Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Benedict XVI mauls new Father General on the forehead















Click on images to enlarge 13 X 36 at http://www.sjweb.info/35/index.cfm

Benedict XVI God's Rottweiler mauled the new Father General on the forehead, the "seat of the soul" in eastern religions.

Take a look at the first photos of the new Father General beside the retired Father General Kolvenbach. Fr. Nicolas is smiling and happy...and his brows do not knit so deeply!

Bowing to Benedict XVI's pressure and Opus Dei tactics of dismantling more Jesuit mission ala Vatican Observatory, Father General Nicolas finally went to meet with the Pope Benedict XVI for the first time on Saturday AFTER his official meeting with the Press on Friday -- without "papal approval" (papal autocracy crap of Opus Dei and John Allen and Zenit).

What did Father Nicolas get from his first encounter with Benedict XVI was a dent on his forehead! And his Jesuit dent is deeper than 80 year old Benedict! The new Father General looks burdened after meeting God's Rottweiler! That is what the Jesuits get when they kowtow to the Pope and Opus Dei, a dent on the forehead of their new Father General which is really an aftermath shocking effect of the GISU Galileo Iceberg of Sapienza University that has hit the B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship.

Beware and be-aware Jesuits, they "who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Do you want to sink with the B16-OD Titanic Ship and get the Society of Jesus suppressed again?

Next time Father Nicolas kowtow to Benedict XVI, he might get two black eyes... God's Rottweiler can be vicious...or worse suffer like Pedro Arrupe for 10 years after John Paul II mauled him...Jesuits, learn from La Sapienza University, those scientists and young students no longer wish to kowtow to the Pope and no rallying of thousands of Opus Dei and Legion of Christ supporter will salvage the sinking autocratic B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic ship.

Mille Grazie Sapienza University of Rome!

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John Paul II meddled so much on the Society of Jesus that he drove Pedro Arrupe to his sudden and decade long illness. Fr. Nicolas, be careful in your dealings with Benedict XVI who is the perfect-clone of JPII and better not follow in Arrupe's footsteps of "pleasing" the Opus Dei Rottweiler!

Padre Arrupe on the day Fr. Kolvenbach was elected

I was present in the Curia when the Pope appointed Father Dezza as his delegate to govern the Society, with Father Pittau as a replacement should there be need. It was a tense time with everyone bewildered and not knowing what to say or do. Father Dezza inaugurated his mission with a community Mass in the house chapel. At the greeting of peace Father Arrupe, attending in a wheel-chair in the corner, began to get agitated and make signs. Since his infirmarian failed to calm him, Father Dezza went over to see what the matter was. Father Arrupe stretched out his arms and embraced him in front of the whole community. It was his way of saying he accepted the Pope’s decision and inviting us to do likewise.

We accepted Arrupe’s resignation and elected Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as his successor. Arrupe waived his right to attend the Congregation but came into the aula (hall) immediately after the election, leaning on his infirmarian’s arm and peering around trying to see who the new General was. But Father Kolvenbach walked across to meet him and they embraced to a huge standing ovation.The same was true when his moving farewell message was read out. It fell to me to provide the English version and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping my voice steady. At Arrupe’s request we all joined him in a special farewell Mass at La Storta where, as Lainez recounts, Ignatius had a vision of Christ on the Cross and heard the words “I shall be favourable to you in Rome”. He adds: “Not knowing what these words might mean, our Father said, ‘I don’t know what will become of us; perhaps we will be crucified in Rome’”. We also said goodbye to Don Pedro at a party in the Curia gardens to which all the Jesuits in Rome were invited.

Father Arrupe spent ten years in the little infirmary in the Curia slowly dying...

May the Queen of Angels protect Fr. Nicolas from God's Rottweiler and Octopus Dei.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Benedict XVI meets new Father General

I must dress simply
To meet the new Jesuit Father General
He has been working with the poor migrants in Asia
If I wear my ostentatious OpusDei robes
Feisty Paris Arrow will keep pointing it out
GISU...I tremble, tremble before thee








After all the official Jesuit press releases WITHOUT Benedict XVI approval -- (contrary to what the Opus Dei and Zenit media spinned papal autocracy) Benedict XVI finally met the new Father General of the Society of Jesus which he is trying to suppress in the most subtle way.

Benedict XVI must have said: "Kneel before me or I'll have your Society disbanded in no time like I did with the Vatican Observatory".

Fr. Nicolas must have said: Be my guest...you dismantled the Vatican Observatory and GISU hit your B16-OD Titanic Ship...without me and my companions lifting a finger!

Well, Father General Nicolas did not kneel but stood and sat on the same level as the Pope. That kneeling down Opus Dei crap did not happen...(yet?)

So the Roman coliseum of St. Peter's Basilica is now a Roman gladiator spectacle as thousands rallied to support the "Silenced Pope". But will the machinery of the Octopus Dei be able to force the gates of Sapienza University to allow in Benedict XVI to deliver his Opus Dei written speech?

We'll see how the 67 faculty of physics and scientists and students will beat the Octopus Dei to run scowling back into the ocean deep of the Vatican gutters.


PRESS RELEASE of Jesuit Curia

Father General Adolfo Nicolás capped an eventful week as the newly elected superior general of the Jesuits with a private audience with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The Saturday audience began with a photo session and then the two sat down for a warm and friendly conversation. The Holy Father was pleased to hear that that the general congregation had formed a committee to study his letter to Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the previous superior general, and then the conversation turned to Japan, where Fr. Nicolas had served for 33 years. The Holy Father encouraged the Jesuit leader to continue with dialogue with culture and evangelization and to ensure a thorough formation of young Jesuits. It was the opportunity for the new General of the Jesuits to reaffirm his personal respect for the Vicar of Christ as well as the esteem of the whole Society of Jesus; it was an occasion also to convey the desire of the Society to serve the Church all over the world.

Then Father Nicolas told Pope Benedict that the Jesuits have a custom that the newly elected superior general should renew his vows before the pope. Father Kolvenbach had done that in writing, so Father Nicol?s had written out his vows, which he had in an envelope. The pope opened the envelope right away and read the vows; then he said, 'This is a very good custom.'

---

26
January Saturday

Plenary Session

---------------------------------------------------------
Plenary session: continuation of the discussion to prepare the election of Father General’s Assistants.
Sharing on the process for the discussion on one of the topics studied by the working groups: the ordinary government of the Society.

NOTE: Zenit did not cover this meeting of Benedict XVI and Father General in Zenit English section today, in the French section yes, but not for their majority of English readers. Typical Octopus Dei tentacle strategy: Ignore your enemies and they'll disappear in time!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Benedict XVI absent in Father General first news conference









On Friday, 25 January, Father General Adolfo Nicolás met with around 60 members of the press for an initial 'encounter' in which he introduced himself and explained his background, especially his experience in Asia.

The press were allowed to take pictures and visit the aula where the General Congregation is taking place.

Where was Benedict XVI? Where is his "papal approval" in all these? NADA! Opus Dei media spin on the pope's autocracy will keep sailing on until the GISU sink into them!

So BXVI was at the Vatican being consoled by his Opus Dei eunuchs as they try to salvage the B16-OD Titanic Ship.

Now we'll see the best fight Rome has yet to offer since the times of the Gladiators! No its isn't animals in the form of tigers and lions but rather power-hungry Opus Dei members who want to achieve Josemaria Escriba's WORLD DOMINATION agenda...200,000 rallied at St. Peter's Square to support the "Silenced Pope". Why can't they see that their Bishop of Rome is in reality a mauling God's Rottweiler...who already mauled Jon Sobrino like he did with Galileo?

Maybe the Opus Dei has 87,000 members. But can they flung open the Sapienza University gates for the Pope to speak before those protesting science professors and students?

La Sapienza University versus the Octopus Dei!

