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 VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIII - N° 79
DATE 03-04-2013

Summary:
 - FRANCIS: WOMEN ARE THE FIRST COMMUNICATORS OF THE RESURRECTION
 - LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED OVER BY POPE: APRIL–MAY
 - FRANCIS PRAYS BEFORE TOMB OF BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
 - POPE VISITS VATICAN NECROPOLIS
 - CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES
 - REGINA COELI: THE POWER OF GRACE
 - ANNUAL PLENARY SESSION OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION
 - CARDINAL OLORUNFEMI TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS TITULAR CHURCH

___________________________________________________________


FRANCIS: WOMEN ARE THE FIRST COMMUNICATORS OF THE RESURRECTION
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Resurrection, the heart of the
Christian message, and the two ways it is announced—profession of faith
and narration—were the themes with which Pope Francis returned to the
catechesis for the Year
of Faith in this morning's general audience.
As is becoming his custom, the Holy Father travelled around St. Peter's Square
in the white, open-top Jeep to greet the dozens of thousands of people who
want to meet him, many of whom put their babies forward so he can take them in
his arms. After his
warm greeting of the faithful, the Pope prayed with those present and, after
giving them a “good morning!”, he began his catechesis with the
quote of the celebrated passage of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians:
“if Christ has
not been raised, your faith is vain”.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “there have often been attempts to
obscure the faith in Jesus' Resurrection and doubts have crept in even among
believers themselves. Our faith is 'watered down', we might say; not strong
faith. Sometimes this
has been because of superficiality, sometimes because of indifference, because
we are busy with thousands of other things that seem more important than our
faith, or even because we have a limited view of life. But it is precisely the
Resurrection that
offers us the greatest hope because it opens our lives and the life of the
world to God's eternal future, to complete happiness, to the certainty that
evil, sin, and death can be conquered. This leads us to living our everyday
lives more confidently, to
facing them courageously and committedly. Christ's Resurrection shines new
light on our everyday realities. Christ's Resurrection is our strength!”
Moving on to explain the two ways that the truth of the Resurrection is shared
in the New Testament, Francis spoke first of professions of faith, that is, of
the concise formulas expressing the core of the faith. Such examples can be
found in the Letter
to the Corinthians or the Letter to the Romans in which St. Paul writes:
“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9).
From the Church's first
steps, her faith in the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection has been
steadfast and clear.”
However, the Pope preferred to emphasize the witness that takes the form of a
story, recalling above all that, in these types of testimonials, women are the
first witnesses. They are the ones who, at dawn, go to the tomb to anoint
Jesus' body and find
the first sign: the empty tomb. They then encounter the divine messenger who
tells them: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, is not here. He is risen.
“The women,” he attested, “are compelled by love and know
how to welcome this announcement with faith. They believe and immediately they
share [the announcement]. They don't keep it for themselves but convey it.
They can't contain the
joy of knowing that Jesus is alive, the hope that fills their hearts. This
should also happen in our lives. We should feel the joy of being Christians!
We believe in the Risen One who has conquered evil and death! We must have the
courage to 'go out' to
bring this joy and this light to all the areas of our lives. Christ's
Resurrection is our greatest certainty. It is our most precious treasure! How
can we not share this treasure, this certainty, with others? It is not just
for us: it is to be
proclaimed; to be given to others; to be shared with others. This is precisely
our witness.”
Francis noted another element of the profession of faith in the New Testament:
that only men are recorded as witnesses of the Resurrection, the Apostles but
no women. “This is because,” he explained, “according to
Jewish law of the
time, women and children couldn't give reliable, credible witness. In the
Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. We can see here an
argument in favour of the historical actuality of the Resurrection. If it had
been made up, in the
context of the time, it would not have been connected to the testimonials of
women. The evangelists instead simply narrate what had happened: the women
were the first witnesses. This says that God's choices are not made in
accordance with human
criteria. The first witnesses of Jesus' birth are the shepherds, simple and
humble people. The first witnesses of the Resurrection are women. This is
beautiful. And this is a bit the mission of women, of mothers and women:
witnessing to their ch
 ildren
and their grandchildren that Jesus is alive. He is the Living One. He is the
Risen One. Mothers and women, go forward with this witness! For God, what
counts is our hearts.”
“This also leads us to reflect on how women, in the Church and in the
journey of faith, have had and still today have a unique role in opening doors
to the Lord, in following him and conveying his face, because seeing with
faith always takes
love's gaze, which is simple and profound. It is more difficult for the
Apostles and disciples to believe: not for the women. Peter runs to the tomb,
but stops before the empty tomb. Thomas has to touch the wounds on Jesus' body
with his own hands. Even
in our faith journeys it is important to know and to feel that God loves us;
not to be afraid to love him: faith is professed with the mouth and with the
heart, with words and with love.”
The Holy Father recalled that, after the apparitions to the women, there were
others in which Jesus made himself present in a new way. “He is the
Crucified One but his body is glorious. He did not return to his earthly life,
but rather in a new
condition. At first they don't recognize him and only through his words and
his deeds are their eyes opened. Encountering the Risen One transforms them,
gives new strength to their faith, an unshakeable foundation. For us too,
there are many signs by
which the Risen One makes himself known: Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the
other Sacraments, charity, these gestures of love bring a ray of the Risen
One. Let us be enlightened by Christ's Resurrection and transformed by its
power so that, through us
too, the signs of death might give way to signs of life in the world.”
At the end, seeing that there were many young persons in the square, the Pope
addressed them: “Take this certainty to all, the lord is alive and walks
beside us in our lives. This is your mission. Take this hope forward with you.
Be anchored to
this hope, this anchor that is heaven. Hold tight to the lifeline. Be anchored
and carry this hope forward. You, witnesses of Jesus, carry forward the
testimony that Jesus is alive and that this will give us hope; it will bring
hope to this world that
has grown a bit old because of wars, evil, and sin. Young people, go forward!

