November 26, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-first-ever-africa-trip-nairobi-kenya-mass-security-islamic-radicals/

Pope warns crowd in Africa of risk of radicalization
CBS NEWS
November 26, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Pope arrives in Kenya to start first-ever trip to Africa


Pope Francis continues his first trip to Africa after arriving in Kenya Wednesday.

He met with priests at St. Mary's School in Nairobi and gave Mass at the University of Nairobi. He also met with Muslim and Christian leaders and said the two faiths must work together.

The pope will visit two other countries, Uganda and the Central African Republic. It will be the first time a pope has flown into an active armed conflict zone.

There was a proper and rollicking African welcome to kick off the first public engagement of Pope Francis' first-ever African trip, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey. Dancing children led the procession of bishops who preceded him to the specially-built altar.

Pope urges Kenyans to work for "reconciliation and peace"

The theme of this stop on his three-nation pilgrimage is "Be strong in faith. Do not be afraid." It took a fair bit of strength for tens of thousands of faithful to make their way into a field for the Mass at Nairobi University that persistent rain turned into a quagmire.

But rain is seen as a blessing here, and no one seemed to mind in the least.

Police and army were on hand in considerable number, but guns were conspicuous by their scarcity, in spite of the fact that there is concern the pope could be in danger from Islamic radicals.

There have been several bloody attacks here, including the massacre of students at a university and the 2013 shooting in a mall that left 67 dead. Both were carried out by the al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab that is based in neighboring Somalia.

Francis called them "barbarous" and said that God's name must never be used to justify hatred and violence.

"All too often," he told an interreligious gathering, "young people are being radicalized in the name of religion to sow discord and fear and to tear at the very fabric of our societies."

The Mass was aimed in part at young people and Pope Francis urged them to let what he called "the great values of Africa's traditions" to help them shape "a society which is ever more just... inclusive and respectful of human dignity."

In keeping with his usual style, Pope Francis isn't pulling any punches. But in a region where tribal rivalries and interreligious violence have wreaked havoc, his message seems to be going down well.




http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/26/456376586/pope-francis-emphasis-on-poverty-revives-the-pact-of-the-catacombs

Pope Francis' Emphasis On Poverty Revives The 'Pact of The Catacombs'
Sylvia Poggioli
Updated November 26, 2015

Photograph -- The closing ceremony of the Second Vatican Council in St. Peter Square on Dec. 9, 1965. Forty bishops pledged to forsake worldly goods, but the agreement was largely ignored. Pope Francis' emphasis on helping the poor has revived talk about the Pact of the Catacombs. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Photograph -- Monsignor Luigi Bettazzi, now 92, is the last survivor among the 40 bishops who signed the the Pact of the Catacombs in 1965. He says Pope Francis, with his emphasis on serving the poor, is a living symbol of what the bishops were seeking to accomplish. Sylvia Poggioli / NPR
THE TWO-WAY -- 'I Am Convinced That We Can Make A Difference,' Pope Tells Congress
Photograph -- Mass is held in the Catacombs of Domitilla, where 40 bishops worked out a pact in 1965 agreeing to live like the poor they served.
Sylvia Poggioli / NPR
THE TWO-WAY -- Pope Francis Calls Gender Pay Gap A 'Pure Scandal'



A half-century ago, 40 bishops from around the world gathered in an ancient Roman church and signed a pledge to forsake worldly goods and live like the neediest among their flock.

They were in Rome for the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the deliberations that opened the Catholic Church to the modern world.

The bishops' all but forgotten pledge, known as the Pact of the Catacombs, has gained new resonance with Pope Francis' vision of a church for the poor.

Under the vaulted ceiling of the basilica, a mass is being celebrated to commemorate the pact signed here in 1965. We are just above the Catacombs of Domitilla — many miles of tunnels lined with the tombs of early Christians.

One of the celebrants of the mass is the only surviving bishop of the original 40 who signed the pact, Monsignor Luigi Bettazzi, now 92.

