VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 074
DATE 20-04-2015

Summary:
- Ad Limina visit of the bishops of Gabon: evangelise the customs and
socio-political realities of your country
- Pope Francis receives the Conference of European Rabbis
- The Holy Father remembers Chief Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff
- Buddhists and Christians, together to counter modern slavery
- Regina Coeli: the content of Christian witness is not an ideology
- Men and women like us, seeking a better life
- State Visit of the President of the Italian Republic
- Italy and the Holy See: promoting and protecting religious freedom and human
dignity at bilateral and international levels
- To the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences: raise awareness of new forms of
slavery
- The Pope receives the A.C.I.S.J.F.: let young women know they are called to
happiness
- Telegram for the death of Cardinal Francis Eugene George
- The Pope to receive Catholic Charismatic Renewal in audience on 3 July
- Symposium on Friar Junipero Serra, to be canonised 23 September
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 Ad Limina visit of the bishops of Gabon: evangelise the customs and
socio-political realities of your country
 Vatican City, 18 April 2015 (VIS) - "In this jubilee year that commemorates
several events in the life of the Church in Gabon, including the 170th
anniversary of her foundation, I wish to greet and encourage your priests, men
and women religious and other pastoral agents who collaborate with you, as well
as the lay faithful of your dioceses, whom I join in prayer and thanksgiving",
writes the Holy Father in the discourse he handed this morning to the bishops
of
the Episcopal Conference of Gabon, at the end of their "ad Limina" visit.
 "The courageous missionaries who preached the Gospel in your land, in heroic
conditions, and also the first Christians of Gabon, who welcomed the Good News
of salvation with a generous heart and bore witness to it, often facing great
adversity, are the pioneers of your local Church. Their memory, their zeal and
their evangelical witness must never cease to inspire you in your pastoral
action, and constitute for the Church of Gabon the source of a renewed
commitment to the announcement of the Gospel, as a message of peace, joy and
salvation that liberates man from the forces of evil to guide him to the
Kingdom
of God".
 "To carry out the ministry that has been entrusted to you in each of your
dioceses requires you to live in authentic fraternity within your Episcopal
Conference", he continues. "Fraternal collaboration must make it possible to
respond better to needs such as the challenges of the Church and to assure,
with
a collegial spirit, service to the common good all society. In this regard, you
have recently taken the initiative of establishing a day of prayer for your
country. The Church thus shows that she shares in the concerns of all Gabonese
and that the Christian message, far from deterring humanity from building an
ever more just and fraternal world, makes doing so a duty. The Centre for
Studes
for Social Doctrine and Interreligious Dialogue, established in 2011 in
Libreville, also shows your concern for evangelising customs and the
socio-political realities of your country".
 "The unity of the presbytery with the bishop is an example that gives the
faithful the sense of the Church as the family of God. This must be translated
in particular into great care to immunise them against the insidious danger of
tribal and ethnic discrimination, which are the very negation of the Gospel.
This spirit of communion is especially expressed in the fraternal care that you
dedicate to the life and the mission of your priests. ... The candidates to the
priesthood also need ... effective accompaniment in the indispensable and
complex
process of the discernment of vocations. This discernment and the formation of
seminarians must be anchored first to the Gospel, and then to the true cultural
values of their country, on the sense of honesty, responsibility and the given
word. ... Men and women religious, who since the founding of the Church in
Gabon
have displayed extraordinary apostolic zeal in the service of the Gospel, are
also entitled to privileged and affectionate attention from you ... that may be
manifested in constructive dialogue and permanent collaboration at all levels
with them, as well as in spiritual closeness and the promotion of different
charisms within your dioceses".
 The bishop of Rome encourages the prelates to continue in their efforts to
"awaken in the laity the sense of their Christian vocation, and to urge them to
develop their charisms in order to put them to the service of the Church and of
society. The Church is missionary by nature. ... Therefore, the human and
Christian formation of the laity is an important way of contributing to the
work
of the evangelisation and development of the people, always endeavouring to
adopt an 'outbound' approach towards social peripheries. It is also necessary
to
present to the young the true face of Christ, their friend and guide, so that
they find in Him a solid anchorage to resist ideologies and sects as well as
the
illusions of a false modernity and the mirage of material wealth".
 "In this regard, it is important to maintain the prestige of Catholic
educational institutions in your country, by way of a formation that is
increasingly inspired by the spirit of the Gospel. The 2001 Agreement between
the Holy See and the Gabonese Republic on the Status of Catholic Education
offers valuable support to the local Church, favouring the promotion of each
and
every person, with a preferential option for the poorest. I encourage you,
therefore, not to hesitate in raising your voice to defend the human person and
the sacred nature of life". The Holy Father concludes, "In this time of
preparation for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family, I invite you to
pray and to ask for prayer for a good outcome, to better serve all families".

