[Goanet]Pope Benedict XVI to visit India
Pope Benedict XVI to visit India NEW DELHI, April 23, 2005: Pope Benedict XVI has promised to visit India, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam said Friday. The new pontiff, who has special love for the Indian church, praised the country's culture and sent his blessings for the entire population, the Indian Catholic News Service (ICNS) quoted Vithayathil as saying. The new Pope has also promised that he would definitely visit India, Vithayathil said. He (Benedict XVI) is a great admirer of Indian spirituality. He is impressed by India's unity in diversity, said the cardinal, who was among the 115 cardinals who chose Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope. I give my blessings and prayers to every Indian. India is a great country. I am happy at the growth of the church and the wonderful work that the church is doing in the country, the Pope told Vithayathil. Vithayathil, also the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church, added that the Pope had sent special regards to everyone in the Syro Malabar church. The Indian church is divided into three rites - Syro Malabar, Malankara and Latin. Apart from Vithayathil, Cardinals Ivan Dias (Mumbai) and Telesphore Placidus Toppo of Ranchi were in the cardinal college to elect Ratzinger as the 265th pontiff of the 1.1 billion Roman Catholics. -IANS http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newsid=15095newstype=local UPCOMING EVENTS IN KUWAIT: MAY BALL 2005 Organized by Goan Welfare Society (GWS)-Kuwait Date: 12th May 2005, Venue: Safir Palace Hotel, Riggea Band: Stepping Stones Highlights: Crowning of the MAY QUEEN 2005. Enjoy the Goan hospitality at its best. Gulf-Goans e-Newsletter http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/gulf-goans/ http://www.goa-world.com/
[Goanet]Pope Benedict XVI: Dubai - St. Mary's Church Celebrations on Sunday (24 April 2005)
Pope Benedict XVI: Dubai St. Mary's Church Celebrations on Sunday (24 April 2005) ST. MARY'S CHURCH - DUBAI, U.A.E. Our Holy Father POPE BENEDICT XVI Installation Ceremony: In keeping with the celebrations with the rest of the world, Our Church will join the celebrations with a Concelebrated High Mass on Sunday, April 24, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. Please attend the Mass. Edwin Mathias [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Forwarded by http://www.goa-world.com __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com - End forwarded message -
[Goanet]Pope Benedict XVI confirmed Cardinal Angelo Sodano in the Vatican's No. 2 post
Benedict Keeps Cardinal As Vatican's No. 2 4 minutes ago By TONY CZUCZKA, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI confirmed Cardinal Angelo Sodano in the Vatican's No. 2 post Thursday and kept all other top officials, avoiding any immediate shakeup in the late John Paul II's administration. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Ratzinger Named Pope Benedict XVI Complete Coverage News Analysis Photos Slideshows It was a sign that the new pope, a doctrinal hard-liner, wants to show continuity with the popular John Paul. Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, is 77, already two years past the normal retirement age for Vatican officials. The new pope is 78. One appointment Benedict will have to make is his successor as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's guardian of orthodoxy. Among names that have surfaced as possible successors are Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Austria and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. The Vatican also said the pope confirmed the Holy See's foreign minister, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo of Italy, as well as the undersecretary of state, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri of Argentina, who had become John Paul's official voice when the late pontiff could no longer speak. The confirmation of Sodano came a day after Benedict gave his first Mass as pope, pledging to keep reaching out to other religions and leaving no doubt that he senses the large shadow of his predecessor. I seem to feel his strong hand holding mine, I feel I can see his smiling eyes and hear his words, at this moment particularly directed at me: 'Be not afraid,' said Benedict, who until Tuesday was simply Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. While signaling that he wants to tread in John Paul's ideological footsteps, the pope is a contrast in style to his predecessor, who was 20 years younger when he became pontiff and kept up a grueling global travel schedule even as his health ebbed. John Paul II, who died April 2, acted, played soccer, went canoeing in mountain streams as a young man in Poland. Benedict is mostly an indoor man, though he is a big walker because of his youth in the Bavarian Alps. He finds relaxation in classical music and likes to play the piano, not take to the stage. But the Vatican also showed that Benedict intends to follow in the footsteps of John Paul's multimedia ministry. It modified its Web site so that users who click on an icon on the home page automatically