Christians Remembering the Holocaust

A Christian Catholic monk and a nun place a wreath during the official Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on 1 May 2008.

Popes Visit

Nuns from the Servents of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, sing on the subway after attending Mass with Pope Benedict XVI at Yankee Stadium 20 April 2008 in New York City.

21 April 2008

United States-At a time when the United States is engaged in a series of candid, and sometimes explosive, discussions about race, Pope Benedict XVI reminded America that it has a ways to go before honoring its promise to Blacks and Native Americans.

"Americans have always been a people of hope," Benedict said during the celebration of Mass Thursday at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. "Your ancestors came to this country with the experience of finding new freedom and opportunity. To be sure, this promise was not experienced by all the inhabitants of this land; one thinks of the injustices endured by the Native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves."

America has been engaged in very frank conversations about race in recent weeks, triggered largely by media attention on the words of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who challenged racism and White supremacy in America. As people called on presidential candidate Barack Obama to repudiate the fiery words of Wright, his former pastor, the Illinois senator answered with a wide-ranging speech about race. Some have described it as the most important discussion on race since Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1968.

On Sunday, the German-born pontiff wrapped up his six-day trip to America at New York ’s Yankee Stadium, telling the 60,000 in attendance that they should recognize the church’s authority.

“Authority ... obedience. To be frank, these are not easy words to speak nowadays, especially in a society which rightly places a high value on personal freedom.”

Alluding to the Catholic Church’s child sex scandal, he also expressed shame. Living for God, he said, “means not losing heart in the face of adversity, resistance and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness.”

Pope to address United Nations General Assembly on peace, human rights

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates mass with some 48,000 people in Washington, DC

18 April 2008

WINNIPEG-Pope Benedict XVI will address the United Nations in New York Friday on the latest leg of his tour of the United States.

The Pope will make a speech to the General Assembly that officials say will be supportive of the goals and aims of the UN's humanitarian and human rights work around the world.

"He [the Pope] is a great believer in the United Nations," said the Vatican spokesman in New York, Brian Kennerty, "and he believes that relations between nations should be based on more than politics and trade, that there should be a moral and human basis."

The Pope will encourage countries to rise above self-interest, Kennerty said, and work together for the common good.

He is also expected to touch on the U.S. military mission in Iraq, of which he and his predecessor, the late John Paul II, have been implacable opponents, and the Israeli-Palestinian question.

A leading American academic who studies the papacy and the Vatican's role in the world, Jo Renee Formicola of Seton Hall University in New York, said the speech is a key moment for Pope Benedict XVI.

"This is his first real foray onto the world stage," Formicola said. "I think he recognizes this is a historic moment. I don't think it's going to be about divisive issues. It's going to be about all the things that unite us: themes of peace, opportunity, aid and assitance."

Dominated by sex abuse scandal so far

The UN speech was originally intended to be the highlight of a papal visit that has so far been dominated by the Pope addressing concerns about the sexual abuse by clergy in the U.S. Catholic church.

On Thursday night in Washington, the Pope met with victims of clergy sex abuse and prayed with them in scenes fraught with emotion and tension.

Victims' rights advocates in the Catholic church had been harshly critical of the Vatican's handling of the sex abuse scandal and had been demanding such a meeting, as well as punishment for pedophile priests and higher clergy who covered up for them.

The Pope made several pointed references to the issue during public appearences in Washington, D.C.

During his homily at a huge open-air mass at the city's Nationals Park baseball stadium, he expressed his regrets to those who were sexually molested by Catholic clergymen.

"No words of mine could express the pain or harm caused [to victims of abuse]," the Pope said.

In 2004, U.S. bishops released a statistical review that found 4,392 priests had been accused of molesting children in 10,667 cases between 1950 and 2002. The accusations have devastated the Catholic Church and forced the payout of nearly $2 billion in settlements.

During his time in New York, Pope Benedict is to visit Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and speak at a synagogue.

He'll also celebrate another open-air mass on Sunday at Yankee Stadium before heading back to Rome.

Update:

Pope Benedict XVI speaks at the UN (Video)

Franciscan Monk Carries Torch

A Franciscan monk carries a torch that received the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI upon arrival in Bethlehem on 18 April 2008 during the fifth annual John Paul II Pilgrimage Peace Marathon from the West Bank town to Jerusalem.

The marathon is an encounter between pilgrims from Italy and other European countries and athletes from Palestine, both Jewish and Arab.

Base decisions on moral principles, Pope tells U.S

16 April 2008

By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying he had come as a friend of the United States, Pope Benedict urged Americans and their leaders on Wednesday to base their political and social decisions on moral principles and create a more just society.

