VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 96
DATE 25-05-2014

Summary:
- MASS IN MANGER SQUARE: GOD TELLS US TO SEEK THE CHILD IN A WORLD WHERE SO
MANY OF THEM LIVE IN INHUMAN CONDITIONS
- FRANCIS INVITES MAHMOUD ABBAS AND SHIMON PERES TO PRAY TOGETHER IN THE
VATICAN FOR PEACE
- REGINA COELI: FRANCIS COMMENDS THE HOLY LAND AND HER INHABITANTS TO MARY
- TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIES: PEACE WILL BRING IMMEASURABLE BENEFITS TO
THE PEOPLE OF THIS REGION AND THE WORLD
- IN JORDAN: POPE RENEWS APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR REFUGEES
FROM SYRIA AND IRAQ AND ASKS ARMS DEALERS TO CONVERT
- MESS IN AMMAN: MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT PREPARE US FOR ENCOUNTER DESPITE
DIFFERENT IDEAS, LANGUAGES, CULTURES OR RELIGIONS
- "VATICAN.VA" AVAILABLE IN ARABIC

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 MASS IN MANGER SQUARE: GOD TELLS US TO SEEK THE CHILD IN A WORLD WHERE SO
MANY OF THEM LIVE IN INHUMAN CONDITIONS
 Vatican City, 25 May 2014 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father celebrated the
Eucharist in Bethlehem's Manger Square, at the confluence of Milk Grotto
Street (the site of a shrine situated in a grotto carved out of white tuff
rock, where according to tradition Mary fed the baby Jesus) and Paul VI
Street, named to commemorate Pope Montini's visit on 6 January 1964. During
his journey to the Presidential Palace of Bethlehem to Manger Square, the Pope
got out of the jeep and prayed before the wall dividing Bethlehem from Israel,
after which he rested his head on it for a moment.
 The Mass was attended by the president of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and
groups of faithful from the Gaza Strip and Galilee (State of Israel), as well
as many immigrant workers from Asia.
 "What a great grace it is to celebrate the Eucharist in the place where Jesus
was born!" exclaimed the Pope. "I thank God and I thank all of you who have
welcomed me on my pilgrimage: President Mahmoud Abbas and the other civil
authorities; Patriarch Fouad Twal and the other bishops and ordinaries of the
Holy Land, the priests, the consecrated persons and all those who labour to
keep faith, hope and love alive in these lands; the faithful who have come
from Gaza and Galilee, and the immigrants from Asia and Africa. Thank you for
your welcome!"
 "The Child Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is the sign given by God to those who
awaited salvation, and he remains forever the sign of God's tenderness and
presence in our world: 'This will be a sign for you: you will find a
child...'. Today too, children are a sign. They are a sign of hope, a sign of
life, but also a 'diagnostic' sign, a marker indicating the health of
families, society and the entire world. Wherever children are accepted, loved,
cared for and protected, the family is healthy, society is more healthy and
the world is more human. Here we can think of the work carried out by the
Ephpheta Paul VI institute for hearing and speech impaired Palestinian
children: it is a very real sign of God's goodness; it is a concrete sign of a
better society. To us, the men and women of the twenty-first century, God also
says: 'This will be a sign for you', look to the child... The Child of
Bethlehem is frail, like all newborn children. He cannot speak and yet he is
the Word made flesh who came to transform the hearts and lives of all men and
women. This Child, like every other child, is vulnerable; he needs to be
accepted and protected. Today too, children need to be welcomed and defended,
from the moment of their conception.
 "Sadly, in this world of ours, with all its highly developed technology,
great numbers of children continue to live in inhuman situations, on the
fringes of society, in the peripheries of great cities and in the
countryside", he continued. "All too many children continue to exploited,
maltreated, enslaved, prey to violence and illicit trafficking. Still too many
children live in exile, as refugees, at times lost at sea, particularly in the
waters of the Mediterranean. Today, in acknowledging this, we feel shame
before God, before God who became a child. And we have to ask ourselves: Who
are we, as we stand before the Child Jesus? Who are we, standing as we stand
before today's children? Are we like Mary and Joseph, who welcomed Jesus and
care for him with the love of a father and a mother? Or are we like Herod, who
wanted to eliminate him? Are we like the shepherds, who went in haste to kneel
before him in worship and offer him their humble gifts? Or are we indifferent?
Are we perhaps people who use fine and pious words, yet exploit pictures of
poor children in order to make money? Are we ready to be there for children,
to 'waste time' with them? Are we ready to listen to them, to care for them,
to pray for them and with them? Or do we ignore them because we are too caught
up in our own affairs?".
 "'This will be a sign for you: you will find a child...'. Perhaps that little
boy or girl is crying. He is crying because he is hungry, because she is cold,
because he or she wants to be picked up and held in our arms... Today too,
children are crying, they are crying a lot, and their crying challenges us. In
a world which daily discards tons of food and medicine there are children,
hungry and suffering from easily curable diseases, who cry out in vain. In an
age which insists on the protection of minors, there is a flourishing trade in
weapons which end up in the hands of child-soldiers, there is a ready market
for goods produced by the slave labour of small children. Their cry is
stifled: they must fight, they must work, they cannot cry! But their mothers
cry for them, as modern-day Rachels: they weep for their children, and they
refuse to be consoled".
 "'This will be a sign for you'. The Child Jesus, born in Bethlehem, every
child who is born and grows up in every part of our world, is a diagnostic
sign indicating the state of health of our families, our communities, our
nation. Such a frank and honest diagnosis can lead us to a new kind of
lifestyle where our relationships are no longer marked by conflict, oppression
and consumerism, but fraternity, forgiveness and reconciliation, solidarity
and love".
 The Pope concluded with a prayer to the Holy Virgin: "Mary, Mother of Jesus,
you who accepted, teach us how to accept; you who adored, teach us how to
adore; you who followed, teach us how to follow. Amen".

