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Rome, 23 July (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki on Friday for the first time during his official visit to Italy. Al-Maliki is due to arrive in Rome on Thursday to meet his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi on the second leg of his European visit after talks with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin on Tuesday. The Iraqi prime minister will meet the Pope at the pontiff's summer residence at Castelgandolfo, outside Rome. He will then hold separate talks with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state. Iraq is home to the Chaldean...

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- In what is often seen as one of the most intensely secular nations in the world, Australia received a wake-up call: the faith of the church on public display over the weeklong celebrations of World Youth Day. For young Catholics used to seeing a steady annual decline in figures such as Mass attendance -- now estimated at approximately 13 percent of Catholics nationally -- and feeling like the only young person in the local parish, the sight of an estimated 300,000 pilgrims from around the nation and overseas may well have provided a much-needed shot in...

ROME (AFP) — One of Italy's leading animal rights groups said Monday it was launching an Internet petition to demand Pope Benedict XVI stop wearing fur during religious ceremonies at the Vatican.Lorenzo Croce, chairman of the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment (AIDAA), denied being provocative or wanting to make an anti-religious statement."We just want to ask him in a message of love and peace to give a strong signal towards the protection of animals and the environment through a small but very significant personal sacrifice," Croce told the Italian news agency ANSA.Since his election Pope...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Two young Chileans thought they were the object of a joke when they received e-mails saying they would ride the boat-a-cade that would take Benedict XVI to his World Youth Day arrival. Jorge Juárez and Ane Marie Kampp registered for a random drawing on the official World Youth Day page, without thinking seriously that that click would make possible an unforgettable adventure, reported the Chilean episcopal conference. Juárez said he has been serving the Church for years, but what he experienced in Sydney would make him deepen his faith. "I feel the responsibility to...

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...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI expressed his deep sorrow for the suffering of sexual abuse victims during his homily at Mass with Australian clergy. Departing from his prepared homily during the Saturday liturgy at St. Mary's Cathedral, the Pope said, "Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that as their pastor, I too share in their suffering." The Pontiff's prepared speech addressed acknowledge "the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this...

In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ's Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people "from every nation under heaven" (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God's love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and...

On 18 July 2008 in the Church of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in Darlinghurst,  the Holy Father delivered the following discourse to the youth and staff involved in the 'Alive' program. Dear Young Friends,I am pleased to be with you at Darlinghurst today, and I warmly greet all those taking part in the "Alive" programme, as well as the staff who run it. I pray that you will all benefit from the assistance offered by the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Social Services Agency, and that the good work being done here will continue long into the...

Sydney has never seen anything like it since the Olympics. Not even that event, however, could match the spectacle of a papal ‘boatacade’ gliding past the bridge and the opera house to deliver Pope Benedict into the cheering embrace of 150,000 young people from around the world. The Pope’s arrival at World Youth Day had a theatrical quality worthy of the media world in which today’s young people live. By contrast, his message to them was delivered in a self-effacing, direct manner, making clear that the Pope refuses to cast himself as a rock star; he is a teacher and...

As many of the Bishops of the Anglican Communion meet at their Lambeth conference, Christians throughout the world pray and watch with deep concern. The global Anglican communion and its American expression, the Episcopal Church, has been beset with division arising concerning fundamental doctrinal issues which, to orthodox Christians whether they are Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, derive from the very heart of the Christian revelation. The late Servant of God, Pope John Paul II responded to the growing requests from priests, deacons and the lay faithful of the Anglican Communion, and its expression in the United States the Episcopal Church....

IN a return to tradition, the Pope will tomorrow offer communion to kneeling Catholics, and preferably on the tongue rather than in the hand. The final World Youth Day mass at Sydney's Randwick racecourse will attract up to half a million worshippers and will be beamed to as many as a billion viewers around the world. A firm believer in the importance and beauty of liturgical traditions, the Pope will seek to set an example to a massive audience with his return to pre-1960s ritual. "The Holy Father has requested that those whom he gives communion to will kneel, and...

In the end, Pope Benedict offered a summary statement, which cuts to the heart of the liberal vs. faithful Catholic debate. While left-leaning Catholics do concern themselves with important 'social justice' issues, they eschew or minimize fighting for the right to life of the unborn, equating abortion with unemployment, poverty or environmentally damaging mining practices. Faithful Catholics, however, while recognizing the importance of caring for the poor, the environment and peace, understand that the right to life is preeminent. "The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They...

Sydney, Jul 17, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- The “Vocations Expo,” which has given religious congregations a chance to showcase their charisms and apostolates to the young people attending World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney has been “a true success,” organizers have revealed.Diverse congregations, institutes and movements are reaching out to the thousands of young people that have flooded the vocations fair located at the Sydney Exhibition Center at Darling Harbor.  The vocations expo was opened on July 15 and will end on Sunday, July 20, at the close of WYD.According to Father Donai Pellonar, coordinator of the Vocations Expo,...