The star of Galileo of heaven versus the Octopus Dei beast of the ocean.

The heavens versus the hades!

May WISDOM win!












VERSUS







--------

Phase Two of the congregation begins


25 January
Friday
Work groups continue

---------------------------------------------------------
In the morning, the groups finish their preliminary work on the following themes : « mission and identity », « work with others », « apostolic obedience » and « governance of the Society ».
In the afternoon, plenary session to prepare the elections of the assistants "ad providentiam", the main advisors to the General.

--------

26 January
Saturday
Plenary Session

----------------------------------------------------------
Plenary session: continuation of the discussion to prepare the election of Father General’s Assistants.
Sharing on the process for the discussion on one of the topics studied by the working groups: the ordinary government of the Society.


Official website of General Congregation 35

Official photos: A picture speaks a thousand words

----

Report. Friday January 25 ------------------------------------

The Press Office of the Society of Jesus had invited journalists based in Rome to a first encounter with the new Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás. More than 60 professionals from the written press, from radio and from television came to the event. The Italian press was very well represented, but media people from Spain and even from other continents were present.

Fr. Nicolás talked for more than 15 minutes, in Italian, a language he had learned for his theological studies at the Gregorian University, during the ‘60s. If this “encounter » did not include a question period, the General was able to answer a certain number of concerns that his audience probably had in mind.

He said he was grateful to the press for the interest it had shown toward his election; he insisted on the fact that he was different from his predecessors and that comparisons between him and them were not helpful. He underlined the fact that there is no reason to envision tensions between himself and Pope Benedict XVI, the Society of Jesus being faithful to the service of the Church all around the world.

The new Superior General mainly highlighted his knowledge of Asia, where he has spent the largest part of his life as a Jesuit; he emphasized how much his Asian experience had been an opportunity for openness to some new dimensions, on the human as well as on the spiritual levels.

Finally, he made clear that he did not yet have any programme to propose or to offer at this time since it is the General Congregation, presently in session in Rome, that will give him the orientations for the future of the Society of Jesus. He looks forward to other opportunities to meet the press after the end of the Congregation.

Those present were then invited to visit the aula, the deliberation room of the General Congregation.

NOTE: Zenit did not report about this news conference of Father General in Zenit -- to show the Octopus Dei strategy - that "ignoring the Jesuits is the best way to suppress them"!

Benedict XVI trembles before GISU

GISU is not Gesu, Jesus in Italian
GISU is not the Gesu Church of the Jesuits in Rome
GISU has absolutely nothing to do with the Jesuits
GISU is not Catholic
GISU is not religious
GISU is pure "science needs no fathers nor priests"

GISU Galileo Iceberg of Sapienza University -- hit the B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship last January 16, 2008 when 67 professors, the entire physics faculty, wrote and protested and successfully canceled Benedict XVI's speech for the opening of their school year because of his stance on Galileo.


Galileo







Benedict XVI is the Bishop of Rome
He rules with the Opus Dei Bishop of Rome
Opus Dei Prelate Bishop Javier Echevarria
Twin Popes
Benedict XVI is the White Pope + Bishop Javier Echevarria the Black Pope
Another Da Vinci Code secret being unravelled in this weblog!

Benedict XVI is the Bishop of Rome
His own flock have rejected him
Why? Because he is not their Shepherd
But the God's Rottweiler who mauls them sheep

The Romans at Sapienza University have rejected the Bishop of Rome.
GISU rings loud and the spirit of Galileo etched in history lives on
GISU cannot be muffled by the tentacles of the Octopus Dei

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Galileo

On the orders of Pope Paul V, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine gave Galileo prior notice that the decree was about to be issued, and warned him that he could not "hold or defend" the Copernican doctrine.[19] The corrections to De revolutionibus, which omitted or altered nine sentences, were issued four years later, in 1620.[20]

In 1633 Galileo Galilei was convicted of grave suspicion of heresy for "following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture,"[21] and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

-----------

Zenit responded by "throwing eggs on the faces of the 67 protesters" with this snake's Opus Dei media-spin

University Founded for the Pursuit of Wisdom

ROME, JAN. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Last week's events at Rome's La Sapienza University have been front-page news everywhere in the free world, and the 67 professors who protested Benedict XVI's projected visit last Thursday have been left with egg on their face.

The irresponsible protest has drawn nearly universal condemnation, the hypocritical intolerance of a university named "wisdom" has been rightly chastised, and the absurdity of a place of learning banning a lecture by a world-class professor has brought shame upon the entire Italian educational system.

And happily, the emphatic response from politicians, university professors and students all over Italy, culminating in the 200,000 participants in last Sunday's Angelus to express solidarity with Benedict XVI and the voice of reason, has also been extensively covered.


Typical Opus Dei media spin. They think that their B16-OD Titanic Ship is "unsinkable". We'll see. God's Rottweiler has been muffled by La Sapienza University -- precisely -- because it sees and has the WISDOM in shutting the mouth of Benedict XVI who is "hostile to science"!










Benedict XVI decreed "Notification" on Jesuit Jon Sobrino
The Opus Dei Bishop of El Salvador finished the job by imposing "Silence"
The most severe censor like the Popes did to Galileo
Forbidding Jon Sobrino to teach and write in a Catholic University
A veritable "church house arrest"

Why? Because the Jesus the Liberator of Sobrino is "dangerous"
And "can endanger the faith of Catholics"

The God's Rottweiler Benedict XVI afraid of the little Jesuit-mouse Sobrino!
The Vatican afraid of the tiny poor far flung country of El Salvador!

Benedict XVI and Opus Dei versus Jon Sobrino
Are two bullies beating on a frail old man

But, right in the heart of Rome
Sapienza University does not even want to hear a word of Benedict XVI (that's worse)
GISU say that "Benedict XVI is hostile to science"
GISU say that "Benedict believes more in faith than in reason and science"
The Pope is not fit to speak at the La Sapienza University
Rome's own university (originally founded by a Pope)
The largest university in Western Europe!

This is what Jon Sobrino said about John Paul II
And those Sapienza University student see Benedict the same way
Sobrino refused to recant his statements like Galileo
Galileo KNEW the Earth revolved around the Sun
Sobrino KNEW the John Paul II pomposity in El Salvador was unreal to the poor
Sapienza University KNOW that Benedict XVI is unreal to the university...today

GISU has hit the B16-OD Titanic Ship
No rallying by Opus Dei troops can save the B16-OD Titanic Ship
Benedict XVI Humpty Dumtpy has had a great fall
And all the Swiss Guard Army and Opus Dei
Cannot put Humpty Ratzinger together again.







Page 141. Important ecclesial events, like a papal visit, are often organized in such a way that they too produce a feeling of unreality. In the Pope’s 1996 visit to El Salvador, it is true that most of the people who attended were poor. But all one could see of their reality was their religious enthusiasm, more or less effectively organized. One didn’t see their poverty, their fears, their discouragement and helplessness, not even their true faith and hope; one didn’t see their reality. As the event was organized, the poor served more as a backdrop than as the reality of the country; in the foreground were minorities that do not represent the reality: the government, legislators and politicians, the rich and powerful, and the Church beside them. The Pope’s visit neither reflected reality nor, to judge from the consequences, had any important effect on it.


