VATICAN CITY — Ending a two-month working vacation at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence in the hills southeast of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI returns to the Vatican next Saturday (Oct. 3) with a full to-do list.
Among the items on the pope’s agenda for this fall:
Synod for Africa
The day after his return, Benedict will open a special Synod for Africa, a three-week long gathering of bishops from around the world who will address the needs and challenges facing the Catholic Church in Africa. Included on the agenda: the rapid growth in church membership and the priesthood in Africa; relations with Africa’s Muslims; translating Catholic beliefs and practices into the terms of local cultures; and combating poverty and disease, especially HIV/AIDS.
AIDS became the focus of intense controversy last March after Benedict told reporters on a flight to Cameroon that “one cannot overcome the problems (of AIDS) with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.”
Visit to Rome synagogue
The pope will visit Rome’s main synagogue, the spiritual home of one of Europe’s oldest Jewish communities, sometime after the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Benedict will follow his predecessor, Pope John Paul, whose 1986 visit to the same synagogue was the first by a pope to a Jewish house of worship.
The Vatican’s relations with Jews were strained earlier this year after Benedict lifted the excommunication of ultra-traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who had told Swedish television that no more than 300,000 Jews “perished in Nazi concentration camps … not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber.” Benedict subsequently issued several condemnations of Holocaust denial, including at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial last May.
Reconciliation with traditionalists
Late October will see the start of reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), the schismatic group that counts Williamson among its members. The SSPX is the largest and most vocal group of ultra-traditionalist Catholics who reject the modern reforms ushered in by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). Seeking to end the schism, Benedict lifted restrictions on the so-called Old Latin Mass in 2007, then readmitted Williamson and three other excommunicated SSPX bishops earlier this year.
Benedict will not participate directly in the talks, but will be represented by a team of three prominent theologians. Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn recently told a German newspaper the Vatican will make it clear to the SSPX that “dialogue with Jews, other religions and other Christian faiths” are “not negotiable” as conditions for reunification.
New U.S. ambassador
Benedict is also expected to receive the credentials of the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel H. Diaz. A Cuban-born professor of theology at St. John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, Diaz is both the first Hispanic and the first theologian to represent the U.S. to the Vatican.
Relations between the Holy See and Washington have been marked by harmony on major geopolitical and economic policies, including the Middle East and the environment, but strong disagreement on President Obama’s support of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. Benedict personally raised the “defense and promotion of life” with Obama in their first meeting at the Vatican in July.
Artists symposium
Hundreds of A-list artists from around the world have been invited to join Benedict in the Sistine Chapel on Nov. 21, as part of the pope’s effort to restore a historic “alliance” between the church and the arts. Prominent painters, sculptors, architects, writers, musicians, actors and dancers will hear a program of musical performances and a lecture by the pope.
U2 musician and humanitarian Bono and Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone are reportedly among the confirmed guests. Benedict has made reasserting the Christian roots of Western culture an important theme of his papacy.
Sainthood for Hawaii priest
At a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 11, Benedict will canonize Blessed Damien de Veuster. The Belgian priest known as “Father Damien” spent more than 15 years caring for lepers in Hawaii before succumbing to leprosy himself in 1889. Damien is known as the unofficial patron saint of those with HIV/AIDS.
Last year, Benedict recognized as miraculous a Hawaiian woman’s recovery from lung cancer after she prayed for Damien’s intercession. Statues of Damien, who is also considered the patron saint of Hawaii, stand in both the U.S. Capitol and the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu.
New record
On Nov. 30, Benedict will join the ranks of performing artists when Geffen Records — the label of Ashlee Simpson and Snoop Dogg — releases “Alma Mater,” an album of the pope’s chants and prayers to the Virgin Mary. A portion of the proceeds will support music education for underprivileged children around the world.
