Habuimus Papam

April 19th, 2005.

This Sunday at Mass, I involuntarily prayed "for Benedict, our pope and Francis, our bishop". I swear I didn't do it on purpose.



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Happy Birthday

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God wants your friendship

To school children in Britain, 2010


A prayer for our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, from the old Raccolta (or "Collection of Indulgenced Prayers):

O Lord, we are the millions of believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve, defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto Thee with holy fervour the sacred Victim of love and peace.

Wherefore, O Lord, turn Thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father. All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in union with him.

Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made one with his. Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son. At the moment when our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always," grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations with new and manifest power.

Amen

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Resta con noi

In the last few years one of the simpler of the pleasures of working in Rome has been to keep an eye on the pope. After an evening out with friends or a long day running about the City you stroll across the piazza heading for the train station, and you pause and look up. Lights in the three windows in the top right-hand corner apartment of the apostolic palace were nearly always on, no matter how late you were heading home.

It was always a kind of comfort to look up and know that Pope Benedict was there, maybe playing his piano, working on a book or an encyclical, talking with the members of his household. I always worried that he stayed up too late, worked too hard.

...

At the last moment, I called a journalist friend who was lucky enough to be assigned to Castelgandolfo. We spoke as he stood in the centre of the crowd in the little town square, two working journalists, but also two Catholic friends giving comfort to one another. He said the little ceremony of greeting was “Very moving and meaningful.” As we talked, I heard the sounds of the crowd singing and praying in the background over the phone.

...

“There’s a great sadness that the Holy Father is no longer going to be the Holy Father. But mostly there’s joy and an almost palpable feeling of gratitude and appreciation of the greatness of Benedict XVI. This is what has kept people from having that sense of loss and sadness that happens when a pope dies.”

But they are sad too. “I talked to people,” my friend said, “asking what they would say to Benedict if they could, and they all said, ‘Stay with us, stay with us, stay with us,’ over and over again.”

Read the rest.

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Master, it is good that we are here...

I went to Rome today and saw the pope.

“Dear brothers and sisters…The Lord is calling me to "climb the mountain", to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the Church, indeed, if God is asking me to do this, it is so I can continue to serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love with which I have done thus far, but in a way that is better suited to my age and my strength”. "We will always be close in prayer!".

Dear brothers and sisters!

On the second Sunday of Lent, the liturgy always presents us with the Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The evangelist Luke places particular emphasis on the fact that Jesus was transfigured as he prayed: his is a profound experience of relationship with the Father during a sort of spiritual retreat that Jesus lives on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James and John , the three disciples always present in moments of divine manifestation of the Master (Luke 5:10, 8.51, 9.28).

The Lord, who shortly before had foretold his death and resurrection (9:22), offers his disciples a foretaste of his glory. And even in the Transfiguration, as in baptism, we hear the voice of the Heavenly Father, "This is my Son, the Chosen One listen to him" (9:35). The presence of Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets of the Old Covenant, it is highly significant: the whole history of the Alliance is focused on Him, the Christ, who accomplishes a new "exodus" (9:31) , not to the promised land as in the time of Moses, but to Heaven. Peter’s words: "Master, it is good that we are here" (9.33) represents the impossible attempt to stop this mystical experience. St. Augustine says: "[Peter] ... on the mountain ... had Christ as the food of the soul. Why should he come down to return to the labours and pains, while up there he was full of feelings of holy love for God that inspired in him a holy conduct? "(Sermon 78.3).

We can draw a very important lesson from meditating on this passage of the Gospel. First, the primacy of prayer, without which all the work of the apostolate and of charity is reduced to activism. In Lent we learn to give proper time to prayer, both personal and communal, which gives breath to our spiritual life. In addition, to pray is not to isolate oneself from the world and its contradictions, as Peter wanted on Tabor, instead prayer leads us back to the path, to action. "The Christian life - I wrote in my Message for Lent - consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love "(n. 3).

Dear brothers and sisters, I feel that this Word of God is particularly directed at me, at this point in my life. The Lord is calling me to "climb the mountain", to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the Church, indeed, if God is asking me to do this it is so that I can continue to serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love with which I have done thus far, but in a way that is better suited to my age and my strength. Let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary: may she always help us all to follow the Lord Jesus in prayer and works of charity.

I offer a warm greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present for this Angelus prayer, especially the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School. I thank everyone for the many expressions of gratitude, affection and closeness in prayer which I have received in these days. As we continue our Lenten journey towards Easter, may we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus the Redeemer, whose glory was revealed on the mount of the Transfiguration. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings!

If you look very closely at the photo above, you can see where I was. Start just where the Holy Father's right hand is, then go left to the first statue. Immediately above the statue's head, you can see a dark speck. That's me.

I was crying, so don't look too closely, ok?





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After Benedict, the wolves.

Thanks to modern over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, I've had the first decent night's sleep I've had since November, and am feeling physically better, but not one tiny lick further ahead than last night when I gave up trying to think of something to write about This Thing that would not come off sounding crazy.

We like to forget that there are large supernatural realities behind our day-to-day lives, and most specifically behind the ecclesial realities we talk and write so much about. We like to keep that spooky stuff at bay and reduce it all to silly small talk on the internet. But that is the really Real behind all this and it is often not the sort of thing one makes polite table conversation about.

My sense of foreboding has deepened, if anything, as I've weighed in more of the many different things this act of Benedict's will affect, the various possible reasons, the possible repercussions. Stuck between two impossible obstacles: what I think is true is horrifying and would not be accepted; what I think I can write that would be accepted is not true.

I can't bring myself to do what everyone else seems to be doing, and put up cheery little stars and hearts notes on Facebook about how we're all grateful for eight wonderful years and wish him well in all his future endeavours. The thought that keeps coming back to my mind again and again is that now things are going to start getting much, much worse.

Benedict's was, perhaps, the lone voice on the world stage making a rational case for the Real in the face of an insane, murderous, global mass self-delusion. What was he holding at bay? What is now going to have even more freedom to act in the world? From the things I've written about for the last ten or twelve years, I think I've got an idea.

And I'm not sure that we glib and flippant moderns are really capable of grasping the utter strangeness of a papal abdication. My first reaction to it was simple confusion. A friend called me from the states while I was napping, and my muzzy brain simply couldn't grasp what he was saying. "Pope Benedict has resigned". No. Stop saying that. That doesn't mean anything.

How quick we are, with our five-second, internet-trained attention span, to be ready to move on to the next news item. How quick we all were to start making childish conversation about who was "going to be next". As though the fact that Benedict has resigned is a sign of absolutely nothing of interest.

Last night I talked with my buddy Chris Ferrara (who seems perfectly cheerful as always) as he was putting this together. Some of what I'm thinking about is in there. But not all.



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Maybe we can try this at the Blognic

From a blog post of mine, dated April 20, 2005:

"I would like to suggest the new Pope Benedict XVI drinking game for those who believe in celebrating for octaves of feasts in the traditional manner. The new drink was suggested by John at Disputations. Tak...e a pint of Bavarian beer in a German stein and a shot glass of Benedictine. Sink the shot glass into the beer stein. Whenever you come across a news article or hear something on the radio that has some liberal/commie/feminist/apostate layman with a PhD in pastoral theology whining that this is the end of their revolutionary stranglehold on the Church, stand up, yell, Viva Papa! and chug it down.

If it is a priest [being interviewed] sing the Te Deum in Latin after knocking it back.

If it is a bishop, and he mentions either 'collegiality' or 'ecumenical dialogue,' repeat step one while dancing in the street."

[Psst! Sign up now!]



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Ad multos annos (pleaseohplease!)

Hey, remember "Ratzenfreude"? Defined as "The expression of joy about others's dismay about the election of Pope Benedict XVI."


It has been a couple of days since his birthday, and I forgot to put a note up about it.

But today, for the rest of the world, is a somewhat more significant anniversary.

Six years ago today, we were all sitting clustered around the TV up in the top of the house in Toronto, waiting to hear the name.

Down in the square, a bunch of people who were destined to become some close friends of mine were waiting with equal anticipation.

Then, "WHITE SMOKE!!"

and the name?

"Josephum...."

...and the crowd went wild. Our neighbour Taylor, accustomed to thinking of the uber-Catholics next door as a fairly quiet lot (at least before 8 pm), must have thought we'd gone mad... cheering and yelling and laughing...

This post from this blog's previous incarnation, of April 26, 2005 amuses me now as it did then:

I suggested that we will shortly be in a crisis situation in which people are going to stop being afraid of him altogether! We have to move on to phase II and just plainly start making stuff up. I suggested that we put it about that he likes cats because he needs something to feed to his rottweiler, thus in one go, dispelling the cuddly cat-lover image and reminding people of the rottweiler connection. Too much of this huggy "God's German Shepherd business..."

Warren didn't send this one out the whole Dogans list, so I felt obliged to share his contribution to the papal chants.

"Perhaps it would be better to refer to His Holiness as "Benito XVI", instead of the "Benedetto" the Vatican insists on using. We might also encourage trads in the loop to shout "Benito, Benito!" whenever he comes in view.

And, to go into cheerleading routines, uttering such approving slogans as,

'Mussolini, what a weenie! Benito, Benito, sweet sixteen!'

Here is the interesting bit from an article by Peggy Noonan that I've remembered since then:

The new pope speaks to the inner adult in all of us...Did you see them running to St. Peter's Square as the bells began to toll?

