Miss Kelly

The Ratzinger Effect / "Keep Your Eye on Rome"

The mainstream media folks and pundits keep on saying that Pope Benedict is a fossil, a relic, a crusty old fool, out of touch, arrogant, turning back the clock, blah, blah, blah, blah.  Meanwhile, the Pope quietly, resolutely continues his mission.   And instead of a diminished, irrelevant Church, we have the Ratzinger Effect:

"With donations to the Church from around the world almost doubling and pilgrims pouring into Rome in ever-greater numbers, Vatican watchers are beginning to reassess the two-year-old pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and noting a positive 'Ratzinger effect."

The article notes that the Vatican reports an increase in diocesan donations, record numbers of people are attending Pope Benedict’s weekly audiences and visiting St Peter’s, and increases in pilgrimages to Catholic shrines at Assisi, Lourdes, Fatima in Portugal and Madonna di Guadalupe in Mexico.  I like this Ratzinger Effect.

I found this wonderful, seminal essay on the Pope's recent “motu proprio” decree at Taki's Top Drawer, who asks "Could the Latin Mass Save Western Civilization?":

"The truth is that the Catholic Church is a bellwether for the health of Western Civilization in general—a sort of canary chanting in the coal mine of culture."

"...Should the Pope be successful in his attempts to straighten the course of the Barque of Peter, it will of course be of immense benefit to his own flock. But more importantly, to the non-Catholic, it will restore the Church’s ability to function as effective a watchdog over the health of the body politic of the West as ever she did under Pius XI."

"...For such as these, then, any and all of Benedict XVI’s efforts at rebuilding the Catholic ethos should be welcomed, and their success prayed for. But all of these things can bring little surprise to students of history. Very often, down through the two millennia of the Church’s history, internal reform has been followed by external persecution—itself usually the prelude to a period of triumph. In this light, July 7, 2007, may well be seen in future centuries to be as momentous a date as September 11, 2001--although, of course, one that points not toward death but rebirth. Whatever the case, keep your eyes on Rome. "

There's lots of history and analysis in Taki's essay, give yourself some time to read and digest.  I hope to blog more on this forward-thinking piece.

Background: The Pope's "motu proprio" decree allows a wider use of the Tridentine Mass, the traditonal liturgy from the time of St. Gregory (6th century) and formalized at the Council of Trent (16th century).  The Pope's cover letter in English can be read here.  There won't be overnight changes, there are numerous logistical obstacles to overcome (shortage of priests, lack of training and fluency in Latin, mass schedules, etc.).  The "motu proprio" decree of Pope Benedict is one of his correction factors to Vatican II excesses, a return of the Tridentine Mass to its rightful place in the Church. 

You can celebrate the Tridentine Mass west of Boston at the Immaculate Heart of Mary chapel at the St. Benedict Center in Still River, MA.  Info and Mass schedule here.

Happy Birthday, Papa Ratzi! Send Him an E-mail!

Pope Benedict XVI turns 80 today. You can send your birthday greetings to Papa Ratzi here, courtesy of the Vatican. From the BBC:

"The 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI is being marked in style at the Vatican. The music-loving pope will be guest of honour at a concert, and he will host a dinner for his cardinals."

This photo was taken by Gerard of The Cafeteria is Closed, who attended the Pope's "birthday" mass yesterday at the Vatican. Many other excellent photos in Gerard's blog post.

More from the BBC:

"It has been a surprising papacy," says John Wilkins, the former editor of the Tablet magazine. "Benedict is shy and laid-back. He is an intellectual and he listens, and gives his bishops time to breathe. You can have a conversation with him - it is not like the monologue you got from John Paul II. He is all about healing the strife between progressives and conservatives that was so sharp before, and he has made overtures to both sides."

Birthday presents included a Gospel holder encrusted with precious stones, and 80 bottles of specially brewed Bavarian dark beer. 

The Pope Benedict Fan Club blog has a great roundup of his birthday and two-year anniversary as Pope.  Amy Wellborn did her roundup for Papa Ratzi last month at Open Book, lots of good info there too. The stamp at the top of the blog was recently issued in Germany in honor of the Pope's birthday. 

