(The Pope’s sermon on Lampedusa: "Where is your brother?" / Radio Vatican website 00, 2013-07-08)

Immigrants who died at sea, from that boat that, instead of being a way of hope was a way of death. This is the headline in the papers! When, a few weeks ago, I heard the news – which unfortunately has been repeated so many time – the thought always returns as a thorn in the heart that brings suffering. And then I felt that I ought to come here today to pray, to make a gesture of closeness, but also to reawaken our consciences so that what happened would not be repeated. Not repeated, please!

But first I want to say a word of sincere gratitude and encouragement to you, the residents of Lampedusa and Linosa, to the associations, to the volunteers and to the security forces that have shown and continue to show attention to persons on their voyage toward something better. You are a small group, but you offer an example of solidarity! Thank you! Thanks also to Archbishop Francesco Montenegro for his help and his work, and for his pastoral closeness. I warmly greet the Mayor, Mrs Giusy Nicolini. Thank you so much for all you have done, and for all you do. I give a thought, too, to the dear Muslim immigrants that are beginning the fast of Ramadan, with best wishes for abundant spiritual fruits. The Church is near to you in the search for a more dignified life for yourselves and for your families. I say to you "O’ scia’!" [trans.: a friendly greeting in the local dialect]. 

This morning, in light of the Word of God that we have heard, I want to say a few words that, above all, provoke the conscience of all, pushing us to reflect and to change certain attitudes in concrete ways. 

"Adam, where are you?" This is the first question that God addresses to man after sin. "Where are you Adam?" Adam is disoriented and has lost his place in creation because he thought to become powerful, to dominate everything, to be God. And harmony was broken, the man erred – and this is repeated even in relations with his neighbour, who is no longer a brother to be loved, but simply someone who disturbs my life, my well-being. And God puts the second question: "Cain, where is your brother?" The dream of being powerful, of being as great as God, even of being God, leads to a chain of errors that is a chain of death, leads to shedding the blood of the brother! 

These two questions resonate even today, with all their force! So many of us, even including myself, are disoriented, we are no longer attentive to the world in which we live, we don’t care, we don’t protect that which God has created for all, and we are unable to care for one another. And when this disorientation assumes worldwide dimensions, we arrive at tragedies like the one we have seen. 

"Where is your brother?" the voice of his blood cries even to me, God says. This is not a question addressed to others: it is a question addressed to me, to you, to each one of us. These our brothers and sisters seek to leave difficult situations in order to find a little serenity and peace, they seek a better place for themselves and for their families – but they found death. How many times to those who seek this not find understanding, do not find welcome, do not find solidarity! And their voices rise up even to God! And once more to you, the residents of Lampedusa, thank you for your solidarity! I recently heard one of these brothers. Before arriving here, he had passed through the hands of traffickers, those who exploit the poverty of others; these people for whom the poverty of others is a source of income. What they have suffered! And some have been unable to arrive! 

"Where is your brother?" Who is responsible for this blood? In Spanish literature there is a play by Lope de Vega that tells how the inhabitants of the city of Fuente Ovejuna killed the Governor because he was a tyrant, and did it in such a way that no one knew who had carried out the execution. And when the judge of the king asked "Who killed the Governor?" they all responded, "Fuente Ovejuna, sir." All and no one!

Even today this question comes with force: Who is responsible for the blood of these brothers and sisters? No one! We all respond this way: not me, it has nothing to do with me, there are others, certainly not me. But God asks each one of us: "Where is the blood of your brother that cries out to me?" Today no one in the world feels responsible for this; we have lost the sense of fraternal responsibility; we have fallen into the hypocritical attitude of the priest and of the servant of the altar that Jesus speaks about in the parable of the Good Samaritan: We look upon the brother half dead by the roadside, perhaps we think "poor guy," and we continue on our way, it’s none of our business; and we feel fine with this. We feel at peace with this, we feel fine!

The culture of well-being, that makes us think of ourselves, that makes us insensitive to the cries of others, that makes us live in soap bubbles, that are beautiful but are nothing, are illusions of futility, of the transient, that brings indifference to others, that brings even the globalization of indifference. In this world of globalization we have fallen into a globalization of indifference. We are accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it’s none of our business. 

The figure of the Unnamed of Manzoni returns. The globalization of indifference makes us all "unnamed," leaders without names and without faces. 

"Adam, where are you?" "Where is your brother?" These are the two questions that God puts at the beginning of the story of humanity, and that He also addresses to the men and women of our time, even to us. But I want to set before us a third question: "Who among us has wept for these things, and things like this?" Who has wept for the deaths of these brothers and sisters? Who has wept for the people who were on the boat? For the young mothers carrying their babies? For these men who wanted something to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten the experience of weeping, of "suffering with": the globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep!

