The most important address

Fr. Lombardi, SI, Holy See spokesman, called the long address of Pope Francis to the Bishops of Brazil today the "most important", so far, of his pontificate.

Here is the working translation of the text, originally delivered in Spanish.

Dear Brothers,

How good it is to be here with you, the Bishops of Brazil!

Thank you for coming, and please allow me to speak with you as one among friends. That’s why I prefer to speak to you in Spanish, so as to express better what I carry in my heart. I ask you to forgive me.

A witty pope

From the first words of the letter sent by the new Pope to the Argentine bishops present at the 105th plenary assembly of their national Episcopal Conference:

I send these greeting lines, also to excuse myself for not being able to be present, due to "commitments undertaken recently" (does this sound good?) [sic] I am spiritually close to you, and I beg the Lord that he main join you strongly on these days.

[Source: Conferencia Episcopal Argentina, Apr. 17, 2013. Tip: Elisabetta Piqué on Twitter]

Aparecida Notes: A final note

The Holy See made public today the letter by which the Holy Father authorized the publication of the final document of the Aparecida Conference (the "Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops", opened by Pope Benedict on May 13, 2007).

Let us recall the extremely troubling paragraph 109, which, in the final draft sent by the Bishops to Rome, was:

109. We regret a certain clericalism, certain intents to return to an ecclesiology and a spirituality prior to the Second Vatican Council, certain reductionist readings and applications of the Conciliar renewal, the absence of a sense of self-criticism, of an authentic obedience and of the evangelical exercise of authority, the moralisms which weaken the centrality of Jesus Christ, the infidelities to the doctrine, to morals and to communion, our feeble experiences of the preferential option for the poor, not a few secularizing falls in consecrated life, the discrimination of women and their frequent absence from pastoral organizations. As the Holy Father spoke in the Inaugural Speech of our Conference, "one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church".

This paragraph, which has now become paragraph 100 b (Final Document in Spanish: PDF), was changed to this:

100. b) We regret both the intents to return to a kind of ecclesiology opposite to the renewal of the Second Vatican Council⁴¹, and some reduccionist readings and applications of the Conciliar renewal; we regret the absence of an authentic obedience and of an evangelical exercise of authority, the infidelities to the doctrine, to morals and to communion, our feeble experiences of the preferential option for the poor, not a few secularizing falls in consecrated life, influenced by a merely sociological, and not evangelical, anthropology. As the Holy Father spoke in the Inaugural Speech of our Conference, "one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church".

The changes made by the Holy See to this previously disturbing paragraph were these:

1. The regret for "a certain clericalism" was removed.
2. The criticism of "intents to return to an ecclesiology and a spirituality prior [anteriores] to the Second Vatican Council" was substituted with a criticism of "intents to return to a kind of ecclesiology opposite to the renewal of the Second Vatican Council"; adding to the irony of this substitution, note 41 was added: "Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005". Yes... the Latin American Bishops' criticism of pre-Conciliar "spirituality and ecclesiology" was turned against them with the help of Benedict's epoch-making speech... and became a criticism of the Bishops' own hermeneutics of rupture and discontinuity.
3. Also removed were criticisms to "the absence of a sense of self-criticism", "the moralisms which weaken the centrality of Jesus Christ" and to "the discrimination of women and their frequent absence from pastoral organizations".
4. This other great gem was added to the "regret" for the secularization of consecrated life: "influenced by a merely sociological, and not evangelical, anthropology". Could a more scathing rebuke of the orders and societies which have been undermining the mission of the Church in Latin America be found?

In these Petrine changes, it is possible to sense the same reprimand which the Holy Father addressed to the Bishops of Brazil in the most relevant address of his journey to Latin America (and one of the most remarkable texts of his entire pontificate) - a papal reprimand which has gone unheeded, as the silent reception of Summorum Pontificum by almost all Latin American Bishops and Episcopal Conferences has made clear once again.

Thank you, Holy Father.

_____________
Tip: Creer en México (sidebar), for readily finding the altered paragraph.

In the second picture, the new president and vice-presidents of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), elected this week in Havana, Cuba.

To read all our coverage of the Aparecida Conference, just click on the "Aparecida Notes" label below.

Aparecida Notes: Latin American bishops "regret intents to return to pre-Conciliar spirituality"

A very confusing paragraph of the unofficial final document of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, in Aparecida, Brazil, is a good summary of all that is wrong with the Church in Latin America. In it, we see not only a clear expression of the hermeneutic of rupture, but an honest regret that the rupture of the "Conciliar" Church with the past has not been even greater and more decisive. Naturally, in the end, they sneak in a sentence of Pope Benedict's opening address which is not in any way related to what they have just affirmed - shameless "progressive" modus operandi:

109. We regret a certain clericalism, certain intents to return to an ecclesiology and a spirituality prior to the Second Vatican Council, certain reductionist readings and applications of the Conciliar renewal, the absence of a sense of self-criticism, of an authentic obedience and of the evangelical exercise of authority, the moralisms which weaken the centrality of Jesus Christ, the infidelities to the doctrine, to morals and to communion, our feeble experiences of the preferential option for the poor, not a few secularizing falls in consecrated life, the discrimination of women and their frequent absence from pastoral organizations. As the Holy Father spoke in the Inaugural Speech of our Conference, "one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church".

And we regret having had to spend a few seconds reading such fatuous self-righteous nonsense.

