Pope Benedict XVI used his traditional New Year address to call for a revolution in personal lifestyles in order to safeguard the future of the planet.

Telegraph | Jan 1, 2010

By Nick Squires in Rome

Pope Benedict XVI used his traditional New Year address to call for a revolution in personal lifestyles in order to safeguard the future of the planet

He said people needed to change how they live their lives and called for “ecological responsibility” to be taught in schools.

The Pope said individuals and families had as important a role to play in preserving the environment as governments meeting at international summits such as the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen last month.

Related

Pope Benedict XVI urges pilgrims to fight climate change and reject consumerism

He told thousands of faithful who had gathered in St Peter’s Square that environmental responsibility was essential for global peace.

“I would like to underline the importance of the choices of individuals, families and local administrations in preserving the environment.

“An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth’s natural resources with justice and wisdom,” he said.

Calling for an end to war and in particular the suffering of children, the 82-year-old, German-born pontiff said there was “a close link” between respect for mankind and respect for nature.

“If humanity shames itself, it damages its environment”, Benedict said.

He appealed for “investment in education with the objective not only to transmit technical and scientific concepts, but also a broader and deeper ‘ecological responsibility’ based on respect for humanity, human rights and fundamental duties”.

The Pope has built on the legacy of his predecessor, John Paul II, in putting the environment high on the Vatican’s agenda.

Last month, in a message sent to heads of state and international organisations, Benedict called on rich nations to acknowledge responsibility for the environmental crisis and to rein in consumerism.

He gave his address a week after a 25-year-old woman with a history of mental problems knocked him to the ground during Christmas Eve mass.

He was unhurt in the fall and has kept up his busy holiday schedule.

Pope John Paul II making the sign of fidelity to the Craft.

An initiated Mason throws the gauntlet: Fatima Prophecy Brings John Paul II to Bulgaria

Bulgarian priests used to work in the Vatican’s most secret archives, Dimitar Nedkov reveals in his novel

Standart | Nov 27, 2009

“Pope John Paul II took the decision to visit Sofia at his sole discretion in order to dissolve completely any suspicions of the Bulgarian trace in the attempt on his life. His councilors were absolutely against the idea but he refused to listen to them. This was one of the few cases when the Pope would not take their opinion in consideration.”

This is the gauntlet high-ranking Mason, Dimitar Nedkov throws in his first novel 33 – The Menace Dan Brown.  The book will be released together with the December 1 issue of the Standart. In the book, Nedkov, who is recognized as one of the notable experts in the history of the Freemasons suggests that the mission of John Paul II to Bulgaria was coded in the third prophecy of Fatima. This has been one of the most jelously kept secrets of the Vatican. The Pope was the only person who knew its contents.

The mysterious story began on May 13, 1917. Then three young shepherds witnessed the apparition of the Virgin Mary in the vicinity of a small Portuguese town of Fatima. The vision reappeared on every 13th day of the month till October. Thus the children learnt about the First and Second World War, about the onset of Communism as an official state power.

On her last appearance, Our Lady of Fatima spoke fateful words. In her third prophecy Our Lady said things that were later related by little shepherdess Lucia and written down. Lucia’s writing was put into an envelope and handed to the Bishop of Leiria. Lucia became a nun; her request was the envelope to be opened after 1960. The bishop sent it to the Pope.

After the envelope was opened, the Vatican surprisingly refused to reveal the secret to the general public. The same was the response of Pope John-Paul II. “This is a spiritual message which doesn’t concern any concrete events. It is unnecessary to make a sensation of it,” the Pope explained his decision.

“The third prophecy of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the reasons why the Pope -Freemason John Paul II – was so persevering in his efforts to rehabilitate the Freemasons before the world,” Dimitar Nedkov continues to send challenges in his first novel.

The author hints that the Third Secret of Fatima refers to the Freemasons, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar and the Bogomils. The author claims that it’s the Pope, along with the Grand Commander of the Masons and a monk from Mount Athos, who are the real guardians of the Brotherhood’s greatest secrets.

“Bulgarians have worked in the Vatican’s most secret archive chambers,” Nedkov reveals in his work.

The author alleges that representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church have had access to documents about Pythagoras, Galileo Galilei and the Mysteries of Fatima.

Irish Independent | Nov 28, 2009

By John Cooney

Pope Benedict XVI has stayed silent over the devastating Dublin diocese abuse report more than 24 hours after publication of its sordid revelations that have shocked Mass-going Catholics and couples with young families.