In the Gospel we have heard the cry, the plea, the great lament: "Rachel weeping for her children . . . because they are no more." Herod sowed death in order to defend his own well-being, his own soap bubble. And this continues to repeat itself.

Let us ask the Lord to wipe out [whatever attitude] of Herod remains in our hears; let us ask the Lord for the grace to weep over our indifference, to weep over the cruelty in the world, in ourselves, and even in those who anonymously make socio-economic decisions that open the way to tragedies like this. "Who has wept?" Who in today’s world has wept?

O Lord, in this Liturgy, a Liturgy of repentance, we ask forgiveness for the indifference towards so many brothers and sisters, we ask forgiveness for those who are pleased with themselves, who are closed in on their own well-being in a way that leads to the anaesthesia of the heart, we ask you, Father, for forgiveness for those who with their decisions at the global level have created situations that lead to these tragedies. Forgive us, Lord!

O Lord, even today let us hear your questions: "Adam, where are you?" "Where is the blood of your brother?" Amen. 

(Sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church / WIKIPEDIA 00, 2013-07-12)

Sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church is a phenomenon which has attracted considerable public interest worldwide since the mid-nineties. Growing awareness of what was once a taboo topic has encouraged many victims to go public with their traumatic experiences, even 30 or 40 years after the incidents concerned. They have not only reported acts of sexual abuse, especially by priests, members of religious orders and educators appointed within the Roman Catholic church against persons under their authority or in their care, they have also revealed the way in which the church authorities dealt with the perpetrators and the victims at the time. (...)

Following scandals in Ireland and the USA, acts of sexual misconduct in Catholic institutions within Germany as well have been coming to public knowledge since the start of 2010. In most cases no criminal prosecution of the perpetrators took place, either by the public prosecutor’s office or by the police. Victims were given no protection, or protection was inadequate. Consequently the behavior of church institutions has been subjected to criticism (see also: Criticism of the church), even though these abuses have been repeatedly condemned in public by the highest church authorities and represent a severe violation of the law and morality of the Roman Catholic church. (...)

Empirical data for abuse by Catholic clergy hardly exists; estimates emanating from different countries come to different results, concluding that between 1 and 5% of the Catholic clergy have been detected in acts of abuse. Some assume that a greater than average number of the Catholic clergy have pedophile tendencies, others claim that the ratio is below the average for the population as a whole. The number of unreported cases in connection with acts of sexual abuse is generally presumed to be extremely high. (...)

On the occasion of the appearance of the German translation of the American collection of case studies by Elinor Burkett and Frank Bruni under the title "Das Buch der Schande. Kinder, sexueller Missbrauch und die katholische Kirche" [English title: "The Gospel of Shame. Children, Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church"] in the year 1995, the Spiegel newspaper reported three court cases in the years 1993 to 1995. In relation to one of these cases, in the diocese of Augsburg, which led to a diocesan priest’s being condemned to four years of imprisonment, the paper criticized the conduct of Bishop Josef Stimpfle and General Vicar Eugen Kleindienst. Generally speaking the article saw the practice of moving suspect priests to a new post as amounting to "indulgence toward the perpetrators, indifference to the victims and a deliberate cover-up".".


Source: WIKIPEDIA (German)

(Did Pope Francis conceal the cross from chief rabbis? An acknowledgement of Zionism, Katholisches.info 2014-05-27)

(Jerusalem) Did Pope Francis conceal his cross in order to avoid causing "irritation" to Israel’s chief rabbis? Undoubtedly he made a gesture at the grave of Theodor Herzl which would have been unthinkable for the Catholic church of the past, with its implied acknowledgement of Zionism – an acknowledgement that the church had refused to give for more than a century, on theological grounds. What was the Pope’s objective here? Was it Abraham Skorka who played the principal part in bringing about this recognition which previous Popes had refused to give?

The Pope’s meeting with chief rabbis and the concealed cross
On Monday Pope Francis made a "courtesy call" on the two chief rabbis of Israel. The meeting took place at the Heichal Shlomo Center, next to the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. Contrary to expectation both chief rabbis were present on this occasion, including the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzak Josef.

The latter’s father Ovadia Josef, himself Sephardi Chief Rabbi from 1973 to 1983, had as supreme head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas movement forbidden Sephardi Jews to be involved in any meetings with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Holy Land (see our own report: 700,000 Orthodox Jews at funeral of Chief Rabbi – Ovadia Josef declined to meet Benedict XVI, out of opposition to "idol worship"). While his father, as supreme head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas movement, refused a meeting with the Pope, the son – in his institutional function as Chief Rabbi and so as one of the two Israeli constitutional judges – was prepared to meet the Pope.