___________________________________________________________


LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED OVER BY POPE: APRIL–MAY
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – Following is the calendar of
celebrations scheduled to be presided over by the Holy Father in the months of
April and May, 2013.
APRIL
7 April, Second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday: 5:30pm, Mass in the
Basilica of St. John Lateran for the Bishop of Rome to take possession of the
Roman cathedra.
14 April, Sunday:5:30pm, Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls
21 April, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and priestly ordinations in St. Peter's Basilica.
28 April, Sunday:10:00am, Mass and confirmations in St. Peter's Square.
MAY
4 May, Saturday:6:00pm, Recitation of the Rosary in the Basilica of St. Mary
Major.
5 May, Sunday:10:00am, Mass for Confraternities in St. Peter's Square.
12 May, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and canonizations of Blesseds Antonio Primaldo and
Companions; Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui; and Maria
Guadalupe Garcia Zavala.
18 May, Saturday:6:00pm, Pentecost Vigil in St. Peter's Square with the
participation of ecclesial movements.
19 May, Pentecost Sunday: 10:00am, Mass in St. Peter's Square with the
participation of ecclesial movements.

___________________________________________________________


FRANCIS PRAYS BEFORE TOMB OF BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – On the eighth anniversary of the
death of Blessed John Paul II yesterday, Pope Francis visited his tomb in St.
Peter's Basilica. The Holy Father—accompanied by Cardinal Angelo
Comastri, archpriest of the
Vatican Basilica, and Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, his personal secr
tary—prayed for a long while before Blessed John Paul II's tomb in the
St. Sebastian Chapel and then also stopped at the tombs of Blessed John XXIII
and St. Pius X.
“Like his visit to the tomb of St. Peter and the Vatican G
ottoes,” reads a note from the Press Office of the Holy See, “this
afternoon's visit to the Basilica expresses the profound spiritual continuity
of the Petrine Ministry of the
Popes that Francis lives and feels intensely. This is also evident in the
meeting and the frequent phone calls with his predecessor, Benedict XVI.”

___________________________________________________________


POPE VISITS VATICAN NECROPOLIS
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – This past Monday afternoon, 1 April,
the Pope visited the tomb of St. Peter, which is located in the necropolis
under the Vatican Basilica. He stayed to pray in the Clementine Chapel (Chapel
of St. Peter), the
closest place to the burial of the first Apostle, which is found directly
under the Basilica's central altar and the cupola.
The Holy Father travelled the main street of the necropolis accompanied by
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, Bishop Vittorio
Lanzani, secretary of the Fabric of St. Peter, and Pietro Zanander and Mario
Bosco, directors of the
necropolis. Afterwards, the Pope went to the Vatican Grottoes to pay homage at
the tombs of the Popes of the last century who are buried there: Benedict XV,
Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, and John Paul I.

