return on Thursday from his apostolic trip in Mexico. The Pope's catechesis was
on the theme of the commitment Christians are called to make to offer a
concrete
sign of God's closeness to the people they encounter.
 "The Jubilee of Mercy is an opportunity to enter in depth into the mystery of
God's goodness and love", he said. "In this Lenten time, the Church invites us
to get to know better the Lord Jesus, and to live faith in a way coherent with
a
lifestyle that expresses the Father's mercy. My life, my attitude, my way of
going about the world must be a concrete sign of the fact that God is close to
us. Little gestures of love, of tenderness, of attention, that let us think
that
the Lord is with us, close to us. In this way we open the door of mercy".
 For this, it is necessary to be committed, and this means assuming a
responsibility, a task in relation to someone, and fulfilling it with fidelity,
dedication and care. "Every day we are asked to commit ourselves to the things
we do: in prayer, in work, in study, even in sport. ... In short, committing
oneself means acting with good will and effort to improve life", explained the
Pope.
 "God too has committed Himself to us", he continued. "His first commitment was
that of creating the world, and despite our attempts to spoil it, He is
committed to keeping it alive. But His greatest commitment was that of giving
Jesus to us. ... St. Paul recalls this when he writes that God 'did not spare
his
own Son but gave him up for us all'.And, by virtue of this, together with Jesus
the Father will give us everything we need".
 In the Gospel it is very easy to see how God's commitment to us is made
manifest. "In Jesus, God commits Himself fully in order to restore hope to the
poor, to those who are deprived of their dignity, to outsiders, the sick, the
imprisoned, and to sinners who welcome Him with good will. In all of this,
Jesus
was the living expression of the Father's mercy". Francis highlighted the fact
that Jesus' welcome to sinners: "if we think of it in a human way, the sinner
would be an enemy of Jesus, an enemy of God, but He drew close to them with
goodness, He loved them and He changed their heart. We are all sinners, all of
us. We all have some blame before God. But we must not be distrustful: He draws
close to us to offer us consolation, mercy and forgiveness. This is God's
commitment, and this is why He sent Jesus to us, to be close to us, to all of
us, and to open the door of His love, His heart and His mercy".
 Taking as a starting point the merciful love with which Jesus expressed God's
commitment, we too can and must match His love with our effort, especially in
the situations of greatest need, when there is the greatest thirst for hope. I
think of our efforts with abandoned people, with those who have very serious
disabilities, with the gravely ill, with the dying, and with those who are no
longer able to express their gratitude. ... We bring God's mercy to all these
situations through commitment in life, which bears witness to our faith in
Jesus. We must always bring with us this caress from God - because God has
caressed us with His mercy - to those who are in need of it, to those who have
suffering in their heart or who are sad. We must approach them with that caress
from God, which is the same one God gave to us".
 Francis concluded his catechesis by expressing his hope that the Jubilee may
contribute to helping our mind and our heart to be profoundly aware of God's
commitment to each one of us, and in this way, transform our life in a
commitment to mercy for all.

