Abancay, Isidro Sala Rivera; the bishop of Chuquibamba, Mario Busquets Jordá; and the auxiliary of Ayacucho, Gabino Miranda Melgarejo. One more will soon be added to these: the new bishop of Yauyos, a prelature that is now vacant, and which has been assigned to Opus for 47 years.
Card. Daneels on Use of Condoms
Sept 12, 2004 Godfried Cardinal Danneels 0
“If a person infected with HIV has decided not to respect abstinence, then he has to protect his partner and he can do that – in this case – by using a condom.” To do otherwise, he said, would be “to break the Fifth Commandment”, that you shall not murder.
(The Tablet, 3 July 2004) To say that a person who refuses to abstain from casual sex should use a condom is neither to condone their behaviour, nor to condone prophylactic sex, they argue; it is to encourage them to take some moral responsibility for the lives of others.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the Archbishop of Brussels, expressed this in January when he said: “If a person infected with HIV has decided not to respect abstinence, then he has to protect his partner and he can do that – in this case – by using a condom.” To do otherwise, he said, would be “to break the Fifth Commandment”, that you shall not murder.
But the Linacre Centre in London this week accused Cardinal Danneels of taking an “unusual” and “incoherent” position. “What Danneels is saying is that sex with a condom is not as grave as endangering life. But he appears to be suggesting the violation of one commandment rather than another,” Hugh Henry, its education officer, told me, adding: “This is odd advice from a bishop whose primary responsibility is the spiritual welfare of his flock.”
Il Discorso della Montagna secondo Martini
Jun 07, 2005 Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, S.J. 0
Il saggio del cardinale Giacolo Biffi sopra citato – scritto in prima stesura nel 1991 e rivisto nel 2005 – esce proprio mentre in Italia un’omelia del cardinale Carlo Maria Martini ha acceso una discussione ad esso in qualche modo attinente.
(www.chiesa, Maggio 2005) Di Martini, arcivescovo di Milano dal 1980 al 2002, oggi tornato ai suoi studi biblici a Gerusalemme, Biffi è stato vescovo ausiliare, prima di diventare arcivescovo di Bologna.
L’omelia divenuta oggetto di discussione è quella pronunciata da Martini l’8 maggio scorso nel Duomo di Milano, in occasione del XXV anniversario della sua ordinazione episcopale.
In essa, commentando il comando di Gesù: "Ammaestrate tutte le nazioni", Martini ha spiegato che esso significa “insegnare a osservare tutto ciò che il Signore ha comandato. E tutto ciò che ha comandato, in Matteo, è il Discorso della Montagna, o ancora, Matteo 25: ‘Quello che avete fatto al più piccolo dei miei fratelli, lo avete fatto a me’”.
Dopo di che, Martini ha così proseguito:
“È questo che dobbiamo insegnare a osservare ed è molto importante tale discorso oggi. Io lo avverto vivendo in un luogo di particolare sofferenza, dove vengono al pettine i nodi dell’umanità, a Gerusalemme, in Medio Oriente. Abbiamo tutti un immenso bisogno di imparare a vivere insieme come diversi, rispettandoci, non distruggendoci a vicenda, non ghettizzandoci, non disprezzandoci e neanche soltanto tollerandoci, perché sarebbe troppo poco la tolleranza. Ma nemmeno – direi – tentando subito la conversione, perché questa parola in certe situazioni e popoli suscita muri invalicabili. Piuttosto ‘fermentandoci’ a vicenda in maniera che ciascuno sia portato a raggiungere più profondamente la propria autenticità, la propria verità di fronte al mistero di Dio.
“A questo scopo non c’è mezzo più concreto, più accessibile, delle parole di Gesù nel Discorso della Montagna. Parole che nessuno può rifiutare perché ci parlano di gioia, di beatitudine, ci parlano di perdono, ci parlano di lealtà, ci parlano di rifiuto dell’ambizione, ci parlano di moderazione del desiderio di guadagno, ci parlano di coerenza nel nostro agire (‘sia il vostro parlare sì, sì; no, no’), ci parlano di sincerità. Queste parole, dette con la forza di Gesù, toccano ogni cuore, ogni religione, ogni credenza, ogni non credenza. Nessuno può dire: ‘Non sono parole per me: la sincerità non è per me, la lealtà non è per me, il lottare contro la prevaricazione sui beni di questo mondo non è per me…’. È un discorso per tutti, che accomuna tutti, che richiama tutti alle proprie autenticità profonde, ed è quel discorso che ci permetterà di vivere insieme da diversi rispettandoci, non ghettizzandoci, non distruggendoci, nemmeno tenendo le dovute distanze, ma ‘fermentandoci’ a vicenda.
