Pope Benedict XVI in New York

Getting to Know the Pope

2008-04-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Polls showed that before Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States last week, most Americans had a favorable opinion of him, though even the majority of Catholics admittedly knew little or nothing about the pontiff.

But now, the pope's six-day journey has revealed him to Americans as a man whose affection breaks through his formality and who is passionate as well as intellectual. He did not come across as the sheep-cuddling shepherd some bishops had heralded, but rather as a protector who cared enough to take up his staff and confront the "very badly handled" clergy sexual abuse scandal and America’s "increasingly secular and materialistic culture."

His willingness to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis repeatedly, and right from the start of the visit on his flight to Washington, made a strong and positive impression.

"I think he's been very favorably received," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center in Washington. "The way he's grappled with the sex abuse crisis, meeting with victims of the abuse ... I think he handled it extremely well."

The 81-year-old former theology professor does not radiate the charm of the stage-trained Pope John Paul II, and he didn't really try to stoke the crowds' considerable enthusiasm. But he offered his toothy grin, tousled children's hair, impressed the sexual abuse victims he met privately in Washington and thrilled the relatives of Sept. 11 victims he saw after blessing Ground Zero yesterday. And in a warm, convivial scene, he became the first pope to visit an American synagogue.

His message to America, though hopeful, was harder-edged than predicted.

He asked the nation's Catholic bishops whether "our preaching lost its salt." At the White House, he called for "patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts" as he stood beside a president who had spurned the Vatican's call to deal with Iraq through the United Nations.
At an interfaith prayer service, he sidestepped the usual niceties about finding common ground and warned the assembled Christian leaders to ward off the forces of a secularized, do-your-own-thing religion.

"It was very forthright. It signaled a new level in the conversations," said the Rev. James Gardiner, director of the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center in Garrison and a veteran of interfaith activities. It said, "We're done with the nice stuff … I recognize some of the problems you have; I'm dealing with them myself."

To Gardiner, the turning point of the trip came even before Benedict arrived, when on his flight to Washington, he described his shame over the clergy sexual abuse crisis. That "changed his image," he said.

The public responded to Benedict "very warmly, and appropriately so," said Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of lay Catholics urging reform in the church. "Whenever the pope visits the United States is a big moment for Catholics, and that's a good thing."

Bartley, a Hauppauge resident who attended the White House reception for Pope Benedict, said he was encouraged by what the pope had to say. "This is the first time that our church has acknowledged that our sexual abuse crisis was very poorly handled," he said, recalling a comment Benedict made to the bishops in Washington. " ...It's a start."

The pope's message was complex and often abstract; he never actually mentioned Iraq, for example. It was "more successfully read than listened to," and lacking sound bites or applause lines, Reese said. But it can be summed up in a metaphor the pope offered Saturday in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Benedict pointed out the beauty of the Gothic Revival cathedral's stained glass windows, "which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor."

The pope painted the outside world as a dark, uncomprehending place, "a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people's hearts."

His response was that only the mystical light of faith, found inside the church, could overcome a secular, me-first outlook that he saw as a threat to everything from international relations to Catholic colleges, the family, the unborn, the environment, fellow Christian churches and Catholic identity and devotion.

Another pope once famously used the image of church windows to make a different point: John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962, said the church's windows needed to be opened to let in some fresh air - a call to engage with the modern world.

If Benedict's metaphor implies an insular church, he made clear in his homily in Yankee Stadium that he was calling for greater engagement in the modern world, not a retreat.

He spoke about the familiar phrase "Thy kingdom come" in the Our Father. It "means working to enrich American society and culture with the beauty and truth of the Gospel," he said, "and never losing sight of that great hope which gives meaning and value to all the other hopes which inspire our lives."

Photos: Top, AFP/Getty/Lucas Jackson. Below, AP/Kathy Willens.

Benedict's Good-Bye: May God Bless America

2008-04-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

To songs and cheers, Pope Benedict XVI said farewell tonight at the end of his six-day journey with the words, "May God bless America."

