something from faith is to subtract something from the veracity of communion.
Furthermore, since the unity of faith is that of a living organism, it is able
to assimilate all it encounters, demonstrating itself to be universal,
catholic, illuminating
and able to lead all the cosmos and all history to its finest expression. This
unity is guaranteed by the apostolic succession.
Fourth chapter (nos. 50-60): God prepares a city for them (Heb 11:16) This
chapter explains the link between faith and the common good, which leads to
the creation of a place in which men and women may live together with others.
Faith, which is born
of the love of God, strengthens the bonds of humanity and places itself at the
service of justice, rights and peace. This is why it does not distance itself
from the world and is not unrelated to the real commitments of contemporary
man. On the
contrary, without the love of God in which we can place our trust, the bonds
between people would be based only on utility, interests and fear. Instead
faith grasps the deepest foundation of human relationships, their definitive
destiny in God, and
Subject: VISnews130705
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
places them at the service of the common good. Faith “is for all, it is
a common good”; its purpose is not merely to build the hereafter but to
help in edifying our societies in order that they may proceed together towards
a future
of hope.
The Encyclical then considers those areas illuminated by faith: first and
foremost, the family based on marriage, understood as a stable union between
man and woman. This is born of the recognition and acceptance of the goodness
of sexual
differentiation and, based on love in Christ, promises “a love for
ever” and recognises love as the creator that leads to the begetting of
children. Then, youth; here the Pope cites the World Youth Days, in which
young people demonstrate
“the joy of faith” and their commitment to live faith solidly and
generously. “Young people want to live life to the fullest”,
writes the Pope. “Encountering Christ … enlarges the horizons of
existence, gives it a
firm hope which will not disappoint. Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted,
but something which enhances our lives”. And again, in all social
relations, by making us children of God, indeed, faith gives new meaning to
universal
brotherhood, which is not merely equality, but rather the common experience of
God’s paternity, the comprehension of the unique dignity of each person.
A further area is that of nature: faith helps us to respect it, to “find
models of
development which are based not simply on utility and profit, but consider
creation as a gift”. It teaches us to find just forms of government, in
which authority comes from God and which serve the common good; it offers us
the possibility of
forgiveness that leads us to overcome all conflict. “When faith is
weakened, the foundations of humanity also risk being weakened”, writes
the Pope, and if we remove faith in God from our cities, we will lose our
mutual trust and be united
only by fear. Therefore we must not be ashamed to publicly confess God,
because faith illuminates social life. Another area illuminated by faith is
that of suffering and death: Christians are aware that suffering cannot be
eliminated, but it
may be
given meaning; it can be entrusted to the hands of God who never abandons us
and therefore become “a moment of growth in faith”. To he who
suffers, God does not give reasons to explain everything, but rather offers
His presence that
accompanies us, that opens up a threshold of light in the shadows. In this
sense, faith is linked to hope. And here the Pope makes an appeal: “Let
us refuse to be robbed of hope, or to allow our hope to be dimmed by facile
answers and solutions
which block our progress”.
Conclusion (nos. 58-60): Blessed are you who believed (Luke 1,45) At the
end of LF, the Pope invites us to look to Mary, “perfect icon” of
faith who, as the Mother of Jesus, conceived “faith and joy”. The
Pope elevates his
prayer to Maria that she might assist man in his faith, to remind us those who
believe are never alone and to teach us to see through Jesus’ eyes.
___________________________________________________________
PRESENTATION OF THE ENCYCLICAL “LUMEN FIDEI”: FAITH IS AN
EXPERIENCE OF COMMUNION AND SOLIDARITY
Vatican City, 5 July 2013 (VIS) – A press conference was held at
11.00 this morning in the Holy See Press Office to present Pope Francis' first
encyclical, “Lumen Fidei”. The conference was presented by
Cardinal Marc Ouellet,
P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Archbishops Gerhard
Ludwig Muller and Rino Fisichella, respectively prefect for the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith and president of the Pontifical Council for New
Evangelization.
Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller began the presentations, explaining that
“'Lumen Fidei' is divided into four parts, which can be seen as four
aspects of one whole”.
