Posted on 10/26/2008 3:00:47 PM PDT by NYer
p>VATICAN CITY, OCT. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- After the conclusion of the working sessions of the world Synod of Bishops, Benedict XVI invited the some 400 participants and collaborators to lunch.
The meal took place Saturday at 1 p.m., in the atrium of Paul VI Hall.
President Delegate Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, addressed the Holy Father on behalf of the assembly, offering a brief, spontaneous and humorous reflection in Italian.
The Australian cardinal brought a chuckle suggesting that this synod was one of those during which "most agreement and most communion" was lived, and therefore that "it has been perhaps the least interesting."
When the Holy Father rose to greet the group, he made reference to the joke, saying that he didn't know if the synod had been the most interesting, but, yes, the most moving. This, he said, is because in listening to one another speak of the Word of God, we better hear the Lord.
Thus, the Pontiff affirmed, the participants have learned to hear the Word of God better, discovering in it new possibilities. Meditation and reflection, he stated, can never exhaust all the treasures it contains.
Benedict XVI also brought chuckles from the group. Referring to the large amount of work done by the relator-general, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, and the special secretary, Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, the Holy Father said with a smile that he felt uneasy at the violation of the human right to rest on Sunday and sleep at night.
Finally, the Pope announced that preparation of his postsynodal exhortation would get under way, another proof of listening to the Word and to the synod participants.
Ping!
I know he’s not considered among the “contenders,” but Cardinal Pell would make a great Pope at some future time.
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Pell is a wonderful Bishop and very conservative, albeit in a gentle but firm manner. He has the respect of all conservative Christians in Australia. I don’t think he would put up with anything whisy washy from other Bishops or priests. I would vote for him - (just getting caught up in the USA elections).
Mel
Tried posting this, unable to do so.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/nun-was-raped-and-paraded-through-city-street-1510000.html
Nun was raped and ‘paraded’ through city street
By From Jeremy Page in Delhi and Rhys Blakely in Bombay
Saturday October 25 2008
A ROMAN Catholic nun who says that she was raped and paraded half-naked through the streets by a Hindu mob in eastern India emerged from hiding yesterday for the first time to make an emotional public appeal for justice.
With her head and face covered by a black scarf, Meena Lalita Barwa (29), described how she was attacked at a prayer hall in the eastern state of Orissa in August during the worst anti-Christian riots in India in decades.
The violence — which the Catholic Church says killed 60 Christians and left 50,000 homeless — has drawn international criticism from the Pope and President Bush and prompted calls for a ban on India’s powerful Hindu nationalist movement.
Sister Meena said that a mob of up to 50 men armed with sticks, axes, spades, crowbars, iron rods and sickles dragged her and a Catholic priest from the house where they were sheltering on August 25. One of the mob raped her, while two more held her down before they paraded the priest and her, minus her blouse and underwear, along a road, she said.
When the crowd passed a group of policemen she begged for help, but they ignored her and talked in a “very friendly” manner to her attackers, she said. “State police failed to stop the crimes,” she said. “I was raped and I don’t want to be victimise[d] by the Orissa. God Bless India, God bless you all.”
She demanded that her case be handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation — India’s FBI — rather than the Orissa police, who have been criticised for their inaction during the violence.
Request
Sister Meena went into hiding after the attack to protect herself from Hindu extremists but decided to come forward after the Supreme Court turned down her initial request for a CBI inquiry earlier this week.
Her public appeal comes as pressure mounts on the Indian Government to ban Bajrang Dal, one of India’s Hindu extremist groups, for their alleged role in violence in Orissa and elsewhere.
The accused groups deny any involvement in the Orissa violence, saying that it was a spontaneous reaction to the murder of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, a local Hindu nationalist leader, on August 23.
They blame Christians for the murder, although Maoist rebels have claimed responsibility and accuse Christian missionaries of bribing and coercing poor Hindus to convert.
- From Jeremy Page in Delhi and Rhys Blakely in Bombay
The persecution of christians is escalating. I’ll look for another source on that story and try to post it later today.
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