THE CONCHO PADRE POST

From Vatican Radio:

Religious freedom is still threatened and minorities are not protected, said Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday in his address to participants at the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The plenary chose the topic “Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: the Case of Religious Freedom” for discussions during their five day meeting here at the Vatican.

In his message Pope Benedict stressed that only ” freedom of religion will permit the human person to attain fulfilment and will thus contribute to the common good of society “. He noted that “the challenge” to defend and promote the right to freedom of religion needs to be taken on today because there are still countries that do not protect religious minorities.

Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Mary Ann Glendon is Academy President. At a press conference in the Vatican Wednesday, presenting the outcome of the Plenary, she told Lydia O’Kane that “in the West, we always when we think about freedom we always think we have the patent on it and we tend to get very satisfied with ourselves. But as Pope Benedict points out we fail to recognise the subtle and sophisticated ways in which religious freedom is undermined in our own cultures.”

Below the full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s address:

To Her Excellency Professor Mary Ann Glendon
President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

I am pleased to greet you and the members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences as you hold your seventeenth plenary session on the theme of Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: the Case of Religious Freedom.

As I have observed on various occasions, the roots of the West’s Christian culture remain deep; it was that culture which gave life and space to religious freedom and continues to nourish the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion and freedom of worship that many peoples enjoy today. Due in no small part to their systematic denial by atheistic regimes of the twentieth century, these freedoms were acknowledged and enshrined by the international community in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today these basic human rights are again under threat from attitudes and ideologies which would impede free religious expression. Consequently, the challenge to defend and promote the right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship must be taken up once more in our days. For this reason, I am grateful to the Academy for its contribution to this debate.

Deeply inscribed in our human nature are a yearning for truth and meaning and an openness to the transcendent; we are prompted by our nature to pursue questions of the greatest importance to our existence. Many centuries ago, Tertullian coined the term libertas religionis (cf. Apologeticum, 24:6). He emphasized that God must be worshipped freely, and that it is in the nature of religion not to admit coercion, “nec religionis est cogere religionem” (Ad Scapulam, 2:2). Since man enjoys the capacity for a free personal choice in truth, and since God expects of man a free response to his call, the right to religious freedom should be viewed as innate to the fundamental dignity of every human person, in keeping with the innate openness of the human heart to God. In fact, authentic freedom of religion will permit the human person to attain fulfilment and will thus contribute to the common good of society.

Aware of the developments in culture and society, the Second Vatican Council proposed a renewed anthropological foundation to religious freedom. The Council Fathers stated that all people are “impelled by nature and also bound by our moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth” (Dignitatis Humanae, 2). The truth sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32), and it is this same truth that must be sought and assumed freely. The Council was careful to clarify that this freedom is a right which each person enjoys naturally and which therefore ought also to be protected and fostered by civil law.

Of course, every state has a sovereign right to promulgate its own legislation and will express different attitudes to religion in law. So it is that there are some states which allow broad religious freedom in our understanding of the term, while others restrict it for a variety of reasons, including mistrust for religion itself. The Holy See continues to appeal for the recognition of the fundamental human right to religious freedom on the part of all states, and calls on them to respect, and if need be protect, religious minorities who, though bound by a different faith from the majority around them, aspire to live with their fellow citizens peacefully and to participate fully in the civil and political life of the nation, to the benefit of all.

Finally, let me express my sincere hope that your expertise in the fields of law, political science, sociology and economics will converge in these days to bring about fresh insights on this important question and thus bear much fruit now and into the future. During this holy season, I invoke upon you an abundance of Easter joy and peace, and I willingly impart to you, to Bishop Sánchez Sorondo and to all the members of the Academy my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 29 April 2011

From Vatican Radio:

Even if people have always prayed, today there is still a “need to learn to pray”. Prayer should not be taken for granted “even masters of spiritual life must always learn and renew” this art, said Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday as he introduced a new series of lessons for his General Audience, inviting the 40 thousand people gathered in a sun kissed St Peter’s Square to join him over the coming week in a veritable ‘school of prayer proper to Christians’.

However, introducing this latest cycle of catechesis, the Pope surprisingly reached back beyond the Christian era to highlight what we can learn about man’s thirst for an inner dialogue with God from ancient cultures: “Christian prayer is grounded in the gift of new life brought by Christ; it is an “art” in which Christ, the Son of God, is our supreme teacher. At the same time, prayer is a part of the human experience, as we see from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome”.

