VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 141
DATE 29-07-2014

Summary:
- POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES
- THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY
- FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME

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 POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today announced
that His Holiness Francis, accepting the invitation from the civil authorities
and the bishops, will make an Apostolic trip to Sri Lanka from 12 to 15
January and the Philippines from 15 to 19 January 2015. The program for the
trip will be published shortly.

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 THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - Unity in diversity and the plea for
forgiveness for the lack of understanding shown by some Catholics towards
their Pentecostal brothers were the key themes of the Pope's address at the
Pentecostal Church of the Reconciliation in Caserta yesterday, during his
meeting with his friend, the pastor Giovanni Traettino, whom he known for many
years, both in Buenos Aires and as bishop of Rome, engaged in ecumenism. The
meeting took place in a cheerful and intimate atmosphere, and was attended by
200 people, mostly Pentecostals from Italy, the United States and Argentina,
as well as other countries. "With men like you", said Pastor Traettino to his
friend, Pope Francis, "there is hope for us, as Christians".
 The Pope's address responded to the discourse pronounced by Pastor Traettino,
who had remarked that the presence of Jesus and walking in the presence of
Jesus should be at the centre of our life. Francis remarked that "walk" was
God's first commandment to his people, represented by Abraham - "walk before
me faithfully and be blameless" - and added, "I don't understand a Christian
who stands still! I don't understand a Christian who doesn't walk. A Christian
must walk ... because that which is still, that does not move ahead, becomes
corrupt. Like still water, which is the first to become stagnant. ... There
are Christians who confuse walking and moving ahead with moving around. These,
instead, are errants who saunter here and there; these are people who lack
parrhesia, the boldness to go ahead; they lack hope".
 He went on to cite the story of Jacob who, during a time of famine, sent his
eleven sons - ten of whom were guilty of betrayal, having sold their brother
Joseph - to Egypt to buy grain. There, they once again found Joseph, who in
the meantime had become the vizier. "When we walk in God's presence, we find
brotherhood", asserted the Pope. "When instead we stop, we scrutinise each
other too much, and we set out on another path, that of gossip. ... And in
this way it begins, from the first moment the division of the Church began.
And it is not the Holy Spirit who causes division! ... From the very beginning
there has been this temptation in the Christian community. 'I am from this
group, you are from that one', 'No! I am the Church, you are a sect', and so
on. ... The Holy Spirit creates diversity in the Church ... diversity, rich
and beautiful. But, at the same time, the Holy Spirit creates unity, and so
the Church is one in her diversity. To borrow a phrase used by an evangelical,
a phrase I love, it is the 'reconciled diversity' of the Holy Spirit, Who
creates both of these things: diversity in charisms, and harmony in charisms".
 To offer an image of how unity in the Church could be, Pope Francis first
described a sphere, all of whose points are equidistant from the centre. This,
he said, was an example of uniformity, and "the Holy Spirit does not create
uniformity". "Let us imagine, instead, a polyhedron: it is an example of
unity, but with many different parts, each with its own peculiarity and
charism. This is unity in diversity. This is the path that we Christians take,
giving it the theological name of ecumenism: we seek to ensure that this
diversity is harmonised by the Holy Spirit and becomes a unity; we seek to
walk in the presence of God to be blameless".
 Pastor Traettino had also referred to the incarnation of Jesus, and the Holy
Father responded that "the incarnation of the Word is the foundation - it is
Jesus Christ! God and man, Son of God and Son of man, true God and true man.
This is how the first Christians understood Him to be and they fought hard to
maintain this truth: the Lord is God and man. It is the mystery of Christ's
flesh. ... I love the poor, the widow, the slave, the imprisoned. ... I love
them all, as these people who suffer are Christ's flesh. ... It is not
possible to preach a purely intellectual Gospel: the Gospel is the truth but
it is also love and beauty! And this is the joy of the Gospel!".
 "On this path, many times we have done the same thing as the brothers of
Joseph, when jealous and envy have divided us", he remarked. "That sad story
in which the Gospel for some was lived as truth and they did not realise that
behind this attitude there were bad things, things that were not the Lord's,
an ugly attempt at division. That sad history, in which there are repeated the
same things that Joseph's brother did: denouncements, the laws of these people
who 'are against the purity of the race'. ... And these laws were ratified by
baptised persons! Some of those who enacted these laws, and some of those who
persecuted, denounced their pentecostal brothers because they were
'enthusiastic', almost 'crazy', who spoiled the race. ... I am a pastor of
Catholics, and I beg forgiveness for this. I ask your forgiveness on behalf of
those Catholic brothers and sisters who did not understand and who were
tempted by the devil, and who did the same thing that Joseph's brothers did. I
ask the Lord for the grace to recognise and to forgive".
 Pope Francis went on to comment on Pastor Traettino's words, "The truth is an
encounter". "An encounter between people", he emphasised. "The truth is not
made in a laboratory, it is made in life, seeking Jesus in order to find Him.
But the greatest and most beautiful mystery is that when we find Jesus, we
realise that He sought us first, that He had found us first, because He
arrives before us. I like to use the Spanish verb 'primerea' to describe this,
meaning that He precedes us, and always awaits us. ... That encounter that
transforms us: everything comes from that encounter. This is the path of
Christian sanctity: seeking Jesus every day in order to meet him, and letting
oneself be sought and found by Jesus every day".
 "We are on that path of unity, among brothers", he concluded. "Some people
will be surprised: they will say, the Pope has gone to the evangelicals! He
has gone to meet his brothers! Yes! Because - and this is the truth - they
came to me first, in Buenos Aires. ... And so this friendship began, this
closeness between the pastors in Buenos Aires, and here today. I thank you,
and I ask you to pray for me, as I need your prayers".
 Following the meeting, in the mid afternoon, the Pope returned to the Vatican
by helicopter.

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 FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - From 4 to 8 August, more than fifty
thousand ministrants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will make a
pilgrimage to Rome, a trip organised every August by German dioceses. This
event is intended to strengthen the spiritual potential of an group that is
important to German pastoral ministry, consisting of more than 430,00
children, adolescents and young adults who carry out altar service.
 The week's program includes diocesan religious functions, guided tours on
themes related to history, culture and spirituality, and cultural and
religious excursions including a trip to Assisi. However, the key moment of
the pilgrimage, eagerly awaited by all the participants, will be the audience
with Pope Francis, who will receive them in the Vatican on Tuesday, 5 August.

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