Pope Benedict in the UK

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI's message to the United Kingdom

Following is the message Benedict XVI read today after the weekly general audience on the occasion of his Sept. 16-19 trip to the United Kingdom:

I am very much looking forward to my visit to the United Kingdom in a week’s time and I send heartfelt greetings to all the people of Great Britain. I am aware that a vast amount of work has gone into the preparations for the visit, not only by the Catholic community but by the Government, the local authorities in Scotland, London and Birmingham, the communications media and the security services, and I want to say how much I appreciate the efforts that have been made to ensure that the various events planned will be truly joyful celebrations. Above all I thank the countless people who have been praying for the success of the visit and for a great outpouring of God’s grace upon the Church and the people of your nation.
It will be a particular joy for me to beatify the Venerable John Henry Newman in Birmingham on Sunday 19 September. This truly great Englishman lived an exemplary priestly life and through his extensive writings made a lasting contribution to Church and society both in his native land and in many other parts of the world. It is my hope and prayer that more and more people will benefit from his gentle wisdom and be inspired by his example of integrity and holiness of life.
I look forward to meeting representatives of the many different religious and cultural traditions that make up the British population, as well as civil and political leaders. I am most grateful to Her Majesty the Queen and to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury for receiving me, and I look forward to meeting them. While I regret that there are many places and people I shall not have the opportunity to visit, I want you to know that you are all remembered in my prayers. God bless the people of the United Kingdom!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Pope Benedict's Trip to the UK - Weekly Roundup 8/29-9/04

News

The Scotsman provides in-depth coverage of Scotland's fevered preparations for the papal visit, and the unique roles of those involved -- among them Monsignor Michael Regan ("carrying the bones of St. Andrew") and liturgical director Father Andrew McKenzie (ensuring the distribution of communion to 70-80,000 in 30 minutes) to the 800-strong choir. (September 4, 2010).
Pope Benedict XVI will bless a mosaic of St David with holy water from Wales during his visit to Westminster Cathedral (The Catholic Herald September 3, 2010):
The Pope will sprinkle the mosaic – which has only just been completed – with water from St Non’s well in Pembrokeshire. The water is believed to have healing properties.
Canon Christopher Tuckwell, administrator of Westminster Cathedral, said it was part of the Holy Father’s “outreach to Wales and to the people of Wales”.
The Scotsman predicts that drivers will face "widespread chaos" across central Scotland during Pope Benedict XVI's visit:
More than 200 roads will be closed or have parking restricted in Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of the one-day tour, with rolling closures of sections of the M8 as the papal motorcade makes its way west during the evening rush hour.
An expected 100,000 people will turn out to see the Popemobile travel through Edinburgh, with a further 85,000 anticipated for a Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.
The Pope has refused to broadcast on Radio 4's Thought for the Day during his UK visit, complains the Daily Mirror's Kate Mcmahon. CatholicCulture's Phil Lawler reveals the bias:
Notice how the report is worded: not that the Pope “was unable to” address the radio audience, or “could not find time” to make the appearance, or even “declined” the invitation. No; he “refused.” The choice of that word suggests that Radio 4 had a right to the Pope’s presence; that the Vicar of Christ was rude to turn down the invitation. Or maybe he had some ulterior motive for declining the opportunity to address the radio audience? What is he trying to hide?!
Gay and lesbian Christians have criticised secularists planning to protest during the pope's visit to Britain for their "unhelpful and counterproductive" tactics The Guardian September 1, 2010).
BBC unveiled unveiled more details of its extensive plans for coverage of the forthcoming UK visit by Pope Benedict XVI, with more than 10 hours of live broadcasting on BBC1 and BBC2 (The Guardian August 31, 2010).
Hospital staff across central Scotland will be placed on high alert during the papal visit, prompted by concerns over the pontiff's health (Evening Times September 5, 2010)
Pope Benedict takes medication for a heart condition following a mild stroke in 1991.
A year later he suffered haemorrhaging after he cut his head in a fall, also believed to have been caused by a stroke.
Last December, traditional Christmas midnight Mass was held two hours earlier than scheduled because he was tired. The Pope also recently broke his wrist after slipping.
Concern has been raised that congestion on Glasgow’s Kingston Bridge could put his life at risk in an emergency.
Organisers of the papal visit have put online three computer-generated images of the sanctuary for the beatification Mass at Cofton Park, prompting the Telegraph's Damien Carlson to wonder whether the English bishops were going "for the Scientology look", and Ignatius Press' Carl Olson to proclaim: "Nobody can do ugly quite like Catholics!". Meanwhile, the blog Wheat and Weeds offers a comparison of what the altars looked like in similar situations ("my takeaway is that the US did the best of anyone in coming up with something that looked Catholic. A tent still looks like a tent").
Salt + Light Television reveals its exclusive page devoted to the UK visit:
Our full coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Journey to the United Kingdom begins September 16th at 5:30am ET with the arrival of Pope Benedict in Scotland, and wraps up four days later on September 19th when the Holy Father departs from Birmingham for Rome.
Among those joining host Matthew Harrison will be Salt + Light Vatican Correspondent Alicia Ambrosio in London, and Catholic News Service’s Vatican Bureau Chief John Thavis, who is traveling with the Holy Father in the UK.
Follow our blog in the lead up to the trip, and for addresses and homilies during the trip, and keep in touch on our facebook page too.
Watch our live coverage online, or on your iPhone 3Gs/4G.

