Vatican recognizes state of Palestine in new treaty

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty.
The treaty, which was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.

The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state and constitutes an official diplomatic recognition.

"Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to visit Pope Francis on Saturday before the canonization of two new saints from the Holy Land a day later.

The Vatican has been referring unofficially to the state of Palestine for at least a year.

During Pope Francis' 2014 visit to the Holy Land, the Vatican's official program referred to Abbas as the president of the "state of Palestine." In the Vatican's latest yearbook, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See is listed as representing "Palestine (state of)."

The Vatican's foreign minister, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, acknowledged the change in status, given that the treaty was initially inked with the PLO and is now being finalized with the "state of Palestine." But he said the shift was simply in line with the Holy See's position.

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Pope Francis Confirms He Will Visit DC, NYC and Philly

By Tracy Connor

(NBC News) Pope Francis' confirmed Monday that his trip to the United States this fall will include stops in Washington and New York City, in addition to the previously announced visit to Philadelphia.

The pontiff told reporters he wishes he could enter the U.S. through the Mexican border "as a sign of brotherhood and of help to the immigrants," but will probably just fly directly to the East Coast. 

"You know that [to] go to Mexico without going to visit the Madonna [of Guadalupe] would be a drama. A war could break out," he said, laughing. "I think there will only be those three cities. Later there will be time to go to Mexico." 

Details of his itinerary are in the early-planning stages, but organizers are already talking about appearances at the White House, the United Nations and Ground Zero, and even a Mass at Madison Square Garden. 

One thing that is not in question: American Catholics can't wait to play host to the hugely popular people's pontiff. 

"You can't go to anything connected to the Archdiocese without people asking if Pope Francis is coming," Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, told NBC News on Monday. 

Zwilling said he was in New York for Pope John Paul II's second visit in 1995 and for Pope Benedict XVI's trip in 2008 but thinks "a visit by Pope Francis is going to easily surpass either of those two events." 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will welcome the 79-year-old leader of the world's Catholics "with open arms." 

"Pope Francis is the leading global voice on issues of social justice and income inequality, and New Yorkers from all backgrounds will be tremendously humbled and honored to hear his message right here," de Blasio said in a statment... (continued)

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• Pope Francis Confirms He Will Visit DC, NYC and Philly

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• Pope says Catholics don't need to be 'like rabbits'

Cardinal Brandmüller's Rebuke to Drifting, Secularist Germans

From Father B. Jerabek's blog:

In the past several months – but particularly in the last couple of weeks – there have been several disturbing items in Church news that should be cause for concern for us all.

On the one hand, there was that questionnaire in preparation for the upcoming Synod on the Family, sent to all bishops of the world but also seeking lay collaboration in its completion. At the time, many took it to be a major shift in Vatican policy (even though, in effect, it was business as usual). And since then, there has been no shortage of agitation, in the media and in the Church: agitation that has as its goal to recast the survey as an indication that the Church is moving in the direction oUf becoming a democratic institution that will bend its teachings and its customs according to the fashions of the age. Sadly, and tragically, there have even been entire groups of bishops who seem to harbor such hopes. More on that in a moment.

On the other hand, there was the recent news of a report sent by the UN to the Vatican concerning its handling of the sexual abuse crises in different parts of the world. The document was problematic on various levels; in particular – and leaving aside the UN’s grandstanding – because it took it upon itself to tell the Catholic Church that it should change its teaching in order to conform with current moral fashions (among elite Western organizations, such as the UN): abortion, homosexual “marriage”, and so forth.

What followed was a very weak response from the Holy See. At first, there was an assurance given that the Vatican would very carefully study the document. But that first response was crucial. It rather took the impact out of any subsequent response – especially since the Vatican’s later condemnation of certain aspects of the document was not all that forcefully put.

So there was the UN telling the Church what to do and how to believe; OK, that’s nuts, but they are outside the Church and everyone has an opinion. But inside the Church, there has been, as I said above, no shortage of confusion either. As I have reported on several occasions here, some of Pope Francis’ words and deeds have given the impression – to some people – that suddenly everything is up for grabs: everything can be re-thought and re-invented – even things that were always understood as unchanging, such as the indissolubility of marriage. And this has emboldened all kinds of people whose voices, under previous Pontificates, were gradually being drowned out. They are rising up again. And there are even bishops in their number. Almost all the bishops in Germany, it seems. Almost all the bishops in Switzerland. Not a few in France. Etc. Confusion among bishops, confusion among priests, confusion among religious, confusion among laypeople.

Reflecting upon all of this, I was glad to see a fairly brief article (in Italian) that reports recent discourses of two different German bishops – one a Cardinal, and one a Cardinal-to-be. These men of the Church insist upon basic truths that we must never forget, and they also insist upon clarity in teaching. At a time like this, we need clear teaching. That is why I have recently begun to post excerpts on the indissolubility of marriage. That is why I have been talking about the domestic church. That is why I will also be posting on other themes in the near future that we all need to review.