Thousands had gathered inside a hangar at Kennedy Airport, many people wearing ethnic dress to celebrate the diversity of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens. In brief remarks, the pope said that one of the high points of his visit had been the opportunity to address the United Nations General Assembly.

"I give thanks for all that the organization has been able to achieve in defending and promoting the fundamental rights of every man, woman and child throughout the world, and I encourage people of good will everywhere to continue working tirelessly to promote justice and peaceful co-existence between peoples and nations," he said.

The pope also spoke of his visit to the World Trade Center site. "My visit this morning to Ground Zero will remain firmly etched in my memory, as I continue to pray for those who died and for all who suffer in consequence of the tragedy that occurred there in 2001," he said. "For all the people of America, and indeed throughout the world, I pray that the future will bring increased fraternity and solidarity, a growth in mutual respect, and a renewed trust and confidence in God, our heavenly Father. "

Vice President Dick Cheney, in the official send-off, praised the pope's visit to the lower Manhattan site. "You have moved us in particular by your visit to Ground Zero," Cheney said.

Pope Benedict returned to the theme of his trip in his remarks. "I encourage you to continue bearing joyful witness to Christ our Hope, our Risen Lord and Savior, who makes all things new and gives us life in abundance," he said.

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI at Mass in Yankee Stadium. AP Photo.

Ethnic Send-off for Benedict

2008-04-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Thousands of people took part in a celebration today at Kennedy Airport as they readied a send-off for Pope Benedict XVI in a conclusion to his six-day visit to Washington and New York. The airport celebration marked a chance for the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens, to take part in the papal visit. The ceremony was a celebration of the church's diversity. Photos above show, from top, Joo Myung Lee of Queens; Nayeli Hernandez, with members of the Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Guard; and Paulina Posluszna, 12, center left, and her eight year old sister Patricia, center right, both of Brooklyn, wearing Polish national dress.

Photos: AP.

Pope is upbeat in Yankee Stadium

2008-04-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

In an upbeat homily in Yankee Stadium, Pope Benedict XVI praised the growth of the Catholic Church in America as he celebrated the 200th anniversary of the archdioceses in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville.

"From a small flock," he said, "the Church in America has been built up in fidelity to the twin commandment of love of God and love of neighbor."

Baltimore is the mother of the Catholic Church in America. In 1808, the four new dioceses were created as the church gradually took root. After recounting the growth of the church with waves of immigration, Benedict added: "Today's celebration is more than an occasion of gratitude for graces received. It is also a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations."

During his homily, the pope focused on words in the Our Father, "Thy kingdom come." He applied that prayer in a way that seemed to cover many of the issues he addressed during his visit, including the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

Praying "Thy kingdom come," he said, "means not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness. It also means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life ... It means working to enrich American society and culture with the beauty and truth of the Gospel, and never losing sight of that great hope which gives meaning and value to all the other hopes which inspire our lives."

Celebration at Yankee Stadium

2008-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

In the photo above, a priest and police officer dance during the concert before the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI celebrates today at Yankee Stadium on the final day of his six-day visit to America.

Photo: AP/Julie Jacobson.

Voice of the Faithful: It's a Start

2008-04-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

The head of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of lay Catholics seeking reforms in the church, says he is encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI’s visit and hopes American bishops will embrace what he said about the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

"For the most part we’ve been encouraged by what Pope Benedict has has had to say," said Hauppauge resident Dan Bartley, president of the 35,000-member organization. "This is the first time that our church has acknowledged that our sexual abuse crisis was very poorly handled …It’s a start."

But, he said, " We’re still in a situation where the underlying issues that caused the sexual abuse crisis in the first place remain unaddressed. Bishops are still not accountable to the people they serve."

Voice of the Faithful was formed in 2002 in response to the church's cover-up of sexual abuse by pedophile priests. Bartley said he and other officers of the group were present at the White House welcoming ceremony for Pope Benedict. They were not invited as representatives of Voice of the Faithful, he said, but "By coincidence, all of our national leadership was there."

