The Future of Egypt

My goodness, an Egyptian wunderkind. He's only 12, so I suppose he's repeating what he hears at home or perhaps has been put up to this. But if this is a mere performance, he certainly "owns" it. And anyway, this kind of indoctrination I can get behind. Can anyone confirm the translation? May the Lord keep him safe.

I Think I Like Egyptian Summer Better Than Arab Spring

Shamelessly pinched from here, where you should go to see more.

Eldest Weed was asking me this afternoon if the Egyptian protests are a good thing. I told him I didn't know for sure, but was hopeful that the Egyptians are throwing off Islamism and not just trading it in for another brand. I have no insight unless you count a conversation with an Egyptian woman on a plane who said within Egypt people hate the Muslim Brotherhood. "We used not to care who was Christian and who was Muslim. Now there are many killings and you should not travel there. Very dangerous." 

Eldest Weed quipped that we'd quickly know whether the new government is good based on whether or not Obama supports it. (If he does, it isn't.) 

We'll see. But do go look at the pictures. Interesting!

Update: Mark Steyn says all optimism is misplaced. Of course, that's his theme on all political topics, but it's still a good piece -- and probably right. Curtsy to ninme.

Prodigy? Or Just Not A Slacker?

Curtsy to a facebook friend for posting this piece on Kelvin Doe, a 15-year-old from Sierra Leone who's a self-taught engineering whiz. It's a great human interest story, but what caught my attention is that Kelvin Doe is presented as a prodigy. Maybe he is --he's clearly very bright-- but I don't get the impression he's a prodigy so much as a very determined fellow. Calling him a prodigy detracts from the real story, because it suggests that only he with his unique gifts could do something like this.

I think the real story is about motivation and what marvels ordinary human beings can accomplish when they set their minds to a problem and have the freedom to do so. His mentor gets it right when he says Sierra Leone has received a lot of foreign aid over the years, but it doesn't make any difference if young people don't have minds to think and aren't encouraged to apply their intelligence to problem-solving.

Update: now with actual video. Sorry. Blogger keeps eating videos for some reason.

Another Victory For Exit Polls

It seems Western journalists were no better at predicting the results of Libya's election than they were SCOTUS decisions. The Muslim Brotherhood was defeated.

Bushes in Zambia

How did President and Mrs. Bush spend 4th of July? In Zambia, hangin' with the orphans and the nuns.

S

Photos by Shealah Craighead/The Bush Center

See more at the George W. Bush Presidential Center page

The Bushes were there to donate shelving and books to the orphanage on behalf of the Bush Center, and to participate in an anti-AIDs/anti-Cancer conference and initiative. 

I'll say it again:

Christianity is not a get out of stupid free card. History will judge the wisdom of this or that of his policies. But that we as a people should have failed to recognize the great goodness of this man who has been a relentless champion of human dignity and freedom everywhere --especially that of everyone who "doesn't matter"-- is to our everlasting shame.

Potpourri of Popery, End of Year & Heart of Voodoo Edition

Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters 

Having got too busy to comment on the three great papal events of the year: World Youth Day in Spain, the triumphant return to Germany, and Assisi III (excellent round-ups at those links), I'm determined to complete a potpourri before the liturgical year closes this evening.

Popery
The Pope was in Benin last weekend. For a guy who promised himself the year before Bl. John Paul the Great passed that he was never crossing the ocean again, he sure has made a lot of trans-oceanic journeys. Time has a good slideshow here. I love the kids sneaking under the bottom rung of this fence to try to catch a glimpse of the Pontiff as he passes by.

Benin, as all the news agency headlines blared at me when I googled, is "the home of voodoo."  If that's true, it's all the more fitting that the vicar of Christ was there at the close of the liturgical year, to claim the lost in the name of the One who gathers the tribes unto himself.  

The official occasion, however, was the dedication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Africae Munus and to celebrate with the people of Benin the 150th anniversary of its evangelization. The pope also had the personal intention of praying at the tomb of his old friend Cardinal Gantin. (Whispers has two nice posts with pictures about that aspect of the trip: the visit to his friend; and an earlier post about the Ratzinger-Gantin friendship.)

All the Benin addresses are collected here, but here are some highlights.

Sometimes the interview on the airplane en route is really interesting. He's asked, "Why Benin?" and responds that Benin is a model of well-functioning democratic institutions and a place where Catholics, other Christians, Muslims and tribal religions are at peace with one another. He talks about Cardinal Gantin:

I have always wanted, one day, to pray at his tomb.  He was really a great friend – perhaps I will speak of him at the end, and so to visit the country of Cardinal Gantin, a great representative of Catholic Africa, and of African civilization at its most humane, is a further reason for me to go to Benin.

Thoughtful answer to the question about inculturation and Catholicism not really being able to compete against Pentecostal Christianity, too. On the one hand, there's a lot to admire; but it's important not to be too impressed:

These communities are a worldwide phenomenon, found in all continents. In particular, they have a strong presence, in different forms, in Latin America and in Africa.  I would say that the characteristic elements are minimal institutional character, few institutions, lightweight teaching, a straightforward message, simple, easily grasped, apparently concrete and then – as you say – a participative liturgy with the expression of personal emotions and of the native culture, with combinations of different religions, sometimes in a syncretistic way.  All this, on the one hand, guarantees success, but it also implies instability. 

What is there for Catholics to learn then? He takes it point by point.

We also know that many people come back to the Catholic Church or else migrate from one of these communities to another. Hence, we must not imitate these communities, but we must ask what we can do to give fresh vitality to the Catholic faith.  And I would say that an initial point is certainly a simple, profound, easily grasped message; it is important that Christianity should not come across as a difficult European system that others cannot understand and put into practice, but as a universal message that there is a God, a God who matters [to us], a God who knows us and loves us, and that concrete religion stimulates cooperation and fraternity.  So, a simple concrete message is very important.

That's very much in the vein of his 2006 message to Swiss bishops which so impressed me, as well as his message to bishops at Fatima and elsewhere. Don't let the beauty and grandeur of the faith be obscured by its rules and regulations. Furthermore, he goes on, 

Another very important point is that the institution should never be too heavy, that is to say, the initiative of the community and of the individual should be predominant.   And I would also say that a participative but not emotional liturgy is needed:  it must not be based merely on the expression of emotions, but should be characterized by the presence of the mystery into which we enter, by which we are formed.

"Participative but not emotional." My new motto! 

As for inculturation, he doesn't like the word:

it is important for inculturation not to lose universality.  I would prefer to speak of interculturalism, rather than inculturation, that is, a meeting of cultures within the shared truth of our humanity and our era, giving rise to a growth in universal fraternity; we must not lose the great gift of catholicity, meaning that in every part of the world we are brothers, we are a family, knowing one another and working together in a spirit of fraternity.

