Pray for a cardinal in the lead up to and during the conclave !
Here's your chance to help discern the new pope :)JC
Thursday, March 7, 2013
ADOPT A CARDINAL !!!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
SOCIETY: Surrogate mother offered $10,000 to abort imperfect baby
Surrogate mother offered $10,000 to abort imperfect baby
CWN - March 05, 2013
| |
The surrogate mother was originally paid $22,000 to carry the child that the Connecticut couple had produced through in vitro fertilization. When prenatal tests revealed that the child would be born with a cleft palate and other abnormalities, the genetic parents instructed the surrogate mother to abort the child.
The surrogate mother refused. Although she said that her refusal was based on religious principles, she reportedly agreed to abort if the couple would raise their price to $15,000.
Unable to resolve her legal differences with the genetic parents, the surrogate mother fled across the US to avoid their demands. She carried the pregnancy to term, and the baby has now been adopted.
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CONCLAVE: Nigerian cardinal downplays Curial intrigues, cardinals' rhetoric
Nigerian cardinal downplays Curial intrigues, cardinals' rhetoric
CWN - March 05, 2013
| |
"There are those who consider the running of the Roman Curia very important, but I'm more interested in how we're able to project the message of Jesus to our people," Cardinal Onaiyekan told John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.
Regarding the meetings of cardinals in the "congregations" being held this week in preparation for the conclave, the Nigerian prelate said: "No matter how brilliant you may think your speech is, do we really need it?"
Cardinal Onaiyekan—who is described by Allen as a gregarious, outsized personality with a formidable intellect—said that "there's nothing to stop an African from being the Pope." However, he said that he had not seen evidence of a "voting bloc" of African cardinals, or in fact of any geographical bloc. Cardinal Onaiyekan downplayed his own chances of being elected Roman Pontiff, but said that the people of Nigeria are unabashedly hoping for his election.
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Tuesday, March 5, 2013
7 Sorrows (Dolors) of Mary, Rosary Prayer
Seven Sorrows (Dolors) of Mary, Rosary Prayer
Priestly Order of The Servite of Mary
Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows
(The Servite Rosary)
Opening Meditation
In the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary we see a reflection of the suffering and bitter anguish of the human Christ. Just as Mary accepted the total mystery of Christ into her life, so may we see in our sorrow, our fear, and humiliation, a dim, but real participation in His passion and death, recalling that if we wish to follow Him, we must "take up our cross" each day. Let us pray that we may accept Christ's call, and become co-sufferers of His passion.
I THE FIRST SORROW
The Prophecy Of Simeon
Many of us are parents. We know that only by sharing life with God is life fulfilled. That is why we also sense a fear about the future of our loved ones. Simeon's prophecy was a blessing for all mankind, but foretold grief for you, Mary. Your first sorrow was much more than a parent's fear.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
II THE SECOND SORROW
The Flight Into Egypt
What can a mother do when the life of her child is threatened? When Herod decreed death for all those innocent children, God warned Joseph. With no time for packing or goodbyes, you escaped into the night. Homeless and tired, with an uncertain future before you, you were secure in nothing but the love of those who needed you.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
III THE THIRD SORROW
The Loss Of Jesus In The Temple
A child is lost. What panic grips the hearts of parents at such a time! They wonder, "Is he safe?" "Will I ever see him again?" And then they imagine things too terrible to express. It was the same for you and Joseph. Mary, for three days you sought Jesus. It took faith to continue the search in the pain of separation.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
IV THE FOURTH SORROW
Mary Meets Jesus On the Way To Calvary
What mother called suddenly to the hospital to see her sick or injured child has not wished: "If only I could suffer instead of you!" But she remains only a spectator. Mary, you saw Jesus beaten and bloody. You felt powerless to help Him, and yet through your love you shared His pain.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
V THE FIFTH SORROW
Jesus Dies On The Cross
It has often been said, "To lose a child is the worst death for a parent to endure." Mary, in those long hours, at the cross, perhaps your thoughts returned to earlier days. How horrible now to face the reality of death! His breath grew labored. The time had come. Yet He spoke to you and consoled you. In dying he gave life to others and made you mother of all mankind.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
VI THE SIXTH SORROW
Mary Receives The Dead Body of Jesus
He is dead . . . and it hardly seems real. How many of us have paused before the body of a loved one and wondered: "Can this be happening to me?" Death is real, all too real! As you held Jesus in your arms, Mary, you probably wondered as we have, "Is this the end of everything?"