“In the first part”, he said, “we move from the faith of
Abraham, the man who recognised in the voice of God 'a profound call which was
always present at the core of his being', to the faith of the People of
Israel. The history of
the faith of Israel, in its turn, is a continual passage from 'the temptation
to unbelief' and the adoration of idols, 'works of the hands of man', to the
confession 'of God’s mighty deeds and the progressive fulfilment of his
promises'. This
leads ultimately to the history of Jesus, a summary of salvation, in which all
the diverse threads of the history of Israel are united and fulfilled. In
Jesus we are able to say definitively that 'we know and believe the love that
God has for us'
because He is 'the complete manifestation of God’s reliabi
ity'”.
Archbishop Muller continued, “In the second part, the encyclical
forcefully raises the question of truth as one which is 'central to faith'.
Because faith has to do with knowledge of reality it is intrinsically linked
to truth: 'faith without
truth does not save… it remains a beautiful story…or it is
reduced to a lofty sentiment'”.
“Faith, which opens us to the love of God, transforms the way we see
things 'because love itself brings enlightenment'. … Love is authentic
when it binds us to the truth and truth attracts us to itself with the force
of love. 'This
discovery of love as a source of knowledge, which is part of the primordial
experience of every man and woman' is confirmed for us in the 'biblical
understanding of faith' and is one of the most beautiful and important ideas
emphasised in this
encyclical”.
He explained, “Faith helps us to draw out the profound meaning of
reality. In this way we can understand how faith is able to 'illuminate the
questions of our own time about truth', the great questions which arise in the
human heart when faced
either with the beauty of reality or by its dramas”.
Archbishop Muller went on to highlight several key points of the
encyclical, starting with “the origin of faith, which if it profoundly
touches the believer, is an event which does not close the person in on
himself in an isolated and isolating
'face-to-face' with God. Faith in fact 'is born of an encounter which takes
place in history' and 'is passed on…by contact from one person to
another, just as one candle is lighted from another'”.
Secondly, he pointed out “a quotation from the Sermons of St. Leo the
Great that is included in the third part of the encyclical: 'If the faith is
not one, then it is not faith'. We live today in a world which, despite all
its connectedness and
globalisation, is fragmented and divided into many 'worlds' that, even if in
communication with one another, are often and intentionally isolated and in
conflict. The unity of the faith is, therefore, the precious gift that the
Holy Father and his
fellow Bishops are called to foster, guarantee and witness to, as the first
fruits of a unity that wants to give itself as a gift to the whole
world”.
Finally, he referred to a passage from the fourth chapter of the
encyclical: “While it is true that authentic faith fills one with joy
and 'a desire to live life to the fullest' – here we see concretely the
connection between the teaching
of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI – 'the light of faith does not
make us forget the sufferings of the world'. Rather it opens us up to 'an
accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of
suffering and opens up a ray
of light'”.
The encyclical, concluded Archbishop Muller, “wishes to restate in a
new way the truth that faith in Jesus Christ is a good for humanity 'truly a
good for everyone; a common good': 'Its light does not simply brighten ... the
Church, nor does it
serve solely to build an eternal city in the hereafter; it helps us build our
societies in such a way that they can journey towards a future of
hope”.
This was followed by a presentation by Cardinal Ouellet, who emphasised
that the encyclical “speaks of faith like an experience of communion, of
the enlargement of the 'I' and solidarity in the path the Church takes with
Christ for the
salvation of humanity. … Objectively, the light of faith guides the
meaning of life, brings comfort and consolation to unsettled or despondent
hearts, but also commits believers to place themselves at the service of the
common good of humanity
through the announcement and authentic sharing of the grace of God. …
Subjectively, faith offers an opening to Christ's Love, a welcome, the
opportunity to enter into a relationship that enlarges the 'I' to the
dimensions of 'we' which is not
merely human, within the Church, but also truly divine, and therefore an
authentic participation in the 'we' of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit”.
Starting from this trinitary 'we' that is extended to become an ecclesial
'we', the encyclical naturally refers back to the 'we' of the family, the most
privileged context for the transmission of faith. … On the other hand
the encyclical
reminds us of the deep affinities between faith and the endless love a man and
woman promise to each other when they unite in matrimony. … The
encyclical also offers a considerable contribution regarding the pertinence of
faith to social life,
that our cities may be constructed in justice and peace, with respect for
every individual and his or her liberty, thanks to the contribution faith
offers in the comfort of the suffering and the settlement of conflicts.
