The Council is here to stay

 On 7th January 2026, Pope Leo XIV began a series of General Audience catecheses "dedicated to Vatican Council II and a rereading of its documents".

In this first catechesis of the series, Pope Leo cites each of his immediate predecessors own observations on the Council:

Pope St John Paul II, at the end of the Jubilee Year 2000: “I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century”

Pope Benedict XVI, at the start of his pontificate in 2005: ".. as the years have passed, the Conciliar Documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society”.

Pope Leo attributes to the work of the Council the observation of Pope St Paul VI in his encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam: that the Church “has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make”, seeking the truth by the different means of dialogue.

In what might be thought as a statement of his aims in this series of catecheses, Pope Leo says:

Although the time that separates us from this event is not so long, it is equally true that the generation of bishops, theologians and believers of Vatican II is no longer with us. Therefore, while we hear the call not to let its prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through “hearsay” or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content. 

Pope Leo's intention that the Church should come to know the Council closely by undertaking a rereading of the Council documents offers an invitation to dialogue to those who would prefer to be critical of the Council's teaching.

As far as the implementation of the insights of the Council is concerned, I do think that there are examples in the experience of the Church where some of its most controverted principles are actually lived out in an authentic way. If time allows, I may post on these examples in the future.

The Jubilee of Choirs

In the Roman Liturgy, one of the Lenten Prefaces ends with the exhortation:

Through him the Angels praise your majesty,
Dominions adore and Powers tremble before you.
Heaven and the Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim
worship together with exultation.
May our voices, we pray, join with theirs
in humble praise, as we acclaim: 

The Easter Prefaces end:

Therefore, overcome with paschal joy,
every land, every people exults in your praise
and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts, 
sing together the unending hymn of your glory
as they acclaim:

And the text of the Sanctus that these words introduce takes us to the words of the six winged Seraphim before the throne of God in the vision of Isaiah (Is. 6):

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.

As the Church celebrates the Jubilee of Choirs in the days 22nd-23rd November 2025, to coincide with the feast day of St Cecilia, the Liturgy suggests to us that the voices raised in praise of God here on earth, voices which express praise on behalf of the whole cosmos, are one with those of the heavenly liturgy. It is interesting to consider the extent to which, as we attend Mass, we let ourselves become explicitly conscious of the heavenly character of our worship.

In his chapter on "Music and Liturgy" in the book The Spirit of the Liturgy, Joseph Ratzinger offers the following reflection:

In the Eucharist a communion takes place that corresponds to the union of man and woman in marriage. Just as they become "one flesh", so in Communion we all become "one spirit", one person, with Christ. The spousal mystery , announced in the Old Testament, of the intimate union of God and man takes place in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, precisely through his Passion and in a very real way. The singing of the Church comes ultimately out of love. It is the utter depth of love that produces the singing. "Cantare amantis est", says St Augustine, singing is a lover's thing.

For those who sing in more secular contexts, their singing can perhaps be seen as one of those "seeds of the Gospel" of which the Jubilee Prayer speaks:

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally. 

The claim to the title "Christian"

I am prompted to reflect on the claim to the use of the title "Christian" by some recent events. On two occasions recently, the Christian symbol of the Cross has been displayed at political demonstrations in London, thereby appropriating to the intentions of those demonstrations the title "Christian". In the United States, the Turning Point movement, essentially political in character, has used the Christian faith of its founder to appropriate a Christian character to the movement. There is also the claim to identify Britain as a Christian country, expressed eloquently by Danny Kruger speaking in the House of Commons:

When I speak of the Church of England today, I am not speaking about the internal politics of the Anglican sect; I speak of the common creed of our country, the official religion of the English and the British nation, and the institution—older than the monarchy, and much older than Parliament—which made this country.

I have three observations:

1. Beware of a use of the term "Christian" in way that leaves an exact meaning unexpressed. In this usage it might refer to anything from structured Christian bodies, such as the Episcopalian Church in the United States or the Church of England in Britain, to completely independent congregations via networks of Evangelical (mega-) churches. In this usage, exactly who or what is the "Christian" that is referenced? If we are not careful, the use of the term has such wide range of possible references that it becomes empty of substantial meaning.

2. Beware of a politics that is, first of all and in principle, a politics but which then wishes to add to itself the descriptor "Christian". This remains first and foremost a politics and, even if its advocates might profess a Christian faith (but see point 1 above), that does not allow the political stance in itself to be called "Christian". As might be said on the London Underground, we need to "mind the gap" and not permit the "Christian" claim of such a politics to establish for it an unwarranted credibility.

3. There are politicians who profess a Christian faith and, on the basis of that faith, advocate for certain positions in their public life. This, however, is a somewhat inverse of the position described at point 2 above. See the words of Pope Benedict below.

But rather than trying to create a politics that wishes to claim a title of "Christian", Pope Benedict XVI and, more recently, Pope Leo XIV have advocated for a "healthy secularity" in the world of culture and politics.

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in Westminster Hall during his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010:

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. This “corrective” role of religion vis-à-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms of religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create serious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of religion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion. It is a two-way process. Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.

 Pope Leo XIV speaking to a working group on inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue:

European institutions need people who know how to live a healthy secularism, that is, a style of thinking and acting that affirms the value of religion while preserving the distinction — not separation or confusion — from the political sphere.  In particular, it is worth noting the examples of Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi.

Jubilee of Roma, Sinti and Travelling Peoples

 A Jubilee of Travelling Peoples is being marked in Rome on 18th October 2025. The main event looks as if it will be an extended meeting with Pope Leo XIV, followed by the opportunity to make a pilgrimage through the Holy Door at St Peter's Basilica. It seems particularly appropriate for this meeting to be taking place as part of Jubilee with the theme "Pilgrims of Hope", given the itinerant traditions of the different travelling peoples.

In England, the major gathering of Travelling Peoples each year is the Appleby Horse Fair. This takes place in early June each year and represents a massive undertaking on the part of the local community as it welcomes tens of thousands of visitors to what is a small market town.

The Marian shrine of Lourdes also welcomes an annual pilgrimage of travelling peoples (in French, "gens du voyage"), usually during August. Though the shrine itself is accustomed to welcoming large numbers of pilgrims, the accomodating of the many caravans of the travelling people requires the same sort of co-operation of the local authorities that takes place in Appleby.

On 26th November 1965, Pope St Paul VI visited an international encampment of travelling peoples on pilgrimage from all over Europe on the outskirts of Rome. The weather was awful, with persistent rain, but this appears not to have dampened the enthusiasm of those who welcomed the Holy Father. Pope Paul opened his homily with this greeting:

Our greeting to you, perpetual pilgrims; to you, voluntary exiles; to you, refugees always on the road; to you, travellers without rest! To you, without your own house, without a fixed home, without a homeland, without a public society! To you, who lack qualified work, lack social contact, lack sufficient means!