Pope Benedict XVI on the Pope-a-boat under Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney, Jul 17, 2008 / 07:00 am (CNA).- In the midst of jubilant crowds, the Papal “Boat-a-cade” arrived at Barangaroo this afternoon, after sailing around Sydney Harbour, where the Pope waved to tens of thousands people who had lined the foreshore to catch a glimpse of the Pontiff's arrival. “His Holiness stood waving in full-view of the crowd on board the vessel,” said WYD08 spokesman Father Mark Podesta. The Papal Boat carried approximately 530 people including 168 international pilgrims. After thanking the indigenous people of Australia for their warm...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday told a huge gathering of young people that they were inheriting a planet whose resources had been scarred and squandered to fuel insatiable consumption. His latest appeal to save the planet for future generations came in a address to some 150,000 youths in Sydney after he rode through the city's harbor standing on the outdoor deck of a white ferry as dozens of boats blew their horns. "Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and...

Dear friends, life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose (cf. Gen 1:28)! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those...

He was dedicated to the domestic church of his family, loved the Lord and His Church and was committed to pursuing excellence in his chosen profession. To him, there was no conflict. All of this he saw as a part of his Baptismal vocation. A convert to the Catholic Christian faith, Tony Snow came into the full communion of the Catholic Church during his years in College. Among those who influenced him was the now well know “Evangelizer” of so many leaders at the intersection of faith and culture, my friend Fr. C. J. McCloskey III. His evangelistic and pastoral...

Sydney's Polish-Catholic community World Youth Day coordinator, 24-year-old Basia Slusarczyk, explained to ZENIT that her non-Catholic boyfriend is participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. His conversion was triggered by the experience of praying with her for the fruits of World Youth Day. "He is attending World Youth Day with me and I hope the week of events and the solidarity with so many Catholics from around the world will make him proud to be joining the Catholic family," Basia said. She was with a group of young Polish-Australians dressed in traditional Polish dancing uniforms at the veneration...

More than 30 Indian youths have disappeared in New Zealand, where they were in transit to go to Sydney for World Youth Day, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Church said Monday. Lyndsay Freear told Radio New Zealand that a party of 220 Indian Catholics who arrived in Auckland a week ago were due to fly to Sydney Tuesday, but 32 of them had disappeared. All were billeted with church members in Auckland under a so-called Days in the Diocese programme before going to Australia, where Pope Benedict arrived Sunday for events associated with World Youth Day. Freear said all the...

AS one would expect of the leader of a billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI is a leading theologian, one of the major thinkers of our age.But he is also a sharpshooter - the kind of man who can explain complex ideas in simple ways, and then act decisively. People everywhere welcome his gifts. As a young Catholic studying in a modern university where relativism and other intellectual trends pushed against Christian truth, beauty and goodness- I often found Benedict to be speaking directly to those who wanted to push back. But even non-Catholics have something to learn from him. Benedict regularly describes,...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

Young people have been flocking to Pope Benedict XVI since he began teaching in his twenties. As I write this, hundreds of thousands – from declared agnostics to metal heads to believing Catholics – are descending upon Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day 2008 ready to embrace Pope Benedict’s theme of Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” However, there is more to inspiration than some might think. For example, while an Olympic athlete probably wouldn’t be able to spring from his seat after a transatlantic flight;...

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, is to lead his fellow Anglo-Catholics from the Church of England into the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Herald will reveal this week. Bishop Burnham, one of two "flying bishops" in the province of Canterbury, has made a statement asking Pope Benedict XVI and the English Catholic bishops for "magnanimous gestures" that will allow traditionalists to become Catholics en masse. He is confident that this will happen, following talks in Rome with Cardinal Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Kasper, the Vatican's head of...

he London Telegraph learned on Saturday evening that some senior conservative Church of England bishops have been in Rome holding secret meetings with members of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The Telegraph knows the identities of the bishops but has agreed to hold them in anonymity. Following the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem and with the Lambeth Conference soon to be held, the content of the talks is assumed to be focused on the departures from orthodox Christianity within the Anglican Communion. Right now the Church of England is holding its General Synod where women’s...

ROME, JULY 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will kick off a Bible-reading marathon organized in the lead up to October's synod on the word of God. On Oct. 5, the Pope will be broadcast reading the first chapter of Genesis on Italy's RAI television station. The reading will take about an hour. He will be followed by some 1,200 other readers, who over the course of six days and six nights, will read the Bible in various languages. The Pontiff's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, will conclude the marathon Oct. 10, reading the last chapter of Revelation. It is...