On page 140. This applies to the allocutions and homilies of the Pope to the Congregation when he was an "adult-pope’. And that is still a serious problem: humanistas without sarx, factuality without reality (in the world of the poor). To give a few examples: one often gets a feeling of unreality from homilies, documents and messages that do not make central - although they may mention it - the poverty of reality, the injustice and corruption that cause it, and the cover-up that accompanies it. The feeling of unreality comes especially from the lack of commitment to get involved in the conflict, to struggle against injustice and to suffer the consequences. Words, words, words, as J. Comblin calls such messages in the article mentioned above. At another level, one gets the same feeling of unreality from a seminary formation that protects the seminarian from reality; or from the spiritualities and pastoral practices promoted or tolerated by movements that lead the human being into an a-historical transcendence with infantilizing consequences. (From Martyrs of El Salvador. By Jon Sobrino)(Bold emphases added)


I believe that the Opus Dei is one of those "movements that lead the human being into an a-historical trancendence with infantalizing consequences." This is why the 2 books of Jon Sobrino have to be "condemned" by God's Rottweiler. Benedict XVI and the papacy is the shield of cowardice of the Opus Dei who as despots will not allow any criticism on Escriva and their posterboy John Paul II.

But GISU has done justice to Galileo and Jon Sobrino and the Jesuits whose Jesuit-run Vatican Observatory was dismantled on the eve of their 35th General Congregation.

The B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship shall sink to the bottom of the sea and live with the Octopus Dei where they belong and have their perpetual honeymoon together with MR John Paul II and MRS Josemaria Escriba

Benedict XVI trembles before GISU
Alas! the Pope finally trembles

Mille Grazie, Sapienza University professors and students!
Mille Grazie!

Video of La Sapienza University protest
Benedict XVI and his Octopus Dei eunuch battalion are helpless before these FEW young students and professors!

Mille Grazie, La Sapienza University for proving me right and my weblogs right!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Benedict XVI sits on hot charcoals waiting for Jesuits in Rome












General Congregation 35

Phase Two of the congregation begins


Benedict XVI is sitting on burning hot charcoals on his golden infallible throne at the Vatican because so far the Jesuits have NOT called on him nor visited him nor ask for his approval. Benedict XVI is waiting anxiously for help. His Opus Dei eunuchs are busy cooking up his autocracy papal statements for the press. The B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship has been hit by the Galileo Iceberg shortly after Benedict XVI dismantled the Jesuit Vatican Observatory on January 4th on the eve of the opening of the General Congregation. What an irony that the Sapienza University did the Jesuits (and Galileo) justice...and the Jesuits did not need to lift a finger to defend themselves...they simply suffered silently as they watch their beloved century old Observatory dismantled to make room for a museum of papal and Opus Dei wealth show-off.

Today is January 24, almost 20 days have passed since the General Congregation started, no Jesuit has walked over to the Vatican as Reuters, AP and John Allen have been reporting in their Opus Dei owned media spin. The Vatican is only a few steps nearby from the Jesuit Curia. So the Opus Dei thinks they got their Octopus Dei tentacle around the neck of Fr. Lombardi, the Pope's public press secretary? Not so fast, B16, your papal octopus dei days are numbered. Watch out! the Jesuits are used to having Jesuit martyrs and if you harm Lombardi, another iceberg from Sapienza shall hit you soon again...and you'll sink faster than expected...and no wave roaring Opus Dei thousand members rallying at St. Peter's Square shall save your B16-OD Titanic Ship from sinking.

Today the 35th General Congregation just created a "study group that will answer to the letter of the Pope to the Society"...yeah all that "obedience and fourth vow to the Pope" crap. I hope the Jesuits will delete that vow from their Constitution once and for all. Ignatius in the 16th could not foresee the Octopus Dei beast in the 21st century.

This is the daily update of the General Congregation in the Jesuit Roman Curia :
January 24

--------------------------------------------------------

Work groups continue

New groups created


Today, at the Congregation, the various linguistic groups established yesterday continue their task: reflection on some major topics that the Congregation will want to address.

Also, Fr. General has created a study group to reflect on the follow up to be given to the report on the present situation of the Society and to propose, eventually, avenues of answer to the pope’s letter to the Congregation.

-------------------------------------------------------



Father General Adolfo Nicolás met with the staff of the Curia on 24 Jan. Fr. Elias López (right) is assistant director of the Jesuit Refugee Service International Office; Fr. Ignacio Echarte is the general's delegate in charge of the Roman houses as well as serving as assistant secretary for the second phase of the congregation

http://www.sjweb.info/35/index.cfm

Nota Bene: The Father General is tending to his flocks first like meeting the Curia staff on Jan. 24 and he sure is making Benedict XVI wait for him to finish his family business first. The Pope is not a priority and that "approved by the Pope first" crap of AP, Reuters and John Allen is a desperate line of the B16-OD sinking Titanic Ship!

Video of Pope writing letter to former Fr. General Kolvenbach and Letter to the General Congregation......"answers" to which he awaits now from his hot charcoal infallible throne.

http://www.catholic.org/video/?v=610

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Benedict XVI no show at Jesuit press release

January 23, 2008

Those Opus Dei run newspapers and media saying that the 35th General Congregation is a "secret conclave" will swallow their own lies because the Jesuits just invited the press for an encounter with the new Father General and a free visit to their aula or meeting room. Now when did the Opus Dei ever invited the press to their secret villa in Rome where they orchestrated and twisted the arms of Cardinals to vote for Ratzinger at the secret papal conclave?

Nota Bene: The new Father General will meet the press before meeting Pope Benedict XVI whose B16-OD Titanic Ship has just been hit by the Galileo Iceberg at Sapienza University in the heart of Rome! Oh, freedom is coming!


General Congregation
35
_____________________________

S.J. Press Office, Rome, Italy,

Rome, January 23, 2008

PRESS RELEASE

On January 25, Friday, at 11:30, the newly elected General Superior of the Society of Jesus, Father Adolfo Nicolás, will be available for a brief encounter with journalists. It is not a press conference but an encounter to greet all those who have covered the recent events regarding the Society of Jesus and the General Congregation. Father Nicolás will address the journalists but will not entertain questions. Taking of photographs is allowed. A formal press conference is planned perhaps at the end of the General Congregation.

After the encounter those who are interested in visiting the aula where the members of the Congregation meet, will have the opportunity to do it. Again, photos are allowed.

The access to the place of the meeting – “Sala Nadal” is from Borgo S.
Spirito, 4. An accreditation card is necessary.

= END =

--------------

General Congregation 35
S.J. Press Office, Rome, Italy

23 JANUARY 2008

At 09.00 sharp, the clear pure sound of Father Vlastimil Dufka’s clarinet pierced the
conversation of those gathered in the Aula announcing the call to prayer. The music was an opportunity to raise the mind and heart to God before discussing the “down-to-earth” realities of our world and our lives as Jesuits.

Using a selection from the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mt 28:18 – 20) and a passage from the General Congregation 34 document entitled “Our Mission”, the prayer revolved around the Jesuits’ call to be “Servants of the Mission of Christ.” For those who believe that “Jesuits cannot sing” the hymn Go to the World abundantly demonstrated a different and more beautiful reality.

The morning’s work consisted of dividing the Congregation into linguistic working groups to discuss the four themes arising from various sources. There are ten groups discussing mission and identity; three groups focusing on governance; three groups looking at the various aspects of obedience and five groups studying the question of collaboration with others.

By Thursday, 24 January each group is to present a written report to the Secretary of the Congregation on the fruit of their discussions. The reports will include: the important points raised; possible outline for a document and suggest a “tone” or approach to the topic.

This phase of the Congregation moves at a slower pace due to the need to identify and
organize work to be completed. Within a few days the speed of progress should increase as commissions are established to study various topics and questions.

= END =

Video of Fr. Nicolas first news conference

A news conference is the most official thing an elected officer can do -- because he DECLARES and faces the whole world......and Fr. General Nicolas has declared and faced the world WITHOUT the "approval of Benedict XVI" and Opus Dei!

HOORAH! Mille Grazie Sapienza University!

Benedict XVI watch out for Pedro Arrupe!