When Pope Benedict XVI met with gypsy pilgrims in June 2011 he reminded them of this earlier meeting with Paul VI: 

You have come to Rome from every part of Europe to express your faith and your love for Christ and for the Church — which is a home to you all — and for the Pope. The Servant of God Paul VI addressed these unforgettable words to Gypsies in 1965: “In the Church you are not on the fringes of society but in some respects in its centre, in its heart. You are in the heart of the Church”. Today too I repeat with affection: you are in the Church! You are a beloved portion of the pilgrim People of God and remind us that here “we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come” (Heb 13:14). 

In his turn, Pope Francis met with a pilgrimage of gypsies undertaken to mark the 50th anniversary of that first meeting with Pope St Paul VI:

Many of you come from afar and have undertaken a long journey to come here. Welcome! I thank you for wishing to commemorate together the historic meeting of Blessed Paul VI with the nomadic people. Fifty years have passed since he came to visit you in the Camp at Pomezia. The Pope spoke to your grandparents and parents with fatherly care, saying: “Wherever you stop you are considered a bother and a stranger [...] Here not so; [...] here you find someone who loves you, esteems you, appreciates you and assists you”. With these words, he spurred the Church to a pastoral commitment with your people, encouraging you too at the same time to trust her.  

An aside on the Church of England

 Danny Kruger MP recently spoke in a House of Commons adjournment debate on the future of the Church of England. The record of his speech, two interventions from Andrew Rosindell MP and the response of Jim McMahon MP (Minister for Local Government and English Devolution) can be found in the Hansard Record: Future of the Church of England.

It is of interest to read the content of this debate alongside Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Westminster Hall during his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010, and to read Danny Kruger's own account of the position of the Church of England in the light of the more nuanced presentation of Jim McMahon in his reply to the debate.

In considering the place of the Church of England parish in the life of a local community, Danny Kruger suggests that everyone living within the territory of their local parish is a member of that parish even if they do not enter the church or believe its doctrine:

Even if you never set foot in your church from one year to the next, and even if you do not believe in its teachings, it is your church and you are its member.

The observations of Andrew Rosindell and Jim McMahon in considering the place of the parish in community life are more nuanced. 

It is not just about the church community, the members of the church; it has a wider responsibility to all people of all religions and no religion, not just Church of England members. The Church of England should cherish the importance of the parish as a part of all our communities in the constituencies we represent. 

Where Danny Kruger argues that:

Without the Christian God, in whose teaching these things [freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights] have their source, these are inventions—mere non-existent aspirations.

Pope Benedict suggests that: 

The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles.

The Church of England undoubtedly has a particular place in both the national and local life of the nation, rooted not only in its being the established Church of the nation, but also because its make up gives it a particular genius for a presence in civic life. This can be seen in play at commemorations such as Remembrance Sunday, and the way in which they are marked both nationally and locally. Though it was not always so - think of the persecution of Roman Catholics at the time of the Reformation - it has also developed that paradoxical protecting of other religious beliefs under the framework of the established religion.

 I cannot help but feel, however, that Danny Kruger's account of the place of the Church of England in the life of the nation combines what at one time would have been described as Erastianism with a presumption for ethical stances that really need a more reasoned defence. It has a tinge of ideology (in a technical sense) about it that will detract from its ability to influence.

Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers

 The Jubilee for Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers takes place over two days, 28th-29th July 2025. The days coincide with the beginning of the Jubilee of Youth which takes place over several days, and reflects the pattern of World Youth Days.

The warnings of Chapter 1 of Vatican II's Decree Inter Mirifica , on the means of social communication, appear exceptionally prescient of the world of digital communications, a world which was inconceivable at the time of its promulgation (translation from Flannery ed. Vatican Council II).

There exists therefore in human society a right to information on the subjects that are of concern to men either as individuals or as members of society, according to each man's circumstances. The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be true and - within the limits set by justice and charity - complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. 

In his message for the 2013 World Day of Communications, Pope Benedict XVI wrote of the part that can be played by social media networks: "Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization".

The culture of social networks and the changes in the means and styles of communication pose demanding challenges to those who want to speak about truth and values. Often, as is also the case with other means of social communication, the significance and effectiveness of the various forms of expression appear to be determined more by their popularity than by their intrinsic importance and value. Popularity, for its part, is often linked to celebrity or to strategies of persuasion rather than to the logic of argumentation. At times the gentle voice of reason can be overwhelmed by the din of excessive information and it fails to attract attention which is given instead to those who express themselves in a more persuasive manner. The social media thus need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation; of people who strive to cultivate forms of discourse and expression which appeal to the noblest aspirations of those engaged in the communication process. Dialogue and debate can also flourish and grow when we converse with and take seriously people whose ideas are different from our own. “Given the reality of cultural diversity, people need not only to accept the existence of the culture of others, but also to aspire to be enriched by it and to offer to it whatever they possess that is good, true and beautiful” (Address at the Meeting with the World of Culture, Bélem, Lisbon, 12 May 2010).

In his message for the 2011 World Day of Communications, Benedict XVI also addressed the question of communicating the Gospel in the digital age:

The task of witnessing to the Gospel in the digital era calls for everyone to be particularly attentive to the aspects of that message which can challenge some of the ways of thinking typical of the web. First of all, we must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its “popularity” or from the amount of attention it receives. We must make it known in its integrity, instead of seeking to make it acceptable or diluting it. It must become daily nourishment and not a fleeting attraction. The truth of the Gospel is not something to be consumed or used superficially; rather it is a gift that calls for a free response. Even when it is proclaimed in the virtual space of the web, the Gospel demands to be incarnated in the real world and linked to the real faces of our brothers and sisters, those with whom we share our daily lives. Direct human relations always remain fundamental for the transmission of the faith.

Digital missionaries might take to themselves one sentence from the prayer for the Jubilee, bearing in mind that they may not see the response to their posting from people in a very different part of the world:

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of he seeds of the Gospel.

Jubilee 2025: World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly

 In 2021, as the world began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly was marked by Pope Francis. It is a celebration that reflects something of Pope Francis' charism of appreciation for the more everyday aspects of the living of the Christian life. He had a particular sense of the role that grandparents can play in the life of their families, in relation to their children and in relation to their grandchildren. He spoke optimistically of the wisdom that the older generation could share with the younger generation, especially with regard to the handing on of the Catholic faith. Perhaps Pope Francis had an awareness of a generational gap in terms of catechesis and practice of the faith that affected parents, and saw in grandparents a resource to bridge this gap; perhaps he was speaking from a cultural background that still retained a lived experience of family life less affected by the disruption of family break up of some more developed countries. 

