Pope's Letter to G20

Mr Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation


"In the course of this year, you have the honour and the responsibility of presiding over the Group of the twenty largest economies in the world. I am aware that the Russian Federation has participated in this group from the moment of its inception and has always had a positive role to play in the promotion of good governance of the world’s finances, which have been deeply affected by the crisis of 2008.
In today’s highly interdependent context, a global financial framework with its own just and clear rules is required in order to achieve a more equitable and fraternal world, in which it is possible to overcome hunger, ensure decent employment and housing for all, as well as essential healthcare. Your presidency of the G20 this year has committed itself to consolidating the reform of the international financial organizations and to achieving a consensus on financial standards suited to today’s circumstances. However, the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places.
From this standpoint, it is clear that, for the world’s peoples, armed conflicts are always a deliberate negation of international harmony, and create profound divisions and deep wounds which require many years to heal. Wars are a concrete refusal to pursue the great economic and social goals that the international community has set itself, as seen, for example, in the Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, the many armed conflicts which continue to afflict the world today present us daily with dramatic images of misery, hunger, illness and death. Without peace, there can be no form of economic development. Violence never begets peace, the necessary condition for development.
The meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the twenty most powerful economies, with two-thirds of the world’s population and ninety per cent of global GDP, does not have international security as its principal purpose. Nevertheless, the meeting will surely not forget the situation in the Middle East and particularly in Syria. It is regrettable that, from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, one-sided interests have prevailed and in fact hindered the search for a solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding. The leaders of the G20 cannot remain indifferent to the dramatic situation of the beloved Syrian people which has lasted far too long, and even risks bringing greater suffering to a region bitterly tested by strife and needful of peace. To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution. Rather, let there be a renewed commitment to seek, with courage and determination, a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiation of the parties, unanimously supported by the international community. Moreover, all governments have the moral duty to do everything possible to ensure humanitarian assistance to those suffering because of the conflict, both within and beyond the country’s borders.
Mr President, in the hope that these thoughts may be a valid spiritual contribution to your meeting, I pray for the successful outcome of the G20’s work on this occasion. I invoke an abundance of blessings upon the Summit in Saint Petersburg, upon the participants and the citizens of the member states, and upon the work and efforts of the 2013 Russian Presidency of the G20.
While requesting your prayers, I take this opportunity to assure you, Mr President, of my highest consideration."


From the Vatican, 4 September 2013

(Signed)
Francis

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Protecting the Bride

I had a lovely wedding, a bit retro, the one in white is Stewart, the one 'standing like a queen in robes of gold' is Hazel his bride in what I suppose is a 20s/30s dress. I also did an interview with BBC South on the Gardner story that got onto the agencies.

More serious journalists, who actually earn their living through their craft, have also advised me to fight this. I initially said I wouldn't, I thought that it was prudent to keep quite but as the Argus, our local paper, seems to do this kind of thing to me every few months and  various people have contacted me suggesting reasons for Will Gardner's attacks, which may or may not be true but I have come to the conclusion that it is important to make a stand, not so much for myself but because it is really an attack on the Church, my bride, Christ's bride.

Just as involvement with poor is messy so is involvement with media but actually defended that which is true is important, it is the manly thing to do, I was rather heartened by some of the comments Mr Gardner's piece, there are usual crackpots but I am grateful to those who got down into the mess of the forum in order to point out what was wrong with Brighton Argus' Bill Gardner's piece.

It is fine protecting the bride of Christ in the cosiness of the Catholic blogosphere, perhaps the truly manly thing to do is to protect her and fight for honour in the media, 'on the peripheries' as Pope Francis would say.

Oh, the interview is on 6.30 tonight, as I don't have a tv perhaps someone might put a link in the combox, I'll be doing something priestly at that time.

Pray for Bill Gardner
Pray for the Argus
Pray for those who work in the media

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Bill Gardner: an unscrupulous journalist

 Have a look at this article by a 'journalist' called Bill Gardner,  in our local paper, it is his take on this piece I wrote on the poor.

