Fides christianorum resurrectio Christi est

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5nella Chiesa e nel mondo nella Chiesa e nel mondo

In the Church and in the World Directed by Giulio AndreottiDirected by Giulio AndreottiIn the Church and in the World

“I am therefore very glad that 30Giorni should make a new edition of this littlebook containing the fundamental prayers of Christians that have grown over thecenturies. I hope this little book may become a traveling companion for manyChristians”.

from the Introduction of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of 18 February 2005 (elected Pope on 19 April 2005 with the name Benedict XVI)

WHO PRAYS IS SAVED

The little booklet, of which 30Giornihas already distributed hundreds

of thousands of copies, contains

the simplest prayersof the Christian life, such as those

of morning and evening,

and all that helps to make a good Confession.

IT COSTS ONLY €1per copy + postal expenses

It is possible to ask for copies of all the editions (the Italian edition comes

in two formats, large and small), by writing to 30GIORNIvia Vincenzo Manzini,45 - 00173 Roma, Italy or to the e-mail address: abbonati30g@30giorni.it

THE OTHER EDITIONS IN ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE, FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN AND CHINESE

“Veni ergo Domine Iesu... Ad me veni, quaere me, inveni me,suscipe me, porta me”

“Come, then, Lord Jesus … Come to me, seek me, find me, take me in your arms, carry me”

Saint Ambrose, Expositio in psalmum 118

Don Giacomo Tantardini27 March 1946 – 19 April 2012

Church

4 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The editorial office of themonthly magazine 30Days in theChurch and in the world, directed byGiulio Andreotti, announces thedeath of Don Giacomo Tantardini,which occurred on the evening ofThursday 19 April 2012, in Rome.A priest, the soul of our magazinealong with Senator Andreotti whohas directed it since 1993, DonGiacomo Tantardini was born inBarzio (Lecco) on 27 March 1946.Baptized on 31March of that year,he was confirmed by Blessed Car-dinal Ildefonso Schuster on 7 July1953 and received his First Com-munion on 27 May 1954. Hestudied theology at the Theologi-cal Faculty of the Milan Seminaryof Venegono. He met Don LuigiGiussani and was ordained apriest by Cardinal GiovanniColombo, Archbishop of Milan,on 27 June 1970. In the early ’sev-enties he obtained the Licentiatein Canon Law from the PontificalGregorian University. He carried

out his pastoral work, especiallyamong students of the Universityof Rome. Incorporated into thediocese of Rome, he was pastor ofSt Margaret Mary Alacoque at TorVergata and chaplain at the Uni-versity of Tor Vergata from 1983to 1997. He taught at the St Pius VFree University in Rome, at theUniversity of Padua and at the StBonaventure Pontifical Theologi-cal Faculty – the Seraphicum – inRome.

In the early ’eighties, at the re-quest of young people who wereconverting to Christianity, hegathered in a small booklet thesimplest prayers of the Christianlife and everything that helpsmake a good confession. The littlebooklet entitled Who prays issaved, translated into the majorlanguages , is distributed in hun-dreds of thousands of copiesthroughout the world. CardinalJoseph Ratzinger wrote the pres-entation on 18 February 2005.

On the front page, Don Giacomo during the presentation of the book, published by 30Giorni, Montini e Agostino. Sant’Agostino negli appunti inediti di Paolo VI [Montini and Augustine. St Augustine in the unpublished notes of Paul VI], in Padua, 25 November 2008; here on the right, Don Giacomo during the solemn Mass on the occasionof his fortieth anniversary as a priest in the parish church of St Alexander, in Barzio (Lecco), his birthplace, 1 August 2010. On his left, the then parish priest of Barzio, Don Alfredo Comi

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 5

Church

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 6

Rome, June 2010

Dear Don Alfredo,I thank you, happy with the invita-

tion to commemorate the fortiethanniversary of my priestly ordina-tion in Barzio, the first Sunday in Au-gust, when our parish celebrates thefeastday of Our Lady of the Rosary.

How many memories overflowingwith emotion and gratitude to theLord the feastday of Our Lady of theRosary renews for me, with theevening procession through thestreets of the town! Those feastdays

and the processions were perhapsthe happiest and most beautiful mo-ments of my childhood. How beauti-ful in the eyes of a child was the com-pletely golden image of the Madon-na on display in the church and car-ried in procession!

Only recently did I hear from mysisters that my mother, immediatelyafter my baptism, had offered to theMadonna, before that image, her firstson made, just an instant before-hand, the son of God. How manytears of gratitude that gesture of mymother bestowed on my life.

Trust!

It is the hand of Jesus

that guides everything...

Saint Theresaof the Child Jesus

In 2010 Don Giacomo celebrated forty years of priesthood. To commemorate the event,

Don Alfredo Comi, pastor of Barzio since the days when Don Giacomo was ordained

priest, wrote to him inviting him, on 1 August of that year, to his native town.

We publish Don Giacomo’s letter of response

73ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Let us not grow

weary of praying.

Trust works miracles.

Saint Theresaof the Child Jesus

I would like to express the entirepath of these forty years of priesthoodin the words of St Ambrose: “Omniaigitur habemus in Christo, omnia Chris-tus est nobis / In Christ we have every-thing, Christ is everything for us”.

These words I learned by heart inmy seminary and already then theyseemed to me so beautiful. It was thejourney of the years, with the en-counters of grace, the renewed mercyfor the poor sins, the miracles, thatmade so real, so beautiful, so close tomy poor heart the reality itself thatthose words suggest.

Thus, “in praise and glory of Hisgrace with which he graced us in Hisbeloved Son” (St Paul, Letter to theEphesians 1, 6), I transcribe the wordsof St. Ambrose:

“In Christ we have everything.Each one come close to him: those

sick because of sin, those who are as

if nailed down by their own concu-piscence, those who are imperfectbut eager to move forward with in-tense prayer, those who have alreadygrown in many virtues.

We are all God’s and Christ is every-thing for us.

If you want to heal your wounds,He is a doctor; if you’re burning withfever, He is the fountain; if you findyourself overwhelmed by guilt, He isjustice; if you need help, He isstrength; if you’re afraid of death, Heis life; if you desire paradise, He is theway; if you flee from the darkness, Heis light; if you seek food, He is nour-ishment. ‘So enjoy and see howsweet is the Lord. Happy the manwho hopes in Him’ (Psalm 33, 9)”.

With renewed feelings of gratitudeand esteem,

Don Giacomo

Year of Faith10 Fides christianorum

resurrectio Christi estThe Address of Paul VI

to the participants at the Symposium

on the Mystery of the Resurrection

of Jesus, Rome, 4 April 1970

Ecclesiam suam32 The witness

is he who offers his own body— by Cardinal Georges Cottier

Pastoral Journey to Cuba38 The visit of a Pope conciliator

and its fruits— by Cardinal Jaime Lucas

Ortega y Alamino

42 Pope Benedict to the Mexican childrenThe speech, made on Saturday

24 March in the Plaza de la Paz,

Guanajuato

Easter 201247 Surrexit Christus spes mea

Excerpts taken from the homilies

and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI

for the celebration of Holy Easter

Cardinal Georges Cottier: the image of the moon helps to understand what the nature of the Church is and the range of its mission

N. 3/4 - 2012

This issue of 30Giorni, signed off by the editorial office on 20 April 2012, was devised, executed and revised with Don Giacomo Tantardini, as always

p. 32

Cover: The incredulity of Thomas, Sacro Speco,Subiaco (Rome)

EDITORIAL OFFICES

Via Vincenzo Manzini, 45 00173 Rome - ItalyTel. +39 06 72.64.041 Fax +39 06 72.63.33.95e-mail: 30giorni@30giorni.itwww.30giorni.it

Deputy Editors

Roberto Rotondo - rotondo@30giorni.itGiovanni Cubeddu - g.cubeddu@30giorni.it

News and Features

Alessandra Francioni - a.francioni@30giorni.itDavide Malacaria - d. malacaria@30giorni.itPaolo Mattei - p.mattei@30giorni.itMassimo Quattrucci - m.quattrucci@30giorni.itGianni Valente - g.valente@30giorni.it

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Photo Search

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Contributors

Pierluca Azzaro, Francoise Marie Babinet, Pina Baglioni, Marie-Ange Beaugrand, Maurizio Benzi, Lorenzo Bianchi, Massimo Borghesi, Lucio Brunelli, Rodolfo Caporale, Lorenzo Cappelletti, Gianni Cardinale, Giuseppe Frangi, Silvia Kritzenberger, Walter Montini, Jane Nogara, Stefania Falasca, Stefano M. Paci, Felix Palacios, Tommaso Ricci, Giovanni Ricciardi

Special contributor

Cardinal Georges Cottier,Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino,Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï

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3OGIORNI nella Chiesa e nel mondois published monthly and registered with the Court of Rome No 501 11/11/93. The masthead benefits from direct statecontributions, law of 7 August 1990, n. 250.

Publishers

Trenta Giorni soc. coop. a r.l.Via Vincenzo Manzini, 45 - 00173 Rome, Italy

Board of Directors

Giampaolo Frezza (Chairman)Massimo Quattrucci (Deputy Chairman)Giovanni Cubeddu, Paolo Mattei, Roberto Rotondo, Michele Sancioni, Gianni Valente

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Via Vincenzo Manzini, 45 - 00173 Roma, ItalyTel. +39 06 72.64.041 Fax +39 06 72.63.33.95e-mail: abbonati30g@30giorni.itwww.30giorni.it

The original Italian issue was signed off

by the editorial office on 20 April 2012

This English edition was printed in May 2012

3OGIORNInella Chiesa e nel mondo

Director Giulio Andreotti

Year XXX

Homily54 “And if Christ has not been raised,

your faith is vain” — by the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch

and All the East, Béchara Boutros Raï

Dante58 The Cardinal

in the house of the poetInterview with Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi

— by P. Mattei

Anniversaries

62 The propensity of the Church for memory Interview with Cardinal Raffaele Farina

— by R. Rotondo

18 Letters from all over the world

44 30Days in the Church and in the world

PHOTO CREDITS:

Franco Capovilla: p.3; Marco Ganassa: p.5; Getty Images: pp.18,39; Corbis: pp.18-19,21,22,26,32; Reuters/Contrasto: p.28; Lessing/Contrasto: p.30; Osservatore Romano: pp. 38,38-39,39,40-41,42,48,49,51,52; Associated Press/LaPresse: pp.41,46,61; By kind concession of the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch: pp.55,57; AlinariArchives, Florence. By concession of the Ministry for Cultural Activities and Heritage: p.58; Paolo Galosi: p.58; Contrasto: p.60; Images taken from the catalog Lux in Arcana. LʼarchivioSegreto Vaticano si rivela, Palombi Editore: pp.62,63,65,66; Romano Siciliani: p.63.

Meeting with Cardinal GianfrancoRavasi: how Dante can be helpful

to the Church so that it may returnto talk of God

An article by Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana, on the fruits of Benedict XVI’s journey to Cuba

Interview with the Cardinal LibrarianRaffaele Farina on the occasion

of the four hundredth anniversary of the Vatican Secret Archive

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 9

p. 58

p. 38

p. 62

Year of FaithEditorial

As editorial to this issue we publish the Address of Paul VI to the participants at the Symposium on the Mystery of the Resurrectionof Jesus, Rome, 4 April 1970

Dear Sirs,We are most touched by the affection-

ate and confident words which Rev. P.Dhanis speaks to Us in your name, andWe thank the Lord for this meeting,which He allows us to have with highly-qualified specialists in exegesis, theolo-gy and philosophy, who have come toshare fraternally their researches uponthe mystery of the Resurrection ofChrist. Yes, We rejoice very much in thisSymposium, which has been facilitatedby the warm hospitality of the InstitutSaint-Dominique on Via Cassia. Wecongratulate the organizers and all themembers, whom We here receive mostheartily, happy to express to them Ourhigh esteem, Our particular good-willand Our most lively encouragement.

In response to your expectations, Wewish to share with you, in all simplicity,some thoughts that are suggested to

Fides christianorumResurrectio Christi est

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 11

Paul VI in prayer at the Holy Sepulcher

YEAR OF FAITH

In these pages, some frescoes from the 14th century, Upper Church of Sacro Speco, Subiaco (Rome);

On the facing page, the Risen Jesus and the apostle Thomas, detail

¬

Us by the central theme of the Resurrec-tion of Jesus, which you have so happilychosen as the object of your work.

1) Is it necessary perhaps to begin byshowing you the radical importancewhich, like all Our Christian sons andbrothers, We attach to this study, and,dare we say, the importance is stillgreater for Us, in the light of the posi-tion which the Lord has given Us in HisChurch as privileged witness andguardian of the faith? Of this you areprobably all well aware!

Is not all the Gospel-history centeredon the Resurrection: without this, whatwould the Gospels themselves be, thoseGospels which announce the GoodNews of the Lord Jesus? Do we not findthere the source of all Christian preach-ing? Begining with the first kerygma, thatis born with the very witness of the Res-urrection itself (cf. Acts 2, 32)?

Is it not perhaps the fulcrum of thewhole epistemology of the faith, whichwithout it would lose its consistence, asthe Apostle Paul himself says: “If Christbe not risen, then ... our faith is void”(cf. 1 Cor 15, 14)?

Is it not perhaps the Resurrection ofJesus which alone gives meaning to allthe Liturgy, to our ‘Eucharists’, assuringus of the presence of the Risen Christ,Whom we celebrate in the action of

thanksgiving: “We proclaim your death,O Lord Jesus; we celebrate your Resur-rection; we look forward to your returnin glory” (Anamnesis)?

Yes, all Christian hope is based on theResurrection of Christ, upon which is‘anchored’ our own resurrection alongwith Him. Indeed, even now we arerisen with Him (cf. Col 3, 1): the wholefabric of our Christian Life is woventhrough with this unfailing certaintyand this hidden reality, along with thejoy and dynamism which they produce.

2) Further, is it not surprising thatsuch a mystery, so fundamental for ourfaith, so prodigious for our intelligence,has always aroused during the march ofhistory not only the passionate interestof exegetes, but also a multiform contes-tation? This phenomenon was alreadyevident even during the lifetime of theevangelist, St John, who thought it nec-essary to point out that the unbelievingThomas was actually invited to touchwith his hands the mark of the nails andthe wounded side of the risen Word ofLife (cf. Jn 20, 24-29).

