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ZENIT, - Daily dispatch -
The World Seen From Rome
==================================May 27, 2005
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VATICAN DOSSIER
* Pope's 1st Trip to Highlight Importance of Eucharist
* Benedict XVI to Mark 28th Year as Bishop
* Coin to Commemorate World Youth Day 2005
WORLD FEATURES
* Crises of Faith and Morality, as Seen by Cardinal Ratzinger
* Vocation Campaign in England Steps Out
NEWS BRIEFS
* Bishops Campaign for Development
* Ecumenical Assembly Looking for a Logo
INTERVIEW
* Do the Illuminati Really Exist?
SPIRITUALITY
* Father Cantalamessa on the Many Dimensions of Communion
FORUM
* "John Paul Drew the Crucifix to Himself and Embraced It"
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VATICAN DOSSIER
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Pope's 1st Trip to Highlight Importance of Eucharist To Go by Helicopter to Bari
VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's first apostolic trip will be to Bari for the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress where he will highlight that the Church cannot exist without the Blessed Sacrament.
The Pope plans to visit the southern town on Sunday and to celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. in the esplanade of Marisabella to close the congress.
In a letter to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, his special envoy to the congress, the Holy Father said that "in the bread and wine, changed in the holy Mass into the body and blood of the Lord, the Christian people find the nourishment and support to undertake the path to holiness, the universal vocation of all the baptized." The letter was published May 16.
The Eucharistic congress, which has gathered representatives of all the ecclesial entities of Italy, opened last Saturday with the theme "We Cannot Live Without Sunday."
The theme is taken from the words expressed by the 49 martyrs of Abitene, a city of the Roman province of Proconsular Africa, today's Tunis, in the year 303, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian.
The Pope will go to Bari by helicopter, leaving the Vatican's heliport at 7:45 a.m. Sunday. He will land at Bari's Sports Union Center.
Benedict XVI will go to Marisabella in the popemobile. Mass will then be celebrated, after which the Pontiff will greet representatives of the congress's organizing committee, before going by car to Victoria Stadium around 12:30 p.m. where he will bid Bari farewell. He will return by helicopter to the Vatican around 2:30 p.m.
In the first message of his pontificate, read in the Sistine Chapel on April 20, Benedict XVI stressed the importance of the congress, held in the year Pope John Paul II dedicated to the Eucharist. The special year ends this October.
"In this year, therefore, the solemnity of Corpus Domini must be celebrated with particular prominence," proposed John Paul II. The Church celebrates that feast Sunday.
ZE05052703
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Benedict XVI to Mark 28th Year as Bishop
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome, is set to mark the 28th anniversary of his episcopal ordination this Saturday.
Father Joseph Ratzinger, a member of the International Theological Commission, was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI on March 24, 1977, and received episcopal ordination from the hands of Bishop Josef Stangl of Wuerzburg the following May 28.
Father Ratzinger, who had just celebrated his 50th birthday, became the first diocesan priest in 80 years to assume the pastoral governance of the large Bavarian archdiocese. Paul VI elevated him to cardinal just a month later, on June 27.
In his autobiography "Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977" (Ignatius Press, 1999), Cardinal Ratzinger recalled the date of his episcopal consecration as "an extraordinarily beautiful day," "a radiant day at the beginning of summer, on the vigil of Pentecost of 1977."
"I experienced the reality of the sacrament: something happens in it that is true," he wrote. "Later, praying before the column of the Virgin Mary -- the Mariensaule -- in the heart of the Bavarian capital, meeting many people who welcomed the newcomer, unknown to them, with a warmth and joy which was not due so much to my person, but rather manifested once again what the sacrament is.
"They were greeting the bishop, who bears the mystery of Christ, although perhaps the majority of those present were unaware of it. But the joy of that day was in fact something different from the acceptance of a person, who still had to demonstrate his own capacity."
As Archbishop Ratzinger, he chose words from the Third Letter of John, "co-worker in the truth," as the spiritual theme of his episcopate.
On Nov. 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.
Because of these appointments, the cardinal resigned from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising on Feb. 15, 1982, and moved to Rome.
ZE05052706
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Coin to Commemorate World Youth Day 2005
VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican City State has released a 2-euro coin to commemorate this year's World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
Some 85,000 units of the collector's coin will be produced, World Youth Day organizers said.
The reverse of the coin shows Cologne Cathedral, and above it is the star of Bethlehem with a comet's tail, which guided the wise men. It includes the inscription in Italian "XX Giornata Mondiale della Gioventu." The design is by sculptress Daniela Longo.
The face of the coin reads "Città del Vaticano" (Vatican City), and around it are the 12 stars of the European Union. The date is 2005 and the place is indicated with the letter "R" for Rome.
The World Youth Day Office in Cologne said it will not be offering the coins.
The theme of the August event is "We Have Come to Worship Him."
This is "a theme that enables young people from each continent to follow ideally the itinerary of the Wise Kings, whose relics, according to a pious tradition, are venerated precisely" in Cologne "and, like them, to meet the Messiah of all nations," said Pope John Paul II in a message in preparation for the event.
ZE05052707
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WORLD FEATURES
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Crises of Faith and Morality, as Seen by Cardinal Ratzinger According to a New Book Presented at Spanish College
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The present crises of faith and morality are closely connected, explained the author of a new book on the thought of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI.
Father José Pérez Asensi released "The Ethics of Faith in the Work of Joseph Ratzinger" (published by Edicep) last week at the Spanish College in Rome. The book features the conclusions of the author's licentiate thesis entitled, "Moral Theology in the Work of Joseph Ratzinger."
Father Pérez told ZENIT that Cardinal Ratzinger is not an academic moralist but "a dogmatic theologian; however, he is the theologian who has explained in the clearest way that the crisis of faith and the crisis of morality that exist today are closely related in Europe, as well as in certain currents of dogmatic and moral theology."
The priest summarized Cardinal Ratzinger's theology with the phrase "the circularity of the faith."
"Cardinal Ratzinger tries to explain the whole dynamic of Christian life from the truth 'faith in Jesus Christ' and, in a very pedagogical manner, explains how faith in Jesus Christ has different moments," Father Pérez said.
Developing this key concept, the priest said that "in the first place, faith in Jesus Christ is a gift; in the second place, that gift helps us to stay with Christ; in the third place, it becomes the way of understanding reality. Cardinal Ratzinger very much emphasizes knowledge of the faith which helps us to understand God, ourselves and the world; it is different from scientific knowledge."
In the fourth place, he continued, "faith implies a free response and here is where Cardinal Ratzinger specifies the Christian way of life, the following of Christ; and a way of advancing on that path is the morality he proposes.
"The present Benedict XVI bases the following of Christ on what he calls the ethics of faith. That is why I have given the book that title. For him, Christian morality must be founded on faith in Christ which stems from an encounter with him, not only as a personal experience but also as a reality full of meaning."
Father Pérez continued: "Ratzinger bases his theology on two main ideas: the personal relationship between God and man with encounter and following, and the balance between truth, freedom, conscience and moral praxis.
"Benedict XVI's moral thought helps us, and it guarantees that spirituality and morality go together. It is a theology which is not reduced to a specialization, but is more global. It helps us to remember that to follow Christ includes both the spiritual religious moment, which means intimacy with Christ, as well as the moral moment, our response to Christ."
The priest added: "Cardinal Ratzinger's moral theology helps us to understand that the basis and nexus which guarantees our freedom and Christian truth is faith in Christ, which includes spirituality and morality that exist in connection with our search for the truth of man which is happiness and the service of brothers."
ZE05052701
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Vocation Campaign in England Steps Out
LONDON, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A new campaign to promote vocations in England and Wales is taking a step into new territory, that of life outside of church buildings.
This summer the bishops' National Office for Vocations in England and Wales is running a series of ads on beer mats and on posters in the London Underground, making this the first time the Church has actively publicized priesthood outside of church buildings.
Following the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, and with the recent airing of "Monastery" on BBC2, a reality show that tracked the spiritual journey of five men of various faiths who spent 40 days living the life of monks in a Benedictine abbey, there was a noticeable increase in the number of inquiries about the priesthood and religious life.
