Wacko Leftist Italian Students Pledge-We Shall Not Allow The Pope To Enter!!!

Good Grief!!!

There are several items in the News About Benedict section of the Ratzinger Forum that have caught my eye this afternoon.

The assorted Leftist, Communist, Radicals, that are always a fun part of the European Universities are on the march again. This time against the Pope. It appears they are not thrilled he is coming to Rome's Oldest University. The Ratiznger forum has translated two pieces on from Italian papers on this wild development. Note the Poster at the forum has some made some comments so I will put that in italics when they occur.


BELIEVE IT OR NOT!SOME DON'T WANT THE POPE COMING TO ROME'S OLDEST UNIVERSITY -
Translated from Il Foglio of 1/11/08:
On Thursday, Jan. 17, Benedict XVI will speak at Rome's La Sapienza University, and it may well be
not a tranquil occasion. The Pope will deliver an address at the inauguration of the university's 705th academic year (the university was founded in April 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII) which will be an unusual program.

First, the actual inauguration, with addresses by the rector Renato Guarini, a representative of the student body, a representative of the administrative and technical staff, the minister for Universities Fabio Mussi, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, and a lectio magistralis on the death penalty by Mario Caravale. Then Mussi and Veltroni will leave, and the second part will start.

The Pope will come in, he will be greeted by the rector and by a student representative, then he will speak. Quite an unusual protocol. The Pope is, after all, still a head of state visiting the largest Italian (and European) university. But it is the result of a compromise arrived at last December when one of the faculty members, physicist Marcello Cini, protested the Pope's visit (originally scheduled in mid-December), since joined by some 50 other professors (out of 5,000) at La Sapienza.

The rector had actually invited the Pope to deliver a lectio magistralis for the occasion shortly after the Conclave in 2005. The event was announced last November to take place Dec. 13, but shortly afterward, a postponement was announced. Cini's protest letter was published in Manifesto, the Communist newspaper (which yesterday also published a protest by students belonging to leftist organizations), giving rise to turbulent sessions of the academic senate, at which the postponement and compromise program were eventually reached.

The theme was chosen several months ago at the height of a campaign for a moratorium on the death penalty. But there is real concern for what could happen next Thursday.

The protesting students have said, "We will not allow him (the Pope to enter!" And are preparing to carry out that threat. At the faculty of Physics, they have started an 'anti-clerical week' which includes a sarcastic and blasphemously intended Via Crucis within the campus, with students dressed as priests manifesting homophobia and misogyny.

It is supposed to culminate on the morning of the 17th with a demonstration beneath the university's emblematic statue of Minerva (goddess of wisdom) to defend her, they claim, from the "Pope Inquisitor". [The nerve and blindly prejudiced ignorance of these poor students 'looking down' on the greatest, most modern mind of any world leader today! - They are the ones who defile what Minerva stands for: it isn't just that the university has apparently not taught them elementary knowledge, but not even what wisdom means, let alone wisdom itself!]

The students' slogans substantially echoes the arguments of Cini, who writes in his letter that "in his new role, the ex-head of the Holy Office has not forgotten the function he had by tradition - which has always been and continues to be the expropriation of the sacred sphere immanent in the profundity of sentiments and emotions of every human being on the part of an institution which claims exclusivity in mediating between the human and the divine...But he has changed strategy. No longer able to use burning at the stake or corporal punishment, he has learned from Ulysses. He has used the effigy of the Enlightenment's goddess Reason as a Trojan horse to invade the citadel of science and then denounce it." [And this man calls himself a scientist! What a disgrace to scientists!]

The reference is to the Regensburg lecture in which the Pope delivered a lectio magistralis at the University of Regensburg without incident - only to have a firestorm of protest break out two days later and for the next two weeks.

It may not be the same at La Sapienza Thursday, especially during the Pope's passage from the university atrium to the rector's office, and from there to the university chapel.

