Word: pope
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After months of intense speculation, Pope Benedict XVI has eased restrictions on the Catholic Church's traditional Latin Mass - a move that could raise controversy both within the Church, and in its interfaith relations, given the fact that the old rites include a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews...
...schismatic" followers of the late ultratraditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who'd split with the Vatican over the introduction of the vernacular and other Vatican II reforms. In his explanatory letter, Benedict says this decree alone will not heal the rift, which is on "a deeper level." So the Pope seems to be showing the ultratraditionalists - who want to undo all the Vatican II reforms - that he will move, but only so far, to accommodate their concerns. Benedict also acknowledged the document required many months of "reflection, numerous consultations and prayer...
Benedict writes frankly about his continuing concern that the government in China can sometimes "suffocate" religious freedom, and makes clear that the Church ultimately cannot cede its authority in the standoff over who appoints Catholic bishops. Benedict says that the Pope's prerogative to choose his deputies "touches the very heart of the life of the Church - the guarantee of the unity of the Church and of hierarchical communion." Still, the letter, which was released over the weekend, repeatedly extends olive branches to Beijing. Benedict acknowledges that progress has been made on religious freedom, and on the "delicate" issue...
...years, there have essentially been two Catholic churches in China, an official, state-sponsored "patriotic" church with Beijing-picked bishops, and an underground network of priests and parishioners loyal to the Pope. Increasingly, with local mediation and a softening from both Rome and Beijing, there is more cross-over among parishioners of the two churches. Indeed, says Father Bernardo Cervellera, editor of Asia News and a longtime China expert, the Pope's letter was aimed at "making clear in public that the Church is united, that the official and unofficial churches are related. This pushes all the communities in China...
Cervellera says that Beijing's response could have been much more hostile, as it was in 2000 when Pope John Paul II canonized several Catholic Chinese martyrs. The reaction this time, instead, was pro forma. Still, it's impossible to know Beijing's next moves on the questions of diplomatic relations with the Vatican, and religious freedom for Catholics - not even the Chinese know. "We cannot solve this problem," he said. "The problem is inside the Chinese Communist party, which is undergoing a radical transition...