In his message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis referenced the words of Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to a home for the elderly. Pope Benedict was visiting a "casa-famiglia", or "family home" of the St Egidio Community, where he described himself as "an old man visiting his peers" and insisted that "it is beautiful to be old!".

From the outset the Community of Sant’Egidio has supported so many elderly people on their way, helping them to stay in their own living milieus and opening various “casa-famiglia” in Rome and throughout the world. Through solidarity between the young and the old it has helped people to understand that the Church is effectively a family made up of all the generations, where each person must feel “at home” and where it is not the logic of profit and of possession that prevails but that of giving freely and of love. When life becomes frail, in the years of old age, it never loses its value and its dignity: each one of us, at any stage of life, is wanted and loved by God, each one is important and necessary.

 As people grow older and become more infirm, I think it is good that they maintain independence in living and in sustaining a social life as long as that is possible. But I think it is also valuable to recognise the point at which the help of others becomes necessary, and to then accept that help with graciousness rather than with resentment. That graciousness represents a gift of the person who is infirm towards the person who cares for them, and is a sign of regard for the person who, by caring, expresses a key dimension of their own dignity as a person. Pope Benedict XVI touched on this idea during his visit with the elderly:

Dear friends, at our age we often experience the need of the help of others; and this also happens to the Pope. In the Gospel we read that Jesus told the Apostle Peter: “when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go” (Jn 21:18). The Lord was referring to the way in which the Apostle was to witness to his faith to the point of martyrdom, but this sentence makes us think about that fact that the need for help is a condition of the elderly. I would like to ask you to seek in this too a gift of the Lord, because being sustained and accompanied, feeling the affection of others is a grace!

 In the Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis indicated that the elderly and grandparents might be shown particular signs of hope (n.14):

The elderly, who frequently feel lonely and abandoned, also deserve signs of hope. Esteem for the treasure that they are, their life experiences, their accumulated wisdom and the contribution that they can still make, is incumbent on the Christian community and civil society, which are called to cooperate in strengthening the covenant between generations.

Here I would also mention grandparents, who represent the passing on of faith and wisdom to the younger generation. May they find support in the gratitude of their children and the love of their grandchildren, who discover in them their roots and a source of understanding and encouragement.

And Pope Leo XIV reminds us, in his message for the fifth World Day of the Elderly and Grandparents, to be marked on 27th July 2025, that the Jubilee indulgence can be obtained under the usual conditions for a visit to the elderly who are alone:

[Pope Francis] wanted the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly to be celebrated primarily through an effort to seek out elderly persons who are living alone. For this reason, those who are unable to come to Rome on pilgrimage during this Holy Year may “obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if they visit, for an appropriate amount of time, the elderly who are alone... making, in a sense, a pilgrimage to Christ present in them (cf. Mt 25:34-36)” (APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY, Norms for the Granting of the Jubilee Indulgence, III). Visiting an elderly person is a way of encountering Jesus, who frees us from indifference and loneliness. 

First Greetings of Recent Popes

As the sequence of major events of the Jubilee 2025 take a summer break, it might be of interest to reflect on the first words offered by the recent Successors of Peter on their election.

Pope Leo XIV's first greeting from the balcony of the Vatican Basilica, delivered from a prepared text, was as follows (my translation from the original Italian rather than the English):

Peace be with you all!

Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for God’s flock. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter into your hearts, to reach your families, every person, wherever they may be, all peoples and all the earth. Peace be with you!

This is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. It comes from God, the God who loves all, unconditionally.

 There is an echo in Pope Leo's choice of words of that testimony to the Resurrection that occurs at the start of the Papal Mass on Easter Sunday, when the Successor of Peter venerates an image of he Risen Christ, enacting in a way the testimony of the first Peter.

Pope Francis' style from the start of his time as Pope was informal, though not without something that prompts more reflection.

Brothers and sisters, good evening!

You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the earth to get one... but here we are... I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop. ...

And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People. This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity. It is my hope for you that this journey of the Church, which we start today, and in which my Cardinal Vicar, here present, will assist me, will be fruitful for the evangelization of this most beautiful city.

And now I would like to give the blessing, but first - first I ask a favour of you: before the Bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me.

The theme of fraternity was to be a feature of Pope Francis' subsequent pontificate; and for those familiar with the life of the Charismatic Renewal, that request for the people to pray a blessing over their bishop was not as unusual as it appeared to many at the time.

Pope Benedict XVI was brief and to the point:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.

The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

Let us move forward in the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you.

Pope John Paul II's first greeting shows similar brevity, and a certain foreshadowing of the words of Pope Benedict XVI (my translation from the Italian):

 Praised be Jesus Christ.

Dearest brothers and sisters

We are still all sorrowful after the death of our most loved Pope John Paul I. And now the Eminent Cardinals have called a new bishop of Rome. They have called him from a distant land ... distant, but always so close by the communion in the Christian faith and tradition. I was fearful in receiving this nomination, but I have accepted it in a spirit of obedience towards Our Lord Jesus Christ and in total trust towards his Mother, the Most Holy Madonna.

I do not know if it is possible to explain myself in your ... in our Italian language. If I make a mistake you correct me. And so I present myself to you, by confessing our common faith, our hope, our trust in the Mother of Christ and of the Church, and also to set out anew on the way of the history of the Church, with the help of God and with the help of men.

The initial greeting - Praised be Jesus Christ - is traditional in some European countries, though not unknown here in Britain, and it has something of the testimony to faith in Christ that can be seen in Pope Leo XIV's first greeting. There is also an echo of Louis de Montfort's spirit in the words of "total trust" towards the Mother of God, which was to be shown in Pope John Paul II's motto "Totus Tuus". 

On the day of his election, Pope John Paul I gave only the blessing "Urbi et Orbi" from the balcony of the Vatican Basilica. It was at the Angelus the following day that he gave some account of his election (I have added italics to one paragraph):

Yesterday morning I went to the Sistine Chapel to vote tranquilly. Never could I have imagined what was about to happen. As soon as the danger for me had begun, the two colleagues who were beside me whispered words of encouragement. One said: "Courage! If the Lord gives a burden, he also gives the strength to carry it." The other colleague said: "Don't be afraid; there are so many people in the whole world who are praying for the new Pope." When the moment of decision came, I accepted.

Then there was the question of the name, for they also ask what name you wish to take, and I had thought little about it. My thoughts ran along these lines: Pope John had decided to consecrate me himself in St Peter's Basilica, then, however unworthy, I succeeded him in Venice on the Chair of St Mark, in that Venice which is still full of Pope John. He is remembered by the gondoliers, the Sisters, everyone.

Then Pope Paul not only made me a Cardinal, but some months earlier, on the wide footbridge in St Mark's Square, he made me blush to the roots of my hair in the presence of 20,000 people, because he removed his stole and placed it on my shoulders. Never have I blushed so much!

