VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 047
DATE 06-03-2015

Summary:
- Audience with the president of Azerbaijan: importance of intercultural and
interreligious dialogue to promote peace
- The Pope to members of the Neocatechumenal Way on the "missio ad gentes":
take to the peripheries of the world the message the God loves humanity and
that love is possible
- Telegram for the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan
- Bishop Renato Corti is the author of the meditations for the stations of the
2015 Via Crucis
- Promoting a Europe based on the sacred nature of the human being
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 Audience with the president of Azerbaijan: importance of intercultural and
interreligious dialogue to promote peace
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - This morning the President of the Republic
of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife were received in Audience by the Holy
Father Francis. The president subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of
State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by the under secretary for Relations with
States, Msgr. Antoine Camilleri.
 During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for the
development of bilateral relations. In particular, attention was paid to
themes regarding the life of the Catholic Community in the country and to a
number of initiatives in the culture field, revealing the value in the
contemporary world of intercultural and interreligious dialogue to promote
peace.
 Reference was then made to the current regional and international situation,
emphasising the importance of negotiation in conflict resolution, and
education for promoting the conditions for peaceful coexistence between
populations and different religious groups.

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 The Pope to members of the Neocatechumenal Way on the "missio ad gentes":
take to the peripheries of the world the message the God loves humanity and
that love is possible
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope
Francis received in audience seven thousand members of the Neocatechumenal
Way, including two hundred families who will shortly depart on the "missio ad
gentes". "The task of the Pope is to confirm brothers in the faith", said the
Holy Father. "You too, with this gesture, have asked Peter's Successor to
confirm your calling, to support your mission, to bless your charism. And
today I confirm your calling, I support your mission, and I bless your
charism. Because I am happy to do so! Go in the name of Christ, and take his
Gospel all round the world".
 As well as from the cardinals and bishops who accompanied the N
ocatechumenals, the Pope also gave special greetings to the organisers of the
Way: Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, along with Fr. Mario Pezzi, and
expressed his appreciation and encouragement "for all that, via the Way, you
do for the good of the Church".
 "Our meeting today is a missionary response in obedience to Christ's
instruction; 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptised will be saved'. And I am particularly content
that this mission of yours will be carried out thanks to Christian families
who, joined together in a community, have the mission of giving the signs of
the faith that attract men to the beauty of the Gospel. ... These communities
are formed of a presbyter and four or five families with children, some of
whom are fully grown, and constitute a 'missio ad gentes', with a mandate to
evangelise non-Christians. To those non-Christians who have never heard of
Jesus Christ, and the many non-Christians who have forgotten who Jesus Christ
was, who He was: non-Christians who have been baptised but have forgotten
their faith on account of secularisation, worldliness and many other things.
Let us reawaken that faith!"
 "Therefore, even prior to the word, it is your witness of life that
demonstrates the heart of Christ's revelation: that God loves man to the
extent of delivering Him to death, and that He was resurrected by the Father
to give us the grace of offering our life to others. How much solitude, how
much suffering, how much distance from God there is in many peripheries of
Europe and America, and in many cities of Asia! How great is humanity's need,
in every latitude, to hear that God loves us and that love is possible! These
Christian communities, thanks to you, missionary families, have the essential
task of making this message visible. And what is the message? 'Christ is
risen, Christ lives! Christ lives among us!'"
 "You have received the strength to leave everything and to depart for distant
lands thanks to a path of Christian initiation, lived in small communities,
where you have rediscovered the immense richness of your Baptism. This is the
Neocatechumenal Way, a true gift of Providence to the Church in our time",
affirmed the Pope, "which rests on the three dimensions of the Church: the
Word, the Liturgy and the Community. Therefore, obediently and constantly
listening to the Word of God; the Eucharistic celebration in small communities
after the first Vespers of Sunday; the celebration of Lauds within the family
on Sunday with all children, and the sharing of faith with other brothers are
at the origin of the many gifts that the Lord has bestowed to you, along with
many vocations to the presbytery and to consecrated life".
 "On a number of occasions I have insisted on the need for the Church to pass
from a pastoral ministry of simple conversion to a decisively missionary
pastoral ministry. How often, in the Church, do we hold Jesus inside but fail
to let Him out? This is the most important thing to do if we do not want the
waters of the Church to stagnate. The Way has been carrying out this 'missio
ad gentes' amid non-Christians for years now, by means of an 'implantatio
Ecclesiae', a new presence of the Church, where the Church does not exist or
is unable to reach people. 'What joy you give us through your presence and
your activity!', exclaimed Blessed Paul VI in his first audience with you. I
too offer you these words and encourage you to continue, entrusting you to the
Holy Virgin Mary who inspired the Neocatechumenal Way".

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 Telegram for the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a telegram of
condolences to Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, U.S.A., for
the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop emeritus of the same diocese.
He recalls with gratitude "his years of episcopal ministry among Christ's
flock in Bridgeport and New York, his distinguished service to the Apostolic
See, and his expert contribution to the revision of the Church's law in the
years following the Vatican Council II", and, commending the late Cardinal's
soul to God, imparts his apostolic blessing to all those participating in his
funeral, held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

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 Bishop Renato Corti is the author of the meditations for the stations of the
2015 Via Crucis
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today announced
that the texts for the stations of the Via Crucis on Good Friday at the
Colosseum have been prepared on behalf of the Holy Father by Bishop Renato
Corti, emeritus of Novara, Italy, according to the traditional format of the
fourteen stations.

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 Promoting a Europe based on the sacred nature of the human being
 Vatican City, 5 March 2015 (VIS) - Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher,
secretary for Relations with States, gave an address in Bratislava, Slovakia
today, during the meeting of the legal advisers of the Episcopal Conferences
of Europe, (C.E.C.E.). The prelate focused on the challenges the Church faces
today, and on Pope Francis' two addresses to the European Parliament and the
Council of Europe on 25 November 2014.
 Archbishop Gallagher emphasised that "at the centre of the Pope's
considerations in Strasbourg was his affirmation of the dignity of the human
person" and respect for human rights not for political reasons, but because
"they are engraved in the heart of every human person". He continued, "the
Pope reminds us of the Christian roots of our continent ... and exhorts the
members of the European Parliament as the time has come to work together in
building a Europe that revolves not around the economy, but around the
sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values", and added, "the
time has come for us to abandon the idea of a Europe that is fearful and
self-absorbed, in order to revive and encourage a Europe of leadership, a
repository of science, art, music, human values and faith as well".
 He went on to highlight the worrying conditions of migrants who seek
protection for their lives and families on our continent, a major challenge
for Europe which greatly concerns the Pope. "The absence of mutual support
within the European Union runs the risk of encouraging particularistic
solutions to the problem, solutions which fail to take into account the human
dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing
social tensions. ... Christianity has to perform her mission in Europe, and
the Cathlic Church especially, in which the unity of cultural differences is
found, can offer tangible help to unite and strengthen the national family of
Europe".

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 Audiences
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
 - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith;
 - Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib, archbishop of Concepcion,
apostolic administrator "sede vacante" of Osorno, Chile.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Rev. Augusto
Paolo Lojudice as auxiliary of the diocese of Rome (area 849, population
2,885,272, Catholics 2,365,923, priests 4834, permanent deacons 122, religious
27,727), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Rome, Italy in 1964 and was
ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a licentiate in theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral
roles, including parish vicar in the parishes of "Santa Maria del Buon
Consiglio" and "San Virgilio", parish priest of the parish "Santa Maria Madre
del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca", and spiritual father of the Pontifical
Roman Major Seminary. He is currently parish priest of the "San Luca al
Prenestino" parish.

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