In this paragraph, one finds a collective answer of the delegates to the Aparecida Conference regarding the liberalization of the Traditional rites of the Latin Church: they "regret ... certain intents to return to ... a spirituality prior to the Second Vatican Council". Thankfully -- and this may have confused some of the delegates who believe they have real power within the universal Church --, Cardinal Castrillón's address on the liberalization of the Traditional Mass was a mere communiqué to the Bishops of Latin America; he was telling the other delegates what was going to happen, not asking them for their permission...

The unofficial document, a huge mass of confusing pseudo-theological condescending gibberish (available here, in Spanish), is since yesterday in the hands of the poor Pontiff. One feels sorry for the Holy Father for the sacrifice of having to read even parts of this...

________________________

Here are the exact words of the Holy Father, maliciously quoted (since the words were taken out of their exact context) by the Bishops at Aparecida:

In the ecclesial communities of Latin America there is a notable degree of maturity in faith among the many active lay men and women devoted to the Lord, and there are also many generous catechists, many young people, new ecclesial movements and recently established Institutes of consecrated life. Many Catholic educational, charitable or housing initiatives have proved essential. Yet it is true that one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church, due to secularism, hedonism, indifferentism and proselytism by numerous sects, animist religions and new pseudo-religious phenomena.

In the picture, a fine example of the success of Conciliar Renewal in Latin America.

Aparecida Notes

The website of the Fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops has just released a summary (in Spanish) of the main document of the Aparecida Conference -- another uninspiring document, filled with ideologically-motivated clichés, as the Catholic hemorrhage in Latin America goes on... The word "sacramentos" is not even once mentioned in the summary -- and how will a true "missionary spirit" rekindle a "new Pentecost" (sic) in Latin America without the Sacraments which were the essence of the Spanish and Portuguese missionary effort in the Western Hemisphere?

Naturally, we did not expect anything else: the best text of the Conference remains the Pope's opening address (and his best speech in Brazil remains his remarkable address to the Bishops of that nation).

Aparecida Notes: Castrillón to Bishops of Latin America Pope wishes to "extend the possible use of the 1962 books to all Latin Church"

Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and a member of the Fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops, delivered the following address yesterday in Aparecida (in Spanish):

Card. Darío Castrillón Hoyos
President Ecclesia Dei
Aparecida, May 14, 2007

[Delivered in Aparecida, May 16, 2007]


Dear and Venerable Brothers,

I allow myself to present a brief information on the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and on the state of the pastoral reality which the Holy Father has placed under its competence.

This Commission was created by the Servant of God John Paul II in 1988, when a notable group of priests, religious, and faithful, who had made manifest their discontent with the Conciliar liturgical reform and who had congregated themselves under the leadership of French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, separated themselves from him because they were not in agreement with the schismatic action of the ordination of Bishops without the appropriate pontifical mandate. They preferred, therefore, to stay in full union with the Church. The Holy Father, by way of the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, entrusted the pastoral care of these Traditionalist faithful to this Commission.

Nowadays, the activity of the Commission is not limited to the service of those faithful who, at that time, wished to remain in full communion with the Church, nor to the efforts made to put an end to the painful schismatic situation and to attain the return of these brothers of the Saint Pius X fraternity to full communion. By the will of the Holy Father, this Dicastery extends its service, moreover, to satisfy the just aspirations of those who, due to a particular sensibility, and not having kept links to the above-mentioned groups, wish to keep alive the ancient Latin Liturgy in the celebration of the Eucharist and of the other Sacraments.

Undoubtedly, the most important effort, which concerns the entire Church, is the search for an end to the schismatic action and to rebuild the full communion, without ambiguities. The Holy Father, who was for some years a member of this Commission, wishes it to become an organ of the Holy See with the proper and distinct end of preserving and maintaining the worth of the Traditional Latin Liturgy. Yet it must be said with all clarity that it is not a turning back, a return to the time before the 1970 reform. It is, instead, a generous offer of the Vicar of Christ who, as an expression of his pastoral will, wishes to put at the disposal of the whole Church all the treasures of the Latin Liturgy which for centuries has nourished the spiritual life of so many generations of Catholic faithful.The Holy Father wishes to preserve the immense spiritual, cultural, and aesthetic treasures linked to the Ancient Liturgy. The retrieval of this wealth is linked to the no less precious one of the current Liturgy of the Church.

For these reasons, the Holy Father has the intention of extending to the entire Latin Church the possibility of celebrating Holy Mass and the Sacraments according to the liturgical books promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962. There is today a new and renewed interest for this liturgy, which has never been abolished and which, as we have said, is considered a treasure, and also for this reason [the interest] the Holy Father believes that the time has come to ease, as the first Cardinalatial Commission of 1986 had wished to do, the access to this liturgy, making it an extraordinary form of the one Roman Rite.

There are good experiences of communities of religious or apostolic life recently erected by the Holy See which celebrate this liturgy in peace and serenity. Groups of faithful who attend these celebrations with joy and gratitude assemble around them. The most recent establishments are the Institute of Saint Philip Neri, in Berlin, which functions as an Oratory, and which is also present, and well received, in the Diocese of Trier; the Institute of the Good Shepherd, of Bordeaux, which gathers together priests, seminarians, and faithful, some of them from the Fraternity of Saint Pius X. The proceedings for the recognition of a contemplative community, the Oasis of Jesus Priest, of Barcelona, are well advanced.

In Latin America, as is well known, we must thank the Lord for the return of a whole diocese, that of Campos, Lefebvrian in the past, which now, after five years, presents good fruits. It was a peaceful return and the faithful who have enrolled themselves in the Apostolic Administration are glad to be able to live in peace in their parochial communities; furthermore, in effect, some Brazilian dioceses have made contacts with the Campos Apostolic Administration, which has placed priests at their disposal for the pastoral care of the Traditionalist faithful in their local churches. The Holy Father's project has been partly proved in Campos, where the peaceful cohabitation of the forms of the only Roman Rite in the Church is a beautiful reality. We have the hope that this model will yield good fruits, also in other places of the Church where Catholic faithful with diverse liturgical sensibilities live together. And we hope, furthermore, that this way of living together will also attract those Traditionalists which still remain far away.