Furthermore, during his fifteen years of pontificate this Pope has shown, not only to me but to the whole world, how to love, how to serve, how to labour and to suffer for the Church of Christ.

For that reason I said: "I shall be called John Paul." I have neither the "wisdom of the heart" of Pope John, nor the preparation and culture of Pope Paul, but I am in their place. I must seek to serve the Church. I hope that you will help me with your prayers.

Each of the recent Popes have acknowledged their immediate predecessor, but Pope John Paul I shows a particular appreciation of the pontificate of Pope Paul VI in recognising his suffering on behalf of the Church. I also recall, upon reading the texts of Pope John Paul I's addresses during his short time as Pope, thinking that they were very comparable to the addresses of Pope Benedict XVI during the early part of his pontificate.

Pope Paul VI's first greeting after his election took the form of a Message to the Entire Human Family, dated the day after his election.

Venerable Brothers and beloved children of all the world!

On this day dedicated to the most sweet Heart of Jesus, in the act of taking up the duty of shepherding the flock of the Lord - which according to the expression of St Augustine is before all amoris officium (In Io. 123, 5) in exercise of paternal and thoughtful charity towards all the sheep, redeemed by the most precious blood of Jesus Christ - the first feeling which, before others, which arises from our heart is that of a firm confidence in the all powerful aid of the Lord. He, who had shown his adorable will by way of the consent of our venerable Brothers, the Fathers of the Sacred College, entrusting to Us the care and responsibility for the Holy Church, knows to instill in our soul, fearful because of the huge task imposed, the watchful and serene strength, the untiring zeal for his glory, the missionary anxiety for the clear, persuasive diffusion everywhere of the Gospel.

Pope St Paul then went on to mention each of his immediate predecessors as Pope, Pius XI, Pius XII and particularly John XXIII:

[John XXIII], who has given to the entire world the example of his singular goodness. But I wish to recall in an altogether particular way with pious memory and emotion the figure of the late John XXIII, who, in the short but most intense period of his ministry, know how to draw close to himself the hearts of men, also of those who were distant, by his unsleeping solicitude, by his sincere and concrete goodness for the humble, by the outstanding pastoral character of his action, qualities to which is added the altogether particular charm of the human gifts of his large heart.

Jubilee of Bishops and Jubilee of Priests

 Though they are presented as if they are two distinct celebrations, the Jubilees of Bishops and of Priests due to be marked between 25th June 2025 and the 27th June 2025 form an integrated programme, ending with Mass celebrated on 27th for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. If the earlier Jubilee of movements and ecclesial communities reminded us of the role of the charisms in the life of the Church, these two jubilees remind us that, nevertheless, the Church is expressed in a hierarchical structure.

In the programme of the Jubilee, the Bishops will take part in a catechesis with the Holy Father, intended I susggest to manifest the communion of the individual Bishops with the Successor of Peter and their sharing in a care for the universal Church. On the following day, catecheses will be given by Bishops (in language groups) to priests taking part in the Jubilee of Priests, expressing something of the collaboration of a priest with his Bishop in the pastoral care of a parish within a diocese. The Dicastery for the Clergy will also be hosting an event Joyful Priests - I have called you friends, during which there will be testimony of examples of vocational ministry and seminary formation from different parts of the Catholic world.

In a lecture given in 1981, and subsequently published in the journal Communio, Cardinal Lustiger discussed the connection between celibacy and priestly and episcopal ordination. Early in the lecture, he attempted to define "what this episcopal ministry is, priesthood par excellence":

The bishop, exercising in the church the priestly ministry is given to the church-body of Christ as a sign of Christ the head. Thus the whole church can exercise the priestly act of Christ described in the first Epistle of Peter by receiving in the sacramental grace given in the episcopal ministry the assurance that the word which is spoken in her is truly the word that Christ utters in his church, and that faith brought about by the Holy Spirit is truly the common faith of the whole church. Thus guarantees that the holiness given by the Father to his church comes indeed from Christ himself who acts in the sacraments, and so that unity in brotherly love which must always gather the members of the church in mercy and pardon is truly that which is accomplished and operated by Christ himself in his body. Through the priestly ordination of the bishop, the church is assured that she receives herself from Christ, priest, prophet and king. A formula recently quoted by John Paul II condenses the significance of the sacrament of orders - through his priestly ministerial act, the bishop (the priest) acts in persona Christi before the body of Christ, for example, the church.

Cardinal Lustiger continues to suggest that priests "exert jointly and in collegiality the episcopal ministry" as collaborators with the bishop who is the primary priest of his particular church.

In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI wrote a letter to inaugurate a Year for Priests, celebrated to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St John Vianney. The year began on the Feast of the Sacred Heart that year, the feast being one marked as a day of prayer for the sanctification of priests.

Saint John Mary Vianney taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of his life. It was from his example that they learned to pray, halting frequently before the tabernacle for a visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.“One need not say much to pray well” – the Curé explained to them – “We know that Jesus is there in the tabernacle: let us open our hearts to him, let us rejoice in his sacred presence. That is the best prayer”. And he would urge them: “Come to communion, my brothers and sisters, come to Jesus. Come to live from him in order to live with him… “Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!”. This way of educating the faithful to the Eucharistic presence and to communion proved most effective when they saw him celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Those present said that “it was not possible to find a finer example of worship… He gazed upon the Host with immense love”. “All good works, taken together, do not equal the sacrifice of the Mass” – he would say – “since they are human works, while the Holy Mass is the work of God”. He was convinced that the fervour of a priest’s life depended entirely upon the Mass: “The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!”. He was accustomed, when celebrating, also to offer his own life in sacrifice: “What a good thing it is for a priest each morning to offer himself to God in sacrifice!”.

This deep personal identification with the Sacrifice of the Cross led him – by a sole inward movement – from the altar to the confessional. Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or the apparent indifference of the faithful to this sacrament. In France, at the time of the Curé of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day, since the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the practice of religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and his powers of persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of the Eucharistic presence. He thus created a “virtuous” circle. By spending long hours in church before the tabernacle, he inspired the faithful to imitate him by coming to visit Jesus with the knowledge that their parish priest would be there, ready to listen and offer forgiveness. Later, the growing numbers of penitents from all over France would keep him in the confessional for up to sixteen hours a day. It was said that Ars had become “a great hospital of souls”. His first biographer relates that “the grace he obtained [for the conversion of sinners] was so powerful that it would pursue them, not leaving them a moment of peace!”. The saintly Curé reflected something of the same idea when he said: “It is not the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God himself who runs after the sinner and makes him return to him”. “This good Saviour is so filled with love that he seeks us everywhere”.

[It is interesting to compare St John Vianney's observations about the Sacrament of Penance to the late Pope Francis' contemporary emphasis on the mercy of God.]

