IN FRATERNAM MEAM: JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER/ POPE BENEDICT XVI

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Thursday, April 21, 2005

JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER/ POPE BENEDICT XVI

"Tu es Petrus, et super hanc Petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam et tibi dabo claves Regni Coelorum"

(Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdon of Heaven)

MODERN CONCLAVES HAVE BEEN QUICK

The new Pope was elected Tuesday after four ballots over two days -- one of the quickest recent elections. A look at the last century:

July 31 - Aug. 4, 1903:
Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto (Pius X) elected on seven ballots cast over four days.

Aug. 31 - Sept. 3,1914:
Italian Cardinal Giacomo della Chiesa (Benedict XV) elected on 10th ballot on third day.

Feb.2-6, 1922:
Italian Cardinal Achille Ratti (Pius XI) elected on 14th ballot on fifth day.

March 1-2, 1939:
Italian Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (Pius XII) elected on the third ballot on second day.

Oct. 25-28, 1958:
Italian Cardinal Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII) elected on the 11th ballot on fourth day.

June 19-21,1963:
Italian Giovanni Battista Montini (Paul VI) elected on sixth ballot on the third day.

Aug. 25-26,1978:
Italian Cardinal Albino Luciano (John Paul I) elected on fourth ballot on second day.

Oct. 14-16,1978:
Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) elected on eight ballot on third day.

(from the Associated Press)

Pope Benedict XVI has no history of chronic health problems.

VATICAN CITY-- The new Pope Benedict XVI has no history of chronic health problems, but the 78-year old German has been hospitalized at least twice since the early 1990s.

In September 1991, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that temporarily affected his left field of vision, according to the veteran Vatican journalist JOhn Allen. There is no indication that it left any lingering health difficulties.

In August 1992, he cut his head after slipping in the bathroom during his vacation in the Italian Alps, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Thomas Frauenlob, director of St. Michael's semianry in Traunstein where the pope visits annually, said he had never heard of any major ailments.

"He seems healthy", said Frauenlob, who last saw him over the New Years holiday. "He comes and eats and drinks whatever he wants."

But the Rev. Donald Senior, president of Chicago's Catholic Theological Union and a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, of which Ratzinger was president, met the cardinal in Rome this month and saw signs of trouble.

Ratzinger said, "My health has not been strong", Senior recalled.

(Associated Press/Staff Reported Cathleen Falsani)

THE OTHER BENEDICTS:

The name Benedict, which comes from the Latin for "Blessing" is one of the more frequent choices made by pontiffs. A look at some previous Benedicts:

** Benedict XV
(reigned 1914 - 1922)
He was chosen as a contrast to his predecesor, Pius X, whose theological crackdown againt "modernism" had rolled the church. His accession coincided with the start of World War II. If Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was paying tribute to him, it could be interpreted as a bid to soften his image. Benedict XV was credited with settling animosity between the traidionalist and the modernists.

** Benedict XIV
(1740 - 1758)
He was compromise choice after an ardous six month conclave. Like former professor Ratzinger, he was considered a scholar.

** Benedict XIII
(1724 - 1730)
A rare pope from a religious order, the Dominicans, he remained head of his former Italian diocese as well as the bishop of Rome.

** Benedict XII
(1335 - 1342)
He was one of the French popes wjho reigned from Avignon instead of Rome, considered a bleak era for the papacy.

** Benedict XI
(1303 - 1304)
Also a Dominican, he was considered scholarly and a peacemaker among church factions.

GERMAN POPES:

* Ratzinger is the fist Germanic pope in nearly 1,000 years.

* There were at least three German popes in the 11th century. The last pope from a German speaking land was Victor II, Bishop of Eichstatt, who reigned from 1055-57.

(from the Associated Press)

posted by infraternam meam @ 3:34 AM

0 Comments: