What Does The Prayer Really Say?
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When I was in London recently, I used my Oyster Card all the time.  Very handy.

I read this story and pass it along to my new and old friends in London.

Oyster card hack details revealed

By Peter Price Click reporter

The Oyster card is used on London’s travel network.

Details of how to hack one of the world’s most popular smartcards have been published online.

The research by Professor Bart Jacobs and colleagues at Radboud University in Holland reveals a weakness in the widely used Mifare Classic RFID chip.

This is used in building entry systems and is embedded in the Oyster card used on London’s transport network.

Publication of the research was delayed by legal action taken by the chip’s manufacturer.

Paper chase

Prof Jacobs and his team first identified the vulnerability in a research paper that was due to be published in March 2008.

However, the release of the article was delayed after chip manufacturer NXP attempted to secure a court injunction against its publication.

The paper was finally released on Monday at the European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (Esorics) 2008 security conference held in Malaga, Spain.

Sensitive data stored on the Mifare Classic chip is protected by a unique number that acts as a key. When the chip, or a card bearing it, is placed near a reader it transmits and receives information based on its key. The security of the system depends on the key remaining secret.

In March Prof Jacobs and his colleagues discovered a flaw in the chip’s design which makes those keys easy to calculate and copy.

"Once we knew how the system worked and what the vulnerabilities were, it turned out to be very simple to actually clone cards, steal someone’s identity and enter a building as someone else", he said.

The researchers travelled on the Tube using cloned cards

After making the discovery the researchers informed the Dutch government and the chip’s manufacturer, NXP.

When it knew about the research NXP moved to delay publication by seeking an injunction.

Steve Owen, vice president of sales and marketing – identification at NXP Semiconductors, told the BBC’s Click programme that it was motivated to take legal action to give its customers time to update their systems.

"We sought the injunction to cause a delay, not to completely stop the publication," he said.

Mr Owen recommends that the card alone should not be relied upon for secure access to buildings.

"We do not recommend the use of Mifare Classic for new installations," said Mr Owen. "We are working with customers to review their security."

Spot check

The Mifare Classic is widely used on many public transport systems including the Oyster card in London. The researchers say their security flaw can be used to copy cards. They claim to have even been able to adjust the amount of credit stored on a pre-pay card.

Earlier this year members of Prof Jacobs’s team visited London to test their findings, travelling on the London Underground using a modified Oyster card.

Shashi Verma, director of fares and ticketing at Transport For London, told the BBC its system spotted the security breach.

"We knew about it before we were informed by the students," said Mr Verma

He stressed that the Mifare Classic chip in the Oyster card is only part of a larger system. "A number of forensic controls run within the back office systems which is something that customers and these students have no ability to touch."

"We will carry on making improvements to the security of the Oyster system."

Speaking in July, security expert Bruce Schneier said: "As bad as the damage is from publishing – and there probably will be some – the damage is much, much worse by not disclosing."

Mr Schneier said it was a "dangerous assumption" to think that the researchers were the only ones that knew about weaknesses with Mifare.

"Assume organised crime knows about this, assume they will be selling it anyway," he said.

Commenting on the publication of their research, Prof Jacobs told Click the information being disclosed was: "not a guidebook for attacks".

This report will be broadcast in this week’s edition of Click on Saturday 11 October at 1130 BST on the BBC News Channel. It will also air on BBC World – check here for transmission times.

 

Also check this from Engadget:

Oyster Card RFID hack gets detailed

by Donald Melanson, posted Oct 7th 2008 at 8:02PM

The vulnerability of cards based on the Mifare Classic RFID chip (like the Oyster Card used for the London Underground) has been known for some time now but, unsurprisingly, some pesky legal business has prevented the complete details from being published. That has now finally been cleared up, however, and Professor Bart Jacobs and his colleagues from Radboud University have promptly published their complete paper online. What’s more, NXP Semiconductors, makers of the Mifare chip, are also now commenting on the matter, and saying that it never intended to completely stop publication of the research, but rather that it simply wanted to give customers time to update their systems. NXP’s Steve Owen also adds that the company now doesn’t "recommend the use of Mifare Classic for new installations," and that it’s "working with customers to review their security." Those looking to dig in can find the paper at the link below and, in case you missed it the first time around, there’s a video explaining the basics after the break.

[Via BBC Click]

Here is a video:

The increasingly cliche ultra-lefty National Catholic Reporter has an interview with the long-time Notre Dame University sourpuss dissenter Fr. Richard McBrien.

