Vatican again has treated tradition with a double standard

Is the Next Pope Really the Last Pope? – The Virginian

The world stood by and waited anxiously for the Mayan predictions of 2012 to be fulfilled and the world to come to a cataclysmic end and yet, we are all still here. We have had many predictions about the Pope to include the misleading notion that he will be THE anti-christ. Now that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning there is even more dooms day talk since he has been predicted to be the last. Of course this prediction is not mentioned at all in the Protestant or Catholic bible.

I find it interesting that so many believers are now fixated on the prophecies of a 12 th Century Irish Archbishop referred to as St. Malachy. This prophecy predicts that this next Pope will be the last Pope and he will be “Peter the Roman”. There seems to be a contender for the Peter post, his name is Cardinal Peter Turkson from Africa. He is well loved but he has a great deal of well loved competition. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Hal Lindsey reported this prediction last week on the The Hal Lindsey Report as if it were a biblical prediction. He made the leap into biblical text by claiming that the end times Pope would work in cooperation with the anti-christ and be destroyed as “Mystery Babylon”. Going slightly off topic for a moment, here is a question that has not been asked up to this time: If the Vatican were to be destroyed as Hal Lindsey and others predict would that really destroy Catholicism? Not likely, therefore the reasoning behind Catholicism being the “Mystery Babylon” is a little suspicious in my book. Of course “my book” is also extra biblical and doesn’t count for a hill of beans….just as anything anyone else has to say that is not taken directly from scripture.

I would like to warn everyone at this point that just because so many Christians are giving St. Malachy and many others extra biblical predictions legitimacy you really should hold it all up to the truth of scripture; which I might add again, does NOT mention this particular prediction at all.

St. Malachy’s predictions of the previous Popes seem to be a little vague and like Nostradamus, can apply to many others, but only time will really tell; isn’t that the way the bible tells us we will know a true prophet? If his prediction holds true he call himself “Peter the Roman”.

What does this all mean for us? Well the prediction is that this Pope will be the last Pope because the world will be brought to judgment during the time of this man. The prediction goes like this…

“In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.” – Irish Central

We’ve had many theologians weigh in on what is going on within the Roman Catholic Church and as we have seen from my last post, this Pope is unlikely to be the anti-christ as others have predicted, however, I think as far as predictions go, St. Malachy has just as much chance of being right as anyone else. I don’t put a lot of weight into extra biblical prophecy. We all know, those of us who read the bible, what Revelations has to say and we are called to read the signs of the times. The signs have been pointing towards Christ’s return for quite some time now. However, there are still a great many “biblical” prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

Sources: Why the buzz over St Malachys ‘last pope’ prophecy outdoes 2012 hype (NBC News); Prophecy: Is the next pope the last pope? (MarketWatch); St. Malachy predicted Pope Benedict’s successor will be last pope (Irish Central)

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Could Cardinal O’Malley becoming 1st American pope?

(NECN/AP) – Massachusetts Catholics are expressing support for Pope Benedict XVI, who made the surprise decision to become the first pope in almost 600 years to resign.
 
Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley hailed Benedict’s “courage,” and recalled the pope’s meeting in Washington, D.C., in 2008 with Boston-area victims of the clergy sex abuse crisis.
 
Bishop Robert Deeley, the vicar general of the Boston Archdiocese, on Monday gave thanks for Benedict’s “faithful leadership” in his eight years as pope.
 
Deeley, who worked directly with the pope in Rome, said Benedict has a “deep and abiding love for the Church.”
 
Ray Flynn, the former Boston mayor and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, called Benedict a “pious and caring priest.” Flynn called the resignation an “act of sacrifice” to make way for a more energized leader.

On Tuesday afternoon, there was much speculation that Cardinal O’Malley could be one of the Catholic leaders to be considered as the next pope.

He would become the first American pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, joined “The Morning Show” to clarify the report and discuss what lies ahead for the church.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Tags: holy cross, Pope Benedict XVI, Sean O’Malley, Pope , Pope Benedict, the morning show, Cardinal O’Malley, Boston Cardinal, American Pope, pope retiring, Matthew Schmalz

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

POPE BENEDICT XVI has announced that he is to resign at the end of the month, saying he no longer has the strength to continue in office. His decision has taken the Catholic Church – which comprises more than 1.2 billion people – by surprise, and indeed shock.

In his resignation statement, which was perhaps prudently guarded, even from his most personal aides, Pope Benedict explained: “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 bark 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 recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill 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.”

Four popes have resigned in the history of the Catholic Church. Other than Celestine V and Gregory XII, they are Marcellinus, who abdicated or was deposed in 304 after complying with the Roman emperor’s order to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods; and Benedict IX, who sold the papacy to his godfather Gregory VI and resigned in 1045. The life of the papacy reflects in many aspects the life of humanity itself, comprising both “saints and sinners”. I suggest Pope Benedict’s decision is a deeply reflective one, motivated for the enormous importance he so deeply values in this unique ministry. Papal departure has been mooted in modern times, too. Pope Pius XII was said to have lodged a letter of resignation with his Vatican aides during World War II. Many within the Church felt that Pope John Paul II should have resigned, as he endured so much suffering and ill health.

