Paven

Et kjent kloster ble nylig stengt i Roma, uten at så mange la merke til det, eller forstod betydningen av det. Men John Allen forklarer hvorfor dette skjedde – og hvordan dette er blitt en del av pave Benedikts permanente politikk:

… For those with eyes to see, the suppression of the Cistercian abbey at the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, one of the traditional seven major pilgrimage sites in Rome, rates far more than placement in a «news of the weird» column. Instead, it’s the latest chapter in what might be called a «Quiet Revolution» under Pope Benedict XVI, referring to a reform in clerical culture beginning in Rome and radiating beyond.

The essence of it is this: it’s the end of the «by their fruits, you shall know them» logic that once translated into a free pass, or at least a strong benefit of the doubt, for superstar clerics and high-profile groups charged with misconduct. Once upon a time, the working assumption in officialdom often was that if someone is doing great good for the church, then allegations of sexual or financial impropriety against them were likely bogus, and taking them too seriously risked encouraging the enemies of the faith.

Without great fanfare, Benedict XVI has made it clear that today a new rule applies. No matter how accomplished a person or institution may be, if they’re also involved in what the pontiff once memorably called the «filth» in the church, they’re not beyond reach. …

Les resten selv.

Det er noen dager siden nå, men pave Benedikt startet sitt besøk i Nord-Italia sist uke i den gamle storbyen Aquileia – som det nå dessverre er veldig lite igjen av, heller ikke mange ruiner. Paven snakket begeistret om vår kristne tro, både fra tidligere tider da Aquileia var så viktig for Kirkens misjonsvirksomhet, og i vår tid (fra Vatikanradioens nettsider):

… Pope Benedict wasted no time in establishing the themes and the tone of the visit, right from the get-go. In Aquileia, the Holy Father’s first public remarks were at the Piazza del Capitolo outside the Basilica of Aquileia. Often these greetings are really just an exchange of official pleasantries, but this time, Pope Benedict praised the Church of Aquileia in a prose that waxed rhapsodic.

He recalled the ancient roots of the Church, the Aquileian Church’s pivotal role in the evangelization of central Europe and also – this is poignant – in the defence of the true faith against the Arian heresy – a false teaching in the early centuries of the Church, which denied the full divinity of Christ. In this connection, Pope Benedict mentioned the great bishop Cromatius of Aquileia, by name. He was, said Pope Benedict, diligent and attentive as St Augustine of Hippo or St Ambrose of Milan – and St Jerome, a figure not known to praise often or lightly, called him “Holy and learned among the bishops.” So, Pope Benedict celebrated the way in which he worked to serve the Church: a perfect synthesis of learning and loving care for his flock.

But the Holy Father didn’t stop with the praise of Aquileia’s past glories: he also encouraged the faithful of Aquileia and all her daughter Churches in equally thrilling language:

“Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, children and heirs of the glorious Church of Aquileia, I am now among you to admire this rich and ancient tradition, but above all, I am here to confirm you in the deep faith of your fathers: in this hour of history,” he said, “rediscover, defend, and professes with warmth of spirit this fundamental truth.”

Dette bildet (over) tok jeg selv i domkirken i Aquileia i mars 2010, da vi var der. I denne kirken opplevde jeg dessverre også en av mine verste messer noen sinne.

Ingen kan bli frelst uten gjennom jesus Kristus, lærer Den katolske Kirke, men den er nokså mht å forklare hvordan de som ikke har hørt om Jesus skal oppnå denne frelsen – og om hvordan jødene skal bli omvendt til ham. Dette siste ble diskutert en del for et par måneder siden, da pave benedikts andre bind om evangeliene «Jesus fra Nasaret» kom ut. John Allen skrev slik om dette da:

… another point with important (from the book has) implications for Christian/Jewish relations — in effect, that Christianity “must not concern herself with the conversion of the Jews.” The comment comes in Benedict XVI’s book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, the full text of which was released today.

While the pope does not affirm a theory propounded by some theologians holding that the Jews will be saved independently of Christ, experts say, he does clearly suggest the church should not be targeting Jews for conversion efforts.

“Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it ‘as a whole’ at the proper time, when the number of Gentiles is full,” the pope writes. The historical duration of this “proper time,” Benedict says, cannot be calculated. …

Allen viser videre i denne artikkelen til at dette spørsmålet er ganske komplisert:

… Almost ten years ago, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles was critical of a joint statement from the National Council of Synagogues and the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference to the effect that “targeting Jews for conversion to Christianity” is “no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church.”

Dulles replied that the church cannot curtail the scope of the gospel without betraying itself: “Once we grant that there are some persons for whom it is not important to acknowledge Christ, to be baptized and to receive the sacraments, we raise questions about our own religious life,” he wrote.

Subsequently, the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine issued a clarification in 2009 that most experts regarded as largely upholding the position taken by Dulles. Its conclusion was, “The fulfillment of the covenants, indeed, of all God’s promises to Israel, is found only in Jesus Christ.”

Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine, cautioned that Benedict XVI’s lines on Judaism in the new book do not endorse a “two-covenant” theology, meaning that Christianity and Judaism represent two parallel paths to salvation, so that Jews are saved without any reference to Christ.

At the same time, Weinandy said, the pope’s words do clearly indicate that “there’s no specific program that the Catholic church has to convert Jews, which is in God’s time.”

Rabbi Jacob Neusner, a Jewish scholar whose Biblical writings have been praised by Benedict XVI, said the pope’s conciliatory statements about Judaism in Jesus of Nazareth are all the more powerful because they’re grounded in scholarship rather than mere inter-faith diplomacy. “He’s talking about truth, not about convenience,” Neusner said.

Etter saligkåringsseremonien søndag og også hele mandagen (regner jeg med) var en stor mengde mennesker inne i Peterskirken å så den salige pavens kiste – som da lå midt i kirken, foran høyalteret. Tirsdag ble så kisten flyttet til sitt faste hvilested, i den hellige Sebastians kapell.

I en kommentar her på bloggen i går kveld ble det skrevet: «… TV2 viste bilder fra Roma og kommenterte at seremonien hadde begynt ute, men nå var den visst flyttet inn. De viste bilder av kisten foran høyalteret, og programlederen kommenterte at det trolig var pave Johannes Pauls legeme som var i kisten, men at de ikke hadde fått det bekreftet. Men de anså det som sannsynlig. På 21-nyhetene var det ingenting om den “såkalte saligkåringen” som de så treffende uttrykte det tidligere i dag. Den såkalte nyhetskanalen viser sitt sanne kulturelle jeg. Dekningen av hendelsen i Roma som de tilfeldigvis må ha fått øye på i internasjonale medier i dag, står i grell kontrast til totaldekningen av vielsen i England forleden.»

På sine nettsider har flere norske aviser tatt med en NTB-melding (Vårt Land har den her ganske komplett), ser er ganske grei. Det eneste jeg ikke har fått med meg er om bønnen inne i kirken ved den salige Johannes pauls kiste var før eller etter messen på Petersplassen. Vårt Land har også mange bilder på sine nettsider.

Denne videoen ble lagt ut fredag – kisten ble flyttet som en forberedelse til salingkåringen søndag.

Denne skikkelig tabloide overskrifta viser til en artikkel av William Oddie i dag i the Catholic Herald. Han forsvarer med stor kraft saligkåringa kommende søndag, og sier at pave Johannes Paul II gjorde mye mer enn mange nå ser ut til å huske for å få Kirken på rett kurs igjen. Slik skriver han bl.a.:

We have short memories; we take our recent history too easily for granted. Few people, it seems – at least among those who imply that the problems we still face as a Church were actually Pope John Paul’s fault – remember the state of the Catholic Church at the end of the reign of the unhappy Pope Paul VI, during which forces of disintegration were unleashed within the Church which brought it to the edge of losing all credibility as a defender of basic Christian orthodoxy. …

He was speaking particularly about the liturgy: but just as disastrous was the unchallenged rise during his pontificate of the so-called “alternative magisterium” of Küng, Schillebeeckx and the rest of their malign brood. It was a time of great destruction; and to destroy is always easier than to rebuild. Recovering from the aftermath of the Council will take 100 years. But Pope John Paul began the fightback: he set the barque of Peter, and the Church with it, firmly back on course.

His greatest achievement, as I have already written in this column, was that he did more than any pope of the last century to defend and reassert beyond any doubt the stable and objective character of Catholic teaching. He saw off the alternative magisterium, not by suppressing individuals (though Küng, for instance, had his licence to teach Catholic doctrine removed) but by clear and unequivocal teaching: and as I wrote when the beatification was announced, as a result he made it possible for hundreds of thousands of non-Catholics like myself, tired of the uncertainties of secularised versions of Christianity, to come into full communion with the Holy See. …

Oddie har også med et sitat fra Malcolm Muggeridge som viser tendensen på 70-tallet (og som var nytt for meg). I boka om mor Teresa, «Something Beautiful for God», skriver han bl.a.:

“…that the Church, for inscrutable reasons of its own, has decided to have a reformation just when the previous one – Luther’s – is finally running into the sand.

I make no judgment about something which, as a non-member, is no concern of mine; but if I were a member, then I should be forced to say that, in my opinion, if men were to be stationed at the doors of churches with whips to drive worshippers away, or inside the religious orders specifically to discourage vocations, or among the clergy to spread alarm and despondency, they could not hope to be as effective in achieving these ends as are trends and policies seemingly now dominant within the Church. …»

Det er sikkert flere enn meg som husker pave Johannes Paul IIs requiemmesse (på bildet over) svært godt – NB i en paves begravelse skal røde messeklær brukes.

Noen har vært kritiske til saligkåringen, og katolsk.no har i dag lagt ut en artikkel som tar opp denne kritikken – og sier at kritikken er grunnløs. Slik skriver de bl.a.:

I et ferskt intervju med CNA tilbakeviser den pavelige biograf og akademiker George Weigel kritikken mot saligkåringen av Johannes Paul II. Weigel er mannen bak Johannes Paul-biografien «Witness to hope» fra 1999. Bind to av den omfattende biografien ble sluppet i 2010 og fullførte mange års arbeid med å sikre livshistorien og arven etter den polske paven.

Undersøkelsene rundt Johannes Paul IIs liv er meget grundige, og resultatet utgjør fire tykke bind, sier Weigel til CNA. Samtidig tilbakeviser han påstandene om at saligkåringsprosessen er gjennomført på en ukritisk og for rask måte. – I Mor Teresas tilfelle tilsidesatte Johannes Paul selv den vanlige femårsperioden mellom en persons død og den offisielle åpningen av saligkåringsprosessen. …

… Ropene fra folkemengden om snarlig helligkåring under Johannes Pauls begravelse – santo subito – ga gjenklang også i det påfølgende konklavet. Dette avslører kardinal Camillo Ruini, daværende leder av Den italienske bispekonferansen. I følge Ruini ble han under konklavet overlevert et opprop fra kardinalene, som oppfordret den neste paven til å tilsidesette femårsregelen for umiddelbart å kunne sette i gang saligkåringsprosessen av Johannes Paul.

Da vi gjorde vår entre inn til konklavet, ble jeg overrakt et brev signert av mange kardinaler som anerkjente folkekravet om å igansette saligkåringsprossessen umiddelbart. Brevet ble gitt til meg siden kardinalene ikke visste hvem som kom til å bli valgt i konklavet, sier Ruini til det italienske nyhetsbyrået AGI. …

John Allen skriver også interessant om det samme spørsmålet: Beatification Q&A #1: What’s the Rush? – In death as in life, John Paul a sign of contradiction.

En av mange rapporter fra Petersplassen i dag skriver bl.a.:

Benedict celebrated Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square, packed with pilgrims and tourists and awash in the bright colors of spring flowers as he marked the church’s most joyous day of the year. …

.. Christians worldwide on Easter Sunday recall Jesus’ resurrection, a sign of eternal life, following his crucifixion. This year, Easter fell on the same day in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church calendars.

But while «in heaven, all is peace and gladness,» Benedict said in his message, delivered after the Mass from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, «alas, it is not so on earth.» He lamented that hunger, disease, war and violence still cause suffering in the world.

He prayed for people in the Middle East, «so that the light of peace and of human dignity may overcome the darkness of division, hate and violence.» …

.. By the time the pope delivered his speech, well over 100,000 people had thronged to the area. Resplendent in gold-colored robes, Benedict led the ceremony from an altar set up on the steps of the basilica, under a red canopy to shield him from rain or sun. Skies over the Vatican alternated between clouds and peeks of sun.

The 84-year-old Benedict looked relaxed, although his voice cracked a bit as he intoned prayers during the sung parts of the Mass. His voice had sounded hoarse at times the previous evening, when the pope led a late-night Easter Vigil Mass lit by candles in the basilica. …