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 FRANCIS INVITES MAHMOUD ABBAS AND SHIMON PERES TO PRAY TOGETHER IN THE
VATICAN FOR PEACE
 Vatican City, 25 May 2014 (VIS) - At the end of the Eucharistic celebration,
the Pope invited the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and
the president of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, to meet in the Vatican to
pray together for peace.
 "In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you,
President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in
heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace", said the Pope following the
Regina Coeli. "I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of
prayer".
 "All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small gestures
and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts
to be peacemakers. All of us - especially those placed at the service of their
respective peoples - have the duty to become instruments and artisans of
peace, especially by our prayers. Building peace is difficult, but living
without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of
the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes
for peace".

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 REGINA COELI: FRANCIS COMMENDS THE HOLY LAND AND HER INHABITANTS TO MARY
 Vatican City, 25 May 2014 (VIS) - After proposing the Vatican as the the
location for a prayer meeting between the presidents of the State of Palestine
and the State of Israel, Pope Francis prayed the Regina Coeli, commenting that
it was precisely there in Bethlehem that Mary gave birth to her Son Jesus and
that the Virgin "is the one who, more than any other person, contemplated God
in the human face of Jesus. Assisted by Saint Joseph, she wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger".
 "To Mary we entrust this land and all who dwell here, that they may live in
justice, peace and fraternity", he said. "We entrust also the pilgrims who
come here to draw from the sources of the Christian faith - so many of them
are also present at this Holy Mass. Mary, watch over our families, our young
people and our elderly. Watch over those who have lost faith and hope. Comfort
the sick, the imprisoned and all who suffer. Watch over the Church's Pastors
and the entire community of believers; may they may be 'salt and light' in
this blessed land. Sustain all educational initiatives, particularly Bethlehem
University".
 "Contemplating the Holy Family here in Bethlehem, my thoughts turn
spontaneously to Nazareth, which I hope to visit, God willing, on another
occasion. From this place I embrace with affection the Christian faithful
living in Galilee and I express my support for the building of the
International Centre for the Family in Nazareth. We entrust the future of our
human family to Mary Most Holy, that new horizons may open in our world, with
the promise of fraternity, solidarity and peace".

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