Today is the first Thursday of the month, and as such, lay people can obtain a plenary indulgence if they pray for priests today. Pope Benedict offered this plenary indulgence during the Year of the Priest in order to encourage all of us to pray fervently for priests.

Contrary to the post title (a parody of Tetzel’s famous couplet), the normal requirements for a plenary indulgence must also be met to obtain a full remission of the temporal punishment for sins (and #4 is a doozy):

1. Pray for the intentions of the pope.
2. Attend Mass.
3. Go to confession.
4. Be detached from sin.

Plenary indulgences can be applied to the one obtaining it or to a soul in purgatory. For more information about indulgences, see the Catholic Answers website.

This will be an impressive meeting. All the Patriarchs of the Catholic Church are meeting with the Pope regarding a variety of issues:

The growth of fundamentalism in the Middle East and the concerns it is generating among Christians, the importance of Islamic-Christian dialogue, the status of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs in the Universal Church and the Ecclesiastic jurisdiction in Kuwait and the Gulf States are the four main issues the seven Eastern Catholic Patriarchs will discuss tomorrow with Benedict XVI at their request.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Armenian Catholicos Bédros XIX and Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan arrived in Rome yesterday; Melkite Patriarch Gregory III, Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal and Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib will join them today.

The Patriarchs’ observations are contained in a note to be delivered to the Pope. In their meeting, they plan to talk in great detail with the Holy Father first of all about issues relating to the place of their Churches in the Universal Church as well as other ecclesiological matters, including the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Kuwait and the other Gulf emirates, countries which in recent years have welcomed tens of thousands of Arab Christian blue and white collar workers attracted by their booming economies. The Eastern Churches want Rome to reflect on the fact that from an historical perspective the region should belong to the Antiochian Rite.

The Patriarchs are also concerned about the fate of Christians of the Middle East, who are challenged, especially in Egypt and Iraq, by the growth of fundamentalism. They will stress the importance of a strong and concerted international action to redress the injustice visited upon Palestine, and will recommend a just resolution that would include the right of Palestinians to their own state. They also insist on the importance of the Islamic-Christian dialogue.

During their stay in Rome, the Patriarchs will also participate on 21 and 22 September to a preparatory session for a special assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, which should be held in the Vatican next year.

These Patriarchs govern churches in quite difficult situations – let us in the West pray that they might be able to preach and live the Gospel freely.

H/t: Byzantine, TX

I am so seriously excited:

Pope to publish 2nd part of Jesus of Nazareth in spring

I find it quite appropriate that my book and the pope’s will come out in the same year, as the first part of “Jesus of Nazareth” was one of the main inspirations for writing my own book about Jesus.

So if you can only buy one book about Jesus next year, then buy “Jesus of Nazareth, Part II”. But if you can buy two books about Jesus in 2010, buy the Pope’s book as well as “Who Do You Say That I Am?” by your blog host (coming in September 2010). After all, what is more important than knowing Jesus better?

This is a great idea: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that they will be producing DVDs which will help both clergy and the faithful properly celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, aka the Latin Mass.

Although I personally love a well-said, reverent Norvus Ordo Mass, I think the restoration of the Latin Mass was a great move by Pope Benedict. My hope is that the increased exposure to the Latin Mass will seep into the practice of the Norvus Ordo, leading it to be celebrated in a more reverent, traditional manner.

Mark Shea has a nice article over at Catholic Exchange about Pope Benedict’s emphasis on fostering our relationship with Christ over simply following rules (“Benedict is About Relationship with Christ, Not Rules“).

Many people miss this aspect of B16′s pontificate, but it has been an inspiration for my writing Who Do You Say That I Am? My main goal for this book is that Catholics (and all Christians) will use it to know Jesus better and thus develop a deeper relationship with him. Often Catholics cringe when they hear Evangelicals talking about a “personal relationship with Christ,” but the fact is that they are right to emphasize it. Where they err is that they reject many of the gifts Christ has given us to foster that relationship – the Eucharist, the Blessed Mother, even periphery items like Canon Law are intended to deepen that relationship.

