(Vatican Radio) The official inauguration of the Library Biblioteca Romana Joseph Ratzinger – Benedetto XVI – dedicated to the life and the thought of the Pope Emeritus as a scholar and a Pontiff – was held on Wednesday evening at the Pontifical Teutonic College.
Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrated Mass every week at the College, which serves the German-speaking community and is located on the Vatican grounds.
The library is a collection of more than 1000 books in 36 languages provided by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, by the Vatican Foundation, and by the Papst Benedikt XVI Institute of Regensburg.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the President of the Pontifical Council of Culture, began the evening with an academic lecture at the nearby Augustinian Patristic Institute, entitled “From the Bible to the Library – Benedict XVI and the Culture of the Word of God.”
Click below to hear our report
Cardinal Ravasi said even as the pastor of the universal Church, Benedict XVI never stopped being a lover of books.
“The current collection of writings by him and about him attests precisely to his impressive resume as a scholar, theologian, and reader,” Cardinal Ravasi said.
He noted the wide breadth of his knowledge, not only of the classics to theology, but also modern authors such as Bernanos, Buber, Camus, Hölderlin, Nietzsche, Sartre and others.
After the lecture, the attendees walked to the new Library, which is expected to be a centre for the study of the theology of Benedict XVI, both before and after he became Pope. The library’s goal is to have a copy of all his works, in every language possible, as well as the important volumes about the Pope emeritus and his thought.
The Library Biblioteca Romana Joseph Ratzinger – Benedetto XVI has been supported by the Roman Institute of the Society of Görres and by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 18 November 2015 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside in the months of December 2015 and January 2016: DECEMBER Tuesday 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica, Holy Mass and opening of the Holy Door. Tuesday 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At 4 p.m. in Piazza di Spagna, veneration of the image of Mary Immaculate. Saturday 12: Feast of Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. At 6 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Sunday 13: “Gaudete Sunday” Third of Advent. At 9.30 a.m. in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Holy Mass and opening of the Holy Door. Sunday 13: “Gaudete Sunday” Third of Advent. At 10.30 a.m. in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, Holy Mass and opening of the Holy Door, presided by Cardinal James Harvey. Thursday 24: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. At 9.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Friday 25: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. Central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, at 12 p.m., “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. Sunday 27: Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass for Families. Thursday 31: Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, First Vespers and Te Deum, in Thanksgiving for the past year. JANUARY Friday 1: Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. 49th World Peace Day. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Friday 1: Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. At 5 p.m. in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, Holy Mass and opening of the Holy Door. Wednesday 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Sunday 10: Sunday after the Epiphany: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in the Sistine Chapel. Holy Mass and baptism of babies….
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, on Monday (Nov. 16) addressed the XVIII National Theological-Pastoral Convention of the Opera Romana pellegrinaggi (ORP) on the theme of ‘Pilgrimage and mercy in the three great monotheistic religions’.
ORP is an institutional activity of the Vicariate of Rome under the Holy See, which organizes pilgrimages to the principal Christian sites, including Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostela, and the Holy Land.
Cardinal Parolin recalled the ancient roots of pilgrimage, especially after Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313, when the faithful began to visit the tombs of early Christian martyrs.
In Medieval times, the pilgrimage took on a penitential aspect, to be lived as a trial of love, in order to receive mercy. Gradually, he said, this journey to obtain mercy was concretized in the “Jubilee of pardon”, that is, the first Holy Year celebrated in the year 1300, though the existence of periodic jubilee years can be found in the Old Testament.
“The common denominator”, Cardinal Parolin said, “is mercy, which constitutes the foundation upon which a true pilgrimage rests. With the decision to visit a holy place, in fact, the pilgrimage is characterized by a removal from day-to-day life in search of an encounter with the invisible and transcendent God, … in the certainty that the encounter can make fecund and provide meaning to the comings-and-goings of daily life, mediated by the ecclesial community.”
He concluded by saying, “In the Church, the pilgrim – as Pope Francis has written – acquires the awareness that ‘the beam which holds up the life of the Church is mercy. All her pastoral action should be turned toward the tenderness with which she encounters the faithful; nothing of her message and witness directed to the world may be deprived of mercy’.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday greeted members of Poland’s Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarność (“Solidarity”), praising it for its 35-year commitment to the world of labour – “both physical and intellectual” – as well as it work for the protection of the fundamental rights of the person and society.
Founded in 1980, it was the first non-Communist trade union in the countries belonging to the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact. The activities of Solidarność helped lead to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.
“Be faithful to this commitment, so that political or economic interests do not prevail over the values which constitute the essence of human solidarity,” Pope Francis told them while greeting pilgrims from Poland during his general audience .
“ I commend you and all members of the Union to the protection of your patron, Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko” – continued the Holy Father – “and I cordially bless you. Praised be Jesus Christ!”
Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko was murdered by agents of the communist regime in 1984 at the age of 37, after speaking out for human rights and religious freedom. He was Beatified in 2010.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, during which he focused his catechetical reflections on the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which opens on December 8 th , the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
In an impassioned address to the thousands of faithful pilgrims and tourists on hand, in which he departed frequently from his prepared text to emphasize his points, Pope Francis said, “If the door of God’s mercy is always open, even so must be the doors of our churches, the love of our communities, our parishes, our institutions, our dioceses, for when they are, we can all go out to bring this mercy of God [to those who most need it]. The Jubilee Year recalls the great door of God’s mercy, but also the small doors of our churches – open to let the Lord in – or to let the Lord out, who is often the prisoner of our structures, our selfishness, and of so many things.”
Click below to hear our report
It was a theme to which he returned in his English summary, where he said, “As guardians of that door, we in the Church are called to be welcoming to all who seek to enter the fold of the Good Shepherd. May the doors of our Christian homes be signs and symbols of the door of God’s mercy, a door ever open to all who knock and desire to meet Jesus.”
The Holy Father had special greetings to several groups, including pilgrims belonging to Poland’s historic Solidarity movement , the Italian association of people affected by thalidomide, and pilgrims from across the Arabic-speaking world, especially from Lebanon and Syria. “During the Jubilee of Mercy,” he said, “let Christian families make of the thresholds of their houses a sign of the mercy and welcome of God; let every Church be witness to the Mercy of the Heavenly Father, who never closes the door of His pardon in the face of those who are repentant, and never treats us according to our deserts, but according to the immensity of His Mercy and Love.”
Pope Francis’ remarks to Arabic-speaking pilgrims concluded with the words, “May the Lord bless you and protect you from evil.”
Please find the full English-language summary of the Holy Father’s remarks below
*************************************
Dear Brothers and Sisters: As the extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy approaches, today we consider the great open door of God’s mercy, symbolized by the Holy Doors which will open in Churches throughout the world. The recent Synod of Bishops on the Family encouraged families in a particular way to enter this door of mercy and to open the doors of their hearts to others. Jesus tells us that he stands knocking at our door, asking that we open it to him (Rev 3:20). How important it is for us to be good doorkeepers, capable of opening our doors and making our homes places of encounter and welcome, especially to our brothers and sisters in need! Jesus also tells us that he himself is the door (Jn 10:9) which leads to salvation; if we pass through him, we will find lasting security and freedom. As guardians of that door, we in the Church are called to be welcoming to all who seek to enter the fold of the Good Shepherd. May the doors of our Christian homes be signs and symbols of the door of God’s mercy, a door ever open to all who knock and desire to meet Jesus.
(from Vatican Radio)…