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 Pope says he wants to visit Italian earthquake victims  Apr. 13th
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Encouraging solidarity with the victims of the earthquake that struck central Italy April 6, Pope Benedict XVI also promised to visit the survivors.
"My dear ones, I hope to come see you as soon as possible," the pope said April 8 at the end of his weekly general audience, which is televised throughout Italy.
As of April 9 Italian government officials raised the official death toll in the city and province of L'Aquila to 275 people and said more than 1,000 were injured.
The main quake, which struck at 3:30 a.m. April 6, registered a magnitude of between 5.8 and 6.3 on the Richter scale. Hundreds of tremors followed, including an aftershock April 7 that registered 5.3 on the Richter scale and caused more buildings to crumble.
At the end of his audience, the pope said he wanted to reaffirm his closeness to the people of central Italy suffering because of the earthquake.
Pope Benedict praised the work of the Italian government, police, firefighters, military and volunteers working to rescue victims, house and feed the thousands left homeless, and ascertain which homes, churches, offices and businesses are safe to enter.
The assistance efforts, he said, "demonstrate how important solidarity is for overcoming such a harsh trial together. Once again, I want to tell those dear people that the pope shares their suffering and their worries."
"Know that the pope prays for all of you, imploring the mercy of God for the deceased, and he asks for the maternal comfort of Mary and the support of Christian hope for their families and the survivors," Pope Benedict said.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said planning for a papal visit to the region was under way, but he said it would take place at least a week after Easter.
Father Lombardi said Pope Benedict spoke to Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari of L'Aquila by telephone after the audience and promised that after his chrism Mass April 9 he would send the archdiocese some of the sacred oils he blessed for use in the sacraments since the archbishop would not be able to celebrate a chrism Mass in his own cathedral.
Archbishop Molinari told SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops' conference, that he hoped the pope's visit would take place in the first days after Easter; Italian news agencies quoted a spokesman for the archdiocese as saying the pope would visit April 13 or 14, flying by helicopter from Castel Gandolfo, the papal villa outside Rome where the pope was scheduled to spend Easter week.
Among the rescue workers assisting in the region were eight members of the Vatican fire department.
Domenico Giani, director of Vatican security services, told Vatican Radio that as soon as he heard about the earthquake he and the officials in charge of the Vatican governor's office discussed ways they could help and then spoke to Pope Benedict about it.
"It seemed important at this moment of great pain to ensure that one of our fire department squads was present to lend a hand," he said.
The firefighters, including a structural engineer, were sent to Onna, a tiny town near L'Aquila that was almost completely destroyed by the quake; 40 of the town's 350 residents were killed.
Giani said that after helping recover bodies the first night the Vatican firefighters started assisting the survivors.
Interviewed from Onna, Paolo De Angelis, the Vatican structural engineer, told Vatican Radio April 7, "The situation is disastrous. The town is destroyed."
But, he said, even though most of the residents have lost everything, they are helping each other.
The quake, which was felt even 70 miles away in Rome, also did major damage in the town of Paganica, where it claimed the life of Abbess Gemma Antonucci, head of the Poor Clares' Convent of St. Clare.
In an interview with SIR, Father Dionisio Rodriguez Cuartas, the pastor in Paganica and director of Caritas L'Aquila, said the roof of the Poor Clares' convent caved in.
In the early afternoon April 6, rescue workers were able to recover the body of the abbess and to free another nun from the debris. Two of the dozen members of the community were hospitalized with broken bones; the others were unharmed.
In a telegram the same day to Archbishop Molinari, the Vatican secretary of state said Pope Benedict had asked him to convey his "participation in the pain of the dear population struck by this tragic event."
"In assuring fervid prayers for the victims, particularly the children, His Holiness invokes the Lord to comfort the families, and while he addresses affectionate words of encouragement to the survivors and those involved in the rescue operations, he sends all a special apostolic blessing," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told the archbishop.
Archbishop Molinari told SIR that many of the churches in his diocese had been damaged or totally destroyed; his residence and chancery also were heavily damaged.
