Links and More Links As To Pope Benedict' s White House Visit

I am going ahead and putting this Entry Up. It is incomplete but I am updating.

I thought the White House Ceremony for the Papal Father was not only stirring but had a ton of meat to it. Here are the links and I shall try to update this some throughout the day. Look to the bottom of the entry for those.

First I would suggest going to the Ratzinger Forum and their APOSTOLIC VOYAGE TO THE U.S.A & U.N. They have a lot of articles and real nice pics. I suspect they will be translating more Italian coverage of the even. The key to is to go to the last page and work yourself back so to see the most recent. Some of the pics are keepers.

The White House and the Vatican have just issued their Joint statement on the private meeting between Bush and Pope Benedict. It appears despite silly press coverage that the Pope did not give Bush a whooping.

There was Cake later see Pictures Of Pope Blowing out The Candles On His Cake at White House

As the very good Catholic Journalist Raymond Arroyo said at his entry
The Papal Visit: THE POPE and THE WHITE HOUSE VISIT:

Forget the “reports” that the Pope will criticize the war in Iraq or rail at the president. This is not Benedict’s style.For the record, the Pope did in fact oppose the Iraq invasion and made it clear before his election that a “preventive war” could not be considered within the just war tradition. But that is now history. With the murder of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul just before Easter, and the April 5th drive-by slaying of an Orthodox priest in Bagdad fresh in his memory, the Pope will urge more protection for the Christian minority in Iraq. Whatever their feelings about the decision to invade the country, both the Vatican and Iraqi Christians are convinced that America must maintain a presence in the region to ensure the survival of their community and to give peace a chance to take root. According to the UN, before 2003 there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Today, owing to a mass exodus and the destruction of churches, the population has been cut by half. During his private meeting with the president, the Pope will surely raise the need to protect the weakened Christian remnant in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

Be sure to read Mr Arroyo's entire entry as well as his blog.

I am looking for a live Vid of the entire White House Ceremony to start tofinish. C-Span has the vid up but it appears to be having Technical problems. I am awaiting EWTN to put their Vid up/ Again see the bottom of the page for updates. However I think it will appear here at this EWTN page (update) It is now appearing on their page- WELCOME AT THE WHITE HOUSE Video: 18k 100k 300k 500kAudio: WMA

The Presidents and the Pope's wonderful Speeches can be found at places. Here is the transcript from the White House. I also would check out Fatherz Z's post where he has also has the full transcript and interacts with the Pope's remarks at Benedict XVI discourse from the White House . Be sure to go down to the bottom of his entry(there is blank space for some reason in his post) for a added treat. Father Z has the following audio:

08-04-16 Anthems of Holy and USA [3:35m]: Hide Player Play in Popup Download

08-04-16 Benedict XVI at White House [8:34m]: Hide Player Play in Popup Download

08-04-16 POTUS with Pope White House [4:45m]: Hide Player Play in Popup Download

08-04-16 Pope at White House: Battle Hymn [4:51m]: Hide Player Play in Popup Download

Speaking of that last audio of the Battle Hymm of the Republic give that a listen. As usual it is a hymm that brings people to tears. Including me!!! By the way did you know the First Reading of the Office of the Reading for today is what inspired the Battle Hymm? Yes that is Apocalypse 14:14 - 15:4. Go to Whispers in the Loggia entry The Spirit of the Liturgy for more. I swear I could listen to that audio all day. Deal Hudson at his entry From the Whitehouse Lawn... states:

"The biggest event in the history of the White House was a great success with a spontaneous "Happy Birthday" sung to the Holy Father by an obviously-adoring crowd.The President's mispronunciation of St. Augustine's dictum pace tecum went unnoticed, and the Protestant setting of the Lord's Prayer sung powerfully by Kathleen Battle was well-received. But it was the all-male version of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" that had many in the crowd wiping their eyes as His Holiness clearly showed his enjoyment of the all-American hymn.
There were no surprises in the prepared remarks -- the real story was the size and warmth of the crowd and the obvious respect and affection of President Bush toward Benedict XVI.

Go to the Above EWTN VID link to about the 52:30 mark to see The battle Hymm being played

The Anchoress has her great story up USA sees a very different pope.

She also has a link to a Vatican Reporter I respect quite a bit. If you are Catholic or not and you want to see in real clear blunt ways how Benedict see the future of the Church and also how we should view this American Visit go to Ratzinger Road Map It is a blunt piece. I often comment that Pope Benedict is preparing us for something. That he can see the road ahead and it might be tough. He senses something world changing and dramatic is in the wind. You get a glimpse of that there.

Update I-

I am trying to keep this post somewhat political free. However Pro-Eccelsia has an Obama related Pope Cartoon this is pretty funny at The Pope's "Bitter" Harvest

Update II-

EWTN HAS VID OF WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY UP(excellent)

WELCOME AT THE WHITE HOUSE Video: 18k 100k 300k 500kAudio: WMA

Update-III

I can not recommend this site more. Awesome coverage and especially this gallery of photos that I have not seen today

Update IV- The Anchoress has another must read here. After we all settle now from the excitement we need to examine Benedict’s serious call for seriousness

that was in his Speech