News Vatican Information Services 09/15/2006

SUMMARY:

- Declaration Concerning Pope's Regensburg Address
- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, New Secretary of State
- Cardinal Sodano, Daily Attention to Governing the Church
- In Brief
- Other Pontifical Acts

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DECLARATION CONCERNING POPE'S REGENSBURG ADDRESS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 2006 (VIS) - Yesterday evening, Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. released the following declaration to journalists concerning the interpretation of certain passages of the address delivered by the Holy Father at the University of Regensburg on September 12.

"Concerning the reaction of Muslim leaders to certain passages of the Holy Father's address at the University of Regensburg, it should be noted that what the Holy Father has to heart - and which emerges from an attentive reading of the text - is a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence.

"It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.

"Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father's discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom.' A just consideration of the religious dimension is, in fact, an essential premise for fruitful dialogue with the great cultures and religions of the world. And indeed, in concluding his address in Regensburg, Benedict XVI affirmed how 'the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.'

"What is clear then, is the Holy Father's desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue towards other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam."
OP/POPE:UNIVERSITY REGENSBURG/LOMBARDI VIS 060915 (300)

CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE, NEW SECRETARY OF STATE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, during a ceremony held in the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, the Holy Father welcomed the staff of the Secretariat of State for the occasion of the appointment of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., archbishop of Genoa, Italy, as new secretary of State. He succeeds in that role Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Cardinal Sodano - who was appointed as secretary of State by John Paul II on December 1, 1990, succeeding Cardinal Agostino Casaroli - pronounced some words during the ceremony.

"Today," he said addressing the Holy Father, "thanks should be given not so much to me as to those who helped me over the years. Particularly precious to me was the collaboration of successive substitutes for General Affairs: Archbishops Re and Sandri, and of secretaries for Relations with States: Archbishops Tauran and Lajolo. All together, we have managed to work as a team, with a great ecclesial sense that united us in service, first around the venerated John Paul II and now around you."

Cardinal Sodano concluded his remarks by thanking his helpers in the Secretariat of State and members of pontifical representations in countries all over the world.

In a brief greeting addressed to the Holy Father, Cardinal Bertone expressed the hope that his past experience would help him "to carry out the task I take on today. I am aware of the heavy responsibility that this brings, and of the gravity and complexity of the questions which, every day, I will have to face. My only ambition is that of putting into practice the motto of my episcopal service: 'fidem custodire, concordiam servare'."

"The profound communion that binds us together in the shared commitment of service to the Church - and consequently to human dignity and peaceful coexistence between people - cannot but translate into loyal and faithful collaboration, reinforced for many of us by the priestly spirit and the pastoral charity that must always inspire us in our activities."
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CARDINAL SODANO, DAILY ATTENTION TO GOVERNING THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, during his meeting with members of the Secretariat of State at Castelgandolfo, Benedict XVI read out the text of his own Letter to Cardinal Angelo Sodano for the occasion of his resignation from the office of secretary of State.

"When the Lord called me to assume the mandate of supreme pastor of the People of God," said the Holy Father reading from his Letter, "I felt it appropriate to ask you, Cardinal Sodano, to continue to lend me your assistance as my direct collaborator, sharing my daily cares in governing the Universal Church. For this reason I confirmed you in the office of secretary of State, a role which to this day you have carried out with generous dedication and competence."

Referring then to the fact that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is now succeeding Cardinal Sodano in the role of secretary of State, Benedict XVI explained how "in such significant circumstances, I feel the need to renew to you my most heartfelt thanks for the faithfulness and enlightened competency, the dedication and love you have shown in working for the good of the Church alongside various Successors of the Apostle Peter."

The Pope went on to enumerate the different stages of Cardinal Sodano's service to the Holy See, which began in 1961 under Blessed John XXIII, recalling his work in the pontifical representations in Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile, and in the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, his appointment as apostolic nuncio to Chile and later as secretary of the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, until his designation as pro-secretary of State in December 1990.

"In these first months of my pontificate," said Benedict XVI, "I too have been able to appreciate the gifts of your pastor's spirit, ... the dedication with which you followed the daily activities of the secretariat of State and of pontifical representations in various parts of the world," and "the solicitude you showed towards your staff."

"Apart from expressing my own gratitude, I also wish to convey that of the people who, in the course of the years, have known you and admired the good sense, prudent wisdom and tireless zeal with which ... you have carried out your mission with single-minded concern for the supreme good of the Church.

"The Holy See will continue in the future to benefit from your contribution - and for this too I am grateful - because with the same enthusiasm and generosity you will work in the important role of dean of the College of Cardinals and as a member of various dicasteries of the Roman Curia and of the Governorate of Vatican City State."

