Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley says he, too, is “disappointed” Pope Benedict XVI won’t be visiting Boston on his first U.S. trip, but believes the pontiff’s American sojourn will “strengthen and encourage” American Catholics in the wake of the church sex abuse crisis.
“The mistakes of the past must be avoided,” O’Malley told the Herald yesterday, four days before he will leave to greet Benedict in Washington , D.C. “I’m sure the Holy Father’s message will be along those lines . . . a call for reconciliation and for a desire to bring people together and to call people to healing.”
In an interview yesterday , O’Malley talked about what his role will be in Benedict’s first visit, including a birthday lunch with the pontiff, about the disappointment he felt when he found out the Holy Father would not visit Boston and about the hope he has for the visit
Benedict, who will turn 81 during his visit, arrives Tuesday for a six-day trip to Washington and New York.
Last week, the Vatican announced that Benedict would deliver a message of “trust and hope,” and seek to heal wounds left by the pedophile priest scandal, which was first exposed in Boston.
Some speculated that Benedict isn’t visiting Boston because it would shine a spotlight on that ugly scandal, but O’Malley said Benedict’s age and the sheer number of requests he receives played more of a role.
O’Malley said he has no doubt Benedict will address that painful chapter in American Catholicism.
“The Holy Father is very aware of the situation in the United States . . . so I was certain that whether he came to Boston or not, he would certainly address this very important issue,” he said. “He knows our situation, our pastoral needs, so of course he would want to speak to us about these very important issues in our lives.”
The Archdiocese of Boston received 3,000 tickets for next Sunday’s Mass at Yankee Stadium, and demand for those tickets remains high.
O’Malley will share several moments with Benedict, including the Wednesday lunch, a visit to the White House and Mass celebrations in Washington and New York.
O’Malley will also see the pontiff off during a farewell ceremony at JFK International Airport.
O’Malley said he hopes Catholics “won’t just be caught up in the event” of the pope’s visit, but will“carefully analyze what his message is.”
“I’m urging everyone to be very attentive and be reflective.”
The Pope's Visit, Is It Less Than Welcome?
Diary Entry by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6926The Pope will again visit GW Bush, and probably not Boston. The Boston diocese has gone bankrupt defending Pedophiliac priests, so he is avoiding them. Instead he visits the mass-murderer he supported as president who is responsible for 1.5 million murders of Iraqi's, as well as 4.2 million Iraqi Diaspora, 4 million casualties and 3.5 million virtually homeless, and countless rapes and other abuses of human rights. That makes a lot of moral sense, does it not?
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The Pope's Visit, Is It Less Than Welcome By Catholics?There are somewhat more than 1.1 billion Catholics in the world and 67 million reside in America. Many of them, had they been allowed to vote would not have chosen Benedict. The Prophet Samuel, David's discoverer, was told when God chose the young David, "God does not choose as men would choose." Had God chosen a pope, my guess is that He would have chosen another like David; smart, attractive, strong and very much interested carnally in the opposite sex.
"Conservative Catholics" were expecting a bit more of this pope; after all, he was a conservative himself. They wanted him to breath fire and brimstone at slackers-Catholics, which "live in sin," a thing my generation, truly made a religion of. Our motto, if we can't have polygamy, we can have serial polygamy, like the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well-and why not, she became his prophetess guiding the entire town to him, didn't she? Her serial polygamy (five husbands and living with a guy to which she was not married...yet) gained her many friends.
Well, apparently. The pope did not cast out many Catholics, but he did threaten those who might vote for the Democrats who favored abortion and it was enough to give Bush victory in both elections.
The Conservatives missed one point, however, a point they and especially the recently late William F. Buckley, Jr seems to have missed in his 80 plus years on the Planet Earth. Maybe now that he is no longer here, but elsewhere, someone has made that perfectly clear to him. It is completely impossible to be a Christian and a Conservative because Jesus was a Flaming Liberal and his "way" which is made up of going softly on prostitution and women Like The Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well, and echoing the Sermon on the Mount, a Constitution for Liberals. Jesus was going MLK one better, by attacking racism, 2000 years ago, in his story John 4:4-42 and his story of the Good Samaritan.