The region had been experiencing small quakes for weeks, he said.
"Thank God I was not in my room asleep because I did not feel very safe," he said; instead he went to his office to deal with paperwork.
As soon as the quake hit, he left the building with a priest and the nuns he lives with, the archbishop said.
"The most beautiful churches" in L'Aquila and nearby towns were destroyed, he said, listing five buildings. And, like the Poor Clares' convent, the cathedral was damaged when several sections of the roof caved in.
Meanwhile, the Vatican announced April 9 that Cardinal Bertone was to say an April 10 funeral Mass for victims of the quake.
The pope's personal secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein, also was to be present at the Mass as a "sign of the pope's closeness to all those suffering because of the earthquake," said a Vatican press statement.
The funeral Mass, to be held in a military barracks in L'Aquila, was to be attended by all the bishops of the Abruzzi region, Father Lombardi told journalists April 9. He said Cardinal Bertone also would have an opportunity to "make contacts and get a sense of the situation" ahead of the pope's planned visit to L'Aquila.
The Vatican statement said, given the extraordinary circumstances of the occasion, the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has granted special permission for the funeral Mass to be celebrated on Good Friday, April 10.
Normally, there is no eucharistic celebration on Good Friday and holy Communion is instead distributed during the liturgy of the Lord's Passion, it said.
Humanity must use weapons of truth, mercy to end conflict, says pope Apr. 13th
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christ's resurrection is not a myth or fairy tale; it is the one and only event that has destroyed the root of evil and can fill the emptiness in people's hearts, Pope Benedict XVI said in his Easter message.
But Christ still wants humanity to help affirm his victory by using his weapons of justice, truth, mercy and love to end the suffering in Africa, build peace in the Holy Land, and combat hunger and poverty worldwide, he said April 12 in his message "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world).
"Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations," and increasing numbers of Africans fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease, the pope said in the message broadcast from St. Peter's Square to millions of people worldwide.
He said when he visits the Holy Land May 8-15 he will "emphatically repeat the same message" of reconciliation and peace he brought to Africa during his March 17-23 visit to Cameroon and Angola.
While reconciliation is difficult, he said, it is an indispensable "precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Pope Benedict read his message and gave his solemn blessing after celebrating Easter morning Mass in St. Peter's Square, which Vatican Radio said was attended by about 100,000 people.
A sea of flowering trees and shrubs, and other colorful blooms, donated by companies in the Netherlands, decorated the steps and central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
The pope, who turns 82 April 16, tripped without further incident when he climbed the dais where the papal throne sat in the central balcony.
He offered Easter greetings in 63 different languages and gave special encouragement to those struck by the April 6 earthquake and string of aftershocks in Italy's L'Aquila province.
During the April 11 Easter Vigil, Pope Benedict baptized and confirmed one woman and two men from Italy, a woman from China and Heidi Sierras, a 29-year-old mother of four from St. Joseph Church in Modesto, Calif.
The pope used a small golden shell to pour the holy water over each catechumen's head. The newly baptized, wearing laced white shawls, had a brief personal exchange with the pope when they brought the offertory gifts to the altar.
During the evening ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, the pope asked that the fragile flame and delicate light of God's word and his love, which God has lit in every Christian, may not be snuffed out "amid the confusions of this age ... but will become ever stronger and brighter, so that we, with him, can be the people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time."
The next morning, after celebrating the Easter Mass, the pope urged Christians to spread the hope the world so desperately needs.
"At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever present threat of terrorism (and) of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope," he said in his Easter message.
Christ's resurrection "is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but is a singular and unrepeatable event" that brings light to the dark regions of the world, he said.
The "sense of emptiness, which tends to intoxicate humanity, has been overcome by the light and the hope that emanate from the Resurrection," he said.
But while the resurrected Christ vanquished death, "there still remain very many, in fact, too many signs of its former dominion," said the pope.
Christ wants today's men and women to help him "affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love" and spread the kind of hope that inspires courage to do good even when it costs dearly, he said.
