* Original message posted in: VATICAN.   
   * Crossposted in: IN_CATHOLIC.   
      
   VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
      
   TWENTIETH YEAR - N. 208   
   ENGLISH   
   TUESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2010   
      
   SUMMARY:   
      
   - Light of the World. The Pope and the Signs of the Times   
   - Plenary Session of International Theological Commission   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   LIGHT OF THE WORLD. THE POPE AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office,   
   a press conference was held to present a new book published by the Vatican   
   Publishing House. The volume is entitled: "Light of the World. The Pope, the   
   Church and the Signs of the Times. A conversation of Benedict XVI with Peter   
   Seewald".   
      
     The conference was presented by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of   
   the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, and the journalist   
   Luigi Accattoli.   
      
     Also present were Peter Seewald, who conducted the interviews with the   
   Pope, and Fr. Giuseppe Costa S.D.B., director of the Vatican Publishing   
   House.   
      
     Archbishop Fisichella explained how Seewald had asked the Pope "about the   
   great questions facing modern theology, the various political events that   
   have always marked relations between States and, finally, the themes that   
   often occupy a large part of public debate. We have a Pope who does not   
   evade any question, who wishes to clarify everything using a language that   
   is simple but not for that reason less profound, and who benevolently   
   accepts the provocations inherent in so many questions.   
      
     "Nonetheless", the archbishop added, "reducing the entire interview to one   
   phrase removed from its context and from the entirety of Benedict XVI's   
   thought would be an offence to the Pope's intelligence and a gratuitous   
   manipulation of his words. What emerges from these pages overall is, in   
   fact, the vision of a Church called to be 'Light of the world', a sign of   
   unity for the whole human race".   
      
     The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation   
   went on to explain that "this book was not written by Benedict XVI, yet it   
   brings together his ideas, concerns and sufferings over these years, his   
   pastoral projects and his hopes for the future. The impression that emerges   
   is that of a Pope optimistic about the life of the Church, despite the   
   difficulties which have always existed".   
      
     This book published today "is an interview which, in many ways, provokes   
   us to undertake a serious examination of conscience, both inside and outside   
   the Church, in order to achieve true conversion of heart and mind. The   
   conditions of life in society, sexuality, economy and finance, the Church   
   herself; all these questions require special dedication in order to verify   
   the cultural drift of today's world and the possibilities for the future.   
   Benedict XVI does not allow himself to be alarmed by the figures emerging   
   from opinion polls because the truth has completely different criteria:   
   'statistics are not the measure of morality'".   
      
     "In these pages Benedict XVI often returns to the relationship between   
   modernity and Christianity, which cannot and must not be seen as parallels.   
   Rather, the relationship must be lived by correctly uniting faith and   
   reason, individual rights and social responsibility; in a word, by 'putting   
   God first'. ... This is the conversion that Benedict XVI asks of Christians   
   and of anyone who wishes to listen to him. ... This is the task the Pope   
   sets for his own pontificate and we cannot, in all honesty, deny how   
   difficult it seems to be".   
      
     Archbishop Fisichella concluded his remarks by highlighting how   
   "simplicity and truth are the characteristics of this interview, which was   
   chosen by Benedict XVI as a way of making the public at large more familiar   
   with his ideas, his way of being and his way of understanding the mission   
   with which he has been entrusted. This is no easy task at a time when   
   communication often tends to underline specific fragments and overlooks the   
   global picture. A book to be read and mediated upon, in order to understand   
   once again how the Church in the world can announce the good news which   
   brings    
   joy and serenity".   
      
     For his part, Luigi Accattoli suggested his journalist colleagues should   
   "read this book as a guided visit to the papal workshop of Benedict XVI and   
   to the world of Joseph Ratzinger. ... Above all we will see this man who was   
   called to become Pope in the same perspective as when he published the two   
   volumes on Jesus of Nazareth, which he presents not as documents of the   
   Magisterium, but as testimony of his own search for the face of the Lord".   
      
     "From the beginning of the book he warns us that 'the Pope can have   
   erroneous personal opinions'; he certainly does have 'the power of final   
   decision' in matters of faith but this 'does not mean that he can   
   continuously produce infallibility'. It is perhaps in this statement that we   
   must seek the original roots of this book of interviews", said the   
   journalist.   
      