Father Vincent Twomey, an Irish priest who studied under Pope Benedict in Germany, said he was not surprised by the announcement, saying that the pope looked very tired at an annual meeting of past students in August. He praised the pope’s courage in admitting that the was physically unable for the task. Fr Twomey said he would like to see Pope Benedict’s successor coming from the ‘young Church’, pointing us towards South America and Africa – continents where the Catholic Church continues to grow and blossom.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, reflecting on Pope Benedict’s relationship with the Irish Church, said: “He was a man who wanted to know a lot about what was happening in Irish society, not in a way of pointing fingers but of trying to learn and asking me and the Irish Church where are we in today’s society.”

The archbishop believed that history would look at the pope in a ‘varied way’. Dr Martin said that Pope Benedict had a very clear understanding of some of the moral problems in the Church and he had addressed them ‘head-on’.

From the Irish viewpoint, the greatest discontent with the Church has arisen on the issue of clerical child sexual abuse and the issue has still not satisfactorily been explained by the Vatican. However, Benedict’s pontificate had zero tolerance regarding paedophile clergy. His summoning of the Irish hierarchy, following the publication of the ***Murphy Report*** highlights Benedict’s deep concern regarding the dysfunctional handling of this most dreadful reality.

History, perhaps, will note Pope Benedict as a scholastic father, determined to uphold what is best in a tradition, which he upheld and was determined to conserve. His writings are abundantly rich in insight and depth, including his prolific biography of Jesus of Nazareth – the first pontiff to publish such a remarkable account of the life of Christ. Pope Benedict’s, departure is fuelled with integrity and courage.

Perhaps this resignation is a prophetic action that will renew even the papacy itself. In his resignation statement, Benedict takes a huge step towards the demystification of the world’s oldest and most sacred office, with the quiet insistence that one has to be up to the job. A gauntlet has now been laid down now to those entrusted to choose his successor. I hope that the fresh winds of early spring will attune the forthcoming conclave to the voice of the spirit, selecting an energetic pontiff who can embrace with faith, hope and love this most sacred office.

Mid-Missourians split over importance of Pope’s resignation

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — For the first time in about 600 years, a Pope is resigning, and people are split about what implications it will have on the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world when he announced he would resign February 28, saying he was too infirm to perform his duties.

Associate history professor at the University of Missouri Lois Huneycutt said the importance of this decision cannot be underestimated.

“It’s historically unprecedented, it’s theologically problematic, it’s going to  be talked about,” she said. ”In the history of the Catholic Church a thousand years from now this is going to be talked about.”She also said that the Catholic Church has to be wary of a precedent the Pope’s resignation may set.

“It kind of opens the door if there are future resignations, how do you know that these are not under pressure, are not politically motivated, that these are not really problematic.”

Monsignor David Cox, from Immaculate Conception Church in Jefferson City, said the Pope’s ability to make the decision shows how much the Catholic leader cares for the Church.

“I’m extremely hopeful because just for Pope Benedict to realize that he is unhealthy enough that he can’t lead the church, and that somebody else should step up and do that I think that that’s really spirit-led,” he said. “It’s a gift from God to the church.”

He also said that he believes this whole process is being guided by a higher power.

“The Holy Spirit is guiding the Church and if the Pope’s decided that this is what he should do through his prayer and reflection, then it’s going to be a tremendous thing for us,” he said.

John Gaydos, Bishop of the Diocese of Jefferson City released this statement earlier Monday:

“As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, prepares to retire from his ministry as Universal Pastor of the Church, all of the people of God in our Diocese of Jefferson City offer fervent thanks to God for the nearly eight years that Pope Benedict has exercised the Petrine ministry.  He has taught clearly and wisely, he has ruled gently and firmly, he has prayed with and for us and the whole world. I am grateful that our Holy Father has come to this prayerful decision, and ask all of our Local Church and all people of good will to join together in praying to God for the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit during this time of transition for the Catholic Church throughout the world.”

‘Benedict XVI Could Turn into a Shadow Pope’

SPIEGEL: What will change now that Pope Benedict XVI has resigned?

Hans Küng: There is now a realization that a pope should step down when the time has come. Joseph Ratzinger made it very clear that he could no longer fulfill his duties. His predecessor felt he had to turn his death into a show. Fortunately, Benedict chose another way, in order to demonstrate that when a pope is no longer capable of doing his job, he should give it up. This is exactly how the office should be approached. In John Paul II’s final years, we weren’t led by a pope so much as by a curia, which governed the Church in his place.

SPIEGEL: Who would you like to see lead your Church as pope?

Hans Küng: A pope who is not intellectually stuck in the Middle Ages, one who does not represent mediaeval theology, liturgy and religious order. I would like to see a pope who is open first to suggestions for reform and secondly, to the modern age. We need a pope who not only preaches freedom of the Church around the world but also supports, with his words and deeds, freedom and human rights within the Church — of theologians, women and all Catholics who want to speak the truth about the state of the Church and are calling for change.

SPIEGEL: Who is your ideal candidate for the office of pope?

Hans Küng: If I were to name anyone, he would most certainly not get elected. But background should not play a role. The best man for the job should be elected. There are no more candidates who belonged to the Second Vatican Council. In the running are candidates who are middle of the road and toe the Vatican line. Is there anyone who won’t simply continue on the same path? Is there anyone who understands the depth of the Church’s crisis and can see a way out? If we elect a leader who continues on the same path, the Church’s crisis will become almost intractable.

