Pope Francis welcomes Benedict XVI back to the Vatican

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI returned to the Vatican on Thursday (May 2), where he will live a few hundred meters from his successor, Pope Francis, in an arrangement that has no precedent in the history of the Catholic Church.

(Left) Pope Benedict photo by Gregory A. Shemitz, (right) Pope Francis photo by Andrea Sabbadini.

This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

Benedict, 86, flew by helicopter from the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, where he spent the past two months since his resignation on Feb. 28.

All the Vatican’s top officials, including Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, showed up at the Vatican’s helipad to welcome Benedict, while Francis chose to meet the the former pope in front of the Mater Ecclesiae convent where Benedict will live out his retirement.

Francis greeted his predecessor “with great and fraternal cordiality,” according to a Vatican statement, before the two men stopped briefly in the convent chapel to pray.

Benedict was accompanied by his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who is also serving Francis as prefect of the papal household, charged with setting the new pope’s schedule and arranging his audiences.

According to the Vatican’s statement, the former pope is “happy to be back in the Vatican, where he intends to dedicate himself … to the service of the church primarily through prayer.”

Benedict’s return was a low-profile event; Vatican TV didn’t cover it and the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, didn’t mention the former pope’s return in its afternoon editions.

While some church observers worry that Benedict’s presence could overshadow Francis and his course of reforms, John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service and a frequent Vatican commentator, said the side-by-side popes shouldn’t cause a “crisis in the church.”

Thavis wrote in his blog that Benedict understands that “even an offhand remark by the retired pope … could echo within the hierarchy or across the blogosphere, and possibly be construed as criticism or divergence from the current pope.”

Before resigning, Benedict said he would “withdraw into prayer” and live his final years “hidden from the world.” He also pledged his “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor.

According to Rebecca Rist, a specialist in church history at the University of Reading in Britain, the two popes will have a “very cordial” relationship, unlike the 13th-century scuffles between Celestine V and his successor Boniface VIII.

Boniface persuaded Celestine that it was “in the best interests of the Vatican for him to resign,” Rist said. But Boniface, “fearing that enduring loyalties to the former pontiff could provoke a schism,” ordered Celestine imprisoned until his death.

In the small Mater Ecclesiae convent inside the Vatican walls, Benedict will be assisted by Gaenswein and four members of Memores Domini, the conservative lay group that staffed his apartment during his pontificate.

During the past two months, the convent was renovated to suit the needs of the former pope. His residence will include a guest room for his older brother Georg Ratzinger, who is also a priest.

KRE/AMB END SPECIALE

Pope Francis welcomes Benedict XVI back to the Vatican

c. 2013 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI returned to the Vatican on Thursday (May 2), where he will live a few hundred meters from his successor, Pope Francis, in an arrangement that has no precedent in the history of the Catholic Church.

Benedict, 86, flew by helicopter from the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, where he spent the past two months since his resignation on Feb. 28.

All the Vatican’s top officials, including Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, showed up at the Vatican’s helipad to welcome Benedict, while Francis chose to meet the the former pope in front of the Mater Ecclesiae convent where Benedict will live out his retirement.

Francis greeted his predecessor “with great and fraternal cordiality,” according to a Vatican statement, before the two men stopped briefly in the convent chapel to pray.

Benedict was accompanied by his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who is also serving Francis as prefect of the papal household, charged with setting the new pope’s schedule and arranging his audiences.

According to the Vatican’s statement, the former pope is “happy to be back in the Vatican, where he intends to dedicate himself … to the service of the church primarily through prayer.”

Benedict’s return was a low-profile event; Vatican TV didn’t cover it and the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, didn’t mention the former pope’s return in its afternoon editions.

While some church observers worry that Benedict’s presence could overshadow Francis and his course of reforms, John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service and a frequent Vatican commentator, said the side-by-side popes shouldn’t cause a “crisis in the church.”

Thavis wrote in his blog that Benedict understands that “even an offhand remark by the retired pope … could echo within the hierarchy or across the blogosphere, and possibly be construed as criticism or divergence from the current pope.”

