VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 182
DATE 19-10-2015

Summary:
- The Pope canonises four new saints and appeals for peace in the Holy Land
- The Synod: walking together
- Programme of the Holy Father's trip to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African
Republic
- Cardinal Maung Bo to take possession of his titular church
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 The Pope canonises four new saints and appeals for peace in the Holy Land
 Vatican City, 18 October 2015 (VIS) - This Sunday in St. Peter's Square the
Pope celebrated Holy Mass for the canonisation of Blesseds Vincenzo Grossi
(1845-1917), diocesan priest and founder of the Institute of the Daughters of
the Oratory; Maria Isabel Salvat Romero (Mary of the Immaculate Conception),
(1926-1998), superior general of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Company
of the Cross; and the spouses Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Zelie Guerin
(1831-1877).
 In his homily, Pope Francis emphasised that "service is the way for authority
to be exercised in the Christian community. Those who serve others and lack
real
prestige exercise genuine authority in the Church. Jesus calls us to see things
differently, to pass from the thirst for power to the joy of quiet service, to
suppress our instinctive desire to exercise power over others, and instead to
exercise the virtue of humility. ... By imitating the Master, the community
gains
a new outlook on life: 'The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many'".
 "In the biblical tradition, the Son of Man is the one Who receives from God
'dominion, glory and kingship'", the Holy Father affirmed. Jesus fills this
image with new meaning. He shows us that He enjoys dominion because He is a
servant, glory because He is capable of abasement, kingship because He is fully
prepared to lay down His life. By His passion and death, He takes the lowest
place, attains the heights of grandeur in service, and bestows this upon His
Church. There can be no compatibility between a worldly understanding of power
and the humble service which must characterise authority according to Jesus'
teaching and example. Ambition and careerism are incompatible with Christian
discipleship; honour, success, fame and worldly triumphs are incompatible with
the logic of Christ crucified".
 Instead, he continued, "compatibility exists between Jesus, 'the man of
sorrows', and our suffering. ... Jesus knows our difficulties at first hand, He
knows from within our human condition; the fact that He is without sin does not
prevent Him from understanding sinners. His glory is not that born of ambition
or the thirst for power; it is the glory of one Who loves men and women, Who
accepts them and shares in their weakness, Who offers them the grace which
heals
and restores, and accompanies them with infinite tenderness amid their
tribulations".
 "The men and women canonised today unfailingly served their brothers and
sisters with outstanding humility and charity, in imitation of the divine
Master. ... The radiant witness of these new saints inspires us to persevere in
joyful service to our brothers and sisters, trusting in the help of God and the
maternal protection of Mary. From heaven may they now watch over us and sustain
us by their powerful intercession".
 Following Mass and before the Sunday Angelus prayer, the Pope spoke about the
situation of tension and violence that continues to afflict the Holy Land. "At
this time, there is a need for great courage and fortitude to reject hatred and
revenge and to make gestures of peace"; he remarked. "We pray that God may
reinforce in all, governors and citizens alike, the courage to oppose the
violence and to take concrete steps towards pacification. In the current
context
of the Middle East, it is crucial, more than ever, that there be peace in the
Holy Land: God and the good of humanity demand this of us".

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 The Synod: walking together
 Vatican City, 19 October 2015 (VIS) - On the occasion of the fiftieth
anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, the Holy Father
addressed the Synod Fathers in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall. An introduction was
given by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, and the president of the Episcopal
Conference of Austria and cardinal archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schonborn
pronounced a commemorative discourse.
 Below are extensive extracts from the Holy Father's discourse, in which he
reiterated that the very name "Synod" - "walking together" - indicates what the
Lord asks of us.
 "From Vatican Council II to the current Synod Assembly on the family, we have
experienced in an increasingly intense way the beauty of 'walking together'.
...
We must continue on this road. The world in which we live, and which we are
called upon to love and serve even in its contradictions, demands of the Church
a strengthening of synergies in all areas of her mission. The path of
synodality
is the path that God expects from the Church in the third millennium. ... In
the
Apostolic Exhortation 'Evangelii Gaudium' I underlined how 'the People of God
is
holy thanks to this anointing, which makes it infallible in credendo', adding
that 'all the baptised, whatever their position in the Church or their level of
instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelisation, and it would be
insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelisation to be carried out by
professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive
recipients'. ... It was this conviction that guided me in my wish that the
People
of God be consulted in the preparation of the dual Synod on the family. ... How
would it be possible to speak of the family without speaking with families,
listening to their joys and hopes, their sorrows and their troubles?".
 "A Synodal Church is a Church who listens, aware that listening is more than
hearing. It is a process of mutual listening in which each person has something
to learn. The faithful, the Episcopal College, the bishop of Rome: each one
listening to the others, and all listening to the Holy Spirit, the 'Spirit of
truth'. ... Synodality, as a constitutive dimension of the Church, offers us
the
best interpretative framework for understanding her hierarchical ministry ...
in
which no-one may be 'higher' than the others. On the contrary, within the
Church
it is necessary to stoop to put oneself in service to one's brothers along the
way. Jesus constituted the Church, placing at the summit the apostolic College,
in which the apostle Peter is the 'rock', he who must 'confirm' his brothers in
the faith. But in this Church, as in an upturned pyramid, the summit is below
the base. Therefore, those who exercise authority are called 'ministers':
because in accordance with the original meaning of the word, they are the least
of all".
 "In an synodal Church, the Synod of Bishops is only the most evident
manifestation of a dynamism of communion that inspires all ecclesial
dimensions.
The first level of the exercise of synodality occurs in the particular
Churches.
... The Code of Canon Law reserves ample space to those who are usually
referred
to as the 'organs of communion' of the particular Church: the presbyteral
Council, the College of Consultors, the Chapter of Canons and the pastoral
Council. These instruments, that at times proceed wearily, must be accorded
their due value as offering opportunities for listening and sharing. ... The
second level is that of the Ecclesiastical Provinces or Regions, the Particular
Councils and, in special way, the Episcopal Conferences. ... In a synodal
Church,
as I have already stated, 'it is not advisable for the Pope to take the place
of
local bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their
territory.
In this sense, I am conscious of the need to promote a sound decentralisation'.
... The final level is that of the universal Church. Here the Synod of Bishops,
representing the entire Catholic episcopate, becomes an expression of episcopal
collegiality within an entirely synodal Church".
 "I am convinced that, in a synodal Church, more light could also be cast on
the
exercise of the Petrine primacy. The Pope is not alone and above the Church,
but
rather within her, baptised among the baptised, and within the episcopal
College
as a bishop among bishops, called upon at the same time, as the Successor of
the
apostle Peter, to guide the Church of Rome who presides in love among all the

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