Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014 - Litany Lane Blog:
Canon, Psalms 118, Acts 2:42-47, John 20:19-31, Pope Francis's Daily Catechesis, Canonization and Biographies of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, Catholic Catechism Part Three: Life in Christ Section Two: The Ten Commandment Chapter Two: Sixth Commandment Article 6:2 The Vocation to Chastity
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge, reason and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. The Seven Gifts of
the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the
Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun
the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and
gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Prayers for Today: Sunday in Easter
Rosary - Glorious Mysteries
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis Daily Catechesis:
Sunday April 27, 2014
(2014-04-27 Vatican Radio)
The Catholic Church's two newest saints were "popes of the twentieth century" and "were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Christ," said Pope Francis on Sunday.
"They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them," Pope Francis said in his homily (offered below). "For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful -- faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man and the Lord of history."
Earlier in the Mass, also attended by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis read the formal proclamation of sainthood during the canonization rite. The crowd roared with applause upon hearing their names read in Latin in the official proclamation.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have gathered in and around St Peter's Square for the canonization Mass for Saints John XXIII and John Paul II. Thousands more pilgrims gathered in squares around the city to watch the Mass on big screens. Some 100 heads of state and governments were also in attendance.
Pope Francis described Saint John XXIII as "the pope of openness to the Spirit" and Saint John Paul II as "the pope of the family", each description followed by applause.
Pope Francis also underlined the deep faith of his two predecessors: "These were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy."
The two new saints "teach us to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy," he concluded.
At the time of publication, the Mass was ongoing. Updates to follow.
Read the full text of Pope Francis' homily below:
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Mass of Canonization, 27 April 2014
At the heart of this Sunday, which concludes the Octave of Easter and which John Paul II wished to dedicate to Divine Mercy, are the glorious wounds of the risen Jesus.
He had already shown those wounds when he first appeared to the Apostles on the very evening of that day following the Sabbath, the day of the resurrection. But, as we heard, Thomas was not there that evening, and when the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he replied that unless he himself saw and touched those wounds, he would not believe. A week later, Jesus appeared once more to the disciples gathered in the Upper Room, and Thomas was present; Jesus turned to him and told him to touch his wounds. Whereupon that man, so straightforward and accustomed to testing everything personally, knelt before Jesus with the words: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).
The wounds of Jesus are a scandal, a stumbling block for faith, yet they are also the test of faith. That is why on the body of the risen Christ the wounds never pass away: they remain, for those wounds are the enduring sign of God’s love for us. They are essential for believing in God. Not for believing that God exists, but for believing that God is love, mercy and faithfulness. Saint Peter, quoting Isaiah, writes to Christians: “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet 2:24, cf. Is 53:5).
Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands and his pierced side. They were not ashamed of the flesh of Christ, they were not scandalized by him, by his cross; they did not despise the flesh of their brother (cf. Is 58:7), because they saw Jesus in every person who suffers and struggles. These were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy.
They were priests, bishops and popes of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful – faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man and the Lord of history; the mercy of God, shown by those five wounds, was more powerful; and more powerful too was the closeness of Mary our Mother.
In these two men, who looked upon the wounds of Christ and bore witness to his mercy, there dwelt a living hope and an indescribable and glorious joy (1 Pet 1:3,8). The hope and the joy which the risen Christ bestows on his disciples, the hope and the joy which nothing and no one can take from them. The hope and joy of Easter, forged in the crucible of self-denial, self-emptying, utter identification with sinners, even to the point of disgust at the bitterness of that chalice. Such were the hope and the joy which these two holy popes had received as a gift from the risen Lord and which they in turn bestowed in abundance upon the People of God, meriting our eternal gratitude.
This hope and this joy were palpable in the earliest community of believers, in Jerusalem, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 2:42-47), as we heard in the second reading. It was a community which lived the heart of the Gospel, love and mercy, in simplicity and fraternity.
This is also the image of the Church which the Second Vatican Council set before us. John XXIII and John Paul II cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her pristine features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries. Let us not forget that it is the saints who give direction and growth to the Church. In convening the Council, John XXIII showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit. He let himself be led and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader, led by the Spirit. This was his great service to the Church; he was the pope of openness to the Spirit.
In his own service to the People of God, John Paul II was the pope of the family. He himself once said that he wanted to be remembered as the pope of the family. I am particularly happy to point this out as we are in the process of journeying with families towards the Synod on the family. It is surely a journey which, from his place in heaven, he guides and sustains.
May these two new saints and shepherds of God’s people intercede for the Church, so that during this two-year journey toward the Synod she may be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service to the family. May both of them teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ and to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives, because it always loves.
Reference: Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2014 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 04/27/2014
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Liturgical Celebrations to be presided over by Pope: 2105
Vatican City, spring 2014 (VIS)
The following is the English text of the intentions –
both universal and for evangelization – that, as is customary, the Pope
entrusted to the Apostleship of Prayer for 2015.
January
Universal: That those from diverse religious traditions
and all people of good will work together for peace.
Evangelization: That in this year
dedicated to consecrated life, religious men and women may rediscover the joy
of following Christ and strive to serve the poor with zeal.
February
Universal: That prisoners, especially the young, may be
able to rebuild lives of dignity.
Evangelization: That married people who are separated may
find welcome and support in the Christian community.
March
Universal: That those involved in
scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person.
Evangelization: That the unique
contribution of women to the life of the Church may be recognized always.
April
Universal: That people may learn to respect creation and
care for it as a gift of God.
Evangelization: That persecuted
Christians may feel the consoling presence of the Risen Lord and the solidarity
of all the Church.
May
Universal: That, rejecting the culture of indifference,
we may care for our neighbours who suffer, especially the sick and the poor.
Evangelization: That Mary’s
intercession may help Christians in secularized cultures be ready to proclaim
Jesus.
June
Universal: That immigrants and refugees may find welcome
and respect in the countries to which they come.
Evangelization: That the personal
encounter with Jesus may arouse in many young people the desire to offer their
own lives in priesthood or consecrated life.
July
Universal: That political responsibility may be lived at
all levels as a high form of charity.
Evangelization: That, amid social
inequalities, Latin American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor
and contribute to a more fraternal society.
August
Universal: That volunteers may
give themselves generously to the service of the needy.
Evangelization: That setting aside
our very selves we may learn to be neighbours to those who find themselves on
the margins of human life and society.
September
Universal: That
opportunities for education and employment may increase for all young people.
Evangelization: That catechists may
give witness by living in a way consistent with the faith they proclaim.
October
Universal: That human trafficking, the modern form of
slavery, may be eradicated.
Evangelization: That with a
missionary spirit the Christian communities of Asia may announce the Gospel to
those who are still awaiting it.
November
Universal: That we may be open to
personal encounter and dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ
from our own.
Evangelization: That pastors of the
Church, with profound love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven
their hope.
December
Universal: That all may experience the mercy of God, who
never tires of forgiving.
Evangelization: That families,
especially those who suffer, may find in the birth of Jesus a sign of certain
hope.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2014 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 04/27/2014.
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November 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children; Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you to love; to
continually pray for the gift of love; to love the Heavenly Father above
everything. When you love Him you will love yourself and your neighbor.
This cannot be separated. The Heavenly Father is in each person. He
loves each person and calls each person by his name. Therefore, my
children, through prayer hearken to the will of the Heavenly Father.
Converse with Him. Have a personal relationship with the Father which
will deepen even more your relationship as a community of my children –
of my apostles. As a mother I desire that, through the love for the
Heavenly Father, you may be raised above earthly vanities and may help
others to gradually come to know and come closer to the Heavenly Father.
My children, pray, pray, pray for the gift of love because 'love' is my
Son. Pray for your shepherds that they may always have love for you as
my Son had and showed by giving His life for your salvation. Thank you."
October 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: “Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will – and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
October 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God’s children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid, I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when he chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you." - See more at: http://litanylane.blogspot.com/2013/11/tuesday-november-12-2013-litany-lane.html#sthash.1QAVruYo.bk3E9rXR.dpuf
October 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: “Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will – and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
October 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God’s children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid, I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when he chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you." - See more at: http://litanylane.blogspot.com/2013/11/tuesday-november-12-2013-litany-lane.html#sthash.1QAVruYo.bk3E9rXR.dpuf
Today's Word: canon can·on [kan-uh
n]
Origin: before 900; Middle English, Old English < Latin < Greek kanṓn measuring rod, rule, akin to kánna cane
noun
1. an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the pope.
2. the body of ecclesiastical law.
3. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art: the neoclassical canon.
4. a fundamental principle or general rule: the canons of good behavior.
5. a standard; criterion: the canons of taste.
6. the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired.
7. any officially recognized set of sacred books.
8. any comprehensive list of books within a field.
9. the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic: There are 37 plays in the Shakespeare canon. Compare apocrypha ( def 3 ) .
10. a catalog or list, as of the saints acknowledged by the Church.
11. Liturgy. the part of the Mass between the Sanctus and the Communion.
12. Eastern Church . a liturgical sequence sung at matins, usually consisting of nine odes arranged in a fixed pattern.
13. Music. consistent, note-for-note imitation of one melodic line by another, in which the second line starts after the first.
14. Printing. a 48-point type.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 118:2-24
2 Let the House of Israel say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
3 Let the House of Aaron say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
4 Let those who fear Yahweh say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
13 I was pushed hard, to make me fall, but Yahweh came to my help.
14 Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my Saviour.
15 Shouts of joy and salvation, in the tents of the upright, 'Yahweh's right hand is triumphant,
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
23 This is Yahweh's doing, and we marvel at it.
24 This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad
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Today's Epistle - Acts 2:42-47
42 These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
43 And everyone was filled with awe; the apostles worked many signs and miracles.
44 And all who shared the faith owned everything in common;
45 they sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed.
46 Each day, with one heart, they regularly went to the Temple but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously;
47 they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved.
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Today's Gospel Reading - John 20:19-31
The mission of the disciples and the witness of Thomas the apostle
1. Opening prayer
Father, who on the
Lord’s day gather your people to celebrate the One who is the First and
the Last, the living One who conquered death, grant us the strength of
your Spirit so that, having broken the chains of evil, calmed our fears
and indecisions, we may render the free service of our obedience and
love, to reign in glory with Christ.
2. LECTIO
a) A key to the reading:
We are in the
so-called “book of the resurrection” where we are told, in a
not-so-logical sequence, several matters concerning the risen Christ and
the facts that prove it. In the fourth Gospel, these facts take place
in the morning (20:1-18) and evening of the first day after the Saturday
and eight days later, in the same place and on the same day of the
week. We are before an event that is the most important in the history
of humanity, an event that challenges us personally. “If Christ has not
been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is
useless… and you are still in your sins” (1Cor 15:14,17) says Paul the
apostle who had not known Jesus before his resurrection, but who
zealously preached him all his life. Jesus is the sent of the Father. He
also sends us. Our willingness to “go” comes from the depth of the
faith we have in the Risen One. Are we prepared to accept his “mandate”
and to give our lives for his Kingdom? This passage is not just about
the faith of those who have not seen (the witness of Thomas), but also
about the mission entrusted to the Church by Christ.
b) A suggested division of the text to facilitate its reading:
John 20:19-20: appearance to the disciples and showing of the wounds
John 20:21-23: gift of the Spirit for the mission
John 20:24-26: special appearance to Thomas eight days later
John 20:27-29: dialogue with Thomas
John 20:30-31: the aim of the Gospel according to John
John 20:21-23: gift of the Spirit for the mission
John 20:24-26: special appearance to Thomas eight days later
John 20:27-29: dialogue with Thomas
John 20:30-31: the aim of the Gospel according to John
c) The text:
19 On the evening of
that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the
disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them
and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When he had said this, he
showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when
they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 22 And when he had said
this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the
sins of any, they are retained."
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."
26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
3. A moment of silence to allow the Word to enter into our hearts
4. MEDITATIO
a) A few questions to help in our meditation:
Who or what drew my
interest and wonder in the reading? Is it possible for someone to
profess being Christian and yet not believe in the Resurrection of
Jesus? Is it so important to believe in the resurrection? What would be
different if we stopped at his teaching and witness of life? What does
the gift of the Spirit for the mission mean to me? How does Jesus’
mission in the world continue after the Resurrection? What is the
content of the missionary proclamation? What value has Thomas’ witness
for me? What are, if any, my doubts concerning the faith? How do I meet
them and still carry on? Am I able to give reasons for my faith?
b) Comment:
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week:
the disciples are living through an extraordinary day. For the
community, at the time of the writing of the fourth Gospel, the day
after the Sabbath is already “the Lord’s day” (Ap 1:10), Dies Domini
(Sunday) and is more important than the Sabbath was in the tradition of
the Jews.
The doors were closed:
a detail which shows that the body of the risen Jesus, even though
recognisable, is not subject to the ordinary laws of human life.
Peace be with you:
this is not just a wish, but the actual peace promised to them when
they were saddened by his departure (Jn 14:27; 2Thes 3:16; Rom 5:3), the
messianic peace, the fulfilment of the promises made by God, freedom
from all fear, victory over sin and death, reconciliation with God,
fruit of his passion, free gift of God. This peace is repeated three
times in this passage as well as in the introduction (20:19) further on
(20:26) in the exact same way.
