The Pope's Visit to Austria
Translation of important parts of Hans Peter Hurka's German report
In his speeches pope Benedict XVI called attention to the basic values of Christian faith, which, on the whole, are accepted anyway in the Roman Catholic church. On the merely human level he gained sympathy with his smile and friendly words.
However, there was no possibility for "We are Church" Austria to talk to the pope and he did not mention the urgent issues in any way. In contrast to the reality the Austrian hierarchy pretended the Austrian church to be young and healthy. In the celebrations nothing was "poor" as it should have been according to the Bible: the head of the church was praised excessively, there were expensive new gowns for the higher clergy and the whole ado reminded of musical events of pop-stars. The possibility of receiving messages and even a benediction by the pope via SMS on mobile phones was announced as a sign of the modernity of the church. Obviously all this seduced the Austrian bishops to believe that the questions of the Church Referendum were not so important or got even solved through the mere presence of the pope.
"We are Church" Austria had prepared and distributed thousands of postcards saying "Benedict, listen to the people in the pews!" and inviting people to write answers to the question "What would you like to tell pope Benedict XVI?" We have these cards sent to our address by mid-October 2007. Then we collect the answers, anonymize them, send them to the pope, the nuncio and Cardinal Schoenborn and publish them.
We held a press conference in advance of the visit, where we pointed out the undue power of the pope and the fact, that dialogue is constantly being denied by the Austrian hierarchy with the argument, that it is a concern of the universal church. We also wrote an open letter to the pope, which we sent to the nuncio and Cardinal Schoenborn asking them to present it to the pope. Cardinal Schoenborn told Hans Peter Hurka during a short personal encounter, he would not do this, because he was not a postman and the letter was improper.
We succeeded in putting up two banners opposite the papal altar for the mass on Sunday. One said "Benedict, listen to the people in the pews!", the other one quoted the opening words of "Gaudium et spes" ("Joy and hope, sorrow and fear..."). Both banners bore our logo and the word "Kirchenvolks-Begehren".
On August 6th we had been received by the nuncio. He was very friendly and promised to help us find possibilities for serious talks with the Cardinal and with Rome. He asked us to provide him with a profound theological paper, which we shall do.
On the whole we had a very good presence in the media, better than we had expected. This was irritating for the hierarchy. Of course we also met with protests among the people who came to see and hail the pope, but we have also gained new members.
We intend to carry on and ask for a regional council or an Austrian synod. We were told, that the "architecture of a pilgrimage" did not allow discussion of problems. So this must certainly happen in the near future.
(Translation by Gotlind Hammerer)
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