On Thursday, hours after the release of the chilling report, the Vatican chief spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said issues such as abuse scandals were handled by the local Church rather than by the Holy See.

But last night the Pope’s representative in Ireland gave an assurance to the Irish public that Pope Benedict was committed to rooting paedophile priests from the ranks of the Irish clergy.

Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, told the Irish Independent that Pope Benedict had told all the Irish bishops during their meeting with him in Rome after the Ferns report of his abhorrence of child sexual abuse.

Scourge

The Pope had instructed the Irish bishops, headed by Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, to make every effort to cleanse the Irish church of the scourge of priestly paedophilia.

The Dublin commission’s report revealed that two letters seeking information from the Nuncio had not been answered, and that a similar request to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had told the Department of Foreign Affairs that the commission should use normal diplomatic channels.

But the commission’s chairperson, Judge Yvonne Murphy, said that the commission was independent of the Government, and that she did not avail of the diplomatic post between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Vatican.

Asked for a specific comment on this reference to the Nunciature and the congregation, a spokeswoman for Archbishop Leanza said: “It is not the practice of a Nuncio to comment in public on Church-State relations in the country in which he is working on behalf of the Holy Father.”

Vicar sends warning over occult activities

A rural vicar has warned people not to dabble in the occult after a sheep’s head was impaled on a pole outside one of his churches.

Telegraph | Nov 26, 2009

Rev Nick Bromfield says he has spotted several signs of black magic worship in the area and even seemingly harmless pub psychic nights and crystal readings can cause untold damage.

Mr Bromfield decided to speak out after seeing increasing evidence of “dark forces” in the Forest and being called on to pick up the pieces when things go wrong.

“I want people to be aware of the potential damage that can be caused by this kind of activity,” he said.

“It might sound medieval to talk about the relationship between good and evil, but there is no middle ground on this. People need to leave well alone.

“I have been told there are people operating in a darker place, and I have seen signs of satanic activity in the Forest.

“It’s difficult to quantify but there is something about borders that attracts occult activity and the seclusion is also very attractive. They are allowing in forces that can do great damage.

“I know a lot of pagans in the Forest and they are as appalled about this as Christians.”

Mr Bromfield, the rector of Drybrook, Lydbrook and Ruardean, is asked to bless around 10 homes a year because of the owners’ fear something is amiss.

So far he has not needed to call in the diocesan deliverance officers who are allowed to perform exorcisms.

But he is regularly asked to help people who have been left angry, upset or sometimes scared after being tempted to contact dead loved ones.

The vicar says he has seen animal carcasses laid out in circles or surrounding stones, which could be a sign of black magic worship in the woodlands.

A few weeks ago a parishioner at one of his churches was upset to find a severed sheep’s head dripping with blood mounted on a pole in the grounds.

“Naturally it wasn’t very pleasant and I burned it,” said the vicar, who fears it could have been a warning.

“But I think it’s something that clergy in many rural parishes have experienced.

“It’s either a malicious deliberate provocative act against the church or our “friends” from that sphere of activity sending a tribute because we are successful.”

The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament  Photo: AP

The Act of Settlement in 1701 might be a cause of some embarrassment today but it was enshrined in law with the honourable purpose of securing a stable monarchy and avoiding further bloodshed and division over the state religion.

Telegraph | Nov 26, 2009

By Christopher Hope

England was a predominantly Protestant country by the late 17th century but there was widespread anti-Roman Catholic sentiment, with even the Great Fire of London in 1666 being pinned on “Popish frenzy”.

The century had started with the foiling of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plotters in 1605, leading to strict anti-Catholic laws. Yet rows over the religion of the Monarch dominated the 17th century.

In 1649, Oliver Cromwell’s staunchly Protestant Commonwealth overthew Charles I, running the country for 11 years before Charles II was restored to the throne. He converted to Catholicism on his deathbed in 1685.

There was further upheaval in 1689 when the protestants William and Mary of Orange overthrew James II, who had been was accused of subverting his role by favouring fellow Catholics.

By the end of the 17th century fears over the succession had grown because William III was a protestant widower without any no children. This meant the crown would pass to his sister-in-law Anne, whose heir was likely to be her Catholic half-brother.

Parliament stepped in, drawing up the Act of Settlement to rule out any Catholics, or their spouses from becoming monarch. The new legislation stated clearly that no sovereign “shall profess the Popish religion or shall marry a Papist”.

The result was that Queen Anne, who died in 1714, was succeeded by a Protestant German prince, who became King George I.

As the role of the British state expanded with the British Empire, so the number of nations which would need to agree to any change to the law.

