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SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Although it's not easy to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in one's life, Benedict XVI says one can be certain that the Spirit is the silent and hidden guide toward unity and reconciliation.The Pope said this at the World Youth Day vigil Saturday night at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. Giovanni Maria Vian, director de L'Osservatore Romano, said the discourse of the Holy Father was "one of the most beautiful texts of his pontificate." The Pontiff said the words of Christ taken as the theme of World Youth Day 2008 -- "You...

HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI VIGIL OF THE XXIII WORLD YOUTH DAYRANDWICK RACECOURSESYDNEY19 JULY 2008 Dear Young People, Once again this evening we have heard Christ’s great promise – "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you". And we have heard his summons – "be my witnesses throughout the world" – (Acts 1:8). These were the very last words which Jesus spoke before his Ascension into heaven. How the Apostles felt upon hearing them, we can only imagine. But we do know that their deep love for Jesus, and their trust in his word, prompted...

Sydney, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- At the welcoming ceremony for the opening of World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, the pope told tens of thousands of young people that they have a responsibility to protect human life. Pope Benedict XVI told cheering throngs of students and young adults that they need to stand up against abortion. Addressing a crowd estimated at 150,000 people, the Catholic leader said that newfound enthusiasm for protecting the environment must be match by an equal vigor to protect human life. "At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family, 'crowned...

THE Pope was to leave his rural retreat by motorcade for central Sydney tonight ahead of his first official appearance tomorrow at World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations. The motorcade carrying Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled to leave the Opus Dei-run retreat at Kenthurst, on Sydney's northwestern outskirts, at 6pm (AEST). The 81-year-old has been resting at the Kenthurst Study Centre since arriving in Sydney from Rome on Sunday. The Pope was to be taken to St Mary's Cathedral House in central Sydney, where he will stay for the remainder of his time in the city. Tomorrow is the Pope's first...

On this feast of Rome's Christian founders -- the 57th anniversary of Joseph Ratzinger's ordination to the priesthood -- Uncle Bart remained at Papa Ratzi's side as 40 new metropolitans from across the globe received the symbol of their office, the pallium. Among the prelates who came forward to receive the traditional lambswool band were the recently-named archbishops of Nairobi, Moscow, Jerusalem, Taipei, Lille, Minsk, Mobile, Halifax, Baltimore and St Paul and Minneapolis. With the statue of St Peter in the nave of the Vatican basilica decked out in its usual finery for the day, the morning liturgy also...

Holy Mass has begun in Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica for the feast of Sts. Peter & Paul. The old new form of papal pallium is being used.   The Holy Father has shifted away from the archeologically correct, but odd, ancient form of pallium which Benedict XVI began to use at the time of his "inauguration" in April 2005.  This new but still ancient form of pallium represents an organic midway point between the lond, drapy stole-like pallium and the modern style, used by all the modern popes until Benedict XVI and which is still imposed by the Pope on...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling before the pope will become the norm at papal liturgies, said the Vatican's liturgist. While current norms allow the faithful to receive the Eucharist in the hand while standing, Pope Benedict XVI has indicated a preference for the more traditional practice, said Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies. Kneeling and receiving Communion on the tongue highlights "the truth of the real presence (of Christ) in the Eucharist, helps the devotion of the faithful and introduces the sense of mystery more easily," he said in a June...

Vatican City, Jun 24, 2008 / 10:40 am (CNA).- The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announced that on June 29, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate the Eucharist at 9:30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica.  The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is also scheduled to participate in the ceremony.Bartholomew I and the Holy Father will deliver the homily, recite the profession of faith and impart the final blessing. The Pontiff will concelebrate with the new Catholic metropolitan archbishops, upon whom he will impose the pallium.Among the 43 archbishops receiving palliums...

LONDON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI would like every Catholic parish in the world to celebrate a regular Tridentine-rite Mass, a Vatican cardinal has said. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also told a June 14 press conference in London that the Vatican was writing to all seminaries to ask that candidates to the priesthood are trained to celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass, restricted from the 1970s until July 2007 when Pope Benedict lifted some of those limits. The cardinal, who was visiting London at the invitation of the Latin...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If there's one thing people learned about Pope Benedict XVI during his U.S. visit, it's that he's got content. His talks and sermons were minilessons on the faith and its relationship with the world, blending the advice of a pastor with the reflections of a theologian. The collected talks are now being read and pondered by Catholics across the country who want to delve a little more deeply into the pope's message during his April visit. But what about the rest of his pontificate? What about the hundreds of speeches, homilies, encyclicals, messages, prayers and letters...