SPIEGEL: Is there likely to be friction between the former pope and the incumbent pope?

Hans Küng: Benedict XVI could turn into a shadow pope who has stepped down but can still exert indirect influence. He has already assigned himself a place within the Vatican. He is keeping his secretary, who will also remain prefect of the papal household under the new pope. This is a new form of nepotism, and one that isn’t appreciated in the Vatican either. No priest likes to have his predecessor looking over his shoulder. Even the bishop of Rome doesn’t find it pleasant to have his predecessor constantly keeping an eye on him.

SPIEGEL: So the new pope will have a hard time asserting himself?

Hans Küng: If the next pope is clever, he will appoint a cabinet that will allow him to lead effectively. A solitary pope, isolated from the curia the way that Ratzinger was, will not be able to lead a community of 1.2 billion people. The pope urgently needs a cabinet made up of new, competent men (and why not women, too) in order to overcome the crisis. Unless there is an end to the tradition of the Roman royal household and an introduction of a functioning, central church administration as well as a curia reform, no new pope will be able to bring about change and progress.

“’The church is alive,’ he said, and he set out to keep it that way…”

Pope Benedict XVI, the German pope who some feared would spend his pontificate scourging liberal Roman Catholics, focused on preaching about God’s love.
“His greatest legacy is his spiritual hunger and thirst to bring people closer to God,” said Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh.

But it’s how he ended his papacy, as the first pope in 600 years to resign, that is guaranteed to make the history books.

“In one fell swoop, he brought the papacy into the modern world. It was a very courageous act that has probably been needed for a long time,” said John Thavis, the former Vatican bureau chief of Catholic News Service and author of “The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church,” which will be published this week.

“A very tradition-minded pope made a very untraditional decision.”

He is an introvert who followed the 26-year reign of an extrovert who had redefined the papacy. Elected at 78, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who had presided over the Vatican’s doctrinal office for 24 years, didn’t expect a long papacy. He set out to build on the call of Pope John Paul II for a “new evangelization” that would appeal to secularized Westerners who were abandoning the faith. But his intended messages often were overshadowed by world-shaking gaffes, such as an unvetted speech on faith and reason in 2006 that triggered rioting in parts of the Muslim world.

He did far more than his predecessor to root out priests who had molested minors, but he is blamed for not forcing out bishops who had protected predators. He surprised many people, however, by looking beyond ecclesiastical matters to become an outspoken advocate of justice for the poor.

Born nearly 86 years ago in Germany, he is the son of a police officer whose anti-Nazi views caused difficulties for the family. Forced by authorities to join the Hitler Youth, the future pope dodged meetings and at age 12 entered a minor seminary. In 2006, he said he chose priesthood to confront an “anti-human culture” that had rejected God…

…At his inaugural Mass, he proclaimed what had become clear at Pope John Paul’s funeral, when millions of young Catholics poured into Rome.

“The church is alive!” he told the cheering crowd of 350,000 people. “And the church is young!”

He set out to keep it that way.

His first encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est” or “God is Love,” drew high praise from even the most liberal wing of the church.

“One of his greatest legacies is his first encyclical, on love. It’s one of the few encyclicals I can actually quote in Sunday homilies, and people understand it,” said the Rev. Louis Vallone, pastor of two parishes in the McKees Rocks area.

Pope Benedict “refined Pope John Paul’s and the [Second Vatican] Council’s desire to put Christ and the foundational doctrines of the church back at the center of Christian life,” said Michael Sean Winters, a journalist at the liberal National Catholic Reporter.

How LGBT Families Are Expanding Christian Love

 As we usher in the Lenten season, I’ve been reflecting on how traditional Catholic theology has slammed into some painful walls of the modern world.  

First, the letter of resignation from Pope Benedict XVI, where he acknowledged his lack of strength of mind and body to lead in a rapidly changing society. Then, the U.S. immigration debate, which has queued up opposition from the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops as it pertains to protections of same-sex couples.  

In both cases, Catholic leadership is challenged to examine their conscience before God in order to fulfill the ministry entrusted to them.  

But what does it say about the conscience of church leadership when it does not support and uphold LGBT families?  

Don’t get me wrong; Catholics are one of the most supportive religious communities on this issue. But as the policy discussions expand, the disconnect between the church leadership and the people has become sharper. On one hand many faithful Catholics are constantly interacting with their LGBT neighbors, workmates, children and parents; and on the other, the churches leaders struggle to understand the human stories of inequality–stories like Kori and Becky Ashtons’.  

As Kori shared recently, her life was never the same after she stood at the alter and said two-life changing words to her fiancee: “I do.”  

Kori and Becky were legally married in the state of Iowa, which recognizes same-sex marriages. But their marriage license was void the moment they set foot in Texas, where they currently live. Like many same-sex couples, Kori and Becky know just how relative equality can be.  

Each state can legally choose how to define marriage–nine states recognize same-sex marriages, while forty-one don’t. Texas is also one of 29 states where employers are  legally allowed to fire gay and lesbian employees on the basis of their sexual orientation; and one of 34 states where an employee can lose their job because they are transgender.  