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
VII THE SEVENTH SORROW
Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb
The garden and the bomb . . . there is something strangely consoling about the burial of Jesus, Mary. Perhaps a flower or blade of grass reminded you of his words "Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot produce new life." It is always difficult to see death and life together, but you continued to believe, hope, and love. His words filled your heart.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
Closing Prayer
Lord God, our Father, from the passion and death of Jesus, shared by the compassion of his Mother, you brought healing to fallen man. Grant that we, your people, may experience this healing and rise from the power of sin to a wholeness of life promised by Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, AMEN. (Three Hail Marys)
Priestly Order of The Servite of Mary Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows
(The Servite Rosary)
Opening Meditation
In the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary we see a reflection of the suffering and bitter anguish of the human Christ. Just as Mary accepted the total mystery of Christ into her life, so may we see in our sorrow, our fear, and humiliation, a dim, but real participation in His passion and death, recalling that if we wish to follow Him, we must "take up our cross" each day. Let us pray that we may accept Christ's call, and become co-sufferers of His passion.
I THE FIRST SORROW
The Prophecy Of Simeon
Many of us are parents. We know that only by sharing life with God is life fulfilled. That is why we also sense a fear about the future of our loved ones. Simeon's prophecy was a blessing for all mankind, but foretold grief for you, Mary. Your first sorrow was much more than a parent's fear.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
II THE SECOND SORROW
The Flight Into Egypt
What can a mother do when the life of her child is threatened? When Herod decreed death for all those innocent children, God warned Joseph. With no time for packing or goodbyes, you escaped into the night. Homeless and tired, with an uncertain future before you, you were secure in nothing but the love of those who needed you.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
III THE THIRD SORROW
The Loss Of Jesus In The Temple
A child is lost. What panic grips the hearts of parents at such a time! They wonder, "Is he safe?" "Will I ever see him again?" And then they imagine things too terrible to express. It was the same for you and Joseph. Mary, for three days you sought Jesus. It took faith to continue the search in the pain of separation.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
IV THE FOURTH SORROW
Mary Meets Jesus On the Way To Calvary
What mother called suddenly to the hospital to see her sick or injured child has not wished: "If only I could suffer instead of you!" But she remains only a spectator. Mary, you saw Jesus beaten and bloody. You felt powerless to help Him, and yet through your love you shared His pain.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
V THE FIFTH SORROW
Jesus Dies On The Cross
It has often been said, "To lose a child is the worst death for a parent to endure." Mary, in those long hours, at the cross, perhaps your thoughts returned to earlier days. How horrible now to face the reality of death! His breath grew labored. The time had come. Yet He spoke to you and consoled you. In dying he gave life to others and made you mother of all mankind.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
VI THE SIXTH SORROW
Mary Receives The Dead Body of Jesus
He is dead . . . and it hardly seems real. How many of us have paused before the body of a loved one and wondered: "Can this be happening to me?" Death is real, all too real! As you held Jesus in your arms, Mary, you probably wondered as we have, "Is this the end of everything?"
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
VII THE SEVENTH SORROW
Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb
The garden and the bomb . . . there is something strangely consoling about the burial of Jesus, Mary. Perhaps a flower or blade of grass reminded you of his words "Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot produce new life." It is always difficult to see death and life together, but you continued to believe, hope, and love. His words filled your heart.
(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys)
Closing Prayer
Lord God, our Father, from the passion and death of Jesus, shared by the compassion of his Mother, you brought healing to fallen man. Grant that we, your people, may experience this healing and rise from the power of sin to a wholeness of life promised by Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, AMEN. (Three Hail Marys)
THE SERVITE ORDER: Toward the middle of the thirteenth century seven Florentine merchants formed a penitential community just outside Florence. Aware of their unworthiness before God, they dedicated themselves as Servants of the Holy Virgin so that she might be with them as they stood before their Lord. To escape the distractions of urban life and civil discord they withdrew to Mount Senario, some twelve miles distant. In its solitude they laid the foundation of the Order Of Servants of Mary. Their example attracted many followers and soon foundations were made in Italy and Germany, and later in many other countries. These Seven whom our Lady guided to found an Order dedicated to her service were canonized in 1888 as the Seven Holy Founders.
