Dead bird falls from heaven

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Dead animals are often the only animals I find to contribute to Sunday's Camera Critters meme.

This pretty bird  was freshly-dead  when I walked through the eucalyptus grove in the wadi.
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Over the last few days the media has been buzzing about what some people thought was a hint from Pope Francis that animals die and maybe go to heaven.
It turns out that one paper ran an article about Francis but with a headline that actually quoted Pope Paul VI who once in the 1960s or 70s told a boy grieving for his pet, "Heaven is open to all creatures."
But at a recent audience Francis only said, while speaking of the afterlife, "Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us."

You can read the explanation in this CNN article or in the wide-reaching article in the New York Times, which today made the corrections.
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My own Jewish religion hardly knows what to say about what happens to people after death.
But sometimes the rabbis refer to "the next world" or "the world-to-come" as Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, and that certainly can conjure up images of animals roaming around, no?
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Do you ever ponder this question?
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UPDATE Dec. 15:  Catholic News Service today tries to clarify this and gives more ideas about animal heaven.
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St. John Paul II's first feast day

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On St. John Paul II's first feast day (today, Oct. 22), we remember his visit to Israel in the year 2000.

The historic message in the note the Pope placed in the Western Wall  (now enshrined at Yad Vashem).

Photo by Grzegorz Galazka

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL (Anti-Defamation League)  National Director and a Holocaust survivor from Poland, wrote this about the recently-canonized Polish pope:

The canonization of Pope John XXIII, the father of Vatican II, and Pope John Paul II, who denounced anti-Semitism as “sin against God and humanity” and who was the first pope to visit the Great Synagogue of Rome since the time of Peter, formalizes and celebrates the courageous leadership of these two holy men who were determined to set the church on the right path toward better relations with other faiths.

For us in the Jewish community, Popes John Paul II and John XXIII have already been saints for a long time.  

They are towering men whose visionary leadership and groundbreaking reforms transformed Jewish-Catholic relations and reversed two thousand painful years of church-based anti-Semitism.

Click on the photo to read what John Paul was feeling about the Holy Land as he stood on Mt. Nebo (in Jordan) and gazed at the promised land, as did Moses from the same mountain.
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Good reading:
Israel welcomes visit by Pope John Paul II  (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
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Visit to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority: A Pilgrimage of Prayer, Hope, and Reconciliation  (ADL)
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Moses, John Paul, and Benedict on Mt. Nebo  (this blog)
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First feast day today for St. John XXIII

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Today is the first-ever Catholic feast day for newly-canonized Pope St. John XXIII.

He was pope from 1958 to 1963, and Israeli flags were lowered to half mast when he died.
Last year, for the 50th anniversary of his death, Jerusalem hosted a wonderful conference which brought together top scholars and high-ranking clergy from Israel and the world.
You can enlarge the photos 2x and perhaps you will recognize the names and faces of some of the speakers.

International Conference: Honoring the memory of Pope John XXIII
The Shoah, the Jewish People & the State of Israel

Day long conference covering topics such as: Roncalli and the Shoah, Roncalli and the Establishment of the State of Israel, John XXIII, Vatican II and Nostra Aetate, and The Legacy of John XXIII for Catholic-Jewish Relations – Europe & the World

See the program of the seminar here, including a video of President Peres' thoughts on "The Good Pope," as Roncalli was popularly known.

 

The large audience got to see the hour-long prize-winning Israeli film "I Am Joseph, Your Brother."

 (Read more about the time the Pope first spoke that  Biblical verse to his Jewish guests.)

The movie's website begins

During the 1960s, Pope John XXIII met with a delegation of Jews and said, "I am Joseph Your Brother" marking the beginning of a new relationship between Jews and Catholics. Inspired by the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in 2000, I am Joseph, Your Brother assesses and reflects on the changes that have occurred in the often difficult and turbulent relationship that has existed for centuries between Jews and Christians, Judaism and Catholicism, and more recently, between the State of Israel and the Vatican.

