not grow in the love of God by avoiding the entanglement of human relations.
For
in loving others, we learn to love God, in stooping down to help our neighbour,
we are lifted up to God. Through his fraternal closeness and his solidarity
with
the poor and the abandoned, he came to understand that it is they who
evangelise
us, they who help us to grow in humanity".
 The Holy Father encouraged the faithful to enter into the mystery of the
family
in order to be able to understand it. "The family is a place where evangelical
holiness is lived out in the most ordinary conditions. There we are formed by
the memory of past generations and we put down roots which enable us to go far.
The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognise God's plan
for
our lives and to embrace it with trust. It is a place of gratuitousness. of
discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out
of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to be feel forgiven".
 "Let us set out once more from Nazareth for a Synod which, more than speaking
about the family, can learn from the family, readily acknowledging its dignity,
its strength and its value, despite all its problems and difficulties. In the
'Galilee of the nations' of our own time, we will rediscover the richness and
strength of a Church which is a mother, ever capable of giving and nourishing
life, accompanying it with devotion, tenderness, and moral strength. For unless
we can unite compassion with justice, we will end up being needlessly severe
and
deeply unjust".
 "A Church which is family is also able to show the closeness and love of a
father ... a Church of children who see themselves as brothers and sisters,
will
never end up considering anyone simply as a burden, a problem, an expense, a
concern or a risk. Other persons are essentially a gift, and always remain so,
even when they walk different paths. The Church is an open house, far from
outward pomp, hospitable in the simplicity of her members. ... This Church can
indeed light up the darkness felt by so many men and women. She can credibly
point them towards the goal and walk at their side, precisely because she
herself first experienced what it is to be endlessly reborn in the merciful
heart of the Father", Francis concluded.

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 The Pope receives volunteers from the Food Bank and again denounces food waste
 Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope
Francis received in audience seven thousand volunteers from the Food Bank
Foundation, established 25 years ago by the Italian businessman Danilo Fossati
and Don Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, to combat food waste,
recovering and distributing food among the poor and families in need.
 In his address to them, Francis underlined that hunger has now assumed the
dimensions of a true scandal that threatens the life and dignity of many
people:
men and women, children and the elderly. "Every day we must face this
injustice:
in a world rich in food resources, thanks also to enormous technological
progress, there are too many people who do not have the essentials for
survival;
and this is true not only of poor countries, but increasingly so in rich and
developed societies. The situation is aggravated by the increase in migratory
flows, which bring thousands of refugees to Europe, fleeing their countries and
in need of everything. In the face of such an immeasurable problem, Jesus'
words
resonate: 'For I was hungry and you gave me food'. We see in the Gospel that
the
Lord, when He realises that the crowd that has come to listen to Him is hungry,
does not ignore the problem, nor does He give a good speech on the fight
against
poverty; instead He performs a gesture that leaves everyone astonished. He
takes
the little that the disciples have brought with them, He blesses it, and He
multiplies the bread and fishes, so that in the end 'they took up twelve
baskets
full of the broken pieces left over'".
 "We cannot perform a miracle as Jesus did; however we can do something when
faced wit the emergency of hunger, something useful, that also has the power of
a miracle. First of all we can educate ourselves in humanity, in recognising
the
humanity present in every person, in need of everything. This is perhaps what
Danilo Fossati, entrepreneur in the food sector and founder of the Food Bank,
was thinking of when he confided to Don Giussani his unease at seeing the
destruction of products that could still be consumed, when so many people in
Italy suffered from hunger".
 The bishop of Rome remarked that the Foundation has its roots in the heart of
those two men who were not indifferent to the cry of the poor and "understood
that something needed to change in the mentality of the people, that the walls
of individualism and selfishness had to be broken down. ... Jesus Himself
invites
us to make space in our heart for the urgency of feeding the hungry, and the
Church has made it one of the works of corporal mercy".
 Finally, commenting that the Food Bank volunteers encounter hundreds of people
every day, the Pope reminded them of the need to remember that they are "people
and not numbers, each one with his or her burden that at times seems impossible
to bear. Always keeping this in mind, you will be able to look them in the eye,
to hold their hand, to descry the flesh of Christ in them and to help them
regain their dignity and get back on their feet. I encourage you to be brothers
and friends to the poor; to let them feel that they are important in God's
eyes".