“Allora, se faremo così, tutti gli uomini si riconosceranno in tali valori, si sentiranno più vicini, più compagni e compagne di cammino, sentiranno di avere in comune delle realtà profonde e vere, delle realtà che forse non avrebbero saputo scoprire senza le parole di Gesù. Allora, al di là di differenze etniche, sociali, addirittura religiose e confessionali, l’umanità troverà una sua capacità di vivere insieme, di crescere nella pace, di vincere la violenza e il terrorismo, di superare le differenze reciproche. Sarà allora pienamente manifesto il messaggio della grazia di Dio”.
Questa omelia del cardinale Martini è stata rilanciata l’indomani, 9 maggio, in prima pagina, dal principale quotidiano italiano, il “Corriere della Sera”, come un “manifesto” alternativo alla linea “neoconservatrice” impersonata da papa Joseph Ratzinger.
Criticisms about John Paul II
Oct 16, 2004 Benedictus XVI. P.P. 0
Over the years Ratzinger has even been willing to express a few criticisms, however tame, about his boss.
(The Tablet, 18 September 2004) In 1986, when John Paul II called religious leaders from around the world to Assisi to pray for peace, a move conservatives feared would promote a “one-religion-is-as-good-as-another” form of relativism, Ratzinger said: “This cannot be the model.”
In a 1995 interview, Ratzinger was asked to describe what John Paul meant when he said the third millennium would be a “springtime of the human spirit”. Ratzinger sketched the Pope’s hopeful vision that after two millennia of division, the third would be one of unity among peoples and religions. But “at the moment I do not yet see it approaching”, he added drily.
Every time Ratzinger makes such a statement, the official gloss is that he was merely expressing a “personal opinion”. John Paul II himself has sometimes agreed. In 1995, on the papal plane, when a reporter asked for a comment on Ratzinger’s book-length interview with Vittorio Messori called The Ratzinger Report, the Pope replied succinctly: “It’s his personal opinion.”
Déviance faire l'amour avec son parent
Jan 05, 2007 Christian Wiyghan Cardinal Tumi 0
Le silence de la petite Antoinette n’est pas gratuit. “ Mon oncle me menaçait beaucoup. Il me disait que si je me confie à quelqu’un, il va me tuer ”, a confessé Antoinette plus tard.
[Douala - Cameroun] ( 5/01/2007) Le Messager - Antoinette M. n’est pas seule dans ce cas. Sandra Leonie B. a confié à son copain un “ secret ” qu’elle cachait depuis sept ans. “ J’avais sept ans lorsqu’une nuit, mon père m’attira dans sa chambre, me déshabilla et se mit à me faire ce qu’il fait avec maman ”, raconte Sandra L. B.
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faire l'amour avec son parent Le partage du fruit défendu entre les personnes de la même famille a des délices qui dépassent les seules limites du tabou. Le pire, c’est qu’elle ne passait plus inaperçue à New-Bell, un des quartiers populeux de Douala. Voilà dix-sept bonnes années que Antoinette M. vit en permanence un calvaire morale. Née des parents non mariés, la jeune fille est contrainte d’aller habiter chez son oncle maternel, homme d’affaires à Bonamoussadi ; parce que sa mère, “ très occupée ”, a décidé de rester à Yaoundé. Elle n’a que huit ans et fréquente, comme tous les enfants du quartier, l’Ecole publique du coin. A cet âge, son oncle la lavait encore à son retour de l’école. Quoi de normal pour un “ parent ” attentionné ! Mais cette trop grande attention commence à inquiéter la petite Antoinette, lorsque ce grand frère de sa mère excelle dans des attouchements au-delà de la norme. La naïveté de sa victime a poussé cet oncle incestueux à très souvent s’introduire nuitamment dans la chambre de Antoinette et obligeait celle-ci à avoir des rapports sexuels avec lui. Stoïquement, Antoinette supporte. Pendant des années, elle ne dit mot ni aux nièces et neveux de son bourreau qui habitent aussi la maison, ni à ses camarades d’école, ni à ses amies du quartier, ni à sa mère qui leur rend visite tous les week-ends. Le silence de la petite Antoinette n’est pas gratuit. “ Mon oncle me menaçait beaucoup. Il me disait que si je me confie à quelqu’un, il va me tuer ”, a confessé Antoinette plus tard à l’une de ses amies en lui demandant de l’expliquer à son petit ami. Car “ entre-temps, j’étais retissante au moment des rapports sexuels avec mon petit ami. Je ne parvenais plus à supporter ce calvaire. Je ne voulais pas non plus lui en parler. Je préférais m’évader dans des expériences sans lendemains ”, confie Antoinette âgée aujourd’hui de 25 ans et livrée à la débauche. Mais de fil à aiguille, le scandale est parvenu à sa mère. Curieusement, elle est restée sans réaction. L’oncle libidineux qui a continué sa sale besogne après avoir été dénoncé, n’a jamais été inquiété. Pratique honteuse Antoinette M. n’est pas seule dans ce cas. Sandra Leonie B. a confié à son copain un “ secret ” qu’elle cachait depuis sept ans. “ J’avais sept ans lorsqu’une nuit, mon père m’attira dans sa chambre, me déshabilla et se mit à me faire ce qu’il fait avec maman ”, raconte Sandra L. B. Après son forfait, le père violeur a interdit à sa fille de souffler mot à qui que ce soit au risque de mourir. Sept années durant, la petite Sandra sera ainsi l’une des maîtresses de son père. Dans la famille de Abdon T., les assauts sexuels du père prennent des proportions inquiétantes. Abdon T. couche avec ses quatre filles. Et le scandale, bien que connu par l’épouse, la mère des quatre filles, est gardé comme un secret de confessionnal. Jusqu’au jour où la plus jeune d’entre elles, s’est ouverte à une amie. Cette dernière a confié à son tour ce “ secret ” à sa propre mère qui en parlera à son tour à une amie de la famille. Celle-ci aura le courage d’inviter la mère des victimes pour savoir ce qui se passait dans sa famille. “ La mère des victimes était folle de rage. Elle s’est répandue en menaces de malédiction contre sa fille qui a divulgué le secret, parce que, disait-elle, elle veut ternir l’image de la famille ”, explique celle qui a voulu percer le mystère. Tabou banalisé Selon certaines organisations de défense de droits de femmes au Cameroun, les filles souffrent de l’inceste plus que les garçons. Elles constituent une proie facile pour parents, frères et cousins. Jadis, commettre un inceste était un sacrilège. Les auteurs se cachaient pour éviter les foudres de la tradition. Dans certaines régions l’amour incestueux convoyait des maladies mystiques. Les “ Bihut ” sont l’une de ces maladies en pays Bassa. “ Chez les Bassas, lorsque deux membres d’une même famille se rendaient coupables d’inceste, l’on les soumettait à certains rites mystico-traditionnels. Ils devaient refaire l’amour dans la cour sous les regards de la communauté et sous les directives d’un guérisseur traditionnel. Celui-ci leur administrait en même temps des décoctions et leur aspergeait des potions afin de leur éviter maladies et malédictions ”, affirme Athanase Bikoi bi Ngombi, patriarche à New-Bell. Il révèle d’ailleurs que, couverts de honte, certains accusés d’inceste refusaient de se soumettre au cérémonial. Les conséquences de ce refus étaient parfois imparables. “ Certains voyaient leur corps se fendiller laissant suinter sans cesse un liquide jaunâtre. D’autres ne pouvaient plus faire d’enfant. Bref, les conséquences étaient énormes. Mais aujourd’hui avec votre modernité, je vois souvent des frères et sœurs se permettre certains plaisirs sans sourciller. ” “ Avant, l’on se moquait même de quelqu’un qui faisait l’amour avec sa parenté ”, raconte ce patriarche. Cette conception ancestrale de l’inceste est corroborée par l’écrivain français Maurois. “ Byron, baptisant inceste un amour assez naturel pour une demie-sœur inconnue, transforma la faute en crime. ” Plus qu’un crime, ces relations traumatisaient les victimes et brisaient les ménages. De plus en plus, les relations sexuelles entre les personnes de la même famille apparaissent comme normales. Même si un voile épais continue de masquer les multiples actes incestueux vécus dans les familles. Le fruit défendu a des délices qui dépassent les seules limites du vulgaire tabou.