Commentary

John Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter) asks Four questions about the pope's trip to the UK:
1. Is this the most challenging trip of Benedict's papacy?
2. Overall, what do you expect?
3. Will the sex abuse crisis overshadow the trip?
4. What's Benedict's agenda for the trip?
In the spirit of feeding the media beast, I'll present my answers to the four most common questions I've received about the trip. By no means does this add up to a comprehensive analysis of the most important points. Instead, it's a window into the questions reporters are asking, which may preview themes likely to loom large in media coverage.
Read his insightful column.
The Pope, the Church and the visit – what Britons really think - The Tablet posts the results of an exclusive poll. The results?
... the Catholic Church in Britain has so far failed to generate interest in the papal visit among the population at large. Two-thirds of respondents neither support nor oppose the visit even though they firmly acknowledge their Christian heritage and believe that religion is a force for good. Nor have the campaigning opponents to the visit won them over. And with thousands of places still not allocated for the three major gatherings in Scotland and England, it would appear the Church has also been unable to excite the vast majority of the British people about the opportunities to see the Pope in person. Despite that, one in 10 of all those interviewed said they would be likely to attend a papal public event.
The statistics, however, were based "on face-to-face interviews with 996 British people over the age of 15." Which you have to admit is a pretty small sampling of "the population at large."
Meanwhile, an online poll of 2,005 adults for public theology think tank Theos found that 77 percent did not agree that the taxpayer should contribute towards the September 16-19 state visit (AFP, September 3, 2010).
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, on the other hand, asserted this week that the Masses for the papal visit will be “pretty well packed” (The Catholic Herald September 3, 2010).
Paul Donovan (The Guardian) wonders: Is Pope Benedict's media team up to the challenge?:
The consistent strand that runs through 10 years of changes in official Catholic communications is a lack of people involved who have worked as journalists. The approach of the Catholic Communications Network (CCN) has been, on the whole, professional but reactive. It never seeks to set the agenda.
Peter Stanford, former editor of the Catholic Herald, examines the rising tide of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI leading up to his visit -- and the alleged reluctance of Catholics to confront his attackers (The Guardian, August 29, 2010). "To stand up publicly and be counted as a Catholic in Britain right now can be to invite a tirade."
"One profoundly important aspect of the Pope’s visit, one nevertheless hardly spoken of yet, is that for its central event, the beatification Mass, texts from the resonant and accurate new English translation of the Mass will be used for the first time." So, muses The Catholic Herald's William Oddie, "Why have our bishops done nothing to prepare us for the new Mass translation?"
"Britain can benefit from Benedict", asserts George Weigel (Standpoint Magazine. September 1, 2010):
The man who comes to Britain as the 264th successor of St Peter is many things. Britons who rely on media imagery to form their impressions of public personalities will find some of those things surprising. Those who expect to meet "God's Rottweiler" (as his theological enemies caricatured Cardinal Ratzinger decades ago) will find instead a shy, soft-spoken man of exquisite manners. Those determined to portray Pope Benedict as the central figure in a global criminal conspiracy of child-rapers and their abettors will, it may be hoped, discover the man who did more than anyone else in the Roman Curia to compel the Church to face what he once called the "filth" marring the priesthood. Those looking for a hidebound clerical enforcer will meet instead a man of deep faith, a gentle pastor who has met, wept with, and apologised to the abused victims of his brother priests and bishops.
Joseph Ratzinger is also a man of ideas: a world-class European intellectual with an intriguing analysis of contemporary Europe's present circumstances and bold proposals to make about Europe's future. During the Pope's visit to Britain, those who ignore those proposals because of their fixation on scandal are depriving themselves of an opportunity to think seriously about the moral and cultural condition of the West - and indulging that intellectual anorexia at a moment when the West's future seems anything but secure demographically, economically, fiscally, strategically or morally. ... [more].

