Atheist Leaves Books to Pope

Who she greatly admired--Pope Benedict!

Saw him as an ally against the Muslim crusade against the Christian West.

From the Toronto Sun:

A prominent Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because she admired Pope Benedict, a school official said yesterday.

Oriana Fallaci had described the Pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict, who had been elected only a few months earlier, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a Pope think the same things, there must be something true."

Benedict was surprised by the gift of the books, some of which date to the 17th century and included volumes about the formation of modern-day Italy, philosophy and theology, said Msgr. Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University in Rome.

St. Gaspar del Bufalo

From The Church's Most Powerful Novenas:

Antonio and Annunziata Del Bufalo named their child after one of the three magi when he was born on the Feast of the Epiphany in 1786 in Rome, Italy. Yet when at the age of two young Gaspar was threatened with blindness due to a serious eye ailment it was to St. Francis Xavier (whose partial relics were contained in the nearby Gesu (Jesus) Church) that they turned—and were heard as Gaspar was healed.
Early in Gaspar's life he showed himself to be a great friend of the poor and the sick. He would teach the catechism to orphans and bring meals to the hospitalized as well as setting up a shelter for those who had no place to sleep at night. At the same time he was pursuing the priesthood in Rome to which he was ordained in1808.
A year after Gaspar's ordination the French Emperor Napoleon took over the Papal States and imprisoned the Pope. The clergy were ordered to take an oath of loyalty to the emperor and when Gaspar came before the magistrate and was given the oath he replied, "I would rather die, or suffer evil than to take such an oath. I cannot, I ought not. I will not." He was sent to Piacenza, in exile and during this time he became gravely ill and received the Last Rites from his friend Monsignor Albertini.
Monsignor Albertini encouraged his friend that he was sure this could not be the end for Gaspar for some years earlier a saintly nun Maria Agnese had told him that he would meet a young priest with whom he would form a close friendship during a time of oppression by the Church's enemies. She had said, "He will distinguish himself by a special devotion to St. Francis Xavier. He will become an apostlic missionary and will found a new congregation of missionary priests under the invocation of the Divine Blood who purpose shall be to reform customs, to save souls, to foster decorum among the secular clergy, to arouse the people back from their apathy and lack of faith, bringing them back to love of the Crucifix." Monsignor Albertini told Gaspar that God had much for him to do and so he would.
In 1811 after refusing the loyalty oath a second time he was imprisoned for the next four years until Rome was liberated from Napoleon's rule. In 1814 Pope Pius VII granted Gaspar a church and convent that had been abandoned by another religious order as a place where he could house a new congregation that would bear the name of Most Precious Blood of Christ. On August 15, 1815 the first house of this new congregation opened with four members.
The congregation founded by Gaspar was to be a charitable fraternity of priests who would take no vows but dedicate themselves to preaching missions and spreading devotion the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. He wrote to a priest friend at the time, "Those who do evangelical work, do so by ensuring that the Blood of Jesus is used to save souls, and they must do this continuously, asking that sinners be forgiven."
Gaspar went about preaching missions to the most obstinate groups. One time when a dying man, a sinner refused to convert—Gaspar began to scourge himself until the dying man came to his senses and died with his faith intact. Sent by the pope to preach to the most difficult souls, essentially gansters some of who intended to kill the priest, miracles were worked where the knife of a would be attacker fell out of the hand, a bullet intended for Gaspar fell harmlessly at his feet—while those who set out to persecute ended being captured by the Lord. Such was the power of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus and his apostle.
Gaspar suffered throughout his life. Some of this suffering came from the Church he loved and obeyed. He died in 1837. He was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in 1954.
Blessed Pope John XXIII, himself a great modern apostle of devotion to the precious blood added the phrase "Blessed be his most precious blood" to the Divine Praises commonly recited at the conclusion of Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. In an Apostolic Letter on promoting the devotion of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus entitled Inde a Primis he shared that he had been a devotee of this devotion begun by St. Gaspar since his infancy and encouraged others to promote this devotion by using a litany developed by the Congregation of Rites at the time. He wrote in his Apostolic Letter that devotion to the Most Precious Blood owed its modern diffusion to St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

Witness the Risen Christ to the World

The Pope to Italian Catholics today in Bentegodi, from Zenit:

To communicate to others what a Christian believes, "it is necessary that this faith become life in each one of us," the Holy Father said. A great effort "is necessary so that every Christian becomes a 'witness,' is able and willing to assume the commitment to always give a reason to everyone for the hope that encourages him."

