http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/benedict/ en-us Fri, 1 Jan 2010 21:45:09 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419158/posts He said people needed to change how they live their lives and called for "ecological responsibility" to be taught in schools..... U.K. Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419158/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 21:45:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2398917/posts A senior Belarusian official invited the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Church leaders to have their first meeting in Belarus in efforts to end the 950-year schism. Speaking during an online news conference on Wednesday, Leonid Gulyako, an official in charge of religious and ethnicity affairs, said Belarus was an ideal place for the historic meeting. "In Belarus, the Orthodox Church has not distanced itself from the Catholic Church. A husband and wife in a family belonging to the two different religions is a common thing in Belarus," Gulyako said adding however that 85% of believers in the country are Orthodox... RIA Novosti http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2398917/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 01:40:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2332208/posts St. Augustine of Hippo Rome, Italy, Sep 4, 2009 / 10:08 am (CNA).- In a letter he sent Thursday to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,  Pope Benedict XVI has underscored that the teachings of St. Augustine are a path seeking unity with the Orthodox. The message from the Pope was sent to Cardinal Kasper as the 11th Inter-Christian Symposium gathered in Rome. The meeting was organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica.In his message, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude... cna http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2332208/posts#comment Fri, 4 Sep 2009 16:48:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2328002/posts Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 30, 2009 / 11:14 am (CNA).- At Sunday’s Angelus prayer in the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo’s apostolic palace, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the previous week’s liturgical memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo and model and patron of Christian mothers. “Much is recounted about her in her son’s autobiography ‘The Confessions,’ a masterpiece among the most read works of all time,” Pope Benedict said. “There, we understand that St. Augustine imbibed the name of Jesus with maternal milk and was educated in the Christian religion by his mother, the principles of which... cna http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2328002/posts#comment Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:43:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320658/posts As observers continue to decipher the meaning of Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, all appear to agree that the passage of note, the passage that may prove historic in its implications, is the one that is already becoming known as the “world political authority” paragraph: In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.... First Things http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320658/posts#comment Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:30:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2295260/posts President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI last week at the Vatican. During the meeting, the Pope provided the president with a copy of his new encyclical letter, Caritas In Veritate. Most of the press coverage has focused on the pro-life elements of the treatise and the obvious disagreements between the Church and President Obama over issues such as abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. But it should be noted that the Pope’s encyclical dedicates as much (if not more) time to the issues of globalization and the current economic crisis, and in this respect the Pope and the President are... A beginner's Guide to Freedom http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2295260/posts#comment Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:31:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294655/posts Adam Smith, 18th-century author of The Wealth of Nations, might easily be a struggling, under-employed hack in today’s cultural milieu. People are not interested in the “invisible hand” of self-interested capitalism. They want very visible hands—the big, boorish, bear claws of government—to fix the global economic crisis. Free markets are a fool’s errand, we are told, a playground for corporate predators. Into this cultural moment arrives the latest encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI, “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth). Its large themes are economic development, globalization, environmental protection, and the culture that promotes a more humane economic system. Anyone hoping... The American http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294655/posts#comment Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:16:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294596/posts VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican spokesman says Pope Benedict XVI has been taken to a hospital in northern Italy after slipping and falling during his vacation in the Alps. The Rev. Federico Lombardi says Benedict "slipped and got hurt" but that "it doesn't seem to be serious."... The ANSA news agency reported that Benedict walked into the hospital with an aide. Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294596/posts#comment Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:24:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2288685/posts Pope Benedict XVI has sacked two Vatican officials over the readmission of a British Holocaust-denying bishop to the Roman Catholic Church. He also abolished the Vatican department responsible for the lifting of the excommunication of Richard Williamson, who is one of the leaders of the Society of St Pius X. The rehabilitation, in January, threatened to undo decades of work to heal rifts between Catholics and Jews. The German-born Pope was forced to apologise to Jewish leaders and atoned by visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel in May. The incident made Pope Benedict, one of the most admired... London Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2288685/posts#comment Thu, 9 Jul 2009 07:23:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2288408/posts ENCYCLICAL LETTERCARITAS IN VERITATE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS THE LAY FAITHFUL AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHARITY AND TRUTHINTRODUCTION1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is... Vatican Website http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2288408/posts#comment Wed, 8 Jul 2009 23:01:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2288103/posts Tuesday July 7, 2009 Best Pro-Life Quotes from Pope Benedict XVI's New Encyclical In new encyclical Pope Benedict slams population control, urges openness to life Compiled by John-Henry Westen   ROME, Italy, July 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today the much-anticipated social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Love) was released, after being delayed for a year due to the global economic crisis. The encyclical includes several passages of great interest to those involved in the pro-life movement. The most pertinent and striking passages dealing with the life issues are reproduced below. To read the complete... LifeSiteNews.com -- Your Life, Family, and Culture Outpost http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2288103/posts#comment Wed, 8 Jul 2009 16:20:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284867/posts Pope Benedict XVI today announced the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The declaration means that the Anglican vicar, who shocked Victorian England by converting to Catholicism, will be given the title 'Blessed'. It also puts Newman just one stage away from becoming the first English saint in about 40 years. Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284867/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:10:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2257208/posts Festivities in Rome this weekend for the dedication of an Orthodox church on the grounds of the Russian Embassy near the Vatican attest to a surprising but marked warming of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican in recent months, according to church officials and analysts. If trends hold true, they add, a meeting of the pope and the patriarch of the Orthodox Church in Russia may be close. Whether even that could begin to overcome the centuries-old hatred surrounding the two churches’ conflicting authority over Christians is another question. To mark the dedication Sunday of the Church... NY Slimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2257208/posts#comment Sun, 24 May 2009 04:11:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231933/posts VATICAN CITY – Critics of the Catholic Church's social teachings are trying to intimidate Pope Benedict XVI into silence, the Vatican charged Friday in responding to attacks on the pontiff's remarks about AIDS and condom use. In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican defended the pope's view that condoms aren't the answer to Africa's AIDS epidemic and could make it worse. On his way to Africa last month, he said the best strategy is the church's effort to promote sexual responsibility through abstinence and monogamy. France, Germany, the United Nations' AIDS-fighting agency and the British medical journal The Lancet called... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231933/posts#comment Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:21:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2227444/posts Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world,From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter.  To quote Saint Augustine, “Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra – the resurrection of the Lord is our hope” (Sermon 261:1).  With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.).  Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is this: what is there after... Vatican Website http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2227444/posts#comment Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:51:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2227442/posts Dear Brothers and Sisters,Saint Mark tells us in his Gospel that as the disciples came down from the Mount of the Transfiguration, they were discussing among themselves what “rising from the dead” could mean (cf. Mk 9:10).  A little earlier, the Lord had foretold his passion and his resurrection after three days.  Peter had protested against this prediction of death.  But now, they were wondering what could be meant by the word “resurrection”.  Could it be that we find ourselves in a similar situation?  Christmas, the birth of the divine Infant, we can somehow immediately comprehend.  We can love the... Vatican Website http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2227442/posts#comment Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:47:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2224984/posts [Some time ago, your PP promised to weigh in on the flap regarding the Pope's comments on condoms which have been widely condemned as backward and stupid by just about everyone in every country. Instead, I'm going to let someone much more personally involved to do so. But before reading, consider the plight of the Holy Father. His job is to eludidate the teaching of Christ and his Church. It is not in his job description to acomodate the teaching of Christ to the sensibilities of the modern world. At some point, those of us who are Christians have... Priestly Pugilist & MercatorNet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2224984/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 18:04:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209752/posts Hell hath no fury like a feminist writer directing a hissy fit at the pope. Bonnie Erbe -- the US News & World Report contributing editor and PBS "To the Contrary" host who argued that Bristol Palin is more "mature" than her abstinence education-advocating mother -- finds the pope "horrifically ignorant" when it comes to HIV/AIDS. What exactly did the pontiff say that set Erbe off? Try, "AIDS cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms," hardly a controversial, implausible statement, but one that, to Erbe, showed the pope has "no sympathy" for women in Africa. Yet in the... NewsBusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209752/posts#comment Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:15:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209724/posts Enough! No--Too much! Amid all the justified outrage we all feel at Bernie Madoff and the AIG bandits, let us save some intense outrage for Pope Benedict XVI. After insulting Muslims by declaring in 2006 that Muhammad had brought "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," after reiterating (through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in 2008 that the subject of the ordination of women is not even open for discussion and declaring that anyone involved with the ordination of women will be automatically excommunicated, after lifting... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209724/posts#comment Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:27:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2209458/posts LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre ( Rome , March 10, 2009) Dear Brothers in the Episcopal Ministry! The remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre without a mandate of the Holy See has for many reasons caused, both within and beyond the Catholic Church, a discussion more heated than any we have seen for a long time. Many Bishops felt perplexed by an event which came about unexpectedly and... e-mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2209458/posts#comment Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:17:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2179840/posts Last year, in a post entitled, "Reform: can you deal with it?", your PP spoke about an imaginary priest, formed after Vatican II, whose entire belief system is based on the common misinterpretations of the Council, and what would happen to him should the Latin Church actually engage in a real reform of the Liturgy. I summarized his new Post-Vatican II faith as follows: And he is the priest referred to above: the one who, if faced with a general and comprehensive reform of the Western Liturgy—to use Cardinal Ratzinger's words—"standing wholly in the legacy of the traditional Rite," would... The Priestly Pugilist http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2179840/posts#comment Fri, 6 Feb 2009 18:34:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2178133/posts BERLIN (Reuters) - Nearly four years after a rare outburst of national pride over the election of a German pope, Germans are falling out of love with Pope Benedict because of his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust. Prominent Catholics, politicians and newspaper commentators in Joseph Ratzinger's homeland are pulling no punches in their criticism of his lifting of the excommunications of four bishops, including one who denies the extent of the Holocaust. Chancellor Angela Merkel also criticized him, prompting a sharp response from the Vatican. "Worldwide criticism of the Pope," read the front page of top-selling daily... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2178133/posts#comment Wed, 4 Feb 2009 15:06:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155882/posts Science Intrudes Into Morality Dec 23, 2008 — The Pope recently declared that we need to save humanity from self-destructive behaviors, like homosexuality. Can science intrude on questions of human behavior and morals? New Scientist thought so; a blog entry today says the Pope “misuses science to attack homosexuality.”One would think that moral behavior would lie outside the field for a scientific news source, but online news editor Rowan Hooper went on, mocking the Pope’s claim that the church has a role in saving “human ecology” like scientists have a role in protecting tropical forests. Hooper called this “a bizarre... CEH http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155882/posts#comment Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:19:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116125/posts DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Fahad al-Deweesh, a vice president at a Persian Gulf investment firm, is getting e-mails from old finance classmates at the University of Southern California he hasn't heard from in years, asking what the job market here looks like for Americans. washintgon post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116125/posts#comment Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:08:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052240/posts Castel Gandolfo, Jul. 25, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki met with Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) on July 25 at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. Pope Benedict underscored his concern about the Christian minority in Iraq during the conversation. A Vatican statement released after the meeting noted that the Holy Father had decried the continuing violence in Iraq and pointed out that the bloodshed has taken a heavy toll on "the Christian communities which strongly feel the need for greater security." The Pope also spoke about the needs of Iraqi refugees and-- returning... CWNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052240/posts#comment Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:25:18 GMT