He showed them his hands and his side:
Jesus provides evident and tangible proof that he is the one who was
crucified. Only John records the detail of the wound in the side caused
by the spear of a Roman soldier, whereas Luke mentions the wound of the
feet (Lk 24:39). In showing his wounds, Jesus wants to say that the
peace he gives comes from the cross (2Tim 2:1-13). They are part of his
identity as the risen One (Ap 5:6).
The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord:
This is the same joy expressed by the prophet Isaiah when he describes
the divine banquet (Is 25:8-9), the eschatological joy foreshadowed in
the farewell speech and that no one can take away (Jn 16:22; 20:27).
Cfr. also Lk 24:39-40; Mt 28:8; Lk 24:41.
As the Father sent me, so am I sending you:
Jesus is the first missionary, “the apostle and high priest of the
faith we profess” (Ap 3:1). After the experience of the cross and the
resurrection, Jesus’ prayer to the Father comes true (Jn 13:20; 17:18;
21:15,17). This is not a new mission, but the mission of Jesus extended
to those who are his disciples, bound to him like branches are bound to
the vine (15:9), so also they are bound to his Church (Mt 28:18-20; Mk
16:15-18; Lk 24:47-49). The eternal Son of God was sent so that “the
world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:17) and the whole of his earthly
existence, fully identified with the saving will of the Father, is a
constant manifestation of that divine will that all may be saved. He
leaves as an inheritance this historical project to the whole Church
and, especially to ordained ministers within that Church.
He breathed on them:
this action recalling the life-giving breath of God on man (Gen 2:7),
does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament. It marks the
beginning of a new creation.
Receive the Holy Spirit:
after Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit was bestowed (Jn 7:39). Here
the Spirit is transmitted for a special mission, whereas at Pentecost
(Acts 2) the Holy Spirit comes down on the whole people of God.
For those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained:
we find the power to forgive or not forgive sins also in Matthew in a
more juridical form (Mt 16:19; 18:18). According to the Scribes and
Pharisees (Mk 2:7), and according to tradition (Is 43:25), God has the
power to forgive sins. Jesus gives this power (Lk 5:24) and passes it on
to his Church. In our meditation, it is better not to dwell on this
text’s theological development in church tradition and the consequent
theological controversies. In the fourth Gospel the expression may be
taken in a wide sense. Here it is a matter of the power of forgiving
sins in the Church as salvation community and those especially endowed
with this power are those who share in the apostolic charism by
succession and mission. In this general power is included the power to
forgive sins also after baptism, what we call “the sacrament of
reconciliation” expressed in various forms throughout the history of the
Church.
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve:
Thomas is one of the main characters of the fourth Gospel and his
doubting character, easily discouraged, is emphasised (11:16; 14:5).
“One of the twelve” is by now a stereotyped expression (6:71), because
in fact they were only eleven. “Didimus” means “the Twin”, and we could
be his “twins” through our difficulty in believing in Jesus, Son of God
who died and rose again.
We have seen the Lord! When
Andrew, John and Philip had found the Messiah, they had already run to
announce the news to others (Jn 1:41-45). Now there is the official
proclamation by eye-witnesses (Jn 20:18).
Unless I see the
holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the
holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to
believe: Thomas cannot believe the eye-witnesses. He wants to
experience the event himself. The fourth Gospel is aware of the
difficulty that some may have in believing in the Resurrection (Lk 24;
34-40; MK 16:11; 1Cor 15:5-8), especially those who have not seen the
risen One. Thomas is their (and our) interpreter. He is willing to
believe, but he wants to resolve personally any doubt, for fear of being
wrong. Jesus does not see in Thomas an indifferent sceptic, but a man
in search of truth and satisfies him fully. This is, however, an
occasion to express an appreciation of future believers (verse 29).
Put your finger here, look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe! Jesus
repeats the words of Thomas and enters into a dialogue with him. He
understands Thomas’ doubts and wishes to help him. Jesus knows that
Thomas loves him and therefore has compassion for him because Thomas
does not yet enjoy the peace that comes from faith. Jesus helps him to
grow in faith. In order to enter deeper into this theme, see the
parallels in: 1Jn 1-2; Ps 78:38; 103:13-14; Rom 5:20; 1Tim 1:14-16.
My Lord and my God! This
is a profession of faith in the risen One and in his divinity as is
also proclaimed in the beginning of John’s Gospel (1:1). In the Old
Testament “Lord” and “God” correspond respectively to “Yahweh” and
“Elohim” (Ps 35:23-24; Ap 4:11). It is the fullest and most direct
paschal profession of faith in the divinity of Jesus. In Jewish circles
these terms had greater value because they applied to Jesus texts
concerning God. Jesus does not correct the words of Thomas as he
corrected the words of the Jews who accused him of wanting to be “equal
to God” (Jn 5:18ff) thus approving the acknowledgement of his divinity.
You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe! Jesus
cannot stand those who look for signs and miracles in order to believe
(Jn 4:48) and he seems to take Thomas to task. Here we must remember
another passage concerning a more authentic faith, a “way of perfection”
towards a faith to which we must aspire without the demands of Thomas, a
faith received as gift and as an act of trust, like the exemplary faith
of our ancestors (Ap 11) and of Mary (Lk 1:45). We, who are two
thousand years after the coming of Jesus, are told that, although we
have not seen him, yet we can love him and believing in him we can exult
with “an indescribable and glorious joy” (1Pt 1:8).
These (signs) are
recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing this you may have life through his name. The
fourth Gospel, like the other Gospels, does not mean to write a
complete biography of Jesus, but only to show that Jesus was the Christ,
the awaited Messiah, the Liberator, and that he was the Son of God.
Believing in him means that we possess eternal life. If Jesus is not
God, then our faith is in vain!
ORATIO
Psalm 118 (117)
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!
Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
his steadfast love endures for ever!
Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His steadfast love endures for ever."
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech thee, O Lord! O Lord,
we beseech thee, give us success!
has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech thee, O Lord! O Lord,
we beseech thee, give us success!
CONTEMPLATIO
Closing prayer
I thank you Jesus, my
Lord and my God, that you have loved me and called me, made me worthy to
be your disciple, that you have given me the Spirit, the One sent to
proclaim and witness to your resurrection, to the mercy of the Father,
to salvation and pardon for all men and women in the world. You truly
are the way, the truth and the life, the dawn without a setting, the sun
of justice and peace. Grant that I may dwell in your love, bound to you
like a branch to its vine. Grant me your peace so that I may overcome
my weaknesses, face my doubts and respond to your call and live fully
the mission you entrusted to me, praising you forever. You who live and
reign forever and ever. Amen.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII
Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) – The
city of Rome is preparing to receive hundreds of thousands of faithful
for the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II in St. Peter's
Square tomorrow, which will be attended by delegations from more than
100 countries and at least 24 Heads of State.
Already
during this past week the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP) has
installed 19 maxi-screens to enable faithful and pilgrims to see the
ceremony for the canonisation of the two Popes in both Rome and Milan.
Three will be located in the central Via dei Fori Imperiali, one at
Rome's Fiumicino airport and another in Piazza del Duomo, Milan.
However, the majority of these new screens will be set up in the streets
adjacent to St. Peter's Square: Via della Conciliazione, Piazza Pio
XII, and in the pedestrian zone and gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo. There
are screens in Piazza Navona and Piazza Farnese for Polish- and
French-speaking pilgrims respectively, and another at the Basilica of
St. Mary Major. News and films relating to the two Popes, as well as
public service information, will be broadcast in six languages until
Monday 28 April.
Bishop
Liberio Andreatta, commenting on this unprecedented event, remarks:
“Never in the history of Rome or in the history of the world has this
occurred: two Pope Saints and two living Popes who knew them”. There is,
therefore, a rich and varied agenda of activities preceding the event.
Yesterday, French pilgrims began their “Path of Holiness” which will
conclude on 27 April; it consists of an itinerary of art and faith
taking in the five churches of the French community in Rome. Similarly,
university students planning to attend the canonisation took part in
Mass in the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas at the University of Rome “Tor
Vergata”. Today, at 6 p.m., pilgrims from Bergamo, the province where
John XXIII was born, will gather in the Basilica of St. John Lateran,
while at 7 p.m. a prayer vigil will begin at the church of Santa Maria
in Montesanto, “the artists' church”, in Piazza del Popolo.
At
9 p.m. the “white night” of prayer will begin. Churches in the centre
of Rome will remain open for prayer vigils or confession, and liturgical
celebrations will take place in various languages in the churches of
Sant' Agnese in Agone, San Marco al Campidoglio, Sant'Anastasia,
Santissimo Nome di Gesu, Santa Maria in Vallicella, San Giovanni dei
Fiorentini, Sant'Andrea della Valle, San Bartolomeo all'Isola Tiberina,
Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, the Holy Stigmata of St.
Francis, the Twelve Apostles, and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. The young people of Catholic Action will meet in the parish of
Santa Maria delle Grazie al Trionfale from 10.30 p.m. until 5 a.m on 27
April.
Tomorrow,
100 members of the ORP and 550 volunteers from Catholic associations
will be available to assist those present in Via della Conciliazione,
providing all types of information. From 5 a.m. eight buses will
transport to St. Peter's Square 200 priests and deacons for the
distribution of the Eucharist, as well as 5000 Roman priests and 200
seminarians from the capital and from Bergamo, who will attend the
ceremony. Bishop Andreatta emphasises that entry to St. Peter's Square
is free and there are no tickets. The Prefecture of the Papal Household
has also issued a reminder to the public to be vigilant regarding ticket
touting and requests for money from agencies and tour operators for the
purposes of obtaining tickets, reiterating that participation in
celebrations presided by the Holy Father is entirely free.
The
municipality of Rome has made special transport provisions for this
period. The metro lines will be open around the clock from 26 to 28
April, the number of buses in service will increase, policing will be
reinforced and there will be fourteen mobile medical units, as well as
2,630 civil protection volunteers in active service.
The
internet will also play a role during these special days. The Office of
the Postulation of the Vicariate of Rome has created a free App, “Santo
Subito”, available in four languages and providing news, maps,
itineraries and an order of service for the canonisation ceremony, along
with an agenda of all the events planned from 25 to 28 April. The apps can be accessed, free of charge, by copying and pasting onto their browser the following link: http://vaticanapp.iquii.com/
The
Vatican Museums are celebrating the canonisation with a photographic
exhibition entitled “The humility and courage that changed history”,
which presents 120 photographs of the two Pope saints. This photographic
anthology, which will remain open to the public until 19 July, is
divided into two sections: the first, entirely in black and white,
narrates the pontificate of John XXIII, whereas the second, in colour,
presents that of John Paul II, the longest of the twentieth century.
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Today's Snippet I: Biography of Saint Pope John Paul II
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| Blessed Pope John Paull II |
John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), sometimes called John Paul the Great, born Karol Józef Wojtyła (Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛf vɔjˈtɨwa];
18 May 1920, Wadowice, Republic of Poland – 2 April 2005, Vatican
City), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death
in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first
non-Italian since 1523.
A very charismatic figure, John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the
most influential leaders of the 20th century. He was instrumental in
ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe.
John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations
with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican
Communion. Though criticised by progressives for upholding the Church's
teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women,
and by traditionalists for his support of the Church's Second Vatican
Council and its reform, he was also widely praised for his firm,
orthodox Catholic stances.
He was one of the most-travelled world leaders in history, visiting
129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on
the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 people and canonised 483 saints,
more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding
five centuries. He named most of the present College of Cardinals,
consecrated or co-consecrated a large number of the world's past and
current bishops, and ordained many priests.
A key goal of his papacy was to transform and reposition the Catholic
Church. His wish was "to place his Church at the heart of a new
religious alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a great [religious] armada". On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor Pope Benedict XVI and was beatified on 1 May 2011.
Early life
Emilia and Karol Wojtyła Sr. wedding portrait
Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice and was the youngest of three children of Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole, and Emilia Kaczorowska, who is described as being of Lithuanian ancestry. His maternal grandmother's maiden surname was Scholz therefore Wojtyła could have had distant German ancestry. On 13 April 1929, Wojtyla's mother died in childbirth when he was eight years old. His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek,
who was 14 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually
led to his death from scarlet fever, which affected Wojtyła.
As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing football as goalkeeper.
During his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with Wadowice's large Jewish
community. School football games were often organised between teams of
Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side. "I remember that at least a third of my classmates at elementary school in Wadowice
were Jews. At elementary school there were fewer. With some I was on
very friendly terms. And what struck me about some of them was their
Polish patriotism."
Wojtyła's first, and possibly only, love affair was with a Jewish girl,
Ginka Beer, who was described as "slender", "a superb actress" and
"having stupendous dark eyes and jet black hair".
In
mid-1938, Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków,
where he enrolled at Jagiellonian University. While studying such topics
as philology and various languages, he worked as a volunteer librarian
and was required to participate in compulsory military training in the
Academic Legion, but he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with
various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright.
During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as
many as 12 foreign languages, nine of which he used extensively as Pope.
In 1939, Nazi German occupation forces closed the university after invading Poland. Able-bodied males were required to work, so from 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously worked as a messenger for a restaurant, a manual labourer in a limestone quarry and for the Solvay chemical factory, to avoid deportation to Germany.
His father, a non-commissioned officer in the Polish Army, died of a heart attack in 1941, leaving Wojtyła as the immediate family's only surviving member.