However, conservatives are like that. They have a way of melting their selfish desires into Christianity and somehow deluding themselves that God is winking at their twisted view of Jesus' ideals. In Jesus' day, hugging a Samaritan, or displaying one in a sympathetic light and even as a hero of holiness, superior to that of the workaday Jew, was to those Hebrew Conservatives, especially the Herodian Priests who owned land, and like "Catholic Conservatives," (an Oxymoron) an undeniable delusion. Especially after they killed Jesus, who was at least the highest Prophet of God if not the adopted or spiritual Son of the Most High.
More than that, the pope seems publicly unaware that Jesus was a flaming Liberal and had been crucified not for religious reasons but for the same reasons conservatives always frame Liberals, for reasons that he was about to expose heavy profits from land-graft. He wanted to introduce The Year of The Lord, translate as: The Jubilee Year, now do you get it? It meant that a number of Herodian Rabbis would be found to own land, a thing forbidden to them. Worse, they were most likely doing so with the cooperation of second and third tier Roman petty officials.
For the Herodian priests who claimed that the not owning land demand was a mistranslation or misinterpretation, what it really meant was they could not work the land! So, they had agents for that aspect of their hidden graft. Why? The Year of The Lord, ala The Jubilee Year, meant that all land bought for taxes, foreclosed upon, had to be, at the close of the 49th year, and the rising sun of the 50th year had to be returned to the family from which it was foreclosed upon, from. This would cost the Herodian Rabbi's and their buyer's huge profits, and the rabbi's and their corrupt Roman officials their skins, literally.
Well the good news was if caught, the Herodian Rabbis would only get their throats slit by the Zealots or some other Jewish Revolutionaries, nothing compared to what Rome would slowly do to the Roman citizen officials-translate as skinning alive, being fed to loins, or burned at the stake or, and this is where it really gets dicey, (Literally) while still alive, drawn, quartered, sliced, diced and before that the other three horrors but only a little of each as sort of an appetizer-three or four appetizers.
Well, no matter, because we must lay a solid share of the blame at the feet of, and/or upon the head of the present Pope, who reversed the public renouncement by his predecessor against those who initiated this war. However, I am certain that the "Faith-Based Initiatives" (Translate that as bribes) offered by Bush for votes, (Initiatives which never surfaced) had little to do with the pope's letters to American Bishop's directing them to inform parishioners that voting for those who did not condemn abortion, or which supported it, could not, in fact, call themselves Catholic.
Neither do I support abortion, but many others and I foresaw the destruction of the most just system on the planet. We foresaw, the tens of millions of Americans thrown out of work and losing healthcare benefits for their families, who if they were lucky enough to find new jobs, found themselves competing with college and high school students for salaries 75% lower than their previous jobs but without benefits.
They saw their descendants facing unhealthier lives, shorter life expectancies, and their hopes for college dashed, resulting in more than 150,000,000 of future generations of their seed living in a Medieval, feudal economy, of near slave labor, their freedom rescinded by fascist rule, where incarceration sans Habeas Corpus, deportation "rendering" to torture laden concentration camps, where the Geneva Convention is mocked and inhuman suffering is hidden from public view and the Red Cross are ostracized.
We could/should easily forgive the present pope for a youthful indiscretion, even a youthful abomination, borne of teenage zeal and misbegotten patriotism, even of lack of foresight, due-diligence and Unenlightenment, and/or perhaps misguided by those who should have known better, to allow such a boy, at such a tender age, to join the Hitler Youth Movement and then the military. (But perhaps he was conscripted, rather than volunteered?).