Friday, August 27, 2010

Pope Benedict's Trip to the UK - Weekly Roundup 8/22-8/28

Catholic News Service profiles Francis Campbell, the British ambassador to the Vatican

Campbell said he expects the event will attract a lot of attention in Great Britain, but he also thinks the pope could make a big impact when he speaks Sept. 17 in London's historic Westminster Hall, a building completed in 1099 and once used for coronation festivities and as a venue for courts of law. In fact, St. Thomas More was condemned to death at Westminster Hall in 1535. . . .
Campbell said the fact that the pope was invited to speak in the same place where Thomas More was condemned -- for not siding with King Henry VIII in his debate with the Roman Catholic Church at a time of extreme church-state tensions -- "symbolizes a rapprochement" between British society and the papacy.

since the Reformation

Free Presbyterian Church leaders have taken a letter of protest to 10 Downing Street telling of their "dismay and abhorrence" that the pope is being afforded a state visit to the UK (August 27, 2010).
The Pope is to recreate a historic 150-year-old painting when he visits Sutton's training college for priests. Nick Horner reports for the Sutton Coldfield Observer:
Pope Benedict XVI will pose for a photograph with the bishops of England and Wales at St Mary's College in Oscott on the final leg of his September visit.
The image will echo a scene from the college's past when, in 1852, leading figures in English Catholicism gathered at the site to be painted by James Doyle and the painting remains at the college to this day.
Doyle depicted the first Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman and Cardinal John Henry Newman who gave his famous Second Spring sermon to the bishops on the return of English Catholicism. ... [more]
Cardinal John Henry Newman’s feast will be celebrated on October 9, the date of his conversion in 1845. Pope Benedict will make the formal announcement during his visit (Catholic Herald August 26, 2010).
A Catholic speakers' bureau calling themselves "Voices for Reform" will provide "alternative" [re: dissenting] views on controversial church issues (The Guardian August 24, 2010):
Catholic Voices for Reform will go head to head with Catholic Voices, an established group which has recruited and trained 20 media-friendly "ordinary" Catholics to articulate traditional church positions before and during Benedict XVI's four-day tour.
The new organisation, unlike its older and more conformist counterpart, will call for a wholesale transformation of the papacy and the Vatican.
Got something to say? -- The Guardian is "looking for three or four – or more – ordinary Catholics to offer their views of the papal visit: their hopes, their concerns, their feelings, in 200 words" about the papal visit.
For reknowned Scottish singer Susan Boyle, singing for the Pope is ‘the greatest dream come true’ (Scottish Catholic Observer August 25, 2010).
Padraig Reidy may be an atheist, but "this anti-Catholic rhetoric is making me nervous" (The Guardian August 22, 2010):
Modern Britain is a country founded in large part on anti-Catholicism. This is obvious in establishment bedrocks such as the succession, which bars Roman Catholics from becoming head of state or even being married to the head of state. But it is not just the establishment that distrusts Roman Catholics.
Catholicism is viewed with suspicion by significant sections of the British left. While some of this stems from European anti-clericalism, there is a deeper motif, a part of the patriotic left espoused at various points by Tom Paine and George Orwell that draws on notions of the "free-born Englishman". The Catholic, owing his allegiance to Rome, rather than this green and pleasant land, does not fit this narrative.
With Benedict on his way, the chorus rises ... [more]
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, believes that Benedict's visit "marks a new phase in the long and complex history of relations between the monarchs of this land and the papacy," (Zenit. August 23, 2010).