Ending his stirring Gettysburg Address, one of our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, spoke words of hope to a war ravaged Nation. These words echo today as we celebrate Independence Day: “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” America needs a new birth of freedom. ...Two voices tower above all the others in proclaiming the real meaning of human freedom, the late Pope John Paul II and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. These two servants of God are...

From the FR Religion Moderator: Ecumenic threads are closed to antagonism. To antagonize is to incur or to provoke hostility in others.Therefore “anti” posters must not try to finesse the guidelines by asking loaded questions, using inflammatory taglines, gratuitous quote mining or trying to slip in an “anti” or “ex” article under the color of the “ecumenic” tag. Posters who try to tear down other’s beliefs or use subterfuge to accomplish the same goal are the disrupters on ecumenic threads and will be booted from the thread and/or suspended. The Situation in the Church and Relations with Rome A transcription...

 Infallibility: Keeping the Faith The topic of infallibility in the Catholic Church is an ironic one: although intended to provide clarity, it is one of the most misunderstood topics within Catholicism. At least, humbly speaking, it was a big sticking point for me when I was a beginning Catholic. But once I understood it, I saw that it flows from a deep and beautiful faith in the active presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. What infallibility means First of all, let's start with the purpose of infallibility: "It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations...

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 - The devil may wear Prada -- but the pope does not. According to the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, the bright red loafers that Pope Benedict XVI wears are not designed by the Milanese fashion house, as has long been rumored. "Obviously the attribution was false," the Vatican newspaper said in its Thursday's editions. "Such rumors are inconsistent with the simple and somber man who, on the day of his election to the papacy, showed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square and to the whole world the sleeves of a modest black sweater," it said. Fashion...

True, maximum freedom does not mean saying No. It means saying yes, opening up and conforming one’s will to that of God. This is the lesson inspired by the example of Saint Maximus, one of the great Fathers of the Eastern Church, whose figure Benedict XVI presented today. He was named the Confessor for the courage with which he bore witnessed and “confessed” his faith, said the Pope. Born in Palestine in 580 AD Maximus began a life of monasticism and scriptural studies. From Jerusalem he moved to Constantinople then Africa where he distinguished himself by his steadfast defence of...

Are "The Five Conditions" necessary and reasonable? By Brian Kopp There is much debate going on inside and outside SSPX circles over "The Five Conditions." One may ask whether these conditions are "insulting" to the SSPX leadership, as some SSPX supporters insist that the SSPX already adheres to "The Five Conditions." By and large, this seems to be true of Bishop Fellay, though he recently slipped a bit in this regard: Bishop Fellay: Pope Benedict is a "perfectly liberal Pope"Given his record of otherwise prudent and measured statements regarding Pope Benedict XVI, this gaff of Bishop Fellay could easily be...

Rome, Jun 23, 2008 / 10:50 am (CNA).- The Pope addressed participants at the closing Mass for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, Canada via satellite from the Vatican yesterday. In his homily, the Pope encouraged to look at the Eucharist as a “mystery of alliance” and not a “meal among friends.”  He also announced that the next International Eucharistic Congress will take place in 2012 in Dublin, Ireland. Calling to mind the theme of the congress - "The Eucharist: gift of God for the life of the world" - the Holy Father, in French, recalled the importance...

A coalition of atheists and Christians will protest during World Youth Day against the Pope's visit to Sydney. With slogans including “Gay is great” and “Condoms save lives“, the NoToPope Coalition is planning a peaceful rally and march on July 19, the day Pope Benedict XVI travels to Randwick racecourse in Sydney's east.    “The Pope is homophobic,” coalition spokeswoman Rachel Evans said in a statement today.    “Pope Benedict also condemns millions of people to AIDS via his world-wide anti-condom policy.”    Members of the NoToPope Coalition include The Metropolitan Community Church, Atheists Sydney, The Socialist Alliance, Resistance, and Community Action Against...

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's hopes of seeing communion extended to divorcees like himself have been quashed by Pope Benedict XVI.Newspapers reported on Sunday that while attending a ceremony in Sardinia Mr Berlusconi had asked a bishop when the Church planned to change the rules. But the Pope told a conference in Canada that communion can only be received by those free of major sin. "We have to do everything... to receive [communion] in a pure heart," he said. No changeMr Berlusconi has recently begun a major effort to try and get communion granted to divorced and remarried people...

The prolific author writes in the pages of Newsweek (to which he is a regular contributor) of how he thinks Pope Benedict XVI is working to implement the "reform of the reform": Is Pope Benedict XVI determined to restore the Latin mass that many Roman Catholics thought had been consigned to the dustbin of history? The answer, in short, is both yes and no. But neither the "yes" nor the "no" quite fits the conventional speculations in several recent media reports following off-the-cuff remarks to a small Catholic association in Great Britain by a Vatican official. In unraveling this, it...