My emphases and comments.

Theologian says one issue bishops violate their own teaching
By tfox
Created 10/06/2008 – 19:48

By THOMAS C. FOX
Published:
October 7, 2008

Kansas City, Mo.

Bishops who make a case for one-issue politics or openly oppose a political candidate are in violation of the guidelines set out repeatedly in their own documents on political responsibility, said noted theologian [and plagiarist] Fr. Richard McBrien in a recent talk here.

McBrien of Notre Dame University, [Why is he still on the faculty?] author of a number of major works on Catholicism, including the recently published The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism, was speaking to an overflow, mostly Catholic audience of several hundred at a Unitarian Church in Kansas City, Mo. [Yah… that’s about right…]  His talk was hosted by a group of lay Catholics who run a speaking forum called “Topics to Go.”

In his talk, McBrien listed five Catholic principles, taken from Catholic teachings, that he said can be applied to the current political process.

1. Although bishops and other Catholic officials have the constitutional right to participate in public policy debates and in the political process generally, they impose certain limits upon themselves as a matter of prudence.

2. Catholic voters and their bishops should examine the positions of the candidates on the full range of issues as well as their integrity, philosophy and performance.  [This last Sunday I gave a sermon in which I made sure people knew to watch out for "code language" like "full spectrum" of Catholic teachings.  This language is used when people want to dissolve the "life" issue into a big soup of other issues, and thus down play its importance.]

3. Catholic voters and their bishops must not forget the distinction between moral principles and their application in the political order. It is possible to agree on an important moral principle and yet disagree, in good conscience, on the way that principle is applied in the political order.

4. Because there is a distinction between the moral law and the civil law, Catholics and others–-Christians and non-Christians alike – cannot expect that every element of the moral law, as they understand it, can or should [Really?  Votes decide that through their elected executives, legislators and, I suppose, judges.] be translated into civil law.

5. Given the principle of sacramentality, [?] in the final analysis the most effective way for the church and its members–-or for anyone–-to influence public policy is by force of their own example.  [Uh huh.  That might mean not vote… stay outside the process.  Or maybe "don’t make waves… go with the herd".  It seems not to mean, vote for the right position.  After all, trying to shape society is not in contradistinction to voting properly.]

McBrien cited a statement by the Administrative Board of the United States Catholic Conference issued in March 1984 titled, "Political Responsibility: Choices for the ‘80s." In that statement the bishops wrote that they “specifically do not seek the formation of a religious voting bloc; nor do we wish to instruct persons on how they should vote by endorsing candidates.”   [But bishops and priests can and must instruct people about fundamental principles, including which issues have greatest importance.]

He said that following a 1984 attack by Cardinal John O’Connor on then Democratic vice-presidential candidate Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro from the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral the bishops added the words “or opposing” after the word “endorsing.” This has been the policy of the U.S. bishops since, having been re-affirmed in statements of 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007.  [BTW… remember that individual bishops are not bound by these statements of conferences.]

He cited last November’s election policy statement, which reads: “The consistent ethic of life provides a moral framework for principled Catholic engagement in political life and, rightly understood, neither treats all issues as morally equivalent nor reduces Catholic teaching to one or two issues. ... Catholic voters should use the framework of Catholic teaching to examine candidates’ positions on issues affecting human life and dignity as well as issues of justice and peace …”

McBrien noted that the U.S. bishops’ policy was most recently reiterated in a letter to The New York Times that appeared Sept. 24, written by Bishops William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y.

The letter made the point that the bishops do not teach that abortion is the only issue, but that it is an issue of high moral importance, [only "high" importance?  What did the letter really say?  – See a comment below, where someone posted the what they wrote.] which nevertheless must be seen within the context of "the whole teaching of the church on justice and peace, serving the poor and advancing the common good …”  [Notice that this is the "full range" thing again.]

In a question and answer period, on a different subject, he asked the audience to imagine a scenario in which President Bush “were in office for life and that he had the authority to make appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court and throughout the federal court system at will, without even a U.S. Senate to hold hearings and vote on the nominees.”

“That’s exactly what Pope John Paul II —or any other pope for that matter—was able to do in his long term of office, and that is why the Catholic church finds itself today—and especially during the height of the sexual-abuse crisis in the priesthood—with such a dearth of pastoral leadership.”  [Incredible.  He just did two things.  First, he has argued that bishops should be elected by the people rather than appointed by a kind of dictator for life.  Second, he negatively criticized Pope John Paul for the type of bishops he appointed.]