Actes démoniaques Il n’est plus rare de voir dans un coin de la maison des frères et sœurs, des cousins et cousines, des parents et enfants se croquer des langues comme des pommes de France. Nombre poussent la bêtise plus loin dans le lit, avec ou sans condom. Qu’est-ce qui peut bien expliquer de telles pratiques ? Difficile de le savoir. Tant les auteurs ou présumés se barricadent dans un mutisme suicidaire. Quelques prétendants s’amusent à professer que “ la femme c’est la femme. Pourquoi aller chercher loin ce qu’on a à ses côtés. Les maladies dues à l’inceste n’existent que pour ceux qui y croient. ” Les tenants de cette thèse s’appuient sur la modernité avec l’influence des médias occidentaux qui reformatent les esprits. Le lavage des cerveaux est parfait. “ On fait comme les Blancs ”, entend-on dire ça et là. Malgré le mystère qui semble envelopper l’amour incestueux dans la société camerounaise aujourd’hui, quelques pistes restent ouvertes. Les incestueux pour la plupart font preuve d’un déficit d’éducation. Il y a en eux une non assimilation des règles de l’interdit. Comme des ninfomanes, ils vivent dans un monde dépouillé de toutes les barrières philosophiques, sociologiques, anthropologiques, culturelles. Ils sont hors d’eux-mêmes, parce leur sur-moi est trop faible pour jouer son rôle d’arbitre et de la mesure qui habite tout être humain. Au-delà de ces raisons biologiques, il y a en chaque incestueux un élan d’égoïsme. Le désir du partage est refoulé. L’on veut tout pour soi, même sa fille, sa sœur, sa cousine ; ou vice versa. La pauvreté et la misère ambiante, la recherche du matériel à tout prix et à tous les prix pourraient aussi expliquer l’attachement des uns et des autres à l’inceste. Certaines sectes pernicieuses recommanderaient l’inceste parmi tant d’actes démoniaques pour atteindre, disent leurs gourous, des buts escomptés. Par Noé Ndjebet Massoussi
Archevêque de Douala L’inceste est une atteinte à la justice et à la charité Le prélat dénonce l’inceste, le viol, le travail des enfants et tous les autres abus dans son homélie de 1er janvier Chers fidèles du Christ, Aujourd’hui, je voudrais avec vous, jeter un regard sur la condition des enfants dans notre ville de Douala. Marie et Joseph, ainsi que les bergers qui viennent les visiter, contemplent ce bébé nouveau-né, coucher dans une mangeoire. Quel regard posons-nous aujourd’hui sur la vie de nos enfants dans notre ville, dans notre pays ? “ Tout le monde s’étonnait de ce que racontaient les bergers ”. Aujourd’hui, il y a de quoi s’étonner sur ce qu’on raconte sur l’enfant camerounais qui vit chez nous. C’est un enfant martyrisé par les adultes, c’est un enfant abusé sexuellement par les adultes et quelquefois par son père, c’est un enfant exploité par les adultes qui ont eux-mêmes des enfants à élever comme ceux dont ils abusent. C’est un enfant qui subit toutes sortes de violences dont la plus redoutable est celle que je viens de nommer à l’instant, la violence sexuelle. C’est un enfant détruit et marqué psychologiquement pour la vie. La situation est grave, il faut non seulement la dénoncer avec la dernière énergie, mais aussi agir et agir vite. Les autorités civiles, politiques et judiciaires doivent agir pour empêcher que cette destruction des enfants aux conséquences multiples, continue. Autrement, ils seront sévèrement jugés au jugement dernier. Soyons honnêtes, et ayons le courage de parler de ces choses qui sont, malheureusement devenues “ normales ” aux yeux de la plupart de nos concitoyens. Les abus sexuels sur les petites filles et les petits garçons sont un véritable scandale, et une honte pour notre société. L’immoralité de ce genre a détruit des civilisations et des peuples. (…) Qu’est-ce qui explique cette descente dans la bassesse dans notre ville et dans notre pays ? (…) Si l’école ne protège plus les enfants, c’est parce que la famille a démissionné. Il y a des familles où les cas d’incestes sont récurrents. Les causes de cette pratique varient d’une famille à une autre. La promiscuité dont je parlais tout à l’heure, fait que les frères et sœurs adolescents dorment parfois dans une même chambre, et couchent ensemble. Une jeune fille a déclaré vouloir avorter parce que l’enfant qu’elle portait était celui de son frère aîné !