"Crucifixes are an insult to Jews"
Both Chief Rabbis in office, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzak Josef, are sons of former chief rabbis. The father of David Lau, Israel Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi from 1993 to 2003, is reported to have said: "Crucifixes are an insult to Jews. The cross is against the Jewish religion, and Jews are forbidden to look at the cross."

Was this reason why Pope Francis concealed his cross when meeting the chief rabbis? Or was it just a coincidence that at this meeting, of all occasions, the cross slipped behind the cincture? During his encounter with the chief rabbis the Pope’s crucifix was hidden behind his cincture, so that it was only partially visible, or at least not evidently recognizable as a cross.

Sensational acknowledgement of Zionism by a Pope
But there was certainly nothing coincidental about the Pope’s gesture of respect for Zionism, even before his meeting with the chief rabbis. The Pope laid flowers on the grave of Theodor Herzl, who is revered in Israel as the "Father of the Fatherland". No Pope in the past has ever made such an acknowledgement of Zionism, a political movement within Judaism, because it is concerned with politics rather than with religion. Thus the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land was marked by incoherence and other controversial statements, as expressed above all in his preferred attitude towards Judaism, which cannot easily be explained in theological terms. Since his trip to the Holy Land, it might be added that his preferred attitude applies likewise to Zionistic Judaism. The Pope’s rabbi friend Abraham Skorka seems to have played a crucial part in bringing about this acknowledgement of Zionism. .

Church opposed to Zionism in the past
This is not an irrelevant issue, seeing that Pope Pius X told Theodor Herzl in 1904 that he could not countenance the creation of a Jewish state on theological grounds, and this attitude has been the official position of the Catholic church ever since (see report: Pius X and Theodor Herzl – a gesture of apology by Pope Francis?). The state of Israel has never been officially recognized by the Catholic church – just as Zionism is rejected, incidentally, by some elements of Jewry to the present day. Only in 1984 was the state of Israel mentioned for the first time by John Paul II in a papal encyclical. And it was not until 1994 that diplomatic relations were opened between Israel and the Holy See. On his 2009 visit Pope Benedict XVI observed all the diplomatic proprieties, including a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. But there was no suggestion of any recognition of Zionism, or mention of a visit to the grave of Theodor Herzl. Zionism is a specific political movement within Judaism. And just for that reason former popes refused to recognize it, as to do so would have amounted to interference in political affairs at the very least.

But Pope Francis clearly want to practice politics, as his inviting Israel’s President Simon Peres and the Palestinian President Abu Mazen to the Vatican shows. He thus avoided talking to the "hawks" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza strip. Whether this papal political activism will be successful remains to be seen. It seems a more important question what form the invitation to "pray together", which appears to be the façade for negotiations, can take, without falling into a syncretism that attributes equal value to all religions.

Source: Katholisches.info

(Homosexual secret society in the Vatican. / Udo Ulfkotte, KOPP exklusiv 00, 32/14)

A year ago statements by Pope Francis about a "gay lobby" caused a sensation. What has happened since?

For many years now German-speaking media have been uncovering pedophile scandals in German churches and religious orders. And then in the summer of 2013 the publication of a memorandum report of a one-hour interview with Pope Francis resulted in excitement. According to the memorandum (which was not authorized by the Vatican), the Pope spoke of "holy men" in the Roman Curia, but he also said that it was rife with corruption and confirmed the existence of a "gay lobby" in the church.

Prior to this, on 6 June 2013, the Pope had received the management boards of the Supreme Organization of the Religious Orders of Latin America and the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious (CLAR) in a private audience. So there has been no official announcement about the content of this meeting. The Chilean participants later published a transcript which, it has since turned out, is authentic, and was prepared by the delegation immediately following the audience.

Officially, so it is said, the transcript was intended just to serve as a memory jogger for the members of the management board. But as a result of an indiscretion, it came to be published. According to the memorandum, the new Pope says: "And, yes (…) it is difficult. In the Curia there are holy men as well. Really, they are holy men." – But there is also a lot of corruption and there is a gay lobby. – "People talk about a gay lobby, and it is true. There is one. We must see what we can do. Pray for me... that I may make as few mistakes as possible."

Commander of the Swiss Guard speaks out
Since then the media and the church have kept quiet about the "gay lobby" in the Vatican. But now one of the persons most intimately familiar with the Vatican, retired Colonel Elmar Mäder, Commander of the Swiss Guard from 2002 to 2008, has come forward. A report appeared in a Swiss newspaper under the heading "Ex Guard commander warns of secret society". In this way statements by former Swiss Guard commander Elmar Mäder came to be published.

