News from the Holy See News from the Holy See
Christus Rex Information ServiceVATICAN CITY, JUL 26, 1996 (VIS) - Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, will deliver four addresses in early August during a trip to the United States.
On August 1, he will deliver the homily at the Mass for the staff of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, based in Huntington, Indiana. On August 7 he will speak at the annual convention of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus in Chicago, Illinois. The archbishop will be in Rockford, Illinois, on August 8 and 9 where he will speak, respectively, at the Family and Communications Banquet and at the Media Bishop's Appreciation Luncheon.
VATICAN CITY, JUL 26, 1996 (VIS) - The Vatican daily newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano," was first published on July 1, 1861, and has appeared continuously since that date, with the exception of a few months following the capture of Rome by Italian troops in 1870.
The predecessor of this paper was a privately-printed, but officially approved, triweekly Catholic publication born in 1848 as the desire of Catholics living in the Papal States. Called "Il Costituzionale Romano," it was shut down in 1849, but re-opened later that year with the name L'Osservatore Romano (The Roman Observer). It was suspended in 1852 but plans grew over the decade for a "political and religious daily" and L'Osservatore Romano as we know it today was re-born in 1861. It was the project of Pope Pius IX who entrusted it to his Assistant Minister for the Interior Marcantonio Pacelli, the grandfather of the future Pius XII.
The paper was privately owned until 1890, after which it belonged to the Vatican. It was printed in Rome, however, until the signing of the Lateran Pacts on February 11, 1929, which established Vatican City State. Printing facilities were built in Vatican City and in 1937 Pope Pius XI entrusted the administrative responsibility of the paper to the Salesian Fathers.
Now 135 years old, the paper has been rejuvenated during its long history and has seen the birth, as well, of six foreign-language editions. Five are weekly: French (in 1949), English (1968), Spanish (1969), Portuguese (1970) and German (1971). A monthly in Polish debuted in 1980.
A weekly edition in Italian started in 1950. Though each has its own editor and staff, the language editions are considered part of one newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, which has one editor in chief.
The aim of L'Osservatore Romano is to present the teaching of the Pope and the Church and to publish acts and documents of the Holy Father and the Holy See. The daily edition publishes all papal discourses in the language in which they are given, while the weeklies translate into their own language.
The masthead of the daily Italian edition bears the name L'Osservatore Romano, under which appears the papal insignia of the triple tiara and two crossed keys and the words "Daily Political-Religious Newspaper." The triple tiara represents the teaching, ruling and sanctifying offices of the Pope and the two keys, one gold and one silver, represent the power of the keys given St. Peter.
To the left of the insignia are the words "Unicuique suum," which come from a classic Roman definition of justice: "to give each his due." To the rights are the words "Non praevalebunt," from Our Lord's promise to Peter (St. Matthew 16, 18): "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT." These Latin phrases appear on all editions.
L'Osservatore Romano is not an official publication, though the section of the Italian daily edition entitled "Nostre Informazioni" (Our Information) is official. The official Holy See bulletin is the "Acta Apostolicae Sedis," produced by the Secretariat of State.
In November 1990 weekly editions of the paper switched to the latest computerized photocomposition technologies. The photos used are those taken by the newspaper's own Arturo Mari and his staff or others which arrive via satellite.
The year 1995 saw the computerization of the archives, starting with 1991. In recent years all editions of the Italian daily and the weekly English have been put on micro-film. Since Pope John Paul's January 1995 trip to Manila for World Youth Day, part of the L'Osservatore Romano-English edition is printed in Manila for an Asian public and is identical to the one printed in Rome.
The Italian daily edition produces Sunday supplements on the main religious, political, social and cultural themes of the moment, and a glossy, year-end supplement in color which chronicles the main events in the Church's life, in foreign affairs and on the Italian and Roman scene. In 1995 five magazine supplements were produced, dedicated to: the consecrated life; preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000 via the Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millennio Adveniente"; Pope John Paul's historic visit to the UN in October of that year; comments on news which appeared throughout the year in the section entitled "Oggi"; and the Pope's angelus reflections in view of the September 1995 UN Conference on Women in Beijing.