Regarding this increased interest, Father Paul Embery, director of the vocations office, which is responsible for the campaign, said: "We are trying to develop that into something more long-term."
"Previously we have only advertised within the Church," he noted. "By taking the campaign into other areas of young people's lives, we are hoping it will give them something to think about and keep the interest high."
Asked if it was appropriate for the Church to advertise vocations to the priesthood in this way, Father Embery said: "Pope John Paul didn't spend all his time in the Vatican. He went out, and took his message to where people were. We can do something similar to encourage young men to think about the priesthood."
The beer mats, while commercially available, will also be used at social events where there are gatherings of Catholic young people, such as World Youth Day this August in Cologne.
ZE05052702
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NEWS BRIEFS
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Bishops Campaign for Development
BERLIN, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A delegation of bishops is touring Europe to promote goals set by the U.N. Millennium Summit that ask for an increase in aid for developing countries by 2015.
The delegation, headed by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, bishop of Mainz and president of the German bishops' conference, handed German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a petition Wednesday that advocates the establishment of a strategic association for development, the removal of trade barriers, further cancellations of foreign debt and an increase in aid for development.
The delegation also includes Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos, Guatemala; and Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranci, India. The prelates will also visit London and Paris.
According to Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, the purpose of the prelates' tour is to exert pressure on "governments that subscribed to the Millennium's development objectives, thus committing themselves to eliminate the most painful forms of poverty" by 2015.
ZE05052720
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Ecumenical Assembly Looking for a Logo
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Conference of European Churches and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences announced a competition to design a logo for the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly.
Known as the EEA3, the title of the assembly is "The Light of Christ Shines upon All: Hope for Renewal and Unity in Europe."
The winner will receive a prize of 1,000 euros and free participation in the event. The winning logo will be used to publicize the assembly throughout Europe and will be on display in Sibiu, Romania, during the final event.
The first assembly was held in 1989 in Basel, Switzerland, on the topic "Peace with Justice," and the second was held in 1997 in Graz, Austria, on "Reconciliation: Gift of God and Source of New Life."
The third assembly will take place in four stages. Stage one will gather 110 delegates for meetings to be held Jan. 24-27, 2006, in Rome.
Stage two will consist of national and regional meetings to be held in late 2006 or early 2007.
Stage three will gather the 110 delegates again in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, in January 2007.
The peak event will take place Sept. 4-8, 2007, in Sibiu, Romania, and will gather some 3,000 representatives of the bishops' conference and European churches, as well as link meetings in various cities in the continent.
In a statement, the organizing committee said the assembly seeks to "tackle the great challenges set out by the European culture marked by secularization and by a need for spirituality, by religious pluralism, by the process of European unification, and by the responsibilities of our continent in the context of the world as a whole."
For more information, see www.ccee.ch.
ZE05052705
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INTERVIEW
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Do the Illuminati Really Exist?
Interview With Massimo Introvigne
TURIN, Italy, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An expert in new religious movements downplays novelist Dan Brown's ideas about the Illuminati, a 18th-century group that once aspired to overthrowing the Catholic kingdom of Bavaria.
Massimo Introvigne, director of the Turin-based Center for Studies in New Religions, went into detail about the group mentioned in Brown's new novel, in this interview posted by the center.
Q: "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown is the latest best-selling novel claiming that the Illuminati were, or are, an important and powerful secret society. Is this only a novel?
Introvigne: Not according to Dan Brown himself.
He claims in Web site that "Secret societies like the Illuminati go to enormous lengths to remain covert. Although many classified intelligence reports have been written on the brotherhood, few have been published. Conspiracy theories on the Illuminati include infiltration of the British Parliament and U.S. Treasury, secret involvement with the Masons, affiliation with covert Satanic cults, a plan for a New World Order, and even the resurgence of their ancient pact to destroy Vatican City. Separating Illuminati fact from fiction can be difficult on account of the massive quantities of misinformation that has been generated about the brotherhood. Some theorists claim this plethora of misinformation is actually generated by the Illuminati themselves in an effort to discredit any factual information that may have surfaced. This concealment tactic -- known as 'data-sowing' -- is often employed by U.S. intelligence agencies."
Actually, Dan Brown seems to take the continuing existence of Illuminati even more seriously than his character Robert Langdon.
Q: But the existence of the Illuminati is an historical fact, isn't it?
Introvigne: Yes, it is. The Order of the Illuminati was established on May 1, 1776, at the University of Ingolstadt, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, in Germany, by a professor of law called Adam Weishaupt [1748-1830].
The Illuminati were an interesting organization, with both esoteric rituals and a political aim, based on the Enlightenment philosophy and ultimately aimed at overthrowing the Roman Catholic and politically conservative Kingdom of Bavaria and replacing it with a liberal republic.
Q: Were the Illuminati part of Freemasonry?
Introvigne: Not originally. Weishaupt was quite critical of Freemasonry and wanted to establish a different order with different rituals. He, however, failed to produce rituals interesting enough to attract a significant number of followers, and in February 1777 decided to be initiated as a Freemason in a Munich Masonic lodge known as Zur Behutsamkeit -- "The Prudence".
In 1780, a prominent German Freemason, Baron Adolf Franz Friedrich Ludwig von Knigge, joined the Illuminati and by January 1782 he had rewritten their rituals in a much more Masonic form. Although this ritual was essentially Masonic, and many members were Freemasons, however, the Illuminati as such were not part of Freemasonry.
Q: Did these Illuminati succeed in their purposes?
Introvigne: In a way, yes. The new ritual was quite successful, and the Illuminati were able to recruit some 2,500 members both in Bavaria and various European countries, not a small number by the standard of esoteric orders in general.
On the other hand, the Illuminati's political aim was not achieved. Between 1784-1787, documents were seized by the Bavarian police proving that theirs was a political plot aimed at overthrowing the government.
Some members were arrested, although none was treated too severely by the Bavarian government, and they escaped with fines or a few months in jail, whilst Weishaupt himself fled Bavaria and lived quite peacefully in other parts of Germany until his death in 1830.
The Illuminati survived outside Bavaria, thanks to the efforts of one of their leaders, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode [1730-1793], but had ceased any activity by 1790.
Q: Wasn't there something sinister in the Illuminati's activities?
Introvigne: Yes. Their political activities were not confined to legal means.
In October 1786 the police raided the home of a prominent member of the Illuminati, the diplomat Franz Xavier von Zwack [1755-1843], and seized documents indicating that the order was ready to poison several of its political foes, although these plans were never executed.
Q: But didn't the Illuminati claim a much older origin than 1776?
Introvigne: Yes, they did. Weishaupt originally claimed that the Illuminati originated with the last King of Persia who was a Zoroastrian by religion, Yadzegerd III, who died in A.D. 651, although he confused him with Yadzegerd II, who died in A.D. 457 and was King of Persia from 438 to 457, and built a whole genealogy listing many famous historical characters.
When Knigge joined the order, he asked Weishaupt for evidence of this genealogy. Weishaupt wrote back in January 1781 that the genealogy was an "innocent lie," in fact needed because not many would have joined a newly established order.
Rather than being offended, Knigge agreed that a mythical genealogy was indeed needed, and proceeded to build one of his own, where the Illuminati were declared as having originally been founded by Noah, and revived after a period of decline by St. John the Evangelist.
Q: What about the Knights Templar? Weren't they somewhat involved, too?
Introvigne: Yes, according to Knigge's genealogy. In fact, at that time the Knights Templar were claimed as ancestors by the German Freemasonry as a whole.
When modern Freemasonry came from its original United Kingdom to continental Europe, many European nobles were not prepared to join an order whose real origins were in the professional corporations of "free masons," including architects, building contractors but also common stonemasons.
In 1736, André Michel de Ramsay [1686-1743] told in a famous discourse the French nobles he hoped to recruit into Freemasonry that, in fact, the British corporations of "free masons" were the places where persecuted knights went into hiding, thus creating a mythical, but more acceptable, origin for the Masonic lodges.
In Germany, were speculations about an alleged secret prosecution of the Roman Catholic Order of the Knights Templar, suppressed by the Catholic Church in 1307, were quite widespread, Ramsay's "persecuted knights" were quickly identified with the Knights Templar.