Jubilee of Governments

 The days 21st - 22nd June 2025 are being marked as a Jubilee of Governments, though no particular events are indicated at the Jubilee 2025 website as taking part during these days. The target audience for these days is likely to be diplomats and political leaders.

England is the home of St Thomas More, who was declared by Pope St John Paul II in the year 2000 to be the Patron Saint of Statesmen and Politicians. His Apostolic Letter gives a wide ranging account of St Thomas' life and, in the context of the challenges that are today faced in public life, suggests that St Thomas

... distinguished himself by his constant fidelity to legitimate authority and institutions precisely in his intention to serve not power but the supreme ideal of justice. His life teaches us that government is above all an exercise of virtue. Unwavering in this rigorous moral stance, this English statesman placed his own public activity at the service of the person, especially if that person was weak or poor; he dealt with social controversies with a superb sense of fairness; he was vigorously committed to favouring and defending the family; he supported the all-round education of the young. His profound detachment from honours and wealth, his serene and joyful humility, his balanced knowledge of human nature and of the vanity of success, his certainty of judgement rooted in faith: these all gave him that confident inner strength that sustained him in adversity and in the face of death. His sanctity shone forth in his martyrdom, but it had been prepared by an entire life of work devoted to God and neighbour. ... 

[The] harmony between the natural and the supernatural is perhaps the element which more than any other defines the personality of this great English statesman: he lived his intense public life with a simple humility marked by good humour, even at the moment of his execution.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010, he gave an address to politicians and other participants in public life in the very place where St Thomas More was tried, Westminster Hall. Making reference to the example of St Thomas, Pope Benedict explored the relationship between religious faith and the duties of public office.

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident – herein lies the real challenge for democracy. ...

The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. ... This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.

 In 1969 Pope St Paul VI published an Apostolic Letter Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum on the mission of Pontifical Representatives. Acting in many instances as the equivalent of ambassadors of the Holy See to the civil governments of the places where they are accredited, they also act as a an instrument of communion between the local churches of those places and the Apostolic See.

It is indeed true that the aims of the Church and of the State are of a different order and that both are perfect societies, endowed, therefore with their own means and independent in their respective spheres of action, but it is equally true that both act for the benefit of a common subject - man, who is called by God to eternal salvation and placed on earth to enable him with the help of grace, to attain it through a life of work which will give him well-being in peaceful co-existence with his fellow beings.

Hence it follows that some of the activities of the Church and of the State are in certain sense complementary, and that the good of the individual and of the community of peoples postulates an open dialogue between the Church on the one hand and the States on the other, in order to establish, foster and strengthen relations of reciprocal understanding, mutual co-ordination and co-operation to prevent or settle possible differences for the purpose of attaining the realisation of the great human hopes of peace among nations, of internal tranquility and the progress of individual nations.

The Apostolic Letter also mentions the representatives of the Holy See to international organisations, perhaps most notable among them being the representatives to the various organs of the United Nations.  

We can see the role undertaken by these Pontifical Representatives as a living expression of the wish for dialogue between the worlds of religious belief and secular rationality of which Pope Benedict XVI spoke during his visit to Britain.

Jubilee of Confraternities

 The days 16th-18th May 2025 are to be marked as a Jubilee of Confraternities. The programme for the grand procession of several confraternities gives an idea of the range of groups that will be taking part, and of the different devotional inspiration of the confraternities involved. The spirituality and processions that are typical of these confraternities can be described as exemplifying the idea of "popular piety".

Pope Francis dedicated a section (nn.122-126) of his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium to "The evangelizing power of popular piety".

 Popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once received, becomes embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on. Once looked down upon, popular piety came to be appreciated once more in the decades following the Council. In the Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (n.48), Pope Paul VI gave a decisive impulse in this area. There he stated that popular piety “manifests a thirst for God which only the poor and the simple can know” and that “it makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of heroism, when it is a question of bearing witness to belief”. Closer to our own time, Benedict XVI, speaking about Latin America, pointed out that popular piety is “a precious treasure of the Catholic Church”, in which “we see the soul of the Latin American peoples”.

During the Year of Faith, a day was also dedicated as a Day for Confraternities and Popular Piety. Preaching on that occasion, Pope Francis referred to two expressions that Pope Benedict XVI had used in talking of popular piety:

 Here we are shown the centre from which everything must go forth and to which everything must lead: loving God and being Christ’s disciples by living the Gospel. When Benedict XVI spoke to you, he used this expression: evangelical spirit. Dear confraternities, the popular piety of which you are an important sign is a treasure possessed by the Church, which the bishops of Latin America defined, significantly, as a spirituality, a form of mysticism, which is “a place of encounter with Jesus Christ”. Draw always from Christ, the inexhaustible wellspring; strengthen your faith by attending to your spiritual formation, to personal and communitarian prayer, and to the liturgy. Down the centuries confraternities have been crucibles of holiness for countless people who have lived in utter simplicity an intense relationship with the Lord. Advance with determination along the path of holiness; do not rest content with a mediocre Christian life, but let your affiliation serve as a stimulus, above all for you yourselves, to an ever greater love of Jesus Christ. ...

... a second element which I want to remind you of, as Benedict XVI did, [is]: ecclesial spirit. Popular piety is a road which leads to what is essential, if it is lived in the Church in profound communion with your pastors. Dear brothers and sisters, the Church loves you! Be an active presence in the community, as living cells, as living stones. The Latin American Bishops wrote that the popular piety which you reflect is “a legitimate way of living the faith, a way of feeling that we are part of the Church” (Aparecida Document, 264). 

Pope Francis continued to add a third expression:

 I would like to add a third expression which must distinguish you: missionary spirit. You have a specific and important mission, that of keeping alive the relationship between the faith and the cultures of the peoples to whom you belong. You do this through popular piety. When, for example, you carry the crucifix in procession with such great veneration and love for the Lord, you are not performing a simple outward act; you are pointing to the centrality of the Lord’s paschal mystery, his passion, death and resurrection which have redeemed us, and you are reminding yourselves first, as well as the community, that we have to follow Christ along the concrete path of our daily lives so that he can transform us. Likewise, when you express profound devotion for the Virgin Mary, you are pointing to the highest realization of the Christian life, the one who by her faith and obedience to God’s will, and by her meditation on the words and deeds of Jesus, is the Lord’s perfect disciple (cf. Lumen Gentium, 53). You express this faith, born of hearing the word of God, in ways that engage the senses, the emotions and the symbols of the different cultures … In doing so you help to transmit it to others, and especially the simple persons whom, in the Gospels, Jesus calls “the little ones”. In effect, “journeying together towards shrines, and participating in other demonstrations of popular piety, bringing along your children and engaging other people, is itself a work of evangelization” (Aparecida Document, 264).

 At a parish level, the devotion of those who, before or after Sunday Mass, light a candle before a statue of the Virgin Mary or the parish patron saint comes to mind as we reflect on the value of popular piety.