How can one not remember, from thatmoment on the efforts of a gnosis ever re-curring under many forms, to penetratethis mystery by means of all the resourcesof the human spirit, and thus to reducethe mystery to the dimensions of merely

12 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Year of FaithEditorial

human categories? A temptation indeedunderstandable, and even inevitable, butthat has a fearful penchant that quietlytends to empty of all richness and signifi-cance that which is above all a fact: theResurrection of the Saviour.

Even today – and you have certainlyno need to be reminded of this – we seethis tendency reveal its ultimate dramat-ic consequences, going so far as to deny,even among people who profess them-

selves Christians, the historical value ofthe inspired witness, or (more recently)to interpret the physical resurrection ofJesus in a way that is purely mythical,spiritual or moral. How can we not beprofoundly aware of the disintegratingeffect that such harmful discussionshave upon many of the faithful? But –and We say this with emphasis – We re-gard all this without fear, since, todayjust as in the past, the witness of “the

133ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The Three Marys at the sepulcher

¬

YEAR OF FAITH

14 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene

Editorial

Year of Faith

eleven and their companions” is capa-ble, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, ofarousing the true faith: “It is indeedtrue! The Lord has risen and has ap-peared to Peter” (Lk 24, 34-35).

3) It is in these sentiments that We re-gard with great respect the hermeneuticand exegetical work being done uponthis fundamental theme, by qualifiedmen of science like yourselves. Your atti-tude is conformed to the principles andnorms which the Catholic Church hasestablished for biblical studies. Let itsuffice for Us to recall here the well-known encyclicals of Our predecessors.Providentissimus Deus of Leo XIII (1893)and Divino Afflante Spiritu of Pius XII(1943), as well as the recent DogmaticConstitution Dei Verbum of Vatican II:not only a healthy liberty of research isrecognized, but also one finds recom-mended that effort which is needed toadapt the study of Sacred Scripture tothe needs of today, and to “truly discov-er that which the sacred author willed toaffirm” (Dei Verbum, 12).

Such a perspective retains the atten-tion of the world of culture, and is asource of new enrichments for biblicalstudies. We are happy that it should beso. As always, the Church appears as thejealous guardian of the written Revela-tion; and she shows herself animatedtoday by a realist preoccupation: to usewith discernment all knowledge andthought, in the critical interpretation ofthe biblical text. Thus the Church, while

providing the means to know thethoughts of others, seeks to verify whatis proper to itself and to provide occa-sions for meetings that are loyal andcomforting for so many upright mindsseeking the truth. Further, the Churchherself meets with the difficulties inher-ent in the exegesis of difficult or doubt-ful texts, and she approves the utility ofhaving diverse opinions. St Augustinehas noted: “Utile est autem ut de obscu-ritatibus divinarum Scripturarum, quasexercitationis nostrae causa Deus essevoluit, multae inveniantur sententiae,cum aliud alii videtur, quae tamen om-nes sanae fidei doctrinaeque concor-dent” [“It is useful that many opinionsbe found concerning the obscurities ofthe divine Scriptures, by which God haswilled to exercise us; it is useful thatsome should think differently from oth-ers, so long as all are in harmony withsound faith and doctrine”] (Ep. adPaulinum, 149, 3, 34: PL 33, 644).

And the Church, still under the guid-ance of St Augustine, exhorts her sons toseek for the solutions, by study joinedwith prayer: “Non solum admonendisunt studiosi venerabilium Litterarum,ut in Scripturis sanctis genera locution-um sciant..., verum etiam, quod estpraecipuum et maxime necessarium,orent ut intelligant” (De Doctrina Chris-tiana, 3, 37, 56: PL 34, 89). [As regardsthe experts in the sacred scriptures, notonly should they strive to know the lit-erary genres in use in the Sacred Scrip- ¬

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 15

YEAR OF FAITH

tures … but also, and this is the princi-ple and most necessary thing, to pray tounderstand them].

4) But let Us return to the themewhich is the object of your Symposium.It appears to Us, for Our part, that yourvarious analyses and reflections tend toconfirm, with the help of new research-es, the doctrine which the Church holdsand professes as regards the Resurrec-tion. As Romano Guardini, of happymemory, once noted in a penetratingmeditation of faith, the gospel accountsunderline “often and forcefully, that theRisen Christ is very different from whatHe was before Easter, and from the restof men. His nature, according to the ac-counts, has some strange character. Hisapproach confuses, fills with fear.Whereas previously He ‘came’ and‘went’, now it is said that He ‘appears’,‘suddenly’ alongside the pilgrims, thatHe ‘disappears’ (cf. Mk 16, 9-14; Lk 24,31-36). No longer do corporeal barriersexist for Him. He is no longer bound bythe frontiers of space and time; Hemoves with a new liberty, unknown up-on the earth... But at the same time, it isstrongly asserted that it is the same Jesusof Nazareth, in flesh and bone, just asHe had lived formerly among his own,and not a mere phantom”. Yes, “the Lord

is transformed. He lives differently thanbefore. His present existence is incom-prehensible to us. And yet, it is corpore-al; it contains Jesus whole and entire …and even, by means of His wounds, itcontains all the life He has lived, thedestiny He underwent, His Passion andHis Death”. Thus, there is not simply aglorious survival of His ‘self’. We are inthe presence of a profound and complexreality, of a new but fully human life:“The penetration and transformation ofthe whole life, including the body, bythe presence of the HolySpirit … We realize thatchange of perspectivewhich is called faith, andwhich, instead of thinkingof Christ in terms of theworld, thinks of the worldand of all things in terms ofChrist ... The Resurrectionbrings to flower a seedwhich He had always bornewithin Him”. Yes, we sayagain with Romano Guar-dini, “we need the Resurrec-tion and the Transfigura-tion, in order to under-stand truly what the human

16 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The incredulity of Thomas

Editorial

Year of Faith

173ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

body is ... In reality, only Christianityhas dared to place the body among themost hidden secrets of God” (R. Guardi-ni, Le Seigneur, trans. R. P. Lorson, Vol 2,Alsatia, Paris 1945, p. 119-126).

In front of this mystery, we all remainpenetrated with admiration and full ofwonderment, just as we feel before themysteries of the Incarnation and the Vir-gin Birth (cf. St Gregory the Great, Hom.26 in Ev., Breviary reading on Low Sun-day). Let us then enter, with the Apostles,into that faith in the Risen Christ whichalone can bring us salvation (cf. Acts 4,12). We are also full of confidence in thesecurity of the Tradition which theChurch guarantees through her Magisteri-um, the Church who encourages scientific

work at the same time as she continues toproclaim the faith of the Apostles.

My dear Sirs, these few very simplewords at the end of your scholarlylabors, only wish to encourage you topersevere in this same faith, never losingsight of the service of the People of God,which is entirely regenerated “by the res-urrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,towards a living hope” (1Pt 1, 3). AndWe, in the name, of Him: “Who wasdead, and has returned to life”, of that“faithful witness, the firstborn fromamong the dead” (Rev 2, 8; 1, 5), Wegrant you, from a full heart and inpledge of abundant graces for the fruit-fulness of your researches, Our Apos-tolic Blessing. q

YEAR OF FAITH

CUBA

We have received Quien reza se salvafor the poor communities that we visit

Havana, 8 January 2012

Dear Mr Giulio Andreotti,Peace and health!I am writing this letter to thank you with all myheart for your concern for us and, especially, forthe poor communities that we deal with and visit.We received promptly and in good condition thetwo packages containing the booklets Quien rezase salva.

Letters from all over the world • Letters from all over t

18 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

193ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Yesterday, 7 January, we began the Marian Ju-bilee Year for the 400th anniversary of the recoveryfrom the sea of the blessed statue of the Virgin ofCaridad del Cobre and on 26 March we will havethe visit of Pope Benedict XVI for two days.

We do not want to trouble you, but when you cansend us some help, please know that it is very wel-come and we need it. Without money to pay butwith a grateful heart in Christ, we renew our thanks.

I offer my house when you want to come.Thanks and blessings,

Sergio León Mendiboure

PHILIPPINESCARMELITE NUNS OF THE

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS CONVENT

Many thanks for the giftof Who prays is saved

Ozamiz City, 9 January 2012

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.Dear Senator Andreotti, Praised be Jesus Christ and Mary, our BlessedMother!

A Happy grace-filled New Year to you, yourfamily and your staff at 30Days!

Thank you very much for the gift of Who praysis saved which we asked you for our give-aways onthe coming Golden Jubilee of our Carmel’s founda-tion on 3 October this year. We received the eight-een well-packed intact boxes just a few days beforeChristmas. Thank you so much for your loving andprompt response to our request. Truly we feltdeeply moved that they arrived like a special gift oflove for us this Christmas.

Now that time, especially we here, in Mindanao,are all grieving and scrambling to help with oldclothes and all forms of solidarity with our people,victims of the terrible typhoon which hit part of ourcountry. Some communities were completelyswept away by the sudden arrival of the strong, swiftflooding waters that in some areas reached theheight of thirty feet and with such a speed that peo-ple were caught unable to help themselves andwere simply swept away and drowned. Until nowwe are not eating fish because of the so manycorpses that are spread unrecovered in our sea.

May the Lord return to you, your love, kindness,generosity and goodness, a thousand-fold in bless-ings. You and your work in and for the Church havebecome so much, in our love and prayers.

In our first letter I mentioned that we hope tohave Who prays is saved translated into Cebuano(Bisayan) for some of our people who are more athome praying in our dialect. You will not mind if wehave this translated, would you? But we are reallynot sure that the project can go through however,because until now we have no one to sponsor the

the world • Letters from all over the world • Letters from all over the world •

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In these pages, some pictures of the places of the Passion

of Jesus in Jerusalem; above, an overview of the Mount

of Olives; left, the room of the Last Supper

20 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

publication. Anyway, we leave everything in God’sloving hands.

May God bless you, your family and your staff at30Days, dear Senator Andreotti. Thank you oncemore for all you have done for us. Concerning ourchurch bell, an engineer friend assures us that wecan have a good-enough monastery-bell cast forour convent here in the Philippines. We will let youknow further on this.

Blessings from the Lord and our Blessed Motherof Carmel.

For our Reverend Mother and Community,

Sister Mary Therese, OCD

CANADAMISSIONARIES OF CHRIST THE KING

30Giorni for our sistersin Benin and the Ivory Coast

Montréal, Québec, 10 January 2012

Mr Director,With these few lines we want to thank you sincerelyfor your loyalty in sending us the beautiful magazine30Giorni nella Chiesa e nel mondo that brings usup to date with the extension, commitments andcurrent doings of the Church throughout the world.

We are an exclusively missionary Congregation,operating in different countries alongside the poor-est; so you can understand, then, how interested weare in your magazine. We want our sisters who arein Benin and the Ivory Coast to benefit from thenews of your beautiful publication. Please, couldyou kindly send it to them, as you do with us, everymonth? If the answer is positive, we can send youtheir postal address.

We take this opportunity to wish you ayear of happiness and peace. May theLord guide you always. Once again, thankyou for your gesture of generosity.

In union of prayer,

The Superior General Sister Claudette Morin, MCR

BRAZILJOÃO XXIII PIAMARTINA VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

May the Lord bless your efforts ‘in the Church and in the world’

Ponta Grossa, Paraná, 11 January 2012

Dear 30Giorni editorial office,For years our mission has been receiving30Giorni, in the Portuguese edition and,along with my religious community, Icome to express the deepest gratitude.

I personally have been in Brazil for thirty-sevenyears, involved with the Piamartina religious com-munity in the reception and human, Christian andprofessional formation, of children, adolescentsand young people from the poorer classes, orphansand those with disastrous family situations, often in-deed tragic.

While I thank you for the gift of the magazine,that we receive regularly, I would ask you to updateour address.

Thanks for your kind attention.With the best wishes for good continuance in the

new year just begun, I cordially greet you asking theLord to bless your efforts ‘in the Church and in theworld’.

With great esteem,

Father Livio Bosetti

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The Church of the Agony near the Mount of Olives

213ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

UGANDACOMBONIANS OF LACOR HOSPITAL

Who prays is saved is a true blessing for the sick

Gulu, 16 January 2012

Dear Senator Andreotti,I wish to inform you with this letter that I have re-ceived fifty copies of the small booklets Who praysis saved, which I consider a great gift.

I can not describe the great joy for the opportu-nity to make very many patients admitted to ourhospital happy, who often ask for magazines,newspapers, books on religious subjects to fill thetime that never passes.

Many of them are educated people, committedChristians who know how to attract, convince, con-vey the true meaning of prayer. I also think Whoprays is saved is a real blessing, brought throughyour charity. Please accept my sincere and neces-sary thanks, which is actually very little, but I prom-ise you my prayers and those of the beneficiaries.

With sincere affection and great gratitude, I re-new my sincere and dutiful thanks and good wishesfor the year 2012.

Sister Romilde Spinato

P. S. I forgot to thank you for the wonderful maga-zines 30Giorni in Italian and English that arrive punctual-ly. May the Lord reward you greatly!

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22 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

ANGOLADOMINICAN NUNS OF MÃE DE DEUS CONVENT

Thank you for Quem reza se salvathat we distributed to the poor

Kuito, Bié, 16 January 2012

Esteemed in the LordMr Giulio Andreotti, receive our cordial greetings inthe Lord. We wish health and serenity to you, to allyour collaborators and your family, hoping that thenew year 2012, has brought the joy and blessing ofGod our Lord.

Our community, by the grace of God our provi-dent Father, began the new year with renewed en-thusiasm, entrusted to His mercy, for future days.We spent the Christmas days with great communi-tarian joy, because of the presence of God with us.We asked Him to give us the grace of fidelity and al-ways to remain in His love.

We write only to thank you for accepting our re-quest for the booklets Quem reza se salva, of whichwe have received 84 copies that we have alreadydistributed to the poor of our neighborhood and theparish of São José.

Thank you for your hard work and commitmentto spreading the doctrine of our faith in an accessi-ble way to the simple people of the People of God;we pray so that you may never lack the strength andlove in your dedication to such a beautiful mission inthe Vineyard of the Lord that is the Holy Church.

I assure you of our constant remembrance inprayer.