___________________________________________________________


CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – On the occasion of the celebration
yesterday, 2 April, of the Sixth World Autism Awareness Day, Archbishop
Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers,
published the following
message:
“Dearest brothers and sisters, on the occasion of the Sixth World Autism
Awareness Day, which this year takes place during the liturgical period of the
Easter festivities, the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers intends to
express the
solicitude of the Church for autistic people and their families, inviting
Christian communities and people of good will to express authentic solidarity
towards them.”
“I would like to take as a point of departure for my reflections the
approach of Jesus who drew near to, and walked with, the disciples on the way
to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35). The look marked by loss, and even more by
amazement, that shaped the
steps of Cleopas and Simon could be a similar expression to—and equally
similarly be found within—that which marks the faces and the hearts of
parents who have a son or a daughter with autism.”
“Autism: this is a word that still generates fear today even though in
very many cultures which traditionally excluded handicaps the ‘diversely
able’ have begun to be accepted socially, and many of the prejudices
that have surrounded
people with disabilities and even their parents have begun to be dismantled.
To define someone as autistic seems automatically to involve a negative
judgement about those who are afflicted by it, and, implicitly, a sentence
involving a definitive
distancing from society. On the other hand, the person concerned seems to be
unable to communicate in a productive way with other people, at times as
though shut up in a ‘glass bell’, in his or her impenetrable, but
for us wonderful,
interior universe.”
“This is a ‘typical and stereotyped’ image of the autistic
child which requires profound revision. Ever since her birth, as a guiding
theme, the Church has always expressed her care for this aspect of medicine
through practical
testimonies at a universal level. Above all else, this is witness to Love
beyond stigma, that social stigma that isolates a sick person and makes him or
her feel an extraneous body. I am referring to that sense of loneliness that
is often narrated
within modern society but which becomes even more present in modern health
care which is perfect in its ‘technical aspects’ but increasingly
deprived of, and not attentive to, that affective dimension which should,
instead, be the defining
aspect of every therapeutic act or pathway.”
“Faced with the problems and the difficulties that these children and
their parents encounter, the Church with humility proposes the way of service
to the suffering brother, accompanying him with compassion and tenderness on
his tortuous human and
psycho-relational journey, and taking advantage of the help of parishes, of
associations, of Church movements and of men and women of good will.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, setting oneself to listen must necessarily
be accompanied by an authentic fraternal solidarity. There should never fail
to be global care for the ‘frail’ person, as a person with autism
can be: this takes
concrete form with that sense of nearness that every worker, each according to
his or her role, must know how to transmit to the sick person and his or her
family, not making that person feel a number but making real the situation of
a shared journey
that is made up of deeds, of attitudes and of words—perhaps not dramatic
ones but ones that suggest a daily life that is nearer to normality. This
means listening to the imperious exhortation that we should not lose sight of
the person in his or
her totality: no procedure, however perfect it may be, can be &l
quo;effective’ if it is deprived of the ‘salt’ of Love, of
that Love that each one of these sick people, if looked at in their eyes, asks
of you. Their s
 mile,
the serenity of a family that sees its loved one at the centre of the complex
organisation that each one of us, by our specific tasks, is called to manage
for his or her life, and perceived and achieved sharing: this is the best
‘outcome’
that will enrich us.”
“In practice, this is a matter of welcoming autistic children in the
various sectors of social, educational, catechistic and liturgical activity in
a way that corresponds and is proportionate to their capacity for
relationships. Such solidarity,
for those who have received the gift of Faith, becomes a loving presence and
compassionate nearness for those who suffer, following the example and in
imitation of Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan who by his passion, death and
resurrection redeemed
humanity.”
“The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, during the Year of
Faith, wishes to share with people who suffer because of autism the hope and
certainty that adherence to Love enables us to recognise the Risen Christ
every time that he makes
himself our neighbour on the journey of life. Let what John Paul II, in whose
intercession we trust and the eighth anniversary of whose return to the house
of the Father we remember specifically today, be a reference point for us:
‘The quality of
life in a community is measured largely by its commitment to assist the weaker
and needier members with respect for their dignity as men and women. The world
of rights cannot only be the prerogative of the healthy. People with
disabilities must also be
enabled to participate in social life as far as they can, and helped to fulfil
all their physical, psychological and spiritual potential. Only by recognizing
the rights of its weakest members can a society claim to be founded on law a
 nd
justice’ (John Paul II, Message on the Occasion of the International
Symposium on the Dignity and Rights of the Mentally Disabled Person, 7-9
January 2004, n. 3).”
“May what the Holy Father Francis observed during the first days of his
papacy—expressing his nearness to the sick and the suffering—be
constant light: ‘we must keep the thirst for the absolute alive in the
world, not allowing a
one-dimensional vision of the human person to prevail, according to which man
is reduced to what he produces and to what he consumes: this is one of the
most dangerous snares of our time’!”
“While I hope for the cooperation of everyone in a choral and
compassionate answer to the numerous needs that come to us from our brothers
and sisters with autism and their families, I entrust the sufferings, the joys
and the hopes of these people
to the mediation of Mary, Mother of Christ and ‘Health of the
Sick’ who, at the foot of the Cross, taught us to pause beside all the
crosses of contemporary Man (cf. “Salvifici Doloris”, n.
31).”
“To people with autism, to their families and to all those who are
involved in their service, while confirming my nearness and prayer, I send my
personal and affectionate best wishes for a serene and joyous Easter with the
Risen Lord.”

