SACRED MUSIC IS AN EXPRESSION OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH

Vatican City, 12 May 2012 (VIS) - Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Republic of Italy, yesterday offered a concert to Benedict XVI to mark the seventh anniversary of his election to the pontificate. The performance was held in the Paul VI Hall where the Orchestra and Choir of the Roman Opera House, conducted by Riccardo Muti and Roberto Gabbiani, played Antonio Vivaldi's "Magnificat RV611", and the "Stabat Mater" and "Te Deum" from Giuseppe Verdi's "Quattro pezzi sacri".


At the end of the concert, the Pope thanked those who had participated in the preparation and performance of the event, expressing his appreciation for Riccardo Muti's sensitivity for sacred music and his efforts to disseminate awareness of "this rich repertory which expresses the faith of the Church in music. ... The 'Magnificat' we have heard is a hymn of praise to Mary and to all the humble of heart who joyfully and gratefully recognise and celebrate God's action in their lives and in history. God's 'style' is different from that of man, because He stands alongside the poorest and weakest to give them hope. With extraordinary depth of feeling, Vivaldi's music expresses praise, exultation, thanksgiving, and wonder before the works of God".


The Holy Father continued his remarks by nothing that, "with the two pieces of sacred music by Giuseppe Verdi, ... there was a change of register. We found ourselves in the presence of Mary's suffering at the foot of the cross. ... Just as he explored and expressed the drama of so many characters in his operas, here Verdi outlines the drama of the Virgin as she contemplates her Son on the cross. The music is reduced to the essential, almost 'seizing' the words to express their significance as intensely as possible, ... enabling us to participate in her maternal suffering and allowing the love of Christ to burn in our hearts, until the last passage which is an intensely powerful supplication to God that the soul be given the glory of heaven, the ultimate aspiration of humankind.


"The 'Te Deum' is also replete with contrasts", the Pope added. "Verdi is scrupulously attentive to the holy text but his reading thereof diverges from that of tradition. He does not concentrate on the song of victory or coronation but, as he himself wrote, on the successive situations: initial exultation, ... contemplation of Christ incarnate Who frees and opens the Kingdom of Heaven, ... invocation ... for Him to have mercy and, in the end, the cry repeated by soprano and the choir: 'In te, Domine, speravi', with which the piece closes, almost a request on Verdi's part for hope and light in the last stage of his life".

THE MISSION NEEDS TO RENEW ITS TRUST IN THE ACTION OF GOD

Vatican City, 11 May 2012 (VIS) - "At the current time evangelisation, which is always a pressing task, requires the Church to work even more assiduously throughout the world in order to to ensure that all mankind may come to know Christ", said Benedict XVI this morning as he received in audience directors of the Pontifical Missionary Works. That organisation, which oversees missionary cooperation among the Churches of the world, is currently celebrating the annual assembly of its governing council.


"Only in Truth, which is Christ Himself", the Holy Father said, "can humankind discover the meaning of life, find salvation, and develop in justice and peace. All men and all peoples have the right to receive the Gospel of truth. ... Jesus, the Word incarnate, is always the centre of our announcement, the point of reference for our evangelising mission and for its methodology, because He is the human face of God, Who wishes to meet all men and women so as to bring them into communion with Him, in His love".


"The mission today needs to renew its trust in the action of God; it needs to pray more intensely that His Kingdom may come. ... We must invoke light and strength from the Holy Spirit, and commit ourselves with decision and generosity so as to inaugurate, in a certain sense, 'a new era of proclamation of the Gospel ... because, after two millennia, a major part of the human family still does not acknowledge Christ, but also because the situation in which the Church and the world find themselves at the threshold of the new millennium is particularly challenging'", said the Holy Father quoting Blessed John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in Asia". Pope Benedict also expressed his support for the project with which the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Pontifical Missionary Works are supporting the Year of Faith, a project involving "an international campaign which, by praying the Rosary, accompanies the work of evangelisation in the world and helps many of the baptised to rediscover and deepen their faith".


"Announcing the Gospel often involves considerable difficulty and suffering. The growth of the Kingdom of God in the world, in fact, frequently comes about at the cost of His servants' blood. In this period of economic, cultural and political change in which human beings often feel alone, prey to anguish and desperation, the messengers of the Gospel, even if they announce hope and peace, continue to be persecuted as their Master and Lord was. But, despite the problems and the tragic reality of persecution, the Church is not discouraged, she remains faithful to the mandate of her Lord, aware that 'throughout Christian history, martyrs, that is, witnesses, have always been numerous and indispensable to the spread of the Gospel'".


The Pope concluded his address by recalling that the Pontifical Missionary Works had been given the particular task of "supporting the ministers of the Gospel, and helping them preserve the 'joy of evangelising, even when it is in tears that we must sow'. ... Your work of missionary animation and formation lies at the very heart of pastoral care", he told his audience, "because the 'missio ad gentes' is the paradigm for all apostolic activity of the Church. Become an increasingly visible and concrete expression of the sharing of personnel and means among Churches which, as communicating vessels, experience the same missionary vocation and impulse, and which work in every corner of the earth to sow the Word of Truth in all peoples and all cultures".

UNLAWFUL USE OF POPE'S IMAGE: BENETTON RETRACTION

Vatican City, 15 May 2012 (VIS) - This morning a note from the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., was issued on the conclusion of the legal conflict between the Holy See and the Benetton Group, due to its unlawful use of Pope Benedict XVI's image in the "Unhate" ad campaign.


"Last Friday," reads the communique, "the Benetton Group published a note ... reaffirming its 'regret for having offended His Holiness Benedict XVI and believers', and assuring that it 'guarantees and maintains that all photographic images of the Holy Father have been retracted from commercial distribution and promises not to use the image of the Holy Father in the future without authorization from the Holy See'". It ends with stating that "the Benetton Group will use its resources to stop the further use of the image by third parties on internet sites and in other places".


"The communique of the Benetton Group," emphasizes Fr. Lombardi, "represents the conclusion, based on an agreed settlement, of the conflict between the lawyers of the Holy See ... and those of the Benetton Group, a conflict that took place, as announced, and has been open until now. The Benetton Group recognizes therefore ... that the Pope's image must be respected".


"The Holy See did not seek monetary compensation. Nevertheless, moral compensation in recognition of the abuse committed has been sought as well as affirming the desire to defend, even by legal means, the Pope's image. In place of monetary compensation it has asked and received from the Benetton Group an act of generosity, effective even if limited, toward one of the Church's charitable activities".