May 17th, 2013 by admin
Vatican City, 16 May 2013 (VIS) – The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, is visiting Milan, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine and Licinius, respectively the emperors of the western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire, in 313. The treaty granted freedom of worship to Christians throughout the Roman Empire, putting an end to religious persecution.
For his visit, Pope Francis, yesterday afternoon, sent a message—through Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., to Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, with greetings to the Patriarch, the participants in the commemoration, as well as to the entire city, “for the importance given to the memory of the historic decision that, decreeing religious freedom for Christians, opened new paths to the Gospel and decisively contributed to the birth of European civilization.”
In the text, the Holy Father expresses the desire that, “today as then, the common witness of Christians of the East and West, sustained by the Spirit of the Risen One, will agree to the spread of the message of salvation in Europe and the entire world and that, thanks to the foresight of civil authorities, the right to publicly express one’s faith will be respected everywhere, and that the contribution that Christianity continues to offer to culture and society in our time will be accepted without prejudice.”
May 17th, 2013 by admin
Ecclesia Dei Society Address has been changed to PO Box 60437 Titirangi, Auckland for administration purposes.
All mail addressed to PO Box 754 Wellington will be redirected to the above Box number for 12 months.
May 17th, 2013 by admin
On 9 May 2013 the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Martin Krebs as apostolic nuncio to New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean.
Archbishop Krebs, titular of Taborenta, was previously apostolic nuncio to Guinea and Mali.
March 14th, 2013 by admin
FR. LOMBARDI: JOY AT ELECTION OF LATIN AMERICAN POPE
Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – “I am very happy that a Latin American has been elected. We know the hopes that it would have been someone from the continent that has the majority of Catholics [in the world],” were the first words of Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, commenting on the election of the new Pope to reporters.
“The choice of the name Francis is very meaningful,” he said. “It is a name that has never been chosen before and evokes simplicity and an evangelical witness. His first, simple appearance in public testifies to both. It is a sign of great spirituality to ask the people’s blessing for him before giving his own. It is a spirituality that recalls that of his predecessor. His pastoral sense of relationship with the Diocese of Rome should also be noted. It is the Pope’s diocese and [he chose] to pray the Church’s simplest prayers with the People of God at a moment like this.”
“Cardinal Bergoglio,” he added, “is a Jesuit. Jesuits are characterized by their service to the Church, collecting all the charisms that the Lord gives us wherever they are needed, but trying to avoid positions of power. For me this election takes on the meaning of a call to server, a strong call and not a quest for power or authority. I am absolutely convinced that we have a Pope who wants to serve. His election was the election of a rejection of power.”
“The new Pope has already spoken by phone with Benedict XVI,” Fr. Lombardi finished, moving on to information of the new Pope’s first acts: Tomorrow, Thursday 14 March, at 5:00pm, he will celebrate Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. On Friday, 15 March, at 11:00am in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace he will meet with the full College of Cardinals, electors and non-electors. On Saturday, again at 11:00am but this time in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope will have an audience with journalists and those who work in the media. On Sunday at 12:00pm, he will recite the first Angelus of his papacy as is customary, in St. Peter’s Square. The Mass to inaugurate the new papacy will be held on Tuesday, 19 March, at 9:30am. His visit to a Marian church tomorrow morning will be private.
March 2nd, 2013 by admin
What a momentous legacy as Universal Teacher of “Faith and Morals” Pope Benedict’s short Pontificate has given to the Church, in particular his Motu Proprio: Summorum Pontificum (2007) which guarantees and safeguards the inestimable value of the Traditional Latin Mass in perpetuity.
In 2009, he thankfully lifted the Excommunication latae sententiae on the Bishops and supporters of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX). He had been involved with negotiations with this Society for decades. As Cardinal Ratzinger he worked hard on reconciliation between SSPX and the Church almost achieving this objective, it seems, in 1988. As Cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI had to struggle with unprecedented crisis in the Church, a crisis which touched it in its essence, in its substance even, which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Catholic Priesthood. Without the holy Priesthood of course there is no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
His splendid encyclicals on Love (Deus caritas est, 2006), on Hope (Spe Salvi, 2007), and on Human Development in Charity & Truth (Caritas in Veritate, 2009) much be carefully studied. “The Shoes of the Fisherman” will indeed be difficult to fill after the extraordinary Pontificate of Benedict XVI.
The Mass pro eligendo summo pontifice—for the election of the Supreme Pontiff—offers prayers that are much more worthwhile than human reasoning or derisive speculations. As Pope Benedict himself urges, more prayers for a worthy successor in the Papal Office are needed in this special “Year of Faith”.