St. Peter's cock crow has come home to roost
Galileo has come back to haunt me
Dogmas and doctrines are inutile
at Sapienza University
My B16-OD Titanic Ship is sinking
Pedro Arrupe happy days are here again


Adolfo Nicolas
30th Superior General of the Jesuit Order

Born near the hometown of Pedro Arrupe

Worked in Japan and the Far East like Pedro Arrupe


Opus Dei owns most of the media outlets in the USA so it is not a surprise that there was lack of USA coverage on the new Father General and the 35th General Congregation in Google search. The New York Times (and Reuters) is owned by the Opus Dei hence their "elusive coverage".

The title of the Reuters news in the New York Times and first line is also typical of Opus Dei disdain (and jealousy) for the Jesuits:

Spaniard Becomes Jesuits' New "Black Pope"

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas was elected the Jesuits' "black pope," as the head of the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic order is known, in a secret conclave on Saturday.


Whoa! "Black Pope...most influential, controversial...secret conclave"! What planet is the Opus Dei living on? There is nothing secret about the 35th General Congregations- it is all captured in pictures and words in the Jesuit Rome website. And they will publish their entire proceedings soon. Well, liar Octopus Dei, lie as much as you can because your Opus Dei tentacles are now tied by the Sapienza University science faculty and students. He who laughs last, laughs best. St? Josemaria Escriba, who is laughing now that your puppet-pope Benedict XVI is forbidden to speak at Rome's own Sapienza University.

And of course Opus Dei repeats the autocracy of the "Pope's permission" in all their Reuters and OD newspapers coverage on the Jesuits:

The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.

The election is by secret ballot and delegates are not allowed to leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed who has won, in keeping with a tradition that the "white pope" is first to know who is the new "black pope."


But these Opus Dei media spin are lies compared to the real photos and sequence of events in the "chronicle of the election day" and official Jesuit press release of the Jesuit Curia in Rome.

Let the Opus Dei play their game of autocracy of "papal approval", their days are numbered now that the B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship has been hit by the Galileo Iceberg -- right in the heart of Rome! The Benedict XVI Opus Dei Autocracy is having a heart attack! Halleluya! Molto Grazie, Sapienza University students and science professors! Mille Grazie!

John Paul II brutta non grata Pedro Arrupe

Now that Galileo has come home to roost and is back to haunt Benedict XVI-Ratzinger, Pedro Arrupe's spirit also has come back to haunt the clone of John Paul II.

Of course, everyone knows the history of the "brutal" ways John Paul II treated Arrupe which probabaly led to his illness in 1981. Nonetheless, his JRS Jesuit Refugee Service is thriving and speaks for itself. Anyone who "hates" the Jesuits only have to look at the hundreds of thousands of refugees the JRS has helped and served...the Opus Dei will NEVER dirty their wealthy hands helping the poor like the Jesuits do.

Here is what the new Father General Nicolas said about Arrupe on the centeneray of Arrupe's birth in 2007.

Adolfo Nicolas, S.J. Looks Back At Pedro Arrupe

http://www.amdg.ie/2008/01/19/eight-encounters-with-arrupe-2/

In this warm tribute to Pedro Arrupe for his centenary celebrations, the new Jesuit Father General, Father Adolfo Nicolás, looks back on his various encounters with his predecessor, whom he always saw to be a “man on fire”.

MADRID 1952

The first time I saw Don Pedro, I did not really meet him. It was in Madrid, in late 1952 or early 1953. I was 17, in my last year of high school. I had already decided to become a Jesuit. Pedro Arrupe gave a lecture on Hiroshima and the atomic bomb. It was mostly about his experience. The special auditorium was so packed that I had to sit somewhere on a stairway. Arrupe was the great missionary, a national hero, a man on fire.

JAPAN 1961

In 1961, I was already in Japan, and would have him as Provincial for almost four more years. When he spoke to Scholastics he was still on fire. He tried hard to protect us against the dangers of Japan at the time, and tried even harder to build the Japanese Province.

This kept him often away from Japan. He had to raise funds and recruit Jesuits from all over the world. Although he did this with great success, it kept him away from us, except at visitation time. I was his personal barber at those times - so little to cut, but so much to listen to. He was a warm person and a great conversationalist.

Those four years were not his best. He was great at trusting his men but poor at choosing them. His long absences from the Province proved less than helpful. The Superiors he left in place and fully trusted did not have his style. So the Province had its share of uneasiness and anxiety.

ROME 1970

By 1970, he was already General. I was struggling through a doctoral thesis at the Collegio Bellarmino. The General traditionally spoke each year to the doctoral candidates. The first 30 minutes were the talk of a visionary. Magnificent and inspired: the signs of the times, the Post-Vatican Church, the challenges of an emerging new world.

The second half of the talk was anti-climatic: he felt that he had to justify theologically what he had presented to us, but he could not.

As with Ignatius, vision and intuition went ahead of theology, thank God. After all, he had himself studied theology in the 1930s.

HONG KONG 1972

In 1972 Colloquium II brought together to Hong Kong 28 ‘promising’ young Jesuits from East and West to look at the future of the Society. It did not work like that, but it did bring good fruits. Arrupe parachuted into the experience and stayed with us for three days. Japan had changed him, so that he wanted the East to have an impact on the rest of the Society. He shared with us his concerns and, once again, he expressed very clearly his Ignatian heart and his passion for the Jesuit vocation and life. In his key address to us, he spoke of Obedience and stated emphatically: “If there is no Obedience, we will have chaos in the Society.”

In his enthusiasm he pronounced chaos in the Spanish way, which in English sounds very much like cows. You can imagine the confusion of the English-speakers among us. During the break they were all asking: ‘Where did those cows come from?’

PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 1980

At the 1980 meeting of the Major Superiors, the high point was the celebration of the Eucharist in the Church of Francis Xavier in Malacca. The stage was perfect, a roofless and dilapidated church with a dilapidated empty space where the body of Francis Xavier had lain, and from where it had been stolen (or so the story goes). Arrupe had gone through the years after General Congregation 32, with the misunderstandings and distrust with the Holy See they had brought. It had been rough sailing. In his homily he focused on the last months of Francis Xavier, on his experience of abandonment, failure and loneliness on Shangchuan Island. Francis was going nowhere. He experienced in his body the mystery of the Cross.

This homily gave us all a glimpse of Francis’ heart. It also took us into the Ignatian Spirituality that we had earlier seen and now saw incarnated in Don Pedro. It was also a prophetic anticipation of what was to come.

PHILIPPINES 1981

When he visited the East Asian Pastoral Institute, he charmed the staff and participants who had the privilege of listening to him. The fire was still all there, as were his openness and imaginative vision of Evangelisation. I walked with him for a few moments during one of the very few breaks in his visit to the Philippines. It was in Angono. He shared his concern for the Society, which he summed up in his last letter on love. This was his last word. He was ready to go. The next day he flew to Bangkok, and from Bangkok to the infirmary.

ROME 1984

I visited him in Rome three years later. I could see Francis Xavier on the shore looking at China. Don Pedro was still burning, eager to communicate, to inspire, to encourage, to continue his mission in each one of us. His warmth came through in spite of his inability to speak, his frustration at being in chains, the pain of the moment.

ROME 1987

I saw Don Pedro for the last time in 1987 during a Congregation of Procurators. We could not speak with him. His light was going away, although it took still another four years to dim completely. We could only witness his passion, passed in quiet, in prayer and in thanksgiving. We were seeing the end of a life of total consistency, of great love, of a dedication that knew nothing of conditions and reservations.

After the last visit that I heard this story. An old Japanese man who had received instruction and Baptism from a younger Fr Arrupe was sharing his memories: ‘I asked to be baptised, not because he was a good catechist; not because I understood what he said (in fact I understood close to nothing); not because he tried to pull me in…but because of the goodness of the person.

