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VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIII - N° 130
DATE 18-06-2013
Summary:
- POPE TO HIS DIOCESE: WE CANNOT REMAIN WITH ARMS CROSSED BEFORE A CITY THAT
ASK HOPE OF US
- CHILDREN'S TRAIN ARRIVES IN VATICAN
- AUDIENCE
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
___________________________________________________________
POPE TO HIS DIOCESE: WE CANNOT REMAIN WITH ARMS CROSSED BEFORE A CITY THAT ASK
HOPE OF US
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) – “I'm Not Ashamed of the
Gospel” was the theme of Pope Francis' catechesis given yesterday
afternoon in the Paul VI Hall for the inauguration of the Ecclesial Congress
(17-19 June) that concludes the
Diocese of Rome's pastoral year. The theme of the pastoral year was:
“Christ, We Need You! The Responsibility of the Baptized in Proclaiming
Jesus Christ.”
The meeting began with Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of the
Diocese, greeting the Bishop of Rome. His address followed the Reading of the
First Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, which contains the phrases that
inspired the Pope's catechesis:
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. … We who were baptized
… are not under the law but under grace.” Following are ample
excerpts from Pope Francis' prepared address with some of the impromptu
comments he added.
“A revolution, in order to transform history, must profoundly change
human hearts. Revolutions that have taken place throughout the centuries have
changed political and economic systems, but non of them have truly changed the
human heart. Only
Jesus Christ accomplished the true revolution, the one that radically
transforms life, with his Resurrection that, as Benedict XVI loves to recall,
was 'the greatest “mutation” in the history of humanity' and it
gave birth to a new
world.”
“This is the experience that the Apostle Paul lives. After having met
Jesus on the way to Damascus, he radically changes his perspective on life and
receives Baptism. God transforms his heart. Before he was a violent persecutor
of Christians, now
he becomes an Apostle, a courageous witness of Jesus Christ. … With
Baptism, the paschal sacrament, we to are made to participate in that same
change and, like Paul, 'we too might live in newness of life'. … We are
led to believe that it
is primarily in changing structures that we can build a new world. Faith tells
us that only a new heart, one regenerated by God, can create a new world: a
heart 'of flesh' that loves, suffers, and rejoices with others; a heart full
of tenderness for
those who, bearing the wounds of their lives, feel themselves to be on the
outskirts of society. Love is the greatest force for transforming reality
because it breaks down the walls of selfishness and fills the chasms that keep
us apar
t from
one another.”
“Even in Rome there are people who live without hope and who are
immersed in deep sadness that they try to get out of, believing to have found
happiness in alcohol, in drugs, in gambling, in the power of money, in sex
without rules. But they find
themselves still more dejected and sometimes vent their anger towards life
with violent acts that are unworthy of the human person. … We who have
discovered the joy of having God for our Father and his love for us, can we
stand idly by in front
of our brothers and sisters and not proclaim the Gospel to them? We who have
found in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, the meaning of life, can we be
indifferent towards this city that asks us, perhaps even unconsciously, for
hope? … We are
Christians; we are disciples of Jesus not to be wrapped up in ourselves but to
open ourselves to others in order to help them, in order to bring them to
Christ and to protect every creature.”
“St. Paul is aware that Jesus—as his name signifies—is the
Saviour of all humanity, not just of persons of a certain age or geographical
area. The Gospel is for all because God loves everyone and wants to save
everyone. The
proclamation of the Gospel is destined primarily to the poor, to those who
often lack the essentials for a decent life. The good news is first announced
to them, that God loves them before all others and comes to visit them through
the acts of charity
that the disciples of Christ carry out in his name. Others think that Jesus'
message is destined to those who don't have cultural training and who
therefore find in faith the answer to the many 'whys' that are present in
their hearts. Instead, the
Apostle strongly affirms that the Gospel is for everyone, even experts. The
wisdom that comes from Revelation is not opposed to human wisdom, but rather
purifies and elevates it. The Church has always been present in the places
where culture
develops.”
The Pope then improvised: “The Gospel is for all! Going out toward the
poor doesn't mean that we must become paupers or some sort of 'spiritual
bums'! No, that's not what it means! It means that we must go towards the
flesh of the suffering Jesus
but Jesus' flesh also suffers in those who don't know it, with their studies,
their intelligence, their culture. We must go there! That's why I like to use
the expression 'go to the outskirts', the existential peripheries. Everyone,
all of them, [who
suffer] from physical and real poverty to intellectual poverty, which is also
real. All the outskirts, all the intersections of paths: go there. And there
sow the seed of the Gospel by word and by witness.”