Stop Fussin' About the Pope Praying at the Blue Mosque

There's a lot of moaning about the Pope praying at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul on Thursday.  He was facing Mecca, he held his hands "like Muslims do when they pray," wah wah wahhhh.  Stop the cry-baby stuff already!  Pope Benedict was a guest in Turkey and he comported himself admirably.  The Holy Father is a brave, erudite man, and he's Christ's Vicar on Earth.  Have some faith in the man, for heaven's sakes!

Check out the You Tube video at American Papist, he's praying to God, no more, no less. 

The Pope in Turkey / Papal Threads

What exquisite threads the Pope has:

In the AP photo to the left, the Pope is standing next to Turkey's president (I believe it's Ahmet Necdet Sezer ).  Full-length white camel hair, beautiful.  Love the red Prada shoes peeking out! 

Yesterday we saw a picture of the Pope with Ali Bardakoglu, head of religious affairs in Turkey. His threads were quite fine as well (photo below).  Ali made a number of blunt (one might say say rude) statements before the Pope arrived, including suggesting that Pope Benedict should not visit Turkey. 

I watched EWTN, the Catholic cable channel which is covering the Papal visit, for a short while today.  Pope Benedict was in Ephesus today, visiting a shrine to Mary and celebrating Mass.  According to local legend, Mary lived her last few years there. It was so moving!  The place was packed, there were security people everywhere, but the people there were thrilled, they were singing songs and Alleluia, mothers handed their babies up to be held by Papa Ratzi, people were smiling and looking absolutely joyous. 

Tomorrow is the visit to the Hagia Sophia (blogged about here), known as a "supreme masterpiece of Byzantine architecture."  From an AP story:

"A closely watched moment of the trip will come Thursday during Benedict's visit to Haghia Sophia, a 1,500-year-old site that was originally a Byzantine church and then turned into a mosque after the Muslim conquest of Istanbul - then known as Constantinople - in 1453. It is now a museum, and Turks would take offense at any religious gestures by the pontiff, who also plans to visit the nearby Blue Mosque. In 1967, Pope Paul VI fell to his knees in prayer, touching off protests by Turks claiming he violated the secular nature of the domed complex. In 1979, Pope John Paul II made no overt religious signs during his visit. "

I'd bet big money that Papa Ratzi will pray there.  As The Anchoress suggests, it's a good time to pray for the Pope and the President.

Sissie's been following the Pope's visit more closely and she's weaving her usual wonderful commentary (with kitty photos, of course) on our beloved Papa. 

 

Orianna Fallaci Donates Archives to Papa Ratzi

Sometimes, the world is truly delightful in the most unexpected ways.  Yes, the beautiful atheist journalist donated her papers and books to the Pope. 

"An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict XVI, a school official said Saturday. Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict, who was elected only a few months earlier, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo."

As Sissie often quotes:

"In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true."

Both were rallying Western Christians to respect and protect their civilization, albeit in quite different ways.  Both love their culture and heritage. Both are fearless. The Pope carries on with this necessary work, finding so many ways to remind us of our heritage and calling us to think about God. 

"Benedict was surprised by the gift of the books, which dated back as far as the 17th century and included volumes about the formation of modern-day Italy, American history, philosophy and theology, said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University in Rome....Fisichella said "the pope has said we must live in the world as if God existed and she (Fallaci) took up the challenge." "

What a powerful concept!: Live and act as if God existed, whether you believe in God or not. Perhaps Papa Ratzi is making room for all the post-modern skeptics/agnostics, who wonder why they should care about the fairy tales of the Bible. 

"At the time of her death, she was on trial in northern Italy, accused of defaming Islam in her 2004 book The Force of Reason (excellent review here). In it she argued that Europe had sold its soul to what she called an Islamic invasion."

Makes me grateful again for the freedom of speech we enjoy in the U.S., courtesy of the First Amendment to the Constitution.  Similar freedoms are not enjoyed even in other Western countries such as Italy, France and England, never mind in most non-Western countries. 

Noteworthy, this call to reason in both her 2004 book and the Pope's recent speech at Regensburg. 