Collect: Humbly we beseech and implore You, Lord: may Your infinite goodness give to the Holy Roman Church a pontiff who will always be pleasing to You by his supernatural zeal on our behalf and will merit the veneration of Your people by his wise government to the glory of Your Name. Secret: In Your abundant goodness, Lord, be gracious to us: that through these holy gifts that we respectfully offer to You, we may have the joy of seeing a pontiff pleasing to Your Majesty preside over the government of our Holy Mother the Church. Postcommunion: Having been renewed by Your precious Body and Blood, may we rejoice, O Lord, through the admirable grace of Your Majesty, to have a pontiff who will instruct Your people in virtue and diffuse in the souls of the faithful the sweet fragrance of spiritual graces.
February 12th, 2013 by admin
POPE RENOUNCES PAPAL THRONE
Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) The Holy Father, at the end of today’s consistory for causes for canonization, announced his resignation from ministry as Bishop of Rome to the College of Cardinals. Following is the Holy Father’s complete declaration, which he read in Latin:
“I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”
“Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.” [emphasis added]
November 29th, 2012 by admin
Benedict XVI established on 10 November 2012 the Pontifical Academy for Latin, which will be part of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The new academy will be directed by a president assisted by a secretary, to be appointed by the Pope, and will comprise an academic council. It will supersede the foundation “Latinitas”, established by Paul VI with the Chirograph “Romani Sermonis” of 30 June 1976.
November 7th, 2012 by admin
Vatican City, 6 November 2012 (VIS) – In a message sent in the name of Benedict XVI on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Apostolic Letter “Summorum Pontificum”, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. affirms that “by this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father wished to respond to the hopes of the faithful regarding the forms of liturgy”, prior to Vatican Council II.
Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Letter “Motu Proprio data”, “Summorum Pontificum” on the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970, was published on 7 July 2007, and came into effect on 14 September of the same year.
In his message the secretary of State notes that “it is good to conserve the richness that has developed in the faith and prayer of the Church and to accord it due space, at the same time fully recognising the value and sanctity of the ordinary form of the Roman rite”.
Cardinal Bertone adds that in the Year of Faith, which coincides with “the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican Council II, the Holy Father invites all the faithful to make a special demonstration of their unity in faith; in this way they will become effective agents of new evangelisation”.
The message, written in French, was read out on the the occasion of the international pilgrimage to Rome, “Una cum Papa nostro”, organised by “Coetus internationalis Summorum Pontificum”. The pilgrimage culminated in a Mass presided by Cardinal Antonio Canizares, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, celebrated according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. Among those participating were faithful belonging to groups linked to the use of the 1962 Missal, which was approved by John XXIII and remained in force until the reforms of the Council.
(emphasis added)
November 7th, 2012 by admin
Feast of Christ the King, Mass in Extraordinary Form 28 October 2012 St Mary of the Angels’ Church, Wellington.(Sermon Excerpts)
The revelation of God, brought to earth in Jesus continues to challenge people and, not least, us his followers. That is so evident today. Not only are there some people around who aggressively reject all Christian belief, but, among members of the Church, there are those who in effect reject the teaching of Jesus by making it relative, by watering it down; there are even some who in recent times have said publicly they now “go beyond the Church” and “beyond Jesus”. So prevalent is this de facto unbelief that Pope Benedict has called on Catholics to observe a Year of Faith. It began on 11th October, the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago; it will continue until the feast of Christ the King in 2013…
We are,” says the Holy Father, “facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of the religious sense; it constitutes the greatest challenge of the whole Church in our time.”
In the last 40 years, all over the world, as well as here in New Zealand, the number of Catholics who are loyal to the Church and who profess the faith in a real way has diminished. You have seen that happen as many of your fellow parishioners no longer go to Mass, or bring up their children in the faith, or live a Catholic life…
The Holy Father tells us that when the faith of us who believe is genuine, then it can be like a window opened on to the light of the living God; in the darkness of a world that is largely opposed to God, our faith can be “an essential point of reference” for those who are still searching for God.
