Sunday 29 June 2008

Pauline Year

Here are some pictures courtesy of NLM for the new Pauline Year


I think it's worth noting just how spectacular all of this looks...


From the Vespers yesterday.


Coverage of the Papal Mass today.


Check out the New Pallium. Personally I much prefer this.


It's so apparent the despite Pope Benedict XVI's appearance, he's a real force to be reackoned with in the world and in the Church... It makes you proud really to be a Catholic.


The Pope imposing the Pallium on the New Archbishops...

Just a word on the Urbi Et Orbi decree on the indulgences... The language is a bit wild. I really think whoever wrote that must have been writing something for the 15th century. Although I like mass in Latin and like language to be used which raises our hearts and minds, I think people have to understand what on earth the Holy Father is saying and I don't think the decree is written well at all. I'm sure people will disagree and cry me all sorts for saying that but I'm thinking in terms of someone sitting in craigmiller in Edinburgh or Broomhouse, or canning town in London... Those people need to understand this too and I don't think using phrases like 'august pontiff' helps.

5 comments:

berenike said...

But it's not written with you or me punter in mind - it's a legislative document, innit? You don't expect state laws to be written in a way that every single person will easily understand. (Apart from anything else, that would mean no law was ever passed ...) Or even most people. I don't want to read it much either - I hope my parish will put the gist of it into the newsletter, saying "here and here are the places you can get this indulgence, here are the conditions".

John Paul said...

You can have a legislative text without it sounding like a bunch of old nonsense. My problem isn't in the articulation, it's in the expression of what is being said. Like I mentioned 'August pontiff'. All the stuff sounds as if it's been taken from Pope Paul III in a time that doesn't exist anymore.

berenike said...

Chill! Let it go!

Does the phrasing of legal texts really loom that large in your life and responsibilities?

You don't think it's possible that your irritation is ill-founded?

The pontiff is august, whether we like it or not. Given the unpopularity of such ideas these days, it's probably very salutary to have the fact pointed out here and there, in case we are slipping into some self-selected vision of the papacy that better fits our idea, or the world's, of what the papacy should be.

"in a time that doesn't exist any more". That is a Tony Blair line and standard of argument, you will agree.

Anyway, I tend to find, on analysis, that marginal things that irritate me usually do so for some unhealthy reason, and show that I don't perfectly "feel with the Church", as St Ignatius says. You may feel differently.

liturgy said...

Cool photos
More at
http://tinyurl.com/6b3pkr

John Paul said...

It's not that I don't feel with the Church; I just don't like the way the document is written. Tony Blair like him or not was a brilliant orator and understood how to get a message across. Yes I disagree with his policies and hate his global foundation, but the reason he is so sucessful is that he understands how to reach people.