Commentary: Pope Benedict talks eloquently about ... water

I admit to raising my eyebrows upon my first reading:

"I am pleased to send a message of faith and hope", the Pope writes, "to those who are visiting the 2008 Saragossa Expo dedicated to the complex themes tied to the importance of water for human life and the maintenance of equilibrium among the diverse elements of our world. The Holy See wanted to be present at the Expo with a pavilion that was jointly prepared with the archdiocese of Saragossa, which I thank for their generous commitment to promoting proper cultural initiatives that draw the visitor closer to the immense patrimony of spirituality, art, and social wisdom that is inspired by water and which has been safeguarded by the Catholic Church".

"We have to be aware that, regrettably, water - an essential and indispensable good that the Lord has given us to maintain and develop life -, because of incursions and pressures from various social factors, is today considered a good that must be especially protected through clear national and international policies and used according to sensible criteria of solidarity and responsibility. The use of water - which is seen as a universal and inalienable right - is related to the growing and urgent needs of those living in poverty, keeping in mind that the 'limited access to drinkable water affects the well being of an enormous number of people and is frequently the cause of illness, suffering, conflict, poverty, and also death'".

"Those who consider water today to be a predominantly material good", the Pope concludes, "should not forget the religious meanings that believers, and Christianity above all, have developed from it, giving it great value as a precious immaterial good that always enriches human life on this earth. How can we not recall in this circumstance the suggestive message that comes to us from Sacred Scripture, which treats water as a symbol of purification and life? The full recovery of this spiritual dimension is ensured and presupposed for a proper approach to the ethical, political, and economic problems that affect the complex management of water on the part of all concerned, as well as in the national and international spheres". (VIS)

After thinking about it for a bit, however, I began to see the two-fold point. First, a clean and accessible water supply is indeed of paramount importance in the fight against global hunger and disease. Second, in the final paragraph, Pope Benedict transcends the material good represented by water and elevates his discourse to treat water's spiritual symbolism and (even) sacramental efficacy.

Now that's a type of conservationism I can admire.

Vatican to take disciplinary action against renegade Paraguayan bishop?

The headline gives us the picture: Former bishop Fernando Lugo scores historic win in Paraguay.

The story fills it in:

Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo won a historic victory in Paraguay's presidential election Sunday, ending more than six decades of one-party rule with a mandate to help the nation's poor and indigenous.

.... News of the win by the gray-bearded Lugo, dubbed the "bishop of the poor," set off massive parties in cities across Paraguay with horn-honking caravans of cars blaring music. Others stamped on torn-down banners of the Colorado Party, which many Paraguayans blame for decades of corruption by political elites.

.... In Paraguay's long-volatile politics, Lugo still awaited final official returns confirming his landmark triumph, which would make him he first former Catholic bishop elected as a president.

.... A bishop since 1994, he resigned the post in December 2006 to sidestep Paraguay's constitutional ban on clergy seeking office. Lugo says he was influenced by the liberation theology frowned upon by the Vatican. But he says he is neither on the left nor the right, but leads a pluralistic coalition.

Trouble is, it's meaningless to "resign" from being a priest (or a bishop) in the Catholic church.

[edited - see update below]

Canon Lawyer Ed Peters (my father) explains the complexities of the canonical case:

Pope Benedict XVI is believed to be mulling over the possibility of expelling a bishop, Fernando Lugo, from the clerical state. That would certainly be a first under the 1983 Code (the Jacques Gaillot case in 1995 was not a precedent; Gaillot was removed from office, but not from the clerical state), and I'm pretty sure it never happened under the 1917 Code.

[More arcanum and "practicalum" in his post.]

Catholic World News follows the above-cited canonical analysis of Ed Peters, and adds this:

A former Divine Word missionary, Lugo was named Bishop of San Pedro in 1994. He resigned that post in 2005, citing health issues. He is now 58 years old and his health appears to be fine.

How shocking. A miraculous recovery. Must have been a sign, right?

The Vatican's spokesmen, Fr. Federico Lombardi, says they are going to "take things slow."

