Subject: VISnews 110209
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 27
ENGLISH
WEDNESDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2011
SUMMARY:
- Peter Canisius: Faithful to Dogma, Respectful to People
- Bearing Witness to the Gospel of Charity among the Needy
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts
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PETER CANISIUS: FAITHFUL TO DOGMA, RESPECTFUL TO PEOPLE
VATICAN CITY, 9 FEB 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis
during this morning's general audience to St. Peter Canisius, whom Leo XIII
proclaimed as "the second apostle of Germany", and who was subsequently
canonised and proclaimed as a Doctor of the Church by Pius XI in 1925.
Born at Nijmegen in the Netherlands in 1521, Peter Canisius entered the
Society of Jesus in 1543 and was ordained a priest in 1546. In 1548, St.
Ignatius of Loyola sent him to complete his spiritual formation in Rome. A
year later he moved to the Duchy of Bavaria where he became dean and rector
of the University of Ingolstadt. Later he was administrator of the diocese
of Vienna, Austria, where he practiced his pastoral ministry in hospitals
and prisons. In the year 1566 he founded the College of Prague and, until
1569, was the first superior of the Jesuit province of upper Germany.
In this role he created a network of Jesuit communities in Germanic
countries, especially schools, which became starting points for the Catholic
Reformation. He participated in religious discussions with Protestant
leaders, including Melanchthon, held in the city of Worms, acted as
pontifical nuncio to Poland, participated in the two Diets of Augsburg in
1559 and in 1565, and attended the closing session of the Council of Trent.
In 1580 he retired to Fribourg in Switzerland where he dedicated himself to
writing and where he died in 1597. Peter Canisius also edited the complete
works of Cyril of Alexandria and of St. Leo the Great, and the Letters of
St. Jerome.
Among his most famous works were his three "Catechises", written between
1555 and 1558. The first was aimed at students capable of understanding the
basic notions of theology; the second at ordinary young people for their
primary religious education; and the third at children with a medium- or
secondary-school education.
"One characteristic of St. Peter Canisius", said the Holy Father, was
"that he was able to harmonise fidelity to dogmatic principles with the
respect due to each individual. ... In a historical period of deep
confessional contrasts, he avoided severity and the rhetoric of anger,
something fairly rare in discussions among Christians at that time, ... and
sought only to explain our spiritual roots and to revitalise faith in the
Church".
"In the works destined for the spiritual education of the masses, our
saint insists on the importance of the liturgy, ... the rites of Mass and
the other Sacraments. However, at the same time, he is careful to show the
faithful the importance and beauty of individual daily prayer to accompany
and permeate participation in the Church's public worship", said Benedict
XVI, pointing our that "this exhortation and this methodology maintain all
their value, especially after being authoritatively re-presented by Vatican
Council II".
Peter Canisius "clearly teaches that apostolic ministry is incisive and
produces fruits of salvation in people's hearts only if the preacher is a
personal witness of Jesus and knows how to become His instrument, closely
bound to Him through faith in His Gospel and in His Church, through a
morally coherent life and incessant prayer".
AG/ VIS
20110209 (530)
BEARING WITNESS TO THE GOSPEL OF CHARITY AMONG THE NEEDY
VATICAN CITY, 9 FEB 2011 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, the
Pope addressed a greeting to bishops who are spending this week in
Castelgandolfo to participate in a meeting promoted by the "Focolari"
Movement.
"I am pleased that you are having this opportunity to exchange ecclesial
experiences from various parts of the world, and I trust that these days of
prayer and reflection may help to bring abundant fruits for your
communities", he said.
The Holy Father also had words of greeting for members of "New Horizons",
which has just received pontifical recognition as an international
association of faithful. "While encouraging you to continue your courageous
apostolate in support of our brothers and sisters in difficulties", he told
them, "I exhort you to bear witness to the Gospel in charity, spreading the
light, peace and joy of the risen Christ".
AG/ VIS
20110209 (160)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 9 FEB 2011 (VIS) - Yesterday evening the Holy Father received
in audience Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising,
Germany.
AP/ VIS
20110209 (30)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 9 FEB 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Erected the new ecclesiastical province of Lilongwe (area 24,025,
population 4,660,000, Catholics 1,056,979, priests 87, religious 282)
Malawi, elevating the diocese of that name to the rank of metropolitan
Church and assigning it the suffragan dioceses of Dedza, Mzuzu and Karonga.
He appointed Bishop Remi Joseph Gustave Sainte-Marie M. Afr of Lilongwe as
the first metropolitan archbishop of the new archdiocese. The
archbishop-elect was born in La Minerve, Canada in 1938, he was ordained a
priest in 1963 and consecrated a bishop in 1998.
- Appointed Fr. Luigi Borriello O.C.D., consultor of the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints, as promoter of the faith in the same dicastery.
ECE:NER:NA/ VIS 20110209
(130)
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