I was saying that the poor, the really poor, turn our lives upside down. I know the local paper pays peanuts and expects its journalists to create stories in order to get onto the news networks but this is just a malicious and deliberate misrepresentation.

It is very interesting to see what a disreputable journalist can do with a few carefully chosen adjectives. I didn't 'condemn', 'complain', 'blast' etc, and I am pretty certain that some of his other quotes are not my words, especially not, 'test my holiness', I don't speak like that, 'only God is Holy'. Though I admit in an informal moment I might question the marriage of the parents of someone who disrupts the worship of an entire congregation, especially if they consistently steal from the church or other poor people.

It is interesting to see how an unscrupulous journalist can so easily put an entirely different slant on a simple theological reflection, presumably even basic Christian concepts are beyond the comprehension of some.

Well, journalists are obviously as messy as the poor; except unscrupulous journalists can do more damage. Perhaps Mr Gardner might like to help on our soup run, it doesn't have to be 365 day a year, once a week would be fine, providing he treats our clients with respect, or maybe he could take Jason or Daryl or Pawel or Dawn out for a cup of coffee or a meal, or just come a clear up the next time someone comes in and vomits or bleeds all over my kitchen because he is drug or has been beaten up.

Maybe next time I run out of money I could tap him for a few quid when some vulnerable 17 year old girl needs to top up her phone to speak to her mum because her boyfriend has beaten her up or she needs a roof over head because she is sleeping in a tent and it is just few degrees above zero and she is vulnerable, or maybe the next time I am arranging a child's funeral and someone comes to the door in need of someone to talk because they are suicidal I can send them round to Bill's place so he can spend a couple of hours listening to them.Here, to, I am neither complaining, blasting, lambasting or anything else, just asking.

I understand Mr Gardner's little piece has been syndicated internationally, perhaps kind readers might, if possible post my response.

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'Foetal Remains

I did a funeral this morning for an unbaptised premature baby, she was just 17 weeks. Apparently, mum had been to our local hospital, the Royal Sussex several times and been sent home having been told the pains she was experiencing was just something she'd eaten, I mention this only because a couple of months ago another mother, one of our parishioners, miscarried and then had various life threatening complication, she too had visited the hospital several times over a couple of days and been told something similar. Two stories don't make a trend, but here are two women who weren't listened to, the lady undertaker told me that England had the highest miscarriage rate in Europe.

What rather surprised me is that apparently the young mum and dad had turned up at the Church looking for me a couple of weeks ago according to a parishioner 'with a box', I was out so they went away, next I had a telephone call from a young woman asking how much a funeral cost, I told her that Catholic churches tended not to charge and that she should see should contact an undertaker, I hadn't realised it was for a baby. Fortunately she went into see one of the good guys in the business. The 'good guys' don't charge, they provide their services absolutely free, so I was pleased this morning that Emily picked me up in one car and the mother and her family turned up in a Rolls Royce with Aaron, the funeral director and a driver, and the baby in a tiny coffin, resting between mum and grand ma on the back seat.

Emily told me the funeral directors were rather surprised that the mother and father had turned up at their office with the baby's corpse. Something had obviously gone wrong with counselling at the hospital, the problem is of course that they hadn't had a baby, their child couldn't be registered, result of this girl's pregnancy had been 'foetal remains'.

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Realpolitik

One head ache for any bishop but especially the Supreme Pontiff is calculating to what degree Catholics should oppose the state, how many martyrs should his policies produce. It was a problem for both Pius XI and Pius XII in their relationship with Nazi Germany. Pius XI issued Mit brennender Sorge, The actual writing of the text is credited to Munich Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber and to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII. Its secret printing in Germany, and reading from every pulpit in Germany led to the murder and imprisonment of many. When Pacelli became Pius XII in 1939, on the very eve of WWII he was faced with the dilemma of whether to continue the previous Pope's public opposition to the Nazi regime and risk virulent persecution of the Church in those countries occupied by the Nazis but also bring an end to any dialogue or influence for good, or humanitarian aid that the Church might offer. I am sure the memory of those who died after the publication Mit brennender Sorge must have haunted him, many were friends.