While it is true that the Knights Templar did survive in some countries for a century after their suppression, legends of a secret prosecution after the XV century are regarded as "hopelessly stupid" -- in the words of famous French historian Régine Pernoud -- by academic historians of Templarism.
In fact, from the 18th century on, most esoteric orders give to their members mythical genealogies that would include the Knights Templar, Noah, Saint John or King Solomon, as well as famous people of literature and art.
Usually, most of their members are aware of the merely symbolic and mythical character of these genealogies. Certainly, both Weishaupt and Knigge were aware that their genealogies were "symbolic" or, more simply, made up by themselves. There were no Illuminati before 1776.
Q: But weren't the Illuminati the driving force behind the French Revolution?
Introvigne: Not really. Anti-revolutionary authors, including Protestant John Robison [1739-1805] and Roman Catholic Father Augustin Barruel [1741-1820], claimed that the French Revolution was the result of a Masonic conspiracy, and that the Illuminati were the secret leaders of the French Freemasonry. We do not need to address here the complicate question of the relationship between Freemasonry, Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
What is historically clear, however, is that the Illuminati, who were about to cease their existence in 1789, did not play any crucial role in the preparation of the French Revolution.
The links between the Bavarian group and the French Freemasonry were tenuous at best, and in fact many French Freemasons were quite hostile to the Illuminati, and certainly not prepared to accept the leadership of a German order.
For a number of political reasons, however, Robison's theories were particularly successful in the United States, where President Thomas Jefferson was accused of being a member of the dreaded sect.
Q: But wasn't the back part of the Great Seal of the United States, the one we still see on the dollar bill, a symbol of the Illuminati?
Introvigne: No, no matter how many books and movies claim it.
The pyramid and eye symbol is never found among the Illuminati. Actually it is not even a Masonic symbol, although there are similar symbols in Freemasonry, where a fascination with Egypt was widespread in the 18th and 19th century.
The particular pyramid used in the Great Seal was derived from Pyramidographia, a book published in 1646 in London by John Greaves [1602-1652], based on his trip to Egypt.
The eye was introduced by Congress Secretary Charles Thomson -- who was not a Freemason -- in his 1792 speech prior to the Seal's Congressional acceptance as a very Christian "eye of the Providence," presiding over the destiny of the United States. As such, it is featured in a number of Christian churches and symbols, quite apart from, and well before, its use within the frame of Masonic rituals.
Q: Didn't many always accept the theory, however, that the Illuminati were leading the world or, at least, the U.S.?
Introvigne: Not before 1975. From the mid-19th century to 1975 the theory of the great Illuminati conspiracy remained the province of fringe "conspirationist" authors, not particularly well-known by the general public.
In 1975, a trilogy known as "Illuminatus" was published by Robert Joseph Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
The three novels were written somewhat tongue-in-check, and Shea and Wilson were part of a neo-pagan group known as the Discordians, worshippers of Eris the Great Goddes of Chaos through "cosmic jokes."
Actually, these are libertarian novels, where Weishaupt does not die in Germany but emigrates to the American British Colonies, where he assumes the name of George Washington and establishes the United States.
When the U.S. evolves into an authoritarian, repressive state under the secret leadership of the Illuminati, Discordians organize the resistance in the name of liberty, Chaos, and the Great Goddess Eris.
It is after Shea and Wilson's novels that the Illuminati start popping up literally everywhere, from Umberto Eco's novel "Foucault's Pendulum" [1988] to the movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" [2001], including countless comics, role-playing games, and miscellaneous pieces of fiction.
Unfortunately, some did not realize the nature of the "Illuminatus" novels, or even claimed that Shea and Wilson revealed a real conspiracy under the guise of fiction. This theory achieved a certain degree of success among Protestant fundamentalists.
Its leading proponent, Milton William Cooper, died in a confrontation with law enforcement officers on Nov. 5, 2001. He refused to pay taxes to the U.S. government, claiming it was controlled by the Illuminati.
Q: What about the Skull and Bones, the famous fraternal society of Yale's students and alumni? One hears frequently that it is part of the Illuminati
Introvigne: No relation. The Skull and Bones was established in 1832 by William Huntington Russell [1809-1885], when the original Illuminati were long since dead.
Some tenuous similarity may be explained by the fact that both Weishaupt's Illuminati and Russell's Skull and Bones did take inspiration in the many "secret" student societies which existed in German universities since the 18th century.
By the way, many stories told about the Skull and Bones are simply tall tales -- they are just another academic fraternity, including famous people because famous people do happen to have studied at Yale -- and in 1986 it was finally ascertained that even their famous skull did not really belong to legendary Indian chief Geronimo. The Apaches, to which The Skull and Bones was prepared to give back the skull, declared it unconnected with Geronimo and refused it.
Q: But didn't an Order of the Illuminati exist in the 20th century, too?
Introvigne: Yes. Within the framework of the German occult revival at the end of the 19th century, Leopold Engel "revived" -- in his own words -- the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati on March 12, 1901.
He and his associate Theodor Reuss -- later to become famous as a sexual magician and an associate of famous British occult master Aleister Crowley -- were spreading the word that the order was being revived since 1896.
Later, they claimed that the revival took place in 1880, but this date is certainly false. As usual, Engel and Reuss told the members of their newly founded order that it was both very old and a legitimate continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati, whose succession had been transmitted from father to son within Reuss' family.
It was claimed that the Illuminati originated in India and Egypt, were behind the Italian Renaissance and post-Renaissance art and science (hence the references to Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Galileo Galilei, quite familiar to the readers of "Angels & Demons," and included among their members an impressive rooster of historical characters, from Ulysses and Aristotle to -- yes, indeed -- Thomas Jefferson.
Once again, however, Engel did admit -- in writing -- that this genealogy was mythical and symbolic, and should not be taken at face value. As for the story of a family succession connecting Reuss to the Bavarian Illuminati, Engel later declared that it was a figment of Reuss' imagination.
Q: Who was Leopold Engel, exactly?
Introvigne: An interesting character. He was a member of the inner circle of the loosely organized movement including the followers of the Austrian Christian visionary and mystic Jakob Lorber [1800-1864].
In fact, Engel "received" spiritually -- today, the word "channelled" would be used -- the missing 11th volume of Lorber's masterpiece "The Great Gospel of John," a volume still accepted as a legitimate part of the Lorber canon by many, although by no means all, Lorberians.
He was also a prolific science fiction and dime novels writer. In fact, he seemed to lead a dual life, keeping his Lorberian and Illuminati activities quite separate, although the Illuminati materials written by Engel do show the influence of Lorber.
Q: Do Engel's Illuminati still exist?
Introvigne: Yes. Although persecuted in Nazi Germany, the Illuminati were able to survive in Switzerland, particularly thanks to the efforts of Felix Lazerus Pinkus [1881-1947], a rich left-wing economist.
Pinkus initiated Hermann Joseph Metzger [1919-1990], a baker by trade as well as a stage hypnotist, who maintained alive the Order of the Illuminati until his death in 1990, and created an Illuminati center in the Swiss village of Stein, in the Canton of Outer Appenzell.
A small number of his disciples still live or at least periodically meet there, and they are the only legitimate heirs of Engel's Illuminati. Of course one can join a number of other "Orders of the Illuminati," some of them online by paying a fee, but these do not even have the legitimacy of a succession from Engel's organization.
Q: Can we characterize the Illuminati, as Dan Brown would have it, as a conspiracy to destroy the Vatican and its power in the name of reason and science?
Introvigne: As mentioned earlier, the names of famous scientists mentioned as Illuminati are part of mythical genealogies with no historical basis. The Illuminati were mostly recruited among lawyers, governmental officers, and even liberal clergymen, with very few scientists, if any.
Weishaupt's Illuminati taught to their new members a rather tame version of the Enlightenment philosophy, quite close to the ideas of Immanuel Kant. Weishaupt ostensibly claimed to be against the continuing reactionary influence of the Jesuits, but not against Roman Catholicism per se.
However, those who reached his inner circle discovered a strong anticlericalism and anti-Catholicism, and some documents openly promoted secular humanism and atheism. Anti-clericalism was also a feature of Engel's order, although not a particularly prominent one.
