by Marie Elena Giossi

As Lebanon welcomes Pope Benedict XVI this weekend, the international community will be watching and listening carefully to the message he brings to the Church in the Middle East.

Sons and daughters of Lebanon, at home and abroad, have been eagerly anticipating Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, the primary purpose of which is to sign and deliver an apostolic exhortation on the special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, held at the Vatican in October, 2010.

At the closing Mass of the synod, the pope spoke about the need for communion among Catholic churches of different traditions, authentic feedom of religion and conscience, and the urgency and usefulness of dialogue between Christians and Muslims in achieving peace — themes that the pope is likely to address during his visit.

Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour chats with parishioners at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights following liturgy on Sunday, Sept. 9. (Photo by Marie Elena Giossi)

His itinerary includes a stop off at St. Paul’s Basilica, Harissa; meetings with religious, political and cultural leaders; an address to young people outside the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke; and the celebration of Mass at the Beirut City Center Waterfront. In the city of Jounieh, residents planned to put white, yellow and red candles on the rooftops of homes and businesses as a sign of welcome.

Last weekend, local Lebanese Catholics offered prayers in anticipation of the pope’s visit during Masses at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral, Brooklyn Heights.

Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Eparchy of St. Maron, Brooklyn, who served as a delegate at the 2010 synod, was the main celebrant of the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Sept. 9. Concelebrants included retired Bishop Stephen Hector Doueihi and Msgr. James Root, rector.

Celebrating the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Bishop Mansour told the faithful, “If we know what is worth living for, we know what is worth dying for.”

While concerns about the Arab Spring and Syrian civil war might have deterred others, he said, “Pope Benedict hasn’t hesitated one minute.”

He explained that the Holy Father is steadfast in his desire to encourage and challenge both Christians and Muslims, and to bring a message of peace and unity.

Parishioner Nicole Safi was sorry she could not return to her native Lebanon to see the pope, but friends and family in Jounieh were keeping her up-to-date on the details of his visit.

She said that Christian clergy and lay people across the country “want to show the world that the Christians in the Middle East, and especially in Lebanon, are united with one another. They are united in their prayers, their solidarity and their love for God.”

Zgharta-born Bishop Doueihi, 85, called the pope’s visit “a great sign” of the Church’s concern for the Lebanese and “for all Christians in the Middle East.”

Fearing de-Christianization in the Middle East, the bishop hopes that the pope’s presence and words will strengthen the faithful of Lebanon and surrounding countries so that his exhortation “does not stay as letters on paper,” he said. “It must go into life.”

Our Lady of Lebanon parishioner Yolla El-Houayek, who is originally from Beydoun, called the pope’s visit “a blessing and an honor for our country. All of the Christians in the Middle East are going to feel much stronger by the pope going there.”

That was also the hope of Majda Georges, who emigrated from Zahle over 15 years ago. She returned home for the first time this summer and was taken aback by the large population of Muslims living near her hometown.

“Christians feel very weak because the majority is Muslim,” she said.

Right now, people have the freedom to say what they want, go where they want and wear what they want, but Georges fears that may change as it has in neighboring countries where Muslim majorities have taken control.

While Christians are no longer the majority in Lebanon, they still “play an important political role in the Middle East,” noted Majdi Ramadan, consul general of Lebanon, who was present at Mass.

Lebanon is home to 18 religious sects, and Christians make up about 40 percent of the population. Additionally, the nation’s president is required to be a Maronite Catholic.

Majdi Ramadan, consul general of Lebanon, met with parishioners after attending Mass at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights. (Photo by Marie Elena Giossi)

“Everyone in Lebanon is very happy the pope is coming,” said Ramadan, a Muslim, who said he felt at home among his Christian brothers and sisters at the cathedral on Sunday.

“I hope the pope tells Christians to stay in Lebanon and build,” he said. “I hope he tells them to remain active in political and social activities.”

However, Sarya Abi-Habib said she would actually like to see the pope’s visit lead to less politicking and inspire a greater practice of faith, especially among young people like herself.