Someone asks a good question -- how can you speak of hope in Africa? He seems to pooh-pooh the difficulties. Or not the difficulties themselves, but the idea that Africa's are worse than anyone else's: just different. Where are there are human beings there are serious problems, always.

As mankind moves forward, so do the difficulties.  Yet the freshness of Africa’s yes to life and the youthfulness that is found there, so full of enthusiasm and hope as well as humour and liveliness, show us that Africa has a reserve of humanity, there is still a freshness about its religious sense and its hope; there is still a perception of metaphysical reality, total reality, including God: not this reduction to positivism, that constricts our life and makes it somewhat dry, extinguishing hope in the process.  So I would say that the fresh humanism found in Africa’s young soul, despite all the problems of today and tomorrow, shows that Africa still has a reserve of life and vitality for the future, on which we can depend.

I have zero experience of Africa, but my experience of African Catholics here confirms the Holy Father's assessment. They are alive and joyful in a way that the West isn't. It's attractive and infectious. At our parish's 125th anniversary recently, the Nigerian community (which normally has its own mass) joined us. They don't merely recite the Creed. They proclaim it.

Once on the ground, there was of course the airport welcome ceremony, where he lays out for the people of Benin the main themes of his visit. Next he visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mercy and delivered a simple, lovely reflection on mercy and on Mary as Queen of Mercy.

Given the background of the airport interview -- the Pope's concern for democracy and control of corruption and  religious tolerance and religious freedom-- I think the meeting with government leaders is the most important address of the trip. Here's the passage that attracted the most attention in the secular media, though, unsurprisingly the headlines didn't capture the spirit of the address:

When I say that Africa is a continent of hope, I am not indulging in mere rhetoric, but simply expressing a personal conviction which is also that of the Church. Too often, our mind is blocked by prejudices or by images which give a negative impression of the realities of Africa, the fruit of a bleak analysis. It is tempting to point to what does not work; it is easy to assume the judgemental tone of the moralizer or of the expert who imposes his conclusions and proposes, at the end of the day, few useful solutions. It is also tempting to analyze the realities of Africa like a curious ethnologist or like someone who sees the vast resources only in terms of energy, minerals, agriculture and humanity easily exploited for often dubious ends. These are reductionist and disrespectful points of view which lead to the unhelpful “objectification” of Africa and her inhabitants.

In reportage, this amounted to "We're No Better Than Africa": cultural relativism. Of course that's not what he's saying at all. What he's doing is apologizing to Africa for the gross cultural imperialism of the perky little tyrant types at the UN and elsewhere who do things like tie foreign aid to contraception distribution, or try to bully African countries into legalizing abortion.

The actual teaching of the address however is here, where we have a hint of his view of the Arab spring and civic unrest in our day, generally:

During recent months, many peoples have manifested their desire for liberty, their need for material security, and their wish to live in harmony according to their different ethnic groups and religions. Indeed, a new state has been born on your continent. Many conflicts have originated in man's blindness, in his will to power and in political and economic interests which mock the dignity of people and of nature. Human beings aspire to liberty; then to live in dignity; they want good schools and food for their children, dignified hospitals to take care of the sick; they want to be respected; they demand transparent governance which does not confuse private and public interests; and above all they desire peace and justice. At this time, there are too many scandals and injustices, too much corruption and greed, too many errors and lies, too much violence which leads to misery and to death. These ills certainly afflict your continent, but they also afflict the rest of the world. Every people wishes to understand the political and economic choices which are made in its name. They perceive manipulation and their revenge is sometimes violent. They wish to participate in good governance. We know that no political regime is ideal and that no economic choice is neutral. But these must always serve the common good. Hence we are faced with legitimate demands, present in all countries, for greater dignity and above all for greater humanity. Man demands that his humanity be respected and promoted.

You don't get this greater respect for humanity, however, by substituting the other guy's dominating passions for your ethnic group's, nor by making your grandchildren pay for you to live as you choose. You have to submit those passions to the common good so as not to rob your people of hope:

From this place, I launch an appeal to all political and economic leaders of African countries and the rest of the world. Do not deprive your peoples of hope! Do not cut them off from their future by mutilating their present! Adopt a courageous ethical approach to your responsibilities and, if you are believers, ask God to grant you wisdom! This wisdom will help you to understand that, as promoters of your peoples’ future, you must become true servants of hope. It is not easy to live the life of a servant, to remain consistent amid the currents of opinion and powerful interests. Power, such as it is, easily blinds, above all when private, family, ethnic or religious interests are at stake. God alone purifies hearts and intentions.

The Church does not propose any technical solution and does not impose any political solution. She repeats: do not be afraid! Humanity is not alone before the challenges of the world. God is present. There is a message of hope, hope which generates energy, which stimulates the intellect and gives the will all its dynamism. A former Archbishop of Toulouse, Cardinal Saliège, once said: "to hope is never to abandon; it is to redouble one's activity". The Church accompanies the State and its mission; she wishes to be like the soul of our body untiringly pointing to what is essential: God and man.

He goes on to address relations between the various religious believers, offering hope for the end of endless skirmishes on that front and a pointed rebuke of extremists:

I do not think it is necessary to recall the recent conflicts born in the name of God, or deaths brought about in the name of him who is life. Everyone of good sense understands that a serene and respectful dialogue about cultural and religious differences must be promoted. ... Aggression is an outmoded relational form which appeals to superficial and ignoble instincts. To use the revealed word, the Sacred Scriptures or the name of God to justify our interests, our easy and convenient policies or our violence, is a very grave fault.

He has often said with respect to ecumenism that Christian unity is not the work of man but of God, and therefore the best thing for it is for each Christian to be the best disciple he knows how to be. As we grow in union with God, he lifts us to himself, and thus will union come. Now he makes a similar point with respect to inter-religious dialogue. To be genuine, it has to spring from confidence that God is the Lord of history and there is nothing to fear in mutual submission to the truth. And sometimes the "dialogue" is not a matter of formal arguments, but of simple practical cooperation and kindness:

In your continent, there are many families whose members profess different beliefs, and yet these families remain united. This is not just a unity wished by culture, but it is a unity cemented by a fraternal affection. Sometimes, of course, there are failures, but there are also many successes. In this area, Africa can offer all of us food for thought and thus become a source of hope.

To finish, I would like to use the image of a hand. There are five fingers on it and each one is quite different. Each one is also essential and their unity makes a hand. A good understanding between cultures, consideration for each other which is not condescending, and the respect of the rights of each one are a vital duty. This must be taught to all the faithful of the various religions. Hatred is a failure, indifference is an impasse, and dialogue is an openness! Is this not good ground in which seeds of hope may be sown? To offer someone your hand means to hope, later, to love, and what could be more beautiful than a proffered hand? It was willed by God to offer and to receive. God did not want it to kill (cf. Gen 4:1ff) or to inflict suffering, but to care and to help live. Together with our heart and our intelligence, our hand too can become an instrument of dialogue. It can make hope flourish, above all when our intelligence stammers and our heart stumbles.

