VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - N° 67
DATE 09-04-2014

Summary:
- FRANCIS BEGINS A NEW SERIES OF CATECHESIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
- NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, AFTER THE DEATH OF A JESUIT PRIEST
- TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF PATRIARCH EMERITUS OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS
- THE POPE WILL CELEBRATE MASS ?IN CENA DOMINI? AT THE DON GNOCCHI FOUNDATION
- AUDIENCES

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 FRANCIS BEGINS A NEW SERIES OF CATECHESIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? In today's general audience Pope Francis
began a series of catechesis dedicated to the Holy Spirit, which ?constitutes
the soul and the vital lymph of the Church and of every Christian?. The Holy
Spirit is ?God's quintessential gift?, and in turn ?communicates many
spiritual gifts to those who welcome it?. The Church identifies seven of
these, a number that symbolically indicates plenitude and completeness, and
these are invoked in the ancient prayer, the ?Sequence to the Holy Spirit?:
wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.
Today the Holy Father spoke about the first: wisdom. ?It is not simply human
wisdom, the fruit of knowledge and experience?. The wisdom the Holy Spirit
grants is ?the grace of being able to see things through God's eyes. It seeing
the world, situations? problems, everything, with the eyes of God. ? And
obviously this derives from intimacy with God ? from the relationship of a son
with his Father. ? When we are in communion with the Lord, it is through the
Holy Spirit that our heart transforms and we are able to perceive all its
warmth and predilection?.
The Holy Spirit endows the Christian with wisdom, but ?not, however, in the
sense of having an answer for everything, of knowing everything, but in the
sense of 'knowing' God ? of knowing how God acts, knowing when something is
God's and when it is not. ? The heart of the man who is wise in this way has
the taste, the flavour of God. ? We have the Holy Spirit inside us, in our
heart; we can listen to it, or we can choose not to listen to it. If we listen
to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us this way of wisdom, and will give us the
wisdom to see through God's eyes, to hear with God's ears, to love with the
heart of God,to judge with God's judgement. This is the wisdom that the Holy
Spirit gives us, and all of us can have this. We need only ask the Holy
Spirit?.
As an example of wisdom in daily life, the Pope gave the example of marriage;
if, after an argument, a married couple ?do not look at each other, or look at
each other without warmth: is this the wisdom of God? No! If, instead, they
say, ' the trouble has passed, let's make up' and begin again in peace ? this
is the gift of wisdom?.
?We do not learn this?, he concluded; ?it is a gift from the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, we must ask the Lord Who gives us the Holy Spirit, Who gives us the
gift ? of that wisdom of God that teaches us to look through God's eyes, to
feel with God's heart, to speak with God's words. And so, with this wisdom, we
go ahead, we create a family, build a Church, and we are all sanctified. Let
us ask, today, for the grace of wisdom. Andlet us ask this of Our Lady, Seat
of Wisdom?.

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 NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, AFTER THE DEATH OF A JESUIT PRIEST
Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? ?Last Monday Fr. Frans van der Lugt, a
Dutch Jesuit brother aged 75, was assassinated in Syria. Fr. Van der Lugt had
always been good to all, acting with love and gratuity, and was therefore
loved and esteemed by both Christians and Muslims?, said Pope Francis, after
today's catechesis. ?His brutal killing filled me with profound sadness and
made me think once again of the many people who suffer and die in that
afflicted country, which has already been too long in the throes of a bloody
conflict that continues to spread death and destruction. I also think of the
many people kidnapped, both Christians and Muslims, Syrian and from other
countries, among whom there are bishops and priests. I ask the Lord that they
may soon return to their loved ones and to their families and communities?.
He continued, ?I fervently imploreall to join in my prayer for peace in Syria
and throughout the region, and make a heartfelt appeal to the Syrian
authorities and to the international community: set down your weapons and
bring an end to the violence! No more war! No more destruction! Respect human
rights, take care of your people who are in need of humanitarian assistance,
and pursue the longed-for peace through dialogue and reconciliation?.

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 TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF PATRIARCH EMERITUS OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS
Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? The Holy Father has sent a telegram of
condolences to the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, His Beatitude Louis
Raphael I Sako, for the death of His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly,
patriarch emeritus of Babylon of the Chaldeans, at the age of 87.
In the text, the Pope conveys to ?the faithful of the Patriarchate, both in
Iraq and in the diaspora, my condolences and the assurance of my prayers? and
recalls ?with deep gratitude the late Patriarch?s dedication to his people and
to the promotion of respectful, just and peaceful relations with followers of
other religious traditions?.
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin joins with the Pope in mourning the
passing of the patriarch emeritus and expresses his heartfelt condolences to
the Church of Iraq.

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 THE POPE WILL CELEBRATE MASS ?IN CENA DOMINI? AT THE DON GNOCCHI FOUNDATION
Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? The Holy See Press Office has announced
that on 17 April, Holy Thursday, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass ?in Cena
Domini? at the Don Carlo Gnocchi Fuondation at the St. Mary of Providence
Centre, Via Casal del Marmo 401, in the Casalotti-Boccea quarter of Rome.
Guests, staff and managers will participate in the ceremony, which will take
place in the church at the Centre. The Foundation, created by the Italian
priest and blessed Carlo Gnocchi, helps people affected by all forms of
disability.

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 AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 9 April 2014 (VIS) ? Today the Holy Father received in audience
Dr. Juan Carlos Parodi.

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