"I was not at my mother's death, I was not at my brother's death, I was
not at my father's death", he said, reflecting on these times of his
life, nearly forty years later, "At twenty, I had already lost all the
people I loved."
After his father's death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood.
In October 1942, while the war continued, he knocked on the door of the
Archbishop's Palace in Kraków and asked to study for the priesthood.
Soon after, he began courses in the clandestine underground seminary
run by the Archbishop of Kraków, Adam Stefan Cardinal Sapieha.
On
29 February 1944, Wojtyła was knocked down by a German truck. German
Wehrmacht officers tended to him and sent him to a hospital. He spent
two weeks there recovering from a severe concussion
and a shoulder injury. It seemed to him that this accident and his
survival was confirmation of his vocation.
On 6 August 1944, ‘Black
Sunday’, the Gestapo rounded up young men in Kraków to avoid an uprising similar to the recent uprising in Warsaw. Wojtyła escaped by hiding in the basement of his uncle's house at 10 Tyniecka Street, while the German troops searched above. More than eight thousand men and boys were taken that day, while Wojtyła escaped to the Archbishop's Palace, where he remained until after the Germans had left.
On
the night of 17 January 1945, the Germans fled the city, and the
students reclaimed the ruined seminary. Wojtyła and another seminarian
volunteered for the task of clearing away piles of frozen excrement from
the toilets. Wojtyła also helped a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer, who had run away from a Nazi labour camp in Częstochowa.
Edith had collapsed on a railway platform, so Wojtyła carried her to a
train and stayed with her throughout the journey to Kraków. Edith
credits Wojtyła with saving her life that day.
B'nai B'rith and other authorities have said that Wojtyła helped
protect many other Polish Jews from the Nazis. In Wojtyła's last book Memory and Identity he described the 12 years of the Nazi régime as 'bestiality', quoting from Polish theologian and philosopher Konstanty Michalski.
Priesthood
On finishing his studies at the seminary in Kraków, Wojtyła was ordained as a priest on All Saints' Day, 1 November 1946, by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Sapieha. He then studied theology in Rome, at the Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum, where he earned a licentiate and later a doctorate in sacred theology. This doctorate, the first of two, was based on the Latin dissertation The Doctrine of Faith According to Saint John of the Cross.
He
returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 with his first pastoral
assignment in the village of Niegowić, fifteen miles from Kraków. He
arrived at Niegowić at harvest time, where his first action was to kneel
and kiss the ground. This gesture, which he adapted from French saint Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, would become a ‘trademark’ action during his Papacy.
Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum in Rome
In
March 1949, Wojtyła was transferred to the parish of Saint Florian in
Kraków. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at
the Catholic University of Lublin. While teaching, he gathered a group
of about 20 young people, who began to call themselves Rodzinka,
the "little family". They met for prayer, philosophical discussion, and
to help the blind and sick. The group eventually grew to approximately
200 participants, and their activities expanded to include annual skiing and kayaking trips.
In 1954, he earned a second doctorate, in philosophy,evaluating
the feasibility of a Catholic ethic based on the ethical system of
phenomenologist Max Scheler, a German philosopher who founded a broad
philosophical movement
which emphasised the study of conscious experience. However, the
Communist authorities intervened to prevent him from receiving the
degree until 1957.
Wojtyła developed a theological approach which combined traditional
Catholic Thomism with the ideas of personalism, a philosophical approach
deriving from phenomenology, which was popular amongst Catholic
intellectuals in Kraków during Wojtyła's intellectual development. He
translated Scheler's Formalism and the Ethics of Substantive Values.
During this period, Wojtyła wrote a series of articles in Kraków's Catholic newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny ("Universal Weekly") dealing with contemporary church issues. He focused on creating original literary work
during his first dozen years as a priest. War, life under Communism,
and his pastoral responsibilities all fed his poetry and plays. Wojtyła
published his work under two pseudonyms – Andrzej Jawień and Stanisław Andrzej Gruda
– to distinguish his literary from his religious writings, (under his
own name) and also so that his literary works would be considered on
their merits. In 1960, Wojtyła published the influential theological book Love and Responsibility, a defence of traditional Church teachings on marriage from a new philosophical standpoint.
Bishop and cardinal
On 4 July 1958,while
Wojtyła was on a kayaking holiday in the lakes region of northern
Poland, Pope Pius XII appointed him as the auxiliary bishop of Kraków.
He was then summoned to Warsaw to meet the Primate of Poland, Stefan
Cardinal Wyszyński, who informed him of his appointment.
He agreed to serve as Auxiliary Bishop to Kraków's Archbishop Eugeniusz
Baziak, and he was ordained to the Episcopate (as Titular Bishop of
Ombi) on 28 September 1958. Baziak was the principal consecrator.
Then-Auxiliary Bishop Boleslaw Kominek (Titular Bishop of Sophene and
Vaga; of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław and future Cardinal
Archbishop of Wrocław) and then-Auxiliary Bishop Franciszek Jop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandomierz (Titular Bishop of Daulia; later
Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Wrocław and then Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Opole) were the principal co-consecrators.
At the age of 38, Wojtyła became the youngest bishop in Poland. Baziak
died in June 1962 and on 16 July Wojtyła was selected as Vicar Capitular (temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until an Archbishop could be appointed.
In October 1962, Wojtyła took part in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis Humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). Wojtyła and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council for Gaudium et Spes. According to the historian John W. O'Malley, the draft text Gaudium et Spes
which Wojtyła and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the
version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not
accepted as the base text". According to John F. Crosby, as Pope, John Paul II used the words of Gaudium et Spes
later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in
relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted
for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in a
sincere giving of himself".
He also participated in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków. On 26 June 1967, Paul VI announced Archbishop Karol Wojtyła's promotion to the Sacred College of Cardinals. Wojtyła was named Cardinal-Priest of the titulus of San Cesareo in Palatio.
In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which dealt with the same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control.
Election to the papacy
The newly elected Pope John Paul II stands on the balcony
In
August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Wojtyła
voted in the Papal conclave which elected Pope John Paul I, who at 65
was considered young by papal standards. John Paul I died after only 33
days as Pope, triggering another conclave.
The
second conclave of 1978 started on 14 October, ten days after the
funeral. It was split between two strong candidates for the papacy:
Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the conservative Archbishop of Genoa, and the
liberal Archbishop of Florence, Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, a close
friend of John Paul I.
Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected, and in early ballots, Benelli came within nine votes of success.
However, both men faced sufficient opposition for neither to be likely
to prevail. Franz Cardinal König, Archbishop of Vienna suggested to his
fellow electors a compromise candidate: the Polish Cardinal, Karol Józef
Wojtyła.
Wojtyła won on the eighth ballot on the second day with, according to
the Italian press, 99 votes from the 111 participating electors. He
subsequently chose the name John Paul II
in honour of his immediate predecessor, and the traditional white smoke
informed the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square that a pope had been
chosen.
He accepted his election with these words: ‘With obedience in faith to
Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church,
in spite of great difficulties, I accept.’ When the new pontiff appeared
on the balcony, he broke tradition by addressing the gathered crowd:
Dear brothers and sisters, we are saddened at the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I, and so the cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land – far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother. I am speaking to you in your – no, our Italian language. If I make a mistake, please ‘kirrect’ [sic] me...
Wojtyła
became the 264th Pope according to the chronological list of popes, the
first non-Italian in 455 years. At only 58 years of age, he was the
youngest pope since Pope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54. Like his
predecessor, Pope John Paul II dispensed with the traditional Papal
coronation and instead received ecclesiastical investiture with the
simplified Papal inauguration
on 22 October 1978. During his inauguration, when the cardinals were to
kneel before him to take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as
the Polish prelate Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński knelt down, stopped him
from kissing the ring, and simply hugged him.
Pastoral trips
A statue of John Paul II made entirely with keys donated by the Mexican
people to symbolise that they had given him the keys to their hearts.
During
his pontificate, Pope John Paul II made trips to 129 countries,
travelling more than 1,100,000 kilometres (680,000 mi) whilst doing so.
He consistently attracted large crowds, some amongst the largest ever
assembled in human history, such as the Manila World Youth Day, which
gathered up to 4 million people, the largest Papal gathering ever,
according to the Vatican. John Paul II's earliest official visits were
to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979. While some of his
trips (such as to the United States and the Holy Land) were to places
previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope
to visit the White House in October 1979, where he was greeted warmly by
then-President Jimmy Carter. He was the first Pope ever to visit
several countries, starting in 1979 with Mexico and Ireland. He was the
first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, in 1982, where he
met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in Creole
to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the
airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti", referring to the
disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous
applause. In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt, where he
met with the Coptic pope, Pope Shenouda III and the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch of Alexandria. He was the first Catholic pope to visit and
pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus, Syria, in 2001. He visited the
Umayyad Mosque, a former Christian church where John the Baptist is
believed to be interred, where he made a speech calling for Muslims,
Christians and Jews to live together.
On
15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered mass to an
estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park,
Manila, Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single
gathering in Christian history. In March 2000, while visiting Jerusalem,
John Paul became the first pope in history to visit and pray at the
Western Wall. In September 2001, amid post-11 September
concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely
consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration
of 1,700 years of Armenian Christianity.
Trip to Poland
In
June 1979, Pope John Paul II travelled to Poland where ecstatic crowds
constantly surrounded him. This first trip to Poland uplifted the
nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement in
1980, which later brought freedom and human rights to his troubled
homeland.
Poland's Communist leaders intended to use the Pope's visit to show the
people that even though the Pope was Polish it did not alter their
capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They
also hoped that if the Pope abided by the rules they set, that the
Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the
Pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were
prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the Pope.
"The Pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was what Joseph Nye calls ‘soft power’– the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to the utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. ‘Be not afraid,’ he said. Millions shouted in response, ‘We want God! We want God! We want God!’ The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed to hold on as despots a decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism."
On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to the organisation.
Successive Polish trips reinforced this message and contributed to the
collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989/1990
with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread
through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992).
Teachings
As pope, John Paul II wrote 14 papal encyclicals and taught about
"The Theology of the Body". Some key elements of his strategy to
"reposition the Catholic Church" were encyclicals such as Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia and Redemptoris Mater. In his At the beginning of the new millennium (Novo Millennio Ineunte), he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." In The Splendour of the Truth (Veritatis Splendor),
he emphasised the dependence of man on God and His Law ("Without the
Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the
truth". He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and
scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth
itself". In Fides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason)
John Paul promoted a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous
pursuit of truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different
sources (such as Thomism), he described the mutually supporting
relationship between faith and reason, and emphasised that theologians
should focus on that relationship. John Paul II wrote extensively about
workers and the social doctrine of the Church, which he discussed in
three encyclicals: Laborem Exercens, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, and
Centesimus Annus. Through his encyclicals and many Apostolic Letters and
Exhortations, John Paul II talked about the dignity of women and the
importance of the family for the future of humanity. Other encyclicals
include The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) and Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One).
Though critics accused him of inflexibility, he explicitly re-asserted
Catholic moral teachings against capital punishment, euthanasia and
abortion that have been in place for well over a thousand years.
Social and political stances
John Paul II was considered a conservative on doctrine, and issues relating to sexual reproduction and the ordination of women. While the Pope was visiting the United States of America he said,
"All human life, from the moments of conception and through all
subsequent stages, is sacred."
A series of 129 lectures given by John Paul II during his Wednesday
audiences in Rome between September 1979 and November 1984 were later
compiled and published as a single work entitled ‘Theology of the Body’,
an extended meditation on human sexuality. He extended it to the
condemnation of abortion, euthanasia and virtually all capital
punishment, calling them all a part of the "culture of death" that is
pervasive in the modern world. He campaigned for world debt forgiveness
and social justice. He coined the term "social mortgage",
which related that all private property had a social dimension, namely,
that "the goods of this are originally meant for all."
In 2000, he publicly endorsed the Jubilee 2000 campaign on African debt
relief fronted by Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono, once famously
interrupting a U2 recording session by telephoning the studio and asking
to speak to Bono.
Pope
John Paul II, who was present and very influential at the Vatican II
(1962–65), affirmed the teachings of that Council and did much to
implement them. Nevertheless, his critics often wished that he would
embrace the so-called "progressive" agenda that some hoped would evolve
as a result of the Council. In fact, the Council did not advocate
"progressive" changes in these areas; for example, they still condemned
abortion as an unspeakable crime. Pope John Paul II continued to declare
that contraception, abortion, and homosexual acts were gravely sinful,
and, with Joseph Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), opposed
Liberation theology.
Following the Church's exaltation of the marital act of sexual
intercourse between a baptised man and woman within sacramental marriage
as proper and exclusive to the sacrament of marriage, John Paul II
believed that it was, in every instance, profaned by contraception,
abortion, divorce followed by a 'second' marriage, and by homosexual
acts. His beliefs were often assumed to be a rejection of women. In 1994
John Paul II asserted the Church's lack of authority to ordain women to
the priesthood, claiming that without such authority ordination is not
legitimately compatible with fidelity to Christ. This was also deemed a
repudiation of calls to break with the constant tradition of the Church
by ordaining women to the priesthood.
In addition, John Paul II chose not to end the discipline of mandatory
priestly celibacy, although in a small number of unusual circumstances,
he did allow certain married clergymen of other Christian traditions who
later became Catholic to be ordained as Catholic priests.
Evolution
On 22 October 1996, in a speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences plenary session
at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II said of evolution that "this theory
has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of
discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither
sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted
independently is in itself a significant argument in favour of this
theory."
The Pope qualified this by noting that, "rather than the theory
of evolution, we should speak of several theories of evolution." Some
of these theories, he noted, have a purely materialistic philosophical
underpinning which is not compatible with the Catholic faith:
"Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the
philosophies inspiring them, consider the mind as emerging from the
forces of living matter, or as a mere epiphenomenon of this matter, are
incompatible with the truth about man".
Although
generally accepting the theory of evolution, John Paul II made one
major exception – the human soul. "If the human body has its origin in
living material which pre-exists it, the spiritual soul is immediately
created by God".
Iraq War
In 2003 John Paul II also became a prominent critic of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
In his 2003 State of the World address the Pope declared his opposition
to the invasion by stating, "No to war! War is not always inevitable.
It is always a defeat for humanity."[75] He sent former Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States Pío Cardinal Laghi to talk with American President George W. Bush
to express opposition to the war. John Paul II said that it was up to
the United Nations to solve the international conflict through diplomacy
and that a unilateral aggression is a crime against peace and a violation of international law. In 2003, the year of the American invasion of Iraq, Pope John Paul
II, who opposed the Iraq War perhaps more vigorously than any other
world leader, was widely viewed as a favourite to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Apartheid in South Africa
Pope
John Paul II was an outspoken opponent of apartheid in South Africa. In
1985, while visiting the Netherlands, he gave an impassioned speech
condemning apartheid at the International Court of Justice,
proclaiming that "no system of apartheid or separate development will
ever be acceptable as a model for the relations between peoples or
races."
In September 1988, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to ten countries
bordering South Africa, while demonstratively avoiding South Africa.
During his visit to Zimbabwe, John Paul II called for economic sanctions
against South Africa's government. After John Paul II's death, both
Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu praised the Pope for
defending human rights and condemning economic injustice.
Liberation theology
In
1984 and 1986, through Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI),
then-leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, John Paul
II officially condemned aspects of Liberation theology, which had many
followers in South America. Visiting Europe, Óscar Romero
unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Vatican condemnation of El
Salvador's regime, for violations of human rights and its support of
death squads. In his travel to Managua, Nicaragua in 1983, John Paul II
harshly condemned what he dubbed the "popular Church" (i.e. "ecclesial
base communities" supported by the CELAM), and the Nicaraguan clergy's
tendencies to support the leftist Sandinistas, reminding the clergy of
their duties of obedience to the Holy See. During that visit Ernesto
Cardenal,
a priest and minister in the Sandinista government, knelt to kiss his
hand. John Paul withdrew it, wagged his finger in Cardenal's face, and
told him, "You must straighten out your position with the church."
Views on sexuality
While
taking a traditional position on sexuality, defending the Church's
moral opposition to marriage for same-sex couples, Pope John Paul II
asserted that persons with homosexual inclinations possess the same
inherent dignity and rights as everybody else. In his book, Memory and Identity,
he referred to the "strong pressures" by the European Parliament to
recognise homosexual unions as an alternative type of family, with the
right to adopt children. In the book, as quoted by Reuters,
he wrote: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not
perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, more subtle and hidden,
perhaps, intent upon exploiting human rights themselves against man and
against the family." A 1997 study determined that 3% of the pope's
statements were about the issue of sexual morality.
Role in the collapse of dictatorships
Chile
Some
observers of Chilean history believe that the six-day April 1987
visit of Pope John Paul II to Chile, during which he visited Santiago,
Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, Temuco, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt and
Antofagasta was one of the reasons why the country's military dictator
Augusto Pinochet
called for elections in 1988. Before John Paul II's pilgrimage to Latin
America, during a meeting with reporters, he criticized Pinochet's
regime as "dictatorial." In the words of the New York Times, he
was "using unusually strong language" to criticize Pinochet and asserted
the journalists that the Church in Chile must not only pray, but
actively fight for the restoration of democracy in Chile.
During his 1987 Chilean visit, the Polish pope asked Chile's 31 Catholic bishops to campaign for free elections in the country.[88] According to George Weigel,
he held a meeting with Pinochet during which they treated of the theme
of the return to democracy. John Paul II allegedly pushed Pinochet to
accept a democratic opening of the regime, and would even have called
for his resignation.[89] In 2007, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz,
Pope John Paul II's secretary, confirmed that, during his visit with
Pinochet, the Pope asked him to step down and transfer power over to
civilian authorities.[90] According to Monsignor Sławomir Oder, the postulator of John Paul II's beatification
cause, John Paul's words to Pinochet had a profound impact on the
Chilean dictator. The Polish Pope confided to a friend: "I received a
letter from Pinochet in which he told me that, as a Catholic, he had
listened to my words, he had accepted them, and he had decided to begin
the process to change the leadership of his country."
During his visit to Chile, John Paul II supported the Vicariate of Solidarity,
the Church-led pro-democracy, anti-Pinochet organization. John Paul II
visited the Vicariate of Solidarity's offices, spoke with its workers,
and "called upon them to continue their work, emphasizing that the
Gospel consistently urges respect for human rights."[92]
While in Chile, Pope John Paul II made gestures of public support of
Chile's anti-Pinochet democratic opposition. For instance, he hugged and
kissed Carmen Gloria Quintana, a young student burned alive by Chilean
police and told her that "We must pray for peace and justice in Chile."
Later, he met with several opposition groups, including those that had
been declared illegal by Pinochet's government. The opposition praised
John Paul II for denouncing Pinochet as a "dictator," for many members
of Chile's opposition were persecuted for much milder statements. Bishop
Carlos Camus, one of the harshest critics of Pinochet's dictatorship
within the Chilean Church, praised John Paul II's stance during the
papal visit: "I am quite moved, because our pastor supports us totally.
Never again will anyone be able to say that we are interfering in
politics when we defend human dignity." He added: "No country the Pope
has visited has remained the same after his departure. The Pope's visit
is a mission, an extraordinary social catechism, and his stay here will
be a watershed in Chilean history."
Some have erroneously accused John Paul II of affirming Pinochet's
regime by appearing with the Chilean ruler in his balcony. However,
Cardinal Roberto Tucci, the organizer of John Paul II's pilgrimages
revealed that Pinochet tricked the pontiff by telling him he would take
him to his living room, while in reality he took him to his balcony.
Tucci claims that the pontiff was "furious."
Paraguay
The collapse of the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner of
Paraguay was linked, among other things, to Pope John Paul II's visit to
the South American country in 1989. Since Stroessner's taking power
through a coup d'etat in 1954, Paraguay's bishops increasingly
criticized the regime for human rights abuses, rigged elections, and the
country's feudal economy. During his private meeting with Stroessner,
John Paul II told the dictator:
"Politics has a fundamental ethical dimension because it is first and foremeost a service to man. The Church can and must remind men – and in particular those who govern – of their ethical duties for the good of the whole of society. The Church cannot be isolated inside its temples just as men's consciences cannot be isolated from God."
Later, during a Mass, Pope John Paul II criticized the regime for
impoverishing the peasants and the unemployed, claiming that the
government must give people greater access to the land. Although
Stroessner tried to prevent him from doing so, Pope John Paul II met
opposition leaders in the one-party state.
Role in the fall of Communism
Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting Pope John Paul II
John
Paul II has been credited with being instrumental in bringing down
communism in Central and Eastern Europe, by being the spiritual
inspiration behind its downfall and catalyst for "a peaceful revolution"
in Poland. Lech Wałęsa, the founder of ‘Solidarity’, credited John
Paul II with giving Poles the courage to demand change. According to
Wałęsa, "Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs.
Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. In Warsaw,
in 1979, he simply said: 'Do not be afraid', and later prayed: 'Let
your Spirit descend and change the image of the land... this land'." It
has also been widely alleged that the Vatican Bank covertly funded
Solidarity.
President Ronald Reagan's correspondence with the pope reveals "a
continuous scurrying to shore up Vatican support for U.S. policies.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the papers show that, as late as 1984, the
pope did not believe the Communist Polish government could be changed."
In
December 1989, John Paul II met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at
the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the
other. Gorbachev once said "The collapse of the Iron Curtain would have
been impossible without John Paul II".
On John Paul's death, Mikhail Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's
devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us."
US President George W. Bush presents the Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II, in June 2004
In
February 2004, Pope John Paul II was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize
honouring his life's work in opposing Communist oppression and helping
to reshape the world.
President
George W. Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's
highest civilian honour, to Pope John Paul II during a ceremony at the
Apostolic Palace
4 June 2004. The president read the citation that accompanied the
medal, which recognised "this son of Poland" whose "principled stand for
peace and freedom has inspired millions and helped to topple communism
and tyranny."
After receiving the award, John Paul II said, "May the desire for
freedom, peace, a more humane world symbolised by this medal inspire men
and women of goodwill in every time and place."
Warsaw, Moscow, Budapest, Berlin, Prague, Sofia and Bucharest have become stages in a long pilgrimage toward liberty. It is admirable that in these events, entire peoples spoke out – women, young people, men, overcoming fears, their irrepressible thirst for liberty speeded up developments, made walls tumble down and opened gates.
Relations with other faiths
Pope
John Paul II travelled extensively and met with believers from many
divergent faiths. At the World Day of Prayer for Peace, held in Assisi
on 27 October 1986, more than 120 representatives of different religions
and Christian denominations spent a day together with fasting and
praying.
Anglicanism
Pope John Paul II had good relations with the Church of England, referred to by his predecessor Pope Paul VI, as "our beloved Sister Church".
He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, in
1982, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the
Church of England. He preached in Canterbury Cathedral and received the
Archbishop of Canterbury
with friendship and courtesy. However, John Paul II was disappointed by
the Church of England's decision to offer the Sacrament of Holy Orders
to women and saw it as a step in the opposite direction from unity
between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church
In
1980 John Paul II issued a Pastoral Provision allowing married former
Episcopal priests to become Catholic priests, and for the acceptance of
former Episcopal Church parishes into the Catholic Church. He allowed
the creation of the Anglican Use form of the Latin Rite, which
incorporates the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. John Paul II helped
establish 'Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church', together with
Archbishop Patrick Flores of San Antonio, Texas, as a place where
Anglicans and Catholics could worship together.
Buddhism
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, visited Pope John Paul II eight
times, more than any other single dignitary. The Pope and the Dalai Lama
held many similar views and understood similar plights, both coming
from nations damaged by communism and both serving as heads of major
religious bodies.
Eastern Orthodox Church
In
May 1999, John Paul II visited Romania on the invitation from Patriarch
Teoctist Arăpaşu of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This was the first
time a Pope had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since
the Great Schism in 1054. On his arrival, the Patriarch and the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, greeted the Pope.
The Patriarch stated, "The second millennium of Christian history began
with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this
millennium has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity."
On
23–27 June 2001 John Paul II visited Ukraine, another heavily Orthodox
nation, at the invitation of the President of Ukraine and bishops of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.The Pope spoke to leaders of the
All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and
Religious Organisations, pleading for "open, tolerant and honest
dialogue". About 200 thousand people attended the liturgies celebrated
by the Pope in Kiev, and the liturgy in Lviv gathered nearly one and a
half million faithful. John Paul II stated that an end to the Great
Schism was one of his fondest wishes. Healing divisions between the
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches regarding Latin and Byzantine
traditions was clearly of great personal interest. For many years, John
Paul II sought to facilitate dialogue and unity stating as early as
1988 in Euntes in mundum that "Europe has two lungs, it will never breathe easily until it uses both of them".
During
his 2001 travels, John Paul II became the first Pope to visit Greece in
1291 years. In Athens, the Pope met with Archbishop Christodoulos, the
head of the Greek Orthodox Church.
After a private 30-minute meeting, the two spoke publicly.
Christodoulos read a list of "13 offences" of the Roman Catholic Church
against the Eastern Orthodox Church since the Great Schism, including
the pillaging of Constantinople by crusaders
in 1204, and bemoaned the lack of apology from the Roman Catholic
Church, saying "Until now, there has not been heard a single request for
pardon" for the "maniacal crusaders of the 13th century."
The
Pope responded by saying "For the occasions past and present,
when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or
omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant
us forgiveness", to which Christodoulos immediately applauded. John
Paul II said that the sacking of Constantinople was a source of
"profound regret" for Catholics. Later John Paul II and Christodoulos
met on a spot where Saint Paul
had once preached to Athenian Christians. They issued a ‘common
declaration’, saying "We shall do everything in our power, so that the
Christian roots of Europe and its Christian soul may be preserved. … We
condemn all recourse to violence, proselytism and fanaticism, in the
name of religion". The two leaders then said the Lord's Prayer together,
breaking an Orthodox taboo against praying with Catholics.
The Pope had said throughout his pontificate that one of his greatest
dreams was to visit Russia, but this never occurred. He attempted to
solve the problems that had arisen over centuries between the Catholic
and Russian Orthodox churches, and in 2004 gave them a 1730 copy of the lost icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
Islam
Pope John Paul II made considerable efforts to improve relations between Catholicism and Islam. On
6 May 2001, Pope John Paul II became the first Catholic pope to
enter and pray in a mosque. Respectfully removing his shoes, he entered
the Umayyad Mosque, a former Byzantine era Christian church dedicated to
John the Baptist (who was believed to be interred there) in Damascus,
Syria,
and gave a speech including the statement: "For all the times that
Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek
forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness. He
kissed the Qur’an in Syria, an act which made him popular amongst
Muslims but which disturbed many Catholics.