McBrien said John Paul’s greatest failing, as pope, were the bishops he named. [See?] “Men were appointed bishops or promoted within the hierarchy on the basis of loyalty to the Holy See rather than on the basis of pastoral aptitude, theological sophistication and leadership skills.”  [Why is this guy still on the faculty of Notre Dame?]

McBrien added that he prefers Benedict XVI to John Paul II because of their difference in style. “Benedict tends to be laid-back and self-effacing, in contrast to John Paul II who usually occupied center stage, the theologian explained. “John Paul II tended to personalize the papacy to the point where agreeing or disagreeing with his devotional preferences, spirituality and theology became, for many inside and outside the Vatican, the touchstones of fidelity to Catholicism.”  [I don’t think that criticism is well-grounded.]

Fox is interim NCR executive editor

WDTPRS has a new category:

Mail from priests

Some of the most interesting feedback and news I get is from priests (and bishops) who are readers.

I like to be able to share more mail from priests with WDTPRSers.

If you are a priest, I assure you that I will maintain your anonymity if you write to me.

However, if you are writing about what happened in a public event, such as a solemn Mass or what you said in your sermon on Sunday, I will probably talk about where it was and I will probably include names, etc.  After all, it was public.

But, Reverend and dear Fathers and brothers, I will keep your name and location out of the entries if you request it. 

The important thing is that you feel free to write in with your observations and reflections, news and insights.

I also hear from bishops from time to time.  If you ever want to say anything to this very wide readership, I will help.

Click here for my E-mail.  If you put something catchy in the subject line, such as "From Fr. .... to Fr. Z" I will spot it more quickly.

Keep in mind that I get an avalanche of e-mail as it is.  I might not use everything I get and I may not respond to your mail right away or at all, depending on how life is going.  You understand, I’m sure.

Also, a request to all WDTPRsers….

I would like to go back through posts from the past and add them to this category.  Will you help?   If you find a post that fits this category, will you send me the LINK?  Or maybe post it here below?  I can add the tags.

Many hands will make lighter work.

Someone took on and completed Sept 2008, btw.

From a reader (edited and with my emphases and comments.  This is very good for people who went to a celebration of the older form of Mass and had a hard time with it, who found it difficult to follow along.

Thank you for your blog keeping Catholics informed about the Traditional Latin Mass and the various issues surrounding it. I am 49 years old and though my memories of the TLM have long faded I have a very vivid recollection of the specific mass I attended as a child where reception of the Eucharist was changed from going up to the railing and kneeling to receive to lining up along the centre aisle of the church and receiving on the hand. (a silly story I won’t get into)
 
I have always desired to attend a TLM to "see what it would be like". I was away from my home in Halifax, NS this past weekend visiting Oswego, NY for a conference. While there, looking for a Church to attend for Sunday Mass, to my surprise I noticed that St. Marys Church offered a 1:00 pm TLM. I went.

I do not understand Latin. In spite of being provided with a good Latin/English missal I had a great deal of trouble following the mass. I did not know how to pronounce the responses. There was, as I have read in the past, parts of this mass that were said silently. (By the way the mass was said by Father Morisette and despite my ignorance it was evident even to me that it was very well done.)  [NB: The critical importance of the priest’s competence and also his style.]
 
I love this mass. It is so appropriate. [He didn’t understand it and had a hard time following it… but he got it anyway.  Read what’s next… ]  It’s not about me but God. I want to emphasize that my experience was not an emotional one (emotions can be passing and flighty) rather it was an experience of faith. Those who built this mass up centuries ago knew exactly what they were doing. The mass honours God the way He should be honoured. It brings to my mind the last part of Malachi 1:14 – "For I am a great king, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and among the nations my name inspires awe"  [A constant point of my writing and preaching and talking when I mention the point of any Mass is that it must produce "awe at transcendence", and encounter with mystery.]
 
As far as all of the difficulties mentioned above..I don’t mind! I can learn. The problems I encountered are not with the mass – they are with me. [Not the Mass.  That is humble.] I need to brush up on my faith and on the TLM and perhaps on Latin.
 
I live in the Halifax area of NS. We used to have a Latin Mass Society here. I don’t know if it is still around. To my knowledge there are no TLMs in my diocese…if there were any nearby I would start going. 