“If Christianity”, I told myself, “can produce such quality in a person, it will be good for me too”.’
Adolfo Nicolás SJ



YouTube on Pedro Arrupe

A picture speaks a thousand words. See Padre Arrupe treating poor victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb...Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei wouldn't dirty their hands nor waste their time in poor areas where the Jesuits go and serve...where angels fear to thread. B16 and Octopus Dei would only live in the lap of luxury of the Vatican and the Titanic Ship.

Benedict XVI Titanic Ship hit by Galileo Iceberg!











The B16-OD Benedict XVI-Opus Dei Titanic Ship has been hit by the Galileo Iceberg as Sapienza University science professors and students successfully protested (and prevented) Benedict's papal visit and speech for their opening day of school last January 16, 2008. HOORAH! The B16-OD Titanic Ship hit right in the heart of Rome, the Bishop of Rome's own turf! Don't forget the Opus Dei has a real OD Bishop of Rome who is the REAL Black Pope, a living "twin-pope" of Benedict XVI. This Jesuit Black Pope is only a diversion from the real Opus Dei Black Pope who presides exclusively in Rome (while the Jesuit General roams around the world's poor accompanying and defending them from wealthy Opus Dei landlords).


Bishop Javier Echevarria, the Opus Dei Prelate, the Black Pope


"Twin-Popes" White Pope and Black Pope-Benedict XVI and Bishop Javier Echevarria, Opus Dei Prelate, at the Vatican

Now the Pope and Opus Dei have really no one (like my weblogs and the Jesuits) to blame except themselves for this Galileo Iceberg. As thousands of Opus Dei members rallied in at St. Peter's Square on January 20, 2008 Sunday in support of the "Silenced Pope" the Jesuits were quietly celebrating their Thanksgiving Mass at the Gesu Church to thank God for their new Father General, Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, who is a follower of Pedro Arrupe. The AP Associated Press owned and operated by the Opus Dei said : "Pope Benedict XVI was informed of the choice and immediately gave his approval, Vatican officials said. Papal approval is required." But a picture speaks a thousand words and none of that papal approval crap was shown in the official Rome Jesuit website that chronicled the election in pictures. So the Opus Dei will have to doctor and cook up this "papal approval" thing in the near future.

Old wrinkled 80-year old Benedict XVI is being pumped up by Zeffirelli movie make-up artists and clothed by Rome's top couturiers for his daily royal rituals at the Vatican Palace that rivals the Buckingham Palace. Even his counterpart, the Queen of England and Head of the Anglican Church do not dress nor sit in such pompous golden chair everyday. But the Ratzinger-Opus Dei Titanic Ship has just been hit by an iceberg at his own turf in Rome by the Sapienza University protest because of his stance on Galileo in the past. Yes, his past sin as Cardinal Ratzinger God's Rottweiler has come home to roost and haunt him now as Pope. Who said that the Sacrament of Confession or praying to John Paul II the Great can simply wipe out sins , not so with Ratzinger's sin on Galileo.

As Cardinal Ratzinger and reinforcer of the John Paul II dogmas and doctrines, he silenced many good Jesuit theologians.

In the Chair of Galileo Galilei

The image of God that comes out of that theology is understandable to all: God is more interested in justice than in sacred rites, God is more in tune with the cry of the oppressed than with the praises of the pious. Actions are what counts, not homilies.

Finally, for all that the authorities consider themselves, "Most Reverend Eminencies," they still have the limitations of the human condition. French theologian Yves Congar, who defended me in the magazine La Croix (Sept. 8,1984), said it well: "The charisma of the Vatican's central power is not to ever doubt. Not to have a single doubt is, at once, magnificent and terrible. It is magnificent because the charisma of the center consists precisely in permanently being firm when all around, everything is vacillating. And it is terrible because in Rome there are men with all types of limitations, in their intelligence, in their vocabulary, in their references and in the perspective of their visions. And all of them came down against Boff."

But I refuse to see them with the eyes of the Great Inquisitor. In their own way, they also pretend to serve truth. Definitively, it is truth, and not they, who has the last word. Leonardo Boff

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Who was Galileo

In 1610 Galileo published an account of his telescopic observations of the moons of Jupiter, using this observation to argue in favor of the sun-centered, Copernican theory of the universe against the dominant earth-centered Ptolemaic and Aristotelian theories. The next year Galileo visited Rome in order to demonstrate his telescope to the influential philosophers and mathematicians of the Jesuit Collegio Romano, and to let them see with their own eyes the reality of the four moons of Jupiter. While in Rome he was also made a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. In 1612, opposition arose to the Sun-centered solar system which Galileo supported. In 1614, from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, Father Tommaso Caccini (1574–1648) denounced Galileo's opinions on the motion of the Earth, judging them dangerous and close to heresy. Galileo went to Rome to defend himself against these accusations, but, in 1616, Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino personally handed Galileo an admonition enjoining him neither to advocate nor teach Copernican astronomy.[10] During 1621 and 1622 Galileo wrote his first book, The Assayer (Il Saggiatore), which was approved and published in 1623. In 1630, he returned to Rome to apply for a license to print the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in Florence in 1632. In October of that year, however, he was ordered to appear before the Holy Office in Rome.

Link: God's Rottweiler first bite: the Jesuits

Video of La Sapienza University protest

This is the new Gladiator spectacle of modern Rome ! Poor rich Benedict XVI can no longer roam in Rome even surrounded by his Opus Dei eunuchs!

Benedict XVI the Pope versus Jesus the Rebel



Notice the simple poor clothes of Jesus the Rebel as he sits on the crude soil.

Benedict XVI Humpty Dumpty sits on his Infallible Throne -- with GAY image makeover by GAY Zeffirelli

Look at the billionnaire Pope Benedict XVI attires and golden throne!

No wonder Benedict XVI is completely out-of-touch with reality and the world because he wallows in the lap of luxury with his Opus Dei eunuchs and his golden throne rivals that of Queen Elizabeth and the royals of Europe. What does he care about SNAP and the thousands of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army?

But the JESUIT priest JOHN DEAR is a real follower of Christ

http://www.johndear.org/


Jesus the Rebel: Bearer of God's Peace and Justice

Jesus the Rebel explores the life of Jesus from the perspective of active nonviolence, and includes stories from John Dear's own journey to oppose war and violence and promote Jesus' way of peace and nonviolence. With over thirty chapters, it reflects on the peacemaking side of Jesus' life, in a variety of stories, from his long fast in the desert and his first public speaking event, to the raising of Lazarus, the last supper, his execution and resurrection. The foreword is by longtime peacemaker Daniel Berrigan.

"John Dear has the gift to capture the social gospel as Jesus proclaimed it. I highly recommend this book. He makes the Gospels come alive."

--J. Christoph Arnold,
Bruderhof

"This is a challenging book. Scripturally based, it calls each of us to live by the truth, the law of love. Dear invites us to commit our lives seriously to the joyous, costly, discipleship of Jesus."

--Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate,
Northern Ireland

"If you want to learn how to eat the fire of God's nonviolent and truthful love that is justice and peace for all, come chew on these words of God and become a friend of Jesus the rebel."

--Megan McKenna,
story-teller and author

Read excerpts here - click on "books".
----------

JESUS was NEVER a Christian

The term 'Christian' was not even coined until the days of Paul, about 3 decades after Jesus walked the earth a man.

Jesus was NEVER a Christian, but he was a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up and challenged the job security of the Temple authorities by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God already LOVED them just as they were:

Sinners, poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Military Occupation.

What got Jesus crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces of his time, by teaching the subversive concept that Caesar only had power because God allowed it and that God preferred the humble sinner, the poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Occupation above the elite and arrogant.

The early followers and lovers of Jesus were called members of THE WAY-being THE WAY he taught one should be; Nonviolent, a Peacemaker and one who did the will of the Father .

