Morning Catholic must-reads

Denmark is the latest European country to be affected by the abuse crisis.

The Economist says “much hope now rests on a pastoral letter that the Pope is preparing for Catholics in Ireland”, due out tomorrow.

The BBC’s David Willey says that in four decades of reporting from the Vatican he has “never seen a graver crisis“.

Michael White, assistant editor of the Guardian, says the papacy has endured worse crises before and survived them.

The Catholic News Service sums up the strenuous debate in the US Catholic media over the healthcare bill.

Andrea Tornielli of the Italian daily Il Giornale reveals the names of several members of the new commission on Medjugorje.

Legal expert Joshua Rozenberg puts the Catholic Care ruling in perspective.

Organisers say that bringing the Pope to Coventry in September will be “like organising a huge pop concert“.

Rome Reports celebrates a Jesuit architect, painter and master of optical illusions (video).

And L’Osservatore Romano hails an Oscar-nominated film inspired by the Book of Kells.

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Morning Catholic must-reads

The Catholic News Service reports on what the Holy See’s delegate said at Copenhagen’s climate talks.

Fr Raymond de Souza considers the Vatican’s “green gambit”, as does Sandro Magister.

John Allen assesses the health of Jewish-Catholic relations.

The Anglo-Catholic blog seeks to gague interest in Pope Benedict’s offer.

Deacon Keith Fournier hails a “St Thomas More” in the making.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien says he wants Scotland to return to Christian values in 2010.

The Holy See and the European Union sign a new monetary convention.

A carnival worker and a racing chaplain address an unusual Vatican conference.

A Cuban pilgrimage blends Catholicism with Santeria.

A priest joins an atheist in suing his bishop.

The NYT reviews James Tissot’s “Life of Christ” series.

Thinking Faith evaluates a major new history of early Christianity.

And Zenit explains why Christmas has a Mexican look at the Vatican this year.

Benedict XVI to write pastoral letter to Irish Catholics

The Catholic News Service reports on the Irish Church leaders’ meeting with Pope Benedict XVI today:

Pope Benedict XVI shares ‘the outrage, betrayal and shame’ felt by Irish Catholics over cases of clerical sexual abuse and the way abuse claims were handled by church leaders, and he plans to write a special pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Vatican said.

The letter ‘will clearly indicate the initiatives that are to be taken in response to the situation’, said a statement issued by the Vatican on December 11. The statement was released after the pope and top Vatican officials spent 90 minutes meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish bishops’ conference, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said Pope Benedict approved the statement, which “obviously reflects his style and tone” in discussing revelations about clerical sex abuse.

The spokesman said he was not sure when the letter would be ready, but he expected it fairly soon since the pope wanted to respond to the sense of outrage and hurt Irish Catholics currently are experiencing.

Pope to artists: ‘You are the custodians of beauty’

The Pope has just met artists in the Sistine Chapel. The Catholic News Service has an excerpt from his speech:

You are the custodians of beauty: thanks to your talent, you have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement. Be grateful, then, for the gifts you have received and be fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty, to communicate in and through beauty!

Through your art, you yourselves are to be heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity! And do not be afraid to approach the first and last source of beauty, to enter into dialogue with believers, with those who, like yourselves, consider that they are pilgrims in this world and in history towards infinite Beauty! Faith takes nothing away from your genius or your art: on the contrary, it exalts them and nourishes them, it encourages them to cross the threshold and to contemplate with fascination and emotion the ultimate and definitive goal, the sun that does not set, the sun that illumines this present moment and makes it beautiful.

The Vatican website has the full English text. The BBC posted a preview earlier this morning with some good analysis and the New York Times has an informative report on the event. The Vatican has a short official video report here.

Photo: Artists crowd the Sistine Chapel during their meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Saturday (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano, HO)

Pope proposes ‘friendship between Christian spirituality and art’

Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience today to the great cathedrals of medieval Europe. He also looked ahead to his meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday, which he described as “a proposal of friendship between Christian spirituality and art”.

CNS has a good report on the audience, as does Asia News. The trusty Zenit has the full text.