Love that last line!  Good deeds are inter-religious dialogue. I love this close, too:

To be afraid, to doubt and to fear, to live in the present without God, or to have nothing to hope for, these are all attitudes which are foreign to the Christian faith and, I am convinced, to all other forms of belief in God. Faith lives in the present, but it awaits future goods. God is in our present, but he is also in the future, a place of hope. The expansion of our hearts is not only hope in God but also an opening to and care for physical and temporal realities in order to glorify God. Following Peter, of whom I am a successor, I hope that your faith and hope will be in God. This is my wish for the whole of Africa, which is so dear to me! Africa, be confident and rise up! The Lord is calling you.

He met with priests, religious and seminarians, urging them to be holy and not reduce their mission to social work. He formally signed the post-synodal document. And he had the sweetest encounter with children. You have to read it and savor it; after some encouraging words about how to speak to Jesus and carry him with you in your heart each day, he says this, which makes me smile:

Dear young people, Jesus loves you. Ask your parents to pray with you! Sometimes you may even have to push them a little. But do not hesitate to do so. God is that important!

I always pay special attention to what the Pope tells bishops. Here he tells them to take care of their priests, pay special attention to their formation, maintain unity with the Church and each other, and be sure all the faithful have a personal relationship with Christ:

It is the crucified and glorious face of Christ which ought to guide us, so that we may witness to his love for the world. This attitude requires a constant conversion in order to give new strength to the prophetic dimension of our proclamation. To those who have received the mission of leading the people of God, falls the responsibility of quickening this attitude in them and helping them to discern the signs of the presence of God in the heart of persons and events. May all the faithful have this personal and communal encounter with Christ, and become his messengers. This meeting with Christ must be solidly rooted in openness to and meditation on the Word of God. The Scriptures must have a central place in the life of the Church and of each Christian. Hence, I encourage you to help them to rediscover Scripture as a source of constant renewal, so that it may unify the daily lives of the faithful and be ever more at the heart of every ecclesial activity.

The relationship with Christ necessarily entails a flowering of zeal and missionary activity:

Apostolic zeal, which should animate all the faithful, is a direct result of their baptism, and they cannot shirk their responsibility to profess their faith in Christ and his Gospel wherever they find themselves, and in their daily lives. Bishops and priests, for their part, are called to revive this awareness within families, in parishes, in communities and in the different ecclesial movements. ...as I emphasized in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, “In no way can the Church restrict her pastoral work to the ‘ordinary maintenance’ of those who already know the Gospel of Christ. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial community”. The Church, therefore, must reach out to everyone.

In other words, he wants a Church alive.  Which brings us to the final big event of the visit: the Mass of Christ the King. From the homily:

The Church exists to proclaim this Good News! And this duty is always urgent! After 150 years, many are those who have not heard the message of salvation in Christ! Many, too, are those who are hesitant to open their hearts to the word of God! Many are those whose faith is weak, whose way of thinking, habits and lifestyle do not know the reality of the Gospel, and who think that seeking selfish satisfaction, easy gain or power is the ultimate goal of human life. With enthusiasm, be ardent witnesses of the faith which you have received! Make the loving face of the Saviour shine in every place, in particular before the young, who search for reasons to live and hope in a difficult world! The Church in Benin has received much from her missionaries: she must in turn carry this message of hope to people who do not know or who no longer know the Lord Jesus.

In all, a series of challenging addresses, but shot through with love and hope. It seems he entrusted to the peoples of Benin a mission, as expressed in a single question from his airport farewell.

Why should an African country not show the rest of the world the path to be taken towards living an authentic fraternity in justice, based on the greatness of the family and of labour?

I can't help notice the contrast between the Pope's attitude and that of the perky little tyrants he criticized at the outset of the trip. They come to say, "You're hopelessly backwards and messed up. Stop breeding and we'll give bread to those who remain." He says, "Your problems are great, but there is no reason at all you can't conquer them. Rise!"

• Throughout Summer & Fall, the pope has also continued an enlightening series of catecheses on prayer. No doubt they'll be gathered in a book when they're completed, but for now scroll around at Zenit to find them. Here's the most recent.
• He's declared next year a Year of Faith. I jokingly said I dread this. The year of the priest turned into a year of terrible trials and purification for priests due to scandal (one priest friend of mine said he was hoping for a year of the laity so we'd see what it was like).
• BXVI on stem cell research. And on charitable work.

Potpourri

• Vatican: announces it will fund adult stem cell research, Simcha Fisher has an hilarious take; Bl. JP the Great as model for health care workers.
• Algeria: fascinating interview with Archbishop Bader
• China: a new episcopal ordination, this time w/ Rome's blessing; underground Church meeting in face of crackdown.
• Egypt: major university and "imam of the revolution" call for defense of Christians.
• Germany: not going to attempt a round-up on his visit there, but DO read his reflection on the foundations of law before the Bundestag.
• Iraq: Christmas under siege.
• Ireland: 52-yr-old NY priest named nuncio; Bishop Hegarty resigns for health reasons; Pope still may visit,
• Israel: address of Chief Rabbi to BXVI at close of recent conference.
• Nigeria: ex-terrorist converts, Muslims murder his kids
• Pakistan: "Jesus Christ" no longer a banned term in text messages; Catholic activist murdered.
• Russia: half a million Orthodox line up to visit belt believed to belong to the Virgin Mary, cure infertility.
• U.S.: bishops on their first ad limina with BXVI (will be v. interested in these addresses once they're up); bishops' annual conference dealt largely with threats to religious liberty and marriage; major addresses: President Dolan to the assembly; Archb Lori on religious liberty (it's great, but also agree with John Allen that the religious liberty focus is too parochial; hate any effort that turns the Church into an interest group rather than a defender of what is true, simply); address of our new nuncio; Anglican ordinariate set up officially; Card. Law retires;  Bishops lose anti-human-trafficking contract even though it is rated more highly than any competitor; Doug Kmiec says Obama's not anti-Catholic, apparently because he says so. New mass translation starts this Sunday at last.

And finally: Well said!  And the blessing of the beer.

Was There A Jack Straw Dartboard?

The Qaddafi compound turned up a photo album of Condi Rice, for whom it seems the Dear Libyan Leader had a major "thing."

But we know she only had eyes for a certain Labour Party Foreign Secretary.

You Say Qazzafi & I Say Khadthdthaffi

I asked who decides these things. AP explains.