“This means that we must have courage. … I want to tell you
something. In the Gospel there's that beautiful passage that tells us of the
shepherd who, on returning to the sheepfold and realizing that a sheep is
missing, leaves the 99 and
goes to look for it, to look for the one. But, brothers and sisters, we have
one. It's the 99 who we're missing! We have to go out, we must go to them! In
this culture—let's face it—we only have one. We are the minority.
And do we feel the
fervour, the apostolic zeal to go out and find the other 99? This is a big
responsibility and we must ask the Lord for the grace of generosity and the
courage and the patience to go out, to go out and proclaim the Gospel.”
“Sustained by this certainty that comes from Revelation, we have the
courage, the confidence, to go out of ourselves, to go out of our communities,
to go where men and women live, work, and suffer, and to proclaim the Father's
mercy to them, which
was made known to humanity in Jesus of Nazareth. … Let us always
remember, however, that the Adversary wants to keep us separated from God and
therefore instils disappointment in our hearts when we do not see our
apostolic commitment immediately
rewarded. Every day the devil sows the seeds of pessimism and bitterness in
our hearts. … Let us open ourselves to the breath of the Holy Spirit,
who never ceases to sow seeds of hope and confidence. Don't forget that God is
the strongest and
that if we allow him into our lives nothing and no one can oppose his action.
So let's not be overcome by the discouragement that we encounter in facing
difficulties when we talk of Jesus and the Gospel. Let's not think that faith
do
esn't
have a future in our city!”
“St. Paul then adds: 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel'. For him, the
Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus' death on the cross. … The cross
forcefully reminds us that we are sinners, but above all that we are love,
that we are so dear to God's
heart that, to save us, He didn't hesitate to sacrifice his Son Jesus. The
Christian's only boast is knowing that they are loved by God. … Every
person needs to feel themself loved the way they are because this is the only
thing that makes life
beautiful and worthy of being lived. In our time, when [what is freely given]
seems to fade in our interpersonal relationships, we Christians proclaim a God
who, to be our friend, asks nothing but to be accepted. Think of how many live
in desperation
because they have never met someone who has shown them attention, comforted
them, made them feel precious and important. We, the disciples of Christ, can
we refuse to go to those places that no one wants to go out of fear of compromi
sing
ourselves or the judgement of others, and thus deny our brothers and sisters
the announcement of God's mercy?”
Speaking off the cuff again, the Pope added: “Freely given! We have
received this gratuity, this grace, freely. We must give it freely. And this
is what, in the end, I want to tell you … Don't be afraid of love, of
the love of God our
Father. … Don't be afraid to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. Don't
be afraid of our freedom that is given by the grace of Jesus Christ, or, as
Paul said: 'You are not under the law but under grace'. Don't be afraid of
grace. Don't be afraid to
go out of yourselves … to go and find the 99 who aren't home. Go out to
dialogue with them and tell them what we think. Go show them our love, which
is God's love.”
___________________________________________________________
CHILDREN'S TRAIN ARRIVES IN VATICAN
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) – A press conference was held his
morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the initiative &
dquo;Children's Train: A Journey through Beauty”. Participating in the
presentation were Cardinal Gianfranco
Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Mr. Mauro
Moretti, delegate administrator of the Italian Railway System.
The project will be a trip made by 450 children of various nationalities with
their teachers, family members, and volunteers, in a train made available just
for them by the Italian Railway System, starting from Milan on 23 June and
making two stops, in
Bologna and Florence, before arriving at the Vatican train station where they
will be received by Pope Francis himself, who will be awaiting them at the
station.
The objective of the initiative is to promote the direct experience of
artistic creation, bringing the littlest ones closer to visual communication
and the language of images, from which sprang the idea of a journey through
beauty. During the trip,
other educational and artistic programs dedicated to children will be offered
by the personnel of the Italian Railway System.
“I focused on the children,” said Cardinal Ravasi, “because
I think that therein lies the root from which we must build a generation of
young persons who still have ... the beauty of creativity—that doesn't
seem old at the
start—who aren't already discouraged the way we are but who are ready to
live more the future that awaits them. Basically, religions have precisely
this fundamental purpose: to teach how to come together, how to continuously
declare the future,
that is, hope.”
___________________________________________________________
AUDIENCE
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) – On Sunday afternoon, 16 June, in the
Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Holy Father received Cardinal Luis Antonio G.
Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines.
___________________________________________________________
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) - – Today, the Holy Father:
- appointed Fr. Johannes Wubbe as auxiliary bishop of Osnabruck (area
12,580, population 2,148,603, Catholics 568,647, priests 379, permanent
deacons 79, religious 871), Germany, assigning him the Titular See of Ros Cre.
