VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 115
DATE 19-06-2015

Summary:
- The Pope to the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch: "Yours is a Church of
martyrs"
- To the Catholic Biblical Federation: pastoral effort to ensure the centrality
of the Word of God in the life of the Church
- May no-one feel excluded from sport, says the Pope to the athletes of the
Special Olympics
- Christians and Muslims, together to counter violence perpetrated in the name
of religion
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 The Pope to the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch: "Yours is a Church of
martyrs"
 Vatican City, 19 June 2015 (VIS) - Following a tradition established in 1971
by
the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Holiness
Ignatius
Jacob III and Blessed Paul VI, this morning Pope Francis received in the
Vatican
His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, accompanied by a Syriac-Orthodox
delegation, recalling that the historic first meeting was the beginning of a
"holy pilgrimage" towards full communion between the two Churches.
 Francis also mentioned the Joint Declaration on the common profession of faith
in the mystery of the Incarnate Word, the true God and the true man, signed in
that year by the Patriarch and the Pope, which laid the foundations for a path
to unity among disciples. Subsequent meetings between Patriarch Ignatius Zakka
Iwas and St. John Paul II, first in Rome and then in Damascus, represented
important steps toward the concrete pastoral collaboration for the good of the
faithful.
 "How much has changed since those first meetings!" exclaimed the bishop of
Rome. "Yours, Beatitude, has been a Church of martyrs since the very beginning,
and continues to be so to this day in the Middle East, where, along with other
Christian communities and other minorities, it suffers greatly as a result of
war, violence and persecution. How much pain! How many innocent victims! Faced
with all this, it seems that those in power seem unable to find solutions".
 "Let us pray together for the victims of this brutal violence and for all the
situations of war throughout the world. In particular, let us remember the
Metropolitan Gregorios Ibrahim and the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church
Griega Paul Yazigi, abducted at the same time two years ago. Let us also
remember the priests and the many other people, of different groups, deprived
of
their freedom. And let us ask of the Lord the grace always to be willing to
forgive and to be builders of reconciliation and peace. This is what inspires
the witness of the martyrs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the unity
of
the Church and the tool for the edification of the kingdom of God, which is the
kingdom of peace and justice".
 "Beatitude, dear brother, in this moment of tension and pain", concluded the
Pope, "let us increasingly strengthen the bonds of friendship and fraternity
between the Catholic Church and the Syriac-Orthodox Church. Let us hasten our
steps on the common path, looking towards the day in which we will be able to
celebrate our common belonging to Christ's single Church around the same altar
of the Sacrifice and of worship. Let us exchange the treasures of our
traditions
as spiritual gifts, as what unites us is far greater than what divides us".
 The Holy Father and the Patriarch then prayed together in the Redemptoris
Mater
chapel.

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 To the Catholic Biblical Federation: pastoral effort to ensure the centrality
of the Word of God in the life of the Church Vatican City, 19 June 2015 (VIS) -
This morning in the Consistory Hall Pope Francis received the members of the
Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF), which has recently elected Cardinal Luis
Antonio Tagle, metropolitan archbishop of Manila, Philippines, as its new
president. The Federation is currently holding its tenth plenary assembly
dedicated to the theme "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to
you", drawn from the First Epistle of St. John; reflecting on the Sacred
Scripture as the source of evangelisation, it commemorates the fiftieth
anniversary of the promulgation of the dogmatic Constitution on the Divine
Revelation Dei Verbum.
 "To be able to proclaim the word of truth, we ourselves must have had the
experience of the Word: we must have listened, contemplated, almost touched it
with our own hands", writes the Holy Father in the discourse he handed to those
present. "Christians, who are the People of God, 'that you may proclaim the
excellencies of him', must, as the dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
Dei Verbum suggests, first of all venerate, read, listen, proclaim, preach,
study and spread the Word of God. The Church, who proclaims the Word every day,
receiving nourishment and inspiration from it, makes herself the beneficiary
and
excellent witness of the efficiency and strength inherent in that same Word of
God. Neither we, nor our efforts, but rather the Holy Spirit works through
those
who dedicate themselves to pastoral ministry, and He does the same for the
listeners, preparing them to listen to the Word and to receive its message of
life".
 Referring to the anniversary of Dei Verbum and the timeliness of dedicating
the
plenary assembly to the relationship between the Scriptures and evangelisation,
Francis mentions that in 1986 St. John Paul II had invited the CBF to undertake
a careful rereading of the dogmatic Constitution, applying its principles and
implementing its recommendations. The Synod of Bishops on the Word of God in
the
life and mission of the Church in 2008 offered another important opportunity
for
reflecting on its application. He adds, "Likewise today I would like to invite
you to go ahead with this work, always taking into consideration the value of
the treasure of the Conciliar Constitution, as well as the subsequent
Magisterium, while you communicate the joy of the Gospel to the furthest
confines of the world, obeying the missionary mandate".
 "However, there are places where the Word of God has not yet been proclaimed
or, although proclaimed, has not been received as the Word of salvation", the
Pope remarks. "There are places where the Word of God is emptied of its
authority. The lack of the support or vigour of the Word leads to a weakening
of
the Christian communities of ancient tradition and curbs the spiritual growth
and missionary fervour of the young Churches. We are all responsible if 'the
message will run the risk of losing its freshness and will cease to have the
freshness of the Gospel'. However, it remains valid to encourage a special
pastoral effort to emphasise the central position of the Word of God in
ecclesial life, promoting the Biblical inspiration of all pastoral ministry. We
must ensure that the habitual activities of all Christian communities, in the
parishes, associations and movements, truly have at heart the personal
encounter
with Christ communicated to us in His Word since, as St. Jerome teaches,
'ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ'".
 "The mission of the servants of the Word - bishops, priests, men and women
religious and laypeople - is that of promoting and favouring this encounter,
which inspires faith and transforms life; therefore I pray, in the name of all
the Church, that you may fulfil your mandate: ensuring 'that the message of the

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