The word is that the Obama administration is trying to silence Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the Apostolic Signatura and former archbishop of St. Louis, in his frank statements against pro-abortion nominee to Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas.
Holy See: March 2009 Archives
This is stale news but the church in Bari, Italy which holds the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra (on whom Santa Claus is based) has been handed over to the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1087, his relics were stolen from the Orthodox and moved to Bari. As a sign of healing, the church has been given to the Orthodox. What's not clear is whether the relics and/or their care has been entrusted to them as well. The full text of the papal message doesn't really answer the question. I guess time will tell. In any case, I think this gesture is overdue.
... And promises to pay more attention to it. Wow, this may be what they call an "inflection point" — a point where the tide turns.
The context is the Bishop Williamson controversy, the bishop who denies the Holocaust and had his (along with three other SSPX bishops) excommunication lifted. The relevant quote is "That this overlapping of two opposed processes took place and momentarily upset peace between Christians and Jews, as well as peace within the Church, is something which I can only deeply deplore. I have been told that consulting the information available on the internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news."
This release is remarkable for its clarity, for its earnestness, and for its personal character. For example, the pope says, "I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility." I simply cannot imagine the pope before this point making such a statement; it's just so un-pope-like (in a good way, I think). Certainly not expected from a German pope. :-) The pope, in this press release, is painfully frank about his mistakes. And this, I think, is good, and will help in the healing of this pontificate admittedly plagued by more than one trouble.
I anticipate soon the pope will be speaking l33t.