Some of the pearls I remember well from that day:

When the Church assigned Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli to several Eastern European countries during World War II,  he was able to save up to 100,000 Jews from the hands of the Nazis, mostly through what some call "Operation Baptism."

One speaker predicted that when history gets straightened out, Israel may someday have streets named for Pope John XXIII and he will finally be included in Yad Vashem's Righteous of the Nations.

On June 3,  the official day of his death, our Knessent last year  held a special session on Roncalli.

A woods has been named for him in the Galilee, near Mt. Precipice.

It was this pope who convened the Second Vatican Council from which came Nostra Aetate. 
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I must say, in the last decades Catholic-Jewish relations have come a long way, in both directions.
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The Saint of the Day website gives these hopeful last words from Saint John XXIII:

On his deathbed he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.” 

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Shalom, Pope Benedict, thanks for your visit to Israel

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So! Pope Benedict XVI is leaving the Chair of Peter!

Here in my photo he is leaving the gold and red chair on stage after celebrating an outdoor  Mass in Jerusalem's Kidron Valley.
That was is 2009.
It took me five blog posts to show you all the interesting things from that once-in-a-lifetime happening.
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Tonight the Franciscan Media Center in Jerusalem released a very moving short video of the Pope's historic visit to Israel (and other places), together with his reading of his letter of resignation before the Cardinals.
In several versions of the video, his Latin is translated on screen:
 to English here and to Italian here,  while French is here.
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(Linked to Our World Tuesday.)

Rome and Jerusalem

UPDATE: I watched all one and a half hours of the live broadcast of the visit and speeches and music. It was all very moving! You can read Pope Benedict's address at
http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/pope-at-rome-synagogue-may-these-wounds-be-healed-forever/ .
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In a few hours Pope Benedict will make a rare visit inside a synagogue, the Great Synagogue of Rome, and then go outside to plant an olive tree together with his Jewish "brothers and sisters."
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Meanwhile, let me show you our own Italian synagogue here in Jerusalem.

I posted the Italian Festival last summer (click on the tag "Italian" below) that took place in the courtyard, but you still have not seen the Italian Jewish Art Museum or the old synagogue inside the building.
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Above the entrance is written Beit Knesset ke-minhag Bene Roma, Tempio Italiano.
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The rite of the Conegliano Synagogue is technically called "Minhag Bnei Roma" (Children of Rome Prayer Custom), "Loez"(Foreign), or "Italiani."
In modern Hebrew it is called " Minhag Italki" (Italian Prayer Custom).
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Wikipedia says that "Italian Jews can be traced back as far as the second century BCE: tombstones and dedicatory inscriptions survive from this period. At that time they mostly lived in the far South of Italy, with a branch community in Rome, and were generally Greek-speaking. It is thought that some families (for example the Adolescenti) are descendants of Jews deported from Judaea by the emperor Titus in 70 CE."
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Welcome inside the 300-year-old interior of the synagogue.
After World War II it was dismantled in a huge rescue operation in the village of Conegliano in Italy. The furnishings arrived in Jerusalem in 1951 and the restoration began.
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This is the bimah, the platform on which the Torah scroll is read.
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The bimah faces the holy ark or aron kodesh, inside which the Torah scrolls are kept.
Elements of the ornate ark may be from even before 1700.
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The women's gallery is on top.
All in grand Baroque style.
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The men sit on the benches on the main floor.
Services are on Saturday (Shabbat) morning.
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Here is a photo borrowed from photographer Jonathan Sierra.

See more of his good photos of the worshipers at an Israelity Blog recent post.

Wiki on the history of Jews in Italy is here.

About Il Rito Bene Romi prayerbook and liturgy (in Italian).

MP3 of the Shema prayer chanted in Roman rite.

The portal for news of Italy's Jews (in Italian), which will soon have hopefully good news about the visit of il Papa --

or in English and other languages, the Pope's YouTube channel.

UPDATE:  The story of the synagogue, from the Museum of Italian Jewish Art:  http://ijamuseum.org/museum/the-synagogue/the-story/

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The Pope is saved

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Where are the Swiss Guard boys when you need them?!