Le plus dur à décrire et à supporter dans cette escalade de misère morale et psychologique pour les enfants, c’est quand le papa en personne couche avec sa fille ou ses filles. De deux choses l’une : ou la maman sait et est complice, elle se tait pour conserver son mari, ou elle ignore tout parce que les enfants sont sous des menaces effroyables de leur père tortionnaire. Mais parfois certaines mamans savent, mais elles ont peur de parler parce que le mari va couper la ration. Dans certains cas, des femmes courageuses ont quitté le domicile conjugal après avoir constaté et dénoncé les faits commis sur leurs enfants par leur mari. Mais elles abandonnent les enfants entre les mains de leur père déséquilibré. C’est le cas de cette jeune fille de 17 ans, élève dans un lycée de la place, qui s’est confiée à Justice et Paix pour parler de l’inceste qu’elle vit avec son père, mais non sans avoir fait jurer qu’on ne portera pas l’affaire devant un tribunal. Sans cet accord, elle ne pouvait pas parler par peur de représailles. Sa mère est partie du domicile familial quand elle avait 10 ans et sa soeur cadette 3 ans. Leur père et elles, vivent dans une maison de 3 chambres où chaque personne a sa chambre. Mais son père abusait d’elle, puis a commencé à abuser de sa petite sœur qui vient d’avoir 10 ans. Elles veulent aller retrouver leur mère dépressive, mais celle-ci refuse car elle n’a rien pour les élever et les nourrir. Que faire ? Les deux filles sont condamnées à subir la folie sexuelle de leur père. Le père, un tel père est-il un vrai père ? Le catéchisme de l’Eglise Catholique (2356) enseigne clairement que le “ viol désigne l’entrée par effraction avec violence dans l’intimité sexuelle d’une personne. C’est une atteinte à la justice et la charité. Le viol blesse profondément le droit de chacun au respect, à la liberté, à l’intégrité physique et morale. Il crée un préjudice grave, qui peut marquer la victime sa vie durant. Il est toujours un acte intrinsèquement mauvais. Plus grave encore est le viol commis de la part des parents ou d’éducateurs envers les enfants qui leur sont confiés.”
Don Cláudio Hummes is the successor of Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns
Jan 13, 2005 Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, O.F.M. 0
The archdiocese of São Paulo, the largest bishopric in Brazil, has a new pastor. He is Don Cláudio Hummes, 63, who was chosen by Pope John Paul II to replace cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, 77.
(www.brazzil.com, May 8 1998) The Catholic megacommunity of São Paulo (more than 6 million souls and over 250 parishes), the largest bishopric in Brazil, has a new pastor. He is Don Cláudio Hummes, 63, who was chosen by Pope John Paul II to replace cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, 77, an extremely soft spoken and gentle Franciscan, but a very opinionated one, who has become a mythic figure doing battle with the generals of the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985) and the Vatican's conservative hierarchy starting with His Holiness the Pope.
Together with Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga from São Félix do Araguaia in the Amazon he has led for two decades the progressive wing of the Brazilian Catholic Church. Don Arns leaves his post without making his own successor. Archbishop Hummes didn't make the list of eight names he had presented to the Vatican in response to a request from the Holy See.
Despite reports showing Arns and Hummes in two
On Buddhism
Oct 16, 2004 Benedictus XVI. P.P. 0
Buddhism as an auto-erotic spirituality.
(The Tablet, 18 September 2004) In March 1997 Ratzinger offered a similarly harsh judgement on Buddhism, calling it “an auto-erotic spirituality” in an interview with a leading French newspaper. Buddhism, said Ratzinger, “seeks transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations”.
Joseph Ratzinger: la sua vita e il suo pensiero
Apr 24, 2005 Benedictus XVI. P.P. 0
Una breve biografia del nuovo papa Benedetto XVI attraverso spunti tratti dalle sue meditazioni e opinioni dell'ambiente ecclesiastico. Da una famiglia di contadini a Prefetto della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede fino al soglio pontificio.
(korazym.org, 19/04/2005) Molti gli appellativi che Joseph Ratzinger si è conquistato o gli hanno attribuito in questi anni sotto il pontificato di Wojtyla: il Prefetto, il PanzerKardinal, il grande Inquisitore, la Cassandra, il Cardinal No, il Carabiniere della Fede. Il suo nome ha fatto il giro di tutti i continenti in questi anni, tanto che ha già uno stuolo di fans e diversi siti internet. Forse il cardinale considerato alla vigilia del Conclave maggiormente papabile è anche il più temuto per la forte personalità. La sua autorevolezza dottrinale si somma al carisma dell'uomo buono e raffinato, gentile con tutti, ma da taluni è definito uomo di scarsa comunicatività. Sua principale preoccupazione, pensando alla società d'oggi, è la “sordità alla voce di Dio; l'agnosticismo che diventa quotidianità, che diventa scelta di vita!”.
Joseph Ratzinger, nato a Marktl am Inn (Baviera) il 16 aprile 1927, da famiglia contadina ma molto devota, ha studiato filosofia e teologia all'università di Monaco e alla scuola superiore di Frisinga; a 24 anni, il 29 giugno 1951 è stato ordinato sacerdote e ha intrapreso l’insegnamento. La vita sacerdotale prosegue alla lettura del messaggio di Cristo Buon Pastore guida dei fedeli e a 1977, a soli 50 anni, fu creato cardinale da Paolo VI. Un passo alla scoperta della vita del giovane Joseph, lo si può fare leggendo la sua autobiografia "Memorie 1927-1977", storia dell’arruolamento nella Gioventù nazista (all'epoca obbligatorio) sua e del fratello, riporta alcuni aneddoti di vita familiare durante il Terzo Reich.
