Feast of Pentecost

Video of Vatileaks suspect

On the left front of the Pope's automobile. Beginning to hear the idea that he has been set up. What on earth would be his motive?

Arrest in Vatican of Papal Chamberlain in Vatileaks Scandal

Medien: Päpstlicher Kammerherr im "Vatileaks"-Verdacht – kipa/apic

The suspect in connection with the "Vatileaks" scandal should act according to Italian media is a servant of the Pope. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi did not want to identify the man arrested on Friday by the Vatican police.

Previously he had said that the Vatican were investigating "a person in unauthorized possession of confidential documents" . The man was in custody will be interrogated by the Attorney General of the Vatican State, Nicola Picardi.

Since the beginning of the year, a number of confidential letters which were addressed to the Pope and signed by him, had been published by the Italian media. In the past week, the Italian TV journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book titled "Sua Santita" , evaluating the hundreds of secret Vatican documents and documents in whole or in part. In April, Benedict XVI had appointed a panel of three retired cardinals to a commission of inquiry, and provided them with far-reaching powers to investigate the breach of confidentiality. See also Vicious Power Struggle in the Vatican

Exhibition of crucified pigs in church cancelled despite support from Jesuit

Sankt Peter und die Schweine - Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger

Shortly before its 25th Anniversary Year, the Art-Station Saint Peter in Cologne cancelled an exhibition. The reason- pigs that were nailed to the Cross were to be seen in two pictures of an Austrian artist (who comes from near to Linz, whose inhabitants seems to specialise in this sort of thing, not least the Shrine of Judas).

On 29th June, the Art-Station Saint Peter celebrates its 25th anniversary, but certainly now it has increased audience attention. At short notice, the exhibition, planned for 25th May, by the Austrian painter Siegfried Anzinger (right) was cancelled by long-time curator of the Art Station, Guido Schlimbach (left)

Schlimbach feared that two of the 18 images which showed crucified pigs in the sacred space of the church would lead to misunderstandings and may interfere with the religious peace of the parish community.

The images are from the Jerome Cycle- the picture of St Jerome,

And for comparison

In discussion with the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", Schlimbach said that he found the decision, which was taken jointly with Father Werner, very difficult. The reason that he invited Siegfried Anzinger to St. Peter, is that he had used many times before biblical motifs almost without ceasing, and he wanted to see how the Art Station audience, who are familier with mainly abstract works of art, would react. For the crucifixion of "an almost sweet Piglet," said Schlimbach, he was not prepared, adding: "I'm afraid that I would be under great pressure to give an explanation to the community"

To the objection that he must have known what he was associating himself with, Schlimbach replied:

"Siegfried Anzinger has specifically designed the painting for the Art Station and painted it in the last four to five weeks," and he also had expected the motive of the crucified pig to be with linked to the flesh and blood imagery of Hermann Nitsch. In the pig as shown, he could not in any case recognize the oppressed creature that Anzinger had in mind. "But you must say that to the artist's face."

In the meantime, Father Friedhelm Mennekes SJ, founder and long-time director of the Art Station Sankt Peter has also commented to the newspaper about the cancelling of the exhibition. He pointed to the rich tradition of the crucifixion motif, to the derision that Christianity once had suffered through the representation of a crucified donkey, and also to the "Jewish pig" in Cologne Cathedral. All these elements played into Anzingers work- he himself had exhibited a butterfly crucified by Markus Lüpertz in St. Peter's. "I hope that the cancellation was not a case of anticipatory obedience to ecclesiastical authority," said Mennekes in conclusion. (Cathcon- no wonder the Jesuits are the worst hit of the orders after the Council. They were set up on army lines by St Ignatius with a specific oath of obedience to the Pope. Now they are a bunch of ecclesiastical anarchists no longer of capable of fighting)

It is precisely this fear Guido Schlimbach tried to dispel when talking to the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" . The Art Station is after all not an art hall, but a house of God: "We derive life from the whole life of the community." A crucified pig in oil next to a crucifix is not easy in this context - and as Anzinger totally refused to compromise, the cancellation could not be avoided. "I'm sure," said Schlimbach, "Mennekes would not have put on the exhibition." (Cathcon- see his comments above which go in the opposite direction.)

Herr Anzinger's other work includes the Annunciation

For comparison

And the Madonna

For comparison

His Our Lady of the Blue Jumper

It is not as if they do not know what real art is- a Madonna in the possession of the parish

St Peter's Church in Cologne is indeed half a church and half a permanent installation of hyper-modern art.  Some scenes of parochial life.

Mass

Communion vessels

Mass getting out of hand

You know you are among modernists, when they meet under the Banner of the Bar Code.

For comparison a banner based on Raphael's Banner of the Cross

Mass really got out of hand- or is it an art installation?

Mini-Stealth priestesses in training

The Jewish Mezuzah attached to the entrance door

Pretending to be a synagogue is not the only pretension around here.

Their principal altar

Their old principal altar- now in a side aisle

The altar in its original position-  Oil Barrel Mass

And in its old position again- under threat from headless zombies

On another altar, instead of the Cross, the distorting mirror of modernism 

Batty exhibition in the ambulatory

Modernism has filled the church with straw

Or feathers blown about in the wind 

(provided by the small fans at the base, I think)

Or scaffolding that goes nowhere

Are they, in fact, under alien influence?