In his address to the nation’s Catholic bishops last Wednesday, Pope Benedict said that the sexual abuse scandal had been "very badly handled." He was quoting Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The pope later met with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Bartley said he was disappointed with the reaction Bishop William Murphy, leader of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, expressed when quoted in Newsday on Saturday. "He hasn’t reached the point of acknowledgement that the pope has, and that’s very disappointing," he said.

Voice of the Faithful had sent a letter to Pope Benedict on April 4 that sought concrete steps in response to the sexual abuse scandal, which so far has cost the U.S. Catholic church more than $2 billion in damages. The group asked that he seek the resignations of bishops who repeatedly reassigned abusive priests and that he ask U.S. bishops to require financial disclosure in their dioceses.

"The underlying issues are still there," Bartley said. "The lack of lay involvement, the lack of accountability for bishops … The bishops of the United States have to embrace what Pope Benedict said. Otherwise we’re back to square one."

File Photo: Dan Bartley.

Reflection: Pope's Prayer at Ground Zero

2008-04-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since close to half of the residents of metropolitan New York are Catholics, it was inevitable that the response to a tragedy as great as the fall of the World Trade Center towers would often be expressed in the language of their faith.

It was expressed in the shrines that sprang up immediately after the attack on September 11, 2001 – quickly assembled collections of candles, statues of angels and saints, mingled with photos of the victims.

It was expressed in the haunting images – of the lifeless body of the beloved Fire Department chaplain Father Mychal Judge, of steel crosses amid the twisted wreckage.

It was expressed through the Catholic-tinged cultures of the New York City police and fire departments and in the funeral Masses of the rescue workers who were killed.

It was expressed through a mayor, a man who once had considered the Catholic priesthood, as he found words for unspeakable losses: "more than we can bear."

It was expressed in the music of Bruce Springsteen, an artist who, as Father Andrew Greeley has written, exemplifies the Catholic imagination. "Come on up for the rising," Springsteen sang. And: "May your faith give us faith/May your hope give us hope/May your love give us love." [Update: A song that Ronan Tynan performed during a concert before the papal Mass in Yankee Stadium.]

And now it has been expressed by the pope:

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness

to give eternal light and peace to all who died here –
the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service

brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives

with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in

Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,

overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI kneels in prayer after arriving at Ground Zero. Getty Images/Chris Hondros.

Pope's Prayer at Ground Zero

2008-04-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

You can read Pope Benedict's prayer at Ground Zero directly from the pope's missal here. Scroll to page 129. It also appears in today's Newsday.

Photo: Getty Images. Guests arrive at Ground Zero.

Pope Arrives at Ground Zero

2008-04-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI is at the World Trade Center site, where he has invited relatives of victims, survivors and four rescue workers to join him. New York Gov. David Paterson, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are on hand to greet him.

Above: Ground Zero is readied for the pope's visit. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan.

Pope's Personal Touch at Youth Rally

2008-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Using a more personal touch, Pope Benedict XVI told some 25,000 young people today of his youth in Nazi Germany and urged them to develop a closer relationship to God.

"My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers," he said. "Its influence grew – infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion – before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good."

The youth rally at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers was filled with spontaneous song and massive bursts of applause at the names of saints and popes. On the fifth day of Pope Benedict’s six-day trip to the U.S., it comes as a joyfully emotional counterpoint to the scripted, solemn gatherings that preceded it. And the pope, not one to seed his talks with applause lines, responded to the outpouring with a more animated presentation that drew even more cheers.

In his talk, the pope returned to his message about finding truth and true freedom in a world that doesn’t understand either. But he took it down a few notches from doctoral-level lecture to senior-year honors seminar for undergraduates.

The pope drew cheers as he told the audience: "Let your imaginations soar freely along the limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth!" He continued: "Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder."

He spoke to the young audience about freedom, "a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda."

