Agency reports that china has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit
Vatican City, May.16,2007 (CINS/EWTN:Joan's Rome) - The Italian news agency Adnkronos reports that it has learned “from Vatican sources” that the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has received a message from China inviting Pope Benedict to visit later in the year, possibly in September. The invitation, says Adnkronos, quoting sources anonymously, came from the organizers of an art exhibit entitled “Leonardo da Vinci at Tienanmen” scheduled to open in Beijing.
There have been no comments by the Vatican on the story, though it is generally known that Popes, who are also the rulers of the tiny and sovereign Vatican City State, do not visit countries with whom the Vatican does not have formal diplomatic ties.
Two of Pope John Paul’s fondest dreams – as they are for Benedict XVI – were to visit Moscow and China. Many problems exist with China that make such relations difficult – though not impossible - at the moment. Catholics there who are faithful to Rome and recognize the Pope’s authority are not allowed freedom of worship and are known as “the underground Church.” The Catholic Patriotic Association is, on the other hand, approved by the government but they, not Rome, for example, appoint the bishops for the Patriotic Church. Without a papal mandate the ordination of such a bishop is illicit. There have been a handful of such ordinations in recent years, a further roadblock on the path to diplomatic ties.
A two-day meeting to discuss the situation of the Catholic Church in China was held in the Vatican this past January 19th and 20th, at which time he Pope said he would be writing a letter to Catholics in China. That letter, EWTN has learned, is expected for Pentecost.
Pope Benedict XVI is in Brazil. But Meanwhile, the "Latinos" Are Invading the North
The United States is now fifth among the nations with the highest Latin American population. A survey by the Pew Forum on an emigration movement that is changing the face of Catholicism in the leading country in the West
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, May 9, 2007 – Benedict XVI's visit to Brazil is his first, as pope, beyond the world that seems to be most his own: Europe and the West.
But the boundaries between Latin America and the northern hemisphere are no longer so clear. With 37 million Hispanic immigrants, the United States is now the fourth nation in the world – and soon will be the fourth – by Latin American population, after Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, and ahead of all the other countries in Central and South America. One out of every three Catholics in the United States comes from Latin America, speaks Spanish or Portuguese, and prefers to attend churches where there are other faithful from the South.
Furthermore, almost half of the Hispanic immigrants in the United States identify themselves as Charismatics, exactly as in their countries of origin. And this is perceptibly changing the religious landscape in the United States, and also in regard to the Catholic Church. The Latin Americans are not only revolutionizing the numbers, but they are changing the way in which Catholicism is lived in the leading country in the West.
A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public life, published in the United States on the eve of Benedict XVI's trip to Brazil, is the first in-depth study of this powerful transformation, which will have repercussions on the future of Catholicism worldwide.
The complete text of the study is on the website of the Pew Forum:
> Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion
Here are the essential results, point by point:
RELIGION AND DEMOGRAPHY
More than two thirds of the "Latinos" in the United States, 68 percent, are Catholic. And of these, 28 percent describe themselves as Charismatics, a proportion that rises to 70 percent among the immigrants of Protestant faith.
The highest proportion of Catholics is found among the immigrants from Mexico. The Protestants are more numerous among those who come from Puerto Rico. Those without any religion, a small portion of the whole, are in the greatest numbers among those who come from Cuba.
The Pew Forum predicts that between now and 2030, Latin Americans will increase from 33 to 41 percent of Catholics in the United States.
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND BELIEFS
With respect to the other Catholics in the United States, the Hispanics are more devoted to the Virgin Mary, they pray to the saints more, maintain that the Bible is the directly inspired word of God, go to church more often, and give religion a more important place in their lives.
Moreover, fully half of the "Latino" Catholics believe that Jesus will return to earth soon, during their lifetimes. And three out of four are convinced that God guarantees wealth and health for those who have faith.
CATHOLICS AND CHARISMATICS
Unlike the other Catholics in the United States – of whom only one in ten is a self-proclaimed Charismatic – among Catholic "Latinos" 28 percent describe themselves this way: a proportion that increases greatly if one looks not at the classifications but at the behaviors typical of this purist, communitarian, inspired form of Catholicism, with frequent spiritual experiences from healings to speaking in unknown languages.
With respect to other Catholics, the Charismatics of Latin American origin are also much more faithful to the traditional doctrines of the Church: they believe that the bread and wine of the Mass are really the body and blood of Jesus, they go to confession, they recite the rosary.
