Handed out in early December at the Vatican, the 2002 edition of the Ratzinger Prize was awarded to Joseph Halevi Weiler, an academic with a deep connection to Macau. Founder and co-director of the Academy of International Trade Law of the Institute of European Studies, the Jewish scholar was distinguished by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation for his contribution to the harmonization of faith and legal reasoning in the contemporary world.
At the Second Vatican Council itself, Pope Benedict XVI proved adversarial to those conservative forces who were resisting the renewal which the majority of bishops favored. One of the ironies of his life is that, in the wake of Vatican II, he found himself standing athwart progressives who wanted to push beyond the council documents and compromise the integrity of Catholicism. Thus, the “liberal” of the Council became the “conservative” of the post-conciliar years, even as, in his own judgment, his views never changed.
Mozambique, the former Portuguese colony, has been fighting the threat of jihadi terror in its northermost region of Cabo Delgado. But human rights activists in Africa point out that this is a deliberate and well-organized strategy to expel populations from their ancestral territories as the lands are rich with deposits of graphite that is used to make anodes for electric car batteries.
Pope Benedict’s XVI time as pope was short, but his impact was enormous and his legacy will probably continue to reverberate in the decades to come, Father José Mario Mandía believes. The former director of O Clarim recalls some of Joseph Ratzinger’s most important contributions to the Church, namely the Christ-centeredness of his theological vision and the first official Catholic catechism in more than 400 years. The Pope Emeritus’ profound words will continue to shape philosophy, theology and the life of the Church and the world.
Shy, reserved, but truly erudite. Joseph Ratzinger – the first German pope in almost 500 years – goes down in history as a highly regarded theologian and one of the most influential pontiffs of the last few centuries, say priests and faithful whom O Clarim spoke to. Long before he was elected to the Chair of Peter, Cardinal Ratzinger paid a brief visit to Macau in March 1993. The then head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith urged the bishops of Asia to regard the mission of the Asian Church more in terms of “inter-culturality” instead of “inculturation”.
The Catholic Diocese of Macau is preparing to send at least 50 youngsters to Portugal to take part in the 2023 edition of the World Youth Day. The easing of the pandemic-related restrictions decreed by the local authorities, earlier this month, eliminates the requirement of a mandatory quarantine in a designated hotel – one of the aspects that worried the Diocesan curia the most.
Most people would agree that his legacy is his theology as Joseph Ratzinger and the magisterium as Pope Benedict XVI: his clear and profound teaching on faith and morals.
Following the announcement of the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Saturday at the age of 95, O Clarim takes a look at his life and his long years of service in the Lord’s vineyard.
Celebrating Christmas in the Indonesian archipelago is certainly a unique experience. Christianity has inevitably, over the centuries, adapted to local customs in an intricate process of acculturation.
The film ‘Birth’ has the backdrop of the first Opium War, and portrays André’s stay in Macau (now immortalized in a statue in Jardim de Camões).
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