The pope urged an audience that’s grown up in the age of multi-tasking to devote time to silent contemplation. "Do you leave space to hear God’s whisper, calling you forth into goodness?" he asked. "Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of holiness."

And he closed with a word about the importance of considering life as a sister, brother or priest.

"I am glad to know that your numbers are increasing!" he said to applause.

Then the crowd broke into a chant: "We love you, we love you."

"Thank you," Benedict responded. "Thank you so much."

Photos. Top: Getty Images/Chris McGrath.
Below: Kelly Clarkson sings at rally. She later sang "Ave Maria" for the pope. AP.

Pep Rally Begins

2008-04-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

With spontaneous songs, wild cheers and waving handkerchiefs, thousands of young people have gotten into the spirit of a youth rally being held with Pope Benedict XVI at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers. Above: Participants dance during a concert before the pope's visit.

Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images.

Anti-Abortion Group Photographs Mass

2008-04-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

An anti-abortion group has posted photos on its Web site of Catholic politicians receiving communion at the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI celebrated in Washington on Thursday.

The American Life League's point is that the politicians shouldn't be doing this because they support abortion rights, contrary to church teaching - several Catholic bishops had announced during the 2004 presidential campaign that they would deny communion to Democratic candidate John Kerry because of his stance on the issue. (Kerry is one of the pols pictured on the site.)

But it doesn't seem to help the anti-abortion group's cause to trumpet that Kerry and others were able to receive communion at a Mass that the pope himself celebrated, in the company of just about every leader of the church in America. Nor does it enhance the group's moral credibility to boast that it took what amount to surveillance photos during a Mass the pope celebrated.

The U.S. Catholic bishops have left it up to local bishops to determine whether to deny communion to an elected official who supports abortion rights, depending on the circumstances in each case.

This sideshow to the papal trip continues today with reports that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani received communion during the Mass the pope celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Giuliani supports abortion rights. He is also a divorced Catholic who remarried, which would make him ineligible, under church law, to receive communion.

But it was no secret that the former mayor received the Eucharist. The live video feed streamed on the Web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops showed Giuliani returning from communion.

Stained Glass Windows Tell the Story

2008-04-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI used the splendor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to offer what may turn out to be the metaphor that best pictures his message to America.

During his homily today, he pointed out the beauty of the Gothic-style cathedral’s stained glass windows, "which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor."

The pope told the clergy and religious gathered before him that their task is to draw the people on the outside into the mystical light within. But, he said, "Even for those of us within, the light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members."

That’s essentially been his message to Catholics: that sexual scandal, divisions, and the influence of secularism have prevented the church from carrying out its mission as well as it should.

Continuing with his metaphor about the light filtered through the cathedral’s jewel-like windows, he said: "It can be dimmed too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality."

He cast the world outside the church’s windows in dark tones, badly in need of redemption. "This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts," he said.

Against this dark vision of the modern world, Benedict offers a mystical light that is expressed in the name given to his trip, "Christ Our Hope."

Pope Benedict’s metaphor soared, but I could not help thinking about the way another pope referred to church windows to make his point. That was Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council to renew the church. For Pope John, the church needed to open its windows to let in the fresh air. He saw something to be gained by opening the church to the modern world.

That is not to say that Benedict would have Catholics lock themselves indoors. "Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society where the Church seems legalistic and `institutional' to many people," he said, "our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love."

* * *

The pope drew his metaphor from the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who sent characters in his novel "The Marble Faun" on a tour of Italy’s grand cathedrals. At one point, one of the characters muses: "Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors." Hawthorne's Puritan ancestors might not have appreciated this. But his daughter, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, converted to Catholicism. Cardinal Edward Egan submitted the cause for her canonization to the Vatican, where it is under consideration.

Photos: Top, AFP/Getty. Below: AP.

At St. Pat's, Pope Calls for Unity

2008-04-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one
body, so also is Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one person.

That passage, taken from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, comes from the second reading in the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It provides a lead-in to one of the key points the pope made in his homily: that it's time for the feuding factions in the Catholic Church to make peace.

