VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 121
DATE 30-06-2014

Summary:
- THE POPE RECEIVES IN AUDIENCE KING FELIPE VI ON HIS FIRST FOREIGN ENGAGEMENT
- POPE FRANCIS' PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY
- PASTORAL VISIT TO MOLISE
- TO THE NEW METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPS: SEEK THE ESSENTIAL AND PROCLAIM THE
GOSPEL, ESPECIALLY TO THE LEAST AMONG US
- ANGELUS: GOD IS ALWAYS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING US
- POPE FRANCIS' NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN IRAQ
- A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT MARY IS AN ORPHAN
- MADAGASCAR: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION ON THE PATH TO
RECONCILIATION AND STABILITY
- ECUMENISM: LET US SEE OURSELVES ACCORDING TO GOD'S PLAN, NOT THE HISTORICAL
CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS
- THE POPE CANCELS HIS VISIT TO THE GEMELLI HOSPITAL
- GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF HIS BONDS WITH US
- THE AIF SIGNS INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENT WITH THE USA OFFICE OF THE
COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY
- AUDIENCES
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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 THE POPE RECEIVES IN AUDIENCE KING FELIPE VI ON HIS FIRST FOREIGN ENGAGEMENT
 Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace Pope
Francis received in audience Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia
of Spain, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro
Parolin, accompanied by Mgsr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations
with States.
 During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for today's visit,
their first trip abroad as reigning monarchs, which follows the recent visit
by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia on 28 April. It is hoped that this may
mark the strengthening of the existing good relations between the Holy See and
Spain.
 The conversation focused on themes of common interest and the importance of
promoting dialogue and collaboration between the Church and the State for the
good of all Spanish society. Finally, mention was made of various problems of
an international and regional nature, paying particular attention to areas of
conflict.

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 POPE FRANCIS' PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY
 Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - The Pope's universal prayer intention for
July is "that sports may always be occasions of human fraternity and growth".
 His prayer intention for evangelisation is "that the Holy Spirit may support
the work of the laity who proclaim the Gospel in the poorest countries".

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 PASTORAL VISIT TO MOLISE
 Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - This coming 5 July, the Pope will visit
the Italian region of Molise. He will depart from the Vatican heliport at 7.45
a.m. and, after an hour's journey, will land at the heliport of the University
of Molise in Campobasso. At 9 a.m. he will meet with a group of 
epresentatives from the world of work and industry in the Great Hall of the
University. At 10.30 a.m. he will preside at a Eucharistic celebration at the
old Romagnoli Stadium and, to conclude, will greet a group of sick people at
the Cathedral of Campobasso and lunch with the poor at the "House of Angels".
 At 2.30 p.m. he will transfer by helicopter to Castelpetroso, where he will
encounter a group of young people from the diocese of Abruzzo and Molise in
Piazza del Santuario di Castelpetroso. At 4 p.m. he will travel by car to
Isernia, where he will meet with the detainees in the local prison. He will
greet the sick in the Cathedral of Isernia and, in the surrounding square,
will meet with all the citizens and announce the Celestine Jubilee Year.
Finally, he will depart for Rome from the heliport of the Isernia fire
service. He is expected to arrive in the Vatican around 8.15 p.m.

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 TO THE NEW METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPS: SEEK THE ESSENTIAL AND PROCLAIM THE
GOSPEL, ESPECIALLY TO THE LEAST AMONG US
 Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican basilica, on
the occasion of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis imposed
the pallium - symbol of the bond of unity with the see of Peter - on
twenty-four new metropolitan archbishops. It will be imposed on a further
three - the archbishops of Lilongwe, Malawi; Mandalay, Myanmar; and Freiburg
im Bresgau, Germany - in their metropolitan sees.
 Pope Francis concelebrated the Eucharist with the new archbishops. As is
customary on the feast day of the patron saints of Rome, the event was
attended by a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople,
sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I and led by Metropolitan of
Pergamo Ioannis (Zizioulas), co-president of the Mixed Commission for
Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.
 In his homily, the Holy Father spoke about various problems and the two
issues the clergy can be led to face as a result: fear, and the pastoral
responsibility for combating it. He began by considering the beginning of
Peter's service in the Christian community of Jerusalem, where fear still
reigned because of Herod's persecution of members of the Church.
 "There had been the killing of James, and then the imprisonment of Peter
himself, in order to placate the people. While Peter was imprisoned and in
chains, he heard the voice of the angel telling him, 'Get up quickly... dress
yourself and put on your sandals... Put on your mantle and follow me!'. The
chains fell from him and the door of the prison opened before him. Peter
realised that the Lord had 'rescued him from the hand of Herod'; he realized
that the Lord had freed him from fear and from chains. Yes, the Lord liberates
us from every fear and from all that enslaves us, so that we can be truly
free. Today's liturgical celebration expresses this truth well in the refrain
of the Responsorial Psalm: 'The Lord has freed me from all my fears'".
 "The problem for us, then, is fear and looking for refuge in our pastoral
responsibilities. I wonder, dear brother bishops, are we afraid? What are we
afraid of? And if we are afraid, what forms of refuge do we seek, in our
pastoral life, to find security? Do we look for support from those who wield
worldly power? Or do we let ourselves be deceived by the pride which seeks
gratification and recognition, thinking that these will offer us security?
Dear brother bishops, where do we find our security?"
 "The witness of the Apostle Peter reminds us that our true refuge is trust in
God. Trust in God banishes all fear and sets us free from every form of
slavery and all worldly temptation. Today the Bishop of Rome and other
bishops, particularly the metropolitans who have received the pallium, feel
challenged by the example of Saint Peter to assess to what extent each of us
puts his trust in the Lord. Peter recovered this trust when Jesus said to him
three times: 'Feed my sheep'. Peter thrice confessed his love for Jesus, thus
making up for his threefold denial of Christ during the passion. Peter still
regrets the disappointment which he caused the Lord on the night of his
betrayal. Now that the Lord asks him: 'Do you love me?', Peter does not trust
himself and his own strength, but instead entrusts himself to Jesus and his
mercy: 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you'. Precisely at
this moment fear, insecurity and cowardice dissipate".
 "Peter experienced how God's fidelity is always greater than our acts of
infidelity, stronger than our denials. He realises that the God's fidelity
dispels our fears and exceeds every human reckoning. Today Jesus also asks us:
'Do you love me?'. He does so because he knows our fears and our struggles.
Peter shows us the way: we need to trust in the Lord, who 'knows everything'
that is in us, not counting on our capacity to be faithful, but on his
unshakable fidelity. Jesus never abandons us, for he cannot deny himself. He
is faithful. The fidelity which God constantly shows to us pastors, far in
excess of our merits, is the source of our confidence and our peace. The
Lord's fidelity to us keeps kindled within us the desire to serve him and to
serve our sisters and brothers in charity".
 "The love of Jesus must suffice for Peter. He must no longer yield to the
temptation to curiosity, jealousy, as when, seeing John nearby, he asks Jesus:
'Lord, what about this man?'. But Jesus, before such temptations, says to him
in reply: 'What is it to you? Follow me'. This experience of Peter is a
message for us too, dear brother archbishops. Today the Lord repeats to me, to
you, and to all pastors: Follow me! Waste no time in questioning or in useless
chattering; do not dwell on secondary things, but look to what is essential
and follow me. Follow me without regard for the difficulties. Follow me in
preaching the Gospel. Follow me by the witness of a life shaped by the grace
you received in baptism and holy orders. Follow me by speaking of me to those
with whom you live, day after day, in your work, your conversations and among
your friends. Follow me by proclaiming the Gospel to all, especially to the
least among us, so that no one will fail to hear the word of life which sets
us free from every fear and enables us to trust in the faithfulness of God.
Follow me!".