They came running in from the offices and streets of Rome, running in their business suits, in jeans with backpacks over their shoulders. The networks kept showing it in their wide shots as they filled time between the ringing of the bells and the balcony scene.
Why did they gather? Why did they have to hear?

The faith is dead in Europe, everyone knows that. So why did they come?

why did so many weep as the new pope came out? Why did they chant "Benedict, Benedict" as he stood at the balcony? Why were they jubilant?

Another one of mine from the day after, April 20, 2005:

Woke up to listen to the CBC moaning about what a bad sign it is that his first homily was given entirely in Lain. I did a victory dance and started the day with a big smile, exactly the way I ended the day yesterday.

As for the CBC, I am surprised it took them until 10 am to get hold of Joanna Manning. "It's the end of the line for people like me..."

Te Deum Laudamus!!!

I know that in fact, he is nothing like the martinet they have built him up to be. We had, after all, 24 years of him in the CDF and not one excommunication for heresy, nothing but gentle little slaps on the wrist for the ones who really refused to stop denying the Divinity of Christ and on and on. But I think that even the perception of 'rigid conservatism' is going to work wonders.

The commies and feminists immediately started braying they would give up their 40 year fight. I hardly dare to hope that after their revolution and their oppressive 4 decade long occupation that we would so easily have achieved liberation from their regime in one moment. But if the reputation of being the big bad bogey man that they themselves have created is enough to have them running scared into the hills, who am I to criticize. Demoralization is an important weapon in war, even if the propaganda is patently false. It helps immensely if the propaganda has been promoted by the enemy. I'll take it. If it looks like it will scare them away and help Catholics get their Church back, I will be happy to perpetuate the myth of the PanzerKardinal...

[...]


My only worry is that they are going to remember that all their fears about him are ones they themselves invented and try to muscle back in before we have changed the locks.

Share your own memories below.



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Rispetto e ammirazione da tanti inglesi

Yes, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise all 'round.



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Bennie's getting the band back together

Been waiting to hear from Broadhurst for some time.

At its meeting on September 28th, the PCC of Folkestone St Peter unanimously requested the Churchwardens to approach The Archbishop of Canterbury, our Diocesan Bishop, in order to consult about the wish of the PCC and many of the congregation to join the English Ordinariate of the Catholic Church when it is erected. We are anxious that this should be made as easy as possible, not only for us, but for the diocesan family of Canterbury that we shall regretfully be leaving behind.

Fr. Finigan comments:

He said that he had intended to continue in his post until he was 70, but that he will now resign in order to smooth the way for the appointment of his successor. He then said that he intended to join the Ordinariate as soon as it is established. This announcement was met with warm applause. The Bishop quipped that the applause was from those who are not going to join the ordinariate and would be pleased to see the back of him.

Now they're going to learn in fine, bulleted point detail about how much fun it is to be a believing Catholic and live in England...

Welcome aboard ladies and gentlemen. Here are your buckets.

Now start bailing.



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Hey, have you noticed something?

It's quiet.

Too quiet.

Has anyone spotted any more Pope-Bashing since the British visit?



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Concession speech

Holy Cow! when the Independent backs down, you know the argument's over:

I suspect the Pope's gentle manner and even his very evident physical frailty really did play a part in a reversal of rhetoric by what one might describe as the anti-clerical press. When someone is conjured up as a monster (or "a leering old villain in a frock" as Richard Dawkins put it) and emerges as a modest scholarly figure visibly ill at ease with the political bombast of a state visit, the opinion-formers sense that their readers will want a more gentle tone.

Maybe so

On the religious blog on the website of daily Corriere Della Sera, Alessio Altichieri:

“The Pope’s visit was only a moderate success because the curiosity and good manners [of the British public] cannot bridge the oceanic divide that separates the traditional Catholic Church (of which Benedict is the living embodiment) from today’s modern, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic world where everything is relative..."

But I had a lively conversation last night with Jamie Bogle, and he said that a lot of the wind has been taken out of the sails of Benedict's enemies. I've seen a lot of places where other people are saying that as well, and not necessarily from Catholics.

This from the Mail:
"By last night the protesters appeared defeated, with celebrity objectors virtually silent and demonstrations against the visit few and muted."

Jamie also pointed out that the protesters were having a bit of fun with the numbers. A friend in Vancouver said that 25,000 turned out for the demonstration, but I think this is just an example of the telephone game where a message can become wildly distorted over great distances, even with the internet shortening them. The National Secular Society, an outfit one would think personally interested in showing as large a number as possible, said it was "between 10 and 12,000". But Jamie told me he had spoken with some of the cops present, and they said it was no more than 2000. There was no "official" estimate made public by police and the media quotes of the numbers came exclusively from the protest organisers.