     In various places the Holy Father reviews his eighty-three years of life,   
   "and reflects on the suitability of resigning should he find himself in a   
   position where he cannot carry out his mission. On the same page he denies   
   he ever thought of resigning over the paedophile scandal: 'We cannot run   
   away in the moment of greatest danger', he says. We all know that modern   
   Popes - from Pius XII on - have considered the problem of resigning, but   
   prior to this interview none of them had done so in public".   
      
     In this book, Accattoli continued his explanations, the Holy Father   
   "dedicates ample space to the conflict between the Christian faith and   
   modernity. However, in at least two passages he recognises 'the morality of   
   modernity' and the evidence of 'a good and just modernity'. These positive   
   affirmations should be read alongside passages in which he recognises the   
   religious crimes of the past: from the 'atrocities' committed 'in the name   
   of truth' to 'the wars of religion', and that 'rigorism' towards corporeity   
   which was used to 'frighten man'. In the conflict with the modern world,   
   then, it is necessary to ask 'in what is secularism right' and where 'should   
   it be resisted'".   
      
     The Pope "is not afraid to use such expressions as 'the sinfulness of the   
   Church'; ... while the term 'dirt' to indicate the sin that exists in the   
   Church ... is used at least three times to refer to paedophilia among the   
   clergy and to the 'enormous shock' it aroused". In this context the Pontiff   
   also "repeatedly recognises the positive role played by the communications   
   media, something he has expressed on various occasions in the past but never   
   so explicitly: 'As long as they seek to bring the truth to light, we must be   
   grateful', he says. On this subject he also gives us one of the book's most   
   effective aphorisms: 'Only because evil was within the Church were others   
   able to use it against her'".   
      
     The Holy Father, Accattoli continued, "assures us that he would not have   
   removed the excommunication from Bishop Williamson without undertaking   
   further investigation, had he known the prelate's views on Holocaust   
   denial".   
      
     "Cautiously and courageously Benedict XVI seeks a pragmatic way in which   
   missionaries and other ecclesial workers can help to defeat the AIDS   
   pandemic, without approving - but also without excluding, in particular   
   cases - the use of the condom. He likewise reaffirms the 'prophetic' nature   
   of Paul VI's 'Humanae vitae', though without concealing the existence of   
   real difficulties in 'finding paths that can be followed in a human way',   
   ... and recognising that 'in this field many things must be rethought and   
   expressed in new terms'".   
      
     The Pope "declares himself to be optimistic concerning the fact that   
   Christianity is facing new dynamics' which will perhaps bring it 'to assume   
   a different cultural appearance'; yet also 'disillusioned' because 'the   
   general tendency of our time is one of hostility to the Church'".   
      
     Finally, Accattoli concluded, the Pope "dreams that people will rediscover   
   the 'simplicity' and 'radicalism' of the Gospel and Christianity". This   
   involves "understanding the drama of our times, remaining firmly rooted in   
   the Word of God as the decisive word, and at the same time giving   
   Christianity tha   
   t simplicity and profundity without which it cannot   
   function".   
   OP/                                                                     VIS   
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   PLENARY SESSION OF INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The International Theological Commission,   
   which is presided by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the   
   Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to celebrate is annual   
   plenary session from 29 November to 3 December in the Vatican's "Domus   
   Sanctae Marthae". The meeting will be chaired by Fr. Charles Morerod O.P.,   
   secretary general of the commission.   
      
     According to a communique published today the commission will study three   
   important themes: the principles of theology, its meaning and its methods;   
   the question of the one God in relation to the three monotheistic religions;   
   and the integration of Church social doctrine into the broader context of   
   Christian doctrine.   
      
     At the end of their deliberations the members of the International   
   Theological Commission will be received in audience by the Holy Father.   
   OP/                                                                     VIS   
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   OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Felix Gmur   
   of the clergy of the diocese of Basel, Switzerland, secretary of the   
   Conference of Swiss Bishops, as bishop of Basel (area 12,585, population   
   3,045,000, Catholics 1,080,000, priests 715, permanent deacons 104,   
   religious 2,554). The bishop-elect was born in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1966   
   and ordained a priest in 1999.   
   NER/                                                                    VIS   
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   --- timEd/2 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS-Meridian, MS-bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)