The earthquake in central Italy was never far from the pope's mind during Holy Week and Easter services.
At the end of the candlelit Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum April 10, Pope Benedict again asked for prayers for those affected by the earthquake.
"Let us pray that in this dark night, the star of hope -- the light of the risen Lord -- will appear also to them," he said.
The meditations for the rite were written by Indian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati and focused on the way Jesus confronted violence and adversity with serenity and strength, and sought to prompt a change of heart through nonviolent persuasion.
Under an awning on a hill overlooking the Colosseum, the pope knelt through the entire service while women and men from Italy and India, as well as two Franciscan friars from the Holy Land, were among those who carried the black wooden cross.
After the 14th station, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal vicar for Rome, handed the cross to the pope who stood and held it aloft.
"We have relived the tragic event of a man unique in the history of all times, who changed the world not by killing others but by letting himself be killed as he hung from a cross," Pope Benedict said at the end of the ceremony.
Pope Benedict left the Vatican Easter afternoon for the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
Reciting the "Regina Coeli" prayer with hundreds of visitors gathered in the courtyard of the villa April 13, the pope said Christians rejoice because "the resurrection of the Lord assures us that, despite all the dark moments in history, the divine plan of salvation certainly will be fulfilled. This is why Easter really is our hope."
"We who have risen with Christ through baptism must now follow him faithfully with holiness of life, walking toward the eternal Easter, sustained by the awareness that the difficulties, struggles, trials and sufferings of our existence -- including death -- can no longer separate us from him and his love," the pope said.
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Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden at the Vatican.
Daring rescue of ship's captain leaves Vermont parish overjoyed Apr. 13th
By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When news of the bold liberation of U.S. Capt. Richard Phillips from the grip of pirates off the coast of Somalia filtered through his Vermont Catholic parish April 12, members of his church community felt like their Easter prayers had been answered.
"We're so happy that it turned out the way that it did," said Donna Schaeffler, secretary of St. Thomas Church in Underhill Center, Vt., the parish where Phillips, 53, and his wife, Andrea, regularly attend Mass.
"There is so much media here and we're trying to give the Phillipses their privacy, but we've been praying at Mass for his safe release," Schaeffler told Catholic News Service April 13 in a telephone interview.
"Our pastor (Father Charles R. Danielson) also asked everyone to pray for the Phillipses during the Easter morning Mass. We were just so happy to hear the news of his rescue later in the day," she said.
Phillips allowed himself to be taken hostage by four pirates who tried to seize the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama April 7 in the Indian Ocean, in order to keep the crew of the 17-ton ship safe.
He was detained by his armed captors on one of the ship's lifeboats for five days. U.S. naval forces surrounded the small boat, and Navy snipers fired three shots to kill a trio of Somali pirates and free the American sea captain, a Navy commander told The Associated Press April 13.
The fourth pirate, who had been aboard the USS Bainbridge for negotiations about the captain's release, surrendered and could face life in a U.S. prison, the AP reported.
President Barack Obama, who told the AP he was pleased with the rescue, said Phillips' courage was "a model for all Americans."
The White House had authorized the Navy to take action to resolve the five-day standoff.
Father Danielson told CNS he prayed with Phillips' wife privately at the couple's Underhill Center home the day before the dramatic rescue, and spoke to "excited and overjoyed" family members April 12 after he learned the captain was safe.
The U.S. sea captain told news reporters shortly after his rescue that he was not a hero, and praised the Navy SEALs for their efforts in securing his freedom.
Bishop Salvatore R. Matano of Burlington, Vt. -- who spoke with a member of the Phillips family April 11 and plans to have a face-to-face meeting with them after they are reunited with the captain -- said this ordeal has reminded Catholics all over Vermont how much they need the peace that Easter brings.
"I'm sure the Phillips family understands that wonderful peace since their horrible ordeal is over," Bishop Matano said. "They realize the peace of Easter and we hope that continues."
The event that unfolded for the family and citizens of Vermont has helped locals focus on tragedies all over the world and reminded them to pray for the safe return of members of the military serving in war-torn regions around the planet, he told CNS April 13.