(Photo by Pete Souza, July 10, 2009)

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Some 15,000 visitors came to Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem last night and all went peacefully, thank God.

But not so at the Vatican!

(My photo from the Papal Mass in Jerusalem, May 2009)

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At about 10 p.m. Rome time, as the procession of clergy was entering St. Peter's Basilica, an "unstable" woman jumped the barricade and rushed toward Pope Benedict.

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Before being swarmed by plainclothes bodyguards (not the Swiss Guard), the Jerusalem Post says "She grabbed the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her."

Cardinal Roger Etchegaraywas also knocked down in the commotion and was taken to hospital with a broken leg.

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Strange. As the live transmission of the Midnight Mass began, I remember praying over my computer, "Please Pope Baruch, don't fall. Don't let anyone attack you. Be safe!"

(It is the old Jewish Mother syndrome. We worry.)

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Suddenly the Vaticano CTV webcast went blank and my heart skipped a beat.

But it soon resumed, showing the Pope already at the altar. I wondered why he looked sad. Sad on Christmas Eve?

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Only two hours later, when the nice Mass was ended, did I hear about the incident on Israel radio news.
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The woman in the red hooded sweatshirt can be seen as she was caught on this video.

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Good for you, Your Holiness, for picking yourself up and continuing to lead your people in the praise of God. Sei gesund und stark, Pope Baruch.

Merry Christmas to you and all.

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UPDATE: CNS (Catholic News Service blog) just published more details, including this shocking item:

"Vatican sources confirmed that the woman was the same person who attempted to rush the pope at Midnight Mass last year, but was tackled by guards before she could reach the pontiff."

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CNS also posts a good amateur video of the woman filmed from right behind her.

You think she will try again next year?? Oi veh!

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Final post on our big day with the Pope

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This whole week has been exciting, both in Jerusalem and for this blog, having Pope Benedict XVI in town.
Tuesday the blog showed him celebrating Mass.
Today we continue showing the mood in the flock who came to the Kidron Valley.

Click on any of the photos to see them full screen.

We had three hours before Mass began.
Meanwhile, the Arab Catholic Scouts marched and played lively music on the bagpipes and drums.

The tradition, hundreds of years old, is that several Muslim men like these in the old Ottoman Turkish garb lead the way for special ceremonial processions of Christian clergy, tapping the ground with their staffs as they walk.
They are called kawassim. 

I'm not sure this man is a monk, at least not yet.
He had no full recognizable habit on. And the tonsure on the head is not done much these days.

These monks are from a monastery not far from Jerusalem.

The Carthusian order lives in silence and solitude. This event was a real field day for them.

Just above the two Carthusian brothers is a surprising sight: someone waving an Israeli flag and a Vatican flag bound together on one pole, with a little Palestinian flag on the top.

More nuns! (The others are in Thursday's post.  And for full coverage of this papal visit see all my posts here.)

Israeli TV televised live to the world every appearance of the Pope.
 (He was at 22 different sites in Israel in only 5 days.)
Two big screens let us see close-ups of the clergy near the altar.

A few viewers sat in olive trees, reminding me of the Zacchaeus story in Luke 19.

This is a freebie I missed. It must have been the Ministry of Tourism that gave the T shirts "I'm with the Pope in Jerusalem."
 For the Papal Mass yesterday the shirts said "I'm with the Pope in Nazareth."
 Whether the Palestinian Authority gave out anything to commemorate Wednesday's Mass in Bethlehem, I cannot know since I am not allowed into Bethlehem.

This cameraman from Pax TV, Lima, Peru, was directing the local kids.
 All were having fun.

Behind the long boom with the TV camera, you can see the Magnificat Choir.

Security personnel were everywhere, but in an unobtrusive manner.
These two men are police sappers.
Thank God that all went perfectly this week.

As the sun got lower and lower, the gold crosses on the Russian Orthodox Convent and Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives began glowing with blinding light.
As if saying Shalom to the Catholic Pope below in the valley.
Symbolic of this blessed week of ecumenical  and interfaith dialogue.

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Here's looking at you

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Click on the photos and enlarge your viewing pleasure!