Now slated for an autumn release, while on tour in the Ukraine the "Vice-Pope" Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB offered a word on B16's third encyclical, the long-expected social manifesto being prepared under the working title Caritas in Veritate ("Charity/Love in the Truth"): In an interview with the APCOM news agency, the Vatican Secretary of State disclosed that the Pope's next encyclical will not be ready for publication before the fall. "The encyclical is still being written," he said. Cardinal Bertone said that Pope Benedict is also working on the second part of his book Jesus of Nazareth. The Pope...

ROME, MAY 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- If you want to understand Joseph Ratzinger, the man and the Pope, the starting point is the love of God, affirmed a cardinal who has worked closely with him. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, gave an inside look at the personality of Benedict XVI when he participated Tuesday in the book launch of "Benedictus," by Giuseppe de Carli. "The key to the person and the ministry of Benedict XVI is the love of God," the cardinal said, affirming that the Pontiff's first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est," "represents the particularity...

One of the Catholic Church’s most senior theologians, and former mentor to Pope Benedict XVI, has launched a stinging attack on the Vatican. Father Hans Küng, 80, a Swiss priest and professor at Tübingen university said it was a “tragedy� for the Catholic Church that Rome had failed to follow the path of liberalisation set out by the Vatican II council in 1965. In his autobiography, My Fight for Freedom, Fr Küng said he was responsible for Benedict XVI’s appointment as a professor at Tübingen 1966 when he was dean of the Catholic theology faculty. Unusually, Father Küng put...

During the Holy Father’s Corpus Christi Mass, the Holy Father gave Communion only to people kneeling at a kneeler set up before him. This is a very interesting development. The Holy Father has been trying to provoke conversation and a rethinking of many practices, not very good innovations, that have become more or less standard.... In so many places it is simply accepted that Mass must be celebrated "facing the people", versus populum, instead of "facing God", ad orientem. So the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel, when he was also going to do something very much...

VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, is responding to an invitation from Benedict XVI to visit him in the Vatican. The Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, visited Armenia last March and was received by Karekin II. The Vatican official presented a handwritten letter from the Holy Father, inviting the Patriarch to the Vatican. Karekin II, elected as the 132nd Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians in October 1999, arrived in Rome today and will participated in events through Sunday. According to a communiqué released by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian...

That the pope should come to American soil is a disgrace. That he should be here during Passover is an insult. The history of the Catholic Church is a history of persecution and oppression. Along with Protestants and Baptists, chief among its victims were the Jews. The pope is the head of this religious system. His stand in defense of human rights and the life of the unborn is a sham. Where were Benedict's predecessors when the church slaughtered thousands of Jews, Protestants and Baptists because they would not convert to Catholicism? What stand on the rights of the individual...

  HOLY ROSARY WITH POPE BENEDICT XVI  (LIVE) 1 hr. From the Basilica of “Santa Maria Maggiore� in Rome, Holy Rosary presided over by His Holiness Benedict XVI. Sat  5/03/08  12:00PM ET & 9:00 AM PT LIVE Sat  5/03/08 3:30 PM ET & 12:30 PM PT Encore Sat  5/03/08 9:00 PM ET &  6 PM PT  Encore   The Holy Rosary The rosary probably began as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Divine Office (Breviary or Liturgy of the Hours), during the course of which the monks daily prayed the 150 Psalms. The laity, many of whom...

NEW YORK — Amid the great public spectacles of his visit to America, Pope Benedict XVI made time for a private, poignant encounter with Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, on April 19 at New York’s St. Joseph’s Seminary. Cardinal Dulles, suffering the effects of post-polio syndrome, now lives in the Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University. As his muscles atrophy, he is no longer able to walk and is unable to speak. He was therefore unable to participate in the papal events alongside the other cardinals. Instead, the Holy Father decided to meet him privately as a gesture of esteem and affection.The...

It's common knowledge that Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, is less than taken, shall we say, with the Catholic Church. (Note, for example, his insistence that Catholics refrain from talking about the Gospel with Jews, an activity that Foxman apparently believes is "proselytizing".) And he's certainly entitled to his opinion, although I think he's a bit cranky about things, as evidenced by his remarks about Pope Benedict's inter-religious meeting in Washington, D.C. last week (as reported by the New Jersey Jewish Standard): Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, who attended a meeting with the pope at the...

