Merry Christmas from the Vatican

From a card I receieved from one of the Pontifical Commissions:

More Surprising That "George" was Popular

Obviously not in the U.S. :

Mohammed overtakes George in list of most popular names

but another sign that Europe is quickly changing.

Cardinal Ruini on the Mind of Pope Benedict XVI

I feel a special link to Cardinal Ruini, because when I was in Rome I attended a Mass that he said in the Clementine Chapel one morning that included a priest, three Italian women and me. After the Mass the Cardinal went to the tomb of Pope John Paul II, knelt, prayed with great emotion and openly wept.

Sandro Magister gives a translation of Cardinal Ruini's brilliant talk recently to the priests of Rome on the thought of Pope Benedict.

Pope Warns of Threats to Christmas

From the International Herald Tribune:

"Today many consider God irrelevant. Even believers sometimes seek tempting but illusory shortcuts to happiness. And yet perhaps even because of this confusion humanity seeks a savior, and awaits the coming of Christ," the pope said.

Although he warned against being distracted by what he called the "trappings of Christmas," Benedict offered thanks for the 33-meter (110-foot) Christmas tree set up in St. Peter's Square, and the one in his private apartment in the Vatican, both gifts from the mountains of Calabria in southern Italy.

He also encouraged the custom of setting up nativity scenes in the home.

"It is my hope that such an important element (of Christmas) not only part of our spirituality, but also of our culture and art continue to be a simple and eloquent way of remembering Christ."

Another Riveting Appeal from Sophia Press

Help Sophia Press:

As I waited for Mother Angelica to come through the door, I saw that the man standing
next to me had a gun.

It was just fifteen minutes before Mother and I were scheduled to spend an hour together on Mother Angelica Live!

They'd dusted my face with makeup and led me into the cramped corridor that connected Mother's monastery to the EWTN studio. The guard looked me up and down
and then stared right into my face.

"Why do you have a gun here?" I asked.

"These days, you can't be too careful," he said, relaxing his gaze, but resting his hand on his holster.

Indeed, not a hundred yards from where I stood, thugs had twice shot up the walls of Mother's convent, in a failed attempt to drive her and her nuns out of Birmingham. Mother said that one bullet landed so close to her she "could smell the gunpowder."
And she added with a chuckle: "You never saw a crippled nun run so fast in all your life."

In Raymond Arroyo's wonderful biography of Mother Angelica, Mother notes that: "Some people say I'm a woman of great faith. I'm really a coward who keeps moving forward."

To me, that sounds like courage, not cowardice.And it's courage she's shown for eight decades now despite abandonment, lack of education, bullets, bad bishops,
near-bankruptcy, asthma, injuries, operations, pain, scorn, criticism, and the spiritual bleakness that afflicts many of us who labor these days in the vineyard of the Lord.

That evening, it was a delight to be on live TV with Mother Angelica. Her quick wit, her frank comments, and her frequent laughter enlivened my talk about the Catholic books I've published by St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis de Sales, St. Catherine of Genoa, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and other holy men and women.

But she was motherly, too, admonishing her viewers as if they were errant teenagers: "You have to educate your conscience. You have to read and read and read! If you spend fifteen minutes a day reading, your whole life will change. So turn off that TV!"

And then she added mischievously, "Except EWTN, of course!"

During the station break, Mother asked about my work. Hoping to impress her, I said, "I started Sophia Institute Press with $100 and no publishing experience."

"Well how about that!" she responded, unmoved. "I started EWTN with $200 and no broadcasting experience."

Once the cameras were rolling again, Mother said to the audience, "John and I both started with nothing. And we're always asking for funds."

The live audience laughed, but I was embarrassed."That's true," I began slowly, looking at my hands as I sought the right words. "It's unfortunate. I apologize. . . ."

"Oh, don't do that!" Mother shot back loudly. "I don't!"She chortled, and the audience laughed along with her.

The Nativity Story is No Passion of the Christ

Falls to #9 in its third week out. Gibson's Apocalypto falls to #6.

Benedict the Unlikely Pin-up Pope

From the BBC:

Benedict XVI, the shy former disciple of that most media-friendly of popes, John Paul II, has entered an area of the mass communications market that his predecessor apparently never tapped.

The Polish pope could easily have filled out a wall calendar had he wanted to.