Hat tip Relapsed Catholic, via Right Girl. The Anchoress comments on this too, especially about Fallaci's work.

 

"Germans Reconsider Religion"/ Papa Ratzi Influence?

More on Christianity and the influence of Pope Benedict in the Christian Science Monitor last month:

"... this is the country of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who infamously quipped, "God is dead." So some may be surprised at the receptivity in Germany this week to visiting Pope Benedict XVI's message: Europe needs to rethink the thesis that secularism and economic progress go hand in hand ...."

"Germany is a place where one can imagine a rethinking of this stultifying secularism and the moral relativism" prevalent in much of northern and western Europe today, says George Weigel, an American biographer of Pope John Paul II, and the author of The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. "German public life has a kind of intuitive sense in the wake of WWII that you can't have a world without moral reference points, or you get you-know-what," Mr. Weigel explains. He points to the recent shift of Jürgen Habermas, one of Germany's foremost philosophers, as evidence of the potential for a rethinking of the public role of religion. A professed secularist who has spent nearly half a century arguing against religiously informed moral argument, he made some arresting statements in his 2004 essay, A Time of Transition.

"Christianity, and nothing else," he wrote, "is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [to Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter."

Could this shift in Germany be partly due to Papa Ratzi, the Bavarian Pope?  I suspect so.  On a related note, there's this week's quote from the Catholic Educator's Resource Center:

"The fact is this: that the modern world, with its modern movements, is living on its Catholic capital. It is using, and using up, the truths that remain to it out of the old treasury of Christendom."

- G.K. Chesteron

Hat tip to Gerard.

Pope in the News AGAIN

Is it me or is this Pope in the news all the time?  Never mind the coverage of controversial matters (like the lecture at Regensburg), which I wrote about here and here.  Pope Benedict gets mainstream media coverage when he named four new saints (including two nuns), confimed that his trip to Turkey next month is still on (no scaredy-cat he), and let slip that he's working on bringing back the Latin mass.  I think it's kind of cool that Papa Ratzi is in the news so much.  And not just for globe-trotting a la Pope John Paul (may his soul rest in peace), but for significant doctrinal reasons.  The world needs him, and he's coming through.  I never expected this level of engagement with the wider world from an 83-year old German theologian.   

Papa Ratzi: "We Have a Positive Idea to Offer"

Delightful interview of Pope Benedict XVI by several German media last week. The interview was conducted in German and held at Castelgandolfo, the summer residence outside of Rome.  Some excerpts:

On the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany today

"...in the western world today we are experiencing a wave of new and drastic enlightenment or secularization, whatever you like to call it. It's become more difficult to believe because the world in which we find ourselves is completely made up of ourselves and God, so to speak, doesn't appear directly anymore.... Humanity has rebuilt the world by itself and finding God inside this world has become more difficult. This is not specific to Germany: it's something that's valid throughout the world, especially in the West."

Messages to young people

"...I am very happy there are young people who want to be together, who want to be together in faith and who want to do something good. The tendency to do good is very strong in young people, just think of the many kinds of volunteer work they do....Go ahead! The world needs this desire to do good! Then another message might be this: the courage to make definitive decisions! Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid. The world is moving dramatically: nowadays I can continually do whatever I want with my life with all its unpredictable future events. By making a definitive decision am I myself not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement? Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life."

Witnessing God

"...we have to witness to God in a world that has problems finding Him, as we said, and to make God visible in the human face of Jesus Christ, to offer people access to the source without which our morale becomes sterile and loses its point of reference, to give joy as well because we are not alone in this world. Only in this way joy is born before the greatness of humanity: humanity is not an evolutionary product that turned out badly. We are the image of God."

Marriage and family

"Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: it's a positive option....We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: we have a positive idea to offer, that man and woman are made for each other, that the scale of sexuality, eros, agape, indicates the level of love and it's in this way that marriage develops...and then the family, that guarantees continuity among generations and through which generations are reconciled to each other and even cultures can meet... it's not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: all cultures know this."

