Catholic Trek : Pope Benedict XVI

Showing posts with label Pope Benedict XVI. Show all posts

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Monday, September 2, 2013

September 1st Photos

Holy Cross Hospital plaque in Fort Lauderale, Florida

Palmetto Expressway off of NW 57th Avenue

Bright and sunny day in Kendall

On a mission

Friday, April 5, 2013

Upcoming Vatican TV Events In 3D

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Due to what occurred on Wednesday, March 13th, I have opted to alter the nature and tone of this blog, Caput Mundi, which in 5 and a half years, has gone through many a metamorphosis.

I vigorously and proudly defended the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and followed, basically, his every move, pronunciation and interaction.

But now times have changed.

As such, there is, as of today, a revised side bar. Since Caput Mundi is one of the names of the city of Rome, I will broaden the blog's focus to transcend the religious sphere, and provide general coverage, as much as possible, of Roman and Italian events.

This will include cultural, social, political, entertainment, etc. matters.

For now, I say to all of you: Buonasera a tutti voi...(Yes, I am trying to learn Italian)

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"Lowly but Chosen"...Sadly

The motto for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio's Archdiocese from Buenos Aires is "Miserando Atque Eligendo", or "Lowly but Chosen."

That is the feeling I have in relation to the indisputable fact that the Cardinal Electors made the grave error, no doubt via the malicious prodding of the malevolent Cardinal Bertone and concomitant Curia cabal, to enthrone the See of Peter to Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

As a proud Roman Catholic and Papist, today has been a day of days...one fraught with deep emotions which shake at the very core of my faith.

Any true defender of the office of the Bishop of Rome can see that this individual is fraught with a plethora of inherent inadequacies, in relation to the position he has now entered.

Newmax.com is adroitly correct when it predicts that Bergoglio "will not be a transformational pope, but one who continues in Benedict's dogmatic footsteps while not radically changing the Curia, the Holy See's administration."

Moreover, I wholeheartedly concur with the views of Catholic scholar, Micheal Dougherty, which can be found here and here.

A contentious reading of this election: Josef Ratzinger’s enemies have triumphed completely.
— Michael B Dougherty (@michaelbd) March 13, 2013

All I can say, right now, is that I would have preferred an old, aging Benedict XVI, or even better, a fervent and dynamic Cardinal Scola, Dolan, Bagnasco, Ravasi, Ouellet, Rodriguez, etc. to what we have now.

In the Obama-esque frenzy and swirl about this being the first Latin American Bishop of Rome, what has been lost is whether this individual, with the prodigious problems facing the church, is the proper individual to carry forward the immense undertaking to reform it, or whether he has the intestinal fortitude to do so.

Though I have, always, rejected the heretical 1958 Sede Vacante factions of the Cardinal Siri variety, I can now, to a certain extent, commiserate with their over all feelings, however, misguided.

There is be NO legitimate comparison between the accomplished & talented Pope John XXIII (Papa Roncalli) and what transpired on March 13, 2013.

I readily recall the broad 1972 admonition of my birth Pope, Paul VI, that "from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God." Though put in context to his times, it is requisite to never lose sight of the warnings handed down to us by Papa Montini.

What is unquestionably clear, is that with this new Papacy, the enemies of Rome truly have the upper hand now.

UPDATE: 12:28PM, March 14, 2013

Just as I surmised above, this palace coup was led by Bertone and other elements of the curia.

Via Vatican Insider:

Scola's path to the Holy Throne was blocked by the confluence of two alliances and of two distinctly different evaluation systems: the non-European one (South America in particular), on the one hand, planned on bringing the papacy out of the old continent for the first time. On the other hand, there was the Curia group led by the nemesis-allegiance of Bertone and Sodano, who are inexorably hostile to Scola. (emphasis added)

The reason, according to certain voices in the Holy See, are a series of "ancient envies and rivalries”. Bertone has never forgotten the advice that Scola gave to the Pope during a meeting in Castel Gandolfo during the upheaval over the pardon granted to Holocaust-denier Bishop Williamson: his replacement at the helm of the Secretariat of State.

Sodano, on the other hand, found himself on opposing sides from Scola in various power struggles for the control of Catholic institutions. Ruini himself, while esteeming Scola, gave no indications to vote in his favour to the conclavists, like the Australian Pell, who asked to visit him before the Conclave.

In short, the 28 Italian voters did not all row in the same direction and so they dashed their chances of installing one of their compatriots to Peter's Throne 35 years after Luciani.

Missing Wojtyła and Ratzinger

Postcards of a bygone era

265 and 264

Real Bishops of Rome

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Rome's Chief Rabbi Praises Ex Pope

Ex Pope Benedict's 2009 trip to Jerusalem (Image: Newsday)

Via Newsmax.com:

Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni has high praise for Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pontiff showed great respect for Jews. In an interview with Fiamma Nirenstein in Italy after Benedict announced his resignation, Di Segni — who is also a professor specializing in diagnostic radiology — called the Pope “an honest interlocutor” who was “clear when speaking to Jews.

We received respect from him. “Mutual respect is actually what is needed. Benedict XVI presented it to us, and even more.” Di Segni praised the “withdrawn character of this Pope, the fact that he was less than a media icon, as well as his intellectual integrity.” He also said that “at a time when radical Islam is thriving, the Church is amicable.”

As for what he would like to see in the next Pope, the rabbi said he hopes “the new Pope won’t be hostile. [We welcome] a non-hostile Pope that favors an in-progress alliance with us.”

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Online Benedict XVI Homage

Online Homage to the Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI

"The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgment of the ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and woman." Papa Ratzinger

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI's Last Angelus

Pope Benedict XVI not ‘abandoning the Church’, via EWTN:

Around 120,000 pilgrims heard Pope Benedict XVI deliver his last Angelus address, in which he said that “the Lord called me to ‘climb the mountain,’ to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation,” a change that does not mean he is “abandoning the Church.”

“Dear brothers and sisters,” the Pope said as he dwelt on the Sunday Gospel on the Transfiguration, “the Word of God feels particularly directed at me, at this point in my life. The Lord called me to ‘climb the mountain,’ to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation.” “But this does not mean abandoning the Church,” he qualified, “indeed, if God asks me this it is just so that I can continue to serve with the same dedication and the same love with which I have done so far, but in a way more suited to my age and for me.”

The Pope will be both physically and spiritually “climbing the mountain,” since the Mater Ecclesiae monastery where he will retire sits on the highest point in Vatican City with a view of the back of St. Peter’s Basilica and then the rest of Rome.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Thank You Pope Benedict XVI

Thank you, Pope Benedict XVI for your wonderful papacy and service to God
(Image: Father Z's Blog)

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Papal Conclave Guide & Updates

Info graphic sheet regarding the upcoming Papal conclave election
(Image: Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland)

Monday, February 11, 2013

Papible Candidates For March Conclave

Business Insider's list of papible candidates is topped by Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana.

Italian Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco

Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada

My preferred candidate is US Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

There are many others on the Business Insider list, which can be accessed here

Some Latin American candidates, not necessarily on the list, which one must seriously consider:

Cardinal Leandro Sandri from Argentina

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga from Honduras
(Personal note: This Cardinal is the great uncle of my niece)

Pope Benedict XVI To Resign-Effective February 28

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI

Via News.Va:

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.