No historical Illuminati order ever boasted that it would "destroy the Vatican," a claim which would seem quite preposterous to anybody who would take into account the real number of their members and the extension of their activities.
Q: Were, or are, the Illuminati a very powerful order?
Introvigne: They certainly aren't any powerful today. The main aim of the Stein group, reduced to less than a dozen members, is to survive.
Engel's group did not have any particular power. It had a certain cultural influence and initiated two distinguished novelists, Gustav Meyrink [1868-1932] and Franz Spunda [1890-1963], but this was rather limited to the occult subculture itself. The Bavarian Illuminati were a much more important organization, and deserve more than a footnote in German history.
They managed to include among their members three ruling princes, Duke Charles August of Saxony-Weimar [1757-1828], Duke Ernst II of Saxony-Gotha [1745-1804], and Duke Charles William Frederic of Brunswick [1735-1806].
In 1783 Duke Charles August persuaded two famous protegés of his, Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Johann Gottfried von Herder, at that time the two leading German intellectuals, to join him among the Illuminati, although both, having been initiated, were never particularly active in the Order.
Weishaupt and his close associates, unbeknownst to these princes and luminaries, were able to use the Illuminati for a very real political conspiracy, aimed at seizing power in Bavaria, which came close to succeed.
Having said so much, it is equally important not to exaggerate the Bavarian Illuminati's role, which was close to non-existent outside Germany, and to remember that by 1790 they had fully ceased to exist.
Those who want to persuade us that a secret Illuminati cabal did lead the world from the Renaissance to the 19th century, and continues to do so today, have a very difficult burden of proof, and never even came close to produce documents or evidence that such is the case.
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SPIRITUALITY
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Father Cantalamessa on the Many Dimensions of Communion A Eucharistic Reflection by Pontifical Household Preacher
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In his commentary on this Sunday's readings, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the Pontifical Household, talks about the Eucharist as a mystery of communion.
* * *
John (6:51-58)
The Cup and the Bread of Life
The feast of Corpus Domini assumes an altogether special significance in the Year of the Eucharist. One of the fruits that Pope John Paul II (it is still difficult to believe that he is not among us) expected from this year was "to revive Eucharistic wonder in Christians," namely, wonder before the "divine enormity" (Paul Claudel) that is the Eucharist.
In the second reading of today's feast, St. Paul writes: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" The Eucharist is therefore fundamentally a mystery of communion. We know different types of communion.
One, very intimate, is that between us and the food we eat, because it becomes flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. I have heard mothers say to their children, when they hug them in their arms and kiss them: "I love you so much that I could eat you!" It is true that food is not a living and intelligent person with whom we can exchange thoughts and affection, but let us suppose for a moment that the food is the living and intelligent one himself, would we not then finally have the perfect communion?
This is precisely what happens in Eucharistic communion. In the Gospel passage Jesus says: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. ... My flesh is real food. ... He who eats my flesh has eternal life." Here, food is not a thing, but a living person. We have the most profound, though also the most mysterious, of communions.
Let us look at what happens in nature in the realm of nutrition. It is the strongest vital principle which assimilates the less strong. It is the vegetable that assimilates the mineral, the animal that assimilates the vegetable. This law is also verified in the relations between man and Christ. It is Christ who assimilates us to himself; we are transformed into him, not he into us. A famous atheist materialist said: "Man is what he eats." Unwittingly, he gave the best definition of the Eucharist. Thanks to it, man truly becomes what he eats, namely, the body of Christ!
After St. Paul's initial text we then read: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." It is clear that in this second case the word "body" no longer indicates the body of Christ born of Mary, but "all of us," it indicates that greater body of Christ which is the Church. This means that Eucharistic communion is always also communion among ourselves. All of us eating from the one food, form only one body.
What is the consequence? That we cannot have true communion with Christ if we are divided among ourselves, if we hate one another, and are not disposed to reconcile with each other. "If you have offended a brother," St. Augustine said, "if you have committed an injustice against him, and then you go to receive Communion as though nothing had happened, perhaps full of fervor, you are like someone who sees a friend arrive whom he has not seen for a long time. He runs to meet him, throws his arms around his neck, and stands on tiptoe to kiss his forehead. ... But, while doing this, he does not realize he is stepping on his friend's feet with shoes of nails. Our brothers, in fact, especially the most poor and abandoned, are Christ's members, they are his feet still resting on earth."
When giving us the host, the priest says: "The body of Christ," and we respond: "Amen!" Now we know to whom we say "Amen" -- that is, "Yes, I receive you" -- not just Jesus, the Son of God, but also the one who is next to us.
[Italian original published in Famiglia Cristiana; translation by ZENIT]
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FORUM
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"John Paul Drew the Crucifix to Himself and Embraced It"
Archbishop Foley's Homily at Mass for Catholic Press Association
ORLANDO, Florida, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the homily prepared for today by Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at the memorial Mass of the Catholic Press Association in Orlando.
* * *
My brothers and sisters in Christ:
One of my most vivid memories from the last days of our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II was during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday in which he participated by watching the service at the Coliseum in his chapel on television.
The television camera in his chapel was behind him so that he would not be distracted from taking part in this ceremony in which he always took part personally. I was doing the television commentary in English, reading the very provocative meditations prepared by a certain Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
At one point toward the end of the Way of the Cross, someone put a rather large crucifix on the knee of the Holy Father, and he was gazing lovingly at the figure of Jesus. At the words, "Jesus Dies on the Cross," Pope John Paul drew the crucifix to himself and embraced it.
I thought to myself: What a beautiful homily without words! Like Jesus, Pope John Paul II has embraced the cross; in fact, he embraced the crucifix, the cross with Jesus.
As you recall, for a number of years, there had been people suggesting that Pope John Paul II should resign. The Holy Father said: "Jesus did not come down from the cross."
Pope John Paul II taught us that there is much more to the papacy than speaking, writing, greeting people and traveling -- although he certainly did enough of all of that.
Pope John Paul II taught us how to live, how to suffer and how to die.
All of us, as Catholic communicators, have learned once again through all of this that we can communicate as much by who we are as by what we write or by what we say.
Those whose passing from this life to eternal life we commemorate this day are now enjoying the company of one about whom they commented so often -- and I would ask, when the list of those to be remembered is read at this liturgy, that we begin with the name of Pope John Paul II, a superb communicator himself, one who had been a journalist, writing for Tygodnik Powschechny in Krakow, and one who became the most widely televised Pope in history.
One of the great advantages of my job in Rome was to receive invitations to lunch with the Holy Father.
While I have many memories from those lunches, I would like to recall two of them, in particular.
One was the last lunch I had with him -- about a year ago.
He asked: "Would you like me to write a special document for the 40th anniversary of your office?" Naturally I said "yes." Like a good journalist, he asked -- in Italian, which I rather freely translate -- "What is your deadline?" I had the nerve to say: "We would like it no later than February of 2005 for the plenary meeting of our council." He said, "I'll try to have it for you."
Would you believe that the Saturday before our plenary meeting, which began on Feb. 21, we received the document "Il Rapido Sviluppo" -- "The Rapid Development" -- personally signed by him and delivered to us just days before his final hospitalization?
While Pope John Paul II did leave behind a type of spiritual testament which was read to the cardinals and indeed shared with the world, his last major formal document was an apostolic letter to us, to communicators.
The other lunch I would like to recall is the one at which I said to him, "You know, Holy Father, that sometimes your symbolic actions can be more eloquent than some of your discourses" -- probably a very "nervy" thing to say to the Pope!
He replied, however, "I know that -- and I don't plan most of those actions; they are spontaneous, but you know that our word 'symbol' comes from the Greek word 'symbolein' -- 'to bring together'; it's the opposite of the Greek word 'diabolein,' 'to break apart, to divide' -- the origin of our word 'diabolical.'"
"Symbolic actions," he said, "help to bring people together in peace and in love."
Up to the moment of his death -- and even after, Pope John Paul II was bringing people together in peace and in love.