In
2004, Pope John Paul II hosted the "Papal Concert of Reconciliation",
which brought together leaders of Islam with leaders of the Jewish
community and of the Catholic Church at the Vatican for a concert by the
Kraków Philharmonic Choir from Poland, the London Philharmonic Choir
from the United Kingdom, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from the
United States, and the Ankara State Polyphonic Choir of Turkey. The
event was conceived and conducted by Sir Gilbert Levine, KCSG and was
broadcast throughout the world.
John
Paul II oversaw the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
which makes a special provision for Muslims; therein, it is written,
"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator,
in 'the first place amongst whom are the Muslims'; these profess to hold
the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful
God, mankind's judge on the last day."
Judaism
Relations
between Catholicism and Judaism improved dramatically during the
pontificate of John Paul II. He spoke frequently about the Church's
relationship with the Jewish faith
In
1979, John Paul II became the first pope to visit the Auschwitz
concentration camp in Poland, where many of his compatriots (mostly
Polish Jews) had perished during the Nazi occupation in World War II. In
1998 he issued "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah" which
outlined his thinking on the Holocaust. He became the first pope known
to have made an official papal visit to a synagogue, when he visited the
Great Synagogue of Rome on 13 April 1986.
In 1994, John Paul II established formal diplomatic relations between
the Holy See and the State of Israel, acknowledging its centrality in
Jewish life and faith. In honour of this event, Pope John Paul II hosted ‘The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust’.
This concert, which was conceived and conducted by American Maestro
Gilbert Levine, was attended by the Chief Rabbi of Rome, the President
of Italy, and survivors of the Holocaust from around the world.
In
March 2000, John Paul II visited Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust
memorial in Israel, and later made history by touching one of the
holiest sites in Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, placing a
letter inside it (in which he prayed for forgiveness for the actions
against Jews).
In part of his address he said: "I assure the Jewish people the
Catholic Church... is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution
and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians
at any time and in any place", he added that there were "no words strong
enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust". Israeli
cabinet minister Rabbi Michael Melchior, who hosted the Pope's visit,
said he was "very moved" by the Pope's gesture.
It was beyond history, beyond memory.
We are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant.
In
October 2003, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a statement
congratulating John Paul II on entering the 25th year of his papacy. In
January 2005, John Paul II became the first Pope in history known to
receive a priestly blessing from a rabbi, when Rabbis Benjamin Blech,
Barry Dov Schwartz, and Jack Bemporad visited the Pontiff at Clementine
Hall in the Apostolic Palace.
Immediately
after John Paul II's death, the ADL issued a statement that Pope John
Paul II had revolutionised Catholic-Jewish relations, saying that "more
change for the better took place in his 27-year Papacy than in the
nearly 2,000 years before."
In another statement issued by the Australia/Israel & Jewish
Affairs Council, Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, "The Pope will be
remembered for his inspiring spiritual leadership in the cause of
freedom and humanity. He achieved far more in terms of transforming
relations with both the Jewish people and the State of Israel than any
other figure in the history of the Catholic Church".
With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.
In an interview with the Polish Press Agency, Michael Schudrich,
chief rabbi of Poland, said that never in history did anyone do as much
for Christian-Jewish dialogue as Pope John Paul II, adding that many
Jews had a greater respect for the late pope than for some rabbis.
Schudrich praised John Paul II for condemning anti-Semitism as a sin,
which no previous pope had done.
Pope
John Paul II's beatification was greeted with great enthusiasm among
many Jews. On the occasion, the Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni
said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano
said that "John Paul II was revolutionary because he tore down a
thousand-year wall of Catholic distrust of the Jewish world." Meanwhile,
Elio Toaff, the former Chief Rabbi of Rome, said that:
"Remembrance of the Pope Karol Wojtyła will remain strong in the collective Jewish memory because of his appeals to fraternity and the spirit of tolerance, which excludes all violence. In the stormy history of relations between Roman popes and Jews in the ghetto in which they were closed for over three centuries in humiliating circumstances, John Paul II is a bright figure in his uniqueness. In relations between our two great religions in the new century that was stained with bloody wars and the plague of racism, the heritage of John Paul II remains one of the few spiritual islands guaranteeing survival and human progress."
Lutheranism
On
15–19 November 1980 John Paul II visited the Federal Republic of
Germany on his first trip to a country with a large Lutheran population.
In Mainz he met with leaders of the Lutheran and other Protestant
Churches, and with representatives of other Christian denominations.
On
11 December 1983 John Paul II participated in an ecumenical service in
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rome, the first papal visit ever to a
Lutheran church. The visit took place 500 years after the birth of
Martin Luther, the German Augustinian monk who initiated the Lutheran
reformation.
In
his apostolic pilgrimage to Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and
Sweden of June 1989,
John Paul II became the first pope to visit countries with Lutheran
majorities. In addition to celebrating Mass with Catholic believers, he
participated in ecumenical services at places that had been Catholic
shrines before the 16th century Lutheran reformation: Nidaros Cathedral
in Norway; near St. Olav's Church at Thingvellir in Iceland; Turku
Cathedral in Finland; Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark; and Uppsala
Cathedral in Sweden.
On
31 October 1999 (the 482nd anniversary of Reformation Day, Martin
Luther's posting of the 95 Theses), representatives of the Vatican and
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) signed a Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification,
as a gesture of unity. The signing was a fruit of a theological
dialogue that had been going on between the LWF and the Vatican since
1965.
Assassination attempts
As
he entered St. Peter's Square to address an audience on 13 May 1981,
Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca, an
expert Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant fascist group
Grey Wolves. The assassin used a Browning 9 mm semi-automatic pistol,
shooting the pope in the abdomen and perforating his colon and small
intestine multiple times. John Paul II was rushed into the Vatican
complex and then to the Gemelli Hospital. En route to the hospital, he
lost consciousness. Even though the two bullets missed his mesenteric
artery and abdominal aorta, he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood.
He underwent five hours of surgery to treat his wounds. Surgeons
performed a colostomy, temporarily rerouting the upper part of the large
intestine to let the damaged lower part heal. When he briefly gained
consciousness before being operated on, he instructed the doctors not to
remove his Brown Scapular during the operation. The pope stated that
Our Lady of Fátima helped keep him alive throughout his ordeal.
The site of the shooting is marked by a
small marble tablet bearing John Paul's papal coat of arms and the date
in Roman numerals.
Could I forget that the event in St. Peter's Square took place on the day and at the hour when the first appearance of the Mother of Christ to the poor little peasants has been remembered for over sixty years at Fátima, Portugal? For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet.
Ağca was caught and restrained by a nun and other bystanders until police arrived. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Two days after Christmas in 1983, John Paul II visited Ağca in prison.
John Paul II and Ağca spoke privately for about twenty minutes.
John Paul II said, "What we talked about will have to remain a secret
between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and
who has my complete trust.″
On 2 March 2006 the Italian parliament's Mitrokhin Commission, set up by Silvio Berlusconi and headed by Forza Italia
senator Paolo Guzzanti, concluded that the Soviet Union was behind the
attempt on John Paul II's life, in retaliation for the pope's support of
Solidarity, the Catholic, pro-democratic Polish workers' movement, a
theory which had already been supported by Michael Ledeen and the United
States Central Intelligence Agency at the time.
The Italian report stated that Communist Bulgarian security departments
were utilised to prevent the Soviet Union's role from being uncovered.
The report stated that Soviet military intelligence (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije), not the KGB, were responsible. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation ‘absurd’.
The
Pope declared during a May 2002 visit to Bulgaria that the country's
Soviet-bloc-era leadership had nothing to do with the assassination
attempt. However, his secretary, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, alleged in
his book A Life with Karol, that the pope was convinced privately that the former Soviet Union was behind the attack. It was later discovered that many of John Paul II's aides had foreign-government attachments;
Bulgaria and Russia disputed the Italian commission's conclusions,
pointing out that the Pope had publicly denied the Bulgarian connection.
A second assassination attempt took place on 12 May 1982, just a day
before the anniversary of the first attempt on his life, in Fátima,
Portugal when a man tried to stab John Paul II with a bayonet. He was
stopped by security guards, although Stanisław Dziwisz later claimed
that John Paul II had been injured during the attempt but managed to
hide a non-life threatening wound. The assailant, a traditionalist
Spanish priest named Juan María Fernández y Krohn,
was ordained as a priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society
of Saint Pius X and was opposed to the changes caused by the Second
Vatican Council, claiming that the pope was an agent of Communist Moscow
and of the Marxist Eastern Bloc.
Fernández y Krohn subsequently left the priesthood and served three
years of a six-year sentence. The ex-priest was treated for mental
illness and then expelled from Portugal to become a solicitor in
Belgium.
Pope
John Paul II was also a target of the Al-Qaeda-funded Bojinka plot
during a visit to the Philippines in 1995. The first plan was to kill
him in the Philippines during World Youth Day 1995 celebrations. On 15
January 1995, a suicide bomber was planning to dress as a priest, while
John Paul II passed in his motorcade on his way to the San Carlos
Seminary in Makati City.
The would-be-assassin intended to get close and detonate the bomb. The
assassination was supposed to divert attention from the next phase of
the operation. However, a chemical fire inadvertently started by the
cell alerted police to their whereabouts, and all were arrested a week
before the Pope's visit, confessing to the plot.
In 2009 journalist and former army intelligence officer John Koehler published Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church.
Mining mostly East German and Polish secret police archives, Koehler
says the assassination attempts were "KGB-backed" and gives details. During John Paul II's reign there were many clerics
within the Vatican who on nomination, declined to be ordained, and then
mysteriously left the church. There is wide speculation that they were,
in reality, KGB agents.
Apologies
John Paul II apologised to almost every group who had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church through the years.[39][152]
Even before he became Pope, he was a prominent editor and supporter of
initiatives like the Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to
the German Bishops from 1965. As Pope, he officially made public
apologies for over 100 wrongdoings, including:
- The legal process on the Italian scientist and philosopher Galileo Galilei, himself a devout Catholic, around 1633 (31 October 1992).
- Catholics' involvement with the African slave trade (9 August 1993).
- The Church Hierarchy's role in burnings at the stake and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation (May 1995, in the Czech Republic).
- The injustices committed against women, the violation of women's rights and the historical denigration of women (10 July 1995, in a letter to "every woman").
- The inactivity and silence of many Catholics during the Holocaust (see the article Religion in Nazi Germany) (16 March 1998).
On 20 November 2001, from a
laptop in the Vatican, Pope John Paul II sent his first e-mail
apologising for the Catholic sex abuse cases, the Church-backed "Stolen
Generations" of Aboriginal children in Australia, and to China for the
behaviour of Catholic missionaries in colonial times.
Health
The ailing Pope John Paul II riding in the Popemobile on 22 September 2004
When
he became pope in 1978, John Paul II was still an avid
sportsman. At the time, the 58-year old was extremely healthy and
active, jogging in the Vatican gardens, weight training, swimming, and
hiking in the mountains. He was fond of football. The media contrasted
the new Pope's athleticism and trim figure to the poor health of John
Paul I and Paul VI, the portliness of John XXIII and the constant claims
of ailments of Pius XII. The only modern pope with a fitness regimen
had been Pope Pius XI (1922–1939) who was an avid mountaineer. An Irish Independent article in the 1980s labelled John Paul II the keep-fit pope.
However, after over twenty-five years on the papal throne, two
assassination attempts (one of which resulted in severe physical injury
to the Pope), and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health
declined. In 2001 he was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson's disease.
International observers had suspected this for some time but it was
only publicly acknowledged by the Vatican in 2003. Despite difficulty
speaking more than a few sentences at a time, trouble hearing and severe
osteoarthrosis, he continued to tour the world, although rarely walking
in public.
Death and funeral
(l-r): U.S. President George W.
Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, former Presidents Bush and Clinton,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and White House Chief of Staff
Andrew Card pay their respects to John Paul II lying in state at St.
Peter's Basilica, 6 April 2005.
On 31 March 2005 following a urinary tract infection,
Pope John Paul II developed septic shock, a form of infection with a
high fever and low blood pressure, but was not hospitalised. Instead, he
was monitored
by a team of consultants at his private residence. This was taken as an
indication that the pope and those close to him believed that he was
nearing death; it would have been in accordance with his wishes to die
in the Vatican.
Later that day, Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been
given the Anointing of the Sick by his friend and secretary Stanisław
Dziwisz.
During the final days of the Pope's life, the lights were kept burning
through the night where he lay in the Papal apartment on the top floor
of the Apostolic Palace. Tens of thousands of people assembled and held
vigil in St. Peter's Square
and the surrounding streets for two days. Upon hearing of this, the
dying pope was said to have stated: "I have searched for you, and now
you have come to me, and I thank you."
