John Allen’s Word from Rome is posted

Much about Holy Week:

Asked endlessly during the same arc of time to comment for the global press on who the pope is and what he’s doing, I was sometimes tempted to respond, "This isn’t Kim Jong-Il … just listen!"

A summary of what Cardinal Martini said in his already (over the course of a few hours) infamous interview – I will post more on that in a bit – and a comment:

Msgr. Angel Rodriguez Luño, an Opus Dei priest, a professor at Santa Croce University in Rome, and a consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has said there’s actually not much debate over the theology; most moralists, he said, believe the argument for condoms as a lesser evil is fairly clear. The question is how to explain that conclusion in a way that doesn’t seem to offer a free pass for irresponsible sexual behavior.

"The problem is, anytime we try to give a nuanced response, we see headlines that say, ‘Vatican approves condoms,’ Rodriguez Luño told The Washington Post Jan. 23, 2005.

"The issue is more complicated than that. From a moral point of view, we cannot condone contraception. We cannot tell a classroom of 16-year-olds they should use condoms. But if we are dealing with someone or a situation in which persons are clearly going to act in harmful ways, a prostitute who is going to continue her activities, then one might say, ‘Stop. But if you are not going to, at least do this.’"

And finally, after some more Opus Dei material, a nice story:

Pilgrims from New Orleans brought the monstrance to Rome, where Benedict XVI had agreed to bless it with Holy Water at the conclusion of a Wednesday General Audience. Afterwards, he also gave the pilgrims the white zucchetto he was wearing in exchange for a new one they had purchased at the famed Roman clerical shop Gammarelli’s.

Now dubbed the "Hope Monstrance," the monstrance and zucchetto, along with photos of the event, are set to make the rounds of parishes and schools in New Orleans, serving the twin purpose of promoting Eucharistic Adoration and offering a symbol of the city’s rebirth.