"It's been a real eye-opener, I'll tell you that," Father Danielson told CNS in a telephone interview. "An event like this really humanizes the news. It really brings home that the faces of people in the news belong to real human beings. It's someone in your parish, in your community, and we're hoping and praying for the best."
The ordeal has also shown the priest, who has been pastor of St. Thomas since last July, that he has a faith community of people who really care about one another, pray for each other and band together in difficult times.
"This is a small community and everyone here has been concerned," Schaeffler told CNS. "Our office has been flooded with phone messages and e-mails from people who have expressed their well-wishes to Capt. Phillips and his family. When things settle down, I'll make sure they get these messages."
For 74 of her 95 years, Oklahoman has been stalwart of rural parish Apr. 6th
By Marilyn Duck
Catholic News Service
TULSA, Okla. (CNS) -- There were just seven Catholics when Marian E. Baker began attending Immaculate Conception Church in Poteau, located in a small rural area of southeastern Oklahoma.
A parishioner there for 74 of her 95 years and known as the parish "matriarch," she was honored as a Woman of Achievement in the Diocese of Tulsa.
"Congratulations! God bless you," Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa told Baker when she came forward to accept her commendation at a recent Diocesan Council of Catholic Women luncheon.
Baker moved to Poteau in 1935, with her late husband, Wilbur, and their 1-year-old son, Kermit, now a physician who accompanied her to the luncheon. She has five grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Baker quickly started wearing many hats. She became the parish organist -- playing for all Sunday Masses, weddings and funerals. In addition, Baker became the choir director and for many years organized the children's choir.
In addition, she became bookkeeper and treasurer for her church and two others. For 50 years she counted collections, made bank deposits and paid bills by hand -- until she learned to use a computer.
Over the years Baker helped purchase, prepare and serve the food for all the funeral dinners. During her 74 years of parish service, she has worked with 18 different priests who were fresh out of the seminary.
At age 86, Baker survived colon cancer, getting through surgery and chemotherapy. She slowed down, and at 92 she decided it was time to resign as bookkeeper and treasurer.
For Pope John Paul II, beatification process may be on final lap Apr. 6th
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- They brought flowers and messages to his grave. They sang songs evoking his memory. And they prayed for his beatification.
The fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II April 2 was marked by a sense of anticipation following reports that the late pontiff would be beatified on the fifth anniversary next year.
The Vatican has played down those rumors. But among the thousands who flocked to his tomb and gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for a memorial Mass, the feeling was strongly hopeful.
"There's all kinds of talk about him being beatified. It's only a matter of time before it happens. He's heading so fast toward sainthood that they're only waiting to give him a little bit more legitimacy, I guess," said Samantha Coveleski, 22, of Lewes, Del.
Coveleski was among hundreds of people who jammed the crypt area of St. Peter's Basilica April 2 to pay their respects at Pope John Paul II's tomb. They left candles, photos and letters, and murmured prayers in many languages. On the white marble tombstone lay three red roses.
"So many people loved this guy so much. When you're at the tomb you can really see what the big deal is," Coveleski said. "He was so accessible during his papacy, and here you can really see and feel how much he was loved."
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the commemorative Mass and said he was praying for "the gift of beatification" for his predecessor. In 2005, Pope Benedict set Pope John Paul on the fast track to beatification by waiving the normal five-year waiting period for the introduction of his sainthood cause.
That seemed to respond to the "Santo subito!" ("Sainthood now!") banners that were held aloft at Pope John Paul's funeral.
The initial diocesan phase of the cause was completed in April 2007. Last November a team of theological consultors to the Congregation for Saints' Causes began studying the 2,000-page "positio," the document that makes the case for beatification, according to Archbishop Angelo Amato, head of the congregation.
Archbishop Amato told Vatican Radio that once the theological study of the "positio" is completed, the cause will be considered by the cardinal and bishop members of the congregation. If approved, it will then go to the pope for a final decision on a decree of "venerability," which means the person lived the Christian virtues heroically.