His name’s first letter is the Qaf, representing a sound that does not exist in English. It’s sort of like a K but sounded from the back of the palate. (And no, it’s NOT the rough “kh” or German “ch” sound — that’s yet a different letter.)

Usually this letter is transliterated with a Q, as in Quran and Qatar and Iraq. An outdated but still seen transliteration is K, as in Koran.

However, the letter is pronounced differently in different Arabic dialects. In Libya, it’s often pronounced as a G, so that’s the letter the AP and some others use.

The next letter is the Dhal. Its sound exists in English, but not as one letter: In formal Arabic, the Dhal is pronounced like the soft “th” in “then” or “those.” It’s often transliterated as “dh,” to distinguish it from a separate letter that’s pronounced like the ”th” in “thick” or “thorn” or “throw.”

In dialect, the Dhal is often pronounced by Libyans and other Arabs as either a D or a Z — much like in English dialects where you might say “doze guys.” Thus some agencies spell Gadhafi’s name with a D or Z in the middle.

To complicate matters, the middle dhal in Gadhafi’s name is doubled – in other words, you draw it out some in pronunciation. That’s why you see Qazzafi, or Qaddafi, or the more bizarre looking Qadhdhafi or Qaththafi.

The third letter is a Fa, which is simply an F. In some spellings of Gadhafi’s name, you’ll see it doubled ‘ff’ but there’s no reason to do that, and it may just be a snarky way to slip ‘daffy’ into the eccentric Libyan leader’s name.

The last letter is a Yaa, which is simply an “ee” sound, as in “tree.” That’s why you see either a Y or an I.

Why do they rest on "Gadhafi"? Because that's how he spelled it in a letter to American school kids.

Potpourri of Popery, Blizzard of 2010 Edition

Nothing like a snowbound week to help a gal catch up on her popery, and we must catch up before Lent begins next week.

Popery
Since his January 17th visit to the synagogue of Rome (which was the last major address I covered), the Pope has given several major addresses and homilies.

For the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which he celebrated at a vespers service at St. Paul's Outside the Walls, Benedict emphasized Christian unity, since the feast coincided with the conclusion of a week dedicated to that theme. It was an ecumenical service, and the Pope knit the two themes together by first recalling the source of Paul's missionary zeal --his personal encounter with Christ-- and linking it to renewed missionary activity:

In a world marked by religious indifference, and even by a growing aversion to the Christian faith, it is necessary to discover a new, intense method of evangelization, not only among the peoples who have never known the Gospel but also among those where Christianity has spread and is part of their history.....Each one of us is called to make his or her contribution towards the completion of those steps that lead to full communion among the disciples of Christ, without ever forgetting that this unity is above all a gift from God to be constantly invoked. In fact, the force that supports both unity and the mission flows from the fruitful encounter with the Risen One, just as was the case for St Paul on the road to Damascus....

Then there was another vespers service on the feast of the Presentation, which is also World Day of Consecrated Life. The Pope began with a reflection on what the Presentation is --God's presentation of his Son to us-- and finished with an eloquent bit of encouragement for the representatives of all the various orders in Rome gathered for the service.

Here's a lovely little address. It's nothing, really --just some spontaneous remarks made on the occasion of his being made an honorary citizen of the town where he went to seminary. But as it includes personal memories of what it was like right after the war, I like it best.

We knew that Christ was stronger than the tyranny, than the power of the Nazi ideology and its mechanisms of oppression. We knew that time and the future belong to Christ and we knew that he had called us and that he needed us, that there was a need for us.

Perhaps the most important address he's given so far this year was this to the Roman Rota, in which he essentially told them not to be an annulment mill. His argument rests on his refusal to allow charity and justice to be considered in opposition to one another. It's a mistake to allow "pastoral concerns" (or misguided charity) to twist the truth, he argues.  Moreover, it takes some guts to be a justice.

Over and above this dimension of justice that may be termed "objective", there is another inseparable dimension which concerns those who "implement the law", namely, those who make justice possible. I wish to underscore that they must be characterized by the high practice of human and Christian virtues, particularly prudence and justice, but also fortitude. This last virtue becomes more relevant the more injustice appears to be the easiest approach to take, insofar as it implies accommodating the desires and expectations of the parties or even the conditioning of the social context.

Which doesn't mean the judge is just a hard nose, either.

Love for God and for neighbour should inform every activity, even if it appears to be the most technical and bureaucratic. The perspective and the measure of charity will help focus attention on the fact that the judge is always dealing with people, beset by problems and difficulties. The principle that "charity goes beyond justice" applies equally to the specific sphere of those engaged in the administration of justice. Consequently, the approach towards people, while admittedly observing a specific modality linked to the process, must seek, with sensitivity and concern for the individuals involved, to facilitate contact with the competent tribunal by the parties to the case. At the same time, it is important to take definite steps, every time one glimpses hope for a favourable outcome, to induce the spouses if possible to convalidate their marriage and restore conjugal living (cf. CIC, can. 1676). Moreover, one should try to establish between the parties a climate of human and Christian openness that is based on the search for the truth .

I think that's interesting because, although the annulment process is possibly the most ridiculed and least understood aspect of Catholic teaching, I now know several people who report having found the process to be profoundly healing. But of course such healing can only take place where there is an honest search for truth and not a rubber stamp process.

He has some choice words for lawyers, too!

Here's his address to the Pontifical Academies from the close of last month. Not the greatest translation, I think, but we get the gist: let your work be worthy and let it truly engage culture.

If I can backtrack a little bit, I never covered the Holy Father's Christmas meeting with the Curia, and don't want to pass over it. I love what he has to say about his time in Africa, especially this about the ebullient liturgies:

there was a great shared joy which was also expressed bodily, but in a disciplined manner, directed to the presence of the living God. With this, the second element already became apparent: the sense of sacredness, of the mystery of the living God's presence, fashioned, as it were, each individual action. The Lord is present the Creator, the One to whom all things belong, from whom we come and towards whom we make our pilgrim way. I spontaneously thought of Saint Cyprian's words; in his commentary on the "Our Father" he wrote: "Let us remember we are in God's sight. We must be pleasing in God's eyes, both in the attitude of our bodies and in the use of our voices". Yes, we had this awareness that we were standing before God. The result was neither fear nor inhibition, nor external obedience to rubrics nor much less the need of some to show off to others or to shout out in an undisciplined manner. Rather, there was what the Fathers called "sobria ebrietas": a sense of joyfulness that in any case remains sober and orderly, uniting people from within, leading them to a communal praise of God, a praise which at the same time inspires love of neighbour and mutual responsibility. 