From this example of prayerfulness joined to an active ministry spread a movement which includes eleven canonized saints, many blessed whose cult is approved by Rome, and innumerable holy men and women of many countries and times. While the devotion of Servites has always been directed to the Mother of their Lord in all the aspects of her life, in time it began to be focused more specifically on the sorrows she experienced in her life. The black habit of the Servites was itself looked upon as a sign of the sorrow Mary suffered at the Cross of her Son.
At the present time Servites are present on all continents: priests and brothers, cloistered nuns and active sisters, members of the Servite Secular Institute, Servite Third Order, and Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows. In the United States the Servites are best known for their Marian shrines of Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago where the Novena to Our Sorrowful Mother began in 1937 and the Shrine of Our Sorrowful Mother in Portland, Oregon.
THE ROSARY OF THE SEVEN SORROWS: During the Middle Ages, when the ordinary Catholic no longer knew the language of the official prayer of the Church, many other prayer forms or devotions developed to fill the prayer vacuum that resulted. One of these was the rosary. And one of the adaptations of this prayer-form was the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
Like all rosaries, the Servite Rosary is a meditation on the mystery-events of God's love for us as reflected in the life of Jesus and Mary. Specifically, it invites us to meditate on those times in the life of Mary when she experienced the pain and suffering that tested her faith and invited her to a full sharing of the mystery of God's salvation in her Son, Jesus.
By this reflection, in the context of verbal prayers of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, we open our hearts to the power of this mystery, and so allow His Word to enter and change our lives.
This Servite Rosary consist of Seven Mysteries of Sorrows. Each mystery is introduced by a meditation to guide our reflection as we pray the Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys. The Rosary is concluded with three Hail Marys, as added petition for true sorrow and a desire to model our lives on the example of the life and faith of Mary. For more than 740 years, the members of the Servite Order have been know as "The Servants of Mary." Their work for Jesus and Mary is world-wide.
Information taken from:
(1)TWENTY-FOUR ROSARIES AND CHAPLETS by Patrick Shaughnessy, O.S.B., S.T.D. Reprinted 1984 by Our Lady's Rosary Makers.
(2)Reference from Card. The Servants of Mary, Berwyn, Illinois 60402
(1)TWENTY-FOUR ROSARIES AND CHAPLETS by Patrick Shaughnessy, O.S.B., S.T.D. Reprinted 1984 by Our Lady's Rosary Makers.
(2)Reference from Card. The Servants of Mary, Berwyn, Illinois 60402
Monday, March 4, 2013
ROME: Cardinal Sandri calls for greater role for women in Church, priestly formation
Cardinal Sandri calls for greater role for women in Church, priestly formation
"But they must also be co-participants in the dialogue and the analysis of the life of the Church and in (other) areas, even in the formation of priests, where they can play a very, very important role," he added.
Cardinal Sandri, who served as the sostituto, or deputy secretary of state, between 2000 and 2007, added that the next Pope should be "someone who is at least walking towards sanctity through a life of humility, work, prayer and witness to the Gospel," have "a certain vigor," possess "a great ability to communicate," and be "one who knows how to govern."
"The problem is finding the four qualities together," he said. "Sometimes someone has an excess of one quality and less of others ... for me, the most important thing is that he be a man of faith who is not afraid."
"The Church is ready for a black pope, but maybe the world is not," Cardinal Sandri added. "We are open to anyone as long he is the best prepared, the best qualified, to face a time that is so difficult for the Church and the world."
CWN - March 04, 2013
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is often mentioned as papabile in news reports, is calling for a greater role for women in the life of the Church and in priestly formation. "The role of women in the world has increased and this is something the Church has to ask itself about," said the prelate, whom Pope Benedict appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in 2007. "They must have a much more important role in the life of the Church ... so that they can contribute to Church life in so many areas which are now, in part, open only to men," including higher offices in the Roman Curia, "here they can make a very important contribution because of their qualifications.""But they must also be co-participants in the dialogue and the analysis of the life of the Church and in (other) areas, even in the formation of priests, where they can play a very, very important role," he added.
Cardinal Sandri, who served as the sostituto, or deputy secretary of state, between 2000 and 2007, added that the next Pope should be "someone who is at least walking towards sanctity through a life of humility, work, prayer and witness to the Gospel," have "a certain vigor," possess "a great ability to communicate," and be "one who knows how to govern."