Meanwhile, a presumed miracle through the intercession of the late pope -- involving a French nun said to have been cured of Parkinson's disease -- is being studied in a five-step process that involves medical experts, a medical board, theological consultors, the members of the congregation and, finally, the pope.
With the decree of venerability and a confirmed miracle, beatification can take place.
Archbishop Amato emphasized that the Vatican could not promise a timetable for all this. The fact that the Vatican is expediting the cause doesn't mean "haste or superficiality," but on the contrary demands methodical attention to detail, he said.
Five years from death to beatification may not strike people as "subito," but it would be a modern record in the church; even for Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was described by many as a "living saint" and for whom the waiting period was also waived, it took six years to complete the process.
Still, the Vatican loves anniversaries, and no one has ruled out next April 2 as the big day. Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, personal secretary to the late pope and one of his biggest beatification boosters, said in March that the process would be completed in a few months.
Cardinal Dziwisz, in Rome for the fourth anniversary, told reporters that a presumed miracle had recently occurred at Pope John Paul II's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.
A nine year-old Polish boy from Gdansk, suffering from cancer of the kidneys and unable to walk, was brought to the tomb by his parents, Cardinal Dziwisz said. When they left St. Peter's, the boy told them, "I want to walk," and began walking in good health, he said.
Vatican officials are not publicizing what are said to be 251 "inexplicable" healings or other events attributed to Pope John Paul II's intercession, and which have been filed away. Like Archbishop Amato, the officials emphasize the seriousness of the study being undertaken and insist there are no foregone conclusions.
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has marked this year's anniversary with the same serious tone, saying sainthood was more than the elevation of a popular personality.
"The cry of 'Santo subito!' after the death of John Paul II had strong meaning. But its repetition by the media is mistaken: The official recognition of sainthood must be connected to the church's process of sanctification," said a front-page article April 2.
The same article related an interesting anecdote about the relationship between Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served more than 23 years under the late pope as head of the doctrinal congregation.
When meeting to review the drafts of important documents with his top collaborators, it said, Pope John Paul would sometimes sit back at the end of the conversation and say: "We need to go back to this topic again. From his expression, I can see that Cardinal Ratzinger is not fully convinced. We need to reflect some more."
At the memorial Mass, Pope Benedict underlined the thematic continuity between the late pope and his own pontificate. Then, like many before him, he went down to the pope's tomb and knelt in prayer.
Media effort draws 92,000 inactive Catholics back home to church Apr. 1st
By Ambria Hammel
Catholic News Service
PHOENIX (CNS) -- Maybe TV isn't so bad after all.
An estimated 92,000 inactive Catholics in the Phoenix Diocese have come back to the church in the last year thanks in large part to a groundbreaking television advertising campaign called Catholics Come Home.
The promotional spots featured people and locations from around the Phoenix Diocese to promote the church during prime-time television. The cornerstone of the campaign, the Catholics Come Home Web site, addresses often misunderstood aspects of the faith.
"For those who had fallen away from the practice of their faith, it let them know that we want them to come home," Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said.
The commercials, which ran during Lent in 2008, detail the good works of the Catholic Church throughout history. They also offer real-life testimonials of local fallen-away Catholics explaining what turned them away and what drew them back.
"Phoenix was supposed to be this quiet little test," said Tom Peterson, a former resident of Phoenix who is president and founder of Catholics Come Home, which is now based in Georgia.
"Word went worldwide as soon as you launched," he said in an interview with the Phoenix diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Sun.
More than half a million different visitors from all 50 states and 80 countries have visited the Web site catholicscomehome.com since the spots first aired.
The response was so positive that other dioceses around the country are looking to Phoenix for ideas on bringing Catholics back to the church.
The Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas recently launched different versions of the television spots in English and Spanish. Each parish supplemented the commercials at Ash Wednesday services with a brochure for everyone answering common faith-related questions and listing Mass times and ministries.
The Catholics Come Home spots will appear in more than a dozen other dioceses around the country later in 2009 or early 2010. By the time Advent rolls around in 2010, organizers say they'll go national on major networks.
