On Tuesday morning, July 7th, the Holy Father received in audience Taro Aso, prime minister of Japan. The prime minister subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.The cordial discussions provided an opportunity to examine certain current international questions, with particular reference to the economic crisis and to Japan's and the Holy See's commitment to Africa.At a bilateral level, attention turned to the good relations that exist between Japan and the Holy See, as well as to the understanding and cooperation between Church and State. カテゴリ: ブログと人 タグ: God Jesus Jesus Christ Pope Benedict XVI Vatican Holy See Catholic Church Christianity
On Tuesday morning, July 7th, the Holy Father received in audience Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan. The Prime Minister subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.
The cordial discussions provided an opportunity to examine certain current international questions, with particular reference to the economic crisis and to Japan's and the Holy See's commitment to Africa.
At a bilateral level, attention turned to the good relations that exist between Japan and the Holy See, as well as to the understanding and cooperation between Church and State.
aso-popeJapanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, a member of Japan’s tiny Roman Catholic minority, had a chance toenjoy some time away from political trouble at home when he met with Pope Benedict on Tuesday.
As his first stop during a trip to attend July 8-10 summit of G8 leaders in Italy, Aso went to the Vatican, gave the pope a Sony digital video camera and discussed the global economic crisis with him. (Photo: Prime Minister Aso presents video camera to Pope Benedict, 7 July 2009/Danilo Schiavella)
His visit was timely in that respect ― Benedict published an encyclical on economic and social issues today, calling for a bold reform of the world economic order to overcome the financial crisis and redirect the focus of business to the welfare of all people.
aso-pope-officeAso, the first Japanese prime minister to meet a pope in 10 years, told Benedict that Japan wanted to cooperate with the Vatican, according to his aides. According to the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, the two men had a cordial discussion that “touched on current international issues such as the economic crisis and the commitment of Japan and the Holy See to Africa. On the bilateral level, the good relations between Japan and the Holy See were noted.” (Photo: Aso and Benedict in the papal private library, 7 July 2009/Osservatore Romano)
For the unpopular prime minister, who looks set to lose a general election due by October, meeting Pope Benedict was probably a personal highlight of his trip, even though voters would not care much.
Aso is having a tough time at home with his support falling on doubts about his leadership abilities and the main opposition party has a good shot at ending more than a half-century of almost unbroken rule by Aso’s business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party.
Pope Benedict told Aso that he was happy to meet a Japanese prime minister who is Catholic and to know that Japan’s society is open to various religions.
aso-orAso himself has little difficulty with mixing and matching various faiths. As we’ve mentioned here in an earlier post, he regularly pays respect and offers gifts to Shinto shrines, such as Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine dedicated to Japan’s war dead. Japan’s indigenous religion of Shinto is polytheistic and combining that with Christian monotherism may sound like a contradiction, but it is something many Japanese Catholics take in their stride.
Whether visits to Yasukuni shrine overstep the boundaries of Catholic doctrine is a difficult question, but Aso and the pope did not touch the issue at the 25-minute meeting, according to a statements released after the talk. (Image: Aso meeting at bottom of front page of L’Osservatore Romano edition of 8 July 2009)
TRIESTE, Italy (Kyodo) Prime Minister Taro Aso will meet with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City on July 7, sources said Wednesday.
The first meeting since 1999 between a pope and a Japanese prime minister will take place as Aso, a Catholic, has been hoping to meet the pope when he attends the Group of Eight summit to be held in Italy from July 8, said the sources in Rome.
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, visited Japan in March and met with Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone. Mamberti is the first secretary for relations with states of the Holy See to have visited Japan.
The last top-level meeting between Tokyo and Vatican City was held in 1999 between then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Pope John Paul II, both now deceased.
The Vatican said Wednesday Pope Benedict and U.S. President Barack Obama will hold their first talks July 10 in Vatican City.
ROME (Kyodo) Pope Benedict XVI would be willing to meet with Prime Minister Taro Aso, a Catholic, if he requests it, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See Dominique Mamberti said Thursday.
Aso could meet the pope during a planned visit to Italy in July to attend a Group of Eight summit.
The last meeting between a pope and a Japanese prime minister took place in 1999, when the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
If a meeting of the pope and Aso is realized, they could discuss the pope's possible visit to Japan, Mamberti told a group of reporters.
* Michael Fitzpatrick * The Guardian, Monday 6 October 2008 * Article history
For a country that counts a cartoon cat among its ambassadors, Japan's new prime minister Taro Aso seems like an obvious choice. The 68-year-old, LSE-educated Aso boasts a voluminous manga and anime collection, is said to read around 10-20 comics a week, and has become an instant hero among Japan's subculture of manga-obsessives (or otaku, as they are known). He even sparked a market surge in manga-related shares when it looked likely that he would capture the top job in the world's second largest economy.
And there couldn't be a better spokesman for the otaku. Aso is a self-assured, rich, wisecracking aristocrat who believes his fellow otaku and their manga and anime related obsessions can lift Japan out of its current economic hole. It's what's being called "soft power" - the diplomatic and economic clout of a nation's pop culture. In this case it is Japan's formidable comic-based culture that has conquered the youth of the west in spectacular fashion, starting with Pokemon.
"Thanks to the otaku, we can send messages about Japanese subculture to the entire world," Aso told an audience in Tokyo's electronics and PC game playground Akihabara. "We should be proud."
Aside from cultural bridge-building, though, what Aso has to offer voters is less clear. With the Japanese economy as badly bruised as our own, the electorate will be hungry for real change, not just escapism.
Despite his cuddly, comic book-reading persona, Aso is a nationalist prone to verbal gaffes. Meanwhile, his Liberal Democratic party is not riding high in the popularity stakes. Perhaps it hopes for enough bounce from this unusually colourful Japanese politician to retain power in the coming election.
「ニュース・一般/政治」ブログランキング参加中。
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をクリック。（なお、作業する時にはTBP自民党政治の所を適宜読み替えてください）
」勾留132日間 東京拘置所内 渾身の書き下ろし、売国奴小泉や竹中もさぞや寝覚めが悪かろう。
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