I’m not sure if the timing has anything to do with Pope Benedict’s U.S. trip, but the schismatic traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X chose this weekend to announce its disappointment in the pontiff and its decision not to seek closer ties to Rome now. SSPX leader Bishop Bernard Fellay wrote in a “Letter to Friends and Benefactors� (here in French) that Benedict had not budged in his support for the Second Vatican Council despite his decision last year to allow wider use of the old Tridentine rite Mass in Latin. “The time for an agreement has not yet come,�...

The last few days have been have been amazing for the Church in America. I spent the last few days watching events and reading speeches. With all the hoopla surrounding the papal visit, I wondered if there might be some stories that you and I have missed. After the mass at Yankee stadium, I have spent the last few hours trying catching up. With papal speeches still clinging to my brain, slowly completing the osmosis process, I saw a thread in some of this other news that I might have missed otherwise. Prior to the Pope's election three years ago,...

Now that Benedict has come and gone we are in the thick of media analysis of the meaning of it all. Many folk (Rod Dreher is a notable example) were (as I expected) disappointed because the pope didn't "do something" about bishops who have, to say the least, not particularly distinguished themselves in the Scandal. Dreher wanted a "read them the riot act" moment. Others scattered around the secular and mainstream media talked about Benedict "firing" them and so forth. The pope, as you might expect, addressed the bishops and (as you also might expect given his high degree of...

Last evening, Chicago's Fox News at Nine aired the segment "Cardinal George Talks About Pope's Visit to America." Reporter Nancy Pender's interview with Chicago's Cardinal Francis George included video of Pope Benedict XVI touring the United States as Ms. Pender provided the voice-over: "The Cardinal says the visit reinforced his view of the Pope as a warm, compassionate man, and not the hardline conservative he's reputed to be." CARDINAL GEORGE: None of us is totally responsible for our reputations, it's what you make of it. So if that's the reputation he had, then it turns out not to be entirely...

Their names are Shadow, Butch, Misty, Rusty, Sparky, Sunshine, Esther, Marty and Spunky. They are cats, some former strays, some tiger-striped. But to Jan Fredericks of Wayne, N.J., they are family, they are God’s creatures and deserving of compassion. And in Pope Benedict XVI, Ms. Fredericks, the chairwoman of the fledgling American branch of Catholic Concern for Animals, believes that she has found a kindred spirit: Along with an enormous entourage and a message of peace, the Pope brought with him to the United States a lifelong love of cats.

Walking around earlier tonight, the early editions of the New York Post had hit the streets. Lest there was anyone who didn't already see The Visit as a stunning success, the photo of an open-armed, beaming Benedict XVI on the steps of St Patrick's probably changed quite a few minds... a transition seemingly sealed by the blaring headline leading the paper's coverage: A moment of hope, challenge, a steadfast call to unity and relaunching of the American Catholic project -- and, so it's seemed, a transformative journey for the Man in White -- the Pope's weeklong US tour wraps today...

WASHINGTON, DC, April 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A resolution welcoming the Pope to the United States was stalled in the U.S. Senate after Democrats said they would not vote on the resolution unless offending "pro-life language" was removed from it.The resolution was introduced on Tuesday by Republican Senator Sam Brownback and was co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Bob Casey, both Catholics. The original text included, amongst a series of statements regarding the Holy Father's biography and accomplishments, the statement, "Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out for the weak and vulnerable, witnessing to the value of each and every human...

 EWTN Television Coverage VISIT TO GROUND ZEROPope Benedict XVI visits the former World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero in New York City. Sunday, April 20, 9:00 AM Encore April 20, 11AM; April 21, 1AM.   HOLY MASS AT YANKEE STADIUM, NYCPope Benedict XVI celebrates Holy Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York bringing his historic U.S. visit to a close. Sunday, April 20, 2:00 PM  Encore April 20, 10 PM   DEPARTUREPope Benedict XVI leaves the US. Sunday, April 20, 7:30 PM Encore April 21, 2:30AM.

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived on the stage at the youth rally at St. Joseph's Seminary at Yonkers, NY.

Here is the text of the Holy Father’s sermon from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.  My emphases and comments: Keep in mind that the readings for this Mass will be from the Mass of Pentecost, a theme similar to that celebrated in Nationals Stadium.  The Holy Father is trying to help American’s look for a new "anointing" of the United States, with its special role in the world, by the Holy Ghost.   This is a Votive Mass for the Universal Church. Keep in mind that this Mass is for priests and religious.  Backdrop: The Holy Father has already...