Christianity in the world

"There's a great danger that these places where Christianity (Middle East) had its origins will be left without Christians. I think we need to help them a lot so that they can stay. .....Europe definitely became the center of Christianity and its missionary movement. Today, other continents and other cultures play with equal importance in the concert of world history. In this way the number of voices in the Church grows, and this is a good thing."

What role does humor play for a pope?

"I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn't think we were so important."

What a great pope he is!  Learned, compasionate, a great moral thinker and humanist. I hope he makes it to New York next year, as earlier rumors suggested.  More pope pics here.  Hat tip to The Cafeteria is Closed.

Papa Ratzi and Church Music - "Napoleon Without Generals"?

Cool interview with 90-year old maestro Domenico Bartolucci, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir for over fifty years. Maestro Bartolucci is no fan of modern Church music, and along with Pope Benedict, he calls out for bring back Gregorian chant and other sacred polyphonic music.  But Bartolucci wonders if Pope Benedict can really turn the tide. Some excerpts:

Q: Maestro Bartolucci, no fewer than six popes have attended your concerts. In which of them did you see the most musical expertise?

A: In the most recent one, Benedict XVI. He plays the piano, has a profound understanding of Mozart, loves the Church’s liturgy, and in consequence he places great emphasis on music.

Q: Was Perosi in some sense the harbinger of the current vulgarization of sacred music?

A: Not exactly. Today the fashion in the churches is for pop-inspired songs and the strumming of guitars, but the fault lies above all with the pseudo-intellectuals who have engineered this degeneration of the liturgy, and thus of music, overthrowing and despising the heritage of the past with the idea of obtaining who knows what advantage for the people.

Q: What are the initiatives that Benedict XVI should take to realize this plan (to bring back sacred music) in a world of discotheques and iPods?

A: ..... First we would need to return, at least for the solemn or feast day Masses, to a liturgy that gives music its proper place and expresses itself in the universal language of the Church, Latin. In the Sistine, after the liturgical reform (Vatican II), I was able to keep alive the traditional repertoire of the Chapel only in the concerts. Just think – the Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina has not been sung in St. Peter’s since the time of Pope John XXIII!

Q: Do you think that the assembly of the faithful should participate in singing the Gregorian chant during liturgical celebrations?

A: We must make distinctions in the performance of Gregorian chant. Part of the repertoire, for example the Introits or the Offertories, requires an extremely refined level of artistry and can be interpreted properly only by real artists. Then there is a part of the repertoire that is sung by the people: I think of the Mass “of the Angels,” the processional music, the hymns.... Gregorian chant was born in violent times, and it should be manly and strong, and not like the sweet and comforting adaptations of our own day.

Q: Do you think that the musical traditions of the past are disappearing?

A: It stands to reason: if there is not the continuity that keeps them alive, they are destined to oblivion, and the current liturgy certainly does not favor it... I am an optimist by nature, but I judge the current situation realistically, and I believe that a Napoleon without generals can do little. Today the motto is “go to the people, look them in the eyes,” but it’s all a bunch of empty talk! By doing this we end up celebrating ourselves, and the mystery and beauty of God are hidden from us. In reality, we are witnessing the decline of the West."

Recently someone compared Papa Ratzi to a chess player, who was making a series of well-thought out moves, and who was thinking many steps ahead of everyone else.   Bartolucci doubts that Papa Ratzi can bring back sacred music, but I don't.  It won't happen quickly, but a rebirth is on its way.

Feast Day of St. Benedict

Today marks the feast day of St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of Western Monasticism, who's also the namesake of our present Pope, Benedict XVI.  Benedict was born in Umbria, central Italy, around 480. 

"As a young man Benedict was sent to Rome for studies but left after a short stay, desiring to dedicate his life to God. He went to live in an isolated place near Subiaco, not far from the ruins of Emperor Nero's summer villa, about fifty miles from Rome. Today the cave is the celebrated shrine called "Sacro Speco" (The Holy Cave) and is one of Europe's most beautiful sanctuaries. At Subiaco, Benedict lived a life of solitude and prayer for about three years with the support from a monk named Romanus. Benedict's time as a hermit was interupted for a short period when he became the superior of a group of unruly monks. Ultimately unhappy with his guidance, they tried to poison him. He then withdrew to the cave at Subiaco once again. Eventually, Benedict's sanctity attracted disciples and in time, twelve small monasteries were established around Subiaco, with Benedict as the spiritual father of them all."