On 11th October in Rome as Pope Benedict marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Council and the beginning of the Year of Faith, in his homily, he discussed what had happened after the Council to make a Year of Faith necessary now. He said: “The bishops in the Council had been certain of their faith. However in the years following, many Catholics embraced the dominant mentality of the time, uncritically placing in doubt the very foundations of the faith which they no longer felt able to accept as the truth…”
Like other people, many of us Catholics were swept off our feet by new ideas, some of them good, but some of them quite crazy and harmful. Even some theologians and religious and priests and bishops were drawn into this as well. So it began to seem that the Council had been a complete break with the past, that it had brought into being a new and different Church. Thus the urgent effort of the past 40 years in the Church has to a large extent been sifting truth from error, the correct meaning from misinterpretations. Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have devoted their formidable energies to this… Our task now is to promote a correct understanding of the thought of Vatican II in the context of the unbroken Tradition of the Church’s teaching, to lay hold of the authentic vision of the Council and to implement better its potential for renewal in the Church and for the holiness of her members…
God is giving us the opportunity of the Year of Faith to renew and deepen our faith and to join in prayer with Pope Benedict that the light of faith will be kindled anew throughout the world. Let us take that opportunity with joyful and generous hearts; let us live it with Mary in prayer and with a renewed will to do all in our power to spread and share with others the truth and the love and the light that is the faith of Jesus Christ embodied in his Catholic Church.
(emphasis added)
October 30th, 2012 by admin
…The whole of Mark’s Gospel is a journey of faith, which develops gradually under Jesus’ tutelage. The disciples are the first actors on this journey of discovery, but there are also other characters who play an important role, and Bartimaeus is one of them. His is the last miraculous healing that Jesus performs before his passion, and it is no accident that it should be that of a blind person, someone whose eyes have lost the light. We know from other texts too that the state of blindness has great significance in the Gospels. It represents man who needs God’s light, the light of faith, if he is to know reality truly and to walk the path of life. It is essential to acknowledge one’s blindness, one’s need for this light, otherwise one could remain blind for ever (cf. Jn 9:39-41). Bartimaeus, then, at that strategic point of Mark’s account, is presented as a model. He was not blind from birth, but he lost his sight. He represents man who has lost the light and knows it, but has not lost hope: he knows how to seize the opportunity to encounter Jesus and he entrusts himself to him for healing…
In the encounter with Christ, lived with faith, Bartimaeus regains the light he had lost, and with it the fullness of his dignity: he gets back onto his feet and resumes the journey, which from that moment has a guide, Jesus, and a path, the same that Jesus is travelling. The evangelist tells us nothing more about Bartimaeus, but in him he shows us what discipleship is: following Jesus “along the way” (v. 52), in the light of faith.
Saint Augustine, in one of his writings, makes a striking comment about the figure of Bartimaeus, which can be interesting and important for us today. He reflects on the fact that in this case Mark indicates not only the name of the person who is healed, but also the name of his father, and he concludes that “Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, had fallen from some position of great prosperity, and was now regarded as an object of the most notorious and the most remarkable wretchedness, because, in addition to being blind, he had also to sit begging. And this is also the reason, then, why Mark has chosen to mention only the one whose restoration to sight acquired for the miracle a fame as widespread as was the notoriety which the man’s misfortune itself had gained” (On the Consensus of the Evangelists, 2, 65, 125: PL 34, 1138). Those are Saint Augustine’s words.
This interpretation, that Bartimaeus was a man who had fallen from a condition of “great prosperity”, causes us to think. It invites us to reflect on the fact that our lives contain precious riches that we can lose, and I am not speaking of material riches here…
I would like here to highlight three pastoral themes that have emerged from the Synod. The first concerns the sacraments of Christian initiation. It has been reaffirmed that appropriate catechesis must accompany preparation for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. The importance of Confession, the sacrament of God’s mercy, has also been emphasized…Secondly, the new evangelization is essentially linked to the Missio ad Gentes. The Church’s task is to evangelize, to proclaim the message of salvation to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ. During the Synod, it was emphasized that there are still many regions in Africa, Asia and Oceania whose inhabitants await with lively expectation, sometimes without being fully aware of it, the first proclamation of the Gospel…A third aspect concerns the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism. During the Synod, it was emphasized that such people are found in all continents, especially in the most secularized countries. The Church is particularly concerned that they should encounter Jesus Christ anew, rediscover the joy of faith and return to religious practice in the community of the faithful…
Let us put away, then, let us put away all blindness to the truth, all ignorance: and removing the darkness that obscures our vision like fog before the eyes, let us contemplate the true God …; since a light from heaven shone down upon us who were buried in darkness and imprisoned in the shadow of death, [a light] purer than the sun, sweeter than life on this earth” (Protrepticus, 113: 2 – 114:1). Amen.
(emphasize added)
