Fate of Lisbon Treaty rests on Irish referendum
Telegraph UK
(June 13, 2008) - The fate of Europe
lay in the hands of the Irish electorate after they were given the
opportunity of a vote denied to the British people. The outcome of
the referendum, which will see Ireland's 2.8 million registered
voters determine the future of the EU's 495 million citizens, was
still too close to call when the polls closed on Thursday night. A
low turnout threatened to see the major European Union (EU) reform
defeated. While the Yes campaign took comfort in the fact voting
levels increased from the earlier low of 20 per cent, initial
indications estimated a turnout of 40 per cent. Academics who have
studied earlier Irish polls predicted a 45 per cent turnout was the
minimum required to deliver a Yes vote, but while in Dublin there
were signs of levels reaching the 40-45 per cent, outside the
capital, estimates were often lower. A vigorous "no" campaign led by
Declan Ganley, the multimillionaire leader of the Libertas group and
a son of Irish emigrants, had seen the rival camps draw level in
opinion polls. Ireland's main political parties urged their
supporters to back the treaty and the formidable political machine
of the ruling Fianna Fail party rallied supporters. The contest
even saw a Papal intervention, with Pope Benedict XVI appearing to
encourage Catholic Ireland to vote yes. In St Peter's Square,
the Pontiff paid tribute to St Columbanus, a monk from Co Meath who
led a mission into Europe in AD500. "With his spiritual strength,
with his faith, with his love of God and neighbour, he became one
of the Fathers of Europe, showing us today the way to those roots
from which our continent may be reborn," the Pope said. A no
vote could delay or doom the painstakingly negotiated pact, which
must be ratified by all 27 states. Implementation would see the
number of EU commissioners reduced from 27 to 18 and require
foreign, defence and security decisions to be taken unanimously.
Pope tells young people to trust in Mary
Catholic News Agency
(May 18,
2008) - At a meeting with young people in the northern
Italian city of Savona, Pope Benedict XVI recited the Angelus prayer
with the young people and invited them to trust in Mary. He recalled the
words the Virgin Mary spoke to shepherd Benedict Pareto in the year 1400
urging him to build a shrine on Mount Figogna, the place where she
appeared. Benedict Pareto, according to tradition, was worried because
he did not know how to respond to Mary’s invitation to build a church in
a place so remote from the city. The Pope repeated the Virgin Mary’s
words: “trust in me! With me in your midst you will not fail. With my
help everything will be easy. Only keep your will firm. Trust in me!”
“This, Mary repeats to us today,” Pope Benedict said. “An ancient
prayer, very dear in popular tradition, makes us turn in confidence to
You with these confident words, that today we make our own: ‘Remember, O
Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your
protection, sought your help or implored your intercession was left
abandoned.’ “It is with this certainty that we invoke the motherly care
of Our Lady of the Guard on your diocesan community, its pastors,
consecrated persons, the lay faithful: young people, families, the
elderly. To Mary we entrust the entire city, with its diverse
population, its cultural, social and economic problems and challenges of
our times, and commitment of those who cooperate for the common good.”
Turning to the unique heritage of the region the Pope said, "Together
with you, I thank God for the strong and tenacious faith of past
generations that, during the centuries have written memorable pages of
holiness and human civilization. Liguria and Genoa in particular, has
always been a land open to the Mediterranean and the whole world: how
many missionaries departed from this port for the Americas and other
distant lands!" After the Marian prayer, the Pope directed his attention
to Monday’s Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, a meeting in
Dublin convened in order to produce a convention against the deadly
weapons. He said the conference was an “important event.” "I hope that,
thanks to the responsibility of all participants, we can reach an
international instrument that is strong and credible: it is indeed
necessary to remedy past mistakes and prevent recurrence in the future,"
Pope Benedict said.
Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
Breitbart.com
(May 13, 2008) - The Vatican's chief
astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in
God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican
Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible
there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore
Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith"
because aliens would still be God's creatures. The interview was
headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling
out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's
creative freedom.
Vatican, Muslims, to establish permanent dialogue
Reuters (March
5, 2008) - The Vatican and Muslim leaders agreed on Wednesday to
establish a regular official dialogue to improve sometimes difficult
relations between the two religions. A joint statement said the first
meeting of the "The Catholic-Muslim Forum" would take place in November
in Rome with 24 religious leaders and scholars from each side. The
themes of the first session will be "Love of God, Love of Neighbour",
"Theological and Spiritual Foundation", and "Human Dignity and Mutual
Respect" and Pope Benedict will address the group. The announcement was
made at the end of a two-day meeting at the Vatican with five
representatives of a group of more than 200 Muslims who had signed an
unprecedented appeal to the pope to begin a dialogue. Catholic-Muslim
relations nosedived in 2006 after Benedict delivered a lecture in
Regensburg, Germany, that was taken by Muslims to imply that Islam was
violent and irrational. Muslims around the world protested and the pope
sought to make amends when he visited Turkey's Blue Mosque and prayed
towards Mecca with its Imam. After the fallout from the Regensburg
speech, 138 Muslim scholars and leaders wrote to the German-born Pontiff
and other Christian leaders last year, saying "the very survival of the
world itself" may depend on dialogue between the two faiths. Although
Benedict repeatedly expressed regret for the reaction to his speech in
Regensburg, he stopped short of a clear apology sought by Muslims.