"The problem is finding the four qualities together," he said. "Sometimes someone has an excess of one quality and less of others ... for me, the most important thing is that he be a man of faith who is not afraid."
"The Church is ready for a black pope, but maybe the world is not," Cardinal Sandri added. "We are open to anyone as long he is the best prepared, the best qualified, to face a time that is so difficult for the Church and the world."
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BENEDICT XVI: Russian Orthodox patriarch pays tribute to Pope Benedict
Russian Orthodox patriarch pays tribute to Pope Benedict
"Your uncompromising and consistent position on issues relating to faith and your adherence to the living church traditions have always been close to us," he added. "At a time when the ideology of permissiveness and moral relativism is trying to cause people to lose moral values, you boldly raised your voice in defense of evangelical ideals and high human dignity, calling on people to become free from sin."
CWN - March 04, 2013
Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, who leads the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches, paid tribute to Pope Benedict XVI upon his resignation. "In these days, which are special to you, I would like to express feelings of brotherly love in Christ and respect," said Patriarch Kirill."Your uncompromising and consistent position on issues relating to faith and your adherence to the living church traditions have always been close to us," he added. "At a time when the ideology of permissiveness and moral relativism is trying to cause people to lose moral values, you boldly raised your voice in defense of evangelical ideals and high human dignity, calling on people to become free from sin."
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Pope-emeritus Benedict reported quiet, serene after resignation
BENEDICT XVI IS WELL: READING, LISTENING TO MUSIC, AND PRAYING
Vatican City, 1 March 2013 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., related some information regarding the Sede Vacante and the first hours of Benedict XVI after having left the pontificate in a press conference this afternoon.
Fr. Lombardi spoke this morning with Benedict XVI's personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the Papal Household, who told him that, yesterday, His Holiness, who was very calm and serene, had watched several news programs and expressed his appreciation for the work of the journalists as well as for the participation of those who had assisted in his departure from the Vatican and his arrival at Castel Gandolfo. After a brief walk through the Apostolic Palace he went to bed and slept very well.
Today, as always, His Holiness celebrated Mass at 7:00am and then prayed the Liturgy of the Hours. In the afternoon he has another walk planned at 4:00pm, through the gardens of the Castel Gandolfo Apostolic Palace, to pray the rosary. Benedict XVI brought with him various books on theology, history, and spirituality. At the moment he is reading from a book by the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Yesterday at 8:00, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, substitute of the Secretariat of State sent a letter to all the diplomatic representatives to the Holy See informing them that, during the period of the Sede Vacante, all matters will be dealt with by the substitute and by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Moreover, this morning, the papal apartments in St. John Lateran were sealed.
Same Sex Friendship: Fraternal Love
A sermon by St Gregory Nazianzen
| Fraternal love: Two bodies, but a single spirit | |
|---|---|
| Basil* and I were both in Athens. We had come, like streams of a river, from the same source in our native land, had separated from each other in pursuit of learning, and were now united again as if by plan, for God so arranged it. I was not alone at that time in my regard for my friend, the great Basil. I knew his irreproachable conduct, and the maturity and wisdom of his conversation. I sought to persuade others, to whom he was less well known, to have the same regard for him. Many fell immediately under his spell, for they had already heard of him by reputation and hearsay. What was the outcome? Almost alone of those who had come to Athens to study he was exempted from the customary ceremonies of initiation for he was held in higher honour than his status as a first-year student seemed to warrant. Such was the prelude to our friendship, the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way we began to feel affection for each other. When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognised that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper. The same hope inspired us: the pursuit of learning. This is an ambition especially subject to envy. Yet between us there was no envy. On the contrary, we made capital out of our rivalry. Our rivalry consisted, not in seeking the first place for oneself but in yielding it to the other, for we each looked on the other's success as his own. We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other. Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God's law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong. Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians. * St. Basil of Caesarea |
Friday, March 1, 2013
Faithful church attendance....
Protestant scholar lauds Benedict's ecumenical strides
Protestant scholar lauds Benedict's ecumenical strides 
.- Pope Benedict has been a leader devoted to ecumenical efforts, according to a professor of Christian history and ecumenism at Fuller Theological Seminary, a Protestant school in Pasadena, Calif.
"I have appreciated his commitment to ecumenism," Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., who is also a minister in the Assemblies of God, an ecclesial community in the Pentecostal tradition, told CNA Feb. 19.