The
bishop-elect was born in Lengerich, Germany, in 1966 and was ordained a priest
in 1993. Since ordination, he has served in several pastoral and
diocesan-level roles, most recently, since 2010, as pastor of the pastoral
unity of Spelle.
- appointed Fr. Gabriel Narciso Escobar Ayala, S.D.B., as apostolic vicar
of Chaco Paraguayo (area 96,0300, population 23,400, Catholics 19,300, priests
7, permanent deacons 1, religious 18), Paraguay, assigning him the Titular See
of
Media. The bishop-elect was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1971 and was
ordained a priest in 2001. Since ordination, he has served in several
administrative, pastoral, and academic roles within the order as well as at
the parochial and diocesan levels,
most recently, from this year, as director of the Salesian Institute of San
Jose in Concepcion, Paraguay.
- appointed Dr. Adriano Pessina as a member of the Board of Directors of
the Pontifical Academy for Life. Dr. Pessina is a tenured professor of Moral
Philosophy and the director of the Athenaeum Centre of Bioethics at the
Universita
Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Italy.
___________________________________________________________
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VISnews130618
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE YEAR XXIII - N° 130 DATE 18-06-2013
Summary: - POPE TO HIS DIOCESE: WE CANNOT
REMAIN WITH ARMS CROSSED
BEFORE A CITY THAT ASK HOPE OF US - CHILDREN'S TRAIN ARRIVES IN
VATICAN - AUDIENCE - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
POPE TO HIS DIOCESE: WE CANNOT REMAIN WITH ARMS CROSSED BEFORE A CITY THAT
ASK HOPE OF US
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) – “I'm Not Ashamed of the
Gospel” was the theme of Pope Francis' catechesis given yesterday
afternoon in the Paul VI Hall for the inauguration of the Ecclesial Congress
(17-19 June) that concludes
the Diocese of Rome's pastoral year. The theme of the pastoral year was:
“Christ, We Need You! The Responsibility of the Baptized in Proclaiming
Jesus Christ.”
The meeting began with Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of the
Diocese, greeting the Bishop of Rome. His address followed the Reading of the
First Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, which contains the phrases that
inspired the Pope's
catechesis: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. … We who were
baptized … are not under the law but under grace.” Following are
ample excerpts from Pope Francis' prepared address with some of the impromptu
comments he added.
“A revolution, in order to transform history, must profoundly change
human hearts. Revolutions that have taken place throughout the centuries have
changed political and economic systems, but non of them have truly changed the
human heart. Only
Jesus Christ accomplished the true revolution, the one that radically
transforms life, with his Resurrection that, as Benedict XVI loves to recall,
was 'the greatest “mutation” in the history of humanity' and it
gave birth to a new
world.”
“This is the experience that the Apostle Paul lives. After having met
Jesus on the way to Damascus, he radically changes his perspective on life and
receives Baptism. God transforms his heart. Before he was a violent persecutor
of Christians,
now he becomes an Apostle, a courageous witness of Jesus Christ. … With
Baptism, the paschal sacrament, we to are made to participate in that same
change and, like Paul, 'we too might live in newness of life'. … We are
led to believe that
it is primarily in changing structures that we can build a new world. Faith
tells us that only a new heart, one regenerated by God, can create a new
world: a heart 'of flesh' that loves, suffers, and rejoices with others; a
heart full of tenderness for
those who, bearing the wounds of their lives, feel themselves to be on the
outskirts of society. Love is the greatest force for transforming reality
because it breaks down the walls of selfishness and fills the
chasms that keep us apart from one another.”
“Even in Rome there are people who live without hope and who are
immersed in deep sadness that they try to get out of, believing to have found
happiness in alcohol, in drugs, in gambling, in the power of money, in sex
without rules. But they
find themselves still more dejected and sometimes vent their anger towards
life with violent acts that are unworthy of the human person. … We who
have discovered the joy of having God for our Father and his love for us, can
we stand idly by in
front of our brothers and sisters and not proclaim the Gospel to them? We who
have found in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, the meaning of life, can
we be indifferent towards this city that asks us, perhaps even unconsciously,
for hope? …
We are Christians; we are disciples of Jesus not to be wrapped up in ourselves
but to open ourselves to others in order to help them, in order to bring them
to Christ and to protect every creature.”
