VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXVI - # 22
DATE 03-02-2016

Summary:
- General audience: God's justice is mercy
- Interview with the Pope: seeking the richness of faith in Mexico
- Francis closes the Year of Consecrated Life
- Presentation to the Pope of the book on the Papal fleet in the Dardanelles,
1657

___________________________________________________________

 General audience: God's justice is mercy
 Vatican City, 3 February 2016 (VIS) - The relationship between mercy and
justice, in the light of the Sacred Scriptures, was the theme of Pope Francis'
catechesis in this Wednesday's general audience, which took place in St.
Peter's
Square and was attended by more than ten thousand people.
 "The Sacred Scripture presents God as infinite mercy, but also as perfect
justice", he said. "How can the two be reconciled? They may appear to be
contradictory, but this is not the case, as it is precisely God's mercy that
leads us to achieve true justice. In the legal administration of justice, we
see
that those who consider themselves to have been victims of abuse consult a
judge
in court and ask that justice be done. It is a retributive justice, inflicting
punishment on the guilty, according to the principle that each person receives
what he deserves. ... But this route does not lead to true justice, as in
reality
it does not conquer evil, it simply limits it. Instead, only by responding with
good can evil truly be conquered".
 The Bible, he explained, proposes a different form of justice, in which the
victim invites the guilty party to convert, helping him to understand the harm
he has done and appealing to his conscience. "In this way, recognising his
blame, he can open up to the forgiveness that the injured party offers. ...
This
is the way of resolving conflicts within families, in relations between spouses
and between parents and children, in which the injured party loves the guilty
and does not wish to lose the bond between them. It is certainly a difficult
path: it demands that the victim be disposed to forgive and wishes for the
salvation and the good of the perpetrator of the damage. But only in this way
can justice triumph, as if the guilty party acknowledges the harm he has done
and ceases to do so, the evil no longer exists and the unjust becomes just, as
he has been forgiven and helped to find the way of good".
 "God treats us sinners, in the same way. He continually offers us His
forgiveness, He helps us to welcome Him and to be aware of our evil so as to
free ourselves of it. God does not seek our condemnation, only our salvation.
God does not wish to condemn anyone! ... The Lord of Mercy wishes to save
everyone. ... The problem is letting Him enter into our heart. All the words of
the prophets are an impassioned and love-filled plea for our conversion".
 God's heart is "the heart of a Father Who loves all His children and wants
them
to live in goodness and justice, and therefore to live in fullness and
happiness. A Father's heart that goes beyond our meagre concept of justice so
as
to open up to us the immense horizons of His mercy. A Father's heart that does
not treat us or repay us according to our sins, as the Psalm says".
 "It is precisely a Father's heart that we encounter when we go to the
confessional", Francis emphasised. "Perhaps it will tell us something to better
understand our evil, but at the confessional we all go in search of a father
who
will help us change our life; a father who gives us the strength to go on; a
father who forgives us in God's name. Therefore, to be a confessor is a great
responsibility, as the son or daughter who comes to you seeks only to encounter
a father. And you, the priest there in the confessional, are the place where
the
Father does justice with His mercy", he concluded.