May what we communicate in word and in action in some small way do the same thing -- and may the memory of those whom we recall today bring all of us together in peace and in love, with renewed commitment to remind people of the purpose of life, the dignity of death and our eternal destiny with those we love through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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The World Seen From Rome
==================================May 27, 2005
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VATICAN DOSSIER
* Pope's 1st Trip to Highlight Importance of Eucharist
* Benedict XVI to Mark 28th Year as Bishop
* Coin to Commemorate World Youth Day 2005
WORLD FEATURES
* Crises of Faith and Morality, as Seen by Cardinal Ratzinger
* Vocation Campaign in England Steps Out
NEWS BRIEFS
* Bishops Campaign for Development
* Ecumenical Assembly Looking for a Logo
INTERVIEW
* Do the Illuminati Really Exist?
SPIRITUALITY
* Father Cantalamessa on the Many Dimensions of Communion
FORUM
* "John Paul Drew the Crucifix to Himself and Embraced It"
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VATICAN DOSSIER
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Pope's 1st Trip to Highlight Importance of Eucharist To Go by Helicopter to Bari
VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's first apostolic trip will be to Bari for the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress where he will highlight that the Church cannot exist without the Blessed Sacrament.
The Pope plans to visit the southern town on Sunday and to celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. in the esplanade of Marisabella to close the congress.
In a letter to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, his special envoy to the congress, the Holy Father said that "in the bread and wine, changed in the holy Mass into the body and blood of the Lord, the Christian people find the nourishment and support to undertake the path to holiness, the universal vocation of all the baptized." The letter was published May 16.
The Eucharistic congress, which has gathered representatives of all the ecclesial entities of Italy, opened last Saturday with the theme "We Cannot Live Without Sunday."
The theme is taken from the words expressed by the 49 martyrs of Abitene, a city of the Roman province of Proconsular Africa, today's Tunis, in the year 303, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian.
The Pope will go to Bari by helicopter, leaving the Vatican's heliport at 7:45 a.m. Sunday. He will land at Bari's Sports Union Center.
Benedict XVI will go to Marisabella in the popemobile. Mass will then be celebrated, after which the Pontiff will greet representatives of the congress's organizing committee, before going by car to Victoria Stadium around 12:30 p.m. where he will bid Bari farewell. He will return by helicopter to the Vatican around 2:30 p.m.
In the first message of his pontificate, read in the Sistine Chapel on April 20, Benedict XVI stressed the importance of the congress, held in the year Pope John Paul II dedicated to the Eucharist. The special year ends this October.
"In this year, therefore, the solemnity of Corpus Domini must be celebrated with particular prominence," proposed John Paul II. The Church celebrates that feast Sunday.
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Benedict XVI to Mark 28th Year as Bishop
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome, is set to mark the 28th anniversary of his episcopal ordination this Saturday.
Father Joseph Ratzinger, a member of the International Theological Commission, was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI on March 24, 1977, and received episcopal ordination from the hands of Bishop Josef Stangl of Wuerzburg the following May 28.
Father Ratzinger, who had just celebrated his 50th birthday, became the first diocesan priest in 80 years to assume the pastoral governance of the large Bavarian archdiocese. Paul VI elevated him to cardinal just a month later, on June 27.
In his autobiography "Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977" (Ignatius Press, 1999), Cardinal Ratzinger recalled the date of his episcopal consecration as "an extraordinarily beautiful day," "a radiant day at the beginning of summer, on the vigil of Pentecost of 1977."
"I experienced the reality of the sacrament: something happens in it that is true," he wrote. "Later, praying before the column of the Virgin Mary -- the Mariensaule -- in the heart of the Bavarian capital, meeting many people who welcomed the newcomer, unknown to them, with a warmth and joy which was not due so much to my person, but rather manifested once again what the sacrament is.
"They were greeting the bishop, who bears the mystery of Christ, although perhaps the majority of those present were unaware of it. But the joy of that day was in fact something different from the acceptance of a person, who still had to demonstrate his own capacity."
As Archbishop Ratzinger, he chose words from the Third Letter of John, "co-worker in the truth," as the spiritual theme of his episcopate.
On Nov. 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.
Because of these appointments, the cardinal resigned from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising on Feb. 15, 1982, and moved to Rome.
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Coin to Commemorate World Youth Day 2005
VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican City State has released a 2-euro coin to commemorate this year's World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
Some 85,000 units of the collector's coin will be produced, World Youth Day organizers said.
The reverse of the coin shows Cologne Cathedral, and above it is the star of Bethlehem with a comet's tail, which guided the wise men. It includes the inscription in Italian "XX Giornata Mondiale della Gioventu." The design is by sculptress Daniela Longo.
The face of the coin reads "Città del Vaticano" (Vatican City), and around it are the 12 stars of the European Union. The date is 2005 and the place is indicated with the letter "R" for Rome.
The World Youth Day Office in Cologne said it will not be offering the coins.
The theme of the August event is "We Have Come to Worship Him."
This is "a theme that enables young people from each continent to follow ideally the itinerary of the Wise Kings, whose relics, according to a pious tradition, are venerated precisely" in Cologne "and, like them, to meet the Messiah of all nations," said Pope John Paul II in a message in preparation for the event.
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WORLD FEATURES
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Crises of Faith and Morality, as Seen by Cardinal Ratzinger According to a New Book Presented at Spanish College
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The present crises of faith and morality are closely connected, explained the author of a new book on the thought of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI.
Father José Pérez Asensi released "The Ethics of Faith in the Work of Joseph Ratzinger" (published by Edicep) last week at the Spanish College in Rome. The book features the conclusions of the author's licentiate thesis entitled, "Moral Theology in the Work of Joseph Ratzinger."
Father Pérez told ZENIT that Cardinal Ratzinger is not an academic moralist but "a dogmatic theologian; however, he is the theologian who has explained in the clearest way that the crisis of faith and the crisis of morality that exist today are closely related in Europe, as well as in certain currents of dogmatic and moral theology."
The priest summarized Cardinal Ratzinger's theology with the phrase "the circularity of the faith."
"Cardinal Ratzinger tries to explain the whole dynamic of Christian life from the truth 'faith in Jesus Christ' and, in a very pedagogical manner, explains how faith in Jesus Christ has different moments," Father Pérez said.
Developing this key concept, the priest said that "in the first place, faith in Jesus Christ is a gift; in the second place, that gift helps us to stay with Christ; in the third place, it becomes the way of understanding reality. Cardinal Ratzinger very much emphasizes knowledge of the faith which helps us to understand God, ourselves and the world; it is different from scientific knowledge."
In the fourth place, he continued, "faith implies a free response and here is where Cardinal Ratzinger specifies the Christian way of life, the following of Christ; and a way of advancing on that path is the morality he proposes.
"The present Benedict XVI bases the following of Christ on what he calls the ethics of faith. That is why I have given the book that title. For him, Christian morality must be founded on faith in Christ which stems from an encounter with him, not only as a personal experience but also as a reality full of meaning."
Father Pérez continued: "Ratzinger bases his theology on two main ideas: the personal relationship between God and man with encounter and following, and the balance between truth, freedom, conscience and moral praxis.
"Benedict XVI's moral thought helps us, and it guarantees that spirituality and morality go together. It is a theology which is not reduced to a specialization, but is more global. It helps us to remember that to follow Christ includes both the spiritual religious moment, which means intimacy with Christ, as well as the moral moment, our response to Christ."
The priest added: "Cardinal Ratzinger's moral theology helps us to understand that the basis and nexus which guarantees our freedom and Christian truth is faith in Christ, which includes spirituality and morality that exist in connection with our search for the truth of man which is happiness and the service of brothers."
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Vocation Campaign in England Steps Out
LONDON, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A new campaign to promote vocations in England and Wales is taking a step into new territory, that of life outside of church buildings.
This summer the bishops' National Office for Vocations in England and Wales is running a series of ads on beer mats and on posters in the London Underground, making this the first time the Church has actively publicized priesthood outside of church buildings.
Following the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, and with the recent airing of "Monastery" on BBC2, a reality show that tracked the spiritual journey of five men of various faiths who spent 40 days living the life of monks in a Benedictine abbey, there was a noticeable increase in the number of inquiries about the priesthood and religious life.
