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Pope resting after tour

The Australian - Pope Benedict XVI retired today to Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence near Rome, to spend a few days recuperating from his nine-day Australian tour, the Vatican said

During his visit to Australia, the 81-year-old pontiff attended World Youth Day events and made a historic apology to victims of sexual abuse by priests in the country.

The trip to Australia was the farthest and longest taken by the pope, according to the Vatican press office. The Pope was met at Ciampino by Cardinal Agostino Vallin, Vicar General of the diocese of the City of Rome, Bishop Paulo di Nicolo of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, Mons Gabriele Caccia, Assessor from the Secretariat of State and Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Head of Protocol. The Italian Government was represented by Gianni Letta under Secretary of the council of Ministers and members of the Diplomatic Corps. As is traditional the Pope sent a telegram to the President of the Republic announcing his return. Telegrams were also sent to those countries which the papal plane flew over on the journey. In this case the list of countries was rather long.

The Pope went directly to Castel Gandolfo from the airport.

Pope resting after tour

From the "New World" Symphony of Benedict XVI. An Anthology

From Sandro Magister - In Sydney, at World Youth Day, Joseph Ratzinger preaches a "new age" of the Spirit to renew the face of the earth. Three years ago, to the young people gathered in Germany, he had proposed a "revolution." The historic hope of the pope theologian.

During Benedict XVI's trip to Australia for World Youth Day, what stood out in the worldwide media was his arrival by sea in the bay of Sydney, the dances of the aborigines, the scenes of the Via Crucis, the myriads of torch flames among the young people during the night, the sorrowful condemnation of sexual abuse committed by priests, and the meeting with four of their victims.

On this page, instead, there is an anthology of the salient passages from the words spoken by Benedict XVI during his voyage.

The selection made here inevitably sacrifices other selections that are no less important from the speeches and homilies of the pope. For example, it would be obligatory to reread in its entirety the catechesis on the Holy Spirit presented to the young people at the nighttime vigil on Saturday, July 19: and in doing so, one would understand why, in presenting it, "L'Osservatore Romano" called it "one of the most beautiful texts of the pontificate."

But in any case, one unmistakable characteristic of Benedict XVI can be gathered from this anthology: his being a pope theologian. Who, like St. Augustine - quoted extensively during his visit to Australia - wants to preach to everyone, including the humble and the simple, the marvels of God, not dumbed down or watered down, but in their complete and sometimes difficult essentiality. And in their mysterious historical reverberations.

In their content and style, the passages presented here are also the ones most easily attributed to Joseph Ratzinger personally, to his mind into his pen, rather than to the Vatican offices charged with preparing and supplementing the pontifical addresses.

For those who want to read the rest, the complete texts of all the speeches, messages, and homilies are available on this page of the Holy See's website, in multiple languages.

From the "New World" Symphony of Benedict XVI. An Anthology

Blogging from Down Under. With the Holy Father in Sydney for WYD

Sick pilgrims to walk in Pope's footsteps

A measure of the success of these outings, at least at the level of public relations, is whether the local media feels obliged afterwards to run a feature story along the lines of "Erstwhile enforcer shows human face." The Germans wrote such stories in 2005 after World Youth Day in Cologne, the Spaniards did them after the pope's visit to Valencia in 2006, and the Americans followed suit three months ago.

Sure enough, Monday's Sydney Morning Herald featured the now-predictable headline: "From theologian to pope of the people."

Such glowing reviews, to an extent, may reflect the touch of the church's PR machine, as well as civic boosterism - local authorities invest considerable resources in hosting a papal visit, so no one wants them to fail. In Australia, the current estimate is that federal, state and local governments poured almost $155 million into subsidizing World Youth Day.

All spin aside, however, Benedict XVI really does strike most people as kind and candid, and those two qualities are usually enough to generate positive impressions. Combine that with Benedict's erudition, as well as the elaborate choreography and massive turnout associated with a World Youth Day, and it's little wonder the Aussies were impressed.

Beyond good vibes and great pictures, however, the analytical question in the wake of the pope's July 12-21 trip is whether we saw or heard anything new, anything that might offer clues as to the future direction of the Catholic church or Benedict's papacy.

At that level, while the trip produced no earthquakes, it did offer a few of what the Italians would call sfumature … small nuances that can be meaningful. This week, I offer four such "Sfumature from Sydney." These are by no means the main points of the trip, but rather smaller matters around the edges where something unexpected or revealing broke through.

Benedict on the Sex Abuse Crisis

Benedict once again tackled the sex abuse crisis head-on, beginning by responding to a question aboard the papal plane. Like the United States, the Catholic church in Australia has been rocked by waves of sex abuse scandals since the early 1990s, the most recent erupting just days before the pope's arrival, with unflattering revelations about how Cardinal George Pell of Sydney handled two cases in which victims, or their families, didn't feel they received justice.

(Some observers felt the timing of these revelations was dubious, suspecting a deliberate effort to embarrass Pell.)

As he did in the United States, Pope Benedict expressed "shame" over the crisis and vowed to pursue justice, reconciliation and healing. Also like the States, the pope held a private meeting with a small group of victims, which was not part of his official schedule and was not announced in advance. The four victims, two men and two women, met Benedict in the company of supporters and a priest assigned to pastoral outreach to victims. The pope celebrated Mass for the group and then met with each victim individually, with the entire encounter lasting roughly an hour.

Three points deserve mention...

The Environment

Although the point didn't get much traction amid the pageantry of World Youth Day, it's a striking fact that the most frequent social or cultural concern cited by Pope Benedict XVI in Australia was the environment. The pope talked about ecological themes seven times:

• His message for the people of Australia and the pilgrims at World Youth Day in advance of the trip;
• Aboard the papal plane, in response to a question about climate change;
• His speech at Sydney's Government House for his official welcome;
• Comments for his arrival at World Youth Day in Barangaroo, a former wharf in Sydney;
• A visit to disadvantaged youth served by the "Alive" program;
• An inter-faith session in Sydney's Cathedral of St. Mary;
• The homily for the final Mass of World Youth Day.

World Youth Day as 'Evangelical Pilgrimage'

In remarks at the concluding Mass thanking Benedict XVI, Pell said that World Youth Day acts as an antidote to images of Catholicism as in decline or wracked by controversy. "It shows the church as it really is," Pell said, "alive with evangelical energy."

Four Sfumature from the Pope's trip to Sydney

Goulburn's Senator Ursula Stephens, has had the role of coordinating the work and commitments of the Commonwealth Government's contribution to World Youth Day, and represented Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the WYD Organising Committee. She also chaired the intergovernmental committee responsible for the VIP ancillary program for WYD.

"I spent all the previous week in Sydney, attending the major WYD08 events as well as several diplomatic meetings and receptions," Dr Stephens said.

"All the formal occasions were wonderful, but the mood in the streets and the venues was electric - the sea of cheerful, singing pilgrims and helpful volunteers transformed the streets of Sydney"...

After spending several sessions with pilgrims from Ireland, France and South America, Dr Stephens said she was honoured to have been introduced to Pope Benedict before he left Australia.

"We were waiting in the hangar for nearly two hours on Monday morning, and it was definitely worth the wait!

The Governor General introduced me to the Holy Father, and explained my work on the organising committee.

"Pope Benedict told me that my hands were cold! He thanked me for my work, saying it had been a truly wonderful event and that he would treasure the memories of this trip to Australia," she said.
Ursula meets Pope Benedict

Friday, 12 September 2008

Fiumicino (Rome)

FRANCE

Paris

Lourdes

Rome/Ciampino