___________________________________________________________


REGINA COELI: THE POWER OF GRACE
Vatican City, 1 April 2013 (VIS) – At noon today, Pope Francis appeared
at the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli with the numerous faithful
gathered in St. Peter's Square.
“Good morning and Happy Easter to you all,” he said. “Thank
you for coming today, in such large numbers, to share the joy of Easter, the
central mystery of our faith. May the power of Christ's resurrection reach
every
person—especially those who are suffering—and every place that is
in need of trust and hope.”

“Christ has fully and finally conquered evil, but it is up to us, to
people in every age, to embrace this victory in our lives and in the concrete
realities of history and society. … The Baptism that makes us children
of God and the
Eucharist that unites us to Christ must become our lives. That means they must
be reflected in our attitudes, behaviours, actions, and choices. The grace
contained in the Easter Sacraments is an enormous source of strength for
renewal in personal and
family life, as well as for social relations. But everything passes through
the human heart: if I allow myself to be reached by the grace of the risen
Christ, if I let grace change for the better whatever is not good in me,
whatever might do harm to me
and to others, then I allow Christ's victory to affirm itself in in my life,
to broaden its beneficial action. This is the power of grace! Without grace we
can do nothing! Without grace we can do nothing! And with the grace of Baptism
and H
 oly
Communion we can become an instrument of God's mercy—that beautiful
mercy of God.”

“Expressing in our lives the sacrament we have received: that …
is our daily work—and, I would also say, our daily joy! The joy of being
instruments of Christ's grace, as branches of the vine that is Christ himself,
inspired by the
sustaining presence of His Spirit! Let us pray together, in the name of the
dead and risen Lord and through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that the
Paschal mystery might work deeply in us and in our time so that hatred may
give way to love, lies to
truth, revenge to forgiveness, and sadness to joy.”
After the Reginal Coeli the Pope, in Italian, greeted the pilgrims from the
various continents, wishing them a tranquil Monday of the Angel (as Easter
Monday is traditionally referred to), “on which the joyful announcement
of Easter strongly
resounds: Christ is risen! And I close with these words: 'Happy Easter to all
and have a good lunch!'”

___________________________________________________________


ANNUAL PLENARY SESSION OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Pontifical Biblical Commission
will celebrate its annual plenary session from 8 to 12 April at the Domus
Sanctae Marthae in Vatican City under the presidency of Archbishop Gerhard
Ludwig Muller. Fr. Klemens
Stock, S.J., secretary general of the commission, will directing the
assembly's work sessions.
During the course of the meetings, the study on the theme “Inspiration
and Truth in the Bible” will be concluded. “For some years,“
reads a communique from that office, “the Commission has decided to
concentrate its effort
on verifying how the themes of inspiration and truth are manifested in the
various books of Sacred Scripture. The aim of the reflection is to offer a
positive contribution so that, in a deepened understanding of the concepts of
inspiration and truth,
the Word of God may be welcomed by all faithful in a way that is ever more
suited to this unique gift in which God communicates himself and invites
humanity to communion with him.”

___________________________________________________________


CARDINAL OLORUNFEMI TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS TITULAR CHURCH
Vatican City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations
of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that next Sunday, 7 April, at 12:00pm,
Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, will take
possession of the
title of St. Saturninus on Via Avigliana 3.

___________________________________________________________

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 VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE 
YEAR XXIII - N° 79
DATE 03-04-2013

Summary:
 - FRANCIS: WOMEN ARE THE FIRST
COMMUNICATORS OF THE
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