Regarding this increased interest, Father Paul Embery, director of the vocations office, which is responsible for the campaign, said: "We are trying to develop that into something more long-term."
"Previously we have only advertised within the Church," he noted. "By taking the campaign into other areas of young people's lives, we are hoping it will give them something to think about and keep the interest high."
Asked if it was appropriate for the Church to advertise vocations to the priesthood in this way, Father Embery said: "Pope John Paul didn't spend all his time in the Vatican. He went out, and took his message to where people were. We can do something similar to encourage young men to think about the priesthood."
The beer mats, while commercially available, will also be used at social events where there are gatherings of Catholic young people, such as World Youth Day this August in Cologne.
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NEWS BRIEFS
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Bishops Campaign for Development
BERLIN, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A delegation of bishops is touring Europe to promote goals set by the U.N. Millennium Summit that ask for an increase in aid for developing countries by 2015.
The delegation, headed by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, bishop of Mainz and president of the German bishops' conference, handed German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a petition Wednesday that advocates the establishment of a strategic association for development, the removal of trade barriers, further cancellations of foreign debt and an increase in aid for development.
The delegation also includes Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos, Guatemala; and Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranci, India. The prelates will also visit London and Paris.
According to Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, the purpose of the prelates' tour is to exert pressure on "governments that subscribed to the Millennium's development objectives, thus committing themselves to eliminate the most painful forms of poverty" by 2015.
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Ecumenical Assembly Looking for a Logo
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Conference of European Churches and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences announced a competition to design a logo for the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly.
Known as the EEA3, the title of the assembly is "The Light of Christ Shines upon All: Hope for Renewal and Unity in Europe."
The winner will receive a prize of 1,000 euros and free participation in the event. The winning logo will be used to publicize the assembly throughout Europe and will be on display in Sibiu, Romania, during the final event.
The first assembly was held in 1989 in Basel, Switzerland, on the topic "Peace with Justice," and the second was held in 1997 in Graz, Austria, on "Reconciliation: Gift of God and Source of New Life."
The third assembly will take place in four stages. Stage one will gather 110 delegates for meetings to be held Jan. 24-27, 2006, in Rome.
Stage two will consist of national and regional meetings to be held in late 2006 or early 2007.
Stage three will gather the 110 delegates again in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, in January 2007.
The peak event will take place Sept. 4-8, 2007, in Sibiu, Romania, and will gather some 3,000 representatives of the bishops' conference and European churches, as well as link meetings in various cities in the continent.
In a statement, the organizing committee said the assembly seeks to "tackle the great challenges set out by the European culture marked by secularization and by a need for spirituality, by religious pluralism, by the process of European unification, and by the responsibilities of our continent in the context of the world as a whole."
For more information, see www.ccee.ch.
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INTERVIEW
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Do the Illuminati Really Exist?
Interview With Massimo Introvigne
TURIN, Italy, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An expert in new religious movements downplays novelist Dan Brown's ideas about the Illuminati, a 18th-century group that once aspired to overthrowing the Catholic kingdom of Bavaria.
Massimo Introvigne, director of the Turin-based Center for Studies in New Religions, went into detail about the group mentioned in Brown's new novel, in this interview posted by the center.
Q: "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown is the latest best-selling novel claiming that the Illuminati were, or are, an important and powerful secret society. Is this only a novel?
Introvigne: Not according to Dan Brown himself.
He claims in Web site that "Secret societies like the Illuminati go to enormous lengths to remain covert. Although many classified intelligence reports have been written on the brotherhood, few have been published. Conspiracy theories on the Illuminati include infiltration of the British Parliament and U.S. Treasury, secret involvement with the Masons, affiliation with covert Satanic cults, a plan for a New World Order, and even the resurgence of their ancient pact to destroy Vatican City. Separating Illuminati fact from fiction can be difficult on account of the massive quantities of misinformation that has been generated about the brotherhood. Some theorists claim this plethora of misinformation is actually generated by the Illuminati themselves in an effort to discredit any factual information that may have surfaced. This concealment tactic -- known as 'data-sowing' -- is often employed by U.S. intelligence agencies."
Actually, Dan Brown seems to take the continuing existence of Illuminati even more seriously than his character Robert Langdon.
Q: But the existence of the Illuminati is an historical fact, isn't it?
Introvigne: Yes, it is. The Order of the Illuminati was established on May 1, 1776, at the University of Ingolstadt, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, in Germany, by a professor of law called Adam Weishaupt [1748-1830].
The Illuminati were an interesting organization, with both esoteric rituals and a political aim, based on the Enlightenment philosophy and ultimately aimed at overthrowing the Roman Catholic and politically conservative Kingdom of Bavaria and replacing it with a liberal republic.
Q: Were the Illuminati part of Freemasonry?
Introvigne: Not originally. Weishaupt was quite critical of Freemasonry and wanted to establish a different order with different rituals. He, however, failed to produce rituals interesting enough to attract a significant number of followers, and in February 1777 decided to be initiated as a Freemason in a Munich Masonic lodge known as Zur Behutsamkeit -- "The Prudence".
In 1780, a prominent German Freemason, Baron Adolf Franz Friedrich Ludwig von Knigge, joined the Illuminati and by January 1782 he had rewritten their rituals in a much more Masonic form. Although this ritual was essentially Masonic, and many members were Freemasons, however, the Illuminati as such were not part of Freemasonry.
Q: Did these Illuminati succeed in their purposes?
Introvigne: In a way, yes. The new ritual was quite successful, and the Illuminati were able to recruit some 2,500 members both in Bavaria and various European countries, not a small number by the standard of esoteric orders in general.
On the other hand, the Illuminati's political aim was not achieved. Between 1784-1787, documents were seized by the Bavarian police proving that theirs was a political plot aimed at overthrowing the government.
Some members were arrested, although none was treated too severely by the Bavarian government, and they escaped with fines or a few months in jail, whilst Weishaupt himself fled Bavaria and lived quite peacefully in other parts of Germany until his death in 1830.
The Illuminati survived outside Bavaria, thanks to the efforts of one of their leaders, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode [1730-1793], but had ceased any activity by 1790.
Q: Wasn't there something sinister in the Illuminati's activities?
Introvigne: Yes. Their political activities were not confined to legal means.
In October 1786 the police raided the home of a prominent member of the Illuminati, the diplomat Franz Xavier von Zwack [1755-1843], and seized documents indicating that the order was ready to poison several of its political foes, although these plans were never executed.
Q: But didn't the Illuminati claim a much older origin than 1776?
Introvigne: Yes, they did. Weishaupt originally claimed that the Illuminati originated with the last King of Persia who was a Zoroastrian by religion, Yadzegerd III, who died in A.D. 651, although he confused him with Yadzegerd II, who died in A.D. 457 and was King of Persia from 438 to 457, and built a whole genealogy listing many famous historical characters.
When Knigge joined the order, he asked Weishaupt for evidence of this genealogy. Weishaupt wrote back in January 1781 that the genealogy was an "innocent lie," in fact needed because not many would have joined a newly established order.
Rather than being offended, Knigge agreed that a mythical genealogy was indeed needed, and proceeded to build one of his own, where the Illuminati were declared as having originally been founded by Noah, and revived after a period of decline by St. John the Evangelist.
Q: What about the Knights Templar? Weren't they somewhat involved, too?
Introvigne: Yes, according to Knigge's genealogy. In fact, at that time the Knights Templar were claimed as ancestors by the German Freemasonry as a whole.
When modern Freemasonry came from its original United Kingdom to continental Europe, many European nobles were not prepared to join an order whose real origins were in the professional corporations of "free masons," including architects, building contractors but also common stonemasons.
In 1736, André Michel de Ramsay [1686-1743] told in a famous discourse the French nobles he hoped to recruit into Freemasonry that, in fact, the British corporations of "free masons" were the places where persecuted knights went into hiding, thus creating a mythical, but more acceptable, origin for the Masonic lodges.
In Germany, were speculations about an alleged secret prosecution of the Roman Catholic Order of the Knights Templar, suppressed by the Catholic Church in 1307, were quite widespread, Ramsay's "persecuted knights" were quickly identified with the Knights Templar.