Before resigning, Benedict said he would “withdraw into prayer” and live his final years “hidden from the world.” He also pledged his “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor.

According to Rebecca Rist, a specialist in church history at the University of Reading in Britain, the two popes will have a “very cordial” relationship, unlike the 13th-century scuffles between Celestine V and his successor Boniface VIII.

Boniface persuaded Celestine that it was “in the best interests of the Vatican for him to resign,” Rist said. But Boniface, “fearing that enduring loyalties to the former pontiff could provoke a schism,” ordered Celestine imprisoned until his death.

In the small Mater Ecclesiae convent inside the Vatican walls, Benedict will be assisted by Gaenswein and four members of Memores Domini, the conservative lay group that staffed his apartment during his pontificate.

During the past two months, the convent was renovated to suit the needs of the former pope. His residence will include a guest room for his older brother Georg Ratzinger, who is also a priest.

Pope to make first pastoral visit to Roman church

VATICAN CITY, April 19 (UPI) — Pope Francis plans to visit a Roman parish in late May for his first pastoral visit as bishop of Rome, the Vatican announced Friday.

The pope will visit Santi Elisabetta and Zaccaria and attend a mass at which 44 children are to receive their first communion, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. It is scheduled for May 26.

Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998 until his election March 13 to succeed Pope Benedict XVI. He was known for his modest lifestyle, living in an apartment and preparing his own meals.

The pope celebrated mass at a school for troubled teenagers on Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday.

Growing presence demands increased responsibilities, say Latino leaders

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Aware of the sign of the times, the Catholic Church is reaching out and assigning greater responsibility to the growing Latino Catholic population, said a group of U.S. Catholic Latino leaders.
The March 13 election by the College of Cardinals of a pope from Latin America made that task even more evident, three top leaders of the Los Angeles-based Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) told Catholic News Service.
Pope Francis’ election “is a sign of the importance of Latinos and the people of ‘the continent of hope’ as the popes have called the American continent,” said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.
Having a pope from Buenos Aires, Argentina, also “really shows the maturity of the Catholic faith in the American continent,” he said.
A Latino pope “will bring our community together; a lot of our Hispanic communities truly are going to identify more with the church and feel more connected,” said Diana Vela, president and CEO of CALL.
The key will be for the Latino communities to capitalize on “this gift of a Latino pope,” their growing population, and their own leadership skills, spirituality and culture in ways that can benefit all of society as well as the universal church, said Tommy Espinoza, chairman of the board of CALL.
Espinoza, Vela and Archbishop Gomez, who is the organization’s co-founder and episcopal moderator, were part of an April 7-12 pilgrimage to Rome that included about two dozen representatives from six of the group’s 10 U.S. chapters. The group has gone on pilgrimage to Rome every three years starting with its founding in 2007.
This year’s pilgrimage was made even more special, Vela said, because it came in the wake of the election of the first pope from Latin America and because the group was staying at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the same Vatican guesthouse where the pope has been living. The group met the pope a number of times in the common dining area, and Archbishop Gomez celebrated Mass with the pope in the residence’s chapel.
The three CALL leaders all agreed that the large and growing presence of Catholic Latinos, especially in the United States, means they are also called to greater responsibility in knowing, living and sharing the faith and being an active part of the church.
“Sometimes there is a tendency to just do the ordinary things, like go to Mass and so on,” Archbishop Gomez said.
“But I think it is important for all Latinos to feel they are an essential and important part of the church in the United States,” he said, which is why he, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead of Phoenix, and a number of Latino leaders in San Antonio and elsewhere decided to form CALL.
Businesses and politicians have recognized that the Latino community is critical for their own continued viability and success, Espinoza said.
“Everybody wants a piece of the Hispanic population because they see how much it’s growing. They want its purchasing power, its vote, its business,” Vela said.
But, she said, “it’s been beautiful to see” how the church has already seen this shift and has been “reaching out to us.”
The group’s aim is to network Latino business leaders and professionals, help them grow in their faith and use their resources and influence to bring Gospel values to the larger community, Espinoza said.
The group met with representatives and heads of several Vatican offices to learn more about what the different Vatican offices do, Vela said. The talks also let the Vatican see how the face of the church in the United States is rapidly changing and how the Latino community can be of service to the universal church.
The first to ask the group to contribute was Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He encouraged the group a few years ago to show how Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” could be lived out by today’s professionals.
The result was CALL’s 28-page reflection, “Caritas in Veritate — Charity in Truth: Our Response in Faith,” which is meant to help all women and men of faith think about what they can do differently in their professional, economic and public duties to live and promote Gospel values.
Vela said this year the Vatican is challenging them yet again.
She said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, “wants us to help get 1 million people” to attend the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
The council also wants their input on evangelizing and catechizing first-, second- and third-generation Latinos, since each learns about the faith in different ways, not just because of varying language proficiency levels, but also because some are more social media savvy, she said.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, led by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, wants “a cultural revolution,” Vela said, meaning it wants to help build in Catholics “a sense of community” and help them ground their primary identity in their faith, “not our work or family, but what we believe in.”
The council also wants the group involved in the new evangelization of the Americas as the council studies “how Latinos gather, how they celebrate the liturgy,” she said.
Archbishop Gomez said he hoped Catholic Latinos will grow in their faith and take on the responsibility “of carrying on the truths of the Gospel and living and sharing the Gospel with the people around us.”
“The present and future of the church is in the American continent,” he said, and “we also need to feel that responsibility of being apostles of Jesus Christ in the 21st century.”
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Contributing to this story was Francis X. Rocca in Rome.

