"I offer my heartfelt thanks to each of you for your gracious welcome, and,
like Saint John Paul II in April 1993, I invoke upon Albania the protection of
Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, entrusting to her the hopes of the entire
Albanian people. May God abundantly pour out his grace and blessing upon
Albania".
 Following his address the Pope continued to Mother Teresa Square where he
celebrated Holy Mass.

___________________________________________________________

 The living Church in the Land of the Eagles: thank you for your fidelity
 Vatican City, 21 September 2014 (VIS) - Thousands of faithful participated in
the Holy Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Latin and Albanian at 11 a.m. in
Mother Teresa Square. The liturgical readings reflected aspects of Albania's
history. The first, from the Book of Exodus, told how "I bore you on eagle's
wings", whereas the epistle was St. Paul's letter to the Romans in which the
apostle tells how he preached in Illyria, which at that time included the
current territory of Albania.
 However, in his homily the Holy Father commented on the passage from the
Gospel of St. Luke, which includes the phrase "Peace be to this house" and
which narrates how Jesus, after naming the twelve apostles, convokes another
seventy-two disciples and sends them to proclaim the Kingdom of God to peoples
and cities.
 "He comes to bring the love of God to the world and he wishes to share it by
means of communion and fraternity", said Pope Francis. "To this end he
immediately forms a community of disciples, a missionary community, and he
trains them how to 'go out' on mission. The method is both clear and simple:
the disciples visit homes and their preaching begins with a greeting which is
charged with meaning: 'Peace be to this house!'. It is not only a greeting,
but also a gift: the gift of peace. Being here with you today, dear brothers
and sisters of Albania, in this square dedicated to a humble and great
daughter of this land, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, I wish to repeat to
you this greeting: May peace be in your homes. May peace reign in your hearts.
Peace in your country. Peace".
 "In the mission of the seventy-two disciples we see a reflection of the
Christian community's missionary experience in every age: the risen and living
Lord sends not only the Twelve, but the entire Church; he sends each of the
baptised to announce the Gospel to all peoples. Through the ages, the message
of peace brought by Jesus' messengers has not always been accepted; at times,
the doors have been closed to them. In the recent past, the doors of your
country were also closed, locked by the chains of prohibitions and
prescriptions of a system which denied God and impeded religious freedom.
Those who were afraid of the truth did everything they could to banish God
from the hearts of men and women and to exclude Christ and the Church from the
history of your country, even though it was one of the first to receive the
light of the Gospel".
 Pope Francis went on to recall the "decades of atrocious suffering and harsh
persecutions against Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims", affirming that "Albania
was a land of martyrs: many bishops, priests, men and women religious, lay
faithful, and ministers of worship of other religions paid for their fidelity
with their lives. Demonstrations of great courage and constancy in the
profession of the faith are not lacking. How many Christians did not succumb
when threatened, but persevered without wavering on the path they had
undertaken! I stand spiritually at that wall of the cemetery of Scutari, a
symbolic place of the martyrdom of Catholics before the firing squads, and
with profound emotion I place the flower of my prayer and of my grateful and
undying remembrance. The Lord was close to you, dear brothers and sisters, to
sustain you; he led you and consoled you and in the end he has raised you up
on eagle's wings as he did for the ancient people of Israel. The eagle,
depicted on your nation's flag, calls to mind hope, and the need to always
place your trust in God, who does not lead us astray and who is ever at our
side, especially in moments of difficulty.
 "The doors of Albania have now been reopened and a season of new missionary
vitality is growing for all of the members of the people of God: each baptised
person has his or her role to fulfil in the Church and in society. Each one
must experience the call to dedicate themselves generously to the announcing
of the Gospel and to the witness of charity; called to strengthen the bonds of
solidarity so as to create more just and fraternal living conditions for all".
 Today, the Pontiff exclaimed, "I have come to give thanks to you for your
witness and to encourage you to cultivate hope among yourselves and within
your hearts. Do not forget the eagle. The eagle does not forget the nest, but
flies high. It flies high! I have come to encourage you to involve the young
generations; to nourish yourselves assiduously on the Word of God, opening
your hearts to Christ: to the Gospel, to the encounter with God and the
encounter among you, which is already taking place. Through this encounter of
yours, you offer an example to all Europe".
 "To the living Church in this land of Albania, I say 'thank you' for your
example of fidelity", he concluded. "Do not forget the nest, your distant
history; do not forget the wounds inflicted, but do not seek to avenge them.
Go ahead, working with hope for a great future. So many of your sons and
daughters have suffered for Christ, even to the point of sacrificing their
lives. May their witness sustain your steps today and tomorrow as you journey
along the path of love, the path of freedom, and above all, the path of
justice and of peace".

___________________________________________________________

 To the young: yes to acceptance and solidarity
 Vatican City, 21 September 2014 (VIS) - Before the end of this Sunday's
liturgy, Francis greeted those present from Albania and other neighbouring
countries to thank them for their presence and for their witness of faith, and
addressed the young in particular. "They say that Albania is the youngest
country in Europe", he commented, smiling, and invited them to "confirm
[their] existence in Jesus Christ".
 "He who builds on Christ builds on rock, because He is always faithful, even
if we sometimes lack faith", continued the Holy Father. "Jesus knows us better
than anyone else; when we sin, He does not condemn us but rather says to us,
'Go and sin no more'. Dear young people, you are the new generation of
Albania, the future of your homeland. With the power of the Gospel and the
example of your antecedents and the martyrs, know how to say 'No' to the
idolatry of money, 'No' to the false freedom of individualism, 'No' to
addiction and to violence; say 'Yes' to a culture of encounter and of
solidarity, 'Yes' to the beauty that is inseparable from the good and the
true; 'Yes' to a life lived with great enthusiasm and at the same time
faithful in little things. In this way, you will build a better Albania and a
better world".
 Before the Angelus prayer, the Pope invoked the Virgin Mary, venerated in
Albania above all as "Our Lady of Good Counsel". "I stand before her,
spiritually, at her Shrine in Scutari, so dear to you, and to her I entrust
the entire Church in Albania and all the people of this country, especially
families, children and the elderly, who are the living memory of the people.
May Our Lady guide you to walk together with God towards the hope that never
disappoints".

___________________________________________________________

For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:
www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va

Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican
Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting
the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)