Impact of Pope’s Visit Goes Beyond His Six-Day Stay

WASHINGTON – When Pope Benedict XVI left New York April 20 after his six-day visit to the United States, Catholics were catching their breath from the whirlwind tour and many were trying to figure out what kind of impact the visit would leave in its wake.

The trip – anticipated since last November – prompted a fair amount of guesswork about what the pontiff would and wouldn’t say.

Pope Benedict, not swayed by hearsay, frequently reiterated that the theme of the visit was “Christ Our Hope” and stressed his optimism that the visit would prompt “a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans.”

Whether he was addressing international or interreligious leaders, educators, priests and religious, bishops, youths or baseball stadiums full of Catholics, the pope stuck with that message of hope in Christ throughout his various stops.

Overall reviews of the papal visit were positive and then some.

“In general, the visit was a terrific success. He hit a home run every time he went up to bat,” said Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, senior fellow at Woodstock Theological

Center in Washington.

Democrats Are the Ones Talking About Religion

WASHINGTON – The Rev. Jim Wallis finds it unexpected and refreshing that the majority of “God talk” in this presidential election season has been among and about Democratic candidates and that the dialogue takes a broad view of what’s important to religiously motivated voters.

“The surprise is that something we believed in and hoped would happen happened a lot faster than we thought,” said Rev. Wallis, executive director of Sojourners and a minister of the American Baptist Church, at a panel discussion on the role of religion in politics.

For more than a decade, Rev. Wallis has been among religious leaders pushing to get politicians to see that issues such as poverty, world debt and global warming are important to millions of voters who believe faith calls them to consider more than just abortion or narrowly defined “family values” as election issues.

He said he was pleasantly surprised to see that even among white Christian evangelicals – a plum voting bloc for Republican candidates in the last few elections – poverty and the Iraq War were polling as higher priorities than abortion and same-sex marriage.

British Legislators Amend Bill to Protect Religions

LONDON – British legislators have voted into the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill a clause to ensure that people are not prosecuted for criticisms based on their beliefs about homosexual lifestyles.

The House of Lords voted for the amendment to the bill that Catholic and Anglican leaders said would have stopped Christians from expressing their beliefs about marriage and family.

The amendment said that “the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.”

The proposed law against incitement to hatred of homosexuals will carry a maximum penalty of seven years in jail for those found guilty.

The amendment must pass the House of Commons before it becomes law later this year.

Pope Praises Prayer Project To Encourage Vocations

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has praised a Vatican initiative to encourage eucharistic adoration for the holiness of priests and recruit “spiritual mothers” to pray for priests and for vocations to the priesthood.

In an undated letter sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, which is promoting the initiative, the pope said he is “grateful for the thoughtful gesture” and for suggestions the congregation has put forward.

In the letter, posted on the congregation’s website, the pope said he hoped “the love and devotion to the eucharistic Jesus and devotion to Mary ... may give new fervor” to the life and apostolate of priests.

The clergy congregation released to journalists a letter addressed to the world’s priests from Cardinal Claudio Hummes, congregation prefect, and Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, congregation secretary.

The letter details the intentions of the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests May 30, as well as some prayers priests have been invited to say.

Quebec’s Bishops Urge Protection of Family Farms

MONTREAL – Quebec’s Catholic bishops have urged the provincial government not to leave the fate of the declining family farm in the hands of globalized agribusiness.

“We need a social contract that involves the state, citizens and farmers, rather than merely providing service to the farming industry,” said the social affairs committee of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, quoting Jacques Proulx, president of Rural Solidarity.

“The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food must reappropriate its power to influence agricultural development.”

In their May Day message released April 24, the bishops commented on a report by the Quebec Commission on the Future of Agriculture and Agricultural Food Production.

The report highlighted the changing agricultural patterns in Quebec, where industrialization has led to the abandonment of many traditional family farms.

The bishops also decried the steady decline in the rural population since the 1960s when large multinational corporations began dominating agricultural production, requiring specialization and high productivity and leaving many family farms unable to compete.

English Cardinal Closer to Sainthood After Healing

LONDON – The sainthood cause of a 19th-century English cardinal has taken a step forward after the Vatican’s medical commission ruled that there was no natural explanation for the healing of a U.S. deacon who prayed for the cardinal’s intercession.

The progress of the cause of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who shocked English society with his conversion to Catholicism, was announced by Peter Jennings, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England.

“The case of Deacon Jack Sullivan from Marshfield near Boston, Mass., was discussed and voted on by” the medical commission of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. “The opinion of the doctors is positive,” he said.

The case now is passed on to a theological commission.

The theologians are asked to certify that the alleged miracle took place after prayers for the sainthood candidate’s intercession.

A miracle attributed to Cardinal Newman’s intercession is required before his beatification – a step toward sainthood – can occur.

Iranian President Praises Vatican’s Justice Efforts

VATICAN CITY – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised the Vatican’s efforts to remedy injustices around the world, said the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

Because Catholics and Muslims together total nearly one-third of the world’s population, both faiths should feel responsible for the future of humanity, he said.

Ahmadinejad said the Iranian government appreciated the commitment of Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican against injustices such as war, poverty and the trampling of human rights.