He continued “There we find eloquent expressions of a desire to see God, to experience his mercy and forgiveness, to grow in virtue and to experience divine help in all that we do. In these cultures there is also a recognition that prayer opens man to a deeper understanding of our dependence on God and life’s ultimate meaning”.

In comments in Italian the Pope gave an example of the ancient Greek culture where, “the great philosopher Plato tells of a prayer of his teacher, Socrates, who is rightly considered one of the founders of Western thought: grant that I may become beautiful within, and that whatever outward things I have may be in harmony with the spirit inside me. May I understand that it is only the wise who are rich, and may I have only as much money as a temperate person needs. For me, that prayer is enough”.

Pope Benedict continued “the pagan religions, however, remain a plea for divine help, an expression of that profound human yearning for God which finds its highest expression and fulfilment in the Old and New Testaments. Divine revelation, in fact, purifies and fulfils man’s innate desire for God and offers us, through prayer, the possibility of a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father. With the disciples, then, let us ask the Lord: “Teach us to pray” (cf. Lk 11:1)”.

Finally the Holy Father welcomed all the English-speaking visitors present at the Audience, especially those from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Nigeria, Japan, Singapore and the United States. My particular greeting goes to the pilgrimage group from the Archdiocese of Kampala, led by Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga. “Upon all of you I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Risen Christ!”.

After being viewed by hundreds of thousands of the faithful after the Mass of Beatification on Sunday, the casket containing the remains of the beloved pontiff Blessed John Paul II was transferred to a new crypt under the Altar of St. Sebastian on the main floor of St. Peter’s Basilica. The transfer was a private ceremony witnessed by cardinals and bishops, priests and close lay friends of the late pope. The first Mass offered on the altar was celebrated by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, who was John Paul’s personal secretary and closest friend and confidant for more than four decades — a very fitting person to be the first celebrant. The new tomb, in white marble, simply says “Beatus Joannes Paulus, PP, II,” Latin for Blessed John Paul II. The location is extremely accessible, right next to the Michelangelo’s “Pieta” on the main floor. The Pieta is one of the most visited spots in the Vatican Basilica, and now Blessed John Paul II’s Altar and Tomb will surely be a “must see” for visitors to the basilica. I think it was a mark of genius on the part of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, and his advisors, that the newly beatified pope, was given this place of honor. It will certainly make it easier for the people to come and pray. His former tomb, a simple one underneath St. Peter’s in the Crypts of the Popes, was not as accessible as the new location. Still, many people climbed down the narrow steps over the past six years to visit John Paul II’s first tomb. I can only imagine that the new tomb upstairs on the main floor will attract many more visitors. The Vatican reports that already thousands of people are coming to the tomb each day. Bishops and priests coming to the basilica normally reserve altars around the basilica and crypts to celebrate Mass during their Roman visit. Undoubtedly the new Altar and Tomb of Blessed John Paul II will be the most requested altar for a long time to come! Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

(Just in case you need directions: When you enter St. Peter’s walk to the right. The Pieta will be right in front of you. Once you have visited there, simply walk to your left. Blessed John Paul’s tomb will be the next altar on the right!)

The Concho Padre

In a very rare move, Pope Benedict XVI has removed Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba, Australia. It appears that in a 2006 pastoral letter, the bishop talked about ordaining women priests and allowing Protestant clergy to celebrate Mass in Catholic churches, because there aren’t enough priests in his diocese to serve the people. An Apostolic Visitation ensued, with Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Colorado, appointed by the pope as the visitor. Bishop Morris, in a letter to the people of his diocese, said he was being forced out. He added that he refused to resign because he felt he had done nothing wrong. Apparently the Holy Father thought differently, and  after asking for a resignation which was refused, removed the bishop from the pastoral governance of the diocese. The pope has absolute authority of the appointment and removal bishops, and there is no recourse in Canon Law.

The Concho Padre

Here’s the official Vatican statement on the death of Osama bin Laden:

Vatican Press Office Director Fr Federico Lombardi’s response to journalists’ questions on the killing of Osama bin Laden:
Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the death of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.
Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.