Vatican commentator Sandro Magister reported on two eminent critics of Benedict XVI’s decision to take the title pope emeritus.
The first was Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, “who spoke out in tough critical terms not only against the figure of the ‘pope emeritus’ but also against the goodness of Ratzinger’s abdication itself” in an article headed ‘The resignation of the pope is possible, but may it never happen again’.”
The other, he said, was Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, “a luminary of canon law and secretary of the supreme tribunal of the apostolic signature” who “is bound to Ratzinger by a longstanding and solid friendship”. In an interview with Vatican Insider, Sandro Magister wrote, Bishop Sciacca “ripped to pieces the juridical and theological sustainability of the title ‘pope emeritus’ being applied to one who has abdicated”.
Mother Teresa’s visions
Hannah Brockhaus at Catholic News Agency wrote of Mother Teresa’s “conversations with and visions of Jesus before forming the Missionaries of Charity”. When Mother Teresa’s Cause was opened, documents were found containing her accounts of the communications.
Fr Sebastian Vazhakala, who co-founded the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity alongside Mother Teresa and was her friend for more than 30 years, has a document handwritten by Mother Teresa where she discussed what Jesus told her during the time of the locutions and visions. Fr Vazhakala said: “Mother Teresa wrote that one day at Holy Communion, she heard Jesus say, ‘I want Indian nuns, victims of my love, who would be Mary and Martha, who would be so united to me as to radiate my love on souls.’”
It’s OK if blogs die
At Patheos Fr Dwight Longenecker wrote a blog post entitled “Why blogs will die”. “Remember the old saying, ‘Everyone has a book in them … and for most people that’s where it should stay.’ With the technology we now have it doesn’t have to stay there anymore,” he wrote. And so vast numbers of people write about vast numbers of subjects. “The problem with this is that there is no editing, to sifting, no discernment. Every blog is created equal. This means that the most rational, witty, intelligent and learned writer is published at the same level of importance as your crazy Uncle George who breeds squirrels for food and believes the moon landings were faked.”
Fr Longecker said a hunger for bad news and conspiracies and a race for more traffic “led the blogosphere to become an ingrown, self-absorbed, hotbed of unhappiness and hatred – and the Catholic blogosphere has not been exempt”. Fr Longenecker said media today was in flux and blogs would likely “evolve into something new”.
✣Meanwhile…
Who would win in a fight between Justin Welby and the Pope? That was the question one young boy asked the Archbishop of Canterbury at the weekend’s Greenbelt Festival. Archbishop Welby replied: “For a lot of reasons, the Pope would. He’s got a bigger stick than me. He’s got a bigger hat then me. He’s bigger then me. He’s better than me.”
When they first met, Archbishop Welby said, “He looked at me and said: ‘I’m senior to you.’ He was winding me up but I thought he was being serious. I said, “Of course you are’, because I was terrified. And he said, because he’d started on the Thursday and I started on the Saturday, ‘by two days’.”
✣ When Mark Zuckerberg met Pope Francis on Monday the Facebook founder gave the Pope a drone – or at least, “a model of Aquila, our solar-powered aircraft that will beam internet connectivity to places that don’t have it”.
According to Vatican spokesman Greg Burke the pair discussed “how to use communication technologies to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and make a message of hope arrive, especially to those most in need”.
“It was a meeting we’ll never forget. You can feel his warmth and kindness, and how deeply he cares about helping people,” Zuckerberg wrote – on Facebook, of course.
✣The week in quotations
There is no longer any place of worship in the birthplace of St Benedict Archbishop Boccardo on Norcia’s unusable churches SIR, Italian bishops’ news agency
I hope we’re also worried about abortion Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on the spate of killings in the Philippines CBCP News
My travel companions for life [have been] St Augustine and St Bonaventure Benedict XVI La Reppublica interview
In life not all is black on white … The shades of grey prevail Pope Francis Remarks to Polish Jesuits in Kraków
✣Statistic of the week
2,500 The number of people left homeless by Italy’s earthquake Source: BBC News
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