Tag Archives: Pope Benedict

Thank You Pope Benedict from the Church – Add Yours

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Here are some sentiments and great love:- Just Click to add yours on the Thank You Pope Beneict Blog:

12TH FEB 2013
Holy Father, my heart swells with love and admiration.  You are   an encouraging spiritual father to this world in pain and suffering, for you remind us of our destiny in Christ Jesus Who loves us, everyone.  You are a symbol of that love by your constancy and devotion and now especially for the more you want for us.God lent you to us for a time, and you do shine.  You feel your weakness, we perceive your strength and devotion.  Our hearts go with you into your retirement to buoy you up and lift you to God in our prayer. Go in peace and continue to pray for the little ones like me who grow in pondering you.

Joann Nelander Albuquerque, NM USA

Pope Benedict XVI-USCCB

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USCCB President Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s statement on the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Follow the story on Catholic News Service.

Biography of Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, was born on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Germany. He was ordained a priest on June 29, 1951. His father, a police officer, came from a traditional family of farmers from Lower Bavaria.

He spent his adolescent years in Traunstein, and was called into the auxiliary anti-aircraft service in the last months of World War II. From 1946 to 1951, the year in which he was ordained a priest and began to teach, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and at the higher school in Freising. In 1953, he obtained a doctorate in theology with a thesis entitled: “The People and House of God in St. Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church”. Four years later, he qualified as a university teacher. He then taught dogma and fundamental theology at the higher school of philosophy and theology of Freising, then in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, in Münster from 1963 to 1966, and in Tubinga from 1966 to 1969.  In 1969, he became a professor of dogmatic theology and of the history of dogma at the University of Regensburg and Vice President of the same university.

In 1962 he was already well known when, at the age of 35, he became a consultor of the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joseph Frings, at the Second Vatican Council. His numerous publications, include the ‘Introduction to Christianity’, a collection of university lessons on the profession of apostolic faith, published in 1968 and “Dogma and Revelation,” an anthology of essays, sermons and reflections dedicated to the pastoral ministry, published in 1973.

In March 1977, Pope Paul VI named Fr. Ratzinger Archbishop of Munich and Freising and on May 28, 1977 he was consecrated—the first diocesan priest in 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of the large Bavarian diocese. Paul VI elevated him to the College of Cardinals in the consistory of June 27, 1977.

On November 25, 1981, he was nominated by John Paul II to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals on November 6, 1998. On November 30, 2002, he was elected as Dean of the College of Cardinals.

He served as President of the Commission for the Preparation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and after 6 years of work, he presented the New Catechism to the Holy Father in 1992.

Following the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005, and his funeral on April 8, Cardinal Ratzinger presided over the conclave to elect a new pope as dean of the College of Cardinals.  The conclave opened on April 18 and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the 265th Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005.  He chose the name “Benedict” and  became Pope Benedict XVI.

Read more: Pope Benedict XVI.

Proof – Show Me God! And Then What?

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On Facebook: Someone “is amazed how people can have core beliefs with no proof behind them?”

Not to waste a quip that begs a spiritual work of mercy, I thought I’d take it up here, rather than beleaguering those on Facebook anymore:

It’s the old “show me” that had the Russian astronaut, Yuri  Gagarin, supposedly, saying during his famous space flight, “I don’t see any God up here.”

So what if you had proof?  Would you change? Actually, Gagarin’s words are nowhere in the verbal transcript of that flight. It suited Nikita Khrushchev to say that in a speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to fit an anti-religious agenda. So, I ask, “What’s your agenda?  What will a God with a plan and an agenda of His own mean to your life?

Here’s what I mean: when Jesus appeared in the synagogues of Galilee, it was at a time of great expectancy.  The rabbis knew the signs of Messiah.  The people had no trouble recognizing the actions of Jesus to be the actions of God: love, healing, deliverance, power over the elements, power over matter and the biggie, power over death.  Some acclaimed Him.  Many walked away. Finally the rabbis said in effect and to His mortal peril, “No way.  No Messiah! They had the Romans crucify Him on their behalf.  Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Now the people too saw where it could lead. To be fair the rabbis saw where He could lead them.  He was standing above Moses, above Sabbath and spoke not about God but as God.  He was changing everything.  Even though they prayed for Messiah to come, and this man worked the signs of Messiah, they saw change as an enemy.

So I ask again. If God shows Himself, or you are given the proof you, supposedly, seek, what will change?  Will you?  Pope Benedict in his book Jesus of Nazareth, says.:

“The people who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are those who live by God’s righteousness – by faith.  Because man constantly strives for emancipation from God’s will in order to follow himself alone, faith will always appear as a contradiction to the “world” – to the ruling powers at any given time.”

“Show me proof.” you say.  “Show me God”…. and what?  Will you change?

Provision by Pope for Anglicans Who Want to Come Home

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H/T to the Anchoress for siting this from Damian Thompson Blog Editor of the Telegraph Media Group:

The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict is setting up special provision for Anglicans, including married clergy, who want to convert to Rome together, preserving aspects of Anglican liturgy. They will be given their own pastoral supervision, according to this press release from the Vatican:

“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”

Evangelize Without Yielding to Secularization

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Holy Thursday – Pope Benedict XVI

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In this day of “turning the Bible on its head“ by such influential entities as National Geographic Society and Newsweek, it is good to remember what actual scholars who care about Truth have taught us.  Pope Benedict XVI reacting to a misleading 3rd century coptic text on display by the National Geographic Society in 2006, as covered by Cindy Wooden of Catholic New Service, corrected:

Judas was a greedy liar who put his desire for money ahead of his relationship with Jesus and his love for God, Pope Benedict XVI said…

But during his April 13 (2006) homily at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Pope Benedict said Judas is the clearest example Christians have of someone who refuses God’s saving love.

For Judas, the pope said, “only power and success are real; love does not count.”

“And he is greedy: Money is more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love. He also becomes a liar, a double-crosser who breaks with the truth,” Pope Benedict said.

Purposefully ignoring the truth, he said, Judas “hardens, becoming incapable of conversion … and throws away his destroyed life.”

The next day, the pope’s preacher also weighed in against the recent wave of “pseudohistorical literature” gaining popularity as well as the soon-to-be-released film, “The Da Vinci Code.”

In his April 14 [2006] homily during the Good Friday liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa said that millions of people today were being “crassly manipulated by the media,” which is more interested in touting the newest fad or insight rather than the truth and, as a consequence, turning a pretty penny for it.

“There is much talk about Judas’ betrayal without realizing that it is being repeated” today, he said during his homily given before the pope and hundreds of people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Christ is being sold again,” he said, but this time “to publishers and booksellers” for billions of dollars.

People seem to be always itching for something new, and there are those who take advantage of that by carrying out or promoting “the clever rewriting of ancient legends,” he said.

The fantasies and speculation will only “flare up with the imminent release of a certain film,” the Capuchin friar said, in reference to the movie “The Da Vinci Code,” based on the novel by Dan Brown.

The preacher of the papal household said he felt it was his duty to address the current swirl of controversy surrounding the many interpretations of the life and death of Jesus because “we cannot allow the silence of believers to be mistaken for embarrassment” nor allow the media to manipulate the truth about Christ’s life, his death on the cross and his resurrection.”

Zenit.org reports Fr. Cantalamessa’s closing remark:

The “fantasies” mentioned have an explanation, concluded the Pontifical Household preacher: “We are in the age of the media and the media are more interested in novelty than in truth.”

Words of St. Paul:

“The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths.”