Monsignor Luigi Bettazzi, now 92, is the last survivor among the 40 bishops who signed the the Pact of the Catacombs in 1965. He says Pope Francis, with his emphasis on serving the poor, is a living symbol of what the bishops were seeking to accomplish.

"A group of bishops organized the meeting at the Catacombs of Domitilla ... most of us learned about it by word of mouth," he says.

By signing the Pact of the Catacombs, the bishops pledged "to try to live according to the ordinary manner of our people in all that concerns housing, food, means of transport."

"We renounce forever the appearance and the substance of wealth, especially in clothing ... and symbols made of precious metals," the document said.

Within a few months, some 500 bishops had signed the pact.

But it was soon forgotten, with hardly a mention in the history books about the Second Vatican Council.

One reason, suggested Bettazzi, was that "Pope Paul VI was afraid that too much emphasis on the church of the poor would spill into politics. It was the peak of the Cold War, it could appear the church was leaning toward one side."

Or more specifically, the communist side.

Church historian Alberto Melloni says the pact is probably one of the Catholic Church's best-kept secrets.

"The Pact of the Catacombs is the outcome of long effort at Vatican II to put poverty at the core of the council and this effort failed," he said.

But in one part of the world — Latin America — the pact did not disappear.

Erwin Krautler, the bishop of a Brazilian diocese in the Amazon for 34 years, advocates for the rights of landless peasants and indigenous people. He upholds the principles of the Pact of the Catacombs.

"This pact is an expression of what we call these days, theology of liberation," he said.

Liberation theology is a Catholic grassroots movement that spread throughout Latin America in the 1970s but was scorned by Popes John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict XVI, who said it was inspired by Marxism. The Vatican disciplined many of its proponents.

Melloni, the church historian, said the Pact of the Catacombs that inspired liberation theology undermined centuries of tradition that had put the Vatican at the center of church power.

Liberation theology "was saying that the center of Catholicism is not Rome, not even the pope, but the real poor, and this was a challenge and the real challenge of this papacy today," Melloni said.

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.

Francis has never specifically mentioned the Pact of the Catacombs.

Pope Francis delivers a speech Wednesday during his general audience at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City.

But his lifestyle — shunning the apostolic palace for a room in a Vatican guesthouse — and his vision of the church as what he calls a "field hospital to heal the wounded," are reviving interest in the 50-year-old document.

Monsignor Bettazzi said he and his fellow bishops planted a seed that is now bearing fruit.

"The Pact of the Catacombs today is ... Pope Francis," he said.





CBS -- He met with priests at St. Mary's School in Nairobi and gave Mass at the University of Nairobi. He also met with Muslim and Christian leaders and said the two faiths must work together. …. It will be the first time a pope has flown into an active armed conflict zone. There was a proper and rollicking African welcome to kick off the first public engagement of Pope Francis' first-ever African trip, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey. Dancing children led the procession of bishops who preceded him to the specially-built altar. Pope urges Kenyans to work for "reconciliation and peace" …. Police and army were on hand in considerable number, but guns were conspicuous by their scarcity, in spite of the fact that there is concern the pope could be in danger from Islamic radicals. …. Francis called them "barbarous" and said that God's name must never be used to justify hatred and violence. "All too often," he told an interreligious gathering, "young people are being radicalized in the name of religion to sow discord and fear and to tear at the very fabric of our societies." The Mass was aimed in part at young people and Pope Francis urged them to let what he called "the great values of Africa's traditions" to help them shape "a society which is ever more just... inclusive and respectful of human dignity."

