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09/04/2010 (3:45)
The pilgrim season is upon us here at the Vatican, with hundreds of
thousands of people arriving for Easter celebrations. Today on the
Vatican Report we’ll look at the flow of pilgrims in Rome, and how
it changes throughout the year. I’m Carol Glatz, Catholic News
Service Rome correspondent.
And I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. The annual Palm Sunday
and Easter liturgies bring more than 50,000 people to St. Peter’s
Square. It’s the kind of crowd this square was designed for, and
when it happens, you really do feel like that it’s the universal
church. This used to be a spiritual gathering place for Romans and
other Italians. Today the Vatican is an international crossroads.
You see that even at the pope’s weekly audiences, when groups from
every continent hold up signs and sing songs in different languages.
There’s a definite rhythm to the influx of pilgrims. Low season is
winter. That’s the time when the pope’s audience hall has some empty
seats. From Easter to early summer, it’s wall-to-wall people here.
The lines for St. Peter’s and the Vatican Museums stretch for
blocks, and the weekly audience moves outdoors. In the mid-summer
heat, the pope goes away for a couple of months, and the flow of
visitors drops off. Everybody comes back again in September, and
it’s high season again.
What do pilgrims do at the Vatican? Well, they see the pope and get
his blessing, either at his Wednesday audience or his Sunday
appearance at his apartment window. If they’re lucky, they can
attend a papal Mass. The Vatican keeps a rough count, and says that
every year some 3 or 4 million people attend these papal events.
Pilgrims also visit St. Peter’s Basilica: some go to the top of the
dome for a birds-eye view of Vatican City, many go down to the crypt
to visit the tombs of St. Peter and Pope John Paul II and the other
90 popes who are buried there. And they crowd into the Vatican
Museums, where last year more than 4 million people went through the
turnstiles.
Most visitors are happy just wandering through St. Peter’s or the
museums. Others take guided tours, which are offered by freelancers
on the perimeter of Vatican City. Some pilgrims are familiar with
the Vatican’s jumbled landscape of art and architecture. Others are
much less prepared. One tour guide who took a group to the Sistine
Chapel was asked: “If this is the Sixteen, where are the other
fifteen chapels?” The Sistine was actually named after Pope Sixtus
IV, who commissioned the chapel.
It is possible to get away from the crowds. You can join small
groups and visit the Vatican Gardens or the archeological
excavations beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. That takes planning -- you
have to make reservations, usually months in advance. But it can be
done, just go to the website saintpetersbasilica.org.
There’s a lot of other information available at the Vatican’s
various Web sites. For example, thanks to a Villanova University
project, online visitors can now take a 360-degree virtual tour of
the Sistine Chapel, seeing Michelangelo’s frescoes from every angle.
For the armchair pilgrim, it’s almost as good as being there. I’m
John Thavis.
And I’m Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.
Pope: The world needs the joy that springs
from truth
01/04/2010 (1:09)
“The joy that comes from Christ gives us happiness, but it also
gives us the ability to suffer and to continue being intimately
happy even when we suffer.” This is what Benedict XVI said on
Thursday, April 1st, during the homily of the Chrism Mass, which he
presided over in St. Peter’s Basilica with 1,600 priests of the
Diocese of Rome and from the Roman universities, who afterwards
renewed their priestly promises together with the attending
cardinals and bishops.
The Pontiff then blessed the oils of the Catechumens and of the Sick
and the Holy Chrism, which will be used in the sacraments throughout
the year. “Let us pray to be capable of bringing the joy of the Holy
Spirit” Benedict XVI said to the priests, “to a world that so
urgently needs the joy that springs from truth.” The consecrated
oil, the Pope explained, “is always a sign of God’s mercy,” which we
as priests have the mission of bringing to all men and women.
Priests and all Christians, Benedict XVI said, must be people of
peace, because the Cross expresses a “no” to violence. But they must
also be prepared to suffer for good, for God. Prepared to deny all
“injustice that is elevated to a right, for example, when it is
about killing innocent unborn babies,” the Pope concluded
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Pope: Priests are messengers of hope and
peace.