The current members of the Commission are Cardinals Julián Herranz, Jean-Pierre Ricard, William Joseph Levada, Antonio Cañizares, and Franc Rodé. Its consultants are the Undersecretaries of some Dicasteries.

Several communities spread throughout the world have been up to now under Ecclesia Dei. 300 priests, 79 religious men, 300 religious women, 200 seminarians, and several hundreds of thousands of faithful. The interest of the young curiously increases in France, the United States, Brazil, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia, and China. At the moment of its return, 50 priests, around 50 seminarians, 100 religious women, and 25,000 faithful came from Campos.

Today, the group of the Lefebvrians includes 4 Bishops who were ordained by Mons. Lefebvre, 500 priests, and 600,000 faithful. Several contemplative monasteries, and some male and female religious groups have joined the group, which has parishes (they call them priories), seminaries, and associations. They are present in 26 countries.

Let us ask the Lord that this project of the Holy Father may soon be accomplished for the unity of the Church.

There are, naturally, several extremely important aspects in the Cardinal's address in Aparecida. For those who remained skeptical (are there any left?), another confirmation of the Holy Father's determined will to "extend to the entire Latin Church" the celebration of Holy Mass (and all other Sacraments) according to the 1962 liturgical books. While that merely confirms the clear words of Cardinal Bertone, it is quite an improvement for Castrillón who until very recently still presented the matter as probable, not as certain -- as he clearly does in his Aparecida speech.

The address also confirms, for those who still had any doubts about its existence and findings (which had been confirmed by one of its members, but in a more informal setting), that the Cardinalatial Commission of 1986 recommended that the restrictions on the Traditional Rite of the Church be eased. Naturally, it is extremely frustrating to once again see that such an important step could have been taken 21 years ago, and could have preserved so many priests and faithful from so much pain...

Nonetheless, Pope Benedict seems quite determined to accomplish this which could be the most important act of his pontificate: the establishment (out of his own will, motu proprio) of a clear legal framework for the "Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite".

[Thanks to all who sent us the same link]

Aparecida Notes: Latin American bishop says "Women's ordination is not a closed matter"

Barely had the Holy Father left South America and Bishop Celso Queiros, one of the members of the Fifth General Assembly of the Latin American bishops said this (in Portuguese, from the official website of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference):

The Pope recognized that the Church has a certain debt to women. We know that, at this time, the dialogue on the possible ordination of women is closed in the Church. Which does not mean that it cannot be opened.

Wow... "Progressive" bishops are just so used to distorting the message of the Gospel that they cannot even understand what is spoken by the Successor of Peter. The Pope actually said that "chauvinism" ("machismo") is a problem in some Latin American families, not in the Church; and then he added that what those families need are women who are good mothers and housewives: women must be able to "dedicate themselves fully to bringing up their children and to the service of their family".

In some families in Latin America there still unfortunately persists a chauvinist mentality that ignores the “newness” of Christianity, in which the equal dignity and responsibility of women relative to men is acknowledged and affirmed.

The family is irreplaceable for the personal serenity it provides and for the upbringing of children. Mothers who wish to dedicate themselves fully to bringing up their children and to the service of their family must enjoy conditions that make this possible, and for this they have the right to count on the support of the State. In effect, the role of the mother is fundamental for the future of society.

_________________________
We will be covering the most interesting and troubling aspects of the General Conference of the Latin American Bishops throughout the month.

Recess for a few days; urgent news may be posted at any time.

Aparecida Notes: CELAM "peritus" says "Pope's words are erroneous and indefensible"

Pope Benedict had barely left the site of the Fifth General Conference of Latin-American Bishops at Aparecida, Brazil, when the criticism from pseudo-Catholic leaders began. In his Opening Address, the Pope recalled how the miracle of the evangelization of the Americas purified indigenous cultures:

...what did the acceptance of the Christian faith mean for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean? For them, it meant knowing and welcoming Christ, the unknown God whom their ancestors were seeking, without realizing it, in their rich religious traditions. Christ is the Saviour for whom they were silently longing. It also meant that they received, in the waters of Baptism, the divine life that made them children of God by adoption; moreover, they received the Holy Spirit who came to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them and developing the numerous seeds that the incarnate Word had planted in them, thereby guiding them along the paths of the Gospel. In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbian cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture. Authentic cultures are not closed in upon themselves, nor are they set in stone at a particular point in history, but they are open, or better still, they are seeking an encounter with other cultures, hoping to reach universality through encounter and dialogue with other ways of life and with elements that can lead to a new synthesis, in which the diversity of expressions is always respected as well as the diversity of their particular cultural embodiment.

That is quite true, and it applies to the Quechuas and the Guaranis as it did to the ancient Saxons and Franks centuries before them. Naturally, defending that Christ has purified the native cultures of the Americas is ideologically unacceptable today, as a priest who is the "Theological Consultant" of the heresy-filled Cimi (Indigenous Missionary Council, which is a secretariat of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference), made clear in this Reuters news release(in French):

In 1992, John Paul II had officially spoken of wrongdoings committed in the process of evangelization of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

His successor has not only shocked the Indian populations by his words this Sunday, but they have also stupefied numerous priests who work close to those populations, says Sandro Tuxa, who leads a movement of tribes in the northeast of the country [Brazil]

"We condemn the Pope's words," said Tuxa. "To say that the cultural decimation of our people constitutes an act of purification is shocking and, frankly, alarming." "I believe that the Pope was ill-adviced".