In other words, don't expect an immediate specific condemnation of the bishop's most recent action (winning the election). Lugo is already in enough trouble for abandoning his ministry, so he's not going to get into more trouble for succeeding at what he left his office to accomplish. If anything, in accepting the position he proclaims his obduracy in sin. Plus the Vatican doesn't want to look like it is meddling in the political process.

update: Gregor of TNLM, in the comments section to this post, raises the possibility that removal of a bishop from the clerical state is in fact impossible, citing a statement by Cardinal Re. Considering that the original "source" for these rumors that the pope was considering removing Lugo from the clerical state is not the Vatican but instead a UK newspaper, it's not surprising that they would get this matter of fact wrong.

Heck, these journalists can't even get the concept of laicization down in the first place (instead they often use the non-technical term "defrocking", which they actually used again in today's story).

Updates as I see them....

update 2: Ed Peters responds that dismissing a bishop from the clerical state is not impossible, but will save explaining why until later tonight when he can do so at length on his blog. So check back there.

Commentary: Vatican admits Muslims more numerous than Catholics

The story:

Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.

Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 percent.

"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.

He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world's population -- or about 2 billion people.

The Vatican recently put the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people. It did not provide a figure for Muslims, generally estimated at around 1.3 billion.
Formenti said that while the number of Catholics as a proportion of the world's population was fairly stable, the percentage of Muslims was growing because of higher birth rates.

He said the data on Muslim populations had been compiled by individual countries and then released by the United Nations, adding the Vatican could only vouch for its own statistics.

A clarification (because you can make a catchy headline out of practically any set of statistics):

"Islam" should be taken as an umbrella term much like "Christianity." Islam does not have a central authority, and divisions of Islam are many. Islam is primarily divided into Sunnis (~940 million) and Shiites (~170 million).

Thus, It would be more accurate to compare "Islam" with "Christianity" and compare "Catholicism" with, say, the Sunni branch of Islam. In both these cases, Christianity and Catholicism remain more numerous than their respective counterparts.

Of course, this grammatical precision does not dismiss the demographic reality here: Muslims are having children at rates far exceeding Christians (and Jews, for that matter). It's a sad reality that of the three "Abrahamic Faiths", only Islam appears to fully live out God's promise of fertility.

Furthermore, this population shift is not just taking place in clearly identifiable areas. I remember being in Ireland one weekend in 2003, the first weekend that the number of people attending a Mosque exceeded the number of people attending Anglican services in the UK.

For any questions about world religions and demographics, Philip Jenkins is the scholar to read. I don't always agree with his ecclesiology, but his knowledge of the worldwide landscape is unparalleled, and especially the situation in Africa. His 2006 article for First Things, "Believing in the Global South" is a good place to start.

For those who are looking for a book-length treatment, one might read "The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South", "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity" or "God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis" (in which he claims that the "Islamification" of Europe is being over-dramatized, but Richard John Neuhaus disagrees).

I think that sufficies for a reading list.

Oh, and having Christian babies would help matters as well.

update: more commentary from Monsignor Vittorio Formenti (who compiled the statistics):

Formenti said the information on Muslim numbers had been released by the United Nations, while the Vatican's data on Catholics was based on questionnaires sent out to dioceses worldwide.

"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," he said.

Formenti said that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, "where there are few Catholics, but they are driven by great spirit".

He described Africa as a "grand resource" for the church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".
As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number, with two seminaries "packed full".

France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise". (source: Rome office of UK Guardian.)

Report: Apostolic Nunciature in Venezuela Bombed

Not. Cool.

Luckily, the bomb appears to have been intended to intimidate more than to directly harm:

Venezuelan bishops urged their government to protect the Pope's "house in Venezuela" after a bomb was set off outside the offices of the apostolic nunciature in Caracas.

The bombing occurred Thursday, and caused only minor damages. The façade of the structure was also vandalized with political graffiti.

The prelates reiterated their support for Archbishop Giacinto Berloco, the apostolic nuncio, and promised their prayers "for his intentions and for the successful development of his diplomatic and pastoral service." - Zenit

The article does not directly describe the cause of the tensions, but I do know Hugo Chavez's regime has long been antagonistic to the Catholic Church in Venezuala, and its leaders in particular.

