FAITH/STORIES

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - While there's nothing wrong with a bit of light reading in the summer, reading a book or two of the Bible also can be a relaxing -- as well as enlightening -- vacation activity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"Naturally, many of the books of literature we pick up during vacation are for a diversion, and this is normal," he said Aug. 3 as he held his weekly general audience in the town square at Castel Gandolfo.

With some 4,500 visitors and pilgrims present for the audience, the gathering was too large to be held in the courtyard of the pope's summer villa.

The human need to relax is something to be thankful for, the pope said, because "it tells us that we were not made only to work, but also to think, reflect or simply to follow, with our mind and heart, a story we can identify with or even lose ourselves in and so find ourselves enriched."

Pope Benedict said, "The Bible is a little library born over the course of a millennium," and some of the books inside are very short. They would be a great place to start for someone who has never read an entire book of the Bible.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said the proper formation of conscience requires the ability to listen to "the voice of truth," which is particularly important for people in positions of governing.

The pope, meeting with pilgrims at his summer residence outside Rome July 24, spoke about the biblical figure of King Solomon, who prayed to God at the beginning of his reign for "an understanding heart." The king's prayer was motivated by the responsibility of guiding a nation, but is valid for everyone, the pope said.

Essentially, Solomon was praying for "a conscience that knows how to listen, that is sensitive to the voice of truth and for this reason is capable of discerning good from evil," he said.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said the Eucharist is the heart of church life and an "antidote" to the increasingly individualistic global culture.

Addressing pilgrims June 26 on the feast of Corpus Christi, which commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the pope said the Eucharist was like the "pulsing heart" that gives life and meaning to everything the church does.

As the sacrament of Communion, it is able to transform people's lives, leading them to God, he said.

"In a culture that is more and more individualistic -- a culture in which we are immersed in Western society, and that tends to spread itself throughout the world -- the Eucharist constitutes a type of 'antidote,'" the pope said.

"It works in the minds and hearts of believers and continually disseminates in them the logic of communion, of service, of sharing -- in short, the logic of the Gospel," he said.

>VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI called for emergency assistance to thousands of people fleeing the violence and civil strife in North Africa and the Middle East, and he appealed to nations to explore "every possible form of mediation" to bring an end to the conflicts.

He asked the Vatican's coordinating body of church funding agencies for Eastern Catholic churches to "do everything possible" to help the minority Christian populations remain in the region.

The pope's appeal came during a meeting June 24 with the Vatican coordinating body, known by its Italian acronym ROACO. The ROACO assembly was holding its annual general meeting at the Vatican.

Participants were discussing the changes taking place in North Africa and the Middle East as well as how bishops were following up on the special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East in 2010.

VATICAN CITY - Hedonism clouds people's judgment and risks annihilating morality, Pope Benedict XVI said.

It also fools people into thinking their real worth lies in their social or personal standing and their ability to control reality, he said during a one-day visit June 19 to the Republic of San Marino, a tiny nation completely surrounded by Italy.

Like many Western nations, San Marino today faces many difficulties and challenges, the pope said in his homily during a Mass held at an open-air stadium.

Such difficulties are caused most of all by "hedonistic models that cloud the mind and risk quashing morality altogether," he told some 22,000 people in attendance, which included people who came from surrounding Italian cities.

"The temptation has crept in that says man's richness is not faith, but his personal and social power, his intelligence, his culture and his ability to scientifically, technologically and socially manipulate reality," he said.

The Redemptorists have always looked for ways to reach the un-churched — so it is only natural that their search eventually led them to the web.

Redemptorist Television, a new Internet television website, is the latest initiative from the Redemptorists of the Edmonton-Toronto Province. The educational religious site was unveiled in late May to a group of young people attending the Redemptorist SERVE program (Summer Endeavour in a Redemptorist Volunteer Experience).

“Our tradition has always included teaching,” said Fr. Mark Miller, C.Ss.R., a frequent homilist on RTV. “There’s good solid content but also, when you put it into a sermon, you can add an emotional side… it appeals to the heart as well.”

RTV features a collection of five-minute homily-style clips — a format that’s easy to watch for youth, according to Miller.

The site is inspired by the Perpetual Help Devotions, an hour-long Redemptorist program that has been broadcast weekly for 16 years by Vision TV and Salt + Light TV.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said that a proper transmission of the faith to the young or the uninitiated depends on a solid grounding of the basics of Catholic formation -- baptism, first Communion and catechism.

Pope Benedict XVI told participants of a diocesan conference in Rome June 13 to not be afraid of their duty as Christians to evangelize and to pass on the word of God "with courage, with conviction, with joy."

Speaking from Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran, the pope called for renewed efforts for evangelization, which he said, "is not the duty of a few, but of all the members of the church."

Special attention should be given to the education of children, adults who have not been baptized and those who have left the church, he said.

WASHINGTON - A new Vatican instruction on the extraordinary form of the Mass intends to make it easier for Catholics who want to worship this way to do so. In lay terms, it has eliminated some red tape.

For example, in years past, Catholics who wanted to attend the Latin-language liturgy celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal had to request this from their parish priest, who then had to receive permission from the bishop to offer these Masses.

Now, according to a Vatican instruction released May 13, pastors do not have to get the local bishop’s permission to approve these Masses for Catholic groups even when these groups are small or formed of people from different parishes or dioceses.

The instruction calls on bishops and pastors to respond generously to Catholics who seek to attend this Mass, commonly known as the Tridentine Mass.

VATICAN CITY - Moses was willing to sacrifice himself to God for the sins of the people of Israel, just as Jesus Christ later sacrificed himself for the sins of humanity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

In his weekly audience June 1 in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict said that the intercession of Moses, in which he asked God's forgiveness on behalf of others, invites Christians to recognize their sins and be saved through God's mercy.

The explanation about the role of Moses was the latest in a series of papal audience talks emphasizing the importance of prayer and its transformative power.

Pope Benedict recounted the story from the Book of Exodus when Moses, who had been fasting for 40 days to prepare for receiving the Ten Commandments, is told by an angry God that in his absence the people of Israel have made a golden calf to worship.

TORONTO - The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars is seeking scholarly papers to be discussed for its annual conference this October.

Six of the scholastic works will be chosen for discussion at the conference to be held in Toronto. The theme for the Oct. 15 conference is “The Catholic Mind and the Prophetic Voice of the Arts.” The scholars’ group is looking for papers that delve into topics such as the vocation of the artist, the relation between imagination and artistic production, culture as a part of evangelization and esthetic pleasure.

“Generally speaking, it’s a critical engagement and dialogue with society, in this case, with respect to the arts,” said Andrew Fuyarchuk, a member of the fellowship’s executive.

Fr. Giorgio Di Cicco, former Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto, will be keynote speaker.Already, the conference has a good slate of speakers, but more submissions are needed. Proposals will be accepted until the end of June. And you don’t have to be a member of the fellowship to submit a paper.