Watch This Fascinating Video To Learn How Vatican City Is Ruled

Despite its tiny size, the Vatican is, on the surface at least, set up like many other countries. It has a police force. It issues passports, operates jails, has citizens and passes laws. Beneath the surface, however, Vatican City is an utterly bizarre place with an utterly strange set of rules meshing democracy and absolute monarchy.

The above video was created by CGP Grey, the same folks who recently gave us a great clip explaining how to become Pope. This effort is slightly broader in scope, but it’s no less fascinating or watchable and ranks right up there with the services best videos.

The system the Vatican employs might sound stupidly complicated, but much of the rigors are actually needed since the Catholic Church feels the Pope is God’s representative on Earth. Because of that belief system, he really does logically need to have the authority to overrule the Cardinals. That being said, it’s not surprising that this has led to more than a few abuses of power in the centuries long history of the Catholic Church.

To learn more, consider becoming a priest, moving up the ranks, earning one of roughly five hundred Vatican City citizen passports and then asking the powers that be a few questions.

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Pope Francis trinkets sell briskly near Vatican

VATICAN CITY |
Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:45pm IST

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Less than 48 hours after his surprise election, Pope Francis’s smiling face adorns pendants and devotional souvenir cards packaged with rosaries at the trinket stands near St. Peter’s Square.

Small plastic bags containing a picture of Francis and a rosary – a string of prayer beads – were selling for 7 euros ($9) at Antonio Cardone’s stand and postcards showing the new pontiff were selling briskly at 50 cents.

“We expect more stuff to arrive in the coming days,” said Cardone. “Especially when he’s officially installed on Tuesday.”

Another stallholder, Stefano Di Segni, said his suppliers were scrambling to meet demand now that uncertainty had ended over who would succeed after the abdication of Benedict XVI.

Nearby, outside a Vatican City bookshop, tourists were swarming around posters with the face of the new pope on one side and excerpts from his first address on the other. Inside, they were buying Pope Francis pendants and holy cards.

Di Segni said the most popular item on his stall was still a rosary set with an image of Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005.

But he said Francis, the former Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, had the potential to become as revered as his much-loved Polish predecessor, who reigned for 27 years.

“I think he’s going to be a good pope,” said Di Segni, who has run trinket stands around the Vatican for 30 years.

“He was very emotional when he spoke for the first time, so different from Benedict, who was more cold and reserved.”

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Catholics in Portland celebrate the first Jesuit pontiff – WLBZ

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PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — The Sisters at the Monastery of the Precious Blood took a rare break from their contemplative life to watch events unfold in Vatican City Wednesday.

