people, with grave effects for society as a whole. Unemployment takes a heavy
toll on people's sense of dignity and hope, and can only be partially
compensated for by welfare benefits, however necessary these may be, provided
to
the unemployed and their families. Special attention needs to be given to women
- who unfortunately still encounter discrimination in the workplace - and to
some categories of workers whose conditions are precarious or dangerous, and
whose pay is not commensurate to the importance of their social mission.
 Finally, I express my hope that effective steps will be taken to improve the
living conditions of the sick by ensuring that all have access to medical
treatment and pharmaceuticals essential for life, as well as the possibility of
home care.
 Looking beyond their own borders, national leaders are also called to renew
their relations with other peoples and to enable their real participation and
inclusion in the life of the international community, in order to ensure
fraternity within the family of nations as well.
 With this in mind, I would like to make a threefold appeal to the leaders of
nations: to refrain from drawing other peoples into conflicts or wars which
destroy not only their material, cultural and social legacy, but also - and in
the long term - their moral and spiritual integrity; to forgive or manage in a
sustainable way the international debt of the poorer nations; and to adopt
policies of cooperation which, instead of bowing before the dictatorship of
certain ideologies, will respect the values of local populations and, in any
case, not prove detrimental to the fundamental and inalienable right to life of
the unborn.
 I entrust these reflections, together with my best wishes for the New Year, to
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, who cares for the
needs
of our human family, that she may obtain from her Son Jesus, the Prince of
Peace, the granting of our prayers and the blessing of our daily efforts for a
fraternal and united world".

___________________________________________________________

 Presentation of the Message for World Day of Peace 2016
 Vatican City, 15 December 2015 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father's Message
for the World Day of Peace1 2016 (1 January 2016), entitled "Overcome
indifference and win peace", was presented in the Holy See Press Office. The
panel was composed of Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the
Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace", Flaminia Giovanelli and Vittorio V.
Alberti, respectively under-secretary and official of the same dicastery. The
conference was also attended by various refugees from Syria, Somalia, Kenya and
Cote d'Ivoire, assisted by the Centro Astalli in Rome. Archbishop Michele
Pennisi of Monreale, Italy and Fr. Luigi Ciotti, founder of the Abel Group and
the Association "Libera", also contributed to the presented with a written
account.
 Cardinal Turkson began by explaining that in a period in which there is a
widespread attitude of indifference, the Pope considers in depth this
"globalisation of indifference" which, starting with indifference to God, is
extended to human beings and all creation. Human beings consider themselves
self-sufficient and believe they owe nothing to anyone other than themselves,
granting themselves rights without assuming duties.
 "After showing that peace is threatened by indifference at all levels, the
Message offers a biblical and theological reflection, which enables us to
understand the need to overcome indifference to open up to compassion, mercy,
commitment and, therefore, to solidarity. This latter is defined as a moral
virtue and an attitude that those with responsibility in education and
formation, such as families, educators and trainers, and those who work in
relation to means of social communication, are required to cultivate".
 The document reaffirms the confidence in the capacity of human beings to
conquer evil with good, and indicates the many praiseworthy forms of solidarity
present in society in favour of victims of armed conflicts and natural
disasters, the poor and migrants. It concludes with an appeal from the Holy
Father to every person, in the spirit of the Jubilee of Mercy, to assume a
concrete commitment to help improve the situation in which he or she lives: in
the family, the neighbourhood, or the workplace. ... Therefore, it is not only
indifference at the centre of the 2016 Message, but also man's capacity, with
the grace of God, to overcome evil and to combat resignation and indifference.
In this regard, the Pope mentions some key events in 2015, such as the COP 21
on
climate change, the Addis Abeba Summit for funding sustainable development
worldwide, the adoption of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and the
50th
anniversary of the publication of Nostra Aetate and Gaudium et Spes, two
Vatican
Council II documents that opened the door to dialogue with non-Christian
religions and all the human family.
 The under-secretary Flaminia Giovanelli noted the continuity of Pope Francis'
teaching with that of his predecessors Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. The
Pope emeritus, in Caritas in Veritate, identified in the anthropological
question the current social issue, emphasising the problem of nihilism. The
link
to the Magisterium of St. John Paul II is instead particularly visible in the
indication of the path of mercy as the way to combat indifference.
 Vittorio V. Alberti commented that if peace demands a victory and a conquest,
it is because there is a conflict. "Indifference affects the public sphere -
politics and culture", he said, "and Francis writes once only a word that is a
major conflict: corruption. When he was a cardinal, he called it the tiredness
of transcendence - resignation, turning in on oneself. This is corruption. ...
There are many key words in the Message: man's capacity, apathy, lack of
commitment, concrete commitment to contributing to improve the situation. But
to
improve in the name of what?"
 "If I do not believe that there is a future", he continued, "I do not believe
in the meaning of things. And if I do not believe, where can I find the trust -
and thus the strength of commitment - to combat corruption and to overcome
indifference? ... But is this a crime, nowadays? It is and it isn't. And this
is
perhaps the most dramatic terrain of this message: indifference that must be
treated with mercy. If I see Palmyra destroyed, or the spread of corruption, I
feel crushed by it because I do not believe that together we can change things.
This is nihilism".
 "Mercy is not merely a moral fact, but also mental and intellectual: it is
freedom of thought and Francis is giving us the deepest keys to combating
indifference. He is providing the cultural base for combating corruption,
framing it in the broader context of the crisis of our times, which is a
cultural crisis. The lack of meaning is the greatest form of suffering because,
insisting upon a perennial present, it corrupts the past, the future and the
very present itself by exhausting its transcendence, debilitating the capacity
to go beyond, towards a dream or an ideal".
 The archbishop of Monreale, in his text, recalls that it is decisive for the
credibility of the Church to live and bear witness to mercy in the first
person,
towards the frailest in society, including detainees, as the Pope emphasises.
He
writes, "I hope that the Church and civil society will take into consideration
Article 27 of the Italian Constitution, which affirms that 'punishment cannot
consist in treatment contrary to human dignity and must aim at rehabilitating
the offender'. Custodial sentences are meaningful if, as well as affirming the
needs of justice and deterrence, they serve also to rehabilitate the person,
offering those who have erred the possibility to reflect and change their life,
so as to be fully reintegrated in society. The Christian community is called
upon to educate, assist and rehabilitate every person, enabling them to feel
worthy of being loved and promoted in social life".
 Don Luigi Ciotti writes that peace, from Pope Francis' perspective, is "the
opposite of quietism, of seeking to 'stay in peace'. True peace comes from a
spiritual reawakening that has immediate practical consequences, that asks to
be
incarnated in ... actions that involve our existence both as people and as
citizens. We are workers for peace when we are attentive to our neighbours,
when
we do not turn away from their needs and their fragility; when we promote the
common good. ... Inhabiting the 'peripheries' is the first step in constructing
peace, the basis for a more human civilisation and a society of closeness, in
which people are not instruments for profit, and the well-being of the few does
not mean poverty, exclusion, desperation and death for many others".