activate an e-mail composer with Benedict's address. In English, the address is benedictxvi(at)vatican.va. Benedict took a cue from John Paul when he pledged Wednesday to work for unity among Christians and to seek an open and sincere dialogue with other faiths. He also stressed he would draw on the work of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meeting that modernized the church, an issue important to liberals who are wary of Benedict from his time as the powerful enforcer of church doctrine. Benedict will be fighting that reputation close to home as he tackles one of the biggest challenges: a Europe of empty churches and growing secularism. And as the world's 1.1 billion Catholics got first hints of where the papacy is headed, followers of other religions weighed the future of interfaith relations. By and large, reactions were hopeful and expectant an indication of the new standards in reaching out that John Paul set during his 26-year papacy. I think he has been very open, so I have no worries about the ecumenical route, said British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. It will continue. No doubt at all. But the new pope has been one of the most forceful Vatican voices for Catholic missionary work and other forms of evangelization. He was the intellectual force behind the 2000 document Dominus Iesus, which outlined the Catholic Church as an exclusive road to salvation and angered Protestants, Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians. In Israel, admiration for John Paul's tireless efforts to promote Jewish- Catholic reconciliation mixed with unease about Benedict's time in the Hitler Youth as a teenager. Benedict has written openly about his service, which was compulsory under the Nazi regime. He also was drafted into a German anti-aircraft unit during World War II, though he says he never fired a shot. John Paul won many Israeli hearts during a trip to the Holy Land in 2000 by apologizing for Roman Catholic wrongdoing over the centuries. He also was praised for promoting interfaith dialogue, establishing diplomatic relations with Israel and aiding Polish Jews during the Nazi era. Israel can certainly coexist with him, Oded Ben-Hor, Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, said of the new pope. But the real test will come over the course of time. Benedict inherits sometimes testy relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has accused Catholics of poaching Orthodox believers. John Paul, the first Slavic
[Goanet]Pope Benedict XVI in his own words
BBC news Pope Benedict XVI, formerly known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, has become famous for his conservative stance on many issues. Here are some of his stated opinions. ON CHURCH SCANDALS How much filth there is in the Church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely to Him. How much pride, how much self-sufficiency. Good Friday Mass, 2005 ON CHURCH SEX ABUSE CASES In the Church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offences among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower. Quoted in Zenit.org, December 2002 ON HOMOSEXUALITY Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder... It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs. Letter to the Bishops, 1986, quoted in National Catholic Reporter ON GAY MARRIAGE Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living. On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people. Interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 2004 ON ABORTION AND EUTHANASIA Manifest grave sin. Address to US bishops, 2004 ON RELATIVISM Having a clear faith based on the creed of the Church is often labelled today as fundamentalism. Relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards... We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires. Homily in St Peter's Square before the conclave, April 2005 ON POPE JOHN PAUL II We can be sure our beloved Pope is now at the window of the house of his Father and he sees us and he blesses us. Homily during Pope John Paul II's funeral, April 2005 ON MARRIAGE Men and women were created to be jointly the guarantee of the future of the humanity - not only a physical guarantee, but also a moral one. Interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 2004 ON EUROPEAN MULTICULTURALISM Fleeing from what is one's own. Values in a Time of Upheavals, 2005 ON JEWS AND ISRAEL That the Jews are connected with God in a special way and that God does not allow that bond to fail is entirely obvious. We wait for the instant in which Israel will say yes to Christ, but we know that it has a special mission in history now... God and the World, 2000 ISLAM It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the West of Christian tradition of moral decadence and the manipulation of human life... Islam has also had moments of great splendour and decadence in the course of its history. From a conference on Faith, Truth and Tolerance, March 2002 (reported by Zenit.org) ON MODERN ACTIVISM Greenpeace and Amnesty International seem to have taken over mankind's concerns, which formerly would have radiated from the impulses of Raphael, Michelangelo or Bach. From Salt of the Earth, 1997 (quoted in The Tablet) EXPERIENCE AFTER NAZI DEFEAT In three days of marching, we hiked down the empty highway, in a column that gradually became endless... The American soldiers photographed us, the young ones, most of all, in order to take home souvenirs of the defeated army and its desolate personnel. Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977 ON TURKEY AND THE EU Turkey has always represented a different continent... Making the two continents identical would be a mistake. It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics. Interview with Le Figaro magazine, 2004 CELIBACY AND THE PRIESTHOOD Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his own accord. Salt of the Earth, 1997 ON THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN The fact that the Church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution. Address at the Subaico Foundation for Life and the Family, April 2005 (reported by Zenit.org) FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY Christianity must rise again like the mustard seed, in insignificantly small groups whose members intensively live in combat with what is evil in the world while demonstrating what is good... They are the salt of the earth, the vessels of the faith. From Salt of the Earth, 1997 (quoted in The Tablet) LIBERATION THEOLOGY Religion must not be turned into the handmaiden of political
[Goanet]POPE BENEDICT XVI
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Supreme Pontiff, the 264th successor of Peter, and has chosen the name Benedict XVI. The cardinal proto-deacon made the solemn announcement to the people at 6:43 p.m. from the external loggia of the Hall of Blessings of the Vatican Basilica following the white smoke which occurred at 5:50 p.m. Following are the words of Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam; Eminentissium ac Reverendissium Dominum, Dominum Josephum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Ratzinger Qui sibi nomen imposuit Benedictum XVI (I announce to you with great joy; We have a Pope; The most eminent and most reverend Lord Lord Joseph Cardinal of Holy Roman Church Ratzinger Who has taken the name Benedict XVI The conclave that led to the election of Benedict XVI began on Monday, April 18, 2005 in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, with the extra omnes pronounced at 5:25 p.m. by Archbishop Piero Marini, master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, following the taking of the oath by the 115 cardinal electors. The first black smoke took place at 8:04 p.m. the same day. On Tuesday, April 19, there was black smoke at 11:52 a.m.. On Tuesday, April 19, there was white smoke at 5:50 p.m. At 6:48 p.m., the Holy Father Benedict XVI, preceded by the Cross, appeared on the external loggia to greet the people and to impart the Apostolic Blessing Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world). Prior to the blessing, the new Pontiff addressed the faithful with the following words: Dear Brothers and Sisters, After the great Pope John Paul II, the Lord Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to act, even with inadequate instruments and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the Risen Lord, trusting in His permanent help, as we go forward the Lord will help us, and His Mother, Mary Most Holy, is on our side Thank you. OP/ELECTION BENEDICT XVI/... VIS 050419 (380) BIOGRAPHY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI VATICAN CITY, APR 19, 2005 (VIS) - Following is the official biography of the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission, Dean of the College of Cardinals, 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, in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, in Munster from 1963 to 1966, and in Tubinga from 1966 to 1969. From 1969, he was professor of dogmatic theology and of the history of dogma at the University of Regensburg and vice president of the same university. He was already well known in 1962 when, at Vatican Council II at the age of 35, he became a consultor to Cardinal Joseph Frings, archbishop of Cologne. Among his numerous publications, a particular post belongs to the Introduction to Christianity, a collection of university lessons on the profession of apostolic faith, published in 1968; and to Dogma and Revelation an anthology of essays, sermons and reflections dedicated to the pastoral ministry, published in 1973. In March 1977, Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich and Freising and on May 28, 1977 he was consecrated - the first diocesan priest after 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of this large Bavarian diocese. Created and proclaimed cardinal by Paul VI in the consistory of June 27, 1977, he assumed the titles of the suburbicarian Church of Velletri-Segni (April 5, 1993) and of the suburbicarian Church of Ostia (November 30, 2002). On November 25, 1981 he was nominated by John Paul II as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and as president of the Biblical Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission. He was relator of the 5th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1980). He was president delegate to the 6th Synodal Assembly (1983). Elected vice dean of the College of Cardinals November 6, 1998, the