There is no dichotomy between Christ and the Church; in fact, the Church is our means in which we draw closer to Christ. As Mark mentions in the article, the elites of this world look at the Church as just another political entity and the rules the Church enforces are just ways to keep the faithful in line. But if you really listen to Pope Benedict’s words, you will see that his whole ministry is an effort to bring us each closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pope Benedict suffered a fractured wrist last night after he fell during his vacation:

Pope Benedict XVI fell overnight, fracturing his right wrist. The pope was in the Salesian-owned chalet in the northern Italian Alps where he is vacationing.

Papal spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said, “after a fall in his room overnight, the Holy Father suffered a slight fracture of his right wrist.”

“Nevertheless, in the morning the Holy Father celebrated Mass and had breakfast, then was accompanied to the hospital in Aosta where the slight fracture was discovered and his wrist was immobilized.”

Pope Benedict is undergoing a procedure under local anesthesia to set his wrist, the spokesman of Parini Hospital in Aosta told the Italian news agency ANSA.

(ANSA also said the pope asked to be treated like any other patient and had to wait in the radiology department for his X-ray, then again outside the surgical unit for the treatment room where the fracture was reduced.)

Tomorrow here in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, a very special espiscopal ordination is taking place. Fr. Augustine Di Noia, O.P., will be ordained the Archbishop of Oregon City, Oregon. Why is this special? Because Archbishop-elect Di Noia has been appointed the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, the body in charge of overseeing the liturgy. As such, he was raised to the rank of Archbishop, and like all Vatican officials, was made the titular head of a diocese that doesn’t really exist (in this case, Oregon City).

The appointment of Di Noia I think is interesting. He is known as a tremendous theologian, but not necessarily a liturgist. This seems to be consistent, however, with Pope Benedict’s desire to re-establish the theological importance of the liturgy in the life of the Church. The main contact the vast majority of Catholics have with the Church (and for that matter, with Christ) is through Sunday Mass, and the Pope recognizes that if the Mass is not a time in which man can encounter God, it has not done its job properly.

Nothing ignites passions among Catholics on the internet more than a discussion about the Mass. What I have found in real life, however, is that most Mass-going Catholics do not have strong opinions about how the Mass is celebrated – they simply attend each Sunday and do not care that much what music is played, which way the priest is facing, or how close the English translation is to the original Latin. But it is clear that they are deeply shaped in their own walk with Christ by the way Mass is celebrated each week.

This is why the liturgy is so important, as it either assists or detracts from our ability to fulfill our most primary responsibility in life: to worship God, our Creator and Redeemer. Personally, I am not a traditionalist who insists that the old Latin Mass is the only proper way to say the Mass. Yet I do believe that many of the innovations that have entered the Mass over the past 40 years have been detrimental to proper worship.

My own standard is this: in what “direction” does each aspect of the Mass – the words, the motions, the music, etc. – take us? Is it to God, or is it to ourselves? Liturgy is fundamentally an encounter between God and man, and as such, all the actions of the liturgy should direct man towards God.

Note that nothing I say here is culturally conditioned – I believe that each culture can adjust the Mass (within properly-defined boundaries, of course) as best fits its own genius. So there can be a wide variety of music, for example. Yet all music within the liturgy should be directed towards God, not towards ourselves (which thus excludes a large portion of music currently being used in parishes across the nation – what I call the “How Great We Art” song list).

This is one of the reasons I love the Eastern liturgies; they have maintained the proper “direction.” There is no question that everything that goes on in an Eastern liturgy is directed towards God. Yes, this can make it difficult for a newcomer to become comfortable with such a liturgy, but there is no question for any visitor what is going on when they enter: the worship of the Trinitarian God. I have been to many Roman liturgies in which this occurs as well, but too often I have attended Masses in which it is unclear at best exactly who is being worshiped.