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Pope Benedict's Trip to the UK - Weekly Roundup 8/15-8/21

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need is helping prepare for the Pope's visit to the UK with 31,000 decades of the Rosary (RomeReports.com August 21, 2010).
The Pope’s historic visit to Britain is in danger of being overshadowed by a growing row over the exiling of three members of the Birmingham Oratory. Martin Beckford reports (Telegraph August 21, 2010):
Father Philip Cleevely, Father Dermot Fenlon and Brother Lewis Berry – known as the “Birmingham Three” by supporters – have been told “to spend time in prayer for an indefinite period”.
It comes less than a year after Father Paul Chavasse, the Oratory’s Provost who had been in charge of the Cause to canonise Cardinal Newman, was sent to America by the Vatican representative who is investigating the Oratory following a “chaste but intense” relationship with a young man.
The Oratory has refused to explain why the three priests have been sent away – one is now in America, another in Canada and the third is going to South Africa – prompting worshippers to write an open letter to the church authorities.
Tony and Cherie Blair will attend a speech by the Pope at the Houses of Parliament, though "it is not known whether the Blairs, who are both practising Catholics, will meet Pope Benedict XVI in person." (Evening Telegraph August 21, 2010).
The chair that Pope Benedict XVI will sit on during the beatification Mass of Cardinal Newman has been completed by teachers in Coventry (Catholic Herald August 20, 2010).
Choirs across England, Wales and Scotland are rehearsing the new setting of the Mass composed for the papal visit by James MacMillan (Catholic Herald August 20, 2010).
Damian Thompson on the "almighty mess the Bishops’ Conference has made of organising the papal visit" (The Telegraph August 20, 2010):
Having been forced to change venue from Coventry to Birmingham as a result of their own bungling, members of the “papal visit team” are now wondering how on earth they are going to fill Cofton Park. It’s a much smaller venue than Coventry Airport: it can hold only 65,000 people as opposed to 200,000. But with tickets priced at £25, and the prospect of queuing for hours at the crack of dawn, “pilgrims” (as the Church has decided to call attendees) are proving thin on the ground. “Without a frantic reallocation of tickets and cutting of corners, the park is going to be half empty,” says my source.
Don’t get me wrong: I want the Pope’s visit to be a thrilling success, but my mobile phone keeps ringing with reports of fresh ineptitude on the part of the Church. And I’m going to pass them on, because the only thing Catholic bureaucrats respond to is public embarrassment. ... [more]
The S+L Blog (Salt & Light) points to a Tolkien-Newman connection:
No, we’re confident the Holy Father will not be quoting portions of Lord of the Rings in any homilies or addresses. ... [more]
A series of catnaps have been scheduled into Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to England and Scotland, reports the Daily Mail (August 19, 2010): "The Pontiff's packed itinerary, disclosed yesterday by the Vatican, will be punctuated every afternoon by breaks of several hours to allow the 83-year-old to catch up on his sleep."
Church source involved in drawing up pontiff's itinerary for September visit to UK would be 'surprised if it didn't happen', given gaps in schedule. Tom Kington reports from the Guardian (August 19, 2010).
People attending Pope Benedict XVI's Masses in Scotland and England will hear and sing a few of the newly translated Mass texts, according to Msgr. Guido Marini, papal master of liturgical ceremonies (Catholic News Service, August 19, 2010):
Although the new translation of the Order of the Mass, which contains the main prayers used at Mass, was approved by the Vatican two years ago, bishops' conferences in English-speaking countries decided to wait to introduce the prayers until the entire Roman Missal was translated and approved.
