Pope Benedict was visiting Cuba as a pligrim, honouring Cuba’s patron on the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Charity said Cuban Cardinal, Jamie Ortega. Ortega made the statements in a rare state TV address, granted to him by Cuban authorities. “There was great interest in this pilgrimage because the pope is determined Read more
Pope Benedict XVI “vigorously” rang a bell presented to him in the Vatican today by an Irish delegation promoting the upcoming International Eucharistic Congress.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and International Eucharistic Congress secretary general Fr Kevin Doran were among the delegation that travelled to meet the pontiff.
The delegation this morning presented the pope with a bell, the ringing of which is seen as a symbolic call to Catholics to gather for the congress, as well as a bowl of shamrock and a commemorative medal. ”The pope blessed the bell, rang it vigorously, and paused to admire the icons as Archbishop Martin explained their significance,” Fr Doran said after the meeting in St Peter’s Square.
Read the article...Pope Benedict XVI “vigorously” rang a bell presented to him in the Vatican today by an Irish delegation promoting the upcoming International Eucharistic Congress.
The delegation this morning presented the pope with a bell, the ringing of which is seen as a symbolic call to Catholics to gather for the congress, as well as a bowl of shamrock and a commemorative medal.
The congress, the 50th to be held, will take place from June 10-17th and will mark the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Eucharistic Congress which represented a high point of Catholicism in Ireland.
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A prominent dissident is urging Pope Benedict XVI to speak out in favour of human rights during his 26-28 March visit to the communist island.
Guillermo Farinas has written to the Pope, warning he would be an “accomplice” to the communist Government if he failed to use his homilies to highlight the “beatings with impunity” inflicted on members of the opposition.
Mr Farinas also asked the Pope to call for the release without exile of all political prisoners and improvements in the “terrible prison conditions”, reported EFE.
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Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England, on Saturday afternoon gave thanks together on the 1000th anniversary of the Camaldoli monastic community and celebrated Vespers in the church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill. Williams is the third successive archbishop of Canterbury to visit San Gregorio Read more
Pope Benedict XVI has called upon the Church to defend marriage in a meeting with US bishops.
“It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost,” he said.
The Pope said there were “powerful political and cultural currents” seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage.
“The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defence of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation,” he said.
“Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.”
Read the article...Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday urged infertile couples to shun artificial procreation, decrying such methods as a form of arrogance.
Speaking at the end of a three-day Vatican conference on diagnosing and treating infertility, Benedict also reiterated Church teaching that marriage is the only permissible place to conceive children. Matrimony “constitutes the only ‘place’ worthy of the call to existence of a new human being,” he said.
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Pope Benedict is inviting you to follow him for Lent, on Twitter. The messages for Lent started on Ash Wednesday (Thursday NZ time) and the goal is to reach out with succinct messages. “In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated,” the Pontiff was quoted by Read more
A Cuban priest believes that Pope Benedict’s upcoming trip to the country will bring profound change and show that ‘love is the only path possible for the present and the future of Cuba.’
‘I am convinced in faith that God our Lord will bring great benefit out of the Pope’s visit and out of everything that Cuba is experiencing at this time for our people and for our Church,’ Father Jorge Luis Perez Soto told CNA on Feb. 2.
The priest served as pastor of the Cathedral of Havana before relocating to Rome to study dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
He said that Pope Benedict’s March 26-28 visit will serve to strengthen the bond between Cubans and the Vatican. Catholics in the country are especially called to be ‘a means of reconciliation in Cuba,’ in order to bring healing to the wounds of the past, he added.
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