Unlike some liturgists, the Pope is not prissy!
In his comments on the African synod, the Pope draws on Caritatis in Veritate, and confirms me in my intuition that he had Africa largely in mind in the drafting of that encyclical. When he gets to his discussion of reconciliation on the continent, he has this absolutely marvelous passage on forgiveness, absolution and penance. A great preface for Lent:

God, knowing that we were unreconciled and seeing that we have something against him, rose up and came to meet us, even though he alone was in the right. He came to meet us even to the Cross, in order to reconcile us. This is what it means to give freely: a willingness to take the first step; to be the first to reach out to the other, to offer reconciliation, to accept the suffering entailed in giving up being in the right. To persevere in the desire for reconciliation: God gave us an example, and this is the way for us to become like him; it is an attitude constantly needed in our world. Today we must learn once more how to acknowledge guilt, we must shake off the illusion of being innocent. We must learn how to do penance, to let ourselves be transformed; to reach out to the other and to let God give us the courage and strength for this renewal. Today, in this world of ours, we need to rediscover the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. The fact that it has largely disappeared from the daily life and habits of Christians is a symptom of a loss of truthfulness with regard both to ourselves and to God; a loss that endangers our humanity and diminishes our capacity for peace.

That would be strong enough, but then he brings Bonaventure into it:

Saint Bonaventure was of the opinion that the Sacrament of Penance was a sacrament of humanity as such, a sacrament that God had instituted in its essence immediately after original sin through the penance he imposed on Adam, even though it could only take on its full shape in Christ, who is the reconciling power of God in person and who took our penance upon himself. In fact, the unity of sin, repentance and forgiveness is one of the fundamental conditions for being truly human: these conditions find complete expression in the sacrament, yet in their deepest roots they are part of the experience of being human persons as such. 

I think I'll be meditating on that for awhile. But his point was not primarily theological, it was that what he here calls reconciliation is pre-political --it must take place before politics is possible (or perhaps in our own case in order to prevent the fragmentation of the polity) because there is no notion of the common good without it.

Towards the end of his address, recalling his trip to the Czech Republic, he notes how well the Czechs treated him in spite of the country being largely agnostic:

we, as believers, must have at heart even those people who consider themselves agnostics or atheists. When we speak of a new evangelization these people are perhaps taken aback. They do not want to see themselves as an object of mission or to give up their freedom of thought and will. Yet the question of God remains present even for them, even if they cannot believe in the concrete nature of his concern for us.

I've been pondering recently Benedict's ability to say the hardest things in the gentlest manner. I think it is because he never speaks as the holy man who knows everything, but always takes the sinner's or the unbeliever's part. He makes his own their arguments, their point of view, and having identified with it, only then points the way forward. It's winsome. So here he is agreeing with agnostics about possibly obnoxious Christians, and then he makes an association with driving of the money lenders from the temple:

I think naturally of the words which Jesus quoted from the Prophet Isaiah, namely that the Temple must be a house of prayer for all the nations (cf. Is 56: 7; Mk 11: 17). Jesus was thinking of the so-called "Court of the Gentiles" which he cleared of extraneous affairs so that it could be a free space for the Gentiles who wished to pray there to the one God, even if they could not take part in the mystery for whose service the inner part of the Temple was reserved. A place of prayer for all the peoples by this he was thinking of people who know God, so to speak, only from afar; who are dissatisfied with their own gods, rites and myths; who desire the Pure and the Great, even if God remains for them the "unknown God" (cf. Acts 17: 23). They had to pray to the unknown God, yet in this way they were somehow in touch with the true God, albeit amid all kinds of obscurity. I think that today too the Church should open a sort of "Court of the Gentiles" in which people might in some way latch on to God, without knowing him and before gaining access to his mystery, at whose service the inner life of the Church stands. Today, in addition to interreligious dialogue, there should be a dialogue with those to whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown and who nevertheless do not want to be left merely Godless, but rather to draw near to him, albeit as the Unknown.

See what I mean about the Pope not being prissy?

We've already covered the message to the bishops of England and Wales . He also spoke to the Scots,  a humdinger of an address for them too.

And all along he's been continuing his series of audiences on figures of the early Church: most recently Francis and Dominic. Oh, plus he encouraged priests to blog. (Sort of.) And advanced JP II and Pius XII along their canonization paths.

Potpourri:

• China:Underground bishop Raymond Wang Chonglin dies. Govt recognized him in '88, after 21 years in prison. 20,000 faithful attended his funeral.
• Great Britain: the Pope's going there in September, violating his own rule about not participating in beatifications on Card. Newman's behalf. 
• Haiti: church rebuilding; American docs on the scene.
• Ireland: Pope's about to enter a 2-day summit with bishops there and is expected to issue a pastoral letter just to the Irish; bishops meet w/ abuse survivors.
• Italy: Avvenire's editor resigns, Vatican denies it has anything to do w/ it. Mehmet Agca out of prison, now the Messiah. Newly released docs show Venerable JP II flagellated himself. Also, Jesus of Nazareth part two is complete.
• Spain: world's highest Catholic chapel consecrated. (Um... isn't there one a little higher?)
• UN: Holy See says the real solution to economic crisis is babies.
• U.S.:  Prop 8 trial wraps up; head of CHD accused of pro-gay ties, but this is a calumny; DC in a showdown w/ Church over same-sex marriage. Ralph McInerney passes.
• Vietnam:  Political prisoner Fr. Van Ly reported to be on point of death. Religious crackdown in Hanoi.

And finally: not esp. Catholic, but a superbowl joke. The Saints won, so let's pretend. And Frankincense cures cancer?

Image credit

AIDS Activists: We Miss Bush

Formerly Gray Lady: Obama Is Criticized on AIDS Program.

Well, naturally --because his approach is to cut costs rather than treat the truly sick.

“I’m holding my nose as I say this, but I miss George W. Bush,” said Gregg Gonsalves a long-time AIDS campaigner. “On AIDS, he really stepped up. He did a tremendous thing. Now, to have this happen under Obama is really depressing.”

Potpourri of Popery, Octave of All Souls Edition

Shamelessly pinched from here.

They're starting to call Benedict "The Pope of Christian Unity." Various links in the potpourri will indicate why, but I've seen that in easily 8-10 sources now.

Popery
Wednesday's Audience continues a series about faith & reason seen through the lens of the tensions between monastic and scholastic theology --this time as exemplified by the debate between St. Bernard & Abelard. B16's positive treatment of Abelard interests me; he highlights his genuine contributions even as he points out his incontinent lifestyle and places where his thinking went off the rails into subjectivism and relativism (if only today's theological progressives understood how medieval they are!). The Pope talks about the importance of debate:

Above all I believe it shows the usefulness of and the need for a healthy discussion in the Church, especially when the questions debated have not been defined by the magisterium, which continues to be, however, an essential point of reference. St. Bernard, but also Abelard himself, always recognized, without doubting, its authority.