"What does God require? He has told you o'man! Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8

Jesus remained NONVIOLENT and forgiving even while being mocked, whipped and nailed to a cross and he promised that it is the Peacemakers who are the children of God, not the peace-talkers.

2,000 years ago The Cross had NO symbolic religious meaning.

When Jesus said: "Pick up your cross and follow me."

He was issuing a POLITICAL statement, for the main roads in Jerusalem were lined with crucified agitators, rebels, dissidents and any others who disturbed the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces.

Public service message from WAWA:
www.wearewideawake.org/

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Benedict XVI ignored by Jesuits in Rome


(click on image to enlarge)







The Jesuit delegates of the General Congregation, the Jesuits of Rome and many friends joined the new superior general Father Adolfo Nicolás in celebrating a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Gesù on Sunday afternoon, 20 January.

Nota Bene: "Many friends"...alas the Pope, Cardinals and Bishops are not among them friends!


Fr. Adolfo Nicholas, new Father General of the Jesuits

Saturday, 19 January, saw the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elect Father Adolfo Nicolás as their new Father General, the 29th successor to the order’s founder, Ignatius Loyola. He succeeds Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach, whose resignation was accepted on the preceding Monday. Jesuits and their colleagues around the world, as well as many church leaders, have warmly welcomed the news.

Father Nicolás was born in Palencia in northern Spain - not far from the Basque Country, of which Ignatius Loyola was a native - but he has spent much of his Jesuit life in Asia, especially in Japan, where he studied and worked as professor of Theology at Tokyo’s “Sophia University”, founded by the Jesuits in 1913.

In 2004 he was named Moderator of the Jesuit Conference for Eastern Asia and Oceania, which made him responsible for Jesuits in a number of Asian countries.

Many people acquainted with Father Nicolás have commented on how much his perspective resembles that of Father Pedro Arrupe, the Jesuit Father General from 1965 to 1983, particularly in their sense of the need to promote a ‘faith that does justice’ throughout the world.

----

The Black Pope, the White Pope

In his first homily on January 20 at the Jesuit Gesu Church in Rome, Fr. Nicholas said:

"Above all I would like to say that this is not a message for the whole world. Rather, it is merely a simple homily; a prayerful reflection of today's readings for us Jesuits who are here this afternoon."

This clearly distinguish the Father General from the Pope who addresses "Urbi et Orbi" a papal speech and Apostolic Blessing that is addressed to the City of Rome and to the entire world. The Father General is also different from the highest Opus Dei Prelate who is one of the Bishops of Rome! And is the only Bishop allowed to say Mass at St. Peter's Square beside the Pope!

Fr. Nicholas says that a "Black Pope" are "crumbs for those who love politics"!

"Newspapers and magazines these past few days have been toying with a number of clichés, namely, the Black Pope, the White Pope, power, gatherings, discussions...But it is all so superficial, so artificial! These are but crumbs for those who love politics, but they are not for us."

BRAVO! Fr. Adolfo Nicholas!

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Benedict XVI Autocracy-Crisis

Benedict XVI is having a papal autocracy crisis. First, Sapienza University rejects him, now, the Jesuits ignore him -- all in the heart of Rome -- and within a stone's throw from the Vatican.

Now, if the Romans reject the Pope who is also their own Bishop of Rome, why can't we in the United States of America do as well - especially in his upcoming visit to Washington DC and New York this April? Don't tell me we are more chicken than those gladiator bloody Romans?

If we boycott and protest his USA visit, that will make it a perfect trinity, Sapienza, Jesuits and SNAP. Wouldn't that be great?

Let's put this in historical 2008 perspective.

January 4, 2008 Benedict XVI dismantles the century old Jesuit-run Vatican Observatory

January 6, the Jesuits from all over the world the world are gathered in Rome to select their new Father General and meet for their 35th General Congregation which happens rarely, perhaps 3 or 4 times within a century.

January 16, 2008 Wednesday Rome's Sapienza University canceled a scheduled visit and speech by Benedict XVI amidst students and professors protest because of his Ratzinger views against Galileo

January 19, 2008 Saturday The Jesuit elect a new Father General, Fr. Adolfo Nicholas, and nowhere is the Pope in sight (nor was he "notified before it became public" as Opus Dei writer John Allen kept saying)

January 20, 2008 Sunday Thousands rally at St. Peter's Square to support the "Silenced Pope" (orchestrated by the Opus Dei)

Meanwhile at the Jesuit Gesu Church, the new Father General and Jesuits and MANY FRIENDS celebrate a Mass of Thanksgivingquietly... amidst the Opus Dei noise of the "Silenced Pope"....

So Benedict XVI Humpty Dumpty has fallen in more serious grounds. Sapienza University has no "vow of obedience to the Pope" the Jesuits do, but so far, as actions speak louder than words, in their more than 2 weeks of meeting now, the Pope and the Opus Dei are not welcome within their private Jesuit quarters in Rome. And neither is the Pope included in their Jesuit websites nor his "approval" of the new Fr. General in sight. So Opus Dei autobiographer John Allen is just pumping hot air on the B16 Humpty Dumpty. He said in his ncr cafe that "a Jesuit will walk to the Pope at the Vatican to notify him of the name of the Father General, and AFTER he approves of him, can it only be made public". But this NEVER happened.

And right after the election when the Roman Curia Jesuit website has published all the photos of the election and the celebrations -- John Allen wrote that Benedict XVI "pre-approved a list of possible Father General". GIVE ME A BREAK! John Allen, you have sold your soul to Josemaria Escriva! For how much? Do you go regularly to the Opus Dei palace in New York and receive spiritual "fraternal corrections" from them?

SNAP and fellow Americans, let us PROTEST Benedict XVI's visit to the USA because of his papal-criminal role in the cover-up of priest pedophilia in the USA.

Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America

Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,548 priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI

Monday, January 21, 2008

Benedict XVI 'the Silenced Pope' taste his own medicine



Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.


The result of the fall -- Humpty Dumpty all dressed in white...the sobbing Benedict XVI in papal GAY pajamas..




So now Benedict XVI is having a taste of his own delicious "medicine of SILENCE" which he and the Opus Dei imposed on Fr. Jon Sobrino of El Salvador and other good Jesuits, and most of all on SNAP, Fr. Thomas Doyle and victims of priest-pedophilia. For more than a quarter of a century and as head of the CDF Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger ordered the utmost silence on priest pedophilia with the threat of excommunication to those who'd disclose or speak about it. So what is he going to do to the protesting Sapienza students and professors - excommunicate them ALL? They already made it clear to him: "Knowledge needs neither fathers nor priests". (Sapienza University, Mille Gazie for PROVING my humble WEBLOGS RIGHT!)

Film GAY producer Zeffirelli is now the image consultant of the Pope and this rally at the Vatican in support of the "Silenced Pope", rejected by Sapienza University, could be his first movie production following the footsteps of Opus Dei produced blockbuster The Passion of Christ approved by John Paul II.

Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei are rallying their troops -- (remember the Opus Dei have many members in the political arena) -- to rebuttal the Sapienza University students and professors who successfully ward off the Pope from addressing their school opening day last Thursday. I'd say this was one nice arrow that hit Benedict XVI's Achilles Heel!

The problem with Benedict XVI is that his actions always speak louder than his words and his ostentatious costumes betray his book Jesus of Nazareth. Even with a magnificent make-over by Zeffirelli and Opus Dei supporting cast of 87,000 members worldwide, Benedict XVI will always be the Papal Prince and Christ the Pauper.

At the Vatican rally last Sunday, January 19, 2008, 4 days after his cancelled visit to Sapienza University, he said:
Recalling his "long years" as a theology professor, Benedict told the crowd: "I encourage all of you dear university students to always respect the opinions of others and to seek, with a liberal and responsible spirit, truth and righteousness."