By the time of Vatican II the Church as very much on the back foot in countries under Communism, thousands of priests and ordinary Catholics had been killed or imprisoned or deported for the faith, in many places it appeared to have been wiped out, vast areas of the East were without a priest to offer the sacraments. Both John XXIII and Paul VI decided the Council would not criticise Communism but instead enter into 'dialogue' wherever possible, this was the period of realpolitik of the then Secretary of State Cardinal Casaroli.

Realpolitik can be described as  politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moral or ethical premises. This seems to have marked the work of Secretary of State under Cardinal Sodano, Casaroli's successor and from the brief utterances will seem to be at the guiding principle behind the work of Pope Francis' new Secretary of State.

It is actually the default position of most of those who work for the Secretariate, thus the basic principle is one of 'dialogue'. As most people in the Vatican are appointed, or have their appointments approved by the Secretariate of State, as well as of course the world's bishops, realpolitik has been the dominant philosophy. Thus one of our own bishops could say, when criticised for his inaction of Cameron's marriage experiment could say, 'it is only worth engaging in battles we can win'.

This why Cardinal Mindszenty and the clergy who suffered under Communism were seen as a bit of an embarrassment under Casaroli, or why outspoken clergy are often rebuked or simply left to rot by today's bishops, or even why some bishops might well give the impression of being open to such groups as ACTA or Queering the Church, or in the States why people like Cardinal Dolan are happy to be seen sharing a joke with Obama, or why the Irish bishops are not going to excommunicate pro-abort politicians. It perhaps marked Cardinal Bergoglio's attitude to priests who spoke out against the Junta during his time as Jesuit Superior or his attitude to gay marriage when Archbishop; his public silence but deeply felt views which he spoke of in his letter to enclosed religious, or the silence the respected Sando Magister has accused him of in regard to the redefinition of marriage, the evil of abortion etc. and why people are suggesting this will be a doctrine-lite Papacy.

JPII seemed happy to allow the S of S to carry on, whilst he strode the world with Communist regimes falling beneath his feet. In practice realpolitik continued within Vatican diplomacy and episcopal appointment whilst JPII also promoted a counter view through his encyclicals and above all by the appointment of Ratzinger to the CDF, that the search for Truth was above all paramount: hence the clashes between the CDF and SS. This continued when Ratzinger became Pope, hence the difficulties of a lack of co-operation from the Sodano appointed Vatican staff with Bertone and many in the Vatican either not being able to understand the new thinking or maliciously holding on to old thinking.

It is not so much that Ratzinger abandoned  realpolitik but rather as we see in his letter to China and the appointment of various members of the episcopate he expected it to be subject to 'the truth' and the primacy of doctrine, the tendency of realpolitik is to see doctine as subject to practical and material factors which many would see as enshrined in Gaudium et Spes.

Realpolitik tends to shy away from martyrdom and favour compromise but you might find this Michael Vorris video about the torture of priests in Romania interesting.

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Bertone: Crows and Vipers in the Vatican

Cardinal Bertone isn't going quietly according to the Guardian, he speaks "crows" and vipers" in the Vatican: 

I see the record of the past seven years as positive. Of course, there were a lot of problems, especially in the last two years," he said, according to the Ansa news agency, hitting out at "a combination of crows and vipers".
"But this should not cloud what I consider to be a positive record," he added. The Italian word corvo (crow) is used pejoratively to describe informants or people who leak secrets.
The final years of Benedict's papacy were overshadowed by scandal, most prominently the so-called "Vatileaks" affair that depicted the Vatican's swollen bureaucracy as a hotbed of conspiracy and cronyism.
Bertone, who was appointed by Benedict in 2006 to occupy a role often described as the Vatican's prime minister, was blamed for much of the papacy's disfunction and poor decision-making. The German pontiff came under pressure from some senior clerics to fire Bertone, but refused.
"I always gave everything but certainly I had my shortcomings," said Bertone, 78, on Sunday. "But this does not mean that I did not try to serve the church."
He said it was not true that the secretary of state "decides and controls everything" within the Vatican.