… The tendency to confine
faith to the private sphere is calmly but decisively rejected here” and
“many aspects developed previously in the encyclicals on charity and
hope are complemented here by this depiction of faith
as communion and service for the common good”.
“Finally”, the cardinal concluded, “the encyclical
contemplates Maria, the ideal personification of faith, who heard the Word and
cherished it within her heart, she who followed Jesus and let herself be
transformed by Him”.
The final presentation was given by Archbishop Fisichella, who returned to
the words of the Holy Father. “'Those who believe, see'. This expression
… encapsulates the teaching of Pope Francis in this, his first
encyclical. It is a text
situated on the horizon created by the binomial 'light' and 'love'. It teaches
a path the Pope proposes to the Church in order that she might recover her
mission in today's world. … Presenting faith, the encyclical invites us
to return our
attention to the basis of the Church and of every believer. This is the
mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God who, through his death and
resurrection, revealed to us the fullness and depth of His love. …
beginning from the assumption that
faith is born of love, the knowledge of faith and the knowledge of love are
linked as an inseparable pair in which love, however, assumes a role of
undisputed primacy. The “light of faith” is
brought into the “light of love”.
Archbishop Fisichella commented that “Lumen Fidei” is published
in the middle of the Year of Faith, and that it was signed on 29 June, the
feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, first witnesses to the faith of the
Church of Rome, where
Peter's Successor is called to confirm all brothers in the unity of faith. He
stated that Benedict XVI was frequently asked to write an encyclical on faith,
so as to conclude the triad he had begun with “Deus caritas est”
on love, and
“Spe salvi” on hope. The Pope was not convinced that he was able
to take on this further task”, explained the archbishop. &
dquo;Nonetheless, this insistence eventually prevailed, and Benedict XVI
decided that he would write the
encyclical to offer it at the end of the Year of Faith. However, history took
a different turn and this encyclical is now offered to us today by Pope
Francis ... as a 'programme' for how to continue to live this Year of Faith
which
has seen the Church involved in many highly formative experiences”.
He added, “It must be said without hesitation while 'Lumen Fidei'
resumes some of the intuition and themes typical of the ministry of Benedict
XVI, it is fully Pope Francesco's text. Here we encounter his style …
the immediacy of his
expressions, the rich images he uses and the peculiarity of his use of
quotations from ancient and modern authors, make this text a true introduction
to his teaching. … For example, a close reading of these pages
immediately reveals a strong
recurrence of the three verbs that Pope Francesco used in his first homily to
the Cardinals on the day following his election: proceed, build, confess. In a
certain sense it may be said that this encyclical is structured on the basis
of these three
verbs and clarifies their meaning”.
In “Lumen Fidei” the Pope does not forget this year's two key
dates: the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council
and the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.
“With regard to the first event, Pope Francis confirms that it was a
'Council on faith', with the aim of placing at the centre of the life of the
Church the primacy of God and the need to restate this today, in different
cultures and societies, in
a comprehensible and credible way. With regard to the Catechism, the
encyclical reiterates its validity as a tool by which the Church carries out
its task of transmitting faith with the living memory of the proclamation of
Jesus Christ. It is also worth
noting that in this context Pope Francis underlines the great value of the
Profession of the Faith, the Creed … which allows faith to be
experienced as living and effective in the lives of those who believe, who
frequently experience an unjustified illiteracy regarding matters of faith. In
these pages, the profound value of the Creed is reiterated, not only to recall
the synthesis of the faith but above all to make clear the necessary
commitment to change one's
life … those who believe, in summary, are called to live responsibly in
the world”.
“'Lumen Fidei'”; he concluded, is an encyclical with a strong
pastoral connotation. … Pope Francesco, with his pastor's sensibility,
manages to translate many questions of a strictly theological character into
themes that can
assist in reflection and catechesis. … No-one should be afraid to look
to great ideals and to pursue them. Faith and love are the first to be
proposed. In a period of cultural weakness such as the present age, this
invitation is a provocation and
a challenge to which we cannot remain indifferent”.
___________________________________________________________
NEW MONUMENT TO ARCHANGEL MICHAEL IN THE VATICAN
Vatican City, 5 July 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican
Gardens, in the palace of the Governorate, a new monument to St. Michael
Archangel by the artist Giuseppe Antonio Lomuscio was inaugurated in the
presence of the Holy Father Francis,
and Vatican City State was consecrated to Sts. Joseph and Michael Archangel.
Among those present was the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, specially invited by
Pope Francis, and greeted with great affection by the assistants and staff of
the Governorate. The
two pontiffs remained united throughout the ceremony and sat together in front
of the monument.
After brief greetings from Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the
Governorate, and an address from Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president emeritus
of the Governorate, the Holy Father spoke.
“In the Vatican Gardens there are many works of art, joined today by
this one which however takes a position of particular importance, both for its
location and for the meaning it expresses. Indeed, it is not merely a
celebratory work, but
rather an invitation to reflection and prayer, which fits well into this Year
of Faith. Michael, which means 'Who is like God?', is the example of God's
primacy, of his transcendence and power. Michael fights to re-establish divine
justice; he defends
the People of God from enemies and above all from the greatest enemy of all,
the devil. And St. Michael is victorious because God acts in him. This
sculpture reminds us that evil is vanquished … On our path and in the
trials of life we are not
alone, we are accompanied and sustained by the Angels of God who offer, so to
say, their wings to help us to overcome many dangers, to be able to fly high
compared to those aspects of life that may burden us or drag us
down. We consecrate Vatican City State to St. Michael Archangel, asking him to
defend us against evil and to banish it ... and to St. Joseph, Jesus'
guardian, the guardian of the Holy Family, whose presence strengthens us and
gives us the courage to
make space for God in our lives in order that good may always vanquish
evil”.
The Pope then recited the prayers for consecration, for St. Joseph and St.
Michael Archangel, sprinkled holy water on the new monument, and finally
imparted his blessing upon those present.
___________________________________________________________
PROMULGATION OF DECREES BY CONGREGATION FOR CAUSES OF SAINTS
Vatican City, 5 July 2013 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father
received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the promulgation of
decrees concerning the following
causes:
MIRACLES, attributable to the intercession of:
- Blessed John Paul II, Polish (ne Karol Josef Wojtyla), Supreme Pontiff,
(1920-2005);
- Venerable Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, Spanish,
bishop and prelate of the personal prelature of Santa Cruz and Opus Dei,
(1914-1994);
- Venerable Servant of God Esperanza de Jesus (nee Maria Josefa Alhama
Valera), Spanish, foundress of the Congregations of the Handmaids of Merciful
Love and the Sons of Merciful Love, (1893-1983).
MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Jose Guardiet y Pujol, Spanish, diocesan priest; born in
1879 and killed in hatred of the faith in Spain on 3 August 1936;
- Servant of God Mauricio Iniguez de Heredia, Spanish, and 23 companions
from the Order of Hospitallers of St John of God, killed in hatred of the
faith in Spain between 1936 and 1937;
- Servant of God Fortunato Velasco Tobar, Spanish, and 13 companions from
the Congregation of the Mission, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain
between 1934 and 1936;
- Servant of God Maria Asuncion (nee Juliana Gonzalez Trujillano) and 2
companions, Spanish, professed nuns of the Congregation of Franciscan
Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain
in 1936.
HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Nicola D'Onofrio, Italian, professed priest of the Order
of the Clerks Regular Ministers to the Sick (Camillians), (1943-1964);
- Servant of God Bernard Philippe, French (ne Jean Fromental Cayroche),
professed monk of the Institute of Christian Schools, founder of the Hermanas
Guadalupanas de La Salle, (1895-1978);
- Servant of God Maria Isabel da Santissima Trinidade, Portuguese, (nee
Maria Isabel Picao Caldeira viuda de Carneiro), foundress of the Congregation
of Conceptionist Nuns, (1889-1962).
- Servant of God Maria del Carmen Rendiles Martinez, Venezuelan, foundress
of the Servants of Jesus, Venezuala, (1903-1977);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Lazzati, Italian, consecrated layperson,
(1909-1986).
Finally, the Holy Father approved the votes in favour the canonisation of
Blessed John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) from the Ordinary Session of the
Cardinal Fathers and bishops, and decided that a consistory would be convoked,
to consider also
the canonisation of Blessed John Paul II (Karol Jozef Wojtyla).
___________________________________________________________
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 5 July 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
- Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council
for the Family.
- Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council
for Health Pastoral Care.
___________________________________________________________
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