* Original message posted in: VATICAN.
* Crossposted in: IN_CATHOLIC.

VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE

TWENTIETH YEAR - N. 208
ENGLISH
TUESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2010

SUMMARY:

- Light of the World. The Pope and the Signs of the Times
- Plenary Session of International Theological Commission
- Other Pontifical Acts

___________________________________________________________

LIGHT OF THE WORLD. THE POPE AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office,
a press conference was held to present a new book published by the Vatican
Publishing House. The volume is entitled: "Light of the World. The Pope, the
Church and the Signs of the Times. A conversation of Benedict XVI with Peter
Seewald".

  The conference was presented by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of
the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, and the journalist
Luigi Accattoli.

  Also present were Peter Seewald, who conducted the interviews with the
Pope, and Fr. Giuseppe Costa S.D.B., director of the Vatican Publishing
House.

  Archbishop Fisichella explained how Seewald had asked the Pope "about the
great questions facing modern theology, the various political events that
have always marked relations between States and, finally, the themes that
often occupy a large part of public debate. We have a Pope who does not
evade any question, who wishes to clarify everything using a language that
is simple but not for that reason less profound, and who benevolently
accepts the provocations inherent in so many questions.

  "Nonetheless", the archbishop added, "reducing the entire
interview to one
phrase removed from its context and from the entirety of Benedict XVI's
thought would be an offence to the Pope's intelligence and a gratuitous
manipulation of his words. What emerges from these pages overall is, in
fact, the vision of a Church called to be 'Light of the world', a sign of
unity for the whole human race".

  The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation
went on to explain that "this book was not written by Benedict XVI, yet it
brings together his ideas, concerns and sufferings over these years, his
pastoral projects and his hopes for the future. The impression that emerges
is that of a Pope optimistic about the life of the Church, despite the
difficulties which have always existed".

  This book published today "is an interview which, in many ways, provokes
us to undertake a serious examination of conscience, both inside and outside
the Church, in order to achieve true conversion of heart and mind. The
conditions of life in society, sexuality, economy and finance, the Church
herself; all these questions require special dedication in order to verify
the cultural drift of today's world and the possibilities for the future.
Benedict XVI does not allow himself to be alarmed by the figures emerging
from opinion polls because the truth has completely different criteria:
'statistics are not the measure of morality'".

  "In these pages Benedict XVI often returns to the relationship between
modernity and Christianity, which cannot and must not be seen as parallels.
Rather, the relationship must be lived by correctly uniting faith and
reason, individual rights and social responsibility; in a word, by 'putting
God first'. ... This is the conversion that Benedict XVI asks of Christians
and of anyone who wishes to listen to him. ... This is the task the Pope
sets for his own pontificate and we cannot, in all honesty, deny how
difficult it seems to be".

  Archbishop Fisichella concluded his remarks by highlighting how
"simplicity and truth are the characteristics of this interview, which was
chosen by Benedict XVI as a way of making the public at large more familiar
with his ideas, his way of being and his way of understanding the mission
with which he has been entrusted. This is no easy task at a time when
communication often tends to underline specific fragments and overlooks the
global picture. A book to be read and mediated upon, in order to understand
once again how the Church in the world can announce the good news which
brings 
joy and serenity".

  For his part, Luigi Accattoli suggested his journalist colleagues should
"read this book as a guided visit to the papal workshop of Benedict XVI and
to the world of Joseph Ratzinger. ... Above all we will see this man who was
called to become Pope in the same perspective as when he published the two
volumes on Jesus of Nazareth, which he presents not as documents of the
Magisterium, but as testimony of his own search for the face of the Lord".

  "From the beginning of the book he warns us that 'the Pope can have
erroneous personal opinions'; he certainly does have 'the power of final
decision' in matters of faith but this 'does not mean that he can
continuously produce infallibility'. It is perhaps in this statement that we
must seek the original roots of this book of interviews", said the
journalist.

  In various places the Holy Father reviews his eighty-three years of life,
"and reflects on the suitability of resigning should he find himself in a
position where he cannot carry out his mission. On the same page he denies
he ever thought of resigning over the paedophile scandal: 'We cannot run
away in the moment of greatest danger', he says. We all know that modern
Popes - from Pius XII on - have considered the problem of resigning, but
prior to this interview none of them had done so in public".

  In this book, Accattoli continued his explanations, the Holy Father
"dedicates ample space to the conflict between the Christian faith and
modernity. However, in at least two passages he recognises 'the morality of
modernity' and the evidence of 'a good and just modernity'. These positive
affirmations should be read alongside passages in which he recognises the
religious crimes of the past: from the 'atrocities' committed 'in the name
of truth' to 'the wars of religion', and that 'rigorism' towards corporeity
which was used to 'frighten man'. In the conflict with the modern world,
then, it is necessary to ask 'in what is secularism right' and where 'should
it be resisted'".

  The Pope "is not afraid to use such expressions as 'the sinfulness of the
Church'; ... while the term 'dirt' to indicate the sin that exists in the
Church ... is used at least three times to refer to paedophilia among the
clergy and to the 'enormous shock' it aroused". In this context the Pontiff
also "repeatedly recognises the positive role played by the communications
media, something he has expressed on various occasions in the past but never
so explicitly: 'As long as they seek to bring the truth to light, we must be
grateful', he says. On this subject he also gives us one of the book's most
effective aphorisms: 'Only because evil was within the Church were others
able to use it against her'".

  The Holy Father, Accattoli continued, "assures us that he would not have
removed the excommunication from Bishop Williamson without undertaking
further investigation, had he known the prelate's views on Holocaust
denial".

  "Cautiously and courageously Benedict XVI seeks a pragmatic way in which
missionaries and other ecclesial workers can help to defeat the AIDS
pandemic, without approving - but also without excluding, in particular
cases - the use of the condom. He likewise reaffirms the 'prophetic' nature
of Paul VI's 'Humanae vitae', though without concealing the existence of
real difficulties in 'finding paths that can be followed in a human way',
... and recognising that 'in this field many things must be rethought and
expressed in new terms'".

  The Pope "declares himself to be optimistic concerning the fact that
Christianity is facing new dynamics' which will perhaps bring it 'to assume
a different cultural appearance'; yet also 'disillusioned' because 'the
general tendency of our time is one of hostility to the Church'".

  Finally, Accattoli concluded, the Pope "dreams that people will rediscover
the 'simplicity' and 'radicalism' of the Gospel and Christianity". This
involves "understanding the drama of our times, remaining firmly rooted in
the Word of God as the decisive word, and at the same time giving
Christianity tha
t simplicity and profundity without which it cannot
function".
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PLENARY SESSION OF INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION

VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The International Theological Commission,
which is presided by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to celebrate is annual
plenary session from 29 November to 3 December in the Vatican's "Domus
Sanctae Marthae". The meeting will be chaired by Fr. Charles Morerod O.P.,
secretary general of the commission.

  According to a communique published today the commission will study three
important themes: the principles of theology, its meaning and its methods;
the question of the one God in relation to the three monotheistic religions;
and the integration of Church social doctrine into the broader context of
Christian doctrine.

  At the end of their deliberations the members of the International
Theological Commission will be received in audience by the Holy Father.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Felix Gmur
of the clergy of the diocese of Basel, Switzerland, secretary of the
Conference of Swiss Bishops, as bishop of Basel (area 12,585, population
3,045,000, Catholics 1,080,000, priests 715, permanent deacons 104,
religious 2,554). The bishop-elect was born in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1966
and ordained a priest in 1999.
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