I think Bertone's 'incompetence' has been greatly talked up by those crows and vipers in order to sabotage Pope Benedict. I might be remembered that Cardinal Angelo Sodano only made way for Bertone, after three three months of Sodano tying up loose ends, he only moved out of the Secretary's traditional apartment in the Apostolic Palace after a few more months leaving Bertone cooped up for months in St John's Tower in the Gardens, when various of his close collaborators were given jobs in various Vatican department including the IOR. Bertone found many of those who should have been close collaborators actually refused to work with him from the beginning of Pope Benedict's Papacy, hence the large number of fellow Salesians who were moved into key position in the Secretariate of State.

Throughout the last years of the JPII papacy there were tussles between Sodano at the Secretariate and Ratzinger at the CDF, the most notable was over the investigation into child abuse: Ratzinger wanted an full and frank investigation, Sodano until a few years ago regarded it as mere press 'tittle-tattle'. Matter grew worst when as Pope Ratzinger command Marcel Maciel, who was a friend of Sodano's should retire to a life of prayer and penitence. Cardinal Schönborn had already complained that Sodano had stopped the investigation into the accusation made against his predecessor Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër's.

Many of those who work with Vatican Radio and the media were appointees of Cardinal Sodano, perhaps it might be too much suggest that those in close relation wcasorolith media have been briefing against not only Bertone but Benedict himself. There are various other scandals involving the Cardinal and hiss not too competent architect nephew Andrea Sodano in the Raffaello Follieri affair that involve money laundering and inflated bills for various works around the Vatican.

As Cardinal Dean Sodano was still a key player, though at 86 not a voting Cardinal, in the last Conclave, and in the eight years of preparation for the election of Pope Francis who according to widespread rumour was the runner up in the election of Pope Benedict. As Casaroli had been Sodano's mentor, so Sodano seems to have been the mentor of the new Secretary of State Mgsr Pietro Parolin.

It will be interesting to see if any real clean up takes place in the Vatican sewers, and what the former Secretary of State has to say, a memoir would be useful, if anything his fault seems to have been about too much transparency, for the good of the Church let us hope it continues.

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Naughty Seminarian

Seminary life can be pretty dull at times, it is relieved by the occasional practical joke, I remember a prank where some wicked seminarians brought a priest mini van up the steps of my seminary and left in the front hall, and then there was the occasion when some ghastly youth wrapped a 'staff only' lavatory in cling film and then removed the light bulb: cruel and puerile!

Today I was speaking to a seminarian who told me he was going to ring up his friends and pretend to be Pope Francis, he did a pretty good, 'Hola! is a Papa Francesco ere, how are you? .... No. no you call me Jorge, eh? We are brothers, eh? ..... Avanti, avanti, No?'

I told him it would be absolutely wicked to telephone his Rector, and sinful to put it on You tube, I was grateful when he assured me he would never put such a conversion on the social media. I felt obliged to inform him that there were probably canonical sanctions for impersonating the Supreme Pontiff.





When I hear about these telephone calls from the Pope I can't help wondering (a) if it really was Pope Francis (b) who authorises their leaking, especially as at least one person claimed it wasn't them, and (c) how, if it is the Pope, he manages to convince people he is not some prankster.

I remember being told of a certain Cardinal ringing someone and announcing himself, only to receive the incredulous reply, 'Yeah and I am the monkey's uncle, tell His Eminence that he is a lazy, two faced, double-crossing ....'.

Anyhow, it is a far cry from the days of Pius XI when white ivory telephones were installed in various Vatican so the Pope's gilt telephone could be answered on one's knees.

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