As a Christian community we have to ask ourselves: how can we live in a country that does not protect and defend LGBT families? How do some call themselves “Christian” and at the same time advocate for this blatant inequality?  

As Rev. Nancy Wilson recently shared in the immigration debate, “people of faith are called to mercy, compassion, justice and love for the sojourner. These core values call us to greatness, as both citizens and believers.”  

Many Christians see the effects of exclusionary policies as they play out in their neighbor’s lives. Maybe it’s the gay couple denied a marriage license in Tennessee, or the pregnant wife who cannot sponsor her spouse for a green card because the federal government does not recognize their marriage.  

As gay, lesbian and transgender people emerge from the shadows, we see how the very policies created to “defend” marriage deny this sacrament to loving, committed couples.  

Christians around the country are tired of watching their friends and families struggle. They’re tired of a culture war that demands a separate but equal framework, and pained by bearing witness to the daily consequences it has on the lives of hardworking Americans.  

They see how these couples struggle to find stability without the rights and protections granted to their heterosexual counterparts. Christians who were once conflicted are becoming new allies in the fight for equality knowing the radical love in the Gospels cannot allow them, in good conscience, to treat LGBT families as anything less than equal (Matthew 7:12).  

As the public rallies behind initiatives like the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), comprehensive immigration reform, the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and other reforms that will strengthen American families, Christians who are still conflicted have a unique opportunity to re-examine their own definition of love.  

We, the LGBT community and our allies, must also extend the same Christian hospitality to our neighbors as they struggle to understand God’s will for our LGBT families.  

It is a long road ahead, but we can find new meaning in our beliefs as we read scripture, interact with the diversity of our world, and learn. “Love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).

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Fr. Anscar Chupungco: Filipino Benedictine who tangled with Pope Benedict

POPE Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.AFP

Pope Benedict XVI’s shocking announcement that he would renounce the Petrine office on Feb. 28, the first pope to do so in more than 500 years, has served as a fitting fillip to a man whose ecclesiastical career has been characterized by a dramatic struggle to come to terms with the tumultuous history of the Catholic Church and its grappling with change and modernity.

Propitiously enough, his decision to renounce the papacy followed the death of another theologian who, like him, had had to contend with issues revolving around the Church’s relevance: Fr. Anscar Chupungco, OSB, who died from a heart attack in the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Bukidnon last Jan. 9. He was 73.

Father Chupungco was a Benedictine liturgist who was a longtime president of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome during the time when the Pope was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

As is well-known, it had been Ratzinger’s single-minded resolve to check the excesses of the Second Vatican Council, especially the liturgical reforms that came with its constitution on liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), the first document to be issued by the council and, as borne by events later on, perhaps the most contentious and far-reaching. The document called for “active participation” of the people in the liturgy and the translation of the Latin Mass in the vernacular.

In 2007, as Pope Benedict, Ratzinger issued the motu propio or decree, Summa Pontificum, which basically restored the Latin Mass.

In 2010, in a forum organized by the University of Santo Tomas Ecclesiastical Faculties, his alma mater, Father  Chupungco took a subtle jab at the Pope for what he called as “reform of the reform” and for turning back the reforms of Vatican II. He explained there was a need to distinguish between papal decrees and the “theological musing” of Ratzinger, who wrote the celebrated book, “Spirit of the Liturgy,” which decried abuses in the aftermath of Vatican II.

In the book, Ratzinger said changes in the liturgy undermine the sacrificial nature of the Mass as worship, placing the focus on the priest and tending to celebrate the community, not the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice.

But Chupungco, who had also served as  consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Congregation for Catholic Education, said Ratzinger’s “reform of the reform” came at the expense of “active participation” of the community not familiar with the old prayers and language that had long been discarded.

“The agenda is an attempt to retrieve the discarded liturgical practices and paraphernalia, sometimes at the expense of active participation,” Chupungco said.

In highly poetic—and liturgical—language, Chupungco warned about the campaign to derail Vatican II:

“Dark clouds are forming ominously on the Western horizon. They move hurriedly and decisively toward the direction of the sun that burns radiantly in the sky. They cast upon it stronger shadows to hide it from view. Suddenly it is dusk, before the appointed time.”

But the darkness is provisional, caused by passing clouds:

“In the reality of our day, the realness is called by the passing clouds. This cannot put the clock back to yesterday’s evening hours.”

The soliloquy might as well have conjured for the audience the antipodal images of a Benedictine monk and the Pope pitted against each other in a theological joust.

The Varsitarian, the official student organ of UST, couldn’t resist the irony of the situation and headlined its front-page report of the lecture, “Benedictine hits Benedict for ‘reform of the reform.’”

From Cainta to Rome

Who was Fr. Anscar Chupungco? He was born José Herminio Chupungco on Nov. 10, 1939, to Estanislao Chupungco and Dominga Javier of Cainta, Rizal.

When he joined the Benedictines after high school, he was given the name “Anscario,” after a good friend of the abbot who was killed during the religious persecutions that preceded the Spanish civil war.

Chupungco’s educational and religious formation straddled the period around the Second Vatican Council. He obtained his licentiate in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from the University of Santo Tomas in 1961, amid preparations for the convocation of the council the following year; and his licentiate in Theology, magna cum laude, also from UST, in 1965, the year the council closed. “He studied philosophy in the years before Vatican II, but his theological formation was influenced by the spirit of the council,” said fellow Benedictine Fr. Bernardo Ma. Perez.