CONVERSIONS
Among the emigrants from Latin America, one out of five has changed religion, almost all of them out of the "desire for a more direct and personal experience of God." Very few of them say they have abandoned the Catholic Church because they were unsatisfied with its positions on questions like priestly celibacy or the ban on divorce, or because of the "neither lively nor inviting way" in which the Mass is celebrated (a criticism shared by half of them).
With respect to the other creeds, the "Latino" Catholics express a favorable judgment of evangelical Christians in the measure of 42 percent favorable, for Jews in the measure of 38 percent, for Protestant Pentecostals in the measure of 38 percent, for Mormons in the measure of 32 percent, for Muslims in the measure of 26 percent, and for atheists in the measure of 17 percent. Those not favorable mostly do not express their views. Among the other confessions, the highly favorable judgment (77 percent) of Pentecostals toward Jews stands out.
ETHNIC CHURCH
In the United States, the churches attended by the "Latino" Catholics are, for two thirds of the people interviewed, those in which all three of these conditions are found: the Mass is celebrated in Spanish or Portuguese, the faithful belong to the same ethnic group, and the priests are Hispanic.
RELIGION AND POLITICS
While the majority of non-Hispanic Catholics prefer that the Church stay away from politics, the "Latinos" think differently: 57 percent ask that the Church speak out from time to time on social and political questions. And 44 percent complain that political leaders display their religious faith "too little."
52 percent of Catholics from Latin America are against homosexual marriage, 54 percent maintain that abortion should be illegal, and 40 percent oppose the death penalty, with higher numbers among those who go to Mass most frequently.
Seven out of ten "Latinos," among both Catholics and Protestants, say that the Church should not issue guidelines on parties and candidates. In voting, three times as many Hispanic Catholics identify themselves as Democrats versus the Republicans (48 percent versus 17 percent), the opposite of the Protestants, the majority of whom are Republican.
In any case, almost half of "Latino" Catholics, on par with the Protestants, are convinced that social evils would be healed if more people drew near to Christ.
This article is taken from “L’espresso” on line newsmagazine
Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI:International Airport of São Paulo/Guarulhos
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY
WELCOME CEREMONY
Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI
International Airport of São Paulo/Guarulhos
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Mr President,
My Venerable Brothers in the College of Cardinal s and in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
1. I am very pleased to begin my Pastoral Visit to Brazil and to express to Your Excellency, as Head of State and Supreme Representative of the great Brazilian Nation, my gratitude for the warm welcome offered to me. I willingly extend my thanks also to the members of the Government accompanying you, as well as to the civil and military dignitaries present, and to the authorities of the State of São Paulo. In the words of welcome which you addressed to me, Mr President, I hear an echo of the sentiments of affection and love that all the Brazilian people bear towards the Successor of the Apostle Peter.
I offer my fraternal greetings in the Lord to my dear Brother Bishops who have come to receive me in the name of the Church in Brazil. I also greet the priests, religious men and women, the seminarians and the lay people dedicated to the Church’s task of evangelization and to authentic Christian living. Finally, I extend my warm greetings to all Brazilians without distinction, men and women, families, the old and the sick, young people and children. To all of you I say from my heart: thank you very much for your generous hospitality!
2. Brazil has a very special place in the Pope’s heart, not only because it was born Christian and has today the largest number of Catholics, but above all because it is a nation endowed with a rich potential and an ecclesial presence that gives joy and hope to the whole Church. My visit, Mr President, has a scope that goes beyond national borders: I have come to preside at the opening Session of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean at Aparecida. This country, in the providence and goodness of the Creator, will become the cradle of the ecclesial proposals that, with God’s help, will give renewed vigour and missionary impetus to this Continent.
3. In this geographical area, Catholics are in the majority. This means that they must make a particular contribution to the common good of the nation. The word solidarity will acquire its full meaning when the living forces of society, each in its own sphere, commit themselves seriously to building a future of peace and hope for all.
The Catholic Church, as I stated in the Encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est, “transformed by the Holy Spirit, is called to become a witness before the world of the love of the Father who wishes to make humanity a single family in his Son” (cf. no. 19). From here springs her deep commitment to the mission of evangelization at the service of the cause of peace and justice. Hence the decision to undertake an essentially missionary Conference reflects clearly the concern of the Bishops, as it does mine, to seek suitable ways by which in Jesus Christ “our peoples may have life”, as the theme of the Conference reminds us. With these sentiments I raise my eyes beyond the frontiers of this country, and I extend my greetings to all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the words of the Apostle: “Peace to all of you who are in Christ” (1 Pet 5:14).