In modern times the legislation has continued to have an effect. In 1978, the Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent was removed from the line of succession after marrying Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic.

Then last year Autumn Kelly renounced her Catholic faith, allowing her new husband Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson, to keep his place in the line of succession.

Widespread child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin was covered up for decades by senior clerics, a damning report will say.

Telegraph | Nov 26, 2009

Cardinal Desmond Connell, Archbishop emeritus of Dublin. Catholic News Agency.

Four Archbishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, will be named over their mishandling of hundreds of allegations, including not reporting crimes to the police.

The senior clerics’ motive was to protect the church above defenceless children, the report will find.

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission is the third inquiry in the last four years to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland following independent investigations into abusive priests.

The pattern of senior clerics moving abusers from parish to parish rather than dealing with the problem will also be addressed.

The 700-page report includes 45 potted histories of a sample of priests from 1975 to 2004 who were investigated by the Commission.

It is understood only ten priests will be named, as they are either dead or in jail, with the rest given aliases.

It will detail horrific abuse stories the Commission was told by victims, the response of Bishops and Archbishops and how gardai and health authorities reacted.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern will publish the report at Government Buildings.

The role of four Archbishops, John Charles McQuaid who died in 1973, Dermot Ryan who died in 1984, Kevin McNamara who died in 1987, and the retired Cardinal, were examined.

The Commission looked at the Cardinal’s role in the late 1980s and 1990s and the use of an insurance scheme, which he inherited, to pay off victims.

Cardinal Connell, who took part in the Conclave to elect Pope Benedict four years ago, ordered a trawl through the diocesan secret archives in 1995 to determine how many clerics had been accused of child abuse.

Only 17 names were given to the police.

His successor Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who has continually pushed for full disclosure of clerical child abuse, later found that since 1940 more than 400 children had claimed to have been abused by at least 152 priests in the Dublin area.

A High Court judge last week paved the way for the release of the report after two applications by the State to have its contents examined over fears it could prejudice criminal proceedings.

Any reference to two priests, and one of the cleric’s brothers, has been removed for publication.

Survivors of clerical abuse demanded the harrowing report be published as soon as possible to vindicate victims who for years told the truth.

Maeve Lewis, of support group One in Four, said it would also disclose collusion that took place between the Catholic Church, gardai and health chiefs at the time.

Up to 450 people have made abuse allegations against former priests in what is one of Europe’s largest dioceses, since 1940.

However, the long-running Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin Archdiocese has examined allegations against only a sample 46 priests.

Headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, the Dublin inquiry has also been examining high-profile allegations in the Cloyne diocese in Cork.

AFP | Nov 24, 2009

IRAN’S moral police have arrested a dozen couples for engaging in illicit sexual acts, including swapping partners, the conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported on Monday.

The report said the couples and another individual were running a website, Iran Multiplication, which was aimed at promoting illicit sexual relations.

The couples were said to have carried out sexual acts in the presence of each other and several times with multiple partners, the report added.

Those arrested held university degrees, while some were government employees and had children.

The paper gave no further details about their identities or when or where they were arrested.

Extra-marital sex is illegal in Iran where Islamic sharia law is the principal source of legislation. If found guilty of adultery, those arrested in the crackdown face being stoned to death.

Reports of partner-swapping are a rarity in conservative Iran, but in March the elite Revolutionary Guards said it had launched a crackdown on several groups who had set up anti-Islamic and pornographic internet sites.

The Guards, set up to defend the ideals of the Islamic republic, said they had “dismantled several networks that had set up anti-religious, anti-revolution and obscene internet sites”.

Among those also targeted are people deemed to be Satan worshippers, while moral police often also carry out raids on concerts and parties as part of their tough crackdown on “un-Islamic” attire and behaviour.

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, speaks during a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York September 23, 2009.

Reuters | Nov 8, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) – The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has attracted widespread media attention over the size of its staff bonuses, believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing “God’s work.”

In an interview with London’s Sunday Times newspaper, Lloyd Blankfein also said he believed big profits and bonuses at banks were a sign that the world economy was recovering.

“We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose,” he told the paper.

The dominant Wall Street bank posted third-quarter earnings of $3 billion and plans to hand out more than $20 billion in year-end bonuses.

Blankfein told the Sunday Times that the bank’s compensation practices correlated with long-term performance.

“Others made no money and still paid large bonuses. Some are not around anymore. I wonder why?”

He added that he understood, however, that people were angry with bankers’ actions: “I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer.”