From CWNews archives, Pope Benedict raised these issues directly with Chavez in May 2006:

Pope Benedict XVI took an extraordinary step to challenge Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez during a May 11 meeting at the Vatican.

At the conclusion of a private conversation with the visiting Venezuelan leader, the Holy Father presented Chavez with a letter detailing the concerns of the Holy See regarding the condition of the Church in Venezuela.

... Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters that the Pope had used the letter to emphasize the issues that he considers most critical, including:

• the freedom of the Holy See to nominate new bishops,
• the preservation of a distinctive Catholic identity at the Church-run University of Santa Rosa in Lima,
• the elimination of religious education from the school curriculum,
• the introduction of public-health programs that undermine the right to life, and
  the need for independence in the Catholic media

During his talk with the Pontiff, Chavez offered assurances that his government would work to ease the tensions that have characterized his relations with the Venezuelan bishops, Navarro-Valls reported.

Zenit, in its coverage, does not elaborate on what the political graffiti said, so we can't know directly what might have motivated the attack. Was it Chavez cronies encouraged to cause trouble? Was it Venezuelans who have bought into the misinformation Chavez has spread about the Church?

I'd appreciate someone with direct knowledge of the situation helping us out in the combox.

In the meantime, let's pray for the Church in Venezuela.

UK tabloid claim: "Pope to make climate action a moral obligation"

The UK Independent is making some big claims today and I'm going to attempt to give some clarification and context:

The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.

The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent.

It will act as the centrepiece of a US visit scheduled for next April – the first by Benedict XVI, and the first Papal visit since 1999 – and round off an environmental blitz at the Vatican, in which the Pope has personally led moves to emphasise green issues based on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, and the principle that believers have a duty to "protect creation".

While Pope Benedict may speak about stewardship of creation, I highly doubt such an appeal would constitute the "centerpiece" of his entire US tour. It is also imprecise to say that Pope Benedict has the authority to "invent" new moral causes, strictly speaking. The Pope can, however, emphasize to the Church that stewardship of creation is an important duty, in line with previously revealed truth. In other words, don't expect to see Pope Benedict adding an eleventh commandment: "Thou shalt use only hybrid cars." He'd be the last person to do that.

More interesting is the UK Independent claim about an "unprecedented Encyclical" on the same topic. This claim contradicts all previous reporting as to the subject matter of his next encyclical, with the dominant strain of rumor proposing a topic involved with economics. [related: What do we know for sure about the Pope's next Encylical?] I'm sure they'd like an encyclical on climate change, but I'd like to see them hold their breaths for that.

The next claim that this UN address will follow an "environmental blitz at the Vatican" is similarly biased. Pope Benedict has been very active on many issues (issues, incidentally, that don't make it into popular reporting), stewardship of creation being one of them. As for climate change "affecting the poorest people on the planet", all he actually said was that scarsity of water is a problem in some areas: it is, but the cause of that problem is not global warming. [related: What Pope Benedict said about Creation at Loreto]. It is true that the Catholic Church teaches we have a duty to "protect creation" - that's nothing new. What constitutes protecting creation in today's world is what Pope Benedict would be addressing. And so far, it's a very different message than what the global warming lobby want to hear. But that doesn't seem to bother them.

Back to the text of the UK Independent article:

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in the UK, said last night: "This is a crucial issue both today and for all future generations. We are the stewards of creation and we need to take that responsibility seriously and co-operate to care for the created world."

I wonder if the Cardinal knew he was being interviewed for an article that seeks to reveal Pope Benedict's plans for his UN speech, and for the universal church, months prior to its delivery. I hope not.

Much of the rest of the article operates upon the principle that Pope Benedict's topic and message is already a done deal, and works through the implications (as the author sees it) of Pope Benedict getting firmly on the climate change bandwagon. Some of the author's history, however, is similarly incomplete:

News of the speech comes as Vatican City has become the first fully carbon-neutral state in the world, after announcing it is offsetting its carbon footprint by planting a forest in Hungary and installing solar panels on the roof of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Once again, the Vatican's Hungarian forest initiative provides eager reporters the "evidence" they need to claim that the Vatican is going green the way reporters want to see that happen. To clarify, the Vatican accepted the offer of a 3rd party company to plant a forest in Hungary. It's good to plant forests, and that's about all you can claim about the decision. I've blogged extensively on this (in my view, imprudent for several reasons) collaboration: "The Vatican and Planktos: strange bedfellows or sign of the times?" and again here: "Wait a minute, wasn't the selling of indulgences a bad thing?."