On Saturday 2 April 2005, at about 15:30 CEST, John Paul II spoke his final words, "Pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca",
("Let me depart to the house of the Father"), to his aides, and fell
into a coma about four hours later. The mass of the vigil of the Second
Sunday of Easter commemorating the canonisation of Saint Maria Faustina
on 30 April 2000, had just been celebrated at his bedside, presided
over by Stanisław Dziwisz and two Polish associates. Present at the
bedside was a cardinal from Ukraine who served as a priest with John
Paul in Poland, along with Polish nuns of the Congregation of the
Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, who ran the papal
household. He died in his private apartment, at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) of heart failure from profound hypotension and complete circulatory collapse
from septic shock, 46 days short of his 85th birthday. John Paul had no
close family by the time he died, and his feelings are reflected in his
words, as written in 2000, at the end of his Last Will and Testament.
The death of the pontiff set in motion rituals and traditions dating
back to medieval times. The Rite of Visitation took place from 4 to 7
April at St. Peter's Basilica. The Testament of Pope John Paul II published on 7 April
revealed that the pontiff contemplated being buried in his native
Poland but left the final decision to The College of Cardinals,
which in passing, preferred burial beneath St. Peter's Basilica,
honouring the pontiff's request to be placed "in bare earth". The Mass
of Requiem on 8 April was said to have set world records both for
attendance and number of heads of state present at a funeral. (See: List of Dignitaries).
It was the single largest gathering of heads of state in history,
surpassing the funerals of Winston Churchill (1965) and Josip Broz Tito
(1980). Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime
ministers, and more than 14 leaders of other religions attended
alongside the faithful. It is likely to have been the largest single
pilgrimage of Christianity ever, with numbers estimated in excess of
four million mourners gathering in Rome. Between 250,000 and 300,000
watched the event from within the Vatican walls. The Dean of the College
of Cardinals, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became the next pope,
conducted the ceremony. John Paul II was interred in the grottoes under
the basilica, the Tomb of the Popes. He was lowered into a tomb created
in the same alcove previously occupied by the remains of Pope John
XXIII. The alcove had been empty since Pope John's remains had been
moved into the main body of the basilica after his beatification.
Posthumous recognition
Title "the Great"
Tomb of John Paul II in The Chapel of St. Sebastian
Upon the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and laymen throughout the world
began referring to the late pontiff as "John Paul the Great"—only the
fourth pope to be so acclaimed, and the first since the first
millennium. Scholars of Canon Law
say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the
title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage,
as was the case with celebrated secular leaders (for example, Alexander
III of Macedon became popularly known as Alexander the Great). The
three popes who today commonly are known as "Great" are Leo I, who
reigned from 440–461 and persuaded Attila the Hun to withdraw from Rome;
Gregory I, 590–604, after whom the Gregorian Chant is named; and Pope
Nicholas I, 858–867.
His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, referred to him as "the great Pope John Paul II" in his first address
from the loggia of St. Peter's Church, and Angelo Cardinal Sodano
referred to Pope John Paul II as "the Great" in his published written
homily for the Mass of Repose.
Since giving his homily at the funeral of Pope John Paul, Pope
Benedict XVI has continued to refer to John Paul II as "the Great." At
the 20th World Youth Day in Germany 2005, Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in
Polish, John Paul's native language, said, "As the Great Pope John
Paul II would say: keep the flame of faith alive in your lives and your
people." In May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited John Paul's native
Poland. During that visit, he repeatedly made references to "the great
John Paul" and "my great predecessor".
In addition to the Vatican calling him "the great", numerous newspapers have done so. For example, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera called him "the Greatest" and the South African Catholic newspaper, The Southern Cross, has called him "John Paul II The Great".
and many Catholic schools worldwide have been named after him using
this title, for example recently renamed John Paul the Great Catholic
University and John Paul the Great Catholic High School.
Beatification
Beatification of John Paul II, on Divine Mercy Sunday 1 May 2011 for which over a million pilgrims went to Rome.[179][180]
Inspired by calls of "Santo Subito!" ("[Make him a] Saint Immediately!") from the crowds gathered during the funeral mass which he performed,[153][181][182][183][184][185] Benedict XVI began the beatification
process for his predecessor, bypassing the normal restriction that five
years must pass after a person's death before beginning the
beatification process.[182][183][186][187]
In an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of
the Diocese of Rome who was responsible for promoting the cause for
canonisation
of any person who died within that diocese, cited "exceptional
circumstances" which suggested that the waiting period could be waived.[6][153][188]
This decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of
Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John
Paul II at St. Peter's Square.
In
early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a
possible miracle associated with John Paul II. Sister Marie
Simon-Pierre, a French nun and a member of the Congregation of Little
Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards, confined to her bed by Parkinson's
Disease,
was reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after
members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul
II". As of May 2008, Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, then 46, was working again at a maternity hospital run by her religious institute. "I was sick and now I am cured", she told reporter Gerry Shaw. "I am
cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or
not."
On
28 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said Mass before an estimated 900,000
people in John Paul II's native Poland. During his homily,
he encouraged prayers for the early canonisation of John Paul II and
stated that he hoped canonisation would happen "in the near future."
In
January 2007, Stanisław Cardinal Dziwisz of Kraków, his former
secretary, announced that the interview phase of the beatification
process, in Italy and Poland, was nearing completion. In February 2007,
relics of Pope John Paul II—pieces of white papal cassocks
he used to wear—were freely distributed with prayer cards for the
cause, a typical pious practice after a saintly Catholic's death.[ On 8 March 2007, the Vicariate of Rome
announced that the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for
beatification was at an end. Following a ceremony on 2 April 2007 – the
second anniversary of the Pontiff's death – the cause proceeded to the
scrutiny of the committee of lay, clerical, and episcopal members of the
Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to conduct a separate investigation.
On the fourth anniversary of Pope John Paul's death, 2 April 2009,
Cardinal Dziwisz, told reporters of a presumed miracle that had recently
occurred at the former pope's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.
A nine-year-old Polish boy from Gdańsk,
who was suffering from kidney cancer and was completely unable to walk,
had been visiting the tomb with his parents. On leaving St. Peter's
Basilica, the boy told them, "I want to walk", and began walking
normally. On 16 November 2009, a panel of reviewers at the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that Pope John Paul II had
lived a life of virtue.
On 19 December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI
signed the first of two decrees needed for beatification and proclaimed
John Paul II "Venerable", asserting that he had lived a heroic,
virtuous life. The
second vote and the second signed decree certify the authenticity of
his first miracle, the curing of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French
nun, from Parkinson's disease. Once the second decree is signed, the positio (the report on the cause, with documentation about his life and writings and with information on the cause) is complete. He can then be beatified.
Some speculated that he would be beatified sometime during (or soon
after) the month of the 32nd anniversary of his 1978 election, in
October 2010. As Monsignor Oder noted, this course would have been
possible if the second decree were signed in time by Benedict XVI,
stating that a posthumous miracle directly attributable to his
intercession had occurred, completing the positio.
The Vatican announced on 14 January 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI had
confirmed the miracle involving Sister Marie Simon-Pierre and that John
Paul II was to be beatified on 1 May, the Feast of Divine Mercy.
1 May is commemorated in former communist countries, such as Poland,
and some Western European countries as May Day, and Pope John Paul II
was well-known for his contributions to communism's relatively peaceful
demise. In March
2011 the Polish mint issued a gold 1,000 Polish złoty coin (equivalent
to US$350), with the Pope's image to commemorate his beatification.
On 29 April 2011, Pope John Paul II's coffin was exhumed from the
grotto beneath St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his beatification, as tens
of thousands of people arrived in Rome for one of the biggest events
since his funeral.
John Paul II's remains (in a closed coffin) were placed in front of the
Basilica's main altar, where believers could pay their respect before
and after the beatification mass in St. Peter's Square on 1 May.
On
3
May 2011 Blessed Pope John Paul II was given a new resting place in the
marble altar in Pier Paolo Cristofari's Chapel of St. Sebastian, which
is where Pope Innocent XI was buried. This more prominent location, next
to the Chapel of the Pietà, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and
statues of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII, was intended to allow more
pilgrims to view his memorial.
Marco Fidel Rojas, the mayor of Huila, Colombia, has testified that he has been "miraculously cured" of Parkinson's Disease
through the intercession of John Paul II. Mr. Rojas' doctor has
certified his cure, and the documentation has been sent to the sainthood
cause's Vatican office in a case that may move John Paul's canonization
forward.
References
- Berry, Jason; Gerald Renner (2004). Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4441-9.
- Davies, Norman (2004). Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw. London: Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-03284-6.
- de Montfort, St. Louis-Marie Grignion; Mark L. Jacobson (Translator) (27 March 2007). True Devotion to Mary. San Diego, California: Avetine Press. ISBN 1-59330-470-6.
- Duffy, Eamon (2006). Saints and Sinners, a History of the Popes (Third ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11597-0.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1995). Pope John Paul II and the Church. London: 1995 Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-55612-814-1.
- Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. (2006) [1997]. Chronicle of the Popes: Trying to Come Full Circle. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28608-1.
- Menachery, Prof. George (11 November 1978). "John Paul II Election Surprises". http://www.indianchristianity.com/html/menachery/html/GeorgeMenachery.htm. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- Meissen, Randall (2011). Living Miracles: The Spiritual Sons of John Paul the Great. Alpharetta, Ga.: Mission Network. ISBN 978-1-933271-27-9. http://www.amazon.com/Living-Miracles-Spiritual-Sons-Great/dp/1933271272.
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Today's Snippet II: Biography of Saint Pope John XXIII
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| Saint Pope John XXIII |
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was the fourth of 14 children born to a family of sharecroppers that lived in a village in Lombardy.[2] He was ordained a priest on 10 August 1904 and served in various posts including appointments as a papal nuncio in France, and a delegate to Bulgaria and Greece. Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal in a consistory on 12 January 1953 in addition to naming him the Patriarch of Venice and the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca.
Roncalli was elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after 11 ballots. Nobody could have been more surprised with the election than Roncalli himself, who had come to Rome with a return train ticket to Venice. He was the first pope to take the pontifical name of "John" upon election in more than 500 years, and his choice settled the complicated question of official numbering attached to this papal name due to the antipope of this name.
Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the first session opening on 11 October 1962. However, he did not live to see it to completion; he died of stomach cancer on 3 June 1963, 4 1/2 years after his election and two months after the completion of his final and famed encyclical, Pacem in Terris.
His passionate views on equality were summed up in his famous statement 'We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike.'[3] John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate, one of which was on the day that he announced the Second Vatican Council in the middle of the night to the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square: "Dear children, returning home, you will find children: give your children a caress and say: This is the caress of the Pope!" [4]
Pope John XXIII was buried in the Vatican grottoes beneath Saint Peter's Basilica on 6 June 1963 and his cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. In addition to being named Venerable on 20 December 1999, he was beatified on 3 September 2000 by Pope John Paul II alongside Pope Pius IX and three others. Following his beatification, his body was moved on 3 June 2001 from its original place to the altar of Saint Jerome where it could be seen by the faithful. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis - bypassing the traditionally required second miracle - declared John XXIII a saint based on his merits of opening the Second Vatican Council. He is to be canonised alongside John Paul II on 27 April 2014.[5] John XXIII today is affectionately known as the "Good Pope" and in Italian, "il Papa buono".