The Pope concluded by asking God for "physical health" and "joy and serenity" for Cardinal Sodano, entrusting his person to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
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IN BRIEF

ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, IN THE SQUARE OF THE BASILICA of St. Stephen in Budapest, Hungary, the beatification will take place of Servant of God Sara Salkahazi of the Institute of the Sisters of Assistance. The future Blessed was born in Kassa (today Kosice in Slovakia) in 1899, and murdered in 1944 as she tried to protect a group of Jewish people during the Second World War. Also on Sunday, September 17, in the cathedral of Brescia, Italy, the beatification will take place of Servant of God Mose Tovini. Born in Cividate Camuno, Italy, the oldest of eight children, he was ordained a priest of the diocese of Brescia in 1904, entering the Congregation of Oblates. The passion of his life was catechesis. He died in 1930.

THE DEFENSE OF LIFE WILL BE THE THEME OF A SYMPOSIUM promoted by the International Association for Christian Social Doctrine and by the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace," due to be held in the Vatican on September 15 and 16. The event will be attended by experts and university professors from various countries. Among the subjects to be considered are: "The problems of modern reproductive medicine and its impact on marriage and family life; the defense of life as a condition for the legitimacy of a democracy; and the triumph of the market over the family."
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Archbishop Dominique Mamberti as secretary for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State. Archbishop Mamberti was born in Marrakech, Morocco, in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1981. He is currently apostolic nuncio to Sudan and Eritrea and apostolic delegate to Somalia. He succeeds Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, whose appointment as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State, becomes effective today. Archbishop Lajolo succeeds Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka.

- Elevated Msgr. Janusz Kaleta, apostolic administrator of Atyrau, Kazakhstan, to the dignity of bishop. The bishop-elect was born in Katowice, Poland, in 1964 and ordained a priest in 1989.
NA/.../... VIS 060915 (130)

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News Vatican Information Services 09/14/2006

SUMMARY OF POPE'S APOSTOLIC TRIP TO GERMANY:

- Servants and "Voices" of Christ, Who Is Master of the Word
- Pope Bids an Emotional Farewell to His Homeland

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SERVANTS AND "VOICES" OF CHRIST, WHO IS MASTER OF THE WORD

VATICAN CITY, SEP 14, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, the Holy Father left Regensburg and travelled by helicopter to the city of Freising which, in the past, was a trading center for the whole of central Europe, and today it is an important hub for agriculture and the food industry. It has a famous university and holds the administrative offices of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The archiepiscopal see is in Munich itself.

Benedict XVI's papal coat-of-arms contains three references to Bavaria, of which two to Freising: a Moor's head, the traditional symbol of the diocese of Freising, and a bear with a pack saddle, a reference to the bear of St. Corbinian, the eighth-century bishop of Freising who tamed the beast after it attacked him. The pack saddle is meant to represent the burden of the episcopate.

From the heliport of Freising, the Holy Father travelled by car to the city cathedral, built in 1205 and dedicated to Sts. Mary and Corbinian, where he met with priests and permanent deacons. It was here, on June 29, 1951, that Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a priest. He later taught theology in the diocesan seminary. The meeting with clergy was attended by 30 priests ordained the same day as the pontiff.

The Pope, putting aside the text of his prepared address, limited himself to commenting that text in off-the-cuff remarks.

"This is my last meeting before taking leave of my beloved Bavaria, and I am pleased that it is taking place with you, the priests and permanent deacons, the living and chosen stones of the Church," reads the text of the Pope's prepared address. "When I look around this magnificent cathedral of Freising, so many memories come back to me of the years when my journey to the priesthood and the exercise of my ministry were linked to this place."

The central theme of the Pope's remarks was the Gospel of St. Matthew, where "Jesus sees in the people gathered around Him the 'harvest' of God the Father, ready for reaping."

"Christ sees the world as 'God's field,' in which a rich harvest is growing and there is need of reapers. ... The fundamental approach of Jesus ... is one of optimism, based on confidence in the power of the Father, the 'Lord of the harvest.' Jesus' confidence becomes for us a source of hope."

"A priest's life and the real nature of his vocation and ministry are contained in the worldview revealed to us by Jesus. This same worldview moved the Lord to go from village to village, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing the sick."

Underlying the generosity of Christ, Pope Benedict's prepared address continues, "is a confidence in the power of the Father. ... By his progressive assimilation to the sentiments of the Teacher, the priest will come to share in His confident approach. By entering more and more deeply into Jesus' own way of seeing things, he learns to see all around him as the 'harvest of God'."

"Nevertheless, we must always keep in mind the words of our biblical text: it is the 'Lord of the harvest' who 'sends' laborers into His harvest. Jesus did not give His disciples the task of calling other volunteers or organizing promotional campaigns aimed at gathering new members; He told them to pray to God."