___________________________________________________________

 Communique of the Secretariat for Communications
 Vatican City, 22 February 2016 (VIS) - The Secretariat for Communications
today
issued the following communique:
 "Due to the end of the term of service at Vatican Radio of the Director
General
Fr. Federico Lombardi and the Managing Director Alberto Gasbarri, the prefect
for the Secretariat for Communications, Msgr. Dario Vigano, upon directions
from
the Secretariat of State, has appointed Giacomo Ghisani as "ad interim" legal
representative and head of the Directorate of Vatican Radio, responsible for
the
day-to-day management of Vatican Radio in the context of the current
restructuring of Vatican communications".
 In an explanatory note, it is mentioned that by the Motu Proprio "The current
communications context", dated 27 June 2015, Pope Francis instituted the
Secretariat for Communications to integrate all the entities hitherto concerned
with communication into a new dicastery of the Roman Curia. These structures
were the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Holy See Press
Office, the Vatican Internet Service, the Vatican Television Centre,
L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican Typography, the Photographic Service and the
Vatican Publishing House.
 On 9 June of the same year, a feasibility study and working calendar were
presented to the Council of Cardinals (the so-called C9), indicating the
gradual
process of unification of the existing entities; "such bodies", it specifies,
"from the date of the publication of the present Motu Proprio, shall continue
their respective duties, observing however the indications provided by the
Secretariat for Communications".
 The process has begun, and on 1 January 2016 the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications and the Holy See Press Office were unified, from an
administrative and management point of view. Nothing has been modified with
regard to the competence of the Secretariat of State in relation to
institutional communication.
 This year, in accordance with the presented and approved time scale, the
complex but certainly positive unification of Vatican Radio and the Vatican
Television Centre was expected to take place. This was implemented for some
services (such as the distribution of sound and images for papal ceremonies and
other important Vatican events), and for the better deployment of human
resources.
 In this context it is clear why at the end of February, at the end of their
respective five-year mandates and the upcoming retirements of two senior
figures, the Director General Fr. Federico Lombardi and the Managing Director
Alberto Gasbarri, they will not be substituted with figures in similar
directing
roles. Instead a legal representative and and head of the administrative office
will be appointed, in the single person of Giacomo Ghisani, currently deputy
director of the General Directorate of the Secretariat for Communications, who
has an excellent knowledge of Vatican Radio having worked there for many years
as head of the legal and international relations office.
 The restructuring process will be accompanied by the formulation of new
Statutes not only for the Dicastery but also the connected body that will
ensure
legal representation both in institutional contexts and at European and
international level. The new Statutes will also reformulate the staffing plans
of the unified bodies.
 "The task that awaits us offers a great opportunity to evaluate in both
entities the areas of excellence and our patrimony of multilingualism and
multiculturalism", the note says.
 "In this phase, the Vatican Television Centre will continue to refer to
Stefano
D'Agostini for the purposes of ordinary administration. The staff of Vatican
Radio will refer to Giacomo Ghisani for administrative matters and to Fr.
Andrzej Majewski for editorial activities and the situation of the various
language versions (that is, the current Directorate of Programming).
Technological matters, including acquisitions and the development of projects
(the activity and competence of the current Technical Directorate) it will
refer
to Sandro Piervenanzi.
 The Secretariat for Communications will follow this process with care and
attention, to facilitate solutions to eventual difficulties and to guarantee
its
success.

___________________________________________________________

 Audiences
 Vatican City, 22 February 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father received in audience:
 - Egas da Costa Freitas, ambassador of East Timor to the Holy See, presenting
his credential letters;
 - Rogelio Francisco Emilio Pfirter, ambassador of Argentina to the Holy See,
presenting his credential letters.
 On Friday, 19 February the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal
Jean-Louis
Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,
accompanied by Bishop Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, M.C.C.J., secretary of the
same
dicastery.

___________________________________________________________

 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 22 February 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Angel
Antonio Recinos Lemus as bishop of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas (area
5,066. population 613,000, Catholics 528,000, priests 32, permanent deacons 1,
religious 68), Guatemala. The bishop-elect was born in Azulco, Guatemala in
1963
and was ordained a priest in 1994. He holds a licentiate in biblical theology
from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and has served in a number of
academic, administrative and pastoral roles, including seminary professor,
director of the Institute of Theology of the National Seminary, head of
pastoral
ministry of indigenous peoples, representative of Guatemale in the information
network of the Church in Latin America, co-ordinator of the pastoral commission
for the defence of the environment, and parish priest in various parishes. He
is
currently parish priest of Nuestra Senora de Lourdes and in El Progreso
Achuapa,
Jutiapa.
 On Saturday, 20 February, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Ricardo Lingan
Baccay, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Tuguegarao, Philippines, as bishop of
Alaminos (area 24,492, population 684,000, Catholics 565,000, priests 52,
religious 111), Philippines.

___________________________________________________________

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