But 

Don't Worry

The permanent illuminated sign on the tower

German city to sign treaty with its Muslim community

Staatsvertrag mit Muslimen vor dem Abschluss? | NDR.de - Regional - Hamburg:
Treaty with Muslims before the final?

The Muslims want more co-determination on among other things, the religious education

In Hamburg, the text of a treaty with the Muslims is apparently nearing completion. This would place the Muslim communities on largely the same footing as the churches. All doubts have now been resolved by an expert report, as reported NDR 90.3 on Friday. The Hanseatic city would be the first with such a contract.

Expert report on Muslim organizations

This was inteneded to clarify whether the three major Muslim associations Shura (Council of Islamic Communities), DITIB (Turkish-Islamic Community) and the Association of Islamic Cultural Centres (VIKZ) are genuinely religious communities. That is, for example, if there is an active organization working to provide for young people and children. In a 100-page comprehensive analysis, seen by NDR 90.3, a professor of religious studies comes from the University of Bremen, Gritt Klinkhammer came to the conclusion that Islam is lived in all three communities.

The chairman of Ditib North, Zekariya Altug anticipates now an early signature of the treaty: "We expect a treaty in which we, as religious communities, are placed on par with churches recognized here in Hamburg, and especially in the field of religious education as equal partners in the shaping of it. " A common religious instruction will carry in as before in schools but in the future Muslims will also be co-responsible for this (Cathcon- not sure whether the common religious education being referred to is that for all pupils or just for the Muslim community- will check).

Von Beust had the idea

The City Senate Office says that the right track is being followed overall. A specific date for the signing of the treaty is not yet possible. Former Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) had in 2006 first made a public suggestion of such a treaty.

Cardinal- progressive Catholics can be just as anti-semitic as traditionalists

Kardinal Koch: Jüdisch-christlicher Dialog darf nicht beliebig werden – kipa/apic

Jerusalem: Discussion evening on "Jewish-Catholic relations"

Cardinal Koch: Jewish-Christian dialogue must not become arbitrary

Jewish-Christian dialogue should not be in an increasingly inter-religiously oriented world become just one dialogue among many. Cardinal Kurt Koch said this at a meeting on the question of Jewish-Catholic relations in Jerusalem.

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity is unique in spite of its painful history, according to the Cardinal who is responsible for the relationship with Judaism. He also warned against repeatedly resurgent anti-Semitism. - Koch meets this week in the Holy Land, along with other church representatives, the representatives of Judaism.

With regard to the earliest times of conflict which had characterized relations, the Cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, stated that the Second Vatican Council's adoption in 1965 of the Declaration "Nostra Aetate" had opened a new chapter in Jewish-Christian dialogue in which the common heritage is confirmed.

Persecution of Jews- do not blame the Church

Explicitly the Cardinal said that the persecution of Jews under the Nazis was not the fault of the Church. The Shoah was the "act of a godless, anti-Christian regime"; the desire of the Nazis was to abolish Christianity as well, as it was an offshoot of Judaism. At the same time Koch admitted that the Church's reaction to the Nazi persecution of Jews had been inadequate because of "widespread anti-Semitism."

Still according to Koch's assessment, anti-Semitic campaigns in the Catholic Church are always returning to the fore, and this came "not only from traditionalist circles, but to the same degree from liberal circles." As an example, the Cardinal gave the tendency to drop the Old Testament readings in Catholic worship. Christians should recognize that the Jewish reading of the Bible is one possible reading. The New Testament from a Christian perspective is the fulfilment of the Old Testament, but not its replacement.

Jewish conflict

David Bollag contradicted Koch's representation of a distance between Nazi ideology and the church. Between Nazi ideology and religious anti-Judaism, there is a close connection,said the Rabbi who teaches at the Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies (IJCF) in Lucerne. "If this had not been the case, the Council's Declaration Nostra Aetate` would not have been considered necessary. '

Bollag also expressed criticism of the current backward-oriented movements in the Catholic Church. In particular, the reinstatement of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews is painful from a Jewish perspective. At the same time, Judeo-Christian dialogue since the beginning of the Second Vatican Council (1962) has made enormous progress, not least because of "Nostra Aetate," which commits both parties to dialogue.

Significant changes since 1945

Mordechai Piron, a former Israeli military chief rabbi and president of the co-organizing "Israeli-Jewish Council for Interreligious Relations" (IJCIR) stressed in his speech the noticeable changes in Jewish-Christian relations since the end of World War II. The church had taken a new attitude to the Jewish people, since the Shoah so that after a long history of insecurity and persecution a positive and fruitful dialogue between the Church and Jews now has been possible.

The Jewish appreciation of Christianity was emphasized by Rabbi David Rosen, in his concluding remarks. In particular, the "dark cloud over the Jewish-Christian dialogue, as they draw in the media", the adviser to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and International Director of the "American Jewish Committee" held to be wrong: "In a clear way, Pope Benedict XVI goes further than his predecessor in his efforts to improve relations with the Jewish people. Benedict XVI has taken the initiatives of Pope John Paul II to a higher level.