...who is of course simply splendid, has come up with a new Apostolic Exhortation, and it's excellent - warm, vigourous, challenging, orientated towards active lay apostles and not diocesan bureaucrats, and with an upbeat 21st-century feel. Full text here. It tackles greed, the current obsessions with money and the sinister use of unjust power in unbridled money-making, our longing for truth and for beauty, the urgency of teaching the glorious message of the Faith...
At the start of this pontificate, a nasty Blog (USA-based, I think) which asserts itself as being "traditional", said a number of horrible things about the Holy Father. Never apologised. Never posted a proper correction. Then the Lefebvrists weighed in with their nasty rants, as did a couple of quasi-Lefebvrist lobby groups. Ugh. Meanwhile, there was a grand turn-out for World Youth Day, some wonderful encounters in St Peter's Square, and more...
My only worry is that the joyful call for an invigorated evangelisation will fall, as did Papa Benedict's, on deaf ears. For too many people, Catholicism is seen as a sort of tribal tradition, in which a passionate search for truth and a joyful discovery of God's huge love for us do not really feature. Papa Benedict's message was centred on the love that God has for each one of us, and the life-changing things that can happen when we discover that love. To help people make that discovery, we must evangelise - and doing so is itself a joyful adventure.
Oh, and a memo to those who don't get what Christ's love is all about: it doesn't mean that the Church ever can, or should, or wants to, or seeks to, change the deep meaning and purpose in God's plan for human life and love, as taught "from the beginning." (Bet they don't listen. While all sorts of great and good things happen, they'll still be moaning about why the Church is oppressive in saying that marriage is between a man and a woman...it must be so dreary for them).
And they never learn from their mistakes, even the blatant and embarrassing ones. Remember all that talk about John Paul being a Polish peasant whose influence on world events was going to be fairly minimal? About how Communism, while it had irritating aspects, was basically an economic success story which hadn't been allowed a fair chance to prosper? About how an elderly Pole couldn't possibly talk to youth in the late 20th century? And, for good measure, about how Benedict's visit to Britain wasn't going to be a success? Their idiotic comments flashed through my mind as we stood in Hyde Park and heard the cheers and cheers of the vast crowd as he made his way towards us, and we saw on the TV screens mothers holding up their babies for him to bless, and people holding up placards of affectionate greetings...
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