Always united in prayer,

Sister Maria Reis do Espírito Santo

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Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

233ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

BRAZILDIOCESE OF AMPARO

I wish that 30Giorni mayalways receive God’s graces

Amparo, Sao Paulo, 20 January 2012

Dear Director Andreotti,I wish you much peace. It was a great joy for me toreceive the magazine 30Giorni nella Chiesa e nelmondo punctually, because thus I had the opportu-nity to follow closely the path of our Church in thedifferent parts of the world.

I hope that this means of communication mayalways receive God’s graces to continue carryingout the will of the Lord in the field of evangeliza-tion, helping the brothers to follow the way shownby God

Now, as emeritus, I was asked to accompany thepastoral health ministry in the Regional Sul 1, and itwas a very positive thing for me to continue to helpin what I can, despite my age.

I hope you spent a happy Christmas and that2012 may be a year of prosperity.

Monsignor Francisco José Zugliani,Bishop Emeritus of Amparo

FRANCEABBEY OF NOTRE-DAME ST-EUSTASE

The humanity of Christ is ourhappiness is a splendid gift

Eyres-Moncube, 20 January 2012

Dear Sir,A big thanks for the two parcels eachcontaining a number of copies of themeditation The humanity of Christ isour happiness.

It is a wonderful gift which we, in turn,can give to priests and lay people around us.

We assure you of our grateful prayers.

The Abbess Sister Françoise Marie

MEXICOVISITACIÓN DE SANTA MARÍA CONVENT

Thanks for 30Días

Guadalajara, Jalísco, 22 January 2012

Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti and collaborators of30Días,We cordially greet all of you wishing you peace andjoy in Christ, our Highest Good.

With this, we want to thank you for the charity ofsending us free the magazine and supplements thatarrive on time. Through your wonderful profession-al and Christian work you spread the Gospel ofChrist which surprisingly illuminates the world andmodern man and makes us aware of our conditionof being salt and light for the world.

In this novena for the celebration of St Francis deSales, our founder and patron saint of journalists,we send you our congratulations and, in our con-templative vocation, we pray for you in a specialway, so that you may grow in zeal for the glory

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The Church of the Flagellation

24 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

of God and the salvation of souls. We ask you topray for peace and justice in our country.

Very fraternally on behalf of the Superior.

Reverend Mother María Esther Vallejo

ITALYDISCALCED CARMELITE NUNS

OF THE SAN SILVESTRO CONVENT

We assure our prayersfor Don Giacomo Tantardini

Pescara, 22 January 2012

Dear Senator,We are very grateful for the magazine 30Giornithat you forward to us punctually every month. Wefind it very interesting and also stimulating in all re-spects.

Thank you also for the booklet that was lately in-cluded, L’umanità di Cristo è la nostra felicità, ameditation by Don Giacomo Tantardini for whomwe assure our prayer that the Lord will grant him acomplete recovery from his illness.

Finally we would like to ask you a gift of the CDof I canti della Tradizione because we did not re-ceive it.

Remembering you in our prayers, we thank youheartily for all the good you wish us.

Sister Maria Geltrude of the Immaculate, OCD

Pescara, 3 February 2012

Dear Senator,Thank you sincerely for letting us have, so quick-

ly, the booklet along with the CD, I canti dellaTradizione. All will serve to enable us to always im-prove our praise to God, according to the guidelinesof the Church.

Be assured that you will always be present in ourdaily prayer, so that the Lord will grant you a longtime to work in His vineyard, and for the good ofmany monasteries.

With gratitude we send our most respectfulgreetings.

Sister Maria Geltrude of the Immaculate, OCD

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A view of the Via Dolorosa

253ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

CHILEMETROPOLITAN SEMINARY

“You can not follow Christ,if He Himself does not attract you”

Concepción, 23 January 2012

Dear friends of 30Giorni,In greeting you I wish to thank you for sending a freecopy of the magazine all this year that is ending.Thanks to the spiritual reading and the clear articlesin the magazine, I was able to know the Christianityfaithful to the Tradition of the Church. During theseformative years in the seminary, I was able to expe-rience the words of St Ambrose: “You can not fol-low Christ, if He Himself does not attract you / nonpotes sequi Christum, nisi ipse te attrahat”.

Thank you for your generosity and remem-brance of the Lord in the world. I pray the Lord foryou and Don Giacomo in whom Christ shines andallows us to recognize Him in those who let them-selves be irradiated by His beauty.

In Christ and the Virgin Mary,

Jorge Inaldi Heredia Lagos, seminarian

P. S. Dear friends, I would like to ask a great favor: tosend me, if possible, copies of Quien reza se salva, in or-der to donate them to a group of young people preparingfor confirmation and with whom I’ll make a retreat (if pos-sible 70 copies). I await an answer.

COLOMBIADIOCESE OF SINCELEJO

I request the meditation by Don Giacomo Tantardini on Holy Easter

Sincelejo, 24 January 2012

Dear Mr. Andreotti,A cordial greeting for the new year in the spirit ofChristmas, the spirit of peace, hope and humansalvation.

I had the opportunity to get to know you person-ally when I was a student at the Pio Latino College inRome. Indeed, I was sometimes invited to the Chris-tian Democrat Congress that took place there. Itwas an important opportunity to build relationshipswith this ‘charismatic’ viewpoint precisely in its ownday, to be an effective presence in the politicalworld for the common good.

I think the experience of Christian Democracymissed the opportunity of both learning and beinginspired by new models of Christian participation inorder to affect the world of ‘temporal’ realities.

I regularly receive the magazine 30Días and I fol-low its thought, assimilate its points of view and im-mediately pass it on to others so that they can profitfrom it. I hope to receive it always.

Recently I got number 6 of 2011, from which Ilearned about a meditation by Don Giacomo Tanta-rdini on Holy Easter. I wonder how I can get it, sinceI have seen very positive comments and, indeed,have known the author for some time.

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The small chapel that marks the third station of the Via Crucis

26 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Excuse me for addressing this request to you butI wanted to take this opportunity to greet you per-sonally.

May the Lord bless us all,

Nel Beltrán Santamaría, Bishop of Sincelejo

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLICCOMBONI MISSIONARIES

Joy for the gift of Qui prie sauve son âme

Bangui, 27 January 2012

Dear Senator Andreotti,I just received fifty copies of Qui prie sauve sonâme and I wish I could express the joy I felt in receiv-ing this beautiful gift, that reached me with evengreater welcome, in as much as I was surprised bythe promptness of the favorable response.

Thank you, Senator. May you feel in yourself asmuch joy as I myself have felt, and how much thecatechists of the territory entrusted to me will feelwhen, coming for the formation session, they willhave this beautiful and useful book placed in theirhands. And may this joy accompany you and yourcollaborators throughout all of this new year.

I take this opportunity also to thank you againfor the magazine 30Jours that we always readwith interest, I and my brothers of the community,as well as the missionaries in passage. Just today acolleague showed me a number of 30Jours of fiveyears ago, certainly lost in some post office, and init an article which he extolled.

Thanks again for all the good you do to us andto many like us.

The Lord blesses you certainly and I pray Himto give you many abundant graces.

Father Gianantonio Berti, MCCI

GREECE

I would like to receive 30Giorniat my hermitage on Mount Athos

Mount Athos, 30 January 2012

Mr Giulio Andreotti, Director,I became acquainted with 30Giorni (in English) atthe Orthodox archbishopric of Athens, where I was ahieromonk. I now am at Mount Athos, where I livealone in a hermitage near the monastery ofKarakallou. Could you let me know the different pos-

Letters from all over the world • Letters from all over t

On the right, the little chapel that marks the fourth stationof the Via Crucis; on the opposite page, the place

where the Cross was set on Mount Calvary now inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher

273ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

sibilities of receiving 30Giorni? I would like to sub-scribe to the edition in French, but I also read Italian.

Thank you for the information. Assuring you ofmy fraternal prayer before the icon of Christ ourfriend Savior.

With respect, may He be our joy!

Father Iakovos

NICARAGUASANTA CRUZ PARISH

Quien reza se salva will be a great helpfor poor people

Casares, 6 February 2012

Dear friends,We received the 500 copies of Quien reza se salvathat you generously sent us. They arrived in a fewdays. Thank you immensely. They will be of greathelp to the people here, who have no economicmeans, children and adults. We pray for you andyour work. Remember us before the Lord.

Father Balbino Rodríguez Lorenzana

CROATIADIOCESE OF POREC AND PULA

Let us pray so that priests be holyaccording to the Heart of Jesus

Pula, 8 February 2012

Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti,I am grateful for your renowned magazine 30Giornithat you have sent me for years, most recently in Ital-ian, which I understand better than German.

I too admire and read the magazine full of informa-tion, articles and studies in theology, church and pas-toral history, from various parts of the world. I amgrateful and I celebrated Mass for the miraculous heal-ing of Don Giacomo Tantardini, if it is the will of theLord to preserve him still in this world.

Since I was involved in pastoral work in Europe,Latin America and China as a fidei donum mis-sionary, I request you to send me a copy of thebooklet in Italian Chi prega si salva, and twocopies in Chinese. I was in China for eight years asspiritual director in a Redemptoris Mater seminaryfor the Chinese people.

I also founded a similar seminary in Pula that hasover fifteen years contributed fifty-two priests andthree deacons. It is one of the fruits of the neocate-chumenal way. I am glad that recently similar semi-naries have been founded in Trieste and Sarajevo.

In Istria we started from scratch. In the minorseminary in Pazin, where I was spiritual directorthere were three hundred seminarians: at the endjust one, whose only companion was the guard dog.

We pray for these and all the seminarians andpriests around the world, so that they may be holypriests according to the Heart of Jesus

May God bless you and your collaborators in thework of evangelization all over the world.

With compliments, my blessing.

Antonio Bogeti, Bishop Emeritus of Porec and Pula

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ITALYTHE PASSIONIST NUNS OF TINELLA CONVENT

The humanity of Christis our happiness

Costigliole d’Asti, 11 February 2012

Dear Senator Andreotti,Ad multos annos! With this wish-prayer that is ac-tualized in the course of the day for you and yourrenowned staff, while we thank you for the maga-zine 30Giorni, it still seems only right to express arange of emotions ranging from deep appreciationfor the wise and perceptive skill with which you di-

rect it, to the cordial and sincere admiration for thehigh measure of your moral and spiritual characterthat we catch a glimpse of and breathe in the edito-rial et in reliquis...

It’s a real joy to have in one’s hands so presti-gious a magazine: distinct typographical presenta-tion, beautiful photographic collection and articlesof high content for formation, information, cultureand comprehensive incentives to expand knowl-edge of the mystery of the Church and of our poorworld that is still thirsting for God...

A real ‘organ’ now that it is embellished by theGregorian notes which we use weekly for the liturgyof the Eucharist and that of the canonical hours onfeasts and solemnities! Thanks for the gift, andthanks, if I may still dare insist, that this ‘precious-ness’ may have primacy in the parishes.

But here, now, the reason for this letter: to notifythe Reverend Don Giacomo of our spiritual close-ness, in this pause of more intense participation in thePassion of the Lord, mindful of the words of St Paul tothe Philippians: “We have been given the grace notonly to believe in Jesus but also to suffer for Jesus”.

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A glimpse of the old city of Jerusalem with the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher

293ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

We entrust him to the Virgin Mother, so that shemay enfold him in her virginal and motherly loveand heal him, to continue his precious priestly mys-tery-ministry and disseminate, through the gift ofthe word, the knowledge of Jesus! I read with an in-expressible joy the supplement to number 11 of2011, the meditation L’umanità di Cristo è la nos-tra felicità.

Dare I ask for copies, if possible, to donate themand raise the attractiveness of Jesus. Thanks! It’stoo beautiful, most beautiful, extraordinary in its ex-position, it is a wonderful mysticism of inwardness.One feels a fascination, a certain unction that doesnot tire us in reading and rereading it. It seems as ifthe author himself reads those expressions, so greatare the sweetness and light that they infuse in theheart. Thank you!

May the Lord grant to Don Giacomo ever morelight and spiritual anointing with the health which ismuch needed. May the Virgin Mary immerse us inthe mystery and leave us in the mystery to be se-duced by it.

Religious greetings and ‘whirr of wings’ of Gre-gorian notes...

Sister Maria Virginia Sivolella

Costigliole d’Asti, 19 February 2012

Dear Senator GiulioIt is with great joy and emotion that I thank you

for the ‘plentiful and precious’ gift that arrived insuch a timely manner on a solemn date for our Con-gregation: ‘Commemoration of the Passion’ withHoly Mass and Office Proper and, moreover, theanniversary of my baptism!

The most beautiful gratitude will be marked bythe celebration of a Holy Mass on the 29th of thismonth for your intentions and for the healing of theReverend Don Giacomo.

Sincere greetings like fragrant flowers!Most devoted,

Sister Maria Virginia Sivolella

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The Stone of Unction in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher

BRAZILCOMISSÃO NACIONAL DOS PRESBÍTEROS, CNBB

A humanidade de Cristo é a nossa felicidade for our community

Betim, Minas Gerais, 1 March 2012

Dear Mr Giulio Andreotti,Praised be Jesus and Most Holy Mary.

I am immensely grateful to you for the kindnesswith which you regularly send us the 30Dias mag-azine which is highly valued by the community.

I work a lot with families and we will intensifythe work over Christmas because Christmas timeis propitious for the family apostolate; for this year2012 we would like to use as a basic text for ourmeditations on Christmas the reflection by DonGiacomo Tantardini A humanidade de Cristo é anossa felicidade, published by 30Dias.

I appeal to you, Mr Andreotti, to ask if you can,to send us fifty copies of this booklet for our workthis year, 2012, having the hope that you will sat-isfy our request.

Awaiting a positive response, I send my priest-ly blessing, to be extended to all collaborators of30Dias.