Jubilee of the Eastern Churches

 The days 12th - 14th May 2025 are due to be marked as a Jubilee of the Eastern Churches. The proposed programme of events in Rome for this Jubilee recognises a particular gift of the Eastern Churches, namely, their liturgical rites, though by the time that this post publishes the programme may have been "modified" in the light of "events".

The existence of a dicastery of the Holy See dedicated to the relationship of the Holy See to Eastern Catholic Churches dates as far back as Pope Benedict XV in 1917. It is now known as the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. In Rome there is a presence of the Eastern Churches in the Pontifical Oriental Institute, a mission of the Gregorian University; and in colleges affiliated to different Eastern Churches. The faithful of the Eastern Churches live not only in the geographical territories particularly associated with their rites but frequently in diaspora communities spread throughout the world. For many of us, our encounters with the faithful of these Churches occur by way of the parishes making provision for these diaspora communities. The suffering of these communities in former Communist countries and, today, in the countries of the Middle East contributes to the existence of diaspora communities. In the Bull of Indiction Pope Francis extended a particular invitation to them to take part in the Jubilee:

In a particular way, I would like to invite the faithful of the Eastern Churches, particularly those already in full communion with the Successor of Peter, to take part in this pilgrimage. They have suffered greatly, often even unto death, for their fidelity to Christ and the Church, and so they should feel themselves especially welcome in this City of Rome that is also their Mother and cherishes so many memories of their presence. The Catholic Church, enriched by their ancient liturgies and the theology and spirituality of their Fathers, monks and theologians, wants to give symbolic expression to its embrace of them and their Orthodox brothers and sisters in these times when they endure their own Way of the Cross, often forced by violence and instability to leave their homelands, their holy lands, for safer places. For them, the hope born of the knowledge that they are loved by the Church, which does not abandon them but follows them wherever they go, will make the symbolism of the Jubilee all the more powerful.

The Second Vatican Council addressed the Catholic Eastern Churches in its Decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum. 

History, tradition and abundant ecclesiastical institutions bear outstanding witness to the great merit owing to the Eastern Churches by the universal Church. The Sacred Council, therefore, not only accords to this ecclesiastical and spiritual heritage the high regard which is its due and rightful praise, but also unhesitatingly looks on it as the heritage of the universal Church. For this reason it solemnly declares that the Churches of the East, as much as those of the West, have a full right and are in duty bound to rule themselves, each in accordance with its own established disciplines, since all these are praiseworthy by reason of their venerable antiquity, more harmonious with the character of their faithful and more suited to the promotion of the good of souls (n.5).

Pope St John Paul II visited Lebanon in May 1997, a visit which marked the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Une esperance nouvelle pour le Liban that concluded a special Assembly for Lebanon of the Synod of Bishops. Preaching on that occasion, the Holy Father greeted the different Churches of the region and recognised the suffering of the region:

These circumstances enable me to be in your land, for the first time, and to tell you of the love that the Church and the Apostolic See have for your nation, for all Lebanese: for the Catholics of the different rites — Maronite, Melkite, Armenian, Chaldean, Syrian, Latin; for the faithful belonging to the other Christian Churches; as well as for the Muslims and the Druze, who believe in the one God. From the bottom of my heart I greet you all on this very important occasion. We wish now to present to God the fruits of the Synod for Lebanon. ...

People often spoke of the "martyr Lebanon", especially during the period of war which afflicted your country more than ten years ago. In this historical context, the words of Saint Peter can well be applied to all who have suffered in this land. The Apostle writes: "In so far as you share in Christ's sufferings, rejoice because the Spirit of God rests upon you, and that is the Spirit of glory" (cf. ibid.). I am mindful that we are gathered near the historic heart of Beirut, Martyrs' Square; but you have also called it Freedom Square and Unity Square. I am certain that the sufferings of the past years will not be in vain; they will strengthen your freedom and unity.

This last paragraph continues to reflect the experience of the Churches in Lebanon.

Pope Benedict XVI, in convening a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East in October 2010, also reflected a concern of the Successor of Peter for the regions inhabited by the faithful of the Eastern Churches. As did his predecessor, Pope Benedict visited Beirut for the consigning of the resulting Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente.

96. Christ entrusted to Peter the specific mission of feeding his lambs (cf. Jn 21:15-17) and it is upon him that he built his Church (cf. Mt 16:18). As the Successor of Peter, I cannot overlook the trials and sufferings of Christ’s faithful and especially those who live in the Middle East. In a particular way, the Pope continues to be spiritually close to them. That is why, in the name of God, I ask the political and religious authorities of the Middle East not just to relieve these sufferings, but to eliminate the causes which produce them. I ask them to do all in their power to ensure that peace at last prevails.

97. Nor is the Pope unmindful that the Church – the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem – whose corner stone is Christ (1 Pet 2:4-7) and which he has received the mission to care for on earth, is built on foundations adorned with precious stones of various colours (cf. Rev 21:14, 19-20). The venerable Eastern Churches and the Latin Church are these brilliant jewels, worn down and made smooth by constant worship before “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb”
(Rev 22:1).

 In Great Britain we can note the presence of the Ukranian Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. In both cases, there is an Eparchy - equivalent of a diocese - that covers the whole country. There is a mission of the Maronite Catholic Church, serving a diaspora community from Cyprus and from Lebanon; and a mission of the Melkite Church, also serving a diaspora community.

Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment

The days 10th-11th May 2025 are due to be marked as the Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment, with the invitation to take part extended especially to "all members of military, institutional, amateur, folk, village, sports, school and college bands ... together with their families". By the time that this post publishes, arrangements for the Jubilee events in Rome may have been "modified" in the light of events.

Towards the end of his chapter entitled "Music and Liturgy" (in his book The Spirit of the Liturgy), the then Cardinal Ratzinger suggested three criteria that might govern the music of Christian liturgical worship. 

It is related to the events of God's saving action to which the Bible bears witness and which the Liturgy makes present. God's action continues in the history of the Church, but has its unshakeable center int he Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ, his Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. ... the relation of liturgical music to logos means, first of all, simply its relation to words. That is why singing in the liturgy has priority over instrumental music, though it does not in any way exclude it. It goes without saying that the biblical and liturgical texts are the normative words from which liturgical music has to take its bearings...

Prayer is a gift of the Holy Spirit, both prayer in general and that particular kind of prayer which is the gift of singing and playing before God. The Holy Spirit is love. He enkindles love in us and thus moves us to sing. ... Words are superseded, but not the Word, the Logos. ... The Church's tradition has this in mind when it talks about the sober inebriation caused in us by the Holy Spirit. ...

