Ecclesiastical Sundries

• A "presumed" miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Pope Pius XII is under investigation by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree of the heroic virtues of Pius XII on December 19, 2009, clearing the way for his eventual beatification.
• The Holy Father's visit to the Synagogue of Rome was a great success. With the recent papal decree on Pius XII, radical, left-wing Jews have stepped-up their scurrilous attacks on the both the wartime pontiff and the present Holy Father.  These anti-Catholic bigots tried to stop the Pope's visit to the synagogue and then hoped that it would increase Catholic-Jewish tensions.  According to Mordechay Lewy, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See:

The press was blowing up an atmosphere of crisis, before the visit, and the media were very much disappointed that there was no crisis afterwards.

• The Holy Father noted the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in his Sunday Angelus message. Benedict XVI is truly the "Pope of Christian Unity" — a true unity and a genuine communion in contrast to the false ecumenism of the progressives and modernists.  Those of our brethren who defiantly insist that they will "continue" a schismatic Anglicanism would also do well to heed the words of the Holy Father.

Our proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus will be much more credible and effective the more that we are united in his love, as true brothers," the Pontiff affirmed. "Thus, I invite parishes, religious communities, ecclesial movements and associations to pray unceasingly, in a special way during Eucharistic Celebrations, for the complete unity of Christians.

• Fr. Giles Pinnock explores the question of whether Anglicans not yet in visible union with the Holy See should pray for "Benedict, our Pope." Anglo-Catholics in the UK largely use the modern Roman Missal in which the Eucharistic Prayers, of course, mention the Bishop of Rome.  Bishop Edwin left the correct answer in a comment on this post.

Of course we must pray for him as "Our Pope" – we don't have any other. +Edwin

• Pastor in Valle says the Holy Father has transformed Rome.

1. I saw only two altars with (the formerly ubiquitous) two candles on one end with a bunch of flowers at the other.
2. More altars than not have some form of the 'Benedictine Arrangement', meaning that there was a crucifix centrally placed on the altar, with candles arranged to either side. Sometimes there were two candles, sometimes fork handles (as at St John Lateran), occasionally six.
3. Almost all churches were open for prayer, and there were usually people praying inside. This is entirely new: I am used to a lot of Roman churches being firmly locked. I got inside all sorts of buildings I had never seen before.
4. 'Tat Alley' (aka Via dei Cestari), a street of ecclesiastical suppliers near the Pantheon, now has all sorts of traditional vestments and impedimenta on sale. The time was when you could only buy these things from the charmingly obsequious staff of Gammarelli's ('Splenditatis Vendor') or the grumpy assistants (no, assistants is not the word; they do not assist, but glare) at Serpone. Arte Sacra was the only place you could buy reliquaries, now they are on sale everywhere. The proprietor said to a colleague that the sixties and seventies nearly put him out of business, but that now trade was very good indeed. Another fellow priest remarked that if people are prepared to pay money for things, it is valuable evidence that they really are prepared to buy into what these things stand for. Even the iconically-Seventies Slabbinck shop had one or two things that looked nice.
5. Cassocks are still rare on the streets, but I saw many more (male) religious habits than heretofore.
6. I am told that on Saturday mornings early one may see the Traditional Mass being celebrated at many altars in St Peter's Basilica.

• Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, was released from prison on Monday. The would-be assassin says that he'll talk to the media in the coming days.  It will be interesting to see what he has to say about his former claims that communist agents enlisted him to kill John Paul II.