And then he also reflects on the Magisterium's dual purposes: not to squelch this debate, but to provide true North by which to steer: and to prevent wild ideas from hurting anyone.

in the theological field there must be a balance between what we might call the architectonic principles that have been given to us by Revelation and that, because of this, always are of prime importance, and the interpretative principles suggested by philosophy, that is, by reason, which has an important function, but only instrumental. When this balance between the architecture and the instruments of interpretation diminishes, theological reflection runs the risk of being contaminated with errors, and then it corresponds to the magisterium to exercise that necessary service to truth that is proper to it.

Moreover, it must be emphasized that, between the motivations that induced Bernard to place himself against Abelard and to request the intervention of the magisterium, was, also, the concern to safeguard simple and humble believers, who must be defended when they run the risk of being confused or led astray by opinions that are too personal and by theological argumentations without scruples, which might endanger their faith.

The Magisterium as helmet: I like it.

I also like that last line, as I find I'm getting sort of liberal in my old age. Some thinkers I once thought were off the rails I now see as perfectly orthodox in themselves and properly understood. Their errors seem to lie in being too arrogant to notice or care how their ideas may not have general application and lead into error.

The Pope ends as always with the "take-home message" for today's debate: let it be vigorous, but play nice:

Abelard showed humility in acknowledging his errors; Bernard used great benevolence. There prevailed in both what should truly be in the heart when a theological controversy is born, that is, to safeguard the faith of the Church and to make truth triumph in charity. May this also be the attitude with which there are confrontations in the Church, always keeping as the aim the pursuit of truth.

Sunday's Angelus touched on All Saints, All Souls & the communion of saints.

You'll want to read his address to the Colloquium of Astronomers celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of the telescope. He invites Science to rediscover its sense of awe (loss of which is the true and genuine fruit of the Darwinian revolution; Darwin made the world flat):

The International Year of Astronomy is meant not least to recapture for people throughout our world the extraordinary wonder and amazement which characterized the great age of discovery in the sixteenth century. I think, for example, of the exultation felt by the scientists of the Roman College who just a few steps from here carried out the observations and calculations which led to the worldwide adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
Our own age, poised at the edge of perhaps even greater and more far-ranging scientific discoveries, would benefit from that same sense of awe and the desire to attain a truly humanistic synthesis of knowledge which inspired the fathers of modern science. Who can deny that responsibility for the future of humanity, and indeed respect for nature and the world around us, demand – today as much as ever – the careful observation, critical judgement, patience and discipline which are essential to the modern scientific method?
At the same time, the great scientists of the age of discovery remind us also that true knowledge is always directed to wisdom, and, rather than restricting the eyes of the mind, it invites us to lift our gaze to the higher realm of the spirit.

Very interesting remarks upon receiving the credentials of the new Iranian ambassador.
(He says cooperation is more about rights than technological progress, and challenges Iran to let the Church operate freely.)

Here's in a way a little nothing speech --just some remarks at the end of a luncheon at the close of the Synod for Africa. But I note this about the relationship between Church & politics. Benedict never misses an opportunity to reiterate that politics isn't the Church's competence:

if this spiritual dimension is profound and fundamental, the political dimension also is very real, because without political achievements, these changes of the Spirit usually are not realized. Therefore the temptation could have been to politicize the theme, to talk less about pastors and more about politicians, thus with a competence that is not ours.
The other danger was in order to avoid this temptation to pull oneself into a purely spiritual world, into an abstract and beautiful world, but not a realistic one. A pastor's language, instead, must be realistic, it must touch upon reality, but within the perspective of God and his Word. Therefore this mediation involves, on one hand being truly tied to reality, taking the care to talk about what is, and on the other hand not falling into technically political solutions: this means to demonstrate a concrete but spiritual word.

I think those words and that intent sheds some light on how we ought to read the latest encyclical, too. As does this. (I think Africa forms the backdrop of most of the specific recommendations.)

While we're on the Synod, here's the homily for its close. Lovely, with the recurring refrain, "Courage! Get up!"

That Synod must have been so exciting. (Love this piece from John Allen on interventions from women during the proceedings.) The Church in Africa truly believes, and with the new accommodation for Anglicans --announced while the Synod was still in session-- may be about to double in size.

The Pope's going to Brescia this weekend.

Potpourri

• Bulgaria. Orthodox also desire unity.
  
• Canada: new auxiliaries for Toronto.
  
• China. Heroic Bishop Xili passes. Long-persecuted underground bishop joins the Patriotic Church, dividing diocese. Unclear whether Vatican perhaps encouraged him? (Vatican denies it --perhaps he was fooled?) 3 other bishops arrested; Christian researcher fired.
  
• Egypt: I missed this at the time: Fr. Samir's analysis of Obama's speech to Muslims.
  
• France. Lyon: diocesan priests donating a month's salary to the poor; Vatican negotiations w/ SSPX begin (read John Allen & Fr. Z. on that & the Anglicans)
  
• Germany: Writers, scholars appeal for beautiful Catholic art.
  
• Great Britain. Traditional Anglican Communion accepts the Pope's offer; Tony Blair invited (with other politicians) to Vatican conference on Catholic public witness.
  
• India: Major political figure says foreign missionaries are destroying the culture.
  
• Israel: restricting visas for Catholic clergy.
  
• Italy: oppressing people with its crucifixes says EU court. Vatican squelches rumors of JPG's imminent beatification; African replaces Card. Martino as head of Peace & Justice dicastery.
  
• Pakistan: AsiaNews launches a campaign against its blasphemy law, used to persecute religious minorities.
  
• US. Act Now! Bishops going all out on opposition to health care reform (though Santorum's not satisfied); Cardinal Rode defends against attacks on the Visitation of Women Religious; Archbishop Dolan hath a blog. Laurie Goodstein responds in comments to his calling out the Formerly Gray Lady on her anti-Catholic bigotry. New translation of the missal is coming! Fr. Z. highlights two bishops doing a great job preparing and explaining. Join the CCHD boycott!; Dominican nun stops serving as abortion clinic escort. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich admits he destroys Vatican, not Mecca, in fatwa fear. Defeat of same sex marriage in Maine ups the anti-Catholic bigotry; pray for both emeritus bishops of New Orleans.
  
• Vietnam: preparing to celebrate 350th jubilee of the Church there.
  

Cinderello

A nurse's aide from around these parts has been crowned a king in Uganda.

Want To See An Anchor's Head Explode?

Watch this fellow turn on a dime.

Wanna Know How Popular Bush Is In Africa?

Read this absolutely fantastic speech Obama gave in Ghana today.

history offers a clear verdict: governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not.

This is about more than holding elections — it's also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.

In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent institutions are the key to success — strong parliaments and honest police forces; independent judges and journalists; a vibrant private sector and civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in peoples' lives.

As I read through, cheering, I found myself wishing Obama would give that speech before the House Democrats. Then I asked myself, why is the President speaking like this here when he talks this way nowhere else? Answer: because Bush and his policies are so wildly popular in Africa, it's safe to do so --or maybe he has no choice.

Further proof?

Building on the strong efforts of President Bush, we will carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I'm fairly certain this is the first time Obama has voluntarily mentioned Bush's name in public since election night, and it's certainly the first time he's said anything good about him. (Remember how b----y his inaugural address was?)

RTWT, it really is worth cheering. Bravo, Mr. President --and Bravo, Mr. Bush for pointing the way --partnership, not patronage-- and creating facts on the ground in Africa that are inarguable.

(Dare I point out that Bush's Africa policy absolutely embodied the principles the new social encyclical sets forth regarding development?)

Curtsy: Vanderleun's Twitter feed. (He follows up w/ this: "Africa's easy. I'm waiting for the O speech on Afghanistan that begins "Building on the strong efforts of President Bush, we will...")

P.S. Cute story here on the Obamas' visit to a maternity hospital. However, this irked me:

The Obamas' reputation as high-fashion influences are well documented. In Ghana, they're even shaping casualwear.

Along streets in the country's capital, well-wishers sported clothing with the Obamas' likenesses. Students wore T-shirts stamped with Obama's image, vendors sold knit hats with Obama and his wife on them, and street merchants sold posters of the family.

Not that I mind observing that, but it's just what the Africans do when cool visitors come: Bush, Benedict XVI, etc. Where was the AP reporting the absolute adulation of Bush? Remember, Thank you, George Bush?

Sounds Like Bush!

Powerline on the President's sensible comments about Africa and the noble purpose of his trip to Ghana.

part of it is lifting up successful models....by traveling to Ghana, we hope to highlight the effective governance that they have in place.

I don't think that we can expect that every country is going to undergo these transitions in the same way at the same time. But we have seen progress in democracy and transparency and rule of law, in the protection of property rights, in anti-corruption efforts. ...

I think that the new President, President Mills, has shown himself committed to the rule of law, to the kinds of democratic commitments that ensure stability in a country. And I think that there is a direct correlation between governance and prosperity. Countries that are governed well, that are stable, where the leadership recognizes that they are accountable to the people and that institutions are stronger than any one person have a track record of producing results for the people. And we want to highlight that.

Potpourri of Popery, Swoon In Cameroon Edition

The world's press corps needed smelling salts after Benedict's in-flight press conference, at which he suggested condoms wouldn't cure AIDS. Haven't seen any major coverage since, so reporters must all be knocked out still.

Himself has been outdoing himself in Cameroon & Angola nonetheless. And drawing big excited crowds. So excited that two people were killed and 18 injured by trampling at a youth rally in Lwanda. (How awful!)

Here's the March 15 Angelus, at which B16 told us what he hoped to accomplish on this apostolic voyage. All the addresses are being compiled here, but here are my favorites, interspersed with photos. (Great slide show here, but start at the back and move forward to see them chronologically.)

Here are the President & First Lady of Cameroon, Paul & Chantal Biya, greeting His Holiness at the airport when he landed. He told them he came to bring a word of comfort and hope to suffering Africa and praised Cameroon for defending the unborn and setting an example of working for peace. I love the First Lady's hat.

And hair!

I love the talk he gave to his bishops in Cameroon, where 25% of the population is Catholic. We can guess at the kinds of temptations they might be facing by what he says (there's a big emphasis on fraternal solidarity and correspondence between words and deeds), but it's a beautiful portrait of the episcopacy on its own. I liked this graf on a bishop's care for his priests:

The quality of the bond uniting you with the priests, your principal and irreplaceable co-workers, is of the greatest importance. If they see in their Bishop a father and a brother who loves them, listens to them and offers them comfort in their trials, who devotes particular attention to their human and material needs, they are encouraged to carry out their ministry whole-heartedly, worthily and fruitfully. The words and example of their Bishop have a key role in inspiring them to give their spiritual and sacramental life a central place in their ministry, spurring them on to discover and to live ever more deeply the particular role of the shepherd as, first and foremost, a man of prayer. The spiritual and sacramental life is an extraordinary treasure, given to us for ourselves and for the good of the people entrusted to us. I urge you, then, to be especially vigilant regarding the faithfulness of priests and consecrated persons to the commitments made at their ordination or entry into religious life, so that they persevere in their vocation, for the greater holiness of the Church and the glory of God. The authenticity of their witness requires that there be no dichotomy between what they teach and the way they live each day.

He likewise did a lovely reflection for priests and religious on the site of Mother of Apostles Church, the first church in Cameroon.

What is important is not to be a useless servant, but rather a “faithful and wise servant”. The pairing of the two adjectives is not by chance. It suggests that understanding without fidelity, and fidelity without wisdom, are insufficient. One quality alone, without the other, would not enable us to assume fully the responsibility which God entrusts to us.

One of his main goals on this journey was to advance understanding with Muslims. Here he is at his meeting with Muslim leaders, where he delivered this address.

REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/ Pool

Naturally he returned once more to the theme he always insists on, and especially with Muslims: the necessity of Reason. He seems here to add another element I've not seen in his addresses to Muslims before --perhaps to appeal to their heightened sense of the "otherness" of God? It's the appeal to beauty (which is also a typical Ratzingerian theme, it's just new in this context I think).

My friends, I believe a particularly urgent task of religion today is to unveil the vast potential of human reason, which is itself God’s gift and which is elevated by revelation and faith. Belief in the one God, far from stunting our capacity to understand ourselves and the world, broadens it. Far from setting us against the world, it commits us to it. We are called to help others see the subtle traces and mysterious presence of God in the world which he has marvellously created and continually sustains with his ineffable and all-embracing love. Although his infinite glory can never be directly grasped by our finite minds in this life, we nonetheless catch glimpses of it in the beauty that surrounds us. When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendour of human dignity to illumine their minds, they discover that what is “reasonable” extends far beyond what mathematics can calculate, logic can deduce and scientific experimentation can demonstrate; it includes the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and ethical living made known to us in the very language of creation.

Marvelous!

It's been hot. There are lots of pix of the pope mopping his brow and I saw a story today saying he looked tired and moved slowly in the humidity. Crowded events have been marred by faintings, in spite of the snacks available.