We give him the mitigation of youth, during which many of us made grievous, though temporary errors not repeated once past pre-puberty. I myself once slept with four co-eds, one from each race, at the same time when I was 19, and did proper contrition for the offense, but have not done so since (Probably couldn't physically, even if I wanted to, as I am now farther from 19 than 19 is from zero). However, to write as Cardinal and again as pope to support a party and a man so obviously displaying all the signs of a pathological liars and of fascism, to support a man whose actions this pope's predecessor sharply condemned right to his face, is inexcusable.
What is even less excusable is this pope's ignoring the actions taken since his foolish, teen-aged lack of judgment. He has never, to my knowledge apologized either to the people of America or the people of Iraq for his lack of foresight-foresight many, much younger and less educated than he, but obviously more blessed with clairvoyance, and therefore, by the churches own definition of Enlightenment, more in a State of Grace.
Not, to my knowledge, has this pope publicly confessed his sin, his rank insensitivity, nor has he shrouded himself in sackcloth and ashes, torn out his hair, and begged humbly and publicly for forgiveness, and even now, at this late date, he has failed to condemn this president and this fascist regime which has stolen the Republican Party and ruined two nations and plans to ruin several more, one of which is decidedly Catholic.
This pope supported a candidate for President, whose ancestors lent Adolph Hitler millions of dollars between 1932 and 1942*, to build factories and "infrastructure" and we all know what part of that infrastructure was, ovens and pesticide showers, torture and concentration, Death camps. All that from the firms of Brown Brothers, Harriman* and UBC, managed by Prescott Bush*, "Bunny" Harriman and assisted by Walker, which capital and stock was confiscated by the Congress for "trading with the enemy". The firms employed three Nazi's overseas and held $3,000,000 in escrow for another, here in America. Although the lending began long before the USA entered the war, it was plain to many here and overseas, exactly what was brewing in Nazi Germany from, at least, the late 1920's onward.
Did this pope, in his youth fight against the Nazi's, and renounce them? No, in fact, he was a part of the Nazi youth movement and fought in WWII against the USA and all of those who hated what the Nazi's supported; which included; torture chambers at prisons and Concentration Death Camps, hideous experimental drugs and surgeries, political assassinations, abortions and sterilization of those pregnant, who were less than pure Aryan descent, most of which were Jews, the inhuman mass murders of several million Jews, Poles and others as well as the mass burials and Incinerations, preemptive war, Capital Punishment, destruction of German Habeas Corpus and wanton murder, kidnapping and private, and some mercenary, Secret Police. (Sound vaguely and currently familiar?)
Now he supports G W Bush, who his predecessor was enlightened enough to severely admonish.
Any one, and all of the horrors Hitler and now the Bushites have done are horrific to those of conscience, and were apparent before the election to those of foresight and spiritual Communion, and/or God Blessed, commonsense. (Is there anything Hitler has done Bush has not, given time, scale and opportunity?) Any and all of the things I mentioned above are things are reprehensible to men and women of foresight, vision, interior revelation, Bestowed Enlightenment, Infused Contemplation, and/or Enlightenment by The Holy Spirit, why not to a pope? What prompted this pope to support a president and a party which his predecessor condemned publicly to his face, (and in the presence of the First Lady), a president whose actions even his own non-Catholic, pastor condemned?
What prompted this pope to send letters to American Bishops, which, in essense, threatened defacto Excommunication of those who voted for a Democrat? Those who recognize the truth, see all of this as the replay of an ever-present cosmic battle, same souls, same angels, same demons, only with different faces different names and more money, and in a different country.
Instead of their last incarnation in Nazi Germany, now the enemy lives in America, the nation which destroyed Nazi Germany and its leadership, and they have been successfully supported by the same sort of people who supported their rise in Nazi Germany, and they all wish to make America, which is/was, the land of the free the home of the brave, into, Fascist Corporate America, the home of the brutal, the land of the Feudal Economy slave. Good Luck with that one, maybe it will do what the Democrats failed to do, awaken the indolent to vote.
Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson had proven to be a non-sequitar, a post hoc ergo propter hoc, argumentum ad ignorantiam, a bifurcation, a tu quoque, a hypothesis contrary to fact!