... Christian liturgy is always a cosmic liturgy... The Preface, the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer, always ends with the affirmation that we are singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" together with the cherubim and seraphim and with all the choirs of heaven ... In the celebration of Holy Mass, we insert ourselves into this liturgy that always goes before us. All our singing is a singing and praying with the great liturgy that spans the whole of creation.

Perhaps closer to the intended remit of this special Jubilee might be those initiatives that come under the umbrella of "music ministries", ministries which might, in addition to providing liturgical music in the stricter sense, also provide music for praise and worship outside the liturgy properly so called. CJM Music, based in Birmingham Archdiocese, is an example of one such initiative. Perhaps the most remarkable work from CJM Music is the presentation of the Stations of the Cross entitled Born for This. Now available as a set of resources to enable Church groups to put on their own presentation, it was initially presented each year during Lent by a CJM cast, in different locations in the UK. I recall taking part in one such presentation in Brentwood Cathedral several years ago. I also recall a CD of music for the Year of the Eucharist celebrated in 2004-5.

Certainly within the remit of the Jubilee are those initiatives that produce music that is more general in nature, and intended for wider entertainment, music that might be described as secular music. The range of such initiatives is very wide, and extends from local musical groups up to groups with a national or international reach. I expect that many different nations have celebrations of music, reflecting their own heritage, and rooted in particular regional or cultural contexts. The Whit Friday band contests that take place in the North West of England each year provide an unusual example of one such celebration, and have a parallel to the band concerts due to take place in squares throughout Rome as part of the Jubilee. This BBC news report of the 2024 contests describes the event and explains something of its historical background: Towns and villages gear up for Whit Friday brass band contests. At each contest, a band plays a piece as they march along the village street, before playing the contest piece for the judges.  I think this is a good Youtube video that gives an idea of the event - note the coaches that follow each band, ready to move them on to the next village for their next contest. The range of bands that take part in these contests really does reflect the range of bands anticipated in the invitation extended by this special Jubilee event, including as it does military bands, bands with national and international reputations, college bands and junior bands.

The joy that is to be found in events such as the Whit Friday band contests can perhaps be seen as a seed of the joy that is to be found in living the Gospel.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May the same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

Francis and Benedict: advocates of inter-generational wisdom

 

A passage from Pope Francis' Message for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly struck me as being a complementary articulation of an idea that I recall from Pope Benedict XVI's lecture prepared for a visit to La Sapienza university in Rome, an address which circumstances prevented him from actually delivering. Both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict are suggesting the existence of an inter-generational wisdom that we need to respect for the good of society.

Pope Francis expresses this idea of an inter-generational wisdom in the pastoral context of the relationship between grandparents and the elderly, and young people.

The Lord trusts that young people, through their relationships with the elderly, will realize that they are called to cultivate memory and recognize the beauty of being part of a much larger history. Friendship with an older person can help the young to see life not only in terms of the present and realize that not everything depends on them and their abilities. For the elderly, the presence of a young person in their lives can give them hope that their experience will not be lost and that their dreams can find fulfilment. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and their shared awareness that the Lord’s mercy is from generation to generation remind us that, alone, we cannot move forward, much less save ourselves, and that God’s presence and activity are always part of something greater, the history of a people. Mary herself said this in the Magnificat, as she rejoiced in God, who, in fidelity to the promise he had made to Abraham, had worked new and unexpected wonders (cf. vv. 51-55).

To better appreciate God’s way of acting, let us remember that our life is meant to be lived to the full, and that our greatest hopes and dreams are not achieved instantly but through a process of growth and maturation, in dialogue and in relationship with others. Those who focus only on the here and now, on money and possessions, on “having it all now”, are blind to the way God works. His loving plan spans past, present and future; it embraces and connects the generations. It is greater than we are, yet includes each of us and calls us at every moment to keep pressing forward. For the young, this means being ready to break free from the fleeting present in which virtual reality can entrap us, preventing us from doing something productive. For the elderly, it means not dwelling on the loss of physical strength and thinking with regret about missed opportunities. Let us all look ahead! And allow ourselves to be shaped by God’s grace, which from generation to generation frees us from inertia and from dwelling on the past!

And Pope Benedict expresses it an academic context:

At this point I would like to describe briefly how John Rawls, while denying that comprehensive religious doctrines have the character of “public” reason, nonetheless at least sees their “non-public” reason as one which cannot simply be dismissed by those who maintain a rigidly secularized rationality. Rawls perceives a criterion of this reasonableness among other things in the fact that such doctrines derive from a responsible and well thought-out tradition in which, over lengthy periods, satisfactory arguments have been developed in support of the doctrines concerned. The important thing in this assertion, it seems to me, is the acknowledgment that down through the centuries, experience and demonstration – the historical source of human wisdom – are also a sign of its reasonableness and enduring significance. Faced with an a-historical form of reason that seeks to establish itself exclusively in terms of a-historical rationality, humanity’s wisdom – the wisdom of the great religious traditions – should be valued as a heritage that cannot be cast with impunity into the dustbin of the history of ideas.

Pope Francis: The passion for evangelisation; the apostolic zeal of the believer

 Week by week, the Successor of St Peter meets with the faithful, either in St Peter's Square (summer time) or the Paul VI Audience Hall (winter time), for the General Audience. Whilst the immediate listeners of the Holy Father's catecheses on these occasions are the pilgrims gathered in person with the Pope, the catecheses are also more often than not also intended for a wider audience in the universal Church. 

Two special examples of this are the series of catecheses from St John Paul II that are now known under the title "The Theology of the Body"; and a series of catecheses begun by St John Paul II and concluded by Pope Benedict XVI on the psalms and canticles of Morning and Evening Prayer (I have them in a collection published by the Catholic Truth Society). These exemplify how the General Audience catechesis can have both its specific audience on a particular day in a particular place, and a permanent value for the wider life of the Church.

Pope Francis is currently part way through a series of catecheses on "The passion for evangelisation - the apostolic zeal of the believer". The texts are being posted each week at the website of the Holy See, in the section devoted to Audiences: Audiences 2023. At the time of posting, Pope Francis has reached the ninth catechesis in the series. I have dipped into each of them, and found in each of them something of worth: from the careful distinguishing of evangelisation from proselytism and the account of three steps (seeing, followed by movement and then towards a destination) in the calling of St Matthew in the catechesis of 11th January; through the insistence on 15th February that in evangelising there is "no staying without going and no going without staying"; to the account of witness as essential to evangelisation, drawn from St Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiandi, in the audience of 22nd March.

Every one of us is called to respond to three fundamental questions, posed in this way by Paul VI: “Do you believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you preach what you live?” 

Like the catecheses of St John Paul II and of Pope Benedict XVI, I think these too will have a permanent value for the life of the Church. 

Pope Francis homily at the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

 I think Pope Francis has preached a lovely homily at Pope Emeritus Benedict's funeral this morning. The full text is here, at the Vatican website: Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis. 