The last papal visit to La Sapienza was by John Paul II on April 19 1991, who spoke from the stairway of the rector's office to some 5,000 students gathered beneath the Minerva statue. He, too, was greeted by a demonstration who tried to drown his words by a chorus of whistles, but Papa Wojtyla made an ironic comment about this 'warm welcome', raised his voice and made himself heard.
Il Foglio, 11 gennaio 2008.

They have a updated article from the Italian Press

Protestors broaden their tarbrush to include University Minister and Mayor of Rome -

Mussi has ruined the right to study, Veltroni rubs the people of their houses, and the Pope is the modern edition of medieval obscurantism. Now, all in one blow, they are descending on us". So it reads in a flyer being circulated by the leftist student groups of Rome's La Sapienza University, who are preparing a virulent reception for Pope Benedict XVI when he visits their campus in Jan. 17 to open the Academic Year.

The invitation to the Pope, issued by the rector to Benedict shortly after the 2005 Conclave, was protested last November when a December 13 visit by the Pope was publicly announced. Physics professor Marcello Cini wrote the rector on Nov. 14 that the Pope's visit would be "thoughtless and harmful to the image of La Sapienza in the world". [Gosh! This man is even more delusional and far out than I thought! Even if La Sapienza was founded by a Pope, how on earth can it compare as a public institution in the mind of the world today compared to the Pope, any Pope, and as far as intellectual prestige goes, to Benedict XVI?]

Of course, many of the university's own students note that in fact, the image of La Sapienza in the world - "it does not even rank among the first 150 universities in the world" - could be difficult to debase even more!

On November 23, 56 Marxist-inspired professors, describing themselves as 'faithful to reason', declared themselves behind Cini and asked that the visit be cancelled. [After turbulent meetings of the academic senate, it was decided to postpone the visit to January, not to cancel it. NB: The university has more than 5000 professors and instructors.] But the virulence has been passed on to some student organizations.

On January 8, a joint meeting of leftist student organizations was held at the Faculty of Jurisprudence which launched a campaign largely on the Internet - with active 'chain e-mails'. On Tuesday, an assembly to be joined by the anti-Ratzinger professors will plan the logistical details of the protest they intend to mount on Thursday. "What a magnificent occasion!", one of the students said. "In one blow we shall be able to shout down Minister Mussi, Mayor Veltroni and the Pope!"

Vatican security and Rome policemen will be posted discreetly inside the university and around it for the occasion. In addition to the plainclothes forces, there will be anti-riot units. The Police prefecture says these are 'routine measures', that there may be slogans chanted, perhaps even eggs thrown, "but we don't expect any serious threats from the students".

But the leftist students threaten something more than just whistles and boos. "There are enough of us, and the anti-abortion Pope shall not pass through!" Right now, they plan to have students dressed as women who will demonstrate against the Pope as he goes through the university's main 'square' with the statue of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, to reach the administrative building where the ceremonies will be held.

"We will also try to peacefully invade the rector's office," they said, "and if they hold us back, we will stage a sit-in right outside it. A spokesperson for Minister Mussi said, "We have become used to such protests. Whoever goes there ends up being tarred!"

But the protests against the Pope could create greater embarrassment for the Rector, whose office has so far limited itself to telling the media "No comment!" However, it has been learned, that there has been busy telephone traffic between the Rector's Office, the police Prefecture and the Apostolic Palace. "It's always better to prevent something rather than to cure it," an official said. Which means that police will be very much present and that there will be 'no occasion to see the Pope outside the administration building'.

There is also a discreet presence of Catholic student organizations at La Sapienza, who have been distributing their own flyers, saying the Pope's visit is an occasion of hearing the 'testimony' of a man "who is capable of challenging and leading us in the search for reason." On Wednesday, the day before the visit, while the lefties will be busy with their last-minute plans, there will be a prayer vigil at the university chapel, which will be visited by the Pope and which had been established by the Jesuits when they first took over spiritual functions at La Sapienza 60 years ago.
Il Foglio, 12 gennaio 2008