While it is true that the Knights Templar did survive in some countries for a century after their suppression, legends of a secret prosecution after the XV century are regarded as "hopelessly stupid" -- in the words of famous French historian Régine Pernoud -- by academic historians of Templarism.
In fact, from the 18th century on, most esoteric orders give to their members mythical genealogies that would include the Knights Templar, Noah, Saint John or King Solomon, as well as famous people of literature and art.
Usually, most of their members are aware of the merely symbolic and mythical character of these genealogies. Certainly, both Weishaupt and Knigge were aware that their genealogies were "symbolic" or, more simply, made up by themselves. There were no Illuminati before 1776.
Q: But weren't the Illuminati the driving force behind the French Revolution?
Introvigne: Not really. Anti-revolutionary authors, including Protestant John Robison [1739-1805] and Roman Catholic Father Augustin Barruel [1741-1820], claimed that the French Revolution was the result of a Masonic conspiracy, and that the Illuminati were the secret leaders of the French Freemasonry. We do not need to address here the complicate question of the relationship between Freemasonry, Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
What is historically clear, however, is that the Illuminati, who were about to cease their existence in 1789, did not play any crucial role in the preparation of the French Revolution.
The links between the Bavarian group and the French Freemasonry were tenuous at best, and in fact many French Freemasons were quite hostile to the Illuminati, and certainly not prepared to accept the leadership of a German order.
For a number of political reasons, however, Robison's theories were particularly successful in the United States, where President Thomas Jefferson was accused of being a member of the dreaded sect.
Q: But wasn't the back part of the Great Seal of the United States, the one we still see on the dollar bill, a symbol of the Illuminati?
Introvigne: No, no matter how many books and movies claim it.
The pyramid and eye symbol is never found among the Illuminati. Actually it is not even a Masonic symbol, although there are similar symbols in Freemasonry, where a fascination with Egypt was widespread in the 18th and 19th century.
The particular pyramid used in the Great Seal was derived from Pyramidographia, a book published in 1646 in London by John Greaves [1602-1652], based on his trip to Egypt.
The eye was introduced by Congress Secretary Charles Thomson -- who was not a Freemason -- in his 1792 speech prior to the Seal's Congressional acceptance as a very Christian "eye of the Providence," presiding over the destiny of the United States. As such, it is featured in a number of Christian churches and symbols, quite apart from, and well before, its use within the frame of Masonic rituals.
Q: Didn't many always accept the theory, however, that the Illuminati were leading the world or, at least, the U.S.?
Introvigne: Not before 1975. From the mid-19th century to 1975 the theory of the great Illuminati conspiracy remained the province of fringe "conspirationist" authors, not particularly well-known by the general public.
In 1975, a trilogy known as "Illuminatus" was published by Robert Joseph Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
The three novels were written somewhat tongue-in-check, and Shea and Wilson were part of a neo-pagan group known as the Discordians, worshippers of Eris the Great Goddes of Chaos through "cosmic jokes."
Actually, these are libertarian novels, where Weishaupt does not die in Germany but emigrates to the American British Colonies, where he assumes the name of George Washington and establishes the United States.
When the U.S. evolves into an authoritarian, repressive state under the secret leadership of the Illuminati, Discordians organize the resistance in the name of liberty, Chaos, and the Great Goddess Eris.
It is after Shea and Wilson's novels that the Illuminati start popping up literally everywhere, from Umberto Eco's novel "Foucault's Pendulum" [1988] to the movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" [2001], including countless comics, role-playing games, and miscellaneous pieces of fiction.
Unfortunately, some did not realize the nature of the "Illuminatus" novels, or even claimed that Shea and Wilson revealed a real conspiracy under the guise of fiction. This theory achieved a certain degree of success among Protestant fundamentalists.
Its leading proponent, Milton William Cooper, died in a confrontation with law enforcement officers on Nov. 5, 2001. He refused to pay taxes to the U.S. government, claiming it was controlled by the Illuminati.
Q: What about the Skull and Bones, the famous fraternal society of Yale's students and alumni? One hears frequently that it is part of the Illuminati
Introvigne: No relation. The Skull and Bones was established in 1832 by William Huntington Russell [1809-1885], when the original Illuminati were long since dead.
Some tenuous similarity may be explained by the fact that both Weishaupt's Illuminati and Russell's Skull and Bones did take inspiration in the many "secret" student societies which existed in German universities since the 18th century.
By the way, many stories told about the Skull and Bones are simply tall tales -- they are just another academic fraternity, including famous people because famous people do happen to have studied at Yale -- and in 1986 it was finally ascertained that even their famous skull did not really belong to legendary Indian chief Geronimo. The Apaches, to which The Skull and Bones was prepared to give back the skull, declared it unconnected with Geronimo and refused it.
Q: But didn't an Order of the Illuminati exist in the 20th century, too?
Introvigne: Yes. Within the framework of the German occult revival at the end of the 19th century, Leopold Engel "revived" -- in his own words -- the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati on March 12, 1901.
He and his associate Theodor Reuss -- later to become famous as a sexual magician and an associate of famous British occult master Aleister Crowley -- were spreading the word that the order was being revived since 1896.
Later, they claimed that the revival took place in 1880, but this date is certainly false. As usual, Engel and Reuss told the members of their newly founded order that it was both very old and a legitimate continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati, whose succession had been transmitted from father to son within Reuss' family.
It was claimed that the Illuminati originated in India and Egypt, were behind the Italian Renaissance and post-Renaissance art and science (hence the references to Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Galileo Galilei, quite familiar to the readers of "Angels & Demons," and included among their members an impressive rooster of historical characters, from Ulysses and Aristotle to -- yes, indeed -- Thomas Jefferson.
Once again, however, Engel did admit -- in writing -- that this genealogy was mythical and symbolic, and should not be taken at face value. As for the story of a family succession connecting Reuss to the Bavarian Illuminati, Engel later declared that it was a figment of Reuss' imagination.
Q: Who was Leopold Engel, exactly?
Introvigne: An interesting character. He was a member of the inner circle of the loosely organized movement including the followers of the Austrian Christian visionary and mystic Jakob Lorber [1800-1864].
In fact, Engel "received" spiritually -- today, the word "channelled" would be used -- the missing 11th volume of Lorber's masterpiece "The Great Gospel of John," a volume still accepted as a legitimate part of the Lorber canon by many, although by no means all, Lorberians.
He was also a prolific science fiction and dime novels writer. In fact, he seemed to lead a dual life, keeping his Lorberian and Illuminati activities quite separate, although the Illuminati materials written by Engel do show the influence of Lorber.
Q: Do Engel's Illuminati still exist?
Introvigne: Yes. Although persecuted in Nazi Germany, the Illuminati were able to survive in Switzerland, particularly thanks to the efforts of Felix Lazerus Pinkus [1881-1947], a rich left-wing economist.
Pinkus initiated Hermann Joseph Metzger [1919-1990], a baker by trade as well as a stage hypnotist, who maintained alive the Order of the Illuminati until his death in 1990, and created an Illuminati center in the Swiss village of Stein, in the Canton of Outer Appenzell.
A small number of his disciples still live or at least periodically meet there, and they are the only legitimate heirs of Engel's Illuminati. Of course one can join a number of other "Orders of the Illuminati," some of them online by paying a fee, but these do not even have the legitimacy of a succession from Engel's organization.
Q: Can we characterize the Illuminati, as Dan Brown would have it, as a conspiracy to destroy the Vatican and its power in the name of reason and science?
Introvigne: As mentioned earlier, the names of famous scientists mentioned as Illuminati are part of mythical genealogies with no historical basis. The Illuminati were mostly recruited among lawyers, governmental officers, and even liberal clergymen, with very few scientists, if any.
Weishaupt's Illuminati taught to their new members a rather tame version of the Enlightenment philosophy, quite close to the ideas of Immanuel Kant. Weishaupt ostensibly claimed to be against the continuing reactionary influence of the Jesuits, but not against Roman Catholicism per se.
However, those who reached his inner circle discovered a strong anticlericalism and anti-Catholicism, and some documents openly promoted secular humanism and atheism. Anti-clericalism was also a feature of Engel's order, although not a particularly prominent one.