Robeck participated in the third inter-faith gathering at Assisi with Pope Benedict in 2011, and corresponded with him when he was still prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
After the warmth of John Paul II's pontificate, Robeck said there was some apprehension in the Protestant world that Pope Benedict might not "carry on in the way John Paul had."
Yet Pope Benedict "pretty much set everybody at ease by re-committing himself" to ecumenical efforts, Robeck said. He reported that in a July 2011 Pope Benedict greeted a Pentecostal group during an outdoor address, which "for me was a very affirming kind of thing."
"He's the first Pope we've heard make a verbal statements in his speech welcoming the Pentecostals, wishing us well and saying how important he felt the (Pentecostal-Catholic) dialogue was," Robeck remembered.
Robeck said Pope Benedict's three-book series on Jesus of Nazareth was warmly received by Pentecostals. "Benedict really won them over with his three volume series on the life of Jesus; that's a very important contribution he's made to the evangelical community."
"Here at Fuller that series is held up quite highly by faculty members," noted Robeck, and the series has helped pastors and church leaders to "recognize the level of his scholarship, and identify with the message he brings...they see him as providing really good comment on the New Testament."
Robeck noted his personal regard, as a Christian historian, for Pope Benedict's reflections on the Fathers of the Church. He also said the Pope's commitment to the new evangelization is "very important," and that "Benedict has been an important figure in helping all of our churches to rethink the question of evangelism."
Pope Benedict's efforts to reach out to various communities, particularly the Russian Orthodox and the Society of St. Pius X, has given Robeck "a great deal of hope that Benedict's concern about unity, is a real concern."
Robeck also noted that "Dominus Iesus," a declaration written in 2000 by Pope Benedict when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "really spoke to the concerns of evangelicals and Pentecostals by calling once again for a conformity to the 'middle,' with his reiteration of Jesus Christ as the only way, the truth and the life."
"Dominus Iesus," which emphasize the salvific universality of Christ and the Church, "was a very important document...very much appreciated by evangelicals and Pentecostals," Robeck said.
Pope Benedict's efforts at ecumenism were also praised by a Russian Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who said his pontificate has seen a "positive dynamic" in Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations.
"He is a prominent theologian, who is well versed in the tradition of the Orthodox Church while having the sensitivity that makes it possible for him to build relations with Orthodox Church on (a) due level," the Metropolitan said Feb. 11.
He praised the Pope's staunch opposition to the "dictatorship of relativism" and said that his "traditionalism and conservatism...are of credit for millions of Christians, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who seek to preserve traditional Christian spiritual and moral values."
In 2009, Pope Benedict achieved a landmark in ecumenism and reconciliation with his apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus." This document allowed Anglican converts to join the Catholic Church in groups and preserve elements of their spiritual and liturgical heritage.
That initiative, as well as others, led Father John Zuhlsdorf, who writes an influential blog, to start calling Benedict "the Pope of Christian Unity" in Oct., 2009.
Pope Benedict's efforts for Christian unity have not been solely outside the Catholic Church, but within it as well.
In 2007 he wrote a motu proprio "Summorum pontificum" which gave all priests the right to say the Mass as it was in 1962, prior to the Second Vatican Council. It recognized that Vatican II did not abrogate the previous liturgy, and helped to harmonize the Church with her past.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, which is in full communion with the Pope and which celebrates the Roman rite as it was in 1962, said Pope Benedict, "a tireless apostle of Church unity....ever mindful of the restoration of the sacred, reconciled the Roman Church with its two-thousand year liturgical patrimony."
Pope Benedict also launched a series of doctrinal discussions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X, a priestly fraternity founded in 1970 to form priests in response to supposed errors that crept into the Church following Vatican II. The discussions are currently at a stalemate, and the Vatican awaits a definitive response from the Society.
The Society said Feb. 11 that it "expresses its gratitude to (Pope Benedict) for the strength and the constancy that he has shown toward it in such difficult circumstances, and assures him of its prayers for the time that he wishes to devote from now on to recollection."
"Following its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of Saint Pius X reaffirms its attachment to eternal Rome...and to the See of Peter."
"It prays that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the cardinals of the next conclave may elect the pope who, according to the will of God, will work for the restoration of all things in Christ."
By Carl Bunderson
Pope Benedict XVI. Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk.