Although he had wanted to take up systematic theology, Anscar was ordered by his superior to take up liturgical studies at San’t Anselmo, the great Benedictine pontifical school in the Aventine hill in Rome. His mentors were spearheading liturgical reform in the aftermath of Sacramentum Concilium. One of them was the famous liturgist Fr. Salvatore Marsili, who entered the lecture hall on the first day of class and after a prolonged awkward silence, asked, “And so, what is liturgy?”

The question had so preoccupied Anscar since then that in 2010, he titled his book, “What, then, is Liturgy?” (Claretian Publications; available in St. Pauls bookstores nationwide; www.stpauls.ph). Subtitled “Musings and Memoir,” the book combines a critique of Pope Benedict’s liturgical changes and Fr. Anscar’s reminiscences of a life well-lived. (Most of his quotations and views in this article are from the book.)

After receiving his doctorate in 1969, Chupungco returned to the Philippines to teach at San Beda College. In 1973, he received a letter from Rome inviting him to teach at San’t Anselmo: “(The dean and faculty) recognize your competence in the field and realize the importance of having a truly universal faculty which would reflect the universality of the Church herself. As the first Filipino on our faculty, your experience in that country and part of the world should bring a new dimension to studies here where so many students are coming from the Third World.”

A highly prolific author like Ratzinger, Chupungco contributed to Concilium, the famous journal of theologians supporting Vatican II reforms; authored the famous books, “Cultural Adaptation of the Liturgy” and “Liturgical Inculturation”; and edited the five-volume “Handbook for Liturgical Studies,” the best authority on the subject.

Most important Filipino theologian

In 1990, after 24 years of teaching in Rome, Chupungco was asked by Philippine bishops to establish a liturgical school in the country. He obliged and set it up in Bukidnon and named it after Paul VI.

In 1997, Father Chupungco received an honorary doctorate of theology from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, United States. In 2000, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, the Liturgical Press published “Liturgy for the New Millennium,” a festschrift in his honor.

Writing the foreword was Bishop William D. Gregory of Belleville, Illinois. “I am privileged to claim the honor of being Anscar’s first doctoral candidate—a title that is entirely the dignity of chronological coincidence,” the prelate said.

“Anscar’s scholarship and his professional expertise in ways far more profound than my initial experience of his tutelage no doubt have influenced and continue to influence dozens of other students of liturgy.”

In their introduction, the editors, Fathers Mark R. Francis, CSV, and Keith F. Pecklers, SJ, who were likewise former students of the Filipino Benedictine, wrote: He “has been one of the most important figures in the international postconciliar reform of the liturgy because of the special vision he brings to liturgical renewal.”

When he died last Jan. 9, Chupungco was executive secretary of the Asian Liturgy Forum, which has members from Southeast and North Asia, and teacher and thesis adviser to several scholars, many of them foreigners. His scholarly output, his pedagogical achievements, and his international reputation should point to Fr. Anscar Chupungco, OSB, as indubitably the most important Filipino theologian and arguably the most influential Asian theologian today.

Prayer as law

That Ratzinger and Chupungco should clash on the liturgy may confound many. From the Greek word denoting public duty, “liturgy” simply means the public worship of the Church. But considering prayer and worship draw freely from the sentiment and are more spontaneous, they are said to reveal the inner recesses of the being. So much so that in the liturgy may be felt the workings of God.

SPECIAL memorial issue of the official bulletin of the Graduate School of Liturgy of San Beda College in honor of Fr. Anscar Chupungco

The Church has a Latin phrase for the importance of the liturgy, lex orandi lex credendi, “the law of prayer is the law of faith.”

Philosopher Roger Scrutton might have referred to the meaning of the Latin phrase when he warned against tinkering too much with the liturgy:

“Changes in the liturgy take on a momentous significance for the believer, for they are changes in his experience of God—changes… in God himself. The question whether to make the sign of the cross with two fingers or with three split a Church. So can the question whether or not to use the Book of Common Prayer or the Tridentine Mass.”

In fact, it was the Pope’s restoration of the Tridentine Mass that has divided theologians and Catholics.

In 1969, in a general audience address, Paul VI delivered the eulogy for the Latin Mass and said the new rite of the Mass with its preference for the vernacular was needed since participation was worth more than preserving the language of the previous Christian centuries, and valued “particularly by modern people, so fond of plain language which is understood and converted into everyday speech.”

Perhaps in reference to the ceremonious robes which attended the old rite, Paul VI said that the “understanding of prayer is worth more than the silken garments in which it is royally dressed.”

Apostasy

But Ratzinger, in his 2000 book, “Spirit of the Liturgy,” used fashion language as well to say that the Church should not be subjected to passing fads. He likened the Church with its efforts at updating to a “poorly managed haberdashery trying to lure more customers.”

He added that “active participation” should not mean crude inculturation.

Ratzinger even said that some contemporary liturgies may be forms of apostasy. He likened the changes in the liturgy so as to be comprehensible to the modern age to the Israelites worshipping the golden calf in the Old Testament.