31/03/2010 (1:37)
A long spiritual journey, by many gestures and meanings, which in
silence and prayer allows us to contemplate the mystery of the
Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. To over 11 thousand
faithful gathered in St Peter's Square for the general audience,
Benedict XVI explained the ceremonies of Holy Week. First, the
Chrism Mass, during which the oils are blessed and bishops and
priests renew their priestly vows. "Be messengers of hope,
reconciliation and peace" urged the Pope, recalling the Year for
Priests currently in progress. With the Lord's Supper, the Pontiff
continued, we remember the institution of the Eucharist. "Under the
species of bread and wine, Christ is present in a real way with his
body and his blood shed as a sacrifice of the New Covenant" and at
the same time, "institutes the apostles and their successors as
ministers of this sacrament" . On Good Friday, he said, we live the
passion and death of Jesus, who "willed to offer his life in
sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind." Holy Saturday
is marked by a great silence, which breaks with the song of the
Alleluia, during the Easter Vigil that announces the resurrection of
Christ and proclaims the victory of light over darkness, life over
death."
Benedict XVI: "I therefore urge you to live these days intensely, so
that they may decisively orient the life of all towards a generous
commitment to Christ, who died and rose for us."
06/07/2010 (2:08)
The Holy Land is marked by complex political tensions and religious disagreements which often reflect current events, feeding fear and division. Because of this, it becomes necessary to tell another "story", one that reveals the cultural, human and spiritual vitality of this strip of land upon which the peace of the world depends.
For this reason H2onews has decided to launch a collaborative initiative with the Franciscan Multimedia Center, the broadcast center of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem opened in 2008. Its purpose is not only to voice the needs and hopes of the local Catholic community but also to recount events related to cultural and religious realities of the Orthodox and Protestants, as well as Islam and Judaism.
Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa: "The idea of the Franciscan Multimedia Center was founded five years ago and became operational, real, almost three years ago. The idea was this: our job, that of Christians and Franciscans in the Holy Land, is to make the Holy Land known in the world today and the medium that is necessary today is multimedia, television. So we decided to create a center that delivers these services and puts them at the disposal of the Catholic Church, for those Catholic television stations in the world who are unable to be in the Holy Land. This was our original idea.
The Church in the Holy Land would therefore address the universal Church.
Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa: "The collaboration with h2o for us right now is strategically important because
it corresponds exactly to what was our initial vision. We have a production center but we need to communicate,
to make known this news in the world. And H2O, this channel, allows us to bring to the Catholic world the news
from the Holy Land.
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St. Joseph Carried Out His Mission in Silence
05/07/2010 (1:23)
"Relying on God doesn't mean acting entirely clearly according to our criteria. Rather, entrusting oneself to God
means emptying oneself, renouncing oneself, because only those who agree to lose themselves for God can be 'just'
like St. Joseph." Benedict XVI stressed this today when he inaugurated a new fountain in the Vatican Gardens,
dedicated to Saint Joseph. "This beautiful fountain," he explained," is a symbolic reminder of the values of
simplicity and humility in accomplishing God's will every day, values which characterised the silent but
invaluable life of the Custodian of the Redeemer." Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Governorate of
Vatican City State, said devotion to the Holy carpenter of Nazareth and homage to Benedict XVI are what inspired
the creation the fountain and which its creator followed at all stages of its execution. Located on a small hill,
the fountain is formed by two overlapping elliptical tubs and is embellished with six bronze panels made by the
artist Belluno Franco Murer. The six panels depict scenes from the life of the putative father of Jesus:
the wedding, the first dream of Joseph, the birth of the Savior, the flight into Egypt, the finding of Jesus in
the Temple and the work of the family of Nazareth. To complete the composition, a small palm, evoking biblical
references and the landscape of Palestine.
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Brazilian Priests in the Holy Land
02/07/2010 (2:41)
A very special pilgrimage took place in recent days in the Holy Land. After three days in Rome to mark the end of
the Year for Priests, 400 Brazilian priests came to the Land of Jesus as pilgrims. This is one of the most
numerous pilgrimages of priests to come from the same country.
From the South American continent to Asia a great distance must be covered, with few things in your backpack,
and a lot of enthusiasm, joy and prayer.
Father Robert is celebrating10 years of priesthood ... such a special way to commemorate this anniversary will
forever change his ministry.