A good note.

No… a great note.

Folks, it is okay not to understand everything on the intellectual level.  There is also comprehension at a deeper level.

I wonder very often about what people really "get" from Mass when so many things have been simplified into order to increase "intelligibility" or to "aid comprehension".  

Sure, we gain something when we use the vernacular. 

But do we not also lose something? 

Something beyong the content of the prayers, which is of course also compromised in translation? 

Do we not lose also a sense that what is going on is important in a vital, mysterious, awesome, challenging, even frightening way?

What do the prayers really say?   There is a psychology to our worship as well.  Just as anything in human affairs, when you make something very familiar, you increase the risk of it not seeming important anymore.

I think people who are curious about the TLM, the older form of Mass, and who are perhaps afraid of it or anxious that they will not understand, should relax and perhaps let themselves be a little afraid. 

After all, these are sacred mysteries. 

This is an encounter with mysterium tremendens et fascinans.

Go ahead… be afraid, be very afraid.

Not in the sense of base fear, but of awe and reverence.

It’s okay not to understand everything.  It’s okay to be a little uncomfortable, for Mass to sieze you and take you where you would prefer not to go.

So often people require entertainment and distraction from the encounter with mystery, which is nothing other than a confrontation of the central mystery we face each day, namely, that even though our Lord rose from the dead, we still must die and pass to our judgments we know not how.  We are confident as Christians, and joyful at God’s promises, but this is a fearful mystery.

It is precisely what is being represented in Holy Mass.

It is okay not to understand it all. 

It is okay to be overcome with awe.  

It is okay to struggle with it.

There were 23 5 minute interventions on the Second Day of the Synod.

Among the points made, these could be interesting.

The so-called biblia pauperum is still important.  "The bible of the poor", is comprised of non-literary works, such as icons, images, hymns, windows, etc.  These things are helps to lectio divina as well.

Some expressed a concern about "arbitary interpretations" of Scripture coming from some exegetes and from the media, especially having to do with films that have any biblical theme, or in non-scientific (scholarly) publications which can also confuse even priests.  It was repeated that in Latin America this is a problem.  Latin America has 43% of the Catholic faithful and in the last 40 years, the Church has lost 15% of her members.

Some want easier translations. 

A "general homiletic directory" for priests was proposed.  Homilies should not be boring.  [We need a Synod to help us with that?]  And should be "joyful".   [Oh really?  Always?] 

The 8 member post-Synodal committee was elected with Archbp. Ravasi as its head.  They will propose the themes from the Synod to the Holy Father.

UPDATE 20:50 GMT:

A curiosity: For those of you who care, you can call into the Holy See Press Office for an automated recording with a brief summary in Italian of some of the barebones of the day’s work of the Synod.

Yes, the sound quality (at least today) really was as bad as this.  But I expected little else.

This is interesting:

Knights of Columbus airs pro-life ‘heartbeat’ radio ad

New Haven, Oct 6, 2008 / 08:25 pm (CNA).- A new Knights of Columbus radio spot featuring the heartbeat of a 10-week-old unborn child and urging listeners to vote pro-life has begun airing on radio stations around the U.S.

As the heartbeat plays, a woman’s voice says: “Listening to this makes me wonder – why would anyone question that her life has begun?”

“Vote your heart. Vote Pro-Life,” it concludes.

“The fact that the child whose heartbeat we hear is alive is simply a matter of science,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said in announcing the beginning of the ad campaign.

“We believe that it is vital that America’s pro-life community make it clear that they will reserve their votes for candidates of either party who are committed to protecting life from conception to natural death,” he continued.

The ad will be broadcast until the November 4 U.S. elections. A similar ad is planned for broadcast in Canada before the country’s October 14 election.

 

Kudos to my fellow Knights of Columbus.

Speaker Pelosi… Senator Biden… are you listening?

Catholic voters… are you listening?

In Italy there have been problems with the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, along the lines of what Msgr. Perl explained at a conference last month in Rome, despite the rosy picture painted by the new Archbishop of Florence and Secretary of the CEI (Italian Bishops Conference).

I picked up from the Papa Ratzinger Blog today news from an article in Il Secolo XIX good news about a TLM celebrated in Sestri Levante, in Liguria in the province of Genoa. 