Cardinals Hoping for a 5th Marian Dogma
Zenit
(February 11, 2008) - Five cardinals have
sent a letter inviting prelates worldwide to join them in petitioning
Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma they said would "proclaim
the full Christian truth about Mary." The text, released last week,
includes the petition that asks the Pope to proclaim Mary as "the
Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix with Jesus the
redeemer, mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one mediator, and
advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race." The signatories
of the letter are five of the six cardinal co-sponsors of the 2005
International Symposium on Marian Coredemption, held in Fatima: Cardinal
Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India; Cardinal Luis Aponte
Martínez, retired archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Cardinal Varkey
Vithayathil, major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, India; Cardinal
Riccardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, Philippines; and Cardinal Ernesto
Corripio y Ahumada, retired archbishop of Mexico City. Cardinal Edouard
Gagnon, who died last August, was the sixth cardinal co-sponsor of the
2005 conference. He was the president of the Pontifical Council of the
Family from 1974 until he resigned in 1990. The secretariat of the five
cardinal co-patrons released the English translation of the letter,
which includes a translation and the original Latin text of the "votum,"
or petition, that was formulated in 2005 and presented formally to the
Pope by Cardinal Telesphore in 2006. The petition states: "We believe
the time opportune for a solemn definition of clarification regarding
the constant teaching of the Church concerning the Mother of the
Redeemer and her unique cooperation in the work of Redemption, as well
as her subsequent roles in the distribution of grace and intercession
for the human family."
Ecumenism:
Pointing to ecumenical concerns, the petition continues: "It is of great
importance [...] that people of other religious traditions receive the
clarification on the highest level of authentic doctrinal certainty that
we can provide, that the Catholic Church essentially distinguishes
between the sole role of Jesus Christ, divine and human Redeemer of the
world, and the unique though secondary and dependent human participation
of the Mother of Christ in the great work of Redemption." The text adds
that the move would be "the ultimate expression of doctrinal clarity at
the service of our Christian and non-Christian brothers and sisters who
are not in communion with Rome." In a press statement released along
with the letter, the cardinal co-sponsors reiterated the same ecumenical
concern and said the proclamation of a fifth Marian dogma would be a
"service of clarification to other religious traditions and to proclaim
the full Christian truth about Mary." The statement added, "This
initiative also intends to start an in-depth worldwide dialogue on
Mary's role in salvation for our time. [...] Should this effort prove
successful, a proclamation would constitute a historical event for the
Church as only the fifth Marian dogma defined in its 2,000-year
history." Cardinal Aponte Martínez, one of the cardinal co-patrons said:
"I believe the time is now for the papal definition of the relationship
of the Mother of Jesus to the each one of us, her earthly children, in
her roles as co-redemptrix, mediatrix of all graces and advocate. "To
solemnly proclaim Mary as the spiritual mother of all peoples is to
fully and officially recognize her titles, and consequently to activate,
to bring to new life the spiritual, intercessory functions they offer
the Church for the new evangelization, and for humanity in our serious
present world situation."
Jesuits gather in Rome to elect new "black pope" Reuters
Africa (January 7, 2008) - There
won't be any white smoke to tell the world he has been elected, but
another sort of secret conclave began in Rome on Monday -- to chose the
worldwide Jesuit leader who is known as the "the black pope". At Jesuit
headquarters a block from the Vatican, 225 delegates from around the
world will choose a new superior general to run the largest and perhaps
most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic clerical order.
Their leader is traditionally known as "the black pope" because of the
colour of the simple cassock he wears and because -- like the pope who
dresses in white -- he has worldwide influence and usually keeps the
position for life. But this year's general congregation, as the meeting
is known, is different. The current superior general, Father Peter-Hans
Kolvenbach, 79, received permission from Pope Benedict to retire for
reasons of age. A soft-spoken Dutchman with white hair and a goatee,
Kolvenbach has been in the job since 1983 and has won widespread praise
for steering the Jesuits through one of their most difficult periods in
their 468-year history. Kolvenbach's charismatic predecessor, a Basque
named Pedro Arrupe, had several conflicts with Benedict's predecessor,
Pope John Paul, who believed the order had become too independent,
leftist and political, particularly in Latin America. When Arrupe
suffered a stroke in the early 1980s Pope John Paul appointed a personal
delegate to run the order to make sure it would not drift further
leftwards, a move some Jesuits at the time resented as "papal martial
law". Kolvenbach, by contrast, has been credited with re-establishing
good relations with the Vatican over the past 25 years while dealing
with issues such as declining vocations and the future of the order
founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540. In the 1960s, the all-male order
officially known as the Society of Jesus peaked with some 36,000 members
worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education,
refugee help and other social services. The election of Kolvenbach's
successor is expected to take place in mid-January after days of prayer
and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, among the
delegates about who might make a good superior general. While
politicking for the post is strictly banned -- delegates are obliged to
'turn in' anyone who actively seeks the top job -- some names have
already circulated in religious media. One is Father Lisbert D'Sousa of
India, and some Jesuits have said it is time for the top job to go to
someone from the developing world. "This (the developing world) is not
only the new center of gravity for the Society of Jesus but for the
Church," Father James Martin wrote in America, the weekly of the U.S.
Jesuits. "And an election of a developing world general would be
interesting as a possible bellwether for the next papal conclave,
whenever that will be," he wrote. The new Jesuit leader is elected
by a secret ballot. After he is chosen, the delegates are not allowed to
leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed, in keeping with a
centuries-old tradition that the "white pope" be the first to know who
the new "black pope" is. But unlike a conclave to elect the real pope, a
Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after
the new head has been elected in order to discuss the order's future
challenges and priorities. |
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