Subject: VISnews140305
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt 


 VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 44
DATE 05-03-2014

Summary:
 - FRANCIS: DO NOT GET USED TO BEHAVIOUR THAT ANAESTHETISES THE HEART
 - THE POPE URGES ACTION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING
 - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

___________________________________________________________


FRANCIS: DO NOT GET USED TO BEHAVIOUR THAT ANAESTHETISES THE HEART
Vatican City, 5 March 2014 (VIS) -; This morning the Holy Father
celebrated the general audience with 30,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter's
Square. Pope Francis dedicated this Ash Wednesday's catechesis to the Lenten
journey of forty days that leads us to the Easter Triduum, and recalled the
two suggestions offered to us by the Church in this period: to be more aware
of the redemptive work of Christ, and to live our Baptism in a more committed
way.
"The awareness of the wonders that the Lord carried out for our
salvation should lead our minds and hearts to gratitude to God", he
said, and added, "Fully living out our Baptism -; and this is the
second invitation -; means not becoming inured to the situations of
degradation and poverty that we encounter when walking the streets of our
cities and towns. There is the risk of passively accepting certain types of
behaviour and of not marvelling at the sad realities that surround us. We grow
accustomed to violence, as if it were a normal part of our daily news; we get
used to seeing our brothers and sisters sleeping in the streets, as they have
no roof to shelter them. We are used to refugees who search of freedom and
dignity, but are not received as they should be. We get used to living in a
society that claims to be able to do without God, in which parents do not
teach their children how to pray or how to make the sign of the Cross. This
inurement
 to
forms of behaviour that are not Christian, that are the easy way, anaesthetise
the heart!" He asked the faithful present, "Do your children know
how to make the sign of the Cross? Do they know how to pray the Our Father or
the Hail Mary?".
Francis explained that Lent comes to us "as a Providential moment for
changing our route, for recovering our capacity to react when faced with the
realities of evil that always challenge us. Lent should be lived as a time of
conversion, of renewal at personal and community levels by drawing closer to
God and through trusting adhesion to the Gospel. In this way, we are able to
look upon our brothers and their needs with new eyes".
The Pope remarked that this moment is "favourable for converting to love
for one's neighbour; a love that assumes the gratitude and mercy of the Lord
Who made himself poor so that by his poverty we might become rich, and invited
all to "invoke with particular trust the protection and help of the
Virgin Mary, so that she, the first believer in Christ, might accompany us in
days of intense and penitential prayer, to allow us to celebrate, purified and
renewed in spirit, the great Paschal mystery of her Son".

___________________________________________________________


THE POPE URGES ACTION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Vatican City, 5 March 2014 (VIS) -; Pope Francis has sent a message to
the faithful in Brazil on the occasion of the annual Lenten "Fraternity
Campaign", which this year takes on the theme of "Brotherhood and
human trafficking", and whose slogan will be "For freedom Christ
has set us free".
"During the next forty days, we will seek to be more aware of the
infinite mercy God has given to us and asks us to give to others, especially
those most in need: 'You are free! Go and help your brothers to be free!'. In
this sense, and wishing to mobilise Christians and persons of good will in
Brazilian society against the social ill of human trafficking, our Brazilian
brother bishops propose this year the theme 'Fraternity and human
trafficking'".
"It is not possible to remain indifferent before the knowledge that
human beings are bought and sold like goods! I think of the adoption of
children for the extraction of their organs, of woman deceived and obliged to
prostitute themselves, of workers exploited and denied rights or a voice, and
so on. And this is human trafficking. 'It is precisely on this level that we
need to make a good examination of conscience: how many times have we
permitted a human being to be seen as an object, to be put on show in order to
sell a product or to satisfy an immoral desire? The human person ought never
to be sold or bought as if he or she were a commodity. Whoever uses human
persons in this way and exploits them, even if indirectly, becomes an
accomplice of this injustice'. Moving on to the family level, entering into
the home, how often do we see that even there, often there is abuse. Parents
who enslave their children, children who enslave their parents; married
couples who,
forgetting their duty in receiving this gift, exploit one another as if they
were products for consumption, disposable products; the elderly ,without a
place in society and children and adolescents without a voice. How many
attacks to the basic values of the fabric of family life and social
coexistence. Yes, there is a need to profoundly examine our consciences. How
can one proclaim the joy of Easter, without lending support to those who are
denied their freedom on this earth?".
He continues, "Be sure: if I offend the human dignity of others, it is
because I have previously divested myself of my own. And why have I done this?
For power, fame, material goods ... in exchange for my dignity as a a son
or daughter of God, whose salvation comes at the price of Christ's blood on
the Cross and is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit who calls inside us, 'Abba,
father!'. Human dignity is the same for all human beings; if I trample that of
another, I also trample my own. Christ freed us so that we might live free in
freedom! ... I hope that Christians and persons of good faith may make
efforts to ensure that men, women, young people or children may never more be
victims of human trafficking. It is the most effective foundation for
re-establishing human dignity and proclaiming Christ's Gospel in towns and
country, because Jesus wishes to sow life in abundance everywhere",
concludes the Holy Father.

___________________________________________________________


OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 5 March 2014 (VIS) -; The Holy Father has appointed Fr.
Ernesto Giobando, S.J., as auxiliary of the diocese of Buenos Aires (area 203,
population 2,917,000, Catholics 2,671,000, priests 791, permanent deacons 11,
religious 1,871), Argentina. The bishop-elect was born in Santa Fe de la Vera
Cruz and was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a licentiate from the faculty
of philosophy and theology of San Miguel, in the Colegio of San Jose. He gave
his vows to the Society of Jesus in 2000. He has served in a number of
pastoral roles, including minister of CIAS (Centro de Investigacion y Accion
Social), superior of the "Regina Martyrum" residence in Buenos
Aires, national secretary of the Apostolate of Prayer in Argentina, national
director of the Youth Eucharistic Movement; member of the presbyteral council
and chief of pastoral for adults in the archdiocese of Buenos Aires. He is
currently rector of the Sagrada Familia residence in Montevideo, Urugu
 ay.

___________________________________________________________

 Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
 sito: www.wisnews.org  e  www.vatican.va
 Il servizio del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta
 elettronica che ne hanno fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo
 non si desidera continuare a riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina
 dinizio:
 http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/italinde.php

 Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
 Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
 citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.


--- NetMgr/2 1.0y+
 * Origin: NetMgr+ @ Sursum Corda! BBS =Huntsville,AL= USA (1:396/45)