"With a liberal and responsible spirit" is definitely not the autocratic spirit of Benedict XV. His papal spirit is more that of God's Rottweiler who mauls anyone that says the slight criticism or contradiction to what he says. He just dismantled the (Jesuit-run) Vatican Observatory to make room for his Opus Dei eunuchs and OD wealth -- because he just couldn't and never would "always respect the opinions of others". His words as pope is "infallible", so the Opus Dei would like us to follow and blindly obey. But thank God, right in his own front and backyard in Rome, the entire physics faculty, and many other professors said: "Hey Inquisitor of Galileo, the buck stops here!" Hooray!

So Sapienza University students and professors, stick to your guts and do not let this Pope fool you by his Opus Dei theatrical words and Zeffirelli movie strategies.

Upload Video




Video of La Sapienza University anti-Benedict XVI protest: 'UNACCEPTABLE INTOLERANCE'

From: ROMEreports TV News Agency
Benedict XVI chose not to speak at Rome’s La Sapienza University to avoid risking a pretext for unpleasant confrontations between extremist groups.
Channels: ROMEreports TV
News Agency

-------

Italians throng Vatican to support silenced Pope

Sunday Jan 20, 2008 5:41pm IST
By Stephen Brown

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of students, politicians and ordinary Romans thronged the Vatican on Sunday in a major show of sympathy for Pope Benedict after protests led him to cancel a speech at Rome's top university this week.

"Thank you all for this show of solidarity," a smiling Pope told the cheering, clapping crowds who filled St. Peter's Square in much bigger numbers than usual. Some waved banners denouncing the "censorship" imposed by members of La Sapienza university.

The Pope called off a speech at the university scheduled for Thursday after a small group staged protests and sit-ins against what they called his antiquated views on science. The university was founded by a pope more than 700 years ago.

The episode provoked accusations of censorship in the Roman Catholic country. Even critics of the Church, like leftist Nobel laureate Dario Fo, defended the Pope's right to free speech.

Recalling his "long years" as a theology professor, Benedict told the crowd: "I encourage all of you dear university students to always respect the opinions of others and to seek, with a liberal and responsible spirit, truth and righteousness."

Since his election in 2005, the conservative Pontiff has fought what he sees as efforts to restrict the voice of the Church in the public sphere, particularly in Europe. But his stand on issues like abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia has led critics in Italy to accuse him of meddling in politics.

The protesters at La Sapienza criticised his views on science, saying a speech in 1990 showed he would have favoured the Church's 17th century heresy trial against Galileo. The Vatican said the protesters misunderstood that speech, made some 17 years ago when the Pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, had urged Romans to come out on Sunday in support of the Pope, but senior clerics said it should not be seen as a political event.

"We only wish to unite in prayers with the Pope. This is not a political demonstration and must not be used for political ends," said Mons. Mauro Parmeggiani of the Rome diocese.

Fabrizio Cicchitto, a senior member of conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, called the rally a "testimony against the barbarians" who silenced the Pope.

But leftist member of parliament Franco Grillini, a gay rights activist, said "politicians kissing the shoes of the Pontiff" showed "a painful lack of political autonomy".

--------
The Boston Globe

Vatican condemns writings of Jesuit priest in El Salvador
Cites teaching discrepancies

By Tracy Wilkinson, March 15, 2007

ROME -- When a Salvadoran Army death squad dragged six Jesuit priests from their beds in the middle of a November night in 1989, then dumped their bloodied bodies on the lawn, the Rev. Jon Sobrino was 11,000 miles away delivering a lecture.

If not for that assignment, Sobrino would have become another of the "martyrs," the long line of priests, nuns, and other religious workers killed in years of civil strife in El Salvador.

His work with the country's campesinos and his strong advocacy of liberation theology, a doctrine sometimes tinged with Marxist thinking, made him a preferred target of El Salvador's reactionary forces.

Sobrino's views also invited critical scrutiny from the Vatican, especially from former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the enforcer of church dogma and longtime foe of liberation theology and other nontraditional currents, who two years ago became Pope Benedict XVI.

Yesterday, after years of review, the Vatican formally condemned elements of Sobrino's most important writings as "erroneous or dangerous," adding that they "contain notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church."

Sobrino, who is still based in San Salvador, failed to give proper emphasis to the divinity of Jesus, a core belief in Christianity, in two of his most widely disseminated books, the Vatican said in a dense 14-page "notification" released yesterday and translated into four languages.

The decision dismayed many of Sobrino's supporters, who rejected any suggestion he harbored heretical ideas.

The ruling by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stopped short of imposing sanctions, such as barring Sobrino from publishing or teaching at a Catholic institution. However, church officials said the conservative archbishop of San Salvador, Fernando Saenz Lacalle, had the prerogative to impose punishment.

"As for eventual sanctions, the situation is open," the Rev. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said in an e-mail.

At San Salvador's University of Central America, where Sobrino taught for decades until illness recently sidelined him, the censured priest declined requests for an interview. He said through associates that he preferred to remain "prudent."

Sobrino previously has said he considered the work of the committee inspecting his writings to be unfair and to have misrepresented his theological thinking, which he defends as firmly grounded in Roman Catholicism.

Accepting its censure, Sobrino said, would lend credence to what he described as a persecution of liberation theology that dates to the 1970s.

Those comments were contained in a letter Sobrino wrote in December to the head of the Jesuit order in Rome, the Rev. Peter Hans Kolvenbach. Portions were published yesterday by the National Catholic Reporter.

The decision to act against one of the last major champions of liberation theology may be connected with Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Brazil in May, when he will preside over an extraordinary meeting of Latin America's leading clergy.

It was the first public censure of a theologian's work under Benedict.

At least as far back as the early 1980s, the current pope disapproved of Sobrino and his embrace of liberation theology, a religious approach that emphasizes political activism in the fight for justice for the poor.

Reports that the censure of Sobrino was imminent had been circulating for about a week, provoking angst among the Basque Jesuit's defenders and admirers.

"He's a theological giant," said the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit writer and author of the new book "My Life With the Saints."

"Father Sobrino is one of my heroes, and he's a hero for any Jesuit who has sought to find Christ among the poor."

Martin, like several other Jesuits contacted, said he found Sobrino's writings to be fundamental to his ministry, especially among refugees and the disenfranchised.

"Any time a Jesuit is critiqued by the Vatican for his work is a time of sadness for any other Jesuit," Martin said.

The Rev. Jose de Vera, spokesman for the Jesuit headquarters in Rome, said he believed Sobrino was prepared for the committee's finding, having endured criticism for many years.

De Vera said Sobrino was confident that his theology was sound, if untraditional. He cited five theologians who signed off on the two books in question, judging them free of doctrinal error.

The "notification" was signed by Cardinal William Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco who took over as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Benedict became pope.

In it, the faithful are alerted to "grave deficiencies" in two of Sobrino's works: "Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth" and "Christ the Liberator: A View From the Victims."

Among other elements, the critique appreciates Sobrino's concern for the poor but faults him for placing too much emphasis on the human rather than the divine nature of Jesus, and for minimizing his death as the way to salvation.

"A number of Father Sobrino's affirmations tend to diminish the breadth of the New Testament, passages of which affirm that Jesus is God," the report said.



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Signs of the times

Frontline, India's National Magazine from the publishers of The Hindhu
Volume 22 - Issue 12, Jun 04 - 17, 2005

Nandagospal R. Menon


The resignation of the editor of a New York-based Jesuit journal, under pressure from the Vatican, raises questions about the future of free debate within the Catholic Church.



Fr. Thomas J. Reese.

