Below is how the Daily Mail reviewed the visit of Pope Benedict XVI
the day after His Holiness left the UK.
The following text, photo and caption are from the Daily Mail:
A frail voice, but a resounding message.
the day after His Holiness left the UK.
The following text, photo and caption are from the Daily Mail:
A frail voice, but a resounding message.
They said Benedict XVI would be unwelcome in Britain. They claimed he would find little sympathy in our modern, liberal society for moral teachings that have changed little over 2,000 years.
How wrong they were.
In Scotland, London and Birmingham, the Pope has drawn large and joyful crowds, while most non-believers and followers of other faiths have shown him nothing but tolerance and goodwill.
His message, though delivered in the frail voice of an 83-year-old, has come across loud and clear to a nation unused to hearing uncompromising Christian conviction from its spiritual leaders.
Indeed, in just four days, the Pope has probably done more to stimulate debate on the place of religious values in our society than Archbishops of Canterbury have achieved in as many decades.
This is in spite of the efforts by self-important opponents of the visit, encouraged by the BBC and the Left-wing Press, to drown his message in howls of outrage over the child-abuse scandal and the church’s alleged role in promoting the spread of Aids in Africa.
Yes, as Benedict humbly admits, the ‘unspeakable crimes’ of Catholic priests have brought ‘shame and humiliation’ on the church, while his own handling of the scandal has been lamentable.
And yes, millions find it impossible to accept the Vatican’s continuing opposition to the use of condoms in tackling Aids.
But who can doubt that the Pope’s central theme deserves a hearing in a society increasingly devoted to instant self-gratification?
Britain is a country riven by family breakdown and moving ever closer towards ‘mercy killing’ for the sick and elderly. It’s a nation in which the destruction of unborn human lives is routine — and anti-abortion protesters have been thrown behind bars for holding a banner depicting an aborted foetus.
In the name of ‘multiculturalism’, Christian nurses have been ordered not to pray for their patients, a BA worker has been disciplined for wearing a small crucifix and public authorities have shied away from celebrating Christmas.
Doesn’t the Pope make a timely point when he warns against the march of ‘aggressive secularism’?
Other church leaders should draw courage from the success of his visit.
There’s a hunger in this country for a spiritual dimension in public life — and they should stop being afraid to feed it.
Daily Mail Comment
Fr. Michael Mary it must be pointed out: did not Benedict XVI pray with heretics in their churches?
ReplyDeleteNot so long ago, you would have called it - and in your newspaper too, with its then thousands of readers - "communicatio in sacris."
Not as grave, but certainly scandalous, did you not notice the presence of altar girls during the services and Masses, despite the presence of hundreds of clerics?
He embraced invalid clergy, making no mention of their false orders or that their "church" was just a sect.
I know that you would have condemned this too, in no uncertain terms.
Yes, I also love the Holy Father and I pray for him every day. I don't even go to the SSPX. But a spade must be called a spade.
Fr.
ReplyDeleteIs that a young lady in surplice?
Yes it is. And as the post says, the text , caption and PHOTO are from the newspaper. Fr MM
ReplyDeleteFriend
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments; however in this particular post we are taking stock after the storm of negative press that our Holy Father had received before his visit and now we are noting how he managed to turn it around to almost an apology from the tabloid press.
To begin to find the answers to your questions:
Let us first trust and love the Successor of Peter who clearly knows what he is doing: he knows his vocation. Say to yourself: He knows his vocation, I trust him.
Next, but secondly, for our questions and worries, let us seek answers.
Isn't that the Catholic thing to do?
I would like to understand everything about Communicatio in sacris too. I do know that the Popes in the past have, in other situations, given all kinds of dispensations concerning this matter. This is a beginning, but ... ..... But my worry in answering you, is that I think that I hear in your voice the same reproach that I too once had towards the Successor of Peter.
Some of the vital answer to your questions will only to be found when you submit and trust the Church; then, the rest of the answer is in seeking enlightenment to your honest questions.
What I had once sadly forgotten, but now happily remember, is that the Catholic Church is built on rock and it has the true answer to every question. Believe that the Catholic Church is built on rock and it has the true answer to every question. Write down that you believe that the Catholic Church is built on rock and it has the true answer to every question. Repeat to yourself again and again that you believe that the Catholic Church is built on rock and it has the true answer to every question.. ....The reproach will die away. ....Humble seeking for the truth will emerge. We are on the way to finding a satisfying answer. And whatever the answer is, it will satisfy because it is the truth.
Let us seek that answer: but first let us make that step of trust and faith in our Holy Father, the Vicar of Jesus Christ; inside that framework of trust and charity, let our Faith seek understanding.
Fr MM
Dears,
ReplyDeletein this historical period the Pope and the whole Church are tiptoeing
into a mining camp where any single step could involve into a progress
or into a tragedy.
For what purpose, then, try to depreciate such a great effort diverting the attention
towards some " marginal " differences in Ceremonial Protocol ?
As written in the Daily Mail Article which reviewed the visit of Pope Benedict XVI
in Britain:
< " Other church leaders should draw courage from the success of his visit " >.
God bless you all
A.B.
When reading the critical comments I was reminded of something I came across in the Life of St John Bosco. I think it was Pius IX but might have been his successor who said, 'You see, the Pope can't always do what he wants to.'
ReplyDeleteHow on earth could our Holy Father have done any good if he had arrived as a self righteous steam roller?
258 years ago, in 1752, Pope Benedict XIV concluded that communicatio in sacris with schismatics and heretics is not always contrary to the divine law: for example in a marriage between a Catholic and a Non-Catholic.
ReplyDeleteHow many readers would have thought that their parents' mixed marriage was an act of communicatio in sacris? ... One permitted by the Church; not a moment of shared Vespers, but the confection of one of the seven Sacraments.
Fr MM
The example of the mixed marriage is a good one. I myself am in a mixed marriage, since my husband is not Catholic. The SSPX priest who baptized me three years ago did not see it as an impediment to conversion. Now that I attend an FSSP parish, it also is not a problem with our FSSP priest, as long as I stay married, that is.
ReplyDeleteI don't see it as a problem that our dear Holy Father prays with those who are not in full communion with the Church. His tactics are both humble, and sheer genius. Long live the pope!
Dear Father Michael Mary,
ReplyDeleteI thought it noteworthy that the Anglicans, represented by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Queen, were so welcoming and apparently lovingly sincere toward the Holy Father, when it was one of their erstwhile leaders who had embraced the Old Catholic Faith that the Pope was coming in their midst to beatify. They did not show any bitterness or reproach but gave him every opportunity, as did the nation, to speak to them and through them to all men of good will.
I have appreciated your explanations.
Though I often felt anxious at the reality of being in a mixed marriage I am blessed that after 37 years, my husband, now deceased, bent his neck and accepted the Faith three weeks before his death.
May you receive the Grace to embrace the Cross when being persecuted. And the Grace to keep that Grace and merit more!