A TLM was offered in the little church San Pietro in Vincoli, in the historic center of Sestri.  This was the first TLM there since Summorum Pontificum.  There were not so many younger people, as we tend to see in the US and England, but the place was full. 

Apparently the group had been rebuffed by various priests. The local bishop designated Fr. Mario Ostigoni, a priest from Chiavari, to say Mass for the people. 

Mattone su mattone, amici, mattone su mattone.

We need lots of patience and solidarity in prayer. 

Fast and pray for priests, that their hearts will soften and minds open.

You should check the photos of Pius XII stuff my friend John Sonnen has posted on his site Orbis Catholicus.  He always has interesting photos.

Here is the Rome font where the little Roman born baby, Eugenio Pacelli, received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. The font is now located at the Carmelite parish of St. Pancrazio, in Rome.

 

San Pancrazio is up on the Gianicolo, next to the entrance to the Teresianum.  It is, if memory serves, the last of the Roman Stations after Easter, for Dominica in albis.  There are also catacombs there, but they are hard to visit.

From the Catholic League:

October 7, 2008

EUCHARIST DESECRATED ON YouTube

Under the name fsmdude, a Canadian man, Dominique, has posted over 40 videos on YouTube desecrating the Eucharist. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds as follows:

“On September 29, I wrote to YouTube CEO Chad Hurley asking him to take down these offensive videos. I left a phone message for him on October 3, but he refuses to respond. Accordingly, I have posted my own video on YouTube calling attention to this matter.

“It was a professor from the University of Minnesota, Morris campus, Paul Z. Myers, who started the war on the Eucharist this past summer by intentionally desecrating a consecrated Host. Because Myers committed this act off-campus, the University did nothing about it. The latest copycat, however, has violated YouTube’s own ‘Community Guidelines.’ YouTube makes it clear that it does not ‘permit hate speech,’ defined as ‘speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion….’ It also says it ‘is not a shock site.’ Now if desecrating what Catholics believe to be the Body and Blood of Christ does not constitute hate speech, as well as expression designed to shock, nothing does.

“In August, YouTube took down a video of a teenager who urinated on the Holocaust memorial in Rhodes, Greece. That was not only the right moral choice, it was consistent with its own strictures. Catholics deserve the same sensitivity, and that is why we are asking YouTube to take down these unconscionable videos. It is not only right morally, it is in compliance with its own guidelines.”

Contact editor@YouTube.com

I just got word that the Holy See has raised the Institute of Christ the King to be of Pontifical Right, rather than merely of Diocesan Right. 

From the ICK website we get this:

On the feast day of Our Lady, Queen of the Holy Rosary, the Vice-President of the Commission Ecclesia Dei, Very Reverend Monsignor Camille Perl, has read in our Seminary chapel the official decree by which, in the name of the Holy Father, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest was erected to the status of a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. Also our Sisters Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus received the status of Pontifical Right. The Decree was signed by His Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos.

Congratulations to the Institute!

Brick by brick, folks.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 7 OCT 2008 (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, as president of the Commission for Advocates.

NA/.../BURKE

 

The Synod still has me scratching my head.  I know everyone is going to say that it is wonderful to talk about, read and use Scripture, but… I think we know that already.

Other curiosities puzzle me as well.

I picked up from the intrepid Andrea Tornielli that the rabbi invited to speak at the Synod, Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi in Haifa, launched an attack on the President of Iran, Ahmadinejad.  When he was interviewed by Phil Pullela of Reuters he attacked Pius XII, saying that the Church shouldn’t beatify him and that if he had known that the Holy Father was going to celebrate a Mass in honor of Pius XII he wouldn’t have come to the Synod.

Fine with me.

The anniversary of the death of Pius XII isn’t exactly a secret, nor is is a secret that Catholics remember their Popes.

If the Rabbi would like to go home, no one is stopping him.  Otherwise, it might be a good idea to participate in the Synod according to the spirit of the invitation extended to him.