To achieve this, Benedict XVI said, one must "announce with vigor and joy the event of the death and resurrection of Christ, [the] heart of Christianity, essential fulcrum of our faith, powerful spring of our certainties, impetuous wind that sweeps away all fear and indecision, all doubt and human calculation."

"Only from God can the decisive change of the world come," the Pontiff said. "Only from the Resurrection is the authentic nature of the Church and of her testimony, understood."

To grasp what it means to be "witnesses of the risen Jesus, the 'of' must be well understood," stressed the Pope. "It means that the witness is 'of' the risen Jesus, namely, that he belongs to him, and precisely because of this, can give a valid testimony, can speak of him, make him known, lead others to him, transmit his presence."

In this way, the Holy Father added, "Christians can give the world hope, as they are of Christ and of God in the measure that they die with him to sin and rise with him to the new life of love, forgiveness, service and nonviolence."

A Sign? Pope's Ring Keeps Falling Off

I couldn't resist the Spirit Daily angle (without a doubt one of my favorite sites!)

From IOL:

Pope Benedict may have to have his ring tightened.

According to Italian media reports, the papal ring slipped off his finger twice while he was shaking hands with well-wishers as he left Verona's Bentegodi stadium on Thursday.

The faithful into whose palms the gold ring fell promptly gave it back each time.

Two Metro Trains Collide in Rome

From the BBC:

One person was killed and about 110 were injured when two metro trains
collided during the morning rush hour in Rome, officials say.
The crash
took
place at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II station in the centre of the
Italian
capital. The trains were travelling on metro line A.
The square
above has
been cordoned off. Police and firemen are at the scene.

How Much More Good Will They be Able to Do?

Hopefully the canonization of their founder will spur the Sisters of Providence to new heights.

The words of Pope Benedict XVI from the Tribune Star:

“‘Go and sell everything you own, and give the money to the poor … then
come, follow me.’ These words have inspired countless Christians throughout the
history of the church to follow Christ in a life of radical poverty, trusting in
divine providence. Among these generous disciples of Christ was a young
Frenchwoman, who responded unreservedly to the call of the Divine Teacher.
Mother Theodore Guerin entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence in
1823, and she devoted herself to the work of teaching in schools. Then in 1839,
she was asked by her superiors to travel to the United States to become the head
of a new community in Indiana. After their long journey over land and sea, the
group of six sisters arrived at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. There they found a simple
log-cabin chapel in the heart of the forest. They knelt down before the blessed
sacrament and gave thanks, asking God’s guidance upon the new foundation. “With
great trust in divine providence, Mother Theodore overcame many challenges and
persevered in the work that the Lord had called her to do. By the time of her
death in 1856, the sisters were running schools and orphanages throughout the
state of Indiana. In her own words, ‘How much good has been accomplished by the
sisters of St. Mary-of-the-Woods. How much more good they will be able to do if
they remain faithful to their holy vocation.”

A Married Catholic Priest Extolls the Gift of Celibacy

Father Ray Ryland...in Crisis Magazine:

“You're a married priest? I didn't know we had married priests. I think the
Church should let all her priests marry.”

Words like these have greeted me frequently since my ordination to the priesthood in 1983, with dispensation from the rule of celibacy. I always assure those who favor optional celibacy that both my wife and I strongly support the Church's discipline of priestly celibacy. While I'm deeply grateful that the Church has made an exception for certain former Protestant clergy like me, the exception is clearly a compromise.
The priesthood and marriage are both full-time vocations. The fact is, no one
can do complete justice to both simultaneously.

T he objection usually persists. “But surely a married man is better qualified to teach people about marriage than is a celibate priest.” Again, I disagree (politely, of course). The purpose of marriage preparation is not to teach couples what the priest has experienced. Catholic couples need and have the right to be instructed in the
Church's revealed truth about the meaning of human sexuality and holy matrimony.
If both a married and a celibate priest are reasonably mature, and if each teaches in harmony with the Church, the married priest has no essential advantage over the celibate priest in giving marriage instruction.

Then comes the final argument. “Yes, that may be, but if priests could marry, it
would solve our priest shortage.” I reply that this is an assumption with no
evidence to support it. If the rule of celibacy is keeping men out of the priesthood, how do we account for the dioceses in this country that have an abundance of priests? As Pope Paul VI said 40 years ago, the decline in priestly vocations is due to lack of faith on the part of our people. The dissent that has been rampant in recent decades has created widespread confusion about the Church's teaching, especially with regard to the priesthood.