Count on my prayers always.With my greetings,

Father Leutenberg Sousa Neto

Letters from all over the world • Letters from all over t

30 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The Holy Sepulcher

Via Vincenzo Manzini, 45 - 00173 RomaTel. 06 72 64 041 Fax 06 72 63 33 9530giorni@30giorni.it • www.30giorni.it

Via dei Santi Quattro, 47 - Romainfo@piccolaviaonlus.org

IBAN IT 84 S 02008 05232 000401310401BIC-SWIFT: BROMITR172A

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the world • Letters from all over the world • Letters from all over the world •

MANY ROADS OF CHARITY

PASS THROUGH A LITTLE WAY

THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION (PICCOLA VIA) is a non-profit organization set up tosend free of charge, especially to mission countries, the international monthly30Days and the little booklet Who prays is saved, to meet the requests of charity.

payable to:ASSOCIAZIONE PICCOLA VIA ONLUS

or: bank check or draft, indicating non-transferable, issued to ASSOCIAZIONE PICCOLA VIA ONLUS

To find out more you can contact us by writing to: info@piccolaviaonlus.org

in the Church and in the world

YOU CAN HELP THE NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION ‘LITTLE WAY’ BY MAKING A SMALL DONATIONby payment to this bank account:

32 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The witnessis he who offers his own body

On these pages, some panels on the 10th century portal of the church of San Zeno, Verona; above, The Deposition from the Cross

Reading L’Osservatore Romano I was struck byan article written by Cardinal Kurt Koch publishedlast 27 January with a rather unique heading. Thearticle was entitled ‘Lunar ecclesiology’. It was areview of Catholic Church. Essence, reality, mis-sion a book by Cardinal Walter Kasper, recentlypublished in Italy by Queriniana. In passages ofthe book, also brought out by the review, I found

ideas I consider very worthwhile, especially inview of the Year of the Faith and the coming Syn-od of bishops on the new evangelization.

The title of the review by Cardinal Koch refersto a traditional analogy applied to the Church bythe Fathers in the early centuries, re-echoed thenin the Middle Ages: that the nature of the Churchcan be grasped by using the simile of the moon.The moon brings light into the night, but the lightit brings does not come from itself, it comes fromthe sun. Similarly the Church brings light to theworld, but the light it brings is not its own. It is thelight of Christ. “The Church”, Cardinal Kochcomments in his review, “must not aim to be thesun, but must rejoice to be the moon, to receive allits light from the sun and make it shine in thenight”. In receiving light from Christ the Churchlives its entire fullness of joy, “since it”, as Paul VIprofessed in the Creed of the People of God,“has no other life but that of grace”.

On the eve of the Year of Faith, the image ofthe moon also helps to understand what the na-ture of the Church is and the range of its mission.

The comparison with the moon should not betaken as a marginalization of the Church’s mis-sion. The Church is in its own way responsible forthe light of Christ that it is called upon to reflect.That light must not be darkened. The Church mustshine, and not dim or extinguish in itself that re-flection. As the moon does in the night, it mustgive out the light of Christ in that night of theworld, which, left to itself, would remain in sin andin the shadow of death. As Paul VI noted in hisspeech at the opening of the second session ofVatican II: “When the work of inner sanctificationis achieved, the Church will show its face to thewhole world, saying these words: Who sees mesees Christ as the Divine Redeemer had said ofHimself: ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Fa-ther’ (Jn 14, 9)”.

The image of the moon also helps to under-stand the dynamics of the mission to which theChurch is called. As Paul VI himself had alreadyrecognized in the Apostolic exhortation Evangeliinuntiandi (1975): “Modern man more willinglyheeds witnesses than teachers”, and if he heedsteachers “he does so because they are witnesses”.Nietzsche spoke of “methodic distrust”. For thatreason, in our times especially, the most fittingand most disarming way in which the light of theWord of God offers itself to the world is that of wit-ness. Here also the image of the moon suggestspoints for reflection and solace.

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R E F L E C T I O N S O N T H E M Y S T E R Y A N D L I F E O F T H E C H U R C H

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By Cardinal Georges Cottier, OPTheologian Emeritus of the Pontifical Household

The witness is by definition one that testifies tosomething other than himself, without addinganything of his own. The testimony of Christianfaith is not the same as busying oneself, as addingfurther commitment to the things of life. Even lessdoes it mean engaging in propaganda or prosely-tizing for certain ideas.

The witness is he who offers his own body,who makes available the concreteness of the hu-man condition so that in it God’s grace acts andshines out. Just like the moon, on the opaquebody of which the light radiated by the sun is re-flected. “I urge you brethren, through God’s mer-cy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holyand acceptable unto God; this is your spiritualworship”: so writes St Paul in the Epistle to theRomans (Rm 12, 1). And as suggested by Bene-dict XVI in his recent Lectio divina given at theMajor Roman Seminary, the offering of ourbody, our daily life, is whereby “our body unitedto the body of Christ becomes the glory of God,becomes liturgy”, and the body itself becomes“the realization of our worship”. The action ofgrace on the lives of witnesses is manifested inholiness, that precisely for this reason is not anachievement reserved for the few, but a real pos-sibility offered to the concrete lives of all the bap-tized, as the Blessed John Paul II also suggestedIn his Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte.Holiness is what best expresses the inner mysteryof the Church.

The reality that enables mankind’s encounterwith Christ is the life itself of His disciples. Whoare not activists for a message that is extrinsic totheir own lives. As the Second Vatican Councilteaches, grace works on them so that the richnessof His gift cannot be held back and set apart self-ishly, as a possession from which to exclude oth-ers. Rather, it freely communicates itself gratu-itously by its own power, shining in the blaze offaith, of hope and of charity that bears witness toChrist in the life of Christians, “fide, spe, caritatefulgentes”, as it says in paragraph 31 of LumenGentium. Don Luigi Giussani once said: “Wemake the real proclamation through what Christhas disrupted in our life, it comes through the dis-ruption that Christ performs in us: we makeChrist present through the change that Christworks in us. It is the concept of witness”.

What applies to the baptized individual also ap-plies to the Church. The Church does not have toinvent anything. As the moon with the sun, it onlymakes its body available so that grace may reflectitself in it. When the Church claims to witness to it-self, it is neither attractive nor rejoiced and solacedby the Lord. And ecclesial matters inevitably finishby being marked by that “pride that is opposed tothe truth and cannot make me either happy orgood” which Benedict XVI mentioned in his lastmeeting with the parish priests of Rome.

For the Church, as for every individual Chris-tian, this offering of one’s body and of one’s situa-tion so that God’s grace may work and shine in

34 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Detail from the Last Supper

The witness is he who offers his own body,

who makes available the concreteness of the human condition

so that in it God's grace acts and shines out. Just like the moon,

on the opaque body of which the light radiated by the sun is reflected.

For the Church, as for every individual Christian, this offering of one’s

body and of one's situation so that God's grace may work and shine

in them is expressed as a plea, that is, as prayer

353ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

them is expressed as a plea, that is, as prayer. Pre-cisely because it’s simple to make available, thisoffer takes the form of plea, that is, prayer. In thisregard, Cardinal Kasper’s words at the end of hisbook are worth noting: “the Church of the futurewill be above all a Church of people who pray”. Inthe invocation of the prayer that pleads, but also inthe prayer of praise, we give witness to our de-pendence on God. The emphasis in it is not placedon being subject but on the fact that we are par-doned. Since we are creatures gifted with freewill,our freedom is fulfilled in the satisfaction of receiv-ing the gift, so that its resources, inconceivable tous, may bear fruit in us.

The testimony of Christians and the Church’smission is carried out in a context that is oftenmarked by challenge and opposition. These arethe apostolic sufferings, already spoken of by StPaul. In many Western countries we see the rise ofaggressive anti-Christian movements. The denialof the faith is growing. The Church is also grow-ing, but Christians are suffering persecution inmany parts of the world. None of this should sur-prise us. The Gospels, the Epistles of Saint Pauland Revelation tell us that persecution is part ofthe condition of the Church on earth. And in themost recent Council the Church has found inmore intense fashion what it has always knownand experiences in its saints such as Francis of As-sisi: the fact that faced with difficulties and perse-cution there is an evangelical, I would almost sayan evangelical ‘style’ of reacting: the one de-scribed in the Beatitudes. Whereas a certain wayof responding to adversity continues to have as itsfinal perspective the one that in the past took theform of the Crusades. Sometimes one hears peo-ple talking and taking their cue from persecutionor so-called ‘Christianophobia’ to hypothesizewarfare. Whereas history has by now made itclear to everyone that the prospect of a Crusade is

a reduction to worldliness and a manipulation ofChristianity, and the waning of that view has beena liberation and a benefit to the Church. Further-more, it is always misleading to think that thereare epochs more beloved by God than others.That is a millenarian temptation that does not cor-respond to the authentic sensus fidei. God lovesour time also, with all its problems. Rather thancurl up in utopian and deceptive yearnings, wemust look to what the Second Vatican Council de-fined as the signs of the times. For example, theongoing phenomenon of intense migration is aconcrete situation in which to truly experience –and perhaps for the first time so intensely – theuniversality of the Gospel. Nowadays if a Euro-pean wants to meet and get to know a Chinese,he no longer has to travel ten thousand kilome-ters. One meets Chinese, Indians, Arabs regularlyin the cities and towns of one’s own country. Thesituation is somewhat like that experienced andwelcomed by St Augustine, when the arrival ofnew peoples marked the end of a certain stage inhistory, but also opened up new possibilities forthe spread of the unarmed strength of the Chris-tian message.

In this respect the words spoken by BenedictXVI in recent times are a comfort for all. When thePope repeats that “the Church does not exist foritself, it is not the point of arrival, but must referbeyond itself, towards the heights, above us”, andwhen he adds that “the Church is not self-ruling, itdoes not give itself its own ordinance, but receivesit from the Word of God, which it hears in faithand seeks to understand and live by”, words usedprecisely in the homily for the feast of the Chair ofSt Peter that capture with the realism of a lovingand passionate gaze the mystery of the Church.And they can help everyone to grasp the dangersand possibilities that in the present circumstancesmark the Church’s wayfaring in time. q

The moon brings light into the night, but the light it brings

does not come from itself, it comes from the sun.

Similarly the Church brings light to the world, but the light it brings

is not its own. It is the light of Christ. In receiving light from Christ

the Church lives its entire fullness of joy, "since it", as Paul VI professed

in the Creed of the People of God, "has no other life but that of grace"

36 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

373ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The Deposition from the Cross

38 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

T he apostolic visit of PopeBenedict XVI to Cuba tookplace in the context of the

celebration of the four hundredthanniversary of the discovery ofthe image of the Virgin of Chari-ty in the sea waters near thenorthern coast of the eastern re-gion of the island. The image wascarried through the mountainssouth of the region where thereare copper mines; from thiscame the popular devotion to theVirgen del Cobre.

The Pope’s visit to Cuba waspreceded by a missionary pil-

grimage of an image of Our Ladyof Charity, greatly venerated byour people, that traveled morethan thirty thousand kilometersthrough fields, towns, villagesand new settlements. Hundredsof thousands of people partici-pated in genuine and real expres-sions of faith. What most im-pressed was not the multitudes,even though extraordinarily nu-

merous, but it was contemplatingthe faces, seeing the pious ges-tures of men and women,youths, adults and children whoknelt down, raised their arms,made the sign of the cross withtears in their eyes, and shouted:“Long live the Virgin” at the pas-sage of the image. It was a greatnational mission that allowed usto evangelize in the squares, in

Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega

y Alamino welcomes Benedict XVI

at the ‘José Martí’ International

Airport in Havana,

Cuba, 27 March 2012

The visit of a Popeconciliator and its fruitsPope Benedict in Cuba in the news report written for 30Daysby the Cardinal Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana

by Cardinal

Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino

Pastoral Journeys Cuba

393ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

gardens, on the streets with carsequipped with loudspeakers, dis-tribution of leaflets and so on. Weverified in this mission, that faithis present in a very high percent-age of Cubans.

At the end of the mission, inDecember of 2011, the Pope’svisit to Cuba was announced.

The news was received withextraordinary joy. His presence

came to confirm this faith of ourpeople, to clarify it with his word.The Holy Father’s visit to theshrine of the Virgin of Charity inEl Cobre was very significant andhighly appreciated by all.

The Pope, in his own words,from his arrival in our country,noted that he came as a Pilgrimof Charity “to confirm my broth-ers in the faith and encouragethem in hope”. They were theright words and were heard withemotion by all those who, likeme, were lucky enough to receivethe Successor of Peter.

The Holy Father wanted toemphasize that his visit was incontinuity with that of BlessedJohn Paul II. That pastoral visitchanged the life of the Church inCuba. The Catholic Church hadthen its first public demonstra-tions and the first televisionbroadcasts of Catholic cere-monies. The whole world and theCubans themselves understoodthat the Church was alive, that ithad continued to be present in allthe years of hardship and silence.After that event Christmas beganto be celebrated as a public holi-day, there were several radio in-terventions by different bishopson some important dates, mediacoverage of the death and funer-al of John Paul II was truly im-pressive.

Since then the appearancesof the Pope on television forChristmas, Easter and on other

occasions, such as the Via Crucison Good Friday begin to becomefrequent, the publications of theChurch spread, and are greatlyappreciated. After that visit, en-trance into the country of reli-gious personnel, priests and con-secrated men and women was al-lowed, and the Church had theopportunity to publicly celebrateits faith with processions and oth-er ceremonies. ‘Houses ofprayer’ where the faithful gatherfor catechesis and the celebra-tion of Holy Mass and other ac-tivities were opened in hundredsof places.

The Church now aims tomake its presence in the media,especially radio and television,systematic.

The Church, in recent years,has increased its social activi-

On this page, some images

of the Mass celebrated

by Benedict XVI in the Plaza

de la Revolución in Havana,

28 March; below, the greeting

of the President of the Council

of State, and of the Cuban Council

of Ministers, Raúl Modesto Castro

Ruz, at the end of the ceremony

¬

ties through Caritas, which has alarge national voluntary force. Inthe case of hurricanes, the inter-vention of Caritas is effective andrapid in the distribution of aidcoming from foreign countriesand from what the Church in Cu-ba provides in these circum-stances.

Caritas has many canteens inthe parish churches and other lo-calities for senior citizens. It alsohas nurseries for children, agedone to five years, from dysfunc-tional families, in different partsof the country. These charitableactivities of Caritas are much ap-preciated by the people.

Two years ago the Church,faced with the conflicts that arosewith the wives of prisoners, whowere demonstrating so that theirhusbands be released, turned tothe government to express itsconcerns and was invited to me-diate with the women, askingthem to formulate their concernsand desires. Among other things,they proposed to the cardinalthat their husbands be sent to an-other country because it was“better to be separated by the searather than by the prison bars”.