The very Church-based group of support to the local indigenous populations, known under the name of Cimi, has also distanced itself from the Pope's words.

"The Pope has not understood the reality of the situation of Indians here. His words are erroneous and indefensible," Father Paulo Suess, a leader of the Cimi, told Reuters. "I myself am upset."

The Pope had strong words for people like Father Suess, who is a "peritus" at the CELAM conference, advising the president of the Cimi, Bishop Erwin Kräutler, and his ilk inside organizations like the Cimi, who wish to re-Paganize the native peoples of the Americas:

The Utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbus religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal Church, would not be a step forward: indeed, it would be a step back. In reality, it would be a retreat towards a stage in history anchored in the past.

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - VI

Excerpts of the Opening Speech of His Holiness to the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, delivered in Spanish (mostly) and Portuguese.


The main challenge:

...it is true that one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church, due to secularism, hedonism, indifferentism and proselytism by numerous sects, animist religions and new pseudo-religious phenomena.

A warning to paganizing "missionaries":

The Utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbian religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal Church, would not be a step forward: indeed, it would be a step back. In reality, it would be a retreat towards a stage in history anchored in the past.

Reality and a warning to ideological views of the Church's mission:

What is real? Are only material goods, social, economic and political problems “reality”? This was precisely the great error of the dominant tendencies of the last century, a most destructive error, as we can see from the results of both Marxist and capitalist systems. They falsify the notion of reality by detaching it from the foundational and decisive reality which is God. Anyone who excludes God from his horizons falsifies the notion of “reality” and, in consequence, can only end up in blind alleys or with recipes for destruction.
...

This political task is not the immediate competence of the Church. Respect for a healthy secularity — including the pluralism of political opinions — is essential in the authentic Christian tradition. If the Church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject, she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice, because she would lose her independence and her moral authority, identifying herself with a single political path and with debatable partisan positions. The Church is the advocate of justice and of the poor, precisely because she does not identify with politicians nor with partisan interests.

How does the Church change societies?

The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit. And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.
...

Where God is absent—God with the human face of Jesus Christ—these values fail to show themselves with their full force, nor does a consensus arise concerning them. I do not mean that non-believers cannot live a lofty and exemplary morality; I am only saying that a society in which God is absent will not find the necessary consensus on moral values or the strength to live according to the model of these values, even when they are in conflict with private interests.

The most substantial speech delivered by the Pope during his Apostolic Journey to Brazil will remain his blunt Address to the Bishops of Brazil in the São Paulo Metropolitan Cathedral, a pronouncement of whose worldwide implications we will speak shortly.

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - V Many Nations: One Mother and One Home

... The Church is our Home! This is our Home! We have in the Catholic Church all that is good, all that provides safety and solace!

...

"Our Mother,
Protect the Brazilian
and Latin-American family!
...
Grant that your Fatima call
for the conversion of sinners
may be a reality and transform
the life of our society;
And you, who, from the
shrine of Guadalupe,
intercede for the people of the continent of hope,
bless its lands and its homes.

Amen."

Benedict XVI
Address at the end of the Recitation of the Holy Rosary
Basilica of the National Shrine of Aparecida, Brazil, May 12, 2007

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À nos lecteurs francophones: la version française du livre de prières mariales «Ma vie avec Marie» est désormais disponible gratuitement sur Franciscan Archive.

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - IV A Remarkable Speech

Not even the setting (the beautiful and vast Metropolitan Cathedral of São Paulo), the music (some tasteful polyphonic pieces and an aesthetically deficient, yet dignified, use of plainchant for the psalms and hymns of Vespers -- unfortunately, in the vernacular), nor the overall attentive mood of those who were present at the event could possibly have prepared the largest episcopate in the world for the remarkable speech of the Holy Father to the Bishops of Brazil.

The Holy Father delivered a precise diagnosis of the deep crisis of the Catholic Church in Brazil - extensive to many other nations: all important topics were covered by the Pope, from liturgical disobedience to attentiveness to the sexual maturity of seminarians, from a condemnation of the use of the Church as a field for ideological confrontation to the need to be clear in all ecumenical settings that the only Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church presided by the Successor of Peter.

In our modest opinion, this remarkable speech (in English - called a "homily" in the Official Program, due to its liturgical setting, but not particularly homiletic) is one of the most important of the Pontificate, along with the Christmas Address of 2005 and the Regensburg Address of 2006. The true question is, however: will the bishops of the world understand and take heed of this Papal reprimand?

Some excerpts (our translation from the actual Portuguese text spoken by the Holy Father):

The mission which is entrusted to us [bishops], as Masters of the faith, consists in remembering, as the same Apostle of the Gentiles wrote, that our Savior "wishes all men to be saved and to reach the knowledge of truth" (I Tim 2, 4-6). This, and not anything else, is the purpose of the Church: the salvation of souls, one by one.

......in the Church's bosom, when the worth of priestly commitment -- as a total pledge to God through the apostolic celibacy and as total availability to serve souls -- is questioned, with preference being granted to ideological and political, even partisan, questions, the structure of total consecration to God begins to lose its deepest significance. How can we not feel sorrow in our soul? But be confident: the Church is holy and incorruptible! (cf. Eph. 5, 27). Saint Augustine said, "The Church will fail if its foundation fails, but shall Christ fail? As Christ cannot fail, the Church will remain intact until the end of time."