Angry debates between conservatives and liberals have been a fixture in the church for decades, and are probably one of the major obstacles to the Catholic Church's progress. There have been efforts to end these bruising battles, such as the Catholic Common Ground Initiative that the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin started. But even the attempt to propose a dialogue to find common ground became controversial.

Here is what Pope Benedict had to say to a congregation made up entirely of clergy and religious:

"For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed the Second Vatican Council, with its call for a greater engagement in the Church’s mission to the world, has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family. We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to Christ! In the light of faith, we will then discover the wisdom and strength needed to open ourselves to points of view which may not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions. Thus we can value the perspectives of others, be they younger or older than ourselves, and ultimately hear "what the Spirit is saying" to us and to the Church. In this way, we will move together towards that true spiritual renewal desired by the Council, a renewal which can only strengthen the Church in that holiness and unity indispensable for the effective proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world."

He added: "Was not this unity of vision and purpose – rooted in faith and a spirit of constant conversion and self-sacrifice – the secret of the impressive growth of the Church in this country?"

An opinion: Some of the loudest and angriest voices in these debilitating church debates belong to conservatives who stress the importance of papal authority. Will they heed the pope's call "to open ourselves to points of view which may not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions"? And of course, that goes both ways. Will the liberals who have written off Pope Benedict as a doctrinaire enforcer see him in a new light as a source of wisdom?

Update: We asked Father Tom Reese, whom the pope pushed out of his position as editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine America, what he thought of Benedict's call to get past divisions in the church. "That’s an invitation to all of us to treat each other with love and respect, no matter what our opinions are," he said. "Disagreements in the family should’t tear the family apart."

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI in procession at the start of Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. AFP/Getty Images/Don Emmert.

Pope's Historic Visit to Synagogue

2008-04-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

It was a short visit, but a warm one. Just ahead of Passover, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to visit an American synagogue.

He made it sound as if he were a neighbor who just dropped by, noting he was staying nearby to the Park East Synagogue.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier gave him a seder plate insribed "from slavery to freedom," the story of Passover. He was give a Haggadah, the story of the exodus from Egypt, and a box of matzoh that he said he would enjoy the next evening, the start of Passover. Applause rose up as he greeted children and shook hands as he slowly made his way to leave.

Here is the text of the pope's brief remarks.

Dear Friends,
Shalom! It is with joy that I come here, just a few hours before the celebration of your Pesah, to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community in New York City. The proximity of this place of worship to my residence gives me the opportunity to greet some of you today. I find it moving to recall that Jesus, as a young boy, heard the words of Scripture and prayed in a place such as this. I thank Rabbi Schneier for his words of welcome and I particularly appreciate your kind gift, the spring flowers and the lovely song that the children sang for me. I know that the Jewish community make a valuable contribution to the life of the city, and I encourage all of you to continue building bridges of friendship with all the many different ethnic and religious groups present in your neighborhood. I assure you most especially of my closeness at this time, as you prepare to celebrate the great deeds of the Almighty, and to sing the praises of Him who has worked such wonders for his people. I would ask those of you who are present to pass on my greetings and good wishes to all the members of the Jewish community. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

AP Photos

Cardinal: Bishops Were Misled on Abuse

2008-04-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

It was suggested here and by many others that Pope Benedict XVI needs to address the role of certain bishops in covering up for priests who sexually abused minors.

That looks unlikely.

Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told reporters at a Manhattan lunch today that the bishops were misled by poor advice from experts. David Gibson, author of "The Rule of Benedict," a biography of the pope, reports that Levada said: "I personally do not accept that there has been a broad base of bishops guilty of aiding and abetting pedophiles...If I thought there were, I would certainly want to talk to them about that."

Levada, former archbishop of San Francisco, is the highest-ranking American at the Vatican.