The pope also called for "patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts" and promote progress around the world in an address to President George W. Bush at the White House on the first full day of his U.S. visit.

At the outdoor ceremony attended by more than 9,000 people, Bush cited the role of faith in U.S. life, saying "Here in America, you'll find a nation of prayer."

Bush also referred to the September 11 attacks, which the pope will commemorate when he visits New York with a prayer at the World Trade Center site.

"In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love. And embracing this love is the surest way to save man from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism," Bush said.

The pope, who turned 81 on Wednesday, smiled as the crowd sang "Happy Birthday."

He praised American society, sprinkling his speech with references to the founding fathers -- citing the Declaration of Independence and the first president, George Washington.

But he made no specific references to issues such as abortion and the Iraq war, avoiding anything that could be seen as taking sides in the presidential campaign apart from saying that freedom demanded "reasoned public debate."

Benedict and Bush, who spoke privately after the ceremony, oppose abortion and embryonic stem cell research but differ on the Iraq war and capital punishment. As the pope spoke, the U.S. Supreme Court, led by Bush appointee Chief Justice John Roberts, issued a ruling that cleared the way for executions to resume for the first time since September.

Benedict concentrated on America's religious roots, which he said were a driving force in a process that "forged the soul of the nation" and won world admiration.

It was Bush who referred to abortion, a hot-button issue particularly with the presidential election in November.

"In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred ... ," Bush said.

A joint statement said their private talk addressed "the promotion of life, matrimony and the family," human rights and religious freedom, sustainable development, the struggle against poverty and the Middle East, particularly Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The two reaffirmed their total rejection of terrorism as well as the manipulation of religion to justify immoral and violent acts against innocents. They further touched on the need to confront terrorism with appropriate means that respect the human person and his or her rights," the statement said.

GLOBAL SOLIDARITY, PATIENT DIPLOMACY

The pope said freedom "is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility" toward the less fortunate.

"Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation," the pope said.

Benedict, who address the United Nations as part of his first trip to the United States as pope, was only the second pontiff to visit the White House.

Looking forward to his U.N. speech, the pope said the need for global solidarity is "as urgent as ever if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity" and secure a place at "that table which God's bounty has set for all his children."

The pope ended his speech with a loud "God bless America."

Later on Wednesday, the pope was addressing U.S. bishops, when he was to discuss the scandal of sexual abuse of children by priests, which he said had left him "deeply ashamed."

Outside the White House, some 200 people protested, with one banner reading "Catholic priests are pedophiles."

Further Reading:

President Bush Welcomes His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to White House

Guess who's not coming to dinner?

President Bush Gives White House Dinner In Honor of the Pope; the Pope Is Not Attending

11 April 2008

Pope Benedict XVI - he's not attending a White House dinner in his honor on Wednesday.

President Bush will go out to Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday to welcome the pope on his first visit to the United States since he was elected pontiff in 2005. On Wednesday there will be a formal welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House with up to 12,000 guests.

White House planners are anxious about getting that many people through the metal detectors and in place for the splashy ceremony at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Afterwords, the president and the pope will meet in the Oval Office. Later that day, the pope will attend a prayer service with U.S. bishops.

Wednesday night's dinner, hosted by the president, will be in the East Room, which normally contains little furniture and traditionally is used for large gatherings such as news
conferences, bill-signing ceremonies, awards presentations and after-dinner entertainment.

"It's in honor of his visit," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. "There will be leaders from the Catholic community from all over the country who are in town for that visit."

He said he did not know why the pope would not attend.

Vatican, Muslims, to Establish Permanent Forum

6 March 2008

Rome-The Vatican and Muslim leaders have agreed to establish a permanent forum to improve 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.

Scholars and religious leaders will be meeting November 4-6. The pope -- who will be receiving the seminar participants -- is scheduled to meet with Muslim scholars on the last day of the conference.

The announcement came after prominent Muslims and Catholics held talks at the Vatican this week in which they agreed to establish a Catholic-Muslim forum and to organize the November seminar.

"The theme of the seminar will be 'Love of God, Love of Neighbor,'" the Vatican said in a news release.

"Theological and Spiritual Foundations" will be the sub-theme on the first day. "Human Dignity and Mutual Respect" will be the topic on the second day. A public session will be held on the third day.

The Roman Catholic Church has been working to foster dialogue with Muslims in recent years, especially in light of comments made by Benedict in September 2006.

The pope and the Vatican, however, have worked to forge dialogue and reconciliation with the Muslim world, including Pope's visit to a Mosque in Turkey and praying toward Holy Mecca with Imam of the Mosque in November 2006.