___________________________________________________________

 Decrees for the Causes of Saints
 Vatican City, 15 December 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father
received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints. During the audience he authorised the promulgation of
decrees concerning the following causes:
 MIRACLES
 - Blessed Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad, Swedish foundress of the Bridgettine
Sisters (1870-1957);
 - Servant of God Ladislaw Bukowinski, Ukrainian diocesan priest (1904-1974);
 - Venerable Servant of God Maria Celeste of the Holy Redeemer (nee Giulia
Crostarosa), Italian foundress of the Redemptoristine Nuns (1696-1755);
 - Venerable Servant of God Mary of Jesus (nee Carolina Santocanale), Italian
foundress of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes (1852-1923);
 - Venerable Servant of God Itala Mela, Italian Oblate of St. Benedict
(1904-1957);
 HEROIC VIRTUES
 - Servant of God Angelo Ramazzotti, Patriarch of Venice, Founder of the
Institute for Foreign Missions (1800-1861);
 - Servant of God Joseph Vithayathil, Indian diocesan priest and co-founder of
the Congregation of the Holy Family (1865-1964);
 - Servant of God Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, Spanish diocesan priest
(1915-1976);
 - Servant of God Giuseppe Schiavo, Italian professed priest of the
Congregation
of St. Joseph (1903-1967);
 - Servant of God Venanzio Maria Quadri, Italian professed religious of the
Order of Servants of Mary (1916-1937);
 - Servant of God William Gagnon, American professed religious of the
Hospitallers of St. John of God (1905-1972);
 - Servant of God Teresa Rosa Fernanda de Saldanha Oliveira Sousa, Portuguese
foundress of the Dominican Sisters of the Portuguese Congregation of St.
Catherine of Siena (1837-1916);
 - Servant of God Maria Emilia Riquelme Zayas, Spanish foundress of the
Missionary Sisters of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Mary Immaculate
(1847-1940);
 - Servant of God Maria Esperanza de la Cruz (nee Salustiana Antonia Ayerbe
Castillo), Spanish co-foundress of the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters
(1890-1967);
 - Servant of God Emanuela Maria Magdalena (Chaje) Kalb, Polish professed
religious of the Canonesses of the Holy Spirit (1899-1986);
 - Servant of God Niklaus Wolf, Swiss layman and father (1756-1832);
 - Servant of God Teresio Olivelli, Italian layman (1916-1945).

___________________________________________________________

 Audiences
 Vatican City, 15 December 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon, 14 December, the
Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

___________________________________________________________

 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 15 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr. James
Patrick Powers as bishop of Superior (area 40,701, population 464,000,
Catholics
77,200, priests 74, permanent deacons 68, religious 81), United States of
America. The bishop-elect was born in Baldwin, United States of America in 1953
and was ordained a priest in 1990. He has served in a number of pastoral roles,
including parish vicar, parish administrator, parish priest and adjunct
judicial
vicar. He is currently diocesan administrator of the diocese of Superior and
pastor of the St. Joseph Parish in Rice Lake.

___________________________________________________________

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