Here is the wire copy of Phil Pullela’s piece:

By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The first Jew to address a
Vatican synod on Monday told the gathering that Jews "cannot
forgive and forget" that some major religious leaders during
World War Two did not speak out against the Holocaust.
Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen’s words, spoken in the presence of
Pope Benedict, were a clear reference to wartime Pope Pius XII,
who many Jews say did not do enough to help them.
Cohen, the chief rabbi of Haifa in Israel, had told Reuters
in an interview hours before the address that he would add
indirect comments critical of Pius when he spoke to more than
200 Catholic bishops from around the world.
"We cannot forget the sad and painful fact of how many,
including great religious leaders, didn’t raise their voice in
the effort to save our brethren but chose to keep silent and
helped secretly. We cannot forgive and forget it and we hope
that you understand …" he said in unprepared remarks at the
end of his address.
Last month Pope Benedict forcefully defended Pius, saying he
"spared no effort" on behalf of Jews during World War Two.
Some Jews maintain Pius did not do enough to save Jews. The
Vatican says he worked behind the scenes to help because more
direct intervention would have worsened the situation.
Cohen also appealed to the synod to denounce Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who made another virulent
anti-Israel speech last month at the United Nations.
"I’m here also to ask you, leaders of religions, to raise
your voice and together with the help of the free world protect,
defend and save Israel … from the hands of our enemies," he
said, referring to a recent U.N. address by "a certain president
of a state in the Middle East".
"This anti-Semitic infamy brought back to us the painful
memories of the tragedy of our people, the victims of the
Holocaust which we hope and pray will never happen again," he
said.
Cohen, 80, anticipated the contents of his address in the
interview with Reuters earlier in the day, saying that Pius, who
reigned from 1939 to 1958, should have done more to help Jews
during the Holocaust.
Cohen also told Reuters he might have stayed away if he had
known the major Church gathering coincided with ceremonies to
honour Pius on the 50th anniversary of his death.
"He (Pius) may have helped in secrecy many of the victims
and many of the refugees but the question is ‘could he have
raised his voice and would it have helped or not?’" Cohen said.
"We, as the victims, feel yes. I am not empowered by the
families of the millions of deceased to say ‘we forget, we
forgive,’" said Cohen.

ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH
Pius is one of the most difficult issues in Catholic-Jewish
relations. On Thursday the Vatican marks the 50th anniversary of
his death, Benedict celebrates a Mass in his memory and there
will be a conference and photo show on his papacy next month.
"I did not know (the anniversary commemorations) happened
during the same meeting. If I had known … I might have
refrained from coming because we feel that the pain is still
here," Cohen said.
"I have to make it very clear that we, the rabbis, the
leadership of the Jewish people, cannot as long as the survivors
still feel painful agree that this leader of the Church in a
time of crisis should be honoured now. It is not our decision.
It pains us. We are sorry it is being done," he said.
Urged by historians to open up all its archives from World
War Two, the Vatican says some are closed for organisational
reasons but that most of the significant documentation regarding
Pius is already open to scholars.
Last year, the Vatican’s saint-making department voted in
favour of a decree recognising Pius’s "heroic virtues", a major
hurdle in a long process toward possible sainthood that began in
1967. But Pope Benedict has so far not approved the decree.
Some Jewish groups say the Vatican should freeze the process
of beatification but others say it is an internal Church matter.
(Editing by Tim Pearce and Mark Trevelyan)

In the meantime, Walter Card. Kasper, President of the Council for Interreligious Dialogue made it clear that Pius XII did what he could to save Jews and that his beatification was a matter internal to the Catholic Church.

Exactly!
 
UPDATE: From Il Giornale:

Milano – Pio XII continua a far discutere. La disputa sulle parole del rabbino capo di Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen, primo rabbino intervenuto a un sinodo è rimbalzata da una parte all’altra del mondo, coinvolgendo anche il blog del vaticanista del Giornale, Andrea Tornielli, autore di quattro libri su Papa Pacelli.

Le dichiarazioni del rabbino Cohen Il rabbino Cohen, intervistato da Phil Pullela, vaticanista della Reuters, ha detto che non è giusta la beatificazione di Pio XII, affermando che se avesse saputo che Benedetto XVI stava per celebrare il cinquantesimo anniversario della morte di Papa Pacelli avrebbe deciso di non partecipare al Sinodo.

Il commento di Tornielli Il vaticanista del Giornale sul suo blog ha commentato così le parole del rabbino: "A parte il fatto che la data di morte di Pio XII non è propriamente un segreto del Mossad, trovandosi in tutte le enciclopedie, a parte il fatto che il cinquantesimo rappresenta una scadenza importante, trovo del tutto fuori luogo che un esponente ebraico invitato a parlare ai vescovi cattolici ne approfitti per mettere in imbarazzo il Papa, per di più sulla base di leggende nere".

Reuters cita il blog del nostro giornalista Commento che non è rimasto inascoltato. Poche ore dopo, Tom Heneghan, curatore di una rubrica religiosa per Reuters, faceva eco alle parole del nostro giornalista : "Tornielli ha saputo focalizzare soprattutto l’attenzione sulla posizione del rabbino Cohen già in un’intervista rilasciata alla Reuters prima del suo discorso effettuato al Sinodo"

UPDATE: 1[]940 GMT

A friend in Rome supplied me with some commentary:

   Rabbi Cohen explained to us that he is here as the representative of the Israeli Rabbinate, and as such came to present the official hermeneutical "line" of that organization. He clearly was at pains to make it abundantly clear that he was not presenting his personal views.  [Interesting.]

  There may be some official reticence to recognize PPXII as a helper and friend to the Jews within the Rabbinate, and perhaps he was embarrassed and caught off guard, or, more likely, found himself placed in a position in which his answer to a question, phrased "just so" by a journalist with whom he had agreed to speak, might have blurred the lines between his personal and official views. In such a case, he might have decided to play it cautiously, and give the "party line" re. PXII.

  I really wonder whether "attacks PXII" is an accurate description of the substance, intention and effect of the Rabbi’s naked statements. I can’t be 100% sure, but I have "la netta impressione" that we are witnessing a sort of "Nixon in China" moment, in which some hard words or declarations ought not be allowed to overshadow the significance of the visit, itself.
 
  Please feel free to publish these speculations, indicating them as such. [Good observations.  I’ll think about the title of the entry.]

UPDATE 15:38 GMT 8 OCT

 

The rabbi later clarified to Philippa Hitchen of Vatican Radio (transcript):

TRANSCRIPT

I am here, not as an individual, presenting my own approach. I represent the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the official organization that leads the Jewish religion in Israel, in a way, in the Jewish world, so I would say the majority is with me here. There are those who feel that it’s more than a dialogue, and are suspicious that it’s an attempt, in a way, to blur the differences – just another kind of the same religion – which it’s not. There are some  basic elements in the articles of faith that we believe in, and that Christians believe in, and we cannot ignore it. I think that [dialogue] is not meant to change us. We should try to understand each other and live together, for those principles and for those ideas that join us.

Here is a good practical question from a reader.

I have a question which you may well be able to answer, but that if you are too busy, I am pretty sure my fellow loyal readers of WDTPRS can.

What are the best practices for making the small linens for the altar? 

I am good on the basics – what’s square and what’s rectangular, white color, and linen’s pride of place, but how much elaboration is good versus when it becomes a hindrance to proper purification.  Where are the rules located?  I haven’t found much at all.  Recalling the wonderful pamphlet on the care of the linens, I am hoping for some guidance beyond common sense.    

Good question.  We do need the help of others for this.  I have never made altar linens.

Here are some observations for my vantage of using them

First, keep them simple.  Lots of elaboration, in my opinion, make them more difficult to use.  There can be some embroidery around the edges of the corporal.  Perhaps a very narrow band of lace or trim.  The same for purificators, but only at the very ends.  I would avoid doing (what ever it is called) that thing where you embroider around cut-out shapes.  Pretty, but awkward to use.  With a corporal I am always concerned that some particle will somehow fall through a hole.

Do make sure the fabric is absorbant, especially for the purificators.  I have from time to time had to use nearly liquid resistant purificators.  If a priest is diligent in purifying the chalice well, that’s pretty frustrating.  I do like linen.

Altar cloths should ideally be long enough to reach close to the ground on either side of the altar.  Remember that an altar really should have three cloths.  The two beneath don’t have to reach the the ground, but they should cover the top.  If you have an altar ad orientem and there are some contraptions designed to hold the altar cloths in place, you might think about reinforcing that side of the altar cloth.  Not necessary, but it could be helpful.

This is a bit picky, but when making purificators you might consider the width of the chalice(s) for which you are making them so that they fit nicely across the top.

Here is a shot of how a corporal is sown up.  This is one I am using now.  It was made in Italy.



Keep purificators simple.  Check the height of the chalice and the width of the cup.

Remember that altar cloths are sometimes held down by gizmos.



Palls can have some fancy work.  I don’t prefer it, but I do use it from time to time.  They are often made like a little flat bag or envelope in which you insert a stiff card.   I HATE the Italian style pall, which is just a piece of starched cloth.



And the back.



Maybe the reader with experience can chime in.