Pope Benedict XVI is our guest in Israel this week and everywhere he goes, the surveillance balloon floats above him.
Israel's biggest-ever security for a VIP was code-named by the police "Operation White Cloak."

Here the observation balloon hovers over the wall of Jerusalem's Old City as we gathered in the Kidron Valley.

These pictures above are for SkyWatch Friday. Welcome Skywatchers; if you would like to see the Pope himself, please see the previous two posts.

Some 6,000 managed to get invitations to the Pontifical Mass last Tuesday.

This is the booklet of the liturgy, in Latin and Arabic.

Seating on chairs was limited, only for the handicapped or for VIPs like high clergy and members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The rest of us sat under, or even ON, the olive trees.

BYO--bring your own stool was preferred by the nuns pictured above and below.

If you're wondering why nuns (and almost everyone else) are wearing white baseball caps, it is because the Benedict souvenirs were freely distributed.
 A necessity in our hot bright sun.

These Benedictines were well grounded.

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If you are wondering where the monks are, please come back tomorrow.

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Getting there is half the fun

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My post of yesterday wanted to throw you right into the arena with the Christians.
 No no no, not with lions!
I mean, straight into the Pontifical Mass in Jerusalem.
But today it might be fun for you to come along and share the travails of just getting there, and getting in.
You know, like they say, "God is in the details."

So our first hurdle en route was a roadblock in central West Jerusalem.
 Pope Benedict was at a meeting nearby in the Great Synagogue with the two Chief Rabbis of Israel.
Everyone stood for 20 minutes until the Pope moved on and the police opened the road.

Please click and enlarge any photo to see those DETAILS.

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The way they block traffic is by parking the buses of the Pope's delegation in the middle of the street. Clever, eh?

This is Paris Square (with a gift fountain from France) at the intersection of Rambam (=Maimonides) and Ramban (=Nachmanides) Streets.

A good sign for us when the men in black who had been at the Pope's meeting emerged from Heichal Shlomo and waited for their bus driver to take them to the Pope's next stop (the Upper Room in the Old City).

We walked the several blocks to the Old City's New Gate.
It too was semi-closed by then.
I think the police let me through because I was with a nun bearing Mass tickets.
 We crossed the whole Old City and came out via St. Stephen's Gate on the east side.

This sign is probably from the Jerusalem Municipality.
 "In the Spirit of Unity and Peace" it proclaims, and "Jerusalem--something special for everyone!"

Here we are looking down at the "stage" that was built especially for the Mass.
The lovely setting among the olive trees [don't mind the graves] is the Kidron Valley, also known as the Valley of Josaphat (Yehoshafat).
To its right, the old wall of the Old City; to the left, the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane.
What could be better?!

The gates opened at 1:00.
The privileged Franciscans had an entrance all to themselves.
 After all, they are the Custodian of the Holy Land.
 But they were not spared the security check.

We, the hoi polloi, had to line up for a long time in the hot sun to wait our turn to put our bags through the X-ray machine and to walk through the metal detector.

Mercifully, hats like this beauty were passed out before any of us really passed out.

A line of ambulances was parked just behind, just in case.

As we reached the bottleneck where police officers and young security guards stood, the press of humanity was felt.
And how!
 Foreign pilgrims, local Arab Christians, men and women religious, and a very few Israeli Jews like me were all squished together.

This is "the holy grail," the limited edition (less than 6,000 available) invitation to the Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Holy City. Each one numbered.

Really, enlarge this photo.
See the round hologram sticker?
It is the papal emblem within a star of David!
Can you believe that??

The stamped Hebrew says "Israel Police" and the date.

The police checked our Identity Card and/or passport and carefully scanned the barcode sticker into their database.
As we used to say, half-laughing at the early German-Jewish immigrants to Israel, the Yekkes, "Ordnung muss sein."
One must have order.

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Then, suddenly we were inside and free, free to stand around or sit on the earth for three and a half hours until His Holiness the (German) Pope arrived and Mass began.

More about the fun we had while waiting in tomorrow's post, God willing.
 Hope to see you!
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