The new translation of the Mass was designed to follow more closely the text in the original Latin.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, insists that the Protest the Pope campaign was not "anti-Catholic" (Catholic Herald August 19, 2010):
He attempted to distinguish between “modern Catholics”, who, like everyone else, “want to live in the modern world” and “the old men in Rome” who are holding them back.
On the other hand, much venom on the internet is directed at Catholics in general, not just the Pope. The clothing company Catholics with Attitude, for example, did not receive abusive messages about the Pope, but about Catholics.
And Britain has a long and disturbing history of anti-Catholic prejudice. The National Secular Society is selling T-shirts with the slogan “Pope Nope”. Some Catholics see in this an unconscious echo of the old sectarian cry: “No popery.”
An exhibition of items from the life of Cardinal Newman will go on display at the Birmingham City Museum in September (Catholic Herald August 19, 2010):
Councillor Alan Rudge, the Birmingham City leader for the papal visit, described the exhibition as an “extraordinary opportunity for people to visit and appreciate these rarely seen items”, and a “unique display” that will “draw visitors from far and wide to see the significant contribution that Cardinal Newman made to our city”. He added that the beatification of Newman by the Pope was “a huge honour for our city”.
The exhibition was announced alongside a programme of Newman-themed events in Birmingham unveiled for the papal visit, including a conference on Newman with talks by Fr Ian Ker and Dr Sheridan Gilley, and a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius on September 18, the day before the beatification.
Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled a "courtesy call" with Acting Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, during his visit to the UK -- an encounter which Harman may find a tad awkward due to his criticism of her "unjust" anti-discrimination legislation back in February:
In an address delivered on Monday to the 35 Catholic bishops from England and Wales who had made the five-yearly ad Limina pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, the pope attacked the implications of the Equality Bill.
He said: "Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."
"I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others - on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth."
This past week, the Telegraph reported that the last remaining Roman Catholic adoption agency to resist Labour’s equality laws is facing closure.
Speaking for the Vatican, Fr Federico Lombardi has denied that the Church had imposed the charges on tickets to papal events during Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain (Catholic Herald August 18, 2010):
He said: “It is not the Pope who single-handedly organises a trip to England. So, first thing: the Vatican did not establish any rules in this regard. These are organisational methods dealt with on the spot by the local Church, but taking into account all the many organisational constraints imposed by civil authority.”
Papal events in Britain are unusual, Fr Lombardi said, because “people cannot move freely on foot to where the three major public events will be taking place: they must use arranged transportation and all the seats must be allocated to an extremely precise number”.
He said the unusual constraints were “dictated by the security needs of civil authorities”.
EWTN Global Catholic Network will provide live coverage of every public event during Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to England and Scotland Sept. 16-19:
Special live coverage will be provided by EWTN News Anchor Raymond Arroyo, who has covered more papal events than anyone in the industry and who obtained the only English language interview in existence today with the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. (Contact EWTN to arrange an interview.)
"To my mind, this visit to the U.K. is to Pope Benedict XVI's papacy what Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland was to his," said "World Over" Host Raymond Arroyo, who will anchor EWTN's coverage. "Not enough attention is being paid to the historicity of this seismic moment."

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

"Reading Pope Benedict XVI in the UK"

The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club is pleased to announce the launch of a new page on our website: Reading Benedict (in the UK), a lasting resource to accompany our special blog devoted to Pope Benedict XVI's September 16-19 2010 visit to the UK.

Reading Benedict (in the UK) is an ongoing compilation of books by (and about) Pope Benedict XVI available for purchase in the UK via Amazon.co.uk.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Pope Benedict's Trip to the UK - Weekly Roundup 8/08-8/14

The "Protest The Pope" activist group may attempt to block a road when Benedict visits the campus of St Mary’s University College in Twickenham (The Telegraph August 14, 2010).
"Cor ad cor loquitur: what does the papal visit motto really mean?"? - Hew Twiston Davies thinks that it’s time to end the dispute over the meaning of Cardinal Newman’s tag. (Catholic Herald August 13, 2010).
Writing in the Catholic Herald (August 13, 2010), Jill Duchess of Hamilton thinks Benedict XVI should address the papacy’s treatment of Robert the Bruce, without whom Scotland would not exist as an independent country:
Year after year, the papacy remained adamant that Scotland should be subservient to England. Scotland’s nationalistic clergy, plus the hundreds of thousands of Scots who followed Robert, refused equally steadfastly. All were excommunicated (Robert in 1306).
Nothing better illustrates the passion of the Scots for self-determination than the ceremony of Robert’s crowning by four bishops at Scone on Palm Sunday in the same year, which took place openly in defiance of the Pope – and the English. [more about Scotland's fascinating founding]
With just over a month to go before the Pope arrives in Britain, the Catholic Church is facing a £2.6m shortfall in donations needed to pay for the visit, reports the Independant (August 14, 2010).
The pope's decision to reject the resignations of Dublin Auxiliary Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field has met with criticism from victims of clerical abuse (Belfast Telegraph August 12, 2010). For in-depth analysis as to why the Pope made this decision, see Michael Kelly's Two Resignations, Rejected (Catholic World Report).
Pilgrims attending open-air gatherings during the Papal Visit will receive Pilgrim Journey CDs that feature a Britain’s Got Talent finalist singing the Lord’s Prayer:
Liam McNally, a 14 year-old schoolboy, will also perform the traditional musical version of Our Father at the start of the prayer vigil in Hyde Park next month. ...
The commemorative Pilgrim Journey CD includes spoken messages from the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, and Lord Patten of Barnes, who is overseeing the historic trip for the Government.
Other songs on the album are performed by a pair of trainee priests called The Seminarians and a composer called Alessandro Cherin.

Unfortunately, curmudgeonly columnist Damien Thompson heard two tracks from the album and deems it "musical atrocities that make the Birdie Song sound like Mozart" (Telegraph August 11, 2010):
I’ve just played “Urban Pilgrim (Reprise)” by Alessandro Cherin and “Deus Tuus Deus Meus” by Fr Gerard Bradley to my colleagues in the Telegraph newsroom. And they’re keeling over in embarrassment. “Urban Pilgrim” is described by a friend as “the stuff they play on planes when they switch off your in-flight movie as your prepare to land”. As for Fr Bradley, his vocation does not lie in the area of composition – and the singer has the upper register of a deputy accounts manager on a karaoke machine. [...]
It doesn’t give me any pleasure to make fun of this crap, because it proves that the Church in England and Wales is still in the grip of philistines.

Newman and papal visit receive stamp of approval: Isle of Man Stamps and Coins commemorates papal visit (Catholic Herald August 13, 2010)

A further 5,000 tickets have been made available for those wanting to attend the Papal mass and beatification of Cardinal Newman in Birmingham (BBC News, August 11, 2010).
A company selling papal visit T-shirts and hoodies has sought the help of police after receiving anti-Catholic abuse online (The Catholic Herald August 11, 2010):
They said they were particularly worried because one message referred to a specific member of staff by name.
A spokesman said: “We took one look at it and thought: cops. It was not quite a threat, but it definitely had the intention of causing alarm.”
The messages, he said, referred to Catholics as “brainwashed” and “nutters”.
(Seriously? -- you should see the hate mail the "Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club" used to get -- Editor).
Shawn Tribe reminds us of John Henry Newman's Dublin connection (Catholic Herald August 11, 2010):
we quite often make reference to Oxford and Birmingham, but as one of our readers kindly reminded us, we should not neglect to mention the University Church in Dublin, Ireland, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, which was founded and designed by none other than John Henry Newman himself, in his capacity as rector of the then newly founded Catholic University of Ireland.
All eyes on the Pope as he visits ‘Protestant Britannia’ (Belfast Telegraph August 10, 2010):
On a global scale, Britain, the foremost Protestant nation through the rabid religiosity of the English and the Scots, mobilised its empire in aggressive opposition to papal power, while Catholic Ireland spawned its own spiritual diaspora by exporting generations of priests and people to the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
In the perspective of this fire and dungeon history, it is a stunning turnaround that Pope Benedict has selected 'Protestant Britannia' ahead of 'Catholic Ireland' for an official state visit next month.
Even more remarkably, Pope Benedict will meet his host, Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Anglican Church of England, in Edinburgh, the capital of Presbyterianism.
Mgr. Andrew Summersgill, coordinator of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to the United Kingdom, maintains that pilgrims attending major open air events with the Holy Father will not be paying "a charge to go to Mass," but a contribution of solidarity to cover the cost of transportation for fellow pilgrims (Catholic News Agency, August 10, 2010).
Just 2,500 tickets have been allocated to Catholics in Northern Ireland to attend events during Benedict's papal visit according to the Belfast Telegraph (August 9, 2010): "None have been allocated to believers in the Republic — despite the Catholic Church being an all-Ireland institution."
The number of police officers on the beat in Birmingham may have to be slashed in a bid to foot the soaring cost of policing the Pope’s visit (Birmingham Post August 9, 2010).
SCOTLAND'S two biggest police forces are planning a "handover" of the Pope at Harthill to ensure the M8 remains open during his visit (Daily Record August 8, 2010).