These proposals werebrought to the attention of thegovernment which decided onthe release of fifty-three prison-ers in the Spring of 2003, havingthem leave the country for Spain,which received them with theirfamilies. Of the fifty-three re-leased, twelve remained in Cubaby their own wish and, later, oneof them went to the UnitedStates. They went on to releaseof over one hundred and twentyprisoners for political reasons.Some of these had been jailed for

several years. The Archdioceseof Havana receives requests fromfamily members of prisoners,and if these are cases of prisonersof conscience or for political rea-sons, we can present them to theauthorities.

After the release of the num-ber of prisoners mentionedabove new appeals of this kindwere not submitted.

We must remember that theprison ministry, which deals withall kinds of prisoners, is well or-

ganized: working with the fami-lies of prisoners, there are regu-lar visits in prison, with catech-esis and celebration of the Eu-charist.

Pope Benedict XVI was in-formed of the progress of the lifeof the Church after the visit ofBlessed John Paul II. Because ofthis he wanted to follow in thefootprints left by that papal trip.In his homily in Havana, thePope raised the issue of truth, theonly one on which – he said – it ispossible to establish an ethic thatcan be accepted by all. He an-nounced Jesus Christ as the truthand pointed out, true to the spiritof his pontificate, the perplexi-ties of man in front of the truth,like Pilate “who had the truth be-fore him” and did not see it in

Christ. The Pope insisted on therationality of faith in the face ofthose who arbitrarily opposefaith and reason. All these clarifi-cations acquire a special impor-tance for us.

He indicated in truth the foun-dation of freedom and referred tothe steps that have been takenwith respect to religious freedomin Cuba, hoping that its possibili-t ies would be extended evenmore.

In this regard, he made refer-ence both to the Church’s partic-ipation in education and that ofChristians in the construction ofsociety. The Pope asked – at thetime of his departure – that noone feel prevented from takingpart in this excit ing task“through the limitation of their

40 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The Pope, in his own words, from his arrival in our country, noted that he came as a Pilgrim of Charity "to confirm my brothers in the faith and encourage them in hope"

On the right, Benedict XVI presides over the Mass on the Solemnity

of the Annunciation of the Lord, on the occasion of the fourth centenary

of the recovery of the statue of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, now preserved

in the National Sanctuary; the small wooden sculpture was exposed for the

occasion in Plaza Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba on 26 March

Pastoral Journeys Cuba

proper fundamental freedoms,or feel excluded from it throughnegligence or lack of materialmeans”.

The Pope thus called on allCubans to participate in theconstruction of “a society ofbroad horizons, renewed andreconciled”, overcoming anydifficulties and obstacles in thisendeavor.

He hoped that the light of theLord, which had shone withsplendor in the days of his pres-ence among us, would not go outand would help all to strengthenthe harmony and to “bring tofruition the best in the Cubansoul, its noblest values, on which

it is possible to found a renewedand reconciled society”. TheHoly Father specified that the sit-uation that Cuba lives is exacer-bated by the restrictive economicmeasures imposed from outsidethe country, which weigh nega-tively on the population”.

In summary, the Pope madean appeal to eliminate, at nation-al and international levels, “im-movable positions and unilateralviewpoints”, proposing that thepatient and sincere dialogue thatengenders hope be continued.

In his first words about Cuba,on the plane taking him to Amer-ica, the Pope made reference tochanges in the socio-economic

model needed for Cuba and saidthat we Christians should sup-port this research, “patiently andconstructively, avoiding trau-mas”. It‘s a correct suggestion,because any sudden or violentjump produces social traumasthat leave negative imprints inpeople.

The Holy Father, true to hiscore program as the Successor ofPeter – the one he presented tothe cardinals assembled for theconclave when he explained thathe chose the name Benedict be-cause his last predecessor whohad borne this name was a Pon-tiff conciliator – came to Cuba re-ally doing honor to his pontifi-cate’s project of conciliation, andhe did so without silencing thetruth, with clarity and at the pro-grammatic height of his supremeministry.

We feel even now that thetrace of his steps marked theCuban people, deeply impressedby the gentleness and goodnessreflected in the words and ges-tures of Pope Benedict XVI,which are a special blessing forthe entire Cuban nation and foreach of us. This visit of the HolyFather during Cuba’s Marian Ju-bilee Year encourages us andstrengthens us in celebration ofthe Year of Faith that the Succes-sor of Peter offers with such so-licitude to the universal Church.It will be a special occasion todeepen the faith we have foundto be alive in the hearts of ourCuban brothers and sisters.

There remains, therefore, aprofound feeling of gratitude andhope in our Church in Cuba andin all our people because of thevisit of Pope Benedict XVI, and amoving memory because of hispresence among us. q

413ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Below, Cuban faithful on the streets

of Santiago de Cuba await

the passage of Benedict XVI

to Plaza Antonio Maceo, 26 March

Dear children,I am happy to meet you and see your joyous facesthat fill this beautiful square. You hold a very im-portant place in the heart of the Pope. And at thistime I want all the children of Mexico to know this,particularly those who bear the weight of the suf-fering, neglect, violence or hunger, which in recentmonths, has been felt strongly in some regionsbecause of the drought. Thank you for this meet-ing of faith, for the festive presence and joy, thatyou have expressed with your songs. Today weare full of joy, and this is important. God wants usto be always happy. He knows us and loves us. Ifwe let the love of Christ change our hearts, thenwe can change the world. This is the secret of truehappiness.

This place where we meet has a name that ex-presses the longing in the hearts of all people:ʻPeaceʼ, a gift that comes from on High. ̒ Peace bewith youʼ (Jn 20, 21). These are the words of therisen Lord. We hear them in every mass, and nowagain they resound here with the hope that eachone may become the sower and the messenger ofpeace for which Christ gave his life.

The disciple of Jesus does not respond to evilwith evil, but rather is always as an instrument ofgood, herald of forgiveness, bringer of joy, servantof unity. Jesus wants to write in each of your lives astory of friendship. Have Him, then, as the best ofyour friends. He will never tire of telling you to loveeveryone always and to do good. You will listen toit, if you always have a constant relationship withHim, which will also help you in the most difficultsituations.

I came so that you may feel my affection. Eachone of you is a gift of God for Mexico and the world.Your family, the Church, the school and whoeverhas responsibility in society must work together sothat you may receive as a legacy a better world,without envy or divisions.

Because of this, I wish to raise my voice invitingeveryone to protect and care for children, so thattheir smile may never be extinguished, so that theymay live in peace and look to the future with confi-dence.

You, my young friends, are not alone. Rely onthe help of Christ and his Church to lead a Chris-tian lifestyle. Attend Sunday Mass, catechesis,some apostolate groups, seeking places of prayer,fraternity and charity. It was so that the blessedsCristobal, Antonio and Giovanni, the young mar-tyrs of Tlaxcala lived who, getting to know Jesus, atthe time of the first evangelization of Mexico, dis-covered that there is no greater treasure than Him.They were little like you, and from them we can

learn that there is no age to love and serve.I would like to spend more time with you, but I

have to leave already. We will continue to remainunited in prayer. I invite you, then, to pray always,also at home; thus you will experience the joy ofspeaking with God in the family. Pray for everyone,also for me. I will pray for you, so that Mexico maybe a home where all its children live in peace andharmony. I bless you from the heart and invite youto bring the Popeʼs affection and blessing to yourparents and siblings, as well as all the others whoare dear to you. May the Virgin accompany you.Many thanks, my little friends!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

POPE BENEDICT TO THE MEXICAN CHILDREN

Before traveling to Cuba from 26 to 29 March, Pope Benedict XVI wanted to meet the children during his pastoral visit to Mexico, which took place from March 23 to 26. This is his speech, made on Saturday 24 March in the Plaza de la Paz, Guanajuato, capital of the similarly named Mexican State

Benedict XVI looks out from the central balcony

of the Presidential Palace in Guanajuato to give

a greeting and a blessing to the children

42 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

CHURCH/1Bertello, the faithof the simple and the miracles of Jesus

“There are two ways to ap-proach Jesus: with the ap-

proach of ‘the wise’ whodoubt his words, or withthat of simple people, whogive witness to the miraclesof Christ and have eyes tosee the Awaited”. So Cardi-nal Giuseppe Berte l lo,President of the Gover-

norate of Vat ican CityState, in a homily during aMass ce lebrated in thechurch of Santa Maria dellaPietà at the Coliseum. Thecardinal’s words were tak-en from L’Osservatore Ro-mano on 4 April.

CHURCH/2Moraglia and The Yearof Faith

On 25 March the new Patri-arch of Venice, FrancescoMoraglia, took up office inthe new episcopal see. In

44 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

On 9 March Benedict XVI spoke at the annualcourse on the Internal Forum organized by theApostolic Penitentiary. Here is part of hisspeech, published in L’Osservatore Romano,March 10: ‘In what sense then is sacramentalconfession a ‘path’ for the New Evangelization?First of all because the New Evangelization drawsits lifeblood from the holiness of the children ofthe Church, from the daily journey of personaland community conversion in order to be evermore closely conformed to Christ. Then there is aclose connection between holiness and theSacrament of Reconciliation, witnessed by all the

saints of history. Thereal conversion of ourhearts, which meansopening ourselves toGod’s transformingand renewing action,is the “driving force”of every reform and isexpressed in a realevangelizing effort. Inconfession, throughthe freely bestowedaction of divine Mercy,repentant sinners arejust i f ied, pardonedand sanct i f ied andabandon their formerselves to be reclothedin the new. Only thosewho have let them-selves be profoundlyrenewed by divinegrace are able to bear

within them – and hence to proclaim – the new-ness of the Gospel. [...].The New Evangelization,therefore, also begins in the confessional! That is,it begins in the mysterious encounter between theendless question of human beings, a sign withinthem of the Creator Mystery and God’s Mercy,the only adequate response to the human needfor infinity. If the celebration of the Sacrament ofReconciliation is this, if the faithful have a real ex-perience of that Mercy which Jesus of Nazareth,Lord and Christ has given to us, they themselveswill become credible witnesses of that holinesswhich is the aim of the New Evangelization’.

POPEConfession is ‘a path’ for the New Evangelization

Faithful line up in front of the confessional of St Pio of Pietrelcina

Cut-Outs Cut-Outs Cut30DAYS IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD 30DAYS IN THE CHU

his first mass he focused onthe Gospel passage aboutthe Supper at Emmaus. Wequote a passage: “The twopilgrims – Cleopas and hiscompanion on the road –they’re walking with therisen Jesus and are sad be-cause, for them, He is stilldead; at a given moment,presuming, even, to explainto Him, precisely what hadhappened in the days be-fore, in Jerusalem [...]. Oneseems to glimpse, in thisclumsy attempt, the imageof a certain theology, morediligent than enlightened,totally dedicated to the ar-duous and unlikely under-taking of saving, through itsown categories, JesusChrist and His Word. But inthis image we are also rep-resented, when every time,with our pastoral planning,with our projects and de-bates, divorced from a truefaith, we presume to ex-plain to Jesus Christ whoHe is. Cleopas, his travelingcompanion – and afterthem the disciples of al ltime – eventually expresstheir despair and distrustwith regard to Jesus and hiswork; the words of the twoand the use of the imperfecttense are unequivocal : ‘...we were hoping that Hewould have redeemed Is-rael; and beside al l thisthree days have passed...’(Lk 24, 21). When faith islost, or is no longer able tosupport and enrich the livesof the disciples, then everytheological discourse, everypastoral plan or mediaticcoverage are insufficient.And we find ourselves in thesame condition of the twodisciples of Emmaus, inca-pable of going beyond

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 45

Sette of 5 April (weekly supplementof Corriere della Sera) published aninteresting article by Vittorio Mes-sori. We republish some passages:“Easter Sunday. For faith, it is theevocation of the resurrection of thatJesus, crucified three days earlier,who – precisely by coming out fromthe grave – shows Himself to be theChrist, the Messiah foretold by theprophets and awaited by Israel.Many, even among believers, haveforgotten that for centuries, in com-parison to Easter, Christmas was asecondary feast and that, even to-day, the Eastern Churches givesgreater liturgical emphasis to theEpiphany, sign of the manifestationof that Messiah to all peoples. Andhow many, even among those whoattend mass, remember that Sundayis so called (Dies Domini, the Lord’sday) because it is a renewal, fifty-twotimes a year, of that ‘day after theSabbath’ in which the Great Eventoccurred? [...]. St Paul, the author ofconcise and unquiet style, speaksclearly, warning the Christians ofCorinth: “If Christ be not raised,then my preaching is empty andyour faith is also in vain... If we havehope in Him only in this life, we areto be pitied more than all men”.Why restate these things now? Butto remind you that that faith, whichBenedict XVI has decided to dedi-cate a special year for reflection anddiscovery to, that faith is much sim-pler than it seems to many. Andmuch less complex than they haverisked making us forget, the men of

the Church also, submerging uswith words spoken and written, withtheological statements and moralprescriptions. To believe, for aChristian, is this and only this: ‘wa-gering’ (to use Pascal’s term, greatdevotee and great mathematician)on the truth of the Gospels, whichtell us of the empty tomb on thethird day, and the appearances ofthe Crucified for no less than fortydays [...]. This is the foundation.Everything else is none other thanconsequence and comment, neces-sary and important as they are. Andit is on this foundation, this simplici-ty that Joseph Ratzinger urged us toreturn, in all of the quarter centurywhen he was ‘prefect of the faith’.Now, as Pope, he wants to help usreturn, with the help of the specialyear that we mentioned [...]. Christi-anity is not a wisdom, is not an eth-ic, a culture, a set of standards of liv-ing, much as it is wise. It is also this,but derivatively, because in its es-sential core it is a story, it is a truestory, which culminates in the Res-urrection”.

THE YEAR OF FAITH Messori: faith is only ‘wagering’ on the Resurrection of Jesus

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

at the sepulcher

¬

t-Outs Cut-Outs Cut-OutsURCH AND IN THE WORLD 30DAYS IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD

46 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

their logic, their their statesof mind, exposing ourselvesas prisoners of their fears.Let’s keep all of this in mindon the eve of the incipientYear of the Faith”.

MIDDLE EASTGrossman: “Why I sayno to war on Iran”

The well-known Israeli nov-elist David Grosmann wrotein la Repubblica on 12March: “Iran, as we know,is not only a fundamentalistand extremist country.Large swathes of the popu-lation are secular, educatedand advanced. Several rep-resentatives of its vast mid-dle class have manifestedwith courage and at risk of

their lives against a religiousand tyrannical regime thatdetest. I’m not saying thatpart of the Iranian peoplefeel any sympathy for Israelbut one day, in the future,these people could governIran and perhaps be morefavorably inclined toward Is-rael. Such a possibi l i tywould disappear however if

Israel were to attack Iranportraying itself as an arro-gant megalomaniacal na-tion, a historical enemyagainst whom to fight re-lentlessly, even in the eyesof Iranian moderates. Is thiseventuality more or lessdangerous than a nuclearIran? And what will Israel doif at some point Saudi Ara-

bia also decides it wants nu-clear weapons and getsthem? Will it launch anotherattack? And if Egypt also,under the new government,will choose this path? WillIsrael bomb it? And will itforever remain the onlycountry in the region autho-r ised to have nuclearweapons? [...]. Such an at-tack would be rash,thoughtless, hasty andcould completely changeour future, I dare not evenimagine how. Rather, no: Ican imagine it, but my handrefuses to write it”. q

24 March 2012, Tel Aviv,

demonstration against

the hypothesis of an Israeli

preemptive strike on Iran

CHURCHGod’s preference for ‘what is small’

Cut-Outs Cut-Outs Cut30DAYS IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD 30DAYS IN THE CHU

“‘Great things always begin in a grain of mustardand mass movements always have a short dura-tion’. This sentence written to describe the needsof a new evangelization by Pope Benedict XVI,when he was Prefect of the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith, puts in sharp focus what isdear to the heart of Joseph Ratzinger as a theolo-gian, bishop and pope”. This is the opening state-ment of an article by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Presi-dent of the Pontifical Council for PromotingChristian Unity, which appeared in L’Osserva-tore Romano last 15 April. So, for the cardinal,the Holy Father posits as a “basic principle” ofGod’s action in history, the very “preference forwhat is small” itself. He explains: “The mustardseed is not only an example of Christian hope, butalso highlights that the great comes from thesmall not by means of revolutionary upheavals,nor even because we men assume the directionbut because it comes about slowly and gradually,following its own dynamic. In the face of it theChristian attitude can only be of love and pa-

tience, which is the long breath of love. [...] Butwe men are always tempted to take the particularfor the whole, to exchange the finite for the infi-nite and, therefore, to place the emphasis, in theexample of Jesus, on growth; we would like, withnervous impatience, to have very quickly a largesturdy tree and, if necessary, contribute to it withour hands in our striving to see a respectable re-sult immediately, and in pastoral care we risk con-fusing the care of souls with the preoccupationabout numbers [...]. Through the example of themustard seed, the Pope emphasizes that the ac-tion in the Church should have as its starting pointits mystery and not insist on dragging a large treefrom it immediately. The Church is at once boththe mustard seed and the tree and the Pope un-derlines this by pointing out that: ‘Perhaps weshould, the Church should find itself faced withgreat trials (1 Thes 1, 6) so as to relearn what itlives on also today, it lives for the hope of the mus-tard seed and not for the strength of its projectsand its structures’”.

The risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 47

Excerpts taken from the homilies and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI for the celebration of Holy Easter

Surrexit Christus spes mea

EASTER 2012

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 48

“The disciples, whom Jesus wanted to have close to Him as an element of human support in that hour of extreme distress, quickly fell asleep. Yet they heard some fragments of the words of Jesus’ prayer and theyobserved His attitude. Both were deeply impressed on their hearts and theytransmitted them to Christians for all time. Jesus called God ‘Abba’. The word means – as they add – ‘Father’. Yet it is not the usual form of the word ‘father’, but rather a children’s word – an affectionate namewhich one would not have dared to use in speaking to God. It is the languageof the One who is truly a ‘child’, the Son of the Father, the One who isconscious of being in communion with God, in deepest union with Him”.

The language of the One who is truly a child

Homily of Holy Thursday, Mass in Coena Domini, 5 April

Excerpts taken from the homilies and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI

“Luke, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus prayed on his knees. In the Acts of the Apostles, he speaks of the saints praying on their knees:Stephen during his stoning, Peter at the raising of someone who haddied, Paul on his way to martyrdom. In this way Luke has sketched a briefhistory of prayer on one’s knees in the early Church. Christians, in kneeling, enter into Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. When menaced by the power of evil, as they kneel, they are uprightbefore the world, while as sons and daughters, they kneel before the Father. Before God’s glory we Christians kneel and acknowledge His divinity; by this posture we also express our confidence that He will prevail”.

Christians, in kneeling, enter into Jesus’ prayer

Homily of Holy Thursday, Mass in Coena Domini, 5 April

“Every Christian relives the experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives: the encounter with a unique Man who lets us experience all God’s goodness and truth, who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets us freeradically, heals us completely and restores our dignity. This is why MaryMagdalene calls Jesus ‘my hope’: He was the one who allowed her to bereborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from evil.‘Christ my hope’ means that all my yearnings for goodness find in Him a realpossibility of fulfillment: with Him I can hope for a life that is good, full andeternal, for God himself has drawn near to us, even sharing our humanity”.

With Him I can hope for a life that is full

Urbi et orbi Message, Holy Easter, 8 April

EASTER 2012

“What is the creation account saying here? Light makes life possible. It makes encounter possible. It makes communication possible. It makes knowledge, access to reality and to truth, possible. And insofaras it makes knowledge possible, it makes freedom and progress possible.Evil hides. Light, then, is also an expression of the good that both is andcreates brightness. It is daylight, which makes it possible for us to act. To say that God created light means that God created the world as aspace for knowledge and truth, as a space for encounter and freedom, as a space for good and for love. Prime matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil does not come from God-made being,rather, it comes into existence only through denial. It is a ‘no’”.

Prime matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil does not come from God-made being

Homily of the Easter Vigil, Holy Saturday, 7 April

50 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Excerpts taken from the homilies and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI

Victimae paschali

Victimae paschali laudesimmolent christiani.Agnus redemit oves:Christus innocens Patrireconciliavit peccatores.Mors et vita duelloconflixere mirando:dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus.Dic nobis, Maria,quid vidisti in via?Sepulchrum Christi viventis,et gloriam vidi resurgentis:angelicos testes,sudarium et vestes.Surrexit Christus spes mea:praecedet suos in Galilaeam.Scimus Christum surrexissea mortuis vere:tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere.

Amen. Alleluia.

“ ‘Surrexit Christus, spes mea’/ Christ, my hope, has risen’ (EasterSequence). May the jubilant voice of the Church reach all of you with the words which the ancient hymn puts on the lips of Mary Magdalene,the first to encounter the risen Jesus on Easter morning. She ran to the other disciples and breathlessly announced: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ (Jn 20, 18). We too, who have journeyed through the desert of Lent and the sorrowful days of the Passion, today raise the cry of victory:‘He has risen! He has truly risen!’”.

Surrexit Christus, spes mea

Urbi et orbi Message, Holy Easter, 8 April

“With Jesus’ death, the hope of all those who had put their trust in Himseemed doomed. But that faith never completely failed: especially in the heart of the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ Mother, its flame burned even in the dark of night”.

In the heart of the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ Mother, the flame burned even in the dark of night

EASTER 2012

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 52

Urbi et orbi Message, Holy Easter, 8 April

“Dear brothers and sisters! If Jesus is risen, then – and only then – hassomething truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world. Then He, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolute trust; we can put our trust not only in His messagebut in Jesus Himself, for the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive”.

Then He, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolutetrust; we can put our trust not only in His message but in Jesus Himself

“Dear Brothers and Sisters! Good morning to you all! In many countries Easter Monday is a holiday on which to take a stroll in natural surroundings or to visit relatives who livefar away in order to gather as a family. However, I would like that the reasonfor this holiday, namely, the Resurrection of Jesus, the crucial mystery of our faith, be ever present in the minds and hearts of Christians. Indeed, as St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised,then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1Cor15, 14). Therefore on these days it is important to reread the narratives of Christ’s Resurrection which we find in the four Gospels and to read themwith our heart. They are accounts which present in different ways themeetings of the disciples with the Risen Jesus and thereby permit us tomeditate on this wonderful event which has transformed history and givesmeaning to the existence of every person”.

If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is also in vain

Urbi et orbi Message, Holy Easter, 8 April

Easter Monday, after the Regina Coeli, 9 April

Excerpts taken from the homilies and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI

From 14 to 16 September 2012, the Pope will travel to Lebanonwhere he will make public the post-synodal exhortation of the special Synod of the bishops and patriarchs of the Middle East, held in the Vatican in October 2010. Also in view of this appointment, we publish the homily of His Beatitude Béchara Boutros Raï, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, on the occasion of the Easter of the Lord

54

“And if Christ has not been raised,your faith is vain”

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EASTER 2012

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the tomb and the subsequent appearance of Jesus to them,

detail of the illuminated manuscript of the Gospel of Rabbula reproduced on page 56

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“You seek Jesus of Nazareth,the crucified. He has been raised;he is not here”

(Mk 16, 6)

The truth of Christ’s deathand burial, His appearances, theempty tomb, all this confirms HisResurrection. Son of God madeflesh, Jesus really died on thecross for the redemption of thesins of all mankind. By means ofHis blood, He reconciled Godwith each man, so that we livethe reconciliation with God andwith each other. He rose for ourjustification (Rm 4, 25) and togive us new life, which is the di-vine life in us. This is the importof the annunciation of the angelto the women, at dawn on theSunday of the Resurrection: “Donot be amazed! You seek Jesusof Nazareth, the crucified. Hehas been raised; he is not here”

(Mk 16, 6). In turn, we announcethis news to the world: Christ isrisen! He is truly risen!

Excellency, President MichelSuleiman, we are pleased thatyou are among the front ranks ofthe faithful in this feast of theResurrection from the dead ofthe Lord Jesus. In the midst ofthese faithful are ministers,deputies, chairmen of munici-palities, mayors and other fig-ures of public life and the privatesector. To you, Mr President,and all those present we wouldlike to express our most sincerehope that the Lord Christ, risenfrom the dead, may give you inabundance His graces, Hispeace, His joy, and grant toLebanon and the Arab countries,nowadays in crisis, to recover theunity, stability and a just and gen-eralized peace.

Your presence in this patriar-chal see adds joy and gladness tothe sacred character of this feast.We are likewise pleased by thefact that, by virtue of your faith inthe glorious Resurrection ofChrist from the dead, the sourceof the resurrection of hearts, youcan operate, as head of the Re-public, for the resurrection of thecountry from the ruins of war as

from the stumbling blocks of po-litical, economic and social life.You are also working to breakdown the walls of discord and di-vision, inspiring a spirit of broth-erhood and cooperation basedon citizenship and membershipof a country that needs the con-tribution of all its sons and all itscomponents to be reborn intoprogress and stability. In this yourealize what Jesus Christ invitesus to by His death and His Resur-rection, and what the apostlePaul expresses: “But now in

On the feast of Easter, I send my best wishes to the editorialstaff of 30Giorni and readers of the magazine. I thank theeditorial management who wanted to publish this sermon,which I delivered on the occasion of the Easter Mass at theMaronite Patriarchate of Bkerke. I hope it will provide rea-ders with a contribution to spiritual growth.

Béchara Boutros RaïMaronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East

The Patriarch Béchara Boutros Raï

during the Easter Mass, 8 April,

in Bkerke, Beirut

¬

Christ Jesus you who once werefar off have become near by theblood of Christ ... For he is ourpeace, he who made both oneand broke down the dividing wallof enmity ... through his flesh ...Through the cross, putting thatenmity to death by it. He cameand preached peace to you whowere far off and peace to thosewho were near ...So then youare no longer strangers and so-journers, but you are fellow citi-zens with the holy ones andmembers of the household ofGod” (Eph 2, 13-19).

Along with you, Mr President,and along with all people of goodwill, we operate as a Church, forthe unity of the Lebanese peoplewith all its faiths and its compo-nents, far away from any divisionand enmity, far away from anykind of unilateral and biased posi-tion. The value of this countrylies in its cultural, religious andpolitical plurality, the heart ofdemocracy founded on the coex-istence in equality of the rightsand duties before the law, on therespect for diversity at all levels,on the promotion of civil liber-ties, and particularly those ofopinion, expression and faith,and the guarantee of fundamen-tal human rights.

We work along with you toavoid the involvement of ourcountry in the logic of alliancesand regional or internationalagreements on a political, reli-gious or sectarian basis.Lebanon, because of its geo-graphical and political configura-tion, is called on to be neutral. Inthis way Lebanon can be a factorof stability in the region, and anoasis for encounter and dialoguefor cultures and religions, themost committed in the defenseof the cause [thus in the French,in Arabic “in the issues”, ed] ofthe Arab countries and the inter-national community to establishpeace and justice, confront vio-lence and terrorism, promote

values of modernity, playing arole of bridge between East andWest.

In the Apostolic ExhortationA New Hope for Lebanon onereads: “The construction of thesociety is common to al lLebanese” (§ 1). We should notthen exclude, forget, or rule outanyone. The different politicaloptions should remain a richnessand a means to achieve the com-mon good, from which the good

of every person derives. Are po-litical choices not perhaps differ-ent variations of the art of thepossible? No political decisioncan be taken for absolute. Allchoices are relative, becausethey adopt the best means to im-plement the general principlesand national traditions, in theservice of the common good, theLebanese citizen, of society andthe nation. It asks only that thechoices remain faithful to the

3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012 56

EASTER 2012

One of the illuminated manuscripts of the Gospel of Rabbula depicting the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Laurentian Medici Library,Florence. The text of the Gospels in Syriac, probably compiled in 586,is the only illuminated manuscript of early Christian Syria that survived to this day. From the eleventh century, the document was preserved by the Maronite patriarchs of Antioch, who in the late fifteenth century gave it to the Medici family of Florence

general principles and nationaltraditions, as well as the objec-tives of the choices themselves.