NPR -- "We renounce forever the appearance and the substance of wealth, especially in clothing ... and symbols made of precious metals," the document said. Within a few months, some 500 bishops had signed the pact. But it was soon forgotten, with hardly a mention in the history books about the Second Vatican Council. One reason, suggested Bettazzi, was that "Pope Paul VI was afraid that too much emphasis on the church of the poor would spill into politics. It was the peak of the Cold War, it could appear the church was leaning toward one side." …. By signing the Pact of the Catacombs, the bishops pledged "to try to live according to the ordinary manner of our people in all that concerns housing, food, means of transport." …. Church historian Alberto Melloni says the pact is probably one of the Catholic Church's best-kept secrets. "The Pact of the Catacombs is the outcome of long effort at Vatican II to put poverty at the core of the council and this effort failed," he said. But in one part of the world — Latin America — the pact did not disappear. Erwin Krautler, the bishop of a Brazilian diocese in the Amazon for 34 years, advocates for the rights of landless peasants and indigenous people. He upholds the principles of the Pact of the Catacombs. …. Liberation theology is a Catholic grassroots movement that spread throughout Latin America in the 1970s but was scorned by Popes John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict XVI, who said it was inspired by Marxism. The Vatican disciplined many of its proponents. Melloni, the church historian, said the Pact of the Catacombs that inspired liberation theology undermined centuries of tradition that had put the Vatican at the center of church power. Liberation theology "was saying that the center of Catholicism is not Rome, not even the pope, but the real poor, and this was a challenge and the real challenge of this papacy today," Melloni said.”


This article on the Pact of the Catacombs explains the social stance of Pope Francis better than anything that I’ve seen before. The Pact was dishonored everywhere except in South America, which is his home. Now sadly the wealthy and conservative forces are pushing back against his teaching, partly at least because they think it leans toward Marxism. See the article below on the famous quotation of Karl Marx that is used to damn him by most conservative thinkers. The exact quotation shows that he was not callously speaking against religion, but rather saw its’ usefulness in “the human condition.” He said: “The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.” In other words it takes courage and hope to live without religion – to face doubts and fears alone with ones’ own purely rational thoughts and scientific knowledge. See the excerpt of Marx’s views in the article below.

Pope Francis is now advocating a more liberal and logical economic and social viewpoint all around. He seems to acknowledge Evolution and the impending Environmental crisis, interestingly, but then Jesuits are known for their philosophical thought and respect for learning. Many of them are college professors. His view also, according to this article, is that the true center of Christianity is not the Vatican – the hard and sometimes cruel power center – but the very poor. He is living in relative poverty in an apartment at the Vatican and not within the huge palace. This alone is revolutionary. In the 1500s the heads of state had almost unlimited power and were believed by the European societies in general to be king/queen by “divine right.”

The Protestants broke away from that as well as from the mysterious and godlike powers of the Catholic priests. To say that a man is capable of giving God’s forgiveness to anyone is anathema to us. That is God’s role alone. The Protestant Church said that the communion wine and wafers did not in fact transform into “the body and blood of Christ.” Protestant religion is in general, in my opinion, less “magical” in its doctrine than the Catholic. Modern class conscious and wealthy Catholics may find all of that to be politically destabilizing and simply against their “best interests.” A populace who are afraid to disbelieve what they are told is more agreeable to their power-hungry minds. If you believe that your power and wealth come by “divine right,” then a Pope who speaks as Francis does it is a real challenge to your future security.

As I have said before, there is a sweeping tide of neo-fascism across Europe and America in the last few years, partly out of fear of Islam and partly out of a power grab by the Protestant religious right. Businessmen like the Koch brothers find that convenient and are feeding their voters’ fury in order to take control of freedom-based nations. The Kochs claim to be Evangelical Protestants, but I think they are merely greedy beyond words for more and more wealth and power. There’s no Christianity in them.


http://atheism.about.com/od/weeklyquotes/a/marx01.htm

Karl Marx on Religion
Is Religion the Opiate of the Masses?

By Austin Cline

This quote is reproduced a great deal and is probably the only Marx quote that most people are familiar with. Unfortunately, if someone is familiar with it they are likely only familiar with a small portion that, taken by itself, tends to give a distorted impression of what Marx had to say about religion.

•Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.

Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right



I have cut today's blog short because it's Thanksgiving Day and I celebrated with a friend. Best to you all!