Some quotes from pope’s speech to Queen Elizabeth II

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Here are some highlights from Pope Benedict XVI’s speech this morning to Queen Elizabeth II at Holyroodhouse Palace:

The name of Holyroodhouse, Your Majesty’s official residence in Scotland, recalls the “Holy Cross” and points to the deep Christian roots that are still present in every layer of British life. The monarchs of England and Scotland have been Christians from very early times and include outstanding saints like Edward the Confessor and Margaret of Scotland. As you know, many of them consciously exercised their sovereign duty in the light of the Gospel, and in this way shaped the nation for good at the deepest level. As a result, the Christian message has been an integral part of the language, thought and culture of the peoples of these islands for more than a thousand years. Your forefathers’ respect for truth and justice, for mercy and charity come to you from a faith that remains a mighty force for good in your kingdom, to the great benefit of Christians and non-Christians alike.

And, Pope Benedict said:

Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural society. In this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate. Let it not obscure the Christian foundation that underpins its freedoms; and may that patrimony, which has always served the nation well, constantly inform the example your Government and people set before the two billion members of the Commonwealth and the great family of English-speaking nations throughout the world.

The pope’s remarks enroute to Scotland

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO SCOTLAND — Flying to Great Britain this morning, Pope Benedict XVI told reporters on his plane that the church was not vigilant enough or fast enough in responding to the problem of clerical sex abuse.

“These revelations were for me a shock, and a great sadness. It is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible,” he said.

Asked about sex abuse cases that have come to light in Europe and elsewhere in recent years, the pope said it was inexplicable to him how a priest who has promised at his ordination to act in the person of Christ, as a good shepherd, could “fall into this perversion.”

“It is a great sadness. It is a sadness, also, that the authority of the church was not vigilant enough, was not sufficiently fast and decisive in taking the necessary measures,” he said.

The 83-year-old pope, responding to questions the journalists submitted in advance, also said he looked forward to a fair hearing in Britain, saying the country had a long tradition of tolerance along with historical moments of anti-Catholicism.

Asked about criticism of his visit from some quarters in British society, including secular and atheistic voices, he said that he would try to make it clear that the church was not preaching a message about its own power, but about the saving message of the Gospel and the need to help the weak.

Susan Boyle: I dreamed of singing for pope

Susan Boyle took the world by surprise when she sang “I Dreamed a Dream” on the television talent show “Britain’s Got Talent.” But she says her “greatest dream come true” is the opportunity to sing for Pope Benedict XVI.

Susan Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009. (CNS/ITV)

The Scottish bishops’ conference confirmed last week that Boyle would be involved in the program of the pope’s Sept. 16 visit to Scotland and they provided details today.

Boyle will sing three songs at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow in addition to singing with the 800-member choir at the Mass the pope will celebrate.

Before the liturgy, she will sing the hymn “How Great Thou Art” and her signature song, “I Dreamed a Dream.” After the final hymn at the end of the Mass, she also will sing a farewell song to the pope, but the bishops did not say what song.

In England, paying to see the pope

Catholics in England will have to pay to attend some events during Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept. 16-19 trip to Scotland and England, according to reports in our client paper in London, the Catholic Herald. Catholics will pay 25 pounds ($39) to attend the beatification Mass at Birmingham’s Cofton Park Sept. 19, and the 1,000 priests concelebrating also will have to pay. Attendees at the Sept. 18 vigil at London’s Hyde Park will pay 10 pounds. Read the reasoning behind ticket distribution and prices.

In Washington, Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, the U.S. bishops’ media relations director who has been involved in the planning of three papal trips, said no admission was ever charged for the U.S. events.

In Britain, since tickets will be hard to come by, Catholics are being encouraged to line the streets to see Pope Benedict.

Pope presents Middle East synod document focused on peace, dialogue

From CNS Rome correspondent Cindy Wooden, traveling with the pope in Cyprus:

Pope presents Middle East synod document focused on peace, dialogue

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

NICOSIA, Cyprus (CNS) — Presenting the working document for the special Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for “just and lasting solutions” to the region’s conflicts, which cause so much hardship.

“I reiterate my personal appeal for an urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed,” the pope said June 6 at the end of a Mass in a Nicosia sports arena.

The pope gave the document to representatives from the Latin-rite, Maronite, Melkite, Armenian, Coptic, Chaldean and Assyrian Catholic Churches living in countries from Egypt to Iran.

The synod will be held at the Vatican Oct. 10-24 and focus on “communion and witness” in the region where Christianity was born, but where Christians are a minority.

Pope Benedict told the region’s Catholics that the synod would be an occasion “to highlight the important value of the Christian presence and witness in the biblical lands, not just for the Christian community around the world, but also for your neighbors and fellow citizens.”

(Full story)

Pope meets Muslim spiritual leader in Cyprus

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Pope Benedict XVI held an unscheduled meeting with the grand sheik of a Muslim spiritual movement from northern Cyprus June 5.

Sheik Mehmet Nazim Adil, 88, head of a Sufi confraternity — an organization dedicated to the practice and study of Islamic mysticism — met with the pope outside the Vatican nunciature in Nicosia.

During his visit to Cyprus June 4-6, Pope Benedict stayed at the nunciature, which is located on the edge of the line separating the South from the North. Most of Cyprus’ Muslims live in the North, which is controlled by Turkish Cypriots, supported by troops from Turkey.

Pope Benedict did not visit the northern part of the island during his trip; the chief mufti of Cyprus — the religious leader of the Muslim community — invited the pope to cross the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, but refused to go south to meet the pope.

