The Pope on Twitter

Vatican City, 29 November 2012 (VIS) – Benedict XVI is now present on Twitter. All related information will be reported on Monday 3 December at a press conference to be held in the Holy See Press Office, with the participation of Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the same dicastery, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, Professor Gian Maria Vian, editor of “L'Osservatore Romano”, and Greg Burke, Media Advisor to the Secretariat of State.

The Pope has already used the 140 character “tweet” format when, in June 2011, he launched the Vatican information portal www.news.va., with the words: “Dear friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”.

Source: VIS - Vatican Information Service

Third Book in Joseph Ratzinger's Trilogy: "The Infancy Narratives"

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "L'infanzia di Gesu" ("The Infancy Narratives"), the third volume of Benedict XVI's trilogy dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth, will be available in Italian bookshops tomorrow, 21 November. The book, published in Italy by Rizzoli and the Vatican Publishing House, will be released simultaneously in several languages (Italian, German, Croatian, French, English, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish) and in fifty countries; the worldwide print run of the first edition will be more than a million copies. In the coming months, the book will be translated into twenty languages for publication in seventy-two countries.

This morning, in the Vatican's Sala Pio X, the book was presented to the press. The speakers were Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Maria Clara Bingemer, professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro; Fr. Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing House; Paolo Mieli, president of Rizzoli (RCS) Publications, and Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office.

The book, defined by its author as a "small antechamber" to the trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth, is 176 pages long and comprises four chapters, an Epilogue and a brief Foreword. A summary of the book is given below:

"The first chapter is dedicated to the genealogies of the Saviour in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which are very different, although both have the same theological and symbolic meaning: the placing of Jesus in history and his true origin as a new beginning of world history.

"The theme of chapter two is the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. Rereading the dialogue between Mary and the Archangel Gabriel in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph Ratzinger explains that, through a woman, God 'seeks to enter the world anew'. In order to liberate man from sin, he writes, quoting Bernard of Clairvaux, God needs 'free obedience' to his will. 'In creating freedom, he made himself in a certain sense dependent upon man. His power is tied to the unenforceable yes of a human being'. Thus, only thanks to Mary's assent can the history of salvation begin.

"Chapter three is centred on the event in Bethlehem and the historical context of the birth of Jesus, the Roman Empire under Augustus, which extends from East to West and whose universal dimension allows for the entry into the world of 'a universal Saviour'; 'it is indeed the fullness of time'. The single elements of the story of the birth are dense with meaning: the poverty in which 'he who is truly the first-born of all that is' chooses to reveal himself, and therefore 'the cosmic glory' that envelopes the manger; God's special love for the poor, which manifests itself in the annunciation to the shepherds; and the words of the Gloria, whose translation is controversial.

"The fourth chapter is dedicated to the three Magi, who saw the star of the 'King of the Jews' and who had come to adore the child, and to the flight into Egypt. Here the figures of the 'magoi', reconstructed through a rich range of historical, linguistic and scientific information, are outlined as a fascinating emblem of the inner unrest and search for truth of the human spirit.

"Finally, the Epilogue, with the story - according to the Gospel of Luke - of the last episode in the childhood of Jesus, the last account we have of him before the beginning of his public ministry with his baptism in the Jordan. It is the episode of the three days during the Passover pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, in which twelve-year-old Jesus leaves Mary and Joseph and stays in the Temple to discuss with the rabbis. Jesus, who was growing 'in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man', manifests himself in his nature as true God and, at the same time, true man, who 'thought and learned in human fashion'".

Source: VIS - Vatican Information Service

Sacred Music contributes to New Evangelisation

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "Sacred music can support faith and contribute to new evangelisation", said the Pope to members of the "Santa Cecilia" Italian musical association gathered in Rome.

In his address to the group, Benedict XVI, noting that this event coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II and the proclamation of the Year of Faith, spoke at length about the teachings of the Conciliar Constitution on the liturgy, and in particular the part referring to sacred music.

