Why read journalists' opinions on the Pope's motives...

...when you can just read the Pope himself?

(If you want more where that came from, just go here and look through the selections on the left.)

Besides, you gotta admit its cool that he thinks the complaints about needing to be more internet-savvy are worth looking into. Given the way the media can't seem to handle the rise of the blogosphere, it'd be awfully funny if someday the journalists were behind the Pope in the workings of the information age. (Not likely to happen, I know, but you have to admit the mere possibility is ticklishly hilarious.)

Should you find Papa Ben's letter too hard to follow for some reason, I reccomend Fr. Z's comments over those of most journalists. (On the other hand, you probably won't find the combox arguments over the hairy details as helpful; just so you can't say I didn't warn you.)

So go on, be an honest examiner and read His Holiness for yourself.

Pope + US = AMAZING!!!

Well, the big man himself landed in Washington yesterday. As I live in OH, I was not able to see it in person. However, EWTN has a great program tracking the Holy Father.

This, I think, is what America really needs. If I recall correctly, this is the pope of the "New Springtime". If anyone can liven the hearts of the faithful, I believe it is this man. For some reason, the popes tend to know *exactly* what to say at any given time. Thus, I have complete confidence in the Holy Father in his ability to speak the spark that will ignite the "sleeping giant" of the faith of American Catholics. And when that happens...devil watch out!

~Ambrose

Watch This Group

The Dom Gueranger Society looks like it will be instrumental, if not a principle force altogether, in the revival of Liturgical Tradition here at Steubie; and Steubie itself is known to be a powerful force among rising authentic Catholicism this side of the world.

No Wonder I Love Papa Ben

His new encyclical, Spe Salvi, sounds like the coolest thing ever, and not just because I had no idea nouns of a single syllable exist in Latin. Here's a bit of the Catholic News Agency's report on it.

Vatican City, Nov 30, 2007 / 09:14 am (CNA).- “Spe Salvi—by hope we were saved,” with these words Pope Benedict XVI begins his second encyclical, which was released today. He asserts in the second half of his teaching that what is needed today, in a world often considered hopeless, is a self-critique of modern society along with the rediscovery and living of Christian hope.

Beginning in number 22 of “Spe Salvi”, Pope Benedict challenges both modernity and Christianity to a self-critique. Modernity must enter into a “dialogue with Christianity and its concept of hope. In this dialogue Christians too, in the context of their knowledge and experience, must learn anew in what their hope truly consists, what they have to offer to the world and what they cannot offer. Flowing into this self-critique of the modern age there also has to be a self-critique of modern Christianity, which must constantly renew its self-understanding setting out from its roots,” the Pope writes.

The first step that he takes in this analysis is to say that “we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise?”

Once this is done, the Holy Father explains, “the ambiguity of progress becomes evident.” “Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil—possibilities that formerly did not exist.”

“Yes indeed, reason is God's great gift to man,” the Pope stresses, “and the victory of reason over unreason is also a goal of the Christian life.”

Benedict XVI’s conclusion is that “very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope.”

In this part of the encyclical, the Holy Father analyzes the ways that the condition of mankind affects society and what saves man from this state.

It only gets more interesting as the details open up, folks.

If you have a lot more free time than I do, you can read the encyclical itself here.