His feast day is not celebrated on the date of his death as is usual, but it is on 11 October, the day of the first session of the Second Vatican Council. He is also commemorated in the Anglican Church of Canada with a feast day of 4 June. It was originally 3 June but was later changed.[6]
Biography
Early life and ordination
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born in Sotto il Monte, a small country village in the Bergamo province of the Lombardy region of Italy. He was the first-born son of Giovanni Battista Roncalli (1854– July 1935) and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzolla (1855 – February 20, 1939), and fourth in a family of 13, including Angelo Giuseppe, Alfredo (1889–1972), Maria Caterina who died as a young child (1877–83), Teresa (1879–1954), Ancilla (1880 – November 11, 1953), Domenico Giuseppe who died in infancy (22 February – 14 March 1888), Francesco Zaverio (1883–1976), Maria Elisa (1884–1955), Assunta Casilda (1886–??), Giovanni Francesco (1891–1956), Enrica (1893–1918), Giuseppe Luigi (1894–??) and Luigi (1896–98) who also died as a young child.[7][8] His family worked as sharecroppers as did most of the people of Sotto il Monte – a striking contrast to that of his predecessor, Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII), who came from an ancient aristocratic family, long connected to the Papacy. However, he was still a descendant of an Italian noble family, from a secondary and impoverished branch.[9] In 1899, Roncalli received both his first Communion and Confirmation at the age of 18.On 1 March 1896, the spiritual director of his seminary (Luigi Isacchi) enrolled him into the Secular Franciscan Order. He professed his vows as a member of that order on 23 May 1897.[10]
In 1904, Roncalli completed his doctorate in theology[11] and was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo in Piazza del Popolo in Rome on August 10. Shortly after that, while still in Rome, Roncalli was taken to Saint Peter's Basilica to meet Pope Pius X. After this, he would return to his town to celebrate mass for the Assumption.[12]
Priesthood
During World War I, Roncalli was drafted into the Royal Italian Army as a sergeant, serving in the medical corps as a stretcher-bearer and as a chaplain. After being discharged from the army in early 1919, he was named spiritual director of the seminary.[14]
On 6 November 1921, Roncalli travelled to Rome where he was scheduled to meet with the pope. After their meeting, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Roncalli would recall Benedict XV as being the most sympathetic of the popes he had met. [15]
Episcopate
In February 1925, Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri summoned him to the Vatican and informed him of Pope Pius XI's decision to appoint him as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria (1925–35). On March 3, Pius XI also named him for consecration as titular archbishop of Areopolis,[16] Jordan.[17] Roncalli was initially reluctant about a mission to Bulgaria, but he would soon relent. His nomination as apostolic visitor was made official on March 19.[18] Roncalli was consecrated by Giovanni Tacci Porcelli in the church of San Carlo alla Corso in Rome. After he was consecrated, he introduced his family to Pope Pius XI. He chose as his episcopal motto Obedientia et Pax ("Obedience and Peace"), which became his guiding motto. While he was in Bulgaria, an earthquake struck in a town not too far from where he was. Unaffected, he wrote to his sisters Ancilla and Maria and told them both that he was fine.On November 30, 1934, he was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece and titular archbishop of Mesembria,[19] Bulgaria. Roncalli took up this post in 1935 and used his office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of refugees in Europe, leading some to consider him to be a Righteous Gentile (see Pope John XXIII and Judaism). In October 1935, he led Bulgarian pilgrims to Rome and introduced them to Pope Pius XI on October 14.[20]
In February 1939, he received news from his sisters that his mother was dying. On February 10, 1939, Pope Pius XI died. Roncalli was unable to see his mother for the end as the death of a pontiff meant that he would have to stay at his post until the election of a new pontiff. Unfortunately, she died on February 20, 1939, during the nine days of mourning for the late Pius XI. He was sent a letter by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, and Roncalli later recalled that it was probably the last letter Pacelli sent until his election as Pope Pius XII on March 2, 1939. Roncalli expressed happiness that Pacelli was elected, and, on radio, listened to the coronation of the new pontiff. [21]
Roncalli remained in Bulgaria at the time that World War II commenced, optimistically writing in April 1939, "I don't believe we will have a war". At the time that the war did in fact commence, he was in Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XII on 5 September 1939. In 1940, Roncalli was asked by the Vatican to devote more of his time to Greece; therefore, he made several visits there in January and May that year.[22]
Nuncio
On December 22, 1944, during World War II, Pope Pius XII named him to be the new Apostolic Nuncio to France.[23] In this capacity he had to negotiate the retirement of bishops who had collaborated with the German occupying power.Roncalli was chosen among several other candidates, one of which was Archbishop Joseph Fietta. Roncalli met with Domenico Tardini to discuss his new appointment, and their conversation suggested that Tardini did not approve of it. One curial prelate referred to Roncalli as an "old fogey".[24]
Roncalli left Ankara on 27 December 1944 on a series of short-haul flights that took him to serveral places, such as Beirut, Cairo and Naples. He ventured to Rome on the 28 December and met with both Tardini and his friend Giovanni Battista Montini. He left for France the next day.[25]
Efforts during the Holocaust
As nuncio, Roncalli made various efforts during the Holocaust in World War II to save refugees, mostly Jewish people, from the Nazis. Among his efforts were:- Jewish refugees who arrived in Istanbul and were assisted in going on to Palestine or other destinations[26]
- Slovakian children managed to leave the country due to his interventions.[27]
- Jewish refugees whose names were included on a list submitted by Rabbi Markus of Istanbul to Nuncio Roncalli.
- Jews held at Jasenovac concentration camp, near Stara Gradiška, were liberated as a result of his intervention.[
- Bulgarian Jews who left Bulgaria, a result of his request to King Boris of Bulgaria.[28]
- Romanian Jews from Transnistria left Romania as a result of his intervention.[26]
- Italian Jews helped by the Vatican as a result of his interventions.[26]
- Orphaned children of Transnistria on board a refugee ship that weighed anchor from Constanța to Istanbul, and later arriving in Palestine as a result of his interventions.
- Jews held at the Sered concentration camp who were spared from being deported to German death camps as a result of his intervention.
- Hungarian Jews who saved themselves through their conversions to Christianity through the baptismal certificates sent by Nuncio Roncalli to the Hungarian Nuncio, Monsignor Angelo Rota.[26]
In 1965, the Catholic Herald quoted Pope John XXIII as saying:
We are conscious today that many, many centuries of blindness have cloaked our eyes so that we can no longer see the beauty of Thy chosen people nor recognise in their faces the features of our privileged brethren. We realize that the mark of Cain stands upon our foreheads. Across the centuries our brother Abel has lain in blood which we drew, or shed tears we caused by forgetting Thy love. Forgive us for the curse we falsely attached to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying Thee a second time in their flesh. For we know not what we did."[29][30]On 7 September 2000, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation launched the International Campaign for the Acknowledgement of the humanitarian actions undertaken by Vatican Nuncio Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli for people, most of whom were Jewish, persecuted by the Nazi regime. The launching took place at the Permanent Observation Mission of the Vatican to the United Nations, in the presence of Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has carried out exhaustive historical research related to different events connected with interventions of Nuncio Roncalli in favour of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Until now, three reports have been published compiling different studies and materials of historical research about the humanitarian actions carried out by Roncalli when he was nuncio.[31][32]
In 2011, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation submitted a massive file (the Roncalli Dossier) to Yad Vashem, with a strong petition and recommendation to bestow upon him the title of Righteous among the Nations.[33]
Cardinal
On January 12, 1953, he was appointed Patriarch of Venice and, accordingly, raised to the rank of Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca by Pope Pius XII. Roncalli left France for Venice on 23 February 1953 stopping briefly in Milan and then to Rome. On 15 March 1953, he took possession of his new diocese in Venice. As a sign of his esteem, the President of France, Vincent Auriol, claimed the ancient privilege possessed by French monarchs and bestowed the red biretta on Roncalli at a ceremony in the Élysée Palace. It was around this time that he, with the aid of Monsignor Bruno Heim, —formed his coat of arms with a lion of Saint Mark on a white ground.
Roncalli decided to live on the second floor of the residence reserved for the patriarch, choosing not to live in the first floor room once resided in by Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, who became Pope Pius X. On 29 May 1954, the late Pope Pius X was canonized and Roncalli ensured that the late pontiff's patriarchal room was remodelled into a 1903 (the year of the new saint's papal election) look in his honor. With Pius X's few surviving relatives, Roncalli celebrated a mass in his honor.
His sister Ancilla would soon be diagnosed with stomach cancer. Roncalli's last letter to her was dated on 8 November 1953 where he promised to visit her within the next week. He could not keep that promise, as Ancilla died on 11 November 1953 at the time when he was consecrating a new church in Venice. He attended her funeral back in his hometown. In his will, he mentioned that he wished to be buried in the crypt of Saint Mark's in Venice rather than with the family in Sotto il Monte.
Papacy
Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, the Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although he was the archbishop of one of the most ancient and prominent sees in Italy, he had not yet been made a cardinal.[35] Though his absence from the 1958 conclave did not make him ineligible – under Canon Law any Catholic male may be elected – the College of Cardinals usually chose the new pontiff from among themselves.
After the long pontificate of Pope Pius XII, the cardinals chose a man who – it was presumed because of his advanced age – would be a short-term or "stop-gap" pope. In John XXIII's first consistory on December 15 of that same year, Montini was created a cardinal and would become John XXIII's successor in 1963, taking the name of Paul VI.
Roncalli was summoned to the final ballot of the conclave at 4:00pm. He was elected pope at 4:30pm with a total of 38 votes. Upon his election, Cardinal Eugene Tisserant asked him the ritual questions of if he would accept and if so, what name he would take for himself. Roncalli gave the first of his many surprises when he chose "John" as his regnal name. Roncalli's exact words were "I will be called John". This was the first time in over 500 years that this name had been chosen; previous popes had avoided its use since the time of the Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism several centuries before.
On the choice of his papal name, Pope John XXIII said to the cardinals:
I choose John... a name sweet to us because it is the name of our father, dear to me because it is the name of the humble parish church where I was baptized, the solemn name of numberless cathedrals scattered throughout the world, including our own basilica [St. John Lateran]. Twenty-two Johns of indisputable legitimacy have [been Pope], and almost all had a brief pontificate. We have preferred to hide the smallness of our name behind this magnificent succession of Roman Popes.[36]Upon his choosing the name, there was some confusion as to whether he would be known as John XXIII or John XXIV; in response, he declared that he was John XXIII, thus affirming the antipapal status of antipope John XXIII.
Before this antipope, the most recent popes called John were John XXII (1316–34) and John XXI (1276–77). However, there was no Pope John XX, owing to confusion caused by medieval historians misreading the Liber Pontificalis to refer to another Pope John between John XIV and John XV.
After his election, he confided in Cardinal Maurice Feltin that he had chosen the name "in memory of France and in the memory of John XXII who continued the history of the papacy in France".[37]
After he answered the two ritual questions, the traditional Habemus Papam announcement was delivered by Cardinal Nicola Canali to the people at 6:08pm, an exact hour after the white smoke appeared. A short while later, he appeared on the balcony and gave his first Urbi et Orbi blessing to the crowds of the faithful below in Saint Peter's Square. That same night, he appointed Domenico Tardini as his Secretary of State.
His coronation took place on November 4, 1958 on the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, and it occurred on the central loggia of the Vatican. He was crowned with the 1877 Palatine Tiara. His coronation ran for the traditional five hours.
Visits around Rome
...great astonishment in the Roman, Italian and international press. I was hemmed in on all sides: authorities, photographers, prisoners, wardens...[38]During these visits, John XXIII put aside the normal papal use of the formal "we" when referring to himself, such as when he visited a reformatory school for juvenile delinquents in Rome telling them "I have wanted to come here for some time". The media noticed this and reported that "He talked to the youths in their own language".[39]
His frequent habit of sneaking out of the Vatican late at night to walk the streets of the city of Rome earned him the nickname "Johnny Walker",[40] a pun on the whisky brand name.
Relations with Jews
One of the first acts of Pope John XXIII was to eliminate the description of Jews as "perfidious" in the Good Friday liturgy. He interrupted the first Good Friday liturgy in his pontificate to address this issue when he first heard a celebrant refer to the Jews with that word. He also made a confession for the Church of the sin of anti-semitism through the centuries.[41]In 1960, he removed the world "faithless" from the prayer for the conversion of the Jews. It was later revised to read something else. While Vatican II was being held, John XXIII tasked Cardinal Augustin Bea with the creation of several important documents that pertained to reconciliation with Jewish people.
Calling the Council
Far from being a mere "stopgap" pope, to great excitement, John XXIII called for an ecumenical council fewer than ninety years after the First Vatican Council (Vatican I's predecessor, the Council of Trent, had been held in the 16th century). This decision was announced on January 29, 1959 at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI, remarked to Giulio Bevilacqua that "this holy old boy doesn't realise what a hornet's nest he's stirring up".[42] From the Second Vatican Council came changes that reshaped the face of Catholicism: a comprehensively revised liturgy, a stronger emphasis on ecumenism, and a new approach to the world.Prior to the first session of the council, John XXIII visited Assisi and Loreto on 4 October 1962 to pray for the new upcoming council as well as to mark the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. He was the first pope to travel outside of Rome since Pope Pius IX. Along the way, there were several halts at Orte, Narni, Terni, Spoleto, Foligno, Fabriano, Iesi, Falconara and Ancona where the crowds greeted him.[43]
Moral theology
Contraception
In 1963, John XXIII established a commission of six non-theologians to investigate questions of birth control.[44][45] He had expressed a prohibitive view of contraceptives in the encyclical Mater et Magistra which was released on May 15, 1961.[46]Human rights
John XXIII was an advocate for human rights which included the unborn and the elderly. He wrote about human rights in his Pacem in Terris. He wrote, "Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood." [47]Divorce
In regards to the topic of divorce, John XXIII said that human life was transmitted through the family which was founded on the sacrament of marriage and was both one and indissoluble as a union in God, therefore, it was against the teachings of the church for a married couple to get a divorce.[48]Pope John XXIII and papal ceremonial
Pope John XXIII was the last pope to use full papal ceremony, some of which was abolished after Vatican II, while the rest fell into disuse. His papal coronation ran for the traditional five hours (Pope Paul VI, by contrast, opted for a shorter ceremony, while later popes declined to be crowned). However, as with his predecessor Pope Pius XII, he chose to have the coronation itself take place on the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica, in view of the crowds assembled in Saint Peter's Square below.He wore a number of papal tiaras during his papacy. On the most formal of occasions would he don the 1877 Palatine tiara he received at his coronation, but on other occasions, he used the 1922 tiara of Pope Pius XI, which was used so often that it was associated with him quite strongly. Like those before him, he was bestowed with an expensive silver tiara by the people of Bergamo. John XXIII requested that the number of jewels used be halved and that the money be given to the poor.
Liturgical reform
Maintaining continuity with his predecessors, John XXIII continued the gradual reform of the Roman liturgy, and published changes that resulted in the 1962 Roman Missal, before the major reform after Vatican II concluded. The 1962 Missal was the last typical edition of the Tridentine Mass expanded on in 1570 by Pope Pius V, but was in future formally recognized by Pope Benedict XVI as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite in 2007.Vatican II: The first session
Pope John XXIII did indeed appear at the window and delivered a speech to the people below, and told them to return home and hug their children, telling them that it came from the pope. This speech would later become known as the so-called 'Speech of the Moon'.[4]
The first session ended in a solemn ceremony on 8 December 1962 with the next session scheduled to occur in 1963 from May 12 to June 29 - this was announced on 12 November 1962. John XXIII's closing speech made subtle references to Pope Pius IX, and he had expressed the desire to see Pius IX beatified and eventually canonized. In his journal in 1959 during a spiritual retreat, John XXIII made this remark: "I always think of Pius IX of holy and glorious memory, and by imitating him in his sacrifices, I would like to be worthy to celebrate his canonization".