This does not mean, the Holy Father's text specifies, that "our vocational work [must] limit itself to prayer. ... 'Pray to the Lord of the harvest' means something more profound: only by remaining in intimate communion with the Lord of the harvest, by living immersed as it were in His heart full of love and compassion for humanity, can we bring other laborers to share in the work of the Kingdom of God.

"Ours is not a mindset of numbers and efficiency," he adds, "but one of gratuity and self-giving. ... The laborers in God's harvest are those who follow in the footsteps of Christ. This requires self-detachment and being fully 'attuned' to His will."

To this end, we must "undertake an Easter journey of death and resurrection. On this journey Christ has not only gone before us, but He accompanies us," as he did with Peter who "began to sink while attempting to walk to Jesus on the waters. As long as Peter returned Jesus' gaze, he was able to walk on the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee, remaining so to speak within the gravitational field of His grace."

"Through this Easter journey, the disciple becomes a true witness of the Lord," writes the Pope, pointing out how St. Augustine "tried to explain the essence of the ordained minister's task by means of two definitions ... 'servus Christi' and 'vox Christi'."

"The term 'servant' implies a concept of relation: to be a servant is to be in relation to a master. To describe the priest as 'servus Christi' is to emphasize that his life has an essential 'relational connotation:' with every fiber of his being he is in relation to Christ. ... By virtue of the sacramental character received at ordination, he belongs to Christ and shares His unreserved dedication to the 'body' of the Church."

As "vox Christi," a priest "stands in relation to the 'Word' who is Christ. The greatness and the humility of the ordained ministry are here revealed. Like St. John the Baptist, the priest and the deacon are merely the precursors, the servants of the Word. It is not they who are at the center, but Christ, Whose 'voice' they must be with their whole existence.

"It is from this reflection that the answer emerges to a question that no responsible pastor of souls can fail to ask himself, especially in the current situation of an increasing shortage of priests: how to preserve interior unity amid the often frenetic activity of ministry? The way towards a solution to this problem lies in intimate communion with Christ. ... From this emerges a new vision of priestly asceticism. ... This asceticism of service, service itself as the true asceticism of my life, is undoubtedly a most important motive that nevertheless requires a constant interior reinterpretation of action based upon being.

"Even if the priest seeks to live out his service as asceticism and his sacramental activity as personal encounter with Christ," the text of the Pope's address concludes, "he will still need moments to catch his breath. ... Generous self-giving for others is impossible without discipline and constant recovery of true faith-filled interior life. ...The time spent in direct encounter with God in prayer can rightly be described as the pastoral priority par excellence: it is the soul's breath."
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POPE BIDS AN EMOTIONAL FAREWELL TO HIS HOMELAND

VATICAN CITY, SEP 14, 2006 (VIS) - Following this morning's meeting with priests and permanent deacons in the cathedral of Freising, the Pope travelled by car to Munich's Franz Joseph Strauss international airport, where he departed by plane to Rome.

In his farewell address prior to departure, the Holy Father explained how during his time in Germany, "I was able to see how many people in Bavaria still today are endeavoring to journey in communion with their bishops along the paths of God and, in today's secularized world, to testify to their faith."

He expressed his recognition for the "the tireless efforts of the organizers," and for everyone's "attention and care which touched me deeply. .... To all of you I offer heartfelt thanks and the assurance of a special remembrance in my prayers.

"I came to Germany," he added, "to bring once more to my fellow citizens the eternal truths of the Gospel and to confirm believers in their fidelity to Christ, the Son of God, Who became man for the salvation of the world. I am convinced, in faith, that in Christ, in His Word, we find the way not only to eternal happiness, but also to the building of a humane future even now, here on earth."

Benedict XVI then went on to recall that today, September 14, marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical 'Laborem Exercens,' in which the "great Pope John Paul II called work 'a fundamental dimension of man's existence on earth,' and insisted that 'the primary basis of the value of work is man himself.' Work, he observed, is therefore 'something good for man,' because with it 'man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but also achieves fulfillment as a human being, and, in a certain sense, becomes more human'."

Pope Benedict continued: "On the basis of this profound intuition, Pope John Paul offered in his Encyclical some guidelines which are still helpful today. That text was not lacking in prophetic value, and I would like to recommend it to the people of my native land. I am certain that its concrete application would prove very beneficial in Germany's present situation."

The Holy Father concluded his remarks by entrusting "the present and future of Bavaria and of Germany to the intercession of all those saints who lived in German territory, faithfully serving Christ and experiencing in their lives the truth expressed in the words which have been like a leitmotif during the various parts of my visit: 'Those who believe are never alone'."

The Pope's plane took off at 1 p.m. and landed at Rome's Ciampino airport at 2.30 p.m. From there he travelled by car to his summer residence at Castelgandolfo.
PV-GERMANY/FAREWELL/MUNICH VIS 060914 (470)

The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City