“Lebanese people here in the U.S., we come to church every Sunday,” said Abi-Habib, who spent three weeks in her native Roumieh this summer.

“In Lebanon, the older people go to church but I see more young people fighting” for various political parties, she said. “Hopefully the pope will bring peace to their hearts and minds.”

“The spirituality of our Church has to be strengthened,” added parishioner Tresa Van Heusen. “I think the pope’s presence will be a great witness.”

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass outside the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Frascati, Italy, July 15. The city is located about five miles from the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo.

Pope Benedict XVI kneels in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament during the Corpus Christi procession in Rome.  At Corpus Christi Mass, the Pope said a misunderstanding of the Second Vatican Council has led some Catholics to think that Eucharistic adoration and Corpus Christi processions are pietistic practices that pale in importance to the celebration of Mass outside Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran.  “A unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council has penalized this dimension” of Catholic faith, which is to recognize Jesus truly present in the Eucharist and worthy of adoration, the pope said June 7 during a Mass marking the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The Pope said that if Christ is seen as present in the Eucharist only during Mass, “this imbalance has repercussions on the spiritual life of the faithful,” who need to be aware of “the constant presence of Jesus among us and with us.”

by John Travis

Pope Benedict XVI is flanked by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, retired archbishop of New York, and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York during a Nov. 26 meeting with U.S. bishops from the state of New York on their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican. To Archbishop Dolan’s left are Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishops Octavio Cisneros and Frank Caggiano, and retired Bishop Guy Sansaricq. Second from right is retired Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a speech to U.S. bishops, Pope Benedict XVI defended the Church’s “honest efforts” to confront the priestly sex abuse scandal with transparency, and said its actions could help the rest of society respond to the problem.

While the church is rightly held to high standards, all other institutions should be held to the same standards as they address the causes, extent and consequences of sexual abuse, which has become a “scourge” at every level of society, the pope said Nov. 26.

On wider issues, including the institution of marriage, the pope encouraged the bishops to speak out “humbly yet insistently in defense of moral truth.” Responding to the challenges of a secularized culture will first require the “re-evangelization” of the Church’s own members, he said.

The pope made the remarks in a speech to bishops from the state of New York, who were in Rome for their “ad limina” visits. The group was led by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who as president of the U.S. bishops’ conference has spoken of the need to restore the church’s credibility and its evangelizing capacity.

The pope began his talk by recalling his 2008 visit to the United States, which he said was aimed at encouraging Catholics in the wake of the sex abuse crisis. He said he wanted to acknowledge the suffering inflicted on victims as well as the Church’s efforts to ensure the safety of children and deal “appropriately and transparently with allegations” of abuse.

“It is my hope that the church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society,” the pope said.

“By the same token, just as the church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards,” he said.

Pope Benedict’s speech was the first in a series of five talks he is expected to deliver in coming months, as 15 groups of U.S. bishops make their consultative visits to Rome. He said he planned to focus primarily on the urgent task of “new evangelization.”

The pope said many of the U.S. bishops had shared with him their concern about the “grave challenges” presented by an increasingly secularized society in the United States. He said it was also interesting to note a widespread worry about the future of democratic society in general, by people who see “a troubling breakdown in the intellectual, cultural and moral foundations of social life” and growing insecurity about the future.

He suggested that the Church could and should have a key role in responding to these deep changes in society.

“Despite attempts to still the church’s voice in the public square, many people of good will continue to look to her for wisdom, insight and sound guidance in meeting this far-reaching crisis,” he said.

In that sense, he added, the present moment is “a summons to exercise the prophetic dimension of your episcopal ministry by speaking out, humbly yet insistently, in defense of moral truth, and offering a word of hope, capable of opening hearts and minds to the truth that sets us free.”

As New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan addresses Pope Benedict XVI, Brooklyn’s bishops are clearly visible in the center of the photo.

At the same time, the pope said, the seriousness of the challenges facing the church in the United States cannot be underestimated. He said one big problem was that secularization affects the lives of Catholic, leading at times to “quiet attrition” among the church’s members.