Final months and death
On 23 September 1962, Pope John XXIII was first diagnosed with stomach cancer. The diagnosis, which was kept from the public, followed nearly eight months of occasional stomach hemorrhages, and reduced the pontiff's appearances. Looking pale and drawn during these events, he gave a hint to his ultimate fate in April 1963, when he said to visitors, "That which happens to all men perhaps will happen soon to the Pope who speaks to you today."Pope John XXIII offered to mediate between US President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khruschev during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Both men applauded the pope for his deep commitment to peace. Khruschev would later send a message via Norman Cousins and the letter expressed his best wishes for the pontiff's ailing health. John XXIII personally typed and sent a message back to him, thanking him for his letter. Cousins, meanwhile, travelled to New York City and ensured that John would become Time magazine's 'Man of the Year'. John XXIII became the first Pope to receive the title, followed by John Paul II in 1994 and Francis in 2013.
On 10 February 1963, John XXIII officially opened the process of beatification for the late Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari, formerly the archbishop of Milan.
On 7 March 1963, the feast of the University's patron Saint Thomas Aquinas, Pope John XXIII visited the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum and with the motu proprio Dominicanus Ordo,[50] raised the Angelicum to the rank of Pontifical University. Thereafter it would be known as the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the City.[51][52]
On 10 May 1963, John XXIII received the Balzan Prize in private at the Vatican but deflected achievements of himself to the five popes of his lifetime, Pope Leo XIII to Pius XII. On 11 May, the Italian President Antonio Segni officially awarded Pope John XXIII with the Balzan Prize for his engagement for peace. While in the car en route to the official ceremony, he suffered great stomach pains but insisted on meeting with Segni to receive the award in the Quirinal Palace, refusing to do so within the Vatican. He stated that it would have been an insult to honour a pontiff on the remains of the crucified Saint Peter.[53] It was the pope's last public appearance.
On 25 May 1963, the pope suffered another haemorrhage and required several blood transfusions, but the cancer had perforated the stomach wall and peritonitis soon set in. The doctors conferred in a decision regarding this matter and John XXIII's aide Loris F. Capovilla broke the news to him saying that the cancer had done its work and nothing could be done for him. Around this time, his remaining siblings arrived to be with him. By 31 May, it had become clear that the cancer had overcome the resistance of John XXIII – it had left him confined to his bed.
"At 11 am Petrus Canisius Van Lierde as Papal Sacristan was at the bedside of the dying pope, ready to anoint him. The pope began to speak for the very last time: "I had the great grace to be born into a Christian family, modest and poor, but with the fear of the Lord. My time on earth is drawing to a close. But Christ lives on and continues his work in the Church. Souls, souls, ut omnes unum sint."[a] Van Lierde then anointed his eyes, ears, mouth, hands and feet. Overcome by emotion, Van Lierde forgot the right order of anointing. John XXIII gently helped him before bidding those present a last farewell.[53]
John XXIII died of peritonitis caused by a perforated stomach at 19:50 (local time: 7:49pm) on 3 June 1963 at the age of 81, ending a historic pontificate of four years and seven months. He died just as a mass for him finished in Saint Peter's Square below. After he died, his brow was ritually tapped to see if he was dead, and those with him in the room said prayers. Then, the room was illuminated, thus, informing the people of what had happened. He was buried on 6 June in the Vatican grottos. Two wreaths, placed on the two sides of his tomb, were donated by the prisoners of the Regina Coeli prison and the Mantova jail in Verona. On 22 June 1963, one day after his friend and successor Pope Paul VI was elected, the latter prayed at his tomb.
On 3 December 1963, US President Lyndon B. Johnson posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award, in recognition of the good relationship between Pope John XXIII and the United States of America. In his speech on 6 December 1963, Johnson said: "I have also determined to confer the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously on another noble man whose death we mourned 6 months ago: His Holiness, Pope John XXIII. He was a man of simple origins, of simple faith, of simple charity. In this exalted office he was still the gentle pastor. He believed in discussion and persuasion. He profoundly respected the dignity of man. He gave the world immortal statements of the rights of man, of the obligations of men to each other, of their duty to strive for a world community in which all can live in peace and fraternal friendship. His goodness reached across temporal boundaries to warm the hearts of men of all nations and of all faiths".
The citation for the medal reads: His Holiness Pope John XXIII, dedicated servant of God. He brought to all citizens of the planet a heightened sense of the dignity of the individual, of the brotherhood of man, and of the common duty to build an environment of peace for all human kind.
Beatification and canonization
At the time, the body was observed to be extremely well preserved—a condition which the Church ascribes to embalming[55] and the lack of air flow in his sealed triple coffin rather than to a miracle. When John XXIII's body was moved in 2001, the original vault above the floor was removed and a new one built beneath the ground; it was here that the body of Pope John Paul II was entombed from April 9, 2005, to April 2011 before being moved for his beatification on May 1, 2011.
The 50th anniversary of his death was celebrated on 3 June 2013 by Pope Francis who visited his tomb and prayed there for a few moments and then addressed the gathered crowd and spoke about the late pontiff. The people that gathered there at the tomb were from Bergamo, the province where the late pope came from. A month later on 5 July 2013, Francis approved Pope John XXIII for canonization, along with Pope John Paul II without the traditional second miracle required. Instead, Francis based this decision on John XXIII's merits for the Second Vatican Council.[56] On 30 September 2013 it was announced that Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be declared saints on 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday.[57]
The date assigned for the liturgical celebration of John XXIII is not 3 June, the anniversary of his death, as would be usual, but 11 October, the anniversary of his opening of the Second Vatican Council.[58]
References
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- "John XXIII: the speech to the moon above ...". Vatican Radio. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- "Popes John Paul II, John XXIII to be declared saints in April", World News (Fox), Sep 30, 2013.
- "Angelo (John XXIII) Roncalli, Bishop". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- "Pope John XXIII". Rome, IT: Vatican. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- "Jean XXIII". Books (Google). 1970. ISBN 978-2-7010-0404-4. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- Armas e Troféus [Arms & trophies] (in Portuguese), PT: Instituto Português de Heráldica, 1990s.
- . Holy See http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/libretti/2014/20140427-libretto-canonizzazione.pdf. Retrieved 25 April 2014. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - "– Pope John XXIII". – The Papal Library (biography). Saint Mike. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, p. 46.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, pp. 76–77.
- "Pope John XXIII". Liturgy (news). Rome, IT: Vatican. Sep 3, 2000. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, p. 96.
- "Provisio ecclesiarum" [Ecclesiastical provision] (PDF), Acta Apostolicae Sedis (in Latin) (Rome, IT: Vatican) 17, 1925: 140.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Areopolis". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
- "Sacra congregatio pro ecclesia orientali: Nominationes" [Congregation for the Oriental Churches: nominations] (PDF), Acta Apostolicae Sedis (in Latin) (Rome, IT: Vatican) 17, 1925: 204.
- "Provisio ecclesiarum" [Ecclesiastical provision] (PDF), Acta Apostolicae Sedis (in Latin) (Rome, IT: Vatican) 27, 1935: 10.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, p. 121.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, pp. 156–159.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, pp. 159–162.
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- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, pp. 200–201.
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, p. 200.
- "Humanitarian actions of Monsignor Angelo Roncalli", The International Raoul Wallenburg Foundation
- Klinghoffer, David (2005-11-03). "Hitler’s Pope Story a Myth, Rabbi Finds – Arts". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- Hume, Brit (2006-08-18). "Hitler's Pope?". The American Spectator. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- "`OUR EYES HAVE BEEN CLOAKED'". Catholic Herald. 14 May 1965. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
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- Summary of the research work of the International Angelo Roncalli Committee, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
- Synopsis of the Angelo Roncalli Dossier, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, 1 February 2011, submitted to Yad Vashem.
- Eurnekian, Eduardo (2013-06-03). "Good Pope 'Joseph'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
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- Pope Paul VI: 1963–1978 (biography), Rome, IT: Vatican, retrieved 28 February 2006.
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- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1987). Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World. Image Books. p. 303.
- "Look Ahead, Pontiff Advises Young Inmates". St Petersburg Times. Associated Press. 12 November 1962.
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- Schulweis, Harold. "Catholic-Jewish Relations: Post-Holocaust Yom Kippur, 1999". VBS. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
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- McClory, Robert (1995). Turning point: the inside story of the Papal Birth Control Commission, and how Humanae vitae changed the life of Patty Crowley and the future of the church. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 0-8245-1458-0.
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- Meneghetti, Antonio ‘Tonino’, "Ontospychology", Io bloggo, retrieved 5 February 2013, "On 8 March 1963, Pope Giovanni XXIII came to the Angelicum to celebrate the passage from Ateneo Angelicum to University: Pontificia Universitas Studiorum Sancti Tomae Aquinatis in Urbe."
- Hebblethwaite, Peter (1994), John XXIII, Pope of the Council (rev ed.), Glasgow: Harper Collins, p. 502.
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- "Pope John XXIII's exhumed remains at St Peter's", RTE News, 3 June 2001
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- "Date set for Popes John Paul II and John XXIII sainthood", News (UK: BBC).
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Catholic Catechism
Part Three: Life in Christ
Section Two: The Ten Commandments
Chapter Two: Sixth Commandment
Article 6:2 The Vocation to Chastity
CHAPTER TWO
YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Love one another as I have loved you."1 Jn 13:34
2196
In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says:
"The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.' the second is this, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these."2 Mk 12:29-31; cf.
⇒ Deut 6:4-5; ⇒ Lev
19:18; ⇒ Mt 22:34-40;
⇒ Lk 10:25-28
The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."3 Rom 13:8-10
The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."3 Rom 13:8-10
Article 6
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not commit
adultery.EX 20:14;
⇒ Deut 5:18.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery."
But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.Mt 5:27-28
You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery."
But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.Mt 5:27-28
II. The Vocation to Chastity
2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality
within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual
being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is
expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the
relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift
of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the
integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
The integrity of the person
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers
of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person;
it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a
double life nor duplicity in speech.124
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery
which is a training in human freedom. the alternative is clear: either man
governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them
and becomes unhappy.125 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out
of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within,
and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains
such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses
forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and
skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."126
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal
promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so:
self-knowledge, practice of an ascesis adapted to the situations that confront
him, obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and
fidelity to prayer. "Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered together
and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity."127
2341 The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue
of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses
with reason.
2342 Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never
consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all
stages of life.128 The effort required can be more intense in
certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood
and adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress through
stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds
himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and
accomplishes moral good by stages of growth."129
2344 Chastity represents an eminently personal task; it also
involves a cultural effort, for there is "an interdependence between personal
betterment and the improvement of society."130 Chastity presupposes respect for the rights of
the person, in particular the right to receive information and an education that
respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life.
2345 Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God,
a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort.131 The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of
Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.132
The integrality of the gift of self
2346 Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its
influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery
is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a
witness to his neighbor of God's fidelity and loving kindness.
2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows
the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his
friends,133 who has given himself totally to us and allows us
to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one's neighbor. Whether it develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.
The various forms of chastity
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. the Christian
has "put on Christ,"134 The model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful
are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of
life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his
affective life in chastity.
2349 "People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is
suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy
which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a
remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law,
whether they are married or single."135 Married people are called to live conjugal
chastity; others practice chastity in continence:
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live
chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of
mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one
another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection
that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.
Offenses against chastity
2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of
sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself,
isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.
2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate
stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the
Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral
sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that
masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."137 "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for
whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose."
For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is
demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving
and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."138
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral culpability.
2353 Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and
an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of
human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the
generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there
is corruption of the young.
2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated
sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them
deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts
the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave
injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since
each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It
immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave
offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of
pornographic materials.
2355 Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person
who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. the
one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his
Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.139 Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually
involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases
involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage
in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by
destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.
2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of
another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the
respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a
right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an
intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by
parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children
entrusted to them.
Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between
women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward
persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the
centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely
unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts
as acts of grave depravity,140 tradition has always declared that "homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered."141 They are contrary to the natural law. They close
the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective
and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual
tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered,
constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion,
and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.
These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians,
to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the
virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support
of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and
should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
124 Cf. ⇒ Mt 5:37.125 Cf. ⇒ Sir 1:22.126 GS
17.127 St. Augustine, Conf. 10,
29, 40: PL 32, 796.128 Cf. ⇒ Titus 2:1-6.129 FC
34.130 GS 25 #
1.131 Cf. ⇒ Gal 5:22.132 Cf. ⇒ 1 Jn 3:3.133 Cf. ⇒ Jn 15:15.134 ⇒ Gal 3:27.135 CDF, Persona humana
11.136 St. Ambrose, De viduis 4,
23: PL 16, 255A.137 CDF, Persona humana
9.138 CDF, Persona humana
9.139 Cf. ⇒ 1 Cor 6:15-20.140 Cf. Gen 191-29; Rom
124-27; ⇒ 1 Cor 6:10; ⇒ 1 Tim 1:10.141 CDF, Persona humana
8.
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