[Goanet]Pope Benedict XVI - Profile
Traunstein, Germany (AP) -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger alienated some Roman Catholics in Germany with his zeal enforcing church orthodoxy. But in the conservative Alpine foothills of Bavaria where he grew up, he remains a favorite son who many think will make a good pope. Ratzinger, a rigorously conservative guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy who turned 78 on Saturday and was chosen the Catholic Church's 265th pontiff Tuesday, went into the Vatican conclave a leading candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II. Only someone who knows tradition is able to shape the future, said the Rev. Thomas Frauenlob, who heads the seminary in Traunstein where Ratzinger studied and regularly returns to visit. But opinion about him remains deeply divided in Germany, a sharp contrast to John Paul, who was revered in his native Poland. A recent poll for Der Spiegel news weekly said Germans opposed to Ratzinger becoming pope outnumbered supporters 36 percent to 29 percent, with 17 percent having no preference. The poll of 1,000 people, taken April 5-7, gave no margin of error. Many blame Ratzinger for decrees from Rome barring Catholic priests from counseling pregnant teens on their options and blocking German Catholics from sharing communion with their Lutheran brethren at a joint gathering in 2003. Ratzinger has clashed with prominent theologians at home, most notably the liberal Hans Kueng, who helped him get a teaching post at the University of Tuebingen in the 1960s. The cardinal later publicly criticized Kueng, whose license to teach theology was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. He has also sparred openly in articles with fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a moderate who has urged less centralized church governance and is considered a dark horse papal candidate. He has hurt many people and far overstepped his boundaries in Germany, said Christian Wiesner, spokesman for the pro-reform Wir Sind Kirche, or We Are Church movement. Ratzinger himself, in his autobiography, sensed he was out of step with his fellow Germans as early as the 1960s, when he was a young assistant at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. Returning to Germany between sessions, I found the mood in the church and among theologians to be agitated, he wrote. More and more there was the impression that nothing stood fast in the church, that everything was up for revision. Ratzinger left Tuebingen during student protests in the late 1960s and moved to the more conservative University of Regensburg in his home state of Bavaria. Catholics and Protestants each account for about 34 percent of the German population, but Bavaria is one of the more heavily Catholic areas. What Wadowice was for John Paul, Bavaria is for Ratzinger, said Frauenlob, referring to John Paul II's hometown in southern Poland. He has very deep roots here, it's his home. The cardinal was born in Marktl Am Inn, but his father, a policeman, moved frequently and the family left when he was 2. He and his older brother, Georg - former director of the renowned Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir - return annually to the peaceful halls of St. Michael's Seminary to stay in the elegant, but sparsely furnished bishop's apartment next to the church. An accomplished pianist who loves Mozart, Ratzinger enjoys playing the grand piano in the seminary's main hall, and walking through downtown Traunstein greeting people, Frauenlob said. Traunstein was also where Ratzinger went through the harrowing years of Nazi rule and World War II. In his memoirs, Ratzinger wrote that he was enrolled in the Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He said he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood. Two years later he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper, a common taks for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. A year later he was released, only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers. He deserted the Germany army in May 1945 and returned to Traunstein - a risky move, since deserters were shot on the spot if caught, or publicly hanged as examples to others. When he arrived home, U.S. soldiers took him prisoner and held him in a POW camp for several weeks. Upon his release, he re-entered the seminary. Ratzinger was ordained, along with his brother, in 1951. He then spent several years teaching theology. In 1977, he was appointed bishop of Munich and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II named him leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, where he was responsible for enforcing Catholic orthodoxy and was one of the key men in the drive to shore up the faith of the world's Roman Catholics. Ratzinger speaks several languages, among them Italian and English, as well as his native language German. Frauenlob calls him a subtle thinker with a deep understanding of Catholic