Pope's Message for Christian Leaders

2008-04-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

It was not the kind of feel-good talk usually heard at interfaith gatherings: Pope Benedict XVI urged the leaders of other Christian churches to oppose a secularized, do-your-own-thing religion. If religion is treated as a matter of personal feeling instead of a search for eternal truth, he said, it loses its force.

"Only by holding fast to sound teaching will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world," the pope said in an interfaith prayer service at St. Joseph’s Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. "Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching. This is the message which the world is waiting to hear from us."

Religion, he said, should not be limited to what can be verified scientifically or restricted to "the shifting realm of personal experience."

He added: "For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or her individual tastes."

Photo: Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., greets Pope Benedict XVI after interfaith prayer service. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II.

When a Future Pope Visited LI

2008-04-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Long Island has never hosted a papal visit, but the future Pius XII did stay at a North Shore estate less than three years before his election to the papacy.

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, then the Vatican secretary of state, had come to the United States in 1936 on what was billed as a vacation. He stayed over at Inisfada, the Manhasset estate built by wealthy entrepreneur Nicholas Brady and his wife, Genevieve.

Today, it's the St. Ignatius Jesuit Retreat House. The center's director, Don Holden, says the estate was built between 1916 and 1920. Inisfada (pronounced in-ish-fah-da) is Gaelic for Long Island, he adds.

Inisfada served as the home base for Pacelli, who was hosted by the widowed Genevieve Brady during a month-long trip. As a number of authors have written, his trip turned out to be far more than a vacation. Pacelli had come to improve Vatican relations with the United States as political turmoil in Europe grew, Newsday staffer Tom Maier wrote in his book, "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings." And President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted Pacelli to silence Father Charles Coughlin, the fiery radio preacher who denounced him as a Communist.

Even Genevieve Brady, the hostess, thought it was to be a social call, James Cooney wrote in "The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman." She was miffed that Spellman, then an up-and-coming bishop, didn't let her in on what was happening, according to Cooney's book.

Photo: Pope Pius XII in 1951. AP File Photo.

Pope's Veiled Rebuke to Iraq War

2008-04-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI at the U.N. Photo by SpencerPlatt/Getty Images.

Pope Benedict XVI's call today for the United Nations to intervene against serious human rights violations encompassed a veiled rebuke to the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq without U.N. sanction.

The pope didn't mention any specific country, but he urged a collective response to international human rights violations. The "decisions of a few" nations have imperiled this, he said.

That can apply to a number of issues that have been before the U.N. - it recalls Pope John Paul II's insistence that President George W. Bush seek U.N. approval before going to war in Iraq.

Pope Benedict did not resurrect that particular debate, but instead expressed serious concern over the broader principle involved. The pope highlighted the role of the UN as the proper body to respond to international crises in human rights.

"This is all the more necessary at a time when we experience the obvious paradox of a multilateral consensus that continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few, whereas the world's problems call for interventions in the form of collective action by the international community," he said.

This extended, in the pope's view, to many issues.

"Indeed, questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet," he said.

Pope Benedict's speech focused on universal principles rather than on specific political issues - it was a ringing affirmation of human rights as a gift from God rather than a construct of laws that can be revised by those in power.

The U.N.'s role, in the pope's view, is to help protect those rights. "The action of the international community and its institutions, provided that it respects the principles undergirding the international order, should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty," he said. "On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage."

That does not mean he was urging armed conflict. "What is needed is a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation," he said.

Pope Benedict also spoke about the importance of guaranteeing religious freedom - not just the right to worship, but also to express religiously based views in the public square. "It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights," he said. The pope also spoke of the need to protect religious minorities.

Pope Arrives in NYC

2008-04-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in New York. AP Photo.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived this morning at Kennedy Airport, where church and government leaders greeted him.

He's just at the midpoint in his six-day journey to America, but it's not too soon to consider what kind of public persona has developed for the pontiff. Recall that polls taken before the trip showed that while most Americans had a positive view of him, the vast majority knew little about the pope.