"Our family is made up of every race," begins the longest of the spots. "We are young and old, rich and poor, men and women, sinners and saints."
The two-minute ad highlights the vital part the Catholic Church has played in establishing hospitals, orphanages and schools in addition to its role in science, marriage, family life, Scripture and sacraments.
"If you've been away from the Catholic Church, we invite you to take another look," the announcer says toward the end. "We are Catholic; welcome home."
Another two-minute ad shows men and women alone watching the best and the worst scenes from their lives play back before them on an old movie reel.
The final ad that aired -- Peterson has dozens more like it ready to go -- featured snippets of testimonials about why Catholics left the church and what they found upon their return.
Peterson said the Catholics Come Home campaign has "the potential of re-Christianizing our society and even catechizing the world."
A lot of pro bono production, nearly $1 million from various donors and foundations, and a grant from the Catholic Community Foundation helped put the ads on the air.
The Diocese of Phoenix has witnessed increased interest in the church, which leaders are attributing to last year's campaign.
"It's exciting to see the fruits that continue to grow from this," said Ryan Hanning, coordinator of adult evangelization for the diocese. According to Hanning, a number of the faithful have found a renewed passion for the church, while fallen-away Catholics rejoined parish life.
Hanning worked closely with Peterson on the Catholics Come Home campaign and ensured that parish leaders, especially those in faith formation, were ready to welcome back Catholics and resolve sacramental and doctrinal issues. More than 25 parishes created programs to welcome Catholics back to the church.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Tempe was one of them. It showed a video before Easter Masses and held a six-week program for returning Catholics.
"The commercials helped (fallen-away Catholics) realize that they were missing something in their lives," said Father John Bonavitacola, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He noticed that Catholics who had grown lax in their faith or who felt hurt by the church, or who had divorced and remarried, returned. Many had their marriage validated in the church while others joined for the first time.
Six months after the media campaign ended, a comprehensive analysis of its impact revealed a 22 percent increase in Mass attendance at nine sample parishes. Throughout the diocese, the average increased Mass attendance -- returned and new Catholics -- was 12 percent. That's despite a flat population growth in the diocese during that period.
"Wherever they've been, they can come back home. It's a message that resonates," Hanning said. "I never thought I'd have thousands of Catholics calling and e-mailing me and saying, 'I'm proud to be Catholic and I want to help others.'"
Vatican orders apostolic visitation of Legionaries of Christ Apr. 1st
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has ordered an apostolic visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ following disclosures of sexual impropriety by the order's late founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado.
The announcement of the unusual investigation was posted on the Web site of the Legionaries of Christ March 31, along with the text of a letter informing the Legionaries of the pope's decision.
The letter, written by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the pope wanted to help the Legionaries of Christ deal with its present problems with "truth and transparency." It said the visitation would be carried out by "a team of prelates," who were not identified.
Apostolic visitation is a form of internal church investigation ordered by a pope and undertaken by his delegate or delegates. The pope sets the jurisdiction and powers of the visitation, which usually ends with the submission of a report to the Holy See.
In February, Legionaries of Christ officials in Rome disclosed that Father Maciel had fathered a child. Sources in Rome said the order was also looking into accusations of financial irregularities by Father Maciel.
In the past, Father Maciel had been accused of sexually abusing young seminarians in the order. After investigating those allegations, the Vatican in 2006 told Father Maciel to renounce public ministry as a priest and spend the rest of his life in prayer and penitence; the Vatican did not, however, confirm that sexual abuse had occurred.
Father Maciel died Jan. 30, 2008, at the age of 87.
Cardinal Bertone's one-page letter, dated March 10, was addressed to Father Alvaro Corcuera, director general of the Legionaries and its lay association, Regnum Christi.
"The Holy Father is aware of the noble ideals that inspire you and the fortitude and prayerful spirit with which you are facing the current vicissitudes, and he encourages you to continue seeking the good of the church and society by means of your own distinctive initiatives and institutions," the cardinal's letter said.