"I have appreciated his commitment to ecumenism," Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., who is also a minister in the Assemblies of God, an ecclesial community in the Pentecostal tradition, told CNA Feb. 19.
Robeck participated in the third inter-faith gathering at Assisi with Pope Benedict in 2011, and corresponded with him when he was still prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
After the warmth of John Paul II's pontificate, Robeck said there was some apprehension in the Protestant world that Pope Benedict might not "carry on in the way John Paul had."
Yet Pope Benedict "pretty much set everybody at ease by re-committing himself" to ecumenical efforts, Robeck said. He reported that in a July 2011 Pope Benedict greeted a Pentecostal group during an outdoor address, which "for me was a very affirming kind of thing."
"He's the first Pope we've heard make a verbal statements in his speech welcoming the Pentecostals, wishing us well and saying how important he felt the (Pentecostal-Catholic) dialogue was," Robeck remembered.
Robeck said Pope Benedict's three-book series on Jesus of Nazareth was warmly received by Pentecostals. "Benedict really won them over with his three volume series on the life of Jesus; that's a very important contribution he's made to the evangelical community."
"Here at Fuller that series is held up quite highly by faculty members," noted Robeck, and the series has helped pastors and church leaders to "recognize the level of his scholarship, and identify with the message he brings...they see him as providing really good comment on the New Testament."
Robeck noted his personal regard, as a Christian historian, for Pope Benedict's reflections on the Fathers of the Church. He also said the Pope's commitment to the new evangelization is "very important," and that "Benedict has been an important figure in helping all of our churches to rethink the question of evangelism."
Pope Benedict's efforts to reach out to various communities, particularly the Russian Orthodox and the Society of St. Pius X, has given Robeck "a great deal of hope that Benedict's concern about unity, is a real concern."
Robeck also noted that "Dominus Iesus," a declaration written in 2000 by Pope Benedict when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "really spoke to the concerns of evangelicals and Pentecostals by calling once again for a conformity to the 'middle,' with his reiteration of Jesus Christ as the only way, the truth and the life."
"Dominus Iesus," which emphasize the salvific universality of Christ and the Church, "was a very important document...very much appreciated by evangelicals and Pentecostals," Robeck said.
Pope Benedict's efforts at ecumenism were also praised by a Russian Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who said his pontificate has seen a "positive dynamic" in Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations.
"He is a prominent theologian, who is well versed in the tradition of the Orthodox Church while having the sensitivity that makes it possible for him to build relations with Orthodox Church on (a) due level," the Metropolitan said Feb. 11.
He praised the Pope's staunch opposition to the "dictatorship of relativism" and said that his "traditionalism and conservatism...are of credit for millions of Christians, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who seek to preserve traditional Christian spiritual and moral values."
In 2009, Pope Benedict achieved a landmark in ecumenism and reconciliation with his apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus." This document allowed Anglican converts to join the Catholic Church in groups and preserve elements of their spiritual and liturgical heritage.
That initiative, as well as others, led Father John Zuhlsdorf, who writes an influential blog, to start calling Benedict "the Pope of Christian Unity" in Oct., 2009.
Pope Benedict's efforts for Christian unity have not been solely outside the Catholic Church, but within it as well.
In 2007 he wrote a motu proprio "Summorum pontificum" which gave all priests the right to say the Mass as it was in 1962, prior to the Second Vatican Council. It recognized that Vatican II did not abrogate the previous liturgy, and helped to harmonize the Church with her past.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, which is in full communion with the Pope and which celebrates the Roman rite as it was in 1962, said Pope Benedict, "a tireless apostle of Church unity....ever mindful of the restoration of the sacred, reconciled the Roman Church with its two-thousand year liturgical patrimony."
Pope Benedict also launched a series of doctrinal discussions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X, a priestly fraternity founded in 1970 to form priests in response to supposed errors that crept into the Church following Vatican II. The discussions are currently at a stalemate, and the Vatican awaits a definitive response from the Society.
The Society said Feb. 11 that it "expresses its gratitude to (Pope Benedict) for the strength and the constancy that he has shown toward it in such difficult circumstances, and assures him of its prayers for the time that he wishes to devote from now on to recollection."
"Following its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of Saint Pius X reaffirms its attachment to eternal Rome...and to the See of Peter."
"It prays that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the cardinals of the next conclave may elect the pope who, according to the will of God, will work for the restoration of all things in Christ."
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