Quite honestly, if London is the "geographical epicentre of the culture of death," (and it assuredly is) then what a lame sort of culture it is when it can't get more than one Londoner in a thousand to come protest the archenemy of that culture. And as someone else pointed out, they certainly couldn't be bothered to turn up in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Birmingham where there were only representatives of the now rather quaint and endearing, old fashioned Protestant anti-pope sandwich boarders. Just can't stand to be separated from their lattes for a long bus ride Up Norff? or just clinically unconscious of the existence of a country beyond the Orbital? Hard to tell.

Fr. Hugh Allan was sober in his assessment of the possible long-term outcomes for the faithful. We know that no single visit by the pope, even with the cheering thousands, is going to uproot the advanced cancer of liberalism in the Catholic hierarchy and their lay fellow travellers in the Catholic institution. Indeed, Benedict himself seemed to be aware of this. When he spoke to the bishops at Oscott, he had very little of substance to say to them, at least publicly, and from their smiles and eager applause, they didn't have the look of men who had been castigated over their luncheon lamb and treacle pud.

I think the value of the visit has been for the ordinary Catholics and non-Catholic British who have, finally, had an opportunity to hear him first hand, and unscreened by either the hostile media or the hostile Catholic institution. As Fr. Allan told me, he had parishioners who had deep-seated animus against the pope (one had spent time in a German concentration camp in the War) "completely" change their minds upon seeing him and hearing him talk.

More later...



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It's too bad no one ever actually reads anything he's written

This just in via Facebook:

Note to organisers of/attendees at, papal liturgies in UK: “Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy...because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.” BXVI, Spirit of the Liturgy

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Johann Hari

This is what journalistic objectivity looks like in Britain's leftist press.

I realise it's not pretty, but take a good look. This is the kind of schoolyard silliness that passes for reasoned discourse in Britain.



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Gobsmacked

Someone must have lured all the Ecclestone Square papal visit liturgy team into the basement of the bishops' offices with a promise of free felt banners and locked them in.

The Hyde Park Prayer Vigil was actually Benediction.

80,000 people were utterly, totally silent during exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Tens of thousands lining the route to the park, and who knows how many people watching on TV and on the live feed on the net. As predicted, the Pope himself and the force of the truth of his message has totally overshadowed and out shouted the secularists, and he barely raised his voice above a whisper the whole time.

Here's some of my facebook notes:

Hyde Park crowd chanting "Benedetto!" in the Italian manner.

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Doh! altar girls.

Dang. Doing so well for a minute there...

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A resounding well done! to the liturgical team organising the Hyde Park prayer vigil. And they did have a gorgeous crucifix, just a little one.

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Lead kindly light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!

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wait... what's this?

Did they make up a new Sacred Heart Litany?

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one woman in the crowd, kneeling, nodding her head in acknowledgement of the name of Jesus.

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‎...now everyone's looking up "divine praises" on Wikipedia...

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absolute silence in Hyde Park. With 80,000 people adoring Christ in the Eucharist...

Who'd have ever imagined!

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humeral veil, beautiful monstrance, six (?) candle lanterns, proper choir dress, and all of Britain, and the world, watching Benediction happening. Everyone switching over to Wikipedia to find out what "eucharistic adoration" means...

The doors have finally been opened.

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"it's as if he's a sort of counter culture" NOW you're getting it!

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Eucharistic Adoration as a normal part of the spiritual life has just been introduced to all of Britain. If nothing else good comes of this visit, that one is the most likely to change everything in hopeless Britain.

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‎"even now, His heart is speaking to your heart"

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holy cow! did he just say "hung drawn and quartered"?! +Peter Smith, paying attention to who the real martyrs were at Tyburn?

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I love hearing his voice, especially the accent. It does remind me a bit of Peter Lorre, though.

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wait! liturgical alert!! are those traditional candle lanterns? And incense? Who locked the Yookay bishops' liturgical people in the basement of Eccleston square? They're going to be very annoyed when they get let out.

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‎"Catholic and Anglican martyrs" were put to death at Tyburn to witness to their faith in Christ?

!!!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!!!!

What????!!!

Are these people actually insane?

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is watching the pope live on the BBC and the Bishops live webcast simultaneously, sending notes via email, Messenger and Skype and being kind of weirded out by modernity

Keep this sight in your mind's eye

Now there's a sight to remember. Vatican flags hanging down the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

Photo by Edward Pentin.

Calling for bets

on how long it takes the BBC/Guardian/Times triad to start calling the pope's comments on radical atheism a "gaffe".



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God's friend

Good Grief!

What on earth is that thing? Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that actually tie dyed?

Do these people not get that the whole "wrinkly hippie/birkenstock/tie-dye/grey pony tail" thing is a joke?




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