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Pope Benedict's Trip to the UK - Weekly Roundup 8/01-8/07

In an August 2 interview with Asia News, John Milbank, Anglican theologian and professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics, at the University of Nottingham, perceives the papal visit as a chance to revitalize the Pope's image in the eyes of the British media and fostering goodwill between Catholics and Anglicans.

However, I expect Milbank's spin on things may raise a few eyebrows in disbelief. For instance, he heralds Anglicanorum Coetibus -- which provides a canonical framework to integrate groups of disaffected Anglicans seeking to swim the Tiber into the Roman fold -- as "a new recognition by the Papacy of the validity of the Anglican tradition, beginning to equate it more with Eastern Orthodoxy", creating "a fluidity between the two communions that will help to lead to full intercommunion in the future." Likewise, Milbank welcomes Benedict's beatification of the Anglican convert to Catholicism, as a "positive development":
Anglicans by no means feel that Newman ‘betrayed’ them by becoming a Catholic. On the contrary, they are very proud of Newman’s double contribution to both modern Anglicanism and to modern Catholicism. Newman is a sign of unity: he belongs to both Churches and I am sure that our prayers to God through him will aid us in the cause of Church unity, as in the revival of a Christian Britain.
William Oddie takes issue with Milbank in the Catholic Herald ("Sorry, Professor Milbank, Newman was no ecumenist" August 6, 2010):
The “cause of Church unity”, however, was hardly one ever espoused by Newman, and I fear that Professor Milbank’s mellifluous sentiments are part of a general movement towards setting him up as a somewhat anaemic “plaster saint”.
The fact is that Newman was the very opposite of an ecumenist: he was, in his very bones, a controversialist in such matters. To say that “Newman belonged to both Churches” is absurd: the Catholic Newman didn’t believe that the Established Church was a Church at all, but a mere national institution.
This is how he addressed those of Catholic mind within the Church of England (Difficulties of Anglicans, lecture 4): “You can have no trust in the Establishment or its Sacraments and ordinances. You must leave it, you must secede; you must turn your back upon, you must renounce, what has—not suddenly become, but has now been proved to you to have ever been—an imposture. You must take up your cross and you must go hence.”
Blogger A Reluctant Sinner has details on some of the "warm up acts" for the Papal Prayer Vigil in Hyde Park (August 7, 2010) and asks: papal visit policing costs - where do the figures come from? (August 7, 2010)
The U.K. ambassador to the Holy See, Mr. Francis Campbell, spoke to the Catholic News Agency about the Pope's visit (August 6, 2010):
In the state's perspective, the Sept. 16-19 appointment is "a visit to the Church and to wider society," observed the ambassador. "This is our oldest diplomatic relationship," he said, recalling that state-to-state relations go back to the year 1479 when the papal envoy was sent by the British monarchy.
"It hasn't always been an easy relationship," he said, "and here is the Pope coming on a state visit as a guest of the Queen and there are some very poignant moments in that visit that speak of rapprochement, that don't say anything, but speak to it."
Ambassador Campbell cited an example of this in Pope Benedict's speech to 1,800 members of civil society in Westminster Hall, "the very same Hall where Thomas More was condemned to death." [more]
The bishops of England and Wales will pose with Pope Benedict to recreate a historic painting of the restoration of the hierarchy in Britain (Catholic Herald August 6, 2010).
The Telegraph makes the case for Britain: The success of the Pope's visit matters to all of us" (August 6, 2010):
... Both the BBC and the Government set great store by "celebrating other cultures". Benedict XVI's arrival is an opportunity to celebrate a culture that planted our Christian roots; for it was a Pope who sent St Augustine to Britain.
This state invitation does not require Anglicans and other Christians to recognise papal authority. But, as the Archbishop of Canterbury recognises, if Benedict XVI is greeted with hostility and manufactured scandals, then British Christianity as a whole will be weakened. And, in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Catholics around the world, our national reputation will be damaged. The Pope's visit is more than a great event for Catholics: it is a test of Britain's professionalism, hospitality, tolerance and maturity.