No historical Illuminati order ever boasted that it would "destroy the Vatican," a claim which would seem quite preposterous to anybody who would take into account the real number of their members and the extension of their activities.
Q: Were, or are, the Illuminati a very powerful order?
Introvigne: They certainly aren't any powerful today. The main aim of the Stein group, reduced to less than a dozen members, is to survive.
Engel's group did not have any particular power. It had a certain cultural influence and initiated two distinguished novelists, Gustav Meyrink [1868-1932] and Franz Spunda [1890-1963], but this was rather limited to the occult subculture itself. The Bavarian Illuminati were a much more important organization, and deserve more than a footnote in German history.
They managed to include among their members three ruling princes, Duke Charles August of Saxony-Weimar [1757-1828], Duke Ernst II of Saxony-Gotha [1745-1804], and Duke Charles William Frederic of Brunswick [1735-1806].
In 1783 Duke Charles August persuaded two famous protegés of his, Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Johann Gottfried von Herder, at that time the two leading German intellectuals, to join him among the Illuminati, although both, having been initiated, were never particularly active in the Order.
Weishaupt and his close associates, unbeknownst to these princes and luminaries, were able to use the Illuminati for a very real political conspiracy, aimed at seizing power in Bavaria, which came close to succeed.
Having said so much, it is equally important not to exaggerate the Bavarian Illuminati's role, which was close to non-existent outside Germany, and to remember that by 1790 they had fully ceased to exist.
Those who want to persuade us that a secret Illuminati cabal did lead the world from the Renaissance to the 19th century, and continues to do so today, have a very difficult burden of proof, and never even came close to produce documents or evidence that such is the case.
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SPIRITUALITY
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Father Cantalamessa on the Many Dimensions of Communion A Eucharistic Reflection by Pontifical Household Preacher
ROME, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In his commentary on this Sunday's readings, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the Pontifical Household, talks about the Eucharist as a mystery of communion.
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John (6:51-58)
The Cup and the Bread of Life
The feast of Corpus Domini assumes an altogether special significance in the Year of the Eucharist. One of the fruits that Pope John Paul II (it is still difficult to believe that he is not among us) expected from this year was "to revive Eucharistic wonder in Christians," namely, wonder before the "divine enormity" (Paul Claudel) that is the Eucharist.
In the second reading of today's feast, St. Paul writes: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" The Eucharist is therefore fundamentally a mystery of communion. We know different types of communion.
One, very intimate, is that between us and the food we eat, because it becomes flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. I have heard mothers say to their children, when they hug them in their arms and kiss them: "I love you so much that I could eat you!" It is true that food is not a living and intelligent person with whom we can exchange thoughts and affection, but let us suppose for a moment that the food is the living and intelligent one himself, would we not then finally have the perfect communion?
This is precisely what happens in Eucharistic communion. In the Gospel passage Jesus says: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. ... My flesh is real food. ... He who eats my flesh has eternal life." Here, food is not a thing, but a living person. We have the most profound, though also the most mysterious, of communions.
Let us look at what happens in nature in the realm of nutrition. It is the strongest vital principle which assimilates the less strong. It is the vegetable that assimilates the mineral, the animal that assimilates the vegetable. This law is also verified in the relations between man and Christ. It is Christ who assimilates us to himself; we are transformed into him, not he into us. A famous atheist materialist said: "Man is what he eats." Unwittingly, he gave the best definition of the Eucharist. Thanks to it, man truly becomes what he eats, namely, the body of Christ!
After St. Paul's initial text we then read: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." It is clear that in this second case the word "body" no longer indicates the body of Christ born of Mary, but "all of us," it indicates that greater body of Christ which is the Church. This means that Eucharistic communion is always also communion among ourselves. All of us eating from the one food, form only one body.
What is the consequence? That we cannot have true communion with Christ if we are divided among ourselves, if we hate one another, and are not disposed to reconcile with each other. "If you have offended a brother," St. Augustine said, "if you have committed an injustice against him, and then you go to receive Communion as though nothing had happened, perhaps full of fervor, you are like someone who sees a friend arrive whom he has not seen for a long time. He runs to meet him, throws his arms around his neck, and stands on tiptoe to kiss his forehead. ... But, while doing this, he does not realize he is stepping on his friend's feet with shoes of nails. Our brothers, in fact, especially the most poor and abandoned, are Christ's members, they are his feet still resting on earth."
When giving us the host, the priest says: "The body of Christ," and we respond: "Amen!" Now we know to whom we say "Amen" -- that is, "Yes, I receive you" -- not just Jesus, the Son of God, but also the one who is next to us.
[Italian original published in Famiglia Cristiana; translation by ZENIT]
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FORUM
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"John Paul Drew the Crucifix to Himself and Embraced It"
Archbishop Foley's Homily at Mass for Catholic Press Association
ORLANDO, Florida, MAY 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the homily prepared for today by Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at the memorial Mass of the Catholic Press Association in Orlando.
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My brothers and sisters in Christ:
One of my most vivid memories from the last days of our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II was during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday in which he participated by watching the service at the Coliseum in his chapel on television.
The television camera in his chapel was behind him so that he would not be distracted from taking part in this ceremony in which he always took part personally. I was doing the television commentary in English, reading the very provocative meditations prepared by a certain Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
At one point toward the end of the Way of the Cross, someone put a rather large crucifix on the knee of the Holy Father, and he was gazing lovingly at the figure of Jesus. At the words, "Jesus Dies on the Cross," Pope John Paul drew the crucifix to himself and embraced it.
I thought to myself: What a beautiful homily without words! Like Jesus, Pope John Paul II has embraced the cross; in fact, he embraced the crucifix, the cross with Jesus.
As you recall, for a number of years, there had been people suggesting that Pope John Paul II should resign. The Holy Father said: "Jesus did not come down from the cross."
Pope John Paul II taught us that there is much more to the papacy than speaking, writing, greeting people and traveling -- although he certainly did enough of all of that.
Pope John Paul II taught us how to live, how to suffer and how to die.
All of us, as Catholic communicators, have learned once again through all of this that we can communicate as much by who we are as by what we write or by what we say.
Those whose passing from this life to eternal life we commemorate this day are now enjoying the company of one about whom they commented so often -- and I would ask, when the list of those to be remembered is read at this liturgy, that we begin with the name of Pope John Paul II, a superb communicator himself, one who had been a journalist, writing for Tygodnik Powschechny in Krakow, and one who became the most widely televised Pope in history.
One of the great advantages of my job in Rome was to receive invitations to lunch with the Holy Father.
While I have many memories from those lunches, I would like to recall two of them, in particular.
One was the last lunch I had with him -- about a year ago.
He asked: "Would you like me to write a special document for the 40th anniversary of your office?" Naturally I said "yes." Like a good journalist, he asked -- in Italian, which I rather freely translate -- "What is your deadline?" I had the nerve to say: "We would like it no later than February of 2005 for the plenary meeting of our council." He said, "I'll try to have it for you."
Would you believe that the Saturday before our plenary meeting, which began on Feb. 21, we received the document "Il Rapido Sviluppo" -- "The Rapid Development" -- personally signed by him and delivered to us just days before his final hospitalization?
While Pope John Paul II did leave behind a type of spiritual testament which was read to the cardinals and indeed shared with the world, his last major formal document was an apostolic letter to us, to communicators.
The other lunch I would like to recall is the one at which I said to him, "You know, Holy Father, that sometimes your symbolic actions can be more eloquent than some of your discourses" -- probably a very "nervy" thing to say to the Pope!
He replied, however, "I know that -- and I don't plan most of those actions; they are spontaneous, but you know that our word 'symbol' comes from the Greek word 'symbolein' -- 'to bring together'; it's the opposite of the Greek word 'diabolein,' 'to break apart, to divide' -- the origin of our word 'diabolical.'"
"Symbolic actions," he said, "help to bring people together in peace and in love."
Up to the moment of his death -- and even after, Pope John Paul II was bringing people together in peace and in love.
May what we communicate in word and in action in some small way do the same thing -- and may the memory of those whom we recall today bring all of us together in peace and in love, with renewed commitment to remind people of the purpose of life, the dignity of death and our eternal destiny with those we love through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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