The Catholic faith is not subject to the changing winds of the age, much less those of only a certain part of the world. It was given to us by Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Church is not a democracy nor can it ever be. Yes, there are some matters where the opinion of groups and individuals can and should have an effect. But there are also some areas (such as dogma and doctrine) where that approach is simply not possible, if we would be faithful to our Lord. This article, then, which I have translated and pasted below, is helpful in clarifying things. Please do give it a read. Its author is Matteo Matzuzzi, and it was originally published in the daily Il Foglio on February 15th.

CARDINAL BRANDMÜLLER’S REBUKE
TO DRIFTING, SECULARIST GERMANS

Clash of Powers:

“Neither human nature, nor the Commandments,
nor the Gospel have an expiration date”

The secularist majorities that would like to recreate the Catholic Church’s moral teaching – in response to which Il Foglio successfully launched an appeal to Pope Francis for a counter-offensive of ideas and pastoral action – have found strong support among the ranks of some bishops’ conferences. Such as that of Germany, for example, now ready to make its voice heard (as the outgoing president, Msgr. Robert Zollitsch, had promised): namely, that “Humanae Vitae only creates confusion” among the faithful, and that “Catholic teaching is no longer adequate to the times” – so the young Bishop of Trier, Msgr. Ackermann, said a week ago.

Against this last affirmation, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, also German, has inveighed: “Ethical teaching can be modified only to the extent that man’s nature changes”; moreover, “the Church’s ethics originate in the nature of man – a physical-spiritual nature”. Thus explained the Cardinal, in an interview with Armin Schwibach, published by the Catholic news agency Kath.net. And to those who speak of the need to bring the Church’s moral teaching up to date with new realities that were unknown until a few years ago, Brandmüller recalls that “neither human nature, nor the Commandments, nor the Gospel have an expiration date”.

Therefore, those who claim these things find themselves “in contradiction with the Word of God”. This happens because “a certain imprecision and haziness of language on the part of Church representatives is repeatedly observed. Clearness and precision are lacking. One hears things of which it is impossible to approve or disapprove, thus each person can draw from them whatever he finds most agreeable. But it is urgent and important that Church pronouncements be founded upon clear concepts”, adds the President-Emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

“What is needed is courage to articulate the truth, even against current fashion – a courage that whoever speaks in the name of the Church must possess, if he does not want to fall short of his vocation”... (continued)

Click here to read more at Father Jerabek's blog

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• Church vs. World: Clash of Powers

Related:

• The Vatican Survey
• Card. Brandmüller blasts some German bishops
• La strigliata del card. Brandmüller ai tedeschi ondivaghi e secolaristi
• Der Mut, entgegen dem allgemeinen Trend die Wahrheit zu verkünden

Mitt Romney hires openly gay spokeman

From Joel McDurmon at American Vision News:

MetroWeekly.com is exposing the whole truth that Washington Post would not reveal:

Mitt Romney’s campaign tonight announced that it has hired Richard Grenell, an out gay former George W. Bush administration official, to serve as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s “national security and foreign policy spokesman,” according to a report from The Washington Post that did not mention Grenell’s sexual orientation.

Grenell served through September 2008 in the Bush administration as a spokesman to the U.S.

ambassador to the United Nations — and told The Advocate‘s Kerry Eleveld as he left the administration that it was his hope that New York would have marriage equality soon and that he would one day be able to marry his partner, Matt Lashey. The couple has been together 10 years. . . .

Andrew Sullivan, who had endorsed Obama’s 2008 run, wrote of the news, “For Romney to have an openly gay spokesman is a real outreach to gay Republicans, a subtle signal to moderates, and the Santorum faction’s reaction will be worth noting.”

Grenell is not just gay, but a gay activist who pushes for same-sex marriages.

At the end of Grenell’s service in the Bush administration, he took a notable whack at the administration, telling The Advocate‘s Kerry Eleveld of his effort to have his partner, Matt Lashey, listed in the United Nations’ Blue Book, which is “a reference guide of contact information for different member states of the United Nations as well as diplomatic personnel and their spouses.”

Grenell had attempted to have Lashey’s name added several times, to no avail. He told The Advocate back in 2008, “What put me over the edge was a friend and colleague who met her spouse after I was already with my partner — they got married and subsequently were put into the Blue Book in a matter of days.”

The State Department eventually told him that the Defense of Marriage Act prevented the listing. Although he protested the decision behind the scenes, Lashey’s name was not ever added, which led to his coming forward to criticize the treatement publicly as he left his post.

HuffPost has noted that since the choice, Grenell has scrubbed his Twitter account and website of offensive material:

Richard Grenell, a former Bush administration official who joined the Romney campaign Thursday as national security and foreign policy spokesman, appears to have deleted more than 800 of his past tweets following scrutiny over numerous swipes aimed at the media, prominent Democratic women and the Gingriches. Grenell also apparently took down his personal site, which featured writing on politics, foreign affairs and the media.

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