Andrew Brown announces the winners of "Comment Is Free"'s papal visit T-shirt competition (The Guardian August 4, 2010).
The BBC heralds the visit of Pope Benedict XVI ... with a documentary about the Catholic clerical abuse scandals. (The Guardian August 3, 2010).
The organisers of the papal visit unveiled the official merchandise for the Pontiff’s trip to Britain on Monday(Catholic Herald August 2, 2010):
Papal visit souvenirs include papal flags inscribed with the visit’s date and logo, baseball caps, a Swarovski bracelet, rosaries with pictures of the Pope, prayer cards, tote bags and branded T-shirts. An electric flashing candle is also among the items advertised.
T-shirts include a beatification T-shirt with a retro-style picture of John Henry Newman, as well as a black-and-white Pope Benedict T-shirt which features the Pontiff in profile.
The offerings include some rather atrocious examples of "Catholic kitsch": "Glow-in-the-dark rosaries, alarm clocks shaped like Our Lady of Lourdes which sing Aves, T-shirts sporting saints and Madonna-shaped USB-sticks", which in turn prompted this week's debate: "Does Catholic merchandising trivialise the faith?". Meanwhile, Milo Yiannopoulos proclaims "No one does hideous tat quite like us Catholics!"
The Catholic Herald reports that costs for “pilgrim passports” to the papal prayer vigil at Hyde Park have been reduced by half the original price.
The biography written as part of Cardinal John Henry Newman's cause for canonization will be released at a conference in Birmingham, England this September. Catholic News Agency (August 2, 2010):
The International Convention Centre of Birmingham will be the venue of the Sept. 18 all-day conference, "J. H. Newman by his Biographers," announced through local Church's website for the papal visit.
The event, they say, "is an important opportunity to hear four world-class Newman scholars and biographers talk about the man, the message and his enduring significance."
Thousands of Scotland’s Catholics are returning tickets for the first papal visit in three decades to Church headquarters in Glasgow (Scotland's The Herald August 2, 2010):
Just days ago it emerged some Catholics were being asked to pay to see Pope Benedict XVI in Glasgow, despite the Church insisting there would be no individual fees for the visit.
Priests have cited various reasons for the low uptake, including costs, suitability of the venue and the lack of time they have been given to apply for tickets.
With the deadline now passed, the Papal Visit office will today be counting how many returns they have received.
The Priests, a trio of clerics from Northern Ireland, are to headline a key event during Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK (The Guardian August 2, 2010).
The BBC is to air a documentary about the Catholic clerical abuse scandals -- planned to coincide with the first papal visit to the UK for 28 years (The Guardian August 2, 2010):
Benedict: Trials of a Pope features film-maker Mark Dowd going in search of what the BBC calls "the real Joseph Ratzinger".
Dowd travels to Pope Benedict XVI's homeland of Bavaria and the programme includes a rare interview with his brother, Georg Ratzinger, who reveals how he has been affected by the abuse scandals.
The hour-long BBC2 documentary also looks at how the Catholic church has tried to "fashion a positive message about Pope Benedict by training up an army of young religious spin doctors called Catholic Voices".
Staff at the BBC are plotting to disrupt live TV coverage of the Pope’s visit to Britain, the Sunday Express (August 1, 2010):
Thousands of workers want to boycott the Papal visit in September over plans to cut their pensions. ...
The proposed action during Pope Benedict XVl’s tour will be a huge embarrassment to the corporation. It is his first state visit to Britain and the country’s 7.5 million Catholics will be infuriated if the historic occasion is caught up in the BBC’s latest controversy.
The Catholic Church in Birmingham said it is oversubscribed with parishioners wanting to go to the Papal Mass -- About 14,000 of some 70,000 tickets have been allocated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham for Pope Benedict XVI's visit. (BBC News. August 1, 2010)