At 51 years of age, Mäder knows the Vatican practically better than anyone. After all, he was responsible for the security of the Vatican staff. He says now: "The assertion that there is a homosexual network is something I am not able to contradict. My experience suggests that such a thing does exist." Mäder is said to have warned his young guardsmen explicitly about certain members of the spiritual hierarchy, and to have intervened directly and in writing with the Curia in protest against homosexual goings-on. This, he said, was one of the reasons why he left his command. "An environment in which a large majority of celibate men are working is in the nature of things a magnetic attraction for homosexuals, whether they are deliberately in search of it or just unconsciously following their instincts," the Colonel added in the Schweiz am Sonntag [Switzerland on Sunday] report.

"The Roman Curia is undoubtedly the archetype of this kind of environment. It is no more surprising to find pedophiles in environments where there are a lot of children, like schools or sports clubs," Mäder observed. The former Guards commander thinks the existence of the gay lobby in the Vatican represents a threat to the security of the Pope. "I have also found that many homosexuals are more inclined to be loyal to their own kind than to other persons or institutions. If this loyalty goes so far that it results in the formation of a network, or even a kind of secret society, I would not tolerate its existence in my sphere of responsibility. It seems that important figures in the Vatican are now coming to a similar conclusion."

While Pope Francis spoke of a "gay lobby", Colonel Mäder refers to a homosexual "secret society". Mäder’s statements are corroborated by those of a former member of the Swiss Guard, who a few days earlier reported in the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag that he had personally experienced advances from a cardinal and a representative of the Vatican State Secretariat years ago. When visiting the parish offices of the Salesian Sacred Heart Basilica in Rome, Pope Francis assured his hearers, in an allusion to the gay lobby: "Even sins can be forgiven for which you would need trucks to carry them away."

KOPP-exklusiv 32/14 / www.kopp-exklusiv.de

(Vienna’s Cardinal Schönborn bows to homosexuals / daily newspaper "Die Presse", 2014-10-15

Cardinal Schönborn has said that he knows a homosexual couple in Vienna who live in a registered life partnership. When one of the partners was seriously ill, the other never left his side. Schönborn says: "It was wonderful in both human and Christian terms, how the one partner looked after the other." And he went on to say, "These things just have to be acknowledged." At the same time he expressed himself opposed to the condemnation of homosexuals. (kap/red.))

(Pope washes the feet of young prisoners / daily newspaper "DIE WELT", 2013-03-28))

Rome – Pope Francis carried out the traditional Easter Thursday washing of the feet at an unusual location. The new head of the Catholic church worldwide chose the Roman juvenile offenders’ prison Casal del Marmo as a place to celebrate the mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday with 50 of the inmates.


The street was lined with curious spectators on his arrival. Then Francis celebrated mass in the prison chapel. Twelve inmates of different nationalities and religions were chosen to have their feet washed by the Argentinian Pope – following the example of Jesus’ humble service to his disciples before the Last Supper. There was no television broadcast from the prison, to protect the privacy of the young inmates. "We must help one another, that is what Jesus teaches us, and that is what I am doing, it is my duty," said Francis in the mass, according to the news agency Ansa. It came from the heart, he went on, he loved doing it. The foot washing, he said, was a sign and a symbol – "It means that I am here to serve you." Anyone who is placed higher must be at the service of others. The mass was accompanied by young people singing and playing guitars.

The twelve young offenders whose feet Francis washed included an Italian Catholic girl and a Serbian Muslim one. The young prisoners, of whom there were around 50, had gifts ready for the Pope – a wooden crucifix and a prayer stool, the Vatican announced. Francis gave them Easter eggs and the traditional Italian "Colomba" Easter cake in the form of a dove. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had already celebrated masses like this in prisons or with sick people. The Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center was also visited by his two predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI. But traditionally the mass of the Last Supper has always been celebrated in the past in the Lateran Basilica in Rome. In the morning Francis had urged his church to go out into the peripheral zones where suffering and bloodshed predominate – where there are also blind people who long to see, and "prisoners of too many bad masters", Francis said in St. Peter’s, in the traditional mass for the blessing of the holy oil.

"Anyone who does not go out of himself ceases to be a mediator, and gradually becomes just a middleman, an administrator," said the Pope, repeating his call to the church and to priests to open up. "It absolutely is not in the experience of self or in repeated navel-gazing that we meet the Lord," he said, spelling it out. On the contrary, priests must go to places where others are waiting for the gospel. Before being elected Pope, the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been known to voice harsh criticisms on occasion. He once made a speech denouncing the introversion of the church as the reason for the evil of its institutions. The speech was published in the diocesan newspaper Palabra Nueva in Havana, Cuba. In the pre-conclave assembly, consisting of cardinals from all over the world, Bergoglio had likewise criticized the church for revolving around itself. He now called on the church to go out of itself in order to bring the faith to the world.


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