During the day, the larger group was divided into sub-groups of 50 priests with their guide to visit the various
shrines and then rejoined all together for a Eucharistic celebration. The first Mass was celebrated together in
Jerusalem at the Basilica of Gethsemane, the place of Jesus' agony ... a place full of meaning, especially for
priests who were visiting the Holy Land for the first time.
P. Roberto - Diocese of Iguatu - Ceara (Brazil)
"For me it was a renewal for my vocation, and for my life ... to follow on in the Church asks of me every day.
For me it is a joy to walk where Jesus walked, ... it means to call me to be another Christ, right where I live,
in my parishes, in my diocese."
In Brazil, a country with 193 million inhabitants, there are 18,000 priests, just one for every 10 000 inhabitants.
It is a small number for such enormous pastoral need, but the enthusiasm of these Brazilian priests shows a living Church, with strong missionary zeal.
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Pope Benedict: God is a Living Person, Close to Us
28/06/2010 (1:15)
"Freedom and love are one and the same! By contrast, obeying one's own selfishness leads to rivalries and conflicts."
In his Angelus on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI returned to the them of Christ's call and his demands. He said these can appear harsh, but in reality they express the newness and absolute priority of the Kingdom of God, which comes into being in the Person of Jesus Christ himself.
The Pope explained that those who give up everything, even themselves, to follow Jesus enter a new dimension of freedom, one that Saint Paul calls 'living by the Spirit'
At the end of the Marian prayer, the Pope expressed his joy at the announcement of a new blessed: Estéphan Nehme, a member of the Lebanese maronite order whose life spanned the 19th and 20th century who was beatified Sunday in Lebanon. In greetings in Polish the Pope talked about teh summer holiday season which is just around the corner for many people. He said he hoped this encounter with nature, new people and the fruits of human creativity are not just the occasion for the recovery of intellectual strength and development but also a more intense encounter with God and a strengthening of faith.
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Pope: “The Truth is Accessible to Human Reason"
16/06/2010 (1:57)
At his weekly general audience today, Pope Benedict XVI said that all people, believers and non believers, are called to recognize the needs of human nature expressed in natural law and guided by positive law issued by civil and political authorities to regulate human coexistence. He said that when the natural law and the responsibilities it entails are denied, “it dramatically opens up the way for ethical relativism at the individual level, and for totalitarianism at the political and state level.”
Benedict XVI also returned to talk about the figure of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who in his studies in the 13th century tried "to discern the intelligence and coherence of the truths of the Christian faith with the help of human reason, but always enlightened by faith. "
In fact, in Aquinas’s thought, the Pope said, these two instruments - although using different cognitive processes - come from the same "single source of all truth, the divine Logos." Thus faith "protects the reason of each temptation to distrust one’s own abilities and encourage one to be open to ever wider horizons," he said. Meanwhile "reason, with its means," proves "the foundations of faith," he went on, "mediating similarities, the truths of faith "and rejecting" the objections raised against the faith. "
This fundamental agreement between human reason and Christian faith, the Pope said, is identified in another basic principle St. Thomas’s thought: that "divine grace does not destroy, but builds upon and perfects human nature." “Human nature, even after sin,” concluded the Pope, “is not completely corrupt, but only wounded and weakened,” and therefore still able to pursue happiness, the natural desire of every human person.
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Pope: "The Eucharist Requires Us and Makes Us Capable of Love"
16/06/2010 (1:19)
Tuesday evening in the Roman Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope opened the proceedings of the conference of the Diocese of Rome, dedicated to the Sunday Eucharist and the witness of charity.
The celebration of the Eucharist, Benedict XVI explained in his address, is a meeting with the Risen Christ "present in our day," requires us to become, and at the same time makes us capable of becoming, the bread broken for our brothers and sisters, meeting their needs and giving of ourselves."
Pope Benedict XVI: "For this reason, a Eucharist celebration that does not lead us towards men and women where they live, work and suffer, to bring them the love of God, fails to express the truth it contains."
The gestures of sharing, in fact, "allow the building of the civilization of love", and when we receive Christ in the Eucharist, the love of God grows in our hearts, making us capable of gestures which, by the contagious power of goodness, can transform the lives of people around us".