This is going to be a matter of perception, of course, but I find that he's established himself as a graceful presence. His English is clear and his accent pleasing. He's surprised many by publicly addressing the American Catholic Church's serious problems - not what might be expected from a pope who has spent decades working in the Vatican bureaucracy.

He's managed to be direct in his criticisms without coming across as a scold; there is a warmth that comes through his professorial demeanor. From the nation's capital, he's given Americans a devastating critique of their culture and at the same time shown his great appreciation for what makes this country and its people great. As expected, he's given some intellectually sophisticated talks that are worth re-reading. But he also has connected on an emotional level, meeting with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Those are some initial impressions, but there is much more to come. Pope Benedict is to speak at the United Nations, visit a synagogue and then lead an interfaith prayer service at St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan's Yorkville section.

Pope Meets with Abuse Victims - Second Update

2008-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

Barbara Blaine, founder of an organization that advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse, said she thought it might happen - that Pope Benedict XVI would meet privately with some of the victims during his visit to Washington and New York.

In fact, she said, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, had requested just such a session in January. "Our request has been ignored," said Blaine, SNAP's president.

Nonetheless, the pope met at the Vatican embassy in Washington on Thursday afternoon with five victims, seeing each one in private for a few minutes. A Vatican spokesman said some wept.

By repeatedly returning to the issue of clergy sexual abuse, Pope Benedict has demonstrated that it matters to him. He has admitted his own shame at the scandal and spoken with affection for the victims. Keep in mind that within some church circles, there have been attempts to diminish the scandal - to charge that the news media have overplayed it and failed to pay heed to the reforms that have been made.

Update: In fact (and thanks to John Allen of National Catholic Reporter for the reminder), then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger minimized the scandal in 2002 and assailed the American media for conducting a "campaign to discredit the Church." As pope, he has not gone down that road. He has even put the story back on front pages, and several days in a row.

By meeting with victims, the cerebral pontiff has connected on an emotional level. Despite that, something is still missing: The scandal is about a cover-up as well as about the actual sexual abuse. Pope Benedict seemed to allude to that by agreeing that the scandal was "at times very badly handled." We'll have to wait to see if he'll go further in addressing the church's institutional failure in this regard.

Until then, we have what SNAP called a "small and long overdue step forward on a very long road."

Update: The Boston Globe reports that Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who joined Pope Benedict, had arranged the meeting. The cardinal had tried to persuade the pope to visit Boston on his trip, saying it was the best place to address the sexual abuse scandal. The Globe's articles in January, 2002 focused on the cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston.

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI at ceremony with interreligious leaders at John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. Earlier, he met privately with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

In the dean's office

2008-04-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

There was a bit of drama when the heads of all the nation's Catholic colleges were called into the dean's office at the same time. But they got off without a suspension or even a stern reprimand - just a reminder of who's in charge and what's expected of them.

However elegantly phrased, Pope Benedict XVI's lecture to leaders of the Catholic academic community didn't break new ground in the debate over how Catholic the Catholic colleges should be. This is a long-running issue; the Vatican set out its expectations in a 1990 document, "Ex Corde Ecclesiae," and Benedict's comments reflected it. Nearly 20 years after that document, Catholic college campuses have continued to be divided by controversies over their Catholic identity, often centering around performances of the Eve Ensler play "The Vagina Monologues."

Beyond serving as a reminder that he takes "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" seriously, the pope's address fit a broader theme of his trip - a call for a renewed, hope-filled sense of Catholic mission. He delivered a similar message to the nation's bishops last night and to the faithful in a homily at Mass in Nationals Park today.

"A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students," he said at one point. "It is a question of conviction."

Nor is Catholic identity "a question of statistics," he said, a reference to the debate over how much of a Catholic college's faculty should be Catholic. "Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content," he said. "It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith."

Some may find the pope's definition of academic freedom to be unsettling. Benedict said he is all for it, but added, "Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission."

But this was in line with the Vatican's 1990 document, so it should not have surprised anyone on the receiving end of the pope's lecture.

