Posted on 04/09/2008 9:50:54 AM PDT by NYer
Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-Pope has taken over the news cycle.
In his second interview with a US outlet to emerge over the last 24 hours, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB held an hour-plus chat yesterday with Fox News Channel on his upcoming pilgrimage to the States... alongside Pope Benedict, of course.
While the sit-down has yet to air on cable's highest-rated news network, Vatican Radio's let slip a summary:
Bertone noted “the Holy See and Washington share many common viewpoints. For example the sense of the value of religion, not only in private life but also in public life”. He commented that “religion is a deep rooted fact in American way of life, which is not the case in many European countries”.The Secretary of State's media week began with a piece in Sunday's L'Osservatore Romano on the import of the Vatican daily's recent "renovation."
The Cardinal said that another point of accord is defence of fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and protection of the family based on marriage between man and woman.
Describing the United States as a mosaic of peoples, Cardinal Bertone added that “both the Holy See and the United States are promoters of peaceful coexistence between religions and cultures”.
On other issues, added the Cardinal, there remains a “difference of opinion. While both support and promote democracy, the methods used to ensure democracy are diverse. For the Holy See, the only method is dialogue, even if it requires a lot of patience, because in the long term dialogue is the most effective means of ensuring democracy”.
Cardinal Bertone also addressed the issue of the child sex abuse scandal which has rocked the Church in the United States. Contrary to some media reports to date, the Cardinal said that Pope Benedict will address this problem, which he described as an “open wound”, during his address to priests in New York’s St Patrick’s Cathedral on April 19th. The Cardinal reiterated that abuse of a child is a “flagrant contradiction to the teachings of the faith” and a “scourge”, which even if a minority of priests are responsible for, is “felt by the Church in the entire world”. During his address, concluded Cardinal Bertone, Pope Benedict "will invite the entire Church, priests and lay faithful, to reconciliation , so a future of justice, reciprocal trust and healing may begin for the Church in the United States.
Ping
While the Pope decided to address the American people with a video-message (the video part of which hasn't yet appeared in full), B16 sent his de facto chief spokesman, "Vice-Pope" (and Stateside forerunner) -- the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone -- to handle his interview requests.
Taking to the task with his usual relish, earlier today Bertone conducted a half-hour sit-down with AP:
Bertone... said Benedict will deliver a message of "trust and hope" when he meets American clergy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.Benedict "will try to open the path of healing and reconciliation," said Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state.
The abuse crisis has caused "so much suffering for the victims, for the families of the victims and above all to the church because it was a contradiction with the great educational mission of the church," Bertone lamented during the 30-minute interview in the frescoed Treaty Hall of the Apostolic Palace....Bertone said Benedict, who will turn 81 during next week's visit to the U.S., is fit but could not meet all the invitations from U.S. cities and had to limit himself to Washington and New York.
"The pope is well, everyone sees it, all those who are near to him see his freshness," Bertone said.
Turning to security during the visit, the cardinal said he is aware of anti-papal rhetoric from Islamic extremists. But he noted that Benedict visited the predominantly Muslim nation of Turkey in 2006, just two months after he touched off a fury in the Islamic world by linking that faith to violence in a speech in his native Germany.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden recently accused the pope of helping in a "new Crusade," but Bertone said "I must say the Holy Father is very tranquil and serene. ... We have faith in the means of protection the government will implement."
"He entrusts himself to God and also to his guardian angels who won't be lacking on this trip to the United States," Bertone said with a smile....
PHOTO: AP/Javier Galeano(1), Andrew Medichini(2)The cardinal reiterated the Vatican's long-held position against the U.S. embargo against Cuba and some European Union sanctions in his interview with the AP.
Bertone, who will be meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, said the embargo "does not help the positive development of Cuban society, rather it impedes it."...
Bertone said "the dignity of the human being" will be at the center of Benedict's U.N. address, linking the visit to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Asked what impact the speech might have on U.S. policy, the Italian cardinal noted that "the United States shares the ideals of the United Nations."
The theme of the trip, "Christ our Hope" is a reflection that Benedict is "not a pessimistic pope," Bertone said.He noted the importance of religion in American life and the Catholic Church in America. While the pope is aware that Catholics in the United States and elsewhere in the world stray from church teaching, the cardinal said, Benedict wants his pilgrimage to give his flock "reason for faith and for hope."
“the Italian cardinal noted that “the United States shares the ideals of the United Nations.”
That’s questionable.
**The Cardinal said that another point of accord is defence of fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and protection of the family based on marriage between man and woman.**
Bumping this issue!
Since when is there a Vice-Pope? (muttering — Oh, the media!)
Does the UN have any “ideal”s left, except abortion and Israel-bashing?
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