“Immersed in this culture, believers are daily beset by the objections, the troubling questions and the cynicism of a society which seems to have lost its roots, by a world in which the love of God has grown cold in so many hearts,” he said.

For that reason, he said, modern evangelization is not something aimed only at people outside the Church.

“We ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,” he said. That must include critical and ongoing self-assessment and conversion, and interior renewal in the light of the Gospel, he said.

The pope praised the U.S. bishops for their response to the issues raised by increasing secularization, and their efforts to articulate a common pastoral vision. He cited as examples the bishops’ recent documents on political responsibility and on the institution of marriage.

In the end, the pope said, the effectiveness of the Church’s witness to the Gospel in the United States is linked to “the recovery of a shared vision and sense of mission by the entire Catholic community.”

He said Catholic universities have an important role in promoting this renewal and ensuring the success of “new evangelization,” especially among younger generations.

“Young people have a right to hear clearly the church’s teaching and, most importantly, to be inspired by the coherence and beauty of the Christian message, so that they in turn can instill in their peers a deep love of Christ and his church,” he said.

The pope also spoke about the implementation of the revised translation of the Roman Missal, which is being introduced in the United States during Advent. He thanked the bishops for making this a moment of catechesis about the liturgy, saying that a weakened sense of the meaning of Christian worship inevitably leads to a weakened witness of the faith.

He said consolidating America’s “proud tradition of respect for the Sabbath” would help renew U.S. society in accordance with God’s “unchanging truth.”

by John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI urged international leaders to reach a credible agreement on climate change, keeping in mind the needs of the poor and of future generations.
The pope made the remarks at his noon blessing at the Vatican Nov. 27, the day before officials from 194 countries were to begin meeting in Durban, South Africa, to discuss the next steps in reducing greenhouse gases and stopping global temperatures from rising.
“I hope that all members of the international community can agree on a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations,” the pope said.
The meeting, which runs until Dec. 9, is the latest in a series to consider follow-up action to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obligated industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a specific amount. The Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012, and the Durban encounter is considered crucial in forging an additional commitment period.
The goal of the talks organized by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change is to cut greenhouse gases by 50% by 2050 and prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, was leading a 20-person Caritas delegation to the Durban talks to press for an agreement on behalf of poor countries that have been severely impacted by climate change.
“Our climate is changing. Caritas organizations are responding to increasing unpredictability and extreme weather conditions experienced around the world. This year we saw floods in Central America, South and Southeast Asia and drought across East Africa,” Cardinal Rodriguez said in a statement released by Caritas.
“Urgent action is necessary. Climate negotiators in Durban must not further delay agreeing to international legislation to curb the threat of climate change and set the world on a path to a more just and sustainable future,” he said.
In 2011, East Africa suffered the worst drought in half a century. Caritas noted that drought was not new in East Africa, but said changes in weather patterns combined with lack of investment, competition for land and water have eroded the capacity of local people to cope.
“The whole world is vulnerable to climate change, but poor countries are affected more,” Cardinal Rodriguez said. “Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to the impacts of climate change. Africans are taking a stand in Durban; it is time for the world to stand with Africa.”
Before leaving for Durban, Cardinal Rodriguez took several thousand young Italian members of a Franciscan environmental group to the Vatican for a lively encounter with the pope.
The pope told them that the Church’s teaching on the environment follows from the principle that men and women are collaborators with God and His creation. The lessons of responsible stewardship over natural resources are increasingly important, he said.
“In fact, it is by now evident that there is no good future for humanity or for the Earth unless we educate everyone toward a style of life that is more responsible toward the created world,” he said.
He said education toward environmental responsibility must begin in families and schools and must reflect the Church’s teaching that respect for the human being – in all stages of life – goes hand in hand with respect for nature.

Pope Benedict XVI receives the official World Youth Day 2011 backpack from Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela of Madrid during a private meeting at the Vatican in early February. The cardinal was the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1989 when Pope John Paul II met young people there for World Youth Day. Spain is preparing to host World Youth Day in Madrid Aug. 16-21. (Photo courtesy Catholic News Service.)