As for installing solar panels on the roof. Sure, that's true. I'm sure the Vatican also has low-flush toilets now (or again, maybe not). Electricity isn't cheap, and I'm not sure what more you can really claim about the choice to incorporate some solar energy.

Oddly enough, I think the last paragraph is more revealing that it might desire:

UK diplomats have held a number of behind-the-scenes meetings with Vatican officials on the environment. A Whitehall source said last night: "Benedict is the spiritual head of 19 per cent of the world's population and a highly respected figure. If the Pope's words are taken on board by his community that is one big constituency for change and could well turn the tide on climate change and environmental degradation."

Exactly, of course the global warming lobby wants the Catholic Church on its side. Once they can make the claim that global warming initiatives - as they see them - are a moral obligation (with sinfulness and culpability attached to ignoring it) as opposed to a simple act of prudence with two valid outcomes, they'll have successfully increased the size of their adherents. And here's the rub: even if they don't get the Catholic Church to say what they want, they can publish articles like these to convince people that the Catholic Church in fact does endorse their views.

What the Vatican must decide, and soon, is if it will continue to allow articles and reports such as this one to put words in Pope Benedict's mouth. If the Vatican doesn't speak, they will continue to speak for him.

Moreover, when he does speak, proposing a parallel track to their message isn't as effective. Unless he makes the distinctions and shows where Christian stewardship of creation is different than secular environmentalism, his audience might not be able to make the distinction. In this vacuum, the press accounts carry the day.

Of course, in general, when he does make the distinctions, the media is very good at chopping up his comments into sound bytes digestible for their purposes. In these situations, the Vatican press agency needs to be as pro-active on correcting these (often times intentional) errors in transmission as they have been on such issues as, for instance, Pope Benedict's comments on the Mexican legislators and whether they were excommunicated.

Another day, another case of persecution in Iran

This time a man was lashed thirty-four times and suffered "other humiliations" for having a copy of the Gospel in his car, as CNA reports. Muslim leaders of the world - protest! Oh wait.

Good news in Oz, bad news in Eire for Young Catholics

Taking the bad first:

Dublin, Apr. 20, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Irish residents showed a remarkable lack of basic knowledge about the Catholic faith in a recent national poll, the Iona Institute reports.

The most striking ignorance was displayed by respondents between the ages of 19 and 24, who consistently scored well below the general population in the survey, conducted by the Lansdowne market research firm.

Respondents over the age of 65 yielded above-average results on the poll, suggesting that the level of religious education in Ireland was significantly better in earlier years.

A minority of respondents between 19 and 24 could name the three Persons of the Trinity. Just 47% of the young people answered that question correctly, while 76% of those over 64% gave the proper answer, and 66% of the overall poll sample.
Similarly, only 38% of the young respondents could provide the number of Gospels in the New Testament, and another 38% could give the number of Catholic sacraments. Among those over 65 years old, 65% answered the former question correctly, and 63% the latter question.

And then the good:

SYDNEY, Australia (Catholic Online) – A revivial of interest in religion is taking place among the young and adults, despite reports that the church is in decline, said an Australian cardinal [Pell].

“A revival of religious interest is occurring among many young Australians who are drawing the unsurprising conclusion that money, materialism and self-seeking do not bring meaning or peace of mind,” he said.

“What is surprising about teenagers today is not the percentage who are hostile to institutions, but the larger percentage who will listen to the Christian message spoken from any agency with conviction and sympathy,” Cardinal Pell added.

...

The cardinal archbishop of Sydney claimed that there is today “an openness to the gospel which was not there even 25 years ago in Australia,” while noting that no one should be under any illusions of the challenges to Christianity and to the faithful.