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Catholic University. Getty/Mark Wilson

John Kerry Receives Communion at Papal Mass

2008-04-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sen. John Kerry received communion at the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI celebrated today in Washington, The AP reports. That wouldn't normally be newsworthy - but for the fact that a huge controversy raged during the 2004 presidential campaign when a few bishops announced that they would deny the Eucharist to Kerry, a Catholic, because of his support for abortion rights.

Kerry, who received communion from a priest at a spot far off from the altar where the pope presided, said there was nothing political about it.

Catholic anti-abortion groups had been trying to stoke outrage over the prospect that Kerry, and other Catholic politicians with whom they disagree, would receive communion at the papal Mass. One group, the American Life League, announced that it would photograph them as they received communion.

The furor in the 2004 campaign has not prevented Kerry from receiving the Eucharist, which, according to Catholic teaching, is the "source and summit of the Christian life." According to Catholic News Service, Kerry received communion from Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio to the United States, when he attended the installation Mass of Washington's Archbishop Donald Wuerl in 2006.

During the presidential race, a letter issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was taken by some bishops as support for denying communion to Catholic politicians who supported the legal right to abortion.

After consulting with the Vatican, the U.S. Catholic bishops eventually came up with a policy - one that didn't really resolve the issue. It allowed each bishop to make his own judgment.

"Bishops can legitimately make different judgments on the most prudent course of pastoral action," it said. "Nevertheless, we all share an unequivocal commitment to protect human life and dignity and to preach the Gospel in difficult times. The polarizing tendencies of election-year politics can lead to circumstances in which Catholic teaching and sacramental practice can be misused for political ends."

Photo: Priest distributes communion during Mass at Nationals Park in Washington. Getty/Chip Somodevilla.

Music at Papal Mass a `Mish-Mash'?

2008-04-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Congregation at Nationals Park. Win McNamee/Getty Images.

The Archdiocese of Washington showed off the diversity of the American Catholic Church in the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI celebrated at the new Nationals Park today, using multiple languages in the prayers and featuring music that ranged from Latin (as in Latin American, not the ancient language) to spirituals to opera. It differed from Wednesday night's vespers service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where songs and prayers in Latin (as in ancient Rome) predominated.

Not everyone was satisfied. Father Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent New York priest who is commenting on the papal visit for the conservative Catholic television network EWTN, called the music "a grand mish-mash" and a "liturgical stew ... which I expect tried Benedict's patience a good deal."

Benedict, of course, has encouraged wider use of the 1962 rite usually called the Latin Mass. But if he was less than captivated by the diverse music in Nationals Park, it didn't show.

It sounded good to me.

- Paul Moses

Pope Speaks on Hope for Healing

2008-04-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Like a musician on tour, Pope Benedict XVI is playing the songs from his most recent CD. From a stage-like altar in Nationals Park, he spoke at length about hope – a reprise of his encyclical, Spe Salvi, or "Saved by Hope."

"Americans have always been a people of hope," he said. "… And the Christian virtue of hope - the hope poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the hope which supernaturally purifies and corrects our aspirations by focusing them on the Lord and his saving plan - that hope has also marked, and continues to mark, the life of the Catholic community in this country."

And then the pope returned, for the third time in his journey, to speaking about the clergy sexual abuse scandal. "It is in the context of this hope born of God's love and fidelity that I acknowledge the pain which the Church in America has experienced as a result of the sexual abuse of minors," he said. "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse. It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately describe the damage that has occurred within the community of the Church."

The pope applied his lofty ideals directly to the American church’s grittiest scandal – a move to heal wounds that are an obstacle to the church’s mission. He enlisted lay Catholics in this healing process:

"Yesterday I spoke with your bishops about this," he said. "Today I encourage each of you to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have been hurt. Also, I ask you to love your priests, and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do. And above all, pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out his gifts upon the Church, the gifts that lead to conversion, forgiveness and growth in holiness."

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass at Nationals Park. Getty.