I pray for Archbishop-elect Di Noia that he will work hard to make the Roman liturgy one that is always directed towards the Almighty God.

I have not yet had an opportunity to read the Pope’s newest encyclical (and I’m not sure when I will be able to), but Jimmy Akin gives some good guidelines for anyone who is interested in reading it and understanding the Pope’s thoughts in this matter:

Early Tentative Thoughts on the New Encyclical

I especially thought the following point was important to note:

It is quite likely that a person reading the encyclical will find himself challenged at various points, no matter what his native political instincts are. This is part of the pope’s intention. He wants to challenge everybody and shake them out of the uncritical political orbits that people find themselves sliding into. One should therefore avoid two mistakes in reading the document: (a) One should not casually dismiss things that seem to conflict with one’s previous views; this is the Vicar of Christ talking, and we need to take what he says seriously. (b) One should not simply seize on things that seem to confirm one’s prior views and absolutize them; there is a very substantial element of nuance to what the pope says, he is deliberately leaving room for legitimate diversity of opinion even as he makes certain proposals, and he is not attempting to engage his infallibility and thus is deliberately leaving much of what he says open to future revision.

When I do get around to reading this encyclical, I will read it with the understanding that its author is not only the pope, but a really, really, really smart guy as well.

Back in the mid-1990′s I was in the Masters of Theology program at Franciscan University of Steubenville (and yes, I’m still trying to finish that degree!). I had recently completed my B.S. degree in Systems Analysis, so I was one of the more technically-able students in the program. Pope John Paul II released an encyclical, and I was the wonder of my fellow students and the professors because I was able to get a copy of the encyclical off of the “internet” – a wondrous and unknown land of unlimited potential. I remember one professor (who shall remain nameless) begging me to print out a copy of the encyclical (I think it was Evangelium Vitae, but I can’t remember for sure) so that he could read it before anyone else in the department.

Why do I bring this up today? Because you too can be the wonder of your friends and neighbors by finding the latest papal encyclical – Caritas in Veritate – on that wondrous world of the “internet.” All you need to do is click here.

This past weekend I received the newsletter for the Monastic Community of Maria Sedes Sapientiae – a new Benedictine order based in Norcia, Italy (birthplace of St. Benedict) which counts a good friend as a member (and of which I’ve blogged about before). They had exciting news to report:

July 7th, 2009 will mark the 2nd anniversary of the Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI Summorum Pontificum. For this occasion, the monks of Norcia are pleased to announce a new liturgical apostolate, given to us by the Holy See. The Monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia has been asked to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in utroque usu -according to both the extraordinary and ordinary forms of the Roman rite.

This is quite an honor for this young order, and an important one. Pope Benedict very much wants to promote a “hermeneutic of continuity,” meaning that what Catholics believe and practice after Vatican II is in continuity with what they believed and practiced before Vatican II. The restoration of the Latin Mass is a key part of this campaign: nothing in Vatican II in any way abolished this form of the Liturgy, and its celebration today can help us to more properly celebrate the Norvus Ordo. The Community of Maria Sedes Sapientiae has quite a responsibility in celebrating both forms in such a way that Catholics can see both as legitimate – and beautiful – means of worship.

Read their newsletter for more details about this new apostolate.

The Pope gave a teaching on the monastic St. Theodore yesterday:

The principles of poverty, chastity and sacrifice for the good of the community, which are characteristic of monastic life, are valid for all Christians, Pope Benedict XVI said.

During his weekly general audience May 27 in St. Peter’s Square, the pope used the example of the Byzantine monk St. Theodore the Studite to explain how the virtues that monks and nuns strive for should be emulated by all in everyday life.

St. Theodore, who was born in 759, emphasized the ideals of “renunciation of private property, freedom from material things, sobriety (and) simplicity,” the pope told the crowd of about 14,000 people. “This extreme form is valid for monks, but the spirit is valid for everyone,” he said.