Churches want to create a ‘chain of chimes and prayers’ around the world

Breitbart | Nov 12, 2009

A man rings bells outside a church in Moscow during the Easter holiday. The World Council of Churches has called on churches around the world to ring their bells 350 times during the Copenhagen climate change summit on December 13 as a call to action on global warming. AFP

The World Council of Churches on Thursday called on churches around the world to ring their bells 350 times during the Copenhagen climate change summit on December 13 as a call to action on global warming.

The leading council of Christian and Orthodox churches also invited places of worship for other faiths to join a symbolic “chain of chimes and prayers” stretching around the world from the international date line in the South Pacific.

“On that Sunday, midway through the UN summit, the WCC invites churches around the world to use their bells, drums, gongs or whatever their tradition offers to call people to prayer and action in the face of climate change,” the council said in a statement.

“By sounding their bells or other instruments 350 times, participating churches will symbolise the 350 parts per million that mark the safe upper limit for CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere according to many scientists,” it added.

The chimes are meant to start at 3.00 pm local time in each location.

The WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches representing about 560 million Christians in 110 countries.

The Council of European Bishops Conferences, which gathers Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops, is also supporting the campaign, according to a letter released by the WCC.

The UN summit in the Danish capital on December 7 to 18 is meant to produce a new global treaty to broaden cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, but the negotiations are still riven by disagreements.

The WCC acknowledged that plans for a bell ringing campaign have stirred controversy.

“In some countries, the question has been raised whether churches have the right to use their bells for what may be considered to be a political campaign,” said Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive on climate change.

“Those who support the campaign see the care of creation and of people’s lives and livelihoods threatened by climate change more as an ethical and spiritual issue that, of course, has political implications, not in a partisan sense but referring to the common good,” he explained.

The Vatican Observatory, Castel Gandolfo

Church leaders call in experts to discuss implications of astrobiology

MSNBC | Nov 10, 2009

By Ariel David

VATICAN CITY – E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.

“The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.

Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.

Funes said the possibility of alien life raises “many philosophical and theological implications” but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.

‘A rich middle ground’
Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting.

“Both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe,” he told a news conference Tuesday. “There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe.”

Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues “whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds.”

Funes set the stage for the conference a year ago when he discussed the possibility of alien life in an interview given prominence in the Vatican’s daily newspaper.

The Church of Rome’s views have shifted radically through the centuries since Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited.

Scientists have discovered hundreds of planets outside our solar system — including 32 new ones announced recently by the European Space Agency. Impey said the discovery of alien life may be only a few years away.

“If biology is not unique to the Earth, or life elsewhere differs biochemically from our version, or we ever make contact with an intelligent species in the vastness of space, the implications for our self-image will be profound,” he said.

Similar discussions in 2005
This is not the first time the Vatican has explored the issue of extraterrestrials: In 2005, its observatory brought together top researchers in the field for similar discussions.

In the interview last year, Funes told Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that believing the universe may host aliens, even intelligent ones, does not contradict a faith in God.

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said in that interview.

“Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God’s creative freedom.”

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered “part of creation.”

The Roman Catholic Church’s relationship with science has come a long way since Galileo was tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant his finding that the Earth revolves around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

Today top clergy, including Funes, openly endorse scientific ideas like the Big Bang theory as a reasonable explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

Earlier this year, the Vatican also sponsored a conference on evolution to mark the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.”

The event snubbed proponents of alternative theories, like creationism and intelligent design, which see a higher being rather than the undirected process of natural selection behind the evolution of species.

Still, there are divisions on the issues within the Catholic Church and within other religions, with some favoring creationism or intelligent design that could make it difficult to accept the concept of alien life.

Strengthening relationship
Working with scientists to explore fundamental questions that are of interest to religion is in line with the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made strengthening the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

Recent popes have been working to overcome the accusation that the church was hostile to science — a reputation grounded in the Galileo affair.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared the ruling against the astronomer was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.”

The Vatican Museums opened an exhibit last month marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first celestial observations.

Tommaso Maccacaro, president of Italy’s national institute of astrophysics, said at the exhibit’s Oct. 13 opening that astronomy has had a major impact on the way we perceive ourselves.

“It was astronomical observations that let us understand that Earth (and man) don’t have a privileged position or role in the universe,” he said. “I ask myself what tools will we use in the next 400 years, and I ask what revolutions of understanding they’ll bring about, like resolving the mystery of our apparent cosmic solitude.”

The Vatican Observatory has also been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world’s best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has his summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.