The sisters normally spend their life in quiet devotion– offering prayers for whoever needs them. But this afternoon, they say the phone started ringing off the hook as the faithful called their monastery to make sure the sisters didn’t miss the papal election.

“He’s not a man we we knew of so this is a pure work of prayer through the Holy Spirit helping to select the right person,” says Sister Mary Jo. “The first thing he did was ask everyone to pray for him. He’s a beautiful man of faith.”

The sisters say they will now have masses of thanksgiving in the chapel to welcome the new leader of The Catholic Church.

The Papal Election is especially gratifying for member of the jesuit order… and the many Catholics who received a Jesuit education.

Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope in the history of The Catholic Church.

At Cheverus High School on Wednesday, the news was met with both surprise and excitement.

Seminarian Brett Mclaughlin says because there were so few Jesuits taking part in the conclave, it seemed highly unlikely that a Jesuit would be selected.

“Jesuits don’t usually serve as Bishops of Dioceses so were not usually responsible for churches within dioceses. our responsibility is with retreat houses, high schools, within universities.”

Mclaughlin says he believes the Jesuits’ focus on education and the life of the mind will help bring more young people to the church. 

Pope Francis to visit Rome’s basilicas before Pentecost

This is a syndicated post from CNA Daily News. [Read the original article...]

Vatican City, Apr 3, 2013 / 10:45 am (CNA).- Pope Francis will be praying or celebrating Mass at all four of Rome’s major basilicas between now and Pentecost, as well as holding four public Masses in St. Peter’s Square.

The Holy See’s press office released on April 3 the places and times the pontiff will be presiding over the seven public Masses that will be held between now and May 19.

After he was elected Pope in 2005, Benedict XVI ordained priests for the Rome diocese and celebrated Mass for Pentecost.

In 2005, Pope Benedict beatified two women, Sisters Marianne Cope and Ascension Nicol Goñi.

But Pope Francis will be going a step further and canonizing three saints, two of whom are Hispanics, even though canonizations typically take place during the month of October.

The future saints include Colombian Sister Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui and Mexican Sister Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala.

Blessed Antonio Primaldo and Companions, from Italy, will also be canonized in the same Mass on May 12. He was an artist who led 800 men in refusing to convert to Islam during the 840 Turkish invasion of Italy, resulting in their martyrdom.

The new Pope will also preside over Masses or prayers in the four major basilicas of Rome.

On April 7 he will celebrate Mass in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran at 5:30 p.m. and officially take possession of the Roman cathedral as the Bishop of Rome.

The following Sunday, April 14, he will preside over Mass at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls at the same time of day.

On April 21 he will ordain priests at a 9:30 a.m. Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the next Sunday he will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation at a 10:00 a.m. Mass in Saint Peter’s Square.

The weekend of May 4–5 will be a busy one, with Pope Francis leading the Rosary in Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and then celebrating a Mass for Confraternities in St. Peter’s Square at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Pope Francis will finish off his string of public liturgies by celebrating the Vigil of Pentecost on May 18, and Mass the next day for the solemnity itself. Both of the liturgies will take place in St. Peter’s Square and will include the participation of the numerous Church movements.

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At Easter pope calls Christians to be channels of mercy, justice, peace

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With Jesus’ resurrection “love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious,” Pope Francis said in his first Easter message “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

“Let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish,” the pope said after celebrating Easter morning Mass March 31.

Pope Francis offered special prayers for peace in Syria and the rest of the Middle East, for an end to violence in Africa — especially in Mali, Nigeria, Congo and the Central African Republic — and in Asia, particularly on the Korean peninsula.

He prayed for “peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this 21st century.”

Pope Francis said he would like to bring the good news of Christ’s resurrection to each person on earth, “to every house and every family, especially where suffering is greatest: in hospitals, in prisons.”

Easter, he said, “means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom.”