“You seek Jesus of Nazareth,the crucif ied. He has beenraised; he is not here” (Mk 16,6). This is the witness of the an-gel to the women. But the Resur-rection is, in origin, the witnessof God concerning Jesus Christ,the witness confirmed by theApostle Peter: “They put him todeath by hanging him on a tree.This man God raised (on) thethird day, of this we are all wit-nesses” (Acts 2, 32; 10, 38-40);and Paul at the Areopagus inAthens: “and he has providedconfirmation for all by raisinghim from the dead” (Acts 17,31). Guarantee of our spiritualresurrection – thanks to repen-tance – and physical – thanks tothe resurrection of the flesh.Guarantee of the truth of Christand the authenticity of His per-son and His mission. This guar-antee is perpetuated in the worldby the action of the Holy Spiritwhich “will convict the world inregard to sin and righteousnessand condemnation: sin, becausethey do not believe in me; right-eousness, because I am going tothe Father and you will no longersee me; condemnation, becausethe ruler of this world has beencondemned” (Jn 16, 8-11). Ac-

cording to Paul, the Resurrectionof Christ is the basis on whichthe Christian faith is built: “And ifChrist has not been raised, yourfaith is vain ... we are false wit-nesses ... we are the mostpitiable people of all” (1 Cor 15,14-15 and 19).

By His Resurrection Christbecame our peace (Eph 2, 14),the basis of our being children ofGod, and brotherhood amongmen. After His Resurrection,Christ often used the words ‘fra-ternity’, ‘peace’ and ‘being chil-dren of God’. To Mary Magda-lene weeping at the tomb on themorning of Easter Sunday,Christ appeared and said: “Butgo to my brothers and tell them, Iam going to my Father and yourFather, to my God and yourGod” (Jn 20, 17). ThroughChrist, all men have becomebrothers, and through ChristSon of the eternal God all believ-ers have become children ofGod. We believe in this newidentity, we teach it and work forits realization.

Every time Christ appeared toHis disciples during the fortydays, He greeted them saying,“Peace be with you” (Jn 20, 19and 26); with this greeting Hegave them security and innerpeace, erased the fear from theirhearts , showed the signs and

comforted them in their mission.The peace of Christ is the culturewe preach, the choice that we al-ways maintain, because the con-dition as children of God trans-lates itself into actions and initia-tives for peace, according to theword of Christ the Lord:“Blessed are the peacemakersfor they will be called children ofGod” (Mt 5, 9).

The Resurrection of Christfrom the dead is the guarantee ofthe resurrection of hearts fromthe death of sin and evil. Christ isal ive: He is present in theChurch and acts in the world un-til the end of time (cf. Mt 28, 20).Present and active by means ofHis living word, of His body andHis blood in the sacrament of theEucharist, of the grace of thesacraments, of his Spirit, holyand living, who realizes amongthe faithful the fruits of the Re-demption and Salvation.

Christ resurrected from thedead is close to every man, con-temporary to every man. He isthe Lord “who is and who wasand who is to come” (Rev 1, 4);He is the one that the Church,who all believers call on everyday, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev22, 20). To You praise and gloryfor ever and ever. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is trulyrisen! q

573ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain”

On the left,

the Patriarch during

Holy Easter Mass

in the presence

of the highest

Lebanese civil

authorities

F or almost one hundredyears every Sunday morn-ing in Rome one hears

Dante singing. It is fact that since1914 the most famous ItalianDante scholars recite and com-ment on the Divine Comedy bymixing the tercets to the soundof the bells of Trastevere, wherethere is the fifteenth century

Anguillara Palace, the his-toric seat of the House ofDante. Founded in1913 on the initiativeof Sidney Sonnino,then Minister of For-

eign Affairs pro tempore, theHouse of Dante, ‘an apoliticaland non-profit cultural associa-tion’, for nearly a century pro-motes conferences and publicreadings of Dante’s works andcarries out activities ‘appropri-ate to support studies and to ex-plain and promote better under-standing of the life, times andworks of the Poet’, as stipulatedin the Articles. Last FebruaryCardinal Gianfranco Ravasi be-came president, succeedingSenator Giulio Andreotti, nowhonorary president.

Cardinal Ravasi, who told ofhaving received with ‘great joyand amazement’ the invitation toaccept the office, is President ofthe Pontifical Council for Cultureof the Holy See, with whom he re-cently formed a scientific-organi-zational committee to promotethe celebrations ahead of the sev-enth centenary of Dante’s death,in 2021. An occasion, the cardi-nal said, to ‘create synergies be-tween civil and ecclesiastical insti-tutions’.

We met him to talk about theFlorentine poet, and not only.

Your Eminence, how didyour relationship with Dantebegin?

GIANFRANCO RAVASI: Notfrom a strictly technical or aca-demic competence, because mystudies developed in anotherarea. It is rather an ideal and spiri-tual symbiosis generated by twoparticular facts: the first is my pas-sion for poetry, that I have culti-

Literature Dante

"I have the distinct impression that even from radically distant positions a sincere question may arise for the Church: that it return to talk aboutthe substance of its message, in short, that it return to talk about God.And Dante in this can be helpful to us". Meeting with Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi

Dante Alighieri, fresco by Andrea delCastagno, kept in the Uffizi in Florence;below, in the fifteenth centuryAnguillara Palace, in Rome, the historical seat of the House of Dante

by Paolo Mattei

The Cardinal in the house of the poet

vated from adolescence. I’ve al-ways been a great reader of poet-ry, of all provenances, includingforeign ones. The second factwas, so to speak, a stroke of luck:in the high school seminary in Mi-lan I had a professor of Italian lit-erature who was in love withDante. His library held a vast col-lection of commentaries on theworks of the poet and his highschool analysis was constantly in-nervated by the different voices ofthese commentators. He provid-ed for us, in that immense world,a selection through which he pro-posed to us, as a true enthusiast,

continuous openings of horizon.I’m grateful because he taught meto read Dante with love, but alsowith the rigor that the poetry re-quires.

What do you mean by ‘rigor’?Poetry is not the instinctive

and spontaneous language of themany versifiers who composevery free and endless variationson roses and dew drops... Poetryis the highest point of rationality,it is a superior logic, transcen-dent, with its own grammar, itsown extraordinary rigor. Imaginefor a moment how important forDante the geometric precision ofthe verse, the respect of the ac-cents and caesuras, the meticu-lous search of rhymes... This ac-curacy is also essential in music. I

think, for example, of Bach.Some of his compositions can bethought of with an image also of-ten used to represent the DivineComedy, as cathedrals. At thebeginning of some of his worksthere is a musical ‘arch’ that re-turns, in the end, as necessaryparallelism.

After that high school be-ginning, did you continue tofrequent the work of the Flo-rentine poet?

Yes, I have always tried to pre-serve islands of time to devote tothe reading of the verses of theComedy. Moreover, in this sense

I had the illustrious example ofGiovanni Galbiati, my predeces-sor at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.He had a small tower built – that Ithen subsequently used as my pri-vate study – which he climbedeach day to read a song of theComedy. He probably regardedpoetry as an exercise of the soul,like a prayer.

You wil l certainly loveDante for the theology pres-ent in his tercets...

Of course. As the scientistStephen J. Gould theorized, the-ology and philosophy, that bystudying the ‘foundation’, belongto a plane of transcendent knowl-edge, a plane distinct from theempirical-scientific knowledge,which deals with the ‘phenome-

non’, the ‘scene’. That’s it: truepoetry belongs on the same levelof theology and philosophy. It iscertainly the case with Dante,who knew how to incorporateand transform into the languageof poetry the theology and exe-gesis of his time, of which he hada very deep technical knowledge.In years closer to our own, mu-tatis mutandis, another poetwho I love very much, ThomasStearns Eliot, was able to do so,in The Four Quartets. Theologyin Dante celebrates i ts greatepiphany and all theologianswho ignore Dante as a theolo-gian, are wrong. Moreover,Marie-Dominique Chenu ex-plained, in his Theology of thetwelfth century, how much it isnecessary to pay attention toartistic works, not only literary,but also plastic and figurative, be-cause they are not, he said, “onlyaesthetic representations, butgenuine ‘places’of theology”. Iwish we could teach Dante’swork with this basic criterion. Al-so because of this it would be niceto propose the establishment of aChair of Dante Studies at theCatholic University, as Paul VIdid in April 1965 with the Apos-tolic Letter, given in the form of amotu proprio, Altissimi cantus,written for the seven hundredthcentenerary of the birth of thePoet.

You have recently ob-served how often in schoolsas well the teaching of Danteis unsatisfactory...

Often the way of presenting itto students is devoid of charm,appeal. But Dante is charmingand attractive! In this sense,Roberto Benigni with his lec-turae had the merit and courageto show how Dante knows howto speak to modern man; hemanages to show how he wasable to say in a sentence all aboutsuch deep realities that refined in-tellectuals would not be able toexplain even with thousands

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Interview with the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture

¬

Cardinal Gianfranco

Ravasi with Professor

Enrico Malato, during

the press conference

at the presentation

of the initiatives

of the House of Dante

and the Pontifical Council

for Culture in view

of the seventh centenary

of the death of the poet

(1321-2021),

Rome, 7 March 2012

of words... The merit of Benigniwas this: with a ‘linear’, narrativereading, and without too manyglosses, he was able to makeDante speak to millions of peo-ple. Often instead in schoolsteachers will offer exasperatingphilological interpretations ofhim, subjecting the text to a con-tinuous and tiresome structuralanalysis... I remember the lectureof an American structuralist crit-ic, who considered the passage ofthe Comedy which he was com-menting on very beautiful, onlybecause he could completely ‘dis-mantle’ it, take it to pieces, re-duce it to découpage figurines.

What could be done that ispositive for this?

Teacher formation should beworked on. And those engagedin culture and communicationshould change their attitude to-wards the general public, forwhom they often nurture pes-simism, if not contempt. Insteadnot only Benigni, but also Vitto-rio Sermonti has shown thatthere is a thirst for these thingsand a widespread receptivitymuch deeper than is thought. I at-tended some time ago his lecturaDantis in Santa Maria delle Gra-zie in Milan: outside the churchthere were long lines of peoplewho had been unable to enter. I,too, am often amazed at how

much curiosity there is for topicsthat are normally consideredhunting grounds for specialists. Iremember with wonder the silentand attentive crowd that, in Man-tua, under a relentless sun, lis-tened to my lecture on Qoelet.And I assure you they were notteachers. Dante, therefore, canstill speak to the world.

Dante also spoke to theChurch of his time, and oftenharshly...

The love for the Church, lovefor the faith, can also manifest it-self through passionate criticism.There is an exercise of serious,motivated, well-founded criti-cism, that in its arguments mayalso be questionable, but thatstems from a genuine passion ofthe spirit. Dante is such. Bene-dict XV in the encycl ica l Inpraeclara summorum, writtenin April of 1921 during the sixhundredth centenary of thedeath of the poet, and addressedto teachers and students of liter-ary institutions of higher learningof the Catholic world, poses thisrhetorical question: “Who coulddeny that at that time there werethings to blame the clergy for,that a soul so devoted to theChurch, such as Dante, musthave been quite disgusted, whenwe know that even men whowere outstanding in holiness

then, reproved them severely? “.And Paul VI, in the letter Altissi-mi cantus, remarks: “Nor am Isorry to recall that his voice wasraised and resonated stronglyagainst some of the Roman pon-tiffs, and sharply rebuked ecclesi-astical institutions and men whowere ministers and representa-tives of the Church”. Preciselybecause his faith was not the ad-hesion to some rational truths,but the love of the whole beingfor Christ and His Church, Dantecould introduce into the Comedythe entire moral dimension thatdistinguishes it, with emphasison the distinction between whatis good and what is bad. I am con-vinced that there is now need togo back to talk about the conceptof evil, using the precise words:fault, sin. The concept of sin islost, faded into a colorless fog,become ext inct. Pastoral lyspeaking, I feel it necessary to re-iterate at this time – without rhet-oric or emphasis – the sense ofgood and evil. Again, Dante maybe helpful.

Even in dialogue with non-believers, or with those whoare far from the Church?

Of course. The dialogue maydie because often it crosses overinto syncretism and fundamental-ism. Unfortunately, the winningmediatic confrontation is be-

60 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Literature Dante

Below, from the left, Vittorio Sermonti and Roberto Benigni

tween believers with incrediblyrigid positions and ‘the non-be-lievers with a sneer’, for whomeverything is resolved in parodyand show. For this reason I wantto avoid that the actions of theCourtyard of the Gentiles [an in-stitution of the Pontifical Councilfor Culture for dialogue betweenbelievers and atheists or agnos-tics, ed] be carried out by funda-mentalist believers and nonbe-lievers. You must be able to argueand listen without however re-treating a step, and this is not fun-damentalism but the true mean-ing of dialogue. I – I have oftensaid so – am opposed to the ‘duel’because I am in favor of the ‘duet’in which the voices, even if theybelong to soundtracks polesapart, can produce harmonywithout having to give up theirown identity, that is, be concretewithout fading into a vague ideo-logical syncretism. I was struck bya public discussion that I had re-cently precisely during an initia-tive of the Courtyard of the Gen-tiles, with Gian Enrico Rusconi. Igot the distinct impression thateven from radically distant posi-tions a sincere question may arisefor the Church: that it return totalk about the substance of itsmessage, in short, that it returnto talk about God. Often we getlost behind the small details and

do not take the whole fresco intoaccount. Again in this, Dante,with his ‘systematic’, medievalspirit – a breath that we have lost– can help us.

You quoted Paul VI andBenedict XV. But BenedictXVI also loves Dante...