Today, Pope Benedict XVI is welcoming a group of Jewish Holocaust survivors. Arranged by the Pave the Way Foundation, the group will personally thank the pope for the Catholic Church’s intervention in saving their lives in Italy during World War II. Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this event today: “Despite attempts by embittered ex-priests and seminarians, and others, to discredit Pope Pius XII’s heroic efforts in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust (as many as 860,000 were saved), the evidence is mounting that Pius was a ‘Righteous Gentile.’ What is happening in the Vatican today is another reminder of just...

Acting on faith in politics means exactly what it does in personal life: to do what is right even when it is dangerous to do so, when received opinion howls against it, and when the ultimate consequence of such actions cannot be foreseen. After Pope Benedict XVI showed unprecedented courtesy to visiting American President George W Bush last week, much has been written about the Christian faith that binds the pope and the president. It is not only faith, but the temerity to act upon faith, that the pope and the president have in common. In the past I have...

Reuters Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush (R) walks through the gardens of the Vatican to the..VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict gave George W. Bush an unprecedented welcome in the tranquility of the Vatican Gardens on Friday before the U.S. president resumed his campaign to rally European support for sanctions against Iran. Under tight security, Bush was driven from the bustle of Rome into the idyllic setting. As birds chirped, the two entered a restored medieval tower and held 30 minutes of private talks."Such an honor, such an honor," Bush said to the pope. After the meeting in the...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

This “education to hope and freedom” is the antidote for a Western culture that has become diseased, drunk and debauched on what John Paul II called a “counterfeit notion of freedom”. This culture is losing its hope because it has, in the words of Benedict XVI “...Put God in Parentheses”. This culture has hidden the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race, the womb, behind the language of “freedom of choice”... This culture gives legal protection to the commercial trade in pornographic images that turns the bodies of women and men...

Bush also broke protocol when he welcomed the Pontiff last April 15. Bush, accompanied by his wife and daughter Jenna, went to Andrews Air Force Base to receive the Pope -- an honor the president has never given to a visiting head of state. The next day, Benedict XVI's 81st birthday, the president hosted a celebration in the White House. The Holy Father's welcome is meant to repay the president for his cordiality, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said. Bush will be accompanied by his wife and by Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. envoy to...

From a Religion News Service article (June 7, 2008): Benedict, who has warned against the increasing secularization of Europe and praised the prominent role of religion in American public life, is likely to appreciate a head of state who is "not afraid to express his faith as a Christian," said the Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former student of the pope who now runs Ignatius Press, Benedict's principal English-language publisher. In the president, the pope finds a key supporter of the Catholic church's positions on such controversial questions as abortion, stem-cell research and same-sex marriage. Bush's arguments have frequently echoed Benedict's...

The imminence of a decision by Rome has been heralded on more than one occasion since last October underscoring the success with which the TAC is moving forward. These previous rumors and news articles circulating the web and diocesan newspapers did not prove accurate. Various interpretations exist as to how this union would work out, but the basic request from the TAC involves full communion while maintaining their structure and liturgies as Anglo-Catholics. One major sticking point for many who have reviewed the initiative is the request for “sui juris” (lit: “of one’s own right”) classification, which means that the...

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...

The Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility is one which is generally misunderstood by those outside the Church. In particular, Fundamentalists and other "Bible Christians" often confuse the charism of papal "infallibility" with "impeccability." They imagine Catholics believe the pope cannot sin. Others, who avoid this elementary blunder, think the pope relies on some sort of amulet or magical incantation when an infallible definition is due. Given these common misapprehensions regarding the basic tenets of papal infallibility, it is necessary to explain exactly what infallibility is not. Infallibility is not the absence of sin. Nor is it a charism...

Vatican City, May 30, 2008 / 10:09 am (CNA).- During his visit to Russia, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity met with Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow, and delivered a message from the Holy Father.  In his letter, Pope Benedict highlighted the similarities of the two Christian religions and expressed gratitude for the dialogue between the two churches.The Pope writes that Cardinal Kasper’s visit to Russia provides a timely opportunity for the Pontiff to extend his greetings to the Russian Orthodox Church, “to express my esteem for your ministry in the Russian Orthodox...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has requested an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during his upcoming visit to Rome on June 3 to 5. Ahmadinejad has been granted visa to travel to Italy by Silvio Berlusconi’s government—a close U.S. ally— but only to attend the summit of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization summit, to be held in Rome from June 3 to 5. According to the Italian news Agency ANSA, the Iranian embassy in Rome has confirmed Ahmadinejad's request, but there has not been an official response from the Vatican. Italy's Secretary of State, Franco Frattini, said that the Iranian...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While apes evolved naturally into pre-human creatures, it was the will and desire of God that turned them into humans, an article in the Vatican newspaper said. "The formation of human beings necessitated a particular contribution by God, though it remains that their emergence was brought about by natural causes" of evolution, it said.