Easter dawned with blue skies and sunshine in Rome, but as the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, dark clouds began gathering overhead. Still, some 250,000 people gathered for the Mass, and thousands more arrived for the pope’s “urbi et orbi” blessing.

The steps leading to St. Peter’s Basilica and to the altar were decorated with thousands of flowers, trees and bushes. The Dutch flower growers’ association provided 20,000 tulips, 10,000 daffodils and 3,000 white roses in addition to small birch, maple and mulberry trees.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis did not give a homily during the morning Mass, but spoke during his “urbi et orbi” address about the significance of the Resurrection for individuals and for the world.

But unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis did not read quick Easter greetings in dozens of languages, although the brief phrases had been prepared for him.

Rather, in his message, he told people, “Jesus is risen, there is hope for you; you are no longer in the power of sin, evil.”

Easter, the pope said, “is the exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness.”

However, he said, that passage must be renewed in every age and in every human heart.

“How many deserts, even today, do humans beings need to cross — above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbor, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us,” Pope Francis said.

“God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones,” he said.

Pope Francis urged people to join him in praying to be transformed by the power of God’s love and mercy and to help “change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.”

The morning Mass began less than 12 hours after Pope Francis had finished presiding over the nighttime Easter Vigil, lighting the Easter candle and processing into a St. Peter’s Basilica lit mainly by the flashes of the cameras that people had been asked not to use.

During the Mass, he welcomed into the Catholic Church four men between the ages of 17 and 30. The men from Albania, Italy, Russia and the United States were baptized, confirmed and received their first Communion at the Mass. The 17-year-old from the United States was identified as Anthony Dinh Tran.

In his homily for the vigil, Pope Francis spoke about how the women had gone to Jesus’ tomb with sorrow and love to anoint his body.

But, he said, “something completely new and unexpected happens.”

They find the tomb empty, and they are confused and afraid, the pope said.

“Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we don’t understand, we don’t know what to do,” he said. “Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us.”

Like the women at the tomb, he said, often “we are afraid of God’s surprises,” yet, “he always surprises us.”

“Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives. Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up.”

The risen Jesus is risen for all time, he said, meaning that his is forever victorious “over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human.”

Pope Francis said he knows there are many times in life when it is difficult to believe in the power of God to bring forth new life. It’s easier, he said, to be like the women in the Gospel and “look for the living among the dead.”

The women in the Gospel are told to remember their life with Jesus and the things he had said and done. Only then do they conquer their fear and share the news of the Resurrection with the other disciples.

“To remember what God has done and continues to do for me, for us, to remember the road we have traveled; this is what opens our hearts to hope for the future,” he said. “May we learn to remember everything that God has done in our lives.”

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Editors: The text of Pope Francis’ message “urbi et orbi” may be found at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/messages/urbi/documents/papa-francesco_20130331_urbi-et-orbi-pasqua_en.html.

The Tuesday Cutline…a Contest

Photo by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images.

Dear Sisters,

It has been so exciting to be here for the announcement of our new Holy Father, Francis. The locals have been so welcoming, offering me at every turn the chance to buy figurines, key chains, pendants, magnets, mugs, books, shirts, holy cards, rosaries (as if I need more!), pictures and postcards. I will need an extra suitcase! And at every cafe and restaurant, the waiters have offered to give me samples of every wine in their cellar. They’re a little pushy, to be honest, but I haven’t been to Rome since 1982, so as they say, When in Rome…

Wish you were here,
Sister Mary

You don’t have to be a follower to understand what a big deal this week has been for Catholics around the world, including the nun in the photo above (and vendors in Vatican City). Just look at how HAPPY she seems. So write a caption to the photo above — it doesn’t have to be a letter; that was just our idea — and we’ll send the author of our favorite a NewsHour mug. And no, Pope Francis will not be on it.

How it works: Every other Tuesday, we post a photo. You compose a caption, submit it in the comments section below or on NewsHour Art Beat’s Facebook page by 5 p.m. ET Friday.

We’ll announce the best caption on Art Beat the following Tuesday and send the winner an official NewsHour mug. The tiebreaker for similar or identical entries will be earliest time of submission.