VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIV - # 77
DATE 28-04-2014

Summary:
- THE POPE RECEIVES KING JUAN CARLOS AND QUEEN SOFIA OF SPAIN
- THE POPE: DO NOT BE AFRAID, THINK OF THE YOUNG APOSTLES
- FOURTH MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS
- COMMUNIQUE OF THE COMMISSION OF CARDINALS ON THE INSTITUTE FOR THE WORKS OF
RELIGION (IOR)
- MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONISATION OF JOHN PAUL II
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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 THE POPE RECEIVES KING JUAN CARLOS AND QUEEN SOFIA OF SPAIN
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - This morning, in the study adjacent to
Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis received King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain,
who then went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin,
accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with
States.
 During the cordial discussions the Parties remarked on the good relations
between the Holy See and Spain, which have been increasingly consolidated in
the spirit of the 1979 Agreements. In this context, mention was made of some
current issues regarding the Church's mission in society and the situation of
the country.
 This was followed by an exchange of views on matters of an international
nature, with special reference to various situations of crisis.

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 THE POPE: DO NOT BE AFRAID, THINK OF THE YOUNG APOSTLES
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father Francis has sent a video
message to the young of Buenos Aires for National Youth Day. The message, in
which the Pope speaks off the cuff, had been requested in advance by Cardinal
Mario Aurelio Poli, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was rebroadcast on
Saturday afternoon.
 "While making this recording I was thinking of what they would say", says the
Pope in the video. "'What are you going?', I have already said. 'That they
must not be afraid': I have already told them'. 'That they are free': I have
already said so. Then some of the young people in the Gospel came to mind. The
young people who came across Jesus, or those he spoke about. ... I thought
about the young apostles, the young rich man, the prodigal son who seeks a new
life with his father's inheritance, the widow's son, dead; ... how they were
moved by Jesus, filled with enthusiasm, with that wonder that comes from the
encounter with Jesus. .. And some of the apostles faltered, some did not
behave so well. ... There is the struggle to be faithful to this encounter,
the encounter with Jesus. ... God is very good", he continues. "God takes
advantage of our failures to speak to our hearts. God doesn't say, 'You're a
failure, look what you have done'. He reasons with us".
 Pope Francis lists a number of examples of young men in the Gospel, and
remarked that young women might complain, "'Father, you are unjust ... your
examples are all men. What about us?' ... You aspire in your lives to
consolidate tenderness and fidelity. You are on the path of the women who
followed Jesus, through thick and thin. Women have the great gift of being
able to give life, of being able to give tenderness, of being able to give
peace and joy. There is one model for you, Mary: the woman of fidelity, who
did not understand what was happening to her but obeyed nonetheless; who, as
soon as she knew her cousin needed her, ran to her, the Virgin of Readiness.
Mary, who helped to raise her Son and to accompany Him, and followed Him when
he began to preach; who suffered through all that happened to the boy as he
grew. She who stayed by His side and told Him of problems: 'Look, they have no
wine'. She who, at the moment of the Cross, stayed next to Him. ... You are
women of the Church ... who is female, like Mary. This is your place. Being
Church, forming the Church, being with Jesus, with tenderness, to accompany
the Church and help her grow".
 Pope Francis joked with the young women, with a cheerful tone and Argentine
accent, "So don't be angry, you got a better deal than the men!", and he
commended them to "Mary, Lady of the Caress, Lady of Tenderness, Lady of the
Readiness to Serve", who shows them the way. Addressing all the young people,
he concluded, "May each one of you encounter Jesus, the Risen Jesus. And I say
one thing to you: do not be afraid! Look at Jesus, look at Mary, and go
forward!".

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 FOURTH MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The fourth meeting of the Council of
Cardinals with the Holy Father began this morning, and will continue during
the 29 and 30 April. The Council of Cardinals was instituted by Pope Francis
to help him in the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a project
for the revision of the apostolic constitution "Pastor Bonus" on the Roman
Curia.

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 COMMUNIQUE OF THE COMMISSION OF CARDINALS ON THE INSTITUTE FOR THE WORKS OF
RELIGION (IOR)
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - Today at 9 a.m., at the premises of the
Institute for the Works of Religion, the Supervisory Commission of Cardinals
met in order to draw up guidelines for their action. Furthermore, it was
decided that the Supervisory Commission will initially meet thrice yearly,
notwithstanding special circumstances necessitating other meetings.

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 MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONISATION OF JOHN PAUL II
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. today in St. Peter's Square
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City and
archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, presided at a Mass of thanksgiving for the
canonisation of John Paul II.
 The Eucharist was preceded by a greeting from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz,
archbishop of Krakow, Poland, who was the new saint's secretary. "Yesterday",
he said, addressing the thousands of faithful who filled the Square, "two
Blessed Popes were inscribed among the Saints: the first, John XXIII, a son of
the land of Italy, who merited the title of the 'Good Pope'. It was he who
announced Vatican Council II, more than half a century ago. The second of the
new Saints, John Paul II, son of Poland, the Pope of Divine Mercy,
consequently gave life to the decision of the Council and led the Church into
the third millennium of Christian faith".
 "We thank God for this dual gift. We offer thanks for the extraordinarily
transparent witness of love and service of both these pastors. ... For this
dual gift we offer our most heartfelt thanks to the Holy Father Francesco. Let
us thank him because already in the first year of his pontificate he took the
decision to canonise his Predecessors, setting the date for Divine Mercy
Sunday", added the cardinal archbishop, who concluded his address by offering
thanks on behalf of his compatriots "to Italy and all of her inhabitants for
having welcomed Karol Wojtyla many years ago, as bishop and pope, as he
arrived in Rome 'from a far away country'". Italy became a second homeland to
him. Today John Paul II will surely bless her from on high, just as he surely
blesses Poland and the entire world. There was a place in his heart for all
nations, cultures and languages".
 Cardinal Comastri recalled John Paul II's words: "The saints do not ask us to
applaud them; they ask that we imitate them", and urged the pilgrims to
imitate the new saint who had "the courage to openly defend faith in Jesus in
an age of 'silent apostasy on the part of people who have all that they need
and who live as if God does not exist' ... to defend the family, to defend
human life, to defend peace while the grim winds of war blew ... to encounter
the young to free them from the culture of emptiness and the ephemeral and to
invite them to welcome Christ, the sole light of life and the only one able to
bring the fullness of joy to the human heart".

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 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has accepted the
resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Dhaka,
Bangladesh, presented by Bishop Theotonius Gomes C.S.C., upon reaching the age
limit.

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