The Holy Father's Urbi et Orbi Message

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II

CHRISTMAS 2003

1. Descendit de caelis Salvator mundi. Gaudeamus!

The Saviour of the world has come down from heaven. Let us rejoice!
This proclamation, filled with deep rejoicing,
echoed in the night of Bethlehem.
Today the Church renews it with unchanged joy:
the Saviour is born for us!
A wave of tenderness and hope fills our hearts,
together with an overpowering need for closeness and peace.
In the crib we contemplate the One
who stripped himself of divine glory
in order to become poor, driven by love for mankind.
Beside the crib the Christmas tree,
with its twinkling lights,
reminds us that with the birth of Jesus
the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity.
The crib and the tree: precious symbols,
which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas!

2. In the heavens there echoes the proclamation of the angels:
"To you is born in the city of David
a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11).
What wonder!
By being born in Bethlehem, the Eternal Son of God
has entered into the history of each person
living on the face of the earth.
He is now present in the world
as the one Saviour of humanity
For this reason we pray to him:
Saviour of the world, save us!

3. Save us from the great evils which rend humanity
in these first years of the third millennium.
Save us from the wars and armed conflicts
which lay waste whole areas of the world,
from the scourge of terrorism
and from the many forms of violence
which assail the weak and the vulnerable.
Save us from discouragement
as we face the paths to peace,
difficult paths indeed, yet possible and therefore necessary;
paths which are always and everywhere urgent,
especially in the Land where You were born,
the Prince of Peace.

4. And you, Mary, the Virgin of expectation and fulfilment,
who hold the secret of Christmas,
make us able to recognize in the Child
whom you hold in your arms the heralded Saviour,
who brings hope and peace to all.
With you we worship him and trustingly say:
we need You, Redeemer of man,
You who know the hopes and fears of our hearts.
Come and stay with us, Lord!
May the joy of your Nativity reach
to the farthest ends of the universe!

A Blessed Christmas to All!

And the Angel said to them, "Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be for all the people; for this day is born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger." !


And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will!"

The shepherds follow at once the voice of God which calls them to the manger; they exhort one another to do so; they seek the Redeemer and happily find Him; they make Him known to others, and heartily thank God for the grace given them.

Let us follow the inspirations of God with ready obedience; let us exhort one another to virtue by our good example and edifying conversation; let us make good use of the knowledge given us by God, give it to others, and praise God for this and all He has given us.

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new birth of Thine only begotten Son in the flesh may deliver us who are held by the old bondage under the yoke of sin.

Wishing all a Blessed & Holy Christmas

Upcoming St. Louis Marian Conference

will be held at the Adam's Mark on January 9, 10 & 11, 2004.

Speakers include:

James Akin
Dr. Marcelino D'Ambrosio
Fr. Charles Becker
Dr. Scott Hahn
Fr. Bill Casey
Msgr. John Hickel
Michael Cumbie
Fr. Mitch Pacwa
Wayne Weible

For more info, call (314) 423-1075

Eucharist Is Antidote to Individualism says Cardinal Ratzinger

Considers Encyclical on the Sacrament the Year's Key Papal Document.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger believes that the greatest threat to man today is relativism, which ends by shutting him up in individualism.

Cardinal asks moratorium on new Vatican documents

Rome, Dec. 22 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Godfriend Danneels of Brussels has asked for a limitation on the documents and instructions produced by the Holy See.

Cardinal Danneels spoke of the "perpetual flow of paper" from Vatican bureaus to the world's bishops. "We need a moment of calm," he remarked, in an interview with the Italian monthly 30 Giorni.

"We are always inundated with very long documents, instructions, and manuals," the cardinal complained. "The deluge of documents that come from Roman dicasteries with an authoritative character, the norms-- which come without any organization which would indicate to us which are important and which are less so." The result, he said, is that diocesan bishops spend much of their time relaying messages from Rome to their own diocesan agencies.

Cardinal Danneels suggested "a moratorium on that all, to promote simplication." A break in the flow of documents from Rome, he said, would provide "a moment of calm, to catch our breath."

Questioned about the intense focus on the Pope as the head of the Church, the cardinal remarked that the mass media coverage is "concentrated on a personality, a detail, divorced from its context." While that is a common tendency of contemporary culture, he argued that "the identification of a role and a particular personality is not a good thing."

The only way to counteract that tendency, he suggested, is by "the humility of the man himself." As an example of that humility, he cited Pope John Paul XXIII.

Cardinal Danneels argued that during the second millennium of Christianity, the papacy was modeled after the national monarchies, especially those of Europe. In the future, he said, that model should be dropped, so that the Church "emphasizes the essential characteristics of the Petrine ministry."

Ah yes, this from the cardinal who did nothing to stop the complete destruction of the faith at the seminary at Louvain...

Perhaps if the documents were read and followed, there would not be such a need for so many? The good cardinal speaks of the "perpetual flow of paper" from the Vatican, yet this is the only way many of the faithful can be nourished since far too many times bishops and priests neglect to pass this information on. These "papers" from Rome are a welcome relief from the "perpetual flow of heresy and heterodoxy" that flows from the mouths of the dissenters.

I think that all we need to do is to take a close look at the state of the faith in his country to determine to what extent we should heed his advice on this matter.

Is it time to say goodbye to these "priests"?

How can these men remain priests if they reject the teaching of the Church, which they call "vile and toxic"? Why don't they flee to a group with which they can find comfort? What a bunch of apostate heretics!
Cardinal George responded:

If "you cannot resolve that tension between welcoming people as they are and still calling them to leave their sinfulness and become saints, or if you yourself do not accept the Church's moral teaching on the moral use of the gift of sexuality, it would be all the more important for us to talk," he wrote.

...Hopefully to either "convert" them or to remove them as heretics from the priesthood.