He said the point of the Bible story is not that the Israelites were doing idol-worship; they knew that the statue was not God, but what they wanted was something brought down to their level so they could relate to it.

He also warned against “overnight” inculturation. “Not until a strong Christian identity has grown up in the mission countries can one begin to move, with great caution and on the basis of that identity into the liturgy and allowing Christian realities to merge with the forms of everyday life.”

Hybrid

But Chupungco argued that the Latin rite itself was a product of inculturation. He said the young churches of Northern Europe in the 10th century had been tampering with the Roman liturgy and that many popes then, German like Ratzinger, had allowed useless repetitions, allegorical interpretation of rites, and the mysteries-laden symbols that were typical of northern peoples at that time. “The Tridentine Mass was a byproduct of this hybrid liturgy.

In fact, the Vatican II agenda was the restoration of the original seventh-century Roman rite, the Benedictine argued, “because the simpler the rites and symbols are, the easier they will be understood; and the more people understand, the more fully they can participate.” He explained the adoption of the vernacular follows this spirit, arguing that the Church officially allowed in the fourth century the use of the vernacular Latin “to replace the elitist and foreign Greek koine.”

Contemplation vs action

“Active participation is Vatican II’s prized gift to the Church,” Chupungco declared.

Ratzinger said the Mass should foster contemplation.

Chupungco argued that contemplation and action are not mutually exclusive words; they complement one another.

“While active participation should not distract from contemplation, contemplation should not disengage itself from active participation,” the Benedictine said. “The liturgy is the action of Christ and the Church; it should not be merely regarded as a background for personal contemplation.”

Tridentine Mass

Father Chupungco’s followers and those who champion Paul VI’s abolition of the Latin Mass feel that the restoration of the Tridentine rite is Pope Benedict’s attempt to rehabilitate the schismatic Society of St. Pius X, whose founder, Archbishop Marcel Levebre of Switzerland, had taken part in the Second Vatican Council, but never recognized and, in fact, opposed its reforms.

Fr. Roberto Loanzon, a Dominican student of Father Chupungco at San’t Anselmo who was set to have a dissertation consultation with him on the day he died in Bukidnon, said it was doubtful if the Levebrites would rejoin the Church after the restoration of the Tridentine Mass, since the differences “are fundamentally theological, not just liturgical.”

Dynamic equivalence

On translation, Fr. Chupungco upheld “dynamic equivalence” while Ratzinger demanded that the translation should hew as closely as possible to the Latin text.

Chupungco said there are words such as mysterium and sacramentum that defy translation and should therefore be transliterated. “But I would encourage translators to give dynamic equivalence a chance to prove its worth as a method of translation,” he said. “While formal correspondence can give the impression of propinquity to the source language, in reality it can obscure the message and raise more questions than it can answer. Servility is not the same as fidelity.”

Perhaps respecting his predecessors while sticking to his guns regarding the “organic development” of the liturgy, Pope Benedict issued Summorun Pontificum (SP), upholding the Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI as the “ordinary expression” of the law of prayer of the Church, but also ruling that the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Pius V in the 16th century and reissued by Blessed John XXII in the 1960s is the “extraordinary expression” of the same law of prayer and should be given the proper honor.

While SP “has cast a menacing shadow on the future of inculturation,” Chupungco said it also opened a door when it classified rites into “ordinary” and “extraordinary.”

“I would like to consider this a basis for the Holy See to declare inculturated forms of liturgy as ‘other extraordinary’ forms of the Roman Mass along with the Tridentine rite.”

To his credit, Father Chupungco remained loyal to the Church. “With gratitude I recall my Dominican mentors (at UST) who sowed in my soul the difficult virtue of loyalty,” he wrote.

Even his teachers’ faith was rocked when Vatican II seemed to have introduced a Church that was “youngish and fashionable and behaved like a liberated person.” “To this new type of Church,” Father Anscar said, “my Dominican mentors struggled to be loyal.”

“Just stay inside the boat, they advised, and hold on to dear life, especially when the boat rocks mightily.”

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Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is precedent in Catholic Church history …

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Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is precedent in Catholic Church history: Bulgarian bishop

Sofia. Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is a precedent in the history of the Catholic Church. There are cases in which a pope resigned, but so unexpectedly as this time, this is a precedent indeed, bishop Hristo Proykov, Chairman of the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in Bulgaria, told FOCUS News Agency.
“As Cardinal Sodano, a former Secretary of State of the Pope, said, this was a bolt out of the blue,” he added.
According to him Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, because he feels physically weak, but he is ready to keep on working for the church depending on his strength.
“Pope Benedict XVI resigns on 28 February at 8:00 p.m. His withdrawal is not supposed to affect the church, because canons envisage that St. Peter’s throne can remain empty, irrespective of the reason – death or inability to fulfill papal duties,” said bishop Proykov.
The new pope will be elected in accordance with the canons within the deadline. The cardinals across the world will gather – those who have the right to elect and are younger than 80 years of age, he added.
Zornitsa POLEGANOVA