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

The photos above are of people waiting for the open air mass with the people of Cameroon on the feast of St. Joseph. The homily is a wonderful tribute to Joseph, and also an exhortation to the people to defend family life and not be swept up in materialistic solutions to the problems of poverty. He's so cute:

I begin by wishing a very happy feast day to all those who, like myself, have received the grace of bearing this beautiful name, and I ask Saint Joseph to grant them his special protection in guiding them towards the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of their life.

The first reading of the day's mass was Nathan telling David that the Lord would raise him up an heir with an everlasting throne. The Pope draws from this a lesson for parents:

We thus come to realize that one of mankind’s most cherished desires – seeing the fruits of one’s labours – is not always granted by God. I think of those among you who are mothers and fathers of families. Parents quite rightly desire to give the best of themselves to their children, and they want to see them achieve success. Yet make no mistake about what this “success” entails: what God asks David to do is to place his trust in him. David himself will not see his heir who will have a throne “firm for ever” (2 Sam 7:16), for this heir, announced under the veil of prophecy, is Jesus. David puts his trust in God. In the same way, Joseph trusts God when he hears his messenger, the Angel, say to him: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her” (Mt 1:20). Throughout all of history, Joseph is the man who gives God the greatest display of trust, even in the face of such astonishing news. Dear fathers and mothers here today, do you have trust in God who has called you to be the fathers and mothers of his adopted children? Do you accept that he is counting on you to pass on to your children the human and spiritual values that you yourselves have received and which will prepare them to live with love and respect for his holy name?

He asks them to resist the tyranny of materialism:

God alone will give you, dear married couples, the strength to raise your family as he wants. Ask it of him! God loves to be asked for what he wishes to give. Ask him for the grace of a true and ever more faithful love patterned after his own. As the Psalm magnificently puts it: his “love is established for ever, his loyalty will stand as long as the heavens” (Ps 88:3).

There's really too much richness in the text to address here, but the close is marvelous, too:

If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph, that descendant of Abraham who hoped against hope; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love for him. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to say to you once more from the bottom of my heart: like Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home, that is to say do not be afraid to love the Church.

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Here he is outside a clinic where he met with the sick. Of course it's Lent, so he spoke with them of the mystery of suffering and how Mary & the women ministered to Christ. The next part is elegant:

History tells us, then, that an African, a son of your continent, took part, at the price of his own suffering, in the infinite suffering of the one who ransomed all men, including his executioners. Simon of Cyrene could not have known that it was his Saviour who stood there before him. He was “drafted in” to assist him (cf. Mk 15:21); he was constrained, forced to do so. It is hard to accept to carry someone else’s cross. Only after the resurrection could he have understood what he had done. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for each of us: in the depths of our anguish, of our own rebellion, Christ offers us his loving presence even if we find it hard to understand that he is at our side. Only the Lord’s final victory will reveal for us the definitive meaning of our trials.

Can it not be said that every African is in some sense a member of the family of Simon of Cyrene? Every African who suffers, indeed every person who suffers, helps Christ to carry his Cross and climbs with him the path to Golgotha in order one day to rise again with him. When we see the infamy to which Jesus was subjected, when we contemplate his face on the Cross, when we recognize his appalling suffering, we can glimpse, through faith, the radiant face of the Risen Lord who tells us that suffering and sickness will not have the last word in our human lives. I pray, dear brothers and sisters, that you will be able to recognize yourselves in “Simon of Cyrene”. I pray, dear brothers and sisters who are sick, that many of you will encounter a Simon at your bedside.

The presenting reason for being in Cameroon was the publication of the working document for the upcoming African Synod, so here's that.

REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/POOL

There was a fun ceremony bidding him farewell, complete with pygmy dancers. Then it was off to Angola.

Where they were all ears.

AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

And wore matching skirts and slings. And were generally excited to see him.

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

There he addressed civil authorities. He's pretty gentle in the way he puts it, but it's an unmistakable plea for honesty and the purging of corruption --corruption being the true scourge of Africa:

There is also the example of those honest teachers, medical workers, and civil servants who, on meagre wages, serve their communities with integrity and compassion, and there are countless others who selflessly undertake voluntary work at the service of the most needy. May God bless them abundantly! May their charity multiply! Angola knows that the time has come for Africa to be the Continent of Hope! All upright human conduct is hope in action. Our actions are never indifferent before God. Nor are they indifferent for the unfolding of history. Friends, armed with integrity, magnanimity and compassion, you can transform this continent, freeing your people from the scourges of greed, violence and unrest and leading them along the path marked with the principles indispensable to every modern civic democracy: respect and promotion of human rights, transparent governance, an independent judiciary, a free press, a civil service of integrity, a properly functioning network of schools and hospitals, and – most pressing – a determination born from the conversion of hearts to excise corruption once and for all.

Of course he asks them to resist Western imperialism in the form of destruction of the family:

Friends, I wish to say that my visit to Cameroon and to Angola has stirred within me that profound human delight at being among families. Indeed I think that those who come from other continents can learn afresh from Africa that “the family is the foundation on which the social edifice is built” (Ecclesia in Africa, 80). Yet the strains upon families, as we all know, are many indeed: anxiety and ignominy caused by poverty, unemployment, disease and displacement, to mention but a few. Particularly disturbing is the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure, not to mention the unspeakable practice of sexual violence and exploitation which causes such humiliation and trauma. I must also mention a further area of grave concern: the policies of those who, claiming to improve the “social edifice”, threaten its very foundations. How bitter the irony of those who promote abortion as a form of “maternal” healthcare! How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health (cf. Maputo Protocol, art. 14)!

He addressed Angolan bishops, too, emphasizing the family once more (the family comes up in every African address), but the speech is also notable for its differences with the address to the bishops of Cameroon. Here he talks more about influencing culture.

He had a meeting with new movements (In Angola! Isn't that exciting? Who knew there were any?), and the topic was the promotion of women. It's a lovely address, defending woman on a continent where she's not very respected:

since the dignity of women is equal to that of men, no one today should doubt that women have "a full right to become actively involved in all areas of public life, and this right must be affirmed and guaranteed, also, where necessary, through appropriate legislation.

I thought this was an interesting remark, however:

a woman's personal sense of dignity is not primarily the result of juridically defined rights, but rather the direct consequence of the material and spiritual care she receives in the bosom of the family.

In other words, women are never going to find self-esteem in a culture where the family is in chaos, because our innate sense of our dignity is something bestowed by parents, and there are simply limits to what the law can do for you absent that platform. If the family is dysfunctional, God has to step into the gap, not government.

He celebrated mass for the movements, too. Here's the homily.

Then this wonderful address at a youth rally (this is the one where, horrifyingly, some folks were trampled in the excitement --the pope offered mass for them this morning) It made me cry. Go read it.

Tomorrow he comes home.

Potpourri
Other stuff did happen in the Catholic world this week, but as this is a lengthy post, I'm going to ignore it all for the time being.