...

It seems clear that the main cause, among others, for this problem [of Catholics who leave the Church] can be attributed to the lack of an evangelization in which Christ and His Church are in the center of every explanation.

...

It is not enough to observe reality through faith; it is necessary to work with the Gospel in the hands and grounded on the rightful heritage of Apostolic Tradition, without interpretations caused by Rationalist ideologies.

...

A stern message to the strong centrifugal forces in the Brazilian episcopate:

Some among you have fomented movements of evangelization to help the gathering of the faithful in a line of action. The Successor of Peter counts on you so that your groundwork shall always be anchored to that spirituality of communion and fidelity to the See of Peter, so that the action of the Spirit will not be in vain.

In effect, the integrity of the faith, along with ecclesial discipline, is and will always be a theme which will demand attention and zeal from all of you, especially when one considers the consequences of the fact that there is "one only faith and one only baptism".

A warning about the problems of Ecumenism:

... Ecumenism, that is, the search for the unity of Christians, becomes in this our age, in which the meeting of cultures and the challenge of Secularism take place, an ever more urgent task for the Catholic Church. However, with the multiplication of always new Christian denominations, and above all due to certain varieties of frequently aggressive proselytism, the ecumenical effort becomes a complex task. ...the principle of fraternal love and the search for mutual comprehension and understanding always matter; but also the defense of the faith of our people, confirming them in the joyful certainty that "unica Christi Ecclesia... subsistit in Ecclesia catholica, a successore Petri et Episcopis in eius communione gubernata” (the one Church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him - Lumen Gentium, 8)

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - III Mary Mediatrix of all Graces

[The Blessed Virgin Mary], the Tota Pulchra, the Most Pure Virgin, who conceived in her womb the Redeemer of Men and who was preserved from all original stain, wishes to be the definitive seal of our encounter with God, our Savior.

There is not a single fruit of grace in the history of salvation which does not have as a necessary instrument the mediaton of Our Lady. ...


The world needs clean lives, clear souls, simple minds that reject being considered as creatures [who are] the object for pleasure. It is necessary to say "No" to those media of social communication which ridicule the sanctity of matrimony and virginity before marriage.

...
Let us thank God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, from Whom, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, all heavenly blessings come ... .

Benedict XVI
Homily - Holy Mass and canonization of Blessed Frei Galvão
Campo de Marte airfield, São Paulo, Brazil
May 11, 2007

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - II

1.

Be men and women who are free and responsible; make the family a center that radiates peace and joy; be promoters of life, from its beginning to its natural end; protect the elderly, since they deserve respect and admiration for the good they have done. ...

Above all, have great respect for the institution of the sacrament of Matrimony. There cannot be true domestic happiness unless, at the same time, there is fidelity between spouses. Marriage is an institution of natural law, which has been raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament; it is a great gift that God has given to mankind: respect it and honour it. At the same time, God calls you to respect one another when you fall in love and become engaged, since conjugal life, reserved by divine ordinance to married couples, will bring happiness and peace only to the extent that you are able to build your future hopes upon chastity, both within and outside marriage. ... Seek to resist forcefully the snares of evil that are found in many contexts, driving you towards a dissolute and paradoxically empty life, causing you to lose the precious gift of your freedom and your true happiness.

Benedict XVI
Meeting with the Youth
São Paulo, May 10, 2007

2. For some great pictures of the Holy Father's Apostolic Journey to Brazil (in several sizes), go to the galleries at Visita do Papa.

3. Brazilian blogs (in Portuguese - thanks to a local reader) register the stubborn refusal of the pro-abortion Brazilian president to kneel and kiss the Fisherman's Ring. Catholic Kings and Queens kneel before the Successor of Peter, but the Catholic president of Brazil seems to be a member of the ever-growing "Non serviam" category of Catholic politicians...

4. From a Brazilian newspaper (thanks to a reader):

Rabbi Henry Sobel, president of the rabbinate of the São Paulo Israelite Congregation (CIP) said yesterday, after leaving the ecumenical and interreligious meeting with the Pope in the Monastery of Saint Benedict, that he was not only blessed by Benedict XVI, but also had the opportunity to bless him.

"With great humility, I asked for a blessing and was blessed. I also asked the Pope's permission to bless him, a permission which was granted to me". He declared himself "light and happy" and he mentioned that he had no opportunity to show regret for the necktie shoplifting episode [Say what? Oh... this], for which he was arrested last March 23, in Florida.

Aparecida Notes: The Pope in Brazil - I

I am very happy to be able to spend a few days with the Brazilian people. I know that the soul of this people, as that of all Latin America, conserves radically Christian values which will never be cancelled. And I am certain that, during the General Conference of the Episcopate, such identity will be reinforced, by promoting respect for life, from its conception to its natural decline, as a demand proper to human nature... .

Benedict XVI
Initial Greetings
São Paulo, Brazil, May 9, 2007

Aparecida Notes: What does that Eucharistic Prayer really say?

An article by our reader Antonio Basto, an attorney and law professor in Rio.

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The Vatican website released the Presentation of Pope Benedict's apostolic voyage to Brazil (in Portuguese; in Italian), a document signed by the much (ill)-famed Archbishop Piero Marini, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations. As it usually happens, the document of presentation contains a chapter about the Liturgical Book of the Apostolic Voyage, a special liturgical book condensing the rubrics for all the liturgical actions to be celebrated during a Papal Trip.