"In this regard, you can always count on the help of the Holy See, so that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties. In this respect, the Holy Father has decided to carry out an apostolic visitation to the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ through a team of prelates," it said.
Details of the visitation were not made public in the announcement. Jim Fair, the order's U.S. spokesman, said the order knew little more than what the letter stated.
"We know they're going to be visiting. We'll cooperate and prepare. But all we know is what's on the site," Fair told Catholic News Service.
Father Corcuera said in an online statement that the visitation "is the beginning of a process in which the Legion will fully and gratefully participate." He said it would begin after Easter and would probably last several months.
"We are ready to welcome the visitators to our centers and institutions with faith and supernatural spirit, cooperating with them and facilitating their mission," he said.
In a letter to Legionaries posted on the site, Father Corcuera said he had thanked Pope Benedict "from my heart for offering us this additional help to face our present vicissitudes related to the grave facts of our founder's life."
Referring to the accusations of sexual abuse investigated in 2006 and the more recent disclosures, Father Corcuera said: "We are deeply saddened and sorry, and we sincerely ask for forgiveness from God and from those who have been hurt through this."
U.S. Legionaries Father Thomas D. Williams said the apostolic visitation was a necessary and welcome step, one that can restore confidence and credibility for the future.
"I think you absolutely need a reconfirmation by the church that (the Legionaries of Christ) is something that is good, that is a work of God, and that this has to go on, and not the contrary," said Father Williams, who teaches at the Legionaries' Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome.
He said he expected the visitation to examine to what extent a religious charism based on Father Maciel's teachings was still viable.
"I don't think anyone sees this crystal clearly right now. I think we need help in sifting through our own present and future," he said.
"Honestly, speaking for my confreres and myself, if it's not a work of God, nobody wants to be a part of it. I certainly don't. And if it is, we want to know what we're supposed to be taking from this original charism and what we're not," he said.
Father Williams said this is where the Vatican's task of discernment will be crucial.
He said that in recent weeks Father Corcuera had met with Vatican officials and then with Pope Benedict, making clear that the Legionaries wanted some kind of outside intervention to help clear up doubts.
Sources said several papal delegates would carry out the visitation, and that it would be done by geographical area: Italy and Europe, Mexico and South America, and North America. The delegates were expected to be named soon.
When the latest revelations about Father Maciel having fathered a daughter were made public in early February, Legionaries of Christ officials expressed their shock and sadness, and said the order was dealing with it "as a family."
At that time, Father Paolo Scarafoni, spokesman at the Legionaries' headquarters in Rome, spoke of a "process of purification" within the order. He made clear, however, that Father Maciel would still remain the guiding influence in the order.
"Our gratitude to him remains very strong because we have received so much that is good from him. This is something we cannot and will not deny," Father Scarafoni said.
Several prominent Catholic commentators said publicly -- and some Vatican officials said privately -- that the situation called for an outside investigation into the Legionaries of Christ, in order to ascertain the truth, determine whether officials of the order covered up Father Maciel's misconduct and judge whether Father Maciel's teachings could still inspire the order.
Several Vatican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the effectiveness of an apostolic visitation would depend in large part on cooperation by Legionaries of Christ leadership.
Father Maciel was the subject of a major canonical investigation by the Vatican from 1957 to 1959. He was suspended as the order's superior during that time, but was reinstated when the investigation ended.
Head of Holy Cross order asks Obama to rethink position on abortion Apr. 1st
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- The head of the Holy Cross religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame has written to U.S. President Barack Obama and asked him to rethink his positions on abortion and other life issues.
U.S. Father Hugh W. Cleary, Holy Cross superior general in Rome, said that when Obama receives an honorary degree from the Indiana university and delivers the commencement address in May, he should take to heart the objections of Catholics who have been scandalized by the invitation.
Father Cleary asked the president to use the occasion to "give your conscience a fresh opportunity to be formed anew in a holy awe and reverence before human life in every form at every stage -- from conception to natural death."