He said, "on the subject of the faith, our thoughts naturally tend towards St. Augustine, … and the important role in his conversion played by psalms and hymns in the liturgies presided by St. Ambrose. If indeed faith is born of listening to the Word of God - listening not only with the senses, but also allowing the passage from the senses to the mind and the heart - there is no doubt that music and above all song are able to confer greater communicative power to psalms and canticles. Among the charisms of St. Ambrose was a notable musical capacity and sensibility and, following his consecration as bishop of Milan, he dedicated this gift to the service of faith and evangelisation". 

Benedict XVI observed that "the Constitution 'Sacrosanctum Concilium', in accordance with the tradition of the Church, teaches that 'sacred song united to the words ... forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy'. Why 'necessary' and 'integral'? Certainly not for purely aesthetic reasons, in a superficial sense, but because by virtue of beauty, it contributes to nurturing and expressing faith, and therefore to the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful, which are the aims of sacred music. Music … is not solely an accessory to or external embellishment of the liturgy, but is itself liturgy".

Referring to the relationship between sacred song and new evangelisation, the Pope remarked that the Conciliar Constitution on the liturgy reminds us of "the importance of sacred music in the 'missio ad gentes' and exhorts us to give due recognition to traditional forms of music. But it is precisely in countries of ancient evangelisation … that sacred music, with its great tradition belonging to our western culture can, and indeed does, have an important role to play in encouraging the rediscovery of God, a renewed approach to the Christian message and the mysteries of faith".

The Pope recalled the example of the poet Paul Claudel, whose conversion occurred while he listened to the 'Magnificat' during Christmas Vespers at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. "But, such illustrious cases aside, let us consider how many hearts have been deeply touched by listening to sacred music, and how many, like Claudel, have been newly drawn to God by the beauty of liturgical music". Benedict XVI urged the members of the association to "make efforts to improve the quality of liturgical song, to recover and promote the great musical tradition of the Church, that finds two of its most exalted expressions in Gregorian chant and polyphony".

"The active participation of all the People of God in the liturgy cannot consist only of speaking, but also of listening, welcoming the Word with the senses and the spirit, and this is true also of sacred music".


Source: VIS - Vatican Information Service

The Sistine Chapel: A Story of Light and Salvation

Vatican City, 31 October 2012 (VIS) – This afternoon Benedict XVI presided at the first Vespers of the Solemnity of All Saints in the Sistine Chapel. The ceremony was intended to repeat a gesture of Pope Julius II who, on this day in 1512, inaugurated the chapel following the completion of the ceiling decoration by Michelangelo.

"Why", the Pope asked, "are we recalling this artistic-historical event with a liturgical celebration? Firstly, because the Sistine Chapel is, by its nature, a place of liturgy, the 'Cappella magna' of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. Furthermore, because the works of art that decorate it, especially the cycle of frescoes, find in the liturgy their living environment, the context in which they best express all their beauty, their richness and their fullness of meaning. … In brief, the Sistine Chapel, contemplated in prayer, becomes even more beautiful, more authentic; it is revealed in all its richness”.

Referring to Giorgio Vasari, who defined the Sistine Chapel as the light of art that illuminates the world, the Pope noted that "the light comes not only from the skilful use of colour, or from the movement that animates Michelangelo's masterpiece, but from the idea that permeates the great vault: it is the light of God which illuminates these frescoes, and indeed the entire chapel; … that light whose power conquers chaos and obscurity, bringing light through creation and redemption. The Sistine Chapel narrates this story of light, of liberation, of salvation; it speaks of God's relationship with humanity.

"With Michelangelo's work of genius, our gaze is drawn to the message of the Prophets, to the pagan Sybils awaiting Christ, and finally to the origin of all: 'In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth'. With a unique expressive intensity, the great artist depicted God the Creator, His action, His power, to show that the world is not the product of obscurity, of chance or of the absurd, but that it derives from intelligence, freedom and from a supreme act of love. In that encounter between the hand of God and the hand of Adam, we perceive the contact between heaven and earth; in Adam God enters into a new relationship with His creation, and man is in direct contact with God, is called by Him, and is the image and likeness of God.

"To pray this evening in the Sistine Chapel, enveloped in the history of God's journey with man, admirably represented in the frescoes above and around us, is an invitation to worship", concluded the Holy Father.

Source: VIS – Vatican Information Service