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Vatican City. The Conclave of Cardinals to elect a new pope after Benedict XVI steps down later this month will be held from March 15, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Wednesday, AFP reported.
“The beginning of the conclave cannot be before March 15. We have to expect a conclave starting on the 15th, 16th, 17th 18th or 19th,” he said.
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday thanked Catholics for their “love and prayer” and asked them to “keep praying for me”, saying he had decided to resign “for the good of the Church”, AFP reported.
“Thank you for the love and prayer with which you have accompanied me… Keep praying for me, for the Church and for the future pope,” he told thousands of pilgrims at his weekly Vatican audience.
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI made his first public appearance Wednesday since the shock announcement of his resignation, sticking with his schedule by presiding over his weekly general audience, AFP reported.
Tickets to the event in the Vatican’s Paul VI auditorium were issued well in advance, so several thousand pilgrims experienced the historic moment out of sheer luck just two days after the 85-year-old Benedict said he would step down at the end of the month.
The pope will then celebrate Ash Wednesday mass at 1600 GMT, his last public mass and one of his final engagements as pontiff.
The mass is traditionally held in the Santa Sabina Church on Rome’s Aventine Hill, but has been moved to St Peter’s Basilica out of respect for the outgoing pontiff and to accommodate the crowd of faithful who will want to mark the end of his eight-year rule – one of the shortest in the Church’s modern history.
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI will bid his followers farewell in a final audience in St Peter’s Square on February 27, the day before he officially steps down, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Tuesday, AFP reported.
“The last general audience will be held in the square since a lot of people will come,” Lombardi said at a press briefing.
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI will not interfere in choosing his successor after his shock decision to resign at the end of the month, the pontiff’s brother has said.
Georg Ratzinger told the BBC the Pope would only “make himself available” if he were needed.
Benedict said on Monday he would resign after nearly eight years as the head of the Catholic Church because he was too old to continue at the age of 85.
The Vatican now says it expects a new Pope to be elected before Easter.
The unexpected development – the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years – surprised governments, Vatican-watchers and even Benedict’s closest aides.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 after John Paul II’s death.
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Sofia. Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is shocking not only to the catholic, but also the whole world, Elena Shahanova, a correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio to Italy, told Bulgaria ON AIR.
First the Pope read his speech in Latin and it was broadcast only on the internal channel in the Vatican. The journalists who were in the Vatican at the time did not understand his speech in Latin and asked for an immediate translation. After that it was clear that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to resign. According to the statement of the Vatican the Pope does not have strength to fulfill his duties. He is not ill, but suffers rheumatism, said the journalist.
Benedict XVI is to hold the papal post until February 28 when he is to resign officially.
Elena Shahanova said further that the event would hardly influence the upcoming elections in Italy.
Solomon Passy, chairman of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, commented on Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, too, saying that perhaps now the Pope would accept the invitation of the Atlantic Club to visit Bulgaria. Passy expressed hope one day Bulgaria would have a young and energetic cardinal in the Vatican. He did not rule out a Bulgarian Pope one day.

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London. Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Peter Turkson of Ghana and Marc Ouellet of Canada were among the cardinals hotly tipped by bookmakers on Monday to take over from Pope Benedict XVI, AFP reported.
William Hill bookmakers named 80-year-old Arinze as their favourite to replace the pontiff following Monday’s shock announcement of the pontiff’s resignation with odds of 2-1, followed by Turkson at 5-2.
Coral also tipped Arinze as the likeliest successor with odds of 7-4, followed by Turkson at 2-1 and Ouellet in third place at 5-1.
The bookmaker also offered odds of 8-1 on Archbishop Angelo Scola of Italy and 10-1 on Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power named Ouellet as the favourite with odds of 5-2, followed by Arinze at 3-1 and Turkson at 4-1.
During the 2005 conclave of the Vatican’s College of Cardinals that elected Benedict, Arinze was considered “papabile,” or a potential successor to the late John Paul II.
“When we opened betting last time around, in 2005, Francis Arinze was our favourite,” a William Hill spokesman told AFP.
“His odds did drift towards the date of the announcement when Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) became the favourite, but he remained in the top three.
“Also, when Ratzinger became pope, Arinze took over from him as cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni (a Catholic diocese close to Rome) — it could be that he’ll follow in his footsteps again.”
A quarter of the cardinals that can elect a new pope are Italian. The last non-Italian pope before Benedict, who is German, and his Polish predecessor John Paul II was Adrian VI, who died in 1523.
Arinze and Turkson, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who is considered a progressive candidate, are among 18 Africans in the Vatican’s College of Cardinals.
Ouellet, a respected theologian who heads up the world’s bishops and is seen as a “modern conservative”, has also been frequently named in Vatican circles as a possible successor to Benedict.
At the humorous end of the scale, Coral was offering 2000-1 on disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong becoming pope.

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Rome. Pope Benedict XVI will spend some time in his summer residence Castel Gandolfo and then he will live in a monastery, ITAR-TASS reported.
Vatican spokesperson father Federico Lombardi announced that Benedict would live in a monastery on the Vatican Hill and enjoy a lot of privileges.
Lombardi reminded that Joseph Ratzinger, who will turn 86 this year, had repeatedly said that he would like to dedicate himself to the writing of books and theology.