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 ANGELUS: GOD IS ALWAYS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING US
 Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - After celebrating Mass in the Vatican
basilica with the new metropolitan archbishops, the Pope appeared at the
window of his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St.
Peter's Square, as on every Sunday. He remarked that ever since ancient times,
the Church of Rome has celebrated the apostles Peter and Paul in a single
festivity on the same day, 29 June, so that "the faith in Jesus Christ which
made them brothers and martyrs made them into a single entity".
 "St. Peter and St. Paul, so different from each other from a human point of
view, were chosen personally by the Lord Jesus and responded to His call,
offering all their lives. In both, Christ's grace achieved great things,
transforming them. Simon had denied Jesus in the dramatic moment of the
passion; Saul had harshly persecuted Christians. But both welcomed God's love
and allowed themselves to be transformed by His mercy; they thus became
friends and apostles of Christ. They therefore continue to speak to the Church
and even nowadays they show us the path of salvation. If we too fall prey to
the gravest sins and the darkest night, then God is always able to transform
our heart and forgive us everything, thus transforming the darkness of our sin
into a dawn of light".
 He went on to cite the Acts of the Apostles, which demonstrate many aspects
of their witness. "Peter, for example, teaches us to look to the poor through
the eyes of faith and to give them that which is most precious: the power of
the name of Jesus. This is what he did with the paralytic; he gave him what he
had, which was Jesus". And the episode of Paul's conversion on the road to
Damascus, the fulcrum of his life, "clearly marks a before and after. Before,
Paul was an arch-enemy of the Church. After, he placed all his existence at
the service of the Gospel. Also for us, the encounter with the Word of Christ
is able to completely transform our lives. It is not possible to listen to
this Word and stand firm, unswayed in our habits. It gives us the impetus to
defeat the selfishness we have in our hearts, to follow decisively that Master
who gave His life for His friends. But it is He Who, with His word, changes
us; it is He Who transforms us; it is He Who forgives everything, if we open
our hearts and ask for forgiveness".
 This feast day inspires great joy in us, because it places us before the work
of God's mercy in the hearts of two men. It is the work of God's mercy in
these two men who were great sinners. And God wishes to fill us too with His
grace, as He did with Peter and Paul. May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome
it as they did, with an open heart, and not to receive this grace in vain! And
may she support us in the hour of need, to give witness to Jesus Christ and
His Gospel".

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 POPE FRANCIS' NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN IRAQ
 Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - "The news from Iraq is, unfortunately,
very painful", said the Holy Father after today's Angelus prayer. "I join with
the bishops of the country in their appeal to the authorities so that, through
dialogue, national unity may be maintained and war avoided. I am close to the
thousands of families, especially Christians, who have had to leave their
homes and who are in grave danger. Violence begets violence; dialogue is the
only path to peace. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary that she might safeguard
the people of Iraq".

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 A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT MARY IS AN ORPHAN
 Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - On Saturday afternoon, in the Lourdes
Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, the Pope met with a group of young people from
the diocese of Rome embarking on a vocational journey. "This visit to the
Virgin is very important in our lives", he said. "She accompanies us also in
our definitive choice, the vocational choice, as she accompanied her Son on
his vocational path which was so hard and so painful".
 "When a Christian says to me, not that he does not love the Virgin, but
rather that it does not come to mind to look to the Virgin or to pray to the
Virgin, I feel sad", he said, adding that "a Christian without the Virgin is
an orphan. A Christian needs these two women, these two mothers, two virgin
women: the Church and Our Lady. And to 'test' a true Christian vocation, it is
necessary to ask oneself, 'how is my relationship with these two Mothers?".

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