Non è un caso, data la sua formazione di brillante e fine teologo, dagli anni ’80 fu chiamato da Papa Giovanni Paolo II a dirigere la Congregazione per la dottrina della fede: un tempo Sant'Uffizio: a lui il compito di preservare la dottrina da ogni devianza. A lui spettò anche scrivere le meditazioni per la Via Crucis di quest’anno: "In quest'ora della storia, viviamo nell'oscurità di Dio". Toni scuri ma realistici colorano le riflessioni sulla realtà; ancora, la suggestiva immagine dei mali che affliggono la Chiesa: "Signore spesso la tua Chiesa ci sembra una barca che sta per affondare, che fa acqua da tutte le parti". La barca ha bisogno di un timoniere vigoroso che le faccia superare la tormenta. La riflessione incalza: "Vediamo più zizzania che grano. La veste e il volto così sporchi della tua Chiesa ci sgomentano. Ma siamo noi stessi a sporcarli. Siamo noi stessi a tradirti ogni volta".
Non sono mancati giudizi del Decano del Collegio Cardinalizio su temi quanto più attuali come la pedofilia e l’aborto, definito da lui stesso “cultura della morte”. La Chiesa deve "fare un esame di coscienza su quello che è accaduto” ha dichiarato in un’intervista. “La Chiesa è Chiesa immersa nel mondo con tutte le sue tentazioni" anche se "molti sacerdoti hanno perso l'ancoraggio con la comunione a Cristo. Ora dobbiamo riflettere su come, da una parte, conservare l'apertura al mondo, cioè essere solidali coi nostri contemporanei, e dall'altra, su come rimanere in profonda comunione con Cristo".
Custode intransigente del dogma cattolico, Ratzinger, da una parte ha posto un freno al dialogo interreligioso per mezzo del documento "Dominus Jesus", dall’altra, ha redatto il catechismo ecumenico, poi pubblicato nel 1992. Proprio per la sua intransigenza, non ha il sostegno e la simpatia dei cattolici progressisti. Dal 1981, un cammino costellato di "no": no alla teologia della liberazione, no al sacerdozio femminile, no al matrimonio dei preti, no all'omosessualità, no alla Turchia in Europa… fino al no alla musica rock quale "espressione di passioni elementari" e veicolo di messaggi satanici.
Negli ultimi anni, più volte, quella che era il Decano dei cardinali ha mostrato il desiderio di essere sciolto dall'impegno di Prefetto della congregazione e di rientrare in patria: "Questa vita è molto faticosa. Aspetto con ansia il momento in cui potrò ricominciare a scrivere libri", disse Ratzinger in un'intervista di alcuni anni fa. Wojtyla non ha però mai accettato di perdere un valido collaboratore, sul quale poteva contare non solo per l'amicizia personale, ma anche per la cultura estesa. E ora, Ratzinger è chiamato a succedere proprio a Giovanni Paolo II.
A Chat with Ratzinger
Sept 15, 2004 Benedictus XVI. P.P. 0
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has given another extensive interview to a journalist. It will disarm and surprise its readers just as the cardinal did his interviewer, according to a London-based correspondent for German newspapers.
(The Tablet, 19/04/1997) There are as many ways to God as there are men and women", declares Cardinal Ratzinger early on in an interview he gave to Peter Seewald, a German journalist. And a post-Christian reference is conveyed through the title of the 300-page book that resulted, Salz der Erde ("Salt of the Earth"), implying that much of the world is not made of that salt.
The book, which bears Cardinal Ratzinger’s name as its author, takes the form of a dialogue between the cardinal and Seewald, who is highly critical of the Catholic Church. A non-Catholic German publishing house, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, was chosen for this remarkable attempt at illuminating the personality both of the interviewee and the Church to which he belongs.
Cardinal Ratzinger describes the basic aim of his life as "laying bare the real heart of the faith under its coating of various opinions". And the publishers’ venture into unfamiliar Christian territory has proved quite a success: almost 100,000 copies of the German edition have been sold in four months, there is already a French edition, with translations into 12 more languages due, including an English-language one to be published this autumn by St Ignatius Press, San Francisco. The cardinal shares in none of the proceeds.
As prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he is the twentieth century’s equivalent of Dostoevsky’s "Grand Inquisitor", successor to all those zealous heads of the Holy Office from Conrad of Marburg and the Albigensian crusaders to Torquemada. Pope John Paul II read the book in his hospital bed, we learn, and when visiting him one day, the cardinal naturally wanted to have his own first look at the final text. "Buy your own copy", his boss told him, not willing to part with his, and a more elegant expression of self-praise is hardly possible for a humble author.