If killing prophets, faking miracles, and leading terrorist attacks are not hypocritical and blasphemous, I know not what is. Fallwell 's very utterances were enough to bring down upon us the Wrath of God. Now we have the pope refusing to condemn the Bushite fascists.
Perhaps Pope Benedict XVI should get down on his knees and repent, as I had suggested Jerry Fallwell do on May 13th 2007, for supporting a mass-murderer, a stealer of oil, a warmonger, or face Divine Corrective Measures or Divine Punishment.
Perhaps as penance he could give alms to the people of Iraq and to the people in the USA who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were wounded or injured in connection with the "war" in Iraq.
Professor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.
Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate Research Assistant position in college. He holds a triple bachelor's degree in Painting and Drawing, Anthropology, Architectural Design Advertising. MA's in Cultural Anthro, Painting and more.
After being tenured he taught; architecture, anthropology, Theology, advertising, painting and drawing, entrepreneuring and Creative Profit Making. He produced a star-studded Music festival, had a radio talk show in Chicago, and cable TV show. Now, retired from Teaching, he paints, writes, and pursues other ventures.
Art Hostage comments:
If all of the above is true then the current Pope, "Benny the Rat" is just the type of go-to guy needed to recover the stolen Gardner art.
This current Pope does exactly what he says on the tin, "I'm an extreme Right wing Neo-con Theologian, who's views are widely known and can be counted on to practice exactly what I preach", could be printed on his calling card.
No hiding behind a Liberal cloak, no Wolf in Sheep's clothing, a genuine 24 carat gold clunking fist of right wing dogmatic dogma that will see the Catholic church revert to its founding principals.
Catholics who disagree get out of the way as the Neo-con Juggernaut storms through with "Shock and Awe" !!
Affectionately known throughout the global Underworld as
"Benny the Rat", the current Pontiff can, if so disposed, recover the stolen Gardner art whilst in the U.S.
How, I hear you ask, well, if the paintings that remain located in the Boston area are deposited in a Catholic church confession box during the Pope's visit, the Priest have been given the all clear to claim the reward without revealing the identity of the returnee.
There may be some minor cost taken from the reward for the Catholic church and even an audience with the Pope as a thank-you.
Art Hostage realises not all the stolen Gardner art is still within the Boston area but from Small Acorns grow big Oaks.
Now, those with access to the stolen Gardner paintings take note !!
If you get down to your local Catholic church, take confession, even if you are not exclusively Catholic, the Priest will take possession of the Gardner paintings, Anne Hawley and Anthony Amore will race to the Catholic church and confirm the paintings to be authentic, and then, they will duly go to the bank and withdraw the reward money and give it to the Catholic priest.
The returnee of the Gardner paintings will be paid within 24 hours and only then will the story break, with the headlines:
"Gardner art discovered in Catholic Church Confession Box,"
The public reason given will be the paintings were returned to mark the visit of the Pope, and the returnee will get a private confession with the Holy Father if required.
Now, Art Hostage has spent a great deal of time convincing Benny the Rat to play ball and this offer is only open as long as the Pope is on American soil.
Better still, if you want to test this offer out, just go along to your Catholic church confession box without the Gardner art and ask the Priest about the Art Hostage plan.
The Priest will confirm he is authorised from Rome to recover the Gardner art without revealing the source and is able to claim and collect the reward and, here's the kicker, pass it on before going public.
O'h, you're wondering about the Feds and law enforcement, they have been told to stand aside and allow the Gardner art to be recovered via a Catholic church confession box.
Why would the Pontiff agree to the Art Hostage plan ?
Well, the recovery of stolen Gardner art is the first baby step on the long road to recovering faith in Boston, an Olive branch of sorts.
Reality is, Catholic church gets good publicity after a sea of bad publicity to complement the visit of Pope Benny the Rat 2008.
has teamed up with Joe Pistone, top, - the real-life Donnie Brasco - in an attempt to recover £250million worth of art stolen from a Boston museum 18 years ago.