___________________________________________________________

 Interview with the Pope: seeking the richness of faith in Mexico
 Vatican City, 3 February 2016 (VIS) - Next week Pope Francis will begin his
apostolic trip to Mexico. From 12 to 17 February he will visit Mexico City,
Ecatepec, Tuxtla Gutierrez, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Morelia and Ciudad
Juarez, and will pray before Our Lady of Guadalupe. For the occasion, the
agency
Notimex recorded a series of brief questions and expressions of hope for the
Mexican people in four videos, presented to the Holy Father. The Pope responded
with a video that will be broadcast today on the Notimex website. The following
is a summary of the questions and answers. The images can be obtained from the
Vatican Television Centre.
 Question: Why are you coming to Mexico? What brings you to Mexico?
 Pope Francis: "What moves me most is this: what are coming to look for in
Mexico? I will come to Mexico not like a Wise Man loaded with things to bring,
messages, ideas, solutions to problems ... I come to Mexico as a pilgrim, to
look
for something among the Mexican people. ... I come to seek the wealth of faith
you
have, I come for that infectious wealth of faith. You have an idiosyncrasy, a
way of being that is the fruit of a very long road, a history that has been
forged slowly, with pain, with success, with failures, with searching, but with
a common thread. You have great richness in your heart and, above all, you are
not an orphaned people, as you are proud to have a Mother, and when a man or a
woman or a people do not forget their Mother, this provides a wealth that
cannot
be described; it is received and transmitted. So, I will go in search of some
of
this in you. A people that does not forget its Mother, the Mother who forged
her
people in hope".
 Question: What does Our Lady of Guadalupe represent for the Pope?
 Pope Francis: "Security, tenderness. Sometimes I am afraid of certain problems
or something unpleasant happens and I do not know how to react, and I pray to
her. I like to repeat to myself, 'Do not be afraid, am I not here, your
Mother?'. They are her words: 'Do not be afraid'. ... I feel this, that she is
our
Mother, who cares, protects and leads a people, who leads a family, who gives
the warmth of home, who caresses with tenderness and who banishes fear. ... It
is
an eloquent image, that of a Mother like a blanket who covers and cares, in the
midst of her people. ... This is what I feel before Her. ... What I would ask
you,
as a favour, is that this time, the third time I will be on Mexican soil, that
you will let me spend a moment before the image. That is the favour I ask of
you".
 Question: How would you help us to face the violence here?
 Pope Francis: "Violence, corruption, war, children who cannot go to school
because their country is at war, trafficking, arms manufacturers who sell
weapons so that the wars of the world can continue ... this is more or less the
climate that we live in the world, and you are experiencing a part of it, a
part
of this 'war', this part of suffering, of violence, of organised trafficking.
If
I come to you, it is to receive the best of you and to pray with you, so that
the problems ... that you know exist may be resolved, because the Mexico of
violence, the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico
of the cartels, is not the Mexico that our Mother loves, and of course I do not
wish to cover up any of that; on the contrary, I would urge you to fight, day
by
day, against corruption, against trafficking, against war, against disunity,
against organised crime, against human trafficking".
 "'May you bring us a little peace', one of you said. Peace is something that
must be worked on every day, and - to use a phrase that sounds like a
contradiction - it must be fought for, every day. It is necessary to combat
every day for peace, not for war. It is necessary to sow gentleness,
understanding, peace. St. Francis prayed, 'Lord, make me an instrument of your
peace'. I would like to be an instrument of peace in Mexico, but with all of
you. ... And how is peace formed? Peace is a craft, it is formed by hand. From
the
education of a child to the care for an elderly person: they are all seeds of
peace. Peace is born of tenderness, peace is born of understanding, peace is
born or is made in dialogue, not in rupture, and this is the key word:
dialogue.
Dialogue between leaders, dialogue with the people, and dialogue among all
people. ... Do not be afraid of listening to others, to seeing their
motivations.
And please, do not enter into any traps to make money; it enslaves life in an
inner war and takes away freedom, because peace brings freedom. I come to ask
the Virgin, along with you, to give us this peace, so that Our Lady of
Guadalupe
may give us peace in our heart, in the family, in the city, and in all the
country".
 Question: What do you wish for from us, and what are your hopes for us?
 Pope Francis: "I come to serve, to be a servant of the faith for you ...
because
I felt this vocation ... to serve the faith of the people. But this faith must
grow and go out into daily life; it must be a public faith. And faith becomes
strong when it is public, above all ... in moments of crisis. ... It is true
that
there is a crisis of faith in the world. But it is also true that there is a
great blessing and a desire ... for faith to come forth, for faith to be
missionary, for faith not to be closed up in a tin. Our faith is not a museum
faith, and the Church is not a museum. Our faith is born of contact, of
dialogue
with Jesus Christ, our Saviour, with the Lord. ... If faith does not go out
into
the street, it is no use; and taking faith out into the street does not mean
merely a procession. That faith goes out into the street means that we show

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)