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 Pope Francis receives the Conference of European Rabbis
 Vatican City, 20 April 2015 (VIS) - For the first time a delegation of the
Conference of European Rabbis, presided by Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, has met
with the Successsor of Peter in the Vatican. Pope Francis, who received them
this morning, expressed his joy at this event, and at the same time offered his
condolences, which he extended to the Jewish community of Rome, for the death
yesterday of the ex Grand Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, a "man of peace and
dialogue", who received Pope John Paul II during his historical visit to the
Great Synagogue of Rome in April 1986. For this reason, the current Chief Rabbi
of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, was not present at the meeting.
 In his address to the delegation, the Pope emphasised that the dialogue
between
the Catholic Church and the Jewish communities continues to progress as it has
for half a century; 28 October will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the
conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, which is still the reference point for
efforts in this regard. "With gratitude to the Lord, may we recall these years,
rejoicing in our progress and in the friendship which has grown between us", he
said.
 "Today, in Europe, it is more important than ever to emphasise the spiritual
and religious dimension of human life", he continued. "In a society
increasingly
marked by secularism and threatened by atheism, we run the risk of living as if
God did not exist. People are often tempted to take the place of God, to
consider themselves the criterion of all things, to control them, to use
everything according to their own will. It is so important to remember,
however,
that our life is a gift from God, and that we must depend on him, confide in
him, and turn towards him always. Jews and Christians have the blessing but
also
the responsibility to help preserve the religious sense of the men and women of
today, and that of our society, by our witness to the sanctity of God and human
life. God is holy, and the life he has given is holy and inviolable".
 Francis voiced his concerns regarding increasing anti-Semitism and acts of
hatred and violence in Europe, and affirmed that "every Christian must be firm
in deploring all forms of anti-Semitism, and in showing their solidarity with
the Jewish people". He also referred to the recent seventieth anniversary of
the
liberation of Auschwitz, the concentration camp which has come to be synonymous
with the great tragedy of the Shoah. The memory of what took place there, in
the
heart of Europe, is a warning to present and future generations. Acts of hatred
and violence against Christians and the faithful of other religions must
likewise be condemned everywhere".
 "Dear friends", he concluded, "I heartily thank you for this very significant
visit. I extend my best wishes to your communities, with the assurance of my
closeness and prayers. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Shalom
alechem!".

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 The Holy Father remembers Chief Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff
 Vatican City, 20 April 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis has sent a letter of
condolences to the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Rome, Riccardo Di
Segni, for the death yesterday of his predecessor in this role, Rabbi Elio
Toaff, at the age of 99. The following is the full text of the letter.
 "I wish to express my heartfelt participation in the mourning of the family
and
the entire Jewish community of the capital following the departure of the Rabbi
Professor Elio Toaff, the long-time spiritual guide of the Jews of Rome.
 A key figure in Italian Jewish and civil history during recent decades, he
knew
how to earn esteem and appreciation through his moral authority, linked to a
profound humanity.
 I recall with gratitude his generous efforts and sincere willingness to
promote
dialogue and fraternal relations between Jews and Catholics, which experienced
a
significant moment in his memorable encounter with St. John Paul II at the
Synagogue of Rome.
 I raise prayers that the Almighty, rich in love and faithfulness, welcome him
in His Kingdom of peace".

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 Buddhists and Christians, together to counter modern slavery
 Vatican City, 20 April 2015 (VIS) - "Buddhists and Christians, together to
counter modern slavery" is the title of the message from the Pontifical Council
for Interreligious Dialogue to Buddhists, to celebrate the month of Vesakh, the
commemoration of the three most significant events in the life of Gautama
Buddha
- his birth, enlightenment and death. This occasion, according to the president
of the dicastery, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, also provides an opportunity "to

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