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Berlin. World political and religious leaders expressed surprise but respect for Pope Benedict XVI’s shock announcement Monday of his historic resignation due to “incapacity” because of his age, AFP reported.
France and Germany reacted within minutes of the news that the 85-year-old pontiff would step down as leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics on February 28 because age was preventing him from carrying out his duties.
Describing the decision as “eminently respectable”, French President Francois Hollande said his country, where the vast majority are of Catholic heritage, “hails the pope who took this decision.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself the daughter of a pastor, said she had the “greatest respect” for the German-born pope’s “difficult” decision.
“He is and remains one of the most significant religious thinkers of our time,” Merkel added.
A spokesman for Merkel earlier said the pope deserved “gratitude” for his nearly eight years as pope, saying he had left a “very personal mark” on the Church, “both as a thinker and a shepherd”.
“The federal government has the greatest possible respect for the Holy Father, for his accomplishments, for his life-long work for the Catholic Church,” Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference.
“Whatever the reasons may be for this declaration, they should be honoured and respected and he deserves gratitude for leading this world church for eight years in such a way,” he added as news was breaking of the pope’s resignation.
Pope Benedict was born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927 in the predominantly Catholic southern German region of Bavaria, whose state premier Horst Seehofer said the decision deserved the “greatest respect even though I personally deeply regret it”.
Father Adam Boniecki, a close friend of Benedict’s Polish predecessor John Paul II, commented that Benedict had taken note of the end of John Paul’s papacy.
“I think that he did not want a repeat of those last dramatic months when the pope was still in his position but practically incapable of fulfilling his functions,” he said.
The head of the Polish Catholic Church, Bishop Wojciech Polak, said Benedict’s resignation was “a big surprise for us all”.
“But Pope Benedict XVI had already reflected several times on the question of whether, at his advanced age, he had the strength to carry out properly his duties as the successor of Saint Peter,” he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, where Catholics are in a minority to Anglicans, said the pope “will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions”.
“He has worked tirelessly to strengthen Britain’s relations with the Holy See,” Cameron said in a statement.
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger praised the pontiff for improving ties between Judaism and Christianity which helped reduced anti-Semitism around the world.
“During his term, the relations between the Chief Rabbinate and the Church, and Judaism and Christianity, became much closer, which brought to a decrease in anti-Semitic acts around the world,” a spokesman for Metzger told AFP, expressing hope that his successor would continue in the same vein.
A spokesman for the foreign affairs department of the Russian Orthodox Church said he did not anticipate any major change of course as a result of the pope’s resignation.
“There is no reason to expect radical changes in the Vatican’s policy or its attitude towards orthodox churches,” Russian agency Interfax quoted Dimitri Sizonenko as saying.
The pope has taken part in 24 official trips abroad since assuming the office in 2005, according to the Vatican website, as far afield as Mexico, Benin, Sydney and Brazil.
On his latest journey, a three-day visit to Lebanon in September, he condemned religious fundamentalism, called for peace in the Middle East and urged an end to supplies of arms to both sides in Syria’s civil war.

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Rome. Pope Benedict XVI’s successor will be named in March, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Monday after the pope’s shock announcement he was quitting February 28, ANSA reported.
“There will be a new pope in March” Father Lombardi said.
Global Vatican watchers have tipped Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola as favorite to succeed Benedict.
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana and Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras are also in the frame, the world media said.

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Vatican City. The Vatican on Monday said it expected a new pope would be elected next month, after Pope Benedict XVI said he would resign on February 28, AFP informed.
“We should have a new pope for Easter,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters, saying a conclave could be held within 15 or 20 days of the resignation.
.

Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement, Radio Vatican announced.
Here is the full text of Pope’s declaration:
“Dear Brothers,
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 bark 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 fulfill 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.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI”
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he was stepping down as head of the Church because he lacks the strength to govern due to his age, AFP informed.
“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 recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me,” the 85-year old said in a statement announcing he will resign on February 28.
“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,” the 85-year-old pope told a meeting of cardinals.
“In order to govern the bark 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 recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” he said.
“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,” he said.

.

Vatiocan City. The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development, the Vatican has confirmed, BBC reported.
The 85-year-old became Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005 following the death of John Paul II.
The reasons behind the head of the Catholic Church’s surprise resignation have yet to emerge.
Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era, which has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office.
At 78, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest new popes in history when elected.
He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades – the scandal of child sex abuse by priests – was breaking.
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Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI on Monday announced he will resign on February 28, a Vatican spokesman told AFP, which will make him the first pope to do so in centuries.
“The pope announced that he will leave his ministry at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on February 28,” said the spokesman, Federico Lombardi.

Bulgaria faces electricity price revolution: Der Standard
Vienna. Tens of thousands of Bulgarians went out on the streets in different cities on Sunday to protest against the high electricity prices in the country. The protests even escalated to clashes between the demonstrators and the police in the capital city Sofia, where the public anger was directed to Czech CEZ power distribution company, writes Austrian Der Standard daily.
German cities’ appeal for help over immigrants from Bulgaria, Romania turned down: Handelsblatt
Berlin. The position of the Association of German Cities, which warned over the consequences of the so-called “poverty immigration” from Romania and Bulgaria, found support in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the same time, the federal ministers returned the ball, writes German Handelsblatt daily.
Protests against high energy price in Bulgaria escalate: Die Presse
Vienna. Protests against the high electricity prices and the monopoly imposed by foreign companies, such as EVN, escalated in Bulgaria. On Sunday angry people asked for the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, writes Austrian Die Presse.

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