While the mufti has an institutional and social role among Cypriot Muslims, Sheik Nazim’s authority extends only to his disciples.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said Sheik Nazim was seated on a chair on the street leading from the nunciature to the church where the pope was about to celebrate Mass.

As the pope passed in procession on the way to the church, he stopped to greet the sheik, Father Lombardi said.

The sheik told the pope, “I’m sorry. I’m very old, so I sat to wait,” the spokesman said.

The pope responded, “I’m old, too,” he said.

Sheik Nazim brought the pope a walking stick and a set of Muslim prayer beads, Father Lombardi said. The pope gave the sheik commemorative medals of his pontificate.

The sheik asked the pope if he could embrace him, the pope said, “yes,” and the whole thing was over in just 3 or 4 minutes, the spokesman said. “It was brief and very beautiful.”

Performing for the pope in Cyprus

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Dozens and dozens of children — and a few adults — performed for Pope Benedict XVI this morning at St. Maron Catholic School in Nicosia.

There was some quarreling and some crying backstage before the performance, after all the little ones had been waiting in the hot sun for more than an hour.

But the performance went off without a hitch. The pope seemed to enjoy it. The kids were bursting with pride. And parents distributed lots of hugs.

Maronite Archbishop Youssef Soueif of Cyprus said the theme of the performance was the four seasons and that the various songs and dances were drawn from Cypriot heritage, Latin culture and traditional life in the Maronite villages.

Papal Plane to Cyprus

VATICAN CITY — Our senior correspondent, Cindy Wooden, is with the pope in Cyprus. Here is a snippet of what the pope talked about with journalists on the flight over from Rome:

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO CYPRUS (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI said he was deeply saddened by the murder of the president of the Turkish bishops’ conference, but he said Bishop Luigi Padovese’s death should not cast a shadow over his visit to the eastern Mediterranean or over Catholic-Muslim dialogue.

The murder “has nothing to do with the theme of this trip, with dialogue; it has nothing to do with Turkey or the Turks,” he told reporters flying with him to Cyprus June 4.

“Right now we have little information, but it is certain that it was not a political or religious assassination; it was personal,” the pope said.

Bishop Padovese, the apostolic vicar of Anatolia, died June 3 of stab wounds. His driver and friend, who had been undergoing psychiatric treatment, was arrested and reportedly confessed to the crime.

Flying to Cyprus, an island divided between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the pope said, “It is a tragedy that saddens us, but it should not cast a shadow over the dialogue in every sense that will be a theme of this trip.”

The pope spent just under 15 minutes answering five questions posed to him by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. Journalists had submitted questions to Father Lombardi in writing before the trip.

Pope Benedict said that by visiting Cyprus and by presenting the working document for the special Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, he hoped to promote peace, which is “the common responsibility of all who believe in the one God, creator of heaven and earth, the God in whose image and likeness we were created.”

Flying to Portugal, pope says abuse crisis “terrifying”

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO PORTUGAL – Pope Benedict XVI said the priestly sex abuse scandal is a “terrifying” crisis that comes from inside the church — not from an outside attack — and requires purification and penance to overcome.

The pope made some of his strongest remarks to date on the sex abuse cases during an in-flight press conference May 11 on his way to Portugal for a four-day visit that was to include the Marian shrine of Fatima.

Asked if the message of Fatima, which foresaw times of trials and suffering for the church, could be applied to the sex abuse crisis, the pope said essentially that it could.

“Among the new things that we can discover today in this message is that attacks on the pope and the church come not only from the outside, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sins that exist inside the church,” he said.

“This we have always known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way, that the biggest persecution of the church doesn’t come from the enemies outside but is born from sin inside the church,” he said.

“And so the church has a profound need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn on the one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. And forgiveness does not substitute justice,” he said.

“We have to relearn these essentials: conversion, prayer, penance,” he said.

The pope, who helped explain the third secret of Fatima when it was published in 2000, said the Fatima messages extend in time to apply to the church’s continuing journey, which is accompanied by suffering.

The pope also spoke about the economic crisis that is shaking Portugal and the rest of Europe, saying it illustrates the need for a greater infusion of ethics and morality in the market.

“I would say this economic crisis has a moral dimension that no one can fail to see,” he said. “The events of the last two or three years have demonstrated that the ethical dimension must enter into the world of economic activity.”

Pure economic pragmatism will always lead to problems, he said.

The church’s social teaching has a big role to play, seeking to create a serious dialogue with the financial world and highlighting the moral responsibilities of economic systems, the pope said.

“So here we need to enter into a concrete dialogue. I tried to do this in my encyclical, ‘Caritas in Veritate,’” he said.

The pope said secularism was not a new problem in Portugal or Europe, but had taken a more radical turn in recent years. He said here, too, the church needs to engage in bridge-building and dialogue, making sure its voice is heard and helping to restore an openness to transcendent reality.

Vatican text: Pope meets with sex abuse victims in Malta

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict met today with a group of sex abuse victims in Malta. Here is the Vatican’s statement on the encounter:

PRESS RELEASE: MEETING OF THE POPE WITH A GROUP OF PERSONS WHO WERE SEXUALLY ABUSED

On Sunday 18 April 2010, in the Apostolic Nunciature in Malta, the Holy Father met a small group of persons who were sexually abused by members of the clergy.

He was deeply moved by their stories and expressed his shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have suffered. He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future.

In the spirit of his recent Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, he prayed that all the victims of abuse would experience healing and reconciliation, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope.