between what we Pastors preach and the various social environments. ? At the
same time, both they and you are in daily contact with other Christian
traditions that are present in your territory and together you can support
ecumenical dialogue, which is so necessary today in view of the fact that
social
peace is sometimes shaken by ethnic and linguistic differences.?
The Pope shares the bishops' determination to promote the family, noting
however
that ?marriage today is often considered a form of emotional gratification that
can be constituted in any way whatsoever or changed according to the
sensibilities of each. Unfortunately, this reductive conception also affects
the
mindset of Christians, causing a ease inresorting to divorce or separation. As
pastors we are called to question on the preparation for marriage given to
engaged couples and also on how to assist those who are living in these
situations so that the children do not become the primary victims and the
spouses do not feel excluded from God's mercy and the Church's care but are
helped on their faith journey and in the Christian education of their
children.?
Finally, the Pope recalled the economic and social crisis that has also
affected
Latvia and Estonia, provoking a migration the result of which has been a large
number of single-parent families in need of special pastoral attention. The
absence of a father or mother in many families causes the other spouse greater
effort, in every sense, in raising the children. For these families your
attention and the pastoral outreach of your priests is truly valuable, combined
with the effective nearness of the communities.?

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 Pope's Audience with Vladimir Putin: Ukraine and Middle East, Key Points of
Meeting
Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) - President of the Russian Federation,
Vladimir
Putin was received in audience by the Holy Father yesterday afternoon according
to a press release from the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico
Lombardi, S.J.
The private meeting held in the library of the Apostolic Palace began
approximately at 6:15pm and lasted some 50 minutes. Afterwards there was a
presentation of the president's entourage and an exchange of gifts. President
Putin offered the Pope an image of the famous Church of Christ the Savior which
the Holy Father reciprocated with a medallion by artist Guido Veroi that
represented the angel of peace?an invitation to build a world of solidarity and
peace based on justice?and a copy of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
Gaudium.
As foreseen, given the current globalstate of affairs, the meeting was mainly
devoted to the conflict in the Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.
Regarding the situation in the Ukraine, the Holy Father affirmed that a great
and sincere effort is necessary to achieve peace. He agreed on the importance
of
re-establishing a climate of dialogue and that all parties must commit
themselves to enforcing the Minsk Accords. It is also essential to address the
serious humanitarian situation, in particular guaranteeing access to
humanitarian workers and, with the contribution of all parties, a progressive
easing of tensions in the region.
On the other hand, as regards the conflicts of the Middle East, regarding the
territories of Syria and Iraq, the common and urgent idea of seeking peace with
the concrete participation of the international community, at the same time
ensuring the necessary conditions of life to all area of society, including
religious minorities, Christians inparticular was substantially confirmed.
At the same time as the meeting with President Putin, a meeting was held
between
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov during
which the topics of the conflict in the Ukraine and the worrying situation in
the Middle East were also discussed.

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 National Holy See Day at Milan's Expo 2015
Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) ? Today marked the celebration of the National
Day of the Holy See at the Expo 2015 in Milan. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi,
General Commissioner of the Holy See for Expo Milan 2015, Archbishop Giovanni
Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State,
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president on the Italian Episcopal Conference, and
Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan, all spoke this morning. This
afternoon the ?Courtyard of the Gentiles? will also intervene with a
presentation on the theme of ?The Faces of the Earth?.
During the course of the celebrations this morning, Archbishop Becciu's speech
emphasized that the Holy See considers the vast objective of ensuring an
adequate level of nutrition as a real necessity, a result of true sharing, the
same which is evidenced in the participation of so many countries in ExpoMilan
2015.
?A shared action,? the archbishop stated, ?whose priority is the reduction of
the number of hungry persons must include not only interventions during
emergency situations, but also projects in favor of agricultural development
and
their funding proportionate to the different capacity of donors and the needs
of
beneficiaries. Giving and receiving according to justice requires a formation
of
conscience attentive to the needs of others, of each one, including when the
problem is related to the use of technology, their transfer to the most
vulnerable areas and the ability to meet the needs of beneficiaries without
limiting the prerogatives, rights, and?not the least?alimentary customs and
cultures. Such a commitment demands that governments, international
institutions, and civil social organizations involved in food safety work
together, preserving diversity without putting them at odds, and using dialogue
as the only concretetool.?
?Religions and their traditions,? he added, ?know well that freedom from hunger
also means freedom from conflicts and prevention of war as the Catholic
Church's
litany of saints recalls, in the prayer for liberation from disease, hunger,
and
war: 'a peste, fame, et bello libera nos, Domine'.?

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 ROACO Plenary Assembly to Analyze Situation of Christians in Middle East,
Armenia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Holy Land
Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) ? ROACO (Reunion of Aid Agencies for the
Oriental Churches) will hold its 88th annual plenary assembly in the Vatican
from 15 to 17 June.
The assembly will begin on Monday morning with an audience granted by Pope
Francis to the representatives of the various aid projects to the Oriental
Catholic Churches. As in previous years, it will be a session dedicated to the
situation in Syria with attention also given to Iraq in view of the recent
tragic developments in that region which also affect the faithful of the
Eastern
Churches. The results of the recent visit to Iraq made by Cardinal Leonardo
Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, during which he
and a delegation from ROACO met with refugees, bishops, priests, and religious
in Baghdad, Erbil, and Dohuk, will bepresented.
On Tuesday, 16 June, the cardinal will celebrate Holy Mass at St. Stephen of
the
Abyssinians, a historical presence of the Oriental Church within the Vatican
walls, to pray for peace in the Middle East as well as the Ukraine where the
Greek-Catholic Church has a presence, and to pray for the benefactors, living
and deceased, of the Oriental Catholic Churches.
On the occasion of the centenary memorial of the Medz Yeghern suffered by the
Armenian people, a session will be dedicated to the Armenian Catholic Church in
Eastern Europe, which is present in Georgia and Russia as well as Armenia.
Another session will study the Church of Ethiopia and the Church of Eritrea,
which was recently elevated by Pope Frances to a metropolitan church
(metropolitana sui iuris). As customary, during the assembly the situation of
the Church in the Holy Land will be examined, with verifications of the
projects
undertaken thanks to the proceeds of the GoodFriday collection.
The objective of the proceedings, which will conclude on Thursday 17 June, is
to
identify priorities for the work of evangelization and charitable interventions
in order that they be coordinated by ROACO as a gesture of the solidarity of
the
universal Church.

___________________________________________________________

 Audiences
Vatican City, June 2015 (VIS) ? Today, the Holy Father received in separate
audiences:
Five prelates of the Episcopal Conference of Latvia and Estonia, on their ad
Limina visit:
- Archbishop Zbig?ev Stankevics of Riga,
- Bishop Eduards Pavlovskis of Jelgava,
- Bishop Viktors Stulpins of Liepaja,
- Bishop Janis Bulis of Rezkene-Aglona, and
- Bishop Philippe Jean-Charles Jourdan, Apostolic Adminstrator of Estonia.
Archbishop emeritus Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid, Spain, and
a delegation from the San Andres School of Evangelization.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
Vatican City, June 2015 (VIS) ? Today, the Holy Father has appointed Bishop
Lionginas Virbalas, S.J., as Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas (area 8,750,
population 661,000, Catholics 530,000, priests 135, religious 227), Lithuania.
Archbishop Virbalas, previously bishop of Panevezys, Lithuania, succeeds
Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care
of the archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

___________________________________________________________

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