Seewald was clearly impressed by the cardinal’s honeyed answers to his sharp questions. A lapsed Catholic, he set out to get the better of his victim. He had, however, the good sense at least to inform himself first by reading Cardinal Ratzinger’s books. He was surprised to find that the man he presumed to be the arch-conservative Panzerkardinal, an authoritarian and intolerant German dogmatist, emerged as a Catholic thinker with an extraordinary capacity for dialogue. That was evident in the subsequent exchanges. For example, referring to the 2,000-year-old dispute between Jews and Christians as to whether the Old Testament is to be understood as a Jewish book or, rather, as a prologue to the Christian New Testament, the cardinal says: "We have to relearn how to read the Bible correctly." This apparently Judaising heresy would have sufficed, a few centuries ago, to send him to the stake.
Has any highly-placed member of the Roman Curia ever appeared so disarmingly open and eager to satisfy his questioner? Ratzinger has held his Roman office since 1981 and consented to the Pope’s request to hold on to it a little longer despite his age – he will be 70 on 16 April – and tiredness from his work-load. But he has also acquired something of that famous Roman cunning, furbizia Romana, which non-Italians, too, absorb through long Vatican residence, coupled with a very detached and down-to-earth appreciation of the universal Church.
There is no Germanic utopian enthusiasm in him, no desire "to construct some beautiful triumphant Church". He is, in fact, trenchantly critical of German Catholicism: "The richest Church in the world, yet with less influence on society than many poorer Churches have in poorer countries." He despises the "German arrogance that looks down on all others as mere slovenly sloggers".
France, to him, is "the most secularised country in the Western world". And what of Anglican Britain, "the apostate darling of the Roman Church", as Cardinal Ratzinger’s questioner calls it? The Church of England, he replies, seems to want to have its cake and eat it, clinging to the Catholic tradition but then creating a new situation on the issue of women priests, by extending the principle of majority voting to matters of the Church’s teaching which it then presumes to settle by the decision of one national Church. In this Vatican perspective, British Catholicism seems not unusually cast in the role of the good but boring elder and non-prodigal son.
But he is no less concerned than his master over the crisis of the faith and of the Church. And we are reminded of how basic to his powerful position is Cardinal Ratzinger’s affinity and rapport with John Paul II. In their frequent meetings they speak German together. The cardinal has come to appreciate the Pope’s "uncomplicated human directness, humour, piety; I felt that here was a man of God with a totally original mind". The Pope-philosopher and his chief ideologue, the cardinal-theologian, have become mutually complementary minds. The Pope is not "interested how things are done in detail", but leaves that to the man he trusts. Cardinal Ratzinger sees himself as the sober, sceptical intellectual looking with respect upon "the visionary force" with which the Pope’s gaze is fixed on a new millennium.
But the cardinal is certainly not without a vision of his own. He is provokingly relaxed in regard to the burning problems of the Church: sexual ethics, the question of celibacy – "not a dogma of the faith, but something that has grown in a human way and clearly contains the dangers for those who undertake it of a headlong fall". By abolishing celibacy, the Roman Church would face no less of a problem in divorced clergy, as the Protestant Churches have discovered. Christian marriage is no easy alternative, the cardinal points out. As he sees it, it seems almost as though the Catholic Church ought to prescribe marriage to its priests as a kind of purgative discipline.
But in the foreseeable future, there is not likely to be a married clergy in the Catholic Church apart from the exceptional cases of the Anglican converts. Vatican thinking seems much preoccupied by them. As for the seemingly related question of the priest shortage, the cardinal explains that "today’s parents have other plans for their sons and daughters" than a vocation in the Church; and that as the numbers of active Christians decline, so does the potential priesthood. "The primary consideration, therefore, is: are there any believers, and only after that – will they produce priests?"
The association of believers on a mass scale characteristic of the period of Christendom is clearly a thing of the past. What will survive are "oases in the desert". "Christianity must rise again like the mustard seed, in insignificantly small groups whose members intensively live in combat with what is evil in the world while demonstrating what is good. They are the salt of the earth, the vessels of the faith." Every cultural turning-point, such as the Gothic age, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, has also produced new forms of the faith.
What has happened since the Second Vatican Council can, according to Cardinal Ratzinger, be described as a cultural revolution, considering the false zeal with which the churches were emptied of their traditional furnishings, and the way that clergy and religious orders put on a new face. That "rashness" is already regretted by many, the cardinal contends. There was, he believes, a "widening gulf" between the Council Fathers, who wanted aggiornamento, updating, and "those who saw reform in terms of discarding ballast, a more diluted faith rather than a more radical one, ‘an instrument of power’ to be used for quite different ends, and other thoughts and ideas".