According to said document of Presentation, the texts are in Portuguese as a rule, with the exception of the celebration of one Mass and of Vespers [both in the day when the Latin American Episcopal Conference-CELAM Conference is to be opened], in which, apart from Portuguese, the Spanish, French, and English languages are also used; furthermore, some sung texts are in Latin.

Apart from the private Masses that the Pope will celebrate in the places that will host him (the St. Benedict Monastery of São Paulo and the Good Jesus Seminary of Aparecida), the Pope will celebrate two public Masses, one in São Paulo, on Friday, May 11th, and another in Aparecida, on Sunday, May 13th. The first public Mass will be the Mass for the Canonization of Blessed Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão, and the second, the opening Mass of General Conference of the CELAM. Regarding this second Mass, the Presentation informs that His Holiness will use Eucharistic Prayer III. However, the same document declares that, for the Mass of Canonization, His Holiness will employ Eucharistic Prayer V! That is correct, it is not a typo: Eucharistic Prayer... V!

This requires an explanation: thanks to bizarre requests on the part of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference (CNBB), and the leniency over the years on the part of the Apostolic See, several other Eucharistic Prayers are approved for use in Brazil, other than the translations of the Eucharistic Prayers I to IV. Those are the Eucharistic Prayer V, which we will discuss in more detail below, and also Eucharistic Prayers VI-A; VI-B;VI-C;VI-D (for various needs); Eucharistic Prayers VII and VIII (for reconciliation); IX, X and XI (for Masses with children).

Unfortunately, Eucharistic Prayer V is quite terrible: next to it, Eucharistic Prayer II seems the pinnacle of reverence in prayer. As far as possible for an Eucharistic Prayer, Eucharistic Prayer V contains no mention of the sacrificial nature of the Mass (in fact, the words "sacrifice", "victim", and similar expressions are NEVER used in this prayer), and it also manages to contain an impressive level of cheap, pedestrian language, whereas Eucharistic Prayers I to IV, in spite of the omission of several words and expressions denoting reverence in the process of translation, are still phrased, especially when compared to Prayer V, in respectful language.

For instance, Eucharistic Prayer II contains the words "E nós vos suplicamos" ("and we beseech Thee"), and contains several expressions such as "Remember, O Father", in which the "O", makes the prayer sound more reverent (much more reverent than if one were to say "Remember, Father"). It begins by acknowledging the Holiness of the Father, Fountain of all Holiness; it uses words such as "Bread of Life and Chalice of Salvation"... "Chalice of Salvation" is much better than "Wine that gives courage", an expression used by Eucharistic. Prayer V.

Eucharistic Prayer III also employs more than once the verb "beseech", and it refers to the Resurrection as "glorious". Eucharistic Prayer I starts by addressing the Father as "Father of Mercy, to whom our praise goes up" (Pai de Misericórdia, a quem sobem os nossos louvores), it asks "Receive, o Father, kindly, the offering", in the translation of the Hanc igitur, and "Vouchsafe, o Father, to accept..." (in the Quam oblationem); in the Qui pridie, the mention of the eyes of the Lord being raised up to the Father has not been omitted in translation; the Ascension is called "glorious"; in spite of a poorly translated Supplices Te rogamus, the words "we beseech" are employed in the Supra Quae, the line "not by our merits, but by your goodness", was preserved in the translation of the Nobis quoque. All that serves as a prelude to a comparison between those Prayers and the regrettable Eucharistic Prayer V.

Eucharistic Prayer V was drafted during the First Eucharistic Congress of Manaus, the 9th National Eucharistic Congress of Brazil, held in 1975. It was approved by the Brazilian Episcopal Conference, which requested to the Holy See for permission to include it in the Brazilian versions of the Roman Missal. Such permission was, of course, granted.

In Brazil, the use of the Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon, is quite rare. In most parishes, it is the Eucharistic Prayer II which is used from Monday to Saturday, and the Eucharistic Prayer III on Sunday. So the several other prayers, including the universal prayers I and IV, and the several specific Eucharistic Prayers, are rarely used.

However, if one goes to a church whose pastor is an adherent of Liberation Theology, he will be, in all likelihood, dressed without chasuble, wearing only alb and stole without cincture, and one will probably hear, as a general rule, Eucharistic Prayer V. Perhaps it is a coincidence. Or is it?


No, it is no coincidence that liberal priests prefer that pedestrian prayer. It is tailored for them. And now, thanks to the organizers of the Papal trip to Brazil, and to the good graces of Archbishop Marini, the Pope, the Supreme Pontiff, will recite that prayer. A prayer that should not even be on the Liturgical Books, that should not be recited by any priest, much less by the visible Head of the universal Church. The papal use of that prayer will send a wrong signal. Papal Masses should be an example of devotion. Instead of the Roman Canon, the concelebrants will make use of the worst Eucharistic Prayer ever to be approved by the Apostolic See, in one of the lowest moments of its liturgical law-giving activity.

Here is my translation of Eucharistic Prayer V, followed by more commentary [translation of the Portuguese ORIGINAL text]:

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Priest: Lord, you who always wanted to be very close to us, living with us in Christ, speaking with us through him, send your Holy Spirit so that these our offerings be changed into the Body (+) and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ

Congregation: Send your Holy Spirit!

Priest: In the night in which he would be delivered, dining with his apostles, Jesus, having the bread in his hand, looked to heaven ["céu", same word in Portuguese for both heaven and sky] and gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU, AND EAT: THIS IS MY BODY, THAT WILL BE DELIVERED FOR YOU. Similarly, at the end of the supper, he took the chalice in his hands, gave thanks again and delivered it to his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK: THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT, THAT SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR ALL, FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

Priest: All this is the mystery of faith! [instead of "Mysterium Fidei", "Behold the Mystery of the Faith", a translation that is common to all other Eucharistic Prayers in Portuguese].

