The Holy Father asked to live this Lent season as a period of conversion and reconciliation of all Christians

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will be praying in March that all nations grow in appreciation of the dignity and value of women and their roles in society.
The Apostleship of Prayer announced this general intention chosen by the Pope.
The Holy Father also chooses an apostolic intention for each month. In March, he will pray for Church unity in China, as enjoined in the letter he sent to the Chinese faithful in 2007.
The intention reads: "That all the bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and laity of the Catholic Church in China may strive to be instruments of unity, communion and peace."
Also the Holy Father wrote and asked to live this Lent season :"as a period of conversion and reconciliation of all Christians, so that the noble aspirations of the human heart can be fulfilled and an
authenticPeace prevail among peoples and communities."
The Pontiff pointed out that Lent "invites us to fight with every effort to do the good, precisely because we know how difficult it is for men to seriously decide to practice Justice."
The Holy Father affirmed, that even if we obtain "a fair distribution of wealth and a harmonious organization of society," some things will never disappear, such as "the pain of illness, of misunderstanding and loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the experience of our own limitations."
The Lord, he says, "abhors injustices and condemns those who commit them," but "respects the freedom of the individual, and for this reason allows them to exist, because they are part of the human condition after original sin."
Benedict XVI added that Christ's Heart, full of Love for man led Him to carry, along with the cross, all these torments: our suffering, our sorrow, our hunger and thirst for Justice.

May God bless and keep the Holy Father !

Bishop Williamson expresses ‘regret’ for Holocaust comments’ effects

Regrets ? I really hope that Bishop Williams has been honest today , when he made this public statement :
"I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them"
More than strange the attitude of many 'catholics' beside Bishop Williams and antisemitic reactions , as much having deep sympathy for the chosen one Hussein Obama , 'catholics' giving him all the support in all his pro-choice and homosexual agenda .
All my best thoughts and blessings !

Sunday urged to be ‘day of fervent prayer’ for Pope Benedict XVI

O Lord, we are the millions of believers,
humbly kneeling at Thy feet
and begging Thee to preserve,
defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years.
He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls
and our Father as well. On this day,
as on every other day,
he is praying for us also,
and is offering unto Thee with holy fervour
the sacred Victim of Love and Peace.

Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord,
that not one of us may be far from his mind
and his heart in the hour that he prays
and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son.
At the moment when our venerable High Priest,
holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ,
shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words:
"The peace of the Lord be with you always,"
grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace
may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations
with new and manifest power. Amen

Pope Rebukes Pelosi, Tells Her Catholic Legislators Obligated to Protect Life

15-minute meeting with the Pope , the unusual meeting between Pelosi's superficiality with the wisdom of Holy Father

Such encounters with the Pope are treasured by politicians for the photo opportunity they provide. Pelosi, however, was not afforded that customary photo by the Vatican. The Associated Press reports that "the Vatican said it was not issuing a photo of the meeting -- as it usually does when the pope meets world leaders -- saying the encounter was private."
Pelosi said happily : "It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI today," . "In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger, and global warming ( ???? ) , as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel."
( ohh really.. )
Pelosi's positive spin on the meeting is not being swallowed even by left-leaning Papal watchers. Vatican correspondent John Allen, who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, noted that "routine Vatican declarations after diplomatic meetings also generally sum up the range of issues discussed rather than concentrating on a particular point. In that sense, the statement can only be read as a rejection of Pelosi's statements last summer, and, in general, of her argument that it's acceptable for Catholics in public life to take a pro-choice position."
Many pro-life organizations from the US and Canada expressed their serious concerns to the Holy See that Mrs. Pelosi was going to be received by the Holy Father. Some of these organizations sent to different Vatican authorities comprehensive memoranda in which they showed in a detailed and precise way the anti-life statements and the pro-death voting record of Mrs. Pelosi.
Catholic sources in Rome, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were "very much encouraged by this statement," saying that it shows that the "Holy Father is ready to stand up with courage to politicians that claim they are Catholics but their voting record denies those hypocritical assertions."

May God long keep and bless our Pope

for his righteousness and true defender of Truth .
Holy Father said that Holocaust denial is intolerable and unacceptable .


VATICAN CITY, 12 FEB 2009 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy Father received members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.

Speaking English, the Pope began his remarks by recalling his first visit to a synagogue, in the German city of Cologne in August 2005. He then mentioned his trip, in May of the following year, to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. "As I walked through the entrance to that place of horror, the scene of such untold suffering", he said, "I meditated on the countless number of prisoners, so many of them Jews, who had trodden that same path into captivity at Auschwitz and in all the other prison camps".

"How can we begin to grasp the enormity of what took place in those infamous prisons? The entire human race feels deep shame at the savage brutality shown to your people at that time", he said.

The Pope then noted how today's visit "occurs in the context of your visit to Italy in conjunction with your annual Leadership Mission to Israel. I too am preparing to visit Israel, a land which is holy for Christians as well as Jews, since the roots of our faith are to be found there".

"The Church is profoundly and irrevocably committed to reject all anti- Semitism and to continue to build good and lasting relations between our two communities. If there is one particular image which encapsulates this commitment, it is the moment when my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II stood at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, pleading for God's forgiveness after all the injustice that the Jewish people have had to suffer"

"The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity. ... It is beyond question that any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable".

"This terrible chapter in our history must never be forgotten. Remembrance - it is rightly said - is 'memoria futuri', a warning to us for the future, and a summons to strive for reconciliation. To remember is to do everything in our power to prevent any recurrence of such a catastrophe within the human family by building bridges of lasting friendship.

"It is my fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have sullied relations between Christians and Jews", Benedict XVI concluded. "It is my heartfelt desire that the friendship we now enjoy will grow ever stronger, so that the Church's irrevocable commitment to respectful and harmonious relations with the people of the Covenant will bear fruit in abundance".

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Thank you dearest Pope , may Lord bless and keep you !

The Vatican has demanded that British Bishop Richard Williamson retract statements on the Holocaust before being fully readmitted into the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication on January 21. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged the pontiff to make a clearer denunciation of Holocaust denials. Williamson told Swedish television that the Nazis killed 200,000 to 300,000 Jews, far fewer than the six million Jews historians accept. Williamson also denied the existence of gas chambers. Denying that the Holocaust took place is a criminal offence in Germany that carries a maximum five-year jail sentence.

http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/b2_en.htm

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_4002469,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

Time to prepare ourself

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