Pope Benedict XVI Announces His Abdication
Category: World News Published Date Written by News.va
I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.
However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is...
Last Updated on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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What can Christians in the West do to help those in the East?
Category: World News Published Date Written by Robin Harris | Catholic Herald UK
Christians are not collateral damage. They are the target. The West is not stopping it. Western politicians are complicit in it. Martin Luther King observed that “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends”. “The end” is rapidly approaching. What can the “friends” now do?
They have to take stock of reality and change it by the most effective means at hand. Unlike, for example, the well-established Israeli lobby those aiming to lobby on behalf of Christians are lamentably unseasoned. But they have the churches to work through. The Holy Father and increasingly the Catholic bishops are aware of the emergency. Aid to the Church in Need is an inspiration. The Orthodox are involved. Activity is now visible among the Anglicans. Bringing the Evangelicals to the fight is more difficult, though crucial.
Last Updated on Friday, December 07, 2012
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Pope Benedict: True riches are in heaven
Category: World News Published Date Written by News.va
In his first Sunday Angelus since the beginning of the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict welcoming the faithful to St Peter’s Square focused his attention on one of the most famous Gospel stories. The parable is of a rich man who asks Jesus how he can enter the kingdom of God and who receives t...Last Updated on Monday, October 15, 2012
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Pope: Only when reason has a historical and moral identity can it speak to others
Category: World News Published Date Written by News.va
In interview for film "Bells of Europe", Pope Benedict says Europe has two souls: One abstract anti-historical reason, the other Christian and anchored to the roots from which this Europe was born.
On Monday evening, several Synod Fathers watched the film, Bells of Europe – a journey into the faith in Europe, which was produced by the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) in partnership with RAI Cinema, and with the support of the Gregorian Foundation and Intesa San Paolo.
Directed by Carlos M. Casas and with a soundtrack that includes music by Arvo Pärt, the film is the brainchild of Fr. Germano Marani, SJ.
In introducing the film, the Director of CTV, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, said “the importance of the film lies in the way it brings together a series of exceptional interviews regarding the relationship between Christianity and Europe, its history and culture.
Various prestigious personalities, including the highest religious authorities of the major Christian denominations, generously granted original and exclusive interviews to the filmmaker.”
These included His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican Primate, Rowan Williams, and the former President of the Council of the Lutheran Churches of Germany, Bishop Wolfgang Huber.
...Last Updated on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
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Pope calls Vatican II a 'moment of grace' in Church history
Category: World News Published Date Written by CNA Daily News
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s opening, Pope Benedict XVI described it as a “moment of grace” in the recent history of the Church.
“The Second Vatican Council is a strong call for us to rediscover the beauty of our faith every day, to nourish a deeper understanding of it, a more intense relationship with the Lord, to truly live our Christian vocation,” the Pope said during his Oct. 10 general audience.
“May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and of the whole Church,” he prayed, “help us to realize and to fulfill all that the Council Fathers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, guarded in their heart: the desire that all may know the Gospel and meet the Lord Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
The Pope offered “some brief thoughts … on the great ecclesial event that was the Council” to the more than 20,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
During the 1962-65 council, Pope Benedict XVI attended as the chief theological advisor or “peritus” to Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne.
“It was a unique experience for me, after all the fervor and enthusiasm of preparation, I could see a living Church,” he recalled.
Last Updated on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
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