Congregation: Every time that one eats from this Bread, every time one drinks from this Wine, one recollects the passion of Jesus Christ, and one awaits his return.

Priest. We recall in this moment, o Father, the passion of Jesus, our Lord, his Resurrection and ascension; we wish to offer you this Bread that feeds and gives life, this Wine that saves us and gives courage.

Congregation: Receive, o Lord, our offering!

Priest: And when we receive the Bread and Wine, his offered Body and Blood, may the Spirit unite us in one only body, so that we may be one only people in his love.

Congregation: May the Spirit unite us in one body!

Priest: Protect your Church that walks in the roads of the world towards heaven, each day renewing the hope of arriving next to you, in your peace.

Congregation: We walk on Jesus's road!

Priest: Grant the Holy Father, Pope N., that he be very firm in the Faith, in charity, and to N., who is bishop of this Church, and to his auxiliary bishops, plenty of light to lead his flock.

Congregation: We walk on Jesus' road!

Priest: We expect to enter life everlasting with the Virgin, Mother of God and of the Church, and with the apostles and all the saints that in live knew to love Christ and his (the word used could also mean "their") brothers.

Congregation: We expect to enter the eternal life!

Priest: All those that you called to the other life in your friendship, and to those marked with the sign of Faith, receive them, opening your arms. That they may live very happy forever in the kingdom that for all you have prepared.

Congregation: To all give the light that never ceases!

Priest: And to us, who are now assembled and are a holy and sinful people, give strength to build together your kingdom that is also ours.

Priest: Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, to you, God Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, be every honour and every glory, now and forever.

Congregation: Amen.

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Eucharistic Prayer V makes use of clearly puerile and informal language: for instance, in "Senhor, vós que sempre quisestes ficar muito perto de nós", "muito perto de nós" (very close to us) is a clear use of informal language. Several other nobler images could be used, but since the drafter decided to speak about God´s proximity, they could use "próximo", instead of the informal "muito perto". The Prayer, following the bad example of Eucharistic Prayer II, starts immediately with the Epiclesis, and, again, the sole use of the image of proximity to God here makes this part of the prayer very poor.

In the equivalent of the Qui pridie, instead of using words to denote that Christ looked up to His Father, the word "céu" is employed, which means both Heaven and sky. Instead of "In the night in which he was to be delivered, He took the bread", as is used in most other Eucharistic Prayers, two insertions are here made: one is the "dining with his apostles" phrase, which emphasizes the idea of the Mass as a meal; the other is the replacement of the word "He took the bread", used in most Eucharistic Prayers (a reference to the earlier "Our Lord Jesus Christ") with the informal "Jesus took the bread". "Jesus", plain "Jesus", is informal, and is almost never used in liturgical prayer, at least in Portuguese, for it denotes a Protestant-like intimacy and lack of reverence.

The same lack of reverence is noted when the prayer states, "we recall.. the passion of Jesus, our Lord", instead of "the passion of Thy Son", or "Celebrating, therefore, o Father, the memory of Thy Son, of his passion that saves us, of his Resurrection from the dead and glorious Ascension into the heavens", as used in other prayers. Also, "passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ..." would be more reverent than "passion of Jesus, our Lord".

There is the absurd reference to "Wine that... gives courage" AFTER the Consecration. No other Eucharistic Prayer does that. Some speak of "chalice", such as in "chalice of salvation" (from the Latin calicem salutis perpetuae translated with the omission of perpetuae). However, no other Eucharistic Prayer speaks of the content of the Chalice as this one does. The content, of course, is the saving Blood of Our Lord, not "this wine that saves and gives courage". The reference to "wine" at this point, is unheard-of. Although references to "bread of life" are common, a reference to "chalice" would be much more appropriate that to "wine". And what is this "gives courage" line? Is that language appropriate for Eucharistic prayers?

The reference to the pope and to the Bishop is also done in a different way in this prayer compared to others: there is no reference to "your servant Pope N." or to "our Bishop N.", and that "plenty of light to feed his flock" line is also very pedestrian. In general expressions like "bem firme" (very firm); "bem felizes" (very happy) are informal ones, and thus unsuitable. They are, however, present in this Eucharistic Prayer. The "bem" clause gives that note of informality here. Other Eucharistic Prayers do not use that kind of cheap language, not even in very poor translations.

There is, finally, the problem of the acclamations after each paragraph. Certain acclamations after each paragraph of the Eucharistic Prayer were requested by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil for every Eucharistic Prayer in the books. They can be dispensed with.

Almost every parish uses those acclamations, and there are different texts that go with different Eucharistic Prayers. The acclamations themselves are inappropriate, and the fact is that their very existence is a source of disturbance and loss of concentration, as it breaks the unified text of the Eucharistic Prayer into fragmented bits. However, the acclamations for other prayers, such as for prayers I to IV, are a bit more respectful towards God, at least, in that they use the "O" clause much more than prayer V --- "Accept our offering, o Lord" --- or in that they ask "Grant us society with the elect". Grant us (concedei-nos), is a formal verb, and denotes more reverence.

Here, however, reverence is totally absent: "Send your Holy Spirit!" -- who do you think you are talking to? That is certainly no way to address God the Father. And also, "We expect to enter eternal life!" -- it is proclaimed with an exclamation point, more like a demand, rather than a humble request. Not to mention the bizarre acclamation, "We walk on Jesus´s road", which sounds more like the language of Protestant neo-pentecostal sects. This line matches another very poor line on the Priest´s part, in which the Holy Catholic Church is referred not as "Thy Catholic Church", "the Church pilgrim on Earth", but in a cheesy way as "the Church that walks in the roads of this world". What is that, country music?