The 13-page letter, dated March 22, was made available to Catholic News Service in Rome. Father Cleary also prepared an abridged version of the text as an "open letter" to the president, which was expected to be published on the Web site of America magazine.
Father Cleary's letter began by congratulating Obama on being awarded an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame, and said the university was honored to have him deliver the commencement address.
The visit should be a "teachable moment" for all involved, Father Cleary said.
He asked the president to take advantage of the occasion to "rethink, through prayerful wrestling with your own conscience, your stated positions on the vital 'life issues' of our day, particularly in regard to abortion, embryonic forms of stem-cell research and your position on the Freedom of Choice Act."
Father Cleary repeatedly quoted Obama's words at the National Prayer Breakfast in February: "There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being." Sadly, the priest said, legalized abortion implies that a person's choice for personal freedom supersedes this obligation to protect and nurture human life.
"An 'unwanted' child comes in many forms: an untimely presence; a disabled or deformed creature; an embryo of the wrong sex; a child conceived out of wedlock; a child conceived through a hideous crime," he said.
Father Cleary said the United States has a history of defining the parameters of human life "when it suits our self-interest." One example was slavery, justified by denying that a black human being of African descent was fully human, he said.
Father Cleary noted that many U.S. Catholics today feel their beliefs are dismissed without the serious attention they deserve. Catholics recognize that they live in a pluralistic society, he said, but also believe they have something vital to say about life issues.
"We want to be taken seriously. We insist on taking ourselves seriously; that is why there has been so much protest and turmoil in regard to your presence at Notre Dame," he wrote.
He suggested that at his Notre Dame appearance Obama speak about how Catholics "can be taken seriously for our faith convictions without being dismissed offhandedly and shunned; it is too offensive to be ignored, it is unacceptable."
Father Clearly said in his letter that he had been deluged with angry e-mails regarding Notre Dame's invitation to the president. He explained that he has no authority over the decision-making by the university, which is directed by a board of fellows and a board of trustees.
Priests and brothers of the Holy Cross order continue to serve at the university, and the university's president -- at present, Father John I. Jenkins -- is always a Holy Cross priest.
Pope says trip to Africa will focus on continent's hopes, challenges Mar. 16th
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said his trip to Africa would be a missionary journey highlighting the continent's challenges, its enormous potential and its "profound religious soul."
The pope, speaking two days before his departure for Cameroon and Angola, said he was not bringing a political or social program to Africa, but simply the Gospel message of love that is "capable of transforming the world."
"This is the grace that can also renew Africa, because it generates an irresistible power of peace and a deep and radical reconciliation," the pope told pilgrims at his noon blessing March 15.
"With this visit, I intend to embrace the entire African continent: its thousands of differences and its profound religious soul; its ancient cultures and its difficult path of development and reconciliation; its serious problems, its painful wounds and its enormous potential and hopes," he said.
The pope dedicated the trip to St. Joseph, whose feast is March 19, and entrusted to the saint the challenges and hopes of all segments of the African population.
"In particular, I am thinking of the victims of hunger, of disease, of injustice, of fratricidal conflicts and every form of violence that unfortunately continues to strike adults and children, as well as missionaries, priests, men and women religious, and volunteers," he said.
The pope said that among the main purposes of his weeklong visit was to confirm the faith of Catholics and encourage all Christians in ecumenical cooperation. He said the trip, his first to the African continent, was inspired in part by the evangelizing efforts of St. Paul.
"I depart for Africa with the awareness that I have nothing to propose and to give to those I will meet except Christ and the good news of his cross, a mystery of supreme love, of divine love that overcomes every human resistance and makes possible even forgiveness and love for one's enemies," he said.
The pope was to spend March 17-20 in Cameroon, where he was scheduled to meet with African bishops and hand-deliver the working document for the Synod of Bishops for Africa, to be held in Rome next October.
The pope was to visit Angola March 20-23, celebrating Masses, meeting with civil and religious leaders and meeting with young people in a soccer stadium.
It is his 11th foreign trip since his election as pope in 2005.
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