THE Society of Jesus knew that the debate, if it might be called one, was "unwinnable". Pitted against it was the all-powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican's guardian of orthodoxy, and its head Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, currently Pope Benedict XVI. The CDF wanted the Society of Jesus, a men-only religious order of the Roman Catholic Church popularly known as Jesuits, to sack Fr. Thomas J. Reese as the editor-in-chief of America, the respected and influential New York-based newsweekly published by the United States' Jesuits since 1909. The Jesuits withstood the pressure for five years. But in early May, about a month after Ratzinger was elected Pope, Reese resigned, seven years after he took office.

The CDF objected to America's decision, under Reese as editor, to publish stories critical of the Church's stance on several issues. They included some hot potatoes of contemporary Catholic discourse: homosexuality; the role of condoms in combating acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); Dominus Iesus, the CDF's 2000 declaration that reaffirmed Jesus Christ as the only saviour; the denial of Communion to Catholic politicians who strayed from Church teachings, primarily the one on abortion; clerical celibacy; and stem-cell research.

But it was never a one-sided attack on the Church's doctrinal positions. America stuck to one of the well-established principles of modern journalism: give both sides of the story. It paired articles supporting official Church perspectives with those that disagreed with them. An essay by U.S. Senator David Obey assailed plans to deny communion to Catholic politicians who supported women's right to legal abortion. Another issue of America carried an article, by Prof. Stephen J. Pope of the Jesuit-run Boston College, questioning the Church's condemnation of same-sex marriage. Both replied to other writers who espoused the Church's teaching on the subjects.

America gave space to writings of important figures in the Church hierarchy, including Ratzinger and the conservative U.S. Jesuit Avery Cardinal Dulles. Ratzinger's article responded to one by fellow German Walter Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on the "relationship between the universal Church and the local churches". And America's editorials, by and large, faithfully adhered to the magisterium.

The CDF first took up the issue, apparently instigated by a few U.S. bishops, with the Jesuit superior-general Dutch Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach five years ago. It asked him to rein in the editorial board of the magazine. Ratzinger is said to have personally conveyed his displeasure to Kolvenbach. Fr. Jose M. de Vera, the spokesperson of the Jesuits in Rome, said the CDF wanted America to carry articles "defending whatever position the Church has manifested, even if it is not infallible". Things came to a head in early 2004 when the CDF threatened to impose a board of censors on the magazine. The Jesuits managed to ward off the threat by setting up an internal panel to review articles before publication. But in March 2005, when the late Pope John Paul II was alive, the CDF reportedly wrote to Kolvenbach asking him to sack Reese.

The final blow came with the election of Benedict XVI. De Vera said: "With Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope, I think [Reese] thought it would be very difficult to continue his line of openness, without creating more problems. ... He knew the situation. He didn't want to embarrass the Society [of Jesus] and he didn't want to fight the Pope, so he resigned."

Sixty-year-old Reese is a political scientist by training and holds a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of two excellent studies on the Church in the U.S., Archbishop, Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church and A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops. His third and most important work, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organisation of the Catholic Church, is one of the best primers on the subject and has been translated into four languages. The latter book and its popularity among the laity too played a role in alienating the CDF. It took exception to the book's non-traditional socio-political study of the Church as an organisation, something other than the dogmatic understanding of the Church as the "mystical body" and "spouse" of Christ. Reese is a much-sought-after commentator on Church affairs and frequently appears on prominent U.S. television channels. He was a regular face on television explaining ancient Church practices and rituals after the death of John Paul II and in the run-up to and after the conclave that elected Ratzinger.

In a May 6 statement issued by America, Reese said: "I am proud of what my colleagues and I did with the magazine, and I am grateful to them, our readers and our benefactors for the support they gave me. I look forward to taking a sabbatical while my provincial and I determine the next phase of my Jesuit ministry." Jesuit Fr. Drew Christiansen, associate editor of the magazine who holds a doctorate from Yale University, replaced Reese.

As expected, the reactions to Reese's ouster pointed to the purported conservative-liberal divide among U.S. Catholics. Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter which broke the story of Reese's exit, told Frontline: "This discipline can only mean that Rome will tolerate nothing more in the way of Catholic intellectual discussion than a rote recitation of themes as they come from the Vatican. This action is a serious blow to Catholic intellectual life in the U.S." Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the New York-based conservative journal on religion First Things, said: "Just as you don't expect Planned Parenthood to give a platform to the pro-life position, there's no reason why a Catholic journal should provide a platform for positions that are clearly contrary to those of the Church... "

It would be unwise to jump to a conclusion about the future course of Benedict XVI's papacy on the basis of this one incident. But l'affaire Reese has generated a sense of foreboding. In the second week of May, the U.S. Jesuit Conference sacked one of its officials for an article he wrote in its monthly newsletter National Jesuit News. Erik Meder's article, "Strangers No Longer: Who is the Other among us?", appeared in the April/May edition of the newsletter.

Calling for an open dialogue between the Church and homosexuals about homosexuality, Meder said: "The same approximate percentage of the U.S. population is homosexual as is foreign-born: 10 to 15 per cent. The majority of American Catholics are neither. ... When the Other is a migrant, Catholics are urged by the Church to employ a hermeneutic of self-understanding in their encounters with the Other. When the Other is a homosexual, the notion of hermeneutic encounter drops from the scene." Meder's superiors asked him to resign from his post because his article had caused "irreparable harm to the Society of Jesus in the U.S.". Clearly, the Jesuits did not want more uncalled-for attention from Rome.

THE Jesuits are no strangers to controversy and their almost 500-year-old history bears ample testimony to this. Since its foundation, the order has defended its members and has stood up for what it believed in, often at the risk of earning powerful enemies within the Church and in the European courts. Also irking its adversaries was the Society's increasing dominance of European education - it ran a wide network of excellent schools and colleges - and Catholic missionary efforts in Asia and Latin America. Over two centuries of hostilities culminated in the expulsion of the Society from Portugal, France and Spain in the mid-18th century, and its formal worldwide suppression by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. It was restored only 41 years later, in 1814, by Pius VII.

The past quarter of a century has been a relatively bad phase in the history of the Jesuits, founded by the Basque nobleman St. Ignatius of Loyola and some of his friends in 1534 in France. Several of its members, including former superior-general the saintly Basque Fr. Pedro Arrupe, were shabbily treated by the Vatican under the late John Paul II. The Pope rejected Arrupe's resignation from the post, following a debilitating stroke, and the Society's constitution was suspended for more than two years in the early 1980s. A papal representative conducted the order's affairs during this period.

The pressure to crack down on the Jesuits was building up since the early 1970s when the order stressed, in the words of Arrupe, the "inseparability of promotion of justice and propagation of the faith". Inspired by this vision, Jesuits such as the late Fr. Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay and Fr. Jon Sobrino of El Salvador played a leading role in the development of Latin American liberation theology. Its influence was evident in every field of work of the Society - from education to social service. But the same commitment was blamed for much confusion in the ranks of the order about the role of a priest. It was alleged that the Jesuit priest was more into social activism than spiritual matters and had little regard for papal authority. Popes Paul VI and John Paul I, predecessors of John Paul II, had expressed their "concern" at the Society's alleged "loss of identity" as a "priestly" order.

The Ratzinger-led CDF "silenced" or criticised several distinguished Jesuit theologians, including American Fr. Roger Haight, Belgian Fr. Jacques Dupuis and Indian Fr. Anthony de Mello. A popular writer who tried to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western spiritualities, de Mello was censured 10 years after his death in 1987, for "relativising" faith and thus leading to "religious indifferentism". John Paul II forced American Fr. Robert F. Drinan to step down as a Democrat member of the U.S. Congress in 1980, a post he held for more than a decade. The hero of many a battle for human rights and nuclear disarmament, he represented Massachusetts.

So RATzinger, how does your own medicine taste now, huh? You can put all the Octopus Dei sugar on your "Silence" medicine, but it ain't sweet at all, is it?

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