Pope Benedict XVI chided Americans for a moral breakdown he said had fueled the church's child sex abuse scandal, ahead of an open-air mass before tens of thousands here Thursday. Gates opened at Washington's new sports stadium before dawn so that an expected 48,000 people could trickle through stringent security measures to attend the mass at 10:00 am (1400 GMT). Benedict received a rapturous White House welcome Wednesday and met privately with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, before addressing the pedophile priest scandal that has rocked the US church in a speech to US Catholic bishops. Thousands...

WASHINGTON -- Pope Benedict XVI, in a dramatic move likely to alter forever the image of his pontificate, met this afternoon with five victims of clergy sexual abuse from Boston. The private meeting, which was first reported by the Globe this afternoon and has since been confirmed by the Vatican, was brokered by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston.

Washington DC, Apr 17, 2008 / 07:36 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI has now raised the topic of the sex abuse scandal three times in the last two days, and on Thursday afternoon, he held a private meetings with a group of sex abuse victims. The director of the Vatican’s Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, told the Associated Press that Pope Benedict and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, “met with a group of five or six victims for about 25 minutes in the chapel of the papal embassy, offering them encouragement and hope.” According to Lombardi, the Holy Father told the...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three victims of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the RC Church described an emotional, frank and ultimately hope-filled meeting with Pope Benedict on Thursday. They were part of a small group of people abused by clergy who were asked to share their stories with the pope in a Washington chapel. "They prayed with the Holy Father, who afterwards listened to their personal accounts and offered them words of encouragement and hope," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman. The exchanges were frank and unscripted, according to some of the victims. "I told him that he...

I’ve spoken to many priests and laypeople who seem to have been plunged into despair after watching, and especially after listening to, the Papal Mass at the Nationals Stadium. If you watch a youtube clip or just happen to turn on the radio, you could be forgiven for thinking that the end times must have arrived and there is no hope at all. Surely no Papal Mass would sound or look like this. As a friend, a Baptist who has never been to Mass, said to me after he saw a few minutes on the news: “Jeffrey, what the...

Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. Another theme upon which we had many questions from our colleagues was that of immigration, reflecting the growing presence of Hispanics in the society of the United States. We’ll have a question from our colleague Andres Beltramo, from the Notimex agency in Mexico. Beltramo: I’ll ask the question in Italian, but we would love to have just a greeting in Spanish. With the enormous growth in the Hispanic presence, the Catholic church in the United States is becoming steadily more bilingual and bicultural. Yet there’s also a growing “anti-immigrant” movement in America. Do you intend...

Pope Benedict XVI is in America and, like his predecessor, is about to be treated to curiously bipolar coverage at the hands of the American press. While in-country, John Paul the Great received almost universally positive treatment. But up to the point the papal wheels touched down, the media reports were consistently critical – some verging on the savage – and when it was wheels-up, the press immediately returned to their old ways. The tone this time around will not be so much “news” as the recycled template that our journalistic elite imposes on every papal visit to America in...

The crowd that mobbed Nationals Park to see, or just be near, Pope Benedict XVI yesterday was a joyous, kaleidoscopic tableau of Catholics and non-Catholics from across the country who said they were drawn by faith, hope and a sense of the history of the moment. "It's a once-in-life experience," said Kevin Schoonmaker of Moline, Ill., who made the trip to Washington with his wife and five children even though they had only two tickets for the Mass. "The grace of being around such an event is well worth it." His wife, Maggie, and daughter Lexi, 13, used the tickets.......

"In our nation," President Bush told Pope Benedict XVI at the White House yesterday, "faith and reason coexist in harmony." Well, most of the time. As the pontiff addressed an adoring crowd on the South Lawn -- about the time he mentioned the "sublime destiny of every man and woman" -- his gentle tones began to compete with a din coming from Pennsylvania Ave. "I know what's in your religion! Drunkenness! Sexuality!" Larry Craft, stationed near the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania, shouted into his bullhorn. He carried a banner informing Catholics "Your priest is lying!" and shouted insults at...

Just outside of the Metro station, around 7:30 pm. People are already filing in. Even Mother Teresa's nuns had to go through security. It was so great to see the Maronite priests there! I also met 1 Maronite lay woman and a nun who is also Maronite. The Holy Father in the Popemobile. The Pope processes in at the beginning of Mass. The Pope incenses the altar during the Offertory. The priests and deacons distributing Communion on the field were escorted with someone holding an umbrella - a modern spin on an ancient practice. Catholic blogger Dawn Eden, at left,...