One can see in the homily Pope Francis practice of adopting "three words" or phrases to structure a homily. And, though Pope Francis expresses himself in a general way about the experience of one who is a pastor, he has clearly reflected on that experience in the light of the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict. 

I was particularly struck by the number of occasions on which Pope Francis referred to the hands of the Father, in one instance citing Pope Emeritus Benedict. As the funeral took place during the Christmas season, I was reminded of the image of the Christ child in the crib, lying with extended hands. That image of the extended hands of the Infant Jesus formed the motif of a meditation by St Edith Stein. I can't find the text at the moment, but can find an adaptation of it that I used for a visit to the crib during Christmas time several years ago.

A prayer for a visit to the Crib during Christmas time

[This prayer was adapted from a meditation of St Edith Stein]

Dear Jesus, your hands reach out to us as we come to the Crib.
We come like the shepherds who followed the call of the angel.
We come like the wise men who followed the star.
“Follow me” say your little hands.

May we always listen to you when you call us.
Keep us together in faith and in hope.
Dear Jesus, your open hands welcome us, and they ask us at the same time.
They ask us to be at the service of your Peace.

Open our hearts to people who are suffering.
May each of us offer signs of friendship and welcome to people who are less well off than us.
Dear Jesus, your open hands welcome us, and they ask us at the same time.
They ask us to give our lives to you.

May we choose the way in life that you want us to follow.
In the light of Christmas, may we face the problems of life today, together with people of other Churches and religions.
Mary, you are the Mother of Love.
You praised the great things done by the Lord.
You sang about how God kept his promises to the people of Israel.

Mother of Love, protect our families.
Help them to stay together.
Give them the happiness of loving and passing on life.

Thoughts on the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Amongst the many tributes paid to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in recent days, it was the report of the observation of the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, that I thought most fully captured what he was about. Media outlets shortened it to refer to him as "a giant of faith and reason", but the full text can be found on the website of the Italian Government.

Benedict XVI was a giant of faith and of reason. A man who loved the Lord and devoted his life to the service of the universal Church. He spoke, and will continue to speak, to the hearts and minds of people with the spiritual, cultural and intellectual depth of his Magisterium. A Christian, a shepherd, a theologian: one of history’s greats, whom history will not forget. 
I have conveyed the Government’s and my personal sympathy to the Holy Father Pope Francis for his and the entire Church community’s grief.

 This was also reinforced by Tim Stanley's contribution to the "Thought for the Day" on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning. He pointed towards Pope Benedict's address in Westminster Hall during his visit to Britain in 2010 as a key to understanding him. I would additionally point towards the lecture that Pope Benedict would have delivered at the La Sapienza university, had that visit gone ahead in January 2008.

The first of these highlights what should be the just relationship between government or state and the ethical proposals that might be the proper province of religions.

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. This “corrective” role of religion vis-à-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms of religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create serious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of religion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion. It is a two-way process. Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.....

...there are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square. I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life.

 Pope Benedict's lecture prepared for La Sapienza explores the relationship between the mission of the Pope and the mission of a university, addressing the community of a university that in its origins was a Papal foundation but is now an institution of the Italian state. In discussing first the role of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, who first exercises a care for the community of the Church, Pope Benedict wrote:

Yet this community which the Bishop looks after – be it large or small – lives in the world; its circumstances, its history, its example and its message inevitably influence the entire human community. The larger it is, the greater the effect, for better or worse, on the rest of humanity. Today we see very clearly how the state of religions and the situation of the Church – her crises and her renewal – affect humanity in its entirety. Thus the Pope, in his capacity as Shepherd of his community, is also increasingly becoming a voice for the ethical reasoning of humanity.

Pope Benedict then goes on to suggest that there is a human wisdom passed down that gives a credibility to the religious thought of earlier generations:

Here, however, the objection immediately arises: surely the Pope does not really base his pronouncements on ethical reasoning, but draws his judgements from faith and hence cannot claim to speak on behalf of those who do not share this faith. We will have to return to this point later, because here the absolutely fundamental question must be asked: What is reason? How can one demonstrate that an assertion – especially a moral norm – is “reasonable”? At this point I would like to describe briefly how John Rawls, while denying that comprehensive religious doctrines have the character of “public” reason, nonetheless at least sees their “non-public” reason as one which cannot simply be dismissed by those who maintain a rigidly secularized rationality. Rawls perceives a criterion of this reasonableness among other things in the fact that such doctrines derive from a responsible and well thought-out tradition in which, over lengthy periods, satisfactory arguments have been developed in support of the doctrines concerned. The important thing in this assertion, it seems to me, is the acknowledgment that down through the centuries, experience and demonstration – the historical source of human wisdom – are also a sign of its reasonableness and enduring significance. Faced with an a-historical form of reason that seeks to establish itself exclusively in terms of a-historical rationality, humanity’s wisdom – the wisdom of the great religious traditions – should be valued as a heritage that cannot be cast with impunity into the dustbin of the history of ideas.

After observing that man, in exercising his reason, seeks what is good as well as what is true, Pope Benedict goes on to address the question that he would later address in Westminster Hall:

At this point, however, the question immediately arises: How is it possible to identify criteria of justice that make shared freedom possible and help man to be good? Here a leap into the present is necessary. The point in question is: how can a juridical body of norms be established that serves as an ordering of freedom, of human dignity and human rights? This is the issue with which we are grappling today in the democratic processes that form opinion, the issue which also causes us to be anxious about the future of humanity. In my opinion, Jürgen Habermas articulates a vast consensus of contemporary thought when he says that the legitimacy of a constitutional charter, as a basis for what is legal, derives from two sources: from the equal participation of all citizens in the political process and from the reasonable manner in which political disputes are resolved. With regard to this “reasonable manner”, he notes that it cannot simply be a fight for arithmetical majorities, but must have the character of a “process of argumentation sensitive to the truth” (wahrheitssensibles Argumentationsverfahren). The point is well made, but it is far from easy to put it into practice politically. The representatives of that public “process of argumentation” are – as we know – principally political parties, inasmuch as these are responsible for the formation of political will. De facto, they will always aim to achieve majorities and hence will almost inevitably attend to interests that they promise to satisfy, even though these interests are often particular and do not truly serve the whole. Sensibility to the truth is repeatedly subordinated to sensibility to interests. I find it significant that Habermas speaks of sensibility to the truth as a necessary element in the process of political argument, thereby reintroducing the concept of truth into philosophical and political debate.

Whilst many in public life seem to appreciate Pope Emeritus Benedict for his gentleness and warmth of character, it will be interesting to see how many really appreciate the dimensions of his intellectual thought on how the public sphere should have a just regard for religious belief. It would be quite unfair, for example, to dismiss his thought in this field on the grounds that it is being cited by two people who wider society would recognise as being politically right of centre