Jesus of Nazareth, the new book by Pope Benedict XVI , has already sold more than 2 million copies, the official Vatican publisher has announced.

Jesus of Nazareth has been printed in 15 different languages, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana reports. The Vatican publishing house, which holds the rights to the Pope’s written work, made an agreement with the Italian Rizzoli house to market the book in that country. In Germany the Pope’s book is published by Herder Verlag; in the US, by Doubleday.

- Courtesy of Catholic World News.

Pope Benedict XVI has said that although the September 11 terror attacks “darkened the dawn of the third millennium,” God’s mercy is still stronger than evil.

The Pope made the remarks on September 16 at his summer villa outside Rome, where hundreds of pilgrims crowded the courtyard for a Sunday blessing.

He spoke about divine mercy as illustrated in Gospel parables, especially shown to those who “stray from the right path.”
In our time, he said, “humanity needs the mercy of God to be proclaimed and witnessed with vigor.”

He said his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had been an “apostle of divine mercy” and understood its importance for the modern world.

“After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, which darkened the dawn of the third millennium, he (Pope John Paul) invited Christians and people of good will to believe that the mercy of God is stronger than any evil, and that only in the cross of Christ is found the salvation of the world,” he said.

Pope Benedict offered a prayer that people would trust in God’s love and become more merciful in their own lives.

He said the core message of the Gospel is precisely that “God is merciful love.”

“In the end, this is why (Jesus) came into the world: to speak to us about the Father, and to make him known to us, the lost children, and revive in our hearts the joy of belonging to him,” he said.

- Courtesy of The Universe

 Pope Benedict XVI  paid homage to Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Wednesday, September 5th : the 10th anniversary of her death.

At the end of his regular public audience,  the Holy Father acknowledged 1,500 Missionaries of Charity in the crowd in St. Peter’s Square. These members of the religious order founded by Mother Teresa were in Rome to mark the anniversary of her death. September 5  is also the optional feast day honoring Mother Teresa in the liturgical calendar of the Church; that date was set by Pope John Paul II  at the time of her beatification: October 19, 2003.

In his tribute to Mother Teresa, Pope Benedict said that “the life and witness of this true disciple of Christ, whose liturgical memory we celebrate today, are an invitation to you and the entire Church to always serve Christ in the poor and the needy.”

- Courtesy of Catholic World News

Pope Benedict XVI has signed a document that would allow more churches to adopt the old Latin Mass that largely faded from use during the 1960’s, when the groundbreaking Second Vatican Council opened the doors to worship in the local vernacular, Vatican officials say.

The revival of what is known as the Tridentine Mass has long been promoted by Roman Catholic traditionalists , who say it is more moving, contemplative and historically authentic than the modern Mass.

But Pope Benedict has been hearing resistance from cardinals and bishops , many of them in Europe , who argue that the change would  divide the church by promulgating two very different official rites.

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Canonization Rites at the Vatican, June 3, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI named four new saints in a crowd  of 40,000 to 50,000 people armed with umbrellas who braved the heavy downpour and chilly wind to witness the two hour ceremony.

The Pope canonized the following :

The Rev. George Preca of Malta who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine, a group of lay people who teach the faith to others.

The Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted the victims of the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it himself.

The Rev.Charles of St. Andrew, who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in Netherlands in 1821. Although he never mastered the English language, Father Charles spent much of his life in England and Ireland, where he achieved fame as a miracle worker with thousands flocking to his monastery outside Dublin to seek his blessing. He was canonized after the inexplicable cure of a man from his hometown who was suffering from a painful gangrenous and perforated appendicitis.

Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839  founded the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo attended the canonization rites with a Philippine child who was diagnosed with severe  brain damage . She was cured after her parents and the Assumption sisters prayed for Sister Marie Eugenie’s intercession. The miracle the Vatican needed to canonize the nun.

Pope Benedict XVI approved the martyrdom of an Austrian who was beheaded by the Nazis for refusing to serve Hitler’s army. Franz Jaegerstaetter requested to be excused from the regular army service , but was denied and was ordered executed for treason. He was the only person who voted against the creation of a “Greater Germany” after Austria was annexed in 1938. Franz was beheaded in 1943. The Pope also approved the martyrdom of 188 Japanese who died for refusing to renounce their faith.  A miracle attributed to Antonio Rosmini, an Italian philosopher who died in 1855 was also approved by the Pope and who writings were once condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. Being declared a martyr means the men died for the Church and eliminates the requirement of a miracle to be beatified. However, after beatification, martyrs need a miracle confirmed before being elevated to sainthood. The process of beatification and canonization usually takes decades or sometimes lasts for centuries.

Hundreds of thousands cheered and celebrated as Pope Benedict XVI gave Brazil its first  native born saint today, Friday, May 11th. A giant cross dominated Campo de Marte where the canonization mass took place. Brazilians and Catholics worldwide remember the beatification mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in the same venue. A sober, classical liturgy marked the canonization of Antonio de Sant’Ana Galvao, a Franciscan monk. The monk founded several convents and monasteries throughout Brazil but is best remembered because of his reputed healing powers delivered in small paper “miracle” pill.  The church recognized three miracle cures which led to his canonization. The German pontiff said Galvao showed the world that it “needs transparent lives, clear souls, pure hearts necessary to  oppose those elements of the media that ridicule the sanctity of virginity before marriage”. The canonization mass was followed by a rally of Latin American youths at Sao Paulo footbal stadium where the Pope urged the young people to “be apostles of youth”.

Latin America is home to nearly half of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, but has lost ground in recent years due to people converting to rival faiths or abandoning religion.