Over the years, I have become more and more convinced that we all have a call to the religious vows of poverty, chastity and even obedience. Yes, for a non-religious they must be modified to fit one’s state in life, but each principle is a fundamental Christian principle, not an ideal for just a few.

I especially think the vow of poverty is a beautiful gift for all Christians, but perhaps it is too misunderstood today. Perhaps calling it a “vow of simplicity” would be better suited for it to be understood by your typical layman. Obviously a father must have enough money to support his family, but living a more simple life can prevent material attachments from choking the spiritual life.

A great book that I would highly recommend is “Happy Are You Poor: The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom” by Thomas Dubay. It is a wonderful treatment of how the Christian should treat material goods in their life.

Do you want to know how to read the Bible as a Catholic? Ask Pope Benedict:

In this regard, the Second Vatican Council points out three criteria that always apply for an interpretation of Sacred Scripture in conformity with the Spirit that inspired it.

First of all it is essential to pay great attention to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture: only in its unity is it Scripture. Indeed, however different the books of which it is composed may be, Sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God’s plan whose centre and heart is Jesus Christ (cf. Lk 24: 25-27; Lk 24: 44-46).

Secondly, Scripture must be interpreted in the context of the living tradition of the whole Church. According to a statement of Origen: “Sacra Scriptura principalius est in corde Ecclesiae quam in materialibus instrumentis scripta”, that is, “Sacred Scripture is written in the heart of the Church before being written on material instruments”.

Indeed, in her Tradition the Church bears the living memory of the Word of God and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her its interpretation according to the spiritual meaning (cf. Origin, Homilae in Leviticum, 5,5).

As a third criterion, it is necessary to pay attention to the analogy of the faith, that is to the consistence of the individual truths of faith with one another and with the overall plan of the Revelation and the fullness of the divine economy contained in it.

Read the whole speech; Pope Benedict is a Scripture scholar par excellence, and I have always found a deep understanding of Biblical thinking in his writings.

From our Holy Father:

I am inviting all those who make use of the new technologies of communication, especially the young, to utilize them in a positive way and to realize the great potential of these means to build up bonds of friendship and solidarity that can contribute to a better world.

Young people in particular, I appeal to you: bear witness to your faith through the digital world!

Employ these new technologies to make the Gospel known, so that the Good News of God’s infinite love for all people, will resound in new ways across our increasingly technological world!

Let’s get to it!

I can’t believe I’ve taken so long to blog about this story – it involves St. Francis (my favorite saint), Pope Benedict (my favorite pope), and Jesus Christ (my favorite incarnate God).

The Franciscans recently celebrated the 800th anniversary of the founding of their order, and Pope Benedict reminded them of the process in which Francis renewed the Church – he first renewed himself, then his order, then the Church:

“Like St. Francis, always begin with yourselves. If you prove capable of renewing yourselves in the spirit of the Gospel, you will continue to help the pastors of the Church to make her face, as the bride of Christ, ever more beautiful.”

What I have always loved about St. Francis is his intense desire to be molded into the likeness of Christ. As Pope Benedict said, “the ‘Poverello’ became a living Gospel, capable of attracting men and women of all times to Christ, especially the young who prefer radical commitment to half measures.” This is what attracts people to Christ: not halfhearted, fearful and watered-down explanations, but the bold living and preaching of the Gospel. This is why I love the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal so much – they preach the Gospel with every part of their lives, from how they live in brotherhood to how they care for the poor to how they preach the truth of Christianity, even when the world rejects it.

If we want to renew the Church, we must first renew ourselves.

St. Francis, pray for us!

Today is the pope’s 82nd birthday, and he is spending it quietly with his brother. Last year, he spent it (a little less quietly) with me and a few friends:

(Picture taken in front of Vatican Embassy on April 16th, 2008).