"Around the year 530 Benedict left Subiaco with some of his disciples for Monte Cassino (site of former temple to Apollo), halfway between Rome and Naples, where he began a single, close-knit community on a mountain top. There he remained until his death around the year 547. Is was at Monte Cassino that Benedict completed his "Rule for Monks" ...Today, the "Rule of Saint Benedict," as it is commonly called, is considered one of the most important factors in the development of Christian Europe."

The 1953 Lives of the Saints recounts of how Benedict struggled with temptation during his time as a hermit:

"Even though he lived thus sequestered from the world, Benedict, like the Desert Fathers, had to struggle with temptations of the flesh and the devil. One of these struggles is described by Gregory. 'On a certain day when he was alone the tempter presented himself. A small dark bird, commonly called a blackbird, began to fly around his face and came so near to him that, if he wished, he could have seized it with his hand. But on making the sign of the cross, the bird flew away. Then followed a violent temptation of the flesh, such as he had never before experienced. The evil spirit brought before his imagination a woman whom he had formerly seen, and inflamed his heart with such vehement desire at the memory of her that he had very great difficulty in repressing it.  He was almost overcome and thought of leaving his solitude. Suddenly, however, with the help of divine grace, he found the strength he needed. Seeing near at hand a thick growth of briars and nettles, he stripped off his habit and cast himself into the midst of them and plunged and tossed about until his whole body was lacerated. Thus, through those bodily wounds, he cured the wounds of his soul."  Never again was he troubled in the same way."

I bet! Ouchie!!  I include this not because it's the most important thing about St. Benedict, but because in our modern world, these stories are no longer told.  We're embarrassed by the passions and excesses of the early Christians, we only want to hear the sanitized history.  But all religions have some form of mortification of the flesh, some method of the spirit transcending the body, be it lying on a bed of nails, fasting for a month in Ramadan, or sitting in a sweat lodge.  We don't roll around in briar patches or put rocks in our shoes anymore, but we don't need to deny that it happened either.  Later in Benedict's life, he discouraged extreme austerities that were damaging to the health.

What was the most important thing about St. Benedict was the establishment of the monasteries, which famously preserved Western cilivization by copying and saving manuscripts while Europe was overrun by "pagans and Arian barbarians."  At Monte Cassino, Benedict developed the Rule of the Monastery, which prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study and manual labor.  No longer could the hermits sit around all day and pray, they had to work! Manual labor was considered to be ennobling, a way to serve the Lord.  Benedict said that "Idleness of the enemy of the soul," which sounds a lot like "The idle mind is the playground of the devil."  As The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living notes:

"Western monastic houses inspired by Benedict's Rule helped preserve the ancient learning that wold otherwise have disappeared from the Continent, opened schools that created Europe's educated class, developed the exquisite music we know as Gregorian Chant (whose notation led to modern musical notation), and - most importantly - created a wide variety of beers, wines and liqueurs we still enjoy today."

Some other titles for St. Benedict are "Messenger of Peace, Architect of Unity, Teacher of Culture and Civilization, Father of Western Monasticism, Herald of the Christian Faith, and Father of the Whole of Europe." 

Big shoes for our Papa Ratzi to fill.  He can do it.

The Anchoress had an inspirational write-up about St. Benedict last year, link here.   Thanks to Sissy for finding this great photo of then-Cardinal Ratzinger playing Mozart. 

Pope Benedict to Come to NY in 2007?

There's rumors afoot that Pope Benedict is visiting New York City in 2007.  I'm so there.

"The daily La Stampa reported on June 2 that the Vatican is weighing a papal voyage that would include stops in New York, Caracas, and Mexico City early in June 2007. Pope Benedict could go first to Venezuela, for a visit that would show his support for the Catholic hierarchy there in its confrontation with President Hugo Chavez..... Next the Pope could head to Mexico, for a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.....The final stop under consideration would be New York. Pope Benedict would reportedly like to pray at "Ground Zero," the site of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001."