In a living Church the faith will certainly need to be expressed in new forms, and these can already be discerned. Among significant new religious movements he mentions, with reservations, the Neo-Catechumenate and the Focularini and notes, sadly, that "Greenpeace and Amnesty International seem to have taken over mankind’s concerns, which formerly would have radiated from the impulses of Raphael, Michelangelo or Bach".
Religion in modern society is tolerated, but merely as a subjective experience. But he reminds his interlocutor how St Benedict, too, was an outsider in Roman society, yet what he created "proved to be an ark of survival for Western civilisation". As ever, the chaff will have to be separated from the wheat. And he quotes St Paul (1 Th. 5:19-20): "Do not quench the Spirit, and do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil."
The personality of this scholarly and Romanised Bavarian comes alive in this book. He sees himself as an "Augustinian", subscribing to the great African saint’s "credo, ut intelligam" (I believe, in order to understand) rather than Tertullian’s "credo quia absurdum" (I believe because it is absurd). "I am a bit of a Platonist in the sense that the remembrance of God is implanted in man." Thomas More, John Henry Newman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer are his great models. He finds it difficult to love mankind in general, wondering sometimes whether the Creator has not allowed his creature too much freedom "to become dangerous rather than loveable".
What makes for his own happiness in the Church is "the remarkable fact that an institution with so many human weaknesses and failures has maintained its continuity and that I am part of this community and part of the living and the dead, and find in it the essence of my life".
One question troubling him intellectually is that evil is so powerful in the world, however more powerful we believe God to be. Evidently God did want the Redeemer to be crucified as one who has failed. But why? It is touching that even the prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation is confounded by this question.
There is nothing in what he has done in his 26 years at the Vatican that Cardinal Ratzinger would like to see undone, although he admits that, with hindsight, he would have done some things differently – he doesn’t say which. The teaching ban imposed on Hans Küng, perhaps? "I appreciate that he does his own thing, according to his conscience, but he ought not to claim the Church’s seal of approval for that as well, but stand by the fact that in some essential questions he has reached other, wholly personal decisions." Anyway, "the imposition of a period of silence ought to do no harm to any of us".
He is satisfied with having put a stop to liberation theology in Latin America. "Religion must not be turned into the handmaiden of political ideologies. The autonomy of Christianity must be defended against the armed enthusiasts of world revolution, however nobly intentioned they may be."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has given the right kind of impulses, he believes, on bioethical questions; and he is confident of having taken the right path in strengthening the links between the centre and the bishops’ conferences.
Cardinal Ratzinger is by no means conscious of being the all-powerful Inquisitor. His powers, he says, are very limited, allowing him only "to appeal" to the bishops; and they "in turn must plead with the theologians and superiors of religious orders". He is critical of the ideology that reduces everything to matters of power. "If belonging to the Church has any meaning, it is only because she gives us eternal life, and thus real life."
He regards power as a relic of Marxism and is clearly incapable of seeing it as an ever-present and corrupting factor in history, to which the Church in its human aspect is not immune. In someone with a great mind and humble faith in God’s ways with the world, this seems an odd blind spot.
"La Chiesa non può accettare i Pacs perchè sono un matrimonio simulato"
Aug 16, 2005 Mario Francesco Cardinal Pompedda † 0
"I cosiddetti Pacs, non sono altro che un matrimonio simulato ed è per questa ragione che la Chiesa vi si oppone sul piano dei principi. Non è mio costume scendere nell'agone politico.
Roma, 22 lug. 2005 - (Adnkronos) - Mi limito ad affermare che le unioni tra omosessuali o regolate dai Pacs secondo il modello francese non sono altro che un matrimonio simulato che la Chiesa non può accettare dal punto di vista morale". Lo ha dichiarato il Prefetto del Tribunale della Signatura Apostolica, cardinale Francesco Maria Pompedda, in un'intervista con "Il Mattino", criticando la posizione di apertura verso i Pacs assunta dal leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi.
"Conosco bene quanto avvenuto in Spagna, Canada e in altri Paesi - ha aggiunto il cardinale giurista Pompedda - e che cosa sono i Pacs in Francia. Ma la Chiesa rimane legata al principio secondo cui il matrimonio avviene soltanto tra uomo e donna nel rispetto della loro diversità e insieme, nel potenziamento della loro reciprocità". "Delle soluzioni vanno trovate, ma -ha aggiunto- non equiparando la convivenza della coppia omosessuale con quella eterosessuale. Ciò non toglie che, sul piano pastorale, la Chiesa debba favorire la comprensione e il rispetto per chi vive esperienze come l'omosessualità e la transessualità".
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