___________________________________________________________

 Mass for the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps
 Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - Following the festivity of St. Michael
Archangel, patron of the Vatican City State Gendarmerie Corps, Pope Francis
celebrated Mass this morning in the Governorate Chapel, attended by the members
of the Corps.
 The Holy Father spoke in his homily about St. Michael's battle against Satan,
affirming that "there is a war between good and evil, in which we must choose
what we want, good or evil. But ... the methods of war adopted by these two
enemies are totally opposed to one another. In the initial prayer ... we ask
for
the grace to be defended by Archangel Michael against the temptations of the
devil, and this is one of the devil's methods: temptation".
 He then explained "the three steps of the method of the ancient serpent, the
devil. First, having things: in this case bread, wealth, the wealth that
gradually leads to corruption, and this corruption is not a tale, it is
everywhere. Many people are willing to sell their soul for a pittance, they
sell
their happiness, their life, everything. It is the first step: money and
wealth.
Then, when you have it you feel important, which leads to the second step:
vanity. What the devil said to Jesus: Let's go to the terrace, 'cast Yourself
down from here' - make a great spectacle! Living for vanity. And the third step
is power, pride and arrogance: 'to you I will give all this authority', you
will
be in command".
 "This also happens to us, in small things, always, in small things: too
attached to wealth, we like it when we are praised, like the peacock. And many
people become ridiculous. Vanity makes us become ridiculous. Or, in the end,
when you have power you feel as if you are God, and this is the great sin".
 "You who have a difficult job, in which there are always conflicts and you
have
to put in things in their place, often enabling crime to be avoided. Pray to
the
Lord that, by the intercession of St. Michael Archangel, He will defend you
from
any temptation of corruption for money, for wealth, for vanity or arrogance.
The
humbler you are, like Jesus, the humbler your service will be and the more
fruitful and useful it will be for all of us".

___________________________________________________________

 Statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office
 Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - The Director of the Holy See Press
Office,
Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., today made the following statement:
 "With regard to the declarations and interview given by Msgr. Krzystof
Charamsa
it should be observed that, notwithstanding the respect due to the events and
personal situations, and reflections on the issue, the decision to make such a
pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the Synod appears very serious
and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the Synod assembly to undue media
pressure. Msgr. Charamsa will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his
previous work in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the
Pontifical universities, while the other aspects of his situation shall remain
the competence of his diocesan Ordinary".

___________________________________________________________

 Audiences
 Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
 - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;
 - Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, apostolic nuncio in Belarus.

___________________________________________________________

 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 5 October 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:
 - Archbishop Salvatore Ligorio of Matera-Irsina, Italy, as metropolitan
archbishop of Potenza-Muro-Lucano-Marsico Nuovo (area 1,634, population
154,600,
Catholics 152,600, priests 113, permanent deacons 23, religious 124), Italy. He
succeeds Archbishop Agostino Superbo, whose resignation from the pastoral care
of the same archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy
Father.
 - Msgr. Andrea Migliavacca as bishop of San Miniato (area 691, population
176,794, Catholics 161,000, priests 79, permanent deacons 10, religious 122),
Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Pavia, Italy in 1967 and was ordained a
priest in 1992. He holds a degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian
University and has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles in
Pavia, including notary of the diocesan ecclesiastical tribunal, adjunct
judicial vicar, head of youth pastoral, Catholic Action assistant for youth,
parish administrator of the San Genesio ed Uniti. He is currently vice
chancellor and judge of the Lombard Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal, rector of
the diocesan seminary and head of vocations, judicial vicar and canon of the
Cathedral Chapter.

___________________________________________________________

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