VATICAN CITY, JUL 26, 1996 (VIS) - The Fabric of St. Peter's originated in the time of Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who granted special favors to faithful who contributed to the rebuilding of the Vatican Basilica.
The term "fabbrica" or fabric refers both to the physical possessions of a church or institution - the building itself, the works of art it contains, its financial resources and so forth - and to the administrative body that manages the upkeep and restoration of those assets.
Clement VII (1523-1534) created a college with 60 members to whom he entrusted the building and administration of the basilica, and Clement VIII (1592-1605) substituted this college with a congregation of cardinals whose prefect was the archpriest of the basilica.
Norms were established for the administration of the basilica's possessions by Benedict XIV with the Constitution "Quanta Curarum" of November 25, 1751, by St. Pius X with the Apostolic Constitution "Sapienti Consilio" of June 29, 1908, and by Paul VI with the Apostolic Constitution "Regimini Ecclesiae Universae" of August 15, 1967.
In his June 1988 Apostolic Constitution "Pastor Bonus," Pope John Paul II established that "the Fabric of St. Peter's, according to its own laws, will continue to attend to everything that regards the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles, both for the conservation and decor of the building, and for the internal discipline of its custodians and the pilgrims who come to visit the temple."
The Fabric is headed by a cardinal president, who is also the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, assisted by an archbishop delegate and an administrative committee.
Among the divisions that operate within the Fabric are the Vatican Mosaic Studio, which was canonically erected by Benedict XIII (1724-1730) and whose president is the archbishop delegate; the historical and photographic archives; and the "Ufficio Scavi" (Excavation Office), which coordinates visits to the Vatican pre-Constantine necropolis and the tomb of St. Peter. In 1995, the Ufficio Scavi provided guided tours of the site in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish to 34,322 people.
In addition to its main tasks of maintenance and restoration of the basilica's structures and works of art, the Fabric of St. Peter's participates in exhibits outside the Vatican by lending out its holdings. It also publishes a monthly newsletter in Italian titled "La Basilica di San Pietro" including updates on restoration projects underway, articles providing analyses of certain works of art, a calendar describing recently held celebrations, and the schedule for Masses, confessions, and other sacraments in the basilica, as well as hours for the basilica, its museums, the scavi and the dome.
BRASILIA (Jul 26, 1996 4:41 p.m. EDT) - Married Catholic priests from around the world on Friday called on the Vatican to end its ban on marriage for the clergy, warning that intransigence on the issue could further erode the Church's thinning ranks.
"The Vatican is hurting us and the future of the Church just to uphold a law that Jesus Christ never gave us," said Anthony Padovano who heads the U.S. Corpus of Married Priests.
About 200 priests and many of their wives and children attended the opening day of a Fourth International Conference of Married Catholic Priests in the Brazilian capital.
"Your talents must help the rebirth of the Church ... Jesus Christ can't be held hostage to institutionalism," said Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian priest and theologian whose preachings in favour of the poor and against the status quo have made him an enemy of the Vatican.
The Movement of Married Catholic Priests (MPC) estimates that about 100,000 priests worldwide have married. Priests who wed no longer run the risk of ex-communication but are stripped of their right even to help in Catholic ceremonies.
Organisers said the conference was called to boost solidarity among married priests, show clergymen and women worldwide the positive effects of physical love on their work, and press for an easing of the Vatican's rigid views.
"Priests everywhere are discovering that love is the source of life," said former Argentine Bishop Jeronimo Podesta who gave up his right to serve in the Church to marry in 1972. He said the celibacy issue was contributing to an erosion of the Church's flock in traditionally Catholic Latin America.
Podesta said the Church's insistence on celibacy could be traced back to the story of how Eve caused Adam to be cast out of Garden of Eden. "Many centuries have gone by since then. We would be very stupid not to see things differently now."
Brazil claims the world's largest Catholic population of about 160 million people but it is now home to an estimated 30 million evangelical Christians as well.
Irene Cacais, a German who was a Benedictine nun before marrying a Portuguese priest, said celibacy might enable some churchmen and women to dedicate themselves exclusively to the work of the Church but isolated others from the real world.
"How can a priest tell his congregation that they should have lots of children when he does not know what it is to struggle to bring up a family?" Cacais asked.
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