VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 38
DATE 24-02-2016

Summary:
- General audience: mercy and power
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 General audience: mercy and power
 Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - Mercy and power were the theme of Pope
Francis' catechesis in this week's Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's
Square, attended by more than twenty thousand faithful and pilgrims.
 The Holy Father explained that various passages of the Bible speak about kings
and men of power, and also of their arrogance and abuses, demonstrating that
"wealth and power can be good and useful for the common good if placed at the
service of the poor and of all, with justice and charity. However if, as often
occurs, if lived as a privilege, with selfishness and arrogance, they become
tools of corruption and death".
 An example of this unjust privilege is found in the account of the vineyard of
Naboth. The king Ahab wishes to acquire it since it was situated adjacent to
the
royal palace, but Naboth refuses since for Israel the land is God's, and
receives His blessing which is handed from generation to generation. Ahab is
indignant at receiving this refusal, which he perceives as an offence to his
power, undermining his authority. His wife, Jezebel, which also considered
royal
power to be absolute, decides to eliminate Naboth and makes false witnesses
accuse him before the elders and the authorities of having blasphemed and
spoken
ill of the king, crimes which carried the death penalty. Naboth was executed
and
the king inherited his vineyard.
 "Recalling these events, Jesus tells us: 'You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your
servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave'. If the
dimension of service is lost, power transforms into arrogance and oppression".
The story of Naboth, continued the Pope, "is not a story of other times; it is
also the story of today, of the powerful who exploit the poor, exploit the
people, to have more money. It is the story of human trafficking, of slave
labour, of poor people who work illegally and with the minimum salary to enrich
the powerful. It is the story of corrupt politicians who want more and more".
 The episode of Naboth's vineyard teaches us "where the exercise of authority
without respect for life or justice and without mercy leads us. And here we see
where the thirst for power leads: it becomes avarice, the desire to possess
everything". Francis gave the example of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "who
was not a communist", when he observed the avidity of the rich landowners who
sought to acquire more and more houses and land. "Woe to those who join house
to
house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to
dwell alone in the midst of the land".
 However, "God is greater than evil, and the dirty games human beings play, and
in His mercy He sends the prophet Elijah to help Ahab convert. The king, faced
with his sin, is humbled and asks for forgiveness. How good it would be if
today's powerful exploiters were to do likewise!", exclaimed Francis. "The Lord
accepts his penance, but an innocent man was killed and this inevitably has
consequences. Indeed, the evil committed leaves painful traces, and the history
of mankind bears the scars".
 In this case too, mercy shows the path to follow as it is able to cure wounds
and change history. "Divine mercy is stronger than the sin of men. It is
stronger, this is the example of Ahab! We know its power, when we remember the
coming of the Innocent Son of God Who made Himself man to destroy evil with His
forgiveness. Jesus Christ is the true king, but His power is completely
different. His throne is the cross. He is not a king who kills, but on the
contrary gives His life. His approach to all, especially the weakest, defeats
solitude and the destiny of death that sin leads to. Jesus Christ, with His
closeness and tenderness, leads sinners into the space of grace and
forgiveness.
And this is God's mercy".

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 Audiences
 Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father
received in audience Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munchen und
Freising,
Germany, coordinator of the Council for the Economy.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Msgr.
Zenildo Luiz Pereira da Silva, C.SS.R., as prelate coadjutor bishop of Borba
(area 98,650, population 157,900, Catholics 127,600, priests 11, religious 15),
Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Linhares, Brazil in 1968, gave his
religious vows in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He has served as
parish priest and superior of the Redemptorist vice-province of Amazonia, and
is
currently parish priest of the cathedral of "Santana e Sao Sebastiao" in the
diocese of Coari.

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