Yes. He evoked him already asa cardinal, in his book Introduc-tion to Christianity; and then asPope on several occasions: in theEncyclical Deus Caritas Est, in aspeech to the participants at ameeting sponsored by the JohnPaul II Pontifical Institute and thenduring the Angelus on the feast of

the Immaculate Conception in2006, where asking himself whyGod chose Mary of Nazareth,among all women, he quoted theverses of the beautiful prayer of StBernard to the Virgin Mary. “Theanswer”, said the Pope, “is hid-den in the unfathomable mysteryof the divine will. However there’sa reason that the Gospel evi-dences: her humil i ty. DanteAlighieri clearly emphasizes thisin the last canto of Paradise: ‘Vir-gin Mother, daughter of thy Son,/ humble and exalted more thanany creature / fixed term of eter-nal counsel’”. q

613ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Interview with the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture

Dante Alighieriand the realms of the afterlife,Domenico

di Michelino,

Santa Maria

del Fiore,

Florence

From the left, clockwise: Benedict XV, Pope Paul VI and Benedict XVI

62 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

T he transitus Domini, orthe passage that links theChurch to Tradition and its

origins according to a well knownexpression of Paul VI, is the mostimportant but also the least high-lighted aspect of the Vatican Se-

cret Archive. The central reposi-tory of the Holy See, in fact, ismore famous for its size: createdfour hundred years ago by PopePaul V in the location where it istoday and accessed from theCourtyard of the Belvedere in the

Vatican, it collects twelve cen-turies of history in eighty-fivekilometers of shelving. It is one ofthe most important and world-fa-mous centers of historical re-search, where there are millionsof documents, many of priceless

Interview with Cardinal Librarian Raffaele Farina: why the Church has alwaysfelt the need to systematically preserve the acts and documents of its activities

Anniversary The four hundred years of the Vatican Secret Archive

The propensity of the Churchfor memory

by Roberto Rotondo

Above, The Hall of musician Angels,

on the first floor of the Vatican

Secret Archive; in these pages,

some documents on

show at the Lux in arcana exhibition,Capitoline Museums, Rome, running

until 9 September 2012

The register of the oaths of fidelity to Innocent VI drawn up, presumably,

since 1356

historic value, and, ofcourse, growing con-tinuously. To under-stand what purposethe Archive of thepopes serves and howit is formed, we askedsome questions of Raf-faele Farina, cardinalarchivist of the VaticanSecret Archive and li-brarian of Holy RomanChurch. The cardinal librarian isa type of patron of the ApostolicVatican Library and SecretArchive, while it is managed re-spectively by two prefects. Cardi-nal Farina, a Salesian, historian,exegete, also with a long experi-ence as Prefect of the Vatican Li-brary, welcomed us into his officeand, before beginning the inter-view, recalled with pleasure thespecial relationship that bindsBenedict XVI to the Library andArchive: Pope Ratzinger himself,when he was visit ing here in2007, recounted that when hewas Prefect of the Congregationfor the Doctrine of the Faith heasked John Paul II several timesto be named cardinal librarian,and for a time he was also con-vinced that this would be his fu-ture position, but things turnedout differently, and he went tothe Library as Pope.

Eminence, the SecretArchive is four hundredyears old, but has collecteddocuments that are muchmore ancient. Why has theChurch always felt the needto preserve the acts and doc-uments of its business in asystematic way?

RAFFAELE FARINA: Fromthe earliest days of the Church ofRome, as the Liber Pontificalisrecalls, the popes used to pre-serve in their own ‘scrinium’(archive) the gesta martyrum,the liturgical codices, the mem-oirs of the episcopal consecra-tions, donations made to the

Bishop of Rome and tothe Christians in theearly centuries. Theneed arose from thenecessity to pass onthe memory of the ear-ly Church after thepersecutions and the‘administrative’ needof the Roman Churchitself, which of coursewanted to know the

witnesses of the faith who diedfor Christ (its best treasure offaith) and the action of the pas-tors and the faithful in Rome.

From the fourth century onwardsthe Archive of the Church ofRome was enriched with docu-ments, codes, provincial books,formulas of oaths, certificates ofconsecrat ion of churches orfoundations of abbeys, papyri re-lating to the correspondencesent to the popes from the em-perors of the East, first, and thenthe West, pastoral and adminis-trative and other writings, as iswell demonstrated by the Liberdiurnus Romanorum Pontifi-cum, an ancient chancel larycode form, owned by the Vati- ¬

633ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

Lux in arcana

The exhibition at the Capitoline Museums

T he act of abjuration of Galileo Galilei and the bull of deposition of theEmperor Frederick II. The Rule of Francis of Assisi and the Bull of

canonization of Francis Xavier, a letter of Erasmus of Rotterdam and oneof Michelangelo Buonarroti. Lux in arcana more than an exhibition is animmersion in the sources of history. A hundred original documents fromthe Secret Vatican Archive, selected from codes and parchments, files,records and manuscripts, are exhibited for the first time to the public forabout seven months, from March to September 2012, in the CapitolineMuseums in Rome.

The exhibition, organized to mark the fourth centenary of the foundingof the Vatican Secret Archive, wants to explain and recount what theArchive of the popes is and how it works and, at the same time, ̒make theinvisible visibleʼ and allow access to some wonderful documentaries.Some documents of the period to which access is still off-limits to schol-ars are also shown, namely that of the papacy of Pius XII that containsamong other things an account of the massacre at the Fosse Ardeatine, alist that notes the names of priests interned at Dachau, a story of thebombing of St Lawrence Outside the Walls in Rome.

R.R.

The front face of the golden seal of Pope Clement VII

Cardinal

Raffaele Farina

can secret archive which datesfrom the late eighth or earlyninth century.

So it was not only a neces-sity linked to the papacy’sfunctions particular to the ex-ercise of temporal power...

The pope’s temporal powerwhich began only with PopeHadrian (772-795), was not atthe origins; so therefore therewas a memorial, pastoral and ad-ministrative work-concern. Withthe bir th of the State of theChurch there was also an addedconcern of government of thePatrimonium Petri dependenton the Pope. The most impor-tant thing, as mentioned, is the

primary tendency of the Churchto create memory. Almost in-stinctively, I would say, for thecare and custody of that whichconnects it to its origin. Themanuscript was also consideredsomething of a relic in ancienttimes.

The Archives experiencedmany vicissitudes before itstransfer to its present loca-tion. Was the establishmentof a central repository in theseventeenth century also dueto the necessit ies of theemerging archival science?

The reasons that may have af-fected this are different. The factremains that the popes of the six-

teenth and seventeenth centurytried several times to bring to-gether in one place, well guard-ed, the documents of the HolySee: Paul IV (1555-1559), St.Pius V (1566-1572), Sixtus V(1585-1590), Clement VII I(1592-1605) acted in this senseand failed for various reasons.Paul V Borghese however suc-ceeded at the beginning of 1612when, in the rooms adjoining theSistine Hall of the Vatican Li-brary, lived in by his Cardinalnephew up to that t ime, hemerged documentary nuclei fromdifferent points of the ApostolicPalace and from the old Archiveof Castel Sant’Angelo.

64 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

W hen talking about the Vatican Secret Archive,one speaks of the modern archive of the Holy

See established by Pope Paul V around 1610, on thesite overlooking the Cortile del Belvedere, where it stillis, though greatly enlarged. But the history of thearchive of the Roman pontiffs is based in times farmore remote, connecting with the origin, nature, activi-ty and development of the Church itself.

The documentary patrimony preserved in the greatdeposits covers a time span of about twelve centuries(from the eighth to the twentieth century). Consistingof over six hundred archival collections, it coverseighty-five linear kilometers of shelves, placed, interalia, in the ʻBunkerʼ, a room on two floors, housed inthe basement of the Cortile della Pigna of the VaticanMuseums. Since Pope Leo XIII, in 1881, opened itsdoors to scholars, the Vatican Secret Archive has be-come a center for historical research among the mostimportant and famous in the world. To study its historyand evolution more deeply we indicate the volume theVatican Secret Archive by Monsignor Sergio Pagano(published by Gangemi, 2000). In the essay the longhistory of how the Archive was established is ex-plained, the archives that it absorbed, the vicissitudesand transfers (such as the years when stationed atCastel SantʼAngelo or the forcible transfer of theArchive by order of Napoleon and its successive re-turn to Rome).

Hundreds of historians from around the world askto consult the Archive, which, however, also has its rel-evance in journalistic terms, as noted years ago by the

famous Vatican expert Benny Lai, who wrote that theArchive can deepen the knowledge of the structureand working method of the Vatican offices, can pene-trate its intimacy. The diplomatic correspondence be-tween the Secretary of State and the nuncios, beyondthe value of the topics discussed, in fact, illuminatesthe way of thinking and acting that the passing of yearshas not substantially changed. In addition the consul-tation of the documents preserved in the Archive notonly serves to clarify the historical problems, big orsmall as they may be, to study from different anglesthe stages of the formation of Western civilization orthe perennial underlying question of the relations be-tween Church and State; sometimes from the old pa-pers, which many insist on seeing as dead past, hu-man events emerge that time could not sclerotize.

R.R.

The Vatican Secret Archive

Anniversary The four hundred years of the Vatican Secret Archive

A glimpse of the deposit of the Secret Archive

The Archive has also beencalled an ocean, but is thereone area more importantthan others?

All the archives are equivalentin themselves, because they allbelong to an unicum that bindsand holds together the dossiers;to evaluate or devalue any ofthem would inevitably be to or-dain its salvation or its being setaside. This would never be imple-mented in the archives. All writ-ings are important and all havetheir own reason, which bindsthem to each other. This does notmean that some famous acts inhistory don’t strike the fantasy ormind of the historian more thanothers.

How important today isthe Vatican Secret Archivefor the Church and the Pope?What role does it play?

The Vatican Secret Archivepreserves the acts of the Romanpontiffs and their Curias, virtuallywithout interruption, from theeleventh century until today.From this its obvious importance.The role of the Archives is first ofall ‘administrative’, in as far as itserves the action of the Pope andthe bodies of the Roman Curia forthe study of previous issues andsituations. In this sense, theArchive is used mainly and prima-rily by the Supreme Pontiff andthe Secretary of State. Its rolethen is also that of guardian of the

memory of the Holy See. TheArchives receives periodic influx-es from the archives of the Ro-man Curia (with some excep-tions), as well as the abundantdocumentary material of the vari-ous papal representatives aroundthe world.

Do you not believe that therelevance from the journalis-tic point of view of theArchive might also be thepossibility to deepen theknowledge of the structuresand working methods of theVatican offices? The diplo-matic correspondence be-tween the Secretary of Stateand the apostolic nuncios,apart from the subjects dealtwith, could illuminate in themost minute details a way ofthinking and acting that thesuccession of years and pon-tificates has not substantiallychanged...

Certainly, but there is also an-other aspect that is rarely studied:the Church, from the end of thepersecutions, took on the imprintof the State reform ordered byDiocletian and Constantine, bothin the geographical division intodioceses, and in the imitation ofthe imperial chancery. Some-times historians overlook the factthat the chancelleries had theirown policy and that on certain is-sues they also had some decision-making power. So, to understand

the behavior of some popes of thepast, account must also be takenof the Secretary of State, of theCuria.

How many people work inthe Archives?

The ordinary government ofthe Archive is entrusted by thePope to his prefect, who is assist-ed by the vice-prefect, the secre-tary general, by archivists, writ-ers, workers and employees atvarious levels: in all fifty-fourpeople. A small number, whencompared with the staff in otherState archives comparable in acertain manner with the SecretVatican Archive. It is hoped thatin future these forces could in-crease, according to the compat-ibility of the budget of the HolySee, which for the Vatican Se-cret Archive because of its freeavailability to scholars around

653ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

¬

On the left, a page from the volume

of the trial of Galileo Galilei

with his signature; below, parchment

of the letter of Caliph Abu Hasfs ‘Umar

al-Murtada to Innocent IV:

The Moroccan king asks in the letter

to the Pope that the new bishop sent

to Morocco be a man with a lucid spirit

and that he strive to avoid all evil

Lux in arcana

the world already invests a largesum.

How important is theArchive today for scholarsand how is it evaluated? Whatare the historical periods thatare most consulted?

The importance of the Vati-can Secret Archive for solid his-torical studies is obvious. Almostno serious historical scholar, es-pecially in Europe, as also inparts of the world where theCatholic Church has been pres-ent, can ignore the Vatican Se-cret Archive; and so it happens inpractice, because every year overtwo thousand researchersthroughout the world use ourArchive. The most studied peri-ods vary according to the histori-ographical interests of the time:up to mid-way through the twen-tieth century the Middle Agesand the Modern Age prevailed

without doubt; from the mid-twentieth century and especiallyin recent decades the contempo-rary period is also much investi-gated, up until the death of PiusXI (February 1939).

Who were the Popes of themodern era who most valuedthe Secret Archive?

To my knowledge Pius XI, PiusXII, Blessed John XXIII (who visit-ed several times) and Paul VIgreatly valued the Archive sourcesfor their magisterium or for theirordinary government. The cur-rent Pope Benedict XVI reservesmuch attention for the Archive.

The Vatican SecretArchive is among the mostaccessible to the world andyet enjoys an undeserved rep-utation, according to which itis a place where who knowswhat secrets and documentsembarrassing to the Churchare hidden. Why this bias thatis evidenced in the pressingrequest to open ever new sec-tors and sources?

This question has been put tome several times, but only by peo-ple who are not versed in histori-cal research or lacking in realknowledge of the Archive. Thetale of dark plots that are beinghatched there derived from itsname: the Vatican SecretArchive. That ‘secret’, which sim-ply says ‘private’ archive (as werethe Secret Archive of the Estes,the Gonzagas, the Sforzas, etc.) isread in the popular imagination orby some novelists as ‘mysterious’,obscure. Perhaps no otherarchive in the world is more‘open’ than the Vatican SecretArchive, which has provided re-searchers with access to its ap-proximately 630 sources formore than a century.

In addition to opening thedocuments regarding thepontificate of Pius XII forconsultation, what otherprojects are planned in thecoming years?

The projects are many, but theeconomic means to implementthem rather modest, at least fornow. In recent decades, under theprefecture of Monsignor SergioPagano, three new study roomswere created, three new laborato-ries, we moved to digital photog-raphy, to the computerization ofadministrative procedures, the se-ries of publications of the Archivehave greatly increased. In addi-tion, we would like to proceed inthe future to the computerizationof the applications to access thedocuments and would like to im-prove the digital versions of overtwo thousand indexes or invento-ries of the Archive. And perhapsmore, with the help of God. As forthe documents of the pontificateof Pius XII, coming back to yourquestion, it is almost certain thatin less than two years they will beavailable.

To what extent are the doc-uments preserved in theArchive and in the Vatican Li-brary helpful for the Churchin addressing current prob-lems?

This is a question that refers totheology more than to history.For example, during the SecondVatican Council, for the subject ofthe liturgical reform, the study ofancient texts preserved in the li-brary was very important. Themyth that the Middle Ages was adark age was also debunked,while, conversely, from the pointof view of the liturgy and popularpiety, it was instead a very richera. In general, I think that to re-discover the wealth of traditionover the centuries makes theChurch grow. Somewhat as in thehistory of our personal lives. Whatwe have done for good will not bedeleted. It is also so for theChurch. Renewal is also lookingback to the ancient Church as amodel for reform, to the Churchas the Body of Christ without spotor wrinkle. To preserve also in-volves an enrichment. q

66 3ODAYS - 3/4 - 2012

The bull of canonization

of Francis Xavier

Anniversary The four hundred years of the Vatican Secret Archive

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