4. Mr President, I am grateful to Divine Providence for this grace of visiting Brazil, a Nation with a great Catholic tradition. I have had occasion to point out the principal motive of my visit, which is concerned with Latin America and has a fundamentally religious significance.
I am happy to be able to spend some days among the Brazilian people. I am well aware that the soul of this people, as of all Latin America, safeguards values that are radically Christian, which will never be eradicated. I am certain that at Aparecida, during the Bishops’ General Conference, this identity will be reinforced through the promotion of respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death as an integral requirement of human nature. It will also make the promotion of the human person the axis of solidarity, especially towards the poor and abandoned.
The Church seeks only to stress the moral values present in each situation and to form the conscience of the citizens so that they may make informed and free decisions. She will not fail to insist on the need to take action to ensure that the family, the basic cell of society, is strengthened, and likewise young people, whose formation is a decisive factor for the future of any nation. Last but not least, she will defend and promote the values present at every level of society, especially among indigenous peoples.
With these good wishes and with renewed gratitude for the warm reception that I have received as the Successor of Peter, I invoke the maternal protection of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida, remembered also as Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Patroness of all America, so that she may protect and inspire those who govern in their difficult task as promoters of the common good, and renew the bonds of Christian fellowship for the good of all the people. May God bless Latin America! God bless Brazil! Thank you!
© Copyright 2007 - Publishing Bookcase Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI in Brazil:Only from God does true revolution come
São Paulo,Brazil,May.11,2007(CINS/AsiaNews) – The Eucharist is at the core of Benedict XVI’s teaching. The Holy Father has in fact already written on this most central issue, this “ineffable manifestation of God’s love for humanity”. In today’s mass canonising Antônio de Sant'Ana Galvão, the first saint born in Brazil, he reiterated this point.
In speaking about the Franciscan friar who lived in the 18th and early 19th century—a man who was well-regarded as a confessor, an extraordinary preacher who created an institute for women religious and spiritual retreats, a man who was a writer—, the Pope said that the unity with divine love that manifests itself in the Eucharist, which the new saint witnessed as an “ardent adorer” and which makes Catholics “bearers of that peace which the world cannot give”, gives orientation and content to social pastoral initiatives, and offers the world “transparent lives, clear souls, pure minds that refuse to be perceived as mere objects of pleasure,” because “only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world.”
There are more than a million people in the open-air esplanade as São Paulo’s skyscrapers fill the skyline. They have come to listen to the Pope and witness an event that is unprecedented in their country’s history.
In a beautifully sunny morning, crowds welcomed Benedict XVI singing the “Papal March” written just for him, waving Brazilian flags, hats and multicolour handkerchiefs. People shouted when the Pope announced that Father Galvão was among the saints, giving the “Glory” a Brazilian twist, waving hands flags and hats.
On the third day of his trip to Brazil, Benedict XVI appears happy but a little bit tired. The Eucharist, he said, “contains all the spiritual wealth of the Church.” It “occupies a privileged place in the heart of Christians. They must come to know the faith of the Church through her ordained ministers, through the exemplary manner in which they carry out the prescribed rites that always point to the Eucharistic liturgy as the centre of the entire task of evangelization. The faithful, in [. . .] turn, must seek to receive and to venerate the Most Holy Sacrament with piety and devotion, eager to welcome the Lord Jesus with faith, and having recourse, whenever necessary, to the sacrament of reconciliation so as to purify the soul from every grave sin.”
“United with the Lord in the supreme communion of the Eucharist and reconciled with him and our neighbour, we will thus become bearers of that peace which the world cannot give. Will the men and women of this world be able to find peace if they are not aware of the need to be reconciled with God, with their neighbour and with themselves?”
The new saint was a “man of peace and charity” and behaved in an exemplary manner. “The renown of his immense charity knew no bounds. People from all over the country went to Frei Galvão, who offered a fatherly welcome to everyone. Among those who came to implore his help were the poor and the sick in body and spirit.”
The example is that of Jesus, who “loved even to the extent of giving his life for us on the Cross. The action of the Church and of Christians in society must have this same inspiration. Pastoral initiatives for the building up of society, if directed towards the good of the poor and the sick, bear within themselves this divine seal. The Lord counts on us and calls us his friends, because it is only to those we love in this way that we are capable of giving the life offered by Jesus through his grace.”
Again using the new saint as an example, Benedict XVI spoke about marriage as he did last night in his meeting with young people. “There is a phrase,” the Pope said, “in the formula of his consecration which sounds remarkably contemporary to us, who live in an age so full of hedonism: ‘Take away my life before I offend your blessed Son, my Lord!’ They are strong words, the words of an impassioned soul, words that should be part of the normal life of every Christian, whether consecrated or not, and they enkindle a desire for fidelity to God in married couples as well as in the unmarried. The world needs transparent lives, clear souls, pure minds that refuse to be perceived as mere objects of pleasure. It is necessary to oppose those elements of the media that ridicule the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage.”
Pope Benedict XVI in Brazil : To the young, "Do not squander your youth"
Sao Paulo, Brazil, May.11,2007 (CINS/SIR) - “Do not squander your youth. Consecrate it to the lofty ideals of faith and human solidarity”. “You are the youth of the Church” and “you can be the protagonists of a new society”, but the future “largely depends on the way you live the present”: this is, briefly, the appeal made by Benedict XVI to the young of Brazil and Latin America, whom he met tonight in the municipal stadium of Pacaembu, “Paulo Machado de Carvalho”, in São Paulo. Hence his exhortation “not to squander your youth”. Do not try to escape it – said the Pope. Live it to the full”. “You are not only the future of the Church and of mankind, as if it were a sort of escape from the present. Conversely, you are the young present of the Church and of mankind. You are its young face”. “Last night – he added – ,as I was flying over the Brazilian soil, I was already thinking of this meeting”, “wishing I could hold all of you in a big, very Brazilian hug, and show the feelings I have deep in my heart” when I think of “the very special joy” I felt on the occasion of the WYD of Cologne.
“The life that is in you is beautiful and exciting. What to do with it?”: this “crucial question”, said the Pope to the young whom he met tonight in the municipal stadium of Pacaembu, “Paulo Machado de Carvalho”, in São Paulo, is the “same” as that of the young rich man of Matthew’s Gospel, “which we have just heard”. “The question of the Gospel – he explained – does not only concern the future” and the afterlife, but one’s commitment “to the present” as well; in other words, “the meaning of life”, to which “Jesus is the only one who can give us an answer”, because He is the only one “who can show the meaning of present life and give it a content of fullness”. Hence the importance of welcoming Him through faith and the Commandments, which “do not reduce our freedom. On the contrary, they are powerful internal stimuli”. Then, the Pope lingered on the “wealth of youth” that “leads to rediscover life as a gift and as a task”, and instead on the “deficiency of hope” that arouses so many fears in the young who have not discovered “the meaning of life” and are the victims of violence and drugs. Hence the invitation to the people present “to evangelise the boys and girls that are wandering around the world as sheep without a shepherd”.
“Be free and responsible men and women; make the family a centre that radiates peace and joy; be the promoters of life, since the beginning to its natural waning; protect the elderly”. These are the tasks entrusted by Benedict XVI to the young, whom he met tonight in the municipal stadium of Sono Pacaembu, “Paulo Machado de Carvalho”. “Above all, be very respectful of the institution of the Sacrament of Marriage”, exhorted the Pontiff, according to whom “there will be no true happiness in a household” if “there is no faithfulness between husband and wife. Marriage is a natural-law institution” raised “by Christ to the dignity of a Sacrament”, explained the Pope. “At the same time – he added – God calls you to respect each other, even in falling in love and in getting engaged, since married life, which by divine order is exclusive to married couples, will be a source of happiness and peace insofar as you are able to make chastity, inside and outside marriage, a pillar of our future hopes”.
As he met the young in São Paulo tonight, Benedict XVI also invited them to “sanctify their work” in order to “contribute to everyone’s progress” and to “be the protagonists of a fairer and more fraternal society, by fulfilling their duties to the State: by adhering to its laws; not letting themselves be swept away by hatred and violence; trying to be examples of Christian conduct in their professional and social milieus”. “The Lord – commented the Pope – certainly appreciates your Christian life in the many parish communities and in the small church communities, in the Universities, in the Colleges and in the Schools, and above all in the streets and on the workplace. But we must go on. We must never relax, because God’s love is infinite and the Lord asks us, or better, demands us to expand our hearts”. The priorities pointed out by the Pontiff to the young of Brazil include the “preservation and protection of the natural environment, to which we all belong”. “The environmental destruction of Amazonia and the threats to the human dignity of its populations – he concluded – demand more commitment from society’s most diverse spheres of action”.