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic Educators of the United States Thursday 17 April 2008, Catholic University of America Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished Professors, Teachers and Educators, "How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news" (Rom 10:15-17). With these words of Isaiah quoted by Saint Paul, I warmly greet each of you - bearers of wisdom - and through you the staff, students and families of the many and varied institutions of learning that you represent. It is my great pleasure to meet you and to share with you some thoughts regarding the nature...

Raymond Arroyo, commenting on the odd choices for some of the music in the liturgy at Nationals Stadium, after listening to an absolutely awful conga version of an offertory hymn (including bongos and a kettle drum) just said that "the music in this liturgy, is out of character for papal masses of late. The music has a sort of amazon flavor to it!" Funny and sad. Update: That mass, musically speaking, was one of the oddest things I have ever seen. It was so multicultural that it ceased to have any culture whatsoever! There were so many different bad songs...

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Papal Solemn Vespers in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

Washington DC, Apr 16, 2008 / 07:05 am (CNA).- The most recognizable vehicle in Washington, D.C. this week will most likely be the, “Popemobile”. The term is affectionately applied to the protective glass enclosed Mercedes-Benz that takes the Holy Father from one event to another during his pastoral journeys.The Popemobile originated during the pontificate of John Paul II as a manner to provide the most visibility while maintaining safety for the Pope during his apostolic visits. The vehicle is encased with protective glass, which has a capability of protecting the Holy Father from any attempt to harm him physically with...

Following their private meeting in the Oval Office, a joint communique was released by President Bush and Pope Benedict. Fulltext: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush met today in the Oval Office of the White House. President Bush, on behalf of all Americans, welcomed the Holy Father, wished him a happy birthday, and thanked him for the spiritual and moral guidance, which he offers to the whole human family. The President wished the Pope every success in his Apostolic Journey and in his address at the United Nations, and expressed appreciation for the Pope’s upcoming...

President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI take part in an arrival ceremony, Wednesday, April 16, 2008, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) PRESIDENT BUSH: Holy Father, Laura and I are privileged to have you here at the White House. We welcome you with the ancient words commended by Saint Augustine: "Pax Tecum." Peace be with you. You've chosen to visit America on your birthday. Well, birthdays are traditionally spent with close friends, so our entire nation is moved and honored that you've decided to share this special day with us. We wish...

President and Mrs. Bush will welcome His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the White House on April 16, 2008, during his first visit to the United States as Pope. The President and the Holy Father will continue discussions, which they began during the President's visit to the Vatican in June 2007, on their common commitment to the importance of faith and reason in reaching shared goals. These goals include advancing peace throughout the Middle East and other troubled regions, promoting inter-faith understanding, and strengthening human rights and freedom, especially religious liberty, around the world.

On Monday 14 April, I was having dinner at an Irish pub in Washington, DC with two Catholic priests, a Catholic high school teacher, a community leader in DC, and a Catholic blogger/author known as the "bane of feminist feminist bloggers," when one of them noticed a message written on the side of a truck. I rushed over to the window with my camera, and took a picture of the truck and its message. This is how it turned out: Groups such as the so-called "Women's Ordination Conference" have sympathizers in the mainstream media. The Voice of America recently featured...

The following is a rush transcript of comments made by Pope Benedict XVI to reporters aboard the papal plane, on his way to his first pastoral visit to the United States.... Fr. Federico Lombardi: ...We’ll have a question from our colleague Andres Beltramo, from the Notimex agency in Mexico. Beltramo: I’ll ask the question in Italian, but we would love to have just a greeting in Spanish. With the enormous growth in the Hispanic presence, the Catholic church in the United States is becoming steadily more bilingual and bicultural. Yet there’s also a growing “anti-immigrant” movement in America. Do you...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - American Life League has warned pro-abortion Catholic politicians not to politicize the Eucharist in a nation-wide, full page message addressed to Pope Benedict XVI. "First of all, welcome from the bottom of our hearts," says the ad. "From us all, thank you for the blessing of your presence. But most of all, please protect the body of Christ from the bloodstained hands of pro-abortion 'Catholics.'"On April 17, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass in Washington, DC where pro-abortion Catholic politicians are expected to attempt to receive communion. "Pro-abortion Catholics, who are not really...