“St. Paul is aware that Jesus—as his name signifies—is
the Saviour of all humanity, not just of persons of a certain age or
geographical area. The Gospel is for all because God loves everyone and wants
to save everyone. The
proclamation of the Gospel is destined primarily to the poor, to those who
often lack the essentials for a decent life. The good news is first announced
to them, that God loves them before all others and comes to visit them through
the acts of charity
that the disciples of Christ carry out in his name. Others think that Jesus'
message is destined to those who don't have cultural training and who
therefore find in faith the answer to the many 'whys' that are present in
their hearts. Instead, the
Apostle strongly affirms that the Gospel is for everyone, even experts. The
wisdom that comes from Revelation is not opposed to human wisdom, but rather
purifies and elevates it. The Church has always been present in the
places where culture develops.”
The Pope then improvised: “The Gospel is for all! Going out toward
the poor doesn't mean that we must become paupers or some sort of 'spiritual
bums'! No, that's not what it means! It means that we must go towards the
flesh of the suffering
Jesus but Jesus' flesh also suffers in those who don't know it, with their
studies, their intelligence, their culture. We must go there! That's why I
like to use the expression 'go to the outskirts', the existential peripheries.
Everyone, all of them,
[who suffer] from physical and real poverty to intellectual poverty, which is
also real. All the outskirts, all the intersections of paths: go there. And
there sow the seed of the Gospel by word and by witness.”
“This means that we must have courage. … I want to tell you
something. In the Gospel there's that beautiful passage that tells us of the
shepherd who, on returning to the sheepfold and realizing that a sheep is
missing, leaves the 99 and
goes to look for it, to look for the one. But, brothers and sisters, we have
one. It's the 99 who we're missing! We have to go out, we must go to them! In
this culture—let's face it—we only have one. We are the minority.
And do we feel the
fervour, the apostolic zeal to go out and find the other 99? This is a big
responsibility and we must ask the Lord for the grace of generosity and the
courage and the patience to go out, to go out and proclaim the G
spel.”
“Sustained by this certainty that comes from Revelation, we have the
courage, the confidence, to go out of ourselves, to go out of our communities,
to go where men and women live, work, and suffer, and to proclaim the Father's
mercy to them,
which was made known to humanity in Jesus of Nazareth. … Let us always
remember, however, that the Adversary wants to keep us separated from God and
therefore instils disappointment in our hearts when we do not see our
apostolic commitment
immediately rewarded. Every day the devil sows the seeds of pessimism and
bitterness in our hearts. … Let us open ourselves to the breath of the
Holy Spirit, who never ceases to sow seeds of hope and confidence. Don't
forget that God is the
strongest and that if we allow him into our lives nothing and no one can
oppose his action. So let's not be overcome by the discouragement that we
encounter in facing difficulties when we talk of Jesus and the Gospel. Let's
not think that faith doesn't have a future in our city!”
“St. Paul then adds: 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel'. For him, the
Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus' death on the cross. … The cross
forcefully reminds us that we are sinners, but above all that we are love,
that we are so dear to
God's heart that, to save us, He didn't hesitate to sacrifice his Son Jesus.
The Christian's only boast is knowing that they are loved by God. …
Every person needs to feel themself loved the way they are because this is the
only thing that makes
life beautiful and worthy of being lived. In our time, when [what is freely
given] seems to fade in our interpersonal relationships, we Christians
proclaim a God who, to be our friend, asks nothing but to be accepted. Think
of how many live in
desperation because they have never met someone who has shown them attention,
comforted them, made them feel precious and important. We, the disciples of
Christ, can we refuse to go to those places that no one
wants to go out of fear of compromising ourselves or the judgement of others,
and thus deny our brothers and sisters the announcement of God's
mercy?”
Speaking off the cuff again, the Pope added: “Freely given! We have
received this gratuity, this grace, freely. We must give it freely. And this
is what, in the end, I want to tell you … Don't be afraid of love, of
the love of God our
Father. … Don't be afraid to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. Don't
be afraid of our freedom that is given by the grace of Jesus Christ, or, as
Paul said: 'You are not under the law but under grace'. Don't be afraid of
grace. Don't be afraid to
go out of yourselves … to go and find the 99 who aren't home. Go out to
dialogue with them and tell them what we think. Go show them our love, which
is God's love.”
Vatican City, 18 June 2013 (VIS) – A press conference was held his
morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the initiative &
dquo;Children's Train: A Journey through Beauty”. Participating in the
presentation were Cardinal
Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Mr.
Mauro Moretti, delegate administrator of the Italian Railway System.
The project will be a trip made by 450 children of various nationalities
with their teachers, family members, and volunteers, in a train made available
just for them by the Italian Railway System, starting from Milan on 23 June
and making two stops,
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