Ted Kennedy’s letter to Pope Benedict XVI, and the papal reply [WHY JUST EXCERPTS?]

Boston Herald ^ | Sunday, August 30, 2009

[cmj328]

Excerpts of a letter sent by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to Pope Benedict XVI in July:

“Most Holy Father, I hope this letter finds you in good health, I pray that you have all of God’s blessings as you lead our church and inspire our world during these challenging times.

“I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and, although I continue treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old and preparing for the next passage of life. . . .

“I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I’ve worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to healthcare and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a Unites States Senator. . . .

“I’ve always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teaching of my faith. I continue to pray for God’s blessing, on you, and on our church, and would be most thankful for your prayers for me.”

Portion of the response from Pope Benedict XVI two weeks later:

“His Holiness prays that in the days ahead, you may be sustained in faith and hope, and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God, our merciful Father. He invokes upon you the consolation and peace promised by the Risen Savior to all who share in His sufferings, and trust in His promise of eternal life.”

[Bryanw92]

Why are we even seeing excerpts? This is a communication between a dying man and his church.

I loathe Ted Kennedy and everything he ever did, but publicizing this is just wrong.

[cmj328]

You don’t understand. His dying wish was for the Church to appear to capitulate on abortion. It seems that it is being honored, because Church authorities, while incapable of changing Church teaching, are nonetheless appearing to capitulate. Teddy is killing babies even from beyond the grave.

[justkate]

This is a communication between a dying man and his church.

If find this odd, too. Holy Father's response is about as generic a reply as I've ever read. He may as well have said, "Thanks for writing. Hope the coming days find you in better spirits."

[livius]

[Kennedy's] dying wish was for the Church to appear to capitulate on abortion. It seems that it is being honored, because Church authorities, while incapable of changing Church teaching, are nonetheless appearing to capitulate.

I think you're absolutely correct. The whole thing with Obama being allowed, with virtually no objection from anybody, to get up in the pulpit and "preach" showed that the Church has essentially capitulated. I am completely disgusted. It was the Henry VIII moment.

[John Leland 1789]

” &c. . . . The whole thing with Obama being allowed, with virtually no objection from anybody, to get up in the pulpit and “preach” showed that the Church has essentially capitulated. I am completely disgusted. It was the Henry VIII moment.”

Do you mean that when Obama was visiting the Vatican, the pope or the church allowed Obama to get in the pulpit in the Vatican and “preach” ? I missed his whole visit there.

[gthog61]

I have seen other people post places that they had relatives with his illness and at the point where he was supposed to be “writing all these letters” there’s no way he’d be coherent enough to do so.

[livius]

No, I was referring to the Kennedy funeral. Obama gave his “eulogy” (not permitted anyway) from the pulpit.

[livius]

This wouldn’t be publicized unless he had wanted it to be. It was obviously an attempt by him to justify himself and his evil deeds to the Church; clearly, from the Pope’s rather neutral reply (essentially, “have a nice day, the Pope will be praying for you as he does for all sinners”) it didn’t work. However, Kennedy obviously thought that this would be one last beyond the grave attempt to exercise influence.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Read closely, Ted's Excellent Letter:

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I.....

14 times!That says enough for me.

The politicians. They are (and were) truly sick and seeking public support to feed their narcissism. It is the same with Clinton and Obama. You can read people and see it right through them.

[Bryanw92]

That’s why I want to know why excerpts are being released. Did the church release them to prove that they only sent him a “Hope you feel better” card, or did the family release them to show that Ted was still playing politics with God even as he was dying? Or was it some third party who wants to keep using Ted in some “Weekend At Bernies” attempt to keep the rebrand ObamaCare as KennedyCare (until it passes, and then Ted’s body goes under the bus with Grandma).

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

a little parsing makes it not so generic....Ouch!

“His Holiness prays that in the days ahead, you may be...........granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God,”

[Kandy]

I know McCarrick was one not to call politicians on their faith, but it would appear that he couldn’t even use reasonable judgement here (as he was brought out on the stage again) so as not to be co-opted in some Kennedy plea to demonstrate another elitist whitewash of personal behavior by the Church.

[justkate]

“His Holiness prays that in the days ahead, you may be...........granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God,”

lol, you're right! Not much time left, Ted. If you want to save your eternal soul, time's a-wasting. I'll be rootin' for ya...Regards

[livius]

Actually, the Pope’s entire letter was released. It’s on another thread here, I believe (or perhaps I saw it on a blog). It was exactly like the excerpt here, very general, very standard.

All of Kennedy’s letter has not been released, but since it was 10 pages long, who’d want to read it anyway?

[tiki]

“I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I’ve worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to healthcare and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a Unites States Senator. . . .
*********************************************************

Sounds like a campaign speech, maybe his speechwriter wrote it for him.

[RobbyS]

If you have ever read a transcript of a ted speech in the last ten years, you know he is seldom coherent. They sneer at Sarah Palin’s colloquial speech, and while she sometimes rattles on, what she says always hands together. My view is that Sarah and Ted are equally unintellectual but that she is naturally smarter. Ted was not dumb, but his smarts were more like quarterback smarts than book smarts. IQ of about 105, maybe.

[Alex Murphy]

“I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I’ve worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to healthcare and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a Unites States Senator. I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone. I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me."

Behind closed doors in the papal library, Obama handed Benedict a letter that Senator Edward Kennedy had asked him to personally deliver to the pontiff. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later told reporters that nobody - not even the President - knew the contents of the sealed missive....The letter, most likely already re-sealed and tucked away in the Vatican archives, was probably just a dying Catholic's request for a papal blessing. In the eyes of the traditionalist wing of the Church, however, Kennedy should have been asking the Pope for forgiveness....
-- After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope

"A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!"

[ardara]

The Catholic laity and their friends in other Churches will keep the PRO-LIFE movement going as they always have.Most of the Bishops have been very reluctant members of the movement.Thanks to O’Malley,Pelosi and Sabelius can now plan their LARGE CATHOLIC CHURCH funerals.

[Campion]

Bingo! What disgusting self-aggrandisement.

(The Pope probably said, "I open a letter hand-delivered by the President of the US, and I get this?!?!")

I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to healthcare and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a Unites States Senator.

Someone should have re-read the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.

I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate

Where is it, Ted? Where are your Senate speeches backing it? Where did you refuse to vote for a health care bill that didn't include it?

Transparent fraud.

The Pope saw right through it, IMO.