As it can be noticed, it is truly deplorable that Eucharistic Prayer V was ever approved as part of Catholic Liturgy -- it is even worse that it will now become a model, after being granted the rubber-stamp blessing of being used by the Pope himself.

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First Picture: Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, in Aparecida, Brazil
Second and Third Pictures: Masses celebrated in the Jesuit Youth House of Goiania, Brazil.

Aparecida Notes: a Church in decline

Some optimistic reports notwithstanding, the reality of the Catholic Church in Latin America, and particularly in its largest nation, Brazil, is gloomy. One of our readers in that great country sent us the following graph recently published in one of the largest Brazilian dailies:

From a near stability (the decline between 1950 and 1960 is statistically negligible, around 0.6%), a slight decline is noticed between 1960 and 1970, and between 1970 and 1980.

1980 marked the first Papal visit to Brazil -- and the beginning of a demographic slump: in the 20 Wojtylian years registered above, the percentage of Brazilian Catholics fell from 89.2% to 73.8% of the total population . And the latest poll numbers, published this Sunday (read special article on the mess of religious statistics in Brazil in the Spanish e-daily Hispanidad), according to which Brazilian Catholics now encompass merely 64% of the population.

So, this is the demographic trend of Brazilian Catholics in the past 70 years, approximately:

• Pius XII Pontificate (1940-1960): 95.2% to 93.1% of the population;
• John XIII and Paul VI Pontificates (immediate post-Conciliar aftermath: 1960-1980): 93.1% to 89.2% of the population;
• John Paul II Pontificate(post-Conciliar aftermath, 1980-2007): 89.2% to 64% of the population.

Only the steep increase of population in the past century has prevented a decrease in the absolute number of Brazilian Catholics. The Church which evangelized Brazil has lost a grip over that nation after decades of a politically-motivated "preferential option for the poor" (it would be unfair to blame solely John Paul II, since the "Liberationist" bishops named by Paul VI thrived for nearly twenty years after his death).

What now? Words and conferences have not stopped the demographic hemorrhage of the Church in Brazil. Could Benedict change this grim reality?

Aparecida Notes: the Protestant Sects

Benedict XVI, in his speech to his nuncios in Latin America:

Some environments, we know it, ascertain a contrast between the wealth and depth of the pre-Columbian cultures and the Christian faith, presented as a foreign imposition or an alienation for the peoples of Latin America. In truth, the encounter of these cultures and the faith in Christ was an answer internally expected by such cultures. This encounter thus must not be disowned, but should be deepened, and it has created the true identity of the peoples of Latin America. In fact, the Catholic Church is the institution which enjoys greater approval by the Latin-American populations. ... Such a consolidated presence must today take into consideration, among others, the proselitism of the sects and the growing influence of the Post-modern hedonist secularism. We must seriously reflect on the causes for the attractiveness of the sects to find the right answers.

The causes can be easily identified... Medellín (1968), for instance, the Latin American "incarnation" of "the Spirit of the Council", is one of the most relevant steps in the forsaking, by the Catholic hierarchs of Latin America, of their duty of evangelisation.

Aparecida Notes: the Nueva Cuba in South America

From the new (old-fashioned) "Socialist", "Bolivarian Republic" in Venezuela, the news of the new law which allows President Hugo Chávez to rule by decree. The name of the act: Ley Habilitante (literally, Enabling Act). Now, where have we seen this name before?

In fact, the "Ley Habilitante" is just the first of the five "Constituent Engines" which will drive Venezuela towards its "Revolutionary Socialist" future... The third "engine" looks promising: "Moral and Lights: education in Socialist values"...

Yes, Pius XI will always be right: "no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true Socialist" (Quadragesimo Anno).

Aparecida Notes: The Pope goes to Latin America

Catholic heritage in an increasingly secularized environment: The abbatial church of Saint Benedict's Monastery (Mosteiro de São Bento), as seen from the entrance to the São Bento Subway Station, in São Paulo, Brazil. Pope Benedict XVI will be the guest of the Benedictines during his visit to São Paulo and Aparecida, Brazil, on May 9-13, 2007. The city of São Paulo was founded by Jesuit missionaries on January 25, Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, 1554. (Thanks to the reader who sent us the picture and the information).

In the next few months, as hundreds of bishop-delegates get ready for the largest regional gathering of bishops, the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), which will be opened by Pope Benedict XVI in the Marian town of Aparecida, Brazil, this weblog will try to provide views on the real challenges facing the Church in the most Catholic region of the planet.

The greatest of these challenges is the seemingly unstoppable growth of Evangelical sects throughout the region since the 1970s, when, in the wake of Vatican II and of the materialistic consequences of the disastrous II General Conference of the CELAM (1968), in Medellín, Colombia, the Church lost its spiritual leadership in the region. As millions of Catholics moved from rural areas to the burgeoning cities, the "new" politicized "Church of Liberation" could not quench the spiritual thirst of the Catholic masses, who became easy targets for the Pentecostal sects.

The current shepherds of Latin American Catholics are men who were indoctrinated with Liberation Theology, which is still taught throughout the region. The efforts of Pope John Paul II in Puebla (1979) and Santo Domingo (1992) could not alter the course of events. Is there any hope that the Catholic hemorrhage will be stopped?

We invite our many Latin American friends and readers to provide us with news and views from their countries. Send us your views and news of the Church crisis in your country (in English, en español, em português) as the Pope goes to Aparecida.